Wicked!

Had a girls' night out tonight. What fun! Gossip with my friend Cyveen over nice red wine and amazing food at a restaurant called Comme Kitchen. It was down a cute cobblestoned alleyway in the fashion district. The food was amazing.
http://www.comme.com.au/
We lingered a little long over our wine and then ran (as much as Cyv could in her heels) down the road to get to the show before the first act started. We watched Wicked - the story of the witches of Oz before Dorothy dropped in. What a clever tale! Good for many laughs. The music wasn't bad, but the story and amazingly colourful sets were what really made it.


The best part was the lead who played the Wicked (or not so wicked) witch of the West. She had the most glorious voice. Nothing overdone, she soared through all notes with a clear beautiful sound.

Not being a fan of musicals, Paul stayed home. I think he missed out, though I'm sure he enjoyed himself more than with all of the girly chatter!

Swine Flu Blues

So, initially, the swine flu was a little frightening. Then a bit of a joke. Parents in Melbourne started having swine flu parties so that their children would get exposed to the mild form before it mutates. We had one child admitted to the PICU who had swine flu, but was admitted for something entirely different (trauma). Everyone is getting tested, Tamiflu is flying off the shelves, we have elaborate procedures for screening everyone for this disease and all for a disease that isn't supposed to be particularly virulent.

Now, it has just become a pain in the butt. And in the head, and neck, and knees and all of my achy joints. I called in sick at work today, and am curled up on the couch with my electric blanket feeling sorry for myself. I'm not sure if it is the swine flu, or one of the hundreds of other viruses that the kids at the hospital have (and for which they are not isolated and none of us wear gowns or masks). Of course, our little jaunt in the cold rain the other day didn't help.

Three nights in a row starting tomorrow night...hopefully this will pass by tomorrow...fingers crossed.

Rain, rain, go away

Okay, being politically and environmentally correct, I don't really want the rain to go away. After all, they are in the middle of a 7-year drought in Australia, and the water table is still not where it needs to be. But I'd kind of secretly like it to go away. It seems like it is sunny and nice out whenever I'm on a work week, and it is gray and drizzly and cold whenever I have a bit of a break.

Paul's mom is here now visiting, and it has rained every single day since she got here. Yesterday we wandered the botanical gardens in the rain, escaping briefly into the tropical greenhouse to let the particularly miserable downpour pass. Today, we rented a car and headed northeast to Healesville and the wildlife sanctuary there. We got to see surgery being done on a little wallaby, and hear about Tasmanian devil sibling exploits, and pet and feed the Western Gray Kangaroos and, best of all, see the beautiful parrots and marvel at their intelligence.


Of course, it rained almost the entire time that we were there. And not just little drizzly rain - big downpour rain. It sucked. But we toughed it out, then drove to the Dandenong range where we stopped at a chocolaterie for sweets and some hot chocolate to warm our numb hands, and then we drove through the Dandenongs. We didn't get to do any walking, but the views were wonderful and the towns really cute - Paul and I will have to come back so that I can go to some of the little art stores.


I'm back to work tomorrow. This fortnight I work 135 hours. On the plus side - I get amazing overtime pay. On the down side - I work for 135 hours. I haven't caught up from my last week of work, and don't get the full time off that we normally would before I have to go back. The weather will likely get better, which will be good for Michelle, who is going to try to see some of Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. I just wish it would stay nice. Sigh. Wasn't Australia supposed to be warm? I have an electric blanket and I use it all the time. Sigh. And it's just the beginning of winter.

A Quickie

Just a quick hello. Life is pretty normal these days. Of course, that is if you consider my work hours normal, and I don't.

We've been planning our next trip, which will be in July. We'll fly to Broome, and then jump on an adventure tour through the Kimberleys to Darwin, and will then spend 7 days around Darwin, Kakadu, Arnhemland and Katherine. This is supposed to be "real" Australia. Promises to be great fun.

The weather seems to conspire against me. When I work it is sunny and beautiful. When I'm off, it's grey. Sigh. But, it is a bit warmer these days. There is always a wind off of the ocean, and usually it is cool, but it has been warmer in the last week.

Hopefully there will be something more interesting to write in the next couple of weeks. Miss you all at home!

Ferries and Opera Houses

We came for the city and stayed for the parks! Paul and I both loved Sydney, and both remarked on how we traveled expecting a tour of buildings, and spent most of our time in amongst trees and nature.

Our trip began with check-in to our hotel in King's Cross, called the Diamont. It was a nice little boutique hotel. The hallways had freaky lighting that made them look like depth through mirrors. The bed was comfy and it was relatively quiet with a very convenient location, so overall we would recommend it.

