Australia!! Part Five

Before I continue with my journey, I just want to take a moment to thank all of you who have taken the time to read my blog and leave comments on my entries. They are greatly appreciated!! I am so glad to hear from all of you in Oz – I miss you all so much!!

Eva and I wake early (but not TOO early) to get a start on what is our last day of sightseeing, to be spent at the Healesville Sanctuary. I have been told this is a “must see” for anyone that would like a closer look at the native birds and animals and I am excited to go. We fill up with some gas/petrol and start off down the road to Healesville, a small town not too far from wine country. My first stop is at the pharmacy/drug store to buy “itch” cream for my mosquito bites. The pharmacist (chemist) recommends a brand that is made in Australia and is the best anti-itch cream I’ve found and just in time as by now, I have about 20 of the pesky little bites on my arms and feet. After finding blessed relief, I am anxious to explore the town.

Here, there are several “opportunity” shops, what we call thrift stores here in the states. What a perfect name for a type of store I’ve spent many hours in, searching for “stuff” to use in my art. As I enter the first store, I tell myself “look but don’t buy” – after all, my suitcases barely made the weight cut-off coming over and the object was to lighten my load going back. But once in the stores, there is a wealth of collage material everywhere I look and suddenly I find my arms heavy with books and music that just have to go home with me.

After purchasing my treasures, we decide to grab a quick bite to eat and head off to the local bakery so I can have another meat pie (and yes, over the weekend I did find a local source for these delicious pastries – yummmmm!!!) We sit at a sidewalk table and watch the people going by when I hear someone on a loud speaker talking about a 20% off sale at one of the stores followed by those magic words…..art supplies! Well I could not leave the country without experiencing a sale on art supplies, could I??? And Eva is such a good sport while I pull her hither and yon to this place and that. Really, I hit the jackpot with her as my hostess!!

Then we are off to the Sanctuary and what a treat that was. From a Koala that looked hung-over, to the birds of prey show, to the kangaroo pen that you could actually enter and get close to the animals, to the platypus exhibit where I finally got to see a platypus that was alive and kicking, this was simply the most amazing place. There were birds everywhere and for a bird watcher in a new country, that is akin to paradise.

Too much the night before?

A small wren hiding in the tree.

Eva assures me these ants mean business and are fond of humans...as a food source!

See the lizard in his mouth?

A lyre bird in all its finery.

A Dingo peering out from behind a bush.

A wallaby cooling off in the shade.

But we are hot and tired and after a trip to the souvenir store, we head off to meet Eva’s parents and tour their farm.

I am greeted warmly by her parents and shown around the farm where sheep graze in the pasture and chickens flock to handfuls of seed thrown out to the yard. Peppers are being harvested and a row of potted tomatoes hang heavy with ripe fruit. There are oranges on the tree and I peel one and taste the unique goodness you only get when eating an orange ripe from the tree and as we leave, they generously give me a bag of fresh fruit for the road.

We say our goodbyes, as we head off for a drive through the Yarra Valley, hoping to catch a winery before closing, but we are too late and decide it is finally time to head for home. Tomorrow the retreat begins and there is much to be done in the way of packing before I'll be ready to go.

And for the first time I feel the butterflies in my stomach....tomorrow I will face my students and see if I can make good on my intent to teach four Judy Wise classes as well as she would have had she been able to make it to the retreat. I am scared and excited both, because I am at my happiest when making or teaching art. And then there is the vendor fair to look forward to, as well, and the opportunity to see the fabulous work the Australian artists have to offer...tick tock, tick tock...

Australia!! Part Four

I take time, this morning, to breath deeply of the air, perfumed with gum trees and sunshine. I wake up to the sound of the magpies with their odd call – hollow and melodious – and the screech of the cockatoo. Eva and I sit down to breakfast, porridge and yogurt (yoghurt in Australia) and fruit for me, and get ready for another adventure. We start with the William Rickett’s sanctuary. Rickett lived with the aborigine people for a time and passionately felt a need to represent them to the world through his art. On a small forested preserve in the Dandenongs, Rickett sculpted a multitude of aboriginal children, men and women, as well as indigenous wildlife, and attached his sculptures to stone boulders throughout the preserve. The sculptures seem to grow from the rocks and are amazingly life-like.

See Eva's lovely face peeking out?

Fern shadows on the rock look almost surreal.

After wandering the grounds, we headed for Sassafras and a bite to eat at Miss Marples teahouse. But first we explore the small shops that line the street of this town. So much to see here: the wool shop where I find yarn, antiques, soap and a fresh shipment of wool hats, not yet priced. There is the Oracle, full of peaceful music, magical spells, crystals and rocks of every color and peace within its walls. Crème, serves liquid ginger and spiced nuts, along with gelato and other goodies. A toy store has a ceiling full of puppets ready to come alive. And there's a souvenir shop with shelves full of Australia.

But it is the tea shop that lures me away. A tea shop with more tea, cups and kettles than I have seen in my life. I buy a year’s worth of tea and wish I had a way to bring home a teapot or two. We wander into the garden shop secreted in a courtyard full of lovely things.. Eva finds a bird on a wire rod that is beautiful and the store owner finds another for me and we buy them both. Now, each time I look at that beautiful bird, I will have a memory of Eva and this wonderful day.

We sit down to eat at Miss Marples, named after the Agatha Christie detective that solved her share of mysteries. And the meal is delicious, surpassed only by the tea and scones served afterwards. Stuffed to the gills, we are off again, to the Grants Picnic Grounds were I am about to find a bird watcher’s paradise.

When we arrive, the store where the birdfeed is sold has just closed, but there are plenty of folks still feeding this wild birds with insatiable appetites. You can’t count them all: lorikeets, gullahs, cockatoos, crimson rosellas and king parrots. They fill the air with a kaleidoscope of colors. If offered an open hand full off seed, they will gladly eat out of your hand. A generous local gives me a handful and I am treated to first a female and then a male king parrot eating right out of my hand.

We leave the birds and drive to Alfred Nickolaus Gardens to visit a hidden pool criss-crossed by Japanese-like bridges. After hiking down a very steep trail, the surface of the water suddenly appears, reflecting the green of the dense trees and the deep sapphire of the sky and littered with leaves. I’m reminded of Monet and his grounds at Giverny.

We spend the last of the day resting by the edge of this placid water and the beautiful grounds, before we attempt the steep hike back up the hillside. Arriving a bit out of breath, we climb in the car and head back to Eva’s and a well-earned rest.