Our Oz Adventure Begins

The Grandpas share some of their amazing adventures and misadventures from their three weeks traveling through the land of OZ, also known as Australia.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It's about the journey, not the destination. We have the things better than imagination. When I feel free, free to be me. When I feel free, free to be me.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome everybody to travel your heart, a podcast where two gay grandpas explore life's travels together. Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of Travel Your Heart, a podcast from two gay grandpas. And that would be us. That's correct. And I'm Grandpa Bobby. And I'm Grandpa Scott. So, Grandpa Scott, what are we doing today?

SPEAKER_02 0:44

You know, I thought it would be a good idea to talk a little bit about our recent trip to Australia and New Zealand.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Wow, that that was a pretty long adventure, like six weeks.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

A little over.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yeah, isn't that a lot to talk about in one episode?

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Well, then I recommend that we focus uh in this episode on Australia.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Well, that sounds like a good idea. So, anyway, to talk about that, why don't we start off with talking about how you get there? Because whether you're traveling by boat or plane, it's a long journey.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Yeah, it's a very long flight. We we flew and our arms tired. Yeah. Uh we did. Boom, boom, boom. We flew and but we did a lot of research on what airline to take, and we actually decided to go with Air New Zealand.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

And why was that?

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Well, Air New Zealand uh had a great recommendation on the aircraft that we flew. It was a Boeing 77.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

It had two wings, that's all I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

That's what it was. 7777. Anyway, they are famous for the quality of service in their uh premium economy.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

And you know, and we tell people if you can afford it, yes, it's a little bit of an upgrade, but if you can afford it, boy, it makes a world of difference. Um, just having more space, more room on a long flight, it really does pay off.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Yeah, pay off, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

So because we flew from Los Angeles, and overall it was a 17-hour day.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Yeah, we flew from uh Los Angeles to Auckland, but then connected from Auckland to Sydney, Australia. Yep. And 17 and a half hours.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

And it was, yeah, I think the longest leg was 12 and a half hours, and then another three and a half hours, and then a layover. So you're pretty dragged out. And you might want to plan on what you want to do to make the time go by. Now, for me, I'm one of those type I can crawl into a good book or I can watch an endless series of movies or TV. Grandpa Scott, not so much.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

I too to be honest, I know. I'm one of those an hour and a half into flight, I'm ready for it to be. Are we there yet? Yeah, I am, I am. Um, I hate being in confined spaces like uh an aircraft. However, I did uh do a lot of game playing on the cell phone, and I also use the games on their entertainment center.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, and even though we tried to sleep, you know, we've taken a lot of long flights. You don't really sleep. You nap at best for a little while, but it's just like I don't know if you've uh ever spent time in a hospital, but it kind of akin to that, where there's always sounds, there's always noises, people coming by, uh food being served, you hear the rattle of the trays, even with your earplugs in. So the best thing to do is just go in with the idea that you're going to relax, but you're not really gonna sleep.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yeah, the only difference between flying on a long flight like that and spending the night in the hospital is you don't have flight attendants coming in every hour and a half to take your vital signs.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

But they're trying to serve you a meal. We were served a lot of good food, too. Good food. Anyway, we did find a great discovered a great new thing for us to do. And that is when we did land in Sydney, we were very fortunate they have hotels, which are just immediately, I mean, like you walk right out the door and there's a hotel there. And these hotels offer uh a temporary short-term stay uh for like what was it?

SPEAKER_02 4:17

A block a block was five hours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

And so we blocked, we got in about what, 10 o'clock, and we couldn't get into our Airbnb until like what three or four. Four. So you're like, well, what do I do now? So we found this option, and it was amazing. A nice, great, comfortable bed, and then a shower made all the difference in our arrival.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

It really helped with the jet lag, and we were so refreshed when we got up and went to the Airbnb.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah, no, and something we're gonna look into when we go to other cities. This was the first time we had done that, but we think it's a trend, and I'm hoping it's gonna increase uh to other airports along the way.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah, we'll just check with hospitals, uh, hospitals.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

We'll just check.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Yeah, we'll check in with you into our hotels to see if that service is available. I think it depends upon their booking and how they have to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Exactly how full they are, et cetera. Well, so when we did get there, we stayed in a place called the Rocks. And this is a neighborhood in Sydney. It's the historic neighborhood right down toward the waterfront that was the original uh occupation of Sydney.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah, it was just incredible. It was like where the uh convicts uh landed when they were sent there by the king.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah, it's a little more upscale than it was then. Oh, we bet. Yeah, that costs a lot more too. But anyway, it's a wonderful walkable neighborhood, and it's really cool because there are a lot of smaller scale historic buildings, and then you see the modern high-rises of Sydney right near them, and it's a great mix.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah, it's a great way to capture that past, present, and because of the buildings, the future of Sydney.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yeah, yeah. And it and I've never been to New Orleans, not yet, at least, but it had a lot of the character that I've seen from pictures with a lot of decorative wrought iron and metalwork.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Oh, yeah, the the wrought iron balconies.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Yeah, it was very, very charming. Um, so while we were walking around that neighborhood, we got to see the famous Rocks Market, which is a long open-air market selling all types of food.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Oh, you can get any kind of food you want. Yeah, very international.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah, but one of our favorite spots to stop at was what is it called? The tea cozy. Now, you know your grandpas love a good English tea.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

You know your grandpas love a good high tea.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

High tea, yes. Oh, definitely. So we stopped for high tea at this place, and it's more than just a place to get a great tea. Um, it it has real charm to it.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yeah, on the tables were these baskets of of wool, knitting yarn. Yarn, yeah. And knitting sticks. And what people would do needles, not sticks. Okay, needles. You can tell we're not very crafty. Not at all. Well, there was knitting needles, and what people would do while they're waiting for their tea and everything to be served is they would start knitting and they'd be like finishing maybe a project that had been started by somebody else. And then when your fruit came, you put it down in the basket and it would wait until somebody else came along.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

It was a cute idea. And then also all the teapots themselves come in knitted cozies, and it's really charming. And of course, they do serve a wonderful high tea on the three-tiered tray. It has to be on the three-tiered tray though.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Oh, and it has to have my little mini sandwiches with no crust.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Exactly. And it has to have scones. I I fell in love with scones when we visited Great Britain. Um, scones with clotted cream, of course. The pile of the calories and jam. It was a wonderful time.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Is it jam or jelly? Jam. Jam.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Yeah, no, it's always jam.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Okay, thank you for clarifying that.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, that's all right. Anyway, next to the and adjoining, the rocks area is called Circular Key. And this is the waterfront that stretches from the harbor bridge all the way to the opera house. And boy, is that a beautiful sight to see. It is so walkable and charming.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Yeah, it is. Oh, and it took me a whole day to stop calling it Circular K.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Yeah, I know. It's Q-U-A-Y, but it's pronounced key.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Who came up with that one?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

I have no idea. If you know, let us know. But we started off on we actually did walk the Harbor Bridge, um, and we actually met one of our subscribers along the way.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Oh, yeah. We were walking and filming, and this young lady passed us and got by about 10 feet, and then we heard this, I know you, and we turned around and she's grandpa's. And it was wonderful. We spent about uh Her name was Alex. Yeah, and we spent about uh 15, 20 minutes talking. Yeah, and uh she shared stories of Sydney, just a pure delight. Yeah, Alex, if you're listening, thank you. It was a wonderful way to kick off Sydney.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

And you know, if it goes out to any of you who see us along the way out in the wild, as it were, please don't hesitate to come up to us. We love chatting, meeting new friends, and uh seeing our subscribers from all over the world.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Yeah, and you don't have to wait to see us in the wild, you can see us in the urban and say I do.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

But anyway, so we walked all along that front. And it's great because it's one of the spots where the cruise ships come in, the ferry boats come and go, so it's really active there.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

But the nicest part was seeing the opera house. Oh, yeah. Why don't you tell that story, Grandpa?

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Well, this is another kind of one wonderful thing that has come from being uh content creators on social media. We were in Sydney, and I think we were finishing up a lunch or maybe a beer. Could be many. Could be many. Uh, but we got a text and she says, Hi, I'm sorry to do this. It may seem a little awkward, and but I'm I'm serious. My name is Joe. I work at the Sydney Opera House. She goes, I was wondering if you two would like to have a private tour of the Sydney Opera House.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yeah, we sure will. We wrote back. Joe. Are you kidding me? Please do. You you can interrupt us and be awkward anytime you want.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Exactly. So we were really thrilled. So we arranged the next morning. We met Joe at the actor's entrance, where we went through security and got our passes. Got our badges. And then she took us on a two and a half hour tour of the entire facility. Not only did we get to see the performance venues, but the really cool thing was we got to see all the behind the stage scenes where they the shops, the rehearsal areas.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Yeah, and and it was really great. Uh, I asked, you know, can we have permission to film in it for our our channel? And she said, yes, except for these areas. And those areas were the ones that are on the levels underground where um, for security reasons and insurance reasons, uh, they didn't want it filmed, and we totally understood that. But it was marvelous to see how these pieces, huge pieces of setting, were moved from one section to the other. Now they got them up on stage. It was fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

It really was. And we have a video about that on our YouTube channel, not to plug our channel, but uh plug away. Anyway, we really want to thank Joe. You made our day. She was just wonderful, took a lot of time. Yeah. And we really felt we got to a sense of knowing the opera house. That was great. And also, when we were there, we timed our trip so that we uh it coincided with what they called Australia Day. And this is their national holiday, so we wanted to experience the festivities there.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Boy, did we um experience. Uh it was so neat. It started out, the morning started out with this incredible flyby uh by the uh Royal Australian Air Force, a wonderful fighter jet. Don't ask me what type. Big jet. Big, big jet, big noisy jet. And then there was ferry boat races. Oh, those are so adorable. And we got to watch this from this from our room, which overlooked the uh harbor.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

We were fortunate to have a magnificent view, and we could see these ferry boats just racing to the opera house.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

It was wonderful. You could see all them all the morning activities.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

It was great.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

And then uh we had for that evening, we had booked a dinner cruise on the harbor to see all the festivities, and that was fun.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

I gotta tell them what it wasn't just any sort of boat.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Oh, it was the paddle steamer.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

It was a paddle, old-fashioned paddle boat steamer, I think. For two old-fashioned people. Well, at least it was older than us.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Oh, it was fun. The dinner was absolutely perfection. You know, it wasn't one of these uh rubber chicken dinners, it was wonderful. It prepared there on the boat.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Yep, and we left from the the the harbor, I guess you call it, that was around the corner from the uh bridge. It was called Barangaroo. And you gotta love the names. These Aboriginal names that are all over Australia are just delightful, and it's a neat way for them to tie into the original culture of the area.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Yeah, they aboriginal names are just so rhythmic and beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Yeah, and so we also there was a whole show on this boat, and these were really good performers. This wasn't uh this was no cheap act.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

These were the lead vocalists was absolutely incredible.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

It was great. Yeah. And then the boat took us into the harbor between the bridge and the opera house. So you could see floating in the water was this giant screen that was displaying all the activities that were going on at and around the opera house. They had choirs, they had dancers, they had singers all day.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Oh, yeah, the celebrations were on the water, on the land, in the air. And I I really love the fact that part of the activities, besides just the fireworks, was these brilliant variety of boats out on the harbor that had just decked themselves out in lights. Yep. And it seemed to be all coordinated or synced with the music. With the music. I don't know how they did it, but it was fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

And of course, we have a video on our YouTube channel if you'd care to watch. But the funny part was the end of the evening, the grand finale was the fireworks display, which was beautiful, and they would broadcast colors and patterns on the sails of the opera house itself, which was great. But I had a laugh because poor Grandpa Scott, he assumed that when you do fireworks in Australia, it's always going to mean that they're gonna shoot fireworks from the harbor bridge, like you see on New Year's Eve broadcasts. So Grandpa Scott positioned himself on the far side of the ship, thinking, wow, he's got this great position.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

Oh, yeah, I'm going like, oh, I beat everybody over. I'm gonna have this great position. Nobody's blocking me.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, not so much. Uh they only do that on New Year's Eve. So we finally discovered. Yeah, but we did get a chance to get around to the ship and see the actual fireworks. So it was it was really a fun day. Yeah, it was great. And then the next day we got up really early and we booked a full day tour to the Blue Mountains, which is a national park that really is about what, an hour outside?

SPEAKER_02 15:30

About 50 miles. Yeah, 50 miles north of Sydney.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

And this is something that you might want to consider when you're in any big city, is that we toyed with the idea of renting a car and going there ourselves because you know us, we love our little independent tours. But the more we looked at it, the expense, the complications, we said, you know what, why don't we just book a tour from a provider? And there are many providers out there, you know, we're not backing anybody, they're all good and have different options which are good for you. So we took a full-day tour with a small group. Yeah, we that's the one thing we always like to stress is having a small group that you feel very um personal attention. And we went to the Blue Mountains, and the first thing we learned is why it's actually called the Blue Mountains.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yes, and I'm gonna answer that.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Well, very good, Mr. Fact.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Yeah, the eucalyptus trees out there in the valleys, they release this not a scent, they release uh something, something that mixes with the atmosphere and causes this kind of blue haze.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, so everything is kind of this bluish-greeny haze. It's really cool, beautiful to see, a lot of gorgeous landscapes. And while we were there, it's really fun because we got to go on all these different sorts of conveyances to go through the park. We went on this giant cable car gondola, and tell about that train we went on.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Oh, we went on this really steep train. It just was so steep. I'm filming interior with one hand, there's a row of seats ahead of us, and I'm I'm trying to get a view out over their heads. But as we start to descend, it is so steep that suddenly I'm sliding, and I think you were too, under the seat inhead of us. It was almost like a roller coaster. I know I had to quickly call uh hold that bar with my left hand, filming with my right hand, going, I can't slide under. And I'm trying to not just get the head of the woman ahead of me in the view. Always protect the camera. Always protect the shot.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

That's right, always go for the shot. Your comfort is deep. Yeah, it was deep. We went all the way down to where they mined in the past. Um, it was really great. And then we also got to stop at a wildlife park and see some giant kangaroos on koala bears. But I swore to myself that eventually on this trip, my big goal was to see kangaroo in the wild. It's great to see them lounging under a tree, but I wanted to see them hopping across the land. So that's on my bucket list for this trip.

unknown 18:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Uh yeah, I will I really enjoyed that trip a lot, and and we did a lot of hiking, walking on it took me to viewpoints. And Monday Footsies were so tired when we got back home.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Yeah, we took a ferry boat home and got to see that. It was it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Wonderful day.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

And and we also took, speaking of boats and being on the water, we took a day trip on our own and we took a ferry boat out to Manley Beach, which is only about a half an hour away, but it's like a whole world away, a whole little community, this beautiful beach area.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

And we decided uh not to go to what was the name? Bondi. Bondi. Tell them why.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Well, prior to us uh heading out for Australia, there was a horrible shooting at Brondai Beach. Some of you may have heard about it or read about it. And then the city and the people there were still dealing with that. And we just wanted to be respectful and hold off on shooting there. We can always go back next time.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Absolutely, as always, we'll be in next time. Trust me, for a Sydney night uh city like Sydney, yeah, we're going back.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

We're going back. So we had a wonderful time at Manley.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Manly Beach was wonderful too. And boy, did we have uh a cocktail or two. Yeah, you'll see that on a video as well.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

That's also on a video.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Grandpa's drinking beer.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Yes, getting giggly. If you wonder if grandpa's ever get giggly, yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

So we spent about five nights in Sydney, which is a lot longer than we normally do on a trip. Uh it was worth it. I could spend a whole week in that city. There's still so much we haven't seen. But like Grandpa said, we're always gonna go back.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

So where'd we go next, Grandpa?

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Well, we got on a plane. Yes, right. Because it was too far to drive.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

A little aside, I looked at how long it would take for us to drive to uh the Great Barrier Reef area. It was four days. So I forgot that it was a continent, not just this little island. No, New Zealand's an island. Yes, it's a continent. So anyway, we flew to Cannes, which is spelled C-A-I-R-N-S, but it's pronounced Cannes. Don't ask me why, but it is.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

And we uh decided, oh, I love the city. Yeah, I remember though, when we got off, it was it's up in more toward the equator, yeah, more tropical, more humidity.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

