Australia l - September 4 - November 1

Next day /Sept 3/ we board the same ferry going back to to the main island. Most of the befriended youths happen to have the same schedule so we enjoy their company longer and Kamila collects addresses from all of them. We meet them again in Nadi Hostel for dinner. They stay there for the night - we are going to the airport. We have four hours to kill - find rescue on familiar sofas, taken care of by a friendly travel agent. After meeting Lori, we check in and a funny moment happens: Leszek's departure from Australia in 1988 somehow has not been recorded and he is referred to a special official who spends at least half an hour fixing the problem. Air New Zealand takes us to Auckland , NZ at 4.15 am , then two tiring hours, and a jumbo jet takes us to Brisbane . Our luggage is closely scrutinized for forbidden items that need to go through quarantine. We have shell necklaces bought on Fiji that are detected on the screens - luckily they are OK. On the way to our Brisbane home only Leszek is fully awake to lead the cab driver to the new address. After tea with Barbara - our host, Leszek's acquaintance from 16 years ago, we all go to bed and sleep 15 hours. 

Sep.5 We are in another /after M&M's/ beautiful , cosy house in a quiet neighbourhood of Kenmore - a part of Brisbane . 

Barbara - another inspiration - a woman in her seventies who looks at least twenty years younger. Well, her lifestyle includes daily exercises, sports - tennis, skating /yes!/ skiing /mainly in NZ/, healthy eating and drinking habits plus /she admitted/ good genes - all necessary ingredients for good looks. On her bookshelves I find a lot of titles related to Podhale and Tatra Mtns - yes, she lived 18 years in Zakopane and heaps of good old Polish literature. I'm having a ball looking through all the books while Kamila is reading her Lord and Leszek is already exploring the city. In an album "The Great Barrier Reef" I find many of the sea creatures we have seen so far; I can name them now and I'm looking forward to seeing more. 

Sep. 6 Today we spent on the Gold Coast beach jumping with huge waves, enjoying incredibly smooth sand, walking along lanes in Surfers Paradise, digesting fish and chips, icecream, and back home a bottle of good /but not expensive/ Australian wine. Life can be gooood! But, of course we heard about Russia . There is no words - I leave them to politicians, philosophers. I can only cry and pray, if I can find enough faith.

SEPTEMBER 9

On Internet in a public library in Brisbane . I managed to open my site - apparently there's Java program on it. Yesterday in the main library at City Hall they didn't let us use their computers - reserved for locals only - here closer to where Barbara lives, no problem. Magda has my notes from Yasawa Islands trip and she will post it soon - something went wrong last time she tried. Brisbane is a pretty modern city lying on a winding or a snaking river - like a letter M. It has a confusing at first but very efficient and reliable transit - trains, ferries and buses that take you to any nook of the city. Already two full days we spent roaming it after a pleasant woman in the city hall loaded us with maps and information about places of interest. On almost every corner in the center there is a backpacker's hostel with a bar, internet cafe and travel agency for budget travellers. What's different from Toronto - lack of variety of human races - 95 % white faces, from time to time some Chinese or Hindu features. Today there was a plan to visit Australia Zoo, the one with Steve Irwin - posponed till tomorrow - rain. We'll meet Lori there - she lives with her friends close to the zoo. For next week we booked a trip to Fraser Island /the largest sand island/ and sailing around Whitsunday - Great Barrier Reef area. As for later plans - Leszek has a return trip starting Sep.24. Kamila&I will be heading for Sydney /by bus/ where we want to spend October. Then to New Zealand for three months and back to Australia - Melbourne - Adelaide for February. In Sydney I want to find a room with a kitchen where we can do some schooling at last. Bye for now.

SEPTEMBER 11

A tragically memorable day.When we get up here - those of you in Poland and England are going to bed on a previous day, those in Toronto and area eating your dinners, still at work - those in California . I propose an International Earth Rotation Day on this day that would last 48 hours , no essential work forbidden and everybody obligatorily swallows an anti-agressant pill or a potion.

Yesterday Sept. 10

Yes, I have already seen kangaroos - I could go back home now. /since I don't have one I will go on - I don't have to though, I want to, please understand this Ewuna/.

