TravelStream™ news feed for member barbglore on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/barbglore en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:57:44 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1244344699/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1244344699/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1244344699/tpod.html Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:57:44 -0400 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Hi again--

Before too long, you won't be receiving these blog entries from me. Whatever will you do with your time??? Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the last month or so. By the way, my travelblog website changed, allowing me to weave the photos into the text, so we'll see how this goes.

- Hunter Valley--Jim and I managed to get away by ourselves for 2 nights to the wine country which is about 1.5 hours north of us. We golfed the afternoon we arrived. Jim said it was a "short course" but I found it to be plenty long for my taste.



- Day 2 was a full day of wine tastings. We were with a small group which included some Americans visiting from the OC, some folks from Ireland and England. Lots of fun to share the experience with a diverse group.



- Day 3 was some shopping in a little village and then a wal around some beautiful gardens owned by a super-rich family that owns the little village as well. One section of the gardens was called "Storybook Gardens" and you'll see why from the pics.



- Sam participated in the zone cross country event. He was in the top 6 in his age group at his school, qualifying him to move up to the zone meet. He came in 41st out of 72, with a side stitch the entire time, so pretty impressive that he even finished!


- We visited a wildlife sanctuary nearby and got up close to a lot of Australian animals. Not just roos, but Emus (they're rude), wombats, and a Tasmanian Devil.



- Whales! I could kick myself for not joining them, but when a colleage of Jim's invited us out on his boat, I decided that it would be a good "boys only" outing. Big mistake...they ended up seeing whales migrating, which was unexpected. Instead, I was home watching Marley & Me and balling my eyes out. But I am thrilled that they got to see them.



- There's are a variety of night and beach pictures, some of which really showcase Jim's talent with his camera. He's taking it very seriously, and I think it shows in the results.



- Last but not least, here's a picture of my tennis buddies. We're a very social group...we play for about and hour and a half each Friday morning, then have morning tea (which often includes some homebaked goods), and it always seems to be someone's birthday to celebrate...in this case, mine and Jenny's.....



The next 6 weeks will undoubtedly be busy. We've been slowly going through closets to determine what we will ship home, donate, sell or pitch. One of the cars goes up on trading post, which is like Craigslist, today. Jim will hang on to his a little longer, as he'll be returning after we come home in July (just until end of October...hopefully). The boys finish school on July 10, so we'll likely be home sometime that following week. We need to get the shipping and furniture rental squared away before we arrange the flights. And in between all those plans, we need to have final get togethers with friends and tick off a few more of our "AUSTRALIA MUST DOs." The time will likely fly by. But we are looking so forward to getting back and settled into our routines there and getting together with friends and family back home. I'm sure I'll have one more entry between now and then, so until next time....

barb, jim, max and sam
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1240984200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1240984200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1240984200/tpod.html Mon, 04 May 2009 06:56:00 -0400 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Hi Everyone--

Well, this may be our last big trip before we come home. And it was a doozey (as my Mom used to say). I guess we saved the best for last and finally got up to see the Great Barrier Reef. I won't give the geography lesson this time, but suffice it to say that the closest place that you can travel to see the Reef is about a 16 hour car ride from Sydney. That's the southern most part of the Reef. We went more towards the northern end of the reef, which was a 3 hour plane ride to Cairns. We then drove an hour to a lovely town called Port Douglas. I won't bore you with a lot of words; the pictures do sum it up, but here are the highlights:

- We met the Australian Idol winner, Wes Carr in the Syndey airport on the way up. Fortunately, that was NOT the best part of the trip for the kids.
- Saw a python hanging out in a tree in the middle of Port Douglas.
- Had breakfast with the birds at a wildlife sanctuary
- Hand fed the roos at the sanctuary
- Jim and I had a romantic dinner at a restaurant called nautilus--it's in the middle of the town, but you walk up this path and all of a sudden, you're in the rain forest. Very cool. www.nautilus-restaurant.com.au
- Took a skyrail cable car from Cairns over the rainforest to a town called Kuranda--lots of little shops
- Took the not-so-scenic railway down from Kuranda to Cairns (due to rain and clouds which rolled in)
- Watched Cane Toad Races at the Iron Bar
- Made 2 trips out to the reef for snorkeling. The first boat trip out was to the Low Isles, and island about 15 km from Port Douglas. The second was to the outer reef--about 75 km from Port Douglas--where we stopped at three different areas to snorkle. The boys did great, loved it and at one point said it was "better than video games." Of course, that's all changed now.
- A shark sighting--by Sam! I believe him as others on the boat said they saw sharks. Okay Grandmas...don't worry. These are reef sharks and we were told that they are more afraid of us than we are of them. Still, I don't feel like I missed out on not seeing one.

I'm sure I'll have more random pictures before we come home. Kids last day of school will be 7/10 and then we'll come back probably a week or so after that. Jim may stay longer due to additional work maybe being sold here--still iffy.

