The Nuthouse

On Books

2012-01-10T21:30:00.000+11:00

Usually at this time of year, I'll do a post about my goals for the year. However, we haven't done a goal making session yet, so I thought I would post about my reading plans for the year instead.

I've gotten pretty involved with Goodreads, which allows me to keep track of what I'm reading and see what my friends are reading. Last year, I challenged myself to read 28 books in 2011. I found out that this was a bit low, and I had to update my goal a couple of times. I ended up reading 35 books. That may sound like a lot, but I know people who've read 70 books in a year! I'm a pretty fast reader, and I cannot even fathom attempting that number. This year, I've decided to set my goal for 30 books. That's a few less than last year, but I'm going to be pretty busy, so I don't think I will read as many books.

I have an extensive "To Read" list that does not seem to get any shorter. For one thing, I keep reading other books that I haven't put on the list! This year, I thought it might be fun to give myself the challenge of reading a different type of book for each month. The "rules" of engagement are: 1) I only have to read one of that type of book in the month, 2) and it should be off my "To Read" list, unless there aren't any, and then I can pick any book of the genre and 3) no re-reads!

I made a list of 14 genres and drew 12 out of a hat. Here they are, in order:

1. science fiction
2. biography
3. book written in the past year
4. scientific non-fiction
5. historical fiction
6. humor
7. political/satire
8. classic
9. thriller
10. fantasy
11. young adult
12. travel

For January, I started by reading The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells. I was surprised by how short it was, and also by the fact that I liked the movie better. It was basically a statement on class and the de-evolution of the human race, with little character development. I've also started I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson, which, it turns out, is more horror than sci-fi. I'm enjoying it anyway, so far (it's about vampires). If I have time, I might try to read Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I saw the man speak in person, I should have read more than one of his books.

So that's my reading goal for 2012. I'll try to update you once in a while on how my little reading plan is going. For those of you who haven't gotten bored yet, I'll leave you with my best and worst reads of 2011:

Best Reads of 2011:

Atonement
A beautifully written book with a lot of nuance. I really liked the character development and thought that the book was a lot better for that than the movie.
A Prayer for Owen Meany
There were parts of this book where I wasn't sure I would really like it, but the end really "made" the book for me. Even though I knew what was going to happen (both because of the foreshadowing and because I'm horrible about reading ahead), I found myself holding my breath on the train as I read the last few pages. That does not happen often for me.

Worst Read of 2011:

A Star Called Henry
I couldn't even finish this, so it won "worst read of 2011" hands down. Very repetitive and boring. In fact, Ethan and I still joke about the writing style. "They were hungry. They were always hungry. They never ate. Their stomachs were rumbling and in their never eating, they were hungry. Hungriness pervaded their lives." (Not a direct quote, but you get my drift).

2011: Year in Review

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000+11:00

January: The year started off with a bang, as we watched the Sydney Harbour fireworks through a beautiful screen of Eucalyptus trees. I shared my goals with you, and updated everyone on how our beer brewing project was going. In an unusual stroke of luck, I won free VIP tickets to a band I wanted to go see, and rocked out sans Ethan, who was too tired from kite surfing to make it. We ended the month with a trip to the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves.

February: I posted about working in the community garden. Our friends Scott and Brenda came to visit, and we had an awesome time camping out with them. We went to a 20/20 cricket game with our American friend Joe.

March: Ethan and I went to see Social Distortion, which made our ears ring for hours afterwards, but was totally worth it. We took a big trip to Tasmania, which made us think of Alaska, except with more Tasmanian Devils and convicts.

April: Our friends Heidi and Dan came to visit, and we went on a long drive around Australia, which I never did end up posting about. Whoops. We also went to the Australian Museum after hours, where we drank wine and looked at dinosaur bones.

May: I talked about eating kangaroo. Yum (when not overcooked)! I also talked about the giant bugs and spiders here, and the beautiful but noisy birds. I was assigned my very own plot in the community garden, and I spent some time working at the Rural Fire Service, which was fun but a long commute. Ethan and I went to a concert at the Opera House, which included free chocolate. Yum (always)!

June: June 15 was my one year anniversary of arriving in Australia. Wow, time really flies. I announced my sister's pregnancy and the arrival of my nephew at the same time. I talked about things I liked and disliked about living here, and made a brief post referring to my city biking adventures.

July: Ethan's mother came to visit, and we took an extended trip to Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree rainforest, the Atherton Tablelands, Darwin, and Kakadu National Park. These posts extended into

August: when we also found out our place in Maroubra was being sold. I also joked about our dog's misbehaviour on walks.

September: we moved into our new place in Miranda. I tried to be upbeat, but looking back on the year's posts, it's apparent to me how much happier we were in Maroubra. Hear that Sutherland Shire? Great place to live, my ass.

October: I posted about gardening and permaculture, and gave a brief update on our new digs. My parents came to visit, which I didn't post about until

November: in which I posted about visiting the Mt Tomah Botanical Gardens with my parents. I also bought some "new" clothes -- some from the mall, some from the thrift store, and posted a fashion show.

December: I acknowledged the fact that I hadn't posted much lately and posted about Christmas in Australia. I actually played in a cricket game, and lived to tell the tale.

Even though I haven't posted much since September, it's apparent that this was a fun and eventful year. Next year promises to be as well, as we'll head back to the States. Will my blog readers continue to follow me once my posts turn out to be all about home ownership and American t.v.? Will the world end on December 21st, thus ironically preventing thousands of doomsday prophets from saying "I told you so!"? Only time will tell!

I wish you all a happy and healthy 2012!

Bowling for Beers

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000+11:00

As I was writing an e-mail to my good friend Nikki, it occurred to me that I never shared my cricket-playing experience from earlier this month, and that all of my American friends would probably be interested to hear about it. Every year, our office has an annual cricket match between the Hydrology and Climate departments, and the Forecasting office. The past two years the game has been cancelled due to rain, so the friendly rivalry really reached a peak this year. Again this year, afternoon showers showed up just in time for the game. Everyone was ready to go though, and since it wasn't an absolute downpour, the game went ahead. Even though everyone else was miserable, I felt perfectly at home, because the weather was not unlike a late August day in Alaska. In fact, I was a little grateful, because I think I would have broiled to death in the hot sun.

I was a little nervous, because I have bad memories of getting yelled at when playing sports in school. I knew some of my officemates were pretty competitive, so I was a bit worried, especially since I barely knew the rules. Of course, I forgot that we're all adults now, and that people don't yell at you when you try when you're an adult. Still, the morning of the game, I realized I didn't even know how to hold a bat, so I asked for an impromptu coaching session on cricket techniques, which fortunately did not end in my knocking over the Hydro fish tank.

My team put me first at bat, mostly because it was raining and they were all in the gazebo like a bunch of wimps, while I was already wet because I'd walked from the office. I managed to hit the ball a few times, and I didn't knock over my own stumps, so that boosted my confidence a little bit. I forget how I got out -- whether someone caught the ball or I got bowled out (the bowler, analogous to the pitcher in baseball, knocks over the sticks the batter is standing in front of).

Eventually we switched positions, and our team had to field, which meant everyone got a chance to bowl. This was very nervewracking for me, because all eyes were on me, and I had never bowled before. It is not at all like pitching. Basically, you have to huck the ball at the ground, while keeping your arm straight. I found it very unnatural. My bowls seemed to go okay, although I (apparently, since I couldn't tell what I looked like) did not keep my arm straight. Anyway, I only had to bowl 6 or 7 times, which was a relief. Then I went back to standing in the outfield, hoping desperately the ball wouldn't come to me.

Supposedly, my team won, although there was some minor squabbling about how the scores were kept. The result was finalized at the pub, which makes it a bit more suspicious, but hey! We won! And most importantly, I had a good time.

Joyeaux Noel

2011-12-28T20:19:00.000+11:00

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We enjoyed ourselves with a quiet Christmas, mainly at home. On Christmas Eve, I made a special dinner. I picked up a pre-marinated chicken at Aldi, complete with cranberry, orange and fig stuffing. I made rosemary potatoes and parmesan green beans to go with it, and we had a bottle of sparkling white wine I bought when I was in the Hunter Valley with my parents in November. We also had homemade lemon meringue pie, but I forgot to take a picture of that.

Dinner, artfully displayed before the carnage

Every family has their Christmas traditions, and ours apparently has become Let's Dress Up the Dog in the Santa Hat! He really hates it but likes to get treats.

The things I'll do for treats, says Fievel

Santa puppy!

He's so cute, though. I think he can suffer through wearing a hat once a year so we can get cute pictures.

Merry Christmas from us to you!

Feliz Navidad

2011-12-24T10:47:00.000+11:00

I'm feeling the need for a Christmas Eve post, mostly because Everyone Else is Doing It, and you know how I like to follow the crowd. Anyway, I haven't posted in over a month, so I feel a bit guilty about that. Honestly, I've been a bit depressed and just haven't had the enthusiasm. That isn't a bid for advice or attention, just an explanation. But I'm in a better mood now and I have some ideas to make my life a bit more interesting and pull me out of my funk.

Anyway, I thought I'd talk a little bit about Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere, since everyone seems to ask about it. What I miss most has nothing to do with Australia; it's having family close enough to spend time with. My friends have been great about picking up the slack though, and we're planning on a Christmas lunch with our friend David this year.

How is Christmas different here? Mainly, it's hot, and in my experience, it's been humid. This makes the massive dinner less appealing. There are more barbecues and lunches, and people will go to the beach, but overall, it's kind of the same. There's still the lights and the trees and the Santas, all of which seem out of place in 25 (80) degree weather and under bright sunshine. As I learned in Alaska, the lights do so much to brighten those dark days of winter, and although the lights here are very festive, it's just not the same effect. Also, there's Christmas pudding, which is a glorified version of fruitcake. The Aussies have some lovely desserts, but this is not one of them. I'd rather have a Christmas pavlova any day.

December 26th is Boxing Day, which is also a holiday here. I used to think Boxing Day was named that because there was a big boxing match, but apparently it comes from Ye Olde England, when people used to box up their leftovers for the poor people. Nowadays, Boxing Day is the day all the shoppers hit the big sales, and the sports enthusiasts watch the big Boxing Day cricket test match (the test matches are the 5-day long cricket games). I have some interest in the Boxing Day match and I will try to sneak a peek on my break at work, but the fact that I'm not really sure who's playing shows that I'm still an American at heart. Still, it will be more fun to watch that than the weird foreign films the t.v. channels seem fond of playing around lunch time.

So that's it for Christmas. I'm looking forward to posting a year end/beginning post in another week or so. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and for those who don't, I hope you at least have a lovely few days off!

It's Not a Vacation Without a Trip to a Botanic Garden

2011-11-26T12:14:00.001+11:00

Not long after we moved into our new place, my parents came to visit. We had a good time taking them around Australia. I don’t have a lot of pictures because we did a lot of the same things that we’ve done with our other guests. How many pictures of the Opera House does one girl need, anyway? But I did take them on a drive through the Blue Mountains, where we stopped by the Mt Tomah botanic garden, which I had not seen before.

Mt Tomah is part of the Royal Botanical Garden in Sydney, but I actually liked it a lot better than the one in Sydney. Although it’s smaller, it was designed really well, with a lot of really nice views and interesting features when you turned the corner. I think it was as nice as the Botanic Garden we visited in Hobart, which was my favorite in Australia so far.

Mt Tomah and the Blue Mountains

I'm not sure what Dad is doing here.

The Botanic Garden had a lot of interesting plants from other countries as well. I liked how the garden had arranged many textures and colors together to highlight the differences in the plants.

I think these are Australian natives but I'm not sure

How often do you see a black plant? These are from South Africa.

A South American plant

One of the coolest things in the garden was the carnivorous plant collection. I’ve seen some of these plants in greenhouses before, but here they were arranged in a bog garden, like how they grow in the wild. I didn’t get to see them eat anything, though.

Pitcher plants -- the Femme Fatale of the plant world

Venus flytraps. Terrifying if you're 5 mm in size.

The Mt Tomah garden was an impromptu stop on a trip between the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley, and it was a fortuitous stop. The rest of the drive went up along the Wollemi National Park, which really wasn’t very interesting. Eucalyptus forest starts to look all the same after a while, and once we left the Blue Mountains, there weren’t any good views. I doubt we’ll go back to Mt Tomah, because it’s out of the way, but I’m really glad I got the chance to check it out.

Fashion Show!

2011-11-12T18:28:00.001+11:00

One of my goals for this year was to expand my summer wardrobe, preferably by shopping at the thrift store. Over the past few weeks it’s become apparent that I needed to do so quickly; my summer wardrobe consisted mostly of dark colored t-shirts, which were not particularly pleasant as it began to heat up. After last summer’s less than successful thrift store trips, I started out at Target, where I found a few items that were successful.

White shirt: $32. Jeans: purchase previously

Purple shirt: $29. Khaki shorts: $27

Yellow shirt: $12 Green shorts: $24

On my way home, I decided to stop by Vinnie’s, a thrift store run by the Catholic St. Vincent de Paul society. Here I found a few more items, some of which I really liked.

White halter: $4. Shorts from Target.

Orange shirt: $6. Shorts from Target.

Purple dress: $9.

Red and white dress:$8. This was my favorite!

I spent a total of $124 at Target, and $27 at Vinnie’s. My average cost per item was $24.80 at Target, while it was only $6.75 at Vinnie’s, where I found my favorite items of the day. I say it’s Vinnie’s for the win!

Permaculture Musings

2011-10-30T17:04:00.003+11:00

I mentioned in my annual Beginning of the Year post that one of the things I wanted to do this year was take a permaculture course. There have been a few opportunities to get involved with some permaculture activities in the community garden, but I wasn’t able to attend any before we left the area. Regardless, I still want to get into a course, although it looks like it will probably be next year at this point.

I’ve been checking out the Milkwood Permaculture site recently; I found them via the Permaculture Research Institute, which is also interesting but preachier. Milkwood is a bit more my speed. I thought this current blog post on urban permaculture design had some really cool ideas.

There are some permaculture design courses coming up in Sydney and I’m going to try to attend one. I’m going to shoot for the introduction to permaculture class in March (the December one is full). What I would really like to do is attend the two week course for a permaculture design certificate in January. Unfortunately, it’s pretty expensive, but more importantly, I don’t really have the leave to do this and our planned Australia/Japan trips. Plus, I’m still a real newbie to these ideas – I haven’t even managed to plan a proper garden yet – so spending a lot of money on a course seems like it’s putting the cart before the horse. Gardening (and permaculture) rely on growth and development, which require time, meaning of course, that I must have patience. I’ve always been very short on that quality, so this is a good exercise in personal growth.

In the meantime, I’m trying to decide what I want to do in the garden/yard at our new house. We will only be living here a short time, so I don’t want to spend too much, and I don’t want to do too much that’s permanent at the risk of irritating the landlord and spending a lot of time and energy on things that are just going to be sprayed with herbicide in 8 months’ time. I still have some time and room to grow a few things though, so I hope to get to the garden store soon to plant a few veggies to enjoy this summer.

Did you miss me?

2011-10-26T16:06:00.000+11:00

Wow, has it really been six weeks since I last updated? Sorry, dear readers! We were busy with finding a new place to live, moving, and then preparing for my parents' visit. We also took a trip to Canberra to check out Floriade, which is a flower show. That was fun and I hope to post some pictures soon. On the other hand, I might never get to it. My track record with the pictures hasn't been great lately.

I'm sure you're absolutely dying to know about our new abode, so I'll tell you: we have moved further from Sydney, and further from the beach, to a town called Miranda. Miranda is a suburb in Sutherland Shire, which is about as far south as you can get from Sydney and still be considered to live in the city. It's known for its massive mall and not much else.

Our new place is a house with a giant yard, which is nice. We have a lot more room, so I like that a lot. The house is older and a bit run down, so that's a bit of a bummer after living in our nice new place by the beach. The windows don't open and the insulation is non-existent, so that means it's cold when it's cold and hot when it's hot. We do have air conditioning in the lounge, so that's nice.

Although our little dog likes the new yard, he does not run around much, which kind of hacks me off. Instead, he just stands there, blinking in the sun. We moved to the boonies so you could have a giant yard, you ungrateful little bastard! If I had known you were going to do your best dog statue impression, we could have found a place with a balcony in the city. On the other hand, we don't have to walk him to get exercise; we can throw the toy in the backyard, which given my previous post on his bad walking behaviour and the fact that our street is basically a highway, is a good thing.

As mentioned previously, my parents are visiting the southern hemisphere. (They are currently in New Zealand). They stopped through last week and we did a few things in Sydney, which they seemed to enjoy, in spite of the 45 minute train ride and 20 minute walk to the station. They will be back in a week or so for round 2, in which I think we'll head out of Sydney to see some other parts of Australia.

In the interest of keeping this fairly short, I'll sign off for now, but I'll try to be a bit better about posting in the future. Just try not to expect too much.

Kicked Out

2011-09-12T20:55:00.002+10:00

So for those of you who haven’t heard, our place finally sold. Two out of the three bidders were investors, so statistically speaking, we had a good chance of getting another investor. Of course, the winning bid came from the non-investor, once again proving that statistics have nothing to do with real life and Murphy’s Law has everything to do with it. We have to be out by the beginning of next month, so we are frantically looking for places.

Meanwhile, we have not received notice from our rental agent that we’re getting kicked out, because he is awesome. And by awesome, I mean awesome at being a jackass. Fortunately, his name rhymes with a rude term you would use to describe someone of his intellectual capability, so Ethan and I have been referring to him by that name.

G.H. (I’m going to obscure his name because there’s no guarantee we’re rid of him; also he’s supposed to provide a reference. Can you hear me rolling my eyes?) makes it painfully obvious that he doesn’t give a crap. I had to call and e-mail him three or four times to get him to schedule the agreed-upon carpet cleaning when I moved in. Even though I specifically stated in my final e-mail that I was very disappointed in his company’s service, he did not address it when he responded. He never got us the key to the garage, even though the block manager told us that it had been sent to him, and he didn’t want to add Ethan as a cosigner on the lease because he would have to draw up a new lease. (I didn’t pursue it). But the kicker came last week, when I received a letter asking us to check our smoke detectors: it was addressed “Dear ,”. Now I’m not being coy about having my name on the internet – he really couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to mail merge names onto a freaking form letter. Microsoft Word is made for that shit! Nothing says “I don’t care” like a letter without an opening address. (Seriously, even “Dear Tenant” or “Dear Resident” would have been preferable).

