Update Coming
The second trip now under my belt ended last Friday. I went to an area called the Grampians, then came back to Melbourne along what is called The Great Ocean Road. A very filled three day tour it was, but altogether an excellent one.
Today, Bruce, Helen, and I are going out to Geelong because it is Cup Day, which is nearly a National Holiday in Aus: the entire country stops today at 1500 for the Melbourne Cup horse race. Victorian residents are given the day off as a Statewide statutory holiday, and most people take the preceding Monday off as well to make for a really long weekend.
Just thought I'd add something to read, and tonight I'll try remember to do a bona fide post.
In response to previous comments: Ed - to become a Master is usually the natural progression, but in the Australian education system, only the indepently wealthy do master's degrees. There are no scholarships available for this level of degree and it only takes a year or two to get. So: most people do a Ph. D. from the graduate school get-go and that includes a Master's for the first bit of the program; the the third year of the Ph. D. progression brings it to a doctoral level.
Weather's is supposed to hit 32 degrees today in the Sun! Talk to you guys tonight... Keep the comments coming!
Little Penguins, Long Bike Rides
The best part of last week was spent on Phillip Island. If you've got an atlas, look south east of Melbourne on the other side of the Mornington Peninsula. Phillip Island is a reasonably small patch of land inhabiting the southern mouth of another bay.
It was a wonderful trip. We started on Tuesday at about 1200 across from Federation Square in downtown Melbourne. The tour bus was ful (~20 people) and I was squished in the back seat with three other people: Tim from Hong Kong and Kim and Marsha from Malaysia. In front of us was Vicky, whom you will meet in some pictures in this post. After departing from the curbside, we fought with CBD traffic, then finally got out of the city and surrouding suburbs about an hour later. First stop was a wildlife park, where we got to do such novel things as patting and feeding kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, and those dang emus; there were koalas as well, but apparently in Victoria, you are forbidden, by law, from touching them. Please ignore the picture in the previous post. When we were standing next to the emu paddock, old man emu decided he wanted me to feed him. Luckily my food dish was within neck-reach of him, so he pecked the thing and spilled it all over the ground. Kind of frightening when you are looking the other way and suddenly you find yourself showered with roo food courtesy of an overzealous emu.
Next stop was Wollamai Beach (picture), which is on the southeast coast of the island. A very beautiful spot, as ocean beaches generally are for me. We walked the length of the beach to stretch our legs; I took the opportunity to walk in the surf and cool my legs off in the 16 degree water. It sounds cold, but dip your toes in the ocean off Vancouver Island and you'll feel a significant difference, even though the water is only 4 degrees warmer on Wollamai. Back on the bus, we made our way to the hostel in Cowes.
Waiting was a full buffett dinner and wine, which as part of the 3-day tour, I was allowed to partake, but I didn't go to the penguin parade that evening. Vicky (from England) and I stayed together; we went for a walk around town to get our bearings, had dessert and wine at a seaside restaurant, then were joined by Darragh (from Ireland) with whom we played cards for the rest of that evening.
Next morning: Vicky, Darragh, and I hired bikes and peddaled around the island. The original intent was to go surfing at Smith's Beach on the south of the island, but whatever cosmic string is responsible for earthern Surf wasn't vibrating that day because the waves were a screaming half-foot high! Surfer-dude in Island Surf Shop said "like three days a year are like this." So, content that we had cosmically bad luck, we stopped in a little shop for lunch and were served a sandwich that featured beetroot as a topping! Definitely a little different, but it was definitely good.
The bike ride consumed the rest of the day: we took a long road back home through a Koala Conservation Centre (picture), which is a parcel of land reserved to contain natural bush. It is the only such patch left on the island, which features cattle farming as it's main landuse. The bush is very thick and fascinatingly different from the conifer-and-deciduous forests of home. There were four wallabies that we frightened, but a couple of them we saw early enough to stop and enjoy before they skittered off into the bush. We made our way to Rhyll Inlet on the northeast coast of the island, after traversing mangrove boardwalks and forest trails. We even ran into a black coloured snake, which more than likely was highly toxic, but it wasn't interested in meeting up with humans. Back to the hostel along the main road, supper, cards, and bed. Total bike-ridden distance: 22 km!
