Goodbye Sydney, Hello Blue Mountains

On March 18th, after celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a brew or two in Paddy's Market, we picked up our rental car and headed to the hills. In this case, they are called the Blue Mountains, which aren't really mountains, nor hills, but eroded tablelands. They get their "blue" moniker by virtue of the oils given off by the dominant eucalyptus trees which appear as a blue haze. Some of the blue haze is also caused by bushfires and coal-fired electrical stations, but it is more politically correct to credit the eucalypts.

First though, allow me to share the excitement of driving on the left side of the road. Every time I turn on the signal lights, the windshield wipers come on! Is that cool or what? Those Aussies and their sense of humour! They also look pretty funny when a Canadian approaches them head on in their own driving lane! What a laugh! I only did it twice though - don't want to wear our welcome for all the Canucks yet to come. There are other drivers like me. Yesterday afternoon I noticed another bloke signaling with his wipers - a dead giveaway that you are from North America!

We are driving a Mazda Tiida. I didn't recognize it either.

You may recognize this though. Not exactly Alberta's Castle Mountain (formerly known as Mt. Eisenhower), but at least you can look down on it. Near Katoomba, the "Three Sisters" is illuminated at night. The lights attract insects, which attract bats, so it's a really good place to watch bats at night too. Note the blue haze in the distance, caused, of course, by the oils given off by the many eucalyptus trees.

This morning, we departed Katoomba for a tour of the caves at Jenolan. Now these are really impressive caves. Too many stalactites and stalagmites to count. This particular photos shows a cavern room perhaps 20 meters in height with a variety of cave formations. Those spelunkers amongst you will recognize many. These particular caves are thought to be a couple hundred million years old, although I think the electric lighting is a more recent development. All in all, a good experience.

This last little beauty pictured above is a "flat white". Ordering coffee in Australia is a bit more complicated than saying "double double to go". Here, most cafes make you choose between a long black, a short black, a cappuccino, a cafe latte, a macchiato, mocha, and of course, a flat white (coffee with some milk and frothy stuff on top). If you want sugar with your flat white, you add it yourself later. You'll note the flat white even comes with a little heart.... awwwwh.

Matt, if you are reading this, order one of each and put it on your dad's Visa card. Each one will set you back about AUD4.00. Call it "educational expenses for comparative cultural investigations".

Speaking of Matt, we were thinking of him as we left Sydney. We know you didn't come all the way to Oz to visit with your Auntie and Uncle, so hope your mum booked you into one of those backpacker hostels in King's Cross. There are lots of people your age there.

Speaking of wildlife, we've not seen any live kangaroos yet, but a few dead ones along the road, so we know they are about. We've also seen some wombat and red fox roadkill. Looking forward to actually seeing some live ones.....

Tomorrow, we are off to the Hunter Valley, the center of Australia's wine growing district. Apparently there are lots of wine tasting tours to be had, and with luck, we may see some pink elephants too! After that it's Port Macquarrie, (if you're following along), Coffs Harbour, and then Surfer's Paradise. Cheers!

Thunder from DownUnder

As you can see, we made it! This doesn't seem anything like the weather we were experiencing last week. I have to keep looking at the image of me on the Skidoo to remind myself what it was like just a short time ago.

Thanks to Lenore for suggesting this postings' title. We did have a bit of a light shower today, but no thunder.

Upon our arrival in Sydney, we bought a travel pass, so since then we've been riding the trains, busses and ferries to dozens of places. Tonite we ended up at the Sydney Rowing Club for drinks and dinner. We did have to make out a membership card though. Seems they've had a couple of dozen Olympians come out of that club in the past few years..... As owners of a conveyance that requires rowing (well, paddling anyway) we felt welcome and quite at home.

Roni says my red face is the result of too much sun and not enough sunscreen. I see things somewhat differently. My theory is that since we're "down under", that redness is just the result of the blood running to my head.

We're looking forward to more good days like the last few.

Next Week things might be different....

On Tuesday, Roni and I went snowmobiling at Sandy Beach. It was a great day, -5C, little wind, and we only tipped over once! The trail gates were open so we were able to visit a couple of surrounding lakes and bushland. A half-dozen white-tailed deer watched us carefully but nobody got too excited. Returning to the cabin, we had lunch on the deck and watched the chickadees, blue jays and magpies visit the suet feeder.