Our first night consisted of a search for supper. First we walked up Darlinghurst Road, but quickly realized that it was the red light district. Oops. We then wandered around Victoria Road and finally found a cool little place called Roys in backpacker central. I've never seen so many backpacker hostels in one little area. The red light region is cheap.

On our first full day, we started with breakfast at a little place on Victoria called Joe's. It's been there for ages and is now run by a very cool guy from Israel. We spent most of the day wandering the city. First, we discovered the Botanic Gardens. We LOVED the botanic gardens. They offered a view of the opera house, lots of birds, and a veritable tropical paradise in the middle of the city. Somehow, we managed to find our way back to the gardens every day that we were in Sydney. They are the kind of oasis that makes you feel a sense of wonder and peace. The joggers clearly love the place, and since we were there over the lunch hour we saw a ton of them. We also met the bats. There is a section of the park where fruit bats make their home. For nocturnal creatures, they sure are noisy in the day. I was surprised at how cute they were - all fuzzy and cuddly looking.

Almost everywhere you go in the city gives a beautiful view of the Opera House. It is a magnificent structure. We walked all around it in several directions, and were surprised that the tiling was both white and light yellow. Well, more beige.



Next stop was a neighborhood called The Rocks. This was the original settlement in Sydney, and spent much of its history as a run down back-alley kind of port of call for drunken sailors. Now it has a quaint market, some nice art stores and cute buildings of stone. We headed up to the Sydney Harbour bridge next. Since the official Bridge Walk cost a whopping $189 per person to go up (walk up on your own steam, nonetheless). So, we headed up the free pillar and had a pretty good view for about 1/20 the cost. The city is huge. The harbour stretches for kilometers and kilometers inland, and weaves in and out of the land making the city and its suburbs look like a waterworld.

That night we went to the Symphony. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra did a night of French Composers, starting with Bizet, the Saint Saens and finally, the best part, Debussy. The inside of the concert hall was beautiful, and there was not a bad seat in the house.We were close enough to see the strain on the faces of the violinists during their crazy runs, and a good view of the flute and oboe players, who featured prominently. Paul seemed particularly, um, impressed (?) at the male harpist (Guys don't play the harp, do they? That's a girl's instrument - was the exact comment, I think).

The next day we decided to hear to the beach - Bondi beach specifically. It's famous, mainly in Australia, because it is so big. They have a reality TV show here called Bondi Rescue following the day-in/out lives of the lifeguards. So, we thought we'd take a peak. We started out with breakfast at a popular little cafe, but the coffee wasn't very good so ended up going back to Joe's, who told us we had to walk the first part of the way. So, we took his advice and headed through Paddington and their very nice market. The hand-made clothing was very impressive. This was certainly one of the nicest markets we have seen so far in Australia, and we seem to have been to many.

Bondi was big, and busy, and covered with menacing clouds. We had time to see the Lifeguard tower, and be suitably impressed by the excellent graffiti art and unimpressed by the many children not wearing helmets on the skateboard/rollerblade park. Then it started to rain. We watched the rain come in across the water and start to hit the surfers, and then found shelter. Back on the bus into town - no sense standing around in the rain.

Back in town we headed to the art gallery. Paul ran around to see a bit of everything, and I stayed in the Australian rooms to get a sense of the paintings from the 19th century. Mainly I was interested in the pioneer history that they told. Australia seems young even by North American standards. The art gallery is a beautiful Greek-style building in the middle of the park surrounding the Botanical Gardens. All very pretty.

Dinner that night was in Wooloomooloo. I love that name. It's just a little neighborhood with a small harbour and a pier. Home was back up many stairs. Sydney is much hillier than Melbourne, another trait that gave the city some character.

On our last full day, we decided to do ferry rides. Sydney is most famous for its harbour, so what better way to see it than on a ferry? We took the advice of Joe yet again and took a ride to Manly. He had said that there were some good walks. The ferry was wonderful - breeze in your hair, great view of the bridge and opera house, hundreds (yes hundreds) of sailboats out all around the boat (it was a beautiful Sunday). Manly left a little to be desired. There was a nice beach, but the town seemed like a washed up beach community. We walked through a couple of their parks, which had seen better days. So, we decided not to do much more walking and to head instead to the Zoo! "We're going' to the zoo, zoo, zoo! How about you, you, you?" (That went around in my head many times)

