Smooth Sailing Ahead

We left Brisbane this morning after three days which included: a ride on the Cityhopper ferry, the Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art, the Brisbane City Museum at City Hall and a tour up the historic clock tower, a Broncos versus Knights rugby game, cycling around the river (mostly successful) and around the highway (somewhat less successful), the Botanical Gardens, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, and food... Tibetan, Nepalese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese food. (Perhaps not the best part but certainly the most memorable.) (More details (and pictures) on most of these things to come later.)

We arrived at the Proserpine airport this morning and took the Whitsunday Transport bus into Airlie Beach.  The route is not terribly scenic but I still find it pretty interesting: after all this is Australia and even after four (five now?) months I haven't really gotten used to it.  Also, Queensland!  We are a good 10 degrees north (and 1,400 some kilometers, if we were to have driven the whole way) so it's a little different than around Armidale.  It's a lot scrubbier inland and definitely feels more tropical.  As an added bonus the bus dropped us right off at our hostel Backpackers by the Bay, and as an even extra added bonus, the bus driver gave us a little history and information lesson about the sugarcane industry in the area on the drive down.

Airlie Beach Marina: we'll come back here tomorrow.

The first order of business when we arrived in Airlie Beach, after we were checked into our room at BBTB was lunch, and after that was taken care of we went to the tourism office for a final confirmation and to check in for our sailing trip tomorrow.  Unfortunately, we were the only two who signed up for the Ise Pearl so the trip was likely to be cancelled--they needed at least four people minimum for it to go ahead.  Luckily, (very, very luckily), there were availabilities on two other sailing trips, both which fall within our travel dates and even two that we had considered before we decided and booked this trip.  We will be leaving on the Ragamuffin II tomorrow morning for three days, two nights, returning Friday afternoon.  Sailing, swimming, snorkeling, hiking and walking along the beach: it should be a really amazing trip!  Everyone we've met so far here in Airlie have commented on the really great weather, which is also encouraging.  It's nearly the same every day: highs around 22 and a low of 17.  Only Friday is there a chance of rain.  This whole trip we've really lucked out: originally it was forecast to rain the entire time we were in Brisbane, but it only rained Friday on our drive (and even not that much), and drizzled most of the day on Saturday, but overall, not that much and it had cleared up enough by the evening for us to go to dinner by bicycle.  There were a couple sprinkles on Sunday and Monday, but so negligible compared to the forecast that they don't even seem worth mentioning.

It feels good to have everything settled and sorted out for tomorrow.  (I admit I was a bit nervous when Vicki at the travel office told us our boat was going to be cancelled, and traveling, no matter how easy, is always a little tiring.)  We had a relaxing afternoon walking around town, went swimming in the lagoon (just the public saltwater swimming pool, since there is no beach in Airlie Beach), picked up a couple provisions for our trip, and will be ready to go out and eat again pretty soon.  It's been a long day so it's hard to believe it's not yet six o'clock!

Welcome to the Sunshine State

Long day today, drove from Armidale >> Coffs Harbour >> Brisbane.  Stopped for pb&bc sangas (peanut butter and banana chip) in Woolgoolga and the Macadamia Castle (outside Byron Bay) for a caffeine pick-me-up (think Tommy Bartlett in terms of signs; though Reid insists it's nothing like Tommy Bartlett because they actually grow macadamia nuts there whereas there is no Tommy Bartlett to be found in the Dells.)  It rained less than we thought it would, though maybe those forecasted 20mm will happen overnight.

A section of the Pacific Highway that had blackened trees from a bush fire on both sides of the road.

The hill on the way into Byron Bay

Grazing land in the Northern Rivers area of NSW

Sugarcane field under a cloudy sky (still NSW, just south of Tweed Heads)

Raining as we came into Brisbane

Been a long time since we've seen signs, cars, buildings.. general city things.

M1 the Pacific Motorway brings you straight into the center of the city

View on Cricket Street toward the City Centre, where we're staying at the Aussieway Hostel

August showers bring September flowers

It's been a bit rainy this week, with more forecast for the next. The rain is good: it actually rained all day Saturday, partly clear on Sunday, with drizzle this whole week except for today.  I hope it keeps raining. I get general emails from the Armidale-Dumaresq City Council and apparently the water levels here are at 70%, pretty much as low as it's been since 2005.  (At 50% emergency water restrictions go into effect.)  We need the rain.

It's been a bit warmer, too--the nights haven't been so cold lately, and already it's beginning to feel like spring.  The cherry trees in front of our house are beginning to bloom, the pink blossoming bush is beginning to bud green leaves, and the acacia trees around town are still going strong.

We're headed to Coffs Harbour tomorrow, from there to Brisbane for a couple days, and Arlie Beach after that.  A couple days on the Ise Pearl around the Whitsundays before tracing our way back again.  I'm excited to see what Armidale looks like on August 31st when we return.

Acacia blooms

Springtime in Australia means the acacia are blooming!  The vibrant yellow blossoms are really quite the sight to behold.  Depending on how the light hits them, they appear anywhere from golden to neon lemon.  We took a walk yesterday along the railroad embankment, lined with beautiful blooming acacia.  We're scheduled for a week of rain, but if it's sunny I'll be sure to take a trip over there for some photos.  The brilliant flowers under an azure sky would be so very striking.

Unfortunately, as usual, I'm not sure what kind of acacia we most commonly see around here.  They look a bit like Acacia baileyana (or Cootamundra wattle), but it's hard to tell.  In writing this blog post (and looking at different kinds of acacia on wikipedia) I learned that Acacia pycnantha (or Golden Wattle) is the official Floral Emblem of Australia.  I'm not even sure if we've seen any of those: in my collection of photographs I can identify at least three different kinds of acacia trees, but none have leaves that look like the Golden Wattle.  (I think the pictures on this post are all the same--the photos of the Cootamundra wattle (if that's what they are) just happened to turn out the best.)

 

 

Also, and this is not related to acacia or wattles or Australia at all, but in writing this blog post we came across wikipedia's List of Famous Trees, and from there were directed to a particular tree in Athens, Georgia.  It is, supposedly, the Tree That Owns Itself.  The premise sounds like a novel or a movie.  We also read about Pando, the clonal colony of a single male quaking aspen,  which I have heard about, but forgot a bit how amazing it is.  To think those trees have been there in some shape or form for (at least) 80,000 years is ... pretty phenomenal.

UTE

Utes!  How could I have forgotten about this very important part of Australian culture?  Besides the ever-prevalent safari snorkels (in fact I just saw one drive by the window, right now) what you would probably notice most about the vehicles on the road here is the abundance of these really silly looking cars.  At least I think they're silly looking, but they're really quite popular.

Many different varieties and customizations, but most important is the sports-car front and truckbed.

Naturally, Ute is short for Utility Vehicle (so it's pronounced 'yoot').  If you want to sound Aussie and can fake the accent, the most important things must be noun abbreviations and a few key rhyming slangs.  Have a Captain Cook, would you?  It's time to hit the frog and toad.  Off to Brizzy in the ute!

Sundowner Apples

Most of the apple varieties we see in the store are the same as what you'd find in the States, but we have encountered a couple new varieties (at least ones I have never seen before.)  Last week we bought Sundowner apples for the first time, which were pretty tasty! We ate them plain in lunches but this variety from Western Australia are also recommended for baking.  (If you've seen Sundowners in the US, please let me know.)

We actually haven't eaten too many apples here, actually--when we first arrived we were eating a lot of pears from our favorite fruit vendor at the Farmers Market, and lately we've been enjoying oranges and mandarins. (If you're curious, the Aussie pronunciation is mandareen.)

The other "new" apple variety we've come across is Eve, which we actually only saw in the store once.. we bought it because they was on sale and since then it's disappeared from from the produce section and soon to disappear from our memory as well.  Jazz apples are also widespread: I remember when we first saw them at Busch's in Ann Arbor, imported from Australia--turns out they're from New Zealand. (Maybe they should call them Fit apples in the US?)

Otherwise it's mostly Jonathans and Jonagolds, Galas and Pink Ladies, Red and Golden Deliciouses... nothing that interesting or out-of-the-ordinary.

Love the Aussie Apple stickers with the Australia Tree.  n_n

Wintertime Springtime

It's still as cool as ever (actually it's been even colder lately, with lows at around -4!) but it's starting to feel like spring.  The camellias began to bloom--very, very slowly at first, but steadily more and more blossoms are opening.  Meanwhile, the red bush in front of the house is still slowly, slowly blooming (I love how it looks just like the hanafuda February/plum cards at the right angle), the little narcissus is still hanging on (it didn't look too good after the snow, but it bounced back), and the iris continue to bloom (as they have since May).  Around town, more and more shrubs are beginning to blossom: there's some small flowering trees on Brown Street that look like ornamental cherries.  (I'll have to go by with the camera sometime and take a picture.)  So, yeah: beginning to feel a bit like spring.  I'm ready!

Camellias outside the bedroom window, which would be pretty and nice if we
actually used that room for living instead of as a closet.

If you look closely you can see there are lots and lots of buds.
I hope the camellias flower for a long time.

Flowers by our front (which is actually side) door

Little white narcissus below the kitchen window
(don't know what that other bush is.)

The spindly branches with the buds and blossoms are really beautiful
(but it's difficult to take a good picture, either the neighbor's houses or the street is in the view, apologies.)
(You can tell that it's the weekend/Reid's home.)

This guy's still stuck in autumn though.