The Plunge Down Under

Visiting Sovereign Hill, a Victorian Gold Rush Site

In the aftermath of Anzac Day, it seems appropriate to consider the history of the settling of Australia.  From what I have absorbed over the past two years, I have come up with my own, very short version.  It undoubtedly contains errors and gross generalizations, but for what it is worth, I'll give it a go.

For many thousands of years Aboriginal tribes inhabited this country, and learned how to survive in often extreme conditions of heat and drought.  About 400 years ago Dutch explorers landed on the continent but apparently didn't consider the land worth exploring further.  Then came Captain Cook who decided that the eastern coast of Australia would be a suitable place to establish a convict colony. England's prisons were overcrowded in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution due to a host of factors, including the mass migration from country to city, the prevalence of cheap gin, and hundreds of offenses that carried the death penalty.  Eventually, in the late 1700s, ships from England started arriving packed with convicts and people meant to watch over them.  The resulting penal colonies were very grim places indeed.

Fast forward to the discovery of gold in several places in Australia in the 1850s.  People from all parts of the globe poured into Australia in search of riches.  Country towns exploded overnight, with populations over increasing exponentially in size. Many of these gold-seekers remained in Australia.  After WWII, the Australian government recognized the need for increased numbers of citizens.  Immigrants from Italy and Greece flocked to the fledgling country.  For quite some time there was a white-only immigration policy, but this was eventually relaxed and now many immigrants hail from a variety of Asian countries as well.

On the last weekend of my parents' most recent visit, we visited an outdoor museum devoted to preserving the history of the gold rush in Australia.  We found crowds of fellow tourists, passionate tour guides, and many sights and sounds to absorb.  Thankfully missing were the smells and filth of what a typical gold digging site would have contained.

Our first guide gave us a general overview of a gold digging camp.  Tents were organized around flags from various countries.  Conditions in the winter were wet and miserably cold.  Most diggers didn't have a fire in their dwellings. A typical diet was mutton and damper (a kind of bread cooked in a pan over a fire) seven days a week.  This was a diet, he told us, that led to digestion issues.  These problems were offset by frequent outbreaks of dysentery.  Having made all of us very thankful we did not experience these conditions, our guide went on to explain that a few prospered.  Those who did best were the ones that started businesses serving the needs of the increasing population.

Ross and the kids tried their hand at panning for gold with little success.  

Katie and James quickly became distracted with a nearby well and store.

Cameron persevered and eventually uncovered a small flake of gold.

Another method of extracting gold involved mining rocks and crushing them with the power generated by giant ovens producing steam.

The children all tried their hand at writing neatly with old-fashioned pens under the direction of a young school mistress.

Sophie was chosen from the audience to hold a large block of gold worth approximately 150,000 AUD.

Street Scenes from Sovereign Hill:

Sophie was especially interested in the Chinese section of Sovereign Hill, so she and I finished up our time there while my parents and Katie and Cameron went to the Gold Museum.  All decreed the day to have been a most worthwhile experience, but we were more than happy to return to our modern dwelling with all of its creature comforts of the 21st Century.

 

Anzac Day

It's Anzac Day today, and what a wet, wintry one it has been so far.  We had grand ideas of going into the city as a family to participate in the celebrations and memorials, but since doing so meant braving torrential rain in the pre-dawn hours, we settled last night for sleeping in and having family movie and game day instead.

Anzac stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps.  Bigger than Veteran's Day in the U.S., and even bigger than the Australian equivalent of the 4th of July, Anzac Day has become a really important date on the national calendar of both countries.  It originally served to commemorate the sacrifices of the Aussie and Kiwi soldiers in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, a campaign that led to horrendous casualties and imprinted itself deeply into the minds and hearts of Australians.  It now serves to honor veterans from both world wars, and as far as I can tell it is a time of national pride and reflection, with an emphasis on serving country.

I noticed a couple of Australian flags hanging from houses when I was out walking this morning.  This is not nearly so common a thing as in the United States.  In our family we decided to honor the day by making and consuming Anzac biscuits.  They are so named because they were sent to soldiers in the world wars due to their ability to survive the journey and still be edible.  All of us have deemed them delicious and worth the calories.  You can find the recipe I used here.  Golden syrup is a key ingredient, and I suspect it would be hard for my American readers to find.  Corn syrup could probably be substituted with little drama. No doubt Allrecipes.com contains several versions that use American measurements.

I'll close with a few pictures from our front yard on this wet afternoon.

