Report from double you aye

The state of western Australia is about the size of India...... but in this state you'll find only 88% of one person per square kilometer. Just for comparison, there are 32 people in the same space in the U.S., and over 18 thou in the most densely populated place, Macau, China. We have chosen to spend our two weeks in the lower southern corner, where almost 90% of the state's residents live. Two reasons: 1) our children's unfavorable reaction when we say things like "we are going to see lots of beautiful scenery today" and 2) at this time of year it can be scorching hot in most of the rest of the state.

Eli brought his body board along, so the first item on the agenda was searching for waves. The lovely, artsy port town of Fremantle (Freo) is our home base here, but big waves are not one of it's attractions.  So armed with a surf report promising good things, we trained it to Cottsloe Beach in south Perth. Much disappointment as nothing was splashing over ankle depth. However the day was young so next stop Fremantle Prison, and whoo-wee, this was a horrifying place; accommodating over 300,000 convicts and later prisoners enduring, um, harsh conditions. Closed in 1991, reportedly it took a year to get the smell out of the 900 or so men housed there at the time. I can imagine. Sanitation is cited as one of the main reasons for closure, as a metal bucket in a cell the size of a restaurant cold room was all that the two occupants had available for hygiene. On our tour was the gallows, remnants of the flogging rack, and the interior of the solitary confinement cells. Tough stuff......fascinating in its gruesomeness.

Monday found us and 38 Japanese tourists traveling inland and north about 300 miles to see a wildlife park (more kangaroo petting and Kodak moments with koalas) spectacular wildflowers ("specky" in Australian), a wind farm (not the highlight), the pinnacles desert with very cool limestone formations, and then the part the kids waited all day for, sandboarding! We arrived at massive snow white sand dunes in the town of Lancelin, climbed up and onto the wheel-less large skateboards and off we went. Whee! My first couple of runs went well but then I put my feet down and might has well have been dipped in sand fondue.

The 2.2 million people living in this state can make the following claims: It has the largest herd of wild camels in the world (who knew?), the longest straight line of railway, and it is the second largest subnational entity in the world (edged out by a very large chunk of land in Russia). I was curious to find out if WA'ers use a different dialect...and so far my small sample size says no.  As in Brisbane and Sydney, however, this third largest city in the nation has some ethnic diversity. Fremantle has a large Italian community as well as a significant number of Indians and Pacific islanders. Interestingly, Perth is the most isolated capitol in the world.... it is closer to Jakarta than Sydney.

Yesterday we took a  30 min ferry from Freo to Rotto. "Rotto" is local speak for Rottnest Island, the only place in the world where these cute little marsupials called Quokkas live. Amid gorgeous turquoise blue bays and inlets and rolling hill we bicycled away the  afternoon.  Eli has some sore ribs and wrists from a nasty fall, but otherwise it was a fantabulous day out and about with supreme weather to boot. We were lucky to get to visit before next week, when it will be school holidays for kids here, and the population density on the island would surely exceed .88 person.

Off to Albany shortly......back atcha later!

The Spring of my September

Australian money is gorgeous. The lovely hues are a beauty to behold...many countries have different colored bills, but these particular bank notes resemble the pastel colors of baby clothes. Adding to the perfection is the good quality of the notes- there is nary a tear or rip, because they're made of plastic! Another advantage of this currency is each one is a different length; the smallest denomination is the smallest note. Gee whiz it's logical.

Speaking of money, I have heard some rather astonishing statistics about the Australian economy. The unemployment rate now is down to around 5%, which is considered full employment (any less and inflation is feared). While the U.S. and many countries in Europe are struggling with twice that, or more in some areas, why has Australia been left out of the global financial crisis?? The short simple answer seems to be China's growing need for exported minerals. And we've got them in spades: It's the largest producers of opals, and down under the down under there is heaps of coal, aluminum, iron ore, nickel, gold, uranium, zinc, and diamonds.

In Victoria,the spring carnival on the horizon.  This is not any ol' pony trot, it is "The Celebration That Stops a Nation" according to the website. THEE preeminent horse race with the world's largest handicap, a cool 6 mil. It happens in early November and fans are closely tuned in everywhere, not just in Melbourne. I guess it's kinda like the Superbowl, except every man, woman and child on the continent is a fan. The richest Australian companies offer no competition to the richest folks in the gulf, so the major sponsor since 2005 has been Emirates International Airlines. Hmm.  Dressing up fancy is de rigueur, including head wear. In not many places I hang out could a woman wear one of these things besides for Halloween.  At the races the top milliners walk away with 20 grand in prize money. If you'd like to part with several hundred dollars this lovely topper could be yours.

