15 ) Byron Bay -- "Boulder on the Beach"

We decided on a change from cool rainforest hikes, so we journeyed down to Byron
Bay (or, as Dave Vaughan has accurately referred to it, "Boulder on
the Beach") for the solstice weekend, sure that we'd find a groovy
vibe down there. We had a fine breakfast at the "Byronian Cafe" where
Dirk enjoyed the menu possibly more than the breakfast. Legal drugs,
anyone?

Nancy was keen to see dolphins up close and personal, so we signed up
for the "Dolphin kayak adventure" in Byron Bay. The company asked for
feedback after our trip, and it was a bit difficult to rate our
"adventure" on a scale of one to ten. Dirk was forced to paddle with
Nancy on a two-person sit-upon kayak through calm, dolphin-less,
turtle-less, murky mangrove water of the Richmond River and Shaw's
Bay. No exciting ocean dolphin dodging for us! But to be fair, the
sign-up people neglected to tell us that recent excessively large rain
events have affected the estuary ecosystem a bit. Sediment and
pesticides (from the sugarcane farms) and cows (yes, cows) washed down
from Hinterland into the bay, causing enormous fish kill and
sedimentation of the river. The sharks moved in and have had a great
time with the drowned cows and freshly dead fish, though the surfers
are trying to stay clear of the area 'til things settle down a bit
more. The dump trucks have finished hauling away the piles of dead
fishes, and it's been two weeks since the last surfer was lost to a
shark, so things are beginning to look up for the area.

The highlight of the tour was actually a visit to the Sea Bird Rescue
Center. Here we viewed two bird species we'll probably never see
again--a Black-browed Albatross and two Northern Giant-Petrels (see video at bottom). Found
on the beach as apparent victims of exhaustion (i.e. they're not from
around here), the two petrels were set to be released yesterday, as
they were recovering well. We're keeping our fingers crossed the make
it home to the southern seas! It was odd to see these two magnificent
birds paddling around in a duck pond, but we were told they needed
up-drafts to take flight, so they were virtually unable to go anywhere
'til their release. After a fishy breakfast, the two birds had an
amusingly splashy bath while we watched. The Albatross had an ok
prognosis, she was found being battered around in the waves. Still in
the process of elimination of possible problems, steroids seemed to be
helping her find her legs again. We hope she makes it. There were
also a number of turtles in various stages of recovery. We learned
that floating turtles are not a good thing. They're *supposed* to
sink. Not sinking means they have really bad gas, meaning bad
digestion, meaning they've eaten something they're not supposed to.
Like plastic bags that wreak havoc on their intestines. Ok, Nancy's
time for a soapbox. Please use cloth bags as much as you can!
Plastic is forever (100's of years at least!) and is really creating a mess of things!
(To L - Total intestinal blockage created by a small amount of ingested plastic - this one died)

On a slightly more exciting (compared to the adventure kayak) tramp
out along the beach and up to Cape Byron and the Lighthouse. (below - Dirk ready for launch!)

Here, we
did get spectacular ocean views, as well as getting to see humpback
whales spouting and breaching, and dolphins cavorting in the waves.
The whale migration is apparently just beginning, so we hope to see
more of these big guys. And when Dirk gets his captain's license, we
hope to see more dolphins! A sunset dinner on the beach of
approved-choice Fish (Hoki) and chips without sauce (Aussie ketchup),
but with locally brewed ginger-cranberry juice rounded out the day.

