mullerb's musings

I would be happy living in Australia too! I was while I was there and I would be if the opportunity came again. How's things? Probably still riding like a maniac given the lack of snow on the Mt Buller snowcams :-) We are easing into summer here. The last 4 weeks have been unusually rainy and cool. A very pleasant stretch of weather to push back the fire season since our winter was one of the driest on record down here in the Frontrange. The rains have brought the creeks to life and the grasses and trees are much happier. And with the never-ending storms of the past month, the mountain snowpack has reached close to record levels, well over 200% of normal. It was the second Friday at our reduced work schedule and so the second Friday in a row with an awesome ride under the belt. I vowed to do a new route every Friday for the summer - we'll see if I can meet that goal! Both Fridays have now been devoted to mountain biking. Last week I strung together a series of trails and dirt r

One of the culminating experiences for this whole trip has been on the calendar since the early planning stages: a week of bare boating in the Whitsunday Islands of Queensland. Here's a map of the route: http://tinyurl.com/5gndbu I've got pics of the trip here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mullerb/2008JulyWhitsundaySailing The winds were a consistent 20-25 kt from the southeast and the anchorages were all calm and had great snorkeling. We covered a good 130nm under sail in our monstrous Lagoon 380 catamaran - what a beast! It doesn't point all that well but boy does it pick up speed when you move 60+ degrees off the wind. Fun!

Pretty funky pic of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra earlier this year. We went to a free outdoor evening concert at the Sydney Myer Music Bowl when I took this. The next day I came across a website with the how-tos on making "miniatures" from your pics in Photoshop. So I tried my hand and I came up with this collection of little music making dolls all set up on a stage.

We had a nice 3-day trip north of Melbourne. Not the kind of area many tourist would find themselves in. As you leave the coast and head north out of Melb, it gets flat and very agricultural. Loads of orchards, pastures and wheat fields mixed with the remnants of the eucalyptus forest. It's a bit like driving across the flatter parts of southern Michigan. About 3 hours north, you hit the Murray River which is the biggest river system in the country. It starts way up north and swings through this area on its way to Adelaide and the Southern Ocean. By the time it gets to this region, there is little water left: irrigation and reservoirs upstream take their alottment regardless of the drought conditions and needs downstream. We camped on a huge beach together with, get this, 67 other people. Holy cow. The organizers set up a kitchen that matches any army troop canteen! Pretty impressive. The 43 kids were served first followed by us adults, who all enjoyed a sit down meal with fine win

Alright, this is getting a bit silly. First the ears, then the toe, now a tooth?!? Cracked the inner side off a second premolar yesterday morning while munching on breakfast. Nice. I have an appointment set up for later this week. We'll see how it goes...

The system over here seems like a decent one. Everyone has been covered with national medicare since 1984 and pays a 1.5% tax into it. (I think high income earners may pay slightly more.) You get all your minor and major ills taken care of with no deductible. Elective surgery is not covered. A govt selected list of medications are covered through a separate program. The list does not necessarily include the latests greatest drugs and there are restrictions on the more expensive ones. You can also opt to pay for private insurance. There are public and private hospitals but only private insurance holders use the private hospitals. There are good and bad public hospitals but all the privates are considered very good. Some elective surgery is covered in private plans. A couple of issues (there has to be a hitch or two!): minor non-critical surgery may have long waiting lines (as in months and months); if you have a critical illness and the best doc is at a private hospital, you have to pay

For the second time on this stay in Oz, I got to experience the local medical establishment up close and personal. The first time around, I had a friendly visit with a GP regarding an inner ear infection. Nice guy at the local office who took all of 5 minutes to look in my ears and to tell that both ear drums were being nicely distended. A 10-day round of antibiotics cleared it all up. Kind of interesting to go to a doctor's office and not see a single nurse in the process. And to only pay AUS$60 for the visit total. And to not have my blood pressure and temperature taken. This second time around is turning out to be a two-step process. Today x-rays, later this week consultation with a foot surgeon. Looks like my right foot has a slight fracture in the third toes' proximal phalange near the metatarsophalangeal joint (how's that for a mouthful). Darn windsurfing. This happened late in the day on Sunday April 6. The wind was letting down, and so was the sun, and as I came int

Here's the view from my desk at the BoM at 1010 LaTrobe Street in Melbourne this morning. Well, actually, it's the view I get when I turn around in my chair; I have to make sure I don't look out too often as it gets too distracting to get any work done. The whole area has undergone a huge revitalization effort and is called The Docklands. The old defunct docks and storage buildings have been replaced in the past few years with modern mixed use buildings. There must be more than 20 restaurants along the pier to the right down there. Makes for nice lunch meetings :-) It's been fun to wathc that huge ferris wheel go up over the past 2 months. It's supposed to be a rival to the big one in London. The building we're in is only a year old and is shared with the Australian Customs Service. Lots of armed folks wandering around, constantly heading out to the bigger container port just down the river. There's a tram stop outside the front door and a major rail station

