August 29th, Australia Day 189

Well, the end has come at last with only few hours left to my departure. Although I may leave the soil, I don't think I'll ever really leave Australia. My time here has been more than memorable, and what's more, very pleasant and I will endeavour to return here as soon as the Fates decree that I can. Today, I decided to visit the famous Bondi (BON-daye) Beach as the last thing I saw before I leave these shores. I will leave it to your imagination to picture a long sandy beach with powerful surf, surrounded by cliffs on one side and restaurants on the other. To see it, you'll just have to come down here yourselves.

It may be a little difficult to get all of the events of the last month into this post but bear with as I attempt to anyway. The same day as I returned from Darwin I had my last baseball game of the season. I had a pretty good record that game getting walked twice and hitting a double. The first time at bat, the pitcher nearly hit me with a bouncing ball that would have hit my ankles had I not dodged out of the way. I eventually made my way to 3rd base and on ground ball I decided to run to home thinking I could make it but, unfortunately, the ball was quicker than I and I was tagged out. My 2nd time up, the pitcher nearly hit me again, this time with a pitch close to my kneecaps. I took it in stride and eventually found myself on 3rd base again. This time, on a safer hit I ran and slid into home and this time I was safe. By my 3rd at bat, the opposing team had changed pitchers and this new one pitched quite slowly. The first pitch I got I slammed into mid left for an easy double. I think I was left stranded there but I may have made it home again, I just can't recall. Actually, a lot of our stronger hitters had trouble with this pitcher because they were used to a faster pitch they swung early and the ball popped up from the top of the bat and they were caught. Whatever our woes, though, I went out on a high note as we managed to keep a 1 run lead to win, the first one I had been present at; it felt good. The next game was our top A-grade team and because it was the last game of the season, they asked if I wanted to play for an inning and I accepted. I struck out at bat against a very fast pitcher and in left field I saw no action and thus concluded my baseball season. The team had a barbecue afterwards and then I said my goodbyes as I left the ground for good.

In cricket news, I should mention that there is a very important series now being played between Australia and England, known as the Ashes Series. The 2 countries compete every so often for an urn-shaped trophy, called the Ashes Cup and they do so by playing a series of 5 5-day tests. The team that wins the most tests win the series but there can be draws in which case if both teams have an equal number of wins, then the team that won it the last time, in this case Australia, would retain the Ashes. Their record now stands at 1-1-1-0 being wins-losses-draws-ties for both teams going into the 4th tests though Australia was in dire straits at last look. Australia won the 1st test handily but lost the 2nd by a mere 2 runs and the 3rd test was drawn. In cricket a draw and a tie are not the same thing. A draw occurs when no decision for the winner has occurred by the end of the 5th day. In this case, although Australia was down in runs they still had 1 wicket (1 out) left by the time the 5th day was over. In cricket because a batsman can score an unlimited number of runs and there is no way to predict how many they'll score, the match was called a draw since England was unable to take the last wicket. We'll have to see how the 4th test goes for Australia. On an aside, Australians refer to the English as "poms" or "pommies", a term which comes from the acronym "P.O.H.M." which stands for "Prisoners Of Her Majesty". This was the term applied to the convicts who were sent to Australia but now the Aussies have turned it around saying that the Brits are prisoners of the Royals on their island while Australians, half a world away, are a free people.

In my personal cricket, I also went out on high note beating my friend Patrick by 55 runs, 63-8 in my last game. We played a little differently than the last time because we were using a thin stick as opposed to a small bat. So to prevent large negative scores, we agreed that once you were out, you were out, but you had up to 2 innings to score runs. It's difficult with a stick of 2 centimeter diameter. Actually, at first we played with another friend of ours, Alex, who won the first two games; with me finishing dead last both times. However, I almost managed a hat trick which is 3 outs in 3 consecutive balls. The term hat trick originates with cricket and it comes from the time when a bowler who 3 wickets in 3 balls was given a top hat by his teammates, hence the name. I was bowling and I managed to bowl Alex out and then on the next bowl, I bowled out Patrick. I pointed out that I was on a hat trick and I convinced Alex to bat again. Unfortunately, I didn't get the hat trick but I was very close. In the game Patrick and I played, we both finished our 1st innings at 4 runs a-piece. Patrick managed to get 4 more runs before I bowled him out. I then stepped up and had a stroke of luck winning nearly instantly with a 6-run shot. Patrick asked me to continue, just for a conclusion and I managed to get a further 53 runs that innings; I was very happy with myself. As I parted with Patrick, I allowed him to keep the tennis ball we used as a memento.

In footy, I had my last practice with the AFL umpires, thanking them all and promising that if I ever found myself in Australia again for a long period of time, I would do this again. In AFL news, I watched the Sydney Swans beat the Kangaroos in their final home game of the season. They have since finished 3rd on the overall ladder and are serious contenders to win the Premiership; it would be their 1st since 1933.

In trivia, I had my last trivia game on Wednesday and came out finishing dead last. For the most part, my downfall was questions dealing with Australiana since I haven't been here long enough to know certain things or certain people. I thanked Gary, the Triviamaster at the Wynyard Hotel Pub and I left, at least for the time being. On Thursday, I had 1 last round of trivia at the SAM Bar at Macquarie University and I decided to go on my own. Although I was in 2nd place at the end of Round 1, again Australiana was my downfall and I finished 2nd last. Oh well, my time spent in both places was not wasted and I am now a more knowledgeable person because of it.

When one looks back on anything at the end, no matter how long it took, it always seems like such a short time. I have spent 189 days in Australia, 201 in the southern hemisphere and by then end of my trip about 210 days away from home. I look back on my time in Australia and it feels as though all that time has just slipped away like sand in an hour glass. I do not regret coming here at all but I do regret that time did not allow me to accomplish and see everything that I wanted. It means that I must one day return to this land and complete that which was left unfinished. I once heard an expression that when one is at home, one dreams of adventure and when one is on adventure, one dreams of home. While that was not always the case for me, I think that when I return to Ottawa, every so often when I close my eyes, I think I'll hear the cockatoos cackling or the roar of a crowd when the home team kicks a goal. I have seen some amazing things from the arid plains of the Red Center, to the tropical climes of the Top End to the towering majestic mountains of New Zealand. Who knows how the winds of change blow and it may be that I find myself back here again and I hope I do.

August 14th, Australia Day 174

This was my last day in Melbourne and I decided to spend it in the beachside suburb of St. Kilda south of the city. It is the home of a small amusement park known as Luna Park, which has branches all over Australia as well as the AFL St. Kilda Saints. I don't remember what it was the drove me to see St. Kilda, but off I went.

My first stop was Luna Park just to see what it was like and it turned out to be just a what I thought it would be, a small amusement park. There were few thrill rides, as well as some bumper cars but nothing truly flash. I exited the park, which has no entrance fee by the way and is open 24/7 as I recall, and then I walked along the nearby St. Kilda Beach. Melbourne, unlike Sydney, does not have many beaches so it never really developed the same beach culture. Also, the waters are a little colder off Melbourne so water activities are a little less comfortable than they are in Sydney. I continued to walk around St. Kilda, taking photos of various things and it would have been very uneventful if not for the incredible wind out by St. Kilda Pier, a long spit of land artificially created for ships. Although not a record, it was certainly stronger than any wind in Canada. I decided to make my way back into the city as my time was beginning to grow short.

Again, I wandered mostly aimlessly and when the time came to return to Glenroy, I chose to catch a train at Central Station. Inside the current structure, the old structure remains, a very tall brick building I must say. There is also a giant pocket watch across from the old Central Station which works as any regular watch. I boarded the train back for Glenroy and arrived in time to pack up.

After being driven to the airport, I thanked my hosts as much as I could for being so hospitable. My time in Melbourne was quite memorable and it is a city I would want to visit again, and I'm sure I will. I returned to Sydney where some schoolwork still awaited me but I was more than ready to take it on after that short break.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday174.blogspot.com/

August 13th, Australia Day 173

This day was to be filled mostly with more footy. I made my way to Optus Oval in Carlton, just north of downtown Melbourne, to watch Canada play South Africa for 7th spot in the overall standings of the International Cup. I arrived just in time to catch half of the Canadian national anthem and then I remained standing for the South African one. Sure enough, as promised, I had my flag returned to me autographed by all of the players of the Canada Northwind, for which I thanked the woman profusely. I settled behind one the goal posts to which Canada was kicking and hung my flag on the fence to show my support and I anticipated an exciting game.

International Cup games are played a little differently with 15 minute quarters where the clock doesn't stop, so effectively, it's about half the length of a regular AFL quarter. Also, in place of the 50 meter penalty, there is a 25 meter penalty but all of the rules remain the same. I chose to switch the end in which I was sitting so that I would be sitting in the end to which Canada was kicking with my flag proudly waving on the fence. It was a close affair for most of the game but Canada managed to pull off a victory thus earning 7th spot, and South Africa 8th. The final score was Canada 4-5=29 for South Africa 2-6=18. Canada thus improved by 2 spots over its finish in the 2002 International Cup and I look forward to seeing Canada one day take the Cup. In other results that day, Japan beat Spain 11-7=73 to 2-1=13 for 9th spot, Samoa over the U.K. 3-9=27 for 2-3=15 for 5th spot and the U.S.A scored 10-5=65 to Ireland's 4-6=30 for 3rd place. After their game, Canada and South Africa came together in a huddle and celebrated sportsmanship by partaking in a traditional South African Zulu song and dance. I went onto the field just after the final siren to congratulate Canada and to thank them for signing my flag. I ended up watching the 1st half of the Japan-Spain game but then I decided to move on.

