IMPORTANT NOTICE!
When I first started sending out my newsletters I had two “groups”. One group was for finance and travel topics. The other group was for my trackchasing and travel fans. Some folks belonged to one group or the other and some to both newsletters.
Over the course of a few years, the topics of finance, travel, and racing have sort of “merged”. Just about every message I send has a little bit of finance and money-saving features as well as travel topics and racing. With that being the case I am going to consolidate everything I send into ONE newsletter. I hope this works for everyone and that you find something interesting, entertaining, and worthwhile in everything I share with you.
Western Australia…a long way from everywhere!
TUESDAY
Carol’s and my trip to Japan has now wrapped up. Well, the touring part is finished anyway. Now we each had to get on with the idea of the next step in this travel odyssey. There was still some unfinished business for me in Western Australia.
Carol would ride a hotel shuttle bus over to Narita Airport this morning. At Narita, she would pick up the airport limousine bus for the one-hour ride from Narita to Haneda, the other major airport in Tokyo. From Haneda, she would hop on a jet airplane and fly for 12 hours landing at the Los Angeles International Airport.
How many of you reading this would feel comfortable doing what she was doing all by herself today? How many of you have a spouse or significant other who would feel comfortable with what Carol was doing today?
Me? I was heading in the opposite direction of Carol’s travel itinerary. I still wanted to do a little bit more trackchasing. That being the case I would hop on a plane at Japan’s Narita airport and fly to Singapore. In Singapore, I would connect to a flight going to Perth, Western Australia. Yes, maybe we are international jet setters!
I was required to check my bag on my flights from Tokyo to Singapore to Perth. Just to be safe, I packed two days’ worth of clothing. That would be socks, underwear, and T-shirts in the sleeves of a UCLA sweatshirt I brought with me on today’s plane. Why would I do such a thing? The answer is simple.
I was flying on Scoot Airlines today. It pays to be prepared. The connecting time in Singapore was only one hour and 40 minutes. That didn’t seem like much time. The flight time from Tokyo to Singapore was a bit more than six hours. It would take another five hours to get from Singapore to Perth, Western Australia.
As luck, bad luck would have it my flight took off from Tokyo thirty minutes later than scheduled. That meant my connecting time in Singapore would be reduced from one hour and forty minutes to just 50 minutes. I was worried about my bag making my flight to Perth.
I don’t mind flying long distances. I’ll use my iPad to watch movies. I’ll use my MacBook Pro to plan future trips and review financial plans. I can keep myself “busy” on these long airplane rides.
I can tell you there was a huge sigh of relief when I saw my checked baggage rolling around on the carousel in Perth. It would have been an enormous challenge to handle the next weeks’ worth of travel with just two days of clothing.
I’m always thinking about the “learning curve”. Once you’ve done something once it’s a lot easier to do that same thing the second time. Carol and I had been in Perth a few months ago. I would benefit on this trip from that experience.
After I grabbed my bag, I ordered an Uber from my iPhone. Can you imagine telling someone twenty years ago that you had “just ordered an Uber with your iPhone”? They would have thought you had lost it. I can’t even imagine what the next twenty years hold for us in that regard.
Right now, in Australia Americans get nearly a 34% “discount” from Australian prices. The American dollar is strong against foreign currencies in most places. It has been for a few years now. I checked Uber. The price for my ride of $42 Australian for an Uber ride to downtown Perth seemed high. When I factored in my discount the price of $29 U.S. seemed more like it.
Whenever I see an Uber price that I think is too high I will wait and check a minute or two later. Tonight, when I did that the new price was $35 Australian down from $42. I guess I always run the risk that by checking a second or third time that the price could go up. But…I’m only checking when I think the price is too high, to begin with. Make sense?
I had made a reservation at the Sheraton hotel in downtown Perth for this evening. When I arrived, they were nice enough to upgrade me to a very nice suite and give me a complimentary breakfast for tomorrow morning. It’s hard not to stay at Marriott properties when they treat me so well.
WEDNESDAY
Normally when I arrive in Australia, I’ve been here four times in the past year, the 15-hour time zone change wipes me out. That would not be a problem for this trip. I had already been in Japan for two weeks. Japan’s time zone is only one hour different from Australia’s.
I slept in and then went down and had a lovely free breakfast on the Sheraton. Then I ordered another Uber. I needed a ride back to the Perth Airport and Terminal 4 which is used for domestic flights. The domestic and international terminals in Perth are seven kilometers from each other. That seemed like quite a separation compared to most American airports that don’t have any separation for domestic and international terminals.
Last night’s Uber ride from the airport to the hotel was $35 AUD. Today’s fare for the reverse of that ride was only $29 AUD. Most of my Uber drivers have been of Indian or Pakistani descent. I always enjoy carrying on a conversation with the Uber drivers. I will commonly ask people I meet during my travels if they would mind my taking their picture for my website.
Today I’ll be flying from Perth to the northern city in Western Australia of Karratha. I had never heard of Karratha in my life. That’s one of the benefits of what I do as a trackchaser. I get to travel to places that I don’t know the first thing about. However, when the trip finishes, I will be much better versed in these remote locations.
In Karratha, I would rent a car. Yes, I would drive on the left side of the road. Coming into this Aussie visit I had seen racing at 53 tracks on the Australian continent. Those visits were done over a dozen visits “down under”. I have probably driven more than 50,000 kilometers under Australian driving conditions. For this trip, Google Maps tells me my total driving time will be 14 hours. That’s not bad. If I had tried to drive from Perth and then back to Perth the round-trip driving time would have been 36 hours!
I plan to see racing at three different racetracks on three consecutive nights. I have Australian Jake Musarra (above). Jake told me about this opportunity a few months. I get a lot of tips from my international racing friends. Without their help, I would never know about what’s happening in the racing world as these more obscure, to me, locations.
I was really looking forward to the solitude of driving in this desolate area of WA after riding subways every day in Tokyo. As I mentioned I would have made this trip from Perth and driven 36 hours with no major problems. However, in hindsight flying round-trip from Perth to Karratha made a lot more sense.
THURSDAY
My Australian contact, Jake, had originally lived in the Northern Territory of Australia. Australia has six states. Those states are Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia (in red above). The Northern Territory is not a state but a territory. I have never seen any racing in the NT but I’m thinking about coming back in a few months to check that box. We’ll see. In the meantime, major thanks to Jake for making this visit a reality.
I wouldn’t exactly say this part of Western Australia is out in the middle of nowhere…but you can see the middle of nowhere from here! This general location was so remote that not a single trackchaser in the nearly 100-year history of the hobby had ever visited any of the three tracks that were on my itinerary.
