Apple Store NYC

NYC Apple Store cube...
i think back and wonder why we didnt take any pics of this structure. cant quite put my finger on it, maybe we just thought we had taken it all, nope ... i think that was one of the days we left all our cameras and bags behind and just walked NYC freely.

never the less these are some pics of the huge glass cube that covers the entrance to the NYC Apple Store on 5th ave in NYC .. FFFabulous FFFith avenue .. cheers Andrew. (tour guide on the NYC skyline bus)

this glass cube is illuminated at night and stands out like dogs balls. awesome to see and the store inside stays open 24 hours a days ... no joke. props to the flickr bunch for the eye candy

Home Sweet Home

Hey everyone.

arrived back safe and sound after a month long vacation into the never never. the big wide world. i think i can safely say im so glad to be back and off a schedule of hoping on planes. if i dont see another airport in 2 months i'll be a happy man :)

like someone wise once mentioned to me, after being away you miss home and need to be back, then 3 weeks @ home you wish you were back anywhere else but at work. thats life. i guess now its a case of planning for another trip, another adventure, and doing things slightly different based on all we learnt. all up i cant fault anything we accomplished, and good or bad, we learnt from everyday out there, just opening my eyes to just how good we really have it back in Oz.

thanks to all of you along the way who helped make this journey so enjoyable and exciting, you know who you all are. and please keep your eyes on the blog as this is not the end... but the begining.

last words go out to those who are reading and not posting their comments < yes i know all about you millions. :) this isnt an exclusive blog for family and friends only. this is for anyone, anywhere, anytime. post your thoughts, your feedback, who ever you maybe. think of it as a global bullentin board, an electronic meet and greet. until the next post, heres some pics from South Africa, more soon.

Shaun.







PS.. Cheech, bro, we will returnith!

Why Dialup Sucks ...

Ello,
just got back in from the Game Reserve, Mfolozi, and thought id post some news minus photos due to connection.

anyway ... whats to say, we left early morning with Aunty Les saying we would catch breakfast "on the way to the gate" well she got talking and one thing lead to another and well you know the rest ... we missed the turnoff for breakfast. i was about to eat the seatbelt but we found a substitute. all was well.

leaving Durban's cloud and overcast conditions the Park greeted us for two days of sunshine and pure african weather. all was fantastic and felt so real. we checked in and began our day 01 tour / drive. well to cut a long story short we saw it all, apart from the big cats. heaps of everything and so close to the car. lots of giraffe, elephant, rhino and the like. brings back a lot of memories.

next up was a night drive for Mark and I, to which we were told by Darryl and others "waste of time. all you will see will be a hare or two" well .... we threw that out the window. our day luck had turned into night. WE SAW LION!! yup a huge male popped up close to the truck and we saw him wonder off into the distance. we also caught sight of black rhino and a small herd of elephant aswell. top night all round.

seeyou soon

Extra Pics

Hey everyone ..
arrived safe and sound in Durban, just thought id try and upload a few extra pics before we leave tomorrow for the Game Park. current weather here is all overcast and raining, heres hoping it will fine up for our trek. so looking forward to getting back for the Footy Finals!! hilight for WA teams.

Dad, the MNet info you wanted, blog a reply with what ever questions you need answered by Darryl here.

Rich, get ready for tuesday next week.

Post before the rush to the final plane ..

NYC harbour

Quick post of pics.
NYC harbour cruise, skyline of downtown Manhattan.
had a fantastic day out on the water and learnt alot about the Statue of Liberty and its french origins.
more pics to follow ...

The Big Apple

New York.
what can i say. hectic, fast, crowded but lovable. this place feels like the heart of america. populated to the max, it never sleeps. the virgin music megastore doesnt close on times square till 2am. that tells you something!

well American Airlines is officially the worst airline ive travelled on. seats are shocking and uncomfortable. service is terrible and i was glad to make it off. heres hoping BA steps up :) no food served as American Airlines demands you buy food onboard. you even have to buy their headphones .... what a joke

arrival at the airport was great as we are seasoned pros at the whole "Homeland Security Check". we grabbed our bags, no delays or missing stuff yet. headed straight to a taxi and set off for hotel 31. what a great budget place! the best we have stayed in so far. central in manhattan, to walk anywhere.