We had to take a ferry back to Circular Quay and get on to a different one, even though Manly and the Tarronga Zoo are on the same shore. More views of the Opera House! The zoo was a Sydney highlight. The animals were animals. I love the Australian ones, mainly because they are so different than the animals in North America. There are countless nocturnal critters, and I love Koalas. They are sooo cute!, even if they are cranky. I also have discovered a latent love of birds. I hadn't really known this about myself before, but I could stand and watch the pretty birds for hours. Unfortunately, we didn't have hours as we got there in the afternoon. So, after a few parrots and Rainbow Lorikeets, we went hunting for the elusive echidna and platypus. An echidna is kind of like the Aussie version of a porcupine. Very cute and shuffly and snuffly. And we saw one in the zoo. You would think that you are heavily weighing the odds in your favour when you go to the zoo to see animals. And still, the platypus remains an unseen for Paul and I. It is the mascot for countless organizations here in Oz, and yet we can not seem to catch even the faintest glimpse of the animal. It's becoming something of a mission.

The best part of the zoo, honestly, is the layout. It isn't really open, but leafy and green and hilly. It is built on a side of a very large craggy hill, and the animal groups are well separated by foliage. It is really beautiful. The crowning glory is the view of the city across the harbour in the background. Paul was very ernest in his desire to see the giraffes and zebras. As always, the chimps and orangutans make me a little sad. It seems kind of like having our children on display, though recently reading "The Life of Pi" certainly gave a different perspective of a zoo, and I highly recommend it.

We finished the day with a very nice supper that included fish and kangaroo at a cafe in The Rocks, and dragged our weary feet home. Our last morning we headed out to Darling Harbour. On the way we stopped at the Queen Victoria mall, which is a beautiful old Victorian era building with colorful tiles on the floor, brass railings, crown molding on all the walls, and stained glass windows. The bug ugly statue of Queen Victoria in the front took away a bit of the fragile beauty, but certainly let you know in whose honour it was built.

Darling harbour is fairly new, developed by the city to turn ugly warehouse-strewn harbour into something useful. There are parks, and fountains, and expensive real estate. It has clearly been embraced, as everyone seemed to be out eating their lunches or having their run around the harbour.


We headed back to the hotel with one last detour to the Botanical Gardens to stroll through and giggle at the cockatoos, and then caught our cab to the airport. Until the next trip!!

hello!

Well, I don't have much of substance to say, but it has been a while so I thought I'd say hello.

Life in Australia is getting cooler! We are currently sitting in our apartment with a space heater going and I'm under an electric blanket. Our apartment can certainly get chilly!

Paul is pressing away at the trading dream. It seems to be tough slugging in the current economic climate, but he is still determined.

Life at the Royal Children's Hospital is busy and can be exhausting. This was a rough week. It was one of those weeks where I feel like I'm breaking all of my patients. We have had a lot of patients who have been in the ICU for longish periods and who are quite sick. When you are in ICU for long periods, it does not bode well for your outcome. Two nights ago one of the little boys died after having a massive bleed into his brain. It was a very stressful and sad night. One of the little girls who has been very, very sick deteriorated two days ago and is now on the limits of support that we can provide. We all struggle everyday with questions of whether the treatments we are giving are actually in the best interest of the child. Every time I stick a needle into one of the children who I feel have a higher chance of dying than living, I feel guilty. I can not even begin to imagine the struggle that the parents go through. No one should have to ask themselves whether death is actually a better option for their child.

However, I am learning more every day, and enjoy the work and feel that it will definitely make me a better physician when I return to Canada to work. Along those lines, I got a job! When we return to Canada it will be to live in London, Ontario where I have a job at a pediatric intensivist at the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario. We are excited that I have a job to go back to and are looking forward to living in London, which seems like a nice sized community and the people there have been super-friendly. It isn't, unfortunately, closer to the Maritimes, but it isn't all the way out in Alberta!

We joined a gym here. We've decided that we need to get more active, though I think I'm up on the activity score with all of my 12-hour shifts spent completely on my feet, and my biking. Paul is sitting here and says, "whatever". We are starting to feel more Australian, with living normal lives, watching Aussie TV, living through the ups and downs of the country. Since I interact with lots of people, I've even started picking up the phrases, and catch myself asking "How you going?" and describing anditbiotics as "antis" and residents as "resies". Last weekend was ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) day, which is the equivalent of Remembrance day. They have biscuits (cookies) for the day. Apparently moms and wives would make them for their overseas boys. The ingredients kept well over long voyages to Europe and had some nutritious elements, and have become a standard part of the day. So I looked up the recipe and made them...easiest recipe ever, and VERY tasty.

