Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 6)

Look! It’s the Mekong!

On the way out of town, we passed by the courthouse and there were many bridal parties getting ready to go in and do the deed.

“Ahhh, many stupid men…” said Robin sadly.

Homelessness in Vietnam is handled differently. Vans with a doctor and police inside drive around.

Old people get taken to a government nursing home.

Kids get taken back home, while drug addicted people get taken to rehab.

Today we’re going to the Mekong Delta, the best area for farming in Vietnam.

“Very rich country, said Robin. “ They get 3 crops a year instead of one. They also have lucky weather. Very few typhoons. The people in the Mekong Delta drink a lot. They enjoy life. The farmers up north, if they earn $10 they spend $1 and save for the bad times. The farmers in the middle, if they earn $10 they save $4. The farmers in the Mekong? They earn $10, they spend $11. They enjoy life.”

A weirdly interesting thing we learned is that in the northern parts of Vietnam, it’s the custom to bury people TWICE.
When Robin was 9 years old, he remembers all his family getting into a truck in the middle of the night and going to dig up his grandmother coffin. They dug up her bones, washed them with rice wine and then rearranged them back in place.

We passed by many rice fields with tombs in them. These are old tombs. Fifty years ago, laws were passed preventing families from putting grandpa out in his rice paddy when he died.

We hopped into a motor boat and traveled up the river to see a coconut family- and learn how they harvest coconut for just about everything. This was a chance to shop. People were selling everything from coconut lollies to salad servers. There were clothes and paintings and ice creams.

There was also a crocodile leather section. Robin told a story which was my undoing.

“My Chinese customers like to buy crocodile wallets. When you eat crocodile, a lot goes in but not much comes out. They hope a crocodile wallet will do the same thing with money!”

I need a new wallet, as the one I bought in Sth Africa back in 2014 is looking a bit shabby. So here it is:

I saw Robin and told him that his story made me buy a wallet. He laughed and said, “It did the same thing to me!! I just bought one for my father- in – law!”

Snake rice wine – probably just as awful-tasting as the snake soju we tried in Pyongyang.

I realised when we were on the boat that I left my precious Antarctica Pee bottle, otherwise known as my water bottle, on a shelf in the ladies loo on the dock. How could I have done anything so stupid???

I love that bottle. It’s been on the ice in Antarctica, walking down the streets of London and Dublin, driven on 2 Australian road trips and been on the Ghan. I’ve lost it 3 times before… once in London in a shop, when a lady raced after me with it. Once in Tullamarine airport, where I walked back 20 minutes to retrieve it from the hook behind a toilet door, and once in Kangaroo Island. 

There was no point in getting upset. I was on a riverboat heading away from the dock.

I knew this day would happen one day. I didn’t realise that today would be it.

After we finished shopping at the coconut place, we headed off for a 10 minute TukTuk ride around the village. That was fun.

I liked the bits of iron.

We ended up stopping at a chocolate cafe, where we tried various Vietnamese fruits and we were also treated to a musical show.

The Vietnamese instrument called the Dan-bau only has one string. If you squint, you can see it.

After this, we went out to a tiny dock on a canal behind the cafe, where we were spread out over 4 boats. Of course, I sat in the front of our boat, so I had a perfect view.

This trip down the canal leading onto the river was lovely. The bamboo trees were like a tunnel and it was so peaceful. I hadn’t given this part of the day’s itinerary much thought, but it was an unexpected highlight.

Lunch was a treat!

The first course was Elephant Fish spring rolls. So named because the fish is the shape of an elephant’s ear.

They were made for us at the table. So fresh and delicious! Vicky couldn’t believe how good they were, with the fish and fresh vegetables.

They also brought a globe to the table that looked like it could maybe be bread. She cut into it and it turned out to be lined with cheese. It was ok, but a couple of people at my table loved it and went back for thirds.

There were around 7 courses and they were all fresh and delicious.

We’re certainly getting well fed on this trip. 
When our boat hit the dock back where we’d started that morning, I was first off and went racing to the ladies loo. As I rounded the door, I had my fingers crossed.

And look! My fabulous Antarctica Pee Bottle was still on the high shelf where I’d left it. I was so happy!

After this rapturous reunion, we drove off to a bamboo factory.

This was interesting. They also made silk garments as well as bamboo and they showed how they unravel the silk worms cocoons.

I bought something for Georgia here. I hope she likes it.

Just before dinner, we were gathering in the hotel foyer when something a little unpleasant happened. You know how sometimes you get a bad vibe about someone and you instinctively back away? I’d got the vibe from day1 from a woman called Jen. Ex- police and a real know-it-all. Within 10 minutes I decided that I’d steer clear of her as much as possible in such a small group.

I was chatting with someone and I looked up to see her leaning towards Robin, pointing her finger at him as if she was telling him off. Naturally, I moved closer to hear what was going on.

It turns out that the alcohol the hotel stocked didn’t have an extensive enough selection for her.
“Just having one red and one white wine isn’t good enough. Where is the Baileys? Where are the cocktails? This is supposed to be a 4 star establishment.”

Robin tried to say something and she steamrolled right over him. “ We’re the clientele. You should stock what the clientele wants! It’s not good enough!”

Now, how this was any of Robin’s fault, I have no idea, but he was copping it. I walked over and quietly said, “Hey Jen, why don’t you just put it on the feedback form?”

”I certainly WILL,” she said. Robin grabbed the opportunity to say that the next hotel has a bar right beside the pool. Jen said, “When I was in Bali, they had a bar IN the pool. You could swim up, sit on a stool and have your drink right there.” She wriggled her shoulders suggestively.

What a wanker! Those pools are a dime a dozen in Bali. She was talking as if it was an exotic rarity.
After that talk, I don’t think she likes me much either. She and a couple of other women were looking for spots at dinner. They rejected one table, moved towards ours when she saw me and suddenly announced, “This table is fine,” and made a beeline away. I chuckled.

I enjoyed what happened next very much. The waitress was at the other table and Robin came over and said to the girl, “ At this table we have a Queen here,” indicating Jen. She lapped it up, the waitress bowed and smiled, while I sat there thinking, ‘People will always come back at you if you’re nasty.’

