Today we are very, very proud to publish a post from our beloved niece, Fran. But before we do, a few prefatory remarks are necessary. One, Fran wrote this all by herself and there was no adult editing involved - certainly none by her aunt or uncle. Two, we know we can never write as well as this (and she's 11!), so don't get used to this literary standard. And three, we think it was very kind of her to omit the incident where her father was bitten in the derriere by a large pelican, so we won't mention it either.
And now, take it away Fran!!
The first words I heard when I stepped off the plane that had carried me half-way across the world was "G’day Ma’am!’ It was the stewardess who spoke those words. They were the first words of a spectacular Aussie adventure.
My experience in Melbourne in particular has been amazing. Matt and Marlys took us to many wonderful places inside and outside the city. My six-day experience has led to many new discoveries in Melbourne including a game called Australian Rules Football. It is a fast-paced game with many different rules. The team that we saw play were the Bulldogs. It was a crazy, wonderful, and brilliant game. However sitting in the stands of the arena was no match to the next place Matt and Marlys took us to, outside of Melbourne in the bush. The Mornington Peninsula is where the raging waters of the Bass Strait collide with the calm waters of Port Phillip Bay. The Bass Strait crashes with so much force that the ocean spray flies up and the sound deafens the ear. Standing atop the peninsula cliff looking into the watery depths below you, it seems that at that time the oceans’ temperamental beauty becomes clear. When you tear your eyes from the ocean and you look behind you can see a new sea; a sea of green. The ocean of green is created by the tops of a gigantic eucalyptus trees. It’s a wonderful sight.
Next we were taken to Healesville sanctuary where they have all the Australian Animals in their natural environment. We saw wallabies, dingoes, emus, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils, snakes (Taipan etc.), and kookaburras. Kookaburra‘s laughs I have found are definitely laughing at you not with you! We also went driving through a mountain road that led to a forest that looked astonishingly like Jurassic park! There were huge Mountain Ash trees that formed a cathedral like pattern. There were also giant ferns everywhere! I half expected a T-Rex to come bounding at our car!
We left from Melbourne to tour a little more of Australia. When we came back we went to Vick Market, a outdoor market full of Australian charm. We explored St. Kilda, which is a cute Melbourne neighborhood. Melbourne has a lot of great things to see, like the Eureka Tower and Luna Park. Melbourne is a charming city with many things that keep you happy and entertained. The famous Melbourne Tram transportation can take you all over the city and to some of the many great Melbourne attractions!
I would like to finish by thanking Matt and Marlys for their excellent hospitality! We owe them so much, I cant tell you how much a nice comfortable bed, a hot shower, and people you love to talk to, really improves your trip. They took us around Melbourne and the surrounding areas, took us to hidden wonders and showed us the best of Melbourne.
OK, one last thing. We showed Fran off to all our friends and co-workers in Melbourne, and she was an instant hit. Everyone is asking when she'll be back!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Independence Day – Gippsland Edition
Living overseas has made us feel more, not less, American. The simple fact is that’s how people refer to us: "the Americans". In the US everyone is a Yank so you’re never introduced as “my American friend". But here that's the inevitable first impression and so when you meet someone you're immediately saddled with all the baggage, good and bad, of the United States. There's plenty of good, mind you. Everyone wants to share their stories of travelling to the US. But I can't tell you how many times people have expressed surprise at my thoughts or behavior because it is, in their mind, un-American; i.e., not wasteful, loud, and ignorant of the rest of the world. And we are also expected to explain or, sometimes, defend whatever US event makes the news. We also worry more about our behavior ("Was I inadvertently loud or rude like the stereotypical American tourist?") because we know what we do will color people's impressions of USA. In short, it's a daily fact of life that we must act as unofficial, unpaid ambassadors.
With that in mind, when invited back to the farm in Yarram over the July 4th weekend we offered to cook up a real American 4th of July BBQ spread for everyone. This was immediately accepted (what host in their right mind turns down the offer of the guest doing the cooking?) and we set out to show them just how tasty an event this could be.
Motoring down the Monash Freeway to Yarram on Friday after work, traffic conditions were just like I-35 heading north out of the Twin Cities on a Friday afternoon. Slooooow. But this left us plenty of time to consider the names of the towns along the way: Koo Wee Rup, Nar Nar Goon, Bunyip, Kurumburra, Noojee, Mount Baw Baw, Won Wron (one hit, no errors, no one left on base), and Moe (pronounced “mo-EE”).
No trip to Yarram is complete without some sort of drama from Matt. You may recall on the last trip Matt was shooting at empty beer cartons with the other guys when one rifle – the one with a particular kick –gave Matt a half moon scar on his forehead as a permanent reminder of the bush. This time the drama involved the “road”. The track up to Fay’s house is long, very steep, and windy. It’s unpaved and riddled with washouts, potholes and gullies.
ANYWAY, Matt got about 1/8th the way up and immediately slid into a narrow ditch on the side of the rode. Alas, the Commodore, for all her lovely virtues, does not have 4x4 clearance and we were stuck. As Matt started to walk up the ½ mile track to the house (using his cell phone as a flashlight), the people in the house realized we were missing and drove down to find us.
