Saturday, December 20, 2003

Monday, December 22, 2003

Tower Hill Reserve

With the weather improving each day, we headed out to Tower Hill Nature Reserve today, which is inside the crater of an old volcano along the coast. Along the rim of the crater emus wandered around, ignoring our presence. It feels really strange walking close to animals that you would normally only meet in a zoo, and without a fence between you and them. The only time they acknowledged our presence was when I kneeled down to take a close-up photo of one, and the two nearest emus kneeled down too!

One we were down inside the crater, we found even more wildlife around – lots of birds flying around and koalas in the tree. Spotting your first koala is a bit difficult, as they don't move around a lot, but once you've worked out what to look for you can suddenly see them everywhere. We saw them right at the tops of trees, with the bows bending over as they reached out to the very tips to grab eucalyptus leaves. We saw them sleeping in the forks of branches, in the most uncomfortable positions. And we saw young koalas, making their first explorations away from their mums. We even got to see a koala with a baby on it's back, walking across between trees. The girls loved every minute of it, and for a while even forgot about the flies that pestered us every moment that we were outside.

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

t'was the night before Christmas…

We left the coast today, and headed inland to the Grampian mountains. A month ago we'd booked a cabin on the shores of Lake Fyans for Christmas and New Year – we'd been warned that as soon as Boxing Day arrives it gets incredibly busy, and most people book 6 months ahead for the sites – so we thought we should book one place for the whole period around Christmas, rather than risk moving around and being without any accommodation at all! The Grampians are about two hours drive from the coast, across typical Australian farmland – dry, yellowing grazing land, dotted with corrugated iron shacks and corrugated-roofed houses.

Lake Fyans is an artificial lake, created by damming an existing hollow, but with the drought that has been affecting Australia for the last few years, it’s a lot smaller than it should be – it got 40% of the water in it that should be there. So instead of a small sandy beach in front of the cabins, there's actually a HUGE sandy beach – about 100 metres wide – running down to the distant shore! The plus side of this is that the water skiers, powerboaters and jetbikers have all had to go and find another lake to zoom around, so it’s a lot more peaceful than normal. Apparently the lake has been very low for over 5 years, and it has started to recover a little, now that the worst of the drought is over. But its going to be another 4 years of rain before it starts to look like the waterfront cabins on the front of the brochure again!

Once we'd settled in to the cabin, Michael, Gloria and Sarah went off to the nearest big town for the Christmas supermarket shop. This wasn't nearly as harrowing as a normal Christmas food shopping expedition, as we didn't have to buy turkeys or many of the other traditional Christmas Day delights – and because the Australians don't make a huge thing of Christmas Day either, the supermarket wasn't heaving with thousands of people desperately fighting over the last tub of brandy butter!

Although we've not going to have a traditional Christmas, we've still got a few traditions to continue for the children – including fixing the stockings up on the bunk beds – and waiting three hours for them to fall asleep. Emily finally succumbed to sleep at 11:30pm!

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Merry Christmas

Happy Christmas from Down Under

Swimming in a Winter Wonderland

25th December in Australia - a Christmas Day like no other (for us at least!). First thing was a bit like normal – presents under our tacky tree, but only for the girls. Gloria and Michael had carried a suitcase over from England, which was full of Charlotte and Emily's presents from them and our friends. Imagine our horror at seeing the size of it (too big to be a carry on bag…), and then when the presents were piled on the dining table around the tree, we couldn't help but think about the size of them compared to the size of our rucksacks! Of course, everybody had thought of that too, so when the girls unwrapped them with glee, we found lots of packaging around presents which will either pack up small, or aren't designed to last beyond the 9 days that we are here! That was about the only thing that was slightly traditional – the rest was very different. For a start the weather was warm and sunny, with a clear blue sky. After a BBQ'd breakfast of bacon and sausages, we went down to the pool for a swim, and then wandered out to the beach.

We have done this before – 10 years ago we were in Australia for Christmas during our last trip backpacking around the world – but it still seems very, very odd to be standing on the sand, in shorts and t-shirts, while thinking about Christmas. It makes it so unreal that its difficult to think about the traditional images of Christmas – snowmen, carol singers, a roaring fire. In fact, by the time we'd walked to the beach and taken the photo with our hats on, we were very, very hot underneath them. So we didn't spend all day in them!

Finally, in the middle of the afternoon, we had Christmas Lunch. Michael and I slaved away over a hard barbeque, for at least 20 minutes, to cook the fillet steaks, while Gloria and Sarah were tied to the kitchen preparing a salad. So instead of the traditional 7 hours of cooking turkey (starting at 5 o'clock in the morning) with all the trimmings, we were sitting down to eat half an hour after we'd started preparing our meal! After such a hearty meal, we had to leave the Christmas Pudding until after we'd had another swim in the pool, and then we settled down to watch a little bit of TV, with various family members settling for a nap!

