The 49ers

I know football season just started but don't worry this isn't another fantasy football article on the 49ers. This is about the town of Bendigo, the home of the Australian gold rush. Kelly and I rented another He-on-day (aka a Hyundai) and journeyed two hours north of Melbourne to check out how the Gold Rush town was holding up. Although the gold mines are still open for tourists the main draw for us was the plethora of restaurants focused on locally grown produce and the exhibit at the Art Gallery: The White Wedding Dress: 200 years of Wedding Fashion.

Main street Bendigo is right off a Victorian Colonial style Hollywood movie set including the Court House, Town Hall, Post Office, Bank, and the Local Watering Hole.

After a quick walk through the 1850's and a snack at the local market of fresh bread and olive oil we were off to check out the wedding dresses. Here was my analysis of the exhibit: "Lots of white, crazy long tails, and very uncomfortable looking". Pretty insightful on my part. Here was Kelly's take, which is likely a little more meaningful...

“I’m certainly no fashionista, but I seriously can’t imagine how some of these
dresses were ever stylish. And some of the corsets that women donned back in the day -- their waists would have been less proportional than Barbie! I’ll definitely be taking the more comfortable route with my wedding dress. Some of the “tails” that Adam mentioned above, also known as trains, were quite magnificent and many of the veils were absolutely beautiful. Gwen Stefani’s dress was my favorite; Dita Von Teese’s not so much (she wore it to marry Marilyn Manson, if that says anything). Adam was a good sport and didn’t ask once if I was ready to go yet. I’m looking forward to wedding dress shopping when we’re home in December.”

Me again. After some tasty snacks and a few glasses of wine in town we headed to the outskirts of town where we stayed at a great little winery, Domaine Asmara. We crashed in the 2nd bedroom and enjoyed a nice family style dinner with Andreas, Henni and their son Benjamin. Andreas cracked open a few bottles of wine including their newest not yet released Cab Franc/Cab Sauv mix, which Kelly and I happily

indulged. Great wine is the perfect way to carbo-load as Kelly ran an awesome 20 miler the next morning!

Sunday was filled with two ridiculously fresh meals split by a visit to Australia's oldest working pottery. Kel and I spent some time on the throwing wheel crafting a cup and a bowl. After they are glazed and fired we'll have some home made mementos from our great little weekend in Bendigo.

Love

Adam and Kelly

PS Spring has sprung.

Everyone Counts

Australians only seem to take a few things seriously:

1. Sport: Aussie Rules Football and Rugby

2. Chucking Sickies: Using sick days to chill on the beach

3. Food: Beetroot on burgers, throwing a shrimp on the barbie (they actually do that, but Foster's is not Australian for Beer), and meat pies

4. Utes: The front is like a car, the back is like a truck, the front is where you drive, the back is where you...

5. The Idea of Surfing: They love to talk about it, drink in the parking lot and watch it, but not many seem to actually know how to surf

And one that I was not expecting: The Census

You need to scream, shout and beg to get any waiter service at a restaurant but if the thought of the census even creeps into your head then the "Census Guy" just magically appears at your door. He has visited the apartment at least 10 times over the last 3 weeks dropping off forms, reminding us to fill them out, attempting to collect the forms (multiple times) and warning us of the hefty fine if we failed to hand it in ($110/day fine starting Sept 1 if you fail to submit it). With the threat of the fine, Kelly and I officially became Australian "statistics" as we submitted our form yesterday and hopefully never have to hear from the Census Guy again.

So unlike New York City, which claimed to have missed at least 50,000 people in the 2010 census costing them desperately needed federal funds (suckers) everyone counts Down Under.

If I were king of the fore-e-e-est

We packed A LOT into 9 days (and still had a little time to relax)!  Here’s the rundown:

·         Flew to Cairns, rented a car, drove to Port Douglas.
·         Disregarded the warning sign that the bridge over Mossman Gorge was out and thus had part of the Daintree Rainforest to ourselves for a little hike.  (The bridge was just fine.)  The Daintree Rainforest, at 120 million years old, is the world’s oldest rainforest.  The trees and their root systems were unbelievable.
·         Traveled the Daintree River in search of some salties (saltwater crocodiles).  Apparently we were supposed to see the 3.7m male croc who inhabits the area, and apparently we were the only boat in 2011 not to see any crocs.  
·         Indulged in a 6 course meal in the rainforest while listening to aboriginal stories and tunes on the dijeridoo. 
·         Visited a wildlife sanctuary where we held a koala named Glenn, petted wallabies and emus, saw the cassowary (giant flightless bird), a tree kangaroo, a giant salty and his giant teeth!

