Mmm… Melbourne

~ So here I am in Melbourne, Australia for the start of three weeks house sitting. I should be out and about partying – or at least out having fun, which is not always the same thing – but instead I’ve been laid up all day trying to shake off the effects of either a head cold or the latest in an endless allergic reaction to who knows what.

Quite frankly, I feel like crud, but I hope to get out tomorrow to check out the city centre, and reacquaint myself with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Federation Square, and the general vibe of Victoria’s capital.

I was last here in January and February, house sitting for the same owners, and caring for their ageing cat, Bruce. Given his advanced age, Bruce probably feels worse than me, but seems happy enough to sleep and get the occasional back scratch.

Speaking of ACMI, I wrote about my visit there last January to see the fantastic Dennis Hopper exhibition Dennis Hopper & The New Hollywood. As you might expect, I, along with thousands of other fans, am deeply saddened to learn of his recent death at 74. Hopper was one of the great Hollywood rebels, and managed to carve out a niche for himself despite the workings of the big studios, movie moguls, and critics. His legacy will live on when many other lesser actors will fade into obscurity and the occasion footnote in some history of modern cinema.

But I digress.

Being in Melbourne for three weeks also gives me a chance to work on my stripped down Round The World packing list. My small suitcase weighed in at just 14.4 kilograms (32 pounds), and even that probably has more in it than I really need. I’m also traveling with a lap top computer and some other essential technological aids. However, this is the extent of my on road kit.

The other thing I am working on is my ability to budget for an extended journey spanning many months. I am hoping to keep my daily expenses in Melbourne as close as possible to $50 per day, and hopefully, I won’t be spending much more than that while I am in New York. But that remains to be seen. For now, I’m concentrating on getting over my cold/allergy, and enjoying Melbourne.

Money, Money, Money

~ I’ve had one of those days where all I did was pay out my hard earned cash, and got very little in ‘return’ to show for it. Well, that’s how it feels, anyway.

You see, today I bought travel insurance for my upcoming trip ($757.00), and paid for a couple of nights accommodation in a Super 8 Hotel near Los Angeles international airport (US$132.56). In return for my $889.56 I got a couple of electronic receipts, and documents spelling out the numerous terms and conditions governing my purchases.

Quite frankly, it didn’t seem like a fair return to me.

That’s one of the problems with travel. You seem to spend weeks, if not months, paying out large sums of money before you see any actual return on your investment. So far I have paid out $5,427.00 towards my trip and I haven’t even left the house yet!

I’m trying valiantly to stem a rising tide of panic which in my worst case scenario sees me flying out of Australia without any money left in my account to enjoy my travels. Of course, I will have enough, but when you are constantly forking out for tickets, insurance, accommodation, and pre-booked tours and such, departure time can seem like a long way off, and your wallet begins to look very thin.

Add to this the constant worry of watching the world’s financial markets rise and fall like a kite caught in a hurricane, and endless calculations on just how much more (or less) the Australian dollar will buy each day, and I know exactly why I don’t feel anywhere near excited enough about my approaching departure.

I console myself with the thought that with a month still to go before I fly out, I have pretty much made all my major travel expenditures except for any day to day living expenses I will have to deal with.

Roll on June 29!

Click here to see The (Real) Cost of Travel...

Denmark Dolphin Killing Festival

~ I'm not big on boycotts. But today I became aware of a ‘festival’ so bizarre and disgraceful that I think the country that hosts it, deserves to be boycotted until the event is stopped.

The event in question is the annual pilot whale/dolphin killing festival which takes place in the Faroe Islands. The islands, sometimes Faeroe Islands, Faroe(s), or Faeroes are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland.

The atrocious slaughter you see depicted in the image illustrating this post, has been practiced since at least the 10th century, with around 1,000 creatures killed annually in the “grindadráp” (whale hunt) typically occurring during summer months.

Not surprisingly, the hunting of pilot whales/dolphins by residents of the Faroe Islands has long been a subject of controversy, and for good reason.

Although the International Whaling Commission enacted a ban on commercial whaling in 1986, pilot whales seem to be exempt because technically they are members of the dolphin family. To compound the problem, the Faroe Islands is one of the parts of the world where the IWC's rules still allow for subsistence hunting of such cetaceans.

As usual, supporters of the hunt maintain that the practise of killing pilot whales is "an age-old communal, non-commercial hunt aimed at meeting the community's need for whale meat and blubber." They also claim the animals are dealt with so quickly that their pain is brief, and that whale meat accounts for a quarter of the Faroe Islander's annual meat consumption.

Conservationists, on the other hand charge that the hunts, which take hundreds of whales at a time, are barbaric and pointless; that "the practice is outdated, cruel and unnecessary for a place with one of the highest standards of living in Europe." As if that is not enough, most of the whales go to waste - either being left on the beach to rot or thrown back to sea after they are killed.

While the Scandinavian countries have long been on my list of regions to visit, I for one will never visit Denmark, the Faroe Islands, or Greenland while this atrocious practice continues.

Visit this site for more images and links to videos which show this barbaric event in all its gruesome detail.