tomorrow we begin the Overland Track in Tasmania. We’ve had packed days with lots of driving, meeting new folks, and very little Internet time. sorry for the scarcity of posts recently. We’ll have to do a giant wrap-up . . . from the USA, where we’ll be in just 8 days! Wild.

Signing out for a 6-day hike,

Katy & Rick

Oh man… is it ever hot.  98 degrees in the shade!  Sure makes for some long hours.  Luckily, Sheila has been taking very good care of us.  A break around 10, lunch at 1, and a nice cool shower at 5 followed by some wonderful meals.

Our days are similar to what they were 6 months ago.  Lots of care for the pacas and some painting and heavy lifting here and there.  When we arrived, we were so happy to learn that there were 2 pacas born less than two weeks ago.  Here’s one now…

Katy thought she would strum this 5 day old like a guitar...

While I had the honor of handling dad, the new "macho" in town.

And here's the whole family posing for their holiday card. Happy Australia Day everyone. Look at dad giving his daughter a big kiss while tending to mom's needs too What a family man.

As if this wasn’t enough of a treat, we helped in the mating process once again.  I’ll never forget that sound.

We took Osama for another walk.

I took Osama on his last walk at Triple Peaks. He was off to a new farm the day we left.

And a couple days later, we had a new arrival.  A BABY GIRL!

It's a girl. Check out that umbilical cord!

The sniff test. Are you my baby?

Pacas on watch. Baby in the middle.

Do you like my eyelashes?

"And I'm not very good at eating yet."

A few hours after the birth of our young INDIANA (that’s the paca’s name), we decided to celebrate at the Rathdowney rodeo!

Ahhh, felt like I was right back at Country Thunder in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin.

But if you’ve ever been to a rodeo, you know music isn’t the main attraction.  The first bull rider we saw was 4 years old, “the youngest man in the National Rodeo Association.  Let’s see how he does.

And this guy (as the announcer said) needed some medical attention.

To wind down our week and celebrate another great experience, Sheila invited us to her friends house for a gourmet wood fire pizza party.

Where there is pizza, there are camels??

and wallabies...

And a live in alpaca who was crazy about wood fired pizza!

And a few days later, we were off again.  Next destination Tasmania.

Thanks Triple Peaks and Sheila for some wonderful memories and new friendships.

Sheila’s place is always full of surprises. Within hours of our arrival, we’d seen baby alpacas, cane toads (and cane toad tadpoles), and, most fun of all, green frogs! But these weren’t your typical green frog. These were toilet-dwelling green frogs!

Sheila has a set of public restrooms near her house, for the many visitors to the farm. Since Rick and I are staying in the traditional pioneer hut, these restrooms are for us as well. When I went to use the toilet, I saw that the back of the stall door had a sign saying I should leave the top lid down so that frogs don’t jump in!

A cautionary sign.

I thought the sign was some kind of joke. Then, I flushed. Despite having just read the sign, I was shocked to see *three* large, green frogs dive into the toilet bowl along with the water!

Not your ordinary flush! (The bits in the bowl are from *them*!)

I left the bathroom and went to the house, where I found Sheila and Rick and asked what I should do about these loo loungers! Sheila said, “I was hoping you’d take them out!” Being a lifelong frog catcher, I was happy to do so.

Lucky for you, this has been happening a couple of times a day, every day that we’ve been here! Here are the highlights.

Making new friends.

Stiff neck from living in a toilet?

Taking a shower break from the bowl . . .

After our layover/cancelled flight in Singapore and another missed flight in Darwin, we arrived in Brisbane a day late and caught the tram to central station and the bus to Beaudesert.  There waiting in the Coles Supermarket parking lot with here standard wide brim hat and open arms was Sheila, “the alpaca lady”!  After 6 months of traveling, it was so nice to see a familiar face and know that a happy hour and a fresh home-made meal were minutes away. 

But first… let’s see that log cabin we started 6 months prior… 

An Australian authentic log cabin w/ a few updates.

 

Complete w/ a wood burning stove thought the 105 degree heat has kept us quite warm during the days and nights.

 

And an outdoor tub.

 

And some of the best views in Australia.

 

Paca Play!

 

"Who are these people? They look familiar but I don't know if I trust em'."

Well, here we are at the airport about 15 hours after we were meant to take off.  Our flight was delayed, then cancelled (of course screwing up our connecting flight), and now is on again in a few hours.  Jetstar drove us back into the city, put us up in a hotel, and then had a 2AM all you can eat buffet to celebrate!! 

