Canoe trip, continued...

We pulled onto a secluded beach to have a "bushtucker" lunch, which means foods the aboriginals ate. We waited about 10 minutes for the last canoe to finally get there, but they quickly announced that there was another canoe from our group that was stuck in the reeds, had almost capsized, and was taking on a lot of water. The guide and the husband of the woman and two teenagers in the sinking canoe then launched a rescue mission, and about 10 minutes later they all made it back to the beach. How the mom and teenagers managed to nearly sink the canoe remains a mystery, but like I said before, they were paddle challenged.

Anyway, after a short hike to a lookout over the river, the guide prepared the lunch, and had us all taste native foods including blood limes, spices, flour, a kind of nut and a powder that tasted like coffee. He put out smoked emu and kangaroo, along with chutneys and pesto, olives and cheeses, bread, etc.

At the end he brought out "dessert," which were grubs that he cut up and mixed with yougurt, since he said that was the only way anyone would try them. While most of us declined, Bill ate one and then went back for seconds, it was so yummy. One of the kids that ate one of the grubs promptly threw up, but at least he went off to the side to do it. Here's Bill eating a grub.

Monday, December 28

We checked out of our B&B and headed south to Prevelly Beach, at the head of the Margaret River. There we met up with our canoe trip guide and group of fellow canoers. And although they all said they'd been canoeing before, it quickly became clear that many of them were "paddle challenged." The current was strong enough so that we soon realized we didn't even need to paddle, so we just relaxed and drifted along. However, behind us we could hear the non-stop clanking of paddles hitting against the sides of the canoes, and it seemed bizarre to see many of the people paddling feverishly but basically going nowhere. That's when we realized we probably had a pretty good chance of winning the race at the end.



Here's a pic of a small island we stopped at, where our guide picked several different plants for everyone to taste, including one that tasted like celery and another like carrots, which were used by the aboriginal people.

Monday, December 28, continued...

Following the canoe trip we headed south to our next B&B in Pemberton. This is the heart of the tall trees country, and the "tingle" is the tallest tree in Oz, growing only in the extreme southwest corner of the continent. There are also beautiful "karri" and "marri" forests here, and the karris sometimes reach over 200 feet tall. Although the drive down took an hour and a half, we did not pass one gas station, fast-food restaurant, etc. For that matter we barely saw any other cars, and this was on a main road, during the peak summer, holiday season.

After checking into the B&B we went out to dinner, and there are not a lot of choices in Pemberton. The restaurant we ended up at was a throw back to about the 1950's, complete with frilly lace curtains and light fixtures you'd expect to see in a saloon in some old Western movie. The artwork consisted of pictures of trees in the process of being chopped down. The only other photos on the walls were of prize winning steers, and the music playing was country western from waaaay back, sounded like songs from the era of maybe George Jones and Tammy Wynette, or possibly even older. We could have been in some little town in Oregon or Idaho, with all the logging photos, but the seafood was excellent. We had marron, the local delicacie, which is found only in this extreme southwest corner of the country. It looks and tastes like a small lobster, and along with the marron we had both baked trout and smoked trout. Afterwards Bill went to the "toilet" to wash his hands and when he came back, he said I had to see the restroom for myself. Well, first I had to try to find it, because when I followed the signs for "toilet" there were 3 doors, all marked private, and the only other door led to the outside. The waitress saw me standing there and yelled out, "Ya got to go outside luv, then it's out on the verandah." Well, sure enough, outside was a small building with a sign on the door which read, "Toilet," and sure enough there was a toilet in there, but no toilet paper and no sink. That was outside in the open air, but there was no soap or paper towels, just a sink. But at least the bathroom fit in with the ambiance of the restaurant.

Saturday, December 26, Boxing Day

Another holiday, but there were lots more businesses open today than on Christmas. Today we hiked the Bunker Bay track, near the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse in Leeuwin Naturaliste N.P. Absolutely gorgeous ocean and cliff views, with water so clear and a true turquoise color. The only drawback were the flies, which were the worst we’ve experienced so far. We wore our fly nets for the first time, and decided they were by far and away the best investment we could have made. We also saw lots of other people wearing them, something we’d not seen before, but without them we could not have done the hike at all, the flies were that bad. The net fits over your hat, and limits your vision somewhat, although you get used to it fairly quickly. At the end of our hike, we walked down to the beach, without our fly nets, and although the flies were somewhat less annoying down at the water, just going up and down the short distance from the car and back was amazingly bad with the flies. We were literally covered with them, ugh…….

I hate those little suckers. You look and feel like you’re wearing a burka with the nets on, but anything is better than dealing with the flies.

Friday, December 25

Merry Christmas from the other side of the world. We arrived in Dunsborough late yesterday afternoon, for a 4-day stay at a B & B not far from the beach. This morning we went hiking along part of the Cape to Cape track, above the cliffs with beautiful ocean views.

