Tadpole Diary

Hello All -
Hooray - the word is finally and officially out about the baby in the works. There is relief that comes with being able to talk about this. When I was freaking out, sick all of the time, and in the closet about the baby, I started to keep a diary. This is that diary....


17th of Jan
I am just now returned from one of most annoying doctors office experiences. Worthless waste of money and time that was!

I'm joyously happy to find myself unexpectedly pregnant but I also am weeding through the messy and frustrating Australian Health care system. I found out less than one week ago that I was expecting and it turns out I am too late to book into most private hospitals. What the? Did people book because they were anticipating being pregnant? How can every maternity ward be full for end of September already? And how about the notion of booking a bed in a maternity ward anyway? It's beyond strange to me. How do they know when my "expected date of confinement", as they call it, is going to be? What if I go early...will they then say..."oops, sorry, can you hold it in for another couple weeks dear?"

Trying to find an OB and navigate the private vs. public system is a nightmare. I have been on hold approximately 2 hours within the public system and I have never gotten to speak to a live person. What if there is an emergency? It doesn't bode well. I also found out that you don't get an ob with the public system...just a midwife for the delivery and prenatal care is with some random nurse. If I book an OB, then I'm going private and the bills are impossible to figure out. They can charge whatever they want and my health fund either will or won't reimburse me. There is a code for delivery, labor, anesthesia, ob, the room, the FOOD, and extra care, etc. etc. How can I figure all this out? I tried to book into an OB but he won't see me for 9 weeks. What does this mean for prenatal care? I've been relying on the Internet and have found out that bad things are too much coffee (so I stopped it completely - what's nine months?), alcohol, sushi, soft cheeses like brie and feta (travesty!), and too much chocolate. OK, got it. Good old Internet. I'm taking a prenatal vitamin and there are all these warnings about too much folic acid, too little. ugh.

I rang up the OB's office again and chatted with the receptionist and she suggested that I go to a General Practitioner in the meantime. After searching for a GP in my area, I made an appt and went. This is what the 90 year old GP who couldn't understand my accent told me: wine is fine, 2 or more cups of coffee a day won't hurt me, he has never heard that pregnant woman can't eat cheeses and that I was loony for thinking it because cheese has good calcium. However, I should avoid bouncing up and down, no running, and be careful of exercise and sex. These two things (sex and exercise) were bigger problems than coffee and alcohol. He reconfirmed the pregnancy test and then told me to come back in the morning after fasting for a blood test. When I asked what the blood test was for, he said to test for pregnancy. I don't know about you all, but I think that two confirmed pregnancy tests and a late cycle pretty much mean that I'm pregnant. And I can pretty much expect that in about two months my belly will begin to expand and that will provide yet another confirmation in the whole pregnancy debate. I'm not going back to this man. I will just wait the nine weeks to see an ob. I can take care of my own prenatal by reading the Internet and perhaps buying a book from the bookstore.


26th of Jan (Australia Day)
I'm exhausted. How can I be this tired all the time? I wake from a nap and feel just as unrested as I did before I fell asleep. Eric and I went on a walk this evening and it felt like uphill both ways for me. Our conversation went something like this...

Me: I'm sick
Eric: You're not sick

Me: I think I have mono
Eric: You don't have mono

Me: What is wrong with me then?
Eric: Nothing, your just using your energy somewhere else

Me: Maybe I'm diabetic
Eric: You're not diabetic

Me: Maybe I'm dying
Eric: You definitely aren't dying

Me: If I was dying and you just blew it off, you'd feel really bad
Eric: You are not dying

Me: Honestly, wouldn't you feel the least bit bad if I was really dying
Eric: you are not dying.

Me: You'll be sorry.


3 Feb
Found a wonderful new GP who called her favorite OB and he made room for me in his practice even though I am ALREADY 7 weeks along. (still doesn't sound long to me, but the booking into a hospital thing is difficult). I have felt like I have the flu for about the last two weeks and I am exhausted. I bawled my eyes out in her office and she cooed and was sympathetic to me. Love her.

11 Feb
Today I was actually feeling OK by about 2 pm...so Eric and I went out for a very late breakfast. I had scrambled eggs and toast and a bit of bacon and it all stayed down. Amazing. That's a first. I've been eating crackers and soup broth for a week, being nauseous Evey morning noon and night, and generally looking and feeling like hell all day long. People at work think I'm homesick and crying. The puffiness in my face is from the nausea. I have an on call shift all of next weekend and am gearing up for a 12 day stretch of work without a break. I used to hate those at home but I'm not sure how I'm going to bear it feeling as I do.

If I felt like this at home, I would surely call in sick. Can I call in sick for the next several weeks?

This morning I was extremely weepy and Eric was very comforting. I'm tired of being sick all the time and I'm tired of this constant fever. I have been hovering at around 100 degrees for the past few weeks - I'm hot to the touch and Eric is accusing me of cooking our child.

I am also actually somewhat fascinated by the status of my belly. It doesn't feel like me and I have no control over it. What was normally a somewhat flat stomach in which I took much pride, is now an uncontrollable gas bubble that churns and puffs at its own will. It is sometimes so enormous, I can barely zip my pants, let alone fuss with the top button. The discomfort is unbelievable.

I get up about 4 or 5 times in the night to go to the bathroom - how can that be?

I dream and dream...I'm skiing...I'm getting a pacemaker...I'm in the hospital for my appendectomy and no one believes me that I already had it out...I'm starting a new job...I've lost my keys and cant get out of the apartment...I dream that Eric sends naked pictures of me out on the internet....eee gads. I wake up sad and overwhelmed that I am in a foreign country. I wake up mad at Eric about the naked pictures.

