the opposite way in Australia so I thought I would do a short post about it. Happily for me the question has been answered by a few people on youtube and I won't have to make my own video.
solar eclipse. We were instructed to only view the shadow over the sun through the hole in a piece of paper. I of course had to look. I can't help myself! It's like touching the hot plate when a server tells you not too. I have never seen a lunar eclipse until last night. I took a picture of the moon rising scenically over the power lines at about 6:30pm. We tried to set up a telescope but none of us could figure out how to work the thing. The clouds covered the moon for a few hours but by 9pm the eclipse was visible. The moon was definitely orange-ish. I wasn't really sure what caused a lunar eclipse so I looked it up in Wikipedia.....
are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, the Moon is always full during a lunar eclipse."
er full lunar eclipse in 2010.
the possibility of seeing the Great Barrier Reef which is one of the things I was most excited about. Included in the list of the seven natural wonders of the world along with Mt Everest and the Grand Canyon the reef is the most popular destination for tourists to Australia including me. Matt and I booked onto the Poseidon Snorkeling and Scuba Adventure boat. I haven't snorkeled since I was fourteen and visiting my sister, Judy, in the Peace Corp. Matt had never snorkeled so this was going to be a learnin
g experience for both of us. We got on the boat to take an hour trip out to the outer reef. We went out to the Agincourt Ribbon Reefs which are long narrow reefs containing both shallow reef areas and deep drop offs. The boat ride out to the reefs was perfectly smooth with lots of safety talks. Matt and I both still took seasickness tablets...just in case. We also rented an underwater camera (very excited about) and wetsuits (my worst nightmare). Ahh, the wetsuit. There is nothing like squishing yourself into thick skin sucking Lycra material to make you fe
el pretty. Matt liked his because it makes you more buoyant but I ditched mine after the first stop. The boat stopped at three different locations throughout the day and we were all geared up and ready for the first one. At first I started to panic. I couldn't stop breathing thru my nose and thought I might hyper-ventilate. After I calmed down a bit I started to get the hang of it. Matt was struggling some and then swallowed half of the ocean. A few minutes later I swallowed the other half. I kept hearing cries
of "Matt's not Happy!!!" so we swam back to the boat to regroup and try again. It is hard to learn when the bottom of the ocean is 30 meters down and you have to tread water to clear out your mask and snorkel.
ve up to 100 years. They are called man eaters in old legends and are capable of holding fast to their grip but their response time is generally considered too slow to cause injury to humans. I still wouldn't recommend sticking any appendages into a giant clam. It was just about time to move on to the second sight and Matt was still having a bit of trouble so we swam back to the boat. 
. We got all ready for the second sight even though I could tell Matt wasn't so sure about the whole snorkeling thing. Fortunately, a few minutes into this sight he got the hang of it. The coral was really beautiful. It was kind of tricky judging how close to get to the reef without hurting myself or the coral. As we were told on the boat one wrong kick of a flipper can kill off five years of growth from the reef. The current was also pretty strong and I didn't want to be push
ed into the reef and get all cut up. I was able to get close enough to get a few nice pictures. Getting the fish to stay still for a photo-op proved to be a little bit trickier. We saw tons of fish like parrotfish, angelfish, and a big, square shaped rainbow fish whose name I don't know. Some of them swam in schools while other were solo or in pairs. Try as I might I co
uldn't get the silly fish to stay still. I was really good at getting them swimming away.
ore of the reef. The professional underwater photographer, Chris swam by and got our photo. There is nothing like a snorkel and a mask to bring out ones most beautiful features. This was by far the best sight for Matt and I and not only because we had both stopped trying to swallow to entire contents of th
e Coral Sea. The fish finally started to cooperate with my attempts at capturing them on film. I liked these black, white and yellow fish. They stayed nice and still. Matt liked these little black and white guys who he called "Collinwood" fish since their stripes were like the uniform of the Aussie 
Rules Football team the Collingwood Magpies. 
att pointed out one big fish. My first instinct was to get a picture since that's what I had been trying to do with all the other fishes. My second and much more violent instinct was to turn around and swim away as fast as I possibly could. Matt had pointed out a shark. A very large shark. Now the people on the boat had assured us that these were only reef sharks and would not bother with humans. Growing up on Florida beaches with flags alerting swimmers to exit the water because of shark sightings and in the age of JAWS I personally didn't want to take my chances. I don't think I have
ever moved my legs so fast in my life. There was a British guys snorkeling nearby who pointed out there were actually three sharks and then took it upon himself to go chase them. When another shark came by I wasn't quite as scared since the Brit was closer and I figured he would get eaten first. I tried to take a picture while still swimming away...very difficult. 
