We are setting off to start our new life in Melbourne, Australia.
With us on this adventure is as little as we could imagine bringing to a
new home halfway around the world. Two bags for each of us to last until
our half container pod of remaining essentials (and some not so) are set
to arrive 4-6 weeks after we do.
On a steel gray January morning we bid adieu to Alley 24, our home
for nearly four years, tossed our two bags into the Subaru for the last
time and drove up to Ballard to crash in our friend’s 4’ by 7’ TV room.
This will be our cozy accommodations for four nights until our flight on
the 20th. Sometime in that span we’ll be selling our trusty steed and
further shedding some last possessions that missed the boat but can’t be
justified in the checked luggage.
Now that we are unemployed, transient couch surfers the enormity of
the move must be faced. No more second guessing the decision, no more
dreamy discussions. Now just real, live logistics – an AirBnB, work
visas, money transfers, international shipping manifestos, packing
re-packing our luggage.
We’ll be there soon and once we arrive we’ll do our best to document
our adventure here so feel free to follow along as we share the
highlights of our life Down Under.
Arrival in a Strange Land
22 January 2015 Melbourne, Vic
A full twenty-four hours after leaving Seattle – via our scheduled
Los Angeles stop and our unscheduled Sydney one – we arrived in
Melbourne. Immigration and customs took a matter of minutes, either a
nod to Australian efficiency or, possibly, apathy. Our journey to the
taxi stand took us outside and into the heat, a very welcome 36C (97F)
heat. As our cab headed into the city our fatigue and exhaustion melted
away as our new home came into view out of the car windows. We had made
it. Our new lives here were a blank canvass waiting for us to fill them
with memories of a lifetime. This blew a strong wind into our sails;
ready we were to see what this continent has to offer.
After a few wrong turns down some tricky one-way alleys, our driver
found our AirBNB flat (apartment) and set us free. We dumped
our luggage, changed into our bathers (swimsuits) and headed
down to the St. Kilda beach to showcase the whitest skin in all of Oz
(Australia), perhaps the Southern Hemisphere. In the mid-arvo
(afternoon),our hunger pangs drove us from the beach to Fitzroy
Street for a snack. We cashed in our gift certificate to Milk the Cow, a wine and cheese
shop near the beach. All manner of fancy spreads and cuts were brought
our way; all consumed in short order. We retired for our first night
down under, but not before catching a few matches of The Tennis (The
Australian Open) on The Tele (TV).
Settling In
23 January 2015 St. Kilda, Vic
On our first full day we dove right into the culture with a lazy cup
of morning tea ([Twinnings] (https://twinings.com.au/), of course) on the deck. The
cool, marine breeze of the early morning quickly gave way to summer
heat. Inspired to experience this new place we took a long walk along
the Bay
Trail down to Point Ormond. This is a truly fantastic trail.
Kilometers upon kilometers of pricey coast real estate dedicated solely
to public use. We will undoubtedly spend considerable time moving to and
fro on non-vehicular thoroughfare. Bikes must be purchased and soon.
Andy is keen on rollerblades; Erin not so much so.
The walk back was warm; the heat, the sweat, the sun on our skin all
so wonderful after the last few months in wet and cool Pacific
Northwest. We live here now.
The Tennis
24 January 2015 Melbourne, Vic
For three weeks in late January and early February all eyes – in the
tennis world at least – are on Melbourne and the Australian Open. Or, more affectionately
referred to here on the ground as The Tennis . The cultural
immersion program we had set for ourselves dictated that we attend.
On a gorgeous, sunny Saturday with temperatures near 30C (86F) we
arrived early, as did the rest of the city. Tickets to the two main
courts were sold out so we settled for ground passes. A ground pass
allows access to all other venues but main courts, including the very
large Hisense Arena. Our lack of planning did mean we’d miss Venus
Williams’ match; however, our early arrival permitted a viewing of
Serena practicing from up close, so not all was lost. It should not go
unmentioned that the lines to enter the cultural events – the beer and
wine gardens – stretched on to the far reaches of the grounds as
Melbourne’s 20-somethings shook off last night’s hangover and queued up
for another run at it. No prom or gala in America had anything on this
scene.
Serena’s practice session sated our patriotic hunger; next on to
Hisense for some live matches. Prior to the opening 11am match seats
were plentiful. As rookies do, we made a rookie mistake and sat in the
glaring sun, amazed at why such good seats were available when less
optimal ones (shaded) were taken. A few hours later, the place was
packed and we were sweating through our clothes, the full power of
antipodal sun baking our pale northern bodies. We endured two hours of
roasting to see the Spaniard, Muguruza, down Bacsinszky of Switzerland
in a hard fought women’s singles match. A welcome relief as the shade
enveloped us for match two. Here, the 8th ranked Montenegro-Canadian
Milos Raonic used his 220+ km/h serve to breeze by the scrappy Benjamin
Becker of Germany.
The grounds were throbbing full at this point and, needing food and
drink, we called it a day and left for home. Our hunger and thirst
pulled us into a pit stop at the Royal Croquet Club’s (RCC) off-site
Aussie Open extravaganza…basically a massive beer garden with food
trucks, croquet courts and a DJ spinning house music. Attendance was
thin – it was early – but judging by the size of the beer stands it
would become a righteous rave later in the evening. Still jet-lagged and
a good decade older than the intended demographic we could not muster
the resolve to go on a day-long drinking spree and, after a delicious
snack and two Hahn Lights, made our way home. Cultural immersion
complete for today.
Market Day
25 January 2015 Melbourne, Vic
The Queen Victoria Market is both a
tourist trap full of fake Australian Outback hats and crocodile wallets
as well as fully functional grocery store and mercantile. In what other
seven hectare space upon the face of this earth can you buy a pallet of
kangaroo pelts, powerful mystery crystals, Footie gear, a 55-gallon drum
of raw almonds, Crest toothpaste, collectible dolls, antique hunting
knives and a dozen fresh duck eggs? Any form of great quest can be
outfitted from here; same too for fulfilling the needs of most eccentric
among us. There is truly something for everyone. We bought none of the
above, instead spending most our time investigating the widest variety
of cured meats we’d ever seen.
[Erin] Being from Seattle, my expectations of coffee are high.
Melbourne’s reputation as having a world class coffee culture proceeds
it. In the three days we’ve been here, I’ve found it to be as promised
and have been been gleefully sampling from a variety of new favorite,
local cafes. Market Lane
Coffee has a corner shop in the Queen Vic Market and since I wasn’t
really sure what a flat white or a long black would end up as, I ordered
a cappuccino like a pro, right up until I tried to pay for a $4 coffee
with two 20 cent coins. (For some reason the smaller coins are larger
amounts here). After Googling “long black” I decided it would be the
closest to my Americano order back home and I can avoid looking like a
complete dumbass next time. I am also adding this bit of information to
save you all from Googling “long black” in the workplace.
With Market bags in hand and caffeine needs met, we took the tram
back to our temporary home in St. Kilda for a sunny lunch on our patio.
At some point we will stop acting like this is a vacation and get on
with the details of finding a permanent dwelling, communicating with
family, preparing for work, being responsible adults, but not quite
yet…after all, we are still wearing fresh, clean clothes from our
suitcases. Life doesn’t really start until laundry calls.
’Stralia Day
26 January 2015 Burwood, Vic
Australia Day celebrates the 1788 landing of the British First Fleet
at Sydney Cove. We expected something like an Australian Fourth of July
extravaganza. However, on account of souring public opinion over the
ensuing treatment of the Aboriginal peoples, the reality of the holiday
is something closer to a modest Columbus Day barbecue. As luck so had
it, an old classmate of Erin’s had recently moved to Melbourne and had
extended to us an invite to a afternoon party out in Wattle
Park, east of the city. On the (not to scale) Melbourne tram map, it
looked close enough. Ignorant of the speed, or lack thereof, of the tram
system we jumped aboard the 16 Tram headed east then north through
St. Kilda East, Balacava, Caulfield North, Malvern, Kooyong and then
Hawthorn where we transferred to the 70 Tram whereupon we crawled
through Hawthorn East, Camberwell, Surrey Hills and finally into
Burwood, home to the Park of Wattle. Along the way we were overtaken by
many cyclists, scooters, rickshaws, jitneys, wheelchairs, mums with
prams, stray dogs; really anything wheeled or anyone particularly fleet
of foot was bound to pass us eventually.
Ninety or so minutes later we arrived. The beer that we purchased at
the beginning of our journey was now fully the temperature of the
ambient air. The small fete was enjoyable, a good chance to meet some
local people and test our new land’s ability to throw a bash. Marooned
out here in the burbs, the only economically sensible thing to do was to
ride the same slow pony back to town…at least we knew what to expect
this time. We rewarded ourselves for our arduous travels with some of
the world’s greatest frozen yogurt, Yo-Chi. To walk off these excess
calories, we ambled down to the beach to watch the sun dip below the
gentle waves of Port Phillip Bay.
Back to Work
27 January 2015 University of Melbourne, Vic
[Andy] Eventually, the fun had to end. I was down here for a job
after all. Mind you I wasn’t headed to the salt mines or anything
resembling difficult physical labor, but coming back to a schedule and
being responsible to an employer was an unwelcome change
nonetheless.
I arrived to the sparkling new Melbourne School of Design (MSD)
building and my 9:30 appointment with the department’s lowest ranking
human resources official to find that my name was not ‘in the system’.
As a result, I could not be granted my ID card, login information,
email, etc. Really anything that would permit me to do any actual work,
administrative or otherwise. I was, however, awarded my complimentary
kitchen set with a tea mug of a color of my choosing. Now this is the
warm welcome I had been expecting. Editor’s Note from the Future: This
was a foreshadow of the general competence and priorities of the
department.
Additionally, due to some scheduling issues, there is a squatter in
my current office for the next few weeks. I have been set up with with a
temporary work space in a large group meeting-type room (with adequate
space for my tea set). It is comfortable enough and my office mates – a
pair of ebony mannequins of differing completeness – are quiet, albeit a
bit weird.
By midday I was starting to wonder if I actually had a job here, but
in wandering the halls I did locate a door with my name on it…so at
least someone was expecting me. With any luck tomorrow I’ll be able to
commence my tenure at the University. For now, I’m just a visitor stuck
in a room with mannequins busy balancing his spoon on his nose while
shotgunning lukewarm, free tea. Oh yeah, and every time I leave the room
to go to the bathroom I need to place a chair in the door lest it close
behind me and lock me out.
Beach Boxes
30 January 2015 Brighton, Vic
When not outside basking in the glorious January weather, we are busy
on Domain.com.au searching for
a place to live. Visiting these homes means walking or taking the
trams/trains to different neighborhoods around the city until we are
exhausted or sunburned, often both. Our standard operating procedure
once in such a condition is to find refuge and relief in a gelato or
frozen yogurt shop. I dare you to judge us.
Recently we found ourselves in Brighton touring a home which was
wonderful but also for which we didn’t really have the budget to live
in. Brighton is a beautiful and bougie location just inland from a
sparkling white beach. Like a crow drawn to shiny objects, Erin
gravitates towards bright colors and patterns. Being this close, we made
time to visit to the famous Brighton
Beach Bathing Boxes. Our stay was no short affair.
Sticking our toes in the sand and watching the tourists (ourselves
not included; we are locals after all) fumbled with self-sticks was a
needed distraction from the stress of finding a home. The rental process
here is, well, odd. Open houses or inspections, as they are referred to,
are 15 minute affairs, and unfurnished rentals don’t come with a
washer/dryer, dishwasher or refrigerator unless you are lucky. As a
result, the next time we move, we will be the proud owners of a bunch of
big ass appliances. Two of the houses that we are interested in have
inspection times tomorrow, unwittingly with overlapping 15 minute
periods and across town from one another. We will divide and conquer,
and hopefully trust the other’s judgment…but for now, we worry not about
this and relax on the beach dreaming of our next cool, sugary treat.
In Search of a Home
1 February 2015 St. Kilda, Vic
As the calendar turned to February we remain vagabonds, living off of
takeout at our small, but comfortable AirBnB in the heart of St. Kilda.
We recently put in a rental application for a small
brick home in charming Albert Park. There are no guarantees here in
this ‘lottery for a rental home’ system as it is not clear what merits
or perhaps roll of a dice determine whether or not we’ll enjoy the
luxury of paying a lot of money for a quaint living space. This home is
one of hundreds that we’ve looked at online and one of a handful that
we’ve inspected and applied for. We feel like we have a good chance here
because it isn’t the in the hip, cool neighborhoods north of the city,
but in a quieter, family-ish area to the south. All the better for us as
we prefer beaches and parks to bars and brunches anyways.
This process has been, well, exhausting. Our past weekend consisted
mostly of jumping on and off various trams to schlep around to far-flung
areas of the city in order to inspect homes or check out new
neighborhoods. At some of the more glamorously located places, the
crowds are insane; over 50 people showed up to a house in Fitzroy on
Saturday morning. All this bandying about has its benefits – we stumbled
on a wild Chinese New Year celebration, have found some of the city’s
best architecture, sampled even more frozen yogurt and gelato shops and
even procured Erin her first (likely of many) Australian meat pies. We
know some tram routes by heart and now have a pretty good sense of what
is overpriced. All this local knowledge should also help Andy in the
classroom where his first day of teaching is soon approaching.
Not So Super Bowl
2 February 2015 Prahran, Vic
It was 9am Monday morning and we were headed not to work or to a
house showing but, instead, to a pub. A friend from Seattle of a friend
from Seattle had invited us out to the College Lawn Hotel in the
Prahran neighborhood for the Super Bowl. Entrance was pricey, but we did
get all you could drink beers and wines and a wide variety of free bar
foods. This is the sort of spectacle we had expected given all of our
study about our new land suggested that the Aussies were “mad for
sport.” Upon arrival, we noticed the 12th man flag in the window. We had
made a good choice.
The place filled quickly and there were about 200 people jammed in by
the time the game started. The College Lawn is a big place with numerous
outdoor beer gardens, separate rooms and bars, so it never really felt
too crowded. I’d guess it was about 50% Seahawks fans, 30% Patriots
fans, 10% random NFL jerseys (Barry Sanders, Darrelle Revis and Mark
Chmura…ok, no Mark Chmura) with the balance made up of about 20 odd
Aussie dudes who didn’t care much for the game, but couldn’t seem to
pass up all-you-could drink event on a Monday morning.
We met about a dozen people from Seattle or the surrounding area,
including one ex-Seattleite whose name was, I kid you not, Erin Krause.
The people and the atmosphere were great, the beer was good and the food
was, well, filling. We’ll stop there as nothing really needs to be said
about the game
itself….at least we had an ample selection of decent Australian
microbrews (and Heineken) to kill the pain.
How Ya Goin
4 February 2015 Albert Park, Vic
After many tours, followup emails and countless hours scouring online
listings, we finally secured a place to live. It is a wee Victorian
cottage in a neighborhood called Albert Park. It is a quaint, but
upscale little area with adequate, but not hip, amenities. Importantly
is only a walk or short bike ride to the beach and a direct tram ride
away from the University and downtown Melbourne. We are undoubtedly
bringing down the median income for the area. We get the keys on Friday,
so we will share more later in the week about the house.
[Erin] Today, I focused on some early neighborhood reconnaissance.
Near our house (feels weird to say this) is another open air market, the
South Melbourne
Market. Compared to the Victoria Market we visited last week, this
market is much smaller, but it still has amazing variety and better
prices. It is less catered to the tourists and more toward locals
looking for their groceries, staple items and delicious meals. Specialty
shops abound, like the Tea
Drop an entire booth dedicated to exotic and high end teas. It has
Easter egg-colored canisters stacked so high, it necessitated a ladder
to reach them. And that bookstore-style ladder is not just some trendy
design detail, my own order required its use.
Picking my way slowly stall by stall through the market, I continued
to come across the same issue we’ve both have had for the past two weeks
of meeting and greeting friendly Aussies. Instead of the “G’day” that
everyone in America expects Australians to say, we almost always get
some slurred version of ‘How ya goin’ or ‘How’re ya going?’ This
obviously means ‘Hi, How are you doing?’, and so we usually answer
‘Good’, but every single time there is an urge to answer the question of
where I’m going or how I got here, By tram? St. Kilda? I walked?
Knowing that we’d soon be leaving our St.Kilda apartment we spent our
evening with a dinner at Babu Ji a fashionable
Indian restaurant just down the street. For a bit more than the cost of
standard meal, the quality was outstanding. Some of most unique Indian
flavors we each have ever tasted. We are quite grateful that our new
home is just a short tram ride away from this gem. To aid in the
digestion of this large meal, we concluded with a nice long walk along
St.Kilda Beach. Our home beach for just a few more days, until we
relocated a mile or so to the west.
Ikea-a-thon
8-9 February 2015 Richmond, Vic
We now have a house. It is filled with exactly nothing as all we own
here are the bags we brought on the plane (and the various suncreens
Andy has hoarded in the past two weeks) and those are still at the
AirBnB we have for a few more days. So we went shopping. Furniture
shopping – the seventh level of hell for one of us. In fact, Andy might
prefer any of the following over furniture shopping: going to the
dentist, watching period-piece dramas and line dancing. All of this
shopping was, however, book-ended by two outdoor festival-type events
and fun pit stops along the way – which is probably why we got through
it in one piece. And, not only does Andy now know the difference between
a left and right chaise lounge but he can spot pebble weave upholstery
from 50 meters out….
All of the things that we couldn’t physically carry out of the store
will be delivered to our home sometime in the next week. With any luck
our number of days of sleeping on the floor will be exactly zero.
Overall, our weekend went something like this:
(Fri) South Melbourne Market night
market complete with delicious street paella.
(Sat) Some suburban Ikea and Domain Housewares Mall (think Ron
Swanson’s personal hell).
(Sun AM) West Elm, then urban Ikea (yes, multiple Ikeas in a
weekend)
(Sun PM) The St. Kilda Festival with
300,000 of our fellow Melburnians…right in our back yard.
Moving In
12 February 2015 Albert Park, Vic
This entire blog post could be about nothing more than the series of
minor failures that we have had in the past week while moving into our
new home. Instead, we will channel the positive and enlighten you with
the few, but crucial wins we have had secured.
To begin, we are now the proud owners of a complete set of ‘white
goods’ – washing machine, dryer, and refrigerator. True adults are we.
Once past the initial annoyance of knowing that we would have to not
only buy these and but then also move them around to each place we will
rent in the city we have become quite attached to them. Not so far as to
name them, though. Not yet.
As our shipping crate of things – some necessary and others not – has
been delayed until late March, we are trying to get by living minimally
until then. While temporarily living with ‘just the essentials’ seems
simple enough, it really isn’t as fun as it sounds to cook a full meal
in one pot, or share one towel or sleep on a bed frame without the
proper slats, therefore folding the mattress like a burrito, (one of
many IKEA fails). To remedy this, Erin broke down and just started
buying things we needed. As satisfying as it felt to start filling up
the house, without a car, she was the girl walking a mile and a half
with a stainless steel garbage can balanced on her head, and then back a
mile and a half to return it when she realized it didn’t work with a
plastic bag since, per the shopkeeper, you were just supposed to rinse
out the plastic liner each time (?). Okay, so in the end we did share
some of the fails; some things are too good to keep to oneself.
Back in the win column, we also bought bikes this week. This affair
took an entire afternoon at 99
Bikesbut we ended up with two beautiful road bikes at a bargain
price as well as finding ourselves a new and very Lithuanian friend.
Test riding the bikes was a little horrific at first since biking on the
wrong side of the road is only slightly less jarring than driving on the
wrong side, but we caught on quick. It took a little convincing our
friend that Erin wasn’t completely helpless on a bike, and in the end we
both walked away with men’s bikes. Erin was informed this men’s bike
would fit her fine due to her “gentlemen’s shoulders”. We also learned
more than we wanted to know about a recent crime epidemic in Footscray,
the state of immigration politics in Australia and tips for maintaining
proper brake cable tightness.
Our new wheels allowed us to explore farther and faster than before.
This offered a needed break from hours of Ikea instruction following. It
is also provided much needed practice at operating on the opposite side
of street as we will, eventually, find ourselves driving down here.
A Downtown Walkabout
14 February 2015 Melbourne, Vic
To celebrate St. Valentine (Valentino in the large Italian sector of
Melbourne) we explored our city – a long date filled with many cultural
institutions and ice creams. We began with a trip to the State Library and concluded at Federation Square, connecting these
two iconic places via the least efficient and most interesting route
possible. Down alleyways and up lanes, along the Yarra River walk and
through a Chinese New Year’s festival. Erin paused to capture more
photos of activated streetscapes and sidewalk cafes than Andy cared to,
but this city is proving to be a designer’s dream and she can’t help but
get swept up in it.
Over the past few weeks, Erin has spent considerable time in cafes
stealing wi-fi and drinking coffee with Melburnians. She’s become
familiar with the standard breakfast that is ordered to accompany a
morning coffee. The usual is a granola-based dish (occasionally bircher)
with yogurt and some take on fruit compote. Now that we have acquired a
pot for our kitchen, she has decided she should start making this simple
breakfast dish at home instead of eating out so much. We are in the
middle of summer, and all the markets are selling stone fruit for crazy
sales, so recently she lugged home 2 kilos of it – which is, as she
learned, considerably more than two pounds and not that easy to carry
home. When Andy came home to a fruit poaching factory and asked what I
was making, he heard ‘Truman Capote’ instead of ‘fruit compote’, so now
every morning for breakfast, I sit down to a small, but satisfying bowl
of yogurt and Truman compote.
