This sign fails to mention all the other great places you pass through such as Gundagai, Wodonga, Wangaratta, etc...

One of the big regional stories in the Daily Advertiser over the past few months has been a construction project on the Hume Highway, the main route that runs between Sydney and Melbourne, the country’s largest cities. It is about 870 km between these two cities, and just about half way between them is the little town of Tarcutta (about 45 km southeast of Wagga – we’re not on the highway).

We went to Tarcutta one day last weekend, after seeing in the Advertiser that Saturday was Tarcutta Market Day. We thought, hey, maybe some fresh veggies, fruit, etc…why not? We like going to the little towns around here, checking out what is there.

Sorry we don't actually have any of our own photos of Tarcutta. The camera was in the boot of the car, but it didn't really seem worth getting.

Well, there isn’t much in Tarcutta; it seems that it’s entire existence has been based on the fact that it was a good pit stop for people – mostly truckies – driving this route. There is a huge Caltex petrol station (really huge…) with a variety store, a huge parking lot for transports (basically just a big flat chunk of concrete), a café, an op-shop, a craft shop, a clothing factory outlet, a war memorial and a motel (or two? can’t remember).

Maybe one of the coolest things about Tarcutta (well, OK, the only cool thing and it isn’t really that cool – it might actually be pretty common) is that one of the Halfway Motor Inn not only has rooms, but it has stables! We don’t think it is for people who are riding from Sydney to Melbourne, but more likely for people transporting their horses. Yep, there are a lot of horses in this area, and we see trailers all the time, heading off to one race or another. Or maybe the owner is a bit of a crazy Christian fundamentalist and is hoping that some evening when they were full a pregnant virgin will show up looking for a room…

Since the Halfway will probably never again be full and guests have to sleep in the manger, the second coming won't start here.

The reason that the highway construction has been news is that they built a bypass around Tarcutta. So what little they have is probably going to get less.  The locals complain that no one comes there now, so businesses are dying. Over Christmas, when a lot of people travel – therefore pit stops do well – business at the Caltex’s fast food outlet was down more than 50 percent from last year. Yikes!

So when we went to Tarcutta, we didn’t know what to expect. But our expectations, as low as they were, were far too high. The market…pretty pathetic, really. A few tables of people selling things like knitted baby clothes, a couple tables selling jam, one selling fresh herbs, one with a some pumpkins and squash, and a couple more selling commercial flea-market style crap and lucky dips. And a sausage sizzle, of course…it isn’t a market without one. We went in, looked quickly, and left, feeling kind of bad that we weren’t doing something to help their economic woes but we just couldn’t see anything worth buying.

A town can't survive on the occasional pickle sale, even if they are good pickles (as these ones are). Haven't tried the jam yet, but how bad can blackberry and plum jam be! The date loaf didn't last long enough to be photographed, which is too bad because it was kind of interesting. It may have been cooked in an old tin can.

We did go to the craft shop across the street, which had similar but better things: more baby clothes, some pottery, some really nice wooden bowls, preserves, etc. We bought a jar of pickles, a jar of jam, and a date loaf (something like banana bread but without the bananas). Total expenditure: $16, which was probably a good percentage of what would be spent in Tarcutta that day. Definitely not enough business to sustain a village.

At the same time as the highway got diverted – and it is only a short jaunt into town from the highway, so this would have worked – the government scuttled plans to build a huge truck stop in Tarcutta. This would have put some more business into town. Not going to happen. No real reason given. But is it sustainable in the long run to base your entire economy on a truck stop? Probably not.

The highway bypassed Jugiong a few years ago, but they manage to attract tourists still with a great cafe and a really cool wine shop selling only wines from within about 50 km.

And the locals also complain that the new bypass doesn’t have good enough signage and that, for instance, people don’t know that you can get off at that interchange, stop in Tarcutta for lunch, and then go to Wagga. Which actually isn’t that realistic because 1) we’re not sure if the café is still actually open (you could get a pie at the Caltex…) and 2) if you come off the highway there and head to Wagga, you still miss Tarcutta by about a kilometer. But desperate people come up with desperate ideas.

But, now for a reality check: the people of Tarcutta have been complaining a lot about how the bypass has devastated their town, but based on our observations they weren’t doing really well before. There were businesses that have obviously been closed for a lot longer than the bypass has been open. The school is closed (at least we hope it was…it looked like it should be condemned). An op shop and a gas station do not make a town.  And while the bypass might be what finally kills it, it seemed to already be on its last legs. Building the bypass was more like turning off the machine that is barely keeping someone alive than shooting a healthy person. In fact, we found this blog from 7 years ago where a traveler points out that Tarcutta has been in palliative care for a long time.

Overall, not a fun road trip…But though this post is a bit negative, we are sad to see the small regional towns dying. We’ve been to a few of them, and they aren’t thriving. For example, in both Ganmain and Lockhart – which we had fun in, as we point out in previous posts – major businesses are for sale and having a hard time finding buyers. This is a partly the culture that we came here for, to get away from big city life. Hopefully something happens to revive the rural towns. And for now, we will continue to do our share of sustaining their economies, one jar of jam at a time.

I don't think she's in Wagga anymore, and I'm not getting off her pillow until she gets home.

My trip started with an early morning flight out of Wagga, to Sydney. For the first time, in all of my years of flying, the ticket agent asked to weigh my cabin baggage (carry-on, in Canada-speak). I have had a set travel kit for all flights more than 4 hours, for years; toiletries, change of clothes, laptop, iPod, chargers, etc. All of these items fit Air Canada’s limits, but apparently Qantas (not a Star Alliance partner with AC, but one of only 2 companies flying out of Wagga) is clamping down. I spent the first few minutes of my travels repacking, putting items deemed non-essential into my checked bag. Interesting that I didn’t have this problem in Sydney on the return flight! I think it’s just a typical small-town “look at us! Our airport abides by all rules, even those that are NOT listed on the company’s website or part of the other airports’ regulations” mentality. This does not bode well for the advent of security at WGA.

