Home

We're home safe and sound - and the trip home was uneventful (fortunately!). Thanks to all of our friends who helped out so we could be gone that long. An amazing trip. We both think the highlights were Melbourne and the Blue Mountains.

Blue Mountains and Spring Awakening

The day tour of the blue mountains was amazing. We had a private guide (with Jon and Charles). Saw lots of Kangaroos in the wild. They are amazingly graceful creatures and have a face a bit like a black lab (ok - I'm projecting there a bit...I miss our dog) - but seriously it's cute. The tail swings up when they are in motion to provide balance and they just kind of glide through the air. They are also quite abundant - and a food source for the area. Apparently they are a bit like deer in the midwest. Due to the way the people have changed the land, they are overpopulating.

The other really interesting thing is that the blue mountains go from rain forest to mountain top (pine tree type) in a matter of a few feet. The blue hue, btw, is caused by a mix of the oil from the Eucalyptus tree and the dust in the air somehow refracting the light to give it the blue shade. The town (Katoomba) is kind of a resort town with lots of cute little restaurants and shops.

That evening we went to one of the restaurants and I had a mixed grill which included 'roo. Actually, it was quite tasty - not gamey at all.

The drive back to Sydney was a bit of an adventure. The GPS that we were using was always about 5 seconds late telling us to turn. Plus it turns out the car rental return place isn't technically in Sydney, but in a suburban town. Both Sydney and the suburb have the same street (williams street) - so we ended up in front of some bloke's house who clearly wasn't in the business of returning rental cars. We finally made it back (thanks to Charles who did all of the driving...on the left) and celebrated with a pitcher of Sangria and some lovely snacks at an outdoor cafe near our hotel.

Last night we went to see Spring Awakening at the Sydney Theatre. The theatre looks to be almost brand new and was built in an old warehouse adjacent to the harbour. The venue was fabulous. Spring Awakening won a bunch of Tony awards last year (or the year before) so I was looking forward to it. I was ready to leave after the first act, but others seemed to enjoy it so we stayed for the whole thing. It included stories about physical and sexual abuse, one suicide, one death due to a botched abortion, really BAD choreography (mostly in the first act), a plot which did not become clear until 2/3 of the way through the first act, and music that almost all sounded the same. I will say the lighting design was cool, as was he set design. However, if this was the "best of show" so to speak for that year, perhaps some years they should just not award Tony awards!

Today is our last day in Sydney and tomorrow we head home. I told Ray last night I'm not ready to go home. Except for one little matter I had to take care of (CDC released a request for qualifications that we needed to respond to), I've totally unplugged from the office and that's been really good. I also really like Australia. It has a lot of sophistication of the big cities, a very European flavor, and I LOVE the accent and wish I could learn to speak like that! While they don't have gay marriage they are actively pushing for it and some of the states do already have it. Certainly being a gay couple over here is no problem at all. Ray and I keep looking for retirement locations - I'd certainly consider Melbourne or Sydney and I suspect we'll come back and spend more time in both of those cities. Plus I'm thinking we'll do a tour of some of the wine country over here.

Melbourne and into Sydney

I feel like I’ve been a bad blogger – haven’t updated in days. Melbourne was WONDERFUL. We were fortunately to have two friends of the guy who is housesitting for us to act as tour guides. It’s a wonderful, cosmopolitan city. Great ethnic diversity (READ FOOD) – French fries with herbs and wonderful slices! We went up in the skytower and saw the skyline of the harbor at sunset, had dinner, and then went to their apartment for a relaxed evening where they told us all about life in Australia. The next day they acted as tour guides taking us all around the city. Melbourne is definitely on our come back to list.
The day at sea was relaxing – didn’t really do much except sleep and enjoy the entertainment. Usually Atlantis has a special guest star as a surprise. But, due to us all going to the Mardi Gras parade this evening there wasn’t – but we enjoyed a great cabaret duo, and a great comedian.
Sailing into Sydney was wonderful. It’s a gorgeous sunny day. We did a harbor cruise and some souvenir shopping. Now we’re back on the boat getting ready for the parade. The weather is perfect so we’re really looking forward to it!

The pictures are of Craig and Scott - our hosts in Melbourne and of our sailing into Sydney Harbor.

Rough Seas

OMG - we are bouncing around like I don't know what. Went on almost all night. Had a few hours of quiet and then hit another BIG storm. Ray's in bed...I'm drinking.

Furry things sleeping

Cupcakes and Moonsets

Cupcakes from the Farmer's Market and Sunsets over the ocean sailing out of Dunedin.

The Catchup Blog

We've had 3 ports in 3 days - so this is a bit of a catchup!

As I write this, we’re currently crossing the Tasman Sea going from New Zealand to Australia. It is to be two days at sea. After we got on board to start this sailing, the captain came on the intercom and basically said that we were expecting very rough weather for the next day – 15 to 20 foot waves and 40 mph winds. So we were supposed to move all breakables off the shelves onto the floor in our rooms, not to wear high-heels (you can imagine the uproar that THAT caused with a few of our contingent). They were going to close and drain the pools, and put steel plates over the windows on the lower cabin portholes. For the first time in my life I thought to myself – ya know, I’d rather be on an airplane right now!!! At least they can fly around or above it.

