Farewell to our Aussie family and friends

All good things come to an end, so it is said. But I'd like to think that some good things have a pause, with other good things picking up the slack, and then at a later time, we can pick up the initial good thing and absorb more of the good things it offers. So it's not goodbye to our Australian family and friends, but instead so long until we meet again.

As I look at our Downunder Travel Blog, I'm surprised about how much we managed to see and do during our brief visit here. In fact, not all activities have been recorded; there have been countless conversations, lunches, coffee & tea in the afternoons, walks and talks in Sydney and Melbourne, and just plain admiring the Mooroolbark hills and the ever present bird sightings and calls from these most vocal Australian birds. 

On Monday we had a bonus rendezvous-vous with Alaina, the delightful daughter of a former World bank colleague, David McMurray. During our last few days here, I finally contacted David to see if he, by chance, might be in Australia (he's from Canberra). As it turns out, I found out that he was shivering in Washington, D.C.. (Alexandria, VA), but that his daughter, Alaina, was here in Melbourne. So we met at a little café in a laneway near Flinders station, and had an enjoyable chat with her. It was like having a shot of optimism, knowing that here was one more thoughtful young person to help make this a better world.

Wei, Alaina, Virginia (Sin Yi), and David in the Melbourne cdb

Later in the evening we met Sid & Candice, Sugat & Sarah, and Amit & Sarah at an excellent Neapolitan restaurant, 400 Gradi on Lygon Street in the Brunswick area of Melbourne. The menu was extensive; everything from the pizza from the wood-fired oven to the linguine vongole was authentic. The wine list had several southern Italian wines; we settled on the Falanghina white from Molise. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of this convivial group...but it was one of our memorable dinners with the relos.

For our last night as guests in Sin Ling and Ron's house in Mooroolbark, we'll have the last supper this evening. The barbie is on, wine is chilled, and heaps of relos will be here to share the last day of our second summer. 

We've been lucky to have all of the family here in the Melbourne area to cook meals and cater to our needs (including Ron's chauffeur service) and their love and time during our stay. I hope we can reciprocate sometime. 

Here are a few photos...then I'll sign off from the Downunder blog...except, perhaps for an epilogue.

Most of the gang at the Last Supper on Tuesday evening

Albert, David, and Chris

The dinner table, Last Supper

Reanna and Michele, Chris in back, Oscar the dog

Ma and Sin Han; Chris with Bonnie the dog

Ron, Sin Ling, Sin Yi, and David

Ma and Michele

David, Sin Yi, Reanna, Chris, Michele

Mango Mousse Cake (designed and made by Virginia (Sin Yi)

Vires Acquirit Eundo, or Little Miss Muffet

Vires Aquirit Eundo, or she gathers strength as she goes is the motto of Melbourne as presented on the city's coat of arms. The shield, with a cross of St. George, has a sheep, a spouting whale, a cow, and a sailing ship in the four quadrants of the shield, with a kangaroo on top. We've seen several of these symbols of Melbourne; this one is on the Princes Bridge (1888) which crosses the Yarra River.

Melbourne City Coat of Arms

A quick trip into the city on Saturday to catch an exhibit at the Australian Center for Contemporary Art and to have lunch at the Queen Victoria Market. First stop was the Turkish food stall to buy a lamb and a potato Borek. The meat or potatoes are wrapped in a thin dough bread and baked...very tasty and filling at only $3 each. The Queen Victoria Market, built in 1878, is not only the biggest market in Melbourne, it's the biggest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. The Vic Market has deli shops selling all manner of cheeses, salamies, breads, olives, and other condiments, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. There's even a shop selling curds and whey (spiders excluded).

Shop in the Vic Market selling cheese, curds, and whey

Borek--flashback to the Ottoman Empire

We took a tram back to Flinders Station for our train ride back to Mooroolbark, passing the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)....an example of modern archicture in Melbourne.

RMIT

Saturday evening was sister-in-law Sin Ling's night...her birthday. Several of the relos went out to a fine   restaurant called Plantinum...with dishes ranging from duck confit, steaks, swordfish, and of course, lamb. Add, along with a bottle of Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir, all was good. 

Sin Yi, Ma, and Sin Ling at the restaurant celebrating Sin Ling's birthday

Celebrating Sin Ling's birthday with cake & Champagne back at home in Mooroolbark

Sin Ling, Sin Yi, Ron, and David celebrating Sin Ling's birthday

A birthday toast to Sin Ling in Mooroolbark: Sin Ling, Ron, Sin Yi, Michele, Wei, and Sin Ha'ang

Nymphaea caerulea

Nymphaea caerulea, the Blue Lotus (or Blue Egyptian Lotus), is not actually a lotus, but instead, a water lily. But that's a minor detail for those fortunate enough to see the lilies and lotuses at the Blue Lotus Water Garden at Yarra Junction, just around the corner from the Yarra Valley vineyards we visited last week. These gardens of lilies, lotuses, and other flowers cover 14 acres; if Claude Monet's water lily garden at Giverny were this large and diversified, he would probably not have known where to start painting! Photographing beautiful flowers is almost too easy...point the camera in any direction and push the shutter release. Because of this less-than-challenging aspect, I usually don't take flower photos. But I was there, the flowers were there, and I couldn't help myself getting in several shots in our hour plus tour of the garden. I guess it was the Japanese-style bridges that added enough of a compositional element for me to take several photos. Since I was using two cameras, my "real" camera (Canon 5D, MkII), and my iPhone, I missed the Blue Lotus with my iPhone, which is what I use for the blog photos. So the Blue Lotus flower below is borrowed.

Blue Egyptian Lotus, Nymphaea caerulea

David and Yi at the Blue Lotus Water Garden in Yarra Junction

Wei and Yi find a shady spot in the gardens...temperatures reached about 95 degrees F (35 C)

There are dozens of lotus and water lily varieties in the water gardens, including a water lily from the Brazilian Amazon Basin. The ones at the water garden had lily pads measuring four feet across. When the flower blooms, it is white, but changes to pink on the second night. The flowers are pollinated by scarab beetles, at least in Brazil.

Victoria Amazonica lily pads can grow up to 10 feet in diameter

We've been getting around mostly by trains...it's a 45 minute train ride into the city, and once there, you can hop on trams to get closer to your destination. For our trip to Geelong yesterday, we took an early train to the Southern Cross station, and caught another train to Geelong. We had enough time to get a "flat white" coffee at a coffee shop in the train station. I just read that Starbucks just discovered the flat white, but they've been around Australia and New Zealand since about the 1970s or 1980s. Apparently, like many things New Zealand and Australian, there is a rivalry about just where the flat white was first popularized, so let's just say that it's an Antipodal invention.

Once in Geelong, a major industrial city about an hour and 10 minute train ride from Melbourne, we headed for the Wool Museum. There are about 100 million sheep in Australia; it's a big industry, accounting for about 25% of exports. The sheep farm/station lore and culture runs deep in Australia, which includes the creation of the lyrics for Waltzing Matilda, Australia's unofficial national anthem. Waltzing means to travel on foot, which the itinerant sheep laborers did, walking from sheep station to sheep station in shearing season. Matilda refers to the sack of belongings (swag) carried by these workers, or swagmen. The song recounts a sheep worker's run-in with the law during the Great Shearers Strike in 1891 in Queensland. The shearer, surrounded by policeman at the Combo Waterhole (billabong) shot himself rather than surrender. 

The museum tells the story about wool in Australia: how the shearing is done, the wool sorted and cleaned, and the processes to eventually turn the wool into thread and wool textiles. There's also a functioning Axminster carpet loom (first invented in Axminster, Devon, England) that is fired up for demonstrations every day. Quite a complicated machine that is amazing to see in operation. Australia makes less of the finished products than it once did...China imports a lot of wool for its massive textile industry. The last big carpet manufacturing plant in Australia closed about 10 years ago.

The Wool Museum, Geelong

The Axminster carpet loom using the Jacquard method of carpet making

After a fish and chips lunch on the waterfront in Geelong, we visited the city gardens, and then the Geelong Art Gallery, which has a collection of mainly Australian/European art, and some special exhibits of historic Geelong and the Geelong Mayor's contemporary art collection. Then we were off to the Geelong railway station for our train trip back to Melbourne & Mooroolbark.

Platform #1 of the Geelong railway station... built in 1856. It still has the original 19th century train shed, one of two remaining in Victoria.

