New Zealand

We are off on our last holiday of the year this weekend - we fly out to New Zealand on Sunday morning and spend the next 12 days travelling around the south island in a campervan. We will blog when we can, so check back occasionally, and then more frequently after 10 October. In the meantime, here are a few links:

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/Australia/
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/about-nz/features/lotr-2003/introduction.cfm
http://www.metservice.co.nz/default/index.php?alias=christchurch

Pigeon House

We climbed Pigeon House Mountain (720m ASL) on Sunday, a total walk of 6 km. It was named on 21 April 1770 by Captain James Cook, and its name reflects the fact that its summit resembles a dove cote. The drive was only 54 km from home, the last 2/3 being on unsealed roads, and bad ones at that, so the drive took us about an hour.

The climb from the parking lot was tough - uphill for the first half hour, over rocks, stumps, and fallen trees, on a carpet of slippery gum leaves. We turned west at the top and followed a saddle to the base of the mountain, through what looked like a fairy forest (sorry John!), with 3 m high flora with delicate foliage and tiny pink and white flowers. Climbing again over bigger rocks and rustic wooden steps brought us to the base of the rocky summit, which is gained by climbing a series of metal steps and ladders. It was well worth the climbing and the mini M&M's we had to feed the girls to get them there (especially our youngest, who, at 9 did a marvelous job).















We stayed at the summit for a while, talking with other climbers and enjoying the view. The coast was hazy, so we didn't have any views of the water, but there were spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.

We took our time on the way down, exploring for caves at the bases of the stairways before heading all the way down. At this point, it was almost harder descending, as our legs were tired from the climb and were subject to trembling as we went down the steeper parts.

I was prepared for a reviving snack back at the car, having left an eskie full of cheese and crackers, nuts and marsh- mallows, as well as another bottle of water, in the boot.

Canberra: Floriade and James Morrison

Canberra has a spring flower festival for four weeks in September and October showcasing a dazzling display of over a million blooms. There is live entertainment, an onsite cinema, free food and wine tastings (we must have missed that!), fabulous showcase gardens from local landscapers, fun children's activities, informative demonstrations and exclusive exhibitions. I'm getting all this from the guidebook, can't you tell! Check out http://www.floriadeaustralia.com/ for more.
















James Morrison is an amazing jazz musician (Australian, of course) that John and I have been fans of for a number of years now, and one of the things we wanted to do while here was see him in concert. So when we found out that he was playing at Floriade, we just had to go, even if it meant dragging John back up the Clyde Mountain to Canberra after his very exciting class trip (see previous blog). He didn't mind. There is a permanent bandshell in Commonwealth Park (the site of Floriade) where James Morrison and his band were playing. We got there with about 20 minutes to spare and we very thrilled to see a small crowd on the lawn, and plenty of room in the front row for us. So we had front row centre seats for this 2-hour concert and it was just amazing, almost beyond words. We were so close that we could hear the musicians talking among themselves and see their facial expressions, hear them snap their fingers and listen to James mutter the bap bap a do wops along with his keyboard playing. What a treat.

Year 4 Canberra Excursion

Which of these three places does not belong: Australian Institute of Sport, National Art Gallery, Questacon? I'll leave it to you to decide as you read about the Year 4 Excursion to Canberra.

A great Australian educational tradition is the overnight excursion. At St. Bernard's, this tradition begins in year 4 with an overnight stay in the nation's capital, Canberra (pronounced Can'bra - accent on the first syllable). Our two-day, one-night excursion departed on Thursday, September 18, at 7:30 AM and arrived back in Batemans Bay on Friday, September 19, at 5:30 PM.

We boarded a Marshall Bus Lines coach at 7:25 and were off. Our ascent up the Clyde Mountain in the luxury vehicle, piloted by Peter Marshall, was smooth. We made sure the air in the coach was cool (to avoid motion sickness), and that there was a good supply of cool wet towels to place on the necks of those children experiencing any sort of travel sickness (this really works!).

We arrived at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra for 10AM. If you are wondering why Australia does so well for a country its size in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games you need not look too much further than the AIS to see the amounts of money put into facilities, coaching, and athlete support. We were given a tour by two athletes, one an aspiring national volleyball player and the other a golfer. It finished with a 45-minute session in the activity room where students could match themselves against virtual Olympians. It was great fun. From there we headed to the Commonwealth Science Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).



