Glass House Mountains

The Glass House Mountains were named by Captain Cook as he sailed up the Queensland coast in 1770. They were so called as the mountains, former volcanic plugs, reminded him of huge glass furnaces in his native Yorkshire. The mountains are situated an easy 90 minute drive North- East of Brisbane or 30 minutes West of Bribie Island. There are twelve of them with names that compete with anything else we saw in Australia (Miketeebumulgrai, Tibberoowuccum, Tibrogragan). The highest stands at 555 meters and nearly all have walking trails with varying degrees of difficulty.

Woorim

Sunrise - view from the condo.

Woorim is one of several small towns on Bribie Island an hour’s drive north of Brisbane. It is the only town on the surf side of the island. We rented a three bedroom condominium overlooking the beach and the passage to Moreton Island, a large sandy island off shore. Our condominium not only had a great view but was well appointed with a large and sunny kitchen and a huge wrap around verandah. Marielle and I would go to sleep to the sound of waves and wake up to spectacular sunrises. Well at least I would. Nearly every day started off with a long walk on the beach. In fact the beach was large enough to play an impromptu game of beach cricket one afternoon. Shopping in Woorim has every thing you need, takeaway fish and chips, bakehouse and pub. What more could I guy ask for? Bribie Island is known for its long beach (30 kilometers) accessible by four-wheel drive and its wildlife. Kangaroos, wallabies, emus, various snake species, green tree frogs and dingos often can be seen venturing from the National Park and there are over 250 bird species.

Don Bradman

As I lay awake listening to the rumble of the trains flying past our onsite van at Mittagong I thought of two things. I was never going to rent accommodation in Mittagong again no matter how convenient it is to Sydney Airport and didn’t the famous cricketer Don Bradman live around here. I wonder how he put up with the noise.

Sir Donald George Bradman was born in Cootamundra, two hours up the Olympic Highway from Wagga Wagga, on 27 August 1908. He was a batsman who played in 52 international games, scoring 6,996 runs at an average of 99.94. To give you an indication of this feat the next best batsmen in cricket history had an average of 53.86. It is like a batter in baseball hitting a home run in every game played. During the 1930’s and playing against England the English bowlers would purposely bowl at Don’s body not to get him out but just to limit his scoring. This was called bodylining.

So what’s the Mittagong connection? When Don was two-and-a-half years old his parents moved to Bowral a town 5 kilometres south of Mittagong. In fact at the age of twelve Don hit a century (over 100 runs) for Bowral Public School against the Mittagong High School.

Didgeridoo

Sooner or later when travelling in Australia you will come in contact with a didgeridoo. It is a musical instrument, obviously woodwind, which is played by using a technique called circular breathing. Circular breathing basically involves sniffing in air (quickly) at the same time as exhaling air through the mouth. Once the realm of native Australians (aborigines) didgeridoos are now often heard in combination with other instruments in world music right through to rock music. You can buy didgeridoos in almost any tourist shop and most aboriginal speciality shops. As many are over five feet long, a real pain for air plane transportation, cut off versions are also available. Listen to the following song performed by the Australian group Rivertribe to discover what some can do with didgeridoos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5HOYx9PIcg&feature=related

Port Douglas

View from Port Douglas to the Bellenden Ker Ranges

Four Mile Beach

A view from the road Cairns to Port Douglas

When I discovered that Cairns’ population had grown threefold to 140,000 since my last visit in 1976, I settled for the quieter town of Port Douglas which is 67 kilometres north. I also thought at the time we would make frequent trips back to Cairns to take in the sights such as the Barron Falls, Kuranda and Green Island. This was not to be as the road from Cairns to Port Douglas starts with a series of heavily travelled roundabouts (twelve of them) and then winds its way between mountain and sea for dozens of kilometres. The trip took us 1h30 but the scenery is spectacular.

Port Douglas has many advantages as unlike Cairns it is right on the beach (the famous four mile beach) and it is closer to Mossman, the Daintree Coast, and the Great Barrier Reef. Even though it is small you will find all the grocery and boutique shopping desired, a weekly market, some great restaurants (try the Beach Shack on 4 Mile Beach where you can dine barefoot in the sand), and the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary.

We stayed in a condominium complex a short walk to the beach. After we got used to the cries of flying foxes (bats) we spent a restful time in this lush tropical North Queensland retreat.

The Dog On The Tucker Box

Taken from Wikipedia:
The Dog on the Tuckerbox is an Australian historical monument and tourist attraction, located at Snake Gully (on the Hume Highway), five miles (8 km) from Gundagai, New South Wales. It was sculpted by local stonemason Frank Rusconi and was unveiled by the then Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons on 28 November 1932 as a tribute to pioneers. The statue was inspired by a bullock driver's poem, Bullocky Bill, which celebrates the life of a mythical driver's dog that loyally guarded the man's tuckerbox (lunch box) until death.

Link to the Bullocky Bill poem: http://members.pcug.org.au/~stmcdona/tuckrbox.html

We didn’t stop at this curiosity as we were in a hurry to get to Sydney and we were horrified by all the surrounding commercialization (KFC, Subway, McCafe, BP service station and Tuckerbox Restaurant).

Gundagai is a special place for me as not far down the Tumbarumba road is a place called Mount Adrah where my mother was born.