I am confused by how much of this due to pregnancy and how much is actual real loneliness or real sadness. Some of the books say that all of this is linked to the 1st trimester and the discomfort and flood of emotions will turn off like a faucet after 12 weeks. However, they also warn that some people feel like this all 40 weeks. I'm hoping I'm in the first group. Seeing as I'm approx 8 weeks at this point, I don't even know how I can take another 4, let alone 32 weeks.

I'm now booked in to a hospital, I have a general practitioner that I adore, and an OB that seems fine. He did an ultrasound when I visited last Friday and it was really bizarre. For years I've looked at other peoples ultrasounds and they have been relatively meaningless. Now here I am. There is this huge pregnancy sack that looks like a giant empty black space and there on the side is a tiny little thing with a beating heart. There is all this space and there is this kid hanging on to the wall. Eric looked at it and said, "Hey, you can spread out in there."

I also have my first incident with the not-so-private Australian health care system. A packet arrived in the mail with my blood work. You should see this thing. It's the most comprehensive analysis I have ever had. No wonder they took 5 vials of blood. It's 11 pages long. Well, it's supposed to be 11 pages long. Mine is 12 pages. I was reading the 12th page and was very confused by it until I realized it wasn't for me. I read enough to know I shouldn't be reading it and will be taking it back to the pathology lab on Monday so they can mail it to the correct person. It was an analysis directed for someone else including such details as method of collection (masturbation) and volume (3 ml). It included a name and address. Now I'm wondering who else has MY lab results.


Feb 19
Just got the bill for the lab tests. $275. Was that really necessary? The pee on the stick test cost me just $12. $275 seems to be the going rate for everything these days - it was the cost of the car tune up as well (shocking!) and it was also the cost of the side view mirror that I bashed by driving too close to our garage door.

Still sick every morning. My diet is that of a 5 year old. I only like cheese, bread, pop sickles, soup, crackers, blueberry muffins, and cheerios. Tomatoes are the enemy, and spicy things are yucky. I'm grossed out by meat and the smell of what other people are eating. Oh, French fries are OK too. Yes, I have taken on the diet of a 5 year old. Eric is telling me this is happening so that when our kid refuses to eat certain foods I will be sympathetic to his or her wishes.

Feb 27
I got radiated yesterday and I'm freaked out. My job in a cardiac cath lab exposes me to radiation on a regular basis and I'm not happy about it. I have 6 cumulative years of radiation in my body and now that I am pregnant, I am extremely careful. I put on the best and heaviest lead suit that I can find, I stand behind people whenever possible and I step as far away from the tube as possible to minimize my exposure. I don't like being around the stuff, but it's unavoidable if I continue my job. However, yesterday I was in a long long day of procedures and I we were finally finished for the day. All of us, except the doctor had taken off our lead and were cleaning up the room. I was standing right next to the flouro tube and was trying to organize my gear. About a minute later, the doctor yelled, "Jeff! You are standing on the pedal!" This fool was radiating all of us for about a minute and no one knew! I was right next to the tube. I would be angry with this kind of exposure, but now that I'm carrying a child, I'm absolutely panicked. I got home last night and we called the OB and then looked up what radiation can do to a 10 week old baby. It's not pretty and I had to stop reading because I became so upset.

Eric is hounding me to report this and tell everyone at work. What good will that do now? An "incident report" hardly seems like enough. My OB was very kind and gentle and told me he didn't know much about cath lab radiation exposure but would talk to his radiologist friend and get back to me. I'll be waiting for his call today. ugh.


Feb 27 continued
OB called. He was reassuring and told me his radiologist friend didn't say there was much cause for concern. I'm still concerned, but trying not to be.


Feb 28
All the Aussie magazines at the checkout counter show all the celebrities and their baby bumps. Is everyone in Hollywood pregnant? When our little Lampert-Tjossem goes to make his or her big break in California she/he will need to compete with all the Jolie-Pitt and Urban-Kidman children of this world. Even if she or he is a singer, there will be competition from the two J-Lo just released to the world.

March 1
Next weekend I have a work conference and the pressure will be on me to party with everyone else. When you don't have a drink, everyone notices. It is part of the Australian culture. I will need to tell my managers. I'm dreading it.

Part of the reason that I was hired over here is because three people on my staff are out on maternity leave at the present time. When they go on leave, they are gone for a year. How will my bosses take this news? I've consulted the internet for advice in this arena and was told not to apologize for it - just be businesslike.

March 2
My OB ordered me to have more blood tests. Apparently as comprehensive as the first round was, the GP didn't order the items you actually need during pregnancy. The OB questioned if I had told that doctor I was even pregnant, because apparently he ordered about 12 tests I didn't need.

March 3
Told Eric's parents today over skype. How fun! We video conferenced (it's free people!) and Eric just held the ultrasound photo up to the camera and told them to say hello to their newest grandchild. Eric's mom cried. It was great! I'm excited to tell more people.

March 4
Went to the gym today for the first time since December. I've been too sick to go until now. The elliptical trainer nearly killed me. I used to go at a high rate and resistance for 40 minutes on that thing. At a low rate and resistance, I could barely make 15 minutes today. How will I make it through labor?

The gym's personal trainer said hello and asked me where I had been. When I told him I was pregnant, he walked over to Eric and slapped him on the back and yelled "Good on ya, Mate!" You should have seen Eric. He puffed up and stuck his chest out. He's all proud and manly these day. I'm not sure he knows I had anything any part in this.