To show my disdain, I have refused to fill out G.H.’s silly survey, because I am a rebel like that. Is that a boat you feel rocking? Oh yes it is! I might even throw his letter away. I know, I’m uncontrollable. Feel my white middle class rage! And if we do manage to be rid of him, I’m going to flip him off as we go by his office. In slow motion, because we don’t have a car and have to ride the bus. He’ll know it’s us, because we’ll be bedraggled from the box we’re sleeping in. It might even be worth the $3.50.

Neighborhood Watch

2011-08-20T12:51:00.001+10:00

Sitting here, looking at my sweet little dog enjoying the sunshine, it is hard to believe that this is the same snarling, whirling beast that was on the walk earlier today. Fievel seems to think that he must alert me to every danger on the planet. He is an equal opportunity barker. Race, gender, sexuality, age, and socio-economic status are no barriers to barking. He knows that a poor black lesbian is just as dangerous as a middle-class white man. Here are some groups that Fievel finds particularly dangerous. I'm informing you because they may be in your neighborhood, and you should be on the lookout.

1. Dogs within a 7 mile radius
2. Children, particularly babies in strollers
3. Old people
4. Runners
5. People on wheeled conveyances (bikes, scooters, skateboards)
6. People who have difficulty walking (i.e. they require a cane)
7. People who have a pleasant manner and are nice toward him
8. Birds
9. Grocery shoppers (who KNOWS what's in those bags?!?!)
10. Things that move or flap in the wind, such as flags, garbage bags, and tarps
11. People who do yard work

Our neighborhood is especially dangerous because some of these groups like to gang up. Old people and children specifically, will frequently join together to terrorize the community. Sometimes they even invite people on wheeled conveyances along. It's a real menace, I tell you.

Of course, the irony in all this is that he views everything completely differently inside the house. A burglar could break in, and as long as he wasn't carrying a vicious baby or wielding a cane, Fievel would be happy to greet him. "Are you here for the jewels? Great! They're over there with the dog treats."

Other people are happy to tell us that it's a training issue. Well thank for the input, but we took him to training and he still misbehaves. I blame his previous owners for poor doggie socialization techniques. At this point, Ethan and I are looking looking forward to buying a house with a yard to solve the problem. Preferably a ranch. With a moat. And a 10 foot wall.

Why I Want to Own A House (Or I Hate the Sydney Housing Market)

2011-08-13T14:56:00.000+10:00

My Aussie friends are probably all sick of hearing me complain about our current housing situation, but I thought I would post an update for our friends and family back in the States.

Our landlord has decided to sell the place. Of course, it is to her benefit if it is lived in until it's sold. Consequently, we haven't been kicked out, but we've had to deal with showings (called "inspections" here) twice a week. We agreed to take the dog for a walk during this time, which is a huge hassle because frankly, he's an asshole. 40 minutes of walking with Fievel is 40 minutes of dog owner hell. We also have to clean our place up twice a week, which is annoying. We do get $50 a week off our rent, which apparently is uncommon here. If it hadn't been offered, like hell I wouldn't have asked for it. This is a huge pain in our ass.

So you're asking "Why don't you just move? Or not bother cleaning the place up?" Well, we've been told by the selling agent that there's a pretty good possibility that another investor will buy the place and want to keep us on. She could totally be lying, but I'm taking it on faith, partially because I'm super busy and don't want to look for places right now. In this case, it behooves us not to make the future buyers think we're living in a sty. We don't want to move if we don't have to because it's not fun and we'll take a financial hit with the utility contracts we have to break. The utility companies are all over this tight rental market like white on rice, so they've made it so that you have to get 18 month contracts for everything, knowing that you'll probably have to move and then they can stick it to you. Nice, huh?

The owner has decided to put the place up for auction on Aug 25th. Auctions are a popular way of selling here; I'm not sure why but I suspect it's because with the tight market, they can actually drive the price up. Once the place sells, we will find out pretty much immediately if the new owner will let us stay. If not, we have until the closing to move. This is about a month. If they let us stay, but then change their mind once the place is theirs, then our lease rolls over to a standard lease which specifies 90 day notice for us to move out.

Ethan and I have a bad feeling that we're going to get kicked out. But there is really nothing we can do, aside from looking for new places and keeping our fingers crossed. Rest assured, you'll hear from us whether we're moving or staying, because this is likely to be on the forefront of our lives for the next couple of months.

Kakadu and the Top End

2011-08-06T17:11:00.000+10:00

This is Part V of a 5 part post about a trip to Cairns and the Top End.

The second morning we got up and traveled to Ubirr, another site with a lot more Aboriginal art and a fantasti view of the surrounding wetlands. We had heard it was amazing, so we picked that over Yellow Water, which was a boardwalk hike or boat tour through the billabongs. I found that the billabongs looked kind of, well, Floridian, so we thought Ubirr was a better choice for us.

View from Ubirr toward escarpment

View from Ubirr over wetlands

Kapok tree (as heard in Waltzing Matilda)

Again, it was beautiful. Even though it was really hot, the hike wasn’t too hard, and I loved the view. The art was really cool too – and there was so much of it! I picked this first picture in particular because of the history behind it: you may have a bit of difficulty seeing, but on the rock there is a painting of a short eared animal that is representative of a thylacine, otherwise known as the Tasmanian Tiger. The thylacine is the largest marsupial (about the size of a mastiff), and used to exist everywhere in Australia until dingoes arrived and hunted it to extinction, about 4000 years ago. So that means this painting is at least 4000 years old!

You might have to click to get a larger view to see the thylacine

Aboriginal art -- a barrumundi?

Kakadu is only one part of the Top End, and we got to see some interesting things on the way to and from as well. I’m sure there are places in Kakadu where you can see the termite mounds, but the park was so big we didn’t see much of it. However, on the way, there were loads of them. Another interesting thing about the terrain around the area is how the Aboriginal inhabitants manage the land. This time of year is the time they burn off the grass, to encourage fresh growth when the wet season comes and increased animal habitat. We saw quite a few grass fires, some quite close to the road! The Australian fire management bureaus are currently taking quite an interest in these age-old techniques.

Grasslands and termite mounds

Ethan next to the larger termite mound

Burnt off area, including roasted termites

You may notice that I don’t have any pictures of Darwin; unfortunately, because of our short time, we didn’t really get to fully see Darwin. I was a bit disappointed to learn that a lot of Darwin has been rebuilt since 1974 due to Cyclone Tracy, so the architecture wasn’t as interesting as it is in Sydney or Melbourne. Also, it was really hot, and after our trip to Kakadu, we were all pretty faded.

View across the Outback from the car window

I’m really glad we visited the Top End, because I feel like I got to see the Australia of my dreams. It’s fascinating for anyone who’s interested in history – both from the ancient Aboriginal culture, and also from the history Darwin has from being bombed in WWII. Due to the heat and the expense, however, it is definitely not for the faint of heart or the thin of wallet.

Overall, this was a really great trip. I have a few more things I “must do” before leaving Australia, but I’m glad to have knocked out a few of them in the experience of a lifetime.

The Top End

2011-08-04T16:51:00.001+10:00

This is Part IV of a 5 part post about a trip to Cairns and the Top End.

Our second part of our journey included a trip to Darwin and Kakadu National Park. The term Top End encompasses pretty much the top 1/3 of Australia, which is mostly inaccessible by car and a very harsh environment. After aforementioned snafus with JetStar, we arrived in Darwin too late to go to the famous Mendil Beach markets, which was a huge bummer for me in particular. The next morning, we headed out pretty early towards Kakadu National Park, which is a good 3 hour drive from Darwin.

It was at this point that I finally got to see the Australia of my imagination! Kakadu National Park is where parts of Crocodile Dundee were filmed, so it’s the terrain most Americans are probably familiar with. Kakadu National Park is also an area that’s been the homes of Aboriginal peoples for over 20,000 years, so there’s a lot of fascinating history there too.

Our first stop was Nourlangie Rock (or Burrunggui, which is the true Aboriginal name), where we got to see some ancient Aboriginal art. This rock painting illustrates an old legend about two “cousins” who had a relationship and were banned from their tribes. I put cousins in quotation marks, because as we learned, Australian Aboriginal peoples have very strict rules about which tribes were allowed to communicate and which weren’t. The tribal lines were determined not only by birth, but also by gender. It is very complicated – and an excellent way of ensuring a strong gene pool. Guess the European royalty could have learned something.

Aboriginal art! This one was repainted in 1963. Repainting is part of the tradition.

View of the escarpment from further up on the rock

Ethan and Linda in front of Burrunggui/Nourlangie

A kangaroo!

In spite of the fact that Kakadu looks like what I imagined Australia to look like, it’s still not very flat. The second thing we did was climb a small hill to get a beautiful view of Nourlangie rock and the escarpment. We could even see a billabong down below, which we drove to a bit later for pictures. Unfortunately, the path around the billabong was closed due to high water this year, mainly because of the threat of crocodiles. I didn’t test that theory, let me tell you.

Interesting rock formation

View coming down from the overlook

Anbangbang Billabong

We spent the night in the park, at great expense, partially so we could see the park the next day and partially because we didn’t want to drive back at night. Our fortune at dusk was to see two dingoes run to the front of the resort and roll in the grass under the sprinklers. I didn’t get a picture of them – partially because we didn’t realize they were actual wild dingoes and not just someone’s pets. Even though our hotel was a total rip off ($200 for a room where you couldn’t drink the water!), we were glad to have stayed so we could go the park again the next day.

Sunset in Kakadu Natl Park (taken through a bug-smeared windshield)

Atherton Tablelands

2011-08-02T14:31:00.001+10:00

This is Part III of a 5 part post about a trip to Queensland and the Top End.

Our third and final day in Cairns, we took a trip to the Atherton Tablelands directly west of Cairns. These tablelands are unlike what we think of as tablelands in the States; instead of mesas, there’s a steep climb up some mountains to rolling plains to the west. The scenery was very beautiful, but again, not the Australia of my imagination.

View from the mountain top

First, we took a drive through a national forest that promised some exciting views. We stopped by the Cathedral Fig, which was a huge tree around 500 years old. This tree actually starts from a small seedling in the canopy of another tree, then drops roots until it eventually chokes the original tree out. Unfortunately, after the Cathedral fig, things went rapidly downhill. The scenery became anticlimactic, our crater walk was washed out, and Platypus Rock looked more like Donald Duck. So onward we went, to Mount Hypipamee, which was the site of another crater recommended by my friend David.

Cathedral Fig tree, with Ethan for scale


The bottom of the crater was water covered in algae

Well, let me tell you, David gets the thumbs up from all three of us on this one. He described this crater as “a really big hole. But it’s actually really cool. You just have to see it.” And that’s pretty much a great description. It was a really big hole. But it was really cool. You just have to see it. Definitely not for those afraid of heights, though. Whew!

Waterfall

These cost about $150 from a greenhouse in the States

We also stopped at a local dairy for some Devonshire tea, which was on our to-do list as well. I wasn’t really sure what that was, but it’s basically biscuits (as in American-style buttermilk biscuits, not cookies, and not scones), jam, and cream. I should explain that the cream is this thick, almost pudding-textured stuff, not the cream you would pour in coffee or tea. It was very tasty, and allowed us to check another thing off the list.

We saw lots of these weird little "turkeys"

The photo opportunity that I missed and really really wish I hadn’t, happened on our drive home. We were driving down off the tablelands and it was dark. As we came to the crest of the mountain, a view opened up before us of the valley below, where the farmers were burning off their sugar cane fields. We could see the red glow of the fires moving through the fields and the lights of the surrounding houses like stars on the valley floor. It was a scene I hope I will never forget.

And that was it for Cairns. The next day, after some airline snafus which I will skip in interest of keeping my blood pressure low, we left for Darwin.

A Visit to the Rainforest

2011-07-31T16:50:00.000+10:00

This is Part II of a 5 part post about a trip to Queensland and the Top End.

Day 2 in Cairns, we drove north to see the Daintree National Rainforest, which is a rainforest. I expected Cairns to look like the Australia in my mind – lots of grassy flat areas, with pockets of eucalyptus trees. This was not the case, however. Not only is Cairns surrounded by mountains, but it is also surrounded by a very wet climate. The Daintree is a National Park off the Daintree River that preserves some of this beautiful forest, whereas a lot of the land surrounding Cairns has been turned to sugar cane fields.

View from the rainforest to the Queensland coast

Crikey!

Like true tourists, we signed up for a crocodile tour on the Daintree River, and we were not disappointed. These are the “salties” that Australia is known for – the reason you don’t swim in any swimming hole north of Brisbane, and a reason not to swim on the beaches in Cairns (although I gather those beaches are safer than the ones in Darwin). This guy may not look too big, but he was 3 or 4 metres long, and about 40 years old. We saw a number of smaller ones too, but mom was hiding.

Kingfisher sits in the old mangrove tree

We saw a lot of other wildlife as well, including these beautiful little kingfishers. The kookaburra is a kingfisher as well; in fact, it is the largest kingfisher in Australia. And that’s your fun fact for the day.

Ethan is disappointed at the lack of cassowaries

After our crocodile tour, we drove further into the forest, constantly on the lookout for the rare cassowary bird. You may remember I saw a cassowary at Featherdale animal park; it looks like an emu with a blue head and a big dinosaur ridge on its forehead. Ethan and I stopped to take a little hike, where we were cautioned to be casso-wary (ha ha), since they are large birds that can be very defensive when frightened. Linda decided she would rather protect the car from any cassowary attacks. Guess who actually got to see the cassowaries? Not long after Ethan and I started our hour long hike, the cassowaries ran through the forest just in front of Linda. Meanwhile, Ethan and I had to carry rocks as defense against a very audibly angry (but fortunately hidden) wild pig. Not our most successful wildlife outing ever.

We returned to the hotel after a quick stop for biodynamic, organic ice cream (don’t ask me, I’m still not entirely sure what biodynamic means). And that was Day 2 in Queensland.

Sunset from the Daintree ferry

The Great Barrier Reef

2011-07-25T18:40:00.000+10:00

This is Part I of a 5 part post about a trip to Queensland and the Top End.

Ethan’s mother came for a visit and wanted to travel around Australia, so we joined her on a trip to Cairns, and then on to Darwin. She continued on from there to Wyndham, to do some charitable work, while we returned to Sydney.

Cairns, our first stop, is the largest city close to the Great Barrier Reef. Of course that is a “must do” on the Australia visit, so we booked a snorkel tour and went out. The Great Barrier Reef is about 2 hours away from the mainland by boat, so tours are essential. I was surprised to find out that the water was actually pretty cold, so I hired a wetsuit to wear in the water. I was really glad, because it allowed me to stay in the water the whole time.

Over 60,000 birds live on Michaelmas Cay

Our first stop was Michaelmas Cay, where we had some fairly sheltered snorkeling. The tides were really low, so at times you were snorkeling through the reef! It looked like an underwater forest, with the coral “trees” swaying gently with the waves, like they were blowing in the wind. The colors were fantastic. I saw a cobalt blue Christmas tree worm dive back inside the coral as I swam by, and the giant clams had black lips highlighted by royal purple or sometimes fluorescent green splotches. I didn’t see the turtle who was supposedly hanging around, but I did get to see a stingray glide by.

Feeding the fish

Next, we had lunch, and there was a brief fishfeed. The large dark fish in this photo looks like a shark, but it’s not. I can’t remember the names of any of those fish, though.

Then we headed out to a deeper part of the reef, where it was a bit different. I was a little intimidated by the waves, but once I got in the water, I barely noticed them. This part of the reef had a lot more fish, and some really giant corals. I remember swimming by one giant brain coral several times. I swam through schools of hundreds of little fish, and even saw some giant parrot fish eating the coral. I also saw some clown fish hiding in an anemone! Did you know you can hear the parrot fish scraping away at the coral underwater? It sounds a bit like a visit to the dentist.

Sailing home

On the way home, we saw some humpback whales diving off to the side. Then the boat put up the sails and we sailed home. I could have done without that, because it was a lot more vertically mobile and I felt a bit sick. But a lot of the other passengers loved it.

My one regret with the snorkeling tour is that I didn’t hire an underwater camera. It’s just as well, though, I would probably have missed things if I were too busy messing with the camera!

The Great Barrier Reef was one of my highlights from our time living in Australia. Those who have been there in the past say that it’s nothing like it was even 20 years ago. I can’t imagine how awesome it was back then, but I’m glad I got to see it now before it loses most of its beauty.

Things I Have Very Nearly Run Over/Into While Biking Around Town

2011-06-25T08:36:00.000+10:00

Broken glass
Cans/Bottles/Other trash
Fruit
My rear bike light (it fell off)
Pedestrians, both drunk and sober
Small dogs
Large birds
Cars (I actually ran into one back in Alaska)
A newspaper man
My husband

This blog post is brought to you by today's adventure: Newspaper Man and Large Bird.

Likes and Dislikes

2011-06-23T12:10:00.000+10:00

Lynn said she would like to hear more about what I like and don’t like about living in Australia, which is fair enough. In other news, this is probably not the best time to be writing this post, because we found out this week that our landlord is selling our place and we need to move out, so I am a hater right now (sort of). I decided to write this anyway, because I’ve actually been thinking about it for a while. I’ll start with the bad, so I can end on a good note.

What I don’t like about living in Australia: let me pre-empt this with the caveat that some of these things are a function of living in Sydney, or being outside of the States and not necessarily a statement on Australia itself.

Real estate is out of control. It’s way overpriced and the rental market is very tight. This means that the rental agents can treat you like shit, because they know you’re desperate.

There’s a lot of red-tapey kind of bullshit here that I find annoying. It’s hard to explain, but it just seems like there are a lot of hoops to jump through whenever you try to do something.

Everything costs more here. Everything. Books are $25 for a small paperback. My mascara costs $20. It costs $14 to eat lunch at a fast food restaurant. Don’t even get me started on the beer. And because of the high taxes, importing things costs a bloody fortune as well.

In spite of the high taxes, you have to pay for a lot of stuff. Like I found out you have to buy a child’s pass to take your bike on the train. Can I get a whaaaa?

