The Conlin Crew

C is for Cookie

2012-01-27T17:00:00.000-08:00

It's good enough for me!

COOKIE!!

The baking cupboard is getting a workout after a 4 month sabbatical. Cookies for Molly's class holiday party and then all the old standby Christmas cookies. We tried a few new ones this year that just might make it on the rotation again for next year including homemade oreos, with Daniel's twist of mint icing in some of them and chocolate mint crinkles with mint truffles. Yummy!

Stepping Stones Montessori Holiday Performance

2012-01-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

Molly and I arrived as the curtains rose for the Stepping Stones Holiday Music Extravaganza!

Charlie works through his pre-performance jitters.

Miss Erin's casa gathers for the show. Charlie is sporting "his" Grinch sweater, handknit by Linda. This is probably the Grinch sweater's 7th and final annual outing, as the last of the Conlins is quickly outgrowing it!

"Hanukkah Mouse"

Post-performance let down.

Nutcracker in a Nutshell

2012-01-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

Molly was a star performer in the Nutcracker in a Nutshell. The practiced for 2 1/2 weeks and had a 1 hour show on a Wednesday night in December at the Hannah Community Center. Molly had lots of roles and the whole performance kept Charlie on the edge of his seat (he LOVED the fight scene between the nutcracker and rat king). Daniel, on the other hand, slept through about half of it and awoke refreshed in time to get to Charlie's concert right afterwards.

The annual Christmas Card Photo Shoot

2012-01-22T17:06:00.000-08:00

On the banks of the Red Cedar

2012-01-22T17:01:00.000-08:00

A few days after the kids' snow day, our upstate New York friends left their green grass for some Michigan snow!
The kids are back in school, so the grown up are playing hooky.

Fa La La La La!

2012-01-19T19:41:00.000-08:00

Deck the Hall

When did he get so Tall?

You need to think deep.
Santa will know if you're asleep.

Molly reaches way up high,

Sweetly decorating o're the tree.

Can you see the wombat on the tree? He's in the bottom right of the picture.
No rhyme for him, but he's cute.

How to Make a Snow Day

2012-01-18T18:26:00.000-08:00

The East Lansing Lore says that if you wear your pajamas inside out, flush an ice cube down the toilet and/or (I'm not sure if all are necessary), sleep with a spoon under your pillow, the next day will be a snow day. I'd like to add that if you make lunch plans with a friend, that will do it too. Anyway, Daniel sent this picture of the "night before" to his South Coogee classmates. You can just barely make out the Aussie School hat through the snow flakes.

The Western Pensylvanian in me has resisted going to manufactured hills for sledding, but that's what we've got around here. This is the Frandor sledding hill, close to our house. The exciting part of the day was the mid-hill collision among Conlin kids that left Molly bleeding profusely from her nose and parents at the top of the hill gasping and filling my hands with Kleenexes intended for other nose fluids! After leaving her mark on the fresh white snow, she resumed sledding for the rest of the afternoon!

Peacock Road Tree Farm

2012-01-18T17:21:00.000-08:00

On a cold rainy day, we donned our Santa hat and tree snobbery and set off for the latest local tree farm in our quest to find the BEST tree selection. After a few bust years, we finally found a hit at Peacock Road Tree Farm! The weather was COLD and rainy, but somehow tree hunting moods are not dampened by that.

Wagon ride out to a small bonfire being fueled by...lighter fluid, perhaps? I'm not sure what was in the small gas can that the tractor driver was dumping on it.

After serious deliberation we settled on a short chubby tree and a tall skinny tree. For a moment, it looked like there was a "passing of the saw" to the young man in our house...

In the end, the wiser man still wields the saw:

Thanksgiving in Chicago

2012-01-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

Part of the original plans were to be back in the US before the holidays. One, unnamed, member of our family is ridiculously attached to traditions. Here we are eating the Conlin family spread at Tom and Nancy's. The new tradition this year was picking up cousin Maddie at Notre Dame on our way!
.

Maybe some day our kids will age into smiling for the camera when asked...

Grandma's "present" from Down Under was some New Zealand yarn for making the kids new sweaters. Aren't we generous? Daniel's measurements have changed the most.

Earnin' some cash from Grandma.

Pat, the 6'6" cousin: "The rule is, you stay behind the blue thing."
Charlie, the 3'10" cousin: "Well, you haven't heard my rules yet."

Reunions

2011-12-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

Reentry was pretty easy - a few nights up at midnight try ing to get wide awake kids to at least stay in bed, but mostly it was smooth. Grandma and PopPop Dickert eased the transition by managing the daily living chores for a few days while we moved, zombie-like, about the house.

As part of reentry, Mike took Daniel and his gang (but not the camera) to Laser Tag and Molly chose to paint your own pottery. Yes, I was outnumbered 6 2nd graders to one in a store full of breakable, spillable materials. No drama to report. The toughest part was getting them out of the van at their houses when we were done.

From Spring to Fall

2011-12-15T19:18:00.000-08:00

The leaves still fall, even when you go to Australia.

Trip Home

2011-12-15T18:34:00.000-08:00

I had a serious case of blog burnout - but the pictures from out trip home were nagging me mercilessly (yes, they took on a life of their own), so I gave in.

We had our suitcases as the airport Holiday Inn and spent our last day and night in Sydney watching the Melbourne Cup in the Hotel Bar and purging weight from the suitcases. Daniel was a personal shredder and the others joined in during breaks from Sponge Bob on TV.

We ventured out for the best meal we'd had in Australia a short walk away from the hotel and spotted some Halloween festivities on the back to the hotel.

All packed - we lost a jar of Vegamite in security - I accidentally packed it in my carryon and it was over the security size limit for yummy spread. You win some, you lose some.

The plane ride from Sydney to LA was 13 hours. To our knowledge, Daniel did not even take a break from his personal screen to go to the bathroom. We may be wrong...but we may be right. For my part, I watched an entire season of Modern Family.

Our flight from LA to Detroit was cancelled for maintenance issues, but Mike acted swiftly and got us on a flight two hours, and one long nap in the terminal, later.
We had an easy van ride home and were greeted by Grandma and PopPop who got a quick hello before we heard the contents of Rubbermaid tubs dumped all over the boys' bedroom. Some people kiss the ground, some kiss their Legos. We're home.

The Great Barrier Reef for the Great Finale!

2011-10-31T03:37:00.000-07:00

I'm officially up to date, posting in real time. Happy Halloween - we're going as snorkelers this year.

We chose the Quicksilver cruise to the outer Reef because it is a bit shorter than all day and offered more than just snorkeling. You cruise for an hour and half on a big boat that holds 450, but only 250 were aboard today. The boat docks at this station in the middle of the ocean.

Here's the Tin Shed, where we're regulars :-)

We started with a short ride on the semi-submersible and saw a few Nemos and three turtles and brightly colored fish everywhere.

Molly was tempted to try a prawn for lunch, but she couldn't get past the eyes lookin' at her. Trick or treat?

You can snorkel in an area right off the platform patrolled by lifeguards.
Wow.

Charlie spent most of his time riding Mike's back, but Molly was a snorkeler and Daniel went far and wide. Mike saw a shark, but we were assured they're not dangerous.

Mike is loading the car as I type for our trip back to Sydney, hopefully in time for the Melbourne Cup - a horse race that stops all the action in Australia. First thing the next morning - a flight to LA, then Detroit and a car ride back to East Lansing. Home.

Mossman Gorge and the Germinator

2011-10-31T02:56:00.000-07:00

After a morning at the Port Douglas market, where snow cones were the breakfast of choice (bubble gum and cola flavor)...
we drove back up to the Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest. It was much more crowded at 10AM, compared to at 8AM and the water was too cold for me (how can that be in the tropics?), but the others went in and even tested out floating through some currents and rocks.

I missed the photo of Mike getting onto this rock - imagine a classic.
We had our last picnic lunch of bread and cheese in Australia near the parking lot of the Mossman Gorge area and changed out of our swim stuff (mine was dry, so it was easier). Mike went over to the car to drop off the things we didn't need for the afternoon hike and suddenly he was waving to us frantically. Who would have believed that a cassowary's path would include the edge of a crowded parking lot! What a weird looking flightless bird it is and there we stood, just a few yards away.

Here he/she? is headed for the Subaru! They're solitary animals, except when the male is raising the chicks, but they have habit paths that they follow for a few days at a time searching for food. Did he/she know the ice cream truck was parked there for the day? Oh, this was quite a find and made our day!

What else is there to say? We saw a cassowary in the wild (next to a Subaru). However, we finished off the day with a walk and some rock climbing by the longer legged members of the family. Charlie and I stayed back to dunk our feet in the water. He figured out which hand is his left while they were gone - home schooling at its best.
Molly and Charlie like to play tourguide on the hikes. Molly was definitely paying attention to yesterday's tour with the real guide. She told me that the small trees growing in the forest will sometimes wait millions of years for another large tree to fall so that they can get enough sunlight to grow. Well, some of the time references seem to have been confused, but it was the right sentiment.

Did I mention we saw a cassowary, in the wild?

We went back to the Tin Shed for dinner, because the view is hard to beat.

The Tropical Tour

2011-10-30T03:20:00.000-07:00

We decided to complement Daniel’s ability to read and digest all the signs along the paths, info centers and lookouts with a guided tour of the Daintree Rainforest. We started in Mossman’s Gorge and got a view of a cool dragon lizard and crystal clear stream.

We tried a cruise along the Daintree River, in search of crocodiles in the wild, but only managed an egret and a few sun bird spotting.

We checked out the beach and “town” of Cape Tribulation, which is where the sealed (paved) road ends on the east coast of Australia. You can go on pretty much forever on an unpaved road to somewhere, if you so desire. Apparently the hole in Captain Cook's boat was the genesis for all the depressing names of places along this part of Queensland. Charlie was not affected in the same way and wrote (EILRAHC heart YLLOM) perfectly backwards in the sand.

Lunch included tips for mixing Vegamite with butter (not our only option, thank goodness – 3/5 of us didn’t even bother to try the tip), tasting the backside of an ant (again, 3/5 of us didn’t bother), and a swim in a secluded spot.

These strangler trees (really a fig tree) drop offshoot roots down from high branches and they twist around the original tree, eventually strangling it, so you have a series of roots that are hollow on the inside. This one is on one of the hikes we went on, where our guide Chris got out of the car first to see if the resident venomous snake was out and about. He's a "snake relocater" in his spare time, which provides no reassurance at all.

We saw cassowary droppings/scat/poo, but, alas, no cassowaries. They're considered a keystone animal in the forest because they eat huge amounts of fruits with seed and deposit the seeds in other parts of the forest for cross pollination. Some of the seeds will never germinate unless they've passed through the digestive system of the bird.

We ended the day at the Daintree Icecream Store, where you get four flavors in each bowl, of whatever fruit is ripe on their property that day. The Jakfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, weighing up to 80+ pounds. It's not too pretty to look out, but was very yummy in the ice cream. Wattle seed is the seed from a tree also and it tasted a little like coffee ice cream. Blueberry and Mango, not as exotic!