No worries. Fay called the RACV (the Victorian version of AAA) and “Baggsy” rocked up about 10 minutes later in his Ute to pull us out. Which took about 5 seconds. As thanks, Fay invited him in for a can of beer, which, being the typical Aussie bloke, Baggsy accepted. And being a typical Aussie bloke, he immediately fished his stubby holder (beer can cooler) out of his jacket pocket and awaited his VB. He later let slip it was his third one of the night – rescue and beer, we understand.
On Saturday afternoon a bunch of the local young farmers showed up in their 4x4s and Matt was invited out for a ride. Marlys did not see him depart and so was unaware of one important feature of the ride: it did not involve sitting in the cab of the 4x4, but standing in the bed of the pickup and holding onto the roll bar. Don’t worry, he received top notch safety instructions: “If it starts to roll, jump away from the roll. And go quick because if you’re slow everyone else will use you for leverage.” One has never lived until they’ve driven along washed out fire roads at 40 mph on the back of a pick up. The scenery was gorgeous (Matt saw a lyre bird, which is very rare) and although the Ute never rolled (some people seemed disappointed) Matt was sufficiently terrified to deem it a once in a lifetime experience.
Marlys (let’s be honest, she’s the chef and party planner) put on a fantastic BBQ. There were frankfurters, baked beans, potato salad with eggs, cole slaw, and 3-bean salad (note to self: cabbage, 2 bean dishes, eggs, and lots of pork products = an aromatic ride home). And in true O’Toole family tradition, our friend Dom ensured there was an American flag dessert. Afterward we all sat around a bonfire, lit sparklers and stayed up late talking and looking at the stars. This far out in the bush the constellations are unrecognizable because there are so many stars! The 4th couldn’t have been more perfect.
With that in mind, when invited back to the farm in Yarram over the July 4th weekend we offered to cook up a real American 4th of July BBQ spread for everyone. This was immediately accepted (what host in their right mind turns down the offer of the guest doing the cooking?) and we set out to show them just how tasty an event this could be.
Motoring down the Monash Freeway to Yarram on Friday after work, traffic conditions were just like I-35 heading north out of the Twin Cities on a Friday afternoon. Slooooow. But this left us plenty of time to consider the names of the towns along the way: Koo Wee Rup, Nar Nar Goon, Bunyip, Kurumburra, Noojee, Mount Baw Baw, Won Wron (one hit, no errors, no one left on base), and Moe (pronounced “mo-EE”).
No trip to Yarram is complete without some sort of drama from Matt. You may recall on the last trip Matt was shooting at empty beer cartons with the other guys when one rifle – the one with a particular kick –gave Matt a half moon scar on his forehead as a permanent reminder of the bush. This time the drama involved the “road”. The track up to Fay’s house is long, very steep, and windy. It’s unpaved and riddled with washouts, potholes and gullies.
ANYWAY, Matt got about 1/8th the way up and immediately slid into a narrow ditch on the side of the rode. Alas, the Commodore, for all her lovely virtues, does not have 4x4 clearance and we were stuck. As Matt started to walk up the ½ mile track to the house (using his cell phone as a flashlight), the people in the house realized we were missing and drove down to find us.
No worries. Fay called the RACV (the Victorian version of AAA) and “Baggsy” rocked up about 10 minutes later in his Ute to pull us out. Which took about 5 seconds. As thanks, Fay invited him in for a can of beer, which, being the typical Aussie bloke, Baggsy accepted. And being a typical Aussie bloke, he immediately fished his stubby holder (beer can cooler) out of his jacket pocket and awaited his VB. He later let slip it was his third one of the night – rescue and beer, we understand.
On Saturday afternoon a bunch of the local young farmers showed up in their 4x4s and Matt was invited out for a ride. Marlys did not see him depart and so was unaware of one important feature of the ride: it did not involve sitting in the cab of the 4x4, but standing in the bed of the pickup and holding onto the roll bar. Don’t worry, he received top notch safety instructions: “If it starts to roll, jump away from the roll. And go quick because if you’re slow everyone else will use you for leverage.” One has never lived until they’ve driven along washed out fire roads at 40 mph on the back of a pick up. The scenery was gorgeous (Matt saw a lyre bird, which is very rare) and although the Ute never rolled (some people seemed disappointed) Matt was sufficiently terrified to deem it a once in a lifetime experience.
Marlys (let’s be honest, she’s the chef and party planner) put on a fantastic BBQ. There were frankfurters, baked beans, potato salad with eggs, cole slaw, and 3-bean salad (note to self: cabbage, 2 bean dishes, eggs, and lots of pork products = an aromatic ride home). And in true O’Toole family tradition, our friend Dom ensured there was an American flag dessert. Afterward we all sat around a bonfire, lit sparklers and stayed up late talking and looking at the stars. This far out in the bush the constellations are unrecognizable because there are so many stars! The 4th couldn’t have been more perfect.
Crimson Rosellas. There were a dozen that hung around the house.
