Marveling at the Vast Weirdness

Warren and I compiled a list of the things we felt we absolutely MUST see before leaving Australia. Uluru was on the top of my list (thanks to Bill Bryson's In A Sunburned Country: a fun-read for anyone who loves travelling and a must-read for anyone visiting/moving to Australia). On the top of W's list was Kakadu National Park. We both had a deep, burning desire to experience what we assumed to be the vast weirdness of the Australian outback. We ticked all three boxes (and a dozen or so other random boxes we didn't even know existed) with this trip.

The route: Of all the trips we've taken, we planned and re-planned this route dozens of times. Do we circle the entire continent, retracing some steps from a previous trip. But if we circle the continent, how will we get to the center? But if we fly to our start location, then what about Chunky?!?! After much deliberation it was decided that Chunk would have to stay behind ;( and we flew to Adelaide hired a car and drove up the entirety (over 3,000 kilometers) of the Stuart Highway to land in Darwin. We flew from Darwin to home and within 30 hours or so, we were on our flight back to the U.S. It was truly a farewell holiday.

Adelaide: I got Adelaide stuck in my mind a while back (again credit to Bill Bryson) even though everyone I spoke to about it described it frankly as "blah." I had created this fantasy that I could perhaps fall in love with a little quaint, wine country region called Adelaide and someday name our daughter after this precious little city. Also, one of the schools that Warren was accepted to was in Adelaide and I wanted to know what the other road would have looked like. Well, as it turns out Sydney was a miles better option. The Barossa Valley adjacent to Adelaide doesn't hold a candle to the Hunter Valley (a wine region a short 1-2 hours from Sydney). But hey, I'm fairly stubborn and it was good to see if for myself so this place could finally be demystified.

Coober Pedy: This place is it folks! Imagine every wonderfully crazy image of an outback town that you can conjure up, put inside it all the most interesting and far-out people you can find from all around the world, build houses for them under the ground and voila! you have createdCoober Pedy. This is an opal mining town, which I would be seriously depressed to live in - there is dirt covering everything, piles of scrap metal, & functional (as well as broken down) heavy machinery everywhere, but for a few days - this is just what we had come searching for. The opal mining in this town is just about as sophisticated as gold mining in the wild west - each man for himself, with no large corporations in site (it's too much of a crap shoot for big money to settle here). All that is required for you to start your mining operation is to buy/hire the appropriate equipment and old fashion explosives, then pop into the local property leasing agent and drop the$50 or so required to purchase a piece of property for a month to search for your fortune. As Warren and I's fortune should have it, there was an opal rush the day we arrived! We stopped into a little opal shop to purchase a piece of the magic and the owner told us that just a couple days ago, he struck it big. He put little plots of land under the names of all his children and closest friends (this is completely allowed), then he informed a few other friends, and by the time we arrived, the place was buzzing with the talk of the latest finds. This place can't be real. To add to the strangeness, for the two nights that we were there we camped undergound, in our tent (though that wasn't completely necessary). You see, it's freezing in the winter and hot as hell in the summer so the constant 70 degrees just below the ground's surface is where Coober Pedyresidents and tourists reside.

The Stuart Highway: This has got to be the longest, most straight road in the world, but it is far from boring. You can spend your time marveling at whatever strange animal you can find: a small pack of wild emus, two giant camel roadkills, kangaroos, dingos, etc. If you should find yourself a little board, then you can just look on the map for the next town. These "towns" are really only glorified gas stations, with about 10 residents that live on the property. Also provided are sketchy campsites, amusing restrooms, post cards that are at least 10 years old, iced coffee, and some crazy touristy thing which makes for a great picture. There will also likely be some interesting character which you can spend the next 30 minutes fantasizing about how they ended up in the middle of no where and what crime they must have committed that they are now hiding from.

