One of the striking features of the Australian surfing scene is the number of “older guys” surfing on shortboards. And surfing very well indeed. A very non scientific survey, my own, suggests there are less than 20% of the 40 – 60+ age group surfing on mals. Mal is short for Malibu, the type of boards the first Americans surfers to come to Australia brought in the 50s. What used to stand for surfboard now means longboard.
Part of the reason for the preponderance of short board riders is the level of fitness among the Australian surfing public and the amount of watertime the blokes around here are able to get. (I should note that my generalizations about “Australia” are really limited to the area around Yamba. Sydney could very well be completely different and due to population size, more indicative of Australia as a whole.) Like anywhere else, swells that produce world-class surf at the renown points and reefs never happen frequently enough. But here there are lots of beach breaks that even on 1- 2 ft days are better than any of the La Conchitas or Santa Claus Lanes of Santa Barbara. From what I can gather there is something to ride more often than not.
The archetype Aussie veteran is Bill; he is seventy-eight and surfs about a 6’8”. He does ok too. I wouldn’t say he’s doing backside laybacks in the barrel, as a matter of fact he would get more waves and surf more consistently if he gave himself a little more foam. But I don’t think that’s the point. He’s still riding a shortboard; he hasn’t gone to the dark side.
Now Bill is his own story, without going in to too much detail, he’s NOT the merry old guy with a twinkle in his eye. One day Kate and I watched Bill at Back Beach, trying to surf inconsistent lumpy waves. The waves had ok shape but the take off zone was elusive and unless you could paddle really fast, it often required a late start at the top of a mushy foam ball to get enough momentum to catch the wave. A longboard was the right tool for the job. Another surfer on a short board was doing a credible job of getting waves under the circumstances, but Bill was ceaselessly paddling for one after another with no luck. Finally Bill snagged one but his standup was slow and he lost momentum at the top. He made an ungainly drop, but the wave face passed him by. He spent the rest of the wave in the white water trying to catch up to the face.
Kate passed him coming in as she was going out.
“How was it out there?”
“Not that good, but you won’t have any problems on that big ol’ thing.”
Now Kate’s board is 7’10”, not exactly a tanker. But Bill was openly dismissive of Kate as some sort of cheater.
Indeed, that is the other reason for the lack of mals in the line-up. It’s not cool. And I don’t mean not cool as in “You look like a geek wearing saddle shoes”. I mean not cool as in dancing too close to someone else’s wife!
This was brought home to us, the other night when we had dinner at Fred’s house. Fred invited an Aussie couple, John and Athena to join us, both of whom surf. John just turned sixty but doesn’t look it and in the water, he completely dominates the point. He grew up competing in the Australian juniors against guys like Nat Young, and Wayne Lynch. His skill allows him to take off deeper than most of the people at The Point and consequently he gets most of the waves. Only one thing can threaten his position in the catbirds seat, someone on a mal. A lesser surfer on a mal can sit outside and be up and riding before John has a chance to paddle. So John doesn’t like mals. At all. And with a passion.
Of course, we didn’t know that.
I’m not sure how that conversation started, but I do remember trying to kick Kate’s leg underneath the table.
As you all know Kate, when confronted with injustice, is not one to sit on the sidelines. In this case the injustice was John’s assertion that if you surfed a mal, you shouldn’t surf the point. Besides the obvious self-interest, this raises the larger issue of how does a society, surfers; distribute a scarcity, world-class surf, in the most equitable way. Unfortunately, Fred’s dinner table and cocktails, did not lend itself to economic modeling. After a rather lively exchange, Fred and Chris manage to head off the conversation like they would some runaway horse, and we ended up having a fun evening, mals or no mals.
But what about the issue of how do you distribute the waves. John would say by ability, if you can sit the furthest out, you get the waves, and no crutches allowed. This argument is the favorite amongst those who can sit the furthest out. And it makes sense, in a world that prizes meritocracy. You earned it, you get it. Akin to ability, is the proposition that I was born here, so I can surf here, and I have enough friends here to make it stick.
These rationales are not mutually exclusive of course; they can, and usually are, blended to fit the flavor of the local and the locals. John had an interesting take. With great glee he confided with us his plan to write all the surf mags and blogs phony posts about rampant violence to outsiders who visit The Point. “We wouldn’t actually do it but we would make it sound like it was going on.” So it’s localism without the violence. Are the Nobel Peace Prize judges getting any of this?
Of course, time will eventually catch up to the alpha dogs, regardless of their skill level, fitness regime or fighting ablility. One would expect the noble thing would be to step away at the top of your game. Leave the top tier and surf breaks called “Old Man’s” or “Burger World”. But on a shortboard. And when they can’t surf a board shorter than seven feet, they take up lawn bowling. No retreat, no surrender, no mals. So far it doesn’t look like it is happening that way. Will John really give up his spot to the next generation without a fight? Or an equipment change? When does an adjustment to your board length cross over from fine-tuning your equipment, to giving yourself an advantage over the kid who keeps sitting outside you? “It’s not a mal, it just floats me better!” It’s a slippery slope till you are cross stepping to the nose.
Ps Two days after the dinner, I was out in the water and John paddled by. I said “Hi John”. He didn’t acknowledge my hello, I was on a mal.
5.31.2007
5.30.2007
Roos
Monday the 28th
Today we went up to Redcliff to surf and while we were checking out the waves and deciding which spot to go out at, I spotted some kangaroos grazing by the side of the road. They were the smaller variety so I decided to see if I could get close enough to get some pics, as I had yet to get any really good pictures of them. Remember we are in a campground so they are liable to be somewhat used to people.
I started to walk slowly toward them and they noticed me, but did not seem to concerned. As I got closer I really started looking at them and noticed a little head popping out of the pouch of one of them. The little joeys as they are called, are very inquisitive and they seemed interested in me. It was interesting to note that when the mom leans over to graze the joey is able to lean out of the pouch enough to graze as well. Every once in a while I would see a leg or maybe it was the tail sticking out of the pouch instead of the head and I am assuming the joey was getting a sip of milk. I think they stay in the pouch for nine months. I have heard that roo fur is actually softer than koala fur, although koala looks softer. check out the claws on the hind legs of the momma roo!! yaouserrr!!
Kangaroos are the only large animals to use hopping as a means of locomotion. The comfortable hopping speed for Red Kangaroo is about 20–25 km/h (13–16 mph), but speeds of up to 70 km/h (44 mph) can be attained, over short distances, while it can sustain a speed of 40 km/h (25 mph) for more than a mile.[10] This fast and energy-efficient method of travel has evolved because of the need to regularly cover large distances in search of food and water, rather than the need to escape predators.
Flatulence
Despite having a very similar diet to cows, kangaroos produce virtually no methane from digestion. The hydrogen byproduct of fermentation is instead converted into acetate, which is then used to provide further energy. Scientists are interested in the posibility of transfering the bacteria responsible from kangaroos to cattle, as methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. [1] the above two paragraphs are from wikipedia
All told there were 3 mothers carrying joeys in the group and then what looked to be a couple of yearlings. They finally bounded off into the brush. All in all it was an even better encounter with the kangaroos than I expected.
I got a couple of days ahead of myself when I wrote about the roos we saw on a surfing trip.
magic days
Tuesday, the 29th
I have been body surfing at Main Beach the last 3 days. There have been some small (maybe chest high) but fairly good shaped waves that really aren’t that great for surfing on a board (for me anyway). I have been having a great time, but have found out I am not in as great a shape as I thought. Body surfing takes a big burst of speed to catch a wave, mostly kicking but arms as well. When your feet aren’t used to pointing, which is how your foot works when you are kicking with fins on, I find this to be a fairly unnatural position for my foot and uncomfortable as well. It tends to give me cramps in my calves as well. All this said I love to bodysurf, with your head right in the tube. I got more than just your straight ahead ed to the beach I was actually getting rides. I have discovered that my hand by my side (the other hand and arm is pointing in the direction you are going on the wave) if held correctly acts as a “fin” to sort of hold me on the wave so I do not just slide to the bottom. Just like on a board, you can actually stay in the curl of the wave, it is so exhilarating!
Today I was out by myself except for one other bloke who was surfing on what looks like a thick paddleboard. He would “jump up” to his knees once he caught the wave. He did not have a paddle, but just used his hands. He was really good and was getting tubed and everything in between! He had just caught a long left and was in front of where I was bodysurfing, making his way back out to the lineup.
Right then I noticed two dolphins had appeared out of nowhere so I said hi to them. These two were about 10 feet away from me and there was a peak coming my way, I said “come on guys lets go” and kicked into the wave which was a good one, and I got a good ride. As I popped out of the white water the bloke who was on the paddleboard was right in front of me and his face kind of lit up and he said “did you see the two dolphins riding that wave with you?” I wish I could say that I had seen them but I didn’t, my hair was in my face. What was really cool aside from the fact that I was surfing with the dolphins again, was the fact that this was the only wave I rode all day that anyone was near enough that they could have told me that. How wonderful that it all worked out like it did. I saw one of the dolphins swim off underwater just 3 feet from me (I had my eyes open under water), and that was the last I saw of them.
When I was out in the water when I first got in I remember thinking it was a perfect day and how cool would it be if the dolphins would come and surf with me. I guess they heard me. When Greg got back from surfing at Pippi’s he said they were really putting on a show over there, jumping out of the water and racing the waves. The dolphins seem to frolic more over here than they do at home. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to be with them in the water. If I had one mundane wish I think it would be to have the ability to get into a dolphins body and feel what it is like to move thru the water as they do.