The Big Sheep

The Big Sheep is a 15 metre tall concrete replica of a merino sheep, a type of sheep that is drought tolerant. The structure is located in Goulburn near the Hume Highway. Actually you have to drive off the Hume Highway to visit this curiosity. You can climb to the top and look out through the sheep’s eyes but the entry was closed when we were there. If you hadn’t noticed before you are in sheep country! Australia has millions of them mainly raised for wool. On cold winter nights Marielle and I often snuggle up under merino wool blankets my Mum sent me many years ago.

I have included a Youtube link to an Australian bush ballad sung by Rolf Harris which is entitled Click go the shears. Rolf is kind enough to translate some of the words in the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag8Yqvs8h54

Wagga Wagga

View from The Rock

Hotel on Baylis Street - the main street of Wagga Wagga

Wagga - place of crows! Wagga Wagga – place of many crows. Wagga Wagga is a good midpoint stopover when travelling from Sydney to Melbourne along the Hume Highway or via the Olympic Highway. The only problem is the popular Hume Highway passes about 50 kilometres south of Wagga Wagga and travellers tend to stop at places on or very near the highway thereby bypassing Wagga.

We stayed on a farm not far from Wagga for three nights in order to visit relatives and relive some boyhood experiences. The city centre is almost unchanged from the times my family would travel from Brisbane to visit at Christmas time. For many years we did not have a car so we travelled by train or bus often changing in Sydney and taking the best part of a day and night to get there.

With a population of 57,000 Wagga Wagga is both a cultural and services centre for the surrounding townships. It has museums and an art gallery which we visited (mainly aboriginal art). The city centre has numerous historical buildings and a lagoon with many shade trees. It can reach 40 degrees in Summer. There are several scenic drives and wineries in the area. We didn’t visit wineries and we didn’t go for drives but we did visit downtown to buy a copy of a Charlie Drake’s song My Boomerang Won’t Come Back, a big hit in the sixties. You can listen to it on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_prtbj4MtDU

We also went for a hike to The Rock a rocky outcrop that rises 350 metres above the plains just South of Uranquinty where my cousin lives.

Football

Australians like their sports. When the cold season comes around, when they have to wear a jumper (sweater, cardigan), football becomes the main sport. There are four types – soccer (they have the same rules as we do), rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules.

Rugby union is a game where the objective is to keep the ball alive even though you may be tackled. When tackled you fall to the ground (obviously) and then try to place the ball in such a position that your team can ruck the ball back to regain possession while you try to cover up so they don’t ruck your head instead. Rucking is the action of moving the ball backwards by scraping it with your football boots which I may add have tags (little metal or hard plastic rounded spikes under the boot). Many players from both sides participate in rucks and the guy on the bottom has little protection, a box for the crown jewels (see Language post) and a leather head guard (optional) to protect your ears from getting ripped off. In rugby union you also have scrums sometimes but more often line outs when the ball goes out of bounds. The scrums are more or less like an organized ruck. Players face each other in lines in a line out. The ball is thrown in from the sidelines and players jump up and try to knock the ball down to their team. Confusing? You’re damn right it is. That’s why we have rugby league.

There are no rucks or line outs in rugby league. Each team has six attempts to move the ball down field. The ball is passed backwards or in a line but never forwards. After six attempts there is a scrum and the six attempts starts again. The players wear the same gear as for rugby union and play 2 forty minute halves with no breaks and with few substitutes.

If rugby league is not tiring enough then you can try Australian rules where there are four 25 minute quarters. The objective of this game, often called aerial ping pong, is to kick the ball between two centre posts for a goal (six points). If you miss you can score a behind (one point) delineated by another set of posts on each side of the centre posts. You can pass the ball by hand forwards or backwards but the best way is to pass by kicking the ball. Note an Australian rules ground is as big as cricket ground (see Cricket post). Tackling is allowed if you enough energy and speed to grab someone with the ball. Australian rules is very popular in Melbourne where crowds over 60,000 are not uncommon at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Watching the footy on the telly was one of our favourite night time activities. Actually we didn’t have too much choice. With four types of football and a sports-mad nation there was little else on TV.

Grocery Shopping

In the areas we visited three supermarkets dominated - IGA, Coles and Woolworth. Grocery shopping is a package deal as located nearby you will always find a bakehouse (bakery), a liquor store and often a service station where you can by discount gas (petrol) if you keep the coupons the sales people hand out.

The variety and volume of products rivals North American supermarkets with some peculiarities. You will find whole sections devoted to chocolates, generally big 350g blocks made by Cadburys in every flavour imaginable. We tried snack (my favourite), rocky road, tiramisu, turkish delight to name just a few. Sweets don’t stop there. At the bakehouse you can buy cream buns, jelly doughnuts, tarts, lamingtons and of course breads, sausage rolls, meat pies (with mashed pies on the top – euk!), and cornish pasties. I remember when I was a kid a pie man would turn up at our school during recess selling all types of ties including the much loved steak and kidney pies with mashed peas. Is this still the case?

I found the prices about 20-35% more than North American prices even for locally grown produce. I assume harvesting and transportation costs are expensive – the minimum wage in Australia is over $13 AUD an hour. Don’t forget that your grocery bill will be rounded to the nearest five cents. Why is this? Did you read my post on Australian money?

I didn’t see many signs of any environmental friendly programs such as bringing your own shopping bags. You will always be asked if you want to withdraw money from your bank account in addition to the amount to pay your bill. It seems grocery stores are more convenient than banks with no service fees. How did this happen?

