Miscellaneous Moments

Thursday morning, 13 February

We're enjoying creating some home-like routines, though pushed earlier by an hour each day.  Queensland doesn't do daylight savings time, that and being closer to the equator means that the sun rises very early - the sky begins to lighten around 5:15am - and then sets early, around 6:30pm.  That's taking some getting used to, coming from Seattle where summer sun washes until 9:30 or 10pm.  The big effect is that Kate is getting up about an hour early; the sunlight just doesn't let her doze too late.

Anyway, while we get more domestic, we thought we'd share some moments and images from our journey so far.

Opium field, Tasmania - Tasmania is the largest supplier of opium to the pharmaceutical industry in the world.  Who knew?

Laughing Kookaburra with supper (Healesville wildlife refuge, Victoria)

Three Mates - Long-billed Corellas - these guys squeaked and squawked in huge flocks and kept us company during our stay in Port Fairy, Victoria

Graffiti Australia Party - These posters - satirical commentary on the state of politics in Australia (complete with American-style willful ignorance - were part of a very cool exhibit of various media by young people at the Ballarat Art Museum, which has (for a fairly small, old gold mining town) an impressive portfolio of Aboriginal, traditional Euro-Australia, and modern pieces.

Punk-rocker!  A Pacific Baza, with penetrating eyes and a spiked crown, watches us watching it in the Mt. Coot-tha bush park, Brisbane.

A display case of historical relics in the old medical school building, University of Queensland.  Note the upper left hand quadrant - a carousel slide projector!!  (Wonder how much they'd pay for ours…)

These guys work for the NSA, or what?  Part of the mob of kangaroos that kept an eye on us at our hilltop cottage in the Yarra Valley, near Melbourne.

Baby wombat being cared for by a wildlife sanctuary near Hobart, Tasmania.

Mens Shed - kinda brings up images of a beer-drenched refuge for hen-pecked men.  But, these sheds are actually community supports for especially older men who struggle with loneliness, depression, isolation, where they may engage in woodworking or other group activities.  In some places, these sheds have been opened up to women, too, and so are called community sheds.