Three quick weeks in Australia: 08-09/2009

after the whitehurst-rankin clan left, mom and dad flew to perth for a week where they enjoyed some R&R.  they actually got to go out to some nice, quiet dinners themselves! they enjoyed it, but have said repeatedly that nowhere they've been in australia beats adelaide.  

the whitehurst level of activity remained high, and just a day after mom and dad returned from perth, we drove up to the southern end of the flinders range to visit flinders national park and wilpena pound.  we stayed at a working sheep station (i.e. ranch) that also runs self-contained cabins for people wanting to visit the national park.  there is a fabulous restaurant there, the woolshed, that provides incredible dining in the middle of nowhere.  the whole thing is a trip i would recommend to anyone and payton and i plan to make it back to the flinders range time and again.  wilpena pound is a syncline, a dip in the geological strata of the area.  it is a beautiful feature that curves around like a bend in an old river or like the side of a moving snake.  thus, it creates a ring of mountains/cliffs with only one way in/out, resulting in a natural-made pound, or impound, in which to keep cattle or sheep.  although spring, it felt more like fall in the west: beautiful sunny day with a chill in the air - perfect hiking weather.  we went for a nice hike up to wilpena lookout which gained us a great view of the pound, then back down for a picnic lunch at the visitor's center.  we went for a drive through the park - we all commented on how the landscape reminded us of northern new mexico or sometimes southeast idaho - dry, rocky, scrubby and beautiful!  we saw a lot of emus and had a wallaby jump out and run into the side of gg.  both the car and the wallaby seemed to come out of the collision alright.  at least that is what we will always tell ourselves! 

we drove home a different way than we had come, this time through the clare valley - famous for its white wines, especially the riesling. we stopped to have lunch in a small town that wasn't on the map, but had a great hotel/restaurant where we celebrated australian father's day.  

the monday and tuesday nova was in school, mom, dad and i explored the migration museum, port adelaide, the maritime museum, the aami stadium (where our fabulous crows play), and, of course, ikea!  later in the week, mom and dad spent a night in the barossa valley in the barossa house b&b.  for their 40th wedding anniversary, lauren, adam, payton, and i had given them a basket of four cheeses from the barossa valley cheese company and a map suggesting certain wines and the vineyards where they could be found to pair with the cheeses.  they drove home through the adelaide hills and had the fortune to see the giant rocking horse.  no magnet.  

the final friday, saturday, sunday mom and dad were here, we just enjoyed our time around adelaide/norwood.  we got to see a possum and a koala, so a lot of australia's charismatic megafauna was checked off the list!  

it was sad sad sad to see them go, too, but again, a truly wonderful time to have all the family with us.  gardners - we cannot wait for you all to get over here and explore even more! 

so, now we are back to a quiet house and less abused water heater.  payton leaves in a couple weeks for a 10-day sampling trip in the outback.  these trips, including family outback exploration, will be a highlight of our time here - the true aussie experience!  

Gardners, Whitehursts and Rankins Down Under - Part III: The Great Ocean Road and Melbourne 08/2009

either you know the whitehursts and will believe that we did this, or you won't believe it and you're view of "spending time with your in-laws" will be forever altered:

so, in our forays around adelaide, payton drove gg; dad sat shot-gun; mom sat between two toddler car seats in the back; and lauren, adam, and i sat hip to hip in the jump-seats-meant-for-two in the WAY back. so much fun did we have, and as near to comfortable as it was, someone in the back seat (i think it was me) piped up that with luggage on a rack on top, we could easily sit like this on a THREE DAY ROAD TRIP along the great ocean road from adelaide to melbourne (from where lauren, adam and theo would eventually fly out). well, whitehursts all cheered enthusiastically, payton silently told himself he would be damned if anyone else thought they were driving then acquiesced out loud and adam, i'm afraid, was shocked so far in to silence that he wasn't able to get a word out in protest until we had finished the john denver sing along three days later and were considering retracing some of our tracks to go see a lighthouse we missed along the great ocean road. it was communally agreed we should press forward.

