UVA was a wild card...he doesn't even remember why he sent in an application and we never visited it and when it came down to these final two, he was leaning hard toward Northeastern. Me too at first, but we agreed that we needed to give UVA a fresh look. We arranged an appointment to all chat with the lead college counselor at school, who we learned in the meeting is a current student working on a remote PhD at Northeastern. He was truly professional and laid out the case impartially for the two wildly disparate schools. We were also told a younger teacher at the school, who the Boy has had some interaction with and liked, was a UVA grad, and he went in to talk to her. She laid out the pros and cons well and the fact that she is adorable probably helped with his reception of what she was telling him.
Upon detailed research, we liked a lot of what we saw. Aesthetically, it ranks with any academic institution anywhere...designed by Thomas Jefferson and a couple of miles from Monticello, it is the only UNESCO heritage site school in the States and the adjoining town of Charlottsville is not appears charming, but is a job growth leader. We all liked that it is a powerhouse in what he wants to study but has tons of flexibility should he choose to shift gears, which is more than a possibility in any students college experience. The drawback for Boy-o was that it isn't in a major metropolis, which he has come to feel is his natural environment, but one of the aspects that I thought was important about it was that it is in the South. Not deep South, but enough to get a feel for that part of the country, and in the fractured social/political environment we have today, understanding it better would make for a more well rounded human and would be an experience that is new and could only make him grow. Additionally, they were voted as recently as 2015 as having the hottest student body and a 54% female/46% male population
The kicker for me was that I loved the idea of having a school with a culture. Devoted alumni, Saturday football games, and tradition were not part of Betty and my college experience at American in DC. Our campus was the city and while we both loved our time there, always feel a bit of envy for those that wrap themselves up in school colors and have secret hand shakes and shit. Wahoowah!
Mom was all in on UVA and while I came around to it as well, really tried to be as neutral to him as possible while still pointing out the good and the bad in both. Was not disappointed when he told us that it was going to be UVA this week. Time will tell but it feels like the right move. NE would have been easier but UVA has more upside for so many reasons. I am already looking forward to visiting him via DC (2 hrs away) and seeing friends there. And I intend on becoming a massive UVA Cavalier honk vicariously through him. They have so much schwag to buy. American has like two baseball caps you can get online but at UVA, there are literally 100's. I already love this store in town called Mincer's. Once we send the deposit check for school in, am gonna buy a couple of hats and shirts. The color scheme isn't the greatest, but the orange is burnt and the blue is deep, and I look super fine in those. And yes, it is all about me.
Last I left off, we were headed to Cairns in northern Queensland, but a giant Cyclone (Debbie) was bearing down on the coast. No flight delays announced and away we went. We have been travel monsters for the time we've been in Taiwan and have had famously good weather on every trip. Good to fantastic...three years ago I said this out loud and immediately knew it was bad karma and that I'd likely have jinxed us to suffer weather of biblical proportions forever after. But no. We have yet to have a crappy spell and think this is immune to bad juju in the same vein as I can declare that I can find a parking spot, typically right in front, anywhere on the planet and always do. Another superpower if you will.
The cyclone was horrendous, many dead and massive flooding, but it didn't even touch where we were and we had delightful weather for our 4 nights in northern Queensland. We flew into Cairns (pronounced Cans), but our accommodation was 70km up the coast in a town named Port Douglas. Spent the majority of the trip planning this leg as it was hard to determine where to stay, but think we nailed it. We tooled around for a bit in Carins, and it was a lovely city, but is the regional hub of the decidedly rural part of the country and felt like it was a place to do business rather than Netflix and chill. I made the controversial call to rent a car to make the drive up. Getting a taxi to/fro was the same price as renting the car, but I knew that driving on the opposite side, while being an attraction for me, would cause consternation among some in our party. The dude at the rental car place, Terrance, was an amateur shutter bug with a huge chunk missing from one of his ears. Didn't look like a birth defect but rather one from a bar fight. The Boy said that he'd hate to see the other guy.
