On US Soil Again

We are finally back on US soil and are getting over our jet lag. What a trip! Karl and I have talked about going back again someday because we would like to see more of the country, but not sure if we would make the 15+ hour plane trip again. It probably wouldn't be so bad if we flew business class, but that is an extra $2000 per ticket. Not worth it.

Here is some perspectives about our trip. Australia doesn't really believe in restaurants like we are used to. They are more into the cafe/bistro thing. Not bad except they go to extremes in their ingredients. Needless to say Karl lost weight since he is just a picky eater (and most of you who know him know that is true). Australian people are very, very friendly! They love to know where we were from and how did we like their country and would we come back? It is very expensive over there. We would go to a McDonald's and it would cost us almost $25. Going to the supermarket was an experience since they used different terms for different things. Our raisin is their sultana so you had to look at the product and try to figure out what they were talking about.

New Zealand was wet. A very tropical place and I hope to see it again when it is drier. Our host was so apoligetic for the weather because it was supposed to have cleared up before we got there, then everything changed. But we did have a great time while we were there even though we had the same things as Australia in restaurants and supermarkets.

It was fun going into the cities and seeing "touristy" things, but it was more fun going to the smaller towns around our apartments and mingling with the local folk. They would say g'day to us and when we replied with hello or good morning and they realized we weren't local they slowed their speech down and were very tolerant when they had to repeat something because when they are talking to their own they go a mile a minute! And always wished us a good "holiday".

As promised here are some road signs we encountered along our travels:

Koala, Kangaroo, Wombat, Echidna

Almost Home

On Friday we left Kyneton in the bushland and traveled the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne for the next three nights. And I was right in my last post that the Ocean Road was a lot like PCH in California. For those who don't live there it's a road that follows the ocean along the coastline. The only difference was that California has more dramatic cliffs than this one did. But the views were beautiful. Looking out at the ocean you remember that the next closest land is Antartica - a loonng way away. Going along on the road we went through some great little towns that were very "beach" oriented. Lots of cafes, shops, tourist things - it was wonderful.

We reached Melbourne around 6 at night which was NOT a smart thing to do! We were right in the middle of rush hour, on a motorway, with lots of cars, dark night, funky GPS - not a fun time. We missed our exit because the GPS was not acting right and since the exit road ran right along with the motorway, it thought we were still on track. So we exited sooner than we should have and then really had a "fun" time trying to get back on track. Finally after about 20 mintues we got to the hotel - a little worse for wear, but not killing each other either.

On Saturday we took their free tram which circled the city and showed some of the highlights. You could get on and off whenever you wanted. The problem was that since it was free all the locals also used it. So when the recording pointed out something the only thing I saw was someone's back. And it was very, very crowded. We got to the main area of Melbourne called Federation Square and went to the visitor's center to find out what we could see while we were there. After getting our bearings we journeyed back to the hotel to map out what we wanted to see on Sunday, but this time we were going to use the free tourist shuttle bus. Much, much better! Again it was an on and off shuttle, but so much better with less people.

Sunday we started off going back to the Queen Victoria's Market which we had visited the previous day. It is a huge food and merchandise open market where you can get almost anything you could ever want. For those in the Sacramento area think Denio's and for those in the Phoenix area think Mesa Marketplace. After our shopping excersion we boarded the shuttle and took off to our planned destinations. Unfortunately it started to rain - a lot - so we really couldn't see what we wanted to see. Plus one area was closed due to a Mother's Day Cancer Run/Walk and the other was closed due to a football game. But we did manage to get to the Old Melbourne Gaol. What an experience! We started out by being "arrested" and booked into the gaol. Our "sergeant" really played the part well. Then we were allowed to go through the gaol and read what took place there. The gaol began in 1841 and was used up until 1972. As a gaol it was used until 1924 then during WWII it was used as a military prison. This was also the last place the famous Ned Kelly lived until he was hanged in the late 1800's. It was a very interesting time.

I am ready to come home and sit for a while, but I am glad I came. I enjoyed the countryside more than the city because we were able to be with the locals more. The cities of Sydney, Auckland and Melbourne were fast, noisy, and crowded with tourists. Living in the bush with a family was so much more of an experience than I could ever have imaginged. We will need to come back again because we have just scratched the tip of the iceberg of this country.

My next post will show the road signs we encountered along the way.

Goldfields of Australia

On Monday and Tuesday we visited two more goldfield towns. On Monday we were in Bendigo, a town of over 100,000 people that was a gold center in the late 1800’s. We started out on the “talking” tram, a tram that ran with late 1800 and early 1900 restored cable cars. They have been trying for 10 years to raise money for car restoration and preserve the trolley building. They were working on the station and should be visitor ready by the end of this year. During the tour we got off at Joss House in the Chinese quarter. Joss House is a name that is given to any place that people can come and worship whatever god they believe in. This Joss House had three rooms including the caretaker’s cottage, the Main Altar and the Ancestral Hall. The main altar is dedicated to Guan-Di, the god of war and prosperity. The Ancestral Hall is dedicated to the memory of ancestors. It was a very interesting visit.