Dom's Flag Cupcakes
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Where the Bloody Hell Have you Been?®
You may have noticed our last few posts were written by other people, and I suppose you have been wondering what we've been up to the past couple months. So we took a squiz at our diaries (Eek! ‘Strine! Here’s the American translation: “we took a look at our calendars”) and here, in a nutshell, is what we’ve been doing.
Work. Lots of it.
A trip. In May we were supposed to spend 5 days on the tropical island of New Caledonia. However, because of the French civil service we spent 4 days at Ayer’s Rock in the red center of Australia. There’s more to this story (and pictures) so we’ll put up a longer post when we get the chance.
More work. Lots more.
Visitors. Marg, Monique, Pat, John and Fran all came to stay. We got to show off our new city and more importantly see a few faces we’ve missed. Rather than tell you how great it was, we’ll let them do it in their own words: there is a link to Monique’s trip in the previous post and Fran is going to give us some material when she returns to the States. The lucky girl is in New Zealand right now.
Still more work. Still lots of it.
That's what's been going on. I know - boring. So what’s up next for us? Well, this weekend we are heading back to Lucy & Fay’s farm in Gippsland (described at "Australia Day"). Since we went there for Australia Day, it only seems right we go back for the Fourth of July. We are putting on a real American BBQ Saturday to show these Aussies how to celebrate your nation’s founding.
Speaking of Gippsland (and to give you a little flavor of the region), the second biggest Australian political news in the last few weeks is their by-election. The old MP suddenly quit and the election was seen as a referendum on the current Labor government. Labor got creamed, but that’s not necessarily any indication of the national mood. The reason they lost (and here’s the real insight into Gippsland) is the Labor government wants to close a post office in Tarralgon, the biggest town. That‘s how rural Gippsland is – closing a post office will lose you an election.
So if that's the number two political story, what’s number one? Easy –it’s “Iguanagate”. Yes, American cultural imperialism has reached the point where others now mimic the annoying habit of adding “-gate” to every political scandal. Anyhow, the short story is a Labor MP got drunk at a bar (Iguana Joe's) and was tossed out. On her way out, she threatened to have their liquor license revoked and said such brilliant things as “do you know who I am? I'll make you regret this!”. Once the story broke, she should have just apologized and said “I was drunk and stupid”. The story would have died immediately - she’s a politician so such behavior is expected. But instead she bullied her staff and others to change sworn statements about what happened that night. And when that got out, she started looking at criminal charges akin to suborning perjury. Uh oh. It doesn’t help that in a movie she’d be played by Philip Seymour Hoffman.
So that’s what’s going on in the sunburnt country. Here’s some pictures so you know we’re not just typing this from our basement in St Paul:
Work. Lots of it.
A trip. In May we were supposed to spend 5 days on the tropical island of New Caledonia. However, because of the French civil service we spent 4 days at Ayer’s Rock in the red center of Australia. There’s more to this story (and pictures) so we’ll put up a longer post when we get the chance.
More work. Lots more.
Visitors. Marg, Monique, Pat, John and Fran all came to stay. We got to show off our new city and more importantly see a few faces we’ve missed. Rather than tell you how great it was, we’ll let them do it in their own words: there is a link to Monique’s trip in the previous post and Fran is going to give us some material when she returns to the States. The lucky girl is in New Zealand right now.
Still more work. Still lots of it.
That's what's been going on. I know - boring. So what’s up next for us? Well, this weekend we are heading back to Lucy & Fay’s farm in Gippsland (described at "Australia Day"). Since we went there for Australia Day, it only seems right we go back for the Fourth of July. We are putting on a real American BBQ Saturday to show these Aussies how to celebrate your nation’s founding.
Speaking of Gippsland (and to give you a little flavor of the region), the second biggest Australian political news in the last few weeks is their by-election. The old MP suddenly quit and the election was seen as a referendum on the current Labor government. Labor got creamed, but that’s not necessarily any indication of the national mood. The reason they lost (and here’s the real insight into Gippsland) is the Labor government wants to close a post office in Tarralgon, the biggest town. That‘s how rural Gippsland is – closing a post office will lose you an election.
So if that's the number two political story, what’s number one? Easy –it’s “Iguanagate”. Yes, American cultural imperialism has reached the point where others now mimic the annoying habit of adding “-gate” to every political scandal. Anyhow, the short story is a Labor MP got drunk at a bar (Iguana Joe's) and was tossed out. On her way out, she threatened to have their liquor license revoked and said such brilliant things as “do you know who I am? I'll make you regret this!”. Once the story broke, she should have just apologized and said “I was drunk and stupid”. The story would have died immediately - she’s a politician so such behavior is expected. But instead she bullied her staff and others to change sworn statements about what happened that night. And when that got out, she started looking at criminal charges akin to suborning perjury. Uh oh. It doesn’t help that in a movie she’d be played by Philip Seymour Hoffman.
So that’s what’s going on in the sunburnt country. Here’s some pictures so you know we’re not just typing this from our basement in St Paul:
Us at Ayer's Rock
Ayer's Rock at Sunrise
A Wild Camel We Saw at the Olgas
It's Winter Here!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Melbourne Review
Want to know what a trip to Melbourne is like? Check out the review in this blog: Marvelous Melbourne
Great story MQ!
Great story MQ!
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