Denmark Highlands

Our morning was spent watching TV and adjusting photos for this here site. Mum got home around 1:30 and wanted to take us up to the Denmark Highlands to show us the new homes and try to see some kangaroos. The Highlands are kinda like "snob hill" back home, but the view is amazing. The last time I'd been up here was with Hayley and her friend, Sarah Hutchinson, to meet her parents. Sarah doesn't live up there anymore, but the view is still amazing. Four years ago there were only a couple of homes built... but now, there's half a dozen homes and another half-dozen being built.

Mob of Kangaroos

Before heading out, we spotted several kangaroos just a few feet from the road so I got out and calmly walked up to the mob. At first glance there appeared to only be three, but several more were behind the trees and lying down in the tall brush. In retrospect I was very foolish in the way I approached the mob; I just slowly walked forward without looking around for snakes around me. Of course nothing happened, but I've kept that in mind since.

Wasp VS Spider

After snapping a fair few photos of the kangaroos, they packed up their joeys and bounced off. Back in the car, Hayley called out that there's a big wasp I should take a look at. Never before had I seen a wasp this big or this color. The wasp was close to 3" long with a black body and orange legs, head & wings. But... the wasp was dragging a spider about twice it's mass. I snapped three photos before it dropped the spider and lifted straight up into the air. That's one hell of a statement: I'm several hundred times bigger than this insect, but it dropped it's food to stare me down. Slowly backing off I got back into the car. Much later Mike told me he'd been stung by that type of wasp, leaving him without muscle control of that side of his face for hours.

Still not used to the time difference, we woke up around 6am and took a walk into town. Taking the exact same shortcut Hayley showed me 4 years ago was like walking into a memory. We walked along Ocean Beach Road to Clark Close, took the dirt alley, up past the primary school, across the field and into town. The town is pretty quiet this early in the morning... a few cars, birds, and the smell of fresh goodies in the bakery we passed. People here and there were readying store fronts or walking their pets in the morning cool.

Wicked Bird Bath

I'm not sure when, but we went to CalTex for mum's work schedule and then to the nursery. Lots of interesting flowers and plants, pots, and other interesting bits and pieces. Hayley showed mum an edible plant that was sweet if you ate the rind with the fruit. Too bad mum didn't eat the rind! We turned and noticed that the shop clerk had been watching us and asked if there was anything she could help with. Hayley mentioned that the plant was edible and the clerk mentioned that they had some blueberries she could look at. Mum picked up some things at Dewson's -- now a Supa IGA -- and we headed home for tea.

Fish & Chip shop

Today was our last day with Nan & Pop Worth. Pop asked me if I'd like to join them on their morning walk around the neighborhood. Pop told me that most mornings they take the neighbor's dog for a stroll, Rex his name was and he's a white LabraDoodle. To be honest where we went isn't really important other than it was nice to see the area that Nan & Pop have called home for 25 years. I even learnt about State Homes, where indigent people can rent a government home and, if they meet certain criteria, they can buy the home. If a State Home is close to 20 years old and vacant, the state will level it and put up a new home or two on the lot.

Pop Wally & Rex

Speaking of land and homes... Nan mentioned that a growing trend among land/home owners is to build a second house in the back yard. Yes, two homes on one lot, seperate driveways, and a fence-split yard. I'm not talking about a 200'x200' lot either. I'm talking about a 75'x75' lot. You go and build the second house, and then sell both and retire or you rent one out while living in the other. Certainly not what I'm used to in the States, but it's a great way to kick off retirement. We saw some great birds and nice homes along the way and we wound up at the same strip mall where we picked up our fish & chips the other night. Nan went into the news agency for the daily paper and I snapped a great photo of Poppy Wally with Rex. Paper in hand we headed back home.

BBQ Brekkie

Pop lit the BBQ as we got things ready for an al fresco BBQ brekkie. Once the surface plate of steel was hot enough, Pop tossed on some slivered onions and a few Australian-style sausages. Once the sausages had greased the plate, Pop added some trianguar-shaped hashbrowns near the bottom before slicing up a couple of tomatos. Pop stirred the onions and rolled the sausages just before Nan brought out some metal rings and some eggs. You put the rings on the plate and crack an egg into it -- just like the egg on a McDonald's Egg McMuffin. After putting on the tomatos and some bacon, Pop turned the hashbrowns & sausages before scooping off the onions.

The tomatos got a quick flip before everything got put onto our plates. Don't ask me how, but Australian bacon is pre-cooked before packaged & sold in stores. This is great because you can eat it straight out of the package without worry of E.Coli! This was the best breakfast I'd had in a very long time, and can't wait to give it a try back in the States.

After brekkie, Pop and I sat down to watch some Cricket. Right now there's a five-game playoff series between England and Australia for "The Ashes." Now, most Americans have no idea about cricket, myself included, let alone the importance of "The Ashes" that both teams were competing for. From what I recall Pop said that one of the team's mascots was cremated (can't remember if it was the Brits or the Ozzies) and kept in a small trophy-shaped urn. We didn't get to watch too much of the game because mum and Simone pulled into the driveway.

Mum's Honda Accord

We had a quick chat, and showed everyone some photos of the snow back home before packing up our things. Mum's new car is a 2006 Honda Accord Euro... Yeah, a Euro edition of the car that's sold in Oz. This car looks much better than the versions sold in the States. Mum had driven the whole way up with Simone as navigator, so on the way back we got lost three times, nearly had two accidents, and only filled up once for a 5-hour drive.

Locust piant job

The drive back was very long, and had some fun spots here and there, but it was mostly Hayley, mum & Simone catching up. There was, however, a massive swarm of locusts that were prevelant on a long stretch between Perth and Denmark. It wasn't like a Biblical swarm of locusts, but it was very impressive. When we stopped at a CalTex (from what I understand Chevron and Texaco have an Australian chain of gas stations called CalTex) for some food & water, the grille and windshield was absolutely plastered with locust guts.

Denmark itself has changed a bit since last time either of us were here. Dewson's (kinda like a Safeway) is now a Supa IGA, the Denmark Co-Op is now an IGA, Café Lushus is now a Chooks, the computer store was replaced with Main St. Movies (the town's second video shop), Capers was replaced with an apartment, the Telecenter (more than an Internet Café but less than a data entry business) is now next to the library, there's a Mitre 10 (Home Depot) next to CalTex, a new print shop has opened, and several more homes have been built. But it's still my favorite town in all of Australia.

Still suffering from lack of sleep and a stressful flight, we didn't get aroud to doing a whole lot today. I wandered around the back yard, and Hayley had a chat with Nan about their house and the plants and flowers planted here and there. Not really paying attention to their conversation, I started snapping photos of some interesing stuff in their yard. There's so many photos of flowers and interesting leaves with little bugs crawling on them, but I'm not sure anyone really wants to see photos of that.

We had a short nap, and woke early in the afternoon. Nan had brought out some old photos and coins for us to catch up on. Nan's a great nan, but she has a bad habit of repeating things she said just moments before and working herself up over small things. For example, Hayley's dad, Peter, married a Ukranian named Lenochka (not sure if that's spelled correctly) who moved to Oz with her two youngest children. Long story short, things didn't work out well and she went back to the Ukraine. She's now been calling Nan all the time trying to get ahold of Peter, but no one seems to have Pete's cell number. This causes Nan to bitch and moan about it till she gets to stuttering and in a tizzy, rather than telling Lenochka to just piss off.

XXXX Gold

Pop got home from work and we had another two tonics before heading out to the Chinese restaurant. Oh, Pop's tonics are dark Australian ale with some lemonade mixed in. Very refreshing on a hot day. The Chinese restaurant is just a few blocks away from their house and like most other restaurants in Oz, they're BYO... yes, Bring Your Own alcohol into a public restaurant. We brought along a bottle of XXXX Gold that you can see in the photo to the left, and a bottle of white wine. Let's see... what did we order? Everyone shared some fried rice, Pop had the sizzling mongolian lamb, I ordered the satay chicken, Hayley asked for sweet and sour pork, and Nan ordered the combo chowmein. Now things are a bit different than in the States. All of the dishes are put onto a large Lazy Susan in the middle of the table and everyone serves some of each onto their plates.

X-Mas Lights

There was plenty of good conversation, and our waitress was a nice Chinese girl in her late teens with jet black hair put back into small but spiky pig tails. She was hilarious, and said stuff an American waitress would never say. She was talking about her family, how other customers sucked about not wanting air conditioning on, and swearing. But here swearing isn't as villified as it is in the States. Hell, people and politicians say "Hell, Damn, etc." but after 8:30pm... anything goes.

So, our dinner was great, Pop and I got rather tipsy and laughed most of the way back to the house. All night we had a running joke about how Pop needed a bonfire to get the morning's BBQ going and we were going to need the fire department to put it out. Trust me, you had to be there. Pop fired up the X-Mas lights and we chatted about things I've since forgotten before calling it a night.

Nan & Pop's house

As we pulled into the driveway our taxi driver honked a couple of times at Pop Wally who was just stepping out of the garage. I swear he'd looked the same since I'd seen him last. Out the window the driver asked, "Do you know a couple of Americans?" Pop smiled big and headed to the taxi, with Nan just behind. Hellos, I love yous, and hugs were shared before we grabbed our bags waved goodbye to the driver and headed into Nan & Pop's. We sat at their dinner table chatting about the flight and doing a bit of catch-up. Looking around, the place hadn't changed a bit in four years. Nan's dolls were like a small army of memories and stories, photos lined the walls, and the cool hardwood floor reminded me I was standing in Oz.

After a shower we talked a bit before Nan walked us through the house to show us what's changed in four years. A new TV and DVD player in the lounge, new dolls, more photos, and a bit more grey on Nan & Pop's heads.

For months we'd been pining for REAL fish and chips, so we nearly blurted it out when they asked what we'd like for tea. Oh, by the way, dinner in Oz is called tea, breakfast is called brekkie, and lunch is lunch. We headed down to the shop and brought back the most fantastic fish and chips ever.

Those are words that strike fear into gods and mortals alike. We've not been able to find our E-Boarding passes at all in the last day and a half, and it's really disturbing. Our passports and itenerary are right where the should be, but the damn passes have vanished. Hopefully they can be reprinted since they're electronic. We HOPE they can be reprinted.

Great News! Hayley found the boarding passes in the glove compartment of the car. Now on to cleaning the house.

Today it started snowing around 11am and has been off and on all day. Thanksgiving was allright. Not really my idea of a great time, but it was all right. My grandmother puts a lot of emphasis on everyone getting together, but to be honest... it feels like any other day. Got some photos to bring with us on vacation to show Hayley's family.

Oz Flag

After 5 months of no updates, I'd be surprised if anyone has been checking my site at all. However, if anyone is this post is to inform everyone that the site is being redesigned in preperation of our upcoming trip. The site still exists, but you won't find any links to anything on this redesign.

The reason for such a bleak redesign is one of necessity. I'm not sure of the Internet connection speeds of any the places we'll be staying during the trip. I'll try very hard to upload new photos and video every night of the trip so everyone here in the States can see how we're doing. This redesign won't have any of my artwork, because I'm right in the middle of designing my other web site and can't be bothered to work on both sites.

Hayley and I are heading back to Oz from November 28, 2006 until January 10, 2007. It's been three years since Hayley's been home, and four years since my last trip to Oz. A trip back is LONG overdue. Hayley's birthday, Jess Silver's birthday, Mum's house warming, Christmas, and New Years all in one trip. We'll be flying non-stop from Seattle, WA, USA to Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan, then straight to Perth, WA, Australia.