Australia 9/2/2019 - 9/22/2019

Thursday, 9/5/2019 - King's Park and Botanic Garden, Elizabeth Quay

I had nightmares over night...probably a combination of jet lag and my missing luggage. Sonam, Sonam, and Nim worked from 2:30 a.m. - 6:30 a.m. cleaning office buildings. Craig and I woke up at 6 a.m. and took showers before they arrived home. We had slept for a full 11 hours, which helped our jet lag quite a bit.

We had breakfast: coffee, fried rice with egg, and chili paste (made from chili powder that Sonam Choki's mom had made). It was delicious!

Nim drove all of us into the city to visit King's Park and Botanic Garden. Near their house, we passed a stadium proclaiming "Home of the West Coast Eagles: Go Eagles!" This would become our mantra any time we passed through here (or any time we saw any reference to an eagle, football or otherwise).

Driving through Perth, it seems like a lovely little city, a nice blend of old and new architecture. What a nice introduction to Oz! We have amazing hosts here; they are taking good care of us! It is so great to get to spend quality time with them.

King's Park comprises 990 acres, and is situated on Mount Eliza with a gorgeous view of downtown and the Swan River. The wildflowers were blooming with the coming of spring, and there were many plants which were new to us.

There were many people here, and Nim had a hard time finding a parking spot. He dropped us off and then went to park. The weather was gorgeous, with sunny skies and 60 degree temperatures. Several television crews were filming in the park today, good-naturedly fighting with each other over locations.

The colors of the flowers were simply stunning. Many plants were labeled. We saw bees hard at work pollinating the flowers. Aluminum letters spell out "Western Australia Botanic Garden", and we posed behind them for a photo. Next to these letters is "Symbiotica," a large aluminum sculpture by Paul Johnson and Gail Mason. There are laser cut-outs in the aluminum in the shape of endemic Australian seeds. Surrounding the area are weeping silver princess (Eucalyptus caesia) trees with their bell-shaped seed pods.

We admired the Wittenoom floral clock, a functioning clock whose face and numbers consist of native Australian flora. It is encircled by red bricks and flowed beds.

A placard showed a photo of the Karri log, a 363-year old tree trunk which had been on display here between 1958 and 2001. As it started to decay, it was converted to mulch now used in the garden beds at the park.

Kaarta Gar-up is the Noongar (Aboriginal peoples of Southwest Australia) traditional name for Mount Eliza. The name is represented on a sign for the "Kaarta Gar-up Lookout", from which we had beautiful views of downtown Perth as well as the Swan River. We took many photos here.

We explored the State War Memorial, explaining to the Bhutanese that ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (which suffered around 35,000 casualties during the Gallipoli campaign during World War I). It was very sobering to see all of the names of the ANZAC soldiers who have lost their lives in this campaign and others in history.

The Sonams and Nim were fascinated by the names on display, as names are quite different in Bhutan, where they are unisex, Buddhist in origin, and without the concept of a family name. We also walked around the flame of remembrance and pool of reflection, which had been inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth in 2000. It was a very somber experience.

There was a stone wishing well which benefits the Rotary Club. We explained the concept of Rotary to the Bhutanese, who were not familiar with it. During the rest of the trip, Craig and I would snap a photo any time we ran across a Rotary sign or function, to show them just how widespread it is.

We walked over to an area where a statue of Queen Victoria was flanked by cannons dating back to 1843. The statue said "Presented to Western Australia by Allen H.P. Stoneham, London, 1902." Craig taught Nim and Sonam Tshering how cannons work

Sonam Choki got a message saying that her afternoon classes were cancelled, so we didn't need to rush back to the house.

We stopped at a picnic area which had public barbecue grills and picnic tables. Public barbecues are a staple in Australia. Here some young men were cooking burgers and hot dogs. We sat at a table and enjoyed some apples and pears that Sonam Choki had brought for us. We noticed the cultural diversity of Perth. A family with a baby who appeared to be Malaysian ate a picnic next to us, and we chatted with an Indian scientist who was calling and feeding magpies as he ate his lunch.

It was a lovely outing; getting to explore the outdoors in absolutely beautiful weather.

We drove back to the house and had some noodles for lunch. I had been expectantly looking at my phone all morning, hoping that my luggage would have arrived on the first flight from Sydney. When I didn't hear anything by mid-afternoon, I called the baggage handling service. They had no record of my missing bag, which made me quite nervous.

I was tired and feeling stressed about the bag. In my carry-on, I only had a pair of jeans, a bathing suit, and two shirts. That would not suffice for 3 weeks! The guy told me to send an email with photos of my boarding passes and bag tags, which I did. I started to get a headache, from a combination of jet lag and stress.