It seemed so surprising that the weather was going to turn sour since it was actually a beautiful starry night. The moonlight reflecting over the ocean was spectacular and one of the things we both commented on was how brilliant the starlight was – and how many more stars there seemed to be in the sky. I assume that’s because we were moving further and further away from light pollution – or maybe it’s our position on the globe. It’s very different. I heard several of the staff say that the weather crossing the Tasman Sea is a bit unpredictable in terms of weather and this is the end of their cyclone season (the equivalent of the end of hurricane season at home). I wonder why they call them cyclones here and hurricanes at home? I’ll have to check that out – something to do today.

It did get bumpy in the night, but really not any worse than what we had a few nights ago. What’s different is that it IS very rainy and windy. Looks like a March day in Indiana – but it’s still fun to see the ocean and whitecaps. The captain said this is going to last until around midnight, so it’ll be an indoor day. Fortunately, neither of us get seasick. Everyone is walking around looking drunk…but on a boat with 1400 gay men they very well could be drunk already – or it could be the remnants of all their attempts to walk in heels last night (which apparently became the informal night to do drag since the captain said basically no heels after midnight) – or some combination thereof. Actually, I’ve decided it’s a little easier to walk around the boat in this weather after a drink or two!

Yesterday – Dunedin – was a very short port stop. We scheduled a wildlife exploration by Argo Vehicle. Basically, it’s similar to an ATV, except it’s got 8 wheels rather than 4, and is supposed to be amphibious (we didn’t test that theory).

We did get to see penguins and seals, including baby pup seals. Ray said the seals reminded him of our dog. They just lay there looking cute – yawn once in a while – and then go looking for food. Seems to me that’s true of all of us at some point in our lives.

We also saw Albatrosses. Once hatched and ready for flight, they spend five years at sea before they return to the land to mate. They have a 10 meter wing span – so roughly 40 feet. Much larger and they’d be a regional jet…and probably have more leg room.

We didn’t really have time to stop and tour the town. Plus, being Sunday almost nothing was open. It’s basically a university town (University of Otega) – they have about 20,000 students with the medical and dental schools.

Christchurch was the previous day. That was a full day tour. We went to Riccarton House which as the first farm established in Canterbury district established by the Deans family. Btw, if these names all sound English, you’d be right – New Zealand, while independent, is still part of the British Commonwealth and the founders of this area all attended schools/ churches in England and gave them the names based on their affiliation with these. Riccarton House was pretty – what was MORE fun was that they were having a Farmer’s market. It was so good to see late summer produce. And there were some amazing baked goods including some very intricately made cupcakes, homemade salsa, and barbecue sauce. The house was nice – old house that had been tacked on to several times. The farmer’s market was much more fun to watch and interact with the people. Fortunately the tour guide could understand that and gave us as much time as she could there.

After that we went to Homebush, the farm that had passed down in the Deans family. Lunch there was WONDERFUL – bbq lambchops, beef tenderloin and several other dishes prepared with local foods. Pavlova is a really interesting dessert that is a local specialty. It’s basically a baked meringue iced with whipped cream and covered with fresh fruit. Almost an inside out baked Alaska. Very light and delicious and quite original (hey Kris…are you listening!)

We then went from there to the Arctic Centre. Turns out that Christchurch is the home based for many Antarctic bases. It’s a five hour flight. I’m sure I knew this somewhere in my junior high school geography, but the arctic circle (north pole) is water surrounded by some land masses. Antarctica is actually a continent about twice the size of the USA which is surrounded by ocean. They had some very interesting displays, including and “arctic storm” where they put you in a really cold room and kick up the wind to give you a sense for what it’s like to work down there. We didn’t bother – but you could see it would be great fun for kids!

I think we’ve both decided we’ve kind of had it with looking at scenic countryside, and as the New Zealander’s call it – “pristine bush” – which is what we call woods. I mean think about it – exactly how pristine can it be! It’s a little cleaner - they don’t have snakes or some other pests, true. And actually – interesting fact – they didn’t have possums, cats, or rats until European settlers arrived. Most of the birds in New Zealand were ground dwelling and were easy prey for the newly introduced predators – resulting in the extinction or near extinction of several species. “Pristine” to them specifically means they have eradicated the cats, dogs, etc. so that the ground dwelling birds can return and re-establish themselves.

Nevertheless, there’s only so many times you can look at grassy plains and say how beautiful they are, and sound sincere. Melbourne, which is where we’re headed, is supposed to be a wonderfully cosmopolitan city. We’re in port overnight. We were supposed to do a panoramic tour the first day, and then do some kinds of nature tour the second day. But I think we’re both having “Lisa Douglas” moments and going to punt the nature tour and just spend the time touring the city.