The Townsville Show

Back while we were still in Townsville, we headed to the showgrounds to take in "The Show" - Australia's equivalent to the fair. These shows seem to be a big deal around the country, and at least in Queensland, there is a floating state holiday that each town dedicates to make a long weekend when the show is on.

The first event we watched was wood chopping, and it became clear very quickly that these guys are serious. Handicapped start times, humongous axes, singlets for their wood chopping teams... 

The Alice

Like many, we started our travels to Uluru and surrounds in Alice Springs. "The Alice" is one of the biggest towns in the Northern Territory, and truly qualifies as a metropolis compared to the sparsely-populated, dusty red cattle country surrounding it. And yet, it still has the feel of a place that serves mostly to stock up the surrounding cattle stations, fuel passing road trains and tourists, and provide  major medical services to folks living in the remote areas all around it.

Medical Cabinet circa 1958

On to Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon

Kata Tjuta lies a short distance away from Uluru, yet is seems miles away geologically. Uluru looks very much like a huge mass of singular rock. Kata Tjuta is a formed from composite, so it has the appearance of all different types of pebbles cemented together. The valleys around the formations were filled with green foliage that was startling in contrast to the color of the rocks - a result of a better-than-usual rainfall in the area. We took a short hike at Kata Tjuta, but not nearly enough to fully explore the area.

Kata Tjuta

Uluru

If there is one place within Australia that has reached pilgrimage status amongst the citizenry, it is Uluru. The sacred status of this place amongst the local Aboriginal people, the Anangu, is easy to understand - Uluru springs out of the flattest of flat land in the middle of Australia, a giant sandstone monolith that glows with rich color at sunrise and sunset. Uluru also has dual status as a World Heritage site for both cultural and natural significance.

The Red Center

We were very fortunate to travel to Australia's Red Center with Chris's parents while they visited us recently. Most people have heard of Uluru (Ayer's Rock), but there is far more to see in the hot, sandy middle of Australia than I had imagined. Given the distances between sights, we chose to join a bus tour that stopped at three distinctly and gorgeously different areas of central Australia. There are something like eight cattle stations between Alice and Uluru, which sounds like it should be a short trip - until you factor in that it's five hours drive and about 460 km, and each of those cattle stations cover a lot of ground.

Our driver and tour guide, Peter, was fabulous at sharing stories from the outback as we passed through this area. I can't begin to fit it all into one blog post, as we packed a tremendous lot into six days, so I'm hoping to write a few more posts about it while we're fixed in Townsville over the next week or so.

Postie, Postie, Have You Got A Letter?

In Australia, our post (mail) has been arriving by motorbike, delivered by the "postie". Erin's preschool class at Flinders Uni played a game in which the children take turns walking around a circle of seated children and "delivering" a parcel. All the seated children sing "Postie, Postie, Have You Got A Letter?". Posties drive up and down the sidewalks, slipping envelopes into the slots of post boxes in front yards (as was our case in Brighton) or through the slot in the fence.

In Aussie lingo, a postie should not be confused with a "bikie". Bikies seem to be the Aussie equivalent of Hell's Angels folk, members of motorcycle gangs. The news from Brisbane seems to be rife with reports of them, though we've not seen any mention of them around genteel Adelaide.

Erin and I met one of our local posties, who was very kind in allowing us to take his photo and then invited her to try out his bike. Pretty awesome for a 4 yr old!

Goodbye Brighton, Hello Townsville

Greeting the Coral Sea

Our last few weeks have been filled to the brim with goodbyes to classrooms, colleagues and friends, travels with Chris's parents and the move to Townsville where Chris will be teaching his Emory study abroad course for 3 weeks. Our sadness at leaving Brighton was tempered by knowing that we were headed north - which meant leaving the cold winter behind us. This is a lovely time of year to be in Townsville, where the days are sunny and warm with temperatures cooling at night.

Doin' It Their Way

In the states, finding a truly public restroom (one that is not associated with a highway rest area, fast food restaurant or convenience store) can be a challenge. And I suppose that is the reason that it seems a revelation to find places in the world where such restrooms do exist, are clean, even pleasant, and  well marked.

Room 3.2

Alison is now in Week 4 of Term 2, and is really enjoying her schoolwork and her schoolmates. We scooter and bike up to the school every morning, joining in with other mums, dads, and grandparents heading toward the school. The ten minutes between the 1st bell (allowing students to enter the classroom) and the 2nd bell (signaling that students are officially late) are a time when parents mingle around the classroom, chatting with other parents and the teacher or helping their children with sight or spelling words. It's a nice gradual start to the day.