I quickly made my way to the nearest Ticketmaster office I could find to get tickets to the International Cup Grand Final. While all other games had been free of charge, for this one tickets were required as it was being held in the M.C.G. Not only that, the tickets that needed to be bought were for the Carlton-Collingwood game which was to follow the Grand Final. I got the required tickets and then proceeded to kill some time by wandering the city. I made my way to the legal district where I took photos of no fewer that 4 separate court buildings and the old mint, located close by. I then made my way to Flagstaff Hill which is where the new state of Victoria was proclaimed in 1850, I believe. After some time there, including a short nap, I made my way back to the M.C.G.

My hosts had been kind enough to give me a thermos of hot water and some Earl Grey tea. I had finished the tea by the time I reached the M.C.G. at just before 16:00, but the point is that the water was still warm after 8 hours of chilly weather. I sat down behind some goal posts and watched the Grand Final unfold. Before the game began, the New Zealand Falcons performed the haka to which the Papua New Guinea Mosquitoes responded with a war dance of their own, of which, I must confess, I am ignorant of the name. New Zealand quickly established control and seemed to have the Cup in the bag but PNG refused to be done in so easily. With most of the stadium barracking (cheering) for them, PNG managed to pull within 5 points of NZ after a brilliant running goal from 5 meters out by a PNG player. A similar type of goal attempt had been stuffed up by a Kiwi player when he released the ball too late, having already crossed the goal line, thus making it a behind. The crowd roared with approval every time PNG did well although perhaps not because of numbers or even a like of PNG, but just to irritate the Kiwis. I cheered whenever I saw either team do well. In the end, NZ proved the better team and at the final siren had secured the Cup with a 7-8=50 win over PNG's 5-2=32. It really was an excellent game.

Thinking to myself that it would be the only time I would get to see an AFL game at the M.C.G. for a while, I decided to stick around for the 1st quarter of the Carlton-Collingwood game. It was also the Heritage Round which meant that teams played in old uniforms and umpires wore traditional dress, with the goal umpires wearing white hats and "lab coats". The Carlton Blues really stuck it to the Collingwood Magpies in the 1st, scoring 7 goals as I recall. They went on to win the game I read the next morning in the paper. I returned to Glenroy after the conclusion of the 1st quarter very satisfied with how my day had transpired and I got as much sleep as I could knowing I had only 1 day left in the city.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday173.blogspot.com/

August 12th, Australia Day 172

I took the opportunity this day to do some more wandering about the city, in particular, a ride up Melbourne's 2nd tallest building, the Rialto Tower. Until recently, it was the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere until it was overtaken by the still uncompleted Eureka Tower close by. It still holds the record, though as the tallest office building in the Southern Hemisphere and just over 250 meters I think. Near to the top there is an observation deck which offers you an unobstructed 360 degree view of the city and beyond.

The first stop was the RialtoVision Theater which offered a quick 15 minute presentation on the sights of Melbourne year round. In November, the Melbourne Cup, a horse race, is run and the city comes to a standstill. It is the only place in the world that gives a public holiday for a horse race. Horse racing is a big thing in Australia with large portions of the sports section devoted to it. There is also greyhound racing and the motto is "Just Think of Them as Little Horses"; actually that 2nd part isn't true but they do race greyhounds. After watching the informative video, I took an elevator ride up to the observation deck where I had a stunning view. After snapping many photos, I returned down to the street and wandered the city some more, eventually making my way to the M.C.G., but seeing that it was completely closed, I just wandered around it a little bit and then returned by train to Glenroy.

That evening, I went out with my host's goddaughter and some of her friends. We first went to a pub with live music but then moved onto a more classic pub known as O'Sullivan's. It was in the Ukrainian part of the city, in the suburb of Essendon, home of the AFL team the Essendon Bombers (known as the Dons), although the pub itself was not a Ukrainian one, as the name would suggest. There was live music there too but at times it was hard to breath since smoking is still allowed inside pubs in Victoria. I had to get a breath of fresh air every so often but otherwise, it was a great experience. I thanked my associates and then was driven back to my hosts' residence where I took a well earned sleep.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday172.blogspot.com/

August 11th, Australia Day 171

Part of the reason I was in Melbourne at the time I was, was that the International Australian Rules Football Cup was being played there at the time. Footy is actually a very international sport with leagues in many countries and even Canada has 15 teams, though all amateur and most are in southwestern Ontario. This tournament, the 2nd to be held, brought teams in from Canada, the U.S.A., Japan, Spain, the U.K., New Zealand, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and South Africa. Nauru and Denmark were also to have sent teams but both pulled out before the tournament began.

That morning I took a train and a tram to the J.M. Woodruff Oval in Port Melbourne expecting to see Canada play Spain. I had even brought my Canadian flag with me in order to cheer my side on but, much to my dismay, Canada did not play because Spain had suffered so many injuries that it was unable to field a team. The only upside was that Canada won by default, which prevented them from losing all of their games. Luckily, though, some of the Canadian team showed up and a women said that if I gave her my flag, she would get it signed by the members of the team and return it to me in 2 days time when Canada played for 7th spot. I readily handed over my flag and thanked her. I decided to stick around and watch the rest of the footy games being played on the grounds as I didn't have anywhere else I needed to be. I watched New Zealand defeat the U.S.A. to earn a spot in the Grand Final on the 13th, the U.K. beat Japan, Samoa beat South Africa and Papua New Guinea defeat the defending champions, Ireland, to earn the other spot in the Grand Final. After the conclusion of that last game, I went back to where I was staying and finished off the day indoors.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday171.blogspot.com/

August 10th, Australia Day 170

Some time ago, I had planned to take a short trip down to Melbourne, the 2nd city of Australia, though its citizens would claim it to be the 1st. Airfares between Australia's major cities are for the most part relatively cheap and I had once had the idea of taking weekend trips to each of them. That dream quickly faded as I realized just how little time I would have to travel, owing to my scholastic work load. Nevertheless, I resolved to at least make it to Melbourne as I had distant family there.

Melbourne is the 2nd largest city in Australia with a population of about 3.5 million, and the home of my beloved footy. It was founded after Sydney when a group of colonists arrived in Port Philip Bay and began a settlement. One of the founders had the unlikely name of Batman and the city was originally named Batmania. While there were once convict settlements near Melbourne, those were abandoned and the governors of the area never allowed them to land again. This history of no real convict settlement has given much to the Victorian psyche and character. Once all of Australia was under the Governor of New South Wales but as portions were broken off, eventually a delegation from Melbourne managed to convince the British government to grant them their own state. A small portion of southern New South Wales was set aside and renamed Victoria in honour of the current monarch. Gold was discovered in the Victorian mountains near the villages of Bendigo (BEHN-dy-goh) and Ballarat (bah-lah-RAT) and the money that flowed form their found its way into Melbourne's coffers so that it was at one point the richest city on Earth. For a while it was the country's largest city and capital until it was overtaken at the turn of the 20th Century by Sydney and, to settle the rivalry for capital status between Melbourne and Sydney after Federation in 1901, the capital was moved to Canberra (KAHN-bur-rah) in a compromise. Melbourne had to settle on being the state capital of Victoria and "smaller brother" of Sydney.

One of the most interesting aspects of Melbourne is the cultural importance of aussie football in the city. In one of my previous posts I mentioned how many teams are form the city's suburbs but it is important to note that its popularity crosses social barriers as well. Within 50 years of it being invented in 1858, the Melbourne Club, the sons of high society was playing a club from Collingwood, the city's worst slum. Many in Melbourne would swear that Collingwood has never outgrown either that status or mentality. It is also popular among immigrants as well so that the person who took what was known as the Mark of the Century in 1970, Alex Jesaulenko (popularly known as Jezza), was the son of a Ukrainian immigrant born in Austria. The home of footy is the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the M.C.G., also just The 'G, which is currently being remodeled, is known as the "People's Ground".

I arrived on the morning of the 10th and I had already arranged to stay at the house of my distant family who live in the suburb of Glenroy. I was picked up by a friend of theirs who was kind enough to drive me to their residence. I stayed with a mother and daughter pair who were very hospitable to me as well as being generally very good people. They were kind enough to let me use a spare room of theirs as well as provide me with breakfast and the occasional spot of tea. I found I like hot Earl Grey with nothing added to it, no milk, sugar, cream, etc. The two women are related to me by marriage in that the daughter's father was the brother of my paternal grandmother, I think.

Since I had no specific itinerary to speak of, except to see a few footy games, my adventures consisted of me wandering the city center. I traveled by train to the Flinders Street Station and then proceeded to explore this new, yet somewhat chilly, city. The weather was only good for a few short periods of time with most of the days being overcast and cool. I immediately noticed upon exiting the train station that Melbourne was a more "European" city than Sydney. There were far more old buildings than in Sydney and the street cars, called "trams", unique in Australia to Melbourne, also gave the city a European flavour. As I wandered through the CBD, sort of aimlessly, I noticed another unique Melburnian (that's how it is spelled, without the "o") tradition which is the right hand turn form the left hand lane. Actually, this makes sense in a weird way as it allows the trams which run in the center of the street to run unimpeded. What happens is that cars wanting to turn left line up across the intersection on the left hand side. When the light to their right turns green, they quickly make a right turn so that cars that will soon be going forward will have only a few seconds wait. If you go there, it will all be made clear.

I proceeded to the Victorian Parliament and then to a nearby park which had a fountain and a few statues. There were statues to a famous poet, a cattle rustler and a soldier. There is also a plan to put up another statue either to Monash or La Trobe, both important people in Melbourne's history for the 2006 Commonwealth Games to be held in the city. There have only ever been 2 Olympic Games held in the southern hemisphere, the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. From the small park I then decided to cross the Yarra River to the south bank, making sure to take a picture of a sign that said "Batman Avenue".