A Slice of Home
21 February 2015 Melbourne, Vic
In need of a vacuum, a year’s worth of toilet paper, three liters of
barbecue sauce, a kilo and half of haloumi and several other bulk items
that can only be moved with a pallet jack, we took a short tram ride to
Costco
Australia, conveniently located just north of downtown Melbourne.
Rumor has it that the Melburnians were so pleased with the arrival of
the big ‘C’ that they built a Ferris wheel in the parking lot.
It was hot; 37C to be exact, which is about 99F if you are a Yank.
Inside of Costco – a Costco nearly identical in shape, layout, color and
smell to those back home – was a comfortable 20 degrees. There were
Kirkland signs everywhere, large families moving very slowly down every
aisle and the pervasive odor (aroma?) of grilled meats. We trolled the
samples; Erin hitting up the Jelly Belly lady more times than is likely
allowed. Our cart swelled, we had purchased enough necessities that we
had to catch a cab home as schlepping all of our goods on the tram would
have been poor form. It was oddly comforting (or maybe no so oddly) to
be in a place so familiar so far from home. We’ll definitely make this a
monthly outing…if for no other reason than to buy affordable American
whiskey.
In the afternoon, we took a short walk to the Optus store to update
our cell phone plans. On the way home we were caught in a very heavy
15-minute downpour. The sun was shining, the wind howling and massive
raindrops pummeled the sidewalk. It passed, but the heat did not abate
so we grabbed some cheap beers and headed to the beach for sunset.
Sundowners on the beach just a ten minute walk from home. This is a life
one can get used to.
Furniture and F1
25 February 2015 Albert Park, Vic
It was a big week for us. We bought a grill (barbie), our
couch and desk were delivered (installed incorrectly) and our internet
was finally installed (with speeds near that of Andy’s early 2000s dorm
room…). After tethering our cell phones to our computers in order to get
work done and sitting on the floor for 2 weeks, this was a big
improvement. That said, we are coming around to the minimalist approach.
Here, here, Marie
Kondo. By the time our shipping crate arrives – now scheduled for
early April – we may wonder why we thought we needed all the stuff we
brought from Seattle. We will also have to find a place for our bikes
which are currently stored in our second bedroom with all of the giant
boxes from our appliances. Our recycling bin is small so each week Erin
carefully cuts down the huge boxes into smaller pieces to jam into the
tiny bin. We may have emptied that room out by mid-April, it will be
tight. We’ve considered an illegal bonfire in the middle of street some
night, but the Aussies as a whole are a bit jumpy about potential bush
fires.
We are riding our bikes every day and it almost feels OK to be riding
on the wrong (left) side of the road. After we moved in to the
neighborhood we realized that the Melbourne Grand Prix course
takes up residence here as well every March. Although the races don’t
actually start until the 12th of March, the course has been under
construction since we have been here. The course is a loop road around
Albert Park
Lake and until they fully shut the road down our new evening ritual
is to take laps around the course. It is actually quite fun whipping
around the F1 course with no cars on it. Apparently it is going to be
incredibly loud in our little village, but it seems like it will be
entertaining. A lady in Erin’s boxing class said she heads to the coast
every year at this time since the neighborhood becomes “overrun with
Bogans” (Australian term for ‘redneck’).
A Walk in the City, A Walk in the Bush
2 March 2015 Melbourne + Belgrave, Vic
We are getting to know our new city bit by bit and day by day.
Whether by suggestions from new friends, places we have read about on
local websites or curiosities stumbled upon while lost, we end up on
weekly field trips to discover little city gems.
Whilst wandering the city, one of the most pleasant surprises is
volume and diversity of street art in Melbourne. This weekend we decided
to specifically search out some of the downtown alleys and lanes that
have been transformed to destinations. While at first we were reminded
of the Gum Wall in Pike Place Market – the alleys smelled appropriately
of warm garbage and small packs of people were milling around and taking
pictures – the colorful and character-filled alleys won us over and our
hunt for the best hidden murals took most of the afternoon.
Before we moved here, we made it a priority each weekend get out of
the city to hike or camp. We realized it had been five weeks of living
in Melbourne and we hadn’t gotten out of town so we decided to take the
train 1.5 hours east to the end of the line and spend some time hiking
in the Dandendong
Ranges National Park. The Ranges are hills, not mountains, but no
matter, nature is nature. We hiked through massive Eucalyptus forests
and other than an unruly and incredibly loud swarm of parrots, we didn’t
run into any wildlife, poisonous or otherwise. The smell of the
Eucalyptus forests are intoxicating; an aroma that will no doubt stick
with us for the rest of our days. Erin did see a small red ant on Andy’s
back on the walk back to the train station which she immediately
overreacted to and yelled “Fire Ant!” before swatting at repeatedly. The
veracity of the ant sighting remains in doubt by one of our party.
Classroom Debut
8 March 2015 Parkville, Vic
[Andy] The students returned to campus this week, which meant the
peacefulness I had been enjoying at work was suddenly shattered. It was
easy to forget what a scene a thriving 40,000 student campus could
become. Added to this was the fact that we were housed in a brand new
building, the likes of which the students hadn’t seen yet, so much
gawking, pointing and general malaise in way-finding occurred. The start
of the school year also meant that I had to teach.
In terms of week one, well, I survived. My class lost a few minutes
being locked out of our room and I undoubtedly used a number of American
terms that they have no idea the meaning of. To date, no official
complaints were lodged with administration. We’ll see how many students
show up this coming week. While the students were focused on finding
their classes, I sneaked away one afternoon to read in the sun on the
surprisingly empty cricket grounds, enjoying the open spaces far from
the teeming masses.
After we accepted the job here and realized we would be moving to
Melbourne, we spent a good bit of time poking around on Google Earth to
check out our new city. Once we came upon the small town of Ferntree
Gully, we knew we had to pay it a visit. I mean, it just sounds
mystical, right? The weather on Saturday was cloudy, but pleasant so we
hopped a train bound for this – assumed to be – magical place.
The town is located at the edge of the Dandenong
Ranges National Park, and hiking is the main attraction. While it
wasn’t the easiest place to get into, the hike proved quite steep,
challenging and full of massive eucalyptus (gum) trees and very little
undergrowth. A really nice, though busy, place for an afternoon hike.
Also, today we learned that there is an Upper
(but no lower) Ferntree Gully; the Upper also containing a chocolate
factory.
On Sunday morning, we went for a short bike ride along the beach,
cleaned up the back yard and then, when the sun came out, went back to
the beach to relax. We caught the end of a co-ed beach volleyball
tournament – that with a bit of practice – we figured we could have been
competitive in. Next year….
We are settling in to a rhythm, a life less driven by hectic home
searching and appliance shopping and more on finding a calmer, healthier
routine than we had back in the States.
Experimental Cooking
18 March 2015 Parkville, Vic
[Erin] Growing up, whenever my mom would try a meal outside of her
wheelhouse, she would always preface the meal with the descriptive
warning that it was ‘experimental’. Carrying this over into my adult
life, I have begun to refer to Andy’s enthusiastic use of flavors and
discretionary attention to recipes as ‘experimental cooking’ and now
whenever we try something new, it gets the ‘experimental’
disclaimer.
Food is culture. And there are a lot of new flavors in Melbourne for
us to audition. Lamb shows up in places it would never been seen in the
U.S. There is a new palette of seafood and an incredible amount of
beetroot. Some foods just have different names, like Capsicums (bell
peppers), Lollies (sweets), PawPaw (Papaya), hundreds and thousands
(candy sprinkles). When I go to the market, I often spend a lot of time
wandering around finding new things to try out in recipes. The latest
experiment involved a can of Duck Fat I found at the market. Although
this sounds absolutely disgusting, and honestly doesn’t look much
better, I roasted baby potatoes and sage with duck fat and it was
delicious. I am pretty sure we will always be fully stocked with a gross
little can of duck fat in our pantry from now on.
We remain without our shipment of goods and I refuse to buy a bunch
of kitchen tools/dishes since we have all of our stuff ‘on-the-way’, we
are rolling with just the essentials right now. This means 1 pot, 1
pitcher, 2 sets of cutlery, 2 plates/bowls and a variety of Shark Reef Knives that we got
for Christmas and had to check in our baggage. Remarkably, one can do a
lot with one pot. Just today with said pot, I made tea, poached two
eggs, toasted some pepitas, trapped a large bee-fly and transported it
outside, cooked a chili pork ragu, and cooked and then roasted a cheesy
polenta. Of course this usually means it takes twice the amount of time
that any normal cooking process might take, but it usually gives me
twice the satisfaction. Plus, Australia is an island and everyone here
is on some form of Island time…might as well join the crowd.
Today’s Experiment: Chili Pork Ragu over Cheesy Polenta and Kale
Salad with Fennel and Apple.
In adventure news, we rigged a setup to allow our hammock in the
backyard (garden) and took a nice long bike ride down the Yarra River
Trail, stopping only ‘intermittently’ to photograph interesting
landscape design.
Mornington, Day 1
20 March 2015 Mornington Peninsula, Vic
For Erin’s upcoming birthday we decided to finally leave the comforts
of the big city and venture into rural Victoria – the Mornington
Peninsula to be precise. To do so meant renting a car and driving. Not
just any driving, but driving on the left hand side of the road…or
basically unlearning everything that you’ve been consciously (and
sometimes not so) doing for the past 15-20 years.
We picked up our small Toyota at 9am on Friday morning, convincing
conned the salesman into believing that we knew what we were doing,
entered the car on the correct side and managed to get out of the rental
lot without hitting anything or anyone. The first 15 minutes are weird.
It is very hard to estimate the extents of your vehicle and we took a
slow, circuitous route home to pick up our luggage and then were off.
The next 45 minutes are a bit less weird and finally after about an hour
or so of driving it starts to feel somewhat natural.
Out of the city, we continued on the Nepean highway to the little
town of Mornington and stopped for breakfast. From there we took the bay
side road all the way to the Point
Nepean National Park. The parking lot was located in the old
hospital and quarantine grounds that were used to offload passengers
from British ships and stop the spread of typhus or whatever other
diseases (not including bad taste and worse cooking) the Brits were
bringing this way. From there, we hiked the coast all the way to the end
of the Peninsula and the former Fort Nepean. Along the way we explored
many of the bunkers, though for fear of snakes and poisonous spiders
elected to remain on the exterior. The threat of unexploded ordnance,
however, couldn’t quite keep our adventurous spirits in check.
We hiked the road on the way back from the Fort and ran into our
first large native monotreme, an echidna. Despite Erin’s attempts to get
a selfie with our new friend, he remained completely oblivious to us and
cared only about sucking ants up out of the ground.
After our hike, we drove down to the Cape
Schanck lighthouse, our intended accommodation for the evening. Upon
arrival, we were notified that they were full and that they had not
received our reservation details from Expedia. After 90 minutes of phone
calls to various parties we were able to wrangle a refund from Expedia
(or so we’ve been promised). Each side blamed the other and tried to set
us up elsewhere, but we just took the money and ran. Most places were
full on a Friday night but we were able to land a room at the Lindenderry
Farm and Winery up on Red Hill. We slept comfortably after a long
day of beach hikes, driving and phone calls with various customer
service representatives…the latter being the most exhausting.
This was our first trip out to the open ocean (as Melbourne is on
Port Philip Bay) and it is every bit as wild, windy and rugged as
imagined. Oh, and also quite beautiful.
Mornington, Day 2
21 March 2015 Mornington Peninsula, Vic
Our last minute lodging at the Lindenderry Farm and Winery proved
restful and we woke before sunrise to head to the Mornington Peninsula Hot
Springs. With over twenty mineral pools to dip and soak in, we
thought it would be the perfect morning activity. As the first people
through the door, we hustled up the hill to stake our claim in the aptly
named Hilltop pool. Doing so enabled us to catch sunrise with a
360-degree view all to ourselves. As other guests started to show up to
the best pool in the land, we made our way down the hill to try out each
of the different mineral pools.
Erin loves lighthouses. There is something romantically lonely and
tragic about them and they are always anchored on some patch of wild
coastline like a brave little pawn. The Cape Schanck Lighthouse was no
different, and even though we weren’t able to spend the night there as
planned…we did return today to hike along the coastal trails of the
National Park. Although the weather was hot and sunny, the wind made the
temperature feel quite brisk, and after walking down the many stairs
from lighthouse, we tucked in to this little cove and stretched out on
the warm rocks before the steep hike back up the cliffs.
We spent the remainder of the day driving along the coast from small
town to small town. We stopped at a beach outside of Flinders to watch
the surf competition that was in progress and next, in the town of
Sorrento, at the sports fields to watch an ongoing game of Australian
Rules Football. We had apparently parked in the equivalent of the
endzone and our rental card got hit a few times by the ball. We probably
could not have been less obvious as outsiders if we been sprinting
around draped in a house-sized American flag. To finish the day, we met
up with some of our new friends at a particularly photogenic beach cove
in the town of Portsea
for ‘sun-downers’. With our new mates, local wine and our toes buried in
the sand, we toasted to the weekend.
Bachelor Life
31 March 2015 Albert Park, Vic
[Andy] A few weeks ago, you heard about Erin’s daily routine of
one-pot cooking, sun-bathing and trips to the market. With Erin in
Hawaii visiting her family and me living the bachelor life, I’ll provide
some insight into my own daily exploits.
I teach on Tuesday and generally have meetings, class prep and other
administrative duties on Monday and Thursdays. On those days, I take the
leisurely 80-meter walk to our nearby stop and grab one of the #1 trams all the way
to the University. While a slow and often cramped ride, it drops me off
less than a block from our new Melbourne School of Design
building. These old beasts are usually full of business people and
students and do, somewhat sadly, lack the ‘socio-economic experience’ of
riding the bus through downtown Seattle.
My office (shared) is in the far northwest corner of the top floor of
our new MSD building. It afford regional views and abundant sunlight.
Wednesdays and Fridays are work-at-home research days whenever possible.
Weather permitting, they begin with a long, exploratory bike ride
somewhere around the city. Melbourne has an amazing number of bike
trails and lanes which make navigating in the city very easy. I’ve
stumbled across many charming new neighborhoods and interesting acts of
graffiti while pedaling away.
With Erin gone, I get the hammock to myself and have been eating a
variety of grilled meats and simple greens. Little in the way of laundry
or unnecessary cleaning has been done.
Botanical Gardens
5 April 2015 Melbourne, Vic
The city is a ghost town. It is Easter weekend, a national holiday,
and it would appear that most of our neighborhood and a fair bit of the
city are off for a final summer’s weekend someplace else.
That included the shop owners and retail clerks. As everything was
closed up tight, we walked to the Royal Botanic Gardens which are
open every day free of charge. The Gardens were established in 1846 on a
swampy site near the Yarra River. As the city expanded around the
gardens, the 38 hectares, (or 93 acres if you constantly forget what a
hectare is like I do), remained, and continued to develop into the
verdant treasure it is today.
[Erin] Since moving to Australia, I learned that there are over 700
different species of Eucalyptus, and since I can only make up so many
Latin names before Andy starts to get suspicious, I figured I should
start learning the 690 I don’t currently know. I didn’t make much of a
dent in this quest for knowledge, but it was a wonderful way to spend
our first Easter day in the middle of Fall.
Grampians National Park
6-7 April 2015 Halls Gap, Vic
To broaden our knowledge of our new State of Victoria, we embarked a
quick two-day trip out for some bushwalking in the Grampians
National Park. The Grampians Mountain Range, or Gariwerd as known to
the local Aboriginals, is a photogenic sandstone range that runs
north-south cutting through the Victorian plains. The park is about 160
miles west of Melbourne, rising up from the surrounding farmlands like a
shark’s fine in the water.
We set out early Monday morning in our little rental car with two
goals: 1) To keep to the left side of the road; and 2) To see some
kangaroos in their natural habitat. We reached the small town of Halls
Gap at the base of the National Park in the mid-morning. The weather was
very Pacific Northwest-y, but we braved the windy and overcast
conditions to spend the better part of the day exploring waterfalls,
lookouts and canyons. That afternoon as we drove back through Halls Gap
on the way to our hotel, we realized that there were dozens of kangaroos
scattered in every field we passed. Since moving to Australia, we went
from a kangaroo count of zero to over three hundred in one day.
On Tuesday morning we left the Grampians Motel early in order
to ensure a parking spot as we undertook one of the parks more popular
hikes, The
Pinnacle. We needn’t have worried, as it was lightly showering and
extremely windy we were the only car at the trailhead both when we
arrived and left. The solitude coupled with the dramatic weather made
the summit of The Pinnacle eerie, and even though we didn’t get the
sweeping views that hike normally promises, it was well worth the
scramble.
Fall and Footy
16-18 April 2015 Melbourne, Vic
Fall is definitely here, as the non-indigenous, deciduous trees are
all beginning to drop their leaves. After a lifetime in the Northern
Hemisphere, it is really hard to condition yourself to think of April as
being fall. We’ve both continually been referring to the upcoming months
as ‘summer’, though they’ll be anything but as our local friends are
keen to remind us. People here have assured us that it will get cold; we
just are not quite sure how much we trust the judgement of those who
grew up places like Sydney and Brisbane when it comes to defining cold.
I guess we’ll find out soon enough. While we wait, we are enjoying the
cooler weather by cycling and walking about the city.
Like in the States, the end of summer means the start of the football
season. Australian Rules Football
(AFL) starts around April 1st each year and plays games every
weekend for 23 weeks. We’ve watched a bit of it on the ‘telly’
(Australians abbreviate any and everything with more than 3 syllables)
and can tell you that, while Football is an appropriate name in some
sense, it is nothing similar to the NFL. It is more like an adult game
of tag mixed with kickball and soccer. We’ve been assured attending
games is good fun…so we decided we’d try it.
When we first moved here, the second thing everyone asks you (after
where you are living) is which AFL team you support. There are 18 teams
in total, 10 of which are from the Greater Melbourne area (and Geelong).
AFL used to be a Melbourne-only sport – then call the Victorian Football
League – but had gone national in the past few decades. Teams are based
in the various suburbs and larger neighborhoods of the city. It seems
that fans generally cheer for the team near where they grew up, but not
always. Living in South Melbourne, our neighborhood team had left to
become the Sydney Swans
some time ago, so we had no obvious choice for a team. The nearest teams
to us are St. Kilda (4-19 last
year) and the downtown team, Melbourne (lacking in ‘spirit’, we’ve been
told). Neither of those seemed very appealing. The next closest are the
North Melbourne Kangaroos. They had a home game this Saturday at 7pm, so
we decided to see if this squad might be worth our affection.
The ‘Roos started out slow and quickly fell behind 15-6 in the first
quarter. One of the first things you realize when at the game is how
much the local fan base contests every single foul call (or non-call) by
the officials – the seven spritely young men running around in bright
yellow. They especially hate it when there is a missed ’holding the
ball’ call on the other team. Apparently (and we are still figuring this
out) if you had a chance to pass or kick the ball, but didn’t and then
you get tackled it is a turnover to the other team. It is a very
subjective call, and happens quite often. When it happens to the other
team, the entire crowd yells something that sounds like
‘hhmmggbbbaaalllll’. Just imagine stuffing a complete hot dog and bun
into your mouth and then yelling “Ball” at the top of your lungs….every
2-3 minutes. It is, as we were promised, good fun. Erin’s favourite
penalty was ‘holding the man’, which she like to suggest was occurring
more than it really was. The scoring of the game is simple, the
strategies pretty straightforward, but the foul calling still remains a
bit of a mystery.
We also had the luxury of sitting near a super-fan. You know, the kind
of guy who has a personal, and very loud conversation which each player.
“Oh, Benny, I told you to kick the ball”. “Dammit, George, ***** tackle
that bastard”, etc. This too was good fun. Sadly, our team lost 113-105,
giving up the deciding goal in the final 2 minutes. The Kangaroos showed
some heart. Their ball-handling was suspect, but they did come on strong
in the second half, have a great mascot and a 6’8” (201 cm) guy who
looks exactly like CarrotTop so there is good chance they’ll become our
team.
Farm Life
1-3 May 2015 Ballarat, Vic
This weekend we were invited out to visit our friends Brooke and
Steve who are ‘farmsitting’ for a month out in the country. The farm is
just outside of the town of Ballarat and although it seemed a world away
from the city, it only took about an hour’s drive when we left midday
Friday.
After an obligatory tour of the farm, we drove into Ballarat to
supplement our meager provisions. Prior to the first gold strike,
Ballarat was a humble sheep station, but it quickly turned into a major
settlement in the 1850’s during the Victorian Gold
Rush. Food and drink secured, we toured the city first via car, then
opting to stretch our legs with a walk around Lake Wendouree, site of
the 1956 Olympic Rowing events.
An afternoon of more drinking than eating led a late night game of
Australian Trivial Pursuit with all of use falling asleep to chorus of
frogs that sounded like chiming cell phones. We spent a lazy Saturday
morning of exploring the farm and the surrounding bush. Steve led us on
a bushwalk through huge Eucalyptus groves and farm fields where we
sighted a smattering of wallabies, kangaroos and parrots. Responsible
for the maintenance of the farm, we checked for eggs, brought water for
the sheep, and threw treats for the pet magpie all the while Erin
pointedly avoided the llamas and alpacas, (still traumatized from those
llamas at Natalie Roush’s farm). Animals fed, we then tended to our own
hunger by gathering Meyer lemons from the trees, cutting home grown
squash, and enjoying fresh Eucalyptus blossom honey from the neighboring
farm. Foraging has never felt so successful.