There was a long layover in Sydney, saved by the pancake machine in the Air New Zealand Lounge (an AC partner). The flight was long (13+ hours), but I scored big with an entire row of 3 seats to myself! I had a seatmate, but he got bumped to business; other people missed their connection… I felt sad for them, as I stretched out, pulled up my blanket and napped. This was a clever strategy (also employed by the guy in front of me). When you have open seats, the other passengers in the horrible middle row start salivating, thinking they’ll be able to jump to the window. Well, no bloody way! Those seats were mine, dammit! Even the older lady 1 aisle up was not going to appeal to my softer side. The skies are a no man’s land…normal Canadian/Aussie politeness go down the vacuum toilet once we take off. Needless to say, I had an awesome flight! Watched the entire first season of The Killing (recommend it!), between “feeds” (as the Aussies say) and sleeps and arrived at YVR feeling rested.

Worst part? Getting off the plane, going through customs, walking all through the airport (or so it seemed), only to get back on the same plane to go on to Toronto (technically, the same “direct” flight). Strangest part? Having to go through the non-resident “visitor” line while all of my Canadian peeps went to another line (sniff)! Worst part #2? We were behind a huge flight in from China, with only 2 agents working and 0 translators. Funniest outcome? AC had to hold the plane for one hour while about 25 of us worked our way through the line.

I don't think we're in Wagga anymore...because Wagga has real ponds with water lilies and the ducks live outside, unlike in Dallas.

After sleeping for most of the Toronto flight (post-feed), I then had a lovely layover at the AC lounge. Lovely because they have showers! I was catching a late-evening flight to Dallas Texas for a conference (didn’t arrive until almost midnight), so the shower was a welcome treat. Then, a glass of wine and some good conversation (met up with a colleague from Edmonton at security – small world) and I was ready for my final flight. So, are you keeping track? One hour flight WGA to SYD; 14 hour flight to YVR; 5 hours to YYZ; 3.5 hours to DFW. Plus airport/layover time. Total travel time? About 36 hours. Calendar time: about half that.

Conference in Dallas was great! Saw lots of colleagues, told all about the wonders of Oz, met with potential candidates for a CSU position, chaired a session, hosted a round table discussion, and shopped like mad! Had a great time with HJ… Really have missed our wine dinners, shopping, etc. since we both left Edmonton for warmer climes. Thankfully, we will have lots of conferences in the coming year.

I don't think we're in Wagga anymore, because Wagga doesn't get this white crap! Get me out of here, back to the heat.

Next it was back to YYZ (another 5 hours of travel), where I did a workshop at CSU Ontario. Great to meet my new colleagues there! Then, my brother JB picked me up to take me to Owen Sound (another 2 1/2 hours) for a visit with family. This was wonderful! Played lots of cribbage with my parents, spent time with all my sibs, met my new grand-niece, and had a lovely lunch with the extended family – which turned into a surprise birthday feast with cake and everything! My birthday’s in February, so close enough for a party. Had a great day/dinner with (most of) Dan’s family too. Thanks again B&D for a lovely meal!

Then, it was back to work! JB drove me back to YYZ so I could catch a flight to Montreal, where I met a colleague from Alberta and we drove to Mont Tremblant for meetings (3 hours). Stayed at the Fairmont…which is so luxurious! But we arrived late, had a lot of meetings then drove back to Montreal that night. We were supposed to stay on for a working dinner, but my intrepid traveller self knew to check the weather forecast – this is Canada in winter, people! There was a massive storm coming and we did not want to get stuck in the mountains of Quebec. So I didn’t really see Mont Tremblant. Back in Montreal, I stayed with a colleague; we worked in the day, had fabulous meals at Holder and Le Local and lovely French wine at night (there are a lot of great Aussie wines but we miss the variety of international ones that are hard to get here). We also spent time planning her trip to Wagga as she’ll be our first visitor, later this month!

I don't think we're in Wagga anymore, because there is great food here but usually not as beautifully presented as this dessert in Montreal.

My last day in Montreal (Saturday) we went to the Fairmont, where I had a lovely mani-pedi in anticipation of the long return flight (and to prepare for sandal season again…I hated having to wear boots in Canada…it has been months since I’ve even put on socks here!). Then it was off to YUL for the return flight to YVR, SYD and WGA. Got an upgrade to business class as far as Vancouver, but just a regular window, economy seat on the long haul. Best part? I was seated next to 2 young women from Calgary and Nova Scotia, on their way to Oz for a Uni exchange. They were so excited… And I provided lots of tips, just like the “local” I’ve become. One of my most important tips? No, you can’t take those oatmeal cookies your mom made for you (how sweet!) through customs, as quarantine officials will confiscate them! So, we stuffed our faces as we taxied up to the gate. Nothing sweeter than Canadian home cooking as I arrived back home in my new, adopted land.

And the final tally on travel time: around 85 hours! Welcome to my new world.

The Wagga Police Station was opened in 2009. We're lucky that someone was smart enough to bring an ink pad from the old one. We were probably the first people they inked in this building.

The process of applying for PR status has also involved getting police clearances. We have no secrets… nothing is private. Well, except for the RCMP’s process; it seems to be completely secretive (more on that in a bit).

Dan had to submit a police clearance for the original visa (random selection or something) but Lisa didn’t. So one day last spring (Aus spring…October) she goes down to the Wagga Police Station to get fingerprinted. Although Dan was able to go to the Edmonton cops when we were still living there, fill out a simple form and hand over $35, Lisa’s process is a little more involved. First, you must submit for a clearance through the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. And, for some inexplicable reason, they will only take hard-copy, ink prints when you’re outside the country; other countries will accept digital. So the police officer had to track down some ink, some paper, and someone who knew how to do it (the officer hadn’t used ink since the academy, 15 years ago!). Lisa paid the WaggaCops $40 for their friendly service, and the prints got shipped off to the RCMP ($25 money order enclosed for processing)…and, apparently, into a big, black void. They say that it takes 10-11 weeks to process, but we are now at week 17 with no sign of a document saying she is clean. And they don’t really respond to queries; all they will say is yes, they got it and tell you that the process can take “in excess of 120 days.” So, we could be waiting for 7 years! Who knows? No response to subsequent email/phone messages either.