I have been body surfing at Main Beach the last 3 days. There have been some small (maybe chest high) but fairly good shaped waves that really aren’t that great for surfing on a board (for me anyway). I have been having a great time, but have found out I am not in as great a shape as I thought. Body surfing takes a big burst of speed to catch a wave, mostly kicking but arms as well. When your feet aren’t used to pointing, which is how your foot works when you are kicking with fins on, I find this to be a fairly unnatural position for my foot and uncomfortable as well. It tends to give me cramps in my calves as well. All this said I love to bodysurf, with your head right in the tube. I got more than just your straight ahead ed to the beach I was actually getting rides. I have discovered that my hand by my side (the other hand and arm is pointing in the direction you are going on the wave) if held correctly acts as a “fin” to sort of hold me on the wave so I do not just slide to the bottom. Just like on a board, you can actually stay in the curl of the wave, it is so exhilarating!
Today I was out by myself except for one other bloke who was surfing on what looks like a thick paddleboard. He would “jump up” to his knees once he caught the wave. He did not have a paddle, but just used his hands. He was really good and was getting tubed and everything in between! He had just caught a long left and was in front of where I was bodysurfing, making his way back out to the lineup.
Right then I noticed two dolphins had appeared out of nowhere so I said hi to them. These two were about 10 feet away from me and there was a peak coming my way, I said “come on guys lets go” and kicked into the wave which was a good one, and I got a good ride. As I popped out of the white water the bloke who was on the paddleboard was right in front of me and his face kind of lit up and he said “did you see the two dolphins riding that wave with you?” I wish I could say that I had seen them but I didn’t, my hair was in my face. What was really cool aside from the fact that I was surfing with the dolphins again, was the fact that this was the only wave I rode all day that anyone was near enough that they could have told me that. How wonderful that it all worked out like it did. I saw one of the dolphins swim off underwater just 3 feet from me (I had my eyes open under water), and that was the last I saw of them.
When I was out in the water when I first got in I remember thinking it was a perfect day and how cool would it be if the dolphins would come and surf with me. I guess they heard me. When Greg got back from surfing at Pippi’s he said they were really putting on a show over there, jumping out of the water and racing the waves. The dolphins seem to frolic more over here than they do at home. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to be with them in the water. If I had one mundane wish I think it would be to have the ability to get into a dolphins body and feel what it is like to move thru the water as they do.
5.24.2007
Macadamia Nut trees
Macadamia Nut trees
Originally uploaded by gilmae.
I forgot to tell you about all the macadamia orchards we drove past in our travels yesterday. They are very stately trees and apparently can be good producers for up to 100 years. Who knew macadamia nuts were native to Australia? The first orchard was planted up in Lismore back in 1880. They cover the rolling hills here and they are very manicured looking orchards, with cut grass in between the rows of trees. I wonder how they harvest the nut, as the trees are so tall and wide. As I have said before, the soil is red here, more red than any soil I have ever seen. I have read somewhere there is a volcanic base underneath this red topsoil.
One thing I really enjoy about our vista here at the apartment is the fact you can look down on the water in the bay here and see right thru it to the bottom the water is so clean.
I have been taking afternoon walks out to the end of the break wall. Today I got to see about 8 of the shrimp boats chug out to sea on their way to a night of fishing. There is an average of about a dozen boats out with their lights on every night fishing. I see them come home each morning as I am meditating and the sun is coming up.
As Greg has said, he has never seen so many white people with strollers as we have down here in Yamba. It seems that everyone who looks to be in their early thirties has two kids, one about 18 months and another that is a pretty young baby. Family life is very important to Australians and they seem to spend more time with their kids than the average American, especially the dads. You see them camping, surfing, at the park, or just hanging around town pushing the stroller. It really is amazing to see so many folks with young kids or pregnant.
Something you do not find in Yamba is stop signs. I cannot think of one in the whole town. Instead they have traffic circles or an intersection that is marked “give way” (yield). Even in the larger towns we have been in you mostly find traffic circles, with the occasional stop light. The traffic circles work wonderfully, and you rarely see any kind of backup in traffic. As you come into the circle there will be a sign posted that will tell you where to exit the circle to get to where you need to be, simple.
We are doing well now with the opposite side of the road driving. I drive occasionally, like the other night when we went to Fred’s party and Greg had some beers. It was late at night (almost midnight) when we left the party and when I pulled onto the main road from a one-lane dirt road I unwittingly pulled into the wrong lane and was toddling down the road chatting to Greg. Fortunately no one was coming and it was scary when I finally realized I was on the wrong side. I cannot put it in “automatic pilot” when I drive around here, I have to really think about what I am doing all the time.
couldn't resist
So Cute!
Originally uploaded by krist_99.
this is a great pic of a koala that is in captivity being taken care of. contrary to popular belief there are really very few places there are koala bears left, they only inhabit the east coast, and only certain parts of it, particularly around where we are.
apparently there was a woman that lived down the road from freddie that used to rescue koalas and roos. to bad she has passed on, i would have loved to see what she had. freddie says there are alot of roos on his property from animals she nursed back to health and then let go
5.22.2007
world's richest surfer
The world’s richest surfer
There are very few signs of conspicuous wealth in Yamba. This is generally a poor area of Australia. Up to a few years ago, it was a farming and fishing village with a budding retirement community. But due to the highway improvements and the great surf, there is a growing contingent of rich surfy types. (Author included) Nat Young started the trend several years ago. Mark Richards, former world champ, owns a vacation home here. The street where we are staying is in a prime location on the beach in a protected cove. When I was here ten years ago, the street was populated with older 2 and 3 unit vacation flats. Now those flats are being razed and replaced by modern, if not opulent condos and large single-family homes. Definitely going upscale!
But the real sign of Gucci-goes-Yamba is Gordon Merchant’s 3 stories, 17,000 sq ft mansion, complete with indoor waterfalls and assorted over the top amenities. For those NOT in the know, Gordon Merchant is the founder and CEO of Billabong, an Australian/Global surf-ware manufacturer. Legend has it that he got his start traveling around the surf spots of Australia selling surf trunks his wife made from the back of the car. Whatever the story, Billabong is huge and Gordon can jolly well build the mansion of his dreams anywhere he wants.
Yesterday, Kate and I were surfing Back Beach with a half a dozen other guys. The surf was a very inconsistent 2’- 4’. As I was paddling out a surfer picked off a set wave and got a good ride past me and another bloke. The other guy looked at me, “There goes the worlds’ richest surfer.” It was Gordo! He’s about my age, a very solid surfer who over the course of the session got more than his share of the best waves. One by one the others in the water went in till there was only Kate, Gordo, and myself in the water. The take off spot at Back Beach is about a 50-yard diameter, so you’re not bunched together but within talking distance. Now this is a Saturday, around noon, winds are off shore, 2’- 4’ and there are only three people out. While I don’t necessarily want to hob-nob with the rich and famous per se, I thought it was worth a conversation between sets. “This is amazing, Saturday, fun waves warm water and no one out” This observation elicited a shrug from Gordon.
Soon an overhead set appeared, the peak splitting the distance between Gordon and myself. For me to get it would require a steep, difficult take off from behind the peak then race around the white water to the wave face. For Kelly Slater, or Gordon Merchant, this is not a problem, but for me it represented a challenge. Gordon also paddled for it, wisely hedging the bet that I would make the wave. I nailed the stand up, raced around the foam and started up the face of the wave. I could see Gordon looking down as I went by. It was a good long wave, one of the best of the day. Had there been anyone else out I would have gotten a few hoots along the way. I paddled back out and sat a few yard inside of Gordon. It had been a one-wave set and the ocean showed no promise on the horizon. Gordon never looked back.
There are very few signs of conspicuous wealth in Yamba. This is generally a poor area of Australia. Up to a few years ago, it was a farming and fishing village with a budding retirement community. But due to the highway improvements and the great surf, there is a growing contingent of rich surfy types. (Author included) Nat Young started the trend several years ago. Mark Richards, former world champ, owns a vacation home here. The street where we are staying is in a prime location on the beach in a protected cove. When I was here ten years ago, the street was populated with older 2 and 3 unit vacation flats. Now those flats are being razed and replaced by modern, if not opulent condos and large single-family homes. Definitely going upscale!
But the real sign of Gucci-goes-Yamba is Gordon Merchant’s 3 stories, 17,000 sq ft mansion, complete with indoor waterfalls and assorted over the top amenities. For those NOT in the know, Gordon Merchant is the founder and CEO of Billabong, an Australian/Global surf-ware manufacturer. Legend has it that he got his start traveling around the surf spots of Australia selling surf trunks his wife made from the back of the car. Whatever the story, Billabong is huge and Gordon can jolly well build the mansion of his dreams anywhere he wants.
Yesterday, Kate and I were surfing Back Beach with a half a dozen other guys. The surf was a very inconsistent 2’- 4’. As I was paddling out a surfer picked off a set wave and got a good ride past me and another bloke. The other guy looked at me, “There goes the worlds’ richest surfer.” It was Gordo! He’s about my age, a very solid surfer who over the course of the session got more than his share of the best waves. One by one the others in the water went in till there was only Kate, Gordo, and myself in the water. The take off spot at Back Beach is about a 50-yard diameter, so you’re not bunched together but within talking distance. Now this is a Saturday, around noon, winds are off shore, 2’- 4’ and there are only three people out. While I don’t necessarily want to hob-nob with the rich and famous per se, I thought it was worth a conversation between sets. “This is amazing, Saturday, fun waves warm water and no one out” This observation elicited a shrug from Gordon.
