It’s been three days since we returned, and I suppose I should wrap up this trip. My excuse is jet lag–and being in a numb state with the news that John’s company wants to move him to Denver. I’m not going to discuss that now, though. That’s beyond the intent of this blog!

I want to return to Australia. There’s so much more to see and do. Overall, it was a good experience, although memories of the angled electrical plugs, obtuse washing machine panels, sobering-message cigarette cabinets, and low-water, rounded toilet designs still make me shake my head.

I’m grateful to have seen and experienced another continent.

For now, g’day!

I love to see geometry and free-form designs in things that people make. Enjoy!

The photos posted have been chosen for artistic merit in nature. Some are recognizable objects, and others may not be. Enjoy!

The past two days have been filled with more travel than sightseeing, but it’s been interesting regardless.

We left the whaling town of Warrnambool on Tuesday morning and drove 3-1/2 hours back to Melbourne on a different route. Along the way, we saw many dairy farms–as well as sheep when we went near the lakeside town of Wool-Wool. Seriously. I was surprised at the number of dairies and cheese factories. I commented to John that the cows seemed skinnier than I remembered in the Midwest. John agreed, but we then realized that these breeds were longer-legged, giving the appearance of being lankier. We both laughed about that. We also saw lots of grain (mostly hay) being harvested and baled into the usual cylinders–but with mint-green shrink wrap.

Some of the towns reminded me of the Midwest: town squares, tree-lined thoroughfares, clock towers, older repurposed buildings, small shops in the center of town, and angle-parking along Main Street. Outside of town, we occasionally had to slow down for tractors creeping along at the side of the road. I looked in vain for hopping kangaroos, but sadly, only saw a few dead ones lying pitifully along the side. (Thankfully, in our hotel room I later viewed a short documentary about the golf-course kangaroos of Anglesea–which we happened to go right by while on Monday’s Great Ocean Drive. Oh, well.)

I did enjoy some of the signs: Horse Poo For Sale; Do Not Overtake (Do Not Pass); Give Way (Yield); Yawning? A Microsleep Can Kill; Over the Limit. Under Arrest; Open Your Eyes. Fatigue Kills; and my favorite recurring one: Power Nap Area. Yes! How thoughtful! Speaking of thoughtful, that reminds me of the public toilets. On the backside of every stall door, the observant reader can learn who to call or where to go for help with anxiety, depression, adoption services, etc. Social services awareness is big!

After returning the rental car at the airport, we flew on Virgin Australia to Sydney, just over an hour’s flight away. From there we caught a train to the Blue Mountains. I must say that it was the smoothest two-hour train ride I’ve ever experienced. And the up-close views into Sydney suburbs fascinated me: many rooftop solar panels, either tin or terra cotta roofs, clotheslines with damp clothes drying on them, small plastic pools with fish swimming in some (above-ground koi ponds!), a few sheep grazing in backyards (no mowers?), barking dogs chained to poles, and even an angry altercation between two drivers who had just been involved in a fender-bender.

We arrived at Katoomba around dusk, promptly became disoriented by going to the wrong side of the tracks, and finally got reoriented (thanks to GPS and smart phones!) onto the steep, three-block walk to the mountain view hotel. The 100+-year-old building made us feel as though we’d stepped back into history.

From our room window, we saw a glimpse of the Blue Mountains before clouds and nightfall enshrouded them. And when we awoke in the morning, the fog was as thick as could be. During our breakfast, the fog rolled back and gave us hope that we could do the cable-car scenic view. But alas! Rain and clouds returned, canceling our plans. The fog moved in as quickly as it does in San Francisco. So at 11 a.m., we headed back on the train to Sydney, where we now rest at a hotel just outside the international terminal and gear up for departure tomorrow morning.

Like John Candy and Steve Martin whose adventures took them into unplanned paths home, we’ve had an unplanned detour today. But I can’t complain about our phenomenal journey.

There’s so much more to see and do in this fascinating country. Maybe another trip….

I can’t identify most of these plants, so just enjoy!

On Monday, John drove a rental car so we could leisurely stop and see many of the less-traveled sites along the 150-mile stretch of the Great Ocean Drive from Geelong (I was incorrect in my past pronunciation key; it’s JUH-long) to Warrnambool which borders the Southern Ocean. All of the photos I posted yesterday come from that drive.

I must say that the geographical diversity within that area of Australia proved to serve us with the most rewarding day of the trip. From the sandy beaches to the rocky cliffs to the damp rain forests to the limestone formations rising out of the sea, there’s no better day that I can ever remember in all our travels. And because we drove rather than join a tour bus, we stopped at so many quirky and amazing places.

The most unusual spot? Carisbrook Creek with its tourist-stacked rock towers. The most awesome spot? The Twelve Apostles monolithic towers jutting out of the ocean floor–although only eight formations remain. And the most unexpected stop? To take a photo of a koala sitting in a small tree at the edge of an aromatic eucalyptus forest. I saw his bottom poking out and yelled to John, “Stop!” Mr. Koala blinked at me as I came around the tree to see his face. I could have reached up to touch his face!

The wonders of God’s handiwork amaze me.

I’ve had two drafts go to Tasmania perhaps…so only trying to add photos for now.

After the busy past week, it’s time to rest. Less than a mile from our “Vue” apartment in Geelong, there’s a psalm-singing-only church that we walked to for morning worship.

The people there not only greeted us warmly, but I noticed that they use the same pew Bibles and psalter publication that our church in Atlanta does. The order of worship seemed familiar, and the only real difference between the two churches is our addition of the Trinity hymnal. I would say about 150 people were there–including lots of kids!

The pastor, who is from somewhere in the UK and has a Chinese wife, asked us to stay afterwards for their Sunday School “end-of-term programme” held in a back fellowship building. I counted over 50 students ranging from three years old through secondary school. Each received a gift from his or her teacher before leaving on summer break. They have the next eight weeks off. Each teacher talked about the class curriculum, and I discovered that some of them use the same curriculum I’ve used! Others created their own materials. Before the individual gifts were given, the students sang different psalms. Two volunteer students held up posters of the lyrics for the other students; they then turned to the adult audience to have us sing along.

When we walked back to our suite for a lunch of quiche and salad, we took a slightly different route through a beautiful city park with a bandstand, library, art center, and event center. The juxtaposition of the library (classic architecture) and the event center (modern architecture) is so striking that I had to take more photos.

This afternoon as John works on our annual Christmas Eve program, I’m looking out the window of our suite. We can see the Corio Bay and the ferris wheel from our balcony.

Time for a nap.

Yes, I realize that I haven’t posted for two days. We are alive, but with delayed travel and tech issues and appliance snafus and smoke alarms, I’ve been a bit busy. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

Before telling my tales of woe, I have one joyful story. John reports that as he walked out of the power plant the last time mid-day Friday, he “felt like Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption after he had crawled through the sewer and came into the clean waters of the river. As the lightning flashed, Andy looked up to the sky and let the rain of freedom wash over him.” Yes, those were John’s exact words. The last 3-1/2 years have been the hardest time of John’s career. His part in this massive project is finally done.

We had a couple of hours to kill before our flight to Melbourne, so on the way to the airport we stopped at the same museum I had visited the day before. John was glad he could see everything–especially the cyclone exhibit and the huge, stuffed crocodile.

When we arrived at the airport, no one was at any ticket counter. Virgin Australia finally decided to place some employees there, and the queue of customers grew longer. We wondered aloud if they’d had any experience. Everyone had to be checked in manually, we finally learned, because their computer system appeared to be recalcitrant. I estimate there were probably 170 customers on our flight. Of course, the tech issue delayed our flight. The gorgeous lily pad carpet photo was the most beautiful thing I stared at for hours in the Darwin (take away the “win” part of that word and it became “Darn” airport for us).

On the plane, I happened to sit next to a young woman who was returning home to Melbourne after the “first and last school term” of her life. Trained as a landscape architect, she decided to take a break in that career and try her hand at teaching. It appears that Australia does some kind of fast-track training to place teachers in hard-to-reach bush towns. She taught primary students. Out of 29 students listed on her roster, the most she ever had show up on the same day was 19. Usually only a core group of 11 appeared. Even with free computers given to families, many do not “tune in” to school at all. Sad story. My seat mate told me she had resigned, was not returning to the bush, and planned to go back to her former career. She had just flown out of the bush on a charter flight that day. (All the teachers in the school share the cost and leave together for a six-week break, heading on the charter for the closest city–then traveling to individual destinations.) We briefly discussed the social problems of indigenous people (“aboriginal” is only used for art or products or language; it’s not PC to call the people that term). She gave me a copy of Australian Geographic magazine. There’s an interesting article about many aboriginal languages being lost; at one point historians say there were over 250.