We arrived back at our place 9 hours after leaving. We haven't really done too many guided tours on the trip, but I think this one was worth it. Because the tour company wasn't busy (love those box jellyfish!), we were our own group - although they can be up to 8 or 12 persons. The kids asked tons of questions and kept the sibling bickering to an all-time low.

Far Up North

2011-10-30T02:44:00.000-07:00

Turn up the heat! From Christchurch to Sydney to Cairns, with only a minor hitch as the labor dispute at the airport put us temporarily in very long lines to get through immigration. The flight to Cairns was particularly quiet. A 4AM wakeup call is good for something. We’re staying in Port Douglas, about 50 km north of Cairns on the Pacific Coast. The kids swam in the pool and we had dinner at a place called the Tin Shed, which we discovered has jugs (pitchers) of raspberry lemonade and view of the bay on the opposite side of the peninsula that Port Douglas sits on.

We started off the next morning staking our place on the Four Mile Beach a few minutes walk from our place, The Outrigger.
The low season in this area starts November 1 because that's when the box jellyfish may have come to town. While walking toward customs in the International Terminal of the Sydney airport, there is a huge mural that asks if you know Australia's deadliest animal and at the end of the mural, the cute little jellyfish is highlighted. It's late October now and none have been spotted, so the nets that they have in place at the beach to keep them out of a small swimming area are not up yet and the warning for Marine Stingers said "unlikely". Still, there is vinegar on hand, which supposedly provides a teeny tiny bit of relief. Have fun kids!

Actually, all three kids were surprised by how much they like swimming in the ocean when the water and the air are warm. The cool waters and air of Sydney made them skeptical at first, but we had to drag Molly and Charlie away at the end of the day. Daniel was curled up on a beach chair with the Kindle, reading "Treasure Island."

Dinner that night...

You are My Sunshine!

2011-10-29T03:48:00.000-07:00

Technical Note for the official archives: These events took place on Wednesday, October 26th - our internet connections were non-existent or kooky in New Zealand.

A day and a half of rain on a holiday can really bring you down AND make the sunshine seem spectacular. We quickly packed our bags for the trip to Christchurch (our flight out the next morning) and raced to the Franz Joseph Glacier walk in the sun!! It is one of the few glaciers that is advancing in the days of global warming. The walk out there is filled with waterfalls that we would pull off highways in the rain to hop out and view because they’re so beautiful, but they almost seemed ho hum because there were so many of them. Charlie impressed the other walkers by wading through the glacial runoff as if it were a hot tub – he got his picture taken with one family. Silly boy.

By a late lunchtime we were in the town of Hokitika, eating in Café de Paris. Hokitika has some industry and a big tourism trade in jade, or greenstone. I think we counted 8 jade outlets in town. We also happened upon the Sock Museum, which just begs a visit. The owner produces and sells hand-crank machines that knit socks. She has about 15 of the machines on display in one little room and sells the hand crank knit socks for $35 a pair. Strangely, the socks are not even made from New Zealand wool, despite the sheep population – the wool was from Germany. She told Mike that she sells 1000 of these machines a year for $2000 each, mostly to wealthy Americans. Her U.S. base is in Pinkney, MI – just down the road from East Lansing. While we’ve been in Australia, she was in Michigan. If you’ve ever read “Roadside America” – this would definitely belong in “Roadside New Zealand.”

We traveled through Arthur’s Pass on the way to Christchurch and eventually caught back up with the rain, just about the time we met these Kea – the only Alpine parrot in the world.

New Zealand isn’t really about the wildlife in the same way that Australia has been for us – I think I read that bats were the only wild native mammal. Possums and deer were introduced and their overpopulation lead to creative outlets: possums are a pest that get made into some sort of wool/possum material. If you ever order venison in the States, most likely it was imported from a deer farm in New Zealand.

We had a few minutes of dusk to check out the business district of New Zealand that was hit by the earthquake. Most of the central business district is inside a fence that is inaccessible - pretty eerie by night. We heard that all buildings over 4 stories will be demolished.

Remember our view of the mountains in Queenstown? This is our view from the Avalon Motel in Christchurch:

Now, right to bed because we have a 6:30 AM flight to Sydney in the morning!

Rain Rain Go Away

2011-10-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

Turns out, there isn’t much to do on the West Coast when it is raining buckets. We checked out a Wildlife Center where they have 3 Rowi Kiwi birds on display. Seeing a kiwi (the other major New Zealand symbol, in addition to the fern, and the source of why New Zealanders are called kiwis – not the fruit :-)) was neat, although we’ve gotten spoiled by finding things in the wild, this would have to do. No flash - it freaks out the birds, so no pictures of the real kiwis. There are only 375 Rowi Kiwi’s in the world, all on the West Coast of New Zealand. In the wild, 95 percent of eggs do not survive, so conservationists take the eggs when they are laid and allow them to hatch and the chicks to grow for 18 months in captivity before releasing them into the wild. In this way, 95 percent (coincidentally?) survive. Kiwi chicks are completely self sufficient after exiting the egg – sort of like our kids – NOT (the three of them just discovered this “cute” turn of phrase and are using it liberally – although Charlie and Molly feel the need to make sure that you heard the “not” and explain what they really meant). O.k., so reading all of that and playing in their fake glacier took about 30 minutes.

Now, off to the Franz Joseph Glacier hike after eating peanut butter and jelly/bread and cheese sandwiches in the car. That hike lasted less than 30 minutes in the pouring rain. Our ever insightful and typically rosy Molly summed it up, “Whose idea was this anyway?!”

How about an afternoon of Legos in the motel room and an early dinner instead? We ate out at one of the two open cafes in town and lamented that getting bread for the table costs extra in this neck of the woods, but it took the edge of the hunger we worked up drying ourselves off all day.

Travel Day

2011-10-28T03:44:00.001-07:00

We were sorry to say good-bye to Queenstown, but packed up and headed for the West Coast first thing on Monday morning for the next planned stop on the quick tour. The views along the lakes and mountains are breathtaking and, again, we were struck by how few people there are anywhere.

View of Mike in the "unspoiled" natural world

The views got harder to capture on camera as the rains started to fall. We were undeterred while driving through the Haast Pass (we purchased a map for $2 and were determined to use it) and stopped at all the marked waterfalls and sent the kids into the rain for a view.

I thought the camera protecting umbrella deserved a mention.

By the time we arrived in the town of Fox Glacier it was near dinner time and we got the bad news that the weather looked bad, real bad, for our hopes to walk on the glaciers. With that disappointing forecast in mind, we walked as close as you could get to the Fox Glacier on the sanctioned path. Our attire of shorts and sandals was met with a few confused gazes by the slicker/hat/boot-clad tour groups.

Funyaking

2011-10-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

Today took us back to Glenorchy for a trip on the Dart River. We suited up in wetsuits and fleeces, sunscreen and bug spray and started in a jet boat.

The jet boat rides made famous in Queenstown are the ones in the canyon of the Shotover River – where the 360s take you within inches of the canyon walls. We were on the gentler version, but the 360s were still fun and we got into a water battle with the 2^nd boat on our tour, that left Daniel especially drenched to start the day! The guide showed us lot of the settings for the Lord of the Rings movies and the sets they're building for the Hobbit movie they're filming right now. He said that some people ask to see the ruins that were in the movie - uh...they're film sets...

Next stop, blowing up our canoes and launching into the river. We stopped for lunch along the way after a trip into a narrow canyon formed by an earthquake. Our kids had more than their fair share of desserts and bananas. Daniel and I were an adequate team – until the late afternoon when he didn’t approve of my steering. It might have had something to do with the boat carrying Mike, Molly and Charlie passing us.

There are so few people here – really, so few. Partly, spring break just ended for the school kids here, so we’re almost the only persons with uneducated children. Wouldn’t you know it, 2 of the people in our 24 person group were from Grand Rapids and the guy is an adjunct professor at MSU’s law school.

We spent the evening watching the All Blacks win the rugby World Cup on National TV. Mike drove to town to check out the scene, but it’s really a young town and it didn’t offer much for the middle-aged American tourist.

Down and Out

2011-10-28T03:04:00.001-07:00

We started our morning at the Skyline Luge. A gondola ride is included, then 6 runs down the luge track (buy 5 get one free). There are two tracks and you need to do your first run of the day on the Scenic Track. Charlie was young enough to be free, as long as he went tandem on the Scenic Route for the day. His strategy was to push the handles as far forward as he could, attempting to speed up the cart. He didn’t really understand that there was a fine line, if you went too far forward, you’d come to a complete stop – dangerous copilot. We zoomed passed a woman on an early run and she found us afterwards and apologized to us afterwards for causing Charlie and me to slow down. She explained that the last time she did this in Park City, Utah, you had more control of the speed. We said no big deal because we were waiting on our daughter who was cautious and, who liked to take it easy. She asked how old Molly was and after telling her, she said, “Well 80 year olds like to take it easy too”! You go girls!

The views over Queenstown and the Remarkables was an added bonus for the grown ups and eased Mike’s disappointment at losing a head to head luge race with Daniel.

The Queenstown Jazz fest was Saturday morning along the water. The local face painting artist decorated our kiddos and we enjoyed salmon salad along the water while listening to “L is for the …”. I don’t really know any of the words to that song.

We spent the afternoon in Glenorchy, a small town 40 kilometers from Queenstown. The drive is…well, here it is:

Glenorchy and nearby Paradise are the setting for most of the Lord of the Rings films. Turns out we were too tired to hike, so we just pitched rocks into the braided river. Some of the other tourists milling around took pictures of Charlie, the dragon faced boy, who is always thrilled to ham it up for a crowd!

On the way back into town, we headed to Fergburgers for dinner – a local institution according to the woman in one of many, many backpacking shops. Our host there was a woman from Cambridge, England, who came over to New Zealand for a year and, like many, ended up in Queenstown for a few months because it is that kind of place.

For my entertainment, Mike keeps singing his version of the “all that glitters is not gold.”

Remarkable(s) in Many Ways

2011-10-26T02:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have some BANANAS! $1.99 (NZ) per kilo! I must say, they’re pretty yummy sliced on a toasted English muffin spread with Nutella, accompanied by “trim” milk (skim, we think). The view from our place of the Remarkables enhances the dining experience.

We started and finished the day in Queenstown set along Lake Wakatipu surrounded by the Remarkables. A quick visit to the medical center was on the agenda for the Charlie cough that won’t go away (lots of rest and regular meals haven’t been part of his recent days). He’s back out on the field in no time.

Our low-key day included the observation decks at A.J. Hackett – the founders of the sport of bungy jumping. I know with certainty that I could not dive off that bridge and Daniel seems to be with me. Mike would do it if he was sure he wouldn’t get hurt. Molly is first in line as soon as she reaches 35 kilos. Charlie keeps repeating that he’s “afraid of heights.”

Next stop, Arrowtown, a nearby town that was central in the 19^th century gold rush that attracted Europeans and Chinese gold seekers. The visitors' center rents pans for $3 each so the Conlin 49ers (?) planned what to buy with their nuggets on the way down to the river with Mike. No luck at all at first…after I arrived to check in on the action and Mike fetched (Molly’s term) them some river bottom from a promising part of the river, their luck changed. No one can believe that they each found a nugget of approximately the same size within minutes of each other. Daniel thinks it might be pyrite (fool’s gold), but they’ll wait until they get back to the States to have it fully appraised, while continuing to make their lists of how to spend their fortunes. Charlie insists that they’ll split their earnings in half. Clearly, we have a little work on fractions to do with that boy.

