Sunday, February 3, 2008
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Our Australian Adventure
See photo of our NE home to the right on the day of our departure. We snow blowed before we left for the airport!
February 6, 2008 marked the beginning of Beth’s dream to spend some time back in her Homeland-I left Australia 30 years ago to study at the University of Arizona and, apart from 3 years back home in the early-mid 80’s, have lived in the USA ever since. I see this as a “fact finding” trip which will hopefully help us define a path for our future now that we both seem to be retired. Three months of travel in Australia should help-after all it is my heritage and I never meant to leave it-not forever!. Besides we are deep into a freeze and snow in Omaha-no better time to escape to a warmer place. Australia would be that place. Its summer there!
It wasn’t until we were on our way that I recalled why we decided to take this trip at this moment. Charlie (aka Caroline-maiden name was Brown), Bernadette and I grew up in Canberra where we attended 3 different grade schools but came together as friends at the Australian National University in Canberra, all in the science stream. We all subsequently ended up in Adelaide for a time, Charlie and Bernadette to pursue PhD’s and I to take a job as respite from my PhD program which was not going well in Brisbane. Charlie and Bernadette met their future husbands in Adelaide, both were Canberra boys-they threw in their PhD’s, married, had children and moved to new places. Bernadette ended up in Edinburgh, Scotland and Charlie in Melbourne, Australia (via Brisbane for many years where we also crossed paths once again when I resumed my PhD). From our various locations around the world we 3 girlfriends were always in contact, and when one was visiting another, we would always call the third and have a 3 way conversation. We were blessed to have Charlie, Murray and their 3 kids stay with us in our Denver loft over Christmas, back in 1996 and, one year later to visit Bernadette and Chris in Scotland. Then in about June of last year, Bernadette wrote to say she had lung cancer; she had felt tired but attributed it to her final taxingmonths of teaching before retirement; her breathless voice over the phone less than a month later said she hoped the doctors would be able to operate; two months later she was dead-within a month of her retirement and one day after her 60th birthday. As Charlie and I struggled over several phone calls with the sudden loss of the third member of our trio, we vowed to make every effort to get together more often. I was newly out of a job-the time was ripe for us to make my dream trip to Australia, albeit a year before planned.
So-here we are in Melbourne and blessed beyond words to be house sitting for Charlie and Murray who have told us to make their beautiful home our own, along with 2 bikes, a car, tram tickets and piles of brochures for trips to everywhere while they visit New Zealand to canoe and hike. We spent the weekend together before they left and eagerly await their return to share experiences. Their home is care-free compared with our Omaha residence (more fuel for Harold’s fire-he wants to sell) with lovely touches of brick or Aussie wood-paneled walls. Just a small easily managed garden with lots (70+) of potted plants out the back and a few planted shrubs in the front. Charlie is a botanist with a love for Australian flora. Her professional and fiction library is extensive. I could curl up in the sun on the patio and be content for weeks. We are centrally located, within easy walking distance of beautiful parks, and the city, restaurants and outdoor fruit and veggie markets. We have already walked miles (kilometers in Aust). From Melbourne we have plans to visit Hobart, Tasmania (my one remaining aunt lives there), Albury (a small town on the NSW/Vic border for a bat conference) and Brisbane, Queensland (my PhD student is there) before settling down in the Sydney area for the final weeks. My niece and nephew and best school friend live there along with another dear friend, and my brother and sister in law are only 3 hrs drive away, in Canberra. Already the time seems too short. Follow along with us as we begin our adventure Down Under!
The first 3 weeks:
House sitting responsibilities are minimal. Though Australia has had some much needed rain and things are looking much greener than expected, water restrictions are in place in many areas. Here, in Melbourne, the dams are now officially 38% full. We can water between 6 and 8AM on Tuesdays and Saturdays only and showers should be of minimal time (3 mins). Then, the worm farm needs fruit and vegetable peelings and the 2 fish in the outside pond need a pinch of fish food a couple of times a week. That’s about it! Life is tough. We have a lab top computer to keep up with mail and business, with Skype installed for those who would want to talk with us. The technology today is truly amazing-who would have thought you could use a computer as a phone and see the party you are calling on the screen, provided they have a webcam.