I proceeded along the south bank, taking pictures of various memorials, until I reached the Shrine of Remembrance, an edifice constructed to commemorate Victoria's war dead. I think, but I cannot be sure, that it was built on a design similar to that of the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos (Halicarnassus), one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Inside there are books with the names of all those who have perished in various conflicts as well as a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Beneath the main structure, there are further memorials as well as a visitor's center. Although there were school tour groups there at the time, when I walked into the main chamber of remembrance, I was the only one there and the silence was deafening. My footsteps echoed all over. I climbed some stairs onto a balcony and took some great photos of the Melbourne skyline. I exited the Shrine and made my way to Government House but seeing that there was no way to get a clear photo, I marched around the nearby gardens.

I walked quickly through the gardens, which included a small grotto, and made my way along the banks of the Yarra River to the north bank. It is quite reminiscent of the Rideau Canal at some points, though a bit more natural being an actual river than canal. I took some photos of the various bridges that span the waterway and then made my way across one of them back into the city. After a quick stop at the library, I returned to Glenroy where I had some dinner and tea and then went to sleep hoping to see Canada play footy the next day.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday170.blogspot.com/

August 5th, Australia Day 165

As I recall, I woke up around 09:00 this day which felt like a luxury having woken up the previous couple of days before sunrise. I had so looked forward to this day because now I would get a chance to explore the city of Darwin for myself. The city is very laid back and is typically tropical, very reminiscent of Honolulu or Miami. It has a young population and I would not mind living here, basking in the warm tropical sun and breezes. As I mentioned before, it is my favourite Australian city though it is often overlooked by the citizens of that country.

Darwin, population 100 000 and capital of the Northern Territory, has an interesting history. The area was originally named Port Darwin after a ship known as the Beagle docked in what would later become its harbour. For those who might find the name familiar, the Beagle was the ship that carried Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory, to the Galapagos Islands where he made his observations; Port Darwin was named in his honour. Later on, a settlement known as Palmerston was founded but its name was soon changed to Darwin. Darwin was, at first not connected to the rest of the country at all, except by boat but eventually the Overland Telegraph Line, whose trail was scouted by Stuart, was laid so that messages from the mother country, U.K., could reach the rest of Australia from an undersea cable ending in Darwin.

The city itself has been destroyed 4 times over its history: 3 times by cyclones and once by bombing. On February 19th, 1942, the Japanese launched an attack upon the harbour of Darwin in an attempt to disrupt Australian and American naval forces stationed there. Like Pearl Harbor, a combination of bad judgement, unpreparedness and bad luck led to the near destruction of the city. Over 240 people dies in the air raids and Australia was forced to quickly react. Within months, a new highway was completed, defences strengthened and Darwin became a busy hub of military activity. There was great concern that the Japanese would try to invade Australia via Darwin but this never happened. There were a total of 64, I think, air raids onto Australian soil by the Japanese over the course of about 18 months, ending in November of 1943. By that time, the Japanese were having bigger problems elsewhere in the Pacific with the Americans advancing ever closer to the home islands and the idea of bombing Australia eventually gave way to the defence of already earned territory. Today Darwin is still a significant military, especially navy, center, but the bombings of February 1942 remain the defining moment in Darwin's history.

Of the natural disasters to have hit Darwin, the most significant one was probably Cyclone Tracy which hit the city on Christmas Day, 1974. My American politics professor, who has been living in Australia since 1972, once mentioned that there was this notion at the time that there was nothing that could be done and that everything would work out in the end. Whatever people may have thought, when the cyclone reached the city, the consequences were devastating. About 90% of the city was destroyed at a cost of between 50 and 60 lives. It was not merely a case of shoddy construction since many solid stone structures that had survived cyclones before were demolished as well. It may have been the strongest winds ever to hit Australia since records began but we will likely never know for certain since Tracy broke the recording instruments at around 218 km/h. The city was declared a disaster area but was rebuilt and now modern architecture can be seen all over the city. A new meteorological warning center, as well as a tsunami warning center, have been built to ensure that this never happens again.

Anyway, from my hostel, which was pretty much in the heart of the city, I marched to the nearby Liberty Square, which houses the Territorial Legislature, the Territorial Supreme Court and the headquarters of the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs. I walked into the Supreme Court building first and did a self-guided tour through the building, even entering Courtroom 1, which was clearly the showpiece court of the building. I then marched past an old house which contains the offices of the Territorial Administrator, which is someone like a Canadian Lieutenant-Governor, as far as I can understand; the people of the NT do elect a Territorial Leader and members of a Territorial Legislature I believe. Form here, I crossed the street to Government House which is where either the Territorial Leader or Administrator lives; unfortunately, there was no access to this building. I then backtracked from the Administrator's Building to Liberty Square and took a self-guided tour of the Legislature, which is only about 10-15 years old as I recall.

I left the government district and took a walk back into the city onto a street known as the Smith Street Mall. Much like Sparks Street, only smaller, this is a pedestrian mall. Here you can find several plaques commemorating Darwin's history and there are even 2 old buildings which survived the bombing. I then took a walk along the Esplanade, which is a road that winds along the shore. Darwin's shore is lined by parks but you can't walk right along the water's edge because there is a small cliff in your way. However, built into the cliff are tunnels from World War 2 which were originally supposed to house oil but the war concluded before they were ever needed for this purpose. You can visit the entrance of one of these tunnels, but I don't think you can actually enter any of them. Close by was the Deck Chair Theatre which is an outdoor cinema where people sit on deck chairs.

Since it was getting late, I decided to make my way back to Cullen Bay and onto the breakwater I had discovered last night to see the sunset. I was not disappointed and Darwin produced one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen. As dusk came, I strolled back through Cullen Bay and had dinner at a local restaurant. My flight was at 01:25 so I spent a bit more time wandering around the youth hostel I had stayed at because I was keeping my bags there during the day. If you're wondering about the unusual time, it's that the only direct flight from Darwin to Sydney flies out then and although I said I was willing to go through Adelaide, Brisbane or Alice Springs, the agent with whom I made the booking said that if I wanted an extra day in Darwin, why not just catch the early flight the day after.

Without question, my trip to the Northern Territory was amazing. I saw what I considered to be the real Australia, the one shown in movies and written about in books, as well as seeing some completely unexpected things. The weather held and was spectacular throughout my trip. I have no doubt that I will make my way back again to this lonely, yet completely breathtaking land at the heart of a continent and its top.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday165.blogspot.com/

August 4th, Australia Day 164

This day began with a trip to a place known as Maguk (mah-GOOK)/Barramundi (BAH-rah-MOON-dee) Gorge, where there was, you guessed it, another swimming hole. For those who might not know, a barramundi is a type of fish whose meat is supposed to be very tasty. They are plentiful in the NT and are commercially fished; as an aside, you can even try some croc meat or have a kangaroo steak, which I tried in Alice Springs. The water in this swimming hole was surprisingly warm and I took a swim to the nearby falls. Again there were warnings about salties in the area, but they would not be able to clamber over the rocks to reach the pool as we did.

From Maguk/Barramundi Gorge, it was onto Ubirr (OO-beer) Rock a site made famous by the presence of many aborigine stone paintings. There are some which hold special religious significance and they can be quite old (several thousand years) but there are other which just depict daily life and they can be only a few years of age. It is essentially an open air art gallery depicting the history of the area by the people who lived there. Some of them are quite high up and quite intricate. We then climbed a nearby hill and peered out over a magnificent landscape. Below us lay fertile wetlands home to countless numbers of fish, birds and other animals. Behind us lay the rocky land of Arnhem Land, an area of the Top End under the jurisdiction of the original inhabitants. This is the country in which Crocodile Dundee was filmed and it is every bit as spectacular as the movie depicts.

It was back to Darwin from here but not without a few surprises. Along the way, we stopped at a river and saw some salties in the river and 1 lying on a rock with its mouth open. We were told that a croc's brain can overheat and so they do this every so often to cool down. Whenever you see a croc you cannot help but be amazed at the power latent within the reptile. Incidentally, if you ever find yourself in a fight with a croc, try to get it to close its mouth, without part of you in it of course. While a croc's jaws could easily bite through a thick metal pole, the muscles which open the jaws are so weak that you can hold the mouth of a 7 meter croc shut with your bare hands. Also, the cannot move very quickly on land since they cannot support their own weight with their tiny legs.

We arrived in Darwin just before sunset and I was let off at my hostel. I was sorry to see Darryl go because he was both humourous and knowledgeable. He has spent so much time in NT and with local aborigines that he knows most of their ways and respects them. I walked from the center of Darwin to Cullen Bay, a suburb of Darwin with many restaurants. If you've ever been to Key West in Florida, it sort of reminded me of that place. From Cullen Bay, after some time on the breakwater, I walked to the well known Mindil Beach Markets, where goods of all kinds are sold. There, I bought a didjeridu and the next day I sent it to Canada. Didjeridus were originally confined only to the Top End but they have since become a symbol of aborigine culture throughout Australia. If made traditionally, they are constructed out of a branch or trunk of a eucalyptus family tree that has been hollowed out by termites. Then, wax is placed on the end in which you blow and from that, with minimal effort, you create a musical instrument with a distinctive drone. Throughout the market, though, there were performers of all kinds, food vendors and, of course, merchants of everything imaginable. I returned to my hostel looking forward to the next day, which I had managed to schedule as a full day in Darwin.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday164.blogspot.com/

August 3rd, Australia Day 163

Leaving our permanent campsite that morning, we began our excursion into the Kakadu National Park. This famous area is named after the local aborigine tribe, but corrupted somewhat. The local people call themselves the Gagadju (GAH-gah-joo), which became corrupted into Kakadu. I'll mention here that informal terms exist for aborigine and white people, being "blackfella" and "whitefella" respectively.

