Rush hour is brutal

Though we're barely settled in our apartment, Bob and I decided to rent a car for the weekend and drive three hours north of Sydney to visit Port Stephens, "The Dolphin Capital of Australia." The town is situated by the ocean and backed by forests of eucalyptus trees-really quite lovely. 

In spirit of the town's ocean loving people, Bob and I decided to try to learn how to surf. It was hard to find an open surf school during the Australian "winter," and it to be proved even harder since the only school in town was closed until October. So we settled on wandering the beach and decided to do what anyone else who couldn't learn to surf would do - we rode camels. 

So there. Tomorrow I head on up to the "Gold Coast" and will continue my search for a surf school that won't laugh at me and my innate clumsiness. 

Port Stephens photos

Bob walking along the beach (he's only allowed to wear the hat outside of cities).

Bob visiting with some noisy rainbow lorikeets. 

Woods around Port Stephens.

Bob and I spent several hours looking for koalas in the trees.

 And saw nadda.

Holy Sheep!

I went for a two day trip to visit the capital of Australia. I rented a car, dubbed it Sir
Wallaby, and hit the road. After a few tentative blocks I felt more comfortable driving on the wrong side of the road.

The main thing one has to remember whilst driving on the wrong side of the road-is what side of the road is wrong. From driving in Australia two years ago I usually remember which side is wrong. But when a roundabout spits me out on a side street that has no lines on it, I have to pause and think, “Now, which way do sane people drive? Okay, now I head the opposite direction and give it a go. There, that wasn’t too bad! Oh crap another roundabout!”

Then the cycle starts again. 

Several roundabouts later I was heading west of Sydney. One would think the best way to get to know a country is to visit its capital. With that in mind I took the four hour journey from
Sydney to the capital Canberra (pronounced “Can-bear-a”). After a few hours there I thought it should be renamed “Can-you-bear-it?” -that’s because Canberra is quite boring.

I don’t quite understand why Canberra is located where it is. It is in the middle of nowhere, with no access to the coasts that Australians seem to love so much. The capital itself does have a lot of interesting museums and attractions, but they are spread out over so many large and empty “parks” (also known as patches of grass). Walking between sites is a monotonous expedition that requires not only a heap of spare time, but food provisions and a pack mule.

After quickly getting my fill of the capital, I 

drove to the town of Goulburn to visit one of my favorite Australian "non-icons."  Sternly judging 

every manner of passing vehicle, The Big Merino is a wooly behemoth overlooking the Old Hume Highway. At 15.2 meters, Rambo (as he is affectionately known) is one bad ba ba you wouldn’t want to tick off…especially if you parked behind him. 

Just say "Oi!"

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! 

Oi! Oi! Oi! 

If someone cheerfully yells "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!" 

Quickly respond with an equally enthusiastic "Oi! Oi! Oi!" 

Why? Well I'm not sure but just do it to avoid disheartening looks. With the Olympics in full swing this cheerful Australian rally call is being shouted all about the city so be a sport and just say "Oi!" 

Watching the Olympics in Australia is inspiring and hilarious. The announcers are completely biased. They are 100% for the Aussies and their announcements are so refreshing compared to the often politically correct U.S.A. announcers. They’re Australian, proud of it, and completely behind their athletes. Not saying America isn’t, but the Australian enthusiasiam is fun to behold. 

During the equestrian jumping competition tonight, the Aussie announcer said “Lets just hope this German horse knocks down a few posts to give our Aussie team a medal!”  

A competitor’s horse was giving a perfect run but when one hoof tapped a pole, the announcer said “Aww! Someone in the crowd give a poof! We need that pole down!” It’s all in good humor, and I at least was amused. 

Good news is that Bob and I finally have an apartment! YAY! It doesn't have the best view (we face a cliff), but it is modern, has it's own washer and dryer, and most importantly - the agent picked us out of a bag of applicants so we're taking it! My good friend Alexandra took us to second-hand stores so we could find furnishings. This week I'm going to get a new bed, and refrigerator. An odd thing with apartments here is that they don't include refrigerators - so anytime someone moves they take their fridge with them. Seems a bit of a pain. So a lot of shopping is in need, but at least we finally have a place to make our home!

So, for now, “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!” 

In need of a cookie

When you're young you often get rewarded for doing something that's hard or scary. My question is why does this stop? Yes, I am an adult. But I would still like a cookie for accomplishing something trivial yet hard or frighting for me. Is that really to much to ask? Just one little cookie with m&m's in it? Well is it? Perhaps I should start a Good Girls and Boys Cookie Brigade-but I digress. 

Ahem! The conclusion of the weekend left Bob and me with the possibility of an apartment...I think. The realtor still has to check out references, but hopefully all will go well and our apartment hunting will be at an end. To celebrate I took the day off from house hunting for some book research. I hopped on a bus to the Taronga Zoo, changed buses, hopped on the wrong bus, hopped off, hopped on the right bus and felt like a freaking kangaroo by the time I got there. 

Taronga Zoo is on a large hill across the harbour from the Opera House and provides spectacular views of the city. It is mainly and easily accessed via ferry from Circular Quay. It is not so easily accessed by bus, so I took the bus. 

The 2 advantages to arriving by bus are: 

1) You get dropped off at the top of the hill and can easily work your way down 

2) You don't have to get on a boat (I don't like boats or large bodies of water) 

I meandered through the zoo for a couple hours. Once at the bottom I was disinclined to walk back to the top for my bus. Therefore, I decided to be a big gi

rl and get on the ferry. Trying to boost my confidence I asked an elderly zoo volunteer, "Is it a rough boat ride?"  

"A rough boat ride?!" she somehow cackled sweetly, "Rough in our Harbour? Where are you from?" 

"Ohio," I said. 

"Well then, just think of it as a big lake." 

And to this sweet old lady I said "Okay," and I felt much better. I need to learn how to cackle sweetly. I waited to be the last person to board the green and tan ferr

y ... the colors reminded me of pea soup. I sat on the bottom floor outside at the stern and though the ten minute crossing wasn't bad, the boat still rocked a bit more than I would prefer. I was the third person off the boat when we docked at Circular Quay and happy it was just a short trip (I'm a complete whimp on the water). 

Deciding it would be a day to face fears I went to walk across the Harbour Bridge. I'm not a huge fan of manmade heights (mountains and natural heights don't bother me). Why do I not like manmade heights? Well you watch a few carnies uncaringly put a ferris wheel together and you would start to question structural designs as well. 

I walked through the historic settlement of The Rocks and followed the path up to the Harbour Bridge. It shook a bit with passing traffic but provided beautiful sights of the Opera House. I had an absolutly stunning shot lined up with the sunset fanning gentle shades of pink on the Harbour, a beautiful sailboat arching past the Opera House-the perfect shot. So naturally my camera battery died and that picture was lost. Guess I'll just have to relive that in memory...and bu

y some more batteries tomorrow. And a cookie.