We sometimes bought produce, nine cent avocados and pineapples which are very small, at stalls on the side of the road near Bribie Island. Good price but peeling them was a nightmare. Benoit makes a great guacamole dip.

Place Names

My son Jean-Philippe and I lightened our hours of travel by playing a game of spotting the most interesting place names. We would often come to a screeching halt to take pictures of sign posts. As far as I can tell there are two major influences on place names – aboriginal and British. I find aboriginal place names more interesting as they are in my opinion a part of what makes Australia different to other former British colonies and they are often onomatopoeic. Nonetheless I will tell you of one British place name that I saw just North of Sydney on a previous trip. The place is called Tumbledown Dick and there is a hill such that we have a place name of Tumbledown Dick Hill.

We stopped to admire these place names – Cullen Bullen, Grubenbun Creek, Burrumbuttock (which is immortalized in the Bill Bryson book entitled In a Sunburned Country – a very good read), Hurdy Gurdy Creek, The Gurdies, Woo Ree Rup, Boho, Barnawartha, Tallangatta, Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Yackindandah, Book Book, Tumbarumba, Gumly Gumly, Wagga Wagga, Wantabadgery, and Eunanoreenya.

A quick look at the map around Wagga Wagga revealed the following - Tangambalanya, Yarangobilly, Gobbagombalin, Bangadang, Killimicat, and Bongongalong. Not forgetting my favourite from Sydney – Wooloomooloo. Do my Australian rellies and friends know any more?

There is a famous song by Lucky Starr called I've been everywhere man that just about sums up all you want to know about Australian place names. Look for Yerongpilly where I lived in Brisbane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjm3zSCjNoU&feature=PlayList&p=2DEECCFAEEF89B5D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=15

Eating Out

One drawback of self-catering is you have to prepare all your own meals. It is economical in terms of your budget and time however, it is lots of work for the cooks of the family and many hours spent in supermarkets. Every week we decided to treat ourselves and the best way we found was to visit the local hotel (pub). Local hotels tend to be hives of activity to which most of the locals gravitate. Here you can eat, drink, watch TV, play the pokeys or one arm bandits (slot machines), play pool, even play darts and you get to observe the locals in their element. At the Mudgee pub we cooked our own steaks and were invited to taste some wines. At a pub in Sydney we had steak, mashed potatoes with gravy and a beer for $8. If hotels don’t turn your crank there are hundreds of restaurants of all types in Australia, many specializing in Asian cuisine. At the Beach Shack in Port Douglas we ate great seafood with our feet in the sand. The restaurant is open to the skies with a sand floor and dwarfed by towering gum trees.

Language

Australians speak English however they have added spice to the language by inventing new words only spoken in Australia (e.g. fiddlesticks, bushwalking), by borrowing words from aboriginal languages (e.g cooee), by using rhyming slang (e.g. around the Jackie Horner = corner) and by using diminutive endings (e.g. kiddies). There are also regional differences as well as lots of slang, black humour (from the colonial days), and numerous sayings to describe drinking and its after effects, body parts and insults. They have few religious based sayings mainly because religion never played a big part in their cultural identity.

I had to keep my ears pricked to catch the Australianisms in the large cities where sadly to say the language has been Americanized. In country areas colourful language persists but on a diminished scale.

The following are some Humdingers or Bobby Dazzlers (excellent examples) that I heard. Some are taken from a book my sister-in-law sent me – Aussie Slang Dictionary published by Brolga Publishing Pty Ltd in 2001 while others come from my memory. If you don’t hear these on the street you may hear them in films or television series. The list is not exhaustive by any means.

Let’s start with the multi-purpose work of crook.
To be crook means to be sick.
A crook is a thief or robber.
To go crook is to get angry with someone.
Crooked as a dog’s hind leg – a devious individual or a line that isn’t as straight as it should be.
In the crook of your arm – the bend of your arm at the elbow.

Common Sayings:
Arse about or arse backwards – the wrong way around.
He got my story arse backwards so now we have a lot of explaining to do.

Balls-up – used when something goes wrong.
The picnic was a real balls-up due to poor organization. The reference to balls means testicles not toys.

Barrack for – to support a sports team or player.
Paul barracks for the Brisbane Broncos football team.

Beat around the bush – to avoid a topic or question.
Will you stop beating around the bush and get to the point?

Belly-up – refers to the failure of a venture or enterprise or death.
Unfortunately my investments on the stock market went belly-up this morning.

Bottle Shop – liquor store usually attached to a pub.

Chop (not much) – to express disappointment in something.
The weather isn’t much chop today. We should stay home instead.

Cop – to be on the receiving end of something.
The naughty boy copped a detention after class.

Couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag – refers to a weak or inept person.

Crown jewels – male genitalia.
He almost lost the crown jewels when the cricket ball hit him.

Dob – to inform upon someone.
In order to avoid punishment Denis dobbed his brother in.

Dog’s Breakfast – chaos, a mess.
It was all over the place like a dog’s breakfast.

Dribs and Drabs – bit by bit.
The school children arrived in dribs and drabs.

Flog – to sell something, to steal something, to beat another sports team hands down.
He flogged his watch at the second hand store to have enough money for beer.

Gander – to look.
Let’s take a gander at the new house down the street.

Iffy – unreliable, doubtful, risky.
The weather looks a little iffy to me.

Jiffy – short space of time.
I’ll be back in a jiffy.

