Bacchus and Boomerangs

Before I left Chicago I watched an episode of AMERICAN CHOPPER where the guys were in Australia. They went to an Aboriginal center and learned to throw the boomerang. When Matt and I were driving down to see the Twelve Apostles we passed by the Narana Creations: Aboriginal Craft & Cultural Interpretation Centre. I knew this was the spot the guys from the tv show went so I wanted to go too. We headed off to Geelong (about an hour from Melbourne) to see if I could manage to throw a boomerang. Matt said he may have thrown one as a kid but didn't remember so this was pretty much his first boomerang experience as well. We decided to take the scenic route and drove down thru the town of Bacchus Marsh. There were alot of little vineyards along the way but we decided to stop and check one out here. After all with the name Bacchus (aka Roman god of wine and intoxication) you can't go wrong. We followed the signs up a hill to Le Repaire de Bacchus. On the way up we passed a farm with two horses in the paddock. One was laid flat out on the ground which made me a little nervous as far as his health concerned. I thought they always slept standing up. I didn't want to see a sick or possibly even dead horsey. Matt asked if I wanted to go poke the horse with a stick...he is always so helpful. We continued on up the hill to the vineyard which is very new especially compared to some of the local vineyards which were established in the 1860's. This Bacchus Hill winery didn't open their cellar doors until 2006 and has already won medals for their Cabernet Sauvignon(silver medal) and Shiraz(bronze medal). We tasted about six different types of wine mostly reds. My favorite was the Fragoletto made with fragola grapes. The taste started off like a normal medium-bodied red but with a mouthful of strawberries at the end. Not sweet like "Strawberry Hill" or anything close. Absolutely delicious! I could have sat there all day "trying" wines but then trying would have just turned into drinking and we would have been stuck up on the hill not able to drive. So we headed off but not without a box with a few of our favorite bottles to take home. And you will all be happy to know on our way back down the hill we saw the two horses, both very much alive, happily hanging out together under a tree eating grass.

We took another small detour on the way to Narana Creations to the Fairy Park. Matt described this park as fairies carved into rock so I envisioned some picturesque little sculpture garden with lovely greenery and naturalistic little winged creatures. Not so much. Sometime, most likely the 1970's, someone thought it would be cute to bring fairy tales to life on the side of a mountain thru the use of animatroninc puppets. I am sure in the 1970's it was very cute! Now it all seems a bit dated and some of the puppets look like they have had better days. I know by all the squealing that was going on all the kids who were there still thoroughly enjoyed the park. I, however, became very suspicious of one Mister Matthew Clarke's intentions for bringing me to this so-called fairy park when there just happened to be a meeting of the Geelong Antiques Car Club....hmmmmmmm???? I must say the cars were very cool. Matt of course knew every year, make and model car that was there. There was even a Ford Model-T. We went along on our way just as the car club was also leaving. We managed to get stuck on the highway behind a few of them for as cool as these cars look alot of them don't go very fast.

At last we were off to learn to throw the boomerang! When me got to Narana Creations the man in the front shop, who was really nice, gave us a short demonstration on how to check which way the wind was coming, which way to stand and how to hold the boomerang. Then he directed us off to the boomerang throwing field. Fortunately Matt and I were the only people out there so we were free to make fools of ourselves. My first throw wasn't so bad. After that first one I got a little too intent on my stance and just kept attacking the ground with a bent stick. When he wasn't trying to chop off tree limbs Matt wasn't half bad with his boomerang. Some of them almost came all the way back. We had a blast throwing and then finding (mostly) tons of boomerangs. We also walked thru the garden filled with native plants many with medicinal uses. There were emus walking around and lots of large rocks with Aboriginal paintings. I liked the painting with the witchetty grubs...really I just like saying witchetty grub. We had another chat with our instructor about boomerangs and how they need to be carved. Evidently alot of the boomerangs sold here are only for decoration and aren't carved to return correctly. He also told us a bit about AMERICAN CHOPPER. Matt and I bought a boomerang and we are going to take it out to the football grounds and practice some more.