Everyone else seems lovely, so she shouldn’t be too hard to avoid…

Dad Joke of the day:

Conjunctivitis.com

Now that’s a site for sore eyes  

Oooh, baby baby! What have I let myself in for?

So here I am, after my first full day in Vietnam, using my free hour before dinner to start this post. The group I’m travelling with all seem nice, and the funny thing that were all solo travellers! Robin, our guide, said that he’s never had 17 guests with 17 rooms before. Most are Aussies, with a couple of English and a stray New Zealander.

After being driven to the airport by my limo driver – I knew I paid too much for this trip – the 3 Melbournians spotted each other at the airport. We had breakfast in the lounge together, but split up on the plane. Thank goodness, because I swear I slept for most of the 7 hour flight, even though it was during the day. I think that after the time I’ve had with my parents, my body was releasing a lot of tension…

Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon has been a part of Vietnam for 360 years. The older people call it Saigon, which I’ll probably do here because our guide calls it that, so I’m used to hearing it. Saigon means ‘Land of the cotton tree.’ It’s the biggest city here, with 10 million people.

Hanoi has been a part of Vietnam for 4,000 years. Robin was very proud of this, as he’s from Hanoi. After my trips to Central Australia and Arnhem Land, where I was looking at art and hearing stories of the 100,000+ year civilisation, it didn’t feel as impressive…

There are 9 million people in Hanoi. This sounds like a lot until you hear that there are 100 million people who live in Vietnam, and the population grows by a million a year.
20% are middle class, while 70% are poor.

Saigon is richer than the north.

In some places, Vietnam is only 57 kms wide!

Anyone born before the end of the war in 1975 is classed as an old person. Yikes!

The first day was an early start to drive to see the Vietnam Cong tunnels. I was looking forward to this, as there’s a lot about the Vietnam War that I don’t really know about.

Along the way there were a couple of things I saw that really brought home that I was back in Asia. I’ve been to Bali (twice), Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and North Korea, but I haven’t been back since 2018. You forget what Asia’s like.

Motorbikes everywhere.When a car costs four times the average yearly wage, people tend to gravitate towards the humble motorcycle. There are 7 million of then in Saigon alone!

Fresh meat, anyone?

Look at how she’s carrying this huge flower arrangement!

The Vietnam Cong tunnels were very interesting.

When they were going to split Vietnam into two countries, they gave it around 3 months so people could move where they wanted to live; under the communists in the north or the capitalists in the south. 1.1M people moved from the North as opposed to 300,000 the other way. The numbers may have been more even, buy Ho Chi Minh called for people to stay where they were, in the heart of the enemy. Of course, this worked really well as the war went on.

This is me about to go down into a tunnel. Quite a few people from the tour elected not to go down, but hey. I’ll probably only be here once, so I’m doing it!

In the south, particularly around Saigon, the Communists dug bunkers, then connected tunnels to them. You had to be thin to fight and live in the tunnels! The westerners were mostly too fat to go in after them, so they brought in soldiers from the Philippines and trained them to do this.

1968 US joined the fight when the communists bombed their embassy.

There were around 200 kms of tunnels. 2,000 people at a time lived underground.

Hospitals, kitchens etc. They’d live underground during the day and come up to stretch their legs at night. When you see what they were prepared to do, it’s no wonder they won.

I was second in line, behind a woman called Maree. I was scared that I’d move too fast while being doubled over in the dark and end up tripping and planting my face in her behind. Not really the way to introduce yourself to the group. Thankfully, it didn’t happen, so both our dignities remain intact.

Here is how the tunnels worked. The levels were 3, 6 and 8 metres deep, complete with bamboo spike traps and an escape route into the river.

At first, the US soldiers caught detect where the kitchens were by the smoke, so they’d drop a bomb on it. Then the Vietnam Cong soldiers started to dig tunnels for the chimneys and put filters in, so that when the smoke escaped, it was far less likely to be seen.

Imagine being a soldier, walking along, looking around at the trees for any ambushes…

Bamboo spikes for the unwary. It must have been awful. You’d never have a second to relax your guard when on patrol.

We saw many traps, but this one was the worst. If someone kicked the door down, this trap would fly down from the ceiling and get whoever was standing there. It has a hinge, so even if the top part was stopped, the bottom part would still be moving and then, “No more cucumber and tomatoes…” said Robin.

Going down into the tunnel. It had lights along the way, but it must’ve been very dark and claustrophobic for the soldiers.

People don’t like to buy homes near rubber farms because the trees are poisonous. People who work there die 3 – 5 years earlier than usual.

For lunch, we went to an organic farm and cooking school nearby.

The meal was exquisite. Well, except for the banana spring rolls for dessert. How anyone can like bananas is beyond me.

I saw these dog gate ornaments just as Robin was saying, “yes, we do eat dog.”

The Presidential Palace, built in the 60’s after the old one was bombed. See the coverings over the windows? They’re representing bamboo.

So many bonsai’s throughout the city.

See? Bamboo.

Here are the tanks that crashed through the gates of the palace and ended the war.

I saw this and had to take the photo. So pretty.

Always a gift shop.

This is from the top balcony of the Palace.

I was heading to the toilets before the bus was going when I bumped into this girl having a photoshoot.
To be honest, we spent far too much time here, and at the post office.

The post office was built in the 1800’s by the French. The only thing that changed is the picture of Ho Chi Minh that smiles benevolently down.

Outside the post office, I saw this building being engulfed by the ones around it, but standing its ground.

l only took 2 pictures at the War Museum. This one, of course, is famous.

This was nearby. Beauty made from something so terrible.

We had an hour here and it wasn’t enough time. Allow a couple of hours to move through. It was terribly moving.

And finally, I caught this pair from the bus window- Mum filing her nails while her kid is on

her phone.

Dad joke of the day:

To the thief who stole my pillow,

I will not rest until I find you.

Oof.

The last 5 or 6 weeks- who’s counting?- have been a THING. I’ve given my parents every last thing I can and now it’s time to pass it across to my sister. I’m going to Vietnam in the morning.

This may sound bad, but I’m very happy that I booked all these holidays for 2025 before all of these things happened with my parents. Without realising it, I booked in breaks.

It’s only been a few weeks, but I can see how looking after elderly parents can take over your life.

