Today, I found out that a picture that I took on the first week of our GSE trip has been included in the Schmap Guide to Adelaide. Check it out  (after the page loads, the picture will be on the right side of the page):

http://www.schmap.com/adelaide/sights_historic/p=148089/i=148089_5.jpg

One of the editors of Schmap guides contacted me a few weeks ago to ask me if I’d be interested in submitting my photo for inclusion in this guide.  She’d seen the picture on flickr.com.

I was not all that familiar with Schmap before this, but I do love a good travel guide and I like what I’ve seen of the web site so far.

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/stone_20870___article.html/people_australia.html

As much as I loved Australia, it’s good to be back home, especially right now.

As our plane pulled in to the Raleigh-Durham airport, I could see that the leaves were just starting to change. Right now they’re really glorious. It’s a bit odd to go from spring to fall in one day!

A few days after the return, it was time to celebrate Halloween.

It probably doesn’t surprise anyone that I dressed up my dog Lucy. We took this picture right before going trick-or-treating with my friend Elaine’s kids. Greta, who is also pictured above, was dressed up as Hannah Montana.

Even while celebrating Halloween, there was a lot of excitement about the election, including this “vote” jack-o-lantern.

In terms of how the election turned out, Democrats are simply elated. People in my neighborhood were setting off fireworks and lots of people went to school or work late on Wednesday after celebrating on Tuesday night.

Of course, in politics not everyone agrees. Things were so close in NC that we were the last state to be officially called red or blue. In the spirit of trying to bridge the gaps between members of different political parties, I wanted to share a site that someone pointed out to me earlier today.
From 52 to 48 With Love contains pictures of messages from members of one political party about the need for us all to work towards mutual understanding.

Four out of five of us got back on Tuesday night (Katie is spending a couple of weeks in Sydney before returning to the US). It’s great to be back home…I love knowing where everything is. I’m still a little disoriented about what day of the week it is (and even what month it is, to tell the truth). It’s still possible to participate in early voting and I thought about going today, but I feel like I’m still too out of it and jetlagged to do so.

Last night, I started showing my husband the 1138 photos I took on the trip and he begged me for a break after the first two hundred or so. I did go ahead and put some of the photos up on flickr and I thought I’d post a link here…Karin’s Australia 2008 Photo Set.

The trip was truly an unforgettable experience and I’m very grateful to have had the chance to see and do everything that we did.

Yesterday morning at brekkie (breakfast) I was offered marmalade for my toast and I found myself wondering, “Hmm, is there any vegemite available instead?”

“Oh, do you like vegemite then?” asked Jean Smith, latest host.

“Well, not enough to really buy it on purpose or anything like that, but enough to eat it if it’s available.”

Choosing vegemite over something considerably more normal…Australia is certainly getting under my skin.

When we were in Mt Gambier, Susan and Carrie and I started up a list of frequently asked questions during the trip. I can’t remember all of them offhand, but here are a few…maybe some of the others can help me remember the rest.

• So, have you tried vegemite yet?
• Did you know that South Australia is the driest state in the driest land?
• How long have you been/will you be in Australia?
• What airline did you fly on?
• White or red (wine)?
• Been to any wineries yet?
• Did you know that Adelaide is a planned city?
• Did you know that South Australians weren’t convicts?
• Is your voting compulsory like ours?
• Who’s going to win your election?
• So where is South Carolina anyway?
• How many people live in your state/city?
• (How much) have you gained weight on the trip?
• Are you married?
• Would you like to hear more about limestone/granite?

We got up and had breakfast, then walked around and looked at kangaroos.  Mungo National Park is as beautiful and wild in the morning as it is at night.  We all got back on the van around ten and traveled back down the roughest road in the world into the civilized world.  On the way back, we saw several emus and even some males with tiny baby emus.  In the emu world, the female lays the egg and the male sits on it until it hatches.  He then protects the young until they mature.

We arrived in Wentworth around 11:00 walked through the Rotary Club sponsored Wentworth museum.  It was a good museum and really a tribute to Ferguson tractors which helped cities in the 1950’s build levees to hold back the floods.  We then purchased meat pies (the Aussie version of fast food) and sat at the convergence of the Murray and the Darling and ate them.

We traveled back to Mildura to prepare for our presentation.  The presentation was in a winery and we had a tour of the winery and then proceeded to eat what Jeremy called “slow food.”   It was served in courses and was brought out very “slow.”  It was very tasty.  Vegetables and leg of lamb.  Our presentation was well received but we were pretty tired having started the day in a shearer’s hut in Mungo National Park.

