Australia Supports Japan after Quake

By jennifer | Published: May 1, 2011

While some countries are challenged to get along with others, Australia and Japan have made great strides since World War II when Japan attacked northern Australia.  The movie “Australia” (2008) starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman gives us a glimpse into the struggle between these two nations during 1942 and1943.

Sixty-nine years later, a short time really, much has been healed and forgiven, and Australia is coming to Japan’s aid through the Tourism Australia (TA) offices to offer support for those affected by the March 11, 2011 earthquake. On April 22, 2011, a dinner at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan was hosted by TA.  In attendance were 35 VIPs, Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and 600 guests. During the dinner, the Prime Minister announced a new scholarship program for students who are from disaster areas.

Also on April 22, 2011, Tourism Australia launched “Australia is with you,” an initiative soliciting greater efforts for relief and support to those affected by the earthquake. A dedicated page has been prepared on the Japanese edition of Tourism Australia’s website, www.australia.jp, to feature relief efforts and events underway in Australia and Japan.

All human beings are a work in progress, and citizens of Australia and Japan are showing  us what’s possible when we work together to heal our past. Developing nations are going through what today’s leading nations have experienced at some point in history. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa, to name a few, will one day find peace as well.

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Walkabouts and Songlines

By jennifer | Published: April 26, 2011

To go walkabout means to go on a journey of self-discovery. Aborigines, young and old, head into the desert barefoot and with few possessions for days, weeks, and months on end.  It is a right of passage for young men, an end of life quest for the elderly, and an ongoing connection to spirit in the years throughout one’s life. Aborigines hold secrets many of us have yet to imagine.

Songlines are the invisible pathways spread throughout the continent of Australia, trails known only to those who know the song of his ancestors. The song leads the way describing the animals, plants, rocks, and water holes, landmarks that keep the traveler on course, and most importantly, alive.  It is believed that during the Dreamtime, supernatural beings sang out the original name of each animal, plant, rock, and water hole, singing the world into existence.  

Walkabouts and songlines are a study unto itself, and one of the best books on the subject is titled, The Songlines by Bruce Chatwain. I highly recommend it.

Below is a picture of Nullah’s grandfather, Wooleen. Both Nullah and Wooleen are from the movie Australia, another great source of Aboriginal history. The Aboriginal culture has much to teach us about taking care of ourselves and the land. It’s a culture that has survived for tens of thousands of years, and they are willing to share what they have learned. The question is, are we willing to listen?

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Bush Tucker

By jennifer | Published: April 21, 2011

“Tucker”

That’s an everyday word in Australia, but one that is foreign to many Americans.  A mom might say to her child, “Remember to take your tucker box with you!” as her child is running out the door to go to school.  The term “tucker box” can be interchanged with the term “lunch box” because the word ”tucker” means “food.” 

Bush tucker is food found in the wild, food that is gathered while an Aborigine, or anyone for that matter, is on walkabout, and a walkabout is a journey into the outback, barefoot, with few possessions, often taken alone as a spiritual quest.  Walkabout is a subject unto itself and will be the next topic of this blog.  For now, it’s back to tucker.

Tucker found in the outback consists mostly of witchety grubs (moth larvae), honey ants (ants that store honey in their abdomen), leaves, blossoms, and little known herbs, fruits, and vegetables.  Lizards are also common bush food.  Larger game, such as kangaroo, is sometimes eaten, but it’s the smaller meals that have kept Australia’s first inhabitants alive for over 40,000 years.  While the menu may not sound appealing, much of it is considered a delicacy.   Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it!…as the saying goes.

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City of Light

By jennifer | Published: April 15, 2011

On February 20, 1962, NASA successfully launched the first American astronaut into orbit.  John Glenn made history that week when he traveled three times around the earth.  During one of Glenn’s passes over Australia, the residents of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, wanted to say “Hello” to Glenn in a very big way.  House lights were turned on, and enough light was created for the astronaut to see the city from space.  Ever since then, Perth has been called “The City of Light.” 

I guess you could call John Glenn, the first “American in Space Oz.”   :)

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Uluru’s Secret

By jennifer | Published: April 3, 2011

If you’ve ever cleared a garden or a field filled with rocks, you know that many of the larger rocks must be dug out of the ground before they can be removed.  They have settled, over time, deep into the earth, and the same is true of Uluru, one of the largest monoliths in the world.  Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) is located in the center of the continent and is one of Australia’s most famous landmarks. 

Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit this area each year to experience one of the most sacred places of the Aborigines.  Much has been written about the stories and secrets that lie within the rock, but few people know what lies underneath the rock.

