To the Bank and Farmers' Market in Perth, and some Birds

On Friday we went and set up our bank accounts at Unicredit, a credit union on the campus of the university.  Interestingly, it seems the people of Australia rarely use checkbooks anymore, but Rebecca requested access to a "cheque book" just the same.  I think the bank teller thought us quite strange for that.

The setup of the account was weird, too.  We have one joint account, but inside this joint account we have individual sub-accounts that to my knowledge work as individual accounts.  /boggle.

Vinny was a bit in a crazy mood the past evening and morning.  As I had said the heat in the apartment was not working and the landlady had brought us some space heaters.  They work really well, and are of those "fake log fake fire" hot air blower types.

I apologize for the quality of the picture, but this is about the only way you can see the "flames."  But i won't make too much fun of it as the two we have have made our apartment life much warmer.


And it puts an end to this:

Vinny loved telling us about the front loader washer, despite his outfit.

Which honestly wasn't that bad.

But now it's warmer and we can dress in less striking outfits.

On Saturday morning Rebecca's (and Bronson's) friend (who has been a godsend i might add, with all her help in getting us set up and knowledgeable of how things go) took us to one of the many farmers' markets in Perth.  The one she took us too, whether it was the biggest in Perth or not, was absolutely huge.  It was located on the Clontarf Aboriginal College campus off Manning Road.  The campus is very beautiful. 

The college was built in 1901 and was an orphanage, then later used by the RAF in World War 2.  Then it became an orphanage again and then a general boarding school.  In the 1960s it lost enrollment numbers needed to maintain itself and closed as a school.  Afterward it became a sanitarium of sorts for children with behavioral problems.

I thought the school resembled an old Spanish mission or something out of a good Alfred Hitchcock tale.

I thought that this was just going to be yet another farmers' market.  I'd seen them before.  We had a good one in Urbana, Illinois - one of the biggest I'd seen - that took up a good portion off a parking lot. Our farmers' market in Oak Ridge was downright pathetic.  I wasn't looking forward to much.  I thought we'd get a few vegetables, see a few trinket sales, and at least somewhat support local agriculture.

This place was huge!  There were long continuous rows of vendors selling all sorts of fruits, vegetables, breads, meats - real butchers! - and even a milkman with fresh bottled milk ffrom his own dairy!

Rows and rows of food sellers and flower sellers

 and honey sellers and milk sellers and home made food sellers and sustainability sellers. 

 There were ethnic food sellers,

 breakfast food sellers, 

bratwurst with attitude sellers, 

cheese sellers,

and even a man selling ginormous mushrooms!

Yeah!  they were GINORMOUS!

See?

There was even one place selling sweet potatoes as big as your head!

Those are big sweet potatoes :)



We came away with potatoes, fruits, bread, two two liter bottles of fresh milk, a whole chicken and some beef brisket (cheapest I've ever seen beef since Dakota).

 Vinny wanted a breakfast crepe and he ordered one.  I like him to try to do things on his own, within reason, and his montessori background has given him the confidence to do so (sometimes with prodding).



He was given a ticket, which I held, and had to return to the crepe maker when his number was up on the kiosk sign.  When the number came, he was up and hurrying over to his crepe.

It was quite tasty.  He enjoyed it.

They had this large area in the middle where everyone could sit and enjoy conversation and good food if they wanted. We sat there with our newfound Australian friend and let Vinny enjoy his crepe and some of his freshly squeezed (from a cow I guess) strawberry milk.

The next day we just took it easy and hung around.  Later in the evening Rebecca took Vinny to the park across the street.  I went out to take a few pictures of some birds for my mom.  There have been two birds we have seen predominantly.  One looks like a big black crow but it's call sounds more like a dying cat in heat than the gargling caw of our midwestern crows.  I think what they call a crow is actually a raven, only bigger.  I don't have a picture of it yet. 

The other is a small black and white bird that has a very distinctive call.  It almost drives me insane, actually.  I'll have to find a way to get a .wav of it up or something.  Some people have told me that bird is a Magpie.  

The woman in the downstairs apartment throws balls of raw meat out them and they eat it right up.

Here is another one with a different black/white pattern.

There are some interesting trees in the park across the street.  They have wonderful red/ink blooms and the birds seem to love them.  

