Gargoyles. Apostles. But No Kangaroos.

A friend of mine came to visit a few weeks ago.  She's a PoliSci professor and was doing some research in New Zealand and here in Australia.  She stayed with us for a few days in Sydney and then went on to Melbourne and Canberra. The Hubs was traveling, as usual, so I tagged along for the adventure.  

Melbourne

Melbourne is such a cool city.  It has a totally different vibe from Sydney. Like LA is to San Francisco as Sydney is to Melbourne.  That kind of different. It has a fantastic art and food scene. The architecture is so interesting--a ton of Gothic Revival and Art Deco style.  (My fav.) 

I was obsessed with the gargoyles, of course.

 

The streets are the broadest I've ever seen in a large, metropolitan city.  

Sometimes up to four lanes on either side, with wide medians where the trolleys run. 

Oh, and traffic turns right from from the far left lane. Because of the trolleys, we think.

(In the States, that would be like making a left turn from the far right lane. What the?)

We loved all the old homes that look like spooky haunted houses. So lacy and ornate!

The Great Ocean Road

Jessica had it on her list to drive out to see The Twelve Apostles, so she rented a sporty little 

Mini Cooper and we made the trek. (I was happy to join her, as that's been on my list, too.)

The Great Ocean Road is comparable to the Pacific Coast Highway. 

It's a 151-mile stretch of road along the southeastern coast.  

(The arctic winds were definitely not comparable to the Pacific breezes of the PCH.  Oh my brrrrr!) 

We pulled off at several lookout points to take in the view.  

Or at least what we could see of it through the mist.

 

We appreciated this reminder getting back on the road. Really. We did.

 

We saw many a "kangaroo crossing" sign...but never any actual kangaroos. We actually would have preferred to see many of the latter and none of the former. I mean, if we could've had our druthers.

The Twelve Apostles are a collection of limestone stacks just off the coast, about a four-hour drive outside of Melbourne.  There are actually only eight "apostles." 

There were nine until one collapsed. Never twelve.  So why the name? 

Apparently the rock formations were originally known as The Sow and Piglets.  But it was decided that something named after swine wasn't going to draw the tourists.  And so.

Apostles.... Piglets.... Whatever you call them, they sure are beautiful.

Canberra

On to the capital city of Australia. Since Jess was doing research for her PoliSci-ness, 

Canberra was kind of an important stop.  When she wasn't in interviews, we poked around a few of the government buildings.

We toured the Parliament House.

The grass on that side slope goes all the way up onto the 

roof of the building.  The idea here is that the elected officials are not above the people, 

but rather beneath them.  Get it?

We visited the Old Parliament House. It was in use until 1988 and is now a museum 

where you can roam around freely.  Many of the rooms and offices are set up very much the way they would have looked when the representatives moved to the new building.  Retro office furniture, early desktop computers, rotary phones, the whole bit. Kind of fun.

We visited the Australian War Memorial, which is a museum dedicated to Australia's veterans. It is huge. H.U.G.E. (I think I actually spent six years in the WWII wing.) 

The interior is divided by each war Australian soldiers have ever fought in. It was fascinating to view the wars of history through eyes other than my usual American ones.  Never done that before....

¡Viva México!

Exactly how far is the outback from Mexico??  Coming to Sydney, I knew Mexican food wasn't the most popular cuisine over here, but I figured I'd be able to get the basic ingredients I needed.

Enter Australia and its unfortunate placement clear on the other side of the world from Mexico. 

Turns out, Mexican influence hasn't infiltrated Australian culture like it has American culture.  I know, I know.  Hard to imagine such a place.

Most Mexican ingredients are either not easily obtained or not available at all.  I can't get corn tortillas at my grocery store—I have to go to the one across town to find them.  (Corn Tortillas!!  I think you can buy those at any corner store in the States, can't you? (Yes, I'm exaggerating.))  It took me weeks to track down black beans.  Tortilla chips cost a fortune.  I think my grocery store has one brand of salsa and it's not a good one.  Definitely nothing of the verde variety.  Want to make anything that calls for a can of green chilies or chipotle peppers?  Forget it.  No queso fresco to be had. And at first I thought they didn't even have cilantro. (Gasp!) Then I found out they do have it, but they call it coriander here.  (Whew!)

I did find chipotle peppers at the import store, finally. Eight dollars for one of those little tiny cans! Some of the cheapest items on my grocery list back in the States are like gold here.

It's taken a little time and a little adjusting, but I've figured out how to get by.  And "getting by" has called for learning how to do things from scratch, which I've always wanted to do with Mexican food, but it was so easy to just buy stuff like sauces and mixes and canned chilies. I have learned how to roast my own chilies and make my own enchilada sauces.  And, as you know, fresh pico de gallo beats a jarred salsa any day of the week.

And while Australia doesn't have a love for Mexican food, they do have the internet.  And I'm finding more amazing Mexican-inspired recipes than you can shake a maraca at on the Homesick Texan.

Not sure I'll ever go back to my old pre-prepared ways. (Hopefully not....)

Try the sour cream chicken enchiladas.  They're uh-mazing.

Straight-Up Hong Kong

 Mmmmm.  Just look at that air quality.  There's a reason many residents wear white masks everywhere they go.

The Hubs had to go to Hong Kong a few weeks ago for work 

and asked if I wanted to come along. 

Duh.

I didn’t even know what to do with that city.  It’s not like any place I’ve ever been before. So many people occupying so few square feet. I mean, I’d heard, you know—

how they ran out of space on the ground, so they just went up. And up and up. 