but i jump ahead. we loaded up with a huge blue-tarped luggage burrito role on top and managed a whopper of a seven hour (!!!) day on that first leg. let's recap: eight people (two toddlers), one car, seven hours. wow. we drove through the coorong, a coastal embayment and wetlands framed by the younghusband peninsula (a very straight, very long strip of land that payton opines is very...descriptively, if not subtly, named). around lunchtime, we excitedly burst out of the car to empty bladders and stare agog at the giant metal and plaster lobster, fondly called "larry" by the locals. this was our first giant icon viewing (payton, as mentioned before was a seasoned veteran having basked in the glory of tamworth's giant golden guitar). shockingly, larry the lobster's visitor center was closed in this one-gas-station town, so we were deprived of the opportunity to stock up on t-shirts, pencils, hats, mugs and small replicas of larry. lauren and i promptly marched across the street to the filling station and bought a couple of magnets. after lunch, we stuffed ourselves back in to gg and made it to the old whaling town of port fairy where we stayed the night. this and many of the other great ocean road coastal towns we passed through were fascinating and had a lot of interesting history. as with so many of the places we visited, we could have spent days more exploring each area. but we had kilos to go...

thursday, we passed through the most well known section of the great ocean road - the twelve apostles (of which there are only eight) The "apostles" are huge limestone towers formed from persistent waves carving the presenting cliffs into arches that eventually collapsed and left the structures standing out in the ocean. it is an incredible sight with the evening light illuminating the cliffs and the open southern ocean expanding to the horizon... you are standing on a shore pounded by waves that have no impediment from the edge of antarctica to the beaches at the bottom of these cliffs in south australia. lot of ocean out there. not much else. oh, except WHALES! yes, our luck with nature-viewing continued and we watched a few southern right whales, who come here to calve in winter. very exciting. we continued onward to apollo bay. the kids (and adults) began to get restless, so john denver was fired up on the ipod and we had a good ol' whitehurst singalong (which usually involves a lot of out-of-tune singing and misunderstood lyrics belted out at full strength in a small space). we sing loudly and we sing every song on the album. it is SO fun. i don't recall payton and adam hitting the high notes of "rocky mountain high" but i might have just been enjoying myself too much. still, we had a magical john denver moment when, at the crescendo of "high calypso", payton drove us around a corner and into a pull-out that overlooked the southern ocean and south australia's cliffs basked in evening light with sprays of white waves pounding the shore. i cannot even describe the happiness or cheesiness of the situation. it was awesome. i will never listen to "high calypso" the same again.

we made it to apollo bay that night, had hell getting babies to sleep and woke the next morning to a quality winter downpour that blows umbrellas inside out and sends rivers of rainwater down the street. but the weather cleared and we had a beautiful drive along the coast - the road is called the great ocean road, but this section is the most coastal - with morning sun burning off the rain and mist. we saw bell's beach, a surfer's paradise for the big guns and spent some time in torquay (pronounced "tor-key") - a small surfing town at the end of our scenic drive. finally, we hopped on the highway and made it to melbourne on friday afternoon.  gg was a champion, we all love family, but it was time to get out of the car.

before leaving the road trip, i just have to mention one thing.  australians are very focused on the safety of highway travel.  we frequently saw signs along the highway that read: "drowsy drivers DIE" and "rest, revive, survive" and my personal favorite, "love her? divorce speed!" yet, the highest speed you'll see is 110... kilometers per hour.  that's about 68 mph.  and everyone knows that back in the states, five miles over the speed limit is acceptable; so most people go ten over.  well, you can imagine my shock when i got a bill in the mail (sadly, i got my hopes up because at first, i thought it was the rebate from our washing machine) that turned out to be a $146 (!!!) ticket for going 7 km (that's 4 miles, people) over the speed limit!!  i won't say lesson learned yet, because i am who i am - i have speeding lineage, both parents - but, you know, ouch! 

ah, melbourne. the first two people i chatted with and told that i was living in adelaide for three years looked like i'd just slapped them in the face with a dirty sock. i'm not sure if they were offended FOR me or BY me... adelaide?! why adelaide?! (melbournians and sydneysiders love their cities and think little of adelaide. they don't know what they're missing.) undaunted, we set off to the mcg - melbourne cricket grounds. site of the 1980-something (?) olympics. they have a fantastic sports museum - with lots of space devoted to cricket and footy. we went on a lovely walk (i.e. baby naptime) through the botanical gardens, through the city and eventually ended up back at the hotel. lauren and adam have a friend who's brother (who's uncle who's classmate who's second cousing who's...) is the chef at a very hip restaraunt called "fog". so, again, the heroic grandparents kicked the kids out the door and put the babies to bed so lauren, adam, payton and i could have a delightful, last-night-out-before-leaving dinner together.