So one of my biggest hopes with coming over here was to hook up with a local sailing club and get out as crew for racing. And I have! Very easy to get set up here as there are 4 or 5 clubs within a few kilometers of Brighton. I chose the Sandringham Yacht Club ( http://www.syc.com.au/ ) as it has a more casual reputation. I filled a form, got a call within a half hour, and got invited to crew on a 32' Jarken cruiser/racer. Ken Gaylor, the owner of Salt Shaker, is a retired professor of biochemist from Melbourne University. What a good guy! He's sharp at tactics, easy going on the crew, really competitive on the course, and has a lot of fun. I raced a number of times now with Ken on a Wednesday afternoon summer series. No spinnakers allowed in this one so it's all about tactics and timing. We've done well! A couple of 1st place finishes, a 2nd place spot (just yesterday), and few less well-placed finishes to mention. There's usually around 35 boats racing. They use a

I decided to by a used JP Excite 120l demo board from SHQ ( http://www.shq.com.au/ ). I also picked up a North 430 30% carbon mast and a boom. Andrew is kindly supplying me with a nice 6.0m, 5.3m, and a 4.2m set of sails. So I'm set to take advantage of the water here. I also bought a trolley for A$25 at the Homedepot knock off, Bunnings. I can strap all the gear to the trolley. Andrew has a spot next to his house where I can leave it and it's only a short 5 minute stroll to the nearest launch site. No complaints so far. I've only been out on it a few times with winds under 18 kt but it seems to do well for me. I haven't been out in strong enough winds to consistently nail a water start, but I'll get there...

Hmmm, haven't been so humbled physically in a while. I had a go at sailing Andrew's Starboard Carve 99l board with a 6.0m sail in 17-22 kt winds. I really thought I would get a water start licked real quick since I've done several in the past. But that board, mixed with the waves here, just totally threw me for a loop. Several, actually. Kind of a drag as I'm sure it is a great board for here. But I think I need to transition to it via something a bit bigger. You need 17+kt to water start on a 6.0 and that means things get exciting fast and the waves pick up. It's just a bit much for me to feel comfortable heading out on the Bay in those conditions with that set up. I really want to be able to uphaul if I have to and I want to be able to get out when the winds are light as well My ancient Bic Metal Rock back home is the same width (60cm) but is carries a floaty 139l and I usually sail it in winds below 22 kt. So I'm trying to locate a decent, cheap transition b

Finally had a weekend all together at "home". On Saturday, Rachel and I borrowed a couple of kayaks from Andrew and spent the morning paddling in the bay. The girls slept in after a long week of school work and walked down to meet us on the beach with lunch. We whiled most of the afternoon away hanging out on the beach and swimming. In the evening we met the Brady's and other friends at a huge outdoor concert arena in the city and listened to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as the moon rose and the sun set across the city skyline. Slept in on Sunday morning then took off from the house at 11 with daypacks filled with towels, water, and snacks. We hiked south along the beach trail for 7 miles or so to a place called Ricket's Point. Beautiful beaches, one after another, the whole way. When it got too hot, we jumped into the Caribbean-blue waters to cool off. At the end of the trail we hopped on a bus then a train to get back to our house. So Swiss, eh. But instead of i

An early Saturday morning paddle on Andrew's two old Dancers. We carried them the short 5-minute walk down to the beach and launched in flat seas with little breeze. Beautiful stretch of the Bayside shore front. You pass several points of land followed by long stretches of beach with easy landings pretty much everywhere. Highlight: Paddling past the Sandringham Yacht Club and seeing hundreds of masts sticking up behind the breakwater. Beautiful red rock-like bluffs near Black Rock. The HMS Cerberus wreck off of Black Rock. Spending a couple of hours alone with Rachel on the water. Ahhhhh, very nice way to kick off the weekend.

After months of pulling strings and planning, we are off to Melbourne for a 7 month work stay. I'm slated to work on some Bureau of Meteorology projects for COMET while the girls get to experience Australian schools up close and Rachel gets to play a stay-at-home Mom. Our flights take us from Denver to Melbourne via Los Angeles and Auckland, New Zealand. We leave on Wednesday, Jan 9 and get in on Friday, Jan 11. Funny how that works when you cross the international date line: we lose a day of our lives, never to regain it UNLESS we decide to head back on our return flights on August 3.