March 5
Told both my managers today. They both had the same reaction. It was a four letter word beginning with F. Sometimes it was stung together in a series. Then they wised up and said 'congratulations'. It's a really big deal when people get pregnant here because they can take leave from their jobs for a full year. It is an unpaid time off, but their employers must guarantee them their job back when they return. That is stressful for companies and most have to recruit someone to fill in for that year. In this job, the training takes a bit more than a year so they just rely on everyone else to pick up the slack.

Naturally,they wanted to know if I planned to stay in Australia. Since my package doesn't come with any US health insurance I informed them that yes, I would be staying here. I also won't be taking a full year, but I will take longer than what the US gives us. I think I'll take four months and then transition back to work with a part time month. The US policy was three months full pay and this is one year no pay. I'd like the salary, but at this point in my life, I'm more happy with the time off. It will be the longest break in my working career. I can't wait to spend that time loving a child.

March 10
Went out of town this weekend to lovely Byron Bay for a work conference. The country director was a bit drunk on Friday night and he announced to everyone at my table that I had "news". I couldn't just sit there in silence, so I told everyone that I was pregnant. I felt like a fool. Seated at my table were some of the physicians I work with, the president of Boston Scientific, and a rather well known electrophysiologist from the US. No one really knew what to say and I wished the earth would swallow me whole.

On the second night, I sat with two people whose wives had both delivered babies in foreign countries (Japan and the US). They shared their experiences and both were really kind. They talked about the challenges and we all laughed about various doctors visits. It redeemed the weekend a bit for me. I'm glad I'm not having the baby in Japan. Apparently the nurse hopped up on the patient and began to push on her belly to help her along.

March 11
Ultrasound today. Everything was great and we are officially at 12 weeks. It is amazing to see this little baby with two arms and two legs kicking about within me. We saw the heart again and counted the chambers.1...2..3..4.. all good.

Now, if you friends would just answer your phones, you would all know the news.

Laura O'Brien - I don't want you to have to read about this in a blog, but please answer your phone!

Matt and Amy Brenengen know and I think Matt could care less about me, but is really excited for Eric and the baby. He is disappointed that we are in Australia because he believes my expanding belly could fulfill his documentary video dreams.

Amy Sinykin was wonderfully supportive and glad that I am joining the club of sleepless parenting. Troy Sinykin called me a fertile little minx. I love that. It makes me feel sexy at a time where I just look bloated and tired.

Eric's sister Ann also cried and was really happy for us. I didn't talk with Eric's brother Scott but Eric said is was a great reaction. Eric's brother Kurt already suspected and wasn't really surprised.

My mother had a great reaction but knew back in January when she directly asked me because I was acting 'funny'. Also, there was no hiding it from Christine Chovan as we video conference with her on a regular basis and there wasn't any logical explanation for why I was always sick and laying on the couch when she called week after week.

There are still so many more people to tell. This is where the fun begins. I wish I could tell everyone in person.

March 15
This weekend I head off to Bali for a week with my friend KP. When I was sick and miserable in February, KP made her plans to come here and Eric told me to go to Bali with her and have some girl time. I feel a little bad for leaving him behind - like taking a baby moon without the father. I am, however, looking forward to a holiday escape where we can just relax, get massages, shop for normal priced items, and swim in the incredible looking pool at our hotel. Best of all is that I feel about 150% better and can't wait to have a vacation!

Our Tadpole

6 Months In: Missing Home

I miss our dryer.

Our dryer back in St. Paul has one temperature – hot. We were never really crazy about it, but oh, what we wouldn’t give to have it with us now.

We are in the land without dryers. One never really considers the inconvenience of this until one has to live without a dryer. (My memories from living in Italy are coming back to me here). Most things are fine drying on a rack, but certain items such as sheets and towels are really good when fluffy. We say that our towels now serve two purposes; drying our bodies and exfoliating us at the same time.

Our apartment comes with a “drying room”. It’s a room down the hallway that is lined with heat pipes and a row of clothes lines. Eric currently has a rather large burn on his leg from the heat pipes that line the walls. It is a dangerous room indeed. We aren’t allowed to hang things outside, so the drying room is mandatory and we get one designated day per week to put our things in the ‘drying room.’ Our day is Monday.

Speaking of missing things from home, I will say that the first three weeks of February were particularly challenging. Loneliness set in and wouldn’t lift itself from our moods and hearts. It may have been compounded by several factors; my mom left at the end of January, I was ill for the first couple weeks of Feb, I had an on call stretch from work that lasted 12 days and included 4 product recalls, the weather was hot and we are so tired of summer, and we had bad news from home. Still feeling deep sadness about the death of Mr. O’Brien just before the Christmas holidays, we now also had news about the murder of one of my co-workers from Guidant and the tragic death of Annie LaFave. It’s awful to hear this news when one is at home; it’s particularly distancing to get the news via email. February winter blues don’t just affect those braving the cold. Apparently, if you are from Minnesota, it travels with you.

