PETerinarian

Back in US

2011-06-17T12:19:00.003+08:00

Baptism announcement below!

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

1 month

2011-04-24T15:42:00.005+08:00

One of my friends shared her first real moment of truth about parenting. Vicki said, "You wake up in hospital and have this baby. You spend the first few days amazed at the miracle. The next few days struggling to learn new skills--maybe terrified at doing something wrong. Then you head home, and eventually you begin to feel comfortable. Then comes this shocking revelation--this little visitor is never going home. And what you remember as normal life is never coming back."

My friends we have had that moment. On the evening of Good Friday, we took Grandma Bonnie and Grandma Gretchen to the airport. The MOMS (as our friends called them) were our support crew--providing hot meals, clean clothes, sage advice, welcome distractions, and the occasional reason to leave the house to visit a local attraction (I think I would have stayed in my pajamas the whole month otherwise). As Nathan headed back to work and I struggled from lack of sleep, they took the baby when necessary, but also kept each other entertained when we weren't very entertaining. Although we want them both to come back to enjoy more of Western Australia, we needed their help in making this transition from the hospital to home.

With the MOMS departure, we are making another transition to a new normal. The hard part is we really don't get to decide what the "new normal" is. This normal includes waking up at 6 am to make it to church by 9. It includes managing to type, cook, do laundry with only one hand. This normal now includes weekend entertainment of doing a crossword in bed and going to sleep early. Figuring out that Noah normally wails for 30 minutes in the evening regardless of what anyone does. And starting to see friends for lunch, dinner, and coffee (although we are grateful so many of them are coming to us at the moment!).

We spent much of Easter weekend finding normal again. There were a few challenges but we survived. For example, the choir sang at the front of the church for Easter...this meant breastfeeding and diaper changes in front of the entire congregation (Thanks Karen....the "hooter hider" was a lifesaver!). We figured out who takes the early shift (me!) and the middle of the night shift (me!) but who can put Noah to sleep after 30 min of inconsolable crying (Nathan!) and who gets to take an afternoon nap (me--hurrah!).

here's to the new normal....until next week!

Week 1

2011-04-01T20:57:00.009+08:00

Once upon a time, 7 days ago...
I can't believe it's been a week. It seems simultaneously to have taken 10 years and 10 seconds - 10 years worth of learning about diaper changes, goopy eyes, baby baths...you name it, I've talked to someone about it. In-depth discussions about embarrassing crevices, breastfeeding, and meconium (if you don't know, you don't want to know) -- all these topics were relatively taboo a week ago, now we're shouting about them on Skype at a volume that is guaranteed to keep our neighbors abreast (ahem) of the new developments. It seems like only last week that Kris looked like this on her way to the hospital, and something emerged that changed things dramatically.

A quick look at the past week (the 10 second version, not the 10 year version):

Friday the 25th - still smiling! They doll Kris up in paper and me in very important person scrubs, and we're off to the surgery. The obsterician, who has kept us in stitches (ha!) with random comments and questionable jokes for several months, introduces his colleague as the person who, "is there to make sure I do this right, for a change." Nevertheless, we let him do the surgery, and he delivers a swaddled replica of Mr. Magoo into our lives......and, lo! we are transformed.

Saturday and Sunday passed blissfully, as we smugly congratulated ourselves on our well-behaved child which didn't wake up and scream during the night, had reasonably easy-to-clean anatomy, and was coaxed to feed with a minimum of agony for all involved. This is now referred to as the Golden Age.

Luckily, they keep Kris in the hospital for 5 nights, allowing me to board during this time, so that we all get to see how Noah developed, matured, and evolved into the full-throated 2am howler. I understand that this is inevitable, but it would have been nice to immediately fly out to California, where the time change would have resulted in a more civilized 11am hour (or two) of inconsolability. Inconsolableness? Whatever the noun, there are a million adjectives to describe this time, few of them charitable. Kris soldiered on, and we relied on the help of the professional staff at the hospital for helpful tips, like, "Just see what works," and "Oh, they all do that."

By Tuesday night, we were facing a trip home the next morning, and viewing with more than a little trepidation the first night on our own. Well. We needn't have worried. Yes, he cried, yes we sang ourselves hoarse and exhausted our meager supply of lullabies, and yes we discovered new ways to calm him and make him cry, but we made it out the other end. And, as Nietzsche promised, we're stronger for it. It didn't kill us, anyway. Yet.

Noah

2011-03-30T19:05:00.006+08:00

Nathan & Kristin Mannix
are pleased to announce
the birth of their son

(FINALLY) after 5 days at the hospital without internet......

NOAH WILLIAM MANNIX

was born on

25 March 2011 at 2:06 pm
(Perth Standard Time, Australia)
at St John of God Hospital, Murdoch, WA 6150.

At birth he weighed (4.82 kg; 10 lb 10 oz),
was 53 cm long (21 in) and had a head circumference of 38.5 cm (15 in).

We have now returned to our home in Meadow Springs,
with Grandma Gretchen & Grandma Bonnie helping us settle in.
We'd love to introduce you to Noah via skype,
and are planning to back in the US this summer to introduce you all in person.

2011-01-13T11:21:00.005+08:00

So it's not so much the birthing (that's mostly Kris in the starring role with me in the cameo) as the parenting that's worrying. Now that I'm looking around me, I've started to see hazards in everyday life. It's not just the things that we eat and drink (although the maker of this product was obviously asleep through 2002-2003 to think this was a good name) that are worrying, but also the little things in your environment. Barely perceptible things, like tiny spiders...at least, tiny by Australian standards. And then there's the psychological impact of dad's hair in the morning!

Maybe all of these worries will be assuaged when we go to parenting classes. Until then, I will likely continue to worry. Especially with this subtle reminder that I pass every morning as I walk the dogs...

Happy 2011--

2011-01-02T20:32:00.004+08:00

Welcome to the new year! 2010 had some amazing highlights but 2011 promises to be a year of incredible firsts and new things.

Memories from 2010 included:

* enjoying the Fremantle lifestyle with a cat-sit at Edmund St, just a short walk from the beach and our new church home at St Pauls.
* Hiking the Overland Track in Tasmania--wow, what an experience!
* Celebrating my dad's birthday in January--still missing him terribly.
* Mike's visit to Australia in March--complete with Aussie BBQ, big game fishing, a trip to the outback and some prospecting and LOTS of photos.

*Loren & LoRae's visit in April--with a visit to Margaret River, a dive on the wreck HMAS Swan (much deeper than Nathan was supposed to dive!), and a glimpse of our ideal retirement.
* Singing the Hallelujah Chorus with the St Paul's choir for Easter, and Nathan's "surprise" trumpet solo for Joshua Fit the Battle at the St Paul's Consecration.
*saying goodbye to Nathan's grandma, Ethel Mannix online while Kristin recovered from surgery in May.
* moving to the 'burbs (Secret Harbour) to take care of a house and 2 red setters, giving up Foxtel, and being pregnant in 3 weeks!

* Catching up with friends at Kristin's 20 year HS reunion
*Kristin's long visit back to the US to spend time with family & Nathan's rushed visit just in time to see his mom break her shoulder!
* Discovering we were were 10 weeks pregnant just in time for our 14th wedding anniversary.
*Kristin acting as guest musical director for Band of Angel's Gospel Choir for 6 weeks, culminating in 2 performances (one for the Fremantle City Council at Christmas).
* Co-Hosting an orphan's thanksgiving for the North American students with Emily & Justin
* Finding Advent and Christmas sermons take on new meaning and relevance when you are waiting for a baby, too.
* Singing for Christmas at St Pauls, enjoying Christmas dinner with the Gwynnes & Michael & Jen.

We are looking forward to 2011 with the many new experiences that it will bring:
* A baby boy on April 1, 2011 (no foolin'!)
* 15 years of marriage (and 20 years together)
* visits to Australia from Deb, Tim & Caitlyn, Bonnie (Kris' mum) and Gretchen (Nathan's mum)
* a visit home in June/July for a christening/Nathan's 20 year reunion (?)
* Kristin's year-long maternity leave (thank you, Murdoch!)
* moving to a new home & buying a new "baby-friendly" car
* getting Australian citizenship (we aren't giving up our US citizenship, just want to have a passport that matches our son's!)
* first everythings--cries, laughs, poos, words, haircuts, teeth and more!

We'd love you to be a part of it--come for a visit, keep in touch! We promise to talk about something other than baby stuff.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Nathan & Kristin

My new theme song--KT Tunstall

2010-10-28T17:32:00.001+08:00

From here to maternity

2010-10-15T19:10:00.005+08:00

Well, after having been together for 19 years, Nathan and I are finally starting a family. When we first started dating Nathan was committed to never having kids (for a range of reasons such as overpopulation to genetic selection to being overwhelmed by the responsibilities of parenthood depending on the time and place of the discussion). I had always presumed kids would be a part of my future, but was convinced he would change his mind.

In our classic non-decisive way, we agreed to wait until i was 30 and discuss it then. For some people this would be a recipe for disaster. What happens if we disagreed fundamentally about this after having invested 10 whole years in each other. But filled with the certainty that love would conquer all (and that one of us would convince the other to change his/her mind), procrastination was a way of life.

Somewhere in the next 10 years of happy couplehood, I came to realise that Nathan and I were very happy just the two of us....I enjoyed the travel, the time for theatre, music, sports and occasional bouts of total irresponsibility and spontaneity. When Crystal came to live with us, we really understood the total commitment that being a good parent demanded (and how much our lives would have to change to accommodate that). No more dinners at 10 pm or last minute nights out with the girls/guys. So 30 came and went, and I stopped asking the question.

So it was a bit of a surprise when after my 35th birthday, Nathan started asking the question, "Do you want to have kids?" I suppose, as a biologist, he could hear the clock ticking before I could. Each of us was more ready to accept the other's position, confident that we could be happy as long as we were together.

Then my body raised the question again, this time asking us to make a definite choice. A trip to the Dr revealed that I would need surgery--if we weren't going to have kids, the healthier, long-term option was a hysterectomy. If we wanted kids, well, there was a higher risk option. Surprisingly, we both quickly agreed, we would take the higher risk to keep our chance for a child.

While we were both confident that we would be happy together just us two, we began to become more proactive about starting a family. Our plans seemed thwarted when some follow-up Drs visits revealed the need for more surgery. This time, the surgery provided a much clearer prognosis....the chances of us having a child without medical intervention were small.

But just as we dealt with the question of EXACTLY how proactive we wanted to be, we were facing 2 months of traveling (separately) back to the US. In typical fashion, we agreed to procrastinate just a few months more. Luckily, divine intervention.

Nathan and I "fell" pregnant (that doesn't seem like the right language as it suggests it was some sort of accident--when miracle is more like it) in July. Before we knew of our luck, I was back in the US visiting my family. With no morning sickness and success a medical long-shot, it didn't occur to me that we might have succeeded until I met with Nathan in California. We kept our suspicions a secret until we could confirm it for sure.

When I returned to Australia, I made an appointment with the Dr for the bloodtest. It was positive--and we were already 9 weeks along. The Dr rushed us in for appointments, the next week we would need to get other tests done in preparation for our 12 week ultrasound scan.

It was incredible--seeing the baby move, hearing the heartbeat, watching it drink (Nathan thinks it was singing), seeing 5 tiny fingers wave at us. That moment with Nathan, who was drunk with happiness, was one of the closest we had ever shared as a couple.

I'm confident that the moments Nathan and I will share as parents will be some of the happiest and closest of our lives together.

As we are now out of the first trimester (baby is due 1 April, 2011), we wanted to let you know about our latest adventure--and hope you'll share in our excitement to be a part of it.

Kristin, Nathan, and the Bub (Australian slang for baby), here pictured in the classic "Thinker" pose.

Australian satire or Australian politics

2010-05-07T18:20:00.003+08:00

Okay, we've been here a few years now. I should be able to figure this out. But Australian politics baffles me.

Last week Premier Kevin Rudd delayed the launch of Australians Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) , which was meant to have big companies either pay for polluting or trade their carbon credits with more environmentally friendly companies. This was part of a huge initiative--which put Australia among the first to pledge a serious reduction in carbon emissions.

After more than a year to get the policy together, the government had to delay it because they couldn't get enough support to pass it. This was due largely to leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott, a global warming skeptic.

As every good minority party leader, he has to demonstrate that this delay is a failure of leadership.But today I was listening to what sounded like a "real interview" with the leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott. It was so funny I couldn't be sure it wasn't an example of subtle Australian humour. (this is a bit of a paraphrase...but you get the idea)

Mr Abbott: "So now the ETS is delayed until 2013. This stuff was so important we had to do something despite the economic crisis, I ask Mr Rudd, Isn't this stuff just going to keep piling up?"
Interviewer: I thought you didn't believe in global warning, so what's the problem?
Mr Abbot: I think global warming is a load of crap...but if its so important now imagine what it will be like in 2013?
Interviewer: (pause) but you don't believe in global warming....Its a load of crap.
Mr Abbot: I do think its a load of crap but it doesn't take Einstein to figure out if let this crap build up in 3 years time its going to be a lot of crap."

I think it was a real politics, but with the Austrlian sense of humour you can never be sure.

Olympic perspective

2010-02-28T14:37:00.002+08:00

So, I love the Olympics. I love the spirit of good sportsmanship, the grace in winning and losing, and the drinking, smoking, zamboni-riding party after the Canadian women's hockey team won the gold medal.
Actually, I think that celebrating the win of a lifetime on home ice, and bringing some of that celebration out of the locker room and inviting some of your supporters to see you being happy. It wasn't as if they went on a drunken rampage through the streets of Vancouver, they didn't rub it in while the American women were on the ice, and they didn't drive the Zamboni through the plexiglass. They had a glass of champagne, they had a beer, they had a cigar. I find that much less disturbing than the tradition of the medal count, and the idea that whoever has the most medals is kicking butt.
Kris and I were talking about that very thing, and we were thinking of how to better compare the sporting achievements per country. Do you compare medals per capita? That didn't seem like a good idea, since the largest populations are not necessarily the countries that have the resources to invest in developing athletes. Therefore, we set up a table of medals per million dollars GDP (as of 27th of Feb - I have today off, and couldn't wait until tomorrow for this, but I think we get the right idea.
The top 8 medal winners, as ranked by medals/million USD GDP.
8. China - with 11 medals as of today, thats 1 medal for every 432,545 million USD
7. US - 36 medals total = 1medal for every 396,388 million USD
6. Germany - 29 medals - even in a recession, that's 1 medal / 111,551 million USD
5. Russia - 15 medals, 1 medal / 83,666 million USD
4. South Korea - 14 medals, 1 medal / 57,164 million USD
3. Canada - the hosts have 25 medals, which is 1 medal / 52,760
2. Austria - 16 medals and serious economic slowdown equates to 1 medal / 23,400
Aaaaaaand the number one country in terms of medal economy is...
...the envelope please...
1. Norway! A truly tiny GDP when compared to some of the others, but 22 medals. That's one medal for every 16,772 million USD. Very impressive, and something for those of us with Halvorsons and Elvestroms in our family tree to be proud of.
Of course, this was just the top 8 - Norway was about as good as Slovenia, slightly better than Estonia, but not quite the all-time leader.
That goes to Latvia - 1 medal/12,100 million USD.
That's a pretty good ratio. If the Americans earned medals at that rate, we would have 1,179 in the medal count. Even though we're leading in the medal count, it sounds a little underachieving when it's put in perspective.

Day 5 -7 (We suck at this!)

2010-02-21T08:14:00.005+08:00

Day 5--Kia Ora to Windy Ridge:

This walk was relatively down hill for most of the day (Hallelujah!) It's big attraction was it was 3 big waterfalls along the way.

The really big highlight however was Nathan and I saw our first snake in Australia (ever); and yes it was poisonous. It's a tiger snake (we think).

We walked into Windy Ridge just as the wind picked up and it started to rain (perfect timing). It seemed like too much work to set up so we spent the night in a brand new hut with a huge drying room and a large communal kitchen area where almost everyone spent the night reading and playing cards.
Day 6: Windy Ridge to Echo Point Hut
The next day was an easy downhill walk on planked paths through lush green meadows. With rain sprinkling intermittantly, the trees were filled with birdsong. Overheating in our rainsuits, we stopped frequently to consult the bird book looking for superb fairy wren, cockatoos, and kurrawongs. We reached the suspension bridge that marks the final leg...the walk to Narcissus Hut and Lake St Claire.

Most of the other hikers stopped to set up camp on the lakeshore, planning to take the ferry back to the end of the trail. In a fit of machismo, Nathan and I decide to complete the Overland Track on foot--walking to Echo Point Hut and the last 15km to the end of the Lake.

This forest track was less-travelled--overgrown with giant ferns muddy and less repaired. I had taken off the bottoms to my rainsuit to allow for better temperature regulation (whew...steamy), and within 15 minutes was a wet, muddy mess. We arrived at Echo Point hut to find a fire in the coal heater and a place to dry our soaked socks.

After dinner, we walked the lakeshore searching for platypus but there was not a single sign of good habitat or platypi frollicking in the dusk.

Day 7: Echo Point Hut to the Lake St Claire Visitors centre.
We got an early start on the hike back to Lake St Claire...the ferns were covered in a thick dew and caught the morning sunlight. Again, we were soaked and muddy in the first 15 minutes. There is something psychological that happens when you are told you are on the last flat stretch....every minor hill becomes a major discouragement. As soon as we met the first day hikers out for a walk, the remaining kilometers crawled by...."Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

When we hit the national park, people looked on in an admiring disgust. Admiring our fortitude at the long hike, disgust at the smell which permeated our clothes--sweat and coal. Before heading for the showers, we paused to say goodbye to our friends from the trail and to sign the register completing our walk.

Finally clean, we bought a lunch of fresh fruit and coffee (which was a major treat after a week of freeze-dried food!) and caught the bus back to Launceston. We arrived at Kilmarnock House where we filled the jacuzzi with hot water, drank red wine, and ate pizza. HEAVEN.

Day 4: Pelion to Kia Ora

2010-02-01T20:19:00.003+08:00

The ongoing (retrospective) saga of the overland track continues, as told by Nathan. Kris, while she has plenty to say about this particular day, not much of it is suitable for public consumption. If you ask her about this day, she sounds like Yosemite Sam with a migraine.
If I say that we got a late start, I dare say you wouldn't be surprised. We hit the trail at 9am, and had a tough slog up to the pass, called Pelion Gap. From here, there was the option of climbing Mt. Ossa, the tallest mountain in Tasmania. Well, it was beautiful, not too hot, and there was a rumor that there was snow at the top, so we dropped the packs and started up. and up. and a quick down, then...up.
Now, by the time we were at the pass, we had already climbed about 1000 feet, and Kris was not in a good place. Since I am writing this, I think that I can honestly say that I offered to forego the ascent, in the interests of domestic harmony. She insisted that it would be okay. So we went.
Also because I am writing this, I am able to vividly recall roughly 718 times that I offered to turn around, since Kris was clearly having a rough time. Each time, with alternating weariness and peevishness, she assured me that it would be fine, it was a great day for a climb, we would likely never have this opportunity again, and how come we couldn't bring more water.
By the time we crested the summit, some of the other helpful hikers had pointed out that it wasn't the summit. The path was helpfully angled so that you couldn't see the fake-out that led you to believe that you were about to get to the top, until you got to the top of what you thought was the mountain, only to find that there was about another bjillion boulders to scramble over, leap across, and about another 1000 feet to climb.
Once morale had been restored to the minimum required for summit conquering, we scrambled, leapt, and climbed to the real summit. Kris lay down and fell asleep while I looked for water. There was a small patch of snow, and I woke up Kris to have a look before it melted.
The descent was very similar to the ascent, with the addition of facing the perilous drop-offs, making it even more hair raising.
(During this all, we were passed by the 9 year-old and her family)
(twice)
At the base, there were 2 surprises.
One - the ravens had unzipped all of the packs of one of the tour groups, as well as the family from Perth's, stealing treats and - even worse - their toilet paper.
Two - a guy came through, jogging. He was running from start to finish that day, about 80 km (50 miles). Not only was he running it, he wasn't even part of a race, he was running it alone. Now I have to ask you...doesn't that sound great? Maybe any other day this suggestion would have been received more gracefully, but today, Kris was not very receptive to the conversation.
So...moving on.
One of the ways to keep sane on these warmer days is to take off your boots occasionally, especially if you're next to an icy stream that is ankle deep. That's where we stopped initially.
Another way to stay cooler is to take a dip in an icy pool under a waterfall. That's where we stopped at the end of the walk. And when I say "dip" I mean sliding off of the submerged rock at comfortable knee-depth to be immersed in water that made you feel like your chest was in a vice it was so cold. I pretty much levitated, Bugs Bunny-like, and ran on the surface back to shore. Kris, slightly braver, stayed in for about 14 seconds.
Still shivering, we walked back up to camp, where we admired a passing quoll, ate dinner, and hung up our clothes to dry.
And so ended a very, very long day.

Windermere to Pelion : Day 3

2010-01-18T20:16:00.005+08:00

Well, if you're not into suspense, then I'll just say that this day doesn't get any easier, but it ends with a bang. Hope that doesn't spoil anything.

See, day 3 was New Year's Eve, but the day started early - at least, a 7am departure is early for these hikers. It was meant to get pretty hot - Tasmania is famous for its unpredictable weather, with blizzards possible even in summer, so our clothing was geared more to preventing hypothermia than preventing heat stroke, and we figured that an early jump was our best bet. So of course we were about the last people out of camp. The hike today was 17km, with a short side trip to a scenic overlook and a long side trip that I took to see what was there (nothing).
On the way, however, we got a close up of one of Australia's unique animals. The echidna, while resembling the love child of a hedgehog and a porcupine, is actually quite different, and belonging to that rarest of biological orders, the monotremes. This means that they are egg-laying mammals, with only the elusive platypus as company. That is just one of the cool things about them, including the fact that they don't have nipples, just patches of skin through which they lactate. Also, their young are called puggles.
Anyway, we watched for some time as this little guy sat in the middle of an ant hill, happy as a pig at the trough, as the stinging insects crawled all over our spiny friend, while he shovelled them in as fast as they could cross his snout. I tried to catch it on video, but you would need a bigger screen than Best Buy offers to see the ants. (Incidentally, the ants, known as Jack Jumpers in Tasmania, aka Myrmecia pilosula, are an aggressive species of ant with a sting that is amongst the most venemous of any insect, and allergic reactions cause more deaths in Tasmania annually than spiders, sharks, wasps, and snakes combined - a new thing to fear in Australia! Hooray!) Anyway, here we go...

So the long hike continued, with a foreign legion-like cloth sticking out the back of my cap to protect me from the hole in the ozone. We passed through a bewildering array of landscapes, from a high tundra-like region dotted with lakes, to deep myrtle forest and everything in between. As we passed through the region called frog flats, promises of leeches kept us from even slowing down until we we reached camp.

Setting up our tent on a 4 tent platform, we were amused to find that the other three tents were occupied by residents of Perth, and after we all kicked off our boots for a while, we found ourselves meeting up separately at the swimming hole (backtracking 30 minutes - but what else do you do for a break during the hike except go for a walk?). Here we met a couple of guys who had just trekked out of the real wilderness over the "Never Never" and set up shop in the emergency shelter which was the old pelion hut. They gave us rudimentary directions to the one landmark that was the one must-have side trip for me.
After a little crashing through the bush with Scott and Michaela from Perth, we found an abandoned copper mine. Having been unprepared for the possibility that it would just be wide open, we - all four of us knowing that we were headed to an abandoned mine shaft - had neglected to bring a flashlight. Lighting our way through intermittent flashes from the camera, we carefully edged in about 50 feet, but had to stop our amateur spelunking for fear of, well, fear. Fear of snakes, spiders, jumping ants, falling ceilings, huge Indiana Jonesish pits with booby traps and tribes of heart-stealing cannibals. Fortunately, we retreated just ahead of the tarantulas that were no doubt lurking just around the corner.

So, if that wasn't the big bang at the end of the post, what was it? It certainly wasn't the huge splurge that we allowed ourselves - 1 oz. of bailey's in a tiny little bottle especially to celebrate New Year's Eve. No, the big bang was a firework show.

A truly spectacular thunderstorm rolled through with peals of thunder and flashes of lightning all around, rain lashing the tent and wind trying to tear us from the tent platform. A huge bear of a storm fronted up, threatened us with a show of ferocity, then backed off, grumbling into the early hours of the morning. It was especially great, since a) our tent stayed dry, and b) we didn't get struck by lightning. And we dozed off contentedly, prepared for tomorrow's big climb.

