@ the Vineyards

Note the rows of mature grape vines on the far side of the dam.

(The nets are to keep the birds and roos @ bay)

Where we went...

We've taken to carving our holidays up into mini-stays.. maximizing our ability to visit as many places as we can for the price of one international flight.

When planning our first jaunt to OZ (Dec 08/Jan 09), we were almost paralyzed by the possibilities offered by a country that is also a continent. We settled for a Christmas in Sydney followed by a few days near the GBR. It was perfect, and each place completely juxaposed. Urban vs Wild, Cultured vs. um, decidedly Un-cultured?, (ie. Classy "Bottle Shops" vs. Liquor Stores with drive-throughs!), the UV conscious vs. the Leather Skinned; High brow vs. laid back... you get the picture.

We were excited about our Perth trip because it seemed to offer again more of what Australia has on abundant offer... diversity. It's a smallish city (just over a million Aussies) that is geographically closer to Asian cities than other Australian ones. Perth has benefited from a unique blend of influences: Asian (in part because of their relative proximity to Singapore, Indonesia, and trading with China etc.) and British, not just because this giant island is part of the Commonwealth, but also because Perth's population has a high proportion of British-born persons.

We had only one night in Perth... enough time to arrange or van rental, take in a museum, visit the Botanical garden, and dine on that Aussie staple: fish and chips, alfresco at the garden at the on-sight restaurant .

We planned a road trip down to Margaret River. This coastal, region of wine country is about three hours south of Perth, on a double lane, divided high-way (It was a good way for Mr Johnson to start his acclimation to driving a right hand drive, full size, Korean-made, no-frills van with no umph.) We noted road signs reminding us to watch for kangaroos. Our rental vehicle carried reminders that only four wheel drive rentals had permission to leave "sealed roads." We should check "tyre" pressure daily. And.... avoid driving at dawn and dusk... times when native animals were most likely to be on the roads.

Margaret River did not disappoint, and neither did the Farm Stay we were somewhat unsure of when we booked it. We stopped at vineyards, dairies, and chocolate factories, sampling local wines, cheeses and chocolate. We stopped at beautiful, nearly empty, white sand beaches, where we unfurled our beach mats and reveled in the blue skies and summer warmth of February in Oz.

The Farm Stay

It was the last place we booked, when scheduling our itinerary, and both Mr Johnson and I were a bit wary of how it might go. "Where farm meets forest" was the tag-line on the website. Other exciting highlights included: feeding the on-sight animals, and relaxing in small remote station houses with ample space and modest amenities, including a furnished kitchen and the requisite BBQ grill on the front porch. *Stiffling a yawn* it didn't sound super exciting.

It was unlike any farm in the Mid-Western United States. No tell-tale red barn, tall silo, or iconic farm house. It was a hobby farm, surrounded by dairy farms and horse stables, vineyards and rolling meadows that butted up against a forested area.

The terrain of Western Australia is incredibly unique. It's sandy and dry during their summer. Water is both scarce and precious. Dams are created and the stagnant brown water they hold are piped into irrigation spigots, and, even homes for washing and bathroom use. We drank rain water, collected in large, above ground cisterns. The whole area was sandy and dry as a tinderbox. And yet, there were flashes of green in the cypress like pines, in the scrubby Aussie bush, and of course in the grape vines that clung to posts in neat rows at each boutique-like winery.

Adding a bit more topsy-turviness was the fact it was summer in February. The southern hemi-sphere is the polar opposite (almost literally) from it counterpart. I kept catching myself from saying things like, "But, what's it like here in the 'real summer'?" when I really meant, "What is the climate and terrain like in the cooler season?"

"Green," was the answer we invariably received. And we learned, that the sandy corral the Shetland ponies tried in vain to graze in in the summer, is grazable in the winter.

Because of their dry, sandy surroundings Western Australians are colloquially

called "sand gropers." But, despite the dryness, the burning bans, and the water of limited an/or dubious quality, their landscape is in its own way beautiful. I can understand why they like it.

The Farm Stay turned out to be a hit. (I didn't mention the potential presence of venomous tiger snakes until after we'd scooted out of the region.) We didn't see any. Nor did we spot any of the wild marsupials known to put in an appearance about these parts, especially in the driest stage of the season when kangaroos and Aussie opposums come looking for water. (And yes, it turns out the rental car company was on to something... these nocturnal marsupials are most often spotted at dawn and dusk.)

Each morning at 8:30 the girls met the farm manager for chores. They feed the Shetland ponies, the goats and sheep, and the resident alpaca, Big Al. The second morning they brought left overs from our dinner: the crusty ends of a baguette and cold pasta to feed to the chickens and the cocky rooster, a Chinese silkie. Their hands-down favorite (though the ponies were a runner-up) were the guinea pigs. They loved holding them, feeding them carrots, and listening to these cute South American piggies "chatter". Then, just before they meandered up the sandy lane, back to our tidy little cottage in the woods, they would wait for the farm manager to scoop still-warm eggs out from under the free range hens. They argued over who got to carry the morning's loot of brown eggs back to be scrambled or layered into omelets with marinated feta from a local dairy.

Kings Park & Botanical Garden, Perth Western Australia

At the dimming of the day, on our first day in Australia, we wound our way up the steep hillside (on a multi-story outdoor cement staircase dubbed "Jacob's Ladder") to the the peak of what was once simply known as Mt. Eliza, but presently the setting of Perth's Botanical Garden.

Without a moment's hesitation, the girlies kicked off their shoes and frolicked in the short green grass that tickled their toes. With the remains of the day's blue sky overhead... with the coolness the accompanies the nearness of sun set... with the view of the city scape below us... and in the middle distance the Swan River... I captured the moment in my mind.