Things finally started to get a bit brighter last week and the malaise began to peel itself away. To get ourselves over missing home, we decided to have an “American Day.” We went to the US Consulate office in the morning. However, there were no American’s there – just Australian security guards. Next, we went to the USA food store where we bought brownies, Cap’n Crunch cereal, blue cheese dressing, butterscotch pudding, chicken wing sauce, Heinz 57 sauce, and lucky charms. We really wanted Hellman’s mayonnaise, but it’s in quarantine and it looks like the shipment will be returned to the US. Apparently, they are concerned about the egg content????.... The USA food store is a little place about the size of a 7-eleven and very overpriced (14$ for the Cap’t Crunch), but it is SO WORTH IT. I’m not sure you can sum up the enjoyment we had in eating instant butterscotch pudding from JELLO. You just can’t put a price tag on that sort of pleasure. We also began renting the “West Wing” series and are now almost finished with the third season. We particularly enjoy watching Hal’s sister as the character C.J. Cregg, mainly because she looks like her brother and we feel a connection to Hal when watching her.
We have actually gotten off the couch and out into the world this weekend, including hosting a dinner party this past Friday and going out to breakfast with two other couples this morning (Sunday). We even managed to laugh and smile a bit. Yea!

We made the error of attending a “newcomer’s network” in the height of the bluesy-time and it was a disaster. The newcomer’s network is designed for people who are looking to meet others and are relatively new to Melbourne. People can be from anywhere. We call it speed dating for friends. The only people who talked to us were those practicing their English, and one guy named Carlos who would be later known as the close-talking-bad-breath Venezuelan man. I did walk up to a group that looked interesting and most dispersed when I arrived, leaving me with two people who really weren’t very enthused about conversing.

We are sticking with the people we have met. We’ll just grow the circle from here. Forget the speed dating thing. Our friends thus far include one Australian, one Brit, two Germans, and five American’s. We should be able to come up with a good band name for that.

Well, that’s all for now. I promise to write more often from here on out….as Amy Brenengen so lovingly wrote in her last comment, “For God’s sake, how long do we have to wait for the next blog…”

Guest Log Book #1

Written by Beth's Mom, Catherine - Our first visitor!


Dec 31st 2007

On the Way to Melbourne 10:15 CST about 1 hour before landing in LAX and E and E have warned me about the confusion the remodeling of the terminal in LA caused them. The pain in my left heel has intensified so I decided I'd ask for handicap help to the Int'l Terminal.The handicap van was a laugh. They left me off at the Sydney Qantas Terminal. Obviously they didn't want to circle again and just told me to check at a ticket counter. I dragged my carry-on to the next terminal and finally found Qantas/Melbourne tucked away in a corner.- Aboard the neatest plane with TV, three seats all to myself, endless snacks and meals.It's quite a long flight. I awoke from a long nap and saw on the screen that we had not even crossed the Int'l Date Line yet. The thought came to my half-awake mind that it might be best that the pilot do a u-turn or I'll need to sit here for hours again to get back to MSP.-

January 2nd MELBOURNE

Beth and Eric, all smiles, were waiting for me outside the secured area. We hugged and kissed and hugged some more and then walked through the sunshine to their Honda. I jumped in the back seat. There was no way that I would sit where the American driver would be at the steering wheel. We headed into Melbourne and Beth kept turning around looking at me and talking and not attending to driving. I finally said, "Shouldn't you be paying more attention to your driving?" She calmly replied, "Mom, I'm not driving."I realized that we were driving on the "wrong" side of the road but forgot about the position of the steering wheel in the car.

I calmed down and we arrived in their green, tree and flower filled urbanization where their all-white furnished with plump comfy beds (and other furniture and housewares, of course) apt is. Some things are quite interesting in their apt. such as differences of having drying rooms in place of dryers and the bathroom divided into two rooms, 220V that allows you to heat water in an electric teakettle in no time flat, shutters on the windows, and balmy breezes that must have something to do with the proximity of the ocean.-E an E worked schedules that were modified due to the Australian Christmas, New Year, and school long vacations prior to the start of the new school year.

It's a great time for me to be here as Eric is off for the week and Beth's schedule is reduced. Unfortunately, my heel is painful and holds me back. I've visited a MD who was most discouraging; he stated that he was acquainted with another MD who had this plantar's fasciitis for 9 months with no relief. Later in my visit Beth took me to a podiatrist who taped my foot and that helped. After several more weeks Beth took me to another Podiatrist who padded some shoe inserts and then I could finally make some tracks.

We've shared some great, great day trips and 2 super 3 day weekend trips. The 1st week in Melbourne we had an old fashioned picnic on the grounds next to the Botanical Gardens. I'm fascinated by the abundance and variety of trees, bushes and flowers here. The green areas around the Yarra River which runs through the city and the many other parks and tree line streets are most pleasing.

The Australian Open is also being played here at this time. The three of us attended 2 matches one evening or I should say on and on into the night. It was great, though, I hadn't seen a tennis match since Bobby challenged Billie Jean and that was on TV. I had no idea a tennis match could be such an enjoyable spectator sport.

Our first trip out of the city was a about 90 minute out day trip to Phillips Island to see the fairy penguins. This was a total thrill. The island is in a bay area on the southeastern coast of Australia. The three of us and about 2,000 other folks sat on concrete risers on the beach and waited for the sun to go down. The rangers turned on lights on posts high in the air and we could witness the little shavers black bodies riding in on the waves and then receding back a bit. Finally the first brave one put his feet down and waddled to shore through the shore birds. They came in with about 10 or 15 in a group. The penguins waddle up the shore to their burrows in the sand dunes. They have fished all day and then when they reach their burrows they regurgitate these fish in order to feed their young. It all seems to be about raising the family. Viewing the vast number of them in their emergence from the ocean was amazing.