Laneway art in Melbourne

 Laneway art, aka graffiti art, in Melbourne has contributed to Melbourne's reputation as one of the street art capitals of the world. You can even take a tour of the graffiti art led by the artists. These lanes (alleys) are right in the cbd (central business district) of Melbourne, and attract tourists to the lanes. This has opened business opportunities for small restaurants and cafés that cater to the graffiti art admirers. While visiting Melbourne on Sunday arvo (Aussie for afternoon) we had lunch at a Spanish tapa restaurant in one of the graffiti lanes.

David & Yi in a graffiti art lane, Melbourne

David, Wei, Yi, Mun, Albert, & Raymond on the Princess Bridge over the Yarra River

Melbourne has huge shopping malls, and a new one, the Emporium, has a Nespresso store; lucky for us to get a new supply of my favorite "cru", Roma. Oh, and there happened to be a gelateria there too (remember it's summer here!) There are lots of shiny objects in the shopping mall, and I recorded a reflection of Yi and me on a convex surface.

Yi and David at the Emporium, Melbourne

Today (Monday) was another nice day...so this arvo we visited a few new places in Melbourne: the Victoria State Library, and the Melbourne Museum. The library is a neo-classical revival design constructed in the mid-1850s, and houses Captain Cook's folios. We took in an exhibit of Bohemian Melbourne. With Paris as the epicenter of the bohemian genre, it made it's way to Melbourne, and spawned art communities in Melbourne in the 1930s and 1940s. One of the Melbourne bohemians, later to make it on the international entertainment stage, was Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna.

The reading room of the Victoria State Library

On the way to the Melbourne Museum in Carlton Gardens is the Royal Exhibition Building which housed the Melbourne International Exposition of 1880-1881. The design has some elements of Romanesque revival, but the Dome is said to be designed after the dome of the Florence Duomo. See for yourself.

Finally...the Melbourne Museum, a glass and steel modern design built in 1990 on the old exposition grounds. We spent most of our time at the "First People" exhibit...an exhibit on Australia's aborigines. There were over 500 nations, each with it's own language and customs. But living in a harsh environment that is most of this island continent, the first people had developed sophisticated survival skills and techniques, always honoring the land and elders. Part of the exhibit explored the past struggles, such as the "Lost Generations", where as late as the 1950s, families were separated with kids being sent to foster homes and institutions as parents, displaced from traditional lands, were deemed unfit to care for their children. There are current struggles to regain lands and acknowledgement of their place in Australia's history.

Another exhibit was on Pacific Island boats; most on display were from Papua New Guinea and the Solomons. There was only a model boat from Fiji, not very impressive to see along with a PNG boat that held 40 warriors (pictured below).

The last exhibit was a taxidermied  Phar Lap, the best know racehorse in Australian history. Phar Lap (taken from a southern Chinese dialect word meaning lightening) won the most important races in Australia in the late 1920s and early 1930s, including the Melbourne Cup. He did so well in Australia that he was sent to race in big races in North America. Remember, Mexico is in North America. And also note that Tijuana is in Mexico, in North America. Yes, he ran at the Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana in 1932, and he won big time. One may wonder just how big a win in TJ (American for Tijuana) could be. But as it turns out, due to the prohibition of drinking and gambling in the USA  at the time, the biggest horse racing stakes were at Agua Caliente, which was built by a rich American. Unfortunately, soon after the race, Phar Lap became sick and died; poisoning by arsenic was the likely cause of death. Bits of Phar Lap are shared by Australia (the taxidermied Phar Lap in Melbourne, and the heart in Canberra) and New Zealand, where Phar Lap was foaled (his skeleton is in NZ).

Phar Lap at the Melbourne Museum

Next stop...Geelong (no, it's not a type of tea...that would be Oolong).

