A Real Australian Tea

The Geography Department at the university invited our family over for “tea”.  We (me and the kids) had never been to a tea so we weren’t sure what to expect.  Matt said not to stress it would be very casual.  It turned out to be just that.  It was quite delightful actually.  I had met Sonya, from the department but no one else.  The entire department turned out, all were very kind and I could see why Matt had had a wonderful experience here. 

The refreshments were wonderful as well, almost too pretty to eat (almost!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t hold back though, I had to hurry and snatch these photos before it was all devoured. 

We also got to see Matt’s office – I have to say it looks kind of drab but he pointed out that he hadn’t been here that long and didn’t bring any type of decorations with him.  That’s true.  I do like the color of his chairs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the tea we thought we’d go over to the bookstore and buy a t-shirt or something since we’d be leaving on Monday.  When we got there we didn’t actually see t-shirts but the pullover hoodies were $72.  Really??  Needless to say, we didn’t pick any up.  We really miss the prices we find in the States.   We love this country, hate the cost of everything!

One last week in Armidale

On Monday we leave to begin traveling around the interior part of Australia (I think this is what they refer to as the Outback, not sure, still learning the terms). We’ll be on a walkabout for about a month, so this week we are doing all we can to get ahead on homework and other things not knowing what our internet situation will be like in the coming of weeks.

Because of this we don't have a lot happening. I’ve had a little time to spend reading and have managed to finished a couple more books - The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Society by Alexander McCall Smith. My book club read both of these several years ago. I'm finally getting around to reading some of the books that got skipped because of my crazy work schedule.

On Sunday, we were invited over for dinner at the Branch President's ranch. They're a wonderful family who moved here a few years ago from WA (Westernn Australia - Perth area, no one ever says Western Australia or Southern Australia - it's always WA or SA).
They live on a ranch (I made the mistake of calling it a farm --- It's not a farm, it's a ranch) about 40k south of Armidale. Todd, the BP runs about 80 head of cattle on just over a hundred acres. Along with the beef cattle he has a bunch of chickens (chokes), milk cows, goats, horses, doves, dogs, you name it. It's a full fledge job just keeping up with the animals. Natalie seems to love ranch life and says it’s a great place for her kids to grow up. Hannah felt right at home! She'd love to live on a ranch like this. I’m sure we’ll be getting chickens when we get home. She’d love to have more but unfortunately, we don’t have animal rights.

 

 

Since we aren't doing a whole lot that I can share I thought I'd show you some of the funny/interesting signs we've seen around town.

Lamb is really big here. You see it in all forms at the grocery store (steaks, ground, leg of lamb etc). It's also fairly popular at McDonald's (Mackers). This is an add they are currently running. I thought it was hilarious.

 

 

 

 

The rest of these are just signs we've seen while we've been out driving around. Most of them we've been able to figure out.

 

This sign is on campus. People have seen koalas in the trees there but Matt hasn’t been so lucky. They do have about 50 kangaroos (in a pen) on campus but we’ve never seen a wild one (on campus). Most likely, we’re just not there at the correct time – which is early morning, or dusk on a non-windy day.
   

 



 

Things are really well marked (for the most part) in Australia. Things that you wouldn’t think would warrant a street sign like this one for the church or where to find toilets, preschools, civic centers and other things along this line. It’s really nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve asked several people what this sign meant and they have no idea. We know it’s something to do with handicapped toilets. Who knows where they are though.

 

 

 

This is the University that Matt is working with.  It’s been a great experience.  He’s hoping to set up a student exchange program. 

 

 

This sign is posted just up the street. The Australian Magpie (similar in size to those in the States, just different coloring pattern) are not nice. They’ve been known to attack people if you come into their area particularly when they are nesting. So strange. Matt really wants to watch The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock movie). We’re living it right here in Armidale!

 

 

Coffs Harbor

A view from the Tablelands to the coast

I have a new appreciation for people who make the drive from Armidale to Coffs Harbor.  It was a long (193k, 119 miles) winding road that seemed to stretch on forever.  It was beautiful, but when you're car sick you don't care about that anymore, you just want it to end.  We ended up having to stop in Dorrigo for me to recover so we could finish it out.  It was a long drive!

The first night in town we stayed with the District President, Grant Owens.  He's such a great man.  We spent the night visiting and hearing wonderful stories of the church in eastern Australia.  The following night we moved to The Clog Barn.  It was an intersting place.  Most hotels in the area advertize $69 a night.  Sounds good until you go to book your room.  It's $69 for the first person, everyone after that is an additional $15.  I think we ended up paying about $138 a night, and it wasn't a Marriot type place either.  It continually shocks us how expensive things are here. 

One thing that I’ve found interesting in Australia is that the malls have grocery stores in them. I thought this might have been a quirk of Armidale, but it’s the same here. To me it’s weird to be walking out of a shoe store and finding someone coming down the hallway with a shopping cart.