First challenge was driving the car on the right hand side but on the left hand side of the road. But even before that is getting the car out of the garage. The drive is bounded by the house on one side and the house next door on the other, the garage is beneath the house. You enter the drive at right angles from the back alley, and wind downhill to the garage with only a few inches on either side, or so it seems. If you negotiate this successfully (slowly, with judicious use of mirrors), you turn the corner to enter the garage and park the car on a turntable, then press a switch to rotate it so you can go back out frontwards. Oh my-this is tricky-much worse than our Izard St drive! Needless to say Harold took possession of the car at the airport this week and managed to safely get home and install it below! Indeed he has risen to the driving challenge well-has driven many miles (which is even more km) and negotiate umpteen round-abouts successfully -till one day he tried to turn into oncoming traffic by pulling into the RHS rather than the LHS of the road. That was one adrenalin surge!
First impressions of Australia are that it is greener, cooler and more expensive than imagined. Greener because rain has finally fallen (indeed, eastern Qld is flooding), cooler because I had expected 90+ temps and its more like 70 on many days-and expensive especially with the weak US dollar. Honestly I don’t know how Australians survive! A trip to the movies costs $14, no food entrée seems to be less than $12 and is mostly $20+, no night in a motel is less than $100, gas is over twice the cost, and a US $1.90 Starbucks coffee is $3.05 Aust. Subtract 10% for the exchange rate and it’s still over the top.
It seems we arrived in Australia just in time to witness what has been touted as a huge and historic moment in this nation’s history. It was a time of reconciliation. The newly elected prime minister staked his claim on Australia’s history by publically (and with bipartisan support) offering an apology to the “lost generation”-our native aboriginal people whose way of life became compromised by white man's arrival on this continent some 200+ years ago. The aborigines were a very primitive tribe (much more so than the American Indian) that inhabited this continent for thousands of years before white man's arrival. As their land was taken, the need for their integration into our society became great but it has been a long and difficult road and one that has not been accomplished very successfully. To this day, the level of literacy and standard of health among these people are poor. Many have turned to alcoholism and direct their welfare checks to this end. Much has been attempted to address this problem, much has been done and doubtless much remains to be done. While there is a level of guilt on the part of white Australians there is also the recognition that much lies in the hands of the aborigines themselves, to want to improve their lot in life. As you can imagine this is a huge, complex and controversial issue with enormous political overtones. Only the future will reveal whether the public apology that has just been offered will produce any profound change. Many Aussies are concerned that the apology will generate outcries for reparations. As we see it, the new (Rudd:liberal) government is rolling back progress made by the former (Howard: conservative) government allowing the aboriginals for the first time access to ownership of property, and also restrictions on con men who prey on the aboriginals providing alcohol and drugs. The Howard Govt had put together a plan whereby aboriginal properties (the reservations on which they live) could be leased to the federal government which in turn would lease it back to individuals on a 99 year lease plan; this would allow them to build their own homes and businesses, have pride in ownership and establish hopes and dreams for the future. For whatever reason, the new Govt is looking to take this seemingly hopeful future away. I really dont know what this all implies and dont know enough to comment much further at this point. And obviously it is all highly politically charged. I think the bottom line will lie out there in the future when any changes for the better are revealed that might be the result of this weeks historic rhetoric.
Fauna sightings are high on my list of excitement in Australia. In Melbourne they appropriately began with 2 giant fruit bats (flying foxes) in Fitzroy Gardens as we walked home from seeing a late night movie. A few mins later a brush tail possum scampered up a tree. As we drove to a national park a day later we added an echidna to the list. For those who do not know an echidna is a native monotreme marsupial-it is a spiny anteater that lays eggs but suckles its young. It crossed the road in front of us and immediately burrowed its head into the bank, exposing only its spiny back to ward off any wood-be predator or avid photographer! This is typical behavior.
First foray into the unknown was a 2 night trip to Wilsons Promontory. Locally known as the Prom, it is a large peninsula of wilderness at the southern- most tip of Australia, about 3 hrs drive SE of Melbourne. Here the Prom projects into Bass Strait, that large body of water that separates mainland Australia fom its island state of Tasmania. Its beauty is hard to describe to those who do not know the Australian bush or have not seen the magic of Australian beaches where the sand is so white and the sea so sparkling blue. Many ecosystems are represented in this national park. Stands of gums, forests of tea tree, she-oak and banksias, cool fern gullies-we hiked through it all on a 20 km r/t bush walk that took us to a secluded pristine beach (Sealers Cove) and back-a strenuous hike of some 6 hrs. We cant believe we did it. On the way we saw a snake and heard many birds and sighted I believe, some screeching yellow-tailed black cockatoos flying overhead. Some kangaroo and wallaby sightings completed our fauna list for that day; I was disappointed not to see a wombat but then was too tired to go out at night to look for them for they are nocturnal!