Here’s what it took for me to get here. I flew 12 hours from Los Angeles to Tokyo. Then from Tokyo, I flew to Singapore for six hours, and then to Perth, Western Australia for another five hours. In Perth, I hopped on a jet airplane and flew two hours to Karratha. Now I was going to drive seven hours from Karratha down to Newman, Western Australia to see racing at the Hillview Speedway. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that not a single trackchaser had ever done this before!
To make matters just a little more challenging I was driving in one of the smallest and most basic rental cars that I could ever recall having. In the racing world, they call a car like I had rented a “shitbox”.
The airport in Karratha although modern was small. There was something very noticeable about the people I saw waiting to catch a plane here. Over 50% of these travelers were wearing bright fluorescent yellow jackets and shirts. What was up with that? These weren’t sports shirts. What was up?
I asked the rental car agent about this most unusual dress code. She told me these people, almost all men, were “workers”. They worked in the mines in and around Karratha. I had no idea. I would learn much more about the mining industry by the end of my trip.
The only option I had for my rental car was to pay both a daily rate and a per-mile charge. I hate doing that. I had no choice. The per kilometer charge was $0.25 AUD. The car came with 400 “free” kilometers. I expected to drive 1,300 kilometers.
As a Budget “Fast Break” rental car member I was given a Mitsubishi Mirage. I wasn’t sure if they were penalizing me or not for being a frequent customer. I certainly didn’t think I was being rewarded.
The Mirage is small. I don’t like small cars. I’m 6’3” tall. To get into and out of the car I had to press my butt down into the seat and then take my hand and try to bend my head and neck so I could even get in the car. Oh my. I drive a Tesla Model X. I think I could put the Mitsubishi Mirage in the back seat of my car. The tires and wheels were about the size of a dinner plate!
Today’s drive from Karratha to Newman would cover 383 miles or 612 kilometers and take me about seven hours to complete. Along the road, I would discover some things that I have never ever seen before. I’ve done a lot of driving with this hobby. I normally average about 30,000 miles a year in rental cars. I’ve done that for more than twenty years. If I see something I haven’t seen before that’s noteworthy.
This part of the country is known for mining, iron ore mining. It seems as if three-quarters of the traffic on these roads is either a big truck hauling some form of iron ore or company-owned mining white pick-up trucks.
They also have something called “road trains”. I had never seen these before. In the American far west, it is common to see “twin” semi-trailers being hauled up and down the roads. They do that one better in this part of Western Australia. Actually, they do it two better!
These “Road trains” are big over-the-road cabs pulling FOUR trailers. I followed one for a long time today. The sign on the back said the entire rig was 60 meters long.
Do you know how long 60 meters is in yards? That’s 65 yards! These road trains are hauling a total package that is 2/3 the length of an American football field! I didn’t just see one of these road trains occasionally. Nearly half of the vehicular traffic on the highways were “road trains”. The entire experience was nearly unbelievable.
I saw virtually no animals during my seven-hour drive. I might have seen 10 cows in total. However, I was shocked and surprised to notice a couple of the biggest cows that I’ve ever seen in my life lying on their backs with their legs and hooves pointed toward the sky. They were bloated to make them even look even more prominent. I’m suspecting that these unsuspecting cows were hit by these big “road train” trucks. Rigor mortis had set in. This was an obscene site.
From my research, I think my Mitsubishi Mirage had a 9.2-gallon fuel tank. The car had half of a tank of fuel left when I came across a disturbing sign. The sign informed me there were NO services for the next 220 kilometers. Say what? That’s 137 miles of no services. I’ve seen “no services” signs before but never for such a long distance.
I had the option of turning around and driving 30 miles in the wrong direction to try to find a gas station. That would be 60 miles in total. This idea would take me 100 kilometers out of the way. Remember, I was being charged $0.25 AUD per kilometer after I had driven 400 km for my entire four-day rental. What that really meant was that every time I drove out of the way unexpectedly, I was going to pay.
I was thinking I would drive somewhere around 1,300 km for this entire trip. That meant that I would be paying $0.25 per mile for the extra 900 km I would drive beyond what I was getting for “free”. I didn’t have a choice in this matter regarding the kilometer charge. It was what it was but I didn’t need to make things worse if I didn’t have to.
Thinking there was a very good chance that I would run out of fuel somewhere toward the end of the next 137 miles I turned off the air conditioner. The outdoor temperature was about 80° but inside the little tin box I was riding in it must have been approaching one hundred. This was rural and rugged country. This was not the kind of place I wanted to run out of fuel.
I reduced my speed to 55 mph or about 90 km/h. Then I began to “draft” behind one of those big trucks hauling their road train. I learned this drafting technique by watching NASCAR races. Remember, I have learned most of what I know in life watching NASCAR races and playing golf.
Whatever I did must have worked. I didn’t run out of gas. When I stopped to fill up the electronic gas gauge showed one unit remaining out of eight. Heck, I hadn’t even gotten to the point of having the glowing orange low-fuel light illuminate itself.
I stopped at a gas station/restaurant oasis that really wasn’t an oasis at all. I paid $1.98 AUD per liter. Of course, as you probably know there are 3.8 liters in a gallon. I was getting a 34% discount on Australian money because of the strength of the American dollar.
Wondering how those fuel stats translate into American lingo? I’ll do the calculations for you. Paying $1.98 Australian per liter was the equivalent of $4.92 U.S. per gallon.
When I finally got to today’s destination in Newman fuel was selling at a higher price of $2.17 AUD per liter. This made the U.S. “equivalent” even higher than calculated above.
I can tell you this from experience. Americans are quick to complain about their high gas prices. Right now, the average gasoline price in the United States is $3.54 a gallon. Today in Australia I was paying $4.92 a gallon. I travel a lot. To put things in simple terms the U.S. just has low gas prices compared to other industrialized countries.
My gas station “oasis”, which is what the sign said, was certainly not an oasis. It was essentially a somewhat rundown country convenience store. They did have a food menu. I ordered a meat lovers pizza along with a piece of lemon meringue pie.
You could count on one hand, if you had lost three fingers in a knife fight, how many times I have had a piece of lemon meringue pie on these trackchasing trips. It wasn’t the best but it was unusual. I could only eat half of the pizza and took the rest to go. If I ever ran out of gas in these rural spaces I wouldn’t starve to death.