 And up.  

But I didn't know. Until I'd seen it with my own eyeballs, I just didn't know.

It was a quick trip, but we managed to fit a few things in.

We went up to The Peak for what we'd heard was the best view of the city. 

 

 

  

We went to the temple. We were asked to be the witness couple, which was funny,
considering the session was in Cantonese. Not a big deal. Until the prayer….  

And then...well...and then it's too late, isn't it?

We took the escalators up to the Mid-levels.

 And then we had dinner and walked around SoHo taking pictures. 
That was our favorite night.

 

 

We went to church. Which was not in Cantonese, even though the sign is.

We ate some pretty legit Chinese food, although deciphering the menu was no small task.

And we just enjoyed seeing another part of this amazing world we live in.

Good times, they were.

Mom, can you please hold my wand?

I heard a little girl say this to her mother as I passed them on the street the other day and couldn't help but laugh to myself.  The child was wearing a poofy pink skirt and clearly had something important she needed to do that would require both hands, which meant parting with her wand for a moment. 

It made me think—even when we don’t need our moms, we still need our moms. There are those days where we just don’t feel like we can do it alone and need someone to help us through.  Or days when we just don’t know if we can deal with all it means to be an adult. Or days when we just need someone to prop us up a bit until the rough times pass and we can pick back up where we left off.  To lend us strength when we feel like we’ve run out of our own.

It seems that no matter how “grown up” we get, Mom is still the one we run to for advice, comfort, encouragement, validation…or just to hold our wands for a bit.  And what would we do without her?

Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing moms. Especially my own.  Heaven knows she's held my wand more times than I can count.

There's Nobody Here

(Actually wrote this a few months ago...but never posted it. 

J-dub left for Shanghai again this morning...and it mostly still applies. Except it's fall now.)

I’m the loneliest girl in the world.  No, really.

Okay.  Not really.  But I’m PRETTY lonely. 

But how can this be?

I lived alone for four of the six years before I got married.  I KNEW how to live alone. And what’s more…I liked it. Not that I didn’t love the roommates I had when I didn’t live alone, ‘cause I did love them.  I still love them. But I also loved living alone.  In my very own apartment.  With my very own front door.  And my very own refrigerator.  And my very own everything. Knowing that the whole place was the way it was because I alone had caused it to be that way.  Having every speck of floor space and air space to do with it whatever I pleased.

The Hubs left for Shanghai this morning.  From Shanghai, he will go to Tokyo.  And I won’t see him again until the end of next week.

This is a short trip compared to his last one, which lasted over 2 weeks.  But he hasn’t even been gone 24 hours yet and I’m already going crazy. I’ve been married now just over four months.  Four months! I lived totally and completely alone for FOUR YEARS.  Have I really forgotten how to be alone so quickly??  And I only spend an average of three and a half hours a day with the boy anyway (awake, that is…).

So I find myself needing to do a little self-evaluation to see if I can identify the reasons I might be suddenly feeling THIS lonely. And the results are in:

1- It’s summer, which means it’s spider season.  And in Australia, the spiders are the size of my hand.  And I spotted one in our building yesterday.  And I just KNOW there’s one lurking somewhere in our apartment.  And if it shows itself sometime before next Thursday, I will have to deal with it. Alone.

2- I have no access to American television.  No Fox News to fill the void.  No Candice Olson or Ina Garten or Glenn Beck to keep me company.

3- My family and 99.9% of my friends live approximately 8,000 miles away.  I can’t imagine how far away that would actually feel if it weren’t for g-chat and skype.

4- It’s raining.  Hard.  And rain always makes me lonely.  Even when I’m not alone.
5- While I used to love living alone, that was before I had ever lived with a boy, which I always suspected I would rather like. Now I live with a boy. Which I do rather like.

And now I feel better. ‘Cause it turns out that I’m not such a miserable failure at being alone, after all.  It’s just that being alone has gotten lonelier. 

But mostly, I just miss The Hubs. 

Newtown + the Stephens

So, we told our friends, Dale and Aki Stephens, about our search for really good Indian food, that ended in really good Thai food and Dale’s eyes lit up like a little kid’s on Christmas.  Said he, “There’s this place. In Newtown. BEST Tandoori Chicken.”  Said we, “Let’s do it.”

That weekend he and Aki picked us up for the adventure. We drove over the river Harbor Bridge and through the woods the city to Newtown, which is a happening little part of town right by the university. Everyone’s all edgy and alternative and hip there.

Dale told us the restaurant was kind of a hole in the wall. We told him we weren’t scared, as holes in the wall often have the best fare. When we arrived, a quick glance around informed us that every Indian cabby in the city had beat us there, so we knew it was gonna be good. 

And it was. Tandoori chicken like no other.  Seriously.  

And to finish off the night, we sang loudly with the windows down on the drive home.  Proclaimers. Crash Test Dummies.  Good times.

Stuff We See Sometimes

 

The Hornby Lighthouse at South Head.  

(I always get that "Candle on the Water" song in my head when I look at it. 

You know.  The one from Pete's Dragon...?  Anyone?)

Fountain in Hyde Park with St. Mary's Cathedral behind. 

One of our favorite spots in the city.

View from one of my newfound stair runs. Not bad....

 

5-0 in the house Harbor.  

Saw this boat get "pulled over" the other day. Not sure what they did wrong, 

but they did not get away with it.

Birdy friends.  Rainbow Lorikeets and Cockatoos are regular visitors to our balcony ledge.  

Especially when I'm providing the grapes.

An unexpected glimpse of the bridge from inside the city.