Signing Off...

Just a head's up for all those I haven't talked to:
Tomorrow morning at 6 am, Caroline and I are leaving for Great Keppel Island. We will fly to Rockhampton and then take a crop duster--I mean, light plane-- across to the island since the ferry runs an hour too early for us to catch it. Bastards.
We will stay at Great Keppel for one week. We've been assured that because the only other major resort has been shut down, the place will be dead. So much so, it will be like 'our own private island'. And, it's within walking distance to the beach (see: Reef). Hee. One week on our own private island, laying on the sand and poking around the Reef... no Internet... if we don't come back, at least you know where we'll be. Just don't tell immigration. *wink*
We fly back to Melbourne on Sunday the 8th, so I'll try to post something the next day so everyone knows I'm alive. Then the following weekend, we're off in the opposite direction to Tasmania (via cruise!) and will probably be out of range again. But on the plus side, expect lots of pictures!!
Everyone take care til then!
Love,
me

Echuca, Pryamid Hill and Bendigo

In preparation for our stay at Great Keppel Island next weekend, we had to take Paddy to Caroline's mom's house in Pyramid Hill. Before leaving, we met Caroline's best friend Suzie at an awesome little cafe slash garden center called Rivers. We sat out in the sun room which overlooked a cute duck pond and I enjoyed some yummy berry crepes with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. I'm still drooling.

Then we stopped by the Shire of Nillumbik to deliver Caroline's amazing short story, Iris, for the Alan Marshall Award. It's going to win, mark my words. *grin*

We hit the road around mid-morning, traveling through Caroline's hometown of Echuca. It's a very cute, quiet little town, mostly centered around the Port. We walked the historic streets and photographed a large flock of Corellas. These large birds are very pretty and seem to always travel in large herds, but should really keep their beaks closed. Try waking up to THAT.

After a walk around Horseshoe Lagoon:

we arrived in Pyramid Hill just in time for dinner. Caroline's mom met us with a hug while Paddy greeted Chester in a most exuberant way. LOL, dirty dogs. Anyway, here's the reason for the town's name:

The next day we lounged around, walked the streets (this truly is a one-horse town, but I missed the photo op to prove it), and ate dinner at the one and only pub:

in the company of at least half the other residents. With a population of less than 500 (I would believe less than half that), Pyramid Hill is the ideal retirement location. It is peaceful and lazy, with just enough stores for people to get what they need and nothing more. Caroline and I combed the book shelves of the 'op shop', or thrift store as us Americans call them, and found a stack of promising stories for 20 cents each. Sunday we visited Mt Terrick Terrick in Mitiamo--an even smaller town, if such a thing is possible. We stayed for a couple of hours and were completely alone with only the ants and birds for company. What a perfect place to dump a dead body! We climbed the rocks and made a futile attempt at writing, and took lots of photos. Oh, and I saw my first pack of wild 'roos! (But missed the photo op, of course.)

On the way home, we saw SHEEP!! LOTS AND LOTS OF SHEEP!

For the full effect, check out my award-winning documentary here:



After another day of doing absolutely nothing, we drove back to Melbourne on Tuesday, making a lunchtime detour through Bendigo. We ate in the park:

and then toured La Trobe University (for research purposes, of course), where we ran into Shelly, a fellow Sam-Lover whom Caroline had met several times before.

Upon Shelly's recommendation, we downloaded the latest episode of Supernatural and invited over Tara, yet another Sam-Lover to watch it with us.
Tattoo, anyone??

Tara brought a copy of Jensen Ackles on Good News Week, a cross between Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Jay Leno. Although Jared would have been far better on it, Jensen was still entertaining:



Don't forget the Blooper Reel!

Back on So You Think You Can Dance Australia, both my boys showed up their female partners.
Check out Marko:



And Jack:



That's all for now--only three more days till we are snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef!

Time to dust off the mace cans...

Fugitives You Better Run -- The Dog is BACK!

02-19-2008

TMZ has learned that Duane "Dog" Chapman will be back in business and back on the air on A&E. Woof!



