Australian Art

One thing I always try to buy when I am travelling is some sort of art, original if possible. I have been very lucky on this trip. I have found two small pieces that I absolutely love and neither were expensive at all. I have been to a couple of Aboriginal art galleries and most of the pieces were beautiful but huge and way too expensive for my budget. In Port Douglas we went to Bundarra Gallery and I found this small piece entitled Rainbow Dreaming by YULA. I fell in love with it for two main reasons. One, because I have been inundated by rainbows on this visit and two, because the piece is so colorful.

The other objects of nature (besides animals) that have fascinated me here in Oz are the trees. Australia has the most incredible trees. I was ecstatic when we found Tasmanian artist, Doc, whose work focused on trees in Salamanca market. His work was insanely affordable so I happily acquired one of his small tree pieces.

Of all the pieces I have been working on here in Australia there is one that I am particularly happy with. Cheryl and I made a plaster cast of her pregnant belly. At first I was painting a circus scene but Matt said it looked more like a Wonder Woman costume. Since Al and Cheryl are going with a teddy bear theme for Cooper's room I went in that direction. I was having a bit of trouble coming up with a bear design so I found one on the web. Yes I am a copy cat but imitation is the highest form of flattery or that's what people say anyway. I changed the design a bit since Cooper is a boy and the other design was for a girl. Most importantly Al and Cheryl like it so that is really all that matters. So that is mini art-expo for the day. =)

Tasmania

Matt, Mick, Bec and I headed down to Tasmania for the weekend and I am so happy we did. Tasmania is incredibly beautiful and the weather, which we feared would be very cold, was perfect. We went to capital city of Hobart where Matt lived when he was a teenager. One of the big draws of Hobart is the Salamanca market which is held every Saturday. Everything is sold there like vegetables, paintings, chocolate, candles, wine and of course your various cheesy souvenirs which I must admit I am a huge sucker for. Pretty much everything is made or grown in Tasmania and you get to meet and talk to the people who made what ever it is you want to buy. I love the look of fresh fruit and vegetable stands which were plentiful at Salamanca. There were also buskers (aka street performers) from all over the world. There was a group of dancers from Africa and a fantastic band from Chile. Two animals dominated the face of Tasmanian souvenirs, the Tasmanian Devil and the believed extinct Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine. You could buy anything under the sun with a picture of one of these animals. There was a lovely little park called Saint David's at the end of the market which at first glance just seemed like any other city park. After a look at the walls we realized this used to be a cemetery that held many of the first settlers of Van Diemens' Land (original name of Tasmania) including the founder of Hobart, David Collins. A few of the larger burial monuments are still scattered throughout the park but all of the headstones were removed and placed into a memorial wall. The view of the sea in Hobart is fantastic. I had walked over to take a few pictures of the scenery when I looked down into the shallow edge of the water and saw more starfish than I had ever seen in my life, well, starfish that were alive and not dried up in a Florida gift shop.



We headed up near Mount Wellington to the Cascade brewing company which is not only the oldest brewery in Australia but the oldest company still in operation. Originally a sawmill the Cascade company changed paths after the founder, Peter Degraves, spent a bit of time in jail. He noticed that the rotgut people were drinking was so poor some even died from drinking it so he decided to make some quality brew. The tour starts and ends in the beer garden. Most beer gardens I have been in consist of a couple of decks, some chairs and maybe a few ferns scattered here and there. This place was wonderful. The garden path sloped up the side of the mountain and was obviously landscaped but had a wild feel too it. Winter is just ending so some of the flowers weren't in bloom yet but the area was still gorgeous. The tour itself was ok, a little long. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic and later told us that four generations of his family had worked in the brewery. The beer itself was very tasty especially while sitting in the garden, basking in the sun and looking up at Mt. Wellington. Cascade not only makes beer but juices and soft drinks like ginger beer. Just like ginger ale, ginger beer is not alcoholic but has a more much intense ginger flavor than the ale version. It's soooo good!

In my quest to see every animal in Australia the main one I felt like I had missed was the Tasmanian Devil. I saw one in Sydney but he was curled up in a ball sleeping. There is a devil conservation park about an hour outside of Hobart so we headed there. On the way we stopped along the shoreline to see the tessellated pavement. This is a natural phenomenon I had never heard of before and was a little woozy from all the curvy roads so wasn't up for reading the information sign. Here is the definition off of wikipedia. "Tessellated pavement is a rare sedimentary rock formation that occurs on some ocean shores, so named because it fractures into square blocks that appear like tiles, or tessellations. It is formed when rock that has cracked through plate tectonic movement of the Earth's crust is modified by sand and wave action." The cracks and crevices formed by tessellation made for great tide pools full of blue starfish, crabs, molluscs, and all kinds of other little sea creatures. There was an animal that looked and felt like a blob of jell-o. I could have stayed here for hours but we didn't want to miss feeding time with the devils.

The Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park has become a very important place for the survival of the Tasmanian Devil. A mysterious cancer has wiped out almost half of the population in the wild. This park has been instrumental in working to breed cancer-resistant devils. These animals are so unbelievably cute I just wanted to grab one to give it cuddles and hugs. I really wanted to atleast pet one until I saw them eat. All hands were happily kept by my side after that. I have never heard such a horrible noise as the screeching of the devils in between the sound of crunching bone. These little guys are scavengers so they have an important job as far as the ecosystem goes. Their meals at the park are provided by the community who collect roadkill and drop it off for the devils. This way not only do the devils get to eat but they help with the local clean up. The devil got its name from early European settlers who heard it in the woods and really thought there was some sort of evil spirit out in the bush. You can hear an example of the devils' scream on this site.

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/wildlife/mammals/devil.html

Even though they may make a lot of crazy noises when they eat they were still good little devils and went to clean themselves up right after their meal. The water bucket probably wasn't meant to be a bath...oh, well. We learned one other thing at the park that excited me to no end. There was a zoologist who claimed to have sighted a thylacine(tasmanian tiger) as recently as the 1980's. This guy wasn't one of those crazy "I have a Bigfoot in my back yard" people. He was a legitimate animal guy. Much of Tasmania is still wild and untouched by humans so in many ares it really is possible they still exist.

We contiued on to see Port Arthur, historically the harshest of Australias penal colonies. This gaol (aka jail) was known for it's penal reform. A step was taken to change prisoners through psychological punishment instead of corporal. Which of these punishments proves to be more cruel is debatable. Much like Alcatraz in the US, Port Arthur was surrounded by shark infested waters and billed as inescapable. One man did try to escape disguised as a kangaroo but when the hungry guards tried to shoot him with plans of making roo stew he surrendered. Port Arthur is said to be one of the most haunted places in Australia especially the Island of the Dead where over 1600 prisoners are buried mostly in unmarked graves.

We stopped off at quite a few more beaches and sites of some fantastic rock formations including the Devil's Kitchen, Tasman's Arch and the Remarkable Cave. We couldn't stop making fun of the name remarkable cave since the name itself was so unremarkable. There was a reason for the name after all. The way the cave had eroded away the hole left looked like the "mark" of Tasmania, hence the name re"mark"able. It's amazing how this happens. I saw a cave in Morocco that was the shape of Africa. I learned one other thing I didn't know. Matt had told me there were penguins in Melbourne and I just assumed he meant in the zoo. When Bec pointed out a penguin on the beach that had gone onto penguin heaven I was really surprised to find out they were not only native in Tasmania but the ones in Melbourne are wild as well. Tassie is the last stop before Antarctica so penguins make sense I had just never associated them with Australia.

The sun was setting when we left to head back to Melbourne. Tasmania would be a wonderful place to have a serene, quiet life surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen.

Werribee

Cheryl took me out to her old stomping ground, Werribee to show me Werribee Park and the Open Range Zoo. Have you ever seen a Jane Austin movie where one of her pretty yet always poor heroines is riding along in a carriage pining away for one unrequited love or another and the trees break open to view her Love's home? It is always, without a doubt the most beautiful estate imaginable. This is Werribee Park. Every Jane Austin book I have read ends happily but this was not the case for all of the inhabitants of Werribee Park. Werribee was built by two squatter brothers from Scotland. Squatter in Australia doesn't have the same negative connotations that it does in urban USA in fact the word is used to describe wealthy land owners who were also referred to as the Sqattocracy. Thomas Chirnside arrived in Australia with a few hundred pounds and his bible. With the help of his brother, Andrew, he built Werribee into a pastoral empire. On a trip back to Scotland, Thomas fell in love with his cousin, Mary Begbie. When he returned back to Australia his brother began to plan a trip home. Thomas asked Andrew one favor, to bring Mary to Australia any way he could so that she and Thomas could be married. Andrew brought her back alright. He brought Mary back as his wife. Even though Thomas must have been heart-broken he built the mansion with his brother because he wanted Mary to have a home of stature and serenity unrivalled in Victoria. Upon it's completion in 1877 Mary moved into the mansion with Andrew and their three children. Thomas lived nearby but never married. There was a maid projected into the laundry room that told the story of the last days of Thomas Chirnside. He killed himself in that very room finally succumbing to the deep depression he felt over his unrequited love for Mary.

The descendants of Andrew and Mary didn't do so well at keeping up the fortune and Werribee Park was eventually sold to the Catholic church in 1922. The mansion was used as a monastery until 1973 when the Victorian government acquired the property and restored it to it's former glory. I went a bit ga-ga over the collection of Victorian clothes that were on display. There were corsets, dressing gowns, children's clothes and formal wear. No matter how many times I see costume collections it always surprises me how small the Victorian people were. The gardens were beautiful and I dragged Cheryl around taking pictures. She is due in 2 weeks so she wasn't feeling very photogenic but I told her she would thank me later. One of my very favorite pictures I have of my Mom is one where she is pregnant with me.

As you all know by now I love animals so we had to pop over to the Open Range Zoo. Once again Australia wins in the best zoo competition. This place was incredible and MASSIVE. The first animals we saw were Meerkats. From Timon in the Lion King to the Animal Planet show Meerkat Manor, I love the Meerkats!! I had never seen them in real life before and they are SOOO CUTE!!!! The meerkats have the same entrancing quality as an aquarium. I could have happily watched them for hours but we had to go catch the safari bus. In the safari area every attempt is made to recreate the natural environment of the animals who are never handled by keepers. This has led to happy, healthier animals and much success in the breeding department. Our zoo guide talked alot about conservation and I could tell in her voice she was really passionate about saving animals and frustrated by the damage that has been done by humans. We went past an area were the horticulture team is working to regrow native grasses. Over the past 200 years the native grasses have been reduced down to .1% drastically affecting the native wildlife. There were a few animals in the Open Range Zoo who were extinct in the wild. The Scimitar-Horned Oryx is one of these animals who now only exists in zoos and sanctuaries. When the oryx turns profile it looks like he only has one horn and some people believe this is the animal that started the myth of the unicorn. We saw zebras and giraffes all just wandering around over an area that was so large the whole of Melbourne Zoo could fit inside of it. The lions had to have a separate area since they would eat all the other animals but they were beautiful as lions always are. These two lady lions decided it was bath time. By far the coolest part for me was seeing the rhinos up close. They were so close the zoo guide got a little nervous. She kept asking Cheryl how far along she was and if she felt ok. The rhinos had wandered right into the path we were driving along so we just had to sit and wait...quietly. These animals are very sensitive to pitch. When they get irritated their tails curl up in a circle and three out of the four had curled their tails. The zoo guide said she really didn't want the rhinos to charge us so we just had to be a bit patient. It was fine with me because then I could look at these fantastic animals longer. The rhinoceros has been around since the Cenozoic era. I myself have no earthly idea when the Cenozoic era was but it was a long, long time ago. I can't think of the right words to describe these creatures but I couldn't stop smiling being so close to one with no cage or fence in between me and them. Eventually they uncurled their tales and lumbered off the road so we could drive away. I know Cheryl was relieved but I thought it would have made a pretty cool story for baby Cooper to tell if he had been born in a safari bus after a rhino charged it. Several rhinoceros species became extinct within geologically recent times, notably the Giant Unicorn and the Woolly Rhinoceros. Several more are critically endangered. Many organizations are working to save the rhino including Suzuki in Australia and http://www.savetherhino.org/.

After the zoo we met up with Al and Matt to go to the movies. We went to see Ratatouille and since I never saw a Pixar movie I didn't like I knew it would be good. The only bad thing was waiting the extra two months for the movie to be released. Australia usually gets movies a little bit after the US so patience is a must. I will tell you this, it was well worth the wait not only because the movie was great but because of the viewing experience. America is a country known for doing things bigger and better so why oh, why don't we have Gold Class movie theatres?? This concept screams United States of America but alas it is an ingenious Australian indulgence. I am now 100% spoiled and never want to see a movie any other way. Ahhhhh, Gold Class is glorious. There is no need for dinner and a movie because now it is dinner at the movies complete with your own lazyboy recliner. When you get there you are greeted and it's all "Madam" this and "Sir" that. You are taken to a table where if you aren't late like we were you can have a drink while you decided which items in the three course meal you would like to choose. You are then ushered to your recliner (only 24 in the whole theatre) where all of your drinks and nibblies are brought to you. This is the ultimate movie treat and I absolutely loved it! I have every intention of opening one of these theatres when I get home even if it is only for my personal use.