Autumn in Full Swing

We have had a beautiful run of near-perfect weather the past few weeks.  In the middle of the day it feels like summer, but the trees have not been fooled, and it is no longer possible to ignore the departure of summer.  Yesterday I spent a few hours outdoors enjoying the sun, but mostly worrying.  My grandma has not been well.  She has been battling pneumonia and a host of other things, including constant pain from arthritis in her spine.  I alternated between praying and attempting to read, but could not escape the weight of being on the other side of the world from her.

Here is a picture of my grandma admiring the little penguins at St. Kilda in February of 2011.

Toward the end of the afternoon I looked up and was captivated by the light of the setting sun on the few remaining leaves of the crepe myrtle in our front yard.  For some reason my attempt to capture just a sliver of the beauty with the camera brought a measure of peace.  

We have been so blessed to have my grandmother as part of our lives for such a long time.  My children all love her dearly, and have that wonderful confidence that they are fully loved by her in return.  It would be difficult to find anyone more fiercely protective of and devoted to her family.  So now, when she is not well, we worry, we pray, and we wish her a full recovery.

The Daintree and Cape Trib

The Fourth Time's a Charm

I'm grateful to my dad for contributing yet another post.  We sure hate to see my parents leave tomorrow, but are thankful to have enjoyed a wonderful visit with them during the past two weeks.

I entitled my previous blog "Lake Australia," due primarily to the many days (and centimeters) of rain back in October.  No disparagement was intended, but at least one of my Aussie friends remembers that particular title.   The weather these past few weeks has been nothing short of spectacular, with the only shower lasting 20 minutes and the temps mostly in the 20's (70's F).

This land continues to amaze.  One of our trips was  to Fort Nepean, which I think Christie already covered. Below is a picture of Christie gazing out over a sparkling ocean at that location.

On the return trip home we passed this "Hotel" along the Eastlink Highway.  Any Melburnian would recognize this immediately.  Melbourne has some very fascinating "highway art," and this is an example.  It consists of a concrete structure about 4 stories tall and maybe 5 meters deep and is there just to look at, nothing more, nothing less.  It appears to be leaning only due to my haste in shooting the picture at 100 kph.

The next day we ventured into downtown Melbourne, with the first stop being the Queen Victoria Market.  This small meat market offered a slightly larger choice of meat than would be found, say, in Ohio.

A few blocks away is the famous Eureka Tower with an 85th floor observation deck offering stunning views.

Below is a view from above of Ross's building where he works.  Notice the lawn and trees on the top of the building below his.

We made a 3 hour plane trip north to Port Douglas in Queensland, enjoying the very warm weather and rainforest-type scenery.  Below is the famous four mile beach, which offered beautiful sunrises (and views of an approaching shower) ............

. . . and welcoming signs at the beach entry.  Yes, salt water crocodiles do occasionally come out of the ocean and onto the beach.

Vinegar stations and bottles of such are furnished for the unfortunate who experience stinger encounters.  The vinegar helps to placate the pain until medical help is hopefully obtained.

A drive to the Daintree Rainforest was beautifully rewarding, with a river crossing on a small 8 car ferry necessary .  "Stay in your car" we were told,  possibly because on a nearby shore there was a crocodile salivating (if crocs actually salivate) as it watched us.  Crocs have hundreds of teeth - a dentist's dream.

Katie on the beach at the edge of the rainforest.

The next day brought the much-anticipated trip to the Great Barrier Reef which Christie has lots of photos of.

Katie waiting to go:

and Sophie:

and Christie and Ruth suited up for their second swim:

Several days later we sailed to Low Isle, another snorkeling opportunity.  On the beach we encountered what appeared to be a nice enough couple, fairly athletic I would guess, although a little older:

The Lycra suits offer good sunburn protection but their primary benefit is to protect against stingers.

We were told that a few weeks before an unfortunate snorkeler had to be airlifted back to the mainland after a brush with stingers.

Our catamaran:

 Ross and Katie on the "Sailaway"

and James:

Here is one of Ruth enjoying the view of the ocean floor:

 This guy is probably contemplating a permanent move to Australia.

Lastly, back in Melbourne, a trip to beautiful Phillip Island, including a cruise to "Seal Rock", and a wallaby along the road.

The 6.5 km. hike on the island with Cameron was also gorgeous, as was the sunset.

Thanks go out to David and Gillian for helping make this a great Australian vacation with a wonderful evening of food and Christian fellowship in their home.  It is nice to have friends (including also Phil and Sharon and others) who help make being a Christian so rewarding.