We've started to wonder if the fingerprints aren't to check your criminal status, but to prove that you have opposable thumbs. Kangaroos, who can't hop on one foot or touch their fingertips together behind their back, don't have thumbs, so they are lucky to have been born here because otherwise they wouldn't meet most of the requirements for residency.

Dan’s clearance from last year is valid for only one year; it will expire on March 1. So fearing that Lisa’s clearance might not be back in time, he pre-emptively went to get another one done here in Wagga, mid-December. It might not be necessary, but the $40 (plus $25 RCMP fee) seemed worth it to save time, if it came to that. His printing ended up being free, because the WaggaCops were in a labour dispute with the NSW government and not charging for services at the time (bonus!). So, off went another package to Ottawa.

When Lisa went to Canada in January, she decided to try another route to speed the process — she went to the Owen Sound Police Station to get another one done. All she had to do was fill out a form, pay $50 and that was it; unfortunately, the police said they had to send it to Edmonton (because they had to check with our last place of residence) so it could be 4-6 weeks. The plan was for her dad to pick it up and courier it to Wagga, if it arrived before the RCMP version. Then, about a week after she got back from Canada, she gets our mail and there is a letter from the RCMP! Thrilled…until she realized it was to Dan. His clearance was already done; hers was still lost in limbo. And then this past weekend, she finds out from her parents that they have the Owen Sound/Edmonton one in their possession already, and will be sending it out special delivery, ASAP. No idea what has happened with the original, RCMP one, but she’s pondering how she can get her money back.

This week, we photocopied all of our important documents – our degrees and passports – and had them notarized by a Justice of the Peace. It was a bit of a hassle, as those UWO diplomas aren’t a normal size, and they were framed, so it took a bit of time to un-frame, centre on copier, re-frame. Then the JP came over to Lisa’s office (which is kind of silly, because his office is in the same building as Dan…hmmm, why did we organize it that way?) with his stamp and pen, and spent 30 minutes verifying that everything was legitimate. In Canada, there was a $10 charge per document, so we were worried that this was going to cost us a lot of money. Lisa had noticed a sign in the Post Office advertising a $3.95 fee… but still, with all of the duplicate copies, it was going to be a lot of cash. Well, since so many people need things notarized here in Australia, signatures offered by a JP are now considered a public service and was free. We did give him a bottle of wine (Australia’s other currency), but we would have done that even if there had been a fee.

Dan thinks that all new Australian citizens get a free pet wombat from the government. Dan is an idiot.

So now, we just wait for the package from Lisa’s parents with the form that proves she isn’t a serial killer, and we submit the application to become permanent residents of Australia! This will mean that we can get NSW driver’s licenses (we are still using our Alberta ones) and will qualify for free Australian health care instead of paying for private coverage. When we get PR status, we will have to figure out a good way to celebrate: dinner out? matching Southern Cross tattoos? a vacation to Kangaroo Island?  Unfortunately, we have to wait for citizenship before we get the right to vote or receive our pet wombat. Or maybe we’ll take a trip to Wombat  (we haven’t actually been in Wombat  yet, but drove past many times. Dan was in the suburb of Wombat Heights recently (on the edge of Wombat – a town large enough to have suburbs!), where he bought some home made liqueurs and jams at The Grog Shed. It’s literally some guy’s shed, where to use the wireless EFTPOS machine – Aussie for Interac – he had to go outside and stand under a certain tree for a signal!). Yes, it’s a fun country, on so many levels… but it’s (soon to be) our country.

Lisa proves that, unlike a kangaroo, she can touch her front paws together behind her back.

These were among the instructions we received from a physician here in Wagga recently when we had our medicals for our Permanent Residency applications. It seems that PR status is only granted to people who can do things that kangaroos can’t.

When we decided to look into PR status, we spoke to an immigration lawyer about our options. It seems that the rules are constantly changing; we know someone who got it before they moved here a few years ago, based on being a desirable professional (same field as Lisa). When we moved, all we could get was a 3 year, temporary visa; between the time of our applying and our arrival, however, it was changed again and anyone moving to regional (the Aus term for rural) Australia can get PR status without the usual two-year waiting period…so, if we had been two months later, we might have been able to do all of this from Canada.

The nice thing is that with this new regional migration scheme, you have to be sponsored by your employer — and that means with the Uni, they also arrange a lawyer and pay all the fees (well, the government fee and the lawyer, we still have to pay for incidentals like medicals).

So now we are going through a process similar to, but more complex than, the one for our original work visa (completed last year around this time). As we said, this has involved a series of medical checks:

They had to turn the film to get a proper picture of Dan's lungs. Those trees back there aren't actually in his lungs...they gave us the films, so they are hanging on the window as art.

• Chest x-rays: where we found out that Dan has long lungs…the first one they did didn’t actually get all of them so he was nuked again. Hopefully, the radiation from this doesn’t affect any of the later tests.
• General physical: eye exam, blood pressure, hopping (yes, seriously; first on one foot, then the other), squats. And touching your hands behind your back. You have to be nimble to live in Australia.
• Blood test: taken by a big tattooed bikie-type guy who really wanted Dan to cry when he poked him with the needle. He said women are better at having blood taken than men. He closed the door to the extraction room when Lisa was getting her vial taken, but left it open when Dan was in there so Lisa could watch him wince. Being Wagga, it was pretty quiet, so there were no other clients in the office at the time, so no privacy concerns.

We also have to get a bunch of documents certified by a justice of the peace, which isn’t that hard here – it seems that CSU has a bunch of them on staff. We work with someone who is qualified, and he is happy to sign off on copies of our degrees, our birth certificates, our passports, etc., so they can be submitted with our application.

A big pile of photocopying to be done. And here's a tip for anyone who thinks they might someday migrate: your old passports are more than just good souvenirs! We have no idea how we would do this application without them.