With no stress, and little fuss, it seems as if there are some really positive side effects of a non-traditional Christmas.

Friday, December 26, 2003

Boxing Day – time for a walk!

Well, after spending a day in and around the cabin, we thought we should go for a walk today, and work off the excesses of Christmas (how many people at home will have done exactly the same!). As you'll have seen from the photos of the last 5 months, we haven't done anywhere near as much physical exercise this trip as last time, because the children don't have the same stamina for walking. This picture was taken after 12 months of travel last time, where I'd lost 4 stone after travelling through India and Asia – somehow I'd imagined that something similar would happen this time, but of course no chance! Not only have we had less chance for hiking, but we've also spent the last 5 months in countries with easier access to unhealthy foods – Canada, the US and now Australia. Here in Australia, for example, we've been very actively using the barbecues, which means quite a bit of meat and sausages.

Anyway, back to today – we decided to walk around the lake by the caravan park, which didn't look huge, but by the time we were halfway around we knew it was bigger than it looked! Anyway, it was 10km round, so we had a healthy long walk (fortunately we'd left Charlotte and Emily at home with Gloria and Michael), and felt much better for it!

Sunday, December 28, 2003

A day trip into the Grampians

We got out and about in the cars today, to see some of the sights of the Grampians. We drove up the top of a couple of mountains to the viewpoints (talk about making it easy!), and then walked to a couple of waterfalls. Although it is now summer here there's still water coming over the falls, they had solid rain here a fortnight ago for four days, which must mean that the drought has truly broken here. So the walk to the waterfall was rewarded with an impressive view. Sarah and Michael regularly compare this part of Australia with the views of Africa they remember from 30 years ago. Away from the mountains, the plains are very flat and covered in dry grass, with trees studded around. And every now and again, there's an emu or kangaroo beside the road. If only the flocks of sheep were wildebeest…..

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Rock Art

Although we've been in Australia for 3 months, we've not really seen very much about the Aboriginal culture, and so we went to Brambuk Aboriginal cultural centre in the Grampians today. As well as the usual things (glass cases full of 200 year old didgeridoos and boomerangs) which museums love and kids hate, they'd also laid on some holiday activities for children. The girls had a go at aboriginal art, creating paintings with dots, using bits of grass and poster paints. Not to be left out, I had a go too, painting a dotty Australian flag on a rock. Charlotte painted her own boomerang, and Emily daubed a rock in a not-quite-Aboriginal style.

Thursday, January 01, 2004

Happy New Year!

It seems that it was only a few weeks ago that we were leaving home, and setting off on our trip. And then, when we think back to our time in Canada, it seems ages ago. Whatever, it has now been almost six months since we packed up our rucksacks and set off into the great unknown with the girls. We've all learnt so much in that time – for me, I've learnt so much about what being a 24-hour-a-day-Dad can mean, with no opportunity to escape to the office for a break! I've also had to learn a lot more patience than I normally display – and even that isn't enough for some situations. I've also learnt how much fun it can be doing things all together – exploring, finding new places and learning new things.

The hardest part of travelling together is that there is no chance for us to have a break as we would at home. That quiet time of the day, after the children have gone to bed or to school, when it's possible to have an adult conversation, and you can genuinely relax. As we've all been sleeping in the same room all the time, that hasn't really been possible – the girls bed times are so messed up by travelling that we tend to go to bed as soon as we've got them asleep.

This morning then was a real treat. Gloria and Michael took the girls off to a wildlife park, while Sarah and I went for a walk to the Grand Canyon (Hey, the second Grand Canyon of the trip, but to be honest the Australian one isn't that exciting after the US one). It was great to be able to hop around the canyon without having to worry about looking after the girls. After we'd finished our walk (including half an hour sitting on top of a rock pillar, just appreciating the view without having to watch out for somebody falling off) we went in to Halls Gaps and had a coffee and a bacon sandwich, and just sat having a conversation and reading the papers for an hour and a half! This is only our second break from the girls in six months (for the first, we went night canoeing in Queensland), and it was just great.

We've also been lucky enough to get lie-ins on a regular basis since Sarah's parents have been with us. Each morning the girls have woken up at their normal, early, time and wandered through to Gloria and Michael, and have then either settled down in bed with them, or watched children's TV. Once you have children ,lie-ins become a faded memory, and this is even more true when you're all in the same bedroom. So we've had a luxury we wouldn't even have got at home – wow!