We spent another day at a wildlife sanctuary where we got close up to what Australia is well know for, kangaroos. There were many other creatures of the wild namely, wallabies,dingos, emus, duck-billed platypuses, koalas, blue wrens, Tasmanian devils, cockatoos, snakes and lizards. We drove through such scenic areas to get to the sanctuary. There were rolling hills with cattle and sheep grazing, winery areas, and mountains in the distance.

On Beth's birthday Eric had made plans for a gala dinner experience. We took a dinner ride on a restored old time city tram. While we followed regular city tram routes we were wined and dined and sung to by great waiters. We had a meal, food, and wine to die for. What a treat that was. Sure glad she is a January baby as it paid off this trip.

Our first 3 day trip was to The Great Ocean Drive plus the Australian Temperate Rain Forest. I have never seen an ocean such as this. The Aussies call it the Southern Ocean but I believe the map said the Indian Ocean. I'll have to check that out. The 12 Apostles, the sandstone cliffs that are out in the ocean and the wild waves are breathtaking. The drive is south and west of Melbourne and is about 6 or 7 hours. On the way to The Ocean Drive you go through the rain forest. We deviated a bit from the highway onto gravel so that E and E could climb around to a scenic waterfall. We stood around inhaling the fresh and fragrant rain forest air. I'm not sure what all contributed to the odor, perhaps the fern trees (yes, trees), eucalyptus trees, wild flowers, and such. The last time I smelled anything that delightful was upon landing in the tropical rain forest in Canaima, Venezuela.

Beth had a sales meeting in Sydney so that was a great chance for the 3 of us to go to that city. Beth went on Qantas early on Sat the 19th with co-workers and Eric and I flew up on Virgin Blue later in the morning. We three shared Beth's posh room at the Shangri-La. Eric and I checked and went up to the 25th floor to our room. The fellow at the desk was so kind to assign us that room. Eric pulled open the drapes and there in the big windows was framed the Opera House and the harbor. I'm not sure what I said but in spite of the overwhelming view I hope it was something proper. Eric and I each took a windowsill and stared to our hearts content. Beth was occupied all day and in the evening at a dinner at the Opera House so Eric and I walked steps, steps, steps and through quaint alleys to the wharf. (This was several days following my 2nd podiatrist visit). We took in the sights and ate. Beth came in late and cuddled in with Eric. I had a huge and so comfortable bed by myself. I'm beginning to believe that the beds in Australia are all soft and comfy.On Sunday afternoon we took a ferry to the Manly Beach. Much of it was closed off due to rip tides but a portion was open for me to sit in the sand while the others jumped and were tossed in the ocean.We had most of Monday to explore the city walk around the Opera House and to tour the worlds largest aquarium. I'm not a swimmer so I'll certainly never see such water life again. The nearest I can hope for is the IMAX Great Barrier Reef. I've had such happy times just being here with Eric and Beth. They enjoy their times together, they are good to me, and so pleasant to each other. We play including their modified version of rummy which they are probably going to call Australian Rummy. I also barely got started learning a Tjossem family game named Smear. Sounds like New Ulm or Lewisville to me. I've managed the train on my own a few times, learned how to make roasted capiscum, and walk on the left side of the sidewalk. Now in a few more days I will board the luxury plane to LAX. Perhaps, I'll wake up from a long nap near the International Date Line and wish the pilot would make a U-turn from that long flight and the LA airport and return to Melbourne.

Jumping

Here is something you don't do everyday!

Something New

Happy New Year

Season’s greetings everyone and a happy new year. Time zones being as they are, we were able to welcome the coming of 2008 before the rest of you and have had a head start into 2008. It looked like Sydney and Melbourne had pretty big celebrations, unfortunately I was feeling unwell and so spent most of the time at home in bed. New Year’s is a big holiday here because it is the full swing of summer, everybody is outside enjoying the warm weather. Speaking of warm, New Years Eve was the hottest day of 2007. It was a balmy 42C which translates to a hot 106F, YIKES. That’s a huge difference from people who are used to ringing in the New Year in Frost Bite Falls…oops in mean International Falls Minnesota.

Christmas season was a wonderful time this year. We missed friends and family but were happy to be away from the crazy-present-buying-malls. New Zealand has always been a place that we have wanted to visit and since we were so close, we decided that Christmas was the time to go there. I cannot speak about the north island, but the south island of this country is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I can see why Peter Jackson filmed LOTR (Lord of the Rings) and King Kong here. The LOTR tours are quite popular, but they looked kind of cheesy and so to the disappointment of some of you we chose not to go to Hobbiton.

Beth and I attended a Christmas Day church service and I have always thought that one of the best parts about Christmas service is the music. New Zealand has a lot of the same carols that we enjoy in the states but they have others as well. Maori (New Zealand natives) culture seems to be integrated well here. The service bulletin was printed in English and Maori and quite a bit of the service was spoken in Maori as well. We enjoyed the beautiful church and music but an embarrassing incident involving Beth, a communion wafer, a gust of wind, and the church floor caused us to hasten our departure through the nearest exit available. We have now learned the proper etiquette of fallen communion wafers. Who knew you couldn’t just hand them back?

After our excitement in Christ’s church in Christchurch, we drove the 7 hours to Queenstown. Figuring that nothing was going to be open anyway spending the time in the car seemed like the right thing to do. During this time a lesson was learned not to rent the cheapest car that you can find, if you wanted to know it is a 1992 white Toyota corolla. It was, dirty, messy, probably unsafe, and the radio didn’t work. It is a good thing that we had our ipods. Listening to the same podcast, or music is more fun than tuning the other person out, so we drove down the road each of us with one earphone in, of course being careful not to move too much so you don’t damage the inner ear of the person next to you by violently popping the earphone out.