Waterfall Valley Hut to Lake Windemere

2010-01-17T11:24:00.005+08:00

With the leaky thermarests, you might expect that it was a restless night. Exhaustion, however, is a wonderful sleeping pill. Nathan and I woke at about 8:00 (after most other tent hikers had breakfast and packed their tents and came by the hut to wash up their dirty dishes). Having realized that we were carrying much heavier food than everyone else, we decided to eat the heaviest breakfast we could....pancakes.

Our cookstove is a whispalite...which has a great reputation for being reliable, light, and boils water very quickly. Our stove also has a reputation for releasing the occasional fireball when you light it. I had wanted to buy another stove, but Nathan promised he would do all the cooking so I wouldn't burn my eyebrows off. Clever boy that he is, he had deduced that if he does all the cooking, I would have to do all the washing up. Let's just say, when you are trying to scrub off maple syrup without soap you realize just how smart your husband is.

As we packed up, hikers stopped by to chat. Their opening comment to Nathan was always, "have you seen your neck? It's really sunburnt." Yesterday had been a beautiful sunny day, about 85 degrees in Tassie. Not hot at all by WA standards. But, because of the heat in WA, we don't usually spend 10 hours in the sun. Both of us had sunburned necks, ears, temples, and perhaps most awkwardly the backs of our hands. Because Tassie has a reputation for being cold and wet, we had only packed about 2 oz of suncreen (and 10 oz of bugspray) and began rationing it out for our 7 day trip.

We hit the trail by 9:00 am (leisurely start) but weren't worried as today was a scheduled short day. The trail led off through a beautiful valley. As late as we were, we had the valley to ourselves. Looking at the birds and the clouds around the mountains, the sun peeking into deeper parts of the valley, it was like walking through a postcard.
As we hiked out of the valley, we crossed a large plain in full sun. Shade was rare and at every tree we passed a group of hikers stopped to rest for their morning snack. We marched on promising ourselves we would take a rest and reapply sunscreen at Lake Wills.

At the turnoff to the Lake, we dropped our packs. We had been warned about crows, possums, and quolls stealing food from packs at these turn offs. These animals were smart enough to know that food was usually kept accessible to the hikers so they looked for zippers to open in search of food. We covered our packs in our rain gear, then stacked our packs on top of each other to prevent theft.

After walking about 1k on a easy boardwalk, we reached a small beach facing Barn Bluff. We took off our boots (HEAVEN) and Nathan waded into the cold water to cool his feet. Now, you probably know but I have an intense dislike of ticks (some might call it a phobia), but reading our guidebooks had tranferred this phobia to other blood-sucking organisms. Listed under dangers in our guide book, were the following: Exposure, Snake Bites, River Crossings, Gastro, and Leech Bites. I don't want everyone to think I'm a big weenie. I don't like the idea of leeches but felt I could be an adult and calmly remove a leech if need be---- UNTIL I read the following sentence, "If unfortunate to have a leach in a sensitive place, SUCH AS AN EYE, then apply a mild salt solution until the leech releases." I brought an entire salt shaker to surround my sleeping bag in salt as a circle of protection.

I sat on the sand thinking about leeches and my hot feet when a family of 5 arrived at the beach. Scott and Christine and their 3 girls (Mikaela (14), Amy(11), and Sophie (9)). Everyone straight in the water to cool off. That's when I realized I was being a weenie....and I got in. It was bliss. Besides, with all these young girls they had much tenderer meat than me to feed on.

that's me, looking for leeches

When we left the lake, we returned to the turnoff to pick up our packs. A few people hadn't taken precautions, their bags had been burgled. Ravens had tried to make off with fresh apples. (For those of you non-hikers, fresh fruit is a LUXURY--very heavy. So to lose a lb of apples that you had carried over cradle mountain is a tragedy).

Barn Bluff on the left and Cradle Mountain on the right. We've come a long way baby!

The hike took us between several highland lakes, before we finally wound our way down to Lake Windemere, a large lake about 300 m from our campsite. We paused there for a late lunch before hiking up to the campsite to set up our tent. By the time we arrived, we couldn't find a tent platform to ourselves. We ended up sharing with a father and son, Michael and Chris.

At this point, we have another realization about why our packs are so heavy compared to everyone else. Nathan and I carry a 3-person tent. It has enough space for us to store our packs inside the tent without having to sleep on our side all night. Everyone else at the campsite has a 2 person tent and stores their packs in the hut (to prevent animal break-ins). Our tent weighs 4kg, our neighbor's tent was just under 2kg. We didn't even fit on the tent platform!

After setting up, we wandered back down to the Lake for a swim. The water was cold, but eventually Nathan tiptoed his way in. While we were swimming, we met another couple from WA, Sharon and Dean, that had made a goal to swim EVERY DAY on the trail.

Nathan thinks the water is too cold! What sort of Alaskan did I marry?

You may not realize how important this is. Most people (except Nathan and I) only bring 2 sets of clothes for the hike: A set of clothes you hike in, and a set of clothes that you change into at camp. With as physically demanding as some of the hiking is, you can imagine what the hiking clothes smell like even after 2 days. That's why swimming daily is a good goal. Nathan and I had one extra set of clothes that means we could wash one pair and wear a dry pair the next day.
There is a problem with this. It means you have to put a wet pair of clothes in your pack while you hike, which can be just as gross and if you think about it: WET CLOTHES ARE HEAVY. Next time, I think I'd rather stink.

Refreshed after our swim and dinner, we decide to sneak down to the Lake to see if we can achieve one of our goals for the trip, seeing a platypus in the wild. All is still in the deepening dusk, until a wombat snuffles its way across the path into some deeper scrub brush near the water. Eventually, we give up waiting and return to our tent. Tomorrow is the longest day of hiking and rumours have circulated it will reach 90 degrees. We promise ourselves an early start--7:00 AM.

Day 1; Ronnie Creek to Cradle Mtn to Waterfall Valley Hut

2010-01-13T21:06:00.006+08:00

it's the big day....start of the Overland Track. Our stay in the caravan park wasn't too comfortable so we are easily up by 7:30 am, start the day with oatmeal and coffee, before donning our packs.

We load on our packs. Nathan's weighed 23 kg; 25 with water (55 lbs). Mine is 21 kg, 23 kg with water, almost 50 lbs. WATER is HEAVY! Each of us were hiking with 2 liters--so an additional 4.4 pounds of water every day.

We walk from the caravan park to the bus stop outside the cradle mountain park. After about 10 minutes, I'm thinking, "man this pack is heavy, I've got another 45 miles of this!" Bad sign! Once we are on the bus, we are excited that we are the only hikers on the bus. It means that our hike won't be like standing in line at Disneyland.

We arrive at the Ronnie Creek bus stop, the official start of the overland track. While we are taking the documentary photo above, a private touring company pulls up and unloads 12 hikers. Hello disneyland!

The hike starts in a highland valley covered in lichen, moss, and button grass with streams wandering throughout--prime wombat country. To protect the grassland, the hike starts on a boardwalk--its like a freeway and Nathan and I get a head start on the tour group. After a few km, we start a gentle climb up to Crater Lake. We stop for a brief pause to put on our Gaiters (heavy canvas shin guards to protect against snake bites) at the Cradle Falls, where the tour group catches up with us. As they are resting in the climb, we head up hill trying to put a little distance between us and them . From here it gets steeper climbing 300m in less than a km, so the tour group catches us again by the time we reach Kitchen Hut (our lunch stop), where we drop our packs for the climb up Cradle Mountain.

From Kitchen Hut, Cradle Mountain is a 320 m climb over 2.4 km. That sounded pretty steep, but after I took off my pack, I felt so much lighter I was sure I could manage 2.4 km walking. Foolishly, I hadn't realised that about 1/3 of the way up the mountain, you stop walking and start scrambling over giant granite boulders. This continues for a long time....just when you get to the top of what you can see, there's a saddle so you have to crab-walk down the boulders for .5 km before you start crawling over the really steep stuff on the way to the top.

We came from all way down there....pretty steep huh? On the far side of the lake, there's a little parking lot that you can just see in this photo - then up from that there's a belt of dark green trees. If you follow that around to the left, well, that's almost at the beginning of the trail. And we're about 1/2 way through the first day. I can't believe I'm still smiling at this point. Here we are approaching the summit! It was a little bit like the cover of the Led Zepplin album Houses of the Holy, only steeper.

By the time we get to the top, I'm too tired to look around.

After resting at the summit, we crabwalk down the rocks until we are able to hike again. Despite the fact that we still have 5 km to hike to Waterfall Valley hut, I'm grateful to finally be able to walk again. Even though its all downhill from here, the last few km take on that "are we there yet?" sort of feeling. My knees, feet, and BUTT are super sore from the cradle mountain climb, so when we get to Waterfall Valley where we are supposed to be camping, we collapse and decide to stay in the trekking huts provided. These enclosed shelters have picnic tables and a mattress free wood platform to place your sleeping bag on.

We are the envy of the other campers in the hut as Nathan makes his famous TVP burritos (with a special treat...FIRE SAUCE from Taco Bell. THANKS GRETCHEN!)...that is until we find out that fellow walkers Jo & Ben are carrying all freeze-dried food and their packs are 7 kg lighter than EACH of ours. Then we envy them a bit!

Exhausted we discover one fatal mistake: Our thermarest mattress pads BOTH have slow leaks (and slowly deflate over a period of a half an hour). Since some friends had borrowed them and had to use them to get out of the sand after they got stuck during a camping trip, we had made a point to test them before our trip. The leaks were just slow enough that we didn't detect them during our testing, but fast enough to deflate before we could fall asleep.

It's going to be a long night.

Overland Track adventure

2010-01-09T14:30:00.005+08:00

I must have been crazy last July when I registered Nathan and I for the Overland Track in Tasmania. Our last hike in Minnesota was, um, "eventful." I badly sprained an ankle, Nathan got heat stroke (2x) and there were ticks, lots and lots of ticks. But hiking is like marathons, some endorphin-related amnesia kicks in and despite all practical experiences which tells you hiking is going to be hard and dirty, you dream of savouring a hot cup of coffee before an open fire, then ambling through pristine wilderness listening to birdcalls and babbling brooks. When in reality, there is a lot more sweat, dirt, and not enough hot coffee.

So, in July, I proposed a "cheap vacation" to Tasmania to hike the 80km Overland Track from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Claire. Nathan didn't argue, he's just happy for me to do the vacation planning for a change. I booked a hiking permit for the 29th December which only allows 60 people on the trail on our start date for a $250, plus a parks pass ($120). Then the plane fare, ($2400), then bus transfers ($240) then a hotel with a spa bath for the last 3 days ($450 ). Our cheap holiday--$3500, we could have gone to Bali for 3 weeks! but still not enough money for 2 plane tickets back to the US at Christmas.

You will notice the phrase mountain in the title, it didn't strike me at the time, but later planning the journey it caught my eye. What do they mean Mountain? Well, the tallest Mountain in Tasmania is Mt Ossa at 1600 m. (5300 ft) So, its not going to break any records in Alaska (but maybe in MN). The whole place is forested, hills and valleys sprinkled with highland lakes, and really ROCKY granite peaks. Sounds lovely, right?

On boxing day (26 Dec), we spent the bulk of the day packing our back packs, weighing them, taking out some clothes, weighing them again, taking out some food, weighing again, taking out mroe clothes, and weighing again. Without water or fuel, Nathan's pack weighed 22kg and mine was 20 kg. That night, we grabbed the red-eye to Launceston. We headed to our B&B, before explore the 3rd oldest city in Australia. The historic buildings have mostly been preserved the occasional modern or art deco building popping up. With a pop of 120,000 Launceston is the 2nd largest city in Tasmania (500,000), with 1/4 of the state a National Park.

After dropping our packs and catching a quick nap, we went out for a 5 hour walk, including Launceston's famous Cataract Gorge. We chose the steep zig-zag trail which provides beautiful views of the river. In the gorge, they have a chairlift over the lake. On the chairlift, Nathan spotted 2 seals. He just couldn't believe that they would swim up river to frolic in some Australian's swimming hole.
At the end of the day, we walked back to town looking for a nice pub for dinner.
As we headed to Launceston's downtown, we stumbled upon Launcheston's annual cycling race. From our vantage point in the pub, we were able to see Lycra-clad speedsters racing around our city block. We didn't understand the rules or who won, but it was entertaining to watch them cycling in circles to the applause of an enthusiastic crowd.

The next morning, we caught a bus to Cradle Mountain National Park. After dropping our packs at the Caravan Park, we went for a hike around Dove Lake and Wombat Pool, another 5 hour hike. (I don't know we kept walking, what did we think we would be doing for the next week?!?!?) On the way back from our hike, we had our first Aussie Wildlife encounter a Wombat.

Tomorrow, we head off for the first day of the Overland Track (Day 1--Cradle Mountain!).

Merry Christmas Australia style

2009-12-24T19:45:00.004+08:00

We thought you would like to hear some Australian traditional Christmas carols--
I mean what do you do when every song you on the christmas albums refer to a white christmas?

Aussie Jingle Bells

The temperature is set to be above 90 so the reindeer aren't so appropriate. Here's Rolf Harris' solution.

Finally, you can't forget the historical issues.

Who's gonna make the gravy? This version by Paul Kelly.

I just love that one of the most classic Australian Christmas songs is the heartbreaking tale of someone writing home from jail. But still it strikes a chord for those of us who are missing friends and family this Christmas. So, from the penal colony, Merry Christmas.

Thailand itinerary 8

2009-11-24T22:08:00.005+08:00

ummm...sorry, back to the trip (its been a very busy month more about that later).

Just a last few things about our Thailand trip which we haven't gotten too yet.

Day 8: Chang Mai Mega Tour
Awake in a rush because our alarm didn't go off and the "back up wake up call" wasn't clearly communicated. So we wake up at 8 am to a knock on the door to say our tuk tuk has arrived for the tour. We are out the door in 5 minutes, no coffee, combs and toothbrushing optional.

After picking up the other tourists...including 4 spanish tourists who meet on the tour bus and are fast friends within minutes, we head to the first stop of the day--the orchid & butterfly farm. As big of a biology geek as Nathan is, after a few photos the first priority becomes finding a coffee shop at the butterfly farm.

From there we headed about an hour into the country through some gorgeous lush hills on a barely maintained road. The first adventure stop--white water rafting. Nathan and I had more dangerous tours on our first kayak trip down the Iowa river, but it was fun and the kids with us had a great time. As long as we were wet, our guides dropped us at a waterfall for a quick dip. Several pools of fast moving water were the best jacuzzi we could ask for.

We had a lovely lunch before heading out for an elephant ride through the forest. Seeing these beautiful animals up close was wonderful. Following our elephant ride, our tour took us back to the river for a bamboo raft ride.

We finished our day with a walk to a hill village which featured members of the Long Neck Tribe. The girls wear brass rings around their necks to "protect from tiger bites". The Long Neck Tribes are Burmese refugees which are displaced around Chang Mai.

After a long day, we headed back to Chang Mai for a quick dinner before heading out to a Muay Thai boxing match. Nathan took hundreds of action photos of the night but caught a few fantastic ones.

Thailand itinerary 6 & 7

2009-10-28T18:11:00.011+08:00

Day 6: Planes, trains & automobiles (longboat, ferry, taxi, and tuk-tuk).

We said good-bye to Phi Phi Island in the morning. We walked 1/2 mile from our bungalow to the longboats which took us to catch the morning ferry to Phuket town. It was a beautiful day, so we sat on the sundeck soaking in our last views of this tropical paradise. As the ferry moved through the water it disturbed the native flying fish. About the size of sparrows, these fish would skim across the water like a skipped rock. At times the ferry would disturb a school of them and it was like an explosion out of the water. After an entire roll of film, Nathan finally gave up getting a picture of their erratic acrobatics.
After negotiating hard for a taxi at the ferry terminal, we hired a cab to take us to the Big Buddha on our way to the Phuket airport. the Big Buddha is exactly what it sounds like:
45 m high and 25 m across the base, covered alabaster. Its funded by govt, entry fees, and other 'cause related marketing"--such as you can buy a bell to hang at the buddha's feet, or write your name on a piece of alabaster that will be cemented into the buddha. The project has been going on for 20 years, and this December will be a landmark. The eyes of the buddha will be placed on the statue. Then they will cover the base with alabaster and statues of famous buddhist monks.

From the Big Buddha,we arrived at the airport to catch a plane to Bangkok. Our travel agent had recommended that the night train from Bangkok to Chang Mai is a good use of time and money. For the same rate as your hotel room, you can get a comfortable night's sleep and see some of the country side.

Exhausted people were sleeping on the floor in the Bangkok station...I should have taken that as a hint. But I was too tired, after 4 days of sleeping on our resort extra-firm mattress. When we got on the train, our sleeping compartment was actually 2 bench seats facing each other, with a padded shelf above it. After dinner (which we passed on), the table was stowed beneath the seat. The seat folded down and our steward put on sheets, pillow and a blanket, before doing the same for the padded shelf. Curtains offered privacy for changes into your pajamas. The train was FAR more comfortable than the resort bed....ah,, [squeal of the brakes] adjust the pillow, I can't quite seem to block out the light....twitch the curtain, someone walking to toilet compartment. [repeat every 6 min]. Sigh, might as well start reading.

Day 7: Arrive in Chang Mai, Wat, Wat, Wat?

We arrived in Chang Mai on the morning train...searching the guide book for a place to stay. Lonely Planet thinks that we are "flash packers"--too mature to want to stay in a dorm room style backpackers joint with thumping music but too cheap to pay for concerige service, bellhops, and a private bathroom. We stepped off the train with a short-list of cheap hotels and were quickly targetted by "spruikers" for a hotel. The rate was right and we didn't have to share a bathroom. "SOLD!"
After a quick shower, we headed out into the Old town to eat some food from street vendors and check out the temples that are part of Chang Mai's fame. Our lunch was multiple, mystery, deep fried items (fish balls, chicken, wontons) provided enough energy to walk the Temple Trail. After seeing several Wats, we ended with a visit to Wat Chedi Luang, a crumbling ancient temple in the centre with a newer ornate temple nearby.
We caught a Tuk-tuk (a covered taxi/minibus that picks up multiple fares at a time) to the hotel. After another shower, we headed to the Chang Mai night markets for dinner and deals. As we approach the market, stall after stall of watches, DVDs, thai silk bedspreads, scarves, fisherman pants, t-shirts line street after street. We found the seafood market and caught a table for dinner of local fish curries.

Thailand itinerary 1-5

2009-10-24T09:20:00.009+08:00

Day 1: Patong Beach--This is the Cancun of Thailand...beautiful beaches, filled with bars, cabarets, "cheap, cheap" market stalls. The beach may have been beautiful but not more beautiful than WA, and hard to appreciate as "tuk-tuk" drivers, market vendors sold Rolex watches for $10, and sequined women/men in drag advertised beer specials all vied for your attention. After walking throught the night markets, we found a bar where the most attention getting thing was a bottle of "CHANG" (thai budweiser) and a fierce game of connect 4.

Day 2: Ferry to Phi Phi Island: We came to Thailand on the edge of the Wet season. We found we hadn't quite missed the monsoons, when getting caught in the rain during a trip to the 7-11 left us soaked to the skin. After changing into dry clothes, we caught a taxi to the Ferry. The weather was sti ll ominous for the ferry ride, and we got soaked again as we stood outside to watch the approach to Phi Phi Island. We took a Thai long boat to the resort, where we finished the day in style. Nathan in the beachside bar watching Eurosport, and me at the beachside massage stand getting my first Thai massage.

Day 3: OW, what sort of bed is this? I don't know if its a cultural thing (or if our resort was just really cheap, but I swear we didn't have a mattress, just a wooden plank wrapped in sheets. After a delicious breakfast (nothing like chillis in the morning) we decided to walk to town to book our trip from Bangkok to Chang Mai. 1 mile into town, being called upon by vendors. If a price isn't posted, you are expected to haggle. so as we walk down the street, we hear "pretty lady try beautiful thai silk, $500 Baht, wait---for you special price $300 Baht, ...$150 Baht--best I can do" We had a curry for lunch at a beachside restaurant before deciding to hike around the Island, top to bottom. With a humidity of 100% the climb to the top was exhausting and sweaty. After a change of clothes, we decided to finish the day with beer and massage on the beach.

Day 4: Ow, maybe we should sleep on the floor? Our next goal was to take a trip to Hollywood superstar Ko Phi Phi Leh . Featured in the movie The Beach, this limestone island juts out of the Andaman like a crown. White sand, turqoise water, green plants. thousands of tourists. snorkelling, a trip to monkey

Day 5: We decided to finish our time in phi phi with a kayak trip around the island. After a few false starts we paddled out to a more secluded resort where we had a plate of fruit, a beer, and some time in the hammock. This resort included my first trip to a squat toilet--but years of camping have prepared me for this moment.

Tomorrow off to Bangkok----

Nathan Vs. The Papaya Salad

2009-10-11T12:28:00.004+08:00

...so in keeping with the last few posts, this was going to be titled, "Nathan Vs. His Groin" but thought that would get some disappointed web surfers.
You see, we're in Thailand, and while there are many reasons to be writing about your groin in Thailand, it is not usually because of muscle tears. We had booked this great trip, with a stay on the unfortunately transliterated Phi Phi island (pee pee island). Pause for snickering, because I don't care how old you are, it's kind of funny. Phi Phi island has many things going for it, including great water for diving and some warm water corals, and some things which are not in the favourable column, such as having been the set for the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach and a tendency to attract tsunamis. But most of these things require one to be of sound body.
So, back to my groin. Adding another reason to Kris' list of reasons that I should not be playing goalie in hockey (expensive equipment, my inflexibility, the bad influence of the other players) is injuries. Not just bruising now, but tearing two muscles in one maladroit maneuver. And this just days before leaving town to go for what was, at least ostensibly, a dive holiday.
Unable to put on my own socks (God bless the Aussie love of flip flops), we were able to rule out a wetsuit, and so we sought out other pursuits. Chief amongst these is gastrotourism.
I'm sure that there is another word for it. Epicurism? Tourphages? I think i'll stick with gastrotourism for now, and it's a nice way to travel.
Green curry? Tried it. Panang curry with coconut sauce? Tried it. What's that fish - oh never mind, can you grill it up and bring it over? Great! Do you mind bringing a large beer, also? Thanks.
Now I know what you're thinking - you're concerned about the chilli factor. It hasn't been a problem so far, and is easily avoided if you want to. But every now and then, just occasionally, one will sneak up on you. Papaya salad? How spicy can that be?
Let me tell you - 660 ml of Chiang beer later, coconut curry prawn, an ear of corn from the sreet vendor, and my lips are still tingling. But it's a good kind of burn.
And it's taken my mind off of my groin.

Nathan Vs. The Clown

2009-09-15T22:34:00.002+08:00

So there's this new guy at hockey. I think that he's the one who pinged me on the shoulder with a puck at the end of practice yesterday - not the same shoulder as last time, but through a similar series of events left me with a shoulder so sore that I could not raise my beer to my mouth, which believe me, is pretty sore. He doesn't have a great shot, but he's got good dexterity, is very solid on his skates but deceptively graceful.

He should be. After all, he's a clown.

Derek is an actor from Toronto in town with Slava's Snow Show, which is a theatre event which defies description. The quote online is that Slava's "is to clowning what Cirque de Soleil is to circus." A bold statement, but one which we put to the test tonight.

Not having a clue as to what the show was about, just that it's a Russian clown show (which really didn't enlighten Kris and I, unfamiliar as we are with Russian clowns), we got tickets because 1) we thought it would be a good way to spend a Tuesday otherwise squandered on NCIS reruns, and 2) it would be cool to see Derek in action (off the ice).

Well. If you've never been, go. You can borrow my car. It turns out that the Snow Show is a visually arresting spectacle which makes you laugh out loud, want to cry, and made an octagenarian in front of us grin like a little boy. I still don't know what it was about, and will likely have flashbacks during which I try to assign some sort of narrative which may not exist or which may be completely inferred, but even on a Tuesday, surrounded by an audience remarkable only for its tepidness (tepidity? tepiduosity?), it was a moving, enjoyable night.

The only down side is that this week the Snow Show will be leaving town, and so will Derek, riding through the rainy Perth winter night on a Vespa, his hockey gear strapped to his back, stick like an antenna high above his helmet, and long curly clown hair waving in the breeze behind him, leaving smiles in his wake.

I'd toast him, but I can't raise this stinkin' glass...

Nathan Vs. The Marathon

2009-08-31T20:34:00.002+08:00

So, I've been training for this marathon-thingy for a few weeks, thinking - as you do - that I never put in this much training before, and I've always been okay, but neglecting to consider the fact that the first marathon was something like 14 years ago, and while that's not very much time in geological terms, in the life of someone who, given a choice, would be a completely sedentary being, it's actually time for quite a few changes to take place.

Atrophy of the sense of humor, for one, and also a tendency to run-on sentences (looking back at that first sentence makes me cringe, but I'll leave the words as they are to lend an air of authenticity and a stream-of-consciousness sort of Faulkenerian...damn, doing it again).

Two weeks ago, when a pipe burst under the sink, causing water to spray an outlet, causing a fuse to blow which, when I went out of the front door, the resulting chimney effect caused the back door to slam shut, and breaking it - well, that sort of Chevy Chase morning would usually have me rolling on the floor. But not during marathon training.

Instead, it took series of totally bizarre, classic Fremantle (the town we live in) events to bring it all back to perspective.

1) On a run later that morning, I spotted a group of people in white pajamas and red belts chasing around one of the parks, wrestling with what appeared to be a bear. We are talking like, a couple-dozen people here, and splashing around in a 50 degree drizzle. In pajamas - or did I mention that already? Intrigued, I ran a little closer, and discovered that they were enacting the running of the bulls in Pamplona, with the part of the Bull being played by a guy in a rented costume and no audience - just out there having fun.

Interesting, but I still needed more.

2) That Same Day - we boarded a train into the city, and found ourselves on a carriage of 25 or so guys in their late twenties, all dressed as characters from Harry Potter, complete with broomsticks and wands, using the don't-fall-over straps to hold themselves up and pretend that they were flying on the broomsticks. Other than loud, they were a pretty pleasant bunch, and actually gave a broomstick to a little boy as he was leaving, cheering loudly when he "flew" along side the departing train car.

Surreal, yes, but not enough to re-align my sense of humor.

3) Later That Night - on the way back from the city, our train was boarded by a jungle. A dozen or so people dressed variously as foliage, big cats, and intrepid explorers got on board. No explanation, just having a good time.

Okay, okay! I surrender! All this in one day? Really! Somebody is telling me something.

All in all, this sort of day - starting with the burst pipe and continuing on through George of the Jungle's appearance at the end of the day, was enough to keep me smiling all through the marathon yesterday - well, most of the marathon. It took a long, long time, and nobody can smile for that long, I don't care which infomercial they work for.

Audience poll: First thing that pops into your mind when I type the new word usement I'm structuring, "Marathong"
I kept typing it by accident, then started wondering if it was really for some, non-freudian reason that I would need your help divining. Or maybe it's just the obvious...

Nathan Vs. The Puck

2009-08-08T16:31:00.005+08:00

Kris has been trying to get me to re-enact my last trip to the US, and the misadventures of an episode of my life which we will think of as Nathan Vs. United Airlines, but it is actually fairly boring. A standard litany of airline ills, any one or two of which you may well expect on a trip, but ALL of which occurred on the trip from Perth to SFO. So, start with the phrase, "We're sorry Mr. Mannix, but you don't actually have a ticket..." being uttered at 5:30 AM, and use your imagination from there.

No, I like to focus on the other painful things in my life.

So, before you have a look at the photo below, you need to know 3 things;

1) I don't bruise. Ever. I have had one slight bruise in the last 5 years, and that was a broken finger.
2) I am very shy, so it is rare that you will ever see my bare flesh on the internet.
and,
3) It is very difficult to capture bruises on camera. You get the general sense of contrast, but it is difficult to highlight the halo of sickly, yellow discoloration around the main bruise.

So, without further delay...

It is worth noting that I don't play in a hugely competitive league or anything, and this is from the kick-around session on Monday nights.

damn - I should have flexed.

Interesting marketing strategy

2009-07-26T08:18:00.002+08:00

(Okay, I've been waiting for Nathan to regale you with the horrors of his flight to California, but its just too painful. I think he's repressing the memories.)

In the meantime, I saw this in the local advertiser and was fascinated. It brought me back to my days in grad school with Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, a nationally know feminist critic from University of MN. GST is a little different from sales tax in the US, because just about EVERYTHING has GST but it really got me thinking.

It made me want to research and write an outraged article. But remembering very little of my rhetorical criticism pedagogy, I just thought I would raise these 3 questions.

1) Can you think of a similar product that every guy has to use for both health purposes and social acceptability? Do you think it would be taxed?

2) What sort of marketing campaign is this? It was on the back page, full colour spread of the advertising leaflet. What emotion are they tapping into...........resentment? that never makes me like the airlines!

3) Do you think this would work in the US?

Love to hear what you think! Now, let me just find that textbook.

Back in Oz (continued, CA edition)

2009-07-09T21:59:00.008+08:00

......So I picked up Nathan at the airport in a cheap off-airport rentacar. The airconditioner sounded like a jet and the engine light came on approximately 30 minutes from the airport.
Nathan had a horrible flight (a tale that I will let him tell...as his bad luck continued on the way home too) so he really just needed it to be over.

We drove up to Santa Rosa to meet Deb & Tim at their new house. Deb & Tim greeted us with a fantastic BBQ (Australian style) to relax to before Nathan collapsed of exhaustion. Conveniently, Deb & Tim's next door neighbor was out of town and Gretchen got to house-sit, and we were invited as guests too. It was really nice because we could walk over or Caitlyn could walk over whenever she wanted, but everybody got enough space.

Gretchen had come for a visit around Easter, and kept extending her stay to house-sit for this friend and then that one....before finally deciding to move to CA permanently. She'd been talking about it for ages...so Nathan and I were happy to help get her set up if we could. Since we currently do not own a house, we thought we might finance a little "investment property" in Santa Rosa...while housing prices were down. So we spent a couple of days investigating the property market. We even put in an offer on a place--a cute little apartment above a 2 car garage (that could be used as a second living space). BUT, sadly other people wanted a cute little investment property too and we lost out to someone who was willing to pay cash (and have no inspection).

We spent a few days visiting with Bill & Ethel, Missy & Molly, Debbie & Tim, even spent a night with David playing Trivial Pursuit (which Gretchen & Molly won!). We got to watch Caitlyn's TBall game and play rook as a family, even took a picnic up to the COOLEST playground. Nathan was energetic so he ran the 3-4 miles from Deb & Tim's house to the park...we just didn't tell him we had planned family pictures after that! Deb & I snuck away for a birthday treat for me--a trip to the spa for a massage. it was amazing (why don't I do that more often!?!?!?)

After a very relaxing couple of hours, we drove up to see Mike in Fort Bragg. Nathan was dying to see his Dad...so much so that he was willing to drive the 2 hours through gorgeous CA mountain scenery while GAME 7 of the Stanley Cup was being played. Mike must know he is loved for Nathan to make this sacrifice.

We connected at Mike's for a pizza dinner and late night gab session. We met a very hyper dog (OTIS) and tried very hard to catch up on all that's happened while Otis begged for attention. The next morning we took a trip to the Dog Beach, ate a Giant burger (Not to be missed on the RoadFood Guide to Fort Bragg), checked out Mike's logging truck (family photo!), and then went to explore the Hidden Coast. Mike drives this way regularly in his log truck but doesn't get to stop and smell the flowers. So we did--we smelled the flowers, explored the tidepools, took pictures, and explored the coast all the way to Usall. Usall is a place up the "hidden coast" accessible by a poorly maintained dirt road, which our rental car struggled up valiantly. We arrived to a campground full of big trucks and dirt bikes, family picnics, and a few hippy, funky artist types (who made this door "art" on the beach).
By the time we made it back to Fort Bragg, the fat from the Giant Burger and fries had made its way to my arteries and my stomach was ravenous. We made for instantaneous gratification...a chinese buffet. My arteries were pleased to see the wontons and honey-walnut shrimp.

On Sunday, Nathan took Otis for a run before we piled in the car for a trip to the Ranch. We hiked around the place look for artifacts...the Swoos(sp?), an old car, Deadhorse flats. After finding multiple ticks (of which I have a phobia) I retired to the mountain house for a little time to work on a puzzle. I couldn't resist this picture of the big Medrone tree outside. Our time with Mike was WAY too short, (and we didn't even get a chance to see Terry), so there's nothing for it....he has to come to Australia. (After a brief return trip to pick up the camera we forgot) we headed back to Santa Rosa.

While we were away, Gretchen had left for Minnesota to start packing for her move to CA. Even though our quest to buy a house was unsuccessful Gretchen had arranged to rent part of a house with Nathan's aunt Molly.

On Monday, Nathan FINALLY got to watch the GAME 7 of the Stanley cup (can you believe we went the whole weekend without anyone spoiling the result!?!?!?). We spent the last day with Deb, Tim & Caitlyn relaxing (and making a few essential purchases like new shoes!). We crowned our evening with a memorable Thai dinner and a final game of rook.

On Tuesday, we said goodbye to Deb & Tim, drove to San Jose where we met Alan, Masami, and the boys for lunch. Nathan dropped me at the airport before driving to Fresno where he met his high school classmate Zach Reagle for dinner. Nathan hadn't seen him since our wedding (12 years ago). Despite all this time they both had lots in common (medical school, scotch, triathlons, and amazing, talented wives). After catching up, Nathan headed for the airport to fly back to MN to see family and friends and make the scenic drive back to MN......
(to be continued)

Back in Oz!

2009-07-06T22:29:00.005+08:00

Nathan and I are once again living together. Since my dad's death, Nathan and I have been in separate hemispheres (with the exception of 1 week in CA where we crossed paths). Nathan flew to MN on the 25th to be with me for my Dad's funeral, then flew back to Australia on the 6th May. My bosses (John & Vicky) were so understanding, they let me stay in MN until our planned vacation on the 7th June. During that time, I got to spend some great time with my family.

Mom and I spent some wonderful time together, always talking... We went walking with her friends, out for lunches, shopping, did cross-word puzzles, and somehow never quite got to the list of "to-do" projects that were waiting. Julie, Mom and I went to Rochester for a weekend, had dinner at Brian & Jens, went to Andy's wedding with Cory & Mom, celebrated my birthday with a girls dinner. Cory and I got to hang out and talk about everything from music to medieval weapons, despite the teasing he took about the moustache. I got to watch Sam's dance recital, Owen's gingerbread man & birthday party, go to a movie with Spencer, and hold baby Kaitlyn again.

My friends were all so amazing....Jaymi picked me up from the airport when I was exhausted, Connie came down and spent the night listening to me sob, Donna drove down to see me, I saw Sara (Snuggles) for lunch. Hilary flew from Pittsburgh to help me find some laughter when I needed it (proving you are never too old for the swings!)

I finished my time in MN with a couple of days of just Mom, Julie, Alan, Brian, Cory & I. We made a few decisions, went out for lunch, played a "fiercely competitive" game of golf,
then headed home for a BBQ and planting a tree in Dad's memory. Everyone had to shovel a little, and with a big family like ours we had to put a little dirt back in at the end.

Alan & I flew together to CA, on the 7th June. We were able to arrange it so we could fly together. We had Saturday together just Alan and I which was nice to have some time just the 2 of us. After a great breakfast, Alan talked me into go for a bike ride in the hills near his house. Even though we went the "short, easy way" the ride took its toll on me!

That night we had dinner with Alan, Masami and the boys. We finished it off with some 6 handed cribbage, which left Alan promising revenge. The next morning, Alan had to fly to Japan and I rode with him to the airport to meet Nathan.....

In memory of my Dad

2009-06-21T13:32:00.004+08:00

Since my dad's death, I've had quite a few friends ask about him and his life, so I thought I would post his obituary for those that are interested. I've got some photos and from my time in MN that I will share soon. Thank you to all the family and friends that have been so supportive over the last 2 months.
Derald Naumann Derald was born in the city of Elmore MN on January 14th 1930 the second child of Ira and Myrtle (Krosch) Naumann. The Naumann family lived in Elmore for the next year after which they moved to the former Dick Ripley farm, living there until 1939 when they moved to the Iowa farm south of Elmore. He attended country schools until graduating from Elmore High School in 1947. Derald became an avid sports participant in high school with competitive roles on the winning football and basketball teams. Derald attended the University of Minnesota Ag School and quickly became a successful college wrestler with highlights of making the final rounds of tryouts for the US Olympic team in 1952. Derald served as a cryptographer in the Korean War, and upon the completion of his tour of duty in the Army, he returned to the family farm. He remained proud of his country and its military and supported the cause by serving for more than 50 years in the local American Legion post, in a variety of roles, including the role of commander. Derald married Lois Jensen on May 26 1956 and they later divorced. On March 17th 1967 he married Bonnie Smith in Blue Earth and they lived on the family farm until his passing. Derald was actively involved in farming his whole life, but played many other roles in the community.After wrestling at the University of MN, and for the Army, and he was instrumental in founding and building the wrestling program at Elmore High School. He continued coaching until the school closed in 1990. For over 16 years, Derald was the greenskeeper at the Minn-Iowa Golf Club. He was a substitute mail carrier eventually having a full time mail route and retiring in 2000. He was actively involved in his church holding many offices over the years. He loved to be competitive whether it be playing cards, debating who caught the biggest fish, or in the many hours playing golf with his friends and family. Derald passed away peacefully in his home on 24 April 2009. He is survived by his wife, Bonnie, his children, Cory Naumann; Kristin (Nathan) Mannix; Brian (Jennifer) Naumann and their children, Lindsey, Jamie, Samantha and Owen; Alan (Masami) Naumann and their children, Stefanie, Michael, Bradley and Gregory; Julie ( Scott) Smith and their children, Summer, Taylor (Emily) and Crystal. Derald has 11 grandchildren and 5 great grand- children: Spencer, Mariana, Josiah, Layla and Kaitlyn. He will also be missed by his sister JoAnn Schaumburg, and brother Donnie (Connie) Naumann, his sister-in-law, Mardee (Dave) Heinrich, his brother-in-law Richard (Vickie) Houge and his aunts, Elvira Thompson, Eva Thorson and Madeline Naumann and many nieces and nephews.

Derald was preceded in death by his parents, Ira and Myrtle, his brother Edwin and his wife Geri and his brother-in-law Marvin Schaumburg. Derald was a grateful recipient of the gift of blood donated by many generous persons. Should friends so desire, expressions of sympathy are requested in the form of blood donations or monetary donations to the American Red Cross to aid in blood donation efforts.

Hockey...sweet, sweet hockey.

2009-05-10T16:23:00.008+08:00

(Note to interested readers - some of you know about our recent emergency trip back to Minnesota - I'm not going to address all of that here. I just feel that this is not the forum.)

So I know what you're thinking. We're over halfway through the semifinal round of the playoffs, and no word about the ice? You're no doubt wondering where are my priorities? Like, am I even trying to grow a playoff beard?

Sadly for me, but happily for my employers and everyone that I have to kiss, I am not growing a beard this year. Had the Wild made it, I would be as hirsute as I can be. As it is, I'm not sure who I am even cheering for. I will say, however, that Tivo (or IQ as the call it here) makes the cheering much more fun! Not only is it recording all the games, rewinding and pausing the odd game that happens while I am awake, but it gives one a sense of power. If only it applied to real life - or even just stoplights - life would be greatly enriched.

Anyway, back to the playoffs.

It was never going to be the Rangers. I just can't, ever, not even if he were on my team, cheer for Avery. (in their favor, though, Mara has the best beard since Commodore). It also couldn't ever be the Sharks, in spite of the resurrection of Claude Lemieux. I like Jeremy Roenick, but there is something about watching Joe Thornton flounder that makes me happy.

The obvious choice is the Devils, since Brodeur is not only the best, but the coolest. Unfortunately, they just didn't have the firepower. Flyers? Nope. Hurricanes? Don't make me laugh. Anaheim? Anaheim? Hold on (vomiting sound). So...who does that leave? Red Wings are just cliche. They will probably win, but it's no fun to cheer for them. Their estimated 712,000 games of playoff experience makes it seem automatic, but it would be more exciting for a cinderella team to show up.

Did somebody say exciting? How about Ovechkin? I hadn't had much of a chance to watch him before, but he backchecks, scores goals, and boy! can he throw an open-ice hit! Fun to watch, plus Varlamov adds that Cinderella aspect of completely untried goalie carrying them through the first round. Unfortunately for the Caps, it will come down to coaching.

And let's face it - the Caps are coached by Mr. Carlson from WKRP, while the Penguins are coached by Noah Bennet from Heroes. No contest. Even if Boudreau did play for the Minnesota Fighting Saints, we've seen him taken advantage of by the likes of Les Nessman too many times.

So, my ideal matchup would be Blackhawks/Capitals in the final. I would accept a Red Wings/Penguins matchup. I have nightmares, however, that involve watching the Hurricanes and the Ducks. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, where's my razor?

FLAT SAM'S Easter Blog

2009-04-16T21:05:00.007+08:00

This Easter, we had a surprise visitor from the US--FLAT SAM (A 2-d version of my neice Samantha mailed to us as a school assignment). Our job was to show FLAT SAM a bit of Australia.....so this blog is from her.

I arrived in Western Australia after 5 days in the international mail--boy was it cramped! (although I hear flying coach in Virgin Pacific is worse). Kris & Nathan were going to Albany for Easter and promised to take me on their vacation.

Friday, 10 April

We woke up at 6 am on Friday morning, trying to beat the traffic to Albany on the south coast of Western Australia. By 8 am the car was packed with camping equipment, and we were on the road. After joining a steady stream of cars heading down the Albany Hwy, Kris began a series of frantic calls to try and secure a campsite in the holiday traffic.

At about 1:30 pm, we arrived in the Pronogerup mountains about 30 minutes from Albany. The campsite was already full, but they made room for us to pitch our tiny tent among the Aussie's portable castles. Since it was a beautiful day, Kris and Nathan wanted to get into see a bit of Albany and the Southern ocean. We had lunch in the sunshine, went to the county courthouse, and tripped out to West Cape Howe to watch the sunset over the Southern Ocean. The sunset was more dramatic because Middleton Beach is one of the best hanggliding areas in Australia and we watched the gliders soar over the ocean before drifting down to join us on the beach.

I got the chance to hike a little bit of the Bibbulman Track, one of the longest hiking trails in Australia. Albany is where the Bibbulman Track starts...Kris wants to hike it all someday when her feet get better!

Saturday, 11 April

We woke early to head to Albany for a tour of the town. After a quick stop at the farmer's market, Kris and Nathan headed to the waterfront to take in the Festival of the Sea. Albany's town festival featured local Australian wines, fresh seafood, cooking demonstrations, entertainment.

After tasting a "yabbie pie"(a pot pie made with crayfish), we decided to take a break and head out for another event across town--the "youth national soapbox championships"at the top of the hill. We expected amateur constructions of plywood, bike wheels, and homemade paintjobs, but were shocked to find moulded plastic bodies racing downhill at breakneck speed. We talked to one of the organisers and find that there are 3 major clubs in Western Australia that have soapbox races all year long. I got a chance to sit in one of the winning racers.

We went back to the Festival of the Sea to watch the boat race. Teams had 4 hours to build their own boat from limited supply of plywood and glue. You wanted to do a good job because you had to paddle or sail your construction 200 m to the jetty and back. I picked my favorite boat for the race. One of the boats collapsed before it left shore, 4 others made it into the water, only 2 completed the full trip.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant right on the beach called the Squid Shack. I ate fresh squid! and it was delicious. The best squid I ever ate. Kris and Nathan had some shark too, but the squid was my favorite.

We decided to head back to the tent for an early night since we had a big day the next morning. Kris and Nathan crawled into the tent to find it overrun with ants! It had rained on and off all day, and one of the zippers had been open a tiny bit. The ants took shelter from the rain in Kris' sleeping bag. Several hours later, after a bit of bug spray and many, many sleeping bag inspections we all hit the hay.

Sunday 12 April

While Kris and Nathan were up early fixing breakfast, I watched the kids in the tents next door were finding Easter eggs. Would you believe the Easter bunny didn't bring me any FLAT EGGs? Kris and Nathan had planned a morning boat trip, a visit to the whaling museum, with an evening Easter service. We arrived at the jetty at 8 am. The wind was blowing and the waves looked rough. It was a scuba trip! And I got to come along too!

After packing up the scuba gear (including Kris' new wetsuit:), we climbed aboard the dive boat for a very bumpy 30 trip to Seal Cove (I would have gotten sick but Kris made me take dramamine). At Seal Cove, I could see at least 30 seals lay on the rocks near the water. As soon as I jumped in the water, the seals dived into see the divers.

The seals were mostly white, with big black eyes, and tiny ears. They could swim so fast--and were very cute and playful--they even decided to play with the hood of Nathan's wetsuit. I wish I could have gotten a picture but Kris' camera doesn't work in water that deep. One of the other seals nibbled on a diver's hand--and I could see they had big teeth like a pitbull. I'm glad they were only playing!

After playing with the seals, I got to visit a shipwreck--the Cheynes II, a whaling boat. The boat had been sunk by purpose--blown up by dynamite. Now it was covered in coral and sea grass. I could still see all the masts and portholes, now it was covered in coral and sea grass and surrounded by bright coloured tropical fish.

After our dive, we went to visit WHALE WORLD where I got to see the Cheynes IV--the sister ship to the wreck in the ocean. The ship had a big harpoon gun on the front, a huge engine (it used almost a ton of fuel a day), and a big winch to help pull the whales to shore. We watched a 3-D movie about whales and took a tour of the huge factory that used to make whale oil and ambergris for perfume. Whaling is outlawed in Australia, so the ship is just a museum to show what they used to do.

The museum took so long that we missed church! We sang Easter hymns all the way back to the tent. We didn't have any ants but Kris checked her sleeping bag just in case.

Monday 13 April

Our last day in the Pronogerups was beautiful. We went to see "art in the park" a collection of sculptures that are set in the national parkat the foot of the mountains. My favorite was this one.--wait, that's a plant.

After looking at the art, we went for a hike up to Castle Rock, in the Prongerups. The Prongerups are the oldest mountains in the world...more than 1400 million years old. They are home to 1000 different types of flowering plants and more than 78 different types of birds. When we got to the top, there was a cool boulder that weighed 140 tonnes balanced on its end. We climbed all the way to the very top and you could see for miles.

On our way down we stopped at Maleeya's Thai restaurant. Nathan said the spring rolls were the best he ever had. I had fish curry--it was very spicy so I shared most of it with Nathan. after lunch, we drove home. We stopped at the "big ram" a giant sheep in the town of Wagin tha has WOOLARAMA every year--where they shear the sheep and sell the wool.

I'm hoping I can stay a while longer in Australia--because Kris and Nathan want to take me snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef in a few months!

one lump or two?

2009-03-25T15:46:00.005+08:00

I love working at Murdoch vet school. It is NEVER boring.

Part of the reason its never boring is that there so much good work to do. Sometimes its about the people, sometimes its about the animals.

Yesterday, as I popped over to see the staff about one of our successful cases, a trailer pulled up outside the vet school with a CAMEL in it.

yep a camel (can you imaginewhat the people on the freeway thought?)

Tanami stands about 6 ft tall, and weighs about 500kg (1200 lbs). He's one of a few camels on a nearby hobby farm.

He's at Murdoch for a the "snip".
Tanami has an undescended testicle, which means that his regular vet was only able to geld him half-way. He still acted a bit too much like a stud, so he needs the other one removed. After calling a few vets none of whom wanted to try their hand at anesthetizing this big fella, they called Murdoch.

So Tanami sits in our production animal barn, heads above the other sheep, goats, and alpacas. Tomorrow is the big surgery day. So far a steady stream of students and staff have visitedhim to wish him good luck on his surgery. I popped down for a cuddle just to make Nathan's aunt Molly jealous.

Tomorrow the media arrives to document this unusual case. I can't wait for the headlines. One hump or two takes on an entirely different meaning when you are talking about a camel gelding.

Our roommates

2009-03-21T17:50:00.008+08:00

When we were invited to take up a cheap lease on our new house, we were excited about the opportunity but a little cautious. The conditions of the lease included the care and feeding of 2 cats.

It was clear from the first that we were moving into the cats' house. Before we could sign up for the deal, the cats would have to approve. I was overseas but Nathan, the cat whisperer, managed to woo these shy and somewhat high-strung cats into a little cuddle on the first date.