Soon I was back on the road. In some ways, the scenery reminded me of driving in the rural parts of Arizona and Nevada. In other ways, the black lava, reminded me of driving on the big island of Hawaii or Iceland.
For some reason, the hotels in these very small towns were both scarce and expensive. I guess scarcity is what drives up the price. I’m suspecting that they don’t get a lot of tourists visiting here. However, they do get a lot of mine workers staying overnight. In those situations, the company is paying the hotel expense for the mine workers. When the company pays, workers aren’t as concerned about the prices being charged. That wasn’t a good thing for me and the few fellow tourists that decided to vacation in these parts.
Of course, I was able to use my GPS to get me where I needed to go. However, for at least half of the drive or more, there was no cell service. Luckily once you begin using GPS, even if you lose cell service, the directional capability of GPS continues.
I also listened to a lot of podcasts on this trip. Podcasts are like GPS in the sense that once they start, I can listen to the entire program even if I have no cell service. However, when the podcast ends, and I want to start a new one, that’s not going to happen without some cell service.
The races were expected to begin tonight at 6 p.m. I pulled into my Seasons Hotel located at the edge of Newman. At check-in, without showing any ID or spending more than seven seconds at the front desk I was given my room key.
Let me just put it this way. I prefer staying at Marriott properties. The Seasons Hotel was basic in every way. The most noticeable item was the parking lot. There was one Budget Rental Car Mitsubishi Mirage. The rest of the vehicles were white company mining pick-up trucks.
After seeing the cattle roadkill earlier in the trip, I did not fancy driving at night around here. Fortunately, I should be able to do almost all my driving during the day. The only time I will be out in the dark is when I’m driving to and from the racetracks. Each of the tracks I plan to visit will be very close to my hotels. Back in the U.S., I drive hours in the dark. Luckily, there are very few free-roaming ranges for cows back home.
The Hillview Raceway (lifetime track #2,877) in Newman, Western Australia was only a couple of kilometers from my hotel. By the time I headed out to the races, it was dark.
When I arrived, I noticed a sign saying that spectators would pay $25 AUD to watch the races. However, the ticket seller looked in my window and greeted me. She ended up charging me only twenty Australian dollars. I think that might have been the pensioner’s discount. Yes, it was nice saving five bucks. No, it wasn’t as nice knowing the ticket seller thought I qualified for a senior discount even though her judgment was right on.
Tonight, was a Thursday night. I don’t believe the Hillview Speedway races very much, if at all, on a weeknight. Their racing program was the first night of a three-track, four-night special racing promotion.
Tomorrow the racing carnival moves to Port Hedland for a Friday night show. Then they will race on both Saturday and Sunday nights in Karratha. The average driving distance between each of those three locations was about four hours. All of these tracks were in the Australian state of Western Australia.
Honestly, I wouldn’t say the racing program tonight was all that great. The racing wasn’t good because they didn’t have very many race cars.
They advertised having limited sprint cars for the first time in 20 years at the Hillview Raceway. There were sprint cars in the pit area tonight. However, there were only nine of them. Two of those nine broke during the heat races. That wasn’t great.
They also had a series of four or so production sedan stock car classes. None of those groups had more than five cars in a single class. The attrition rate was such that by the time they got to the feature events some of the classes were down to just three cars.
The track itself looked pretty much like any 1/3-mile, 525-meter, dirt track that I might visit in the United States. The PA system was extremely weak. That wasn’t good. It’s important for the fans to understand what the program is all about. They get that understanding from the track announcer. If he or she is doing their job they will provide information about the show and create drama about the racing for the fan. That was missing tonight.
There was no grandstand seating. Most of the crowd drove either their cars, but mostly pick-up trucks, to the track tonight. They parked those vehicles around the perimeter of the dirt oval track. I would say that 90% of the fans watched the races sitting on the tailgate of their trucks, or with lawn chairs they brought to the races themselves.
After having consumed a decent-sized meat lovers pizza I didn’t buy anything at the track. It did take some willpower to pass on a very good-looking donut food trailer located on the premises. The Red Dog Donut truck would end up being at the tracks for all three nights of my visits. They didn’t get my money tonight but they would tomorrow night.
I did pick up a can of Jack Daniels Cola. By the way, this is not the Jack Daniels Coca-Cola that you are seeing advertised in the states right now. The price was $10 AUD but only about seven bucks U.S. That wasn’t bad for a cocktail. It was tasty. I could have had another but I really wasn’t sure what the Australian laws were on driving after having consumed alcohol. That would not be a good risk to take.
Just to keep myself busy while the three to four-car heat races ran in the background, I decided to take a walk around the entire track. There were lots of friends and family enjoying themselves in mid-60-degree temperatures on a Thursday night. I suspect that nearly everyone at the races tonight had something to do with the mines in the area.
The highlight of the night for me was meeting up with a local Australian named Peter. I saw Peter watching the racing standing in front of his truck. He like nearly everyone else had parked around the edge of the dirt oval.
I don’t want to sound like a predator. However, I can spot people who I think might be interesting to talk to from a mile away. My background was in sales. I have no problem engaging strangers in conversation. I went up to Peter and started a conversation as I have done with literally thousands of people in my life. Soon we were talking about all manner of things from economics to politics and quite a bit more.
Peter was into building and repairing cars. He mentioned he was 60 years old and worked at an accounting firm using computers.
Peter had a lot of the same thoughts that Americans do about a lot of the subjects that Americans think about. Like I say, meeting him and spending probably an hour shooting the breeze was a highlight for me.
As the feature events began, I returned to walking back around the race track to get over to the main viewing area. The first feature race had four cars racing for 12 laps. It was starting to get cold. The next feature had three cars racing for 10 laps with a few yellow flying delays.
I have a strict code when it comes to deciding how long I will stay at these races. I had arrived at 6 p.m. It was now 10 p.m. I come to these races for my own personal entertainment. When I feel as if I am no longer being entertained, that is a signal. This is a signal that I should be leaving the race track sometime soon.
In the United States, at a short track racing program, each class will run one heat race. There could be 40 cars in a single class. The race promoter will divide that group into maybe eight or 10 cars per heat race. Each individual car will race in only one heat.
In Australia, things are different. Car counts are often very low. Because of the small number of cars, and to give the fans their money’s worth, organizers will run two and sometimes even three heat races for each competitor. In my opinion that really drags out the show.
The main event tonight was going to be the limited-winged sprint cars. They were nine at the track. Two had broken in the heat races. I decided that I did not need to stay any longer after I had seen four sprint car heat races to see seven of them mix it up in a feature race.
