tl;dr: Best year EVER.

--

Favorite places in NZ:

South Island: Oamaru (little penguin colony)

North Island: Napier (Art Deco town); White Island (live volcano)

Favorite places in AUS:

- Shark Bay area, WA

- Melbourne

- Whitsunday Islands

& an honorable mention to Yamba, NSW

Best giant clams: Agincourt Reef

Tourist attraction AUS does better than anyone: weird rocks

Time spent in states/territories:

NT 6

ACT 8

SA 10

TAS 15

VIC 33 (mostly Melbourne)

WA 37

NSW 41

QLD 69

What I regret missing:

Top End. Broome and the Kimberley and the Bungle Bungles and Kakadu and Arnhem Land and maybe even Cape York: the season was wrong (the Wet) to get to Broome when I was in WA, and by the end of the trip I was out of time, and I wasn't equipped for roughing it on this trip anyway. Someday I would love to come back just for this.

...like the Grand Canyon is just a big hole in the ground.

Uluru

The color changes, you've all seen the photos; and the appearance of its texture changes as well, with light and distance. Various deep reds, red-orange, faded terra cotta, purplish with blue shadows... the one color I haven't seen captured in photos is the pink and lavender that it appears throughout the day.

Far away, Uluru is a smooth squared-off shape. Closer in, from the distance of the sunrise viewing platform, you see the vertical grooves and the texture looks softer, maybe like a a drape of cloth. Up close, the surface is flaky like a giant version of the most delicious homemade pie crust. (Since the Ancestors were giants, if they'd had flour, they would have made giant pies, so that works.) And there is so much to see, walking around the rock. There are caves and canyons and piles of boulders and green clumps of vegetation and marks left by waterfalls. There are waterholes! The rock sucks up aquifer water through its underground length and lets it seep out into shaded spots.

All these landmarks are known and have stories tied to them: stories that describe events of the Ancestors, and give lessons in the traditional owners' values and in the environment and survival. I took a cultural tour that visited a few sites and the guide-- a really entertaining speaker-- told us the stories. She explained that different guides will tell the stories with slightly different details: it depends on which elder they learned the story from. (The guides are trained by other guides and by Aboriginal elders.)

Around Uluru, the landscape was much greener than I expected. They've had more rain than normal this year, but apparently there is always stuff growing: spinifex and gum trees and desert shrubs. It's still cold but spring will come soon: a few flowers have started, the birds are flirting with each other, and something is making my nose run.

On my own, I walked the 12km circuit of the base: endlessly interesting, though there are many areas where you can't take photos or get too close due to sacred sites. I also did the obligatory sunrise and sunset viewing tours. Gorgeous.

Kings Canyon

Three hours drive from Uluru: layers and layers of bright red sandstone, wonderful domes that have been carved by fault lines and water and wind. It was a challenging hike. It starts out with a whole bunch of steep steps laid in the stone, then goes up and down all around the top of the canyon, then down some less steep steps to the finish. The views were gorgeous, the workout was good, and the weather was clear and blue and not too cold. There was so much greenery, and it looked extra bright against the red cliffs.

On the drive back to Ayers Rock Resort, we saw feral camels, brumbies (wild horses), and a dingo!

Kata Tjuta (the Olgas)

Kata Tjuta is about the size of Uluru, but made up of many biggish rocks instead of one giant one. It's got a bumpy and interesting silhouette. I like this better from a distance, but Uluru better up close. The walk I took was between two of the rocks, in the canyon thus formed, and there's just not as much different stuff to look at. But the canyon walls are tall and stark and have odd little indentations, and if I were to re-flim Dune I would totally use this for one of the desert settings.

Where the rainforest meets the reef

The rainforest at Cape Tribulation cascades down the hills to the very edge of a narrow beach of sparkly mica sand, then the water and the reef begin. It's the only place on the planet where two World Heritage sites meet.

The rainforest is very beautiful, a mass of vines and some giant trees, and contains interesting critters like hand-size spiders and giant lizards (lace monitor or goanna). It also allegedly contains tree kangaroos and cassowaries, not that I saw either. Man, everyone has seen a cassowary except me. The very tour bus that took me from Port Douglas back to Cairns, that morning up in Cape Trib saw a daddy cassowary and two chicks cross the road right in front of them. *sulks*

I tried horseback riding on the beach and zip-lining through the treetops but mostly just chilled out. It was a good place for that: cabins tucked into the jungle and a little beach with hardly any people; no mobile reception; no internet. There were some nice beach/bushwalks but some places you had to avoid due to crocodiles.

The place I stayed did a really nice grilled kangaroo for dinner.

It's Tuesday and this is your giant clam report

I did two final reef trips. One, from Port Douglas, went to Agincourt Reef on the outer edge. The coral was amazing, and I also saw a herd of cuttlefish, hanging about and changing colors; giant Maori wrasse (I love Maori wrasse, they always look so perturbed); a blue and gold ray; and really big schools of various tropical fish. And giant clams! Lots and lots of giant clams, of all sizes and colors, and even two huge empty clam shells, now becoming the foundation of their own reefs. What could kill a giant clam? Was it old age? Was it boredom? Was it visited by its rare but fearsome enemy the kettlefish, who travels the oceans forever towing his giant cauldron of hot milk, salt and pepper, and potatoes?

The other was a sailing trip to Green Island, a coral cay not too far offshore from Cairns. We had gorgeous, sunny weather in the morning. The snorkeling was great but couldn't stand up to the excellence of the outer reef; but I expected that, and the trip was more about the sailing for me. A nice last visit to the Great Barrier Reef.

Queen of the desert

Tomorrow morning I fly to the Red Centre, as they call it here. I'll spend six days visiting Uluru and Kings Canyon and the Olgas. It will probably rain.

Cairns is built on a tidal flat and surrounded by rainforest-covered little mountains. Since there's no beach, and you can't go swimming most of the year anyway due to stingers (box jellyfish and irikundji) and crocodiles, the city has built an artificial lagoon on the waterfront, and everyone hangs out there to sunbathe and swim. Other than that, the city doesn't really have a personality: it pretty much exists to separate tourists from their money. I like it anyway, not that I'd want to live here.

There are two things to do in (from) Cairns: the Reef, and the rainforest. This is the dry season

hahahahaha

So, yeah, this is the dry season in tropical Australia, except that I'm here, so it was overcast and drizzly for my first 5 days and mostly cloudy since then. I've done two day trips out to the reef. People said the reef was better up north: it's orders of magnitude better. I doubt I will ever have better snorkeling than this, anywhere in the world.

The first was to Moore Reef, where Reef Magic has a permanent pontoon. The notable feature of this reef is Wally, the meter-long Maori wrasse[1], who is basically a big pelagic dog and will come up to you and let you pet him. I also did a guided swim around the outside edge of the reef, where we were in open ocean next to where the reef drops off for tens of meters to the continental shelf. This was more notable for challenging my swimming skills than for seeing anything cool. The seas were unusually rough that day. Other snorkelers saw a ray and a shark, but I was too busy concentrating on not getting knocked into the reef by the waves.

The second trip was to the outer reef. The catamaran Silverswift took us to three different moorings on Flynn Reef and we dove and snorkeled off the boat. The sun came out a bit, in patches, which helped the visibility and color immensely. Over the course of the day, I saw: a turtle, several large Maori wrasse, parrotfish over 2ft, a 4ft white tip reef shark, and giant clams up to well over a meter across[2].

Both reefs were an underwater party: a multitude of colorful corals and fish. Flynn Reef has the edge, though, probably because fewer people visit it.

Other than that, I've taken some tours inland, to the rainforest. Tomorrow I'm going north for several days to Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest comes right down to the beach. Supposedly we will see wild crocs along the way.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Humphead_wrasse_melb_aquarium.jpg

No doubt named by some European who saw Maori facial tattoos, just that one time, when he was drunk.

[2] GIANT CLAMS!!! :D

Video of my #1 favorite screechy birds, which I have learned are called lorikeets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdevnich/4803488339/

1. Fraser Island

Fraser Island is the world's biggest sand island! The second and third biggest are also in Australia.

I went on a guided tour because a self-drive camping trip with 7 strangers sounded like hell on earth.* In the 4WD bus, we drove fast up and down the beach, drove bouncily over inland sand tracks, stared at dingoes, walked through a rainforest, visited a rusty shipwreck, and swam in chilly blue freshwater lakes. It was a fascinating place and I would be happy to spend more than 2 days there.

*relevant Aussie vocabulary: goon: box wine

2. First visit to the Great Barrier Reef

A day trip to Lady Musgrave Island from 1770/Agnes Water. This is a little coral cay surrounded by an elliptical reef, very pretty. The boat tied up to a permanently anchored pontoon and we could swim from there or go on glass bottom boat rides or tours of the island's pisonia forest.

The snorkeling was pretty good, though quite cold-- lots of fish and some sea turtles-- but I think the trip was most memorable for the tremendous amount of barfing during the 90-minute boat trip to the island. (Not me, I love bouncy seas.)

Agnes Water was also just a great place to stay, a relaxing little beach town, and the furthest place north with a surfing beach.

3. Five days on Great Keppel Island

Great Keppel Island is in the Keppel island group, which implies that there will be other islands with names like "Standard Keppel," "Tiny Keppel," and "3/10 Keppel." Unfortunately this is not true.

Once upon a time there was a resort on Great Keppel, known for its out of control youthful partying. Now the resort is closed, the island is practically deserted, and you have to bring all your groceries over on the ferry with you because the pizza restaurant is only open 2 nights a week. The fenced and boarded up structures are spooky in a cool way. At night possums and curlews wandered around our lodge, hoping for handouts, and sometimes had possum/curlew faceoffs (the possum retreated; the birds are big and have a fierce stare). There were good bushwalks to beautiful beaches, spectacular sunsets, and more mosquitoes than you can imagine.

4-77. The Whitsundays

First I took a boat trip: 3 days and 3 nights on the Solway Lass, a tall ship.

http://www.australiantallships.com/solwaylass.php?wp=27

We did not actually visit all 74 islands of the Whitsunday group, but we passed a bunch of them. We made stops for snorkeling (which included meeting Elvis the giant wrasse) and short bushwalks to scenic viewpoints and to lay on the beach. On the second day there was a nice bit of wind and the crew put up the sails and we coasted north for half the day. At times it felt like I was in the Pacific Northwest, say the San Juans: rocky slopes meeting the sea and pine trees growing on the hills. The weather was good when we needed it to be, the other passengers and the crew were a fun group, and the food was excellent. Totally worth not having a proper shower for 3 days.

