Some Things Never Change

It was 1972, some 37 years ago that Sheryl and I arrived in Adelaide. Our apartment fourplex was brand new and spic and span. I guess some things do change as it now looks tattered and torn and worse for the wear of the last 37 years. Come to think of it, so do we.
Adelaide looks the same but seems MUCH busier. We took in their Christmas parade which always seems odd in the heat, but oh well, the shopping must go on. Then yesterday we headed north to the schools we had taught at, those many years ago. I had always felt that my school was just a stop-over for the Aussie teachers as they soon moved on to a better school. It was not a friendly place, was not well run and I couldn't wait to be done with the place after my first year of teaching.
I full well know that after 37 years there will be no one left who would remember me but there were a couple of young science teachers that perhaps someone might know and could tell me where they were or some tid bit of an update. Hah. The school is much bigger now, has a new wing, more portables, but it didn't take long to realize its still the crappy s--t hole it once was. I stood outside the bulletproof reception window while the lady did a bonzer job of ignoring me as she bantered with her mates. Finally she lowered herself to asking me what I wanted and in my friendliest, most charming manner I explained my situation and essentially she told me to go to hell, she had no time for me, I could not look around the school and I could go to the department of education if I had questions. Ouch.
Some Thing Never Change.
I went back to the car, we had a good laugh and I felt very reassured that no,it was not me, it was that rotten school I had worked at that had left me with such poor memories of my teaching in Australia.

( We then went to Sheryl's school where they greeted her with open arms, are sending her the news letter, and, I believe, offered her a Knighthood).

Back "Home" in Adelaide

Western Australia has been quite an adventure for us from the heat of the dry north to the incredible beaches and turquoise water of the entire state. The south west corner is full of enormous eucalyptuses and windswept beaches with NO people as the Southern Ocean rolls in. Wineries are EVERYWHERE. In fact there is now a glut of grapes and they are moaning about it, but I digress.
We finished up back in Perth and boarded the Indian Pacific for one of the world's classic train rides across the Nularboor Plain and on tho South Australia. Three days and two nights along the straightest stretch of track in the world. A lot of nothing out there. We stopped at Kalgoolrri, a mining and prostitution town (no kidding) and took the midnight tour (of the gold mine!) and then were off again. Stopped in Cook, a town of 5 where it was 105, too hot for us. Finally we made it to Adelaide, rented a car and drove out to Henley beach where we lived in 1972. How sad. Our "flat" seems pretty run down these days and it was a bit depressing but then we don't look much better after the 37 years of wear.
We have changed our plans once again and will drive to Sydney rather than fly as there is a lot to see along the way.
This has been an interesting time for us as we have no plans most of the time and really are just feeling like snowbirds that have really gone south. It hasn't been one of those thrill-a-minute type trips, but rather a much more layback style of travel. We are getting a lot of reading done and just enjoying the hospitality of Oz.

SNAKES!!!!!!

Why us?
We have read so many stories about the deadly snakes of OZ, but mostly we have seen road kills and the ever present warning signs. Then this week we drove to the beach and coming back on a red cinder road we saw our first genuine, deadly, poisonous, venomous, killer snake of Oz.
We had seen a lot of sticks in the road that we thought were snakes but as we came around the corner THERE IT WAS. NO DOUBT. It was BIG, probably 4 feet long and laying there as snakey as could be in this classic "s" curves on the other side of the roadway. Wow! I wanted a photo so when we got even with it I stopped (windows rolled UP) and grabbed the camera as this ugly looking serpent raised half its body length and was about to stike at the car. It was just a hideous moment and I thought "That stupid snake is going to strike this metal car and bust off his fangs". Nope. He thought better of it and raced, (and I mean raced, it was the fastest snake I'd ever seen) under the car and out the other side. I handed the camera to Sheryl to try for a photo as he came out her side but OOPS, there was no snake. ??????? He was UNDER our car!!!!!!!! So I threw it in reverse and went pulling back as fast as I could, to get a photo before he was gone but THERE WAS NO SNAKE!
Holy #&%!
We were horrified!
That damned snake was up under our car - or was he? Talk about an awful feeling. We searched the floor boards for holes and could find none. I tried my lame herpatologist explanation of how snakes don't like hot greasy cars, he must have gone out the rear before we saw him......
What an awful moment as we slowly drove away. It was REAL quiet in that car as we finally made it to town. and sat in the car not wanting to step out. Just creepy as hell. Finally we both leaped from the car and from 20 feet away looked underneath. No snake. The trunk? I didn't open it until the next day and jumped like crazy as it opened. No snake. It's been 3 days now and tomorrow we get rid of the car. Can't wait.

Golfing Distractions

Well we tried golf again. This time in the lovely town of Margaret River, deep in the Western Oz wine country. LOTS of roos on the course but so what, they're cute. Trouble number one is they seem to love sand traps and it seems I found one one the 6th fairway. Damn roo wouldn'tmove and these are the big red ones that the sign says are dangerous. What a mess. Yeah I finally shooed him away but things went downhill after that.
I've seen Sheryl play a lot of golf but this was the first time she ever took a 13. Yep, a 13. Bet you would have too as it seems to be mating season just now for these romantic roos. Every time she was about to hit, Mr. Roo would go chasing after his lady friend, right across the green. Then, and this is disgusting, as she hacked her way up the fairway Mr. Roo finally subdueed his little love mate and every time Sheryl was about to hit this ARRRRHUUMP ARRHUMP noise would accompany his excited moments and the noise would shake the trees, not to mention our nerves. Can you just imagine Steve Williams telling them to shut up?
It was continuous, most annoying and quite frankly I was an emotional wreck after 9 holes. There is a 9 holes joke there, but I'll let you make up you own.
What a day.

Karijini

One of Oz's famous goannas. This beaut walked across the road and when I stopped and got out he ran, I mean RAN, into the bush, stood up on his rear legs and stared at me. I got back in the car. Quickly.
Sorry about the vertical shots.


From Exmouth we headed inland to Karijini National Park. It's an amazing area of gorges and water holes unexpectedly in the middle of the hottest place on earth. We hiked a few of them, chcked out the overlooks and had some delightful swims.

Golfing With Roos

Of the 25 deadliest snakes in the world, 21 live in Australia. We wondered which one made this track and just where was he. You might also note the roo tracks.
Power putting by tiger

We made it as far up the coast as Exmouth. Each day got hotter until it was 102? Our target was the Ningaloo Reef which is the west coasts rival of the eastern great Barrier Reef. Its right near the shore and just as beautiful (so they say). It was quite a sight and we found a place with a current that just floated us across the coral with no effort for a long way...pretty cool stuff.
Our last morning we decided to play golf at the "country club". It is an outback course with grass only on the tees and tar sand "greens". As it was early the animal life was abundant. The first fairway had 5 kangaroos bouncing around and watching us ever so closely. Have you ever tried to sink a 20 foot putt on sand with a bunch of roos staring at you?