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.

While John continued to slave away at the job site, I decided to become a bit more ambitious and check out the scene in the Darwin suburbs of Alawa (al-ow-ah) and Casuarina (kazh-you-ree-na).

I walked a few blocks to the main bus terminal, asked a friendly gal named Katherine about the right bus to catch, and we both happened to go on the same bus. She told me where to disembark, and I walked another few blocks in the tropical heat to the only quilt shop in this entire region with aboriginal-designed fabrics.

I really enjoyed talking with the shop owner, and I have two more sewing projects now–pillow cases and a wall hanging. Check out the fabric!

After the quilt shop, I hopped another bus to the largest shopping mall in this area. Another friendly woman, Barbara, showed me where to go at the mall to catch the correct bus back downtown. But first I ambled through the mall, bought John a wall calendar with Australian nature photos, ate at the food court, then went outside to wait on the bus. There on the bench sat Katherine! We chatted again, and I decided to be brave and catch a different bus that would end up at the same bus terminal. I’m glad I took this bus, because this route had more interesting scenery than the first.

Before John returned, I swam in the hotel pool and then continued reading one of my Australian books, We of the Never Never. It’s an autobiographical account of a 19th century woman who married in Darwin and traveled hundreds of miles into the bush to homestead a ranch. The writing style is similar to Mark Twain’s but not as sardonic. The author has interesting personification (e.g. a train “whistling merrily with hands in its pocket as it trudges along”) and beautiful nature descriptions.

After John returned, we walked over to the wharf to try another restaurant, then walked back in the dusk through the lighted trees.

Another great day!

I had another lazy day–swimming in the morning, reading in the afternoon when the rain storm hit, and walking to the wharf with John. We ate a quiet dinner at water’s edge while watching a pair of dolphins swim nearby.

I finally saw the power plant, but it was from a distance across the bay. I’ll never be able to go to the site, so what I saw from our outdoor dinner table was it. I snapped a shot of John (actually smiling!) with the power plant far away in the background. The photo of the rippling water barely caught the dolphins, but I captured the sunset quite well.

Australia has been “a sustained outbreak of joyousness.”

[quote taken from a drama production ad at the Sydney Opera House–why isn’t “joy” sufficient?]

As I write this post, it is 8:00 in the evening. John has been up since 4:00 a.m. and is still at the power plant. He’s waiting for his ride back to the hotel from a hard-working group of colleagues who evidently don’t know that it’s past dinner time. Ah, well. John has three more days at the plant. Hope they’re not all this long for him!

I spent the day washing clothes, swimming in the hotel’s salt-water pool, eating lunch beside the wave lagoon, shopping at one store for an Australian trinket, reading about Australian history, and watching a Telly interview with the new prime minister.

It’s been a restful day–at least for me.

P.S. He arrived at 9:20.

Our agenda changed from the original plan for an afternoon flight to a morning one. So we used our Opal cards (pre-paid transport) one last time in Sydney for train access to the domestic airport terminal.

Security entails a more streamlined process than what we go through in America: no shoe removal, and only aerosols, sharps, and laptops removed from bags. Many of the airport shops seemed familiar–McDonald’s, Bath and Body Works, and even Victoria’s Secret! Boarding the plane was much quicker than we see in the States. The first half of the assigned seats go through the jetway and into the front door, and the last half of the assigned seats walk down and out onto the tarmac, then up a stairway into the rear door. We last experienced this system in Argentina. It makes sense if the weather is good.

The very smooth flight lasted four hours. We essentially crossed the continent from south to north. It really is a “sun-burned country” as Bill Bryson wrote. Kilometers upon kilometers of no civilization. It struck me how few plants and water could be seen–and no clouds in the sky. Much of the landscape appeared to be leftover from an ugly paint gun battle, with huge splotches of tans on a red-orange base. I took several photos from the airplane window. As we drew closer to Darwin, clouds began to appear in the sky, and greens began creeping into view. By the time the plane began its descent across the Timor Sea coastline and back around into the airport, bright greens and blues of the water stood in contrast to the small city buildings. I’ve attached two photos to show the contrast of the bush country and the more tropical setting of Darwin.

We rented a small hatchback, and what fun we had going clockwise around several roundabouts! I’m not sure I will adapt to “opposite” driving. The hotel seems nice, but not much time could be afforded to explore. I did take two photos–one outside our room window that looks across a park area to the community wave pool (beaches around here are not safe for swimming with all the dangerous/poisonous creatures), and one photo of a magnolia-type of tree by the sidewalk. We had to run to Woolworths before sundown. It’s the only grocery store in the area, and John has to carry a sack lunch the next four days to the job site or he will starve. I had to take a few photos of the unusual food products–one being a tuna-bean mixture.

The alarm is set for four a.m. the next four days. Fun!

Our third day in Sydney involved riding a ferry boat to the Taronga Zoo, walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and more walking in “The Rocks” (old town) section of the city. We walked a mile more than we did yesterday (7 miles). We could lose a lot of weight if we made this much exercise a habit!

With continuing pleasant weather hovering in the mid-70s, we took a ferry boat across the harbour to the zoo. Along with the expected zebras, giraffes, elephants, and seals, we also viewed Tasmanian devils, quokkas, meerkats, and a plethora of poisonous critters. I mainly wanted to see the koalas and kangaroos, but all of these creatures were terribly lethargic, so much so that John suggested they must have been drugged. (He’s joking!) We learned that koalas take 20 hours to digest their standard fare of eucalyptus leaves, so that might explain their sluggishness. But I think the kangaroos were all lazy. Not a single one would hop for me. At least two saw me coming and flopped over on their sides. How rude! Grrrr.

After returning on the ferry boat, John and I walked up many flights of stairs to the end of the bridge, then proceeded to trek across it. He had wanted to walk up the bridge arch, but between my vertigo and parsimony, we stayed on the horizontal surface, passing several security guards along the way. We took the train back into the main part of the city and then wandered through rows of street vendors to purchase a few Australian-made trinkets. We heard and saw several street musicians, including one didgeridoo player.

A late dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant capped our day. Of course, I’m bushed but satisfied with another adventurous day.

The last photo I posted yesterday* was of a ladies’ restroom in the Opera House. Notice the purposefully wavy sinks. Today we’re going on a harbour boat cruise, so photos will be added tonight. Today’s goal is to keep on the sunscreen and stay hydrated.

*oops! It seems to have disappeared. Try again.