It’s a strange feeling when you look around at each other in the dining hall and know that no one in here should be eating this much this late at night yet we all can’t stop ourselves (Think late night Denny’s, or a “burrito as big as your head” from LaBamba’s if you know the fine establishment).  Normally we would all be asleep dreaming of kangaroos and alpacas by now.  But… here we are over eating just to wake up in about 5 hours  and do it again.  Mmmm… I hope they have baked beans tomorrow.  I really love baked beans in the morning. 

Sure enough 5 hours later, I was eating the same mini eggrolls (Dang, those are good, but in a horrible way.) and Katy found herself dodging another inchworm/maggot in her salad   I’ll upload the photos later.  There’s a nice video of “the worm” making his way across the plate, through the leafy green forest, around the oil and vinegar pond, and onward to the potato garden!!

Should be in Darwin in 9 hours, hopefully Brisbane in 12, and at Triple Peaks Alpaca Farm in Rathdowney soon after that!  Stay tuned…

After our lovely three days on Sentosa Island, we returned to Singapore proper. As I reflect on the last 3 days, I can’t say we’ve done anything particularly exciting. We’ve spent a lot of time walking around the city and wandering in around the countless malls (where we discovered that all pants in Singapore, male and female, have a 32″ inseam . . . this is very strange, since we can’t help but notice that few people around here have legs that long!). We also ate too much (I had Hooters for the first time . . . can’t say I was impressed, but Rick assures me that the fries are normally curlier and better seasoned at home), but got back into a solid running routine, which has only fueled more eating. Thrilling, eh? There are a few highlights, though. Here you go.

We listened to Singaporean lounge singers belt out American (including Country) classics in our hotel lobby bar.

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We saw more Merlions!

Merlion . . . cub?

Rick even got a Merlion t-shirt while we were in Chinatown!

At first glance, you might think, "G.I. Joe, American Hero?" But look closer. That's not camo. That's Merlion.

As you can see, Rick also got a haircut . . . at a high-tech barber shop.

Yesterday we spent several hours in Chinatown, including a stop at the Chinatown Heritage Center, a remarkable new museum reenacting the Chinese immigrant story. I’ve been on kind of a Chinese history kick lately (weird, I know) and am knee-deep in a dumb-founding Mao biography (by the Jung Chang, the same woman who wrote the amazing book, Wild Swans). The Heritage Center added another perspective to the history I’m learning. We also picked up Rick’s Merlion t-shirt there for 4 bucks! What a steal!

In a few hours we leave Singapore for Brisbane via two flights. We’re getting pretty sick of the airport routine . . . hats off to people who travel a lot for their jobs! We’ll be at Sheila’s for another week, where, she’s assured us, there is a chore list awaiting us along with plenty of paca poo and happy hours! Yeah!

After our first three days in the city, we decided to explore a little island just south of Singapore called Sentosa (The southernmost part of continental Asia).  To our surprise, the island was only a 15 minute and three dollar MRT ride away from the city center yet the feel of the island was that of a tropical paradise… with a little bit of Disney World thrown in.  And ok…instead of cruise ships, the island is surrounded by cargo ships (but they look just as beautiful as cruise ships at night)!  All in all, a beautiful three days!!

The largest statue in all of Singapore is a "Merlion"! Wait...what? That's right...a MERLION! Isn't he beautiful?

Sentosa Island (Singapore)

The Shipyards off Singapore (Sentosa Island). This is where all comes from!!

This is where this bird lives. How appropriate

Crime and violence is everywhere!

A pretty neat green leaf.

The Geography of Bliss calls Singapore the Switzerland of Asia and though I’ve never been to Switzerland, I can say with confidence that Singapore is a very well-run and strategically planned out city, or state, or island, or whatever it is.  They’ve managed to keep their city clean, free of traffic jams, and full of easy to use public transport.  There’s just about anything you want to eat less than a few blocks away.  They’ve figured out how to use their waterways for business and pleasure.  They’ve kept the city full of parks, trees, and native plants.  And they’ve even created a weekend/holiday getaway minutes from where the majority of the population works.  Very impressive.

The only beef I’ve got w/ Singapore is the ridiculous number of mega malls on almost every block in the city.  I would venture to say there are over 200 malls in Singapore (a city-state just a few times bigger than Washington DC).  And many of them have the same stores and restaurants in them.  I don’t quite get it.

But we did indulge in the Vivo City Mall one day… caught a movie (Sherlock Holmes), played some video games, and grabbed a bite to eat.

