Stick Bugs

When someone talks about pets, they immediately think dogs and cats. Maybe rabbits, birds, or guinea pigs. Our family pets are bugs! The majority are stick and leaf insects, which are native Australians. Through the kind donation of family friends or serendipitous findings, we also had spiders, katydids, and a case moth caterpillar. Although it's not allowed to have exotic imported pets in this country, the pets we can have are exotic enough for us. There is nothing Chloe likes more than throwing a couple of stick or leaf bug males in the air to make them fly, and at their size (8-12cm), they really look like mini airplanes with an awkward, almost silly flight. The most beautiful are the children's stick insects, which are native of Queensland, New South Wales an Victoria. The females seem to have been painted in pastel colors, cream, purple, and apple green. The males look entirely different, almost like a different species, and fly a lot better. During traffic hours (when Chloe throws them up in the air), we bump into them, or they simply use the ceiling fan as a landing and take-off strip. More about our pets tomorrow! For now, the picture of a female children's stick insect.

Wattle Trees in Bloom

Late blog entry... I am celebrating today the first major blooms of the wattle trees. These pure yellow tiny primitive flowers cover entire trees from July to September. If each tree looks like a yellow mountain, a forest must be visible from the Moon. Did you ever wonder why the Australian colors at sports events are yellow and green? That is because the Aussies appreciate (like I do) the extreme beauty and uniqueness of these trees.

In a Cave

Two years ago we visited East Gippsland, an area West of Melbourne that is rich in small rivers and lakes. About 300 million years ago, one of the rivers created the Fairy Cave in Buchan. Besides the common stalagmites an stalactites, there are beautiful drape-like structures that enchant the eye. The edge of such a "drape" is caught in the picture, clearly resembling a stone ribbon with a delicate trim. Contrary to the rules in the US, photography is allowed in the caves in Oz. I couldn't have been happier, because with this picture I, in fact, took with me some of the beauty of the cave. Nevertheless, when you are in a breath-taking cave and need to wait behind families and families taking pictures against the surreal structures, it is hard not to get a bit frustrated.

Beetroot

Roasted beetroot was something organic delis and some health-conscious restaurants with a higher price tag used to sell when I lived in the US. In Oz, beetroot, roasted, pickled, mashed up in a dip or shredded raw in a salad, is extremely popular. Apparently, even McDonalds sometimes sells a McOz, which is a hamburger with a slice of beetroot on top. All places where I ever had an Aussie burger had it sit on beetroot and personally, I LOVE it! It's colorful, healthy and refreshing, much better than a slice of squished tomato. Scrumptious! I haven't tried the beetroot dip yet and I'm not going to try it soon, because I am not a fan of dips, but hm... who knows, maybe I should... I normally buy a can of pickled beets, chop them, mix with crumbled feta and walnuts and voila! My healthy Aussie-Greek salad is ready! I am sure half of you reading will back-up from this salad plate in disgust (crabby reaction, thus the crab in the picture!) and half would enjoy it like I do!

Road Train

With school start, traffic increases, too. I am not sure why, but traffic is not only heavy because parents return to work and students to universitites, but for some reason there are also a lot more trucks on the roads. I feel traffic as vibration, which is produced by trucks heavily loaded and shaking up the road, by construction machinery that makes the road shiver under its weight, and by some really fast small trucks zig-zagging through cars and lights. Nothing compares though with the road trains, which are in fact not allowed in Victoria, but I "met" in the Northern Territory. These trucks have three trailers and create a wind tunnel when you cross their path. They would literally sweep cars and smaller (normal) trucks like feathers from the roads of Melbourne if they were ever allowed to drive in this urban area. Luckily I wasn't driving when we had to pass one of these road giants, because they are not just heavy (about 100 tonnes), but they are also very long, 35m to 50m! Tiziano could only pass them in the Outback of the Northern Territory, where the roads are straight for kilometers. Yet, I would love to ride such a road train at least once.

Back to School

Term 3, the third quarter of this school year, started today. Chloe is back to the uniform, maroon and light blue. Uniforms are an oxymoron to me, because on one hand they eliminate the sparks, the personality print each kid shows when they decide what clothes to wear, yet, they create a baseline "uniformity" on which whatever unique feature a kid might have suddenly stands out. A very blond tomboy, or china-pink cheeks, a worn out pair of sneakers or a sharp sight. School uniforms are so representative of the culture, too. If the majority of schools here re-enforce wearing the uniform, in the US very few schools do so. The British system, uptight and cold, versus the American system, liberal and unconstraint. Today's picture? Just a pretty hibiscus flower...

Rockpooling in Bunurong NP

What a surprise this park is! We thought it was just another gorgeous coastline with cliffs and beaches, but Bunurong National Park turned out to be unique in beach structures, which include rockpools loaded with sea creatures between tides. This was the first time I heard of "algal gardens" and "seagrass beds." The beach had little sand, but lots of solidified sand, which seemed eroded by the water into round shallow pools. They remain filled with water during the tide when water retreats and sea creatures, algae, crabs and seastars remain to spend their time in the pools until the next tide. The pools thrive with colors and shapes and it's just hard to know where to stop and look for life. Can you see any shells in the picture? Final note: signs posted on the beach said that the rocks/soil exposed by the waters date back to when Australia and Antarctica were still tied to each other and were drifting off South.