Michael and Jane and flying Kangaroos

Just woke up after the first leg of our big journey across the red center. We spent the day in a beautiful little town called McLaren Vale just near Adelaide. A friend I work with (Thanks so much Teri!) has family over here and assured me that just HAD to visit these people. At first I thought it might be a bit awkward, but what the hell. Teri got us hooked up through email and these graciousness of these hosts started flowing. We had already booked a hotel in Adelaide for this trip but they offered to put us up for the night, so we canceled and decided to stay with them.

They met us at the airport, and proceeded to take us from goergous winery to georgous winery. McLaren Vale is like the Australian version of Tuscany. Vines and wineries everywhere. Being able to experience this place with instant friends made it that much more special. They knew the people at the wineries, and introduced us. What was even more amazing was that it was Super Bowl Sunday (or The Grand Final as they call it). Michael is a big footy fan and he still made it a priority to take us around. If the president of the USA came to visit me on Super Bowl Sunday... I'm still not unparking my backside from the chair. What amazing people! Although we missed part of the game we still watched most of it. Hawthorne won... that's who is was going for since the Western Bulldogs got knocked out. After the game Michael, had bought me a Cuban cigar (serie D no.1 for the aficianados) that was absolutely exquisite. We sat on his front step and watched the sun set on the the vineyards.

After the cigar, Michael and Jane wanted to prove to us that Kangaroos really do exist outside zoos (Nichole and I were starting to think it was a Australian toursism conspiracy) so we went for a drive in search of the roos. We found one alright! Of course the first image Nichole and I have of a Kangaroo in the wild was it flying over the car. Ooops. Not at all Michael's fault and he along with all of us felt horrible for the poor kangaroo. But what can you do? It's like living in Montana... sooner or later you'll hit a deer. The car was smashed up, and Michael and Jane didn't worry about it at all. They were more concerned in continuing the search for a live kangaroo. There were a bunch out in a fieldjust hopping along, very cool creatures!

Anyway, it seems everyone is up, and moving around so I better go. Today we head north on the Ghan (the railroad that runs from the North to the South of Australia) on our way to Ayer's Rock or Uluru. More updates to come...

It's been awhile...

I haven't been very good at posting lately, so this may be a long one. Last week we went to the Royal Melbourne Show, which was fun. As Mark said, it's amazing how similar some things are even on the other side of the world. Despite the similarities, there were a few interesting differences. For example, they call it Fairy Floss instead of Cotton Candy, they sell jam-filled donuts instead of scones (this only applies to the Puyallup Fair), and they have the Pie in the Sky, which is a tall post with a large meat pie at the top (I'm not sure if it functions as anything, but it'd be a great meeting place if your group gets separated). After the fair, we went to a classmate's house to housesit. I thoroughly enjoyed the space, the coffee (she has a high-end espresso machine), and her two cats. She lives near a park with a river, which we biked along one afternoon, but the rest of the time we didn't do much since the weather wasn't great and I was working on an essay. I submitted my essay yesterday and I'm a little worried; I'm still struggling to break free of my fact-filled science writing style and move into a persuasive philosophical style, and I'm not sure that I accomplished that with this essay. I'm also a little worried because I had to cut quite a bit to meet the word limit and I'm not sure that I cut the right stuff. It's funny that I used to struggle to come up with enough to say and now both essays that I've written have been over! Anyway, since this one is worth 50% of my grade, the last couple weeks have been pretty stressful. To celebrate turning it in, we went to dinner on Lygon Street (the Italian district) and shared a bottle of wine with a classmate and her partner. This morning I checked my email to find the results of the first essay that I submitted a few weeks ago. I earned a 75%, which is a distinction (the options are fail, pass, credit, distinction, and high distinction), plus I got some good feedback that I can use to improve my next essay. Although I have over a month before the next one is due, it does take awhile to do all of the research and writing, so I figure I'll get started now.

The Royal Melbourne Show (the Fair)

Turns out they have the fair in Australia too. This weekend we thought we'd check it out, to really get a true feel for the Australian culture. Once again, the similarities were quite remarkable. Here we are on the other side of the planet and it went about like fairs usually go with Nikki and I. We eat good junk food. We walk through the barns because I like checking out the pigs (I took pigs to the fair as a kid) and Nikki complains about the smell. Then we take forever to go through craft/art/girly section and check out the cake decorating (Nikki did this as a kid). Then we walk around the rides and mention how they may be fun, but "how can you spend $18 to ride them things!" Then we remark how incredibly cheap we are. There were a few differences though. First of all, there were the home improvement/gadgets/appliance booths, that we so love to walk through but in addition to those were several brewery and winery booths set up, and they were more than willing to give tastings. Times like that that I appreciate public transport. Probably the biggest difference though is "show bags". Every booth has a show bag or twenty. You know the cheap plastic junk that you can only find at the carny booths. There are endless booths of the showbags set up. You pay like $15 for a bag full of plastic toys. Or $10 for a bag full of candy bars. Or the booths inside will have a showbag with "the amazing Shammy towel" with a super special show bag price!


We both really enjoy the fair, so it was nice to not miss it.

Every country's got 'em

If you've been following the blog you know that I am often surprised of the similarities between the USA and Australia. Daylesford is just another example of this. You know the town... endless shops filled with crap you would never actually buy, but girls just have to walk through them and say "isn't that cute" at least 15 times per store. I should have known right away as I walked through the town. Every group we encountered was a group of girls (a few obvious bachelorette parties) or a downtrodden man being drug about by his wife/girlfriend/partner. There were a few groups of guys together but they were holding hands (not that there is anything wrong with that). The lone bright spot was the food, the bakeries carry not only the sweets but also meat pies and I love dem meat pies!
Outside of town was pretty cool. We went for a nice walk around the lake, and as Nikki said in her blog, we drank the mineral water. I dig the mineral water but there is definitely something that the store bought stuff does to get the stink out. The stuff straight from the ground smells a bit like rotten eggs (sulfur).
All in all, it wasn't too bad of a day. We got out of town, tried a new place, and Nikki Marie enjoyed herself thoroughly. Although, I think she would've been much better off with Cara or her Mum.