a fantastic time swimming along with the fish. It is mind boggling that there is this whole other world on my own planet that I hardly even consider in my day to day life. I really didn't want to leave. Someday I will bite the bullet and learn how to scuba so I can experience even more of the ocean. The trip back to land was a really 
rough and a few people threw-up. Even more were clinging to sick bags for dear life. Thank God for motion sickness pills!!! The only good thing about the rough ride was every time the boat sent spray up in the air a rainbow appeared. I love my rainbows!
and I had passed by a wildlife sanctuary with a sign advertising "Lunch with the Lorikeets". From the outside the sanctuary didn't look like much but we decided to give it a chance anyway. This was hands down the best bird sanctuary I have ever seen. I haven't been to alot of zoos in the States but compared to the ones I have seen, Australia's are so much better. They are more "environments" than zoos with all the animals that won't eat each other mingling together. The Rainforest Habitat wildlife Sanctuary had the first pair of captive breeding Black-necked Storks. The pair came to the sanctuary one injured and one abandoned. It took four years of courtship and three 
years of deciding on a nest sight before the pair had a baby. This was their newest in the nest. Birds were everywhere. I thought of my friend, Mardi who will lose it if a pigeon gets within a few feet of her and how this place would be a chamber of terror for people who were scared of birds but I loved it! My favorite were the Kookaburras a type of Kingfisher. I knew of them from the song "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree" but didn't know they were carnivores. I have heard them "
laugh" in the wild and I love the sound. Matt's favorite are hardly noticeable at first and that is just the way these birds like it. The Tawny Frogmouths are camouflage specialists and often mistaken for broken branches. I would have walked right past them if Matt hadn't pointed them out. One basked in the sun with quite a pompous little look. 
We had a close encounter with a rather large crane called a Brolga. Matt was a little nervous about his toes around the Brolga's big beak. I got a bit too close to the big bird trying to take another picture and he let me know I had crossed the line. The squawk he made wasn't a pleasant, let's be close friends noise. The definite star of the bird show was the Cassowary. This bird is in the emu/ ostrich family and is flightless. The species itself is threatened but also the rainfor
est is threatened with the decline of the Cassowary. Since the bird eats rainforest fruits it passes seeds after germinating them on the so called beak-to-bum journey. Many plants are solely dependant on this bird to spread their seeds. Cassowarys don't like people too much. They are very shy birds and will usually hide but if provoked they have been known to kill people. In World War II, Australian and American troops stationed in New Guinea were explicitly warned to stay away from these birds.
actually got to meet a freshwater crocodile named Charlie. I was very brave and even gave Charlie some pats. Yes, very brave indeed considering she was about two feet long and had a guard around her mouth so she couldn't open it. The keeper dispelled some myths about the fresh water crocodile. Evidently they are very lazy animals and couldn't be bothered with trying to eat a human since we are rather large. The salt water variety is much more aggressive but the freshwater pretty much leave people alone as long as we leave them alon
e. We spotted big turtles sunning themselves and a huge eel in the lake. We also got to feed some swamp wallabies. These guys were very cute but much less used to people than the roos in Ballarat. I had to be a little more patient to get them to eat out of my hand and we all know I am sooooo patient. The Woodducks and Ibis were much more interested in my bag of roo food than any of the roos were. One Ibis stuck his beak in a little girls ice cream while she was trying to feed a wallaby. 
ith the Lorikeets". At first it was all Egrets and Ibis hanging out in the lunch area. These are not shy birds and made themselves quite at home on our table. One egret even helped himself to little piece of food on Matt's plate. Soon all kinds of birds had come into the pavilion. One cockatoo swiped a fre
nch fry from a lucky diner complete with ketchup. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying his fry perched high up above everyone eating. A keeper came by with two Rainbow Lorikeets and asked if we wanted to meet them. Before I could say yes they were settling themselves on my shoulder. These little colorful parrots are adorable although considered a pest by some fruit farmers. Their cousin the Ultramarine Lorikeet is endangered and one of the 50 rarest birds in the world. The two we met were a happy couple mated for life. Lorikeet couples stay together all year round feeding and pre
ening each other. They are very chatty little birds but my goodness when one of them let go of a full on squawk right in my ear I thought my hearing would be lost forever. It took quite a while for my ear to stop ringing. All in all the lorikeets had very good manners. They didn't try to steal anything off my plate and this one even used his napkin when he was sitting at the table. What a proper little bird. We tried alot of exotic fruits I had never tried before like the custard apple fruit and a plum looking thing that I
forgot the name. I had never eaten passionfruit before and it is now my favorite fruit...YUMMY!!!