well, no one told me that business casual was required. my entire life, everywhere i've lived, jeans without holes and a clean shirt counted as "dressing up". i couldn't believe i would actually be denied access to a restaraunt because i was wearing jeans.  apparently, fog had/has a dress code and can deny entrance to a potential patron if they are not properly attired.  well! fortunately, my sister dresses a lot nicer than i do and was able to clothe herself appropriately while providing me with a brown skirt, shirt and tights.  only thing was, my nicest (and only) pair of shoes were my rossi boots - ankle-high, elastic-sided, slip on, leather boots... it's a work boot.  not fancy.  i'm not going to say we were the best-dressed gals in the restaurant, but we got in.  i actually went to the bathroom at one point and felt like i'd walked into the wrong room - it was full of giggling, curly-haired blondes covered in sequined skirts that hemmed at their necks, blouses with neck lines that dropped to the waist, stilettos that came up to my knee, and jewelry that cost more than your car.  me and my work boots were backpedalling so fast to get out of there (lest i be kicked out of the bathroom for not being properly dressed), we almost ended up in the men's room.  realizing that my outfit (and general being) would feel no more comfortable in there, i was reduced to waiting awkwardly in the hallway until the fashion sheilas were done powdering their noses.  even the passing waiter had a glance at me and seemed to wonder if i was there for dinner or to fix the plumbing.  i had the right shoes on for the job.  

nonetheless, dinner was fantastic - oysters, wine, lamb, seafood.... and a southwest inspired appetizer that actually had chili sauce and blue corn chips... yum.  a delightful time indeed.

and then, on monday... payton took an early flight back to adelaide to go to work and lauren, adam, and theo boarded the plane for the long trip home.  the only word theo said all morning was, "airplane"... so we guessed he was pretty excited to get on the plane.  sad sad to see them go, but it was SUCH a wonderful trip.  after teary waves good-bye, mom, dad, nova and i hopped in gg and drove all the way back to adelaide in 10 hrs through some heavy wind and rain.  we saw the giant koala from the car window at 100 km/hr, but i still think it counts.  perhaps i can order a magnet online...  nova watched the entire "horton hears a who" movie, and was, as usual, a champion traveller.  

good to be home.  

Gardners, Whitehursts and Rankins Down Under - Part II: Adelaide 08/2009

oh man! i can't believe i forgot to mention the huge golden guitar in my last post. for anyone who has either been to australia or read bill bryson's in a sunburned country, you should be familiar with the australians' affinity for making large, random monuments to... whatever (it may or may not have a specific connection to the area - e.g. the giant koala between melbourne and adelaide; koalas are everywhere here, or the huge golden guitar in tamworth... i mean, where did THAT one come from?!). actually, i guess they're not really monuments, but they are huge and made from wood, fiberglass, steel, chicken wire, whatever. and they don't necessarily weather that well. BUT! they do make for a great magnet collection. payton started one for theo and nova each when, on his sampling trip in tamworth (while the rest of us were in sydney), he got both SEE the huge golden guitar and then BUY a smaller, sturdier, magnetic version that says "tamworth" across the front. lauren and i were thrilled. the kids just tried to eat them. ken, phil... possible guitar night group pilgrimage spot?

on to adelaide... well, we arrived, piled everyone and everything into gg - except mom, dad, me and an empty stroller... we took a cab. but don't worry, we utilized the full hugeness of gg in a later trip - you'll see... it took most the afternoon to settle six adults and two babies into a small, single-level, three room, ONE BATHROOM (with very little hot water - payton actually moved his entire toilette to work, where he, at least, got one hot shower a day) house, with mom and dad on the pull out couch in the living room. note: i do not abuse my parents! it's a nice couch! but they were the unfortunate first tier greeters to early rising babies wandering from their rooms down the hall to find (gasp!) gran and grandaddy!! the rest of us tried to keep our doors shut as tightly as possible...

saturday morning, we went to adelaide's central market - only pictures will do it justice (i'll get there) - but it is huge and busy and full of beautiful fruit, veggies, meat, cheese, bread, flowers, etc. that afternoon, we went to our local oval, home of the norwood redlegs, and caught the tail end of the footy game.