The really challenging part of the application is that they want to know a lot about your life history:

• Where were your parents and all siblings born? When? (A long time ago in the bush in Ontario isn’t a sufficient answer!)
• Where did you go to school? When? What were your grad/convocation dates (right back to high school…and then Lisa’s 4 degrees!)?
• Where have you worked your entire life? When? Wow, try remembering the dates of every job you have ever had! And not just the month/year… but the actual start and end dates. (At one stage in the process, Lisa had to email the University of Western Ontario to verify some work dates from the early 1990s… how many of you can remember where you were then?)
• Where have you traveled in the past 10 years? When?  And for how long? OK, that’s a tough one! For Dan, it wasn’t too hard going back 10 years (Aus a couple of times, UK a couple of times, Sweden, France, Germany, Chile, Argentina…); but for Lisa, Queen of the Airport…OMG!!! They actually want entry and exit dates of all international trips. Not hard for going in, because we were smart enough to keep all of our old passports, which have date stamps for each time she entered a country. But sometimes – many times – they didn’t stamp them on the way out. At Heathrow airport, coming out of the UK, for example, they don’t stamp it. So we had to think hard about how long we were away; and did we come back on the same day? Usually, but not always. And many of the US trips she made in the last 10 years also don’t have a detailed record of when she came home, so there was a lot of looking back at her CV, figuring out why she was there (conference or meeting) and how long she would have stayed. Ughhhhhhh! But, in the end, we think we have it as accurate as possible.

And that’s not all. Yes, these parts have been tough, but wait for the next post about the most horrible part of the process, yet!

Australia is "special". Like other select countries, they drive on the left ("wrong") side of the road.

Well, it wasn’t easy, but I think I’ve mastered the fine art of driving like an Australian. That is, when Dan lets me drive (sigh). He’s the most annoying passenger on the planet! Hates to sit passively, so he critiques all the things that you choose to ignore about his driving. Let’s just say that in the interests of marital bliss I happily ride along while he drives like a crazy person (or an old lady, depending on the day). And I live for the times that I get to drive on my own. Did I mention that we’ve only ever had one car and that we have commuted together forever? Some day I’ll have my own set of wheels… But until then, I have to get my thrills while he’s away.

Like everything in Oz, things are just backward here. The steering wheel is on the right and passengers sit on the left. This is an important fact! First, you don’t want to look like an idiot when trying to get into the wrong side of the car. That’s what a purse is for! If I forget, or if I’m distracted and thinking about other things, I can just pretend that I need to put my bag on the passenger seat. Or that I desperately need to dig in the glovebox for a pen. Yes, I’ve done both… Not sure how Dan deals with this problem… He probably just looks like an idiot.

Now here's a nice looking bloke and his girlfriend. With steering wheel on left - wrong for him to text; with steering wheel on right - okay to text. Either way his girlfriend will be pissed that he's not paying attention to her.

Second, it’s important to remember that passengers are allowed to text while driving. It’s very unnerving to be driving along and thinking that all of the other drivers are texting! “What the hell is Wagga coming to?” you think – “Where the hell are the cops?” – until you realize that those are the passengers. “Oh, yeah…everything is backward here, so passengers sit on the other (“wrong”) side of the car and text to their hearts’ content.

Third, it’s important to know that the rear view mirror is useful, even if it’s in the wrong location and your natural inclination is to look for it in the wrong place. Here, we had to train ourselves to look in the mirror. It’s not easy! Here, you try it… (Aussie readers are off the hook on this one, unless you’d like to play along to see what it’s like to drive in Canada, by sitting on the other side of the vehicle). Get up right now and go to your car. Sit in the passenger side and pretend that you have a steering wheel in front of you. Start (pretend) driving; sing along to the radio, watch the kids playing ball at the neighbours’ house… Now check your mirrors. They are all in the wrong place! And your neck just doesn’t want to turn to look in the right places, either. All of the skills you’ve honed since you were 15 and learning to drive are out the window. Not easy, is it?

Now, let’s add a few more wrinkles. First, let’s say that your darling spouse convinces you to buy a standard/manual transmission. That’s fine if you’ve owned one previously (as we did). But, what if the stick is now on the left? And you’re right-handed? Still in your pretend-driving car for this little simulation (hope you have an IPad and wifi for this post!)? Now try to shift gears… Don’t forget to check those mirrors!

This sign does not mean that you go in endless circles (one hopes!). You must exit or risk looking completely stupid.

Oh yes, and did I mention that they have roundabouts here? Like… everywhere? We do have a few sets of traffic lights, but they really just slow things down. Roundabouts are awesome! Especially when people know how to use them (read: NOT Edmontonians). But, learning to drive on the other side of the road, while shifting with the left hand and navigating roundabouts is not for the faint of heart! Luckily, we had a rental for our first few days in Wagga. Dan decided to be nice and “allow” me to drive it a few times, to get used to things. It was an automatic, so I didn’t have to worry about the clutch, etc. I drove to The Rock and back, which was a great first road trip (despite listening to Dan whine about how close I was to the other traffic or to the shoulder… He kept gripping the dashboard and freaking out, as I said “Now you know how I feel when you drive! But I don’t yell at you – I just suck it up!” Needless to say, it’s not easy to be a passenger in Australia either… The view from the “wrong” side of the car as a passenger is just as disturbing… Perhaps more so, since you’re not in control of the wheel).

Sadly, my comfort with the rental was short-lived; we picked up our new car during our 2nd week in Oz and my driving came to a halt. It took me a month to get behind the wheel (partly due to the fact that Dan was unemployed, so drove me to/picked me up from work every day for something to do). Finally, I was forced to do it… In part because I knew I had a meeting in Canberra and would have to drive there for work for myself. And, I also had a hair appointment coming up. It’s terribly lame to have to get your hubbie to drive you to the salon! Even my 84-year-old mother drives herself to the salon – and in the snow, no less! Over time I started to run around town a bit. It was (and is) easier when Dan’s not in the car… I know he hates riding along (with anyone; it’s not just my driving), and probably wouldn’t appreciate my singing along to Triple J.

So, for the next few days I’ll be touring around Wagga in my little Kia… Wishing it was my dream car (any bets on what that is, dear reader?) and singing along to my fav tunes.

This is an immature crimson rosella. Pretty spectacular, eh!

Parrots: We’ve mentioned parrots a lot on this blog. We like to brag that we live among them! And the cool thing is that there have been so many different ones. Most of them move pretty quickly, so precise identification is a challenge for us, as sometimes the difference is very minimal (such as how much blue is on their wings). But after a few days we started to notice characteristics more accurately.

When we got here in July, there were a lot of Red-rumped Parrots. These were here for a long time, but are a bit less common right now. Then came Blue-winged Parrots. We first saw them in Corowa in November, and they’ve been in Wagga for a few weeks – there were some passing through our back yard one night this week as we ate dinner. We are afraid that soon they will be going for cooler climate  in the mountains, but it has been a cooler-than-normal summer here, so for now they are still hanging around.

Young crimson rosellas are beautiful, but this is what they grow up to be! Dan is proud of this photo - he spent several hours sitting on the deck of our cabin at Casa Luna, drinking wine and watching birds, trying to get the perfect photo for you...

During late December and through January, there were a lot of Rosellas around, both Eastern and Crimson. These are the spectacular ones. They are the kind of bird that you would want to have in a cage in your house…though that wouldn’t be nearly as amazing as living among them and seeing them as you are out cycling or are walking from your car to your office in the morning.

Just before Lisa headed back to a North American winter, we were out cycling early morning. A whole lot of beautiful Eastern Rosellas flew past us at one point and she blurted out “I don’t want to go to the cold place where there aren’t parrots.” Crimson rosellas are quite amazing, but Easterns are stunning.

Damp and snowy Ontario and Quebec, or Eastern Rosellas...? Which would you choose? Of all the birds we live with, these might be the best.

We’ve also been lucky enough to see the occasional Turquoise parrots over by the coast. At first, we thought they were just bluewings (just blue wings…we’ve become so complacent…) but then realized that they also had blue faces. Unfortunately, we just get a quick glimpse of many of these birds, so no time to get photos.

And now we will stop bragging about parrots and talk about some less spectacular birds.

Honeyeater: This is a kind of bird we didn’t even know existed. But for a few weeks, there was one hanging out in our back yard. It took awhile to identify him; at first, we thought it might just be a myna that had been playing Rugby League and got a bit of a shiner. But no, it turns out that it was a blue-faced honeyeater.

Sure, he isn't a parrot, but this blue-faced honeyeater is still quite pretty. He lived in our back yard (feeding on this bottlebrush) for a few weeks.

It was was one of those moments where we both thought “Wow!”, not because it is a really beautiful bird (sorry honeyeater, you ain’t a rosella) but because it might actually be the first time we saw a bird here that we had never heard of before. Yes, we see lots and lots of parrots (sorry, we said we would stop bragging) and cockatoos, and while those are unusual, we at least knew about them. Recently, campus has been inundated with Red Wattlebirds, which are another kind of honeyeater. On first glimpse, they could be a blue-faced honeyeater, or even a myna but we’re pretty sure they are wattlebirds (we’ve been told this is something that shows up this time of year…). We saw another honeyeater at the coast, who was very different, so it will be described in an upcoming post).

This pair of fairy wrens started a family in our back yard and moved on. Hopefully they liked our little resort, complete with spas, enough to stop by again on their way south...or north....

Superb Fairy Wrens: Yes, that’s their real name! We also think they are superb… but kinda cool that somebody just went and named them that. The males are the blue ones, and the babies and females are brown. We had a pair nesting in our back yard this spring, and they would come out to play in the birdbath and feed every evening as we had dinner. Then, as summer came, the babies appeared too. Unfortunately, they seemed to have moved on.

Darters: big water birds that we’ve seen here and there. First one was in Melbourne in September, then we didn’t see any for quite a while. Dan spotted one in Canberra in late November, and since then they’ve been pretty common around the lakes and dams around Wagga. We assume they will go away again. For a while, we weren’t sure what they were, thinking maybe they were cormorants (which we also see occasionally) but have pretty much got it figured out now by how it holds its head while flying. The really cool thing about darters is that you can sometimes see them sleeping with their wings out…it looks odd and hopefully they don’t do it on a windy day or they might end up getting blown away.

Darwin would probably say that these birds evolved to scoop yabbies out of dams.

Spoonbill: Another large water bird that has shown up for the summer. And again, first spotted near Corowa; even though it is only about 100 miles away, it is a lot hotter down there so migratory birds show up there first on their way north. The name spoonbill is quite descriptive – basically, they look like a short-necked egret that someone grabbed the end of its beak, pinched it so it became spoon-like, then stretched it.

Laughing Kookaburra: Yes, it’s the ubiquitous bird that everyone associates with…somewhere. We didn’t actually realize it was Australian. Not sure where we thought it was from. Sing along now kids…”Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree…“. We often see these around town or out on the highways, sitting on hydro wires. Cohen would love these little guys: is there some sort of mash-up that can be done “like a kookaburra, on the old hydro wire…”? Probably not. Unfortunately, because they live on wires, they are really hard to photograph. Dan’s never heard one laugh; they just sit silently on the wire for him. Lisa has heard them laughing… probably at Dan, since he looks pretty goofy in his bogan (surfboard) shorts in the backyard (sorry – no photo; it’s embarrassing enough to see Dan walk around the house this way, let alone have a pic for posterity).

Does the silver ring around their eye work like that black goop NFL players smear under their eyes, deflecting light to they can see bugs better?

Silvereye: this is a cool little guy that has been living in our back yard for quite a while. They came in late November or early December, and are still here. They fly all over the place, swooping up and down, obviously feeding on bugs. Some nights, we can’t figure out why they don’t just sit with their mouths open and let the bugs fall in…

And yes, we said we would stop bragging about parrots, but the pics below are the yellow version of crimson rosellas, which only live along the NSW/Vic border. These ones were on the lawn as we had breakfast at our friends’ house near Corowa…so no more bragging but, for most of you reading this, we live among parrots and  you don’t. Hah.