Remember the guy who was really good at Dance, Dance, Revolution from our Sydney Australia post a few months back…

We thought we’de take a whack at it.

Check out that follow through! Business casual just went the way of mens activewear. I don't think the locals ever saw a man sweat that much.

Every great arcade has some good prizes. Still sparkling from pop-a-shot, we went w/ the pen/eraser combo.

And let the celebration begin. No bubbly... a few happy hour pints should do.

And for dinner, a Steamboat. Think Chinese fondue.

...and lets cap the night off w/ some 7-11 mashed potatoes? Woah!

And how’s about a little street luge??

And lastly…surfing. 

Note:  Neither of the Singaporians in this video are Katy or I. 

See what I mean about the DisneyWorld theme park vibe.  But without the crowds.

Our past few days have been very refreshing…

Katy started the week w/ an IV. Bye Bye UTI

While I sat and wondered...are we in the right hospital? Maybe Scout should be here too.

But all ended well and we celebrated w/ some new clothes (1st in 51/2 months) and a trip to the Science Museum.  Photos weren’t allowed in the Body Worlds exhibit (it was excellent) but we did sneak one in the kiddie wing.

Top score of the day! Eat that little Asian children!! But wait... the jokes on me! Check out the writing on the wall. "Living with viruses". Katy set me up!

We found the U of C Singapore Branch.

A little piece of home half way around the world.

We thought about getting tattoos but then saw these two and thought again!

Angel wings?? Really??

A local on the river.

Before the big game (which Katy wrote about in our last post), we walked along the river, and had a nice dinner before waiting in line for our tickets…

Oh wait... I was one of four people that bought tickets online. Huh?? But I did get to bypass ten people and go to the "special" window.

In the stadium… the crowd roared when the Slingers came out for warm-ups.

All 15 of us!!

Even in Asia, the fans can be unruly!!

After the big win… we all celebrated with a complimentary half gallon of chocolate milk!!  It does a body good.

Choco Malt Flavor. My favorite post game drink.

Well, Rick’s wearing a Slingers jersey with Hong “Flyboy” Wei Jian’s name on the back. (Learn more about Flyboy here: http://singaporeslingersblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/player-profile-hong-wei-jian/ )

The teams consistently sub 5 in at a time. Also, no beer in the stadium! There is free wifi, though!

Score is 48-30, Slingers! Yeah! Good thing, too, because this game determines who makes the playoffs!

Post-game summary: Singapore’s going to the playoffs! With a Center from Oregon State and a Forward from UCONN, the Slingers dominated the Dragons, 92-74. Yeah!

it’s an hour till tip-off and we’re near the stadium at the American-style pub with a rowdy crowd of 6 (staff-to-diner ratio of 1:1). U2’s Where the Streets Have No Name is on, we’re drinking microbrews for the first time since New Zealand (Mac’s) and getting psyched for the game. A little background on tonight’s rivalry: Singapore (the nation, not the team) seceded from Malaysia only a few decades ago, so tensions may run high. We don’t anticipate in violence, since that would result in canings. Just imagine if the South had won The War, and then played the North in hoops in about 1890. (The history is true, but the countries are actually totally cool with each other.)

We have other reasons to be excited tonight! For the first time in 5 1/2 months, we got a change of clothes, and I got a haircut! We bought our shirts at a discount sidewalk sale. Rick went (his words) business-cas with the signature Singaporean plaid button-down tee (total Science teacher). I picked up a t-shirt claiming “brown bear like coffee.” I didn’t question the truth of this until we saw the Omnimax flick after Bodyworlds yesterday, “Bears,” where I learned that brown bear no like coffee. Brown bear like salmon. And ants. But the T-shirt (and my haircut, done by a punkrock-looking guy who repeatedly told me, “My normal customer–Malayasian,” but in the end seemed very pleased with his first American job) is special in an Asian teenager kind of way.

I’m also overwhelmingly pleased to report that, after 3 doses of IV antibiotics, my infection has finally resolved. Probably my greatest cause for celebration tonight. Central Asia has been hard on our bodies. We’re back to our NOLS weight, but we’re on the path to recovery by eating our weight in breakfast buffets every morning!

We saw ESPN will being covering tonight’s game, so we were going to make a sign. This blog post will have to do. More updates to follow!

Tomorrow we’re headed to island just off (the island of) Singapore, called Sentosa, where we’ve heard there’s a luge (Rick’s really excited about this, and I don’t really get it). We’re going to have a proper vacation, assuming no more illness!