The day out ended with a walk along the water in the Queenstown Gardens and the nearby neighborhood. The tulips and rhododendrons are in bloom, well into spring. The fern, as seen on The All Blacks jerseys and everywhere else in NZ is a national symbol.

As I type, we’re watching the consolation game for the Rugby World Cup. Go Wallabies! According to the commentators, someone needs a warning about too many “hands on the ruck”. The blood is flowing freely and at least one ACL and a few teeth are not in the shape they started in. The athletes seem, on average, more well-spoken than the athletes, on average, in the United States. Mike says it’s because of all the public speaking practice they got in elementary school.

International Terminal

2011-10-26T02:01:00.000-07:00

Leaving a mostly empty apartment in South Coogee, we checked into our Jetstar flight to Christchurch. We lost our sun tan lotion that came from East Lansing in security – too big and doesn’t qualify as medicine. I also lost my watch on the plane after failing to fully clasp it when changing the time to NZ time zone. I realized it 10 minutes from the airport when Mike asked me what time it was. With luck, they recovered it on the plane and delivered it safely to my empty wrist. A Happy Meal from the Burger King drive through (I know, I know, what a way to start, but we had a long drive ahead of us and no time to dawdle) took the edge off our hunger and provided small plastic Simpson’s toys that light up for the ride.

Flying into Christchurch, you can see the fields divided by something. Up close, they’re HUGE hedges perfectly manicured. To our disappointment, we didn’t catch the gadget that gets the 30 feet (10 meter) high hedges to be even height.

No roos or wombats on highway signs in New Zealand, but the warning that a choo-choo train track is approaching is pretty sweet.

We stopped for dinner at Lake Tekapo in the central South Island. It snowed here the day before, but was easily in the mid to high 50s, so it was definitely packing snow. The lake was a turquoise colour set off by the snow covered mountains.

I hope the sermons here are fascinating, because a picture window about the size of the wall faces the mountains and lake.

It was a long drive (probably 6 hours in the car) on a mostly deserted, but very well marked road to Queenstown in the south central part of the South Island where we’ll start out day tomorrow.

Ciao Coogee

2011-10-19T01:24:00.000-07:00

Bright Sunshiney Day with weather in the 70s. Our last night in our South Coogee Apartment. We have a rental car to drop our bags for the trip to MI off at the Airport Holiday Inn and get us all to the airport in the morning for our trip to New Zealand. I'm nervous that we have too much stuff to pack but the voice of reason suggests that we have one more afternoon at the local beach.

The Coogee Surf and Rescue Club is housed in the building you can see right on the beach just right of center in the picture. There's a "rock pool" we've been meaning to check out since we arrived. It still isn't really warm enough to swim (water is 18 Celsius and air is about 21 or 22 in the sun), but my standards, but as team photographer, I'm in.

Up close, Daniel is standing on the edge of the rock pool, which is just a cement wall that holds some of the ocean water as it pounds in and out.

Molly has the cliffs on the opposite side of Coogee Beach as her back drop.

Can you make out the rule on the right in the 2nd row? It says "Bombing Prohibited" and has a silhouette of a person cannon balling onto another person. We're not sure of the exact definition of bombing, but we now know that the water is not deep enough for men of Mike's size to attempt without smacking bottom (of pool with own).

'The pool had some of the stinging blue bottles in it, at least that's what we think they were. Mike found a disgarded Macca's (I'm not sure how you spell the nickname they use here) cup and caught it few. Combined with the "Thirsty for Prizes" ad on the side, it made a nice shot :-).

Charlie takes over the hunt.

Enough fun - home to pack and hope the swim suits are dry by morning!

Next post will be from New Zealand, where the All Blacks will play for the Rugby World Cup Title this weekend. Looks like we planned it that way.

Goodbye South Coogee Public School

2011-10-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

We got to school early today to take a few pictures of the wall art created by the Year 6 students. Luckily for us, they JUST hung it yesterday AND, they only finished hanging half of the art pieces, but Daniel's rain forest flower (large and smelly) made the wall!

The Artist, The Art and The Entourage

We turned all the uniforms into the uniform shop that we're not bringing home so that others can have the good fortune of finding the gently used version. The shorts I dropped off today weren't quite dry from being washed last night - it wasn't warm enough overnight for the drying rack to do it's work. We were there early enough for Molly to wait on the S1M benches for school to start. Her last day was an excursion to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

But first...she got to give out her gift from America - MSU playing cards, direct from the SBS Bookstore in East Lansing (thanks to my very kind friend who did the shopping and shipping for me!).

At the end of the day, I got there a little early to capture S3S on the camera. Daniel's buddy Benji is in the picture, but Dion was on the same excursion as Molly, so he's not in the picture.

We definitely were much less involved in the schools here than in Michigan, which has it pros and cons. For example, I cannot tell you a single kid's name in the picture above, except for Daniel/Dan. That said, there is no question that I'd export the uniforms to the US in a second (I emailed Molly's principle, jokingly requesting uniforms and she told me it would have to be a district wide decision - maybe I should email the superintendent :-)). You know, I'd export the school song too - still gets time every time to hear my kids singing it off key:

Here I stand beside my friends, as we share with you our vision

Of a school where knowledge grows like leaves on trees

And I am proud to bear the name, of a school which gives me courage

To reach great heights yet bend and feel the breeze

This is my school, my place of hopes and dreams

My roots are deep, my branches full

I do belong here, this vision includes me

Stand Tall Stand Tall

South Coogee Public School

School Song

Shrinky Dinks!

2011-10-19T00:05:00.001-07:00

Halloween Shrinky Dinks arrived in the mail earlier this week and the kids cannot make them fast enough! Who knew?! The Halloween season is much less dramatic here - you can tell by walking into Target, which doesn't have a single Halloween display! The kids haven't made a big deal about missing the plethora of Halloween activities in Michigan (school parade, downtown trick or treating, neighborhood trick or treating, candy trading) and Mike hasn't been up all night designing costumes. Wait until next year...

We did get invited to a party here that we'll have to miss, hosted by some Americans in the economics department. Costumes are required and you cannot wear the same as last year! They're trying their best to introduce the holiday to Sydney.

Watching the Magic

The package of Shrinky Dinks (from the US) had a flier in it for the brand of colored pencils. Notice what they used to draw with the pencils in the ad...

Final Funday Sunday

2011-10-16T02:33:00.000-07:00

Two things on the agenda for today:
1. Botanic Gardens
2. Opera House Open Day

The 377 came just as Mike was running out of the door of the Coogee Bake House with his cappuccino. Molly was worried about Mike missing the bus and about Mike bringing a drink onto the bus in spite of the no eating or drinking signs, but everything turned out o.k. and the caffeine did it's trick.

The most striking changes in the gardens since our very first visit were the roses and poppies and dianthus in bloom:

and our first view of the flying fox (big old bats) in person. Molly and Charlie met some stuffed ones on an earlier visit.

Garden Harmony
They discuss their plans for Daniel to live on a self sustained house boat, with a goat and internet access. He can dock periodically at Molly's coastal property.

Our plan to get to the 2nd Annual Open Day at the Opera House right as it opened was not a unique one. It's a big building so they could fit lots of us in quickly - even by a 5 year old's standards.

Our final bow in the Opera Hall.

Five Fam from the windows of the sails.

Same windows, from the veranda below. That's the reflection of a ferry in the harbor above the real kids.

Opera Diva in her fancy attire.

Concert Hall.

How long after her visit will they leave the name on the door?
Opera Oprah Opera Oprah
This one's for your Grandma Cush.

A relaxing Sunday afternoon.

The weather was fine (we're finally bettering East Lansing's weather) so we hopped aboard the ferry with our Funday pass and headed for Darling Harbour - you know the one with the playground where Charlie rides solo on the big swing.

Today, there were about about 15 kids on that swing, with another 30 waiting for their turn. Can you spy all the Conlin children in the climbing thing?

All that and home in time for the New Zealand All Blacks versus the Australian Wallabies - World Cup Rugby semi-finals. Alas, the home team could not beat the All Mighty All Blacks. It was the first time we saw the Haka. Even Daniel broke away from his library book long enough to join us. Check it out on YouTube, if you don't know what I'm talking about: All Blacks Haka.

Molly asked what the difference between football and rugby was. Charlie, who has taken on the role of local expert on all things said, "In football you start the game by kicking the ball 90 feet. In rugby you start by throwing the ball at another guy's head."

Madison Connection

2011-10-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

Mike and Charlie did one last doctor's visit to get us some meds for the recurrence of Charlie's cough. We spent the afternoon in Paddington Market, a weekly market of arts and crafts. No purchases, but I was intrigued by the potholder skirts. Someone was trying one on while I was there, but I felt odd asking to snap a photo of her, so I settled for the ones on the rack.

We walked to the market with our friends from Madison, now Sydneysiders. The market is on the grounds of Paddington Public school where Sam and Ilan are in Year 5. Here are the 5 musketeers causing trouble.

We took our leave later that night after a feast and goodbyes until we find an economics conference to meet at :-) . The children parted with a stick war and no injuries.
We took the bus from their place to Bondi Junction, where the bus officials were checking to make sure we all paid. Of course, Mike could not find the ticket he used to get on the bus. Molly had pocketed it for her collection, but for a while, things didn't look good for the American in Oz. Maybe coincidentally or not, on our way to David and Erika's house earlier that day, 3 teenage boys tried to sneak on the bus without paying and the driver kicked them all off. Instead of expressing outrage at this behavior, Molly offered suggestions for how they could have been more successful. Hmm.

We quickly tucked the kids in (it was after 8PM!!) and Mike arranged to meet a woman who bought my bike - for asking price! Yeah! He sold his on Friday. Now, just piles of books and school work and other "stuff" to pack up before Thursday AM when we're off to New Zealand. Daniel and I are trying to finish The Hobbit before we leave, but it isn't looking good. We're all reading the Wizard of Oz (Aus?) together now with one more night before it looks like Dorothy will get her wish. I didn't know the shoes were silver in the book.

Playground, Pancakes and Paddy's

2011-10-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

Charlie didn't want to miss out on the new playground in Darling Harbour that Daniel and Molly checked out on their spring break, so we spent Friday doing our own tour of the playground equipment and more.

On the stroll over to lunch, we happened upon a fountain we'd never seen before. Charlie was barefooted until we got to the restaurant.
The Rugby World Cup is on now and the Australia Wallabies are playing the New Zealand All Blacks on Sunday night. These screens are set up outside along the Harbour for the big event.

Polly from Naperville IL, the ex-pat Luna Park employee we met on our visit there a couple of weeks ago, recommend the Pancake on the Rocks restaurant. The history is that the man who started it was inspired by a road trip from NY to Miami where he was ate pancakes at HoJos across the USA. Seems like the flour here wasn't suitable for the high quality pancakes he experienced, so he imported Aunt Jemima mix for 10 years.

Charlie ordered the caterpillar and I had the Troppo. In case you're wondering, that's ice cream on both of our LUNCHES and a big ole smile on Charlie's face. To be fair, I had no sprinkles on mine.