Like an iceburg lies mostly beneath the surface of the water, more than three-quarters of Uluru lies beneath the surface of the earth.  Above is a picture of Uluru, and below is a picture of an iceburg.  If you had x-ray vision, you’d be able to see Uluru in a way that resembles an iceburg.  It makes a lot of sense.  What are the odds that a rock this size was completely flat at the bottom?  Slim to none, I’d say.  And thus reveals a scientific secret of Uluru.

Books are filled with interesting stories and facts about this area that could become a study unto itself.  If rocks and Aboriginal wisdom are your thing, Uluru is worth a visit to your library, the book store, the Internet, and/or a visit to the outback of Australia. 

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Religious Zealots

By jennifer | Published: March 27, 2011

Religious zealots are everywhere.  They are the over enthusiastic believers in God who want YOU to believe in THEIR way, because they believe that their way is THE way to God. 

In Australia, religious zealots are known as “god botherers,” and they are trying to save your soul.   My belief is this: a personal relationship with God is, well, personal, and that is why god botherers are met with such resistance.  God botherers are also a great source of entertainment to some, and one example can be found in a guy named Ned Flanders on the TV show, The Simpson’s.  Homer Simpson and Ned Flanders are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to character and morals.  This dynamic gives the show’s writers plenty of material to work with. 

The Simpson's god botherer, Ned Flanders

There are two religions that stand out as being over zealous – the Mormon Church and the Jehovah Witnesses.  Both groups enlist missionaries to go door-to-door seeking out “non-believers.” Pamphlets and messages about their churches are distributed throughout neighborhoods in America and Australia.  Sharing passion about what one believes in is a good thing, but when it’s uninvited and/or turned up a notch too high, the listener feels more bothered than saved.  A door slams shut, and the message of love and forgiveness is often lost. 

Finding balance in passion can be challenging.  Maybe the experience of going door-to-door is more about the church member than it is about building the church’s membership.  Maybe the god botherer, knowingly or unknowingly, has signed up for an experience to deepen his or her walk with God and it has nothing to do with saving anyone else.  Hmm…maybe, just maybe, THAT is the grand design behind their passion for Christ.

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Land of Opposites

By jennifer | Published: March 20, 2011

Compared to North America, Australia is the land of opposites.   Summer happens in the winter months, AM is PM, and North is South as far as the weather is concerned.   

When traveling north through Australia in January (summertime), the temperatures were rising to three-digit levels.  My mind would say, “It’s supposed to get cooler,” and yet the opposite was happening.   Located below the equator (downunder) means that northern Australia looks like the Florida tropics, and southern Australia (Tasmania) looks like Maine because the next stop south is Antarctica.  Adjusting to a new way of looking at the world was both odd and refreshing at the same time. 

The huge time change from AM to PM takes a minimum of 4 days to get used to.  Two in the afternoon on the east coast of the USA means it’s two in the morning on the west coast of Australia.  Experts say it takes one full day for the body to adjust to each one-hour time change.  With a 12-14 hour difference from North America to Australia, that means it takes nearly two weeks to fully adjust to being on the opposite side of the planet. 

I was grateful to stay in Oz for two months, and I highly recommend taking as long a trip as possible.  There are many creative ways to make that happen on any budget, and a search on the Internet is a good place to begin finding a way.  Taking extended trips allow one to get in sync with the local environment. It moves a person from being a tourist to a traveler, an experience worth seeking, especially in a faraway land called “Oz.”

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Opp Shops (aka: Thrift Stores)

By jennifer | Published: March 12, 2011

The term “Opp Shop” may not be familiar to Americans, but the concept is.  Opp Shop is the abbreviated name for opportunity shops, and an opportunity shop is what’s known as a thrift store in the USA.  I love a good bargain, and one of my favorite hobbies is thrift store shopping.  I have found treasures ranging from original art to decorate my home to designer clothing with the tag still in place.  It’s a thrill to find something valuable for only a dollar or two.

Two of the most common thrift stores, or opp shops, found in the USA are The Salvation Army and Goodwill Industries.  Whenever someone asks me, “Where did you find that great top?” I’ll answer honestly, but I often put a twist on the truth.  If I found something at Goodwill, I’ll say, “The GW Boutique.”  If I found it at The Salvation Army, I’ll say, “I found it at Sallies.”   If a quizzical look comes back, I’ll explain.  If talking to another treasure hunter, she’ll understand, and we’ll both have a good laugh.

