OzzieOzzieOzzie – OiyOiyOiy

well, time for a little update...first off..a big HAPPY BDAY from OZ goes out to two of my favorite girls...my sister, Jeanne (28 January) who is trying very hard to catch up to me ;-) and to my girl, Sophia (27 January) who is officially a tween! Lots of love and hugs to both of you!!! I hope you did everything you desired!

Now for that Oz update...hopefully this part of the story will explain (fully) the title of this Post...Yas and I left the wonderful, beautiful beaches of Torquay last Thursday and returned to the vibrancy that is the city of Melbourne...we came home to do chores and projects...well...we came home because the veggie garden was screaming for water so loud we could hear them in Torquay! So, home to fix, feed, and nurture nature for a while.

On Sunday we went to the movies...saw AVATAR in 3D....one word...AWESOME...the script was just OK...the storyline was good...but the visuals...phenomenal. And the 3D....essential! All right, all right....enough accolades for James Cameron.

Come Monday, we took the train from the Preston station to the City, getting off at the Jolimont station in front of the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). Why, you may ask? To see the Australia Open Tennis Tournament! We saw both Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, play matches, Leconte, Wilander, Bahrami, and Masur play a VERY funny, and elegant Masters Double match, women's doubles, and Verdasco and Davydenko play men's singles...it was a very full day! Serena's match was later in the afternoon, and it pitted her against Samatha Stosur, Australia's best women's player...well, you can just imagine...No, I take that back, you can't...during the other matches, there was quiet during play, but there was always a rustling, a movement in the air...during this match, it was dead quiet during the points...you could hear the players breathe, sweat, grunt...at the conclusion of the point the crowd would erupt as one...with cheers, gasps, claps...did I say cheers???? yep, I did...and here's my favorite:

Group 1 (several young Australians on the far side of the court): OZZIEOZZIEOZZIE

Group 2 (many Australians on our side of the court): OIYOIYOIY

Group 1 : OZZIE

Group 2 : OIY

Group 1 : OZZIE

Group 2 : OIY

Group 1 : OZZIEOZZIEOZZIE

Group 2 : OIYOIYOIY

Don't expect an explanation...I don't have one...but I can say it brings a smile to my face even as I write this...say it loud, say it proud...if you dare!

Back to the match...Serena was Serena...the #1 player in the world right now...she won the match in straight sets...all of Australia would now put their collective hopes on Lleyton Hewitt, who would be playing the #1 men's player in the world, Roger Federer, in the evening match...

Alas, we would not be staying for the evening session...we walked out of Rod Laver Arena, its retractable roof, $4 cokes, face painted nationals, and Heineken beer...headed out into a perfect evening...after a small detour (we ended up circumnavigating the arena once before finding our pathway out!!!)...headed past the MCG back to the Jolimont train station...dashed and made the train.

Once home, we crashed on the couch, and made plans for the next day - 26^th January – Australia Day – another taste of life here on the big island that's Australia.

Dyslexic Driving (or How I Came to Drive on the Wrong Side of the Road)

This new year brought some new changes. One of them is the inclusion of driving into my everyday. Mind you, I don't mind walking, biking or taking public transport, but there are times when a car is just a must.

That being said....

There are a few differences here on the continent of Australia. We have, of course, the obvious. People drive on the left side of the road...not too bad...but add to that the fact that the driver sits on the right side of the car, the passenger side in America, and my left eye starts to twitch...my head begins to ache, and I can't drive and speak at the same time.

That's not true...I can speak, but having a conversation is dangerous...concentration is at a premium. I now realize how driving (in America) had become second nature; how multi-tasking isn't just a concept, but a reality. Talking, texting, conversing, changing the music, singing, thinking about anything but driving...all this while careening down the freeway at speeds that could flatten the best of vehicles. Ahhhh, but I digress...

OK, back to the car...here I am sitting in what I have known to be the passenger seat with the steering wheel in my lap...not just that...in Australian vehicles the turn signal stem is on the right, and the window wiper stem is on the left. I can't count the number of times I have signaled a right hand turn by turning on the wipers...seems most drivers don't realize that wipers going crazy on a sunny day is another way of saying...”I'm an American in Australia trying to turn right, and at the moment, I can't find the turn signal stem.”....to sum up, I have issued a wild windshield cleaning (no rain, no windshield cleaner) many a time, to show that I wanted to turn right (or left)...small inconvenience...

Yasmin just reminded me how we used to joke with each other that when we got to Australia, we would both be sitting on the same side of the car...she would no longer be the passenger, but the driver; and I would go from driver to passenger...all without switching sides of the vehicle!

I do want to say this...THANK GOD FOR AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS...changing gears with my left hand would have sent me over the edge! So...here's how it goes...

STEP ONE: Out of the driveway we go...it's a one car driveway...10 feet (3.05 meters)...I measured...now deduct 15.5 inches (40cm) for the chimney and 6.5 inches (16.8cm) for the fence posts, and you end up with a squeaking tight get-me-out-of-the-driveway maneuver...I admit to having to stop; pull up; and reverse again...better than scraping a swath of paint off Yasmin's car...but I have conquered the backing-out-the-driveway move....and yes, I use the mirrors...