We drove onto the famous Twin Falls in Kakadu in a journey that included fording a river using a submerged path; it is fortunate that we had a good 4WD. At the end of our drive we took a boat ride through the Twin Falls Gorge. The water was incredibly clear and teeming with fish. After the boat ride we hiked over rocks and were greeted by a nice sandy beach at the foot of the stunning Twin Falls. I took a photo and imagined that the falls must be spectacular under the light of a full moon. Although there was warning about crocs, none could make it over the rocks we traversed. We stayed there for a while and then made our way to the world famous Jim Jim (jym jym) Falls.

The falls were not flowing at the time so that you could see the wall behind it. During the wet season, the roar of the falls can be heard for many kilometers. There were few pools where you could go swimming but I decided against it this time. To get out of the blazing sun, I went to the next plunge pool which was located in the shadow of the waterfall's walls. I had a pleasant snooze there before rejoining the group.

Our campsite that night was located in a very nice "resort". There was pool complete with a restaurant-bar and I took advantage of this to get some fries and a coke. Before you ask, I actually ate very healthily since we made our meals the entire tour using vegetables and good meats. Not too far away there was a hotel built in the shape of a crocodile but it is expensive I hear. I settled in at night knowing that by tomorrow night I would find myself once more in my favourite city in Australia, Darwin.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday163.blogspot.com/

August 2nd, Australia Day 162

Starting from Darwin, with a new guide named Darryl, I set off on the last leg of my excursion in the Northern Territory. Form here, the journey would be a round trip to the east into the famous Litchfield and Kakadu (KAH-kah-doo) National Parks. These areas have some spectacular scenery and are home to some unique wildlife, so if you one day awake in the Top End, I suggest you turn your attentions to the east.

Our first stops for the day consisted of 2 separate waterfalls, known as Buley and Robin (I'm not sure if this is the actual name) Falls. Buley Falls was a series of small waterfalls tumbling into pools where you could wade, and I did. Robin Falls, on the other hand, is a proper waterfall which descends into a small lake. Here I did not go swimming but I saw, and took some pictures of, some cute wallabies.

The next stop was to some massive termite mounds, and I do mean massive. As you travel further north, the termite mounds grow taller. There was one in particular that I was photographed beside and it was about 6 or 7 meters tall. Termites are plentiful in the Top End but they are under constant threat from their natural enemies, the ants. Termites try to defend their mounds as best they can against ant attack by making them solid as concrete with as few holes as possible for entry. Their natural defences include the ability to shoot formic acid from their foreheads but the concentration is not enough to harm a human. When wars erupt between ants and termites it's supposed to be quite a spectacle. Almost always though, the ants win, not so much by brute strength but by force of numbers. Interestingly, termites cannot by themselves digest the cellulose in wood and would under normal circumstances be unable to eat the wood. What aids them are tiny protozoa that live in their intestines and digest the wood for them.

From the termite mounds, we continued to the east and stopped in a pub that had a small wildlife preserve with some interesting animals, which included the famous crocodiles. There are 2 species of crocodile that live in tropical Australia, the freshwater and the saltwater, or estuarine, crocodiles. They are known locally as "freshies" and "salties", respectively, and the salties can actually live in both fresh and salt water. The freshies are the smaller and less aggressive of the 2 types, growing up to 4 meters; they are not dangerous to humans. The salties on the other hand can grow up to 7 meters and are quite aggressive and dangerous; these are the ones you see taking down fully grown buffaloes.

Form here we were taken on a cruise through the Mary River Wetlands where we saw several wild birds, and even a few crocs. The day was spectacular but our guide could not understand why there were so few crocs on the river. In the wet season, which runs from about November to April, the whole area is under several meters of water. In that time, the Top End receives endless days of rain and whole areas are flooded under several meters of water, in some places up to 17 meters from their dry season levels.

At our permanent campsite that night, there was a presentation local aborigine culture known as a corroborree (koh-ROH-bohr-ree). There was didjeridu playing as well as some dancing around the camp fire, not to mention a python. I tried my hand at the didjeridu and even made a respectable sound. For the next part, I was painted up a bit to represent the lightning God Namarrgan (NAH-mahr-gahn). Who knows, I may now have special protection against lightning. After I washed off the black paint made of ash and water, I went to sleep after a quick coke at the nearby pub.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday162.blogspot.com/

August 1st, Australia Day 161

Driving out early in morning, around sunrise, we made our way to Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge National Park, a place known for its beauty and its cultural significance. Most people had opted to do a short canoe/kayak trip up the Katherine River which had formed the gorge, actually gorges, but I was "forced" to hike. I had originally intended to take a helicopter ride over the gorges but I could only do so if someone else wanted to and nobody did. Although not expensive, it was certainly not cheap and I could easily understand that some people would be budgeting quite acutely. Anyway, I hiked to some of the gorges and I wasn't disappointed.

Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge was formed by water taking advantage of various joints and faults in the rock. The Katherine River eroded away the material to form the feature. According to local aborigine beliefs, Bula (BOO-lah), a powerful but somewhat dangerous spirit lives in the 2nd gorge, which is the deepest one, and so the local aborigines do not take fish or do anything in that gorge if it can be helped. The gorge is actually a system of 13 gorges connected together of which 9 are accessible as far as I understand. The canoe trip that most people took, brought them to about the beginning of the 2nd gorge before they had to turn around but overnight hires are available for those who wish to go to the all the way to the 9th gorge. After this, a 3 meter rock wall prevents further journeying although an information board I read seemed to imply that you could reach to the 13th gorge with some equipment. I opted the hike and made my way around the trails to the 2nd gorge. If I'd had a map, I would have probably been able to make it to the 3rd gorge but such was my luck that day.

After Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge, we drove a short distance to a lake where we went swimming. This is the location of the famous Edith Falls and although it is definitely not a hot spring, swimming was pleasant no less. I swam right under the waterfall, as did many others, and the water there was slightly warmer than that in the lake.

Form Edith Falls, it was onto Darwin where we would all spend the night in various hostels. Along the way we stopped in the town of Katherine and in a small suburb of Darwin. Katherine is a town which marks the end of the arid center and the beginning of the tropical north of the NT, which is known as the Top End. Katherine was also the site of the most inland Japanese bombing in World War 2 but I'll say more about that when I write about Darwin. The suburb of Darwin has the remains of Charlie the water buffalo who had roles in both Crocodile Dundee movies. Charlie died in 2000 and he is now mounted and stuffed in the local pub. From here it was only a short drive into the capital of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday161.blogspot.com/

July 31st, Australia Day 160

This day was pretty uneventful as I recall, noting the total of 8 pictures that I took that day on the drive north from Banka Banka Cattle Station to near Nitmiluk (NYHT-myh-luhk)/Katherine Gorge. The day started off after the sun rose, which was unusual for this trip, but the distance needed to be covered that day was comparatively small. The day would bring us to within striking distance of our final destination of Darwin.

Our first stop that day was the settlement of Daly Waters, population 10. It is said that the population of the settlement varies with the number of people required to run the local pub. Daly Waters, though, holds the incredible distinction of being Australia's first international airport, and, no, the population was never much larger than 10. Before World War 2, an aerodrome was built just outside Daly Waters to accommodate the recent phenomenon of international flights. A family lived in the area and they established the pub and the inn which both still exist, though the family no longer lives there. There was even a customs house where passengers would pass through customs to enter Australia. This must not have done any favours since Australia already has a reputation of being a bit of a backwater and back then even more so, so this international airport in the middle of nowhere must have only "confirmed" the prejudices of those flying. After World War 2, the airport's importance fell since flights could make it to the major cities themselves without needing a stop in Daly Waters. The airport ceased to function in the 1970s and is now a ruin.

After Daly Waters, the next stop was the Mataranka (mah-tah-RAHN-kah) Thermal Springs. As the name suggests, this area has some very comfortable hot springs where everyone on the tour group went swimming. I took a dip and it was very warm water, probably around 30C and I recommend a swim for anyone who wants to get out of the sun but still remain relatively comfortable.

A short time later we set off for our campground close to Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge, an interesting feature which we explored the following day. I snapped a quick photo of sunset just before dinnertime and then stayed up and managed to get the notes of Waltzing Matilda one by one on the guitar. It took several attempts but I finally managed to get the melody. Again I slept in permanent tents, in fact, after the 2nd night of my tour I never again slept in a swag, much to my dismay.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday160.blogspot.com/

July 30th, Australia Day 159

This was the first day of the leg of the trip that would take me north to Darwin, cutting across continent. We would be taking the Stuart Highway the entire way and this road is named after the first European man to cross the continent from north to south. He had been tasked with finding an overland route for a proposed telegraph line, and though he nearly died, he succeeded. The Stuart Highway follows his actual route, closely, as well as the telegraph line, now buried. Until recently, this road was the only way to get to Darwin over land and was once a very narrow highway. It used to be just a dirt trail but it was paved in World War 2. A rail link from Alice Springs to Darwin was only completed in 1988.

Our tour guide, Nick, informed us that this was the portion of the tour where you could catch up on your sleep. Between Alice Springs and Darwin, there is no much that is easily accessible and so most of the day consists of driving. I can never sleep while traveling so I kept my eyes open for anything unusual.

Our first stop that day was a quick photo opportunity at the Tropic of Capricorn which is located only a few kilometers north of Alice Springs. On December 21st, or thereabouts, this is the latitude at which the sun is at noon, about 23.5 degrees South. In the southern hemisphere, it marks the longest day, while in the northern hemisphere it signals the shortest day. The counterpart to the Tropic of Capricorn is the Tropic of Cancer located at about 23.5 degrees North.

Some time later we stopped at a rock formation known as the Devil's Marbles, which is really a field of balancing rocks. With erosion, these stones come to look like marbles resting on other stones. As it turns out, the aborigines believe that malevolent spirits inhabit this area and they do not often travel to this place. I got some good photos of the formation and then got back on the bus for our next stop. Close to these formations, as well as along the side of the road, there were fields upon fields of large termite mounds.

