Another Milestone in Margaret River

My gorgeous mum is back with us in Perth, on her annual sojourn across the planet to spend three months with us.  An annual sojourn she began almost a decade ago.  The big difference is this year, she turned 80.  At 80, picking up and travelling, quite literally, as far as one can possibly imagine over 2 days and including 3 flights - one of which is in excess of 15 hours - is a very big ask, but she didn't hesitate.

My brother and sister-in-law threw her a big party in Calgary a week before she arrived, we had wished we could have been there but couldn't make it work.  Instead, we've kept the party going since her arrival.

The party hit its peak in Margaret River.

Margaret River is the region about 3 hours south of Perth best known for its wine production, gourmet eating, and locally-sourced provisions.  While the Margaret River region is responsible for only around 5% of Australia's total wine production, its quality is considered premium and among the best.   Certainly, as a Canadian who knew little about Australia prior to my arrival, as an oenophile, even I knew of Margaret River.  Most wineries in the region are boutique producers with beautifully-designed, welcoming cellar doors, respect for the land, and an attachment to Western Australian traditions.

At the Laurance Winery

It is also a region of magnificent sea, surf breaks, beaches, green paddocks, wildlife, caves, and people proud to maintain the local culture and charm, shunning chain stores and over development.

Under Sharks, it also say "Grumpy Old Surfers"

We stopped in several places en route to Margaret River, to lovely terraced Yallingup, where we had lunch at the Caves House Hotel, to Cowaramup and its abundance of dairy cows and green pastures, Busselton with its astonishing kilometre-long jetty out into Geographe Bay, and beautiful coastal Dunsborough.  

For my mum's 80th, we stayed in an upscale B&B that had everything she loves: overstuffed chintz furniture, lace tablecloths, silver tea settings, sherry and port on the sideboard, fragrant roses everywhere, and Fairy Wrens and Ringnecked Parrots (known colloquially as 28s).  C2 dubbed our lovely home away from home "Doily Manor".  The electric blankets on cold mornings weren't bad either.  

C2 and J spent much father and son time exploring the network of limestone caves in the region: Ngilgi Cave where they did a 2-hour guided tour commando-crawling under ridges, squeezing between rocks, and feeling for blind isopods and centipedes using only their headlamps for light; and deep Giants Cave on their own.  While they were discovering ancient wonders, my mum and I explored modern wonders of the Margaret River shops and cafes.

At the Pierro Winery

We also visited 4 wineries: Pierro with its attentive  staff and charming cellar door, Laurance with its uniquely beautiful bottles and where J met a school mate.  They disappeared in the large grounds to play while we wine tasted and admired the art and sculptured landscapes.  Mad Fish was the third winery and one of my favorites to-date over our two trips to the region.  The final winery was the 80th birthday gift: a tour, set tasting and lunch at magnificent Voyager Estate.

Laurance Winery

Voyager Estate

We wine-tasted, J tasted the actual grape juice that went into the wine

Voyager Estate

(See last year's blog entry also about Margaret River:)

 http://swiss-family-hendricks.blogspot.com.au/2014_07_01_archive.html

The Colours of the Kimberley

As part of my job, I recently travelled to the far north of Western Australia into the Kimberley region to work alongside some of our projects.  It was a combination site visit, needs analysis, and evidence-gathering experience to better inform the management of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island small grants program.  It was a remarkably enlightening, distressing, and inspiring journey, and C2 and J shared some of it with me.

 The state of Aboriginal disadvantage in Australia is acknowledged and much has been published from both sides of the political and social spectrum.  It is a national tragedy with few clear pathways toward really "closing the gap".  I am not going to posture in this blog entry about where, how, or why consecutive governments have failed to make meaningful inroads but fresh eyes, a clear perspective, real intent, and local ownership are obviously needed.  We are hoping our project is moving in that direction.

The start of the Kimberley's renowned Gibb River Road

We flew up to steamy, tropical Broome at the end of the Wet and were rewarded with clear, sunny, HOT, and HUMID temperatures day after day for the week.  For the first two days, I was occupied with work and local travel while my 2 guys enjoyed some downtime and father/son time.