Sonam Tshering got a video call from Apa and Ama (his parents) in Bhutan. He gathered us all around his phone to say hello. It was so nice to be able to see their smiling faces hear Ama's signature laugh. They were obviously quite happy that we were visiting the kids. They are so proud of the Sonams, and they know that it is not an easy cultural adjustment for them. They are not able to visit themselves, so they are happy that their son's "American parents" are able to go in their stead.

Sonam prepared lemon tea, using a lemon grown on the tree in the backyard.

The Sonams said that I looked exhausted, but asked if we wanted to go into the city to see it all lit up after dark. I was exhausted, but we didn't want to succumb to our tiredness so early; we needed to try to get accustomed to a regular sleep schedule in this time zone. It also took my mind off my luggage debacle.

It was chilly tonight, but my fleece was in my missing luggage. Sonam Choki kindly lent me a sweater. She is a size small; I don't think I've worn that size since middle school, if even then! The sweater stretched to fit me, but I wonder if it will now be very loose on her! They lent me a jacket as well.

Nim drove us to Elizabeth Quay in the Central Business District (CBD). The first thing that we saw here was the Bell Tower. It was closed for the evening, but it looked very impressive all lit up. It is architecturally interesting; the design resulting from a competition for the Australian bicentennial in 1988. It contains 12 bells from St. Martin in the Fields which date back to the 14th century. Dozens of small fountains surround the tower, and the chain link fences surrounding the fountains are bedecked with Love Locks, padlocks in the shape of two hearts which you can purchase and have engraved in the Bell Tower shop. The fountains, like the Bell Tower itself, were lit up and cycled through various color patterns.

Perth is known as the City of Light. Residents lit the city when United States astronaut John Glenn passed overhead when orbiting in Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962. He acknowledged being able to see the isolated city from space. In 1998, the city did a repeat performance when Glenn was orbiting the earth on space shuttle Discovery.

Perth seems to be leaning in to the City of Light reputation. The lights of the quay, along with the lights of the skyline of the CBD, make the Elizabeth Quay area look magical at night.

Nim pointed out that in summertime, the area is completely packed with people. But on this crisp early spring evening, we had the place more or less to ourselves.

We walked over the modern Elizabeth Quay pedestrian bridge and enjoyed the public art on display. One fabulous sculpture is of a giant shiny aluminum bird with wings outspread. This statue is called "First Contact", and was designed by Laurel Nannup, a member of the Noongar tribe who was a victim of the Stolen Generations. During the 20th century, Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their clans and placed in group homes or fostered by wadjallas (white people). There was a poem carved in script around the base of the sculpture.

"First Contact," Laurel Nannup

They first saw a boat with white sails coming to shore
which they haven't seen before
you know it would have looked like a big white bird
and the sailors being wadjallas made the noongar people think
it was their ancestors coming back from the dead
from the sea

There was also a lovely statue of Bessie Mabel Rischbieth with an umbrella by Jon Tarry. She was an Australian feminist, suffragette, and social activist. She fought against government practices that resulted in the Stolen Generations.

An abstract statue called "Spanda" (designed by Christian de Vietri) is supposed to represet the ripples in the Swan River, linking it to the land and the sky, though some say it more resembles a paperclip.

We saw a cool area known as the BHP Water Park. Here the ground is covered with colorful tile mosaics, and during the day, water spouts up from various fountains. It was turned off for the evening.

We watched as ferries entered and left downtown. There was a sign indicating the day's UV risk. We were thankful that we weren't in Australia at a time of year when you had to be particularly worried about that (though we would wear sunscreen regardless).

We heard quite a lot of noise coming from a nearby bar, where people were clearly enjoying themselves on the upper floors and roof deck.

They are building expensive new condos on the quay, and on our way back to the car, we stopped to look at the model buildings. The Bhutanese were dumbfounded with sticker shock: $800,000 AUD for a 1-bedroom, and $12.5 million AUD for a penthouse.

It was a gorgeous walk. The area is so clean and modern. This seemed like such an iconic part of the city that we assumed that it was always here. But in fact, this waterfront development only dates back to 2016.

Although I got a second wind when we arrived at Elizabeth Quay, Craig and I were now fading fast. When we got home, we went straight to bed at 8:40 p.m. (8:40 a.m. at home; we are exactly twelve hours off here). The Sonams had worried that we might be cold at night, so they bought us a very soft and cuddly extra blanket. It made the already very comfortable bed even more cozy, and we easily fell asleep.

Thank you Sonam, Sonam, and Nim for the lovely introduction to your adopted city! You are spoiling us!