When Col and Clyde moved out, the cats were quite upset. Neither would stay in the same room with us for the first week. But Nathan again worked his magic and they have relaxed. Just last week, we made another test...moving Jake back (into his own half of the house). Jake's rather potent smell and earsplitting yowling have our new roommates a little nervous, (not that it looks it from these pictures!) and we are hoping to slowly introduce them to each other.

But first we'll introduce them to you:

To dance is human to Polka is Divine (Polka) is an 11 yr old female Siamese, who is quite timid and likes a bit of a snuggle. She is terrified of Jake, and even though he's behind a shut door, Polka runs in fear when Jake starts his usual yowling for company.
I had coordinated my previous work wardrobe with Jake--black suits to hide his black cat hair. Polka's cream colour fur means I need a new wardrobe for each part of the house.
She is a big change from ole Jake, as she is definitely a lap cat. Once she has found a lap she is there FOREVER. She likes Nathan best, perhaps because my tiny bladder won't allow for extended uninterrupted lap time. Polka is also convinced the way to get our attention is to sit on the computer keyboard while we try to type.

Pinky Freidman (Pinksta) is an 11 yr old neutered male Burmese who is slightly crazy. The first 3 weeks he would freak out if you were entered a room he was in, now 6 weeks in he's becoming a lap cat too. He has the most pitiful meow (like he has laryngitis).

Pinky gets to go outside every day with a belled collar. In the morning he jumps on the counter by the door to have his collar put on. Once it's on, he'll jump down ready to get outside for the morning scout.

He apparently is quite aggressive when he is outside (as we have already seen him fight with another neighbor cat). Although we hope to avoid any conflicts, Jake can take him. Not only does he weigh twice as much as Pinky, he doesn't have such a weenie name.

Jake "the Peg" (Jacque) is our big black 3-legged cat. He's probably about 14 years old, and wasn't neutered until he was 2 or 3. He has old Tomcat jowels, urine like napalm, and in London terrorised cats within a 6 mile radius. Since then, we have kept him as a house cat, with no other cats for competition. He has adjusted to the move to our new home graciously, with no malicious peeing and almost no curiosity about the cats on the other side of the door.

They all still live separate lives: Pinky outside for most the day, Polka on her own in the house, and Jake in his half of the room. Maybe someday we'll get brave enough to try and mix these 3 cats together.

As I was telling my sister about our cats, I was reminded of my neices and nephew predicting I would eventually become the crazy cat lady with 20 cats.

3 down, 17 to go.

On the move again

2009-03-11T20:17:00.013+08:00

Where have we been for the last 4 weeks?
In purgatory, in limbo, in cognito?

Nathan and I spent our Valentine's Day weekend celebrating with a romantic getaway in a turn of the century stone cottage overlooking the ocean. It's our new house...

Unfortunately, valentine's day (valentines' ?!?!? see previous) was spent preparing for the move.
After a day of watching Nathan swim for his triathlon (okay it wasn't a full day, but a chunk of it), we packed our first boxes for the move that night. With folks coming at 11:00 am the next morning, we decided we would just move the furniture into the moving van and pack the rest into our cars after moving the furniture.

The next day we were up early to pick up the truck, pack a little more, and deliver Jake to the spa for a little holiday. Our packing was cut a little short by the fact that we had to return the first truck for leaking diesel all over. So at 11:00 am our moving crew showed up--Jeff, Emily & Justin. We had all the furniture loaded in about 1.5 hours (even with a beer break). We thought we might have a chance to beat our previous 4 hour record. When we turned up at the new house, unfortunately the owners (Clyde and Colleen) were still moving the last of the items out.

We took a break for lunch and started unloading again at about 3 pm. We moved everything in just over an hour. We had to take a break for a stressed out strategy session when we discovered the room we had planned on for a bedroom need to be a music room because the piano in it couldn't fit out the door (except for on its side). After a few minutes, we rearranged the plan and finished the unloading. Although the move went fairly fast (Jeff, Emily and Justin may not think so), we were exhausted so opted not to move the small boxes of things back to the house that night. Our old house was ours for another week, so we were able to procrastinate the rest of the moving and cleaning for a few more days.

This caused a minor problem the next morning, when I discovered that I packed no shoes for work and had to drive over to the old place to finish dressing. Over the next weekend, we moved shoes, food, tools to the new place and did a marathon day of cleaning.

Our new home is just 1 km from our old place. We are renting from some friends of ours, at a really good rental rate. The catch is that the house is "unusual" and comes with a pair of high-maintenance felines. As you know Jake doesn't play well with others, so he spent a few weeks at the spa while we tried to settle the inherited felines down. He's just moved back in...so we know have divided the house in half: Jake's half and the other cats half.

The good news is that this house is perfect for that. It is 2 stone cottages from 1899 and 1900, which have been blended into 1 house. It has 2 front doors, and the front of the houses are 2 seperate lounges, and bedrooms connected by a long hallway. At the rear of the house there is 1 shared common kitchen and dining room, with 2 entries, and 2 bathrooms. It also has 2 seperate gardens at the rear of the house. It has 2 gas bills, 2 electric bills, 2 days to take the garbage out. At least we only have 1 phone number (the same number as last time--email if you need it).
I thought you'd like to see some photos of the house, and our new housemates.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-17T10:49:00.002+08:00

Hmm, maybe I'm losing my touch as the apostrophe police, diluted down by the Australian relaxed attitude towards the apostrophe. After 2 years of seeing "egg's 4 sale" and "wall repair's" advertised on high-quality, commercially produced signs, I might have been a little desensitized. That's why, when writing out a greeting on Feb. 14th, I found myself faced with 3 options.
A day belonging to the valentine, Valentine's Day.
A day belonging to all valentines, Valentines' Day.
A day of valentines in general, Valentines Day.
(and has anybody else noticed that it is abbreviated VD? Coincidence?)

My ponderings were cut short in the morning of the day in question by my preparations to make this a truly memorable (if not romantic) day.

First, and this is important, Kris got up and did the dishes. A gift from her to me, I like to think. Then I got up and got ready for a triathlon. Yes, another one. No, I'm not getting any better at swimming -- quite the contrary.
This race was held in fresh water, and warm enough that I wasn't able to use the wetsuit. Not that I needed it to keep warm, but I have become reliant on the suit and saltwater to keep me somewhat more bouyant, and without those two aids, it was the worst swim ever. Kris has videos of the lifesavers, after everybody else is out of the water, trying to keep themselves amused while I inched nearer the finish. I am more and more appreciative of whoever named this stroke the crawl, as that seems appropriate.
I thought that the bike and run had gone okay, but the clock said otherwise. Cursed technology.
All the while, Kris has been absolutely starving. She declined by polite offer of a tube of Gu, but was sitting at the finish dreaming of an omelette. It was a late-starting tri, and by the time my race was done, and the elite runners were in, and the spot-prizes had been dished out, and the medals awarded, it was 4:30, and Kris was ready to gnaw off her own hand. Or mine.
A snack bar behind the seats of the car saved me from being savaged, but we were still bitterly disappointed that the restaurant that serves my new favorite dish, Fish on Fire, wasn't open yet. Instead, we returned home and, while I tried to unsuccessfully to scrub off the race number, Kris made huevos, trying to build up energy.

After all, we would need our strength, for it was only 16 hours after we got done eating that we needed to pick up the moving truck. And we had yet to pack...

Happy Valentine's' D'ay'!

She's Baaaaack!

2009-02-03T13:39:00.000+08:00

Straight from her recent tour of Sydney, Honolulu, San Francisco, aaaaaand Elmore, we welcome back to Perth...Kristin!

The travels went well, but on the return home, there is always something that doesn't get done. Anticipating her return, I had a clean kitchen, all the laundry done and folded, and even shaved off my whiskers. But I am far from perfect. I feel like I let her down. You see, I hadn't - quite - emptied the pantry of all food.

I had worked hard, working my way through stuff that requires actual cooking (black bean lasagna, anyone?), but was still left with couscous, a can of beans, some sweet chilli tuna, a jar of cranberry sauce, and the title-holder world-record worst puffed rice wafers ever. (I have years of experience with rice-based diet foods in various sizes and shapes, but these are MUCH less appetizing than the corn starch packing peanuts.) Anyway, I could tell by the look on Kris' face that she had expected more of me. I hate the disappointment.

But I know what you're all thinking -- you're wondering about Superbowl coverage in Australia. Well. For the first time, it was aired live on terrestrial TV (and for the first time, an Aussie was participating -- coincidence?). The game was great. They showed some commercials, which the commentators really did not understand ("They seem to really love their Dorito's over there" said one puzzled announcer). What more could we ask for?

Intelligent commentary. I was hoping to never say this, but the commentary from Aus made John Madden seem like a genius. Really. The only thing they had a clue about was punting, and that was pretty limited in their knowledge. The best play by play comments were about the halftime show ("With a new album hitting the shelves, The Boss won't just open with one of the old favorites" and whatnot). Furthermore, since the Aussie on the Cardinals is the punter, almost all of the dialogue focussed on the kicking game.

I will say this, however. Watching the Superbowl in 101 degree weather sure makes that cold beer taste great. And I was so absorbed in the game, the first I've watched in 2 years, that I even ate two of the rice cakes.

Out-auguration

2009-01-21T21:12:00.000+08:00

Happy dawn of a new free world, everybody.

Literally dawn, here, where the inauguration speech didn't air until 3:25am. Thank god for the internet, so (after falling asleep in front of the TV) I could download it the next morning. And what a speech, what a president!

There has been much made about the inauguration, even here. Inauguration, from Latin inaugurationem (nom. inauguratio) "consecration, installment under good omens," from inaugurare "take omens from the flight of birds, consecrate or install when such omens are favorable," from in- "on, in" + augurare "to act as an augur, predict" must have its equal and opposite. I would like to propose a new phrase, representing all the good things that are predicted not just by the incoming Obama, but the outgoing Duhbleya.

First, because esteem for US citizens internationally has been so low for the last 8 years, we are finally able to raise our heads, stop talking with phony Canadian accents, and cut the maple leaf flags from our backpacks. It is not just because we elected an erudite man who has lived in Indonesia and has some real experience with the people of other nations, but it is also because we have shown that we can (eventually) learn from our mistakes by not voting for the same old folks who have so lowered the international opinion of the US.

Also, by trading in a President who can barely read for an editor of the Harvard Law Review, we have shown that we are rejecting the semi-literacy and mediocre communication skills that we have suffered through for the last eight years.

Finally, by our choice as a nation to see out the culture of the good ole boy network, the yes-man mentality, the cronyism which has been in such evidence during the last administration, we can feel that we have said goodbye to the unilateral government that did not tolerate dissent.

The only person with anything to lose by not having Bush in office anymore seems to be David Letterman and his Great Moments In Presidential Speeches segment.

Happy Outauguration, everyone!

at last, deadly australia!

2009-01-19T22:59:00.000+08:00

Finally.

We have been here for over 2 years, and finally, a confirmed sighting of one of Australia's vaunted deadly animals in the wild.

It's a well-known fact that Australia is home to lots of stuff that will sting, bite, paralyze, chomp, drown, squeeze, envenomate, or just generally make life a misery. What is less well known is the fact that this is also a huuuuuuge place, and most of these creatures small, making the chance of sitting on one very small. But it is a very real chance.

So it is with immense satisfaction that I finally caught a snap of, frankly, the coolest deadly thing on the list.

Behold! The Blue Ringed Octopus!

This little guy (he would fit in your hand, if you were stupid enough to hold him) is usually pretty much dressed in boring old earth tones, but when annoyed, lights up some blue rings distinctive to the species. (There are a few biology geeks out there who would point out that there are 2 species, but very, very few people can tell the difference, and almost none of them will read this blog.)

So, imagine you're a child, or an inquisitive scuba diver, or even just a fella from Alaska poking around in the tidepools, and you see something light up like a carnival side show, and you reach out to pick it up (don't worry, I didn't). Then, the little guy injects some venom through his beak with a bite that you may never feel. In the next few minutes, the neurotoxin causes partial or total muscular paralysis, including the muscles of respiration. You may even vomit, but can't cough or swallow, and death by respiratory failure follows. Of course, during all of this, you are totally conscious.

Cool, huh? I mean, this place has got EVERYTHING!

So, without further ado (admitting that there was a fair amount of preceding ado), meet, uh, bluey. Or ringey. Or octopussy. Ah, heck, just check it out.

Recipes and stuff.

2009-01-18T20:44:00.000+08:00

So I thought that with Kris gone, and me with a largely unrefined palate, this would be a good chance to try to eat everything in the cupboard that had been there for more than 6months. The goal was to try to avoid doing any grocery shopping during the time that I'm baching it, in deference to my days in The Cave at college, when we only went to the store when the 10# bag of tricolored rotini and block of velveeta were finally finished (and even then, it was just not cool to show up at Cub until 3:30am).

A current, honest inventory of the fridge includes:
1 jar of cucumber slices, 4 slices left.
1 jar of pickled onions, 3 onions left.
1 econo tub of yoghurt, expiration date unclear (smudged).
22 eggs.
1/2 jar of cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving.
Condiments.
Beer (11 cans midstrength, 2 bottles wheat beer, 1 bottle chocolate stout)
Cat food.
There may be some vegetables in the crisper, but, frankly, I'm afraid to look.

So, in lieu of more toothsome fare, I turned to the cupboard shelves to see what they would yield. I am willing to share these recipes with you, if only to keep you from making the same mistakes.

1. Egg McNuthin' -- fried egg on heated, chili-flavored rice cake, topped with "tasty" cheese.
Rated at 3/10 -- flavor unsatisfying, left me wanting more...of anything else.
2. Chili con Quinoa -- Combine 1 can kidney beans, 1 can baked beans, 1 can black beans with 1/2 bottle of worcestershire sauce, 1/2 jar of salsa, then decide to add 2 cups of quinoa (I should put in a hyperlink so that you can figure out what that is -- Andean grain with lots of protein). Simmer. Note the powerful absorptive properties of quinoa has left behind dry muck. Add water (1 cup). Come back in 15 minutes.
Rated at 4/10 -- bland, but nourishing.
3. Awesome burrito -- Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan, then lightly fry both sides of a flour tortilla. Add cheese when frying the second side, as though making a quesedilla. Then, run the tortilla over so the cheese is basically deep-fried to the outside of the tortilla as you add your ingredients of choice to the inside. The cheese sticks, making a crunchy outside to a run-of-the-mill burrito.
Rated at 8/10 -- mmm, but marks off from the health department.

All in all, it's been an interesting challenge, and one that should only get more intriguing as I get hungrier. Wish me luck!

124 degrees of separation

2009-01-16T11:52:00.000+08:00

okay...I'm back in MN visiting my family.

It just happens to coincide with the coldest winter they have seen in years. Today, right now, it is -18F (-28C)...I was chatting to Nathan online and it is 106F in Perth. We are talking about 124 decrees difference. But with windchills at -40F (-40C) , they have windchill advisories (exposed flesh warnings). That's just crazy....

I'm beginning to feel like the Michelin Man. I get dressed to walk to the car. In 5 minutes I'm boiling, so I unzip and take off hat and mittens in the car. When we get to the hospital where dad is having his chemo, I re-cover hat and gloves...struggle with the zipper of my coat which is caught in my oversize sweatshirt. Drop dad off...I stay in my jacket slowly starting to overheat thinking this will only take a few minutes. Mom has a few questions while I debate whether I should risk sweating in all my stuff which will make me feel colder when we go outside OR take off all my gear again. Eventually I remove all the outer garments again.

Mom and I decide to go shopping. We zip up, hat, gloves, and scarves. Stop in one store (remove parka etc) can't find anything (don parka again). Stop in another store (remove parka), decide to try on jeans and shirt. Unlace winter boots, remove jeans and turtle neck and sweatshirt, try on shirt...don't like it so put sweatshirt on again (my hair looks like a dandelion gone to seed, I have so much static electricity it stands on end).

I try on jeans...but grab the wrong size. Can't go out in socks, since everyone is tracking in snow, which means putting on my jeans, relacing boots, getting smaller size, returning to fitting room, unlacing boots, struggle into 4-5 different pairs. When the jeans finally fit, I realise I probably should get 10 pair since I don't want to go through this process again. We have several more errands to run but I can't face 3 more dress/undress rituals in less than 5 minutes.

I know MN and Alaska people will think I have gone soft living in Perth. I've always said that I can handle the cold better than the heat. I mean, in MN you can always put on more clothes, in Perth...well, you can only get so naked in public. But, now it seems I'd rather have the reverse, at least it would be consistent.

Being home makes me realize how much I miss being so close to family---Hanging out, getting to go to the birthday parties, how much the babies have grown in the past year, seeing old friends. Being in MN during a cold snap makes me wish they could come and visit me for a change. But no matter how "frigid" there's no place like home.

Bachelorhood Revisited

2009-01-08T19:36:00.000+08:00

So Kris left yesterday for a long visit with her folks, leaving behind a pile of dishes, a long honey-do list, and me. You know what that means, other than a month of living on peanut butter sandwiches and light beer? I should have more time to devote to cultural pursuits, such as watching Don't Forget The Lyrics. (Yes, it airs in Australia. They are having a hard time finding meaningful programming to fill all 4 channels here, so they import shows from the US.) Anyway, the part that really slays me is at the end, where Wayne Brady points at the screen and says that somebody could come on stage and win a million dollars and, gesturing into my living room, "it may even be you."

Well.

Clearly we have never met. He must be talking to my three-legged, neutered, toothless cat, because my chances of winning a million on that show are not as good as Jake's. I could conceivably win a million on Never Knew The Lyrics And Really Never Cared, and I may take home a few bucks on the new show, Just Make Up The Lyrics And Sing Them Confidently So People Think They're The Real Lyrics. But really, that's not much of a retirement plan.

No, I think the real path to fame (if not fortune), is to do something unbelievably clever for YouTube, like ObamaGirl, or the guy who explains the news (sometimes in song) to kids. Yup, that's it. And now I've got the time to devote to it, with Kris out of town. At least, if there's not anything better on after SVU...

A clean sweep of Broome...

2009-01-02T11:58:00.000+08:00

So we decided to take the last few days and chill out in a town in North West Australia called Broome. It's in the same state as Perth, but is about 1500 miles north, so we flew -- good choice, as it turns out, since some of the roads close down during this time, officially known as The Wet.

As it turns out, this town is very seasonal, with high volume of tourist traffic coming through in The Dry, but turning into a much more sedate country-town-on-the-sea during the wet, when they can get over 150cm of rain a month and are prone to cyclones. This was just the low key, forced relaxation that we needed.

Instead of our choice of tours, busily ticking off things from a list of "must-see" attractions, we have been carefully rationing the possibilities, with time spent on the beach, wandering through the small downtown, hanging out at the local swimming pool, and mostly spending time in our room inhaling the stack of junk books that we brought. Who would have thought that, with 7 books for an 8 day holiday, Kris needed to get another Sue Grafton novel today?

So, I know what you're thinking. During cyclone season, with all of the really good tours shut down for the season, and a hire car that you're not allowed to leave town in or go off the road in, what is left. Well, I'm glad that you asked!

First, there is the World's Longest Continuously Running Outdoor Cinema, called Sun Pictures. We saw that there was a showing of, appropriately enough, Australia, and jumped at the chance to check it out. Best of all, when you got tired of Hugh flexing onscreen, there were geckos on the actual screen hunting moths, and during a hushed campfire part of the movie a very large fruitbat flew through the picture. All very cool.

The next day, there was a trip out to the bird sanctuary. We got special dispensation to take the 4wd that we hired on a dirt road for this purpose, passing through puddles deep enough to house a fair sized croc, and spotting our first wild dingo, only to find (you guessed it!) that the interpretive centre was closed for the season. Oh, well, we had a good trip out and got to see some amazing coastline.

A trip to the pearl farm was next -- Broome has a pretty amazing history based on the pearling industry. Initially, they collected "wild" oysters and used the shell for mother-of-pearl buttons and stuff, with the pearl as a bonus in every 15,000 oysters or so. Now, they culture pearls, still sell the shells, and sell the pearl meat overseas for $600/kg. All in all, it's a pretty labor-intensive, but fascinating industry, and resulted in me trying on a pearl-diver's helmet (35kg), and us holding a pearl valued at over 100,000 AUD. Whew!

e did spend some quality time on the beach, watching sunsets, and getting lured into a camel ride (it was actually pretty cool -- Australia has over 1,000,000 wild camels, and they are 'recruited' for hauling tourist butts up and down the beach in the dozens), but did not dare go into the water. Although it looks idyllic, and the water is warmer than most of us bathe at up to 35 degrees C (about 95 degrees F), it is also the perfect climate for the Irukanji and Chironex jellyfish, colloquially known as stingers, but more widely known as box jellyfish. For those of you who don'e know, these jellyfish are widely and wisely feared, as they produce copious toxin which will leave you screaming in pain -- even if you are unconscious -- until you die. So, um, we didn't go in the water. Wimpy, huh?

Anyway, we weren't done yet! There were still two reptillian attractions left. First, the awesome killing machines that are the estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus, if you care), known as salties. We had hoped to see some in the wild, but went to a wildlife park/croc farm and had a great time! We got muuuuuuuch closer than we would have in the wild, learned a little bit about them, and got to see them at feeding time. More pictures will surely follow, as we get my film transferred to disk.

The other reptillian attraction is the presence at low tide of some dinosaur footprints. Real ones. The locals aren't thrilled about people traipsing down to look, so there is only a vague description on where they are, but there is a pretty good explanation of what to look for, complete with a concrete cast. Anyway, we scrambled around, and found some therosaur prints, which is just about the coolest thing ever. I mean, ever. This is, apparently, the only place where dinosaurs are in the oral history of dreamtime in the indigenous australian heritage.

Incidentally, we also saw in a tide pool a blue-ringed octopus, another of Australia's incredibly lethal aquatic critters, this one able to deliver a paralytic neurotoxin. Pictures also to follow, hopefully. As it turns out, it is pretty tough to get a picture of something under the water. We'll see.

There is much more to our trip, including the other couple at the B&B, who are visiting from outback Aus to have their dog's leg x-rayed and biopsied. I tried to stay out of conversations, but was unable to keep my curiosity to myself. Also, we are trying to implement new fitness goals for the new year, but 90 degrees and 95% humidity is not really all that conducive to activity.

Anyway, I'm about out of time on the internet cafe here. Hope that 2009 is a banner year for everyone! Happy New Year!

(I just thought that this was a funny sign...)

2008-12-06T09:20:00.000+08:00

Hopefully the sound will work -- check out my personal best!

oops, don't really know how to change the orientation. I'm sure that, given time and motivation, I could figure it out, but it takes so long to upload anything that I'm not sure I could maintain momentum.
you get the idea, anyway.

Nathan's 'fun' triathlon

2008-12-01T21:56:00.000+08:00

At the start of the month, we promised to blog about recent events, like Nathan's first triathlon in Australia. Nathan's done a 'sprint' triathlon before while in Minnesota. After several attempts to learn to swim, he was somewhat undone by the 4 ft wide pool of algae that greeted him at the start of his first triathlon in Chester Woods. Although the last man out of the algae at that race, his speedy biking and running let him finish in a respectable position. The algae was enough to send his dreams of becoming a triathlete into hibernation.

Australia, the land of triathlons, has reawakened the dream. With beautiful beaches, lined by miles of pedestrian/cycle paths, its really the place for it. This year, Nathan's new year's resolution was to train for a triathlon. The emphasis here is TRAIN. So, in October, Nathan makes the commitment of buying a road bike and begins his training. The water is a bit cold so the last week of October Nathan buys a triathlon wetsuit. After a test swim in the wetsuit, Nathan signs up for a fun triathlon one week later on November 8.

Triathlons are like candy bars, they come in fun, regular, and king size (fun run, sprint, and extra sprint)...of course, then there are the real biggies...olympic distance, half ironmans and ironmans. The fun length was a 200m swim, a 10k cycle, and a 4 k run. The extreme is the iron man--2.36 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, followed by a marathon (26.2 miles). The fun size is a good way to get into the sport, so lots of people use it to get a taste of a triathlon.

The Powerstation Triathlon seemed like a good way for Nathan to get started as its only a few minutes from our house. THAT was before we heard that registration/instructions was at 6:30 am with a 6:45 am start. To ensure we got a good start to the morning, we packed all the bags the night before and walked through the race.

RACE DAY:
The alarm goes off AT 6:30. SH!T--Nathan's exclamation shakes the entire bed. We are out the door in 5 minutes (me with hair like Yahoo Serious). We roll up to the event at 6:45, Nathan racing towards the start line in bare feet.

Luckily, the race instructions are a little behind schedule. I set up his transition set (shoes, socks, helmet) and take our bag out of the way, and set up near the start line to cheer him on.

Meanwhile, Nathan is looking for me because the goggles are in the bag, as he's trying to get his wetsuit on, but his race singlet is caught in the zipper. THINGS are NOT going his way.

He misses the start of the men's heat and has to start with the women, with his shirt caught in the zipper of the wetsuit and no goggles. He starts the race with the gals, so at this point he's not too worried about turning in a personal best. He manages not to drown for 200 m, then staggers up the beach, still trying to get his shirt out of his wetsuit zipper.

At the transition, he peels off his wetsuit and slides into his shoes, and races his bike up for the cycle portion. After the way the morning started this is EASY, and breaking a pedal on the new bike while getting started seems natural. Finally everything goes right and he cruises up several spots during the cycling leg. The course is tight, with a couple of laps, so dodging slower triathletes keeps the speeds down a little. Jumping off the bike, Nathan commits a triathlon faux pas by stopping to remove his cycling shoes -- a breach of etiquette, but keeps him from breaking anything else.

He heads off for the 4k run with jelly legs for the first half kilometer before finding his cruising speed. The wet singlet (that clogged up his wetsuit) begins chaffing making the last 1k more painful than any other part of the race. Finally, the finish appears and he races to the end....

I think he's hooked on triathlons, because he had the worst possible start imaginable and he's already training for the next one!

Emilio Estevez has left the bedroom

2008-12-01T07:06:00.000+08:00

For those of you who tried to donate (Hilary and Todd), and those of you yet who haven't, try logging into www.movember.com (not the australia site) and click donate. You can search by individual.

Kristin

Mo' money

2008-11-15T07:10:00.000+08:00

What: Mo-vember
Get sponsored to grow an outrageous moustache and keep it for the entire month of Mo-vember. Men can get sponsored individually or in teams. Nathan and his male colleagues at Ranford Road Veterinary Clinic are all involved.

Why: The sponsorships raise money for Men's Health, in Australia they focus on Prostate Cancer and Mental Health. These issues are close to both our hearts....as Nathan's grandfather and my dad have been affected.

How: Each participant asks friends and family to sponsor him to grow the mustache. The participant endures 1 month of facial hair with regular teasing and intermittent giggles. For instance, at about 1 week into it, one participant (who shall remain nameless) faced his loving wife to kiss her goodnight, but she started giggling because it was like sleeping with Emilio Estevez from Stakeout.

Participants also report they face endless commentary about the quality of their mustache (what is that the reverse hitler?), who the mustache makes them look like (Seth Green, really?). After a few weeks, participants grow more comfortable with the mustache beginning classic mo behaviours such as the "goatee stroke" and other such grooming (which returns said wife to giggles).

It is a great deal to endure...but it's for a good cause.

How you can help?

Sponsor Nathan at Movember
or www.au.movember.com registration number: 1868476
Plus the website has other cool features like helping you to select your mo style, blog pages etc.

Who do you think Nathan looks like with his mo?
We want to know your thoughts...but remember Nathan is enduring your jeering for charity. So...if you want to tease him, at least pay for the privilege.

Did we forget something?

2008-11-08T16:19:00.001+08:00

Like, the month of October?
I don't know if you noticed or care, but we went pretty much from Summer Olympics to election, and didn't tell you all the cool stuff that happened in October! So...quick rundown.
Frantic cleaning and scurrying getting ready for a visit from Todd and Steph. We felt a little nervous, actually, since they had a limited amount of time, and WA is almost unlimited in scope, and we want everyone to enjoy themselves while at the same time appreciating the natural beauty, cultural and culinary delights, and enjoying the weather. That's a tall order for a 10 day visit.
So we tried a trip to Margaret River, a wine region like a cross between Napa Valley and the surf culture in the movie Point Break. Food, wine, and there are some cool crafts and stuff, but we managed to go to town every day 5 minutes after the shops closed. Some kayaking where we showed up the day after the whale encounter. Just hanging out, contenting ourselves with catching up and watching a movie in the beach house while it turned wet outside (thankfully, just after our walk). A little barbecued seafood (just shark and snapper, no shrimp on the barbie), a couple of haute cuisine meals out, and it was back up to Perth.
A visit to Cottesloe to show off the latest in swimwear -- or, more to the point, hang out on the beach and show off your bod wear -- a lunch on the river, where Todd found out all about the Australian fly plague, and a day or two for the VIPs to bum around Fremantle and have a tour from the director of the Maritime museum, prison tour. A trip up north was called off on account of time restrictions and danger of deep vein thrombosis (it's a long drive, folks), so instead we went to Mandurah and cuddled some of the orphaned Joeys being raised by some of the staff members at the clinic in which I work.
The sad time came for those guys to take off, and I went to work thinking of how long it would be before we would all catch up again, only to get the call from Kris that their flight was delayed...12 hours. I think that most of that day was spent hanging out, preparing themselves for the long flight back, and then we had a farewell dinner at a restaurant on the beach.
When all is said and done, it was a great time to catch up, and we'll miss those guys.

A few days of work, then I got another little break. In between hockey playoff games (I played goalie this year, and our team made the finals of the playoffs, only to lose in straight games), I took a quick trip up to Exmouth.
A little over an hour in the air, but 20 degrees warmer than Perth, it was sailfishing with one of the clinic owners. I am ashamed that I was lucky enough to enjoy beautiful, flat water for 2 and 1/2 days during which we saw dozens of sea turtles, humpback whales playing and courting, dolphins, and (it still makes me a little nervous), a shark longer than the boat is wide, at least 9-10 feet, which swam directly over the teasers that we had out to draw in the sailfish.
Strictly catch and release, Steve is only happy with billfish (sailfish, marlin, swordfish), and has a goal to get every member of his family a sailfish. So it was, that we had a day and a half with hi sbrother on board where we saw only bait.
Finally, after much lamentation and a little grovelling on Steve's part, Rick (the brother), got hooked into a sailfish. Much, much more satisfying than the barracuda which hit his marlin rod the day before.
So far, we had caught a shark, barracuda, tuna, queenfish...but I had yet to hook a sail. So when we had a double-hookup, we knew that the time had come for me to finally reel one in. One fish got loose, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since I ended up fighting my fish for over 45 minutes, driving several miles to keep up. But all during the struggle, we kept waiting for the fish to jump, but it would not. This led to speculation about what kind of fish it really was, since it was not behaving in a natural way for a sailfish. We thought, spanish mackerel? Tuna? Bigger shark?
The answer was a sailfish...brought in backwards. I hooked it in the tail, and the line then wrapped around the base of the tail, reminiscent of snagging salmon in Alaska. The fish was exhausted, I was exhausted, and Steve was exultant that we had caught a second sailfish on switchbait. We swam the fish to revive it a little, then turned it loose. If it had had a middle finger, I get the distinct impression that it would have shown it to us as it kicked wearily for the deeps.
So that's all the excitement for October. A short-lived playoff beard for hockey made its way down the sink near the end of the month, to make way for...Movember. You will hear more on this soon. Probably in mocking tones from my easily-amused wife.

Did we forget something?

2008-11-08T16:19:00.000+08:00

(the following post is written while hanging in a hammock in the sunshine, glass of chilled chenin blanc nearby, thinking of all of you in the snow...or does that sound too smug?)

Hail to the Chief (Elect)

2008-11-05T22:27:00.000+08:00

Ahhh...what a feeling, what a relief.
Of course you know to what I am referring.
It's that sense that, when somebody asks me where I'm from (and this happens roughly a billion times daily), I don't have to be embarrased by saying that I'm American.
Until recently, it was okay to say that I was Alaskan -- but since Palin came on the scene, Alaska has been viewed less as a groovy frontier kind of place, and more as the home of overreaching whackjobs who abuse their authority. That isn't my opinion of course, I'm just repeating what the rest of the world is saying. I still quite like Alaska, think of it as my home, and have great memories of playing hockey in Wasilla against a team that was, mercifully, Palin-free. As far as I know.
I had the day off, more by luck than design, but it was good timing. I drove out to Kris' office, we shared a glass of champagne with her boss John and our friend Phil, and listened to the victory speech. It was a speech so well-crafted that Kris was moved, just for a moment, to go back into political rhetoric. It was enough to bring tears to my eyes. As (president elect) Barack said, speaking to us directly, I am sure, "all those watching tonight from beyond our shores...those who are huddled around radios in forgotten corners of the world..." Now, I wouldn't exactly call Perth a forgotten corner of the world...okay, maybe I've called it that once or twice, but I didn't know that it would show up in (president elect) Barack's speech!

Anyway, this was just to let you all know that we haven't abandoned the blog, we've just been pretty busy. More soon about October (Todd and Steph and our trip down south), as well as November (Nanowrimo, Movember, Triathlons, and more!).

Election Day--

2008-10-04T17:40:00.000+08:00

It's weird to be overseas during a presidential election. Here--the election for prime minister isn't on a fixed day. The group in power "call the election" within a specified timeframe. 6 weeks after they announce it, its all over....and there's a ban on advertising the day before and the day of the election.

The federal elections were quick, just 6 weeks of political ads and photos ops. 6 weeks of talk show hosts taking jabs at John Howard's irritability and Kevin Rudd's boringness. It ended with a new Labour Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd whose polls picked up after visiting a strip club in NY while campaigning. It helped his image...it made him a man of the people.

The State Elections were in September and over almost before we even knew who was who in our local seats--this time with a split government, almost perfectly split between Labour (the democrats) and Liberals (the republicans) with the Nationals (for rural Australia) carrying the deciding votes. Eventually the Nationals formed a coalition with the Liberals 8 days later....which was a change of majority and opposition in the State government.

But they don't have to have years of campaigning--voting is mandatory by law, punishable by real fines. Since you have to vote, its not a question of if its a question of who. The question of who isn't really about an individual--their character, voting record etc--so much as it is about their party...because the majority party sets its team in place afterward and can change leadership without an election.

Not saying its right or its wrong, but its different.

Campaigns in the US elections don't really seem to be about deciding who most Americans support...its actually about which candidate can get their supporters off their butts to vote. We've already filed to get our absentee ballots...cause we can't sit this one out.

Neither can you (whichever way you are voting--this is gonna be a BIG one).

So here's a friendly reminder from famous people to REGISTER to vote --you have to register soon or you can't vote! and if you aren't persuaded by famous people, think of Nathan and I, we are political refugees from the last elections longing to come home.

Best Comments of the Olympics

2008-09-13T20:11:00.000+08:00

And the gold medal for commentators and interview goes to.......................

10. Weightlifting commentator: 'This is Gregorieva from Bulgaria . I saw her snatch this morning during her warm up and it was amazing.'

9. Dressage commentator: 'This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother.'

8. Paul Hamm, Gymnast: 'I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.'

7. Boxing Analyst: 'Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious.'

6. Softball announcer: 'If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again.'

5. Basketball analyst: 'He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn't like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces.'

4. At the rowing medal ceremony: 'Ah, isn't that nice, the wife of the IOC president is hugging the cox of the British crew.'

3. Soccer commentator: 'Julian Dicks is everywhere. It's like they've got eleven Dicks on the field.'

2. Tennis commentator: 'One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them... Oh my God, what have I just said?'

1) Sally McClellan with a silver in the 100 hurdles gave a GOLD standard interview. The best interview of the Olympics completely!

Anniversary -- observed.

2008-09-07T21:51:00.000+08:00

So...you would have thought that Kris could have just told me all that mushy stuff, instead of publishing it for the world to see, and me having to read it online. Sheesh!

Anyway, for our anniversary...um, well, I actually skipped hockey practice (which is a good start, right?) and we went out for dinner at a pretty decent place nearby called the Mussel Bar. Oddly enough, the folks at the table next to us were celebrating their anniversary also -- their 6th. This year it became apparent that we've been married longer than many of our (often much older) friends and acquaintances. It's, um, kind of weird.

So this year was all about the finer things -- art, wine, tractors.
As a surprise to me, Kris had one of my favorite pictures blown up (as in, "enlarged") and framed, and I made a frame for a silk-screened canvas from Terri and hung that. Neither of us knew what the other had planned, it was just a reaction to spending all this time in a house with bare walls. We also got a pretty cool print of a photo of a monk's hands during olive harvest.

Yes, a monk.

See, we went away this weekend to Australia's only monastic town. That's right, nothing screams romantic getaway like the Benedictines. It's a pretty cool town, 162 years old with some serious architecture -- and some not-so-serious. We came around the corner of a century-old building to find a series of open-air chambers. Three walls, no roofs. And built that way, not all tumble-down. Any guesses? Check below to see if you're right.

Speaking of not-so serious, the guidepost to the monastery seems to point at a row of corrugated iron sheds. Of course, we are in Australia, and it would be unthinkable for the monastery to depart from local accepted architectural practices. Right?

Also on this tour, only an hour from Perth, we went to a few wineries. I don't know about all of you, but there is only so much wine-tasting I can do, but these folks have figured out that if you also have olive oil and homemade bread at most of the cellar doors, you don't get taste bud fatigue, and you sell olive oil! And Dukkah! Mmmm. So, we finally filled up our wine rack. Something like 20 bottles of wine, and one bottle of port. And some Dukkah, of course.

Like a mobile cellar, we drove out to the coast to explore the towns of Lancelin and Guilderton, and found them to be very nice seaside towns, thank you very much. And we learned about one more use for an International Tractor that had never occured to me before. (Notice the boat trailer?)

So that was a pretty good trip. Now we've got some art on the wall and wine in the rack, ready for visitors. C'mon Down!

(Handball courts! Really! They even have an historical plaque.)

12 year anniversary explained as genetic anomoly...

2008-09-02T08:28:00.001+08:00

Health News

'Bonding Gene' Could Help Men Stay Married

One form of DNA linked to marital bliss, the other to discord, study found

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Whether a man has one type of gene versus another could help decide whether he's good "husband material," a new study suggests.

A study of Swedish twin brothers found that differences in a gene modulating the hormone vasopressin were strongly tied to how well each man fared in marriage.

"Our main finding was an association between a variant of the vasopressin receptor 1a gene and how strong bonds men reported they had to their partners," said lead researcher Hasse Walum, of the department of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. "Men carrying this variant scored on average lower on a scale measuring the strength of the bond compared to men not carrying this variant."

Women married to men carrying the "poorer bonding" form of the gene also reported "lower scores on levels of marital quality than women married to men not carrying this variant," Walum noted.

His team published its findings in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

Walum's team first got interested in the role of vasopressin and bonding among males when studying a rodent, the vole. "Studies in voles have shown that the hormone vasopressin is released in the brain of males during mating," Walum explained.

Vasopressin activates the brain's reward system, and "you could say that mating-induced vasopressin release motivates male voles to interact with females they have mated with," Walum said. "This is not a sexual motivation, but rather a sort of prolonged social motivation." In other words, the more vasopressin in the brain, the more male voles want to stick around and mingle with the female after copulation is through. This effect "is more pronounced in the monogamous voles," Walum noted.

But voles and humans are very different species, so would the same effect hold true for men?

To find out, the Swedish team zeroed in the vasopressin 1a gene, which is shared by both species. Variations in this gene strongly influence vasopressin activity in the male vole, so Walum wondered if it might do the same for men.

To find out, his team looked for variants of the vasopressin 1a gene among 552 pairs of male twins enrolled in Sweden's ongoing Twin and Offspring Study. All of the men were currently in a relationship that had lasted at least five years, although about 18 percent of the men remained unmarried. The men were subjected to psychological tests assessing their ability to bond and commit, and the researchers also interviewed the men's spouses when possible.

They found that men with a certain variant, known as an allele, of the vasopressin 1a gene, called 334, tended to score especially low on a standard psychological test called the Partner Bonding Scale. They were also less likely to be married than men carrying another form of the gene. And carrying two copies of the 334 allele doubled the odds that the men had undergone some sort of marital crisis (for example, the threat of divorce) over the past year.

All of these findings "make sense," said Dr. John Lucas, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. He said it's well known that genes help drive much of human behavior, including mate bonding.

But the vasopressin 1a gene is likely not the only factor influencing a man's ability to form true and lasting bonds, he added.

"It's unlikely to be a single gene [at work] -- it's likely to be multiple genes that are expressed incompletely and interact with the environment," said Lucas, who is also a psychiatrist at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He pointed out that what psychologists call "temperament" -- the individual palette of emotions and behaviors that even babies display -- is probably "hard-wired" by our genetics. "But temperament, through training and experience, becomes personality," Lucas said. "And personality is a complicated situation, of course, and it involves the ability to commit."

So, it's too early for men to blame their inability to commit on a single gene, although Lucas guesses it's an excuse that's "certainly going to be used."

For his part, Walum agreed that men and their spouses shouldn't read too much into the finding.

"Taken together, the effect of the gene variant that we have studied on human pair-bonding behavior is rather small, and it can not, with any real accuracy, be used to predict how someone will behave in a future relationship," he said.

Walum also noted that the finding would probably not be applicable to women, since vasopressin appears to be tied to social bonding in males, but not females.

In a related study, also in the same issue of the journal, researchers at the Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu said they've identified a gene strongly linked to extended health and life span in humans. The FOXO3A gene, involved in insulin signaling, is just the second gene ever found that is closely tied to longevity, the researchers said. In their study of Japanese-American men, those who lived to an average age of 98 had a specific variant of FOXO3A compared to men who died at younger ages, the team said.

This just in.....

Nathan Mannix found to have record-levels of vasopressin. Wife still takes credit for happy marriage. Scientists believe this a reliable test for genetic "bonding" theory.

12 years--who's counting?

2008-09-02T01:00:00.000+08:00

It's pretty amazing...Nathan and I have been married for 12 years.
We've been together for 17 years (Prior to dating me, Nathan's previous longest relationship was 6 weeks, I think).
We are on the cusp of having been together longer than we've not been together. (If you count all those years I was definitely more interested in fighting boys than dating them, we are well past that mark).

Sometimes it still feels like we are honey-mooning. Suddenly, I'll be seized with the incredible urge to hold hands, sing romantic ballads, write love letters. Maybe it has to do with moving countries every 5 years or not having kids, but it seems like our relationship together is still very new. I'm still discovering things about him that I never knew or never would have even guessed.

Othertimes, we know each other so well that we finish each other's thoughts, can tell the cards in our partner's hand and how they'll be played, and tell our jokes in unison. That can mean we know EXACTLY how to to press the other person's buttons too, but we always work hard to fight fair, and find a way to avoid a disagreement next time. We know each other so well that we know matter how difficult a time or situation, we'll get through it together.

It's amazing that after all this time we not only still love each other, we are still in love with each other. I think its because I've married an incredibly intelligent, considerate, romantic, funny, ethical, sexy, loyal, interesting, caring, and basically GOOD person. I know I'm lucky that I found someone so supportive, patient, fun-loving and adventurous, and he chose to be part of my life.

About every 5 years or so, we we get remarried. I guess because in some small way I can't believe Nathan has chosen me for his soulmate, and I want to know he'd chose me again. So, we stand together and say our vows. You are my life, you are my love. To have, hold and cherish from this day forward.

The ceremony is just a symbol of the commitment that shines through in every generous act, every time I'm forgiven for my faults, every lawn mowed or dish washed, every good night kiss.
So ceremony or not, I just want to say.

Nathan, I do. I STILL do.

I love you. Kristin

so much for life as usual....

2008-08-18T09:22:00.000+08:00

I'm never going on vacation again.

Last year, I went for a week of training in Melbourne. When I came back, my boss Maryanne had resigned. I had 3 weeks before she left to prepare.

I agreed to step into her role, and was just getting these hang of it when we went back to the US to visit family in July. While I was away, the administrative officer submitted her resignation, I came back to find she had one week left of her notice before I was alone, managing 2 jobs, with 4 months of experience in the organisation.

This is hell for several months while we work through the hiring process.
I hire my assistant Annie--she comes into chaos, and we work together to set up new processes, transfer 2 databases, and life resumes to a somewhat even keel for the next 8 months.

When we went on vacation in May to Exmouth, I return to find my colleague, Andy, who I worked with very closely had resigned and would be gone in 2 weeks. They arrange an interim, to keep things afloat, but begin the long hiring process.

So, when I come back from vacation, and there are no big announcements, I relaxed. Finally, things are going to plan. Annie and I are working well as a team--I only had 3 pages of handover notes for her...which is a miracle. Within a week, we were back to caught up.

But....(da, da, dum--sinister music)

This week, on Wednesday, Annie asks me to sit down.
"I've got some news...(da,da dum.....more sinister music).
Diana, the Dean's PA is leaving, and I've gotten the job as his new PA." I stumble through some words of congratulations, and after the initial shock, begin to regain confidence. We've set up processes, Annie will have time to train someone etc.

I go into to meet with the Dean, who somewhat sheepishly, fills me in on the details. His PA Diana will be moving to work with the faculty dean (next admin level up)...he found this out a month ago. Before I left they started doing interviews. The decision was made this week. He told Annie 5 minutes before she told me. then...

Da, da, dum......

"She'll be taking Diana's role on Monday!"

(gulp) back to panic.

"Don't worry, I've found a temp. They'll be here on Monday, we are already starting the recruiting process."

Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic.

So much for life as usual....

California to Perth--

2008-08-16T08:39:00.000+08:00

We arrived in California at midnight on the 30th. As frequent travelocity users we got a discount on a convertible, so drove to our hotel in San Rafael in style. (Sorry Todd...I'm sure there are expedia discounts....) We sunk into a glorious California King, watched 10 minutes of cable TV, and fell HARD asleep.

July 31
As a little luxury we slept late the next day, before putting the top down to cruise up to Santa Rosa to spend the afternoon with Nathan's grandparents, Bill & Ethel. Bill asked a question about Australian geography, and we enjoyed flipping through the big Australian coffee table book to say, "We've been there, we've been there, we've got to there" We had to leave soon, so with big hugs, Bill & Ethel watched us drive our rented Mustang convertible into the sunset.

We drove a couple of hours North to Fort Bragg to see Nathan's Dad, Mike & his sweetie Terry. As its winter in Perth, the sunny drive was wonderful--except for the part where my nose and Nathan's forehead got terribly sunburned. We arrived in time for a tour of Terry's garden and sculptures, before Mike whisked us off to a fantastic seafood dinner. We kept trying to talk Mike into coming to Australia to drive truck for the mines, where drivers earn about twice as much as Nathan and I. We talked as late into the night as we could manage (Mike had to be at work at 5:45 am--late for him!).

Aug 1
We hopped up at 5:30am for a sleepy hug goodbye to Mike. We awoke again at 11:00am, time for a sleepy hug goodbye to Terry. After leisurely showers, and repacking for the international flight, we started to make our way to San Franscisco for the flight home. We stopped in Mendicino for a look around at the coastline and shops. After lunch on the veranda overlooking the ocean, and the purchase of Nathan's ritual "holiday shirt" (he buys one every vacation--with the number of tropical/hawaiian/fijian shirts that make the cut,, he must get his style from Mike!), we head down Highway 1 toward San Francisco.

We stop along the way for photos of the coastline, cows on the road, a group of seals sunning on the beach. Nathan tempts me into the grass along the road for a better view of the coast. On the way back to the car, I realise he is trying to increase my sympathy for his persistent poison oak problem by exposing my bare legs to a thicket of poison oak. Nathan's poison oak is improving with steriods, but he's still itchy everywhere. After confronting him about his evil plan, he agrees to take me to the nearest bathroom so I can scour this vile substance from my legs.

The rest of the drive my legs feel itchy, and I'm careful not to touch them to spread the poison oak anywhere else. When we get to the airport, I go to the bathroom for another scrub. Where I realise my legs itched because they were still caked in restroom soap from the last scrubbing.

We board our United flight at 10:30 pm, right on time. After qantas' delays on our way to the US, and some recent dramatic plane malfunctions, we were feeling pretty good about changing companies. Until we realise that United doesn't have the 4 essential things we have come to rely on in an international flight. 1) individual TV controls with movies on demand (1 screen at the front of the plane for 300 people) 2) an assortment of dietary requirement meals to accomodate a variety of vegetarians (he usually gets indianfood--which is vegie and tasty) 3) the little qantas snack bag that lets you eat fruit, choc, chips, every hour or so to keep from going stircrazy. 4) qantas service...which is very used to dealing with tired travellers after 14-20 hour flights.