The main event of Saturday was a pilgrimage to a nearby town of
Clunes for the annual ‘booksale’. This booksale is actually a huge
event, especially for a town just slightly larger than our home towns of
Navarino (WI) and Lopez Village
(WA). The Clunes
Booktown Festival closes down the town’s main street for cars and
opens it up for book stalls, food trucks, live music and more book
stalls. The shops along the main street are opened up as temporary
bookstalls and book traders from all around set up shop for the weekend.
As a group of book-nerds, this was our Mecca. We headed out on our own
for the afternoon and each found ourselves elbow-deep, pawing through
hundreds, thousands of books. Erin held herself to only three books, two
on the local botany and biology and the last an old children’s book, an
illustrated account of the discovery, exploration and colonization of
Australia. As we both know very little of our new country, it pays to
start from the beginning.
About the time we returned back to the farm and starting preparing
for a dinner Aussie style (which really just means double the amount of
food any normal feast might have), the power went out. Our new friend
Ellen came by from a neighboring farm, (also without power) and so we
all settled in for a night in the dark and went about re-imagining a
dinner where everything could be made on the gas grill outside. We
grilled Lamb, Chicken and steak, potatoes and every vegetable we could
find in the fridge or garden (found via torch (flashlight)). The power
came on as we had finally amassed enough candles to light up the table
and we sat down to enjoy our efforts. Dessert was apples filled with
dates, brown sugar and sultanas (raisins) and baked in tinfoil…the oven
coming back to life just in time.
In the morning, we collected more bounty from the farm to take home
with us and went on another bushwalk to soak in the smells of the
eucalyptus grove. Brooke and Steve dropped us off at the train station
in Ballarat and we headed back into Melbourne after a satisfying weekend
in the decidely less cosmopolitan side of Victoria.
A Day of Culture
10 May 2015 Melbourne, Vic
[Erin] Our well-laid plans to hike in the mountains east of the city
were dashed due to storms. We pivoted and instead embarked on an urban
hike to try to get to know our city a little better. Andy kept on
calling this a ‘Day of Culture’ but since I am writing this blog post, I
will note that a ‘Day of walking really far’ would have been just as
apt. From our home in Albert Park, we trekked first to the National Gallery of Victoria, a
wonderful and yet free gallery with art from around the world.
Although I loved the Nordic art / furniture exhibit and the
Mesoamerica art, my favorite would have to be a piece called ‘The Island
Bird’ by Ernesto Neto. It was part Swiss Family Robinson tree house part
hammock meets Chuck E. Cheese ball tank. I am sure the artist would be
horrified seeing this description but I thought it was amazing. After I
doubled checked with the attendant that yes, you can walk around in this
giant hanging bird nest in a gallery, I bounced around until Andy got
antsy and then bounced around a little more. (I obviously bounced as
respectively as one can bounce being that I was in a national
gallery)
We left the gallery, crossed the Yarra river, and walked through Federation Square, a large mixed use
development adjacent to Flinders
Station, built over the rail lines. Although the modern design was
hotly contested when proposed in 1997, (especially considering the
historic character of the surrounding context), I love the buildings and
series of open spaces that are built today. By way of the Melbourne CBD
(Central Business District), we moved on to the next destination, Cook’s
Cottage in Fitzroy Gardens. Cook’s Cottage
is purportedly the oldest building in Australia, as it was actually
constructed in Yorkshire, England by Captain Cook’s parents in 1755,
before being dismantled brick by brick, shipped and reconstructed in the
middle of a downtown Melbourne park in 1935.
We continued on from the cottage and towards the Richmond
neighborhood a couple miles away. I am in search for the best Bibimbap,
a Korean rice dish, and I had scouted out a tiny shop called Seoul
Soul for a lunchtime stop. For those not obsessed with the dish,
Bibimbap is a staple Korean dish usually some variation of rice, sautéed
and seasoned vegetables, chili and sesame sauce, grilled meat with an
egg on top. Mixed all together, this is one of my favorite foods and the
Seoul Soul Bibimbap served in a hot stone pot, (everything is better
with a little sizzle), was perfect.
From the largely Vietnamese neighborhood, we walked to the hipster
central neighborhood of Fitzroy. On the way we stopped in Collingwood at
a small Japanese café/shop Mina-no-ie, for afternoon tea and coffee.
While I was delighted with my coffee and opportunity to peruse tiny and
well-designed crafts from the shop, Andy somehow ended up ordering the
same type of odd barley/green tea he hated so much in Japan.
We ended our adventure a while later in Fitzroy and took the tram all
the way home. All in all, we walked well over 10 miles today through our
fine city. (10 miles sounds much more impressive in kilometers, about 16
km)
Sunshine Coast
23 May 2015 Alexandra Headlands, Vic
As an early birthday present, Erin planned a short trip for us to
Noosa and the Sunshine
Coast – a set of beachfront communities about an hour north of
Brisbane. We caught a Thursday afternoon flight out of Melbourne, which
was quite bumpy due to the developing thunderstorms along coast. As we
approached the landing, our pilots hit the gas and pulled out of it a
few moments before impact and then circled around and landed in the
other direction. I think everyone on board was relieved when we finally
touched down. No explanation for our little stunt episode was given.
We would be spending the first two nights in a condo along Alexandra
Headlands Beach (right between Mooloolaba and Maroochydore) before
heading up to Noosa at the end of the trip. Our taxi driver from the
airport was a serious Queenslander. We were told that “Finding ace
tucker ’round here is a piece of piss. Heaps of feed joints in every
direction. No fossicking for a schooner either, mate.” In English: Our
place of stay was in the vicinity of numerous restaurants and bars. He
also informed us that once a month he and the other cabbies drive a few
hours north to the Bundaberg
Distillery and load the entire boot (trunk) of the car up with rum
to last them the month. Queensland is a strange amalgamation of south
Texas, north Florida and West Virginia.
We did little the first night. Erin was amazed at the incredibly poor
offerings on Australian TV (Volcano starting Tommie Lee Jones and Anne
Heche, Knights of Badassdom staring Steve Zahn and Peter Dinklage, six
cooking shows and one musical game show). The weather was perfect the
next day and we went for a long beach walk, perused some of the area’s
finest ‘op’ shops (goodwill-type stores) and read in the sun. The
evening’s lineup was much improved: Wolf of Wall Street and some live
rugby action. We retired; sunsoaked, exhausted and pleased.
Noosa
25 May 2015 Noosa, Qld
We left our Alexandra Heads accommodation early on the slow bus bound
for Noosa. The trip – cheap and comfortable – follows the windy road all
up the coast. We stopped every kilometer or so to pick up a barefooted
surfer or two along the way. By the time we slowly rolled into downtown
Noosa the bus was packed with surfboards and dreadlocks; though lacking
shoes and shirts.
Noosa
Heads is a very quaint, somewhat high-end beach town tucked in
between a national park and brackish bog. Its beach is north-facing
which makes it an oddity along the eastern coast and, often, much
sunnier and warmer than other east-facing beaches. After stashing our
luggage in a locker we quickly found a frozen yogurt stand. Then off to
the beach for some relaxation. Erin read, Andy played in the waves wary
of the stories of box jellyfish he had heard and then attempted to
nap.
[Andy] To cool down from the relentless Queensland sun, we found an
ice cream stand. Not just any ice cream, but liquid nitrogen cooled ice
cream. They mix the ingredients in front of you and then rapidly cool
it. It is advertised as being smooth as silk. This I can verify. It is
truly a game changer in terms of ice cream. Your town needs a franchise,
trust me.
Our friends Jodie and Paul picked us up shortly thereafter and we
grabbed some beers and headed up to the National Park for sunset. A
civilized nation, open intoxicants are allowed in most places provided
you aren’t being a jackass. Maybe it was the beer on an empty stomach
(or some sort of nitro-ice cream high), but the sunset seemed to last
forever as we watched the surfers take in the last of the days waves.
Afterwards we grabbed a meal and drinks in Noosaville near Jodie’s
parents place. Australia also has this weird (unique) custom were you
can bring your own alcohol to restaurants. No more $40 bottles of wine
at dinner. Simply show up with your favorite $8 bottle of Syrah and
drink the meal away.
On the way home Paul was able to convince driver Jodie to stop at a
gelato stand. Naturally, I had some, thereby completing the ultimate
trifecta of frozen yogurt, ice cream and gelato in the same day. Check
that off the list.
The next morning, we did a long hike at the national park and then I
headed to the airport for an afternoon flight home. Erin stayed on for
another two days to enjoy the beach and the warmth of north east
Australia.
A Long Awaited Delivery
28 May 2015 Albert Park, Vic
After five months at sea – well more like two months at sea and three
months in customs and port storage facilities – our shipment of
household goods finally arrived. And just 72 hours prior to our flights
back to the U.S. for the month of June. The boxes looked like they had
been kicked, dragged and thrown the entire 8,186 miles, but miraculously
nothing, minus a single plate, was broken. The dresser did accumulate
some scars…such is life on the road. Somehow the delivery team did
manage to unload our box spring at the wrong home but it was promptly
brought back the day after.
While Erin cursed our poor labeling of boxes, it turned out to
provide some welcome excitement as one never knew what sort of treasures
would be in any given box. I mean, why wouldn’t you pack three pairs of
socks, excess batteries, a wooden spoon, a lamp and four grocery bags
all inside of a box labelled “Books”? Our sparse domicile quickly became
a cluttered mess.
There were also quite a few WTF moments. As in: Why did we bring
this? The U.S. road atlas. The Russian ushanka (hat). Mostly
empty salt and pepper containers. Hundreds of sheets of loose graph
paper. An entire box of broken pens. Two copies of a North American
plant identification guide. A non-functioning iron. 23 pennies and a
nickel.
Our biggest mistakes, however, were the lamps and kitchen appliances.
Yeah, Australia in its strive to be exotic uses a different wattage (or
is it voltage or ampage?) of electricity, rendering many common items
useless here. After blowing up two light bulbs and tripping our breaker
three times, I just gave up and threw all the lamps in a pile. We now
have a large kitchen mixer whose only functional use is that of an
anchor.
It felt nice to finally have our photographs, winter clothing, sports
equipment, kitchen items and books. Now we’ll need to figure out how to
store all of these things. The best news, however, is that second bed is
here so you can all come visit now….just be advised that you might be
schlepping a lamp or kitchen item back with you.
Winter in Melbourne
27 June 2015 Albert Park, Vic
[Andy] I returned from our hectic U.S. trip to depths of Melbourne
winter. A calm and sunny 55 degrees. As a native of the upper Midwest I
remember late spring/early summer days that weren’t this nice. Yet, a
good portion of the locals took the opportunity to don their North Face
puffy jackets and knit, woolen hats. Perhaps overkill, but I do love the
smell of the wood fireplaces burning in our neighbourhood.
With Erin still in the States, I had five days to myself in the city.
Due to jet lag this mostly meant waking at 3am and continuing the
unpacking that we failed to finish prior to leaving in late May,
followed by afternoons of preparing for my upcoming Asia work trip. In
the wee hours of the morning, I finally got around to putting together
Erin’s 60-pound beach cruiser bicycle (the bane of my existence),
sorting our sporting gear and breaking down the remaining boxes. There
were still some gems to be found – like the baseball signed by my high
school team from my first complete game 20 years ago (for the record,
Weyawega wasn’t very good). Yes, 20 years ago. It is hard to type, let
alone fathom, that fact.
Between packing for my trip and cleaning up the house, I took a walk
to St. Kilda
for one last Anglo meal before the upcoming month of Asian delights. I
gorged on a burger and chips and had to take the tram home on account of
gluttony.
Just five days later, I’ll be back at the international terminal in
Melbourne bound for Hong Kong. See you in month Melbourne!
Melbourne from the Sky
20 July 2015 Melbourne, Vic
[Erin] I flew back to Melbourne on July 8th, prepared to keep myself
busy with work until Andy got back on the 26th. One Cryptolock Virus,
one trans-Pacific voyage for my computer and one panic attack later I
found myself without a laptop, feeling completely un-tethered from
society. The only silver lining of sending my laptop back to the States
for resurrection was that with the package also went the responsibility.
Faced with two weeks without my computer and my husband I decided to
throw myself into as many different things as possible. I took jazz, tap
and hip-hop classes, went to the gym every day and either walked or road
my bike to different parts of the city on mini adventures.
On one of the more sunny winter days, I decided to walk downtown and
take in the views from the deck of Melbourne’s tallest highrise. The Eureka Skydeck is on
floor 88, boasting the title of the “Southern Hemisphere’s highest
viewing platform”.
The electronic voice in the lift assured me that feeling the tower
sway is completely normal and that is was designed to sway 30
centimeters back and forth. Level 88 welcomed me with 360 degrees views
of Melbourne, the surrounding suburbs and mountain ranges beyond. Just
me, a dozen retirees and three hundred ‘schoolies’ enjoyed a blue bird
sky.
From 285 metres up you look over the CBD and along the Yarra River.
For a dense urban downtown, Melbourne has an incredibly expansive system
of open spaces and pedestrian connections. Several pedestrians bridges
lace over the Yarra which on that day looked uncharacteristically and
unfortunately flat and brown. Since it was the first sunny day in a
week, people were out for runs or coffee; tiny confetti from 88 floors
up.
I continued my walk to Federation Square, but instead of stopping at the
festive urban plaza, my destination was the rooftop of the parking
garage. In partnership with Little Veggie Patch Co., the rooftop has
been transformed to the city’s largest community garden. Over 140
individual plots make up the Pop Up Patch and are leased to the public,
including plots for all of the Fed Square restaurants and cafes. Despite
the winter season, the garden was still supporting an incredible variety
of fresh produce and felt like a messy haven in the middle of downtown
life.
Heide Art Museum
22 July 2015 Heidelberg, Vic
[Erin] Earlier this week, on a day that promised to have 0% chance of
rain, I took a bike ride out of town to visit the Heide Museum of Modern Art. A 20
kilometer bike ride from the city, the Heide sits within 15 acres of
parklands. The land was purchased by John and Sunday Reed in 1934. And
what was initially their home of a farm house (Heide I) and kitchen
garden, evolved into a bohemian refuge for young artists and creative
visionaries of the time. With a great appreciation of modern art, John
and Sunday helped to establish the Gallery of Contemporary Art, later
evolving into the Museum of Modern Art of Australia. After they outgrew
the small farmhouse in the mid-1960’s, the Reeds commissioned the
modernist architect David McGlashan to design another house, (Heide II),
or as they envisioned, ‘a gallery to be lived in’. Today, along with the
Reed’s two previous houses Heide I and Heide II, the museum has a new
wing housing revolving exhibits, a café supported by the produce grown
in the two sprawling kitchen gardens and acres of sculpture park. I was
inspired by such early vision in support of grass roots food culture,
literature, architecture and art and fell in love with the museum.
The museum itself was lovely… the bike ride there and back, not so
much. In total, I ended up biking 45 kilometers, 5 of those because I
got lost, the other 40 because I was a little aggressive on my goals for
the day. Most of the ride was on busy city streets where the Aussie
drivers are perhaps aware rules do exist, but nevertheless, decide to
ignore them. In hopes of taking a back-road to get on the main trail
system that runs along the Yarra River and leads to the museum, I found
myself halfway down a freeway on-ramp before wildly aborting off the
ramp into the bush. Only in Australia can you accidentally find yourself
bicycling onto a freeway.
Once I found my way along the Yarra River, I had the trail all to
myself, peaceful and fragrant with blooming Wattle and Eucalyptus trees.
The bike ride home was less enjoyable since the trusty Melbourne weather
report had changed dramatically and started to rain. At least I took
care not to get lost on the way home.
Note to other potential Museum visitors: In order not to look like a
jackass straight off, Heide is an affectionate abbreviation of the
nearby suburb of ‘Heidelberg’ (in my experience, Australian’s love to
shorten all words, or lengthen them if they are already manageably
short). So I would recommend pronouncing ‘Heide’ similarly to the blonde
girl from the Alps, not Hide and Seek, if you don’t want the Museum
patron to throw a considerable amount of shade.
Blind Date
10 August 2015 Frankston, Vic
One perk of moving to a large, international city is that many of our
friends, family and colleagues have connections here in Melbourne. As a
result, from time to time we get set up for, what could only be called,
blind dates. This Sunday was such an occasion. One of Erin’s childhood
friends had studied in New Zealand and knew a girl who happened to be
living in the Melbourne area at the moment. After a few emails and texts
back and forth, we were set to visit them at 2pm on Sunday. They lived
in a suburb (exurb, really) known as Frankston.
When our other friends were informed that we were headed to Frankston
on Sunday, we were met with beguiled looks and subdued excitement,
culminating in comments such as “Well, at least the beach is nice.”
Andy’s trainer at the gym was a bit more up-front (in a classic Aussie
way): “Mate, it’s a bit rough down there.” Undaunted, we boarded the
tram bound for Frankston. Due to construction we had to transfer to a
train and then to a bus; arriving in Frankston 2 hours later.
ASIDE: Australia definitely has some interesting taste sensations
gracing the supermarket shelves. The Frankston Safeway to be especially
good fodder in our on-going search to located the finest (strangest)
local flavours. Today’s finds included Hot Dog flavoured potato chips
(or crisps), the Grapetiser,
a carbonated purple drink and Doritos Roulette (one in seven chips is
especially spicy). We purchased none of these items, but can do so on
request if/when you, dear reader, decide to visit.
As promised, Frankston represented a segment of society rather absent
from our current neighbourhood and much of Melbourne in general. The
area proximate to the train station where we waited for our blind date
to pick us up was especially captivating. Ten minutes in, a man
approached us and asked if we were the Americans waiting for a ride. It
was Damien, the husband of Erin’s friend’s friend. After answering in
the affirmative, he said: “I knew it. You were the only people around
here wearing shoes.” This was quickly followed by: “Are you Mormons?”
When we answered in the negative, he seemed visually relieved and said
“Good, because I feel like having a few beers this afternoon.” This
sounded promising.
A short drive down the highway we arrived at their place which was
very nicely located in the best part of town. Bridie, Damien’s pregnant
wife, greeted us at their home. A very nice lunch was preceded by,
continued through and eventually capped off by adult beverages and good
conversation. Damien, after being diagnosed with gluten intolerance a
few months back, ordered, in his words, ‘a few cases of hard cider’ so
as to still be able to ‘crack a cold one’ from time to time. Upon our
tour of the home we discovered that ‘a few’ meant 200. Cases. His
basement man-cave has over 4,500 bottles of cider waiting to be
consumed. We put, but a small dent in that. The truly sad (funny?) part
of the story is that he was mis-diagnosed and it is actually a fructose
allergy that he has and should not be drinking cider at all.
Bridie drove us all back to the train station and our trip home
commenced. But not without a case of cider to go and a few open
‘roaddies’ for the 30 minute ride back to the Mordialloc station. One of
our best blind dates yet. If invited back, we’ll definitely make the
trip to Frankston again.
Geelong
25 August 2015 Geelong, Vic
[Erin] We each had a busy past week preparing for new adventures;
Andy with baseball tryouts for the Port Melbourne Mariners,
(serendipitously enough our local team), and me with my first teaching
experience at the University. I was hired as a teaching assistant, or a
Tutor as they are referred to here, for a Site Planning and Design
studio through the University of Melbourne Landscape Architecture
program. This first week went really well; however, four hours of
presenting to and working with students reminded me how exhausting
design studios can be. These first few weeks of class I will be leading
the class lecture and workshop based on some of my professional work, so
I will fill you in next weekend in detail.
[Andy] My arm and rest of my body is quite sore. I still take a mean
infield, but struggle with outside pitches. We’ll see how next week’s
practice goes.
[Erin] As it is almost September, I have been feeling the urge to
ease into Fall and buy heaps of apples and make applesauce, or cook
spicy and hearty soups, but instead, I have been greeted with sunny
skies the past few mornings and warm winds out of the north. Melbourne
seems to be inching (or centimetering) out of the winter hibernation
mode, and while the general populace still continues to whinge about the
cold, the days turned warm enough for us to head down to the beach town
of Geelong about an
hour train ride southwest of the Melbourne.
Arriving to the train station early, we stopped along the Yarra River
to get a coffee for me, a beer for Andy and to watch people stroll along
the riverfront promenade. It felt like the first warm-ish day in
Seattle, when everyone is outside, (usually in flip flops and shorts),
and somehow everyone just seems extremely happy. After our train ride to
Geelong, and a walk through downtown, I dragged Andy to another
botanical garden.
The waterfront along Geelong has a series of public art
installations, so we spent the afternoon exploring. While walking
through all of the downtown and looping back along the waterfront
promenade, we continued to come across these ‘pole people’. We saw the
first two in the Botanical Garden, representatives of the Garden’s
founders, but soon realized that there were hundreds scattered around
town. Beach boys, beach girls, policemen, pirates, footy players, mimes
(not pictured here due to mimes being the worst), musicians, colonists,
etc. After much cajoling, I got Andy next to these pole people for a
photo, and a passing older gentlemen commented “that man is taken with
the big surfer girls”. I didn’t take it personally.
We took the train back into the city, and although I often miss the
ease and freedom of having a car, at least on the train we can both look
out the window at our new country… and/or the more likely scenario, both
fall asleep…
Footy Friday
5 September 2015 Melbourne, Vic
Eric arrived today, our first visitor from back home. For his first
full day, we hit up the South Melbourne Market for a lunch of Yum Cha
(Dim Sum), Oysters and Meat Pies. We then took a long, leisurely stroll
into downtown, winding through Melbourne’s famous alleyways, eventually
grabbing a few beers from a small café. There were many choices of
alleyway bars, but we were lured in by the large Italian man who smelled
strongly of coconut and vanilla and who offered us happy hour prices
before happy hour started.
Thirst quenched, we headed to Etihad Stadium for a match between North Melbourne (our adopted AFL
team) and Richmond. As this
was the last week of the season and both teams had made the playoffs,
each side sat many of their starters so we were treated to backups and
rookies running about the field. Not that we’d know the difference as it
all looks confusing to us anyways. By far the highlight of the game were
the three dudes in front of us who never lacked for clever comments and
biting criticism of every and all players on the field.
Great Ocean Road, Day 1
6 September 2015 Apollo Bay, Vic
The offer of a free upgrade at the rental car office is always a good
omen for a road trip. The ‘upgrade’, in this case, meant getting handed
the keys to metallic green Holden
Commodore Sport Edition. If you are anything other than an Aussie or
absolute car wonk, you probably have never heard of Holden. It is an
oft-maligned domestic brand. Think Pontiac not Cadillac. Pulling out of
the Avis garage, strange noises originating in the suspension and
exhaust could be heard, but quickly faded as I accelerated. Hopefully
this steed, this oddly shiny and squeeky steed, would make the trip. On
the bright side, we’d never have an issue finding our vehicle in the
parking lot.
Our first stop on the tour was the world famous Bells
Beach. Immortalized in the cult classic Point Break, we filled the
90-minute drive there with our best Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze quotes.
“Vaya con Dios”, “Utah, get me two”…etc. The wind was fierce and it was
cold, but, as to be expected, there was a surf competition going on at
the time. We gave a few dudes a ‘what’s up brah’ and then quickly and
quietly ducked into our not at all inconspicuous rental car and peaced
out.
Next up was the Split Point Lighthouse. Erin loves lighthouses, but
not enough to wait 90 minutes for the next tour (or pay $9 per person),
so we did a short hike around it, snapped some photos and were on our
way. Lunch was had in Lorne (or ‘lawn’ as the Aussies pronounce it).
Eric was perplexed by the beetroot in his burger, but finished it
nonetheless. Powered by beef, we stopped to hike up to Cumberland Falls.
After a strange beginning where the trail wanders somewhat aimlessly
through a caravan park, we emerged into a grand valley of a small river
that had cut it ways through the local sandstone to create some
impressive vertical relief. As it is spring, the water is high and we
had to perform a safe but not too safe water crossing. A ways further
another crossing was completely overwhelmed and we turned back short of
our goal.
From there we took a drive down Grey River Road, a mountainous gravel
road known locally as a Koala hotspot. Not two kilometers from the
highway we pulled over and saw four of the beasts eating their way
through a set of Manna Gum trees (their preferred food). Many animals
look clean and decent in zoos and photos but end up quite dirty and
disgusting in their natural habitat. Koalas are not. They look just like
stuffed animals crawling around (well mostly sleeping) in the canopy.
And they are bigger than we expected.
After settling into our lodging in Apollo Bay, we climbed a nearby
hill to watch the sun go down over the great southern ocean. Well, two
of us did. Erin was too concern with a nearby lamb that had become
separated from its flock to enjoy the beauty mother nature had bestowed
on us. A majority vote won out, and we did not take the young lamb home
with us, nor physically carry it across the valley to the nearest
congregation of its species. Dinner was Chinese takeout, perhaps an odd
choice for rural Australia.
Great Ocean Road, Day 2
7 September 2015 Warrnambool, Vic
[Erin] We began day 2 of our Great Ocean Road trip in
search of more koalas. Slow and seemingly high, these marsupials are 70%
shanks, 20% ears and 100% adorable. My maths don’t add up, but the
description should at least give you an overall understanding of the
koala bear cuteness. We understood the ‘bear’ descriptor after seeing
these little guys in action (or inaction), but I would probably
characterize them as part Ewok, part hamster.
With a few tips from seasoned travelers and some shear dumb luck, we
ended up in the middle of several koala forests over the weekend.
Oftentimes we saw a few koalas in a single tree, which is most likely a
sign of overpopulation in selected forests, but we weren’t
complaining.
The main act of our road trip adventure and one of the biggest
attractions in the State of Victoria was the next stop along the coast.
The majesty and scale of the 12 Apostles is difficult to capture and so
dramatic that any description is inadequate. That being said, with the
wind snapping at our faces and a storm threatening from the southwest,
it was a place I wish I could visit every day simply to be reminded of
my own insignificance.
Further along the coast we hiked down into the protected gorge cove
of Loch
Ard. Tucked in along the aptly nicknamed ‘Shipwreck Coast’, this
gorge was named after an English ship that wrecked off the reef in 1878.
Of the fifty four passengers and crew, only Tom Pearce and Eva
Carmichael survived the wreck. Tom rescued Ava, dragged her to shore,
and revived her with a case of brandy that had also washed into the
small cave where they had taken shelter. Tom received a hero’s welcome
in his new country and the local villagers closely followed the story of
the survivors. Apparently, many felt that Tom should have proposed to
Eva - given they had spent an evening together unsupervised in the cave
and had drunk brandy to keep warm, the backbone of all lasting
relationships…We stopped at the shipwreck cemetery to pay our respects
and then continued hiking along the coastline.
We finished our day in the town of Warrnambool, a seaside
town boasting a rich maritime history and a calving bay for Southern
Right Whales. Since we were arriving near the end of calving season, we
didn’t have high expectations to actually spot any whales, but before
the sun set, we hustled out to one of the whale lookouts perched along
the sea. Running beneath our platform, a ribbon of beach spooled out to
each side and in front of us the water was clear enough to see the large
dark shadow weave among the brave surfers. The large whale we saw,
seemed to do a few lazy sweeps parallel to the beach, with a few mellow
breaches and rolls on its back.
With Eric as our first guest, we are relishing the position of being
tourists again.
Heide Sculpture Garden
10 September 2015 Bulleen, Vic
Eric and Erin ventured out to the Heide Museum of Modern Art for a
late lunch in the museum’s café and then toured the massive sculpture
garden discussing which pieces we liked best. After hearing “I could
make that” one too many times from Eric, they both settled on the airy
and geometric volume create out of welded rebar as the top installation.
(Theoretical
Matter by Neil Taylor)
Erin’s favorite part about the entire place was a small commissioned
garden near the original house (Heide I), called the Wild Garden. Hidden
paths and tucked away places to sit, it felt undersigned and magical.
Eric also enjoyed it but was ultimately more interested in the nearby
avian battle between an eagle-sized white parrot and 3 crows.
Mornington Day Trip
12 September 2015 Portsea, Vic
The weather called for 0% chance of rain so we decided to drive down
to the Mornington Peninsula for the day. Naturally it started raining on
us as we reached our first stop at the Cranbourne Royal
Botanical Gardens. These gardens were magnificent. We can only
imagine that the designers that got to work on this job were in heaven.
Within the featured Australian Garden, there were twenty or so
individual exhibition gardens highlighting the varied Australian plant
communities. Erin took hundreds fewer pictures than she would have liked
and tried to keep up with Andy and Eric.
The weather cleared up as we reached the seaside town of Sorrento
where we stopped for lunch. Sorrento has
a mellow downtown with a lazy summer vacation feel. Since all of the
views look like the below photos it is likely that everyone who lives
here is actually staying at their second or third home, so we could
actually be correct about the vacation vibe. We ate at a café called
Cakes & Ale, and although we sampled neither of their namesake
edibles, we were all extremely satisfied with our orders.
At the end of the road, we arrived at Point
Nepean National Park and we started our hike along a new track that
we hadn’t previously explored. Previously a military base, the park is
part historical site, part ecological preserve. Left to be covered by
sand and taken over by native vegetation after WWII, the military
bunkers and tunnels were carefully excavated in 1988 when the point was
designated a National Park. The bunkers, barracks and gun emplacements
were built into the sandy slopes of Point Nepean which made for hours of
exploring. After hiking out to the Fort at the end of the point, we
followed each hidden tunnel and staircase before returning back.
Heading back to the city just before sunset, we stopped at a
viewpoint that looked back over the peninsula that we had spent the day
exploring. Instead of marveling at the sunset, we ended up spending most
of our time taking pictures of the huge pack of kangaroos that were
grazing in the park. Most of the kangaroos paid no attention to us
excitable tourists, but one overly large and aggressive male kept an eye
on us the entire time, making kangaroo grunt noises and seemingly trying
to outflank us on our path back to the car. We tactfully took our leave
in order to avoid a confrontation.
And they are off…
14 September 2015 Flemington, Vic
Horse racing in Victoria still maintains a measure of cultural and
social importance. Or, in other words, still offers members of polite
society a chance to dress up and remind themselves that they are still
members of polite society. The horses themselves are a bit of an
afterthought. Being two immigrants and a tourist, we first checked the
style guide – no jodhpurs, cravats, safari suits, leggings worn as
pants, pants tucked into socks, anoraks(?), beanies, midriff, playsuits,
scuffs, gumboots, Drizabone jackets or dilapidated footwear – put on our
Saturday bests and made our way to Flemington Racecourse. NOTE: Foreign
visitors are allowed to wear the “formal national dress of their
country”…for Americans would that be an NFL jersey and sweatpants?
Dressed ‘smartly’, we arrived and errantly entered the Victoria
Racing Club (VRC) Members-Only area. Lacking any Rolex or Botox, it was
obvious we were in the wrong place. After a bit of confusion and a
discussion with an equally confused Lithuanian security guard we found
our way to the General Admission section. Down two escalators and up a
set of stairs to find our people. Well, mostly hardened track
degenerates waving yellowed racing forums and about six dozen buck and
hen (bachelor/bachelorette) parties. The lawn area in front was littered
with families who had staked various claims and spread out with
veritable buffets of food and drink. All carry-ins (except alcohol) are
allowed, though security was so lax we probably could have rolled in
with a keg of beer strapped to the back of an elephant and no one would
have said a word (such is Australia’s adherence to the established
rules).
The middle (and best) seats in the grandstand are reserved for the
VRC; we plebs were relegated to the aforementioned lawn or an area to
the right of the grandstand near the finish line. All in all, not bad
seats. To the very far right (and out of sight of the grandstand) is the
VRC wine garden - an area where the 20-something sons and daughters of
the VRC members can properly misbehave beyond the watchful eye of mum
and dad. I assume, by no mere coincidence, the general admission area is
located between these two pillars of rot and mirth. We had the joy of
watching down-on-their luck young socialites traversing back and forth
to replenish their coin purses from the family vault (or maybe just to
use the toilets, hard to say). All said, the track is a scene that can
be enjoyed by all walks of life. The gorgeous day and Melbourne skyline
in the backdrop merely add to the experience.
By some miracle we all ended up ahead on the day. Erin by notching
small victories with solid horses, Eric by meticulously analyzing his
racing forum and Andy by hitting big on a long shot exacta box. Granted,
our wins were small and certainly not enough to cover the train fare and
a round of beers, but winning is winning. Our victorious day was made
only more so by scoring the last available table at Hutong Dumpling House on the way home.
Arguably, the best dumplings in the city.
Last Hurrah (for Eric)
16 September 2015 Halls Gap, Vic
Eric’s time with us was quickly coming to an end. A successful first
time for us hosting a fellow Yank. With the glorious spring weather, we
snuck in one last little trip – a one night excursion to the Grampians –
before Eric was set to return to America. We had been to the
Grampians previously but still had plenty to explore.
We arrived in the afternoon and took the long, windy road up to the
lookout at Mount William. While the views were worth the time, the most
memorable part of this drive was listening to the Footy game on the
radio. One of the commentators was absolutely ‘mad’ and made no attempt
to hide his preferred team, the absolute rottenness of the opponents and
the lack of brain cells possessed by the officiating crew. He was an old
chap, thick accent, a true Aussie bloke. You could practically taste the
Carlton Draught he most
certainly had been drinking and was likely spilling down the front of
his shirt (no sleeves) as he gesticulated wildly. This is how footy
ought to be experienced.
We retired to the Grampians Motel, our favorite, uncomfortable place
to stay in the park. We arose early – well as early as Eric would let us
– did another rock scramble up a local peak and then made haste back to
Melbs. Eric flew out the next day; the nearly two weeks went by quickly.
Much was seen with nearly all the major dining destinations checked off
of our big list. We eagerly await our next visitor(s).
Perth, then North
3-4 October 2015 Perth(ish), Western Australia
While this West Coast trip was meant to get us out of the city, we
felt it would have been unfair to entirely skip out on seeing the urban
delights of Perth. As such, we dedicated a morning to a small walkabout
in the central city. It is a nice city, complete with multiple
pedestrian zones, flashy new buildings and all the requisite retail
chains, high end restaurants and tourist shops. And when we say ‘nice’,
we are hinting at ‘ordinary’. Which is alright, because the natural
surrounds and the weather are what really shine here. As part of our
wandering we explored the famous Kings Park with its views of downtown,
the Swan River waterfront and even managed to find a trendy renovated
garage restaurant for a decent breakfast. (Note: Hip restaurants in
Australia must, by law, serve bircher, poached eggs, hand-made chutney,
smashed ‘avo’(cado) on toast and regular pork sausages referred to by a
foreign word meaning ‘tube of meat’).
Urban experience complete, the next day we headed north up the Great
Indian Ocean Road to check a few more Australian national parks off of
our list. En route, and with great merriment, we spotted a number of
feral emus galloping (?) across the scrub bush plains. Many kangaroos
dotted the landscape, as did one lone (and invasive) red fox. Finally,
to take in more wildlife, we stopped at Lake
Thetis, home to one of the world’s only blistering bacteria mats
(stromatolites)…a true family attraction.
Content with our dosage of fauna, we spent the remainder of the day
looking at plants, rocks and sand.
Stop 1: Pinnacles
Desert, Namburg National Park. The Pinnacles Desert is a small, but
rewarding, stop whereby one can drive and hike through thousands of
small pinnacles now exposed by the drifting sand dunes of the area. They
are no more than a few metres tall, but the sheer number of them gives
the area an eerily feeling. As it was still early (we are early risers),
the park was mostly empty, so we were able to run and bound through the
area at our leisure. Erin peed behind a pinnacle. Otherwise, we left no
trace except footprints that would be quickly blown over. The sand here
was coarse and orange in colour.
Stop 2: Leseuer
National Park. Next, we continued north to the wildflower capital of
Western Australia. Andy is not one much for wildflowers, but even he
agreed that this park was rather enjoyable. In any given 10 square
meters there are upwards of 80 different species, all of which were
flowering during our visit. If you happen to ever find yourself 250 km
north of Perth in early October it is definitely worth the stop.
Stop 3: Random sand dune on the side of the road. Finally, on the way
home we pulled off the road next to a large, exposed and perfectly white
sand dune to do a bit of exploring. Dark clouds were gathering, giving
the area a surreal contrast of colours and shades. The sand here was
white and ulta-fine and felt like running through the largest imaginable
pile of flour. Remnants of the cardboard sleds that others had used to
descend the dunes littered some of the low points between dunes. Being
good citizens, we commented on the shame of the previous litterers,
enjoyed our moral superiority for a moment and then left them there for
future dune sledders.
Rotto
4 October 2015 Rottnest Island, Western Australia
While most of Australia was making its way to Melbourne to watch the
Australian Football League Grand Finals, (the Aussie Superbowl), we were
happily tucked into our small AirBnB in Fremantle, a suburb of Perth.
After an evening of exploring town we booked morning tickets on the boat
to Rottnest Island (or
more commonly, Rotto, as is the Aussie custom of shortening all words
and adding an ‘o’).
The small island (only 14K in length) received its lovely name from
the first European visitors to land on the island. Mistaking the native
marsupials that colonized the island for rats, the Dutch sailors called
the island ‘Rotte nest’, remarking that the island was overrun by “rats
as big as a common cat”. Quokkas, as the original
Aboriginal inhabitants named them, are small marsupials that have become
a major tourist draw since Rotto is one of the few areas in the world
where the quokka can be found. With the butt of a large rabbit and the
head of a guinea pig, they laze around the island in the shade, trying
to the ignore masses of eager tourists who have made it their mission to
get an oddly on-trend quokka selfie.
After the initial European and minor settlement, the island was
converted to an Aboriginal prison and later during WWI and WWII
temporarily used as a military base. In perhaps one of the most
unexpected transitions possible, in the early 1900’s, the government
decided to transform the former penal colony into a holiday resort
destination. With this kind of weird-ass history and unique natural
environment, we thought it was a perfect day trip adventure.
The island is a short ferry ride from the city and vehicles are not
permitted on the island, so we rented a few bicycles and spent the
remainder of the day circumnavigating the island. We rode all the way
out to the west end of the island to search for whales and sea lions,
but had to be satisfied with the dozens of King skinks we almost ran
over with our bikes. We also came across our first poisonous snake in
this so-called lethal land. There were plenty of signs warning us of the
highly poisonous Dugite snake, so we were a little wary of hiking off
trail. Luckily it was on the road and easy to spot, (and swiftly
outmaneuver if need be). Erin really wanted a picture and suggested
poking at it with a stick, but Andy vetoed that super fun idea. (Imagine
a creepy snake photograph here).
Since we had biked to the most remote area on the island, and we
caught the red eye ferry to the island, (shocking, I know), we rarely
ran into any other visitors and felt like we had the island all to
ourselves. Twelve amazing beach coves, two lighthouses, a handful of
wayfinding mishaps and sixteen miles later we made our way back to the
ferry for the boat ride back to the mainland.
The Race that Stops a Nation
4 November 2015 Melbourne, Victoria
Tuesday was Melbourne Cup
Day. It is the biggest race day of the 8-day Spring Carnival and a
public holiday for all, except us lowly University employees. This may
seem a bit excessive for a horse race, but this is a country where
gambling is as much of the national ethos as surfing, meat pies and
Steve Irwin. The university even had sanctioned (and highly encouraged)
wagering on the race. In truth, it is also a good reason to engage in
day drinking on a random Tuesday in spring. Hard to argue with that.
We were very close to scoring some members-only tickets to Flemington
Racecourse on the big day, but ended up settling for a lower-class (and
lower cost) affair by joining the plebian masses to watch it on the big
screen at Federation Square. As 3pm approached, the place filled with
anxious punters (gamblers), onlookers and others too cheap or busy to
spend the entire day drinking champagne at the race track.
At 3:02 the gates opened and for the next three and half minutes the
crowd was transfixed as a pack of 24 horses circled the track. It is
quite hard to tell what is going on and the screen only showed the top
three, so for the first three minutes or so everyone is lulled into
complacency and the re-filling of wine glasses. Over the last 500
meters, the field opened up and the horses made their final push. The
longest shot in the field, Prince
of Penzance (started the day at 101:1 odds) pushed to the front and
won by a length. One very excited gambler erupted in absolute joy down
near the front; the odds were good and he must have made a small
fortune. It should be noted that this was also the first time a female
jockey, Michelle
Payne, had won the Cup.
As Andy rode home from the University around 6pm later that evening
the city was full of well-dressed and completely drunk people. It was
probably the most dangerous biking experienced he had here to date with
pedestrians stumbling out into the streets and bike lanes. Not bad for a
Tuesday.
Things I’m Loving about Melbourne
17 November 2015 Melbourne, Victoria
ART & DESIGN EVERYWHERE
From government commissioned graffiti to land sculptures to temporary
installations, this city supports art that will amaze you and engage
you. Also, I’m pretty sure it is someone’s full time job to cover our
neighborhood sidewalks with cheery chalk drawings.
“IT’S ANDY’S SHOUT”
Instead of saying I will get your drink, or so-and-so is buying us
beers, etc. here, you use the phrase, “it’s (insert name here)’s shout”.
I love it so much. I go out of my way to ask if things are my shout, or
feel extremely pleased when I can naturally fit it into a sentence with
locals.
Speaking of drinks, the portions and names are different here.
Different than the States, but also, it seems different bar to bar. A
pint, a schooner, a pot and a jug are the usual suspects, but I am never
really sure what name applies to what size. The first time I asked for
clarification, the bartender answered me, (naturally), in millilitres,
which I still hadn’t really worked out, but wasn’t going to admit to, so
I just asked for a pint and looked it up later. When I finally thought I
had it down, we went to Perth in Western Australia, and apparently there
is a completely separate naming system there, and so I just asked for a
pint and figured I would drink whatever was placed in front of me. As
writing this, I have doubled checked and they are as follows:
Jug – 40 oz)
Pint – 20 oz (Although some places serve an Imperial Pint which is
16 oz.)
Schooner/Middy –15 oz
Pot – 10 oz
Glass – 7 oz
When in doubt, ask for a pint.
SPRING
I love that the flower shops have in-season peonies and sweet pea
blossoms in November. Instead of buying gourds at the market, I am
buying cherries, a sun hat instead of a rain jacket. The other day I
excitedly pointed out to Andy that my tiny backyard garden had produced
its inaugural flower, his comment was “I thought that was a piece of
paper stuck in that tree”. So perhaps not everyone is as enchanted with
Spring’s riches as I am.
A STRONG WIND
Normally this wouldn’t be on my list of favorites, but my run along
the waterfront is far more entertaining when I am in the good company of
sailboats, kiteboards and parachutes.
To a Lighthouse in the Rain
25 November 2015 Wilsons Promontory, Victoria
The spring weather had been fantastic, unseasonably so. As a result,
we decided to roll the dice and spend a weekend at Wilson’s
Promontory National Park (aka ‘The Prom’). About three hours
southeast of Melbourne, the park is renowned for its natural beauty,
abundant hiking trails and foul weather. The latter is due in large part
to fact that the park lies in the Bass Strait, the
treacherous body of water – now lain with shipwrecks – that separates
Tasmania from the mainland. The week leading up to our trip it was
perfectly clear and sunny at The Prom. That, of course, was due to
change.
We left Melbourne early and chased a fantastic thunderstorm all the
way down to the park. We tried to wait out the rain, but eventually just
decided to suck it up and test our mettle. Not everyone was happy with
this decision…but moods did improve.
It rained for the first three hours (15km) of our hike. We rarely
slowed down, for fear of losing motivation. After one quick stop for a
bite to eat, Andy managed to attract a small hitch-hiking leech on my
neck. Erin enjoyed this occurrence too much for his liking. As we
rounded the final corner and headed for our lighthouse lodging, it did
finally let up enough for us to take a few photos. 5km later (20km in
total), we arrived wet, tired, hungry, but rejuvenated by the beauty of
our surrounds. Our shared bunk room turned out to be a single room for
just us two. Win. Four of the others sharing our bunkhouse were quite
loud and obnoxious, but despite the constant din sleep came easy due to
the long day on our feet. After a brief rest, we found the energy to
sneak in a lighthouse tour and a dehydrated food dinner with a sunset
view prior to our much needed sleep. The wind howled all night, shaking
the windows and rattling the doors. The keeper said this was an average
spring day at the lighthouse. I can only imagine what it is like during
a winter storm. Also, sleeping in the top bunk as an adult is highly
underrated.
From a Lighthouse in the Sun
26 November 2015 Wilsons Promontory, Victoria
Our morning at the lighthouse brought continued wind, but the sun did
poke through the clouds. We fought through stiff legs and backs and were
the first group out the door. After a light breakfast, some heavy
stretching and one final look around the complex we were off.
One of the great things about this trek is that it is a loop for the
most of the later half, so we would not be retracing our steps from
yesterday. No, we would be going the long way home (an extra 4km). The
extra distance proved to be certainly worth it as the stop at Waterloo
Bay was wonderful. We were the only people on a 3 mile long,
perfectly white sand beach. Protected from the wind and in full sun it
was hard to believe that yesterday we had been chilled to the bone by
wind and rain just an hours walk from this very spot.
Leaving the beach, we hiked up and over a small pass by the Mussolini
Rocks and then the long climb back up the parking lot. All said the
42km, two-day trip wasn’t as hard as we had expected, but were both
relieved to take off our shoes and relax in the rental car’s comfy
seats. That evening we set up camp at the Tidal
River campground just down the road. Exhausted, we delayed sleep for
a few hours in lieu of a well-deserved ice cream treat and a small
wombat-spotting side trip (three wombats sighted).
The following morning we woke with the surfers to pack up camp,
secretly wishing we had our neighbor’s fragrant bacon breakfast rather
than our own trail mix. With a quick stop to clamber around on the
lichen-covered monoliths at Squeaky Beach, we left the Prom with
intentions to return.
Thanksgiving in OZ
30 November 2015 Albert Park, Victoria
[Erin] I write this blog post partly to share our Australian
Thanksgiving experience, and partly as a reminder for next year when I
will undoubtedly think about making another Thanksgiving feast by
myself.
For our first Thanksgiving in Oz, we had invited our good friends
Jodie and Paul over to introduce them to the holiday. Heavy on ambition,
light on reason, I sketched out the planned menu to help wrap my head
around the grocery list/level of insanity. During the three days of
preparation, I dearly missed my mixer and food processor, cursing
voltage differences while hand-whisking cream, chopping ginger nut
cookies into a crumble for my cheesecake, and cutting butter into my
tart dough with a pastry scraper. I had some seasonal and cultural
disconnects as well, the only cranberries I could find for my chutney
were frozen, they apparently don’t have canned pureed pumpkin in this
country and our oven is the size of a small gas can. Excuse me, petrol
can.
I tried to tell myself that scratch cooking would bring me much more
personal satisfaction, but when I was pureeing fresh pumpkin in our
shitty blender at midnight, I wanted to break up with Australia, or at
least Thanksgiving. I felt better the following morning, when I awoke to
my first sunny and hot Thanksgiving day.
When the weather cooled down enough to eat a hot meal, we sat down to
our feast at our classy dining table, (tiny IKEA picnic table), and
encouraged our guests to eat way too much, as is the custom…
On Saturday, we joined up with some other expat friends and
celebrated with a big Thanksgiving BBQ at a local park. About thirty of
us gathered, mostly from the States and Canada, but also
friends-of-friends from Chile, Germany, India and Bulgaria. We had
everything from traditional stuffing to homemade Paneer; a truly diverse
spread. We brought meat to grill and a roasted peach tart. Forgetting
that this was summer Thanksgiving and my mascarpone-based tart would
immediately melt if left out for more than ten minutes, (amateur move),
we happily ate the tart with the meat course.
We tossed the football around in the nearby Cricket field, whinged
about the things that annoyed us in Australia and marveled about what we
loved, all agreeing we loved far more than we didn’t…
It was comforting to come together with a community of Thanksgiving
orphans, and it took away the sting of missing family and traditions
from home, at least a little bit.
Morningside Farm
13 December 2015 Nagambie, Victoria
To outsiders, Australia is often advertised as a land of beaches and
deserts, koalas and kangaroos, sparkling harbours, poisonous spiders and
beer-swilling men in cut-offs shorts. While these all certainly exist in
good number, a sizable portion of the eastern half of the country is
farmland. Acres and acres (OK, hectares and hectares) of paddocks,
pastures and cropland. Our friend Paul’s father is the proud owner of
one such farm about 90 minutes north of the city. We took a short drive
to see this ‘other side’ of Australia.
Morningside Farm, located on the Goulburn River just north of Nagambie, Victoria, is
less ‘farm’ in the sense of a traditional Midwest dairy farm and more
‘ranch’ as in something out of the high plains of Texas or eastern
Montana. It is home to a few hundred Wagyu cattle, a few dozen
thoroughbred horses and countless kangaroos that pay the simple paddock
fences no mind.
We stopped in the small town of Nagambie to stock up on fruits,
vegetables and beer along the way. Meat, in the form of prime Wagyu
steak, was well stocked at the ranch and required no purchase. After
arrival and unpacking we took an evening stroll, drinks in hand, to
observe and discuss the finer points of cattle breeding and general
animal husbandry. A particularly unfortunate previous member of their
herd provided a delicious main course later that night. It is hard to
beat local Wagyu on the ‘barbie’.
The next morning we took a leisurely tour of the grounds, stopping by
the river frontage and checking in on the various components of the
herd. It was hot (nearly 100) and the flies were out in full force.
Simple reminders that, if only for a moment, one thinks farming is a
luxury profession that they are mistaken. Also, a good justification for
an afternoon nap. Post nap, we packed up, took a ride on the 6-wheel
gators down to the river and then headed for home.
Kaikoura and Christchurch
18 December 2015 Kaikoura, New Zealand
We arrived in New Zealand three days ahead of our friends Luke and
Sara. To pass the time, we headed north from Christchurch about 180KM to
the coastal town of Kaikoura.
With New Zealand’s narrow and windy roads, this amounted to a two and
half hour drive.
We arrived to a sunny, but windy day. Checked in to our modest seaside hotel and set off
on foot to circumambulate the Kaikoura Peninsula. On our journey we
stopped at a roadside seafood
barbecue – little more than a small shack with some picnic tables
out front – for a cheap and satisfying lunch. We then encountered a
colony of seals, one of which found the elevated walkway to be its
favored sunning spot. After the seal colony, the path climbed up the
bluff and the next hour of walking provided amazing views of the coast
below and the snow-capped Kaikoura Range.
On day two, the weather turned a bit sour, windy with rain
threatening. Undaunted, we set out for a hike up Mt.
Fyffe just north west of town. The trail proved to be a real
thigh-burner as it was an old forest road that took the shortest
(steepest) possible route up the ridge. At about half way, we entered
the clouds. Though we trekked on, hoping for a clearing and the
magnificent views of the town and the coast, the clouds did not pass and
the views were minimal. At least the hike would likely prove to be good
training for later treks on this trip. As an added bonus we hiked down
with an American couple who had quit their jobs and had been traveling
for the past six months. They had good tips for places to see at some of
our upcoming locations.
For dinner, we stopped at the road side mussel stand near our hotel.
I misread the menu and ordered what I thought was a Whitefish Sammie.
What I actually ordered was a ‘Whitebait Sammie’. What I got was a
handful of small
minnows cooked into an omelette of sorts, topped with a huge chunk
of butter and placed between two pieces of Wonderbread. Apparently a
local delicacy. It wasn’t actually too bad (due to the butter) if you
didn’t look at what you were eating.
We tried unsuccessfully to hire (rent) kayaks the next morning and
then decided to head down to the Banks Peninsula
for the day before picking up Luke and Sara much later that evening. The
drive from Christchurch to Akaroa (the center of the Banks Peninsula)
was incredibly windy but also very picturesque. The quaint town of
Akaroa is set in a large bay with steep, sheep-covered hills on all
sides. A good side trip and a relaxing end to our first three days in
New Zealand.
Through the Southern Alps
22 December 2015 Hokitika, New Zealand
After picking up our travel companions late in the night, the next
destination along the NZ road trip was the small city of Hokitika. It is
clear across the south island, east coast to west coast in one day. To
split up the drive, we decided to stop mid-morning at Hanmer Springs, to relax and
soak in the series of hot springs and thermal pools.
While beautiful surrounds, we lasted just a few hours as eventually
the combination of hot weather and hot pools nudged us in the direction
of the nearby brew pub. We enjoyed
a massive lunch and cold drinks before hopping back on the road towards
the mountain pass. Sara and Erin promptly fell asleep for the next few
hours while the guys navigated towards Hokitika. We drove through
several small towns with enticing attractions such as Rosie’s house of
ill-repute, a scale model of NZ’s largest gold nugget, and a replica of
the biplane that made the first solo trans-Tasman flight and then
crashed in a field nearby. Also, millions of sheep. Despite the draw, we
kept driving and reached Hokitika just in time to search for drinks and
dinner.
The weather felt like we were back on the Washington Coast, but we
tramped along the beach for a bit and wandered the town looking for the
following day’s provisions. Our AirBnb accommodation for the evening,
aptly called ‘The Villa’, was huge and comfortable. We had a mellow
evening, relaxing by the wood stove, which was fitting, as Andy’s
normally ironclad stomach failed him, and he was down for the night with
what we imagine was food poisoning or a light case of Ebola.
Rested and somewhat recovered from the previous day, we journeyed
south and just inland to visit the Franz Joseph
Glacier. One of the many glaciers in New Zealand’s Southern Alps,
Franz Joseph is one of the few glaciers in sub arctic latitudes that
flows almost to sea level.
The valley walls rise up around a wide glacial-fed river, which we
followed along a path to the bottom of the glacier. Rocks covered in a
verdant green moss and a bright rust lichen surround the path, which we
embraced as an unintended celebration of Christmas.
Although the clouds refused to move from their position covering the
mountain peaks, we were able to see the cloudy blue tail of the glacier
from the lookout point and the end of our trek. As soon as we left and
continued our pilgrimage through the Southern Alps, the sun cleared and
four hours later when we reached the town of Wanaka. We elbowed our way
through the masses of local adventure guides to a sunny table by the
lake, enjoying cold beers in the hot sun.
After wandering the town and having the world’s slowest Mexican meal, finished the
evening at our B&B lodge with
drinks in the hot tub. For brekkie at the lodge we were introduced to
the local fare, sweet corn fritters. This cultural delicacy went over
much better than the Whitebait mentioned in a previous blog entry. As we
had a steep climb ahead of us to get to our mountain hut lodging near
Mount Cook, we didn’t have much time to relax in Wanaka the next morning
but did manage to get in a quick paddle before hitting the road.
Mt Cook, Day 1
23 December 2015 Mt. Cook Village, New
Zealand
Most of our holiday has been about the destinations, but part of it
is purely based on enjoying the beauty we see out our windows as we
drive the short distances but long hours on the one-lane, curvy New
Zealand roads. En route to Mount Cook, lies one of the most dramatic
lakes we’ve have ever seen. Lake Pukaki is a
massive glacial-fed lake that gets its unnaturally blue color from, as
one particularly frisky guide book mentioned, years of rock-on-rock
action. Similar to some of the glacial lakes we have visited in the
Canadian Rockies, Erin could have stopped here all day to take
photos.
Our lodging for the night was 1,800 meters (5,900 feet or over one
vertical mile) up in the Sealy Range of the Southern Alps. The Mueller
Hut is one of the many climber’s huts located around NZ providing
rustic shelter for adventurers high in the mountains. We had reserved
four bunks for the evening, and we set off with packs on our backs on
the hunt of 360-degree views among New Zealand’s highest peaks. The hike
itself was quite short in distance, just over 3 miles but with just
above 3600 feet in elevation gain. The first half mile from the car park
is relatively flat until you reach a set of stairs that worms up the
mountain. It is exactly 1,807 steps up to the halfway point at Sealy
Tarns. Stairs is a generous description, more like “ladders”, as that is
what it felt like when lugging a backpack up them. Still it was hard to
complain as each new view was more magnificent than the next.
From Sealy Tarns, the remainder of the hike was up loose scree with
orange poles marking the suggested trail. In the last 1 KM you turn the
corner of the mountain face and head towards the Hut which was tucked
just under the summit of Mount Ollivier, the first mountain that Sir Edmund
Hillary climbed.
We reached the hut in high spirits, and quickly realized we were the
last group arriving and would not have choice of the bunks. Not that
having your choice of bunks really matters as either way you are still
stuck in a bunk house with twenty-four strangers, not counting the
mountain hobos who don’t make reservations and yet still use the
‘kitchen’ and ‘toilets’ and start a sing-along late at night before
heading outside to their tents.
[Erin] As you may tell from my tone, our group didn’t get much sleep.
Most likely due to the family of tweens that had perfected the
shout-whisper and continued to go outside to take moon photographs with
their iPad or the antics of the aforementioned mountain hobos. I thought
about toning down this rant after re-reading it, but despite all of
this, it was still a memorable and amazing experience, and I would do it
again in a second. Mount Cook was crisp and wicked in the sun, and we
spent the afternoon watching for the massive avalanches across the
valley from us, too far to ever do any damage, but chilling and powerful
all the same. My bunk was in front of a huge window, so I didn’t sleep a
wink with the bright moon, but I was able to see the Southern Cross arc
over Mount Ollivier, as I counted the hours to daylight and descent.
[Andy] I drew the lucky straw and was situated on the one remaining
bottom bunk spot (the other three were up above) and did manage a few
hours of sleep as the lower bunk is were the tired, olds mostly slept. I
too, rued the mountain hobos who added only noise and congestion to the
existant melee.
Mt Cook, Day 2
24 December 2015 Mt. Cook Village, New
Zealand
After a night of light (no) sleep, we awoke with the sun to begin our
descent back to the parking lot. Quickly packing and enjoying a
breakfast of trail mix and stale hut air, we were out the door of the
cramped and just stirring Red Hut at 5:45.
It had frozen overnight, so the snow was much easier to navigate on
our way down. The wind was blowing straight off of the nearby glacier
and both of us cursed ourselves for failing to bring gloves. Watching
the sun come up over the valley below was incredibly beautiful and
deathly quiet. Leaving early had it perks…though we likely missed some
bad guitar breakfast music. An hour in, we had made it down to the Sealy
Tarns and the start of the maintained trail (the dreaded stairs).
Two hours, ten minutes and one fall by Erin later we were at our car.
Smelly, tired but in good spirits. We changed, packed the car and
started on the three and a half hour drive down to Gibbston…but not
without stopping to admire some invasive species along the way.
Christmas Down Under
25-27 December 2015 Gibbston, New Zealand
After our whirlwind of driving and hiking the past three days, we
were anxious to settle in for a bit. We had booked an AirBNB home at Pagan Vines in Gibbston
– 25km east of Queenstown – for the 24th, 25th and 26th. We arrived too
early and headed into town for supplies while our hosts finished
cleaning. The grocery store was a madhouse. Every single person with a
holiday home in the area must have arrived at the same moment we did.
With little sleep and having just done a long drive, tensions were high
but we made it out without inflicting (or even verbally threatening)
bodily harm to anyone. Win. Too tired to cook dinner, we walked down the
road to the ‘Impossibly Cute’ Gibbston Tavern for a pizza
and pint. Early to bed for all on Christmas Eve.
We had little planned for Christmas Day. Much of the morning was
spent hanging out on our deck enjoying the scenery, the calm and the
sun. Late morning we drove to Queenstown for a wander about
town. On the way back we stopped in Arrowtown, an old mining town a few
miles off the highway. Lazy tourist type activities never felt so good.
We returned home and took lunch and few beers down to the river beach on
the property where we were staying. Despite a few sand flies, it was a
perfect afternoon spent taking in some sun, skipping stones and napping
down by the bright blue (and very cold and fast) water of the Kawarau
River.
In the evening we made a pit stop at the trampoline (never too old
for a trampoline) before cooking up a large dinner on the grill,
complete with a few bottles of wine from our hosts. As it cooled, we
stoked the campfire and watched the sun go down over the valley. The
full moon rose up over the ridge around 10:40, ushering us all to
bed.
Fiordlands
30 December 2015 Te Anau, New Zealand
Our last full day in New Zealand we made the long and roundabout
drive from Queenstown to Fiordlands
National Park. Only 50 or so direct kilometres away from Queenstown,
the sound is a four-hour drive…and that is if you don’t mind speeding a
bit. Fourteen fiords span 215 kilometres of the southwest coast of New
Zealand and although we could have spent days here exploring, with
limited time, we decided to visit the main attraction of Milford
Sound.
From the head of the fiord to the open ocean, Milford Sound is
sixteen kilometres long, a perfect distance for a 2-hour boat trip to
the mouth of the fiord and back. According to Maori legend, the
Fiordlands were created by the demi-god Tu-te-raki-whanoa, who carved
the sheer granite walls with a titanic adze. I can understand the
origins of the legend when faced with the beauty, scale and architecture
of Milford Sound. Sheer cliffs rise up 1500 metres straight from the
ocean. Waterfalls plunge hundreds of feet directly into the sound.
Photos do not do it justice.
Sunny but with a crisp wind, we stayed bundled up on the top deck of
the boat and were able to see New Zealand fur seals as well as the more
rare Bottlenose dolphins. The best seats on the top deck are right
behind the kitchen exhaust fan (the boat serves a cafeteria lunch, which
we avoided). As such, our beautiful and ever changing view was met with
an equally diverse set of aromatic sensations. Sesame chicken, roast
pork, burnt coffee, something with too much garlic followed by something
that could have used some more.
It was a long day’s drive, but all four took their turn at the wheel.
Radio stations were sparse, but when we did find one it was inevitably
playing either Adele or Bieber. We stopped home, tidied up and headed
out for our last New Zealand dinner in the small village of Arrowtown
(Slow Cuts). Andy had a rabbit pie
while Luke downed a massive set of barbeque ribs. The ladies went with
more sensible options. Another gorgeous day in Aotearoa (New Zealand in
Maori).
Jacobs in Melbourne
13 January 2016 Albert Park, VIC
The elder Jacobs contingent arrived earlier this week. Fresh off a
brief, and somewhat rainy, stopover in Fiji, Kurt and Kathie were ready
for life in the big city. As is becoming the custom for our visitors, we
took them to an opening night sunset (complete with wine and snacks) out
at the Brighton Beach boxes. There are few better places in the city to
enjoy a warm summer’s evening.
No stay in Melbourne is complete without a breakfast experience. This
time, we did Chez Dre in South
Melbourne. Only Erin chose the local favourite of smashed avocado, toast
and eggs. We made it through breakfast without and spilling on my
myself, Kurt telling any bad jokes to the staff or Kathie questioning
any of the neighbouring patrons. A successful morning.
The Australian Open was in town,
so we trekked to the grounds during one of the mid-week days to avoid
the crowds. Little good that did as the place was still packed, which
did make for a good viewing experience. We were lucky (unlucky?) enough
to have been seated directly behind a rowdy collection of self-styled
tennis hooligans and a group of high classmates of one of Australians
youngest, rising stars. Complete with painted faces, sporting chants and
smuggled booze, they definitely livened up the event.