The photo was taken today- when Dad and I were sucked into an appointment which took us 4 hours, but which could have been done over the phone. You can see that he was thoroughly impressed…

Tomorrow I fly to Vietnam. I’m only taking my iPad, so I’m doing this post to reacquaint myself with how to post this way. When I travel, it becomes second nature, but as soon as I get back I revert to the laptop and I forget.

Scout misses Mum. I brought Mum back home a couple of days ago and Scout lost her mind.

Ok. I’m going to be honest here. Putting your parents into care is awful.

Honestly, I’m a hard-faced bitch, in that, if it’s the right decision, I’ll do it. But over the last few weeks, I’ve been crushing old people’s dreams. Understandably, they’d prefer to be in the house they’ve lived in for 65 YEARS. That’s a long fucking time.

But I’m the one saying no.

Anyway, tomorrow I fly off to Vietnam. Thank fucking Christ. I know everyone in the history of the world who goes on holidays claims they deserve a break , but fuck me. I deserve a break.

I read the itinerary when I booked, then I reread it two days ago.
As I sit here after an annoying waste of time at the hospital with Dad, I think I’m going to let this holiday unfold.
I remember thinking that it all sounded good, so I hope you follow with me to see what Vietnam is like.

It’ll be an unbiased view, because I’m going in with no expectations.
However, having said that, apparently I booked a limousine drive to the airport. It was included in the tour.

WTF?

Clearly I spent too much on this holiday.
Another funny thing is that I paid for this limo driver, but it’s only free if it’s 50 KMS from Tullamarine Airport. The suburb I live in would incur an extra fee of $180.

My parents’ place, however? In the sweet spot. I arranged to be picked up at fucking 7 AM tomorrow. When I arranged it, my parents were still living there. Now, it’ll be a bit weird. I’m sitting on the front verandah…

Let’s see if I can remember to do a Dad joke:

To the thief who stole my pillow,

I will not rest until I find you.

Who knew there’d be so many moving parts to having one parent in hospital and moving another one into care? It’s a real time-suck, that’s for sure.

The day before Mum moved into Bonbeach, we went to my hairdresser to get beautified for Tom33 and Sophie’s engagement party. Bonbeach has its own hair salon, but I thought it would be nicer to go into the place looking well-groomed. Mum was pleased. “This is $30 cheaper than my usual hairdresser and it looks exactly the same!”

I try and get Mum in to see Dad at the hospital every second day, and by and large, this has worked out well, though a visit that should only take a couple of hours turns into an all-day event, purely because Mum moves so slowly, needs frequent toilet stops and we usually end up getting lunch. I’m nervously aware that my Vietnam trip is rapidly approaching and I’ve done nothing to prepare for it, besides organise my visa (the travel company took care of the running around for this) and buying insect repellent and malaria tablets.

Coupled with this is the angst about doing all the paperwork for Mum and Dad’s care to move from respite to residential. I’m sure I would have blogged about the mountains of paper that I had to wade through when we were applying for Mum and Dad’s ‘My Aged Care’ home help assistance last year…??

Spoiler alert – IT WAS AWFUL. Mum and Dad have far too many bank accounts, managed funds, annuities, investment properties etc. The list goes on. It took me a very long time to document it all.

Now I have to do it all again, with even more detail about their PPR.

Aside from the lump sum you have to pay to get them into a decent place, which runs into the hundreds of thousands, but is returned to the estate when the room is no longer needed, there are daily fees payable. The least that anyone can pay is 80-something per cent of the Age Pension, but self-funded retirees like my parents have to put their hands in their pockets to contribute towards the cost of their care. This ranges from $25 – $155 a day.

So Frogdancer has to go through all of these damned accounts to get the current balances etc. I suppose the good side is that I have the accounts recorded now, so it should be slightly quicker. The bad side is that now I have to get details of their family home documented, which was exempt from the previous form.

I have 10 days to get all of this submitted before I jump on a plane.

My hot tip about all of this?

Don’t leave it too long to get your and your parents’ estates simplified.

I planned to bring it up at January 2025’s meeting with their accountant and get him to start merging bank accounts and other investments. I had no idea that Dad would be in a hospital bed for all of January, or that it would become plain that Mum needs to go into care. I thought we had heaps of time. Big mistake.

Even though I’m one of three children, I’m the one left to deal with all the paperwork. My brother isn’t capable of helping after his stroke and my sister refuses. I guess I have the oldest child syndrome – even though numbers are scary to me, I’m the one who has to get these things done.

A funny thing happened yesterday. The original plan was that my father was supposed to be moved into rehab for a couple of weeks, but when Mum and I went to visit Dad yesterday, we were told that the plan had changed. He’s staying at the hospital for a week or two and then going straight to Bonbeach. (This is actually better for him, as Bonbeach has physios on staff. He’ll have someone badgering him about moving every day.)

When we left, I called my sister while I was driving home to tell her about the new plan.

I’m not happy about that!” she said. “I’m sorry to put a spanner in the works, but I want him to go to a rehab hospital like Mum went to for 2 weeks.”

“That hospital closed,” I said.

“I’m sure there are other hospitals like it,” she said. “I want him moved to a private hospital AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.”

We had had this conversation a week ago, and I actually started making the arrangements to move him to a private hospital, only for the doctors to highly recommend against moving him, as it would probably put his recovery back. At the time, my sister agreed, saying, “We have to listen to the doctors.”

Also, keep in mind that I’d only found out the day before that I had to fill out a 39-page document about my parents’ finances, and it needed to be done asap so that we would have an accurate quote for the ongoing fees at the nursing home. I was feeling a tad overwhelmed.

So when I had the demand that I had to move him to another hospital, exasperation surged and I snapped, “Ok. YOU DO IT. I’m going to be busy filling in the paperwork for Centrelink.”

“Oh, let’s just see how he goes.” was her hasty reply…

I decided to bring Mum back to my place for lunch. Scout has been missing her. Mum didn’t quite believe me when I told her this, but you should have seen that ecstatic little snag when she clapped eyes on Mum! As soon as she sat down on her place on the couch, Scout was in her lap, leaning back against her with a face full of joy.

We watched a couple of episodes of Outlander and I took a call from the hospital, where I found out about a couple of appointments Dad has for his thyroid and his voice. One is at 8:45 AM at the Alfred and I WON’T BE HERE!!! Kate and Francis will have to work out the logistics of this one.