I don’t like being an American in a foreign country. The “American” that seems to be prevalent in people’s minds is a cross between Homer Simpson and Michael Douglas' character from Falling Down. Plus, every time I say something, I wonder if people judge my country by what I’m saying. And, I feel like if I’m too positive about my country, people will view it as having a superiority complex. I like America! That doesn’t mean I always like it, or that Australia sucks, but I feel fortunate to have grown up there.

The t.v. here kind of sucks. There are some good shows, but there are fewer of them. I guess it’s the law of proportions – proportionally, there are the same amount of good shows, but because there’s fewer shows overall, that means fewer good shows.

Customer service also sucks. And that’s saying something, because American customer service hasn’t improved in the past 20 years, in my opinion.

I never really appreciated our government system until I found out how Parliament works. I don’t like how one party runs everything. And while Aussies point out (justifiably) how much it costs to run for President, or that our government can reach a stalemate on a lot of issues, I really like how I get to vote for the person who represents my country to the world. Thank you, founding fathers, for the system of checks and balances!

Okay, enough complaining. What I like about living in Australia:

The food here is pretty good. Specifically, the lollies and desserts. I like TimTams, Pavlova, Mint slice (or even better, the generic version) and Crunchie bars. The gummies are pretty good too – better than gummy bears or gummy worms, there’s milk bottles and bananas and teeth and strawberries and cream, all of which are very tasty.

Bacon and egg rolls deserve a bullet of their own. Get on board America! Or perhaps don’t, because my cholesterol will thank you when we move back.

Most of the time, the weather here is very pleasant. Okay, summer sucked and I wanted to die, but the other nine months of the year are pretty nice.

I love the flowers. And looking at (not listening to) the birds. And the kookaburra. Seriously, I’ll miss that guy. He’s pretty cool.

The scenery is really beautiful, in particular living in Sydney. Circular Quay, Sydney Harbour, the beaches, well, you just don’t find those things anywhere else.

For the most part, Aussies are pretty friendly. And I enjoy all the colloquialisms in the language. It’s very colorful.

The sports here are fun. I like cricket and AFL. And the prices are reasonable, unlike the U.S. We paid $30 each to sit in the members section at the AFL game in Melbourne, for a really good game. Does anyone even remember when it cost $30 to go to an NFL game?

Of course, I really like my friends here, which is no different from living in the states. You can find cool people wherever you go. And I really like my job, which is good. I liked my job in the states too, but I work fewer night shifts here. Sorry America, but Australia wins on that one.

Overall I'm happy here, but I think in the long run we will move back to the U.S., where our families are, and where we can afford to buy a house and a paperback novel. Don't worry, we will let you know when we return!

Melbourne Visit

2011-06-19T20:28:00.000+10:00

Melbourne museum

I had a long weekend in honor of the Queen’s Birthday, so we went down south to visit our friend Pete in Melbourne. Melbourne and Sydney have a bit of a rivalry, and Ethan and I had heard so much about all the great things to see and do in Melbourne that we had taken to calling it the Magic City. Sure enough, Melbourne magically made the money disappear from our wallets as we ate and drank our way around the city. But we had an awesome time, not in the least of which is due to Pete’s hospitality.


University of Melbourne (Pete's Alma Mater)

University of Melbourne has that old "British" feel

Pete took us to an Aussie Rules football (a.k.a. AFL) game. Although I can’t say I prefer it to American football (Go Bucks!), we did really like it. Of course, it helped that it was a close game and the team we were supporting, Geelong, barely scraped by. One thing of interest: the Aussie AFL teams have nicked all their team songs from famous other tunes. For example, the Adelaide Crows use the Marine Corps song, and Geelong uses “Toreador”. When we walked by a busker playing nothing but Yankee Doodle Dandy, I thought perhaps he was a bit misguided. But Pete explained that he was actually playing the fight song for the opposing team (Hawthorne).

Geelong scores a goal and the cheersquad goes wild


Coffee + chocolate = happy EAF

As I mentioned above, we spent most of our time eating and drinking in Melbourne, which made me glad I don’t live there, because I’d be broke and fat. Melbourne has a large Italian community, so we ate a delicious Italian meal and sampled some of Melbourne’s best cappucino. On Sunday, we snarfed down a Melbourne chicken “Parma”. I still don’t know how I managed to eat the whole thing. Pete also knows how much we love beer, so he also took us to a few of Melbourne’s beer bars. It is probably just as well that I don’t have any pictures of that.

The architecture around Melbourne was a good mixture of old and new, although as a non-architect, I have no idea what I was looking at. Melbourne is also known for the graffiti in some of its laneways, which is much more art than simple “tagging”. We stumbled on a few, and searched out a few. I regret to say that the Banksy piece we looked for had been destroyed. Looking for it, I did stumble onto one of Melbourne’s largest rats, though. I could have done without that experience.

Old: Flinders Street Station


New: The Arts Centre

The old Parliament building


New: Federation Square

Surprisingly, not where I saw the giant rat.


Pete admiring the art in Hosier Lane

More art in Hosier Lane

I’m going to disappoint all of my Aussie friends by not picking one city over the other. But Melbourne definitely did not disappoint. Plus, it was a great time hanging out with Pete and getting to see his city the way he does.

Outside the old Parliament building

Arrival

2011-06-17T17:18:00.000+10:00

Hey guess what? My sister was pregnant for 9 months! I might have forgotten to tell you. Oh and by the way, she just had a son! I'm excited about my new nephew's arrival. Congrats to the happy family!

Happy Anniversary

2011-06-14T20:39:00.000+10:00

Today was the one year anniversary of my arrival in New South Wales. It's blustery and rainy here today, and although it's not cold by Alaskan standards, it's not warm by Sydney standards.

I feel like I should have some wonderful words of wisdom to spout here, but I don't. I feel neither like time has flown by nor like it's been dragging for the past year. I like Sydney, but I still feel a bit transient and unsettled.

I think this is one of those experiences that I won't know the true impact of until many years down the line.

Up to Date

2011-05-26T20:28:00.014+10:00

I thought I might do a little update post, just for fun. Also, there’s a lot of little everyday stuff that goes on that I don’t really cover in the blog all that much. So here’s what I’m up to:

Work: Finishing up at the RFS. I have quite a few projects I’m going to have to hand over to the next guy, and I really don't want to leave him in a mess. Hopefully he isn't totally confused by everything I'm leaving him. I am about ready to be done with this commute, though! Only one more week of commuting, then I'll be teaching a course in north Sydney, and then back to normal!

Garden: I’ve gotten my little plot all organized. I put in some bricks so that I can work in the middle of the plot without trodding on plants, and I bought a little bird statue which I’ve set up in the corner. My fellow gardener was giving me a hard time about decorating my plot, and I told him “Good thing it’s not your plot then, huh?” :D

Trips: I haz them planned. For one, Cairns and Darwin, with Ethan’s mom, including the Great Barrier Reef! Woot! Also, a trip to Melbourne to check it out and hang out with our good friend Pete, who used to work in the Sydney office. I still miss him. He’s a pretty fun guy. And this topic brings up my next thing:

Japanese: I’m learning it, in preparation for our Feb 2012 Japan ski trip! Sugoi desune!?! You may remember I started learning Japanese in 2005 (holy crap, that was a long time ago), but quit due to the ridiculous attendance policy at UAA. Now I’m determined to learn enough to get us around and enjoy Japan, instead of being like the idiot author of Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, which brings me to my next topic:

Books/Reading: Let me tell you, since I don’t have t.v., I’ve been getting so much done and reading so many books! I’ve just finished Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen) and am now onto Water for Elephants. My goal for this year was 24 books, but at this rate, I think I should have made it 36. I love to read! I’ll post the books I think are worth sharing to Facebook, so you Facebookers can catch up. And for the rest of you – you’ll just have to check out my Goodreads feed on the side to see what I’m reading.

That’s it for now, which is a lot, but I don’t want to bore you anymore. Thanks for reading this far. I know in the not-too-far future I’ll have some news of a nephew’s arrival, a visit from my mother-in-law, and our Melbourne trip!

Music and Chocolate

2011-05-23T20:27:00.000+10:00

This weekend, Ethan and I finally did something I’ve been wanting to do for a while: we went to see a show at the Opera House. Mom had given us a gift certificate for Christmas, and I just hadn’t found something that I wanted to see that wouldn’t conflict with our schedules. Finally, I found this concert with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, featuring guest clarinetist Martin Fröst. Ever since I learned to play the clarinet, I’ve had a special fondness for clarinet music. So I bought the tickets and we went.

Unfortunately, there was also a footy game on, which caused a lot of traffic, and so in spite of the fact that I picked the bus that would get us there 25 minutes early, we got there 10 minutes late. This meant that we missed the first song, which I think was the song we would have liked the best – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The second song featured Martin Fröst, and was a modern piece called Peacock Tales. Martin Fröst was an excellent clarinetist, and I was truly enthralled by his talent. However, I just don’t dig the modern pieces. Not only did this one lack a linear melody, it also included interpretive dance. I liked the lighting, but if I want to see interpretive dance, I’ll buy tickets to that.

My favorite pieces were Brahms’ Hungarian Dances and an unlisted piece that Fröst played in the middle – he called it something in particular, but I’m not familiar with the term. Anyway, it was a song that sounded like traditional Jewish music, with the clarinet as the featured instrument. I like that kind of music, and I was particularly appreciative, because as a clarinetist, I knew exactly how hard this piece would be to play. Fröst was amazing.

Aside from the music, the Opera House was pretty cool. We were in one of the smaller theaters and it was really pretty and modern on the inside – much better than the Performing Arts Center in Anchorage. Sorry, PAC, but your pineapple ceiling is lame. Plus, the view from the Opera House was amazing!

Also, Commonwealth Bank was sponsoring some old violin that was in the concert, and they left advertising in the form of delicious chocolate violins on all our chairs. Ethan and I snarfed those down like it was our last meal. They were very tasty. It was like Homer Simpson’s fantasy orchestra.

So that was our first Opera House experience. I say “first” because I really want to see an opera in the Opera House before we leave. Ethan is less keen on the opera, but hey, I make those kinds of purchases around here. And if he doesn’t want to go, I’m sure I can find someone who will go with me.

Exciting News!

2011-05-17T20:25:00.000+10:00

I got assigned my very own plot in the Randwick Community Garden!

Well okay, this news is not that exciting to you, perhaps. But it’s exciting to me, and this is my blog, and let’s face it, if I had titled this post “Semi-Boring News!” you wouldn’t have even read it. Back to the garden: not only do I have my very own plot now, it’s a premium plot. The lady who had it previously installed piping underneath, so now I just have to pour water in a tube on the side and it will slowly water the plants from the bottom. Irrigation, per se. This will work out really well during the summer if I don’t have a chance to stop by and water very often.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find my list of seeds I wanted to buy, so I’m going to have to replan everything and order seeds this week. That’s okay though, I get to plan it all over again. Plus, I am just so excited about having my own plot! It is almost like having my very own yard.

Stay tuned for further updates (and pictures of the garden)!

Busy-ness

2011-05-10T20:52:00.000+10:00

In the spirit of keeping you up to date with my every day life, I thought I would let you know what’s been going on with me and my work. When I got the contract to work for the BOM, I thought I might get an opportunity to work in a position embedded in the state fire agency. Back in February, that position opened up, and I seriously considered applying for it, but decided against it for two reasons: 1) I was worried about the commute and 2) it would have taken me out of the forecast office and I really wanted to broaden my forecasting skills.

Fortunately, I have gotten a chance to work there anyway for the past few months in the interim before the new person arrives, and it’s been a good experience. I’ve been working on the Fire Weather Training program, which is something I really enjoy, and I have really liked the day shift schedule. However, the commute sucks. I have to take the bus to the train station, take the train out to the burbs, and then get on another bus to get to the office. Between all the walking, transporting and transferring, I spend about an hour and a half getting to work. It wears me out. I don’t think I could have maintained working at this job and living where we do long term.

I did try to ride my bike to the train station and then take my bike on the train a couple of times. It saved me a lot of time by cutting out some of the transfer stuff. However, it was about 12 miles round trip, in rush hour traffic, and between that and the work day, I didn’t feel any less worn out. Plus, taking my bike on the train was no barrel of monkeys either. I was travelling against traffic, so the train wasn’t too full, but the set up is not ideal (there’s one small area that I had to share with people with strollers, suitcases, and wheelchairs) and I still had to navigate Central Station with my bike. As a result, I haven’t done it since, and I just get fatter and fatter because by the time I get home at night I’m too worn out to work out, and it’s dark, and waking up any earlier than I have to (5 a.m., currently) just isn’t going to happen.

So that’s what’s happening with work. I’m enjoying this opportunity, and it is pretty much the exact experience I wanted. And, the short time frame means that I can tolerate this ridiculous commute business for just a little while longer. Then it’s back to my regular job, which will be good for my forecasting skills. Plus, it will be good to work with my forecasting coworkers, who are a lot of fun.

Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul

2011-05-08T08:00:00.003+10:00

Every morning when I wake up, I can hear the birds in the neighborhood as they greet the day. Double paned windows and good insulation are not common in Australia, or at least, my apartment doesn’t have these things, so I can pretty much hear if so much as a frog sneezes outside my window. The other factor in this issue is that the birds here don’t just sing – they squawk, screech, moan, cackle, wail, trumpet, and catcall. It’s like comparing Judy Garland with Ethel Merman. Although you can appreciate the talent of both ladies, you wouldn’t want Ethel Merman singing you to sleep. While I appreciate the fact that I live in a neighborhood that’s green enough to host all these different birds, sometimes I just wish they’d shut the hell up.

I do think that Australia has much prettier birds than a lot of places in America – certainly more colorful birds than we ever saw in Alaska. Some of the most colorful are the rainbow lorikeets, which are endemic, at least in Eastern Australia. I hear flocks of them screeching in the trees on the way to the bus every morning, and every once in a while I catch a glimpse of red, green and purple as they flit between trees.

Rainbow Lorikeet

Crimson Rosella

Galah

King Parrot

I think my favorite is the kookaburra, though. They are quite loud with their crazy “laugh”, but they have quite a personality and can be very cheeky. One of my former coworkers had a kookaburra that decided it owned his house. Every morning it woke him up, pecking at the windows. It ruined all of his screens with its giant beak, so he decided to do something about it. He spent a hundred dollars on a giant wooden owl meant to scare it away, only to find it sitting on the owl, pecking it the next morning. I think they were relieved to move back to Melbourne and let the kookaburra have the place.

Heidi and Dan were not too impressed with the birds’ singing either – in particular, when they kept us awake all night camping near the river in Dubbo. I had dreams about ghosts of murdered children visiting me in that field, which I’m pretty sure is directly related to hearing cockatoos wailing in my sleep. Multiple references were made during their visit about the “cockatoo of happiness” waking us up in the mornings.

Chirp chirp! Don't I look pleasant and friendly? Well, I'm NOT!

In summary, I have decided that these birds are beautiful to look at in the wild, and enjoy in aviaries and zoos, but never, ever will I have one as a pet.

Wildlife, of the Six and Eight Legged Variety

2011-05-05T20:00:00.001+10:00

One thing I was concerned about when I moved to Australia was, to use the words of my friend Sheila, all the “creepy crawlies”. In particular, the spiders, which are 1) some of the most poisonous in the world and 2) very, very scary. At least in my opinion. After living here for almost a year, I can say that although we have had good luck with the creepy crawlies, I don’t like them and next time we move, I want it to be to someplace that has fewer of them.

Currently, there is a giant spider in my courtyard/garden area. He is fairly harmless, or at least he’s not one of the big three poisonous ones. I do not like him at all though. Fortunately for his sake, he’s gotten large enough that I can no longer deal with him at all. Killing is not an option, because I am too scared to get in his general vicinity. So I just stare from afar, with a look of disgust on my face, while Ethan says things like “Cool!” Ethan does not realize that there’s a reason spiders are part of the Halloween horror folklore, along with zombies, vampires, witches, and Godzilla. Scary!

Less scary to me, but perhaps more disgusting, are the giant cockroaches. They live in wet areas, near drainpipes and downspouts, and sometimes make it inside via the pipes, windows and doors. I don’t particularly like them, but they aren’t so scary – more startling when they run out at you from underneath something.

Fortunately, I live with Fievel the Cockroach Slayer, who has finally recognized his true calling in life. That little dog is a cockroach killing machine! If I see him staring under the furniture, wagging his tail furiously, I know he’s got his quarry cornered. He bites the cockroaches until they flip over and play dead, and then he either bites them again when they start moving, or we kill them with a shoe. It can get a bit gross at times, because he drools a lot when he gets excited. One night I went out into the courtyard and it was like a cockroach horror movie – dog drool and cockroach parts everywhere! Still, he’s a big help because he’s pretty fast, and manages to get them to where we can kill them pretty quickly.

All of these creepy crawlies are a direct result of living in an area that is both warm and humid. In Alaska, we didn’t have these problems. I have to say, I’m really glad we didn’t move someplace further north, like Brisbane or Cairns, which are essentially in the rainforest. I just don’t think I could hang with all the giant spiders around.

Roo BBQ

2011-05-01T20:30:00.002+10:00

“Anonymous” (who I strongly suspect is Uncle Carl, given his sign in difficulties) left an oblique reference to a Facebook post I wrote about eating kangaroo. I take that as a hint that the blogosphere would like to read about it as well.

I have eaten kangaroo a few times since I’ve been here, with varying success. Kangaroo is a very environmentally friendly meat; kangaroos are a bit overpopulated, and they eat naturally growing grass, so there’s no carbon expenditures on shipping in expensive grain to feed them.

Photo courtesy of Dan.

Unfortunately, it can also be a bit gamey if overcooked, which I have experienced on one occasion. It was not good. Anyway, Ethan and I thought it would be fun to serve roo for Heidi and Dan. Heidi and Dan picked out the meat – some marinated and some plain – and we cooked it on our outdoor gas grill. I was very conservative with the cooking, as I have a tendency to overcook on the grill, and in light of aforementioned experience. As a result, we were a bit undercooked for Heidi and Dan’s taste, but it turned out really good. Kangaroo tastes a bit like beef, and when cooked properly is very tender and juicy. There is no risk of trichinosis or e coli, so undercooking is more of problem with regards to taste than health. I preferred the marinated pieces, but the plain ones were good too.