Out of the many adventures we've taken... despite the stress of lost bags, the sleepiness or sleeplessness of jet-lag, the reality of short fuses and the foreignness of languages... there is always a moment or two that stands out. The moment usually has more to do with the three girlies filling the frame in my mental snapshot, than the geographical location. But... the fact that The Three are placed against an exotic or simply foreign backdrop helps define what our life is all about in these "China years."

For me, each of our trips have had a moment like this one ... Moments to be savored, and remembered. I take "pictures I take in my mind," to hold in my heart.

I also took these, to share with you...

The Elizas

The city of Perth is slightly inland from the Indian Ocean. It is the largest city in Western Australia, and is relatively lonely in regards to location as Perth is actually closer to Singapore than Sydney!

The city's prominent features are: the Swan River, which winds beautifully through the city, filled with sail boats, ski boats, and other forms of water adventure; and the beautifully lush Kings Park/Botanical Garden.

The Garden Park is situated on Mt. Eliza, overlooking the central business district and the Swan River.

It's not often that our second daughter sees her name featured prominiately anywhere. We have only ever met two other Eliza's, and up until now she has been content finding her name hidden in the pages of author Mark Brown's Arthur books (made famous by the PBS series by the same name). Author Mark Brown hides the names of his three children (His daughter is named Eliza), in the illustrations of his books.

We of course, by choice, gave our children obscure names (ones that fall in the Baby Naming Books into categories like: "Vintage" or even "Grandma" names). After time after time being asked "Which Jennifer Johnson are you?" at the bank or library, it felt like a gift to give our girls unique nomenclature... especially when their first and second names were to be paired with the second most common surname in the United States! (Johnson only falls behind Smith in the US.)

In Perth we saw the name Eliza pop up on street signs, posh apartment towers, and on some of the most important real estate in the city. There was also a feature on Eliza Brown, a hard working pioneer woman in the early days of the Perth settlement, @ the Museum of Western Australia we visited upon arrival.

Back in the Foggy QD

We left a very snowy Qingdao on the 11th.

It was the greatest snowfall accumulation we've seen here yet to date, and it almost cost us.

It took our driver 90 minutes to reach us (a commute that generally takes 20). Our friend Damian, who had a last minute piece of mail to tuck in our luggage had to walk over to 2 km our home because there weren't any taxis. The highways were closed, so we took back roads to the International airport, dodging full size wheel loaders, trying in vain to clear the roads of the heavy white stuff amidst city buses with chains on their rear tires, and people on motorcycles.

At the airport, the runways were cleared, but the luggage carts couldn't reach the cargo holds of the airplane due to the drifts. We waited on-board, @ the jet-way, on our Dragon Air Flight for an hour, while our luggage was manually carried from inside the airport to the bowels of the plane.

But we got out. We connected in Hong Kong. We caught our red-eye to Perth. We came up one luggage piece short (perhaps do to the unique loading process in QD??). We were issued t-shirts and shorts, and complementary toiletries from Qantas airlines, since our duffel that went MIA housed all of our toiletries, including my contact lenses.

"Thanks for the PJs!" piped Bei Bei, with genuine gratitude, as we left our contact info and crossed our fingers that our bag would somehow, miraculously, make it out of the Mainland, transfer in Hong Kong, and make it on the next flight to Perth (there are only a couple a day.)

Much to our relief, after spending the night in matching (x5) "PJs", with the tell-tale Qantas kangaroo logo, after applying the damp Indonesian roll-on antiperspirant (good deodorant never makes the freeebie packs!), and donning my heavy rimmed black glasses in the unfiltered sunlight of Western Australia, we learned our black roller duffel had made it.

We had a fabulous time galavanting about Western Australia. The Australians are all about many things... beer, BBQ, wine-- especially in the Margaret River area, and DIY... each place we stayed had a washer and dryer, a full set-up kitchen, and that Aussie staple-- the BBQ grill.) I joked that DIY routine didn't garner much of a holiday status for me when I had to grocery shop, cook, wash dishes and do the laundry... but the kids were thrilled by our simple lodgings, the ample sleeping spaces, and the lack of stuffiness we sometimes bristle at when traveling @ five-stars in Asia.

After a long weekend in Hong Kong (we love that city!), we're back in QD... which has replaced the bountiful snow with plentiful fog. All afternoon I watched it billow across our back garden like we were nestled in the Scottish moors.

But... Fog = warm air = spring is around the corner.

After days in the warm sun of Western Australia a warm-up around here sounds wonderful too!

The Land Down Under

Mid-day tomorrow we head to the Qingdao-Liuting Airport for Hong Kong.

Tomorrow night we catch a red-eye out of Hong Kong International Airport for Perth, Western Australia.

To say we're excited is to put it mildly.

We've been brushing up on our Aussie speech. Thanks to my friend K. who hails from Melbourne we now know the correct "Australian" way to say G'day and merlot (not with our "American" pronunciation). Thanks to her, we also know that sunnies are our sunglasses, and cossies are our swim suits -- cossie being a shortened version of the rather British swimming costume.

We have a great itinerary planned (thanks to our pengyoumen the Tapley's who hail from Western Australia.) We've scheduled time in Perth proper, Freemantle, Rottnest Island, and a leisurely drive into wine country around Margaret River. We've got a farm stay planned, diving and snorkeling in the southern Indian Ocean, and are prepped for marsupial sightings. Fish and Chips, Aussie BBQ washed down with local reds, and some lager as hardy as our friends Down Under will fulfill all gastronomic needs.

We will round out our trip from the laid back land at the bottom of the globe, with a stop-over in high brow Hong Kong.

The forecast for QD tomorrow is flurries with a high of 32 F (0 C).

Perth's forecast, you ask? A balmy 85 sunny degrees! (29 C).