The end of Term 1 came with a flurry of activity just before Easter. The class took a half-day field trip to the beach, where the kids dug around in the sand and were allowed into the water up to their ankles. The class also hosted their very own pet for a few weeks, Tickles the Turtle, who lived in the classroom and went out at recess onto the grass for a bit of playtime of his own.

Cousin Love!

Chris's brother arrived with his family on April 12, and after a mere part-day acclimation, we hit the ground running. Sights around Adelaide, sunset at the beach with fish & chips, kangaroos in the wild, cuddling with koalas, a footie match (Aussie rules football), wine and beer tasting at local and McLaren Vale venues - and most of that before these poor folks had even adjusted to the time change.

Easter in SA

That's no rabbit - it's an Easter Bilby!

Easter in South Australia is a big deal - or at least a big reason to skip town.  Good Friday and Easter Monday were both official holidays, and some shops were closed on Saturday as well. Judging by the news accounts, those traveling on the roads found ridiculous amounts of traffic.

Our own Easter morning started early, as we hoped to participate in the Easter sunrise service at the beach. With coffee and hot cross buns in hand, we hiked from our house toward the appointed location. Unfortunately, we were about 20 minutes late, and the service lasted about 20 minutes. We set foot on the beach just as the Salvation Army band was playing their last piece. Oh, well! We proceeded to the playground across the road.

After regrouping at home (and dressing appropriately), we headed to the Uniting Church of Brighton for their 10:00 am service. Chris and I were grateful that they include a time for children in a separate space of the church, which makes for a more reflectful Easter experience for us parents! After the service, the children helped decorate a cross (mounted outside in front of the church along Brighton Rd) with fresh flowers - a nice connection to our congregation in Decatur.

We headed to Glenelg via bus for the afternoon, where the council mounted a child- and family-friendly Easter event for kids - both girls took on face-paint as Easter bunnies and enjoyed the crafts and games there, despite the predictable mood bounces from too much Easter sugar. The weather was rainy off and on, so we were grateful that we managed to get off to numerous activities without getting drenched.





















Normally, we host or attend a large Easter dinner with a bunch of Decatur friends and their children. We missed that celebration this year, and settled for more simple fare of lamb chops, peas, carrots, some excellent honey wheat rolls made by Chris, and a great lemon tart made with fresh lemons from a friend's tree.


This week, we're celebrating at the arrival of Chris's brother and his family from the Pittsburgh area. Together, all nine of us will be headed out on more adventures around Adelaide and then on to Cairns in Queensland. Good family bonding time!

Smiley Fritz

Alison pointing to a crumpet. Our guest, Will, was not so impressed with this brekkie option.

In our early days here, one of my challenges was to sort out all the shopping options for stocking in food. We live within easy walking distance of a Foodland IGA (whose charming slogan is The Mighty South Aussies), a green grocer (fruit and veg), a butcher, and several bakeries. Prices for food and drink are a bit more than in the states. Coupling this with a strong Aussie dollar means that we have become budget shoppers. As one of my favorite things to do in a new country is to visit the grocery, it has been more fun than hardship to sort out all these options.

Wombats and Koalas and Kangaroos, oh my!

Our most frequent question in e-mails has been, hands down, whether we've seen kangaroos or koalas yet. This sample might be skewed by the fact that we correspond regularly with Erin's class back at The Clifton School, and those kids are seriously hankering for news of wildlife sightings!

I do think that our girls had the impression before we arrived that there might actually be a kangaroo or koala around every corner. And so the first month may have been a bit of a disappointment in that regard.

Happy Birthday, Hip-Hip-Hooray, CLAP!

Erin turned 4 several weeks ago, giving us an opportunity to learn a tiny bit about birthday traditions in Australia. She and I walked to our local grocery to pick out birthday goodies, and came home with a fairy cake mix and birthday poppers.

The fairy cake mix turned out lovely miniaturized cupcakes, complete with a strawberry flavored pink icing and a glittery purple topping.

Stay tuned...

We have just enjoyed two lovely weeks of visitors in from home followed by a long weekend trip to Kangaroo Island. In addition, Adelaide is winding down from "Mad March" during which the city tries to cram an incredible number of events and festivals into a single month. In short, there is lots to write and photos to post, but little time to do it! Some quick pix from an adventure to a wildlife conservation park, where the girls were able to see koalas (and get up close) for the first time.

Not so certain about touching the koala!

Alison was very serious and gentle.

 

 

Cottage Life

Judging from a sale posting down the street, our neighborhood was built out sometime in the 1950’s. Quite unintentionally, we’ve landed in the same era housing-wise that we left on Vistamont Drive. In this little corner of Brighton, many of the homes look a bit as if they could have been transplanted from England. I suppose this shouldn’t be a surprise, given that Australia is part of the Commonwealth and has a long history of association with Britain. In newer neighborhoods, the houses have a much more contemporary design.