Until next time,
Barb, Jim, Max and Sam

P.S. To my facebook friends, a lot of these pictures are the same ones that I posted on FB, but there are a few new ones.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1234246320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1234246320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1234246320/tpod.html Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:40:24 -0500 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Melbourne, Australia

Hi Everyone--

I'm finally posting pictures of our trip to Melbourne and the vicinity last month. Here are the highlights:

- We started by driving to the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) where Canberra (pronounced Can-Bra) is located, the capital of the country. We had a picnic in a park, but that was about it. Canberra is known as a city of parks, so that seemed to be the fitting thing to do.
- We continued on to Mt. Kosciuszko National Park (pronounced kozzy-os-ko) and stayed one night in Jindabyne (on lake Jindabyne--apparently there was a movie by that name). The snowy mountains are located in this park and is a popular destination for Australians to come for skiing in the winter. Our goal here was to see Mt. Kosciuszko, the tallest mountain in Australia. Sam did a report on it last year so we thought it would be fun for him to see. We took a chairlift at nearby Thredbo Resort leading to a 2 km walk to a viewing area. We could barely see the tip through the clouds, but they finally broke enough for us to see it. We also got to see our first snow in 2 years--some small patches along the walk. I know, I know...most of you would probably gladly give up the snow for 2 years if you had the choice. Our drive out of the park was a wee bit stressful--lots of curvy mountain roads in rain and hail.
- On to Melbourne (pronounced Mel-bun...are the prononuciations getting annoying...I'll stop), where we stayed a couple nights. Jim worked, so the boys and I fended for ourselves on a very hot day (40 degrees=100+), riding the free city tram, seeing various sights and going to the aquarium. We also rode in the newly opened Southern Star. This is the largest observation wheel in the southern hemisphere.
- After that we spent a few days on the Great Ocean Road. This is located just west of Melbourne and has incredible sights along the way. Words can't do it justice, as you'll see from the pictures.
- We headed back east on the Great Ocean Road and took a ferry (with the car) over to the Mornington Pennisula, known for some incredible golf courses. Jim was salivating. From the pennisula, we were headed to Phillip Island to see the main attraction--the fairy penguins (although they refer to them as "little" penguins so as to not offend anyone--true!). Each night, these adorable little guys (and girls) come in from a long day in the ocean to reunite with their significant others--spouses, siblings, children, etc. In order to see this amazing sight, you have to succumb to the tourist attraction that they've built around this event, but it's the only way you can see them, and it's well worth it. There's this viewing platform that you wait on until dark, and then sure enough, they start coming out of the sea in little groups, marching right in front of you, as cute as can be! There's hundreds of them; we stayed for over an hour and they were still coming! You can walk along this boardwalk that is next to the path that they take, and it's almost like you're walking side by side with them. Some of them have to walk quite a distance (5 km) to get to their loved ones so they can barf up their catch. That's love! And then they turn around and go out early in the morning and do it all again. Tough life.

So, after 8 days on the road, too many pit stops to count, one near miss with a Koala (he literally was in the middle of the road and seemed highly intoxicated on eucalyptus), and a box of travelcalm (car sick meds), we were home. A very memorable trip!

Sadly, some of the countryside that we travelled through is now completely destroyed by the fires. I know it got some coverage in the U.S., but it was the worst natural disaster that the country has ever experienced. Aussies are rallying the same way that Americans did for Katrina victims. It's great to see that spirit here in the face of such a disaster. Some of you have asked how we are as it relates to the fires. There have been a couple within an hour of where we live, but we haven't seen an evidence of them. Apparently the smoke from the deadly ones in Victoria could be seen in New Zealand! So, we're fine and thank you for your concern.

Also included in the pictures are a couple of us on the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. We had to wait until Sam turned 10 to do it, but we did it!

We're not here much longer (end of June, roughly), so we'd love to have anyone come to visit us. We have a spare bedroom and would love to show you some of the sights in the area. 1 U.S. dollar will get you $1.35 AU dollars! Love to see you before we get home!

Barb, Jim, Max and Sam
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1229493840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1229493840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1229493840/tpod.html Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:13:45 -0500 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory, Australia

Belated Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy 2009!

Lot's to report here, so get ready for a read....

Well, this holiday season has certainly been less hectic than last year. I remember being pretty stressed out trying to pull together the boys' birthdays last year with Christmas right around the corner. But having been here a year now, it was a piece of cake. I knew where to shop, how to get there, and even managed to get some deals! And with the help of friends at home, even got some things sent from the states. I even got out some Christmas cards and had kid parties for the boys. So I feel pretty accomplished this time around!

It's been pretty busy for us the past couple of months. We are officially on summer break here, with the school year ending on 12/19. Max is all registered for high school, starting Year 7 at the end of February. Sam will be in Year 5. However, both boys will start these years over when we get back home.

The boys are more than halfway through their baseball and cricket seasons, with a break now for the summer holidays. Both are enjoying these new sports, and I'm even scoring Max's baseball games, so I get the best seat in the house, right behind home plate. Sam attended a cricket clinic during the last term break and not only improved his skills, but won a cricket bat and gloves!

The end of the school year was marked with various concerts and parties, both for kids and parents. The boys had their "showcase" (i.e., recital) where they take piano and guitar. Sam played In the Hall of the Mountain King (you'd know it if you heard it) and Max rocked it with Sweet Child O' Mine. Both boys had end of the year dances/parties. This year, I understood that "fancy dress" meant costume party, so Sam was appropriately dressed as a "gangsta" with his mates. A phenomenon that I still shake my head at is the fact that each grade at our school has a "parent drink night" to celebrate the end of school/holidays. That just wouldn't happen at JB Nelson, but I certainly think its a fine tradition. Plus, it allowed me to get to know more of the parents.

