Vacation in Oz

Recently I gave up 3 weeks of glorious Oregon summer to visit Peter in Australia.  Though Peter has been here twice already every time he comes he loses work so this time I went to visit him. The only negative to this situation is that the point is to allow him to continue working, therefore I also worked. In reality it wasn’t bad. Matt and Graeme kindly allowed me to occupy desk space while I was there and almost everyone I know works at ARI. It was wonderful to be back in the lab and be able to visit with them. Garreth (and Kylie) had returned from their adventure in Africa and Europe, Dave was there as was Matt and Graeme. I got to go out at least once with everyone except Dave , maybe next time.

Winter in Melbourne is not a hardship. While cold, the sun still shines, plants still bloom and little jeweled birds still fly around. My first morning I was woken by the chortling of the magpies which I had missed a great deal. I even got a cycle in.

I finally met Peter’s family and they are lovely wonderful people. His parents are both Dutch and have rather thick accents but with careful listening I did quite while understanding them. Perhaps I will undertake to learn yet another language. (Or at least the basics). I have a smattering of French, German and Spanish already, enough at least to ask for directions, say please and thank you and read basic directions. We bonded over happiness that Peter was selling his motorbike

We spent one lovely weekend taking a romantic trip along the great ocean road. Staying in a wonderful Inn in Point Lonsdale and a little cottage in Port Fairy.  Later in the week we went to the Natural History Museum. I have included a gallery of images from the trip below.

I am now home and finally over the jet lag. Trying to get back to work, though I only took about a week off of research total so it’s not too bad.

Peter @ Point Lonsdale

Southern Ocean

Pete + Touareg = <3

Drive on the Left!

The 12 Apsotles and Arwen

Peter

12 Apostles

Loch Ard Gorge

Shellducks @ Tower Hill

Emu @ Tower Hill

Me birding at Tower Hill

Tower Hill overlook

Peter and I

Pete’s Last Ride

Female Bower Bird @ museum atrium

Peter playing @ Museum

Blurry Eucalypt pods

Crested Pigeon

Catching Up

It’s been a month since I posted but it like an eternity.  What has been going on since Mother’s Day you ask?

First Peter came to visit for two and a half glorious weeks.  Sadly I was still in classes we didn’t get to do much traveling. However, we did join my Grandmother, Mother and Gene on a birding trip through Malheur National Wildlife Reservation. It was gorgeous and well infested with mosquitoes. I saw many new birds, such as the Yellow Headed Blackbird and Bobolink. The drive out there from Corvallis was agony but worth it. On our way home we spent a night in Bend at my Grandmother’s so we could have a leisurely trip through the McKenzie pass with lots of exploration stops.

Yellow Headed Blackbird

Cinnamon Teal

Family Portrait

Me with Hard Cider @ St Francis School in Bend

Peter and I in front of the Three Sisters

Peter and I at Sahalie Falls

After Peter left school became my main focus and nearly overwhelmed me. At one point I nearly decided to take my master’s and hot foot it back to Australia but good sense prevailed. I will stick it out though I retain some bitter, angry feelings about it.

Now that the term is finally done I will turn back to my long forgotten research in hopes that I will have something to publish by the end of the summer! Tomorrow I return to Australia for a 3 week vacation but will spend some time at ARI working and chatting with my dear Aussie friends that I have missed terribly.

Now, I just have to pack.

Spring has sprung!

I have long battled the winter blues that are so common found in those that reside in the upper left coast. The rainy season here last from fall through to late spring. The skies are heavy grey and laden with rain. The sun rarely shows it’s face. After weeks of rain you never really feel dry. Your clothing is damp, your car is damp, the ground becomes a quagmire. Any step can result in a comic flailing as you try to keep your footing on a surface that seems to have ignored the laws of friction, sliding madly, arms windmilling as you try, and sometimes failing, to keep from falling. Every step squelches and carpets take on the color of the mud tracked in no matter how carefully you clean your shoes.

Spring in my yard

Then, without warning, the sun peeks through, burns off the grey, dries out the damp and spring has arrived….at least for today. Even after spending my entire life here these days surprise me. You begin to feel as if nice weather will never return and then its here. This morning I sat on my porch with a book and a cup of coffee and soaked up sun as if I was a sponge. The swallows are swooping and diving over the field below my house. Trilling and twittering, “here’s a bug! I fly faster than you! I need a mate! I have a nest site!”. The brush along the fence line is alive with bird song, small beetles and butterflies bumble past on wings either stubby or graceful. Hummingbirds dart past fighting for territory and searching for early blooms on which to feed. And I am at peace. This is why I love the upper left coast.

I was wondering if I could ever be happy here after living in Melbourne. Coming from warm summer weather, and dryness that at times was oppressing. But the birds remind me of why this, no matter how long I live else where, will always be home. Our birds may be less colorful than the lorakeets and parrots of Australia but their voices are infinitely more soothing, bright and happy conversations taking place over head with never a squawk or screech to be heard. I still miss the strange chortling warble of the magpies but the twittering swallows, operatic red wing black birds and the clicking chirps of hummingbirds speak to my earliest memories. I’ve returned in time to see the tree budding, flower tentatively unfolding, the entire world rejoicing in the return of the sun. Tomorrow it may rain again but now it will be spring rain. Rain that brings colour and life. This rain I can handle.