Australia Zoo in Beerwah - so called home of the crocodile hunter. First we see a giant tortoise /born in 1830 and taken to England by Charles Darwin/ being fed with veggies, fruit and a hibiscus flower as a treat. Then there is a show with birds that fly right over our heads - sometimes landing on heads in the audience; snakes /Australia has a reputation of having the highest number of venomous snakes - those are in enclosure of course/ and the nr 1 celebrity - a crockodile being enticed by the ranger to come out from the pond and catch some long strips of meat from his hand - gives me creeps. Later in the park we see several crocks motionlessly lying around pools - but we won't be fooled - they are fake, very well made we admit. When we pass them again they are as still as before but - in different positions - some with jaws ominously open. So we have been duped after all and happy now that they are in meticulously fenced areas. We watch sleeping or always sleepy koalas, then wombats, Tasman devils and we feed kangaroos. Kamila won't leave the park without a picture taken and developed by the park people/ with a koala in her arms. That being done we say bye to Lori whom we met here and will meet again probably in NZ. Barbara drives us for a great view of Glassmountains and a nearby charming village for a stroll and coffee. By the way - the coffee choices here are slightly different - apart from cappucinos and lattes you can have short or long flat with milk or without. There is no common American or Tim Horton cheap filter type coffee anywhere. Your pocket suffers but your tastebuds rejoice. At the end of the day we see Brisbane by night from Mt Cootha. I bought tickets from Sydney to Auckland for November 1. So long.

SEP.12 - 16

Going to Noosa - a town on the so called Sunshine Coast - the whole district is marked with this name on car licence plates. Hiking up a hill for a view of the ocean and lots of surfers practicing their skills - no, enjoying their skills rather, as this is not a place for beginners - many rocks. From the top we see two groups of dolphins swimming gracefully as always.

Early afternoon - a Greyhound bus to Harvey Bay and Fraser Roving Backpackers Resort where we settle in our 7 bed dorm - again - nobody else but us occupies the room. At eight - meeting our group for next day adventure and an instructor to give us a suggested itinerary and all dos and donts about the car that will be driven by all of us through the Fraser Island. Then there is a video to warn us against driving on salt water, swimming in the ocean - sharks, and dingoes.

We make a shopping list with Kamila as a scribe for groceries for three days. This time some of the young people in our group are in their thirties, all with well established professions. Thomas and Alex, brothers from Germany , Patric from Switzerland , Marina from England , Manfred and Chris from Holland .

Next morning - introduction to the car - 4WD Toyota Landcruiser equipped with all necessary camping gear. There seems to be very little space for nine of us plus groceries - everything has to be perfectly arranged. Chris - the only one familiar with 4WD drives us to the barge that goes to the island. Later we all take turns - on the second day, encouraged by Alex , even I try and drive along the beach for a while avoiding or slowing down for washouts and creeks. Changing gears is a bit tricky - you use your left hand. There is another gear shift for driving in deep sand but I don't want to get bogged and don't try.

There are camping grounds on the island but we choose putting tents on the beach. Each of us takes an armful of fire wood from a pille prepared by rangers - and here we have the first encounter with a dingo. It comes right beside me - I freeze and remember some of the bad stories I heard - it behaves like an ordinary dog - sniffs around me and runs on. Later when another comes and hangs around me longer - Leszek takes a stick, hits a tree to scare it and it is gone. Next day -fresh water lake surrounded by sandy slopes - Kamila and Patric roll down straight to the cristal clear water; Maheno Wreck - hulk of a passenger liner destroyed by typhoon in 1935; Pinnacles - coloured sand cliffs; Indian Head - an excellent point for watching whales and sharks - no luck; Chanpaigne Pools - the only safe saltwater swimming - lots of bubbles made by waves breaking on the rocks. We also visit Happy Valley - a little village with a general store - mainly to buy eye drops for Kamila -some grains of sand got into her eye and she rubbed it. It is sore for the whole day - it's fine on the next. The third day we see little turtles in another fresh water lake and have a quick swim in Lake MacKenzie the most clear of all. We hurry because we have a barge to catch and there is a possibility for a flat tire - one doesn't look good. A minute after the barge starts - it stucks in the mud! the captain claims it happened to him first time in his life. All the cars have to be moved a bit, everybody on board looks a bit nervous, about 20 minutes later we move on. I ask one of the barge attendant if he was nervous - no, he says, then adds yes, I was afraid I would be late home for my first beer. In the hostel we cook and eat pasta and all the leftovers, saying goodbye -

everybody is going somewhere else next day.

SEPTEMBER 17

We have the whole day to kill - what a horrible expression - a day to savour rather, before taking a night bus to our next destination. The main course - pelicans on the beach: walking, swimming and flying over our heads.

The second - a seashell museum with shells of all sizes and variety, from tiny conchs to huge ones with the sea sound in them; each has a description and where&when details of their origin; there is also a collection of post stamps with shell pictures - there are a few from old Chechoslovakia, a country without a sea, but none from Canada or Poland. The third course - a colony of fruit bats hanging on trees - we can see their eyes when we come close, hear their squeak and smell their dung /yuck/; later that day we see them in the sky - like in a gothic novel or one of Kenneth Oppel's.

The final - a movie theater. Leszek goes to see 'Fahrenheit' to deepen his distaste of Bush, Kamila and I choose a fairy tale 'Princess Diary 2', more appropriate for the day which according to our calendar is Kamila's nameday. We are the only ones in the audience so when there is a ball in the queen's palace we get up and dance in the aisle.

SEPTEMBER 18

After almost 13 hours on the bus, we arrive in Airlie Beach , the base for sailing trips to the Great Barrier Reef . During the first stop still before midnight one of those 'what a small world' thing happens. While ordering tea in the road cafe, right behind us a very familiar woman is waiting her turn - one more look - how can somebody look so much alike..... a moment of recognition from both sides - yes this is Magda, Barbara's daughter / one of the two people we know in Australia/ who is driving back to Brisbane from her geological research station in Gladstone and stops here to refresh her tea cup.

Checking in at Reefo's backpackers - upgrading our lodgings to a three bed cabin - we want to sleep after the trip. In town which is totally devoted to sibarite life styles, we arrange our return air tickets to Brisbane and pay the required reef tax and for renting stinger suits. The second payment is a bit controversial - the Lonely Planet and some people we met before say it is advisable between Nov. and Apr. - not necessary now - so we argue the expense. The Tallrook people who organize our trip insist that fatal encounters can happen anytime / last recorded in 2002/ and warn against the life threatening tropical jelly fish. Kamila is scared alright and we cannot consider avoiding this charge any longer.

In our room we have a TV! I'm falling asleep watching OCD Nicholson in 'As Good As It Gets'

SEPTEMBER 18 - 20

Boarding an about 40 m long schooner called New Horizon with four crew members - Nick, the skipper, his son Aaron - first mate, Nickolas - the second mate, Andrew - the cook and 17 passengers including us. We are sailing /the motor is on all the time though/ through and along Whitsunday Islands which are like mountains with only tops visible. This night we choose to sleep on the wooden deck under the sky instead of our assigned beds.

Next day starts with a diving instruction on a Luncheon Bay - known for the best view of the coral in the area. We didn't even realize that the introductory diving instruction and a 15 min dive was included in our package - but we readily sign up for it. Kamila's age rises to thirteen - from eleven when we can get a discount sometimes, and she is allowed to join in the experience. You have to pass two skill tests first: 1 - losing and retrieving the air regulator under water, 2 - filling the mask in water and emptying it underwater. Dressed in black stinger suits with hoods /as if ready for a serious robbery/ we attempt our first in the lifetime dive. Awesome!

Quite difficult to balance - I tilt from side to side and have trouble going down wherever I want - Aaron and Kamila are helping - I am at the bottom finally and can concentrate on watching the underworld - the colours and shapes which are even more diverse than the ones I've seen before.

15 minutes go quick but I'm happy to surface without any difficulties. Later when others take their turn diving we continue snorkeling in the area. Kamila gets a banana from one of the guys and takes it underwater. She is immediately surrounded by colourful fish. The next day while snorkelling in a different bay, apart from amazing coral, we see a big hump-headed Maori wrasse - Elvis they call him. It's been in this spot for a few years and seems to enjoy the attention he gets from all the swimmers who feed him, touch him and photograph him. The trip ends too soon. We are back in Airlie Beach in the afternoon, stay in town for a while , check in the same hostel and meet some of the crew and boarders for dinner.

SEPTEMBER 21

Taking a Vrigin Blue /they have virgin loos at their airport and the flight attendants tell jokes during the flight/ airplane back to Brisbane / the flight was 20 dollars cheaper than 18-hour bus trip!/. Before going 'home' we are talked into /guess by whom/ going to see 'Shark Tales' with Will Smith and Deniro in speaking roles. It is quite unusual to see the real underwater world and Disney a day apart.

I also bought Greyhound tickets to Sydney for 24 Sep. - same day when Les starts his three-day journey home. Again a flight would be probably less expensive - but we may see a little more? Well, first the idea was to stop on the way in Coffs Harbour to meet Malgosia Mozyszek, my highschool friend. Unfortunately her address from ten years ago has changed and my letter to her bounced back. So we will go straight to Sydney . Now I'm trying to decide on a place where we want to stay for the first few nights /specially the first is crucial since we'll be exhausted/ - there is abundance of hostels listed on internet.

SEPTEMBER 22

In "Borders" , the local cafe-bookstore I spend a few hours reading about Sydney in Lonely Planet books and others, get a map of the city and try to learn names of different neighbourhoods to be able to locate them when finding our accomodation in "Sydney Morning Herald" when we get there on Saturday. For the first two nights I decide to book "Wake Up"

Backpakers which is right across the central station where we arrive and which was recommended to us by a few travellers already.

Going back on a bus to our Brisbane temporary home we feel almost like locals coming from work - we know this route pretty well and can relax or read on the way.

SEPTEMBER 23 Happy Birthday Zosia & Josek

Packed our snorkelling masks and reef shoes and sent it to Jacek 's brother in Adelaide . We'll be there in January and won't need this equipment until Indonesia .

While having our last drink together in Brisbane we chat with two native Australians, that's how they call ancestors of the first Europeans here. Both are Irish - one calls himself Black Irish - with Basque roots. He is married to an aboriginal Australian and has five kids. He is willing to introduce his family to us and teach us more about his and his wife's past. Too bad this is our last night. The other man comes from Toronto , a little town near Newcastle - north of Sydney .

By the way - every morning this week we see parts of Canada - a kind of Breakfast Television program is featuring Canada every morning and its journalists praise our country and persuade audience to go and visit.

SEPTEMBER 24

Barbara takes us to Central Station. Leszek is taking a bus to the airport, we have our bus two hours later.

SEPTEMBER 25

Sydney . We are not as tired after all and get on internet while waiting to check in at noon . Paid for two nights in a double private room with a shared bathroom, bought Saturday paper to study the classified section in the room, circled some places that seem to suit our needs.

SEP. 26

The place is called "Wake Up" Backpackers. Each floor is named after different continents - ours, the fourth is Africa . In 'Australia'

on the first we eat our breakfast - cereal we bought the previous night. We call a few places , then we set out to see them. The first is in Glebe, says in the ad - 'backpackers friendly'. The manager /it's kind of a boarding house/ is friendly, but the place is awfully gloomy. The next is in Chippendale - a walking distance from where we are. The woman sounds very friendly on the phone but mentions that there may be a problem with time logistics. It turns out later, she is looking for a tenant three weeks from now -her current one is moving out then. After a while she is willing to put us up in her living room for now. She is a high school teacher and - suprise, surprise, an ESL teacher!!! She just needs to confirm this plan with her other tenant, a medicine student from Singapore, who naturally needs a peacefull environment to study /what if Kamila turns out to be a noisy brat?/ In the evening we get her yes so we go to bed relieved that we don't have to check any more addresses.

Sep.26

We move to our new 'home' on Rose Street . Anish is not exactly the owner of this place /a two storey town house with an attic, where we will move later/ - rents herself and finds others to share the expenses and to prevent herself from becoming a hermiAnish is a witty, knowledgeable, no-nonsense, casually dressed, no make-up, no car, low-heeled, backpack-carrying, politically green, heaps of classic/art/philosophy/women-studies/ books on shelves, battling ants in her kitchen, pleasantly looking, willing to talk, woman in her thirties. She is presently looking for and soon getting a kitten from a reliable Burmeese /I'll check the spelling later/ breeder. The day before yesterday she took Kamila for a train trip to Gosford, Sydney suburbs to view a few cadidates and they are planning to do another one tomorrow.

And thus Jola had and will have some precious time for herself. After last two months loaded with journeys and touristic attractions I cherish doing so called nothing, or the usual: walking around the nearest neighbourhoods without specific purpose, deciding at intersections whether to turn left or right, stopping at bookstores, cafes, libraries, parks, grocery shopping, talking to strangers, reading Lonely Planet, other travel books or Australianas. There is another good excuse for taking it easy: rainy weather - good news for the locals who have suffered from long drought / well do we, city dwellers ever really suffer - just feel threatened by the news on TV after taking another long shower/. So we haven't yet seen much of the vibrant city build around harbour which as the LP reads "is just the place to combine relaxed hedonism, brash industriousness and look-at-me antics". This is where James Cook landed in 1770 and named the country around New South Wales although he had never been in Wales . One of the books I kept in my hands for a while is "The Art of Travel" by Alain de Botton. He is writing about Ruskin's interest in beauty and in its possession and his arrival at five main conclusions: 'Firstly, that beauty is the result of a complex number of factors that affect the mind psychologically and visually /for example a rare combination of season, light and weather/; secondly; humans have an innate tendency to respond to beauty and a desire to possess it;

thirdly, there are many lower expressions of this desire for possession, including the desire to buy souvenirs, to carve one's name in pillars and to take photographs;

fourthly, there's only one way to possess beauty properly and that is through understanding it, through making ourselves conscious of the factors that are responsible for it; lastly, the most effective way of pursuing this conscious understanding is by attempting to describe beautiful places through art, through writing or drawing them, irrespective of whether we happen to have any talent for doing so.' Well, may be I should enroll in basic drawing lessons? My present abilities are limited to mere doodling. You can no more make yourself an artist than you can make yourself a giraffe - /another quote from the book/. But if the goal is just to learn to notice and see better, may be it would be worth the effort? And in the so called meantime Leszek is already in Toronto after spending two days in Singapore and having some unexpected delays in his journey home. Tommorow is already October. Happy New Month everybody. I can't believe it's a week to Thanksgiving. What are the plans this year?

October 2

It turned out that Anish is one of those versatile creatures who plays the piano /there is one in 'our temporary room'/ and is quite good /excellent to my standards/ at drawing. Her favourites are sketches of bodies in dancing poses - she has drawn heaps of them. Funny how it coincided with my reading about importance of drawing.

Yesterday the humble-art-consumer-and-a-bit-of-a-snob side of me made me get up early and go, in spite of a pouring rain, to the Sydney Opera House box office which opens at 9 am, to get standing tickets /$35 each/ for "The Marriage of Figaro" . So last night we saw the famous landmark from the inside and outside - still in rain though, and all those Figaro's and the Count's infidelities and intrigues on the stage. After about 30 min, during a mini intermission the usher let us take empty seats so we didn't suffer the uncomfort for too long.

It cleared out a bit today at last, but I haven't heard the forcast yet.

OCTOBER 3

Sunday. With Silling, the girl upstairs and her friends we went to Wesley Church. We entered an auditorium with rows of singing youths, mainly Asian and a stage with a rock band and a few leading singers. There was a communion with bread and wine /juice/ and a sermon. The main topic - overcoming fear to attempt the impossible. One of the impossibilities is to bring Christianity to Muslim nations. The pastor listed recent evangelical successes in Indonesia and encouraged his audience to take up missionary quests in their lives. My almost half-a-century old and Torontonian for a long time coscience does not agree with this concept. I like the principle of 'live and let others live' and pray and let others pray the way they choose, and then let's feast and work together exercising kindness on a daily basis. However, I did enjoy the singing, the company and the lunch together afterwards. It turned out Silling and her friends are not as young as I thought - they all do postgraduate studies and medicine is their second degree. Silling is teaching biology at the same university where she is taking medicine.

At last we could take a sunny walk in the most attractive part of Sydney harbour - the Rocks. A short stop at the Museum of Contemporary Arts - samples of really modern art made me a little dizzy; then a few cool street performers caught our attention for longer than we planned.

OCTOBER 4

Labour Day in Australia . Meeting Chris /the young Dutchman who instructed everybody in 4WD on Frazer Island/ at Paddy's Market /Sydney follows London example in markets/. On a map of Australia in a bookstore he shows me where he has been so far and where he is going. Tonight he is flying to Darwin . Then we walk through the University of Sydney campus which is across the street from where we live. There is a chance we'll meet again in NZ. Kamila keeps in touch through e-mail.

OCTOBER 5

Blue Mountains - 2 hours west of Sydney . After getting off the train in Kotoomba we go for cappucino and hot chocolate to Journey Cafe. On the wall reads this: 'For a long time it seemed to me, that life was about to begin - real life. There was always some obstacle on the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me, that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there's no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. Happiness is a journey not a destination.' Neat, eh? The waitress didn't know who wrote the words.

We saw Three Sisters!- not the Chehov's, the ones that were once seven, but four have been eaten up by erosion over the last couple of millions years. Or rather the ones who were turned into rocks by their father to prevent them from marrying guys from a different tribe. He died in a battle and the magic stick needed to bring them back to life has not been found yet.

OCTOBER 6

We stay in a YHA hostel this time /in spite of the name there are a lot of people of my vintage here/ - decided to buy a membership - may be useful in NZ. Today we spend about six hours walking trails towards Leura Cascades and whatever happens on the way: stopping at various lookout points, listening to funny birds, eating chocolate and flatulating freely / competition won definitely by Kamila/, meeting other hikers, Kamila taking zillions pictures / who will ever have time to see them all??/ and finally getting lost. A good man helps us to get to a bus which takes us back to the hostel. On the way to the bus stop - signs of spring everywhere: budding trees and blooming flowers. It's October after all.

October 7

Blue Mountains is a part of Great Dividing Range which separates Sydney from the outback. The name comes from the ever-present haze above the huge plateau caused by evaporating droplets of oil from eucalypt trees struck by rays of light.

.......well, yes my dear friends, it's blue and magnificent but you are now in no less magnificent fall colours around Shebeshekong Lake or wherever you are this Thanksgiving. /those of you in US wait your turn, those in Europe just be thankful for autumn fruits or so/.

All the splendid vistas are in a walking distance from our hostel. Today we go towards Kotoomba Cascades where busfulls of comfortable tourists arrive to be taken by a cable car which descends to a valley and then by a very steep railway /initially used by coal mines/ up again to the starting point. Kamila is of course attracted to this rollercoaster-like experience and we are doing it twice - second time being offered a free ticket by a very friendly park ranger. Another ranger gives Kamila a handfull of grains that immediately attract red and green king parrots and crimson rosellas. She doesn't mind multitude of scratches on her arms after over an hour of feeding them. There are also a lot of charming white cockatoos - the rangers call them pests - with no predators around to keep their numbers in balance, they become a problem. But they are soooo cuuuute! how can it be - too much of cuteness?

6:30 return train to Sydney .

October 8

First waiting for Leszek to call - first talk since he left.

A perfect sunny day - in spite of plans to do nothing - a ferry across the Sydney Harbour to Manly - a beach full of sunbathers and surfers - walk through a long stretch of rocks - the ones where you take every step with care and jump over little but threatening of broken bones precepices - back to town - groceries for dinner - visit to Christa /Anish's adopted mother as she calls her/, her daughter and seven dogs - hurrying to cook chicken curry - we have to catch a ferry back to the city to be on time for a show in the Studio in Sydney Opera House at 8:15 - no time to eat after all - take away containers even for white wine offered for dinner - eating and drinking on the ferry while Sydney Harbour night skyline unfolds with each sip and bite.

The show is a combination of breakdancing, skateboarding and a mix of dance music performed by a Bill Shannon who at the age of five was diagnosed with a rare form of arthritis that affects his hips and developed his style using crutches. His usual venues are streets where he has the best interaction with audience.

October 9

Glebe Point market - five minutes from us. Abundance of artsy, trendy, funky stuff to wear, to read, to pin, to eat, to listen to. I have to avoid eye contact with the cool vendors not to be enticed by their charms and buy and buy..... After so many weeks of wearing only two changes of clothes I feel uneasy by the choices of things I could have.

October 11

Kamila insisted on buying a piece of turkey to unite with our crowd at Chris&Kathy's after we talked through the wire with some of them. Just plain slices nothing like the annual feast.

Later we spent the day in the Sydney Aquarium : saw some fish and corals, the same as while snorkeling, plus much more - huge sharks, rays, turtles, and seals in underwater tunnels. They swim over, under, beside you at an arm's lengh. Some sharks rest on the tunnel right above our heads. They do this so they can lie in the stream of the filter outflows which move fast over them. It probably feels good - like a dog hanging its head out of the car window for fresh air.

An amazing place - worth the time and money.

School resumes here today after two week spring break. My plans for Kamila to attend public school fall short. I'd have to pay a lot for enrollment - fair enough - after all I'm not paying taxes here. I was clinging to the idea after finding this peculiar, too good to be true detail about such a possibility in a book I read about some time ago. Kamila is relieved - was not looking forward to this adventure. I am a bit disappointed and pulling resources to do some schooling on my own.

October 12

Very hot - over 30!

Kamila refused to get out from the still cool apartment. I ventured for a while in a city 'village' called Newtown recommended to me by many. Lots of body&soul boutiques, healthy cafes, Thai and Indian eateries, anti-government posters pleading not to vote for Howard.

Well, but yes, John Howard and the Coalition Party won again and Mr. Bush promptly congratulated his good friend. One journalist in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday says ' the Coalition victory reflects nothing more than the narrow-mindedness and preoccupation with self that characterises modern Australia after two decades of market ideology and sustain growth, ...mindless narcissism of consumer culture,....rejection of the politics of social progress - all of which being at the root of the decline in values - the disposable relationships, instant gratification, moral laxity, selfishness, corporate greed, and the loss of civil culture'. Strong criticism of his own people - must be a disillusioned member of the Labour Party.

October 13

Hot hot hot

I am on a down side . Is it the heat and city noise, unbalanced serotonin level, the usual lack of direction or just a very bad hair day?

October 14

The heat relented - do not have this reason to moan about my lot. It had better not be a reason for dark thoughts - what will happen in Bangkok then?

Thank you friends for picking me up. And my hair needs some trim and new colouring for sure.

We got invited to a wonderful dinner at a Singaporian restaurant tonight by Shilling's uncle. Among other diners was an Australian man who lived for three years on Claxton Blvd.

October 15

Went to school with Anish. Weird feeling to be suddenly immersed in familiar but remote circumstances.

October 16 Saturday

Browsing in the Rocks Market - heaps of nifty souvenirs and trinkets - passing pubs with live music - wistfully peeking in - have no companion to go in with. In the evening watching a dance performance by the Australian Dance Company called "Small Rooms":

a bedroom - 'a dwelling place of youthful dreams and idealized love'; a bathroom - 'a harsh sophisticated place of cleansing and ritual'; a changing room - a place of confusing choices of conforming or defying outfits; a reading room - 'a place of retrospection, calm and learning where the physical gives way to the spiritual'. Lovely and powerful performance. In my second or third life I want to be a dancer.

Oct. 17 Sunday

We are walking Shihling together with a group of her friends to her bus leaving for Canberra .

Later I'm moving our belongings to the attic room - finally the one that was described as 'cosy' in the newspaper and caugh our attention. Now we have a comfortable bed to sleep, shelves and drawers and privacy. Maybe the lack of the above was the reason I was losing my mind a bit - in spite of my presumed adaptability to different circumstances.

Dorm living in hostels is a bit different - you sleep with others in one room but you maintain a private space, like a separating bubble to the degree you choose, you control the extend of familiarity with others according to your mood. Staying in somebody's living room you are naturally involved in the household affairs whether you like it or not. And it is most of the time a rewarding experience of the kind you expect to have when you travel - similar to reading somebody's biography - can't have it using public accommodation.

However, too much of everything may be unnerving.

'Do I contradict myself? - very well then - I am large, I contain multitudes'. Sorry for being disrespectful to a big American bard for using his words in relation to my rudimentary and scattered impressions. Maybe in my fourth life I will manage to put them in some order.

