Drowsy days and sleepless nights

A week and a half after getting back from Australia I was still having trouble sleeping. I had been getting about an hour a night and nodding off at work (more than usual from the stupid anti-histamine I always have to take). I tried hot milk, hot toddy's, taking walks, working out, staying up until I was more exhausted than I am on only one hour's sleep. I was ready to scream and just barely functioning. I was afraid to drive. I finally called my physician. For me that is always a last resport. I hate prescriptions and treating symptoms. I would rather find the cause and treat that. I kept thinking about the following song.

"Now I lay me down not to sleep.
I just get tangled in the sheets.
I swim in sweat three inches deep.
I just lay back and claim defeat...
Lids down, I count sheep. I count heartbeats.
The only thing that counts is that I won't sleep...
My mind is racing, filled with lists
of things to do and things I've done.
Another sleepless night's begun..."

Who Needs Sleep? Song By Barenaked Ladies

The day before I was due to see my doc I mentioned the sleeping problems since returning from Australia to my chiropractor. She recommended Melatonin and Valerian Root. They sold a combination capsule with those two compounds in them plus Pasiflora. That did the trick and after a couple of nights taking those I caught up on my sleep and was able to adjust to the time change.

I have had friends with insomnia before and sympathized with them but could never really understand just how horrible it is not to be able to sleep. On the upside I did manage to clean my whole house and steam all my carpets during those sleepless nights. I can just think of better ways to do it. There is nothing quite as bad as trying to go to sleep when you just can't.

I had no problems with sleep on the trip over but coming back was an entirely different story.

Aboriginal Art

Australia has many accomplished artists but the ones that impressed me the most were the aboriginal artists. Something about their traditional "Dot" art with both abstract and concrete designs whether physical or metaphysical themes really moved me. Many designs are available in mass produced form silk screened on canvas and can be purchased here: Australian Native. Original works can be found at Ebay by searching on "Aboriginal Art".

Here are my favorite designs...

From left to right Platypus Mother and Child, Waterholes, Dreamtime Spirits.

Spirit of the Kangaroo

Billabong Dreaming

When meat pies attack and what is Vegemite anyway?

As the subject indicates this post has something to do with food in Australia. In particular it has everything to do with foods that are typically Australian (with some British influences). The foods I got to try that fit this description include:

• Vegemite
  This is yeast extract. Sounds weird. It's full of B vitamins, though. Kind of salty and an aquired taste but good on toast or crumpets. Beware on Crumpets it sticks in the holes so use sparingly.
• Yabbies
  Giant crawdads/creyfish. Good cooked like you would any seafood. Some get a foot long.
• Prawns
  Shrimp of gigantic proportions. These are excellent and can be found all over Australia.
• Morton Bay Bugs
  A crustacean found only in Morton Bay near Brisbane. Tastes like lobster and is great grilled.
• Fish and Chips with potato cakes
  Oily but good. I had this twice. I think the potato cake might be peculiar to Australia. It seems like a slice of a large potato breaded and fried. The fish is sometimes shark or other white fish. Light, mild and good. Served with malt vinegar over all.
• Crumpets
  A yeast based fried bread. Toasted before eating and usually served with butter and some sort of fruit spread. Also good with Vegemite.
• Donuts (not your typical USA donut)
  Lighter with a more delicate flavor than in the USA. Very good. There is also a filled variety but those were sold out the day we were at the Queen Vic market.
• Meat Pies and Meat Rolls
  Flakey pastery/pie crust made into small pies or rolls with a meat filling. The pies have a small hole in the top which often has Tomato Sauce squirted in it. Be sure to support the bottom of the pie at all times. They have a tendency to go blop when the bottom crust collapsed. Mine did this after only a couple of bites and I ended up wearing it on white slacks. The rolls are much safer eating.
• Tomato Sauce (it's not Catsup, it's not tomato sauce as we know it)
  It a little thinner than Catsup but not as thin as Tomato Sauce. It is spiced but not sure with what. I thought it tasted similar to Catsup until I had it side by side with Catsup. It's not as invasive as Catsup but is used as a condiment.
• Pawpaw
  An interesting fruit that is about the size of a cantelope and has a flesh similar in look and taste to that of a mango. Use like mangos. I had mine on cereal cute in cubes.

Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road stretches along the south eastern shore of Australia. It is home of some of the worlds most outstanding surf beaches and some of the most breathtaking views. If you have fear of heights this will be a white knuckle ride for you most likely. I know it was for me but it was worth every minute of terror to witness the amazing scenery. (I got this aerial photo from the internet. My driver didn't want to stop to let me take pictures but this shows it better than photos from the road level would have.)

The drive takes about 3 hours if you start near the Melbourne area. The image to the right will give you an idea of most of the drive. The road turns inland and traverses a primordial looking rain forest before returning to the shore. This is mainly because the rock turns to sandstone which is less stable and more susceptible to vibrations. The sandstone made the amazing formations known as the 12 Apostles possible as well as other natural formations along the lower Great Ocean Road.

This is one of the areas I would love to spend a weekend exploring if and when I return to Australia. The area around the 12 Apostles has many great hiking paths and historical signs about shipwrecks and rescues.

Here is a picture of the 12 Apostles although I am told only 10 remain. One of the formations collapsed earlier this year and can be seen in the foreground. In another million years there will likely be more formations as the current cliff face erodes.

There are some great little beach towns along the upper part of the drive. I recommend you sample the fish and chips on the beach or at a side walk cafe. There is some fun touristy shopping in the towns as well.

Sulfer Crested Cocky's in the yard

Sometimes the most mundane things turn out to be extraordinary.

One morning I was helping Jess hang laundry out to dry in the back yard and was amazed when she pointed out a Sulfur Crested Cockatoo sitting in the tree eating green plums. A few minutes later another one showed up.

I don't care what you say they are cooler than robins and sparrows and such. I did not realized they were indigenous to Australia.

Sebastian was so excited he kept pointy and exclaiming Cocky, Cocky!

Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary

Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary is a bit of a drive from Melbourne but well worth the trip if you like animals. It is one of the best small sanctuaries I have seen in my travels. It is even better because it features all indigenous animals, plants and birds.

I had been insistent about seeing a platypus and finally got to see some at Healsville. Here is one playing in an indoor habitat. They are nocturnal and extremely had to see in the wild unless you find a constructed viewing area to spy on them without intruding on them. I have always been fascinated by this mammal. They build burrows up under the river banks and can grow to about 2 ft in length. The males have poison spurs on their hind legs. This is a youngish platypus and was only about a foot long.

We also got to see dingos. The keepers walk them through the park so you can see them up close. Here is a picture of one settling down in the shade after his walk.

I found an interesting site for the Dingo sanctuary (a separate effort from Healsville), which is dedicated to helping to perpetuate pure dingo bloodlines and perpetuate the species.

Of course no visit to Australia would be complete without koalas and kangaroos. I got to see some wild koalas at Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary near Brisbane (see the Daisy Hill post) but never did see a kangaroo in the wild despite that everyone swore up and down that they were as common as pigeons are in the USA.

Some of the visitors were feeding the kangaroos so we were able to get very close to them. I got to pet one on the head. They have very soft fur. I expected it to be coarse to the touch.

I never did find out if the males have pouches too or just the females. I am not sure why they would but hey ya never know. I guess I will have to look that up on the web and find out.



Here is a koala up close. We were about 6 feet from this one at Healsville. They were all having an afternoon snack and blissing out on eucalyptus leaves. I guess that is mostly what they do. There are many other organizations working to save wild Koalas in addition to Daisy Hill which I was lucky enough to visit Save the Koala is very active and worth visiting their web page if you love these furry wonders.

To the right is an echidna. Very cool little animal that looks a bit like a hedgehog. He is a little hard to see. They had food in the stump and the top cut off and screened over so you could watch them eat.

Drive in movies

I was surprised to find out that Australia has drive-in movies. I don't know of one in the Wilmington vicinity that is still open. In the USA the land is more valuable for houses, shopping, business parks, etc. When I was told that drive-ins are still being built in Australia I knew I wanted to go to one just for nostalgia.