15 hours later we arrived in Sydney, then hopped (5 hours) to Perth, then caught a cab home by 4:30 pm--August 3rd. We've spent 20 hours in the air, but lost a day to the international date line. Knowing jet lag will be difficult, we struggle to stay away until 8 pm, because I have to be on the right time schedule to get up for work the next day. 12 hours later back to life as usual.

The last 2 days of visiting in California was way too short, but it gave us a little more time with Nathan's family, and a little "unwind" time before heading back. Next year, we'll plan enough time for a more relaxed visit....I hope.

Touring the Midwest...

2008-08-11T07:38:00.000+08:00

All the great rockers have done it....toured the midwest. Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, Laurence Welk, Garrison Keilor, Quiet Riot (well, without the lead singer). So when Nathan and I hopped the Suncountry red-eye from San Franscisco to Minneapolis St Paul, we were following in the footsteps of some well-travelled folks.

July 22
We arrived July 22 at 6:30 am, with about 3 hours of sleep to find that our rental car was rented at Alamo at Lindbergh Terminal, not Humphrey. No mention of that on the website we used, just booked it into MSP airport. So we take the train over to car (which works slick) but the delay puts us in rush hour traffic after not very much sleep. Finally, we arrive at Gretchen's at about 8:30 am--late enough to miss the party, but not too late to say good bye.

You see, we just missed Nathan's grandma's birthday party (94!) by about 8 hours. If only we had known when we booked the flights...but then again, nobody tells us anything! Nathan's aunt Sarah left at 5 am, so we missed her by a few hours too. We did get there in time to see Len, Karen, Kari, and Jon before they drove back to SDakota.

With some showers, we are ready to face the town. We take a visit to Valley Fair for Nathan's birthday. It's been a long-time since I've been (high school graduation), Nathan doesn't remember visiting (although there is some dispute). The suggestion comes from Gretchen which is suprising as she doesn't like rollercoasters. That didn't stop her though, after a few fun rides, she worked up the courage to join us on the OUTLAW. (Well first she worked up her courage to ride the CORKSCREW but someone had gotten sick in her seat and we had to work up to it again). Nathan and I rode STEEL VENOM which turned out to be the best rollercoaster I had been on in years!

After our adrenaline fix, we were wide awake. So headed to Martha and Dick's for a quick visit.

July 23--Nathan's birthday!

We had a lazy morning before picking up Nathan's grandma for a joint birthday celebration. We had a nice visit with her, looking at photos, eating her candy, and installing some birdfeeders. After the candy was gone, we dropped Gretchen back in Chaska before heading to Rochester for an impromptu birthday party. We met Kirk, Dave, Cheryl, Curt, Nancy, Karen & Keith, Carole, Jaymi, and Tony out for Wings and Beers at our old local. (We found out old house was for sale...tempting!) Had a great time...but way too many friends to visit with....and we wish we had time to get in touch with a few more.

July 24--
Jaymi hosted and we got to spend the morning visiting (at Barnes and Noble...of course) before meeting my favorite folks from the Diversity Council for lunch. I miss them so much (and the wonderful work they do). I enjoy my work now, but it's an amazing team. Meanwhile, Nathan was catching up with Tobin and other friends. Nathan somehow finds time for a trip to the hockey store where he buys some birthday presents of his own (including a shockdoctor bag--thanks deb and tim).

At about 1:00 pm we split up, Nathan back for a few more days with his Mom and Grandma. I met my mom and sister for the 2 hour trip to Elmore.

The trip to Elmore was great. Julie, Mom and I spent the whole time talking (alright I distracted Julie while mom completed the shopping for Julie's birthday party.) It seems like we could have talked for weeks....somehow its different when its in person.

July 25--
Up early to walk with Mom and her friends around Elmore. It was about 90% humidity at 7:30am, I thought I was in a steam room. Can't say I've missed the humidity! Sam, Owen, and Jamie came over to help us prepare for Julie's Birthday party. It was great to spend some time with them, especially Jamie before she heads off to School. After many jokes about Julie turning 50, we lifted our glasses to salute my wonderful sister.

July 26--
Saturday I pottered around the house with Mom and Dad. hey had a wedding in the afternoon, and the dance in the evening. Nathan's day was full of adventure (a personal best during a 5k in the morning, then meeting Kirk for sailing in the afternoon.) TNathan joined me in Blue Earth for the demolition derby (mud, mud, mud!) and we bumped into my cousin Shannan and her family. It was hard to talk in between car smashes, but we managed. We had hoped to get together after that, but our time just got away from us. The demolition derby has refired Nathan's life goal of driving in a demo derby....if only either of us knew anything about cars.

July 27--
We went to Shiloh for church. We went home to throw together a BBQ for the evening when my siblings, neices, nephews (and great neices and nephew!), Aunt Connie & Donnie, could join us for some relaxed visiting. After lots of jokes about "shrimp on the barbie", we caught up with family and had a great night. Mom as always makes hosting 40 people look incredibly easy....how did I miss out on that gene!

Nathan has develeoped a severe case of poison oak. Somewhere in the weekend it goes from a few local spots to a systemic reaction. Nathan begins dipping himself in Calomine lotion. MMMM pink.

July 28-
Despite his ailment, Nathan is excited to get the chance to go golfing! We met my Dad after he played 2 rounds on the senior tour, for 1 more round. Dad spoiled us with some coaching advice, which worked for Nathan but I was too tough for him (I refused to improve). Mom joined us for the last few holes and we picked Earl Cowin up on the way through as well. It was a great time (even if my golf needed improvement). It seems that its not really a trip home unless there's golf in there somewhere. We met Brian, Jen, Julie, Scott, Crystal and kids for a final night of pizza and talking. Somewhere in between the jokes, stories, and kid adventures, I didn't find the moment to say how precious my short time with my family in MN is. I started dreading leaving MN again, before we had even arrived. This visit was too short by far, but sometimes I am amazed that I ever get back on the plane. It's probably a good thing I didn't say that, they would have teased me about being sentimental anyway.

When Jen invited Nathan and I to go see the Dark Knight at 11:00 pm that night, it seemed a good way to stretch our visit a little longer. It was a great movie...wow... but I'd take back those 2.5 hours now if I could and squeeze out a few more hours of conversation.

July 29-
Woke early to walk with mom and her friends. Another humid one. Spent the rest of the morning quietly with mom and dad. As we sat down for lunch, it hit me that our time in Elmore was over already. Mom forbade me from crying, so we joked a bit as we headed out the door right on schedule.

We met in Chaska. Nathan and his mom for one more night, while I spent the night with my girlfriend Connie. Connie was just what I needed to lift my spirits...she knows me well and kept me laughing all night long as we raced home in her Camaro, to play Rockband, and catch up on news.

July 30-
Now the minutes really fly by. Connie drops me back in Chaska. Nathan gets some steroids for his poison oak, after having received the most minimal physical exam possible.. After some important last minute shopping (I miss Target!), Nathan and I settle in to an amazing dinner with Gretchen and her friend Vicky. We pack our things.."borrow" some of Gretchen's books...weigh bags one more time...before having to say goodbye.

We climb back on our SunCountry flight for 2 days in California before we make the long trip home.

Whirlwind US Tour

2008-08-08T08:29:00.000+08:00

Hey there!

We are just recovering from a whirlwind US tour, which explains the lack of blogness.

When I say whirlwind here was the itinerary.

Tuesday July 15
Work, work, work!
Nathan plays hockey game while Kris finishes packing
Nathan arrives home 20 min before the taxi arrives to pick us up

Wednesday July 16 12:30 am
Flight from Perth to Sydney delayed because plane is struck by lightening.
Wait, wait, wait!
Board plane for Red-eye flight to Sydney.
Arrive on time, (6:30 am)find chairs to try and get real sleep in the Sydney airport.
wake (11:30), grab a coffee, panic when the monitors show our flight as closed.
wander around the airport trying to get an answer.
wander, wander, wander.
At last discover our flight has been delayed for another 9 hours.
wait, wait, wait!
Email alan to say we will be late.
wait, wait, wait!
Board at last, for our 14 hour flight to SFO.
wait, wait, wait!
Arrive in California, pick up the rental car and head to Alan & Masami's.

July 17
Sleep to noon. See the boys for breakfast. head to Taco Bell for lunch.
Stop by the bank to deposit bank draft--its missing!
panic, panic, panic!
Email friends at home to see if we left it in Perth.
panic, panic, panic!
Take our mind off lost check with cribbage marathon, swimming in pool, and dinner with Alan & Masami, Michael, Bradley, Gregory, and Stephanie and her boyfriend.

July 18
Say farewells, head to Santa Rosa. Life with out cellphones requires finding a payphone off the freeway...fun, fun, fun!
Meet Mannix's for mexican dinner.
marvel at recent events: Molly & Missy are roommates, Missy and Quinn graduate, Max becomes young curmudgeon.

July 19
Kris goes for fun run, Nathan helps Tim dig a ditch at the Church, everybody digs, then trip to Laguna Road to help Mike & Terry clean up the Gran Mannix' home for sale now that they are in new digs. Load 6 metric tonnes of wood into a skip, Nathan gets exposed to poison oak, meet Mannix's at same Mexican restaurant for dinner.

July 20
Meet Mike & Terry for a diner breakfast (who's heard of biscuits and gravy without sausage!), then loading more wood, before heading up to the ranch. Deb, Tim, Caitlyn and Grandpa meet us there to inspect the property (which has been particularly important because of fires in the area). Teary farewells.

July 21
Cancel the missing bank draft. Finally relax!
Head to Bill & Ethel (Gran Mannix's) 's new place for a nice long visit.
Meet Tim & Debbie at Himalayan restaurant for celebratory dinner.
Teary farewells.
Hit the road to Fly to MN.

That's just the first week! FULL ON!

Kristin

Cold--in Australia?

2008-07-01T08:20:00.001+08:00

For those of you who have heard us complain about the heat, I'm about to shock you. This week its cold in Australia. It's 3 degrees Celsius today. Just a touch above freezing.

Now most days, I would scoff at calling 3 degrees cold. Gretchen probably remembers the winter she came to MN at 20 below Fahrenheit. My car heater had broken so she had to scrape the ice off the inside of the windsheild while I was driving so I could see out for the 25 minute trip to my apartment. Anyone who has lived through winter in the mid-west breaks out the shorts and flip flops at 3 degrees. But for Perth, its about as cold as it gets.

Although I know I should be a stoic Scandinavian (cold enough for ya?), I find myself agreeing when people complain about the weather. It's colder here than one might think for 3 reasons.

1) In the winter, it rains. ALOT. Last year, in July it rained 19 days straight. Not a London or Seattle drizzle, thundershowers that soak you to the skin in 2 minutes or less. Cold and dry is one thing....cold and wet, ew.
2) The buildings are NOT insulated. and in the case of our house, NOT HEATED. (Yes, this is worse than our freezing place in Abbey Wood where we were too cheap to pay for gas. We do not have a heat source in the house). We have a space heater for the bedroom and one for the living room, but with 14 foot ceilings we spend most evenings wrapped in blankets. Midnight trips to the bathroom have a distinctly camping feel--especially when you sit on a toilet seat that's nearly freezing.
3) There is a fuel shortage in WA. A recent fire has caused a massive shortage. Murdoch Uni is a huge consumer of energy, and has shut off most of the lights in the hallways, turns off the heat in all the buildings overnight, and encourages all employees to minimise electricity and heating.

So, despite my tough talk, I'm battling a cold, wrapped in my fuzziest sweater, wishing for a Minnesota winter.

Strange things down here...

2008-06-15T23:03:00.000+08:00

It's another strange fruit.
I would have thought that we would have run out by now. After all, how many strange fruits can there be? I ask from a gastronomic perspective, not a botanical one. I know well that there are bjillions of strange biological fruits, but how many would you find in the market?
At least one more.
I should ask you all to guess, really. It might be fun.
On the other hand, I'm easily distracted, so I'll give you a few hints here, then the answer will be at the bottom.
Hint 1: It includes the name of another fruit.
Hint 2: Bonnie will have heard of it, but never seen it.
Hint 3: In the US, the most common form is a juice.

Other strange things in Aus...
Energy crisis.
In WA, there is a shortage of gas. Not for the car, they call that petrol. Gas for fuel for production plants, heating, general energy stuff. This came about last month as the result of a refinery getting blown up -- no foul play suspected. There are some pretty serious side-effects of this.
Serious Side-effect 1: The commercial laundry that washes all the hotel sheets for Perth was told to close down the week before the largest tourism conference in the Australasian region. No fresh sheets, and bring your own towel as we hear about hospitality...
Serious Side-effect 2: There is debate about banning the use of gas to heat homes. If there was no heating the houses, the argument goes, then the companies could be up and running with the gas that was saved. Otherwise, we would have home heat and everybody laid off, and the, "warmest group of unemployed people in Australia", to quote a local business leader.
Serious Side-effect 3: All of these other effects were discussed ad nauseum on the news and the talking heads were getting moderately agitated, but it wasn't until the latest headline that the average WA citizen got worried.
It would seem that without gas, one of the local chemical companies would be unable to produce CO2, used for flash freezing poultry and fish, but also used to supply draught beer in the pubs.

In short -- no sheets for the hospitality conference? No dramas. No heat in the homes of the elderly during winter? She'll be right.
But no beer...
I expect this situation to be resolved pretty quickly now.

Speaking of beer, there is currently a huge movement to crack down on binge-drinking in Australia. Good. It's about time. Far too many fatalities on the roads, teen alcohol abuse, abuse in clubs and the rest. But what, you may well ask, defines binge drinking?
You would have gotten an answer this week.
Binge drinking (in Australia) is defined as of Thursday, as:
3 glasses of wine, or
4 mid-strength beers.
Very little was said about time frame, but this is quite a lightweight definition in a country that prides itself on the outback pub, bringing a stubby-holder to every occasion, and selling wine to the rest of the world cheaply enough that everybody in the UK can afford Australian merlot for their binge-drinking.

Like I said, there are some strange things going on down here. Mysterious things.

But none so mysterious as the mangosteen.

The End-of-Playoff Beard

2008-06-11T15:52:00.000+08:00

So it's finally over. Not the democratic nomination, although there is some relief that the D's have finally stopped attacking each other and emptying the coffers in friendly fire. No, I'm talking about something much more important.
The NHL Playoffs.
While it may seem to some that these playoffs last nearly an entire election cycle, it's all too brief for me. Why, I hardly had time to get up to Chewbacca stage in the playoff beard growth, while in my heart of hearts I would like to get to ZZ top. And it doesn't look like Kris has even been trying!
With the dusting off of the razor, we acknowledge the much more experienced Red Wings for their dominance, and try not to be too condescending to the penguins by saying, nice try, maybe when you boys are a little older...
I confess that there is another reason for shaving. This is much more vain.
I didn't mind too much when it was pointed out that this year, at 35, I would be in a different demographic -- still pretty young. I even managed a chuckle when the hairdresser laughed at my scalp, saying "it just gets thinner and thinner." Why, I'm actually proud of the grey in my hair.
But not my beard.
When Kris reached over and was playing with a white hair in my beard, I knew that the days of Grizzly Mannix were numbered. It's not that it looks old, just...well, maybe a little old. A little untidy. It just doesn't reflect the way I think I look, which is about 25.
I know the feeling young won't last, but for just a little while longer, let me think that I'm more like the Pittsburgh Penguins, and a little less experienced than the Red Wings.

May 17th...On home.

2008-06-03T11:47:00.000+08:00

Rising with the sun, we had a chance to explore our campsite. And a very strange place it was.

There was a 2km stretch of area open for camping, which included everything from tents like ours, to permanent collections of subdivided trailers with padlocks on them. Small, ice-house sized shanties with tin roofs were nearly indistinguishable from the outhouses dotted around the campground. Busses, campers, and trailers towed by every type of vehicle were parked with their solar panels displayed, and a row of RVs competed for the biggest carbon footprint.

As we strolled down the beach, it was clear that this was a favorite getaway spot, but only 2 others were awake at this time. We watched them fish, talked again about how handy a kayak would be on this coast, and dawdled back to the campsite for a cleanup breakfast which included everything left in the eskie (cooler) -- beans, eggs, toast, pancakes, coffee...enough fuel for a marathon.

On the way out, we stopped to admire a local phenomenon called the blowholes. Onrushing waves hit chimney-shaped flutes of rock, which causes water to fountain up in narrow, geyser-like sprays. This was kind of cool, but we couldn't get too close due the warning signs about King waves, which wash unwary fishermen off the cliffs to their doom. Instead, we watch a young German couple take photos of each other coming out of the outhouse with reading material and toilet paper, which was pretty entertaining. I then tried a few photos of rock parrots screaming across the landscape, but they were just greenish smears on the film.

We debated whether to take a detour to visit Kalbarri National Park, or save that for a time when we had some more energy. Wisely, we decided to head straight home, have a day to unpack and develop film, and do some laundry. Pretty uneventful, save for a sign in Eneabba which should serve as a warning to all who visit us, especially during nesting season.

All in all, we had a great time, and were happy to get home, exhausted but very satisfied that we had seen a new, big chunk of Western Australia, but amazed that, as much as we had seen and as quickly as we had travelled, this trip just skimmed over a scant 25% of the coast of WA, and almost none of the interior. This is truly a huge, huge place.

Come see for yourself.

Friday, May 16 Dive, Dive, Dive

2008-06-02T12:02:00.000+08:00

Another early start (notice a theme!) as we join up with Ningaloo Reef Dreaming team at7:15 am. By 8:15, we have picked up our equipment for a day of diving on the reef. As we approach Bundegi Beach, we can hear the surf crashing and our dive guide Westie (oddly reminiscint of a Kiwi Paulie Shore) reminds us that the faster we load, the more time on the dive we can get. He points out the small, bright orange dive boat that is making its way to the pier as we unload our scuba gear.

That's when we notice a slight problem. The pier is not long enough, so the boat practically has to run aground to get close...which makes it very susceptible to every wave hitting the beach. It took 3 tries to get close enough to load the first passenger who had to step down from the broken spar on the jetty to the slippery top chrome rail. I wasn't sure how long the boat would stay near the pier so I went next...like climbing aboard a bucking bronco. I made the leap of faith, made it safely through into the cabin, and promptly wiped out in the water that was spilling over the deck of the boat from the crashing waves. More victims climbed aboard, and 2 times they had to back away and make the approach again. Crashing into the pier as we came in seemed the only way to ensure the boat was close enough to board. As we completed the bucket chain of scuba equipment, the engine began to sputter. The taciturn Captain Gerry didn't wait for us to sit down, but backed us away from the crashing surf.

First mate Pete, politely asked a diver to move, before diving headfirst into the port engine. As we fought the 3 m swell I wondered about how long it would take the powerless boat to break up once it hit the reef. With Pete's attention, power returned to the boat, and we put-put-putted off to dive in Lighthouse Bay.

Our first dive was a circular bit of reef called Gulliver's. While circling the reef, I spied an enormous sting ray. I tried signalling to Nathan. Since you can't talk effectively with a breathing apparatus in your mouth, I relied on my powers of mime which were obviously weak because Nathan continued swimming. At the last second, the ray shot from beneath him in a cloud of sand. The shock in Nathan's eyes suggested he also had visions of Steve Irwin's demise playing in his head. We were calmed by watching a sea turtle serenly swim above us.

Pulses race again when we came upon another diver who was using about $5000 worth of photographic equipment to shoot something under a ledge. When he had taken the 15th photo (the one that's probably on the cover of national geographic), we got our chance to take a peak at what was the ledge. It was an octupus. The body was about as big around as a dinner plate, with long legs wrapped tight around a rock. It had been distrubed by the photographer, so slided along the bottom to find another rock. When it found a suitable purchase it not only changed its colour, but its skin mimicked the rough texture of the coral around it. It became practically invisible. Clearly these are alien beings who will one day take over the world.

Our second dive of the day was at a linear stretch of reef called Blizzard. After watching the serious diver/photographer aboard with envy, Nathan decided to leave the camera behind and just have a "free" dive. We glided down the mooring line to a spot near the beginning of the reef. Almost immediately, Nathan began wishing for the camera. Approaching the reef, we encountered on olive sea snake about 2 m long and 6 in diameter. It swam away unconcerned. We found 5 or 6 more along our dive. I only freaked out once, and it began to swim STRAIGHT at me. I backpedaled rapidly (which I am sure was hilarious because I practically tripped over my own fins) before it changed direction and slithered away. (This freak out was actually for good reason, as the sea snakes have the most lethal venom of any snake in the world. They almost never bite divers, and probably couldn't get through neoprene anyway, but in a country of deadly critters, it's only fitting that the first snake we see in the wild is the most venomous. -nm-)

Our photographer friend took another 25 pictures of a lion fish, with its spikey fins arrayed in a deadly display. Each fin is coated in a neurotoxin which paralyzes its prey and any unsuspecting diver that touches it. Luckily Nathan did not have his camera (grrrrr) or he might have been tempted into range of its lethal spines.

During our swim we came upon another mooring line. Each of us believed we needed to head in opposite directions to surface near the boat. We tried to disagree underwater about which way to go. Our rehearsed range of handsignals didn't cover this eventuality. As we couldn't agree, we pretty much surfaced where we were...which turned out to be a long way from the boat. If you don't dive, you may not realise that swimming on the surface is much harder than underwater. For one thing, on the surface you bob along with every wave (which makes some of us seasick). After much whining on my part (and incredible patience on Nathan's part, not to mention towing Kris for some of the way. -nm-), we climbed rather tired back on to the boat.

After a respite and a sea lunch, we headed to our final dive site "Banana". This was an amazing dive. It wasn't a big bit of reef, so we felt relaxed and comfortable taking our time to explore the whole reef. The coral was impressive, bright colours, incredible variety, with millions of fish darting in and out. We saw more sea snakes and another sting ray, but there was no more adrenaline. We had achieved a Zen-like state of tranquility. It's hard to convey, but for my first time diving I really understood why people get hooked on scuba. I could have stayed there for hours and just watched it all. Unfortunately, my diminishing air wouldn't allow an all-day stay.

As we slowly surfaced, our guide Westie removed his regulator and practiced blowing"smoke rings"--well oxygen rings. He convinced Nathan to give it a try, but I was not so relaxed from this diving trip that I was willing to take out my regulator and give it ago. The ride back to Bundegi Beach was uneventful, the swell had diminished as the tide had gone out. Unfortunately, this also meant we couldn't actually get close to the pier, so the captain just ran her aground on the sandy beach and we climbed down to the beach.

By 4, we had grabbed a couple of beers and loaded up with gas (at $7/gallon, for those of you keeping track), and had decided to head south to find a camp ground. I looked quickly at a map and suggested Quobba Bay. After a quick stop to mark the crossing of the tropic of capricorn, we drove off into the sunset. What we didn't realize is that Quobba is about 200 k south of where we thought, with NOTHING in between.

When we finally arrived at 8:30 pm, we decided it would be nice to shower the salt off and turned towards a caravan park. 20 minutes later, we arrived to find that we couldn't find a camp spot or the shower blocks. With a sigh, Nathan drove off to the beach to camp along the water. There was no sandy beach here, only rocky ledges that left no way for setting up the tent let alone sleeping. We finally found a sandy place littered with campers and cars but were too tired to keep driving. It was almost 10 pm. We quickly erected the tent on a soft sandy spot (by now we have practice!), and then ate a quick meal over our miracle stove.

The soft sand lured us to sleep. We were too tired even for cribbage.

Tomorrow...Blow Holes

Thursday 15th of May

2008-05-27T19:56:00.000+08:00

Today we thought that we should give our skin time to iron out any wrinkles, and spend some time on dry land. With that in mind, we were up at dawn, let me repeat that, we were up at dawn, for a quick stroll to the head of Mandu Mandu gorge, a nearby hike through a cut in the red hills of the Cape Range. It was fantastic, with birds, rocks, and, um, other rocks. It was very pretty, though.

After a breakfast of pancakes and eggs, we upped stakes (some with real difficulty) and bounced our way out of the campsite and down to Yardie Creek. We stopped to admire the plaque which informed us that this road to an historic crossing in old sheep farming country had been opened in 2000. History is overrated.

Yardie creek is the only gorge in the national park that has water year-round, which is good for the ecosystem, but bad for the people trying to drive south of the creek. There is an official crossing place for people in pre-rusted 4WD vehicles, if you're daring enough or if you really, really need to get to the other side. We waded across to appreciate the peril (significant) and the likelihood of us trying this in the Rav4 (vanishingly small). Nevertheless, we hung out for a while in hopes that somebody would come hooning through, but no luck. Instead, we took a very sedate boat trip up the river, admiring the bird life (ospreys, cormorants, welcome swallows) and the rare black-footed rock wallaby. It was really very pleasant.

