Ticks and Turkeys

In the last few weeks, Eric has definitely had the more interesting of experiences. He got to crew for one of the sailboats that races on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It was a lot of work, but he had a great time. He also realized the bay is a lot bigger when you're in the middle of it than when you're on the shore. They did well in spite of the penalty turn they had to do for cutting someone off (not Eric's fault).

One of the other things Eric got to discover was he had picked up a tick on his neck from walking through the woods. He was successful at removing the whole thing without my help (I was at work). We also discovered that Australia has some really bad ticks (what a surprise!). You have to worry about Lyme disease with ticks all over the world, but Australia has a paralysis tick. It can kill animals; not so much humans, but being a little paralyzed has to fall in the category of "bad news".

The worst part of the whole thing for me was that Eric emailed me at work that morning to relate his little episode. After quickly realizing I'd shared a night's sleep with a tick, I spent the entire rest of day imagining I had a tick somewhere on my person. I'm sure people at work were wondering why I looked so disheveled, but they did not know I was busy trying to keep everyone safe by checking my hair a thousand times for invading creatures!

While I'm on the icky little critters subject, Eric has been helping with a construction project at the church and what an eye-opener that's been. They pulled a panel off and found two large snake skins. Leaves you wondering where the former owner is these days. They also found cicadas so large they should be required to have a pilot's license before they take off. There were lots of spiders and when they uncovered one in particular, an Aussie helper said "Probably ought not to mess with that, it won’t kill you, but it might get you close to death."

Mess with a spider? As if! As it turns out, young Aussies seem to think this is a perfectly ordinary and sporting thing to do. Remember Charlotte? Well, a relative of Charlotte got into the church and one nice (and nutty) young man herded it onto the palm of his hand (what?!) and calmly walked it out of the church.

We had the couple we met at the Newcastle church over for a substitute Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday. Getting ready for this was a lot harder than Thanksgiving back home. We found out that completely plucking the turkey is optional here and those quills don't give up easily. In the scheme of things we were just thankful there were turkeys to buy even if it was something like $3 a pound - yikes! We also discovered that in spite of their love of pumpkin, they don't sell it in a can. Eric tried to explain to a clerk that he was looking for this so he could make a pumpkin pie, and their response? "Why would you want to do that? That sounds gross!" Eric ended up baking and pureeing the pumpkin himself. There's no Crisco equivalent so we had to use butter for the crust. Eric also had to make the french-fried onions you put on top of the green bean casserole from scratch - no such thing here.

On the plus side, Ren and Glynis genuinely enjoyed the meal. Ren and Glynis had never had turkey before; we can hardly fathom that in our home environment. Ren had never had pumpkin pie before and said he really liked it. Glynis had tried it once before so she was an easy convert to our American ways.

Speaking of things new to Aussies, Eric made oatmeal cookies and took some with him to the construction project to share with the other guys. It was mostly young men from the church and we were dumbfounded to find out they'd never had oatmeal cookies before! It seems like such an unremarkable (but always enjoyable) thing in our world, but they loved them and were threatening to break into our place to get more!

The main thing of interest I've done in the last few weeks is play in the championship of the soccer league at work. Because it's at lunch and it's a military environment, you quite often have teammates unable to get there due to meetings they can't get out of or being on deployment. Such was the case on Monday for the semi-final where the other team couldn't even field a full team of 6. This meant we easily moved on to the final, but what goes around comes around, and for Wednesday's final we found ourselves with just enough to play.

It was a really hot day and we were feeling quite out of gas by halftime. Our halftime strategy adjustment was to limit our runs forward and see if we could hang on and get to penalty kicks because no one had anything left. We got to full-time successfully without being scored on, but lost on a crazy shot in the first overtime period. Bummer! I was very proud of our team even though we lost because the other team was all men while we were split evenly between men and women and I think I was the oldest one out there (certainly by the way I played, but I think even by age!). The biggest downside of the final is the next league doesn't start until February which gives me ample time to get completely out of shape again. Ugh!

We arrive back home on December 14th for 2 1/2 weeks. I don't care that I'm going to freeze my arse off - I can't wait to see everyone. I just have to get through 2+ more weeks of work. The countdown starts soon!

Guess What? It's Poisonous

Eric made it back safely from the States on Friday which left us the weekend to spend together bludging. Bludging is my latest Aussie word, but technically we weren't really bludging. Bludging is basically hanging out with a connotation of being a sponge. We were hanging out, but we weren't sponging.

I gave Eric the option of doing whatever he wanted to do for the weekend and number one on his list was going goanna hunting. As is so often the case in life, the weather was non-cooperative on Saturday so we watched a few movies and did our grocery shopping instead. The good news is Sunday was nice so that afternoon we headed out to the site of my previously way-cool and successful goanna hunt - Tomaree Head.

We tramped along heading toward the spot where I spotted my big'un a few weeks ago. Just past that point I spotted a SNAKE! Since it's Australia, it seemed prudent to assume it might be poisonous. I snapped a bunch of pictures all the while making sure we gave it a really, really, really wide berth.

