ALICE SPRINGS - THE RED CENTRE

October 24:  interesting things I've observed/learned about Australia already -- very clean & modern, at least in the cities and suburbs.  They have a monorail in Melbourne and from the suburbs into the city, thus reducing pollution & numbers of cars on the road.  Noticeable lack of pick-up trucks here!  :-)  AND they have had these for quite a few years.  Busdriver told us that Australia has a very stable economy and is NOT in a recession.  Their dollar is much stronger than ours is.  Something I found interesting, as we were passing one of the more affluent suburbs, was that teachers here have prestigous standing and make about $80,000 per year!  They are unionized, too.  Yes, the cost of living is higher here, but it still sounded quite different from our Texas salaries! 

Early morning flight today from Melbourne to Sydney to Alice Springs (about 4.5 hours total).  Now temperatures in the 90's!  Alice Springs is a small oasis-type town in the middle of a red desert!  Visited the School of the Air -- distance education for children in the Outback (indigenous and white children on cattle stations, tourist facilities, military bases); has been in existence for 50 years!  How long has the US had distance education??  Started with 2-way radio communication between students & teachers; now is all by computers.  It's range is over 521,000 square miles (double size of Texas!), & they average 120 students usually.  Of course, there is a lot of independent study by the students & some schooling where they live, if available, but they also have a LOT of parent involvement and tutors, and the teacher visits annually in person.  Remarkable to me how much parent involvement there is -- they bring their children in to the town about monthly for socialization with their fellow students. 

Next we went to the Old Telegraph Station (circa 1870).  I never thought how important the telegraph was here.  Apparently, a whole new world opened up when the telegraph arrived.  What was even more interesting, to me, was our guide-- Alec, who is known as 'a living history' of this historical site.  He is close to 80 years old.  The telegraph station was used as such for many years, but around 1932, it was turned into a mission home/school for Half-Caste children (half white & half Aboriginal).  Alec was one of those children.  He was so knowledgeable and friendly; we thoroughly enjoyed him.  He stated that he had a very good life as a result of being raised on the site. He was taken from his mother at the age of 1.5 and was never returned to her. In 1942, the children were moved to another location, and the station was used for military purposes.  I bought the book he wrote, called Alec.  In his book, he reports that he is the great-grandson of John Ross, a Scottish-born man who was involved in the preliminary work around the Overland Telegraph Line.  I did a little research when I got home about the half-caste children.    If you've seen the movie Australia or Rabbit-proof Fence, this subject is addressed.  Sadly reminiscient of our treatment of Native Americans and slaves in America.  


Alec

 When we returned to our hotel, we had a delightful surprise from the Drum Atweme group -- a group of local Aboriginal youngsters who really knew how to 'beat them drums!'  They were so cute and very personable.  They are supported by the Collette Foundation.
                                                            


Drum Atweme Group



After that fine concert, we were on our way to a Barbie in the Outback!   It was great!-- we had white table cloths, and our menu was grilled steak (yes, beef-- I think!), grilled veggies, Billy tea, 

and spotted dog for dessert!  We even had wine! -- and a balladeer!   Found out that "billy" means "camp".  I know the tea and dessert were cooked on the campfire, but I think the meat & veggies were done on a separate grill.






Spotted Dog prep

  For those of you who don't happen to have the Spotted Dog recipe, it's pretty simple:  flour, sugar, oil, water, currants, a few flies.  Mix together in cast iron pot, place in campfire with hot coals on top & cook for 45 minutes!



Sunset in the Outback

When it was dark, we did some stargazing-- phenomenally clear and quiet!  We got to see some constellations we don't see in the northern hemisphere, but we didn't get to see the Southern Cross this night.  We fell into bed exhausted after we returned to the hotel, knowing that we had had some unique experiences-- with more to come!  Clean hair and good sleep-- life is good!



Happy Birthday to Me!

October 23: 

Cloudy & cool today as we took a city tour of Melbourne.  Had to "rug up" ("dress warmly" per John Fitzgibbon, our tour manager--he's great!).   Some local dishes at breakfast included a rice pilaf-like dish (rice w/veggies); pork & beans, and cooked tomatoes.  I always pass on the P&B, but the rest was good with the traditional fare of scrambled eggs, meats, and PASTRIES (personal downfall).  They have very good, but strong coffee there.  They call them long black (2 shots of espresso) or short black (1 shot of espresso).  Pretty good to wake one up in a hurry!                                        

Melbourne is a nice Victorian city with that type of architecture in the Exhibition Hall, Parliament Building, hotels. On some of the buildings was lacework that reminded me of New Orleans. The lacework was made from the ballast from old ships. Gold rush was in 1850's; unions began at that time, also.                                 