The trunk and branches are covered in sharp thorns.  Any idea what these are called?

Rebecca noticed some beautiful green parrot-like birds who loved to eat fruit from these blossoms.  Just like with any of the other birds,

 I don't know what these birds are called, and our camera isn't the best when zooming, but I've tried to include what good shots of these birds we could get.

There was also a smaller, white-breasted bird with a black head and black beak in the tree with these green birds.  I don't know what it is either, but I wonder if it is a baby magpie?

Vinny had a great day at the park playing with his mama.  Rebecca posted an excellent picture of him in a tree.  When I caught up with them they were both quite tired.

I can't believe the size of this aloe plant.  I just had to take a picture of it again.  Rebecca also found a rosemary "tree."  Wow.

  We then went home and had wonderful homemade soup made with the chicken from last night's great chicken dinner (both cooked by my lovely wife) and hit the sack.

Vinny Vs. The Cray Round 1 (and the only round)

I know this has nothing to do with Australia, but it needed posting.

Before we left Vinny got to have a special visit to Rebecca's work so he could see the fans on the computers.  She had to get special permission from Dirtbag's boss to bring him in, as children are not allowed in the offices or the machine room.

 I thnk one of the coolest things about the trip for him, almost as cool as the fans and touching jaguar, was his new badge.

I think he's a bit like his mama, feeling naked without a badge. I know the badge made him feel important because he made sure to show it to everyone.









He looked at a few of Jaguar's fans and at some lights and wires in the cabinets, pictures of which I could not take.

Then Al, the nice man from Cray, took Vinny to the second floor and showed him one of the cabinet fans as it was being unpacked.  He then gave Vinny a drill (mistake #1) and then a screwdriver bit (mistake #2)

and then let him open up one of the cabinets so he could remove the fan (mistake #3).

Mr. Al now had a best friend that he will never be able to get rid of his entire life.  And who would?

The fans were heavy (at least fifty pounds easy) and Mr. Al helped Vinny remove it from the cabinet.

Vinny immediately began telling Mr. Al all the parts he knew and what they did.

The discussion went on for a while, and for all the things that Vinny didn't know or understand about the fan,

 Mr. Al told him.

And messing with all those fans makes a boy good and dirty.  Mr. Al let him know that that's how you know you did some real work.  You get dirty.

The Trip Over and Our First Encounter With Perth

It was a long journey but we have finally arrived in Perth.  It seemed everything leading toward the final move was extremely stressful - saying good-bye to friends, and family, our house, etc. - and for the most part to me I was in some kind of zone apart from reality.

But here we are.

Our weekend of festivities we had planned with family went well.  We ended up nearly blowing the first night as we were very late getting away from home. The last Monday before our flight our families and we got together for the late lunch/ early dinner and then headed to the airport.  I bought these shirts for us to wear primarily so we could spot Vinny and he could spot us should we be separated.  

The shirts actually proved to be quite the conversation ice-breaker many times.  I think they also helped us get through security.  After all, what troublemakers would make themselves so noticeable?

Vinny was very excited about the planes and was thrilled upon our first takeoff. 

 He stared out the window for a little while but soon got bored with it and kept the window shade closed.

Vinny took the trip very well. He really enjoyed the fact that on every 747 there was a DVD screen in the rear of the headrest of every seat.  What he doesn't know is that WE enjoyed it just as much, as it occupied him.  Most times he was almost angered because we had the audacity to bother him whilst enthralled.  

For an airline, Qantas personnel were very attentive and kind.  The airline even fed us actual dinners and two breakfasts.  Would you like to know something else?  With a totally unexpected act Qantas airlines won my admiration; they brought out ice cream bars for everyone!

He also enjoyed riding the train between terminals.

When we arrived in Brisbane I was selected for a random security search.  It was exciting because we had seen the exact process done many times on Border Security: Australia's Front Line -- at least the swab part. Remember our shirts?  I noticed that he didn't really push the swab down on my luggage very hard which led me to believe he wasn't really searching me; either he just wanted to be closer to my awesomeness or the brightness of the awesomeness shirt truly blinded him and he couldn't distinguish me from someone "dangerous."

Rebecca was quite disappointed that we didn't get to meet any of the people we'd seen on Border Security. I think she was also somewhat disappointed in the fact that we didn't get searched.  We had worked very hard writing down each thing that was in each of our six checked bags and had our carry-ons at the ready.  Rebecca pulled the list out and the first customs guard asked "what's that?" and she promptly told him it was everything in our bags.  He grinned and passed us along.  The customs officials at the counters asked a few questions and we answered them; no opening of bags occurred.  Again, I place credit on our shirts and one cute little boy.  That's the key to getting through security :)   

Strangely enough, I met my first real Australian in Australia in the head.  He had been in front of us in the security screen and was getting a hard time getting some duty-free alcohol into past.  He told me Perth was an extremely beautiful place, even though he'd never been there.

And he's right.

This is the apartment they put us in.  It's the top one on the corner on the right.

It's right across the street from a very spacious and nice park.

A short walk north and we get to the river.  Across the Swan River you can see downtown Perth.

It's actually a very nice downtown area.  It's very clean and busy, albeit crowded.  The apartment itself is kind of small and a little bit dated and dirty but it's ok for now.  The biggest problem was the heat didn't work.  So Rebecca's friend (who has been taking very good care of us) got on the phone with Rebecca's employer and they got it worked out.  I'm sure the employer gave the apartment owner an ear-full.  

Vinny took the camera and took a few pictures of things he liked.  There weren't any fans around, but he did find something else he's quite taken by. 

The power outlets are different.

He always loves to take pictures of himself.

He liked how I'd hung a ginormous dragon serpent scarf over the TV.  It occupies a corner of the apartment and is very noticeable, so I covered it.

I guess he likes the little alcove that used to be a balcony.  

The next day we got out and headed for the city.  There were two objectives:  get phones and get bus passes.

On our walk from the apartment to the ferry we encountered some pretty strange trees.  Anyone know what these are?

We got on the ferry and headed across the Swan River.  Vinny had never been on a ferry before.  He had a blast.

Trust me.  He was having a blast.

And so were we.

There.  See?  He was having a blast.

The streets of Perth near the river are quite beautiful, despite a lot of construction around the area.

I think the palm trees are really nice.

This is the bell tower, made of glass.  The bells in it are real and very loud.  It is surrounded by a small moat.  I think it is very beautiful.

There was also this fountain adjacent to the bell tower with mosaics stretching into the water.

The streets on the river are lined with palms and flowering plants of all types and sizes.

The town is literally lined with green areas, except in the suburbs and downtown.  I haven't seen the suburbs yet other than subiaco, where we went on an expedition to find our phones.

We found this absolutely ginormous tree on the corner. It isn't in Subiaco, but on the riverbank near the bell tower.  We thought it was a magnolia, but Rebecca then saw the fruit and it wasn't what you would find on a magnolia.

Here is the fruit.

They have these areas where there are pedestrian malls, where you walk along streets that are closed to traffic.  The malls are filled with shops and restaurants of all types.  Rebecca had the idea to find a bookstore and look for Rachel's new book.  

And here it was.  They had three copies of it.

But afterward, they only had two.  And we want is signed, Rachel.

We went to the post office where, interestingly enough, they sell all manner of things; things you would never expect from a post office, like a sewing machine and toys.  The phones we wanted weren't at the downtown post office so a very helpful, nay EXTREMELY helpful Chelsea helped us out and found a post office in a suburb where they had the phones we wanted.  She had them hold the phones and all we had to do was make our way out to Subiaco (the hipster suburb) and get to their post office.  We took the train out, retrieved the phones, and made our way back.

It was getting late so we headed back across the ferry and into South Perth.  Rebecca stopped at IGA and I headed to the park with Vinny so he could have some playtime of his own.  He had been such a good boy walking around the city.  We like to help him know that whatever we do, we value his opinions too, and we knew that he wanted to enjoy the playground.

He really got a kick out of this rolling log that I called the "hamster wheel."

On the way back to our apartment I noticed that there was this huge aloe bush.  It wasn't a potted plant.  It was a bush, and very large.

All in all it's like a nice little tropical paradise that has -at the moment- cold weather.

And even if we don't enjoy it -which we do- the boy does.  And that's important.

Next the plan is to head to Rebecca's workplace and open a bank account with their credit union.  Wish y'all could be here to share this place with us.  It's proving to be quite the adventure: beautiful, friendly, and pretty nice weather.. even if it was cold at night.