Rest of Trip Recap

Internet access was spotty for the rest of my trip, but basically….

• Dorrigo was amazing, though the windy mountain road was kind of scary.
• Next I went to Byron Bay, very pretty. Stayed at a hippie hostel called Arts Factory, made me realize I am too old to relive my youth.
• Didn’t get around to snorkeling, because I smacked my head and wound up recovering for a week in a regular hotel room in Ballina, 20 miles away (hotels were full in Byron). Slept through the official launch of 2.7.
• Stopped in Port Macquarie on the way back to Sydney.
• Flew out, got in to SF, stayed for two nights, did some work, flew back to upstate NY.

Summary: Wallabies are cute, beaches are relaxing, summer is warm, NY is cold.

To make up for the lack of snorkeling, I’m going to Mexico with a friend in March.

Filed under: Travel

Bellingen, NSW

Today I’m writing from a cafe called the Bookafe, which is pretty much just what it sounds like. A far cry from a Borders or Barnes & Noble cafe, this is a small place with some shelves filled with used books along the walls, some tables, some well-loved couches, a horde of plants, a buddha and a vegetarian kitchen with a juicer in the back. The tip jar proclaims that any $ collected will be donated to Amnesty International. I’m sipping a “Tango,” which is pineapple juice, coconut milk and mint. Kind of a healthy pina colada, but made with real ingredients instead of canned coconut milk or mixer. Waiting for a felafel salad to come out, but very happy to be sitting here among the used books. 

Where is here? Bellingen, NSW, Australia. Small (about 2000 residents) hippie town in the rainforest that is making me superhappy. Staying at the backpacker’s hostel, which is giving me happy flashbacks to my years working in hiking lodges and huts in the mountains. There’s an Israeli dance band staying there too, Funk’n’stein, that’s playing in town tonight. They are part of the reason I’m at the cafe now…I was on the porch, online, skyping and IRCing with the Automattic gang, when a ping pong game got a little more exuberant than was safe for me, where I was sitting. I decided it was time for a field trip, starting with lunch. 

From my bedroom last night I looked out over a pasture and woods leading down to the river, with mountains in the background. This morning I was enthralled watching flocks of birds flying in alternate directions through the trees. Also? Cows in the pasture. At the hostel itself, a friendly cat makes me miss Ribbit and Lucy, and there are two chickens. One is black and feathered, the other is yellow and fuzzy. They wander around, sometimes walking over your feet if you happen to be in their way (for example, hanging laundry). A bumper sticker on their little coop says Hippie Chicks Rule. Cue additional flashback. The people at the hostel  compost, recycle, and have naked pictures of happy visitors swimming in the river all over the walls. People hang out on the porch or by the river or play guitar. It’s peaceful. Makes me want to go back to Vermont, the Adirondacks, the White Mountains or Western Washington. There are bugs, though, and I’m sporting bites up and down my legs. 

When I was driving up here from Newcastle, I noticed that there is a big promotional campaign for road safety. Signs all over the place tell drivers to take a rest every 2 hours of driving. “Stop. Revive. Survive.” Another series of billboards features Jennifer Love Hewitt (or a dead ringer) crooking a little finger. “Speeding. No one thinks big of you.” The implication that if you’re speeding you have a small penis cracks me up every time I pass it (generally not going too much over the speed limit). 

When I got to town yesterday I stopped at what I thought was an internet cafe. It turned out that one door was for a cafe, while the other was a business that just sold internet access by the hour (leading me to tell my co-workers I was at the internet store). Internet here is pricier than in the U.S., and for residential accounts there are bandwidth caps that would hobble many of my friends in the U.S.

Anyway, have largely finished my lunch now, so am going to head out to see Dorrigo, a little further into the rainforest. Internet is very slow up here, which is why no pictures are posted yet, but as soon as I get on a reasonable connection, I’ll rectify the situation.

Filed under: Travel , australia, Bellingen, hostel

Newcastle, NSW

I’m sitting in a cafe called Scottie’s, located at 36 Scott Street (cross: Zaara St.) in Newcastle, New South Wales. I’m a block from the beach, and can see the surf from where I sit against pillows made of beach towels, and container ships further out in the ocean.