Here's Raymondo on the Skidoo at the cabin

The snow drifts this year are as big as I can remember them.

Two days later is a different story. The wind picked up overnight to near-gale force, the temperature dropped to -15C on the way down to -25C tonight, and the highway is no place for man nor beast with the falling and drifting snow. We're hoping that in a week's time, and some 10,000 miles from here, we'll be buried in sand on one of Sydney's beaches. Stay tuned.

What do you make of this?

On the way home from a truly delightful "Bailey Christmas" in Eatonia yesterday, we came across a rather bizarre and unexpected sight. About ten km. south of Unity, we saw what we first thought was an Eagle on Hwy. 21. Upon closer inspection, it was a turkey vulture! On the road was the subject of his attention, a newly deceased jackrabbit. A couple of magpies were trying to share in the bonanza as well.

This was a juvenile turkey vulture, and like his kin all over the world, was evidently unaware that his continued presence in a hostile environment may have less than desirable consequences for his health. Nevertheless, he did seem delighted with his lagomorphaic discovery.

We troubled him no further, but I couldn't help but ponder whether there was a prophetic message in such an unusual encounter. After all, this is Saskatchewan in mid-winter (-18C), and this fellow is far from his normal roosting spot at this time of year. Perhaps a reader of this blog might offer an opinion or insight?

What a Show!

Some of you may have heard reports of the meteor sighting over the prairies last night. I'm pleased to report that, not only did it miss us, but we had a great view of the whole show!

We were driving westward on 44th Street, just opposite the Lloydmall at 5:26 p.m. when the whole sky lit up. There was still a bit of twilight to the west, but this flash changed the sky to a grey-white, mostly white. Our first thought was that an electric transformer had shorted out directly overhead. Thoughts of recent stock market behaviours, and the Eskimo's last game against the 'Riders also danced through my head. Looking south over the Lloydmall, I saw the last second or so of the meteor as it descended, breaking into three or four pieces just before it winked out. It was a yellow in color, kind of like the end of a fireworks shot. We've seen lots of meteorites in the skies but nothing remotely comparable to this. It was like the night launch of the space shuttle!

Apparently people in Medicine Hat, Calgary, Vulcan, Edmonton, Cold Lake, Beauval, The Pas, Brandon, and Saskatoon (to name a few) also observed it. It looked like the thing may have landed a few kilometers away, but apparently it is very difficult to judge distances of meteors as there is no way of knowing how bright or big these things are at the time. People figure that it probably landed somewhere near the Sask-Alta border, south of Lloydminster, but north of Alsask. I figure, maybe Vulcan.

What Would Bambi's Mother Say?

Bambi's mother would say "Winter has come to the meadow"

With the first snowfall of the season worthy of getting out the snow shovel, we awoke this morning to the sweet, sweet sound of the neighbour's snow blower moving up and down the sidewalk of the whole block. Now that's when one really appreciates the good neighbours we have here. Thank you Ernie!

Actually, this image is for Doug and Lenore to enjoy. I'll be putting out the bird feeder tomorrow Doug.

Oktoberfest in Lloydminster

Last nite mein frau and I enjoyed Lloydminster's Oktoberfest for the first time.
Here are a few of the delightful new friends we met last nite. Everyone seemed so friendly and happy, we decided we must go back again next year!

Although not quite as famous as the Munich Oktoberfest, I thought you might like to knows some of the essential facts concerning the two celebrations.

First Oktoberfest celebration .... 1810 in Munich (1992 in Lloydminster)
Length of Festival .... 16-17 days (5 1/2 hours)
Record attendance .... 7.1 million (458)
Record beer consumption .... 6.7 million litres (9.5 kegs)
Record # of chickens consumed .... 807,710 (0)
Record # of bratwurst consumed .... 721,468 (480)
Number of oxen consumed .... 104 (0)
Number of times cancelled .... 24 (NEVER!!)

Finally, a useful phrase should you ever find yourself amongst the crowd pictured above - "Hol mir ein Bier, bitte!" (get me a beer, please!).