Dispatch from the Bush

Emus!

 I’ve just returned from a two week sojourn to the outback. Traveling over 3000 kilometers in 10 days ……you could say I saw a lot of country! I was volunteering with Outback Links, an organization that matches intrepid souls in placements helping remote families dealing with the realities of living in the back of beyond. The program is a branch of Frontier Services. I traveled with the early education RAFS (Remote Area Family Service) field service coordinator. Flick (week one) and Emma (week 2) are dedicated educators undeterred by the isolation and extensive travel requirements of their job: providing play based enrichment for children up to age 5.

Charleville races

Davida, Flick and yours truly

fancy fascinators

Before heading off to begin the scheduled loop for 7 playgroups around southwest Queensland, I arrived in Charleville (12 hours west of Brisbane by car, but I flew) the day before the Melbourne Cup. Country races have been held in Charleville for 50 years on the same day as the Melbourne Cup, and for the 3300 residents it’s a public holiday and a very big day out. Over a thousand folks turned up to watch each other, five local races, and the big one on TV. After getting some instructions from Davida and Flick, I approached one of the bookmakers to bet on my first horse race. Thinking it was entirely possible I was perhaps the only American in attendance, seems I should bet on the horse called Americain. At exactly 2 pm all two thousand eyes were glued to one of the many televisions around the place and, behold and lo, I picked a winner! Had I wagered more than 10 dollars, this would have been even more exciting. The ‘fashions on the field’ were no doubt a bit less fabulous than in Melbourne, but Charleville’s ladies frocked up with fascinators, hats, plenty of jewelry, and tottered around in the dirt and grass in fancy high heels, many of them looking tremendously uncomfortable.

Also on the agenda for my time in the bush was tagging along while my RAFS compatriots attended an early education conference in the thriving town of Goondiwindi on the border of New South Wales. Although it wasn’t large enough to boast a stoplight, the town did have a large hotel, more than one gas station, Domino's pizza …the population was in the thousands! This was by FAR the largest town I visited. On arrival we were served a camp oven dinner (chili cooked over a campfire) with billy tea, but I was told it wasn’t the real deal, as authentic bush tea is meant to be strong enough to stand up your spoon. The conference lasted a day and a half, with interesting presenters and good information…..I hadn’t been to a professional conference in many a year.

mess o' bees

So we’re off to do the playgroups, with our 4WD vehicle packed up to and including the roof rack with blocks and dress up clothes, paint and glitter, soap bubbles, a train set, a water slide and a wading pool. We’d set up at the town park/hall on the grass, and the mums and tots poured in from the surrounding properties, which may have been up to two hours away. On several occasions I was able to lend suggestions and a listening ear to mum’s who voiced speech and language concerns about their little ones. Three hours later when everyone was thoroughly soaked and inevitably someone was crying, we packed up. The temperature was usually near 100 by now. We grabbed a cold drink and sandwich at the pub/grocery store/gas station/ restaurant/post office/bank….all of these housed in either one or two nearby buildings. Off we roared down the one lane road to the next town. Sometimes we encountered a vehicle or two and sometimes not. Once, for about a kilometer,  there was a dotted white line down the middle of the road: it was there in case the road needed to be used as an emergency landing strip.

river near Thagomindah

Between two and six hours later, we arrived in the next spot, spent the night, and got up the next day to do it all again. In between towns was…….nothing. Well, not nothing: rocks, red dirt, brush, trees, occasional small hills, more red dirt, cattle, sheep, goats, emus, snakes, lizards and goannas, kangaroos, wallaroos. The farther west we drove the more barren the landscape. Bird life was abundant; we saw apostle birds, budgies,butcher birds pelicans, one pair of brolgas and one pair of major mitchell's cockatoos, gallahs, among others. On the last day we saw wedge tailed eagles, which are one of the largest birds of prey: they can carry off lambs!I didn’t see any dingos as they usually don’t come near the road, but we did see a few wild pigs and foxes that were road kill. Happily the three venomous snakes I saw were dead, but I heard stories of very alive deadly snakes that almost everyone has encountered in one way or another.We crossed several streams ,which when flooded (as often happened this year) makes the road inaccessible. The streams/waterholes were all the same color: mocha. Due to all the rain recently, we saw  heaps of wildflowers and much more brush and plant life than is normally present.