It was December 8…I remember this because on the trip to and from YEG K-Rock was playing John Lennon’s music on the 2oth anniversary of his death…it made me want to hurl. I don’t mind the Beatles (OK, actually they bore me), but most of Lennon’s solo stuff was horrible. And I just can’t take that level of sentimentality and hero worship… I took her to YEG very early in the morning, then went to work at UofA. Because Edmonton was so far north, it was still dark and cold. Really cold. Really f#%$ing cold. And I had to walk four blocks. For those who know UofA, we parked in N lot, beside Hub, and I worked in Extension (now Terrace). Half way, there is a Tim Hortons where I always stopped. So that morning, when it was around -40C, I get my coffee, go to my office, and see that I had been holding it so tightly that some had run out under the lid. And froze on the side of the cup. Froze. Hot coffee, paper cup, and ice. WTF was I doing there? That day, I also saw my first sun dog – a winter version of a rainbow, where the moisture in the air freezes and you see a colour spectrum. And then going home, a thermometer I had in the car never went over -30, despite having the heat on full. Yes, that is a lot of detail to remember, but it was my first day experiencing that level of cold, and it is something I will never forget.

And it is part of the reason we are in Australia…cold sucks!

Gotta love the accuracy of the weather app I have: 27 degrees, but feels like 26.9!

So when Lisa was planning this trip to North America, we were joking that I would have the opposite experience – that she would be abandoning me to the hottest days of my life. But, fortunately, that didn’t occur.  A typical day has started at about 20c, and gotten up to about 30-33. But there has always been a breeze – Wagga seems to be very windy! – so it is a pleasant low 30s. And the ‘evaporative cooling’ system in our house has meant it is usually about 24 indoors. Quite nice actually.

This gorgeous weather has meant that I have spent most of the past 2 weeks on the patio. All meals at home have been consumed out there (well, not brekkies…those are a bit of cereal and a grapefruit hoovered over the sink, but all dinners and lunches). I worked at home one day, out on the patio. I’ve determined that we don’t really need a house, just a patio! And I haven’t put on long pants in the whole two weeks.

The odd thing is that the bug population has died down. Earlier in the year, there were a lot of moths (and by ‘a lot’ I am estimating maybe 100 per cubic metre of air space…! A LOT!!!); those were followed by scarabs and other beetles. And flies and mozzies. And fruit flies that liked to do the backstroke in our wine. But the past two weeks have been pretty much bugless. They will probably return when Lisa does, and she won’t believe me when I say how pleasant it has been. But I guess if there were bugs banging up against the window, that would roust out the cats…I think there are cats here. Something eats that food that I put out each morning and evening, and when I come home each day there are indentations on the bed that look like cats. But for some reason, when their mommy is away they avoid me.

So besides having pleasant weather and few bugs, what is a Wagga summer like? Pretty dead. It is school summer holidays. No one is at work anywhere (the few of us at my job comment about how empty the halls are and how every email gets an ‘out of office until February’ auto-response), not much seems to go on. Even the farmer’s market was dead.And there is nothing going on in the neighouring towns; the regional reports in the Daily Advertiser talk about events in February and March, not January.

The  only people that seem to be working are the ones doing construction on the road to the uni. This has been a bit of an issue with me, because the diversion (detour in Canada-speak) adds an extra 2 km onto the morning commute. That is nothing really, unless you want to do it on a bicycle and 2 km and one extra hill at 8 am is too much! So, despite the fact that this would be a perfect time for me to be both health conscious and environmentally friendly by riding every day, I’ve been driving to work. I did, one day this weekend, ride the new route and was pretty proud that even with the extra hill it added less than 4 minutes to my time, which means I am getting faster. Because that construction is supposed to last into April, I guess I am going to have to start using this longer bike route because I don’t want to stop riding. But I’ve still managed to get in about 250 km of cycling while Lisa was away (weekend mornings and a few afternoons…riding when it is 32C is probably the cyclist’s equivalent of hot yoga…you need water!).

What else have I done? Not much. I’ve figured out which bottle shop has the best beer selection (not great, but good) It is in a bit of a bogan neighourhood, oddly…I can’t see why this demographic warrants it!

Basil grows really well here. This started out as 6 little plants, and we've harvested enough for a huge jar of pesto and a lot of pizzas and it just keeps on growing.

And I have perfected pizza on the barbecue. Sorry Wade, still not making my own crust, but I found that one of the big supermarket chains sells a really good cryovaced, imported-from-Italy, thin crust! And I determined that the expensive bocconcini doesn’t taste any better and actually doesn’t melt as well. And if you saute mushrooms in beer, they are more flavourful! So Lisa will be coming home to a great pizza margherita con funghi dinner in a couple of days.

Other than that, it has been a pretty uneventful January. Which seems typical for Wagga.

An orthopedic nightmare, but the lack of shape to the sole makes these the ultimate spider killers.

We know that there are a lot of different terms for clothes here. Some are also used in the UK, such as jumper for what Canadians call a sweater. Some are international words but are just less common outside of Australia; an example of this is singlet for a sleeveless shirt. We’ve heard it before, but most Canadians wouldn’t use it. What would we call it…a ‘wife-beater’ probably? Hmm, maybe singlet needs to be more universal. And Australians wear thongs on their feet…pretty much everyone owns a pair of those flat plastic sandals that Canadians call flip-flops. We think they are so common because the lack of tread makes them good for stepping on spiders…Dan’s Ecco sandals have too much tread, so he has to stomp a few times before he hits one…with thongs, you can’t go wrong. So when an Australian says “My thongs are uncomfortable” they aren’t talking about having a wedgie.

When looking online for a picture for here, there were a lot of choices. This one seemed the most appropriate.

Long and useless but kind of entertaining aside here about what Aussies call thong underwear, which is probably g-string. Triple J radio had a great phone-in segment recently about embarrassing moments, and some teenage girl called in to say that her mother hated the fact that she often wore low-slung jeans and a g-string and had a whale tail. The next time she saw it she would make her regret it. So one day her and her mom and some friends were out for lunch and Mom was on her way back from the toilet saw a young woman with her undies showing and thought it was her daughter and decided it was time to make darling daughter rethink the fashion choice and grabbed the back of the undies and yanked. Mom must have been drinking a bit because she pulled hard enough to not only give a wedgie to, but actually rip the skivvies (my term, not what the girl on the radio said) off of, the wrong teenage girl…wrong table, wrong whale tail…Yup, that would be embarrassing to a whole lot of people.