I rented a car and left Sydney airport around 2:30pm, scribbled directions copied off Google Maps in hand. Naturally, the places I needed to see signs in order to follow the Google directions lacked signs, and I wound up going the wrong way on Route 1 for about half an hour before finding a gas station at which to stop. They didn’t have any maps, but they had a short, bespectacled, cell-phone-talking man in his late sixties with a heavy Greek accent taking a coffee break outside with the diesel driver who was filling up his 16-wheeler, and this accented man gave me directions. They amounted to, “turn around,” but coming from him were a series of exhortations to “stay the middle line!” and watch for signs to Newcastle. After assuring him about 6 times that I would “stay the middle line,” he let me go, and I hit the road again.

Speaking of road, one co-traveler earlier this week was opposed to my renting a car (in place of taking cabs everywhere), citing my unfamiliarity with driving on the left as being a risk factor for an accident. I’d like to take this opportunity to state that I had no trouble acclimating (just as in Japan 15 years ago), and after the first hour, I didn’t even have to remind myself to stay in the left lane. I only hit the windshield wipers by mistake once. One thing was less than optimal, though… the car I rented has a manual transmission, about which I was psyched originally, because I prefer driving standard. However, I failed to think about the fact that the gearshift would be on the left, and my bum left wrist is already feeling it. Happily, Byron Bay, an upcoming destination, is filled with acupuncturists, massage therapists, cranio-sacral therapists and all manner of alternative body therapists, so I am sure I can find someone to fix me up.

There was a rest stop on the highway, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a fast-food place next to the McDonald’s that was all organic and vegetarian, featuring gluten-free options, sushi and fresh juices, not to mention lavender hand lotion in the eco-friendly restroom. I bought an carrot-apple-ginger juice for the road, and a chocolate bar with chamomile, which I’d never heard of, so I had to try it. Verdict: kind of grainy, but I think that had to do with the chocolate itself, and not the chamomile.

What I’ve seen of Newcastle so far is cute (I haven’t seen much yet). I’m staying at a hostel, and am sleeping in a bunkroom for the first time since I was 21 or so. Things I need to buy that I hadn’t thought of: a towel and a padlock. Not exactly sure where to go for either, but am sure I will find something if I hop in the car and just drive up and down. Actually, I’m not that confident, since a lot of things seem to close at 5pm here, but I’m hopeful.

I’m planning on being offline for large portions of the day for the next couple of days so I can crank through some writing I’m overdue with for work; when I’m online I get distracted by other work stuff, and I need to get this done before 2.7 final launches next week (assuming all goes according to plan). The plan is to log in 2-3 times per day and check email, respond to skypes and let my mother (who worries about single female travel) know I’m safe. One of those times per day I’ll also post whatever I’ve written about the day before.

Upcoming itinerary is not set, but I’ll be driving north in general, toward Byron Bay, and depending on how soon I get that far, maybe up to Port Douglas (though the latter is doubtful). If you have any suggestions of places to see, stay or stop, email me at my name (jane) at my job (automattic.com).

This cafe is playing The Shins, yay.

I promised Matt I would take iPhone pictures (my regular camera battery died, and of course I forgot to bring the charger), so I’ll upload them once I find the cable.

Filed under: Travel , australia, newcastle

My last post in 2.6?

For the past two months, I’ve used WordPress 2.7 for the posts I write on the development blog, and 2.6 for the posts I write on wordpress.com. Switching back to 2.6 always makes me cringe, since it means loading extra screens, and uploading a bunch of images to use elsewhere is a pain. Now that 2.7 is coming to wordpress.com, I am more likely to post here. I’m heading up the coast of Australia, so we’ll see if the switch to 2.7 on .com really does make me more likely to post. I leave Sydney today to head to Newcastle. Planning to drive slowly up to Byron Bay and hang out until my birthday, then drive back to fly home on the 16th.

Filed under: Personal