Australia has an endearing quality about it.  Remoteness is part of the adventure, but there is also the stunning beauty, the driving left of center thing, the "same but different" English spoken, and the changeable, but in this trip 99% beautiful, weather.  At my favorite Aussie hardware store (mostly cool used stuff ), a customer entered wanting a certain kind  of wrench.  The friendly owner pointed to a large box on the floor full of old tools  and said:  "There you are mate, have a dig."

I would encourage any who have the urge, to come here, to look around, and to expect adventure.  You will be rewarded.   

Go ahead mate, have a dig.

 

 

Sunrise on Four Mile Beach

Sunrises are not something that I know much about, especially when I'm on vacation.  This past weekend, however, I managed to witness no fewer than three of them, thanks in part to the end of daylight savings the previous weekend and this year's school schedule.  It took me all of February and March to get used to waking up at 6am in order to get four children out the door every morning in something resembling sanity rather than chaos. Just in time for the Easter holidays my natural body clock finally adjusted, and then bang, the time changed as well, and I found myself wide awake every morning at 5, definitely a new experience for me.  

Cameron, who resembles his father in his ability to greet early mornings cheerfully, accompanied me the first morning.  The following four pictures are from his camera.  From eleven years of experience, he wisely kept a healthy distance from me until I had been awake for one full hour and had consumed sufficient quantities of caffeine.  Then we enjoyed comparing notes, and photos of course.

The second sunrise was as pretty as the first.

The third did not disappoint.

Now if I can only find the prospect of overseeing breakfast and school lunch preparations for four kids, hunting down missing socks and shoes, signing off on school diaries, and completing the morning commute as motivating as the sunrise on Four Mile Beach, I will be all set for Term 2.  The fun begins again next week.  I can't wait.

Snorkeling on the Agincourt Reef

We almost didn't make it out to the Great Barrier Reef this year.  When I rang up a couple of days prior to our trip to make reservations for a snorkeling tour, our resort host in Port Douglas informed us that the town was chock-a-block with visitors, and that most tours were already fully booked.  She promised to see what she could do, and most happily she did find eight spots for us with a company named Poseidon.  She assured us that our group of eight would have a wonderful experience with them.  Her promise turned out to be if anything an understatement.

Here is Katie with my parents, before the sea sickness set in.  We know now to always medicate her at least an hour prior to pulling away from shore on an ocean-going vessel.  Thankfully she recovered enough to enjoy the second and third snorkeling sites.

April falls at the tail end of stinger season, but the lovely lycra suits are still recommended as a protective measure.  We have heard enough tales of the terrors of stingers to not protest a bit over the suits.

James had an extra layer of bouyancy and warmth over his stinger suit.

The dedicated staff worked extremely hard to ennable all swimmers, from the very youngest to the oldest, to have the best snorkeling experience possible.  In the photo below, one of them is about to gently lower Sophie into the water by holding the ends of her pool noodle.  My parents are seated on the steps to the right of Sophie. 

I included information about the Agincourt Reef in my post from last year.

Sophie had a wonderful time paddling around.  She especially enjoyed the dozens and dozens of brightly colored fish.  I discovered how difficult it is to take underwater photos of moving creatures, all the while swimming myself and keeping track of either Sophie or James. 

Cameron probably had the best experience of all of us.  Free from any sea sickness, free to roam where he liked, and with the ability to duck dive (demonstrated in the three pictures below), he took full advantage of every experience available.  By the end of the day the marine scientist divers knew his name and were pointing out various plant and animal life to him, or bringing him specimens to touch and handle.

At our second site of the day, I had a turn taking James, so left the camera on the boat.  The third spot was by far the most spectacular.  The pictures of course only show a fraction of what we enjoyed, but I include them nonetheless.

A giant clam:

Sophie and I took a guided tour with Danny, and in this photo you can see him helping Sophie swim down the anchor rope.

We encountered a few sharks, much to the delight of James and Cameron.

We ended the day with a swim in the pool, and prawns and barramundi for dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday.  I do believe it is one that she will never forget.

Point Nepean

Last week, before our trip to Far North Queensland, we managed to find a part of Victoria we had not yet explored.  The city of Melbourne sits on Port Phillip Bay, a large body of water with a narrow opening, known somewhat ominously as "The Rip."  The heads of this opening are called Point Nepean, Shortlands Bluff and Point Lonsdale, and for this excursion we drove as far as we could by car, and from there took a people mover to reach the end of Point Nepean.  