First blog post from Downunder in 2015

If anything defines the Chinese/Indian/Fijian/Australian relatives, it's food. There are endless conversations about arcane (to me) fruits and vegetables that were in markets and on the family dining table in Fiji years ago. Half of the conversation is in the family's Loong Too (made-up spelling; I'm sure to get a correction on this soon) southern Chinese dialect. And a family meal here isn't complete without at least 3 kinds of meat, plus fish, and several Fijian and Indo-Fijian dishes. Throw in Yi's Tiramisu dessert, and you have fusion plus menus. Something for everyone. Tonight, I've offered to make coq au vin; not sure how it will go over with this foodie savvy gang. We had reduced numbers at the The New Year Day lunch; only about 18 or so in attendance. But we had music by Wadan, Albert, and Sugata--covering a range of traditional Fijian songs, and more familiar tunes like the Beatles, Credence Clearwater, Elvis, some Motown, Donovan, Cat Stevens, and others.

Wadan and Wei after a few bowls of kava (NB. Photo taken under kava influence). Kava drinking symptoms start with tingling on the tongue, with progressive numbness traveling down, eventually to arms and legs. And it's a social, ritual drinking, often accompanied with music and singing.

Raymond & Albert with their mom, Mun, youngest Virginia's siblings, and Yau, one of two brothers.

Virginia (aka Sin Yi) preparing food at the New Year lunch

Sugata and Wadan playing guitar and singing. Sugata is Wadan and sister Joan's middle son. He's studying for his PhD in climatology at Monash Uni. Albert was playing guitar also.

Flash forward to the evening meal of New Year's Day, with leftovers from the big lunch. It was a pretty light dinner at Ling and Ron's house in Mooroolbark (our Downunder headquarters). 

Wei, Ma, Yi, and David...tea after New Year Day dinner.

Sin Ling, Sin Han, and Yau in Mooroolbark after New Year Day dinner (or as it is often called Downunder, "tea". Even if no tea is actually served.

On Friday, the day after New Year, we hopped on the local commuter train to go to Melbourne proper. We're card-carrying "Myki" members...it's the public transport card that you can top up after you've finished your initial amount added to the card. It costs about AU$ 4 for a 40 minute ride into the cdb (central business district...another essential acronym to learn). The main events for the day: a visit to the NGV and the Esplanade at St. Kilda. The origin of St. Kilda is unclear since no saint named Kilda has ever existed. No worries mate; there is an archipelago off the west coast of Scotland named St. Kilda.

First stop: the Jean-Paul Gaultier fashion exhibit at the NGV. Would you believe it? JP Gaultier himself was there to greet visitors. Well, sort of. A model of JP was there, wearing a creation from his sailor series. I'd hate to spoil the fun for you if you ever see this exhibit, so I won't go into more detail about how this model pulled off a likeness of JPG. But let me encourage you, in the strongest terms, to see this exhibit if it is at a venue near you; you will be totally enthralled and dazzled at what you'll see, hear, and feel. The themes of the exhibit include the aforementioned Sailor designs, Muses, Madonnas, Mermaids, Punk, Metropolis, Skin Deep, the Boudoir, and Urban Jungle.

Gaultier "Sailor" series

Gaultier "Madonna" series

Gaultier "skin Deep" Corset & Conical Bra design

Gaultier  "Odessey" Feather design

We finished the 102 degree F (41 degree C) day at St. Kilda beach in an outdoor restaurant with pizza, salad, and beer. There were heaps (Aussie for many) of beach-goers on the beach, strolling the boardwalk (looking for shade), and in the water. A tram ride back to Glenferrie,then the train to Mooroolbark with a pick-up at the train station by Ron ended the day's journey.

Last posting for 2014 from Downunder

It's December 31 in Mooroolbark, Victoria--New Year's Eve. As good a day as any for a Downunder blogpost, so it's the last in 2014. The Christmas frenzy is over, so we've resumed our regular activities as guests and tourists in Mooroolbark, suburb of Melbourne.

As I write this note, from the house on a high hill, I have a view of the surrounding area, including a myna bird feeding on the mulberry tree berries in the front of the house. Mynas are of the starling family, brought in from India in the 1860s to help control insects. As is the case with many introduced species, they didn't work out as planned, and instead became a nuisance, invasive species. The mynas have displaced native species like the rosella as they displace rosella nesting niches, and raid the nests and eggs of other birds.

