Melbourne

FINALLY. We made it to Melbourne. This was my first, and a long awaited trip to Melbourne (Mel-bin),Victoria. The second largest city in Australia is a cultural and artistic melting pot known for good shopping, even better food, Australian Rules Football, and cold weather (by Aussie standards at least - which doesn't mean much if you’re from say, Minnesota or Sweden).

Simply stated - if Sydney is LA, then Melbourne is NYC.

Shane and I had an agreement that we’d visit Melbourne during the Australian Rules Football season which typically runs from April through September. The MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) is like the Fenway Park of Australia so it’s difficult to visit Melbourne without watching a “footy” or Cricket game at the MCG.

Aussie Rules Football originated in the state of Victoria and today ten of the seventeen professional AFL teams reside in the second most populous state. A map of Melbourne reads like an AFL league roster – Richmond, Collingwood, St. Kilda, Carlton, and the list goes on. Prior to going to Melbourne I could recite some of its most popular areas without even realizing it – just from watching the weekend footy. To me, the thought of ten professional teams residing in one city is suicidal. I lived in Chicago for five years, and the tension between Cubs and White Sox fans was enough to send you packing for St. Louis. Point is - if you don’t like footy, or at least respect it, you might as well leave Victoria.

As we roamed the city streets, it was endearing to see people walking around wearing their team’s scarf; making their way to one of many footy games taking place over the weekend. My father-in-law played for what used to be the Fitzroy Lions in Victoria and is now the Brisbane Lions in Queensland and my brother-in-law played for the West Coast Eagles in Perth - so it’s a requirement to at least tolerate footy if you’re going to be in this family. My husband’s footy career essentially ended when he moved to the US and fell in love with me...and the idea of travelling. I suppose I can’t take all the credit.

Aside from taking in an AFL game at the MCG on Saturday night, our four day trip to Melbourne was spent shopping, eating, and exploring the city streets. A view of Melbourne’s iconic Federation Square and a stroll down its famous café and boutique strewn laneways are a must. We also spent some quality time in the popular beachside neighborhood of St. Kilda filled with trendy restaurants, historic buildings, and some eclectic shopping. But, our favorite stop was the Queen Victoria Market – the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. We were mesmerized by the plethora of fresh meat and produce and variety of cultural fare. A vast array of clothing and other goods completes this massive market place. Although I wasn’t thrilled to be headed to Melbourne during the coldest time of year, I was reminded of home when walking the streets with the crunch of fall leaves below my feet - something we don’t get much of in WA.

We stayed at the The Blackman Hotel, perfectly situated between the Central Business District (CBD) and St. Kilda. The Blackman Hotel is a part of Melbourne’s Art Series Hotels which each feature the work of a prominent Australian Artist – showcasing Melbourne’s love for the arts. With ocean and park views from our beautifully appointed room- for only $170/night it was one of the best value hotels I’ve ever stayed at.

If you solicit a list of Melbourne restaurant recommendations, you’ll get more than you bargained for. We settled on Golden Fields; Circa, the Prince; Movida Aqui; and Las Chicas for breakfast with a childhood friend I hadn’t seen in twenty years who is living in Melbourne with her husband. What would an expat do without Facebook.

Although we easily could have entertained ourselves for a couple more days in Melbourne there is also plenty to do outside the city including: watch wild penguins on Phillip Island, drink wine in the Yarra Valley, or drive for hours along Australia’s famous Great Ocean Road. We’ll save these activities for the warmer months of the year.

Flinders Street Station and a Melbourne tram

Federation Square

Yarra River

Carlton Botanical Gardens

Carlton Botanical Gardens

CBD laneway art

an allotment garden in St. Kilda

St. Kilda Pier

Serpentine National Park

When I left Colorado, I left with it my hiking boots and other remnants of mountain living. Never did I imagine I’d need them in Perth where flips flops (or even your bare feet) are the favored footwear.

As it turns out, they may have come in handy.  Sitting quietly in the shadow of Perth’s spectacular beaches, an hour east of Perth, lays the Darling Range or Perth Hills as they are more commonly called. Their low-profile provides a quieter way of life nestled in the trees where kangaroos trim your lawns and charming antique shops and bed and breakfasts are dotted along the way.

Friday saw our first real rainfall in several months – washing away the dry heat of a Perth summer and ringing in a beautiful autumn weekend. Yesterday was the perfect day for a hike. Thanks to some assistance from toptrails.com.au we decided upon Kitty’s Gorge in Serpentine National Park, 45 minutes southeast of Perth in "the Hills".

Kitty's Gorge is a 14km round trip hike originating in the historic town of Jarrahdale (named after the Jarrah tree) and ending at Serpentine Falls which is open to the public (at $11) for some good old fashioned waterhole swimming.

Kitty’s Gorge follows the Gooralong Brook which is mostly dry this time of year but I imagine quite beautiful in the spring after the winter rain. We walked through a forest filled with tall lanky Jarrah trees, big bushy grass trees, ferns, palms, and Marri trees - a member of the eucalypt family whose fruit is referred to as “honky nuts”. I like to think of it as the acorn of WA. We also encountered a pine forest which is not native to the area. Pine forests are often planted for the use of their wood. This group of trees would have been plated years before it became a national park and is now a part of the scenery.

Noisy black Cockatoos and a few cheeky Kangaroos entertained us along the way. White Cockatoos and pink and grey Cockatoos are common (pests actually) in Perth but these were my first black Cockatoos.

We wrapped things up with lunch at the Jarrahdale General Store where I rated the best BLT in Perth. I was so excited about it that I finished it off with scones with jam and cream and destroyed any benefit gained from my long hike.

Kitty's Gorge - Serpentine NP

grass tree

Serpentine NP

"Honky nuts"

Marri Tree

fern

planted pine forest

field of clovers

black Cockatoo - can you see the red in his tail?

Serpentine NP



Serpentine Falls



Kitty's Gorge

a native Holly

Exmouth

The Easter Bunny brought an extra special treat this year…five days of no work. Good Friday and Easter Monday are Public Holidays and with Easter falling a bit later this year, it happened to coincide with ANZAC day on Tuesday. ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corp and ANZAC day is a day to remember and honor war veterans.

With five days off work and schools on break, travel accommodations were in high demand. Eventually we found availability at the Ningaloo Caravan and Holiday Resort in Exmouth. The only availability was in the dog park. For once, travelling with a dog had its advantages.

Shane and I last visited Exmouth in August 2009 and I wrote about it in A Winter Holiday. Exmouth (pop. 2,500) is a 13 hour drive north of Perth on the NW Cape Peninsula with the Exmouth Gulf to the east and the Ningaloo Reef to the west - a 260km reef and the longest fringing reef in the world.

Aside from its access to the Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth is most famous for migrating Whale Sharks between the months of April and August. For $370, various tour operators will take you on a full-day Whale Shark experience. Several kilometers out to sea, their helicopters spot the Whale Sharks and you get in and swim with these gentle giants. Some day, when we leave Bronson at home or with the local kennel we’ll experience it for ourselves as those who’ve done it say the experience is priceless. To view a brief video click here .

It’s hard to believe that the American flag once flew proud in this remote Australian town. Exmouth was established as a town in the 1960’s when the US and Australian governments agreed to establish a Naval communications station. Even before then it was a US Naval submarine base during World War II and was bombed by the Japanese in 1942 then abandoned three years later after a cyclone.

We left Perth at 4pm on Thursday. By 10pm I was tired and by midnight I was very tired and at 1am we stopped to sleep. Driving in the dark comes with risks, and fatigue is the least of them. How it came about I’m not sure, but this part of the country has an abundance of wild goats and shortly past midnight, we hit one. When we stopped less than an hour later I was reminded of the fact that my cute cuddly dog is an animal guided by instinct and curiosity as he licked goat blood off the side of the boat trailer. I suppose, another advantage of taking Bronson with us…road kill removal.