You can see the opening to the bay below.  Navigating the entrance remains tricky to this day, in spite of electronic navigation aids.  At least eighty ships have wrecked near this area since the beginning of European exploration.  Here is what Wikipedia has to say about The Rip:

"The Rip", also known as "The Heads", is a dangerous stretch of water in Victoria, Australia, connecting Port Phillip and Bass Strait. It is the only entrance for shipping into Port Phillip and hence into Melbourne. Because of large tidal flows through the relatively narrow channel from the bay to the ocean, and a high rocky seabed, The Rip has claimed many ships and lives. Geographically, it is the roughly triangular area of water between the land points of Point Nepean, Shortlands Bluff and Point Lonsdale, these 3 form The Heads.

Cheviot Beach, shown below, is where Australian prime minister Harold Holt disappeared in 1967 after plunging into dangerous surf for a swim.  Our local swim center is named after him, so we were especially interested when our guide told the story.  His disappearance led to the largest search and rescue effort in Australia's history, but his body was never found.

The people mover dropped us off at Fort Pearce, and from there we walked to Fort Nepean.  The kids were interested in exploring the forts, which seemed to them like dungeons, and examining a couple of the guns left behind.  Katie informed us that we do not take them on enough historical expeditions.  Too much scenery, not enough forts and museums, in her opinion.  We will have to see what we can do to fix that in the future.

 Coming Soon:  Photos from Port Douglas, the Daintree Forest, and the Great Barrier Reef.

 

 

 

 

Back to the Tropics

Of all the numerous indicators that we are once again in the wild reaches of Tropical North Queensland, none is more telling to me personally than the fruitless hours I have spent trying to secure a wireless connection. I could write about the crocodile warnings and bottles of vinegar at every water entry point, the lush rainforest against the background of purple mountains, the stunning white beaches, and the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef, and in fact I have taken dozens of photos of all of these, but I am unable to post them because first the wireless system where we are staying crashed and then the phone company crashed. Combine these two events with a holiday weekend and my own lack of technical expertise, and it would appear that the forty dollars I spent to obtain Internet access will be wasted.

Rather than wallow in frustration, I have given up on wireless access for the moment and am determined to make the most of our remaining time. As our hostess at our villa remarked with a contagious smile accompanied by a shoulder shrug, not only are we in Australia, a country renowned for its lack of Internet connections for tourists, this is northern Queensland where nothing happens in a hurry and inhabitants relish being somewhat behind the times.

One thing we love, beyond the spectacular scenery, is the enthusiasm residents have for their piece of turf. We were the beneficiaries yesterday on our snorkeling tour as every single member of the crew did their utmost to make sure we appreciated the Reef's unique features, plant life, and beautiful fish. They expertly met the needs of our group of eight, from providing solicitous attention and life jackets to the grandparents, a special buoyant water suit for James, narrated tours from marine scientists on the reef for our budding marine biologist (Cameron), sea sickness pills and TLC for our ill teenager, and encouragement for our novice snorkeler Sophie. This meant we saw far more of the reef than last year, and for this we are incredibly grateful.

I look forward to sharing photos in future posts. For now the swimming pool is beckoning. We might even do a little shopping in the boutique stores that line the streets of this pretty little town where the rainforest meets the reef.

Food and Language Round Up

For this post I have a smattering of pictures of recent favorite foods for lunchtime, and a handful of new phrases that brought a smile to my face when I heard them.

Pizza with walnuts, blue cheese, figs, fresh mozzarella, and a drizzle of olive oil.  I am indebted to my sister-in-law Karin for this idea.

Onion bagel from Glicks with hummus and fresh vegetables

Piccolo latte with chocolate

Now for the language notes.  I was rather amused at a list of homophones that Cameron brought home last week to study in preparation for a spelling test.  I have noticed before that some of the pairs of words taught to school children in Australia would not be confused at all in North America.  Here is one such pair:

source and sauce:  the "r" is mostly eliminated from the former, and added in a bit in the latter.  I have tried repeatedly to make this sound and cannot come close.

For my second item, I have a double abbreviation:  mod cons.  Any guesses?  Here's a phrase to help you decode it.

The motel didn't have any mod cons, but it at least provided a roof over our heads.  (modern conveniences)

The third phrase is another new one to me:  ridgy didge.  It means the real thing, the genuine article

And lastly, an abbreviation I heard whilst buttering the ten dozen hot cross buns last Friday.  I required a translation for this one.

"The couple in front of me on the tram was having a pash.

having a pash = a passionate embrace involving kissing

For those interested in the welfare and whereabouts of our latest visitors, my parents, they are doing quite well and enjoying much better weather than during their first three visits down under.  Yesterday we drove out to the Mornington Peninsula, today they explored the city, and tomorrow we fly up to Cairns for one more look at the Great Barrier Reef.