Soon an overhead set appeared, the peak splitting the distance between Gordon and myself. For me to get it would require a steep, difficult take off from behind the peak then race around the white water to the wave face. For Kelly Slater, or Gordon Merchant, this is not a problem, but for me it represented a challenge. Gordon also paddled for it, wisely hedging the bet that I would make the wave. I nailed the stand up, raced around the foam and started up the face of the wave. I could see Gordon looking down as I went by. It was a good long wave, one of the best of the day. Had there been anyone else out I would have gotten a few hoots along the way. I paddled back out and sat a few yard inside of Gordon. It had been a one-wave set and the ocean showed no promise on the horizon. Gordon never looked back.
beer run
May 22- Tuesday
Today we decided to go explore Nightcap National Park, which is north of here and inland just above Lismore. The Nightcap Range has the highest annual rainfall of all of NSW and you find large subtropical and warm temperate rainforest communities here that have links to the ancient super continent of Gondwana. In 1830 this area, known as Whian Whian, was logged, primarily for the rainforest giants, the beautiful Red Cedars that grew here. While we were on the 5k trek we took today, you could see the stumps of these huge trees rotting among the new growth. You could even see where the loggers had put their board holes in the trunk of these trees to get them about 8-10 feet off the ground where the truck slimmed down a bit to do their chopping. I do not know how they got the cut trees out of the woods, as the forest was so thick. There are giant eucalyptus trees in these woods, one took Greg and I, 4 sets of outstretched arms to encompass one large tree we saw. In the picture I have included today, you can see how large this particular tree is and the giant bird nest fern that has attached itself to the trunk. If you looked up on the trunk there were many huge stag horn ferns as well, it was quite a magnificent environment of assorted plants.
The woods are an interesting mix of eucalyptus and palm trees and ferns and many more plants I do not know. It is very different for me to be in an environment where I do not know any of the plants.
When we arrived at Minyon Falls (one of the “advertised” attractions of the Park) I thought we would be disappointed, as we had been walking along a fairly (that is putting it kindly) dry creek bed. Well, when we got to the Falls we were not disappointed, but pleasantly surprised. The Falls was nonexistent at this time; however the view to the bottom of the 100m drop the Falls takes was spectacular. Looking over the edge of the lookout the Park had built to allow viewing, the Falls made my whole body hurt it was so high off the floor of the valley. You could see the thickly wooded base of the Falls that opened into a shallow valley that was beautiful and you had a panoramic view of the surrounding area and off in the distance (25 miles) you could just see the ocean.
On our return home we planned to go through Alstonville because it is the home of the Northern Rivers Brewing Company. We had dinner out the other night and had some of their draft or draught (as the aussie say) blond ale that was excellent. Greg says it is as good as Sierra Nevada, his beer of choice at home (maybe it is just because he has been drinking second rate beers since we got here).
After some inquiring we finally found them in the back part of an industrial park in Alstonville. Good thing we weren’t looking for a big sign, as there was no sign. They were set up in a warehouse like situation and had two big tanks for making beer. The Dad was hand labeling some of their stout, which has won “Best of Australia 2006”, and the brewmeister was holding his 18 month old son who had some of the bluest eyes I have ever seen and red hair, a real cutie. I thought I heard a young man helping with the boxing, call him Dad, so you can see it was a family operation. I saw mom in the background. They were pleased we had sought them out and they agreed to sell us some beer under the table. Greg told the brewmeister (he was about 35) that Sierra Nevada was his fav and he agreed it was good beer. He also knew of Black Dog which has it’s roots in Bozeman, MT. We bought a 6-pak of the 4 types he brews, stout, blond, pale and gold ale and he threw in a 6-pak of his winter brew which is 6% alcohol, done especially for winter. He said he was getting a bigger “kettle” (I don’t really know what they are called) that will allow them to triple their production. He has been in business two years. All in all it was a fun visit and made our day, especially the beer drinker of the group, as he will have good beer to swig for the rest of the trip.
5.21.2007
rest day
it is really sad when life is so tough that even if there is surf you decide not to go out. such was the case for greg and i yesterday. there were waves at pippi's but we were just to tired, so spent the day reading and hanging around. today is small and i think we will take a road trip up to Nightcap National Park, with rainforests and waterfalls. it is up by Lismore.
5.20.2007
sunday at the beach
Yesterday was Sunday and we spent the afternoon at the beach with Freddie and Colby. We went up to Angourie Point and there were some waist to shoulder high waves and only maybe 6 guys out. Colby and I went in and caught some fun little peelers while Fred and Greg jawed it on the beach. You can feel the coolness in the air that has started to happen, and this morning was down right cold. When we got here 3 weeks ago it was at least 10 degrees hotter on an average day. The sun is still warm when you are in it. The water has gotten a bit cooler as well, still shortjohns though.
My last wave of the day was a shoulder high zipper into the beach. The last section was a golden wall, as I was shooting right for the sun. Cool!
My last wave of the day was a shoulder high zipper into the beach. The last section was a golden wall, as I was shooting right for the sun. Cool!
the light house
After our successful koala sighting we headed up to Byron Bay to check out rentals as we considered moving up there for our final week. Byron Bay is a lot like Santa Barbara, very chichi with nice stores and restaurants and lots of people. After a drive around town it didn’t take us long to realize we would rather have the pristine empty beaches of the yamba area, we did not come to Australia to spend time with a bunch of yahoos on holiday.
We did go up to the Byron Bay lighthouse, a picture of the lens of which I have included here. The lens was huge, it was like a big eye, I would have loved to have seen it lit. This lighthouse was built here in 1901, the furthest east point of land on the Australian continent.
I managed to twist my ankle and take a chunk out of my knee as we were meandering up the paved pathways around the lighthouse. As greg said, I do fine on logs spanning creeks, 15' above raging creek beds, but have trouble in parking lots and airports. Aside form the blood decorating my shin, the damage wasn’t to bad. After reiki, and traumeel cream, I was ready to surf the next day. Whew, as when I went t o bed I could hardly walk!
i finally made it out to Shelly's beach the other day...it was a good walk, i went by the path this time. the shells were amazing out there, the rocks had sorted them. it was nice to be by myself for a while.
5.19.2007
news flash
big article in the local paper this morning....the citizens of McClean have just completed painting the 200th telephone pole in town in a scottish plaids. (who knew there were that many different plaids). i posted a picture about a week and a half ago for you all of one of these telephone poles.
we were in another town just recently and the telephone poles of this town were painted in ethnic aboriginal design motifs. so if you are wondering what aussies do with their spare time, there you have it!
and the winner is....
Beautiful Cuttlefish
Originally uploaded by CK Yap.
Well I have to say I am somewhat disappointed with the response from you all on the mystery photo. We only saw two people sticking their necks out and taking a chance to win fame and fortune. I am sorry to report that, no Erica, this is not a rendition by Georgia o’keefe of a flower petal. However the other guess by the illustrious Endsley Barrett was correct!! Wow, I always new you were a smart cookie, but this bit of evidence certainly proves the point.
Endsley guessed that it was a cuttlebone from a cuttlefish. Cuttlebones are a source of calcium that is fed to birds and are often times seen in birdcages. Birds also use them to sharpen their beaks. I have been finding them all over the beaches over here.
Included in this post is a picture of a cuttlefish. Apparently they live in deep water close in to shore.
So there is your interesting fact for the day. Ends, you will be receiving your prize when we return to the states….hope you can bare the suspense until then. Much love to you….
snipe?
Hi I have been absent for a few days, sometimes our days are so full it is hard to find time to sit down at the computer and write even though I am full of things to say.
We have been busy gallivanting all over the countryside on different adventures. The first one I am going to tell you about is our quest in search of the koala bear. Maybe 40 miles from here is a koala bear reserve called Tucki Tucki. It is small area in which they planted two of the types of eucalyptus trees the koala likes. I think it is the blue and the red gum tree, but don’t quote me on that. When we arrived it was evident that this grove had been planted some time ago, I would say 25 years ago. There was a very nice rock path through the trees that looked like it had been there for some time as there was lichen on the stones and some moss in between the stones. Someone put a lot of hard work into this path that wound thru the trees, it was a work of art in my eyes. The reserve was on a sloping hill, and it was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Anywhere I have walked among trees in Australia there have been many different birds songs to be heard, and I wish I could include a sample for you here as the sounds are so lovely. A man told me that many birds have been forced to move to the coastal areas due to the drought. There was much jubilation in certain parts of central Oz yesterday when they got the first rain they have had in 7 years!!! As we were told last night, the area around Yamba always seems to get enough rain. Anyway, back to the koala story.
So picture Greg and I creeping our way as quietly as possible down this stone path, sure at any minute we will see a koala. We are scanning the sunlit treetops for signs of these adorable creatures; after all, we are in a koala reserve, right?! After about 45 minutes of neck scrunching scanning of the treetops, we begin to suspect that koala may be the Australian word for snipe. The reserve is beautiful, koala sighting or not, so we aren’t to bummed, but do wonder what qualifies it as a koala reserve if there are no koalas.
We decide to split up, that way doubling our chances of spotting one of the elusive creatures. It would have probably been helpful if we had had some “koala sighting tips”, but we had noone to ask, only my limited knowledge of koalas, the fact they eat eucalyptus, and they sleep 80% of the time. Apparently the eucalyptus has toxins that it takes a lot time and energy to neutralize.
Fortunately we did have a pair of small binoculars Greg had had the foresight to bring with us, and by this time I had kind of lost some of my fire about seeing a koala and was instead enjoying a flock of some small pretty birds with red heads that were chattering in the bushes. I wasn’t sure where Greg was, but hoped he hadn’t gotten lost in the underbrush.
