Donut Days and Emus

In mid-July when I last wrote a blog, Melbourne had just started what we thought would be a 6-week lockdown to try to bring our COVID-19 cases under control. That 6-weeks turned into 15 weeks where we weren't allowed to travel more than 5 km (3.1 miles) from our homes, could only exercise outdoors for 1 hour a day, had a curfew, masks were mandatory and there were very strict restrictions on acceptable reasons to leave your home. You weren't allowed to work from your office unless the company qualified as an "essential business" and then you had to carry a permit with you when travelling to and from work or face a hefty fine. Dan Andrews, the Victorian Premier (like a governor), had a press conference every day for more than 120 days in a row. It got to the point where we could tell if it was bad news or good new based on what Dan was wearing; we all prayed for the North Face jacket rather than the suit coat.

Mom and Joey Eastern Grey Kangaroos

At this point (Nov 22nd), we've had 23 consecutive days without a new COVID-19 case or a death in Victoria (so many double donut days!). We are down to 1 active case in the entire state of Victoria and there are only 91 active cases in all of Australia. Turns out, strict lockdowns work as long as everyone is willing to follow the rules for the benefit of the entire community. While the lockdown was really hard, it has been phenomenal to watch Victorians, specifically Melburnians, come together to beat this. I'll stop singing Victoria's praises now. Seriously though, Australia is amazing. There, done. 😇

The 'ring of steel' around Melbourne went away on November 9th, meaning that people in the metro Melbourne area could travel out into Regional Victoria for the first time since early July. Ross and I took advantage of the increased freedom by going camping in Grampians National Park last weekend. The Grampians are located about three and a half hours northwest of Melbourne. It was our first time visiting and we're already planning a trip back. 

Kangaroos and Emus in one picture?!? It's like we're in the Land of Oz.

We took off from work a bit early on Friday and headed west. Unfortunately we did not factor in the increased traffic and it ended up taking us an hour to get out of Melbourne. Besides that, we had an uneventful drive and stopped for fish and chips in a country town along the way. Driving into Hall's Gap (touristy town in central Grampians), we were surprised to see hundreds of kangaroos in and around the town. They were everywhere. We also saw a handful of emus. I just love Australian wildlife.

Milkmaids

We eventually made it to our campground only to find that someone had taken our camp spot. We ended up setting our tent up on the grass and speaking with the guys who were set up in our spot when they rolled back into camp around 9:30 p.m. The guys were super nice and apologetic; turns out a family had taken their spot. Given that the guys were leaving in the morning and it was late, we just slept on the grass.

Manuka

On Saturday morning we drove back into Hall's Gap and swung by the visitor's centre. After checking out the trail options, we decided to hike up Mount Rosea. It was about 9 km roundtrip. While that is a bit shorter than our normal day hiking distance, we hadn't been hiking since March, so it was quite nice. The Grampians are a pretty dry mountain range so most of the hike was through low brush and quite exposed to the sun. We had coolish weather so it was quite pleasant but it would be a beast during the summer. We had lunch at the top of Mount Rosea and then had a nice hike back to the car.

Following an ice cream break in Halls Gap we drove back out into the range and did a couple super short walks/overlooks to Mackenzies Falls and Boroka Lookout. We also kept up our streak of always seeing a snake while out hiking - this trip it was a Common Brown (2nd most venomous snake in the world). We did our favourite car-camping dinner (burritos!) and fell asleep to kookaburras and cicadas. 

MacKenzie Falls

Boroka Lookout

Mountain Dragon

Blue Tinsel-Lily

Sunday morning we woke up to rolling thunder and some light rain. We had been planning on having a short day anyway as we needed to get back to Melbourne for groceries, laundry, etc. and it was supposed to be in the low 90s, so we did a quick breakfast and pulled down our tent. From our campground, we took the Grampians Tourist Road south toward Dunkeld. It is a beautiful drive down the valley between the Serra Range to the west and the William Range to the east. When we got to the southern end of the park, we did a quick walk up the Piccaninny and enjoyed good views of Mount Abrupt and out over the surrounding farms.

Mount Abrupt

After hiking the Piccaninny, we got back on the road to Melbourne and I turned my phone on for the first time since Friday (no mobile reception where we were). We had asked a couple friends to check in on our cats over the weekend and I had received a number of text messages from them that culminated in one saying that they had taken our cats to the emergency vet for potential lily poisoning. 

Murphy shouldn't be yellow.

Rewind a week. One of the restrictions we had under the COVID rules was that only one person per household was allowed to go shopping on a given day. Ross and I had been trading off who did the grocery shopping each week because it was a treat to leave the house. The week before we went camping, it was my turn and I picked up a bouquet of day lilies to add some colour to our apartment. They hadn't really started to bloom until Wednesday or Thursday so we just left them on a side table when we went camping. Also, neither Ross nor I knew that they are toxic to cats.