·     Crossed the Daintree River by car ferry and continued on the twisty and narrow road to Cape Tribulation.  Warning signs of cassowary crossings everywhere, and this bird definitely would have done some serious damage to our golf cart-esque rental car.  Fortunately we didn’t encounter one (though it would have been pretty cool to see in the wild!).

·         Camped for three nights on the beach in Cape Trib.  Saw a couple of amazing sunsets, beautiful blue Ulysses butterflies, and had wild turkeys and a lace monitor lizard as daily guests to our campsite. 

·         Visited an exotic fruit farm and tasted the following fruits:  West Indian Lime, Pommelo, Abiu, Black Sapote, Davidson Plum, Longan, Yellow Sapote, Solo Papaya, Rollinia, Soursop.
·         Sea kayaked around the Cape.  Tried to surf with our kayak (we need a little work on that).  Saw a giant sea turtle. 
·         Returned our rental car and took a ferry to Fitzroy Island on the Great Barrier Reef.  Whales were migrating in front of the resort.
·    Adam visited the outer reef during the first day of my dive course.  
·    Saw the clown fish go in and out of the anemone (it really is just like Finding Nemo).  

·    Heard the whales when I was 20 feet deep. 
·    Encountered a 4m tiger shark on my fourth and final certification dive.  Luckily he wasn’t hungry and we have all of our limbs. =)
·    I completed my dive certification!  

The cassowary's claws, the croc's teeth, and the tiger shark's mere presence reminded us that we were much more cowardly lions than kings of the forest.  

We had an amazing trip that only could have been better if it was shared with friends and family.  


Love, 
Kelly and Adam

Career Expo

As you might expect, my early "retirement" of exercise, watching sports, and reading was not really sustainable. On a day where my body was too sore to move, the only sport to watch was cricket and I finished reading my latest book, I came across an ad for a Career Expo. I thought I'd check out what kind of careers were available Down Under. There were about 150 organizations participating in the Expo. I perused/scanned/smiled at nearly every booth and quickly realized they wanted me to pay them and not the other way around (i.e. schools, volunteer programs, websites on job searches, etc). Of the 150, one, and only one, was an actual employer looking for future employees: Wagamama. http://www.wagamama.com.au/home/.

Both of my sisters, at one point in their lives, have been obsessed with Noodles (or Noodle Oodle Os as we like to call them) but I never before realized there were career opportunities in Noodles. Sign me up!!! From Math Teacher, to Investment Banker to Noodle Guy. Another smooth transition appeared ready to take fold. After some serious thought I realized it would be best to leave my sisters to the noodles and instead I signed up at the Australian Institute of Fitness. Although I like a noodle as much as the next guy, my real passion is fitness. So in two weeks I start a new path in fitness which I'm equally excited and scared about.

I went for a long run today with a new playlist on my iPod. After a particularly hellish week at work and korean fried chicken and beer for dinner last night (that's what Adam wanted for his birthday dinner), I definitely was struggling at first to put one foot in front of the other. But my new playlist kept me going. Actually, it wasn't the playlist so much as the memories that came about from certain of the songs. As I recalled these memories, I forgot about the hellish week and my stomach forgot about the fried chicken.

It's My Life by Bon Jovi. Amber and Jess, do you remember when this song came on at the Virgin Megastore in Paris and Amber sprinted to the register to buy it? I got a good chuckle thinking about our priorities at age 16. I think we passed on visiting the Paris Opera House so we could go shopping.

Crazy Game of Poker by O.A.R. I don't think I even need to comment on the memories this song stirs up. Love to my 506 girls (and Rob Konrad).

Shenendoah as performed by The Boss and the Seeger Sessions. This song reminds me of the best date I've ever been on. With my dad. Wedding secret revealed, Dad - this is the song I want to dance to with you.

Loving and missing everyone very much,
Kel

Middle of Winter in Melbourne

Long run, sun tan lotion, penguin sightings, sunset on the beach... Not too shabby.

A Nature Lesson

We are settling in nicely to our new apartment.  We even have a pet.  His name is Harold and he is a nightly visitor to the trees outside our porch.  Harold is a possum, not to be confused with an opossum (as I was, see blog post dated April 23).  According to the world’s most accurate research source, Wikipedia, a possum is “any of about 70 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia…” To answer Jessie’s question in the April 23 comments, Harold is different from the North American variety of opossums in that he has a furry tail instead of a bare tail.  Additionally, possums are herbivores, while opposums are carnivores.  Here is a picture of Harold: