The Tropic of Capricorn and other Oddities
I'm afraid this is only going to be a short post, but on with the show...
Such a resourceful team always gets interesting equipment donated. For example, I'm currently standing on the bed of our ute, with a computer set up on top of one of our stock crates, using the satellite Internet transceiver that was donated for our use. Venus is high on the western horizon, the Southern Cross and The Pointers are shining brightly right in front of me and I'm being irradiated with my own blog post thanks to the transmitter that is currently happily beaming this message through the messed-up workings of my brain for your reading pleasure. Thence the run-on sentence...
We successfully scrutineered and qualified, with some minor hicoughs at the Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin; we got 11th position for the start. I was put in for the start, which is always a thrill. I think everyone knows what I think about being the finishing driver... The first two days were fraught with electrical problems, but this time of a different nature. We were overheating the motor controller, or some crucial electrical connections were rattling apart, or some finicky thing of that nature. That stalled us up for about an hour all told over those first days, but now at the end of the fourth day, we are first in our class! The team is pretty elated and it's gratifying to be ahead for once. Yesterday and today were essentially flawless, except today's flat tyre, which cost us the lead for about 2 hours.
One thing I forgot to mention about the Outback were the termite mounds. There's heaps and heaps of the things as you go north. Don't kick them or drive into them though, because your foot or your car would be less for the experience. Several nights now we've stayed under the wonderful southern hemispheric stars - that is once experience that I expect everyone reading this blog to one day do. These stars are breathtaking. The Milky Way is so bright it glows.
The flies are simply unbelievable - I've never experience such numbers. I will say this though: they are better than mosquitoes, if just as annoying. Passing lots of dead 'roos on the roadside, but one of the teams in the race (Nuon) has a roadkill crew, whose job it is to clean the road of any victims so that their car, which won the race today, doesn't impact anything untoward. So there you have it, the first two or three cars are already across the finish line and we have two more days to go. Yeah gallium arsenide...
I've met tons of people from around the World, but mostly from Taiwan, Australia, Japan, Holland, and Belgium. Definitely and interesting experience.
We drove south of the Tropic of Capricorn today, and I'm in the parking lot of the Cadney Homestead Roadhouse, for those of you with an atlas...
I've got to off and I'll post something more coherent when the race is finished and I've slept a little more. Thanks for all the comments - I enjoy hearing from everyone.
actrs - I've finally figured it out. The "Family Rock" gave it away. I guess I lied when I said we were going by Uluru - that is only for the GreenFleet Class.
Update complete!
Upon reaching the summit...
First, I have to thank "The Shack" - if it were not for "The Shack", I wouldn't have a wireless network to hijack internet access. Thank you "Shack".
I'm currently sitting on a street corner outside our hotel in Darwin with a laptop on my lap, stealing internet access from someone who has an unsecured wireless network in his or her home. If you read this, thanks and come to the hotel for a beer - you're sure to see us on the street every night.
The trip through the Outback was truly awesome. The vastness of it is staggering - sort of like Saskatchewan, but more of it, and with 'roos and emus. The drive took four days, and myself and Jon were driving the Thrifty ute with a trailer. Did you know that even without a factory cruise control, you still have a factory cruise control in the Mitsubishi Fuso? It's called the floor and with your foot pushing the gas pedal onto it, the truck only goes 120. Not that that mattered because once you reach Northern Territory, there are no speed limits and the only thing to slow you down are the numerous and slow Australian drivers, kangaroos, and large vulture like birds that are unusually protective of their roadkill hoards. Oh yeah, and with diesel at $1.51 + a litre, you couldn't afford to speed were it not for the bottomless credit with which we university students operate.
The character of the Outback changes every so often - it is truly mutable and doesn't look the same from one hour to the next. What is open and vast with low scrub and red, red soil becomes densely treed with the most staggeringly beautiful, silvery-barked eucalyptus. There are signs warning that "Drowsy Drivers Die" (witty alliteration, if I do say so myself); signs warning that the next 2 kms of road are designated as a Royal Flying Doctor Service Emergency Airstrip; floodways that freely transgress the road surface; 53 m road trains - lorrys pulling four trailers (wah-hoo, is all I can say). It is an environment especially rich to write about.
However, I will leave more for another day. We are currently in Darwin, and the humidity is comfortable at 12 midnight. The daytime temps are about 34 C, but the Timor Sea of the Indian Ocean, at which the beaches of Darwin are situated, are like getting into a bathtub. Truly a wonderful experience for a Canadian used to the 12 degrees of West Coast water. No surfing :-(
Update complete!
