Oddities and Travels

Summer's clearly over

Autumn has come and I am naive enough to be surprised at the sight of leaves changing color and temperatures dropping. At the beginning and end of the day, it has become surprisingly chilly. In the mornings, we wake up to a cold house, put on warm jumpers and turn on the heating. Yes. We have to turn on the heating in Australia. It’s a relief, however, to feel the temperatures rise during the day. We have had some beautiful days with lots of sunshine and up to 25 degrees. If winter continues to be like this, I have nothing to complain about.

Unless you ask me about the insulation of our house, that is…. or any house at all here. The quality of the houses is so bad, it’s almost funny. The houses are built from timber and use pockets of air for insulation, giving them the feel of being made from cardboard. We consider ourselves lucky to have one outer layer of brick on the front of our house. And yet, there is no such thing as insulation. Thus houses heat up very quickly to a high degree in the summer and get very cold in the autumn and winter. If they just built sturdier houses, Australia could save a huge amount of energy. But as energy is dirt cheap here, no one particularly cares. And really, why should they? We pay AU$ 40 (approx EUR 31) a month for electricity. Australia has a huge amount of natural resources which makes energy extremely affordable and belies its precious nature. On the other hand, I’ve never lived in a city that has been so badly lit at night. Perhaps because of this, it seems like nights are much darker here than they are in Europe. 

Looking for the insulation?

Houses here are, in general, not built for the long haul. There are houses that look perfectly fine and nice and good to live in that are being torn down. In their place, square cardboard constructions are being built, so-called town houses. Where there used to be a good-size house with enough space for a decent garden the whole plot is now used up for one building or two or three. It is a shame really, and for me personally, not truly understandable. It seems as though Australians care more about quantity than quality when it comes to building houses. I only have one explanation for this, however: it is not allowed to build a house that overlooks your neighbor's. In that case, if you want to create a lot of living space and you are not allowed to go up you have to expand horizontally. But why would you need a garage that gives room for two cars? Would you not rather have a piece of garden?

Our friends Ian and Sharia are currently planning to tear down their pretty house from the 1950s which is, by the way, a double-brick house (read: good insulation). They are forced by law to create parking space for two cars on their premises. This only makes sense when following the city's reasoning that cars parked in the street only add to the congestion. Thus, it is better to have them parked on their owners' premises.

Klara at the Immigration Museum

Last year 1,000 families per week moved to Melbourne! The city already suffers from traffic congestions and a malfunctioning public transport system, so we hear. But if I compare it with Berlin, Amsterdam and Prague (my only viable points of reference) things are still looking rather good. Of course, the further away you are from the center the less you are connected to the public transport system. And of course trains fail to run here and there. But this is nothing compared to the crazy traffic situation in Amsterdam and the more than malfunctioning rail system in the Netherlands in general. And car traffic in Prague is so much worse than it is here that I do not quite understand what people are complaining about. Of course, issues of infrastructure need to be addressed should Melbourne continue to grow at this speed. I guess that is the price that needs to be paid for living in the most livable city in the world (http://www.businessday.com.au/business/best-and-worst-cities-to-live-20110830-1jj9d.html). But the city elders have already understood that the city, which is an urban sprawl, can no longer grow horizontally. Thus, where developers used to look for more room at the outskirts of the city, apartment buildings are now being built aiming at the super rich. Just a random example: the average price for a house in our suburb is 900,000 AU$ (roughly 700,000 Euros). And ours is by far not one of the expensive suburbs. 

People who do not believe in recession but in travel

There is also fear of recession. People were shocked at the latest unemployment figures of 5.8% in the state of Victoria, which is the highest in the country. Everybody screams crisis and recession. When I read this figure with a European background (with the exception of Switzerland, perhaps) I would be more than thrilled. But Australians are shocked and worried out of their minds. It feels like Australia desperately wants to have a piece of the global crisis and is trying hard to catch up with the rest of the world, be it only in terms of crying doom and gloom. I still feel like we are living in economical paradise.

Paradise is called Apollo Bay

Speaking of paradise, we took some lovely trips during the last couple of weeks. Our weekends filled with visits to Bunnings are over. We actually started discovering what lies outside the city limits and there is a whole new world out there. 

Yes, it is a fern tree

First, we drove to the mountains. I personally doubt that those hills deserve the name ‘mountains,’ but be it as it may. (I admit I might be biased by the sight of the Swiss Alps from Lake Constance on a clear day.) It took us only an hour to get there and even though it was a rainy and cold day, it was quite an extraordinary excursion. The fauna and flora is so different from what we are used to that it is stunning just to look up the huge eucalyptus and fern trees resembling palm trees to see cockatoos, parrots and other birds I cannot name. The soundtrack is so lively, chirpy and exotic you want to hold your breath and just listen. We took a hike to a waterfall through rainforest-like vegetation and marveled at the different shades of green and plants. We had lunch at a restaurant that was housed in a former church.( You can still hold your wedding ceremony there!) It was run by patrons who looked like they had taken a day off from the nursing home to work there. The approximately 60-year old waitress called her stumbling and shaking colleague "the old guy" but who was perfectly efficient and sweet. We also went to the Rhododendron gardens, which were not in bloom of course, but had a stunning view across the valley.

Hiking through the rainforest

In the winery "The Old Train Tracks"

Then we took a trip to Victoria's most famous wine region, the Yarra Valley. We had a wine tasting and the most expensive pizza ever (AU$ 21 for a small sized Pizza Margherita) but enjoyed the space, the weather and the lack of traffic and houses. It also made me think how much money I could make if I opened a Pizza Margherita joint and sold them for AU$ a piece....

A beautiful piece of vineyard

To her it's one big sand pit

The next day trip we took was to a small sea town called Lorne along the Great Ocean Road. We had planned to camp, as Olaf bought a tent from Aldi - and anything Aldi offers we need. We had prepared everything: from buying insulating blankets and making sure our torches work up to pre cooking meals for our small gas cooker. We wanted to leave on Saturday morning for the last weekend with warm sunshine before the fall, according to the weather forecast. But alas, I checked the weather forecast on Saturday morning and it predicted thunderstorms, rain and a temperature drop of 15 degrees. “I am not going camping in such weather conditions”, I announced. We still headed off to the Great Ocean, leaving the tent and sleeping bags behind, but bringing the food and the gas cooker. We left in the morning and returned at night. And guess what! It was the most beautiful, sunny and warm day of the year. Perfect conditions for a short camping trip. Thus, the lesson learnt from that is: never trust the weather forecast in Victoria. They cannot even predict the weather for the next five minutes. However, we had a lovely day. We saw empty white beaches, surfers and life guards, pool puddles, tiny fish, the most amazing blue skies, a lighthouse, we had the best fish and chips and our pre cooked Chili in the most beautiful park overlooking the bay and beach in Lorne. 

The most beautiful picnic spot in Lorne

Zineb and I on the beach

We have also had dear friends visit, both from Berlin but independently from each other. First Zineb came over from Kuala Lumpur where she had attended a conference. She only stayed for four days but it was so nice having her here that it made me homesick. She had been to Melbourne before so we did less of touristy stuff but more interior decorating. It is always good getting the opinion of someone who is independent and unaffected. In return we took her to the Mornington Peninsula, an hour’s drive from our house. It touches the Melbourne Bay and the Ocean, is immaculately green and utterly pretty. We also went Penguin watching in St. Kilda. This is a hip suburb close to the center of Melbourne. We went out on St. Kilda Pier at sunset and joined the penguin guard waiting for the tiny animals to return from their fishing grounds. They live between the rocks of the pier and seeing them swim into the crowded bay is quite amazing. It was just the obnoxiously noisy people who bothered us. They screamed and jumped and pointed and flashed their cameras at the poor little creatures. It was hard to bear so we left quite early.

Klara on the Mornington Peninsula, bay side

Janiv pondering prices over breakfast

Another dear friend from Berlin visited last week. Janiv and his sister, who is best friends with our landlords Harvey and Rona, were here for a week. Unfortunately, I had just caught a pretty bad cold when they arrived and was pretty useless as a tour guide. But Harvey more than made up for that. He took them to more places than I have seen in six months while I drank sage tea and inhaled chamomile infused steam to regain my voice and breathing. Luckily I recovered just in time for another trip to the Great Ocean Road with Harvey and Rona, their daughter Or and our guests. They all talk and laugh

incessantly. The only way to shut them up is to feed them. We had an amazingly beautiful trip with lots of sunshine and rain - of course. We saw even more deserted, white and sandy beaches, blue seas and skies, and we saw the Twelve Apostles, a stone formation off the coast formed by the waves of the sea. We went on a tree-top walk and marveled at the hundreds of years-old trees and we talked and laughed for a whole weekend. Klara was in heaven as she got a lot of attention from so many people.

The whole happy lot, except of me, of course: from left to right Harvey, Rona, Or, Carmith, Janiv, Klara, Olaf and three of the apostles

Klara in her winter school uniform

Putting a snake on squealing girls

By the way, Klara is doing so much better in school now. She has friends who come to our house for play-dates after school or invite her over. She has already been invited to three birthday parties, which is quite shocking for me as it seems to be an unwritten law for school children to invite the whole class (!!!!). But parents seem to make the most of it. They reduce the party time to exactly two hours and the parents of the guests do stick to it. The party, however, has to have a theme of some kind. The most interesting one so far was a snake-handler party. There was a woman who looked like she was only 15-years old with huge boxes, from which she took live lizards and dragons, a crocodile and of course snakes. Yikes! The children were taught all sorts of interesting and educational facts about the animals and were allowed to touch and hold them. The biggest python was put around the children’s shoulders. Of course, it took three children to hold that creature. I could not decide whether I should be disgusted or fascinated. It was quite an experience, and very different from any other birthday party Klara has attended in good old Europe.

Olaf is doing very well at work. He is extremely busy, and his colleagues and bosses seem to value what he is doing. He has to travel to Singapore for business at the beginning of June for a week and guess who has invited herself along? Me! It’s Singapore, people! Of course I am coming and I am bringing Klara. It is only an 8-hour flight from Melbourne. Do you see how my attitude towards evaluating distances changed? Sharia recently told me that she would work on a job that involves travel to Asia because you can do it in a day. Well, it is only a 7 to 9 hour flight to most Asian cities. I can’t believe I am thinking in the same way already!

This is only a three-hour drive away from our house

 Speaking of travel, we have set a date for our trip home. We will arrive in Prague on Friday 22 June. We will stay with Radka and her family for a couple of days and try to see everyone. Then we will move on to Berlin where we will stay at Zinebs. Klara can't wait until she will be reunited with her 'sister' Charlotte. After that we are off to my parents where we will spend two weeks together with my sister and Klara's 'brother', her cousin Julius. And there is even a slight chance we might travel to Amsterdam as Olaf probably has to go there on business.

Apparently it is no problem for Klara to miss a week or two of school as teachers and principals consider the cultural experience of overseas travel more valuable than school.

Marzipantorte following my Dad's recipe

One last note on my career perspectives: visitors and travels have been a good excuse to keep me from looking for a job. However, I started baking seriously and am pondering a new line of business: a cake shop! So now I am busy doing hands-on research: visiting all the famous cake shops in Melbourne and trying their products to see if my humble efforts stand a chance. One thing is for sure, though: my weight does not take well to this research. I have gained four (4) kilos...

Sachertorte, the real thing

Well, that’s it for today. I hope to see lots of you in Prague or Berlin or Murbach or Amsterdam or Melbourne (hint, hint)!

Love,

Julia