Quick_Update_australia.page

QUICK UPDATE
Where are they now?

Australia

6/18/2022
We're not here anymore.... see the Bali page :)                  here!

6/14/2002 Perth
We have been in Perth since the 10th, and have had a great time exploring the west coast of Australia. The weather has been an bit cool and rainy, but with 5 months of heat and humidity ahead, we'll deal with it. The flight to Bali leaves tomorrow, and we will be sorry to leave this wonderful country. With the variety of things to do and see here, and the limited number of places that we visited on this trip, I expect to have a great time when I return.
I've been lucky to get the web address of another couple (the wife is another former FRB employee, though I only met her once - www.dnamitchell.com ) who has spent a lot of time in Asia recently, visiting many of the countreis that we plan to head into now. It will be good to get an American's perspective on the region. This time is filled with excitement, and also a bit of dread. I'm looking forward to being in a country in which I'm a complete stranger, and also worried about how difficult it will be. Oh well, it can't be a vacation all the time.
We miss you all, and can't wait to tell you how much fun we're having in Bali.

6/8/2002 Sydney
Moni here... Tony's off at the corner pub watching the Italy v. Croatia game, so I thought I'd give you guys the weekly update.

We got a pleasant surprise about a week ago. I was emailing back and forth with my sister-in-law and I asked her what Kristen, my 16-year-old niece, was going to do while she and my brother are in Spain during July. She responded by saying that she wasn't sure yet, probably stay with a friend, or maybe she would send her over to us -- ha ha, just kidding. I emailed back and asked why she was just kidding, that we would love to have her visit us, and she told me that if we were serious, she would ask Kristen what she thought. When asked if she would be interested in seeing Singapore, she immediately said yes! So, everything's set and she'll be meeting us in Singapore on July 18th, and we'll spend three weeks traveling through Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand. We'll be sure she gets a good dose of the backpacker scene. We're both really excited to have someone from home come out and spend some time with us.

Now, back to what we've been doing. We left Melbourne on Tuesday evening after a day filled with tears and promises to return soon. The overnight train brought us into Sydney early Wednesday morning, and we were lucky enough to find a place to stay in the heart of the city where we could promptly take a nap. It's a good thing we bought airline tickets to Perth, because although the seats reclined (much more than on an airplane) and were comfortable enough, I couldn't imagine spending 4 1/2 days on the train! That afternoon we took a walk through the botanical gardens to the waterfront, and ended up taking a tour of the Sydney Opera House. I'm not one who is easily impressed, but I must say it's an amazing building. It was completed in the early 70s, so the interior is looking a bit dated - good thing they're planning on renovating it soon. The one fact I managed to store away is that the number of tiles on the rooves is exactly 1,056,056. I must admit, it looks better from far away than up close, though. We thought at first that the whole thing was covered in chicken wire, by the way the tiles are laid out.

On Thursday we went on a 2-hour harbor boat cruise which took us to a few of the waterfront suburbs, and we got a lot of the postcard views of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge. Then we took a long walk along the waterfront on the other side of the Opera House and found ourselves in a quaint area called The Rocks, the oldest area with lots of buildings dating back to the late 1800s. The stone facades all still have the names of the original occupants (Police Station; Bank of Scotland, Britain and Australia; etc) but have now been converted into art galleries, shops and cafes. One of the shops in this area is named after, owned and operated by a very famous Italian-Australian (Tony is back and made me put the "Italian" in) Rugby player named David Campese. He sells Rugby stuff, including his own signature line of shirts and jerseys commemorating his 14-year career. He also sells gelato and capuccino. In typical Australian style, the capuccino in his shop is called "Campo"ccino, in honor of himself. Campo was the nickname given by the Australians, who shorten the name of EVERYTHING. We had to go back on Friday so Tony could spend $165 on a shirt that David autographed for him. Good thing that's Australian dollars. David runs his own shop (including making and serving coffee and scooping gelato) Monday through Friday. This is like having Michael Jordan running a shop and serving people. Unfortunately for David, although he played Rugby as well as Jordan played basketball, he played at a time when the sport was strictly amateur and no one was paid. Today, top players are paid millions to play professionaly. He was a really nice guy and we talked to him for a little while, including discussing the joys of visiting Italian relatives.

Early Friday morning we took a tour of the city and suburbs, including famous Bondi Beach. It was much smaller than we imagined. The coastline here isn't big stretches of sand; beaches are only present in the bays and are surrounded by high cliffs. That's unlike up north, where the beaches go for miles.

Today we took the train to a suburb called King's Cross, an area that's famous for being Sydney's backpacker hangout. We hated it. The prices for accomodation were slightly cheaper than in the city, but the area was filled with gay bars (this area is also famous for its gay Mardi-Gras), porno shops, hippies, burnouts, and rescue missions. It's an old area with lots of pretty Victorian buildings, but unfortunately that's all it has going for it. Even though the place we're in is a bit of a dive, I much prefer being here.

Tomorrow is going to be a bit of a long day. Our flight out to Perth is at 6 a.m. on Monday, a bit too early to get to the airport by public transportation. So, because of that, and to also avoid paying for another night at the dive, we're going to camp out at the airport tomorrow night. Oh, the joys of traveling on a budget! It's a good thing I'm in a good mood at the moment...

5/31/2002
The pictures are up, and no, that is not all of them. I'm going to be burning a CD of all the family pictures that I took while here. There were too many to post.

5/29/2002

YES, I have pictures to post in the next few days.

Is it Wednesday already? My God time is flying! Yes, we�re still in Melbourne. We drove into the city yesterday to pick up our airline tickets from the travel agent. On the advice of the agent we also picked up a ticket from Copenhagen to Newark, New Jersey. This could be important since we are passing through Heathrow (London, UK) on the way into Europe from Asia, and immigration control has been stepped up. The agent is Canadian, and said that she had seen people with non-European Union passports either refused entry to the UK, or forced to buy a ticket (on the spot - $1,000 or so) back to their country of residence. That, or there is the possibility that Quantas would not board us in Bangkok on Dec. 10th without an onward ticket out of Europe. We opted on the side of caution and purchased two tickets back to the States for US$200 each. The total cost was about $1750 Australian each, so about US$962. We still have some short flights in Europe and possibly Asia to pay for, but this should be the last of the big transportation expenses.
The overnight train will take us from Melbourne to Sydney on June 4th, then after a week we�ll fly from Sydney to Perth on the 11th on Quantas for US$140 each. We really wanted to take the train to Perth, but with the trip 4 days long and our time a bit short, it will be easier to fly. Another host from Globalfreeloaders has offered us a place to stay in Perth, so we�ll enjoy our last few nights in the 1st world with new friends.
Several people have asked how we felt about now, having been gone almost 6 months. The time on the road and in hotels/hostels can be draining, and after a few weeks I could see this trip being a bit much. Most people think that a 3-week vacation is an eternity, but this trip has been broken up a bit, even if I didn�t plan it his way or could have possibly imagined the generosity that has been shown. Eleven weeks have been spent with friends, family, and with Globalfreeloaders hosts. These stops provide the contact with familiar faces and places that is a welcome break from the typical �life story� introduction and discussions that we have when meeting people for the first time in a hostel. They have also acted as a buffer during our introduction to life on the road. Reactions we have received when telling people that this is our first backpacker trip, and that we want to be gone for two years, have been everything from shock to a knowing scepticism that we wouldn�t last that long. There are people (including us) who thought there was a definite possibility that we wouldn�t even last this long. If we hadn�t taken this long in New Zealand and Australia, I seriously doubt that we would be prepared to face the next five months in Asia. We�ve been able to get used to surviving outside our comfort zone in steps, rather than all at once, and with frequent stops with friends and family who have done an unbelievable job of making us feel welcome. It will be a big challenge to last 5 months in Asia, but after a cool fall in Melbourne, we�re looking forward to a bit of heat. Bali and Singapore should take care of that, as they are hot and humid all year long. We�ll have to see, but I would rather be a backpacker in a warm climate than in a cold one. Not sure if we�re prepared for cultural and economic changes that we�ll encounter, but most of the Australians that we have talked to said it is fun once you get used to it.
I�ve talked with several of the cousins here, telling them that I doubt that I would feel comfortable having cousins that I�ve never met before show up; yet they have moved us right into their children�s recently vacated rooms, given us the keys to the house and car, and gone out of their way to entertain us. This turns out to be something that they lived with, though, as immigrants to Australia. Their parents had cousins and friends from Italy move in with them for a while when they first arrived in Melbourne. With no public assistance to immigrants, unlike the present day, the immigrant community had to care for their own. Extending hospitality to relatives, no matter how distant, is very natural to them. The children our age were a bit more cautious than their parents, but are now pondering when to go to California!
Australia has been a much more familiar experience than New Zealand was. Outside of Auckland, NZ was like vacationing in the rural regions of the US. Melbourne and Brisbane (and I�m sure Sydney and Perth) are much more like being at home in LA to us. The food is better here, and the variety much more like what we expect as spoiled Americans. Except for the damned roundabouts, the roads are bigger and better, and more American than the gravel paths that link most cities in NZ. If you have the cash to fly often and stay in nice hotels, the east coast of Australia is a better deal then Hawaii, and much more culturally enriching. If you want a great deal of scenery on a budget, you can�t beat NZ�s south island.

5/20/2002
Well, I guess the Monday night update is becoming the norm for me. We've been in Melbourne for another week, still loving every minute.

5/22/2002

My Monday evening update is a day late for your Monday morning reading. Sorry all.    Had another important dinner to attend.

We�ve changed our plans here a bit. Instead of touring extensively around Australia, we�re going to stick around in Melbourne until early June, then spend a week in Sydney before moving on to Perth where we depart for Bali, Indonesia on the 15th.    Taking the time now to get to know the relatives is turning out to be the unexpected highlight of this trip. We also wanted to be sure to save the more touristy highlights of the continent (Ayers Rock, the Great Barrier Reef, etc..) for our return trip down under, which I�m sure I�ll take with my mother and sister in a few years.

The time here in Melbourne has been a lot of fun. We split time staying with Mario and Rosa at night, and working at the shop and playing during the day. I�m learning the business of running a small market, and all the associated problems with buying stock, managing employees, insurance, disability claims, etc. Around the shop I stock shelves, build displays, help customers and clean up disasters. At the houses I do yard work, gardening, and help with any special projects (like installing a garage door opener) and absorb as much cooking knowledge as I can. Monica has spent a considerable amount of time with the cooks in the family learning how simple and tasty the old country cooking is. She has been roasting and stuffing peppers, baking cakes, and running the finest espresso machine available for home use. It produces perfect espresso and cappuccino, which makes getting up in the morning a delight.
On Sunday (the 19th) we took a ride out to western Victoria to see a spectacular stretch of coastline that includes the rock formation called the 12 Apostles. Outside Melbourne, the countryside looks much like rural New Zealand did, lots of open space with grazing sheep and cattle, though nowhere near the concentration of animals. The drive along the coast is called the Great Ocean Road, which was built after WWI by returned soldiers as a public works project, because there was no other work for them to do in the entire country. Without calling it anything specific like the WPA in the states, the government created projects for all the soldiers so the country had several years to ease the men back into the workforce. The journey takes you along a stretch of the coast that looks like a combination of PCH between Oxnard and Malibu, and a less spectacular Big Sur. Further west, huge limestone cliffs drop off 60 meters into a very rough southern ocean. Next stop to the south is Antarctica and some huge storms. The waves that pound the coast are huge, and the day we were there was a bit rainy and stormy, so we had a good look at the destructive power of the ocean. The other thing this coast is known for is destroying ships. One of the stops on the drive is a series of coves in which a ship was lost in 1878, from which there were only two survivors. The cliffs rise straight up from the waters edge, and the small beaches present are mostly rock that is constantly battered by very cold waves. It is amazing that anyone could have survived a wreck on that coast. Because of the heavy pounding the limestone cliffs take which makes the coast recede, in several places large towers of stone are now standing offshore. Several of the towers have toppled, but supposedly at one time there were 12 of these Apostles to look at.   It is a very pretty drive, and there were several bus drivers trying to coax loads of Japanese tourists out of their dry bus and onto a cliff that was being lashed by rain. All the postcards there are show the coast during fine weather, so we got to see a side of the coast less frequently seen. How is that for positive spin?

5/13/2002
Time for another instalment from Melbourne.
We�ve settled into life here quite nicely. This is not the �roughing it� trip through Australia that I imagined. I had heard, and several of our experiences had proven, that backpacker accommodation on the east coast is not nearly as nice as that in New Zealand. There are vastly larger numbers of backpackers, and many of them are in the 18 to 25 year-old range who tend to do a lot of damage to hotels. As a result, the places we stayed in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast were at the bottom range of acceptable, and not the kind of places that we would have liked to stay in for 2 months. Staying with the host families, and now with the relatives, has turned this into a first class vacation at almost no cost. This is going to make the rest of the trip through Australia a bit more comfortable, as we�ll be able to afford to spend more without blowing our US$50/day budget. We haven�t been bored, bouncing from house to house, depending on who has the day off from the market. The market is definitely a family affair, with fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends making up 40% of the work force. We jumped right in to help, me drawing on my experience at Hope n� Hagen�s Market during the Santa Barbara days to merchandise all manner of dry goods, and Monica reviving the checker skills including learning EFTPOS � debit card terminal usage here. Everyone asks us if we are crazy, but after 4 months away from home, and in light of all the food we�ve been eating, and how welcome we�ve been in everyone�s lives, we were more than happy to jump in and help. Additionally, we get to work in a shop where lunch, including the finest cold cuts and breads that are available in the world, are provided for free. Speaking of food��
As far as life in Melbourne goes, we couldn�t be happier or better fed. No matter where we stay (Mario�s or Rosa�s), we always get up to someone encouraging us to eat. We have been enjoying a culinary experience that I�m not sure is available anywhere else in the world, much less Italy. Mario and Rosa are immigrants from Italy, and still do things like they were done in their village outside Naples.   They make their own salami using a traditional family recipe, their own wine in the back yard from local grapes, and cook all the traditional food. We have been eating roasted stuffed red peppers, roasted goat, fresh fish, lots of roasted veggies, all kinds of pasta, home-made pizza from the wood fired oven in the back yard, and a soup called pasta fajole (about which Dean Martin sang); all prepared just like they were 70 years ago. I�ve been soaking up as much knowledge about the recipes and methods as I can. They weren�t even sure that a couple of American kids would like, let alone know, some of these dishes. I am lucky because my mother spent a lot of time with my dad�s mother learning to cook the Italian food.   In talking to the people my age here, I find that they are losing much of the old country skills for cooking, much like my generation in America has. I tell them that the quality of most Italian cooking in the states has declined, mostly because old Italians no longer own the restaurants. Granted we�re not starving, bur mostly because in the States we have embraced Asian and Mexican cooking, but I think mostly because the food is still being cooked by immigrants and still tastes good. What will happen in 20 years when the Mexican restaurants are operated by the next generation of immigrants? These are the kind of things that I have time to worry about now. Isn�t it great?
Anyway, Monica and I are paying a lot of attention to how the food is prepared, and what the correct ingredients are, so that we will be able to cook for you all when we get home; then you can associate the taste with the pictures I�m going to post of some of the meals we�ve had! Yes, I�m a jerk. Also been talking to the cousins our age (a bit self serving - yes) here. They all understand Italian, but only about one third of them speak the language. Most of them know the basic recipes, but with parents still cooking for them when they need a real Italian meal, few have made any serious progress in preserving the culinary culture. I�ve been hard on them, telling them not to let it go, and I think they really understand what I�m saying. They get their image of America from all the great TV shows that are so popular here, like the Bold and the Beautiful, and movies. Although it drives Australian pop culture, I ask them what they think their kids will be like if they end up heavily influenced by American culture, rather that the one they grew up with? As great as America is, the one huge weakness that I see is the loss of the traditions of the forebears in the process of becoming American. I used to be a bit peeved when I walked into a market in Oxnard that catered to the Mexican immigrant population where they all they spoke was Spanish. Later I came to appreciate that a woman who has been making tamales, tortillas, carnitas, etc. for 40 years deserves to speak her own language in this environment, and that it was my obligation to learn a little Spanish so that I could order her delicious food. I now see the Italians here in Melbourne feeling so comfortable to be able to speak Italian to all the checkers, deli help, and the owners, with the notable exception of the 2 American cousins from the States who don�t speak any Italian. You have to wonder what the future will be like if Wonder bread becomes the only bread? The idea of America being a stew rather than a melting pot becomes much more palatable (pardon the pun.)
For those of you who have never ventured overseas or made you own wine, everything you have ever heard about sulphites is true. I haven�t been able to drink alcohol at home in 7years without it causing my sinuses to swell-shut and me to snore. Here, and by the way in Spain too, I am able to drink all the fabulous wine I want to, and I do not get the same reaction. This holds true for beer too, but not for liquor imported from the States, which is all treated with preservatives. Also, acid indigestion, heartburn, etc., are all a function of terrible food, not some disease that affects older people. I can eat very hot and spicy foods (in addition to two bottles of red wine that would send me in to a gastric inferno at home) with no ill effects.    Coincidence, I think not! This leads me to my most recent infatuation (in addition to food)� wine making! All these families make their own wine, usually enough to last about a year or two, because without the preservatives (sulphates), the wine only lasts about 2 years before it turns to vinegar. A minor investment in equipment yields a beautiful drinking wine, and that is all that God intended for us to have (or he wouldn�t have put the yeast on the grapes!)    Oh well, got to drink it all up! Seriously though, these people make a lot of their own food still, and are going strong at 70 years old (except for problems with blood pressure and cholesterol because of the rich diet) unlike many Americans who are invalids by that point.

5/5/2002 And more of the story...

One of the things I wanted to do when I arrived in Melbourne was track down some family relatives whom we haven�t been in contact with for 30 years. My father had told me that there was a brother of his mother�s who went to Australia and was living in Moonee Ponds, outside of Melbourne. I had an old letter that my mother had received from Uncle Joe and Aunt Lucy 30 years ago with a street address. One afternoon, while sitting with Pauline and Tony, I told them that I wanted to go to the address and see if anyone was still there. They suggested that I get out the phone book and call them before I went to the house. There were about 20 Montesanos in the phone book in the greater Melbourne area, so they pointed to the phone and said have at it. After about the 6th call with no one knowing whom I was talking about, I was starting to wonder if the relatives had all moved out of the area. Melbourne has a huge Italian population, and there seemed to be Montesanos, but none whose parents or grandparents had lived in Moonee Ponds. Phone call number eight struck gold though! I was speaking with the son of my father�s mother�s brother, Frank Montesano. His father and mother, Joe & Lucy Montesano, had immigrated to Australia from Italy. There were 5 children; Rocco, Mario, Rosa, Frank and Joe, all still alive. Rocco had moved back to Italy, and was living in Naples. The other four were all in the area. He took the number where I was staying and said to hold tight, someone would call me back in a little while. In about an hour, the phone rang. Vito Mario Montesano was on the phone, looking for the kid from America. I explained to Uncle Mario that his father was my father�s uncle, so they are cousins. This was all a bit confusing because the relationship is through my grandmother, so my last name is not Montesano, but DeLuca. This must have made some sense, because he then said that his shop was only about 15 minutes away from where we were staying, and that he and his wife would come by in a few minutes. They arrived shortly thereafter, and after hashing out the family tree for a while, he must have been satisfied that he and my father were cousins, and that I couldn�t be all that bad. He made arrangements to pick us up in two days so we could spend the afternoon at his house and have lunch.
We spent that night drinking to our success with the Kirkwoods, who were very happy for us, and to a friendship that we�re sure will continue for a long time. The time finally came for us to say goodbye to Pauline and Tony, and as excited as we were to have found the Montesanos, we were also sad to part ways with them. Luckily, we have a date planned to meet in Singapore this July. By coincidence, they also will be in Singapore for a few days on their way to England/Scotland at roughly the same time as we will be arriving from Bali, Indonesia, though we only have about 25 hours on the ground together before they depart. We look forward to sampling a Singapore Sling in the company of some great friends. They are also planning on being in the States for a few months in 2005, by which time we hope to be home and ready to return the hospitality they offered us.
Uncle Mario picked us up two days later and we made our way to their house. The Montesano home is about 4000 sq. ft. on a 1/3-acre parcel in the hills outside the city. The most impressive feature of the home is a huge vegetable/fruit garden in the backyard. Mario has many varieties of apples, figs, plums, apricots, and all of the staples of an Italian kitchen (peppers, tomatoes, squash, parsley, broccoli, etc�) that took up 1/3 of the property. We met Lisa�s paisan (Italian for family friend from the same town in the old country) Vincenso, who was busy weeding a huge flowerbed in the front yard. Seventy years old, tough as nails, and still going strong. His secret: a little food (anything he wants), a lot of exercise, and two glasses of red wine every day. We spent time looking over the family tree, and clarifying the relationship once again. Mario was interested in all the uncles and aunts he knew he had in the states, because he used to write the letters to them and their children after his mother (who passed away in the 1970s) was no longer able to write because of ill health. I also got the low-down on the family. His older brother Rocco was the oldest son of Joe and Lucy, and living in Naples, Italy. He has two sons who live near him.    Mario and his wife Lisa have 2 daughters - Lucia and Paola; Rose and her husband Enrico have 3 children - Maria, Lucia, and a son, Nick.   Joe, his wife Patricia, and Frank (single) live on a farm and raise harness-racing horses on 10 acres outside of town.
We got the tour of the house, the garden, and the vino cellar full of homemade wine! Aunt Rosa came by to join us for lunch.   Amrio's wife Lisa is from a family of chefs, and she fed us like we hadn�t eaten in months: lasagna, prime rib, salad, bread, cheese; more, more, more.   Mario said that when we needed to move on from the Kirkwood�s, we were welcome to stay with the family as long as we wanted. Our first stop would be with Rose and her husband Enrico. They live close to town and a major street-car line, so getting into town would be convenient. The following weekend we could move out to Mario�s, and the family would all gather on Sunday and have a little something to eat.
So, on Wednesday morning, Mario picked us up and we left for his shop. I though the shop sounded like a little deli - well yes, sort of.   After a short drive, we arrive in front of the Grand�Monte Continental Market. It is in a suburb of Melbourne that is heavily Italian. I heard very little English here. The shop is the size of a basketball court, and is a shrine to all foods Italian. We started the tour by meeting Mario�s daughter Lucia, his brother-in law (Rose�s husband) Enrico, and Enrico�s son Nick. Then they said, �You look hungry, you need to eat!� Within minutes there was cappuccino, espresso, rolls, ham, cheese, croissants, etc. all over the table. All the employees speak Italian, and you could tell that there were lots of conversations about the two Americans who had just arrived.   After introductions, a tour, and food, we headed with Aunt Rosa and Enrico to their house (in their new BMW), just outside of Moonee Ponds, and very close to the city. That afternoon, Rosa�s brother, Frank Montesano met us for lunch (2 hours after we ate at the shop). Uncle Frank is a free-lance auditor, former manager with Deloitte. Looks like we have something to talk about. Rosa�s daughter-in-law Annette, married to her son Nick, is also in the business, but with the firm formerly known as Arthur Somebody.   After lunch, Frank took us for a tour of the city, and to his ranch, that he shares with his brother John and John�s wife Pat. The have about 10 horses, from 6 months old to well-established racers, 3 dogs, and chickens. Right now they are about 25km (18 miles) outside town in a very peaceful location with wonderful views of open space and the green hills, but the city is racing this direction at a terrible speed. On the way we passed 1000s of tract homes. It won�t be long till they swallow up the entire area. We met some of the horses and the two friendly dogs before heading back to Rosa�s for dinner. That evening we had hand made ravioli that melted in your mouth and a stewed Italian roast, rolled and stuffed with bread crumbs and Parmagan cheese, then cooked in tomato sauce called bragol.

5/1/2002 New friends and family!

Well, we made it to Melbourne, and boy were we surprised by the reception we received. Our first host was a family that lives about an hour north-east of the city. They said that we were welcome to stay at their B&B, as they had no guests booked into the rooms for the 2 days we requested; all we had to do was buy them dinner one night. A Tudor Manor B&B is located in a rural area known for its fine wineries. Our hosts, Keith and Inez, have traveled extensively through Europe, and hope to see us in the States in a few years. Upon arriving, they welcomed us with a wonderful meal of osso buco and a bottle of champagne. Over dinner we traded travel stories and learned of several things that we should do in Europe during our time there. We spent the following day struggling with the local bus network (getting nowhere fast), finally giving up and visiting a local winery where we talked with the owner for half an hour and purchased two bottles of wine for dinner. That night we were joined by Danny (Inez's son) for a wonderful dinner at a local Italian resturant. This chef served up a seafood platter for 5 that included shrimp, scallops, calamari, fish and mussels that were perfectly prepared and very tasty. We were all very full and quite happy after that dinner. The following day was ANZAC Day, a national holiday that commemorates the Australian / New Zealand forces landings (and subsequent slaughter by the Turks) at Gallipoli, Turkey during WWI. We spent the morning helping them chop up the remnants of all the large shrubs that they had torn out of the front yard during the previous two months, as they completely re-landscaped. These we stacked neatly so that they could be hauled away. In exchange, we stayed an extra night. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with them eating meat pies and drinking beer while watching the big Australian Rules Football game on the telly. The following day they gave us a ride to town. After a day of exploring, we took a train to meet our next hosts in a suburb just north of the city. They said they would pick us up from the train station at 5 pm. Come 5:40, we started to get a bit nervous, but at last a car came into the parking lot, and out jumped Pauline Kirkwood. She and her husband Tony (or Kirky to his mates) are now among a group of dear and very genuine fiends that we have met duringthis trip.   Their children are all grown, and while they still work, they spend as much time as they can in Europe and the States. Pauline worls at a local high school, and every other year escorts a group of 15 to 30 students to California (usually San Francisco, but also Los Angeles/San Diego) for 2 weeks on a class trip. They have made friends in the states whom they visit, and were more than happy to open their home to a couple of Americans. I think that we were not the Americans they expected, but that wasn't bad. Their friends in America, who they happen to have met through the student trip program, were all Mormon. The first thing that you notice in Kirky's living room is a huge bar, with a large mirror that proudly proclaims that this is "Tony's Bar". They offered us a drink, and after half a dozen they both said, "Thank God!"

4/22/2002 Off to Melbourne Tomorrow!

Well, we'll be leaving the beach for colder weather in Melbourne. It has been nice to soak up the sun and relax on the beach for the past week, but we're finding that it tends to get a bit boring after a few days, no matter how nice the area is. Hopefully the weather will not be too dreary down there. Several people have offered to let us stay with them for the majority of our time in Melbourne. The first place is actually a very nice B&B! This definitely helps with the finances!   Our next challenge is to find a way to get from Melbourne to Darwin, where we depart for Bali from on June 16th. It is a distance of almost 2000 miles, and we don't want to be on a bus the whole time. There are several ways to do it combining flying, the train, and on busses, just have to figure out the right combination.
Still can't understand Australian Rules Football. All the guidebooks say to just drink a few beers and don't worry about the rules.

4/17/2002 Arrived in Australia!

We made it to the land of wonder, XXXX beer, Koalas, Roos... the land down under! Oz looks and feels much more like modern USA. NZ was the USA back in 1965, before the interstate road system & 24-hour gas stations. We landed in Brisbane at 10 P.M. after about 19 hours of travel - though it should only be a 3 hour flight. No wonder Air New Zealand is bankrupt. Looks like NZ really isn't a 1st world nation after all. The city is about an hour inland from the coast and 600 miles north of Sydney. This is Queensland, the same area where Survivor II was filmed. It is always hot up here (about 80 degrees right now), and either dry or wet. This is the dry season, so the humidity is a very nice 70%. A month ago it was 90 degrees / 90% humidity for weeks on end.

We spend 3 days in the Brisbane area, staying with an Italian family I found on the internet who offered us a place to stay. We were able to explore they city, which used to be the rural red-neck city, suitable for visits by the Sydney/Melbourne population only during their very cold/rainy winter, which runs May to October. It is now a very cosmopolitan city built along a river, with a modern downtown that looks like it would be very nice to live in. Lots of parks, cultural buildings, and plenty of very expensive brand-new high-rise condos built along the river. It is not a usual stop for most backpackers, as it is very spread out city and kind of hard to get around in, but we were driven to the major sites by our host, Peter. Took a trip out the "The Crocodile Hunter's" Australia Zoo where you are able to walk among kangaroos & wallabies, see koalas, crocs, dingos, wombats, and lots of snakes. Lots of fun.

Made arrangements for our air travel through to Barcelona in December. We bought 2 unbelievably cheap tickets on Quantas through a discount shop. We fly from Darwin, Australia to Bali, Indonesia on June 16th; then from Bali to Singapore on July 17th. We'll travel overland to Bangkok, and fly into Madrid via London on December 10th. All the cheap seats from Bangkok to London were sold out from Dec. 11 till January 30th! Talk about the need to book early! We'll be in Barcelona to celebrate Christmas and the 3 Kings in early January. So, to re-cap... Australia, Bali, Singapore, Bangkok, London, Madrid.... for US$650! We get ripped off in the states on airfare. It was a good move to wait on buying tickets until we got here.

After 4 days (we arrived on the 13th), we moved on to the Gold Coast, about 1 hour away. Though I have never been to either, I understand that this is Miami Beach & Hawaii rolled into one. Miles of fine white sandy beaches, warm water, beautiful weather all year long, and lots of well-tanned backpackers soaking up the sun (Monica hopes to reclaim the tan she lost the last two weeks in NZ!). Just settled into a room with an ocean view for $28 a night! Not a great place, but we'll manage.

One thing that is much better here in Australia is the food! If there is one huge benifit that immigration has, it is to counter the misterable tradition of English food in the former colonies. Australia has seen plenty of Italian, Greek, Turkish, German, Asian and Eastern European immigrants, and they have improved the food here to near the variety and quality you can find in California. We had problems finding reasonably priced food that tasted good in New Zealand, but this country is a different story. Not good for the belly, unfortunately!

More in a day or two after I sample the beach...

Tony