Phil's daughter Jess is so hard working, like most moms, and likes Harry Potter. I thought it would be a great chance to give her a treat and take her to see Goblet of Fire. We went to the Coburg Drive-In.

Coburg boasts 3 screens and has a 50s style diner concessions stand. I had to laugh at the concessions menu they give you when you pay your admission. It lists the offerings on the menu but then also gives instructions to text message them on your cell phone so they can deliver your snacks to the car. I guess that is what happens when old meets new but I found it terribly funny. We had snuck in our own snacks though so I did not get a chance to try this out.

Another difference from the old drive-ins that I recall, you tuned in the sound over your car radio. There were still some posts with the classic speakers so you could enjoy the familiar tin can sound of the old time sound for drive-in purists.

One tip don't try to impress your friends with a dragon imitation by using a Christmas tree dorito as the flame. It comes off as something less than authentic and they just make fun of how silly you are! ;-) Also, make sure you are rested before going. LOL I dozed off and they complained it was hard to hear over my snoring. (I did offer to sit in the back seat and let Jess up front ...

Sunbury / Organ Pipes Park

A great trip for part of a day is Organ Pipes Park just outside of Sunbury. Be sure to wear good walking / hiking shoes and dress for the weather. Take lots of water. It is not a long hike but getting in and out is very steep.

I am told that platypus live in the stream but there is no viewing area so you would be very lucky indeed to spot one.

The three major rock formations in the park are the result of volcanic activity. An ancient eruption filled the stream
bed with lava. When the modern stream eroded the rock over time it revealed some very unique formations. They are Organ Pipes, Roseate Stone and Tessellated Pavement. The image above right is Tessellated Pavement. Below left is Organ Pipes and Below Right is Roseate Stone.

Melbourne / Meeting "The Aussies"

Other than Phil, Jess, Bastion and Wayne I did not meet the rest of the online Aussies until later in the week. One of the reasons I went when I did was to go to Phil's 50th birthday party. His family had two parties -- one in Sunbury and one in Brisbane at his sisters.

The online friends had a dinner at a superb Malaysian Restaurant in Melbourne. The owner is a wonderful host and looks just like Jackie Chan. Unfortunately all of my pictures taken that night were very blurry. ...No, I was NOT drinking. :-P

From left to right in this picture are Phil aka Elffil, John aka Gonzo (hidden behind Phil), Davidaka Adorac, Monika, Rhani aka Rhani, Chris aka Bannock.



On the far left are John aka Mord and Jess aka Madchick.

The aka's are the gaming names of the folks I know from playing World of Warcraft which is how this all started. Well that and having been part of the Stormcrows online gaming community which I helped to found about 6 years ago, now. It's been great because of the really down to earth people who have become my friends through gaming.

Just don't ask my friend Cheryl in Philadelphia though cause she thinks folks on the net are mostly kooks, weirdos, and insane people. Oh hmm well she knows me so she might have a point!

Brisbane / O'Reilly's Rainforest

About a half hour inland from the Gold Coast you enter rainforested mountains. There were a number of sights we did not see along the road that I would love to go back and explore. One was a natural bridge. Another was a winery with a platypus observation area. Our destination, though, was O'Reilly's. O'Reilly's is knows for it's rainforest walk, the tame birds and a well known plane crash and rescue from the 1920's.

The day was foggy and we needed to be back in Brisbane for dinner so we focused on the Rain Forest walk. The walk meanders through a rain forest that is home to Strangling Fig trees, exotic birds and other varied wild life.

Here is a huge old Strangling Fig tree. These trees grow around other trees and strangle them. Eventually the host tree dies leaving only the hollow fig behind.

Further on you come to a walkway suspended above the forest floor. I managed to white knuckle my way across fear of heights and all. There is a series of ladders at one point that can be used to ascend to the canopy of the forest. We did not try this because of the weather but if I return I will do it. (I just won't look down on the climb!)

Brisbane / Gold Coast

The Gold Coast near Brisbane is similar to Miami Beach -- lot's of money, lots of beach, lots of fun, culturally diverse.

There was a LOT of building going on when we were there (mainly high rise apartments and hotels).