Oct. 18

Enjoying Monday in an empty house in our cosy attic - pouring rain outside. Booked two tramping routes in New Zealand - Routhburn and Abel Tasman. Milford Sound - the most popular has been booked for the whole season already!!

October 19

Kamila at school with Anish for the day - right after they are going to pick up two kittens which are joining our household.

Treated myself with long yoga and will treat later with Yellow Label shiraz /on special for $11/ while waiting for Leszek to call. It's our 14th anniversary.

October 20

Hiding from the rain in State Library of NSW after a tour of Art Gallery of NSW and a little walk through Botanical Gardens. To the last one we certainly have to come back and see the rest of it in spite of unpleasant smell of bat dung in some parts where they are hanging out or rather down.

E-mailing is banned on the computers here but we did get into our site and can stay for an hour. First I opened Jacek 's picture. I'm suprised it was possible to do and struck with the beauty of the shot. So you did have some good weather in Algonquin after all.

October 21

Finally we have some hiking tracks booked for the end of 04 and beginning of 05 \when Ela is coming/. This is a peak of the season in NZ and I already had a few disappoitments. So we have Abel Tasman Track right after Christmas, and Kepler Track /is it yours Panie Janie?/ in Fiordland right after New Year's.

Anybody else want to join us? The huts are selling like hot buns so make up your mind fast. Unless you come before or after the hot season.

Kamila had a Canadian experience today - was taken to Quidam, at Cirque de Soleil by Anish. I refused to go because of the steep price, though they say it's worth the money. Well, I'll do it one day closer to my and their base.

October 22

A few hours at the Australian Museum - natural history / skeletons, gems, Australian animals and plants/ and a big section on Aboriginal culture. I'll write more later.

Tomorrow we are meeting somebody in Epping - contacts from our Dutch connection in the Hague. / you like this term Agnieszka?/

Because of the recent difficulties with our site I don't even remember which day was last.

On top of that I just realized that I left my notebook in a bookstore where I was making notes about Auckland and in which I usually write short notes about our wherebouts. So instead of updating, I have to rush back to the store.

Anyway - during the last days in Sydney we do a lot of those obligatory tourist routines which we were putting off - the top of the local tower, the lunapark and the walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee - that one was spectacular! Hope to write more before Monday departure.

Oct. 28

The Bondi - Coogee walk was spectacular for three main reasons: it follows up and down massive sandstone cliffs with a new rugged cove appearing around every corner; one of the unique views is a cemetery - a relic of the days when this part of the coast was well removed from the city; it was a sunny day with exceptionally strong wind which gagged our throats sometimes and caused great waves pound the rocks and spray water high up the cliffs making lots of roaring noise and 'whipped cream' as Kamila called it. Bondi comes from 'boondi' an Aboriginal term for 'tumbling waves' - so may be the uproar of the day was not so exceptional; the third reason - it was the first day of the annual Sculpture by the Sea - a gallery of sculptures scattered along the coast from Bondi to the next Tamarama Cove; my favourites: a figure of a woman sitting on a bench looking out to sea with a writing beside her "The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that one is loved", a road sign saying "Infinity Ahead", red suitcases washed ashore, huge apple slices forming a totem, a soft looking coach that is actually made of marble, an elephant made of junk scrapes - mainly old tv screens /also Kamila's favourite/, a big steel hand holding a boat, a baby carriage perched on a cliff edge - as you pass a baby cries - the title is 'High Anxiety', blue bottles and jelly fish made of plastic blue bottles, an enormous sunglasses on the sand. When we picked up a guide at the end, it turned out there were 112 of them altogether and we missed at least half.

Oct. 29 and 30

The last walk to Circular Quay and the Rocks. Finally I did what you supposed to do when you are in the Rocks besides admiring the harbour and graceful Opera House structure - had a beer in one of the pubs. Now we are getting ready for the next trip tomorrow - laundry, sorting things out, last lunch with our Singaporian circle , checking train connection with the airport. Kamila is missing the Halloween craziness at home - it is not observed so widely /and wildly/ here. We are saying goodbye to Sydney but not to Australia, as we'll be back in the land of OZ sometime in January.