One highlight of the school year for the boys was their camps. Sam had an overnight stay in the Blue Mountains with his grade and visited the Jenolan Caves, something that we want to do as a family. Max had a 4 night stay at a sports camp which is on an island near Sydney. He did all kinds of activities such as archery, canoeing, ropes course, and even had to work in the canteen a couple times! A great experience for both of them!

Jim's work is progressing well, although he still has some very long days. He goes to Melbourne about once a month. He continues to train his replacements and he's being strongly encouraged to take about a week a month off beginning in January! So we hope to see more of the country before we come home (which looks like end of June at this point, but we'll keep you posted as we get closer).

We just got back from central Australia--the Red Centre, as they call it. We visited Uluru, which is the Aboriginal name for Ayers Rock. This is a monolith (not a rock really, as we learned) that is over 300 millions years old! It's right in the middle of the very red desert--just over 9 km around the base. Also nearby is Kata Tjuta, meaning "many heads" and you'll see why in the pictures. With the pureness of the sky in the middle of nowhere, the colors of Uluru can be quite spectacular, especially at sunrise and sunset. So, on our trip, we had sunrise and sunset tours and Jim got some great pics, especially of sunset. We also participated in the "Sounds of Silence Dinner." They took us out to the middle of the desert where we started with champagne and canapes, while a guy played and explained the digeridoo. Then, we walked a short distance to an Aussie buffet. It was very cool--nothing around you but the night sky and the vast desert. After dinner, there was some stargazing, despite a lot of cloud cover. Lots of fun and we sat with people from all over--Italy, Viet Nam, Canada, the Netherlands. I was feeling it the next day, but we ventured out for a 45 minute camel ride nevertheless. Otherwise, we spent most of the days at the pool, as the temp was over 100. And I've complained about the flies before in my blog, but they are nothing in Sydney compared to the desert. We were warned about them, especially during this time of year, but you can't really appreciate how bad they are until you're there. I teased Jim about the fly nets he bought us before the trip, but they were a savior. And they make for some pretty funny pictures. Pretty much everyone wore them when you were out on tours. I felt sorry for those that didn't have them!

We said we weren't going to do it again, due to the crowds, but decided that we just couldn't miss out on our last New Year's Eve in Sydney. So we (and a million others) went down to the Harbour Bridge last night and were not disappointed. We think the fireworks were even better than last year.

Next on the list is the bridge climb on Saturday! I'm excited and nervous. Jim is just nervous I think. After that, Jim is back to work for a week and then we're going to Melbourne to travel the Great Ocean Road. I'll post pics when we get back.

Hope you like the pics--there's a little bit of everything from the past few months. If you're in a hurry, choose the slideshow, but if you want to see a little more description on some that I elaborated on, I think you have to view it in photo album mode.

We hope that 2009 brings you all good health, much joy and better economic times! We miss you all and look forward to seeing you in the new year!

Love,

Barb and the boys
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1222147680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1222147680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1222147680/tpod.html Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:42:13 -0400 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Sydney, Australia

Hi Everyone!

Well, it's been 7 weeks since we've been back and I can tell from the number of pictures that we have that I'm long overdue for a little writing. I'll categorize to make the volume of text less daunting:

Our Visit Home
What can I say...it was great to see everyone. And for those that we didn't connect with, we're sorry but can't wait to see you next year! The boys reconnected with friends immediately. In fact, I felt like we had another son--Max's friend, Kyle. I'm sure his parents felt the same, given the number of sleepovers they had at each house. Either way, he was a nice addition!

Jim was able to take 3 weeks off--an all-time first for him. After much research, he bought a camera and spent about 2 days taking pictures of everything you can imagine. He was able to get a little golf in, and most importantly, we were able to visit his family in Missouri where we had a belated Father's day reunion. It was great to see everyone!

Our time was too short at home before we were off to my niece's wedding in Virginia. While there we visited Thomas Jefferson's home and some of the sights of Charlottesville. It was great to see my family, but again, too short. Congratulations to Ann and Dean. The wedding was lovely and we were so happy to be there with you guys.

Back to Oz
We arrived early on a Tuesday am and the boys took the rest of the week off school to deal with jet lag. Again, it took about a week, but then it was back to our routines here. School, music and soccer for the boys, working out and house management for me, and work, work, work for Jim. But as much as I worried about how it would be for us to come back, it was a nonissue. Everyone adjusted easily. And it was much easier switching back to driving on the left side of the road this time!

Sport (singular as opposed to sports in the U.S.)
Soccer season ended, with mixed results for the boys. Max's team, who lost most of the season ended up having a good "gala day" (tournaments), while Sam's team, who had a descent season, didn't fare so well in the end. But the boys enjoyed the season, and now it's on to the spring/summer sports: baseball for Max and cricket for Sam. I've always wanted one of the boys to play baseball, so it's pretty ironic that it takes us moving out of the country to get Max to play. We're 2 games into the season and he seems to enjoy it. I'm loving it. Sam had his first cricket match, and I've included some pics. I really don't get this sport...it's 4 hours long, you "bowl" (pitch) the ball with a straight arm, and the ball typically bounces before you hit it with a flattened bat. Then you run back and forth with another player and there are these things called "wickets" that the other team is trying to get. As you can probably gather, I'm clueless. Maybe by the end of the season, I'll have a more coherent description.

