Australia

Susan's cousin Heather spent 2005 in Melbourne, Australia, working under a Fullbright grant. Aside from being impressed at her stack of accomplishments, Terran and Susan jumped on the chance to visit the continent with a "native" guide! We spent a week and a half there in mid-March. Mostly, we stayed around Melbourne, but we took a three-day jaunt to the northeast part of the country, Cairns, to SCUBA dive in the Great Barrier Reef. Difficult life, huh?

Melbourne is a fantastic city, if you're into cities. It has 3 million people, an extensive and efficient tramway public transit system, and culture bustin' out all over -- both new and historical. The architecture is a combination of old Victorian and sometimes aggressively modern, and somehow it works. We both thought that if there happened to be a sabbatical opportunity in Melbourne, we wouldn't turn it down. Heather's apartment was walking distance from the University of Melbourne, on Lygon Street, which is one of the fine dining hubs of the city. We were overwhelmed by the good food just down to the block, and a lot of it wouldn't break the bank. And gelato! Gelato stands everywhere. We had gelato at least once a day for nearly the entire vacation. Good thing we were walking around a lot.

Day 1:

We arrived at 11am after 18 hours of flying. The first thing that happened was the the Flying Star sandwiches we had packed for the trip were sniffed out by a food-sniffing dog and confiscated at customs. Australians are very serious about not letting meat and fruit products into the country. At least we declared them on our form, so we weren't fined. Flying Star sandwiches are too good to throw out like that, but we got over it. Chagrined, we took a cab to Heather's apartment, and she met us outside to let us in. There, we recovered and visited and had showers! Wonderful showers. Heather's apartment was on the 12th floor of a high-rise apartment building, and it had a lovely view of the city from her living room window.

Then, we headed out to have a late lunch at a lovely Italian place on Lygon Street, which redefined gnocci for us. Heather took us to a couple of points of interest on the tram line to orient us, including the impressively modern Federation Square, then took us to pub trivia night to keep us awake until bedtime. It was a lot of fun, even if we as a group weren't very knowledgeable. We made it home and crashed at a respectable 10pm, and we really didn't have much trouble with jetlag for the rest of the vacation. (The trip home actually took more adjustment.)

Day 2:

Heather headed off to work, and Terran and Susan embarked to explore the city on our own. We returned to Federation Square to pick up information at the visitor's center there. We were overwhelmed by an incredibly enthusiastic clerk and more information than we could use.

From there, we walked down to the Royal Botanic Gardens, where we made it just in time to grab a 2pm tour. The tour was wonderful. The guide was incredibly knowledgeable about native and non-native plants. One of the things we studied was the effect of climate differences on introduced species. The massive tree you see in the photograph albove right is a California Cypress, which usually does not grow very tall in its natural habitat. In Melbourne, it has grown so aggressively that it would collapse under its own bulk without chains between the branches to hold it together. Unfortunately, you can't really see the chains in the photograph. We also saw black swans and a biologically improbable colony of eels that lives in the ponds.

The curly growth on the palm tree in the second row below is a native plant called a "fiddle scroll," which appealed to Susan.

On the way out, we passed a motionless fountain filled with mountains of soap bubbles. This caught Susan's fancy, but she'd left the camera at home. On the way back, we found it again, this time armed with the single-use camera purchased at the botanic gardens. The bubbles were almost gone, but the effect was still pretty, so she took a few pictures.

We had dinner at an Indonesian restaurant on Lygon St. with a clueless waitress who didn't understand that she was expected to cork our wine when we paid a corking fee. The food, however, was quite good. Heather started introducing Susan to Australian wine, and Susan was an apt pupil. We walked down to the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail), with the intention of taking their publicized night tour, but it turned out the gaol was rented out that night for an event. No tour for us! We consoled ourselves with gelato and returned to the apartment to crash.

Day 3:

The three of us spent the morning working out logistics for the Grampians and Great Ocean Road trip. We would pick our rental car up at 11am the next morning. We also reserved a place on a little penguin tour for the evening we planned to return. Then we headed out to a nice cafeteria-style restaurant on Lygon Street, where we ate our packed sandwiches and supplemented with a huge, delicious salad that was enough for all three of us.

We then walked across to the Melbourne Museum. Outside, "The World's Longest Lunch" dining event was going on, with some Chinese dragon entertainment. The grounds of the museum were beautiful.

Heather gave us her student ID so that I could get in free (on the assumption that we look a lot alike, and it worked). Then she headed off to do our own thing, and we toured the museum. The entryway featured a lovely display of painted wooden stingray art that Susan just couldn't resist. We also saw a great exhibit of native fauna, including stuffed examples of a wombat, platypus, tasmanian devil, and the fierce extinct thylacine. We're really fascinated by the thylacine.

