Train journey to Adelaide

Taking the train to Adelaide was a good move: so relaxing, read lots, dozed, gawked out the window. And Adelaide had so much to offer, we'll have to go back to visit again soon, to see the things we didn't have time for.

In the train

Cafe carriage, able to gawk out the windows while having quite good coffee.

Beautiful glass conservatory in Adelaide Botanic Gardens
Inside the conservatory, filled with palmsBicentenary conservatory, containing a whole rainforest
Inside the conservatory. These were aerial roots that seemed to be translucent.

We visited the excellent art gallery (current exhibition is the Egyptian collection from the Louvre). Next door was the museum which had an exhibition on the Middle Eastern cameleers who came to Australia in the 19th century when camels were used to cross the vast inland deserts on explorations. And next door to that was the South Australian State Library, both new and old buildings. I preferred the oldest building, although I wish they didn't have that flag hanging in the middle. Still, I think you get the idea. Now THAT was a library building.
We hired a car and drove up to the Barossa Valley. But that's for another day.

The Iced Coffee Con

Ok, this will be the last post I write on this theme, but I was thinking about the big disappointment the Man Who Cooks and I had when we were in the U.S. last year. Here in Australia, an iced coffee is a double whammy of coffee (duh) with ice cream and sometimes cream in it, served in a tall glass with straw and long spoon. This is a great appetite spoiler, a good way to have coffee when the weather is hot, and doubles as a dessert as well.

So it was a real surprise that when we ordered an iced coffee, we got...coffee with ice in it. When we queried this with the wait staff, we were told where the sugar and half and half were, and we could help ourselves.

It just goes to show that things can have the same name but be entirely different entities altogether. This was also the case when we moved from the east coast to the west coast of the U.S. in 1960. I can't remember many examples now, but there was one having to do with hush puppies. In one place it was a type of shoe or shoe brand, but elsewhere (the south?) it had something to do with food??? I'm sure someone will have more specific info on that.

While I'm on the subject of recreational eating, I've just come back from morning coffee with former colleagues. It was great to catch up with them, and also to sample the bakery goods of a local cafe. Almond croissant with custard filling - YES! It was quite large too, and I thought I would take home half of it, but no. I ate the whole thing. I think I'll just have an apple for a late lunch.

The big Chocolate Con

Last Sunday the Man Who Cooks and I wanted a nice warm drink after driving back from the country. Mr Tulk's, the state library's own excellent cafe, was not open (and why not?), so we went next door to the Queen Victoria complex, expecting to have a choice of cafes. Not so, it seems, only a very busy chocolate cafe, so we thought "great". This would fulfill two requirements: warm drink and rich dessert-type sugar hit in one.

After a bit of a wait, and getting close to the time when I'd have to leave for the talk at the library, our "hot" chocolate drinks arrived. Well, they were not so much chocolate drinks, definitely not hot, but more do-it-yourself chocolate drinks, similar to if you ordered a salad and the waiter brought the lettuce, tomatoes and other ingredients, along with a knife and chopping board, as well as bottles of vinegar and oil, etc. and then you proceeded to make your own salad.

What arrived at our table was a cutsy-poo ceramic structure with a candle at the bottom to keep the thimble full of milk above it warm. And this is essential because you need that "heat" to - wait for it! - melt the chocolate chips which were supplied separately on a plate! These you are meant to gradually add to the thimble of milk and stir and sip it with a very clever metal device that was a "straw" with a round bit at one end for stirring. If you're wondering what that would look like, just think of the little mirror-thingie your dentist uses to see into your mouth. Oh, and when you run low on milk, the tiniest of ceramic jugs, which wouldn't be out of place in a doll's tea set, was there for you to generously add to the little "warming tower". To make this an even more interactive experience, the candle kept going out and we needed to flag down a busy staff person to reignite the drink warming flame.

By this time, I did not have time to fiddle around waiting for my chocolate chips to melt. Yes, I know it's special chocolate but it's only a hot chocolate drink, folks - get over it! So I scooped up the remaining chips, popped them in my mouth, and left the MWC to ponder where the value was in the $6 per drink. And it wasn't even warm.

P.S. Susie's comment gave me an idea. I didn't have a camera with me, but I could certainly find a photo on the internet. Here tis! The jug here is bigger than the one we had, and there weren't as many chocolate chips. But you see what I mean about the dentist's mirror thingie?!

Trying to catch up!

I've been reading some blogs and commenting here and there, and figured it's time for an update from me. Plenty has been happening, and that's the thing, where does one start?

First I should report that Techie Son is having the time of his life, meeting all sorts of people from all over the world (he IS living in International House, after all), and one of his goals is to learn a few words of each language he comes into contact with. A very admirable goal! And thanks to those of you who have left comments and sent emails sharing their experiences with children who have left home.

Last week at this time I was on the first of my planned train/tram journeys, as one of my retirement goals. I will be keeping a journal of these travels, and the Man Who Cooks helped me think of an unusual name for it, The Flanged Wheel Journeys.



A definition of a flanged wheel can be found in Wikipedia, with photo here and I can use it for both trains and trams.









Those who know me would not be surprised that I chose Castlemaine, in Central Victoria, as my first destination. I arrived about 11 a.m. and spent 5 hours just enjoying the daily midweek life of my favorite country town. I spent nearly 2 hours in the library (of course!), and borrowed some origami books I hadn't seen before.





The 19th century Mechanics Institute which houses the Castlemaine Library.









Had a lovely lunch and spent some time in a public meditation garden that a local church has provided. It is on a hill near the railway station, and caught a gentle breeze.



The Castlemaine Railway Station, a panorama shot taken with my new camera. I can't even see where the stitching is, the camera would have done that!



And the best part of the day? Sitting in the train, looking out the window and gawking.

Time marches on

I have been here for 5 weeks now, and am due to start back home on Wednesday. It has been a wonderful trip. I have kept a travel diary and will gradually post snippets and of course photos when I get home and over the jet lag. The last time I looked at the stats on my digital camera I had 233 photos but I will be very selective about what I upload.

One of the main highlights of my trip was the chance to catch up with people I have known from decades ago. In addition to my wonderful friend Connie from university days, who I see on every trip, this time I managed to see a high school friend, and students from the high school where I taught in the early 70s in California. Through Robert, I re-established contact with Annette and John, who were unaware that they were living within a half hour of each other. I flew up to Portland, Oregon to see them, and spent wonderful days together. Annette has given me the address of another former student who is living up in Alaska, and on my next trip we hope to all get together. That will be fun!

Portland and Vancouver (just over the Columbia River in Washington) are lovely places to visit, and there's much more to see than I could manage in 5 days. Annette drove me to see the spectacular Mt St. Helens, which blew its top in 1980. On the day we went it was very clear, and we could see a thin plume of steam coming from the volcano. John took me to the famous Japanese Garden in Portland, as well as the Classical Chinese Garden, both different from each other and beautiful in their own ways.

Instead of flying back I took the overnight train, about 16 hours, had my own roomette, and at night I was lulled to sleep by the sound of the train whistle up ahead and the gentle clickety clack of the wheels on the tracks. I have always wanted to do a train trip like that - it was a dream come true. Such a civilised way of traveling, much different from the chaos of airports these days. I plan to do more train trips on my next visit here.

In addition to visits with people from the past, including Pat, another student who happened to be in the area last weekend, I also caught up with some blogger buddies by phone: Sue, Kerri and Ann. I am thinking it might be a good idea to post a sound file of our voices just to let people know what we sound like. What do you think?

But first I will have a big job of catching up with all your blogs. I appreciate the comments that have come in despite my meagre postings over the last month, and hope to re-establish contact with you in the not too distant future! Hope you've all been well!!

Weekend too far away

Last weekend, that is. I still haven't posted anything yet about our trip to Castlemaine, so here it is.

