Visitors and Wool

G'day to you all,

It is the end of a most glorious winter day.   It almost reached 70 today with a nice light breeze. 

A lot has happened since the last post.  There were many activities at the end of term including Phineas' return from his 17 day community service trip to the Northern Territories.

The first week of break was quite low key and uneventful - a very nice way to start out a school vacation.  

The second week, the visitors arrived!  Margaret's sister and her family (Jane, Tom, Katie, Bo, and Maggie) came as did Kirsti and Danny Morse (good friends - Mom and Lincoln's classmate - from Freeport).  It was wonderful to see everyone and they were all amazing sports to jump right into Australian culture and ignore jet lag.

They arrived on a Friday and Saturday afternoon we were already at an Australian Rules Football Game at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.  It was a good game that was hard fought between two teams desperately fighting to stay out of the cellar in the standings.  Saturday night we had "take away" fish and chips.  As Jane pointed out ... "fish and chips" could really be titled, "Everything Fried".  Yummy.

Monday we all went to the Healesville Sanctuary to see the many different and unique Australian animal species.  Yet, our visitors found that many of the unique animal species are right here in our front yard including an enormous number of kangaroos.  It seems that the kangaroos wanted to visit the new Americans as well.

Wednesday we went to Phillip Island to see the water and the penguins.  It was an amazing day and a glorious trip.  The evening arrived with a gorgeous moonrise and the penguins scampering across the beach.  The winter time brings fewer crowds and allows the visitors to see so much more.  It was very fun.

Unfortunately Tom and Bo had to leave early but Jane, Katie and Maggie were able to stay and enjoy a trip into Melbourne and the National Gallery.  And then on Monday Katie and Maggie were able to join Skyler and Kipling at school!  Even though it was their summer vacation, I think they still enjoyed the day at school

On Tuesday morning at 3am, Jane, Katie, and Maggie left on their long trek back to the States.  They were all such troopers for making the trip.

Later that day, Danny and Lincoln went with me to the most exciting garage a 6th grade boy could ever imagine.  It is a museum of cars owned by a very rich Australian named Linsay Fox (www.foxcollection.org.au).  It is a two story building in downtown Melbourne that is stuffed full of Ferraris, Mercedes, Porsches, Roll Royces ... and Volkswagen Beetles.  It was a wonderful day.  Lincoln decided it was the best place he has been in Australia.

Then on Saturday Kirsti, Danny, Margaret, Skyler, Lincoln, Kipling, and I (Phineas was at a running race) went to one of Margaret's favorite places in Australia - The Bendigo Wool Festival.  For those of you keeping score at home ... The Bendigo Wool festival is the largest wool festival in the world.

In fact, it is so large that this conversation actually happened:

[Nord walks into the Information Centre in the middle of Bendigo]

Nord: Good morning

Man: G'day, how you going?

Nord: Well thank you and yourself

Man: Very well

Nord: I was wondering how to get to the Wool Festival

Man: The War Festival?  I am sorry sir, but I don't believe Bendigo has a War Festival

Nord: No, the Woooool Festival

Man: The Wall Festival?

[At this point I am very worried that either there is not such a thing or we have the wrong weekend]

Nord: I am meaning to say "wool", "w" "o" "o" "l"

Man: [has a good long laugh] I you mean the "wuuul" festival.

It actually was a quite an event.  Lots and lots of wool, sheep, crafters, sheepdog trial, and sheep shearing contests.  The sheep shearing was quite exciting.  It is pretty amazing to watch a person shear a sheep in under two minutes.

Lincoln then informed us that this was rather slow - despite the fact that we saw the Australian National Champion in one of the heats.   He said that an Australian legend named Jacky Howe was able to shear 321 sheep in approximately 7 .5 hours.  He then proceeded to sing a song he learned at school called the Lachlan Tigers - that memorializes this feat.

For those of you who are wondering how the song goes (and looking to remember what people used to wear in 1984) here is a YouTube version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isTC_6rL2R8

Be well,

Nord

Camps

Dear all,

Happy Fall to you all.  It is very funny to see references to Memorial Day and the Indy 500 and have colored leaves blowing across the yard.

The Fall here has been nothing short of spectacular.  The weather continues to be beautiful with crisp mornings and warm sunny days.  There are a handful of trees with yellow and red leaves.  Those are the rogue European / American trees versus the gum trees that are evergreens.  

The hills around us appeared to have changed color as the Fall sun makes them a darker blue, versus the reddish green of the summer months.  It is all very beautiful.