The final day, Darragh left to make it home for the mixed rules footy game on Friday, but Vicky and I went for a long walk to Ventnor. At Grossard Point, we had our picnic lunch on the beach. Then, because Phillip Island rocks, we walked all the way back to Cowes on beach (picture). Again, the cosmic string in charge of surf was not plucked that day as the water was as flat as lake water in twilight. We got back to the hostel 30 seconds before the clouds burst open and poured rain. 'Tea' was again provided as part of the tour and we loaded up into the bus for The Nobbies, Seal Rocks (pictures below), and the Penguin Parade. See pictures: they are worth a thousand words. The Nobbies harbours thousands of gulls for nesting and several Penguins that prefer privacy to gawking humans.
The Parade was a wonderful experience: the viewing platform we got to use allowed me to get right beside the penguins and follow them to their burrows in the surrounding cliffsides. In case you were wondering: the male digs a burrow and courts the female with it, then once they have laid eggs, they share feeding duties. One of them leaves to get food and may be gone up to a few weeks. But, the mate knows when it's time for their seaward counterpart to come home. Around sunset, the penguins prepare for the arrival of their partners. They are a timid species: a group of them forms in the water near the beach, then once the group has reached critical mass, the most courageous one exits and the rest follow. They flash their white bellies as they waddle up the beach in a tight group and they only break apart as they reach their burrows. Sometimes, a waiting partner will come out to an arriving group and sniff around hoping to find his or her partner. It really is a spectacle and it's completely natural. It was raining, but we all came prepared and were awed just the same. The penguin is properly called a "little penguin" and they are small: less then 33 cm tall. There are some that have burrows all the way up to the visitors centre: a few 100 metres up the valley! Busy little buggers...
After that, Vicky and I went home the next day. There were only the two of us, so the hostel gave us money to catch the ferry across the bay to Stony Point, then the trains back into the city. Some very sketchy people on the train though, let me tell you. Some guy was standing between two of the train cars, but the gangway wasn't in place. Another guy had black pits for eyes and tried to impose his ego on me when some of my money dropped out of my pocket onto the floor. I guess that's the fun of travelling! Public transport is never boring...
I stayed in the CBD for a while, had lunch with Vicky and bummed around her hostel for a while. The Brie here is exquisite and went well in our sandwich lunch. She has a library card, which we used for internet access. Then, navigated the wat back to Sunbury and prepared for the next trip.
I leave tomorrow on a three day Grampians and Great Ocean Road tour. I'll let you know how that goes!
Update complete!
Oh yeah, and PLEASE Check under your car for penguins.
Charismatic Megafauna and A Big Decision
The two quintessential Australian megafaunal species were my companions today (Sunday). I went to the Ballarat Wildlife Park today with Sarah and her family, Helen and Bruce's daughter. As you can see, they have (Eastern Grey) Kangaroos and koalas, among many other fantastic creatures. I went all out and spent too much money to do the tourist-kitschy "Koala Experience", but as you can see, you do get up close to those cuddly cuties. Frankly, I don't think it's fair a single animal can ge gifted with so much 'cuteness'. I suppose this is made up for by the fact that there is a clamydia epidemic among koalas and they essentially spend their lives drunk on the excesses of eucalyptus. Can't say I'd mind the lifestyle though: sleep 14.5 hours a day, eat for 5.5 hours and day, rest for the balance of the day.
The kangaroos roam freely in the paddock and they are all over the place. You just need a little bit of food and the things perk right up and snuffle for their treats. If you make them work at it a bit, they go really cute and grab onto your hand, as he's doing in the left picture, to make sure you don't get away. They have very cool hands: they are sort of aged looking, in a good way, but still with powerful claws... Just like some of you I know ;-) Oh, Australian trivia for the post: a group of kangaroos is called a 'mob.'