A short drive away was a sweeping sandy bay called, let's check the notes, Sandy Bay, which was so unbelievably idyllic that it tempted us back in the water for a leisurely snorkel. Afterwards, we dried out on the beach and speculated as to what could be responsible for the variety of animal tracks in the sand. Unresolved, we jumped in the car and headed back out to Exmouth, stopping to admire a shipwreck just off shore. That night, relaxing pizza and beer at the apostrophe-deficeint Graces Tavern.

Ah... this is the rest and relaxation that we always hope for, but rarely get on vacation. And a good thing that we saved up some energy for tomorrow's boat dives. But for this night, a quiet, early night. After beating Kris at cribbage, that is.

Wedneesday, 14 May navy pier danger dive

2008-05-26T20:54:00.000+08:00

We awoke on Wednesday with a mission. Find a campsite for that evening.

Now I wouldn't think this would be so difficult in a land the size of the United States but with one/tenth the population. However, there is a small but dedicated community of perennial campers that lurk at national parks to get the best camp sites. The community is split between young college leavers in rented camper vans driving across Australia saving all their money for beer and petrol. The other part of the community is the "grey nomads," retirees in expensive RVs or 4x4 with trailers.

We had been warned if we were going to beat the grey nomads, we needed to be at our campsite before 10 am.

At 9:30, we found a great place. A short hike to Mandu Mandu gorge, a top snorkel site just up the beach, the cleanest pit toilet we've ever seen, and NO generators. Like Minnesota parking lot vultures in January, we slid into their vacated spot to set a tent as far from the family tent with toddlers as possible.

We only had enough time to erect our tent on some of the hardest packed sand in Australia (4 bent tent pegs can testify to that!) before driving back to Exmouth. We arrived just in time to load up for our next dive trip: NAVY pier. Rated by our guides as one of the Top 10 dive sites in Australia.

The pier is part of the Naval Communication Stations founded by the Americans in the 70s. The American military built the towers in the States, then dissembled them bolt by bolt, shipped them to Australia, built a pier, unloaded them and rebuilt the towers.

Since then, the pier has mostly accumalated fantastic marine life. Unfortunately, a substantial portion of it was deadly. there was fire coral (neurotoxins), stone fish (neurotoxins), lion fish (neurotoxins), reef sharks (sharp teeth), carpet sharks (sharp teeth), tiger sharks (BIG sharp teeth), barracuda (tiny sharp teeth). GREAT...don't touch anything.

So, we got our dive gear, went through the military checkpoint (which despite scare tactics amounted to roll call in elementary school), then out on to the pier. Entering the water was slightly nerve-racking. We were expected to make a giant stride entry from 2 meters above the water's surface. Unfortunately, waddling forward in fins gives you a lot of time to imagine tripping and falling face first with several tons of scuba gear into water that is so clear it only looks a few feet deep. After marshalling my courage, (and considering the alternative of getting back OUT of my wetsuit!) I took the plunge. Nathan grabbed a picture (not of me, but the distance from the diving platform to the water.)

Under the water was amazing--we saw beautiful coral, schools of tropical fish (electric blue, bright yellow, lime green), and the slightly adrenaline pump of deadly coral, scorpionfish, and lion fish. We saw moray eels, a big potato cod (about 1 m), grouper, and of course some very stimulating nudibranchs. I spent a lot of time trying to remember to watch my buoyance so that I didn't bump into anything that could kill me with a subtle stinger. Some of the highlights included seeing a sleeping reef shark (about 2 m long) and an amazing large carpet shark draped over one of the pylons.

The carpet shark (called a wobbegong here) had the back half of a shark, but the front half was perfectly camoflaged with the coral. Our photo didn't turn out, but here's what he looked like....

After the dive, we drove back out to our campsite at cape range park where we settled in for a delicious meal mashed potato and thai tuna steaks over our whizzy new backpacking stove. After Nathan accepted a crushing defeat in cribbage he sulked for the rest of the evening with his book, while a slipped off to dreamland in the glow of victory (or our camp lantern).

Tomorrow...hiking the gorge and other activities on dry land.

Tuesday, 13 May--whalesharks!

2008-05-25T19:19:00.000+08:00

This is it. The moment you've been waiting for! At least, that's what we were telling ourselves when the alarm went off. It was an early start. 7:15 am at Ningaloo Reef Dreaming for a relaxed day on the boat, and the opportunity to swim with the Whale Sharks.

For those of you who haven't seen the entire Jacques Cousteau collection, whale sharks are the world's largest fish and grow up to 18m in length (that's 60 feet for those of you in North America). That's a little over 3 Dodge Durango SUV's end to end. Luckily for us, and for the other folks forking out a substantial chunk of cash for the opportunity, these sharks are also pretty much vegetarians, living on Krill and stuff unlucky enough to get caught in the grill. Mouth. I mean mouth.

So we were prepared that we were going to be in the open ocean with a giant shark. That's what we and thousands of other people come to Exmouth for. What we weren't prepared for was commando snorkelling.

The Whale Sharks have migration patterns that are mostly unknown, and protected by legisltation. We were limited to swimming with the whalesharks for 60 minutes, with no more than 10 people in the water at any one time, not closer than 3m, no swimming in front of the shark, etc. etc. In order for everyone to get their turn at snorkelling with the whalesharks, we were warned that we must be ready to jump in at anytime, and exit the water with military precision (which is difficult wearing a snorkel and fins).

To give us an opportunity to practice, we first went to the reef where we did a deep sea snorkel. This was supposed to be a relaxed swim to get used to snorkelling near the reef. What we weren't prepared for was 3 meter swell, and the waves breaking over the reef. Eventually the rocking of the ocean and the crashing waves left even the most hardy swimmers sea-sick. We returned to the boat, green at the gills, and not feeling any more prepared.

Shortly after our practice snorkel they sent up a spotter plane, and they almost immediately spotted a whaleshark. He was 6 m long, but swimming too close to the reef for the boat to safely drop us. After seeing the boat's crew struggle to keep up in the crashing surf, we were glad that they decided it was too rough for us tourists (there's no guarantees--they are a lot less worried about lawsuits here so I thought they might drop us in anyway--after all we signed a waiver). Meanwhile, 50% of the passengers came up with this clever technique to lure the shark away from the reef -- gather at the rail, and offer the morning's (slightly used) breakfast as an enticement. Surprisingly, he declined to join us.

While they searched for another whaleshark, we had a hurried lunch. During the second bite of my sandwich they shouted, "In the water in 3 minutes! group A ready". Swallowing my sandwich whole, I felt even more seasick. Suddenly we were herded into the water like lemmings over a cliff...where was it? Then out of the blue, the slow graceful movements of two ocean rays. Gorgeous! More like flight than swimming, they swooped and glided around us, first right side up, then upside down, showing us their 6 foot wingspan and gills from the bottom.

The boat swings around to pick us up,"Hurry up, on board, move to the back, c'mon, c'mon!"
We are heading towards another whaleshark. This one looks promising. The spotters jump in the water and begin swimming along side the whaleshark with their arm raised. "Group B ready we take our positions, and jump. Immediatley swimming towards the spotter, looking for the raised arm. Then a glimpse of something.

It's huge. I mean, without the boat, being in the water with this fish is like getting out of the jeep on an African safari to stroll 10 feet from a giraffe. And it looked so lazy and relaxed -- just a casual swish of its tail and no matter how fast I snorkelled, there was no way to keep up. We tried, until my thigh cramped and I almost swam through somebody else's vomit (did we mention that it was pretty rough water?), but all too soon, he was out of sight. Then the boat came around, we hauled ourselves out, they raced ahead of the shark and dropped us back in for another go.

It was on the third entry that it happened. I was snorkelling towards the spotter, planning to head down the other side of the shark, when he took a lazy 10 degree turn and when I looked back in the water...I was staring straight into a 6 foot wide mouth. Now, I know he wasn't planning to hunt me down or anything, but I could see that if I happened to get sucked in, it might just be me and Jonah for the next few months. I quickly vacated that slightly warmer, yellower patch of sea, and barely got any pictures at all on that pass. One that I did get, though, has Kristin just visible on the surface behind him. Hopefully this will put it in perspective.

We were lucky to have such a good swim -- sometimes the shark dives right away and you only get a few minutes "on the shark." The industry average (yes, they keep stats) is about 8-9 minutes, and we stretched our hour to the breaking point. It was great. It was humbling. It was so exhausting that, upon returning the caravan park, I barely had enough energy to beat Kris at cribbage. We even turned off NCIS in the middle, so you know we were tired.

Besides, tomorrow was another big day!

Monday 12 May

2008-05-24T21:56:00.000+08:00

After a restless night of being worried to sleep with my mouth open, in case a cockroach crawled in there (Nathan confessed to thinking about the same urban legend all night--so at least it was a snore-free evening), we woke early.

As usual in Western Australia, the weather was gorgeous. We decided to go for a run and get a layout of the town. As the main highway looked dreary, we headed down a side track heading for the beach. We ran past the town golf course--black sand greens and grass optional. Then over a rise to the beach. He ran on the beach, I stayed on the path, and he still beat me back to the hotel.

After checking out of the Pot Shot Roach Motel, our goal for Monday was to plan the rest of our time in Exmouth. For those of you who know us, making decisions is usually the hardest part of any travel, we prefer serendipity. But we had so many things we wanted to do, it would require a schedule. With a quick stop at the internet cafe, we were able to find the dive shop we wanted. After scheduling 5 dives and a whaleshark tour, then finding a place to stay for the night that didn't include roaches free of charge, our wallets were feeling a little lighter and we decided to search for some free entertainment.

We hopped in the car to head to Cape Range National Park. On the way, we passed a the Howard Holt Naval Communications Station. The Naval Communications Station was built by the US in the 70s, using very low frequency radio transmission to contact submarines. The station used to hold 3000 americans to build and staff the towers. The town of Exmouth sprung up as an off-base site for grocery shops, family homes, and bars. Although the US soldiers eventually left and the base was tenanted by the Australian Federal Police, the US still owns the naval station. After 9/11, 500 soldiers dropped in to check on "their station."
Without the Naval Station, its entirely possible that some of the most beautiful coastline in Australia, with an amazing natural coral reef just off shore, might have remained totally unappreciated and unvisited by all but a few.

From the naval station, we stopped by the Turtle center where every November turtles come to lay there eggs on shore, then leave the nests untended to return to the sea. Visitors and researchers come to watch over the nests, before the baby turtles return to the sea in March. In May, however, there wasn't much to see but rocky coastline and turqoise water. Our drive also takes us past a low bushland filled with large red mounds. These 6 foot high termite mounds. The termites feed on a spinifex (a prickly Australian bush grass). Nathan, the biology geek, goes crazy with his camera. I have spared you.

Finally, we arrive at Cape Range National Park and drive to the visitor's center to find out about the good snorkelling spots on the Ningaloo Reef. Where we meet one a real rarity--a surly Australian National Parks employee. Australians are amazingly friendly people--but very egalitarian. As a waiter or waitress, they don't see their job to suck up to you...just to bring you the food, so occasionally an Austrlian in a service role will do their job--and nothing more. This, however, was beyond the lack of welcome to a real sense of being inconvenienced and annoyed by our waiting at the information desk.

After asking about snorkel spots, we are abruptly pointed to a book with a few maps. The maps contain clauses about dangerous currents which are a little unsettling. Nathan asks questions about how strong the currents are, how experienced a swimmer do you have to be? After several terse answers that "our safety is our responsibility", and "we have been warned", we head with some annoyance and trepidation to Turquoise Bay.

On one side of the Bay is a highly recommended drift snorkel, which has warning signs about rip tides and sharks, on the other a calm pool. With words of doom echoing in our heads, we opt for the safe snorkel and see an amazing amount of marine life--Brain coral, giant clams, nudibranchs, schools of vibrantly colored tropical fish. After drying out on the beach, we chatted to another American visitor who encouraged us to take the drift dive with the sharks. But, we didn't. "We have lots of time to come back and try the drift snorkel." (yeah right).

Heading back to our chalet, (that's what the caravan park calls our trailer house with no bathroom) we settled into a quiet night drying our tent and sleeping bags, Nathan LOSING at cribbage, and heading to bed for an early start for whalesharking at 7 am.

TOMORROW: Swimming with Whalesharks

2008-05-23T20:56:00.000+08:00

...there's nothing like an ellipsis to create suspense, huh?
That, and a day off .
Good guess, Todd, but really I was just trying to heighten the tension. In actuality, our situation in the morning, waking on the top of Eagle Bluff was...
...damp.
The forecast was dry, so an astute observer would have noted that our tent did not have the rain fly on it. It didn't rain, nor did it gust or anything. Instead, there was perhaps a world record-setting dew, which dripped and dropped in the tent all night long, leaving us with a cup or more of fresh water, and our sleeping bags, well...
...damp.

That didn't stop us from enjoying the sunrise, waving goodbye to the jumping fish, and setting out for Monkey Mia. This resort has made a name for itself by having wild dolphins who, in addition to hunting, get something like 20% of their diet from people on the beach feeding them, so show up quite regularly. Like, three-times-a-day regularly.
I was set up for disappointment. I was ready for a half-assed SeaWorld type show, which would never be quite as professional as what I hoped for. Maybe that was why I was pleasantly surprised by the intimate gathering of 15-20 tourists at the water's edge as the dolphins came in for their feed and we were knee-deep with 4 adult females and numerous smaller young for 20-30 minutes of sincere discussion of feeding and breeding of dolphins in Shark Bay.

It was very pleasant, and capped by some pelican antics as they played in the sprinkler, which made my morning.

Very efficeint, too, as we were off to Eagle Bluff to spot some manta rays from on top of a cliff, shell beach (a 3 mile-long beach made up of shells...and only shells, some 30 feet deep and so compact in places that they cut it up for bricks),

and then on to the (drum roll)
STROMATALITES!
Excuse me for shouting, but this is something that I find pretty cool, but have to make a big deal out of, since they don't make a big deal out of themselves. We are talking about an accumulation of organisms that first changed the earth from hostile environment, incapable of nurturing an organism anywhere as complex as an amoeba, to an oxygen-rich environment capable of sustaining quite remarkable forms of life, like Sidney Crosby or David Attenborough.
This is it. These are what those very first organisms were, 1.9 billion years ago (or 693,500,000,000 days), and without whom we may all be breathing methane and complaining of global cooling.

True, they are uninspiring in aspect. Kris calls them "Blob Rocks" and is something of an expert herself, as she has been dragged to 3 of the 5 sites where they are currently active in W.A. Of course, "active" stromatalites is something of a misnomer. Kind of like an "active" legistlator -- mostly just taking in food and eliminating waste products. In the case of the stromatalites, though, they take in sunlight and eliminate oxygen, unlike our senators who take in all sorts of perks and eliminate, well, crap.
I think they're cool, anyway.
It was all downhill from there.
A long drive to Exmouth, where we arrived at about 7:30, when all but 2 places that offer accomodation were closed. Pause for effect. In a town that lives on tourism, only 2 hotel reception desks were still open at 7:30pm. And we chose the one that offered us a choice of monastic brick cells, an overpriced restaurant, and at least 5 cockroaches. I don't know how many we didn't spot, which is what kept me up at night.
Exmouth has got to get better...right?

Tomorrow: Exmouth, snorkelling, and the search for a roach-free motel

Saturday, May 10th

2008-05-21T21:57:00.000+08:00

So we wake up early(ish), and look out over a perfectly still harbor just across the road. The fishing boats are in, catching the morning light in spectacular fashion. I have to paint a word picture, as the photos that I took on the old film camera of this are not yet back, but will be posted if they turned out. We did go for a short run, but didn't want to ruin the day by being too sore! After a quick tour through the Shark Bay interpretive centre to get our physical and historical perspective, we jumped in the car to head out to Francois Peron National Park.
Now, when an Australian road is closed to even 4WD, you know that something dramatic has happened. That, unfortunately for us, described the road that we intended to travel. Instead, we went out to one of the more remote beaches where we marvelled at the turqoise water, the backwards-seeming kangaroo tracks where the impression from the front feet is behind the rear feet and tail, and a stone that looked to be a dog-headed scepter left over from previous civilizations. Knowing that it was a remote beach, though, we should maybe have been a little more circumspect when approaching some of the campers.
You see, they had a very impressive tow-behind camper, here in the rugged outback where some 4WD vehicles were unable to get to, and it unfolded in an ingenious demonstration of live-aboard oragami. It was only after we waved and started talking to them that we realised that they were naked. They were very polite. Just...nude. Kind of offputting. We strolled off casually to show that we were relaxed and cool people, but did not, even once, look back.
We explored the limits of the russet dirt road, ending up at a lagoon where we promised ourselves we would return -- someday -- with a kayak. Cleverly named Big Lagoon was big, and lagoony, but had the feature of being protected enough to entice big sea turtles (which we saw) and dugongs (which remain mythical, as far as I'm concerned).
From here, it was a long, bumpy ride back to the main road, and down to where we had registered for a free camp site at a place called Eagle Bluff. This was easily the highlight of the day, arriving about an hour before sunset at a completely deserted stretch of coast where we watched the birds until the light was gone.
Just as the sun dipped below the horizon, we started hearing splashes from the bay below. It didn't take long for me to realize that there was a giant school of fish, just offshore...and I didn't have anything to catch them with. Not even a hook and some twine. No dynamite or nuthin'. I spent over an hour trying to catch them with the only thing I had -- my camera. Hopefully to be added in a photo gallery will be at least one lucky snap of a leaping Taylor silhoutted by the setting sun. Fingers crossed.
We took some REI catalog-style pictures of our tent perched on the bluff, marvelled at our luck in having such a beautiful spot to ourselves, and cooked some burritos on the new stove. I don't know if any of you have had the experience of trying to use one of the ultralight backpacking stoves, but the one that we didn't bring is this unstable contraption that not only is prone to dumping your food all over, but the only thing that keeps the cannister of highly flammable stove fuel away from the flames is a sheet of really thick aluminum foil. It is not a utensil which inspires confidence, and lighting it requires a full college engineering course.
With that in mind, imagine my glee when, upon turning the knob on the new stove, it just lit. Just like that. We didn't spill any food, the wind didn't blow out the flame, the water boiled in about 30 seconds (very important for morning coffee), and -- this is the really important bit -- at no time did I feel as though it might explode and leave me with a lifetime of explaining why I had no eyebrows.
As we retired, tickled by how easy this new stove would make our camping trips and belching salsa fumes, I settled in to win handily at cribbage and fall asleep, little knowing what the night would hold...

Friday 9 May--Dongara to Denham

2008-05-20T20:51:00.000+08:00

Waking in the Priory Hotel after 10 blissful hours of holiday rest (with visions of skimpies dancing in our heads), Nathan and I rose to explore Dongara/Port Dennison. These 2 towns divided by the Irwin River have merged to become the LOBSTER capital of the world. With this in mind, we went in search of the crawfish/lobster factory, which featured tours (and I hoped free tastings). But alas, the tours were no longer available to the public and Nathan and I settled for scones and coffee from the Port Store in Port Dennison. With a little coffee, Nathan was ready for playtime.

We wandered the marina, learning about the hundreds of shipwrecks that litter this part of the Australian coast. The sea floor is mostly sand--so the water is an amazing turquise colour, luring sailors into the hidden reefs that dot the coastline. The whole coast is named the Batavia coast after its most famous shipwreck, and really there are too many less notable wrecks to count.

Not all of the water is so beautiful, as we discovered the river estuary had turned the water into a less than appealing sewage colour. For some reason, this part of the town didn't make the brochures.

From there we explored the streets lined with 100 year old figs. With about 6 shops total, Nathan and I managed 3 major shopping purchases.

1) a new camp stove (we forgot a peice of our backpacking stove in the US).
2) a guide to free camping in WA, including our next destination
3) 2 books for the trip--in our hurry to leave, we hadn't packed junk fiction. This is unacceptable for a vacation.

With these essential purchases made, we hit the road. Just up the coast is Geraldton, where we stopped at the HMAS Sydney memorial. This ship lost 645 crew in a battle with a German boat in WWII. For the last 60 years, the location of both wrecks has been a hotly debated mystery. Then just weeks ago, the wreck of the HMAS Sydney was discovered. We agreed it would be a perfect time to visit Geraldton's famous memorial. The names are listed in black granite, a woman waits looking out to sea, and 645 silver seagulls arc over the memorial site.

Our next destination was a highpoint--a visit to the Hutt River Province. The Principality of the Hutt River Province seceded from Australia on the 21 Day April 1970. Rebelling after the control of wheat prices, this farmer on a large station in Western Australia, filed the necessary paperwork to become an internationally recognized principality. After buying numerous souveneirs, Prince Leonard graced us with a royal audience, and this message for Gretchen in Minnesota.

After the thrill of meeting royalty, the next 4 hours of travel zoomed by. We arrived in Denham (Shark Bay World Heritage Site) at 8:15--about 15 minutes after every restaurant in town closed. The proprietor at the Bay Lodge called the pub and got the cook to agree to stay late for us--but the only thing still on the menu when we arrived was.....fish and chips.

Following dinner, we decided to walk off 2 days worth of fish and chips along the waterfront. We didn't get far before discovering that Denham was hosting its Fishing Fiesta, 5 days of fishing with all categories of competition. AND Nathan without his pole. He didn't forget it in our frantic packing, but it couldn't fit in his tiny 4X4 without becoming an obstacle to getting in the front seat.

Without his pole, Nathan did what all frustrated fisherfolk do--walked up to other people fishing and asked them what was biting, what sort of bait they had, the weight of line etc. This interrogation led to our introduction to Gavin a garrulous tree-loper from Mandurah (about 10 minutes from one of Nathan's clinics.) In 20 minutes of conversation well-lubricated by XXXX beer and fishing stories, we learned about Gavin's grandfather's fishing record, his years of marriage, relationship with his children, childhood vacations in Denham, and more. It was "mateship"--the casual bonding of Australians in just about any situation. And it wouldn't have happened without fishing interrogation, I'll never be able to tease Nathan about his questionning again.

We didn't really get our after-dinner walk in, so we waddled off to the Bay Lodge making plans to get up early to burn off double fish n chips with a morning run. Secretly, I thought "running on vacation? Ha!" but Nathan promised he'd get up early. "I will if you will," I bargained.

Tomorrow: Denham, Off roading in Francois Peron National Park, and our free camp site.

(Holiday Blogs delayed!) Thurs 8 May

2008-05-19T20:18:00.001+08:00

Nathan and I just returned from a fantastic vacation in the North West of Australia. Rather than try to cram all the cool stuff from our holiday in one overly long Blog entry, we've decided to replay our holiday delayed by about 10 days.

Thursday 8 May--
Work was frantic (as always), but more so with our impending vacation and the fact that I had been sick for the days before. I had promised Nathan that we would hit the road by 4 pm. I told everyone else I needed to leave by noon, in the hopes that we might actually get out the door on time.

While I was scrambling to fit 10 days work in 8 hours (I went in at 6 am!) Nathan had the responsibility of preparing for our road trip. He had new tires, a car service, upgraded his broken CD player, and packed the car with the items I had set out the night before. (Unfortunately, we forgot to pack CDs so with no radio for most of the trip we brushed up on show tunes and hymns).

He began calling at noon (are you ready to go yet? no--by 2pm.) At 2 pm (are you ready to go yet? one more call.) At 2:45, I actually left work to finish off the packing still making calls to my admin Annie (who is a saint) on my cellphone all the way home. We quickly grabbed Jake (for a trip to the Kitty hotel) and began our vacation.

After dropping Jake off, we managed to just catch rush hour traffic on our way out of Perth. Finally at about 5:00 pm, we were outside of the city, heading North into the Australian bush. Within 45 minutes, we began to relax and realized neither of us had eaten anything all day. We made a quick stop at the GinGin Hotel for a beer and classic fish and chips. While waiting, we chatted with the locals who were amazed that we were planning to drive another 3 hours after dinner.

You see, kangaroos are a lot like deer. They come out at dusk and linger along the roadside, waiting to leap in front of your car, in mass suicide attempts. Unlike deer, kangaroo eyes do not reflect your headlights, so you can't actually see them until you are within about 50 m of your bumper. Driving at night becomes a video game--trying to avoid the roos, and still keep a reasonable average speed. Most Australian's don't drive past 5 pm, its too aggravating with the potential loss of property and life. That's one of the reasons the locals thought we were nuts to grab our dinner and head for the car.

BUT, Nathan and I have not lost our habits of a decade of roadtrips together, and carried on to Dongara/Port Dennison another 2.5 hours along the highway. Dongara/Port Dennison is a seaside town, planted with beautiful trees, dotted with classic Australian shops. But, you can't really appreciate any of that after dark, so we went directly to the Priory Lodge Historic Inn. It is limestone and brick, with deep verandas to give shade from the Australian sun. The Inn was built in 1881, serving as a hotel, then nunnery, then girls school, then hotel again..

With this colourful history, it was rather shocking to enter the bar and discover the barmaid in "skimpies." This colourful Australian term means she was just dressed in bra, underwear and high heels, serving beer to the patrons. I can only imagine what the nuns thought. (of course, the nuns might have been more troubled if the male bar staff had been required to dress in their underwear and high heels.)

So not lingering long in the bar, we made our way to a reasonable room (nothing fancy, but clean) to rest up for the rest of our big vacation.

Tomorrow-exploring the City, and a trip to Shark Bay and Denham.

I Confess!

2008-04-28T17:46:00.000+08:00

Okay, okay, it's all my fault.

I am, of course, referring to the fact that, hours after I trimmed the playoff beard, just a little bit, just on my neck, the Wild started their downhill slide. Who knew about the power of the playoff beard? Just in case it affected any other part of my life, I haven't shaved it again. Who knows, maybe we'll start a tradition of the promotion beard, or the personal-best-in-the-marathon beard.

Either way, we thought that we could turn our attention back to our favorite part of the blog. You guessed it, it's time for another installment from (dum dum duuuuuuummmmmm...)

Mystery Fruits!

The fruit this time is called a Dragon Fruit, and it is like a small pink pineapple, or a large pink pine cone -- I guess the key words are pink, and piney. A little bit too flash on the outside, though, since it raised expectations for inside. It was kind of like...a bland kiwifruit. A pink, piney, bland kiwi.

But it's very photogenic. Which is more than I can say for the beard.

(I was sure that i'd be able to edit this photo once in the blog, but it's just not happening. And it's way too late, and i'm far too lazy, to delete it and add another. Sorry if this causes any neck pain. - nm-)

The Playoff Beard

2008-04-12T13:41:00.000+08:00

Today we'll take a question from the mailbag...

Chad Jones from the USA asked an excellent question. He was curious whether the playoff beard popular with players in, and fans of the NHL should start from bare skin, or whether we just keep the old whiskers and stop trimming.

I must confess that, while I am a long-time hockey fan, I have only recently been able to grow a beard (and even that is debatable), so some of the nuances are a little sketchy. I think that the important thing is that you put away the razor for the duration of your team's run in the playoffs, not whether you use it first.

I've made the choice to show my face on this continent for the first time, and shave (or at least cut back to two games' worth) first.

We'll keep a playoff beard update until the Wild are out...or win the cup. Which, after this last game, I was worried that I would be shaving again far too soon, but they pulled it out. I think they were actually trying to give me palpitations.

By the way, for a good laugh, check out the songs on the sites below.
The Teenage Song is a good cultural reference about contemporary adolescence in Australia -- don't miss the vegemite jar on the table (yes, they really eat that stuff).
The other is just fun.

As I was saying, Diving...

2008-04-05T16:00:00.000+08:00

ahem, before we were so RUDELY interrupted by all this focus on hockey (and potatoes), last weekend we were incredibly lucky to be asked by Gaylene and Colin to join some local divers for a night dive, and then head out to nearby island for a reef dive the next morning. With the help of Gaylene's underwater camera we can finally show you some of the cool stuff we saw!

The night dive was freaky at first, but fine once we were underwater. It really was pitch black (as you can see from the photo), so we really don't have any pictures of that. The next day, however, was beautiful weather, sunny, cool (wetsuits are incredibly hot when you are out of the water), and not very much swell (some of us get seasick easy).

The colors of the coral and sea grass were amazing. There were angel fish, large schools of bream (or something else silver and shiny), crayfish, cone shells (ooh, deadly).

But near the end of our dive, we saw something truly rare, a dolphin came down and swam a circle or two around us before it went off to play with others. Nathan said he about had to change his wetsuit when he saw this large, fast, grey object swimming at him (not a shark, not a shark, please not a shark). While I would willingly pay money for to swim with the dolphins, a close encounter with a wild one was spectacular! i knew there was a reason we finally got our dive tickets.

U.N. International Year of the Potato

2008-04-04T08:26:00.000+08:00

I heard something interesting on the radio on the way into work today. 2008 is the U.N. International Year of the Potato. Working for the Diversity Council, I have been aware of other UN initiatives such as International Year of the Woman, Year of Struggle Against Racism etc. So, I have been blissful unaware of the other important U.N. International years.

2002 - International Year of Mountains

2003 - International Year of Freshwater

2004 - International Year of Rice

2005 - International Year for Sport and Physical Education

2009 International Year of the Nudibranch

U.N. International Year of the Potato. Why not? The potato has half the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C, has no fat or cholesterol, has less calories and greater satiety than other foods, and takes less water than rice and wheat to grow. There are more than 2000 varieties of potato grown in South America that can grow in almost any conditions (while the U.S. and Europe settles for about 15 varieties that grow in pretty narrow conditions). So I supposed taking all that in to work,U.N. International Year of the Potato could have a big influence on hunger and poverty.

Isn't public radio great?

Nudibranchs vs. NHL

2008-04-02T17:44:00.000+08:00

Well--I just have to say I think Nathan's blog demonstrates something clearly about our friends. Despite the provocative scuba pictures, and the titulating use of the word Nudibranchs, our friends really care much more about the status of the hockey playoffs than just about anything else.

While there is a surprising amount of local recreational hockey in Perth. Nathan can play Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights easy.( of course you are always popular if you are a goalie), we have had an amazing deficit of NHL.

Nathan has to satisfy himself with the checking stats and game synopses nightly, and then trying to draw a hockey conversation out of me by quoting various numbers and rankings. Unfortunately, I tend to be more interested in watching the game than comparing save percentages and line ups. (oh, really...uh huh, 37%, wow, you don't say...)

We are contemplating the devilishly expensive cable options (which still only show one or two games a week) but so far have delayed because of the endless contracts and cancellation clauses. In the meantime, its clear you hockey friends are the folks who will respond to Nathan's dire need: swapping endless statistics, creating a virtual hockey bar (the replacement Buffalo Wild Wings where we spent every play off game while living in Rochester), and the trash-talking/side-betting hockey mates who are his link to play-off excitement.

Thanks for being there on the important issues. Kristin

p.s. Nikki--while I'll never give up hope on the Devils, I'm letting the Wild be my long-shot hope!

pop quiz

2008-03-29T22:56:00.000+08:00

Quick quiz:

What do these things have in common?
Seahorses
Cuttlefish (X2)
Sand dollars
Scorpion Fish
Sea Stars (on the move!)
Nudibranchs (no, that's not dirty, it's the orange thing in the picture.)
Eels
An octopus eating a crab

Give up?

That's what we got to see tonight when we went on a night dive with Gaylene and Colin!
It was a big step. We haven't been diving long, and going at night always seems a little creepy, but it turned out to be exceptionally cool! It was very relaxed, and the folks here had created a sort of artificial reef where all sorts of cool marine life hung out in what would otherwise be classified as industrial waste -- discarded tires, anchor chains, and submerged buoys.

By the way, if you want to see some of the most bizarre of australian behaviour, I would encourage you to visit this link. There is a photo gallery, but words escape me as I try to describe it. I think we have found our next big hobby...

http://www.diveoz.com.au/aeui

Finally, and completely unrelated, some of you may have noticed that my good friend commented on the last post under the name Elwood, claiming that the Wild (NHL team, minnesota wild) are, "way down there." He has commited the most vile slander. To set the record straight, the Wild are currently in the first place in their division, sitting at 3rd seed in the western conference. I know that there many ways for that to change, but I couldn't just sit back and let such villainy go uncorrected.

Elwood then raised the question, will the Ducks repeat?

No, sorry, this is not the Ducks' year. I think it will be (and I'm going out on a limb here a little), a final between the Devils and the Sharks, with San Jose winning.

There. That should lower the tone of the blog a little, and I'll try to keep the NHL out of things for a while, although with the playoffs starting so soon, we'll just have to see.

Where did March go?

2008-03-26T12:52:00.000+08:00

I can use all sorts of excuses. I've actually been practicing.
"With Easter so early this year, I lost track of time."
"I'm trying not to litter on the internet."
"I was distracted by the new season of NCIS."
Any way you slice it, there's no good reason for not posting in A MONTH!

So here goes -- I've got 4 minutes to get you all up to date...photos will come later when I'm not at work.
*Went diving again -- much, much better experience. Rottnest Island, for those of you who are interested, has a pretty incredible diversity of marine life, none of which bit or stung us, which is nice.
*We both volunteered for and participated in the international gathering of the Hash House Harriers, here in Perth, which was an entire weekend of free beer and running. In that order.
*Work, work, work.
*Still looking at buying a bike. In the finest example of decision-making, I have visited 11 bike shops, compared prices, components, frames, accessories, warranties, service plans, different types of carbon, seats, lycra outfits, sunglasses...and will probably just go for the one that gives me free shoes.
*Playing goalie
*Waiting for the NHL playoffs to start.
*...and waiting.

Back to work, but we'll throw a couple of pictures on today or tomorrow.

Really.

No, honest.

(insert picture here)

Aaah! Esperance

2008-02-25T19:05:00.000+08:00

So work less, travel more. That's the goal, right?

Our first test is a trip to Esperance for a long weekend. Esperance is an isolated seaside town on the south coast of Australia. Objects on the map are farther apart than they appear. I believe that Western Australia is about 2 times the size of Alaska (which is about 2.5 times the size of Texas).

So for our little weekend away, we had an 8 hour drive to the Southern Coast. You drive through mostly farming country--the wheatbelt. Towns are few and far between , 40-50 miles between towns of maybe 500-1000 people.

Weirdly, these small WA towns have worked hard to develop their own local identity, and to become a destination for tourists. Wave Rock in Hyden is a 15 m tall rock shaped like a wave, and they are selling coasters, t-shirts everything they can to make a name for themselves. The big tourist attraction is pretty neat, but the cave of aboriginal paintings was VERy cool. On the way to Hyden, we drove through Corrigen--a small town famous for having a dog cemetery. Their town was dying, so to rejuvenate it, they have tried to make the dog cemetery a focus for the town. So, they organised a Guinness book of World Records attempt--most numbers of Dogs in a Ute (a ute is a work truck). In celebration, and to promote the town, there are UTEs and cars advertising Corrigen along the long highway to Esperance.

The amazing thing is that my hometown of Elmore was looking for ways to revitalise their community, and the foundation they asked for help brought in a speaker from Western Australia to talk about Corrigen and Hyden. Small world huh?

Not when you are driving to Esperance.

Anyway, with all these attractive tourist destinations to loiter at, Nathan and I didn't arrive in Esperance until 11:00 pm on Friday night. Luckily the Esperance Guesthouse had given us a code to enter if we were late. Its a hostel/guesthouse, so we were a little surprised to score a bedroom with a sitting lounge, and a REAL bed, with room to walk around it and everything! The next morning, the owner of the guesthouse left freshbaked bread and good coffee on the side board for her guests. The smell of the bread woke me up before the alarm. ForNathan and I, who have been budget travels for years, it was heaven.

After a fantastic breakfast we took to the rough Southern Ocean for a wildlife/eco tour and a trip to Woody Island. The wildlife/eco tour showed off a few seals and sealions, a sea eagle, but rough weather and a cutting wind made us glad to arrive at Woody Island for tea. Nathan and I planned to rough it, because Woody Island is a class A nature reserve. With our tents and sleeping bags, we followed the guide to the kitchen where tea and cake was waiting for us. Before our tour he pointed us to the showers, and the camp kitchen which included sinks, fridge/freezers, and of course, Aussie BBQs. (This is roughing it...we didn't bring the airmattress like everyone else!) We set up our tent, and the weather cleared. After a few hikes, Nathan settled into fish a little. He caught two fish--which we had never seen before, and weren't in our local guidebook.. We ate them anyway.

One of the final highlights of Woody Island is the nesting Fairy Penguins. Parents swim 40 km to fish, and bring the food home for waiting babies. We waited til almost dark to see the penguins return. One lone baby penguin sheltered the beneath the rocks was waiting hungrily (I thought Nathan might regurgitate some fish for him, but he kept his delicious mystery fish to himself). We waited for awhile, but it grew to dark for us to wait for his parents to return.

The next day, we sailed back to Esperance before climbing on a dive boat. Which sailed back to Woody Island. This was our first open water dive, and I was a little nervous. As the rest of the divers sank to the bottom, I hyperventilated and tried to get my ears to pop. After a while, we made it below the surface, but the dive master had long since left us behind. We explored the area where we were, and after a peaceful 20 minutes rose to the surface and signalled the boat. It would have been longer, but my hyperventilating used up most of my air in the first 10 minutes.

We camped that night in Cape Le Grand, a national park only 20 minutes from Esperance that is famous for its beautiful beaches. Folks from WA claim that Esperance beaches are the best in Australia. The most famous is Cape Le Grand beach which has 10 miles of the finest white sand you've ever seen. It squeaks when you walk on it. NO REALLY. The sand is about the colour and texture of flour, and stretches for miles against an aqua-marine ocean. Our pictures don't really do it justice, because the sky was overcast. But when the sun would break through it was magnificent.

We concluded our visit to Esperance by climbing Frenchman's peak (because the top looks like a beret). Its really steep! On one of our many resting stops, we actually met a Frenchman on holiday. He wasn't wearing a beret, he was wearing one of those Australian sun hats.
But still, ironic huh?
The view from the top was stunning, beach, after beach, island after island (about 150 islands in the waters near Esperance). After taking it all in, we descended. Just in time to stiffen up nicely for the 8 hour trip home.

New Year's Resolutions

2008-02-09T13:02:00.001+08:00

Okay--chinese new year's resolutions. Nathan and I like to set a goal each year--that really gives us some focus. I still do the prerequisite new year's resolutions (lose 20 lbs, better health, be a better friend, save money etc) but there's usually one that stands out. Mine for 2008 is work less, travel more. So far the workless part is being troublesome, but we are already making plans to tackle my travel more goals. Next weekend we will head to Esperance (about 1 days drive to the South Coast) to camp on an island nature reserve, and visit what has been almost universally described as Australia's most beautiful beaches. We've begun planning for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef, a trip to the US in August (4-18), some travelling with Todd & Steph when they come to visit in October, and maybe a trip to Bali or Phuket if we can squeeze it in. I'm still trying to work in my big goal--a trip to China, but we are running out of vacation days. Most of the trips this year feature diving or oceans somewhat, so I might need to go back and revisit that weight loss goal if all my pictures will be in wetsuits or swimsuits.

Nathan's goal is zeroing in on a triathalon. He's done a sprint triathalon before in Minnesota. But Aussie's are sports mad, and they have a hard-core triathalon culture here. The ultimate in doing this would be an ironman, but Nathan has agreed he needs to learn to swim first. He's already been running, cycling and playing hockey, so he's pretty fit, but swimming in the ocean promises to be the big challenge. The big steps to achieving this are swim lessons and a decepnt bike. If we both keep to our goals he'll be running, swimming, and cycling during all these vacations I have planned.

2008-01-22T21:17:00.000+08:00

A photo-less blog...

The thing about moving is that certain items, even important items, items like that cord that goes from the digital camera to the computer, for instance, become separated from their intended place. I'm confident that it will show up, probably in the freezer with the frozen banana guacamole, but for the moment it means that my vivid narrative will be all that is available to evoke the images of beautiful WA.

So it was a great visit with Kirk, who has returned to the US, but left his wallet behind for us to remember him by. Kirk got us out sailing, checking out the stars, and convinced me to play a round of the most embarassing disc golf ever seen in the southern hemisphere. An afternoon on a historic tall ship, kayaking on the glassy waters of Geographe bay, watching as Kirk took several thousand photos in the wildlife park...all of these were highlights of a visit that started with helping up move house, and ended with a fantastic dinner on the beach.

What we didn't do, of course, was plan far enough in advance to get the cheap tickets to Singapore as we had previously hoped. Instead, we spent this last weekend dressed in skin-tight neoprene and mouth-breathing. We kept a promise that we had made to each other almost 10 years ago, and finally started our recreational scuba training.

This weekend, we finish with our open-water dives, and will get our PADI certification in anticipation of finally seeing what lies beneath the surface of the Indian ocean. Other than sharks, I mean. And deadly jellyfish. And lethal blue-ringed octopi. And deadly sea shells (I'm not making that up, even the shells can kill ya). It's no safer on land, however, so we thought that we may as well be cool while escaping from deadly peril.

Well, I've got to go assemble some more goodies from IKEA, but there will be a photo update as soon as I find that cable.

And where did the frozen banana guacamole go!?

New Digs

2007-12-29T20:39:00.000+08:00

Well, it may be a new world record -- perhaps a new galactic record.

4 and 1/2 hours.

That was the total amount of time that it took us to move.
This morning, at 9:15, we picked up the moving truck. At that point, I would like the people at Guiness World Records to note that we had not packed...anything.
This afternoon at 2:45 we returned the truck. That even includes a stop to fill the tank with diesel. I have practically dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back.
I also practically dislocated my shoulder carrying the mattress, climbing over the bed frames, and hauling one of the world's heaviest privately owned dining room tables.
All of this was made possible through the understanding, willingness to help, and strong back of our friend Kirk, here from Rochester just in time to help us move. In fact, it is on his computer that i type this update, since he chronicled the event and has most of the photos.
So...without further ado...

Our new home!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-26T11:19:00.000+08:00

Oh christmas blog, oh christmas blog,
that's how we keep in touch with y'all
Oh christmas blog, oh christmas blog
herein's news which will you enthrall.

A letter to the folks who freeze,
from the heat of the antipodes

oh christmas blog, oh christmas blog,
we're constantly thinking of you all.

I know that it's still Christmas (or, as the nickname-mad aussies say, "Chrissie") back in the US, so this should get in just under the wire as a holiday blog, but here, we've cleaned up the wrapping paper, made all the phone calls, slept as long as we could in the heat, and now it's Boxing Day.
Either way, we're enjoying a couple of days of relaxation before things get a little busy next week.

The only problem is that it is hot. I mean, really, really hot. Today it is predicted that the mercury will top out at 43 degrees C, which doesn't sound like much until i punch it into the unit conversion feature on my phone (the only feature that gets used much), and realize that this is a whopping 110 degrees F. Even if I wasn't feeling hot before, now I do. Luckily, we've made friends with a couple 2 houses over who have a swimming pool.

The other solution is to head to the beach, which we have already done. At 10am, it was over 90, and we sat roasting on the beach with the rest of town, occasionally splashing in the Indian Ocean to cool off. Then, if you can believe it, it became too hot for the beach. So now we're back home, watching a little of the boxing day test cricket and trying unsuccessfully to ignore the list of things that we really should be paying attention to.

Such as cleaning out the guest room. Kirk (a friend from Rochester) arrives tomorrow morning, and his room is where all of our hockey equipment is currently spread out, drying over the break in the hockey schedule.

Or getting ready for Nathan to start a new job. Tired of driving an hour and a half a day, I've taken a new job a little closer to home. Theoretically, I will be working fewer hours and driving fewer hours, which has the result of being able to see some of this huuuuuge country that we are trying to explore, but the early indications are that I will be working just as much. Hmmmm.

Or packing. Our lease is up, and we found a great new place in a very cool part of town, but it is going to mean moving this weekend, and even then our lease will only be for 6 months, and we may have to move again at the end of that time. Sometimes i think that in the last few years, all i've done is load moving trucks!

Luckily, during this busy time, Kris is required to take a 10 day break while the university shuts down -- which is a nice benefit to the position -- and it couldn't have worked out nicer in terms of having time when Kirk is here and moving and stuff.

I hope this finds you all in good spirits!
Merry Christmas.

house-hunting again!

2007-12-24T08:37:00.001+08:00

So, for the last few weeks we have been house-hunting again. Our lease expires 24 January, but our landlords wanted to be in on the 7th if we could move earlier. With Christmas, that means a pretty tight turn around. We've looked at lots of places. Mostly we've focused on the neighborhoods that near the beach, the river, or Fremantle--which coincidently are almost all out of our price range. What I've been able to find in our price range, in those neighborhoods, either doesn't allow pets, doesn't have air conditioning, or was last decorated and cleaned in 1967.

Then last week, as I was leaving work, I noticed the price had dropped on a house near Fremantle. I called the agent, she would be able to show it to me in 15 minutes. I saw it and fell in love. Leaded glass windows, high ceilings, dark polished wood work, air conditioning, and A DISHWASHER!!!(this is a luxury item in Australia--and much needed in our house). Only thing is it had 2 bedrooms instead of 3. I went home that night, desperate to show Nathan. That evening, we pulled up to the house to look it over. He said it looked good enough from the outside to rent (interior unseen). As we walked from the prospective property to a nearby restaurant, we began making plans to put in a deposit on the place tomorrow. As we walked back from dinner, we came across someone moving into OUR HOUSE (we just hadn't told the landlords yet). I was devastated (we had already lost another house a few weeks ago). The next day Nathan went to the real estate agent to ask about the property--knowing I had my heart set on it. Surprisingly they took our money (we still don't know who these people were!). The next day, we got the call that we were accepted, but the original lease would only be for 6 months, with a possibility of renewing after that (of course, there's the possibility of house hunting again in 6 months, ugh!)

After some debate, we agreed to take it, in faith that this would work out and this is the place for us. We'll be moving over new year's weekend, and luckily will have an extra set of hands. Our friend Kirk from Rochester is coming to visit (and see the round the world clipper race). We'll post new addresses, and pictures when the lease is signed. We'll be getting mail at our current address for at least 2 more weeks, and set up forwarding after that. So don't worry about mailing presents--we'll get em!

PETerinarian

Back in US

1 month

Week 1

Noah

Happy 2011--

My new theme song--KT Tunstall

From here to maternity

Australian satire or Australian politics

Olympic perspective

Day 5 -7 (We suck at this!)

Day 4: Pelion to Kia Ora

Windermere to Pelion : Day 3

Waterfall Valley Hut to Lake Windemere

Day 1; Ronnie Creek to Cradle Mtn to Waterfall Valley Hut

Overland Track adventure

Merry Christmas Australia style

Thailand itinerary 8

Thailand itinerary 6 & 7

Thailand itinerary 1-5

Nathan Vs. The Papaya Salad

Nathan Vs. The Clown

Nathan Vs. The Marathon

Nathan Vs. The Puck

Interesting marketing strategy

Back in Oz (continued, CA edition)

Back in Oz!

In memory of my Dad

Hockey...sweet, sweet hockey.

FLAT SAM'S Easter Blog

one lump or two?

Our roommates

On the move again

Valentine's Day

She's Baaaaack!

Out-auguration

at last, deadly australia!

Recipes and stuff.

124 degrees of separation

Bachelorhood Revisited

A clean sweep of Broome...

Nathan's 'fun' triathlon

Emilio Estevez has left the bedroom

Mo' money

Did we forget something?

Did we forget something?

Hail to the Chief (Elect)

Election Day--

Best Comments of the Olympics

Anniversary -- observed.

12 year anniversary explained as genetic anomoly...

'Bonding Gene' Could Help Men Stay Married

One form of DNA linked to marital bliss, the other to discord, study found

By E.J. MundellHealthDay Reporter

This just in.....

Nathan Mannix found to have record-levels of vasopressin. Wife still takes credit for happy marriage. Scientists believe this a reliable test for genetic "bonding" theory.

12 years--who's counting?

so much for life as usual....

California to Perth--

Touring the Midwest...

Whirlwind US Tour

Cold--in Australia?

Strange things down here...

The End-of-Playoff Beard

May 17th...On home.

Friday, May 16 Dive, Dive, Dive

Thursday 15th of May

Wedneesday, 14 May navy pier danger dive

Tuesday, 13 May--whalesharks!

Monday 12 May

Saturday, May 10th

Friday 9 May--Dongara to Denham

(Holiday Blogs delayed!) Thurs 8 May

I Confess!

The Playoff Beard

As I was saying, Diving...

U.N. International Year of the Potato

Nudibranchs vs. NHL

pop quiz

Where did March go?

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter