Surfin' Balmoral

   Last week was unbelievably wet in Sydney.  It rained, not just a steady rain, a complete downpour, for most of 4 days.  So much rain that it ends up being the wettest July here in 61 years.  Whew!  By Friday, the rain let up a bit but the swells coming in from the ocean were still resulting in huge waves up and down the coast.  They even made it into our protected, normally calm Balmoral Beach.  The surfers were out and we had to take a look.

     Things cleared up on Saturday and we checked out the wild surf conditions at Manly. 

More rainbows appeared as the storms moved out.  The kids have gotten so used to seeing them that they hardly look up any more. 

    Other big news here this week is that Sydney's first, and Australia's second, Costco opened.  It's the first warehouse store here and has been jammed all week.  It's not likely we'll be shopping there since it's not convenient and doesn't make sense to buy a membership given the time we have left here.  Some of the familiar American brands are tempting, the 1 kg jars of Vegemite - not so much.

    Aussies are also quite excited and proud of Cadel Evans, the Australian who won the Tour de France this week.  They love their "sport" down here!

   Chris has moved to Melbourne.  Just kidding.  He's there most weeks though so we look forward to his arrival back in Sydney at the end of the week.  Sam is looking forward to a weekend of sports that won't have to be cancelled due to soggy field conditions again.  Mia is hanging in there after a rough week at school.  She now occasionally calls Australia her "prison."  Think she misses home? 

   We're just glad the Sydney sun is back out!

Even In Australia

     Remember that children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?  Alexander has a bad day where nothing goes his way.  At the end of the book, he wants to move to Australia but his mom assures him that even in Australia, people have bad days.

   We had that kind of week.  Monday the car overheated and had to go into the shop for a new radiator. Jackson arrived back from the vet and within hours had a raging case of diarrhea.  This meant I was up with him every 2-3 hours for 24 hours.  He must have had 12 butt baths in one day (I almost chopped that long fur numerous times).  It turns out it was the wettest day in Sydney in July in 23 years.  Good time to have no car and a sick pet!  Sam lost his school fleece (I found it soaked with mud), I lost his rain jacket (didn't find that one), and Mia discovered she had not packed a swimsuit after our 30 minute trek to the pool in a downpour.  As I was trying to find Sam's jacket, the store I was in started playing James Taylor's Carolina In My Mind.  Ugh.  If you want to make me homesick....

   Nothing to do but laugh!  We've gotta wonder what's going to happen tomorrow. 

   On the good side - Chris may be able to avoid knee surgery, the dog is doing better, there were lots of dolphins in the harbor, and Chris stopped on his way home from the airport and brought me a lovely NC treat, Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  The only "real" Krispy Kreme is next to the airport and the "Hot Now" sign was even on!  I think my luck may be turning.
   By the way, the versions of the Alexander and the .... book that are sold here end with people having bad days "even in Timbuktu."



Feeling better now



Koala Cuddles

    The kids, Mia in particular, have been asking to get to hold a koala since we arrived in Oz.  There are "Koala Encounters" advertised at the zoo and various other wildlife parks which seem to entail petting and getting close to koalas.  Hamilton Island has a small wildlife park that included the chance to have a "Koala Cuddle."  We checked this out and it turns out that Queensland is the only state in Australia in which it is legal to hold a koala.  It's very regulated; the cute little buggers can only be held for 30 minutes a day, no more than 3 days in a row and never for more than 180 minutes per week.  The koala keeper said that the koalas love to be held.  When they open the enclosure in the morning, they are forced to juggle three koalas at a time since they all want to be held.  They are so sedate and seem truly sweet tempered.  The keeper also said that on occasion the koalas will not like someone and will refuse to go to them to be held.  A bit awkward!  This is the same place where Oprah recently visited and held "Elvis."  (No way not to know this as there are photos all over!) These are northern koalas and therefore are smaller (6-8 kg) with less fluffy coats than the koalas found in southern regions (10-14 kg).  The kids were delighted!



Mia and Waldo.  So sweet.  He eventually put his head on her shoulder and shut his eyes. 