Then I took a scenic flight in a little seaplane: just 5 passengers, and I got to sit in the copilot seat! We went over the Whitsundays, circled around Whitehaven Beach (I think I saw the Solway!), then flew for 10 minutes over open ocean to reach the edge of the reef. There's a famous little reef that is shaped like a heart that we flew over, and we continued north along Hardy Reef from there. The reef stretches out gold against the blue sea until it fades into the horizon. On the way back, we dropped off two of the passengers at an island resort, which involved a water landing and takeoff! This was a very exciting tour and the views were breathtaking.

78. Magnetic Island

Which is where I am now, for snorkeling and koala-hugging and chilling out.

CYCLING TOUR

This was a really good tour. [http://www.baliecocycling.com/]

We started out with breakfast, overlooking crater lake Batur and the big volcano in the north of the island. Gorgeous views. Then we cycled downhill through little villages and past rice terraces, stopping at a few places along the way to see a coffee plantation and rice harvesting and planting. (The climate means that they can plant rice any time of the year, so you see it at all stages of growth.) The terraces step down the hillsides, with that rich green, and the little kids run out along the roads, grinning and yelling "hello! hello!" Then we had a delicious lunch of smoked duck and other yummy foods.

My favorite rice terraces were those that have been transplanted recently and are still flooded. You see the sky reflected in the terraces near you, and as they step up the hill and become eye level, you no longer see the water, just the beautiful green of the young rice filling the horizon.

There's a whole area of rice terraces that are World Heritage listed.

KECAK DANCE

My last evening in Bali, I went to Ulu Watu temple on the western shore of the little peninsula sticking off the bottom of Bali. They have a kecak dance every day at sunset. The dancers did part of the Ramayana-- Sita and Rama walking through the forest, Rama chasing a golden deer for Sita, and then Sita getting abducted and rescued. The dancers are beautiful and elegant, of course (except for the white monkey Hanoman, who is having a lot of fun and is more comic relief); but what's really cool is the musical accompaniment. There are no instruments: it's all voice, by a choir of about 30 men chanting. They have a background chant of "chak chak chak" (hence the name, I assume), really fast, then one or two individual men chant over the top of that. It's eerie and thrilling and, with the sunset and dancers, makes for a very dramatic performance.

--

I'm back in Australia now, in a town called Noosa Heads. It's very very nice, which it ought to be, because it's popular with rich people. I keep noticing how clean it is, and how nobody is parking their motorbikes all over the sidewalks. :)

The backpackers is great: it's a rambling historic lodge, with huge verandas and a relaxed atmosphere. It's right next to a national park, so there's wildlife all over the grounds: bush turkeys and kookaburra and lots of screechy birds; and I even saw an echidna yesterday! just snuffling along on the side of the path.

I had a stand-up paddle surfing lesson this morning. I only fell off three times! It was on the canals rather than the open ocean, so the water was nice and calm. It was a lot of fun but now I'm really cold and going to have a glass of wine and giant plate of pasta marinara.

(or, The Coolest Thing I Did In Bali)

Threads of Life (http://www.threadsoflife.com/) [1] is a Balinese organization whose goal is keeping traditional textile arts alive, not just in Bali, but all over Indonesia. They also offer a weekly class on Indonesian textiles. So, I spent a morning of my vacation back in school.

We students were all foreign visitors: an American couple, an Australian couple, a (Chinese) Malaysian who does cultural tours between Asian countries, and an American geography professor. Our instructor, I Made, was a Balinese man who has been studying this for 14 years. Everyone was well-traveled and enthusiastic about the subject, and the discussion was great.

We sat around a low table on an upstairs veranda for two hours and looked at and talked about traditional textiles from all over Indonesia: their construction, their uses, the dyes used; and made comparisons between different regions. The instructor encouraged us to touch and in some cases smell the fabrics to examine the texture and the dyes. I should clarify that these were not priceless ancient textiles, rather the modern ones commissioned by ToL, but made by traditional methods. But still! They sure don't let you do that at the DC Textile Museum!

But wait, it gets better! At the end of the tour they told us that they also did Bali textile tours. The two couples and I were interested, so we arranged a tour with Ni Wayan, the gallery manager. That was yesterday.

We started out at Klungkung market, walking through the shops and checking out: baskets, hand-made and machine-made ikat, cut-thread lace (on the fitted blouses women wear to temple ceremonies), painted fabric (Hindu calendar), and imported textiles from elsewhere in Indonesia.

In Tenganan, a very traditional village, we saw a weaver demonstrate double ikat on a backstrap loom. This is in narrow (~30cm) bands of red and black designs (natural dyes). The weave is looser than the other Bainese fabrics but that's because each weft line in individually adjusted to make sure it lines up correctly. It's really painstaking work. We also looked at bamboo baskets.

In Sidemen we visited a weft ikat factory, bigger than the one I saw in Gianyar. In one large room women were weaving on handlooms (clack clack clack); upstairs, men tied the designs on the weft threads and then dyed them, initially by dipping, then by using paintbrushes to color the covered (thus undyed) sections. The attached shop sold this ikat as well as silk with stamped batik. Down the road, we saw a weaver demonstrate songket (overweave): silk designs over the base weave (all natural dyes). Again, it was on a backstrap loom. The loom must take forever to thread: she lays in sticks for each line of the overweave pattern, to lift up the warp threads correctly.

And that, along with the driving to the different villages and a picnic lunch of nasi campur wrapped in banana leaves, was a full day. The five of us foreigners met later for a nice dinner at Indus (run by the woman I took the cooking course from)-- quite good food. It was Friday night and there was a Latino band playing and people danced. The place was popular with expats and well-off Balinese; I felt like I was back at Le Campagnard in Bamako.

[1] Seriously, check out the "what we do" section of the site. Very cool stuff.

My hotel room is basic, but the hotel gardens are a spectacular mass of hibiscus and frangipani and other tropical flowers around a small swimming pool. The staff wear sarongs and serve breakfast under a woodframe pavilion by the pool. They also provide their adopted fruit bat, hanging out in a nearby tree, with his breakfast: yesterday a chunk of papaya, today an entire apple. (The bat got a grip on the apple with his teeth and then paused for a while as he considered how to proceed.)

Ubud is much more low-key than Kuta. Offers for "taxi" or "massage" are few enough that it's possible to refuse politely instead of having to ignore a constant barrage. (That they're fewer is weird, since there are proportionally way more tourists here.) The town is filled with art: paintings and jewelry and cute locally designed clothes. The cafes are good-- did I mention that Balinese food is really delicious? Everything is visually beautiful: from the offerings laid out every morning, to the stone and wood carvings on every gate and door, to the shrines with their statues wrapped in actual cloth sarongs, to the arrangement of food on your plate... I love that aesthetics is so important.

I know the route from my hotel to the center of town really well, having walked it over and over (I really cannot justify a taxi ride for a 15-minute walk). But I haven't seen much of the rest of town since I've been doing *activities*. (Stars indicate jazz hands)

Cool stuff done:

I took a two-day batik class. Despite my immense improvements from day 1 to day 2, I am in no danger of providing competition to local artists. It was a lot of fun, though. It was in a local house (compound) with the artist and his family, and they gave me a homecooked lunch break as well! Which I didn't realize was part of the deal. See above note about deliciousness of Balinese food. I also got fruit for dessert: rambutan, passionfruit, and I discovered a new fruit, which is always exciting: salak, like a half-size pear wrapped in brown snakeskin. The inside has three white sections in a crunchy-spongey texture.

I attended a performance of traditional dance: Legong, and Barong, with music provided by a gamelan orchestra. The music was completely unlike anything I have ever heard before and once my brain got over that fact I loved it. I really hope that there's a Balinese techno group that uses gamelan samples, because that would be MADE OF AWESOME. My favorite dance was the Legong dance, with three women in layers of sarongs in bright satins and gilt, and shiny gold headdresses. Their movements were wonderfully elegant, especially their hands.

I went on a tour that included a bunch of temples and an ikat factory. I'm templed out, but it's definitely an interesting experience. To enter temple grounds you need to wear a sarong and sash (and for ceremonies, you need to be in full formal temple wear). I think it's cool that the Balinese insist on maintaining their traditions; but I'm not sure that a bunch of foreigners bumbling around in rental sarongs over shorts or trousers adds much to the tone. On the other hand, a bunch of foreigners bumbling around exposing their knees probably adds even less. More seriously, the architecture is interesting (especially compared to Angkor. The Balinese already have mountains so they don't build mountain-temples like the Khmer. They do use symmetry and cardinal directions) but it does start to blur together. The ikat factory was more interesting to me. It's weft ikat: they use handlooms and fine commercial cotton thread and for the resist, metal tabs instead of string.

I took a Balinese cooking class. The instructor is an apparently well-known Australian expat, who wrote a book called Fragrant Rice. We learned about the ingredients, made different sambals as bases for each of the different dishes (when I say "made" I mean we students got to try to see what hand-grinding them was like but the staff actually did the work, as they did the chopping before we arrived), wrapped up fish in banana leaves, and got to eat the feast at the end! I'm pleased to note that "a pinch of salt" and "a dash of oil" are exactly the same in Bali as in French cooking shows.

This will be pretty disjointed, just some first impressions.

Morning rainshower. Then the sun came out and dried up everything, and the humidity was 1 million percent (+/- 2 percentage points). None of the other Westerners appear to be sweating as much as me, what's up with that?

It's hard to determine what's a temple and what's not. There are obvious temples, tucked in along all the other buildings, but many other buildings have shrines on them, or beautiful carved stone gates and towers. In the morning offerings have been placed in front of every doorway and even on the beach: little square palm baskets with a few flowers and a piece of food. They get progressively more bedraggled as the day goes on: squashed by motorbikes and pedestrians, and picked over by birds (and something that looked like a squirrel). I guess they are swept up at the end of the day and then it starts over.

I finally realized that what's giving me this persistent not-quite-headache is the incense everywhere.

All the shops here, and my hotel, have the glazed white tile floors you see all over the developing world; very easy to clean, but the slightest drop of water turns them into a slippery deathtrap.

The beach is not actually that pretty.[1] The sand is grey, and anyway it's all covered with rental umbrellas and loungers. But the waves are big and thundery and the surfers seem to be having a good time.