In response to previous comments, I just have to add: Vegemite - yes, I've tried it and I'm mustering the courage to try it on more than a corner of toast. Whew, it's powerful! No beer allowed until the race finish, so I'll get back to on that one Ed...
Good luck Sheila - my thoughts are with you! The sand is wonderful and the water is awesome!
Love you guys too... Always.
North... To Alaska, er Darwin
Jonathan and Ryan, two more team members arrived yesterday and we stayed the night in Melbourne to allow them some respite from travelling. The solar car and related crates we're finally and successfully cleared through customs and loaded onto our truck and trailer. I'll attach a picture at the next computer that is capable of it.
That means that today we start the trek northward to heat and humidity, beaches and sand, sharks and jellies. Access to computers is likely to be patchy at best, but I am expecting something, at the very least, to be in Darwin.
No word yet on insurance. I guess Hertz isn't in a rush...
Until then...
A Driving Adventure
Wow, yesterday was cool... We navigated through Melbourne by train (!) and got to a suburb called Dandenong, where we picked up our lorry and station wagon. Then, it took Garett and I 2 hours to drive the 30km back to the hotel we are staying in. You've never driven until you've driven through a very busy city, with a large truck, driving on the right hand side of the vehicle, on the left side of the road, with the shifter stick in your left hand. Oh yeah, on roads with which you share a tram clearance and that are inches wider than your vehicle. Neat!
Oh yeah, to top it all off, I got into an accident where a guy drove into the side of the trailer when I was transiting through a roundabout. A great story for insurance...
Finally, I'm working on the pictures. The internet kiosk that I'm using is $8/hr, which is a little steep. I'll fiddle a little more and get them posted soon.
Deep Vein Thrombosis
I made it! It was an interesting flight as always, and by the Qantas kicks patootie - they're really an old school airline, but in a good way.
In Economy you get those cool little travel packets with a neat toothbrush/toothpaste combo, socks, and a neck lanyard; a snack pack with water, cheese nips, cookies, cereal bar, and lifesavers; all the free beer or wine you want with dinner; 6 channels of movies and 6 channels of variety programming all cycling on a 2.5 hour period. Plus games and whatnot, which is all controlled by a little handset in the seat. Very neat.
First picture is from the departure lounge in LAX and then taxiing to a stop in Sydney - notice the cool tail paints.
Update complete!
Success!
If anyone did actually attempt my metaphysics, thanks! because it worked!
Overnight my visa was approved and I'm off the land of Oz.
Wah-hoo!
Physics and Metaphysics
If the hardwires of telephone and the rather more flexible wires of e-mail don't work, I'm resorting to metaphysics.
E-mailed the eVisa people again today, and hoping for a response in the next 24 hours. I can totally understand that they are extremely busy at this time, so all I do is hope that someone has a good day and finds my application during that day.
To that end, I'm asking everyone to visualise the great Australian(s) responsible for WHM applications as having spectacularly good days for the next week. Also, please visualise an approved WHM visa with my name on it.
There, if phoning won't work, I'll beat it to death with karma.
Thanks!
The Waiting Game
The elation of excitement is clouded by the cloud of concern for my WHM visa. Still haven't heard anything, and if I haven't by Thursday, I'll have to apply for an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) and go instead for three months.
After thinking about it a lot, I've decided that if I have to use an ETA, I'll use that for the race until I find out that the WHM visa has been approved. Then, I'll find the cheapest ticket to some nearby island paradise, officially exit the country, then turn around and reeneter. The WHM laws require that you cannot be granted the visa while on Australian soil; so, I'll just make a quick trip away and re-enter on the WHM visa.
Update complete! Ciao...
Prospectus.
Gang:
So another adventure is unfolding. I'm currently awaiting the approval or disapproval of a Working Holiday Maker visa, which if granted, will see me in Australia for the next year.
The founding reason for the trip is the World Solar Challenge, for which I am a driver of Soleon - the University of Calgary's solar car. You may remember Soleon from such races as the North American Solar Challenge. The car was crated on Wednesday and tomorrow (Friday) it will be put on the plane, bound for Melbourne.
I'll be using this blog to keep in touch and hopefully let everyone in on a bit of what Aus really is - we'll wait to see. Don't expect anything intelligent, as you are all familiar with my meaningless rants and even less intelligable (see?), though less rant-y, monologues. Do expect pictures, as most of you now know my glee when behind the shutter of such recording devices. Please do expect stories.
See you soon, and I'll keep you updated on the visa situation.
