A weekend away...

This weekend Celia, Peter, Katie, Maddie, Christina (Peter's sister), Bromwin (her daughter), Bromwin's friend Taylor and I headed north to visit the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are natural limestone formations in the middle of what used to be an ocean (millions and millions of years ago). They're a bit like stalegmites, but in the desert instead of caves. (http://www.thepinnacles.com.au/ if you're curious). 

They were very bizarre, as we were driving through I felt like I was on some sort of set for a movie.

You could have some insane action sequences dodging in and out of them...

After exploring and many games of hide and seek, including losing four members of the party at one point, we had a fantastic sunset picnic overlooking them...

          

The next morning we headed to Jurian Bay boat harbor and met Ian, who Celia has known for about 8 years. She worked with him while she was filming her documentary Lobster Tales. They spent five months on a boat near Jurian Bay trying to film lobsters migrating and eating and fighting etc... can you imagine?

Anyway, Ian runs charter tours of the islands to see the sea-lions. I expected us to spend an hour or so trying to find the sea lions, then looking at them from the boat. WELL, as we pull up to the shallows of one of the islands, we are suddenly surrounded by sea-lions and Ian says, "right everyone jump in". I was thinking "Yeahhhhh righttttttt, I'm going to be attacked". Five minutes later, we're all doing turns and flips in the water with them! They were so friendly and incredibly curious and would get right up to your mask and peer into your eyes. They especially loved it when you dived down and did a somersault. Here are a few pictures (more on picasaweb)...

          yes that person is ME! haha it was unreal...

We spent about 2 hours with them and now as I'm sitting here I still feel like I'm floating in the waves. 

Also this weekend, my cousin Malindi, age 16, who lives just 10 minutes away went to Sydney after being selected to compete in the Youth Olympics Festival! She was one of less than 10 women selected to go from the WHOLE COUNTRY! She came 6th in the individual event, after losing to the incredibly strong British competitors (who took all 3 medals), but the Australian team won the silver medal in the team event!! Both results are obviously fantastic, and the whole experience sounded amazing. They make it really Olympics-esque, with an Opening Ceremony and press and lots of countries participating... Hopefully I'll get some pics from her parents who were there and put them up here this week.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now, absolutely exhausted, looking forward to another week of twin-sitting and film work :) Next weekend we're going down south to the 2 abandoned railway carriages that the Joneses have converted into shelters... a true bush experience!

I miss my family a lot, they're currently ice-skating on the canals in Holland!

rach xx

Adelaide & Fremantle!

Next it was off to Adelaide to visit cousin Linley & Greg. It was about a couple of hours from Sydney, and flying over the vast Australian landscape was amazing. Nothing for miles and miles and miles! We just had a few days there, and visited two McLaren Vale wineries and two different beaches. On the first beach there was a dolphin swimming around all the children in the shallows which was a very cool sight. And the next beach there was a shark alert and helicopters circling above for about an hour! We also saw the movie Australia with Nicole Kidman & Hugh Jackman. It was a bit of a fairytale, and needed to be shorter, but the scenery was stunning; the film was shot up north near Darwin. It’s the story of a boy who’s the son of an aboriginal woman and a white man. He feels like he has no identity, and children like him are supposed to be taken away to be raised by the white people, but still stay separate from society. I’m ashamed to say that I knew very little about the conditions of living for indigenous people in Australia at that time; and also life on a cattle station out in the bush. I also hadn’t realized WWII’s impact on Darwin. It was heavily bombed by the Japanese forces that later bombed Pearl Harbor. I could go on and on… but basically I learnt a lot from the film and it was great to see it in Australia! Here's a beach in Adelaide:

On the 7^th I said goodbye to mum and the boys at Adelaide airport as they flew home to Holland. A few hours later I flew back to Perth where Aunt Celia picked me up at the airport. I’m living with her, her husband Peter and their twin girls Katie & Maddie until the beginning of February. I work three days a week as a nanny to the girls and two days a week at Celia’s TV & film company, Artemis. One of the first questions Celia asked me after I got off the plane was “are you ok with dogs?” I was a little confused because I knew they didn’t have a dog, and couldn’t think why I’d be interacting with one. She then told me that when we got home there would be a 10-week old puppy waiting for us as a late Christmas present to the girls! You should have seen their faces when they saw the puppy J They kept saying “is she ours? She’s real? She’s not a toy? She’s actually ours!?!?!?” Her name is Poppy, so now I have three little girls to look after… Here's Maddie & Poppy :)

