"Walking up" Mount Kosciuszko

Yesterday, we took a nice journey to Mount Kosciuszko (yes, that's spelled right; the Indiana county is spelled wrong!), the highest mountain in Australia. We took a chair lift to this beautiful cafe overlooking the mountain range and up to the summit. After eating, we all thought, "We have our cold weather gear, we can make it up the mountain! Allen told us our gradmother could do it!" So off we went.

Now mind you, we didn't start this little trek until almost 1:30, the waitress told us it would take us 4 hours to get to the top and back if we took our time, and the chair lift closed at 4:30...you do the math. So off our team went! Steve bolted up the mountain and never looked back, not even realizing until he was almost at the summit that "wormy" Carrie (all in fun ) was following behind him. Jess and Kay made it to the lookout (about 2 kilometers from the cafe) before deciding to head down, while little old me made it about 1/2 a kilometer before turning around. Now, when I was planning this trip to Australia, I really believed it would be warm...not so much on top of a mountain! The temperature was 1 degree Celsius with a wind chill of -10....that's 14 degrees in our language people!! Needless to say, it was a cold day and we took the night off from our official Rotary duties last night.

And, my host Colin is one funny guy...I have started to create list of "Colinism's." Just to give you an idea: messy = drunk; wormy = skinny; old cracker = old person (sheep lose their teeth when they get older and the call them crackers...); and Mackers = McDonald's. I'm going to keep my list going and will share more later :)

I've finally posted in Cooma!

Wow, what an amazing, hectic, fun filled week and a half! Australia is truly an amazing country with beautiful and friendly people. Every Rotarian that I have come into contact with has been extremely gracious and very attentive to our team.

I know I am backtracking a bit since everyone else has posted, but let me tell you my perceptions since day one.

We arrived in Canberra after a very hard flight over the Pacific Ocean. The seats were so cramped that it was hard to ever get comfortable. Unfortunately, I had a rather large woman sitting next to me and she kept sitting on me!!! I'm not joking!! So, I tried to move over towards the other side, but kept getting in the way of the people walking up and down the aisle. Just glad to be off the plane. We were greeted by most of our host families. It was a welcomed sight.

I'm not going to bore with all the details, but I was extremely concerned about not having Steve's luggage when we arrived. So much so, that I didn't sleep at all the first night. Luckily it came in and he's good to go.

We were able to see parts of Canberra and the Jerrabomberra Host families treated us like royalty. I stayed with Tony and Megan Rolfe - lovely people and Tony deserves a ton of kudos to pull everything together at the last minute.

On Monday, we were off to the Southern Highlands where again we were greeted with two wonderful Rotarians, John Macpherson and Rob Hurdwell. Wonderful chaps! I can't begin to tell you all the places we saw. I stayed with Barbara McKern and Bob Barrett. Lovely people and Barb was the President of the Berrima District Club. We gave three presentations in two days - Bowral-Mittagong, Berrima District and Moss Vale.

I'll post more later, but everyone has been wonderful and have exceeded our expectations so far.

Cooma

Cooma is good. Australia is good. Australia's beer is good. Australia's wine is even better. To be honest, I haven't been writing much. Rather, I've been living in the moment rather fully and trying to comprehend, understand, learn, and experience to the best of my cability. For those Rotarians reading this, thank you. GSE is a tremendous program, and I surely would not be here, amist Aussie and eucalypt, if it wasn't for your support. Cheerio,

-s

Aussie Kids and Teens

So far, two of us have stayed with families with children living in the homes. Steve stayed with the Cuppitts in Berrima, and they had three boys. The youngest thought that because he was from American, he would be a gangsta, complete with a glock. He wanted to spend the week with his grannie because he thought the American gangsta might have a gun. The middle son asked my if my car had hydrolics on it, and I had to admit that my car doesn't even have working air conditioning at the moment. He also asked if I could rap. And they both asked us if we played Grand Theft Auto.

I am staying with the Sutcliffes' in Cooma, and Ian is 19 and John is 15. (Their daughter, Carrie, is working in Guam.) The drinking age here is 18, andI had to admit it was strange watching teenagers play golf on PlayStation 3 and drinking some Victoria Bitters (a great beer, by the way). They truly are normal teenagers. They eat their mum out of house and home, they pay air guitar, and are a lot of fun. I am glad to have the experience of seeing how Australian kids and parents live with and love one another.

Movin' on down...

So we left Bowral Friday morning (with tears as I'm really going to miss John and Virgina) and made our way to Cooma. It is a pretty smal town south of Canberra. We were met by the local club's President Cheryl and one other Rotarian and his wife. I was supposed to stay with this man and his wife but, unfortunately, it was not the best fit after one night (for those who know how bad my back is, the bed was EXTREMELY uncomfortable) so I ended up moving to stay with Cheryl and her husband Colin (who is also hosting Kay, my team leader). They have been great people and I just enjoyed a great dinner of lamb and vegetables (first time I've ever had lamb...very tasty!)