At the CSIRO, our tour consisted of conducting mini- experiments and obser- vations, a 3D video, and hands-on presentations with mice, turtles, and stick bugs. This too was a great visit. After a visit to the Canberra Botanic Gardens to have our lunch we were off to the Australian War Memorial (see previous blogs). There is never enough time in one day to see all that must be seen here, and every child and teacher goes at their own pace. We ended up focusing on conflicts from 1945-present, WWII, the ANZAC Hall, and finally, a moving lament played on bagpipe at five o'clock to officially close the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
















Our accommodation for the evening was a Best Western holiday park; imagine a campground environ- ment with upwards of 300 motel rooms. After getting into our cabins we headed to a dinner at the motel dining room then headed off to Belconnen Bowl. Strikes and spares were the order of the evening and all had a great time. Sleep came amazingly quickly to the tired, but excited, students when they got back into their rooms for the night. Breakfast next morning was hearty and substantial; just what everyone needed to keep them going for what was going to be a very interesting day.

Questacon is a Australia/ Japan joint venture to bring science alive to children and adults alike. We arrived at 9AM and told the students to enjoy as much as they could because we were only there for a relatively short time. Well, as we were leaving at about 10:45, we were informed that Questacon was in lockdown due to a strange substance found in one of the theatres. To make a long story short, Questacon did a fabulous job to make sure all the groups were well watered and fed, and provided entertainment in addition to all the amazing features the exhibits provided already. Not enough could be said about the attitude of the students who were super throughout the whole ordeal (cooperative and positive are two suitable words to use to describe them). At 1:05 we were permitted to leave; the substance was determined to be non-toxic and harmless. We ended up missing our appointment at the National Museum as a result of the lockdown so headed off directly to the National Gallery of Art which holds many national and international treasures.

After a short snack on the steps of the Gallery we proceeded into the lobby where we were met by.... a power outage! What next? An impromptu tour of the statue garden. We were broken into four groups and given a wonderful 30-minute tour of a garden we probably would never have bothered to experience. Halfway through this tour a representative of the Gallery asked if we were heading to Questacon next because the power outage at the Gallery was fairly general and probably affected Questacon as well. "No," we said, "we've already been locked down in Questacon and didn't have any intention of returning too soon." Poor Questacon.

Our final stop was the Telstra Tower. We had great views of the city and surrounding hills; Canberra really is a beautiful city. We left at 3PM and arrived back in Batemans Bay at 5:28PM. Parents were waiting and 44 exhausted children had heaps of stories to tell.

Bay Bushwalkers' Annual 6-Hour Rogaine

Not to be outdone by John, I took part in a physical endurance test of my own on Wednesday, 10 September. I am a member of the Batemans Bay Bushwalkers, and yesterday was the Annual 6-Hour Rogaine. I was on a team with three other people, all excellent walkers, and there were eight or nine other teams. We were sent out into the bush with a map marked with 28 locations to find. We had a couple of GPS units, but these proved mostly inaccurate, and so we just stuck to our skills in the bush and with mapreading. At each location there was a red and white marker, with a unique hole-punch attached, to prove that we actually found that specific location. Each location was worth a different amount of points, depending on the difficulty. It was a lot of fun, and a full day of walking - we kept up a brisk pace, averaging 4 km/h, with a few short stops to refuel. All members of all teams had to be back at control by 3 pm, risking a one point per minute penalty after that. Only one team was late, and in the end my team was declared the winner, gaining a total of 229 points out of a possible 318, having found 21 of the markers. Check out the bushwalkers website for more details: http://www.baybushwalkers.org.au/

The Irate Intern

For the second consecutive year, mountain bike races have been held in the Mogo State Forest, which is situated in and around the village of Mogo (about 10km south of Batemans Bay). The three races offered are a 100km enduro (Angry Doctor), a 50km race (Irate Intern), and a 10km fun race (Nasty Nurse). The terrain being traveled is very hilly (lots of downhill) along fire access routes, a few bush roads, and a decent helping of single-lane tracks in the Mogo State Forest. John entered the Irate Intern and had an absolute blast. Check out http://www.arocsport.com.au/mtbenduro/mtbenduro_home.html

Race day was sunny and 18 degrees Celsius. Many weeks of riding to and from work helped me attain a certain degree of fitness which came in very handy (especially on the uphill sections). After 4.5 hours of riding I managed to do 5 major climbs, too many smaller climbs to count, lots of technical single-track (not my forte) and a healthy dose of cruising downhill. My favourite was a series of jumps on a very gentle downhill section of the course which helped build my confidence and fun level. I also managed to eat one energy bar, half a Ziploc bag of peanuts and raisins, eight rocky road squares the girls had made, and drink about 2 litres of water with lemon and some electrolyte replacement stuff called “GU2O”. Every body needs fuel.

The ride actually went quite well. There were probably 350 competitors in the race I was doing (actual number unknown to me) and I ended up riding in amongst a number of similar ability riders. It was good to chat and encourage other riders on their way. When I eventually reached the finish line, I was met by my family, and we proceeded to the ice cream shop in Mogo where we all got an ice cream, and then made a quick return to the race site where they were handing out prizes (including four Cannondale mountain bikes).

Three of the four bikes to be given away were random draws from partici- pants, and the fourth was given to the person who had no business even finishing the race on the bike they had (high quality bikes with front and rear suspensions, and disc brakes were the norm). My neighbour had lent me his very nice Specialized mountain bike for the day (dual suspension, disc brakes, weightless, you name it) which allowed me to do my run in maximum comfort possible so I was out of the running completely for the new bike. I did however pick up a nice rear flashing light for my rides home, and also grabbed a pair of men’s cycling shorts (literally grabbed – there were so many prizes at the end that the organisers were tossing the goodies out into the crowd (tires, t-shirts, etc.)). It was a fun time. Everyone had a good time and went home happy.

Would I do it again? Certainly I would. Unfort- unately we won’t be here this time next year but Susan and I have vowed to find/ make great tracks back home and participate as much as we can; it really is a good time.

Springtime

1 September marked the first day of spring in Australia. The seasons don't change here on the solstices and equinoxes, not sure why! But it means we survived the winter here (not hard to do) and although there is always something in bloom here (the wattles, Australia's national flower, are trees that bloom in winter http://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/aust.emblem.html), spring does come with some nice blossoms, my favourite among them is the wisteria, and I am lucky enough to have a wisteria pole right outside my front door:

Our Great Canberra Adventure

The World Mountain Biking Championships (http://worldcup.mtbworlds.com.au/index.asp?IntCatId=14) were being held in Canberra in the last week of August, so we planned to go for the weekend. We also wanted to meet the new Canadian exchange teacher, recently arrived from Edmonton, who is living in Canberra, and go with her to some of the racing. We had a good drive to the capital city in the morning, met up with the new exchangee, and after a coffee and a visit went downtown to see a historical site called Blundell's Cottage, on the banks of Lake Burley-Griffith. This is one of the original farm cottages from the mid-1800's that was not torn down. http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/visiting/attractions/blundells_cottage.asp

When we parked, and after we started up again, I could smell a slight burnt oil smell, and, always the optimist, I figured that it was someone else's car. We made it almost all the way to Mt. Stromlo, hearing a few little rattles (once again, not my car!), when I looked at the dashboard, the temperature gauge was on H, so I pulled over immediately. We were in sight of the start/finish line (albeit with binoculars), and had to wait for the NRMA guy, then the towtruck after being told that we weren't driving the car anywhere. We all managed to get back to Colette's house later in the afternoon (after John and Colette dropped off the car at the mechanic's, and and the girls and I got a ride there from a good friend from the Bay who happened to be at the races - we were planning on meeting up with them at Mt. Stromlo).

We rented a car the next morning, and continued with our sightseeing. There were more bike races on Sunday, but the weather wasn't the greatest, so we never ended up seeing any mountain biking that weekend! We went to the Old Bus Station Markets, and the did some shopping at the Canberra Centre.

Monday morning was our bonus day in Canberra; John had been wanting a day off school anyway, so here it was! We headed out early to go to the mechanic's and see what could be done about the Holden. Luckily, he could see the car that day and even get it fixed! The weather was gorgeous, so we went up to the north of Canberra and to a miniature village called Cockington Green (www.cockingtongreen.com.au) that was just wonderful; we had wanted to go, and just needed a beautiful day in Canberra for it.










































We drove up to Mt. Ainslie and had a good panoramic view of the city and surrounds - including the snow-capped mountains to the south.

After lunch we went to the Mint; I had been already, but not John and the girls. The Mint is in the process of updating their tourist facilities, so we couldn't see a lot of how it all works, but there was a very good film, and an interpretive centre showing the history of coinage, Australia's in particular, of course.

The car was ready by 3:30, so we picked it up, dropped off the rental and were home just as it was getting dark. Nothing too major with the car, just the whole cooling system needed replacing. A bit frustrating as we're selling the car in four months, but at least it's in good working order once again!

Sydney...

I was able to spend a couple of days in Sydney by myself the middle of August. I took the bus up from Batemans Bay, making sure I had a window seat, and was picked up at the station in Sydney by Bernadette. The next morning, I had a lovely time wandering around the city at my own pace, doing things that I really wanted to do. Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but it can be trying sometimes touring around with people who don't always want to do what is on the agenda! I did some shopping, and went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I walked up towards Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, and around the point into Farm Cove, and as I was rounding the point, the Harbour Bridge and Opera House came into view, and I thought, once again, that wow, here I was, in Sydney, Australia! Very cool. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Macquarie%27s_Chair
I walked up to and into the Opera House, but unless you were on a tour, you didn't get to see very much. One thing we would like to do while we are here is see something, anything at the Opera House. It's on the to-to list. With many, many other things still left to do while we are here.









On day two, I went to the uni where Bernadette is studying, then took a bus to North Sydney and found these beautiful gardens in Lavender Bay, just behind Luna Park on the waterfront.


















I walked across the Harbour Bridge, which wasn't very exciting, but one of those things I wanted to do. I had a couple of more hours in the CBD, then met up with a friend from the Batemans Bay area for the drive home.

Canberra

We went to Canberra, Australia's capital, for the weekend of 9/10 August. We were planning on going just for the day on Saturday, but we figured we might as well stay overnight, and not worry about getting home before dark on the Saturday. We went first to a place called Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre. There were interactive displays and lots of interesting things on sport, the human body, predators, lightning, earthquakes, shadows, etc. and our favourite, an amusement park display explaining the myths and tricks regarding games, giant slides, and a roller coaster simulator, which we did a couple of times. http://www.questacon.edu.au/














On Sunday, which was a started our as a really cold (well, it was almost zero degrees!), dreary, wet sort of day, we did some shopping at the big city mall, and went to the War Memorial. I had gone there earlier in the spring when my parents were here, but it is the type of place that can be visited over and over again. One place we missed on that first visit was the tomb of the unknown soldier, and that was a really special sort of place. The whole memorial is quite amazing, actually, with lots to explore and just so many exhibits. http://www.awm.gov.au/















On the way home, we stopped for dinner in Braidwood at a wood-fired pizzeria called Eureka. We have been enjoying wood-fired pizza here in Australia, as there is an excellent place to eat in Batehaven, near us, called Heat. The pizza at Eureka was good, but Heat is still better - our goal is to try all of the flavours. Well, maybe not the one with oysters, but the one with chili marinated prawns was delicious. And the Il Sombrero, with chili seasoned beef with kidney beans and then dollops of sour cream after it comes out of the oven just takes the cake...

World Youth Day

Part of our visit to Sydney after the trip to the outback included some of the World Youth Day events. John's brother, Mark, came from Canada for a few weeks with a few friends, to see New Zealand and Australia and to participate in WYD, so it was nice to see Mark while we are in Australia. We didn't do too much as a family for WYD, because it was hard getting around (ie: lot of walking!) with the girls. John did go out with his sister and brother and friends to a few events, and as a family we went to the final papal mass at Randwick Racecourse. It was a great experience, and everything was so well organized in Sydney with regards to crowd control (wasn't needed - everyone was very well behaved) and transportation (the CityRail system had lots of staff and extra trains to keep things moving). At the final mass, we were out at the fringes, and halfway through Rachel asked what that big red 'building' was, and I had to tell her that it was the stage with the altar! Here's our view:

Elizabeth Bay House

We played the tourist again in Sydney when we got back from Alice Springs, and took the day on Saturday to explore Elizabeth Bay House, a property of the Historic Houses Trust of NSW, located on the Sydney waterfront. It was a beautiful old house, once on 55 acres of grounds, but now just on its own little square, with a bit of greenspace out front across the road, but with a spectacular view of the harbour. The house boasts one of only three oval-shaped roof domes in the world (pretty sure the tour guide said this, but will double check), and in the oval salon, there is a cantilevered staircase. Very impressive. http://www.hht.net.au/museums/elizabeth_bay_house









We wandered back to the Sydney CBD through Woolloomooloo, had a look at the Finger Wharf there and had lunch at Harry's Cafe de Wheels, a takeaway cafe famous for its pea and pie floater - a beef pie (in shortcrust pastry) topped with a mushy peas and mashed potatoes, in which a well is made and filled with gravy - yum! http://www.harryscafedewheels.com.au/Home.aspx?element=1&category=1