Thursday October 9, 2008

Jeremy loaded us into the van and we loaded our luggage into the trailer and took off for Renmark.  We went by Woodsie’s Gem Shop on the way where everyone partook.  We arrived in Renmark for lunch and met Michael Cook and Bruce Richardson.  I had a pie floater for lunch.  This is a meat pie floating in pea soup with ketchup on it.  Quite good—gives you indigestion (gas).

After we were interviewed and had pictures taken by a reporter from the Murray Pioneer, we traveled on to Berri where we were dropped off at our host families and had dinner.

Friday October 10, 2008

Around 9:00 we assembled and went to the Banrock Station.  This is a wetlands regeneration project done by a winery.  They contribute 10% of their profits in several countries to regenerating wetlands.  We walked in the hot Australian sun and saw some beautiful birds and waterfowl.  There were areas where they had an extensive fence that was rabbit-proof.  The difference in the vegetation where the rabbits could not go was quite interesting.

We then had lunch at Lake Bonney which is a lake that has high salinity and is drying up.  We walked around in the water before lunch and enjoyed the serenity.  After lunch we went to another winery.  But this one was huge.  It was the Hardy Winery and is large scale.  Bruce Richardson told us he worked there 29 years.

That evening we went to Tom Price’s remote cattle station where we had a bush dinner of grilled leg of lamb, lamb sausage, and chicken.  Great food and wine.  We drove through the bus to the billabong to see a beautiful sunset.  Excellent pictures of trees in the twilight.  After dinner Tom, Karen and I rode into the bus again to see kangaroos and rabbits.  Great Aussie evening.

Saturday October 11, 2008

Today we got on a houseboat and traveled down the River Murray to Loxton to an historic village.  It was quite relaxing.  The houseboat had three bedrooms, a den, a kitchen, and was ably driven by Michael Cook.  We saw beautiful pelicans and tons of Galahs.  These are cockatoo type birds that are white with a brilliant red breast. 

Susan dropped her sunglasses (sunnies) in the water and so I scored some points with the team by attempting to get to the bottom of the river to retrieve them.  I was unsuccessful, but I wanted to go in anyway.  It was cold.  After we docked the boat around 2:30, we toured Lock 3 along the River Murray.  Locks are built along the river too hold water for irrigation and water use upstream.  Australia is known as the driest continent on the earth.

Evening meeting was well attended and went well.  We had so many questions about politics and such that at 9:00 I had to cut it off and thank them for their attention.  District Governor Peter Shipp and I discussed the challenge of getting 20 and 30 year olds interested in Rotary.  He said that Rotary International set up 200 pilot Rotary clubs around the world about three years ago to explore ways to attract younger members.  I need to find out more about this. 

I got a chance to talk to Peter Shipp about our accommodations at Mount Gambier.  We are supposed to have free time there and we were originally told we would be staying in Motel rooms.  A motel room would allow us to really chill—do nothing.  In a home, there is this constant pressure to talk.  Shipp said that the host homes were unchangeable, but that the Rotarians had been instructed to leave us alone and take us where we wanted to go.

Sunday October 12

We met at Bruce Richardson’s house and drove two and a half hours to the Barossa Valley to eat lunch with the Morialta people.  We had a fabulous lunch at this swanky looking winery.  It had a look of glass and had views of the mountains and vineyards.  It turns out Bruce had a part in designing it.  After lunch Katie gave me a haircut in the parking lot as we were leaving.  Everyone laughed about the haircut but I needed it.

Peter Meyer drove Susan and I back to Morialta.  Peter and his wife Emiko have two dogs, a blue healer named Jessie and a border collie named Tippy.  Great dogs.  We went swimming in his pool and then went to a dog park near their house which had about forty dogs running all over the place.  None of them were fighting.  One little poodle got scared and started to fight but the other thirty-nine dogs just chilled out.  Later they ordered egg plant and shrimp pizzas.  We ate them and I went to bed.

Monday October 13

The team met at Haigh’s Chocolate factory for a tour.  Very good tour, the tourguide was knowledgeable and knew how to give a tour.  Don’t belabor, have visuals (she had cacoa seeds and pods, and chocolates), and move it along.

We then went to the Botanic Gardens in downtown Adelaide.  We ended up with a luncheon at the Botanical Gardens restaurant. Lunch was great and then we traveled over to Penfold’s Winery for a winery tour.

When I got to Peter’s he took me out in his 1988 Porsche 944 which has been lowered and made race ready.  It has a roll cage and racing seats.  It was very hard to get into.   I must say the man can drive and the car can corner.

We then gave a very good presentation to a packed crowd at the Athelstone Football club.  There were so many people they had to bring in extra chairs and tables.

Tuesday October 14, 2008

Peter and I went bike riding over to another bloke’s house.  It was nine kilometers over and nine back.  That’s really only about twelve miles total but I enjoyed it.