wearing my fly veil

one of my companions in the loo

Outback folks were welcoming and friendly, always hospitable and happy to see us. The towns with schools (only primary, older kids were sent to boarding school) had enrollments of between 5 and 20. ‘Town’ is relative term, two of the ‘towns’ we came through had a population of less than 5. There was a pub/hotel/restaurant, and gas pump. One such place we stayed was Naccunda, and our accommodations were decidedly one star… Emma and I each had our own room, which thankfully boasted air-con unit, a 4 by 7 inch mirror, a disassembled smoke alarm, two twin beds with 15 inches between them, and a Gideon bible. The amenities across the cement step featured cute little frogs gripping the helicopter and airplane themed shower curtain, as well as emerging from the sink drain. Non-potable river water ran in the taps; identifiable by the brown tinge. Unfortunately the next morning after we unloaded and set up for playgroup, no one showed up. So we spent the morning flicking off the three inch grasshoppers that landed on us, shooing flies, hoping for a breeze, and applying DEET.

emu track

In Eromanga (pop.40), a town with a petroleum refinery, and the point in Australia that is furthest from the sea, I had an unusual experience. I went for my usual evening walk, enjoying the quiet and admiring the wing span of the kite hawks circling above. Soon there were more, now about 7 or 8 of them. They seemed to be following me……they came a little lower if I stopped walking, which I couldn’t do for long as the flies were fierce. It was evident the birds were keyed into my status as slow moving solitary mammal. If there was any chance I was going to die soon, they were ready to make a meal of me.

Chris and the blue tongue

Only four more weeks in Oz!!! We plan to enjoy every minute of it, swimming in the pool, catching waves, and glorying in the warm but not too hot time of year. While I was away, the fam managed just dandy of course....Chris from Tomas was over, and he and Tom encountered a blue tongue lizard  in the foyer.... Eli finishes up school in two weeks with a trip to dreamworld theme park with his school mates, and Melissa's dance concert is the following day. We're going to start packing any minute now.......

A fascinating fascinator tale

So many of me........our choir, Cool Harmonies, is making a calendar this year. No one else in my section was available the day we did the photo shoot, "stepping out with the sopranos" so I volunteered to do all the costume changes. I have a harder time singing all the parts however. One of these lovelies actually IS me, can you tell which one? Hint: I am not the one in the lower right corner letting a bit much of her middle aged upper body hang out.

Friends and Fam

A few nights ago was Tom's birthday dinner. We gathered at an Indian restaurant to toast the big 55.Tom noted the significance of this year, as he was born in 55. All his previous birthdays have been celebrated at a time of year when the nights are getting longer and colder, but here it's warming up daily. I can see the advantages for Halloween; those little ones dressed as princesses can skip the thick tights and coats over the costume. Our Aussie friends tell us Halloween is gaining momentum  every year.......a sign in front of the chemist attested to this,  "Save $ on Halloween fragrances." The other day I saw a nipper dressed in a jaws costume.  Mel and her friends are planning to dress up Sunday night and hit the streets, but she has been cautioned that it is entirely possible when they knock on doors they will receive quizzical looks and not candy.

the dome above the shot factory

Mel embracing modern art

Recently we spent a weekend in Melbourne visiting a couple of Tom's friends from his sailing days. The second largest city in Oz is  fantastically unique, with heaps of ultra sleek modern architecture often nestled next to quaint and well preserved historic buildings. Like Brisbane, there's a free city loop bus/tram for tourists,which is a great way to see the lay of the land, and  also nifty when your  feet are worn out from walking. Melbourne is truly a city that loves to shop. This 165 foot tall lead shot factory was one of five in the city and built in 1899. Inconveniently located in what became prime real estate, it has been preserved by being enclosed in a large glass dome, and  is now surrounded by numerous retail therapy opportunities. 

Nov 2 looms.....election day at home, and Melbourne cup day here. In California they'll be deciding which multimillionaire has had the most effective negative campaign for Governor, and whether some Humboldt county folks will be moving forward with plans to open bud n' breakfast establishments, if Prop. 19 passes decriminalizing marijuana. It seems this particular midterm election is fairly, uh, spicy. I admit I'm not sorry to be missing out on all the P.R. (promises and rants.) Australia gets points all around for gentler, much shorter, and less ridiculous campaign seasons.  If only the millions spent on campaigns could somehow instead used for improving education and paying down the debt....... for starters.

frocked up teddy

Melbourne Cup Day isn't actually a holiday, but apparently no work gets done as anyone and everyone is at the races and/or gathering with friends and family to watch it on TV. Friends here are having a party, but I'll be in the outback. Yup, I'm Charleville bound on Monday. Claiming 3500 residents, Charleville is the hugest thing around for many a mile.  I hear they have a dirt race track, so I'll be eating dust and  hanging out with folks I just met watching my first horse race. I'll be frocked up in my new fascinator and heels. A what? A fascinator is not one who fascinates, but the name of the hair doodly-bob that is part of going to the races. Watch this space for forthcoming photos......... I'm excited about my adventure but will be missing my family!  I've never been away from my kidlets for two whole weeks before. Tom will be in charge of continuing to seek solutions for Mel's ongoing foot/heel pain, which has her sidelined from dance for a couple of weeks. Also he'll be continuing to encourage/demand that  Eli spend at least a little time at home when he isn't eating or sleeping, as those are seemingly his primary reasons for being around lately.

Here are some shots of my new favorite tree, the jacaranda. The fluffy purple blooms are SO gorgeous, and they are gracefully punctuating the countryside everywhere! It's possible my previous swoon inducing botanical purple, the wisteria, has been usurped. 

Spoiler Alert: This is where I'm going to brag about our kids. Yesterday Eli brought home his grade for his Shakespeare test, and his teacher told him it was the best essay in all three English classes! We're chuffed, as this has not been standard behavior for our oldest this year, or any year actually. The Australian  public school system, from our perspective, requires quite a bit less homework than they're used to, but, when a project/assignment/test is graded, A's are not so easy to come by......
And for the daughter, she and her dance teacher were over the moon as she received a 'merit'  score for her Royal Academy of Dance exam in August. This score is above a 'pass', which is what she was hoping for. Yeah Melissa!

Countdown! We are both eagerly and sadly preparing to depart. Now that we are coming to the end of our year, we finally know our way around, have friends and find plenty to occupy ourselves. In addition we know where to get the best yogurt,  and have found new cool bike trails. All good things must end. Tom reminds me daily that even if we wanted to stay, our visas won't allow it and we wouldn't exactly look forward to a run in with immigration officials. So we ARE coming home, and we'll get that day back we lost when we came over: We'll be back January 13 at 3:45pm, which is an hour before we leave Sydney!!

shocks in oz

Not electrical, not traumatic, not even happy ones like a child of ours volunteering to clean up a mess they only partially contributed to....no I mean the tiger, great white, and the bull shock or shark as they say elsewhere. These three are the only shark species known to attack humans. Nonetheless, in Queensland as well as New South Wales, many popular beaches including the one close to our house, a shark net or a drum line offers a modicum of protection for swimmers/surfers/surfboards.  We have a drum line here, which is a large single baited hook suspended from anchored yellow buoys. These are detractors of this practice of course,  as the hooks and nets sometimes also catch dolphins, rays, turtles, and whales.  A few months ago it was decided they will be equipped with "pingers" to alert the whales to stay clear.  Good to know whales understand Ping.


The Commonwealth games are going on in New Delhi at the moment, as they have been every four years since 1930. Originally called the British Empire games, the Aussies are dominating in the medal department. Around 70 countries  participate, and the competitions include many Olympic sports and also games more typically played in commonwealth countries,  like lawn bowls, which is a close cousin to  Bocce ball. We have a lawn bowls club here in Coolum, but I don't see many Olympic types hanging out there. Other records recently noted: In Brisbane, at the local version of Starbucks,  a team of employees trained for months, and last week set a new world record: 5,164 espressos poured in one hour. That's a lotta cuppa!