On Sunday morning we walked 3 ½ hours from Castlemaine to Maldon, following the train line. Because we were trying to make the 12.40 train back rather than wait another 3 hours for the next train, we didn't have any rest stops. Comes 12.40 and we didn't know how far we had to go, when we rounded a bend and there was the train station. Despite the hip joints feeling the effects of that steady walking we managed to break into a run and made the train. It's a steam train that runs only on weekends and public holidays. It felt so good to sit down and enjoy the scenery we had just passed through but were too intent on making the train to be able to really appreciate it.

We passed through some nice farmland.Saw a wallaby in the forest. Well hidden, but it's right there in the middle. Click to enlarge the photo.
Mel having a nice Harcourt apple in the train.After lunch in Castlemaine we drove to a lookout which looks out over town and listened to the footy, much better reception up there than at our place. The Bulldogs beat the Magpies - hahahahahahahahaha! Go Doggies!

Here's me resting my weary feet on the dashboard. We're sitting in the car at the Burke and Wills monument overlooking Castlemaine.

Rugged up having breakfast outdoors the next morning. You can see the shadow of the camera sitting on my new mini tripod at the bottom of the photo.

Weekend in Castlemaine

After picking up the MWC at the airport we drove up to Castlemaine. Settled into our upstairs room in the heritage listed Campbell Street Motor Lodge (built in 1886). It's a family run place, welcoming and comfy, one that I'd feel perfectly at ease to stay in by myself. And I may do that too this winter - take the train up, wouldn't need a car, everything of importance within walking distance: restaurants and cafes, the Restorers Barn for browsing an odd collection of secondhand stuff, a number of art galleries, and of course the library. Yes, I will do that!
A bit of indulgence: reading in bed in the morning.













On Saturday evening we ate at Edda's, a small restaurant in what was once a mortuary, built in the art deco style. Yesterday we did a two hour walk on Mt. Alexander, found the track that we had missed the last time we walked on the mountain, worked up an appetite and later had dinner at Saff's, which is also the place to go for coffee and VERY GENEROUS portions of cake. Spent an hour in the library this morning before leaving town. On the way home we made sure we were passing Malmsbury at lunchtime so we could have one of the superb steak and kidney pies you can get at the bakery there. Today the pastry was exceptionally good, you could taste the butter, and it was still flaky. Is food important to us? Oh yes. A nearly 35 year marriage has been built and nurtured on food.

Oh, and today was the first weekday of my retirement!















There's the marker we missed last time when hiking on Mt. Alexander.


End of the walk, the car is just around the bend.

Farewell lunch

It was such a fun and happy occasion. Colleagues had put in a lot of thought to what I would like. Much evidence of the Carlton Football Club, giraffes, trams and trains. Wine, food (even pumpkin pie!), and a powerpoint slideshow to summarise my working life in the library. Found out they've been getting ideas from this blog. For that, they get to be in my blog, here are just a few of the photos. Even Denis Pagan was there to wish me well.

Missing in action

One whole week since I've posted, where has the time gone? And will it go this fast when I retire?

As I approach the big day (see my little train chugging towards its destination), I am asked by all and sundry what I'll be doing. I have a growing list of things I want to do in addition to gawking from trains and trams, and think I will have to keep track of them in a book, a handmade book of course! In fact, making my own books is high on my list, having done that weekend course in oriental bookbinding in April and now wanting to get stuck into it. Some of my time has been spent constructing books for Mom for Mother's Day, a book of recipes for friends who invited us to dinner and for a friend for her birthday, plus practising the various construction techniques. But I've had to sandwich that around my work days. It will be so much better to have a whole day to cover the kitchen bench with papers and tools and spend as much time as I like on this new hobby of mine.

My first week of retirement is actually rather activity-filled: we'll be coming back from the country on the Monday, for the Tuesday I've registered for a one day workshop on coptic binding (the photo at left is an example I found on the web), Wednesday we'll be going to the ballet, and Thursday I'll be having pizza with the Popes, Phine and her sister Ange that is. My aerobics schedule is already mapped out: 9.15 aerobics classes four mornings a week. Looks like I'll still have to keep some sort of diary going!