I hopped in the Budget Rental Car Racing Mitsubishi Mirage and drove in the dark back to my Seasons Hotel. From the hotel, for the next hour, I could hear the cars racing.
Tomorrow, I will pretty much hop on the same highway that I used today and drive five hours from Newman up to Port Hedlund, Western Australia. They’ll be racing there on Friday night.
It had taken a lot of time and effort to get to tonight’s Hillview Raceway in Newman, Western Australia. Was I disappointed that the racing wasn’t very good? Not in the friggin least. I am all about the journey and not the destination.
FRIDAY
The town of Newman, Western Australia is home to the Mount Whaleback iron ore mine. This is the biggest single-pit open-pit iron ore mine in the world. According to Wikipedia, the Whaleback Mine is:
“1.5 kilometers wide, more than five kilometers long, and is scheduled to eventually reach a depth of 0.5 kilometers. Ore from the mines is transported by rail to Port Hedland (where I will see racing tonight) through two independent railways.”
Last night a little Googling research told me the mine gave tours but the website said they were sold out for today. I figured I would show up anyway for the 9:15 a.m. departure and see if they might let me ride along. They did.
I got the idea of taking the tour from “Peter” the local race fan I met last night. I ask a lot of questions when I meet people. That’s where I get all my good ideas!
The mine had an unusual dress code for tour members. They required long pants, long sleeves, and closed-toed shoes. I almost never wear long pants. I didn’t want to today, but it didn’t seem as if I had any choice. By the way, my Hey Dude shoes won’t provide any more protection than open-toed shoes but they sure are comfortable.
About 15 people took the tour with me. We were on a bus for a couple of hours. We were able to get off for 20 minutes or so to get a better view of the mining operations themselves and get a little bit of fresh air on this beautiful blue-sky day in Western Australia.
During the tour, I learned the area’s soil content contains about 65% iron ore, one of the highest, if not the highest of anywhere in the world. Truck drivers earn $80 an hour and work 12-hour shifts. Mine employees commonly work 14 straight days and then get seven days off. More of the truck drivers are women than men! Later in the trip, I met an attractive young lady on the plane. She was wearing shorts and cowboy boots. During our conversation, she told me she drives one of those trucks! She also mentioned she wouldn’t trade her work schedule for anything.
When the tour was finished, we were all treated to scones. Yep, scones. The scones were accompanied by a huge bowl of fresh cream and strawberry jam. A sign stated there was a limit of one scone per tour member. I looked around. There were a lot of scones and whipped cream remaining. It seemed as if everyone who wanted a scone got one. I got two!
This tour was definitely the highlight of my Friday. When the tour was finished, it was time to drive back in the same direction I had driven yesterday. Yesterday’s drive took me seven hours. I enjoyed that drive quite a bit considering it was all new terrain. Today’s drive will be five hours. I was covering the same scenery I had driven past yesterday. That made the entire drive quite a bit less enjoyable.
One of the most unusual things I think I’ve seen in my time on the highway is what they call “road trains” here in Western Australia. This is where a semi-trailer truck cab is pulling four different trailers at one time. In almost all cases, the trucks are transporting material from the mines. One fellow in town told me that in extreme cases they will haul as many as six trailers behind a truck cab. Even with four trailers, these things are 65 yards in length.
After nearly running out of gas yesterday when I came across a sign that said “no service for the next 220 km” I decided that I would refuel every time I got down to half a tank. That’s almost unheard of in my travel world. Normally I don’t even consider getting gas until the orange low-fuel light has been glowing for 15 minutes.
My Budget Rental Car Racing Mitsubishi Mirage had a gas tank that holds just 9.2 gallons of fuel. A couple of my fill-ups were only adding three gallons of fuel. This is the kind of geography where you do not want to be stranded alongside the highway.
When I began planning this trip a couple of months ago, I made a hotel reservation for each of the locations where I planned to visit. I thought this was especially important in the small Western Australian towns. I figured if the racing people were coming into town hotel vacancies would be in short supply. In point of fact, hotels are in short supply in this area regardless of what’s happening.
Tonight, I stayed at a place called “Discovery Parks” in Port Hedland. This was a huge RV park with a series of freestanding cabin-like accommodations. These places offered very basic architecture and conveniences. They were also expensive. I ended up paying $138 U.S. a night for my little cabin. This seemed to be about twice the price of the value I was getting.
Tonight’s racing was taking place at the Port Hedland Racing Club. There were a few items that I really enjoyed about my night at the track. On the other hand, the racing and the viewing of the racing action was one of the worst I had ever experienced at a short track dirt oval that I can recall in recent memory.
I can tell you this. When I pulled into the track in the dark nobody else was driving a Mitsubishi Mirage! It’s almost all pickup trucks and SUVs in this part of the world.
Just like last night, the announcer could barely be heard over an extremely weak PA system. Now I’ve experienced this outage at two consecutive tracks. I’m wondering if they have a method behind their madness of having a very low-volume PA system that can barely be heard. I have no ideas why they would WANT that outcome.
Many of the cars that raced last night were at the track tonight. That’s surprising considering the driving distance from last night’s track in Newman to Port Hedland tonight. That’s a lot of driving for low-budget race teams.
For whatever reason most Australian race tracks, especially in the more rural locations, do not have any grandstands. I’ve had people tell me why both UK and Australian tracks don’t have grandstands. I’m not buying it. Tonight, fans watched from their cars and trucks parked around the perimeter of the racetrack or brought their own lawn chairs. Nope, a bad PA system and a bad seating situation are not very spectator friendly.
Tonight’s admission price was extremely reasonable. I qualified for the pensioner’s price, read that the senior discount of only $10 Australian. That’s less than seven dollars U.S. I’m not sure I got anywhere close to seven dollars’ worth of entertainment but at least they weren’t charging me a much higher price for almost no entertainment.
The highlight of my track visit was the food. My dinner entrée was a combination of pulled pork/pulled beef hamburger style sandwich with fries. This was excellent. I added a Jim Beam/Cola canned mixed drink. Later in the evening I went to the Red Dog Donut trailer and ordered a concoction of donuts, strawberries, ice cream, and bits of chocolate, which was quite tasty. As Carol accurately states, “There are not a lot of vegetables on the trackchasing tour”!
There are so many aspects of a trackchasing trip that sometimes in my mind the racing takes a backseat. I want to visit a new track. If I see a bad racing program it’s not really the end of the world. I keep reminding myself that I went to the track so that I could count the track regardless of the quality of the racing. This is all about the overall experience, the overall ambiance.
