Picasso

Later that afternoon Mary Ellen and I went to see the brand new Picasso exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria. The exhibit is traveling from its home in Paris, and just happened to open on our last day in Melbourne. The museum features work from Picasso from 1935-1945, and focuses on his painting of love and war during this period. He met his companion Dora Marr early in this time and that inspired him, but then as fascism took hold in Europe, his focus changed towards the pain and destruction of war. His masterpiece Guernica was painted during this time and recorded in photographs by Dora Marr. It was a very nice exhibit and really broadened my knowledge of Pablo Picasso.

The Queen Victoria Market

This morning I woke up and went for a nice run with Mary Ellen along the river and through the botanical gardens. After breakfast myself and Lynn, Donna, Laurie, Andy, and Jo went to the Queen Victoria Market to do some sightseeing and shopping. It was quite a display of food and items to purchase. After lunch there I went out on my own to walk back towards our hotel. The picture below shows Lynn, me, Donna, Laurie, and Jo on the tram in Melbourne on our way to the market.

Mao’s Chef

For dinner this evening we had the privilege of having Mao Zedong’s former chef cook for us at the Post-Mao Café. We had a massive dinner with some of the local Fulbright Scholars in the area. The food kept coming for something like 3 hours before the evening was over. It was good food, but after that long, I was ready to head for home.

The Australian Open

I had some time to myself this afternoon so I went wondering about the city. One of the places I visited was the home of the Australian Open. Of course it wasn’t in full use now since the Australian Open is in January, but it was still really cool to see the sights. I visited the Rod Laver Arena (which holds the center court), some of the show courts, the courtyards, the gift shop, and the Australian Players’ Hall of Fame statues.

CERES

Today was our first full day in Melbourne, and we spent the morning visiting a unique environmental center called the Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies (or CERES for short). This was an interesting place to visit because this center does both educational programs for students and research in sustainable, environmentally friendly buildings. For instance, the center uses rain run-off for water, recycles water, has compost toilets, uses compost for almost all waste, recycles, uses bio-diesel for vehicles, has lots of solar panels, a windmill, a wind-turbine, and organic gardens. It is a great example of how we could live with a minimal environmental impact. The picture below is of Mrs. Cactus Head, one of the many interesting statues at CERES.

In Melbourne

We drove for another hour and a half to reach downtown Melbourne, where we will be staying for the next two days and three nights. Melbourne is a magnificent city that is supposedly more refined than Sydney. When we did arrive we had dinner that evening at the hotel and then several of us went out and walked around the city to the riverfront area. It really is a beautiful city. Below are two pictures I took the following day of parts of the city.

Healesville Animal Sanctuary

We drove for several more hours, including a lunch stop, before coming to a mountainous region. After what seemed like hours of winding roads we ended up at the Healesville Animal Sanctuary. I didn’t go into this zoo with many expectations, but it was absolutely incredible. We got to see almost every well-known native Australian animal up close. We saw emus, koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, a Tasmanian devil, duck-billed platypus, wombats, and many more. One koala even had a baby with it, as pictured below. Several of the areas with the kangaroos and the wallabies had the animals moving around among us. Most of us got to touch a wallaby and get our picture taken with one (as I did below). This animal sanctuary has operating rooms to help injured animals that are brought in because of accidents. It has become a large tourist destination because of the wonderful interaction that is possible in such a place.

Brown Brothers Winery

Today was a traveling day from Albury to Melbourne. But, we had several fun stops along the way to help break the journey up. We stopped first at Brown Brothers Winery in the Milawa Gourmet Region. We had the opportunity for morning tea and then we learned about wines and some of the differences between varieties. In all we spent several hours there before moving on up the road. The picture below is of me and Andy with the vineyards in the background.

A Home Cooked Dinner

This evening Vicki (from Kansas) and I went to have dinner with some local Rotary members, Tony and Nan Brandt. Tony is a lawyer and Nan is a nurse and swim coach. Each Fulbrighter had been paired up to eat dinner at some local resident’s house, and Vicki and I were lucky enough to get to eat with these fine folks. We had a wonderful dinner and wonderful drinks and spent time talking beside the fire. It really was a wonderful evening. Below I am pictured with Tony and Nan.

School Visits in Albury

The group had the experience today of visiting two local schools. We began in the morning with a visit of Burrumbuttock Public School. This is a local K-6 elementary school that specializes in environmental education. They have a campus that is made up of several buildings, including a K-3 school and a 4-6 school. There are only two teachers that I saw, with only 38 children. It is a very small school that is doing very neat things. In fact, local schools come to this campus to see the great outdoor education opportunities that it offers. After the elementary school visit we saw a local private Catholic high school named Xavier. They also have a large campus with many buildings. It was fun to drop in on cooking, shop, computer, PE, and other specialty classes. The first picture below is of the elementary school visit and the second shows the library of Xavier High School.

