Welcome to... "Mel-buhn"?

First things first.  Jenn and I would like give a monumental thank you to our fantastic hosts Nancy, James, Dylan, and Greg during our time here in Melbourne.  Their knowledge of the area made our stay here everything we could have hoped for. (Jenn's comment: more than we could ever have hoped for! They have been so welcoming and hospitable, and we are extremely grateful!)

Secondly, we have an important note on pronunciation for all the non Aussies out there. Melbourne is pronounced "mel-buhn", not "mel-born".  You see, the "r" is silent. It is also spoken quickly as a monosyllabic word, as in, "Melbuhn". Failing to properly enunciate this word will win you nothing but looks of contempt from the locals.  They will laugh at you.  Laugh and point.

Thirdly, a warning.  This post may be spun into yet another epic linguistic yarn.  So prepare yourself.

There seems to be a running tally here in Melbourne as to which city is better, Melbourne or Sydney.  It was the first question from every person we talked to who knew we had visited both places.  The question may stem from what I have come to think of as the "Melbourne complex". I think the locals here feel overshadowed by the international knowledge of Sydney.  After all, when you think Australia, the first city you think of is Sydney, not Melbourne.  Melbourne is the eternal runner up.  So the question remains, which city is better?  This is not an easy question to answer.  Both cities have so much to offer. But I have a certain inexplicable magnetism toward Melbourne.  There was just something about the vibe of this city from the moment we stepped off the bus.  I'm not sure what it is, the colourful architecture of the buildings, the back alleys filled with unique shops, the surrounding parks with their interesting wildlife.  There's just something about Melbourne that I preferred.   Jenn would disagree with me on this.  She preferred Sydney. 

[Jenn's note: I found Sydney to be much prettier, and bountiful green spaces near where we were staying. It was clearly well maintained and clean. I know I'm opening a can of worms here, but it's like comparing Ottawa and Toronto, Sydney being like Ottawa (more scenic and well kept), vs Melbourne, like Toronto, very large and busy, with lots going on. Both are awesome, but I still sway towards Sydney. Sydney has more of a feel for everyone (families, seniors, and younger folk), while Melbourne is the 'hip' place to be. Musicians and artists, take note: Melbourne is more likely the place for you!]

Our first day of touring in Melbourne consisted of a visit to the local rowing clubs.  The rowing clubs here are lined along the banks of the Yarra river which runs through the heart of the city's downtown core.  We walked along the row of boat houses and I decided to drop into one of the clubs to talk to a coach and see if I could come out to observe a practice from a coach boat.   The club I walked into was the Melbourne University Rowing Club.  It turns out this club was Australia's oldest and it was also the center of training for elite athletes focused on making the national team (boy I sure can pick 'em!).  I walked upstairs into the erg room where there were two men talking.  Deciding not to interrupt, I wandered around looking at the various trophy cases.  When the two men finished talking, one spoke up and asked what I was doing wandering around.  This guy stood about my height, with legs that could easily be mistaken for a couple of tree trunks, with an unmistakable "take-no-shit" demeanour.  He was the head coach.  I instantly understood why this was the elite training center.  Simply standing in the presence of this man made me want to jump on an erg and pull until my eyes rolled back in my head in some vain attempt to appease the goliath.  (Jenn felt the same way!) I explained to him that I was a rower from Canada and that I would like to come out for a morning practice if I could.  He wasn't interested due to the fact that they had state championships coming up in two days.  But he said I could probably come out the following week.  Unfortunately, I didn't find the time to go back to the club and take him up on his offer.  That little visit certainly made me miss rowing.  C'est la vie...  

On Valentine's day, Jenn and I visited the botanical gardens.  Jenn would have to write about this stop to do it justice.  These gardens were better than the Sydney gardens.  There were many couples picnicking in the shade and a few weddings happening.  We went on a free tour where we learned about a rather intriguing gum tree that always feels cool to the touch (children hug them on hot days).  After the gardens we visited the Eureka tower.  This skyscraper holds a couple records.  It has the highest viewing platform in the Southern hemisphere and it is the tallest residential building in the world  (I can't imagine what the price tag on the penthouse would be).  The elevator ride to the viewing platform was a bit of a trip. Speeding along at 9 metres per second makes you feel rather heavy at the beginning of the ride, and makes you feel light at the end of the ride.  The views from the tower were stunning. Melbourne (again, "Melbuhn") is a beautiful city from the air.  You can also see out past the city where the bushfires were burning.  Some of the fires seemed pretty close.  We stayed on the viewing deck for a couple hours and enjoyed the brilliant red sunset (thanks to all the smokeand ash from the bushfires) and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine.  We took lots of pictures.  Check out the web album.