I never want to be negative about a racing facility or throw anyone under the bus. Port Hedland had extremely small car counts. There were six cars or fewer in all the divisions, except for the limited sprints. Even they had only eight cars in their field.
I always say that the most important race track employee for the spectator is the track announcer. Track announcers inform and create drama for the crowd. However, if you have a bad PA system and the announcer can’t be heard that’s a problem. Then when your only viewing option is at ground level and the fencing is such that it’s difficult to see the cars that’s kind of a double or triple whammy. Not a good program tonight. I won’t say anything more.
SATURDAY
For Thursday and Friday, I had highway drives of seven hours and then five hours, respectively. Today all I had to do was make the 2 ½-hour drive from Port Hedland over to Karratha. That would be a piece of cake.
I travel to see and experience things I won’t see and experience back home. In California, we don’t have tornadoes or hurricanes…or cyclones. Today in Western Australia I was relieved to confirm that there would be no cyclones!
I am not a fan of small cars. When I walked out into the rental car lot and saw that Budget had given me a Mitsubishi Mirage, I probably should have gone back in and complained. They might have given me a bigger car.
I literally must put extreme pressure on my head and neck to be able to even get in the driver’s seat. The roads in this part of western Australia, although paved, seem to have a high concentration of rock. This makes the ride rough. I’m sure the car’s suspension isn’t helping things either.
For whatever reason cattle are allowed to roam freely without fencing. Maybe that makes for a happier cow! I did not fancy running into one of these huge heifers with my postage stamp of a car. I was more than happy I wouldn’t be doing virtually any after-dark driving.
My plan this morning was to see the sites of Port Hedland. I checked Tripadvisor.com for the ten most fun things to do for a tourist in Port Hedland. That’s my way of discovering the sights and sounds of wherever I am visiting.
This search turned me onto the number one thing to do in Port Hedland. What was that? Lisa’s Kangaroo Retreat. I plugged the location into my GPS and off I went.
When I arrived, I was disappointed to see a large sign at Lisa’s place. The sign told me they were closed. I didn’t know if they were closed for good or if they were closed for Saturday. It didn’t really matter, I guess. It was closed on the day that I wanted to visit.
Next up, I figured I would take a drive to downtown Port Hedland. There I would park somewhere and see what I could see.
On the way to “downtown,” I saw a sign, indicating a photo opportunity for tourists. I stopped. Carol says I am an opportunist. Does she mean that as a compliment? I think being an opportunist IS a good thing. Shouldn’t everyone be looking for opportunity?
At the photo sign, I hiked up to a highway overhead bridge. I could see the trains moving back and forth from the Whaleback Mine in Newman (where I was yesterday) to the Port in Port Hedland. The trains moved slowly and methodically. Yesterday, our guide told us 23 trains made this trek every day. He also us that the first two trains each day covered the overhead of the mine. The next twenty-one were pure profit.
Our tour guide explained that two engines could pull 168 train load cars of iron ore. Sometimes they combined trains and used four engines. Those four engines could pull 336 train carloads of iron ore. That entire operation only required just one person to operate the train. From 50 yards away I could feel the heat exhaust of these two diesel engines.
It wasn’t long before one of these long trains came past. Even though they were probably moving at 20 mph it took seven minutes for me to video the entire train passing by. Two train engines were at the front of the train and two were in the middle of the train. Someday when I’ve got nothing else to do and I mean absolutely nothing else to do I will watch that video and count the cars.
From there, I continued to what Google Maps was telling me was downtown Port Hedland. Normally when I add a city name and state without a specific address, Google Maps will either take me to the post office of that town or the center of downtown.
Today Google Maps directed me to a shopping center in Port Hedland. Apparently, this WAS downtown! I walked inside and noticed a Woolworths. I don’t believe Woolworths is still in business in the United States. When Woolworths was still around, they were called a “five and dime” store. Sort of a precursor to Walmart. Sort of.
However, in Australia Woolworths is a grocery chain. I love visiting grocery stores in foreign countries. I like to see the brand names that I’ve never heard of. I search for products that might be manufactured by the company I am retired from, Procter & Gamble. That’s what I did today. I had a good time.
There are always a lot of brand names I don’t recognize. There are even products that don’t register with me. As time goes by groceries are getting more standardized around the world. I remember going to Russia and seeing soda bottles all filled to different levels. The way eggs are merchandise can be all over the board as well.
I had not had breakfast or lunch. I wasn’t sure where in Port Hedland I was going to get something to eat. Heck, I was in a grocery for store forgot sakes. They must have something to eat!
I searched and searched and made my decision. I’m not overly proud of my decision. This was a decision that I can only blame on one person and that would be me.
What would I have to replace breakfast and lunch? A cake. I found a cake. The cake featured vanilla icing. It was probably eight inches across and maybe four inches high. I decided I would eat the number of calories in that cake that equated to what I might have eaten for breakfast and lunch. I know this wasn’t a great decision. However, I stuck to my calorie limitation limit and threw the rest of the cake away at the gas station. No, this probably was not a good choice but I truly did enjoy the cake.
After nearly running out of gas on the first day of my long driving up here I decided I wasn’t going to run that risk again. The drive from Port Hedland to Karratha was going to be about 250 km in length. I had half a tank remaining on the Budget Rental Car Racing Mitsubishi Mirage. I filled it up at the Shell station. I never did figure out how to pay at the pump.
The drive over to Karratha was uneventful. During the 14 hours of driving that I would do on this trip, I probably crossed hundreds of bridges. Almost every one of these bridges was spanning a very dry river bed. These river beds had huge amounts of vegetation and trees growing in them. This made me think they had not handled much water lately. I did find one river running under a bridge. I parked my car in the center of the bridge and took photos without moving my car off the highway. In advance, I checked for traffic in both directions. I didn’t see anything. While I was getting my pictures a motorcyclist came out of nowhere. He nodded in my direction as he roared past.
Traffic is generally light. I would estimate that just about one vehicle out of two is what they call a “road train”. These are big rig trucks pulling four trailers. The trailers are either full of iron ore heading to the port or empty trailers heading back to the mine. It seems as if just about everyone works in the mining business up here.
For the second night of the past four, I would be staying at the Aspen Karratha Village “Hotel”. This really isn’t a hotel. The buildings seem to be a series of manufactured, temporary houses. I’m sure that almost all their business comes from the mining business.
The accommodations are somewhat basic but definitely spacious. The Wi-Fi is good. The rooms have microwaves and refrigerators, as well as picnic tables outside.