well with no sleep under our belts we were told (arriving 8:30AM) that our room wouldnt be ready till 1PM. what to do? i was exhausted and didnt feel like doing anything but sometimes when time is limited you push on. first up refuel, drink lots and dont look at the clock.

well what did we come to NYC for. Rich ? ...
yup we hit Alex Grey's studio right off the bat. finding it was a breeze and its about a 45 min walk from the hotel. its on the 4th floor of a warehouse building, and if we didnt have the address its easy to miss. i know your gonna say where are the pics, but i didnt want to be a tourist here. its not the place to walk into and act like an idiot taking happy snaps. you wanna see his art? buy his books, check the website. his art must be admired, reflected upon, and soaked in. what a place! to see his work in real life is amazing, so much detail and expressiveness. we spent about 2 hours in here just spiraling, leaving totally recharged.

what a big day. so we hit the hotel, chillout and wait till our night bus tour of NYC. great ride all round and well worth it to get a sneak peak around the city and its huge boroughs. thriving on money, its a crazy place. but unlike LA its friendly, warm, inviting.

check out at Frisco

well today was the general tourist runaround. Bay Cruise and Alkatraz was on the cards. unfortunatly SF didnt turn on its weather for us. we awoke to a cloud / fog filled sky. mild drizzle and cool .... make that COLD conditions. lol you cant control these things but it was a bummer for the last day, and to not see the sites in great light wasnt the best. no good photography at all.

bay cruise was first and took us round fishermans wharf and under the golden gate bridge. then back through and around alkatraz and angel island in the inner bay area. this conditions made this ride not 100%. freezing cold and cloudy. we could only view a minimal portion of the bridge which was disappointing as the photo opportunities would have been perfect. i guess we were glad to see what we did on day one.

next up was breakfast. i swear i can now see why there is an obesity problem in the US. THESE PEOPLE EAT TOO MUCH!!! .. i had eggs and bacon, and ate for two. well thats what it felt like. lol. all great food down here in SF. not fast food. BTW crabs are the "famous" thing to eat round here. they are a Dungenous Crab and seem alittle like a WA mud crab. salt water, bit smaller and stubby. didnt have time to try one. took a photo of a crab stand for ya Dad. ! we will have to return for this.

well dont know if it was the weather dampening the spirits abit but were a bit worn out. we hit Alkatraz next and the tour was great. kinda left with a feeling of spookyness as to the inmates who were so close to freedom. the other thing we both felt was that this place wont last another 15 years! its falling apart. and no restoration efforts seem to be taking place. 75% of the land mass is closed to the public due to safety issues. nevertheless it was worth the trip.

packed and ready for NYC, heres to warmer conditions and more chaos. looking forward to Alex Grey and COSM.

oh we do want to live beside the Seaside ...

ahhh, well after all the rush of our first day we didnt wake the next day until 10AM :)
we needed the day off to do some shopping and learn the basics of the area. the weather was fantastic, clear and crisp, 22 degrees. cooler near the bay.

so what do tourists do when they need a healthy breakfast in SF? they hit the local Crepe house. awesome crepes (thin pancakes) made right in front of our eyes at fishermans wharf. pics to speak. finished off with a fruit yogurt smoothy, damn that was good.

next up we thought we would hit city central and do some shopping. we began to walk up powell street and basically went? nah mate ... CABLE CAR TIME! we didnt know how to board or how to buy tickets so we winged it. you watch other people and learn fast. move fast, and act dumb lol. turns out people pay onboard or get multiriders, and only really board at the end of a line to get a "tickets worth" out of their ride. we traveled twice on a cable there and back. great stuff.

hittin the shops was cool, the city is awesome and has a very colonial feel to it as the housing and architecture is very 1900s. we soon found that inner city shopping for us wasnt really all the fuss. we dont buy crap from Macy's (US Myers) or other fancy dancy stores. we didnt have the time to search out the local stores for the stuff we were after, this place is huge, and we needed more time. nevertheless i got some sneekers and jeans and was happy with the experience. plus saving money for NYC was ace i guess.

well after the dash for cash, we were knackered. we thought seafood again? nah too far to travel, so we ate in, grabbing some chinese on the way back to the hotel. best chinese ive had since we left home. all up SF turned it on and made us feel welcome all round. friendly people and service. cool things to note. pedestrians have total right of way. drivers are more relaxed and courteous to the a crossing person and will slow down for anyone.public transport is awesome, the BART rocks, is clean and super fast. simple and effective.

now if the americans could just skip this whole "tipping, sales tax, driving on the wrong side of the road, crap money that looks the same and newspapers that cant be read in the wind .... id be a citizen.