Mornington Peninsula
15 January 2016 Mornington Peninsula, VIC
Being 8,000 miles from home often means that you can get away with
not sending Christmas presents home due to the cost of international
shipping. However, when family members come visit it is then time to pay
the proverbial piper. For Kurt and Kathie this meant treating them to a
day on the Mornington Peninsula. We began with a stop for an early lunch
at Foxey’s Hangout, a
small winery near Red Hill. No time is too early for a tasty Pinot for
Kurt and we were also happy to indulge, so it was a good start to the
day.
We spent the afternoon driving to the various beaches, sampling at a
few more vineyards and chasing the nearly tame Kangaroos at Arthur’s
Seat National Park. Gift giving can be quite painless if done
properly.
Tasmania
15 January 2016 Tasmania
Tasmania’s weather is notoriously fickle, though January offers the
best chance at clear and sunny. Playing the odds, we joined Erin’s
parents for a five-day adventure to Australia’s southernmost state. It
is a quick 45 minute flight from Melbourne to Hobart, the capital. Upon
landing, the smell of smoke was obvious; Tasmania had been suffering
from some of its worst bushfires (wildfires) in memory. Usually too cold
and damp, the dry spring and summer had turned its hills into a
tinderbox.
Upon landing, we grabbed our car and headed off to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), just
north of Hobart. Built by a billionaire gambler looking to tax shelter
some of his winnings, the gallery/winery/cafe/park is now open to the
public. The art itself, well, it is mostly quite modern and not for the
squeamish or shy. Definitely a cultural experience and something we’d
recommend doing…though I wouldn’t take your kids or your parents.
After checking in to our AirBNB, we drove the 18
windy kilometers up to the top of Mt.
Wellington for some fabulous, though hazy, views of the city and
surrounds below. The weather was pleasant, but cool. On the way down, we
made a call at the Cascade Brewery for some
liquid refreshment.
That evening we returned to the MONA for the sunset light show. The
‘show’ is a quasi-permanent
installation by noted light artist James Turrell. The structure
slowly changes colors (there is probably a better word for it) via
projected lights over the course of a few hours. Contrasting the light
against the changing sky through the rectangular hole in the roof is
mesmerizing. Well worth the trip back. Our only regret is that we didn’t
bring a bottle of wine or two (as a number of the more experienced
spectators had done).
The famous Salamanca Market was
our first stop on Day 2. Truly a lively affair. The entire length of the
street is packed with vendors of all sorts. With a backdrop of the old
wharf buildings, one is easily reminded of what Hobart was like 80 or
100 years ago….minus the skinny jeans and man-buns that proliferate
amongst the hipster vendors. This market is also home to the second best
breakfast sandwich in Australia, as evidenced by my ongoing and highly
unscientific study.
A short drive and a shorter ferry ride later, we found ourselves on
sleepy Bruny Island.
Mostly home to sheep, kangaroos and gravel roads, we spent the afternoon
exploring small beach coves and eating local fare. Kurt made an
adventurous lunch order – a wallaby burger – the rest of found something
less exotic to sate our hunger pangs.
Day 3, we headed up the east coast of Tassy en route to our next AirBNB near Launceston.
Definitely the scenic route, we spent much of the day at 70kmh stuck
behind caravans and large trucks. The coast, however, did not
disappoint. Strange rock formations, crystal clear waters, small coastal
towns, plenty of animal life (dead and alive) and few people. There is
little in the way of services so pack a lunch, turn off your mobile
phone and just enjoy the drive.
From Launceston we took our fourth day to explore Cradle
Mountain National Park. The drive took us through some very thick
smoke from worst of the fires. This particular area hadn’t burned in
human memory and losses include some stands of trees nearly 1,000 years
old. Tragic. Home of the famous Overland
Track, the scenery here is certainly unique. A scaled down and
highly weathered version of some parts of Banff-Jasper would be the best
way to describe it. Dozens of plants found nowhere else in the world.
The hiking trails are abundant and well marked. It is a tough drive
getting to the park and we left wishing we had another day to
explore.
The weather had been nearly perfect our entire time in Tasmania…too
good in fact. The locals desperately needed rain to quell the fires. As
we stopped at one last lighthouse
on our way to the airport, the clouds were building and rain was on its
way. Our flight got out before the approaching storm. It rained for a
few days straight after our departure and put an end to the fires, for
now.
Janie in OZ
20 February 2016 Melbourne and Surrounds
Janie escaped the frigid Midwest for a 12-day visit. Fresh off 30
hours of travel, we gave her little rest as we packed in a busy day trip
to the Mornington Peninsula on her first full day here. First stop was
the Moonlit Sanctuary.
While, in general, I’m a bit skeptical of much of what passes for
sanctuaries here in Australia, this place is really well done and takes
in mostly injured animals that have no hope of re-release into the wild.
Along with the standard kangaroos, wallabies and koalas they had a
massive emu, one small wombat and a pair of dingoes.
After the sanctuary, we hit up a number of secluded beaches,
including Bushrangers
Bay which required an hour hike each way to reach. The hike is well
worth it. We soon had the beach to ourselves and I took my first swim in
the open, southern ocean. A brief encounter with a large and
unidentified snake on the walk back raised everyone’s heartrate
significantly.
After spending the week exploring the sites in the city, we grabbed a
rental car and embarked on a Great Ocean Road -> Grampians ->
Ballarat loop. Following the long, sinuous Great Ocean Road we made a
number of stops such as the cairn beach, the koalas on Grey Road and a
variety of overlooks and pull-offs. This was the first time we had been
through the area after the disastrous December fires. While most of the
towns were saved, the fire torched much of the forest all the way down
to the ocean. An eerie sight.
Having fought the afternoon tourist buses at The 12 Apostles and Loch
Ard Gorge on a number of occasions, we decided to check into our cottage
in Peterborough first and return for the evening showing. While the
crowds were still plentiful, it was much more manageable and the clouds
had broken and gave us excellent light. We’ve now been here morning,
afternoon and evening and it has looked so very different each time.
Next up, the Grampians. It rained all day on our drive up from
Peterborough. Sensing the poor weather we took a lunch detour to the Timboon Distillery. If
I’m going to hike in the rain, I’d at least like a drink or two first.
The rain had slowed to a drizzle by the time we arrived in Halls Gap,
the underwhelming town at the center of the amazing national park. We
fought through the damp to do a small hike down to MacKenzie Falls,
partially to check out the falls but mostly to examine the very
interestingly designed and built trail.
As the sun forced its way through, we hit up another short but
rewarding hike. Named the ‘Grand Canyon’ you won’t confuse it with that
much larger hole in the ground in Arizona, but it was a nice walk up a
steep gully in the heavily eroded sandstone prevalent in this part of
the world. A bit of amateur rock scrambling topped off an adventurous
day. On our way out of town in the morning, we hiked it up to the every
popular Pinnacle lookout. Beating the crowds we had the place to
ourselves.
Diamond Days of Summer
24 February 2016 Melbourne and Surrounds
The Victorian
Summer Baseball League season (‘comp’ in Australian) has come to a
close. Being near the bottom of the standings (‘ladder’) meant that we
won’t be playing in the playoffs (‘finals’). It is a long season, 26
games, and our Port Melbourne
Mariners had our share of trials and tribulations both on the field
and off. Overall, it was great to get back to the game after eight years
away. It took me some time to get my swing back as well as my control on
the mound, but that is to be expected for a 35-year old. Things are
looking up heading into the winter season. Yes, they play all year round
here.
Two Days in Sydney
26 February 2016 Sydney, NSW
For Janie’s last two days, she and Andy made a short trip up to
Sydney. He had a work meeting there on Monday, so it made for a
well-time excursion. We arrived on an early Sunday morning flight after
a late night at Melbourne’s White
Night festival. A bit tired, we spent the morning exploring Darling
Harbour while they prepared our room. We checked in as early as possible
and managed to grab a quick nap. The weather had improved, so we jumped
a ride out to Manly
Beach and back during the afternoon. Upon our return, we spent an
hour or so wandering around the Opera House and the Rocks neighborhood.
Touristy, yes, but a satisfying way to spend a sunny Sunday
afternoon.
My meeting ended early, so we spent Monday afternoon sampling a
variety of Sydney’s Happy Hours…which I must say are a better deal than
those in Melbourne. Janie received an initiation into global cuisine
with her first Korean BBQ that evening.
We nearly had to spend the night again as our delayed flight left the
tarmac at 10:59:45..exactly 15 seconds before the 11pm Sydney Airport
curfew would have taken effect. We had been given advanced warning that
it was going to be close and all 211 passengers boarded the plane in
less than 15 minutes, proving that provided the right incentives loading
a plane doesn’t have to be the most frustrating and inefficient activity
in modern life.
Autumn at UniMelb
7 April 2016 Parkville, VIC
[Erin] With both of us teaching at the University this semester, life
in Melbourne has been full on. We are just now halfway through the
Autumn/Winter Semester and we have finally settled in to a bit of a
rhythm. It took me 2 weeks to get Uni wifi, 3 weeks to learn about the
printers and I still don’t know if I am filling out her timesheet out
correctly, but I am slowly worming my way into the system. I am teaching
a Landscape Architecture design studio focusing on Sustainable Urbanism
as well as tutoring (the U.S. equivalent of a teaching assistant) for a
Property Environments class. Although I had my first taste in
teaching/tutoring last year, this Semester is much more time consuming
but also rewarding. After trading a busy, sometimes flat out frantic
workplace environment in a firm, to a much more relaxed and solitary
desk in a home office, I had missed the energy of a studio design
environment.
The University of Melbourne has a beautiful campus, mirroring the
city itself, it has a mix of historical architecture and bold modern
design, each with their own hipster coffee shop catering to the masses
of the early-twenties crowd in culottes and crop top regalia… and me.
For a while I was able to float along in the comfortable denial that I
was blending in with the student population until one day standing in my
recently and resentfully purchased maternity outfit, I looked around and
realized things done changed.
Notwithstanding this slap of reality, I have found teaching
incredibly enjoyable. Bringing some of the studio exercises back to life
that inspired me while in school, encouraging students to sketch, think
conceptually and get out and explore has reminded me how much I love
design. Plus, a few rainy site visits made me think of home sweet
Seattle.
Werribee Gorge State Park
11 April 2016 Pentland Hills, VIC
[Erin] Not long after moving to Melbourne, Andy and I started
scouting out all the nearby hikes we wanted to explore, trying to
maintain some level of hiking fitness despite being an ocean away from
our beloved Pacific Northwest mountains.
We have been faithfully checking each hike off the list and
revisiting some of our favourites. Undoubtedly, whenever we discuss
which hike to set out for over the weekend, Andy always suggests Werribee
Gorge State Park, and I always shoot the idea down. Gorge hikes
don’t really interest me as you usually have to descend first, finishing
a long hike with an uphill climb, (a pet peeve of mine), and there is
often a lack of epic views or dangerous conditions which are some of my
main hiking attractions. I finally and begrudgingly gave in to this hike
and we set off on a sunny Autumn day to explore the Gorge.
The Werribee gorge is home to a bevy of native Australian animals
including the reclusive platypus, and although we didn’t see any, we
spent a fair amount of time down by the river watching for bubbles and
duckbills. The trail started off with a series of scrambles around a
rock face while holding on to a metal cable, which immediately improved
my outlook on the hike.
After a few miles along the river, we carved up and out of the gorge,
climbing up to the ridge with views down to the oxbow below and 360
degree views of the surrounding bush.
With sun shining and a slight warm breeze, we continued along our
10km loop back to the river, through open Eucalypt forests, down and
back up a few steep gullies, but by that time, I had already admitted to
a considerably smug Andy, that Werribee Gorge was one of my new
favourites.
Fall Weekend in Bright
28 April 2016 Bright, VIC
About 300km northeast of Melbourne one finds the Australian Alps. To
many, us Pacific Northwesterners included, using the term ‘Alps’ to
refer to these ranges registers a touch on the side of wishful thinking.
Foothills would be a more appropriate moniker. Nonetheless, they are a
welcome departure from the coastal plains of Melbourne. I think we’ve
both realized that too much time staring at flat horizons leaves us
wanting (and weak in the thighs).
Being the middle of Autumn, a road trip to Alpine Country would also
permit us the opportunity to catch the fall colours. Many of valleys and
riverbeds in this part of the state have been planted with aspens,
beech, elm and other deciduous trees that, against their own good
judgement and whatever passes for floral biological instinct, turn all
shades and drop their leaves…in April. A holiday weekend, every other
family from the state had the same idea so not only were the roads
littered with amateur photographers parking any place that offered a
shot of a bright red tree, but the hotels and restaurants were full as
well. As with most U.S. National Parks, a mile walk down a trail will
distance you from 99% of the masses, and this proved no exception.
Failing to find an open table in the busy town of Bright, we settled
for quick lunch in the tiny village of Harrietsville. Sated, we took a
long, sinuous drive up to Mt.
Hotham Village and did our first hike up above the Australian tree
line, or at least what had been the tree line prior to a bush fire
wiping out all the trees in the area a few years ago.
On the way back down the mountain and to our hotel we managed to
secure a table and had a quick drink at the Bright Brewery. Our lodging for
the night was 80km due north in the town Albury, NSW, located along the
mighty Murray River. Exhausted from a long day’s drive, we ate snacks
for dinner and fell asleep early. If you never make it to Albury, NSW, I
wouldn’t harbour any regrets.
The next morning we headed south, this time to Mt.
Buffalo on the east side of Bright. The hiking here is much less
exposed and feels more like a bit of Tasmania or New Zealand
transplanted into the middle of Australia, with a nice little lake
tucked into the mountain top.
On the way of out town we made a number of stops to take some
photographs of the very unique and well-kept agricultural buildings in
the region. Nearly every farm had a collection of ‘kilns’ which appeared
to be used to slowly dry out hay or hops.
Bellarine Peninsula
15 August 2016 Queenscliff, VIC
We took advantage of the sunny and warm mid-winter day to get out of
the city and head down to the Bellarine
Peninsula. The city of Melbourne sits on the top of Port Philip Bay
while the Bellarine Peninsula and the Mornington Peninsula, divided by
just a thin kiss of sea known as The Rip, separate the Bay from the Bass
Strait. This is the only shipping access into Melbourne and so the 3.5
km stretch between the two peninsulas is crowded with vessels bound for
the port most of the day. We have explored the Mornington Peninsula many
times since moving here, but hadn’t spent much time out on the more
mellow, less touristy Bellarine. A drive along the coast side of the
Peninsula runs parallel to a large swath of rugged and windblown dunes.
Every 1 km or so, there is a parking lot packed with surfers perched on
top of their vans, taking videos or photos with cameras triple the cost
of said vans, and scouting the next set of waves. The bay side of the
Peninsula, has small towns that cater to the seasonal visitors coming
down from the city. Along the shore drive, beautiful old hotels anchor
each little town with names like ‘Indented Head’ and ‘Moolap’. Either
through tourism or recreation, the towns still support a tiny maritime
community, and countless piers with lightly-brined fishermen, both young
and ancient, reach out into the bay.
[Erin] Instead of a usual trek along the coast or some kind of
vigorous sporting activity, our pace is a bit slower at the moment, so
we spent the day doing retiree activities such as visiting lighthouses,
botanic gardens, shipwrecks, and hunting for odd Aussie treasures at
vintage warehouses. With just a few more weeks to go before this baby is
born, I am more than ready to be done serving my purpose as a house.
Andy recently told me that he didn’t remember a time when I wasn’t
pregnant, and although I wasn’t really sure how I should take that
comment, I completely agreed with the sentiment. I am grateful that I
have had a healthy pregnancy thus far, and I am sure, (sort of), I will
look back and treasure the experience, however, I would still like to
vote for the option of laying an egg and having Andy sit on it for
months on end.
Last of Winter, First of Spring
6 September 2016 Melbourne, VIC
[Erin] As we move into the final days (weeks?) of my pregnancy, we
also transition from winter to spring in the Southern Hemisphere. In
actuality, Spring doesn’t officially start until the Equinox on
September 22 this year, however, we found out last year that Australians
consider September 1st the beginning of Spring and celebrate it
joyfully.
Also arriving with the warmer season, are my parents. The intent was
for them to be here just a bit before the baby is born, and then after
to help us as we flail around as new parents, but at this point, the
‘after’ time period is slowing waning as the baby continues to stay
put.
Since this is their second visit to Melbourne, we have focused less
on the must-see tourist attractions, and more on the day-to-day
pleasures that make this city the ‘most livable in the world’ 6 years
running. In the last week we have attended that last of the Winter Night Markets at the
Queen Vic market, tried out a new café each day, tested various routes
to and from the hospital, attended a footy game, and sent them off on
their own to museums and shops to explore.
Each day we go for walks to enjoy the sunshine along the beach
promenade, also with the plan of shaking the baby out. It hasn’t worked
yet, but I can only hope it will soon.
Macedon Ranges
11 September 2016 Trentham, VIC
[Erin] In hopes that the baby would upset some well-laid plans, we
decided to take a day trip just a couple hours outside of town to the
Macedon Ranges. Starting out in the cool and semi-dreary weather, our
first stop was the Organ
Pipes National Park. The linear basalt columns giving the park its
name, rise 70 metres from the banks of Jackson Creek creating a vision
of nature’s cathedral. We strolled down from the parking lot and huffed
it back up the canyon – me moving at a remarkably slower pace than
normal.
Next stop was the Hanging
Rock Reserve, home to Mount Diogenes. This Reserve is one of the
best places in the world to see an example of a Mamelon, or the geologic
feature that occurs when thick lava pushes through a narrow vent in the
bedrock. We hiked up through the rock formations and then clambered
about at the top, (as much as a 9-month pregnant woman can clamber),
taking in the views to the surrounding country.
For lunch we visited the Redbeard Bakery in the
small town and foodie destination of Trentham. Famous for their wood
fired sourdoughs, the bakery is using the same Scotch Oven from 1891,
although now the bakery has been expanded to include an inviting café
and small foodstore stocked with local preserves, honey and other
goods.
Similar to the wonderful Holly B’s Bakery located in my hometown,
this bakery seemed to serve as both local community hub and beloved
destination for visitors and tourists. We left happy and sated with a
backpack full of baked goods.
The nearby Trentham Falls was our last stop before finishing up the
loop and heading back to Melbourne. Previously spoiled by the glorious
waterfalls of the PNW, Andy and I have found ourselves underwhelmed by
the waterfall destinations we have visited in Australia. The last few
days of heavy rains made it a perfect time to view the Trentham
Falls, and this time we were not disappointed. The day ended
uneventfully, with, unfortunately for my current level of comfort, no
trip to the hospital. Quickly approaching my due date, I can only hope
this baby is ready very soon.
Everett Arrives
12 September 2016 Parkville, VIC
[Andy] I awoke to ‘Oh shit, my waters are breaking!’ Six hours later
little Everett Tasman Krause was wriggling and wailing on mom’s chest. I
had two jobs in this drama: 1) Driving to the hospital, which I managed
with only one illegal turn and 2) Cutting the umbilical cord, which I
completed with all the skill of a kindergartner who, after eating a
stick of paste and drinking two Mountain Dews, decides to make a paper
snowflake. It took me four snips, one of which missed. It is a damn good
thing we only play a small role in this process. Erin was a hero (or
heroine), condensing the whole process into a short six-hour window and
whinging oh so little along the way. The little guy weighed in at 3,370
grams – it sounds so much more grand in metric – or 7lbs almost 7oz.
Everyone is healthy and happy and ready for the challenge ahead. More
photos in the posts that follow.
Everett’s First Outing
17 September 2016 Port Melbourne, VIC
Every 3rd Saturday a farmers market is held at one of the nearby
parks in our neighborhood. The park is named Gasworks Arts Park, making us
nostalgic for Seattle. The park has a set of old factory ruins
surrounding a central green space, an area which has been repurposed for
art studios, community uses, and cafes. Carts and stalls set up here
early, varying from Lebanese wraps, to hand cut sprouted greens, fresh
dairy, in-season fruit and veg, bagels, cider and beer, native flowers
and hot pies.
The weather was sunny and warm, so we packed Everett up in his pram,
gathered up enough gear and essentials to raise him until he was 10, and
set out on his first outing. Less than a week old, he didn’t do much
except wriggle out of his hat every 5 minutes, so we were able to eat
lunch, purchase groceries for dinner, and soak in the sun at our
leisure. While he was still asleep, we continued on our walk, stopping
at the nearby cricket oval to watch the local team training, and then
finally vectored home to unpack our purchases and newborn baby.
From 5 to 3
7 October 2016 Around Melbourne, VIC
As September turned to October we prepared for the departure of Kurt
and Kathie. Gone would be our dedicated cleaner, handy-man,
grocer-getter and baby-handlers. LIttle Everett will probably miss all
of the attention as well.
October also means the beginning of the summer baseball season. Erin
will likely continue to be our most dedicated fan, and Everett the
youngest. We’ve already suffered a number of injuries and legal mishaps
so it might another tough season for the Port Melbourne Mariners.
Finally, we took advantage of the free childcare one last time to
have an adult meal at one of our favourite places in the Windsor
neighbourhood, The
Thai on Chapel. En route, we detoured through one of Melbourne’s
many alleyways covered by amazingly detailed, constantly changing and
not always kid-friendly street art.