Lamington – a small cube of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut. Lamingtons are available in all supermarkets and bake houses. They are named after a Queensland governor.

Like a bad smell – an unwanted presence.
They hung around like a bad smell.

Like watching paint dry or like watching grass grow – refers to a boring event or spectacle.

No Worries – no problem. I often heard this saying from sales people.
Could I have a loaf of bread? No worries! I’ll get it for you.

Under the weather – ill or suffering a hangover.
Joe can’t come out to play as he is under the weather.

Common Words:
Chook (hen, chicken), Sticky Beak (an inquisitive person), Shout (to pay for someone else), Barbie (barbecue), Chippies (chips), Beanie (tuque), Bloke (man), Blue (fight or red-headed person), Breather (take a rest), Doona (duvet, eiderdown, comforter), Esky (portable ice cooler), Grog (alcohol), Hubby (husband), Joey (baby kangaroo), Jumper (sweater), Knackered (exhausted), Lolly (candy), Mate (friend), Mozzie (mosquito), Mug (a fool), Nappies (diapers), Nicked (to steal), Oz (short for Australia), Perk (freebie), Plonk (cheap wine), Pong (stink), Posh (well bred, wealthy), Prang (minor car accident), Quack (doctor), Reckon (to guess), Rellies (relatives), Snag (sausage), Sleepout (closed in verandah), Spud (potato), Starkers (naked), Sunnies (sunglasses), Thongs (rubber sandals), Tinny (can of beer), Togs, Trunks, Bathers (swimming costume), Umpteen (a high number).

Bloody
This word is an adjective in widespread use which serves to emphasize the word that follows it. For example, bloody good, bloody awful, bloody hell, about bloody time.

Bugger
This is another word in widespread use to express disappointment or other sentiments when used in combination with other words. For example, Oh, bugger! You old bugger (term of endearment), Bugger off (to leave, usually quickly without finishing a task), and Buggered (exhausted or worn out).

Pronunciation:
I would need several pages to describe the way Australians pronounce words. However here is an example my son Jean-Philippe experienced in a bar in Mudgee when ordering a beer called Old Heifer. By the way a heifer is a young cow (calf) before it has had any young. It took him five tries and eventually he just pointed.

A schooner of Old Heifer is pronounced a scoona of old heffer.
A schooner is a measure of beer as are glasses, middys, pots and jugs.

Just speak slowly and with emphasis and they’ll understand.

Kindness Awards

The first award goes to Rosemary Keen the owner of the Gregadoo (near Wagga Wagga) O’Berne farm stay cottage. Not only did we have great accommodation for a very reasonable price we also got breakfast with it. What a breakfast! Rosemary left us eggs, ham, breads, chocolates, wine, jams, olives and butter. She also warmed the house for our arrival and gave us mementos as we left.

The second award goes to the couple at Noosa Heads who saved five lost Canadians. Instead of pointing to a map or giving a litany of incomprehensible instructions they walked several hundred metres with us to show us the way to the Noosa National Park. They even indicated where the nudist beach was to be found. Now that’s service!

The third award goes to the timid person who served us wine samples at the Robert Stein winery in Mudgee. We thought it only proper to but a bottle of wine, not a difficult task as the wine was very good, but she insisted we take the bottle compliments of the house.

The Joker’s Award goes to the gentleman who rented us the gold digging equipment at Wendeyer near Mudgee. He insisted we take a wheelbarrow in order to bring the nuggets back. (Ha! Ha!)

Apollo Bay

Maits Rest forest also know as Jurassic Park where the ferns are twenty feet high

Apollo Bay

The Twelve Apostles

Great Ocean Road, Teddy's Lookout, Lorne

Airey's Inlet, Great Ocean Road

One of the best things about Apollo Bay is getting there. After negotiating Melbourne and Geelong take the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay with its winding roads, hairpin beds and spectacular scenery, for all those not driving that is. If you have motion sickness this is not the road for you.

We stayed in a cottage on a hill overlooking Apollo Bay in a bucolic pastoral setting which offered wonderful sunrises and lots of piece and quiet, and a very dark road to negotiate after sundown. Apollo Bay is one street of shops, a tourist information centre, two petrol (gas) stations, and a couple of restaurants.

Apollo Bay is the best jumping off point to explore the surrounding rainforests, my sons kept referring to them as akin to Jurassic Park, known for their waterfalls and coastal scenery of great surf beaches, lighthouse guarded promontories and fascinating rocky formations the best known of which is the Twelve Apostles. A few years ago a misadventure befell one of the apostles, a rock formation with an arch. It seems that a TV company wanted to make a commercial by placing a car on top of the arch. Before filming started the arch and car crashed into the surf with surprise surprise the producer and a voluptuous actress inside (pants down). Strange stories can come out of Australia. Do you know the story of Harold Holt the Australian prime minister who disappeared, presumed drowned, off the Victorian coast not far from Apollo Bay?

Odds and Ends Before You Go

Phones
We call them cell phones whereas Australian’s call them mobile phones. It is a good idea to have one with you when visiting Australia. You never when you’ll be bitten by a snake and need medical attention (bush humour). I bought a cell phone and calling service from Brightroam. I was satisfied with the service. By the way if you think your North American cell phones will work in Australia, think again. They use a different system down under.
http://www.brightroam.com/

Email
If you like keeping your friends and family up to date with your exploits and you don’t like writing postcards and then trying to find a stamp, then set up an email account with one of the big providers –Yahoo, Google, Hotmail. We setup a hotmail account and used it almost daily. The best places to get access were the tourist information centres and libraries. There were also several places, caravan parks would you believe, that had free wireless access.