Two Other Blogs

Just a FYI--there are two others on this trip doing blogs. You may want to check them out for a different view of the trip, and for more pictures.

http://ozspotting.blogspot.com/
http://aussiefulbrighthays.blogspot.com/

Skiing in Australia

Bridget from Ohio, Mary Ellen from NYC, and I decided to do some skiing today. Bridget is an avid skier and really wanted to ski in Australia. Mary Ellen and I decided to go along. The challenging part is that we had to rent a car and drive the about two hour drive to the mountains and Falls Creek Ski Resort. Bridget drove and we did make it without having any trouble, but it took a lot of concentration to not mess-up while driving. The scenery was absolutely beautiful up on the mountains. Bridget and I went downhill skiing while Mary Ellen did cross country skiing. I fell several times, but I am still proud of my effort. After several hours we drove back home to Albury to have dinner and call it a day. The pictures below are of us before skiing, me on the slopes, and of the drive home on the wrong side of the road.

A Local Farm

Today we traveled back to Holbrook to visit a farm that has an environmentally friendly planted area to help restore some natural area in the countryside. There is a sort-of consortium that is partially funded by the government to help restore places in farms to be more wildlife friendly. They see it as a way to be environmentally friendly and not hurt the farm’s earning power. Some local scientists were there tagging and documenting some local birds, and that is the picture I have below. Later that day we had lunch in town and then we had the evening to ourselves. I wondered about the town and then went to see The Da Vinci Code with several Fulbrighters. Myself and two others are booking a car tomorrow to drive to local skiing slopes to have a look and maybe do some skiing. It should be an adventure with the driving on the wrong side of the road and all….

In Albury

We did get to Albury during the early afternoon and checked into our hotel. Albury is a nice little city that has a very beautiful main street with lots of shopping and business. We had a little time to browse some of the shopping before things closed down for the day. We had a reception with the local mayor and a senator present, followed by a fine dinner in the hotel. I did get to hike up to the local World War I Memorial before calling it a day.

Travel to Albury

This morning we departed Canberra for a several hour drive to Albury. The drive was beautiful and we watched Rabbit Proof Fence, an Australian movie about three Aboriginal girls taken from their home to be raised as a laborer among the Whites. For a snack we stopped at a colorful rest stop called Dog on the Tuckerbox. The story is too long to write here, but you can probably Google it if you are interested. Then, we stopped for lunch in Holbrook before reaching Albury. The picture below shows the Dog on the Tuckerbox rest stop. (By the way, tucker is food/a meal, so a tuckerbox is something like a lunch box.)

A Scottish Ceilidh

Mark Darby, Executive Director of the Australian Fulbright Commission, had his last evening with us so we visited a local Irish establishment to see him off. Then, Mary Ellen in our group had read about a Scottish Ceilidh happening at a Polish Club in Canberra, do a bunch of us decided to check it out. So, after a tough time getting taxis and finding the place, we had dinner and then enjoyed several hours of music and even haggis with neeps and tatties (I didn’t eat any!). But, still it was fun experiencing a Scottish Ceilidh in a Polish club in Australia!

The US Embassy

After lunchtime the group gathered to head to the US Embassy for a visit. We drove by many other embassies on our way to the US Embassy. Each embassy is designed to look like the architecture of the home country, with the US’s looking like a Virginia palatial estate. After going through security we walked up to the residence of the Ambassador. The Bush administration recently appointed a new ambassador, after 18 months of not having one, so we met the acting ambassador, Dr. William A. Stanton. We all sat down inside this beautiful house and had a nice discussion with Dr. Stanton and two of his colleagues. After that we had a time for tea and snacks before seeing a brief tour of the downstairs portion of the house. Now that there is a new ambassador appointed, Dr. Stanton is heading to Seoul, Korea as the number two man there in that embassy. Needless to say, he has lots of work to do there! We all had our pictures taken with him and also a group photo. I don’t have those photos because we weren’t allowed to have camera inside the embassy, so when I get the picture, I’ll post it here.

The War Memorial

Most of the Fulbright group went to a nature preserve today, but me and two others elected to visit the National War Memorial here in Canberra. Many don’t know this, but Australia has participated with the US in every war since WW I. The War Memorial is a beautiful building that is down a large viewing street from the Parliament House, much like the layout of Washington DC and its large streets and reflecting pools. The picture below is looking from the War Memorial to the old and new Parliament House. The old one is in the fore ground with the new Parliament House rising behind it. All along the road there are monuments to each of the wars that Australia has participated in as well as monuments to the nurses and each military branch. We spent several hours touring the museum and then returned to the hotel.

The Parliament, Again

Two of us, Lynn and I, took a taxi from the school to The Parliament Building for another visit. Another Fulbrighter had met several staffers at a restaurant and they had offered us a tour and a chance to see the question session that afternoon. When we first got to the building, we were picked-up by Tanya Morgan, the chief-of-staff for Ross Vasta MP and taken back to the cafe that is only for staffers and members of Parliament. We had lunch there and then we had a short tour of the areas that are normally off limits to tourists. Then, we went to the question session. If you have watched the British Parliament do this, then you know what it is like. The Prime Minister and his other Ministers field questions from other representatives about current issues. It can get quite rowdy, which makes it a lot of fun to watch. After the session, Lynn and I left the room and to our surprise, saw John Howard, the Prime Minister come out just in front of us and walk in front of us. It was pretty cool to see someone that important just 15 feet away! Then, we had a tour of all the areas that are totally off limits without connections, which we had! We got to see almost everything in the building and we spent about 15 minutes talking with Ross Vasta, a Representative in the Parliament. We finished off the day with a quick snack in another exclusive café and then Lynn and I went about trying to catch a taxi back to our hotel. However, you can’t really get a taxi from there at that time of day, so the security guard offered to drive us home! So, we stayed around an extra 25 minutes and then Ian, our savior, drove us to our hotel. The picture I have below is of Lynn and me with Ian.

Canberra Grammar School

We found out yesterday that four of us would be visiting the Canberra Grammar School, an Anglican private school here in Canberra. I was really excited to see a school up close for the first time in Australia. The school did not disappoint, as it was a great school with many excellent academic programs. We had a great time talking with teachers, administrators, and students during our visit. I even got to meet with a teacher with a gifted and talented background and discuss curriculum with her. (For my former class members: There were some wild and very dangerous Kindergartners that I had to try to avoid…..) The picture below shows me with a 3rd year student at the school.

The Parliament House and Much More

This morning began for me with a 7 AM run around the lake in the city of Canberra with a fellow Fulbrighter Mary Ellen (pictured earlier on the plane). After this and breakfast, our group set-out for several hours visiting the Parliament House. This is similar to our Capitol Building in Washington DC. We got to visit each house and then tour the facilities. They have a beautiful building that was built in the late 1980s by an American architectural firm. We then had a meeting with Jason Wood MP who is a member of the Parliament House. After that we had lunch at the National Botanic Gardens and then we went to the National Museum of Australia. Needless to say this took our entire day, but we still had time for a short reception at the Australia Fulbright office and dinner at a local Italian restaurant. The picture below is of the Australian crest on the Parliament Building.

Royal National Park and Canberra

Today was our last day in Sydney for a while. We loaded up and went to the Royal National Park, the second national park created in the world with Yellowstone being the first. It was a beautiful park as the picture below demonstrates. From there we headed on the several hour drive to the national capitol of Australia, Canberra. It is actually pronounced “Canbra” and was derived the Aboriginal name Kamberra that is thought to mean “meeting place.” Canberra is much like our Washington D.C. in that it is in an area all its own and is a planned city. It was actually planned by an American named Walter Burley Griffin. When we finally arrived, we went to the National Library to learn about its functions and to receive library cards. Then, we headed back to our hotel for dinner and then we are free for this evening.

Dinner and a Boat Ride

We left the zoo and were supposed to get taxis to the Manly Lifeguard Club. Australia has clubs, much like our Moose or Elks clubs, that bring people together for social and for practical reasons. This club has been around since 1903 and is an organization that works on Manly Beach as lifeguards. They also compete in life guarding competitions. However, the taxis we were supposed to get didn’t show because of the traffic, so while some groups got there, my group took a bus into a easier area to get a taxi. We got one that had a driver that was quite talkative. He shared immediately how he had worked security for rock bands like U2 and Bon Jovi. He went into tons of stories on the ride over, and did get us to where we were supposed to go. This is something that seems to be common in Australia. Everyone is friendly and everyone has good, funny stories that they will tell to anyone. They also will generally make fun of themselves or their country, and if they like you, they will make fun of you as well! Anyway, we had a good presentation about this club and had dinner overlooking the beach. Then, we took a ferry back across the harbor and then several of us walked the rest of the distance to the hotel. We stopped by some local establishments to relax for a time, but made it back before midnight. The picture I have below is a view of the famous and beautiful Sydney Opera House from the Taronga Zoological Gardens.