Uluru: Written and verbal accounts of this giant rock mostly include "awe stuck" or some other equally divine experience. The aboriginal people revere this rock in a way that myself and most other non-natives will never fully understand. But after driving halfway through the most flat terrain for several days and then feasting my eyes on this unusually large monolith, I think that I do have a tiny grasp of the amazing-ness of this supreme red piece of rock. We arrived at Ayers Rock to see the sunset, which causes the reddish orange rock to turn various shades of "on fire" until it finally turns various shades of "darkness" and then it goes black. We sat on the roof of our rental with homemade burritos and cheap red wine to watch the show. We also made sure to catch the sunrise show, which was only slightly less impressive, but still worth writing home about. All of my greatest expectations were surpassed.

Kakadu: I feel as though there is really nothing that I could write which would provide even the slightest clue to the value of this goldmine. Kakadu National Park is a protected piece of Australian and world history, where you can see ancient cave paintings which give clues to how those more primitive peoples lived (and even what they ate for dinner). This park makes you feel like it is very much alive. There is a large portion of the park which is still inhabited by aboriginals living just like their ancestors did. There are managed (and often not so managed) forest fires during the dry season, which are inches away from your vehicle. There are abundant and surprisingly candid yet bone chilling accounts about how giant crocs eat tourists for a snack every few years (which we fortunately heard about just hours after swimming in such water holes). There are termite mounds over twice my height. And there is this one. special. lookout, which we returned to a few times just because of the way it made us feel inside.

I guess we made our peace with leaving Australia or gave ourselves more to miss.

quality time with the ocean

A family friend asked for a few quick "must see" Sydney spots, what resulted is the following keyboard diarrhea. I guess you could say I fell in love with that place.

1. The coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee (Coogee is where we lived). This is one of the best coastal walks in the world!!! It takes about 1 1/2 hour or longer, depending on how many stops you make. There are about 6 different little beach communities to see, most are equipped with bathrooms and some have cafes. It's on the edge of a cliff and it does have quite a bit of up and down, so bring some water. There is a pretty well marked path, and plenty of local sydneysiders will be doing their exercise on it, so it's easy to follow. Also, keep an eye out for whales. Migration season is coming to an end, but you may see something if you're lucky!

2. Part of this path (just before Coogee) includes a little bay, Gordon's Bay. This is the best little spot for snorkeling in Sydney. Of course, you will need your own gear (there are no operators there) and wetsuits (the water is still cold until Nov or so) but if you are able to do this somehow, it's really great. You may even see the local blue grouper who calls this place his home.

3. Also, not far from this path is the Clovelly Hotel which has a delicious Kangaroo dish, not cheap but the best that I've had in Australia. I'm sure you can find other good spots though.

4. The Royal Botanical Gardens: This is right on the harbour and a lovely park that certainly rivals Central Park (and easily takes it, if you ask me). There are so many freakishly beautiful trees and BATS! heaps of them, keep your ears open for their little squeeks and you'll surely seehundreds of them hanging in the trees!

5. The opera house is a given, but there are some lovely (and fairly high priced) cafes/restaurants just by the big house. It's worth watching sunet here (maybe with a cocktail), overlooking the harbour bridge and the opera house, plus the bats leave the park (which is directly adjacent to the opera house/circular quay) at sunset to explore the rest of the city. It's quite a sight to watch them all fly away!

6. The Rocks - a lovely little part of circular quay, across the harbour from the opera house (15 min walk). There are adorable cafes and shops here, including lots of opal ones! The oldest pub in sydney is here and this area is just generally historic and lovely. There is usually a market on Saturdays.

7. Ride a ferry! The public ferries are quite cheap and run often throughout the day. The ferry ride to Manly (ironic, I know!) is really nice. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Manly, which is a Californiaish beach town, with lots of great ice cream shops. It's worth going there, just for the cheap "cruise ride", checking out the beach, grabbing some ice cream and cruising back. Manly and Bondi Beach are also the best two spots for surfing. Both usually have nice and mild waves with many options for renting boards and even surf lessons.