Other creatures present: emus; wallabies; freshies and salties (crocodiles); a selection of the most poisonous land snakes on Earth - all native to this fine land; wombats; red kangaroos; other marsupials; and lizards of all descriptions.
On Saturday, Helen, Bruce and I were in the city to see the finish of a Melbourne cycling race, which we missed. That didn't matter though because there was a cultural festival on as well. We watched Serbians, Macedonians, Italians, Russians, Cubans, Africans, and Latinos perform their acts, with the slavic crews doing awesome slavic-type dances; the Cubans, Africans, and Latinos doing what they do best - music and dance; and the Italians throwing flags in an entertaining way. Since the whole event was in the Italian quarter of the city, we also were tempted by Italian cuisine, which on a shrinking budget I forceably avoided. However, I have found my dream chocolate bar: it's from Belgium and it's $12.00...
As for the Big Decision: I've decided to apply for the Ph. D. thing, but I have to stress something. It is only an application for the scholarship to fund me, not an acceptance of the project or a statement of intent or anything. They don't decide the winners until December, so I won't have anything to say until then, but I still have yet to get the application in on time. Furthermore, I can easily refuse, even if awarded, depending on what happens between now and then. The field component in Antarctica can't happen this year, but it may next. I guess that's a risk that I'll have to weigh.
The rest of the week was nice and slow: I found a coat on Wednesday and watched a lot of movies; I went out golfing with Bruce on Thursday, then Friday was a call from Andy and a trip out for lunch where I met B and H's daughter and grandson.
On Tuesday, I'm off to Phillip Island for a Penguin adventure and a little touring, then back here to finalise application stuff, then the Grampions and the Great Ocean Road. That's as far as I'm willing to plan...
Other than that, I hope you enjoy the pictures. I'm not sure if they've upload at their full size. If they have, then I'll process them to shrink their size and repost. Sorry to those with dialup.
Update complete!
Aussie vocab for the post: "Sultana Bran" means: "Raisin Bran"
Off time and the Start of Ausification
This turned into a bit of a novel, sorry!
With Garett now sent home and I now on my own, I've so far taken one day off to do nothing: I sat around, watched movies, and tried to plan this trip.
I'm certain that in very little time, any of my careful planning is going to fly out the window, but to own the truth, I'm not really that concerned. I've had it in my head for a while that to come home and be able to say to myself that "yes, I've truly 'travelled'", I'd need to have done whatever the Lonely Planet told me to do. Now I've figured out that whatever I do makes the travels worthwhile and there simply is no way to do it all or, for that matter, to do what anyone else thinks are the right things to do. Since the LP caters to all tastes, it is an indispensible tool and full of useful tidbits that every traveller, with his and her own unique tastes and travel style, will find helpful.
Now... we're past the shameless promotion for LP. The past few days have been interesting, notwithstanding the above. I don't think it is possible for a day not to be interesting (I think I split an infinitive there, sorry) here or anywhere else. Saturday after Garett was spent wandering hither and thither in the CBD (central business district) of Melbourne. The hilarious wrinkle is that I had on my backpack containing most of my belongings and my man-purse with the balance. My shoulders got sore because of the inbalance caused by the man-purse and I had to keep switching sides with it. I was hoping to find some new shoes, but I was a Kyle-bull in the proverbial china shop with the thing. All the trendy retail people in the trendy shops were looking at me funny when I came in. One asked: "Did you just get off the plane?" I hope that was only aimed at the backpack because I had taken a shower that morning and I thought I'd gotten enough sleep. Furthermore, since I don't drink much when I drive, I couldn't have been slurring my words ;-)
I have to elaborate a little about the trendy shops. I was in there because they had some trendy shoes showing in their trendy window. When I went in, those trendy shoes were a trendy $220, but even more gobsmacking were the jeans hanging a trendy distance from the shoes: $490. I think those take the wallet as the most expensive denim constructions in my existence. Whoof... Since I've see a lot of Calgary uni students in such trendy clothes, I figured out that day why I have money to spend on flying and travelling, even after finishing 5 years of uni...