Queenstown is a hip, cool ski town. Probably like Aspen about thirty years ago. It was mostly quiet with the exception of a few tourists walking the streets looking for someplace to have Christmas dinner. After exploring for several blocks and rejecting the cliché of Chinese food, we found a nice little Indian restaurant that looked like it had some good curry. Nothing says Christmas like Tandoori chicken. Maybe a new tradition?

Since we had booked an overnight cruise on Milford Sound, and still had several hours to drive, we wanted to get an early start. Remember that crappy car that I was talking about? It had a flat. I went to change the tire, and the spare was the small, limited speed, temporary tire…sigh. That’s fine because I still have time to go to the rental place and get a new one. As Beth found out the car rental was less than helpful and all of the cars in the whole country were being used that day. There was not a single car from any agency available. I am starting to get uptight about time because we are still not sure how long it is going to take us to get to Milford Sound, and by my calculations (granted very conservative) we should have left about 45 minutes ago. After some cajoling and creative speaking, one of the rental places changed our tyre (tire).

We will write a little more specifically in the next few blogs, just because Queenstown, and Milford Sound deserve their own space.

Sydney

Has it been a month since we have last written? I think I almost feel guilty about that. Maybe the secret is to keep the entries shorter but more frequent. If that doesn’t work maybe I will need to make a New Years’ resolution. I am sure that would last about as long as the time difference from Minnesota to here.

The latest and greatest thing that we have done was spend a weekend in Sydney. We had an exceptional time. What made it most fun was that we stayed right in the heart of the city, at an area called the Rocks. This is the spot where the city was first founded and has been transformed several times over the years. What this means is there are small streets and alley ways wherever you turn. It makes for fun walking and sightseeing. The opera house is within walking distance and there are markets, stores, and restaurants around every corner. The opera house is amazing and something everyone should see in person. The Sydney Harbor is stunning and the city is an exciting place to be.

Perhaps the most “touristy” thing that we did was the climb the Harbor Bridge. I was very excited about telling everyone what we did as I thought it to be so unique and different. As it turns out Matt Lauer has already done it and featured it on “Where in the world is Matt Lauer”. We were not to be outdone by a Today Show celebrity. I’m including the web site link to take a look at some pictures of the climb (we aren’t in these photos…they are just photos of the bridge,etc). http://www.bridgeclimb.com/

They tend to take their safety pretty seriously. They made us dress in special suits and we were not allowed to bring anything with us…no camera, of course that is because they want to sell the pictures that they take. We each had a harness that permanently attached to a cable on the bridge and we pulled ourselves along on the cable until we reached the bottom once again. Every now and again one of the ropes would get stuck on the cable and we’d all get stopped. It was funny when it happened to someone else. They really tend to play up the whole safety aspect but then it does tend to heighten the whole experience. Our climb was a night climb and it was calm, cool, and dry. I imagine in the wind and rain, it could get rather dangerous and the cable would seem like something more than an unnecessary umbilical cord.

The next day we set out to enjoy some of the famous beaches of Sydney. We had heard of a few different places that we should go but I decided on Manly beach…yes, simply because of the name. To get to this place we had to take a ferry which was just as good as a harbor tour. When we got there we struck out to find our place in the sun. We hiked through the town and found a cute little family beach, where we swam and had a good time. We were a little disappointed though because we expected a lot more out of a beach. Before we left we decided to walk to a different part of the town, where we actually found the beach that everyone was talking about. I have been to a few nice beaches before but I was completely over whelmed by this. We picked a day that happened to be some sort of festival and it was filled with people, surfers, sunbathers, swimmers, and volleyball players. Since the surf was up and we didn’t have boards we decided to swim. We had the best time, playing in the water, and just hanging by the beach. We stood on a sandbar that jutted out into the ocean and to the left and right of us were surfers galore. The waves were just as high where we were standing and they absolutely pounded us. When our intake of salt water became too great, we made the long swim to the beach.
I got to experience the best part of Sydney, but then left the next day. Poor Beth had to stay the rest of the week, for work. She didn’t get to stay in the fun part of Sydney (she had a nice view of the airport though) and got to experience the traffic and crowds. At least we got to spend the fun part together.

The Simple Life

Saturday was Derby Day in Melbourne and Tuesday was a city holiday due to “the race that stops a nation”…The Melbourne Cup. Women and men dress in their finest duds and proceed in droves to Flemington track where they dine on fine food, drink champagne, bet like crazy, and proceed to get smashingly drunk beyond comprehension.

From our perspective, it’s the first four day weekend that we have had and we decide to forget the races and head out of town and see the sites. Besides, we were invited to a friend’s beach house from Sunday through Tuesday. The beach house is in Walkerville which is near a gorgeous national park called Wilson’s promontory. It’s a jetty of land that was once a land bridge to Tasmania. It is green, lush, hilly, windy, and surrounded by the beautiful turquoise ocean.

The government wants to place a number of wind turbines in this area and the people are divided on whether they will allow this. There are many signs and bumper stickers that protest or promote wind energy on the Gippsland coast. It’s the evolution of paradise I guess.

Eric and I decide to leave on Saturday and stay somewhere along the coast that night in order to maximize the weekend. Of course it takes us way too long to get moving on Saturday and then we decide we should avoid any trouble by booking a room before we leave. There aren’t exactly a bunch of Motel 6’s in Australia and rooms can go fairly quickly. It becomes one of those fruitless searches that makes a person decide that they hate the internet. How can there be all of this information and none of it proves in any way useful?

