Canadian Welcome

On my arrival home - April 20. And can anyone really ask why I want to live in Australia?

Australian Farewell

The final weekend in Sydney was so casual and laid-back. The perfect way to say good-bye to this country. Joyce and Chris came up from Hervey Bay and Bev came from Brisbane to make sure I got on the plane. JC booked us in to the Quay West Hotel on The Rocks at Circular Quay, and made sure we had a fabulous view overlooking the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House (this pix taken from our hotel room window). It was so perfect we felt little need to move from there to do any sightseeing or moving through the (yet again) rainy city. What a view!

Saturday morning we lounged around with coffee and newspapers, chatting and planning everyone’s next trip and how we would all next see each other. We did manage to move ourselves to get dressed and go out for lunch under the Opera House on the wharf. Then we strolled back to The Rocks through the Saturday Markets. This might seem a little hard to believe, but I am actually “shopped out”. Still it was nice to see the artisans’ work and admire the arts and crafts.

We opted for dinner in our hotel room – no restaurant could rival the view anyway and the best part of the meal, the company, was already in place. So we ordered up room service, arranged the dining room table in front of the bay window, and enjoyed.
The finalé that couldn’t have been predicted (Joyce, how did you arrange this???) was no less than a fireworks display over the Opera House. We aren’t sure what triggered the event (possibly the 2020 Summit, but that was happening in Canberra), but we were as delighted as children to watch the colourful works going off below us.

How perfect is that as a way to end this fabulous vacation?!

Canberra

On a lark I decided to go to Canberra on Wednesday – mostly because I wanted bragging rights to say I’d been to every state and territory and every capital city. (Like the Americans with the District of Columbia, Australia created a separate territory, the Australian Capital Territory, when Canberra was chosen for the capital. So I’ve been everywhere except, until today, the ACT). Lucky tick, because I completely enjoyed myself and really wish I had planned it so it wasn’t so squeezed in. One day wasn’t enough. You learn a lot about a country when you see its capital and its national institutions, and I sure did like what I saw.

When the Australian federation was created in 1901 there was quite a flap between Sydney and Melbourne about which should be the capital city. Through negotiations, it was decided to create a new city located between those two. So Canberra was completely planned – it didn’t grow up through eras – it is totally a 20th century city, and most of the national monuments and institutions like the national library, war memorial and even parliament buildings were built in the latter part of the century (due to the first two world wars taking up most of the nation’s resources during the first half of the century.) As a result, these buildings and the way they represent the society and culture of their country very much have a post-modern sensitivity and self-reflection. It’s not just about Europeans conquering an untamed land. It reflects what came before and has happened since. I was pretty impressed.

Most impressed with their capitol hill. The architects were really reflective in the symbols they created so that they balanced the traditions of the British Parliamentary system with the authentic values of Australia, such as equality and equity, people before government, and a southern hemisphere vs. Western hemisphere view of the world. For example, they have a parliamentary and senate chambers, just like we and the Brits. And the colours in parliament’s chamber is green and the senate’s is red, just like the Brits and us, they have modified the colours to reflect Australia’s place in the world. So the green chamber is a eucalyptus green and tropical sea green, and the red chamber is more the colours of their soil and the corral reef. And they took great pains to include a whole nation – it always saddens me when I visit Ottawa to see how only Ontario and Quebec (British and French) feature in our institutions. Oh there is a come-lately nod to the west and the Maritimes, but it’s clearly an after-thought. Not so in Canberra; it was fore-thought.

Also, the war memorial is very beautiful, as is Canada’s. They have had military involvement in more conflicts than we (they do keep following the Americans into places like Vietnam and Iraq...). They also keenly focus the importance of Gallipoli in their nationhood, and the sacrifice their little population made in WWI. In fact, on a per capita basis, Australia lost more men than Britain. So great was their struggle at Gallipoli, and so important to their self-esteem, that they even have created a beautiful memorial to the Turkish defenders of the Dardanelles, who also suffered horrible losses and who have honoured the thousands of ANZAC buried on their soil.

Anyway, I’m so very glad I got to see Canberra. Aussie’s should be proud.