Along the Stuart Highway, the main form of bulk transportation is by a type of truck known as a "Road Train". These monsters are essentially trucks with train length carriages attached to them. The smallest ones will only have 2 cars but in the old days of unrestricted length, 13 car road trains were not unheard of. The typical road train now consists of 3 or 4 cars and can be double-deckered, although I have heard stories of triple-deckered road trains in Queensland. These road trains are used to transport any number of goods, even cattle and are preferred to the train system because it has had some problems in the past.

For lunch we stopped at a little oasis known as Mary Ann Dam. The river, while almost completely dry is dammed up and in the small reservoir behind it, there is quite a bit of wildlife. As I recall, pelicans were the dominant bird species in the dam at the time.

From Mary Ann Dam we proceeded to Banka Banka Cattle Station where we would spend the night in solid tents. In Banka Banka there was a small pen where kangaroos were kept and you could go up to them, feed them and pet them. I got some good close-ups of this Australian animal. That night, I watched a slide show which depicted life on the ranch, which is a typical one in Australia. I was told that although the local area seemed arid, only 15 kilometers east was the Barkly Tablelands which were grassy plains conducive to cattle grazing. That night, while looking at the night sky, I saw a bright object,a meteorite, burning up and breaking apart in the atmosphere. It may have been some debris from space but it was definitely not just a shooting star; astronomers will know what I'm talking about. I went to sleep a little later than usual as the next day only began at 07:45, so a little extra sleep time was available.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday159.blogspot.com/

July 29th, Australia Day 158

Like all the others, this day began before dawn as we were going to see Uluru/Ayers Rock at sunrise. Before we made out way to the site, we stopped at the place where we had watched the monolith at sunset just to see its silhouette against the dawn sky. We then drove to the sunrise spot and found a good location from which to take photos.

As the sun rose, Uluru/Ayers Rock once more took on the blood red shade that it had during the waning stages of last evening's sunset. Part way through the sunrise, a dark band appeared across Uluru/Ayers Rock that eventually disappeared as sunrise progressed. I decided that I would call the feature "Kuniya's Trail" and that it represented that path Kuniya took around the monolith as she went to confront her nephew's killers. It was burned into the rock by her anger and anguish and appears when the monolith takes on the colour of blood. If you go to Uluru/Ayers Rock, you can visit the site where Kuniya battled her nephew's murderers.

From there, we proceeded to Kata Tjuta/The Olgas, a formation of domes not too far from Uluru/Ayers Rock. It was here that our tour guide gave an interesting demonstration of the geological history of the area using an apple, some pebbles and the nearby sand. We then hiked through a path in Kata Tjuta/The Olgas, arriving at the entrance to the Valley of Winds where there was a stunning view. From here it was back to Alice Springs where this portion of my tour concluded. My 9-day tour was set up in 3 3-day components, each with a different guide, although some of the people I was with on this tour accompanied me for all 9 days.

As we drove into The Alice, we were informed of the special boat race held in the city as well as the Camel Cup. The boat race is run on the dry river bed that runs through the city and each team has a no-bottomed boat which they carry along the race course. One year, it rained and the race had to be postponed marking the first time in history that a boat race was delayed due to water. The Camel Cup is a lot like a horse race, except with camels and is supposed to be quite hilarious. That night, the whole group went to a local restaurant for dinner to farewell our tour guide as well as those of us who would not be continuing on. I went to sleep early as, again, my day would start pre-dawn.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday158.blogspot.com/

July 28th, Australia Day 157

I awoke with a start in my swag under the Australian night sky with a quarter moon shining, but that was not what had roused me from my slumber. Within moments of waking, I became aware of the constant baying of dingoes all around me. It was quite literally around me, 360 degrees, and it sounded as though every dingo in Australia had congregated to this spot. They never did approach my swag, as far as I know but the most unnerving part was when they stopped baying because then I could not tell where they were, even with the shining moon. Almost as suddenly as they had started, they stopped, to be heard no more that night and I settled back to sleep for the few hours I had left until breakfast.

The day began before dawn again, as today we would go see the sacred sight of Uluru (oo-loo-ROO), also known as Ayers Rock. It is a sacred sight to the local Anangu (ah-nan-GOO) aborigine people, who now "control" the site, but it is also sacred to Australians in general, being a symbol of their country, much in the same way that the Statue of Liberty is to Americans. Several years ago the government, in a land agreement, agreed to return control of Uluru/Ayers Rock to the local aborigines who, in return, have leased it back to the government for 99 years; it is run as a national park. The English name of Uluru, Ayers Rock, comes from the name of a governor of South Australia in the 19th Century, since South Australia controlled what would become the NT at the time.

As we drove to Uluru/Ayers Rock, we came upon another rock formation called Mt. Conner. It is a box shaped mesa, really, and our tour guide called it "Fooluru" since many tourists mistake it for the more famous landmark on their first trip to the area. In the area, there was also a dry lake bed which was very white, which leads me to believe that it may consist of a salt flat. Finally, the real Uluru/Ayers Rock came into view and seeing it for the first time in person was a moving experience. You must understand that Uluru/Ayers Rock is essentially a giant stone monolith that sits on an otherwise flat and almost featureless terrain. It is the world's largest monolith, meaning it is composed of a single type of stone, sandstone in this case I believe, and I am told that it is part of a larger formation, still buried, that broke off and fell to the desert floor after being pushed up by tectonic forces.

Around Uluru/Ayers Rock, there were a few options, one of which was climbing the formation. The other options all consisted of walks around the base of Uluru/Ayers Rock where there were excellent views of aborigine paintings and other sacred sights. The Anangu ask you not to climb Uluru/Ayers Rock as it is a sacred site to them and they feel it is disrespectful to their culture to do so. As well, if anyone is hurt or killed on their land, part of their tradition dictates that they cut themselves as a mark of mourning. Add to that the climb itself is very difficult and for most of the steep way up, the only thing you have to help you is a chain. I chose to climb Uluru/Ayers Rock, not out of disrespect, but because I will probably never get another chance to do it. By the time I return, the politicians will have probably wised up and prohibit climbing the monolith and so I figured that this would be my one and only chance.

The climb up was quite difficult but upon reaching the summit, a splendid view awaited me. I could see that there were flat plains nearly unbroken to the horizon. In the distance I could see Mt. Conner as well as the closer Kata Tjuta (KAH-tah JOO-tah) formation, also known as The Olgas. The path to the top of Uluru/Ayers Rock follows the path that the Mala Men, something like Wallaby Men, took to the top in the Anangu mythology. From what I can gather, Australian aborigines believe that the land was formed in a period known as the "Dreaming", the "Dream Time" or the "Creation Time", when spirits roamed the Earth and creating the formations that can now be seen. An important spirit for Uluru/Ayers Rock was a she-serpent named Kuniya (KOO-nee-yah or KOON-yah) who once made her home in the monolith. In any event, after a brief time at the top, I descended down Uluru/Ayers Rock, which was no less difficult than the ascent. I also took great care that I did not transport anything out of the area as this is also against Anangu law. In the visitor's center, there is a pile of stones and soil that have been sent back by people who had removed them from the area and were now regretful, some claiming that their actions had cursed them. I decided that I had already tempted fate by climbing Uluru/Ayers Rock and I would not do so again. Besides, what need do I have of rocks and Canada Customs would take them from me anyway upon my return.

Later that day, after all climbing and hiking had been completed, we returned to a spot to watch the sunset upon Uluru/Ayers Rock. The sun actually set behind us and its light was cast upon the monolith and it changed colour as the sun dipped ever closer to the horizon. The best was just before sunset when it became a blood red, as the pictures will show. The British man on the tour remarked that it was interesting to see so many people gathered to watch a rock change colour but it was an interesting experience nonetheless. We made our way back to our campsite, a different one from the previous night, and I fell asleep in another swag although this time I slept with the rest of the group by the fire as access outside the grounds was restricted.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday157.blogspot.com/

July 27th, Australia Day 156

This was the first day of my tour and it began early, with the tour beginning before 06:00. At first I was worried that I would oversleep my departure time but I was fortunate that I didn't. The reason for the early start is that the sights to be seen in one day are numerous and, somewhat unlike New Zealand, the distances between them is considerable. In any event, I was anxious to begin my adventure in the Northern Territory.

My tour guide was a very knowledgeable and interesting young woman named Jess, which, coincidentally, was the name of my tour guide in New Zealand, but not the same person. The tour group, about 15 of us, set out into the scrubland of the NT before the break of dawn. The demographic of the group on this tour was a little more varied than my New Zealand adventure because the company is not specifically designed to cater to students or even the very young. On this leg, there was a couple, as well as a woman on her own, from the U.K. as well as several a Spanish couple, some more Spanish, some Germans, many Brits and again, I was the solitary Canadian, although there was a young woman from New York also.

We drove off into the scrubland around Alice Springs but it was difficult to discern anything given the pre-dawn darkness. Eventually, dawn broke to reveal a land replete with contrasting red and green colours. The soil is fairly sandy and quite red owing to the high levels of iron oxide in the soil; this same phenomenon makes both Mars and Prince Edward Island red. I was surprised to see so much green since I had been under the impression that the center of Australia is a desert. Our tour guide pointed out that this was a common misconception and while true sandy desert exists further west into Western Australia, it is more accurate to describe this terrain as arid savanna. The greenery consists of tough spinifex grass as well as some desert trees.

