On Sunday 26 May at 11:00pm, my sister gave birth to her first child — a 52cm long, 4kg baby girl, who a couple of days later was named Elke Adele Smith. (It can be fun to guess what a newborn baby will be called; my guess was Leisel Olivia Smith. That Rebecca would go for a German name was easy to predict, given her strong ties to our German friends.)
My choice of zeroth birthday gift was a copy of Dreamland by Putumayo, a collection of lullabies from around the world, in various languages (you can hear a clip of each track at the website). If I have one criticism, it’s that the songs should be associated with the country they are native to instead of the country the artist happens to come from, but such quibbles mean nothing to a newborn baby.
Below is a Youtube version of one of the tracks — Cradle Spell of Dunvegan by Lynn Morrison — which is in English, although parts are rich in Scottish dialect words that I don’t understand.
I made my own card to go with the gift, featuring this photo of an elk for Elke. The front of the card is very personalised, but the inside is generic and could be used for any baby girl (which you may do, if you wish). Here are images:
The message inside reads:
On the birth of your daughter I give you wishes for a lifetime. As you grow older – And she has her turn to grow older – May you find in her A friend and daughter who enriches your world, A fellow traveller on the adventure of life. And may she find in you The security of knowing she is loved and respected In troubled as well as joyous times. Grow with her! Have fun with her! And remember fondly how it all began.
Soon after the name was announced, I told Rebecca by text message that I was changing my name to El Kazunkel, which I used again when I signed the card. Rebecca got the joke straight away (it’s pronounced “Elke’s Uncle“), but most people need a hint. They do tend to like it once they get it, though, and it was later featured on my own birthday cake (of which, more later).
I went home to spend a week with my parents on the evening of June 5th, and met Elke for the first time on June 6th. Rebecca told me my card was lovely. Here are some photos of Elke — mostly from that first encounter, but a few from later in the week.
With her mother:
With her father, Ellis:
With her grandfather:
With her grandmother:
With me:
In her cradle:
I gave Elke a little speech I’d prepared, referencing the famous bridge scene from Monty Python’s Holy Grail. It went something like this. “Your name … is Elke. Your quest … is to make life as challenging as possible for your parents (and if you ever need any help with that, just let me know; that’s what uncles are all about). As for your favourite colour, well, you get to decide that when you’ve had a good look at them all. And I promise that no-one is going to throw you off any bridges until you’ve made up your mind.“
The week wasn’t entirely about Elke. Here are some new photos from my parents’ home, featuring the extensions that were built but not furnished last time I was home.
And outside:
(Compare with the photos here and here, taken last August.)
I brought with me a bottle of the coconut, orange, honey & spice cocktail that I created. I gave the recipe in a previous blog post, but to repeat: it’s 1 part Island Sting, 1 part orange juice, and 2 parts coconut water (alcohol content is 5% per volume). Dad said the flavour was interesting and very drinkable, adding that he detected a hint of ginger. I’ve left the bottle with him to share with guests, whose feedback I look forward to hearing about.
My cousin Robert, his wife Katrina, and their three children Kate, Leah and Joshua, now live on the same peninsula as my parents, and I saw quite a bit of them over the week. Saturday June 8th was a particularly busy day. We had lunch at the annual craft fair in Maitland, and spent the afternoon lighting small bonfires on the farm.
In the evening, I read Joshua a story that I had bought him as a gift: Ankylosaur Attack by Daniel Loxton. Circumstances weren’t ideal — I had a headache, Dad was making noise washing dishes in the background, and Josh insisted on sitting in a chair that meant I had to contort my body awkwardly in order to read — so it felt like something of an anticlimax. But later (on Monday evening), Robert told me that Josh had asked for the book again the following night, so it was evidently a success.
Here are some fire photos:
And a video:
On Sunday 9th June, we gathered at Rebecca’s place for a barbecue lunch and a walk on the beach. It was then that I received the birthday cake I mentioned earlier (my actual birthday is June 12th).
Here is a video of Kate throwing a ball for Rebecca and Ellis’s dog, Molly:
And here are some photos of Molly that I took earlier in the week:
I saw the wider family one last time at a Monday evening restaurant meal, and on Tuesday I returned home to Adelaide.
I bought a new modem while I was away, which I’m planning to install the day after I publish this. The main advantage of the new modem is that it has a wireless option, so once it’s set up I’ll be able to connect from my laptop and participate in Skype video chats, etc, from my own home (my desktop does not have a webcam).
