I’m terribly fond of traveling anywhere; going to Australia is always a process of hurrying, waiting, and some more waiting, so one learns to try to observe the few things in the process that are amusing or otherwise unusual during the trip. I’m going to detail below my trip this time from Sheffield, IA to Whyalla, South Australia on Feb 13th to 15th (various hours/days due to the time changes). It’s going to be long, so I apologize in advance, but I hope to have enough amusing anecdotes and quips to keep you going along the way, much like a trail of gummi bears in the wilderness (minus the ants which, although crunchy and nutritious, usually take away from the aesthetics of the snack).

The weather was foreboding; the reports on Monday morning apparently freaked out my mother who called (while I was in the shower, no less), asking if I had viewed the weather yet. I had not, I informed her, as I had barely managed to crack open my eyelids enough to avoid walls while traipsing down to the shower; news of anticipated precipitation was far from my neurons at that point.

After much back and forth, it was noted that if I wanted to get to Minneapolis, we would have to leave around 10am. This was not within my set plans, as I was supposed to be delivered to the airport around 4am the following morning, on Tuesday, and I had tons of things yet to do. My father, thankfully, stepped in and said he would be willing to leave later in the day, so we decided to play it by ear.

The morning was extremely hectic; work was hell, as I somewhat expected for the day before leaving for 5 weeks, but it was particularly incredible. Long story abbreviated, I got everything wrapped up and written out and checked off and otherwise marked by around 4pm; packing up and getting out of the house took me till 5 and we took off around 6. Dad and I picked up his girlfriend Amy in Clear Lake and then headed towards the Twin Cities in her van.

A stop at Perkins in Owatonna for some sustenance and we continued on. Our destination was the abode of one Kath, friend made through D.A.I.S.I.E. Company, and willing participant in the mission to get me on my way despite the impending onslaught of winter-whipped hydration. After missing the exit twice in St. Paul, we finally found our way to her lovely little cottage and got my bags dropped off. I said goodbye to Dad and Amy and they headed back south.

The evening at Kath’s house was wonderful, hanging with her and her granddaughters, firing the feces, and generally relaxing and hanging out. We never did go to sleep, preferring to stay awake and then leave for the airport around 3:40am.

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Greetings, readers!

Many of you know that I'm now in Australia (and have been since the 15th of February). I am now just finally able to start catching up on my blogging and other online work; it's been very busy here so far and I've gotten precious little computer time. I promise to write a lot more "contextual" posts soon about my travels and doings here, but first I'm going to make a picture post so you have something to gaze at while I get my other things in order.

This is a "flora and fauna" post, with pictures of plants and locations around my wife's hometown of Whyalla, South Autralia. I'm trying to take more pictures of "typical" Aussie plants and views, as now with digital photography I don't have to worry about wasting film! So…enjoy.

A pink flower on someone's front yard down the street from Yolanda's Mum's house.

Australia is literally covered with bushes and trees of the eucalyptus persuasion. People usually think this means one particular species, but there are over 700 different variations in every size and shape that are grouped as, "some type of eucalyptus" by the locals.

A purple flower on a local's roadside bush.

Many of the plants here are succulents, with the enlarged, bulbous leaves and stems typical of desert and other arrid-area plants. This creeping plant used by many as edging in their gardens has these adorable little red flowers.

The ubiquitous salt bush, properly known as Atriplex, a short, shrubby plant that nearly covers the landscape in undeveloped areas around here. Salt bush is called such because it can grow very well in salty soil and water and actually retains that salt in its leaves, making it have a very salt flavor, if you can brave the tough branches and tiny leaves to try any. This is the defining plant of the "bush" regions of Australia (semi-desert regions) and no doubt responsible for that name.

An unknown bush that I call 'snake bush' as it looks like it, but I really don't know the name and nobody else seems to, either. This isn't as common as salt bush but grows pretty often and in large sizes, some spanning upwards of 8 to 10 feet wide. One has to wonder if one of the 10 species of poisonous snakes is living underneath. <shudder>

A few of the tops of the trees in the "ship park" (the park where the ship H.M.S. Whyalla is permanently drydocked).

A white flower on a tree bordering someone's yard, unknown species.

A yellow canna in Mum's garden.

A view of the city park up the road from Mum's house. That's my brother-in-law Sam and 'Pup' (his new dog). While this is a park, it is really just a section of the outback captured within the city limits, as this is pretty typical of what you would see were you to walk outside the city borders and into the bush itself.

Another picture of the trees and bushes of the park.

The park, again, from a different angle. There are some jungle gym pieces in here for kids to play on, although they don't dare do it after dark, due to the large numbers of mozzies (mosquitoes) and questionable sorts wandering around.

Me, in the city park, doing one of those touristy-type photos.  The smirk on my face is probably from ants crawling up my ass, I suspect.

I had to take a picture of their electrical poles. Unlike the poles we have in American (wooden, creosote), these are steel beams in a triangular shape with concrete in between. The lines also carry 220 volt, 50Hz electricity vs. our 120v, 60Hz and are uncovered, aluminum lines (vs. our copper, covered lines)

A few down Sampson Street, the street on which Yolanda's Mum lives. You can see Rocky Hill in the distance at the end.

Looking across Norrie Avenue towards Rocky Hill

Rocky Hill is a block up the street from Yolanda's Mum's house and is a pretty large hill that houses the water tower and water tank for the town, with very large supply and distribution pipes coming out of the bottom. The tank is supposedly topless, although I've been unable to look inside as you can't get up high enough.

A beautiful sky from the top of Rocky Hill, with the town water tank on the right. This huge tank acts as a storage buffer for the town's water supply that is piped in from the Murray River, hundreds of miles away. (local aquifers are brackish due to seawater, and undrinkable)

A stormy sky over Whyalla, with another water tank on the horizon. That night it poured down rain after dark, but only for about an hour; rainstorms here only last a few minutes at most, usually, in an area that only gets 10 inches a year total.

A view of Whyalla from the top of Rocky Hill. You can see houses in the foreground and the OneSteel plant in the background. OneSteel is a division of BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, and Whyalla's steelworks is one of the primary steelmaking facilities in the country. During WWII, it was also one of the largest shipyards in the country, responsible for most of the destroyers built, but that has ceased operations since the 1970s. OneSteel is the primary employer of this city of 32,000 people (or so) and it is really booming right now, but as my brother-in-law says, it's both the thing keeping the city alive and killing it, as the dust and chemicals thrown off by the plant are suspected to be causing one of the highest cancer rates in all of Australia for the town's residents.

Me with Whyalla in the background, standing on top of Rocky Hill after climbing it with my brother-in-law, Sam.

Another shot of Whyalla from the top of Rocky Hill, with the ocean on the left.

A sunset over Whyalla, from the top of Rocky Hill.

This is a sunset over the ocean and Whyalla, taken from another hill in town, Hummock Hill. The ocean (hard to see) is on the left past the city lights. This hill has a drive to the top where locals go and look over the town (and teenagers attempt to generate romance)