After watching the snake do its snaky things for a while, we moved on down the path. It wasn't long after that we spotted a goanna! It was not a big'un; it was around 3 feet long and just plain cute. I didn't think I'd ever say that about a lizard, but goas (as Aussies call them) just seem to start growing on ya. We saw another one about the same size later on, but alas, we did not see my big guy or his brother. This goa was in a tree which was a bit disturbing because this means I need to be watching the ground and above me all at once.

We next did the short walk to Zenith Beach and saw another snake. Since some of my coworkers have not seen any snakes in the wild in the year they've been here, it seemed a bit crazy to see two in one day.

When we got home we looked up the snake, and, yep, it's poisonous. It's an Australian red-bellied black snake. The description for its bite, "seek immediate medical attention", was just a bit sobering, but our strategy of treating everything here as poisonous seems to be a good one.

We'll be keeping with that strategy on our next hunting adventure.

Goanna Kind of Day

I went goanna hunting today. I had heard there were goannas out on Tomaree Head so I decided a hike was in order because it was a gorgeous and quite warm day. The hike up to the top of Tomaree Head is a lot of up, up, up, so I was rather gassed by the time I got to the top. Worse yet I did not see a single goanna. I enjoyed the view for a while and snapped off some pictures. At this point I was feeling a bit put-out because I had a beet-red face, was doing my best imitation of a porcine sweat, and was a complete goanna hunting failure.

Trying to keep a positive attitude, I decided I'd at least try to get some bird shots. I'm on the way back down and spot this little bird uphill a bit who is just chattering away. While I'm diddling around getting the camera ready, I suddenly realize there's some movement behind him by the rock. A goanna!!! I could just see him through the brush. I was stoked, but a little disappointed that I didn't really get a good shot of him before he moved out of sight.

I learned goannas on the move are not quiet so I filed that little tidbit away. I got back down from the summit path and decided to take the path to the World War II gun emplacements. I got all the way to the end of the path without seeing any more goannas. Dang! I'm heading back and suddenly I hear something in the uphill brush. I'm looking everywhere for movement and suddenly I see it - my second goanna and even from a distance I could tell he was a big'un! I took a few pictures and realized he was heading down in my direction. I don't know how long I waited, but he just kept coming my way. I kept getting better and better shots and he eventually ended up on the path with me! I followed behind him for a while and marveled at everything. He was around 6 feet long and had the coolest skin and markings. And his tongue and claws - they were something else! I loved the way he walked; each step caused him to twist his body giving him this cool ungainly gait.

I realized he was doing his rounds looking for food. He checked a drain gate, went by a couple picnic tables, and then into an old World War II doorless small building before he headed back up the hill. I got a lot of cool shots that I uploaded here: Tomaree Head Goanna Album.

I headed back down the path and before I knew it I saw a different goanna near the path. Where were these guys when I was going up and needed some encouragement? This one wasn't quite as big, but he was still at least 5 feet from nose to tail. I got a bunch more shots before he headed off into the brush.

I saw two more goannas off in the distance on the way back. The big one was following the little one which made me think maybe it's mating season. They were too far off to be immortalized in my camera because of the obscuring brush, but I figure not every goanna has modeling aspirations anyway.

A goanna is an Australian lace monitor lizard. They can get up to almost 7 feet long which I find hard to comprehend. The ones I saw seemed plenty big so I can't imagine one even bigger. I understand from reading about them that they climb trees. Guess those claws are for more than just looks.

Goannas - check that one off the list of things to see and do.

Salamander Bay

Eric and I have the great privilege of living in Salamander Bay. Salamander Bay is a town of nearly forty-two hundred folks and is a nice quiet town comprised of many retired types, holiday seekers, and those of us somewhere in between. My favorite part of where we live is the Salamander Bay Shops just across the street from our place. We can run (literally) to the store and be back home with our purchase in under 5 minutes! It's convenience you can't beat unless you're looking for good produce. The little market has lots of good stuff, but the produce there isn't going to win any awards.

In one day Eric visited the butcher and the baker. Sadly, they don't have a candlestick maker or he'd have managed the complete set! We've eaten at the Farman family cafe and it truly is a family-run business. The only place I've visited more than I'd like to is the chemist, but then having to get medicines isn't exactly a great shopping conquest goal.

The most curious shop to me is the drive-thru bottle shop. Of all the things one might be in a hurry to purchase, I can't imagine alcohol to be at the top of the list. But I don't drink, so what do I know?

I catch my morning carpool from the bench in front of the News Agency. I enjoy (as much as one can enjoy anything just before 6:00 AM) the rustlings of the bakery starting the day and people stopping by for some brekkie on their way to work or making a desperate run in their P.J.s for some bread for breakfast.

We have just learned that Salamander Bay is a finalist for the New South Wales Tidy Town award. It's a great place to live and tidy, too!

Soccer By the Runway

Well, I finally found some soccer! It's quite a bit different than I'm used to, but I am just thrilled to be playing again. Maybe I should rephrase that - I am just thrilled to be attempting to play again. I thought I was prepared for how bad I was going to be after not playing for 3 months, being completely out of shape from lack of exercise, and recovering from bronchitis, but it was so much worse. It is especially depressing when you imagined you'd be bad, but it was more like REAL bad (just imagine an uncoordinated turtle and you're pretty close). Sigh.