Of course, there will be time to be at leisure (am I being too optimistic?), and I will be able to sit and read a book in the middle of the day when I feel like it. Had a good dose of that on Wednesday, my day off: sat in an easy chair bathed in brilliant winter sun coming in the north facing window overlooking the garden. Read and read and read. Had the house to myself. It was quiet. I was in heaven.

Public transport for spills and thrills

Just as I announce what I thought was a unique way to enjoy some of my leisure time in retirement, in today 's edition of The Age newspaper Kate Holden writes about her adventures and misadventures on London buses (sounds frightening). But she also talks about doing serendipity bus trips in South East Asia:

A friend and I used to play "adventuring" on Saturday afternoons when we lived in South-East Asia. Take a couple of coins for buying tickets, hurl yourself on the next bus that comes along, then the next, and see how far you can get in an afternoon. No distracting fixation on destination, no worries about getting home (taxis were cheap).

All around town we would scoot in a kind of peaceful trance, watching the city through dusty windows. Past financial centres, dusty street markets, suburban housing estates, historic monuments, over bridges and down back lanes. Sometimes dull and sometimes enthralling, these erratic peregrinations took us to places no tourist would ever see.

It seems that attaining the sublime confidence of the regular passenger is a matter of either strict planning, grim experience, or simply going along for the ride. It doesn't do to be too fixated on destination. Public transport is, like love and life, about not only anticipation, but surprise.

Ah, someone after my own heart. Read the whole article here (but I'm not sure how long they'll allow free access).

And just to finish off what has become a transport theme this week, there is currently the Public Transport Challenge being staged in Melbourne. It is an orienteering event for teams of high school students using trains, trams and buses to reach destinations quickly and efficiently, and gathering points which will determine the winning team. Sounds like fun!

Announcing - ta dah! - my retirement!

You may have noticed my new countdown banner near the top of the screen. Yes, after 30 years as a librarian, more than half of those years at La Trobe University Library, I am going to start on my next big adventure, retirement. There are a number of things I'd like to do, not the least of which is spending more time on bookbinding, getting 3 decades of photos in order, scrapbooking. They dovetail nicely, don't they?

And the graphic for my countdown banner was also chosen to reflect one of my more frivolous plans for spending my leisure time, and that is to gradually explore all the train and tram routes in Melbourne, right to the very end of the line. Armed with my $3 all-day seniors card travel ticket covering the entire metropolitan system, I will be able to sit in the comfort (!) of Melbourne's various modes of rail transport, gawking out the window, peering into people's back gardens, doing vicarious window shopping, and probably coming across a number of odd people, including those who think it's fun to sit on a tram or train gawking out the window.

Shown here are the rail lines radiating out from the city.

I've always been a fan of rail travel, starting from when I was a kid living on Long Island. A trip to New York City was so exciting: you'd start out on the Long Island Railroad, but approaching the city the train would then go underground, to become the wonderfully spooky subway.





Trams have always been an interest too, as I wrote about in another post.

Here's a map of the Melbourne tram system.

This project may take me some time, and of course I'll need to take photos and write about my adventures.

Heritage month in Castlemaine

May is Heritage Month in Castlemaine and there are always interesting walks and talks on local history. We try to get to at least one weekend's worth. This weekend we went for a 90 minute walk around the railway precinct of Castlemaine, led by a very knowledgeable local historian. It's great that there are people who are prepared to do the research, give up their free time, and be able to talk on their topic without ever having to refer to their notes.

Here's a photo of it maybe 100 years ago (buildings still standing):

Trams - a family thing

This morning I ran out of time before I could finish my tram post before going to work. Tonight I got an e-mail from my cousin in Arizona, and he wrote :

"My father used to tell us about pulling the pole off the wire on the trams in Brooklyn and running from the conductor for kicks when he was a kid..."

Well, it must run in the family, because that's what MY dad did too, and I was going to write the same thing. Those Lank brothers ...

13 August: just talked to Dad, and he said we missed a vital point about pulling the pole off the wire: at the time they would be riding, for free, on the outside at the back, and pulling the cord was a way of slowing down the trolley so they could get off safely at a convenient place! I wonder if Grandma knew about that stuff.

My cousin Tim just sent me a whole list of websites to follow up on these interurban (long distance) trolleys that featured at the beginning of E.L. Doctorow's book "Ragtime". The Trolley Stop website looks like a great place to start.

Mel and I almost bought an old Melbourne tram in the early 80s. We put our name down to get one of the trams that were going to be retired in 18 months. In the meantime we needed to buy a block of land to put it on, and that’s why we bought 10 acres in the gold country, which was our favorite place anyway. So 18 months go by, and sure enough, we get a notice from the transport people to say our tram is ready to “collect”! It was going to cost $700 plus transporting it up to the country – no problem. Unfortunately, the local council was very strict at the time and they were not going to allow it unless we put up a house first. Well, that would have defeated the purpose because we were just going to make the tram into a holiday house. So we passed up the opportunity to get a tram of our own.

I had almost forgotten about another city I've lived in with a great tram system: Hamburg, Germany. I lived and worked there for 6 months in the 60s, and they had an extensive tram system. It is also the place where I had my scariest tram ride. I was travelling by tram to visit a friend who lived in an industrial area. There wasn't much traffic out there on a weekend and the driver was pushing the tram to maximum speed. The tram started to sway and rock so much that I thought it was going to leave the rails. This has stuck in my memory all these years, similar to the wild bus ride of Singapore in the 70s. But I'll leave it at that.

Trams - another Val-obsession

Would I have become such a fan of trams if I hadn't lived in the cities of San Francisco and Melbourne? Some people get interested in things they don't have ready access to because it's intriguing, something different. But for me, despite having lived more than 3 decades in Melbourne, with one of the most extensive tram networks in the world, tram travel is still a fun event. The fact that I don't use it to get to work helps maintain my positive outlook.

Tram travel has changed over time, of course. The old trams I rode in the 70s were prone to their poles losing contact with the overhead electric power wires as they took the curves. If you were a passenger this meant a delay to your journey, but if you were an onlooker you were treated to the spectacle of a shower of sparks as the pole disengaged and rather obscenely bobbed up and down until the tram driver ran around to the back to get the pole reconnected. These days trams have a different connecting system so this does not happen anymore.

When I first arrived in Melbourne I did use the tram to get to work, spent many hours on them in fact. Early on I would think how nice it would be to be a tram driver - the old trams had a driver's compartment that cut you off totally from the passengers (there were conductors then), and I thought it would be a lovely way to travel around the city and suburbs. Victor Borge, the comedian-pianist, was also a great fan of Melbourne trams. He'd always go for rides on trams when he was here, and on his last visit before his death, he was given the special privilege of driving a tram for a short distance.

The only time I got to drive a tram was in Sydney, when I was a member of the tram museum there (I said it was an obsession!). It was of course in the museum grounds, not in traffic. There are others though with a greater obsession: recently a teenager twice stole trams after having observed drivers operating them over a period of time. In his most successful endeavor, he took the tram on its scheduled route, stopping for passengers and letting them off, but passengers started getting suspicious when the "driver" started giving interesting commentary on the way! This kid had also at one stage stolen a train, so there was definitely a fixed rail fixation going on.

Melbourne is also home to the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant. This takes you around the suburbs of Melbourne and through the city while you can have a pretty decent meal and drinks. In the 80s Mel and I surprised my parents with a dinner on the tram: we told them we were taking them to dinner, but had to wait on a certain street corner. This was before the tramcar restaurant had become so well known, and they were taken completely by surprise when this beautiful old tram pulled up and we entered a comfortable, sumptuously restored tram, complete with white tablecloths, fine cutlery and dinnerware. The ride was smooth, although the wine glasses tinkled nicely as we'd sometimes go across other tram tracks. Magical!