Back in DC

Our business trip to New York originally included a stop in Philadelphia to meet with one of our key suppliers.  However, some last-minute changes resulted in them travelling up to New York to meet us.  As a result, we found ourselves with 48 hours to spare while waiting for our transfer flights to Nuremberg.

On a whim Garry and I decided to hire a car and drive to Washington DC for a whirlwind tour.  We left New York about 9:30pm and eventually reached our hotel shortly before 2am.  Garry can now boast of driving through Manhattan at night.  Getting out of the city proved relatively easy. Likewise, Washington DC was equally easy to navigate.

DC was bitterly cold…! After a lazy morning resting from our late-night arrival, we took a walking tour through the Mall.  Our route started at the Lincoln Memorial before finishing with an afternoon at the recently opened National Museum of African American History and Culture.  Along the way, we visited the new Martin Luther King Jr memorial.

Garry and I were last in Washington DC in 2005.  We visited the city while on our way to start our expat adventures in London.  It was wonderful to see visit again.  Washington DC really is a timeless destination.  In many respects it looks no different to my first visit, or this third visit decades later. 

The inauguration of Donald Trump had happened the week before our visit. (We'd watched him depart the White House for the Capitol Building ceremony just prior to boarding a flight from LA to NYC). As a result, many parts of the city were still in the throes of returning to normal.  The massive inauguration platform was still standing in front of the Capitol Building, protest marchers were still crowding the local streets and temporary fencing and media towers were still blocking streets around the White House.

The African American History Museum was a fascinating venue.  I learned a lot about the early slave trading economy and was appalled by the barbaric practices of the slave traders. The museum does a superb job of tracing African American history from its infamous beginning to the history-making inauguration of Barack Obama.  One of the venue’s most memorable places is its room of reflection.  A circular curtain of water falls from the centre of the room while the surrounding walls carry quotes from some the nation’s most celebrated African Americans.

Our final day in the city was spent revisiting the Air & Space Museum, plus a few hours shopping for a winter wardrobe to keep us warm in Nuremberg.  We then retraced our steps back to New York and on to JFK Airport for an evening flight to Europe. For me, the highlight of this airport transfer was another opportunity to drive over the graceful Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

Filling in time between meetings

Garry and I have just completed a business trip to New York.  It’s been almost five years since I was last there and even longer for Garry.  We scheduled our visit to the Big Apple as part of a stopover while en route to the annual toy fair in Nuremberg.  The two suppliers we caught up here weren’t going to be in Germany so we did well to kill two birds with one stone.

Garry was excited to finally see New York in winter.  He was praying for snow while we were there but the best we got was freezing rain.  He was rather miffed when the city subsequently experienced one its biggest snowstorms in more than a decade less shortly after our visit.

In between meetings we also managed to see a few of New York’s famous sights.  We spent Saturday afternoon visiting the Statue of Liberty.  I took my parents out to Liberty Island in 2012 but Garry had never been out there.  We picked a good day to go as the crowds weren’t too bad and the weather was relatively mild on the island.  

We then finished our afternoon with a stroll through the High Line park.  This is clever location.  The park is built over the derelict structure of an abandoned elevated railway.  It weaves its way for more than a dozen blocks along the west side of Manhattan.  It even passes through the middle of several high rise buildings.

We also booked pre-breakfast tour of the new 9/11 Memorial Museum.  This is a private tour conducted before the venue opens to the public.  For almost an hour seven of us, plus a guide, had the entire place to ourselves.  It was very special to experience this poignant place without the bustle of a crowd.

The museum is very well done.  It strikes the perfect balance between recording history and capturing story of individual lives impacted by this tragic event.  We found it very moving.  For me it added another dimension to the events I’d witnessed live on TV from a Hong Kong hotel room all those years ago. 

Perhaps the most extraordinary artifacts are the impact zone pillars.  These mark the location where the hijacked aircraft hit each of the twin towers.  It was astonishing to think that these pillars were ultimately identified from within the mound of debris that smothered the site to a depth of 15 metres or more. However, one of the most spine-chilling images in the museum is that of a lone woman waving for help from the gaping hole that surrounded these mangled pillars.  She did not survive.

During the weekend, Garry and I found time to catch a train up to Greenwich, Connecticut to join my former Text 100 CEO and her family for dinner on Saturday evening. Aedhmar and I haven't seen each other for several years. I was touched that three of her adult children came home especially to see me. It was also my first opportunity to see the amazing renovation Aedhmar has completed since my last visit in 2012. Let's just say we ate too much, drank too much, and enjoyed an unscheduled sleepover on one of her sofas.

