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.