Back on the non-decorative hat wearing home front, here's some snaps of the kid's woodworking projects.  She made the pencil box (the designs are miniature footprints) and his adjustable, foldable deck chair unfortunately will not be making the trip back home with us.

Here's a few more of the most Australian Australianisms I've come across recently. Other terms like 'ring' for call on the telephone and 'book' for reserve are a little mundane, but these are nifty:

rugged up: dressed warmly
chuffed: happy
dear: expensive
ute: truck or 4 wheel drive vehicle

gettin' good with a footy bag

stuffed up: messed up
dunny: port-a-potty
daggy: sloppy, usually referring to dress
dodgy: sketchy or suspicious
stubbie: short beer bottle
arvo: afternoon
bummies: short shorts
whoop-whoop: seems to be similar to hinterland, which is just inland, further inland is the bush, and then keep going and you're in the outback.

kissing a mosaic 'roo

At the Australia Zoo wildlife hospital, a koala is prepped for surgery after
being hit by a car

new school bag we made last night

Jabiru at the zoo

Birdlog: I've been trying to take note of all the varieties 'round here, and my list is at almost 30. I'm sure there are hundreds more however my aging eyes are slow and the birds are fast, but it's been fun to learn. Thanks to Scott and Cindy we have use of a field guide and are slowly getting familiar with all the incredibly colorful species here. These are just  a few of my recent finds (not this Jabiru, they live in northern Oz)

brush turkey...they are everywhere

spotted turtle dove

School holidays are upon us in a week, and we're venturing to the western third of the continent, creatively named Western Australia. We'll be visiting caves and hopefully catch some waves,  and there are penguins to be ogled at as well as wildflowers and some of the tallest trees in the world (outside our beloved redwoods). Tom returns from Bangkok on Wednesday, and then we're off to Perth on Saturday!

Pieces and Bits

One never knows when a snake will slither up your driveway. We've seen a few before, but this one was a bit thrilling. After researching (with the laptop on top of the car) we were just a tiny bit disappointed to find out it was mere harmless spotted python and not a super venomous Death Adder. He (or she?)was as big around as a hot dog (bun included) and as long as our dining room table.

Wintering on the Sunshine Coast has been a most pleasant experience. We feel particularly gleeful to have missed one of the foggiest summers on record back  home. Arcatans have learned, however, to wait for those few days early or mid September when, for hours on end you haven't reached for a sweatshirt.  We are coming into spring here, which means the days are warming up. We had dropped into single digits (Celsius) but these days it is hovering in the mid-twenties( that's the low seventies for you Fahrenheit-ies)

Recently Mel and I had a little road trip down to Brizzy so she could take a dance exam. I didn't know there were such things until we moved here and she enrolled in a studio which follows the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus.  She completed her exam wearing the prescribed leotard etc including a particular hair ribbon (really??)  Now she waits 8 weeks for the results.  Meantime,  rehearsals begin for the studio's annual concert in late November. On the way home from Brisbane we detoured slightly to Wild Horse Mountain Lookout, and snapped this shot of the nearby glass house mountains, just before sunset.

Or Tony?

Will it be Julia?

Last Saturday's election resulted in no result. Neither party obtained the necessary 76 seats in the house needed in order to win government (meaning that  party's leader is P.M.) The Aussies have themselves a hung parliament, first time in 70 years.  And about that mandatory voting......the local paper reported that over 20% of eligible voters did not turn up. Apparently, when the $50.00 fine notice shows up in your letter box, a polite written excuse will get you out of paying.  I was recruited by my friend Julie (the local green party campaign manager) to hand out fliers on voting day, which was fun in a political way if that is possible.  No rules here about no campaigning 100 feet from a polling place.....I literally handed them to folks as they joined the queue.  I accompanied Julie into the cardboard voting booth and was aghast at the massive ballot, which about as long(horizontally) as that snake in our driveway.  It may be weeks before we know if it will be Julia or Tony, as both parties court the independents.

Tom-ism:  "Let's have a nice salad" and "I'll be there in a minute, I just need to take my (scrabble) move"  Recent accomplishment: getting past halfway in the 967 page tome he's reading, and bicycling up the beach (meaning tires in the sand) to Sunshine Beach, and back, about a 20 mile trip.  Favorite Aussie food (FAF): poached egg on toast with vegemite.

