Saturday, October 01, 2005

Ups and Downs

We've just passed the summit of the Snowy Mountains and have seen snowier places along the Baja peninsula. Given that this is the first week of spring and that the ski resorts have only just ended their season this weekend, the conditions here must be a sorry state.

We're at 1400 metres (5000-ish feet, according to the good doctor) in elevation and it is impossibly dry and arid. Their self-annointed motto here in these Snowy Mountains is, 'the Roof of Australia'. It is easy to imagine the roof... the roof... the roof being on fire.

First day of trout season is today, there are many anglers angling to get good river spots. We passed by a giant trout and the gas stations up here (up on the roof) double as fish mongers, bait shops and rod n' reel suppliers.

Our highlight of the day was descending into the Yarrangobilly Caves, an intricate network of caves and caverns (what's the difference between the two, by the way) that provided for some sensational stalagtites and spectacular stalagmites. All the algae and moisture in there gave it such a dense, organic feel making it what the representative in the visitors center called a 'soft' cave. Ahhh, the times we spent spelunking the Yarrangobilly. The name just rolls right off the tounge.

We've passed towns with some very colorful titles on this trip. Dookie, Howlong, Wagga Wagga (Wags as the locals say it), Yea and Sale. With regards to the last two, we're pondering appealing to their respected town councils, advocating that they both add exclamation points to the end of their names. Nary a passing motorist that wouldn't want to stop in a place named Yea! or buy a home in Sale!

Not many police on the trip,either. This is not surprising, given the large amount of ground that they have to cover. One amusing thing that the Australian Police do, they post rotating signs about what area of the law they're currently targeting. For example, we've seen districts and shires (there are actual shires here - hobbits not included) with signs saying, 'targeting: drink driving ' or 'targeting: motorcycle speeding'. Not sure why 'drink' is used in present tense, as opposed to 'drunk' or 'drank driving'. We're on the lookout for the next district that is targeting bad posture and the 10 & 2 hand position, as we're both repeat offenders.

posted by ncawthon at 12:35 PM

Friday, September 30, 2005

Tearing Through the Trailer Parks

As written in the previous article, 'A Day Without a Backpackah', Australia is home to quite a bit of vagabond sub-culture, given its' vast size. We've found this to certainly be true as we cross the countryside. What we did not account for, however, was the actual demographic that makes up the majority of the population.

We've been staying, for the most part, in 'caravan parks', which are comprised of mobile accomodation vans and stand-alone cabins. There was some apprehension initially, as the trailer parks in California are generally crime-ridden drug havens. Here, these caravan parks are both clean and family-oriented. Not a roach to be found, which is more than we can say for our home town of Bronte.

For about forty dollars, you get a small trailer containing a queen sized bed for the parents and a triple set of bunk beds for the kids. For all of our mormon readers out there, that's a family of five facilitated nicely for not much coin. You're provided a small sink and kitchen with supplies, which Macaroni & Cheese looks to be the most complex of an attempt one would want to make given the provisions. You supply your own linens, but there is a shower and an 80's-era TV. Most we've stayed in have been entirely assembled of vinyl siding.

From a kids' perspective, it looks like an absolute nightmare. Stacked like chickens in a coop with your siblings, your parents on the other side of the room, separated only by a small curtain used to feign some sense of privacy. Hot plate meals served on government issued pots and pans.

Despite these passages, we've found them to be consistently clean and safe. People look like they are actually travelling somewhere, not just waiting around for the next tooth to fall out. We'd like to personally extend a measure of thanks to all of the methamphetamine producers in the U.S., for not infesting this innocent society with their poison. Better a family holiday environment than a meth lab any day.

Rising oil prices have been a hot topic here, with truckers blockading freeways in Queensland to protest. The government withdrew their national tax on petrol, causing prices to fall 10% overnight. Big news for us on the road, since we go through a tank each day. Word is that they are planning to extract crude from Prime Minister John Howard's eyebrows.

