Help!! A Dingo Stole My Baby!!

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  Raymond Terrace, New South Wales, Australia
Saturday, February 14, 2009

"Help!!  A dingo stole my baby!" screamed Meryl Streep, in the movie I believe was called "Help!! A Dingo Stole My Baby!"*.   I screamed this out in horror as well, just last week.  But fear not; our situation was not quite as dire...we hadn't had to bare our teeth at any dingoes (dingi?), nor had we lost any of our "babies".  (Although when Michael raps "Yo, Daddy Dude", I wonder if he has already been "taken" from us by the insidious adolescent years). 

My scream was simply a byproduct of having some good family conversations during our travels (...yep, that's what you do when you are with your family every second of every day).  This particular discussion was prompted by Sarah's endless delight with the Mamma Mia musical and the movie's lead character played by Meryl Streep...see the tie-in, now?  She wanted to know what other movies Ms. Streep had acted in.  Given that we are in Australia (another tie-in), the dingo line seemed appropriate

Koala Sanctuary

.  Screaming it in horror was just fun, and besides, it stopped Sarah from singing Dancing Queen for the 30th time that day.  [Parenting note:  it's better to let your seven year old daughter sing an endless loop of Abba songs than to have to explain to her why the daughter in the Mamma Mia movie didn't know which of the three men in the movie was her father.]

I suppose I should start by addressing some of the catastrophes that have been occurring in Australia.  There have been deadly bushfires to the south of us, flooding to the north of us and scorching heat waves to the west of us.  Fortunately, none of these disasters have impacted us, and we thank all two of you who sent concerned e-mails asking about our well-being.  And also, a special thank you to the reader for the tip that "it is still cyclone season on the north-east coast so you could make it if you hurry; no doubt, it would provide you with some good blogging material".  Oh sure, AND lead to another severe tongue-lashing from the kids' grandmothers!  (For the record, Nana and Grammy, putting the children in the trunk of the Peruvian taxi seemed like a good idea at the time!).

Fortunately the flexibility afforded to us by our type of travel makes it relatively easy to avoid any trouble spots.  In fact when we first arrived in Australia (in Brisbane), I got into our car, started it up, looked at Tracy and said, "Are we going north or south?"  Floods to the north?...okay to the south we go.  We just have to listen to the advice offered up by the friendly locals.  Which reminds me...you may recall the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum ladies from the last blog.  They were the ladies that tripped over themselves to warn us about the nasty leeches.  In hindsight, Sarah and I should have taken their advice a little more seriously...enough said, and lesson learned

Nambucca Heads

.  Perhaps we'll keep a closer eye out for those "stinging leaves" they also warned us about.

And speaking of leeches, Australia's wildlife has certainly impressed us.  Of course we should start with the koala bears.  Our first viewing came at a koala hospital, but we have since seen koalas in the wild (although the term "wild" seems somewhat incongruous when you see these cuddly little things lazing about in trees).  Tracy is particularly enamored with these nocturnal marsupials, whose babies are born the size of a human's fingernail (see how cleverly I can toss in an educational comment without you even noticing?)  After spotting her first wild koala, she exclaimed "It's the most exciting thing in the world!"  Doesn't say much for my company, does it...Happy Valentine's Day to you too, honey!  Regardless, the wild koala spotting contest has begun.

Some other wildlife encounters included:

·    The four foot long lace monitor lizards we have encountered on some of our rainforest walks;

·    The abundance of birds of every size and colour

Pelican Feeding Frenzy

.  Their only consistent trait is that they like to congregate outside our bedroom window at first light, and welcome us to a new day.  Thank you;

·    The dolphins.  We have now seen dolphins in the wild several times, and it is so much nicer to see them roaming free than to see them in one of the marine parks.  The marine parks do have their place though.  They go out of their way to explain that their animals were found injured and were saved.  And, it was a huge highlight for the children when they got to swim with the "rescued" dolphins (and play catch with them, brush their teeth, and rub their bellies);

·    Being kissed by seals and dolphins at the aforementioned marine parks...I can't believe we paid money to be kissed by something with fish breath. [I'm sure there is a joke in here somewhere about an aging prostitute, but it's not coming to me right now.  Perhaps I'll ask one of Elliot Spitzer's older cronies if I ever run into one];

·    Seeing the "year-to-date koala death" signs.  In North America, we have safety signs outside of fire halls talking about deaths as a result of fires.  This is the first time we have seen one aimed at koala traffic fatalities

Koala in the Wild (Salamader Bay)

.  If nothing else, it made me consider keeping my eyes on the road while I'm driving, instead of looking up at the trees trying to win the koala spotting contest (dead ones don't count);

·    The Giant Prawn statue...okay, I agree, this really shouldn't qualify as a wildlife encounter but I needed some filler.  By the way, Australia seems to rival Canada with its share of irrelevant "giant" things.  We have also seen a giant banana here;

With the wildlife, the rainforests, and the stunning beaches, Australia has certainly started to grow on us.  But it goes beyond what we have seen; there is a certain way of life here that resonates with us nicely.  A case in point is the "barbies" (the BBQ's that is, not the bikini clad beach babes - although come to think of it, they aren't bad either).  We told someone in passing that we generally pack a lunch of some sandwiches and fruit.  His reply was, "Ah, no mate!  You need to have a sausage sizzle!"  We thought that was all well and good, but we weren't about to invest in a portable grill for our 8 weeks here.  Then we started noticing that in almost every park and on almost every beach there are electric or gas BBQ's just waiting to be used.  And they are the industrial strength solid cooktops, so you can even fry up some bacon and eggs if you want to

Lace Monitor at Dorrigo NP

.  And best of all, they are free...just push the button and on they go [Educational Note:  In the USA, this type of setup would be known as "a lawsuit waiting to happen", as invariably Billy Bob from Alabama would burn his hand when checking to see if the grill was hot]. 

And, as if spontaneous BBQing isn't heavenly enough, you wouldn't believe the variety of sausages that are available for grilling  (and, all gluten-free for Tracy no less).  In the few weeks we have been in Australia we have tried the following sausage flavours:  spinach and pine nut, curry satay, chicken kiev, smoky bacon, mango chili, ginger and shallots, and lime and black pepper.  Lunches (and dinners) have been raised to a new level of gastronomic pleasure, and all we had to invest in was a combination flipper/scraper and a few plastic plates.  Picture a glass of wine and a sausage sizzle while the kids frolic on the beach a few metres away...life is good!!  (And I haven't even mentioned the potato/onion/zucchini mixtures we've fried up, the sandwiches that have now evolved into grilled ham and cheese melts, and the friendly people we have met using neighbouring grills.)

Australia, despite the continuing daily rain, has provided us with numerous other reasons to ease the pain of leaving New Zealand

Laura and the Friendly Seal

.  Among those reasons:

·    Free wireless internet at almost every McDonalds, and you don't even to clog your arteries to get it.  Many of the holiday parks we have stayed in have offered up this little goody as well, also free of charge.  And even earlier on in Australia (before I knew about the McDonald's honey hole), the Woolworths shopping cart collector guy was nice enough to point me towards an area where an unsecured network could be accessed.  When I returned the next day however, that network was newly secured.  In professing that day's e-mail pick-up failure to Tracy, all I could sadly say was, "A dingo stole my baby" (metaphorically speaking, of course);

·    Gorgeous coastlines, including Nambucca Heads.  This town also had something called the V-Wall which was a one kilometre long coastal breakwall comprised of large boulders that have all been painted (quite artistically in many cases)...legal graffiti;

·    How some of Australia's attractions come together as one...after walking through a nearby koala habitat, we were having a BBQ lunch.  It was at a nice park that overlooked a small scenic marina, replete with pelicans

Tawny Frogmouth Owls at Lemon Tree Passage

.  As we were eating, a dolphin swam into the bay and was frolicking in the water just a few metres from us...amazing!;
·    The rainforest canopy walks...Michael and Tracy were brave enough to climb up the rickety ladders from the canopy rope bridge to the treetop lookouts.  I'm told that there were wonderful forest views from up there (but somebody had to stay down with the girls);

·    A number of nice drives including the Waterfall Way...I'll let you guess how they came up with that name.  Another personal favourite was the half-day drive that started off at a winery, went past a number of artisan studios, and ended in a National Park with a picnic lunch on top of a mountain (no BBQ that day...you can't have sausage every day, can you??);

·    Some of the interesting local history...in Port MacQuarrie the church we attended had been built by convicts in 1824, and they made the walls one metre thick.  I guess being convicts they were used to thick walls...thankfully they decided to forego the bars over the stained glass windows of Jesus.  That might not have looked so good;
 
And before you think that our travels are all peaches and cream sausages, I'll let you know about our Friday the 13th trip.  While it started off wonderfully (see the koala, dolphin and BBQ references above), it turned into one of those days where you just want to hit your head against the wall.  We were moving on that day to the city of Newcastle, and it was only about 50 kilometres away.  After a late lunch we started our drive, and Tracy looked in our holiday park reference guide

Hmmm! Another Sausage Sizzle

.  We were surprised to discover that this relatively large city didn't have any offerings that would suit us.  No problem, we'll just drive another 20 kilometres past Newcastle to a very touristy area where there is a proliferation of holiday parks.  This turned out to be slow-going as the 20 kilometres was through a very dense area, made denser by rush hour traffic.  After fighting through endless traffic lights, we discovered that nobody in this neck of the woods knew that the summer peak season is over, and the holiday parks were all full.  In hindsight, I guess we should have realized that it was the start of the Valentine's Day weekend, and called ahead...oops! 

The lady at the last park we tried was nice enough to make a few phone calls on our behalf and she found us a place on the other side of Newcastle.  So, after another slow drive through traffic, we ended up at the "Pacific Gardens Caravan Park and Chinese Food Emporium" in what was our most expensive Australian accommodation to date.  (And, to add insult to injury, we would have had to pay for the internet if we needed it).  The end result of the day was that we drove for about 3 hours to stay in a decidedly average cabin that was about 30 minutes away from our starting point...good work, Elops!

And to put a nice bow on the day, Sarah asked me whether my favourite Scooby Doo character was the smart Velma or the beautiful Daphne.  No sooner had I said I always go for the smart ones not the beautiful ones, when I saw the glare from my intelligent (but somehow insulted) wife.   I tried to diffuse the situation by yelling, "Help, a dingo stole my brain!"  Her reply, "Well, he might as well have stolen your other vital organ too, for all you're going to get to use it..." 

Ouch!  Damn Dingoes!
 
*Upon further research, this 1988 movie was actually called A Cry in the Dark.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Port Stephens Harbour	Nambucca Heads	Crystal Falls at Dorrigo NP	Dangar Falls (Waterfall Way)
Swimming with Dolphins	Giant Killer Prawn...never mind the dingoes	Dooragan National Park	Crystal Falls
Dooragan National Park	V Wall at Numbucca Heads	Dolphins in Port Stephens Harbour

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