Stephanie-ism "Mute!" and "I'm going to yoga"  recent accomplishment: Not getting lost driving home from Mooloolaba (the most confusing signage ever) and taking a solo all day hike in the hinterland. FAF: essential grains fruit bread

Eli-ism: "You're not funny"  and "What's for dinner?"  Recent accomplishment: 93% on his last maths assignment, and without any nagging keeping his room strikingly clean most of the time.  FAF: creme filled lamingtons.

Melissa-ism: "How ya goin', lovey?" and "There's a spider in my room!"   Recent accomplishment: Spending most of the day Sunday finishing her physics project, and getting a facebook page (resulting in longer time to finish physics project)  FAF: lamb and beef kabob from the Lebanese deli.

Eli is now 15,and has thoroughly enjoyed his 48 hours of fame. When his birthday was done and dusted here, it had just started in California. How good is that.....

Hangin' with the Humpbacks

'Tis whale watch season here in the southern continent and we just happen to live purdy dern close to where they like to play.  Adverts claim "The best whale watching in the world" Well, we went for ourselves and see if this was truly the case.  The verdict is: YES! Up to 7000 of these 40 tonne cetaceans migrate from Antartica to the warm waters of Australia and the south Pacific Islands during the winter and spring. Our local harbour has boats that take trips during the season, (one of the most well known is the Whale One, belonging to the late Steve Irwin's family) but for an actual good look at these guys we drove north three hours to Hervey Bay. As you can see we were in spittin' distance. They are bemused by the boats so they spy hop: stick their mouth straight up so their eyes are out of the water. We also saw many a tail and pectoral slaps, but no breaching. Big fun.We also happened to arrive sort of in the middle of the town's whale festival parade, complete with camels, firemen dressed up like koalas, and heaps of nippers riding on trucks.

Eli also had a good weekend, but he wasn't with us. (this has been happening more and more) He was body boarding with his mates in Byron Bay, New South Wales, about 4 hours south. It was a birthday trip for a fellow year 10er, Cameron. One dad and 4 boys spent two full days in the water catching waves and having a great time. His wetsuit tan line was his souvenir.

We've been hiking with Jill and Angel most days, tackling Kondalilla falls again which is so beautiful I could walk there every day,  Buderim Forest Park, Noosa National Park, and Mt. Coolum. It wasn't until the last day we spotted 'roos (that weren't road kill) but we spent plenty of time looking!   A few days ago we ventured to the wilds of nearby Nambour, planning to watch Melissa perform with her high school orchestra in yet another rife with rules eisteddfod. It was a day with a lot of driving, and we did our best to be there on time, but the two tight lipped bitties at the door wouldn't let us in despite my pleading as the door was closing JUST as we arrived.  We were relegated to listen from the fire escape. Oh well. She's been on stage since she was about three and I reckon we will have another chance to see her perform soon. Um, like this coming weekend with her dance class.....

Australian:Not a mozzie in sight during winter, but still warm enough for a barbie. Eli to mom:  "Can you get me a big bag of lollies from Woolies?" After brekky Jill and I donned our sunnies  and creatively arrived downtown for yoga class and stretched our hammies. And...in addition to the thumbs up for the local favorite bickies, Angel actually thinks Vegemite is yummie.

American:  Mosquitoes did not  interrupt our barbecue last week of local Mooloolaba prawns and Hervey bay scallops.  Eli's gift of choice for the birthday boy was a nutrition filled bag of candy from the grocery store.  Jill and I had some delicious fruit bread for breakfast, and planned to catch the bus, but oops there it goes. Missing class was unacceptable, so armed with yoga mats and sunglasses we thumbed it and within a few minutes a nice surfer dude stopped. We stretched muscles I knew about, like my hamstrings, and others I had forgotten about. In addition to lamingtons, our guests sampled Tim-Tam cookies and Vegemite. This hugely popular Australian condiment can be compared to Spackle mixed with coffee grounds in a jar, and tastes like super salty yeasty bitter paste. I'll pass.

Other weekend activities: local comedy (better than the last one we saw but still wouldn't be mistaken for the pros) my choir singing at at Coolum Celebration Day, visiting the Yandina Ginger Factory where they produce 70% of the world's candied ginger, and stumbling into a cute cafe/vintage shop for a farewell lunch with Jill and Angel. It was great having them, and all our other company too. It appears we have no other guests slated to bunk with us....must mean the end is coming. I won't count the weeks yet. And here's a link I'm passing on (thanks Susanna!) from the blogosphere catalogliving.net It's  hilarious...enjoy.