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celcius
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats (quick oats work)
1 cup dessicated coconut
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp corn syrup or honey
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Mix dry ingredients together
Melt butter and syrup/honey over medium heat
In a cup, add boiling water to baking soda, mix well, add to butter mixture, stir
Add wet to dry, mix well.
Roll a teaspoon-full of mixture and place on cookie sheet, well spaced. Cook for 15 minutes - more if you want them crunchy. Enjoy!

Even with feeling Australian, though, we are still in awe of being here. I was riding my bike home the other night, and enjoying the smell of the trees with a warm breeze. How lucky we are.

March 11 - Port Aurthur

We were up early with the kids next door after a sleep that wasn't fantastic, but at least wasn't freezing! We loved the climate around the east coast. The bathrooms in the campground were kind of gross. Aside from a lack of shower fathey smelled like latrines. But the toilets flushed, and the flies weren't the worst I'd ever seen. The walk to the bathroom was short but there were great views of Hazards Beach and the mountainous points. The night before I had seen a small black quoll outside the bathrooms. It was about the size of a cat with a longer tail and a different face. So cute! It would be a nice campground at which to spend a couple of weeks, except for the lack of showers.

We had breakfast outside and then packed up for the drive. Before leaving Freycinet NP we headed to Cape Tourville to the lighthouse. There were great views of cliffs and Wineglass bay up a twisty road.

The road back to Sorrell took us through come beautiful wine country - there would be plenty of tasting options if one were so inclined. Along the coast the views were better than they had been because it was completely clear. The water was beautifully clear. We stopped in Swansea again for Paul's coffee, which was his third of the morning (sigh) and then found a nice beach at which to stop for some pictures. There were plenty of options. All the beaches were white sand, but no swimming because they were all too rocky.

Next stop, the town of Sorrell for pizza at a very cool cafe with a very nice proprietor. He was probably about 30, and took great pride in his salads and wood-baked pizza. Amazing food! Apparently he has been dabbling in the kitchen since he was about 10.

Next we headed into the Tasman peninsula. First stop - a rest stop because I really had to pee! When they say "rest stop" here, it isn't like a Big Stop on North American highways. It is a little roadside convenience store with a small, smelly block on the side in which there is one male and one female toilet that may or may not have TP, and may or may not have the ability to wash your hands. Ewww.

We went down the Eaglehawk Neck turnoff, which is part of the isthmus that connects the peninsula to the main island, then took the turnoff at Pirates' Bay road, and headed for the Tesselated pavement. I remember learning about Tesselation on Square 1 television (kids show) and was embarrassingly excited to see it. Tesselations came in pans and loaves, depending on how the salt sat on it or dug into the cracks. It was pretty amazing as natural phenomena go.

Next we headed to Port Arthur, which is one of the more popular tourist attractions on Tassie. The town was originally a penal colony modeled on a "new" (at the time) philosophy of criminal punishment and rehabilitation. Convicts were dailed in solitary, basically, for the first 4 to 12 months and were taught a trade, but were broken spiritually. Then they were set out to work in the town. The convicts built everything, and in a strange parallel universe the doctors and military officers, and an accountant, and visiting dignitaries, and chief prison wardens, etc lived lives of relative affluence amongst the prisoners.

Now, Port Arthur NP is a tourist trap, though quite pretty. Some buildings were restored, and some were in ruins. The houses left were beautiful, with the most amazing gardens. It was on a bay, so had great views.

We walked the grounds, did the tour of the visitor's center, enjoyed the evening sunlight, and fortunately missed the hundreds of school children that were pouring out as we were arriving. Unfortunately, I don't think that the park gave a true sense of how terrible life could have been - it was all too pretty.


Next we headed to our final campgound - the Port Arthur Caravan and camp ground. It was nice enough, with good, clean facilities. We were allowed to use bonfires, oddly enough. Instead we just cooked more pasta in the cookhouse. We met an interesting crowd - a Nova Scotian from Pugwash and some Bahai Kiwis who were finishing their fast for the day and felt that the only way to see New Zealand was on a bicycle. Finally, we headed back to the campervan to set up and finish the evening writing and reading.




The next morning I started the day with a walk while Paul slept. I headed down to the beach, took pictures of the beautiful red flowers on the trees, and stalked some birds. After getting the day started, we took off for the airport. On the way we stopped at two sites on our way to the airport. The first was the Tasman's arch, which was a cool arch carved out by wave action, and the second was the Devil's Kitchen, which was like a large gulch carved out by the waves. It started out as an arch, but caved in. We drove through Doo town which was good for a giggle. The houses all had name plates that all had Doo in their name - Just Doo It, Doo Me, Much Adoo, Doo F**K All, etc. It was cute. As was the sign on the way out telling people to watch for penguins crossing. I love this country!