Assorted Aussie stories

In no particular order....

... It's been rain-free, partly cloudy and in the mid-80s here for a week, but today it rained some. About an hour ago, we had two brief showers. The first one lasted about 15 seconds, and the second lasted 20. Both would have gotten you quite wet. Not at all like Midwest rain, with its big, cold drops. These are finer, warmer tropical raindrops....


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... Trase and I took Joshie to North Stradbroke Island today. I've added a map above. We took the catamaran ferry from Cleveland to Dunwich ("Dunnitch"), and a bus thence to Point Lookout. It rained there, too, while we were on the Gorge Walk at the furthest point from shelter. We all got good and drenched in our clothes, but got to see 3 grey kangaroos about 20 yards away. Then it cleared and we swam in the warm Pacific for more than an hour. (Zoom in on Point Lookout on the map above; we were at the end of Kennedy Dr.) Josh and I worked on our body-surfing skillz...

... Walking back up the hill from the beach, two cars passed us, and we heard something hit the pavement as they rounded a corner. A beach bag had fallen from the roof of the second car, containing keys and a wallet, among other odds and ends. We waited a while for them to return, but in the end, brought the whole kit and caboodle back with us to Brisbane, since the owner's address was also in the city. We called and got his parents. Turns out the guy is staying on "Straddie" all week, but he'll be glad to know his vitals are safe...

... No only are the power plugs here 200 volts, but each outlet has an individual switch on it. Also, Australia has passed a law banning incandescent lights. Easier to do in a country where it rarely freezes. (My experience is that compact florescents don't like Michigan winters out-of-doors.)....

... The last vaunted India vs. Australia cricket test ended on Monday as a draw. If the teams aren't able to complete two innings in five days, it's a draw regardless of the score. When the first innings took nearly four days to complete, it was pretty obvious the whole last day that there was no point for the players to play or the fans to watch. This is my main complaint with an otherwise laudable pastime...

... Two great European beers you never see on tap in the U.S.: Old Speckled Hen and Kilkenny. Both can be found here. Brisbane has an enormous number of "hotels", which are mostly really century-old bars. Lots of them are on corners. But the residential areas have few. Real hotels, like the Marriott, etc. are virtually skyscrapers, and have fancy modern-looking bars....