Back again from a different world.

Old Australia

We arrived back home a week ago from nearly seven weeks of travelling in the Southern Hemisphere - what a wonderful experience.   I can't wait to go back but I could do without the jet lag - wow!!!!  It's like my body arrived home without my brain.

Heading off, I had great intentions of keeping up with regular blogs, but the practicality of staying with people most of the time, moving on every day or so and not having great access to internet made it next to nigh impossible.   so in the end I just gave up on it.   As a result I've missed nearly all of the A2Z posts and with the best will in the world, the chances of getting caught up before we head off again in the next few weeks are slim - so my apologies for not being around commenting.

So what was Australia like?

There was much that was familiar.  For starters, the fact that we drive on the same side of the road made it feel much less foreign than we'd been expecting.  Secondly, everywhere was so green for the early part of the trip anyway, and thirdly so many places are named after towns in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales that at times it was very disorienting - where exactly are we right now?  It never felt like we were on the other side of the world, which I had expected - the only thing was the moon was back to front.

But there was so much that was different and wonderful.  
Top of the wonderful list has to go to the fruit.   Oh my!  I haven't tasted fruit so ripe and fresh since I was a child.   Mostly by the time fruit gets to our supermarkets it has been in cold storage for a long time or has had a long journey ripening off the plant.  But down under everything is grown locally.   I have a very sensitive mouth and find acidic foods too hard to eat so for years I haven't been able to enjoy fruit here at home.   So it was like opening a world of Christmas presents to taste peaches and apples and mangos that were just ready to be eaten.  I'd move for that alone lol

And of course then there was the sun.   I can't tell you how seven weeks of consistent sunlight can improve your sense of well being and energy.  In spite of the fact that I picked up a really bad flu bug and was laid up for nearly 10 days, even with that, I still was bouncing with energy.

And the food and cafes were fabulous - everywhere served gluten free options, or dairy free if you needed it, even paleo diets were catered for - except in the huge shopping centres (awful places )and the airports which was really annoying.  

And the wildlife - so colourful and dramatic.

Black Swans

Some exotic colour taking a bath in the rainwater

A termite hill - this was over 6 foot high!!

I love the paper bark on the gum trees
By the river in Braidwood, NSW

A scribbly tree - an insect leaves these marks
which go right through to the tree itself leaving wonderful markings

Out West in Farming Country

I loved all the Victorian style architecture -
all the buildings were low - only 2 storeys mostly
with wrought iron decorations on many of them.

I suppose getting sick was the only real downer - and during the holiday part of our trip too.   The gigs were mostly great and I'm delighted that we have secured the services of an agent if we decide to go back again which I think we'll try to do again in 2018 if all goes well in the meantime.  

I was disappointed not to have seen more Aboriginal culture and even found it difficult to find books on mythology or fairy tales - but we've had such a good look around and have travelled over a good bit of the South East of the Continent that we have a better idea of where to find that side of the culture next time we go back.

But it is good to be back home again.   For a few weeks at least.   To get singing again with my choir groups and do a few concerts here (tonight we're in Belfast); catch up with friends and family, and get my students moving on towards their exams (I'm grateful that they're happy to do more work on their own this year), and to catch up with some of you in blogger land.

Take care and have a good week.
Fil

Canberra - the National Gallery

 Did you know that there are 2,200 Aboriginal languages in Australia?  There is currently a move to protect and preserve these languages - at least some of them.   Like Irish, which isn't spoken anywhere else in the world, these languages will eventually fade out.    But in Wales and in Israel they have managed to totally revive their languages within two generations, from never used to full fluency, of at least half the population in Wales' case and all the population in Israel.   That's no mean feat... All that's needed is the will. Surely it can be done here too.

We went to visit the indigenous artists section of the National Gallery in Canberra

These are a few of my favourite paintings.

This dress is a collaboration between a textile designer, photographer and dressmaker.   It's modelled on Maria's wedding dress from the Sound of Music and has images of shotguns all over it.   Hence the title  "Shotgun Wedding".   Clever.

And one of two Hockneys in the gallery - I haven't managed to catch a great picture of it but it was pretty amazing to see.   When we look at something our attention moves around to different parts of the whole - our eyes are constantly moving.   In this enormous canvas of the Grand Canyon, Hockney has tried to explore this trait by helping our eye to travel across the image in a random manner.

 The Sculpture Garden was my favourite bit - we had a picnic by the lake and then wandered around. This Chinese installation of floating heads was really eerie at first but very interesting the more we looked at it.

 This dome is in a separate part of the garden - it's like a hive sitting on water and with walls that taper inwards... all of it is reflecting the sky.

Inside, Tom looking up at the tiny opening to see the sky - I caught this double image in his sunglasses. 

 And the water flowing over the edge of the platform gave another reflection.

 Finally, back at the door of the Gallery, what looked like huge didgeridoos were set into gravel along a winding path.   It symbolised the settlements all along the river where Aboriginal people were moved on by the settlers. Very moving.

From Melbourne to Canberra

Lone tree in a brown landscape

After a wonderful 10 days visiting with my cousins, interspersed with  choir and  bodhran worshops, jet lag,  a radio interview, more jet lag, a cold and 2 lovely concerts, we left the Melbourne area yesterday morning and headed to Canberra via train and then bus, to catch up with Tom's cousin and my niece.  

With my Aussie cousins - I hadn't noticed - some of us have the same smile

There was spectacular rain as we moved between train and bus in Albury on the boundary between Victoria and New South Wales but it was nothing to the surprise we got when someone we'd met at Fiddlers Green Festival at home turned up to say a quick hello.  Brilliant to see you Peter.  

It's funny seeing the sun setting on the other side
great clouds in the sky

The landscape has been wonderful - still haven't seen a kangaroo though lol - I've caught all these pictures from a moving bus - and the only discomfort in an otherwise relaxing journey was the freezing cold air conditioning on the bus, until the bus driver took pity on me and turned it up a bit.   I've been longing to feel heat in my bones but most people are determined to stay inside and stay cool!   But I WILL go home with brown legs😀😀😀😀

Passing over a stream near sundown

This morning was a quick visit to the Farmers Market before breakfast - and guess what?, the sun is still shining.  And now on to the National Gallery ... more pictures later.

Some of the animals

The day after we arrived in Australia my lovely cousins took us out to Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria to see some of the local wildlife - a wonderfully relaxed way of spending the day after a long flight - I'd recommend it. It was very hot though, so some of the animals were very sleepy and staying in the shade.

Here's some of the residents...

Feeding the emus

Look at the colours of these guys - beautiful

She's got the food!! 

I can't remember the name of this bird, but it's a relative of the owls, not actually one. 

This raptor has a wingspan of 2.5 metres - huge bird

I don't want to meet him on a dark night

Or him ... although he's looking very proud and handsome here

Snakes alive

Tom having a chat with a baby wallaby

Wallaby

This fella was not for getting his photo taken -
feeding time is much more important than visitors to a Wombat

A Pelican hiding in the shade - how magnificent