It’s great fun being with the twins, they live in Fremantle which is a port next to Perth. It’s got beautiful old buildings and little boutiques and cafes and of course, incredible beaches. The weather was scorching when I arrived; amidst a 14-day stretch of temperatures above 30 degrees but it has now cooled this week to high-20s which is lovely. In the mornings the girls have Vacation Swim School in the river surrounded by jellyfish then we go to the beach/pool/park or into Fremantle to visit the library/gelaterias etc. There’s a free bus that does a big loop around the beach & Freo which is fantastic, BUT I also am using one of the family cars & can drive here! I haven’t driven since we moved to Holland, but had some practice with Peter over the weekend to get me used to being on the left hand side of the road. I’m still getting adjusted obviously, but it feels more and more natural every day. The next thing on the to-do list while I’m out here is to learn how to drive a manual car… eeeeeek! 

Here's Maddie, Katie, and their friend Honour after an epic mud-fight at the park... definitely the challenging washing required afterwards; and the other picture is the girls being their usual selves with their friend Grace on the trampoline.

    

Another movie I saw recently was Bottleshock about the 1976 wine competition between the French wines and Napa Valley wines. It was done by a snobby French wine connoisseur (played by Alan Rickman) who wanted to prove to everyone that French wines were absolutely the best, so he travelled to Napa Valley to bring back some bottles for a blind taste test. To the shock and horror of all the judges who performed the blind taste test, the California wines all scored higher than the French wines! True story! The overall theme was sort of old world vs. new world wines which was very interesting because I'll be working with Clive & Phyll at the AtaRangi winery in NZ in about a month... Such a good movie, if you're a wine connoisseur AND if you're not (like me).

In addition to my 3 days a week with Katie & Maddie, I'm also spending 2 days a week at Artemis. I had my first day today, very exciting! I was incredibly nervous because my poor brain has not been active for a long time and I was worried it might just explode... It's still here though, I think. There was some commotion when I arrived at the office because everyone couldn't wait to tell me embarrassing stories about Celia and couldn't wait to hear my embarrassing stories about her! People were literally pulling chairs up for me to gossip... haha! They're all amazing people though, a very diverse group from all over the place. Anyways, after meeting the 10 or so other people in the office, I was given my task for the day. Basically I'm doing some preliminary research for a new program idea... UNFORTUNATELY I can't say anything about it, it's top secret, but it's absolutely fascinating for me! I also got to sit in on an editing session where they were editing a different TV show, chopping it down. I gave a few opinions, and I was amazed at the amount of work that goes into something like that! Just incredible! I'll be working tomorrow as well... can't wait :)

That's all for now, but can we just pause and appreciate the gravity of this moment.

I HAVE CAUGHT UP ALL MY TRAVELS SO FAR! Check out the new pictures on picasa as well! 

Sydney

Now for Sydney... 5 days, 22 people from mum's side of the family, 3 different houses, and huge swarms of people from all over the world who wanted a Sydney New Years Eve! Busy busy busy...

The people: Well, it all started when we decided to visit mum's cousin Bruce in Sydney for New Year's Eve. Word travels fast in our family and soon all the relatives in Australia & New Zealand had found out we were down-under. All of a sudden, our party of 8 turns into a party of 22!! I'll briefly introduce you: 5 Taits, mum's cousin Ron & wife Julia, mum's cousin Linley & husband Greg, mum's brother Keith, wife Barb, and kids Carl & Lisa, mum's brother Alan and kids Zach & Finn, mum's sister Phyll and kids Britt & Mackenzie, and mum's cousin Bruce, fiancee Monica, and her daughter Amy.

The city: for those of you who have been to Sydney, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who haven't, it absolutely needs to go on your to-do list! 