We've had a bit of stomach indigestion following our venture out to a Middle Eastern restaraunt last night. Hummus has claimed responsibility.

posted by ncawthon at 8:54 AM

Thursday, September 29, 2005

The Melbourne Identity

We spent a drizzly but otherwise pleasant day in Melbourne yesterday, having made the two-hour drive from Port Phillip Island that morning.

The Penguin Parade was of mixed response. We were told to arrive an hour early, but found ourselves sitting in the cold with plenty of time to kill by shivering our feathers off. It seemed as if this suggest hour of preparation might be related the numerous gift shops and merchandizing opportunities that this 'nature' center happily provided. The viewing area was out on the beach, consisting of large concrete steps, similar to the seats one would see at a high school football field. So, our huddled masses took our hot chocolatess, penguin embroidered blankets, and popcorn that we purchased at the 'nature' center and waited for dusk to fall.

With each person that brought out a tub of popcorn, a flock of seagulls would immediately converge on the poor sap. Once they sat down, the stiff onshore wind allowed dozens of seagulls to hover mere inches over the popcorn-bearer's head, just waiting for a distraction or a kernal to drop before squawking into a feeding frenzy.

If you were fortunate enough to be sitting in the row behind the popcorn-bearer, you got an eye-level view up the tail pipes of many a seagull until they moved on to another food source. With the seagulls hovering upwind from you, any involuntary (or voluntary) excrement that the birds might pass wound up in your face. Nedless to say, I was quite amused by all of this, secretly rooting for the seagulls to drop turds on people.

As darkness set in, our little penguin friends would emerge from the surf, look around to make sure it was safe and then begin scuttling towards the grassy dunes behinds us. Now, if a good 500 people, a battery of flood lights, voices yammering on over the loud speaker in multiple languages, scores of seagulls swooping and pooping everywhere doesn't say 'unsafe', I don't know what does. Nonetheless, about 200 penguins did their best Normandy impression in squads of ten or twelve and made for higher ground to mate and nest. From the grandstand to the visitor's center were these elevated boardwalks where the penguins would waddle adjancent to and under. It was as if they wanted to see you to your car, just to make sure you got home safely.

Melbourne was a lively town. They're having a fringe festival this week and, as most fringe festivals do, had many obscure bands and performances to go and see. After popping our head in the casino, which is much nicer than the one in Sydney, we aimlessly wandered around the city to find some entertainment. We hopped on one of their famed street cars and made our way to the Fitzroy district to go see Jangle Jim, whoever that was.

On a tangential note, a few weeks back we went to watch our friends perform an open-mic night at the Chatswood Lawn Bowling Club in Sydney. I don't have to tell you how hard we rocked the Lawn Bowling Club, the seniors playing bridge in the room next to us almost went into a geriatric uproar. Well, that event was put on by the Australian Singers and Songwriters Association, meant to encourage independent acts and local performers. The Jangle Jim, which turned out to be an open-mic event as well, was also put on by the Victorian chapter of the same group. Two Australian Singers and Songwriters Assocation events in the same number of weeks! Aren't we the cultured lot.

It was a good evening, the acts were amusing and funny with the Melbourne crowd having more vibrancy than one might find at say, a lawn bowling club. Checking back into our hotel at around midnight, we felt that we had made the most of our short time in this capitol city.

Today we are heading further West along the Great Ocean Road, visiting Bells Beach (site of the fictional 100-year storm, classically depicted in the movie Point Break -- I keep yammering, 'Bells Beach. 100-year storm, Pegs. Not gonna go back to no jail' with my best Patrick Swayze voice -- she keeps telling me to shut up.), the Twelve Apostles (three of which have collapsed into the sea -- causing local Bed and Breakfasts to offer a 25% discount) and making our way to Warrnambool.

In all honesty, we've seen a lot of glimpses from California on this trip, ranging from the rolling hills of Petaluma, to the flat land of Davis, and the dramatic coasts of Monterey and Stinson. It is an unfair view, given how undeveloped this continent is and how few people there feels to be. We've had a spoiled upbringing, getting to experience so many different climates in such a small space. Similarly, we've heard the Aussies describe California as being most like their home as well.

