Election 2013

The federal election is happening on Saturday, and the candidates are getting desperate. I logged on to facebook this morning and was startled to see Tony Abbott grinning back at me;  if the polls are any indication it’s a sight I’ll need to get used to seeing. Voting is compulsory here and I’m sure they want to grab the attention of anyone they possibly can, especially the folks out in Western Sydney where things could tip either way. Fortunately there is a moratorium on political advertising until the election (phew!) so I won’t have this stuff on my news feed for too much longer:

Whingeing

It’s been so long since I’ve actually sat down to write that it feels like everything I have to say is sort of old news, but here’s what’s happening:

Work has been full-on. We haven’t had any holidays since June, and we won’t have any more coming up until a three day weekend in October. The orchestras are doing one last push towards the end of their seasons in December, but since everything has to be done in advance it seems like it’s all happening in July/August. I’ve basically taken over editing all of the artist biographies for the orchestras (which I really enjoy), but everyone seems to be performing massive vocal works so instead of editing one little conductor biography I end up doing 8 for each soloist singing in Verdi’s Requiem, plus chorus, plus conductor, blah blah blah.  

I’ve spent the last few weekends getting moved into the new apartment. I really like the place so far, and aside from a foot-long clump of hair and soap scum Hayden pulled from the shower drain the place seems really nice. Of course there is no way to get around the fact that moving is a huge pain, and I really dread spending every Saturday going to Kmart or Bunnings (equivalent of Home Depot) to get the things I need but forgot I need. It looks like it will be another couple of weeks before I can take a weekend away.

Anyways, sorry for the grumpy post but it’s just been a little rough lately. My two-year anniversary of being in Australia is in two days, and I’m not really sure how I feel about it. I feel like I've  accomplished everything I wanted to here, but I’m not really in a position where I can just up and move back. I miss everyone so much (it doesn't really get any easier as time goes by), and I actually miss America- the country itself, being in it, and witnessing first hand all the crazy stuff that happens there. The Australian elections are coming up, and there is only one month of debates plus some weak attack ads on TV. Not a single candidate has even talked about “legitimate rape” or socialism or Jesus... it’s kind of boring. 

What's going on

Things have been hectic lately. I found out a couple of weeks ago that I have to move at the end of July, so I've been spending the past few Saturdays attending open houses all afternoon so that I won't be homeless. The rental market here is really competitive, and when I submitted a few applications on Monday morning I had an agent calling me at work within 10 minutes asking for all of my personal information, asking to speak to my boss for references, asking about my immigration status, etc. If was "full on" as they say here, but I would personally describe it as exhausting. I got rejected from the first two I applied to, and was feeling pretty much like a loser, but the good news is I found a place! It's really cute, has a huge balcony, is about 15 minutes closer to work, and only has a six month lease just in case I end up hating it. Hayden is going to live there too, and we had a pizza/packing party at my place last night. He wandered off for about 10 minutes while I was diligently folding clothes and stuffing them into boxes, and when I found him he was looking at ads for used foosball tables so... wish me luck!

Jenolan Caves

Last weekend I made the three hour journey into the mountains to pay a visit to Jenolan Caves. My poor little car didn't like the hills all that much, and the last two kilometers were a one lane road winding down a sheer cliff face, but I rolled up to the historic Guest House safely on Saturday afternoon. After all the driving I wasn't much in the mood to dive right into a cave tour, so we checked into the hotel and just had a walk around the grounds. It was grey and drizzly out, but the water in Blue Lake was still a very vivid shade of blue from all of the limestone deposits in the water.

Small dam built about 100 years ago at the edge of Blue Lake

I saw my first wild platypus!

Chilly but really happy to be out of the city.

After that it was into the Guest House for a couple of drinks by the fire. There was a group of elderly people up there on some kind of retreat and they realllllly wanted to chat us up. They were really nice, but I gently excused myself after a while to take one of their bored-looking grandsons outside to look at the possums that had been sneaking around the windows. They were really tame so we ended up feeding them potato chips out of our hands while they dangled by their tails from the roof! (Rabies doesn't exist in Australia, by the way.) Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me at that point.

The guest house. It was nice but... a little too Shining-esque if you know what I mean?

The caves themselves were fascinating. There are numerous tours you can do, but I picked Temple of Baal, named by early explorers after a figure from the Old Testament. You can see Baal (the rock formation) looking down on you from different angles wherever you move inside the cave. There is only one main chamber, but the tour takes you around to different platforms and vantage points so that there is always something different to look at. I would love to go back and see some of the other chambers!

The Angel's Wing, a shawl formation that is one of the largest in the world.

View from one of the upper platforms.

Adios Julia

Australia has a new prime minister. Julia Gillard (AKA “The ranga”) was given the heave-ho on Wednesday night and Kevin Rudd is the new leader of the Labor Party. With an election coming up in September and Gillard’s approval ratings in the toilet, it seems as though this was not too big of a surprise. She made a last ditch effort to soften her image with this bizarre photo shoot for Women’s Weekly, in which she can be seen knitting a gift for the royal baby due next month.

Am I wrong to feel like this is total bullshit? This is the same woman who gave an impassioned speech in front of Parliament about rampant sexism in politics, and here she is pandering to the very people she criticized  I feel like I’m stuck in a time warp back to the 1950s or something. Is this really what a female national leader thinks she has to do to get the public on her side? Awful photo shoot aside, I never quite understood why people disliked Julia Gillard so much. Perhaps the manner in which she came to power is partly to blame; by going behind Rudd’s back and taking the PM’s position, which is decidedly unladylike. I certainly don’t envy her the job of being the first female PM, and I hope it’s a little easier for the ones who come after her.

Brrr!

Winter has officially set in. It seems like it’s been insanely cold lately, and out of curiosity I checked the temperature only to discover the daytime high is around 60 degrees and the night-time low is about 45. How is it possible that I’ve become such a wimp? Although to be fair the houses here have barely any insulation since it’s warm most of the year.

I guess it got a little too cold for this koala too, since he strolled right into someone’s house in South Australia. Apparently they sometimes get really thirsty, and you’re supposed to leave them bowls of water around your property just in case? I already showed this to mom and dad, but I couldn’t resist posting it again here. Pretty much the cutest thing ever!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/koala-walks-into-house-australia-video_n_3459482.html

When Kangaroos Attack

This just in: Australian politician Shane Rattenbury has been attacked by a kangaroo while jogging around Canberra. Since the kangaroo is on the Australian coat of arms, this is roughly the equivalent of a US senator being attacked by a bald eagle while on a run around Washington D.C. The article closes with the (not particularly helpful) advice for the public to “remain vigilant” in the drier months ahead. I’ll be sure to help cull the numbers by having a nice juicy kangaroo steak sometime soon!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/16/australian-politician-attacked-kangaroo-shane-rattenbury