Camping up the Coral Coast

Blog posts to come this week.  For now, you can view the photos on my Picasa page @ http://picasaweb.google.com/Lia.Brezavar/CoralCoastAustralia.

For Rob's mid-semester school holiday break, I took a week off of work, and we went camping up the Coral Coast, heading north from Perth, and stopping all along the way up to Ningaloo Reef, and finally made it to Exmouth a week later. It was a perfect trip, minus a few, maybe 5, driving incidents (one of which was my fault), oh and one food poisoning case. Loggerhead turtles, Emus, Dolphins, Pelicans, Water Snakes, Manta Rays, Swimmer's Crab, Grey Reef Sharks and Humpback Whales. Kayaking, Snorkeling, Diving, Hiking, Campfires, Boat Tours, Fresh Dhu Fish, Oysters, Mussels, Bugs (from the sea), walks on the beach, spectacular sunsets, lots of beer, scenic drives, and much more....

Day 1: Perth - Jurien Bay - Dongara
Day 2: Dongara - Geraldton - Kalbarri
Day 3: Trek through the Murchison River gorges in Kalbarri
Day 4: Kalbarri - Overlander Roadhouse - Denham - Monkey Mia
Day 5: Kayaking in Monkey Mia
Day 6: Monkey Mia - Denham - Carnarvon - Coral Bay
Day 7: Diving and Snorkeling on Ningaloo Reef in Coral Bay
Day 8: Coral Bay - Exmouth - Humpback Whales - Exmouth - Carnarvon
Day 9: Carnarvon - Perth

My 'Aunt Leslie' Moment

So was making rice crispie BBQ meatballs the other night for my housemates. Knew I had to get 1 lb. of minced beef. Looked it up online, even though it's an obvious guess. Wrote it down on the recipe piece of paper. Went to the grocery store, bought the meat. Came home, chopped up the onion and cracked the one egg into the bowl, then sliced open the meat packets, dumped the meat into the bowl, started mixing with the egg...

and lo and behold, I started thinking to myself - this is odd - there's a lot of meat here. Hmmmm... Stopped stirring to think about it for a moment.

Then the lightbulb went off - I had reversed the calculation. I bought 4 Kg. of minced beef - or 4 lbs.!! Yup, I'm that dumb. How many missed opportunities to realize this from the grocery store all the way to the mixing bowl.

So what did I do? Made 4 x the recipe, of course!! And with only one baking sheet, was up making meatballs for the rest of the evening - even had to save some to continue cooking the next night.. Meatballs for a week!!!! But they are yuuuuuummmmyyyyy.

My Neighborhood

If you can get past the suburban, cookie-cutter houses that make-up my ever so clean neighborhood... then it's actually a beautiful place.  And the beach, only a 25 minute walk from my house, makes it all worth it.  Here's some much awaited for photos:

The marina in Mindarie, Clarkson's next door neighborhood

Clarkson - home!  This is just a few blocks from my house.

The walk through the dunes to the beach.  However, at any turn, you can walk into the dunes and you feel like you're taking a nature walk.  Well, actually, you are.  Isolated and alone.  Oh, and the signs leading to the walkways have snake warnings.

The beach at sunset.

Amazing!  That is the day old eclipsed moon with Venus shining high above.

And I love this photo!!  Again, the eclipsed moon and Venus.

A jog to the beach

Finally, finally, finally made it to the beach today!!  It was about a 20 minute jog (with some stops in between to catch my out of shape breath).  It is magnificent!!!  How horrible of me not to have gone sooner.  The dunes blocked the initial beach view from the road, but the deep blue was always there on the horizon, calling me closer.  The dunes remind of me of Cape Cod.  The beach, empty and beautiful and natural, reminds me of the Pacific Ocean beaches, and the water ... well, that incredible blue surf pulls me in like it did in South Africa. 

I'm sorry I didn't manage to jog with my camera this morning, but I'll be back very soon with evidence.

Margaret River

I spent a really nice weekend in Margaret River surrounded by Australians, and courtesy of Bruce.  Wine tasting, cheese factories, bird predators of prey rehabilitation center (where they had a wedge-tailed eagle with a wing span of over 9 feet!), kangaroos, a dairy farm, an Australian breakfast galore, a Western Australian coast sunset, and a baby lamb (no, not to eat):

Pet Kangaroos at the dairy farm.  They sometimes watch t.v. with the family!