We asked the manager of Bonbeach how they arrange transport in cases like these.

“Good question,” she said. “If you want us to arrange it, he’ll have to have a staff member go with him at $40/hour, plus the taxi fares. It gets to be quite expensive, so if you can arrange for a family member to do it, it’s far more cost-effective.”

All these things that you never think about when you’re hale and hearty!

Mum has now been living at Bonbeach for just over a week. She’s had some low times when she mourns the passing of living independently, but on the whole, she’s enjoying the uptick in her social life and the good food they’re feeding her. Dad is progressing slowly and he can’t wait to join her.

I went in to see him on my own on Thursday and took in the fees and charges for the room and their ongoing care so that he was informed. I was worried sick that he’d arck up about the cost of the room, but he was terrific, with his main concern being to find out the annual cost of the care for them both. “I don’t want to be kicked out after 3 years because I’ve run out of money!” he said. That’s another reason why this paperwork has to be done asap – to put his mind at rest.

So all in all, it’s been a wonderful start to 2025. /s

Vietnam in just under 2 weeks.

What’s top of my mind: Hospitality.

Dad has now been moved to Caulfield Rehab Hospital and he said that he was told that he’d be there for 2 weeks. I take what Dad says at the moment with a grain of salt – he’s on pretty intensive pain meds – but seeing as he can’t yet stand by himself and it’s been a week since the operation, I think he’ll be there for a fair amount of time. This, of course, means that Mum will be staying here until he’s steady enough to look after her. And himself.

Where I’m going: For more travel vaccinations.

Today is 4 weeks since I had the Yellow Fever vaccine, so now I’m free to load up on everything else I’ll need. I need quite a few different shots, seeing as I’m travelling to Africa, China, Vietnam and Borneo, so no doubt I’ll be feeling like a pincushion a couple of hours from now.

Where I’ve been: on very slow walks.

Mum goes for a walk every day, and Scout and I go with her. She uses a walker to keep herself steady, so we trot along beside her until she’s had enough and we turn and head for home. This generally doesn’t take too long.

Then Scout and I head out again for a longer walk to stretch Scout’s legs. She can’t believe it – 2 walks every day????

What I’m reading: Tender is the Flesh – Bazterrica.

This novel is terrific! It’s only 200 pages long and I enjoyed every minute of it.

What would living in a world that has legalised cannibalism be like?

This is a thumping good read.

What I’m watching: The Sopranos.

I’m up to the end of season 4. Mum has started watching it with me. She jumped right in, but she’s enjoying settling back after dinner and watching people get whacked.

What I’m listening to: Nothing much.

I can’t really listen to podcasts with Mum around, so they’re gently piling up on my iPad again. My sister came and took Mum out yesterday “to give Frogdancer a break.” I had a whole 2 hours to myself. I knocked over a couple of phone calls with Blogless Sandy and Evan28, and an episode of ‘Casefile’ before they came through the gate again.

What I’m eating: things from the garden.

Finally, the tomatoes, beans and zucchinis are producing enough for me to take them seriously. This morning I harvested rhubarb from both the red and green plants and stewed them with apple. 5 ice cube trays are now waiting to be cool enough for me to put them in the fridge.

What I’m planning: two new quilts for the lounge room.

On my second Little Adventure, I went across town to a quilting shop called Cutting Cloth and bought fabric for a quilt, coordinating with a painting I bought. The design is to use hexagons.

I hated cutting out the hexies so much that I soon put it all away in a drawer, but now I’ve roused myself to action. I’ve finished cutting out all the fabric and I’ve marked each piece with 6 dots to guide where the seams go.

Now all I need is to actually fire up the sewing machine and get started…

Who deserves a ‘thumbs-up’: Scout.

Scout has adopted Mum as one of the pack, and she sits beside her constantly. It helps that Mum likes to sneak her titbits of food. Mum has missed having a dog around, so she loves that Scout comes up for cuddles and greets her every morning when she walks into my end of the house.

What has made me smile: Mum enjoying the remote control.

I don’t watch TV during the day, so Mum has been able to watch any movie or TV show she wants. She reads as well, but so far she’s watched all 3 seasons of ‘Afterlife’, the last season of ‘Bridgerton’, ‘Where The Crawdads Sing’, ‘Memoires of a Geisha’, just to name a few.

Dad controls the remote at home, so she rarely gets to see shows that she’d like to see, particularly if they have a female protagonist.

She’s having a lovely time.

Dad Joke of the Day:

WHAT a day!

You know how up until now the Australian animals have been practically throwing themselves at the Ligas?

It didn’t stop. 

I’ve never seen anything like it. But before all of this happened, as we left our room, I handed the car keys to Liga and said, “You want to drive?”

She replied with a smile, “Yes! But are you scared to let me?”

“I was,” I said. “But you’re not jet-lagged and you’ve been on the left hand side of the road long enough to get used to it. Enjoy!”

None of us have a photo of this, but it happened. It’s the stuff you hear about but never expect to see. 

A couple of hours later, we were driving along and Liga said, “There’s something in the middle of the road that isn’t moving….” And then a wedge-tailed eagle flew up from the middle the road as we approached, then flew back AND GRABBED A GOANNA IN ITS CLAWS and flew off to the left with it.

All three of us yelled “WHOA!!!!!!” 

We were so excited. 

It was iconic. An eagle dangling a lizard below it as it flew away. 

Omg.

We also experienced the first real roadhouse of the trip. Liga has been dying to see “ a real greasy roadhouse” and this came close.

As sandyg predicted in the comments on one of the blogs, we saw the first of many salt lakes on the drive to Coober Pedy, this one being Lake Hart. We got out of the car and walked around, looking at the lake and the information boards.

A bit later, Liga and I both said “LIZARDS!” At the same time. Three little brown lizards were sunning themselves in the middle of the road. We got around them ok, but over the next hill a road train was coming.

Liga and I looked at each other and I know we were thinking the same thing…

Around lunch time we drove up the main drag of Coober Pedy. And then guess what happened?

A willy-willy whipped itself up o the right hand side of the street, moved across to the left across the road directly in front of us and then died away. It was as if the spirits of Coober Pedy were welcoming us.

The things these girls are seeing are incredible.

