Perthistence Pays

Maybe as a preamble here I should apologize for all the bad puns. I can't, however, guarantee that I won't continue to populate my blog posts with them.



But now on to the exciting stuff-- I did it! I'm now officially licensed to kick butt and take names. Or work offshore. Sort of the same thing really.
This involved flying all the way across the Australian continent from Sydney to Perth, in Western Australia. Notice the "Economy Class" label in the gate sign here? In Australia business class and economy class actually get on board through different doors and different corridors. Kind of reminds me of the way English pubs will often have two entrances for upper class and lower class sides. Kind of suprising. As far as I've been able to see in my limited (but growing) experience with Australian air travel, it doesn't really speed up the process at all.





I've been in Fremantle, a coastal town just down the Swan River from Perth, the capital of Western Australia, for 2+ days now. I haven't really had a chance to do any sightseeing, as I've been pretty busy over the past two days. However, I'm staying at a really nice resort on the swan river with a really comfortable room, nice views, and two pools and a spa. (Pools seem to be as ubiquitous as driveways here).

I've just finished my TBOSIET training-- Tropical Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training. Maybe I should rename this my acronym post. TBOSIET consists of four parts-- General Offshore Safety Training, Fire Fighting, Sea Survival Skills and the pinnacle: HUET, or Helicopter Underwater Escape Training.


In a nutshell, I spent two days escaping from smoke filled buildings, putting out various types of fires, jumping off three meter platforms into water, getting into life rafts, being winched from the water onto a platform, and getting strapped into a helicopter simulator which then sinks and turns upside down, and from which you have to escape by either opening a door or removing a window and making your way to the surface.

It was a bit harrowing, as I don't swim, but in the end the two days were really fun and something I never would have had the opportunity to do if I hadn't come to Australia to volunteer on the SEA SERPENT program through the University of Sydney.

All in all I'm more resolved than ever to learn to swim this winter/summer, and I feel much more confident about how to conduct myself in case of an emergency.

I'm also really looking forward to the opportunity to go offshore in a few weeks, which is the motivation behind my doing the TBOSIET course in the first place-- you are not allowed to go offshore in Australia without this certification.

(And see, Jess, I got some pictures of me in these last posts just so you'd believe I'm really in Australia).

OK, long wet day and now I'm going to relax in front of the TV.

First Footie

Saturday night, second week in Sydney, I got together with the other EAPSI folks working in Sydney (Laura, Nik, and Larisa, left to right) to witness our very first live footie game. It was an Australian Rules Footbal Game (Aussie Rules is typically referred to as "footie" here, though I've also seen this term used, confusingly, to describe league and union rugby games). The Sydney Swans were playing Collingwood, a team based near Melbourne.






The game took place in Telstra Stadium in Sydney's Olympic Park, the impressive complex of sports venues that were built for the Sydney games back in 2000. It was a very nice stadium, partially enclosed with large screems showing closeup game action (lucky for us, as we were up in the nosebleed seats).

Unlucky for us, it was an abysmal game-- Sydney was favored to win as it was the older and more experienced team, whereas the Collies, though young and fast, had a lot of injured players.




Well, Sydney couldn't hold on to the ball for poop (excuse the editorial censoring) and the score was A LOT to NOT MUCH withing the first quarter. We left before the end, but I captured the third quarter score.

Yes, that's right. 13 to 47. You can see why we left early. But Sydney did make most of its points towards the end of the game, something they're apparently known for.










Still, good game or not this really gave me a taste for watching sports in Australia-- a fun, well-attended game in a clean and well-equipped stadium, and the crowd was enthusiastic but affable, with people barracking for the swans (don't say "rooting" here, it doesn't mean what you think it means) sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Collie supporters.

I'm really looking forward to catching a few more live games while I'm out here-- rugby league, rugby union, aussie rules football, netball, soccer, cricket.... there will be plenty to keep me entertained.

Capital City Capers

For most of the other 19 American students sharing this Aussie winter experience with me, the adventure began with our orientation in Canberra, Australia's capital city. I had arrived a couple of days earlier to settle in my new quarters in Sydney, but from Wednesday through Saturday, June 13-17th, I joined my fellow Yanks (more on this later) for an orientation and a chance to get to know one another a little before we all headed out to our host institutions throughout (part of) Australia. We all met up in the domestic terminal of the Sydney airport to catch our little puddle jumper to Canberra. Qantas has some really nifty looking planes (though we didn't get to fly in one):



Much like Washington DC, Canberra is located in a nebulous non-state: ACT, or Australian Capital Territory. The story goes that Melbourne and Sydney couldn't agree on which state should get to have the capital city in it and they had to settle on creating some neutral ground on which to place it. And as it turns out that neutral ground is quite picturesque and, in the winter, dreadfully cold (this is Australian cold, mind you, which means that it nears, but never quite reaches, freezing. Given the humidity here, however, it can feel pretty unbearable).

Canberra was actually designed by an American from Illinois-- Walter Burley Griffin, who won a design competition to plan out the capital city. He was a former draughtsman of Frank Lloyd Wright. Looking around, the whole city struck me as awfully Olmsted-ian.

We were kept pretty busy during our four-day orientation, with visits to Parliament, the National Museum, the Botanic Gardens, and some program-specific visits that split us up among the biology, medicine, engineering and computer science groups.

Here we are at Parliament, up on the (green) roof looking out over a spectacular view of Canberra. Would have been even nicer if we weren't freezing.
We had a pretty entertaining tour guide who turned out to be a chemistry graduate student over at Australian National University (ANU), though I don't think his parallels between the Australian and American governments were always on the mark ("Our Queen is sort of like your president...")

The Parliament building is very beautiful-- I have to hand it to Australia for knowing how to make modern buildings that are actually aesthetically pleasing. I've noticed a lot of striking glass architecture in both Sydney and Canberra. In the Parliament building, there was an interesting juxtaposition of marble, glass and more traditional (native) hardwoods.

Australians also appear to be pretty heavily into symbolism. The tall marble columns in the main hall above are meant to represent the tall forests western man found when arriving in Australia (I think-- I wasn't paying as good attention during the tour as I should have been).

We even got to sit in during a questions session at Parliament, where we got to hear the Opposition confront the Liberal Party on improper use of a government property for fundraising. Here the Liberals are what we think of as Conservatives and the Labor Party are like our Democrats. Both parties are fairly centrist, as far as I understand it. The leader of the opposition party, Rudd, is looking to beat our John Howard, the leader of the Liberal Party, in the next election and become Prime Minister. It's a bit different here-- everyone votes for a party rather than a candidate, and then whoever is leader of the party (which I think is decided internally) gets to be Prime Minister.

Just as striking as the Parliament building, but in an entirely different way, is the Australian National Museum. Once again this is a modern building, but a very colorful one:

This is a view from the internal courtyard. The museum is essentially laid out in a big curve. Across the shiny outer wall panels running along the top of the wall are a series of meter-high dimples that actually spell out common Australian idioms in Braille. Unfortunately I don't have a good shot of that here (and you'd need a blind giant, as someone in our group put it, to decipher it anyway).

Aside from the pretty buildings, we also got to see our fair share of pretty nature-- in the Botanic Gardens and in the local surrounds. We endured a chilly rainy walk in the Gardens to see some typical native Australian plants. The two pictures below with the "corncob" flowers are both Banksias. This class of plants is very common here and I see them everywhere, even in the city, and they come in all shapes and sizes from ground creepers to tall trees.
When the flowers are done blooming the plants form hard dark seed pods (kind of like pinecones) that local birds pelt at you as you walk beneath the tree canopy (at least there's a particular street on the way to Uni where the birds seem to have it in for me).

There are also a number of plants that are cactus-like but are not catci. Here is one pretty plant adorned with nasty needles:So that's the Flora. But I'll bet you've all been waiting to hear about the Fauna. Lucky for me, I got to go on the Biology tour with a few other students, and we got more or less up close and quite personal with some fine Australian critters. We went to ANU's School of Botany and Zoology to learn about their programs studying and tracking wallabies, koalas and kangaroos with Professor Bill Foley, a vertebrate zoologist. No koalas there, I'm afraid, but we got to see the radio collars they track them with. We also had a great lecture from the "Wallaby Woman"-- I can't find her anywhere on the site and unfortunately I don't remember her name, but I seem to remember she is a visiting scholar at ANU this term.
So, guess what's in the burlap sack? What's that? A diminutive kangaroo, you say? Well, you're absolutely right! It's a wallaby! With a baby! In the pouch!
Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot, so you'll just have to take my word for it. This picture was taken in a little steel shed that opens into the wallaby enclosure. Around the outside, separated by an electric fence, was the resident herd of grey kangaroos (second largest in Australia, the largest one being the red kangaroo, but the only one of those I've seen so far has been roadkill. In that sense they fill the same niche as deer do in the States).

I have to say that was pretty awesome. And they're very surreal when they're moving, I guess because we don't have experience with anything that moves quite the same way at home. Their bounding is very fluid and they're fast. Apparently their hopping gait is also very energetically favorable. Increasing their speed when hopping actually doesn't increase their energy expenditure at all (there's a cool plot somewhere, let me see if I can dig it up).