Eating kangaroo is more of a novelty than anything else – it isn’t less expensive than beef, and doesn’t taste surprisingly different. But it’s still tasty and fun to say you’ve had some. I imagine we’ll have it again a few more times while we’re here.

Let's Go Walk That Dinosaur!

2011-04-25T15:31:00.002+10:00

Sorry for the internet hiatus, but my friends Heidi and Dan (of Fairbanks cabin fame) were here for just over 2 weeks, and I was so busy I didn’t have time to blog. Plus, I felt it would be a bit rude to leave them sitting around while I typed away. We did a lot of cool things, with pictures, which I will post, but I thought I would start with a picture-less post about one of the more unusual things we did with them: Jurassic Lounge at the Australian Museum.

Every Tuesday evening in the summer and fall, the Australian Museum opens its doors after hours. They have bands and guest artists, and you can cruise around the museum listening to music and checking out the exhibits. All of the regular exhibits were open, but with different lighting, so we got to check out dinosaur bones and skeletons and preserved birds under colored lights. They also had a “silent disco”, which is where you can check out a pair of headphones and rock out to music piped in by a DJ.

We watched some film shorts (aside: why are French films always weird?) and listened to the silent disco, and drank quite a few beers and wines. It was a blast – like Night at the Museum, but for adults. There was also an optional talk – the one we saw was unfortunately boring and a bit insulting, but I know my boss delivered a talk there which would have been much better. (Because he’s funny, not because he’s my boss!)

Anyway, we all had a lot of fun, and I think it’s one of the best things I’ve done in Sydney – and totally the kind of thing that made me want to move here in the first place.

No news is boring news

2011-04-05T20:00:00.001+10:00

Although I mean for this blog to keep people up to date with my day-to-day life, including things like beer making, bread baking and worm farming, for some reason I get continuously sucked into the "Don't post unless it's about an awesome trip. With pictures." mentality. Anyway, the lack of posts from week to week doesn't mean that I've died, it just means I'm doing things like working, and daily stuff like hanging out with friends, sans pictures.

Also, we have some friends coming into town this week, so I don't plan to update the blog while they're here. I have a few ideas for some update-type posts that I will get to hopefully in the next couple of days and schedule them so you won't get bored and forget that I used to actually blog.

In the meantime, for your listening pleasure, Ethan found a clip of what Tasmanian Devils sound like. Pretty horrific, huh?

Tasmania Part III: In Which We Realize That You Can Go Home Again, Or Something Like It

2011-03-26T08:00:00.001+11:00

Our third day, we went on a hike at Lake St. Clair National Park. This was a bit of a bust, so I don’t really have any pictures. First of all, the drive was too long for a day trip (2 ½ hours one way). Secondly, we misread the map, and didn’t make it to the destination of our hike, a lake where we were supposed to see platypuses. So basically we drove 5 hours to do a 3 hour hike through Eucalytus forest. Poor planning on my part.

Our final day we drove up Mt. Wellington, the 1300 meter peak above Hobart (you can see it in the background behind the Cascade Brewery). We should have done this on the third day, because there were loads of cool hiking trails and it would have been great to do at least one of them. The views from the top were quite spectacular, and the scenery reminded me a lot of Alaska, because it was above treeline. It also reminded me of Alaska because it was quite cold! I wished I had my hat and gloves!

Top of Mt Wellington

View over Hobart

Our friend Pete was also in Tasmania from Melbourne while we were there, so each night we went out to dinner with him. It was good to catch up, and the dinners we had were fantastic. Tasmania is expensive, but I really enjoyed the food we ate while we were there.

Except for our misguided hiking attempt, we really enjoyed Tasmania. The scenery was very pretty and the lack of people made the experience very relaxing. I would like to go back again, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to before we leave.

Tasmania Part II: In Which We Meet The Devil and Go to Jail

2011-03-23T08:00:00.001+11:00

The next day, we drove down to Port Arthur, the penal colony reserved for repeat offenders. Port Arthur was also the site of a horrible massacre in the 90s, when a crazy guy shot and killed 36 tourists. It was pretty tragic.

Picturesque village? Or cruel and forbidding penal colony?

"Pans" in front of Pirate's Bay. Arrr!

The drive to Port Arthur was really pretty. On the way, we stopped off to view Pirate’s Bay and the tessellated pavement beach. Tessellated pavement is an interesting geological formation caused by salt and sand breaking down weaknesses in the rock. There are “pans” and “loaves”. It was really neat and looked like something manmade.

Pans in the foreground, loaves in the background

Next, we stopped by the Tasmanian Devil Research Centre. The Tasmanian Devils have developed a horrible face cancer that is actually communicable between devils (it is one of 3 cancers in the world that are directly communicable, not transmitted via a virus). The research centre has isolated several disease free Tasmanian Devils, in the hopes of finding a cure.

Look at the little sweetie!

Tasmanian Devils look really cute when they’re sleeping, but they are actually quite vicious toward each other. They are scavengers and don’t pose a threat to other animals, but when fighting, their growls and snarls are horrible. It is easy to see how they got their name – listening to these guys fight over a dead animal in the forest at night would be quite terrifying, if you didn’t know what they were.

Not so sweet anymore!


Fear me!

Quolls...the Dalmations of the squirrel world.

There were a few other animals at the Tasmanian Devil Centre, including quolls

Pademelon. Nothing like a melon, in fact.

and pademelons.

Prisoners in the penitentiary lived in 1.5 x 3.5m cells

Finally, we reached Port Arthur. Port Arthur was active for quite a number of years, and was still a town site after the penal colony was closed. Unfortunately, it was not protected for many years, so a number of things (bricks, tools, etc) have been removed for “souvenirs”. The bush fires in the late 1800s also did a number on the buildings. Today Port Arthur is being restored. The history is still really fascinating. It’s a bit creepy and would have been really fun for a ghost tour, if we had stayed overnight.

Also, they went to church.

Hardened criminal

To be continued...

Tasmania Part I: In Which We Drink Beer and Look at Flowers

2011-03-20T13:22:00.000+11:00

Last weekend, I had four days off, so Ethan and I took our first trip out of state. We chose to go to Tasmania, because it’s starting to be fall, and we figured that the weather there would get worse earlier.

Tasmania is really neat. It’s the second oldest colony in New South Wales, and was also part of the penal colony program. It reminded us a lot of Alaska, both from the weather aspect and also from the size of the towns.


Cascade Brewery, in front of Mt Wellington

The first day, we took a tour at the Cascade brewery. We found this pretty interesting, since we’ve been doing lots of homebrew. Of course the best part was the three beer tokens we got at the end! Cascade beer is okay, but it tends toward the Aussie tastes, which are lighter than Ethan’s and mine. There was only one stout, but we did enjoy the First Harvest, which used fresh hops and is only produced once a year.

In the afternoon, we walked up to the Royal Botanical Gardens. On the way, we passed the site of the Beaumaris Zoo, which was only open a few years in the 1920s and 30s. They are planning to restore the site. I really liked the sign, which was made of a tile mosaic and pounded metal animals.

The Royal Botanical Gardens were awesome. I thought they were better than the Botanical Gardens in Sydney. Every piece of the garden was well planned for a mix of colors and interesting views as you turned the corners. Our favorite was the Japanese garden, but the conservatory and the edible gardens were also really well done.

Harry Potter's Goblet of Fire?

Two Chinese lions and an American idiot

Japanese Bridge

The Conservatory

It was also at the Botanical Gardens that Ethan got the laugh of the trip when he told me a giant spider was on the bench we were sitting on (there wasn’t). I think I set the new record for the long jump when he said that.

To be continued…

The Story of My Life

2011-03-04T20:42:00.001+11:00

On Tuesday, Ethan and I went to see Social Distortion at the Enmore Theatre. Social D is one of the earlier punk rock bands. They formed in 1978, which is a bit later than the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols but puts them in about the same timeframe as Black Flag. Coincidentally, 1978 is also the year I was born.

The concert was pretty cool, even if Mike Ness is aging. I felt a bit out of place, though, because I was wearing a work appropriate black shirt and jeans, and Ethan was wearing a non-ironic free t-shirt, not another punk band t-shirt. #1 accessory of the night? Sleeve tatts. I would have worn mine, but I left them at home.

Also, when Mike Ness asked how many people weren't going to work the next day and gave the rest of the crowd permission for a sickie, I knew that I wouldn't take it. I also highly suspected that the people who weren't going to work didn't have jobs. I mean, yeah, we pretty much gave our old jobs the finger and fled the country, but I am still working for The Man. And paying my bills.

It was still really fun, though, even if my head did hurt the whole next day. They played most of my favorites, including the song we played at our wedding:

So Ethan and I don't really fit in the punk rock image, but we never really did. I reckon Social D was happy enough to get our money that they don't really care anyway. And we got to enjoy some great music while watching other people injure themselves crowd surfing. Being staid and boring is awesome.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

2011-02-25T08:00:00.007+11:00

Back in January, Ethan and I went to a cricket match with our American friend Joe. All three of us wanted to attend a match while we were here, so we went to a regional match one Sunday night out at ANZ Stadium.

The venue

Because it was a regional match, it wasn’t very popular, so the tickets were $20 and we had no trouble choosing seats. I have been following cricket at work because the Aussies like it and I wanted to learn about it. It seems really confusing at first, but it’s not really all that different from baseball.

The cricket pitch

The match we went to was a 20/20 match, which lasts only three hours, as opposed to the 5 day test matches, which literally last for 5 days. I won’t get into the specifics of cricket, because you can look that up on Wikipedia and it would probably be easier to understand anyway.

Attending a cricket match was again, not unlike attending a baseball game. The match we went to was New South Wales vs. Western Australia. Sadly, NSW was no match for the WA team.

WA makes one of many runs

We ate hot dogs and drank beer, and I brought along some peanuts, but no Crackerjack. I’m not sure why I find cricket more interesting than baseball, but for some reason, it is marginally more interesting to me. Maybe because it’s foreign. One thing I did miss from baseball games was the seventh inning stretch!

About two thirds of the way through the game, we some showers started passing through. The first time it rained they covered up the field and we waited it out, but the second time we decided that there was no hope for the NSW team and we left early.

Should've brought the umbrella

We had a good time and I wanted to go to another game this season, but we haven’t found the opportunity. Maybe next year we can scrounge up some tickets to watch the Australia team play another country. I wouldn’t mind going to another 20/20 game before we leave.

Camping Down Ulladulla Way

2011-02-21T13:42:00.000+11:00

Aussies apparently have a similar sense of humor

At the beginning of February, our friends Scott and Brenda came to visit. They are the first visitors we’ve had since we moved here, so we were eager to show our friends a good time. Scott and Brenda really like getting out of the city, so we took a three day camping trip near Ulladulla, which is about 3 hours south of Sydney.

Ethan and I had checked a book on campgrounds out of the library, which gave us some great suggestions. The campground we found was off the beaten path, and in a forest with a quick walk to the beach.

Scott is a big kitesurfer, so we spent a lot of time hanging out at the beach.

Scott kitesurfing

The rest of us drinking beer. Who's having more fun?

Me, alone on the beach

The beaches were beautiful, and surprisingly empty. I took a quick hike through the forest and ended up at this beach, which had no one else on it.

Oh no! There goes Tokyo! Go go Godzilla!

We also got to see some cool wildlife. I saw this lizard on my beach hike. When he first came out of the reeds by the lake, I thought he looked like a dragon!


Night raiders

At night, the possums would come out and search our campground for food. We tried to put it all away, but the first night we missed a tortilla and they got a nice snack. The next night, there were loads of them around!

I wonder if there's someone out there looking back at me?

With no city lights, the stars at night were beautiful.

One day while Scott and Ethan were kiting, Brenda and I drove around the little town and took a quick hike to an overlook. We saw 3 large kangaroos hop across the road into someone’s yard.


The gate wasn't closed, but this fence was no match for these roos anyway.

Then we turned the corner and Brenda pulled the car over. I didn’t know why at first until I looked across the field and saw 15 roos under the tree. It was pretty hot and they were taking an afternoon siesta.

Lazy roos.

The walk to the overlook was easy and the view was beautiful.

Australia's Southern Coast

Overall it was a great vacation. The views were lovely, and the beaches were fun, but I think what I enjoyed the most was the time spent with our friends. That will never change, no matter what country we live in!

One Man's Weed is Another Man's Houseplant

2011-02-03T15:04:00.000+11:00

I just spent a morning at the community garden ripping out Wandering Jew. Back in Alaska, I had a Wandering Jew that I kept coaxing along in our living room. Every once in a while I would have to strip out all the old, dead branches and start again from scratch. Here, it is literally a weed that takes over the garden. It even blooms these pretty blue flowers, which I never had the opportunity to witness in the U.S. Strange how different things can be depending on your locale.

We have just returned from a 3 day camping trip with our friends Scott and Brenda. I will attempt to post some pictures soon. Unfortunately, my camera seems to have gotten quite a bit of dirt in it, so I will need to spend some extra time photoshopping. Stay tuned!

Govett's Leap

2011-01-28T08:00:00.000+11:00

This is Part III of a three part post about our trip to the Blue Mountains.

Our last day in the Blue Mountains, we packed up, said goodbye to our Perth friends, and headed back towards Sydney. We left a bit early so we could stop at a place I thought sounded kind of cool – Govett’s Leap. We had purchased a book with hikes around the Blue Mountains on our first day, so I picked a relatively short hike along the cliff top from Govett’s Leap to Evan’s Lookout.

In spite of the fact that the story behind the name was a bit anticlimactic (I was envisioning a Last of the Mohicans type death scene, but it was just named after some guy who found it), Govett’s Leap was amazing. The cliffs are huge, and there are several gorgeous waterfalls that are probably 250m or more in height.

Me enjoying the view at Evan's lookout

Bridal Veil Falls from the Cliff Top

We hiked along the cliff top for a couple of hours before returning to the car and rescuing the dog. I don’t have too much to say about the hike (other than that we saw a shy Lyre bird, which was cool) because I think the pictures do it better justice.

Pulpit Rock

Horseshoe Falls

Cliffs we walked along on the hike

Govett's Leap

The full panorama at Govett's Leap

After the hike, we returned home. We were under the misunderstanding that we had to return the car by 4, so we decided not to do anything else in the Blue Mountains. It was just as well, because we were already fighting traffic through the city.

Wide open spaces

I went to the Blue Mountains not really understanding how cool they are. I was expecting a Shenandoah type experience, and while I certainly had that, the cliffs were way better than I expected, and the wildlife made the experience nothing like anything in the States. Ethan and I didn’t do a lot of the cool things there are to do up there, so we hope to go back again, and knock out a few more things to do.

Jenolan Caves

2011-01-26T08:00:00.001+11:00

This is Part II of a three part post about our trip to the Blue Mountains.

On Day 2 of our Blue Mountains trip, we headed down to Jenolan Caves. A guy at the caravan park recommended that we stay overnight, and there was so much to see we certainly could have, if it hadn’t been for the dog.

A kangaroo (wallaby?) along the way

Jenolan Caves is in a really steep valley, and looks like a small Alpine Village. It is really beautiful and remote, although I would not want to be there during a heavy rain event! We signed up for a tour as soon as we rocked up, but since we had to wait, we decided we would take a short hike as well.

Not Germany -- Jenolan Caves

The hike was not strenuous and was well worth it. We went past Carlotta Arch

Carlotta Arch with the Blue Lake below

and then through a cave called the Devil’s Coach House.

Ethan is dwarfed by the Devil's Coach House

We also had a free tour through Nettle Cave, although we didn’t realize it at the time. After wandering through this hike, we took another short hike around the manmade lake and stream that comes out of the caves.

The blue lake, complete with tree ferns

It was really pretty back in here, and the further we went, the more isolated it got.

Viewing the weir through the trees

We had heard from our caravan park compatriot that platypuses like to swim in the lake at the end of the hike, but unfortunately we had to turn around before we got to the end, because of time constraints.

Then it was on to our tour. Jenolan Caves doesn’t necessarily have anything that other caves don’t, but there were a lot of really neat formations and some really large rooms with massive structures.

Rock jellyfish

Lights in the "Cathedral" hall


Stone curtain


Further along in Lucas Cave

After that, we went back to Oberon to relax. We were kind of tired and cold (hey, it’s pretty chilly underground) so we wanted to be in the sun again. We decided to take a short walk around the dam, which was really pretty too. This was more what I envisioned when I came to Australia – a lot of eucalyptus and sheep farmland.

Lake Woebegon -- I mean, Oberon

We finished off the night with some camp food and a couple of beers at The Royal Hotel in Oberon. The Royal Hotel was kind of a dive, which meant Ethan and I felt right at home. We fell asleep under a multitude of stars, only to be awakened by our friend the kookaburra at 6 a.m.

Next: the third and final part of our adventure, in which we do an awesome hike.

Katoomba and the Three Sisters

2011-01-24T08:00:00.003+11:00

This is Part I of a three part post about our trip to the Blue Mountains.

I had three days off, and I wanted to get out of town, so Ethan and I decided to head to the Blue Mountains, which are a couple hours west of Sydney. We made reservations at a caravan park that would accept dogs, rented a car for three days, and headed out.

The first day, we drove out to our caravan park, stopping at Scenic World in Katoomba along the way. Scenic World, as the name might suggest, is a bit of a rip off. But I didn’t really know what the best things to do in the Blue Mountains were, and this seemed kind of like fun. We bought the $56 worth of tickets to go on three rides: a tram across the gorge, the world’s steepest railway, and a gondola up from the valley floor.

The railway from above.


This lady assumed a stoic expression as soon as I turned to take a picture.

The railway actually was pretty cool. This was originally installed to bring coalminers from the top of the valley to the mines, and then later was converted into a tourist trap. It goes pretty slow, but it is really steep and it goes through a natural tunnel. I enjoyed it and would do it again – on its own, for 11 bucks.

Once we got to the bottom, we took the gondola back up. Unfortunately, we were stuck in the middle and couldn’t see much. The only good thing about the gondola was that we didn’t have to walk back up to the top, which would have been very strenuous.