Two days later we rented a car and drove out to Phillip Island for the world famous penguin parade. It was our first time driving here in Australia and it was a bit of a learning experience. Navigating round-abouts and driving on the left side of the road with all the controls inside the vehicle on the opposite side of the steering wheel takes some time getting used to.  I kept on turning the windshield wipers on every time I wanted to signal a turn, and reached for the door every time I wanted to put the car in gear.  The 2 hour drive to Phillip Island gave me plenty of time to learn the ins and outs, though.  We arrived on the island at about 11am, where we picked up our three parks pass which permitted entry into all the major tourism sights on the island. We started the day with a quick visit to the mainland jetty (docks) to see the local fishermen feed the pelicans.  After the pelicans, we headed to Churchill Island for a tour of the historic farm that still operates there.  We fed a goat, saw a blacksmith make horse shoes, and milked a cow!  It was lots of fun.  After that we headed to the Koala Conservation Centre.  It was really cool.  A section of forest on the island is maintained by local rangers to keep the koala population healthy.  We saw our first wild koalas!  About ten in all.  There are videos and pictures on the web album, check them out.  

After the koalas we headed down to a corner of the island known as the Nobbies, where we observed Australia's second largest fur seal colony.  There was an island off shore that was completely filled with fur seals.  Our binoculars were an asset for this part of the tour (thanks Brad and Laurel).  After the fur seals, dusk was approaching and it was time to head to the famous Penguin Parade.  We travelled to a small area of beach on the island where the penguins come in after fishing during the day.  As the sun fell below the horizon, the little penguins began popping (Jenn's note: emerging) up out of the surf along the beach.  The penguins were very nervous about being exposed on the beach at first, so they waddle in and out of the water checking for predators.  Once the first penguin gives the all clear, a group of 5-10 penguins will pop out of the surf behind the first one and waddle across the beach into their burrows on the shore.  It was all very cute.  You were not supposed to take pictures at this site, but I had my camera hidden in the sleeve of my jacket and snuck in a few photos and videos.  They are not very good. But they are on web album as well.

Last but not least, for our final full day in Melbourne we went to an Aussie rules football ("footy") match. This sport is a hybrid of rugby and soccer, played on a large oval field.  It was an absolute blast to watch.  

Tonight, we fly to Tasmania.  We are hoping to find an organic farm to work on for a bit (our first WWOOFing experience, look it up if you are wondering what that means).  We'll keep you updated.  

G'day!

Fires, Floods and Wine... It's paradise!

The photo above is from Ninety Mile beach at the town of Lakes Entrance along the South Eastern coast in the state of Victoria. The black lines are charred leaves and ash that have washed up on shore from the massive brush fires that are raging throughout the state. I'm sure you have heard lots in the news about the fires, so I won't write much about it. Needless to say we are still alive and well despite all the natural disasters plaguing this country. You may not have heard quite so much about the monsoons in the North. A record setting rainy season has left many areas flooded. Mosquitoes (or mozzies) are now breeding out of control in the water and outbreaks of dengue fever are occurring. The areas of Australia that are not on fire or under water are just really, really hot. Anyway, on to happier news...

We have covered quite some distance since our last post. Our first stop after leaving Sydney was in the sleepy little fishing village of Narooma. The continental shelf is only 11km off shore which makes this town an ideal location for deep sea fishing. We had the pleasure of meeting up with a local in the town who was trying to catch some bait. The sight of this man was peculiar at first. He was wiping the beach with fish carcasses on a string. When we saw this our first thought was to steer clear, as this man must have been quite insane. But curiosity got the best of us and we decided to ask what he was up to. It turns out that he was "beach worming". Wiping the beach with the dead fish caused worms in the sand to peek their heads out and when they did this he would pull the worm out of the sand. Now, these worms are not your typical Canadian dew worms. These worms are man eaters. Measuring up to a meter in length, the slimy, hairy (yes, hairy), red and clearish worms are pretty repulsive. But we were assured that fish love them. After our beach worming lesson we went for a walk along the coast and discovered that this sleepy fishing village had a big secret. It turns out Narooma is a hidden beach paradise. The managers of our hostel suggested we take a small dirt trail hidden behind the towns cemetery to a secluded beach area known as Broken Glass Rocks. Words and even pictures cannot do any justice to how beautiful these beaches were. Deep blue ocean water and giant sand stone monoliths along perfect white sand beach. It was incredible. And most incredible of all was that no one was there. We had this paradise all to ourselves. There were no people, no houses, no stores. Just beach, ocean, Jenn and I. It was an otherworldly experience. Neither of us wanted to leave. But, of course, their were other sights to see.