1500 hours rolled around and I found my way over the the Spencer St. train station on the east side of the CBD, hopped on the train and rode out to Sunbury, where I am now. The couple here, Bruce and Helen, are very friendly and very kind. They had friends coming out for 'tea' that evening and wanted me to be there for that. Bruce picked me up from the train stop and brought me to the house, where I helped him prepare for 'tea'. The friends are Indian Baptist missionaries; they had many interesting stories to tell and were most interested in the solar car.
Sunday morning we all slept in, watched some of the 3rd and final Australia vs. The World XI One-day cricket match, some of the Bathurst 1000 rally race, then put together a picnic lunch and headed out to an historic homestead just outside of town. The wind was howling and I was shivering in the shade - time to get something a little warmer to wear until the Sun comes out and cooks the city with +40 degrees. However, the homestead was an interesting tour - a kit house produced in England, shipped here, then assembled in the late 1800s. The host was an older fellow wearing the tails of a butler, but the cheery disposition of a grandpa whose grandchilden are thoroughly spoilt upon every visit. He served with a Catalina in World War 2 and was as excited to tell me about it as I was to hear it. In fact, we had to cut the conversation short as Helen needed to get back into town for an appointment. I rushed through the rest of the homestead and off we went.
Bruce and I then watched the end of the cricket and the Bathurst race. Holden took both 1st and 2nd in the Bathurst. Australia won the cricket with only 5 wickets in 50 overs for a total of 293; World XI could only get 137 in 27.5 overs before all the batsmen were out. If you can decipher that, you're doing VERY well. Then a cheesy Steven Segal flick came on and we stayed up too late watching that.
Helen works about 2 hours away during the week, so she left early Monday morning and won't be back until Thursday night. Bruce works in the afternoon from 1500 until 0030, so he does everything in the morning. I got up at about 0830 on Monday, and did very little physically all day. I watched The Last Samurai, which was as fine as I thought it was going to be (that's a good thing, in case you're wondering); Johnny English, which was as silly as I thought it was going to be, but to see the Archbishop of Canterbury with his pants down in Westminster Abbey is a sight that redeems this movie. Then I watched I, Robot, which was a great Will Smith action flick. Read my LP a lot, etc., etc. Altogether a wonderful day!
Today was intriguing. I went to Monash University, southeast of the city, this morning to see Andy and Helen Tomkins, friends and native Aussies that recently left the U of C after they completed post-docs there. Andy and I had discussed Ph. D. stuff a little bit back at the U of C and he has done a little more digging for me. He's quite keen on me doing a Ph. D. here in Aus and has presented me with the necessary paperwork to get the whopping big scholarships that are prerequisites to study post-grad in this country. That's a big decision for me that I have to admit, I'm a little unprepared for. I wasn't expecting something to serious to come so soon. It has turned out that he has found a researcher in Sydney that does a lot of Antarctic projects. Andy himself has thought of a great project that, if possible, would be a jointly supervised by he and the Sydney scientist as my Ph. D. There are field sites in Japan and possibly in South America and other such exotic locales that would be part of the project. Since I've always deeply wanted to go to Antarctica, I'm not sure I could turn down an opportunity like this. Japan has also held a deep mystique for me since I studied it in grade 7 as the primary unit in Social Studies. The application deadline is the 31st of this month, so everything has to happen quickly, though I'm a little overwhelmed at this point. Also, we don't yet know if the necessary outcrop is found in Antarctica, the presence of which in the project is a very important consideration for me. I guess we'll cross that bride when we come to it. I wanted to discuss this first on the phone with you guys, but I'm afraid I couldn't wait the couple of days it would take to do so. Nevertheless, we'll talk about it soon.
The rest of the day was spent in the CBD where I followed (almost) a walking tour outlined in the LP. It brought me to wonderful architectural tidbits in the city that I otherwise wouldn't have seen, part of which were the Sofitel Towers. The restrooms on the 35th floor, which I serupticiously used, have $%!^ters with a view! Definitely not for the acrophobics in the crowd, but altogether one of the finest views I've ever had from a bathroom! Found some shoes that agreed without argument both with my feet and my wallet. Got an intense sugar rush from a one pound, excuse me, a 440 gram, caramel slice. Found a shoe store that Mom, you would buy out in its entirety. Saw a department store with frescos on its ceiling - magnificent! Lovin' life!
Love you guys!
Aussie slang for the post: "That's grouse!" Tanslation: "That's cool/great!" and "Tea is on the table." Translation: "Dinner is on the table."
The End of the Beginning
The Solar Car is now done for a while. I hope not forever. This morning, I sent Garett off, and I'm officially on my own.
I phoned a family that I met while in Adelaide and they are going to put me up for a few days, so I'll likely be in Melbourne for a while yet. I have all my bags yet, however, so I don't think I'm going to try do too much today. I hate endings, but I guess without them, you can't begin something new...
Yesterday was interesting, though. Garett and I went out for some bona fide sight seeing and spent the day downtown. We went to Federation Square, which is a central complex in the city with funky angular architecture; the Patchi chocolate shop, which is Garett's favourite, and where I was offerred a job should I still be in Melbourne over Christmas. Lunch was at a swank Italian restaurant on the river bank (the Yarra River), then we spent the balance of the day in the Royal Botanical Gardens - very pretty. Pizza and wine in celebration of a trip well executed and bed.
Race anecdote: upcoming in next blog!
Where has our Argon gone?
The title is the important part for this post. Say it to yourself once or twice without enunciating the "our"... I love the english language!
So, as you may have guessed, our bottle or argon, which we used for the TIG welder, went missing yesterday. Garett and I rose early to drop the returning gang (Colby, Laurie, Travis, Sean, and BJ) at the Adelaide airport. I went back to get a little more sleep as did Garett, but he had some other stuff to do and was in a different vehicle. When we rose once again later that morning, we searched for the argon bottle, which was in the boot just the previous evening, to find it missing. Where did it go? No one knows! Maybe it fell out at the airport in the morning?
Hey I have a great idea, let's go back to the airport and see if they've picked up a stray bottle of argon this morning... Just another adventure with Kyle - pressurised canisters of inert gas left lying at the airport. However, I'm pleased to announce that the canister was not at the airport and is yet on holiday. More to follow later.
I'm also yet to hear from Hertz about the brand new Maxima I wrecked. I should have saved the grill as a trophy - it was so cleanly removed from the front end. Hmmm...
Continuing with the random theme of the last few posts: the race finish in Adelaide was awesome! We rolled in first place in Production Class and 10th overall. More importantly, we beat an open car!
The finish is best described as well developed. After parking the lead and chase vehicles in a parking lot, you are marshalled into a waiting bus with your team name on the side. They then get the solar car to follow behind and at the finish, everyone hops out and waits in Victoria Square (Central Adelaide). The solar car is driven into the square, through a finish-line arch, and everyone runs in behind it. Pictures are taken, in the case of the Belgians (at least), the beer and champange that was loaded into the car that morning is cracked and everyone gets covered in frothy alcoholic muck. What was that about drinking and driving?
Then, the car is cleared through scrutineering and parked in tents to be put on display. We leave and wash our filthy bodies off at the hotel room and go out for a cocktail party put on by the satellite internet people - at the Hilton, no less! Next day was standing around talking to interested people about solar cars and getting names and addresses of friendly ladies that want me to come and stay with them in Melbourne for a few days. Don't worry, they are not my age, more like mums who want a Canadian visitor to take around and show their friends.
On that note, we packed up the next day, and yesterday drove back to Melbourne. Garett and I successfully navigated the port today to drop the car crate off and then got back to hotel. You have no idea what Melbourne is like to drive - Garett said today that it is one giant accident waiting to happen, which, I must say, I've proven and as of tonight, so has Garett.
We went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tonight. Mom, you must see this movie if you have not yet done so. Tim Burton is incapable of doing wrong.
Miss everyone and I've got lots to post, but that is enough to for one night.
Update complete!