Second foray was a one day trip to the Healesville Australian native fauna sanctuary –this bushland setting showcasing exclusively native fauna is probably the best native animal park in Australia. It is about 1.5 hrs drive east of Melbourne. There we saw koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, dingoes, platypus, fruit bats, some native rats and mice and a host of smaller marsupial species with strange aboriginal names, together with many lizard and snake species and countless birds. Once again the wombats were in hiding! No wonder, the temperature that day was near 100F! On the way home we stopped in at 2 wineries in the nearby Yarra Valley.
Other adventures so far have included a swim at a local city beach, tram and bus tours of the city, a bike ride along, and a ferry trip on the local Yarra (= aboriginal for flowing) River, and an evening visit to the huge Victoria markets where Wednesday nights in summer feature international foods stands and arts and crafts. For $5-$10 one can purchase a dish of tasty food from just about any country, and a glass of wine and sit with the masses who are out doing the same thing. It is very cosmopolitan and fun.
Down town Melbourne draws us quite often, indeed almost daily. It is a seething mass of humanity (particularly we see lots of Chinese) whenever we go, with crowds coming and going, jumping on or off trams or eating at the local cafes. Talking of food, I have had my yearnings for the ubiquitous Aussie meat pie, and also fish and chips, satisfied. I could go on eating them but I guess they are not the healthiest of foods! The meat pie is the Aussie equivalent of an American hamburger. It is the cheap fast food that you buy when in need of a quick meal or snack. Talking of hamburgers, Harold’s craving for one was dashed last night when he was served meatloaf in a bread roll, for a hamburger. Along with Starbucks coffee, its taking him a while to drop his American habits! Like me though, he seems to be loving cappuccinos which are so much more substantial and flavorful than their American counterpart.
We have stayed fairly close to home these past few days tracking down rental car and accommodation options for when we leave Melbourne in about a week's time and taking care of other business. But we are not letting the grass grow under our feet! Indeed, we walk, drive or bike somewhere every day. A highlight of the past few days has been a visit to Victoria Markets (a fruit, vegetable, meat, fish, cheese, bread and every other fresh food market that defies description for its size and overwhelming number of salivating choices). Piles of bacon, trays of fresh fish, huge prawns and lobsters and scallops, trays brimming over with sausages and steaks and lamb, and every variety of cheese you can imagine. Its almost too much to make decisions on what one should buy-and pay! Our camera needed charging that day so no pics for now-but I am dying to go back! They are open 5 days/week.We also took a trip out to Ballarat, a 90 min ride to the west, by train. This town was the centre of gold mining mania back in the mid 1800's. Today it offers the tourist historical views of its illustrious past in the form of museums and a simulated town as it was in the gold rush days (a big tourist trap we thought!). However the trip was worth it for a wonderful gallery that featured 100 years of fabulous Australian art.
The weather here continues to be very changeable-I am reminded that this is "Melbourne weather". It can course from hot to cold all in one day. Most days here have been cool-mild (sweater=jumper, in Aussie language, weather) but we did have 3 glorious days in the 90's last week so we headed off to a city beach for a swim. That was about a 30 min trip one way. Check out the picture of the beach sheds!! These are a feature of several of Melbourne's city beaches-these colorful wood sheds occupy a position between the edge of the sand and the bush that separates the beach from the road. If one of these precious sheds is available for purchase (many have been in families for years), expect to fork out between $80,000 and $100,000. You use them to store your beach paraphenalia (umbrella, chairs, eskies) to save you having to cart it back and forth!!!