I haven't traveled in the developing world for a while, so I will feel bad for a few days about ignoring the constant "good morning" and "excuse me" and "motorbike?" and "taxi? yes!" and and and... The touts here are positively mellow compared to plenty of other places I've traveled (while still, yes, quite annoying). Eye contact here does not seem to be a mistake that dooms you to never lose the person.

Lunch was amazing. It's the first Balinese food I've tried (I've eaten nasi goreng but that's general Indonesian, not specific to Bali). WOW. I ordered nasi campur; basically, "rice with a bunch of stuff". What I got was a plate of rice covered with and surrounded by two-three bites each of a dozen different things. There were a couple of vegetable things, a cold dish of cucumber & shredded coconut & chili, fish in coconut milk and maybe ginger?[2], dried shredded pork with some crunchy bits, a tofu thing... anyway, a lot of different flavors. Apparently it's made however the kitchen feels like, so I could probably order this for every meal for the next two weeks and have it different every time.

(Breakfast was the backpacker standard of banana pancakes.)

I went to a spa this afternoon for a few hours and spent maybe $20 (!!). My skin feels terrific.

[1] Now that I've seen sunset, I amend that statement.

[2] This was my favorite.

MORE AUSSIE VOCAB!

how you going?: how are you?

oi reckon: I guess or I figure

heaps: lots, a lot

sticky-beak: inquisitive. You can "be a sticky-beak" or (more often) "have a sticky-beak at" something.

trucker hat or truckers hat: baseball cap

beanie: knitted cap

bottleshop: liquor store

drive-thru bottleshop: just what it sounds like

licensed: means a restaurant can sell alcohol

BYO: means you can bring your own wine to a restaurant

Aussie work boots: flip-flops (joking)

thongs: flip-flops

jackaroo/jillaroo: cowboy/cowgirl... actually I think stockman is a better synonym for this, and jackaroo etc. is more of a ranch hand. But I have not been to the outback yet so I am unclear on the subtleties! Also, now that I think about it, I am not really sure what the difference between cowboy and ranch hand is.

ute: I thought this meant SUV, but apparently it (also? instead?) means pickup truck

keen: enthusiastic. Typically "keen on [noun]" or "keen to [verb]". Also seen: "keen as mustard"

chook: chicken

mozzie: mosquito

Completely unrelated: I visited Springbrook national park[1] today, which put me in mind of the word "springbok". You know, the South African antelope-thing. That is such a great word. Springbok. It sounds just right: you have the sproingy vibration of a spring uncoiling, then the sharp bok! of the teeny delicate hooves hitting the ground.

Spriiiiiiiiiiiing bok!

[1] it has a subtropical rainforest and waterfalls

Somewhere in the last few days, I crossed into the land of sugarcane and coffee and bananas. Every cow we drive past is issued its own egret. There are still gum trees, but they share the forest with palms. It's hot and sunny in the afternoon and quite chilly at night (well, it is almost winter).

There are more of my #1 favorite screechy birds around. Huge crowds of them gather every evening, often in the Norfolk pines, to chatter about their day.

My favorite Australian screechy birds, a list:

1. The beautiful multicolored birds, mostly bright green and red, possibly a small parrot or a parakeet or a lorikeet. They fly around in pairs.

2. The pink and pale grey gallahs.

3. The biggish white parrots with black beaks and lemon yellow crests. These have the most horrible screech.

There are other screechy birds but these are the best.

Bonus list! My favorite NZ birds:

1. pukeko

2. kea (secret superpower: eating cars)

On the east coast, going north

Newcastle

would probably be a nice place to live, but is touristically uninteresting.

Port Macquarie

has a charming painted breakwall (not spraypaint, actual paint). It also has a koala hospital. So sad! Yet so cute!

Bellingen

is an upscale hippie town in the foothills, with yoga studios, art galleries, cafes, and beautiful scenery. It is relaxing to the point of inducing comas (in a good way).

Coffs Harbour

has nice beaches but not much personality.

Yamba

is pretty darn near perfect for a small beach town: multiple beautiful beaches, a tiny downtown with great cafes, and a new hostel with super-friendly owners. It's also where Billabong (the surfing brand) got started.

Lennox Head

is where I will stop tomorrow. It's apparently a popular surfer spot.

* "hello" or "welcome"

My Australian visa allows me to stay for only three months at a time. So to "reset" it, last week I went to Fiji. The trip had a lot of what you'd expect from a tropical island backpacker trip: sand everywhere, overcast days and the occasional thunderstorm, salt-water showers, 30-bed dorms, feeling constantly sticky from salt and sweat and sunblock and mozzie spray. But it had unexpected touches as well: hammocks tied between two palm trees overlooking the ocean, spectacular scenery of tiny green islands poking out of the sea as we cruised by, pale orange sunsets (on the non-rainy days), whole roasted parrotfish at dinner one night caught fresh off the reef, and spectacular snorkeling (see previous comment on parrotfish).

The worst experience was the second-to-last night. We were on South Sea Island, 30 minutes offshore from Nadi. It's basically a sandbar, and quite small: it takes about 3 minutes to circumnavigate. The lodging was one wood-frame, thatched structure that had a common room on the ground and a dorm on the first floor. It had rained all day, since the previous afternoon actually, and the sea was rough on the 2 hour trip from the previous island, so we were a sad bunch as we gathered for dinner after arrival, just hoping for a bit of sunshine the next day.

Late that night, say 2-3am, the rain turned into a massive thunderstorm. Did you know thatch leaks? I did, but not empirically. All the top bunks were soaked through. We were luckily not full, but a few people had to move from the top bunks and double up with friends. I had a bottom bunk but one edge of it was soaked through from water dripping from the top bunk and the other edge damp from rain coming in sideways through the window. Once the rain slowed, we had the opportunity to listen to the intense wind and high waves and wonder if the island would wash away before morning. It was a miserable night, and the first question everyone had at breakfast was if we could get an earlier boat back to Nadi.

The best experience was the second-to-last day. After that horrible night, the remaining clouds gave us a beautiful sunrise, and then they blew completely away and the sun came out. I went snorkeling in the morning and saw tons of fish and a group of squid, which I've never seen in the water: five of them lined up to check me out, their pointy heads all oriented in the same direction, translucent but with pale shimmers of color like an opal. So beautiful.

About half of us stayed on the island after all, rather than taking the earlier boat offered. There was a guided snorkel trip later that morning. The guide took five of us offshore in a little boat then led us around the reef and back to the island. We were 20-30ft above a sandy bottom, and the corals grew in separated clumps reaching for the surface: huge shelf corals and boulder corals, each with its accompaniment of smaller corals and sea urchins and fish. It was some of the best snorkeling I've done.

Later in the afternoon, I went out again, but close to shore in a sandy area. As soon as I put my face underwater, I saw a stingray (or some kind of ray), right there, where the sand met reef. Then I saw two teeny-tiny black-tipped reef sharks, shorter than my forearm, timid and adorable.

This was my itinerary: http://www.awesomefiji.com/shortpack-lazy-threesome.aspx

Fiji wouldn't be worth a visit from the US or Europe, but for just a few hours travel time it was a good trip. (For one thing, it's quite expensive for what you get: Thailand, for example, is much more comfortable with better food, for less money.) Always interesting to see a new place.

Hunter Valley is the Sydney-area wine region, so of course I took a tour. If I'd bothered to look at the regional map in my guidebook, I might have had the sense to book it out of Newcastle, where I'm going in 2 weeks anyway: Hunter Valley is 30 minutes from Newcastle, but 2 hours from Sydney. But whatever, it was a fun day. Here are some wines I liked:

Mount Pleasant / McWilliams:

- Verdelho Classic - would be a nice picnic white

- Maria Late Harvest Semillon - a dessert wine that's actually not too syrupy; has a nice hint of tartness

Lindemans "Hunter Valley" line:

- 2000 Shiraz (We tried a 2007 and this 2000 to see how they compare)

**

I did a budget version of a harbour cruise yesterday: bought an all-day transit pass and rode all the ferries that I could fit in to the day. The harbour is immense, and has so many little bays and coves and beaches and parks and developed areas, each with their own character. It's fun to check them all out.

All the ferries start from Circular Quay. I went (west) by Woolwich and Cockatoo Island (a historical convict site) and then Darling Harbour, all newly developed and visually quite busy; and (north) to and from Mosman Bay (huge, lovely craftsman and shingle style houses); and (east on a very fast ferry) to and from Watsons Bay, almost at the ocean mouth.

It was a beautiful sunny day, great for being out on the water; other than the sunburn on top of my ears, pretty much perfect.

**

Hey, you know what I haven't done in a while? An Aussie vocabulary lesson!

in the "-ie" category:

chardie: chardonnay

saltie: salt water crocodile (the kind that eat people)[1]

freshy: fresh water crocodile

rockmelon: cantaloupe

hoon: as in NZ; but more typically Aussies say bogan

hooning around: doing hooligan-ish stuff

ute: SUV

budgie smugglers: men's speedo-style swimsuit. The reason I know this one is because the leader of the Opposition, in line to be PM if his party wins the next election, did a triathlon a few weeks ago. Whether it was an attention-getting stunt or he just likes exercise, it was in the papers for several days. In one article, one of the members of his party, commenting, said that he thought Abott should get out of his budgie smugglers and put on some board shorts. And voila! a new vocab word for me.

[1] So, this reminds me of a conversation I had with an older Canadian couple last week. They were telling me about a tour they took ages back on another visit, from Darwin down through the red centre, and various ways that the tour was extremely badly run, including *losing a tour member at a swimming stop to a crocodile*. DUDE.

I went on an art tour in Melbourne my last week there that encapsulated a lot of what I like about the city. Just like there are cafes and shops tucked away into the laneways, there are art galleries as well. I saw over a dozen: "about half of what's in the CBD" said the guide. Visiting these felt like I was catching a glimpse of the hidden nature of the city; being invited into its secrets.

Most of the galleries I would never have found on my own. Three or four fronted on a minor street that I would have walked down eventually, and were obviously galleries. Others were down alleys, across from a loading dock, up stairs in old commercial walk-ups. Some were in artists' studios reached via an ancient elevator that you had to manually pull the door open on, on the 5th floor of a building with dodgy wiring. Many had unmarked doors. One was obviously a craft gallery, but then it had a sound installation in the back you had to know to ask for. (That was pretty cool: they gave you an ipod and stuck you in a dark room and the recording created a space around you with sound, in this case a fashion show.) In the entry to a walk-up commercial bldg, the row of old letterboxes had been turned into a little gallery, a piece of glass in front of each box. The current display was a collage on the theme of desire. But it's not the smallest!: the littlest gallery in the city is the 20 by 30 Gallery (as in centimeters), a glass box inset into a doorway.

