New Zealand

After having lived in Australia for several years, I finally made the trip over to New Zealand. With only a week off from work, it would have been too frantic to see both the North and South Islands, so Hayden and I decided to base ourselves in Christchurch on the South Island, where a friend of his is working. I have always associated New Zealand with mountains and greenery, but another image will always stay with me after having visited Christchurch: the utter devastation caused by the February 2011 earthquake, which is still obvious after four years. The city is known for its abundance of old stone churches, but I was sad to see so many of the old buildings surrounded by chain link fences and tall grass, deemed unsafe to enter until insurance companies  come through with payments.

 The Cathedral, which is missing an entire wall

There are shipping containers all over the city, with some being used to prop up buildings. Others are being used as makeshift shops and cafes. We spent a couple of hours walking all over the city, and while some sections appear to have been abandoned, every so often we would come across pockets where there are actually still people. Hagley Park and the botanic gardens are massive and located right in the middle of the city, and it’s almost possible to forget there ever was an earthquake while walking through.

Shipping containers being used for structural support

We wanted to get outdoors in New Zealand, and Akaroa was a beautiful day trip out of the city. Akaroa is situated on a harbor, with some of the bluest water I have ever seen. It was a hot day, so I went for a swim out to a pontoon in the harbor and watched kids jumping off the docks. I was covered in a chalky substance after my swim, which I suspect was some kind of mineral that gives the water its distinctive color.

 The road leading down to Akaroa

Akaroa

Akaroa

One other highlight was a couple of nights spent at Hanmer Springs. The hot spring is only a couple of hours from Christchurch, and completely surrounded by mountains. It didn’t take long to walk around the entire town, and I visited their tiny library to check my email. After that, we spent most of the time soaking in the hot pools or drinking Tui (probably my favorite Kiwi beer that I tried).

View from the main road in Hanmer Springs

View from the top of Conical Hill, a short hike outside of town.

After that it was one more night in Christchurch (and a few scary moments dealing with Immigration at the airport) before I was on a plane back to Australia. I would love to go back to New Zealand and spend a bit more time driving around both islands.

Go Hawks!

A surprising number of people in Australia seem to be interested in the NFL, although they never can resist telling me how dainty the players are for wearing padding and helmets. Every Monday morning during football season, Channel 7 broadcasts the games and I occasionally wake up a bit early to watch with my coffee and toast. This Monday happened to be the Seattle v. Green Bay game, but from what I could see of it during the 2^nd quarter it looked like a bit of a snooze. I logged into Facebook at lunchtime, and it was extremely obvious that things had taken a dramatic turn.

Of course I was happy to hear the Hawks had advanced to another Super Bowl, but I think what made me the happiest was this particular photo of Jon Ryan throwing a TD pass following a fake field goal attempt:

This is the face of an undrafted punter from Canada at the precise moment his legacy as a hero or complete failure is being decided. From my perspective that’s a bit of an overstatement, but judging by his face maybe it isn’t!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

My office in Sydney is located on Oxford Street, where there always seems to be a lot of activity. There are about a hundred cafes and restaurants to choose from for lunch, in addition to some more seedy offerings: a liquor store on every block, adult shops with names such as “Tool Shed”, and nightclubs that don’t open until hours after I’ve already gone home from work. Among other things, it is known as the main gay district in Sydney, with people travelling from all over the country to take part in the Mardi Gras parade each year.

It’s felt like summer here for over a month now, but this afternoon I noticed a sign indicating that summer on Oxford Street has truly arrived: a sale on men’s Brazilian waxes at the salon across the street.

I'm sure they'll have a few takers!

Bundanoon

I’m very fortunate to have the Royal National Park within 15 minutes of my house, but last Monday I decided to take the day off work and venture a bit further south to Morton National Park. I drove about an hour and a half down the Hume Highway (which leads to Canberra and eventually Melbourne) to the tiny town of Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands. In April they have a Highland fling to celebrate the Scottish heritage of the town, but I found it to be very quiet this time of year. Bundanoon reminds me a bit of Vashon Island; there are no chain stores but plenty of antique/tchotchke shops, a cafe that hires bicycles by the hour, a Chinese restaurant, and a bottle shop called the “Pioneer Flask”, which boasts the only ATM in town. There is a train station that links Bundanoon to Sydney, with service once every hour.