--The city was first settled by the English (commissioned by Baron Sydney) in 1788 as a penal colony. The American Revolution during that time meant that England could no longer deport prisoners to America, so off they went down-under! Transport of prisoners to Sydney stopped in 1840 because the non-criminal citizens didn't appreciate their neighbors. It became a city in 1842 and gold was discovered ten years later resulting in a huge influx of people from all over the world. The Harbor Bridge was opened in 1932, amid the Great Depression, and the Opera House was opened in 1973. And so on and so on... I guess the point is that it has become the popular destination that it is incredibly recently! There is not a postcard of Sydney without the Bridge & Opera House on it, and they haven't even been there for a century yet! 

-- Sydney is obviously a bustling city, but it's surrounded by some of the most beautiful coastline and scenery in Australia. You can head to the beach or parks in the morning and wander around the many downtown museums and shops in the afternoon, or catch a ferry from Circular Quay to one of many attractions in the bay. The clear blue skies never end... Basically, I would HAPPILY live there.

For those of you who endure the wet and cold European winters, you'll understand me: spending time outside in December & January, walking, swimming, BBQs is MAGICAL. Just when you don't think you can cope with one more grey sky and constantly carrying your umbrella around, hope is restored. So it's not surprising that we spent almost all our time outside, starting with a welcome BBQ our first night. The next morning we did the Coogee Beach --> Bondi Beach walk (recommended by all travel guides & locals). In between the beautiful bays are huge cliffs that drop down to the sea. So we had fantastic views from the cliff-tops overlooking the Tasman Sea followed by walks around the crescent-shaped bays in between. It was HOT and obviously there were many icecream breaks. Staying together in a group of 22 was also challenging, and as soon as the lead group found a shady spot they would call the trailing groups and let them know they were waiting. Then, after anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes later, the trailing groups would arrive, seeking shade. At which point, the leading group who had been waiting would announce "right, let's go, everyone ready?" So it was a constant cat-and-mouse along the cliffs, very funny. 

New Years Eve celebrations that night, after a few hours lying on the beach resting our feet (and waiting for the final group... haha). One of the appartments some of us were staying in was right by Coogee Beach, where there was an incredible 9:30pm fireworks display. Absolutely the best fireworks I've ever seen, lying down on the beach with hundreds of stars in the sky, the sound of the ocean in between the boom of fireworks. Am I painting the picture for you? We then watched the Harbor Bridge fireworks on TV but soon discovered that we could actually see & hear most of them from the apartment balcony, so we ran back & forth to get the whole experience.

New Year's Day, we went into the city and saw the Opera House close-up. Little did I know, it's not all one building. Its a series of large shells. And it's not completely white, it's covered in cream & white patterned tiles. And the architect had a huge fall-out with the Sydney government, mainly because the building ended up costing $103 million when the original budget was $5 million! So the argument was understandable...? 

A few hours later, 12 of us were all wearing jumpsuits, harnesses, radios & headsets. Can you figure it out?

 

Unfortunately this picture is not of us, but we did climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. 2 and a half hours, 134 metres (440 feet) above sea level, absolutely amazing! We started off in the Bridge office, getting all the gear on, and our leader asked our group of 14 to introduce ourselves and say why we were there. The 12 of us tried not to laugh as cousin Carl said his name and that he was here for a family reunion with 11 others from the group... haha the 2 poor other people in our group who had to put up with us for over 2 hours!! 

We were all harnessed to a continuous wire for the entire climb so there was no falling off despite the 30 mph winds at the top. Problem was that at regular intervals there were little spinning gadgets to connect the wires that your harness was supposed to run smoothly through. Unfortunately, mine had to be pulled through at exactly the right angle otherwise I'd keep walking and get yanked backwards which was very painful. There were also 2 camera stations where the leader took pictures of us... typically the group would get split into couples or families of 3-5, but our group of 12 posed a photographical challenge. We found a system where there were 2 rows, with alternating people crouching down in front of the person next to them. Of course, we were all still attached to the handrail so this formation was very difficult and at the end it took a while to untangle ourselves... 

This was all followed by kangaroo pizza at The Australia Hotel which I can't say I really enjoyed. It didn't taste bad but just the thought of eating kangaroo put me off. I was especially sure of my dislike for it when we visited the Sydney Zoo the next morning and saw the kangaroos. We also saw an incredible bird show and a seal show. The cutest animal: red pandas. Most shocking: the snakes which were HUGE. I literally got goosebumps just looking at them. This is a picture from the sight of the bird show overlooking the bay, Sydney skyline, Opera House, and Harbor Bridge!

The following day dad went to the first day of the Australia-South Africa cricket test match. To say he was excited would be a HUGE understatement. The poor guy had lived in the US for five years and is now in Holland, so for him to be going to the first day of a TEST... everytime we went past the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground), which was conveniently on the bus route into the city, he'd point it out and bow down to it through the bus window. 

The rest of us split up into a beach group and a city group. I went with mum, Phyll, Britt, and Chris into the city again, to visit Darling Harbor, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Rocks. The MCA was very cool, I've never really been that into modern art, but there was actually some very interesting stuff. Thank god for the little description things next to the art, otherwise I wouldn't have known what was going on or what the story was behind it. My favorite medium is photography, and there was a really interesting exhibit by a woman named Simryn Gill. Here's the museum's description: Gill’s practice considers how we might experience place and the intersection of personal and collective histories and geographies. For her work May 2006 the artist took more than 800 photographs over a month of walks around her neighbourhood, using a film stock that had recently been discontinued and was nearing its expiry date. The work records the passing of this material as well as Gill’s deepening connection to her locality. 

I really appreciated the importance of feeling connected to the place that you live in...

And next day we said goodbye to Dad (I won't see him until I get back to Holland at the end of April) and mum, the boys and I flew to Adelaide to stay with Linley (mum's cousin) and her husband Greg.

I'll do the Adelaide bit next! But now I'm off for a driving lesson with my uncle Peter. I've been driving for a year so it shouldn't theoretically be that hard, BUT I have to drive on the left hand side of the road here... wish me luck :)

Wrapping up in Perth

Hello & Happy New Year!!

Well it's been a hectic week, wrapping up the family gathering in Perth then moving onto Sydney to meet up with 17 relatives on mum's side of the family.

I'll start with the bad news: I messed up my neck pretty badly while swimming. Yes... swimming, I swam laps at Freo Pool with Malindi & Celia and obviously am a terrible swimmer because my neck was sore all day, and then I woke up the next morning and could barely move it! So I scheduled an emergency chiropractor session just a few streets from where we were staying and he managed to get my ribs and shoulders and neck realigned. It's still sore 5 days later but I'm icing it and stretching so hopefully it'll be completely better soon.

Now for happier memories from Perth in chronological order:

-A fantastic pasta dinner at the Jones house (Celia, Peter, Katie, Maddie, & Brynn) complete with more xmas exchanges & sing-a-longs with various pianists and singers and a mixture of christmas, australian, english, american and irish classics.

-seeing The Duchess at an amazing outdoor cinema at Burswood Park. We took a huge picnic (for 14 of us) and rented beanbag beds to lie on underneath the stars... it was a very unique experience. When the movie ended I looked around and had completely forgotten I was outside! Our overall opinion of the movie was that the casting and scenery and costumes and score etc. were all fantastic, but the script let it down. As Paul accurately commented, the movie had no climax, it just remained at the same pace throughout. Still, a great night.

-a day out on the Swan River just a stone's throw from Clare & Tim's house... Tim took us all out in shifts because 16 of us would definitely have sunk the boat. I didn't do much because of my neck (pre-chiropractic treatment) but the others tubed & waterskiied & swam. We were all dying of laughter when Granny tried to get back into the boat and managed to get wedged in between the engine & the side of the boat (a la "beached whale"). A about five minutes of figuring out how exactly to slide her on/off Tim saved the day and lifted her in. We also had river dolphins (smaller than sea/ocean dolphins) swimming around the boat and jumping up out around Malindi as she water-skiied! Oh, and there were the most humongous jellyfish swimming around but the Swan River ones don't have the stinging tentacles so everyone started picking them up & throwing them at each other, lovely right?

-our final dinner in Perth at the Oyster Bar, a fantastic restaurant right on the beach. We sat outside on the deck, segregated into kids and adults of course, and watched the sun go down... it was mid-meal when the grown-ups all got out their cameras and decided it was a great time to take pictures of everyone. I think you all know what I'm talking about; the mid-chew pictures, the fake smiles... none of which will be appearing on here! But I will be putting up pics soon once I get back to my laptop (I left it in Perth while we're in Sydney).

I'll update you on the past 5 days in Sydney a little later... we've been busy so prepare yourself!