It turns out that Murphy got into them on Saturday. When our friends stopped by he had pollen on his legs and face. They were a little confused and didn't notice the flowers. After doing some internet searches, they went back on Sunday to check on the cats and noticed the lilies. At that point, they called the vet and were told to bring the cats in asap.

Ross and I got to talk to the vet while driving back to Melbourne and give them permission to treat the cats. Murphy and Cooper ended up being on IV fluids for a bit over 24-hours and had blood work done multiple times. It turns out that lilies can cause acute kidney failure in cats so it's good that our cat sitters are very contentious people. We were able to pick the cats up from the emergency vet on Monday night and then took them to our vet on Thursday for follow-up blood work. Murphy's blood work showed that he had gotten some of the pollen (i.e. kidney function was slightly affected) but that he'd made it to the vet in time to stop any long term damage. At this point both cats are fine and we're never buying lilies again.

Double trouble

Cooper

Murphy helping me work.

Ross and I both took half of Thursday and all day Friday off this week for Thanksgiving. We had been planning on going backpacking but after the adventure with the cats last weekend, we'll probably stay a bit closer to home. 

To all of our friends and family in the US, please be careful, wear a mask and consider having a Zoom Thanksgiving. Sending much love.

Pink Lakes

On July 8th Melbourne went back under lockdown for at least 6 weeks. In May and June we had been having less than 10 new coronavirus cases a day, with some days nearing zero. Then everything started to open up again and our case load went up quickly. Just prior to the Premier (like a governor) announcing that we were going back under lock down, we were having around 200 new cases a day in Melbourne. Hopefully the reinstated restrictions will help to bring the numbers back down but the last couple days we've had 300-400 cases a day in Victoria, so we'll see.

Lake Tyrrell, Victoria

Just prior to the lockdown, Ross and I managed to get out of Melbourne for a long weekend for my birthday. We drove about 5 and a half hours north-northwest of Melbourne to Murray-Sunset National Park. The park is in the corner of the state so we were abutting South Australia to the west and New South Wales to the north. While we were up there we were able to explore some of the salt lakes in that region and see a bit of the Silo Art Trail.

We started on the road on July 4th and made our way up to our AirBnb in Ouyen. On the way we stopped by the Art Silos in Nullawil and Sea Lake. The Silo Art Trail stretches over 200 kilometres in northwestern Victoria and was conceived in 2016. The murals are meant to celebrate and recognise the region's people and many of the silos that are used for the giant murals date back to the 1930s. The two that we saw were quite impressive. If we'd had more time, we would have liked to see others but they were not really on the way. Next time...

From Sea Lake we headed up to Lake Tyrrell, which is not so much a lake as a shallow, salt-crusted depression though it's much more interesting and beautiful than that makes it sound. The lake covers an area of about 51,500 acres and only has a couple inches of water during the winter. The water is incredibly saline and there was a thin salt crust under the water when we visited. It was possible to break chunks of salt crust off the ground under the water or you could just scrap salt off the beach along the high-wave mark. The salt is harvested commercially from the north end of the lake by Cheetham Salt Works with more than 100,000 tonnes harvested each year.

Salt from the shore

Salt crust

Salt-crusted footprints

On July 5th we drove over to Murray-Sunset National Park and spent the day walking most of the trails in the park and marvelling at the colourful lakes. Murray-Sunset is the second largest national park in Victoria and covers an area of 1,560,000 acres. It is closer to Adelaide (capital of South Australia) than it is to Melbourne and was declared as a national park in 1991. Prior to becoming a park the area was a major part of the salt industry from approximately 1916 to 1979. During peak production, three of the lakes in the park could yield 10,000 tonnes of salt per day.

The lakes in the southern portion of the park are referred to as the Pink Lakes due to a red pigment, carotene, that is excreted by the algae. When we were there a couple of the lakes had a pink tint but the lake that was billed as the 'pinkest of the lakes' was actually orange. I'm not sure why is was orange. Maybe there had just been an algae die-off or something similar. Needless to say, it was pretty weird to walk up to a lake that was naturally an impressive orange. The only other time I've seen water that colour was because of acid mine drainage.

Yep, that is natural and not pollution.

Salt crust along the lake shore.

Australian Ringneck

Ross next to a pile of discarded salt.

Major Mitchell Cockatoo

Slightly pink lake

My birthday was on a Monday this year, so I took it off work for this adventure. On my birthday, we left Ouyen and headed back to Melbourne with a stop at the Bendigo Woollen Mills. I happily looked at yarn for a while and then chose out a large bag's worth for some socks and a fairisle jumper. I am definitely my mother's daughter. 