Garry and I were also entertained by our suppliers.  Their generosity allowed us to enjoy dinner one evening at a fantastic restaurant and take in a Broadway show.  We saw Josh Groban perform in the Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 at the Imperial Theatre.  We had seats on the stage itself which meant we found ourselves immersed in the drama itself.  It was a wonderful experience.

The Wonderful World of Hong Kong

Regular readers of this blog will know that I've visited Hong Kong many times over the last 15 years. Its been a regular destination for business trips and a convenient stopover for numerous long haul flights between Europe and Australia.  Over the years its become harder and harder to find anything new to enjoy in the city whenever I find myself stuck in a hotel room for days on end.

I recently flew to Hong Kong for three nights to attend the annual Hong Kong Toy Fair. It was literally a flying visit to catch up with several key suppliers and search for new products.  I flew to Hong Kong via Melbourne on Saturday morning.  This rather unusual route let me to take advantage of a discount Premium Economy airfare and save the company several hundred dollars.

I use to fly to Hong Kong via Melbourne regularly for business. For many years this route offered the only night flight into Hong Kong with Qantas. However, it was never a very pleasant trip. The Qantas lounge in Melbourne is the worst of any capital city in Australia. This meant that the late night transfer was never much fun regardless of whether you sat it out in lounge or at the departure gate.

I had originally planned to have dinner on the Sunday evening with one of our suppliers.  However, the meeting was rescheduled shortly after I booked my ticket. As a result, I found myself in Hong Kong with a day to spare.  After a few hours of pounding the laptop in the name of customer service I finally ventured out to explore two local venues I'd never visited.

My itinerary for the day included Lamma Island followed by an evening at Hong Kong Disneyland. These are probably two of Hong Kong's most well known tourist traps so its probably not surprising its taken me so long to finally visit them.  Lamma Island is famous for its seafood restaurants.  The island has two clusters of dining establishments; located on opposite sides of the island.

The smaller of these two locations is Sok Kwu Wan. Boats from Hong Kong island dock here less frequently which means its often a quieter, less crowded place to dine.  I decided to give it a try rather than head for the crowds at Shue Wan. However, upon arrival I must admit I wasn't overly impressed by any of the dining venues. On a whim I decided to walk across the island and try my luck in Shue Wan.  

The cross island walk takes about 1.5 hours and covers a distance of about 8km. Unlike most "bush walks" the track is actually a concrete paved trail for most of its length. Much of the track is shaded which makes it a less arduous trek in Hong Kong's often steamy climate.  It also offers plenty of scenic vantage points which by Hong Kong standards are relatively free of humanity's visual clutter.

As I reached Shue Wan I found myself equally unimpressed by the dining options available.  I'm sure if you're a local you know which restaurants offer the best seafood.  However, for the uninitiated its main street filled with ramshackle venues simply felt like the perfect breeding ground for a nasty dose of botulism.  I decided to skip a late lunch and try my luck with an early dinner at Disneyland.

They say Hong Kong Disneyland is the Disney Corporation's smallest theme park.  However, my visit seemed to be perfectly timed as the crowds were relatively light.  Waiting times for rides were generally less than ten minutes and I never felt jostled by the surrounding crowd.  I had a wonderful evening reliving some of my favourite Disneyland rides. The only disappointment?  It's A Small World was closed for a private function. I simply love this uber kitsch ride with its stereotype cultural figurines and clunky robotic icons. 

I stayed in the park until the night time parade down Main Street, followed by the popular firework's display over Sleeping Beauty's castle. It was an iconic experience that left me with a childish grin from ear to ear. I still remember watching the opening credits for the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday evenings. Tinkerbell use to fly around the castle setting off fireworks with a wave of her magic wand. Disneyland's display does a pretty decent job of bringing this cartoon overlay to life.

Riviera Living

Last year Garry and I stayed a night at the Ramada Resort Hotel in Ballina while on a short business trip to Mullumbimby. We loved the venue so much it was the obvious choice for a return visit during our Pacific Highway road trip. It was also a convenient place to base ourselves again as we had a follow-up meeting scheduled with the previous owner of our thriving toy company. 18 months into this venture we'd agreed to sell back a small product category that's no longer core to the business.

We spent three nights in Ballina.  This gave us ample time to spend a full day in Mullumbimby meeting the former owner of Artiwood.  The 42km journey had improved significantly since our last visit.  A new dual carriageway section of the Pacific Highway had opened a few weeks before our arrival making the journey easier than ever.  Then, with our paperwork signed and a review of the business completed, we finally headed back to Ballina in the last afternoon.

The last night of 2016 was spent enjoying delicious local fish and chips while looking over the Richmond River. Sadly there were no fireworks scheduled in Ballina so midnight passed without celebration.  However, the following morning during my leisurely breakfast on our riverfront balcony I was entertained by a pod of dolphins chasing a school of fish up the river.  It was magical moment!

We then spent two nights staying with friends on their lifestyle block near Alstonville.  It was a delight to catch up with Adam and Liz. We kicked back with a leisurely stroll around their property and a refreshing walk along the local beach. Adam and Liz really are living the dream. Before we knew it, the time had come to head back south. I also had to be back in Sydney by Friday as I had flights booked for a business trip to Hong Kong the following morning.

We decided to drive as far south as we could then stop for a couple of nights to rest and relax before tackling the traffic heading into Sydney. On a whim we decided to book ourselves into the Ibis Styles at Harrington Waters near Forster. This proved to be a clever decision. It took more than six hours of driving before we finally reached the venue in the early evening. Garry and I were both over it by the time we arrived.

However, the long day meant we'd put behind us all of the Pacific Highway that's yet to be converted to dual carriageway.  We were also excited to watch the car's odometer click over 4000kms.  We drove the vehicle off the lot 15 months ago with less than 5km on the clock. We still think its the best vehicle we've ever owned.

Harrington Waters was truly idyllic. Our hotel room looked out over the Manning River where pelicans and other bird life spent their time fishing directly opposite our first floor balcony. Harrington Rivers was a hidden gem.  Its been quietly transformed into a upmarket retirement community with some superb facilities and features some amazing waterfront homes. Our hotel was next door to a lively Irish Pub where we ate a complimentary breakfast.  A compact nine hole golf course was also within walking distance.

We loved the location so much we actually spent time talking with the local real estate agent about investment properties in the area. We're clearly use to Sydney house prices.  The cost a very decent homes in the area was barely a fifth the cost of our Sydney apartment.  While we're not in the market for a retirement property just yet, the location and its facilities have probably set the benchmark for anything we might consider in the future.

My way or the Pacific Highway?

In 1996 the New South Wales State Government announced plans for converting the heavily used Pacific Highway into a dual carriageway highway between Sydney and Brisbane.  The original plan called for completion of the upgrade by 2016.  Twenty year later less than 70% of the route has been upgraded.  However, construction on the remaining 230kms is finally underway.

The completed works have dramatically transformed the highway.  A once hair raising drive along the nation's Pacific coast has been transformed into a relatively relaxing long distance journey.  I last drove the highway to Brisbane in 1991.  It was an exhausting experience. Sections of the highway were truly terrifying. An endless procession of large articulated trucks crowded the road and swept past in the opposing lane with a proximity that left your heart pounding.

For the New Year period Garry and I decided to take our "new" car on a road trip. We mapped out an itinerary that took us as far north as Ballina and Mullumbimby.  Our trip saw us make two overnight stops while going north (and one extended stop when we head south again).

We began our journey on Boxing Day. Garry decided an early departure was critical if we were to avoid being caught up in post-Christmas traffic chaos.  As a result, we found ourselves on the road shortly after 7am.  Garry's strategy proved the right one. Our passage through Sydney's northern suburbs passed faster than expected.  In fact we didn't encounter a single line of crawling traffic until we reached the inevitable bottleneck crossing of the Hunter River near Hexham.

Our first night was booked into the delightful Eco Cottages at Bombah Point in the Mydall Lakes National Park. This place was a real gem. The complex consists of a series of brilliantly designed boutique eco-friendly cottages nestled among gum trees on a sunny hillside. It a luxurious bush escape that made it the perfect place for resetting our watches to vacation time.

Despite the remote location we found plenty to do.  We enjoyed brunch on the water's edge at the Tea Gardens Boatshed before heading further up the coast to spend an afternoon walking to the Seal Rocks Lighthouse. At dusk we ventured out to watch bush wallabies bounding around the cottage complex's small orchard.  However, this wasn't the only wildlife on show.  We also received daytime visits from a very fat, happy goanna and a bush turkey.

Our second night was spent in Coffs Harbour. We booked ourselves into the Big Windmill Comfort Inn. This was another highlight. We enjoyed dinner in beer garden at the motel's German themed restaurant. The food was excellent but the portions were small for the price we paid. We walked the boat harbour and climbed to the summit of Muttonbird Hill for a wonderful vista along the Pacific Coast.

The following morning we spent a couple of entertaining hours at the local Marineland complex. Where else can you practice playing "catch" with a dolphin?  It then time for a classic photo at the Big Banana before we headed for Ballina, our northernmost destination.

Click here for highlights from our New Years Eve in Ballina.