This Fall season is the season of Australian Rules Football (Footy) and Camps.  As I have discovered Australians really do like shortening words.  For example, it is not "mathematics" here, it is "maths."  And it is not a "camping trip", it is "camps."

Lincoln just returned from a week long horseback riding camps.  It was an amazing experience.  I have not had a child who has ever come back from a camping experience and have been so taken by it.  Lincoln has been teaching us campfire songs, telling jokes (some of which are in good taste), and sharing his amazing experiences.  One of the highlights was riding the horse with no hands and closing his eyes - the result of much confidence gained throughout the week.

Skyler is currently out on her third camp.  This one is over a week long and involves a long canoe trip and a long hike.  It will be a wonderful way for Skyler to see Australia and gain a real appreciation for its outdoors.  

Phineas is about to embark on a two week trip to the center of Australia that will involve both a study of native culture and a community service element.  It should be quite a trip.  I am not sure if I personally could be with a large group of 10th and 11th graders for 14 days but I am sure they will all learn a lot.

Kipling has not yet started camps but did take a trip to the local mall to get some new shoes.  Some "Pumas" which are very fast and allowed him to make the bike trip to school in record time today.

We have also been entertained by a lot of music recently.  Skyler played with the RAah Project a couple weeks ago.  It was very fun - a real listening adventure (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et6M1WUoxuw).  This weekend Lincoln and his class is going to play music for a bush dance at the local community hall.

Margaret has been enjoying classes and last week she spent the week touring businesses and meeting people who were inspired by Waldorf Education - ranging from farmers to architects to health clinics.  Some very interesting discussions.

Be well,

Nord

A little bit of America

Dear all,

A belated Happy Easter to everyone.  Easter here in Australia was incredibly nice.  It was a day spent with friends outside enjoying the amazing weather.  If you wonder why I keep talking about the weather it is because the weather is truly stunning.  Take one of those gorgeous late August / early September Maine days and repeat for about two months.

We have had a few experiences over the last few weeks that have reminded us of our home in Maine.

First, we had visitors!  The first since we arrived in Australia.  Margaret's Mother's cousin, Martha, came to visit.  She lives in Maine and New Zealand and came to visit Yarra Junction along with her friend Donna.  It was great to see them both and have them experience a bit of "the bush."  Martha even brought some Starbucks coffee to make us really feel back in the States.

Then on Easter Sunday we had a baseball game with a very sporting Australian family.  It was great fun.  We fortunately brought our uniforms from the States.  Lincoln would like to tell everyone that we won 14 to 6.

We also spent a few days this past week at Philip Island.  It is an island just outside of Melbourne.  It is famous for its Grand Prix races and for its penguins.  It was quite a treat to see penguins in the wild.  The coastline looked surprisingly like Maine and even had the cold water to go along with it.

 Be well,

Nord

 

Opening Day

Dear all,

How funny it is to be speaking about Autumn (not “Fall”) and have the opening day of baseball.  The miracles of modern technology allowed us to watch the opening day baseball game with some Aussie friends, while eating a Boston Bun.

A Boston Bun is not necessarily the height of culinary genius but it is certainly tasty with about 2 inches of butter cream frosting heaped atop a soft cake-like roll.  I cannot figure how the name “Boston” figures into this gooey treat, but its there.

The Autumn has provided us with some of the most beautiful weather imaginable.  The nights are cool but certainly not cold and the days are warm but not hot.  We have had a bit of rain to make the landscape wonderfully green.

Now all the super hot and fire-ridden weather is gone and it is no longer in the news, we are finally starting to realize how many things are great about Australia.  Here is a sampling:

“No Worries” - The phrase “no worries” is used many ways, often in place of “you are welcome.”  What a wonderful phrase that reminds us to not sweat the small stuff.  

School Funding / Education - Education appears to be a real priority here.  It seems to be well funded and most people appear to be well educated and well spoken.

Wildlife - The wildlife here is quite incredible.  The variety of species is amazing and it is all so close.  For some reason animals just don’t seem as fearful of humans.  For example, the birds will stay in the tree eating fruit while you are picking the fruit.  The sounds are also quite striking.  Nighttime here sounds like a rainforest.  You would swear there are monkeys outside your house and then you realize they are just the kookaburras. 

Music & The Arts  - Our community here and the city of Melbourne values the arts.  The National Gallery Victoria spans two sizable buildings - both of which are free.  The school put on an amazing Bach concert where all the students (7-12) and faculty participated.  And Melbourne hosts the Grand Prix every year.  Uh ... I guess that doesn’t really fall into The Arts but it certainly was entertaining.

