2 hours until liftoff

I have been impatiently waiting for this day for over 3 months now and the time to take off is down to less then 2 hours.  Here I am, sitting in PDX, drinking an Americano and looking out the window at the sunny afternoon thinking to myself, “I’m finally going… am I crazy?” Of course I’m not crazy, I’m headed to the land down under! 

So, I have my trip 90% planned out.  I’m leaving 10% open in case something interesting comes along.  The plan is to get out of the U.S. first. I don’t know, maybe I’ve been spoiled with all the travelling I’ve done for work the past 10 years, but staying in the U.S. for over a year straight has driven me to the brink.  I want to get out there and do something, somewhere just as long as it’s not here. And when I say “here”, I’m not talking about Portland, I’m talking the U.S.

Sorry, started venting there.  Back on track:  what am I going to be doing in the land of Aus. As I said in my previous post, first stop is Sydney.  I booked a room using points for a couple nights at the Marriott Hotel on Sydney Bay.  There is no way I would pay 300 bucks a night to stay there… but 60k points and no money out of my pocket?  Sure, I can do that!  The hotel is smack in the middle between the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, two of Sydney’s most recognizable landmarks.  Should be pretty cool.  So hopefully I’ll be able to sleep on the flight down there so that I can hit the ground running Sunday morning at 7:00 when I land.  Cause I want to go explore as much as I can in the 2 days I’m there.  The cool thing is that Sunday evening an old co-worker of mine who used to live in Malaysia is going to meet up with me. I haven’t seen him in 4 or 5 years and I’ve never met his family, so it’s an added bonus.

After exploring Sydney, I’m renting a car and headed north along the coast to Brisbane.  it’s a 12 hour drive straight through, but I plan to take 2 or 3 days.  My aunt Barb lives with her husband in Brisbane, so I’ll be staying with them for a few days.  Then I’m flying into Cairns which is up north. I have a hotel booked on North Beach and from there I plan to explore the area’s rain forests and of course go snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef.

Then it’s onto Alice Springs to explore the Northern Territory’s harsh dry lands and Uluru (Ayers Rock).  after 5 days in that area, I’m off to Melbourne, probably stay a day or 2 there then get a car and drive up the coast back to Sydney. 

It’s going to be a lot of travelling and I’m going to se a huge variety of landscapes to capture with my camera.  Oh yeah, I brought my Canon 7D, four lens, 2 tripods, pocket camera and pocket video recorder.  It wouldn’t be a proper trip if I didn’t bring along my gear.

Well, I’m going to sign of for now.  I’ll be posting as much as I can while I’m on this trip and I hope you follow along.