Turnbull Family Pacific Tour 2015

We've had to park in some narrow driveways at our accommodations in Australia over the last week, and at one of these places I managed to scrape the front bumper on a fence. I thought we might be on the hook for the damages but luckily the attendant didn't notice or care when we dropped the car off in Sydney. What a relief. We spent Thursday night, our last night in Australia, at a swanky downtown hotel in Sydney. The kids were happy to visit the Apple Store one last time, and it was nice to stroll down to the harbour again to see the Opera House and bridge. Catheleen and I stopped in at a pub in The Rocks district next to the harbour, and I had a schooner of beer called 150 lashes, which was really good. The beer is named after a rogue and entrepreneur from the early days of Sydney named James Squire. He was sent to Sydney in the 1790's with the first fleet for stealing some chickens. After serving his seven years, he led a colourful life in Sydney with his mistress, wife...

Before leaving the coast, we visited Hyams Beach in Jervis Bay, which was purported to have the whitest sand in the world. The sand was fine like sugar and was very white. But what we liked the most was the feel of the sand itself, which squeaked and sang under our feet when we walked on it. I don't know why this was so. One theory is the fine sand grains are uniform in size and shape and somehow resonate when the particles rub against each other like crystals. The kids must have spent a good half hour jumping around in the sand before they tired of it. When John and I had our hair cut in Sydney last week I chatted with the barber. He was very interested to find out we were from Canada and lamented that he wished he had four seasons including winter, since it's too hot in Sydney sometimes. I was surprised and didn't know what to say. Maybe I should have told him to be careful what you wish for, or you might end up with five months of winter. I've had a few encounters...

On our first day in Australia I walked down the street from our apartment in Sydney and stopped in at a 7-eleven convenience store to grab a sandwich. The attendant was chatty and after discussing his trip to Vancouver Island, he talked up their coffee maker and suggested I try the coffee. I wasn't expecting much from a 7-eleven but thought what the heck. I was confused by the options though. Did I want a long white or a short black? I went for the long white - whatever that was. It was very good and tasted much like a latte. By contrast the next day we visited a Starbucks and I didn't find the coffee as good. Australians are not a pretentious bunch, but they could be about their coffee. It's excellent and they're willing to pay a few dollars more to have it made to order. No ready to pour drip coffee pots are to be found here. Starbucks tried opening up some stores in Australia but most of them closed down a few years later. It turns out Australia already had great co...

At times we practise the Aussie salute, waving our hands in front of our face at regular intervals to prevent bush flies from landing on our face, and entering our nose or mouth. After awhile I started to look around to confirm that everyone was doing it, including the locals - yes most people were saluting. The bush flies looked like house flies but are attracted to us to feed. I was surprised to find them in downtown Sydney - but there they were, especially in the parks. I understand the flies used to be an even worse nuisance, until the Australians introduced foreign dung beetles a few decades ago that significantly reduced the bush fly population. I would tell you why the beetles helped but it's gross, so look it up if you're interested. I don't think I would want to move to Australia just because of this. Sorry Australia, amazing place and all, but what's with the flies? After learning about the beetle, I started wondering what other foreign species have been intr...

On our last day in Sydney we visited the ANZAC War Memorial in Hyde Park. I'm glad we did. The building itself was beautiful. Built in the 1930's and constructed in an Art Deco style, it commemorates the Australian and New Zealand (ANZAC) joint forces that fought in the First World War, starting with the 1915 Gallipoli quagmire. The exterior stone statues and bronze reliefs were superb depictions of the Great War, and the interior was dominated on the lower level by a sculpture. It showed a dead warrior carried on a shield by his mother, sister and wife. It is based on the legend of Spartan warriors from Ancient Greece who were raised to come home from war either with their shield or on it. Clearly the experience for many families during the First World War was one of sacrifice and loss. I found it very moving. The memorial was re-dedicated in the 1980's to veterans of all wars, and inside we saw displays from the Boer War to Australia's latest involvement in Afghanista...

We've learned something about the fauna in Australia over the last couple of days. The animals here, as most everyone knows, are very different from other places. We visited the zoo a couple of days ago, and saw a platypus, koalas, a Tasmanian devil, and an assortment of kangaroos. The platypus had to be one of the strangest creatures I've ever laid eyes upon. He was swimming in a tank, back and forth, wiggling his bill from side to side. He looked like a mix of parts from other animals with its duck-like bill, otter-like body, and webbed feet on the side of its body, and eyes like a lizard. He was every endearing in a way. The zoo breeds these creatures, but we didn't see any baby platypuses, which are called puddles. In the zoo we spotted some koalas, including a mother and baby. They were sleeping in the eucalyptus trees with their faces tucked into their arms. I understand they sleep 20 hours a day so it's not surprising that we caught them napping. We also were abl...

Yesterday we visited the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, which we really enjoyed. The building was originally built to help process convicts transported from England at that time. The museum displays and the audio guide were well done, and provided some excellent insight into the formation of Sydney from a penal colony into the vibrant city it is today. England had a surplus labour problem in the 1700's thanks largely to land reform that privatised common lands, and better farming techniques that improved productivity. The end result was a population boom and idle hands in the countryside. Subsistence farming was no longer a viable way to make a living, and many peasants poured into cities looking for work. This time was also the start of the industrial revolution, and factories were built in the cities. But this surplus labour drove down wages, and many still struggled to make a living in crowded cities. Theft was on the rise. The government reacted by getting tough on crime, and for...

Good thing we happened to arrive at the Bali airport last night about four hours before our flight departed for Sydney, since we were in for a surprise. When we tried to check in we hit a snag. It didn't occur to us that we would need visas in advance to enter the country, but it turns out all foreigners need them. It was a team effort though to solve the problem. John and Elizabeth helped search for a WIFI site and outlets to get our devices charged, and we scrambled over the next couple of hours to get our visas issued on-line. What a pain but we made our flight! We then took the red eye flight overnight to Sydney. John and Elizabeth were both looking forward to pulling an all-nighter to get in some quality movie watching time on the plane. Catheleen and I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep but the kids did manage to stay up for the most part. But everything has a cost, and they did end up crashing later in the day in Sydney. We're staying downtown near the Sydney harb...