Exhibition Hall

Windsor Hotel

Victoria Parliament Building



Parliament Building Grounds

St. Patrick's Cathedral (circa 1850) was very pretty although parts were being refurbished.




 

Inside Conservatory at Fizroy Gardens

One thing I noticed in Australia and New Zealand is that they have large areas of land they have devoted to parks and gardens.  People spend a lot of time there, and they were enjoying the beautiful spring weather.  Fitzroy Gardens was one of those places.

Fairy Tree-carved & painted in tree trunk

 Also noticed that their public 'facilities' are numerous and very nice!  Called 'loo', 'dunny', or, in the Outback-- 'long drop!'  (TMI!!)  

 Another highlight of this day was going to the Gallipoli Shrine of Remembrance.  It was built in memory of the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) troops who were lost at the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915.  It is really for all Australians & New Zealanders who fought in all wars.  We noticed that virtually every town we went to had shrines of remembrance.  The building is built in such a way that every day, when the sun is in a certain position, it shines directly on this stone.  Very moving. 

Melbourne skyline from top of Shrine (eternal flame on ground on left)

 A bit of time was spent at the Queen Victoria Market near our hotel.  It's a very large farmer's market & 'flea' market type place.

That evening I celebrated my 'big' birthday with my 43 new friends and about 300 Little Penguins on St. Philip's Island (2 hour drive south of Melbourne). Wish my family could have been there, too.   Beautiful scenery, even though very rainy and cool.  Lots of sea gulls & their babies.  Sea lions on the rocks.

Wallaby in the wild (kangaroo cousin)

 These Little Penguins put on a parade every evening. They are about 13-14" tall.  Every morning hundreds of them go out into the water to gather fish and then return after sundown to go to their burrows & feed their families.  Sometimes the males go out; sometimes the females.  Sometimes they stay out for days.  They follow the same path up into their burrows when they return.  We must have seen at least 300 of them 'waddle' by-- plump with their fish.  Found out later that they waddle because it takes less energy to do that than walk normally.  Sometimes they would tip over, then get up and go on.  So spectacular and cute!  
 

The dinner we had there was not that good, but we DID get introduced to the traditional local dessert that immediately became our favorite -- pavlova.  It was named after the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, in 1926 when she visited Australia.  It is baked meringue topped with heavy cream and fresh fruit!--  scrumpdileicious!   From that night on, we got it whenever it was available!

We had a late night & had to get up at 4:15 AM next morning to make one of those many flights (first of many early risings -- extremely difficult for a non-morning person!)...

First of 14 Flights!

G'day, Mates! 
I'm writing this blog after the fact because I don't yet have the iPad I hope to get for Christmas (Jim!).  Besides that, I had no time on the trip to do a blog, or breathe, for that matter!   I have somewhat overcome my jet lag-- what an experience-- so maybe coherence will creep in somewhere along the way.  The basis of the blog is my 20-day tour with 10 Senior Circle members from Pleasanton, Texas, to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji from October 20-November 10, 2011.  And YES-- counting the flights going over & coming home, we flew 14 times on this trip!-- Australia's a big place!  Saw a map with Texas set inside it-- took up about 1/10 of Australia-- very humbling!

October 20 - 21:  started trip off by plane being delayed 2 hours on take-off from San Antonio-- like we hadn't seen the SA airport before!  This pre-adventure caused us to have to rebook our DFW connecting flight.  When we got to DFW, raced like the wind to get the plane & were last ones on-- and, of course, had no space for our carry-ons.  Real trip began when we changed planes again in LA for the 14.5 hour long trip to Melbourne, AU.  At least we had personal seat electronics on which we could watch movies, listen to music, watch TV, or plot our flight.  QANTAS has great food!  I think I DID get quite a few hours of sleep, with the help of a coupla Tylenol PMs!    Made it to Melbourne about 11:00 AM Australia time (approximately 14 hours AHEAD of CST in US).  So, from this point on, this chick did not know what day or time it was-- still don't! 
At Melbourne airport, hooked up with a larger Collette tour, so our numbers increased to 43.  Many from northern & eastern US and more from Ontario, Canada.