Day Trippin Sydney

So, this blog will be hellishly long for anyone not interested in Australia, food, airport delays, Sydney, cancelled flights, promises, wine, friends, beaches, surfing, boats or beta software. No hard feelings if you click away If you do not fit into any of those demographics.

My 14 hour day in Sydney started in Auckland. It rained the whole time I was in Auckland by the way, but, it was nice to see my friends from Auckland Grammar. They also informed me that the sun came out once I left. However, they need the rain so I do not feel really bad about my Ziggy like appearance. My last visit to Auckland was September. Since then they found a cat. Well, a cat found them. In true geeky fashion, they named her Cat 6.

At the airport, I waited for my flight. At one point we were informed the plane was under "engineering release". I had a hunch what this meant and it was confirmed when I saw the luggage being offloaded from the plane an hour past our planned departure.

With a new plane and many hours of flight delays, we head out. I hit Sydney hours later than planned.

I check in at the Sir Stamford after a Taxi ride where yet again I had to say I refuse to talk politics. This time the taxi driver was calling the US a tyrant dictatorship and pretty much blamed every american for todays economic situation. I wish I could tell you this was unique, but, almost every cab I got in they wanted to talk about the next president and how messed up our country is and in turn making the rest of the world.

Wow, what a digression. Ok, back to the hotel. The concierge knows exactly who I am. If you read my earlier blog you know my main reason to stay in Sydney for the night before my departure was to pick up my friends wine. Well, the wine is there and nicely packed. I head to my hotel room to get some much needed sleep.

However, I am a geek, so, its much needed sleep after I check my email. Well, my Ziggy like presence is still in full force as I am informed via email my flight home to LAX is cancelled! I am confirmed on a new flight (which I am on now by the way ((sips soda)). I will now hit my home about 6 hours later due to flying into SFO.

The next morning, I realize my new flight gives me one extra hour in Sydney. I hop downstairs and am greeted by my favorite concierge duo, Michael and Colin. Colin suggests I head back to Manly for the day. Last time I was here I hit Manly at sunset and really did not find much going on. So, I hop on the ferry. The ferry system here is fantastic and for a whopping $16 you can get an all day pass and ferry wherever you want. I tried to grab some more ferry photos for this round of pictures. Manly at 9am is anything but boring. Lots of pictures and fun watching the surfers in the higher tides. Higher tides you ask? Yeah, its raining here too. Has been since I got here. Ya need rain? Invite me out.

Next stop. Chinatown. I want the goo goodness. I have been dreaming of the goo goodness. Bring on the goo! Pre goo, I head to lunch. Happy Chef in the Dixon Plaza in Chinatown. The day I discovered this place last time I wandered 4 food courts. In yet again lemming foodie fashion I went to the place with all the reviews and pictures of happy well known foodies slurping soup. I ordered the 32A. If your future finds you in Sydney, I suggest you find the 32A s well.

Ok, enough waiting. Time for the goo puffs! I head over to Emperors Garden Cakes and Bakery. This is the place in Chinatown. They have great Yum Cha (Dim Sum) in their restaurant next door as well. Oh, Marigold also has wonderful Yum Cha and they are right up the street. Keep away from the place in the Market Center though.

Emperors Garden and Cakes has rockingly good carbs. They even have some take out Yum Cha. However, I was here for puffs and there is a little sign at the puff o matic letting me know they open at noon. I wait and wait until I am tragically informed that the puff o matic started up late and it would open much later. Too late to wait for. I head back to the hotel, pack my bags, grab my cooler o wine and head off to the airport.

I have spent the last few hours on the plane tinkering with Lightroom Beta 2. There are some very cool powerful features in the new version. I hope they tweek some of the new selection tools to even make them a little cleaner. Either way, I am becoming more and more of a lightroom fan.

Oh, and my SFO- LAX flight? Just cancelled.

Day Tripping Sydney Photos

Leaving NZ

Obviously, I love it here. The kindness of the people, the views and amazing scenery and well, um, favorite snacks.


Do we have anything like the Mallow Puff in the states? I saw there used to be the Mallomar until Nabisco sent it to the farm to join my adorable Dalmatian Tripper and amazing cool Chow Cho-Lee.

It looks like you can get the Mallow puff in the states, but, they have to be ordered.

However, we cannot ship this little dandy shown below to the states. Well except the shipment pending on a UAL flight tomorrow. Trust me, its a delivery method only enjoyed by one person.