Then I heard my name softly but insistently being called, three times. So I hustled back up the path to find Greg pointing off into the trees downhill from him. He whispered, “there’s one in the tree over there”. I looked for about three minutes before I saw him, even though I knew the general direction to look in. Sure enough there he was. Through the binacs you could see him pretty well, he was eating (koalas spend 3 of their 5 waking hours eating, mostly at night). Binoculars are hard to work; as soon as you put them up to your eye you lose all bearing. I got a good view of his face and then it was Greg’s turn, and he just could not seem to find the koala through the lens even though he knew where to look. Finally he found him! Boy, I have to tell you I was trying my hardest not to laugh Greg was having so much difficulty, and he was getting so frustrated, (hope he is patient with me when something like that happens to me).
Interesting fact from Wikipedia:
The Koala has an unusually small brain; with about 40% of the cranial cavity being filled with fluid, while the brain itself is like "a pair of shriveled walnut halves on top of the brain stem, in contact neither with each other nor the bones of the skull. It is the only animal on Earth with such a strangely reduced brain."[6]
We were so excited to finally see this guy. I have to tell you koalas move at a fairly glacial pace. We wanted to get a better pic of him so we started to creep through the underbrush as quietly as possible (I am sure it sounded like crashing through the under brush to the koala), not wanting to alarm him. He seemed almost disdainfully uninterested (maybe due to his “walnut brain” or sleepiness). So we got close enough to see he had some handsomely sharp claws about the length of your fingers and the cute face that we have all seen somewhere, but it is different when you see a “real” koala. After a short chat with him, we retreated to let him get his needed rest.
All in all we felt like we had seen an important part of the Australian image. Another very prominent part of the Australian image while we are at it is there are over 800 different varieties of gum trees here. It is amazing to see so many varieties and just plain so many of them. We think we have so many eucalypt in California, but they amount to a mere sprinkling compared to here. Enough for tonight I must go to bed.
5.18.2007
Koala close up and personal
5.16.2007
playing
Originally uploaded by One Day.
this pic shows exactly how dolphins jump, they roll as they are reentering the water....wow i wish i could get into a dolphins body and feel what it is like to be in the water.
i am liking this new ability i have to download pics from flickr to illustrate my blog!! there are some great pics available...
Dolphins Jumping
Dolphins Jumping
Originally uploaded by j-a-x.
this will give you some idea what it was like to be in the water and surfing with the dolphins. i was alot closer to them than what you see in this pic. plus i had eye contact with the dolpin, which put the experience over the top.
Lorikeets(5)
Lorikeets(5)
Originally uploaded by Michael Plonus.
i wanted you all to see how beautiful the lorikeets are. here is a picture i uploaded from flickr. i have tried to take pictures of them and failed. tonight we went by the big pine trees where they have their nests as the sun was setting and the chatter of them all getting in a last good night jag to their mate was almost deafening. you could see most of them snuggled up to another lorikeet. as this pic shows they eat mostly nectar and pollen.
oh so close
I haven’t written in a couple of days because we have been busy having adventures. Today (Wednesday the 15th) is beautiful, so I have set up shop down on the beach in front of the house to write, it is to nice to sit on the couch and be inside. The seagulls are all busy in a “pond” just off to my left taking a bath. There are probably 15 of them in the pond that is formed in the big flat rocks as the tide went out. As is usual on beaches around here there is no one in sight. Off to my right the carpenter crabs are busy excavating their holes and if you look carefully you can see them only as movement, they blend in perfectly with the color of the sand. I have included a picture here of their work, I find it very fascinating, and wish I could set up a time elapse camera to watch them work. I am sitting 20’ from the center of the area they are working in (an area at least as big as our deck and all it takes is me moving my legs to make them scurry for their hole. Wow I am glad I am not a crab and have to live such a paranoid life.
What I really want to tell you about is the walk we went on yesterday. After a great surf in the morning, first at Angourie Point where there were some good sized (head high) fun waves coming in, which we both ripped on, when it got crowded we went over to Back Beach, where it was clean and head high. There is a pretty competitive crowd at Angourie that doesn’t make surfing fun for me, that is why we retired to back beach, it was nice to surf Angourie though while it lasted, it is a really fun wave. Angourie is a point break, not as good as Rincon, there is a lot of back wash that comes off the sloping rocks that form the head land so it can be bumpy. I don’t think we have seen it at it’s best either. Back Beach is a big beach break that can get some nice peaks to it; it is a lot like Old Man’s in Santa Barbara. I know I have said it before but the water over here is a delight. Boy it is going to be hard to come back to Santa Barbara crud and cold. We have worn a short john and been perfect in that.
So back to the walk. After eating some lunch, we drove back out to Angourie point and started down the beach with Shelly’s Beach as our destination (see pic of greg walking down toward Shelly's). I had spoken with a woman earlier who had told me you could walk down the beach and would see some stairs that would take you to the path. Well when we got to the stairs we decided we would try to walk around the headland, since I don’t think we have seen one yet that you couldn’t make it around, and the tide was very low as well. After 45 minutes of clambering over huge rocks and having the ocean right there on our left splashing big waves at us, we got to a spot where the high, steep cliffs fell right into the ocean. We were within a couple hundred yards of the beach,(see pic) but could not go down and could not bushwack our way across the bush-covered slope above the cliff. We had to admit defeat, as we didn’t think it was worth risking life and limb to get to Shelly’s beach. We were pretty disappointed.
So today we went on another surf safari to Brooms Head, which is south of here. Two blokes we had met had told us about it saying it was a good spot so we decided to check it out. It is probably a 45 min drive from here through some very beautiful country. Not as much sugar cane, more cattle then around Yamba. Our beach destination is part of the same park that Angourie Surf Reserve is a part of. It is admirable that the Australians have had the foresight to put aside this 60 km stretch of prime coastline for all of their citizens to enjoy in the form of a National Park. In the northern rivers district we are in, an area roughly the size of Southern California, there are 24 national parks and this does not include many nature reserves, and wilderness areas. You can camp at most of them for a couple of bucks a night, and they are so spacious and uncrowded it is amazing. You should see some of the getups the aussie have for their “campsites”. Tents, campers, tarps, you name it they have got the deluxe set up. The park even supplies you with firewood if you want to take it, and it is all hard wood left over ends from making 2x4’s ect.
I don’t know what the name of the place we went to was but it was a beach break and it was about head high, some fun little waves with good shape for a beach break. We surfed 2-3 hours until the tide went out to far.
I feel like I am in the best shape I have been in for years. It is nice to feel so strong in the water. My shoulder has been doing really well and not bothering me at all. When we were in Fiji and surfing 4 hours every day it started to get tired at the end, but not sore. Actually come to think of it my whole body was sore after surfing that much in Fiji. Life is tough.
One day I have not told you about yet is the first day it was really big at Angourie. It was a week ago tomorrow I think. Freddie and Colby (Fred’s 18 year old son) met us out there that morning, and it was big (well overhead!!). To get out to the lineup you walked way out to the point and jumped off some rocks then paddled like heck before a set comes….with any luck you were out without to much trouble or paddling. This was surf that was definitely pushing my limits, not just the size, but the competitive crowd that was in the water as well. I was really proud of how well I did; I caught some good waves and surfed them well. Freddie, who is a local, ran a little interference for me on one wave that helped (I dropped in on him, but he didn’t mind). It is an adrenaline rush for me to surf waves like that, but it takes a lot of courage and I am glad I don’t have to do it to often. It takes a lot of guts. I always tell Greg how nervous I am, and he says then he knows I will do well when I act like that. Greg really helps me, like getting out at Angourie when it was big, and not leaving me stranded. I couldn’t do it without him.
Now some crows are using the birdbath. It is time for me to close for now. It gets dark early down here; this is “winter” and nearly their shortest day. Hard to really realize that when it is so nice and warm.
Cherrio mate….
5.15.2007
dolphin glide
Monday May 13
Wow today is a day to remember and I will tell you why.
Greg and I decided (or greg decided and I said sure!) to go up north to Evans Head to go surfing this morning, it is not that far as the crow flies, but you have to go inland upon leaving yamba, then go north on the motorway for 25 miles and then head back out to the coast. Evans Head is even smaller than yamba, and not as prosperous. It is a pretty drive up there, through sugar cane fields and hillsides covered with mainly eucalyptus, and small farms. To get to the beach we surfed at we drove out to a park that is land set aside because it is spiritually important to the aboriginies. We parked the car and then walked about 20 minutes up a wide beautiful beach with basiclly no one on it. We were headed up to the headland you could see, to a point break that was up there called Snapper Rock. It was an overcast day, but not really to threatening. As we were getting dressed right out where there was maybe 6 guys surfing were the dolphins having brekky and playing in the waves. There were some fairly good size sets coming in (3-5ft), and it was a fairly gentle wave, no death defying takes off and no crowds to hassle. The dolphins were taking the biggest waves as they came by where they were eating and 6,8,10 of them would race the wave, the water is so clear you could see them in the wave even if they weren’t jumping out the front over and over and then jumping out the back. There were some young ones that were playing as well. It was so cool to see them having so much fun. I felt like they were happy to see us and were welcoming us to their playground. I remember standing there and wishing “oh I hope one surfs on a wave with me.”
I was excited to get in the water not only to play with the dolphins, but the wave looked like fun, not as death defying as Angourie had been a few days back, which I have yet to write about. The paddle out was easy, right snuggled up against the rocks and the water here is always such a pleasure to get into. So I paddled for my first wave and caught it and as I am going down the line two dolphins jumped completely out of the wave right in front of me and one definitely made eye contact with me before he slipped back into the wave. I think they jumped a couple more times before I kicked out of the wave. As I was paddling back out they were right in front of me and surprised me they were so close. I have to say that was one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me, I felt like my heart was going to burst with joy. The next wave I took off on they were surfing it with me as well, although this time I did not make eye contact with any of them. They hung around the whole 2 ½ hours we were there, never far from where we were all surfing. There was one dolphin who had a sort of broken dorsal fin on the top that I named Stubbie.