8. Walk across the harbour bridge; stunning harbour views! It's looks like a long walk, but it's only about 20-30 minutes. On the other side is an old fashion them park called Luna Park (you can see the big smiling clown from anywhere in the harbour). The park is free, you only pay for what you ride. I think you're kids will love this (and probably you too!!) In the very back of the park, you can pay $10 for all the fun you can have in a giant old fashion fun house..I'm talking magic mirror mazes and sack slides. This place is great!! We've done this several times....walk across the bridge, play for an hour or so in the fun house, then take a short 10 min ferry ride back to circular key. fun!

9. Animals - If you want to see Aus animals there is a wildlife park (right in the city and only takes an hour or two to go through). You can get pretty close to some kangaroos and pet a koala. I also hear the zoo is nice, but haven't been. I wouldn't say this is part of the "real" Sydney, but if you want to sneak in some general Australian animal fun...Sydney can accomodate that!

For me, the "real" Sydney is long meal at a cafe with a good friend, followed by an amazing flat white (latte without the froth) and some quality time with the ocean.

p.s. if you like wine, keep an eye out for Hunter Valley Shiraz. this is the wine region nearest sydney and shiraz is their claim to fame!

Peccoli (Tranquility)

Another agritourism website find, instead this time was an absolute SCORE in every way. We stayed a gorgeous B&B which was a two story little cottage attached to a larger home; where the farmer, his wife & their children live. Their property is covered with grape vines and olive trees & has a beautiful view of the entire area.

We spent five days here, so we used it as a base to explore the entire region. We ventured south to a recommended beach on the coast (Claudia, the owner of the guesthouse, was full of lovely suggestions, but this was a bust). Perhaps living in Sydney has ruined our enjoyment of average beaches, but I can't recall the name of this place - it's really not worth remembering. We ventured north to the Cinque Terre and this was really as special as special gets. This literally means "five lands" but it really translates into "five picturesque, quaint Italian towns squeezed between magnificent ocean cliffs and grapevines" or more simply "heaven." We only spent a few hours here, but could easily spend a week or more. There is a pathway between all five cities and also a train.

Besides, the Cinque Terra, the loveliest part of this region was our little B&B itself and the charming town of Peccoli. This little town is quite dead with only 4 or so options for dinner. One of Claudia's brilliant recommendations was a "family style" restaurant which is a better way of saying "affordable enough that you can bring the whole family." It was miles more than affordable, it was comfortable but still elegant and absolutely charming & delish!

Our breakfasts at the B&B included homemade jam with bread, usually a homemade breakfast cake, tea & coffee, and very cloudy apple juice (my favorite). We were given a lovely tour about how they harvest their organic grapes into wine. They produce three types of wine: a basic white and two reds, one lighter and one heavier. After our tour, we had a lovely dinner overlooking the sunsetting property – the meal was all antipasto including fresh cheeses, meats, and jams; and of course, a sampling of their beautiful wines. “Sampling” is really an understatement, it included all three full bottles, which we shared with one German who didn’t drink at all and one lovely light-weight Asian lady. It also included a “sampling” of grappa which is a really highly alcoholic wine that tastes like rubbing alcohol. The combination of all of the above led to a not-so-romantic end of the evening. I slept with the toilet instead of my new husband, but I honestly have no regrets.

Parma (Simplicity)

We chose to visit Parma because Italy's agritourism websites listed it as being within our budget and within a short enough distance to the city center. Also, the B&B had a free bikes for use to it's occupants. I had a vision of me and my husband biking through the city center of a small italian town in between stops to eat local parmesan cheese. ;) It didn't turn out exactly like that, but it was still a wonderful stop indeed.

We took a bus from the train station. Our Italian ignorance enabled us to get a free ride or perhaps it's because the bus driver felt sorry for us. You see, we were asking him to drop us off in front of a prison (the name of our stop was "carcerie.") What the charming photos/descriptions of our B&B cleverly "forgot" to mention was that it was directly adjacent to what seemed to be a fairly important prison. The owner did a good (well, as best he could) job of growing bushes and hedges to mask the prison, but it was still uncomfortably close. What was lost in the proximity to the prison was made up in the charm of the place. Our room was lovely with exposed beams in the bedroom and cold, stone tiles in the bathroom. The best part of the entire house was a perfect little breakfast room with a slanted ceiling. The breakfast was less than desirable however with only packaged pastries and some cereal/milk.