Friday, January 02, 2004

Time to break a New Year resolution!

Note to self: Don't ever, ever have another New Year Resolution that is "Try something new soon".
Well, it’s a new year, and we're keen to do new things and explore new places still. So yesterday, after our coffee, we signed ourselves up for a 2 hour "Abseiling for the Nervous Beginner" course. Charlotte was keen to go, but Emily was too small, so spent another morning with Gloria and Michael.
When we arrived at the meeting point, we found out that we'd been mistakenly put onto the half-day "Rock Climbing and Intermediate Abseiling Group". So instead of doing a small abseil down a 45-degree slope, we found ourselves at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, roped up and ready to go up. There were a dozen of us in the group, including a couple of other children, and we alternately climbed and held the ropes for other climbers.

We all had a go at climbing, and Charlotte loved it. After her experience on a climbing wall before, she was raring to go up and raced up the rock face. She wasn't so keen on coming down – it meant putting your trust in the hands of the rope belayer (learnt some new technical words too!) and leaning back into space, and just walking backwards down the rock face. But we all did it, and all enjoyed it.

Then it was time for abseiling – not on the beginner slope, but straight down a vertical 90-foot cliff face. Charlotte wasn't up for it – her fear of heights stopped her walking to the edge at the top – but Sarah and I both had a few goes, and walked away with huge grins on our faces (I know it seems unlikely for me to grin, but I did, honest).

The only hiccup during the whole morning was when Sarah slipped on her last climb, lost her grip, and went swinging across the rock face like a pendulum. It was bad timing – it happened on the steepest bit, when her rope was tangled around an outcrop, so there was nothing anybody could do to stop her. She banged her shins against the rock, and ended up with a nice bruise on one leg and a nasty cut down the other, which then bled all over her shoes. Her fall would have been a lot worse, if she hadn't conveniently swung into the arms of the instructor at the bottom! It could have been a lot worse, but it was an unfortunate end to a brilliant morning.

Saturday, January 03, 2004

Breaking up!

We've made it!!! We've all successfully survived a month in a cabin as an extended family together. For Charlotte and Emily, it's meant that they've had their grandparents around all the time – and therefore lots of treats and ice-creams, and somebody to appeal to when Mummy and Daddy said "No" to something. For Sarah its meant having her Mum and Dad around to talk to, and to provide some grown-up company. Michael has a real interest in history, and was like a history guide as we toured around. Gloria has a passion for wildlife and birds, and acted as our nature guide for the month – although Charlotte's knowledge of Australian wildlife gave her the edge some times!

And for me? Well, I'm proud of the fact that I've survived living in a 20" x 12" cabin with my In-Laws for a month. I bet David Blaine never thought of adding that daring element to his stay in the glass box. Perhaps he wouldn't have made it if he had!

Anyway, here's the evidence of how successful it was. Here's the last photo of us all together, after we'd packed up and were just about to set off. The smiles show that we all managed to live in close confines together successfully – or it could just be relief that we were all heading off!

After we parted company, we set off towards Sydney, which is a 600 mile drive we'll do over two days. The weather has definitely turned towards "searing" – we drove into Holbrook (our overnight stop) to a temperature of 44-degrees. The air conditioning in the car was struggling to cope, and in the cabin it completely failed to keep up, so we spent the night with the air-con on full blast, and the ceiling fan doing a Sikorsky impression.

Sunday, January 04, 2004

Back in Sydney

Finally, after 14 hours driving, we drove back into Sydney. Although it wasn't strictly necessary to drive across the Harbour Bridge, we did it anyway to mark our return to the city! It had been a long, very hot drive, and we were all relieved to arrive. In the campervan the girls had enjoyed the long trips – they sat upright and had a table for drawing or cards. But in the car they just had to sit in the their seats, and it got quite boring for them. But its our last long drive for a while, and in the last month we'd only covered 800 miles in the whole month, so they were pretty patient.

None the less, they were happy to get out the car finally in Sydney, and run around like monkeys on the lawn. After driving on near empty country roads for three months, it was a bit of shock to arrive back in a heaving city, with cars going all over the place, but we managed to get back to Kings Cross without incident, and checked into our backpackers hotel (we're in the kind of hotel which you'd run a million miles from in England, but what would you expect for £24 a night for a triple room!). We're still on the Sydney Olympics trail too – after staying in cabins that were used for the athlete villages during the Olympics, we're now sleeping in an official Sydney Olympics bunk bed too!

Monday, January 05, 2004

Crikey, I Owe An Apology

Following absolutely no outrage by the international media, I feel I need to apologise for this photograph which I inadvertently took and used on this website last year. Obviously I had no idea what I was doing when I put my children inside the mouth of a huge crocodile. Although it was made of fibreglass, crikey, it could so easily have gone horribly wrong if it had suddenly come to life! Anyway, I've learnt my lesson – next time I decide to send the girls near crocs, I'll leave the camera at home mate!