When we arrive in Warrnambool (I think that was the title of a song at open-mic night), we're turning the Holden around and bee-lining for Canberra and the Great Dividing Range, gaining in elevation and heading away from the coast. As a 'note to self', this is the last time I leave Sydney's city limits without a wetsuit and a floating recreational device. There have been some amazing surf breaks thus far.

posted by ncawthon at 1:23 PM

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

March of the Penguins

We've arrived in Port Phillip, Victoria after a whirlwind couple of days along the Gippsland Coast. Earlier today, we reached the Australian mainland's southernmost point (get out the atlas) at Wilson's Promontory, a large national park encompassing coastline, swamp and vale. We hiked down to Picnic Beach and -- you guessed it -- had a picnic. Our wildlife spotting has been excellent this trip, all the major Australian icons have been checked off the list. Today alone, we saw emu, echidna, wombat, kangaroo, wallaby and llama. To be fair, some of those animals were in fact roadkill, but they were still moving. Slightly.


Yesterday, however, was a banner day for Peggy and I. We took a short, 300 meter ferry ride from Paynesville over to Raymond Island, which lies very near the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Raymond Island contains one Australia's largest populations of wild Koala, concentrated in this relatively small island. Walking around during the afternoon, we would see these clumps perched high amongst the Eukkie trees, looking initially like large coconuts. As one approaches, ears begin to appear as does a cute nose, usually tucked into their chest or under their arm. All of the dozen or so Koalas that we came across were initially sleeping. Having come all this way, we either honked the horn or whistled loudly to get their attention. They dutifully oblidged us by raising their heads, blinking a few times and promptly going back to their eucalyptus-induced haze. Great photography resulted.

I'm no marsupial anthropologist, but these Koalas seem very isolated, always in the nook of a tree alone from the rest of the Koala. I did hear that Koala are sedated by the oils in the leaves of eucalyptus, their sole dietary staple. Proving the point, our untrained eyes never saw a Koala walking around or doing anything but sleeping or chewing. Although, one did give us the finger after we honked at him.

Here in Port Phillip, where every day is a school holiday, they have a Koala Conservation Center. Judging by the commercialization of Port Phillip and their fliers in the town's Information Center, it looks more like a Koala Concentration Camp. There have been reports that detained Koalas have filed grievances with the municpal council, saying that there is nothing clinically wrong with them and they've been held against their will, purely for profit. The townsfolk say that a few of them got tired of being gawked at by kids, grannies and tourists, trying to make a break for it. Two weeks later, they found these rebellious Koala just yards outside the perimeter, attributing general slothiness and constant inebriation to their slow progress of escape.

Tonight is the night Peggy has been waiting for, the Penguin Parade starts in just over an hour. Australia has this little breed of penguin called the Ferry Penguin, who go off and fish during the day and at a pre-determined time synchronized on their little penguin watches, they all come waddling up the beach to their home in the dunes. We've bought seats the the grandstand that the park service has set up for effective viewing of this spectacle. Unfortunately, no cameras are permitted. There is something like this not far from our place in Sydney, so we might make an attempt there. Many good pics to come upon our return.

Port Phillip itself seems a bit overrun with Aussie families making a weekend break from Melbourne. It's a small little island, but rife with Mini-Golf, Go Karts and, of course, Koalauschwitz.

posted by ncawthon at 5:32 PM

Sunday, September 25, 2005

In Select Company

A few nights ago, we went to a function for Peggy's cricket team at one of the local pubs. They were welcoming back three of their members from their tour of England, where they played in a version of 'The Ashes' test match.

Only a few people showed up, but it was good fun. We got to speak to the set of twins who were on the national team, very nice ladies. Peggy's coach was hyping them up a bit beforehand, telling us that they held prominent positions in the batting order.

Now, given that Australia is the reigning World Champion, having won the World Cup last year, and that these girls were some of the best on their team... we could have been juggling bubblies with some of the best women's cricket players in the world. Worship us.

posted by ncawthon at 3:41 PM