It was raining when we arrived so we decided to do what we do: we ventured out to purchase a bottle of wine to accompany our card playing lazy afternoon. The owner told of us a small pub down the road (well, down the grass pathway) operated by an older gentlemen. He sells beer (mostly to other old men) and wine and also, if we request it before 5 pm or so - he will make dinner. So we ventured to this restaurant/bar/hangout and found said man. He was the picture of Italian - so vibrant and lovely. We purchased a bottle of wine from him and also managed in our pseudo sign language/pseudo broken italian to request to have a meal around 8 PM. He was delighted.

We returned for our dinner, which was among the best and the cheapest of all we had in Italy. We returned the next night as well. The decor of this place is something like a legion's club (white walls with ten year old birthday signs hanging about), but he put a special table aside for us and covered it with a table cloth. We were his guests.

This was, of course, our most memorable experience in Parma. We did ride our bikes through Parma, but it rained a good bit and the town was mid-sized, not the small quaintness that I had imagined. We didn't get to take a cheese tour (we didn't book in time), but we did find a small market to purchase the locally made cheese. It was delightful! We ate SOOOO much cheese on this trip. I won't tell you that it turned our "movements" much darker and pastier causing them to horribly stain the toilet each time - 'cause that would be going way too far. ;)

We really enjoyed a relaxing time in Parma. The little Italian chef really made it wonderful - we got what we were looking for: the localiest (?) possible food. ;)

brain's waves and heart's pieces

I lost my Voice.
but Roaming Rumors Remain:

That she has been calculating brain's waves
of humans (& trolls) in Norway
I may have heard her on their news lines
full of fear in an oil drenched desert
She could have married the great Mr. Young
& have been long nesting in Ontario
Or perhaps she sailed back to Nusa
(that place we always promised to share)
But she's likely somewhere in australia
where my tiny heart's p.i.e.c.e.s will dwell

Maybe she's waiting at all those places I long to be or
Maybe she's lying in my bed right beside me.

Florence (Normalcy)

I found this to be the most normal Italian city. There were far less tourists (though it did seem to be a hot spot for American students to do an exchange), which was nice and not heaps of "must see" places. A few things actually stand out in my memory, the rest is really a blur of romance & relaxation.

1. The ultimate bike gang: Everyone in Florence has a bike, not a five speed newbie, but a very old, very charming & colorful bike. I assumed that it was because people living in Florence had impeccable style, but it is actually because they are so often stolen that there is really no reason to buy a nicer, newer one. I thought they were perfect and I had to drag Warren away many times (he insisted on photographing every interesting bike he saw, which took up much of our time spent outside of the hotel).

2. The David: After waiting for nearly two hours to get into the Vatican museum, we woke up early enough to be waiting at the door when David woke up. I'm not one to typically need to see these sorts of attractions while traveling, but I'm really glad I did. Michelangelo is one impressive fellow - David is flawless and attractive and really demands a few minutes of starring at, which is completely appropriate for people of all ages, because this is art, folks. He (and his accompaniments) are larger than life!!

3. The greatest meal: This trip was about local food for me (and of course romancing). I read up on what was special for each region we visited and in Tuscany (where Florence resides) one of the more interesting specialties is combining pear with cheese. I spotted this interesting combo on a menu (pear & cheese ravioli) and ordered it, of course. It is no understatement that I can't recall something tastier that I have ever put into my mouth. To make it better, Warren's meal was also divine (penne with truffle, blue cheese & artichoke). We were food drunk and drunk drunk & if I were ever in the vicinity of Italy, I would seriously consider making a special trip to do this meal all over again!

