We've Got Mail

   We don't get a lot of mail here and that's generally a nice thing.  We were quite curious and a tiny bit apprehensive when an envelope arrived from the Australian Government a few days ago.  We couldn't think of any reason for the Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to contact us in a handwritten letter.

   We aren't the stars of the show here so we should have thought about Jackson.  He makes more friends on every walk than we ever will!   A painter on the beach has offered twice now to exchange a painting for him.  (Answer: no!) When he was in quarantine, we got a phone call asking if we would give permission for his photograph to be used in promotional materials.  We gave the OK and forgot about it.  Some incredibly conscientious and reliable person didn't forget about us and sent us this new pamphlet which includes a photo of Jackson. 

   It's a safe bet that the rest of us won't be featured in any official government brochures (or at least we hope not)!

Happy Easta

    One of the more noticeable features of the Australian accent is the dropping of the final "r" sound in many words.  So, Easter is "Easta", never is "neva" and if our last name was Cooper, it would be "Coopa",  Curiously, r's get added to words that end in "a."  So, aroma becomes "aromar", Australia is often "Australiar" and Mia has become "Mi-er".  Much to her amusement, Mia's whole name has changed here.  Who knew?

    From what we have seen over the last month or so, Easter is a pretty big deal here, but in a very secular manner. It is a bit puzzling that this same, largely non-religious country (the Prime Minister is a professed atheist even) teaches Scripture in the public schools.  Anyhow, Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays so it's always a 4 day weekend.  This year ANZAC Day, also a public holiday, fell on Easter Monday so today (Tuesday) is also a public holiday - a 5 day weekend!  (ANZAC Day is a day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealand troops that fought in Gallipoli in WWI, now generalized to all veterans.)  Back to Easter.  Lots and lots of various types of chocolate eggs here but not much of the other stuff that we are used to - jellybeans are scarce, plastic fillable eggs are rare, no Peeps (except for us thanks to our recently-returned-from-the-US friend and neighbor Jenny!), no Reeses eggs, etc. 

    There are chocolate bunnies but there is also a campaign to promote the use of the chocolate bilby as the seasonal chocolate animal of choice here.  Why?  The bilby is a native Australian burrowing rodent that was endangered.  The rabbit, on the other hand, is not native to Australia and has done lots of damage to Australian crops and wildlife habitats.  Maybe next year we'll try a chocolate bilby!




Chocolate bilby

The kids experimented with making striped eggs this year, thanks to the surprise PAAS kit from Jenny.

    It was largely a rainy 5 day weekend here but we did manage to explore a new area of Sydney one afternoon.  We walked around the South Head (entry point of Sydney Harbor, head is short for headlands) and ended up at Watsons Bay.  The fish and chips spot there, Doyles, is widely known so of course we had to try the fare.  Yummy! 



Looking south along the Pacific coastline.

 

Entry to Sydney Harbor with the North Head in the background.





Watsons Bay



Great Ocean Road - Day Two

    After a great brekky (breakfast) at a cafe (La Brisa) with amazing views of the ocean and surrounding hills, we left Apollo Bay and followed the Great Ocean Road inland a bit toward Cape Otway.  Cape Otway is the second most southerly point of mainland Australia and the farthest south any of us has ever been.  It's typically a very rainy area and we took a short walk through the sub-temperate rainforest at Maits Rest.  Some of the towering trees are 350 years old and almost 200 feet high.





When a tree grows over a fallen tree, the fallen tree eventually decays and leaves a huge space. 

Gorgeous farming areas near Apollo Bay.

     Our next stop was at Johanna Beach, known for its wild, unsafe surf.  The Rip Curl Pro contest relocates here if the waves aren't working at Bell's Beach.  Another stunning beach but definitely not a good place for a swim. 

Aside from surfing, this treacherous section of coastline is known for numerous (around 200) shipwrecks. 

Mia and Sam decided to take over photography duty, at least briefly.

      The giant rock stacks known as the Twelve Apostles are surely the most famous site along the Great Ocean Road.  They are stunning!  It would have been great to be there at sunrise or sunset but our timing wasn't on for that.  Amazing nonetheless.



More photographic proof that I did actually join the rest of the family in Oz.

  Past the Twelve Apostles, we stopped at several other dramatic rock formations.



The Arch.

London Bridge.  This used to be a double arch until the first fell into the ocean in 1990.  Two tourists were stranded on the island until they were rescued by helicopter.

 This one is called the Grotto.

The kids loved playing around at the bottom of the Grotto.



Bay of Islands

  We spent our last night in the town of Warnambool before heading back to Melbourne.  Bojangles was a great spot for a pizza dinner.  Warnambool is known for the Southern Right whales that stay off the coast to nurse their young for several months of the year.  It wasn't whale season yet, so we'll have to watch some whales off the coast of Sydney in a few months. 
   On the way back to Melbourne the next day, we noticed miles and miles of these hand-stacked rock fences between Colac and Winchelsea.  A quick internet search told us that they were constructed in the 1850's by British stonemasons in an effort to keep rabbits out of crops.  What did we do before the internet was so easily available? 

   The trip back to Sydney was delayed due to a big security issue in the Sydney airport, but we just arrived back later than expected.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Melbourne and Victoria and could easily spend some more time there exploring further. 


Great Ocean Road

      The Great Ocean Road is a stretch of insanely scenic highway that runs along the southern coast of Victoria for several hundred kilometers.  We left from Melbourne and it took about an hour and a half to reach our first stop, Bell's Beach, near the town of Torquay.  Bell's Beach is the site of the famous Rip Curl Pro surf tournament every Easter.  There were only a few small waves for our visit, but the view was beautiful.  We contemplated stopping by on our return trip, but the contest start was delayed a day by poor surf conditions so Chris had to resort to seeing some of it on TV at home this week.

   From Bell's Beach, we headed down the road to Airey's Inlet and the Split Point Lighthouse.  More stunning scenery!



     From the holiday town of Lorne, we took two short treks to a gorgeous waterfall, Erskine Falls, and then up to Teddy's Lookout. 

   Mia was eager to reach a spot along the Kennett River known for koala spotting, so we booked it down the road to get there before sunset.  We had directions to turn onto a gravel road, turn behind the caravan (camper) park, and start looking.  Just when we were thinking it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, we started seeing them!  One was even awake and moving around a lot through the gum trees.  As we wandered down the road spotting more and more, some kangaroos jumped into view.  So, we're listening to the ocean while watching wild kangaroos and koalas.  Pretty great way to end the day!



    Our destination for the night was Apollo Bay, another small town catering to Great Ocean Road travelers.  After a surprisingly yummy meal at the local hotel (means bar and restaurant here), we slept like babies, or maybe koalas.

Crapman and Other Amusements in Victoria

   After our kangaroo encounter (see previous post), we drove out to the Healesville Animal Sanctuary.  The hour drive there was through the beautiful Yarra Valley.  With its mountains, wineries and quaint towns, it's a place we could definitely enjoy exploring further.  Our trip to Healesville was rather quick, but we did get to see some more Australian animals in a great setting.  The Flight Arena show was fascinating and well done. 



We watched Maya having lunch for quite a while.

     Part of the Healesville's mission is to promote practices that help protect wildlife habitats.  To that end, they have numerous signs and information posted about using how using toilet paper made from recycled paper is one thing that helps reduce the number of trees being cut down in Australia.  Sounds good.  On one of the paths through the sanctuary, we ran across this, the funniest face cut-out board ever!  It's been making us laugh for days.

 

    I just don't think this would be seen at a US Zoo.  Ah, good old potty humor with an environmental twist.

    While we're on the subject of signage, there are lots worth mentioning in the state of Victoria.  They don't mind being blunt and they really don't want you to fall asleep at the wheel!  A few that we saw -



This one is rather threatening!



We saw this one over and over at stops along the Great Ocean Road.  Do that many people really travel with their cats and do they take them out to see the views?

    The next stop for us was Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade.  Every evening, Little Penguins, also known as Fairy Penguins, return to shore after days or weeks of fishing at sea.  These are the smallest of the 17 species of penguins and live in colonies along the southern Australian coast.  They gather in groups on the shore just after sunset and waddle determinedly up into the dunes to their burrows.  Several of the groups we watched arriving on the beach would get a bit spooked and return to the ocean for a while before finally coming in for the night.  They are quite vulnerable to predators during their walk home so they arrive and walk in large groups.  When reaching their homes, there is often quite a bit of chattering.  You can hear it all through the dunes. These little buggers are just so cute waddling home!  Photography is not allowed but I did find some photos on the internet.

    We were chilly and hungry after the penguin parade.  We grabbed some tucker (food) and headed back to the suburbs of Melbourne.  It was another late night but worth it! 

Next up, the Great Ocean Road.