I saw a huge variety of media, traditional and avant-garde: painting, crafts like glass and ceramic, printmaking, fabric, installation pieces (here's one: elaborate braids and knots of horsehair, accompanied by a video of a horse biting a fencepost-- inexplicable but mesmerizing), Aboriginal art, street art. The guide knew a lot about street art. Some of the artists: Phib, Deb, a Maori who does Ned Kelly stencils, a guy from Stuttgart who was backpacking and did a piece, even a Banksy but that got paint poured on it by irritated locals, ha.

Altogether a fascinating 3 hours.

--

Canberra is an all-day bus ride from Melbourne. Once you get out of Melbourne, it's pretty much empty of people. We passed through beautiful countryside: rolling hills, pastures with gum trees here and there, some cows and (infrequently) sheep. It was surprisingly green! There appeared to be new grass in some of the pastures.

A hand-lettered sign seen along the road: "Horse poo $2".

I am reminded of strangely disparate places: the Dulles corridor, Bishkek, the GW Parkway, possibly those new Chinese cities... Where I'm staying, the city has wide roads, wide sidewalks, boxy mid-rise buildings, and no people. In the government part of town, it's sort of like DC, if you took away the interesting parts like Capitol Hill and U Street, not to mention most of the population, and left some museums, the capitol, and the parkways... and then stretched it out so there's a minimum 1km walk between everything. As I trudge between tourist attractions, I have plenty of time to notice the immense lawns; the city's lawn-mowing budget must be likewise immense. Not to mention, the irresponsibility of requiring so much irrigation in an extended drought. [1] Anyway, it is spooky and vaguely Soviet-feeling.

Canberra does have a good network of bike paths. I hired a bike this morning and went on a ride around the biggest end of the lake. The sign said it was a 10km trail but I think it was longer (possibly I had too many cappuccino-&-Italian-pastry breaks in Melbourne *pokes tummy critically*). The trail gets you out of town and into bush almost immediately. Things I saw: early morning pink-streaked clouds. A pair of pukeko, my favorite NZ bird (or, an identical-looking Australian species). Four hot air balloons descending. A pine tree full of my third-favorite screechy bird, the big white parrots with yellow mohawks. A group of model boat enthusiasts scooting their radio-controlled sailboats around the lake edge.

Then I stopped by the Canberra Glassworks, which is inside an old coal-and-steam power station. They have a hot glass studio (blown glass), a kiln room that also has workspace for glass bead artists and molded glass, and a cold glass studio. There was a tour through the studios and you could watch the artists working. One artist gave a talk about her current work, very interesting.

It is pretty chilly here, except under direct sun, and the leaves (European trees) are starting to change color. Definitely moving into autumn.

[1] Speaking of drought, there was apparently a crazy hailstorm in Perth last week! That caused even more damage than the Melbourne one! WTF, Australian weather! Gratuitous exclamation point!

(a leftover from Tasmania)

All the brochures for the wildlife parks show baby Tasmanian devils. They are tiny, and they are cute. Here is an example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdevnich/4475271845/

Will you look at that adorable little devil, OMG he is even holding out his wee paw so he looks like he's waving at you SO CUTE.

Tasmanian devils actually look like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdevnich/4476050656/ ...well, that's not so bad. You have to see them move to get the full effect: they lurch around like they're one step on the way to zombification (they haven't quite got to shambling, but they're working on it) and they appear to be mostly mouth when they open it. And the growls do actually sound a lot like Bugs Bunny's friend.

Also at the wildlife center, I got to feed kangaroos and pet a wombat and a koala, neither of which clawed my face off, success!

Fun fact: koalas have the smallest brain of any marsupial. Also, marsupial pouches open forward or backward depending on whether the species walks four-legged or upright.

My favorite thing about Australia is the sunlight, its strength and heat and the colors from the light, especially at sunrise and dusk. I saw a splendid sunset last night, returning to Melbourne from a day trip to the Grampion Mountains. The sunsets are fast here-- not lingering and taking over the whole sky like we get in northern latitudes. The sun glowed orange, with a narrow purple streak of clouds on either side. The dry fields reflected the light, very pale gold, with violet shadows of eucalyptus stretching across them. Distant hills very violet as well. Then in an instant the sun dropped, the sky faded to blue-grey overall, except an orange smudge where the sun had been. We arrived in Melbourne after full dark with the skyline illuminated before us.

Autumn is here-- the nights are chilly, now-- and I, like a delicate tropical creature, am heading north to escape it.

I keep meaning to write up what I love about Melbourne, but I am so busy with all the exciting things Melbourne has to offer that I don't have time! Instead, I offer you a list of what I did on Wednesday.

- Early morning run[1]

- Delicious healthy breakfast [2]

- Cappuccino and morning paper at local cafe

- Guided tour of Victorian Tapestry Workshop http://www.victapestry.com.au/

- Watched underwear models [3][4] strut the catwalk at Federation Square, part of Fashion Week http://www.lmff.com.au/2010/

- Delicious healthy lunch, from veggies bought at Queen Victoria Market http://www.qvm.com.au/ [5]

- Nap

- Back at Federation Square http://www.fedsquare.com/ [7]: cooking demonstration, free popcorn and pasta, and movie [8] on the big screen; part of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival http://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/

Thursday will be quieter, since it's time to do laundry.

[1] short and slow, as usual

[2] Weetabix! also some pearsauce left over from the other day, when I went by Victoria Market at closing and had heaps of produce *forced* onto me and then had to cook it all up so it wouldn't go bad

[3] apparently one of them is the former Victoria premier's son, whose drunk driving arrest led to the premier's resignation

[4] of course I took photos

[5] roasted! but with a bit too much olive oil [6]

[6] wait, what am I saying? there's never too much olive oil

[7] it has a webcam, so you can check if I'm there right now

[8] half of My Dinner With Andre, since I was too bored to stay longer, despite the Sicilian from The Princess Bride being in it

They fitted us out in red rainjacket-dresses and off we went, in the little yellow speedboat. Apparently we were lucky with the weather and calm seas. The guides pointed out some immense rocks that on rough days "have waves coming over the top" and said that, yes, they go out every day. On rough days they tell people that it will be a trip they will never forget!

First we saw horizontal layers of rock, sandstone I think, like messy stacks of paper, but with caves and arches cut into them from the sea. Later we saw vertical rock, some of the strongest rock there is (dolerite, the brochure tells me). It was in square pillars, very tall and thin, all clumped together. We went up to one cave where we could look up and see the square bottom of these columns hanging above us. In other places, erosion had separated some rock from the main body, leaving tall skinny islands (the Candlestick and the Totem Pole). The landscape looked like one of the early Myst levels-- too geometric to be real, and all surrounded by sea. Further on around the peninsula, the waves had eroded this rock into "elephant skin" patterns.

I may have mentioned, Australia has more than its fair share of weird rocks.

The coolest part of the cruise was that we were returning an albatross. It had a fishhook caught in its mouth, so a wildlife rehab place fixed it up yesterday after someone brought it in. The biologist, or someone anyway from the rehab place, came along on our boat, with the albatross in a box with a towel over it. At the bottom of the peninsula, the boat went further our than it usually does, to the edge of the continental shelf. The rehab person brought out the bird, holding its beak shut, and she leaned out over the edge and placed it in the water. You know, you don't realize how immense these things are until you see them right next to a human. (ISTR it was a royal albatross.)

The albatross floated around and tentatively opened its wings a few times. This is how I learned that albatrosses have three joints on their wings, which explains why the wings don't seem so long when they're all folded up. The biologist said it would probably need a few hours to stretch since it had spent the night in a box. So we didn't get to see our albatross take flight, which would have been nice, but we did see a couple others (different species) flying around in the area.

Other wildlife seen:

New Zealand fur seals

Australia fur seals (bigger) (I guess that makes sense)

White face cormorants

Some people saw a penguin swimming but he was just above water for a moment

The biggest pod of dolphins I've ever seen, having a great time surfing our wake

A flock of gannets dive-bombing for fish

So between rocks and critters, it was a highly satisfying trip.

SALAMANCA MARKET

Every Saturday, rain or hail or shine, says the City. Today was a sunny, fine day, and the market stalls were lively with people. The market was arranged in a long triple row of white canvas-roofed stalls between the harbor and Salamanca Place's old sandstone warehouses. There's a long park on the harbor side, with grass and European trees providing lots of shade, so you can rest from shopping. The market had everything you would expect: organic vegetables, used books, competing buskers (including a 12-person Highlands Pipers Band in kilts and fluffy kneesocks)[1], sculptures of sheep made of wire and steel wool, jam, cunning hats, grilled sausages, political gatherings with speeches, glass jewelry, American comic books, and Tassie souvenirs (including tasteless ones).

I always spend more at a market than at a grocery store. Possibly this is due to patterns of shopping. At the grocery store, I don't typically break up my browsing/shopping with breaks for a cappuccino, Dutch deep-fried dough things with apples and sultanas, or locally made coconut and cherry ice cream. (For example.) Also the produce always looks so much nicer.

Among my finds were chewy sourdough rolls and a Bruny Island cheese called Bastard, made from cow and goat milk.

[1] I probably don't need to explain that the bagpipes won (on volume).

HOBART RIVULET

This was Hobart's river, and the reason for this location being selected: a year-round fresh water supply. Most of it has been covered over, with a car park, a pedestrian mall, other buildings; so like London's smaller rivers, it's invisible at street level. This tour took us along the waterway, into the tunnel, using this for a discussion of Hobart's history and development. The water volume apparently grows immensely with rain, but normally is just a small stream, which allows us to safely travel its route. It had rained the previous night, but that had already washed through; the tunnel was surprisingly clean as a result. There were just twigs, and lots of cigarette butts from where people throw them onto the ground and they get washed into the storm drains (and thence out to sea and into our food chain, probably).

We saw construction from the earliest periods: the underside of a sandstone convict-built bridge, sandstone paving and walls from the first attempts to channel the stream, a convict-built brick arched side tunnel just tall enough to stand in. (We know this empirically.) Two sealed doors, high on the wall, may have led from hospital tunnels, as a way of disposing of leftovers from amputations. ("We don't actually know, but it makes a good story.")