APEC Bloopers: Take One

In all honesty I didn't know what APEC was before coming to Australia. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit is a gathering of world leaders best known for the protesters the summit attracts and the crazy local costumes the dignitaries wear like this "Durumagi" at the APEC summit in South Korea, 2005. They do alot of wheeling and dealing, building military alliances and selling uranium...fun stuff like that. Since APEC is in Sydney this year you can well imagine it has been all over the news. Just a quick tangent, one thing I really love about Australia is they get newscasts from all over the world on regular TV. Granted I don't know the languages of some of them but the ones broadcast in english honestly put CNN's three day coverage of Anna Nicole's funeral and Paris goes off to Jail smut news to shame. But, I digress....back to APEC. Australia has been all a bustle with the arrival of so many world leaders. You can only imagine the suggestions for the national costume here...Khakis with a lizard on every world leaders shoulder?? Most of the heads of state have arrived in Sydney by now with entourages mainly between 70-150 (George W brought over 1000).

Obviously when you get this many people together some things are going to go wrong. The Chinese president, Hu Jintao was none too pleased over the people protesting over illegal organ harvesting especially among Falun Gong practitioners in China. These protesters aren't only out for APEC the are out in Melbourne all the time and rightfully so. Another thing that baffles me about the media, there is so much coverage over toy recalls but so little on a real human tragedy in China.

Ok so political events always brings protesters but it also brings some embarrassing tidbits. Oh Happy Day! The first of these came from the White House. Upon George W's arrival into Sydney the White House put out an official press release Australia wide and online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/. Included in this press release were not one, not two but three spelling mistakes. The first of these was made in reference to Kirribilli House which is for use as a residence for overseas guests of the Commonwealth and the Prime Minister and his family when they aren't at "The Lodge" in Canberra. In the press release it was spelled Kirridilli. Ok, so this word isn't used frequently in the States and it was only one letter...I'll give them this one. Number two is a bit worse. If you read this blog you know I love Upera just like they preform at the Sydney Upera House. Come On People!! SPELL CHECK!!! But the winner of the "I promise Americans really aren't stupid" award goes to the brilliant staff writer who spelled Sydney, "Sidney". The media over here had a field day with this one. This is not helping my case in defending the intelligence of my country when the White House puts out a press release and doesn't even correctly spell the name of the city the summit is held in!!!!! I am a horrible speller myself but I also I don't have 1000 people in my entourage who are supposed to be checking up on things.

So there was that but here is the real doozy!! If you look at my list of "Stuff I Like" you will see the Chasers, the funniest group of comedians I have ever seen. If you have never seen them there are tons of clips on youtube. They fearlessly bag on everyone. Unfortunately, they do like to target Americans. What is even more unfortunate is the idiots that talk to them. For example, one of the Chasers was in the middle of Times Square asking New Yorkers what year and month 9/11 happened. The answers, well, they aren't good. If you are American and you watch this clip prepare to be embarrassed and shamed by the stupidity of some of your fellow countrymen. http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnP0snh_1cU

So the Chasers like to pull pranks and why not target APEC, they go after everyone else anyway. Mind you the Australian government spent over 250million dollars for security at this event so according to the press, the Chasers never really expected to get inside. Eleven members of the Chasers crew got into some official looking cars with a few stickers and a couple of Canadian flags and off they went. Oh yeah, one of them was dressed up like Osama bin Laden. They weren't stopped but WAVED thru two security check points! Their "motorcade" was just 10 meters from the hotel where George W is staying when they were finally stopped and arrested. The police confiscated Chas' "Osama" beard. So now the spelling mistakes seem inconsequential as the package of shame is put right into the laps of the New South Wales police force. The embarrassment factor for Australian government is pretty huge. Obviously its not that scary when it's a group of comedians breaching security but the fact is if eleven comedians can get that close to the secure buildings of APEC so can highly trained terrorists. Worrisome as this is I still don't mind the fact that the Chasers took all the attention away from the little spelling faux pas.

Just to keep all the pomp and circumstance going there is a group of Australians called Bums for Bush who will attempt to break the world record for "mooning" in response to APEC but more specifically George W. Over 2000 people are planning on heading out to the Fountain in Hyde Park, Sydney to protest what they see as the shady dealings of the 21 countries represented at APEC with a "moon". Evidently Bush inspired the last "mooning" world record as well. We'll see if the moon rises later this afternoon.