On day 3, C2 and J accompanied me on the long drive east, away from the sea, through Boab-studded plains from Broome to Derby where I had work to do.  A Boab tree, is native to the inland Kimberley and is recognised by its unique bottle-shaped trunk.  The Boab retains water in its cells so will collapse if absent water.  It is an iconic symbol of this part of Western Australia.  We drove for several hundred kilometres of plain populated by these amazing trees and thousands of termite hills the size of cars.   It is a remote and sparsely-populated part of the Outback, and we may have passed 20 other cars on the to-and-back journey.  We stopped at several river crossings and Billabongs (water holes) where we had been told to watch for the Crocodiles but they were sleeping in the heat of the day, probably just as well as J was in a panic each time C2 and I approached the water’s edge.  Time to watch Crocodile Dundee I think.

After 4 days of yarning with amazing, inspired, and dedicated people, we turned to Cable Beach in Broome and a much needed 3-day family holiday.  Stunningly beautiful Cable Beach did not disappoint!  One of the iconic Broome experiences is to ride camels along the beach at low tide and at sunset.  J was excited but a little put-off when our camel, Boaz, grunted, snorted, spit, and leapt to his feet, nearly flinging me off his back.  However, all was ultimately sorted, J mounted Boaz, and within minutes, animal-loving J had discovered a new passion, and it was love.  Such was the love that we did it again the next evening.

Boaz!

Cocoa!

As it was, technically, still part of the Wet, the water of the Indian Ocean was still hot, about 31c and too warm to kill of the Irukandji jellyfish, the extremely venomous variety found in the northern waters of Australia.  We were very uneasy as the last sting had been only10 days earlier, but we were ultimately coaxed into the gorgeous azure waters by the presence of others, and by the assurances of the Surf Life Savers who sampled the water twice a day.  And the water was….well I don’t have the words!

When we were not in the sea, we were walking the beach, collecting shells and connecting as a family, sitting by the pool with our books (C2 did teach J how to do backflips off the side of the pool – oy!), or sipping iced coffees to keep the humidity at bay. 

The northern Indian Ocean has some of the biggest tides in the world, and we were fortunate to be in Broome during one of the biggest of the year.  The tide was described as 10 meters but that equates to volume displaced; in distance the tides ebbed and flowed up to 200 meters between low and high tides.  We did a kayak tour up the coast and witnessed nature’s power of that tide as evidenced by a blow hole only viewable once or twice a year.   

It was a perfect 3-day escape and we are eager to return as we never had the opportunity to explore the region’s pearling history nor the war history.  Along with Darwin, Broome was bombed during WWII.  All the more reason to return.

Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree

Remember that old song?  It's one of those ditties that EVERYONE can automatically rhyme off,  up there with "London Bridge is Falling Down".  Of course all those years ago when the words came humming off my lips, I didn't have a clue who or what a Kookaburra was or a Gum Tree or why it was laughing at me.  It was as enigmatic as a jolly swagman, a billabong or a Coolibah tree (note to self: break down Waltzing Matilda in a future posting).

So here's the thing, now that I live in Australia, I sure as heck know what Gum Trees are (synonymous with Eucalyptus) because they really are everywhere, and whilst living in Melbourne, I did hear the occasional distant laughter of a Kookaburra and was completely charmed.

Laughing Kookaburra

 However, Kookaburras seem to be a primary resident in Perth and while their loud call is supposed to echo human laughter, let me tell you they don't so much laugh as chortle, chuckle, snicker, whoop, crack up, shriek, and scream like a howling pack of monkeys at their preferred time of day ....6:30am ...exactly....outside my bedroom window. 

Here's another thing I bet you didn't know about Kookaburras.  They are the snobs of the aviary set.  When looking at them and encouraging them to  do their thing, they just stare off into space, refuse to make eye contact, show minimal movement, and utterly and completely ignore you.  Until of course you have stalked off, then they chortle at you like crazy monkeys.