Which segues perfectly the lone word of this version of HTSA.

Skivvies/Skivvy: Most North Americans, if they think of anything when they hear the word skivvies, would probably think of underwear. Probably mens’ underwear (tighty whities) but maybe womens’.  It might not be something that is in common usage, but it is used.  Australians, however, have a word that sounds the same but is spelled different (is that a homonym or a homophone?): skivvy. It means a tight-fitting, long-sleeved shirt. A singlet with sleeves, sort of.

And why does this matter? Well, the parking and security controversy at the Wagga airport wasn’t the biggest news here last week.  There was a change of Wiggle. We (well me…Lisa is still away and I doubt this has made international news so blame me, Dan, for any/all inaccurate or offensive statements in this post) don’t know anything about the Wiggles except that: 1) they are the Australian version of Sharon, Lois, and Bram; 2) they are probably too old to be doing what they are doing; and 3) they formed out of the remnants of a band called The Cockroaches (this bit of info came from a friend).

The Wiggles, from left to right: Joey, Dee Dee, drummer du jour (Tommy, Markie, Richie, Markie again) and Johnny.

But now I know that, besides being the home of Dame Edna, Wagga is also where one of the Wiggles is from. The Wiggles don’t actually use their real names, but just go by their character. They are Spongebog Wiggle, Oscar the Grouchy Wiggle, and Jerome Wiggle (though he’s probably not the original Jerome because giraffes only live 25 years and he was on The Friendly Giant for longer than that) and Toonces the Cat Wiggle (who got the job when he ran over the other prospect for the job, Flippy the Flipping Chihuaha – sorry, the video isn’t allowed on Aussie computers…). OK, I admit it, I don’t actually have a clue who or how many Wiggles, maybe some readers do but don’t bother correcting in the comments please!

Sam and Greg: Hey ho, let's go, Stab 'em in the back now

Anyway, back on track…It is the current/now removed Yellow Wiggle (nee Sam Moran) who is from Wagga. The Daily Advertiser, in a series of recent articles, has been proudly calling him the “Wagga Wiggle” (is that something like Cootamundra Wattle?). But Sam isn’t an original Willy Wagtail Wiggle. He has only been part of the group for about 5 years, replacing original Big Bird Yellow Wiggle (nee Greg Page) who had to step aside  because he had a hernia. Last week, the big headline in the Daily Advertiser was that Greg, the original Trini Kwan Yellow Wiggle was coming back. At first, it seemed like an amicable split, as Aisha Sam was amicably stepping aside. Then it started to hit the Australian media – not just in Wagga, this was in national papers and on national radio – that Sam didn’t really want to leave, but Ol’ Yeller is out of rehab better and ready to come back. It seems Sam was just a fill-in. It has started to become a drama that rivals the Julia Gillard/Kevin Rudd ALP leadership issues.

Yellow's two wives high fiving for being married to a Wiggle. Well, they were, but not any more.

It is really hilarious watching this unfold, seeing how much attention it is getting, with the media getting commentary from kids about how they like or dislike the current  yellow wombat Wiggle and don’t want him to leave, and how the Teletubbies Wiggles are all about being nice and friendly and they wouldn’t just dump Laa Laa Sam to bring back Tommie (he was the first drummer) Greg who helped start the multi-million dollar company… So it really seems like it is Greg’s job if he wants it. But then again, Sam did come as part of a package deal; it seems his wife is Dora the Explorer Dorothy the Dinousaur, who was part of the Wiggles’ show. Is Greg worth two characters? Who knows? Who really cares?

To sum this all up, I just have to say that as someone who speaks Canadian first, Australian second, hearing all week about a children’s entertainer who performs in yellow skivvies/skivvys has been a bit creepy!

In 2009, Skyscanner (whoever they are) came up with a list of bizarre airport names. This one was on it, along with other Aussie airports such as Useless Loop, Woodie Woodie, Wee Waa. Batman, and Moron. Too bad they didn't know that it is actually closer to Gumly Gumly than Wagga Wagga.

The Wagga airport is about 12 km out of town, in a suburb called Forest Hill. It is owned by the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) and leased to the city. The air force still uses it  a lot, because they have a base in Forest Hill.  About 215, 000 people board/get off planes in Wagga each year (compared to about 6 million in Edmonton). So it is a relatively small airport. Qantas and Regional Express fly in to it; they each run 4 or 5 flights per day to Sydney and REx has another 2 or 3 to Melbourne. That’s it, in terms of commercial flights.  There is some private stuff, some cargo,  and some military, but really we don’t see a lot of planes in the air here. To put the size and use into perspective, there is one food place there: it used to be run by Mick’s Bakehouse, a local pie shop, but they didn’t think it was worth having so the airport is running it themselves. And the Avis car rental is run from town – someone from the office here goes out when there is a plane coming in. It isn’t really a high-turnover place.

We love that it is so laid back – one room, for people waiting to leave, waiting to meet someone, just hang out, etc. And security is a bit lax. “Any sharps in your carry on?” “No.” “Any weapons or explosives?” “No.” “OK.”

When you do a Google Image search for Thirsty Crow, photos from our blog come up! When you search for Wagga airport, you get a bunch of random crap. Maybe that will change after this post.

There are major changes coming, and ones that Waggans don’t really like. The first of the changes is that they are going to start charging for parking. Up until now, it has been free. Just pull up on the field, lock up and take off… But they say things are getting a bit crowded so they have to start charging. Rates: first hour free, $2.20 an hour after that up to $11 for day, and max $55 per week. Sure this seems like a big increase, but compared to other places it isn’t outrageous. Edmonton, for example charged about $4 for the first hour… And land isn’t free, so people need to pay. The problem is that it might actually be the first paid parking in Wagga. Currently, on-street parking in the city, including the CBD, is free. So are off-street lots. As is parking at the university (which is a real salary bonus for us!).  “Restricted parking” means park between the lines…and they haven’t even implemented that on most streets yet. So the idea of paying to park where there is a lot of open space just seems wrong to Waggans. And sure, maybe the cost is a bit high, but I’m sure they have crunched some numbers and figured out what is needed.