Public Transportation - The public transportation is really good.  It has allowed us to live quite comfortably without a car for these first few months ... which leads me to my next point ... the car.

We have finally purchased a car!  

To quote Margaret, “What more could I possibly wish for?  I have been dreaming ab

out a car like this for a long time.  Talk about exciting!”

Uh no.

To really quote Margaret, “Uh Nord, is that our car?  We bought that?”.  You see Margaret had not seen the car before it arrived in our driveway.  It is a 1992 Diesel Toyota Van.  No veggie oil :-)

The good news is that we have it registered, insured, and it has an official “road worthy” certification!

So you can all come visit now.  It seats 11 and even has room for bikes.

Happy Easter to you all!

Be well,

Nord

Happy Fall!

Dear all,

It has been a couple weeks of relative calm.  A couple earth tremors but aside from that it has been very calm in a very good way.

After a few good rainstorms and some amazing late summer weather, everything is green and beautiful.  Now is the time to come to Yarra Junction!

This picture both shows the green grass and green trees and that Skyler got her crushed cello fixed!  Things are very peaceful at the house.

Today's theme is "Kangaroo Stories".  The first is from our ride to school on Wednesday of this week.  We headed out on our bicycles on the way to school.  Two kangaroos were near the road and decided to panic - when seeing the Partridge Family on bicycles heading towards them.  They bounded off down the road and then decided to come back towards us.  When they were about 10 feet away (uh sorry, 3 metres) they headed toward the fences and proceeded to jump into them.  After a few more minutes of jumping around they just headed away from the direction we came.  It was certainly the closest we have come to a jumping kangaroo.

Phineas, Lincoln, and I went to Chum Creek today - one of the sites of the bushfires.  It was quite an incredible sight to see so many burned trees, mile after mile.  We volunteered at a animal sanctuary by rebuilding fences and habitats.  We actually got to pet a baby kangaroo (a "Joey") who was injured and being nursed back to health.  It quite an experience.   

Be well.

Nord

p.s. - in case anyone at home is counting or calling we are now 15 hours ahead of Eastern time.  In a couple weeks we will be 14 hours ahead.

Singing and biking in the rain

Dear all,

School was cancelled again on Tuesday as the forecast was for high winds and warmer temperatures.  By evening the winds were still quite high and we were wondering whether to head back to Yarra Junction or stay in Melbourne.  We went into the grocery store for a few items and came out to a downpour!

It really was a wonderful sight ... people were out dancing in the rain and quite literally screaming for joy.  Then we realized that our car was about a mile and half away and the rain wasn't going to let up.  Hmmmm.

The rain put out the fires and has made our community green again, it is really wonderful.  The green crops have also pulled the kangaroos from the hills into our front yard.  They bound in front of us as we cycle to school - it is very neat.  It is also very interesting to watch the kangaroos go between the farmers' fields.  You would think that an animal that can jump so high and far would leap right over a fence.  Instead they crawl under the fences and get through surprisingly small holes.

Wednesday was our first day we actually had to ride our bicycles in the rain.  Margaret and I were downtown and kept waiting for the rain to let up before we headed home (about 2.5 miles).    We decided that it wasn't going to let up so we left and the skies really opened up.  Then minutes after we arrived home, it stopped raining and the skies started to clear.

We are now scanning the classifieds for a a car.

Be well,

Nord

Exciting news of the week

Dear all,

On the 24th of February, Lindsey and Will (Margaret's brother) Heron were blessed with a baby daughter Lucy.  It is very exciting news.  Today, Margaret got a chance to speak to Lindsey and Will.  Lincoln and Kipling also got a chance to talk to their Uncle Will ... and they did talk to him ... about Legos.  Uncle Will is a very understanding uncle.

We would have liked to report that our exciting news was a huge rainstorm ... but no such luck.  We had another school day cancelled on Friday and will likely have another on Tuesday.  We did go into Melbourne on Friday to visit another museum and have some amazing Italian food.  

The people here could not be nicer through this whole stretch and clearly take a lot of pride in their home communities.  Numerous people have gone out of their way to apologize for the weather / fires and reassure us that it is never like this. 

It was reported in the paper the other day that Melbourne has received between 0.1" and 0.2" of rain so far this year and last year it had received over two inches by this time - which was still under the average.  So we are all doing our rain dances and hoping that the skies will start to send rain our way.

Be well,

Nord