RickInOz

To further richen our experience of life and sample another Australian cultural delight, we went to Sydney last weekend to watch the famous (or should that be, infamous) Mardi Gras Parade.

It started as a political rally desperately seeking equality of rights for gays and lesbians in a narrow-minded society. That was 1978 and a great deal has changed since, both in terms of societal norms and legislative progress. But there continues to be a serious message with the spotlight now on marital rights.

This aside, the festival is now mainly an opportunity for the fabulous people of this land to dress up in some outrageous costumes, bereft themselves of body hair (and this is the boys I’m talking about), and dance themselves silly. As a result, we saw some truly spectacular outfits and floats.

The Mardi Gras has become so ingrained in Sydney culture that even the armed forces, police, fire brigade and local politicians get in on the act. Of course, civil rights organisations and interest groups dominate, but it’s still nice to see traditionally macho professions acknowledge variety of sexuality.

Before you all become too bored, here is what you’ve been waiting for; some glossies. For now, just a sample as it will take me some time to upload the remaining 300:

February and March are very busy months for Adelaide. It almost seems like every organisation wants to celebrate their chosen facet of life at the same time.

There are advantages to this scheme. It draws a large and diverse tranche of visitors to the city, who get to experience all of the gifts on offer. Those of us who live here then benefit from having relative peace for much of the remainder of the year. However all is not rosy and ticket sales have been slipping, perhaps as a result of dilution of attractions and the inevitable ennui to the smorgasbord.

We try each year to be relatively selective about what we see, hoping to get the most out of the various events while still experiencing something a little different. This also on the premise that many shows recur every year, so there’s no need to get round everything at once.

So, this year we started with a wine festival. Nothing new there of course, but it did offer all of the fun of cellar door tasting without the hassle of driving between them. Not to mention not having to dodge the drink-drive limit and worry about mental gymnastics over how much the adult body can metabolise each hour.

Then, for something slightly different we went on a guided tour round the CBD to see some of the interesting street art that is on display in some unusual locations. Depending on your level of anal retention this art form can be seen as outsider expression through to wanton vandalism. My view is somewhere in between, usually in flux depending on whether I perceive the item as aesthetically pleasing or not. Incidentally, that’s my arbiter for what counts as “art” across the board. In other words, my definition of “art” is what the individual, entirely subjectively, finds attractive, rather than what some self-appointed, chain-smoking, conceited snob decrees. Have a look at this and you’ll see what I mean. The imagery appeals to the 80s child in me and the colour and cartoon-esque style appeal to the eye.

Naturally, I don’t expect any one else to agree with me. Which only serves to further exemplify my opinion.

And now onto bronzed, muscular men. Acts in the fringe come in all shapes, sizes and curiosities and the street theatre act we saw were certainly curious. If they’d been under a Big Top and charged tens of dollars for a ticket, I’d have mistaken them for the Cirque du Soleil. Instead, two men in a small park with dodgy Russian accents but a truly amazing display of what the human body can achieve.

Any other year we’d have recessed back into our shells after that exposure, but last weekend we went to see something even more extravagant. More to follow that teaser!

In the meantime, the rest of this post’s pictures are here.

It’s all confirmed now. We’ll definitely be seeing you all in August. The flights are paid for and this time in 5 months time we’ll be propping up the bar at 38,000ft.

The exact minutiae of the trip are not planned just yet but here are, hopefully, enough details to count at advance notice. So, this August:

1st – fly out of Adelaide and land into Changi
2nd – time in Singapore with an old retrieval buddy (you know who you are!)
3rd – fly out and arrive at Heathrow
6th/7th weekend – in Leicester to catch up everyone in the Midlands
13th/14th weekend – in Edinburgh to catch up with an old friend and his ever expanding family
20th/21st weekend – in London to catch up with all of the Southerners
23rd – fly out from Heathrow
24th – back in to Adelaide

The above can be altered infinitely depending on people’s availability. I’ve only put the weekends up first as those are the times that most people will be free so can meet up with us. In between we’ll get round and see everyone else. Obviously some time with my family will feature just in case we’ve forgotten about them over here.

In the mix we’re hoping also to get at least a day or two in Berlin. There’s plenty of historic sites to visit and the city has a reputation as the party capital of Europe. Hopefully we’re not too old yet to enjoy it.

Please let me know soonish if the above doesn’t suit anyone. We’ll try to be flexible, but no promises. Sorry!

I refer of course to our cats. And particularly to their nocturnal activities. Or more specifically those of our oldest.

Milly seems to sleep much of the day, which means that she’s up and around at night. I’m well aware of the crepuscular nature of cats but normally they would be active outdoors. Ours were always a little on the soft side, but more recently they seem to be spending most of their time in the house. Again, I wouldn’t mind this except when it interferes with my life. Being more precise, the part of it in which I’m asleep. Or would be if Milly didn’t come and hassle me about a dozen or more times every night.

She’s demonstrated similar behaviour before and I’ve always been able to either ignore her or remain unconscious. But with age, she has become more persistent and more adept at being annoying. I wouldn’t mind so much but my job has me start most days at 7am anyway, which means I need all the sleep I can get. Not an easy proposition when a distinctly sharp cat decides that because she’s awake in the wee smalls, you need to be too.

I’ve tried many potential solutions including getting up and feeding her, booting her out of the house (figuratively, not literally …. so far), and closing the bedroom door. But none has worked and one way or another she finds a way to disturb us either vocally or tangibly.

Do they make Phenergan for cats?

After many promises and much procrastination, we have finally organised our return trip to see everyone back in the UK again.

We fly out on the 1st August, have a day stop-over in Singapore and land in London on evening of the 3rd. Then we’ll be rushing around the country trying to get to see everyone before we have to fly out on the 22nd. All told we’ll have about 18 days there but, importantly, still managing 3 weekends to maximise the chances of fitting in with people’s availability.

We will have to be quite sparing about how much time we can spend in any one place, and will factor in a couple of “all-day pub sit-ins” to make catching up somewhat easier. It would still be helpful to know your availability too, so please email us some good and not-so-good dates.

Looking forward to seeing you all and finding out what you’ve been up to during our increasingly protracted absence.

That is my back problem. No pun intended, and it certainly was no laughing matter last Wednesday. Incidentally, the subtle Elton John reference might have registered too.

For the third time in as many months I have been immobilised by the most common injury resulting in more lost productivity than most others combined. It’s certainly affected mine as I have had to spend the past couple of days resting at home. Fortunately I wasn’t on clinical duties, so cover at work wasn’t affected, but it still had some knock-on effects. On the plus side, I have been able to complete some tedious paperwork without distractions. Other than the pain that is.

I know childbirth is supposed to be the most painful experience available to humans, but I’m now convinced that back pain gives it a good run for its money. Mine required a goodly belt of intravenous opiates to stop me turning the air blue. Again, one of the perks of working in the profession is ready access to a consultant opinion and some hard drugs.

Net result from this is a realisation that I will have to give up doing BodyPump. This latest episode of agony may not have occurred contemporaneously with a class as the previous ones did, but the root cause was still the same. The change in routine will not be through choice, but I can’t afford to have this problem either persist or worsen. So instead I’ll have to concentrate on cardio exercises and personal training sessions. Pilates may even be a sensible option as bad posture and inadequately stable core muscles have probably resulted in my current predicament.

But what will happen to the reviews, I hear you cry. I’m not sure at the moment, but there are ways.

We’re fine. But not everyone has been so lucky.

I’m all those back in the UK you will have all noticed that Australia is being battered by Mother Nature at the moment. Those climate-change deniers will have a hard time justifying their attitude after the events of the past couple of weeks.

Queensland has come off worst with first widespread flooding and then a Category 5 cyclone giving the state a thorough spanking. Then it was Victoria’s turn with prolonged heavy rains resulting in the north of the state being under water. Simultaneous with this Sydney has been sweltering in a record heatwave, and even Adelaide had 2 days above 40 degrees recently. Yet in the north of our state, the after effects of Cyclone Yasi has seen many towns and roads washed out yet again.

So, as the above makes apparent, Australia has seen extremes of conditions with no obvious pattern, and often little warning. Although the targets of the disasters have been many kilometres apart, it still seems that opposites are co-existing.

The only silver lining to the many clouds obscuring the country is the final fate of the water they yield. As a whole, Australia is desperately short of freshwater. The rain may have devastated infrastructure, but as it drains into the ground and refills aquifers and riverine systems, the long-term benefits will eventually pay off. South Australia especially struggles to maintain irrigation for farming and supplies for Adelaide, but the excessive rains blighting some areas will benefit many others over the next year. I just hope it will come as sufficient compensation for the current destruction.

Well, partly at least. I’ve uploaded some photos for you all to share. They can be found at the following link – http://rickinoz.com/gallery2/v/nz012011. Sorry, but I’ve only had the energy and patience to put a small proportion of the 1000 odd (no exaggeration, it really was that many) pictures I took while in New Zealand. If anyone wants to see some of the remainder, let me know.

I’ll also take the opportunity to share some of our impressions of the country. Firstly, the nation cannot drive, nor can the numerous tourists. The number of blunders, near misses, lazy and frankly dangerous behaviour made Adelaide seem like a model of motoring perfection. It didn’t help that most of the bridges across the numerous streams and rivers were single-carriageway. They operated on a priority system but it was still a gauntlet run every time.

On the plus side, the water in most of the rivers was so pure that you could drink straight from them. We would never fill a water bottle from any freshwater source in SA, but did frequently in the South Island. Especially since it tasted better that what came out of the taps.

Another stark feature was how “English” the country was with many shared brands and features. The most obvious was that Burger King was actually called Burger King, rather than Hungry Jacks as in Aus. A seemingly trivial matter, but it made me feel quite nostalgic. The accent took some getting used to and we had to suppress sniggers when buying “fousch en cheps” one evening.

To close, another taster of the shots I captured over there and the great beauty available there. We are already planning our return.

Well, that’s it. We’re back in Adelaide and feeling quite jaded after rushing about for the past 2 weeks. It’s been quite a ride and I’ll relate some of the highlights or more unusual features of New Zealand later.

In the meantime, just a quite recap of the past couple of days. We made it up to Christchurch and had a couple of lazy days there. The city is very “English” in having many streets named after British towns and many introduced species. The river that runs through the centre of the city is even called the Avon. And like the Cherwell in Oxford, punting is practised. It was a great way to relax and drift through some gorgeous parkland in the heart of a busy CBD. Then we had a quick wander through the botanic gardens to soak up more of the indigenous flora and fauna. Before leaving we also took in a show of Maori dance and song. There are plenty of photos from that day, but you will have to wait …. again. They will appear, I promise.

Our last couple of days were spent up in Kaikoura. This busy little coastal town is the mecca of whale-watching and sea-mammal encounters. Swimming with the dolphins will have to wait for another time and, perhaps, a warmer part of the world as the water temperature was barely in double figures. All the same, we boarded a boat and went in search of whales. Unfortunately we didn’t see any Blue or Humpback whales, but we were fortunate to get up close with one of the semi-resident Sperm whales. They spend a short while on the surface at a time grabbing fresh air before diving to feed. Before they go under they arch their backs and produce the characteristic “tail shot”. The high-telephoto lens I recently got really paid for itself:

We also got to see some Dusky dolphins. True to their reputation, there were plenty of high jinks on display. Again, some quick work and long zoom throws captured this:

And now we’re back home again. It was great to get away, but always a relief to return. That and the cats have been missing their servants.

We’re making steady progress through the South Island. Yesterday saw us try yet more wine at “The Big Picture“. This is an interesting application of science to enjoyment. Firstly we got to test our olfactory accuracy by picking the scents and smells that give wine that archetypal “nose”. Then a few tastings under the guidance of the winemakers themselves. A different way to try wine, and ideal for the lazy tourist who doesn’t want to have to drive round all the cellar doors.

Then we headed north via Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand. Rather than climb the full 3,754 metres to the top we settled for having tea at the historic Hermitage Hotel and grabbing a few snaps of the peak and the nearby Mount Tasman glacier.

With high wind speeds around the summits the clouds appear to flow across the ridges like water. It’s quite a sight and worthy of some time-lapse photography next time we’re here.

Then onto Lake Tekapo which is yet another glacial lake almost in the dead-centre of the South Island. Are we detecting a theme here? This country seems to have an almost inexhaustible supply of water and there’s another lake or river around practically every corner of every road we’ve driven down. Unlike those in South Australia, all of these have water in them …. loads of water. No surprise that hydroelectric power is one of the main generation modalities here.

Another picture to finish and compare with yesterday’s transposition. Whereas the previous one was of a light blue sky and dark blue water, today’s is round the other way.

It’s all to do with the mineral content of the lakes and the cloud cover over the surrounding hills. All complicated (read, boring) optics in demonstration, but striking all the same.