While in Exmouth we caught enough fish both days for a generous dinner of coral trout, sweet lip, and a large cray fish kindly donated by fellow fisherman. The winds this time of year were calm enough for us to go a few kilometers out to sea without much complaining from me. And when not fishing, we’d jump in for a swim and a snorkel in the warm waters of the reef.

Emu

termite mound

wild goats and sheep

Kangaroo

sand crab

a peaceful Exmouth Gulf

Captain Bronson



little fish jumping from big fish at sunset



Exmouth Gulf sunset

fishing on the Ningaloo Reef

Indian Ocean sunset

more photos at Flickr

Flickr

For when blogger just doesn't cut it when sharing photos...I now have Flickr.

I've christened my Flickr account with some photos taken on Woody Island in Esperance and a video of Shane skiing in Bunbury over Christmas.

www.flickr.com/photos/lindsaymb

Good Read: Batavia

There are some things, quite confidently, Americans know about Australia. It has a city named Sydney, its native wildlife includes strange animals like Kangaroos and Koalas, and it’s down under – somewhere.

There is one other well-known fact about Australia – which many of us are taught during our school days– and that is the history of the first British settlers who exported convicts to Australia. My husband’s paternal grandfather was brought to this country from England as a wee baby. His mother was an unwed mom so her family put her and her newborn son on a ship to Australia with the rest of the convicts and misfits. In Sydney, she met her husband whose family name determined the fate of Shane’s family name, and more recently mine. But this is a story for another time.

The book Batavia is not about the British settlers. What many people don’t know is that the first Europeans to set foot on Australia were not British but the Dutch, who discovered and mapped what is today the coast of Western Australia, two hundred years before the British discovered Australia’s East Coast.

It was the lucrative spice trade that brought Dutch sailors to this part of the world. Their twelve month journey which originated in Amsterdam would take them all the way around Africa, past India and conclude in what is now present day Jakarta, Indonesia.

Eventually, a more adventurous captain discovered that if he headed directly east from the southern tip of Africa, taking advantage of the “roaring forties” all the way to what is essentially Perth and up the coast of Australia then three months was shaved off the journey. Hence, the Zuidland (southland) was discovered. With a dangerous coastline of islands and coral reefs, an apparently barren and waterless mainland, and no obvious civilization to dominate, the Zuidland was ignored.

But, in 1629, the Dutch East India Company (the first company with a system of shares and investors) set sail on its’ maiden voyage their most glorious ship, the Batavia, filled with over 300 men, women and children and some of the company’s most precious jewels and coins. On the final leg of the journey the Batavia met its fate on the Abrolhos islands, off the coast of what is today the town of Geraldton, 450 kms or five hours north of Perth.

This disaster was only the beginning of what the book’s author, Peter Fitzsimons, describes as an “adults-only version of Lord of the Flies meets Nightmare on Elm Street.” What makes this amazing and true story even more fascinating is that it was not until the 1960’s that the wreck was discovered and human bones and artifacts were found on the islands. Today the Abrolhos remain a quiet group of 122 islands and atolls, occupied mostly by Cray fisherman with very little accommodation and tourism. Read a bit about the islands today and watch a short video here.

I was bemused (and amused) that Fitzsimons opens his book with a quote from fellow Missourian Mark Twain, written in the year 1897. Twain’s quote reads as follows:

“Australian history is almost always picturesque; indeed, it is also so curious and strange, that it is itself the chiefest novelty the country has to offer and so it pushes the other novelties into second and third place. It does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies; and all of a fresh new sort, no mouldy old stale ones. It is full of surprises and adventures, the incongruities, and contradictions, and incredibilities; but they are all true, they all happened”

Whether or not Twain knew anything of the Batavia, his sentiments echo the heart of this story. I highly recommend this book no matter where you live. As it was only recently launched in Australia, it has yet to be published overseas but the book’s publisher assures me it will be published in the US, UK, and Singapore to name a few. If you are doing the e book thing, then it can be purchased through Amazon. Otherwise, coming soon to a Borders near you.  Errr, maybe not Borders.