It had been a couple of decades since I drove on the right hand side, but felt confident until I saw the ride was manual transmission. It has been a while since I drove one of those and never from that side of the car. Grinded it a few times and never felt totally comfortable, but didn't veer into oncoming traffic either. I turned on the windshield wipers most of the time whenever I went for the turn signal, and never walked up to the right/correct side of the car to get in once. The family would snicker in delight each and every time.
We liked Port Douglas the minute we drove in. We found the ideal rental that had big kitchen, great family room and most importantly, washer and dryer (we were dirty and smelly after a night in the bush and laughed at the suckers that opted for another night sleeping with the dingoes and scorpions). It was 70 meters from the beach and 5 minute walk from the quaint retail area filled with hip shops and restaurants.
The cyclone didn't drop any rain on Port Douglas, but it churned the seas up to make a trip out to the reef the first day inadvisable. The dude at the place we were staying gave us some choices and said that since we had a car, we should drive up through the Daintree rainforest to Cape Tribulation. At Cape Trib, the road turns to gravel until the country ends and is only accessible with 4 wheel drive. Once he said there was a great ice cream place on the road up, our decision was made.
A pleasant day. To the end it took about 3 hours round trip, but we went slow and took it in. The hotel dude said while it is only 40kms, the drive was slow as there was a lot of cassowary crossings. Now I had lived in Australia for a year and like to think I know a thing or two about the fauna of the place, but had never heard of the thing. As soon as we drove into the park, we saw this guy slowly walking along the road.
Holy shit...about 4-5 feet tall with a dinosaur growth on his head. Hard to see from this snap, but his talons were like a velociraptors. Recounting it later to some locals, they said these guys are vicious and can rip out your intestines. The color of his head was a stunning blue and we thought we'd see them all day, but this ended up being the only one. They must be out frequently though cause we saw a few of these signs.
At the end of the road, we got out at walked around Cape Tribulation for a bit. We saw a mom and baby wallaby in the woods, but they were shy and didn't get a decent photo. It took as a while to figure out what they were, with small deer and rat being thrown out as possible options.
There were crabs and this giant spider
And in the waters are a dozen types of jellyfish that can do serious damage.
When we did hit the reef, Betty and Babydoll didn't know it initially, but got stung by this guy.
They were lucky cause it could have been way worse.
Invisible jellyfish that cause feeling of impending doom, then cardiac arrest? That is alien shit.
Exquisitely deadly jellyfish, crocodiles and spiders, not to mention Jurassic Park worthy cassowaries. And we didn't even touch on any of the many deadly snakes that are lurking. Even freakin' dengue
A lovely day, and we did get that ice cream.
Mmmmm...biodynamic.
Betty enjoyed a Cassowary burger.
We had a laugh at her expense. The Boy ordered that burger, which was beef, and we remarked that it was one of the biggest we'd ever seen, but when we took the above picture, Betty's head made it seem small. Don't be mad sweetheart...I love your giant skull cause only it can house that massive brain.
On the ride home, the family grew silent from being tired so got to tell some Australia stories. Regaled them on how the sea off of the coast was the Coral Sea and one of the most significant battles in history went down there. Also told the story of the Jimmy Sharman's boxers, where the aborigines were exploited in some cruel pugilism. We talked about colonialism and what we saw in Uluru and how civilizing cultures is not always civilized. Plus there are two great songs by my favorite Australian artists on the topic. Cold Chisel's Yesterdays
And Jimmy Sharman's Boxers by Midnight Oil. Great album cover.
We got back to town in time to take a sunset cruise. A lady at the apartment place raved about it the night before so we joined. We were told that the best place to sit was on the net in the front of the catamaran, so we took our place there accordingly. Not a great idea as the waters were choppy and we got splashed mightily early in the ride. It was a nice spot and we were wet already, so just stayed there and got drenched to our undies. Apparently, we were the entertainment as the Captain thanked us for the show when we got off. The Boy and I are the ones that get seasick, and we were doing fine until about 3/4 of the way through when another lady on the boat turned green and spewed into her hat. After that, we started to feel it too but kept it inside. We housed our cameras cause of the water, so I don't have any photos but it was a lovely sunset until the end...reminded me of a mid-period Monet.
Betty wanted to get out on the reef bad the next day, but the waters were said to be the best the day after, and after the previous nights queaze fest, we talked her into having a quiet day. I took a sunrise walk along 4 mile beach (below are photos from a couple of different AM walks)
Later learned that a crocodile ate a dog on this beach the week before...
We all made a day of it by first taking a swim at the beach (which had a netted area to keep the jellyfish away).
Then strolling about the quaint town looking at the shops. We walked into the opal store and Betty was interested, but the smallest ones were outrageously expensive...Betty liked earrings that cost US$1,500. She couldn't justify that, even though they were gorgeous. I could not get past the fact that on the trip I mentioned last time from '83, we drove through the town of Coober Pedy. It is famous for being the place where 75% of all the world's opal originate and being so hot that the entire city is dug underground. When we were there, I bought three pairs of nice earrings for my mom, sister and girlfriend at the time for a total of $20. I hope they kept those cause they'd be $1000 each by now.
We all liked the store that had the dirty hand painted mugs, many of which were " fuck" themed. My favorite was the one that said something like 'Some people say I swear too much. Fuck those people'
Betty considered a massage.
I bought a pair of shorts at a store called Man Over Board that we called ManeuverBoard, which is only funny to us.
And a nap, which any perfect day can not be without. We also had motivation to stay close to home as the Boy found on the TV schedule our family's favorite Chinese dating show, If You Are The One playing in the afternoon. We fell in love with it at Betty's sisters house a few years ago and knew that the Aussies subtitled it. It is really worth your time.
We did a day on the Great Barrier Reef on our last day and it was sublime. Sunny, calm seas and with a tour operator that nailed it. The crew was funny, they served food and drink that was quite good throughout the day, and their equipment was clean and well maintained. Have done a lot of these snorkel things over the years, usually in 3rd world places, and the masks leak or you wonder if the boat is gonna stay afloat. These guys had every angle covered; things like anti-fogging spray for the masks, stinger suits that fit, and even Vaseline for the mustachioed men (and women). Did you know that having a mustache can hurt the water proof seal of a dive mask but that applying Vaseline will keep the seal? I didn't.
The Great Barrier Reef was a once in a lifetime destination and the grandeur of the place is inspiring. We learnt that on a full moon once a year, the entire reef ejects their seeds to repopulate the coral. The Naturalist dude that was there to provide environmental info on the boat and in the water was attacked by a girl who was ready to blame all of humanity for the reefs destruction on global warming. He was cool in explaining that a lot of the bleaching is due to natural factors and just because they are white, doesn't mean they are dead. This is a huge issue and we saw a ton of protest signage around the country like Black Coal = White Coral. No doubt it is a part of the reefs destruction, but is more complicated than I thought going in.
The Naturalist guy had a verbal tic that I found unusual, but noticed that a bunch of the other locals did too. At the end of every sentence, and I mean every one, he either said "Awriight" or "OK" Not only that, but he alternated them so robotically that it was like he was keeping track. This was hardly as annoying or distracting as the "Um" people, but it was still mesmerizing. The other oddity from this guy came when I was talking to him on the side and responded to some info he presented by saying "Right on". He asked me what that meant and was the third person on this trip that had difficulty understanding this response that I'd always assumed was ubiquitous in the English language. To be fair, one of those people was Giuseppe, and I thought he might take a swing at me in the moment before I talked him down.
The place is stunning, and the life in the water was abundant The boat had an underwater photographer who took amazing photos that we could never capture with our crappy underwater camera (which we forgot at home).
Not their most popular, but I've loved that disc for 20 years and had a memorable time communing with the Reef and listening to a great Australian album.
Totally recommend Port Douglas as your northern Queensland destination. Other than the fact that most everything there could kill you instantly, just a lovely spot.
Was hoping to finish this Australia thing today, but this weekend is Spring Fair at the school and have once again signed up to run the Hot Dog booth. 1000 dogs to cook/sell from 10a-3p. We have a great crew and it isn't too much work, but enough to throw off the schedule for the week. See you next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment