Binarynomad

So my journey in Australia has finally come it an end. Tomorrow is our last (full) day before we make our way to the airport and depart this wonderful place. It really is amazing how weeks first seemed like months to us and now time seems to have all flown by at break neck speeds.

Today we did our packing, cleaning, etc, all in preparation for vacating our final walk-around tomorrow (at 2:30) after which, some last few chores, and a farewell dinner at the D’Arcy Arms (thanks to Iris, our favorite Irish place).

We’ve (Kristen, Bryan, and myself) been busy trying squeeze in all our last minute adventures before time runs out, Sunshine coast, Byron Bay, shark swims, glow worm caves, night tours, etc. I’ll hopefully be able to post updates to my gallery within a week for ya to check out.

I really am going to miss Australia, I barely scratched the surface of this amazing continent. Before I came here, I had no idea that it was as large as Europe, or the USA, but with a smaller population (there are only 22 million people here, and that just accounts for the LA country area of California, can we say “Wide open spaces”). I was only able to visit up and down the Eastern seaboard, I still need to see the South, West and Northern Territories. I want to visit Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Uluru, swim the Barrier Reef again, and really visit the outback. Luckily, I now have many friends here that I can come and visit :-). I know I’ll be back, I just don’t know when yet.

Bleary eyed, I got up this morning for a second time (the first was around 4am to drive Bryan and Kristen to the airport), achieved a minor level of coherence through the liberal use of water and soap so I could head out to Harbortown and meet up with Jeremy and his family. I met them back in July when I was getting my free Thawte Certificate, but unfortunately we kept missing each other since. Well, luck was with me this morning and I finally caught them. We sat down over some coffee (yay) and breakfast and caught up with each other. They are moving to Washington state in a few weeks (just before we move back to California), so there’s a good chance we will be able to meet up again in the northern hemisphere. Rhiannon had just gotten her first digital camera and was having a great time playing with it. She and I dueled with our cameras and both took some fun pics. We all hope to catch each other one more time before leaving (crossed fingers).

Saturday we were invited over to Ian and Renee’s for a dinner. When we showed up, we headed to the backyard where Renee was taking care of her chooks and planting some peanut and sweet-potato seeds into her garden. Ian was keeping everything hydrated (which is a task considering they are not allowed to use a water-hose due to the current water restrictions). Bryan and I helped out by moving the chooks back to their main pen.

There was some time to kill before dinner, so Ian took us for a ferry ride on the Brisbane River. We first rode the river-cat east, toward to ocean, going past the Brisbane Powerhouse, which is a converted power station that now happens to be a performing arts and culture venue (I’m hoping to catch that before we leave in a month). We got off at the end of the line and killed time sitting on a pier watching jellyfish float past before the next ferry came by to take us back toward the city. Once onboard, we headed west, toward the CBD, passing lots of people out enjoying a wonderful summer(ish) evening on the water.

We got off at the Southbank Parklands and wandered around for a bit. It was the “perfect” summer evening for me. The sun had just set, twilight colors played across the sky, evening lights were just coming on, people were out for walks and seeing the night life, there was a warm breeze flowing down the river, and the tantalizing smells of restaurant grills wafted through the air. (I could get used to this).

Afterwards, we headed back down the river to Ian’s car, passing the climbing cliffs (which is another spot I hope to catch before we leave).

Back at the house, Renee served up an amazing dinner with Fesenjan (pomegranate walnut chicken stew), saffron rice, and a salad complimented by fresh herbs from her garden out back. It was amazing! Shane dropped by to join us for dinner and then play some games afterwards. First we tried a new card game that Bryan had brought along called Ogre Bash, it was a bit simplistic for our tastes, so we moved on to “May I” which Kristen quickly dominated, and crushed any hopes we had of surviving (but it was still a blast, I even got to win 2 hands 🙂 ). Renee made a dessert of sautéed fruit and a chocolate sauce (yum). Shane gave us copies of a mini-movie he had made of our trip to the Hinterlands the week before (it’s about 1 Gig, so I’ll see what I can do shrink it before posting it up).

We had to end the night around 11pm because we (Kristen, Bryan, and I) had to get up at 4am(itstoodamnearlyish) so I could take them to the airport for their trip to Sydney.

This last Saturday, a bunch of us got together and headed up to the hinterlands. We first stopped off at an alpaca farm where we got to pet a few and admire the rest. It is amazing how cute they are, and how soft their wool is, but with price tags of upto $450 for some sweaters, we (gladly) avoided the local store. (geez)

We continued up to O’Reillys, which is part of the the Lamington National Park, and dropped by the local store to grab some bags of seed. In this area, the local birds are quite spoiled by a constant supply of gullible tourists, and as such this situation has granted them a absolute brazen attitude when it comes to getting food. Now stripped of any hesitation, they land, at will, on you to gain first access to the grains you have presented. Yes, we all became human perches with free food. (it was a blast)

After grabbing a bite to eat ourselves, we then continued up into the forest, walking the paths, up onto the skyway bridges, and at one point climbing two very steep sets of ladders to a lookout point giving way to the valley. We then continued along to the botanical gardens contained within the forest. Kristen and Bryan were lucky enough to spot (and photograph) a few lizards, while the rest of us enjoyed the fauna.

At one point we thought about taking the longer waking path, but decided against it due to the long drive back and the fact it was getting darker.

On the way home, the sky opened up and it began to downpour. I hadn’t seen that much rain for months, and I believe the local reservoirs were quite elated (while the spectators of the Indy 300, currently taking place, were not).

Back home, I cooked up a Beef & Asparagus in a Black-bean sauce for dinner which everyone seemed to like. We ended the night with a great game of “May I” accompanied by dark chocolates, cookies, and wine.

What a great day.

… and no, she was not in my pocket 🙂

So, a very long time ago (mid 1990’s) I met a friend (Wocket, aka: Renee) from Australia, via an online usenet newsgroup, but unfortunately we both got wrapped up in life and lost touch. Well recently, after some internet sleuthing (Google is my friend), I was able to track her down and surprisingly it turns out she lives here in Queensland (Brisbane even! Woot!). For those that don’t know, I just happen to be temporarily living in Australia (Gold Coast area) which is only a 45 minute drive from Brisbane. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I got in touch and we worked out a chance to actually meet up.

I made my way up the coast toward the city, wound around the suburbs and eventually found her house. She was working in the back, and showed me around her wonderful garden, which hosted 3 chooks (chickens) and all sorts of veggies and herbs abundantly growing about. Afterwards we headed in for some tea and to catchup on each others lives. She had became a Creative Design Artist and worked heavily in the computer industry, but then shifted over to more fulfilling role as an Artistic Teacher. As she showed me around, I got to see a bunch of her work and I have to say she has some pretty amazing creative talents.

When we were chatting over email, I and mentioned that at some point I was planning to visit a local mountain/hill that had been suggested to me by some friends. Renee knew exactly the place that I was talking about and offered to show it to me when I came to visit. So we decided to head off to see Mount Coottha. Before Leaving, we passed by her glass workshop where she showed me how she uses a (1000 degree) torch to make artistic glass beads for projects. She gave me a demonstration and then offered to let me try once we got back.

We drove across Brisbane and over to Mount Coottha. At the top you have an unrestricted (panoramic) view of the country side and Brisbane’s CBD. It was absolutely beautiful. The sky was overcast, so colors were not as vibrant but I plan to return before i leave to see if I can catch it on a clear day. We hung about and had lunch before heading down the hill to the Botanical Gardens. While there, we ventured around the different sections taking photos left and right. Everything from native fauna, sub-tropical, tropical, rainforest, cacti, even a Japanese Garden. I even got to see the oldest ancestor of the orange tree that now populates the world.

After much wandering, it was time to head back. Renee took us over to where Ian (her husband) works to see if we could surprise him with a ride home, unfortunately he had already caught a bus and was on his way, so we hopped back in the car and continued on.

After we arrived, Renee sat me down at the glass workbench and went over how to utilize the glass rods, the flame and the metal rod that is used to capture/control the melted glass. She talked me through the process as I had fun playing with the molten glass (amazingly no one was harmed 🙂 ).

We set the beads to cool and headed back to the garden where I got to meet Ian, who currently works in IT and is going to Uni (university) for a technical degree. After geeking for a bit about computers, Renee invited me to join them for dinner and then had me harvesting herbs from the back garden. After some kitchen work, Ian and I enjoyed our selves shooting bazookas, launching kamikaze grand-ladies, and dropping explosive cows, in the hilarious mayhem called Worms (a PlayStation game).

Dinner was an amazing home cooked (and grown) meal of curry with chickpeas and then was finished up with a delicious homemade pear pie (oh my mouth drools just remembering it). The night wound down as we chatted about tech, Sci-fi, British Comedies, etc.

It was getting late so I bid them farewell, and headed home.

They are a wonderful couple and I’m looking forward to seeing them again before I have to leave. It’s a shame I had not contacted them earlier in my trip. (oh well, live and learn) 🙂