Random ramblings: we spotted two pairs of yellow tailed black cockatoos on our bike ride home from the gym today....Kmart etc has no need  to wait until after Halloween to start stocking the shelves with Christmas bling (as there is no orange and black closet clutter for sale here)......massive amounts of foam on the beach, due to the recent storms........I'll be sewing my way through October as I just hauled reams of fabric destined to become skirts for Melissa's studio's concert Nov 27.......enjoying frequent but not daily early morning walks......overheard at the post office today: a young mum and her small child, who had began to whine for a bag of plastic dinosaurs: "Now, let's not have a tanti"  and, at this late age in life I can finally do a headstand, but my kids made me promise I wouldn't post a photo.


In other breaking news, a 100% Australian owned business has launched a free software/app called itakeaway. Now it is possible to order and pay for food from a handheld. Have you noticed this word has ceased being an adjective and is now a noun?  Then, courtesy of Google maps you're directed to the participating restaurant. hmm...how long until the food will be ready for pickup carside via an ATM type machine? I don't like this trend.

Just when we thought summer was here and we started looking longingly at our pool that we haven't been in since the early days of April, we're having ourselves a fierce little deluge. The rains in the last 24 hours have already exceeded the average for the month, and there is more to come. Oh joy. I'm just glad I wasn't one of the 8 thousand or so who paid a significant sum to attend the Caloundra music festival on for this last weekend. The performers were under cover but the fans had themselves a big mudfest.

So onward though the next 7 weeks or so of the final term of school. Melissa will finish her year of high school so she can go back home to middle school....... For reasons unknown to me, Eli finishes the year two weeks earlier than Mel.  He'll be surfing with his mates, waiting for sis to finish up, and we'll start packing our bulging suitcases in preparation for departure.....SIGH.  As of tonight, Tom has worked his airline magic and procured tickets to fly to Bangkok Dec 12.  From there we are still a bit open but for New Years we'll be in Bali, and I suspect we will not be alone. Jan 12 we're flying to to Sydney to reconnoiter with heaps o' stuff we needed for our year here (or thought we needed) but don't need for travel, and assuming all goes well, we'll be stepping off that plane in Arcata January 13 at 3:47 pm!!!

Coolum Beach

Meantime, we're headed off to  'Melbun', also know as Melbourne, for a long weekend. Tom is going to stay a couple of extra days and re-connect with old friends from his sailing days. Shortly thereafter I have signed up for a two week volunteer project in the outback through an organization called frontierservices.org. I'll be dusting off my cobwebby speech pathology synapses and lending what I can to an early education team who travel to visit both Caucasian and Aboriginal families with young children.  I'm looking forward to the adventure. I'm flying to  east to Charleville from Brisbane November first (a two hour flight) then traveling upwards of 1900 kilometers by car...even in miles that's a loooong way!

photoblogging

because they could, they did

It's a boy! new resident at 1875 11th street
Silas Morrie Issac, 7lbs 11 oz, born on Sept 18

Team California wins the race on the Margaret river back from the Bushtucker tour,
but only because Eli and Melissa cooperated so well in paddling

Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, which the kids agreed was one of the
most boring places we went, but the parent Perretts disagreed

Camera priorites for this trip: family (1) wildflowers (2) and birds (3)
Splendid fairy wren, near Smith's beach, WA

Those waves will be here any minute now

Lurking in the wildflowers

He would have preferred it if there hadn't been
a safety wire around the ladder

future refrigerator repair man

My three favorite people

walking in the canopy of the giant Karri trees...
we're over 100 feet in the air!

Reliving his time at sea oh so many years ago,
Tom takes the helm of a whaling ship....

Testosterone driven teenager

geez it's a long way down there

rock/tummy bonding

One of the 482 flower photos my camera forced me to to take

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!