6 months!

you can stop counting... it hasn't been 6 months since our arrival in australia (january, february, march...). today is the 6 month anniversary of our wedding. yes, we have been married for 6 months now. and what is the 6 month one? paper?

where does time go? i was wondering that myself. it seems like just yesterday we were still in hamilton. even more so like i was still in school. but no we live here in australia. life has changed rather significantly in the past 6 months: marriage, graduation, starting my career, moving half way around the world, starting a new life, john starting school again, buying a car. no wonder it went by so quickly.

this past week has been none to thrilling. i suppose this is what happens when you settle in and start living in somewhere. we've decided however, that we will not fall into the "i live here" trap that many people do. we promise to continue to do touristy things and explore the city and state as much as we can.

i'm not sure if i have mentionned it or not, but i will be going to the ultimate frisbee nationals in melbourne at the end of april. fun, no? again, i don't think i'm really at the caliber to play at national level, but whatever. they asked me to go, so i'm going.1/2 of our team is canadian and our jerseys are red and white (or black, depending on the game). if any of you have candian paraphenelia (sp?) that you want to get rid of, send it along. my captain said we were going to call it team canada, but thought that wouldn't go over well at the australian nationals... if nothing else, it will be a good way to explore melbourne and see another part of this country. because of this, my weeknights are filled with ultimate: practices, fitness sessions, mock games, throwing the disc around with john.

john's getting busy with school. but no worries, he gets a 2 week break starting this weekend. yup, 2 weeks. i'll point out that he has only been in class since feb 19th or something like that. the aussies get a ton of breaks in their Uni year. it's really odd. he'll probably work a bit more (i need a sugar daddy after all) and spend some time studying. we're hoping to go away for easter weekend. dont' know where yet, but i'm sure we'll be able to find a 3-4 day adventure.

this weekend is gearing up to be a good one. tomorrow night is a fundraiser that my team is putting on at a pub. should be good times. then saturday and sunday is the West Coast Blues and Roots Festival. it has an amazing line up of australian and international acts. we're dissapointed because Dave Matthews cancelled their australian tour, and hence, will not be headlining on saturday, but that's ok. there'll still be the likes of john mayer, ben harper, wolfmother, xavier rudd and so on.

i'm hoping that the weather gets a bit nicer. this week has been "cool" for this area of the world at this time of year. it's been in the low 20s during the day, but in the teens in the AM and PM. apparently (according to my patients) this is the type of weather we'd expect to get in the dead of winter - may and june- not now. but if this is winter...bring it on! i'm just hoping it doesn't rain. the coolness i can deal with...sort of. i'll just have to find some light weight mittens in our winter box. sad, i know. but see how quickly you can adjust to a warmer climate. you'll all understand when you come to visit...

xo

Sculptures on the beach

another week has passed without too much excitement. john's doing very well with his arm. still has some limited movement, but much better then previously. he tried biking today but it's a bit uncomfortable still. we're treating his arm daily, so hopefully he'll be back to full injury-free status soon.

we went to the "sculptures on the beach" in cottesloe this week. twice, in fact. it's a neat festival type of event that this suburb has been hosting for 3 years. artists from around australia (and i think worldwide) create these magnificant pieces of art that are displayed on the beach, in the park and for some, in the water (a giant floating 8 ball). some of them were pretty spectacular (well, most of them were). they can all be purchased, but range from 2500$ per piece to over 50000$ per piece. the camera died when we were half way through, so some of the more amazing ones didn't get recorded, but i'm posting a few of them for interest sake.

today i went into fremantle to attend an indian food festival. which sounds better then it was. so much potential. but it consisted entirely of 12 stands of different types of indian foods, and a small (very small) stage for a performer. that's it. we were going to get food, but it was just too darn hot to even contemplate eating indian food. instead, my friends and i lounged in the park under a tree and enjoyed some tasty gelato. then lounged in a pub by the water. tough life i tell you. tough life.