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

Around and about Sydney

It's great to be back in Sydney again, and to be somewhere we are familiar with. Yesterday was spent shopping and replacing some more of our worn-out clothes - new bikinis for all the girls, new boots for me! And today was exploring day – walking around and about the city to see the sights. We all walked miles, including the girls, and had a great time. We walked to Darling Harbour, on the other side of the city, and visited the Maritime Museum and wandered around the harbour. We ended up by seeing the didgeridoo show in Darling o Harbour ("Fab!" said Charlotte; "Brilliant" said Sarah; "Brrrrrrr" said I trying to get the noise right to play one). And then we walked halfway back home before the girls legs out and we switched to the underground trains. We really enjoy sightseeing in cities, as we all enjoy walking as long as there are plenty of chances for the girls to stop and rest/play. They will walk much further in a city than in the countryside before they complain of being tired, and we all feel as if we've had a much healthier day because of it. (I'm not sure if that can be true, breathing in all the traffic fumes, but that's beside the point!)

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

Fantastic Sydney!

Another day of sightseeing today - our last day in Australia - before packing our rucksacks ready for them to be thrown around an aircraft hold (or is it on the tarmac they do the damage?). Whatever, we had a great last day.

The sun shone. The sky was kind-of-blue (when the clouds parted). And we all got sunburnt! You'd have thought we'd have learnt by now. We walked across the Botanical Gardens to the Opera House, then took a ferry up the river to gawp at the wonderful waterside houses that grace the shores of Sydney Harbour. It gave us all a chance to rest our legs, and think about how lovely it would be to live in a city like this, with great views across the water. Shame that we don't have the money to buy houses like that in England - or even in Sydney, where a harbourside penthouse recently sold for A$15,000,000 (around £6M!).

We wandered around the harbourside, and stared at the opera house and the views. We watched the hundreds of people climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge (next time...). We paused by the Opera House and asked somebody to take our photo in front of it. Sadly, the Canadian who took it didn't really have an eye for a photo - he took a close up of us, and left out the Opera House completely! So we asked somebody else to take a photo (phew!). We watched some aborigines playing didgeridoo with the harbour as background. It was an uplifting ending to a great 3 months in Oz.

And then we went back to the noise of the city, and the bustle of the train stations, and dust of the underground, and the squalor of Kings Cross (where our 'private hotel' is), and the spell was broken. Who cares, in a years' time we'll remember the highlights of the day, not the rest!

I feel like Skippy tonight...like Skippy tonight...

Our last night in Australia called for a special meal – and after three months of seeing it on the menu, I decided that I should try one of the "Bush Foods". At the café of the Aboriginal centre in the Grampians they offered a 'triple treat' of Kangaroo Steak, Emu kebab and Crocodile burger – but it didn't seem right to be munching away on man's friends (well, even crocs have friends, like little Bob Irwin!) in the middle of a National Park, where even taking a leaf from the ground is an offence.

But now we're back in the city, sensibilities have been left behind, so it was just a case of choosing which cute, furry, Australian animal to eat! I feel sorry for crocodiles, because they've got to live with Steve Irwin hanging around and wrestling them. And emus just don't look like the kind of bird that you'd get a nice kebab from. So kangaroos seemed to be the ideal candidate – to Australians they are a pest, and they're definitely not endangered, as we've seen them all over the place (remember Pambula campsite and Anglesea golf course?).

So I sat down to dinner at Krave (the best value café we found in all our time in Sydney) and ordered the kangaroo steak. I didn't know if I'd expected anything special, but what I got was a steak – just a plain, simple steak that could have been beef, lamb or any other kind of 'normal' meat. It tasted just like anything else (although, I must be honest, that my mind was dominated by the thoughts of Skippy rather than having a meat-gourmet mindset).

And if I hadn't known it was kangaroo, I guess I wouldn't have thought any more of it. But as it was kangaroo, I was a bit intrigued – after all, it's a bit like eating horsemeat in England – there's nothing wrong with it, you just don't do it. Anyway, back to Skippy. A little bit of research turned up the Aussie Meats Guide to Kangaroo Cuts, which contained this lovely diagram showing where the cuts come from – to help your imagination, I've drawn on where my rump steak came from!

So there we go – I've enjoyed a nice kangaroo steak, didn't choke on it, and positively enjoyed it. (Oh, and the girls had pasta!)

It seems a little unfair to end on that note, but it's where our Australia diary finishes...