An Educational Center and the Zoo

Our first full day in Sydney, Australia was a busy one. We began the day by taking a bus to Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre to learn about environmental education in New South Wales. (New South Wales is the state in which Sydney is located.) This place was a beautiful large piece of land with an educational center for school children. It was amazing to hear how this center provides great environmental educational for local students. After that we went to Taronga Zoological Gardens—the main zoo in Sydney. (And, no, Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter was not there. He has a newer zoo called Australia Zoo.) We had a catered lunch and then a presentation on eco-tourism. After that we got to have a guided tour of the Australia section of the zoo. We saw wombats, koalas, Tasmanian Devils, platypuses, kangaroos, wallaby, tons of birds, and many other great animals. We then had a presentation by a local zoo handler that allowed us to get up close and personal with several cool animals, including a black widow spider. (The spider was in a sealed box.) The first picture below shows me with a sign only found in Australia. The second picture is a close-up of an emu.

The First Morning in Sydney

I am now up and awake sitting in the hotel lobby working on the school laptop that I brought on this trip. The sun is just now rising here after an Australia loss in the World Cup to Brazil. The locals were up at 3 AM to watch it, but I went to bed. I hope to catch a match in a few days when they play again.

I wanted to say a quick word about the time difference. There is a huge difference because of the International Date Line that we crossed getting here. We are 14 hours ahead of Indiana EST time, so here as I type, it is 5:12 PM on Sunday in Indiana, but it is 7:12 AM on Monday in Sydney, Australia. If you want an easy way to check-out the world time zones, please visit http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Also, I did update another posting below that I couldn't do in the Honolulu airport because of the bad connection, so check it out. It is about our visit at the Shipman House in Hilo.

In Sydney, Australia

We did make it to Sydney, but we were several hours late because one of the pilots got sick before the flight and we had to stop off at Noumea, a French colony that is off the coast of Australia a few hours by plane. The flight to Noumea was great—Qantas Airlines has to be the best airlines I have ever flown with. The picture I have below shows myself with Andy (from upstate New York) and Mary Ellen (from NYC) on the 747-300 plane we rode on for our 10+ hour flight. If you notice, we are on an emergency exit row—I highly recommend asking for one when you fly long distances because it offers six feet of leg room! The last two hours got a little tiring, but we did make it and now we are in Sydney—14 hours ahead of EST. We have a nice hotel that we will be at tonight and tomorrow night before we leave for Canberra. I am looking forward to sleeping tonight and getting up for my first day down under on Monday.

Departing for Sydney

This morning we had to depart the hotel at 4:45 AM for Hilo Airport to fly to Honolulu International Airport. We fly out on Qantas Airlines flight 4 to Sydney. It will be about a ten hour flight in which we will lose a day because we cross the International Date Line. So, we take off at 11:30 AM local Hawaiian time on June 17th and land in Sydney on June 18th at 5:30 PM. It will be a long flight. Feel free to track it on flight tracker if that interests you….just look for the link below. We should be up and flying at about 5:30 PM EST.

The picture I have posted below is one from the flight from Honolulu to Hilo several days ago. It is of the two massive volcanoes that the Big Island of Hawaii is known for—Mauna Loa is on the right in the background and Mauna Kea is on the left in the front. If you look very closely at Mauna Kea, you will see some white specks at the top. Those are observatories with the finest telescopes in the world. It is one of the best places to see the stars. Also, the white all around are clouds. Students: With your parent’s permission, do a Google search about these volcanoes and learn about their amazing history.

Dinner at the Shipman House

For dinner our group got to tour and dine at the Shipman House, the last remaining Victorian mansion in Hawaii. The house was really quite amazing in the people that had visited it. These folks included the Queen of Hawaii and Jack London. We had a great dinner and plenty of time afterwards to discuss Australian and American politics. It is quite interesting to hear about their issues and then also their thoughts on American issues. Below is a picture of the group of 16 Fulbright-Hays teachers, along with our two Australian Fulbright representatives.

The Rainforest and Volcano

This morning was a day full of sight-seeing, beginning with a very scenic drive. We began by hiking through a rain forest here on the big island. On cue, it was raining the entire time we were in the rain forest! We saw the Akaka Falls, which were incredible. After that we visited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which included visiting steam vents, and the Halema’uma’u Crater. After that we walked through a lava tube that really looked like a huge cave, but was formed by moving lava. These tubes exist all over the island of Hawaii. The pictures below are of the Akaka Falls and of the volcano.

