Inauguration and Australia Day

I could tell President Obama’s inauguration captured the attention of Australians: Australian Open Tennis replays were suspended while everyone had their eyes on Washington D.C.! Newspapers put out special editions and expat Yanks got up at some ungodly hour to watch the live coverage of parades, speeches and balls. A feeling of optimism, tempered with Aussie practical “let’s wait and see” attitude pervades the news and conversations. And, never missing a chance to celebrate, Aussies will enjoy their own Australia Day on Monday, January 26. This excuse for a party is in honor of Australia’s birthday and it is akin to July 4. School starts on January 28, after summer holiday, so it’s a grand finale to the season. Still plenty warm, tho, and the kids will be wearing light-weight uniforms. Abby’s is a classic green and white striped number, with peter pan collar and little green tie. She does look adorable. Boys wear green shorts and white shirts and all the kids wear the wide-brimmed hats. Much excitement surrounds first of school for Jack and Abby; it’s a leap into the unknown, but school supplies are purchased and labeled, and they are ready for their next adventure.

Beach on demand

What a treat to be a five-minute walk from a wonderful beach, Warriewood. We can walk across the street and; up the hill and be looking down on a lovely little cove, tide pools at north and south ends, enclosing sweep of cove, with lifeguards and a beach-side café. The kids and I can go for wave-jumping, sand castle construction or tide pool exploration and most of the sand will have fallen off our feet by the time we’re back at the house. We discovered an adorable little octopus, blending in with the reddish sea weed in a pool and watched him (or her? I think it changes for octopi) skulk around the pool. Of course, when we got back home, we looked him up to discover him to be a blue-ringed octopus, quite venomous. Australia is just so wild! Yesterday a much-beleaguered rugby coach had 17 10-year-old boys on the beach for rugby camp. It looked like barely-organized chaos, with much falling the sand, yelling, kicking and somehow moving toward an improvised goal post. About every 30 minutes, he ran them down to the surf to cool off and jump around. Same falling, yelling, and kicking only in the water; a good time had by the little campers.

 A walk on the wild side

Just 30 minutes drive from our new digs in Warriewood is Ku-ring-gai National Park, on the south bank of the Hawkesbury River. What a treat! It’s huge, but we started with a discovery walk from the Kalkiri Center. It was late afternoon, with a gentle breeze in the bush, mostly eucalypts. First we spotted the fresh roo poo, then peeking out from behind tree trunks, we spotted a nice-sized Eastern Grey Kangaroo. For us, major excitement; for the roo, a ho-hum encounter. After a lovely bushwalk, we went down to Bobbin Bay for a mangrove boardwalk, leading off into a rainforest gorge. At one point, we looked down and realized Jack and Abby were standing on one of the Aboriginal rock carvings, reportedly almost 10,000 years old. After shooing them off, we found a few more carvings in the area. There is also a rumor oft-repeated by locals about the existence of one of the oldest living trees in the world in the park somewhere, but the location is a well-guarded secret. I’d like more info on that! As we left, cockatoos were coming down to be fed by picnickers; right under the sign saying, “Please do not feed the birds or goanas.” Some things are the same the world around.

Our yard is wild too

Besides the huge spider spotted dashing across the living room wall the other night, we see things that really make me feel like I’m living on a National Geographic shoot. Yesterday it was a large wasp, about 1.5 inches long, dragging a furry spider about twice her size across the lawn. We think she was storing it for her young, who will feast on the spider when they hatch. We haven’t seen a big bluey yet, but there are heaps of little lizards running around. I can only hope they are making a dent in the flying insect department.

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