Jay Silver’s TED Talk, on the possibilities of joining things in unconventional ways.
Awareness
The emptiness of depression, conveyed in cartoon form.
Personal
Earlier this month, Internet friend Mark Gallagher and I arranged to simultaneously watch the same classic Doctor Who stories from different cities. The stories were among my favourites, but new to Mark. I recorded his reactions in a Storify.
I’m expecting to become an uncle soon, with my sister’s first child due any day now. I don’t plan to announce the event very promptly on the blog, but I will keep people updated on Twitter. I expect to meet the infant around June 6 or so, and have a 0th birthday present all ready to pass on.
An email from my uncle on May 15 informed me that my father’s father’s mother’s father’s mother’s mother’s father’s grave has been found, just in case that interests you.
I attended my aunt’s 70th birthday party on May 18. Very nice to catch up with people.
It’s been almost two months since I switched Internet providers and changed my email address, and so my old addresses (the ones with ‘netyp’ in the domain name) will expire at the end of May.
A least three things have happened in the last week that are worth sharing. The most important is my second cousin’s wedding, which we’ll get to in a moment. But first, here’s a photo of a gecko I saw on my kitchen window last Thursday evening:
I’ve never seen a gecko at this address before, and — although I’ve read about it often enough — I’ve never seen a gecko climbing glass before. Amazing.
On Saturday, my second cousin Simon married Jemima, who I hadn’t met before. The wedding took place in the Lutheran Church at Strathalbyn, a largish town about 50km southeast of Adelaide. Here are my photos from the service:
And from outside the church:
Everybody taking photographs at the same time:
Between the service and the reception, my parents and I explored the town of Strathalbyn, which features a very nice park in the middle. Here’s my best photograph:
The reception was held back in the church hall. On display was the official wedding cake, which is almost certainly the best-decorated cake at any wedding I’ve been to. Simon is a tractor fanatic, hence the farm-themed decorations as seen in the first photo below.
Beside it is a photograph of the balcony where the married couple and selected company sat during the reception.
Below are two more photos. The first is a close-up from our table, starring Mum, and the second shows the view toward the balcony. The light levels in the room were too low for my camera to focus properly, but I’m sure you’ll forgive that.
During the proceedings, the microphone coordinator gave us half an hour to compose messages to be read aloud. My parents remember this was a common thing at weddings a generation ago, but almost unknown these days — perhaps it’s coming back into fashion, but more likely Simon and Jemima heard about it from old folk and thought it was a good idea.
Anyway, with assistance from family — because I couldn’t figure out the last line on my own — I composed the following limerick:
When Simon did marry Jemima He couldn’t find anyone finer. She doesn’t have wheels Yet somehow appeals And we hope that he’ll often remind her.
To my mind, the reception was a lot more enjoyable than the service. However it did run late (so many speeches), and we didn’t stay till the very end. I never did find out if the cake tasted as good as it looked, but the rest of the food was beyond criticism.
It was great to catch up with Simon and meet Jemima, but of course it wasn’t the place for an extended chat. I look forward to having that opportunity another time.
The third event worth sharing from the last week is the delivery — yesterday evening — of the painting I bought last month on Kangaroo Island. The painting is called Southern Swell, and the artist is Suzanne Trethewey. Here is a picture of it hanging above my living room table, followed by two complementary close-ups:
For six days beginning on Thursday 14 March, my parents and I visited Kangaroo Island, a tourism hotspot located 100-200km from my home. I’ve visited the island once before, but I was ten years old then and don’t remember much.
Before the trip, I’d obtained a copy of the Island Intrigue CD, which contains audio tracks about the wildlife, history and key locations on the island, with an accompanying map that shows the best places to listen to each track. It’s designed to be listened to in the car as you drive from place to place. I also did most of the research on where to go.
This blog post is a report on what we did there, but for the most part I’ll be brief with my descriptions and let the photographs tell the story. Kangaroo Island is renowned for its photogeniality, and the pictures you see below are only a fraction of the ones I have. If you’d like to see additional pictures of certain places, then I may be able to oblige.
— Day One —
We took the 6pm ferry from Cape Jervis to Penneshaw, and it was a good ride.
The photographs below show: (a) View from inside the cafe as the ferry arrives outside; (b) A dramatic view over the upper deck of the ferry from on board; (c) A piece of Kangaroo Island as seen from behind the ferry as we enter the bay; (d) Our efforts to stir up seagulls after arriving in Penneshaw.
From the ferry I saw one dolphin leap from the water, but missed its photograph.