Over the past few days, we've seen some great sights including Nattai National Park in the Berrima District (had a great time laughing with our escort, Rotarian Allen) and saw some of the most beautiful sights. We then had a GREAT dinner at the Surveyor General Inn in Berrima, Australia's longest continuously licensed inn. We cooked our own steaks on a grill and I partook in some local wine :) Our first night in Cooma, we attended a mayoral reception with the mayor (duh) and some local dignitaries and other Rotarians. I have to say that after Steve gave his introductory speech, I really felt bad about the fact that he is our only male team member and Carrie and I decided not to pick on him as much...not sure how long that will last though ;)

Our first full day in Cooma was today and we spent most of the day driving around and seeing Lake Eucumbene and Adaminaby, a town that was basically covered by water once a dam was built and then moved to a new location (pretty interesting story but I won't get into the details right now.) Tomorrow we are going to the Fest of Poetry, followed by a historic train ride. Then Sunday night we will be having an early Halloween Party! We figured Sunday would be the best night since we will have "official" business at a Rotary meeting on Wednesday.

Finally, I have to stay the highlight of our day was when we were out driving and we saw some more kangaroos in the wild. Kay, Carrie and I got out of the bus and walked to within 20 feet of them! We saw a mom with her joey in her pouch and also some males that other actvites in mind. Let's just say that we witnessed some "rooting" going on for those that speak Australian ;)

Heaps of Kangaroos in the Paddock...

Australia. There is absolutely no similarity between the Aussie bush and Indiana farm country. I did plenty of Australian research, of course, but I soon came to the revelation that reading about something is not quite the same as experiencing it. And that simply knowing of something is not the same as living it. The Aussie bush is a strange and unfamiliar environment, and as surreal as it may sound, I feel strongly drawn toward it. Sad to say, I will only have 6 weeks to gather an impression of the bush. Some might say that is plenty of time, but keep in mind, Aborigines have (had) an accumulative and collective land knowledge spanning 40,000 years. For now, though, I will simply leave with the mention of the prodigious Eucalypt and its benefactor, Fire.

We were welcomed fully in Canberra, which was only to be built upon by our stay in the Berrima District in the Southern Highlands. The Aussie Rotarians are absolutely fantastic people. I owe heaps of thanks to Sue and Paul for their hospitality and welcome in Jerrabomberra. Allan, Kathy and the kids are amazing. I feel as if I go way back with Jake, the Cupitt’s family dog. Safe to say, the scourge of the introduced rabbits has one positive upshot: Jake will forever be entertained in chasing and thus harassing these pesky of pests.

I simply wanted to check in and let folks know that as is well. I do have to say that I’m very impressed by my American cohorts. Each one lends a certain unique quality and degree of professionalism in representing District 6540, and I feel quite humbled to be in their presence. Or as they would most dutifully point out, “shadow.” It’s all good nonetheless.

Cheers,

Steve

Australian Libraries

Yesterday was my first day of professional visits on my trip. My first stop was to the Bowral Public Library, which is part of the local shire (probably similar to our township) library system. Sandra and Roxanne, the assistant manager and the IT director respectively, spent some time talking to me about Horizon, computer literacy in their population, and showing me the New South Wales library legal wesbite. All the libraries in NSW have the same legal books, and the website cites chapters and pages on its website. The state library also tells public libraries when to weed legal books and what books to buy as statutes change. It is a great system. (I will post the website later.)

I also went to the Oxley College school library. It is a private school with grades 7-12. One of the things that struck me most is the no matter where you goof in the world, kids will goof off in the library.

Today, my highlight was attending the Donald Bradman museum. He was the Babe Ruth of cricket, and his childhood home was in Barrima, the town where we attended a Rotary meeting today at noon. Oxley first team was practicing on the wicket outside the museum, and they let Kay and me take some batting practice. Australians love cricket, and while it is a very difficult game to grasp, I can understand their enthusiasm about their sports teams. I will post some pictures of Kay and me with the Oxley boys later.

G’day!

Okay....so I've been in Australia a total of 5 days and can't believe the things I have seen and the people I've met! I spent the first 2 days in Jerrabomberra, a suburb of Canberra but in the state of New South Wales. The first day, my hosts tried their hardest to keep me awake by visiting Black Mountain, Parliament House, and then hosting a barbie for me with some of their friends. I finally got to be around 9 p.m. (after being awake for 36 hours) and got a good night's sleep. I had to work hard to get on Australia time! (which for you Hoosiers is 14 hours ahead!)

Sunday morning I went to mass and then had a brunch at my host family's home with another one of my team members. It was pretty good and I tried Vegemite for the first time...YUCK! Now I can say that I've tried but probably will never again! Our team then got together for the first time since arriving and took a driving tour of Canberra. We then had a quick meeting to prepare our exchange and then attended another barbie at my team leader's host family's home. There I tried Pavlova, an Australian dessert that was great!!

Monday, I took my first ever train ride that lasted 2.5 hours and brought us the small town of Bowral, in the Southern Highlands. It is absolutely beautiful here! We are in the mountains and it is such a change from the flatlands of Indiana. We were taken on a quick tour and went to a few lookouts to see a panormic view of the towns we will be visiting until we leave Friday.
On Tuesday, I went on my first vocational exchange and met with representatives from TAFE (Technical and Further Education Center) which somewhat resembles our community colleges but it still very different and a satellite campus of the University of Wollongong in Moss Vale. We also went to lunch at an English pub in Burrawang and tasted a few local beers....now I'm not a beer drinker but these were VERY GOOD! One thing I've learned is that Australians are big into beer and wine so all you lushes out there, visit Australia some day!!

Today, we visited the Berrima court house, a historical site that is no longer used. It is a beautiful sandstone building and was fascinating to be in. We also visited the Book Barm and had morning tea (this time, hot chocolate time for me!) We then gave our second presentation to the Berrima District Rotary Club and got to meet quite a few fascinating people. I can't get over nice everyone is being and how they are pretty much all welcoming us into their lives. This afternoon, we visited the Don Bradman cricket museum. Don Bradman is one of the most prolific cricket players of all time and grew up here in Bowral. There was a local high school team practicing on the field and Kay and Jessica took their turn practicing hitting the ball. It was hilarious!

On a more personal note, I'm settling in nicely with my current host family. John and Virginia are great people and I think it was kismet that I ended up staying with them. Virginia had a spinal fusion in November of 2000 (5 months after I had my 3rd surgery) and they also have a Golden Retriever named Sammy! I think he could tell immediately that I am a dog lover and has been at my feet since I got here. Kind of feels like home but no one will EVER replace my baby girl Belle.

Write more later....

Pictures So Far

The black man in the tan suit in the back of the photo is Seal. I couldn't get a shot of Heidi Klum, but one of the flight attendants told her to stay beautiful.


This is the first Rotary couple I stayed with in Jerraboberra, Cathy and Colin Hobbs.

Our Journey

We all met at the Ft. Wayne aiport at 2:00 pm EST. We were bumped to an earlier flight, but because of weather conditions, we did not leave for Chicago until 3:52 pm, 22 minutes behind schedule of our original flight. We landed in Chicago about an hour later. The flight from Ft. Wayne was the worst flight of my life. We were on a smaller commuter flight where you could feel every bump. I feel extremely fortunate to live close enough to O'Hare and Midway for every flight I need to make.

After everyone waited for me to get over my aisickness once we landed, we found out that because of the weather, our flight out of Chicago would not leave early enough to make our L.A. connection to Sydney. Kay called the RI travel service, and somehow the five of us were able to get on a 5:30 flight to LAX.

The most exciting thing about out flight to L.A. was that Seal and Heidi Klum were in first class!

Once in L.A., we had some food and walked around some of the shops. We had three hours to kill until our 11:00 PST flight to Sydney.

The flight to Australia wasn't as bad as I expected. Yes, my legs were sore by the end of the flight, but the nightime asprin helped me sleep on and off for some of the it, and of course, I had plenty of reading material with me. The flight was very smooth, and, fortunately, there were hardly any small children who made a lot of noise.

We arrived in Sydney, and somehow United managed to get our luggage onto our flight even though we got reassigned at the very last minute. Well, except for Steve's. It will hopefully get delivered to him today. Immigrationa and customs went smoothly, and we caught our connection to Canberra.

Our hosts from the Jerrabomberra met as at the airport. I am staying with Cathy and Colin Hobbs. Cathy was a member of a GSE team from Canada/ Michigan in 2001 that visited District 9710. She met Colin here, and they've been married for three years. They both knew how exhausted I was, so they kept me busy all day. We visited Mt. Ainslie and the Telestra Tower, had lunch in Kingston (an area with all kinds of shops and eateries, a lot like Evanston), went to an open market to get food for dinner, and took a long walk around Jerra. Cathy and Colin made an excellent dinner of marinated prawns, tuna, and asparagus. After I made it to 8:00 pm, I was pronounced allowed to pass out. I woke up a few times during the night, but didn't really wake up until 9:00 am this morning.

Today, I have spent uploading some pictures and catching up on some e-mails. Somehow, I cannot post pictures to the blog, but if you go to the Flickr site on our links, you can see some of the pictures I uploaded, including the one I took of the back of Seal's head.

Purdue beat Iowa, and Illinois plays Michigan tonight. Greg e-mailed me from Lot D, and I hope all our friends had a good time celebrating the Boilers' first victory after a two-game losing streak.

I wanted to tell George at work that they have goodwill stores here! Tim and Leah, the toilets so far have just flushed straight down. They haven't swirled, so I can't tell if they go the opposite way. And I had my first taste of Vegemite, and it is VILE!

Tonight we're going to a BBQ. More posts and pictures to follow.

We're Here

GSE District 6540 arrived in Canberra a little after 9 Saturday morning in Australia, about 7:30 pm Friday night for those of you back in Central time, or 8:30 for those of you on Eastern time. Right now, we're all exhausted, and our host families are doing their best to keep us awake until after dinner. I'll promise to post more about the journey tomorrow after a good night's sleep.

Good News About the Exchange Rate

As of today, $1 US is about $1.10 AUS. Go crazy at the Yahoo! Currency Converter.

10 more days...