Maybe we shouldn’t go? What if there is no room? Arghh. There is always a room, right? We are packed; we are ready…let’s just leave and see how it goes. Three hours and only 6 incorrect detours later, we arrive at a hotel somewhere within about an hour’s drive of our final destination. Mind you, the trip to Walkerville should have only taken 2.5 hours to begin with. We go into the hotel entrance and end up in the restaurant. We search every door and after finding the kitchen, break room and restrooms, we have to ask someone the location of the lobby. She gives us a blank stare in return. Apparently, hotel’s in small towns are not hotels…they are pubs…and we have just asked if we could sleep in the pub.
We hide our embarrassment and sneak out the back entrance.

We continue on from town to town and find every small motel and b and b to be full. Didn’t we know…this is the annual motorbike festival and rooms have been booked for ages? I’m reminded of just about every road trip I have ever taken with Laura O’Brien where we suffer this exact same fate. We have tried to visit small towns during the annual water ski weekend, tulip festival, art festival, ski racing weekend, and homecoming for the local college, etc. etc.

The shadows are getting long and now we are driving on small country roads that warn of wombat and kangaroo crossings. There is a third animal represented on the signs but we just can’t make out what it is….? Kangaroos are most active at dusk so I’m officially on roo watch as Eric is driving. We pass through the towns of Leongatha, Koonwarra, Korumbura, Lang Lang and Meeniyan and finally pull into one of the motels with a brightly glowing “no vacancy” sign and ask for mercy. Eric sends me in to do the doughy-eyed-pathetic-American-needs-help-in-your-country-thing. The man gives me a list of motels with phone numbers and even calls around a bit for us. At long last we ring a motel that has a cancellation and the room is ours. We stay for the night in a little town called “Foster” which makes us giggle because it seems so Australian and because they have Foster’s beer signs everywhere yet none of the drink is available. The room is something out of a Hitchcock movie but we are glad to have it. We head to the local pub and have a good meal and a couple beers (again, not Foster’s). We shoot a few games of pool and hang out with the locals. At about 10 pm we join in with the mass dart game put on by the bar’s owner and the area high school kids. The owner of the pub explains to us he encourages the kids to come every Friday and Saturday night to host a game and, he says, “It keeps them away from all the booze out there.” It sounds quaint and benevolent until you think about it and the irony hits you that all these kids are now hanging out in the town bar, and most of them are drinking.

We retire at a decent hour because we have plans to rise early and get in a good long hike in the National Park before the others arrive. However, that night the rain starts in and it rains as if to cure Australia’s draught once and for all. It rains through the night and by the next morning someone must have turned the nozzle on high because we have to dash the 5 feet to our car just so we don’t get completely drenched. We spend most of the morning sitting in a delightful café drinking delicious latte’s, reading the paper, and eating the worst eggs benedict on the planet (Caesar salad dressing is NOT a substitute for hollandaise sauce, people!).

November 4 marks one year since the death of our beloved golden retriever Tofte and remembering her by waiting out the rain in a small town bakery and coffee shop (which also contains a strangely placed stage since it doubles for the town theater) isn’t all bad. We explore a bit of the town of Foster as well as the nearby town of Fish Creek before the call comes in that our friends have arrived and we are to meet them at the beach house.

The beach house is fashioned in 60’s style as if to say, “Austin Powers was just here.” Its tangerine orange, kelly green, and mustard yellow interior is cozy and warm with a big deck overlooking the sea and the promontory. Our friend Amanda (she’s from the US, but her Aunt is Aussie and this is her Aunt’s place) was standing on the deck and hand feeding wild bright red parrots. The beach house was one level, had sleeping arrangements for 8, and enough chairs to seat everyone comfortably around the wood burning stove. Basically, it was exactly what a cabin should be. There were five of us, but one
(Andrew) was from the area and would be staying with his parents on their farm just up the road.

The next day is cool and sunny and the crew spent the day hiking to the top of a mountain overlooking the park and the sea.
I know it was beautiful there because I saw the pictures of it.

I, unfortunately, spent the day driving back to Melbourne to help with a surgery and then back to Walkerville in the evening. Do I need to say more about this?
Probably not.

At some point when it is hot and sunny in the summer, we will rent camping gear and hike deep into the park and camp on the beach at a place called “Refuge Bay.” It is actually still quite cool at this time of year and most of the campers that we did see appeared wet and miserable…about as miserable as those lousy eggs benedict.

One of the weekend’s highlights was visiting Andrew’s family farm. This is the type of farm from a children’s storybook. If you could romanticize a farm and then create it in reality, this would be it. Now, Mom and Dad, you know I love you both…but if I could have grown up on this farm, I would be in heaven. And Bob and Gretchen, I must inform you that your son feels the same way.
For the sake of the family farm, Eric and I are hoping for adoption by the Landy family.

Imagine 2000 acres of lush green rolling hills that slope gradually down to a light blue sea. About 1 mile of sea is visible and beyond that Wilson’s Promontory rises up out of the ocean and touches the clouds. I took 20 pictures and none of them even come close to doing it justice.

We visited the farm on a sheep shearing day. Actually it was only a partial shearing for which the details are probably best left out of polite conversation. But, we did get to watch the dogs herd the flock and we watched the farm hands at work. The land was rather wet from the recent rain and our shoes were covered in all kinds of unmentionables. One of the girls in our group began laughing when she got stuck in the mud and said that she felt like Paris Hilton in the show “The simple life”.

Andrew’s parents took us in, fed us dinner, and gave us a proper tour. They are terrific company and very interesting people. We fed carrots to the horses and Andrew’s mom packed us a picnic basket of tea and cake which the five of us took down through the fields to an amazing expanse of beach. The beach was so beautiful that it was the spot his sister had chosen as her wedding site 5 years ago.

Never before have I seen a farm with a beachfront and ocean view.
It really was a place created from the imagination of a children’s book.

It’s nice to know that land so beautiful is only a short drive from here. We returned to Melbourne this evening and with horse races over, it’s back to work tomorrow. Sigh.

Around the Bay in a Day

When I wake up in the mornings I turn my computer on. My homepage is the Startribune website. Lately I have been noticing that the temperatures are in decline, it almost seems unfair that I get to report that we down here are warming up.

Last Sunday was a popular Melbourne bike ride titled “Around the Bay in a Day”. It is an annual event that, as you probably can guess, rides along Port Phillip Bay. Beth and I had already planned a ride with a friend of ours and as the details were being finalized our friend (Amanda), suggested that we partake in the riding festivals. Besides, the web site promised a nice ride with friends, a park where we could relax and listen to a band at the half way point, and free stuff like water bottles and t-shirts.
Our options for the bike ride were 50k, 100k, 210k or a measly 250k. Since none of us felt like we were in great shape, we decided on the shortest of them. I am glad we did. That day turned out to be the hottest October day on record. Temps were in the mid 90’s.

Melbourne seems to have a lot of organized activities. The events have been one after another since we arrived here. The Fringe festival, the International Arts Festival, the Melbourne marathon, and now this bike ride have all taken place in the last seven weeks. These are only the few that I know about. I am sure that we are missing some. The difference between these activities and other activities that I have participated in is the organization and participation. As you may have read in the last blog entry I think that Beth and I were the only people out cheering for the runners in the marathon. Since we didn’t want to be the only people on the sidelines for the cycling event, we decided to participate. We found out on the website that we could sign up between 4:30-8:00 AM. Naturally we signed up at 8:00 because the ride didn’t start until 8:30, who wants to get up at 4:30? The riding officials must have decided to start early because as we were signing up thousands of bikes started whizzing by, which of course throws me into a panic because I don’t want to be left behind.
It has been my experience that when there is an event such as this, a route has been blocked off completely for the participants. It is not the case here. The beginning of the route is in the middle of the city and as we started we were in the midst of hundreds if not thousands of madly peddling people on bicycles. One would think that the roadway would be cleared. It was in parts, but for most of the time we were supposed to stay in the bike lane, which is a little too small to accommodate so many people. Not only that, we are also supposed to obey the regular traffic laws. So here we have a mob of people on bicycles peddling like the wind so they can make the next traffic light. Of course we didn’t always make it. So we would wait patiently for the light to turn green and get our feet cranking again to beat the next light. Of course we wouldn’t make it ……and so on, and so on…..I think it took us about an hour to go 5K. It was shaping up to be a very long day.
After we got through the heart of the city it wasn’t so bad. The biggest challenge was going to be the Westgate Bridge. Imagine the High Bridge in St. Paul but longer…a lot longer. Did I mention that it was starting to get warm out? The advantage that we had going over this particular bridge at this particular time was that we had the wind at our back. I did mention that it was starting to get hot right? We had a strong north wind that day. You may be thinking ahh a cool northerly breeze, remember everything is different here this air comes from the desert, not the tundra we know as Canada.
We had achieved the bridge obstacle and we were now about a quarter of the way through. The half way point was the promise of the band and food and refilling of water bottles.
We reached the park at Altona (the half way point) without much incident, only to discover that the food wasn’t free for the riders. The website said something about enjoying a muffin while listening to a band, drinking from your new water bottle and wearing a fancy new shirt. So far there was a band playing cover tunes, I brought my own water bottle, we didn’t get a shirt yet and now I have to pay for my food. I am glad I brought some money. Some of the advertising promises had come true, we did enjoy the company of friends. We have about 6 friends in Melbourne at this time and we actually ran into 3 of them. With the addition of our German friends Mirko, Rachel, and Eric we became a traveling bike convoy of 6.
After resting in the shade and replenishing the water stores, it was time to head back. Remember the desert winds that helped us across the bridge? Do I need to say anymore? We did get a chance to stop at the bridge apex and take a few photos, you can make out downtown Melbourne (known as the CBD) behind us. Back across the bridge into the city, waiting for the traffic lights, into the park where the rewards awaited.
Finishing a race is always exciting, the roar of the crowd as you come down the shoot, the inevitable photographer capturing your image, food, drink and all the goodies that come with the enormous entry fee. As we and the rest of the stragglers turned to bend to come into the shoot there was no crowd, just like when we were cheering for the marathon. The guy with the camera was there though, but he was changing the film so he missed us. Yes, I did say film. Everything will be alright because the feast awaits us. We dismounted our tired bicycles and made our way to the food tent. As promised a table full of nourishment was in front of us, we made our way into the line and were told that this line was for the people who rode the 100K ride. What we ended up with was a sub par mini-muffin.

We could at least look forward to the fancy new shirt, right?

When we quizzed one of the volunteers he told us that if we signed up the day of the ride we wouldn’t get a t-shirt.

After all the promises the advertisements made, the goodies we were left with was a day with friends…..and a water bottle.