Touring the Midwest...

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

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?

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...

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

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.

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

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