All in all it was a magical experience that I will always remember, one of those jewels when you are old and sitting in the rocking chair you take out of your heart and treasure.
Wow today is a day to remember and I will tell you why.
Greg and I decided (or greg decided and I said sure!) to go up north to Evans Head to go surfing this morning, it is not that far as the crow flies, but you have to go inland upon leaving yamba, then go north on the motorway for 25 miles and then head back out to the coast. Evans Head is even smaller than yamba, and not as prosperous. It is a pretty drive up there, through sugar cane fields and hillsides covered with mainly eucalyptus, and small farms. To get to the beach we surfed at we drove out to a park that is land set aside because it is spiritually important to the aboriginies. We parked the car and then walked about 20 minutes up a wide beautiful beach with basiclly no one on it. We were headed up to the headland you could see, to a point break that was up there called Snapper Rock. It was an overcast day, but not really to threatening. As we were getting dressed right out where there was maybe 6 guys surfing were the dolphins having brekky and playing in the waves. There were some fairly good size sets coming in (3-5ft), and it was a fairly gentle wave, no death defying takes off and no crowds to hassle. The dolphins were taking the biggest waves as they came by where they were eating and 6,8,10 of them would race the wave, the water is so clear you could see them in the wave even if they weren’t jumping out the front over and over and then jumping out the back. There were some young ones that were playing as well. It was so cool to see them having so much fun. I felt like they were happy to see us and were welcoming us to their playground. I remember standing there and wishing “oh I hope one surfs on a wave with me.”
I was excited to get in the water not only to play with the dolphins, but the wave looked like fun, not as death defying as Angourie had been a few days back, which I have yet to write about. The paddle out was easy, right snuggled up against the rocks and the water here is always such a pleasure to get into. So I paddled for my first wave and caught it and as I am going down the line two dolphins jumped completely out of the wave right in front of me and one definitely made eye contact with me before he slipped back into the wave. I think they jumped a couple more times before I kicked out of the wave. As I was paddling back out they were right in front of me and surprised me they were so close. I have to say that was one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me, I felt like my heart was going to burst with joy. The next wave I took off on they were surfing it with me as well, although this time I did not make eye contact with any of them. They hung around the whole 2 ½ hours we were there, never far from where we were all surfing. There was one dolphin who had a sort of broken dorsal fin on the top that I named Stubbie.
All in all it was a magical experience that I will always remember, one of those jewels when you are old and sitting in the rocking chair you take out of your heart and treasure.
5.13.2007
It has turned out that Australia is not as cheap as it was 10 years ago when greg was down here before (now there’s a shocker!!) I am sure there are many complicated reasons for this fact, but much of it has to do with the weakness of the dollar in the world today. When greg was here previously the exchange rate was $.60 to the dollar, and now the exchange rate is $.89 to the dollar. The exchange rate combined with the fact yamba is much more up and coming than it was 10 years ago makes everything more expensive than we expected.
Apparently Yamba is the next Byron Bay, as it is being made that much more accessible to Brisbane with the improvement of the motorway which has made a drive that used to take four hours will soon take two. If we could invest in property yamba would be a good place to sink some cash. The lot across from us (that now has a huge house on it) was bought by a bloke for $500,000 and nine months later he sold it for $1.5 million.
Greg rented this same apartment for $280 AUD when he was here; today we are paying $395 AUD for it. That said where else could you rent a two-bedroom apartment overlooking the beach for that amount? What I think the solution is we need to find another person(s) to share expenses with us. We have not met as many people as I expected on this trip. And as I said in an earlier post, I am getting tired of Greg’s company all the time and i am sure he is getting tired of mine!! ☺
We were waiting for our fish and chips today and noticing how expensive cigarettes are. For a pack of 20 they were priced from $8.50 (only one type) to $13.00 (most were in this range). Beer is expensive as well. Heineken is $18.00 for a six-pack and Toohey’s New (aussie brand) is $14. Remember these are Aussie $ so it is not quite as expensive as it sounds, but it ain’t cheap either. Nuts are something that is very expensive if you can find them (you really can’t find any good ones).
Another thing I am really surprised at is the cost of books. We bought two used cheap paperbacks the other day for $20! I bought a new book that probably would have cost $16.00 in the states and paid $27.00 for it. I talked to the owner of the bookstore I was in and asked her why books were so expensive and she really had no explanation. The library here in town really isn’t that good either, it is very small (this is a very small, poor town).
But…..surfing is free!!
5.12.2007
prizes and recognition can be yours
yes folks here is the chance you have been waiting for to achieve recognition and worldly success!! just name this "thing" and the fame you have always sought will be yours. plus a great prize (yet to be determined) will be awarded. your name along with your correct answer will be published in this blog!! wow....(now i'll find out who is really reading this thing!!)
ps (it is not a sex toy)
potatoes
I know this sounds really dumb, but there are the best potatoes down here. Greg and I often have baked potatoes for dinner with sautéed onions and mushrooms for the top (maybe a little cheese thrown in for good measure). Tonight the good measure was some beautiful organic (organic is almost non existent down here) eggplants we found at the local vegetable stand. In the store they are called dirty potatoes, and they are dirty with the red soil of Australia (there must be a lot of iron down here as most of the soil and rocks look red). They are better than any russet, or Yukon golds, or new potatoes or any other fancy variety you can mention. So next time you are in Australia be sure to have some dirty potatoes, you’ll be glad you did.
5.11.2007
no trash
finally here is the sign i like. i am not sure what you have to do to qualify to be a "tidy town" in AU, but as you can see yamba has qualified....this sign goes along with the topic of the day, so the timing is good at finally getting it to you.
Ok so today we are going to talk about an amazing aspect of the Australia I have seen, and that is the fact there is no litter and no tagging. Greg and I just got back from a long walk through town and out onto one of the break walls that form the entrance to the harbor here in yamba. The break wall is ¼ of a mile long and the rocks that make it up are perfect for tagging, nice and flat and as big as the side of your car. I saw one place where someone along time ago had written his or her name. It is such a relief not to see tagging everywhere, and to just enjoy the waves, fisherman and big rocks (anyone who knows me knows I have a real weakness for rocks, how many rolls of pictures of rocks did I bring back from machu picchu? How many rocks have I dragged back from Baja? I even drug back a ten pound rock from the top of the crazies (my favorite mountains in Montana) one year for the top of the first brick oven steve and I built). Ah, but we are getting sidetracked, back to tagging. Maybe in the big cities you find tagging in AU, but not here in the country.
You also do not find trash….anywhere. We have been here two weeks now and this whole time I have seen a total of 8 pieces of trash in all the walking I have done on the beach and on the roads. Even on the highway, sorry motorways, you do not see trash. I can’t tell you how much more beautiful the beaches are because of this. They have a pristine quality about them that makes you feel like not very many people have been on the beach because it is so clean. The sand on the beaches here is gorgeous, so soft and fine and a lovely cream color, it is in sharp contrast to what we had in fiji, which was so much coarser. An interesting fact I read was that parrotfish are the cause of much of the sand you find in the tropics, as they nibble the algae off the coral and inadvertently bite off bits of coral. I forget the figure on how many pounds of coral a parrotfish eats in a year, but it was amazing.
Many people here, both young and old walk. The other day I was walking way down the beach from town and started talking to a woman named Grace that was quite the character. Turns out she is 83 and walks every morning, I’d say 3 miles judging from where she was that morning and where she told me she lived. She says she still goes surfing, although she bogie boards now. She told me about some photog that filmed her for a movie he was making. I hope I am in as good shape when I am that age. And speaking of age and surfing, there is another guy that Freddie told us about that is 78 and he surfs every day out at Angourie on a short board!!! We saw him out in the water and the guy can surf, he is no poser.km
here is something beautiful for you. everyone over here has plumeria in their yards, i love it!! i am not missing my plumeria at home since they are so plentiful over here.
also i went to the library yesterday and discovered that the birds i like so much i thought were parrots really aren't, they are lorikeets. they are related to parikeets i guess, although they are bigger than a parikeet. they are still neat birds what ever they are.
i also read about the mammals of AU and found out roo can comfortably hop at 20-25 ki an hour, and up to 45 kh. that is pretty darn fast, i guess i won't try to outrun any like a dumb tourist. i have been trying to get a pic, as we have seen them on a couple of occasion.
one more thing while i am thinking of it. while i was at the library yesterday, the librarian was making calls to folks telling them their book they had requested was in. it was amazing to me that most people were home. when i call HSB volunteers for something, 5 out of 80 may be home.
just another fun filled observation from your reporter down under...
melt down
well i just posted the utube link and it worked, which is cool.
today is saturday the 12th, we have been here two weeks and it has been sunny and gorgeous every day, except for yesterday when it rained most of the day. i sat out on the porch most of the day and either did mantra or read my book. it was cool, the ocean was very stormy and the dolphins lazed and swam out in front most of the day. every once in a while a big wave would come and they would all race to catch it and jump out the face of the wave or off the back. they seem to be much more playful here than they are at home, as i really never see them playing this much. there were some kids that were boggie boarding out front, mostly getting TOAD rides (that stands for Take Off and Die).
the other really cool thing that happened was a parrot came and sat on the rail of the porch and looked at me for about a minute. his buddy wasn't brave enough and sat up on the roof and chatttered to him the whole time about how dangerous it was to be sitting that close to a human being. i think he was trying to cheer me up since i was having an awful day. i think the dolphins were too
Now why might you ask was I having a horrid day when I was in paradise. Good question!! As Greg would say I tend to let myself get wound up about things that don’t matter. (what does matter I ask sometimes?) What I was outwardly upset about was we have been trying for literally two weeks now to get our travel plans for Vietnam cemented and nailed down. The travel agency finally realized they sent the last email to qmail instead of gmail….so we have been waiting for 3 days to hear the final arrangements. When we finally got them they had left off the main thing I had been telling them since the beginning I wanted to do which was go to a big market up in the northern mountains. I guess I was disappointed. Anyway I humped around in a bad mood all day and Greg had to have a grouch for a partner. Greg is unflappable which makes me even madder at these times when I am not unflappable. And I couldn’t even go for a walk because it was raining. I went once when I thought it was clearing and got soaked (my new rain jacket kept my top really dry though.)
This next part you may want to skip as I am going to do some self-analysis, pretty boring when you aren’t the self.
I have realized in this time of travel, that I really need time to myself, and I cannot be social all the time. When we were in Fiji there was pretty much someone around at all times. I was not getting up early to meditate because we were getting up early to surf, and my body was tired after 4 hours of surfing most days. So I felt much better if I took some time each day to even sit by the ocean by myself.
Even as much as I love Greg I cannot stand to be around him all the time either. We have been doing most things together here in AU and that is kind of starting to wear me down too. I am used to having my own schedule and means to do what I want when I want to. Is this a control issue? Probably some.
Sometimes I feel like I fall into a hole and can’t get out of it. Rationally I know all the things I should do to extract myself, but even when I try to do those things they don’t help. And I am very hard on myself for falling in the hole in the first place. To hard, why can’t I have compassion for myself? Hummm. I have much compassion for those that deal with depression on an ongoing basis, wow it is hard. I wonder how much of my feelings and lack of them have to do with my hormones levels?
This is a repeating theme in my life, fortunately it is happening less often than it used to. Progress is so slow it seems. I am reading a good book given to me by Moet, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is a woman in her mid thirties that has gone through a recent divorce and her journey in finding herself again. Sounds trite, but she has a great view on life. It is a good time for me to be reading this book.
The sun is very shiny today and I feel better than I did yesterday thank goodness. I still have to tell you about the adventure we took to byron bay the other day. It is very different from yamba, more like an Australian Santa Barbara. Yamba is very poor, although that is changing as the highway is improved, making Yamba much more accessible to those that live in Brisbane. But we will get to this topic next time.
Cherrio mate….km (I am glad I did not expect greg to write a lot on this blog, I thought he would want to though!! Such has not been the case.)
today is saturday the 12th, we have been here two weeks and it has been sunny and gorgeous every day, except for yesterday when it rained most of the day. i sat out on the porch most of the day and either did mantra or read my book. it was cool, the ocean was very stormy and the dolphins lazed and swam out in front most of the day. every once in a while a big wave would come and they would all race to catch it and jump out the face of the wave or off the back. they seem to be much more playful here than they are at home, as i really never see them playing this much. there were some kids that were boggie boarding out front, mostly getting TOAD rides (that stands for Take Off and Die).
the other really cool thing that happened was a parrot came and sat on the rail of the porch and looked at me for about a minute. his buddy wasn't brave enough and sat up on the roof and chatttered to him the whole time about how dangerous it was to be sitting that close to a human being. i think he was trying to cheer me up since i was having an awful day. i think the dolphins were too
Now why might you ask was I having a horrid day when I was in paradise. Good question!! As Greg would say I tend to let myself get wound up about things that don’t matter. (what does matter I ask sometimes?) What I was outwardly upset about was we have been trying for literally two weeks now to get our travel plans for Vietnam cemented and nailed down. The travel agency finally realized they sent the last email to qmail instead of gmail….so we have been waiting for 3 days to hear the final arrangements. When we finally got them they had left off the main thing I had been telling them since the beginning I wanted to do which was go to a big market up in the northern mountains. I guess I was disappointed. Anyway I humped around in a bad mood all day and Greg had to have a grouch for a partner. Greg is unflappable which makes me even madder at these times when I am not unflappable. And I couldn’t even go for a walk because it was raining. I went once when I thought it was clearing and got soaked (my new rain jacket kept my top really dry though.)
This next part you may want to skip as I am going to do some self-analysis, pretty boring when you aren’t the self.
I have realized in this time of travel, that I really need time to myself, and I cannot be social all the time. When we were in Fiji there was pretty much someone around at all times. I was not getting up early to meditate because we were getting up early to surf, and my body was tired after 4 hours of surfing most days. So I felt much better if I took some time each day to even sit by the ocean by myself.
Even as much as I love Greg I cannot stand to be around him all the time either. We have been doing most things together here in AU and that is kind of starting to wear me down too. I am used to having my own schedule and means to do what I want when I want to. Is this a control issue? Probably some.
Sometimes I feel like I fall into a hole and can’t get out of it. Rationally I know all the things I should do to extract myself, but even when I try to do those things they don’t help. And I am very hard on myself for falling in the hole in the first place. To hard, why can’t I have compassion for myself? Hummm. I have much compassion for those that deal with depression on an ongoing basis, wow it is hard. I wonder how much of my feelings and lack of them have to do with my hormones levels?
This is a repeating theme in my life, fortunately it is happening less often than it used to. Progress is so slow it seems. I am reading a good book given to me by Moet, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is a woman in her mid thirties that has gone through a recent divorce and her journey in finding herself again. Sounds trite, but she has a great view on life. It is a good time for me to be reading this book.
The sun is very shiny today and I feel better than I did yesterday thank goodness. I still have to tell you about the adventure we took to byron bay the other day. It is very different from yamba, more like an Australian Santa Barbara. Yamba is very poor, although that is changing as the highway is improved, making Yamba much more accessible to those that live in Brisbane. But we will get to this topic next time.
Cherrio mate….km (I am glad I did not expect greg to write a lot on this blog, I thought he would want to though!! Such has not been the case.)
5.08.2007
a few days worth
Tuesday May 8th
Sorry folks I realized when I returned from the internet café that I did not upload the pictures of the telephone poles for the blog yesterday, that must have been a big blow for ya all, hope you could sleep last night!
I have uploaded them to this entry.
We are going for a hike in the Yuraygir National Park this morning, a park that stretches about 10 miles wide and 50 miles up the coast. Part of this park is the Angourie Surf Reserve (see pic), which gives you some idea of the importance of surfing in OZ. where in California or any coastline in the US would this type of real estate be made into a Park? Pretty cool is what I think.
We have tried to go on the above-mentioned hike two different days now, and when we get out to Angourie (pronounced an-gary, which I can’t seem to remember as I always want to pronounce it an-gory), we end up going surfing instead. The water is so nice here it is hard to pass up even small waves, or kind of junky conditions, as we know what it is like in SB right now.
Wednesday 9 may
It is amazing how we are surrounded by so much that we do not notice or really see. Maybe I am starting to lose my mind, but I have noticed lately how I look at things and think I am noticing them, but when it really comes down to it I have not taken it in. For instance I look at the clock and say to myself, “I need to let my tea brew 3 minutes and it is 29 min past the hour.” I put the dishes away and then say to myself “now what time did I start letting my tea brew?” Or I watch the tide come in for an hour this morning (admittedly it is very dark), only to discover the tide is going out when I look at the tide chart. I wonder where my mind is at these times.
One thing I did notice this morning as I was sitting on the porch doing my practice is the shrimping boats out in the ocean. On any given night around here you can see up to a dozen boats out catching shrimp. Like a boat catching squid in SB they have big lights to attract the shrimp. If you go down to the local fish coop to get fish they will have a sign on the shrimp “caught last night”. Greg is not supposed to eat shrimp because of his cholesterol, but I can eat them and it seems a shame not to partake. The big size they catch around here are at least 4” long and about $24.00 a kilo. They sure look good in the market.
This brings up another point about the effect the warm water has on the climate around here. Fog is virtually unheard of. Unlike California where you find a big difference between the land and sea temperature, especially in the summer because of the cold Humboldt Current that sweeps the coast, there is no such current here, hence the warmer water, hence not enough difference in land and sea temperature, hence no fog. Next time the coast of California is designed I think I am going to ask that both the Channel Islands and the Humboldt Current be left out.
Another thing I notice in the early morning darkness are the fairly good sized moths that are flying around the street light just down the street, who don’t have a chance against the large bat that hangs out there. It is amazing how many of these bugs the bat can consume in a short time; he has it made as far as a meal ticket.
The parrots seem to be the first birds awake around here, and they make quite the raucous. Parrots seem to be very affectionate birds this morning I saw many pairs of them snuggled up together in a big pine tree. It seems most of the birds have what sounds to me to be exotic songs. When we walk out to the point at Angourie there is a chorus of song from the assorted birds, none of which I recognize.
We have a friendly little black and white bird that likes to walk into the living room here. He doesn’t seem at all afraid, as you can walk right up to him and he just looks at you and keeps coming towards you. He is what we use here to clean up any crumbs, as that seems to be what he is after.
A note to all you folks out there in blog land. We seem to have lost the wireless Internet connection we were piggy backing on last week ☹.
So it is more difficult to post these entries, especially to include pictures. For some reason it takes forever to upload a picture to the blog. It is interesting how big a part the Internet now plays in our lives. I think both Greg and I really miss not being able to go to our computer at any time of the day and night and get info. I think we are going to go down the rental place and see if they have a unit with Internet.
this other pic is as you come into yamba, i get a big kick out of it....
we are on another adventure today in the north, up byron bay way, more on that tomorrow
5.06.2007
adventures
Saturday May 5th
Today we decided to go for an adventure and took the car and headed southwest, over through Mcclean and to parts unknown, and all in all we probably drove 150 miles
I forgot to mention when I told about the fair that was over in Mcclean that it is a very Scottish town (what was your first clue?). As we came into town today I noticed all the telephone poles were painted in Scottish plaids with the name of the plaid and I guess the clan it belongs to. Pretty amazing that someone would go to all that trouble as we probably passed 30 poles that were painted. I have included 2 here for you to see. At the fair there was a band that included 6 bag pipes and 3 kids on drums, everyone was dressed in full regalia. In a town of about 4000 that is a lot of bagpipes.
Another thing I found interesting at the fair that I did not mention was the “sugar cane room”. It was a large three-sided structure that was filled with the best the county had to offer in sugar cane. Kind of like who had the largest cabbage at the Palmer fair up in Alaska when we lived there, or who had the best wheat at the Bozeman fair. There were probably 50 different examples of sugar cane in the building. Greg had to haul me out of there; he didn’t think it was very interesting. You find sugar cane juicing machines around town, the local coffee shop has one and it is really quite good with a bit of lime juiced with it, supposablly it has a lot of minerals in it.
The Clarence River is a huge river that dominates this whole area. Everywhere you drive you see signs about flood levels and all the houses are build up off the ground (probably for more than the reason of flooding). Freddie’s house is on Macalo Island in the Clarence River, and about 2000 there were huge flood warnings, but it never got higher than the bottom step of the house. They had to take all the livestock into town, and put all their furniture up off the floor. This seems so strange to me that people would build in what is obviously a flood plain.
The country around here is very fertile because of the river, and as I have mentioned much of it is sugar cane fields. Where we went today there were a lot of cattle, both dairy cows and meat cows. At times you could almost believe you were in the rolling hills of California, with the cattle and huge groves of eucalyptus or as the aussie call them, gum trees. There are by far way more gum trees down here, nowhere do you see the hillsides covered with them in the states like you do down here. We drove on small back roads, (that is all there is, the main motorway is only 2 lanes), some of them paved and some of them just dirt. We passed one or two cars in an hour’s time, and in some stretches did not see any homes at all. We did see one area where there were some big beautiful homes and you could picture the area being the next Santa Inez valley. It was very beautiful and idyllic.
Words for the day...”overtaking lanes ahead” are passing lanes on the motorway, a chook is a chicken, a mate is a friend and a bloke is a man. km
Sunday May 5, 2007
One thing we haven’t talked about yet is the clubs and the big role they play in the Australian social life. Here in yamba we have the surf club, the golf club and by far and away the biggest club in town, the lawn bowling club. Yes folks, the lawn bowling club. When you go by there in the late afternoon, there can be 20+ games going on. Everyone is dressed in white or blue and white. I have not stopped long enough to see how old the players are, but my guess is that they are older folks (older than greg or I). The parking lot of the place is packed every time we have gone by there and I suspect that folks go down there to have dinner and play a game of lawn bowling. All of the clubs have restaurants and bars that are the main component of the club and a lot of them serve breakky (breakfast), lunch and dinner. Greg and I have wanted to go down and check it out, but this weekend they were having some kind of a competition going on we were told by a bloke that works there one day when we were surfing. When we do go we will give you the inside scoop on the place. km
Monday May 6
Yesterday as I was walking the neighborhood, I came across a papaya tree that had some blossoms on it and since I had never smelled a papaya flower before, I picked it. I could see there were a number of blossoms where only one fruit could develop so I didn’t feel badly about picking the small cream-colored flower. Wow, was I in for a treat, the flowers smell just like the fruit tastes!! How yummy is that?!
I have a memory from Namotu I would like to record before it is lost in the dusty recesses of my mind. We were out at Left’s in the early morning light one of the last mornings we were there, and as I was paddling to make it over the top of the fairly good sized wave, I saw a large school of smallish neon blue fish in the face of the wave just before it started to break. It is magic moments like this that are the real reason people surf. Catching the waves is only a bonus as far as I am concerned. You can see the pink light of that early morning in some of the pics simon took of me that morning.
While I am at it I remember snorkeling one day and seeing this school of tiny (no bigger than ½”) blue fish hovering over a big head of coral. It was amazing how they were so tuned into the movement of the other fish. If I got to close to them they would sink into the folds of the coral head, and if I let myself drift away a bit they would form a cloud about a foot away from the safety of the coral. It was a very lyrical sight.
We have not been able to piggyback onto the wireless connection we had last week, I am hopping that is because they have been closed. It is really nice to have that connection here at home, rather than having to go somewhere to hook in. why don’t they put a wireless connection in computers like they do phones? You can hook into the intenet through your phone. I guess in my ignorance that is what I expected form a laptop….just use it where ever you want to.
km
Today we decided to go for an adventure and took the car and headed southwest, over through Mcclean and to parts unknown, and all in all we probably drove 150 miles
I forgot to mention when I told about the fair that was over in Mcclean that it is a very Scottish town (what was your first clue?). As we came into town today I noticed all the telephone poles were painted in Scottish plaids with the name of the plaid and I guess the clan it belongs to. Pretty amazing that someone would go to all that trouble as we probably passed 30 poles that were painted. I have included 2 here for you to see. At the fair there was a band that included 6 bag pipes and 3 kids on drums, everyone was dressed in full regalia. In a town of about 4000 that is a lot of bagpipes.
Another thing I found interesting at the fair that I did not mention was the “sugar cane room”. It was a large three-sided structure that was filled with the best the county had to offer in sugar cane. Kind of like who had the largest cabbage at the Palmer fair up in Alaska when we lived there, or who had the best wheat at the Bozeman fair. There were probably 50 different examples of sugar cane in the building. Greg had to haul me out of there; he didn’t think it was very interesting. You find sugar cane juicing machines around town, the local coffee shop has one and it is really quite good with a bit of lime juiced with it, supposablly it has a lot of minerals in it.
The Clarence River is a huge river that dominates this whole area. Everywhere you drive you see signs about flood levels and all the houses are build up off the ground (probably for more than the reason of flooding). Freddie’s house is on Macalo Island in the Clarence River, and about 2000 there were huge flood warnings, but it never got higher than the bottom step of the house. They had to take all the livestock into town, and put all their furniture up off the floor. This seems so strange to me that people would build in what is obviously a flood plain.
The country around here is very fertile because of the river, and as I have mentioned much of it is sugar cane fields. Where we went today there were a lot of cattle, both dairy cows and meat cows. At times you could almost believe you were in the rolling hills of California, with the cattle and huge groves of eucalyptus or as the aussie call them, gum trees. There are by far way more gum trees down here, nowhere do you see the hillsides covered with them in the states like you do down here. We drove on small back roads, (that is all there is, the main motorway is only 2 lanes), some of them paved and some of them just dirt. We passed one or two cars in an hour’s time, and in some stretches did not see any homes at all. We did see one area where there were some big beautiful homes and you could picture the area being the next Santa Inez valley. It was very beautiful and idyllic.
Words for the day...”overtaking lanes ahead” are passing lanes on the motorway, a chook is a chicken, a mate is a friend and a bloke is a man. km
Sunday May 5, 2007
One thing we haven’t talked about yet is the clubs and the big role they play in the Australian social life. Here in yamba we have the surf club, the golf club and by far and away the biggest club in town, the lawn bowling club. Yes folks, the lawn bowling club. When you go by there in the late afternoon, there can be 20+ games going on. Everyone is dressed in white or blue and white. I have not stopped long enough to see how old the players are, but my guess is that they are older folks (older than greg or I). The parking lot of the place is packed every time we have gone by there and I suspect that folks go down there to have dinner and play a game of lawn bowling. All of the clubs have restaurants and bars that are the main component of the club and a lot of them serve breakky (breakfast), lunch and dinner. Greg and I have wanted to go down and check it out, but this weekend they were having some kind of a competition going on we were told by a bloke that works there one day when we were surfing. When we do go we will give you the inside scoop on the place. km
Monday May 6
Yesterday as I was walking the neighborhood, I came across a papaya tree that had some blossoms on it and since I had never smelled a papaya flower before, I picked it. I could see there were a number of blossoms where only one fruit could develop so I didn’t feel badly about picking the small cream-colored flower. Wow, was I in for a treat, the flowers smell just like the fruit tastes!! How yummy is that?!
I have a memory from Namotu I would like to record before it is lost in the dusty recesses of my mind. We were out at Left’s in the early morning light one of the last mornings we were there, and as I was paddling to make it over the top of the fairly good sized wave, I saw a large school of smallish neon blue fish in the face of the wave just before it started to break. It is magic moments like this that are the real reason people surf. Catching the waves is only a bonus as far as I am concerned. You can see the pink light of that early morning in some of the pics simon took of me that morning.
While I am at it I remember snorkeling one day and seeing this school of tiny (no bigger than ½”) blue fish hovering over a big head of coral. It was amazing how they were so tuned into the movement of the other fish. If I got to close to them they would sink into the folds of the coral head, and if I let myself drift away a bit they would form a cloud about a foot away from the safety of the coral. It was a very lyrical sight.
We have not been able to piggyback onto the wireless connection we had last week, I am hopping that is because they have been closed. It is really nice to have that connection here at home, rather than having to go somewhere to hook in. why don’t they put a wireless connection in computers like they do phones? You can hook into the intenet through your phone. I guess in my ignorance that is what I expected form a laptop….just use it where ever you want to.
km
5.03.2007
birds of paradise
May 4th
Every bird down here is exotic as far as I am concerned! I do not recognize even one bird. There are huge flocks of red-breasted parrots that make a huge raucous about sunset and sunrise. They never seem to fly alone, there are always at least four of them together and they chatter to one another as they fly. They seem to like what looks like a member of the gravillia family, which has big stalk like blossoms on it, and they drink the sap.