Sydney - So Far

Guess where I was today. Oh yeah. First thing in the morning I caught the train downtown, stepped into the daylight and there it was! The Sydney Opera House is really the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen in my life. I did the tour through the theatres and heard the story of its construction – a brilliant feat of creativity and engineering. The architect, Joern Utzon, was fired off the job mid-way through construction because of cost and time overruns, and to this day, has never seen his creation in person. Criminal.

On Tuesday evening I went to a performance in the Concert Hall at the Opera House – the Sydney Philharmonic performing Handel’s masterpieces, with a 300 voice choir. Wow! It is a gorgeous hall and the acoustics are phenomenal. What a treat!

Lots to do at Circular Quay – I walked over the Harbour Bridge (not over the top, just the ve

hicle level), saw The Rocks, toured the Botanical Gardens, and went to Luna Park, a Coney Island kind of fairgrounds. Saw some shops. Took the Cahill Walk through town; stopped in at the Charles Billich Gallery – saw lots of his original works. Think I probably put about 12 kms on my new Crocs today (no the sandals, goofs, I wouldn’t be caught dead in the sloppyslippers).

On Tuesday morning I made the trip to Darling Harbour and (I believe) for the first time was disappointed in something I had anticipated a great deal. Maybe it was the rain; it drizzled pretty much the whole day and was a bit chilly (I don’t have socks and shoes with me). Maybe it’s the fact that it’s school break this week and the place was overrun with families so everything was crowded. Maybe I’m just getting tired of being on the road (naw). Maybe it’s that Darling Harbour is just an aging tourist destination that badly needs a face-lift – kind of like Los Vegas in the seventies. Crass, commercial, low value, high cost.

Am hoping the weather breaks –that would pick me up.

Freemantle and Perth

All good things must end, and when we left the Margaret River we headed north along the coastline again for Freemantle and Perth. Freemantle is Perth’s port and is a quaint old settlement that is just beginning to capitalize on its tourism potential – or maybe the residents want it that way. It has lovely old historic buildings in the downtown that are being nicely refurbished and preserved. Some of the original port buildings, including the first gaol, are still standing. You have got to give the Brits credit for consistency. The first building they constructed in almost every port was their prison. We visited the old gaol roundhouse in Freemantle, and it was here that the immigration folks finally caught up with me. I’m to be deported once freed from my bondage.

On Saturday morning we headed into Perth- and I finally got to see this booming new city in the glorious sun of a western Australian day. Calgarians, I took this skyline shot just for you – hope you can see all the construction cranes in the city – more, I would hazard to guess, than are now on the Calgary skyline. Perth has a population of about 1.4 million right now and isn’t likely to slow its growth any time soon. Resources and mining are booming and Perth is head of those corporations, and the capital of the state. The highlight of our Perth tour would be the beautiful Swan Bell Tower – Perth’s millennium project. We arrived at the river-front park where it was located at the stroke on 12 noon, just as the bells were beginning to be rung. Nothing computerized about this; the bells are rung by volunteers each day from noon until 1. Sixteen volunteers standing in a circle two stories below the bells, pulling on enormous ropes to ring the even more enormous bells. Quite a skill. We were just delighted to be able to spend the hour in the tower watching the bell-ringers at their work, and two floors above watching the giant bells sound out. The entire tower moves with force of the bells striking. Quite the experience.

We also toured the city by open-air bus, and once we scraped the bugs off our front teeth, we had a picnic in the park on the Swan River. Life is good. Late Saturday night, Joyce and Chris headed home for Hervey Bay and I headed for Sydney for my last stop on this tour. Spending a week touring Sydney was number three on the top-three things I really wanted to do in Oz, so I better make it good. Chris and Joyce, and friend Bev from Brisbane, will rejoin me in Sydney next weekend to see me off home to Canada. (I have been sooo good for the airline industry in this country). Oh yeah, and there might be the immigration officers making sure I actually get on the plane home. No worries.

Caves and vines

Between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia there are three outstanding features: surfing beaches, limestone caves and vineyards. Joining them together are winding lanes shaded by giant trees, orange soil and a brilliant blue sky. Cape Leeuwin, some say, is where the Indian Ocean meets the Pacific Ocean, but I didn’t see the fence-line myself. Did see lots of other wine-lovers in this grape valley.
I also had the privilege of seeing two most astonishing underground limestone caves – Mammoth Cave, so named because it is so dog-gone big, and Lakes Cave, because (you guessed it) it has a lake in it. They were both beautiful.

These pictures capture just a fraction of the beauty. Lakes Cave in particular was spectacular – due in part to the electric lights that have been installed in the cave. It is silent, except for dripping water, and cool, and the lights reflect off the lake at the bottom and off the crystals in the limestone. These are just two of the underground caves discovered in the area over 100 years ago. The porous limestone in the area has made it possible for underground rivers to carve their way through the rock to the ocean, and centuries (or millennium) of dripping water have created the incredible stalactite and stalagmite formations.

So after cave-visiting in the mornings, Joyce Chris and I would hit the vineyards, starting off with a beautiful lunch at cellar door. Joyce has a very nice way of getting people at one winery to tell her which other winery (apart from their own, that is) they think is the ‘best’ in the region. That’s how we found all the best places – the industry folks never led us wrong. My favourite winery and lunch, I must say, was at Leeuwin Estates. This vineyard produces Australia’s highest rates chardonnay – the 2005 Art Series Chard – and we were quite happy to sample it, even at $18 a glass, for lunch! Other beautiful vineyards included Voyager, Vasse Felix, Xanadu and Mad Fish. This is a picture of Chris in camouflage at the Voyager Estates where they have gorgeous rose gardens built over-top of their underground production and cellars. But I tell you we also took the lead from our good friend Serendipity and found some out-of-the-way treasures – Were Wines, Cape Naturaliste and Pierro are outstanding little vineyards with tiny cellar doors AND beautiful wine.

I can now answer the question – can you have too much of a good thing? Why yes. For a while there JC and I thought we might have to go into rehab when we left the Margaret River. But I can you – rehab is for quitters, and I’m no quitter!!

The Indian Ocean

Sorry JP, if you just can't stand the thought of any more blue skies and sparkling waters you should probably stop reading now. I am finally here on the west coast, dipped my toe into the Indian Ocean. It's not all sunshine you know. The rain goddess is still in full glory and we have been getting some spectacular rain. But when it is good, it is very, very good.

Landed in Perth on Friday night and headed out early for the Margaret River, about four hours south, in the rain. Saturday mid-day reached Bunker Bay resort where we stayed for two nights. Through our good friend, Serendipity, of whom I have written before, we found the Deep Woods wineyard for our first tasting. Lovely wines AND we got a reference to a beautiful spot for lunch the next day - Will's Domain. JC, Chris and I enjoyed a spectacular lunch there on Sunday (see pix). We also managed to find a few other wonderful spots, spend a morning on the beach and the evening in a lovely resort! Day one, big tick.

On Monday, a quiet day in vacation land, we headed for Vasse Felix Estates for some beautiful wines and a meal that was quite the hit. This is the founding vineyard of the Margaret River Valley - the first vines were planted here about 50 years ago. Vasse Felix is spectacularly successful, but no longer on its own. There are now more than 90 vineyards in the area, and an entire tourist industry has sprung up all around the vineyards. People (us included) just love to stop in at the other farms to buy local products - cheeses and other dairy products, olives, home-made jams and other preserves from a variety of locally grown fruits, sheep-products, peanuts, cereals, chocolate and fudge, art galleries and on it goes. This is a beautiful location.

Some of our favorite vineyards so far (in addition to Vasse Felix and Wills Domain) have been Deep Woods, Cape Naturaliste (pictured below), Xanadu and Voyager. More coming soon on these, and our all 'round favourite (so far) Leeuwin Estates. What gorgeous wine and gorgeous art.

I am so priveleged to be able to see this part of Australia and to have these wonderful travelling companions. Chris has been a wine martyr, offering on a pretty regular basis to be the designated driver. That's almost more than a person can ask for when you consider the lovely tastings we have been enjoying. Joyce and I do make weak attempts to volunteer to be the DD (or the skipper as they say around here), but give up our protestations rather quickly when Chris takes the wheel. I think we owe him. Big.

It is also lovely to enjoy how Canadian-friendly everyone is. I hope we never become the 'ugly Canadian' tourist; it is just such a pleasure to see how warmly I am greeted, once they know I am Canadian and not one of those other North Americans.

Stay tuned to this site: I feel a top-ten coming for Australian wineries I have known!!!