Saturday, we took a scenic drive down the Mornington Peninsula which is a projection of land to the south of Melbourne. Lots of little townships, wineries, gorgeous beaches. It was too cool for swimming but we did take a nice short hike on a trail that took us through some bushland then back along the beach to our starting point. Then, on Sunday, following our checking out our third church to date, we continued driving east for another 30 mins to the beautiful Dandenong Mtn national park. There, following lunch, we followed directions to the home of someone we know from Canberra who bought a second house in the Dandenongs to use as a vacation home. Allan (whose son, Lawrence, was my first boyfriend, and a fellow University student in Canberra, and now a highly successful geologist operating out of Toronto) is currently back in Canberra but has encouraged us to go stay in his Dandenong home for a few days if we would like so we are planning on doing this once we get back from Hobart in about 2 weeks time. Needless to say it is a lovely area for bush walks, bird watching and just savouring some peace and beauty. The neighbors (who have the key) welcomed us with tea and cake and much local information. We also talked about politics, gun control etc. Of course the USA is very much in the news here and Australia is watching the election process closely.
Last Friday I got together with an Aussie friend that I met and worked with at the Aust/US Chamber of Commerce in Denver, some 10+ years ago. Sheryl moved back to Australia about 6 years ago and is loving being back home. She came over to "our place" and we had a cuppa tea and biscuits (= cookies), followed later by wine and cheese following which we took a trip to a Melbourne icon for dinner-Pelligrini's. This Italian restaurant down town is full of flavor that defies description. Suffice it to say it has been in operation some 45+ years (according to some of the patrons who shared the long wood table with us in the very warm kitchen). Italian Mama and her 2 colorful assistants tossed pasta and sauces at breathtaking speed less that 6 feet from where we were sitting managing to keep all their customers well fed with huge portions. No fuss, no decor, just good wholesome Italian food cooked the way that only Mama can do it and served with dry humor-like it or lump it! I did check the escape route just in case those gas fires within that narrow space that was both dining room and kitchen should get out of control but we survived and felt that we had had a very special Italian Melbourne experience. For those of you who love Italian food this is a great city to be in!
For those who may not have heard, Harold is growing a beard! It is now about 2 weeks old and still stubble but even so I am not liking the new image at all! We'll post a photo for your comments. I have requested that it be removed before he meets my aunt in Tasmania next week!
Its now February 28th and we are just back from an overnight trip of some 400 miles along the Great Ocean Road. This is a stretch of highway that runs along the south coast of Victoria, to the west of Melbourne, towards South Australia and truly it is one of the Wonders of Australia. This road hugs the coast as a masterpiece of engineering for a good part of the 200 miles we travelled; for the rest we wound inland through forests of ferns and tall gums, or pastoral land. But it was the coastal views that took our breath away. Mile upon mile of surging blue/green Southern Great Ocean that has gouged the tall yellow/red limestone coastline into fantastic formations, leaving large chunks of it as rock sentinels standing in the sea. The most well known of these outcrops is called The Twelve Apostles-we read that the number of these in fact is something less than 12 and that they were once called the Sow and Piglets but were renamed some 40 years ago to encourage more tourism! And from the number of people viewing them today I would say it succeeded. The pictures I've posted justdo not capture the immense beauty and intricacy of the coastline and its many amazing carved rocks, grottos and beaches-but neither do words. You just have to come and see it. Truly the scenery was breathtaking. We stayed overnight at a small coastal town called Port Campbell, then drove another 50 miles to the west the next morning to check out the coastal town of Warnambool, before turning around to relive the same trip home-it was that worth it. Warnambool has memories for Beth-she thinks she ducked into a coastal cave, between tides, to collect bats for her research some many years ago! We searched for that cave from the cliffs and couldnt find it but did see a sign that said that the inhospitable rugged coastline in the area was a sanctuary for birds and bats so that seemed to confirm that the thoughts of the past may indeed have been reality! We arrived back in Melbourne around 6PM negotiating the peak hour traffic and once again offered thanks for our safety on the roads of Australia!
Its now March 3rd and our time in Melbourne is drawing to a close. We have taken bike and tram rides these past couple of days to city destinations. Yesterday, following church in the city cathedral, I was drawn to the art and craft market that is held on the banks of the Yarra River (which runs through Melbourne city) every Sunday-all local crafts, hand made and of high quality. As I made my way through the crowds I became aware that there were wine tasting booths set up as far as the eye could see. I alerted Harold who had settled down to wait with the newspaper so he ended up enjoying the afternoon as much as I did! The bike chain broke on Harolds bike soon after we left for home so we ended up walking it only to jump on the tram from home back to the city for our dinner engagement with Charlie's oldest son Fergus and his friend Tamsin who lives just across the river. Lovely evening which we will remember for Tam's fine cooking and much nice wine and conversation shared.