Wentworth Falls

Then we took the Skyway past Katoomba falls. This was pretty cool, although we got to see cooler things later for free. Katoomba is also famous for having a view of the Three Sisters, which we were easily able to see from all around the area.

After this, we traveled to the caravan park. I don’t have any pictures of it, but it was really nice. It was in a small town called Oberon, and was one of the best caravan parks I’ve ever been to. We had access to a fridge, stove, barbecue, microwave, fire pit, nice and clean restrooms and a laundry. Our campsite was nice and large too, which was good. We had the good fortune to camp next to a really nice couple from Perth, who gave us lots of good suggestions for places to camp around Australia.

The Three Sisters

There were also lots of cool birds, around the caravan park, which were a mixed blessing. We saw black cockatoos, galahs, and crimson rosellas, and heard a couple of kookaburras. It was really cool until 6 a.m., when the bird life came to “sing” in the trees above our heads. Nothing says “good morning” like the black cockatoo of happiness squawking his heart out. The kookaburra also came to say hello as well, in his 40,000 decibel voice. Ah, nature.

Despite the loud birds, I would totally recommend Jenolan Caravan Park to anyone looking for a place to stay out in that region. Oberon is a quiet, cute little town, and the Caravan Park was cheap and well maintained.

Next up: Part II, in which we visit Jenolan Caves.

Yo No Soy Un Perdedor

2011-01-22T22:38:00.001+11:00

Let me preface this post by saying this kind of thing never happens to me. This story makes my life seem way cooler than it is. I do not win things, and I am not a “cool” girl. Also, I know you are waiting for pics from our Blue Mountains adventure. They are coming, I promise. Anyway, back to my story.

So, I heard this band Matt and Kim were coming to town and I really wanted to go see them. I originally found out about them on Operation Pink Herring, in a post strikingly similar to this one. Anyway, they seemed pretty cool, but I put off buying tickets. Ethan wasn’t really into them, and I didn’t know who else to go with. The night before the concert, I decided not to go. Like I said, I didn’t really have anyone to go with, and I’d been feeling kind of crappy all week, so I thought, well maybe I should just go another time.

Then mid-afternoon Friday, I got a text message saying that I had won two free VIP passes to the show! I had forgotten that I had actually entered to win these passes a couple weeks earlier. After all, I never win contests, so there was no way, right? But here this message was. So I replied that yes, I would pick them up, and called Ethan, who was out kite surfing, with the good news.

Ethan didn’t get back to me until almost 9 o’clock, and he was wiped, so he didn’t want to go. I still had no one to go with, but I was not giving up these tickets. So I decided to go, even though I was in my work clothes and a bit hesitant about going to a rock concert in my button down shirt and nice pants.

Matt and Kim from the VIP section.

And you know what? It was AWESOME. First of all, VIP passes come with 2 free beers. Even though they were Beck’s and our homebrew is totally superior, they were free! Secondly, the venue was sweet. It was this temporary festival tent set up for the Sydney Festival outside Hyde Park Barracks. The VIP section had nice cushiony chairs underneath the trees, and some nice tables and chairs and ottoman seats in the back. But even the regular schmoe section was nice, with lots of tables and bars. It was small enough to be a small venue, but big enough to be fun and not too loud.

Kim dancing literally on the crowd. As in, they were holding her up.

Most importantly, Matt and Kim were so much fun! They’re a pretty simple band – a guy on a synth and a girl on drums, so don’t expect Mozart here. But they are high, high energy, and both they and the small venue made it very personal. It was great to stand there and dance and sing along watching Matt play his synth standing on one leg, with Kim grinning as she beat away on the drums.

My only complaint is that in my work clothes, I couldn’t get into it as much as I wanted. I had my purse with me, and although it’s like the Mary Poppins bag, in that I can put a ginormous amount of things in it – including my crappy camera and a 32oz water bottle – it was also a giant albatross around my shoulder. I kept knocking into other ladies with giant purses (although I suspect theirs were giant out of a devotion to fashion, not a need to carry every last thing in the universe) and thinking “Damn purse!”

But I had a great time, even by myself, and I’m so glad I won those tickets! I wouldn’t have gone otherwise, and I would have really missed out. And now I can say I’ve rocked out to a concert all by myself in a foreign country. I feel much cooler than I really am.

Blog Reading: A How-To Guide for the Blogging Impaired

2011-01-15T20:53:00.001+11:00

I’ve been meaning to do a little post about the blog, since some people who are new to the blog format may not completely understand what it’s all about.

At the top, I have a tab “About Me”. My guess is that if you’re reading this, you already know who I am. But just in case you’re new, or want to know why I’m blogging, read up! I have plans for other tabs as well…someday, in the nebulous future.

You can access my latest post by going to the main page: http:/nuttyandnuttier.blogspot.com In theory, I should be updating this blog frequently (like weekly). However, because of life, I don’t always do it that often, so the post you see at the front may be old. Don’t give up! If you want current posts but don’t want to have to check too often, I encourage you to use an RSS feed like Google Reader, where you can add a bunch of blogs (or other websites) and sign in to see any updates without having to check each location individually.
On the top left side, I have a few blogs I like to visit, but I’m sorry to say, I don’t really update that all that often. I encourage you to check out what’s there currently – I find these people interesting, and you might too!

The tags on the bottom left are labels I’ve used to categorize my posts. Larger tags are categories I’ve used more often. If you’re interested in seeing all my posts on gardening, for example, you can click on it and see every post I’ve tagged with that label. Obviously, that’s subject to human error—a lot of times I forget to tag a post, or don’t tag it with what you would, perhaps. Still, it’s a good way to see what I’ve written on a subject.

If you want to see old posts from a chronological perspective, you can go to the Blog Archive. You might use this if you wanted to know what I wrote about last year’s Christmas, for example.

On the right side, I have one of my few widgets: a link to my Goodreads page to show you what I’m currently reading. I’m an avid reader but very rarely post about what I’m reading (save Walden, which I read during a period when I didn’t have much to do except complain about it). If you think you might be interested in anything I’m reading, I encourage you to click on the book.

At the top, I have a tab “About Me”. My guess is that if you’re reading this, you already know who I am. But just in case you’re new, or want to know me more, read up! I also plan to add another tab with Favorites at some point.

So that’s enough about the blog. If you’re new to blogs, I hope you “get” how my page works a little better. For those of you who are not new, but have stuck it out this far, sorry for the boring post, and back to our (ir)regularly scheduled programming!

P.S. I do take requests, although I might be slow. So if you’re tired of hearing about what I’m currently fascinated with and want to revisit an old topic, let me know.

Unbidden Memory

2011-01-12T19:59:00.001+11:00

I was over at You Grow Girl (thanks for the rec, Craftosaurus!) and I followed a link to a post she wrote about daffodils. She seems to have a lot more hang ups about daffodils than I do -- I never considered them boring or ordinary. I always liked daffodils as one of the first harbingers of spring. They were a sign of better days to come.

As I was thinking about these flowers, I remembered that they used to grow wild in the woods near the house I grew up in. I remember walking through there with my parents as a little girl and seeing little spots of color at the bases of the still lifeless trees.

There's not much point to this story. It was just a nice memory and I thought I would share it, in particular for those of you who are still in the dark throes of winter.

Stew Brews again and again

2011-01-10T20:42:00.001+11:00

Back by popular demand (as in one reader request), I will fill you in on our homebrewing efforts.

Our stout.

The homebrewing has been surprisingly and exceptionally successful. I think it helps when you have an unemployed husband who is bored with daily doggie care to do all the research and brewing. I have had to do very little, except provide my expert tasting opinion and fill the beer bottles with new batches.

At the suggestion of my uncle, a well-known (well, at least in our family) and formidable homebrewer, my mom purchased this book for our birthdays. Let me tell you, Uncle Carl was right on the money because this book ROCKS! It’s easy to follow, but applicable for everyone, beginners or advanced brewers, and my personal favorite advantage, constantly advises you to “Relax. Don’t worry. Have a homebrew!” We have now made several recipes from the book, but more importantly, Ethan has learned so much about the brewing process and is able to make simple substitutions—for example, when the hops called for in the recipe are not available.

Ethan relaxing and having a homebrew.

Anyway, onto the beers because I know that’s what you want to hear about. After our first brew, we made an Aussie-style old, which was all right (that did not come out of the book). Our Canadian friend said it tasted like a “watered-down rum and coke” which was a little harsh, but not entirely off the mark. I think he was tasting the caramel flavors in the beer. Then we moved onto a stout, which has disappeared very rapidly, and a hefeweizen/white beer, which is light and drinkable and reminds me slightly of Paulaner. Our next batch that’s carbonating is a porter, which should be rich and flavorful, but a bit less bitter than the stout.

You may notice we tend towards darker beers, because that’s what we like the most. Darker beers aren’t as widespread here in Oz, and you have to pay a fortune for them, which is why we started homebrewing in the first place. I have been very happily surprised with our success. In fact, some part of me fantasizes about quitting my job as well and running a brewing company…okay, maybe not with our lack of work ethic. No reason to make a fun hobby into a chore.

We’re still hoping to have a party and share some of our homebrew with our friends in the near future. But we, uh, have to quit drinking it all first.

Goal Making Session

2011-01-08T15:00:00.000+11:00

Every year, Ethan and I get together and make goals for the next year, the next 5 years, and the next 10. Normally we do this with Ethan's mom, but of course this year, we couldn't do that. So on Tuesday, we headed out for a breakfast and goal making.

We weren't sure where to head for breakfast, since breakfast restaurants are not as easy to find here as they are in the U.S. However, a couple of folks had recommended Pancakes on the Rocks, so we thought we would give that a try. Pancakes on the Rocks turned out to be awesome -- delicious, and not too expensive. IHOP, I am sorry to say, is a sad sack compared to this place. We had savory lunch crepes stuffed with chicken and mushrooms, and potatoes and ham, respectively, and then we had chocolate pancakes with strawberries for dessert. Yum!

Then we made our goals. I'll share my goals for 2011. I kept them pretty achievable this year, since last year's goals pretty much went out the window with our move to Australia. So here they are:

1. Find a project at work
2. Get a plot in the community garden
3. Join a CSA/Organic buyers group
4. Attend a permaculture class
5. Take a vacation outside of the country -- New Zealand ski vacation?
6. Go snorkelling at Clovelly beach
7. Volunteer/make charitable contributions
8. Expand summer wardrobe by thrift-store shopping
9. Plan several awesome Aussie trips

My goals seem a little boring and vague, but like I said, I'm trying to keep them achievable. I'm also trying to keep to things I think are important -- like saving money (thrift store), and pursuing a sustainable lifestyle (gardening and permaculture).

After our goal making session, we spontaneously stopped by an Annie Liebovitz exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was pretty busy, but fun to see the photographs. More importantly, this goes with an unspoken resolution I have: to get out there and enjoy more of the big city life in Sydney. We're only here for 18 more months, so we need to enjoy it while we can!

Ringing in the New Year, Now With More Trees!

2011-01-01T20:41:00.000+11:00

New Year’s Eve is supposedly one of the defining events of the city, so we decided that we would head down to the Harbour to watch the fireworks and ring in the New Year. Since millions of other people have the same idea (literally – Sydney boasted 1.5 million spectators), we had to head down to the Royal Botanical Gardens at 2 p.m. and have an all day picnic.

When we got there, the line was the longest I’d ever seen. It wound around and around the playing fields like a giant sea serpent. Thousands of bikini bearing, flip-flop wearing spectators were dragging coolers, camping chairs, and umbrellas through the 90 degree heat. I thought, this is going to be awful. Surprisingly, it wasn’t. The line constantly moved, and although it was about an hour long, it was much more pleasant than a similar length line for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyworld. We showed up, had our bags checked (no BYO alcohol, no glass) and proceeded to look for a spot.

Best seat in the house -- next to the garbage bins, with 5,000 of your closest buddies.

Unfortunately, the best places to see the fireworks were already taken by 6000 other people (again, literally).

So we found a place with a view of the bridge and sat down to chill, or roast, as the case may be. I have to say, that was the hottest New Years Eve of my entire life, and I don’t mean that in a good way.

We passed the time playing games, crowd watching, and enjoying the sky writing until it was time for the fireworks.

Smile! The sun is setting! It's no longer 8000000 degrees!

The Harbour Bridge! And trees!

First came the 9 o’clock show, followed by ships on parade. It was then that we figured out that we really hadn’t picked a very good spot. Although we could see about half of the Harbour Bridge, we couldn’t see any of the big fireworks. Realistically, the Harbour Bridge is what’s special, because I’ve seen the big exploding balls of light before (not to downplay it—these were huge and really cool). At that point we were pretty much committed though, because wasn’t any place to move.

Ok, the city was pretty cool too.

So we watched New Year’s Eve arrive in a shower of sparks, as seen through two separate but inconveniently located large trees, surrounded by drunk foreigners who insisted on counting down repeatedly, right up until 12:20. (Seriously, where do these people get their money? At $8 a canned beer, I wasn’t about to try to get drunk).

Then came the long trek home. With the road closures and the amounts of people, I was seriously dreading this and expecting a 3:00 a.m. arrival to an unhappy doggie. Surprisingly, again, it was super easy. The buses came every 5 minutes, so we rocked up and got on almost right away (nice how I put that Aussie slang in there, huh?). We were home by 1:30. It was awesome.

In summary, I hate to say this, but I was a little disappointed. Not because the fireworks sucked (they didn’t) or the crowds were a nightmare (they weren’t) but because we made a poor seating decision and ended up not seeing much. Sydney knows how to handle big crowds, and the fireworks were awesome from what I could see. But there’s not much available real estate unless you want to get there at the crack of dawn. Next year, I might pay an exorbitant fee to go someplace where I can arrive at 7:30 and have an excellent view. Or hang out at a friend’s house and watch them on t.v. But it was worth doing once and I’m glad I rang in 2011 in Sydney, Australia.

Happy New Year 2011!

2010: Year in Review

2010-12-31T08:00:00.004+11:00

January: I got a Wii as a graduation present from my folks. I went skiing a bunch of times. I announced that we were looking to move out of AK, and that we were going to buy a house when we do.
February: I complained about reading Walden. I went on a diet. I started posting about my interest in permaculture. I finished Walden, and ended up liking it.
March: I baked lots of bread from my favorite bread book. I posted one of the awesome Mt. Susitna webcam images. I whinged about missing a speech by the author of my favorite permaculture book, and I talked about one of the foremost women in Atmospheric Science, Joanne Malkus Simpson.
April: I went to Virginia to visit my relatives, and posted that I had big news upcoming soon.
May: I announced our upcoming move to Sydney! I complained about decluttering and getting my visa. I attempted to explain the Australia healthcare system (which I am no more knowledgeable about now that I live here). I acknowledged that I was going to miss Alaska. My visa arrived and I resigned from the National Weather Service.
June: We went on a rafting trip down the Chulitna, where my boat flipped and I ended up floating down a glacial river. Scary! Next thing you know, I was packing up and moving on. I arrived in Sydney and went to see the light show downtown and Manly Beach. I unsuccessfully looked for an apartment and got discouraged by Sydney prices. Back in Alaska, Ethan got punched in the face.
July: I found a great apartment only 10 minutes from the beach! I checked out the Royal Botanical Gardens, and got up close and friendly with bats and cockatoos. I heard my first Kookaburra and bought tickets to see one of my favorite bands, The Eels.
August: I went to Cockatoo Island to see an art show. At Featherdale Animal Park, I petted koalas and kangaroos. The Eels concert rocked. The Australia election happened and I attempted to explain Australian politics. I went on a ski trip to Perisher Valley and got to visit Canberra in the process.
September: I joined GoGet car share, took a bike riding class, and planted my garden. I posted pictures of the beach I live near (looking back at those pictures, I can't believe how empty the beach is!). I went bushwalking with my coworker and her husband through the glorious spring bush. Ethan and Fievel arrived safely.
October: I started my worm farm. My garden started growing. We made our first attempt at home brew. We visited Taronga Zoo. I did a post on water for Blog Action Day. Fievel came home. We enjoyed fish and chips at Watson's Bay and hiked past a nude beach. We hosted a Halloween party, and people actually came in costume!
November: Ethan and I went camping, sans camera card, where we saw kangaroos and possums in the wild. I butchered Ethan's hair. We did the Sculpture By the Sea walk. My garden started producing, and dying at the same time.
December: I did a 6-month in Australia update. I posted about how weird it was to have Christmas in the middle of summer. I went to the community garden for the first time and really enjoyed it.

Looking back, this has been a year full of unforeseen changes! Back in January I had no idea I would be moving to Australia for the adventure of a lifetime (joke's on me about buying a house, huh)? Although I've been a bit lax about posting in December, I hope to find some time to post more in the New Year (including those beer posts Uncle Carl asked for)! May you all have a safe and happy New Year!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like....Summer?

2010-12-18T10:00:00.001+11:00

I’ve really struggled getting into the Christmas spirit here in Oz, because the idea of having Christmas in summer is so foreign to me. It’s not just the warm weather, it’s the lengthening days and the summer holiday plans that make me feel less than festive. Aside from the religious reasons for celebrating Christmas, in the northern hemisphere Christmas is also a way to brighten the darkest days of winter, which is really why we celebrate it near the winter solstice (it stems from winter solstice celebrations in many different cultures). Here, after December 21, the days will be getting darker, not lighter, and our days are the longest of the year, making the lights and festivities feel a little less necessary.

Oh Christmas tree, how fake and plastic are thy branches.

We haven’t been able to do some of our traditional Christmas activities here – namely, watching Christmas movies and shows, because I had them all on videotape and got rid of them with our VCR, but haven’t replaced them with DVDs yet. (We also don’t have t.v., but that’s another story). However, we did bring out the Christmas decorations, which did help a little. Our tree is one that Mom gave me my first year of college. I set it up in the common area of our dorm and all of a sudden Christmas had arrived. Almost 15 years later, the tree is a bit worse for the wear, but it still makes me feel like Christmas is a lot closer.

