Stop and Smell the Roses

First impressions matter.  I will remember South Australia’s English style rose and flower gardens—a rather odd sight in a climate, which resembles the State’s Southwest more than England. While the phrase, “Stop and Smell the Roses” is catchy, it has literal meaning in relationship to Australian culture.  Perhaps the planting of these beautiful roses was an unintentional symbolic tribute to their peaceful pace of life, but it is “spot on.” The roses are an effective reminder to slow down and be present in the moment.  And we don’t even have to pay extra to attend a workshop on trendy meditation techniques or contemplative thought strategies-------we get to live it.  Cool! 

                                                                 

Some towns, such as Cleve and Kimba on the Eire Peninsula, have strategically promoted their leisurely lifestyle as a tourist experience. Their main street is lined with sheep pastoral picture banners proclaiming, “Peace and Tranquility.”   What a clever idea!  For today’s people will travel to restful destinations, as they are becoming a rare commodity.  Intrapreneurs in charge of developing tourism in Montana’s high-line and central areas, or other rural havens, are you listening to the potential in marketing your “quiet?”

                                                                      

Travel allows us to see similarities as well as difference between countries---and to experience the accompanying odd spine shiver, when we realize even though countries are 9,000 miles or more apart, we are more similar than different from each other. Australia does have enough differences from the States to allow traveling through this vast country to still seem foreign and thus intriguing.  I will attempt to compare, contrast and blog about some of these interesting differences along our journey, as to me the "discovery" of the new and different is the main aim of an adventure. 

                                                         

I have caught myself on several occasions thinking to myself, “I wonder what such and such means---and then a jolt to reality---oh yeah they speak English I can ask” (even if some word pronunciations seem like a totally different language).  I am a woman of questions, due to an innate curious nature, ---dang it I can’t help it---there could be so many different answers and explanations to the questions.

Our Visa credit card has revealed this curiosity about other country’s customs and culture is an addictive hobby.  I imagine everybody’s hobby has an element of the nature of an addiction. At least travel is healthy, and with all of its mind stimulation, it just might ward off dementia. Oh what some people do to prevent Alzheimer--how's that for my defense mechanism of rationalization?  Here’s a toast and a cheer to adventures in Australia! 

So getting back to lifestyle---and how we can intent-fully choose to live our lives.  Since our lifestyle  is the main determining factor to our health, inclusive not only of physical but also the emotional, mental and social components, it is worth serious pondering how will we choose to live and spend our limited amount of time?  I think it is likely the lifestyle of urban versus rural, more than American versus Australian that I’m tuning into and enjoying.

As the Australian rural towns, we have visited thus far; remind me of many Montana rural communities and Pomeroy in the state of Washington, and for that matter most other Western rural towns. Australians may have English historical roots and gardens but their manner of interactions is as easygoing and casual as the Western States.  The index finger wave as you pass a vehicle on the road is just like our rural towns back home. People are friendly and take the time to talk to you. People are nice. And I’m loving rural Australia as I have a country soul. A big shout out of gratitude to my Aunt Ada, Uncle Cecil and all of my extended family of Jordan, Montana where I spent my formative years of middle and high school summers on their wheat farm and cattle ranch.

I suppose I will offend my city friends but every time I travel to Seattle and other large cities, and sit in standstill traffic I can’t help but think, “Do people realize they don’t have to live like this.”  Shhh....don’t tell people rural life is not only healthy for your soul and spirit but enjoyable----they might just pack up and move to our towns.  Quiet diminished and perhaps our ability to “stop and smell the roses.”

Living Our Dream: Getting Paid to Travel

Welcome to the land of kangaroos.  Australia and parts of Papua New Guinea are the only countries that kangaroos are native.  Kangaroos outside of these two countries have been introduced by humans. So it is appropriate to think of Australia whenever you see a kangaroo logo or symbol. 

Our "Australian Adventure" begins with me and my husband Mike (us in the photos below on the Yorke Peninsula) moving three months ago to Australia, to state of South Australia.   He has accepted a job as a country doctor for at least a year. He is a family practice doctor with over 33 years of experience with most of this time being in Hamilton, Montana.  He will fill in for rural doctors who have requested leave for holiday or personal time.  How lucky for me, as I get to tag along and be responsible for planning our travels. Since he works for three weeks, which then is followed by a week off duty, and has an additional four paid weeks of vacation, I will have a total of 16 weeks to plan and coordinate our itineraries.  We have never had so much time off with a "full-time" job.  Nice!

My plane arrived October 1, 2015 at the Sydney airport at 0620.  The plane was one of the first to arrive and thus had no immigration line.  Unlike Mike who traveled the week before me, his plane had a 2.5 hour immigration line delay and he missed his connecting flight to Adelaide.  As a travel tip it is worth trying to book an early arrival time to avoid the lines in immigration.  Melbourne has weather issues that can divert planes to Sydney, so it worth considering booking connections through Sydney over Melbourne.

Australia is similar in size to the continental USA, but only has 23 million people. South Australia  has more land mass than Texas, yet the population is less than two million.  And we Montanans thought we had a sparse population of one million. Yippee!  In case you are in need of Tuesday Trivia material, they have five times more sheep than people.  These little sheep are off to market...

                                                                         

Another trivia tidbit (but not so trivial), is that surveys reveal Australians report being the happiest people of any country in the world. And with an abundant backyard playground beaches like this photo how could you not feel happy, or at least experience tranquility?
                                                                               

  
How “lovely” we get to live in such a country for a year.  We do enjoy experiential learning and are looking forward to putting to the test as many learning opportunities as our energy and endurance can allow.

Generally speaking fall and spring of the Southern Hemisphere are the best times to visit almost anywhere in Australia. The summer months of December, January and February are hot and weather temperatures frequently reach 100+ degrees. We had a pub owner tell us over a beer, "tourists don't check out the local weather before they make their plans and then complain because it is just to hot."  So in hopes off curtailing the whiny tourist syndrome, I pass this tidbit on to the future travelers of Australia. Also during the summer, the east coast, where the Great Barrier Reef is located, is humid,  ocean waters are murky and the risk of life threatening jellyfish stings are increased and a real danger. The best time to experience the Great Barrier Reef (1,616 miles long and is the single largest structure made by living organism on the planet that can be seen from space.) is June through August.

Luckily for us, since we don't like humid heat, South Australia has a dry summer heat. Also, along the ocean coasts there more often than not is a prevailing breeze, and the temperature can be 25 to 15 degrees cooler than locations just 20 plus miles inland.  The temperature change is amazing to experience.

My next post will begin to describe the lifestyle of Australians.  The below picture is a hint of my upcoming perspective...