Two Places I Love in Australia

South West Rocks, NSW Snowy Mountains NSW

1. Grahams grandparents retired to a small coastal town called South West Rocks in the early 90's (near Port Macquarie on our map). Lots of Graham's fondest memories are in this town. Its a little place with only a handful of streets, it has a couple of pubs, a bakery, a golf course, some restaurants, a shell shop, and a super market. In the holiday season the beach side camp grounds are full of tourists. Graham took me there not long after we moved to Australia and it is one of my most favorite places. We have been back many times now.

The beaches are amazing in South West Rocks, the water so clear. It was here Graham taught me how to swim out past the break zone in the waves, out past the break zone on a long beach you can just float and let the waves you roll up and down. I remember looking down through the water and being able to see the bottom so clearly even though it was way. and I mean way down there. I would never do that alone so don't worry.

Also the town has great events on all the time like crab racing. One of the best places in South West Rocks is a short walk from the town shops. There is a little bay off the ocean, the water is clear and you can snorkel and see all kinds of fish and wildlife in this little bay. Graham and I often fish in the bay and have lots of fun. At low tide the narrow back end of the bay turns into sand flats and there are millions of little crabs that rule the area. You can walk out among the little crabs and chase swarms of them. The little crabs run away and then dig down into the sand to hid from you. To see a thousand little crabs all do that at the same time is pretty impressive! Then there are the sea turtles and dolphins that swim the rivers and beaches. Can I say more about why I love South West Rocks?? It is truly one of the best beach towns in Australia. It also has some of the best salt water fishing to be had any where in the world.

2.The Snowy Mountains in NSW. This is another one of my most favorite places in Australia. Graham and I love the Snowys partly because of the great fly fishing in the area but also because it is so beautiful. This area is home to the tallest peak in Australia Mount Kosciuszko.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kosciuszko)

It also is home to amazing wildlife, including wild brumbys (horses). Seeing the brumbys in the wild is pretty cool, along with the kangaroos, wombats, and emus there is never a lack of wildlife. One of my most favorite Snowy Mountain memories happened last year. Graham and I got up really early to fly fish a section of the Snowy River, we had to cross a large grass field to get to the river and with every step we took about a hundred crickets leaped forward with us. Crickets jumping everywhere (including down your waders) might freak out some girls, but not me. It was really something to see and even more beautiful with the sun coming up through the trees. That morning I was also charged by a herd of sheep. I guess they thought I looked like a tasty treat, I had to jump into the river to escape their pounding hooves! It was pretty funny!

The Snowy Mountains are some of the most ancient mountains in the world, making them round and long.. As you move up the mountains the plants and wildlife changes immensely, at the top of the mountains the plants become waxy and delicate. I have never seen anything like it, this area of Australia is truly unique. The whole landscape is amazing. Some areas are strewn with the biggest boulders with nothing around them to suggest how they got there. Kind of like aliens came down and brought the rocks with them. It is so interesting!

Okay, those are my two most favorite places in Australia. When you come out to visit, be sure to make sure we see at least one of these places. I will have to update you with some really interesting Western Australian places!

Cheers!

List

It is Autumn in Perth, I can tell because the few North American trees that line my street are changing color (most native Australian trees keep their leaves in the winter). I have now lived here in Perth for one year. Seen all four seasons. I now know what to expect in all months of year. The hot days of summer, and the wet days of winter. There are a few things I have not gotten use to yet though. Allow me make short list.

• Cockroaches being a common native animal. Walk around at night and there they go, running up and down the street/walls/garden. Some can even fly. YUCK
• The still ever present lack of ice. Why in such a hot country is ice so hard to get?
• Australians asking me if I am from Canada. No offense to my best buddy Mel in Sydney; But I am sure she gets "Are you an American" a lot too.
• Australian girls out doing me in the fashion department. Lets face it Australian girls have got it going on. I don't know how they manage to look so beautiful and well groomed all the time. (there are exceptions to be noted, but not many in the city). It makes us American girls look lazy, that or either we just like to be comfortable.
• Spiders that can kill you. Although I do not run into too many of them at our house in Perth thank goodness.
• The lack of Mr. Coffee style, drip coffee. Does this exist outside of America?
• People referring to all Americans as "Yanks", I guess they did not get any history on the American civil war in school. Clearly not all Americans are "Yanks" I would hate for them to make this mistake in some deeply southern towns.
• Large Birds (with claws) need I say more. Come and see for yourself.
• People walking down the street without shoes on, everywhere. And no one thinks its strange. Now I understand why Graham thought it was odd when I got mad at him for not wearing shoes in a fireworks store in Indiana. Its just normal here.
• Being homesick. I get it in waves.
• English Pudding..
• Fruit cake. Someone in the USA says fruit-cake and almost everyone in the room thinks yuck. In Australia you say fruit-cake and every goes "Yummy, can I have another piece."

