Happy Birthday Gabriel and Kai

The dudes (now known as blokes) are 11. We celebrated their special day in Apollo Bay, on the south coast of the state of Victoria. The plan was to have an evening picnic on the beach, but the flies were so wicked we couldn't take it, and had our meal and celebration on the top deck of the Apollo Bay YHA. We had a bd party here in FC earlier in December, with friends from school. Introduced the Aussie friends to mud cake, complete with worms (snakes) and this year's innovation, chocolate chips to be crunchy like gravel. Some kids enjoyed it, some were a bit taken aback. (Kai with wombat; Gabe with kookaburra.)





Their birthday falls on "the darkest day of the year" in the northern hemisphere... here it's the summer solstice, and the sun came out in her full glory on the 21st. We walked along the Barwon River to the falls, opened gifts at a picnic spot along the road, and returned to the beach for some boogey boarding and swimming in the 18C water. That was a bit of a gasp, but we did it!

The challenges and accomplishments of this last year are numerous. Both are accomplished packers and stowers-away of a variety of objects. Kai holds a special record for actually trying to bring a pair of scissors through airport security (they found them right at the Winnipeg airport) -- I mean, you never know when you need a pair of scissors? -- and then his jack knife in his backpack on our trip to Brisbane. They didn't see it at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport, but they did catch it in Brisbane, but let us mail it back to Ferny Creek! Gabe's special gift was for disconcerting the Sex Ed instructor at FCPS, after her pronouncements that people should be treated for who they are regardless of hair, skin, facial features, piercings, etc. "Yes, little girl?" "I'm a boy"... Infamy for both guys.

There were challenges as well and both boys learned to meet new people with aplomb. Each guy tackled the speech requirements of the first term of school in their own way. It's a gift to be able to present information in front of an audience, and the sooner people start, the easier it will be. Kai won for delivering the best speech for his year at the presentation evening. Gabe has become adept at creating short videos and animation.

They leapt onto surfboards and have learned some great physical skills with cross-country running, using flying foxes, ice blocking (sliding down a grassy slope on a block of ice), Billy Cart racing, biking up and down some steep (45 degree angles) slopes, walked around Uluru, touched the Opera House, flew in an ultra light plane, have learned to identify a variety of Australian wildlife (Gabe was stalked by a hungry kangaroo). They keep us amused with their burgeoning humour skills, and how they have embraced the challenges of living away from their home turfs for one year.

They brought light into the lives of the people they met and we wish them strength and agility, both physical and emotional, as we return to Winnipeg.

Australian Christmas Wreath

On the Departure Pathway

Just to let you know we are now in our final two weeks in Australia. There's still a lot to do -- the car is still being repaired (the panel beaters will be finished on Monday), there's cleaning and sorting to do, the kids still have another week of school (mostly partying at this point!), I've still got a few blog items to post (although I think I'm going to keep it up when we get back -- I'm loving the experience), and we want to visit Apollo Bay for a few days of RxR before we fly out on the morning of the 27th (given the trickery of the International Date Line, we "gain" a day as we come back). We have the boys' birthday to celebrate on the 21st, and the kids have a few more visits with friends. If you are sending cards or letters, perhaps send them to Winnipeg, as it takes up to 2 weeks to get here from Canada. For anyone in Vancouver, we'll be at the airport for about 5 hrs on the afternoon of Dec. 27 -- I'm sure you will see us at our best, but if you want to drop by, we'd love to see you! Let me know and I'll watch for you. Our flight from Auckland is scheduled to arrive at 12:45 p.m., and once we clear Customs and haul our equipaje (I love that spanish word) down to AC, we're free to see people and hug and kiss you!







Tom is finished today, much to his relief. The pots he fired in the kiln at Robert Barron's are quite gorgeous -- some are spectacular, some are just plain lovely! A bit of salt got thrown at a few mugs and the results were a bit drippier than he would normally like, but I'm realizing with this wood firing/salting experience, you take what you get. The owner of the kiln had a few disasters when a shelf broke. So you never know the complete picture until it's done. Now he's got a bit of time to chill, visit the Ian Potter Centre again, hang out, and finish packing and sorting.

Aussie Jingle Bells

Christmas is coming. Again, the southern hemisphere dissonance intrudes... having been in the northern hemisphere for most of the Christmas celebrations of my life, it's quite odd to hear the music, to even think about preparing for the event, in the sunshine of the oncoming summer. I am hoping we can celebrate the day on the beach somewhere -- quite different than the usual Winnipeg event. We are leaving Ferny Creek on the 26th, flying out of Tullamarine on the 27th, through Auckland, Vancouver and on to Winnipeg. I think we will celebrate the northern Christmas as Ukrainian Christmas in early January. By then we should be over the jet lag.

The kids came home from school with some lyrics I found quite entertaining.

Aussie Jingle Bells

Dashing through the bush
In a rusty Holden Ute
Kicking up the dust
Esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side
Singing Christmas songs
It's summer time and I am in
My singlet, shorts & thongs
CHORUS:
OH, JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
JINGLE ALL THE WAY
CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA
ON A SCORCHING SUMMER'S DAY
JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
CHRISTMAS TIME IS BEAUT
OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE
IN A RUSTY HOLDEN UTE

Engine's getting hot
Dodge the kangaroos
Swaggy climbs aboard
He is welcome too
All the family is there
Sitting by the pool
Christmas day, the Aussie way
By the barbecue!

CHORUS

Come the afternoon
Grandpa has a doze
The kids and uncle Bruce
Are swimming in their clothes
The time comes round to go
We take a family snap
Then pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up

CHORUS

Then, I found the Aussie version of the 12 Days of Christmas.

A kookaburra up a gum tree.
Two snakes on skis,
Three wet galahs,
Four lyrebirds,
Five kangaroos.
Six sharks a surfing,
Seven emus laying,
Eight dingoes dancing,
Nine crocs a snoozing,
Ten wombats washing,
Eleven lizards leaping,
Twelve possums playing.

You can bet there would be 12 possums playing! Way to go possums...

More ETS and CPR

Thanks to fellow Melbourne blogger Alouette: http://farragoandgallimaufry.blogspot.com/



This is the editorial cartoon that I found so entertaining! By Mark Knight of the Herald Sun.

The politics of Politics -- how the ETS went down

Emissions Trading Scheme -- ETS. The majority National Labor Party (yes, spelled without the "u", go figure) tried to pass its response to global warming, the ETS, through the lower and upper houses of the Australian parliament. The PM had hoped the ETS would pass before the UN Copenhagen climate change summit. It got stuck on its way to the Senate, where the opposition coalition group, under the name of the Liberal Party, effectively blocked its passage.

Until last weekend, the leader of the opposition was Malcolm Turnbull. He is known, most recently, for some major gaffes, including trying to implicate the PM in a subplot of underhanded Ute (truck/vehicle) receivership, aptly nicknamed "Utegate" by the purple press. Malcolm's minion in that escapade, a civil servant named Godwin Greech (the name falls into the zone of more purple prose), was found to have planted information -- told "porky pies" (lies), about the PM's involvement. The PM has been cleared. The civil servant wasn't, but has not been charged with any criminal offenses. However, his career with the federal government ended. And Malcolm was implicated in the planting of false emails as well. (Many jokes were made about Malcolm in the middle...)

Back to the ETS. Malcolm Turnbull tried to drag the Liberals to passing the ETS, but the coalition's hard core rightist section, led by Senator Nick Minchin, who disbelieve the notion that carbon emission can cause global warming, wouldn't have it. A leadership vote was demanded, and a leadership vote was held early this week. The man who many thought could hold it together, and help the NLP pass its bill, is Joe Hockey. Joe was knocked out on the first ballot -- he would have supported a free/conscience vote on the ETS, which would likely have passed it. Malcolm was knocked out on the second round. The new leader is a man named Tony Abbott, who is not willing to pass the bill. So it has been rejected for the 2nd time, giving the government a trigger for a double dissolution early election, should it be desired. At this point no election has been called, but the possibility exists. The coalition is torn and divided, and the ETS, which would have cost Australian taxpayers in a middle income bracket approximately $1100/household, has gone nowhere. It's not understood very clearly by most people, and many are unimpressed at the thought of allowing carbon emitters to continue to emit, while forcing the user of the service to pay. Brown coal creates most of the electricity here, and brown coal is a large emitter of carbon. The coal miners asked for, and would have received, compensation payments in this Bill. But there was nothing in the ETS that would effectively have reduced carbon production.

It's now up to the PM, delayed for a few days in the U.S. with plane problems, to decide whether to call an early election, or to let the Liberal Party continue to fray. The best news picture that came out of this story is one of a completely fit and trim Tony Abbott, the new leader, emerging from the surf where he participates as a member of his local Surf Life Saving Club in Manly, Sydney. Budgie smugglers and nothing else, the man looked ready to tackle a few sharks. As you can imagine, there has been more than a little chat, in and out of the purple press, about a coalition leader who is prepared to (and able, I might add) wear his Speedos in front of the nation. ETS is now being referred to as extra tiny speedos ... there will be no carbon reduction in the foreseeable future.

Winery Tour

We had a great day Saturday, sans children. (The children also had a great day sans us, hanging at home for a while, then birthday partying -- Gabe and Kai -- or spending the night at a sleepover with a friend -- Nicole.) This day was set up by one of Tom's fellow teachers. The guys were competing to see who could concoctthe most obnoxious shirt and tie combo. Sorry, I do not have photos of the various attempts, but Laurie ultimately won as he sported a green/grey plaid shirt with a purple/pink tie the other day. Lurid, I'm told. Several people on the tour commented on the event.

The places we visited are south of us -- Chestnut Hill Vineyard of Mt. Burnett, Cannibal Creek of Tynong North, Brandy Creek Wines of Drouin East for lunch, Ada River Winery of Neerim South to finish off. The hits of the day were a beautiful soft merlot from Cannibal Creek and a bouncy little Gewurtztraminer of Ada River. There were some amazing deals on case lots, both of the labelled varieties and of the clearskins, which is a great little Aussie tradition -- unlabelled, but the same stuff they're exporting/selling elsewhere. Too bad we're now running out of time to purchase case lots of wine!

First order of the day was to get out the camera at Chestnut Hill only to find the battery had run down as someone put it back into the case without turning it off. Sigh. One of our fellow tour members, Michael came to the rescue, and I've posted his link below.

http://www. picasaweb.google.com/michael.vorobiev/Vinerytour?fgl=true&pli=1#">