Heather's new love

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The Dreamtime

No final month of college is complete without a road trip crammed in between deadlines. I'm already running around like a lunatic so I might as well have some fun in the process, right? And what better way to counter long periods of intense thinking than with (.......no, not alcohol) a 7-day, 3,420 mile road trip through the middle of arid/semi-arid country with nothing to see but scrub and the occasional emu, kangaroo or gas station. And the stars!! My God they were amazing! Christine bought me a Southern Hemishphere star chart that I had been drooling over in Queensland and it came into good use. All this, bye-the-way, was a dream of mine since long before I decided to come to Australia (to drive through the middle of the Red Centre and experience being in the middle of nowhere - that's the short version). So thank God my friends Matt and Lisa came out to visit to help my dream come true! Not to mention that I haven't seen them in a while - Lisa in ~4 years since she has been in Japan and India for quite a while and Matt I just don't see enough with him living out in L.A. and all.

Usually I put the trip pictures in chronological order but today I'm lazy. So, enjoy the random order people, it doesn't happen often.

This is Brutus and Jebodiah (and their friend Earl whose not in the picture). They are some 'free-range' donkeys we ran into in Silverton, New South Wales, which is a semi-ghost town a few kilometres outside of Broken Hill. 'Semi' meaning there is enough of something to keep ten people living there permanently from what used to be a booming silver mining town in the late 1800's. It was pretty dead. In our 30 minute stay we visited 2 gutted and broken down buildings, one small junk yard, two horses roaming about untethered (and who did not want bread!) a graveyard and our friends Brutus, Earl and Jebodiah who were all too happy to take the bread off our hands. Thus the picture, which I took from the passenger seat of our car after feeding them a few pieces and trying to get away with the rest!! They looked pretty despondent when we left. Like the only excitement they had in 10 years had just ended. Man, it's rough out there in Silverton. The only establishment open was a souvenir shop for the few people like us that roam in once in a while. We didn't go in. On the up side, apparently scenes from Mad Max II were filmed there!! We tried to soak up the glory but it must have fallen down a mine shaft.

Here's Matt being Matt. Who can't resist balancing on a railroad track? Especially out in the middle of nowhere, there are just miles of it to play with!! I balanced too having overcome my fear of falling off low structures and breaking my bones. Ya gotta get back on that horse, ya know?















This is in Southern Australia on the way back from Uluru. We stopped by the side of the road to go kangaroo searching in the same general area where we saw one days earlier on the way up to Uluru. The picture quality is low but if you squint you can see Lisa in the back ground and Matt waaay in the background (both under the rainbow). We panned out to try to increase our chances. We saw plenty of tracks, some poop, the railroad tracks and the rainbow but no roo's. I'll take the rainbow though. Being the winter here there was some uncommon rain in the area. It was pretty cool to be in such a dry place during a rain event.









This is Coober Pedy, which is in the northern part of Southern Australia and is the 'opal capitol' of Australia. The place is basically one big mine and is dry as hell, which is no surprise considering that the name 'Coober Pedy' comes from the Aboriginal language and means 'white man's hole in the ground.' There's dust blowing everywhere and everything there is somehow associated with opals. I'm glad we came in the winter because apparently it can get up to 125 degrees here!!! Also, the flies (which I experienced in Victoria and were INSANE!!!!!) are non-existent right now. If it were warm out they would be EVRYWHERE!!! We did get some while at Uluru but nothing like in the summertime when we were on the Great Ocean Road. As soon as you leave the car they're all over you. Oui. There's nothing like stopping to take a picture and have a fly crawl into your nose or ear within the first three seconds.

The picture is of some Aboriginal people hanging out in the center of town, which is a common sight. It's quite sad because the onset of Western Culture has left many Aboriginal people unable to cope and has resulted in high rates of unemployment and alcoholism. We encountered this most prominently in Alice Springs.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of these gas station dunnies (or toilets as we say in America), which say 'Sheila's' and 'Bloke's'. As I took this shot a huge dust cloud from the parking lot blew up. Unfortunately it didn't come out in the picture. It would have summed up the setting quite nicely.








Here's good ol' Uluru for which we drove many miles to see. I have many other pictures but thought one would be just fine. It was really beautiful. We pulled a semi-all nighter from Alice Springs (Lisa and I got a few z's while Matt drove and he caught some later) to see Uluru at sunrise. It was very cool as you could see the colors change slowly as the sun got higher. It was also literally cool out. The wind was blowing and we weren't quite prepared for the night-time desert temps. so we watched mostly from the car, while venturing out to snap the occasional picture. After sunrise we drove to the base and did the 9.4 km base walk. You could climb it but there were signs everywhere asking not to because it's a sacred Aboriginal site. There were also many sections along the base with signs asking us to not take pictures. Thought the temptation was great, we did not climb it or take pictures in the restricted areas. I believe in Karma and am a little superstitious. On those grounds, screwing with the sacred sites of a people that have continuously been on this Earth for over 40,000 years didn't seem like a good idea. In any case, it was quite beautiful.


"There's GOTTA be a kangaroo around here somewhere!"

We were a few hours away from Alice Springs and we wanted to catch the sunset and needed to expound some of the built up energy from the previous 12-15 hours of (somewhat) continuous driving from Port Augusta in Southern Australia. We left Port Augusta at 2:00 am and it was now sunset (~5:50 maybe) a freakin' long way away.

Part way up I saw the ass end of a kangaroo about 50 feet ahead of us before it went hopping away. We ran up this hill try to catch it but instead spent 10 minutes trying to get our breath back. Expound some energy indeed!


This was a sign in Alice Springs pointing to a plethora of international cities. When you actually stand under it a picture where you are on the globe it all makes sense. The shortest route to the cities in the U.S. that were on the sign (Chicago and Washington) is over the Pacific Ocean. Ohh yeah, Alice Springs was a hoot, let me tell you! Signs, building and stuff, the occasional gift shop. Actually, we spent practically the whole day in the Alice Springs Desert Park, which had all the animals of the desert. We (and Lisa in particular) liked the enclosed bird cage/netting. Everywhere you looked there was a different kind of funky bird hanging out and making some noise. We also saw roos and emus very close up. Good stuff!!






Rewind one picture and this is what we caught of the sunset. We waited too long and it set as we were on our way up the hill. As we chased the kangaroo we were also chasing the sun's shadow, which moved faster than we could run up a partly vegetated and rocky slope. What we did catch was still very nice though.













This was at a gas station just before the border to the Northern Territory. Come on, does it get more fun than this?!! Matt is the big fat guy on the left an I'm the looker on the right. What better way to celebrate Australian beer culture than with an interactive advertisement. I know the picture is a bit fuzzy but I promise you I'm not flipping the bird.






No road trip is complete without a Bill Bryson-like visit to a giant version of something completely unremarkable. Quite often these attractions are a tribute to a beloved local commodity or local attraction or something crazy enough that people just might go out of their way too see. While we were in Queensland over the summer we saw a giant orange Guava in fruit growing country. In this case it's a giant lobster (or crayfish as they call it here) in a fishing town in Southern Australia near the Great Ocean Road. We didn't really visit it as much as randomly pass by but it was definitely worth a picture! If you look at it hard enough you can picture it coming to life and smashing the whole town.

Matt took about 5,000 more pictures throughout the trip of which I haven't gotten my hands on yet. As soon as I do, I will throw some more up here to fill in the gaps complete the story of our adventures. All-in-all it was a great time with two great friends. It felt like (and was) a whirlwind. Matt and Lisa saw Melbourne for two days, took this trip with me and got right back on a plane. However, not before they visited the cute little Fairy Penguins on Phillip Island (see Z penguins are z cutest, below). I got right back to writing my last paper. Ahh, how time moves on.

Next adventure please.

Yes!!

It's finally over.

I have gone to my last class, written my last paper, taken my last exam. I am now (unofficially) a Master of the Environment (MuHAHA!!). These last few months have really kicked my butt and it feels so good to hit the finish line.