2 important days this week. tomorrow is my hubby's (ha!) birthday. the big 3 to the power of 3 birthday (27, for those of you trying to do the math). no big plans as of now. we are going to the west coast blues and roots festival in 2 weeks as part of his birthday gift though, so that will be fun.

the 2nd day... we arrived in australia 2 months ago tuesday. wow! were does time go. (see, as a forewarning, it does go quickly, so those of you planning on visiting, start planning now. i mean it) my/our permanent residency application will be submitted this week as well. a potentially big week coming up.

as an aside, if any of you out there are wondering what to do with that bit of spare cash you have lying around (don't deny it, i know that many of you do) and you're thinking, "gee, should i go rrsp, mortgage payment or charity?" feel free to donate it to the "michelle-wants-to-go-to-ultimate-frisbee-nationals-in-melbourne-at-the-end-of-april" fund. it's a worthy cause. because i really, really, really want to go. and by go, i mean play, not watch. i wouldn't have a fund just to go watch. i'm not that lame.

also, but not least importantly, a very big thank you to my aunt fran, uncle mark, maya and chris. the linens from india arrived this past week (much to our excited surprise) and they're beautiful. we especially love the colour of the top-sheet cover. such a stunning orange. it works very well with the colour scheme in the place. we're also fans of how soft the towels and sheets feel. much better then the "stock" towels we were provided with here. so much nicer. and now it's starting to feel a bit more like a home, not just a house.

xo

Wanted: Urban planners (and happy birthday monique!)

ideally, ones who have a bit of history working with roads and that type of infrastructure (which, if that's what all urban planner do, then forgive me for making that mistake). let me explain...

the roads in WA are bizarre. first, the speed limits are amazingly low for the type of street your using. "highways" are about 60kmph here. and, they change at the drop of a hat. for example, i drive on a "highway" to get to work. this highway has speed limits that go from 60-70-80-60-90-60-70-80 within about 15 minutes of driving. it makes me ask why? why would you do that? just make it one smooth speed limit for the entire length of the highway. for that matter, dropping the speed to 60 for about 500m will not make a difference because not very many people actually slow down. but the speed thing i can deal with. what i can't deal with, is the traffic lights.

that's because traffic lights here have no particular order of function. they have right turn only lights without having a right turn only lane... which is annoying when you get stuck behind someone who doesn't turn their flicker on until it's too late and you're doomed until the next light because the right turn only has become a no-right turn red arrow until the next round. not only that, but the lights don't follow a pattern. it's not that 2 opposite directions of traffic have turning privileges at the same time, and then can go straight at the same time, followed by the next 2 directions of traffic. oooooh no! that, my friends, would be much too simple for the aussies. what they do is let one direction of traffic go, then cut them off half way into the light to let the right turn only happen, then go back to that same lane. then another right turn only, then another lane of traffic. i can't really explain it very well, but you can get stuck at the lights for a solid 8 minutes sometimes, which can really make you late for work (though not yet, thank goodness!)

another beef about the traffic system is that pedestrians appear to have no right of way. there are signs around places that say "pedestrians, yield to cars". which amazes me, because "way to promote green and healthy living". at street lights, i've waited 10 minutes before having my turn to cross. and again, because of the non-sensical traffic lights, you can't even dash across in hopes that you won't get hit because you have no idea where the traffic will come from.

and don't get me started on cycling around here. i'll inform you now that john was hit by a car on his bike on wednesday. if you think that's shocking, imagine how i felt when he told me over the phone (again) and i had to drive home trying not to freak out (again). don't worry though, he's doing very well. his right elbow is in a bit of a trick right now, but overall he suffered very few injuries. i'll keep you posted on his progress with the elbow as we figure out what's going on with it. he's supposed to have xrays this week, just in case.

the weather this week has been unbelievably hot. i'm not trying to rub it in canadians, but it's true. while you were suffering in the asoundingly cold -42, we were melting away in the +45. i know it's not bad when you think about it like that, but it was so hot. and the clinic i work in didn't have a/c on the first few days because it was broken. try treating patients in small, confined rooms with no a/c in 45 degree weather! sweaty sweaty sweaty. thankfully, the beaches nearby are soothing and very refreshing, even at 6pm.

so needless to say, we've had an interesting week and a boring one all at the same time. we've watched a few movies and relaxed this weekend. though we did head into subiaco (or subi, as it's known here) on saturday. it's very much like kits in vancouver. apparently it's a popular place for celebrities and footy players (single gals, i'll take you here when you come...) today, i had an ultimate practice on the beach. let me tell you that after 2 hours of diving in the sand, you find sand in places you didn't know exist! but it was good times. tonight we're having a bbq with some neighbours.

and happy birthday to my sister monique (happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you look like a monkey, and you smell like one tooooo! lalalala). she turns 29 today! hope you're having fun!

hopefully next week will be a little more exciting (and less at the same time). i think we're going to explore a beach in cottesloe, which has a sculpture/exhibit on all week. no other plans so far.

xo

So they DO exist

ladies and gentlemen, i am writing this post to inform you that the elusive kangaroo is no longer elusive. whislt on our evening away camping (more on that) we saw them in droves. hoorah!

i picked up john after work on saturday (around lunchtime) and we headed east. we weren't 100% sure of where we were going, but we knew it was in that general direction. none of the parks on the map have the "camping" sign, so we weren't really sure if we were going to camp at all. we decided to go to the closest park - john forrest national park- and explore / try our luck. as we drove on the old bumpy road, we were impressed with the views of both the city at a distance, and the park itself. we saw a sign for the "recreation area" and hoped for the best. we parked the car in front of the tavern and kiosk (yes, a tavern in the national park) and jaunted to the ranger station.

turns out, you don't camp in australia during fire season - read: almost all summer- but the ranger helped us out. he told us we could camp in one of three areas near there and he was happy to let us do it. he suggested we wait until dusk to set up though, so as not to cause any issues. we thanked him and happily headed out for a hike in the park. the unique and profoundly different florae in australia is a fascinating thing to experience.

the ranger provided us with a small "guide map" of the park. we originally tried to follow some trails. however, much like the rest of australian things, the signage was very poor. we'd follow one track and suddenly be on another, etc. so we just walked around and hoped that we could get back. we had thought about following a long, 15km trail, but the sign informed us that you had to sign in and out with the ranger for that one (and you needed at least 2L of water and snacks for each person). we still managed to hike on some less populated trails as well as some of the wider, softer trails. while we were on the trail, we here the faint rustling of shrubs, much like the sound of deer trodding around. but lo! it wasn't deer. it was kangaroo! 2 of them jumping in front of us. great! they saw us and stopped, looked at us (just like the deer do) and waited for us to go by before they jumped off. i was so happy, you have no idea. we continued to walk and explore.

there are 3 decent sized waterfalls but in the dry summer season, they, well, run dry. but it was still neat to see the underlying rock. that said, the river and lake were also dry. they had a small "swimming pond" but it's not treated and looked pretty stagnant, so we avoided that. we did sit on the rocks of one of the waterfalls to enjoy our PB sandwiches and coffee (for john). we had to scare off some pretty balsy birds who came within centimeters of us, hoping to grab a bite of the sandwich. these birds are funny though, because they have a polyphonic sound to their song. we call them the polyphonic birds (because we don't know their real name and john's a nerdy musician). although, we don't really like these birds too much because they wake us up every morning, hollering at each other in our courtyard.

we were running out of water and getting pretty hot, so we ended our hike.... with a cold beverage at the tavern. and much to my enjoyment (and john's as well) there were a bunch of kangaroos just lazing around the back. the tavern puts out some grain food for them, so they like to spend dinner time there apparently. it helps that the tavern is in a shady area at that time of day, and on the edge of an area that is good for jumping around! we haven't figured out what a group of 'roos are called: pack, mob, school, etc. any input? we were coming up with some silly "australian" sounding names for it. like a "danglyup of 'roos" of "jiberoo of 'roos" but i don't think they're right. of course, looking at the picture of me with them, i could call them a "harem of kangaroos".

we sat there for close to an hour. i couldn't stop laughing at how funny kangaroos are. they really don't make any logical sense. i mean, why would jumping be best? seems odd. and they kind of look like a cross between a deer and a mouse. which is a wierd cross, but who am i to decide. we took pictures of them eating, walking and just plain hanging out. we also noted how lazy they seem to be. not that we can blame them what with it being so hot around here. those pictures you see on post cards - kangaroos lying on the gound - they're true! i am officially coining the term "lazy like a kangaroo" and/or "as lazy as a kangaroo". if you feel like using them, let me know and i'll tell you if it's ok :)

the woman who owns the place could clearly see how much we were enjoying them and i asked her if they were pretty tame. she took some food in her hand and one started eating it. she said they are mostly docile, but they don't really like being touched (which she demoed by touching one and making him growl). she asked if i wanted to feed them. to which i jumped up and ran over. it is an amazingly odd sensation to have a kangaroo eat out of your hand. but hilarious. and they make the funniest crunching noise when they eat. makes me think of some people i know, actually... but that's a story for another time.

there weren't only kangaroos in the area. the ducks had come to eat as well. and more importantly, so did the parrots. yes, parrots. there were pink and grey parrots, and green ones, and even a white and orange one. i never really thought that australia was tropical enough for parrots, but then, what do i know? the tavern had become a petting zoo.

we left the bar to go have dinner in the picnic area (yes, we brought our own food. believe it or not...). and lo! again, the kangaroos were hanging out nearby. they have very keen ears (which move independantly from one another, by the way). they didn't run away, but they definitely looked up at us a lot. when we finished dinner, we finally set up our tent (thanks katie, jason, tamara and jarrod). we couldn't have a fire, so we poped our head lamps (thanks lauren and christine) on and sat at the picnic table with some drinks and snacks for the night. unfortunately, we couldn't use our stove (thanks laura and marcel) for anything that night because of the fire hazard, which also meant no smores. we spent some time looking up at the sky and trying to find the stars that we know back home. we only recognized "orion's belt". we're not really very good amateur astronomers apparently.

the next day, we packed up (with the 'roos eating nearby) and drove to another area of the park. we did a shorter walk but it was pretty hilly...which we noticed on the way down, but felt on the way back up. if you look closely, you can see me on the path. john's only about 20 meters up from me. we walked through some areas that appeared to have been ravaged by fires in recent months. we were amazed at how some trees and plants continued to grow, even though they had been burned pretty severely. nature truly amazes me! we finished our time at the park by stopping at a lookout and taking a few snaps of perth in the distance. it's nice to know that we can be so close, and yet feel so far, from the city.

as an aside... i want people who watched the polka dot door when they were young to think about this. was the polkaroo a kangaroo? polka-ROO, kanga-ROO. he has a long tail, two big feet that he stands upright on and two small upper limbs. kangaroo's also have that. i couldn't remember if he had a pouch or not, but i think the polkaroo was/is indeed a kangaroo.

and so, that was our first experience in with our new tent (yay!) and more importantly, with the 'roos.

xo

Circus Oz

last night, we went to see circus oz. before i explain this, i just want to say that circus oz is similar to cirque du soleil. but amp it up a bit, decrease the cast size, and give everyone involved in it copious amounts of crack. i think that about sums it up.

john bought these tickets way way way in advance for us, as a surprise for me, so we even had front row seats. i don't know if i've ever had front row seats for anything. unless you consider showing up late for a movie premier and getting the front row as a good thing. or maybe when i was little and we went to french singers who came to cornwall. i think we always had front row then.

the show starts with a guy, who has a mullet wig, ripped plaid shirt and nasty shorts on, biking around the stage. suddenly the rest of the cast comes out one by one, or two by two, and get on it as well. in the end, all 12 people are standing on this guy and or this bike as they circle the ring. it was crazy. but that explains the nature of it a little.

there were some amazing things throughout the show, but i won't tell you about all of them. for one, i don't have that kind of memory, and two, it's just better to see it live. but i'll explain the pics a bit. at some points, i felt like john and i were more in awe at the ability for them to do some of these things without breaking something, then we were about them actually performing. forgive the quality of the pictures... it was a "no flash photography" event.

this one is 3 people on a pole, climbing it in any which way they can. one guy climbed up it facing down, the other held himself out to the side, etc.


this is the cast using a trapeze that was set up at the intermission. they were doing some pretty impressive stuff on it, in character as kids who just got out of school.


this girl could bend herself in the most ridiculous way. as a physio nerd, all i kept thinking was "don't break your pars interarticularis!" i know. mega nerd. but i swear, i was in pain just watching her bend. she finished off by getting inside the small "lemonade cart" that she was standing on for this trick. it was kind of creepy looking.


this picture was part of the finale. they light all sorts of things up and performed in the flames. a few flame throwers, a few fire eaters. a few girls doing hula hoop on fire, etc. it was a good way to end the show.


and this is us, at the intermission. yes, i know, we never take pictures like this... lol.


the plan for today is to go camping (or at the very least head out to the hills in the avon valley to do some hiking) look for that post sooner then later, hopefully with a picture of the ever elusive kangaroo. i'm still not so sure about them...

xo