Sea Change

Well what a change from the chaos of LA. we set off from LAX with delays, 30 degree day, and hit the cool change of SFO, 23 degrees. beautiful airport, laid out with a seamless connection system of rail to the citys BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport trains) system. i love this place. we stepped out to smiles and pleasent service. grabbing our bags we hit the BART into the city centre and then took a quick cab to the hotel.

we initially freaked out traveling on the train as everywhere we could see, the local "bay fog" had rolled in and we knew we had a helicopter ride that arvo. all went well though, as we should expect in this great city. we settled into the budget room with its flaws and figured what we saved here is going to good food.

we planned well with the hotel being located in a great location on Van Ness ave just a few blocks away from the local Fisherman's Wharf. so we walked on down and immediately realised why this place still runs on cable car transport as well as electric buses. ITS HILL CITY!! lol

this place hits me with a similar feel of albany WA. its got that cool air, breezy, warm in the sun, very maritime orientated and friendly. the mix of people is certainly true in this place. suit right next to the homeless, tourist, gay, straight, feral and hippy. you never feel outa place as everyone seems on the same level. anyway back to the fog, it was clearing and didnt really affect our veiws except for the Golden Gate bridge which we could see the top of. still awesome to see.

next up, helicopter ride!
BOOYAH! this simply rocked. i got to ride shotgun all the way (25min ride) smiles all round. being picked up from Fishermans Wharf we drove back to the airport, taking off and flying over the city, bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge, then back again. check the pics, 1000 words. we need to come back here to see the bridge in clear view.

what a day, huge post i know....
finishing up the day at a restaurant on Fishermans Wharf. "Bubba Gumps" named and themed after the movie Forest Gump and its characters. truely great seafood! and the best meal in a long while. i had the Cajun Shrimp (tiger prawns large) with rice. overlooking the bay. i love this city.

PS: hey Miguel ! why didnt you warn us about the US meal portion sizes .. lol
tip for any aussies, dont eat breakfast. meal portions are huge! and anything you can order a size of, order SMALL! lol

9:34PM Live Post from the NYC Apple Store ... 5th Ave.

just got into the NYC 5th ave store ...
proof of being here
WHOoP..

Spiral out .... Keep going

this post i'll dedicate to Rich.
hes the one most likely to understand why we did this. why we flew into LA. why we delayed our stay in to SF, taking a $50 bus ride 2.5 hours north to the town of Bakersfield. no baggage, no maps, just one goal. to see our favourite band play live and perform. then having to catch a bus back at 12am to LA, no sleep, arriving and leaving LAX @ 8am.

what can i say Rich.
I wish you we're with us. i wish we could have bottled it up for you. be patient man.
the performance was unforgetable. Isis were fantastic, and your should check their stuff out Rich! kinda extended metal, toolish but heavier.

the setlist was tweaked a bit as this was part of the official "Full US tour show" not a preshow. including rosetta stoned, and right in two (personal hilight and my fav off 10 000 days) maynard was also in a great mood, conversing alot with the crowd. lastly things ended with an encore! yup. a conclusion of vicarious, lateralus and AEnima. perfection. each member coming together in a group hug to end. they are stronger than ever Rich. and more than ever before they are comfortable coming out of the dark shadows and performing in the lights.

2 pics to make you drool. :)

alone and easy target ...

LA.
Los Angeles, California, USA

i never want to go back. too much to say about this place in a post that just drags me down when i think of it. it was just at everyturn we got screwed over by the people and the place. it was always a destination set aside as a fly through stopover just to get to Bakersfield for the Tool concert. and i tell ya if we didnt have those tickets i would have flown straight onto San Fransico.

first step into the US and well, shock as an international human, and not a US citizen. this whole "War on Terror" crap has turned the whole american security system into something that allows their staff to treat everyone like terrorists until proven guilty. i can understand the methods, but when you yelled at to strip off half your clothing, shoes jackets, hats, your bags and items thrown around, you feel intimedated.

the whole place revolves around the "hollywood myth" of sun, fake people, ignorance, money and showing off what you got. everything you have ever seen in the movies about hollywood and the people driving their Porche SUVs and Mercs, its true. as tourists we felt like outcasts and were never welcomed. we didnt even take any pictures, we felt unsafe. the weather was over 35 degrees C both days we were there. no shopping done.

lot went wrong, but we got to the concert all fine. that was the only thing that went right.

Machu Picchu

we set off early for the first train out to the small town of Agus Calientus. base camp for all climbers up Machu Picchu (old mountain) train was something out of 1955 :) crazy stuff, four hours later we arrived, cramped and tired. we were then told that we would climb Machu Picchu tomorrow morning and that we were free to take it easy and "chill out for the day"

Mark and i looked at each other and went ... "hell no" the only reason the group was told to take it easy was that they were all over 40 and ready for an arvo sleep. bugger that. these things come round once in a life time and i wasnt going to spend the next 12 hours in basecamp, hotel lobby.

Mark and i grabbed our passports and proceeded to grab tickets for the mountain and ruins ourselves. yup the youngens set off for our own adventure and loved every minute of it! envy was on the face of everyone back at the hotel when we showed up and proceeded to show off the pics we had. life's short and to get the opportunity to do this twice, once in the sunset, once on the sunrise was not to be missed.

this being the hilight of south america was an understatement. unbelieably fantastic. jaw dropping. the pictures say it all.

Tour of the Sacred Valley

well things are going fantastically well, havent gotten sick yet and the weather has held out as we knew it would (dry season). the hotels have been fine with the exception of breakfasts in Cusco. i need some bacon and egg pronto! temps are round 20-24 during the day and 12-14 during the night. the sun is harsh though.

today was set aside to take a bus tour to most of the sacred Inca sites in the valley surrounding Cusco. to get a visual picture Cusco is the main city, rising higher than anything else in the Andes here. everything else flows down through the valley. even Machu Picchu is located at a lower altitude than Cusco.

so we set off to visit the Sacred Valley.
driving up through Cusco, we got to see the more residential zones, rather than the beaten commercial tourist strip. notice most houses are made from the native mud bricks or "Adobe Bricks" made from surrounding clay and straw, sun dried.

as we exit Cusco we pass into the valley below. the climate here supports more agriculture with fertile soils and stable climate. this being the start of the dry season everything was dry and ready for turning over. kinda reminded me of the Aussie wheatbelt, as the muddy clay soils hold alot of iron giving them the redish colour.

as we pass further down the valley, you can clearly see the vegetation changing to from grasslands to greener forests. the largest sacred inca site visited late in the day consisted of agricultural terraces aligned with ancient inca temples. a taste test for Machu Picchu.

lastly after the heat of the day we stopped in for lunch at one of the local towns on the way back. had to show you this pic, this alleyway was tiny and yet somehow our driver drove our bus up the narrow road without hitting anyone or the walls, crazy!

Sights and Sounds of Cusco

after stopping off for lunch, the best meal we have had so far ... ok i should backtrack there. Peruvian food is really a mix of Spanish, Mediterranean and local methods. lot of casserole type things on offer, meats, rices that type of thing. good stuff, the hard part is decoding the spanish titles for each meal. then again thats kinda half the fun. ie anything with Pollo in it is a chicken based dish, same as Lomo is beef.

alright onto the arvo tour.
we began at one of the local inner city historical sights, were there once sat a group of Inca temples, each built in the traditional stone block way, and each for a specific purpose. one for the sun, stars and moon. this is a theme followed in all Inca locations. much like we would find a church in every city, they had temples for their gods.

quick notes on the stone constructions. because this region of the world is prone to earthquakes the Inca built their temples and buildings in such a way that nothing would crumble and fall over. the system works on a trapezoid (shape of the windows in the temple) formation where each wall leans in on another to form a brace, rather than the western / spanish buildings which went straight and high, prone to total collapse in an earthquake. the Inca construction stonework found here and around in every site is the same. each block of stone has no cement to glue it together, its simply interlocking. amazing stuff, no gaps what so ever between blocks, you've just gotta think how did they do that!

so from the sites in the city we visited the city centre cathedrals (Cusco = microcosm of Lima) and then moved onto the outskirts of the city to find other Inca temples and stone constructions. all taste tests for Machu Picchu.