We saw more people at the beach today than we’ve ever seen, but we were told that many Aussie’s have a tradition of going to the beach on Christmas. There was virtually nothing open, except for one gas station that was only open in the morning, so luckily we were able to get some “petrol.”However, when we went out later in the day to get some Christmas dinner, everything was closed. Just as we’d given up and headed back to the B&B to make sandwiches out of the leftover turkey and brie we’d bought the day before for lunch, Bill noticed a Thai restaurant with an “Open” sign in the window, and sure enough, they had just opened for dinner. So, that certainly beat cold left over sandwiches for Christmas dinner.

Tuesday, December 22, continued...

Here are some pics of a marri tree, which bleeds when wounded. It's not the exact same tree I wrote about in an earlier post, but it's the same type, and it shows the bloody looking sap, called "keno." Ironically, the aboriginal people dried the keno and sprinkled it into their own open wounds.

Tuesday, December 22

Well, I actually feel like I've gotten quite a bit accomplished this morning, and it's only 11:30. Had several calls to make to businesses in the states, and by 9:00am our time, everything there is closed, so I feel lucky to have gotten through all the phone trees and being transferred to various departments, and actually accomplished what I needed to get done. Then I went out and got all my errands here taken care of, before it gets too hot. It's already about 85 degrees, and will surely get hotter as the day goes on. Christmas day is supposed to be 36 degrees centigrade, which is about 97 degrees fahrenheit.

However, Bill and I are heading to the wine country for Christmas and New Years, and it's supposed to be a bit cooler down there. It's about 2.5 hours south of Perth, and we're staying at a B & B on the coast in Dunsborough for the first 4 days, and then at another B & B a bit further south, in the forest area of Pemberton, for the last 4 days. Bill's office actually closes down for 18 days over the holidays, so we figured we would take advantage and have a holiday, as they say here. At dinner last week Bill's coworkers were questioning him as to how much time off employees in the US get, and they were flabbergasted to hear that the norm is only 3 weeks. They explained that if someone here works for the same company for 7 years, they get 3 months paid leave, and after another 7 years, they get 6 months. They also have something they pay into called superannuation, which is similar to our social security. However, by the time they retire, they not only begin collecting their benefits, they are exempt from paying any more taxes, for the rest of their lives.

Friday, December 18

Well I just got a very nice, unexpected surprise, someone from Bill's office delivered a big gift basket from his boss- addressed to me, not Bill, and it's full of bath salts and lotions and all kinds of nice things. This same boss took 6 of the managers and their partners (they typically use the term partners instead of spouses or wives) out for a really nice dinner this week, and they all seem like really nice people. Aussie's for the most part seem to have a really good sense of humor, and they love to laugh, joke and drink. Afterwards I told Bill I was able to understand everyone fairly well, except for one guy whose Aussie accent was really strong. Bill said "Don't worry about it, everyone at work has trouble understanding him, and they're from Australia."

This particular restaurant had something we'd not seen before, a short list of "premium meals" on the first page for only $135 per dinner. No one ordered from that menu, and the regular menu was along the lines of many of the restaurants here, at about $75-$85 per person, not including drinks.

Wednesday, December 16

Well we'd decided not to get a Christmas tree this year since we'll be gone over Christmas and New Years, but we found a nice tree sitting out on the verge (parkway) on our walk yesterday, and we brought it home. It was wearing a sign that said "Free Christmas Tree" and I had the perfect spot for it, so I planted it today. Here's how it looks in it's new home.

Most of the cities around here hold a "pick up anything day" twice a year, which allows for everyone to get rid of their unwanted furniture, appliances, etc. The stuff sits out on the verge for several days before being picked up, and one day I passed a whole bunch of outdoor pots, which I've been buying up like crazy ever since I got here, because our patio was pretty barren looking. However, I decided not to take the pots, (seemed almost akin to dumpster diving) but I changed my mind when a woman walked by carrying a set of kayak oars. Well, it was obvious there was no way she went out for a walk carrying oars, so she had to have picked them up on the side of the road. I decided if she could garbage grub, so could I, and I carried the pots home on my way back from my walk. And they were very heavy, pots here are made much thicker than in the US, for some reason, so they weigh a ton.

Sunday, December 13

Went to the beach this morning for our Sunday walk, and it is surprising how many people are swimming at 7:00am. It seems like most people go ocean swimming, and it's mandatory that kids learn how to swim. Bill went in briefly and said the water was cold but refreshing, especially since the temp is supposed to get up to 108 degrees today. It's a bit disconcerting to see the helicopters making their runs over the beach, they're the shark patrol and the water is clear enough for the sharks to be spotted easily. They closed our local beach last weekend because of a shark sighting, but it was reopened fairly quickly.

Went to the farmers market yesterday that is run by Asians, and they were playing a tape of Christmas carols, which lapsed into Chinese off an on. I noticed that they intermingled the words from one carol into another, while continuing to sing to the tune of the first song. Interesting.

I overheard a couple talking and since they sounded American, I just had to go over and ask if they were from the US. They were here visiting relatives and said they used to live in Carpenteria and the woman worked in Camarillo, before they moved up to northern California. Truly a small world.