Our next stop was further South along the coast at a town called Lakes Entrance. We had left paradise for the Wasaga Beach of Australia. This former paradise had been discovered, packaged up and sold off to the lowest bidder. Strip malls, trailer parks and cheap motels lined the main street. It wasn't all bad, though; this town had a few saving graces. First off the beach was very nice.  Known as Ninety Mile Beach, the sand stretched for as far as the eye could see.  Their was also a organic ice cream shop that was really great.  Jenn and I shared a chocolate "thickshake"; we had died and gone to drinkable ice cream heaven.  This stuff certainly put Dairy Queen to shame.  Lastly, with the overrun tourist industry there were plenty of cheap day tours available.  We decided to indulge in one of the wine tours.  Our tour consisted of a boat ride to a local winery followed by lunch at the winery and a boat ride back.  For the duration of the tour you could have as many wine samples as you pleased.  We boarded the (sea worthy?) vessel "The Corque" at 11AM.  The captain (who referred to himself as "The Corque's Crew" har har) was a very pleasant fellow with plenty of stories to tell.  We immediately began sampling the wine and were on our way.  The wine was palatable, but I suspect it may have been laced with antifreeze; it was a bit of a chore to swallow. However, the alcohol had a rather pleasant effect.  We arrived at Wyanga Park Winery after about 35 minutes on the boat where the owner met us in his van and drove us the rest of the way to the winery.  The owner, Jeff, immediately recognized our Canadian accents and asked us if we might know his Canadian cousin.  Yeah right, we thought, just another Canadian stereotype that everyone knows everyone.  Well, turns out his cousin (quadruple times removed?)was Adrienne Clarkson, the former governor general.  You could tell this was a story this man enjoyed telling every Canadian he met.  We had a long chat with him and he had us sign a map of Canada indicating where we were from.  While we were at the winery we were able to sample all of their varieties, and not every one of them tasted terrible.  Although most of them smelled funny.  The Sauvignon Blanc was quite nice.  That was the wine I selected to have with my lunch.  And, lunch was delicious. Jenn had a macadamia pesto pasta dish, and I had locally caught fish and chips.  Overall, the tour was well worth it.  We met some very nice people and got nice and tipsy.

I still have plenty of stories to tell, but I will stop myself here for now.   We are now in Melbourne, visiting with a friend of a friend of Jenn's parents.

G'day!

  

Futurescapes and El Caminos

It's Thursday February 5th here in Sydney, and its Wednesday February 4th back home. So I guess you could say I'm sending this message from the future. So heres' a few notes on what the future is like. First of all everyone drives on the wrong side of the road here. Now, that may seem like a minor difference, but when your crossing the street on foot and looking the wrong way... watch out! Second, do any of you remember the El Camino? Its like this half car half pick up truck that was around in the 70's in North America I think and it wasnt very popular. Well, here in Australia it must have been a big hit, because there are modern El Camino type cars driving aroung EVERYWHERE! Anyways, those are the two strangest thing I've encountered in the land of Aus so far. Now on to the regular stuff...

We have now been in Sydney for three days (I think.... the jet lag has me a little messed up on time still) and we have seen the major sights. Let me tell you, Sydney is one beautiful city. On our first day we walked through some gorgeous city parks filled with all sorts of interesting flora and fauna. Hopefully the pictures will do them justice. Let me tell you we have TONS of pictures of the local plant and animal life. Jenn has a rather strange obsession with taking no less than 3 pictures of every critter and plant see sees. I think shes up to 300 already. But I digress. After our walk through the park we arrived at Sydney Harbour where we saw both the Sydney Harbour bridge and the Sydney Opera House. Both structures are architectural masterpieces.

On our Second day we to Taronga Zoo. It was really amazing too. We saw all sorts of rare Australian wild life (It seemed Jenn was shooting pictures every few seconds). Touring the zoo took the entire day. But it was worth it.

Finally, today we woke up very early (once again, I blame the jet lag) and took a bus to Bondi beach to see sunrise. It was a pristine night sky and the sun rise was gorgeous. Once the sun was up I went for my first swim in the ocean. Some rather large surf was rolling in, but I thought I could handle it. Well, the first wave hit me like a freight train and forced what seemed like a gallon of salt water down my throat. I emerged from the wave coughing and sputtering with a terrible taste in my mouth. I thought I was fine at this point but then Mother Nature gave me another lesson as the wave pulled back from shore and took me on a little ride along with it. It was a frightening but fun experience. For the remainder of the day we walked along the coast of Sydney. Once again, the sights were breath-taking. You will have to see the pictures.

Tomorrow we head out from Sydney towards Tasmania.

G'day!