We finished the afternoon at Paddy's Market where Charlie purchased a new key chain with the money he snuck on the bus - to distinquish his backpack form Molly's. He chose a kangaroo pen that "boxes" too - Charlie insisted on the one that looked like a red kangaroo - all made in China.

Five Finally Arrives Down Under on Thursday the Thirteenth

2011-10-13T03:53:00.000-07:00

Last spring Charlie started telling his East Lansing pre-school teacher that he was going to have a birthday in Australia. With her years of experience in teaching, she chalked his ramblings up to imagination (he also told her we drove to Florida for a weekend once). However, this is the real deal!

The morning started with some help opening a Lego set from the Alien Conquest set, oh yea! Something to entertain Charlie on his day off.
He also got a backpack from South Coogee Public School from Aunt Lori and Grandma. He's got a few weeks to figure out how to wear it.

Wombat ornament coming out of its package.

These are a few of his favorite things...noodles with butter and cheese, raw mushrooms and mango. All a means to an end for the chocolate mousse cake to follow!

After we sang for the candle blowing, he pulled on of the pinwheels from the cake and ordered us to sing again each time he blew on the pinwheel. He was the self-named Birthday Boss.

Dinner in Coogee

2011-10-13T03:12:00.000-07:00

Charlie and I took the bus from school to Coogee to meet Mike, Daniel and Molly. The three walkers witnessed the most amazing rainbow they've ever seen - right above them and it looked like Crayola filled in the colors. We ate at a Thai restaurant then all walked home - with a stop for a few of us along the way.

They have this same play structure at Marble Elementary, where Molly will be a second grader in a few weeks - however, the backdrop is not filled with surf.

Charlie reaches the summit!

The lighting provided by Mother Nature made for a nice view of the Coogee coastline. The whales we claimed to see on Sunday were just off to the right of the rocks out in the ocean in the 2nd pic below.

The First Last

2011-10-13T02:50:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was Charlie's last day at Kanga House AND the day before his birthday. Of course, the standard birthday treats were prepared the night before (Molly took hers in on Monday - we're getting our use out of the cupcake pans!). Right around the time I was icing the 7th cupcake, it dawned on me that we don't have a car any longer and 24 cupcakes and an almost 5 year old would not be riding my bike with me to Kanga House. Perhaps I should have thought this through before 9PM the night before. Perhaps.

Before they endured the bus ride and urban hike draped in cheap plastic wrap:

The next morning, Charlie and I boarded the 316, together with a many, many uniform clad school girls (yellow school buses don't exist here, it's all public transportation) AND 24 formerly neat cupcakes. We walked the 3/4 of a mile uphill (well, there is a hill) to his school and were greeted by some very happy 5 year olds.

Here's a photo of one of Charlie's teachers Ms. Tho. Ms. Angela and Ms. Hisae were his other kind teachers.
At the end of the day, we got a binder filled with photos and work that Charlie did in his 10 weeks there. I was also greeted by a little girl named Kitty who dobbed that Charlie said no girls were allowed to have cupcakes. She didn't seem too sad that I was taking Charlie back to America.

Aside: Charlie got a slot in the Kanga preschool because Ava's family was on sabbatical (you can just make out both of their names on the top left cubby up there). Ava's mom is the woman who rented us her car while she and Ava and the rest of their family were away (and came back to claim it 2 days before the scheduled cupcake delivery). In a surprise ending... Ava's family is moving into our apartment the day after we leave! I think if we had known about them a few months ago, we would have rented their place while they were gone and they would have moved right back in! Their might be a reality TV show in that.

Since I had my camera...The Australian School of Business, Department of Economics, Forth Floor, our work home at the Uni. Yep, that's why we came, to work...beside the palm trees.

Fish-y Story (Wait, Whales Aren't Fish)

2011-10-13T02:35:00.000-07:00

On Sunday our friends David, Erika, Sam and Ilan came to brunch and we set off for Coogee Beach afterwards. Surprisingly, the camera stayed behind so I don't have the proof that we saw whale after whale after whale jumping and spraying in the Ocean off the coast that we walk along all the time. The whale watching tours were stalking them, so we were able to keep an eye on the boats to know where to look. We could see the massive animals really clearly, even though they were quite far out in the ocean. They were this big, I swear.

Seven in Sydney

2011-10-09T02:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday To You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday Dear Molly! Happy Birthday to You!

We started the day opening the package from Grandma and PopPop, filled with goodies, including the birthday list worthy Zhu Zhu pets! She had some welcome and unwelcome help from the peanut gallery.

We walked down to retreive her cake from the Coogee Bakehouse and set off for the Entertainment Quarter - home of the Sydney Football Stadium and Cricket Grounds. This is also the home of the playground that prohibits high heels. We discovered more dress code issues at the Cricket Grounds. High heels are permitted here, as far as I can tell, but rubber thongs, masseurs, scuffs, slippers and dilapidated footwear are not. I'm couldn't figure out why a man who gives massages was in that list, so I did some hard core research and figured out a masseur is something like this:That makes more sense. Can you imagine enforcing these rules at a Big Ten Football game?
Molly and Charlie each chose a ride at the EQ for their birthday. Molly has been talking about these balls since we first saw them months ago and so there was not much deliberating. Although, in true Molly fashion, she did provide a lengthy explanation of exactly why this was her choice.

Unlike Molly, Charlie went for something you might find in Michigan (and it included two rides).

Mike did our last shopping trip with the car - its owner returns on Monday - then we celebrated the big SEVEN. Matches were on the list, but not to be found in the grocery store, so we lit by gas grill flames.

Molly got a new camera for her birthday - here's a picture of the inaugural picture (there have been many, many, many, many more since - and a few hundred fascinating videos).

Home of the Magic Pudding

2011-10-09T02:25:00.000-07:00

Norman Lindsay wrote the classic Australian children's book: The Magic Pudding. The story is about Bunyip Bluegum, a koala, who meets up with Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff (a penguin), proud pudding owners. The pudding is eaten every day and still continues to be the pudding. Being eaten every day makes the pudding grumpy and also the object of the dastardly pudding thieves, Wombat and Possum! These are the characters we tried unsuccessfully to get close to in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens and the book that we got through after pages and pages of song, sung poorly by the reader.

Here in Faulconbridge, NSW, you can visit the Norman Lindsay Gallery, which is where he lived most of his life. All the streets nearby are named for the book characters. We didn't actually go in the gallery, because his art wasn't all for children's books and the kids had enough touring for one day, but we did snag a picture with the Pudding!

Jenolan Caves

2011-10-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

On Friday we drove to the Jenolan Caves, just about an hour from Blackheath. Molly and Daniel embarked on an Explorers Tour without parents! There were maps and headlamps involved, so everyone seemed happy. Charlie was stuck with us on the Imperial Diamond Cave tour. He spent lots of time hangin' with the big kids on the tour, but he didn't touch anything he wasn't supposed to, so that was a success. Rumor has it, Daniel and Molly spotted a platapus while they were eating their tea at the end of the tour, but there are no photos to prove it!
Post tour crash, which occurred while Mike was fueling up on coffee in Blackheath for the drive home (with a hot chocolate to keep the passenger attentive!).

Water Trouble

2011-10-08T03:29:00.001-07:00

Too much water here:

Not enough water here:

More details to follow.

The walk photos are from Grovett's Leap on the way to Evan's Lookout in Blackheath. We didn't make it the whole way to Evan's Lookout because the fog and rain rolled in and blocked all chance of actually Looking Out. It was a good walk, none the less. Molly is dressed for the weather and even Charlie put his favorite, broken-zipper sweatshirt on over his uniform of short sleeved shirt and "short sleeved pants".

The paths wander all along hill sides, over tops of waterfalls and along cliff edges. Can you make out the Conlin trio at the top of the waterfall? The steps into the valley looked very intriguing, but the threatening weather made us hesitate.

Before and After

Now, back to the water shortage. Mike keenly noted the steam rising from the hood (bonnet?) of the car when we got to our first destination. Two opinions later, we signed up for a new radiator at the Blackheath service station. We still managed the Cliff Top Hike, a brekkie for lunch at a place call the Savoy in downtown Katoomba, and a peek at the Three Sisters from Echo Point before the part they needed showed up. We heard the Three Sisters was overrated, but being one of three sisters, it was worth the stop. The tour buses beat us there - we're not used to crowds, so it was a bit shocking. Here they are alone and here I am alone, without Julie and Kim.

What color are those Blue Mountains, anyway?

2011-10-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was a half day of work and then we set off for the Blue Mountains. PopPop wondered what color the Blue Mountains are, so Charlie has spent the days asking if we’re in the Blue Mountains, because they’re not blue. For that matter, they aren’t really mountains either, just HUGE gorges. In the end, he decided they should just be called Mountains. Ithaca, NY has some tough competition here. They’re just about a two hour drive from Sydney, so easy to get to in our car, but the train goes right there too. We’re sort of wishing we had tried them before, but remembered that the weather here can be much cooler than Sydney and so waiting to spring was probably the right choice. We hiked from the Conservation Hut (a café) to Empress Falls, along the National Pass, to the Wentworth Falls. The trail was first made in 1908 – carved along the cliffs and over the waterfalls - and renovated in 2008. It’s not possible to capture the scale in pictures.

The final leg of the hike was from the bottom of the Wentworth Falls along some steep, steep stairs: 100 meters elevation in a short time. We’re happy to report that Mike and Daniel took the shortcut back to where the car was and picked the persons with short legs and their guardian up in the carpark at Wentworth Falls.

Dinner was in an Indian restaurant in Blackheath, the town where we’re staying. The food was yummy after a long day of hiking, but we weren’t so thrilled by pricing scheme. Rice to go with the meals was $3/person. I kept thinking about how many meals $15 of rice would actually make for us. There’s no tipping here, but we miss other things about the American restaurant ways. Tomorrow we’ll cook our own rice and skip the somosas.

A seat in the house

2011-10-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

Monday was Labour Day and Mike had all three kids on his own. He headed back to the Olympic Center to swim – brave man. It was the day after the Aussie Rules Premier Game - Footy Finals - but there were no souvenirs to be had. Manly (a suburb of Sydney) beat New Zealand. We saw lots of fans walking the streets on Sunday. It’s hard to tell the team names because the main writing on them is the sponsor: Vodaphone for one.

Anyway, back to the story. I had Tuesday duty because I booked tickets a few weeks ago to see “The Gruffalo” at the Opera House. Charlie was in school, but Molly, Daniel and I looked up all the free buildings in Circular Quay, near the Opera House to check out. We started with the Customs House, which has a 1:500 scale model of the city of Sydney that we wandered around for a while, as long as one can in a 1:500 model.

We caught part of the filming of Master Chef Junior behind the Opera House. Quite a setting! They were 13 or 14 year olds with big cameras in their faces baking, blending, simmering and looking over their shoulders at a clock.

There’s a outside art show called Art and About and part of it is the “What if…” signs everywhere. Daniel picked one and we chose one for Mike to use when he returns to the East Lansing School District “Scene”.

The show was fun – Daniel laughed the loudest of almost everyone and reported later that he was “bored”. I think we’ve officially got a tweener. The theater we were in for the kids’ show was nothing special – we’re planning to check out the Opera House open house later in the month for a more full tour.