Tonight would be my final night of trackchasing in Western Australia on this trip. I’ll be attending the races at the Nickol Bay Speedway. The track is located just about 15 minutes from where I’m staying. All my lodging locations have been near the racetracks I visited. With all the free-range cattle roaming around I didn’t want to be out on the rural highways in the dark. Heck, I think some of the cattle I saw weighed more than my little rental car.
The races were beginning at 6:30 p.m. In Karratha during this time of year, it’s dark at that time of day. Nevertheless, I did catch a nice fading sunset in the distance on the way to the track.
For the last two nights, the entrance road from the highway to the race track has been a rugged dirt road. These entry roads went on for about a mile. The ruts in these roads along with the suspension of my Mitsubishi Mirage were enough to shake the fillings from my teeth.
I knew that tonight’s admission price would be $20 Australian. Americans get about a 34% discount on that price because of the strength of the American dollar.
Nevertheless, I subscribe to the adage that if you don’t ask you don’t get. When I lowered my window, the ticket seller told me the price was $20. I asked if they had a pensioner’s ticket price. That’s the name Australia uses for “senior discount”.
I would love to know how many McDonald’s hamburgers I have eaten in my life and how much I have saved asking for a senior discount. The answer to both of those questions would likely be in the tens of thousands.
She said, “Yes, we do”. She also added “If you don’t ask the answer is no!” Around here you had best be a clever pensioner!
The pensioner’s price was just $10 Australian or about $6.50 U.S. That was a bargain and the same price that I paid last night at Port Hedland.
I visit race tracks all over the world. Whether or not they’re in the United States or not I’m just as interested in the “ambiance of the entire operation” as I am in the racing. I say that because I’ve seen racing at nearly 3,000 tracks. I’ve probably attended twice that many race events. I’m not likely to see anything with the racing that I have not seen before. The ambiance is a different story. I am likely to see something I’ve never seen just about everywhere I go.
Unfortunately, none of these events have had very large car accounts. Tonight, the street stocks had eight cars. That was the largest number of cars I saw in a single race all week. There isn’t a lot of population around here. The three race tracks I visited form a triangle as you might expect. They are each located far from each other. The situation reminds me of the American far west. Western Australia has the same geographical limitations and usually smaller car counts at the tracks that race in the American far west.
The featured attraction for this three-track, four-day racing special was the limited sprint cars. Tonight, I saw six in the pit area but because of mechanical problems I never saw more than four racing at one time. They did put on a good show but for sprint cars, four cars just aren’t enough.
The next item on my ambiance agenda was to check out what they were selling for food. One food trailer seemed to be calling my name. Smoky Trails was offering woodfired smoked meats. Their prices seemed a little stout.
The most expensive item on the menu was the brisket meal with slaw and cheesy garlic potatoes and brisket. The price was thirty bucks Australian or about $20 U.S. I guess these Aussie miners make a lot of money!
Another food trailer, called the “Running Monkey”, was offering seafood and Indian cuisine. That looked good. I selected the squid rings with chips for $20 Australian.
The food server didn’t speak English all that well. He told me I would have to wait for them to produce my order. He gave me an electronic pager. I don’t get a lot of the electronic pagers in my business of trackchasing at racetracks.
I apparently misunderstood him telling me it was going to take 15 minutes for my food to be ready. After about 25 minutes I came back and asked what was up. That was when he told me that he had told me 50 minutes, I can tell you this. I have never been to a racetrack where someone told me I was going to have to wait 50 minutes to get my order. I told him that wouldn’t work. He gave me $20 back in cash even though I had paid by credit card. I think there’s a surcharge for credit card usage in Australia. I’ll probably end up losing on that deal.
I went back to the smokey meats trailer and ordered the cheesy garlic potatoes with brisket. The food was outstanding. This was one of the best meals I’ve had at a race track this year.
I also visited a pavilion on the track grounds. Here they had some photos and other memorabilia from the racing at Nichol Bay over the years. This was also the area where they sold alcoholic beverages.
At each of the race tracks on my trip, I’ve been having a canned mixed drink of Jack Daniels and cola. For the first two nights, this offering was priced at $10 Australian. Tonight, they were selling the same thing for just seven dollars Australian. It’s kind of funny that the food prices were higher than I had seen but the drink prices were lower.
I roamed around the front stretch of the race track getting some photos and videos from all over. I’ll post those photos and video clips, via a YouTube video on my website at www.randylewis.org. I also passed along my trackchasing business card to the Nichol Bay commentator. Later in the evening the track commentator (that’s the track announcer in the states!) came me a mention over the PA system and wished me well.
I will say this about all three Western Australia tracks that I visited. In every case, their PA systems left a lot to be desired. it doesn’t do any good to have a good announcer if no one can hear him.
Tonight, the program called for heat races only. Each class had enough cars for only one heat race. Each division would run three heat races tonight. That would be it. Tomorrow night, the second day of racing at Nichol Bay each class would run two more heats and their feature events.
After two heats tonight at the track went to intermission. I happened to be walking past the commentator’s stand and made eye contact with the man doing the announcing. We seemed to recognize each other. Soon I was meeting up with track commentator Russell Lawrence at the flag stand. We ended up doing a nice interview. You can hear it during my YouTube video from the racing at Nichol Bay.
Russell was interested in my experiences of traveling the world with trackchasing. He wanted to know what I thought about the racing here in the upper part of Western Australia.
I wanted to take a moment to share what is one of my favorite photos of the trip. This is a father holding the hand of his son while they watch the races. I’m sure most of you have a favorite experience where one of your parents took you, as a small youngster, to an event that lives on in your mind.
As I say if you’re interested, you might want to look at my video from Nichol Bay Speedway up in Karratha, WA. The interview itself runs about 3 1/2 minutes. Later I got a Facebook friend request from Russell. I hope we can stay in touch.
I was back at my hotel by 10 p.m. It was time to begin making my plans to get back home, which for me is San Clemente, California.
SATURDAY
Although they are racing in Nichol Bay tonight, I can’t stay. It’s going to take me three days of travel to get back to California.
Today’s flights from Karratha to Perth would leave in the late afternoon. None of those flights arrive in Perth in time for me to get a flight out of Perth today.
Karratha flights are limited to within the Australian state of Western Australia. I would fly straight south from Karratha to Perth. That’s a two-hour flight but a 16-hour drive!
Perth, the capital of Western Australia, does not have any non-stop flights to the United States. That means from Perth I will have to fly to Sydney and stay overnight in Sydney in order to get back home. I’ll do that on Sunday.