As we reflect on our time in Melbourne a lasting memory will be that this surely is restaurant heaven. Just about every other store front seems to be a restaurant or cafe, even the alley ways between downtown buildings are filled with little cafes and outside tables, every one milling with people enjoying food authentic to just about every country you can think of. Australians seem to love to hang out and eat or just have a drink together at all hours of the day or night. But despite the super availability of food, and though I have heard it said that obesity is creeping into this country, we would say categorically that Australians by in large are not overweight. We have been impressed with the many trim figures and fine outfits we see in the city where of course lots of professionals can be seen. The young people are a different story and are probably not too different from what we would see in San Francisco or any other US city-all kinds of wierd hair do's and clothing!
Today (Monday) I am meeting up with the former director of the Fort Collins company I worked for (he is an Australian with homes in Melbourne and Fort Collins-and happens to be here at this time) and tomorrow afternoon with an old school friend who went to the heights of her career by becoming head of the Zoology Department at the University of Melbourne. Our friends Charlie and Murray fly in from New Zealand in the morning, and the next day we leave for Tasmania.
Second 3 weeks:
Sorry friends, its now March 19-Good Friday-and wev'e been mostly out of Internet contact for the past 2 + weeks-or, if able to contact cyberspace, have been confined to limited time at a library or to slow dial up Internet at friends' homes. During this time we've flown to Tasmania and Adelaide and then back to Melbourne, driven into the Dandenong Mts, just east of Melbourne for a 4 day stay, then on to Canberra, Australia's capital city and my home town. So, let me elaborate a bit further on those travels.
The main purpose of the trip to Tasmania was to visit my last remaining aunt Dorothy (86 years young) and her daughter, my cousin Jeanette. I have not seen either or 15+ years, Harold had not met either one and I had never met my cousin's husband Craig. I had also never met the widowed wife (Sue) of Jeanette's brother Cam who died of leukemia one year into their marriage, some 32 years ago. Sue is a scientist so we had lots to talk about over a wonderful family get together at the Astoria Grill in downtown Hobart. Other highlights of the trip were some sightseeing around Hobart and its environs, a trip to the famous Saturday morning Salamunka craft markets down town followed by a night at Jeanette and Craig's "shack" at Slopen Main, a lovely secluded beach of some 3.5km length on the Tasman peninsula, about 1.5hrs drive from Hobart. There we spent hours out in the bay in their motor boat, attempting to catch squid, crayfish, salmon or flathead for dinner! We were successful with the flathad, hauling in some dozen fish in as many minutes. Craig filletted our bounty on shore and they were duly served up for dinner along with an abalone entree and crayfish from the freezer! Delicious. Definitely an enviable lifestyle! Next morning we walked the deserted beach with Jeanette's 2 golden retrievers, Gus and Harry who loved to run unleashed, dashing in and out of the water. Time together with aunt Dorothy (Dot or Doff) was also precious. She is about to vacate her beautiful home on the Derwent River banks, to move into a retirement home. We also spent a day of sightseeing with an old school friend, Sue who took us in a northwesterly direction out of Hobart to Russell Falls. We stopped in at a small nature reserve en route home and saw a platypus feeding in a small river below the reserve which also gave us some close up encounters with Tassie devils, koalas and wombats.
For those who do not know Hobart is the capital of the island state of Tasmania. It is situated at the mouth of the Derwent River which is amazingly wide and very beautiful. Properties along its shores command breathtaking views and are worth millions. My friend Sue lives in one such home! She can view the final moments of the famous annual New Year Sydney-Hobart yacht race from her living room window which affords a 180 degree view of the river. We stayed in an old hotel (the Customs House hotel) which was located right opposite the wharfs in downtown Hobart The island is fairly sparsely populated; it contains some pastoral land, some mountainous terrain some of which is quite rugged, several sizeable lakes and miles of breathtaking coastline. It is of course the home of the Tasmanian devil, an ominous black marsupial known for its threatening snarl and powerful jaws. Populations are currently suffering from some kind of facial fungus that may threaten the very survival of the species. Talking of facial fungus, though in no way related, Harold shaved off his beard following his meeting with the Tassie relatives! We can now see his winning smile again.