Our first stop that day was a ranch where you could ride camels for a paltry $5.00. I took up the offer and had a fun ride on the camel. Even with a saddle, it was not the most comfortable ride I've ever had. Camels were imported into Australia in the 19th Century to assist with desert crossing and have since become at home in the continent. There may now be anywhere from 500 000 to 1 000 000 wild camels in Australia at the moment, along with wild horses that were released, or escaped, from their ranches. All camels in Australia are of the dromedary (1 hump) variety because the woollier bactrian (2 humps) would never survive the hot days. A joke about camels from our tour guide became a sort of running gag for the rest of the trip. Firstly, she asked, "What do you call a camel with 3 humps?" and I yelled out, "A freak!", to which she answered, after a few moments of silence from the rest of the tour group "Humphrey" (hump-three). The next joke was, "What do you call a camel with no humps?", to which I quickly responded, "A horse!" The answer to this joke is also "Humphrey" (hump-free). We all had a good groan and continued on our way.

The next stop on this part of the tour was a place called Erldunda (ehrl-DUHN-dah or EL-duhn-dah) which consists of a gas (called petrol down here) station, a food dispensary and a motel. Its claim to fame is that it is the nearest human settlement to the geographic center of Australia, and it is quite literally the "dead center". From here we drove onto the Lasseter Highway to pick up some fire wood which embodies the sense of isolation that is palatable in the NT. As the 4WD drove on, there would be long stretches of time when no other living soul would be seen. Interestingly, along certain parts of the highway there are no speed limits, indicated by road signs consisting of a black circle with a black saltire (stripe) through it. Along the way we were told about the famous Wedgetailed Eagles, or "Wedgies", which are Australia's largest bird of prey with a wingspan of 2 meters, I think, and they stand about 1 meter high. They have been known to pick up sheep although they prefer smaller targets. Although Australia-wide, their numbers are few enough for them to be considered threatened though not endangered. There are stiff fines for killing a Wedgie because they mate for life and if one is killed, then its mate dies of loneliness.

We eventually reached the first major sight on this leg of the tour which was Kings Canyon. It is a feature created not so much by riparian (river) action, like the Grand Canyon of Arizona, but by erosion taking advantage of the natural fractures in the rock. Here I also made a joke, which I think was pretty witty. According to the local Aborigine myth, some of the dome features of Kings Canyon were formed by quoll-men, and quolls are a sort of cat-like creature. I then told our tour guide that if ever she was asked how the dome were formed according to Aborigine legend, she could just reply, "Catman do" (Kathmandu). Kings Canyon is a spectacular place with some very interesting rock formations and greenery. There were sheer walls and even a small "garden" called the Garden of Eden, but I will let the pictures speak to Kings Canyon's magnificence.

From there we made our way to our camp for the night. At the fire that night, I learned of one more of Australia's "dangerous animals". Apparently, one more of these fictional dangerous creatures is the "Camp Fire Python" that survives the cold NT nights by sleeping between the stones that surround a camp fire and they can be quite deadly if disturbed.

We had the option of either sleeping under permanent tents or we could take advantage of a "swag". A swag is a burlap sack with a mattress that rolls up like a sleeping bag. When you unroll it, you unzip the bag and then place your sleeping back on top of the mattress and then zip the bag back up again. If you should get cold, then a flap on the sack provides cover for your face. Being the adventurous person that I am, I opted for the swag. I knew that the night sky would be amazing and I wanted to see as much of it as I could but I also knew that the camp fire as well as some lights from the permanent kitchen tent would interfere with my sight, so I asked if I could wander out of the camp that night. I was told that I could as long as I made it back in time for breakfast the next morning. For dinner, one of the things we made was a special type of bread, the name escapes me, which uses beer instead of actual yeast. To that you add a few other things and though I do not drink alcohol, the bread was quite delicious. After dinner, I went walkabout to the top of a nearby hill and planted my swag down on a smooth, though slightly inclined rocky surface. I placed everything I had with me into the swag, even my shoes, because dingoes have been known to take them. My adventures in the swag will be posted in the next post but as I fell asleep, the baying of dingoes echoed in the night around me, under the brilliance of a clear, moonless and starlit Australian sky.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday156.blogspot.com/

July 26th, Australia Day 155

Before I begin writing about my adventures in the Northern Territory, I'll mention the baseball game that I played the Sunday before I left. The result was the same as all my games before it with my team once more taking a loss. I started out in right field but after the center fielder pulled a muscle in his arm, I was placed there for the remainder of the game. I did alright at one point make a dead-on accurate through from mid-center field to the catcher at home plate. Unfortunately the runner just crossed the plate as my ball reached the catcher but it was a great throw. At bat, I can't remember if I was walked but I know I definitely struck out in an unusual fashion. The ball was pitched inside at about knee height (still in the strike zone) and I jumped back to avoid the ball as I thought it was going to hit my knees. For some reason, I decided to swing and it came out as a golf swing with me in mid-air. It was an unusual strike out and an example of how the left and right hemispheres of the brain are sometimes talking at cross purposes.

Anyway, on the morning of the 26th of July, I boarded a flight in Sydney, bound for the "city" of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory (NT). The NT is a vast tract of land that is administered in a way similar to that of Canada's territories, with the federal government having a greater say in the laws of the territory. The NT holds about 1% of Australia's population, about 200 000, and spreads it over an area equal to about 20% of Australia's total. Needless to say, the NT is sparsely populated but that sense of remoteness only adds to its beauty. Alice Springs, colloquially called "The Alice", is the probably the 2nd largest settlement in the Territory after Darwin, with a population of about 9 000. It began as a repeater station on the Overland Telegraph Line and serves as a staging area for tourists who wish to go north to Darwin or west to Uluru/Ayers Rock and/or Kata Tjuta/The Olgas.

I arrived in Alice Springs about midday and was picked up at the airport by a bus from the hostel where I was staying. We drove into town and were dropped off at the hostel where I quickly dropped my stuff off and then made my way to the travel desk to reconfirm my tour as instructed. I walked outside and onto the streets of The Alice intrigued by what the town had to offer. Because of its size, there really isn't that much to do in Alice Springs but there are a few sights. In the center of the city there is the Todd Street Mall which is a pedestrian way, much like Sparks Street in Ottawa, with restaurants and shops. Along the way noticed a pole pointed to several different cities in the world.

One of the feature attractions in Alice Springs is ANZAC Hill which is a war memorial located atop a hill which commands an excellent view of Alice Springs and the surrounding area. I hiked up the small hill and I snapped a few photos of the memorial as well as the surrounding countryside. There are several tall hills that surround Alice Springs and on one of them, snow even fell one day in winter. The one thing you notice in Alice Springs is how much green vegetation there is mixed in with the surrounding red soil. Some might have the impression that the interior of Australia is desert and while there are true deserts in Australia, it is more accurate to describe this part of the NT as an arid savanna.

I walked down ANZAC Hill and found some lunch at a local pub and kept walking around The Alice but there wasn't much else to see. Eventually, I made my way back to the hostel and went to sleep early that night as my tour began at about 06:00 the next morning. This is because the distances that need to be covered in any one day are quite large, given the itinerary that is presented; to see everything there is to see you need to get up early. The nights in Alice Springs are cold while the days are quite hot because the city is located in the center of the Australian continent (almost literally). The high that day was probably around 25C with the night low around 5C but I am told that it can, and does, drop below freezing during the winter nights.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday155.blogspot.com/

July 23rd, Australia Day 152

This week has been filled with some interesting occurrences, not the least of which has been the weather. Approaching the end of July in Australia is supposed to be the equivalent of approaching the end of January in Canada, but it really doesn't feel like it. For example, today the temperature was close to 25C, at least it felt that way, and I don't think this is any kind of winter. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if it's not below 0C, it's not winter. To put it more harshly, I spit on this mockery the Aussies have the nerve to call winter. To be fair though, the weather people have been saying that this is unseasonably warm. It would actually be tolerable if it was warm at night, but the temperature plummets to less than 10C and it begins to feel chilly and I can't say I approve.

Now, as for the events of the last week, on Tuesday I reached a personal milestone by scoring my first century (100 runs) in cricket. As last week, we were playing with indoor cricket rules (refer to my last post if you don't remember the rules), and in the full 5 overs I managed to score 101 runs. There was a slight difference in that we were playing a 3 person game, where 1 person bowls, another person bats and the third doubles as a fielder and an umpire. We ended up playing 2 or 3 games of this type of round-robin and I remember I was off my form for the first one, missing balls, popping them into the air, etc. The second game was where I scored my ton, thus winning that round robin. Actually, our hapless third man (I was playing with my acquaintance as before), ended all of his games in the negative score which is possible in indoor cricket.

On Wednesday, at the Wynyard Hotel Pub Trivia Night, I had a happy coincidence. For the last round, much to my chagrin, the teams were supposed to name the songs and the artists who sang them being played on a CD, and they were "all" boy bands. I say "all", because some of them like The Jackson 5 and The Temptations and even The Monkees were not really boy bands. There were some classical ones though like The New Kids on the Block, The Backstreet Boys, Take That and NSync (no 98 Degrees however). Anyway, a Scottish man sat next to me, out of pity, and helped me out just enough so that I finished 2nd last, thus getting a bottle of wine. Since I don't drink alcohol, I offered it to him and he was quite appreciative. We talked for a bit and it turns out that he lives in a town between Edinburgh and Glasgow and his father is Ukrainian. His father fled from Eastern Ukraine in World War 2 and ended up in this town in Scotland where he worked as a labourer and I think a machinist. Whatever the case may be, the man's father still lives in that town and is a well-respected individual. I thought it was amusing to hear a Ukrainian talking with a thick Scottish accent. Actually, the man who helped me doesn't speak Ukrainian, although he could as a child, because his mother is Scottish and they spoke English at home.