and on sunday... NOVA TURNED TWO!!!!! wow! that was fast (but the first few weeks seemed so long...) i can't believe it. what a charmer. for her birthday, we drove down to victor harbor and hiked a small part of the hans heyson trail (ol' hans was a german immigrant and local artist and naturalist that painted a lot of pastoral australia). the trail is something like 1000 km in its entirety. this section was stunning. we ate lunch on a little half-moon bay beach and were treated to a school of dolphins (porpoises?) that came in close to fish and play. just a little ways up the trail, we saw a huge mob of kangaroos and further still, out in the water, a group of seals. ah, nature! the majority of the hike is spent on top of 1000 ft lush, emerald-green cliffs that sort of curve around so you get a good view ahead of time of what you'll be hiking above.

back home, in true whitehurst fashion, we were running late, didn't have a cake prepared, didn't have presents wrapped and so decided to just draw the festivities out for at least another day. i mean, why only celebrate once when you can celebrate twice? why only celebrate for one baby when there are two present? why only have one cake when you can have two or three or four? party on. (we didn't really eat four cakes.) the kids made do, however, with a small cake-from-the-24 hr-bakery-down-the-road, blew out some candles, got extremely wired, did some major running and (happy) screaming and finally crashed much later than they should have. this was the end of "bedtime". for the rest of the trip. so we did it all again the next day. only this time, we had presents and lauren made a small sheet cake and decorated it with a kangaroo wearing a purple feather boa. lauren, you have to understand, has been in charge of decorating my cake since time immemorial. this is the creative mind who, while celebrating my 24th birthday with me in montana just a few weeks after i'd broken my femur, decided to have a "leg party" (these are also my initials, mind you - lindsey elizabeth gardner). we had crab legs, chicken legs, and leg of lamb. and lauren made two RED VELVET sheet cakes (get it? it's red when you cut in to it...), put them end to end and cut it in the shape of a leg and then decorated it, complete with little icing shorts with my initials, painted toenails and an ankle bracelent. bloody good.

good weather got us some great days on the beach as well as time to explore norwood itself. payton just got to go to work. but keep in mind, he was getting the hot showers and a private bathroom. but the next weekend, lauren, adam, payton and i abandoned our children and our parents, and left them carless so we could drive up to the barossa valley and go road biking and wine tasting for three days. mom and dad will not only GO to heaven for this, they will OWN heaven for their saintliness. because not only did they do this for us..., but they did it on their 40th wedding anniversary!!!

the rest of us had a great time! and, hey, we brought them back a magnet of the huge grape... (kidding, there is no huge grape in the barossa valley). actually, we were told the kids did great - which i believe because they seem to do better with gran and grandaddy around. and the rest of us really did have a great time. it was the first time lauren and i had ever spent a night away from our spawn. you may be expecting an emotion laden pause here... but there's not. we missed the babies, but it was SO nice to get to do that. thanks mom and dad! we stayed in a self-contained cottage, had coffee and eggs and bacon when we were ready, watched "the man from snowy river", saw a lot of the valley from a bike seat, had some trouble sitting after that first ride, and managed to hit up a whopping four vineyards! for posterity's sake, i'll list them: bethany vineyards, turkey flat vinyards, rockfor vineyards, and seppeltsfield where we got a tour and learned a lot about fortified wines (eg. port). on saturday, we ate a sinfully rich lunch of pate, bread roles, and wine at maggie beer's farm shop (it was a little difficult getting the ol' pedals rolling after that one). we hoped we pedalled off more calories than we ingested, but i'm not so sure. it was WONDERFUL to see the babes when we got home.

in celebration of mom and dad's anniversary, we went straight from the barossa valley out to very nice (too nice for two year olds) italian dinner. the food was fantast, the service impeccable and the seating arrangement hilarious. the rambunctious whitehurst/gardner/rankin clan was sequestered to one corner of the restaurant while all other patrons were seated in such a way that when you looked out over the room, there was a buffer of empty seats one to two tables thick separating our table from the other diners! the kids penetrated this moat in seconds flat with their sort of well dressed moms (its hard to maintain fahionista status in motherhood, much less through a pasta dinner with a toddler) weaving between white table cloths, waiters, and other people's nice shoes, chasing after spaghetti-sauce-faced children with a wet napkin in their hands. ultimately, dinner turned into a relay race where the kids ran around outside after their five-minute attention span was wasted on a pasta plate that took 20 minutes to arrive, and the rest of us, grandparents included, swapped between eating, charming the waiters to avoid getting kicked out, and keeping the kids out of the street. and after all that, they wouldn't let us take desert home (i guess we should be thankful they didn't serve us our entire meal in "to go" boxes!). a meal to remember!!

that was on sunday. on wednesday, we loaded gg up for an epic whitehurst road trip.