After lunch, we went to a couple of opal shops, but the only person who bought something was Liga2, and she only bought a little gift pack of rough opals. Liga fell in love with a black opal that a guy showed her, but she refused to pay the 6K price tag. Liga is a bit of an all or nothing person, so she chose to walk away with nothing.

I looked, but I’ve never been drawn to opals and I was happy not to buy just anything as a souvenir. I’m getting better at this!

After the abortive opal shopping, we went on a self-guided tour of an opal mine.

We were underground, stumbling around clutching maps of the place and trying to work out where we were. It turns out that I’m not the only one who is challenged by maps.

” In the army, they say that if you want to lose Liga, just take her out to the forest and give her a map!” Liga said.

The museum had some interesting bits. I learned that the Coober Pedy opal fields were discovered by a 19 year old boy, who tragically drowned the following year.

The Ligas were mesmerised by a row of jars containing pickled poisonous insects and reptiles. I think they were working out what to avoid!

I finished the tour a little before they did, so I went outside and called a kangaroo sanctuary I noticed on the drive in for the mine tour.

The owner of the sanctuary told me that she’d be open for us at 4:45 and assured me we could cuddle a joey. I knew that this would blow the Ligas’ socks off, so I kept it a secret.

To fill in time, we went to drop our things off at the campsite. I’d booked an underground room. After all, it’s Coober Pedy! You HAVE to sleep underground.

When we got here, the awful reality hit us. There was no ensuite – the amenities were a walk away ( in the black night if you’re like Liga2 and usually go to the loo in the middle of the night.)

I felt awful. I was looking at the romance of sleeping underground and didn’t really notice the “camp” part of the name “Riba’s Underground Camp Site.”

Oops.

CooberPedy is a funny place. There’s nothing here but dirt and all of the piles of dirt outside each opal mine. Pipes sticking up from the ground indicate that there is a dugout house under the hill.
It’s also hot. Heat the beats down on you as you’re walking along the road.

Liga was keen to stay and rest for a bit at our new “home”, while Liga2 was stressing that the only place that has wifi is The TV room. (I’m not going to lie… I was quietly thinking the same thing.)

”Come on!” I said. “ We’ve got 10 minutes to get to the surprise I’ve planned for you!”

Two suspicious faces looked at me.

”What surprise?” asked Liga2.

”You’re going to LOVE it!” I said, crossing my fingers in hope.
We jumped in the car and I drove to the sanctuary.
And yes. They loved it.

This Kangaroo is 14 years old, and when she was young her jaw was injured.

Liga is feeding a younger one.

I’ll be posting a video on the other blog, where you can hear Josephine talking about these kangaroos.

Then she brought out a 6 month old joey.
oh! My heart!

Here are some better photos:

His Mum was run over by a car and he was found standing beside her. He was lucky that caring people came before the eagles and crows.

She had another, younger joey that we didn’t see. When we asked Josephine what happened to that mother, she replied simply, “Dinner.”

The name of the place is something like Josephine’s Kangaroo Rescue and Sanctuary. It’s worth a visit as it’s clearly a labour of love. She opened up the place to us and only charged me $10 each for what I hope will be a cherished memory for us all.

She also has a shop attached to the place, and the Ligas each bought a boomerang. If I hadn’t already bought my Central Australian art from my Ghan trip 2 months ago, I would have bought art at hers. There were some beautiful pieces on display.

We had dinner at a pizza place, then on the way home Liga said, “I want to walk back to where we’re staying. “

I looked at her. The sun was going down. Soon it would be black. I know I wouldn’t want to walk 4 kms over stony, uneven ground in the dark. But this wasn’t about me.

Liga looked at Liga2.

“Are you coming with me?”

“Um…. Ok. Yes, I’ll walk with you,” said Liga2.

They got out of the car, and Liga grabbed her boomerang.

“I’ll learn how to throw it,” she said. I probably made a mistake by telling her that she’d need to be taught how to throw it by someone who knew. Liga loves a challenge.

Anyway, they’re free independent women, so if they want to walk home in the pitch black, that’s their choice. It obviously wouldn’t be mine, but I’m very lazy.

I got back and took these pictures as I was getting ready for bed. I walked out of the toilet block, turned in a half circle and caught all of this:

Like I said… I’m lazy.

They arrived back safe and sound, of course, though they saw a snake. Liga2 saw it first and she was petrified when it started to move away from her but straight towards Liga!

Liga learned very quickly how to throw the boomerang so that it curved back towards her and she only stopped throwing it when she saw that she was chipping the paint.
They had a lovely time, though I think Liga enjoyed it more than Liga2.

Meanwhile, I was enjoying the room under the ground. Look at this hallway!

Tomorrow is the last full day the three of us will be together.

Yes, tomorrow is when we drive to Uluru.

Dad Joke of the Day:

“Dad, are we pyromaniacs?”

“Yes, we arson.”  

Here is Liga going for an early morning swim at Warrnambool.

Yes, this is the same Liga who has been complaining about being cold every day since she got here! She didn’t stay in for long, though she admitted that the water temperature wasn’t too bad.

As soon as we set foot outside, I knew that today was going to be hot. Liga had better be careful what she wishes for!

But she did it. She swam in an Australian sea. She was very upset to learn that she can’t swim in the sea when she gets to Cairns, because of the crocodiles.

Before we left, I had my usual tight-arse breakfast of Vita-Weets and Vegemite. Naturally, they had to try Vegemite.

I think it’s safe to say that this will be the first and last time they eat it. We went to a café so they could have breaky. There were some fire engines there as well, with heaps of firies.

“It sounds like you’re almost saying ‘fairies’,” said Liga2.

“Nah, these aren’t fairies! They’re FIRE – IES!” I said.

I can’t help myself. I liked this mural on a shop at Halls Gap.

By the time we got to Halls Gap, a little town surrounded by the hills of The Grampians, it was around midday and it was 30C. The power was out and all of the fire warning signs had their arrows pointed to extreme danger of fire. The wind was whooshing along the tops of the trees. If someone was stupid enough to drop a lit cigarette on the ground, it wouldn’t be good.

People from Melbourne absolutely love The Grampians. They’re only a 4 or 5 hour drive from the city and the bushland is pristine. If there’s a long weekend, you can get two full days of camping in the bush before you have to go home. Evry time i said I was bringing the Ligas here, people’s eyes would light up.