Adaptors
Australia has a completely different electrical system to Europe and North America. You will need to procure adaptors to use the electric sockets down there.

Binoculars
Don’t leave home without them! You will be able to see the koalas and the birds a lot better.

Coffee Pot
Everywhere we stayed there were no electric coffee pots as we know them in North America. It seems the trend in Australia is towards instant coffee (ick!). We bought a plunger style system over there ($15) which served the purpose.

Bedding and Towels
As you have decided to follow my advice and avoid hotel chains and rent from owners then invariably you will be charged extra for using sheets, pillow cases and towels. To save some money you should take them with you. It could save you up to $20 a night.

Time Difference
Eastern Australia is 14 or 15 hours ahead of Eastern USA and Canada. Please take this into consideration when calling future owner-renters for accommodation.

Philip Island

The Pinnacles

Knobbies

You go to Philip Island essentially to see the little penguins. For the modest sum of $20 per person (general seating) you get to sit on a lonely, cold beach and wait for the little darlings to arrive after sunset. With their stomachs full of fish and with no time to wait groups (flocks) of them waddle up the beach and then disappear into the bush to then find their nest (a burrow in the ground) among the hundreds dotting the hillsides. At the nest site they regurgitate the fish for the youngsters and vocalize with their neighbours. The first night we went it hailed. With the wind blowing a gale the ice pellets really hurt. We came home satisfied but cold, wet and with tiny strange red marks all over our bodies. We went a second night for free as our tickets hadn’t been scanned the night before. Was this Australian laxity or did they have pity on us? Anyways the second night was cool but dry. As the little penguins took their time appearing we ventured onto the boardwalks near their nests and were treated to a magical display, dozens of little penguins waddling up the grassy slopes to their nests within a couple of metres (oblivious to us) and with no pushy, camera-ready tourists to worry about.

Philip Island is also known for its desolate coastal scenery with rocky outcrops, thunderous surf and sublime beaches and during winter time, no tourists. We did however do the tourist thing and visited the Knobbies rock formations (it hailed again), Woolamai Beach where Benoit misjudged a rogue wave and ended up walking barefoot and with soggy jeans. Forty minutes of the Woolamai Beach walk and we arrived at the Pinnacles rock formation. I would say even more impressive than Knobbies.

There is also other wildlife on the island to be found at the koala conservatory, the mutton bird rookeries, the pelican feeding at Saint Remo, and the seal colonies just off shore. Other strange animals include sheep and cattle, parrots, lorikeets and several beach bum hippie types on the main street. Great fish and chips at the colonial style pub on the main street! We ate chips for a week.

Philip Island is situated approximately a two hour drive South of Melbourne. Arriving from the North it is preferable to go left or South-East to circumnavigate the city centre. You could go right but you may have to swim part of the way to reach the island.

Birds

Australia is known for the variety and often uniqueness of its birds. Almost every car trip we took we encountered birds of some kind or another. I am sticking to the ones I saw in the wild and recognized.

Emus – I thought I would not see emus in the wild. At Mudgee we saw a couple in a field on the side of the road and then again near Wagga Wagga. Emus are large flightless birds that inhabit grasslands.

Pelicans – we saw flocks of pelicans waiting around to be fed at the marina in Saint Remo near Philip Island. Australian pelicans are enormous, the second biggest in the world I was told.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoos – we saw these birds everywhere we went in Australia from the tropical north to Philip Island. They even visited us for breakfast at our downtown Sydney apartment. They can live fifty years or more and are great voice imitators. I remember one my cousin owned in Wagga Wagga that would greet visitors with drunk again Charlie!

Bell Birds – not a very impressive looking bird but what a sound. Their tinkling songs sound like bells accompanying us while hiking in the Eastern Australian rain forests. We saw and heard many in the Blue Mountains.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos – less common than their white cockatoo cousins, these birds are also bigger. We saw many flying past our window at our house in Katoomba, Blue Mountains.

Little Penguins – formerly known as fairy penguins. Do you know why the name change? These birds frequent the waters off Philip Island spending days fishing and waddling ashore at nightfall to their nests (holes in the ground) where they socialize with their peers.

Kookaburras – also known as laughing jackasses due to the noise they make early in the morning. They often woke me up, the first sign of dawn. Kookaburras are members of the king fisher family ergo they eat fish but are also known to eat rodents and the occasional snake. Eating snakes could be life limiting as Australia boasts six of the ten most venomous snakes in the world.

Brush Turkeys – simply a black turkey with red colouring around the head that inhabits bushy areas in Eastern rain forests. They are essential to the health of rain forests as they scratch up much of the leaf litter to make their nests which can measure up to 3 metres across.

Lyrebirds – previously on the road to extinction these birds have made a remarkable recovery. Lyrebirds are great imitators and can imitate the songs and calls of many other rain forest birds. They are almost the same size as brush turkeys and have a beautiful lyre-shaped tail.

Whip birds – any guesses as to what sound these rain forest dwellers make?

Rainbow Lorikeets – spectacularly coloured birds (blue, red, green and yellow) that are quite common in Eastern Queensland. We saw hundreds of them on the Gold Coast and at Port Douglas.