We spent a morning driving around to see the sights, watch some bunge jumpers and reverse bunge jumpers , and stopped to walk along the beach and wade in the South China Sea. Then it was off to O'Reilly's Rain Forest walk.

Brisbane / Daisy Hill Koala Refuge

Daisy Hill Koala Refuge is adjacent to a suburban neighborhood in Brisbane -- the neighborhood where Phil's sis and bro in-law live. While it is dedicated to the preservation of Koala's, it is also home to Wallaby's, native birds, spiders, kangaroo's.

Despite it's urban location it is a peaceful refuge for people as well as native wildlife. We saw hikers and joggers as well as the visitors in autos. There is a long circular route with 5 or 6 parking areas spaced equidistance around the refugee. The first parking area is adjacent to the observatory.

We spent a good while walking in various parts of the park and managed to spot two Koala's, a lot of Wallaby's, a Kookaburra, and some amazing spiders.

Brisbane / Mt. Coot-tha

I have loved trains of any kind since I was a kid. I think this comes from growing up riding Santa Fe trains all over the western U.S.A.. Our whole family got to ride free on dad's Santa Fe pass. That was a real luxury for a working class family in the 1950's. It was an experience that engendered a life long love of trains and riding trains.

Phil's sister works near the main train terminal in downtown Brisbane. When we got to take the train from the Brisbane airport to meet Phil's sister for lunch downtown, it was a fun and interesting experience. Brisbane, unlike Melbourne, has a distinctly European feel to it.

Phil's sis was generous and loaned us her car for our whirlwind tour of Brisbane. That made it so much easier to see some of the sights. Our first stop was Mt. Coot-tha. Mt. Coot-tha is a mountain outside of town that boasts a Botanical Garden, Planetarium, and look out area.

Although it was rainy during our visit, it was possible to see quite a long way from the top of Mt. Coot-tha. To the left is a picture of the city of Brisbane from the lookout area.

We walked around and had some coffee at the restaurant. It was a great place to relax. We had coffee and hot chocolate on the patio. Fortunatly the patio was roofed as it started raining.

Brisbane is very humid even when it is not raining. It was unseasonable cool when we were there and it was still one of the most humid places I have ever visited. I can't imagine what it is like with over 100 degree (F) temperatures in the summer. Be prepared if you visit there.

Hitchhiking in Australia

While in Australia my friend Phil had planned a trip up to Brisbane to visit his sister for his birthday. We were booked to fly JetStar which departs from an airport way out in the country rather than Tulamarine near Melbourne. I back figured the time and set the alarm so we would have ample time to get up, shower, do some last minute packing and head off to catch our flight.

We set off for the airport with plenty of time to spare. As we made our way onto the road heading out of Sunbury, Phil mentioned something about being low on gas and that we should stop at the next town and get some. I really did not have any idea where that might be so I said OK and did not think much of it. As we turned onto a not so busy country road some ways out of town the car suddenly stopped. Out of gas!

Phil was berating himself and somewhere in there I discovered he had not stopped in town because he thought the time was an hour later than it really was and figured we could stop in the next town for some gas. He was beating himself up so badly... I figured I might as well take the positive approach and pointed out that hitchhiking in Australia would make a great story when I got home. We had plenty of time and no other recourse. We walked back to the road we had turned off of as it was a direct shot to town and more likely to have cars so we could hitch a ride back for some gas. Back we go heading towards Sunbury on foot.

It is odd how you learn to judge time and distance by your means of travel. I didn't think we were all that far outside of town. It had not taken all that long to get where we were by car after all. We stepped out onto the main road though and away it stretched into the distance.... I began to realize this could be a really long walk. There was nothing for it but to keep going.

I asked Phil if it might make more sense to wait until we saw a car coming towards town and then try to thumb a ride. His reply was, "We don't pick up people who are not already trying to get to their destination." So we keep walking. A truck pulled over but it was illegal to ride in the back so that was a wash. A bit later a woman and her son pulled over and were able to give us a ride back to town. This is when you realize just how long a walk it could have been. All the road you ignored on the way out suddenly looks a lot different on the back.

Phil ran into an acquaintance at the gas station who gave him a ride back out to the car. I waited at the gas station since he only had room for one person. It seemed to take them a while to return. When we were back on the road Phil explained how the nozzle on the can had been defective and they had to devise a make shift funnel. I had to laugh because there wasn't much else to do at that point.

This ate up our spare hour and then it really was the time Phil thought it was when we set out. All's well that ends well as the old saying goes. We got to the airport and found the flight had been delayed 20 minutes so we ended up making it in plenty of time after all.

Blue Stone Buildings

For those folks not familiar with Delaware one of it's claims to fame is Blue Granite also known as blue rock or blue stone. I don't know why I thought that Blue Granite was a unique to Delaware geology -- but I did. I had just never thought to look into it.

It turns out that Blue Granite is, also, very common across much of the United States. It is the state rock of South Carolina and part of the reason the Blue Ridge Mountains are so named according to information I found on the internet since I returned home.

Blue Granite is definatly very common around Sunbury, Victoria, AU. Many of the Blue Stone buildings in Sunbury were built by convict labor with hand hand hewn stone.

This is the old Gaol (Jail) built of blue stone.















St. Mary's Anglican church on the village green in Sunbury. One of the best blue stone buildings I saw.

Fairy Penguins on Phillip Island

A couple of hours southeast of Melbourne is an beautiful seashore area. This area is home to many kinds of native Australian wildlife. One of the most well known are the Fairy Penguins. They are now called the Little Penguins as that is more politically correct. Oi!

At any rate, these amazing little birds hunt for food during the day and come home to nest at night. Visitors are welcome to observe this ritual any evening. The little penguins swim up to the beach and congregate in groups at the waters edge. When their buddies have all arrived they troupe up the hillside to their burrows in the shrubby hillsides. A group on the beach is pictured above. No photographs are allowed to protect the penguins so this image was scanned from a postcard.

Here are some photos of the Observatory where you can look into Penguin Burrows.

This is one of those places you really have to experience to get the full effect. It was somewhat cold the night we went and very windy as the land cooled and the winds turned inland. There was a cacophony of bird chatter with the mating of the penguins and the cries of the seagulls. The skies were clear and the heavens so unobscured by light interference as in most areas in the U.S. that Mars and Venus could be easily seen and were some of the brightest bodies in the sky.

Next stop Melbourne (by way of LA)...

How long does it take to get to Melbourne from the USA? It depends on your flight. At least 15 hours for a direct flight from Los Angeles plus another 6 hours from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, though. Tack on a lay-over or two and it totals a day or more to actually get there.

I advise traveling on Thanksgiving if you can (not sure what other holidays are like). On Thanksgiving day the plane was lightly booked and everyone was able to stretch out and sleep across two, three, or four seats. As a result I was able to sleep on most of the trans-oceanic flight. That made adjusting to the time change on the way over very easy. The odd thing was I even ended up on the same sleep schedule I have on the east coast of the U.S. -- go to sleep between 9pm - 11pm and get up between 5am - 7am. Strange but true.

I had arranged to stay with my friend Phil, his daughter Jess and grandson Sebastian (3 1/2). They live in Sunbury which is considered a suburb of Melbourne. Sunbury is a great town and has a suprisingly rich history. Do check the above link and scroll down for information on Sunbury.

Here is a pic of Sebastian. He is a great kid. I dunno how people keep up with 3 - 4 year olds except to say they are easily distracted and that helps.

Anyway back to Sunbury.... I believe in the United States it would be considered more of a bedroom community. Sunbury has more rural feel to it although it is a town of about 30,000 people. This is due to lower overall population in Australia. (Australia has the land mass of the United States but a fraction of the population -- most of whom live along the coastline.) The highway between Sunbury and Tullamarine airport looked much like the picture below. The main exception being a large numberof wineries. The entire Yarra River valley seemed to be packed with wineries and I would love to go back and sample them all!

Here is a picture of a roadside view on the way to Sunbury.

The cloud in the middle is actually smoke from a bush fire. Much of Australia has been under a drought for some time and brush fires are a very real threat. Most of the trees I saw were either a variety of gum tree or evergreens. Both are highly flammable -- explosively so in a drought.

Melbourne

This seems a bit odd to say but we only went into Melbourne 3 times. The first time we took the train in and rode the trams to sight see what we could from them. We, also, stopped for fish and chips for lunch and one of the top rated fish and chips restaurants. The second was to take my friend Phil to dinner for his birthday a week later. The third was to go to Queen Victoria Market (Shown below).

I love flea markets and open air markets so Queen Victoria was a huge treat. I have never seen anything quite like it in size or scope.

I took the picture on the left to try to give some idea just how big this place is. The structures on the left are all filled with vendors and there were just as many on the right out of the frame.

I got some aboriginal art prints and various gifts for friends. In hind sight I should have gotten a few more things while I was there. Sigh! See the upcoming post on the art to see what I got and links to buy them on the web.

The market runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The hours vary so check ahead of time.

The picture on the left is Phil shopping in the meat and seafood area. The second is just a view of one of the many buildings that housed vendors with other merchandise.

And so it begins...

This is the beginning of a series of posts about my vacation to Australia.

This all started about 3 or 4 months ago when a friend of mine that I know from online gaming with The Stormcrows invited me to come to his 50th birthday party. There are 7 or 8 folks from the Crows guild that live in the Melbourne area. I thought it would be great to actually meet the folks I have talked to on Teamspeak for some time now and shared so many online adventures with.

The other motivator was needing a change in my life. While trying to help my best friend last year when she was battling a very aggressive form of breast cancer, I realized what a rut I was in with my own health and life and that life is precious and short and time is ticking. (Cheryl is doing great now, and I am working on losing weight and taking better care of my health, also.) I figured what the heck, going to Australia sounded like just the sort of treat I needed.

Nothing is ever simple, though. Sometime over the past 6 years, since I moved into my house, my birth certificate, marriage license, divorce decree, social security card, prior passport all got lost or misplaced. Sooo..., before I could apply for my passport, I had to replace all or most of the above. (Good thing I started planning this early.) fortunately, the forms and instructions for all of the above are now available on the internet. That made things much easier.

I finally got my passport and my visa for Australia (also available online -- ...took about 5 minutes to apply and secure this since I was just visiting) and was able to book my flights with confidence -- sort of. I shopped all the online cheep fare sites such as www.travelocity.com, www.airgorilla.com, www.expedia.com and others. I was a bit annoyed, however, to find that they all wanted to book the Philadelphia to Los Angeles leg through American or United, both of which were looking financially very shaky at the time I booked. My brother in law suggested Southwest as being reliable and solvent. That turned out to be the solution. I just booked the two legs seperatly and paid $1300 for Los Angels to Melbourne round trip and $200 for Philadelphia to Los Angeles. I, also, had the peace of mind of flying on finacially stable airlines.

The adventure had really begun.

No Internet Friends to visit? No worries!

I was lucky in planning my trip. I had internet friends who offered me a place to stay. That helped tremendously. People asked if I were concerned about visiting and meeting people I had only known on the web. My answer was "Not at all." I had the advantage of having known them for some time and talked to them often using voice over internet for quite a few months first.

No internet friends to put you up? You might want to consider couch surfing....

I came across an article at www.cnn.com for the budget minded traveler with some interesting ideas for economizing. Europe for two, under $1,200 I would definitely try this as well as hosting people. I am going to look into hosting some folks this year or next to see how that goes. www.couchsurfing.com is one site to check out as well as Couch Surfing Hospitality Site Listing.

About Australia...

I was really suprised to find out that Australia is about the same land mass as the continental United States. When I mentioned this to other people they were surprised too. Everyone knows its an island continent but the island part seems to mislead most.

While it is a huge country/continent, it is not nearly as populous as the USA. Most of the inhabitants live around the perimeter on the coast line.

I found a number of good web sites with information about Australia but The World Fact Book (a CIA web site) give a clear and precise thumbnail sketch of the country. It's worth a read. This is also a great site for looking up basic profiles of lots of countries throught the world.

Welcome to AnneAZonia

Hi and welcome to my blog. I finally decided to clean things up and start fresh with info about my Australia vacation that started on Thanksgiving day 2005. More to come when I get home tonight.