Wilsons Promontory

Our last long weekend was spent escaping the city to camp in beautiful and pristine Wilsons Promontory, the most southernly point of mainland Australia. Several trails and back country campsites were closed due to bush fires and we wimped out of the 22 k hike to the lighthouse on the tip of the Prom but, goodness gracious, there were enough spectacular hikes and sights near the Tidal River campsite.

The wind was biting and it rained yet fires were not allowed--in January this part of the park was consumed by fire. The campsite was saved but much of the nearby forest and bushland was burnt. However, the fire created its own beauty. It exposed the granite peaks of Mount Oberon and this spring brought regeneration: little fragile wildflowers, spiky cones growing out of grass tufts which only appear after fire, and leaves covering the blackened eucalypt trunks like moss.


If you hold your mouse over the pictures, we've tagged them all with labels.

Duality of Human Nature

Last post we showed you the Good Sammy. This post shows the Evil Sammy. And so, with these two posts, I intend to show the classic nature of human behaviour. That is, we all exhibit Christlike goodness yet, at the same time, are capable of the greatest evils.

Sammy was there to persecute Jesus:

A new look at the Zupruder Film reveals the truth about JFK:


Sammy collaborated with Vader to take Obi Wan down,
bringing tears to millions of children:


Sammy claims she respects all wildlife, yet this image
shows her bloodthirsty side on a Japanese Whaling boat

Apparently her appetite for ultimate evil was not
satiated by taking down Obi Wan...she now
turns her attention to forwarding Sauron's cause
by slaying the noble Boromir:

The Good Sammy

We saw this sign in Perth and a wave of sentimental thoughts overwhelmed us cause we do, certainly, miss the Good Sammy!

Then came Samina's rantlike comment on the Oprah post. Sammy, like all humans, exhibits behaviour that specifically identifies the classic duality of human nature (the Good Side that we miss and love versus the Evil side that we don't.) What evil side? Read the post!

Damo, in search of justice and cold hard vengence, shall search for a photo opportunity that represents Sammy's other side and post the results.

Helmets Are Important

Helmets are very important for your personal safety and Australians take this very seriously, more so than anywhere else in the world.

Helmets are used for a plethora of activities that, while not particularly dangerous, could cause mental trauma.

Elsewhere in the world, such activities would be untertaken in a carefree manner with a complete disregard for personal safety. Not so Australia, where law requires you to wear a helmet for activities as diverse as climbing a tower to view a city (you could fall and hit your head,) standing under said tower (something could fall from the tower and hit you in the head,) riding a large megafauna emu type bird statue in the park (the bird, being made of stone, could suddenly shatter, a piece of which could hit you in the head,) or even while walking beneath a cliff (a hoon, aussie for hooligan, above you could toss rocks off the cliff that could hit you in the head.)

Elsewhere in the world, governments are complacent and willing to let their citizens encounter these dangers without any regard for their safety.

Not so Australia, where blatant disregard of the laws will land you here:

he's a housewife anyway

when i got home from work this afternoon, damo said, "Oprah had a really sad show on today." it's too bad he's picked up the stereotypical afternoon tv habit but not the vacuuming, dusting and laundry habit. can't complain too much though because there's usually a good supper (curry) ready to eat when i get home from work and the dishes are often done.

in other news, some of my year 9 boys were complete jerks today but afterwards i went out on yard duty in the year 7 area and felt a lot better hanging out with my kids (note the possessive). as one teacher remarked today, "They grow on you, don't they, those year 7s? Like fungus." I just stroll from group to group and even if I don't teach the kids, they all say hi and want to chat for a bit. Back in Canada, I won't even know 1/2 the kids I pass in the hall. I'm going to miss these guys, despite all the heartache and annoyances from the start of the year. misty eyes.

steve comes to visit

My brother Steve spend a week of his three week Aussie adventure with us down in the tempermental south. There was a biting cold wind from the Antarctic when we hit the Great Ocean Road but 35 degree Celius weather a day or two later. However, he persevered despite Mother Nature's inconsistencies and his bum foot to clamber over the tidal pools at Anglesea, meet salty old lighthouse keepers, feed cute as possums, and pose in front of the iconic not-quite-12-anymore Apostles. We kept him readily supplied with cheap wine and tim tams. Or so we would have you believe. Fun was had by all.

Scooterin Perth

There's no cooler way to tour Perth. It's Fonzi cool. Video & photos of perth, fremantle, & Rottnest Island (quokkas!!.) Also included is a journey on the Highway to Hell that leads to the gravesite of Bon Scott. Hopefully he didn't & we don't end up there.

monkey mia

Way back three, four weeks ago, we flew to Western Australia for our last two week holiday. One surprising highlight on our Perth to Exmouth tour was a visit to famed Monkey Mia for the feeding of the wild dolphins. I don't know why it was such a surprise that it would be so cool but I guess we thought it would be a bit hokey. Of course it wasn't--I mean, we got to see these beautiful creatures up close! For a prairie girl like me, they are like real life unicorns: a creature of mythology in the flesh.

We had to wait a while for the dolphins to make their appearance (much to the disgust of a German tourist who was quite angry that they didn't keep to their ETA of 8 am). Finally, five dolphins showed up--four females, one with her very lively and playful young son. The park has a policy of only feeding mature dolphins as, in the past, the baby dolphins would become so reliant on the fish that they never learned to hunt. They also ration the amount of fish so it is more of a snack than a meal but the dolphins still show up. Below, this one is checking us out--they can't see 'up' very well so they need to roll on their side to get a good look. Lucky Damo got choosen to feed one!



We also got to see my new favorite bird: the pelican. I just adore the way they look with their big black eyes and waddling steps on their flat paddle feet. They're very graceful in the air and while standing still but clumsy-cute walking on the sand. They are also quite aggressive if you get close, lashing out with their giant pointy beak, opening it impossibly wide to threaten a chomp.

We do have friends (The Sequel)

A big thanks to Jackie and Doug Cameron (Nico's parents) who DID indeed make the 24 hour pilgrimage by plane from Canada all the way down under. For the first part of the trip I was back in Canada for work but managed to hook back in time for a visit to Alice Springs & Uluru, which Nico has already posted about. It was super nice of them to fly us out to visit the rock with them. It was also great to see them here!!

Highlights were visiting Uluru and Kata Tjuta (procouned Karta Choota) as Nico pointed out earlier.

While in Alice Springs (about 500 kms from the rock) we also hit the site of the REAL Alice Springs where the central telegraph station was built back in the 1800's. It cost 328,000 pounds to build and stretched from Adelaide to Darwin through the driest desert. The 'little town down the road' called Stuart (or Sturt...can't remember) eventually outgrew Alice Springs which went through many transformations from telegraph station, to POW camp, to Aboriginal indoctrination center (when the government took kids away from their parents in the hopes to indoctrinate them into white society,) etc. Now it's a historic park. Sturt took the name Alice Springs sometime in the 1900's.

We do have friends!

Screw you guys back home for not visiting us! At least we now know who our friends are - Darren & Kelly made the trip from Sydney down to see us for a four day weekend back on August 24th. One of those days was spent spanking a record hangover...damn you beer, wine, shots, highballs...

So where'd we take our visiting Aussies? To our favorite spots on the Great Ocean Road. Wreck Beach, The Koala Drive where you are sure to spot a plethora of koalas in the wild up close and personal, and, of course, the 12 apostles (well, only 9 remaining, those apostles keep dropping like, well, apostles being persecuted by the Romans.)

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end!

Stargazing

This is the shot I have been trying and trying to get...I finally got it! I wanted to do this with Uluru so that stripes of stars would be surrounding the giant rock at night, unfortunately I've never held the shutter open long enough. This shot was taken using 100 ASA film (very slow speed) with the camera on a stand. The shutter was held open for between 10 and 15 minutes turning night to day but leaving behind a stunning array of stars.


The second shot was taken pointing the camera straight up at the sky (and away from the moon which would over expose it.) You can see the milky way as a foggy patch running the length of the middle.

punk rock pigeon

Ants on the Rock

This is why you avoid Uluru mid-morning.

Mr. Crikey

Wow. Yesterday, Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, died after being stung by a sting ray in the chest while filming a tv segment for his 8 year old daughter's show. The kids at school are all a bit shocked and sad and it's all the news is reporting on--it's the Aussie Princess Di (although far more lovable and annoying).

What's the reaction the world over?

To vote Damo off, dial . . . .

fact: Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) was even more stunning than Uluru. But that begs the question: is Damo even more stunning than Kata Tjuta? We hiked between the weirdly shaped bulges as Damo posed and preened.

One Giant Rock

fact: Uluru (Ayer's Rock) is indeed a great big rock. I know that may seem pretty self evident given its previous name but it wasn't until we got there that the immensity of this giant pebble hit home. It's not a big hill or a small mountain--it's one big red rock. Like an iceberg, a good chunk of it is underground. 345 metres are above ground and that's what we climbed.

fact: it is strongly recommended that you don't climb Uluru. Climbing was part of an initiation ceremony that marked the passage of boys into manhood so there's a cultural reason why they ask you not to climb. Secondly, it's just dangerous. At times, you're on a razor edge ridge, with just a metre of sloping space before the edge steeply drops off. There is a safety chain, but despite that, I got a bit freaked. I'm not scared of heights but I just don't like precarious situations and this was one of them. Damo, ironically, wasn't scared at all and he has a height phobia. But the Rock was there and, like countless other tourists before us, we couldn't resist its challenge.