Sunshine Coasting

Tom's sis Jill and her partner Angel arrived yesterday and we took advantage of some sunny weather and made an afternoon jaunt to the Noosa National Park. It was a lucky day for Koala sightings as this little guy was perched in his eucalypt only a few feet above our heads! He even confirmed he was alive by imitating a newborn: opening his sleepy eyes briefly, stretching a little hand, and defecating.

Australia's first women Prime Minister was appointed a few months ago, and the media has been quick to fill us in on her private life. She  has a male partner, but they are not married. She also describes herself as an atheist. Me thinks these two qualities would keep her out of the highest office in land in the states. Seeing the need for a public mandate as she was appointed not elected,  she called for federal elections. She had three years to do this, but jumped on her tide of popularity.  Australians will vote for the party of their choice on Saturday Aug 21. Voter turnout plummeted years back, so the powers that be decided voting would be compulsory so they say 95% of enrolled (registered) voters turn up, but as in America heaps aren't registered. Shame. Julia Gillard represents the Labour party (whose views seem to be aligned with American democrats) and her main opposition is Tony Abbott (representing the Liberal party, republican-esque)In addition to the Greens party, other voter choices include the fishing and lifestyle party, the Australian sex party,  and the climate skeptics.  

At Kondalilla Falls with Kim and Anjie

Mah Jong

The Perrett clan  hosted some guests recently... travelers Kim and Anjie, from Hong Kong and Germany respectively.  They had been working for Julie and Gary, our friends who live nearby, as "woofies" which is short for WWOF (world wide organic farm) association. This outfit matches folks willing to work for room and board, usually on farms! Gary and Julie don't have a farm, and our tiny tomato patch hardly counts, but none the less it worked out just grand-- in return for a bed and vittles, they did a smashing job washing our windows, re-organizing the pantry, helping with dinner, and cleaning our barbecue.  Plenty of time to wash the sheets before Jill and Angel arrived less than 36 hours later.

Last weekend was a treat for me, I was  down the road 1 km for a yoga retreat, my first ever but not my last. It was blissful to do so much yoga in one weekend. The Ayurvedic food was delish,  company fabulous, and the teaching superb. The most astounding participant was a petite power house named Vivian, always dressed in fetching purple togs.Somehow she could accomplish a myriad of poses requiring strength and flexibility far beyond my scope........and she is 37 years my senior!

new uniform for Sunshine State High School

Melissa has now finished three weeks at her new school, and the report is all thumbs up. She is really enjoying her new classes, but I still don't quite understand how she has so many.... in addition to the four traditional core subjects she somehow also has  manual arts (she's enjoying making a wooden pencil case at the moment)sport, Italian, art, and music. She has already made  new friends, as she was at a girlfriends house Friday night, and then onto a slumber-birthday party Saturday night. It sounded quite familiar.....a whole room of giggling girls eating junk food, watching movies, and gabbing until it was almost light. She was one tired puppy on Sunday!

The door was open a few days ago and in flew a magpie. He hopped around for quite awhile and seemed to consider staying but after he got a good look at the place out he flew. Finally, Here's a snap of a spectacular sunset we had last week. G'day mates!

The joey at the jym part 2

Jilly the joey is now 9 months old and quite a regular at the gym.  Next week she is changing carers and will live about an hour from here with a mob of other rescued joeys.  For a year or so she'll live  in an enclosed large property, and then will be released to the wild. We'll miss her cute face! Yesterday she looked quite stylish trying on some lime green plastic crocs owned by a 4 year old.

We have been on two wheels a bit lately, as Tom scored a great bike for a great price a few weeks ago. We have ridden to the gym (5 miles) exactly once...and have lots of excuses for not doing it more.  Sunday, leaving our eldest at home, we pedaled on down  the lane a bit to a lunch spot. Melissa has a pretty clear condition for coming along: she's keen to ride if we are going to end up at someplace fun, preferably with food.

Spring is just around the corner (well a long corner, the whole month of August) and I have officially been forewarned of a seasonal  danger of biking  during September....Magpies!! It is breeding season and the males will swoop and attack people without warning. Reportedly they go for bike helmets, so some have taken to wearing very odd looking helmets with plastic spikes all over to keep their heads safe. I guess the pecks can really hurt.....