Galahs – my favourite bird because pairs mate for life. Like the sulphur-crested cockatoos they range throughout Eastern Australia and just like their cousins their numbers are diminishing due to habitat loss to farming and urban sprawl. The short, sharp tweet-tweet is a distinctive sound on the Australia’s grasslands.

Rosellas (Eastern and Crimson) – these birds are common and colourful. You are sure to see them in trees near the roadside on areas around Mudgee and from Mudgee to Wagga Wagga.

King Parrots – these birds are aptly named due to their striking red and green plumage and impressive size. We saw them in the Blue Mountains.

Magpies, Pee-wees and Willy wagtails – all three birds are common and all are coloured black and white. Watch out for magpies as they are cheeky and often beg for food and will drive bomb you during the mating season. Pee-wees often joined kookaburras in my morning wake up call. Willy wagtails are much smaller birds and they do just that – they wag their tails.

Accommodation

I don’t particularly like staying in hotels where all the rooms are the same and you never see the owner. I prefer smaller, family run accommodations and the smaller the number of units the better.

Our accommodations included on-site caravans at caravan parks, houses, cottages and condominiums rented by owners as well as small family run motels. One of the houses was a farm stay. Although a couple of places needed redecorating and better heating we were satisfied overall with our choices and especially with the price.

I rented through the Internet using the following sites. Remember it is always a good idea to exchange emails with the owners and even phone calls before closing a deal. I found by talking to owners over the phone was an effective way to ensure few surprises upon your arrival and create a bond. It was amazing how much first hand information you can glean with the personal touch.

Total Travel website: http://www.totaltravel.com.au/
This is an Australia wide site specializing in all facets of tourism (activities, accommodations etc.). It is the one I used the most.

Holiday Rentals: http://www.realestate.com.au/
If you don’t have the time or can’t be bothered negotiating with individual rental property owners you can use real estate agencies specializing in holiday rentals. I used this site to book a condominium overlooking the beach at Bribie Island on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane. The local real estate agency was called Realway Real Estate.

Tourist Information Centres: http://www.australianexplorer.com/
A more traditional way to find accommodation is to contact the local tourism offices called Tourist Information Centres (TICs). I used these offices to find accommodation on Philip Island and in Apollo Bay in Victoria. The Australian Explorer site has a sophisticated search that shows all the TICs as well as lots of other tourist information.

Mudgee

Why Mudgee you might ask. It seems to be in the middle of nowhere. I was drawn to Mudgee because it enjoys a Mediterranean climate. It is 3.5 hours north-west of Sydney and prides itself on hospitality and friendliness. It has olive groves, vineyards, lavender fields, spectacular scenery and a luminosity that impressionists would love. The population of Mudgee is 7,000 and it has a rich colonial past evidenced by some well preserved nineteenth century buildings (circa 1840-1880).

We stayed in an on-site caravan (cabin) in the local caravan park a short walk from the centre of town and the roosting site for hundreds of galahs every evening (listen to the video). Fortunately these noisy birds are silent once the sun sets. Of course the kookaburras start at six a.m. What’s a kookaburra?

If you want to know more about Mudgee and the surrounding area visit the tourism site at: http://www.visitmudgeeregion.com.au/

We filled our three days with visits to wineries, Robert Stein where the hostess gave us a bottle of wine and Farmer’s Daughter where we sampled and bought a bottle of the sparkling muscat grape based wine Moscato. We also visited the Olive Nest and the Lavender Station where we were feed home made scones with lavender based jam. To exercise we went biking through the vineyards and hiking in the Goulburn Valley and Hands on Rock parks. As the name suggests Hands on Rock is the site of aboriginal hand painting. We also went gold fossicking at Windeyer which proved a bit of a disaster as Marielle fell and hurt her knee, it rained, the creek was almost dried up, and we had no clue what to do. The scenery however was superb and the rainbows on the way back were spectacular. Invariably we would spot kangaroos during our day trips and once a couple of emus.

If you want to see old gold mining towns visit Sofala or Hill End about an hour’s drive south of Mudgee, a very picturesque drive.

Cricket

I would be negligent if I didn’t try explaining the game of cricket, a very popular game in Australia and several other former British colonies. You play with a bat and a ball and that is where the comparison with baseball ends. You bowl (not pitch). The bat is flat on one side which is the side used to hit the ball. Whereas pitchers in baseball bend the elbow when delivering the ball, in cricket the bowler leaves the elbow rigid while delivering the ball like a catapult up to 150 kilometres per hour. The ball is hard and red coloured with a central raised seam. Batsmen protect themselves with pads on the legs, padded gloves on the hands, a box to protect you know what, a helmet, and often chest pads as the ball can and often raises chest and head height (all legal). The ball is bowled at stumps generally bouncing in front of the batsmen. Confused yet?

Cricket is played on an oval approximately 160-200 metres in diameter. A pitch is mowed in the middle of the oval and is approximately 20 meters long. The bowlers rotate from one end of a pitch to the other and consequently so do all the fielders. At each end of the pitch is a wicket, three sticks (stumps) approximately 75 centimetres high and about 30 centimetres wide. There are 11 people per side and there are never more than two innings per game. More confused?

Scores over 300 are common. Batsmen (batters) score by hitting the bowl over the fence for 6 runs, hitting the fence for four runs or running between the wickets to score 1 or 2 or 3 runs. This can be very tiring considering the typical cricket game could last five days and playing six hours per day. Games can result in a tie (draw) if the teams run out of time which is often the case. Given up?

You can be giving out in several ways; bowled where the ball hits the wicket, LBW (leg before wicket) where the ball would have hit the wicket but you put your leg pad in front to stop it, caught which is the same as baseball, stumped where the wicketkeeper (catcher) knocks your wicket down while you are outside the designated hitter’s area (the crease), and run out (similar to baseball). Batsmen can hit the ball in any direction consequently fielders are placed in front and behind the wicket as well as to the right and left. Are you still with me? There are questions at the end!

Cricket terminology requires a degree in languages. Some common terminology; over (the six balls bowled by a bowler), maiden over (an over where there are no runs scored), duck (a batsmen is out without scoring a run), a golden duck (batsmen is out on the first ball received), cover, gully, slip, silly leg, mid-off, deep line leg are all fielder positions and there are many more, googly, full toss, cutter, swinger, bouncer are types of balls bowled.

I used to play cricket in Brisbane for a minor league team. We played two weekend afternoons to complete a game often under a sweltering sun with 35 degree temperatures, hence the need to wear a white uniform and a hat. It is way more fun playing the game than watching it or listening to it on the radio. One saving grace is you can quaff a lot of beer during a day’s cricket making the game quite palatable. As you can see playing on the beach is even more fun.

Driving

Australians drive on the wrong side of the road. Sorry! I should say they drive on the left hand side which can cause panic among North American drivers. Everything is reversed except for the accelerator and brake pedals. If you know your left from right, that is, when giving directions you don’t have to point to indicate a left from a right turn, then you have a chance. Otherwise you have to remember that the driver is always seated closest to the middle of the road.
I had no problem understanding road signs. In Victoria every few kilometres on the highways you will see signs warning drivers of fatigue and the need to rest. Jean-Philippe counted nine different ones, some of which make you sit up straighter in your seat. A micro-sleep can kill in seconds! A fifteen minute powernap could save your life! Droopy Eyes? Powernap Now! And to ensure you do stop there are frequent roadside rest stops with well appointed facilities.

Australia just like Canada is trying to kick-start the economy by contributing to public infrastructure projects. This in turn is supposed to create jobs. There are numerous construction sites throughout the road system. Good for the economy, bad for tourists trying to get from one place to the next. However I must admit a four lane Hume Highway joining Sydney to Melbourne is a godsend (once they finish it).

Drunk driving was and could still be a problem in Australia. The Government decided to stem the tide of fatal road accidents caused by drivers who drink by instigating two programs, strict policing of speed limits and a reduction in the alcohol content of beer from 5% to 3%.

In Victoria particularly and to lesser extents in New South Wales and Queensland the 100 kilometre speed limit is enforced by cameras and radars. You can get away with 105 to 107 but not much more. On four lane highways the speed limit is often 110 kilometres. This does cause problems. Basically there are no fast lanes so cars, trucks and buses all share the same lanes which is a hazard for Canadian car drivers trying to read overhead road signs hidden by massive trucks driving in the middle and inside lanes.

Australia has followed the European lead and engineered roundabouts everywhere to relieve traffic congestion and in many cases navigate around large city centres. This was not a problem for me even though I was driving through them clockwise. In fact I like them because if you miss a turn off you can always do another loop and exit at the correct place the next time round.

Heating

Don’t kid yourself it gets cold in Australia. It doesn’t reach the bone chilling, hand numbing temperatures of Canada but it does get uncomfortable especially as they don’t have central heating. During our trip in the South we were wearing our Canadian Winter coats. How do Australians keep warm? They use merino (what is this?) wool blankets, bar heaters, electric blankets, doonas (what are they?), reverse flow air conditioners, and pot belly stoves using wood. In fact we used the pot belly stoves to dry our clothes as dryers are as rare as hen’s teeth. Australians dry their clothes outside on the line.

Going to the bathroom

People have asked me whether the water in Australian toilets swirls in the opposite direction to North American toilets, that is counter-clockwise or as they say in Australia anti-clockwise. What do you think? I was not able to determine this phenomena as the water in Australian toilets doesn’t swirl, rather it splashes. Warning! It is best not to stay on the toilet after flushing. Toilets are found in separate rooms to bathrooms. This avoids bathroom congestion especially during peak periods. A new invention that I had never seen in my youth is the two sided button flush, left hand side for small flush for small business and right hand side flush for larger business. The marvels of technology!

Money

The following website describes every thing you need to know about Australian money.

http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/currency.html

It doesn’t tell you that the 50 cent piece is 4-5 centimetres in diameter and could probably be rated as a deadly weapon. I know for sure they can become quite heavy in your pocket. You will also note that there are no one and two cent coins although they did exist when I lived there. You will see salespeople rounding the cost of purchases up or down in order to give you change. The $1 and $2 coins are smaller than the 20 and 50 cent coins but to avoid confusion they are a golden colour rather than silver. Why the size differences? I believe the face value of Australian coins is equal to the material that is used to mint them. Am I right?