We went to the Information centre for a map of the walks around town. Liga decided that she would do the longest and most difficult walk ( of course), so after making sure she had water, sunscreen and some nut bars to eat, we drove off to a car park and left her there, agreeing to come back at 5:30 to pick her up.

Liga2 and I aren’t insane. We decided to see McKenzie Falls, The Broken Falls and the Balconies. Why push ourselves?

You wouldn’t believe it.

We were walking towards the McKenzie Falls lookout when Liga2 heard a noise. There were 2 fat Blue Tounge lizards. These ones were a bit more shy than the ones from yesterday, so they were easing themselves away as other tourists approached.

McKenzie Falls. We decided not to go down, as the stairs looked very steep and Liga2 was worried about how the heat might affect her.

So we pushed on and saw Broken Falls, which weren’t worth a photo (sorry!).

Our next stop was The Balconies walk. It’s around 15 minutes to get there.

I took a photo at the initial lookout, just to prove that I was actually here.

I’ve had this hat for around 20 years. It doesn’t have a chin strap, so I was hanging onto it to make sure it didn’t blow away. I love this hat.

Even before you get to The Balconies, the views are amazing.

The trails are really well-maintained here, though having said that, while Liga2 and I were walking merrily along, chatting about all sorts of things, Liga was clinging to cliff faces and inching her way along in places.

She was also having a lovely, if at times slightly daunting, time.

This is the view along the way.

And here we are! I was a bit sad that the tourism authority, in all its wisdom, has fenced off the rocky outcrops that hang out and over the cliffs. I remember sitting on them and gazing out at the view when I brought the kids here, probably 20 years ago. Part of the fun was knowing that you’d die if you lost your footing.

Happy tourist!

We decided after this that we’d “done” the Australian bush, so we headed back into town to find our room and unpack the car.

On the drive down the mountain, Liga2 spotted some echidna in a ditch by the side of the road. Incredible.

Just before it was time to go and get Liga, I asked Liga2 if she’d like to go to a spot where we had a good chance of seeing wild kangaroos.

It was at the local recreation park. And it absolutely delivered. There were around 5 kangaroos with little joeys in their pouches, while another joey was there beside its mother, munching on grass.

We swung back here after we picked up Liga, so she could see them too.

Most of the kangaroos were carrying joeys, but this one was like having your 50-year-old son living in the basement.

So now we have wild kangaroos to add to the list the Ligas have seen.

Let’s see – they saw a whale in Sydney. We won’t count all of the rosellas, lorikeets, cockatoos and other birds they’ve seen.

Koalas. Blue-tongue lizards X 2. Echidnas X 2. A snake at Mt Martha.

Honestly, it seems like the Australian wildlife are practically flinging themselves out of the Bush at them! I’ve never seen anything like it.

And to end, here is a short video, where you can hear the sound of the cicadas. Not 10 seconds after I stopped recording, a kookaburra started to laugh.

Honestly, it can’t get much more Australian than that!

Halls Gap had no electricity for most of the day, so the few businesses that either had a generator or had minimal prep work to do were absolutely swamped for dinner. We walked around town and eventually ordered pizzas – which had a ONE-HOUR WAIT.

The girls elected to sit and wait to pick up the pizzas, while I left them to it and went back to our room, where I poured a wine and read my book. They need some time to themselves to speak Latvian, without constantly having to translate everything they want to say into English. I don’t know how they do this – it must be exhausting.

Tomorrow, we head out of Victoria and into South Australia. The Crazy Road Trip continues!

Dad Joke of the Day:

I was lucky enough to have one and a half weeks with my boy after I got home from my trip. The vet put him on antibiotics and steroids, but they only made a minimal difference. He was on his way out.

Jeffrey and Poppy were litter brother and sister. We got Poppy from her breeder when she was 8 weeks old, after our old girl Molly, a tricolour Cavalier, died. We had a rescue old man Cavalier called Bertie and we hoped that having a puppy in the house would perk him up, but he was having none of it. Poppy, always a very intelligent girl (for a Cavalier) was bored with him. So I rang Jenny, the breeder and asked if she had a sister for Pops.

“No, but Poppy’s litter brother was returned a few days ago,” she said. “He was intended to be a stud dog in Sydney but he’s still missing a testicle.”

He came home with us a day later. They were 6 months old. Given his soft, sweet nature, living in a breeder’s kennels wouldn’t have suited him much. That missing ball was the luckiest thing that ever happened to him. An added bonus was that Bertie gained a new lease on life. Can’t have another rooster in the henhouse! Haha!

A funny little habit he picked up from then was that for the first couple of months, he was very anxious every time we went for a walk, possibly because he was afraid he’d be moving house again. Every time we came home, he’d jump on top of the couch to cuddle me and ‘thank’ me for coming home again. Over time that morphed into a ‘thank-you’ for the walk. On his last day, he still did this.

Jeffrey – named after Jeff Probst on ‘Survivor’ – was a very pretty boy and moved like an absolute dream, which as a former breeder meant a lot to me. Once you know the breed standard, it’s hard to ignore anything not up to scratch. He floated over the ground.

One thing he knew how to do very well though, was to love. Specifically, to love me. If I was home, he HAD to be either beside me or at the very least in direct eye contact with me. If he woke up and I’d moved, he’d go on patrol throughout the entire property until he found me.

Even on his last day, when I sat on the other couch, he jumped down and then up on the other couch to sit beside me.

Whenever I left, he’d position himself along the back of the couch where he could see from the window and he’d wait for the click of the gate or the sound of the car. He’d stay there for hours.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a breed you buy when you want something happy with everyone – man, woman or beast. A dog who is content to be with you and is happy to do whatever you want to do.

A walk? Fantastic!

Sit on the couch and read a book all day? Terrific!

Go in the car for an adventure? Wonderful!

This was Jeffrey all over. A soft, sweet boy who was happiest when he was with me.

These photos are all taken on his last day. I went to the ballet with Jenna on Tuesday night and had dinner with her and Evan28. I said to him, “You have to come and say goodbye to Jeff tomorrow. He won’t be around when we have our family get-together in a couple of weeks.”

This shocked him and he came around in the afternoon. Thank goodness he did.

Jeff was having a good day, but that night he wasn’t great. He was bewildered and couldn’t rest, and at one stage we were on my bed and he turned, locked eyes with me and gave me ‘that’ look. Every dog owner who’s had an old dog knows what I’m talking about. I looked right back at him and said, “Ok, baby. I’ve got you.”

The appointment was for 6 pm the next day. The next morning we went to the beach so he could smell all the smells for the last time.

He rode there in his pram. As soon as I lifted him out of it, he lifted his leg on the pram, which made me laugh.

He pranced for about a metre in his old way, then stopped. It was too much trouble. Scout was busy chasing the ball and having dips in the sea, while Jeffrey just stood beside me and sniffed the breeze.

It was hard to get a good photo of him because whenever I moved away to get a shot of him, he’d come and sit within an inch of me.

Here he is, looking at his Mum.

We slowly walked to the foothills, where he indeed smelled all the smells and got some seaweed in his hair, then after a while I loaded him back in the pram and we walked home.

As I said, he thanked me one last time. It looks as if he’s smiling in this shot, but he was really trying to breathe easily.

We spent the afternoon on the couch, where he tried to settle. He couldn’t get properly to sleep all afternoon. Interestingly, Scout, who was never happy with Jeff cosying up to her, allowed him to be next to her for hours.

Davd31 came after work and we went to the vet together, while Georgia stayed with Scout. Apparently, Scout howled non-stop while we were gone. Georgia was a wreck by the time we got home.

Jeff had a beautiful death. He simply lay on the vet’s table and didn’t move, while I sang his silly song to him and talked to him as he drifted away. I said to David31, “Honestly, I’m relieved to see him at rest. He was so tired by the end of the day.”

We brought him home, lay him down so that Scout could sniff him and realise what had happened, then we buried him in the orchard next to his sister. He’s as close to Poppy as we could get. I sprinkled some poppy seeds over the top, so if any escape the birds, they’ll both have flowers to mark where they are.

I’ve owned Cavaliers for 41 years. I bought Poppy and Jeff’s great-great-great-great-grandmother when I was 20 and I’ve owned all the generations in between.

Jeffrey has been an occasionally exasperating dog – he was as dumb as a box of bricks – but he’s been an easy-going, loving boy who I’ll miss dreadfully. Scout isn’t a velcro dog. How will I be able to sit on the couch without a Cavalier glued to my side?

I feel so glad that he waited for me to come home and we had nearly two weeks together. All the boys came and said their goodbyes and he knew he was loved.

You were a good boy, Jeff. A very good boy.

After writing my Wednesday W’s post a couple of days ago, I sent the link to the friend who was in the conversation with the person who said the problematic remark. I’m so glad I did!

Straight after she read it we had a phone conversation. She asked if I’d heard what she replied to the remark about my writing.

It turns out that she said, all eager and ready for goss, “OMG! Where did Frogdancer lie??”

The person couldn’t give her an answer, so my friend casually said, “So I just didn’t believe them.”

My livid levels dropped quite a bit after hearing that!

And just to prove that I’m not perfect, yesterday’s walking group met in the suburb that my sister Kate lives in. It’s a countrified suburb with lots of dirt roads. I was walking with a guy who has travelled extensively with his wife, and I was engrossed in the conversation. We were talking about treks in Nepal, security bags to stop bag snatchers, cruises, wild animals and more.

We walked right past my sister’s house and I didn’t even notice. I only know this because Blogless Sandy was walking in the group behind us and assumed I would have told everyone about the house.

Yes, sometimes I’m not very observant. I had coffee at Kate’s place afterwards and when I told her, she laughed, rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah, that isn’t very surprising.”

Ah well. I DID notice the bloody great hill we had to walk up, which is on her street though! That’s when I decided that maybe trekking in Nepal isn’t really for me.

What a lovely little place to wake up to! This was the view I saw when I drew back the curtains.

It wasn’t a great morning. I was so SLEEPY…

After the shenanigans of the first night of our trip, Megan’s snoring and sleepwalking had been fine. But unfortunately, the snoring reached new heights last night. Seriously, I could almost believe someone snuck a megaphone into the room and she was using it. At one stage I raised myself on an elbow to see if she was sleeping on her back, so that I could tell her to roll over. But no. She was already lying on her side.

You know how if you get up, you REALLY wake yourself up? I decided that if I got up and started rummaging around in my suitcase for the earplugs I brought with me, then I’d be wide awake, for the rest of the night. So I lay there and tried to drift with the movement of the ship.

It was a restless night, which was made worse by the guy, (not our lovely regular butler), bringing us our room service breakfast. We ordered it for 7 – 7:30, but he brought it 10 minutes early and SWITCHED ON THE ELECTRIC LIGHTS, instead of drawing the blinds.

Bloody hell.

Even though it was early, my poached egg and avo on toast was stone cold. It’s not the recommended temperature to eat them. My Americano coffee was normal-strength coffee.

Like a first-world hero, I set aside these huge drawbacks and struggled to the dock on time to meet our tour guide. I was sleepy and quiet.

Megan was very apologetic, but it’s not as if she deliberately set out to make a noise proclaiming, “I’M FAST ASLEEP AND YOU’RE NOT HAHA!”

But I told her that when we get back to the ship, I’m reserving the right to take a nap.

This was one of the ‘free’ excursions we selected before starting the cruise. All we had were tickets saying, “Tour Haines Summit Viewing.” We had no idea what we’d signed up for. I was assuming it was a quick bus tour up and down the only street of Haines, but I was wrong.

We were asked to bring our passports. That should have clued me in. We were popping back to Canada!

Incidentally, one of the things I really like about Alaska and Canada is that they have planter boxes filled with flowers all over the place. The councils have them in public places, but they’re everywhere in private homes too. My hypothesis is that when the snow melts, they have a limited time to enjoy seeing colour, so they go all out.

Our tour guide for today was a very jaunty woman named Elora.

“This is my first time being allowed to take a tour by myself,” she said as she took our tickets. We had to sign waivers… “We DO live in bear country!” she said as she handed them out.