Sam enjoyed this but was equally eager to cuddle a snake.  Ugh.

   The other wildlife of note on Hamilton Island were the Rainbow Lorikeets.  They were particularly bold here, no doubt due to being fed by hoards of tourists.  They have to be the most beautiful "nuisance" bird anywhere.



Despite numerous hands protecting our snacks, they just kept coming...




And climbing.

    Back to Sydney to our "wildlife."

Great Barrier Reef

     With good weather forecast, our first priority was a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef.  The GBR is composed of groups of reefs that stretch for approximately 1600 miles along the Queensland  (Australian state to the north of New South Wales) coast.   In most places, it is around 100 km offshore, requiring a boat ride to reach it.

     The trip from Hamilton island to Hardy Reef takes about 2 hours so we opted for a fairly large boat operation, Fantasea, so that the kids could move around during the boat rides.  The first hour of the trip was pretty smooth since we were still among the Whitsunday islands.  The second hour was a bit rougher in the open ocean but we are all lucky to have no problems with it.  We were also excited to see more humpback whales, this time in groups of three or four at a time.  The expelled water from their blowholes is the easiest and best way to spot them.

    Fantasea operates a large pontoon platform at the reef with several viewing options, something we felt might be nice since the water temperature was OK, but a bit cool after a while.  We donned our wetsuits and snorkeled first.  Amazing underwater scenery - fish (yes Caroline, we saw Nemo!), anemones, giant clams, coral, sea cucumbers, sea turtles and lots more fish!  While warming up, we spent some time on a glass bottomed submersible boat and an underwater viewing platform. 

Gorgeous colors!

This sea turtle was gnawing on some algae growing on the pontoon platform.  Mia got back in the water and swam alongside him for a bit - a highlight for her!

As the tide went out, lots of coral was exposed.  For this reason, the reef is growing out now rather than up. 



I had fun playing with the camera settings amid the gorgeous colors on the trip back.



     

A great excursion!  So glad we got to do this while we're here.

Whitsundays

     If it's school holidays, we're off exploring somewhere new.  This time we ventured up to the Whitsunday Islands, a group of 74 tropical islands just off the Queensland Coast.  Most of the islands are uninhabited but the area draws loads of tourists due to the stunning scenery, proximity to the Great Barrier Reef and outstanding sailing.  We opted to stay on Hamilton Island, the most developed of all the islands.  Hamilton Island, or Hammo as it's known, has its own airport so it was a quick 2 1/2 hour direct flight from Sydney.  The weather, while not too warm, was sunny and beautiful for most of the first 2 1/2 days.  We took advantage of it and headed to the Great Barrier Reef our first day (post to follow) and to Whitehaven Beach the next day.  Whitehaven Beach is a gorgeous 4 mile long beach with bright white sand that's 98% silica.  The next two days were overcast, cooler and sporadically rainy.  The resort offered lots of activities though so we had no trouble entertaining ourselves with golf cart (no cars just "buggies") touring, kayaking, swimming, squash, ping pong, soccer, and a bit of wildlife (post to follow).  We thoroughly enjoyed our getaway and I can imagine that with sunny days and a bit warmer weather, it would be torturous to leave!

Catseye Beach, just in front of the hotel, at low tide. 



View of Whitsunday Island, the largest of the islands.  It's all protected parkland and is completely undeveloped.  These islands reminded us of the San Juan islands near Seattle/Vancouver - except for the tropical part!





Great view from our "cheap" Garden View room.  Huh?  Not complaining though!!



Whitehaven Beach



The sand is so soft, squeaky and powdery, you can't help but play in it!





Hotel, other accomodations and Catseye Beach as seen from boat.  One of the highlights of the trip for us, believe it or not in this huge hotel, was sleeping.  It was incredibly quiet, as compared to our noisy "tent" bedroom in Sydney!



   More posts to follow soon!

Asia and Rugby

So, one time, an American, an Englishman, an Indian, a Brazilian, and an Australian went to an Irish bar in Malaysia to watch the biggest rugby match ever...