 

A friend stopped by to visit

We never made it to the Surf Fest.  The first day in Coffs Harbor we somehow managed to not find the right beach where the event was taking place (it moved around from day to day based on the waves).   Even though we didn’t find the right beach the kids were so excited to be at any beach they didn’t care and jumped right in.  We ended up spending most of the day there.  It was a beautiful day, not too hot, not too cold, just a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky.  It really was a gorgeous day!

       No! Not after all that work!

 

 

One of the main attractions in Coffs Harbor is the Big Banana.  Way back when the area was being settled a banana plantation was established.  They don’t produce much anymore, just enough for tourists to see what it was like.  It was a fun place to go for a visit. 



Besides the beach the other thing the kids enjoyed most was Dolphin Marine Magic. This is a TINY park with just 3 big pools. They do a show similar to what you'd get at Sea World just on a much smaller scale. The fun thing about this park was the interaction with the animals. Not only did everyone get kisses from a dolphin and seal, we fed a seal, penguin and other various fish. Nick even got to play ring toss with a seal as part of the show. It was a great memory maker. 

After two long days at the beach we were ready to head back to Armidale. We stopped by a couple of National Parks on the way (knowing we'd not come back this way because of my carsickness).  

 This picture was taken in Dorrigo National Park.  This is a skywalk that sticks out about 100 yards over the rainforest so you can see from above. It's a birder's paradise. 

This picture of Ebor Falls doesn't do it justice. It's amazing! The rocks of the falls themselves look black because it's mostly lava type rock from a prehistoric volcano. It almost looks man made because they are square in shape like they've been hand chiseled. It was spectacular.

 

Around Town





As I've mentioned before Armidale is an amazing community.  It's half way between Sydney and Brisbane and thus is used as a stopping point for people traveling between the two cities.  Because of this,  even though it's a small town it has a lot of things that would normally not be here, like a mall, tons of restaurants, pubs etc.  It also has many wonderful buildings from the early days that are still in use today.  Many of these have the old truly Australian look to them.

This building is now used as a government building

 




Armidale Town Hall

This is one of those schools you hear about in the movies and read about in books.  It's called the Armidale School.  It's a private boarding school for boys.  We were told that it's one of those really prestigious schools that generations of families have gone to.  Many of the wealthy land owners living in the Outback send their sons here to get educated.  It's pretty posh.  They have their own private lake for teaching rowing and canoeing, several feilds for learning polo and rugby.  I can only imagine what it costs to send your son there. 



Armidale School

 

Armidale School Coat of Arms







Former hotel, now law office and pub

Armidale Post Office
 

















 



There are houses like this all over town - very Australian





The only problem with this town and the country for that matter is it's so expensive!  Right now gas is about $1.49 a liter making it about $5.63 a gallon.  Crazy!!

This is just one example of the food prices.  Needless to say, we haven't made brownies since we got here. 

 

One interesting thing about the grocery stores and other shopping centers is their escalators.  They aren't like those in the States.  It's more of a ramp.  This sounds good going up but imagine what it's like to bring a grocery cart down.  Not to fear, the grocery carts here (which by the way all four wheels spin - strange to push around) have brakes on the back that lock in to the grid of the escalator. 

Do you recognize this logo?   Someone copyrighted the name Burger King in Australia so it can't be used here.  This chain of restaurants is known as Hungry Jacks but they're essentially Burger Kings.  Also notice the breakfast sign.  Many names are shortened and have a y at the end: breakfast - brekky; football - footy; bike gangs - bikeys.  Somehow bike gangs don't sound so intimidating if you refer to them as bikeys. 

Today we're heading off to the beach at Coff's Harbor, about 2.5 hours east, to attend the LDS Surf Fest (Thursday - Saturday).  It started out as a YM activity but has grown to the point they have to turn down surfers.  Youth come from all over the country to attend.  This should be interesting given my kids have never been on a surf board.  It's all about new opportunities, right? 

 

Things I miss about the States (besides family and friends):

• Benadryl
• Swiss Miss
• Skim milk
• The Today Show

 

 





Catching Up Again...

Sonya - hard at work

With 3 kids doing electronic school and Hannah discovering she could read a book online that she's been waiting to check out from the library, it's been hard to get some time on the computer.  In addition to this we've had several busy days in a row.

Jim (originally from Oklahoma), Arian (their daughter) and Cody (a friend from school)

Saturday, we were invited over for a tradition Aussie BBQ by Sonya, a gal that Matt is working with here at the University of New England.  Sonya grew up in Brisbane, then moved to the States for 15 years, living in Missouri and Phoenix.  She's now back in New South Wales teaching at the university.  She could write the book on being a wonderful hostess.  She welcomed us into her home where we immediately saw the influence of Arizona.  She has a pretty extensive collection of Hopi kachina dolls amongst many other souveniers from her stay in the Southwest.  After introductions she served us appetizers: tiny meat pies (a huge thing here although they come in all sizes), spring rolls (very similar to egg rolls only tiny), money bags (very similar to egg rolls only shaped like a money bag) and Twisties (very similar to Cheetos).  We were full before the meal even started but the best was yet to come.  She barbecued hamburgers with grilled onions and mushrooms as well as many different kinds of sausages.  She had also made 4 different kinds of salads.  It was amazing how much work she had gone to.  Finally when we thought we could eat no more she brought out desert.  A very traditional desert here is pavlova (named after a Russian ballerina).  It is soooooo good.  It has a crust of some sort (still haven't been able to figure that out) then a sugar/meringue layer followed by fruit - we've eaten it twice now and both times it had strawberries, kiwi, and passion fruit juice.  It is sooo good.  It's quite light so I ask the first time if there's any chance this was low in calories and unfortunately it isn't.  Darn!! 

Galah

Sonya has this amazing tree in her backyard called a gum tree that attracts birds like crazy.  She said she's had upwards of 40 Galahs (pronounced - ga - lah) in it at one time (yes, they are pink and grey).  This bird is so funny because despite it's size (similar to a large parrot) it picks the farthest out limb on a tree to land on.  More often than not the limb will bend or break under it's weight and it has to fly off again.  It's almost comical to watch once this was pointed out.  Sonya told us that some people use galah in place of fool when describing someone.  Kind of funny.  

Armidale Branch - September 2012

Sunday, of course we went to church.  I'm continually amazed at how strong the members are here especially given the difficulties of running a tiny branch.  The only other family with kids our ages, the Boadens from Queensland, were telling us that they had only been in the area 9 months.  If you take them away and our family it only leaves about 11 adults and about 5 kids that come consistently each week.  The branch continues to function just as if it were a full-functioning branch with lots of people.  In their case it's a few people wearing many hats. 

Sunday afternoon we went for a drive and finally got to see a roo (people don't say kangaroo here, they're referred to as roos.).  I've decided these animals are the strangest thing on the planet (that we've seen so far - I know the platypus might take it's place when we see them later).  We were about 3 feet away from this fellow.  I was amazed at what their hands look like up close as well as their massive feet.  It was interesting to watch them move (when they aren't hopping).  For short distances they put their hands down, lift up their entire back side and move it forward.  It's spring here so we saw lots of roos with joeys in their pouches (I'm still working on getting a picture of these).  That whole concept is strange.  Here's some information we had to finally look up on kangaroos to understand how the whole pouch thing worked: 

Kangaroo young (joeys) are born after only 31 days of gestation, and are only the size of a Lima bean. The joey climbs up the mother and into the mother's pouch, and remains sheltered there for up to 9 months. They feed on the teats in the pouch, and as they get older, they will exit the pouch and explore, returning for safety and food.
When the joey first enters the pouch, it by instinct puts its mouth on a teat which then enlarges to hold it in place and feed it.  Female kangaroos can often be in a state of almost permanent pregnancy, with an embryo "suspended" until the mother's body is ready to release it - whether that be when another joey is sufficiently weaned, or feeding conditions have improved. 

Aren't you glad you're not a kangaroo?  I can't imagine being continually pregnant!  

Communion Table, St. Peter's Cathedral

St. Peter's Cathedral, Armidale, NSW

Monday we went on a Heritage Tour of Armidale.  We were the only ones under 60 so it kind of dragged but it was really interesting.  We got to see some places we wouldn't have been able to see had we not been on a tour.  One of the highlights was St. Peter's Cathedral (Anglican Church of Australia).  The stained glass inside was breathtaking.  

Booloominbah House

Another was the Booloominbah House, which was built in the late 1800's and now serves as the Administration Building for the university.  It has a spectacular view of the city.  This is the house you see on all the brochures of Armidale.  

Railroad Station - still used today

A final stop was the railroad station.  This station is used still today.  They have a historical museum there.  One of the interesting items was this carrot spreader.  Apparently, back in the day the area was being overrun with rabbits so the railroad devised this carrot spreader.  The workers would fill the large funnel with carrots and then pour poison on them.  They'd go up and down the tracks spreading the carrots.  It eventually got the population under control where it could be managed. (How sad for the bunnies though).

Carrot Spreader

Michael, James, Nikki, Andrew, Nicholas, Julia

Monday night we went to dinner over at the Boaden's home in Uralla (about 19k south of Armidale).  The father, James is one of 3 police officers in town.  He's got some interesting stories to tell.  Nicholas and Julia are the only other youth in the branch.  Unfortunately, they are leaving this week because it's school holiday here.  They won't be back for the next 3 Sundays.  Nikki was telling us whenever they have a school holiday they take their family to Brisbane (6 hours north) where they have family.  This gives their kids an opportunity to attend a "real" ward where they have other youth their ages and can get a feel for how YM/YW works in larger areas (makes me feel a little guilty for taking the church for granted in our area).  A wonderful evening with a delightful family. We could have visited all night.