Regardless of architecture, though, there is this mix of tropical with a touch of old country styling. Plumeria are in bloom and citrus trees can be seen in backyard gardens. There’s a lemon tree that hangs over our back alley a few houses down from ours, loaded with fat, yellow fruit, and I’ve seen pomegranate shrubs. Rosemary and lavender have been planted in spots between the road and sidewalk, growing well in what looks like the worst possible gardening space.

Happy Dog Wash

It took me a week of walking by the local BP station before I finally clued in that this wasn't just an annex of the car wash. I have yet to see any happy dogs getting washed, but it is such a clever idea.

School Days - Part I

As hard as it is to wrap our northern-hemispheric heads around it, summer is winding down here in Australia. Like many places in the world, the end of summer means that the kiddos head back to school.

And so, Alison joined the junior primary ranks at Brighton Primary School last Monday. This required getting outfitted with the appropriate uniform pieces. We knew ahead of time that she would be attending Brighton, and I topped off on a few pieces of generic attire (black shorts, mainly) that would suit for the Brighton color scheme (black, grey, gold).

However, Chris prevented me from getting too ambitious on this point prior to our departure. He has a particularly vivid memory from his 5^th grade year living in England, where he, too, had to don the official primary school duds. It seems that there was a Polish lad by the name of Igor, whose uniform pieces were never quite the correct shade. And so, he advised that we absolutely not purchase any polo tops ahead of time because of the likelihood of a mismatch between Lands End’s version of gold and Brighton Primary’s.

We made a visit to the uniform shop at the school ahead of time, where you can conveniently pick up new pieces or browse the gently-worn racks for bargains. We ended up with a combination of both, in part because a single polo shirt with the BPS logo on it will set you back a good $32 and the summer dress, which most of the girls seem to wear quite a bit, another $55.

We rounded our selections out with an official BPS backpack, large enough to hold enough books to tip Alison over backwards, and a black sunhat. The latter is a critical piece of the uniform; without it, children are banished to benches in the shade during outdoor playtime. We were advised to find some way to mark it as Alison’s other than the usual sharpie-on-the-label technique. Cheeky Aussie kids who’ve left their own hats at home have been known to snip the labels out so as to be able to hit the playground.

When the morning arrived for first day of school, Alison was up and dressed early. She chose to wear her new dress, and went with a special hairstyle for the day. I noticed in looking at photos later that I got a bit carried away with the sunstick on her face, considering the broad-brimmed hat she’s required to wear outside the school. And that might explain why, when I dropped her off and looked back through the classroom window, her seatmate was pointing at her eyebrows as if to say “what in the world did your mum put on your face this morning?” But all in all, her first week seemed to go well for her, and her parents are gradually learning how things work in the South Australian public school system.

First Day at Brighton Primary - January 30th

Happy Australia Day!

The final holiday of the summer season here is Australia Day, January 26th. As best we can tell, most folks celebrate by having a sausage sizzle (grilled dogs) and drinking a few (or five or six) of their favorite beverages. And display lots of Aussie flags on cars and bodies. In the spirit of things, we threw some lamb sausages on the bbq this evening along with some corn. Dessert was pavlova with custard and strawberries - probably a twisted version of the aussie national dessert, but given our lack of mixer to make whipped cream it was the best we could do. A Tasmanian cider for me and a Coopers for Chris rounded out the menu.

We started the day by walking down to the Brighton beach, where the local lifesaving and surf club was hosting a fund-raising breakfast and friendly competition with other nearby South Australian clubs. We ordered up egg and bacon sandwiches, which were expertly cooked up on the barbie (of course!). Proceeds from the breakfast were for the nippers unit of the club – essentially the youngest members of primary school age.

Most of the beaches here in South Australia seem to be patrolled by volunteer clubs, and it is a responsibility taken seriously and with a great deal of civic pride. Our Brighton Surf and Lifesaving club has a new-looking two-story building on the Esplanade, the road running along the beach. Judging from the equipment I can see when their doors are rolled up, they’re pretty well appointed with all sorts of boats and other life-savey looking stuff.

Start of the Skulling Race

Official Uniform - Brighton SA Competitor

The competition began with an open water swimming race, out to a series of buoys then parallel to the shore and back in again. Everything seemed to relate to skills required for effective lifeguarding, and included races and relays on skulls and boards. The laid-back nature of it, with families wandering through the race area, was purely Australian. We left too early to hear the announcement of the team winning the most points, although Alison was clearly hoping that Brighton would win.

