It's My Party

Google knows it's my birthday! ;)

Growing up, I was always envious of my friends who had summer birthdays. While I had ice skating and roller skating parties (thank you mom and dad!), they had pool parties and barbecues. There's only so much you can do outside when it's below freezing in January. I even considered celebrating my half birthday, which conveniently falls just after the Fourth of July and I thought I was so special to have fireworks for my half birthday.

One year, I did try to fight my winter birthday and forced my friends to go on a polar dip in the Atlantic ocean. In January. In New England. It was snowing. (I have such good friends :)). Needless to say there wasn't much sunscreen or sunbathing involved.

So for my first summer birthday, I took advantage of the sunny day and warm nights (even if they are windy). When I decided I wanted to try Fremantle, my everything-Aussie guru picked the Norfolk Hotel for dinner. Growing up, instead of going out to eat for my birthday, I would request poor-man stroganoff and then mussels I got older and m palate matured with broccoli with American cheese (I know I'm weird). Keeping with my birthday tradition, we had mussels in our tapas spread.

As the wind continued to blow in the beer garden, we moved to the basement where there was a DJ. As every other bar in Perth, he started playing normal pop dance music, but then switched to "duff duff" or electronic music. I tried to request the wobble, but surprisingly, he had never heard of it. I just didn't seem right without at least one Wagon Wheel sing-a-long. But we made it work.

 "You've never heard of the Wobble?!"

This morning I woke up to the smell of wood burning. There's a bushfire 400km southwest of here, and the winds have carried the smoke and deposited it on my lovely city. That smoke was thick!

Since the sun wasn't bright through the smoke, I decided to wait for it to clear out to enjoy my beach birthday. So what did I do? I did what any person would do when the air is full of smoke. I picked an activity that relies on getting extra oxygen to your lungs though increased breathing. Of course I went for a run. By the time I returned, it was starting to clear up, so I headed to Cottesloe, picking up a birthday treat along the way from my new cupcake place, Bella's.

 

Overall, it was a relaxing summer birthday, even if it doesn't quite seem like my birthday without a chance of snow. And I did miss my birthday doughnut and Howie-family singers' painful rendition of H-a-p-p-y b-i-r-t-h-d-a-y (Mom). Luckily I have my family and friends back home and my new friends and Aussie adopted family to help me celebrate wherever I am. Thank you for all the love and wishes! Now I've got 364 days to start planning my next fun-in-the-sun birthday. I'm going to start planning while having another birthday treat, chocolate ice cream (with no Moose Tracks it will have to do) with melted peanut butter. A heavenly ending to any birthday.

Going Up

There were a couple of themes of my really cool super awesome Christmas Bus Tour. One was flies. Not so really cool and super awesome. Seriously, it's no joke. They are EVERYWHERE. It's a Western Australian thing. Another theme was walking UP. Mountains, rocks, steps. All of the above.

1. Going up Wave Rock. One of our first stops was Wave Rock. It's a granite rock formation out in the bush of Wheat Belt.

You can also walk up on top of the wave for a view of the country. It also offered the first taste of "At your own risk" attitude of Australia. Going back down the rock, you can take the safe way down the steps, or you can take the "steep descent" where you step over the knee high guardrail (which is really to catch rain water and not at all for safety) and walk straight down.

 

2. Going up East Mount Baron. We were up at 5 am on Day 2 to walk up East Mount Baron. Conveniently, our camp was in it's shadow, a stones throw from the ocean. At the top, there were breathtaking views of the coast.

We all made it to the top and followed a kangaroo on the way down. Can you spot it?

3. Going up Frenchman's Peak. Our next climb was Frenchman's Peak in Cape le Grande. It was not a trail. We walked up a rock. The only 'path' were some sticks wedged into the rock face. At the summit, there were not the familiar warning signs, barriers, or park rangers as I've seen in America attempting you from plummeting over the side of a cliff. And it was windy up there.

4. Going Up Bluff Knoll. Christmas day, we took on the second highest peak in WA: Bluff Knoll. I do note that Australia is now known for it's mountains, and Bluff Knoll was only 3,606 ft (1,099 meters). Still, the path just went up. And up. And around the corner it went up again. Our conscientious tourguide made sure we were prepared with water and jackets (I was sweating at the top, but I was prepared ;)).

Bluff Knoll is in the Stirling Ranges and the contrast of the cleared farmland and forested park was beautiful.

At the top we found an older couple having their Christmas Day picnic. They watched our van park down below and were impressed with how fast we made it up (We were racing the sun. It's a 3 hr hike and we didn't start until 4ish). I was impressed that they brought crackers, cheese, and drinks up there!

5. Going Up Trees. From the rocks to the trees, we went to the tree walk in the Valley of Giants and climbed the Fire Tree. The Valley of the Giants is near Denmark (Australia). The tree top walk was built so tourists could enjoy the towering trees without damaging their shallow root systems on the forest floor.

On this whole trip, Sean peppered us with tree after tree we were passing in the bush. My brother-in-law would be so proud. Do I remember it? No. But I do know these giant trees were red and yellow tingles (types of Eucalyptus trees).

Red tingle on the left and yellow tingle on the right.

We then went to a fire tree in the middle of the forest. This is a 50 m tree that is used to spot bushfires. Metal rods stuck into the side of a tree. Again, in the Australian view of safety, it was climb at your own risk, no park ranger looking out for you, but there was a thin net should you step to the side. It is maintained, and the rungs were replaced in the 90's. Only a couple decades ago. At the platform halfway up, they did remind you to "Re-assess your situation and if you have nay doubts, please turn back." In the competitive spirit that seemed to be developing among our tourgroup, Sean beat his record and raced up in 1:30. I took about 3 minutes. It was my first attempt, I'm sure I'll be faster next time ;).

View from the top. No bushfires today!

6. Going Up and Down Ngilgi Cave. Our last set of steps was actually going down (but we did come back up) into the Ngilgi Caves. It's in Yallingup which may or may not be the aboriginal word for 'Place of Love' because of the many ceremonies that took place in this region. Lots of places around here end in '-up' which means "place of" in aboriginal languages. We learned about Aboriginal culture and learned about the Rainbow Serpent, boomerangs and had our own expert didgeridoo performance by Josh.

More steps!

Going up was always easier. As a graduate of the UNiversity of South Carolina Exercise Science program, I am well aware that eccentric contractions, such as walking down hill, cause muscle damage. Feels oh so good the net day! Good practice for trail running :).

And to prove I was actually at these places, here's my selfie montage.

 
Wave Rock


East Mount Baron

Frenchman's Peak


Bluff Knoll

Auld Lang Syne

 Happy New Year from Down Under!

It may come a bit earlier than back home, but the good cheer is still the same. I had my first Australian BBQ, with shrimp on the barbie and everything. Christian and Kelli outdid theirselves with steaks, chicken breast, chicken wings, and lamb. Delicious!

 We made "resolutions" and shared our favorite memories from 2013.

 

Mind you, it was not this cold. It was a beautiful summer night out on the patio.

 

And at midnight we watched the fireworks replayed from Sydney.

2013 was quite the roller coaster year. From graduating to moving to Perth. Saying goodbyes and meeting new people. The end of the year may have brought tears or laughter, but now it is time to start anew. Warmest wishes for a 2014 that brings smiles and laughter, wherever, whenever and however you celebrate. I think I'll go to the beach...

Secrets of Esperance

Curtin University shutdown for two weeks + summer weather = a Christmas backpacking tour down to Esperance and possibly one of the best vacations ever. I spent 6 days and 5 nights traveling around the southwestern corner of Western Australia in "Betsy."

Going on a tour over Christmas day, I was curious to see who else would join me. Turns out that awesome people go on tours on Christmas. There were 12 of us plus Sean, our fearless Freo tour guide/bus driver extraordinaire and expert in WA history, flora & fauna, and cider sipping guitar player (he even played James Tayor!). It was quite the international mix:

• 2 guys from Switzerland, one who had the best 80's playlist ever and the other who was expert trailer backing up director
• 1 girl from Denmark, who sat in front of me and put up with my terrible dancing and singing
• 1 girl from Belgium who lives in Sydney, affectionately known as Rudolph and who the mozzies loved
• 2 girls from Japan working here who were always willing to help with a giggle
• 2 engineers from Melbourne, a couple with one Italian and the other American who could share my perspective on all things non-American (like stranger danger!)
• 1 German on holiday who had the best time hiking up Bluff Knoll
• 1 Italian living in Perth on a working holiday visa but moving to Sydney who made a fantastic co-pilot
• 1 girl from the UK living in Melbourne with a love of cars and who introduced I Spy to the bus to entertain us
• and me, the American living in Perth. 

A week with these guys and I decided that I need to learn another language! But I did my job as the token American, sharing my country music, random Ludacris and Beyonce songs from my running playlist, and hosting the dance party in the back of the van.

All packed up before 6am at the Mount Trio bush camp (no campfires anywhere because of the bushfire risk, but there was still a campfire circle as a tease).

The festive A Team at the top of Frenchman's Peak at Cape Le Grande.

Since moving to Perth, I hadn't yet ventured out of the city limits. Sitting awestruck in the back of the van, I was able to take in the expansive Australian bush. We drove for hours, passing only a few cars and a few farm houses. The openness of the country is stunning. Through the window flashed, fields of wheat and pastures or sheep and cattle in the Wheat Belt of WA. The hills of the Stirling ranges, bright orange Christmas trees and grass trees dotted the scrub of the bush. There were hundreds of kilometers where the only turnoff's were gravel roads and everyone travels with extra cans of gasoline, should the next petrol station be a bit too far (or closed!). Out in the bush, fellow travelers look out for one another, waving as they pass, and aiding others who have had bad luck (we stopped for an accident to see if we could help)

At dawn and dusk, wild kangaroos and emus dotted the fields and pastures.  

The legendary rabbit proof fence.

 We only passed through a few SMALL, quiet towns like York, Esperance, Albany, Margaret River, and Denmark.

 York and Albany (no I wasn't in New York)

 We slept under the stars in swags. A swag is a canvas bag with a little mattress pad. Compared to tents, no assembly required. Just roll out and climb in with your sleeping bag. Sean warned us not to roll out our swags before we were ready to get into them, in case some creature decided to crawl in there first. When asked what kept things from crawling into them when we were in there, his reply was, "You do." While the days were filled with flies (so many and so annoying!) at night, with just my head poking out under the stars, I didn't have any problems with flying or crawling things, or get any kangaroo kisses. Without the ambient light from cities and towns, the stars are innumerable. I was finally able to find the Southern Cross in the sky. And seeing Orion's belt (Larisa!) in the sky reminded me I'm still looking at the same stars all my family and friends are looking at, even if it was upside down. 

 

Our days were spent hiking and playing on the most beautiful beaches. Life is tough. But I'll tell you all about that soon...

 Rockstars at Elephant Rocks.

  "Stranded" in Twilight Cove while Simone went to the emergency room when his foot lost a battle with the barnacles on the rock (he's ok). I could think of worse places to be stranded.