Let's not talk about that sad subject anymore. How was it so different you ask? First off, it's 6-a-side and the games are at lunchtime on the base. The field is much smaller than normal which I greatly appreciate at this point of my out-of-shapeness. So are the goals, but then I rarely remember to shoot anyway so the size of the goal is mostly immaterial to me. The fields are terrible - they're bumpy and have scraggly grass at best (my ankle let me know later how much it didn't like it). Since the fields are right next to the runway, you occasionally have to plug your ears when the fighter jets take off (they are indescribably loud), but I can't blame that for my patheticness (oh wait, I wasn't going to talk about that anymore). They don't play offsides so there are often people up front sharking (that's their word for what we call cherry-picking).

Those who have played with me know that playing at lunch is really not good for my self-image since after I got back to the office my coworkers took one look at my beet-red face and wondered if I was okay. I think they play 15 or 20 minute halves, but it went by so fast I couldn't really tell. It still took me almost an hour after I was back at my desk to stop sweating - so much for cleaning up afterward. It was even longer before my face flare-up subsided.

The most important part was we tied 0-0 so I could at least console myself that I didn't hurt the team---much.

Differences Aplenty

I chatted recently with one of my Aussie coworkers about my spider encounter. As you can imagine, he had much more impressive stories to tell. I will admit I was wowed as much by his "no worries" attitude as I was by the story. I know I would be incapable of that same nonchalance. Matt bought some property south of Newcastle and the previous owner was a hoarder. I guess Matt's property has lots of areas to clean up and he is getting to it as he has time. One day he was running the chain saw to clean up some logs and realized at some point that his thigh was swelling. Since Aussies are experts on spiders, he decided that since he didn't feel the bite it must have been a white-tail spider.

Eric and I recently picked up a free card with pictures and descriptions of some of Australia's spiders on it. It has a handy magnet on the back so we have it on our refrigerator so we can learn what to watch for and to be horrified daily at some of these creatures. The card has three categories: (1) Dangerous and Deadly; (2) Venomous - Poisonous - Painful Bite; and (3) The Low Risk Spiders. Even one of the "Low Risk" dudes has a description of "mildly toxic". Excuse me, how is that "low risk"?

Just so you know, my Huntsman Spider (who has been named Charlotte by Isabelle) was in the "Low Risk" category. On the other hand, Matt's spider was in the "Dangerous and Deadly" group. Matt described how his thigh where the spider must have attacked was raised by 3-4 centimeters. I was just beginning to picture this inch and a half high or so of swelling when he went on to say how later his skin there was kind of dying off and peeling and pretty much being altogether gross. What blew me away was this whole thing did not cause him to go scurrying off to the doctor at a speed-limit ignoring pace. If I surmised I had been bitten by a white-tail spider I would read the description on the card, and I quote, "May cause horrific ulceration to skin of sensitive people" and make a beeline (or should it be spiderline?) to the doctor. Well now I'm back to that shivering that I thought I was getting over since Charlotte has been notably absent.

I guess Matt has lots of spiders at his place so it's just business as usual. It suddenly occurred to me that he has a young boy and how in the world can the poor kid play in the yard? Matt explained that you just have to teach them to check their toys before they start playing with them, call for Dad right away if you see one and don't get near it, and always shake out your shoes. I don't really have any toys to inspect and there's no one to rescue me at the moment, but you can be sure I'm shaking out my shoes if I leave them outside. Actually, I'm beating the crap out of those things before I put them on because if there's a clingy spider in there, I want to whack it into unconsciousness so it'll come out of my shoe when I move onto shaking it. Silly overkill you say? Not to me!

Not So Empty House

As I was walking up the steps tonight to our place after getting home from work, I was thinking about how it was going to be empty like last night. I was completely unprepared to see who/what was waiting for me on the stairs. A SPIDER!!! I got past it safely, but I had the worst case of the shivers imaginable. Suddenly every nook and cranny might hold one of these monsters and you can bet I was on high alert.

After I recovered my equilibrium, I decided I just had to get a picture of this thing. This required that I come back down the stairs which meant I had to go by it one more time. I made it, but had to go through another shivery thing before I could take the picture. Now this is one of those moments when having a camera lens that doesn't require you to get too terribly close is mighty handy. As you can imagine I put the biggest lens I have on the camera and then zoomed all the way in. Even that was giving me the creeps.

I snapped off a few pictures and then realized I had to get past the spider yet again to get back into the house. I did the third set of the shivers after getting by it and shivered all over again when I started looking at the pictures. Man, I do not like spiders!!!

I spent some time trying to figure out what kind of spider it was besides a really big and hairy one. It looks like it is probably a Huntsman spider which is fairly benign as far as Australian spiders go (like any spider could possibly be benign!).

I have been having a great time seeing all the Australian wildlife - up until now. We saw a wild koala before Eric left. Now that's cool. Spiders, on the other hand, not so much.

Now you'll have to excuse me as I go turn the house upside down making sure he doesn't have any friends inside!