Speaking of Sport...the Olympics
That was definitely weird for us to watch the Olympics from here. Frankly, I feel a littly jipped (sp?). Pretty quickly, I got used to the fact that they just weren't going to pay much attention to how the U.S. was doing, so it was all about them. The nerve! Swimming is definitely the Aussie's strong suit, so there was lots of coverage on that. They'd also cover more of the obscure sports during primetime, like badminton and field hockey. Anyway, we'd get all excited when they'd show the swimming feats of Michael Phelps, but then I was disappointed to not get to see any of the medal ceremonies. I miss our national anthem. Although I will say that I now know the tune of the Australian one...not just from the Olympics, but the boys play it for band. Shoot, now it's stuck in my head like a bad commercial jingle.

Bush Walks
There's so many national parks in the area, it's never hard to find new places to walk and explore. About 20 minutes away is a place called West Head, where I did a walk one day on my own. We then returned as a family a couple weeks later and did a different walk. Like my solo walk, it started out flat and easy, but then ends with a steep decline down to the water. On this one, we were able to see some aboriginal engraving in the rocks. But the best part was when we finally got to the water--there was a big picnic area and the wallabies came out of the bush and were everywhere! So cute, and many had babies in their pouches. You'll see from the pictures that we could get fairly close to them as well.

Whale Watching....Not
One of our hopes was to be able to see the whales migrating during this time of year. We've been wanting to drive south of Sydney, as it's supposed to be quite beautiful, and since the whales are known to be seen in this area, we decided to make a weekend out of it. We set out on Father's Day weekend (early September here) on a very rainy, windy, dreary and cool Saturday. Our plan was to drive on the Grand Pacific Drive, a scenic route that hugs the coastline, with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. I had all kinds of stops mapped out, and places for Jim to take pictures. We adjusted our plans a little, but still stopped some along the way, each time saying "I bet this would be really pretty if it were a nice day." Fortunately the weather came through for us on Sunday and it was gorgeous, so we were able to see the beauty on the way back. No whales were spotted in either direction, but we instead settled for seeing a famous "blowhole" in the town that we stayed at called Kiama. That night we ate at a pretty good Mexican restaurant (remember, they are rare in Australia). After visiting the blowhole on Sunday, we went to Hyams Beach, a little further south. This is supposedly the whitest sand beach in the Guinness Book of World Records. Yes, it was pretty darn white. On our way back, we walked over part of the Sea Cliff Bridge--a new bridge that juts out over the Pacific. From there we saw hang gliders taking off from the edge of Royal National Park, just south of Sydney, so we stopped and watched for a while. A nice weekend, despite weather challenges and absence of whales.

Spring has Sprung
Looks like our weather is mirroring yours (midwest, that is). Spring officially started on September 1, and we've had days in the 50s to the 90s. Trees and bushes are blooming with vibrant colors and strong fragrances (wisteria and clematis). We even had a couple baby birds in a nest by our house, which Jim photographed daily to see their progress. And with warm weather, comes.....spiders. I'm sure it will be a little less startling to see them this year, but we'd still prefer that they stay in the good ol' outdoors. And as the temps have warmed up, we're able to keep our windows open more at night, which means we get the early wakeup call from the chatter of the kookaburras and cockatoos.

Well, enjoy the pictures, and as always, it would be great to get e-mails and pictures from you. I've had some problems receiving e-mails, but so far seems to be isolated to people here. But if you get an error message, please send your e-mail and the error message to barbglore@hotmail.com. Thanks.

GO CUBS, GO BEARS, GO OBAMA (maybe that will get me a few e-mails!). By the way, we do get some Fox channels, so we can see some of the games and also follow some of the politics, and yes, we will be voting--I've requested absentee ballots!

Gas price this morning: $1.34/liter = 5.06/gallon
Gas price tonight: $1.54/liter = $5.82/gallon

Latest Aussie word: rapt (short for enraptured: "We were really rapt at how well the Aussies did in swimming.")

Love to all,

Barb, Jim, Max and Sam
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1213262040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1213262040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1213262040/tpod.html Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:50:57 -0400 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Hi Everyone--

So summer has finally arrived for you folks in the midwest as I marked my birthday with the first day of winter! It's been fun having all of our birthdays in opposite seasons. The boys and Jim enjoyed warm temps and I had a cool, rainy, but nice birthday. Some of the moms at school were asking me how I was handling our first winter in Sydney. I said "Hey, if this is as bad as it gets, it's great!" I guess it will get cooler and maybe more windy as we get into July and August, but so far the temps are still getting into the 60s and low 70s during the day. Quite a contrast to the winter you midwesterners had, huh?

Not much new here. Soccer is going okay....Max's team is struggling but Sam's team is doing pretty well. We've had several games rained out. It seems like when it rains here, it goes on for days and days, and the fields are just too mushy to play. But the boys are enjoying their teams.