One good thing about knowing that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way here, is that there is no wondering if the cars might stop for you, you know for certain they will not, so it's up to you to get out of the way. Luckily the streets around here are quite narrow, so everybody just runs across whenever they can, regardless of the stop lights, and no one ever gets a jaywalking ticket.

Saturday, December 12

Well, we had two firsts today. At Bunnings, the big Home Depo type store, we were actually asked if we needed help finding something, and that is an absolute first. You could wander around for days and no one would ask you if you needed help, although they are very friendly and helpful when you do ask. Last week I needed help getting something down from a top shelf, and I waited patiently for the clerk to finish boxing up a Christmas tree for a customer. Although he had to have seen me standing there for at least 5 minutes, when he was done he just turned to walk away, and I had to go after him and ask him to get the items down from the shelf. He was very helpful and friendly but it never seemed to occur to him that I was standing there waiting for 5 minutes because I needed some help. In talking with an Aussie coworker and her husband who'd been to the US, they commented that one of the things that amazed them the most was the way clerks asked them if they needed help, as they just don't do that here.

Another thing Bunnings does that seems odd is that they water the outside plants in the garden area with overhead sprinklers, during the daytime while customers are shopping. Granted, today it was close to 100 degrees so when the sprinklers came on while I was looking at plants and I got soaked, it actually felt good. However, the last time we were there it was more like 60 degrees and getting wet wasn't so great. Just seems like they could either water before the store opens or after it closes. But hey, that's just my crazy idea.

The other first we experienced today is when we stopped at a fish and chips place and were charged an extra $2.00 for ketchup. Wow, just never been charged for ketchup before.

Here's some more Aussie slang, although I may be repeating myself because I can't remember what I typed earlier, and I'm too lazy to go back and read my old posts. Anyway, "daggy" is out of style or uncool, a jumper is a sweater, removalists are movers, bathers are swimsuits, rips are riptides, sunnies are sunglasses and if someone here is pissed, they're drunk, not angry.

Sunday, December 6

We went out and bought bicycle helmets yesterday, since it is the law here. Well, not that everyone buy helmets, just that you wear them if you want to ride your bike. We rode to King's Park, since there's lots of bike trails there and no traffic, but we were both hit (slightly) by a magpie. I had read that many people are attacked by magpies during the breeding season, as they are very protective of their nests, but the season supposedly ended at the end of October. Apparently this particular bird failed to read the book. He hit Bill first lightly on the head and then just brushed me on the shoulder. I also read that they go after bicyclists even more aggressively than walkers, and the book suggested gluing fake eyeballs onto the back of your helmet, as they tend to go after the eyes.

Early in the morning there are lots of serious cyclists in the park, many of them in large groups, with a coach yelling encouragement and directions. One morning I heard a female coach yelling "You're naughty, you're naughty." Hmmm...couldn't quite figure out that one.

Well we just finished "schoolies week" or "leavers week" which follows the last week of high school for the graduating seniors. They tend to go to some resort type place to get wild and crazy, much like our Spring Break. Rottnest Island is a popular place here on the west coast and apparently they were very well behaved this year, in contrast to the schoolies on the east coast, particularly in Sydney.

When I'm riding the train, the diversity of races and cultures makes me feel like I could be in L.A., except for the fact that L.A. has no decent rail system. However, the teenagers sound just like they're from L.A., since everything is "I'm all like..., and she's all like...." The only difference is they say "loik" instead of like.

Saturday, December 5

Found a new place to hike today called Bold Park, and it's nearly as big as King's Park. The flies were awful, again, and we forgot to bring the new fly nets we bought. We finally saw someone wearing one today, and while he did look kinda weird, at least he was not shooing away flies, like his wife was.

After shopping in the afternoon, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant, but since it didn't open until 6:00, we had about a ten minute wait. When we walked in, there was only one table occupied in the whole restaurant, which was no surprise since they'd just opened up, but we were still asked if we had a booking. I wanted to laugh but I think that is just something they always ask, whether or not they are busy. However, if we'd been told there was an hour and a half wait, then we would have been suspicious. That actually happened a few weeks ago when we tried to get seated at another Mexican restaurant, which was very busy, but we think they didn't like the fact that we were wearing grubby hiking clothes and had kangaroo poop on our boots.

Our Ozzie friends who lived in Santa Monica for 3 years told us to simply forget about having Mexican food while we're here; they simply do not know how to make good Mexican food. The place we went to on Saturday had very bland food, seemed like they used no spices or seasonings whatsoever. I'd like to make some enchiladas and chile rellenos, but I'll be surprised if I can find all the ingredients I need.

Grocery shopping here is an interesting experience, it takes forever because they only have 1 or 2 brands of each item, so it's easy to pass up whatever you're looking for. I decided to make some Christmas cookies for our friends but could not find chocolate morsels or powdered sugar. After much searching I found what I'm sure are morsels, but they call them either buttons or melts. The powdered sugar I bought (at least I hope that's what it is) is called icing sugar. So the uncertainty of not knowing if I even have the right ingredients, coupled with the fact that half of the temperature markings are rubbed off of the oven, should make for some interesting baking.