Down Under Blog: 05/22/2005

Guest Blog from Marg ...

As I think about the wonderful time I had in Australia, certain memories come back to me. Here they are in no particular order.

Driving from the Gold Coast to Agnes Water (in case you can’t find it on a map, Agnes Water is right beside 1770). The rain started in earnest just about dark. Abigail was at the wheel as we drove through what was a good facsimile of a car wash – for hours. We stopped in Gympie to get gas, and it was here that the man behind the counter, for no particular reason, helpfully told Kevin that if someone comes up behind you and puts a plastic bag over your head, don’t grab the part of the bag around your throat. Instead reach up to the top of the bag and break it open. Make sure to file this one in “essential things to know”.

With no regrets we left the gas station, and the intrepid Abigail continued on through Gin Gin where we saw a woman making a phone call but decided not to stop. Then on through Marion Vale and finally to Agnes Water.

It wasn’t until the trip back that we realized that we had been driving through literally thousands of acres of sugar cane.

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In Agnes Water we met Chris, an expat from England who now rents a shack for $18.00 a day, goes crab fishing in the day and drinks Stone’s Ginger Wine by night. He invited us all to his shack the next morning at 5:00 to take us crabbing with him. Kevin was fairly certain that Chris would forget all about our great time at the pub, and greet us with a shotgun blast to the head.

Perhaps it was the romance of the Charles and Camilla wedding (the woman hosting the coverage for Australian t.v. wore an evening dress and diamonds, and had a bucket of chilled champagne in front of her – take that Mansbridge!), but I did go to Chris’s crab shack the next morning at five a.m. As we sat sipping ginger wine on the beach I realized that the injury to my head from the Scooter Roo accident had been more severe than I had thought. As soon as Chris slumped forward in an early morning stupor I made tracks back to safety of the hotel. I’m still trying to forget him. Ouch! My head!

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Seeing the Southern Cross for the first time on a wonderfully clear night in Bicheno, Tasmania. Even more than water going down the drain the other way, or having the noonday sun in the north instead of the south, this brought home the fact that I was in the Southern Hemisphere.

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The gardens of Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney, filled with roses and lavender and geraniums that form enormous bushes, because the climate allows is so temperate. Also, the trees of Australia are splendid. Is there anything more exotic than a herd of sheep relaxing under a muna tree? Well, is there?

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Marsupials in general. They are all so different - from Tasmanian Devil, to Wombat, to Kangaroos. Yet they all have that pouch thing going. And they all have little hands too. How did they figure all of this out? I read that if you have the misfortune to hit and kill a marsupial you should immediately check the pouch in case there is a baby in there.

At the Taronga Zoo in Sydney I saw an orphaned baby wombat named Iza. She was asleep and her head was drooping to her fat little belly. I believe she is the most adorable creature I have ever seen. If you want to see a great picture of a wombat, google Brutus the Wombat. The picture of a happy wombat (Brutus) is bound to cheer up even the most gloomy-guts.

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Sitting in my hotel room in Sydney I had a view of the Opera House clear across to Elizabeth Bay. Between the Opera House and our hotel lay the Botanical Gardens. On each of the three evenings we were there, just at dusk, huge brown bats rose out of the Gardens and flew right past our windows toward Elizabeth Bay. They flew so close to my window that I could have reached out and touched them. That was something.

I also saw them as I walked through the gardens one morning. They hang from the trees, and fly around during the day as well as at night.

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Puffing Billy, the steam train that goes up the Dandanong Mountains was a fun trip. It is run by really enthusiastic volunteers. We were in the dining car, but the
“B” cars are open and you can sit with your legs and arms hanging out. I have a picture of us going over t pretty high trestle and the cars at the rear are full of kids half hanging out of the train. All the volunteers had said was “Don’t let the kids fall off!”

I gather that Aussies are not the suing type. Safety, along with attitudes in general (except for the Footie), seem to be quite casual. Good on ya!

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Kevin and I trying in the midst of a rainstorm to see the sights of the Great Ocean Road. We seemed to be just ahead of the storm, so that we would arrive at the next scenic spot, get out of the car and run to the view. Every time we got to the view the rain would roll in and soak us. But on we pressed, I’m sure for my sake, because, of course, Kevin was coming back. Thanks, Kev. You’re brave!

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In Williamstown (near Melbourne) there is a pub that celebrates the sinking of the Titanic. It’s called the “Titanic Entertainment Emporium” and features a mock-up of the great ship going down on the roof of the pub van. There is also another mock-up of the ship on the roof of the pub. Unfortunately the place wasn’t open when we were there so I can’t tell you much fun it would be to celebrate the watery demise of hundreds of victims. I guess it would depend on much alcohol one has consumed.

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I had lunch with Russell Crowe. He’s up for the lead role of Gilligan in the new feature film “Gilligan’s Island”. He wondered if it was too much of a stretch. But I said “Crikey Russ! It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. You gotta take it!”

