The Great Ocean Walk - Day 4 (April 11, 2013) - A Change of Plans...

We woke up to rain in the morning, so we did everything we could including packing our bags and eating breakfast before we got out of the tent.  We decided to take a load of stuff to the trailer while we were waiting for our water delivery, and put everything, including our packs, inside the trailer so they wouldn't get wet.  When we opened it up we found a giant huntsman spider - by far the biggest I've seen since moving to Australia.

Once the bags were all in, I just went for a quick bathroom break while Ryan went to pack up the tent, and then we went back to wait by the trailer for our water so we could start the day.  Oh, how wrong we were.

It turns out that while we had stepped away, our stealth trailer driver had delivered the water.  Finding the trailer unlocked, he locked it when he left.  When we returned, we realized that the key to the trailer was actually in my pack, which was inside.  We had no idea the driver had been back, so we assumed the trailer automatically locked when you shut it.  Boy did we feel stupid!  Literally the only things we had were my waterproof camera and our duffle bag with our tent stuff in in.  Thinking that our driver was due any minute to drop off water, we just waited near the trailer for 45 minutes. 

You might think that was stupid, but in Australia, especially remote Australia, no one is ever on time.  Finally we decided to give our tour company a call to see if they could help us out.  Unfortunately we didn't have any phones, so we went and found a Dutch guy who let me use the internet to find the phone number, and then call.  I left them a detailed message about what was happening, but sure enough they called the Dutch guy back an hour later so he came running to find us.  By then it was 10:30, we were exhausted and soaking wet, so we decided that if no one got to us by 11:00 then we wouldn't do the hike that day.  It was only a 5 hour hike (including a solid 2 hours uphill and 2 hours downhill, all inland), and we didn't like the idea of not finishing the entire hike, but turns out that it was a good decision.  We also found out later that since it is the worst/most boring section of the hike, Parks Victoria is actually redirecting it and making it better, so we don't regret it.

The original plan had been to meet a driver at the end of the hike that evening where they would take us to stay at a wilderness retreat for the night.  Instead, they picked us up and just took us there earlier in the day.  We were grateful for a hot shower and a kettle to boil water, and we unpacked our gear and let it dry by the heater.  We thought that it was going to be an open animal sanctuary, but turns out it was more like a run-down zoo.  Overall it was disappointing, but we did get to see wombats for the first time in Australia!  They gave us carrots to feed them, so although we didn't get to see them in the wild, it was definitely fun.  There was also a parrot that talked, but it sounded exactly like a radio station!  I guess it doesn't get much human company to mimic.  The other cool animal were the giant bats.

We spent the rainy afternoon playing cards, reading, and cooking our delicious laksa dinner on the hot plate in the room.  We also reorganized all of our stuff so it would be easier to manage for the last two days of our hike.  We worked out our sore muscles, and then slept in a real bed by 9pm.  The only downside was that I was up all night blowing my nose because I was seriously allergic to something in the room...unless I'm allergic to wombats!

Holland - Part 1 (Oct. 4-5, 2012)

After what seemed like a really short flight compared to our other flights, we transferred in Montreal and Zurich and quickly arrived in Amsterdam.  Picking up our car was a bit of a fiasco since it wasn't at the airport, but we finally got it and then I had to quickly adjust to driving on Dutch roads.  I guess they're not that different from Canada, but their signage is different, and the highway lanes work a little bit differently, too.  Luckily we rented a GPS, so between the three of us we figured it out and made it to Hilversum.

The reason we went to Holland in the first place was to visit my Great Aunt Els.  I've visited her a few times before, but we all know you can never visit Europe too many times!  It was absolutely wonderful to see her again.  She thinks her English is getting worse, and she's slowing down, but I think she's doing great.

After a quick catch up and lunch (breakfast?), we decided to get right into sightseeing.  There was an M.C. Escher exhibition at the local palace (Paleis Soestdijk) so we decided to go there to check it out.  Escher is known for his "never ending staircase" drawing, but I didn't recognize much else.  We weren't allowed to take any pictures at all inside the palace, and we weren't even allowed to bring our jackets, so I only have pictures of the outside.

The gardens around the palace were beautiful, but the weather started to turn so we went inside and had hot drinks instead.

After that, Ryan and I were definitely ready to relax.  Our jetlag eventually hit us, so Els made dinner, we looked at maps for our next few days of excursions, and we went to bed really early.  That night, though, the residence was having their monthly meeting, so the common room outside of our guest room was quite busy.  Els told us to put up some signs and a folding screen once everyone had left to make sure no one disturbed us, but we were so exhausted we went right to bed before they all left.  Sure enough, just when we got settled, a few crazy Dutch ladies opened our bedroom door, started LAUGHING, and then put the screen up for us!  We made sure to keep the door locked after that, but I think Els will be hearing about that for awhile.

After a much needed sleep, I dragged Ryan out of bed for breakfast with Els.  It was rough at first, but then he remembered that the Dutch are famous for cheese, so he recovered.  Our first destination for the day was Alkmaar, which is typically where there is a giant cheese market each week.  After barely navigating the small streets and cyclists, we found a parking spot and didn't dare move again.  Luckily it was right next to the town square!  There was no cheese market since the season had passed, but it was so fun to just wander around the town. 

The statue in the town square.

The weather wasn't great for the whole time we were in Holland, but it never once rained on us, and the sun always came out just in time for us to enjoy lunches on patios.  So after a brief snack at a pub (I think we had fries and mayo, and probably croquettes), we left Alkmaar and went to Hoorn. 

Hoorn is more known as a typical Dutch fishing village, with lots of ships and old buildings to look at.  Again, there was nothing in particular we wanted to see, so we just wandered around the town and snacked whenever we saw something we liked.

We thought this sign was hilarious coming from Australia - someone put a spider picture on the "Local Traffic Only" sign!  (I only just looked that up, but it was funny before too)

Next, on our way to Marken we decided to stop in Monnickendam Noord since it looked neat.  It was pretty typically Dutch, with lots of ships and little shops.  The coolest one was a shop that sold doll houses and all of the pieces for inside.  It was exactly how you imagine they were before Barbie's Dream House.  They even had electrical wiring for the chandeliers!

And since we still had a bit of time left in the day, we did eventually get to Marken, which is actually a little island joined to the main land by a long dyke/bridge.  What we didn't know, though, was that there aren't any cars allowed past the main parking lot of the island, and all tourists have to pay to park and then walk around.  Since we were only planning on staying for about an hour we were a bit reluctant, but we did it anyway.  It wasn't really our thing, though, since it was very touristy.  There was a wooden shoe making shop, lots of souvenir shops, and a few tour busses on guided tours.  The houses were neat, though, because they were quintessential fishing village houses.

We explored for awhile, but the real adventure was when we went to the grocery store!  We were making dinner that night, and we had already picked up some marinated chicken at a shop in Alkmaar, so we just needed some vegetables to go with it.  It was really strange though, because almost all of the produce was pre-cut and packaged!  You can get any kind of mix you want, but it's already prepared for you.  Then, the things that we bought by the pound, we actually had to weigh and tag ourselves.  We didn't realize that, so it caused quite the kafuffle at the checkout.

Just as a funny conclusion to the day, on the way home we encountered a cow crossing.  It was very reminiscent of the sheep crossing in New Zealand.

 That evening after a delicious dinner, Ryan and I were absolutely exhausted.  We looked through some old slides with Els, and then happily went to bed very early.  This time there was no trouble with the Dutch ladies!

Fossils in the Flinders - June 1, 2012

After our second night in the Flinders, we packed up and left the campground.  On our way out we passed a group of adorable baby emus.  Instead of getting off the road like their dad, they all plopped down in a circle and started eating whatever was on the road.

This day was about finding some interesting fossils for Ryan.  Unfortunately, Ryan just asked the visitor centre "So, where are the fossils?" Not realizing that there were super-cool ones (that he wanted to see), and some less-cool ones (where the guy told us to go).  None the wiser, off we went 40km north of the campsite in pursuit of fossils.  As Ryan figured out the discrepancy while looking at his newly-bought geological map of the area, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

When we arrived at the Geologic Trail, Ryan confirmed his suspicions that the Ediacaran fossils  were 7km past the point our campervan was able to go.  We decided to drive as far as we could, and tossed up the idea of walking the rest of the way.  On the way though, we passed lots of really fun things.  First, we saw two massive wedge-tailed eagles just off the side of the road.  I've never seen brown ones before (the ones at work are much older and therefore black), and I've never gotten so close.

Next, Ryan gave us a geology lesson and took us on a field trip through a river bed.  I will definitely fail that exam since I was too busy taking pictures.

On that field trip we also found some golden orb spiders and a massive flock of cockatoos, so there was a little something for everyone.

Finally we made it to the end of our road at an obstacle called "Slippery Dip".  As you can imagine, we really weren't eager to take our campervan up and over it since it had been raining (though I swear it looked worse in person).

We pulled over to assess the situation, and I noticed a middle-aged guy checking out the nearby cliffs.  He was super scruffy, but had a hand lens (geology tool) around his neck.  I went up to him, and the conversation went a little like this:

Me: Anything interesting over there?

Him: Nah, nothing special.

Me: Are you a geologist?

Him: No, just interested in that stuff.

Me: Neat.  We're travelling with a geologist.  Are you going to see the fossils?

Him: Yeah

Me: We were hoping to, but I don't think we'll get this beast (point to van) over Slippery Dip.

Him: No, maybe not.

Me: Are you going there and back, or driving the loop?

Him: The loop.

Me: We were gonna walk it, but it's starting to rain now.

Him: How far is it?

Me: Only about 7km.

Him: Let me go talk to my wife, maybe we can give you a ride and drop you back here after.

Me: Oh wow, that's awfully nice of you!

Yeah...I did that.  Meanwhile, the rest of the gang got out of the campervan and walked over to me.  I quickly explained what was going on as the guy came back and said "Oh, I didn't realize there were 4 of you…."  Ryan ran over and quickly told him that we didn't need a ride, but thanks for the offer.  Ryan doesn't get mad at me often, but boy was he mad at me for this!  I guess that's where Wasylyks and Pippys are different.  I thought the guy would have loved to take a geologist with him to explain the fossils!  I certainly didn't care if I went, but Ryan was way to embarrassed and taken by surprise to go.  Oh well!

Since that didn't really work out, we went to see the stromatolites instead.  Once Ryan explained them, they were kind of interesting.  Turns out there are still some living in Shark Bay, Western Australia, so I'm sure we'll go see them before we move back to Canada.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I could care less about geology stuff, but boy do I get to see some beautiful places because of it!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful.  We stopped in Hawker for some traditional Aussie meat pies and sauce (a.k.a. ketchup), then made our way to Burra to find a campsite for the night.  It was dark when we got there, and when we pulled in, a sketchy guy left his drum fire to come and talk to us.  I was freaking out, but Ryan told me to roll down my window anyways.  Turns out he just wanted to tell us there weren't any powered sites left, so then we promptly left.  Thank goodness!

We drove an extra hour to get to the Clare campsite, ordered some pizza from a chicken shop, bought some treats from the grocery store while we were waiting, and had a delightful evening of board games and wine.  This is the life!

Cool Creatures in the Outback

We have some more trips lined up for the next few months, so I'm going to use this break to post pictures of some of the cool things I find at work.  I always have my camera nearby, and everyone here is trained to call me if they find something cool.  Everything I know about the following creatures I either learned from someone at work or the internet, so hopefully it's all right.  I know I should be scared of most of these things, but people rarely get hurt and everything seems less dangerous than a bear or a shark, so I just get right in there for a closer look.  Also, they're not in any particular order except the order I found them.  Enjoy!

Bearded Dragon - These guys puff up like puffer fish when they're provoked.  Also the red head is strange, so it might indicate that it's breeding time.

Praying Mantis - I think I was most excited about this find of all of them.  They're just so cool!

Centipede

Western Brown Snake - This was my first real encounter with a snake.  It wasn't actually very big (the next day they caught a massive one), but they are venomous.  Protocol is to have a trained snake catcher come to get it and bring it far away from site.  It took him forever because the snake curled up under some crates, but he eventually got him.  I've got a video of the capture below.  Later that week the guys also caught a baby one in a bucket.

Cotton Harlequin Bug (I think) - Despite the picture, they're not very big (maybe about 1.5-2cm long).

Broad Banded Sand Swimmer (I think) - I think this guy is a type of skink.

Frog - I'm not even going to try and identify which kind it is.  He's covered in mud because he emerged out of a giant puddle.  Supposedly these frogs just live underground until we get enough rain over enough days, then they emerge.  It makes sense, since that week we got the entire year's worth of rainfall in a few days (over 150 cm).  Poor frogs are going to be stuck underground for a long time after that!

Dragonfly - For a few mornings in a row, whenever we got to work there would be tons of dragonflies twitching on the ground.  I'm not sure if they were just cold, or had moisture on their wings or something, but eventually they would get up and fly away.

Redback spider eating a giant bug

Redback spider with a dead praying mantis stuck in its web

Bugs up here come and go in waves, and for a few days there were a bunch of these massive black beetles crawling around.  I don't know what kind it is though.  Right now we have these greenish bugs that supposedly stink really bad if you step on them.  I don't have a picture of them, though.

Triop - These things are really weird, and very hard to photograph.  They live in the water, so they wouldn't stop moving when we took them out.  They have hundreds of little legs(?) that move like a wave when they're in the water.  They're also considered "living fossils" since they have not changed very much since the Triassic period.

Scorpion - I had been really watching out for a scorpion ever since I heard they were in the outback.  They're the reason you don't leave your boots outside overnight!  When I saw one for the first time, though, I was surprised how small it was.  I was expecting a big black one, I guess like I've seen in movies.  Either way, it was still pretty cool!

Unidentified spider - This was a really tough one.  No one at work knew what it was so I had to consult and expert - Ryan's brother Bryce!    His best guess is that it's in the Zodariidae family and that it burrows into the ground and eats ants.  If I learn anything else about it I'll let you know!

Wolf Spider - I've been dying to see one of these!  We were just moving pallets and it was hiding in it.  It was much bigger than I was expecting, and also venomous!

That's all for now!  Hopefully I'll have lots more neat things to show you after our two trips to other parts of the outback.  

Creepy Crawlies

In honour of Halloween this week, I thought I would do a post on the bugs and spiders we've seen so far.  Beware of creepy pictures!

You know that we've already seen the Redback Spider and Ryan has seen the Golden Orb Spider, and we also saw a Tiger Snake.  Ryan thinks he saw a Mouse Spider at work, but there are no pictures to prove it so we're watching out for another one.

I'm going to do my best to identify the following pictures based on what I find on the internet!

Black House Spider

This spider is poisonous but not deadly.  Good thing, since one was in my shower while I was in there.  This particular one we found outside on a spider-finding mission.

Huntsman Spider

This one was on our back gate at night, maybe a bit bigger than a Toonie.  They're non-aggressive spiders and are actually good at keeping other bug populations down, but you should still avoid getting bitten since it is painful.

Daddy Long Legs

We have tons of these, but I actually don't have any pictures.  They look like they do in Canada and I think they're responsible for most of the webs in the house.  They vary in size from about a centimetre (including legs) to about three centimetres.

Unidentified Spider

For those of you who read my blog as a procrastination technique, maybe you can help me out with this one.  I've spent a good while trying to figure out what this one is but can't find anything similar online.  We found it on our wall near the ceiling and it was about 2cm long.  The colour is accurate, but I'm sorry the picture is blurry.

Black Portuguese Millipede

Spiders are pretty creepy, but this was the most disgusting bug in our house.  It was on our bathroom floor and scared the crap out of me when I first saw it.

Hairy Mary Caterpillar

Or at least that's the closest thing I can find.  It doesn't seem like anyone on the internet actually knows its name.  We saw this guy in Kings Park, Perth.

Shingleback Lizard

I don't have a picture of this either, since when I saw one I thought it was a snake and got really freaked out.  They have stubby legs, so it was really hard to tell at first.  It was scurrying around in the shrubs near our beach, and I'm pretty sure I saw a bunch of babies while I was climbing Mt. Lofty.  This website has a good picture though.
**Update** Turns out I actually did take a picture!

That's all for now!  I'll try and be more diligent about taking pictures, but to be honest my main priority is to get them out of the house or as far away from them as possible.

These days there isn't much to blog about, so I'll try to gather another list of new birds we've seen.  It just takes a really long time to ID them all (this post took over 2 hours, and it was short!) so don't expect it tomorrow.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Guest Writer Ryan: Australia vs. Canada

Alright, so many Canadians think Australia is much like Canada, and many Australians think Canada is much like Australia. This may be true, but let me share a few of the things which are not the same.

They have a fence running the width of the country (should I say continent?) called the ‘dingo fence’. Its primary purpose is the keep the dingoes out of Southern Australia.

We saw a golden orb spider at work, and the webs are so tough that you can pluck them like a guitar string. Also they make the webs between trees, which people say is very annoying when you’re your on a quad-bike and you get this big spider and tough web in your face. It is another cousin of the black widow, although much less dangerous.

Useful advice: if you run over a snake with your car, make sure you look behind you to see if it’s still on the road.  If you don’t kill it, it usually grabs a hold of the car and works its way inside over the next few hours to days.  If you don’t see the snake behind you in the rear view mirror, get out of the car and walk away.

Emus like to chase small children while screeching, but if you have a dirt-bike, you can chase them and scare them off.

Kangaroos will bound prettily beside your moving car, but what they’re really trying to do is leap in-font of it to … get run over … On that note, the road kill here is much larger than in Canada (exception moose, meese?)

Spiders and Semaphore

You guessed it! I saw my first deadly spider! The (not so) illusive, Redback Spider. Ryan saw one last week, but he didn't get any pictures. That's right everyone, I risked Kelsey's life to get this picture for you:

Kelsey was checking the chairs before we sat outside...and it's a good thing she did! She also killed it. So brave!

But this is a picture for scale...it was actually just a baby. They can get quite large though, with torsos the size of a quarter I think.



Anyways, this weekend was pretty fun. It was supposed to rain, but we had beautiful weather (about 17-22 Celsius, but cold wind). Friday was Kelsey's birthday, so we ordered take out Thai food, rented terrible chick flicks, and ate chocolate cake.

Saturday was our trip to Bunnings (like Home Depot, but BETTER!) Our mission was to get a barbeque and plants for an herb garden. Both were very successful. I resisted buying a citrus tree because they would take at least 3 years to produce edible fruit. Damn! Best part - they had free slushies and popcorn! Also the staff all had their faces painted, which was weird.

I think it's about time I show you what Justin and Kelsey's car looks like so you can get the full effect of loading a huge barbeque into it:

                       


This is just a picture from the internet, but theirs is red and looks exactly like this.

Anyways, somehow between the two of us we had a trunk full of plants so we spent the afternoon planting an herb and lettuce garden at my house. We also assembled the barbeque and cooked skewers for dinner. Delish!

Sunday we met some other women and dogs at Semaphore Beach (just north of our suburb) for a dog walk. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but it was low tide. The beach was so flat that at high tide there is only a few metres of sand.












We stopped at a great café for lunch while it got cloudy, then when we were done the sun came back out again! The afternoon was so nice we weeded Kelsey's gardens and planted her plants from Bunnings.

After ALL of that, it was still only 3pm, so we decided to go to the mall which has the good grocery stores. Got lots of delicious food and stopped at K-Mart to see if they have bikes. They do! I got one for $60! So again, picture a bike box (I have to assemble the bike) in the back of Kelsey's car!

Finally, the day ended with me practicing driving that car. The gear changing wasn't a problem, but we had a few close calls with me almost hitting things on the passenger side. It's soooooo weird to be on the other side of the car! I also panic and forget what I'm doing, even at 30 km/h. Practice makes perfect, right?