s artist Holly Saunders. She painted Australian wildlife in beautiful, colorful oils. I absolutely loved her pieces of Kingfishers, Treefrogs and White Possums. If you want to see more of her artwork check out her website. http://www.hollysaunders.com.au/
all gussied up and participate in the sport of the elite? So we did just that. We made all the necessary plans for a night at the races....the Cane Toad Races that is. We headed on down to the IRON BAR in our Saturday best for the 7:30 race time. The night started off with a toast to the late Steve Irwin, who died just off the coast of Port Douglas and to all the good he did for animal conservation. Then the toad wrangler/ master of ceremonies gave us a little back ground on his beloved cane toads. I could tell this guy was a real animal lover telling stories of trying to rescue injured kangaroos. He definitely loved his toads. The cane 
toad is a dramatic pest in Australia introduced in 1935 to reduce sugar cane eating beetles. The toads didn't have any effect on the beetles since they couldn't seem to get on top of the sugar cane to eat them. The toads did however have lots of luck in the breeding arena. The population in Australia has gone from 102 to over 10 billion cane toads. Scientists th
ink they may have finally found a cure to the toad plague in a gender changing gene that would eventually make all the toads male. For this night we were only interested in which toad was going to hop fastest. Each race started off with the toad jockey giving the toad a little kiss for good luck. Some jockeys were a little more squeamish than others. Jockeys weren't allowed to touch the toads during a race they could only encourage them with noise makers. Most of the toads didn't seem to care one way or the other about the noise makers or winning the race. It was absolutely hilarious to watch and was by far the best five dollars ($4.10 US) I have spe
nt in a long time. I even got to hold a cane toad myself. After all the racing excitement I wanted to turn in early. The next day was the big day... The Great Barrier Reef!!
weekend Matt and I flew up to Port Douglas in North Queensland. The flight itself wasn't what I would call enjoyable. We sat on the ground for about an hour while Virgin Blue fixed a cargo door that wasn't working right. Matt was convinced they just duck-taped it back on. They offered free in flight entertainment to compensate for leaving late which would have been nice if the screens worked. But the worst thing had to be Judith. There was a family from Canada sitting behind us and the mom, Judith talked SO loudly. After a few minutes I knew every family
members name, what they had packed for lunch, their itinerary and all about cousin Kevin's trip to Israel. To top it all off she smacked her candy for four hours straight. My parents can attest to the fact that I am super sensitive to certain noises...smacking is high on the list. After a few hours I was about to start having a complete blubbering melt down. I would here candy crunch and thought the torture was over only to hear another candy wrapper open. Then something entirely different
almost made me cry. The plane broke through the clouds and I caught my first glimpse of the Coral Sea. I forgot all about Judith and was filled with happiness at what a fortunate girl I was to see this part of the world. Matt and I wasted no time exploring Port Douglas. The plants were beautiful! There were tropical flowers and ferns everywhere. I noticed little ants crawling around whose backsides were green. I had never seen green ants before. We he
aded down to the beach to take a look. I was fascinated by perfect little balls of sand all over the beach. They were obviously made by some creature or another since there was a hole wherever there were sand balls. Then we saw tiny little crabs. I hadn't realized they were all over the place. I picked a few up since they were too small to pinch me and they looked just like the sand. I put my feet in the ocean but did most of my swimming in the creature free la
goons. All the warning signs by the beach can put a person off.
all the fish yell in unison "DARLA". The same exact noise went through my head but with a different name...JUDITH! All I could think was that I would have to sit through another three hours of constant smacking. She turned around and yelled four seats back that her daughter recognized us from the flight. I politely confirmed that I recognized her too. Matt was laughing at me. We reached the sight of our dinner in the Daintree and everything looked magical. Candles and fairy lights were flickering all over the forest. I bee-lined for the girl with the champagne tray away from Judith but to no avail. The whole family came over to chat. I must admit they were a very nice family traveling around the world together which is lovely. I did, how
ever make every possible effort not to sit at their table and thankfully was successful. We sat with Peter and Ann who were lovely, another couple from Australia, and three ladies from the states who worked for a tourism company. Dinner was fantastic! Eating it in the middle of a sparkling rainforest was sublime. We could hear the river flowing just a few feet away and bandicoots rustling around the forest floor. After dinner there was a traditional Aboriginal dreamtime story. This is where things got interesting. Before dinner a lady from Bavaria named Claudia had introduced herself to us at the bar. She seemed nice enough at the time. When the musicians took the stage Claudia took it upon herself to start heckling. This was not the kind of performance where heckling was anywhere close to appropriate
e and one of the musicians said as much trying to curtail her. Wine had gotten the best of Claudia. She stopped heckling and took to wandering long enough for the performance to go on. The instrument that was played is the didgeridoo. It is a very tricky instrument in that you have to train yourself to breathe in and blow out at practically the same time to play it correctly. They told the story of a duck who fell in love with a river rat. Their baby became the platypus. Then the generators were turned off and we were all listening to the noises of the forest in candlelight. This was magnificent and luckily Claudia stayed quiet for a little while. After the lights came back on so did Claudia. This time she took a liking to Judith and family. A very close liking...no sense of personal space whatsoever. I would be a horrible liar if I didn't say I thought it was rather amusing to watch the high level of uncomfort going on. Finally Claudia had enough of being shhhhed and brushed away by the Judith clan. She started screaming about rude Canadians and throwing things on the ground. I will say the staff handled her beautifully, calming her down and steering her away to a bus. We had a great laugh with Judith and her family about all the craziness on the bus ride back to the port. Overall, it was a VERY entertaining evening.
for a few days so no new blogs for a bit. It's a good thing Mick and Bec are back or I think my ducks would feel very abandoned. They hang around the back door everyday until they get fed and swim around the pool for hours. Can anybody think of some good names for these guys?
ited to see there was a new movie released out about her life. I have watched two documentaries about her and it always amazes me how film makers can take such an insanely interesting subject and make a film about said subject SO boring. Her real life is crazier than any novel. She was raised in a brothel and the circus only to be discovered singing on the streets of Paris. She sang with such incredible passion you can see how she became a national icon of France. I am happy to report that unlike the documentaries I have seen, La Vie En Rose was absolutely phenomenal! Marion Cotillard is perfect in the lead. Anyone who is even remotely an Edith Piaf fan should run out and see this movie. Almost as impressive as the movie was the movie theatre itself. We went to the Como Cinema
which shows mostly arthouse films. I have never been to a movie theatre that was so gussied up. Even the restrooms were flashy. Very Nice!!!
he Como Historic House and Garden. Built in 1847 by barrister Edward Williams, Como was bought and sold by two other prominent Melbournians before being purchased by the Armytage family who lived in the house for over 95 years. The National Trust purchased Como and the interior furnishings from the Armytage family at a very reduced price with the intention of preserving a piece of Victorian life. This house would be any art director of a Victorian period movie's dream. It was fantastic to see all the art and furniture but even more interesting were the differences in daily life activities. For example, I never knew a drawing room was called as such because it was the room women would "withdraw
" to after dinner giving the men time to smoke cigars, drink brandy and do business. There were screens the women put in front of the fire because the make-up they wore at the time contained beeswax and would start to melt if they got too hot. While the family rooms were fantastic I was much more interested by the servants quarters. So much of the everyday tools they used have been preserved at Como including a coffee bean roaster, sewing machines, ice cream makers, laundry cranks and an 1860's stove. There was a line of 14 bells which w
ere operated by magnetic cranks and used to summon the servants to various rooms in the house. The gardens were beautiful in something called "gardenesque" style as opposed to "picturesque". All this means is the landscaper was trying for a more natural feel than the very organized feel of earlier English gardens. Not only are the flower gardens great but the vegetable garden was impressive with huge heads of cabbage and the weirdest looking chicken I have ever seen. It was a variety of Chinese Silkie Chicken but it looked like a fluff ball with chicken feet. Th
e trees were massive including this Bunya-Bunya pine that I am hugging. Am I becoming a hippie? I actually wanted to sit in the vine like a swing but i thought that might be frowned upon. Our guide told us that every few years the grounds keepers actually have to rope off this tree because it produces pine nuts as big as watermelons which could seriously injure someone if they got hit by one.
y area with lots of book shops, clothes stores and restaurants much like Wicker Park in Chicago or 5points in Jacksonville. There is even a small cluster of Spanish, Mexican and South American shops and restaurants. Mick and Bec (my house mates who just returned from Europe) came and met Matt and me for a Spanish dinner. We went to a restaurant called Kanela for paella. The food and decor was wonderful but the best thing was the band playing that night. String Theory (not to be confused with String Theory the New Jersey
cover band or String Theory the electronic band from Chicago) was formed in 2006 and preforms every Sunday at Kanela and other venues around the city. This band is in the same vein as Pink Martini but more raw and with a little pieces of Django Reinhardt, Louis Prima and Ceila Cruz thrown in. Mimi Zaetta-Thomas is intriguing to watch throwing herself into her performance both voice and body. I thought she might actually start a flamenco dance there for a second the way she was expressing the music with her arms. I thoroughly enjoyed this band and if you want to hear them check out their MySpace page. http://myspace.com/stringtheory01