After 4 too short days in Tasmania we hopped on a plane for the 1.5 hr flight northwest to the mainland, to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. I worked in Adelaide for 2 seasons of my life but only seem to have kept contact with one person, an ex neighbor, Pat. Pat is single and seemed very delighted to have us come and stay, giving up her bedroom and some of her vacation time for us. We felt like royalty. We arrived in Adelaide on the 7th day of what was to become an all time record while we were there of more than 8 consecutive days of > 35C temps=95+F heat. And it WAS hot though we hardy ex Arizonan's were not prepared to admit it! Highlight of the trip, and really the reason for going to Adelaide, was Harold's visit to Kangaroo Island off the coast, about a 1.5 hr drive SE of Adelaide. KI is known for its lovely scenery and the wildlife that abounds in this largely untouched arena that has been separated from the mainland by a few score km of ocean, for thousands of years. He booked a personal jeep tour and spent a day of some 11 hrs learning and viewing as much as he could through his well informed host. He saw several koalas, some red tailed black cockatoos, some goanas (very large lizards), seals and many kangaroos and wallabies. Meanwhile, having been to KI before, I spent the day with Pat. After a refreshing early morning swim at the beach nearby (Brighton) we drove to lovely McLaren Vale, about an hours drive from Adelaide, where we had a delicious lunch and did some fun shopping in the special craft stores there and visited a winery. Next day, after another early morning swim and a long walk on the beach, Harold and I set off for a visit to the Barossa Valley wine growing region, following a nostalgic visit for Beth at the city fruit and vegetable markets, which like their Melbourne equivalent, are an entertainment in themselves for the extravaganza of foods they display so temptingly! Following day Pat had to work for a couple of hours afterwhich the three of us set off for the coast at Victor Harbor, about a 2 hr drive from Adelaide. There we enjoyed some cooler weather, the coastal scenery and a late lunch of fish and chips.
The following morning saw us up at 4.15 AM for a 6AM flight back to Melbourne where we picked up a rental car, drove to Charlie and Murray's home to collect some luggage and have lunch, then headed out to the Dandenong Mts, about 45 mins drive east of Melbourne. Weather was still very hot in SE Australia with both Adelaide and Melbourne sweltering in 100+ temps. This would not be so bad if Australia were not still in the grips of a drought of several years of virtually no rain. I have not mentioned how sad the gardens look everywhere we go. Water restrictions are in place everywhere, limited to only 2-3 hours/week at prescribed times, and only with hand held hoses. In these conditions, its impossible to keep lawns green, so no one even tries. Its enough to just keep one's precious plants alive. The future is looking grim. We need to pray for rain-lots of rain. My brother tells me that it is 6 years since Canberra received good rainfall.
We spent 4 days in the beautiful Dandenong Mts in Allen's mansion of a home with its 3.5 acres of cultivated gardens and panoramic views of miles of predomintly tall gum trees and cool fern to the distant mountain ranges. Birds abound with the sounds of chuckling kookaburras and screeching sulphur crested cockatoos filling the air. One evening I walked out to find a ring tailed possum on the patio. He scampered onto a nearby branch and remained frozen while I photographed him. On an early morning walk in the nearby gum forests we were delighted by the sight of a male lyre bird, followed a few minutes later by a female, a few yards down the track. We were not fortunate enough to see the male display which he does by spreading his beautiful tail to look like a lyre, much like the peacock does, to attract his mate. Other highlights of our 4 days of "re-grouping" in the Dandenongs included visits to several of the small mountain towns which afforded chances to sample some of the local craft and food and an opportunity to use a library for Internet access, to catch up with email.
The next phase of our travels had my home town of Canberra as its destination. We took 3 days to get there though it could probably be done in one, via inland more direct routes. We chose to travel across Victoria to the coast, at Lakes Entrance, a trip of about 5 hours. The next day was a longer day of some 10 hours but with much time taking diversions to see coastal places. We crossed the border into New South Wales and travelled to Batemens Bay, an ideal location from which we could drive the final 2 hours to Canberra. Both lovely days of seascape and pastoral views, with several hours of travel through tall gum forests. Lots of cheese making in this part of the country. The beaches were beautiful-clean, sparkling, secluded. Several years ago we almost bought a house just south of Batemans Bay and have chalked this off as one of our bad decisions in life as, like the rest of Australia, prices have sky rocketted now. Anyhow....we picked up 3 dozen oysters fresh out of the Clyde River which makes it entrance into the Pacific at Batemens Bay and set off for Canberra the following afternoon, arriving just in time for a BBQ dinner of steak and sausages cooked by my brother Ross and his wife (Pam) at their home where we are staying.