Because the SOPA/PIPA laws in the US haven't passed yet, I can take a chance on using this image of the inside of the Wagga airport, taken from Wikipedia, and not worry about being charged with anything yet.

The second change is that they are getting real security! There will be baggage x-ray, a separate waiting room for people cleared, etc., just like a real airport. And we understand this. Airports are federally controlled everywhere (Dan thinks they should be run by the UN as neutral territory…) and they should all meet certain standards. But we’ve probably flown in and out of more airports than most Waggans, so we get it.

So this will affect us – mostly Lisa – a bit. We will have to figure out how long it takes to clear security here! And we have visitors coming in the next few months so will have to make them aware that they can’t take a bomb back to Sydney.  But otherwise, we are just glad we got the cats processed through Wagga airport before it got serious.

And, well, I just have to say, as Wagga airport finally enters the post-9/11 world, the terrorists have won…

The heart of the Crow...stainless steel tanks for brewing. It will be expanding this year.

As a bit of an overview of Thirsty Crow, it is a great place. Large warehouse-like space, funky decor (nice art, great furniture), and good food. The focal point of the venue is the brewing facility, which is right out in the open. The menu is pretty small, mostly pizza but very interesting ones. The Thai chicken is Lisa’s favourite; I like the bacon and mushroom one. We haven’t had the nerve to try the “Sunday roast” pizza yet.  Of course, there is an interesting beer selection, both made there and elsewhere. And there is a good list of local wines, though we only have beer when we go. The clientele is not your typical Wagga bar crowd (or so we are told…we don’t go to other bars here), being mostly a bit older, and quite often a lot of groups of women. The owner is quite happy with the people that come in, sees them as serious beer people as opposed to heavy drinkers, and is proud of the fact that despite there being a lot of alcohol consumed there, in the year it has been open there hasn’t been any sort of bad incident (I think the term he used was dust up…). This is in contrast to the bars down the street that are known to be pretty rowdy.

Besides pints, middys and schooners of beer, you can also get sampler trays.

Monday nights in Wagga are always a bit dead; not much is open, people are probably hung over still, so not a lot of drinking going on. Because of this, Thirsty Crow has cheap beer on Monday for members (we are). So we occasionally (not often enough) go there for pizza and beer.

Another new initiative for Mondays is a small-group beer tasting session with the brewmeister. After seeing it announced on Facebook, and Dan emailed the guy to sign up for the first one while Lisa would be somewhere on a plane over the Pacific. She will maybe try to get to one later in the year.

Dan writing here…switching to first person…

The 'label' for the vanilla milk stout. They don't bottle the beer yet, but these are on the taps.

The session was quite fun and informative. And it wasn’t just a tasting really – there was some work involved.  Not hard yakka, but yakka just the same. Everyone was given a scoring sheet based on the official beer competition judging guide and had to give their impressions of the beers, not just on how much you liked it but on how it fit the profile of what that style of beer is supposed to be. Craig, the owner and brewer, was using this feedback to help him perfect the beer both for the customers but also for an upcoming beer competition in Melbourne. They won a medal last year for the vanilla milk stout, after only being in business for a few months, and want another medal this year.

First up was the Kolsch, a light German-style beer that is, honestly, a bit boring. But as Kolsch’s go, it was an OK one…everyone agreed but also most of the people there don’t want that kind of beer. I ranked it 11.5 out of 15.  It was a bit too bitter for this style, and there wasn’t much of an aroma.

A chalkboard on one wall keeps people informed of what is happening in the brewery.

Next came the latest batch of the stout. I have had this before, but not this batch. It is a nice dark, heavy beer, but I felt the head didn’t last long enough. Taste and smell were a bit off too, because the latest batch of vanilla wasn’t as good. Vanilla extract is processed using bourbon, and this one was very strong; so strong, in fact, that it was noticeable and overpowered the usual chocolate and coffee flavours of a good stout and the real vanilla flavour itself. Score: 12.5/15.

Third on the menu was the Robust Porter. Good toasty, chocolatey flavours, but I thought it was a bit too dark in colour to be perfect. And sort of a one-note nose. 12/15.

The winner of the night, and one of my favorite beers.

The last one we got was the Pale Ale. It is a great bitter and citrusy ale! I love it…it is my go-to beer when we go there.  13.5/15 – it lost a 1/2 point each on of the three categories: appearance (too dark I thought), aroma (a bit too much citrus, not enough malt) and taste (I think it could have been a bit more bitter and dry).

It was a fun evening of learning bit about the short history of the brewery/pub, a lot about beer making, quite a bit about the beer culture in Wagga (lack of really!)  and Australia (not bad), and what is in store for the future of Thirsty Crow (more capacity, a bottling machine!).  I was sitting right beside Craig, so had some good chats about beer around the world, not just what he makes. He’s a huge beer aficionado. One of the interesting things is that he knows what he can’t make well and brings it in from other craft brewers around the country, and on a revolving basis so there is always a variety of external beer both on tap and in bottles. Of course, I haven’t gotten around to trying most of it. I think only once have I had a non-TC beer there, something on tap that looked too interesting not to try.

An example from above is that when we first moved here, there was a Hefewiezen available. We both love wheat beers! But he hasn’t made it recently, and the reason (I heard) is that the cheap Chinese-made equipment he has in the brewery can’t handle the heat needed to properly brew beer with wheat in it.  Interesting!

The other participants at the session were an interesting bunch. Overall, it was a pretty sedate affair; most of the people just listened to Craig talk. But at my end of the table there was some discussion. There was a young guy who was quite obviously a beer fan, and a regular at TC and was quite friendly. There was another guy who I would use two of the same descriptors for…fan, regular…but not overly talkative. And there was a couple (maybe? not actually sure) who I had a great chat with; she was an Aussie who had recently spent 2 years in Canada, he was a Canadian (Ottawa region with a French accent) now here in Wagga (I’m assuming her visa ran out and he came back with her…he said he had been here for 8 months and had about another year left, which means young tourist/worker visa). He was quite quiet, but she was very friendly. We talked about how the craft beer culture is far better in Canada! But, at least that culture is something that is getting a bit better here and hopefully will continue to grow.