Here I am holding the boomerang in the wrong direction. There's a boomerang and Aboriginal crafts shop near where we live that we've walked by probably a few dozen times. Jean finally ventured into the shop last week and got an exhaustive tour of the shop's wares from the ebullient store keeper. Jean also signed us for a boomerang lesson taught by "an authentic Aboriginal" as the clerk phrased it. We met Alfred, the authentic Aboriginal, at the shop Tuesday afternoon. There were over a dozen or so other lesson participants already gathered. We trooped over to Rushcutter's Bay Park where Alfred lined us up and gave a demonstration. The overriding messages of the lesson were: 1. Always throw into the wind or you might not get your boomerang back. 2. Give yourself plenty of space or you might knock someone out. Then the flinging began. The flight dynamics of a boomerang are really amazing. You throw it overhand like a baseball. The boomerang goes out ve...

We spent Christmas at Manly beach with our friends Tracy and Andy who were visiting from the UK. Check out the the slideshow below. I'll let you guess who's who Some Notes on the Slideshow - We took a ferry from the city to get to Manly. The Manly ferry is apparently world famous. I guess I'm sheltered because I didn't hear about it until I got to Sydney. - Andy is grilling up lunch on a communal barbecue. Many parks and beaches provide both propane and the grills. This has to be a uniquely Australian thing. - Lunch consisted of beef sausages, veggie burgers, grilled peppers and onion, kalamata olive tapenade, hummus, veggie sticks, crackers, crisps and cake (lots of cake). - The paper crowns Jean, Tracy and Andy are wearing are part of a English tradition that also involves a toilet paper roll and painful puns e.g.. Why did the golfer bring two pairs of trousers? This one has Jean doubled over with laughter. - The sandcastle I'm building is a not so e...

...at the behest of my in-laws here's a Christmas Quiz for you. Below are forty antagonists from history, literature, popular culture, not so popular culture and the big screen. All you have to do is name their opposing number(s). Note, that some answers will be highly subjective. 1) Skeletor 2) Moriarty 3) Q 4) Iceman 5) The monster 6) Moby Dick 7) Lex Luthor 8) Shredder 9) Harry and Marv 10) Hans Gruber 11) Mr. Freeze 12) Mr. Glass 13) Mr. Kurtz 14) Absalom 15) The Predator 16) The Alien 17) Rasputin 18) Cobra 19) Mal'akh 20) Dan Brown 21) Buffalo Bill 22) Nurse Ratched 23) Khan 24) The Green Goblin 25) Rita Repulsa 26) René Belloq 27) Palpatine 28) The one armed man 29) Bill Gates 30) The Morloks 31) The witch 32) The Grangerfords 33) Jezebel 34) The smoking man 35) William Dane 36) Tyler Durden 37) Ivan Drago 38) Bowser 39) Big Brother 40) Dr. Evil 

1) "...it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July." 2) It swam crossways in the direction of the Nautilus with great speed, watching us with its enormous staring green eyes. Its eight arms, or rather feet, fixed to its head, that have given the name of cephalopod to these animals, were twice as long as its body, and were twisted like the furies' hair. 3) "Release the kraken!" 4) Beneath this glassy surface, a world of gliding monsters! 5) "My God, it's full of stars!"

A few people had asked Aaron and I if we were doing anything to celebrate thanksgiving, but seeing as though it's not a holiday in Australia we didn't really have anything planned ..... until the day before thanksgiving we were pleasantly surprised to be coincidentally treated to a roast dinner by some Ozzie friends! About five months ago we joined a Christian (Pentecostal) church, C3 (http://www2.myc3church.net/ ) where we've met loads of very friendly and welcoming people. At our first church service Luke enthusiastically invited us to join a connect group (bible study) he runs with Jane and Sam. Unfortunately he wasn't going to be at the next meeting, but he gave us the details. A few weeks later we showed up at complete strangers apartment and were warmly welcomed in. We were the first to arrive and despite having never met them before Jane and Sam made us feel right at home. C3 city church Recently our group ran a seven week alpha course ( http://www.al...

On the Saturday of Sarah and John's visit we hiked along the beautiful and dramatic coast of the Royal National Park. We had planned to go to the blue mountains, but rail track-work diverted us to the coast which turned out to be a wonderful alternative. We took a train less than an hour South of Sydney to Cronulla where we got a ferry across to Bundeena, in the North-East corner of the park. We walked along the coast with amazing views of waves beating against cliffs. We also saw many pretty and varied patterns formed in the sandstone. Unfortunately I forgot our camera, but you can see some photos from our previous trip here: http://jeanandaaron.blogspot.com/2011/11/coast-track.html We hiked down to Marley, a lovely secluded beach. It was very windy which made the waves rather intimidating. It's also the first time I've seen 'blueys' scattered across the beach. The bluebottle jellyfish occasionally invade the Australian coast. Elsewhere in the world they're kn...

We've been looking forward to Sarah (my friend from University) and John's visit for some time, it's about the only date I've had scheduled in my calendar since March (not long after we moved to Sydney!) When they arrived on Thursday evening we went for a stroll in our local harbour-side park, then dinner at the pub. They had spent the last couple of days in Hunter Valley – a beautiful wine region just north of Sydney. From the number of stories they already had (including hot-air ballooning and climbing the harbour bridge) it sounded like they had already been on holiday for ages! Our local pub that we took them to is one of Aaron's favourite places to eat near here because they have a $10 deal for steak, salad and chips. However we didn't linger there too long after dinner because they started setting up for 'Tranny bingo'! On Friday, while Aaron was at work, Sarah, John and I headed over to Taronga zoo to meet some koalas. I'd heard a lot about...

Conversations with Richard Fidler is an Australian radio program that frequently finds its way on to my podcast list. Conversations is a daily broadcast that operates in a interview format. Richard Fidler is a warm and  engaging host. When he sits down with his guest for an hour long chat it feels more like they're in his living room rather than a recording studio. He interviewees cover a broad spectrum of Australian society. There was an octogenarian who immigrated from Ireland when she was a girl and became a school teacher at a Quaker school in the outback. A trio of driving school instructors confirmed for me that Sydney drivers are in fact terrible and it's not just my imagination. He guests range from farther afield as well. He had a chat with the Dalai Lama not to long ago. I like Fidler because he takes an active interest in a person's experiences regardless of their station in society. Conversations has been off the air for the past couple of months as Richard Fi...

Spring is here and its warmed up enough for a swim. Here's a pic of Redleaf pool near where we live.  And here's one in focus As you can see Redleaf pool is not so much a pool as a fenced off section of beach. No sharks allowed. Jean taking a breather on the steps out On the walk home

The stonefish is highly venomous, secreting neurotoxins from the glands at the base of it's dorsal fins. It is found off the coast of Australia but luckily we encountered this one at the Oceanworld aquarium in Manly.

Reaching Australia in the 19th century your first port of call would have been the quarantine station located on heavily wooded peninsula guarding the mouth of Sydney Harbor. The quarantine station continued to be expanded upon into the 20th century. In the 1930s it was converted into a military base forming an integral part of the harbors defense system. North head went on to become a national park and it and Manly beach are popular destinations for tourists and surfers. Shelley Beach and North Head taken from Manly Beach Strange coincidence Surfers off of North Head It used to be that the Parade Ground could not be crossed except during official ceremonies and parades. Another strange coincidence. Ned Kelly was an infamous bush ranger and outlaw. Most of the deaths at the quarantine station were attributed to bubonic plague. The view from North Head has probably changed a bit since the 19th century

The Coast track is a 26 kilometer (~16 mile) hiking trail through the Royal National Park to the south of Sydney. For most of its course the track follows the undulating coastline skirting around sheer cliffs and crossing sandy white beaches. Most people spend two or three days on the trail over-nighting at a primitive camping ground along the way. We finished packing up Friday morning. Friends and colleagues had come through in loaning us the camping gear we lacked including: a tent, a backpack, and sleeping pads. I sewed up a fleece blanket to serve as a sleeping bag and prepared some backpacking snacks. We took the train an hour south to the beach side suburb of Cronulla. From there we caught a ferry across Gunnamatta Bay to the village of Bundeena that lies on the outskirts of the Royal National Park. We set up camp at the Bonnie Vale camp site just outside of town and then spent the afternoon hiking around the area. On our walk we came across a red-bellied black snake stal...

This weekend we went backpacking in the Royal National Park. It's been almost two years since we last went camping...in fact that was our only other backpacking trip together, when Aaron proposed to me! This trip we were on the cliff tops rather than the mountains. A blog with photos of the camping trip to come soon....watch this space!...Next weekend we're looking forward to our first guests coming to visit. :-)

About 27C (80F) and sunny outside! Yay! Looks like the beggining of summer! Afraid though that the chances of me doing a blog this weekend are reducing!

“Daddy's gonna take us to the zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow...” "Look at the lemurs!" Tom exclaimed in excitement before darting back to the edge of the enclosure. The rest of us followed at a more leisurely pace, to where we could see the cute, furry animals. They were standing on their hind legs their short front paws dangling beside their chests as they sunned themselves. Soon Tom was leading the way to the next enclosure. “I'd like to see the elephants!” Ella requested in anticipation. Her mum reassured her that we'd get there later. Around the first loop of Melbourne zoo we followed the slightly older and more energetic Tom. On our tour we watched seals playfully diving up and down their wave pool. When the waves crashed against the edge of the tank I could smell the fishy water. The sound of exotic birds squawking, came from somewhere close by.   We'd heard the zoo was one of the top attractions in Melbourne, but our two young guides...