For those that do not know, Canberra is Australia's capital. It was built back in the 1920's/30's as a planned city that was based on Washington DC for its layout. It really is a beautiful city, nestled in the hills and filled with parks and fine government buidlings such as parliament house, the law courts, national library and art gallery and the Australian and American war memorials. The embassies of scores of nations are also here, each one architectured according to the style of its country. A lake separates southern and northern aspects of the city and provides for water entertainment and sports. About 350,000 people live here now and a lot has changed since I left; indeed I do not know my way around beyond my childhood environs! We have spent our time here with a little sightseeing, family visiting and the highlight of all, a get together with some of my old school friends-always a time for much laughter! One ot them has just started her PhD-she predicts she will finish it at the age of 67. She, Jill, is an amazing historian who has published so much on the history of Canberra and various of its institutions that she should be awarded an honorary doctorate.
Tomorrow we set off again for the "batty" phase of our trip. First to the 3 day meeting of the Australian Bat Sociey in Albury, a small town on the Vic/NSW border (about 5 hrs drive), then on up to Brisbane where I will work with my PhD student at the University of Queensland for 2 weeks. Please expect further delays in updating but chances at the Internet are likely to be sporadic.
Back again! We've driven from Canberra to Albury and then from Albury to Brisbane (lost count of those hours but it took 3 days). Bat conference in Albury was a good time-mainly it was interesting for me to see who is doing what in the Australian bat world. We shared a cottage along with my student Debbie and a wildlife carer Trish and her American husband Terry-and 2 of their charges-a free tailed bat and a baby paedemelon (a small wallaby species), the latter all wrapped up in his own personal brushed cotton pouch. Adorable creature-all legs. He got fed a special mild formula in his own baby bottle fitted with a custom made teat, every few hours while the bat's meal consisted of beheaded meal worms!
From Albury we headed about 1 hours drive south to Wangaratta to stay 2 nights with the 90 year old mother of a dear Sydney friend. Marie lives on her own on a property of some 40 acres-and one of her other daughters, Gabrielle (Gabs) lives on the property next door-which was a couple of miles drive away. There we shared in 2 wonderful family dinners and enjoyed early morning walks where the only life to be seen (apart from some sheep and cows) were kangaroos and cockatoos. Just a lovely peaceful piece of typical Australian countryside. We truly felt like we were residing at the most peaceful and restful B and B around! I particularly enjoyed seeing Gabs again-she was a teenager when we last met (that would be 35+ years ago) and we recalled the memorable experience of her having to share the back seat of her big sisters car (my friend Anne Marie) with a huge flowery lampshade that I had bought my Mother for Christmas that year, as Anne Marie and I drove the 2 day trip from Brisbane to Canberra to drop me off as she headed home to Wangaratta for the holidays. Another special time in our trip to Wangaratta was a days drive in the area, visiting a historic township (Beechworth), the Milawa cheese factory and a winery. This is a part of Australia that Im not too familiar with but I was amazed at how beautiful the countryside was and how much there was to do and see in northern Victoria.
The drive to Brisbane was long but very scenic. First day took us through some drought stricken country in southern New South Wales to Bathurst, on the western slopes of the Blue Mts. The second day took us on winding roads over those beautiful mountains to the Hawkesbury River which we crossed on a ferry, then followed east to a point not too far from Sydney. There we met the Princess Highway (Highway One in Aust) and headed north, stopping off at the seaside resort town of Forster to spend the night. The third day we finally made it to Brisbane, after a 10 hour drive. We thankfully sank into our accommodations which, though somewhat shabby, will have to suffice for the next 2 weeks! Its called the Indooroopilly Lodge and Motel and is an old Queensland home that now houses about 25 students in addition to a few assorted people such as ourselves, who have business to do at the Univesity. It was shattering to learn that the establishment cannot allow hot water to be boiled in our rooms-or dinner to be served to any guest that was not a student but we have bravely accepted the house rules and made it work for us! Personally I would be for updating the electrical and plumbing and giving the whole place a fresh coat of paint!! Meanwhile, they do allow us to share in breakfast cereal, canned fruit and rubbbery toast so I guess we should not complain!