We had a weekend adventure prior to my birthday (that will be the next blog) but with the current COVID-19 case load in Melbourne, Ross and I will not be doing much for the foreseeable future (other than knitting, baking and reading). Until next time, stay safe and healthy! Sending much love from Down Under. 

Checking-in From Down Under

April has, understandably, not been the most exciting month Down Under. In Melbourne we are only allowed/supposed to leave our houses for 1) work (if you can't work from home), 2) exercise (e.g. biking, running, walking), 3) food and supplies, and 4) medical care or caregiving. Also, gatherings of more than 2 people are banned, except for members of your household or for work/education purposes. Most stores are closed, and restaurants are only doing take-away. Australia has even gone as far as closing down the beaches and in Melbourne you can get a $1,600 fine for breaking any of the social distancing/quarantine rules.

That being said, it seems like overall Australia is handling the coronavirus well. As of April 26th, Australia had 6,710 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 83 deaths. The majority of the cases are along the east coast in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. But given that the majority of the population is in that area, it makes sense. At this point it sounds like some restrictions are going to start lifting, such as elective surgeries starting up again and some schools opening, but Scott Morrison (the Prime Minister) has said that until there is a vaccine, social distancing will need to stay in place. From what I have observed when out running or going to the grocery store, it seems like most people are adhering to the social distancing for the most part. We certainly haven't been plagued by the protests that are occurring in the U.S. and for that, I am thankful.

Ross and I are both doing well and staying healthy. Ross has been working from home since we got back from Tassie in late March. I worked from home for two weeks when we got back and then have been doing half the week at home and half the week in the office since. I've actually really been enjoying going into the office. It's been great seeing co-workers and it’s nice to have dual screens. Who am I kidding? Dual screens are the main reason that I like working from the office (jk...mostly). Plus, my office chair is significantly more comfortable than the chair that I have at home.

Cooper helping me with work.

All of the grocery stores in Australia instituted limits on items like pasta, pasta sauce, flour, rice, canned goods and paper goods in late March. At this point they are talking about lifting the limits because basically everything is back in stock and people no longer seem to be panic buying everything in sight (though no yeast yet). Ross and I went shopping today and it was actually kind of weird to see an aisle full of toilet paper and paper towels. There were even cans of diced tomatoes today. We haven't seen those in the store since before we went to Tasmania.

Since we're not allowed to go anywhere (you can't travel except for the four reasons listed above), Ross and I have been cultivating our hobbies this past month and playing with our kitty, Cooper. Ross has been reading like crazy and playing Magic with friends back in the States a couple times a week. I've been knitting and baking up a storm. We've made multiple batches of cookies (Ginger Snaps, Mexican Hot Chocolate, Anzacs), banana bread, muffins, etc. Plus, after discussing how easy it is to make a sourdough starter with one of my colleagues, I also now have a sourdough starter fermenting away. I've been following the King Arthur Flour starter recipe and have been very happy with the results. Plus, the recipe for sourdough crackers is amazing! We've made a couple batches of rosemary sourdough crackers and I'm not sure I can ever go back to store-bought crackers. I also made my first loaf of sourdough bread today (see below).

Meet Matilda, my sourdough starter. She has a really bubbly personality. 

A little dark on top but so tasty.

I have been going super stir-crazy at home, so I think that I'm one of the few people who is actually working out more than I was prior to the coronavirus. I've been running four days a week and am averaging 20-25 miles a week (30-40 kms). It's been really nice and a great way to de-stress. I had signed up to do the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon in the middle of May this year (I did the 14 km last year) but it has been postponed until late August (fingers crossed it still happens this year). This past week the race organisers set up a virtual event and so, since I have nothing better to do on the weekends (besides bake and knit), I'll be doing a virtual half marathon in the middle of May. While doing long runs in the lead-up to the half marathon, I noticed that all of the drinking fountains along my running routes have been turned off due to the coronavirus. Because of this I've started doing my long runs with a small backpack + water bladder. It's actually not as bad as I would have thought, and it has the added bonus of making me feel really hardcore. So basically, it's a win all around.

One positive side to the craziness that is the new normal, is that I've talked to so many friends via the various video-chatting platforms in the last month or so. I will whole-heartedly admit that I have been pretty terrible at corresponding since Ross and I moved to this part of the world, so having Zoom meetups with a bunch of friends has been so unbelievably fabulous. It is amazing how much seeing a friendly face can pick up my entire week. Plus, actually seeing people has been really helpful to prove to myself (and my sometimes crazy brain) that everyone is still okay. I've also been talking to my parents and brother+sister-in-law+adorable nephew more often which has been really nice.

Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy and for the love of God, do not inject bleach into your body. Much love from Down Under.