I'm sure there is some kind of really funny joke in there somewhere, but that was my reality this week.  After starting the week in Melbourne, I spent the rest of it in company meetings in Kuala Lumpur (KL).  True to the international nature of my firm, there were many nationalities there and that was just among the "Australians", not to mention the Koreans and Chinese present.

Flying across Australia from southeast to northwest (KL is northwest of Australia) showed how barren and uninhabitable much of Australia is.

KL itself is an interesting balance of cultures.  It is an Islamic country with a number of women covered in full burqas with just a small slit for the eyes on one extreme while also having a number of practitioners of the "oldest profession" if the crowd at the popular expat bar my group went to was any indication.  Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957 so English is taught in schools and widely spoken and the alphabet uses Roman letters, so it is easy to get around and has many ultra-modern amenities.  The food also has a reputation for excellence that didn't disappoint from the seemingly national dish of satay to more exotic tastes of stingray and "beyond" (not sure if one of the dishes at the Chinese restaurant was standard Malaysian or a Chinese import, sorry Jackson).

Wednesday was game 3 of the State of Origin rugby series which is the annual Rugby League showdown between New South Wales and Queensland.  It is among the biggest sporting events in Australia and probably the most well known rugby league game in the world. It's gotten so big that it was even being broadcast live in the U.S. this year as the announcers reported multiple times (I'm sure you all watched it at 6am Weds morning on Fox Soccer Channel).  QL has won 5 years in a row, but the series was tied 1-1 going into the deciding game.  One of the Aussies seriously considered canceling coming to the meeting to watch the game at home with his mates.  "Unfortunately" for us, The Blues got blown out by the Maroons (pronounced Marones for whatever reason) but it was still quite the multicultural experience watching it with all those nationalities!  As the headline in the Sydney paper said "Wait Until Next Year".

KL also boasts the world's tallest twin towers in the Petronas Towers (no glowing magical stags, however, for you Harry Potter fans) at 1483 feet.  They are majestic during the day and even more beautiful with the way they are lit up at night.  The base of the building also contains a large upscale mall with all of the exotic stores of Asia, such as Gap, Banana Republic, and Durham's own Burt's  Bees.



Holidays, Hoopla and Humpbacks

     Term Two ended on Thursday and the kids are officially half way through the Aussie school year.  Since they started school in NC in August 2010 and will end here in December 2011, it's an incredibly long school year for them.  But, they will have started as 1st and 4th graders and end as rising 3rd and 6th graders.  They now have a little over two weeks off before starting Term Three.
    We met up with some other families, American and otherwise, for an early 4th of July picnic.  There was a lot of yummy food, heaps (gotta use some Aussie words) of cute toddlers and some amazing winter weather. 

Sam takes on a seasoned opponent.

     At this time of year, humpback whales are migrating from the Southern Ocean north along the eastern Australian coast.  They head to warmer waters to breed and then head back down the coast from September to December.  When traveling north, the whales swim very close to shore and can be spotted from the coast.  We opted to go out on a whale watching excursion to get a better look.  Even though the whales we saw weren't overly active (no breeching), we had a great time on the water.



Entrance to Sydney Harbor from Pacific Ocean (Tasman Sea if you're being really accurate).



In The Ghetto

   Often when we're asked where we live in Sydney, and we respond "Mosman", the reply is "Ah, the expat ghetto."  With its proximity to the CBD (Central Business District), beautiful Balmoral Beach, pretty neighborhoods, good schools and village-like feel, Mosman's appeal is widespread.  The principal at the kids' school told us that they have students from 35 countries.  With so many families living here temporarily, there is a constant stream of hellos and goodbyes.  Families that have been here 2 years are the old pros and you're only a newbie for a few months.  This time of year seems to be particularly full of transitions since it's summer in the northern hemisphere.  Mia's class is losing three students at the end of term due to international relocations.  I've been to three farewell events in the past week.  We're bummed to say goodbye to families we've really just started to know, but overall we're OK with this "ghetto" life.



Main drag through the "ghetto"