Then on Monday, I will fly from Sydney to Los Angeles. That’s a 12-hour flight. I will leave Sydney on Monday morning, and with the 15-hour time zone change, I will arrive in Los Angeles on Monday morning as well! Weird, huh?
There won’t be much rest for the weary. Carol and I will leave three days after I get back from Australia for New York City. In NYC we will get the chance to spend four days touring the Big Apple with our grandchildren, Astrid, and Mitch.
After that weekend in New York, I will be making family trips and trackchasing trips virtually every weekend for the next four or five months. Yes, I live an unusual lifestyle, but it’s a lifestyle that I have chosen. Obviously, I enjoy it very much.
The Karratha airport is small. Today they had three flights leaving for Perth from 4 o’clock to 7 p.m. This meant I had almost all day to see what I could see in Karratha.
I must tell you that my Mitsubishi Mirage rental car did get me from point A to point B. That’s about the best thing I can say about the experience. Riding in the Mirage was not a comfortable ride.
I think it’s safe to say that I am not a fan of small cars. For me, it was a challenge to simply get in and out of the driver’s seat. My neck doesn’t bend like I think it used to bend. I had to scrunch myself down, and then put pressure on the top of my head to squeeze in and out of the car. No, I will not be running down to my Mitsubishi dealer in San Clemente to get one of these anytime soon.
When I rented the car, it came with 400 “free” kilometers. That wasn’t much. Once I used up those 400 kilometers each additional kilometer would cost me $.25 Australian. I wouldn’t say I liked that idea. I never do. However, when renting a car in Karratha I didn’t have any choice.
I ended up driving a total of 1,300 kilometers. The cost of this little car, which I didn’t like one bit, came in at about $450 U.S. for four days. That’s expensive but then again, I didn’t have any choice.
Last night I stayed for the second night during this four-day trip to the northern part of Western Australia at the Aspen Karratha Village motel. This place is really a series of manufactured housing units primarily occupied by mineworkers. Nevertheless, it was spacious and comfortable and met the need.
When I checked out this morning, I asked the desk clerk what might be a good thing for me to see and experience before I caught my flight. She recommended a restaurant called the “Soak in Dampier”. I followed her advice. The Soak was a very nice breakfast option. I ended up with a large serving of chocolate-covered pancakes with whipped cream and ice cream. I’m a sucker for that stuff.
Are you getting the impression that I eat a very “eclectic” diet? Yes, I do. I have eaten this way all my life…every meal…all my life. Somehow the genetic gods have smiled down on me. I have never taken any doctor-prescribed drugs and to this day that is still the case.
The desk clerk’s recommendation was exactly right on. I love asking for and taking the advice of local people. The restaurant had a beautiful view of the turquoise blue water, which was attached to the Indian Ocean. I happen to think that whenever you’ve had pancakes and ice cream and a beautiful view of the Indian Ocean you have had a doggoned good day!
Following my walk along the ocean I stopped in a local shopping mall. I had the time. I just wanted to see what I could see. The mall’s two anchor stores were Kmart and Woolworths. When was the last time, if you are a resident of the United States, that you shopped at one of those retailers?
Here in Australia, Kmart is primarily a clothing store. Woolworths is a grocery store. I don’t know if these outlets are owned by any American-affiliated companies or not. I doubt it.
My flight from Karratha to Perth was uneventful. When I landed, I enjoyed a conversation with my Pakistani native Uber driver. This guy was an aggressive go-getter. I love talking to Uber drivers.
He told me he works in the mines for one week with a 12-hour shift each day. He gets paid AU$100,000 or about $65,000 U.S. every six months. Then he has a week off. He uses that week to be an Uber driver for three days where he earns an additional $1,000 Australian. That’s about 50,000/year Australian just from being an Uber driver for three days each week. He’s already bought a second car and will hire that out to another driver. He was most interested in my financial experience. We talked about that once we arrived at my hotel for several minutes.
Over the past few months, Carol and I have stayed at the Aloft Hotel in Perth a couple of times. Tonight, they upgraded me to a major suite. That suite probably had more than 1000 ft.² of space. It seems like I get my very best upgrades when I’m by myself. I wish that wasn’t the case!
After I had reached my room and was beginning to relax, I got a knock on the door. One of the hotel staff members was bringing me a plate of Australian sweet delicacies. I thanked her and began to relax some more. A bit later I received another knock on the door. This was another staff member. She was delivering a thank you note from the hotel manager for my staying at the aloft hotel…along with a bottle of wine. The reason I stay at Marriott branded properties is because they can’t do enough for me.
MONDAY
I’m just trying to head for home now. Yesterday I took a two-hour flight from Karratha to Perth. Because of the flight times, there was no opportunity to continue to Perth on Sunday.
This morning I hopped on a flight from Perth to Sydney. That’s a four-hour plane ride. In my world that is not a big deal. I spend most of my flight time watching Netflix programs on my iPad. I landed at 3 p.m. into Sydney. Wouldn’t you know it? All the flights continuing from Sydney to Los Angeles leave at about 9 a.m. each day.
That meant I would need a hotel in Sydney tonight. A couple of months ago I landed in Sydney at 11 p.m. In order to make my flight on that trip from Sydney to Los Angeles I need to be at the airport by about 7 a.m. I had eight hours.
I didn’t think there was enough time to make getting a $200 hotel worthwhile. I slept outside the airport on a bench for about three hours until the airport reopened for the day at 2:30 a.m. Then I went inside and slept for another couple of hours. On that trip, the overnight temperature was in the 60s. I learned a lot during boot camp with the U.S. Marines. One of the things I learned is that when faced with an obstacle I can do just about anything. Sleeping outside the airport for a few hours? Piece of cake.
I entertained the idea, briefly, of doing the same thing on this trip. However, my weather app told me the overnight low was going to be in the mid-40s this evening. Naw, I didn’t need that no matter what I learned in boot camp!
I went online. Soon Priceline.com was getting me a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express at the Sydney airport. Priceline offered up a nice discount. Getting a room in Sydney at the airport for $107 U.S. was just what I needed.
I landed in Sydney at 3 p.m. today. I decided to check out the Sydney opera house to see what shows I could attend. Carol and I have been to the Sydney opera house a few times. They have lots of different venues, depending upon what type of production will be playing.
I was able to snag a ticket in the seventh row of the drama theater for a performance from singer Martha Marlowe. Frankly, I have never heard of Miss Marlowe. Nevertheless, a quick check of YouTube told me that her sound would make seeing her concert a good idea.