Uh-oh...wait a second. Cheryl just emailed me one more from MSN news..."Mr Bush, in Australia to attend the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit of world leaders, took to the stage at the Sydney Opera House on Friday morning and thanked Prime Minister John Howard for his introduction and for being such a 'kind host' for the OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) summit....And in another miscue, he(Bush) botched the host country's name, referring to Mr Howard's visit to Iraq in 2006 as a thank you to 'the Austrian troops there.'" As much as I stumble over my words I sure am glad I am not a world leader.

Sunbury

Cheryl and I decided to take a look around Sunbury. This is the suburb she and Al live in and the one where Matt grew up. Sunbury is a wonderful little town especially since you feel kind of like you are in the country in parts of it but you are only 30minutes away from downtown Melbourne. We decided to drive up for a peak at Victoria University. Looking at University buildings doesn't always sound too interesting but these structures have a particular history which makes them very interesting if not somewhat creepy. From 1894-1992 this was the Sunbury Lunatic Asylum especially known for the "the Sunbury Women's Refractory Ward Seven". This ward was for "difficult"women who suffered from such abnormal mental disruptions as post-partum depression and menopause. Women who didn't succumb to the notions of proper society were imprisoned here many times tied to chairs (one patient for over 1000 hours) or kept in what was commonly referred to as a "birdcage"(I can only imagine). Matt used to go play on the trampolines inside the grounds as a boy and said the really worrisome thing is that when the Asylum closed pretty much everyone was just let out to go along the merry way with no treatment. Pretty as the campus is I just don't think I could get a good night sleep in the dorms here.

We decided to go check out some bridges that had been built back in the mid 1800's by convicts. One was over Jackson's creek and is closed to cars but still used by pedestrians. This was also by Sunbury's first vineyard. In the 1860's Sunbury started to become a pretty prolific wine making community. The depression of the 1890's ruined the winery business here for almost 90 years but I am happy to say this wine region today is growing rapidly. Even though I am a beer girl at heart the wine I have tried from Sunbury has been excellent! The other bridge we went to see that is still used by trains was near Rupertswood Mansion which cricket fan's know is the birthplace of the Ashes. I don't really understand cricket but I know this all has something to do with Australia unexpectedly beating England in 1882. An English reporter claimed that because of the Australian victory the sport of cricket was dead, the body would be cremated and the ashes taken back to Australia. The Clarkes, who owned Rupertswood, made an urn of ashes that sits in Lords today.

To be honest my interest in Rupertswood had very little to do with cricket and lots to do with the duck pond. Cheryl and I were like two kids running off with loafs of bread to feed the ducks. The only problem with feeding the ducks is getting to them. There happens to be a rather large population of geese at Rupertswood. Al warned Cheryl they were less than shy and I should have known better having been attacked by one on the campus of Furman University as a child. At first there was only one or two geese and lots of ducks. Then they must have gotten some sort of "humans with bread" signal and they all came-a-honking. At first they were cute if not a little forward but then they just got downright aggressive! We were both laughing hysterically because it was funny and because this amount of large honking birds was really intimidating. Then the worst thing happened...we ran out of bread. By now the geese had us pretty well surrounded and backed up against the car. I couldn't stop laughing but Cheryl being the fearless albeit very pregnant lady found it in herself to chase the geese away so we could get back in the car.

We made it safely inside the vehicle but even still some geese were not ready to give up. I couldn't fault this guy for his persistence as he gazed expectantly thru the car window. We went off to check out another park area with a nice lake in it and of course more ducks. This was very pretty and serene but to be honest we missed the excitement of the geese. So, we got more bags of day old bread and went to feed the crazy geese again. Both of us eventually got bit by a goose or one of the larger ducks who wrangled their way into the goose pit but it was still a "honking" good time.