A network official confirms to TMZ that the show is going back into production, but they've not yet set a premiere date. As of now, they're gearing up -- big time -- in Hawaii and production will begin ASAP. Makeup artists and camera crews have been hired, and houses and cars have been rented, all for the return of the show.

A&E had suspended production on "Dog the Bounty Hunter" indefinitely after a recording surfaced featuring Chapman making racial slurs. Chapman immediately began a tour of forgiveness, working with CORE and other groups to promote racial equality. We're told network execs were "very pleased" with Dog's attempt to make amends and his reaching out to members of the African American community.

A&E isn't just making this decision out of the goodness of their hearts either. The show was insanely popular for the network, here and internationally -- airing in over 20 countries.

You guys know what this means, right?! FINALLY, more of this:

AND:



AND:



AND:



AND:

*happy gurgle*

Oh yeah, and I'm still having fun over here. I've hit the 15-mile mark with Nike Plus. When I get to 100, they send me a trophy or something. It's raining today, after three perfectly sweltering days. My sunburn is starting to peel. I loved the last ep of Supernatural: 'Mystery Spot'.



*LMAO*

'Do these tacos taste funny to you?'

Writers at the Convent Weekend

Day 16
A Visit to the Convent

Today we went to the ‘Readers Feast: Writers at the Convent’ Festival at the Abbotsford Convent. The grounds are tranquil and majestic and totally cut off from the outside world. We had lunch on one of the inner patios and realized how quiet it was; although the Convent is located downtown, you can’t hear any road noise. The gardens are well-cared for and the walking paths are bright and sunny.

The first session we attended was ‘The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show’ with Nigel Latta—a little strange to be seen at a literary festival but I loved it nonetheless. Child Rearing is so much like Dog Training. All living things learn the same way, and I love listening to parenting lessons because I can apply it to my obedience classes when I instruct. Nigel was hilarious and I want to pick up his book.

After lunch we attended a session for first time writers, featuring a panel of three one-book authors who shared their very different journeys from idea to print. Chris Womersley, Toni Jordan, and Catherine O’Flynn each read a bit from their books and then answered some really great questions. Hearing their experiences was hopeful and a little uncanny—several times they said things that Caroline and I have said to each other.

We left with plenty of inspiration and headed to Caroline’s brother’s house for dinner, so she could fix his computer—which turned out to be unfixable. But I got to watch Dog for the first time in months!! Come on, if Australia doesn’t care about the whole N-word fiasco, America shouldn’t either!

Sunday, Day 17

Lazy day today:

Started off by going to a computer swap meet with Chris so Caroline could help him shop for a new system. No country is safe from viruses, you know, and later we found out Chris had 27 of them. We were afraid all his documents were gone forever—an important reminder to invest in virus protection and also back up your documents. Anyway, I couldn’t help thinking of John the whole time—he would have loved it at the swap meet! Tons of cheap desktops and laptops and programs and games and parts and accessories… I’m glad I didn’t have any cash or I might have walked out with a new laptop!

After Chris got a slick new desktop, we went back to his place to start setting it up. Caroline is clearly to Chris what John is to me—a Computer God. Every family needs one. *grin*

After lunch, we went back to the Writer’s festival and attended two more classes, one on emotion and one on the criminal mind. Didn’t learn anything earth-shattering, but did pick up some good bits of info. I would have enjoyed more exploration of the origins of evil from the criminal mind talk, but it was still very interesting.

When we got home, Caroline scoured the ‘net looking for a place for us to stay when we go to the Great Barrier Reef. It won’t be cheap: we’ll have to fly there and when gasoline is $86 dollars per 12 gallon tank—YES, you heard me right—you can’t go anywhere without bleeding a little. Caroline will be off for ten days and we want to make the most of it. What better way than to snorkel the Reef??

We headed back to Chris’s house, on the brink of giving up hope. We’ll keep searching tomorrow. Once at Chris’s, Caroline managed to fix his viruses compute (enough to recover his files, anyway) but she spent the next few hours setting up his new one and transferring files. Tanya made some awesome spaghetti and meatballs and we watched TV: The Biggest Loser, So You Think You Can Dance, and a cornball comedy, ‘Boytown’.

I’m afraid to say I’m becoming addicted to that stupid Dance show. *sigh* But check it out:

AND:

Evil stuff.

Where best friends sleep together…

Best Friends Holiday Retreat. What an AMAZING place! Check it out here: http://www.bestfriend.net.au/

We arrived on Monday afternoon (after a trip to the gym, naturally) and were given the keys to cabin number two, the cabin with the best view. See it here:

Best Friends is totally isolated from the outside world (see: no internet, no phone, no TV, probably no radio). Each morning you wake up to sunlight and a symphony of bird calls echoing through the surrounding mountains. Our deck overlooked two of the dog play yards and the heavily forested mountainside beyond that. We would eat breakfast and watch the sun rise over the tree line:

There is something to be said about the magic of just listening to nature. We could quite easily pretend to be the only two in the park. Slowly, our neighbors would wake up and take their dogs out to play, but generally the park was very quiet and peaceful. So peaceful, in fact, that we spent the entire four days doing nothing but writing, bird watching, playing with Paddy, and exploring the neighboring creek:

We did venture out one day for fish and chips at Port Albert. I’d wanted my first official ‘fish and chips’ to be an authentic experience, which meant eating outside by the ocean. Port Albert isn’t technically the ocean, but there were lots of boats and seagulls and the breeze smelled of fish. And now I know what REAL fish tastes like! We ate on a picnic bench and had to fend off the Rabid Hoard of Seagulls that surrounded us. They were quite a menagerie; one with only one leg and one with a deformed foot and lots of greedy, hungry beggars. Here’s Fred, the Head Honcho:

I simply cannot rave enough about the awesomeness of this place. What makes it different is that instead of being a retreat for people which accommodates dogs, Best Friends was built by real dog owners who treat their pets as part of the family and who wanted safety to be a priority but who also intended the experience to be enjoyable equally between owner and dog. The cabins are fenced, and fenced securely, and the play yards are large, sunny and shady, and securely fenced (the chicken wire is actually buried about four inches and the entrances are double gated with latches that cannot be opened without opposable thumbs) and each yard is equipped with a bucket of toys, a five gallon bucket of water, and poop bags and a trash can. There are rules of etiquette: only one family to each play yard at a time, unless another is invited in; dogs must be on leash unless in a yard; you must pick up after your dog; you must be responsible for your dog; no abuse; and you cannot leave the dog in the cabin unattended—on property is a 8-dog kennel for day boarding:

Featuring indoor-outdoor runs, grass outside, a pleather chair inside, a plexi-glass fronted window with curtains, and a tv and dvd player that plays dog movies, of course. The whole area is triple fenced, and you are the only one who opens the door to your dog’s run. The owners were very friendly and love on-site and check on all the guests every night. I’ve already talked to them about franchising possibilities…

You know I’m serious, too.

Friday we had to check out (which really hurt) but we took advantage of my first cloudless day and went to check out Wilsons Prom and more specifically, Norman Bay, where we explored the rock pools and found starfish and snails and all sorts of slimy sea-creatures to play with.

And get this: we went body surfing. Yes, my friends, I tasted salt water for the first time. The water was crystal clear (which was good, because I was looking for that damned Blue Ringed Octopus and Deadly Jellyfish and Sharks) and we made it all the way out to where the waves came over out heads. It was so much fun, we lost track of time and almost had out shoes and towels sucked into the Bay by the rising tide. A couple hours later, we had earned ourselves a lovely strawberry-red sunburn by the experience was worth it. I went Body Surfing. Hee.

Tricky goes to the ocean

The alarms went off early this morning: 7 am. We woke up simultaneously, two minutes before the alarm actually went off, because that is our freaky way. After showering and eating, we were on our way to collect the Traveling Spaniard. He was, after all, ours for the day. Hee.

Hot Guy firmly in backseat, we made our way to the start of the Great Ocean Road. The weather looked friendly enough: some clouds but lots of blue sky and sun and all one can do is be hopeful it stays that way.