A Day in Daylesford...

I figured I'd better post on this to give a more positive account of the day. Awhile back, one of the ladies at school recommended Daylesford as a nice getaway. She described it as a cute, quaint town in the bush with great food, shops, and spas (it's just screaming Mark isn't it?!). Since the forecast showed sunshine for Saturday, we decided that'd be a great time to check it out. So, Saturday morning, we hopped on a train and then a bus to Daylesford. It really is a cute, quaint town, that reminded me a lot of Red Lodge. We had lunch and I finally had a vanilla slice, one of the desserts found in all of the bakeries around here. Then we walked around the lake and Mark drank some mineral water (Daylesford is known for it's mineral springs). After spending some time in the sun near the lake, we walked through the town again, checked out the botanical gardens, stopped at another bakery, and then found a cool little place to sit and drink wine and beer. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable day.

PS- Here's a picture from the hand dryer in the bathroom that I thought was pretty funny!

Pulled over on a bike

Melbourne Cops are quite nice...
The other night I spent the evening working in the wood shop at Adass Israel School, working on a coffee table for the flat. After I was done I went out with the shop teacher for a few beers. He pointed out he had an extra bike I could use for the year. I have one for my self but, being the considerate husband that I am, I thought my beloved could use one too. I have a helmet at home because I was told the Melbourne Cops are sticklers for the helmet rule but I didn't have it with me. Oops. They pulled me over right downtown. By the way, you can get a DUI on a bike(I know this from college, another time I was pulled over on a bike after a lot more beers). Mind you I had only had a few beers but I have no idea what the laws are here. So, I am a bit freaked out and then they ask for ID... my passport was at home, and I obviously have no Victoria driver's license. Luckily however, I did have my Washington state license, and even more luckily they let me go with a warning (must've been the scared look on my face).

Few people can claim they have been pulled over on a bike once let alone twice. Not only that but I have been pulled over on a 4 wheeler as well. Just luck I guess.

Off to Daylesford this weekend. It's a little touristy town with mineral springs, we'll let you know I'm sure. Oh, and I have no update on the toilet situation. Still haven't seen one that turns. I have filled a sink up a few times, but it isn't definitive and not nearly as cool. Stay tuned.

Out and about

I just can't wait until our trip to the outback in a few weeks. Among the coolest things I have done here are the outdoorsy stuff. First, when we went bush walking to the Dandenongs then this last weekend, a friend from the Jewish school took me for a tour of the Mornington Peninsula. (I added a picture at the top so you could see what I am talking about.) right about in the middle there is a stop that is called Arthur's Seat. Where you can see the whole peninsula (absolutely gorgeous!). Across the bay you could see the skyline of the city but no real land, so it looked like a city in the clouds, (Click on the pictures to get them big) on the right side of the peninsula were sandy beaches and calm water, and on the back side of the peninsula it looked just like the Oregon coast. After checking out that view we drove the whole length of it. First the back side, climbing among the rocks (good thing Nikki wasn't there!). Then we cruised back up the beach side and finished it off talking some American politics over a pot or two of proper Aussie lager. He's an Obama fan much like everyone else outside of the USA.

Wine tasting at Federation Square...

Since it was such a nice day yesterday, Mark and I decided to meet up at Flinders Station, which is about a mile from our apartment, and walk home together rather than taking the train to Flagstaff Station a couple blocks away. I remembered reading about wine tastings at Federation Square, which is right across the street from Flinders, on the first Wednesday and Thursday of the month, so we decided to check it out. A different region is featured each month, and this month's was the Heathcote region, which I guess is known for Shiraz (one of our favorites).There were 18 different wineries, each with about 5 different wines to taste, and the cost was $18 for unlimited tastes from 4:30-8:30. We got there right at the beginning and there weren't very many people, so we decided to give it a go. Let's just say that we hit all of the wineries, one of them twice, and sampled pretty much every wine at each winery. After about an hour or so, we'd both had quite a bit to drink, but we wanted to make sure to get our money's worth, so we stuck around for another hour and had even more to drink. By that time, the place was pretty packed and we hadn't eaten yet, so we decided it was probably time to get home and make dinner. Based on our conditions, that was probably a good idea :) All I've got to say is thank goodness I didn't have to work today!

Spring is in the air...

We're starting to see more sun and less rain, which is a nice change of pace considering we went from winter to spring to winter again. After nearly a year of gray, rainy weather, we're ready for something new. To celebrate the arrival of spring, we headed to the hills for a little bushwalking. We took the train to Dandenong National Park, about an hour from Melbourne, where the couple at the visitor center recommended that go along the 1000 steps trail. We followed the steps up walking through red mud, under ferns, past eucalyptus (the smell was so refreshing), seeing interesting birds, hearing lots of strange noises (the birds here don't chirp like the ones back home), and of course, taking lots of breaks along the way. When we got to the top, we rested a bit, and then decided to continue along another trail. About a third of the way down the second trail, the sky started clouding over, and not much later, it started pouring. We turned back and headed toward the picnic area at the trail head. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, we were soaking wet. Oh well, at least we were able to take some cover from the rain and get out of the wind. We waited out the storm and then decided to just go back down the 1000 steps trail and catch the train home. I guess it must be a little early yet for bushwalking!

PS. Remember when looking at our pictures that the camera (not the bikkies and meat pies) adds 10 pounds!