No better Fish and Chips so far in my life than the Kiwi fish and chips. Add them with Kumara chips while looking out to the ocean? Ahhhhhhhhhh

My return wine trip

Zipping to more wine

After golf on Friday, it was time to switch into wine mode.

Last year, I went on a full day tour of the Hawkes Bay wineries with Geoff Wilson.

We had a very enjoyable day and visited Trinity Hill, Te Awa, Craggy Range, Vidal and Clearview.

When our tour was nearing an end, Geoff let me know his Thursday tasting group was getting together and asked me to join up.

Sadly, I had a plane to catch, but, I promised him if I ever made it back I would make it a point to make it back to Hawkes Bay and pack some California wine.

Who knew I would be back so soon!

It was great letting Geoff know I was on my way back. I asked him what wine he wanted me to bring. He requested Syrah and Cabernet.

I asked for input from my CA wine friends, but, decided to go with wines I enjoy and it would be a representation of my personal enjoyment of California wine.

I packed:

2005 Switchback Cabernet
2003 Saxum Broken Stones Syrah
2003 Pax Kobler Syrah

I like concentrated wines which is not to everyones palette so I was a little worried bringing these.

Geoff picked me up at the Crown Napier and we headed to his house. His wife was cooking a meal for us. Geoff also invited the owner of Clearview, the FandB manager for Cape Kidnappers and a wine distributor. There were 8 of us.

It was a very enjoyable dinner. We also cracked some local NZ wines to join the CA kids.

There was a tie for the Wine of the Night. The Saxum and the Switchback. The Switchback was the first to go. All 3 CA wines were gone first. The group enjoyed having new wines to try. Reminded me of the fun I have been having trying all the new wines in NZ.

The next day Geoff and I headed to a few places to try wines I was not able to last time. The first stop was Brookefields Vineyard. My favorite wine there was the Hillside Syrah 06 (100% American Oak!) I also enjoyed the 05 Merlot as well as the 07 Riesling.

Our next stop was Stonecroft. This had to be the best showing of wines I have had in Hawkes Bay.

Almost all of their wines are 13.5% alcohol. I had a Zinfandel that tasted like no other Zin I have ever tasted and a Syrah that probably was my favorite Hawkes Bay wine. For the first time, I purchase bottles from New Zealand to take home.

It is harvest time here in Hawkes Bay. When I was here in Sept, the vines were dormant. Now, they have wonderful color and some still have some fruit. Geoff takes me to the highest point in Hawkes Bay where I take this really cool panorama (you can click on the image to zoom in using Firefox)

We end our day planning out my next time here. Looks like I might make it back here in October. I am hoping I can spend even more time in Hawkes Bay then.

This times Hawkes Bay Photos
Hawkes Bay, September 2007
The Sheep Series September 2007

Revenge is a dish best served by Leslie Fisher

The feeling is mutual.

I am seriously thinking about spending my elderly years in Napier, NZ.

Napier is known as the Art Deco Capital of the world.

Following a massive earthquake (7.9 on the Richter scale) on the morning of Tuesday 3 February 1931, fires destroyed most of the commercial heart of Napier. The city was rebuilt in the style of that era.

Its also home to Cape Kidnappers. Which is easily one of the best golf courses I ever played. I put it right up there with Whistling Straits.

The cape fed me my lunch during my last visit. Here is my blog entry about it. You can also see some photos of the golf course I took on my last trip here.

I was very excited to head back. Once I made my way up the hill, I was greeted again by Jeremy and this time Tom, who would be looping for me.

I swear Jeremy had different hair last time, but, no matter. I still want to stuff him in my golf bag and take him home with me.

We head off and my round starts just like the last time. However, it is 70 degrees outside and there is not a cloud in the sky. I am a happy kid.

Tom and I are having a blast. He is a really good chap. In the beginning I thought he was under clubbing me and I would even say to him "How do you feel about me chipping out of the rough in front of the green?" However, Tom was dead on with my club selection. I landed on many greens, had no major trouble putting (except for a few birdies I should have had) and shot 78. MUCH better than my last time there.

It was a very very fun round of golf. Tom and I were the first people on the course and we really had the whole place to ourselves.

Upon our return to the clubhouse, I proceed to buy half the store. Well, its not that bad, but, I will be the official Cape Kidnappers ambassador when I golf this summer and wear my new thermals in the winter.

Jeremy calls my shuttle driver and Jeremy is informed the shuttle guy is running late. A few hours late! Jeremy grabs my bag and sticks it on a golf cart and says out you go! I grab my caddie, we grab his clubs and the two of us play Cape Kidnappers again! This time together.

Ya know that feeling when you look around and realize what a fun time you had and it is not just because of the trip, the score, the scenery? Its also about the people you meet along the way. Jeremy and this time Tom showed me once again what it is like to take a great experience and elevate it to the next level.

Pictures from my Cape Kidnappers Round

Hugging it out with Lightroom and Histrograms

Hanging with some of my photo buddies at a NZ Fish and Chip shop

Lightroom. One of the many Adobe apps that does not get the love. Maybe because there are so many other apps they offer, but, Lightroom is not talked about enough!

Today in New Plymouth, the request was to work with a group of art teachers showing them photography and Lightroom. This is a really fun group and I enjoyed my time with them when I was here in September.

The request was simple, we know the basics of composition, take us beyond the Auto setting.

Turns out many of them did not know the function of the histogram. If you have been in any of my classes, you know I harp about it. If the word histogram is new to you, please read here.

So, I did something I usually do not have time to do in a class. I taught the class from the idea of the histogram and trying to get a good histogram. Teaching the basics of Aperture, Shutter and exposure with the desire of a good histogram.

This was a fantastic way to teach a class and watching the quality of their photos and their picture taking abilities change within an hour was great.

We went to a local park. You have to love it when this is their local park!

We then headed back to work with Lightroom. I love this software more and more. It is designed for the photographer who needs to organize and edit their photos as well and print and share them.

We spent 1.5 days in lightroom having a blast. We had so much fun I decided to try to edit the rest of my photos in lightroom and not photoshop! Adobe just announced version 2 which is available as a beta download.

I am honestly enjoying the editing and sharing of my photos more in Lightroom in Photoshop. Gah! did I just say that?

It's that good. If I have some free time when I get home I will post a video to share with you guys!

My last night in Melbourne

I did not take this photo. No photos allowed!

The highlight of my last day in Melbourne was the Penguin parade. The tour would go from 2pm - 11pm.

The morning was mine. I decided to head to the Queen Victoria Market. A long walk from my hotel, the concierge suggests the Melbourne Tourist Shuttle. I am usually not a fan of anything that makes me look like a blatant tourist, but, he says its just up the street, free and actually a good tour of the city.

This bus was a great way to check out all the landmarks I heard about but had yet to visit. With stops every 20mins I was able to hop out, check out an area and grab the next bus. There were also recordings about the history of buildings we were passing by and all the bus drivers also filled you in about local information. I wish I knew about this bus sooner! I would suggest it to anyone planning a visit.

I head back to the hotel and get picked up by Kylie for my tour. We have about 3 hours to head there. On the way, I learn even more about Melbourne. The show Neighbors, and the crazy criminal Chopper Read who spent many years killing bad people, went to jail, cut off his ears to try to get to another jail and then was stabbed a silly amount of times by his friends in jail. He is now out of jail and a living legend to the city of Melbourne.

On the way up, we stop at a dairy farm for a leg stretch. Hence, the picture of a cow in my gallery. I did not want you to think I just felt like hitting up a dairy farm in my spare time.

We also go to a Koala exhibit. Kylie tells everyone they sleep 95% of the time so do not expect to see happy go lucky koalas.

True to the koala, none of them are moving. Kylie spots many of them. I find my new favorite warning sign, no humping the fence.

All of the sudden we make a turn on the walkway and there is a koala sitting on the walkway! Just kicking back. I am grabbing picture after picture. Then, it walks to me! Yay! Well, I had my super focus lens so I am backpedaling and fast as I can. You will see what would have been one of my best pictures ever, but, I was moving too fast and caught a blurry bundle of fur.

Still. Its an active Koala and I grab some decent shots and the people on the tour with me are happy happy.

We head off to the Penguin Parade. My version of the tour scored a ranger who would take us to front row viewing on the beach. You could see children and adults alike give us the stink eye when we showed up and plopped ourselves in front of them.

The parade is interesting. Phillip Island is home to 60,000 of these tiny little critters. They head home every few weeks, sometimes months to make and kick back. To keep safe from predators, they wait in the water until the sun sets. They then group up and jump out of the water.

What happens next is funny. You would think they would run in as fast as they can. Oh no, they wait. If one decides to head back to the water, the whole group goes back in!

At one point we had 4 groups doing the back and forth dash on the beach. Each group had 10 - 30 penguins in it.

We then left our seats (much to the delight of the people behind us) and hit the penguin freeway. A walkway which is next to the most popular lane for the penguins to use to head back to their hideaways. We watched as group after group went up. The ranger showed us a hard drive. Many of the penguins are tagged and this hard drive is keeping track of when they left, showed back up and even their mass!

It was funny to watch the most successful penguins, the fat ones who ate well while they were gone struggle to keep up with the rest of the group.

Before the drive home I finally did something I kept forgetting to do. Look up and see the Southern Cross which was directly over the water joined by the Milky Way.

While driving back to Melbourne, we spent our time corrupting Kylie and making her wonder about Americans and Canadians. This was especially true when we demanded we jump out and take a picture of Heavenly Pancakes, a closed church converted into a pancake house.

Penguin Parade Photos (without the Penguins)

A NZ break from blogging

Loving my time in New Zealand. The country is just so damn pretty.

I have free Internet in my Nice Hotel, But, it hates Smug Mug so there will be no blog updates or photo updates until at least my next hotel TH night.

However, I would now like to present you with a picture of the new coinage of New Zealand. I think they get the point!

PS: The dog at this hotel is indeed very cute. He had breakfast with me this morning.

A wandering I will go....

I finally had a chance to wander around Melbourne. Everyone told me the place to go was Federation Square and the walk along the river.

Federation Square is indeed the gathering spot for downtown Melbourne. Long stairs which act as seating are everywhere which encourages lounging. There are no traditional buildings anywhere near. Modern architecture on one side is greeted by a historical church and the gorgeous Metlink train station on the other.

My favorite building had to be a metal building with information tickers on it. They were all over the building in every direction. You will see a photo in my gallery.

While wandering, I bump into the ACMI which is the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. What is showing now? Game On a history of video games.

After doing the happy dance I run into to get my ticket. There were 129 playable games. It was like I was in high school all over again when I played Donkey Kong.

They also had a history of the home gaming console. I am embarrassed to admit how many of them have seen my house!

The most popular areas were the Wii as well as the classic arcade wing. Every game was being played all the time. Was fun to see parents talking to kids about the arcade games they played and even more fun to see them playing those games together.

Their online area was very sparse. No display of the early games or even todays popular games. Just a large room with seating so you can watch a screen showing people playing online games.

There was also a future section that showed tomorrows games. Online games which include your likeness as well as a tv that places an overlay of you on it. The game I saw being demonstrated was soccer. If the ball came near you, you would have to move around so the TV version of you could interact with the ball. It was fun to see it bounce off a head and move in the appropriate direction.

While looking for food, I noticed one dish is on almost every menu. Gnocchi! I have no idea why its so popular here, but, a nice hug to the person who started the trend.

I finished the night wandering the river walk as well as taking some time lapse photos. Sorry the photos are not 100% straight. I was pretty tired when I uploaded them last night.

Downtown Melbourne Photos

Kingston Heath Golf Course

Kingston Heath Golf Course, Victoria Australia

What a lovely golf course. Somewhat linksish with native tall grass around the bunkers. The course was in fantastic shape and the greens were fast! Definitely my favorite of the two courses I played here.

How fast were the greens? I putted off the green into a bunker! I do not remember the last time I did that. I also do not remember the last time I got two doubles in a row. ouch!

Kingston Heath Photos

Australia, whats up with the coin?

The actual paper money of Australia is pretty cool. Made with recycled plastic the money cannot be ripped and probably more importantly will not break apart if you accidentally leave them in your jeans when you do the wash. Also, the money has a cool plastic section as well as different sizes for each denomination so the blind know what bills they are exchanging and receiving. We can learn a few things from these bills.

However, the coin? Its interesting. First off, there is no one dollar bill, so, you are always getting coin. You would think this fact as well as their bill design would play into the design of coins. Well, nope.



Their coins are HUGE and a bit confusing. Using the pictures above, our quarter is about the size of their dine. The 50 cent piece is a small manhole cover. By the end of the day. You are putting coins in both pockets to make sure you are getting an even workout.

And check out how small the 2 dollar coin is. It makes up for it by being super thick!

Ok, I am done ranting. I am going to stuff some coins in my pocket and walk around to get my cardio in!

While you were sleeping......

Leslie ate here and was very very happy

While you were sleeping last night, I was having a near religious experience.

Flower Drum has been constantly hailed as one of the worlds best restaurants. At one point, it was in the top five. Reservations are recommended 3 months in advance.

Color me surprised when I was able to get a seat one month out. However, I was told I could only hold my seat, the first seating at 6pm, for an hour. Better than nothing I thought.

I am a bit of a foodie and have discovered that one persons amazing meal could be someone else's everyday meal. Its the same with movies. We hear the hype, walk in and end up thinking the movie was ok.

I had no huge expectations tonight. However, I just had one of the best meals of my life.

First off, the service. Wholly heck. I counted over 10 people that waited on me in one shape or form. All four managers on duty checked in on me at some point.

My core staff was Johnny, the manager and Andrew, my server. Since I was dining alone and wanted to sample, Johnny informed me I could order whatever I wanted and they would make it in small individual servings. I let Johnny pick for me. I started with:

Soft Shell Crab served with small fried shoe string mushrooms with diced onions and red pepper. I have never had a dish leave such a nice long aftertaste. It was still present when they presented the second course.

I knew what would happen at this moment in the lightly populated restaurant. I picked up my chopsticks and most of the staff stopped and looked at me. You see, I am a lefty. A lefty that was trained at a very young age to use chopsticks. I sometimes prefer them over knife and fork. In Asia, most children are forced to switch to righty so a lefty wielding chop stick fiend is rare.

However what happened next caught me by surprise and not since my time in Hong Kong has this been done for me. My entire dinner setup was moved for a lefty. Drinks, sauces, utensils, place setting, etc. was moved so it could be more functional for me yet still be visually pleasing with the table setting.

Next up was Egg Tofu stuffed with shrimp and scallops in an oyster sauce. The sauce was amazing! Andrew put the spoon down and said "I know what you are thinking, why a spoon?" If no one was looking I would have licked the plate.

Next was their signature dish, Peking Duck. This was prepared table side for me. All the items on the plates so far have been in perfect symmetry and this is no exception. The duck is perfectly cut and look almost identical. While there are three servings, I am presented this dish one serving at a time. Thin insanely good pancakes and duck skin that crunches so loud the table next to you could hear it.

Next up the Honey Shrimp. Insanely (I know I keep using the word, sorry) fresh prawns with some green beans. This is another great dish, but, one I probably would not order again. The shrimp are so fresh I think the sauce and breading take away from the dish.

Andrew picks up my dish. Its missing the honey shrimp but the green beans are still there.

Andrew: You do not like green beans?
Leslie: No, its a running joke. I do not eat anything green, well, except green onions.
Andrew: But green is good for you.
Leslie: I know, maybe I should just eat more green onions!

The next dish is the Chili Beef. This is where my stomach began to question my sanity. The beef was flash grilled and served almost rare in the middle with a chili sauce with a bit of a kick at the end. Yet another balanced yet mild sauce. The words I kept using for each course were balanced, mild and gentle.

Andrew suggested pairing it with fried rice. Best fried rice I have had hands down. Shrimp, pork, green onion, egg and of course rice. I eat it all.

Near the end of my bowl of rice I notice some of the green onions look a little solid. I ask Andrew what it is.

Andrew: Well, you are not eating enough green so we snuck some Asparagus in there and cut them the same size as the green onions.

Andrew obviously has figured out I am easy going to do this. Who knows, maybe its always in there, but, I doubt it. Either way, I am rolling. Andrew overall was very funny. Every time I ordered a coke he presented it as wine service complete with bottle year. I finished with a NV Diet Coke.

Dessert was Toffee Banana. Another table side presentation, the bananas are presented in a warm toffee shell then quickly removed from the plate and dunked in an ice bath. They are then placed on another plate with ice cream. The toffee from the original plate is then scraped up and used to create toffee streams for the presentation plate.

By this point, I am in food heaven and the restaurant is packed. Its also 8pm I am one hour past my Flower Drum curfew.

I finish the night sitting and watching the dishes show up and marveling at the staff. It was fun to look at their eyes as they scoped the restaurant making sure everything was in place and going correctly. Its enjoyable, almost an honor to watch the process of professionalism play out in any environment. When I get to be the recipient of that professionalism? All the better.

Yes, the bill had one more digit than I am used to but it was %100 percent worth it. This is the kind of restaurant that I would stay an extra night just to eat at if needed.

When I left Johnny and Andrew walked me to the elevator to thank me for joining them. Just classy.

If you are near Melbourne anytime soon, go to Flower Drum. Just remember to reserve your table ASAP. Ask for Johnny and Andrew.

The Metropolitan Golf Club

The first tee at Metropolitan, Melbourne Australia

Not a huge blog post and not many photos, but, a very enjoyable AM at the Metropolitan Golf Club. A very nice couple saw me get out of the taxi and were quick to show me in.

Country clubs are very picky on where you can wear a hat, where you can wear your golf shoes and even where you can carry your golf shoes in! So, this nice couple made sure I was in the right places with the right stuff.

I got to play alone, something I actually love to do. Gives me a chance to relax and take in the golf.

No rain, it threatened though. You will see a picture with some trees down from yesterdays large storm. The course took damage on every hole but much of it was cleaned up by this morning.

The course is old school and very pretty. I also played reasonably well for a first time course. I shot 80. I will add my score to loopr once they add the course.

A few photos from my time on the course

Karma. Please join me. I am in Australia.

I picked a great day for a scenic drive.

8am. I am waiting for my tour guide and peeking at the clouds. So far there is no rain.

I am quickly met by Katie from Australian Wild Escapes. We pick up only one other couple and the three of us are off on our 12 hour drive of the Great Ocean Road.

The drive reminded me a lot of highway 1 from LA to San Francisco, but with bigger vistas and less turns which gives your continual views of the coastline.

As we drive, the rain shows up. Then the wind. Then the howling wind and the rain that is landing at an angle. Then falling trees start showing up in the road. Katie is smart and obviously knew the area well. She tried to keep us in front of the storm as much as possible.

On the way I learn quite a bit about the area thanks to Katie. I also learned some pretty interesting things about Koalas that are better shared another time.

On our trip we stop to check out some roos (ya gotta love where we found them!) and Koalas.

The highlight of the trip was the Apostles. They used to be called the 12 Apostles but two of them have fallen into the ocean.

By the time we get out of the car I figure out what happened to the other two Apostles. The howling wind (easily 40mph+ at this point) whapped them into the water. Also, the tour name Wild Australian Escapes seems to be quite fitting today.

The Apostles are amazing and the eerie clouds and rain made the photos all the better. However, The noise that is coming from the rocks hitting the walkway bridge is almost freaky. Like they are talking. Maybe one of them is not doing so well.

On the way back, it begins to sink in just how bad the storm is. Out on the drive, we dealt with many trees blocking the road. In town, we realize that many of the store signs we saw earlier were now missing. We also saw a few downed telephone polls and even a metal pole that was bent from the wind. Maintenance crews were everywhere.

Sadly, people lost their life from this storm. They so need the rain here. Its just a shame it showed up so violently.

Great Ocean Drive Photos

It is official. I am customs cursed

This photo will make more sense later

G'day Its 3:04 AM at home and 9pm here in Melbourne.

I have really not had a chance to dive into Melbourne. So far, my synopsis of the views would be old school Malibu rolling hills meets east coast housing design meets Victorian architecture.

You might be wondering why I feel I am customs cursed. Some evidence can be provided here as well as here.

So, this time when the customs card showed up. I felt good. I had cleaned all my golf clubs and golf shoes to the point where you could see your reflection. Ok, I exaggerate a bit but there was no grass to be found.

All was good until the question:

Do you have more than 2250ml of wine in your possession.

eeeeep! I do! I have a promise to keep. My wine guide in NZ loves CA Syrah. He mentioned that during my last trip. I am making a trip out to see him for a wine dinner and packed 5 bottles of wine for the event.

So, I hit customs and unpack my bags. They are pretty entertained with my Air Paqs for my wine. Sitting next to me kicking back was a TV crew. Turns out there is a reality hit in AUS called Border Security. My customs agent said they usually only care if there is a drug hit. Once I heard that I started referring to grass as "golf grass".

So, they ask me how much my wine cost. I had the angel / devil thing going. If I lie and say its cheap wine, I pay a few bucks and I am out of here. But, I do not do well at fibbing, so, I was honest and they presented me with a bill for $250 to bail my wine out.

After sticking my eyeballs back in their sockets (I had a good laugh that the duty on my Italian wine was more than I paid) I asked what my options were. They could keep the wine or they could babysit it while I am here but obviously it means I could not drink any here.

Well, the wine is for NZ. So, they fill out a mess of paperwork and take my wine. They also inform me that the rule in NZ is 8 bottles before there is a duty.

They promise me my wine will be stored in a nice cool spot.

I did get a "good on ya" from the golf bag inspector however. Please note the photo evidence at the top of this blog.

My next blog and photo album will be about tomorrows tour. I have booked an all day trip on the Great Ocean Road. A trip many people demanded I take.