Thursday and Friday turned out to be fairly uneventful days. On Thursday, I continued my training with the AFL Umpires down at Reg Bartley Oval in Rushcutter's Bay. To get there, I take a train to the Kings Cross station and then walk the rest of the way, another 10 minutes. Kings Cross is a famous part of Sydney and is that city's Red Light District. I've passed through as small part of it and it seems quiet enough, although there are many neon signs. There is also a constant police presence in the area and the cops are out there with drug dogs for good measure.

It should be mentioned that the New South Wales Police Force was the first law enforcement agency in the world to accept women as constables, doing so in 1915. At the beginning, women had to be content with essentially traffic duty and they had to leave the force upon marrying up until the 1960s or 1970s. Now, though, they have full equality of opportunity and pay in the Police Department and take on all of the same and often dangerous roles as their male counterparts. As an aside, in Australia, there are no such things as local police forces, with each state supplying the cops. In other words, there is no Sydney city police service, only the New South Wales Police; this would be analogous to Ottawa, Toronto or any other place in Ontario having no police force and the whole province policed by the O.P.P. There is a national police force in Australia, known as the Australian Federal Police, I think, and I believe that they have similar duties as the R.C.M.P. As well, Australia is home to the oldest mounted police unit in the world, known, I believe, as the Royal Australian Mounted Police (R.A.M.P.).

There will be no update next week as I will be traveling through Australia's Red Center and I will be unable to post updates. On Tuesday, I fly out to Alice Springs, a town in the center (almost literally) of Australia, and then on to Darwin. The whole tour will take about 9 days but I will be gone a bit longer as I have to arrive the day before and fly out the day after. I am really looking forward to this as I will see many landmarks, such as Uluru/Ayers Rock and the back country which I consider to be the "real" Australia.

July 17th, Australia Day 146

I mentioned in my last post that one of the signs that you have been in Australia too long is that the sport of cricket becomes entertaining and begins to make some sense. At this moment Australia is playing England in England in the Ashes Cup tour and I have found myself watching the game with anticipation. Prior to arriving in Australia I knew of the sport of cricket but I couldn't really grasp the rules and it seemed to be a bizarre sport to say the least but like all things, once you immerse yourself in it, you realize that it really isn't all that complicated.

In cricket, one team bats and the other team defends at any one time. Every time a team goes to bat it's called an "innings" and depending on the type of tournament, a team can have up to 2 innings. When batting there are always 2 players from the batting team together, called a "partnership" and they are the ones who score runs. The batters, called "batsmen" stand in front of a "wicket" which consists of 3 vertical poles called "stumps" on between which rest 2 horizontal sticks called "bales" on either end of a short ground known as the "pitch". The object of the batsman is to protect the wicket otherwise he will be out. When the ball is thrown at the batsman, he endeavours to hit it with the bat, in any direction. If the ball is hit and rolls to the edge of the ground, called the "boundary", then 4 runs are given to the batting team and if the ball clears the boundary from the air, then 6 runs are given. Whenever the ball is hit, a batsman may choose to run and score runs. Both batsmen in the partnership must make it across a line, called the "crease" in front of the wickets before the ball hits the wicket in order to score a run. In any one innings, a team is allowed to field 11 batsmen.

The defending team consists of 11 players on the field placed in any manner that the captain desires. They are placed strategically for each batsman in order to maximize the opportunity to stop or catch the ball, thus preventing runs. The person who throws the ball is known as the "bowler" and he runs up and bowls to one batsman at a time. He must take care that when he bowls his foot does not cross the crease on his end or the umpires will rule it a "no-ball" and a run is awarded to the batting team; the same thing would happen if the bowler bowls a wild ball. The defending team tries to get batsmen out and as soon as 10 batsmen are "dismissed", then the innings is over. There are 10 ways to get a batsmen out but I will only list the more common ones, which are the ones I have seen. If the bowler bowls a ball, the batsman misses and it hits the wicket, then the batsman has been "bowled out". Given the same scenario but the ball hits the batsman's leg instead of the bat or the wicket, then he can be called out on a "leg before wicket" or "lbw". In this case the umpire would decide if the ball had not hit the batsman's leg, would it have hit the wicket and if he decides that it would have, then the batsman will be called out. The third way is for a batsman to be "caught out" which is if he hits the ball and a fielder catches it without letting it touch the ground. The last common way is for a player to be "run out" which is when the ball hits the wicket they are running to before they reach it. Whenever a batsman is dismissed you will see the defending team celebrating like crazy. This is because unlike in baseball, once a batsman is out, they can no longer bat for the remainder of that innings. Add to that, in baseball any one player is worth only 1 run but in cricket, there is no limit to how many runs any one batsman can score and getting 200 runs while rare, is not unheard of. When a batsman scores 100 runs in a single time at bat, it is called a "century" or a "ton".

Depending on the tournament, the style of play varies. The most famous tournaments are those that last 5 days and are called "tests" where each team is allowed 2 innings; in the past games went on even longer and the longest in history lasted 11 days. The innings will only end if 10 batsmen are dismissed or if the captain of the batting team calls the innings over. More popular now are the "limited overs" games which take all day to play, or maybe even only a few hours. Each over consists of 6 "balls" (legal throws from the bowler to the batsman) and recently there have been 50 overs games as well as a new 20 overs game called "20/20". The object, is to score more runs than your opponent by the time your innings is over. If you bat first, you try to get as many runs as possible but if you bat second, then the object is for you to outdo the other team by at least 1 run in order to win.

All this was a lead up to something that happened to me on Tuesday; I won my first cricket game. That day I actually played 2 games, the second was a rematch, with an acquaintance of mine who plays cricket for a local team. This was a 1-on-1 game with some unusual rules but we decided to play a 5 overs game with what I call "safe balls". The first 2 balls of any over are "safe", you can't get on them but the next 4 are "danger balls" (another one of my terms) and with them you can get dismissed. I bowled first and I thought I got him on an lbw on the fifth ball of the first over when my opponent had just 17 runs. I thought his leg was in front of the right side of the garbage can we were using as a wicket and after some arguing I allowed him to continue; he ended up scoring 72 runs by the end of the fifth over. When it was my turn to bat I made a great showing getting 38 runs by half way through the second over and I was well on my way to winning when I knocked the tennis ball we were using too high and not far enough and I was caught out.

After that game had ended, my acquaintance suggested a rematch using different rules and only 3 overs. The rules, known as "indoor" cricket rules, say that the full 3 overs must be played and anytime someone is out, then the batting team loses 5 runs and the safe ball rule was also done away with. I agreed and again bowled first. I managed to get him out 3 or 4 times, leaving him with only 10 runs by the end of the third over. I then went to bat and had 43 runs with 1 ball left in the second over; if I scored any runs, I would win the game, but if I got an out then I would have to continue. He bowled and I got a 6 run shot, thus insuring my victory, 49-10. Although I've lost a number of games to him, I look forward to playing again.

Other than that, not much has happened in Sydney other than another baseball game on Saturday. I had an average game with a ground out to third and then a walk. While my batting average is not so good, my on-base average remains high. With that ground out to third, I almost got a single but the ball beat me to first by a step or two. Actually from first base, after my walk, I eventually made it home on a hit but our team still lost 12-7 even though we led 7-6 going into the last inning. We had been down 6-4 going into our last at-bat but we pulled off a great comeback but then so did the other team; my quest for a victory continues.

July 10th, Australia Day 139

The most interesting thing this week was on Wednesday when the New South Wales Blues faced off against the Queensland Maroons in the deciding match of the State of Origin series. The two teams faced off at SunCorp Stadium in Brisbane but the home team was soundly beaten. I went to the pub downtown where I usually play trivia to watch the game and it was pretty exciting. The final score was 32-10 in favour of the Blues and it marks only the second time that a team has come back from 1 game down to win the series 2 games to 1.

This Friday was an interesting day as it was the day I had to move out of my apartment. My lease was up on the 8th but luckily some friends offered me use of their spare room for as long as was necessary. I moved all of my stuff in several trips and I am now completely settled in.

This Saturday was another interesting day with footy and baseball. Although the last 2 games had been canceled due to inclement weather, this last baseball game went forward as planned. There was a 5-minute rain delay at one point but it cleared up quickly and the game was allowed to continue. A member of the opposing team hit a foul ball which broke the driver-side window of a parked car. During the rain delay I went to see the "crime scene" and it was quite amusing. The ball had made a hole through the window, causing radial fractures in all directions, there was a bit of glass on the inside, and the baseball was sitting comfortably in the passenger's seat. Our team continued its losing streak and we lost 10-5 but it was a good game nonetheless. It was an average game for me, personally, as I went 0-for-2 that game. My first at-bat, I struck out but the second time I was walked. Although my hitting average has gone down, my on base average remains elevated. Actually I didn't get very far as I got on base with 2 outs and the next batter hit a ground ball to the short-stop who promptly threw the ball to 2nd Base. I guess you can't win them all, but I'd be happy with just winning some.

Later that I day I went to see the Sydney Swans take on the Geelong Cats at the S.C.G. in a night game. The Cats were 3rd on the ladder and the Swans were about 6th after a heartbreaking 1 point loss to the Richmond Tigers the previous week. The Swans managed to pull off a great victory winning 105-51, having scored 9 goals in the 2nd Quarter. Geelong never really recovered from that blow and the Swans are now sitting in about 3rd or 4th place. So far, the Swans have not lost a single game of theirs I have been to but I don't know if I'll be able to attend any more games.

On the subject of AFL, this Thursday I had my first training day with the real umpires of the AFL. Many of those there were shocked that there was actually someone who wanted to become a goal umpire. During the Sydney-Geelong game, I found myself thinking that the umpires are the only team that is booed by both sides. In any event, I trained with the AFL umpires and it looks as though I'll be able to get some measure of work in the near future.