And what do you do when you have to catch one of these critters for research purposes? Simply dart them with a tranq?
Of course not! The only real way to tag a roo is with a crossbow. Oohh, yeah.
From large crossbows to tiny vehicles-- the ANU department of zoology has it all.

Aren't little vehicles sweet? And speaking of sweet, after this marsupial mayhem we got to head into the much warmer zoology building where we met Lucy-- a native Australian python (Mom, you may want to skip this part).



Isn't she cute? She was an unusual (to me) black and cream color, and very friendly (although I guess most constrictors are, by nature).

That was it for ANU zoology. Really the highlight of the trip for me. The people who went on the medical science tour got some really nice shirts but I don't care (she says petulantly). I got to hold a snake. And we saw a baby wallaby. In the pouch.

And after all that sciency goodness, all (18?) of us got to have Friday evening off, and we cut loose in the streets of Canberra. Well, in the pub, anyway. Where a DJ was present to get us moving with some classic hits from the 80s.
Needless to say, a good time was had by all. We all made it to our host cities just fine the next day (I think) and are now being valuable members of society as we contribute to the scientific Greater Good.

Now after all that raucousness, I'll leave you with some pleasantly soporific scenes from our stay in Canberra-- the ubiquitous rainbow (we had a number over the week, but I like the way this one is framed but the curve of "dome", on of the main Australian Academy of Sciences buildings), and a pretty sunset outlining Telstra Tower in the distance (they're the Australian version of Comcast). Good night, all.

Catching the Balmain Bug

Here as promised is the lowdown on my new place (including the kitchen), Australian flushing technology, and my new neighborhood, Balmain. This is particularly appropriate given that my pictures of Balmain, taken my second day here, are the only sunny pictures I have so far.
I'm sitting in the living room watching the news and they're talking about the third big storm that's blowing in right now, bringing with it 100kph (that's kilometers per hour) winds and 10m high waves tonight and tomorrow. Apparently it's "very unusual indeed to get massive storms of this magnitude"-- and there have been three in the last 10 days.

New South Wales residents-- including those of us in Sydney-- are being asked to stay inside tonight. So, my winter experience is going to be completely thorough, I think.

But let's turn to brighter things-- an introduction to Balmain.


I'm not sure what got the name first, the town or the crustacean, but Balmain is one of Sydney's oldest suburbs, having started out as a working class port town. The Balmain bug, on the other hand, is a clawless crustacean that looks like a stubby armless lobster but is supposed to be quite tasty. Here's a link to a recipe using Balmain bugs that I found online while looking for info on the neighborhood before I left the States. I thought it sounded pretty awful but who knows. Maybe bugs in eucalyptus butter are actually tasty.

The upshot of its pedigree is that Balmain is filled with quaint little cottages and scenic winding streets. Here are some of the more memorable places:

As new and clean as this may look, it's actually one of the older buildings in Sydney. The city is known for its sandstone, and most of its older buildings are made from these bright yellow and cream stone blocks. Not surprisingly the beaches are also this nice, well, sandy color.

Another feature characteristic of Sydney buildings is the use of fairly intricate wrought iron gates, fences and railings. Apparently this rose out of a surplus of British iron that was used as ballast in ships coming over from England. It makes the neighborhood look somewhat like New Orleans, particularly given the number of semi-tropical flowering plants found here-- bougainvillea, trumpet vines, and magnolia in particular. Having never been to New Orleans, my first impression of Sydney neighborhoods was of a small English town crossed with a beach town from Brazil.

And the best feature, I think, is the view of the city from the small park and ferry dock at the end of Darling Street, where I can hop on a ferry and be in the CBD (Central Business District-- that's Australian for downtown) in five minutes.




But now for the moment you've all been waiting for: Cooking, sleeping, lazing about and flushing in my new digs...

We'll do a "linear" tour, starting at the front door and moving through our Palmer St residence.

Here's the entrance:

Monday is trash (or perhaps I should say rubbish) day. We put out three bins-- rubbish, plastics and paper. Looks like recycling is common here, but I don't think they have bottle deposits the way we do in some states. Those two tall windows right in front are in my room.

And here it is from the inside. Nice big futon bed, some Zen styling to keep the place restful (and in case you're wondering, Marta, the under-bed is full of wine!-- but I've been told my life is forfeit if I break into it while Fiona's away...).

This is the part that's sure to make Ivan jealous... a walk-in closet.

At least I can walk into it... not sure if it would work for everyone. Fits all my clothes for 2+ months plus my luggage. This is about twice the closet space I have back home.

Continuing down the hall we come to the bathroom. I'm sure by now you're all quite familiar with it. Note the posh dark granite wall tiles.

This brings us, of course, to Australian flushing technology, which I know at least Nate was dying to hear about. Here we are-- the choice to be a "greenie" or a water waster:

Every Australian toilet I've encountered thus far comes with two options-- the half flush and the full flush. The option to have a low flow and regular toilet in one! So far I've never had to use the full flush option (but then I am a lady).

All right, enough of that then-- on to the more important bits of the house. Here is the compact but entirely serviceable kitchen. You can really have only one person working in there at once, but it does come with everything you could possible need: stove, oven, microwave, dishwasher and... drumroll please... a cappucino maker! Makes great espresso and even foams your milk for you. Great for perking you up on a chilly winter morning.

And in case anyone's wondering this is absolutely a coffee culture. Although there are some tea drinkers coffee shops abound and the usual choice is a cappucino or a "flat white" which I think is something like a latte, but everyone tells me is completely different-- it all has to do with the proportion of foam to coffee. I'll figure it out yet. Very few people here drink "drip coffee"-- you pretty much have to go the Starbucks, and people pretty much don't. There's a large immigrant community here, including many Italians that have settled and brought with them great food and drink. I haven't yet tried the pizza but have high hopes as brick oven restaurants are common, particularly in the near west suburbs where I'm living.

And if that weren't enough, there's a nice living room looking out a bank of windows to the backyard where, in better weather, we might even have a barbeque. I'm really hoping some appropriate weather is just around the corner...

All The Comforts of Home

When my new roommate Fiona saw that, in my photographic frenzy my first day in Sydney, I had even taken a picture of the toilet, she was at least a little mortified. So I thought it would only be appropriate to use this as the first image of my inaugural post from Australia.

Aside from embarrassing my roommate, this isn't an altogether inappropriate image with which to introduce my first impressions of Australia (and particularly Sydney): it's clean, modern, and has a healthy respect for environmental conservation (but more about Australian flushing technology later). It also illustrates a bit of the luck I've had in landing here so far away from home-- a swank apartment in a really nice neighborhood with my own room and, holy of holies, my very own bathroom.

What more could a girl want?

The trip was downright easy, given the near full day of travel (and the mysterious loss of an entire Saturday somewhere over the ocean). In spite of a full flight, I scored an otherwise empty row of three seats on the 14-hour leg between San Francisco and Sydney. An hour or two in, someone from the middle moved in to the aisle seat but given the length of my legs I figured two seats would suit me just fine.

The highlights of my first Qantas flight?

1-- Actual food, for which I did not have to pay, including a palatable dinner, snack pack during the middle of the flight, and a nice hot breakfast in the morning.

2--A personal TV screen that allowed me to not only indulge in movies I might not get (or want) to see at home (most memorably Music and Lyrics this time around; Shooter was so awful I actually turned it off, and ran out of time to see the thus-far-very good Australian movie Jindabyne), but also watch my progress across much of the known world.



3-- My first introduction to the wonderful, if cryptic, world of Australian visual displays-- here in the form of a safety guide for the Qantas 747 we were on-- to wit:

• during certain portions of the flight (takeoff, landing), a number of electronic items may not be used, including laptops and music players.
  
  
• in contrast, under no circumstances should a Furby ever be allowed on board an aircraft. I think we can all guess why.

On arrival in Balmain, the suburb of Sydney where I'll be spending the winter, Fiona informed me that I was to stay awake for the rest of the day. This was the best prescription for beating jet lag, and coincidentally led to a whirlwind tour of the beautiful, if soggy, Sydney.

My first view of the city (aside from the less than picturesque streets I had traveled on the taxi ride over) was across Darling Harbor, from the Balmain East ferry stop, at the end of our main street, to a clear view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.



Grey and rainy, but still impressive.

From here we headed off to Centennial Park, a huge park that includes a horse track, football stadium, mall and Fox Studios (where they actually do some filming), took in a substandard Leonardo da Vinci machines exhibition, and had the best chorizo rolls ever. This was followed by an evening ride out to Bondi Beach, one of Sydney's more famous (and backpacker-infested) beaches. Despite the intermittent rain, stormy skies and angry waves (or perhaps because of them) the surfers were out in respectable numbers. We made it just in time to catch a very pretty post-storm sunset.



And here is my first view of an Australian rainbow-- though certainly not my last. Apparently this is the wettest weather New South Wales has seen in many years (just our luck) and I've spotted one pretty much every day of my first week here.



Not a bad way to end a first day, wouldn't you agree? I made it until 8pm (with a lot of effort) and then, having had plenty to fill my head (and camera) for one day, it was off to bed for me.