Afterwards we caught the end of a street performer: Jaime from America. He chose a volunteer from the audience and Molly made the cut. She got hopped over and then had to throw a juggling tool up to him. For that, he paid her $10, just before he gave a long speech about how this is his job and he’d really appreciate if everyone could put dollars into his hat at the end of the show. Hmm. A hard sell.

Finally, we tried the Museum of Contemporary Art in The Rocks, which is closed for renovation, but they pointed us in the direction of the temporary exhibits. Ta Da!

Rolodexes In Blue. Is that the plural of rolodex?

Repeat Day

2011-10-04T03:12:00.000-07:00

With Sunday Funday passes in hand, we head for the city! We've been here so long, we're revisiting places we've been! We got a membership to the Aquarium the first time, so we went back again. I found someone else interested in taking pictures of my kids:
Oh, and the Lego exhibit is still on...

The new exhibit is "CLAWS!", where we met a Japanese Spider Crab. Their bodies are as big as a basketball and their legs are as tall as Molly.

After a picnic lunch outside the aquarium (notice our attire, it's spring here, but not really much warmer than when we were here in July AND, did I mention we had Daylight savings overnight, so we sprung forward and lost our second hour of the year?), we hoofed it over to the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the 2:30 show there. It was a couple who performed a mime/magic show with lots of paper involved. Molly and Charlie didn't get all the jokes, but Daniel looked up from the book he was reading and laughed heartily.

The Museum is next to the Botanic Gardens so we went back there too! The fancy bubbler was working today: 3 for 1 meant that there was no squabbling over who got to get a drink first. "ME!" "NO! I was here first!" "No, I was!!!!!!" "MOM! DAD! Charlie bit me!" Gotta love together time.

We got some different views of the Harbour from this side of the Botanic Gardens:

And, again, we returned home to 159A Moverly RD, South Coogee (and had a fight over who got to open the door).

Cobbity and Camden

2011-10-01T05:25:00.000-07:00

"Welcome to Cobbity, a Tidy little Town."
I didn't get a pictures of the sign as we entered town, so you'll have to take my word for it.
On the way out: "Thank you for helping to keep Cobbity Tidy!"

The guide book promised us a local craft and produce market on the first Saturday each month. The only craft that caught our eyes was the deluxe waffle maker! Yep, those are bananas!

Cobbity is near the Australian Botanic Garden, dedicated to native plants. This was our ultimate destination. The paper daisies were in bloom and the display was impressive! The kids wandered through the paths deprogramming evil snakes (garden hoses). The minimal toys we have in our apartment has generated an odd set of imaginary games.

Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre

2011-09-30T23:53:00.000-07:00

This is Mike contributing for the first time to the blog. Expect poor grammar and misspellings. Daniel, Molly and I went to the Sydney Olympic Park where they held the 2000 Summer Olympics. There were a lot of things to see including the Olympic Stadium, the Olympic Aquatic Centre, the Archery area, the tennis facility, .... In the end, we spent the entire day at the Aquatic Center. On one end was the platform diving with its own pool area. Molly said that even Emma would not go off the 10m platform. Daniel said Emma would definitely do the 5m and maybe the 8m. The diving area had lessons/coaching going on so I was unable to show my world famous cannonball form. Instead, we spent our time in the waterpark area where Daniel and Molly really liked the rapid river below. The jets on the sides pushed everyone thru the river very quickly so it was quite fun.
In the Olympic size pool they had this blowup obstacle course that Molly and Daniel did twice. The first time, Daniel got all the way thru it. Molly and I went together and Molly made it thru as well. She really only needed help reaching the rope to swing across the water. The second time thru, Molly and Daniel went together. Daniel was able to reach the rope for Molly but was unable to push her hard enough to get her to swing far enough to get over the water. In the end, both Daniel and Molly did not get thru the rope part and landed in the pool. The picture below is Molly in the water - right after falling. It was so fun that we are thinking of heading back on Monday with Charlie. That should be interesting.

Darling Harbour and Paddy's Market

2011-09-29T03:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we wandered by a playground under construction. We all pressed our noses up against the construction fence and wished for opening day. The grand opening was last Saturday, so we headed for it first thing on Wednesday. It's hard to tell the scale of this net structure, but this is about as high as Daniel and Molly were willing to go - the ropes got far apart and they were WAY off the ground. About an hour later, it was so jam packed with kids you could barely see the sky through the ropes!
The best part was this water park. Daniel and Molly are on their way up to the pumps at the top of the hill - that send the water through these trenches. It's filled with dams you can lift and gates to shift the water patterns and these random screws and wheels that send the water all different ways. I thought how easy it would be to have one of these in East Lansing, until I thought about the winter months...

The Chinese Garden is next to the playground, so we checked those out too. Free for kids during school holidays - bonus! They were cool to see in the middle of the city - with good explanations of the symbolism in the water, sculpture and rock formations. We first thought some of the resident lizards were sculptures...

Do the rocks look like sea dragons?

Finally, a few photos from Paddy's Market, where we almost feel like regulars. There are loads of cheap Australia souvenirs, of which we're now the proud owners. I was looking for some local sports jerseys and only happened upon a Steeler windbreaker and a complete assortment of NFL, NBA and NBA jerseys. Go figure.
On the food side, we found bananas for only $3.63/pound! So, we took a picture and dreamed of letting an entire bunch turn brown on our East Lansing counter!

Luna Park

2011-09-27T04:45:00.000-07:00

Spring Break for South Coogee Public School!

Mike took Daniel and Molly to the Royal National Park yesterday for some rock scrambling, then to Clovelly beach for an introducton to snorkeling. The introduction was cut short because they were joined in the water by the bluies (bluebottle jellyfish), which are toxic. Daniel accused Mike of being irresponsible for allowing them to swim while he watched guard for the jellyfish - even though Mike got that advice from "an Australian guy there with his two kids."

There are no pictures from these events because Mike knew it would drive me crazy if he didn't take the camera. I think he thinks I need a break whether I want it or not.

Tuesday was my day and we took the bus+train to Luna Park in Sydney, just across the bridge. It has seen its ups and downs over time and I'm not sure if this is an up or a down, but the views are stunning in any time period.

Entrance:

From the Ferris Wheel:

From the Wild Mouse Roller Coaster (they attendant told me to hold onto my sunnies, which was no easy task while taking pictures from the sharp turns!):

There are only about 17 or 18 rides, but that was enough for the target audience. I was a fan of the rooster on the Carousel and the "rides" in Coney Island, where they had giant slides, moving floors to walk through, mirror mazes and a Barrel of Laughs, which did it job for me when Molly went through. I was not such a fan of the Flying Saucer (Round-up for those who know it by that name) because it had pads against your back that I kept sliding off of AND I, sadly, cannot stomach the spinning any more :-(.

By Luna Park rules, Molly needed an adult to accompany her on a few of the rides. This one, she didn't, so I was banished to the sideline.

The family lore prompted Daniel to remind me that not everyone in my family has a history of obeying signs like these. The story of my Grandpa Floyd getting us (cousin Shannon, me and him) kicked off of the double ferris wheel at Conneaut Lake, from his rocking has been passed down to the next generation.
The Rotor is another ride from the Conneaut Lake days, although there Shannon and I were just observers and brave cousin Robin was the rider. The circular room spins around and around and the floor under your feet falls about 3 feet so the force holds you against the fall. The attendant prepped the riders at Luna Park that going sideways was allowed, but not upside down. My stomach and I could barely watch, but Daniel and Molly went twice.

This was Daniel's favorite modern ride - he's in there somewhere...

Smash Mouth Cover

2011-09-27T03:26:00.000-07:00

For some reason, the "All Star" song by Smash Mouth has gained popularity in our household. We really only know the first few lines, but that includes the line "I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed." Turns out our rental place in Kangaroo Valley was called "The Shed". It might have been in a beautifully remote location, if it weren't for the fog and rain. We woke up in the Shed to pouring rain again on Sunday morning. We stalled by watching "Lilo and Stitch", a library rental. We expanded our Disney movie knowledge but ended with the rain still pouring. We filmed our own music video and headed back to Sydney. You can't win 'em all.

Kangaroo Valley and Flatrocks

2011-09-25T03:43:00.001-07:00

We set off on Saturday morning for one of the hikes in our book. We stopped to check out the famous bridge in Kangaroo Valley in the daylight, which is under construction so not so picturesque as usual. We did happen upon a kangaroo skeleton, which was...interesting.

The drive out to the walk at Flatrocks along Upper River Road included some obstacles. We think this sign meant fording was your only option, but Mike got out of the car to see if it was worth the effort.
We engaged in much fording and ended up along an unmarked path along the Kangaroo River.
The fording had its downside:

We seem to have attracted some people eating worms (I cannot even write the word leeches, it’s too gross) so 3/5 of us had bloody feet that we discovered we we got back to our place to change out of our damp (in Daniel, Molly and Charlie's cases soaked) clothes – and I actually had one of the little critters still on my foot . A google search under "leeches and Kangaroo River" turned up the following: "Strangely enough, not everyone likes nettles and leeches." Yep, a few of us had our first nettles experience too. I'm not sure I'd call this a success, on the whole.
We spent the afternoon browsing in the cute shops of Kangaroo Valley, talking to the shop owners, who were as disappointed as us at the rainy weather outside. Everyone was refreshed by the hot chocolate that came with a piece of fudge on the side. We took the advice of those shop owners and went to the Kangaroo Valley Bowling Club for dinner. Surprisingly, Daniel passed on the "crumbed lamb brains" at the top of the special's menu and chose nachos instead.

My favorite conversation of the day:

“Oh look, scat!” says Daniel. “Maybe it is wombat! “ exclaims Molly. “Oh, let me look, I know Wombat scat,” replies Charlie. Then, the others moved out of the way so the expert could inspect the scat in question.

Back to the fields that night for more wombat searching!

Weekend with Wombats

2011-09-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

With our weekends in Australia dwindling, we embarked on the last of two driving trips. We headed south for this one to Kangaroo Valley (pop. 847) about two hours from here, according to Google Maps. Google maps didn't know about the terrible accident on Rt 5, so 2 turned into 3. We had some HUNGRY, HUNGRY kids when we arrived and many of the restaurants don't start serving until 6, so we went to the local take away for some burgers and chips (I chose the 1/4 of a chicken, which was very yummy). The locals pointed us to Bendeela Campground for some Wombat spotting. Our torches (yep, that's what I asked for in Kmart earlier in the week, I'm practically fluent) had fully loaded batteries and Charlie was especially anxious to see him a wombat!

Daniel is still in school uniform as we head off through the paddock that the campground attendant pointed us to. It was 82 degrees when we left Sydney and mid-50 when we arrived in Kangaroo Valley, which explains the other mix of summer/spring attire.

Got one in his sights!

Up close and personal! This is just using the regular zoom on my camera, so we were able to get within a few feet of them. I don't really know how to get my camera to just snap a picture without being in perfect focus, so there were missed shots, but we were happy to get a few sweet ones.