Amidst all the craziness of deadlines, I managed to host my friends Lisa and Matt for 9 days (a couple of weeks back) during which time we took an insane road trip to Uluru. 7-days of driving through arid and semi-arid outback and generally being in the middle of nowhere! Ahh yes, two dreams fufilled in one month. Now if I could only find some Cheeze-Its in this damn country! More pics on tis trip in the next blog.

Sadly, I went and made our last rent payment today. With only 28 days left in Australia, it's time to sell off most of our household items, say our goodbyes and bugger off. It's been a ton of fun but its time to get back home and get a J.O.B. Hopefully one that pays good M.O.N.E.Y. So I can go on another T.R.I.P.S.

I'm really looking forward to getting back though. PLAYING DRUMS AGAIN, seeing my family and friends, and especially meeting my new nephew Ethan Jeffrey Brouillard (on left) who was born on May 27th at a whopping 9 lbs - 12 oz.!! For more pics see the link to my sister Suzanne's blog to the top right.

OK, ttfa.

See you all REAL soon!!

And now....the rest of the story.

As promised, part. 2 of the group trip to Queensland over the summer (or winter, depending on whose reading). I apologize for the 4-month time lag. Things have been pretty hectic over yonder this year.
After the sailing trip to the reef we spent Christmas in Airlie Beach, which is a nice little ocean town. It was Christmas Eve and things were just swell until I tried to go for another dive. However, instead of diving from the boat into the ocean I dove off a guardrail and onto the pavement. Let me just say I don't recommend it over your typical ocean dive. Instead of seeing a shark or Nemo, I saw little birdies and the local doctor. I ended up in excruciating pain that night, somewhat incapacitated for a few days, in a sling and with a fractured elbow and two severely sprained wrists. However, as you may have surmised from the picture, this was only a temporary break from having fun. Christine and I salvaged our Christmas day by going to town and having a freakin' HUGE platter of seafood and a couple of beers at place across the street from the bay.

Here's something you don't get a home. A sign describing the variety of marine creatures that will hurt you when you go in the water. Makes you think twice and say 'yes" when they offer you a stinger suit.











We drove from The Whitsunday’s to Cape Tribulation over the course of two days. This is me on Mission Beach in Mission Beach, Queensland, which was probably one of the nicer places we stopped along the way.









These are a few pics is a view of Mission Beach from a hillside where we took a hike. Absolutely beautiful.






































This was one of those Zen traveling moments that just doesn't quite translate in the photo. The road, the trees, the road sign, the ocean (and the unbroken silence). Just lovely!!
















This is Christine and Sarah walking along the beach behind our "The Beach House" in Cape Tribulation, which is very far north in Australia and Queensland. In this spot, the rainforest goes right to the ocean.









We were on the east coast so I woke up early one morning and caught the sunrise. It was quite the experience considering that the beach is only about 30 feet deep in most places. They warn you that the tide comes in and out quickly and to be careful or you could get caught out there. If you do, there's nowhere to go but into the rainforest and there is not much as far a civilization goes up here so that thought is not pretty.




In any case, I lost track of time being lost in the sunrise moment. I finally came back to my senses and noticed the tide was indeed coming in. I was about a half hour walk away from "The Beach House" and had to sprint back. This picture somewhat shows how close I came to getting stranded by the tide. There's only another ten feet there until I was screwed. I had waited another fifteen minutes I would have either been really wet or really lost.




This is a pic from a cable tram ride in Cairns that was about 20 kilometers and 1 hour long and passed over several types of tropical rainforest. It was a great way to see a whole lot while also sitting on our ass.






Lastly, below is a sample of the random desolate beaches that you can find up a down the Australian coast. If you had the time, you could easily pull over, go for a swim and have the beach to yourself. Just gotta watch out for the stingers!!


Right, well that was the quick tour. Hit the "Pics of Australia" link to the right to see everything.

See you next post!!

By-the-bye.....

.....the Australia photos link to Shutterfly (below-right) is completely updated with EVERY pic we've taken in Australia up to this point.

By all means, do take a look!

Acid mining runoff, amorphous silica, salinity and much, much more(!!)....

Field trips, remember those? The days of packed lunches with soda cans wrapped in aluminum foil, mooning passing cars from the bus, wedgies being ditributed like pez and generally being elated to be anywhere but school. Well, I went on a three day field trip with my Hydrogeology class last month to North-western Victoria and it was everything I remembered it to be minus the soda cans wrapped in aluminum foil. I don't drink soda anymore you see. I'm trying to cut down. On the soda. So...no soda.

Not only that but it was a whirlwind of geological delights! Ok, we were excited anyway. Over the coarse of three days we saw: a gold mine, two ephemeral lakes causing local land salinization, the Wimmera River , Mount Arapiles (basically a large outcrop in the middle of a flat plain, which makes it look pretty dramatic), Mitre Lake, which has gypsum and halite precipitating at the surface, Lake Ratzcastle, which wasn't actually a lake at the time we saw it, a water bore (or 'well' as we say in the U.S., which luckily came with a good story or it might have been boring. Ha! Get it? Booooring?!) for the Town of Nhill, some gypsum flats where gypsum precipitates on the surface and since they can't do anything else with the land, they mine it, and several springs that have naturally carbonated water from igneous carbon dioxide deep underground, which we actually got to drink.

The best part is that I was in the car with Charles (the 70 yr. old Hydro-specialist/professor who knows EVERYTHING about hydrogeology in Victoria) and he gave us a running dialogue on what is happeneing around us at all times (hydrolgeologically speaking of course). Yes, that may sound boring and I can't really argue there....BUT, we're interested and Charles is cool enough to zip it when no one is listening and not take it personally. He also has a ton of great stories, such as being attacked with a screw driver, having a shotgun pointed in his face, getting chased by livestock, etc. It's still pretty rural here in Australia. Enough said.

Here are a few pics of the trip:
Here we all are on the Wimmera River getting a lecture on anthropogenically induced salinity from Tamie and Charles. Quick thing on salinity, the soils in Oz contain a lot of salts and solids. When people clear land (and they did and do!), the lack of trees and plants causes the water table to rise. The water that once got transpired by those plants now runs off to the groundwater. As the groundwater rises, it saturates the soil containing high salts and dissolves them, which causes the water to become saline. The more saline it becomes, the less useful it is. This is a HUGE problem here. Large areas of land are becoming salinized and unable to grow crops or grass for grazing livestock. Thus, we cover the topic quite a bit.

Here we are atop Mt. Arapiles. Ahh, the semi-arid landscape of Victoria!
















This is a view of Mitre Lake (mostly dry at this time of year and covered with precipitated gypsum and halite) from Mt. Arapiles......










....and below is the Mitre Lake close up! We're all heading out to lookat some piezometers (mini version of a bore) used to monitor groundwater. Check out the wallaby tracks we found heading across the lake. A wallaby is like a mini-kangaroo.






































Here is a broken down church (testament to being in the middle of nowhere). This is only 5 hours from Melbourne. I can only imagine what it's like in the middle of the red center!!










This is an ephirimal lake, which means it's only around part of the year. I thought it quite amussing to visit a lake that is currently a field. If you visit Australia, be sure to read up on where your visiting before you go. It would be a shame to show up here with swimming trunks and a jet ski in tow only to realize you should have brought trimming sheers and a lounge chair.












We stopped to look at a desolate roadside pumping station (exciting stuff!) and the horses from across the street ran over to see what all the fuss was. It must get lonely out here.











Stay tuned, later this month I have a field trip to Gippsland (east of Melbourne) with my River Management class! More pictures abound!

If anyone calls, I'm on my yacht.

On December 19th, after slaving over a paper for the first month of everyone else's summer vacation, I finally handed the sucker in and then hopped onto a plane with the rest of the Leicester Street crew on route to the Whitsunday’s in Queensland. We boarded a maxi sailing yacht called Spank Me, which was our home for the first four days and nights of our three week trip. It would prove to be four days of solid diving, snorkeling, swimming and fun. In addition to Christine, Sarah, Halley and I, we met up with our friend Ali and her visiting friend Scott for the boat trip and one extra day.





Day 1: We spent the first afternoon sailing from Airlie Beach to Blue Pearl Bay at Hayman Island, which was a nice quiet little spot. Apparently, since we were lucky enough to have Adrian (the owner of OZ Sail) be our captain for the trip (which I guess is sort of rare), Blue Pearl Bay was chosen partly for it's location but mostly for the presence of another Oz Sail boat in which he could check up on to make sure the crew wasn't partying too hard. According to Emma and J.C. (cook and diving instructor) this has been a problem recently. I think I found my new vocation!



So we anchored there for the night, had dinner, got to know the crew and fellow swabbies and then went to bed. The sleeping quarters were open-sided bunks below deck. Christine and I got a top bunk double bed (which was exactly (!!) as long as I am tall. Whew!) right next to the galley. I woke up the next morning with my mouth agape, drool spilling forth and looking straight at Emma while she was preparing breakfast. I rolled over and contemplated how long I had been like that.

Day 2: After breakfast we sailed on to Lunchson Bay at Hook Island. This bay has a small reef with excellent visibility and there we had our introductory dives. There were four groups to be trained so we had plenty of time to snorkel our butts off while we were waiting around. I didn't have to be persuaded to take this opportunity (first boat to the shore; last boat back :-). Christine, Sarah, Halley, Ali and I all at various times snorkeled around together and soaked in the mini-reef, which actually had a large amount of fish and activity. During Christine's introductory dive, J.C. saw a small shark. I wish I could say the same but didn't have one shark sighting the whole time. ;-(

So I FINALLY(!) dove for the first time and it was GREAT! It's something I've wanted to do for so long and it felt good to finally accomplish that goal. And what better place too than the Great Barrier Reef!!

After a couple of hours of aquatic bliss and a little beach combing and rock climbing, it was back to the boat. We then proceeded to sail out to Bait Reef, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef. This particular reef is four separate segments that form a semi-circle, which provided an ideal place to anchor in calm(er) water and safely snorkel and/or dive to each one.

Each dive after the introductory one cost $50 so I opted to wait and dive the next morning. So, Christine, Sarah, Halley and I spent a couple hours snorkeling. We hoped into the mini-boat and they dropped us off at the farthest reef segment (up-current from the boat). While we were out there we saw a good-sized turtle just meandering about. We were about 6 feet above it at one point and I managed to snap a picture. We also encountered a huge fish, which periodically came right up to us to either check us out or warn us to go away. We assumed the later and did so after snapping a picture.

Later on, after we had snorkeled quite a bit and were making our way back to the boat, we encountered a wall of jellyfish that was blocking us from getting back. It didn't seem like much at first but every time we tried to swim around them but more just kept appearing. Keep in mind that we had been told over and over again to avoid jellyfish and that they were the main reason we had to wear stinger suits while in the water. So, we were a little freaked out. This coupled with the fact that we were starting to get tired after a long swim while also fighting the current catalyzed our decision to give the 'come pick us up" signal to the guys on the boat. This wouldn't be that embarrassing if we weren't only about 200 feet away. We got a few looks when we got back but it wasn't worth explaining. Uh, yeah, those jellyfish were huge. I swear! As big as a room!! And there was a giant squid too. Yeah, a giant squid!! We had to fight 'em off with our snorkels!

That night we had the privilege of staying anchored overnight on Bait Reef (which is very rare due to weather and waves). This was great because we spent less time sailing the 15 km back to a quiet cove and more time at the reef itself. After the sun went down, out came the stars. All I can say is that they were unbelievable!! We spent a good long time gazing and I managed to see 6 shooting stars!!