Also, I encourage everyone to look up AFL Canada on the web as there is a large footy league there. Although primarily centered around Toronto, there are teams out west in Calgary and Vancouver as well as a few other places. In August, I am planning on taking a trip to Melbourne to visit some family friends but also I hope to see the Canada Northwind AFL team play in the International Cup down there. There are teams from Ireland, Sweden, Spain as well as a few other far off lands. AFL is much more popular around the world than one would think and even many Aussies realize. If I ever get the chance, I will try to set up a footy team in Ottawa.

I think that perhaps I have been in Australia a bit too long as I am showing symptoms of Aussieness. A few days ago I called the man in Sydney responsible for AFL Goal Umpires and when he answered the phone, my first greeting to him was "G'Day". I think I tried to say "Good Day" but the words got slurred. Another symptom is that the game of cricket is finally beginning to make sense and is turning out to be entertaining. Canada is the only member of the Commonwealth that I can think of where cricket is essentially a non-sport; in every other country it is one of, if not the, dominant sport of the land (India, Pakistan, West Indies, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc). There was a Canadian cricket player who played with Australia some years ago and he was pretty good, so I'm told; I'll leave the explanation of the rules until the next post.

One more thing, before I go, I've noticed about Australians are not shy about voicing their displeasure at sporting events using, as Captain Kirk put it, colourful metaphors. It seems to be ingrained in the Aussie sense of humour that when the referee or the umpire makes a call that you are not satisfied with, you let them know it in the strongest possible terms. The same is true for players, plays and other aspects of the game. This also carries over into normal life and when displeased at someone or something, Australians make their feelings known using as many colourful metaphors as often and as colourfully as possible.

July 2nd, Australia Day 131

This week has been pretty inactive though it was not intended to be so. I hope everyone had a pleasant Canada Day and enjoyed the long weekend. Down here, it appears as though Canada Day is not as big a celebration as it could be. Remember, that here it is winter and while not cold, the temperatures are not what they were when I arrived.

I say that this week has been inactive because I have been unable to play any sports due to the inclement weather that has arrived in New South Wales. I am reminded of an old saying warning those who wish for things that they should be careful. In eastern Australia there has been a near-drought and many wished that rain would come to replenish the land and refill the depleted reservoirs that supply Sydney. About a week ago, a system moved through the area that gave many exactly what they wanted, rain, but it gave them a lot. In northern eastern New South Wales, especially around the town of Lismore, there were flood conditions. The town was saved by a new levee but the outlying areas were declared a Natural Disaster Area by the Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr. This entitles the people in the area to compensation for losses incurred by the flood. The drought is over, but not without cost.

With respect to Canada Day, I did nothing of great significance. I hung a large Canadian flag that I brought with me in the window of my apartment and I wore a t-shirt that I have which has stylized representations of the Canadian flag on it as well as "Canada" written across it in big, black letters. I also wore a pin that I have of the Canadian and Australian flags crossed. On the night of the 1st, I went to try and find a Canadian pub that I had heard was in The Rocks area in downtown Sydney, but I didn't manage to find it. Instead, I just found a pub and had a burger and coke to celebrate my homeland's birthday. I trust that the celebrations in Ottawa went ahead as planned and without incident. This marks only the 3rd time that I have celebrated Canada Day outside of Ottawa, and the first time outside Canada. The first time was in 1997 in Drumheller, AB, and the second time was in 1998 in South Bolton, QC. Come to think of it, this is the first time I celebrated Canada Day in the southern hemisphere and, therefore, in winter (as it should be).

I still cannot believe how pleasant the weather is in Sydney, even in winter. July is supposed to be the equivalent of January in the northern hemisphere but in Sydney, there is no indication that this is wintertime. The daytime highs are consistently at or around 20C and snow is non-existent except in the mountains. I don't expect to see any snow but if I do it will be a welcome sight.

June 25th, Australia Day 124

This week has had its fair share of excitement, not the least of which has come in the last few hours. In the scholastic world, I have completed my exams and today I saw a nail-biter of an AFL game. I also happened to see a friend, completely by coincidence, in a crowd of thousands while waiting to board a train.

Over last weekend, I had another game of baseball where I didn't do too badly, going 1 for 2 for the game. My first at-bat, I struck out swinging and on my next at-bat I managed a double. I got as far as 3rd base before the 3rd out was made. After some brief calculations, my on base average has fallen slightly to 0.714, coming as a result of 5 times on base from 7 at-bats. I'm not entirely sure of my actual batting average since I don't know how beans are counted (this is a very strange sentence). Depending on how they are scored, if they count as a hit, don't count as a hit, or don't count as an at-bat, my actual average could range from 0.429 to 0.500 which I think is still pretty respectable.

I had my last 2 exams on Monday and Friday this week and I think I did very well in both of them. The first exam was for Ancient Greek Religion and the second one was for Solid Earth Geophysics. The exams were straight forward and there was no mathematics required for either test. I feel confident that I have done well in all my subjects this year and my last real challenge now is to complete my Honours Thesis.

Today, to celebrate the last exam of my degree, I treated myself to the AFL game between the Sydney Swans and the Collingwood Magpies. It was held at Telstra Stadium to a crowd of over 44 000 and anyone with a weak heart should have been recommended against watching it. It went down to the final siren with the "Swannies" just barely managing to hold on to a 1 point victory over the "Pies"; the final score was Sydney 77, Collingwood 76. At times it seemed as though the Magpies might be able to pull off a victory but in the end, Sydney hung on. This places Sydney in the 5th position on the ladder, the top 8 go on to the playoffs, an leaves Collingwood lounging around the #12 spot. Collingwood started out the season at the bottom of the ladder but they have managed to slightly pry themselves out of it. Actually, they are the only team to have defeated the 1st place West Coast Eagles and they did so while they were in last place.

After the game had concluded I was going to the train station at the Olympic Park when I spotted my friend Alexandra as she was in the line ahead of me. Of all the places to meet, in the throngs of thousands, somehow we managed to pick the same line. We chatted briefly as she had to make her way onto the train but she told me that this was the first AFL game she had ever been to. I thought to myself that this happened to be quite the game for an initiation into AFL. I have no doubt that this will go down as one of the greatest matches between Sydney and Collingwood ever.

This has been my week in review, and there are still a few more to come in Australia. I'm getting ready to celebrate Canada Day down here though I'm still not sure how. I also tried my hand at writing a novel, and I even got as far as the first line, "It was the best of times, it was the blorst of times", before I decided to give up.

June 18th, Australia Day 117

Another week in Australia has come and gone but this one has been filled with a little more stress than the others. Exam season has begun and I had my first exam on Friday. I think I did reasonably well and I am fairly confident with regards to my next exam. This coming week contains 2 more exams as well as a paper so I will have to work more diligently than usual to obtain good results.

In one of my previous posts I neglected to mention the great hospitality I received at the home of my mother's dentist's friends. I had meant to contact them much earlier in my time in Australia but I never got the chance to. A few weeks ago I called them up and they invited me over to their house for dinner one night. It turned out that many friends of the family were also invited and the conversations over dinner were quite stimulating. The wife of my mother's dentist's friend is Polish and she had invited some friends who had arrived from Poland as well as some of her local Polish friends and family. I had a delightful time and I hope to see them again soon.

After dinner, the conversation turned towards the contributions of Polish explorers to the Australian landscape. One famous explorer was a man named Strzelecki (shche-LETS-kee) and there is a small desert named after him. Also, Australia's highest peak is named after a Polish hero, although he was also part Belarussian. Equally interestingly, if you heard how Australians pronounce the name, you would never guess that it was named after a Pole. When I first saw the name Mount Kosciusko, elevation 2 229 meters, I thought that it was an aborigine name and I pronounced it "koss-kee-OOSS-koh". When I showed the landmark to my father he said that it should be pronounced "koss-TSYUSH-koh" and that it was named after a famous Polish hero. It turns out, that my original pronunciation is closer to the Aussie one, who pronounce it "kawh-zee-AWSS-koh". The mountain is named after Tadeusz Koszciusko (tah-DEH-oosh koss-TSYUSH-koh) who was a Polish patriot who fought in the American Revolution on the side of the Americans. He also campaigned vehemently for the independence of his homeland.

My father also told me about a river that is apparently named after a Ukrainian nobleman. About 300 kilometers north of Sydney there is a river named the Macleay River and at first glance it would appear to be like any typical Scottish name. However, the first clue that something is up is that it is pronounced "mahk-LAYE" and not "mahk-LEY". If it were to be correctly spelled, it should be spelled Maklay but my mother's dentist's friend said that in Australia, the man is generally regarded as Russian but in days past, the distinction between Ukrainian and Russian, as well as other nationalities, was not always made.

The most interesting thing that I saw this week was the National Rugby League State of Origin Game 2. It was held at Telstra Stadium, once known as Stadium Australia, that was the main venue for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, to a near sellout crowd of 82 389. The State of Origin series was begun in 1980 and is generally regarded as the Stanley Cup of Rugby League. Each year, the best players in the NRL are selected to play for either Queensland or New South Wales, depending on where they began playing Rugby League professionally; hence the name State of Origin. There are 3 games in the series, held 3 weeks apart and the state that wins 2 games is said to have won the series. This year the games were arranged Brisbane-Sydney-Brisbane, but next year it will be reversed. NSW wears sky blue jerseys while QLD dons maroon ones and each team is named after their respective colours. While I prefer maroon as a colour to sky blue, I felt it would be safer if I cheered NSW. By a total coincidence, before I left for Australia, a friend of the family had given me a quick drying blue shirt as a present and it came in handy for this occasion. The atmosphere was electric and NSW managed to secure a 32-22 victory.

I am looking forward to watching Game 3 of the State of Origin series but I am less enthusiastic about my Honours Thesis.

Photos are now available at: http://stateoforigin.blogspot.com/