Wombat facts: Wombats grow about 3 feel long and between 40 and 70 pounds. They are marsupials, but their pouches face backwards so that when they dig their elaborate underground tunnel systems they don't throw dirt on the baby wombats. "Wombat Stew" is a favorite book in our household. Don't worry, in the end the "clever" dingo gets tricked into NOT eating the wombat. Wikipedia tells us that "When attacked, wombats dive into a nearby tunnel, using their rump to block a pursuing attacker," which sounds like Mike's strategy on the basketball court.

Our fearless trackers!

The poor kangaroos we saw hardly got the time of day/night. Oh well, this was the Wombat's night.

Public Speaking

2011-09-24T21:59:00.000-07:00

There is a great deal of emphasis on public speaking in the schools here. All grades have topics they can speak on every week. Molly somehow missed the memo that gave the topics, so she went in with a few off the wall ones: KenKens, for one! One topic was "workers in the community". Because of the aforementioned missed memo, she didn't know she couldn't do that topic in the last week, she had to do one she'd done before (which, of course, we no longer had and confirmed that after digging through the dinner party garbage bags - lovely). Anyway, here's her workers in the community "speech" that Mrs. Monkhouse's first grade missed out on.

Wednesday is Library Day

2011-09-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Daniel, Molly and I have made a habit of taking the bus to the Randwick Public Library on Wednesday afternoons. Today we needed 2 big backpacks to return our supply of books and DVDs. Molly helps slide them through the return, while Daniel cannot help but run into the library to gather his new stack. He's discovered National Geographic Magazine, some very badly written Star Wars Books and a few new authors that I track down and put on his pile while he reads the Star Wars books! Molly goes for the GoGirls Books with pink covers. I'm trying out some Australian authors (Tim Winton and Craig Silvey) and raiding the travel guide books on the Blue Mountains and New Zealand. We scored on the kids' movies this week, after returning Season 1 of Get Smart: Toy Story 2 and Disney's Robin Hood.
Our meeting spot in the center of the library - waiting for our driver to come pick us up. We're only allowed 20 items at one time, so Daniel tries to read as many books as he can there. :-)
We've been meaning to bring the camera for weeks - self-check out at the library!! So cool. We all gather 'round for the occasion. You can renew, print a receipt, anything you can dream of! If, however, you owe a fine (hypothetically speaking), you must go to the circulation desk and pay before you can proceed.

Entertaining

2011-09-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night we opened the patio window and moved the table outside for a dinner party. We had two families over that we knew from the States and work with here. We had stunning weather and loved having the living room open to the outside. The challenge with dinner parties is the actual dinner. These photos aren't from the night of the party, but they show the extent of our kitchen. Daniel is in front of our fridge. To be fair, there is a small fridge in our garage on the lower floor and we used them both creatively. We were grateful for no leftovers!
Here's our dishwasher...

The lack of equipment (pans, measuring utensils, etc.) and storage space lead us to make the decision not to really do any baking here. We haven't bought flour in 2 1/2 months since we arrived and our small bag of chocolate chips has lasted weeks and weeks. I don't know if that was the right choice or not. Turns out, we miss that habit. The local bakery and grocery store biscuits are satisfying our sweet tooths, but maybe we'll start Christmas cookie baking early this year in East Lansing! That said, the chocolate mousse cake we had for dessert this night from the South Coogee Bakery was very, very yummy and we did have fresh whipped cream courtesy of Daniel.

Bridge Run

2011-09-20T03:58:00.000-07:00

The Sydney Marathon was Sunday the 18th. Thousands of crazy fools ran it, or so I read :-). It is part of a "Festival of Races" and I meant to sign up for the half marathon, but by the time I realized the weekend was free for us, it was full, so I signed up for the 9km Bridge Run. The cool things about the Bridge Run, are that you get to run over the Bridge, and, it started at 9AM, instead of 6:20AM like the half marathon. Buses don't run from South Coogee that early on Sundays, so I trekked over to Coogee, caught a bus to the train station and a train to the start of the race at Milson's point, just over the Harbour Bridge. I didn't really have to know what I was doing because the bus and train were packed with runners, so I just followed along.

There is nothing flattering about a self photo, but you can see the Opera House and the Bridge in the background.
I made a friend at the start, Mark, a high school PE teacher who bought a 1971 TransAm from Pontiac, MI AND, more importantly, was willing to take a picture of me during the race running over the bridge! Once again, not very flattering, maybe it wasn't the "self" part of the previous photo...but the bridge is still in the background!

After running in mighty warm weather (close to 70F/20C), I spotted the cheering section just as I neared the finish line at the Opera House - taking pictures of me taking pictures of them taking....

This is the first time we got up close to the Opera House, so we savored it for a bit!
For our post-race party, we took one more trip up the Sydney Sky Tower - Daniel's first time. To get to the elevator to the Sky Tower, you go through a really fancy mall - with pretty darn good window shopping.

Go-anna-ing to Ku-Ring-Gai again

2011-09-16T23:50:00.000-07:00

On a beautiful spring day (look mom, no jackets!), we headed north to Ku-Ring-Gai Chase again to check out the West End, which is really on the east end of the park. We took the Loop to Resolute Beach, which started off almost immediately with this sighting of our first goanna in the wild. I think a goanna is the same as an iguana, but I'm no herpetologist. Charlie spotted this one on the side of the path. Maybe the warm weather brought them out, but they were in abundance today.

This little cutey is about 6 feet long way up in the tree.

No pasty white skin for this guy (you can just make out the tail disappearing over the rock):

For an action shot, here's the tongue of one and the reaction of his admirers.

Finally, this poor soul ended up in the picnic areas being harassed by wild turkey, a big black and white bird and 3 Conlin kids.
Along the way we found a few small beaches and pretty views. The Aussies were out for the weekend on the beach, enjoying themselves at 10:30AM with some Aussie brews, and they started an impromptu cricket game with a piece of driftwood and a tennis ball. Charlie joined in and bowled a ball in a way that made everyone very happy.
This is a peninsula you could see from most of the walk. Home and Away, an Australian show I haven't heard of, is filmed there in a town called Palm Beach.
Our drive home over the coathanger (our first time driving - other times we've taken the tunnel under the harbor, which is cool to think about, but not great views :-) )...tomorrow it will be filled with thousands of runners for the Sydney Marathon and the Bridge Run (9K) for others.

TGIF

2011-09-16T03:56:00.000-07:00

There's a big huge YMCA in the middle of Sydney, aka Phillip Cook Aquatic Center - right next to the Australian Museum. Charlie and I rode the 377 down to it and spent the morning swimming in the pool. On the way, Charlie asked to be the photographer, so I'm in the pictures! This is in a garden that is dedicated to the honor of King George V and King George VI in Hyde Park.

Here I am standing on top of the YMCA, the basketball court, to be precise - it's pretty fascinating to an almost 5 year old that you can stand on the building. It's on a hillside, so the back opens up onto the side of the hill.
And now back to the real star of the show...

It's fun to swim at the Y-M-C-A! There weren't really lifeguards - but very clearly marked signs that guardians should always be within arms length of their children who are 5 and under, except if the guardian is taking pictures for a blog.

Hyde Park has this impressive statue of Captain James Cook, the European who "discovered" Australia. Charlie asked how they turned him into a statue, oh, and, he refused to pose like the statue - really!?

Last week Charlie and I took a shortcut home through the cemetery near our house. He's curious about what exactly is in a cemetery and why there are different ways of marking the sites. He's really impressed by the "ones that look like swords" and I tried to explain that they might be people who have more money or for whom remembering them with a statue is really important. When we were walking through the park today, he returned to the conversation when he saw this statue. "Mom, do you think God is buried there?" Wait until we take him to DC.

It's been very spring-like here the last few days - warm, sunny weather. Molly and Daniel are both wearing their summer uniforms when they can. The kid only have 2 and a half weeks of school left because we're coming up on a 2 week spring break, so Charlie and I took the camera to pick up today to capture some of the school scene.

Molly on Her Veranda

Charlie Greeting his Long Lost Sister, returning from the Veranda

Molly in full summer uniform and Daniel in summer sports uniform, including his special Year 6 shirt that all the Year 6 students can wear every Friday. And, Charlie, the South Coogee Public School wannabe. He's learning the school song by attending their assemblies. Molly (and many, many others) earned a bronze award yesterday for getting 5 star awards.

That's no all, no that's not all...

2011-09-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

Archery is not enough for one day, we're back on the bus for another Sunday Funday:
We got off in downtown Sydney and headed for Darling Harbour. On the way, we noticed David Jones, the large department store, had their window displays filled with flower arrangements. We stepped into the store and it was filled with HUGE floral arrangements. This is the makeup department!

We made our way to Sydney Wildlife. The highlight was attending some of the keeper talks. Molly managed to raise her hand fast and furious to be a volunteer in 3 of the talks! She "found" this cute little lizard they're petting, put the food in the kangaroo's trough and pet the kangaroo. We also learned lots of interesting kangaroo facts - there are 3 times as many kangaroos are people in Australia, they can "wait" to start a pregnancy for up to 12 months while the joey they have in the pouch grows large enough to be on his own, and they cannot walk backwards (neither can Emus, which explains why they are no the coat of arms we saw displayed at the Melbourne Museum). So, if you want to pet one and you're afraid of them kicking or boxing you (Jen), approach from behind. By the time they get in fighting stance, you can be long gone.

Molly pets Donkey, a red kangaroo.

Can you see the look on Charlie's face - classic Charlie!

Diminishing returns to the bird experience, although, this one used Molly's hair as a branch.

Crocodile Hunter!

The cassowary is billed on the outside of the building as the world's most dangerous bird (the billing reminded me a bit of a Westmoreland County fair proclamation I saw once about a snake). It has a 12" claw that it used to attack predators. You can see one behind glass or stand beside the statute. The real one looks just as funky.

We spent the rest of our afternoon getting the $1 vegetable bargains at Paddy's market. It was overwhelmingly crowded, that it tamed the kids down at the end of a long day! I was so busy watching that we didn't trade a kid for a tropical fruit, that I didn't get any pictures. Alas!

Archery at Latham Park

2011-09-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

Our weekend are usually so filled with Tourism to the Max, we don't take advantage of the local offerings. The park over the hill from us, near the bowling green and site of the 1st Friday Meat Auction (not sure what that is), has archery on Sunday mornings at 10AM. Daniel took his MSU Demmer Center training on the road and performed excellently! He also walked home by himself after archery, a joy in itself for the now 11 and a half year old.

Muongamarra Nature Reserve

2011-09-12T01:47:00.000-07:00

We learned from one of the guides at Ku-Ring-Gai Chase that just north of Ku-ring-Gai is this nature reserve that is only open for 4 weekends a year and this was it! We felt like we were in on something, so after we watched the crabs skedaddle one more time, we drove north a few miles and set off on the recommended walk to Lloyd's Trig - the name given to the rock at the end because of it's geometrical shape. Muongamarra is known for its spring wildflowers, so me and every other amateur had our cameras on the lookout. I don't know what any of them are, but they were pretty! These red ones were bigger than a fist.

A scribbly gum tree - so named because larvae of the scribbly gum tree dig tracks in the trunk that are revealed when the bark falls off. Nature's grafitti.

There were nice views of the Hawkesbury River and Blue Mountains (an upcoming weekend trip).

The trig itself was worth the walk, I think. Here's a some pics of the gang on the side of the rock.
The very kind guides on the spot were very kid-friendly, showing us the peep hole in the huge stone and even giving a hand to those that could fit through.

For those of you who know the story of Charlie's birth...
Another Pooh bear shot...stuck in the hole, again!

Gibberagong in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park

2011-09-11T02:29:00.000-07:00

"That's a weird name," says the Conlin daughter.

Oh, you just have to go on a walk with a name like this, don't you? The highlights were rocks to scramble up and over - some wet, some dry - and the crabs in the mangroves.

Objects on rock are closer than they seem and a responsible adult is just out of the picture.
Most crabs scurried away into their holes when we walked by, but we got the hang of sneaking up to see them. Molly reminded Mike of his least favorite sport in elementary school gym class: crab soccer.

Walking in the Rain (and NO Snow)

2011-09-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

Friday was cool (50s) and rainy all day long. Charlie and I were home together. After a game of chess, which he quit after I captured his queen and he tried to undo by cheating (he already had my queen, I didn't think he'd mind); a game of cards that ended in similar fashion; and finally a game of Trouble that he won after an incredible comeback they'll be talking about for ages, we ran out of games. It's still raining, but I'm completely stir crazy, so we head off for a walk to downtown Coogee.

The ocean scene toward Coogee was still beautiful, even dressed in gray.

Charlie is sporting his new South Coogee Public School hat.

We've really spent very little time in the town of Coogee - for whatever reason. We walked up and down the main street, stopping in to look at things that interested us in the windows and settled on 2 hot chocolates in the outdoor cafe. The very kind waitress pushed the heater close to us and the pink and white marshmallows worked their magic.

Stage 1 Sports Day

2011-09-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Molly's grade level competed in a interhouse sports day. She's in green for the mighty Banksia team. When I arrived, she already had a "Participant Ribbon" on. She said that was for coming in last in her age race :-). At the end, true to their generous award style, she also received an "Active Participant Award" that we're proudly displaying at home!

Waiting for the handoff from Adon.

Javelin Throw

Miscellaneous

2011-09-08T22:49:00.000-07:00

Molly wanted to be sure that I posted her favorite sign from our trip. She's reading everything and anything these days and this one made her laugh out loud! A little potty humor goes a long way.

We finally tracked down our zip line photo taken by our guide Ticker. We're all attached to the cloud tower - Molly to my CATT and Charlie to Mike's.

The teachers went on strike on Thursday, in unison with the other public service employees. Mike took the kids to a playground we heard about and then to the Fish Market in Sydney for lunch and to pick up fish for dinner. There wasn't a flake left at the end of the night. Very, very yummy red snapper.

Today I went to the Scholastic book fair at South Coogee Public school (they lost a day of it because of the strike) and purchased some overpriced books and found $5 summer uniforms for Molly at the used uniform shop (hooray!). The mom helping me there was grumpy about the strike because she said that the teachers don't even start negotiating over contracts until November. Anyway, Mike is busy stewing about the School Board in East Lansing, so we don't have time to figure out what side we should be on here. Coincidentally, both kids had a guest=casual=sub teacher today (Friday), the day after the strike.

After school activities

2011-09-08T06:01:00.000-07:00

On a stunning spring day (it starts officially here on September 1st), we skipped piano lessons, soccer practice, Lego Club and went to the beach! Molly was sure she didn't need her swim suit on because she wouldn't get into the water. Duty called - she was the one delivering the materials for the sand castle.

2011-09-07T03:43:00.000-07:00

Our rental car from Melbourne was upgraded to an Audi and our rental place in Apollo Bay was upgraded from the 2 to 3 bedroom place in lower floor this house. Better yet, the house was stocked with kid friendly toys, books and videos. Daniel devoured 3 books, Charlie built a Duplo pyramid to make the Egyptians proud and Molly thoroughly enjoyed Disney's Mary Poppins over the 2 nights we were there. Charlie liked it, but was nervous about who the bad guys were. I got to run on the Apollo Bay beach, with only a fisherman on my path.
On our last morning, they watched some Looney Tunes before we packed up and headed west on the Great Ocean Road in search of the 12 Apostles. We liked the eastern part of the Great Ocean Road, but nothing really prepared us for the views from this part. The mighty Pacific carved away the stone so that pillars (really big ones...) are left standing.

So, here are some photos - there are no longer 12 Apostles, the ocean finishes the erosion it starts eventually. I'm not sure the pictures can do it justice - really, really, really, really impressively beautiful.

According to Bill Bryson's book "In a Sunburned Country", there are also 1200 ship wrecks below these friendly seas. One of the walks we did around the Loch Ard Gorge had a story about the wreck in the 1800s of the Loch Ard that had only 2 survivors. Eva, 18, was rescued by the other survivor Tom, also 18 in the bay where the kids are rock climbing. Charlie was so moved, he suggested we write a song about it. Have the Muppets done that already?

This is Muttonbird Island, so green and peaceful, where the Loch Ard met its fate. It's also home to a large colony of Muttonbirds in Australia's summer and spend their Australian winters in Alaska's summer. They take their snow birding seriously here!

We also pulled off the Great Ocean Road to see the Arch and London Bridge.
London Bridge used to have two arches, then one day in 1990, the one closest to the shore collapsed. The crazy part is that two people were out on top of the far arch. They were completely unharmed (physically, at least) but had to be rescued a few hours later via helicopter.

Can you get the tune of London Bridge in your head (and then out of it...)?

And, that's the end of our trip! We had a very late flight from Melbourne to Sydney so we ate in a suburb of Melbourne called Williamston. It was on the water, but we didn't appreciate it much because we had the flight to catch. We couldn't resist pulling over to get a picture of the store sign in Williamston - sadly, it was closed, so we couldn't see what we were missing back in Michigan.

It was Father's Day in Australia and the kids celebrated by acting wild and crazy in the back of the rental car while we tried to find the airport in the dark. The threat of no dessert for a week finally settled them down. We do love our Australian biscuits!!

Zippity Doo Da

2011-09-07T02:59:00.001-07:00

On Saturday morning, we headed for the Otway Fly Tree Tops and our 10AM zip lining appointment. Molly was desperate to know if she could go by herself - so desperate, she wandered off and asked someone without asking Mike or me to do it for her. The answer was, unfortunately, no, which means we'll be doing this again in a few years! Molly rode tandem with me and the Mike/Charlie team was right behind us. Brave Daniel was the first in line and went solo the whole way.

7 zip lines, 8 cloud towers - ranging from 5 to 15 meters high, and two rope bridges, with the longest zip of 120 meters. It was a beautiful setting and the kids were very, very happy. They're busy drawing up plans for the zip lines at PopPop and Grandma's farm. Mike and I ziplined in Costa Rica 2 years ago and have to admit, this one was so safe, it was it a bit less thrilling!

It's taken me a while to write this edition, because I'm still not over the fact that the webpage and the check in people made it very clear that you couldn't take cameras. Of course, I assumed that meant that the guides would take them and then you'd have to pay for them at the end, which was exactly what did happen with the following twist...the guides didn't really want to be taking pictures and in the middle of the zipping through the rain forest (long after I've locked the camera in a locker) they said, "You could bring your own camera, we're not the fun police." Yep, that's what they said - I can hear it plain as day and feel the regret seeping through me again :-). Maybe a break from the camera was good for me. Maybe not. Anyway, we do have two prints from our trip that our guide Ticker took for us - we got two for the price of one because they're both blurry. They promised that we could download them after 48 hours, but so far, I've had no luck at all and am awaiting a reply from the administrators. I think I have a problem.

The day was young, so we headed for the nearby Triplet Falls in the Beech Forest. We've been very impressed at how willing to hike the Conlin troops are - less impressed at their ability to savor beautiful sights - I'm usually 20 meters behind because I stopped to take a picture and you can almost see in these pictures the lean in their bodies - "let's go, let's go, let's go". Ahh, the tradeoffs in life.

After Triplet, there was still daylight, so we hopped in the car and made our way to Hopetoun Falls. Like the other walks, we're completely alone on the hike. In this case, we climbed over the fence at the end of the lookout and get a closer look. Daniel is the leader and the other three are right behind these rule-breaking behaviours. Of course, someone has to take pictures...

Movin' Right Along in Search of Good Times

2011-09-06T04:02:00.000-07:00

After the bird bonanza, we continued on our journey to Apollo Bay, Victoria along the Great Ocean Road. This is the first time we encountered signs like these, reminding us where to drive. Apparently, we're one of many tourists in these here parts.

We checked into the Infomation Center in Apollo Bay and learned that our most preferred hike to Marriners Falls that included "cross[ing] the creek via very large stepping stones" was closed due to weather. So, we settled for Shelly Beach that "[a]t low tide an alternate loop walk is accessed 400m west via rock platforms". Either way, slippery wet rocks were involved and this one had the element of wondering if the tide was coming in or out as we walked. 4/5 Conlins were completely unconcerned about any of these threatening options. The mom stands alone, but doesn't want to be thought of as a chicken. It isn't easy. Here's the first reassuring sign we came to near the water:
Along the way Daniel and Molly chanted "Adventure" and Charlie chanted "Attack". Uh huh, I'm just reporting the facts here.

Here's me looking nervous, right after I "made" Molly fall by reminding her to be careful. She tried to pull it together for the picture, but I guess the blood dripping from her scraped hand was a distraction. A bandaid from the camera bag cured it pretty quickly - although she was still blaming me...

I'm sure fun signs exist all over the world, but we're enjoying spotting them in Australia...

And reenacting them, when possible, in the rainforest. Mike says this is a Dickert picture, which I'm sure he means as the highest complement - are you with me Dickerts?! It is true that Holly Dickert once knocked over the Christmas tree and we reenacted it in pictures for years after that.

"Movin' right along, We've found a life on the highway." Kermit and Fozzie from 1979

Great Ocean Road

2011-09-03T03:48:00.000-07:00

We busted out of the city on Friday morning and headed south west in Victoria to the Great Ocean Road. Along the way, we stopped at a town called Lorne and Charlie shared his croissant with a Cockatoo and Molly didn't.

They also tried the skate park without skateboards. It was all in good fun until the concrete ripped right through Molly's self proclaimed favorite pants. I'm talking gaping hole! Oops. I'm not sure Lands' End will replace them under these circumstances.

The guide book suggested stopping on the drive at a town called Kennett River to look for Koalas on the Grey River Road. I guess that's why we've lugged the Lonely Planet across the continents - we definitely saw koalas (Mike, the hunting dad, was best eyes).
AND, wow did we get our $2 worth of fun from the bird seed at the local Koala Cafe (the only business in town except for a caravan park). Mike and I both agree that this might be the thing the kids remember most from the whole trip. If you've ever paid the $1 at the Potter Park zoo for the bird seed on a stick - this is a whole other ball game!

Warning, if have have a "thing" about birds, you might want to spend your 30 seconds elsewhere...

Melbourne Day 2

2011-09-02T03:44:00.000-07:00

Melbourne Day 2, Starring...

MOLLY!

CHARLIE!

AND ANIEL!

Destination: Royal Botanical Gardens

On the way, we went through Federation Square - full of these odd metallic buildings (and a few large alphabet letters).
This is the view of a bridge over the Yarra River along the way - maybe you can see the Conlins on the bridge?

On our city walk, we stopped by the Shrine of Remembrance near the Royal Botanical Gardens. There's a ceremony that they hold on the 11th of November to remember the World War I Veterans from the state of Victoria. Part of of it includes a ray of sunlight that goes from the top of the building over a stone on the floor in the middle of this building. They do a mini version of it on the hour that we all managed to stay mostly quiet throughout.

We went to the Botanical Gardens to see the statues of Bunyip Bluegum, Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff, the characters from "our" Magic Pudding book. Sadly for us, the children's garden is closed for the winter to let the plants recover from the other three seasons of attention. There they are in the background with some angry children in the foreground.

A final word on the Botanical Gardens and another aside: There is 4KM running/walking track around the Royal Botanical Gardens that I learned about from a guy on the bus beside me in Sydney on my way to the City To Surf. It's lit between 5:30 AM and 12 AM, but I only used it for a bit between 6:15 and 7 :-). Aside: on my way back from my run I passed by the Rod Laver Stadium, which was advertising the upcoming concerts in this order: Dolly Parton, Placido Domingo, DefLeppard and Motley Crue. It made me smile on my way home along the river.

I got the afternoon off (or on) to give my own talk. Mike had take away pad thai waiting for me when I got home. Yummy! The night before the kids and I foraged for food on our cute little street, Flinders Lane, in Melbourne. We came across a waffle place with a very friendly, French accented owner. After deciding on the family pack of waffles made with Belgian sugar, the secret ingredient, and expressing his hope that Obama will be the next president, he wrote down on a piece of paper where we should go to be sure to see kangaroos on our next part of the trip..."Anglesea golf course". What is it exactly with kangaroos and golf courses?

Melbourne

2011-09-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

Walking in the big city - watch your tyres when parking near the kerb!

We spent much of the day in the Melbourne museum or riding the free tourism transportation: bus and tram. In the Melbourne exhibit of the museum we met Phar Lap, a horse whose claim to fame I couldn't quite figure out, and the Big Dipper, a roller coaster from the St. Kilda's Luna Park. I took this photo for Robin, my card carrying roller coaster club cousin, since we disappointed her by not going to the actual park... The coaster cars reminded me of the ones at Idlewild in Ligonier or the Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake. We also learned that Molly is about three wombats tall.

Here's the Australian coat of arms/some official symbol of the country.

Mike gave a talk at Deakin University in the afternoon, so the kids and I went to the Italian district and had hamburgers at a place, we later learned is a chain, called Grill'd. Yeah, I know, I
just cannot bring myself to pay the prices listed for Italian food. As a bonus, we learned some new Aussie words for red heads!

Then, back to the museum, via the playground. Spending a day in a city with kids is challenging, or maybe just not my taste.

Daniel stuck, a la Pooh Bear, in the playground wall. Too many chips with his burger!

We rode all the free public transportation - a tourism bus and the Melbourne City trams - not the fastest way to travel, but we got where we were going (Steven and Jen, this is the place with all the weird driving turns to accommodate the trams).

Travel Tuesday

2011-09-01T03:26:00.000-07:00

Penneshaw Penguin Sign

Pack up and load back on the Spirit of Kangaroo to return to the mainland. From there, we had about an hour and a half drive to Adelaide and a few hours to spare before our flight out. The guidebook said there was fun tour of a Chocolate company, but bookings were essential. Our timing was too iffy to actually book, so we just drove straight there and arrived at 12:59, hoping to get into the 1PM tour. We found the place, and the guide assured us that bookings were indeed essential, BUT a party of 4 who did book hadn't arrived yet and we could have their spot if if they didn't show in the next 30 seconds AND a kid sat on someone's lap. Done deal! We're in! That was our lunch - fistfuls of chocolate and a very entertaining tour! Very filling. We got some factory seconds for the road, don't forget dessert.

Flinders Chase National Park

2011-09-01T03:07:00.001-07:00

We heard stories about Kangaroo Island of having to fend off over-aggressive kangaroos. Without that experience so far, I walked into the Flinders Chase National Park Information Center and asked where we could maximize our chances of seeing wildlife. The patient national parks worker behind the desk sighed and explained that since they began discouraging persons from feeding the roos, those days are over and we shouldn’t expect to see anything, except some funky geese on our hikes. We headed out for Platypus Waterhole without much hope and some whining from the boy-who-reopens-skinned-knee-scabs-weekly in whatever parking lot is available.

Funky geese abounded and we also laid eyes on a wallaby, mamma and young kangaroo and another wallaby. Success by all measures. Maybe you can just make out the wallaby behind the kids (between Molly and Charlie, really) in this photo? The photographer couldn’t quite get the camera to focus on the back- and foreground.

Next up, the Cape du Couedic in the Park at the far south west corner of the island. I’m sorry to say we couldn’t capture the vastness or the beauty of it in photos. You walk down the boardwalk, turn and keep going down.

To your right, the New Zealand Fur Seals are perched on the rocks

and to your left is Admiral Arch:

Daniel, our faithful sign reader, tells us one day this will collapse and fall into the ocean as an island – not one day soon though.

We decided to brave the Weirs Cove Hike from the lighthouse to the house where the three lightkeepers lived (all together with their families in one little house). Our braveness didn’t come from the part of the map labeled “Cliff edge”, but rather whether the kids would drive us crazy. Not too far into the walk, Mike ran ahead, ducked behind one of the large shrubs and scared all three kids by jumping out of them. Thus ensued more than 1 hour and 3 kilometers of the three of them running ahead, “hiding” and jumping out at us yelling “BOO!” It was one of our best hikes yet and once more we were grateful it is winter and the national park is not very populated.

Is it true they cannot see you if you cannot see them?

The parting words from the pessimistic park ranger behind the desk in the morning were to try the Hanson Bay Sanctuary if we wanted to be guaranteed to see wildlife. So, about 4PM, we pulled into the parking lot of Hansons, deposited our $2.50/person on the honor system (many people don’t, so we were told, who would believe the economists would miss a chance to free ride?).

Many animals were moved to Kangaroo Island to help prevent their decline on the mainland. Koalas are one of them and did so well on the Island their numbers grew to 30,000 and the eucalyptus trees they feast on for the 4 hours per day they’re awake started to suffer. So, they took steps to make sure that fewer baby koalas are born and the population has shrunk back to 14,000. Anyway, the sanctuary is a place where you can be sure that you can see some of those flourishing animals and suffering trees. We counted 8 or 9 koalas. Even though it was still daytime when koalas are almost always sleeping, Molly spotted one that we all saw take up a new spot to snooze and heard make some loud grunting noises. Mike spotted this one that jumped from one branch to another.

Can you see it?!

Another rainbow on the way home to dinner followed by a dessert that included two, count them, two cookies each – life is good.

Down Under Down Under

2011-08-31T03:39:00.001-07:00

A horse named Kelly fell into a sinkhole in the 1920s and was never found – but the cave system she fell into was found and named after the ill-fated Equine. Molly and I wondered how they knew she fell into a sink hole, if they never found her, but we forgot to ask our tourguide Kaitlin. Once again, winter travel allowed us to be the only members of the tour (a Sealink day tour bus pulled out just as we started our tour). "Stalactites hold tight to the ceiling, stalagmites might someday reach the ceiling."

In addition to that ditty, our tourguide also Kaitlin told us that her mom taught her that any sort of roadkill you see, you should push it off the side so it doesn’t cause more accidents AND check to see if it had babies. If there are babies, bring them home to rehab until you can release them in the wild. That explains why she had to give up her heated waterbed to the baby kangaroos her mom brought home.

We spotted these scarlet rosellas in the trees at our lunch picnic – but still no echidna sightings in the wild!

Molly is standing under a Yacca Tree that grows 1 cm a year, which I think makes this tree about 300 years old. Any metric experts care to help me out here?

Charlie is demonstrating how to clean both shoes at once...

Leaving the big city

2011-08-31T03:03:00.000-07:00

We started our day at Seal Bay on the south side of Kangaroo Island, home of 1000 sea lions. The winter tours are small and we had Paul, the slightly boring tourguide, all to ourselves. He took the five of us past a lady sea lion, who’s in the midst of a 3 day sleep, to the beach. We got to stand right on the beach and watch the pups play and a few macho papa sea lions struttin' their stuff.

Perhaps we have our own Brent Musberger in the family?

Charlie was pretty unimpressed and spent his time building a sandcastle that Paul, the slightly boring tourguide, accidentally stepped on. Oops. The roving reporter missed that on video.

Birds of a feather

2011-08-31T02:34:00.000-07:00

The pelicans start lining up on the Kingscote wharf around 4:30 for the 5PM feeding. We lined up around 4:55. The birds are striking to look at and we were up close and personal. Can you see Molly’s reaction? Charlie was smarter and sat a row or two up from the action.

Mike was appointed lifeguard by our host, in case he went in while feeding the birds in the water. It’s been a while since he’s done it professionally, but the kids thought he did an impressive job (I held his Mickey Mouse watch, just in case).

Our noble pelican feeder left us with this closing poem: "A wonderful bird is the pelican, His bill will hold more than his belican. He can take in his beak Food enough for a week, But I'm darned if I see how the $#*ican."

As good parents, we forced the kids to stay up WAY past their bedtime to do the Penguin tour. Kingscote is home to one of the many Little Penguin (formerly known as Fairy Penguin) colonies on the island. About 100 penguins call the town home and at night when they come back from their day in the water, you can head out with a tourguide to see them. Penguins don’t like white light, so all the penguins were under the cover of a yellow or red torch (flashlight) and the pictures didn’t come out too well. Lots of chicks were wandering about waiting for their parents to return from fishing to regurgitate the catch (nothing unites 3 kids in laughter like that thought).

We got to see a few of the moms and dads speedily swimming in and struggling up the hillside on flippers to their burrows. The life expectancies of these penguins is 7 years – the same penguins live 20 years in captivity - in part due to feral cats on the island and the seals we saw earlier in the day. After completing our last task (another threat to life-expectancy, see below), we headed home with 2/3 struggling to stay awake for the 2km drive. Was it worth it? We’ll tell you tomorrow…

A morning in Kingscote

2011-08-30T04:59:00.000-07:00

Kingscote is the largest town on the island, population 1700, so they say. I wonder if they count the summer tourists? The house we rented is in a neighborhood, on Emma Drive, that seems to have one permanent resident and streets full of rental houses.

The Kingscote Foodland was closed on Friday night at 8PM when we arrived and didn’t open until the next morning at 8AM. Rather than face three hungry children on Saturday morning, I went out for a run along the shoreline path. So excited to see the seals in the straight and get home quickly to bring the kids back, I missed the rock under my feet and did a fancy face plant with a skinned knee and fat lip to show for it. After getting the blood wiped off, the seals were still waiting for us! We found the community pool and are happy to note that releasing animals, especially sharks, is against the rule. Do three Conlin kids count – they aren’t related to sharks? Check out the sign!

We visited a slightly overrated honey factory/store and enjoyed our small but tasty tour of a sheep dairy. Sheep manchego…?