The aboriginal display was extensive, but also disappointing. Australia is coming a little late to a realization of the damage done to the native people by the European colonization, and the displays contained a lot of cultural guilt and very little information. It was neat to see the artifacts, but frustrating to have so little idea of what their function was. We did learn that the Australian aborigines counted the year in seven seasons:

Dhuludur - the prewet season. "The fires are small and isolated now. The winds are mized up, each blowing at different times, often within the same day. The male thunder shrinks the waterholes and the female thunder brings the rain called Dhuludur.

Barra'mirri - the growth season. "Heavy rain comes every day and the plants grow quickly. Soon there is heavy growth throughout the whole bush."

Mayaltha - the flowering season. "There is very little bush food. There are a lot of plants that flower, bright sunny days and sometimes rain."

Midawarr - the fruiting season. "The grasses are forming seeds. It's the season of fruitingplants and the east wind signals the beginning of the time of abundant food."

Dharratharramirri - early dry season. "The nights are cool and there is mist early in the mornings. Large flocks of mudlarks arrive and the southeast wind, Buluna, swings further south to become the wind Dharratharra."

Rarrandharr - the main dry season. "The warm south east wind blows as the pandanus fruit begins to fall to the ground. As soon as the stringybark tree flowers, snakes lay their eggs and all types of honey can be found."

OK, that was six. The museum taught seven, but we don't remember what the seventh was. We did find a neat Polynesian exhibit and the skeleton of a small blue whale that had washed up on Australia's shores.

We headed back to the apartment to meet up with Heather, and Terran started to have really alarming back problems. We'd planned to go to a ballet in the park on the grounds of the botanical gardens, but once he sat down he could barely move. Heather fixed him up some heating pads. He bailed out of the ballet, and Heather and I, worried, went out on our own. We picked up a picnic of brie, pate, baguette, and New Zealand sauvignon blanc at a shop on the way. We staked out a seat on the edge of the walkway in the park so that Terran could join us if he started feeling better. The food was wonderful, and the sauvignon blanc ended up being Susan's favorite wine for the trip. She still on a quest to find the best import in Abq. The ballet was fun, a series of shorts from well-known modern and traditional ballets. We did have some trouble seeing through a fussy four-year-old whose parents kept bouncing and holding up high to see. Terran did join us halfway through, armed with a fresh heating pad, and his back continued to improve through the night. We never did figure out what it was, but we're guessing maybe he slept on the air mattress wrong.

We walked back along the road to the tram stop, and the trees were lit with bright green lights. The fountain from the day before was now alive and lit in orange. The camera wasn't good enough to get pictures of how pretty it was, but we included the attempts anyway.

Day 4:

We headed out to Quuen Victoria Market for provisions. Wow. We could die happy here. We found all variety of exotic fare. Vendors hawked samples at every turn. We settled on meat and cheese for sandwiches, plus some nuts, bananas, and dried fruit for breakfast. Then we walked up to get the rental car, getting lost a couple of times on the way.

And we're off! Here's where we drastically miscalculated. We envisioned the Great Ocean Road as a scenic drive where you spent most of your time driving. Au contraire. There are all variety of vistas that require you to stop and stretch your legs. We had thought half a day was enough, and we would be at Grampians National Park by nightfall. More the fools us.

We at our packed lunch on a lovely beach and waded in the shallows, though the shallows had more than their share of rotting seaweed -- yum. We also stopped by a lovely overlook of a surfer's beach.


Day 2: Heather headed off to work, and Terran and Susan embarked to explore the city on our own. We returned to Federation Square to pick up information at the visitor's center there. We were overwhelmed by an incredibly enthusiastic clerk and more information than we could use. From there, we walked down to the Royal Botanic Gardens, where we made it just in time to grab a 2pm tour. The tour was wonderful. The guide was incredibly knowledgeable about native and non-native plants. One of the things we studied was the effect of climate differences on introduced species. The massive tree you see in the photograph albove right is a California Cypress, which usually does not grow very tall in its natural habitat. In Melbourne, it has grown so aggressively that it would collapse under its own bulk without chains between the branches to hold it together. Unfortunately, you can't really see the chains in the photograph. We also saw black swans and a biologically improbable colony of eels that lives in the ponds.

The curly growth on the palm tree in the second row below is a native plant called a "fiddle scroll," which appealed to Susan.

On the way out, we passed a motionless fountain filled with mountains of soap bubbles. This caught Susan's fancy, but she'd left the camera at home. On the way back, we found it again, this time armed with the single-use camera purchased at the botanic gardens. The bubbles were almost gone, but the effect was still pretty, so she took a few pictures.

We had dinner at an Indonesian restaurant on Lygon St. with a clueless waitress who didn't understand that she was expected to cork our wine when we paid a corking fee. The food, however, was quite good. Heather started introducing Susan to Australian wine, and Susan was an apt pupil. We walked down to the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail), with the intention of taking their publicized night tour, but it turned out the gaol was rented out that night for an event. No tour for us! We consoled ourselves with gelato and returned to the apartment to crash. Day 3: The three of us spent the morning working out logistics for the Grampians and Great Ocean Road trip. We would pick our rental car up at 11am the next morning. We also reserved a place on a little penguin tour for the evening we planned to return. Then we headed out to a nice cafeteria-style restaurant on Lygon Street, where we ate our packed sandwiches and supplemented with a huge, delicious salad that was enough for all three of us. We then walked across to the Melbourne Museum. Outside, "The World's Longest Lunch" dining event was going on, with some Chinese dragon entertainment. The grounds of the museum were beautiful.

Heather gave us her student ID so that I could get in free (on the assumption that we look a lot alike, and it worked). Then she headed off to do our own thing, and we toured the museum. The entryway featured a lovely display of painted wooden stingray art that Susan just couldn't resist. We also saw a great exhibit of native fauna, including stuffed examples of a wombat, platypus, tasmanian devil, and the fierce extinct thylacine. We're really fascinated by the thylacine.

The aboriginal display was extensive, but also disappointing. Australia is coming a little late to a realization of the damage done to the native people by the European colonization, and the displays contained a lot of cultural guilt and very little information. It was neat to see the artifacts, but frustrating to have so little idea of what their function was. We did learn that the Australian aborigines counted the year in seven seasons: Dhuludur - the prewet season. "The fires are small and isolated now. The winds are mized up, each blowing at different times, often within the same day. The male thunder shrinks the waterholes and the female thunder brings the rain called Dhuludur. Barra'mirri - the growth season. "Heavy rain comes every day and the plants grow quickly. Soon there is heavy growth throughout the whole bush." Mayaltha - the flowering season. "There is very little bush food. There are a lot of plants that flower, bright sunny days and sometimes rain." Midawarr - the fruiting season. "The grasses are forming seeds. It's the season of fruitingplants and the east wind signals the beginning of the time of abundant food." Dharratharramirri - early dry season. "The nights are cool and there is mist early in the mornings. Large flocks of mudlarks arrive and the southeast wind, Buluna, swings further south to become the wind Dharratharra." Rarrandharr - the main dry season. "The warm south east wind blows as the pandanus fruit begins to fall to the ground. As soon as the stringybark tree flowers, snakes lay their eggs and all types of honey can be found." OK, that was six. The museum taught seven, but we don't remember what the seventh was. We did find a neat Polynesian exhibit and the skeleton of a small blue whale that had washed up on Australia's shores.

We headed back to the apartment to meet up with Heather, and Terran started to have really alarming back problems. We'd planned to go to a ballet in the park on the grounds of the botanical gardens, but once he sat down he could barely move. Heather fixed him up some heating pads. He bailed out of the ballet, and Heather and I, worried, went out on our own. We picked up a picnic of brie, pate, baguette, and New Zealand sauvignon blanc at a shop on the way. We staked out a seat on the edge of the walkway in the park so that Terran could join us if he started feeling better. The food was wonderful, and the sauvignon blanc ended up being Susan's favorite wine for the trip. She still on a quest to find the best import in Abq. The ballet was fun, a series of shorts from well-known modern and traditional ballets. We did have some trouble seeing through a fussy four-year-old whose parents kept bouncing and holding up high to see. Terran did join us halfway through, armed with a fresh heating pad, and his back continued to improve through the night. We never did figure out what it was, but we're guessing maybe he slept on the air mattress wrong. We walked back along the road to the tram stop, and the trees were lit with bright green lights. The fountain from the day before was now alive and lit in orange. The camera wasn't good enough to get pictures of how pretty it was, but we included the attempts anyway.

Day 4: We headed out to Quuen Victoria Market for provisions. Wow. We could die happy here. We found all variety of exotic fare. Vendors hawked samples at every turn. We settled on meat and cheese for sandwiches, plus some nuts, bananas, and dried fruit for breakfast. Then we walked up to get the rental car, getting lost a couple of times on the way. And we're off! Here's where we drastically miscalculated. We envisioned the Great Ocean Road as a scenic drive where you spent most of your time driving. Au contraire. There are all variety of vistas that require you to stop and stretch your legs. We had thought half a day was enough, and we would be at Grampians National Park by nightfall. More the fools us.

We at our packed lunch on a lovely beach and waded in the shallows, though the shallows had more than their share of rotting seaweed -- yum. We also stopped by a lovely overlook of a surfer's beach.

Australia - March 2005

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4: