The Penultimate Post

It is Monday morning here and alas I will leave Wednesday afternoon. Of course given the time differences I will arrive in Calgary on Wednesday. On the weekend I went to the kids' baseball games. They play baseball rather than softball but with altered rules. There is no pitcher at Lian's level- rather the ball is thrown by a pitching machine. The next level up, at which Julius plays, there is a pitcher. But there are no walks. Instead if they walk a tee is used and they have a chance one chance to hit off it. The games are short so they are not bad to watch.

The first picture is just a shot I took as I walked out our door. Would that outside the door looked that way in Calgary. As you can see it is a bit cloudy. It has been cloudy and running about 25 for the last while.

As I had not gotten any souvenirs yet after the game Trina and I went to Paddys market in downtown Sydney. It is a building filled with stalls on the first floor selling inexpensive items, mostly clothes and gaudy things. I succeeded in my hunt as best I could.

Heading back from the market we passed a Mercedes dealer that of course reminded me of my imminent return. I guess there is a color scheme used worldwide by Mercedes. You might notice there seems virtually no parking- even less, amazingly enough, than at Hyatt. Perhaps there is more around back.

Then I went to a cricket match. Well it was sort of a match. It was a 20-20- a match disliked by purists- but one that is mercifully short. One team plays 20 overs and then there is a half time and the other plays 20 overs. An over is 6 pitches. So the game will come in in under 4 hours. This game was a benefit for the bush fire victims so the teams each had a couple of cricket players and people who were celebrities of some sort. The 20,000 or so there knew most of them as some were cheered and some booed. I gather those booed were sports figures viewed as arrogant or obnoxious. I now sort of understand cricket though and can see how it and baseball are similar. I still don't find either particularly exciting. Another similarity is that beer and hot dogs are served. I think the hot dog brand is Boss Hogg. I refrained from both.

Our group left a bit early so as to avoid the worst congestion.

On the way back Trina made a couple of wrong turns and expressed her views of Sydney signage. It is at its best utterly horrible. I have no idea as to how a newcomer can get anywhere. A map is only mildly helpful as many intersections have no street signs. And such signs as there are often pop up so late that one can't possibly get to the correct lane. So we missed the harbor tunnel turn and wandered around a bit downtown planning to use the bridge instead. But eventually we arrived after a trip which was rather noisy because Lian and Julius had gone a bit goofy.

Last of the Hunter Valley

This is a picture of our fourth and final winery, on the right is the main building. Our guide said he had seen a virtually identical building in the Medoc region in France. The inside of the building is very "modern" and metallic. I did not like this place at all. In part it was that it did not fit my image of the Hunter Valley. I might have ignored that but I also didn't like any of the wines we tasted. We tried, for example, a Zinfandel. While California wines- the ones I have had anyway- are virtually all inferior to the wines from most anywhere they can make Zinfandels. The Aussies should leave them to the Californians as the one we had was simply not very good.

This complex is also the home, as you can see if you examine the orange part of the sign, of the Smelly Cheese shop. We tried a few samples. I had a particularly wonderful creamed feta with garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. I wanted to get some but as I had spent a fair amount by this time I decided against the small jar for $15 even though that is only about $12 Canadian. I sort of regret that now.

The shop also has hand-made chocolates and an immense variety of gelatos. Wikipedia describes gelato as like high end ice cream in that it has less air in it and is generally quite rich and flavorful. I have had a bit and that description seems quite apt. I decided to have a cone and tried the dark chocolate. It was excellent and a well-filled cone was only $4. After I finished my cone (all had to wait as food and drink were not allowed on the bus) we boarded and headed back to Sydney. As the driver had predicted it rained fairly heavily fairly often on the way back. I leapt out of the bus at a stoplight by the rail station in Turramurra. I took the train to Hornsby and then a bus to Hornsby Heights.

The trip was only $95 and was well worth it. One can drive up and do tastings oneself. However individuals who go in generally taste only a couple of items. When one is in a group the sever presents, in an appropriate order, around 10 or so samples.

Next to Last of the Hunter Valley

The top picture is just a view from where we stopped to get lunch. I bravely decided to have a roast beef baguette which was actually quite good. Almost all Aussie sandwiches are loaded with various veggies and very little by way of condiments. One curious feature, to North Americans anyway, is that many sandwiches include beetroot (beets to us) slices. I don't think I would always have these on a sandwich but they are actually a tasty addition from time to time. There is a brewery attached to our lunch spot- for $12 one could get a paddle with 6 holes in it in which 6 small glasses of different beers were placed. I wanted to try them but decided it would just be too much. I hear they were very good though.

The next picture is from our tasting at Tintilla. The guy and girl at the bottom, both from Chicago, are the people I talked to most. She and I tended to agree about the various wines, and we both made fun of her boyfriend who liked sweet whites the most. We suggest that in a few years he would grow up and develop a taste for the reds which I find much better- at least much more complex.

The guy in blue was Garry- our driver and guide with bluetooth headset in ear. As you can see the grapes are ripe- indeed much harvesting was going on. The grapes are I think Shiraz and, as you can see, each vine is quite laden.

In the bottom you see what looks to be a lime tree, but what is more likely to be a lemon tree with green lemons. We have some here grown in our own little tree. The other trees are olive trees which are quite abundant in the Hunter Valley. So many olives are grown in Oz that olive oil is very popular. And indeed many of the soft margarines are olive oil based.

More of the Hunter Valley

The top picture is just another Hunter Valley vista with a bit too much of a parking lot. The next two are inside Iron Crest. Most of the wineries in the Hunter Valley are boutique ones. They sell to club members and from their cellar doors. They don't export though they will ship free to Sydney and at a modest cost elsewhere in Oz. Iron Crest is a bit different- it is a contract winery, making wine from grapes or juice brought in from elsewhere. We did more tasting here and I did get a bottle of Shiraz here.

There are as well some wineries of which you may have heard like Lindemanns, Rosemount and Wyndham Estates. These are large companies that have vineyards all over Oz. The Hunter Valley is as far north as you find vineyards in Oz- further North it is just too hot. I gather Shiraz grapes originated in Persia and evolved in heat. So they do well in the Hunter Valley.

Off to the Hunter Valley

I got up slightly earlier than usual. When I do, particularly if one puts out some seed, the two familiar (at least I think they are the usual ones) cockatoos swooped down. While they are gorgeous birds they make utterly obnoxious noise- basically just a very loud squawk. At any rate I got a ride with Les down to the Turramurra where I was to be picked up. We then headed northwest to the Hunter Valley, eventually joining National Highway 1. It is a good road but is I think only 20 some years old. The Sydney area is built on sandstone several hundred meters thick, and is very hilly and, even though the soil is very poor, lushly forested. To construct the highway huge gaps were blasted in the hills. Some of the cliffs were 100 feet or so high. As sandstone is not fragmented the faces of these are sheer. After an hour or so we stopped for a snack at a rest stop along the way. The blue Mercedes van is what I was in. It is actually a sprint modified to seat 14 passengers. There were 7 of us on this trip.

In the background you will see a MacDonalds. They are much the same as anywhere save that they have added a MacCafe with its own counter where coffees and pastries are sold. I have managed to avoid trying them.















The third picture is just a typical Hunter Valley scene. It has been very wet the last couple of weeks and as you can see it was an overcast day. But we managed to avoid anything save some sprinkles. Lucky I suppose as there were flood warnings for some of the valley around the Hunter River. About 10:30 we arrived at our first tasting where we sampled a small amount of about 10 different drinks- some whites, some reds, some fortifieds and some wine-based liqueurs. One only gets a small amount, but at this time of day one knows one has had a drink. At this place, Draytons family wines, I bought white chocolate and dark chocolate liqueurs. They will go well in coffee I think and the dark will make interesting strawberry concoctions.

This and That and Wacky Weather

Well Trina has her car back. However I have learned to use the local bus system which I ride to the school on to fetch the kids. We all then ride back though somehow today Lian did not get off. So I waited on the other side at the stop and Julius waited where we got off. Sure enough after a little bit the bus came back the other direction with Lian as the sole passenger.

Last week in Sydney it was 35 and we were hot. But I guess we were lucky. Up north near where we had traveled cyclones caused massive flooding. And in Victoria there were the worst fires on record. A number of people and countless animals died. As is always true when something like this happens there is extreme controversy about forest management.

The last few days Sydney have cooled to the low 20s. Lian often complains she is freezing. I wouldn't go that far but it is true that the habituation to heat makes mild temperatures feel very cool. Cool enough that I even wore the long pants that had languished in disuse.

Not much is planned for the last days save that I will go on a day trip to the Hunter Valley wine region. I hope I don't overtaste and pass out at some cellar door.
And I will be going to downtown Sydney again in hot pursuit of souvenirs of some sort.

I still have linguistic problems- I almost never understand what people say. Announcements is say a train station are a complete mystery. The a sound is particularly difficult- I can even misunderstand such a mundane word as "car" is virtually unintelligible. To me the a sounds like my a when I try to imitate a crow.

Baseball and Heat

This Saturday morning the kids played baseball. Both are on a team. The games started early as we are all suffering from the heat. It is currently 35 here with the humidity around 30%. I simply droop and drip. Everyone else hopped into the pool when we got back, but I didn't go in. While the pool is not actually cold when it is this hot here it feels utterly frigid to me. I guess we are lucky since the south coast- Melbourne among others- has been well into the 40s.

The other night I saw my first possum climbing in a tree outside. They are a bit smaller than the ones I have seen in North America- in the dark it looked a lot like a koala. Around here they are considered quite a pest so there are various companies that specialize in their removal. They are protected so one can't shoot them or anything like that. The one I saw, or perhaps a buddy, climbs on the roof and, if he can, comes into the house. Trina tells me that when they first came something in the kitchen was not sealed and she found a possum in the kitchen cabinets.

Other than the possums I see the usual birds and lizards a fair amount. Right now the birds are quiet but in the later afternoon they no doubt will start up again. The lizards come in various sizes, as small as a couple of inches up to around a meter. Yesterday I rescued a 6 inch one that had managed to fall into a water bucket- it was swimming but it could not of course continue indefinitely.

Next weekend we will probably go visit a Hunter Valley winery. I am not sure which as Trina is going to ask her brother for a suggestion. He is a bit of a connosieur.