So we’re learning about Christmas, the Aussie way. My church threw a Christmas party, which was a lot of fun. We opened “bon bons” or “crackers”, which are these cardboard poppers that you pull apart with a friend. They open with a pop, and whoever gets the big part gets the toy inside, and has to wear the goofy hat and read the horrible joke enclosed (sample: What do ghosts eat for dinner? Spookghetti). For dinner we had lamb, kangaroo shish kebabs, roasted potatoes, salads, curry and a Christmas pudding for dessert. The pudding took 9 hours to make and was nothing like American pudding. It was more like bread pudding – lots of dried fruits put together with bread and eggs into a cake-like concoction. We poured custard, a runny version of the stuff inside Boston Cream doughnuts over it. It was tasty but not worth 9 hours of cooking, in my opinion. I think that’s why Americans stick to pie. Anyway, the party was lots of fun and I ended up stuffed, just like an American Christmas.

We probably won’t do much for Christmas Day this year, as I have to work. So this may be my only Christmas post. If you celebrate Christmas, I wish you a happy one. For all of my readers, I hope you have a safe and happy holiday season, and for those of you in the northern hemisphere, that you enjoy the returning of the light.

Half a Year in the Other Hemisphere

2010-12-14T09:00:00.001+11:00

It’s hard to believe, but it has been six months since my arrival in Australia! That's longer than most celebrity marriages! I thought this would be a good opportunity to update you all and answer some FAQs.

Q: How do you like Oz?

A: I like it, but surprisingly, now that I’ve settled in, I don’t feel like life is all that different than life in the U.S. At fist everything seemed really different, but I’m not sure that’s not just a function of moving to a new location. We still do a lot of the same things we did in the U.S. and the culture is very similar. It’s not like we have kangaroos in our backyard or anything.

Q: What do you like best about living in Australia?

A: Frankly, what I like best is more of a function of living in a larger city: I like all the cultural opportunities that Sydney has to offer. There are loads of concerts and shows and exhibits and classes and things to get involved with. And in spite of the fact that Australians complain about Sydney’s public transportation like there’s no tomorrow, it’s a lot better than many American cities I’ve been to.

Q: What do you like least?

A: It’s hard to find things here, especially when we’re grocery shopping. I am amazed at how many things are called something different (i.e. peppers = capsicums, pumpkin = all types of squash, ketchup = tomato sauce, etc.) And some stuff, they just don’t have. Like Cheezits or frozen bread dough, or more than one brand of dill pickle (Aussies apparently don’t eat/like dill pickles. Who knew?)

Oh yeah, and it's effing expensive!

Q: What do you miss most?

A: Well, again, this is mostly a function of living in a larger city. I miss the relative quiet of my house in Anchorage. I miss being half an hour away from true wilderness. I miss really great bike trails. I miss the mountains. I miss having cheap things – not just cheap food or clothes, but cheap anything. Did I mention that life here is expensive?

Q: Do you think you’ll stay in Australia?

A: Hard to say. Never say never, but I imagine that we’ll move back to the U.S. We’d like to be closer to our families, and we’d like to have things be a bit easier. Plus, unless the housing market here crashes soon, we’ll never be able to afford a house. And after this, I’d really like to buy a home of our own.

So, this has been interesting so far. The first three months were really difficult, when I had no friends, no stuff, no place to live, and no husband or dog. Now that I have all of those things, I’m starting to enjoy it a bit more. It’s cool to see kangaroos when we go places, and they have some great candies and cookies here (America: Tim-Tams. Look into them).

I do miss home though. One thing I find kind of funny is that I hear a lot of comments about the U.S., and a lot of them are negative – regarding our politics, or how our culture has kind of taken over the world. But I think that Australians haven’t had the chance to experience some of the best things about the U.S. – like really good dill pickles, or readily available Mexican food, or how diverse we are from one region to the next. And, good or bad, we have it all out for anyone to see: Bill Clinton’s scandal, Tina Fey’s impression of Sarah Palin, everyone coming together after 9-11, or falling apart after Katrina, it’s well known world-wide. So good on ya, America, even when you’re all f-ed up, for the most part, I’m still proud to call you home.

Growing in the Community

2010-12-12T23:12:00.000+11:00

Since I was unable to obtain an apartment with a yard when we moved to Australia, I thought it would be good for me to join a community garden and hopefully get a plot. Randwick council has a community garden located a little ways away from our house. It’s pretty cool – it has shared plots, offers lots of workshops, and even has a few chickens. As of yet, I had not made it to any workshops, but on Saturday I finally managed to get to an Organic Gardening Basics workshop.

As anticipated, I had a lot of fun and learned a lot too. We built a compost pile and went over the basics of a no-till garden (also called the “lasagna method” of composting). It’s a method of building the soil by composting in place. You then plant seeds in your compost pile, which grow into plants while the materials around them break down. This eventually creates a fully composted plot, with rich loam instead of hard packed dirt or sand. It can even be done in a raised bed on tile or cement.

The requirements for getting a plot in this garden are semi-strict: you have to attend 3 workshops and 3 working bees. Fortunately, the workshop I attended will count for all of my workshop requirements since the lady who ran it will be having a baby soon and there won’t be any workshops for a little while. There is a planned workshop on edible weeds in February and one on permaculture in March, both of which I hope to attend.

Since I got a late start, I don’t’ know if I’ll be able to get a plot this summer. However, one benefit of the no-till method is that the compost surrounding your plants generates its own heat, and therefore keeps the roots warmer in winter than if they were planted in the ground. I’m hoping to get a plot and plant some late summer crops for harvesting in the fall with this method. In the meantime, I’ll be gleaning all the information I can form the workshops and working bees, in the hopes that I’ll be able to use it someday when we have a garden in our own backyard.

More Garden Partying

2010-11-25T08:00:00.002+11:00

Well, there’s good news and bad news about the garden.

Good news:

I have green beans!

My nasturtiums are flowering!

I also have developing tomatoes and green peppers! And…I bought a bacterial killer for my tomatoes that targets those nasty caterpillars I complained about last time, and it seems to have worked. I’ll need to keep an eye on it, in case a new batch has hatched, but for now we’re good.

Also, this is not my part of the garden, but the bushes the owner has planted are flowering, and they smell lovely. Anyone know what kind of bushes these are? The big flowers start out white, then turn yellow before dying. The small flowers just bloom and then die.

Bad news:

My tomato bushes look like this:

In particular, the large heirloom tomato is suffering. Even worse, I did some googling, and I think they have fusarium wilt, which comes from the soil and is not curable. I spoke with my coworker, who told me that all the potting soil here comes with lots of nematodes, which are the cause of the wilt.

Professor google also informed me that heirloom tomatoes are especially susceptible to the wilt, which explains why the big tomato looks even worse than the cherry tomatoes. At this point, I am desperately hoping that at least a few tomatoes redden up before the bushes die altogether. This is a huge disappointment to me, as it is the first year in ten (10!) that I have even attempted to grow my own tomatoes. Hopefully I get a few before I have to start over from scratch. At least it’s still technically spring here, so I can start over with fresh soil and fresh plants if necessary.

Update: When I came home last night, I found that my heirloom tomatoes had finally bitten the dust. We had some relatively strong winds yesterday and the plant was just not strong enough to withstand the breeze. At least 2 branches with tomatoes are broken. Of course, nothing had ripened, so I plan to have fried green tomatoes for dinner tonight. Then, I'll dump the plant and dirt, sterilize the pot, and try, try again, this time with a disease-resistant variety. So goes gardening, I guess.

General Update

2010-11-23T10:00:00.002+11:00

..in which I inform you of the day-to-day goings on, sans pictures.

Work: is going pretty well. A job came open working for the Rural Fire Service, and although when I moved here I thought I would want to move there, I decided against applying for it. For one thing, it would have doubled my commute, which is already on the long side of half an hour one way. For another, it would have taken me out of the forecasting center, so I would not have as many meteorologist contacts. Also, I like my coworkers, so to move someplace where I don’t know if I would like the people was a big gamble. Third, I am finally getting some experience forecasting severe thunderstorms, which was a gaping hole in my resume. So I really didn’t want to give that up.

Ethan: seems to be enjoying the stay-at-home-husband role. He is fanatically brewing beer and slightly less fanatically pursuing kite surfing. He’s helping out quite a bit by purchasing groceries and taking care of the dog. Because he’s been biking a lot, he’s also lost a lot of weight. Although he didn’t really need to, it probably helped to clear his arteries of all the saturated fat he’d been eating in AK. So I guess that’s a good thing.

Fievel: seems to really like being here. He enjoys the sun and the warm temperatures and has resumed his role as House Leader. We don’t call him Prince Fievel for no reason. He is still a jerk on walks and therefore doesn’t get taken out as much as he should. That’s his own fault, though. Inside, he’s awfully cute and cuddly and a constant source of entertainment.

Friends: we’re making some, although some will be leaving soon. We have an American friend who is here short-term, and a new Aussie friend who got a job in Melbourne and will be heading down there soon. That’s a bit of a bummer, but I’ve met some other cool people at work and church, so we plan to try to get together with them more often.

Australia: is fun, although we don’t seem to be doing that many different things than we did in the U.S. We need to get out a little bit more to explore the country. We’ll probably do a bunch more of that this fall, once the temperatures drop a little bit. In the meantime, I really do mean to do some more swimming and fishing. We’re at the beach; I should enjoy it!

That’s it for now. Expect more lengthy updates from time to time on our endeavors such as the beer brewing and the gardening. And if we go anyplace with kangaroos, I’ll try to remember our camera/card next time, honest!

Somewhere, beyond the sea

2010-11-21T03:00:00.001+11:00

Although I had a request for more kangaroos and dingoes, I am sorry to say that I have pictures of neither of those. Instead, you will have to make do with pictures of Sculpture by the Sea, an annual event where artists are invited to create and display sculptures on the coastal walk from Tamarama Beach to Bondi Beach.

Here is the view down to Tamarama Beach, where Sculpture by the Sea began.


Overlooking the sculptures at Tamarama Beach

I thought there would only be 20 or 30 sculptures, but there were more like a hundred. Here are pictures of a few.

Wheel in the sky, keeps on turnin'

Ethan being cheesy (oh, I slay me!)


Who doesn't love a giant chicken?


Easter Island

I assume this means something about life and death, but I just liked it.


I liked the reflections in this one

The coastal walk itself is one of the most beautiful and enjoyable experiences in Sydney, in my humble opinion. So outside of the sculptures, we also enjoyed the walk on a beautiful late spring day.

View towards Maroubra from Tamarama

Wipeout!

Some of the most beautiful “sculptures” are the natural ones along the coastal walk.


There are many of these overhangs along the route

This rock really did look like one of the sculptures

The walk finished at the world famous Bondi beach.

Bondi: a beautiful beach, for beautiful people

At this point, Ethan was tired and overwhelmed by the numbers of people. It’s been a long time since we’ve had to deal with large crowds! So we walked back to Bronte, where we started from, by the street.

It is awesome to live with this kind of scenery almost literally out your back door.

Hack Job

2010-11-17T13:53:00.000+11:00

Ethan asked me to cut his hair, for the first time ever.

We had a slight miscommunication on which clipper attachment I should start out with (i.e., how close I should cut it).

As a result, it was very difficult to "fade" the haircut.

He solved it by going back to his military days.

Now I am married to a serial killer.

Our Australian Camping Adventure

2010-11-12T11:59:00.000+11:00

Last weekend, I had three days off. It looked like it was going to be rainy in Sydney, so we decided to take our first camping trip down south, where the weather would be a bit better. We picked a campground in Kioloa to stay at that would accept the dog, and headed down on Friday.

Unfortunately, as soon as we stopped at the first beautiful lookout -- and it was beautiful -- I found out that I had not put my storage card in my camera. So we have absolutely no pictures. I said that was okay, because if I post pictures of everything, my friends and family will have nothing to discover for themselves when they come visit. Ethan responded "You keep telling yourself that, honey. Whatever makes you feel better." Jeez, thanks for the support.

Anyway, the trip was a lot of fun. We are a bit out of practice on the camping, and therefore didn't do so well with the food. The barbecue that we could use at the campground wouldn't heat up our water in a timely fashion. I think our pots needed to be on a direct flame, like we get with our normal camp stove. But we hadn't brought that since we didn't have any fuel yet. Next on the shopping list: fuel. And matches.

We camped out overnight, narrowly avoiding the night time showers, and enjoying the large kangaroos hopping around the place. They were all over! Fievel kept barking at them, so he spent a lot of time in the car. Fortunately, they did not hop on our tent.

The next day, we went to Jervis Bay and Booderee National Park. It is surprisingly untouched, with plenty of bushland and beautiful beaches to explore. We saw three echidnas digging into the bush! One was a real fatty who was unafraid and let us get pretty close.

The beaches were great for the most part, although apparently we were there during a large bird migration, in which the exhausted birds die and wash up on the beaches. So depending on whether the beach had direct access to the ocean, there were a number of dead birds on the beach. I did not like that. But overall the park was great, and we would like to go back and do some more bushwalking and do some kayaking, but not in dead bird season next time.

That night, the kangaroos didn't hang around as much. However, all the possums came out looking for food. Australian possums are much cuter than American possums. They are soft and fluffy, with big ears and eyes and a long fluffy tail. They aren't as mangy either. A couple of the possums had babies on their backs, which was so cute. We had a good time wandering around the campground, looking for possums in the trees.

The third day, we packed up to come home. We had breakfast in a great little cafe by a lake, then went back to Jervis Bay, where we did a short hike to an absolutely gorgeous beach. Finally, we stopped by a winery on the way home.

I wish we had known a little more about all the cool things to do in Jervis Bay. We had a great time, but we could have done so much more -- hikes, fishing, kayaking, whale watching tours, etc. So we are already thinking we might like to go down again in the future. With campfuel next time.

Leave Your Body and Soul at the Door

2010-10-31T16:25:00.000+11:00

Here in Australia, Halloween is not celebrated very much. So, Ethan and I decided to throw a Halloween party to show our Australian friends how it's done.


Ethan getting ready for the party.

We made lots of fun and creepy food for the party. Not pictured are the sangria (red wine, so it looked bloody) and the mummy dogs, which actually were the hit of the party. They were hot dogs wrapped in pie crust. So easy! And yet so popular!

Adam's ribs. These were really tasty and I would totally make them again.

Halloween cookies.

Deviled egg "eyeballs".

Cheeseball "pumpkins" and lemon "finger" cookies.

We also decorated. It was difficult finding decorations here, so we had to make some up.

Oh no, one of our party guests passed out in the tub!

We couldn't find a pumpkin to carve, so we improvised.

Our party guests "hanging" out. Ha ha. I slay me.

We made this floating scary guy out of homemade playdoh. Interestingly enough, it is so humid here that even thought we had baked the face, it basically rehydrated and turned back into squishy dough. It was really gross and I had to throw it away at the end of the night.

Ethan was a robot from the Flight of the Conchords, and I was Vampira from Plan 9 From Outer Space. We took this picture later, when we realized we didn't have pictures of ourselves in costume. Unfortunately, my long black fake fingernails only lasted about an hour. I couldn't do anything with them on, including eat or take pictures, and I got hungry.


Ethan does the Roboboogie.

I look just like my floating skeleton! It's like we're twins.

I actually made that floating skeleton out of homemade playdoh and cheesecloth, by the way.

We didn't know if anyone would dress up, so we encouraged them by having prizes for costumes. And we got some takers! I was pleased that people were creative.

Living dead girl.

A wrestler and a black angel.

Hockey player and redback spider.

Aviator.

I think the party went pretty well. Everyone seemed to have a good time. And we got to share our homebrew! I enjoyed sharing our traditions with our new friends.

I Went to A Garden Party

2010-10-29T08:00:00.002+11:00

One thing about living in an apartment with a courtyard is that I have no place for a garden. I want to get involved with the Randwick Community Garden, but I’ve been a little slow on that due to other commitments, and frankly, I don’t know if I want to take a plot when I don’t know how often I’ll be able to get over there. Anyway, the stop gap solution is to do some container gardening.

I’ve planted strawberries

tomatoes

basil

thyme

peppers (on the right) and beans (on the left)

nasturtiums, which by the way, are an edible flower

mint

and carrots.

So far the strawberries have been the big producer, yielding one whole berry. I have flowers on the tomatoes, so I’m really hoping they start producing something soon. I have already learned a few lessons, like I probably should have some more large pots, because I’m pretty sure I overcrowded the cherry tomatoes and the peppers.

I still wish I could have a real garden. In the meantime, this will have to do.

Update: Since I originally wrote this post, there have been a few developments, mainly a few baby tomatoes. So assuming they don't get eaten, we'll have tomatoes sometime in the next couple of weeks! The bad news is, I have some sort of green caterpillar eating just about everything. I need to get some organic remedies, because the caterpillar is really hard to find and pick off, which is my current method of prevention. But at least I'm making some progress!

Fish and Chips, Clothing Optional

2010-10-27T08:00:00.000+11:00

My friend Erica got me these awesome walking tour cards for my birthday, so on Monday we decided to try them out. It was a really beautiful day, so I picked two cards that went to Watson’s Bay/South Head, which is the southernmost end of Sydney Harbour (but still a lot further north than where we live).

We rode our bikes to Bondi Junction, which was a lengthy ride, but a nice way to start off the day. Then we took the bus past Bondi Beach, which was packed for a Monday, and stopped at South Head cemetery for our first walk. The Cliff Walk took us up past the Macquarie Lighthouse, the site of Sydney’s worst shipwreck, and some beautiful cliffs famous as both a military defense point and a suicide location. Personally, I can think of a lot better ways to go than jumping off those cliffs, but if you’re desperate, you’re desperate, I guess.

We then proceeded on to another walking tour that took us through the cute (and pricey) town of Watson’s bay to Camp Cove Beach, then on past Lady Bay Beach (advertised as clothing optional, and it was!) and to South Head, where another lighthouse stood. Finally, we walked back the way we came to Watson’s Bay, where we had fish and chips at Doyle’s, a famous local establishment.

I regretted forgetting my camera – the views were spectacular and we saw some unusual things, including a submarine headed out of the harbor when we were on the bus headed back to Bondi Jct! But I think Mom and and Dad would really like it, so we’ll probably go back there when they come to visit. Without the bike ride, of course.

Taronga Zoo

2010-10-24T11:09:00.000+11:00

Gorillas from the SkyRide.

Two weekends ago, Ethan and I decided to head across the Harbour (more u’s! I’m learning!) to Taronga Zoo. You can drive to the zoo, but by far, the best choice if you live on the south side of Sydney is to take the ferry across. When you get there, you have the choice of taking a bus to the top, or the SkyRide. The SkyRide is pretty neat. It doesn’t swing at all, it isn’t super high, and you get to check out the animals from above. Then, you walk downhill through the zoo, back to the ferry. If you drive, you have to park at the top, walk down and then either walk back up or pay additional for the SkyRide to take you back to the top.

The Taronga Zoo is a really nice zoo, with a wide variety of animals. We arrived at the giraffe pen just as they were having a feeding, so we got to see the giraffes take carrots from other visitors. From the squeals this lady emitted, I gather the giraffe’s tongue is very slimy!

Carrots, yum!

I want a carrot too!

They had a lot of animals I’d never seen before, including tapirs

Tapir: piglike animal with a weird nose.

Meerkat sentry

meerkats

Not actually related to the black and white panda

and a red panda.

They also had some cute babies, including a couple of baby elephants.

Baby elephant playing with his toy.

Socializing.

One of the best parts, however, is the view. Check out this view of the harbour (they were giving a bird demonstration).

The Harbour, the Opera House, and the CBD.

I have heard from other Sydneysiders that the zoo is awesome, and now I see why they love it. I thought the tickets were a little pricey at first – $99 for the both of us – but they did include the ferry ride and the SkyRide/bus ride, so in the end I felt like it was worth it. Overall, a nice way to spend the day.

Fruits of Our Labour (see how I'm adding ubiquitous u's now?)

2010-10-19T19:09:00.002+11:00

Last night, we tried the first StewBrew. It was...weird. A little light, a little over carbonated, and a slight bit cidery. Not sour, but somehow, it reminded me of apples. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly the best beer ever.

Our next shot will be with a darker beer, which I think (hope) will turn out better.

The Fievel Arrival

2010-10-18T18:34:00.001+11:00

On Saturday, Ethan drove out to Eastern Creek and picked up our little dog from quarantine. I haven't posted much about quarantine, but over all, it was all right. I mean, it was doggie prison in the fact that he had a little concrete-floored "cell" on a long row of "cells" (also referred to as a yard), but the quarantine people were really nice. He had an outdoor area that he could run around in, and a little indoor room with a bed, and they gave him a little toy to play with. His caretaker knew all about him and was really great with all of the dogs.

That being said, he's definitely happier to be here with us. The last time we went to visit him, he scratched at the door before we left, obviously wanting to get out. Now he's here, and very happily sitting on the couch or playing with his toy. He did not seem to want to go to the bathroom in the bushes in our courtyard, and I thought that we were going to have to walk him all the time, but he's starting to get the hang of it. He likes standing in the warm sun and seems to have settled right in.

He has a new kennel though, because the old one didn't meet airline criteria. Today when we came home from a bike ride, we found he had escaped! I'm not sure how that happened, but we'll have to see if we need to secure the kennel better next time. Although we haven't found evidence of any bad behavior, I don't know if I'm comfortable with letting him roam the house while we're gone for extended periods -- especially with the nice laminate floors we have here.

All three of us are definitely happy to be back together. It's amazing how much a little animal can add to your lives.

Nor Any Drop to Drink

2010-10-15T09:00:00.002+11:00

Today is Blog Action Day, a day in which bloggers worldwide write about a specific topic in order to raise awareness about a particular subject. This year’s topic is Water. Having recently moved from a water-rich location to one that is very sensitive to drought, my perspective on water has changed a little recently.

Australia has been suffering from intense drought over the past several years. Many locations, including Melbourne and Sydney, have recently had water storage levels as low as 35% of their full storage capacity (the full storage level does not include floods). This has resulted in many water restrictions and high water prices, as you might imagine. Currently, a series of unusual rain events have raised the storage capacity to above 50% across New South Wales (Ref: National Water Commission). The key word here is unusual – these rain events are not expected to continue on an annual basis. While NSW has water now, in the very near future, we may be back to water restrictions.

One of the areas of New South Wales that is most affected by drought is the northwestern slopes area. This area is at the headwaters of the Darling River, and a lot of cotton and rice is grown there. As a result, the Darling frequently suffers from low water levels, high pollution and high salt content. While I believe in locally made products, this makes me question whether I should buy rice and cotton products that are made in Australia. Does it make sense to buy these products, which are grown in climatologically poor water areas? Or should I buy products that are shipped from Asia, that don’t have as much of a negative impact on water levels, but are made by underpaid and poorly treated workers, and are shipped thousands of miles across the world, thereby using our precious fossil fuels and contributing to more carbon emissions? I don’t think there’s any easy answer to this.

On a personal level, Ethan and I struggle with water conservation. I have no idea how much water we use. Back in Alaska, our landlord paid one fee for the building, so we never had to pay water useage. Ethan loves baths, and I am constantly watering my flowers. I also suspect that my methods of washing dishes waste a lot of water.

Unfortunately, renting restricts some of the conservation measures I would like to take. A rain barrel is not an option, because of the way our downspouts are built (can’t exactly cut into them). A gray water system is completely out of the question. We do have a dual flush toilet, but unfortunately, the half-flush just doesn’t work very well. I’m hoping to take some more sustainability courses that might give me some clues as to how to reduce our water useage. In the meantime, we will have to be more cognizant of our usage. I’m sure our water bills over the next few months will make us more aware.

Our New Roomate

2010-10-13T22:10:00.003+11:00

Meet Stew, our new brewer! Stew is a gift from Mom and Dad. When Ethan and I figured out how much beer costs here – especially beer that isn’t a poor cousin of Budweiser*, we decided to go the home brewing route. I have been trying to convince Ethan to brew beer for a while now. While in Kuwait, he wanted to brew carbonated wine. I wasn’t too keen on that, because I don’t really like to drink it, and our house was mostly covered in white carpet, or at least all the potential wine storage areas were. I had visions of giant red stains everywhere. I also wanted to grow our own hops.

While we haven’t gotten to the hops growing stage yet, we have mixed up and brewed our first batch of beer. Stew was part of a kit that included all of the brewing hardware, 30 PET bottles and a lager brewing kit, for $100 AUD. Not too bad! While lager is not our first choice, it’s a pretty simple recipe to start out with. Also, if we screw it up, we won’t be as disappointed (I hope).

Currently, Stew has been emptied into the bottles, with only one accident when the bottle filler broke and about a cup of beer poured on the floor. Thank goodness for tile floors and cleaning solution! Now we have to wait about 2 weeks to sample our wares. The quality of the beer is highly dependent on the sanitization of the equipment, so let’s hope we got it clean enough.

We did try some of our brew while measuring the specific gravity to see if it had finished fermenting. It wasn’t awesome, but it was certainly as good as any lager I’ve had here. It will taste a lot better cold, as well. If all goes well, we should have it ready just in time for a Halloween party we are tentatively planning for the end of the month!

*Not saying that Budweiser is a beer we would prefer, by any stretch of the imagination.

The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out

2010-10-09T22:03:00.006+11:00

Alpha Monkey asked me in the comments about my worm farm, and I very rudely did not reply, because I planned to post on it. With Ethan’s arrival, there have been some delays, but finally, I’ve gotten my act together.

A worm farm is a method of disposing of your organic waste if you don’t have room for a compost pile. Of course, if you do have a compost pile, you can still have a worm farm! I took a free class on worm farming through the Waverly City Council, and received a free worm farm and 500 worms to start one at home.

The worm farm has three levels. The bottom level has a solid floor and is known as the “bathroom”. The second level has a floor with holes in it and is known as the “bedroom”. The top level also has a floor with holes in it and is known as the “kitchen”. The lid has holes in it for air.

Worm Farm

Here is the worm farm all set up. The tap in the bottom is for draining the worm farm when it rains so the worms don’t drown. This isn’t a problem if you leave it under a covered area, like I have.

When the worm farm arrived, it had a solid block of coconut fiber in it. I soaked this in water, and after a couple of hours, it had turned into a peat-like mass. I put this in the “bedroom” for the worms.


The bedroom

Most of the time, the worms live in the bedroom, but they will travel up to the kitchen to eat the organic waste you leave for them. Their waste falls through the bedroom to the bathroom, where it can be collected to apply to your plants. It sounds kind of gross, but realistically, good dirt is pretty much made out of ground up minerals and worm poo.

The worms eat a lot of things, like celery leaves, carrots, banana peels, hair from you or your dog, paper (such as your old receipts) and eggshells. They will not eat oranges, lemons or onions. It is also inadvisable to put meat or cheese in the worm farm, as this attracts other animals such as raccoons (in the U.S.) or possums (in both the U.S. and Australia).

Worms!

I had to let the worms settle in for about a week before I fed them. Don’t worry, they were well fed at the worm nursery! Today, I put a little bit of our organic waste in and covered it with an old cloth to deter flies and animals. I’ll leave them to it, and check on them next week. If I find worms in the kitchen, that means they’re eating the waste. I hope this will be the case!

I was a little disappointed to find out that the worms are not very productive. It will take them up to 6 months to produce enough waste to start putting it on my plants. Obviously, this is more of a long-term investment than I thought! Still, I thought it would be fun to get started with this, and when we leave, I’m sure it will not be too hard to find a good home for my worms.

Bushwalking

2010-09-30T03:00:00.003+10:00

Two weekends ago, my coworker invited me to go on a bushwalk (a.k.a. a hike). We headed about an hour north of Sydney proper to the Muogamarra Nature Reserve, which is only open for 6 weekends a year. Contrary to nature reserves in the U.S., apparently Australia takes a rather strict view on how to preserve nature. They open this reserve in the spring so people can enjoy the beauty of the bush in bloom. We went on the last weekend it was open.

Here is a picture of the Waratah, which is the state flower for New South Wales. You can see it is pretty tall. My coworker and her husband seemed to think the Waratah was fairly rare to see in the wild, but we saw a bunch of them.

There are also several sports teams named the Waratahs (cricket and rugby). I guess Aussie athletes feel that they are tough enough that they can name their teams after a flower instead of a vicious animal, like we do in the U.S.

Here is a eucalyptus (called gumtrees over here) that has been scarred by fire. As you might imagine, fire is a major factor in growth and development of the bush. Most plants have adapted in a way that uses fire in their growth cycle.

The hike was a little hilly. In this picture, we are standing at an overlook, looking toward the Hawkesbury River. Some of the furthest south rainforest in Australia is in this valley. We didn’t take the hike into the valley as it would have taken all day. We all agreed that it would be fun for next year, though.

Instead, we mostly enjoyed the flowers. It is difficult to show how pretty the bush is in bloom. It was covered with flowers, mostly these yellow and pink ones.

Here we are at another overlook, looking toward the entrance of the Hawkesbury River. There is a little town called Brooklyn down below us. Consequently, the bridge you are looking at, my friends, is the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was sort of hot and I was a little unprepared as I misunderstood and thought we were going to a garden, not a nature preserve. However, I still had a good time hiking around, and I really enjoyed getting a botany lesson from my coworker. I am looking forward to going again next year.

Fievel in Doggie Jail

2010-09-27T14:17:00.003+10:00

The whole family has arrived! This is one of Fievel's few calm moments at quarantine.

Most of the time he looked like this:

Best Commute in Sydney

2010-09-21T20:48:00.005+10:00

You take your car to work, I'll take my board... --Weezer

This is the view from the bus when I ride to work in the morning.

No, seriously.

Bi-cycle, Bi-cycle, Bi-cycle

2010-09-18T19:52:00.004+10:00

"I love to ride my bicycle...." --Queen

So today I had my free bike riding class, sponsored by Waverly Council. The city of Sydney is currently going through a transition to try to make their streets more bike-friendly, in the hopes that it will decrease the number of drivers, thereby reducing the congestion and the pollution. They have invested a fair bit of money on some new bike lanes on some of the major roads, and are sponsoring things like the free bike class. The class was called "Commute to Work by Bike" or something like that. The city has also sponsored a "Back on Your Bike" basics course, which I felt I was beyond.

I was the only attendee who showed up for the course. While that's a bit disappointing because I would like to see people taking advantage of these things offered by the city, it was cool because the instructor was able to tailor the course to me. First, we took a ride around the park and over towards my work so I could see some commuting route options. This was also a teaching opportunity, where my instructor would stop occasionally and talk about being aware of your surroundings -- things to watch for, ways to signal, etc. Then, we rode back to where we started and did some drills where I practiced looking behind me, making tight turns, and emergency stops. I learned some new techniques on all three of those, that I plan to practice on my quiet suburban street so that when I have to use them in real life, they come more naturally.

I was really impressed with my instructor, Geoff Nash. He was friendly, patient, and did a great job of building my confidence. I really liked the way he used our ride around the park for some real-life instruction. Geoff said that he wished Waverly Council would charge a nominal fee for the course, so that people wouldn't bail so frequently. After taking the course, I would gladly have a paid a fee. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Too bad for all those other suckers that blew it off, but that was a definite benefit for me!

I'm going to see if I can get Ethan to sign up for one too, when he gets here.

Busy, busy, busy

2010-09-13T21:12:00.003+10:00

I thought I would post a picture-less update of what I've been up to. I have some pictures, but I don't know when I'll get the chance to post them. My days at work are long -- 12 hours, and then an additional 30 minute bus ride/15 minute walk each way -- so in the evenings I'm pretty tired. Plus, I finally got my stuff, so I've been spending lots of time setting up the apartment. Anyway, here's what I've been doing:

I unpacked all the boxes and got the place pretty much set up. I still have a few pictures to hang, but overall, we're set.
Speaking of which, I have been pushing to do this before Ethan gets here in 9 (nine!) days!
I bought a bunch of seeds and vegetables and planted them in pots in my courtyard. So far I have cherry tomatoes, an heirloom tomato, a mix of green and red peppers, mint, thyme, rosemary, and basil, nasturtiums, carrots and dwarf beans. This will be my first attempt at growing veggies in pots, so we will see how it turns out.
I went hiking with some coworkers this past weekend to a nature reserve that's only open a few weekends a year. This was the last weekend for it, and they open it in the spring so you can see the bush in bloom. I have pictures of this I'll post later.
I went to a free class on worm farming, and got a voucher for a worm farm. The Randwick Council Nursery hasn't gotten the worm farms in yet, so I haven't picked it up. Maybe on Friday, or next week.

Upcoming:

Pick up the aforementioned worm farm
Pick up the aforementioned husband
Find time to visit Fievel in doggie jail (he is supposed to arrive Thursday, cross your fingers, everyone!)
A free class on commuting by bike. I will need to ride my bike to this; it's at a park in the middle of the city, so this will be an adventure for me. Plus, I am out of bike riding shape. It should prepare me to ride to work though, and once Ethan brings my new bike light from Alaska, I can try riding in to work.

Last week I also went out to dinner with my coworkers, and this week I'm invited to some friends' house for dinner as well. So I've been, and will be pretty busy. Good, because it will make the time until Ethan arrives pass more quickly!

I'll try to post again before Ethan arrives.

Nominative Determinism

2010-09-06T20:57:00.000+10:00

I just read that one of the members of Parliament is named Tony Crook. How appropriate. :D

Going and Getting

2010-09-03T23:08:00.004+10:00

I thought I would post about another kind of adventure today. Since moving to Sydney, I have been taking public transportation, with the exception of a few taxis. Although at first I was overwhelmed, I have found it not as difficult as I complained the first couple of weeks. So, for now, we have decided to try to do without a car.

Sometimes, you really need a car, though, like when you're visiting your dog in quarantine, or buying a worm farm from the local home improvement store. So I decided to join GoGet, a car-sharing scheme. There is a $25 application fee, a $500 deposit (refundable if you decide not to renew your contract) and a $70 insurance fee. Then you can pay $9 per month, and rent the car for $8.50/hr, or pay $25 per month and rent the car for $5.50/hr. I chose the first option, since I am not sure how much we'll be using it, and it's a lot easier to upgrade than downgrade. The cost included fuel, which is nice.

Today I decided to go on a worm-farm buying trip as a way of trying out GoGet before I pick Ethan up on the 22nd. I was disappointed when I got to the spot and the car was not there, but it gave me a chance to see how GoGet works. I called the toll free number, waited a minute, and talked to a very pleasant lady. She said she would call the previous user and call me back. Within 10 minutes, she returned my call. The spot had been full, so the previous user had parked elsewhere. Since they did not notify GoGet (a condition of the contract), they were fined, and I will receive a $25 "inconvenience" refund. Too bad for the previous user, but the contract does specify that you're supposed to call GoGet right away if you have a problem.

The car was a Yaris, and worked just fine. I had to refill it, and unfortunately the fuel card was missing, so I will be reimbursed later. Overall, it was a good experience, especially the customer service (which I find is not stellar in Australia). I hope I continue to be happy with the service.

A Capitol Trip

2010-09-01T20:03:00.008+10:00

Part II of a two-part post about my trip to Canberra/Perisher Valley.

On our way to Perisher Valley to ski, my coworker had to work in Canberra. I had the day off, so I took the bus into town to check out some of the sights.Canberra is really pretty, although it has a bit of an odd feel because it’s a planned city. Since it’s so spread out, everything seems kind of empty. If you’ve ever read In A Sunburned Country (which I recommend), Bill Bryson’s description is pretty much spot on.

The carillion from across Lake Burley Griffin.

I spent most of the day at the art museum, which was really cool, even though I couldn’t take pictures inside. Outside, they had a really neat sculpture garden and I had free reign with the camera.

One of the sculptures (can’t remember the name).

This one was the fog “sculpture”. Of course it was my favorite, weather weenie that I am.

I also wandered around and looked at the Old Parliament building, but I did not go to the history museum inside.

The gardens had these funny pigeons in them. Their heads reminded me of those German helmets from WWI.

The new Parliament building has an unusual sculpture in the front. Sorry, Australia, but I like the U.S. capitol a lot better. I guess it’s what I’m used to.

I definitely would like to spend some more time in Canberra, because I was a little tired from the drive and therefore didn’t do as much as I would have liked. It’s an interesting city. I have to say that I think I like living in Sydney better, even though Canberra has mountains all around. So for me, it will be two years at the beach!

Ski Bunny

2010-08-25T20:29:00.011+10:00

This is a two-part post about my trip to Canberra/Perisher Valley.

The first weekend in August, I went on a ski trip with my boss and 13 of her friends. I wasn’t sure what to expect, given my Alaskan skiing experiences. Ski trips are always fun with a big group though, and I had a great time.