Peter then took me to the University of Adelaide where I met with Brian Castro to discuss creative writing.  He said I should just write and see where it takes me.  He gave me his creative writing curriculum book which was great.  I went into the library and read it until Peter picked me up.  I went back to his house and crashed for a couple of hours. 

That night we went to a smorgasbord restaurant and had a great meal.

Wednesday October 15, 2008

We went to South Australian Parliament (state government) where a Parliament Member gave us a tour.  Excellent information.  Then we went on a tour of the Adelaide town hall. Then we had lunch at the Art Gallery.  When I got to my host home I crashed and then went for a walk.  Then we went to the dog park and later had stir fry and seaweed.

We have now been in Australia for 21 days.  We have been on 26 tours of:

wildlife parks (3), wineries (5) cheese factories (1), chocolate factories (2), government offices (2), various museums and attractions (4) , botanical gardens (2), technology businesses (1), fruit packaging (2), towns (1), locks (2), and a lookout tower (1).  We have packed up and moved every four days and are now staying with our fifth family.  We have been done five very good GSE presentations.  We have participated in six parties with great Australians.

Saturday October 18,

Jerry drove me to Mt. Gambier and dropped me off.  I walked around Mt. Gambier lakes and ate lunch by myself at a Subway in the downtown area.  I then saw that Jerry’s neighbor had purchased Cool Hand Luke and Hud and had them there at the house,  I watched “Cool Hand Luke” by myself. 

Great movie.  Great rest.

We all went to a barbecue and told jokes and toasted the Mt. Gambier Rotarians for being great hosts.

Sunday October 19, 2008

I got up and went to the District Conference church service.  OK but not great.  We did our presentation and it went very well.  Many people laughed.  Several said they loved Carrie.  After a great lunch at the race track, I got in the car with a Rotary Club of Goolwa couple and we drove the five and a half hours to Victor Harbor.  I enjoyed their company.

I am now staying with a pretty cool couple who live in downtown Victor Harbor.  They have three Shihtuzs.

Several Australians I have spoken with have helped me with learning the language.  Here is a brief translation chart.   There are many more words and phrases.

Monday October 20, 2008

We all met at 9:00 and were taken to some of the most gorgeous overlooks in the Victor Harbor area.  The scenes truly look like something from a fairy tale.  Beautiful green pastures and hills bordered by a brilliant blue ocean.  Antartica is 3800 miles away!!

We went to a house where a man restored old cars.  He had a 1928 Chevrolet, several Vauxhalls, a Plymouth Valiant, two Morrises, and several other beautiful antique cars.  He also had about ten antique motorcycles.  I asked him if he knew of anyone who had a 1910 Locomobile and he did not.   My father sold his Locomobile to a man from Australia about ten years ago.

We then went to the Whale Center and the Victor Harbor Council Center where Roy (my host) gave us a tour and fed us lunch.  After lunch we went to Granite Island via a horse drawn tram.  Beautiful island.  We then went to an Alpaca Farm where we saw 180 Alpacas who were world champions.  The farm is completely self-sufficient.  It uses solar power to generate electricity and uses rainwater for its water.

After dinner we went to Granite Island again and saw ferry penguins, Australian opossums, and river rats.  Wonderful experience.  We even saw two penguins get into a fight.

First, here’s what (o)possums in North Carolina tend to look like:

OK, with the babies and everything, that is pretty cute. Usually I just see them dead on the roadside, which is decidedly less cute.

Now, here are a couple of Australian possums:

My latest hosts, Rod and Lyn Sparks, took me to a special Mt Gambier sinkhole where the possums hang out waiting for food handouts from humans. Here’s the obligatory picture that proves that I was actually there with the critters:

As if this wasn’t already enough fun, a few minutes later we ran into Katie and her host family. Our plans to have a photo of me, Katie, and possums all in one photo did not bear fruit, but here’s Katie and her latest furry little friend:

Check out all that great limestone in the background!

One of the toughest parts of this trip has been the constant exposure to good wines and food.  I am thinking we will have the gout when we get home – our bodies responding to the lack of American junk food and diet coke.  Here we are at the Penfolds Winery – and let me tell you, this experience was almost torture.  We had to sample about ten different wines – one of which was considered very rare and quite expensive.  My pallette went into culture shock with the Penfolds Bin 389 – I may never be able to drink cheap wine again.

In this next pciture, we almost caused an international incident when Gary decided to get his haircut in the parking lot of a rather popular winery.  Katie – ever ready with the scissors – decided that Gary’s hair was at a level of “unkemptness” that was bringing the whole team down.  Please note the Japanese tourists in the backgroud wondering what the hell the crazy Americans were up to.