Cusco itself is a town slowly changing towards a 99% tourist economy. everything, everywhere is designed to suck out a tourist dollar. scary as you think sure you helping these people with your cash, but are you also preventing them from continuing their traditional lives. one thing is clear, theres no way you could do any of these things here on your own. you have to be on a tour.

quickly on altitude. it sucks. lol
thinner air, less oxygen, makes for a tiring experience. by 4 in the arvo you feel like you've run a marathon. we havent even done Machu Picchu yet :) its all good, one thing is also aparent, the sun is COOKING! sunburn is a real problem here, its as feirce as a Perth summer sun, yet its only 21 C. im toasted already.

Cusco Arrival

early start, up at 4AM, yeesh, this hits you later in the day 10 fold let me tell ya when ur 10,000 feet ASL. down for breakfast but our cook had disappeared on us and we were left with simple fruit for breaky, not happy.

well that was all for Lima, we caught the bus into the airport and boarded a LAN airlines 320 to Cusco, its only then do you begin to see the other tourist groups and guides all doing the same thing. some nice eye candy around, we just got stuck with the old folk on the tour, bring on california! so we jet off and wammo you blast through the low cloud level and straight up into the Andes mountain range. awesome to see via the air.

we settled into the hotel and immediately the altitude hits you. heart beats fast, reason being the air is thinner, less oxygen. we immediately thought lets hit LAN airlines and try and get a sooner flight out from LIMA to LA, as it was we were looking at a 12 stay in the airport. we managed to change to leaving a day ahead, so more shoppin time in the states. next we took a general walk round the city centre square and the hotel area. clean and tourist oriented, unlike the dirty poor areas round the outskirts and the airport. Cusco is a microcosm of Lima.

Lima downtown

Heya people.
first update , so lets go in logical travel order shall we :)
as we left you all before we had begun our tour of Lima at the Natural History Museum. well this is just to round things out a bit. after learning a rough course in the local inca and history, we basically took a huge lengthy drive through the city centre. chaos is all i can say! how these people drive is unbelievable. no give ways, its "my way, im going through" and yet no one hits each other. its crazy. as Lima is known for its natural grey cloud sky, the effect is visually off putting as you feel enclosed in pollution. Lima is overpopulated with traffic of all kinds and hence as you hit the city all you smell is diesal fumes. reminded me of africa for some reason, maybe something in the memory bank when i was a kid. still think im a kid lmao.

anyway we hit the town square (Plaza Del Armas) which is a big thing here. they dont have one huge "central park" instead they have town squares free of traffic and used as a park for vegetation and fountains. this is the spanish colonial influence. the square looked fantastic, and added a temporary peacefulness to the city. its flanked by the city cathedral and government palace. one thing to note is that the old spanish influenced architechture was great to see. history ozzed out of every balcony and stone structure. but i couldnt help but feel sad for a people who have lost their natural way once (inca vs spanish) and now all over again, (clashing western culture influences)

after the town square we hit the HUGE city cathedral. inside was an all out display of everything christianity had to offer. really wasnt comfortable here. the artowrk was awe inspiring for detail and style, history too. but all in all mark, myself and the Ozzy group just wanted out, we wanted to be at Machu Picchu, we wanted to experience some Inca history. it was to come soon as we left for Cusco next.

updates to come, + awesome pics of Machu Picchu! stay tuned, and hit me back with comments. thanks so far.

Apologies

Hey guys,

quick news post. all is well. sorry for the delay in posting anything, we just havent hit time and a decent net connection to post all our pics. im going to endeavour to update you all tonight with pics of South America, Cusco, Machu Picchu, Stuff, and SF.... oh and for rich .. something to make him smile with envy :)

we are all fine and well. short and sweet, LA is a dive and i never want to go back. american airports suck. your a terrorist until proven guilty, or unless ur a 35 - 60 year old white american born citizen. we are in SF and are glad to be here after the chaos thats LA. updates and details to follow.

here from you all soon.
PS. rich if you need to get a hold of me on a one to one, just drop me an email. otherwise i want your eyes peeled here brother!

Jaw Dropper

thanks everyone.
all is well, been thru Machu Picchu twice in the last 2 days :) was fantastic all round, jaw dropping. huge load of pics taken. will update you on the previous week of things once we hit LA.

To both our Dads, a happy Fathers Day shout!! have a good one.
now that we´ve done Machu Picchu we are ready to move on.
oh btw, i almost lost my legs to mountain sand flies .. lol pics to follow.

Freo vs WestCoast grandfinal u watch ...
chow for now