Here we are! Mount Perisher, which is actually a combination of 3 resorts and rather large, compared to Alyeska (our Alaska resort).

The mountain was pretty rocky, so at times it was kind of interesting for me, an intermediate skier.

For the most part, the groomed runs had fairly good cover, though. They had just had a big dump earlier that week. I can’t imagine what it’s like without a lot of snow.

Chris enjoys the day while Karen straps on her snowboard and Denise gets a headstart.

The views were pretty cool.

Of course, part of the fun is après-ski. Here we are at a fondue restaurant. As you might imagine, this was a big hit with me.

Me and Matt dipping pickles and bread into the fondue.

I went downhill skiing both Saturday and Sunday, but on Monday I decided to rent some cross-country gear. Their cross-country trail was actually really nice.

Denise made the mistake of taking off her skis and stepping into the snow.

Action shot!

Like I said, the trip was really fun, although it made me miss Alaska a little bit. The weather was spectacular, though, which is nice after all the rain we’ve had in Sydney. I am looking forward to going again next year, this time with Ethan in tow.

I [Have Not] Voted

2010-08-21T11:35:00.003+10:00

Well, I do have some posts with pictures prepared about my skiing trip, but I'm going to post about something else today since it's a little more timely: today is Election Day in Australia. It's a federal election, but a lot of local members of Parliament are up as well.

Of course, to an outsider, the political system in Australia is a little confusing, so if I make any mistakes, I apologize (I almost typed apologise! I'm not Australian yet, I swear!). Here's what I understand: there is a head person (governor or something) who is a figure head and basically does nothing. The Prime Minister is the head of the leading party in Parliament. When you vote, you vote for the party you want to lead parliament, not for a particular candidate. Recently, this made big news when the Prime Minister stepped down (or was removed from office) and was replaced by his second in command. Some people were happy, but others complained because they didn't vote for Julia Gillard. I also heard the following quote from others "People are unhappy, because they think our political system is like the U.S. But it's not." What they meant by this was that in general, we vote for a candidate, whereas the party makes all the choices in Australia.

Parliament is like Congress, with the Upper House and Lower House corresponding to our Senate and House of Representatives (I forget which is which). So the Prime Minister is kind of like the Leader of the House, I think, except that obviously the PM has a lot more power.
The two main parties in Australia are the Labor Party (like our Democrats) and the Liberal Party (like our Republicans). I have to be careful when I refer to being liberal here because being Liberal and being politically liberal are not the same thing! Here is an excerpt from an e-mail I got the other day:

“We have two major parties, Labor and Liberal. The Labor Party grew out of the Union movement around 1890 and is the left leaning party. The Liberal Party is our major conservative party (don't try to think about that too much). In its current form, it came about in the late 1940's early 50's.

The three other parties of note are, The Nationals, The Greens and Family First. The Nationals have a formal alliance with the Liberal Party, together they are referred to as The Coalition. The Nationals only run in rural locations, a vote for the nationals equaling a vote for the Liberal Party to win government.

The Greens are a progressive left party who currently have five senators, it is likely after this election they will be the deciding vote in the senate if the major parties disagree on an issue.

Family First have one senator, who was elected in 2004, partly through the strange way our senate voting system can work. They are a conservative party. It is unlikely that they will win that senate seat back again.”

I have been invited to an election party tonight, which I am super-excited about, mostly because Yay! I’ve been invited to a PARTY! Where there are PEOPLE and I can make FRIENDS!!! It will be interested to see how everything pans out and what people think about it. I find Sydney to be fairly liberal (as in left-leaning) vs. Anchorage. I don’t know if that’s a Sydney vs. Anchorage thing, or an Australia vs. America thing overall.

One other note about the Australian political system: voting is compulsory! You get fined if you don’t vote. I know it’s probably because it’s not what I’m used to, but I don’t like that. Good for you America, for allowing me to NOT exercise my rights. It’s not like forcing someone to vote makes them any less ignorant about politics, anyway.

I’ll let you know how it turns out, or you can ask Professor Google. And I promise, pictures (with action!) soon.

Update: As it turned out, neither party had a clear win, so they are still recounting votes (sound like any American elections you may recall?). They have two weeks to count all the postal votes, so it may be a while before we know who the next PM will be.

That Fresh Feeling - The Eels

2010-08-15T00:00:00.002+10:00

I just came back from The Eels concert, and I have to say, it was pretty cool. The warm up bands were not that great -- first some lady with puppets came out (I missed her because I was in the t-shirt line) and then the second lady just wasn't very good. But The Eels were lots of fun. They even played Mr E's Beautiful Blues, which is one of my favorite songs. They were very different playing live though; the music was a lot faster and more rock oriented than their albums are. For example, they played It's a Beautiful Day to the Twist and Shout background music.

They also did a really great version of Summertime, which included some incredible vocals by E. In the middle of the song, he threw out ice creams and popsicles to the entire crowd! We were standing too far back and didn't catch any though.

On the way home, my coworker was telling me about the Pearl Jam concert she attended earlier this year. I said we didn't get too many bands like that in Alaska. Which is true, but The Moose's Tooth (our pizza restaurant and brewery) used to get some cool acts. I told her about the Cake concert I attended at the Moose's Tooth three summers ago. They played for 2 1/2 hours, played all my favorite songs, and did an absolutely ripping rendition of Black Sabbath's War Pigs. Hands down one of my top concerts of all time. The Eels were good, but Cake was absolutely phenomenal.

What's the best concert you've ever been to? What made it so great -- was it the band, or the people you were with?

Walk on the Wild Side

2010-08-10T20:20:00.012+10:00

Back at the end of July, my coworker heard that I wanted to see some kangaroos and volunteered to take me to Featherdale Animal Park with her nephew. I was a little hesitant, because I thought I would see kangaroos in the wild and it would be a waste of money. Well first of all, you really have to get out into the bush to see them. And secondly, Featherdale was actually really cool, because they had all kinds of Australian animals, including those you wouldn’t normally see in the wild because they are shy, nocturnal, or endangered.

Australia has a lot of cool birds, and at Featherdale I got to see them up close. These rainbow lorikeets actually live in my neighborhood, but I only catch glimpses of them as they flit from tree to tree.

Here’s one of the famous “monkey bird” Kookaburras.

And a cassowary, which lives way up north in Queensland and looks like something left over from the age of the dinosaurs with the giant ridge on its head.

Of course, my favorite part was the animals. There were areas where they were roaming around and you could pet them. Here I am, petting a koala (I was actually looking at another camera at the time).

In part of the park, you could feed the animals alfalfa out of an ice cream cone (just the cone part, that is). We found out later that we were supposed to have paid for that. Oops. Guess they should have made the sign a little bigger.

In that part, there were kangaroos, wallabies, and emus. The emus were a little intimidating. Try standing still while a giant bird stabs its beak at your hand, I dare you. I dropped my cone every time.

I also got to check out a wombat

an echidna

and some dingoes.

I didn’t pet the echidna or the dingoes. There was even a giant croc! (He was behind glass).

Overall, I thought the animal park was awesome, and my coworker’s 9-year old nephew “didn’t play [his] Gameboy the entire time!” Well worth the $23 entry fee and definitely something I’ll take visitors to in the future.

In Short: A Summary of Recent/Coming Events

2010-08-05T20:36:00.005+10:00

I stole this style from livejournal because I like it.

+ I have permanent internet!
- I can't seem to get the wireless part of my modem/router to work, so I'm tethered to the modem, which is in the kitchen, where I still have no furniture.
+ My furniture/goods arrived in Oz today!
- It will take it 2 weeks to go through quarantine, so I won't get it until the 19th or so.
+ I'm leaving for a ski trip near Canberra with my coworker tomorrow...
- ...but that means I'll miss a cool looking graphic arts fest that includes a reading by Neil Gaiman (seriously, Neil Gaiman? Man, I love living in a big city again!)
++ Still, I'm getting to get out and see some more of Australia!
+ This also includes a trip to a fondue restaurant!
+ I learned about Neil Gaiman and The Eels via TimeOut Sydney, that magazine I mentioned a while back. I actually signed up for their e-mails online and so far, I'm liking it. It's pretty cool to see all the things available to see and do around Sydney.

So that's it for now. Lot's more + than -, that's always good. I'll post again when I get back from Canberra. Coming soon: posts on my trip to Featherdale Animal Park, and hiking at La Perouse.

If I Had $1,000,000,I Would Buy You Some Art (A Picasso or a Garfunkle)

2010-08-03T07:10:00.009+10:00

Back in mid-July, I took a free ferry to the inappropriately named* Cockatoo Island for an art show. Cockatoo Island is the Alcatraz of Sydney; it lies in Sydney Harbour and was alternately a prison, a school, an industrial center and a shipyard over the past 150 years or so. Recently, they have tried to refurbish it as a National Park. As part of the Sydney Biennale celebration, Cockatoo Island hosted 120 works by 56 modern artists. As is always the case, some of it was cool and some of it was just weird. I did think it was a neat venue, although after a while all those run-down buildings and old tunnels started to give me the heebie-jeebies. Here are some highlights:

This is one of the old buildings that housed an installation.

Here’s the view inside. I didn’t “get” it, but it looked pretty cool.

Molecular, Serge Spitzer

I enjoyed this piece as well. It’s hard to tell, but it was a translucent curtain with a forest on it, hung in an old timber-drying building.

Islands of Incarceration, Kate McMillan

There were quite a few videos, and this was one of them. Most of the others had some sort of plot or something, but this one was just an image of this old man doing Tai Chi. It was actually really neat and pretty hypnotic.

I’m including this second picture even though it’s a bit blurry because I think it really captures the feeling of the piece.

Static No. 12 (seek stillness in movement), Daniel Crooks

My favorite piece was this one by Hiroshi Sugimoto. He experiments with static electricity on large format film. The light boxes show pieces from his Lightning Fields series. It was quite beautiful. Unfortunately, my pictures really don’t do it justice.

Lightning Fields/Farraday Cage, Hiroshi Sugimoto

Other places besides Cockatoo Island are hosting art for the Biennale, although I did not go anywhere else on Tuesday. This piece was outside the front of the Museum of Contemporary Art, which was right next to where the free ferry departed from.

Neuron, Roxy Paine

The Biennale ended 1 August, and unfortunately I didn't make it to the Museum of Contemporary Art before then. I liked the visit to Cockatoo Island though. The ride was fun, the art was interesting, and I would like to go again to see the historical side of the island.

*I didn’t see a single Cockatoo on the island. I did see, however, about 50 bajillion seagulls.

Before I Sputter Out

2010-07-31T21:27:00.003+10:00

I just found out that one of my favorite bands, The Eels, are playing in Sydney on August 14. I'm pretty excited because like I said, The Eels are one of my favorite bands. One of the things I was really looking forward to about moving to a big city is getting the chance to go to concerts that I really like. In Anchorage, if we got a big name band, it was usually either someone I wasn't too interested in (like a country music singer) or it was someone who had seen better days, like War. Not that I would really consider The Eels a big name band. I mean, it's not like U2. They're more on the level of Cake, I would think (who did come to Anchorage and absolutely rocked). Anyway, I'm pretty excited to see this band.

A little bit about The Eels that anybody would find interesting, I think: so the band is pretty much just one guy, E, who just happened to be the son of a famous physicist, Hugh Everett III. Of course, you're thinking "Who?" But Hugh Everett was the main guy who developed the many-worlds theory of quantum physics: in other worlds, the whole idea that at any moment, there are multiple universes being created based on different outcomes of your actions. If you've ever seen the movie Sliding Doors, that's what it's about. Hugh Everett's ideas were not accepted by the physics community for many years, and he struggled with depression and feelings of inadequacy all of his life. BBC did a documentary called "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives", which I saw on PBS. Before that, I had no idea that the frontman of The Eels was related to a famous physicist.

Back to the band: E has been influenced by a lot of negative things in his life, so the music can be pretty dark sometimes. I really like it though. You might have heard their music in the Shrek movies, if you have seen them. Here are a few YouTube videos of their songs (I recommend listening to the music without the videos, personally):

Goddamn right, it's a beautiful day.

One of the darker songs, but I really like it, just the same.

I think this is probably the first song that really made it big in the U.S. I posted it because it's one of the few Eels songs that people might recognize.

Welcome to the Jungle

2010-07-29T19:40:00.003+10:00

There's this bird in my neighborhood that has a call like "Ooh-ooh-ooh-ah-ah-ah". I can never see it so I've been wondering about it because it's such an unusual call. We were talking about birds the other night (the Jamie Oliver night), and I happened to mention that my neighborhood had some kind of crazy monkey bird. The other girls were like "Crazy monkey bird?" and I said, "Yeah, it sounds like a monkey!" and then I imitated the call. At which point all the girls said, "Oh, that's a kookaburra!" So I have kookaburras in my neighborhood! Awesome!

If you want to hear the call, click on the MP3 link about 3/4 of the way down on the right on this page.

You Say You Want a Revolution

2010-07-26T09:05:00.003+10:00

"...well you know, we all want to change the world." --John Lennon

I have some posts with pictures ready to go, but like I said, I'm waiting until I get real internet. Unfortunately, that won't be until next Thursday because I got my dates mixed up. If I have time, I will try to post from work. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for a week and half for more pictures, sorry.

In the meantime, I thought I would post a little something about an American trait I found I have, and sustainability/healthy living (which are close to my heart). I went out with a coworker and her friends the other night, and we started discussing Jamie Oliver's show "Food Revolution". This is a show where Jamie Oliver, a famous British chef, came over to the U.S. and delved into the inner workings of the school food system. As you all might remember, the public school food is pretty bad in the U.S. It's a lot of chicken nuggets and overcooked veggies (which not surprisingly, don't get eaten). But something about the show rankled a little bit with me, and I mentioned that the other night. I said that I found it a little bit irritating for some snobby British dude to come over and tell us everything that's wrong with our food system, and the lady who was talking about the show said "That's how all the other Americans felt. But don't you think it's better for him to come over and raise awareness?"

Now admittedly, I haven't seen the show. But here are my gut reactions: first of all, sorry, Great Britain, but you aren't on the list of the World's Skinniest People. So Jamie Oliver, maybe you should fix things in your own country before you go messing with others. Secondly, it's not like no one in America cares. There are lots of people who do care and are trying to do something about it, like this guy. But instead of interviewing people like that, who are working really hard and making progress, the television network thought it was appropriate to bring over a foreigner to tell us we're doing it all wrong. If I were an American like Ed Bruske, who had been working on the school lunch system for years, I would be pretty insulted and discouraged.

Of course, the network probably wants someone "famous" to do the show. Well, if they want someone famous, why don't they hire an American cook, like Rachael Ray (not that she's the healthiest cook ever, but you know what I mean)? Then, that person should interview the people who are trying to make things better to raise awareness. We are not a country of Neanderthals.

I think the other lady thought I was being a bit defensive. I thought about it a little bit, and I do think I am exhibiting a distinctively American trait: we like to tell other countries what to do, but we don't want foreigners all up in our business. Still, I wonder how it would fly if Jamie Oliver came over here and tried to tell Australians they were eating all wrong. As far as I can see, Australians are also pretty independent, and I think the show might go over like it did in the U.S.: like a lead balloon.

Work chatter

2010-07-23T20:46:00.004+10:00

I have a post about my trip to see modern art on Cockatoo Island all ready to go, but I'm waiting a little bit because my permanent internet will be installed on Thursday (woot!) and I don't want to run out of my temporary internet before then. Australia is different in the U.S. in that they have what they call "caps" on all their data plans. In mobile phone terms, this means pre-paid credit. In mobile internet terms, this means you are only allowed to upload/download so much data before your plan is done. I purchased a 1G mobile internet plan, so I don't want to upload too many pictures or else I won't be able to use the internet at all any more. Well, at least until my permanent internet starts.

My permanent internet also has a cap, but it's a lot larger (130G/month, download only), and when we go over the limit, they simply slow down your upload/download speed. The cap resets at the end of the month, so if we go over one month we just have to be patient and wait until the end of the month. Our internet speed will supposedly be 10 Mbps or greater. We shall see though. I'm also not sure how that compares to what we had in Alaska.

In the meantime, I'll post a conversation I had at work the other day:

Coworker1: So what are you having for lunch?
Me: Oh, peanut butter and jelly.
Coworker 1: So is that like, a thing in the U.S.?
Me: Um.....it's not a fad, if that's what you mean.
Coworker 1: I mean, do people really eat that?
Me: Um, yeah. Especially kids. I like to take it hiking because it's good energy and it doesn't go bad. What, you don't eat PB&J here?
Coworker 1: PB&J?
Me: Yeah, peanut butter and jelly.
Coworker 1: No. I thought it was something made up.
Coworker 2: It's a bit weird, isn't it? The savory and the sweet mixed together?
Me (thinking): Well, they do that on Master Chef all the time (a really popular Australian show).
Me (out loud): It's pretty good, you should try it.
Coworker 1: So, jelly. Is that like jam?
Me: Sort of. Jam usually has bits of fruit in it. But it's the same idea.
Coworker 1: You know what jelly is here? It's that wobbly stuff.
Me: Oh, we call that jello. Or gelatin. Jello is to gelatin like Kleenex is to tissue.
Coworkers: Oh, right.
Coworker 1: So what about hot dogs? Do you actually eat hot dogs in the U.S.?
Me: Um, yeah. Like if you go to some public event, there's pretty much always hamburger and hot dogs.
Coworker 2: We eat sausages here. Like bratwursts and stuff.
Me: Well, if you go to someone's house, they'll probably serve that. But hot dogs are still pretty popular at public spaces.
Coworker 2: Have you tried Vegemite yet?
Me: Uh....I did a really long time ago. It was pretty gross.
Coworker 2: Oh that's because you didn't prepare it right. You have to try it again. A piece of toast with lots of butter and just a bit of Vegemite....
Coworker 1: Mmmm....
Coworker 2: ...and it has to be white bread. Oh I know! You should try that Vegemite with the cheese in it! (Kraft makes a product of Vegemite and processed cheese all swirled together).
Me: Uh, I read about that and I almost threw up.
Coworker 2: Ok, well maybe not. But you have to try Vegemite again, it's awesome.
Me: Okaaaay.....maybe someday.