Except we weren’t really at the base, per se.  We were at the base of the first drop of the waterfall.  What makes the National Pass trail unique is that is takes you midway along the sheer cliff face, following a natural ledge that separates sandstone cliffs above and below the trail.  It is a tough hike due to the massive sets of stairs that bookend the walk, but well worth it for the vistas and numerous waterfalls encountered along the way.

Photos taken 07 Jan 2012

Start driving north from downtown Sydney, and within an hour you’ll find yourself at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.  This amazing landscape is situated where the Hawkesbury river meets the Pacific (Tasman Sea to be precise), and is an absolute treasure to Sydneysiders.

We started our exploration at the western inland region of the park.  First we walked the nature trail at Kalkari Discovery Centre, a large enclosed area.  We encountered the Australian Brushturkey, and our first semi-wild kangaroos!  They weren’t easy to spot, but we managed to catch a glimpse off the trail on our second go-around.  There were also spectacular views of our next destination down by the river, called Bobbin Head.  There we explored the mangrove boardwalk.

Next, we headed out to the West Head region (which is the east side of the park) with a spectacular drive along the spine of the peninsula all the way to the tip.  There, we caught the tail end of a wedding (quite the backdrop!), and took in the outstanding view.  Then we backed up down the road to hike the America Bay track that brought us to the top of a small waterfall and yet another amazing vista.  We had quite the time listening to and recording some bird calls on this hike.  We wrapped up the day with another gaze out at West Head.  Then it was back to Sydney, but not before stopping to enjoy dinner with one of Andrea’s work mates who lives nearby in the Mona Vale area.

Photos taken 29 Dec 2011

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Over the Christmas holiday, we were fortunate to have the use of a vehicle for a couple weeks.  One of Andrea’s mates from the acupuncture clinic was off to Bali and graciously allowed us the use of her 1994 Holden Commodore wagon.  Freedom of the road!  I’ll admit, the first hour or so of driving on the opposite side of the tracks was a little unnerving, but eventually my brain adjusted, and it was smooth sailing from there on.

Our first jaunt was to the Mount Annan Botanic Garden, out on the western fringe of the Sydney region.  It is associated with the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, and is the largest botanic garden in Oz.  It is interwoven with bike paths, so we loaded up our wheels for a ride.  One thing that struck us about the place was how much it reminded us of western Maryland around the Frederick area.  Sure, the trees were completely different, but the feeling was the same.  Amazingly, the area is actually called the Cumberland Plain… both sharing British Royalty as their namesakes.

Bonus: Andrea spotted her first wild wallaby/wallaroo/hopping marsupial.

Photos taken 28 Dec 2011

If there is one thing Sydney loves to do, it’s shooting tons of colourful explosives into the night sky.  Any occasion will do, really… and hardly a summer weekend passes without a flash and bang over the harbor.  Of course, these are all just practice runs for the main event, the premiere pyrotechnic extravaganza of the year, New Year’s Eve!  Arguably the first major city to great the new year (sorry kiwis), the fine citizens of Sydney have seen it fit to do things on a grand scale!

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Fortunately, we had VIP seats to the main event thanks to my boss, Dave.  He and his wife, Karen, have a place along the water Cremorne Point, one of the bests spots from which to watch the show.  Even better, their windows face directly out onto the harbor, which meant we didn’t have to arrive in the wee hours to reserve a spot on the lawn like the crowds above.  And as a bonus, we were able to crash on their couches, because post-NYE traffic is a total nightmare, especially if you need to get to the other side of the harbor like us.

The events began with a 9PM family fireworks display.  If this was the “preview”, then we couldn’t imagine what was in store for the main event.  There were multiple barges situated throughout the expanse of Sydney Harbor so that no matter where you were, you were getting the same sets of explosions.  And they were all perfectly timed.  They event had streamers shooting off the rooftops of the buildings in the CBD!  The family funtime lasted about 10 min.. quite a feat for the kiddie show.

In between the outbursts I took long exposures of the city lights cast over the harbor (surely you’ve noticed the new masthead).  Hundreds of boats were out on the water… party boats of all sizes and styles, each decked out with lights.  It really was quite a sight.

As the clock approached midnight, warning sentinels were shot into the sky to build anticipation… and at the stroke of twelve, BOOM!  The bridge basically exploded in a technicolor freakshow.  Bombs were bursting in air left and right, cascades of fire poured from the bridge, bedlam abounds!  Near on 15 minutes of pyrotechnic brilliance.  Then it was done, smoke filled the sky, and the lumbering crowds began their long, slow, journeys home.  We, however, laid on the couch and drifted off to sleep.

Welcome 2012:  A New Year in a New World!

The past couple months have been quite busy.  As usual, I’ve been quite occupied in the lab, and finally managed to submit a manuscript that has been years in the making.  Of course, it has since been returned for revisions (so these things go), so it’s back to the salt mines.  In January, Dee completed a two-week intensive Permaculture Design Certificate course that has left her pleased as punch.  So pleased, in fact, that she immediately took off to go get her hands in the dirt and work on the farm way out in the bush for a couple of weeks.  I’m sure she’ll have much to say about it after she returns this weekend.

I’ve finally had the chance to catch up with our photo editing, and I will be updating this blog over the next few days with footage of our recent adventures.  While most of this summer has been mired in the deluge of La Niña, we have managed to get out once in awhile (and even drive) to some regional sights.  Since it was promised ages ago, I’ll start with photos of the NYE spectacular.  More shortly…

Heaps: a lot

Car park: parking garage, parking lot

Way out: exit

Motorway: highway

Dinky di: a true thing, telling the truth

Fair dinkum: genuine

Stubby: A small beer

Pig’s ear: a beer (rhyming slang)

Long black: pseudo-American style black coffee; made by pulling a double shot of espresso over hot water

Flat white: microfoam steamed milk poured over a single or double shot of espresso.  Unique to Oz/NZ

The bush: forest/outback/natural areas

Bushranger: escaped convicts of old hiding out in the bush

Cockie: a cockatoo

Bogged: car stuck in the mud

Drover: a cattle driver in the outback; almost non-existent these days

Swag: a bedroll

Bikie: biker gang member

Truckie: truck driver

Parking: having sex in a parked car

Dummy: a baby’s pacifier

Winging: British term for complaining.  Apparently, Brits are famous for their winging.

Herbs: with the “H”

That’s all I can recall at this point, but between this and the first Aussie English post, you should be good to go for now.  Also, we got a great book for Christmas from Frank Conrow: “A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms” by G.A.Wilkes.

For the geeks out there: I integrated the Highslide JS gallery viewer into WordPress following some advice.  I further tweaked the code to improve the functionality to my liking (such as the comments link overlay), and automated the implementation into new posts.  Drop a line if you want to know the details.

NYE pictures will be coming soon!  The new photo in the masthead above was from our vantage point that night, prior to the pyrotechnic carnage…

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One transfer and an hour or so later, we disembarked at the station and made our way to the car park to wait for our ride.  A white sedan pulled up shortly after, but not anticipating us for another 10 minutes, the driver did not get out or look up.  I made my way carefully over towards the car, pretending to look at the nearby brush so as not to startle the man inside who may or may not have been our awaited chauffeur.  But the likeness was unmistakable: Frank Conrow looks just like my Uncle Brown.

I’ll back up a bit.  My great Uncle Brown (whose full name is Randsome Brown Conrow) is American by birth but an Aussie by up-bringing.  His family moved to Australia when he was 9 months old, and he did not return to the States until after his mother’s death, when he was 25.  Sometime after his return, he met my Aunt Claire (my maternal grandmother’s younger sister), and they married.  Jobs for chemists were scarce in Australia, so Brown and Claire remained in the US but often traveled out here to visit his brothers and their families.  Pam Conrow, pictured with me in an earlier post, is the wife of Brown’s older brother, Bob, who passed away 2 years ago.  It was Pam and her children (Brown’s niece and nephews)–Jane, Frank, and Neil–who invited us to join them in a real Aussie Christmas.