When I landed at the Sydney Airport, I needed to retrieve my checked bag. However, before I could do that, I wanted to stop at one of the Priority Pass restaurants in terminal three at the Sydney Airport.
I’m talking about the “Wok on Air” restaurant. They serve dim sum. I love dim sum.
With the Priority Pass program in America, I can normally buy $28 worth of food and drink at no cost to me whatsoever. If Carol is traveling with me, we get double that amount.
The Priority Pass program comes with my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. That card has an annual fee of $150 after rebates. It is common for me to get several thousand dollars worth of food and drink from the Priority Pass program. The PP benefits pay for the cost of the card tens of times over.
In Australia, the Priority Pass offers $36 worth of food and drinks in Australian currency. Today I ordered 12 pieces of dim sum and a Pepsi Max. My bill came to $37 AUS. I just happened to have a one dollar Australian coin in my pocket. This was my lucky day!
Then I discovered it was only a 13-minute walk from the terminal to my Holiday Inn Express hotel. I could have taken the $10 shuttle bus but that might have taken longer than walking. I can always use the exercise.
Once I checked into the hotel, I enjoyed some of my dim sum and ordered an Uber ride to the Sydney opera house. Today had been a very good travel day. Now with a concert to top things off I should be well rested for my 12-hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles tomorrow.
For the first time ever my Uber driver pulled up to the hotel in an electric car. He was driving a Polestar. Polestar is a Swedish automotive brand that began in 1996. Later Polestar was acquired by Volvo and still later Geely, a Chinese-based car company. Polestar automobiles are made in China.
My Uber driver was from India. He told me he had retired from being a professor in Australia and drove for Uber to stay busy. He said his wife, also a retired professor, also drove for Uber. Now do you understand why I enjoy talking to Uber drivers so much?
The area around the Sydney Opera House was buzzing with excitement. I just happened to be at the opera house when the “Vivid Sydney” light show was happening. Vivid Sydney is the world’s largest festival of light, music, and ideas. The show runs from 26 May to 17 June 2023. I was there on 29 May. That’s good luck! Trust me. The photos don’t begin to replicate how beautiful this scene was.
Tonight’s Melissa Marlowe performance was happening in a smaller venue inside the Sydney Opera House. The theatre might have seated 500 people. Miss Marlowe’s music seems similar to someone like Joan Baez. If you’re interested you might want to check her out on YouTube.
When the show was finished, I took my time strolling around Sydney Harbor. I simply wanted to enjoy the people and the lights. I left for this trip nearly three weeks ago. Carol and I spent two weeks in Japan. Now I was wrapping up a week in Australia. People love taking that “trip of a lifetime”. I enjoy taking a trip of a lifetime every month or two.
TUESDAY.
Today I was flying from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles. Truth be told I could travel for much longer than three weeks. I just have one requirement. I want something MAJOR to enjoy virtually every day for the trip to be exciting for me.
Many years ago, I stood underneath a street lamp in Bermuda. I was talking with Marquette University and NCAA championship basketball coach Al McGuire. It was just Coach McGuire and me. I wanted to make conversation with the coach. I didn’t really know what to ask him.
Finally, I came up with this intellectually stimulating question “You must travel a lot. What’s your advice on making travel easier”. O.K. I’m not Einstein!
If I had to guess I don’t think Coach McGuire had ever in his entire life been asked such a question. He was nice enough to provide this answer for me.
Coach simply said that when he traveled his very best idea was to wear comfortable clothing. Wow! I had not asked a very deep question. Nevertheless, his answer made a lot of sense to me. I have tried to follow this advice since the day Coach McGuire gave it to me.
I want to be as comfortable as I possibly can when I’m traveling. One of the best ways to do that when I’m in airports is to take advantage of the private airline clubs. I used to hold memberships in these clubs back in the day but I was always reimbursed by the company for the expense.
Now that I have Priority Pass, I’m in airline clubs all the time. This is especially true when I’m outside the United States. Today in the Sydney airport, I spent some time in the “House” airline club. I also had the opportunity to spend $36 of someone else’s money at the Peroni Bar/Restaurant for breakfast.
Honestly, I have no idea how the Priority Pass club membership business model works. I pay them $75 a year as a membership fee. Then I go to restaurants in airports all over the world. I spend thousands of PP dollars on “free” food, I’ll also stop by airport lounges and eat their food and drink their booze and relax at no charge to me. Maybe someone reading this can enlighten me as to how Priority Pass makes a profit.
When it was time to board my airplane for the trip back home, I checked my bag. I completed the required information for travel using the electronic kiosk.
The kiosk system asked if I might like to change my seat. I didn’t even know what seat I had been assigned. When I found out that I was seated at a window in a row of three I looked for a change.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw that I could sit in an aisle seat in coach with no seat in front of me. This was not a bulkhead. For some unknown reason, in a long series of four-person to a row seats, there was no seat in front of the seat I was about to pick.
The flight was wide open. There was only me in my row of four seats. I used that opportunity to sleep just a little bit on the way home.
Some people don’t like the idea of flying for 12 hours nonstop. I don’t mind. If you’re going to live in the United States and you want to visit places that are far from your home like Australia that’s what is required.
If you travel, I can’t recommend strongly enough the need to have a membership in the Global Entry program which also includes TSA pre-check. Today I cleared customs in Los Angeles via Global Entry in about seven seconds. Others joined a long line of people coming into the United States with or without an American passport. Their wait was probably closer to thirty minutes.
I arrived home at 10 a.m. I immediately went to bed and slept until 5 p.m. Then at midnight in California, I went to bed a second time. It will take me a while to recover from a 16-hour time zone difference. That won’t be a problem for me. I’ll simply sleep when I feel like sleeping. None of this stuff bothers me in the least. I’m the most laidback guy most folks know.
This has been a wonderful trip. Every logistical choice that we made turned out exactly as we planned it. Every entertainment choice that we selected worked out as planned.
How long will I continue to try to have a trip of a lifetime pretty much every month or two? As long as I feel like doing it.
If you’ve read along all the way to the end, I hope you were able to enjoy some of the experiences in your mind that we had on this trip. I also hope you picked up a travel tip or two that you can employ with whatever trips you decide to make.
Travel is a wonderful thing to be able to do. It can be expensive, but not as expensive as you might think if you have a good plan and strategy. Travel can certainly be educational and enjoyable. There are a lot of things to see in this world. There are so many people in this world that are living their lives so much differently than you and me.
Until next time we’ll see you down the road somewhere.
Randy Lewis
G’day mate!