You Yang Ranges
17 October 2016 Little River VIC
This spring has been particularly wet, windy and cold. Luckily, this
past Sunday was a welcome exception. To celebrate we took little E out
for his first bush walk (hike). Both of us are a bit out of hiking shape
and we didn’t know how long he would last in the Ergo-Baby carrier, so
we chose a short and nearby tramp though the You
Yang Ranges. The one-hour hike offered plenty of good views down to
Port Phillip Bay and the surrounding fields turned green by the wet
weather. Everett slept most of the way and appeared to rather enjoy
being bounced up, down, over and around the well worn rocks along the
trail. Mom and dad got in some moderate climbing which was enough for
our-now weak thighs. What flat-landers we have become.
After the hike, we discussed the animals that we had seen on the trip
in one of his infant books. While he didn’t quite pick out the correct
answers, at least he pointed to animals on the right continent.
Yarra Valley
31 October 2016 Yarra Valley, VIC
Northeast of the city, the flat lands of Melbourne gradually
transition into the rolling hills of the Yarra Valley. Known for its
stellar wines, farmstand produce, art galleries and other trappings of a
bougie weekend - the valley also is also an easy day trip for a newborn
and his parents who are still trying to maintain some sense of
adventure.
We took the back roads to Yarra Glen, stopping first at the Hargreaves Hills Brewery - sat
in sun and enjoyed a beer and delicious food from locally sourced
ingredients. From there we continued to the Tarrawarra Museum of Art farther up
valley - impressively passing by both a chocolaterie and a distillery
without stopping - being parents has certainly streamlined our
adventures somewhat…
The art museum is set in to a hillside with a prospect out to the
Yarra valley beyond. A modern building stretches out horizontally along
the hill - concrete, glass and rammed earth. In addition to the art
museum, the property is home to a winery complete with cellar door
tasting room, outdoor sculpture garden and a restaurant. The weather was
perfect as the afternoon warmed up and visitors lay on the grass
enjoying the sun and the views.
[Erin] I fell in love with the outdoor museum café - a simple tiered
deck with bright tables and chairs under a grove of Pepper trees,
perfect for espresso or wine in the afternoon heat.
Everett wasn’t that impressed with the art, views or cafe and instead
slept in a little ball in dad’s arms while mom ran around taking dorky
design photographs of construction details and plants.
We have been trying to get Everett accustomed to longer hikes, so on
this trip we shrugged him in the front pack and took him hiking at the
Sugarloaf
Reservoir. Ever watchful for snakes, we trekked under the canopies
of massive Eucalyptus trees and down along the water’s edge.
Out in the country, surrounded by bush vegetation, the heat
intensifies the smell of the eucalyptus and wattle - such a different
scent than our Pacific Northwest evergreens - foreign and yet now
becoming familiar as we have been Kraustralians for almost two years
now.
Mornington with SarahB
5 November 2016 Red Hill, VIC
The Mornington Peninsula is the day-trip of choice with visitors when
the weather cooperates. The beauty of it is that no matter how many
times you go you always find something new to do. This would also be
Everett’s first trip here as well, though try as we did, it is doubtful
he’ll remember much of it.
It was a gorgeous, mostly sunny 27 degrees so our first stop was the
beach in the eponymous town of Mornington. It was getting a bit warm for
Everett in his capsule (car seat) so we took him into the water for his
first swim in the sea. Being mid-spring the water is cold and when a
wave rolled in he decided, quite quickly, that cold salt water wasn’t
the thing for him…at least not yet. Mornington’s beach has dozens of
small, colored beach boxes as well, always a fun adventure for the
design-minded.
Apart from its scenic splendor, the peninsula has a burgeoning
artisan food industry. A fine destination for our visitor who once ran a
popular Seattle food blog. Stops included Johnny
Ripe’s gourmet pie shop, Flinders Chocolaterie, Red Hill Brewery, Ten Minutes by Tractor
Winery and Main Ridge
Dairy. We had no less than five small lunches during the day, as
well as a few beers and glasses of wine, strategically spread between
driving and feeding duties.
We ended the day as always, with a dusk trip to Arthur’s
Seat Park for some kangaroo viewing. The little guy performed well
on his first long day trip. Only one small episode of ‘crackin it’
(unnecessary and inconsolable crying) and multiple naps in his capsule.
We want to train him to be ‘road-ready’ from an early age. The first try
was a success.
To Horsham by way of Grampians
9 November Horsham, VIC
We began our four-day road trip with a stop in the Grampians. A near
perfect, mid-week day meant that the park was much emptier than normal.
Being with small child and a visitor recovering from a ankle injury our
hikes were short and sweet, mostly 20-minute affairs from the various
carparks.
Mobile phone coverage is spotty throughout the park, a usual
annoyance which today, Election Day in the US, had the effect of putting
us in great suspense as the votes tallied up. When we got to the lookout
below our phones came to life and all the beauty of the world in front
of us did little to obscure the ugliness from home. It was a quite ride
to our small, farm shack
accommodation just outside of Horsham that evening.
Little Desert National Park to Robe
10 November 2016 Robe, South Australia
We started Day two of our road trip with fresh eggs from the chickens
and smashed avo on toast. What we have found to be the quintessential
Aussie brekkie.
[Erin] Back on the road, the route from the mountains to the coast
didn’t hold many attractions - so most of our day was spent on lonely
roads through farmlands and bush. We did stop at Little
Desert National Park for a quick bush walk through the spring
wildflowers. Andy packed the bub, Sarah swatted wildly (known here as
the Australian Salute) at the persistent swarm of flies, and I took a
few hundred plant photos, marveling at the rusts, pinks, golds and
countless tones of green.
A couple hours of driving later, we crossed from the State of
Victoria into the State of South Australia and reached the coastal town
of Kingston. This small town provided an opportunity to stretch our
legs, but mostly an excuse to visit the town’s claim to fame, a massive
steel and fiberglass lobster. The Big Lobster is
an incredibly literal and large advertisement for the the town’s bounty
of crustaceans, and one in the collection of the country’s subtly named
attractions ‘[Australia’s Big Things](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_things_(Australia)’.
Apparently there are hundreds of Big structures all
over the country, part novelty, part kitsch. Most often the themes
originate from the area’s history or specialty, (Big Ned Kelly, Big
Avocado, Big Kookaburra), they can also be oddly oversized and
intentionally gonzo artifacts intended as an tourist draw, (Big Poo, Big Bogan, Big
Rubik’s Cube).
From Kingston, we drove the coast highway east to our destination for
the evening in the small town of Robe.
While Robe is certainly busy during the hot summer months, it wasn’t so
during our visit and most of the shops and cafes closed down at 4pm.
After a quick walk to the beach, we finished the evening at the local
pub – happily surrounded by the din of locals, a cricket game on the TV
and a crackle from the wood fire – only in Australia would a fire be
necessary on a day reaching the low 70 degrees.
Robe to Port Fairy
11 November 2016 Port Fairy, VIC
Starting Day 3 of our roadtrip, Andy and I woke early – me because I
was protecting our son from the blood-sucking mozzies in our room and
Andy because I was thrashing around wildly. After the pest crisis was
solved, we took advantage of having a willing babysitter and drove out
to a for a sunrise walk along the coast from the old Gaol (jail) to a
picturesque obelisk, (read as primitive lighthouse).
We took off from Robe after breakfast and as the weather was already
heating up, our route stayed along the coastline to take advantage of
the breezes. We climbed over a few massive and scrub-covered dunes to
reach the long stretch of beach at Canunda
National Park before continuing along the coast to Cape Nelson
Lighthouse.
Our drive continued east along the coast, through fields of windmills
and emus, back across the state border into Victoria. We spent the
evening in the town of Port
Fairy. Despite threatening weather, we walked into town and stopped
at Coffin Sally to
pick up some amazing pumpkin, and goat cheese pizza. The ‘restaurant’
was so small it was practically a kiosk – with a table and stools on the
sidewalk for customers – Sarah and I could barely squeeze into the
doorway area to order. Luckily, the pizza was far more ample than the
real estate, and we had delicious leftovers for breakfast.
Port Fairy to Home
12 November 2016 Great Ocean Road, VIC
We made some last minute changes on Day 4 of our road trip as the
weather called for a series of rainstorms washing across the coastline –
and directly over our path of travel for the day.
[Erin] We hustled to visit some of the main attractions early, Loch
Ard Gorge and the 12
Apostles – before the storms and the crowds. Andy and I have visited
this area several times now by ourselves and each time guests come to
visit and the experience is different. The seasons, the weather, the
tides all affecting the colors, access and light. This particular
morning, attendance was low, we practically had the place to ourselves.
The light was also low, with the storm sitting just over the horizon it
was hard to see the sky and sea as distinct. Although the color of the
water is absolutely brilliant on a clear and sunny day, this may have
been one of my favorite visits, a moody light, a crisp breeze and the
lack of selfie sticks.
We finished up our roadtrip by taking Sarah to a couple of our
Koala-spotting locations, stopping in a few small towns for snacks and
sundries and made it back to Melbourne by the evening. Everett was a
total champ on the trip, sleeping when we drove, eating when we stopped,
happily packed around in an assortment of transportation devices.
Thanksgiving
1 December 2016 Port Melbourne, VIC
For our second Thanksgiving in Australia, Everett’s first
Thanksgiving ever, I wanted to make everything perfect. Andy made me
rein back the menu a bit from last year by ordering a turkey and having
our guests bring a dish, so I kept most of my sanity and it ended up
being a fantastic feast.
We invited four of our Aussie friends – in the spirit of spreading
American traditions, thanks, and calories. Quite coincidentally, my
cousin Michael was visiting from San Francisco, so it was wonderful to
have him there as well.
With dishes going in and out of the tiny oven and last minute food
prep, I forgot to take a picture of our table filled with food and
surrounded by friends, but I did manage to capture our counter covered
in food before we tucked in. If you can imagine 7 adults and 2 babies in
a small living room/ kitchen gathered around a tall desk and a small
picnic table, some standing, some sitting, some worming around on the
floor, drinking, eating, laughing and drooling – then you get the
idea.
The following day, we attended another Thanksgiving meal this time
with a group of new expat friends I have met through the yoga studio I
attend. A delightful group of half Americans, half Australians – we had
an amazing spread including all of the Thanksgiving classics but with a
gourmet Aussie spin.
Everyone ate outside on the back porch in the sun – sharing recipes
and stories. We finished the meal with pie and homemade Butter Pecan ice
cream – a flavor that hasn’t made it to Australia yet, so it tastes 100%
like the USA. Through both boisterous events – Everett was content being
passed from arms to arms, or quieting studying the different sounds and
intently smelling the different scents. We are, as always, thankful for
family, friends, and good health – but this year, we are especially
thankful for our little pip.
One of our guests made the comment that they weren’t returning this
year if I didn’t make the Pumpkin Cheesecake again, so I made extra this
year to send home as leftovers. This also means having baby cheesecakes
for brekkie - my person Thanksgiving ritual.
Calm Before the Storm
5 December 2016 Port Melbourne, VIC
Over the next three months we will have visitors for most of the time
and will be travelling to all parts of the country with them, so we took
the opportunity to do a few things around the city on this last weekend
by ourselves. Friday was a cool, crisp spring day and we made our way
down to the new park in Port Melbourne. It is reclaimed from part of an
industrial pier and offers great views from the observation deck back to
city. Everett was not as excited as we were and slept through most of
it.
[Andy] On Saturday, we stopped by the Big Design Market
expo at the very old and ornate Melbourne Exhibition Hall. It was a bit
of melee and had one too many artisan soap sellers for my liking, but I
did manage to cross off a few Christmas gifts from my list and purchase
myself a much needed leather belt. Erin left without kicking and
screaming, but I know she really wanted a few more hours inside.
Needing some fresh air, we headed to the Dandenong Ranges for a short
bushwalk on Sunday. We found an interesting botanical gardens (RJ
Hamer Arboretum) that consisted of various groves of North American
and Asian tree species. Much to Erin’s delight, she was able to give
Everett and me the full Latin names for most of the trees we walked by.
I’m not sure which of us was more impressed. Luckily, the little guy
enjoys bopping around the woods in his Ergo carrier because there will
be plenty of that in his future.
Kata Tjuta National Park
13 December 2016 Yulara, NT
We took advantage of some cheap airfares to do a 24-hour in-and-out
trip to the Red Centre to see some big rock formations. It was Everett’s
first plane ride so we didn’t really know what to expect, but he was a
champion, sleeping most of the 3-hour flight on the way there and when
he wasn’t sleeping he was charming the young female backpackers sitting
near us (some behavior, it would seem, is genetic). Flying with an
infant requires more gear than an Antarctic mission so it was nice to
have the grandparents along as porters.
We exited the plane stairs onto the tarmac to enjoy that sweet smell
of desert air and a comforting 41C/106F heat. We grabbed our bags and
rental car and at the fork in the road headed west to Kata
Tjuta, Uluru’s less famous and nearly as impressive cousin.
Besides the heat, the flies are real bad in this part of the
world…but moving quickly between attractions seemed to help. After
sprinting about 100m to a view point overlook I was momentarily inspired
to do more long distance running when I returned home. That feeling
quickly faded to a desire for multiple ice cold beers.
Normally, we’d do a fair bit of hiking here, but with the little guy
and the intense sun we, somewhat begrudgingly, became your standard
tourists driving from one parking lot to the next. In Australia,
sometimes it is safer to stay on the beaten path. And the beaten path
here was, extreme heat and flies notwithstanding, truly amazing.
Uluru National Park
14 December 2016 Yulara, NT
Kata Tjuta rock formation and the better known Uluru are actually
within the same National Park boundary, but Uluru gets all the
attention. Both are spectacular, but Uluru, its sheer mass grounded to
such a flat plane seems like something out of a dream or a sci-fi movie.
It is hard to capture in photos, but magical in person. The rock has a
mutable quality, changing with levels of light, heat and variation of
cloud cover. Each time we drove by, heading from one viewing point or
lookout to the next, the scene changed. Over the two days of our visit,
we saw clear bluebird skies, a heavy rising moon, a fraction of a
rainbow, raked cloud cover and a rain drizzle over Uluru. Each painting
the rock with a different set of shadows and colors – reinventing the
experience from minute to minute.
On day two, we were up before the sun, hustling back to the park in
hopes that the light would sneak under the cloud cover to shine on
Uluru. We were not disappointed. As the sun slowly ascended, the colors
became more saturated and peaked with a bright vermillion before evening
out to shades of red, purple and brown as the daylight brightened.
Everett wasn’t as impressed as we were and he continued to sleep
through the sunrise and our circumambulation of the rock. The
temperatures had dropped drastically overnight so we were able to take
him out of an air-conditioned car or hotel room and allowing him to take
in some of the desert views. He was once again back asleep as we boarded
the airplane and returned to Melbourne, already a seasoned traveler and
a pro at sleeping on the go.
Sorrento Holiday
24 December 2016 Sorrento, VIC
With the Jacobs 4 and the Krause 2 all squeezed in our modest
Melbourne home, we retreated to an Airbnb for some sun, sand and space.
Our destination: Sorrento, a small but lively town on the Mornington
Peninsula about 90 minutes drive from Melbourne. On a cloudy Monday
morning we loaded the hired (rented) trailer, packed into the car a bit
like sardines and off we went.
Sorrento is located near the very tip of the peninsula and offers
beaches on both the cold and breezy ocean side as well as the warmer and
calmer bay side. Our rented home was located
very near the ocean side, giving us walking access to the numerous, very
picturesque and often deserted, beaches.
Most of our time was spent with our feet in the water or in the
welcoming hot tub back at the house. With three (ok two) capable
baby-sitters, Erin and I managed to sneak away for a long bike ride out
to Nepean
Point. A wonderful ride through old military bunkers and scenic
panoramas; all without the bother of motorized vehicles. It was Erin’s
first time back on the bike after the bub, so someone was a bit sore the
next day.
Our four days at the house went by much too fast, but at least we had
Christmas in summer to look forward to. Much to my surprise, I only made
a single visit to Sorrento’s gourmet ice cream shop during our stay.
Christmas in Summer
25 December 2016 Port Melbourne, VIC
For Northern Hemispherers(ites?), a warm Christmas with long, sunny
days is certainly odd. We passed on getting an actual Christmas tree
(high fire risk) and opted for the use of local plants – Eucalyptus
wreaths and bouquets – to add some holiday cheer. With the Family Jacobs
in town, there was no shortage of gifts to be opened. But first, the
beach.
Christmas Eve was a sweltering 37C/98F, so on to the water for some
relief. Everett was quite happy with his dip in the warm bay water,
especially since mom and dad were there to help. A friend of Erin’s from
high school also happened to be in town, so we had an entire section of
the beach dedicated to Yanks with strange accents and stranger
customs.
Christmas Day was even warmer, hitting 100F. We left the house for a
family photo and quickly retreated back inside. In true Aussie fashion,
our Christmas meal was done on the grill; shrimp, fish and lamb. Cold
drinks closed out a wonderful, though too warm, day with family.
Torquay
28 December 2016 Torquay, VIC
Post-Christmas we had the pleasure (luck?) of being tasked with
house-sitting for one of my work colleagues. Her home is located in Torquay, a
famous beach town renown for it’s surf beaches and culture. The weather
wasn’t the most cooperative, but we managed a number of beach hikes and
short road trips down the Great Ocean Road and around the Bellarine
Peninsula during our time there. Again, it was nice to have the added
space and cool ocean breezes.
One afternoon, a strong northerly breeze blew in seriously hot and
dry air from the Outback. A thirst arose among the group. Blackman’s Brewery in
town held the cure for our ails. Everett enjoyed the multi-colored
tasting paddles that we ordered, well, visually at least. The rest of us
enjoyed them in the proper fashion.
On our return from Torquay we made a slight diversion to visit the Ballarat Wildlife Park. For a
modest price, one can walk among some of Australia’s friendlier native
and get a close up, caged looked at some of it’s fiercest. In addition
to the kangaroos and emus that wander the grounds, there are all many of
snakes, koalas, quolls, wombats, Tasmanian devils and assorted avian
species in pens and glass cases. While the snakes are frightening, the
star of the show is the 15-foot look saltwater crocodile names ‘Crunch’.
At first glance he appears to be a model replica of some terror from the
Jurassic, but with time he slowly moves, eyes often following a human
walk past his adequately secure enclosure. Simply being in that large
room with him makes you question your assumed position at the top of the
food chain.
After the park, we left the grandparents in Ballarat for a one-night
stay of their own and Erin, Eric, Everett and I headed back to
Melbourne. A few days later Eric would head back for school and work.
Then there were five.
Great Australian Road Trip, Going North
15 January 2017 VIC -> NSW -> QLD
The car was full to brim, including luggage on most people’s laps, as
we took Kurt and Kathie to the airport for their long journey home.
After their departure we would head north for the first leg of our Great
Aussie Road Trip. The abundance of gear was due to the first law of
modern parenting which states that the amount of things you need to
bring to support your child varies inversely with the weight of that
child.
We would head nearly due north for three days until we arrived in
Noosa to stay with our friends Jodie and Paul. We’ll be taking the Newell Highway
(A39) most of the way. After a few hours rolling through grain
fields on a narrow and poorly maintained 2-lane highway, we quickly
admitted a vastly increased appreciation of the U.S. interstate
system.
With Everett, we try to time the driving to coincide with his naps
and then stop and take him out to play in a park of some sorts between.
It makes for slow going, but does allow one to appreciate the small town
scattered across the vast Australian plain. This is farm country.
Straight, flat roads filled with semi-trucks. Limited trees and
wildlife. Flies. many flies.
Our first stop was in the town of Parkes.
A regional center, we oddly had a hard time finding a hotel room on a
Wednesday night. As we learned later, the largest Elvis festival in
Australia was happening this coming weekend and over 25,000 people would
descend on the town. Unfortunately for them and for us, they were in the
midst of an intense heat wave. Temps were pushing 42C/107F when we
arrived.
The next day we awoke and drove through much of west-central New
South Wales. The mercury continued to rise, so our stops were short and
consisted of finding an air-conditioned McDonalds or public building in
which to feed Everett. At our lunch stop in Narrabri, our
vehicle’s thermometer registered 46C (115F). Rolling into Goondiwindi that
night to stay, it had dropped to 41. Nonetheless, our room’s AC was a
welcome amenity.
Finally, half way through day three, the landscape changed from
tree-less, pastoral expanses to thick vegetation and rolling hills. We
had crossed the Great Divide into tropical Queensland. The temperature
dropped and the humidity rose. In place of cows and wheat were people
and swimming pools. A bit tired, we arrived at Jodie + Paul’s around
3pm. A cold beer or two was enjoyed.
Hotel Burns-Phillips
17 January 2017 Noosa, QLD
After three long, hot days and 1,907 kilometers of rolling wheat
fields, road trains and record setting heat we found ourselves in Noosa, our northern most port
of call on the journey. It was hotter than usual here too, so the
unpacking of the car was put on hold while a few cold beverages were
consumed. A medical necessity. We’d be spending three nights at our
friends Paul and Jodie’s new home in Noosa Heads.
On day one, the weather was splendid. A perfect opportunity to test
out Paul’s new beach tent. The water here is much warmer than down in
Melbourne, a fact that was not lost on Everett as he took his first dip
in the tropical Pacific Ocean. No crying this time. Due to Queensland’s
refusal to employ daylight savings, the sun goes down early here and we
spent the the evening enjoying grilled meats and watching the full moon
rise out over the sea. Day two brought a break to the heat and scattered
thunderstorms. An ideal day for a leisurely stroll through the farmer’s
market and a long nap.