82%.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

It was like 94 degrees and 82% humidity. And you know, for us desert rats who are living where it's very dry, we were like swimming in the air. But it was Grandpa Scott indulged me because this was one of the things I really wanted to do. I wanted to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. I mean, how can you go to Australia and not do that? Grandpa Scott wasn't as excited though.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

Well, if you've seen the video, or when you do see the video, you'll you'll notice that uh I shared with folks that when I was younger, um, I nearly drowned. I mean, seriously, very close to drowning, drowning. Drowning? Drowing? Drowning. Drowning. Drowning. Okay. And uh so I've always had this kind of fear of water, especially being out on the ocean if I can't see land, except for being on a cruise boat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

That's weird. Yeah, somehow a five-star luxury cruise with entertainment and food doesn't make you scared at all.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

But to prep for this, uh, we spent several months. Grandpa Bobby went out and got me a snorkeling tube, a snorkeling mast, and we practiced snorkeling, or I practice, in the pool in our backyard. Okay. Snorkeling or practicing snorkeling in your swimming pool has nothing to do with snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef where you're dealing with waves and tides and salty water. That's all I can.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Say it was a little more challenging, but you did great. Now we uh we want to mention that we pay for everything ourselves, but I did want to shout out to Pure Snorkeling. It's the company we chose, and there are a lot of different companies for you to choose from and a lot of different uh ways you can go there. We chose this company because it is smaller, more private, and personalized. It was a half day adventure because I couldn't see dragging Grandpa Scott out uh snorkeling for his first time for an entire day in that hot boiling sun. Um, and the people who were sponsored it were all either marine biologists or professional divers. So they gave you that full attention.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Yeah, I think one of the hardest parts about being out there is we had a change, we had a change into the wetsuits on that boat, and that was an adventure. There's no preparation for that. And all I remember is I'm in getting I'm trying to cram myself into this wetsuit. Gracefully, but not but I only got it over one leg. It says screw gracefully. I just want to get this on and in the water. But I finally got it on, and I'm looking at myself, and I can hardly breathe. I felt like a stuffed linguisa.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yeah, they don't seem to make diving suits in grandpa's eyes. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

I thought they I thought they gave me a kid's eye because I tell you, I felt so cinched, I could have been a drag queen.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Yeah, you were definitely cinched. I was cinched. But anyway, they had a great staff. They were very patient with us. We got to see some beautiful scenery. Swimming um with all the colors of the reef and the beautiful fish. That was a real experience.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Yeah, I I want to give a little shout out to Sophie, who's one of the marine biologists. Um I was in the water filming and fighting with the tide, and and oh, why can't I get where I want to go? Because it tide would push me back a little bit. She came out and she had um uh one of those live tubes. Yeah. And she said, Grandma Bobby, Grandpa Scott, you hold on to this with and then film with the other hand, and I'll take you around so you can be free to film. That remarkable young lady, she towed my linguisa butt around on that water so that I could uh film for the uh channel.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

I think she earned a hazard pay for dragging two all over the coral sea. She certainly did. But they are all wonderful. And they're all new adopted grandchildren. They're subscribers, so shout out to everybody at Pure Snarkling. You made it a terrific day for us. And we had a great time in Cannes. So, Grandpa, where do we go from here?

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Well, you know what? I think what we'll do in the next episode is continue with Australia, but we're gonna pick this up when we land in Melbourne or Melbourne, and we get our twenty four feet long recreational vehicle land yacht, and we go off camping and driving and road tripping the Great Ocean Road all the way over through some bush country and into the outback.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Yeah, uh Grandpa's driving in an RV for the first time on the left side of the road. Yeah, that was an adventure. I think you'll all uh enjoy hearing about that.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Yeah, truth be told, I did have no problem driving on the left in the United Kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Yeah, except for taking out how many mirrors and scrapes on the but anyway, we won't go into that. I lost no mirrors. Brought them back a little chipped. But anyway, we just wanted to thank you all for listening to us. And if you have an opportunity, please go to our YouTube channel and check out some of the videos we referenced and a lot of others that we have posted there. We understand that you can get your podcast anywhere, so we appreciate you tuning into ours. Isn't that right, Grandpa? That's right. So, until next time, we always just want to say whether you're traveling the world or just traveling through life, always remember travel your heart. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, everyone.