14 ) Lamington -- the park, not the "treat"

Lamington is another local national park, so we took a jaunt up there for a look-see. We took a nice hike down towards a waterfall, but
didn't make it quite there. These 5pm winter sunsets are killing
us--the days are just too short (in OZ the parks have a more "take care of yourself" attitude than the litigious US - the trail crossed multiple places where a misstep would lead to a serious bit of airtime! No place to be sans headlamp in the dark!) We're glad the solstice has now
marked the turnaround time for day length. But Lamington had more
lovely temperate rainforest scenery and unidentified bird calls.
We're starting to get the gregarious black and white raven/magpie type
birds sorted out, after a Currawong posed nicely for us, though.
There's the pied currawong, the Australian Magpie, the pied butcherbird, the magpie-lark (or Australian magpie lark). Or maybe
just combine the words pied/Australian/magpie, and the bird probably
exists! We also saw a little "Pandemelon" that looked like a
mini-kangaroo. (Luckily the nearby informative signage told us there
may be pandemelons present in the area, and even had a picture for us
to compare our pandemelon to, otherwise you may ask how we were able
to positively identify a Pandemelon in the wild!).

Nancy is getting psyched for a "Great Walk" run, if she can stop eating cakes and pies
and start running again. It's possible to run between Lamington and
Springbok on what is known as a "Great Walk" route, if you manage not
to twist an ankle and lurch off of the unrestricted cliffs hidden in
by the lush vegetation or get taken out by something poisonous or
what-have-you. However, given the predilection for a bakery on every
corner, and a distinct lack of close-by local running trails, right
now the bakeries are coming out the winner in the number of calories
consumed versus the number of calories burned, and this may not happen
before winter (good running temperatures) is over and the great "hot"
begins. But the locals we stood aside for on the trail as they ran
past were training for a "challenge" race means there are at least
some trail runners nearby. But, no time to chat to discuss
details--must be an oxygen thing--too much here. I was always willing
to stop for a breather on those alpine runs, right Michelle?!
Speaking of endurance events, we haven't signed up yet for the Kokoda
Trek in PNG. After seeing the movie "Kokoda" about the brilliant
Aussie defence in WWII as the Japanese were making
their way across PNG, we decided leeches and mud and tropical humidity
may not be our thing... But Glenn, we do want to see those birds!

13) Ascetic in Ozland

One small issue with traveling 1/2 way around the world and renting a 3 bedroom house.

It's empty. I mean monk's-cell empty. We did break down and get a memory-foam mattress from some brits who were heading home (the thought of 3 months waiting for our ship (..to come in?) and sleeping on thermarests (been there, done that) was too much.) We have reading lamps and Nancy got a bedside table (I have en empty suitcase that serves. We have some speakers to connect to the laptop for iTunes.

Molly has a cat scratching post. And a mousie.


Our Yoga instructor has been telling us for years that "chairs are the primary cause of back and hip problems in the US". We we can sit on the floor for meals (or stand at the kitchen "bench")

So we have been asking the question - what do we really NEED anyway?!!! Many people told us to take less stuff - that we wouldn't need/use most of the stuff that clutters our lives.

So Dirk broke down first at a local craft fair - stunning crosscut slab of camphor laurel wood made into a coffee table (still sitting on the floor eh?). The craftsman is a classic Aussie - a tad disheveled, slightly red, fair dinkum rough, a bit sun-mad. When he dropped the table off the conversation went thusly:


him: "So what other furniture have you got?"
us: "none"
him: "So what do you sit on to watch the telly?"
us: "We don't have a telly"
him: "Oh. Good way to have a lot of kids then, eh?"

He (the furniture maker mind you) then walked into our empty house, eyed the expansive sweep of living room, the vacant deck, the echoing hall, the vacuous dining room, and pronounced "Hey, we could do a lot with this place!"

But we have our table. And lo, the floodgates have opened.
Next stop - Ikea in Brissy!

12 ) Molly's home!

After a trip of 8000+ miles, 30 days in an open-air quarantine and many treatments for her non-existent parasites, Molly finally arrived at the Coolangatta Airport! Nancy went by bus as Dirk was in class, but Dirk drove down to to chauffeur everyone home. Upon arriving home Molly spent a tentative 5 min under the bed but had explored the entire place, (including the "loft storage area" which we need a ladder to get to!) by the end the night.



Molly's enjoying the view from all the floor to ceiling windows that are at eye level with the tree canopy, and watches the birds fly to and fro. She wore herself out in a frenzy of exploring and challenging the miner birds right on the other side of the glass. The cockatoo that landed on the deck railing was larger than her, and both she and the black and white butcher birds made lunges toward each other[Note from Dirk - I would bet on the birds - those are WICKED bills on those things!]. Luckily, she won't be going outside and communing with all the parasites, so she won't be able to get to the birds, and they won't be able to get to her!





She is enjoying her Aussie catnip and is definitely of the opinion that we don't NEED any furniture - she has a bed to sleep on, a food dish, a water feature to drink out of, a cardboard box to hide behind, a huge wood floor to chase a passle of toys across! Cat heaven!!!!!

11 The Lost World

Sunday Found us heading for Spring Brook National Park: "Springbrook National Park is recognised as part of one of the world's most outstanding and valuable places. In December 1994, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee officially declared the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area over the Scenic Rim (including Lamington and Springbrook National Parks and most of Main Range and Mount Barney National Parks) and the rainforests of northern New South Wales."

"Less varied than the wet tropical rainforests of north Queensland, these rainforests include warm temperate, cool temperate, sub-tropical and dry rainforests. This property contains the world’s most extensive subtropical rainforest and nearly all of the world’s Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforest. (note Nancy to R of Falls)




Rainforests on both sides of the border contain more frog, snake, bird and marsupial species than anywhere else in Australia. This site provides a home for many rare and threatened plants and animals and ancient life forms." http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/world_heritage_areas/gondwana_rainforests_of_australia/

It was a cool and rainy day - downright chilly up at the "Best of All Overlooks" which provides views of the caldera Rim and looks out to Mt Warning - a ancient volcanic plug (everything here is old - back to Gondwanna Days! (high point just to Nancy's R)


[One of many passages behind fallen cliff blocks]













We took one of the shorter tracks (the best long Warrie Track was closed due to flood damage and landslides). Lots of great bird song but very frustrating trying to SEE the vocalists! [Note - I am sure we heard the somewhat rare and wondrous Albert's Lyrebird (Menura alberti) . The Lyre birds song is about 80% mimicry and we heard lots of birds so it seems likely one of was a Lyrebird mimicking something else. We never SAW it mind you but hey - its a jungle out there [Note: this is why Nancy won't let me TOUCH her life-list!]

This will be a great place to explore when the days get longer and hotter - potentially good running terrain with great cooling spots! Best of all - when you leave there is this [a truly inspiring selection of fudge at a local shop] ! (DV- eat you heart out!)

10) The Great Custard Apple Experiment

So you may recall the Groovy New Age Herbal Lady (who scolded me for taking a photo of her custard apples) responded to our inquiry about the taste of the curious things with the insightful "like apples - with custard!"

This seemed a tad unlikely to me for an item also known as "bullock's heart or bull's heart", so being a good empiricist (ha!) I decided a test was required.

So I purchased the offended fruit: (the one on the upper right - the others will just have to remain souless...) [FYI - Custard Apples are a sub-tropical deciduous tree belonging to the Annonaceae family. This family contains over 2000 members spread throughout the world. Of this family, it is the atemeoya, a hybrid of the Annona genus, that Australia's commercial cultivars derive from. http://www.custardapple.com.au/info.php




I then bought a quite good Pink
Lady apple and began the testing.







First, you have to realize that de-seeding a custard apple is an art form in itself. You either use a potato masher or a blender ("for a 2 sec burst"). Since we don't have a blender and the masher seemed to have little effect, I opted to seeding by hand.


Those who are really observant will note that the custard apple is about 40% seeds by volume. Seeding it took about 10 minutes {by way of comparison, the apple took 90 secs to chop... hmmmm).

But then the moment of truth arrived and I plopped on the local version of vanilla custard and lo and behold....

9) Bond, as in "James"...... not stirred

Bond University - my new academic home. I started classes (SAD II) two days after we arrived on the Gold Coast. A tremendous change from CU - only five students in my class this term! It is a small and quite beautiful campus, great technology support (that I am still learning), and a highly international student body.
[Left - view from my office. Above: "The Arch" (where my office is) from across the fountain]

Bond prides itself on being only one of two private universities in AU. It has the highest faculty/student ratio in AU, highest student satisfaction ratings, highest graduate starting salaries and some of the best measures of any AU university. Of course, it is all in what you chose as measures! But it has great research support for a small school with limited access to gov't monies and has great facilities.

That is the famous shark fountain ["don't swim in there mate! th'ar only little ones but they'll take a mean bite outa'ya! Too right!"] The ocean - the ENTIRE S Pacific!) is beyond that tall building in the back right. 8 minutes on a bike!

8) Things they do in AU

Nuff said I think....
























Oh yeah I am there EVERY
weekend for "the feeling of the worms"...


















Which catches what - English professors?










This would be us I guess....

7) Wild and Wooly Weather!

It's raining cats and dogs, beaches are "closed" today on the Gold Coast. Dangerous surf, we suppose.









Yesterday we watched the kite boarders at Elephant rock. No, no oliphants to be seen... Serious business, this stuff! These must have been the 5.13c kite boarders, skirting the rocks, jumping the waves.[ huge - I mean seriously huge!].. Dirk is ready to sign up for lessons, but may wait on the huge, I mean huge, jumping wave part (I hope..) [No - he did not stick the landing!]

6) Another park, another Sunday

Nancy was excited to find the Sunday morning organic farmer's market just up the street in Miami, near Nobby (suburbs seem to meld quickly into one another--being only a few km in size), so that we're able to set "Ethicurean" food plans into action. (Another new word for us: Ethicurian- "food that is tasty, sustainable, organic, local and ethical".) Even though yesterday was the first day of winter, which sensibly(?) starts at the beginning of the month (rather than on the Equinox), the market appears to be flourishing. Plenty of rocket lettuce (arugula), happy chook (chicken) eggs, jicama, capsicum (bell peppers), bananas, avos and more, as well as custard apples.

The curious "custard apples" begged Dirk for a picture, but he was chastised by the Groovy New Age Herbal (pronounced with the "H") tea lady for not asking permission to take photographs of the fruits ( - steals the soul of the food... or something). We were pleased to learn that a Custard Apple" tastes "like an apple, with custard" (so the Groovy New Age Herbal lady tells us). We are eagerly awaiting its ripening to form our own opinion. If we had a blender, we would follow the Custard Apple Grower's Association website (http://www.custardapple.com.au/) tip to "put custard apple flesh in a blender and whiz for 2 seconds only, so the seeds will scoop out easily." Or perhaps we could test the assurance that "A cocktail comes alive with 400g custard apple flesh, juice of 1 lemon and 185ml gin." Whizzing and coming alive sound like fun things to do! We just love the cheeriness of everyday Aussie talk. It's difficult to hide our "charming North American" accent (they keep saying WE have an accent!), but maybe we'll get the hang of the slang sometime here.


We ambled on over to the "Green Day Out--the World Environment Day Festival" yesterday at a park in Currumbin. We learned that "World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action." We don't see any events planned in Boulder in recognition of the Day, so maybe you'll want to use your imagination to address the World Environment Day slogan for 2008, which is "Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy ." Our local festival was sponsored by GECKO, the Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council, a regional environmental group that Nancy may be joining up with.

There's hippies here to rival the rainbow children in Boulder, but there's evidence Australians can be Eco-friendly. We're gratified to find that recycling is "de rigeur," with every household supplied with a recycling bin, where non-sorted recyclables are collected weekly with the garbage. Furthermore, last year Australia became the first nation in the world to ban traditional light bulbs.

Among other Eco things, we learned, along with the children on the "Mangrove Walking Tour" that Pneumatophores are snorkels for the mangroves to obtain oxygen in their anaerobic soils (when covered by water in high tide, they transform into "SCUBA" tanks, we were told). Is this what we were missing, when unable to breathe, in our tabata workout?