Ether the heavens were in line or the Traveling Spaniard was our good luck charm, because the entire ocean-front drive was unbelievably gorgeous. Ocean Road runs along the water for miles, twisting around the mountain feet with curves to rival any roller coaster. To the right, the mountains tower, colored with every shade of green imaginable. To the left, the bluest, clearest water crashes onto rocks and slides up onto long expanses of clean sand. Ever quarter mile or so is a look-out point, most of which we took advantage of. After all, one can never have too many pictures of Australia’s southern coast, right? Right. Not even 1 whole GB can be enough. Trust me. I know.

At one point we stopped and walked down onto the beach, where I found this Australian Blue Spotted Dwarf Octopus(?) in a rock pool. The lighting was wrong for pictures, but I got a movie instead. Lots of movies today, actually. Don’t be a stranger to Youtube, my friends. Some views are just too breath-taking for still shots.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Em4taffvOZM

Oh, and I did find more ass for Melanie, genuine Aussie Surfer dude this time:

The Road is more than just coastal front, though. After passing through Apollo Bay, we stopped for lunch in Otway Fly to walk the tree tops. We walked through some of the most dense forest I’ve ever seen, passing ferns the circumference of wading pools and looking up at 150 year-old moss-covered trees. In fact, the place looks so prehistoric, they created a ‘Prehistoric Path’ where you can look at the model dinosaurs. Tricky particularly liked the T-Rex.

The Tree Top Walk itself is not for the faint of heart. Steel gangplanks are suspended amongst the canopy, creaking and swaying with the wind and movement from the people walking it. And if you’re still not ready to piss yourself, you can climb the spiral staircase and go up into the lookout tower, XXX feet in the air. I guarantee you will be holding on to the railing while up there.

After that, we were all a little more appreciative of the solid ground as we walked back to the car and headed for our next stop: the 12 Apostles.

Now some of you might be wondering where the Traveling Spaniard was in all this. Oh, he was there, trust me. Quiet boy, he is. I asked him about his motivations for traveling around the world, and he told us about how he’d just ended a 6 year relationship and figured now was the perfect time to take this trip. Caroline and I glanced at each other: Ouch. Not what we expected. But slowly, we found out that he originated in Barcelona and has been to Thai and China and loves Australia the most. In a few months, he will be going to New Zealand and then coming to the States. He’s got a year to do all this, and will be looking for jobs that pay under the table as he goes. Monday he leaves for Perth, the western side of Australia, and when asked about his plans, he shrugs and says, ‘I don’t know yet’. A true wanderer.

Back to the Apostles. I had no idea what they were, but the Traveling Spaniard was excited to see them and I thought it sounded cool, so I was looking forward to it. So when we caught a glimpse of the ocean and a large red, free-standing rock formation, I thought, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool.’ Turns out, I had just seen one of the Twelve.

Apostles are limestone that has been worn down by waves for so long, it breaks away from the coast and eventually crumbles completely. It is quite humbling to realize nature has the power to do this sort of thing. I have to agree with the Spaniard, it was quite beautiful.

Next stop was the Loch Ard Gorge, a series of natural landmarks including Thunder Cave and Blow Hole (named as such because of how the forcefully the wind travels through it, you dirty minded people). For the brave souls, there was a cave where two survivors of a ship wreck stayed until help arrive, years ago. But the entrance was rocky and the tide was mighty high, and getting stuck inside a haunted cave is all I need. Pictures from the outside were good enough. Grin.

Dinner time had arrived, and we found Really Awesome Pizza in Port Campbell at a tiny little place called Niko’s. This was a surfing town, although at dusk boards are traded for girlfriends everyone dries off. After eating, we went back to the Apostles to watch the sun set.

The car was pretty silent for the trip home, all of us were exhausted. My Amazing Everlasting iPod battery got us the entire ride, even though it was red-lining from the start. What are these things made out of?

At close to 12:30 am, we hugged the Traveling Spaniard goodbye and headed for home. Half an hour later, we were unconscious.

Tomorrow we're going to the dog camp, so we'll be outside the internet reach for 5 days. See you then!

Dogs in the City

Friday we started off at the gym, using our programs officially for the first time. Nothing remarkable—a gym is a gym and workouts are sweaty and only fun when you’re done.

After showers and breakfast, we headed out for a day of sightseeing at the parks. First stop was Organ Pipes park, named so after this formation:

Which was formed a million years ago by a volcano.

Next stop was this rock, the formation of which I’d like to find out:

And finally we saw the ‘Tesselated Pavement’:

We spent a few hours there, taking photos of the gorgeous scenery, including a genuine Aussie Outback Loo, so be sure to check that out. The climb back to the car park was treacherous, even by Dr Denny’s standards, as the trail went nearly straight up the side of the mountain. Once we reached the top, we found the warning sign that disclaimed responsibility of heart attack of dehydration.

Our hunger drove us onwards, and we stopped at a fruit stand on the side of the highway, purchasing a bucket of cherries for $5 and a flat of nine mangoes for $10. We nibbled on fruit as we made our way to the Macedon Memorial, which is located at the top of another mountain—but this time we drove it. As soon as we got there, we stopped at the Tea Room for lunch and watched the birds outside. Then as soon as we set foot outside to go see the memorial, it started to drizzle. Of course.

So this is the famous war memorial, located at the top of the mountain:

The thing is huge, easily visible for miles. And while we were blessed with fog instead of sun, it made for some really awesome, spooky shots like this:

And the entire time we were walking, it was silent. Really spooky.

After that, we stopped at Sanitorium Lake.

Should be called Sanitorium Puddle, but hey. Who’s keeping track, right?

Still very nice scenery:

After walking a total estimated distance of too-freaking-far, we headed for home, but not before checking out the Melbourne Airport’s Plane Viewing Area. This lovely family vacation spot is perfect for those that need to be reminded of the mortality. Basically you park your car, get out and sit on the hood, and watch as Qantas Boeings fly straight at you as the come in to land. Great fun, watch the video!

(coming soon)

Then safely back at home, we had dinner and watched TV with Tanya and Marc, the Traveling Spaniard. Afterward we watched Supernatural, critiqued it, then passed out from exhaustion.

Saturday we got up and took Paddy to the dog park. It’s technically a regular park, but a dog training group meets there for classes every week and the entire field is turned into a big dog-fest:

I’m amazed at how well behaved these dogs are. Before class starts, all the dogs are taken off leash to run and socialize. There are no fences. There are dogs of all ages. Some have never met before. Yet there was not complete and utter chaos. The dogs were all submissive to one another, and engaging in friendly play. There was no misbehaving. And when the owners called, the dogs responded. How can I recreate this back home?

The way the classes were organized was different, too. There were 10-12 trainers and each taught a different class all at the same time, separated by Puppies, Agility, and Competition level. Within those classes, the groups were split up into the number of times they’d been to classes before. For instance, the people who were there for the first time were put in a different subgroup as those who’d been there four times. So ultimately, the there were about 5 dogs to one trainer, which made for lots of one on one attention. We watched the puppy class, which was pretty much what I teach except they did an exercise involving teaching the dog to wait when its food bowl goes down. Most everyone said they were already teaching that at home (something not commonly done at home) but luckily there was one dog who didn’t get it so I got to see how they trained it.

As far as dogs go, I noticed Aussies do not dock tails. I saw a wiem named Gizi, a three-legged wiem, a German Wirehair and two Vislas all with long tails. Lots of labs and goldens, some shepherds, some setters, border collies, a bearded collie, a black standard poodle, some whippets, and a welsh terrier. All very nice looking dogs.

After that, we walked around the park once then headed for home to eat lunch. Then we took the train into Melbourne for the Book Fair and wandered for a while, taking pictures.

Then stopped to watch the ‘ADDJ’ street performer. See his video here:

(coming soon)

For dinner we went to Caroline’s brother’s house and I finally got to meet the elusive Chris. We had a cookout and watched TV and chatted. The Traveling Spaniard is staying with them until Monday, when he leaves for Perth, and tomorrow he is going to join us on our trip to Ocean View Road, so I should be able to sneak a pic or three thousand.

Till next time!

Meeting the Natives

Day 6: Day of the Roos!

Yesterday was pretty relaxing, starting with our first official visit to Revolution Gym. When we arrived, a program had been drawn up for each of us that detailed the type and amount of exercise we were to do based on the evaluation from the day before. We were given a tour of the facility and a starting point for the weights was recorded. Then while Caroline was walked through her program, I jumped on the elliptical and got to work. After about an hour and a half, we were thoroughly tired and sweaty and headed home to shower.