School seems to be going well too. Sam went on an "excursion" today (i.e., field trip) to Taronga Zoo where they focused on Australian animals. Aside from the long bus ride and two of the kids barfing on the bus, I think he enjoyed it. Max got an A- on a big project that he's been working on since the beginning of school--again, all about Australia. Jim and I were helping at the final hour to get it put together, so we all learned a lot about Australia.

Speaking of Max, he didn't get into the High School that I had hoped for him next year (they go straight from primary to high school here, which is Years 7-12). I wanted him to go to a smaller one outside of our area. Well, as it turns out, he'd rather go to the one in our area, and I just found out that it's about the size of the middle school back home. And it's quite a good school--parents out of area really try to get their kids into it. So I guess I should be grateful that that's where he'll be going. And hey....Elle Macpherson went there, so any school that's good enough for a supermodel is good enough for my son!

Pictures in the blog this time are of a day in Sydney this past weekend. Even though the weather was dreary, we went to a craft fair on one side of the bridge, walked across the bridge to Sydney, and then walked around the Botanical Gardens. Really beautiful--thousands of species of Australian trees and plants. I bet it will really be nice in the spring. Brian, my neighbor back home, would love it!

Okay...so we're coming home for our "just shy of a year" visit. The boys and I arrive on the evening of 7/5 (pray for me travelling alone with the boys on an international flight!). Jim arrives on 7/12. We're in Batavia the entire month with the exception of 7/24-27ish for a trip to MO. Then back to Batavia for a few days before we fly to DC for my niece's wedding on 7/31. We'll fly to Sydney directly from DC. So for friends and family in the area, please save some time for getting together with us! We can't wait!

Guess that's it for now. By the way...you think you have pain at the pump back home???? I converted our $1.50 a litre to gallons and that's $5.67 a gallon! And that was on "cheap Tuesday." It's now up to $6.00 a gallon. And a 6-pack of beer....$15 folks!

Cheers,

Barb, Jim, Max & Sam
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1208834340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1208834340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1208834340/tpod.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:42:45 -0400 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Coolangatta, Australia

Hi Everyone--

I thought I'd share our pics from our vacation last week to the Gold Coast. This is a long entry, so if you have time.....

First a little geography lesson, and forgive me if you know this stuff. I didn't, so I'm going to assume that some of you would be interested. We live in New South Wales, one of the 6 states in Australia. The Gold Coast is located in the state just to the north, Queensland. Now, just so you can get perspective on the size of this place....Australia is not much smaller than the U.S., so only having 6 states....well, they're biggies. The Great Barrier Reef is also in Queensland, but further north, and that will be a trip that will require a plane ride. We stayed primarily in Coolangatta, which is just over the NSW border--about 10 hours from where we live. It's about 2 hours south of Brisbane. All of this is on the east coast of Australia. The Gold Coast is a popular family destination for vacations, because it is the Disney World of Australia--lots of theme parks, but we were determined not to make that the entire focus. Anway, that concludes the geography lesson.

Lunch in Port Macquarie
We started off last Saturday and made our way to Port Macquarie, which is about 4 hours away. There we had Kebabs, followed by Cold Rock (aka Cold Stone Creamery), and a walk along the harbour. We grabbed some info from the visitors center because our last day of the trip would be back here. But then we were off on the road again.

The Drive
A little about the drive up....it was quite interesting in terms of the terrain. It was really a mixed bag. Everything from flat farm lands with cows and sheeps, to beautiful green rolling hills with mountains in the distance. The hills looked like how I would imagine Ireland would look. Jim said it reminded him of Missouri, with the obvious exception of the unusual trees. We finally saw kangaroos in the wild!!!!! It took only 6 months, but there they were. I have a picture of them in a field, but there were also heaps of them on a golf range nearby. We were amazed at how big some of them were. It was very cool. By the end of the trip, we had seen them from time to time, but it still was fun to look for them and we learned that dusk is really the best time, and in open fields. We seemed to pass an inordinate number of cows on the farms too, and some sheep. We were amazed at the height of the trucks on the road. I swear they were double in height of our trucks in the states. There were hardly any overpasses, but when we did come across one, it was about double the height as well--good thing for the truckers, eh? We passed little towns with tin roofs (rusted!). Although the kids were content to watch movies most of the way, Jim and I found it entertaining to just gaze out the window at such a different and changing world. This made Jim very nervous when I was driving.

Coffs Harbour
Coffs Harbour is about 6 hours up the coast, and we spent 2 nights there. Coffs is the banana capital of Australia. So we passed plenty of banana plantations along the way. Lots of sugar cane fields as well. Our hotel was just a short walk from the beach, so we spent the first morning walking along the beach where Sam gathered about 5 pounds of rocks which he had to carry in his shirt (and unfortunately, all of these came home with us). We spent some time at the harbour and hiked up to Mutton Bird Island where there were great views of the surf crashing onto the rocks. No mutton birds...not the season apparently.

Surfrafting
The highlight of Coffs was our surfrafting trip. Our guide met us at 8:00 am and took us to a nearby beach, where he equipped us with life vests and helmets, and then spent about 30 minutes giving us instruction and safety tips. Then we piled in a raft, similar to a white water raft, and paddled out into the surf. Let me just say, that we had no idea how strenuous this activity would be. Once we battled the incoming surf, our guide would turn the boat around and we'd wait nervously for his command "forward paddle, forward paddle" which we were supposed to do vigorously and in unison. Keep in mind, we have a 9 and 11-year old in the boat paddling too. Well, all the work was worth it when we'd finally catch a wave and ride it in. Of course it wasn't that simple, because the waves aren't very forgiving, and they are quite a bit bigger than our little boat. So, we'd have to listen and quickly respond to commands to lean left or right or back, or we'd risk capsizing or, worse--nosediving. Needless to say, we did both, and after the nosedive, that turned out to be our last ride by choice. Max and I hung together and rode into the shore (getting pummeled unmercilously by huge waves), while Jim and the guide tried to retrieve the paddles. The boat, by this time was making it's way to shore on it's own, where Sam and some woman pulled it on the beach. (Sam had quit earlier due to the cold). Anyway, despite that little adventure, it was a blast.

On to Coolangatta
Another few hours and we were in Coolangatta where we spent 4 nights. Our hotel was just across the street from the beach, and the sand was amazing. So incredibly white and fine, but packed down some, so it would kind of squeek when you walked in the dry sand. And the beach would seem to go on forever, so we spent many mornings walking along the beach watching incredible surfing. People also come to the Gold Coast to surf, and you can tell from the size of the waves and the skill level of some of these people. And we were amazed at how close they would surf to these enormous rocks! Unfortunately, the surf and rocks have claimed many lives and along this walkway by the beach, there were plaques in memory of so many young surfers who didn't make it. Pretty sad.

4-Wheel Drive Tour
A highlight of the trip here was a 4-wheel drive tour we took into the Tambourine Mountains, about 30 minutes away. There, we learned how to throw a boomerang (well, our guide taught us how...I'm not sure we learned). We also learned how to crack a whip. Not surprisingly, I was a natural at this. We had "smoko" which is the same as afternoon tea or taking a smoke break. We were served scones, which are these enormous biscuits, with rhubarb jam and fresh cream. To die for! Max and I had a wine tasting--he smelled, I tasted. We did some off roading, which we know that Jim's sister and brother in law will be proud of. Our guide took us through a rain forrest and pointed out all kinds of interesting things--strangling fig trees, funnel web holes, termite destruction, trap door spider. He was intersting, funny and very patient with the endless questions from the kids. A highlight for me was seeing a koala mama with her baby in the wild. Let me just say that it is quite rare to see Koalas in the wild, so I feel really privileged that he was able to find one for us.

Waterpark
We did one theme park--Wet N Wild World. Unfortunately, this was the coolest and rainiest day of the trip, so it was not terribly enjoyable for me and Sam. But Max had a great time and Sam conquered a couple of his fears by going on some pretty big rides (me too).

Dolphins & Lorikeets
On one of our walks along the beach, we were fortunate enough to see some dolphins playing in the surf, and you'll see a pretty cool pic of one of them. We ended up seeing more in Port Macquarie on our last day. I'm not sure if I've posted a picture of a lorikeet before, but they are these beautiful colorful little birds that look like parakeets and we see them around our house sometimes. I mention it here, because it was amazing the numbers of them up in Coolangatta. They are quite talkative in the morning and evening, and we were walking home from dinner one night and the sound was just deafening. We looked at the trees, and you'd see all this color amongst the green.

Dorrigo & Port Macquarie
On our way back down the coast, I insisted that we make a side trip to the World Heritage Listed Dorrigo Rainforest. Now, I wasn't sure what the World Heritage list was, but it sounded like something we should really do (and besides, my travel book said it was a must-see). Max had had about enough walking and rainforests, so he wasn't thrilled, but it was still fun. It was rainy....naturally, but the unique thing about this park is the skywalk. You take a short walk along a wood platform and you're over the rainforest canopy, so you can get a birds eye view of a rainforest. The walking trails were very nice and we did a short one and saw a number of wild turkeys. On our way out of the park, we stopped at a spot to get some pics of a nice waterfall.

Then we were on to our final night back in Port Macquarie. The next day was rainy and cool, so we walked around the town shops, ate some lunch and then headed out for "Ton of Fun" a little park where the kids were able to do go karts and quad rides (probably their favorite part of the trip if you ask them ;).

Food
I can't sign off without saying something about the food. Well, we ate more portions of potato wedges (they serve them with sour cream and sweet chili sauce) than I can count. We also had a "fine dining" experience at one of the hotels, which Max summed up as "high quality" (he had the nachos). We ate more servings of Cold Rock Ice Cream than anyone should have in a week. But a definite highlight was the Mexican--yes, I said Mexican--restaurant. As some of you know, that's the one thing that is sorely lacking in Australia. Now we know that we just need to go about 10 hours away and we'll be able to get our fix. Horrible margueritas, but the food was great, and the prices were actually reasonable! And of course we had a few fast food stops in there as well. I'm officially on a diet.

All in all, a great vacation with many memories. I hope you like the pictures!

Barb
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1205824560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1205824560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1205824560/tpod.html Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:29:02 -0400 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Sydney, Australia

Hi Everyone--

About time for another blog entry! I struggled with the title of this one, as it's a bit of a hodge-podge of things, so "this and that" seemed to be fitting. Since I have so many photos this time, I'll try to go light on the verbiage here, and will attach some description to many of the photos. Oh, who am I kidding, I still tend to write a book!

Routine
I guess we've settled into a routine at this point. The boys began their school year at the end of January. They have their guitar and piano lessons on Tuesday at a little studio in our town with nice, young tutors that they seem to like. On Wednesday am, they have band practice with the other woodwinds in the "training band." On Wednesday pm, they have their private lessons with their sax and clarinet tutors arranged by the school. They fit in play dates with friends on other days, and we make Thursday night our "family planning meeting" for the weekend.

Soccer "grading" was held a few weeks ago. Grading is basically determining their skill level and putting them on the appropriate team. We have yet to start practices, but that should be coming up soon.

Jim is still working very hard on the project. And he's definitely made a positive impact. But the work is substantial, the client is difficult, and although he's got a good team, they're still learning, so it continues to be a big challenge.

After I take the boys to school, I try to walk for an hour or so. Then it seems like there's always some shopping or cleaning to do, or even taking care of business from afar. In any case, I keep busy somehow, but am thinking about taking up tennis again. That's a relevation I just came up with today, because I walked by some tennis courts and women playing! I have managed to have some solo beach jaunts. One that you'll see pictures of was to Palm Beach, our new and maybe favorite beach. It's the northern-most beach in this area. A little farther than the others, but still only 40 minutes away. There's a lighthouse on the northern head of the beach, and you can take a steep, but relatively quick hike up there. Once up there, I decided to take a path behind the lighthouse. But I nixed it after a little bit, because it got a little "thick" and I found myself saying "no snakes...no snakes...no snakes." Seemed like a good time to turn around.

Blue Mountains
So we finally ventured beyond our immediate area to the Blue Mountains. They're only an hour and a half away, and were just beautiful. I would compare them to the Smoky Mountains. We started by venturing off to find "table rock" only to find that we were on a very red-earth and rough road to nowhere. After about a half hour, we nixed that and turned back. We were thinking at this point that the Amazing Race was not for Jim and I. But after that we managed to have a nice lunch and then went to various outlooks in the area, which you'll see in the pictures.

Jim's Birthday
Jim turned 48 on the 16th! In keeping with the Amazing Race theme....which by the way, we get old old old episodes, but we've gotten into watching...I decided to create an "amazing race" birthday. Again, there's pictures to support this effort, but I think Jim had fun navigating his way through various tasks that I concocted for him. The boys, of course, loved it! We ended the day with a sunset dinner cruise on the Sydney Harbour. I'm telling you, I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at the sites at Sydney Harbour, so forgive me for repeated pictures. But it really is cool.

Lingo and other Australian Weird Stuff
We find ourselves still amazed by things we here or see, and I thought you might enjoy some of this:

- Tazzie - that's Tasmania, the country which is just south of Australia. New Zealand is southeast. And did you know that the people of New Zealand are called Kiwis? Rachel Hunter (wasn't she married to Rod Stewart?) is a Kiwi.
- Brekkie - that's short for breakfast...one term I have begun using with the boys..."what do you want for brekkie?"
- No Worries - this is used all the time as we would use "no problem"
- Cheers - this seems to be used as a replacement for goodbye or even thank you in the stores. Often they will add "mate" to that, but mostly when it's a male paying for something.
- Loo and toilets--you don't ask for the restrooms or bathrooms, you ask where the loo or toilets are. I'm having a hard time with this one.
- Lift = elevator
- "Oi" or "Oy"--according to Max, this is used in a similar fashion as we would use "hey" in the states. I think it's really just a word used for exclamation, but since this is used by kids, what do I know?
- Hire - you don't "rent a car" here or "rent an instrument" you hire one
- Mo-bile vs. cell--you don't refer to your cellular phone as a "cell"...it's a mo-bile (long i sound)
- Car parks = parking garages
- Lollie= candy
- Rego = registration (i.e., you car registration..."is your rego current, mate?"). And it's re-jo, not re-go.
- Reckon--suprisingly, they use this a lot!
- "Look" and "yeah" - When making a statement, Aussies will often start the sentence with the word "look" and end it with "yeah", but in a questioning tone, like they want you to agree with what they've just said. "Look, the weather here in Sydney tends to be quite hot, yeah?"
- No left turn on red: keep in mind, we're driving on the left side of the road, so you would think that you could turn left on red, right? No....not unless there's a sign that tells you it's okay, and there's not enough of those.
- Australiar--this drives the kids crazy. They tend to add an "r" sound to words that end in an a. So Australia is Australiar. Amanda is Amander. You get the idear.
- And the towns in the country...where did these names come from? I can only hope to visit Wagga Wagga, Wollongong, Dubbo, Wee Waa, Tumbarumba and of course, Coonabarabran at some point.

Guess that's it folks. Hope this gave you some insight into what's been happening in our neck of the Southern Hemisphere. What's happening in the Northern Hemisphere?
Barb, Jim, Max & Sam
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1201500600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1201500600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1201500600/tpod.html Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:05:14 -0500 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Sydney, Australia

Hi everyone!