There are also some huge black and white pelicans that live down by the harbor. They are bigger than the ones we see down in Baja. The ones I saw the other day were quite big, their heads came up to my breast and they are quite tame. They hang around where the fishermen come in and clean their fish, which accounts for the fact they are so tame.
Every bird down here is exotic as far as I am concerned! I do not recognize even one bird. There are huge flocks of red-breasted parrots that make a huge raucous about sunset and sunrise. They never seem to fly alone, there are always at least four of them together and they chatter to one another as they fly. They seem to like what looks like a member of the gravillia family, which has big stalk like blossoms on it, and they drink the sap.
There are also some huge black and white pelicans that live down by the harbor. They are bigger than the ones we see down in Baja. The ones I saw the other day were quite big, their heads came up to my breast and they are quite tame. They hang around where the fishermen come in and clean their fish, which accounts for the fact they are so tame.
my oldest brother clark was in AU for 6 months sometime during the 60's i think, with the navy (they were on their way to vietnam). the only thing i really remember about that trip was some delicious ginger snaps he brought home, i have always been a gingersnap fan. they were hard as a rock. today with my tea i had some just as delicious gingersnaps i got yesterday at the bi-lo (the local supermarket). sometimes memories are better than the real thing, but not in this case!
do you remember those cookies clark?
do you remember those cookies clark?
Friday the 4th
It amazes me that my computer still thinks it is at home in SB sitting on the glass coffee table. Why haven’t they thought to put the same chip in a computer that they put in a phone, so that it automatically updates to whatever time zone you are in? I suppose I could change it but I probably won’t. There is a 17-hour time difference between here and SB. It is funny to think we will be celebrating solstice down here, only we will be celebrating another solstice of the shortess day of the year, not the longest. Frodo where is your Christmas tree and candles? Somehow that image doesn’t fit in with the warm beautiful weather we are having. It is suppose to be quite warm this weekend…30 C (I guess that is about 88F)….I still don’t have the temperatures down either.
The sun is starting to color the sky so I am going to go meditate…..more later.
You would think a rising sun would do the same magic to the sea and the beach and rocks as a setting sun, but it doesn’t. Convent beach is the name of the beautiful beach that is directly in front of us that I posted pics of yesterday. Greg said there used to be a convent here and the nuns would swim at this beach. It is a very gently sloping beach, perfect for kids as there are no big waves and it is nicely sheltered from the off shores that blow. As the sun has gently come up above the horizon I have been watching the tide come in for the last hour and the patterns the waves make in this changing light. The front sides of the small waves that roll up the beach are reflecting golden light as they come over. It is very beautiful. Today is the first day that I feel like I am “all here”. It is nice to feel like I am in alignment once again.
A lot of folks walk in the early morning and our street seems to be a favorite since it runs along the oceanfront. I see a lot of the same people each morning, probably 20 or so in the hour’s time between 6:00 and 7:00 o’clock.
Australian coin money is somewhat different than what we have. They don’t have pennies and just round the dollar amount up or down to the nearest .5 cents. I don’t know why they don’t just mark things in .5-cent increments! They do have a small coin about the size of a nickel that is worth $2 and a coin about the size of a quarter that is worth $1. Kind of confusing, and you can have a pocket full of change that is actually worth something.
Today’s word is beautiful. This may be one of their favorite words and they use it to describe everything most especially food, such as “this is a beautiful piece of fish”, and they mean beautiful tasting, not looking. You could also substitute lovely for beautiful in that sentence. Lovely is another word they use a lot to describe anything from a holiday to a piece of fruit.
In listening to an aussie speak, not only do they slur their words, use words that aren’t in my dictionary, have an accent that even if the word is in your dictionary, you don’t recognize it, but they also seem to have much more inflection in what they say that makes it that much harder to understand what they are saying. I am starting to feel like I am going deaf I have to say, “what was that you said” so many times a day. That or you nod your had or make some noncommittal grunt and hope they didn’t say their mother just died.
cheerio mate...kate
It amazes me that my computer still thinks it is at home in SB sitting on the glass coffee table. Why haven’t they thought to put the same chip in a computer that they put in a phone, so that it automatically updates to whatever time zone you are in? I suppose I could change it but I probably won’t. There is a 17-hour time difference between here and SB. It is funny to think we will be celebrating solstice down here, only we will be celebrating another solstice of the shortess day of the year, not the longest. Frodo where is your Christmas tree and candles? Somehow that image doesn’t fit in with the warm beautiful weather we are having. It is suppose to be quite warm this weekend…30 C (I guess that is about 88F)….I still don’t have the temperatures down either.
The sun is starting to color the sky so I am going to go meditate…..more later.
You would think a rising sun would do the same magic to the sea and the beach and rocks as a setting sun, but it doesn’t. Convent beach is the name of the beautiful beach that is directly in front of us that I posted pics of yesterday. Greg said there used to be a convent here and the nuns would swim at this beach. It is a very gently sloping beach, perfect for kids as there are no big waves and it is nicely sheltered from the off shores that blow. As the sun has gently come up above the horizon I have been watching the tide come in for the last hour and the patterns the waves make in this changing light. The front sides of the small waves that roll up the beach are reflecting golden light as they come over. It is very beautiful. Today is the first day that I feel like I am “all here”. It is nice to feel like I am in alignment once again.
A lot of folks walk in the early morning and our street seems to be a favorite since it runs along the oceanfront. I see a lot of the same people each morning, probably 20 or so in the hour’s time between 6:00 and 7:00 o’clock.
Australian coin money is somewhat different than what we have. They don’t have pennies and just round the dollar amount up or down to the nearest .5 cents. I don’t know why they don’t just mark things in .5-cent increments! They do have a small coin about the size of a nickel that is worth $2 and a coin about the size of a quarter that is worth $1. Kind of confusing, and you can have a pocket full of change that is actually worth something.
Today’s word is beautiful. This may be one of their favorite words and they use it to describe everything most especially food, such as “this is a beautiful piece of fish”, and they mean beautiful tasting, not looking. You could also substitute lovely for beautiful in that sentence. Lovely is another word they use a lot to describe anything from a holiday to a piece of fruit.
In listening to an aussie speak, not only do they slur their words, use words that aren’t in my dictionary, have an accent that even if the word is in your dictionary, you don’t recognize it, but they also seem to have much more inflection in what they say that makes it that much harder to understand what they are saying. I am starting to feel like I am going deaf I have to say, “what was that you said” so many times a day. That or you nod your had or make some noncommittal grunt and hope they didn’t say their mother just died.
cheerio mate...kate
mcclean fair
Wednesday may 2
Last night we went to the local, what would be equvalant to our county fair with Freddie, greg’s friend, who has morphed from surfer dude to hot ass cowboy, in full regalia. The fair is such a big deal that the kids get to miss a day of school and much of the town of yamba closes down for the day so everyone can attend.
We sat in the stands and watched the wood chopping event which seemed to be a big deal as it went on for at least an 1 ½ hours. It was a race to see who could chop an 18” log in half first. There was two styles, one you stood on the log and swang the ax between you feet so to speak, first on one side and then on the other until you had chopped two “Vs” in the log that met in the middle. The other style the log was on it’s end about chest high. Both methods looked way dangerous!!! Good way to loose a foot or wack the guy next to you in the head. The amazing thing is that a lot of the guys looked to be between 60-80 years old and they beat buff stud puppies that looked in their prime. Admitidly the stud puppies were given a handicap, but those old guys could really swing an axe!
Besides the wood chopping there was moving 3 calves through an obsicale course with three cowboys and another event by an under 14 year old group of kids, mostly girls on their horses jumping six increasingly higher jumps. They were good.
of course there was all the carni rides and the teenagers on the lookout...i hadn't been to a fair like that for so long, some things never change no matter where you are in the world.
i am starting a new feature in this issue, it is aussie word of the day....
lollies are candies, trolleys are shopping carts and a holiday is a vacation
included today find the view from our porch....the water here is beautiful and warm....wish you were here to enjoy the beach with us!!
lots of love to you all...kate and greg
5.01.2007
not just a different english speaking country
many americans think Australia is pretty much like the good ole US of A with an accent, but let me tell you it ain't so. wow there are so many differences, we come across something every day. it is probably not such exotic differences as rena is finding in thailand (i haven't seen anyone sorting through a bowl of maggots or eating bugs), but non the less it is nice to be in a new culture that shakes your beliefs in what is "right". even something as simple as passing someone on a set of stairs, we tend to go right and they tend to go left, which ends up being the same side of the stairs when you are going different directions.this will be a continuing theme on this blog.
aussies still have ice cream trucks that come around, you can hear the bell as they come down the street. the almight dollar does not seem as powerful over here that people do not have time to recreate, or be somewhat casual about making a living. in talking to the ice cream man there are 90 of these trucks that go around city streets selling ice cream to folks. i mean lets face it how much can you make selling ice cream on the street?
everyone dresses like a surfer over here, shorts t-shirt, flip flops, sunbleached hair. greg says the per capita of surfers based on the population is much higher over here. i saw 3 moms with their kids that were all going surfing this morning, you never see that in SB. you see alot of families doing stuff together, whether it is surfing or playing in the park. the two families that were in namotu seemed very close and the dad's were very devoted.
another thing that threw me for a loop the first few days i was here was the fact that when you plug something in you have to turn the plug on. i couldn't figure out why thing weren't charging!!
that's all for now folks....more later...lots of love to you all.....
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