That’s the way I feel about my trip. The Opportunity of a Lifetime. Thanks to Abigail and Kevin for making it happen.

As Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage, but Australia is a whole nuther place”.

Melbourne and Surrounds

Since our return from New Zealand, we have been enjoying a visit from Ingrid. One of the interesting things we have done recently was to visit a neighboring village/suburb called Toorak. It is one of the more expensive neighborhoods in which to live in Melbourne (kind of like Rosedale in Toronto). We wandered around the village as we had heard about an art show – all of the shopkeepers agreed to display a sculpture in their front window – and so one could “window shop” and see all sorts of art. It was really interesting and quite a novel way to encourage folks to visit a shopping district.

We have just returned from a weekend trip to the Great Ocean Road (again) – once again we stayed at the Cape Otway Lighthouse – we explored a few more areas, however – even made it into the eastern edge of South Australia where we explored some wineries in the Coonawarra region. The coast west of Melbourne truly is amazing – again we will let the picture speak for themselves – although this time around we had more sun and the colors of the sandstone outcroppings and the ocean were just magnificent … In addition to the coast, there is a rainforest area (where Otway fly is located) – this time around we visited Mabel Gully – an area that was full of ferns and gum trees … we also had more sightings of koalas and kangaroos – and on the bird side, we had our first sighting of a kookaburra! We found the kangaroos at the bottom of an old volcanic (5000 years ago) crater.
We are off to visit the Great Barrier Reef and then will have less than a week to clean, pack and leave Australia – we cannot believe how fast time has flown …

Ingrid and Kevin along the Great Ocean Road

a cave that is part of the coast along the Great Ocean Road

more of the Great Ocean Road

more along the Great Ocean Road

one of the many outcroppings along the Great Ocean Road ..

Kevin at the base of a fallen gum tree -- this tree was huge -- and very old when it fell over.

the ferns in the Gulley park we toured

Cape Otway Lighthouse -- a great place to stay ... (read closest thing Kevin and I will ever get to with respect to camping)

Can you find the Koala?

one of the many sculptures on display in the shops of Toorak Village in Melbourne

New Zealand Part 2

Overall, we were quite enamored with New Zealand’s South Island. While Christchurch was a bit too touristy for us, the rest of what we saw was marvelous. Our train trip from Christchurch to Picton took us along the eastern coast of New Zealand where we saw more beautiful beaches, wildlife, and a bit of the inland scenery. The ferry from Picton to Wellington started off rather innocently (but a couple of hours late). Initially you have to go through some protected land and that part of the trip was quite beautiful. Then you have to pass through Cook’s straight – and that is another story. The weather was stormy that day and so the seas were rough – Kevin had a blast and was happy to go to the top deck to see what was going on. Abigail (me), on the other hand … let’s just say that I made it to Wellington in one piece and was all too happy to get off the boat. Of the three New Zealand cities we visited, Wellington seemed the most cosmopolitan and most livable. Kevin got to do most of the site seeing as I had to work most of the time I was there – ended up giving two talks, meeting with folks from a research institute, and even gave an interview on Radio New Zealand (hopefully nothing that I said will come back to haunt me). There is a fabulous museum in Wellington called Te Papa – it covers life in New Zealand from a “white man’s” perspective as well as from the Maori’s perspective – and covers life as it was as well as life today. We were quite surprised to learn that the Maori are quite respected in New Zealand (extremely different from the way the aboriginals are treated in Australia). In Wellington, we also got to reconnect with a friend from Princeton’s days which was quite nice.

We spent the weekend at Wharekauhau, a resort north of Wellington. The resort was beyond our expectations. We had our own little cottage that faced onto Palliser Bay. We were there for 3 days and nights. In general, the resort is in a rather remote location (but still 90 minutes from Wellington) – there are only 10 cottages situated on a 5000 acre sheep station. There are lots of activities and for the most part the meals are served to all guests in a communal setting (everyone sits at the same table). The first day we were the only guests and so we had this fabulous five course dinner alone. We explored the area on horseback and on foot. There was a lovely pool and spa. The setting was fabulous (see the pics), the food tremendous … we even had one of the two resident cats (fish but not chips) come and hang out with us in our cottage. The night sky was unbelievable – all sorts of stars and the milky way was amazing. Our second and third nights we dined with the other guests which included a winemaker and his wife and one of the principal owners and his girlfriend. A bit pretentious but we still enjoyed our evenings.

After our weekend of relaxing and being well fed we drove from the resort north to Auckland. Unfortunately we only had a day to do the drive so we did not see much of the North Island. While nice, we decided we enjoyed the people and the landscape of the South Island. We were very disappointed with Auckland. It is the biggest and most industrial looking city in New Zealand – apparently the charm of Auckland comes from its mini-islands – it struck us that it was a mini-Sydnew with less charm.