Day 3: Woke up in time to catch the sunrise. After breakfast, I dove the reef. It was pretty damn cool. Since it was my second dive ever I spent most of my time checking and regulating my ears, adjusting and blowing water out of my mask and trying to keep up. Midway through the dive, we descended to the bottom and proceed to go into a small opening that led through a partial-tunnel between two reefs. From above it looked like a dark cave entrance and I started to hyperventilate a bit. My breathing got real heavy and it took a concerted effort to relax. When I got down to the entrance though, I could see light at the other side and everything was fine from there. After that I put the ears and the mask on the back burner (as much as I could) and enjoyed the scenery. We didn't see any sharks, turtles or Manna Rays but we did see a ton of fish of all shapes and sizes. At the end of the dive we got picked up and towed back to the boat by holding on to a rope, which was really cool. We were pulled along over the reef, which felt like a mini-tour without having to do any work. All I had to do was dodge the occasional jellyfish coming down the line. Tons of fun!!

After a morning of diving and a little more snorkeling it was time to head back towards the island. However, this time at FULL SAIL!! Spank Me was once an yacht that won some high-profile races so getting up to full speed was pretty damn fast for a sail boat. We all sat on the port side with our legs dangling over the side. The wind was really kicking that day and you could feel the force when the wind filled up the sails. Off we went on a 15 km sail over the rolling waves with the boat listing to the starboard at about 30 degrees. Over the waves we went! Up and down and up and down and... ....uhhhh, ohh God. Ohhh. I think I feel sick.

Right!! That morning I say to Christine...."Oh, I don't need the motion sickness pills. I've been feeling fine......" The only problem was that I didn't finish that sentence before I went about my business, which would have gone like, "....because I've been taking the pills. Dah!" I did realize this later but too late to save me from the waves!

No I didn't puke but thanks for asking. However, I did (ironically enough) proceed to have one of the best times I've had during the whole vacation. I tried to stand up to find a quiet place to puke overboard, which didn't exist. I looked at the hatch going below and knew I'd loose it before I even got down the steps. So...I proceeded to lie down exactly where I was and close my eyes. Then, out of nowhere, someone puts on Tom Petty's Greatest hits, which for those of you that don't know, it's the perfect album to sing along to. So....I laid there in the blazing sun (luckily I lathered up earlier), enjoyed the wind in my face and sang along to Tom Petty, while trying not to puke. The more I lied there the better I felt. The better I felt, the more I sang. I was so happy that I wasn't the only person on the boat puking (which turns out wouldn't have been true) that I actually had a wonderful time, while also transforming my pale skin to semi-pale. I lay there long after I felt better, which only fueled the popular opinion that I was too sick to get up. Later that day, the captain expressed his surprise that I didn't end up bent over the railing. Don't you worry though...that comes later in this vacation!! It seems I can't go on a vacation anymore without puking at least once. Ask Christine.

Next stop...Toung Bay and Whithaven Beach, which is long, white and laden with stingy creatures. No swimming without a wetsuit(!!)...welcome to Queensland. We got dropped off on the Tounge Bay side of the peninsula and hiked up to a platform that overlooked the beach. The scenery was gorgeous with turquoise water, white sand and green islands all around. We then hiked down to the beach itself on the other side of the peninsula and found a shady edge to hide from the sun for a while. We read, walked, talked but mostly enjoyed not having the ground beneath us heave to and fro. But after two hours, it was back to the boat and on to the next spot.



We dropped by another small reef on Dumbell Island. It wasn't the most spectacular reef of them all but it beautiful and it was also nice to get in the water and swim around for a bit. We saw a few fish, some lovely coral and then back to the boat again for a slow cruise to Nara Inlet.













Along the way, Halley got to steer the boat for quite a while (it was her birthday!!). It was quite the sight and she did a really great job. She even navigated us around the point and into the inlet!! We were all very proud, until she ran over a dolphin!! Oh, the humanity!! On the way to the inlet we saw an amazing sunset and later on I saw another handful of shooting stars. Ah, thasa nisa vacation.











The next morning we awoke for our last day on the boat with the sight of the limestone formations of Hook Island all around us. Before we left, we were shuttled over to the island and had ourselves a little hike where we saw some Aboriginal cave paintings and enjoyed some lofty scenery.

We then got back on board for a slow sail back to Airlie Beach and on to the next phase of our trip.

Stay tuned, Eric fractures and elbow on Christmas Eve!!