Dinner at Restaurant Kaikodo

We had a traditional Hawaiian welcome chant and send-off before dinner at a great local restaurant called Restaurant Kaikodo. This restaurant was in a historical building that was purchased by a Japanese antique company and fully restored. It was a beautiful building. After dinner a bunch of us walked the 45 minute journey home. It has been raining a lot here, and of course, we got soaked! Then, it was off to bed. The picture below shows me with some of my fellow Fulbrighters at the restaurant.

Visit to the Astronomy Center

After lunch we visited the ‘Lmiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii. This is a brand new museum that was created to provide a learning opportunity for kids and adults about both the famous observatories on the Big Island and about the Hawaiian history of astronomy. It had an amazing planetarium and wonderful exhibits about the history of Hawaiian in relation to the stars. The picture below shows the museum with our yellow school bus transportation.

Morning Learning Sessions

After a nice evening of sleep in which I got caught up and got over the jet lag, I woke up early to go eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant. After that I had a chance to go walking through a wonderful Japanese garden near the hotel, and to go out to the shore to look at the many crabs that are along it. After that the instructional part of the trip began with lectures on Australia’s environmental history, environmental politics, and issues in common between the US and Australia governments in relation to the environment. For the environmental politics lecture, we had Dr. Shibuya from the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies. For the session on the US and Australia governments, we had John Quinn, the Australian Consul General. Both of these guests were very impressive and very informative. I am pictured below with John Quinn.

In Hilo

I did make it into Hilo, Hawaii on time with the rest of my group. We got in at about 6:00 PM local time and then boarded a school bus to our hotel. The hotel is right on the ocean and is nice. We had a little time to wash up before a brief welcome session and then dinner. Now it is a little before 9 PM here, and I am turning in. It has been a long day. Below is a picture of the view from my room balcony.

The First Three Flights

My flights to Chicago and to Los Angeles were both fine and on-time. Unfortunately on the Los Angeles flight there were several loud infants or toddlers just a row or two up from me, but I just turned up my iPod and tuned them out. During that same flight I did get most of a paper written for a graduate class I am working on now (the last one in my gifted and talented license). The paper isn’t due until September, but since I didn’t have anything else to do during the flight, I figured I might as well write it now. (See students, you always complain about my homework assignments, but I have them myself as well!) The five hour flight to Honolulu was fine and on time as well. I am posting this from the Honolulu Airport, before we depart for the Big Island of Hawaii. The picture below is of the Grand Canyon from above at 500 MPH.

Track my flights with Flight Tracker

I will be leaving shortly for my trip. I have four flights today, but by 12:11 AM on Thursday (Indiana time), I should be in Hilo, Hawaii. It will make for a long day because it will only be 6:11 PM on Wednesday (Hawaiian time), and I still have a welcome dinner that evening. But, it should be exciting enough to just be in Hawaii, that I doubt I'll have that much trouble staying awake.

A neat thing that you may want to try is Flight Tracker. Simply go to the webpage below and enter in the airline and flight number and click Go. Then, you should be able to see a report of the actual flight, and if it is currently in the air, you see a map that is regularly updated with groundspeed and altitude info. If the flight is rerouted or delayed, you see that info also.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/delays/tracker-index.htm

American Airlines flight 4343 (Indy to Chicago - 1 hr 7 min)
American Airlines flight 549 (Chicago to Los Angeles - 4 hr 26 min)
Qantas Airlines flight 3252 (Los Angeles to Honolulu - 5 hr 40 min)
Hawaiian Airlines flight 360 (Honolulu to Hilo - 51 min)

Packing/Itinerary

As you can see from the picture posted below, I have most of my packing done. It is always a challenge to pack very lightly, but to still bring everything that will be needed for 30 days. (By the way, you can click on any picture I post for a bigger view.)

Also, I have a new Documents section to the right side on this blog. Click on the links to open PDF files that contain my trip itinerary, a trip map, and site information.

I leave in 1000 days

I can't believe that I leave for Hawaii/Australia in only 1000 days. Students: I assume you know that I am using a different base for my calculation. Try to figure out which one I am using. How many days until I leave (in our normal base 10)?

If you have trouble, or just want to play around with a base calculator, try this website: http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/exner/ncsa/base/default.html

Try to figure out my countdown in a different base as well. Do you have a countdown of your own that you could do in a different base?

School is out

Well, the school year is officially over for both teachers and students. I have just spent the day putting away my classroom for the summer and taking care of the end-of-year paperwork (like signing the cards that say the third graders get to be fourth graders...).

I don't know yet if I will be moving to a different classroom in August, so I just put my room away as if I am staying put. But, I think I will probably move in August somewhere else in the building. I really enjoyed this school year. It is sometimes hard to say goodbye to a good year and a great class, but summer is here, and it won't take long for both teacher and students to start enjoying the time off.