STEP TWO: The streets of Melbourne...talking to the streets of Melbourne offer some new and exciting possibilities of damaging both humans and property...less worried about the property, so I'm always letting people cross in front of me...even though that's not the standard here...I know I frustrate many an Oz driver for doing that...but better safe then sorry...now about those signs...there are STOP signs...OK, a similarity...but they are interspersed with GIVE WAY signs (the Oz version of YIELD)...which, is not bad...I mean everyone in CA (and the rest of the USA) is rolling through those annoying little STOP signs anyway....BUT....I have to remember to LOOK RIGHT first...not LEFT...not like I have been doing for a majority of my life...but LEFT...because that's the first place you will be hit in a collision....driver mistake...driver gets the crunch first....OK....AND...if I'm turning right, LOOK LEFT...because that's the lane I am trying to turn into....now, not only is my left eye twitching, but my hands have become (literally) embedded into the steering wheel....

Trams, as wonderful as they are, have to have tracks (in the roadway) and special rules....you can drive on the tracks (usually in the right hand lane...they make the strangest squeaky/rubbing sounds), but you must yield, oops, GIVE WAY, to the tram...sometimes, you must stop (usually when passengers are disembarking) which is no problem because the tram is 12 tons bigger then me....whilst you are keeping your attention on the tram situation, don't forget the cyclist...Melbourne is blessed with many bike lanes that lead into the CBD (Central Business District, or Downtown as I would say), and they are used quite frequently...wonderful use of green energy...I'm sure they cringe whenever they see a green Subaru Forrester...probably for the rest of their cycling days....but I do try and GIVE WAY to them also...easier then wondering what the PROPER thing to do is...but I'm sure it confuses and confounds most, if not all, of the other drivers on the road....

STEP THREE: Parking lots...not much to say here...the parking lots here are just as dangerous as the ones in the US...just everyone is coming in the opposite direction...(LOOK RIGHT – DRIVE LEFT).

STEP FOUR: Return home...I will say I get a great nights sleep after driving....total relaxation...dreams of semi-tractor trailers, road trains (semis towing two huge trailers), motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, prams, trams, buses...its a big city with never ending movement...all I can say is BEWARE OF ANY GREEN SUBARU FORRESTERS...at least for the next couple of months!

A Day in the Life

12 January 2010

Yasmin and I are back at the beach, waiting for the heat to pass. This morning we swam in the clear – and I mean so clear one can see their toes in waist deep water – cool water of the Bass Strait.

We are enjoying ourselves at Whites beach, which is just north of Fisherman's beach. We come here because dogs are allowed to be on the beach off leash during the summer season. Fisherman's beach, on the other hand, limits dogs to the evenings and early mornings. So to accommodate Jemmah, Yasmin's border collie/kelpie mix, we spend our beach time at Whites. Jemmah is a constant explosion of bliss on the beach. Every dog is, for that matter. Boundless energy, joy, and happiness seems to be every dogs expression today. Every dog saying...watch me, watch me, isn't this great, can you believe how great this is...throw the ball, throw it again...watch me, watch me.

After frolicking in the sand and water at Whites, we head home. A shower, meditation, and lunch unravel effortlessly, so our decision to treat ourselves to ice cream seemed a logical extension to this day. Four flavours later, we found ourselves back at the beach, this time at Torquay's Surf beach. The Surf beach is south of Front Beach and Cozy Corner, which in turn, is south of Fisherman's beach. As the name implies, many surfer's come here, rather then driving further south to Winkipop and Bell's beach, whose wave sets and surf lines are legendary.

Today the tide reflects the moon's phase, pulling back and exposing ancient lava beds and mossy ocean growth that just hours ago were safely tucked under rolling water. I enjoy low tide. Its tranquility, its ability to share a hidden part of the shoreline with the observer, and its gentle withdrawal only to reach the top of its cycle and return to cover all it had exposed. This cyclical pattern reaches down into my own vibration of patterns...and at that level, I understand nature...I share its pattern.

Unfortunately, on this afternoon, the waves decided to keep small children and their parents happy, making the surfers wait another day, so Yasmin and I drove North up to Cozy Corner...a beach just around the bend (the “bend” is otherwise known as Point Danger) from the Surf Beach. We dipped our toes in the water then wandered back to the car. High temperatures, sea breezes, rambling clouds and the cool shade of the cedars....this was my world at that moment. I looked out over the ocean, over Point Danger, and was silent. I had a profound, yet very simple thought. “Infinity is closer than I thought.”

This thought elicited strength, calmness, and hope. I shared my thought with Yasmin and together we drove home.

Down (Under) But Not Out

Hi All...I hope everyone had FABULOUS holidays...Christmas in summer was a new experience....sort of....it reminded me of my first Christmas in Hollywood, FL...I had moved to South Florida in October to work for the Hollywood Police Dept, and was working my way through the police academy...I celebrated December 25^th alone that year...my parents lived in NY at the time, my siblings in CA....it was a sunny 72° (F – about 22.5°C) day...I went jogging in a T-shirt and sweat pants and nearly had heat stroke...it was on that day that I realized I needed the seasons to change...even if just a little...

But now, here I am with Christmas being celebrated in the heat....well, sort of....we have had some wild weather....heat waves, cool waves, storms, rain, wind...temps in the 90's dropping down into the low 70's (in one day)...definitely keeps one on their toes...

Speaking of toes....I do apologize to all for not keeping you amused this month...I have been writing in my journal, but not transcribing that into my blog...I am going to atone for my laziness....which may or may not be what you really want....by sitting diligently in front of my computer the next couple of days to create the Australian experience for you...so get your favorite snack and cuddle up to your monitors....here I come.

PS...the photo is of the coast at Anglesea...just off the Great Ocean Road...