I learned about opp shops long after I returned home from my trip to Australia.  Now, when I reflect on my two months downunder, I wish I had thought to watch for these stores, to keep them on my radar, because opp shops in any country are a great way to get to know the culture.  The items represent a wide range of fashion styles and trends, and I probably would’ve found some amazing souvenirs, something like in the picture below.

I plan to go back to Australia one day, and one of the first things I’ll do when I get to Sydney is find a local and say, “Point me to the nearest opp shop, please!”   Several hours later, I’ll emerge with a plethora of souvenirs.  I might even find a new favorite top.  

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The Origin of “Oz”

By jennifer | Published: March 5, 2011

Whenever someone asks if I made up the nickname Oz for Australia, I laugh inside.  It’s understandable how this assumption can be made, because Australia is still a mystery to many Americans, but as the world gets smaller and technology advances, more will become known about this faraway land. 

It took a lot of digging to find out which came first, L. Frank Baum’s title The Wizard of Oz or Australia’s Oz, but I got an answer. The book came first. And in the research I learned where Baum found the name Oz.  During the summer of 1899, while writing his classic fairy tale, the author was stumped with the challenge to name his imaginary land.  Right before him was a file cabinet with two drawers labeled A-N and O-Z.  “O-Z. I’ll call the land Oz!” he exclaimed.  What’s great about this story is that it reveals a creative secret….sometimes the best ideas come from the most common of places.

Stage Two of my digging involved a search for the first known use of the nickname Oz for Australia.  David, the star of Part Six in An American in Oz solved this puzzle in a single day.  He said he remembered a story about an Aussie journalist, Richard Neville, and then went straight to the source with an email.   A few hours later, Mr. Neville responded:

In 1963, when we launched (the magazine) Sydney Oz, there was merely the resonance with The Wizard of Oz …. and a vague association with the shortened version of ounce (oz). It was in London in the late 60’s, when Oz became seriously high profile and controversial, (and was run mainly by Australians) that Aussie was gradually abbreviated – probably by a journo (journalist) – to Oz.  When (Prime Minister) Keating went to London and put his arm around the Queen’s back, the headlines were “The Lizard of Oz.”  (lizards are known to wrap their front leg around another lizard’s shoulder.)  I don’t think we can identify the eureka moment when OZ became the badge of Australia, but it would have never happened without the magazine.  An appendix in the Oxford Dictionary carries the whole story.

Back to L. Frank Baum:  Whether the author ever went to Australia remains a mystery to me. He didn’t seem to travel much, but I learned that a few of his characters did. Thanks to David (a wealth of information) another hidden gem was revealed.  He told me about the book, Ozma of Oz (1907), one of 13 sequels to The Wizard of Oz, and it opens with Dorothy on a ship traveling to Australia with her Uncle Henry to visit relatives. Uncle Henry’s health is failing, and Aunt Em thought the trip would do him good. Meanwhile, Aunt Em stayed on the farm to take care of things while Dorothy and Henry were off on their voyage half way around the world.  It’s a wonderful little story, and another example of Baum’s wild imagination.

Dorothy travels to Australia in "Ozma of Oz"

There were many times while in Australia when I saw something so original, so different from home that I turned to my travel partner, Jeff, and said, “We are definitely not in Kansas anymore!”  Oz is a fitting name to this unique island continent.

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Marsupial Lions and Rhinos and Bears, oh my!

By jennifer | Published: February 20, 2011

One of the oddest things about Australia is the plethora of marsupials that live and have lived on this remote island continent.  Marsupials are animals that carry their young in a pouch. The most popular types are kangaroos and koalas, but did you know that Australia once had prehistoric marsupial lions and rhinos in its midst?  Can you imagine that? A lion carrying its young in a pouch?  

Thylacoleo carnifex - the marsupial lion

I discovered this oddity on Day 41 of my Australia adventure during a self-guided tour at Riversleigh Fossils Interpretive Center .  Years later, I learned something else.  All indigenous mammals in Australia are marsupial.  All of them.  I saw a marsupial mouse in the outback, and the quokka on Rottnest Island is also marsupial.  There are hundreds of different types of marsupials both extinct and alive. 

Yes, Australia has cows, horses, dogs, cats, foxes, rabbits, and sheep, but they are not marsupial because they are not indigenous or native to the land.  Most of these are transplants from England.  And what about bears, you may be asking…the bears mentioned in this headline?  I’m referrring to the koala bear.  Not really a bear at all, it only got lumped into the bear family because they look like teddy bears, but scientifically speaking, koalas are in the kangaroo family.

It just goes to show ya’, this marsupial story proves that truth can be stranger than fiction, and Australia is full of fascinating stories.  Stay tuned for more in the weeks and months ahead.

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