This afternoon, we headed on the bus up to Glenelg for the Havaianas Thong Challenge. Ah, you probably already have an image in mind, don’t you? And I can assure you that there were plenty of those on the beach. However, thong has a different meaning here. The challenge involved an attempt to set the Australian (and maybe world’s) record for longest line of people floating on inflatable thongs.

Sponsored by Havaianas, an Aussie-brand sporting wear manufacturer, participants paid $25 and in return received their very own inflatable thong and the opportunity to participate in the event. After some instructions, hoards of thong-carrying folk headed for the water and floated out towards ropes which seemed to be a rough guide for positioning. In general, it all looked a bit loosely-organized, but loads of fun.

Australia Day Celebrants & Thong Competitors

Slight disorganization along the thong lines

It seemed to be a mostly teenage set out on the water, and the buses to and from Glenelg this afternoon were filled with them (thongs deflated prior to boarding, please). As I heard one bloke say on the pier overlooking the event, “Oh, to be 15 again”. We’ll have to check the evening news to see which beach around Australia had the longest line. The famous Bondi Beach near Sydney took honors last year.

The Long Journey

Thanks to our wonderful friends in Decatur who volunteered to let the girls spend Monday with them, Chris and I managed to get the house in reasonable order and the final bits stuffed into the suitcases before our departure for the Atlanta airport.

The girls had been anticipating this trip for so long and with such enthusiasm that the flight to Dallas seemed pretty dull and ordinary to them. Fortunately, a train ride to the international concourse and some decent children’s play areas helped them pass the time during our layover prior to boarding the flight to Brisbane. Erin also worked very hard at socializing with the fellas in our boarding area who appeared to be headed out for offshore drilling.

Once airborne, Erin fell almost immediately asleep, slumped into an uncomfortable-looking position that she maintained for about six or seven hours. Ali, probably running on sheer adrenaline, managed to stay awake for the meal service and promptly crashed afterward. Both of them slept better than I thought they would, and far better than Chris and I).

I can’t remember exactly how many hours we had remaining in our 16 hour flight by the time we awoke, but I remember thinking “wow, we’re only halfway there”. It was a happy moment when we landed. Clearing immigration was easy, and the girls were amused by the beagles sniffing bags in customs. Thankfully, our last flight departed on time. Three hours later, we were muddling our way through baggage collection in Adelaide.

Really excited to fly to Australia

Checking out the flight bag

Despite the length of our travels, the girls have weathered it surprisingly well. We’re all having moments of fatigue linked to throwing our bodies into a time zone that is 15½ hours ahead of Atlanta (yes, we know we told everyone it would be 13½ hours ahead – sorry!). Naturally, this translates into some moments of crankiness, but those are mediated by the surprises of living in a new place.

One of the first magical discoveries was finding rainbow lorikeets just outside our front windows, where they’ve been feasting on berries in the bushes. Seeing their brilliant colors up close is a startling experience. We took a walk to the playground on Friday morning, and there were a number of the lorikeets munching on fruits or berries in a tree hanging over the playground.

Rainbow Lorikeet on the playground

Another happy find - the beach is every bit as beautiful as the tourism sites portray it.

Flat Out Like a Lizard Drinking

It's hard to convey how excited we are about this adventure while we're in the midst of mad preparation. Preparation that involves mundane tasks and long lists, making me wish I had prepared a Gantt chart back in September. We've been working on making the house move-in ready for the lovely couple that will be living in it, and I want them to be happy they decided to live here (rather than appalled at the discovery of some forgotten corner). Yesterday's jobs included a thorough clean up of the laundry area and tidying of the basement, both tasks that had been avoided for a good long time. It made me wonder if Australians speak of dust 'roos rather than dust bunnies. Because I'm pretty certain I found a dust 'roo in the making

And then there is the packing to be done. The rational part of my brain knows that this is not an expedition into unknown territories, requiring the careful preparation and packing of every single article we may need for the next 6 months. The irrational side is not convinced we can fit everything we need into 8 suitcases (plus a few carry-on bags).

In a moment of distraction (and when my main task of the day is herding those dust 'roos out the door, believe me, I can be distracted), I came across an online australian slang dictionary. And it was instantly amusing. Australian culture is famous for abbreviations and colorful turns of phrase. This is where I found another phrase for busy: flat out like a lizard drinking. It made our frenzied activity sound a lot more interesting. We're not just working on preparations, we're flat out like a lizard drinking.

When I lie awake at night and fret over everything yet to be done, I also pinch myself that in a few days, we will climb onto multiple airplanes and fly away to Australia for 6 months of work, schooling, and fun. How did we get so lucky?