Back again after another long pause. Time in Brisbane was busy. Long days at the lab working with my student and her flying foxes-I won't go into those details! Late evening meals and into bed exhausted sums it up pretty well. All kinds of Internet problems which were finally solved after several days of frustration. Several precious visits with old friends-mostly from my days working in the Anatomy Dept at the University of Queensland. May (departmental Secretary) and Ted Brett played an unforgettable role in my life during the turmoil of my graduate degree years, while Robbie (tutor), Les (tutor) and Laurel (technician) will always be remembered for the good times we had together. We used to have wine bottling parties where we would decant a keg into botttles with our own label (a skeleton beneath which were the words "what we like is a wine with a little body in it")! I dont think it was very good wine and suffice it to say I dont think anyone shelved it to even investigate its worth now! Also a visit with my ex parents in law and with my friend Lyn who has been bed bound for the last 25+ years with back problems that have left her dealing with pain that none of us can even imagine. Her courage and her faith are an inspiration beyond description-as are her spirits. She is one precious child of God and a very dear friend.
Other memories of Brisbane are its crazy roads which havent got any better since I lived there. This city is truly an overgrown country town with windy hilly streets that are rarely at right angles to one another when they meet at intersections. Add to the mix the roundabouts, narrowness of the streets and the parked cars on either side of the street and you have a recipe for very nerve wracking driving. I am amazed that we got out of there without an accident.
From Brisbane we headed to the beautiful Gold Coast (about an hours drive south) for the night, then onto Coffs Harbor, also on the Pacific coast for the next night, then inland to the town of Tamworth where Beth's neighbor Leigh from her growing up days in Canberra lives with her husband Ian. Leigh and Ian visited us in Omaha several years ago-a trip we'll always remember for the canoeing trip we took on the Platte River. The boy's overturned their craft and Ian's glasses still lie on the river bottom in NE! Time at their Tamworth home is always lovely; we played some tennis and generally just enjoyed this inland place, driving to 2 historic towns close by that we've never visited before. We stayed one day longer than planned, then set off for Sydney via the Hunter Valley, another well noted wine growing area in Australia that has come into existence since I left the country and was a feast of wineries, small B and B's, restaurants and art and craft galleries, the vast majority of which we had no time to visit in our qwest to be at our Sydney destination before dark. This we achieved successfully, arriving at Leigh and Ian's Sydney unit at Bondi Junction before sun down and without making one wrong turn as we wound our way into this big city.
First day in Sydney, following a moving Anzac Day church service at St Andrews cathedral down town, we had a family get together at the home of and in honor of my Canberra sister-in-law's aunt who turns 90 at the end of this month. Aunt Betty (aka Tya, pron Chotch) is a classy lady of great character, well read and always full of interesting conversation. I was amazed to learn that she has read both Hillary Clintons and Barack Obama's books -and inquired if there was one on John McCain. The celebrations that day included Ross and Pam and also my niece and nephew that I hadnt yet seen on this trip and introductions to my niece's baby of 16 months (Noah) and my nephews girlfriend (Jodie) that he has been dating some 2 years. Brightly colored lorikeets flew in from the surrrounding trees and fed from our hands on the patio that overlooked an inlet from Sydney harbor below-just a perfect setting for a party. The following day, we met Ross and Pam for lunch. The next day we took the ferry across the harbor to Taronga Zoo where I met up with 2 of my Aussie science friends for a day of animal viewing and generally catching up with each others lives. Lovely zoo, so picturesquely located on a headland overlooking Sydney Harbor. That night we met up with a 3rd Aussie science friend over a lovely Italian dinner in Leichardt, an area of Sydney renowned for this cuisine.
Today was yet another inclement day but undeterred, we set out in the rain to take the train to Circular Quay, and thence set off on foot to explore the botanic gardens, the Rocks and the Opera House. Having been drenched one too many times by the rain as we hiked on foot to these sites, we finally boarded a ferry for a long ride on beautiful Sydney harbor which afforded spectacular views of the city skyline, the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge.