If you could put an air bubble on top of this fellow, I just know he would be saying "I'm not listening, I'm not listening" or "Go away, you're boring me, I'm not a circus monkey",  Too right, just a crazy monkey!

The Not So Awesome Australia - Cockroaches

When we first considered relocating to Australia, a lot of people's first reactions were either along the lines of "Nine of the ten deadliest snakes live there", "Home of the Great White", "Don't go camping, too many poisonous things" or of course "Awww Kangaroos, Koalas, Kookaburras".  I don't recall anyone ever saying anything about "Look out for those monster cockroaches!"

I have learned to coexist alongside hairy Huntsman Spiders (as big as my hand), I tolerate fiies the size of helicopters roaring around, I have even grown to accept that armies of ants will invade my house at regular intervals, but I will NEVER get over the shock of seeing a cockroach eyeing me from inches away.

My usual reaction is to shriek wildly and my instinct to run madly in the opposite directions from its waving antenna.  Tragically, they are all too commonplace in urban Melbourne and are no commentary on the cleanliness of your kitchen (where they usually hang).  We all have them.  My friend Emilie takes great pleasure in trapping and pouring boiling water over them to kill their eggs which, she tells me, scatter everywhere when you stomp on them.   It sounds a tad medieval...even for cockroaches.

Complicating my cockroach problem is the fact that both C2 and I are animal lovers.  We never kill anything.  We live by the mantra "if you want to live and thrive, let a spider run alive", preferring the trap and release method to insect control.  Karma and all that.  And yep, that even goes for cockroaches.

The usual scenario is I spot a cockroach, it waves its antanae at me, I shriek, C2 flings a tupperware over it, slides a cardboard under it, and escorts it to our tall brick wall where it is unceremoniously but humanely tossed into the wilderness of our neighbour's backgarden.  This happens a handful of times a year to be honest, and we largely cope.

So let's discuss the giant cockroach we dealt with yesterday and his giant-er brother we dealt with today.  Yesterday's fun began when I brought in the mail from outside and one skittered across my hand.  I shrieked particularly loudly causing C2 who was on a conference call to say something about 'stop being such a baby'.  During this commotion, Giant was flung to the ground where he skittered under our very large and very heavy Quebec pine armoire.  C2 put his conference call on hold, grunted whilst moving said very large and very heavy Quebec pine armoire to successfully locate Giant while I clapped a tupperware over him.  I slid a bank statement under him, and C2 returned to his phone call intending to return to Giant shortly.  Two minutes later, Giant escaped but kindly left cockroach pee on my bank statement as a parting gift.  Tables were shoved aside and carpets frantically inspected until he was located again. Same process ensued but this time C2 generously showed me how it was done properly.  I agreed with his superiour technique all the while watching Giant make good his escape again only this time onto C2's hand.  There might have been more shrieking involved but not from me this time.  Giant was eventually returned to the wilds of the front nature strip.

This evening's fun began after a lovely and relaxing evening trip to the beach for a picnic.  C2 was getting J to bed when Giant-er sidled up along the wall beside me as I put away dishes.  He was about as long as my index finger.  I shrieked, C2 came running, we missed our first attempt with the tupperware but trapped him on the second.  Wary of our experience yesterday, we hunted high and low but unsuccessfully for cardboard to slide under.  All the while, Giant-er threw himself against the walls of the tupperware with sufficient speed and effort that I feared an escape was imminent.  In a panic, C2 grabbed the vaccum intending to suck up Giant-er and put him out with the compost and leaves.  In his blind rush to get Giant-er before the prison break, he hurriedly plugged in the vaccum, pulled it toward Giant-er, and knocked over my lit Cranberry Chutney Yankee candle, splattering hot wax across chairs, hardwood floors and carpets leading to much more shrieking.  Fortunately Giant-er escaped unscathed.

I am seriously over cockroaches.  I have found an advantage to -35c, long live Canada!

2014 Begins with a Heatwave

We've been back a week.  We ended our lovely trip with three days in Los Angeles including two at Disneyland.  It's a good thing that we spent some time at the happiest place on earth because J was about the unhappiest little boy on earth.  He feels the absence of his family immediately following our departure from them as keenly as ripping a bandaid off of a fresh cut.   He's better now that we're back in Melbourne.

I hit the ground running, I landed last Monday battling a bad cold but was back at work Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we had to unpack, put away all the Christmas decorations and detritus, clean the house, work with my physiotherapist, plant our summer herbs, and flowers, sweep about 10km of spider webs from the house, wash all the windows, and do 10 loads of laundry, just in time for an unprecedented heatwave to hit Melbourne. 

I don't know why but this just struck us as hilarious since "tossers" is a somewhat pejorative term down under!

The "Nightmare Before Christmas" haunted house at Disneyland - one of our favorites

Two days ago, the outside temperature gauge in my car registered 48c at 5:30pm!  That is pretty stinkin' hot!  We have a/c in our bedrooms and have managed to keep the rest of the house relatively cool by closing it up, but with temperatures not even dropping below 28c during the night, it's only barely tolerable.  C2 has had to relocate his office from the sunny front room to the air-conditioned guest bedroom.  Still many are suffering much more.  Even poor Murphy is having difficulty coping; she's had a couple of seizures brought on by the heat and we're not taking her out more than to do what she has to do twice a day. 

In addition to continuing to battle my cold, the intense heat has caused a bought of migraines in the last 36 hours.  I've taken multiple migraine meds which have brought me some relief but haven't sent this particular monster fully packing yet.  We joined some friends from the U.K. at the beach for a picnic yesterday evening.  The sea breezes were delicious and our Melbourne sea still refreshingly cool.  We're doing it all over again this evening.  Today and tomorrow are forecast to be the hottest days yet.  I don't know how the Australian Open tennis players are playing; J will be doing tennis camps next week, good thing it wasn't this week!

At Elwood Beach in Melbourne with U.K. Gina  on a stinkin' hot evening

Ten days left of school holidays.  C2 has been home since our return from Canada but resumes his punishing travel schedule on Monday.  If Melbourne's heat has been bad, 50+c is normal in the Pilbara region of Western Australia where he is headed.

It's hard to believe another year is over.  It's hard to believe we have been in Australia THREE years now; it feels like we were just planning this move.  Still, as I continue to lament the passage of time, now in the early part of 2014, I am grateful for my family and our devotion to each other, for all of our health, and for all of the opportunity we have been given.

Poutine? Down Under eh?

Yes really!  It was something of a surreal day today.  J played an early morning Footy match where things finally seem to be coming together; he was awarded "Bear of the Week", yay J!  Ok, so they lost but we can't lose sight of the fact that most of his Footy team are made up of fellow French-speaking kids.  They play with a lot of heart but it's not exactly in their blood.

What is, or should be, in J's blood on the other hand, is hockey.  Ice hockey in case you weren't completely sure.  This 18c sunny Melbourne winter afternoon, we joined a group of friends at the Ice House in Melbourne's Docklands.  The kids donned ice skates and stumbled, slid, or gripped the boards in abject terror.   But from somewhere deep in his genes, J remembered how to skate and flew madly, if not entirely gracefully around the rink for hours.

In between all of this skating, we gathered in the stands of another rink to watch our fellow Canadian and Quebecois Eric play an actual real-life hockey game.  He was in awesome form and scored a hat trick as I held a running commentary on the rules of our national game to my French, American, Dutch, Australian, English, and Kiwi mates.

Whilst queuing for J's hotdog with Eric's Australian wife, Kathy, I commented how bizarre it felt to be standing in a hockey arena watching a zambone sweep the ice on one rink and listening to the thud of a body check from the game being played on the other whilst staring out the windows at palm trees knowing I was in Australia.  All that was missing was the Tim Horton's kiosk.  She laughed and remarked if I really wanted to feel bizarre I should consult the overhead menu and consider the $8.00 poutine.  POUTINE....DOWN UNDER!!!!  Being something of a purist, I didn't order it but felt mightily at home ; it was, dare I say, the Don Cherry on top!

Sports at 9

C2 and I are both dedicated to fitness and nutrition, we do our best to stay healthy and in shape.  Fitness gives us the energy to get through the myriad challenges of being older parents, and in C2s case, insane work hours and a grueling travel schedule.

We have tried very hard to shape J's view of nutrition in the direction of moderation, and the importance of fueling his body to fuel his brain.  Most of the time he gets it, the rest of the time he craves gummy bears.  He also sees us working out a lot, and carving time out of our every day to devote to exercise.  During the last school holiday, I had him do some circuit training in the park with me.  He occasionally runs with me, and mountain bikes, and skiis with us with an energy most adults would covet. 

A week ago, the charity I work with, Child Wise, held a fundraising 5K run.  J had expressed an interest in running the race some weeks back but I didn't really take him seriously.  Cut to the night before the event and on our way for Lhaksa (a Malaysian dish very popular in Melbourne that deserves its own blog post), whilst discussing the race, he insisted that he run it with me.  Reluctantly I agreed, as I figured I would be sacrificing a real run for a walk/run with J, but he was adamant.

Sunday morning, we were up at 6:30 and out the door shortly after for the race around Albert Lake in South Melbourne.  The speeches were made, the warm-up completed, the starters' pistol sounded and we were off...fast.  About every half-kilometer, I'd ask him if he wanted to walk, but he just shook his head and eyed the next runner in front of us to pass.  He threw back some water at the half-way mark water station and increased his pace.  With the final in his line of sight, we sprinted to the finish.

The gold standard for any adult is to finish a 5K under 30 minutes...J's time?  29.28.  He was puffed but very proud; so was I!

Feels like I'm 21 Again...Sorta

My nephew Justin and his gal Chelsea have left the frozen hallowed grounds of Alberta and moved to the fair frozen grounds of Melbourne (it is winter after all) for six months.  They will base with us and are looking for jobs to fund travel when the weather warms by Spring (that's Fall to most of you).

It's been a while since I've been in my early 20s and while C2 and I like to think we're hip and plugged into urban trends and rhthyms, I mean we like Jay-Z, and SuperDry t-shirts, and UGG boots, and Netflix and on-demand TV, but it's become clear we're really not...hip I mean.

Hang out for a week with a couple of 20-somethings and it could be depressing.  All that consumption, entitlement, lack of drive blah blah.  Not these two.  They are effervescent, engaging, curious, driven, and devoted to J.  The devotion is completely mutual.  They also rock personal style, and I'm trying my best not to hold it against Chelsea that she looks like a cross between a young Elle McPherson and a young Jennifer Aniston.

Last weekend, we took them to Phillip Island with its' magnificent wild beaches and inland wildlife reserves housing many of Australia's indigenous creatures.

They received the beaches and the creatures with open mouths, open minds and open hearts.  We chased up the wide stretches of golden sand marvelling at the pounding surf.  Once again, we were its' only inhabitants.

At the Wildlife park, they were charmed by the naughty Grey Kangaroos, got chased in mock terror by Emus, and stroked the gentle fur of the sweet Red Kangaroos.  It is late winter in Melbourne, and there were many babies about: Kangaroos, Geese, Wallabies, Swans.

This is the same fellow as above who proved naughty when he swiped the food bag right out of J's hand.  Joke is on him since he got a piece stuck to his forehead!

How to make a Kangaroo purr like a cat!

See all the joeys?  Some are so big, their legs are sticking out!

This is a Red Kangaroo, see how different their faces are from the above Greys?

Bless those Tasmanian Devils; they're always in SUCH a good mood

Wombat, best description I ever heard was he looks like a beaver who ate a bear

Darn Emus are so prehistoric looking

 It seemed an appropriate introduction to Australia.  Differences between Grey and Red Kangaroos? Check!  What the heck's a Wombat? Check!  Why are Emus so freaky? Check!

Next up, a weekend in Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula, land of vineyards and beaches.