We went down to the city of Geelong for some fish and chips. We pulled out to the pier to watch the boats and eat our fish when we saw another rainbow. I know I keep putting the pictures up here but I just can't get over how many I have seen. All I need is a big poster of a purple unicorn and with all my rainbows I will be thirteen again.

Dr Cornbleet

As a rule I didn't really want to post anything sad on my blog but I am breaking that rule for a good reason. Last October, weirdly enough the day I met Matt, I found out the dermatologist Phyllis and I saw had been brutally murdered. Dr Cornbleet was a character for sure. Walking into his office in Chicago was like walking into a small town doctor's many years ago. I loved that my information was not typed into a computer but written on a 3x5 card. More importantly he was very kind. I went to see Dr. Cornbleet when I was having horrible skin allergies and had no insurance. He not only helped me clear up my allergies but charged me very little and gave me samples since he new I didn't have insurance to pay for prescriptions.

Now Hans Peterson has turned himself into police in in the French Caribbean island of Saint-Martin admitting he killed Dr. Cornbleet. He only did this after gaining French citizenship so he won't be extradited. Under French law the maximum sentence he can receive is twenty years.

The Cornbleet family is asking for help writing to gain senators attention. Since Dr Cornbleet was always so nice to me and his family has been trying so hard to gain peace in this situation I thought I could do my part and put the word out. His son, Jon, has put all the necessary information on his MySpace page. http://www.myspace.com/dr_david_cornbleet_murder

Thanks and I promise only happy touristy stuff from now on!!!

Fair Dinkum: Australian Slang

First of all let me say Aussies abbreviate everything....EVERYTHING!
There are so many words shortened with an "ie" I can't even begin to count. The most obvious to Americans being "barbie" for BBQ. Of course no one here says "shrimp" but "prawns" so the saying "throw another shrimp on the barbie"was definitely geared towards Americans. Then there is breckie, rellies, mozzies, prezzies=breakfast, relatives, mosquitoes, presents. Afternoon is shortened to "arvo", gossip is simply "goss" and margarine is just "marg". Even on a serious newscast the anchor kept referring to the "sus" since suspect just takes way too long to say.

They also do a bit of the rhyming slang that the Irish do that has always escaped my American understanding. For example "britto" can mean beer because beer rhymes with Brittany Spears. Matt's Mom is good at coming up with these rhyming examples.

But the best are just the little sayings. Cheryl says "Grouse!"alot which in time I learned means "great." It's very cute when she says it ...if I say it somehow grouse sounds more like a rodent type creature. "Flat out like a lizard drinking" is another one I like meaning "very busy". But my favorite is "Fair Dinkum". Now, Australians need to be careful using this around us Yanks as proven by one Sophie Reynolds from New South Wales. On a Delta flight in the USA Ms. Reynolds asked the flight attendant for some pretzels. When the flight attendant answered back that Delta doesn't have pretzels Ms. Reynolds replied "Fair Dinkum." The flight attendant, thinking she had been sworn at, confiscated Ms. Reynolds passport and arranged for three large airport security to meet the plane and escort Ms. Reynolds for interviewing. During questioning the matter was resolved when the meaning of "Fair Dinkum" was found out to be the equivalent of saying "honestly" or "for real".

I am learning slowly. It really can be like a whole new language learning another countries slang. If anyone wants to learn more just click here. http://members.ozemail.com.au/~enigman/australia/slang.html

A Fortunate Life

Barry and Laurel highly recommended the memoirs of A.B. Facey, A Fortunate Life. Matt and I got a recorded versions to listen to in the car. The story is fantastic and really gives insight to what Australian life was like through the 1900's.

"A Fortunate Life, is the story of an ordinary man who survived against extraordinary odds. From becoming a farmhand at the age of eight, to boxing professionally, to returning from WWI after almost a year of combat and raising a family, Bert Facey has achieved some truly remarkable things in his life."

If anyone was looking for a new book to read I am passing on the recommendation.

Bendigo

Matt and I decided to go see Bendigo on Sunday. The weather in Melbourne was horrible, cold and rainy so we weren't sure if this was the best day to go touristing but we went anyway. Lucky for us the weather just a little over an hour north was beautiful. Matt was happy because just before we got there we saw a park with a "Hot Jam Donut" truck. He has been trying to get one of these donuts at every market we have gone to but the lines are always really long. Bendigo is the quintessential gold mining town. The first gold was found on a sheep ranch called the Ravenswood Run by the overseer's wife Margaret Kennedy in 1851. They tried to keep the discovery secret but could not and a gold rush began. The city was named after acclaimed bare knuckle boxer, William "Abednigo" Thompson, who worked as a Shepard on Ravenswood Run. The city has many beautiful examples of Victorian architecture. My favorite detail on these old Australian structures is the cast iron lace work over the verandas. The lace makes even the simplest of houses look elegant. Some major Australian businesses began here like the Bendigo Bank and Myer's department store (equivalent to Macy's in the USA).

Our first stop was the Bendigo Pottery Interpretive Museum. Like so many others George Duncan Guthrie left Scotland and came looking for his fortune in gold. He didn't find gold in Bendigo...he found clay. He was already trained as a master potter so he founded the Bendigo Pottery Company. The company is still active today and has preserved some of the largest examples of wood-fired kilns in the world. After the tour we had a lesson with a master potter and were able to throw clay and make our own pots. I used to take pottery lessons when I was little but Matt had never tried before. It was really fun but I made a huge mess. We both did well enough to have a piece fired and will get them in the mail in a few weeks. I hate to admit it since I was the one with at least some experience but Matt was better on the wheel than I was...something maybe to do with patience?? Who knows.

Our next adventure was on the Talking Tram. Bendigo's tram system was established in 1880. Most of their tram cars were inherited from Melbourne and used for public transportation until 1972 when the trams were converted to a tourist attraction. We road around the city while the tram(recorded voice) told us all about Bendigo's history. We stopped off at the depot to see where they refurbish all of the old trams, some built as long ago as 1917. The trams at the depot are all still in working order.

We had lunch at the Shamrock Hotel in the middle of the downtown area. The hotel is over 100 years old and has had many famous guests such as Prince Charles and Princess Di. The hotel is also well known for hosting various performances. My favorite is Lola Montez. Lola was born Eliza Gilbert in Ireland. She reinvented herself becoming Lola Montez, exotic Spanish dancer gaining fame all over Europe with her "tarantula dance." After a notorious romance with King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Lola fled to California were she danced for gold diggers. A few years later she moved on to Australia to dance for the diggers in Victoria. They used to throw gold nuggets at her feet when she preformed. The expression "whatever Lola wants, Lola gets" is credited to Miss Montez. This mannequin was dressed up in Lola's likeness at the visitor center.

Many Catholics settled in Bendigo among them Dr Henry Backhaus, a German from Paderborn and the first Catholic priest on the Bendigo goldfields. Dr Backhaus was very financially skilled and collected many properties in Bendigo which upon his death he left to benefit the church and surrounding community. His gift enabled the diocese to start building the Sacred Heart Cathedral, one of the largest churches in Australia. Construction commenced on 1895 but due to lack funds stopped in the early 1900's. When building recommenced in the 1950's. Bendigo did not have enough skilled builders so people were hired over from Europe to finish the cathedral which finally opened in 1977. We had driven down to take a look at the beautiful sandstone building just as the parishioners were participating in the Annual Marian Festival.

Our last stop for the day was the Central Deborah Gold Mine. Matt was very excited about this part of the trip and it would have been very cool if not for one thing. There was this girl, her father and another girl who I assume was an exchange student, probably Eastern European. Outside of news reels from war torn countries or kids on sponsorship adds I have never seen anyone look so miserable as the exchange student. The father wouldn't leave her alone even though it was obvious to anyone within five miles of her she wanted him to. She was just short of spinning around in circles to get him to stop grabbing her by the shoulders. It was driving me CRAZY!! I felt so bad for the girl I couldn't really get into the mine thing. I do know this, I could never be a miner for a living. We only went down to the second level (60 meters underground) of the mine which was made all big and reinforced as a tourist sight and I felt sickly. The actual mine goes down seventeen levels. If the elevator ever broke down and a digger had to climb the ladder out from the seventeenth level it would take two and a half hours. I liked the display they had set up showing the difference between real gold and fools gold. At one point the guide had us turn out our helmet lights to demonstrate how the explosions worked. I have never experienced absolute darkness like that in my life. All that kept running thru my mind was the miners trapped in Utah. I was happy to get back above ground in the light and away from that "no sense of personal space"man even though I wished I could take the exchange student away with me.