Venice (Romance)

We arrived in Venice around 2AM - we grossly miscalculated the procedures for reserving/checking in at Rome's Termini train station. We were under the impression that we could just hop on/hop off with our Eurorail ticket, but alas, you must actually make reservations...errrr. So we rode the sloooowest possible train from Rome to Venice (it took about 8 hours). We arrived at the Venice train station and caught a cab to our hotel?? Think again - the cab driver drops you off right next to the Grand Canal at the edge of Venice. The rest must be done on foot or via public waterbus or water taxi (perhaps we should have read over the guidebooks more?). We managed to find our way onto a public waterbus and then Warren somehow managed to navigate the world's most confusing city grid. We arrive to our hotel shortly after 3 AM.....whew.

There are few days that stand out as much as the beginning of this one. We woke up in time to catch our free continental breakfast, even though we were pretty exhausted. If the view from the room + the prospect of Venice wasn't already enough motivation, there promised to be coffee at the breakfast. The continental breakfast at our hotel in Venice was quite similar to all the other hotels we stayed at. Continental breakfast Italian style generally included: bread (with accompaniments for toast), pastries (usually always croissants), salami, ham, prosciutto, a couple types of cheeses (!!!!), fruit, coffee/tea. We spent two days in Venice. It's one of the world's neatest cities, but I can say..you don't need to stay too long. It's really quite small.

To me, the perfect day in Venice looks something like this:

9AM: Continental breakfast and perhaps two cups of coffee if you arrived late and didn't sleep in.

10AM: Camera in hand, husband on arm - begin to roam. Following the crowds at first and
admiring the Grand Canal, along with it's abundance of shops and restaurants. Look over every s.i.n.g.l.e. menu you pass in preparation for making the most challenging decision of the day: which amazing looking restaurants will you choose for lunch and dinner. Warning: this will start to annoy the piss out of your man, but you won't care much.

11AM: Continue waltzing around Venice, feet on the ground/head in the air; you'll probably
take 200 photos before noon because every single place you look presents a postcard worthy
shot. You'll probably also kiss your new husband 100 times because this must all be a dream. ;)

12Noon: You'll be hungry or at least dying to try one of the 100 restaurants you just passed. You
choose a restaurant with no menu posted outside only to learn that there is actually NO
menu. So, you use hand gestures to point out which of the gorgeous displayed food choices you would like. You have a delicious homemade style meal with a liter of white wine. You are certain you made the right decision when a handful of gondoliers sit down at the table next to you. ;)

130PM: Begin to drag yourself around Venice some more (you'll be 10 pounds heavier now). This time, you try to steer away from the crowds and wander alone the back canals of the city, not knowing where you are and not particularly concerned.

300 PM: You actually do get lost and need to ask for directions. This is guaranteed to happen at
least once per day on your visit to Venice. This is really the most important thing to do in
Venice. If you haven't been lost, you haven't been here.

400 PM: Head back to your hotel. You really did overeat (& drink) at lunch and must rest some before strolling and eating again.

700PM: Wander out into Venice again. The mood is brilliant - you are dressed nicely and ready for a big night out. Gondoliers are romantically roaming along the canals. Venice at night is
possibly even more spectacular than Venice in the day. The city is full of water, as you know, so
the moon and lights from all the streets and restaurants bounce off the water and give the city
the perfect romantic ambiance - it simply glows.

800PM: Choose a small restaurants along a tiny canal. Also, choose a seat a little bit away from the canal because (unfortunately, the slightly unromantic side of Venice) sometimes the canal has a slight fishy stench. But that's what we're here to eat, anyway. Venice is famous for it's seafood, and you know what they say, when in Venice....? You eat a beautiful Venetian meal with polenta & codfish for starters, lasagna and the famous cuttlefish ink spaghetti (basically looks like black ink poured over spaghetti noodles and stains your teeth that way) - all with red wine, of course.

1030PM: Crawl back to your hotel. Don't forget to take a few romantic, wine kissed photos on the way home. You may never be here again.