WhereIzMegan

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Farewell to the Donellis

Last night the Pleasure Divers gang and families got together to wish John and Cathy a farewell. We ate at Livingoods here in downtown Plattsburgh. It was a warm evening and those that sat in the booth area were very warm as there wasn't alot of air circulation. Good laughs and great meals were had by everyone. Hopefully their home here will sell soon, and they will keep the 30 years of memories had in that house. We will miss them both and hopefully visit them in Naples.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Back in Lake Champlain

Well, last weekend I went for my first dive back in Lake Champlain in atleast 3 years, maybe more. I had forgotten how much I didn't enjoy full 7mm wetsuits, plus gloves, hood, and booties. I was spoiled in the Keys and Australia with not wetsuit or a 3/2 mm suit. It wasn't too cold, and it was a beautiful day. I went with John, a Divemaster Candidate, for his mapping project. We entered just south of the Essex, NY to Charlotte, VT ferry at Begg's Point Park. There wasn't much to see besides a few dozen golf balls and several tires. I did find a pair of sunglasses and half a cell phone. Those came out with me. We made two dives, about an hour each. John's map turned out great. He even made a little Powerpoint presentation about it and the surrounding area, including pictures.
We've been very busy at Pleasure Divers, and I've been working hard. Today we were so busy that I didn't get to eat lunch. It's good for the shop to be getting the business, but I'd also like a few minutes to sit and eat.
I've been running the compressor for almost 2 hours every day this week. I'm to the point were I'm not scared to use it. The next task will be blending Enriched Air. That could take a while!
In the past few weeks we've managed to strip the wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom, paint it yellow, sand, stain, and polyurethane the vanity cabinet, and install the new GFCI outlet, new light fixture, towel bars, and pictures. It turned out great. We also pressure washed the deck and paint/stained it with 2 coats of gray. This place is really shaping up!

Monday, June 18, 2007

Going Back In Time

Well, I am back in the US of A now. From the time I left my apartment in Australia until I landed in Burlington was about 42 hours. Not much sleeping happened in that time but life goes on. The only delay I had was on the last flight, from New York's JFK to Burlington. Figures it's the last flight! The trip from Australia to LA was interesting because we left on Thursday at 12:30 pm and arrived on Thursday at 12:15 pm. Flying like 8,000 miles in negative 15 minutes, not bad!! Not much excitement otherwise. I mistakenly started driving on the left side of the road my first time back behind the wheel. Luckily it was on the dirt roads of Westford, VT with no other cars around. I have adjusted to the time quite quickly, but the sun setting so much later has confused me. It would be dark at about 5 pm in Brisbane when I left and it's just getting dark now at 9pm. I've got most things unpacked and laundry is going, so that means I'm really back. I'll miss Australia, but I also missed home and am glad to be back. I hope you've enjoyed reading my adventures in the land down under! Cheers!

Monday, June 11, 2007

True Story

Living in Brisbane for the past 4 months I've seen the Story Bridge many times. I'd always hears about the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb but have yet to do it. When I heard about a bridge climb right here I decided I had to do it.

The day after I got back from Cairns I was off to climb the biggest bridge in Brisbane! I paid my student rate online and had my confirmation printout in hand when I arrived at the HQ of the Story Bridge Adventure Climb.

Through out the preparation and the actual climb I learned some very interesting information about this bridge.

Opened for operation on July 6, 1940, the Story Bridge is the largest steel bridge designed, fabricated and constructed in Australia by Australians. The Story Bridge was one of the then governments’ three major public works projects, creating years of employment for many men during the Great Depression. Construction took five years, one year longer than planned, and Queenslander, Dr John Bradfield(same man that designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge) was Consulting Engineer. His design team prepared approx 600 working drawings, and interestingly design for the bridge was based heavily on that of the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal. The overall cost of the bridge was about £1,492,000 and seven years after completion, the State Government sold the Story Bridge to the Brisbane City Council for £750,000. This was only paid off in 1999. The Bridge runs north/south joining Kangaroo Point to Brisbane City and Fortitude Valley.

The bridge is 1,072 meters long from the southern to northern anchor piers and the Bridge’s summit is 74 meters to ground, similar in height to a 22-story building. Currently the bridge is repainted every 7 years using 17,500 litres of paint. I don't think I'd enjoy that job! The approx 1.5 km climb route takes you over the(on average) 70,000 cars cross the bridge everyday. There are more than 1100 stairs climbed up or down during the entire 2 1/2 hour journey. The road on the bridge is called the Bradfield Highway, and is the shortest highway in Australia. It is not to be confused with the Bradfield Highway that spans the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The weather cooperated and the rain stopped overnight and cleared enough for an amazing 360 view. There were 8 others climbing besides me in our group, including two men using gift certificates for their 60th birthdays. I was the only foreigner and definitely the youngest in the group. Still had an absolute blast and made a great way to wrap up my time in BrisVegas.

Cameras aren't allowed on the climb, but I purchased a paper copy of 3 of the shots they took which I hope to scan in at some point soon. To get an idea the 1 minute promotional video from their website can be found at... http://storybridgeadventureclimb.com.au/download/storybridge_1min.mov

Here I am post climb in my suit. Very stylish, I know. I asked if I could take it home, but they wouldn't let me.