My Adventure Down Under

This morning we held our first of many golf outings with the full passenger list, all 96. It was held at the Millbrook Resort where we are staying. The resort is a former wheat farm and mill. They have preserved many of the original buildings and still have a working water wheel. There is a stream that runs through it (should make a movie out of that!) with lots of ducks and geese. Most everything in the area of Queenstown and Arrowtown are a result of the 1860's gold rush.

My room is in the Village Inn area which are restored laborer housing buildings from the gold rush, very spacious with the stream running under my balcony (down by the old mill street!- couldn't resist). All of the passengers are housed in the villas, newly built upscale buildings above the mill house. Each building on the central property houses reception, bar, restaurant, spa, etc... and are restored to the original rustic glory.

There was a shotgun at 9:30 and my job was to assist people with finding the staging area. Jose and Heidi had already placed all the bags on the carts. Next I was to go to the driving range where the shotgun would originate. After that, I was assigned to marshall speed of play. Basically I just watch the timing of those playing through near the pro shop and encourage those who are not keeping up. We do have some purists who are walking, and one 80 year old who insists on carrying his own bag all 18 holes. He and his wife are remarkable. She actually hugs trees and rocks. She says she communiccates with them and receives energy from them.

Lunch was a grilled barbeque under the trees with venison and lamb burgers. I don't like lamb. I just don't like the taste, but the venison burger was the best venison I have ever had. The species of deer is very diferent down here. It's smaller and farm raised in some areas. I learned it's called Cervena if it's farm raised, and venison if it's wild. All of the food down here is without pesticides and hormones. Boy it really makes a difference in the taste.

At the end of the day, I assisted passengers returing their clubs to their travel cases. Sounds easy but I kept them on pace so well, they all finished at the same time!! When 96 people arrive in carts to unload, it's a bit chaotic, but we made it.

We did a quick dinner in Arrowtown, which reminds me of Park City Utah, but on a smaller scale. Very quaint main street with lots of shops and restaurants. We ate at a pasta and pizza place hoping to escape the passengers and who turned up there too: 6 passengers. Fortunately, they were some of a favorite ones, so it was lots of fun.

I have downloaded the photos to the camera but with the limited internet capabilities, which will be getting more scarce when we board the ship on Wednesday, it's too much for the system to handle.

Tomorrow is the trip to Milford Sound, the fjord. We go there by helicopter and return by fixed wing. It will be my first helicopter ride. I'm very excited!

Wait a second---was there no crisis? nothing gone awry? That's right folks, it was a normal day. Finally!

I'm sure tomorrow will make up for it though. Karma is always lurking behind the next sunrise!

Do ears get jet lag? I swear my ears were on a delay this morning. I could see the alarm clock blinking but I couldn't hear a thing! I finally hear the beep, having slept until 5:30am. (for those of you keeping track this was 1:30pm the previous day in NC).

My first steps were a little slow and I noticed that my ankles were considerably larger than when I went to bed. Edema is not pretty, not all that painful, but certainly a little annoying. Not much you can do but wait for them to go down. Oh well, I'm pretty sure there are 300+ Quantas flight 94 passengers who look very simliar.

I met Sue for breakfast at 8am and went over the tasks for the day. I had been assigned Meet and Greet at the airport for 8 people.

I forgot to mention that this is the optional pre-cruise tour for cruise #2. There are only 20 people here who will be joining another 76 people in Auckland. Many of them started their holiday at the Great Barrier Reef and are spending 4-5 weeks here in total.

So, I take a taxi to the airport to pickup 8 people and when the taxi pulls up to international arrivals, it's as if we had crossed into mainland China. It was a sea of chinese travelers. Buses were stacked up, sidewalks were full, and inside was worse. It was the Chinese New Year - Year of the Rat. Melbourne has a HUGE Chinese population stemming from the 1800's gold rush and their immigration policies in the 1990's.