Blue Mountains

Our first stop was Katoomba in the Blue Mountains an hour and a half drive West of Sydney. The Blue Mountains derive their name from the blue colour of the oil the numerous eucalyptus (gum) tree leaves emit into the air. It is not dangerous but don’t be surprised if you come home smelling of eucalyptus cough drops and chest rubs. Katoomba is a small town built at the top of an escarpment. It is picturesque, somewhat eclectic, mixing Sydney chic with South Coast beach hippie, and cool in Winter with fog that gives the place an eerie feeling. The views from the escarpment are spectacular when the fog lifts and the rain forested valleys are great for hiking and observing wildlife. We saw many birds including the reclusive Lyrebird which can imitate the call or song of most other birds in the forest. The biggest tourist attraction is the incredible Three Sisters rock formation, rising almost a thousand meters above the forest floor, and well worth the visit.

We stayed in a charming three bedroom house. One of our “coup de coeur”.
http://www.bluemts.com.au/leuraretreat/katoomba_retreat/kat_main.htm

Car Rentals

Unless you are traveling in high season or you have specific requirements, as in five people and lots of luggage, then my advice is to wait until you arrive to rent a car. We found that renting in advance did not give us lower prices and as the car models are different to North America it is better to see before you rent. We rented cars at Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns airports. At all locations the rental companies (Hertz, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Thrifty) are all found together in the airport proper. This gives you the opportunity to window shop creating competition and possibly lower prices. If you need to reserve in advance go to the Vroom Vroom Vroom website.

http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/

Airfares

I don’t need to tell you airfares very from season to season and from month to month. Prices very by hundreds of dollars between high season (Summer) and low season (late Autumn). You should also note that the seasons are the opposite of North America’s. We chose to leave in May 2009, May being one of the lowest seasons. We had to compromise on the weather as May is the start of Winter in the antipodes.

At the time I booked our flights the cost from Ottawa to Sydney on Air Canada was $2,122 plus taxes. For QANTAS it was $1,429 from Vancouver to Sydney, add $358 Ottawa to Vancouver round trip on Air Canada. We chose QANTAS as it was a lower fare, the company has a great safety record, and the price also included three free flights within Australia. The name for this package is the Aussie Pass. On the topic of taxes, the real price on QANTAS was not $1,429 rather $1,957. Can you believe over $500 in extra charges and taxes?

http://www.qantasvacations.ca/aussieairpass.htm

Kangaroos

South Africa has its big four – elephant, lion, cape buffalo and rhinoceros. Austalia’s big four includes the kangaroo, emu, koala and platypus. If you can see these animals in the wild more the better. We were lucky. By traveling to Australia in Winter we spotted kangaroos almost everywhere and any time of the day. In Summer kangaroos come out at dawn or dusk or as evidenced by the carnage on the roads (what a smell!) at night as well. We were advised by locals to just run into them with our car as swerving could result in greater injury to car and person. As we had a rental car and they don’t take kindly to kangaroo-induced dents we restricted our driving to daytime. The best area for kangaroo spotting we visited was the corridor from Lithgow to Mudgee and the area surrounding Mudgee. We also saw rock wallabies on our walk to “The Rock” near Wagga Wagga. Does anyone know the difference between a kangaroo and a wallaby? We also saw many kangaroos at zoos where we could pet and feed them. For those of you unfamiliar with Australian fauna, kangaroos are marsupials (animals with a pouch) in which they carry their live young for many months. Kangaroos come in all sizes, from the one foot tall Pademelon to the six feet tall Red Kangaroo. Therefore the answer to the Kangaroo / Wallaby question is not that they are different sizes. So what is the answer?

Insurance

I thought the extra $500 I paid in taxes and insurances per ticket and my trusty VISA AeroGold card would be enough to cover all my insurance needs (e.g. lost baggage, car collision damage). I was incorrect. Flight cancellation insurance was not included. As Marielle’s mother was very ill I thought it best to buy this insurance. It cost me $0.06 for each $1.00 insured. I also bought medical insurance as my Canadian Government medical insurance plan did not cover dependents over 21 years of age and not attending a full-time educational institution or periods of travel overseas of more than forty (40) days.

Australian VISA – Electronic Travel Authorization

When I applied for an Australian Visa this service was available to very few countries. I now note that most European countries are included.

“An ETA is equivalent to a visa, but there is no stamp or label in your passport and there is no need for you to visit an Australian diplomatic office to submit an application.”

ETAs are also cheaper than traditional Visas. Right on Australia!

http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/

Setting up a bank account in Australia

I chose the Commonwealth Bank of Australia as I had banked with them when I lived in Australia. A simple matter of filing out a form online and sending a bank draft was enough to establish the account. Drawing money from it was another matter. In order to draw money from it, which incidentally I could do from North America, I had to self identify. After a few fruitless attempts to complete forms and send copies of passports and driver’s licences to and fro across the Pacific I gave up. Instead when I arrived in the local Commonwealth Bank in the Blue Mountains I was able to self identify by producing my password and as they say in Australia ‘Bob was my uncle’. It was easy. I used that faithful bank debit card almost everywhere for the rest of my trip. The card is called the Commonwealth Bank Maestro KeyCard and it works on the eftpos system internal to Australia and the Cirrus system overseas.

Exchange rates and how to benefit from them

It was Marielle’s idea to check out the exchange rate between the Australian dollar (AUD) and the Canadian dollar (CAD). In September 2008, nine months before our expected departure, the exchange rate was in our favour by 21%. That is every $1 CAD could buy $1.21 AUD. I immediately set up a chequing account in Australia and transferred money into it. Despite the steep bank charges, by the time we were ready to leave I had made an average of 15% on every dollar. To avoid bank charges ($35 CAD per transaction), do a few large transactions rather than many small ones.