We saw graffiti the whole length of our walk, some of it quite good. The guide said that every so often, the City hands out spraypaint to the kids and says "go for it" which is why Hobart is so non-graffitied at street level. There were other artworks as well: a shrine made of hundreds of plaster casts of dolls' faces; two mosaic rats of mirrored glass. Pipes run along the walls at places, or open out of the walls. A utility room intrudes overhead at one point, venting waste air from McDonald's. Every so often, there would be a gap along the edge that you could see the street from, or the underside of a storm drain in a sidewalk.

The guide said that the weirdest thing he ever saw was two teenage girls in their school uniforms, walking downhill as he was leading a tour in. They explained that it was the quickest way to get through downtown: no traffic lights, and no pedestrians.

I am kicking myself for not bringing my camera, except that balancing on the uneven floor with just flashlights was difficult enough. Here's a good set that gives you an idea: http://www.flickr.com/photos/esoterica/tags/hobartrivulet/

KIWI VOCABULARY LESSON; AND A RANT

sweet as: sweet. As in, cool. "Sweet as, guys."

get off the grass!: Stop being stupid

bach (pronounced "batch"): beach house. Traditionally-- in nostalgic memory-- shabby, possibly amateurly constructed, lacking plumbing and maybe electricity. Related:

long drop: latrine

hoon: hooligan. I love this word: it makes me think of a bunch of loutish yout's, tiptoeing around posh neighborhoods and calling "hoo! hoo!" then running away giggling. Actually it means graffiti and smashing things and similar. Related:

P: meth

fush and chups: local pronunciation of fish and chips

real New Zealand: not Auckland. Everyone says it: "Make sure you get out of Auckland and see the real New Zealand." Ooo, this pisses me off. It pisses me off in the US-- the BS conflation of rural areas, or the "heartland", with what's good and true and authentic America; while the cities and considered suspicious, foreign, not American-- and it pisses me off here.

I had a wonderful time in Auckland and in fact like it better than pretty much all the rest of NZ, except the penguins of course. It's bustling and multicultural; it has better weather than the rest of the country (well, except Bay of Plenty); it has huge parks and nature reserves; it has good restaurants and lots of activities. Admittedly I got a good impression because I was here for Anniversary weekend, which had the Seafood Festival and a South/Central American parade and a carnival on the wharf etc etc; and for Waitangi Day, when there was a huge free festival with bands and food; but I think there's plenty going on any time if you just look for it. I loved walking around the historic neighborhoods and checking out the markets. I loved taking a ferry just 30 minutes to go hiking on an island nature reserve, or visit a bunch of wineries. I loved free jazz in the park and whole rest of the summer free music and movies program I wasn't in town for. I loved being someplace with a decent public transportation network instead of having to walk everywhere. I loved having indoor options when it rained instead of being stuck inside a too-small hostel.

So in conclusion: Auckland is great! Don't be a hater!

COMMENTS ON LOCAL FAUNA

It turns out that the kiwi (bird) is not the same size as the kiwi (fruit). (Nor is it the same size as the Kiwi (person), but I hadn't thought it would be.) It is actually the size of a chicken. I'm sure cuteoverload already has a rule about this, but let me restate the obvious: chicken-size things are not nearly as cute as kiwi (fruit)-size things.

I went to a cricket match Friday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (For my fellow Americans, cricket is like baseball, only slower.) How this happened was, I went on a tour of Town Hall earlier in the week and ended up on the tour with a dozen or so retired teachers who'd booked together. They were very friendly and talkative and afterwards, invited me to lunch. Then one woman who's a sports fan found out I was thinking of going to a cricket game to check it out, and invited me to come as her guest, since she's a member.

I barely saw any cricket, but it ended up being a much more interesting morning than if I'd gone on my own and actually watched. D. showed me all around the MCG and the members' area. They have their own bleachers, several bars, and two dining areas of increasing levels of poshness. In the library (library! do American stadiums have libraries?) she showed me, in a book of notable Aussie football ("footy") players, an entry on her dad, who was also captain of one of the clubs, maybe all Victoria?

Footy season doesn't start for another month, but when I return to Melbourne, I am invited to a game; and I have the offer of a house to stay in-- actually two, since she offered her friend's house as well (!)-- and plans that some of the group from the Town Hall and I meet up for lunch again.

The first period of play lasted from 12:00-1:30, then the cricket players broke for lunch. They would have two more periods of play that day (and then 3 more days), but I decided that was enough cricket. D. had an appointment, so walked a ways with me, across Fitzroy Park. On the way we ran into a friend of hers. She asked if I knew the band Air Supply. "Air Supply?" I said. "OMG that was one of the first concerts I went to and when I was 13 I had at least one AS song on all my mix tapes and yes, I've heard of them." And it turned out her friend, who we were talking to, was a brother-in-law of one of the guys. The Russell one. (Probably when I was 13 I knew both their names but that was a while ago.)

This excellent day wrapped up excellently as well as I attended a concert at the Arts Centre: Nigel Kennedy (I don't know the name but maybe some of you who keep up with classical music do?) and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, playing a program of Bach and Duke Ellington.

http://www.theprogram.com.au/Event/11-02-2010/nigel-kennedy-presents-bach-and-ellington

Kennedy played violin and directed and arranged the Ellington pieces for orchestra. If I had realized what a fantastic performance it would be, I would have coughed up the cash for better seats. The acoustics for the music were quite good, despite the size of the auditorium, but I didn't catch all his smartass remarks (which are apparently a specialty of his, along with violin).

So the probably one time in my life I care about who is in the Superbowl, I was scheduled to be at the airport. I checked the news just before I left: 3-10. I figured, well, you knew the Saints weren't favored, and seriously that would require the world to be turned upside down, made a sadface and headed for the airport.

I never ever talk to people on planes, because you can't escape, but the guy next to me was wearing a Tulane shirt. Turns out he's a Austrian who was there one year as an exchange student at the business school. Which was very nice, because when the plane took off, and Emirates[1] started the news headlines portion of their entertainment system, I had somebody to squee at when the second headline was about the SAINTS KICKING THE COLTS' ASS, AMIRITE.

After I'd recovered from my jaw dropping, I mean.

I think it was a good omen for my return to Australia. I have been half a day in Melbourne-- long enough to take a morning walk along the river, long enough to check out Victoria Market (OH GOD FIGS ARE IN SEASON OM NOM NOM), long enough to take a tram tour around the city center-- and I want to never, ever leave.

Note to Australia:

Dear Australia, I love you the best! I promise to never leave you for New Zealand ever again.

Note to Self:

Self, you are now back in Australia's climate that you love. You must carry your water bottle!

[1] Seriously, guys, so. nice. Definitely fly them next time you have the option!

CULTURE!

Te Puia in Rotorua has hot springs and mud pools and geysers; it also has a Maori wood carving school and weaving school. A guide showed us around the geysers and the Maori buildings and talked about growing up in the area. Inside the meeting house, a group of Maori put on a "cultural performance"-- singing, dancing, martial arts demonstration. The fighting was a bit like kendo, with staves. The rest reminded me of hula, both in the rhythms and the hand motions. They also had a guitar for accompaniment. I don't know what European visitors thought of it, but I found it very approachable.

GEOLOGY!

Whakatane, on the northeast coast, is pronounced Fakatane "if you want to be politically correct," the white Kiwi woman on the boat trip said dismissively. 'Cause, you know, it's such an imposition for an English-speaker to use the phoneme "F". ("WH" represents "F" in Maori words. Possibly the missionaries are to blame.)

Whakatane is a tiny town whose point of interest is as a jump-off point for White Island tours. White Island is a live volcano about 1.5 hours offshore by boat. It's privately owned because this guy thought it would be neat to own a volcano. SO TRUE.

The latest eruption was in 2000-- luckily in the middle of the night, so nobody was onshore at the time. It's an explosive, steamy volcano rather than a lava volcano, so you don't really get any warning; though the guides did say that there had been increased activity in some areas recently. We were issued hard hats and gas masks-- with real filters, not those paper dust masks. I used my gas mask about half of the time. The fumes get really strong near the vents.

The guides led us all around the crater, on strictly marked paths (because if you stand on unstable areas you could break through the crust and fall into a pit of boiling mud). We saw a giant fume-y steam vent; sulfur-encrusted streambeds; many steaming mud pools ("Last week that was a couple meters away, we'll have to move the path again soon"); and my favorite, a giant pool of acid that is off the ph scale! It has a negative 1 or 1.5 ph! So if you need to dispose of a body...

Speaking of disposing of bodies, the guide invited us to dip our fingers in one particular stream and taste the water: it had a very low concentration of hydrochloric acid. Lemony! and a bit fizzy. It comes out of the ground right there, so it is the cleanest water in NZ! Other than the hydrochloric acid, that is.

I especially liked the ruins of the former sulfur factory: fallen roof timbers, eroded concrete, giant gears and barrels eaten away by rust. Very steampunk.

FORESTRY!

The road from Whakatane to Napier passes through a mountainous area that's a national forest. This one seems to have mostly native species: palm trees, and fern trees, and local deciduous-ish trees behind; all cascading down steep cliffs to boulder-strewn rivers. It's wonderfully primeval in appearance, and if a dinosaur were to suddenly poke its head out of the trees-- I'm not saying one did, but if-- it would look completely appropriate.

ARCHITECTURE!

The charming seaside town of Napier was rebuilt in Deco style after a huge earthquake in the '30s. Naturally I had a wonderful time wandering around and looking at the buildings. I took a walking tour of downtown and a driving tour of the immediate suburbs. They have an Art Deco weekend every year, when everyone dresses 1930-style and pulls their vintage cars out of storage; unfortunately I will leave NZ before this occurs.

METEOROLOGY!

It is pouring in Taupo, so instead of kayaking on the lake, I am sitting inside and watching videos with everyone else in the hostel.

(a belated note from South Island)

Oamaru has a major blue penguin nesting site in an abandoned quarry. It's protected against predators, and population has increased about 9% a year for a decade. We visited the government-subsidized penguin burrows during the day, and viewed some adults and chicks in the burrows with observation windows.

There is also a yellow-eyed penguin lookout a bit south of the blue penguin nesting site. We stopped by there in early evening and managed to spot two nesting in the shrubbery; one of them had chosen a spot about 3 feet away from the boardwalk! S/He will probably be forever traumatized by the experience of human after human crouching down, peering through the fence slats, and taking photos; but I got a good picture. They climb really steep cliffs to get up to their nests!

Back to the blue penguins: At night the adults come ashore to feed their chicks. There are bleachers set up overlooking the route where the penguins come onto shore. The setting is that there's a rocky slope, not too steep but it's been smoothed into a ramp with some additions of concrete; an open flat area; then the grassy area with their burrows, with shrubs and little hills; and the high quarry walls behind. We gathered on the bleachers at dusk (9pm) to see who might show up.

The sun hadn't set but a vanguard of six penguins gathered on the lower part of the ramp. They took a while getting motivated and slowly getting up the ramp. (These are very social penguins, who like doing things in groups.) At the edge of the flat area, they had another long pause for discussion, then suddenly dashed across, scrambled through the penguin-sized fence openings, and dispersed to their burrows.

Meanwhile, the first raft (group) had gathered far offshore, bobbing around like short-necked cormorants. As dusk fell, they made their way to the beach, quacking to each other in encouragement. There were about 25 in this group. They tumbled on to the pebble beach with the surf, shook themselves off, and gathered at the base of the ramp. The same procedure took place: the long discussion, the traverse up the ramp in fits and starts, the sudden sprint across the flat area and off to their burrows.

The incoming penguins whistled and quacked and cried to their chicks or mates who'd stayed on land to watch eggs or chicks, and the partners responded likewise. The noise got louder as the night went on. Chicks and partners came out of the burrows to await the returnees. Penguins waddled back and forth between burrows. Groups of penguins stopped to socialize. A couple of times mates met each other with hug-like chest bumps.

And out at sea, another raft was approaching. Penguin D-Day! Wave after wave of penguins storming the beach! The cuteness was off the charts! (Although, when a large group of them put their heads down and scurried across the path together, they looked a lot like a swarm of cockroaches. Sorry, penguin lovers.)

In all, 109 penguins came in from the sea that night.

Saturday I went on a Lord of the Rings tour in and around Wellington. I would have been obsessively into this 10 years ago, but, well, the movie is quite a bit in the past now. Anyway, it turned out to be interesting and fun. There's no evidence left of the sets, but we had photos showing the production and then the screenshot for each location, so you could see how it worked, with sets constructed, blue screens, etc. Then we could pick out particular trees (really!) in the shots. It was mostly about explaining the local locations, with explanation of the shots, some stories about the filming, and a bit of gossip like where the actors lived.

We saw: A quarry where Helm's Deep and then pieces of Minas Tirith were built (shut down for a year for film production); the garden inside the walls of Isengard; the forest where the hobbits first met the Ringwraiths, now currently populated by mountain bikers ("The ringwraiths have gotten much nicer" said the guide after a few passed us with hellos); Bree; Rivendell; various rivers. We also went to a little visitor center for Weta to hear about all the stuff the studio does, and I learned that Weta is not an acronym, but the name of a local grasshopper. We drove by the Weta soundstages but there are no tours there. We also drove by Peter Jackson's house, which... is kind of creepy, actually. Not the house; us driving by and staring, I mean.

Some typical scenarios: Most of the geographical settings were in South Island, and asyouknowBob the film had many digital effects. So, when Gandalf and Saruman walked in Isengard, they were filmed at the place in Wellington we saw. A stone wall and gate was added digitally; and in the background was inserted the appropriate South Island scenery. Or, for the river trip after Lothlorien, the river itself is in South Island, just down from Al's Bungy at Queenstown; and they used puppets in the boats. But the close-up shots were done at the river here in Wellington, where the water was calm enough to not risk the actors and there was a matching cliff behind them. The giant statues were built as models and filmed. Most of the (book) locations existed in both North and South Islands, actually. You can see how it all fits together after the fact, but to be able to envision beforehand how the locations would work is really impressive.

We were lucky to have a gorgeous sunny day with minimal wind, unusual in Windy Welly. Today is back to gale-force gusts!

(last week of December)

1. Christmas eve dinner, Saggio di vino ( http://www.saggiodivino.co.nz/ )

Poached pear and baked goat cheese appetizer.

Loin of venison with sweet potato polenta, apple relish, beetroot relish. Deer here is all farm-raised, in small pastures so they don't run around much; so the venison was tender and not at all gamey (served rare). Very different from other venison I've had.

Panna cotta with (seasonal!) fresh berries.

Hawkes Bay Craggy Range syrah 2007.

2. Christmas day dinner

Picnic in Christchurch Botanical Garden. This is apparently traditional: about half the population of Christchurch appeared to be there as well. Just basic picnic fare: sandwiches and cole slaw and (seasonal!) cherries, golden kiwis, and apricots.

3. OMG PENGUINS!!!

At the Christchurch Antarctic Center ( http://www.iceberg.co.nz/pages/6/nz-penguin-encounter.htm ), there is a blue penguin habitat. This is for injured penguins who cannot be released back into the wild. Some have an injured or missing limb; some have eye injuries resulting in partial blindness; one is blind in both eyes (he gets around fine, just slowly). Most of the penguins have paired up, so there are also a few chicks that were hatched at the habitat.

So these penguins we could see in daylight and get photos. It was kind of adorable and sad all at once. The informational signs reminded us that these are lucky penguins: they were rescued and survived. Still, some adjust quicker than others. One penguin, who had a paralyzed left flipper, had not figured out how to compensate to swim in a straight line. He was thrashing all around in the water, turning in little circles, and sometimes flipping over on his back. But he wasn't willing to quit trying. I know I shouldn't project human emotions onto animals, but I felt plenty of frustration on his behalf.

4. Not an event, but interesting: Christchurch is where the flights to McMurdo originate. The Antarctica-bound scientists and researchers apparently like our B&B: last night there was a whole group of them there, on their way south.

We flew over the Southern Alps to Christchurch. It was GORGEOUS. You remember lighting the signal fires in LotR? I swear I could pick out some of the mountains they used in the movie.

All my Christmas pressies made it through customs! I picked up the rental car with no troubles. I also apparently remember how to drive on the wrong side of the road, and only turned on my wipers once. The current plan: 1 laundry; 2 food; 3 bed.

I'm sitting at the gate at Perth, waiting for my flight, whose departure is delayed about 30 minutes. At least there's free wi-fi.

Must Bistro (http://www.must.com.au)

MONDAY: LUNCH, SOLO

Duck liver and porcini pate. Surprisingly delicious! I say surprising because I am skeptical of the whole pate concept (this was a bit of an experiment). The flavor was more mushroom-y than liver-y; as I like mushroom a lot more than liver, that was a success for me; and the scary meat jelly was soft rather than rubbery. I don't have the knowledge to rate it against pate in general, but I liked it.

Port Augusta leatherback (a fish, white with firm texture) with mashed potatoes and a lovely sauce, lemon and butter and cream and salt (I asked). The sauce was creamy but light, with a nice lemon zing.

Blue Cow cheese with giant raisins soaked in wine syrup. I forgot to ask the type of cheese, but it was semi-soft with a minimal rind, stronger than camembert and firmer than brie.

Sauvignon blanc 2006, I forgot which vineyard but it would be local Margaret River one.

WEDNESDAY: DINNER FOR FOUR

My dorm-mates are foodies also! I went back to Must for dinner with a Swiss woman, an English woman, and a German guy; and we all had a great evening.

Gruyere souffle. Light and spongey and the diced onion was wonderfully sweet.

Lamb shank. Rare and tender (not the least bit sheep-y), served sliced with roasted pumpkin and Roquefort. Absolutely gorgeous. There was also ratatouille which was good but irrelevant. All our main dishes were great: after a couple of involuntary noises at the first bite, there was complete silence for a period as we ate.

We ordered all four desserts on the menu and shared them. Strawberry and chocolate couladis. Butterscotch pudding with dulce de leche ice cream. Dark chocolate and rum mousse with pear sorbet. Orange and vanilla creme brulee with raspberry sorbet. The mousse was really rich and intensely chocolate but the burnt orange peel flavor of the creme brulee made that my favorite (though the sorbet was overkill).

South Point 2005 cab-merlot-shiraz blend; Bare Root 2006 sauvignon blanc. The South Point was the definite winner here: we got a second bottle.

BUSH TUCKER

(http://www.bushtuckertours.com/river.html)

Tuesday I took a guided canoe trip up Margaret River that included a cave visit and a picnic with "bush tucker" i.e. native Australian foods.

Smoked emu, kangaroo, and free-range turkey substituting for protected wild turkey; pestos made with some kind of local plant leaves; bush tomatoes; desert limes (looked like white raisins soaked in wine, tasted very citrus-y and sour); some other kinds of fruits; stewed hibiscus; fruit leather from a local shrub; some kind of nuts that tasted a bit like coconut but with a woody texture; bush honey; various ground up herbs and spices. The tastes were really intense: one of the pestos too spicy for me, but many of the fruits sour or sharp in a good way. The smoked meats were outstanding: nice gamey taste but tender texture.

ROTTNEST ISLAND, WA

Sadly, quokkas have become entirely acclimated to humans, and spend their days scavenging from people and pooping everywhere. They're like the pigeons of the marsupial world. In addition, they do look so very much like rats, only foot-tall ones. It would not surprise me if Jeff Smith based his Giant Rat Things on quokkas.

One got into our dorm room and someone lured it out with a nectarine. (Wrong lesson!) I managed to get a snorkel fin between it and its view of the fruit, at which point the quokka couldn't figure out where the food was anymore. So, not too bright either. One snuck into the kitchen that evening and I had to shove it out with a magazine.

The absolute best quokka sighting was when two other women and I walked the 1.8km back to the hostel, late-ish, after a movie at the local cinema (beach sling chairs in an old wood-frame community hall). We reached the former military barracks that's now the hostel, and on the lawn in the courtyard was an army of quokkas, nibbling grass under the moonlight. There were *dozens* of them, adults and half-size joeys. It was eerie and creepy and hysterically funny all at once.

Luckily Rottnest has way more to recommend it than quokkas. It has the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen, traffic-free roads for cycling around the island, and great snorkeling. The coves I swam in had sea-grass beds and kelp and channels of white sand--a very different underwater landscape from the coral up north. Lots of fish, though, and I saw a dark grey ray on the seafloor at one spot.