Next we visited the Golden Dragon Museum and its main attractions are Loong, the world’s oldest Imperial dragon and Sun Loong, the world’s longest Imperial dragon. The dragons are used in parades during Easter Fair Festival. Loong was first used in 1892 and was retired in 1970. Then Sun Loong took over and is still used today. The head is over 2 meters tall and needs 5 people to carry it. The rest of the body needs 52 people to carry it with 52 people to relieve and an extra 5 just in case. Its body is covered with over 90,000 mirrors hand sewn on. They also had antique Chinese items and furniture from the late 1800’s from people that lived in the area. During the hay-day of gold mining there were over 1000 Chinese living in Bendigo. Now you will find it hard to find any pure Chinese living there. And if you think someone is of Chinese heritage and ask them, they will deny it due to how bad they were treated long ago.

On Tuesday we took off to the town of Ballart. Another town that runs around 100,000 people. During the late 1800’s this place was considered the cultural center of the goldfield towns. It had class, art, culture, fine dining, 5 star entertainments and even had Mark Twain visit. The buildings are still grand and culture still oozes from the town. Our first stop (after the Visitor’s Bureau) was across the street to the Art Galley – which was free! How often have you gone into an art gallery and didn’t pay admission. Unfortunately it was wasted on us because we aren’t real art lovers. Then we took off to the Wild Animal Park. The only reason we went there was to see animals uniquely Australian that we won’t see in normal circumstances – like the Tasmanian Devil.

Next stop was the Botanical Gardens, but didn’t really take a lot of time there since it started to rain so we drove around the area. Passing under the Avenue of Honours arch we drove down a tree lined street. If you looked closer you would see plaques at each base that has a name and a unit. There are 3771 trees, running 22 kilometers honoring every Australian that enlisted in WWI. No other war but that one. They do have an ex-prisoners of war monument that looks a lot like our Vietnam Wall – a large, long, black marble wall etched with names. Now Ballart is famous for a riot that took place in the late 1800’s when the government wanted to tax people that mined gold. The problem was that the tax was way too much so the miners rioted and got the tax repealed, but not without losses of life. There are statues and an area that depicts the riots and the leader. Funny how the common people can change governments mind, huh?

Return to Oz

We have returned to Oz until the 9th of May when we will return home (CA for those who want to know WHICH home). Our resort is in the bushland (forest) and they are individual cottages. Not too bad – this is my way of “camping” if I don’t have the motorhome.

We arrived very late on Friday into Melbourne and had an hour drive to the resort. Then we had to find our cottage in the dark. Wasn’t too bad except that when we arrived the reception had closed almost 3 hours before. Our paperwork was locked in an outdoors safe and we were to call the after-hours number to get the code to open the safe. No problem except that we had no phones!! So off I trek through the dark and the trees and would hopefully find a cottage that was occupied by someone that had a local phone. Luckily the cottage next to the reception was occupied and I could use their phone to call. We finally got settled about 9:30pm.

The next day we took a drive around the area and went into town to walk around. The area we are staying in is among the wine country and the goldfields. So you can go wine tasting and gold digging at the same time! What a deal.

On Sunday we took a drive to Castlemaine which is about 30 minutes north of us to a local farmer’s market and then took a steam train ride up to another gold rush town, Maldon. A lot of the buildings are the original and are still being used. We had a great lunch in a local pub and had a wonderful time with the bartender. We also had lunch with a couple we met on the train who were “caravanning” (motorhomeing) around the south. They were from a town north of Sydney and had a daughter living in Houston. They were a wonderful couple to share our lunch table with.

When we were out driving we came across this sight on the side of the

road. We asked a local farmer at the market what it meant to see foxes hung on the fence and his response was that it was a warning – lambing season was in full swing and foxes are the natural enemy of lambs. In other words – don’t mess with a sheep farmer!!! We also saw a dead kangaroo on the side of the road and asked him if that is normal. His partner said that for every 1 you see dead there are 10,000 that are still around. So we concluded that their kangaroos are like our deer. You know they are there, but you only see them dead on the road or are close to being hit at dusk and dawn. Except I think the roos would be a bigger mess to a car than the deer. Maybe one day we will see a roo because we are staying in an area that warns of roos on the road. Just as I finished writing this I looked out the kitchen window and this is what I saw -

Later I will post some of the road signs we have encountered along our travels in Melbourne area.