One of the first things that Pam explained to me upon presenting the invitation was that it was to be a true Aussie Christmas dinner–all cold foods!  Pam, who is now in her mid-80′s, elaborated:

“When I was young, I would watch my mother struggling every year to put together a hot Christmas dinner though it was boiling hot outside.  I swore that if I ever got married, I would never make a hot Christmas meal.  And I never have!”

More on that soon…

Finally being certain of Frank’s identity, we greeted him and made our way to Jane’s house, passing Santa on the road…

Leave a Comment…and within a few minutes, pulled up to this sweet bungalow–Jane and David’s home.

Leave a CommentJane and David are an eclectic pair in the best sense.  Jane’s a local physio and David an old drover who’s spent years herding cattle through the outback.  He’s retired now, and they often take long camping trips through the outback, going from watering hole to watering hole, rolling out their swags (bedrolls) at night to sleep under the stars.  Their home is filled with artwork and Aboriginal artifacts that they’ve discovered on their journeys.

Leave a CommentLeave a CommentA few pieces, such as the grinding stones they shared with us, they suspect to be thousands of years old.  Given that the Aboriginal peoples have inhabited this continent for some 50,000 years, it’s probably a safe estimate.  These two know Australia like few modern Aussies do… the birds, the plants, the cattle tracks, surviving in the outback… and they are filled to the brim with stories just waiting to be told.

One fascinating story that David (Allworth) shared over dinner was a recent project that he took part in to document the lives of a few of the remaining drovers.  The project was conceived by a local singer/songwriter whose interest in droving lead him to write an album about the business.  He then looked for a way to tour with it, and it led to a larger project called, “A Ride to Remember.”  For six weeks, David and a few others took to the outback on a journey from the western edge of Queensland through the Northern Territory to the eastern edge of Western Australia.  I greatly encourage you to check out the following links and listen to the Steven Schubert interview with David and the other drovers.

ABC Rural: Bush Telegraph

A Ride to Remember

Besides the stories, dinner itself was a sight to behold and entirely different from the Christmas dinners back home.  First course, seafood: lobster, prawns, and Sydney rock oysters, all of which I graciously left for David to enjoy, though Mike bravely partook of each.

Leave a CommentSecond course, cold turkey, ham, rice and salads.  But the crème de la crème of the day was truly the brandied fruit Christmas pudding ice cream cake (need more descriptors?  I don’t know quite what to call it…), pictured here:

Leave a CommentAnd yes, it tasted as good as it looked.

Overall, it was a brilliant day.  We learned some new family history and even had a hot debate about Uncle Brown’s accent.  I claim it’s more Aussie than American, but the Aussie Conrows claim the opposite.  Weigh in back at home.  What do you think?

Leave a CommentL to R: Neil, Ika, Frank, Pam (seated), Jane, David, Andrea, Michael

By the time we all said our good-byes, both Mike and I felt as if a new family bond had been formed.  And we’re already looking forward to next year.

P.S.– While it may seem glamorous, being away from home, especially for the holidays, is actually pretty tough.  Love and letters from friends and family at home make it sooo much better.  Please send us some!

Upon our arrival in Syd, we’ve been able to meet up with Jon and his (American born) wife, Hollis, who is currently doing her post doc work studying the song of the pied butcherbird.  Jon and Hollis’ home in the Blue Mountains, as we found out that Sunday, was a virtual library of Australiana, and Jon’s knowledge of the local birds was quite astounding.  We passed a few hours on his couch just talking, drinking wine, and watching the local feathers…

Leave a CommentSulfur-Crested Cockatoo

Leave a CommentSatin Bowerbird

Leave a CommentCrimson Rosella

Leave a CommentWonga Pigeon

Leave a CommentRainbow Lorikeet

Leave a CommentLewin’s Honeyeater

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Jon has also granted us permission to share this short video clip he made for one of his daughters with all of you.  The file’s too large to post directly to this site, so Mike is hosting it instead.  Check it out here.  (You may need QuickTime to play it, or may need to try a different internet browser if it doesn’t initially work.)

From Dec 4, 2011.  Photos by Mike.  Edits by Andrea.  Video by Jon Rose.