Ok so obviously I didn't take this picture but we did see one of these critters the other day. It's a blue tongued lizard and they are fairly common 'round these parts. Kinda like a fat snake with legs, they are about as long as my laptop. Lovely color of blue, isn't it? They are not poisonous but creatures resembling snakes do make a person jump a bit.


I can't wait to see what's going to bloom during spring, as the winter flowers around here are spectacular. These are the best and brightest from around the 'hood. A trumpet creeper, a poinsettia (huge!) a wattle tree (what we call a mimosa) and a queensland icon, the banksia.

The moth larvae in the pot outside have multiplied, sometimes we see as many as five of them crawling around on top of the dirt. A friend saw them recently and tells me they are not actually witchety grubs, but  some other kind of larvae. Whatever moth or butterfly that will  emerge from these is going to be an insect to be reckoned with. These guys are as big as a travel size bottle of shampoo.

Right here I intended to post more pictures but blogger had other ideas. So till next time, thanks for staying tuned and as always, I love hearing from you. My inbox is always open!!

1 Raymond + 3 Bradshaws+ 4 Perretts = FUN

One of the best things about living here is having folks come visit. Our guests arrived later than expected due to delays in San Francisco, which meant we had time to clean the house a little more, twiddle our fingers, and make a killer loaf of bread. Hugs all around at the Maroochydore airport later that afternoon!! We explored the sunshine coast for the first 6 days then headed to Fiji for 5 nights/4 days. As expected, we packed in as much as possible. Here's the breakdown, by the numbers:

15 different pointe shoes tried on by Melissa before finding the perfect fit.

14 total dives between Scott, Cindy, Stephanie and Tom, plus 6 tanks between Connor and Eli following their introductory course and pool time. We compared sightings of moray eels, octopus, reef sharks, rays, green turtles, and thousands of brilliant colored fish and corals.                    

13 or so guests at our 4th of July Party, but we had hot dogs, hamburgers, and potato salad  for 30 (the extra was packaged up as party favors.)

12 hikes more or less, including the Noosa Coastal track,  to the top of Mt. Coolum, and to and fro on the island of Malololalai where our lovely bure sat facing the ocean.  Scott, Cindy and I walked across at low tide to another Fijian island  on our last day to have a look at a rural school, and a chat with the inspiring, progressive, phenomenal principal. He is changing the lives of 168 kids with his work ethic and high expectations. No lazing about for these kids!

11 items at least on the buffet table in addition to the whole roasted pig on a spit complete with an apple in it's mouth. I personally declined the offer of a piece of crackling. (roasted skin)

10 minutes was about all the boys got on the wake board before a screw pulled out and they were back on the beach. The complaining stopped when they had milkshakes in their hands.

9 times 10 koalas at the koala sanctuary, in addition to the hundreds of lorikeets and dozens of kangaroos available for petting. We couldn't let Jaycee go home without being cozy with a marsupial.

8 (or more) groans from  kids( mostly Eli) as we took a drive in the van to do some sightseeing in the sunshine coast hinterland,including the Yandina  farmer's market, Eumundi craft market, and Kenilworth cheese factory. Big smiles as we watched our teenagers go for giggles at the playgrounds.

7 poker guys came over to our house in Yaroomba when the gals headed to Brizzy on the train...which we almost missed, as we arrived at the station at 7:01 and  the train departed at 7:05

6  testosterone driven activities undertaken by Connor and Eli:  pummeling each other, wrestling, extending horizontally from a pole, running up a waist high rock wall, sleeping until  after lunch when possible, and shoveling copious amounts of food into their mouths several times a day.

5 big ones would have been a good catch on the deep sea fishing trip undertaken by Scott, Cindy, and Tom, but instead they just had a long boat ride 

4  of us toasting with excellent Australian Shiraz to Scott and Cindy's 19th wedding anniversary at Ba Viga restaurant in Mooloolaba. Also 4 kids hanging out, gossiping, playing scrabble, swimming, and ditching the adults whenever possible.

3 hours or so Melissa and I were up on Tuesday night in Fiji as she had the flu (details omitted)  

2 thrilled and beautiful girls after getting  la-ti-da facials in  Brizzy in honor of Mel's passage into teenage hood

1 fabulous trip with the Bradshaws and Jaycee; we all looked forward to it and now it is all memories and pictures, sigh. As of this week our oz adventure is half over. We are sad and happy, missing our friends, but not the fog and Tom is REALLY not missing the stress of the office. In three weeks Tom's sister Jill and her beau Angel are coming to see us .... no doubt we'll make the most of it!