To obtain the fourth picture, Mum threw chips for the seagulls and I snapped photographs as they dived for the food. I have shots featuring as many as seven seagulls in the air, but I like this one better.
Here is a ten-minute video from the ferry ride, which is as long as my camera would allow:
From Penneshaw we drove to Kingscote, Kangaroo Island’s largest town and our base for the next few days.
— Day Two —
Friday 15th was our first full day on the island, which we began by driving to its northwest corner and doing the Ravine des Casoars hike, which I enjoyed very much.
The following three pictures show a natural bridge structure near the beginning of the trail, and a riverbed near the end.
Here’s a video that I took as I was walking, representing the terrain and plantlife to be seen along most of the trail. I recorded it somewhere between the two locations photographed above.
The trail ends at a beach, with some outstanding sea caves in the northern headland. The concentrated ocean waves on this beach were also very dramatic. I’ve done my best to capture the place in the following eight photographs.
After returning to the carpark, we travelled east, departing north from the Playford Highway to visit Western River Cove and then take the scenic coastal road to Stokes Bay.
We stopped briefly at Western River Cove, where I took the following two shots.
The coastal road goes up and down over several hills and is not suitable for large vehicles, but is a recommended drive for a family car. Clearly visible are the small islands south of Innes National Park on Yorke Peninsula.
The Stokes Bay Bush Garden is what you get when a gardening enthusiast and plant collector turns their extensive backyard into a minor tourist attraction. It wasn’t really my thing, but it was Mum’s, and I enjoyed taking her there (in that I did the research and put it on the destination list). Here’s a photo of Mum walking through the garden recording the names of her favourite plants.
After visiting the bush garden, we went back to Stokes Bay for refreshments at the Rockpool Cafe and a walk on the beach. Stokes Bay is as photogenic a beach as any — with a natural tunnel passing all the way through the headland and a sharp contrast between the beaches on either side — but I don’t have any pictures, partly because my camera was running low on batteries (I’d neglected to charge it the night before) and partly because I left it in the car.
The whole day was well paced in my opinion, and I would recommend the overall plan to others (i.e. allowing one day to tour the north coast of Kangaroo Island from Ravine des Casoars to Stokes Bay).
— Day Three —
On Saturday we toured the central portion of the south coast, starting at Seal Bay and travelling east. Seal Bay is purported to be the island’s most popular attraction, and is certainly in the top three. It is ironically named, as the animals to be found here are sealions and not seals (the seals are elsewhere on the island). We saw a lot of kangaroos on the way there, drinking water from puddles in the road after a recent rainfall.
Here are some photographs from Seal Bay, including close-ups of the sealions, wider shots of the beach, and a scene with sealion and seagulls interacting. We didn’t go onto the beach itself because you need to book a tour to do that and we chose not to, so I took these pictures from the wooden platforms above the sandhills.
After Seal Bay we visited Raptor Domain, which features a twice-daily interactive bird show. Here’s a photo of Mum with a barn owl on her knee, followed by six shots of one of the presenters with a wedge-tailed eagle. Several other birds were presented, but the eagle was the indisputable star of the show.
I bought a holographic seahorse fridge magnet here (also available from other souvineer shops on the island).
We then visited the Little Sahara, a region of inland sand dunes that’s famous for looking like a desert. It’s a rather well-known site, but badly signposted and curiously absent from prominent tourism websites.
In the following photographs and video, I’ve tried to show the extent of the illusion so that readers can judge how well its name is earned.
Travelling on, Mum spotted a juvenile echidna at the side of the road and I got a few snaps.
Our next stop was the Rustic Blue Gallery and Cafe, where we had refreshments and I bought a $600 painting (Southern Swell by Suzanne Trethewey), which will be delivered to my Adelaide home sometime after Easter. I don’t often buy paintings but this one will be a good memento. (No photographs yet.)
We arrived at the Kelly Hill Caves just in time for the final (4:15) tour of the day. Here is a video I compiled from three short clips of the tour.
This day was also well paced in my opinion, and I would recommend it as a model for others: touring the island from Seal Bay to Kelly Hill Caves takes up about one full day. (I would also suggest a contingency plan in case it takes a little longer, given that we only just had time to fit everything in.)
— Day Four —
Sunday was a quiet day spent around Kingscote, visiting local attractions mostly on foot. I don’t have a lot to say about it — Kingscote is more of a place to travel from rather than to — but I did buy a beeswax candle from the Island Beehive.
— Day Five —
We spent most of Monday in Flinders Chase National Park, in the southwest corner of the island. Here are located two extremely popular attractions: Admirals Arch and Remarkable Rocks. The latter especially is so well-known that it ranks highly in lists of popular tourist destinations across the whole of Australia.
From the visitors’ centre at the park entrance, I bought a couple of shirts (as yet unworn), and a bottle of honey liqueur. (Also, lunch.)
Here are two shots of the Casuarina Islets taken from the walkway down to Admirals Arch. Notice the waves.
The view from Admirals Arch towards Remarkable Rocks (which can be seen as a bump on the end of the distant headland).
Admirals Arch itself, photographed from a few different angles.
A close-up of seals playing at Admirals Arch, followed by the view towards Remarkable Rocks as we get nearer.
Now for my photographs of Remarkable Rocks. Everyone with a camera loves this place, even if the other tourists get in the way of the picture you’re trying to take.
(Incidentally, there’d been an accident when we arrived — someone had tried to climb one of the rocks and broken their leg — the emergency helicopter arrived as we were leaving.)
Having spent enough time looking at the prime attractions, we explored a few of the lesser-known walks.
Below are some shots of one of the lakes at Platypus Waterholes, where we didn’t see any platypuses but did see plenty of the bubbles they make from under the water (see the fourth photo). This is the only region in South Australia where platypuses can be found, and they were (re)introduced here for conservation purposes in the first half of the 20th century.
The Rocky River walk takes you the long way from Platypus Waterholes back to the visitors centre. Ironically there is hardly a rock to be seen along this segment of the river, but we did see a large goanna, which obliged us by walking along the same trail in the same direction so that I could take lots of photographs and a video.
The final walk for the day — which we barely had time for and my parents didn’t come with me all the way — was the Snake Lagoon walk, which unlike the Rocky River walk, follows a part of the riverbed that is actually rocky. In hindsight I’d recommend going here before the Platypus Waterholes etc, because the Snake Lagoon walk is all about the geography (which is always there to be photographed), whereas the other walks were about chance encounters with wildlife (which are much less reliable). If you don’t have time for everything, then in my opinion it’s better to miss out on something you might not have seen anyway than on something that never moves.
Here are some photographs from the Snake Lagoon walk; you can well imagine how dramatic it would look at a wetter time of year, with lots of small waterfalls. I didn’t go onto the beach itself, knowing that my parents were waiting some distance behind.
— Day Six —
The previous day we’d booked a morning boat tour with Kangaroo Island Marine Adventures, but it was cancelled because of the wind. Disappointing, of course, but the weather can’t be helped.
We’d planned to go home the following morning, but feeling we’d pretty much seen everything we came to see, we brought our return ferry ride forward to this (Tuesday) afternoon. Our excursion for the day, therefore, consisted, in taking the scenic route back to Penneshaw.
Here are some views from Prospect Hill, which was climbed by Matthew Flinders in search of bearings in 1802. It’s a large sandhill near the narrowest point of the island, from which water on both sides is visible (see the third photo). I took some of these photos from the lookout on top of the hill, and others from the way up.
We also visited nearby Flour Cask Bay, where I took the following pictures.
Finally, we made our leisurely way back to Penneshaw via minor roads (in order to take in some scenery from the eastern end of the island). At Penneshaw we bought our last meal on the island, and then Mum and I visited Granny Stirling’s Art and Craft while Dad finalised the ferry arrangements. I bought some sample jars of exotic native-fruit jams (which were also available elsewhere on the island, but rarely as well stocked). Then we all took a walk on the beach before boarding the ferry and having a surprise encounter with old friends.
I was seasick on the ferry. Then we arrived on the mainland, and all that remained was the drive home.
This is my first blog post since the Christmas holidays ended (approximately the month from December 21 to January 21).
A lot of things happened in that time, many of which I’ve mentioned in previous posts. Others include looking after a friend’s corgi puppy, relocating the contents of a damaged costume room at the local town hall, discussing bookmashes with a friend and old schoolteacher over tea one evening, working on a challenging jigsaw puzzle, misplacing my credit card, my cousin’s inception as the new Uniting Church pastor for Southern Yorke Peninsula, etc. You can ask in the comments if you’d like me to extrapolate on anything.
One surprise unveiled at Christmas was that my family is planning a trip to Kangaroo Island later in the year (probably March 14th). I’ve been there once before, but I was ten years old back then.
I’m making good progress on the road to getting rid of my current ISP and switching to a better one. During the holidays I spoke to the computer expert I’ve been getting advice from and got some useful information including prices, etc. Meanwhile my address book is up-to-date and old email cleaned out (i.e. either filed or deleted) until October 2012. After that point, emails are too recent to be worth sorting, and might as well stay in my inbox.
The new year is a good time to experiment with different ways of blogging. For example, you may have noticed that I’m now including entire blog posts on the front page, instead of hiding most of them ‘below the fold’. There may be other changes, but more dramatic ones will wait until my ISP changes — a faster connection should make fiddling with the blog a much more practical prospect.
Below are links to the best articles that I read online during the holidays, for certain values of “read”. During the holidays I accessed the Internet using my ten-inch netbook, with no ability to print hardcopies. I can’t really digest long texts in those circumstances, so in most cases I browsed them, bookmarked them, and read them properly when I got back. Also, some of these involve pictures and video rather than text.
I’ve divided them into three categories — Interesting, Delightful, Awareness & Personal — depending on whether I recommend them because they’re interesting, because they’re emotionally appealling, because they address important issues in society, or because of some connection I have.
Interesting:
Falling into a black hole more hazardous than previously believed (more).
I added information to a page about the Australian commercial card game Gone Bush (including a paraphrase of the rules).
P.S. Just for interest, here’s a pie chart showing the number of classifications I’ve contributed to various Zooniverse projects. I won’t link to individual projects because they tend to have a short half-life (Ice Hunters expired long ago), so it’s better to subscribe to the main site if you’re potentially interested. My favourite projects are the ones that don’t require much focus, and can be used to wind down at the end of the day. (I made the Snapshot Serengeti contributions before the holidays, in between cleaning and packing.)
One evening earlier this week, I went to the beach with a couple of friends, one of whom (Dan) is a birdwatcher.
I had a go at using the birdwatching camera with the telescopic lens, and here is a landscape photo I took, followed by a shot of Dan (left) and Jesse (right) playing with the bigger telescope.
Here is one of Dan’s bird photos taken that day.
Below are some photos that I took with my own camera. As you’ll see as you scroll down, there was a magnificent golden sunset and I got several great shots of it.
We hosted a cocktail party on New Year’s Eve, with the cocktails provided by a friend. Here is a photo of the menu — what would you have chosen? (I can recommend the Ferreira Roche.)
On the evening of January 1 we went to the food and fireworks at Port Vincent, which is an annual event. Here is a beach photograph:
And here is a two-minute clip of the fireworks: (Note: sideways.)
The next major event (on January 3) was the arrival of some extended family. My cousin Robert, his wife Katrina and their three children (ages 4-12) have just moved to a town not far from here, and the kids stayed with us for a few days while the parents got the new house ready.
I’d previously helped to make some mini-puddings (rolled-up balls made from fruitcake and brandy) and give them faces. Here they are:
Here’s a photo of the three kids playing on the backyard waterslide (with Mum supervising):
And here are a couple of pictures from the back seat of the car when we went to visit their new home:
Most of what we did together is not really blog material, but we had a great time.
I’m at my parents’ place for the Christmas holidays. They’re having extensions added to the house, and I’m sleeping in a room that has only recently been built and is not yet painted, furnished, or supplied with electricity. We added the essentials (bed, curtains, extension cords) on the day I arrived here.
It suffices, but will be better the next time I visit.
Here’s a new picture of my parents’ pet triceratops, which has featured on this blog before but never twice in the same location.
As I am most years, I was given the job of choosing and decorating a Christmas tree. Here is a picture of the tree I chose, in a room which, along with my bedroom, is part of the new extensions.
Also, a video of the tree after it was decorated. Can you see any decorations you particularly like?
Finally for now, here is a photograph of Christmas lunch, with Mum and Dad visible.
Here are some favourite shots from the last time I went walking in Shepherds Hill Recreation Park. Two of these feature Adelaide rosellas, and the other two feature rainbow lorikeets.
(I probably won’t take any more photos like these for a while, because it’s nearly summer and the park is not at its most photogenic when it’s dry, but I’m thinking of posting a gallery with all my favourites together.)
This is the second part of my update spanning most of October and the first part of November.
It’s been an exciting month for me, mostly because I finally got the new lounge chairs (or sofas, in more international English) that I ordered back in July. These are the first non-second-hand lounge chairs I have ever owned, and were custom made with my choice of colour and style.
(The shade is greener in life than in the picture, but it depends on the light.)