Sunset on the Western Australian coast

Yummy grilled (in the rain) breakfast galore: Garlic Spinach, Mushrooms, Basil sprinkled Tomatoes, Sausages, Bacon, Buttered toast and a plate full of poached eggs!!

The birthday girl's (where we stayed and why we went) and her housemates had a baby lamb, only one week old.  She was the rejected twin, and the mother kept pushing her away, and neglected in cleaning her (hence, all the black stuff).  So, feeding time for the lamb.  She gets fed baby milk formula from a cleaned out beer bottled with a rubber nipple!

Missing Thailand

Below is a photo that was shared from friends on Facebook.  It shows the craziness of Thais on their motorbikes... whether it's a family of five or this: 

Ahhh, I miss Thailand.  :o(

An Australian Friend

His name is Bruce.  I met him on Mount Rinjani - that crazy volcano that Bridget and I summited in Lombak, Indonesia.  He was on our 'sister' trekking group.  He lives in Duncraig, a suburb just a 10 minute drive (or 5 train stops) south of me.  As the only person I know here in Western Australia, I contacted him immediately after I arrived.  He took me to a local, live comedy show one Thursday Night - which actually turned out to be quite funny.  A few of the comedians were of Indian/ Middle Eastern descent and took a slap at themselves.  One guy likened immigration to a party.  You have to think of it like a party.  You want to be fashionably late.  If you arrive early, then you have to help set shit up!  If you arrive too late, there's nothing left. 

And then... Bruce invited me to Margaret River, about 3.5 hours drive south of Perth.  My first sight-seeing in Australia...

Observations

The sounds: My first couple of days here, I couldn’t ignore these wailing, whiny, death calls that sounded like slowly dying puppies… not to be too gruesome or anything. I later found out that they’re birds – crows as I was told, but then was corrected and told ravens. I, uh, know we have those in America, but I’ve 100% never heard these sounds before. And they gurgle out these horrifying throat noises all morning long. They may as well be next to my bed.

The neighborhood: I’m living in Clarkson, Western Australia. It’s a suburb just north of Perth. There’s a train that runs right down the middle of the freeway from Perth up to Clarkson, the last stop. And fortunately, I’m only a couple blocks from the train station, and about a 20 minute walk from a shopping center. However, the other day I found a better and more convenient shopping center. It’s so massive that it has names for the various directional wings. It’s in Joondalup, two train stops from me… and thereby I avoid a 20 minute suburban walk. My neighborhood reminds me of a computer game, possibly Sim City. It’s pristine, obviously new, and flat (I haven’t seen a building in the area more than two stories high). On one hand, it’s extremely nice because there’s no trash lying about in the streets (like in Southeast Asia). On the other hand, it’s so clean and repetitive that it’s creepy, like I’m stuck in a simulated suburban neighborhood.

Public Transportation: is really nice and just as clean as the neighborhood. There’s a 40 minute train that runs from Clarkson to central Perth. I’ve recently purchased a $10 (Australian dollars ~ .87 cents to the Aussie $) Smartrip card, which makes it easier to pass in and out of the train station without having to find small change to purchase a ticket. However, before I discovered this card, I was buying single tickets. I didn’t have anything smaller than a $50 bill, and the machine wasn’t taking my US debit card, so I asked a man for change. He didn’t have proper change for $50, so instead he gave me the almost $4 fare. How nice! I tried to think if I would ever do that in NYC. Instead, I might be more likely to point someone to the nearest deli for change. Hmmmm… food for thought. Then I searched around for a slot to put the ticket through to enter the train station, but instead it’s based on a security camera trust system. You just walk through the open gate. So, once on the train, I was headed about 4 stops down to meet a friend, Bruce. We pulled up to the Greenwood stop, and I stood by the train doors waiting for them to open. Nothing happened, and then the train started to move again. Huh?! So, apparently, there are buttons on the side of the doors, and whether trying to get out or on, you must press the “Open Door” button to do just that. Right, well – now you know.

The accent: Australian’s don’t pronounce the ‘r’. So Clarkson becomes “Clockson”. I was in the shopping center the other day after speaking to an employee, she said, “I love your accent. It’s just like in the movies!”

The prices: Australia is expensive!! I mean how do these people survive? Ok, so the wages are inflated, such as restaurant serves are making about $20/hour (no tipping in Australia). However, let me list a few horror examples. My manicure cost $25. Nothing special, no spa atmosphere, just your typical Vietnamese manicurists rushing through my manicure! At least I didn’t have to tip. A small sized cup of coffee (not ‘to go’, because that would be extra) with no refills cost me about $3.50-$4.00. A pack of cigarettes is costing me almost $15-$17/ pack! Yeah, yeah, time to quit.

An Australian Breakfast: commonly consists of half of a tomato and mushrooms on the side, in addition to the typical eggs, toast, sausage and bacon.

Welcome to Perth, Australia

or, ummm... rather, Clarkson, Western Australia.  Clarkson is a suburb just north of Perth.  And I haven't yet been to central Perth, though I've been here.. what, now - a whole week!?!

Okay, so I decided to write another post after a long hiatus. I’ll try to keep it up, but no promises.  I’m living in a house with 3 housemates. And right now, I’m sitting on the couch in the living room with Paul, from England, Padraick, from Ireland, Adrien, an Australian, and Sasha (half Greek, quarter Kenyan and quarter Indian). It’s like the UN in here!  Oh, and get this: they are all a bunch of America lovers.  Seriously.  Guess that's good for me.

Photos of my suburban neighborhood and house coming up soon.  Observant notes coming soon, as well.  Stick with me please, that is, bear with me here.  And if you leave a comment with your e-mail address, now I can add you to receive e-mail notifications every time I upload a new post.  That way, you don't have to keep coming back to check and be repeatedly disapointed at the same old page. 

New country, new layout - whaddya think?

Goodbye Southeast Asia

My decision to leave Southeast Asia was a sudden one. Unexpected. Last minute. Unprepared. Sad. Excited. Nervous. Apprehensive. Unsure. Somewhere in the middle, but home.
Not including this past year of living and teaching in Thailand --- After over 2 months of being on the road and in the air, living out of a rucksack, bargaining for toilet paper and towels, sleeping beneath dusty fans, and showering and brushing my teeth using a spicket (or containing part salt water), I’m turning into a bitter traveler. And I don’t want to be that traveler. That traveler that bitches at the constant hawking instead of turning their heads with a polite ‘no thank you’. That traveler who curses under their breath about an over-charge of perhaps 50 cents. That traveler who feels like their always getting screwed and can no longer focus on the open-minded, cultural, let-it-go point of view. That traveler who has trouble smiling at confusing cultural moments and habits and/or misunderstandings.

I don’t want to become that traveler. So, it is time for me to take a break. I started to think that part of it was Indonesia, that is, at least my experiences in Indonesia these last three weeks, or so. I wonder if it would have been different had we started our rucksack journey in Indonesia, and moved our way up through Malaysia. Would I then be bitter towards Malaysia instead? Well, to be quite honest, I don’t think so. I actually really loved Malaysia, both the bad and good and all the in between.

Indonesia, as an archipelago, is hard to travel. The country doesn’t seem to have any trash collection system, nor even the horrible solution of burning, as with Thailand. Instead, it just lies in massive 5/6 story high piles along highways, and the street gutters are where stores and households empty their personal garbage. Then there was the issue of me being Asian. Never before (seriously, in all of my 26 countries visited!) has my nationality come into so much question. Okay, so I can get through the general assumption that I’m Japanese, or the curious facial expression that I’ve learned to recognize before the question is even asked… but, what I cannot stand is the doubt, the disbelief! Here’s a true conversation:

Indonesian man: Konichiwa (“hello” in Japanese)
Me: No, I’m American. I speak English.
Indonesian man: Where are you from?
Me: America.
Indonesian man: No, you look Japanese.
Me: Well, I’m not. (Trying to walk away)
Indonesian man: (walking after me) Take off your sunglasses, let me see your eyes!

or…. here’s yet another true example:

Indonesian man: Where are you from?
Me: America.
Indonesian man: You look Japanese. Your face is like Japanese.
Me: Well, I was born in Korea, but I am American. So, I guess I’m Korean and American.
Indonesian man: No, you look Japanese. I think you Japanese.

Understand my frustration? This happens maybe 10 times or more a day!

Okay, well – to get back on track – leaving Southeast Asia. There’s also the issue of my Australian Working Holiday Visa. What a nightmare! So… back to the good ol’ U S of A. For a month.