We left Noosa early Monday and began the great journey back south,
this time along the coast. Jodie and Paul would be joining us for the
first leg, from Noosa to Byron Bay, about 3.5 hours south. Along the way
we made a few pit stops, one in the Gold Coast and another at Coolangatta to
watch the surfer’s attack the famous rip. The surf was down, but the
weather was ideal. Everett seems not to mind being back on the road
again.
Byron Bay
19 January 2017 Byron Bay, NSW
Byron Bay is, arguably, one of
the most beautiful and inspiring places on the eastern coast of
Australia. It holds something for surfers, shoppers and seekers,
beach-goers, backpackers and bums. And they are all here, all of the
time. What used to be a small, quiet beach town is now a bustling little
hub of all things tourist-y. The natural beauty of it suffers very
little, thankfully, from man’s encroachment.
Having booked a bit late, we were only able to find lodging in Brunswick Heads, a small
town about 10 minutes drive from Byron. Brunswick Heads is probably what
Byron was like in the 1970s; small local restaurants and shops,
uncrowded beaches and an easy time finding parking. While the action is
in Byron, the authenticity remains in Brunswick. From the local pub to
the Mexican restaurant, you feel less like a tourist and more like a
regular.
While there, we ate, drank and were merry, including a memorably
delicious feast at the
Roadhouse. On our last morning, Erin, Everett and I awoke early and
parted ways with Jodie and Paul. We made for Wategos
Beach to beat the throngs that would descend later in the day.
Swimming in the impossibly blue waters, a school of dolphins approached
and appeared to be riding the breaking waves and performing for the
early morning crowd. While we were quite a distance away and by no means
‘swam with the dolphins’, it remained a magical moment in a magical
place. Wishing we had another day, we packed up and headed south. Next
up: Sydney.
Sydney
22 January 2017 Sydney, NSW
Sydney. Melbourne’s bigger, louder cousin. We arrived midday after a
two-day trip down from Byron, including a quiet night in Forster.
Excited to get out of the car and onto our feet for two days, we were
lucky enough to get an early check-in at our hotel, unpack
and hit the town. Traveling with a landscape architect means that public
parks and open spaces are always high on the list. After a bit of a walk
through the tourist throngs of Darling Harbour, we found
ourselves at the newly opened Bangaroo
Park. An old port/industrial facility, it has been transformed into
an amazingly fresh and open park right in the heart of the city.
From the park, we walked up through the old stone buildings of The
Rocks neighborhood. Dehydrated from the long walk on our feet we ducked
into the Lord Nelson
Brewery Hotel for a quick pint. Advertised as Australia’s old
brewery, the scene was just picking up with happy hour revellers as we
made our exit. The small child beast we were carting around the city had
awoken and his hunger trumped our thirst. Erin and said beast hustled
back to the hotel while I make a slight detour through Haymarket to get
us some Thai food for the evening. Total walked distance: 7.4 miles.
Up early on day 2, we took the first ferry from Darling Harbour out
to Manly
Beach. By virtue of our earliness we were the only people on the
boat, the stunning view of the harbor all to ourselves. in going out to
Manly the journey itself is at least half of the reward. The wind was
blowing in hard off the water, so we grabbed a quick breakfast and
ambled along the shore for a bit before return to the city, via Circular
Quay.
Back in the city proper, we followed the crowds to the Opera House.
The weather threatened and shortly after we arrived the rain began. We
fought through the initial sprinkles to catch lunch at the street
market, but after the food the skies opened up and we plodded back to
the hotel in a downpour.
After waiting out the rain, we made a short circuit around Darling
Harbour and nearby sites. A long day on our feet, but a good one despite
the rain. Total distance walked: 11.23 miles. Even Everett looked
knackered and he didn’t take a single step.
Bondi Beach
23 January 2017 Bondi, NSW
[Erin] I fell in love with Bondi
Beach. Part California coast with the flair of the Italian Riviera -
Art Deco and Malibu pastels all soaked in sun and perfect for
people-watching. We started the day with a fancy brekkie at a packed
beachside café. Everett stared at all the Aussies in their bathers as
they strutted by, Andy and I did as well, just a little less
obviously.
Before the heat became overwhelming, we started the coast walk that
connects Bondi Beach to the less famous, but equally striking Bronte
Beach. The trail snakes along the sandstone coast, transitioning
from boardwalk to stone staircases, up and around the headlands with
panoramic views. Like many other places in Australia, they have managed
to keep much of the shoreline and beachfront areas accessible to the
public, so instead of massive homes stacked side by side, there is a
wonderful expanse of public amenity.
Andy and Everett turned back part way as we are terrified of Everett
getting a sunburn. I walked on along the coast until I had my fill of
the heat and the views and then returned for one final lap along the
beach. On our way out of town, we made a last stop to the first
lighthouse built in Australia, a bright white beauty that faces
east, high above the sea below.
Although we still had a couple more days of driving home from Sydney,
this was our final day to explore and be tourists. The final days were
mostly spent driving in 3 hours chunks during naps and finding small
playgrounds to let Ev roll around in the grass, including a stay in Yass.
Though the Great Australian Road Trip may not have been as epic as our
pre-bub explorations, it certainly felt like quite the adventure…
Mornington Day Trip
6 February 2017 Mornington, VIC
Matt and Kathy survived the 29-hour marathon trip from Green Bay, WI
to Melbourne. After giving them a few days to orient themselves (and
beat the jet lag), we took off for a day trip to the Mornington
Peninsula. We left Melbourne before dawn so we could arrive at the Peninsula Hot Springs as
they opened. The first ones through the door, we headed straight for the
pool at the top of the hill and the view over to the rising sun.
Throughout the morning we worked our way through the various hot
pools. Everett enjoys bath time, so for him this was just an extended
two-hour bath with his whole family in the tub with him.
For the middle of summer, it wasn’t a particularly warm day. A cool
breeze blew from the south and the clouds slowly built throughout the
day. Before grabbing lunch in Flinders, we stopped at the Cape Schanck
Lighthouse for a short, but steep hike down to the water and back. The
wind blew fiercely here and one is easily reminded that the next dry
land beyond that point is Antarctica (if you steer around the edge of
Tasmania).
Travelling with a five-month old means that day trips have to be
fairly short or someone gets upset. After a brief stop Arthurs Seat for
a view of the bay and a few odd kangaroos we headed home to the
city.
A Night of Footy
8 February 2017 Footscray, VIC
No trip to Melbourne is complete without catching at least one
Australian Rules Football game, or “Footy” for short. The men’s season
had not yet started, but luckily for us the women were in full swing. In
an effort to increase the fan base for the women’s game, we were able to
score some of the free tickets. We arrived 30 minutes before the start
and were one of the last few hundred to be let in as it was a capacity
crowd. Their plan had worked…too well.
These women hit just as hard as the men and there were some good
fights and tussles as well as a few nice goals. It wasn’t a packed house
at Etihad, but it was a cultural experience none the less.
A Rural Victoria Loop
13 February 2017 Nhill, VIC
Having spent their first week in the city, we decided to head out to
rural Victoria to give Matt and Kathy a taste of the quieter side of
Australia. Our first stop was the old mining town of Castlemaine.
An old wool mill that is now a brewery/antique shop/dairy/ice
creamery/cafe was our first stop. Good beer, respectable food and
sizeable collection of Australiana’s best. The temperature was pushing
40C (104F) so, in the name of decency, we had ice cream to go.
That night we made our home in Bendigo,
in a nice little
Airbnb opposite the railway station from downtown. After a brief
stop at a local hotel (pub) to cool us down, we retired to the
air-conditioned house for an evening of Australian television…always a
treat.
Day two we drove across a few hundred miles of farmland to reach Little
Desert National Park, just outside of the aptly named town of Nhill.
The temperature had only risen and was now pushing 44C / 111F. Arriving
at the Little Desert Nature
Lodge – our attempt to give our guests the most ‘Outback’ experience
possible within a day’s drive of Melbourne – we immediately retired to
our air-conditioned rooms to wait out the heat of the day. We managed
get in a few small hikes around the national park, hustling from shade
to shade. At dusk, the yard filled with kangaroos and the resident
emu.
After an amazing sunrise we beat the heat and took a longer walk into
the National Park. From there it was a three-hour drive through to the
Grampians. A few stops at the major lookouts and hikes had everyone
hungry for our picnic lunch in Halls Gap.
That night we stayed in the small
town of Dunkeld, at the southern entrance to the Grampians. We were
fortunate enough to catch a local game of adult league cricket. While we
didn’t really know what was going on, the presence of full cooler of
beer and the backdrop of Mt.
Sturgeon made for a welcoming afternoon. That evening we dined at
the pub of the famous Royal
Mail Hotel. The foreigners had their first taste of Chicken
Parma, the Australian mainstay pub meal, and loved it.
The rain the following morning ruined our plans of long hike in the
Grampians. We made our way to the wildlife park in Ballarat instead for
some up close and personal time with kangaroos, koalas and a 16-foot
saltwater crocodile.
Around town with the Krause siblings
15 February 2017 Melbourne, VIC
Janie arrived near the end of Matt and Kathy’s stay. Amidst the full
house, Everett was never without a playmate. He’ll be in for quite a
surprise when it is down to just mom and dad in a few weeks time. To
keep us from getting too claustrophobic with 5 adults and child in our
tiny home, we made a number of little day trips out and around town.
Checking out the amazing collection of plants at the botanical gardens
or the edgy street art in some of the grittier neighborhoods were good
fun for everyone.
Kathy came down with a stomach virus and Erin volunteered to watch
Evo for the day so the Krause siblings could do a day of adventure on
their own. We started with a late morning hike in the rain forest-y Dandenong
Ranges National Park east of the city. The 1,000 steps trail had all
of us flatlanders looking for breath by the top. After a long lunch with
beers at Bell
Tavern in Belgrave we made a stop by the Brighton Beach boxes for
one last bit of sun and beach before Matt and Kathy return to February
in Wisconsin.
Christchurch to Aoraki
22 February 2017 Canterbury, NZ
Our late Sunday night flight landed around midnight, Everett having
slept through nearly all of it. A brief debacle leaving Australia on
account of Everett’s non-existent visa and a slight skirmish at NZ
customs due to my poor hand-writing had me 0-2 on the day. There is
certainly now a mark near my name in a database somewhere. Luckily the
hotel shuttle arrived and we finally crawled to bed around 2am. After
picking up the car we made straight for the hills, well mountains
really. Out of the clouds of Christchurch and up into the sunny skies of
central Canterbury.
Our first real stop was at Lake Tekapo. One
of the many aquamarine alpine lakes east of the NZ alps, it was a bit
overrun with tour busses, but we found some time to play in the clear
and not too cold water. That night we made our home at a small chalet in
Twizel.
We arose early and made the 45-minute drive down the length of Lake
Pukaki to Mt. Cook village at the foot of Aoraki (Mt.
Cook). This drive rivals the trip from Jasper to Banff as my
all-time favorite drives. The water is an impossible blue, the hills
bright shades of yellow and green and Aoraki standing in front of you, a
perfect white pyramid defying the moisture laden air rolling over its
flanks from the wet side of the island. Photos truly do not do it
justice.
Our first stop was up the Tasman Valley for a short, but steep hike
to see the Tasman Glacier and the lake and river that flow out of it.
Everett’s middle name is Tasman, mostly due to the beauty of this
valley. He honored this eponymous hike with a severe wetting of his
pants at the top, necessitating a high altitude diaper change. Overall,
I think he was pleased with his namesake glacier, dirty and receding as
it may be this far down the mountain.
After a brief foray into the Hooker Valley on foot the clouds moved
in and the views rapidly diminshed. We retreated to the gift shop to
grab some keepsakes for the bub. Everett slept most of the three-hour
trip to Wanaka, our home for the next three days.
Wanaka and Surrounds
26 February 2017 Canterbury, NZ
Wanaka has
always been the step-sister to the much more popular Queenstown nearly
an hour away. I think the residents like it that way. And so did we.
Absent the Louis Vuitton stores and Jet Boat rides, Wanaka just gets on
with providing a relaxing place to stay amidst the natural splendor of
New Zealand’s alpine lakes and towering peaks. The downtown lakefront is
such a great place to relax, have a beer and watch the sun go down. We
spent every night here, usually with a burrito from one of the delicious
food trucks in town. That qualifies as partying when you have a 5-month
old.
We took a day trip between the lakes, over the crest and through the
woods to the wet western side of the island. In the span of an hour you
go from high, dry plains to temperate rain forest. What are not pictured
above and below are the vicious sand flies which made our hike to the Blue
Pools both short and painful.
Our final day in Wanaka we drove the tenuous road through the Cardona
Valley to Queenstown. It was high season and it was hard to find space
for the pram on the sidewalk, let alone parking. We retreated to quaint
Arrowtown for lunch and returned home via the more sensible highway
route.
Mountains to Coast to Home
01 March 2017 Oamaru, NZ
Leaving Wanaka, we drove the scenic route down to the coast. Through
towns like Ranfurly, Ophir and Inch Valley we had finally found
ourselves off of the tourist track. Miles and miles of rolling hills,
burnt yellow by the summer sun. We finally arrived at the coast near
Moeraki, a small
town famous for its boulders. But first lunch.
Erin had found a small boathouse turned famous restaurant (Fleurs Place) where we dined on
all manner of creatures only recently pulled from the surrounding
waters. We then made our way to the aformentioned boulders. Strange orbs
dotting the coast for about a fifty-meter stretch, they proved worthy of
the slight diversion.
That night we stayed in the quirky little city of Oamaru. Famous for its
Victorian buildings and Steampunk culture, it did not disappoint. While
there, we stumbled on an amazing bookstore
dedicated solely to travel and adventure books (mostly in New Zealand),
a movie* being filmed and a great little brewery. If you are at
all nostalgic or a fan of architecturally interesting, yet enduringly
practical construction Oamaru is worth a day or two of your time.
*Note that for a few hours we thought the movie in question was going
to be the one starting Oprah and Mindy Kaling (which was filming in NZ
at the time). It was not.
We had a late flight out of Christchurch that next evening. There was
trouble again at immigration, but a few phone calls and a bit of waiting
and Everett was allowed onto the plane and back into Australia. A
whirlwind trip of late night flights, 1,200kms of driving and minding
the arsenal of goods required to travel with a five-month old (even one
as well behaved as Everett was on this trip) can leave you exhausted.
But a place like NZ refreshes the internal vigor and provides the
perspective one needs as life races forward.
A Few Things I’m Loving About Melbourne
27 March 2017 Melbourne, Vic
DESIGN - The mix of old and new architecture in Melbourne continues
to impress me. An old brick wool factory will be next door to a modern
design, a decrepit shack abbuting a multimillion dollar estate.
LANEWAYS - Every week we live here, we explore a little more, and
now, over two years into this adventure, we have gotten to know the city
quite well. That being said, each time we go out for a walk or meal in a
different neighborhood, we seem to find a new hidden laneway or alley.
Most of them are mere pedestrian connections thru to the next block, but
they almost always are blanketed in dramatic street art or hiding a
speakeasy, or covered in hanging plants. Many cities have large tourist
draws, must-see destinations to marvel at, like the Sydney Opera House,
the Seattle Space Needle, the Roma Coliseum… With Melbourne, we always
take visitors on walks through these city-wide series of laneways, since
they may not hold the same level of wonderment, but they do provide an
equal level of delight, and capture the essence of what makes Melbourne
so special.
NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS - I love these tree-lined streets in our
neighborhood, making walks in the blistering heat just a little more
comfortable…
COFFEE CULTURE - Perhaps finding a level above Seattle in coffee
snobbery, Melbourne also has the goods to back up the bluster. No meal
is complete with out a flat white, or a long black or a cold filter. If
you order a chai latte, you will almost always be served with what
amounts to an entire kitchen of cups and saucers and spoons and there is
a high tea level ritual to the process. Sometimes I will order one just
for the fuss of it. Also, I recently learned that if you order an ‘Iced
Coffee’ you will end up with a scoop of ice cream in with your espresso
and topped with whipped cream. The newest hipster coffee trend here is
the Golden Latte which is a spiced concoction of turmeric and ginger,
cinnamon, milk and espresso… while I usually stick with a simple coffee,
I love all the options..
ROOFTOP & HIDDEN BARS - Sometimes through a secret bookshelf
door, a hot dog deli freezer door, a back alley staircase or simply a
subtle elevator - you find yourself transported to an entire new side to
Melbourne. It is impossible not to get caught up in the excitement of a
secret bar, even if half
of the city also knows about it, deeming it not as secret as you
thought. Still, the speakeasy vibe to many of the bars around Melbourne
make a good excuse to head out for a drink. Being that we are often
carting around a miniature +1 and all of his many accessories, we prefer
the pram-friendly, open-in-the-afternoon ‘hidden’ bars…
The Beginning of the End
21 April 2017 Port Melbourne, Vic
With a heavy heart, Erin and I have decided that we’ll be moving back
to the States at the end of May. While we are most certainly excited
about returning to the homeland, there many, many things that we’ll
truly and dearly miss about Melbourne. Over on Instagram we are doing a
blitz of things we’ll long for once gone. Check it out at
#thingswewillmissaboutMelbourne.
Just 40 days remaining. Sometimes it seems like we’ve been here a
lifetime, but at others I vividly remember that cab ride into the city
after we landed for the first time and it feels like yesterday. This now
is the last week of calm before our lives get very busy with a five-week
sprint including a short out-of-state weekend, my conference in Chicago,
Erin and I finishing up teaching, packing, cleaning and moving. As a
result, we (along with Sarah B. for 13 glorious days) have been using
this past month to simply enjoy the small everyday pleasures of being in
the world’s most livable city (as voted by The Economist). Hiking.
Frequenting local pubs. Playing in park. Wandering the town. Listening
to Raffi. Basking in the Antipodean autumnal sun. Parenting. You know,
life.
The Byron Bay Long Weekend
02 May 2017 Byron Bay, NSW
Between the packing, teaching and Andy’s travel we were able to carve
out one last weekend for an out-of-town trip. Cheap flights and a desire
to see what we missed on our last stop sent us back to Byron Bay and the
Northern
Rivers region of New South Wales. We brought baby-sitters this time
(Kurt and Kathie in tow), so mom and dad might get some more ‘beers on
the beach’ time.
Being a bit older, Everett had a lot more fun in the water and the
sand. He thoroughly enjoyed the hikes around the headland, digging tiny
holes with his toes and eating the seed pods in the park. We enjoyed
being able to leave the house for a swim with the dolphins at Wategos
Beach, sans child.
The weather did not disappoint as it was mid 20s (low 70s) and sunny
nearly every day. Our Airbnb was right
downtown Byron so we had a chance to see a bit of the night life (until
about 8pm) and sample some of the finer smoothies and gelatos on the
coast. On the last day we did a long drive through the hinterlands to
see all the small towns that are prospering by being in Byron’s wake. As
our plane departed, it was sad to leave knowing it might be a decade or
more before we return.
Moving Out
17 May 2017 Byron Bay, NSW
Our time at 7
Spring Street has come to an end. Once the empty boxes arrived from
the moving company, the fact that we are leaving Australia at the end of
this month hit home. When we made the decision 7 months ago it seemed so
far off. Now its a matter of days.
Kurt and Kathie are down to help with the move and to make a few
stops in Fiji, Sydney and Hawaii. Their service in packing has been
invaluable. As a reward, they get to watch the child while we go about
working, cataloguing and completing the hundred other little things that
go with preparing for an international move. Everett has picked a good
time to become very mobile as there is no lack of things to climb over,
under and through – as most of the household goods are strewn about in
anticipation of being boxed up. The movers come the morning of the 19th
and after that point it is living out of our suitcases for 45-60 days
while our things ride the slow boat to Seattle. Of the things traveling
with us on the plane, I’d venture a guess that at least half are for the
smallest member of the family.
City Living
29 May 2017 Melbourne, VIC
For our last 12 days in Australia we booked an Airbnb in the heart of
downtown, near the corner of Lonsdale and Russell to be exact. Closer to
work, restaurants and many of the attractions we want to see one last
time, we are hoping for a relaxing end to our Antipodean Odyssey…if such
a thing is possible with small child.
Using the proceeds from our Gumtree (Craigslist) fire-sale of
Australian appliances and household goods too bothersome to ship, we
lived heavy on high quality take-out food. By no coincidence, our place
borders both Chinatown and Little
Athens, two of the better ethnic food neighborhoods in downtown.
There are three major parks within a ten minute walk. Most afternoons
Everett and I have ventured to them to dig our toes into the grass and,
mostly, to eat as many of the falling leaves as possible. The little guy
especially likes the night time walks around the bars and restaurants
with their milling crowds and flashy lights. He bores easily inside, but
seems to really relish the action of city life.
We are also using our central location to set up as many ‘good-bye’
lunches, drinks and walks as possible. Good-byes are hard. And they
don’t seem to get any easier with age.
The End
30 May 2017 Melbourne, VIC
It is hard to believe it’s been nearly two and half years since we
first landed in Melbourne; tired, but ready for an adventure. We
certainly had one. We didn’t see and do everything we set out to, but we
experienced many things and places we had no idea existed. And we are
the better for it.
We now leave with an addition to our family, an appreciation of this
strange culture and beautiful land and a deeper understanding of
ourselves, our relationship, our goals and our dreams.
Thank you Australia, and Melbourne, and Friends. THE END