I will leave it at that. Next time it will be all the things I love about Perth and Australia in general! Cause there is lots to love!

John Denver, Chicken Wings & Study

Howdy Partners...

Lately life has been flying by at a rapid speed. Not that anything too exciting is going on. I am all settled into the new job now. Check out this website to see what I am up too. http://www.buzzdance.come.au/ I will be tested soon as our next production goes into rehearsals next week, so I am enjoying the last week of clam before chaos breaks loose in our office.

I have also been rocking out to some John Denver as of late. It brings back a lot of good memories of being a kid and listening and singing along to John Denver songs in the car with my Mom. Songs like "Grandma's Feather Bed" and "Annie's Song" bring it all back. Gosh I was a lucky kid. I have the best parents!

I have broken out the crock pot for the winter; people in Australia call it a slow cooker, and they also seem to have a whole new batch of recipes I have never seen done in a crock pot. But then again Australians have never seen nacho cheese crock pot style. In fact there is a real lack of melted cheese products in Australia all together. I dream of fries (hot chips) covered in googey cheese better yet, lets make them waffle fries (something else they don't have down here), with maybe a little bacon and chives on top. Yum. Anyways off the subject, So far we have made Lamb shanks in the crock pot (Australian) and tonight it is chicken wings (American). So we are off to a good start!

I am busy worrying about all the things I want to do with the money I don't have. I am trying to plan a trip home this summer. I have gotten the first two weeks of August off work and okayed by my boss. Now to find a good air fair. I hope to include a stop over in Boise Idaho on my way back from Indianapolis. The problem is it is never long enough, when I lived in Sydney it took me about 26 hours to get from my house in Sydney to my parent's home in Indianapolis. But now it takes 36 hours to get from Perth to Indianapolis, times that by two and that means I would travel a total of 72 hours of my two week vacation. That always pisses me off. But its worth seeing my parents waiting for me at the airport and saying hi to old friends. But gosh its a long trip. I will also be going home without Graham this year and that adds a whole other layer to the trip. First guilt, cause I wish he could go too, and a slight heart ache cause I know I will miss him a lot while I am away. He can not come due to school commitments.

One more thing before this random post comes to an end. I thought of something I would love to do this American summer if I where to win the lottery this week. I would like to spend the whole summer following Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on their 2010 summer tour. I would also waste no expense flying out friends and family to join me at the locations of their choice. I know this is not every ones cup of tea, but it sure sounds like fun to me!

Okay that's it for now. The picture above is of me and my Kit cat in Graham's office. I took it just now! Cheers!

"Whats New" in Mary's Corner

So its been a long time.... Some things have changed! Don't worry all good things!

Firstly..

I GOT A NEW JOB! Finally a job in my industry, it took 9 months of looking and lots of help from Mom and Dad, Graham, and the Australian government to get. Not to mention the nice people at Kwinana Home Support who kept me in a good job until I found one in my area.

I am working for Buzz Dance Theatre in downtown Perth. I work in a quite office. Only 3 full time staff members and I am one of them. So far so good! I am an Admin and Education Officer. So I am in charge of the teacher resource kits we give to schools when they come to see our performances as well as bringing productions to schools and dance workshops for kids and adults. I work in a cool old building with many other art companies. The top floor is nothing but rehearsal space and I get to listen to and sometimes watch the dancers from all different companies at work. Its pretty cool! I am having some fun! This new jobs mean I get to spend time building lesson plans for teachers and in doing so I get to spend time doing fun research. Like today I spent a good chunk of my day researching cool street artists from around the world because our next production has street art by a famous artist doing the art work on the set .(Stormie Mills http://www.richardmartinart.com.au/pages/artists_details.php?artistID=17 ) He is from Perth and has made a big name for himself. In doing so I found the above image by a guy named ABOVE he is an interesting street artist and worth a little reading about I suggest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above_(artist) .

So I am loving the new job and all is going well there!

I recently ran my first 10k Marathon over the Perth bridges that go in and out of the city along the Swan River. It was not easy, but I did not stop and I made it in 1 hour and 10 minutes! I was proud of myself. All this working out in the park has been paying off. Although I just came home from a cardio class and thought I was going puke or pass out. But hey! Thats what you do to look good in jeans!

Graham is having a good year at school this year and is excited for his 29th Birthday on the 25th of April (well excited is the wrong word) maybe cautiously waiting for his Birthday is better. I think 29 is getting a little close to 30 for his liking. But I hear the 30s are even better then the 20s so he should not worry. Enjoy the ride!

Well other then that things are the same. I still have one large (fat) cat. Kit is getting bigger these days. I am not feeding him more so I think he must be putting on the pounds for winter warmth. Graham says I have to stop filling his cat bowl whenever he cries. He says over feeding a cat is just as bad as not feeding him at all. Its a form of abuse. But he loves his food, and he can still run and jump so I am not to worried. Kit pounced on me from around a corner the other night (I was sitting on the ground) he pounced so close to my face I thought he was going to land on my head. I screamed and he ran away. He got me good. So I don't think we are at the abusive over feeding stage yet. As far as I am concerned he is a happy fat cat!

I promise to keep you better posted! XOXO

Weekend Dishes

I am not sure how it has happened but it seems Graham and I have used nearly every dish we have in the house in the space of 24 hours. No we did not have guests or even cook anything fancy! I am just surprised. I did see Graham eating scrambled eggs from a LARGE kitchen mixing bowl yesterday, so that should have been an indication that there was a bigger problem going on. But boys are boys and somethings I rather just watch in horror then get to the bottom of it.

I have a long afternoon of dish washing before me and I am not looking forward to it in the summer heat.

I am nearly 30 and there are somethings I thought I would have by now. One of them being a dish washer. Being a girl who grew up pretty spoiled I never had to do a lot of dishes. Always had a dish washer and most other luxury items such as cloths driers, and air conditioners. Everywhere I look I see my peers using luxury items. Not even realising they are using an item of such domestic bliss. This being said I am creating a short list of items I would like to have before I turn 30.

• A good oven, my entire married life I have not had an oven that works the way it was meant to. In Indiana we had the oven that only half worked (bottom element only), then in Sydney we had no oven for 3 years. Now in Perth I have what could be the worlds smallest oven, and only has one setting. HOT HOT HOT burn to a crisp hot. To cook cup cakes or any pastry I must pre heat the oven and then take the cake out every time I see the elements turn back on or the cake will be burnt. This means sitting next to the oven for about an hour and half taking the cake in and out, in and out.
• A Car, I have been car less for nearly 5 years. I do not feel a car is an essential item, but I do like to have freedom to travel outside of the limits of public transport or my legs can take me. I also just like to drive. But that's the problem isn't it. We all like to drive, and too many of us drive everywhere. At home in the USA this is a big problem. Growing citys would benefit from investing in public transport people like to take. All the same I would love to have a car for the weekends, and for going to buy heavy things from the store. Of the items I would never like to take on a bus again include: An ironing board, a microwave, 30 lbs of flour, and a weeks worth of food supplies. Wouldn't it be great to have a car to move such items around town. That would be great!
• A dishwasher, My Aunt Gretchen once shared with me the diary of my Grandmother from 1961. In it she wrote of her joy when she was given her first dishwasher. You know the old kind that had two hoses. One for the tap and one for the sink drain. You just hooked it up when you wanted to use it. Although it was an early model and did little more then just spray the dishes with dirty water she was over joyed at this new technology. I believe I will feel the same when a dishwasher finally graces my kitchen.
• A Cloths Dryer, I love soft towels. There is only one way to get soft towels. By using a dryer. If you hang dry your towels they will feel crisp like paper and free you from your weekly luffa treatment in the first dry off. They are ruff and crispy. Need I say more. YES I DO. I do not mind hanging most of cloths to dry outside. But in the winter it becomes a problem. I now live in a place where it rains all winter long. Its hard to hang things to dry in the rain. That means hanging cloths all over our little apartment, and it takes nearly 2 days to dry a pair of jeans, one day for most other items. God forbid you wanted to wash your sheets. We do have a ceiling fan now though and we could hang them off that I guess. But still, a Cloths Dryer sure would make life better.

For now I will keep the list short. But one has to be grateful for what they have, and I can not tell you how grateful I am for the things I do have. It took us a long time to get both a couch and a TV in Australia and now we do, those things are great!! I am just saying I miss "the good life". Those little things that make it a little nicer, a little faster, and a little cleaner. So I have 1.5 years to get these items under our roof. Lets see how I go. But until then I am sure I have it lots better then some!

On the Mend and the Meds

Hey All,

So I got the surgery done and over with. Waiting to be put under really put the anxiety meter at an all new high. The thing that really did it was right before they put the mask on my face the head nurse was asking me some general questions. Whats your name, birth date, and what are you having done today? I said " Mary Wolfla, 7/12/81, (yes is backwards on this side of the earth, just like the toilet bowl water flowing the other way) and I am getting my tonsils out." The nurse gave me a blank stare and said, something like ( I was going under) " Oh are you sure, just your tonsils?" And bang a massive spike in the anxiety and then I was knocked out. I think that may have been why when I woke up in the recovery room I nearly jumped out of the bed. The nurse next to me had to hold me down. And it must have been a site cause another nurse came running to her assistance!

Hospital conditions where great under the private system here in Perth. I had a nice BIG room, not that I needed it and my own bathroom and shower. Although I found the hill down into the bathroom a little odd. I don't know why you would put an incline into a bathroom in a hospital, but what do I know. I was given the most wonderful pain drugs which was fine and dandy until I decided I did not need to use the morphine pump anymore and then got sick to my tummy for the rest of the night. What was I thinking.

Graham and our dear friend Rick brought me home the next day and the following week is a blur of tears, pain, and general feeling of here I go again dizziness followed by waking up on the arm chair never realizing I even fell asleep. I hope childbirth does not include this part of the recovery cause I have no idea how mothers could deal with that. But most Mothers I know are extremely strong and proud woman and would never tell me anyways as I guess it is best to find out on one's own. ( I am only saying this as the TV told me today that most woman have lost 90% of their eggs by the age of 30, great thats just around the corner) So I better get serious.

Its been a week today from the tonsil extraction and I am on the mend. I plan to go back to work this week as long as no one expects me to talk at length about anything or (which can be hard when you work with senior citizens who can not hear, meaning you must yell most of the time, see Mom I knew that loud voice would come in handy) or be forced to eat large amounts of food. Eating is still not going that well.

But I hope by next week this time I will once again be able to yell a little more and eat some much missed food. Like corn on the cob, BBQ chicken, Spicy anything, and candy candy candy!

TONSILS OUCH

So I am getting my tonsils out in the morning. I am being a grown up about it too. Calling a cab at 5:30am to take me to the hospital, all by myself. No one to hold my hand or rub my back. Just me and the poor nurses who are forced to work at such an early hour of the morning.

Then I am going to sit around until they decide it is time to drug me up and knock me out for a short snip snip of the tonsils. My doc told me I could look forward to a morphine drip when I wake up. That only made me feel more nervous.

Actually, this is the first time I have had a body part removed (other then my wisdom teeth, but I never got to know them). Never to be a part of me again. I know its not like I am losing a hand, arm, leg or foot. But I have known my tonsils in a way most people never get to know their tonsils. They have been sore, and yucky for as long as I can remember. I can tell when they are getting infected and know the process it takes to make them feel better like the back of my hand. Details of which I don't think you really want to know, but it involves hot salty water and puss.

I think I am a purest of a certain kind. I never wanted my body altered by way of piercings or tattoos. Even my ear lobs are the same as the day I was born. My mother has been asking me to get the gap in my front teeth fixed for years (and my husband agrees) but that gap is a part of me just like my nose is. So thinking about getting my old enemies (my tonsils) out makes me well.... kind of uneasy, and strangely a little sad. I know, I am happy to be done with all the pain and bother. But still... its a part of me.

Well I better pack my overnight bag and get my papers in order. I am off on an adventure tomorrow. And in a few hours I will know what its like to live tonsil free! Here I go.