This freight train was flying through the town, probably on its way to Melbourne.

The entrance to the national park is just outside of town, and as I parked I spotted two kangaroos hanging out in the picnic area. I found the trail head and began to walk to my final destination: Fairy Bower Falls.

The foliage was thick and green, and at times there were clearings where I could see for miles out into the valley. During my hike I heard a rustling sound to the left, and looked over to see a wombat ten feet away, chewing something and looking at me very casually. I was too startled to even take a photo, which I realize makes me sound a bit timid, but if you can picture a rat about the size of a corgi you might understand why I was eager to get away from it.

I made my way down a steep incline to the top half of a small waterfall. To the side of the falls I could see a mossy, damp staircase carved into the side of the rocks - this must have been the old trail to the falls. Fortunately the current trail is easy to negotiate.

I can see why the place is named Fairy Bower. There are tiny gnats circling the falls, and it’s not difficult to picture them as tiny fairies. Hopefully I can make it down to the park again soon - it feels very remote, but it’s a quick drive from home and definitely worth the trip.

Too soon

I came back from my lunch break today to find a Christmas tree installed in the lobby a full six weeks before Christmas:

Maybe it's because Australians don't have Thanksgiving, and they don't do much for Halloween, but they approach Christmas celebrations with an enthusiasm I haven't experienced since I still believed in Santa. What made it feel even more wrong was today was sunny and about 90 degrees - or maybe the heat is just making me grumpy.

Crazytown, New South Wales

We have had a cold snap here in Sydney over the last couple of days, and since I didn’t have any leftovers from last night’s dinner to eat for lunch, I decided to go up the street to Saigon Queen for some pho on my lunch break. After I ordered I sat down to read my book (The Awakening by Kate Chopin - very steamy for the late 19^th century!) while waiting for my food to come out.

There was a middle-aged lady drinking a diet coke a couple of tables over, and after a minute or so I became vaguely aware of her mumbling something to herself. It started to sound more like a hissing noise, and became loud enough that I realized what she was saying: “Sssssslut! Sssssssslut!”  After a few more seconds I couldn’t ignore it any longer, and I looked up to see  her leaning towards me, maintaining direct eye contact, all while hissing the word slut. I didn’t know what to do - as a rule I tend not to escalate situations involving people with questionable sanity. I made the split second decision to bury my eyeballs right back into the book and ignore her. After a minute of this she went up to the counter to pay before leaving, and I was left to eat my soup in confusion.

For reference, my outfit consisted of a knee-length grey skirt, a button-up shirt with a Peter Pan collar, and a cardigan. People are strange.

Jibbon Head/Dharawal Aboriginal Engravings

It’s officially spring in Australia, and I decided to take advantage of the warm weather to check out Jibbon Beach in Bundeena, a small town that can only be accessed via ferry or by driving through the Royal National Park. I’ve taken the ferry before, so I decided to take the drive through the park down a winding two lane road until I reached the beach access point.

Trailhead

Jibbon Beach - the water is so calm and blue.

My ultimate destination was the Aboriginal rock engravings at the far end of Jibbon Beach. It was fairly deserted except for a couple of people on kayaks, and as I reached the end of the beach I came upon a grass clearing, where a group of about 20 people were gathered around a man who was burning incense and rhythmically hitting two sticks together; I decided my best course of action was to walk quickly past them avoiding all eye contact. I continued a few hundred meters more to Little Jibbon Beach. My guide had warned that many people treat this as a nude beach (which it isn’t), and advised me to call the police hotline if I came across anyone in their birthday suit. Fortunately the beach was deserted, and I was treated to views across Port Hacking to Cronulla.

Little Jibbon

I was disappointed to find a construction zone all around the engraving site. A lone tradesman was working on the viewing platform being constructed at the side, and he was blasting Top 40 radio from a boom box next to his lunch pail. It was interesting to see the engravings, estimated to be about 2000 years old, but the ambience was definitely compromised. 

Entrance to the engraving site

A whale I think?

Wallaby or kangaroo?

Fortunately I continued walking a little bit farther and the views up and down the coastline were spectacular.  

View of the coast