Steep Point

Shane abandoned Bronson and I for four days to forage for fish with five other blokes.  Although I was jealous that he went on holiday while I was stuck home working and vacuuming, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed the destination.

Steep Point is at Shark Bay where Shane and I holidayed last year.  There is no fresh water, no plumbing, no services (I mean no services), and lots of flies...so I've been told, and it's accessible only by a 180 kilometre gravel road.  The only thing to do at Steep Point is fish and drink piss.  Not that I don't enjoy either of those activities but in a more modern setting.

The prized catches were a 14 kilo Yellowfin Tuna and a 16 kilo Mackrel, both caught by Scott.  Although Shane didn't break any fishing records we now have a freezer filled with fish.  I've reaped the reward of their efforts from the comfort of my home and its modern amenities.



Scott and his 16 kilo Mackrel

14 kilo Yellowfin Tuna

Red Throat Snapper

Hmmm, I don't see any flies in those photos.  I'm thinking it's just a ploy to keep the ladies away.

Esperance



Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance


Following our recent visit to The Great Southern, we continued eastward to Esperance to complete our exploration of WA’s south coast - or at least the inhabited portion of it. It’s a five hour drive from Albany to Esperance although we took a slightly amended trip to drive through the Stirling Ranges just north of Albany.

The town of Esperance (population 15,000) is the final frontier of WA. Only overseas tourists and “grey nomads” who take several months or a year to drive around Australia explore the roads east of Esperance. From Esperance it’s 24 hours until you reach Adelaide, South Australia, the next major (or even mentionable) population centre.

Esperance is best known for its white sand beaches. Lucky Bay, in Cape Le Grand National Park, was deemed Australia’s whitest beach by the National Committee on Soil and Terrain - but it didn’t come without some fuss from those Queenslanders on the Great Barrier Reef. White sand beaches - it’s a competitive business here in Australia. Instead of taking the sophisticated 40 minute drive from Esperance to Lucky Bay we opted for the shorter and more scenic route driving on the beach. In other more accessible parts of the world, such amazing beaches would be swarming with people but we saw very few.

Another pride of Esperance is the Recherché Archipelago - 105 islands and 1500 islets and the largest group of islands in southern Australia. We took a half day boat cruise through the islands to view Eagles, Sea Lions and Seals, and apparently Penguins but it must have been the wrong time of year because we didn’t see any. The tour, hosted by Mackenzie's Island Cruises, took us to Woody Island, one of the largest islands in the Archipelago.

In 1976, the owner of Woody Island was out fishing with his Labrador Twiggy. Twiggy disappeared overboard and by the time her owner realized she was gone, she was nowhere to be found. The conditions were bad, and taking his own safety into consideration, he was in no position to go looking for her. Fast forward three months and his business partner is on Woody island and spots what appears to be a dingo although no dingoes lived on the island. After coaxing a skinny and skittish Twiggy with large amounts of food she returned to Esperance to live with her owner for another 4 years. She swam 3 kilometers in the shark infested harsh conditions of the Southern Ocean and then survived on Woody Island for three months on lizards and birds eggs. Today stands Twiggy’s Landing in memory of Twiggy’s plight.

The 8 hour drive from Esperance back to Perth is long and boring and after awhile, even the beautiful countryside becomes dreary. If you can’t survive on roadhouse meat pies and chips then stock your car with alternative options. Don’t expect a KFC or even a McDonalds along the way.

Fortunately, we had Wave Rock to entertain us half way into our journey – a two billion year old wave shaped granite formation standing 15 meters tall and 100 meters wide. We saw it…we even surfed it…and then we ate meat pies and continued on our way…

Recherche Archipelago

Recherche Archipelago

Recherche Archipelago



Woody Island, Recherche Archipelago



Woody Island, Recherche Archipelago



Esperance

Esperance



Sunset, Esperance Wind Farm



Great Ocean Drive, Esperance

Wave Rock



driving home