On the food side, I finally tried an Australian pie, since the ones at the local bakery looked good. It was beef and mushroom and was absolutely delicious, with a wonderfully thick and flaky crust.

Coral Bay has one street. It has two grocery stores, two restaurants, a cafe, and several dive/tour shops. I think there are more tourists than residents. There's our hostel, at least 2 camping/caravan sites, and a hotel.

What is really special about Coral Bay is the beach. It has a beautiful sandy beach from which you can wade out, knee-deep, waist-deep, and suddenly there you are in the reef. There are clumps of coral growing up from the sand and lots and lots of fish and the currents keep you within the bay area. Even in the sandy area before you reach the reef you can stick your head underwater and see lots of fish.

It is hot and slightly humid here, almost 40 degrees someone said.

GLASS-BOTTOM BOAT

I won a glass-bottom boat cruise with a silly game on the bus and Denise joined me for that today. Verdict: very cool. The water is quite cold, though! And there's a rough current when you approach the edge of the reef.

We made two stops. The first was almost at the reef edge. It had lots of smaller fish: big schools of the dark blue ones, and a few of the colorful I think called wrasse fish (they flap their fins like wings). The second one had a school of big Norwegian snapper. Unbeknownst to us, the boat captain was tossing them fish food to make them swarm around us. Having these giant fishes brush against the underside of the body was pretty alarming, especially after he had told us to be careful of their spines. !! The captain also told us a lot about coral spawning and how the coral overdid it two years ago and that's why the coral near land looked so bad-- some of it died as a result of oxygen and sunlight reduction.

KAYAK / SNORKEL TRIP

Verdict: awesome. We kayaked out to the edge of the reef-- a long way-- then snorkeled in the open water. First we visited a shark cleaning station. It's a giant cabbage coral that sharks hang out at and get wrasse to clean their teeth. We saw two reef sharks just hanging around-- one opened its mouth a bit-- they were about our height long, the guide said. There was another really big shark, but I managed to completely miss seeing him.

We also saw 2 turtles, a spotted ray on the sand (being teased by some other fish, I thought, but the guide said they were just looking for bits of food he might have left), a blue and green giant clam, and lots of fish. The biggest school was of makerel-looking things; then there were 7 or so Nor'west (apparently *not* Norwegian) snappers that followed us for the entire swim and really freaked me out. They swim really close, they're pretty big, and they just *stare* at you.

We also saw a 4th shark, a big nurse shark lurking under a coral overhang.

It turns out that you can get back into a sea kayak from the sea. So nobody had to be left for the sharks.

For the second snorkel, we continued against the current to a dive boat anchored offshore. It was a really long run-- when we finished the trip we looked back from shore and the boat was like an ant. The two girls in the other kayak were having trouble pushing against the wind and decided they'd had enough of a tour today and went back in. So it was just Denise and me for the guide to point out stuff to.

This stop was the Maze, one of our snorkel sites from yesterday, but today's swim was much better. Visibility was better, and the guide took us away from the boat, which I was nervous to do yesterday on my own. We saw 2 more turtles, several schools of the small bright blue fish, and various other fish. The coral was very close to the surface in several places, so it and all the fish were clearly visible as we swam over.

Kayaking back to shore was easier than the trip out, though we had to do a lot of correction to get us to the right place on the shore. But it was a tough workout overall and my arms will feel it tomorrow!

THE FLIES

are driving me absolutely crazy. Me and everyone else.

AUSSIE VOCABULARY LESSON:

swimmies: swimsuit

sunnies: sunglasses

boardies: board shorts

barbie: BBQ

Tassie (with a "Z" sound): Tasmania

bikkie: biscuit (cookie)

brekky (or breaky): breakfast

schoolies: schoolkids (seen in a news broadcast about teenagers descending on Surfer's Paradise with the start of the holidays... looks like our Beach Week)

SATURDAY, MONKEY MIA:

You meet the same people, up and down the coast. I came up from Perth in a backpacker bus (http://www.easyridertours.com.au/) and we picked up a Dutch woman, about my age, in Kalbarri, and she and I have been hanging out in Denham. Yesterday on the beach we ran into a Swiss woman she had met in Kalbarri, then a Dutch man and woman she knew from her travels showed up from Exmouth. So now our dorm has a bunch of women my age and it's nice to have non-teenagers to hang around with.

We also have a group of 5 Norwegian guys in one of the rooms-- very polite kids. They're 19, 20 years old and clearly spend all their free time swimming in icy rivers, cross-country skiing, and lifting reindeer over their heads. They are doubtless cursing their bad luck at being stuck in a dorm with cranky old women instead of, say, 19-year-old French girls.

The three Netherlanders and I took a catamaran cruise on the Aristocat 2 today out of Monkey Mia. We saw dolphins and dugongs and sea turtles and cormorants, and it was a beautiful day on the water. We did not see any sharks. Then we lay on the beach and dozed all afternoon.

DUTCH VOCABULARY LESSON:

gezellig: cozy, comfortable-- not an exact translation; apparently the relaxing and companionable time we four had on the boat today can be also described with this word.

DUTCH DIETARY ADVICE:

"Butter is really good for you. You should eat some every day."

I'm spending a few days in Denham, on Shark Bay (a World Heritage Site). There's no snorkeling here, but it's a relaxing, tiny coastal town, and there's a pool at the hostel. Tomorrow I'm going to Monkey Mia to watch people feed the dolphins.

[ObSF: "It's a cookbook!"]

Yesterday I saw billion-year old organisms: stromatolites, formed by cyanobacteria that were the first oxygen-producing organisms, that changed the atmosphere to allow oxygen-breathers (us!) to exist. The ones here, some of the last in the world, are still bubbling out oxygen! This is such an awesomely old continent.

So, the manager of the hostel rescues orphaned kangaroos. I went into the office yesterday and she had a joey curled up in a cloth pouch. It was a little smaller than a cat, and seriously kawaii. I completely lost my train of thought and just stared. "Can I touch it?" I asked, just wanting to pet it, and she handed over the entire pouch for me to hold. The joey didn't seem scared, or particularly interested-- it just looked around, and nuzzled my shirt a bit. The manager said she has formula to feed it, and it will be ready to release--able to fend for itself--in about 6 months.

WHALE WATCHING

It was the last weekend they're doing tours this year, so my timing was good. I guess the whales are all well on their way to Antarctica. The boat went out from Fremantle toward Rottnest Island (misnamed for the rodents marsupials of unusual size) and we saw humpback whales almost immediately. There were an adult and calf, who entertained us by flipping their tails up in the air repeatedly. After those went underwater we moved further out and ran into another pair, or maybe the same ones, who flipped tails and sometimes rolled sideways and waved a flipper. Finally, we came across a group of three-- with more visible in the background-- who stayed with us until we ran out of time and had to turn back. This group was great: they decided to do the whole flinging themselves out of the water and flopping back sideways thing. Over and over. They came really close too. I have never seen humpback whales before, so this entire morning was absolutely thriliing.

I took some video, but it appears to have disappeared somewhere in the transfer from camera to laptop. :(

EXOTIC CREATURES

I was talking with an Aussie guy at lunch, later that afternoon (Little Creatures Brewery, which BTW has excellent beer, also good pizza), and at one point mentioned how exciting it was seeing the boxing wallabies (eee!) on Kangaroo Island. He mentioned visiting UCLA on a trip to the US, and how the campus looked exactly like a college campus should look, and also the chipmunks everywhere on the grounds. This was puzzling... "Squirrels?" I ventured. Yes! He loved the squirrels!

Great moments in intercultural communication:

Me: Boxing wallabies!

Him: Chipmunks squirrels!

Which just goes to show that exotic is all about your starting point.

CRITTER DOCUMENTATION

I have been uploading heaps of photos, and have partly caught up: Sydney and Adelaide are complete, and I've added the Adelaide-Perth photos to the Indian Pacific train trip set. I hope to get Kangaroo Island (penguins! boxing wallabies!) up tonight and maybe a bit of Perth.

Tomorrow I head north for snorkeling! And just in time, since it's supposed to rain here.

Indian Pacific, Sunday pm thru Tues am

Lunch: lamb-and-pumpkin pie.

By afternoon we have moved into desert-y grasslands. Things I have seen: a prisoner of war camp. Cows! including baby cows. A metal pole with two birds nests stacked at different levels. This morning, before breakfast, a dingo! Coming out of the Nullarbor, the vegetation now looks lush, the palette of grey-greens infinitely variable. Now there is standing water, from time to time.

Sparkling red shiraz at dinner then a tour of Kalgoorlie-- best tour ever! The guide was a scream. I thought he was naive, but then decided it was all put on. Next to the brothels, "conveniently located," the miners' quarters. The scale of the pit mine was impossible to gauge at dark: 2x4 km, 700m deep. The 2-storey dumptrucks looked like ants. Of course it rained-- about an hour of intense tropical downpour. The streets filled with rushing water and there was thunder and lightning that turned the sky violet-blue.

I wish we could have seen the town in daylight because it has some lovely old buildings.

Sunrise, around 5:30am. Pale gold wheatfields, some sheep, lines of trees are almost black in the new light. The sun was visible only a short time over the horizon, then it rose into the clouds. It's overcast and the sky is an opalescent grey, slightly lavender. To the north there is a purple mass of clouds and what looks like rainstorms. Overhead, in a patch of blue sky, the moon is a sliver under half.

Things seen: an emu farm!

Just arrived in Perth, after 2 days on the train. These are some leftover notes from Adelaide.

THINGS I HAVE EATEN, FROM CENTRAL MARKET

local (Adelaide) produce:

- Charle[something- Charlemagne?] Brie, nicely runny at room temp

- green olives with garlic and sundried tomatoes

- peaches, apricots, pears, zucchini, mushrooms

- several types of bread

- fresh pasta

from Kangaroo Island:

- sheeps milk yogurt

- honey from the world's only pure colony of Ligurian bees! (tasted just like honey to me)

Also: Australian mangoes

A NOTE OF INTEREST, ALSO FROM ADELAIDE MARKET

The butchers all sell, in addition to the usual steaks: kangaroo, venison, crocodile, rabbit, quail...

BAROSSA VALLEY TOUR

We visited five wineries, with three structured tastings and two open. We also waved at Jacobs Creek as we drove by. I tried ~25 wines and could have tried a dozen more if I'd taken advantage of the open tastings (I was using those to recover). Stuff I liked:

Wolf Blass: Yellow Label moscato

They had big reds, for those of you that like that style.

Maggie Beers:

Beers Bros semillon chardonnay '08

Non-alc sparkling ruby cabernet

dukkah (Lebanese spice mix)

blood orange marmalade

burnt fig jam

fruit paste: fig & fennel, quince, spiced pear

vino cotto

Barossa Valley Estates:

Ebenezer shiraz

E Minor chardonnay '08

LUNCH! was a sort of ploughman's lunch, a platter of local breads and cheeses and meats and pickles. Of note: camembert, a fluffy white that I think was goat cheese, a hard slightly sharp yellow; salami, pate, smoked chicken; very ginger-y chutney.

Langmeil:

Hangin' Snakes shiraz viognier '07

Sparkling Ondenc cuvee '07

Chateau Tanunda:

Nightwatch pinot noir chardonnay (sparkling)

Barossa Tower pinot grigio

Barossa Tower moscato

Three Graces (Bordeaux style)

Chateau cabernet sauvignon

Botrytis (noble rot) semillon (dessert wine)

(It was about a million degrees out, so I found the sparkling wines much more appealing than usual.)

"South Australia is the driest state in the driest continent in the world." ...except when I'm there. There was steady rain on the drive down the Fleurieu Peninsula to Cape Jervis (a beautiful drive, BTW. Not the ticky-tacky suburbs and strip malls outside Adelaide, but further south, with hilly hayfields and vineyards, and rows of giant gum trees marking waterways). The ferry crossing was bouncy, which I like, but a little kid projectile vomited. Then more rain, on and off, over the next few days on Kangaroo Island.

But never mind! It's time for today's important topic, which is:

OMG PENGUINS!!!1!

Penneshaw is a nesting site for Little Penguins. These penguins are small, hence the name, and are blue and white and have chubby ankles. There's a ranger-led tour to see them come ashore in the evening. The ranger gave an intro talk first, then we walked along the road while he pointed out some burrows (with chicks!), then we went to the observation platform near the ocean. We got to stand around and freeze in the dark for an hour while we watched the little guys come in from the ocean and climb the rocks to their burrows.

[If you seem to be hearing a high-pitched eee! in the background as you read this, that would pretty much be my reaction to the overwhelming cuteness of it all.]

We saw a few individual penguins, but also couple groups of around half a dozen. There was one group that had reached a flattish area of the rocks and stopped for 15 minutes or so to chat, have a smoke, whatever penguins do. Suddenly motivation arrived and they all took off at a shuffly penguin sprint! --two up a narrow steep path, most along the main path. Then, all but one of the main group turned around, and sprinted back to the flat area! The one was left to slowly continue, occasionally looking over its shoulder at its friends.

I have no idea how they climb so fast, since they don't really have legs.

Also seen, before the tour in the shrubbery near the Penguin Center: a group of wallabies. There were about seven of them, and a baby. The baby would bounce around and then 1-2 adults would go chasing after it, with bigger bounces. They appear to have spring-loaded feet. And then two of the adults got into a boxing/wresting match. With occasional bouncing around each other. Eee!! Tiny boxing kangaroos!

There were other interesting things on Kangaroo Island as well: sea lions, birds of prey, a koala ("They are not bears," said our tour guide sternly), and scenery.

In conclusion: eee!!

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

More wallabies! The baby did not make an appearance tonight, but there were three adults boxing!

Everyone said, when I told them I was coming here, "It's a beautiful city!" I don't understand what they see. I would like to. What I see is an unpleasant, ugly city that has some individual excellent features. It's overrun by noisy, high-speed traffic; new construction has been completely unsympathetic to the urban context; not to mention many of the buildings are boarded up.

Things that are wonderful:

- Central market-- OMG the gorgeous food

- Free bicycles and free city center bus; also the bicycle lanes everywhere

- Those historic buildings that have remained are lovely

SATURDAY

I borrowed a free bike and rode along the river this morning. Now I understand why people said it's beautiful. You have to approach from the north. The river is dammed to make a little lake, filled with black swans and baby ducks; there is parkland all around and beautiful new theatre buildings. You approach over a nice bridge and the historic buildings along the street and the few nice new mid-rises arrange themselves aesthetically in your view. Just don't go further than 2 blocks south.

After the bike ride and a stop by the market (of course!), I went back to the park area and caught a boat ride to the zoo. The zoo is tiny and overpriced, but it had a good selection of Australian animals: not just kangaroos and a sleeping koala, but animals I've never heard of. Some of them were so ridiculous looking, and had such ridiculous names... they need a "Fuck You, Penguin" style write-up to really get that across. So just imagine one in this space.

Indian Pacific, Wed 28 Oct

Dinner of lentil soup, grilled kangaroo with blueberries, lemon-lime-ginger cheesecake, glass of shiraz.

Green landscape of rolling hills and pasture with single trees; rocky streams; occasional cows and sheep. Four grey kangaroos on a hillside around sunset. Later evening, there were breaks in the clouds, so sunset came with spectacular bursts of light.

The single cabins are all in one car: a collection of trapezoids lining an undulating corridor. Each cabin gets a window. The cabin ends (perpendicular to the window) are ~4.5ft and ~3.5 ft wide; so the interior wall is angled; the length is about 7ft. There's just enough width to prop the door open. In day, there's a wide seat, and at night the crew pull down a little bunk, the length of the cabin, and make it up with sheets and a duvet. There's also a little sink tucked behind the door. Toilets and showers are at either end of the train car.

We have to set our clocks back 30 minutes for the Central time zone and morning arrival in Broken Hill.

Thursday.

Sunrise over red plains. A dry riverbed. Three kangaroos stand at attention and watch the train go by.

Later in the morning, after breakfast, I saw an ostrich running alongside the train, as if racing (the train was winning). By lunchtime, we had moved into agricultural land-- olive trees, fields of wheat and hay, and windmills sweeping along the hilltops. We'll arrive in Adelaide around 3pm.

Two years ago I got stuck at O'Hare. There were storms or something; all hotels within 100 miles were full up; the Red Cross brought in cots. The airline did its usual job of customer service (zero information, insufficient & surly staff: that's how we do air travel in America, people!) and I stood in line for multiple hours to get rebooked. Before spending the night on a Red Cross cot.

Anyway, in the multiple hours of line-standing, the people stuck in line together ended up talking. Among the people near me was an Australian woman, who was remarkable for her friendliness and cheerfulness. It was especially remarkable considering she'd just arrived from Sydney and still had a connection to Cincinnati to catch. After our escape from O'Hare, we exchanged occasional emails.

So when it turned out that I was actually coming to Australia, I got an invitation to visit. I just spent the last two days touring around the Blue Mountains with her (she's from that area). The weather was terrible-- cold, heavy rain, dense fog-- but it was fun anyway. Touristy things we did:

- Cable car ride at an old mining site, down an incredible sheer cliff face

- Visit to rhododendron gardens in Leura: they're currently in bloom and some are as big as oak trees

- Tour at Jenolan Caves

And other sightseeing, when the fog would lift. The landscape is not what I expected in Australia (not to mention the weather!): green and forested; with rolling hills and pasture once over the Blue Mountains. Really pretty.

Heading to Adelaide this afternoon on the Indian Pacific train. http://www.gsr.com.au/our-trains/indian-pacific/the-journey.php

Heavy rain most of yesterday, and all night, drumming on the roof. I was inside at the Opera House-- they opened to the public all day-- so not a huge bother. Still raining this morning, and I hope it clears up. I'm going to the Blue Mountains and the point is the scenery!

The hostel is full of Germans, and some French as well, all here on working holiday visas. Unbeknownst to me, I arrived just at the beginning of the overseas workers season. They come for a gap year and do seasonal work and travel around. They all seem to be having tons of fun. My schedule's still out of synch-- the others in my room come in late, then I (still jet-lagged) wake up super-early, so none of us are getting much sleep.

Last night a young couple (French, I think) came in, along with a tiny baby. The baby had on a one-piece, um, suit (not sure what these are called) with cow-pattern splotches and cow faces embroidered on the booties. Kawaii!

1. Buying a $30 phone card for the wrong type of phone

2. Melting my one long-sleeved shirt with a too-hot iron

Jet lag makes me stoopid.

Although definitely the best 13-hour flight I've ever been on. No screaming babies, no swine flu coughs, it wasn't too cold, and I actually managed to sleep pretty well. Immigration at Sydney was speedy; customs and quarantine was thorough. The arrivals hall is too small for the number of people and needs better signage.

First impressions: the drive from the AP reminded me of LA: something about the low-rise density of the buildings, how the sunlight makes the buildings look cleaner and sharp-edged, the street trees that don't actually protect against the sun. I also saw a bunch of those strange light-purple trees that I've only ever seen in LA.

Downtown was a busy jumble (driving through) and I don't really have any impressions yet.

Where I am is a bit to the west of downtown, a neighborhood called Potts Point. Just a few streets away is Kings Cross, very busy and lots of backpackers, but where I am is narrow laneways and gabled row houses and confusing dead ends and stair-streets. I just saw brace of colorful screechy birds fly past, maybe lorikeets?, as I sit here on the roof deck. The nearby grocery store--not a very big one-- has a few dozen choices of yogurt and three varieties of mangoes.

Oh yeah, the weather is 23C and cloudless and so so blue.

Post dinner update

Jet lag hit like a heap of bricks around 3pm, so I took a short nap then forced myself to go out. I went to Hyde Park and waited for the Night Noodle Market (http://www.siff.com.au/events/noodle-markets) to open. Despite its name, there were not very many noodles. I think it's meant to imitate hawkers' stalls, like in Singapore.

I feel like I should at least have shown someone my passport by now, but no check-in until 2:30. On the bright side, American did not lose my luggage on the way to NY. A good beginning!

I did a test pack of my suitcase-- everything fits, and I can lift it (sort of). I swear, half the space is taken up by shoes. What? Yes, I need them all. Shut up.

(I think I will take out my snorkel booties, though.)

My task list is increasing as I get closer to departure. It's an asymptotic curve-- when I first got back, my list had a few giant items, like "put all worldly possessions into storage." Now, one week away, the tasks are all silly little things like "buy claritin;" but there are about a million of them.

Oh yeah: and update my resume. That would be one of the big tasks that I haven't quite gotten to yet. :/

I have a mobile phone with a phone number for Australia and for New Zealand. Email me if you need them.

(Why does lj spellcheck not recognize "Zealand"?)