My first task was to locate the two vans and drivers. I did a complete walk of the bus line and they were no where to be found. Inside, it was difficult to move and after working my way from one end to the other, I decided to call Dave at the transportation company. Dave answered me--from Tasmania! Not much help here and he suggested I phone the dispatch. I did and they assured me that the driver (named Lucky) was there. More searching and I finally found him--underneath a huge sign reading "Meet your Chauffeur Here." Maybe my eyes had jet lag too.

Turns out he just arrived because he couldn't find a place to park. We held our signs aloft for all to see, hoping to attract our passengers. It worked! We located two couples with their luggage. Lucky walked them to his van and hoped that the second driver, Jeff, could park in his space.

I was all alone now. Fortunately for me, I was considerably taller than most of the other chauffeurs so it wasn't very difficult to hold my sign higher. And finally Couple #3 came through customs. The told me that Couple #4 were about 10 people behind them in line. Couple #3 wife offered to take my extra sign and "troll" the area for them. Couple #3 husband then took my place while I went to find the other driver.

I found Jeff through divine intervention, so all we needed were the 4th couple. We waited and waited. I called Sue at the hotel and they had already checked in the hotel!?!? Apparently, when they exited, the decided to throw in the towel immediatley and not even try to locate us. I heard later that it took 3 taxi's to get them and their luggage to the hotel.

We came back to the hotel and I had to walk downtown to the pharmacy to purchase sunscreen and bug spray. Year of the Flies. Billions of them. Swarming all over you. I know I was warned, but OMG, how do these people live with this. Bush Flies they call them. Only in the heat of summer. Right now. Fortunately the Australian government doesn't have a problem with DEET sprays, so I purchased several bottles.

As I walked downtown past the shops, cafes, stores of various kinds, head shops next to classical music stores, I began to encounter grunge. Girl grunge. Boy grunge. Black grunge. Polite though. My trip coincided with an evening long concert by various performers, ending with Kanye West. It was then I realized that I wasn't blending in as much as I usually do. My clothes were not black, nothing was ripped, they were ironed, my hair was one color, and I had washed it that morning. Next time I'll be more prepared or at least have something I can rip or use a sharpie on. I could have always flashed my tattoo but thought better of it after careful consideration.

I came back to the hotel for a little more preparation work and to setup the opening reception. It was a very simple affair for the 20 folks, but what is so interesting for us, is watching the jockeying for alpha position by the females. It was great entertainment. Both ladies are type A but I predict that only one will be the winner. I'm sure by the time I transport them to the airport again, a clear winner will be declared.

Having met everyone, I am very impressed how nice they are. Great conversation, funny, and appreciative of their opportunity to be here. Many different backgrounds, corporate, legal, owners, CEO's, retired, semi-retired, or still on the job.

Afterward, Sue and I walked to a local Italian bistro for dinner. I tried to local fish special, "barramundi." It was grilled whole which always disturbs me. One should not eat something that is staring back at you! Couple of glasses of chianti later, we were crashing so we headed back.

Here is something that you won't believe. I would never have asked this question in a million years but now I'll have to. While I was sitting in the lobby waiting on people, I noticed many floral deliveries to the hotel. Many, more than I would expect. I also began to notice that many people were bringing their infants to the lobby, sitting with them for afternoon tea, or strolling through the lobby. Lots of them. I couldn't stand it any longer. I went to the best source for hotel information, the bellman. The Scoop: The Park Hyatt leases one floor of their tower suite to the hospital across the street for birthing suites! These were newborns. Fortunately none of our people were on the floors directly above or below. Coming to a hotel near you!

I won't go into great detail, but AT&T removed my international service without my knowledge (it had been part of the plan since 1992). The office provided cell phone was for office use only so talking with Ross was going to become very difficult quickly. We can use Skype but only if I'm in the hotel room when he's available. I'm sure we will work it out somehow.

Off to bed at 11:15pm to get some good rest for a day of touring tomorrow.