Myna bird...feeding on mulberry tree berries

Rosella...a type of parrot native to Australia

A few days ago we toured Yarra Valley vineyards; the area is reminiscent of Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California with rolling hills and mountains up to about 500 meters. So some areas of the Yarra Valley are cool...cool enough to make some crisp white wines and Pinot Noirs, some of which are quite Burgundy like. That is, lighter than many of the Pinots produced in hotter climes. During our visit to Coldstream Hills, we met one of the wine tasters on a wine tour who was from Bethesda. I thought, what a small world! Then, about 5 minutes later, one of the women on that wine tour, Diane, realized that she recognized Virginia! She was a former colleague at the World Bank! Truly a small world.

We had also met up with a fiend from Washington, D. C., Deion, who had given us some tips on vineyards to visit. He recommended the Giant Steps private tasting room in the Innocent Bystander restaurant in Healesville. It was a good tip; we tried the top-of-the-line Giant Steps wines, including the Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir...a well balanced wine. But some of these good Australian wines are on the pricey side...around AU$60 to AU$80 a bottle which works out to about US$50 to US$65.

Virginia and Diane Hopkins at the Coldstream Hills Tasting Cellar...and the The Giant Steps Tasting Cellar

After the wine tasting, we were guests for lunch at the RACV Country Club in Healesville. Sid, Yi'd nephew, is a member, and along with Sid's parents, Wasan & Joan, and Sid's fiancée's parents, we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch. The RACV (Royal Auto Club of Victoria) Club has a spacious dining room with great views of the hills in the Yarra Valley.

At the RACV Club--Sin Yi, Sin Joan, Siddartha, Candice, Julie & Denzil (Candice's parents), Wadan, David 

On Tuesday afternoon we visited the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV...Aussies are fond of abbreviations). We saw a few exhibits, but the most interesting was a contemporary British artist, David Shrigley. His sculptures and drawings & videos are thought provoking and enigmatic. One piece is entitled "eggs", and another is a a kind of abstract expressionism work; expressed by a Roomba iRobot with two colored pens attached to trace the random pattern on paper.

David & Yi at the David Shrigley exhibit, NGV

On the way to the train station for our trip back to home base, we walked past the Noodle Kingdom noodle shop. One of the cooks was pulling noodles in the front windows...here's the photo.

Christmas Day in Mooroolbark

Since we've been spending most Christmas celebrations in So. California during the past several years, we're used to warm Decembers, with snow within view, but limited to the surrounding Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains. It was a very pleasant 75 degrees in Mooroolbark (suburb of Melbourne) on Christmas Day. As family members gathered, the buffet table was filled to capacity with food too copious to begin to enumerate. 

The official meal began with traditional Fijian kava, drawn from a massive kava bowl, but with a Chinese twist (N.B. the Yee family, first migrated from China to Fiji, then to Australia and my favorite, Sin Yi, to the USA). Instead of drinking from a coconut shell as is the Fijian tradition, Chines tea cups were used since coconut cups are in short supply here. Wadan (Sin Joan's spouse) was the master of ceremonies for the kava drinking. And drinking kava is a ritual; the first to drink are the honored hosts and senior members of the group. Drinking is preceded by hand clapping (hands are cupped to make a softer clap); after the recipient drinks, he/she claps 3-4 times as do the gathered participants.

Wadan and Sin Ling--Kava ceremony; Wadan and Ma during kava drinking. Note the large wooden kava bowl, called a tanoa.

With over 20 family members and added fiancées, the Christmas tree was surrounded by dozens of presents, and the ubiquitous envelopes with monetary gifts. The family has some great musicians who can sing and play everything from Beatles & Dylan to Indian, Chinese, and Fijian songs. Wadan does a great guitar & harmonica gig.

Amit (Wadan and Joan's 3rd son) and Wadan performing and leading in the songs; Joan recording the session on her iPad

...and for a glimpse of the Christmas celebration...more photos...

Sid and Candice--recently engaged to be married. Sid is Wadan & Joan's eldest son

Sugat and Sarah--also recently engaged to be married in April. Sugat is Wadan & Joan's 2nd son.

David...somehow photographed opening a present (pressy in Australian)

Ma and Hine 

Albert and Raymond--Raymond begins Uni in a few months. Talented in math and science.

Virginia (aka Sin Yi) made this Buche de Noël 

Wadan and Yi

Ron and Sin Ling, our hosts in Mooroolbark. Sin Ling is the eldest sister

After the Christmas celebrations, many family members went to the Yee Chong How's grave (Virginia's father) to pay their respects.