Football and Father's Day

Matt had warned me that going to see the Collingwood Magpies in the box would be a very different experience than sitting with the fans in the stands. He wasn't lying. First there was a mix up with our ticketed seats and we were told we weren't supposed to be there by a very rude man. Happily he went away. There was an Adelaide supporter sitting behind us who started mouthing off about how awful Collingwood fans are. This was not the brightest move considering he was surrounded by these supposedly bad Collingwood fans. Soon enough a verbal fight started with this guy and a man wearing a Collingwood shirt. Matt had told me the Collingwood fans would be somewhat "feral" (Australians love this word and use it lots!) I took one look at the guy who was seconds away from throwing a punch and understood what he meant. He was probably in his sixties with a thick gold hoop earring, at least four grotesquely big and sparkly sovereign rings, jail house tattoos on his hands and had the general look of a man who had done some hard living. Luckily everyone around calmed him down before a physical fight broke out. You can only imagine the high caliber of language that was spewing out of the mouths of these guys. There is an announcement asking spectators to please mind their language but I wouldn't recommend taking kids to a Aussie Rules game unless you are ok with them hearing F-bombs and other lovely expletives every few minutes. So yes this was a different experience to the box but I must say it was still a really fun time even though Collingwood lost...again. One other thing, never, NEVER eat a hot dog at the Telstra Dome. I think that is what it was supposed to be anyway. Stick with the meat pie!

We decided to take a ride down to Victoria Market to pick up some bits and pieces but took a little detour to Luna Park. This amusement park was built in 1912 by the same men who designed and built Coney Island in New York. The entrance and many of the rides were built in the USA. The Scenic Railway is the only roller coaster in the world that is still in operation from this period. It was closed for maintenance which was ok with me because I am more of a Merry-go-Round sort of girl. Not only do I get scared on rides but I get sick which is much worse. I decided to be very brave and go on the Ferris wheel which wasn't too big. The ride was fine when the wheel was moving but when it stopped and the chair sat rocking in the wind I got a little freaked out. I was all set to use my other ticket for the Carousel when Matt pointed out the other roller coaster. Oh yay! It was working. I didn't want to be the boring girl so I agreed to go on it. BOO!!! The drops were scary but I must admit still fun in a "I'm so happy I haven't died from this" sort of way. The bad part was when the coaster started going in loops then my stomach got mad at me. Fortunately we only had two tickets each so we couldn't go on any more rides. My stomach was happy about this. I hadn't been to a fun park in a long time so it was really great to walk around. They call cotton-candy "Fairy Floss" here which I think is a much more fun and fanciful name.

That night we met up with Pete (Matt's friend since he was 10) and his wife Jen for a Nepalese dinner. We went to a restaurant called Base Camp in Hawthorne which is very cute neighborhood. I had never had Nepalese food before so was a little nervous I might have an Indian food reaction. I love Indian food but most of the time it does not love me back. I got lucky. We had a banquet style dinner and my favorite dish was Khasi ko Masu (curried goat). There were prayer flags hung everywhere and intricately painted lanterns making for great mood lighting. It was great to catch up with Pete and Jen. They had their third baby the week I arrived here so understandably they have had their hands full.

Sunday was Father's Day in Australia so we headed to Waubra (just outside of Ballarat) to visit with Matt's Dad. It was also Laurel's birthday so there was lots to celebrate. Matt's sisters, brother-in-law, niece and nephew were there and also Laurel's daughter, Pam, with her family. We brought the boomerang and had a great time throwing it with the kids. The wind was really strong so it kept flying pretty far away. Natarsha, Matt's niece, thankfully really likes to run so she was the little boomerang retriever. I went to grab it after Matt had thrown it directly into an ant pile. I thought I got rid of all of the ants but kept finding the mean little creatures on me for the rest of the afternoon. Lunch was fantastic and we had a wonderful time with everyone.

Matt's sister, Tracy, came with us for the ride back to Melbourne. We drove thru Clunes and Daylesford just to take a look. Daylesford is a lovely little town full of spa retreats and mineral springs. There were wonderful old bookshops, antique stores and cafes. Clunes was a bit more rustic and small....not a whole lot going on. There was a sheep tied up in a front yard doing the "mowing". I popped out to say hello and give him a little pat. Just when I thought we were going to be friends the sheep gave me the old headbutt followed by a very threatening BLEET! He didn't want to be friends with me at all. On the way back to Melbourne we drove many stretches of road where there were Wombat and Kangaroo crossing signs. Sadly we also saw some roos who had not made it over the road. This sent me into a panic and I was screeching at Matt to go slower, which he did...reluctantly. I kept leaning over to check the speedometer. I am happy to say it was a very good thing we were going so slow because all the sudden on the side of the road appeared a roo who was as tall as me. He was just standing there waiting to cross the road. We stopped and so did the car coming the other way. Boing Boing! The huge roo bounced off safely into the woods. See how my craziness pays off sometimes??