After lounging all day, we took the train in to Melbourne for the Queen Victoria Night Market. Each Wednesday during the summer, half the city of Melbourne crams into a few block’s space for a night of diverse food, live music and hand-crafted goods. Most items were things like screen printed tees, purses, jewelry, candles, and artwork. The food ranged from ‘exotic’ American foods: corn on the cob, lemonade, and pancakes to sausage and sushi and Australia’s attempt at Mexican food. What did I have for dinner? Why, the all-Australian Roo Burger, of course! Tastes just like cow!

We ate with Caroline’s brother’s wife Tanya and her new-found friend, Marc. Marc is from Spain, backpacking his way across the globe, 29 years old and mouth-wateringly available. He is single-handedly the reason Spain is just under Ireland on my list of other countries to visit.

Today is Thursday, and we headed out at mid-morning for Healesville Sanctuary. Home to all your stereotypical Australian species, this sanctuary provided all-day entertainment. After a beautiful hour-long drive through the mountains, it promptly turned cloudy the moment we pulled into the carpark and proceeded to drizzle on and off until we got back in the car to leave. Melbourne has a very strange way of making one feel unlucky. But the sanctuary itself was gorgeous and I hope you take the time to browse all the pics. I decided to upload the Award Winners straight to the blog.

First up, the Emu:

Next, we wandered into the Roo exhibit just in time for the 'meet the keeper' session, where the woman in chage came out and let everyone feed the animals. Carrots, in case you were wondering. Notice the happy, trusting look in this guy's eyes just before I told him I ate his brother last night:

After scarring this animal for life, we went to the bird show and saw the lovely Red Tailed Black Cockatoo:

And how about a Koala, mates?

Probably my favorite part of the day was seeing the wallaby. Cute little guy was eating a plant so I thought I'd be of assistance and pick some for him, which he gratefully accepted--and then proceeded to eat the red devil keychain on my purse.

In the same exhibit, some adult kangaroos looks all-too-thrilled to be on display:

Back in the bird display, a cute little Swift:

In my opinion, the Tasmanian Devil is one of the meanest animals alive, just under the wolverine and the premenstral human female.

The dingo:

For Melanie, as requested, some ‘ass’:

Now for the Cream of the Crop... (and yes, I testify that all pics on this blog were taken by me)

The adult Kangaroo:

The baby Roo:

And the drinking Roos:

While watching the platypus scratching whatever water-louse they were infested with, we dimly heard the closing call and decided to swing by the nocturnal wombat and Tasmanian devil one more time, as they were holed up the first time we looked. We were rewarded!

Finally, after satisfying our need for capturing the animals in pixels, we headed for the exit. One more surprise was in store, however, as the gates were padlocked and not a soul was in sight. Slightly worried, Caroline called the emergency service and explained, and the dispatcher put us through to the fire department, who (despite being located half a mile away) would not come out to free us unless it was a life or death situation. Which it wasn’t. And wouldn’t be, providing we didn’t try to share the Devil’s burrow.

So next we called the security company who provided the alarms on the gift shop window and explained the situation to them, who were not shy about telling us we were standing in our own grave because ‘we must have stayed until well past closing time’. The operator then said he would try to contact the owner and to we would just have to wait for a call back. Okay, fine. We checked the gates one more time, and yes, they were still padlocked, and then sized up the fences one more time, and yes, they were still too high. Then, wandering around to the baby stroller bay, I could see the padlock hanging on the gate but decided to double check it too, just in case. And no surprise there, it was locked too, but the revolving gate next to it moved when I pushed it. We were free!

Feeling incredibly incompetent, we called security back and told them to cancel the monumental effort they were making to free us, to which they were all too happy to oblige.

An hour later, we picked up some yummy fish and came home. Caroline made a wonderful impromptu dinner with lots of fresh veggies and fish and we enjoyed it while watching a TV show were doctors pulled copper screws and blades of sheet metal out of the hands of small boys. Quality Aussie TV at it’s finest!

Don't forget, more pics at Photobucket.