The drive back to Melbourne was actually one of my favorite parts of the day. Sunshowers must happen much more often here than back in the states because I have seen more rainbows in the last month and a half than I have seen in 20 years. The biggest and brightest rainbow I have ever seen in my life was stretched over the highway on the way back.

Then the sun started to set. We were whizzing past this farm when I saw an old tree out by a pond with the sunset reflected in the background. Matt did a really calm and slow (sarcasm) u-turn thru the gravel so I could go back and snap a photo. The sight was gorgeous!

Macedon and Magpies

Friday morning Cheryl picked me up to take me to see the Memorial Cross on top of Mount Macedon. Mt Macedon is north of Melbourne and 1010 meters above sea level. Thomas Mitchell climbed the mountain in 1836 and seeing Port Phillip from the top he named the mountain after Philip of Macedon. The town was established after the discovery of gold in Bendigo in 1851. Middle Gully(now Macedon Township) was filled with inns, shops and blacksmiths to service diggers travelling to the gold fields. Logging became a big industry in the Macedon Ranges until the government began to manage the forestry in 1870's. Mount Macedon was also a retreat from the summer heat for Melbourne's wealthy. Many mansions were built beginning in the 1860's. In the 1930's William Cameron, who lost his son in World War I, established the Memorial Cross on top of Mt Macedon as a tribute to those Australians who died in the war. Reason for the cross was two fold in that the building of the memorial also gave employment to people during the depression. The original cross, along with many of the mansions from the late 1800's, were destroyed in the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983. The new cross was built in 1995 and is a beautiful lookout over the surrounding area. Well, I should say it would be if we weren't completely enclosed in clouds. Cheryl thought it was raining when we first got there but it we were just in the cloud cover. We went to the Top of the Ranges for soup and scones. The wind was blowing so hard it sound like the roof could go flying off at anytime. The drive up the mountain is gorgeous both in architecture and vegetation.

Friday night was my very first Aussie Rules Football game. Matt's favorite team, Collingwood Magpies, were playing the Richmond Tigers. We had tickets for the box from Precision(Matt's work) so we met some of his work colleagues before the game. Kayo was one of the suppliers from Japan and had no plans on going to the game since she had to be up at 4am to fly home but we talked her into it. Matt even got her a Magpie scarf...just to make sure she was supporting the right team of course!! I was happy I wasn't the only one who was clueless about the game and Kayo seemed to really enjoy herself. Matt said the rules were similar to GridIron (what they call American football). Now everyone knows I am no football expert but the rules are NOTHING alike except they have a ball and run up and down a field. First of all the field is round. There are all kinds of different tackling rules and the ball gets kicked in between three goal posts...no touchdowns. They bounce the ball when they run with it and most importantly they wear little, tiny shirts with little tiny, shorts and no padding. I felt very spoiled watching the game from the fully catered box. When we were going up the elevator to the box we road up with some of the Magpie players including the injured captain. It was great fun and I got to meet some of the guys Matt works with. Unfortunately for Magpie fans they got killed by the Tigers( the worst team in the league this year). Matt needless to say wasn't happy. Sad Sad Magpie fans!!! They don't have cheerleaders like Americans but they do have a cheering section with huge pompoms. After the game the cheer section was so disgusted they threw their pompoms on the field. Matt said he had never seen that happen before. The Magpies must have played really badly.

Just as a side note I think the word is out in the duck community that Mick and Bec's pool is the place to be. I get almost daily visits now from not only the first couple of Pacific Black Ducks but also another couple of Australian Wood Ducks.

Anniversaries and Birthdays

August 11 is a big day in my family because it is my Aunt Jenell's birthday and my parents wedding anniversary. This year my Mom and Dad have made it to 45 YEARS together!!! So...Happy Birthday Aunt Jenell and Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!


I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!
XOXOXOXO