By the time we reached Melbourne after a semi-turbulent flight, it was semi-cold compared to beastly hot Darn. We stumbled through a parking garage with our luggage, jaywalked across a semi-busy road, and checked in to our Holiday Inn room. It was 1:00 a.m.

After a semi-restful night (another unknown U.S. number called at 3:15; that’s three nights in a row!), we ate a wonderful breakfast, checked out, rented a car, and headed to Costco. John had the ingenious idea to shop there, park for free, and take the free (Circle Car) tram line around Melbourne. The idea almost worked, but we discovered we had to pay for parking anyway. Too many folks must have tried the same thing. Oh, well.

Costco is right next to Melbourne’s observation ferris wheel, the Star. The photo I’ve posted is taken looking out from Costco’s eating area. It’s always interesting to see types of food and prices in other countries. Definitely lots of variety!

We walked a few blocks to the City Circle around Melbourne. We learned from the recorded narration that Melbourne boasts of the largest tram system in the world. With over 500 trams serving a city of four million, 180 million trips are taken annually throughout 250 kilometers of double track. Melbourne has 110 ethnic groups–many Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean cultures, with over 170 languages spoken. It’s noticeably diverse, with the largest city market I’ve ever walked around. We spent several hours at the Queen Victoria Market, and I don’t think we saw even half of it. The photo I’ve posted shows only one building shed.k

While at the market, I discovered that we were very close to my nephew’s favorite coffee shop. (He did an internship in Melbourne.) Of course, we had to walk there. The shop is known for all its chairs hanging from the ceiling.

All the walking and sightseeing took its toll, and we decided to retrieve our car at Costco and head southwest to the coastal city of Geelong (guh-long). After an hour of my jumpy, nail-biting navigation (opposite driving, I say), we made it to our “Vue” apartment. We settled into the beautiful accommodations, walked around town, bought a few groceries, and proceeded to set off the smoke alarm while attempting to cook supper. Let’s say we are now acquainted with our neighbors.

And I think I broke the washing machine in our hallway that we share with said already-acquainted neighbor. She just stared at me and shrugged her shoulders when I told her I couldn’t understand why the washing machine had been going for over two hours. In fact, I couldn’t turn it off and open the door. It held our clothes hostage! Finally, though, the darn machine decided to unlock the door and spit out my clothes.

The other load will wait. Bedtime for bonzo.

Now that I’ve (sort of) figured out the bus system in Darwin, I caught the #6 bus to the Northwest Territory Museum and Art Gallery. Imagine my surprise when I stepped in to see the same bus driver who had been so kind to me yesterday. For variety, he changes bus routes occasionally, and he remembered me–even asking how the fabric store was! For about a mile, I was the only passenger on the bus, so we exchanged pleasantries. He delivered me right to the front of the museum. Open free-of-charge to the public, the visit turned out to be more than worth the $3 bus fare.

Highlights included a plethora of collections: butterflies, parrots, shells, boats, rocks, coral, sharks, baskets, didjeridus (different spelling here), etc.–as well as types of art: aboriginal art, moving video art, papier-mâché art, paintings, wall hangings, and even monster art (!)

The memorable stand-alone pieces included a 20-ft. high cathedral termite dwelling and the popular 17-ft. long “Sweetheart” stuffed crocodile. I understand that Sweetheart terrorized the fishermen of Darwin for years before he was finally captured and killed.

The other memorable display(s) involved the Cyclone Tracy exhibit room. This devastating storm hit on Christmas Eve, 1974, essentially wiping out the entire town. Darwin had to rebuild after several bombing attacks from the Japanese in 1942, so the town had a rough 20th century. It’s no wonder that most of the town’s structures are now made of reinforced concrete. The photo of a twisted railroad signal tower showed that even a riveted wrought iron structure could not withstand Tracy’s wrath.

After returning from the museum, I took my last swim in the hotel pool and then prepared for John’s farewell dinner with the family of the deputy project director. What nice words I heard from this administrator about John’s labors. It’s nice to be so appreciated.

Time to pack. We leave for Melbourne mid-day tomorrow.