Here's the latest news from Down Under. I'm so proud of my boys--they learned how to surf! They spent 4 days taking lessons at Manly Beach and did a great job. Sam learned that he would have been much more comfortable (temperature wise) if he didn't wait until day 4 to wear a wetsuit, but that required him to get a "cozzie" (i.e., speedo) to wear under it. But for the record, I got him one that looks like bike shorts--very Michael Phelps-ish. Anyway, they got up on the first day and by day 4 Max was even brave enough to go "out back" (not to be confused with "the outback")--beyond the whitewater waves to wait for the really good swells. It was exhausting, which I remember from my try at it, but they loved it and now want to know when we can get a surfboard (sigh). Jim's interested in giving it a go and I'd love a refresher, so stay tuned for how that turns out.
Speaking of Manly, the boys and I spent our last day with the Kays boys (Jim's boss is their Dad) before their move back to the states. The boys went to Manly Waterworks (water slides) and ate yet more Kebabs (Max's new favorite meal) and then watched an Italian guy building an enormous sand sculpture. They left us with a variety of appliances when they left, which was really nice (I now have a crock pot--yeah). We also bought their minivan from them, so we're finally with 2 cars. Speaking of driving....I got another ticket! Same darn speed camera as my first ticket. Oh well, what are they going to do....take away my U.S. license--hah!
The boys also took a BMX class, which was at Sydney Olympic Park. There are 2 tracks there and its only about 15 minutes from home, so it's convenient--and free! I bought a bike rack for the van, so we can all go for bike rides if we want. The Olympic Park has lots of bike trails that we'll explore at some point.
With summer break winding down, I wanted to make sure the boys and I got to Darling Harbour in Sydney. Lots of kid-friendly things to do there. We went to the IMAX theater, Wildlife World, but the highlight was the trampoline bungee jumping (see pictures). The boys think our neighbors, the Smiths, should install the aparatus over their trampoline so that they can do it when we come back!
I now know where the nearest hospital is! Yes, Sam....he now has 3 hospital trips under his belt. Nothing serious. Just a minor cut to the back of his head, which they glued together. Let's just hope we don't have to visit there again.
Finally, you'll see pictures of our first houseguests. It's they Kays' dogs--2 miniature dachshunds. We offered to take them for 5 weeks while they travel before returning to the states. It's been great for the boys. They are real cuddlers. But Woody is still their top dog!
Hope you're all well and for those of you in the midwest, stay warm. Would it help if I tell you that it's about 25 here? That's celcius of course.
Missing everyone--
Barb, Jim, Max and Sam
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1199249100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1199249100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barbglore/gloresinoz/1199249100/tpod.html Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:41:24 -0500 Somewhere Over the Rainbow...Our Two Years in Oz

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Sydney, Australia

Happy New Year Everyone--

I'll keep this relatively short, as I didn't plan on sending another one so quickly after my last entry. But we were so moved by the fireworks in Sydney last night, that I just had to share. I'm attaching a video...this is the last few minutes of the fireworks, and I'll apologize upfront for the shakiness of the camera. It's not because my condition was impeded...I know that comes as a shocker to many of you! There was so much going on that I was trying to move it around to catch what I could.

This is how the day unfolded. We met a group of Americans (mostly) at the train station in our town at 2:00 and arrived at Milson's Point at about 2:30 (Milson's point is just before you cross the Harbour Bridge over to Sydney). From there, we walked to the park that's located just under the bridge, and set out our blankets, coolers, etc. Along with thousands of others...and that was just at 2:30! As the day progressed, every inch...and I'm not exaggerating here....every inch was filled with a body. It got to the point, where you just couldn't leave you spot or you'd lose it. And after about 8:00 pm, going to the bathroom just wasn't an option unless you were prepared to maneuver your way in between the myriad of blankets, tents and people and then wait in line at least 30 minutes. Our large group had two spots--one sunny spot just to one side of the bridge, and one shady spot directly under the bridge. It was nice to go between the two, as it was in the 80s and the sun is so intense. The kids--mostly boys--played soccer, cricket and rugby under the bridge. The parents munched on a variety of lunch meats, dips, cheeses, fruit, etc. And drank some Aussie beer. Somehow, it didn't seem like we were there for 6+ hours when the family fireworks started at 9:00. They are shot from multiple locations across the Harbour. And they were quite impressive. But the midnight ones, of course, were the biggies. Not only were there massive ones being shot at multiple locations across the Harbour, but the main ones came shooting off the Harbour Bridge--vertically, horizontally, and then pouring down like a waterful from the bottom of the bridge. And fireworks were shot from boats in the harbour. And even some were shooting up from the buildings across the bay in the city, which you can see if you hang in there on the video.

Now, I've never paid too much attention when they showed the Sydney fireworks on the news or on the Today show back in the states. But these are a big deal. I got goosebumps watching them last night and again when I watched them from my computer. It really was spectacular, and I hope you get some sense of that from my video. I know I will look at them differently when I see them on the news in a couple of years and be so grateful that we had this opportunity to see them in person!

We wish you all a safe New Year's Eve and much happiness and good health in 2008!

Barb, Jim, Max & Sam
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