It's Beginning to Look a Bit Like Christmas

Eighty degrees on Christmas Eve, a few hours on the beach, a spray tan...yep, it's beginning to look a bit like Christmas. The good news is that Santa visits us early--we come just after the Kiwis, when he's still fresh. We'll give him a few Tim-Tams for the road, and send him to Europe and then State-side. Here are some Xmas Eve images from Down Under:

Whale Beach House

Just some photos of our beautiful pad (and our view) in Australia-land. With Justine now in the Whitsundays and the Holbrookes coming in one week, we are hoping to entice more of our friends and relatives to visit.

College Roomies Hang with Bono and Oprah in Oz

Our first out-of-town visitor arrived! Fellow Wes alum Justine hit the ground running when she arrived on Sunday. Besides the usual sight-seeing highlights, Justine and Sid attended the U2 concert (with Jay-Z) at Olympic Stadium, had several near misses with Oprah (in town to promote Australia to her billions of fans), and some up-close and personal moments with Oz wildlife. Best of all, we had drinks on the "Athena," a 50 meter schooner owned by Netscape founder, Jim Clark and his wife, supermodel Kristy Hinze (photos to come when JG gets back to the US)



This is a shot of Justine nervously petting the gorgeous juvenile koala at Walkabout Park. She loves animals--can't you tell?


That's better.
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Look closely--that's the "Oprah" House. She was there with Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, etc... We didn't rate. Wha?



Bondi in the background. Just glorious.



PK and Justine on the way up to the Barrenjoey Lighthouse.

Gene Pool

Isn't genetics fascinating? Last Sunday Philip's cousin held a mini-reunion, and we were able to snap some photos that support Gregor Mendel's findings. The shot of Jillian and Clare is especially telling, I think.

Girls Rule in Oz

It's curious that, as I reside in Australia, writing a book on 16th century women in power (the manuscript is tentatively titled "Rogue Madonnas"), the folks Down Under have just elected their first female Prime Minister. The last (and only other) time I lived in a country with a female in charge was in England in 1980 when Margaret Thatcher held tightly to her stiff handbag and ruled with an iron fist. She was deemed "The Iron Lady." Thirty years later, Jillian Gillard, the new Aussie PM, has been dubbed "The Red Queen." Good grief! Admittedly Gillard has the worst hair colorist in the southern hemisphere, but is that any reason to link her with the one-dimensional "off-with-their-heads" symbol of tyranny from Alice in Wonderland? For the record, if a male Prime Minister had that hair color, I would be much (much!) more critical. Meanwhile, what can an American say? The US still has not elected a female president or vice president (full disclosure: I voted for Obama--I had my reasons, and fingers crossed that I didn't make the wrong choice).

There are three levels of female overlordship in Australia at the moment--the British Queen is still the nominal head of the country; her representative, The Governor-General, referred to as "her excellency," is also female. And then there's Gillard, the one who's really running the show. I have to admit, that's super cool. Sure we Americans threw out the monarchy long ago, but we are nowhere near achieving this kind of gynocratic representation in our government.

Spider Bite!

For all you arachnophobes (you know who you are, SJ and EF)--I was bitten last week by a nasty spider, twice on my elbow. Been feeling a little fluey ever since--don't worry, Mom, I talked to a chemist and am treating it appropriately. My guess is it was a white-tail spider, not one of the two fatally venomous spiders, but one that certainly packs a punch. White-tails are pretty common, and with all this rainy weather, the spideys are headed inside. Anyway, they say to take photos to monitor the wound on a daily basis--so here you go.

Bite update: Worser and worser and then a little better. The bites blistered up considerably, but the sites are healing slowly. Other blisters erupted up and down my arm. Frickin' spider!

Update on the update: Two+ weeks later, I'm still feeling the effects. For about 10 days, I had flu-like symptoms, mild but there. Also neck pain. After two days of feeling great, the neck pain is back. Arg. This is so frustrating. Meanwhile the bite itself looks like it has healed, although the break-outs on my appendages are still irritating.

More Tales from the Australian Bestiary

Protected bandicoot? Nearly extinct pygmy possum? Or....common rat?

We have a new beastie to report. He (or she) hangs out on our stone decks, snuffling up invisible bugs, leaving raisin-like scat, and generally minding his own business. Initially we thought he was a rat. I mean, we're Brooklynites, and if it looks remotely like vermin, it is vermin.

This isn't a random sighting--this animal comes around just about every day; he walks the same daily beat and is generally around late afternoon - evening.

We dutifully reported this "rat" to our landlord, but he suggested the little guy might be a bandicoot, in which case he's a loved and protected marsupial and to exterminate in any way would be unlawful. So we did our internet research and it seems "Randy-Andy," as he is now named, has attributes in the bandicoot, rat, and (a dark horse entry) pygmy possum columns. Check out the tail--rat-like, right? But the fur is a little orangy--suggestive of a pygmy possum in breeding season (Nov-Dec). Possums also have those creepy hairless tails. Meanwhile bandicoots have longer back legs, a hump-like back, and skip around a bit, which our guy does, sort of.

We leave it up to you, dear readers. In the end, it's a moot point--as Clare says, it's not like we'd really put out poison if it really did turn out to be a rat.

To the (Once Perilous Now Safe) Lighthouse

My erstwhile colleague and good pal Trisha celebrated a big birthday yesterday with a group of friends (including PK and myself) at Norah Head, situated on the coast halfway between Sydney and Newcastle. We left the kids in the capable hands of Denise and Peter who kindly changed their plans to help out. Off we went up toward the Central Coast stopping in, where else, Brooklyn, for lunch among a Star Wars bar cast of characters, passing such towns as Mooney Mooney and Kangy Angy before arriving at Norah Head mid-afternoon. Trisha had fixed us up to stay in one of two cottages next to the lighthouse, in all bunking 7 friends in high style for the night. After a long walk down the cliff and along the beach, we celebrated Trisha's day more than adequately--champagne (lots and lots of it), beautiful cheeses, superb almond and fennel soup (made by David the Poet), lambykins and onion and gruyere tart (made by Trisha the Foodie), pavlova (put together by PK) and chocolate tart (brought by Mark the Early Modernist). With views of the sapphire sea and the lighthouse in the foreground, it was an enchanting day. Happy Birthday, Trisha!

PS--Can anyone identify the object/creature found on the beach by Trisha's friend Jane (behind the camera in the pavlova photo)? It's in the last photo. Also in attendance were Wayne (of archeology fame) and Ros (a fellow Early Modernist)-- a great group.

Aussie Flora

We're in the middle of spring here--everything appears to be blooming; you'd swear that even the rocks are sprouting flowers. Hedges I thought were only evergreens are getting buds, and my tomatoes, herbs, and strawberries are growing like gangbusters. The days are getting longer and longer, the weather a bit warmer and warmer, though La Nina is still at work keeping temperatures low for this time of year. The jacaranda trees in particular are alive with color--these purple visions have been delighting us for the last few weeks.

A Visit from the Rellies

"Rellies" is Oz-speak for "kin." Some of you may have recognized Philip's father Peter and Peter's wife Denise in that last post, strolling along Whale Beach. They arrived for a visit a few days ago, fresh from their own trip through Europe, the US, and Canada. We celebrated an early Christmas with them with prezzies, sparklers, and general merriment. Peter and Denise are in those first two photos; that's Anisha (free from school and the HSCs) and Mick in the bottom photo. Ho ho ho!

Surfin' A.U.S.

With 5 beaches within a 5 minute drive, the children are learning more and more about beach culture here in Oz. That's Isabella on the surfboard and Clare wiping out below (as PK looks on). I definitely owe her a better photo. Yours truly is in the last photo on the lookout for man-eating beasts.

Twelfth Noit

Last Monday, we took our girls and their cousins Anisha and Cara to see the Bell Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Sydney Opera House. What a treat!

The Opera House not only lives up to but exceeds the hype. This is one spectacular, brilliantly designed building, both inside and out. You can actually order your intermission drink online before the show, and it'll be waiting for you at the break.

The company gave the play a good Aussie spin--they added a frame narrative in which sister and brother firefighters are separated and presumed dead fighting a terrible bushfire. The sister, we see, has escaped and fellow survivors put on Twelfth Night to distract her from her brother's death. We won't tell you how it ends, but the play itself includes a riot of Australian references: jokes about the new Prime Minister and her hair-dresser partner, Aussie Redback Beer, Ned Kelly, a rendition of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" (great Aus rock anthem), and wonderful broad accents. This was all done with a 7-person cast, one female actor only. Very clever, extremely difficult, well-executed.

We're looking forward to seeing their King Lear in the autumn.

Shark!

The blogpost you've all been waiting for: Great White Shark sighting! Remember those pictures of the Nippers? That's on Bilgola Beach, and our friend Romilly is a Surf Life Saver on Saturdays there. Well today she spotted a 2-3 meter Great White in the surf tracking some dolphins (somewhat unusual behavior for the sharks), but the sighting was subsequently confirmed when every surfer came in and stood on shore shaking with the adrenaline rush. Australians know that surfers only come in when their lives are at stake.

So, what did the Surf Live Savers do? They closed the beach for a half hour and then everyone went back in, 9 foot shark be damned. This is one laid back culture.

By the way, our kids will be swimming in those waters tomorrow for Sunday Nippers. I'll be there with my binoculars, a whistle, and good old Yankee hysteria.

Update: the kids did not get eaten at Nippers.

La Nina

Break out the world's smallest violin for us. After about 12 years of severe drought caused by El Nino--the worst in 100 years-- La Nina has taken up residence again in Australia. We'll try not to begrudge the continent its much-needed rain, but we've had a number of rainy and cold days lately and, well, this is just not what we signed up for. November is supposed to be atypically cool and overcast. What? Just as we bought a surfboard? Come on!

Let's look at the bright side--Australia really needs the rain, especially in the inland regions of New South Wales. Some of the land was virtually dying and some scientists even thought the damage irreversible, but since March 2010, the crops are growing again and the farm animals have something on which to graze. Bushfires, always a terrible threat, will be less likely. And maybe the highly venomous brown snakes and massive lizards won't feel the need to come to our pool area for water. That said, when it rains, the humongous huntsman spiders seek shelter indoors. We had one the size of a soft-shell crab stroll across our floor the other night. Not funny. I could have cooked him up and served him between two pieces of bread! But I digress--another benefit of La Nina is that this intense down-under sun won't fry our American pallors too badly.

This might be a good time to quote a well-known poem about Australia:

'My Country' by Dorothea McKellar (1904)

I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror - the wide brown land for me!

As I copy this, we are experiencing a deluge, and I am on high alert (Def-Con 4) for more huntsman spiders.

Sculpture by the Sea

We've had a few days of rainy weather, so today with sunshine in the forecast, Philip and I dropped the kids off at school and headed for the Sydney beaches where there's currently an art installation called Sculpture by the Sea--100's of sculptures situated on the walk between Bronte Beach and Bondi. We thought we'd give it a try. But first we had to experience one of the finest pleasures in Sydney--brunch on Bronte with the surfies (a phenomenon introduced to me by my good friend Trisha). Yummy. With eggs benedict (Sid) and fish and chips (Philip) tucked away, we could peruse the sculptures well sated. As you can see, the art ranged from a little whimsical to downright silly and each sculpture had to fight with the world-class views and the succulent wildflowers for attention. All in all, a gorgeous day.

Kangaroo Halloween

It's hard to muster the eeries and the spookies on October 31 in Australia. Imagine having Halloween on Memorial Day in the US--that's essentially what it's like here. The sun sets late (around 8); pumpkins have just been planted and are months from harvest; flowers are blooming with abandon and the trees have that spring freshness to them. There's no crinkle of dead leaves, no sharp nip in the air, no harvest smells. Still, we had a great time--some things transcend hemispheres: children's love of candy, dressing up, and a license for fun.

The costume and decoration extravaganza in the US has blissfully not arrived on these shores. But we needed costumes of some sort. What we needed was an Australian Ricky's. And we found it! Fifty or so bucks later, everyone had a costume, more or less: Clare was a cowgirl, Isabella a Lady Gaga lookalike, and Emmett, what else?--Poseidon.

Halloween is close to cousin Anisha's birthday, so we double partied on the 31st, celebrating Anisha's 18th (!) and trick-or-treating. In Australia, the candy begging is strictly limited to daylight/twilight time, so after birthday cupcakes at Jillian's in Artarmon, the children set off. Twenty minutes later, a loud thunderclap followed by a spring shower brought everyone home with about 20 pieces of candy each. Perfect. Nobody over-indulged and all children were in bed at a reasonable hour. Can we celebrate Halloween like this every year?