There was slight confusion as 8 people turned up to take the tour. “I was only told 7,” said Elora. When we turned up to the bus, only 7 people got in. Elora, being her first time in sole responsibility, got flustered. She went looking for the unidentified person, and it was only when she returned to the bus that I asked her for the waiver forms and started calling the names out from them.

Like good little students on an excursion, everyone answered – except an Asian lady who had filled out a different form and then disappeared, presumably on her proper tour, never to be seen by us again.

You can take a teacher out of the classroom, but she never loses the skills. I know how to keep track of many people on an excursion, even when I’m sleepy.

Around 20 minutes later, I woke up completely. I was in the front seat of the bus, idly wondering if I should use the tine to take a nap, when I found myself yelling, “BEAR!!!!”

Frogdancer Jones, one of the most unobservant people on the planet, was the one to notice a fine fat Grizzly, sitting in a gravel pit by the side of the road, eating dandelions.

Elora jammed on the brakes and slowly backed the Pelican up so we could all get photos.

l was so pleased with myself. I’ve now seen both the black and grizzly bears.

I kept an eye out for the rest of the trip, but the grizzly was the only animal on offer.

We were held up by roadworks for a while. There is only one road in and out of Haines, so when an avalanche demolishes part of it, it’s a real drama. Parts of the highway were built up so that prevalent avalanche spots can pass underneath the road.

This river beside the road is one that never totally freezes, so it has the last salmon run in the area, usually in November. Around 4,000 Bald Eagles come, as well as bears, to feast on the fish.

That’d be a sight to see, for sure.

Suddenly, we were at the border. A polite Canadian border officer rifled through our passports and then let us go on our way.

Soon after we crossed the border, the vegetation changed.

“This here’s the tundra,” said Elora.”It looks like we’re on another planet, don’t it?”

I snapped this shot to show you what the scenery was like as we were travelling around in the Pelican. The mountains are huge.

We were heading for the summit at 3,500 feet/1,066 metres.

“A week ago all of this ground was snowcapped. It’s melting pretty rapidly. The river by the side of the road wasn’t visible last week,” said Elora.

This place is incredibly isolated. It’s an 8-hour drive to the next town, called Whitehorse, so it’s actually quicker and cheaper to take a 2-hour ferry ride to Skagway, and then drive 2 hours to the town. The weather is completely unreliable, so if someone leaves town to do some shopping, they may find that they have to spend a couple of extra nights in a hotel before they can get back home.

“Costco is the cheapest,” said Elora. “Whenever someone goes to Costco, they take orders from people. For example, a 4-pack of toilet rolls is $12 in Haines. In Costco, you can get a 48-roll slab for that price. So whenever we go to Whitehorse, we CLEAN UP!”

They used to go to Juneau to the Walmart, but it had to shut down because of theft, so now the good people of Haines go to Whitehorse instead.

“Do you people have overnight delivery?” asked Elora. When we all said yes, she continued, “We order non-perishables from Amazon, but they take 3 weeks to here. Half the time, I can’t remember what I ordered by the time the package gets here!”

As I was getting out of the bus to view the summit, a tiny movement caught my eye around the bush near the sign.

It was a ground squirrel.

I stood there taking pictures of it while everyone else was standing right nearby, oblivious. After a minute or so, it decided to quietly go away.

We stood there in the cold and wind when a truck came rushing past. It wasn’t the most well-used road I’d ever seen. Later, Elora was complaining about “all the traffic” she had in front of her on the way back to town.

There were two cars.

You could see how thick the snow was by the side of the road.

The highway was lined with these poles on either side of the road. These are for the snowploughs, so they don’t lose track of where the road is and drive off the side.

I can’t even imagine how deep the snow might get here.

We had some time to kill so she showed us the local newspaper. It’s released every two weeks and is this thin.

Everything has to be put in it, even the police reports.

The crime rate is so low that there are only two police assigned to the town.

Here are some of the 911 calls the intrepid police had to handle:

A request for assistance for two dogs quilled by a porcupine.

A man was reported trespassing on the road.

A vehicle was reported parked more than the posted time limit in the town centre.

A backpack was turned in.

A wallet was turned in.

You can enlarge the items and read them. There’s certainly not much excitement happening in Haines!

The views changed from the windows every few minutes.

We stopped at the US border crossing post for a toilet break. This little building caught my eye.

A very American sign!

To think that I pull out any dandelion I see in my garden. It’s probably a wise move – they attract bears.

We set off again, and then to our surprise, Elora pulled off to the side of the road. We were going to have a picnic! Or as Elora phrased it, we were going to “break bread together.”

This caused a bit of consternation with the British members of the Pelican, who were worried that she was going to pass a loaf of bread around and that would be it.

Honestly, that woman was working her arse off. There were supposed to be two people but they were running low on staff, so she had to drive, talk to us about everything we were seeing, prepare the lunch and answer any questions we may have. She was already thrown by the mysterious appearance and disappearance of pasenger number 8, but she was doing a cracking job.

Look at the scenery!

Honestly, everywhere you look in this country, there are amazing vistas around every corner.

Looking forward to the road we’d soon be travelling on, back to town.

Over lunch of chicken wraps, a bag of potato chips and a chocolate chip cookie each, people told Elora that they hadn’t seen many bears. She kindly shared the following two videos with us.

Here’s the first video Elora shared with us.

This was taken on the summit where we had just been.

How wonderful! And a little scary…

This one was taken at the local weir. The salmon are shut off except for one point where wildlife officers count how many go through. Meanwhile, the bears come down and eat their fill.

Once we were back on the bus, I asked Elora if love or freedom was the reason she’d left the law and come to Alaska from New Jersey. She laughed and said, “Good question!” Then she grew a little sombre and turned off the microphone. She leaned towards me and said, “A bad divorce does things to people. I didn’t want any memories, so I came to Alaska. There ain’t no memories here!”

Once we were back in town, we went for a wander to look for souvenirs.

Like when I found my beautiful moose antler sculpture in Sitka, I felt in my waters that there might be something here at this pretty little place.

A jewellery maker had his wares here. Look at this amber! I’ve never seen anything like it. The jeweller said that it was formed in seawater.

When we came back to the room, I went straight to bed for a nap before dinner. Megan said, “I’ll sit here on the couch and do my puzzles while you sleep.”

I woke up 2 hours later to this:

It made me laugh!

Dad joke of the day: