Cooloola Cove - Departure

As should be obvious from the lead photo on yesterday’s blog post, Kaz was quite pleased with what we did to her home. There really wasn’t a single room we didn’t do at least something to, and she wouldn’t admit to disliking anything. She liked our color choices, the new furniture arrangement, the repositioning of her wall art, the addition of the kitchen shelf and bamboo screen, and the way Deborah reinvented her furniture pieces. She was also very happy with the spruced up front garden. With the new landscaping plan in hand and some advice from Deborah on how to better approach pruning and the display of yard art, it seems that Kaz is brimming with ideas and newfound enthusiasm to tackle the rest of the yard.

We tagged along with Kaz’s son-in-law Ray who had some errands to run in Tin Can Bay. He took us to the “Tip Shop,” a section of the dump where they scavenge potentially valuable bits from the rest of the debris and offer it for sale to the public. Deborah was in shabby-chic heaven - fantastic browsing. If I were a sculptor instead of a painter I would be drooling over all the interesting chunks of metal and industrial springs and discarded car parts. Maybe construct a giant metallic wombat. If we had known of this place earlier we probably would have dragged countless cast-offs back to Kaz’s to use both inside and out. As it was, we couldn’t resist a shoulder-high metal windmill frame (a whopping $2) to plop in the yard.

Kaz’s granddaughter Kara, 5-year old daughter of Julie and Ray, presented us with an armful of souvenir prezzies (presents) to remind us of our time in Australia. We all enjoyed a nice meal together: dinner by Deborah, dessert (pavlova) by Julie. Nice, nice family. We hope we’ll cross paths again. The following morning we said our goodbyes and were driven by Ray to the Hervey Bay airport to catch our flight back to Sydney. Infant daughter Jazmine shared the back seat with Deborah and kept her entertained.

Back in Sydney we took a long walk through the city and returned to our favorite Indian restaurant for a late lunch. We’re just spending the one night here in Sydney. Tomorrow we catch our cruise ship and start winding our way through the South Pacific, ending up in Hawaii 16 days later, and from there we fly home. I’ll do my best to keep up with the blog during the cruise, but it will depend on the difficulty and/or expense of internet access on the high seas.

Cooloola Cove - The Reveal

Today was the day for the big reveal. Kaz came back with daughter Julie, son-in-law Ray, and granddaughters Kara and Jasmine to see all the changes we've been making inside and out. For now I'll let the pictures tell the story.

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Kaz is just a little excited to see the decorating changes.

Living Room. New furniture arrangement, which, as we can attest from having lived with it for a couple of weeks, works quite well. New gold paint, including a horizontal stripe to feature the grandchildren's art.

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New paint on focal wall in bathroom.

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This shelving unit was originally in the garage; works well with the gold paint and new display arrangement by Deborah (grandchildren's art again features prominently).

Gold paint carried into kitchen. Wall hangings relocated.



New shelf in kitchen.

China hutch (1930s?) repainted, distressed and reorganized by Deborah.

New focal wall in Master Bedroom painted to match existing bedding.

Kaz has no car so the garage is used as living space with screen doors facing the front garden.

New bamboo screen hides laundry area.

The front garden. Garage screen doors are to the left. New stone border, new placement of benches, yard art.

Arbor with bench and coffee maker planter on left.

Front gate, path leads to front door.

Really like that stone border.

Aloe relocated to form border, several plants relocated, pruned, benches and yard art relocated.

Cooloola Cove - The Bastard

The weather improved enough yesterday to allow us to take a long walk and check out some new neighborhoods. Only once did we have to take shelter under the eaves of nearby building to wait out a passing squall. It felt good to give our legs a good workout.

Today the weather was spectacular. The lawn had actually dried out enough in most areas that I attempted to mow it; something it needed badly. On the front of Kaz’s mower it reads in big bold letters “The Bastard.” If this were any other country I’d think someone just put a sticker on the machine as a joke, but this being Australia I could believe that is actually the brand name. Anyway, The Bastard did fairly well, although it is clearly not made for a tall person, as my sore back will attest. Deborah had to relieve me for a spell; she said it was the first time in probably 30 years that she had mowed a lawn. We managed to get most of the extensive yard mowed but there were some areas that were still too wet. What should have been obvious to me from the start is that it is not at all easy to mow a swamp.

Deborah did a bit more pruning today as well so with the newly trimmed grass the yard looks much better. Kaz and family will be here tomorrow for the big reveal. We look forward to showing her all the changes – inside and out. She assures us she will like whatever we’ve done, but if not she can take solace in the fact that we will be out of the country in a couple of days and thereafter unable to do any more damage.

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Waiting for a flood?

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Typical, simple house.

In a new neighborhood called Cooloola Sands.


We quite like this one. It's really a couple of separate buildings with a common interior covered courtyard plus separate decks for each building plus a shared carport with its own curved cover.



More kookaburras
(photo by Deborah)

Last night's rainbow.

Cooloola Cove - Religion

With Easter approaching the thoughts of many Australians turn to family gatherings, chocolate Easter eggs and hot cross buns. It’s mostly about the food. Like people in the other wealthy nations of the world, Australians are not particularly religious. (The USA is the glaring exception to the rule; Americans’ views are closer to those of people in developing nations in that religion plays a much more important role in their lives). According to the Religion Monitor international survey, two-thirds of Australians identify themselves as Christians but religion plays an important role in the minds and everyday lives of only a minority. And 28 per cent of the Australian population see themselves as not at all religious.

My impression is that for Australians their spiritual beliefs are a private matter and they don’t try to force their beliefs on others or inject them into public policy. Their politicians don’t end their speeches with “God Bless Australia.” As one who is not religious it is a great relief to live in such an environment, if only for a few months.

Australians have a healthy distrust of authority and so are less likely to follow the dogma of organized religious institutions or the rants of some plastic-haired television evangelist. Instead the trend here, as in other industrialized countries, is toward a looser, “patchwork” belief structure, which emphasizes individual interpretations and draws on elements from many different faiths. For example, here at Kaz’s we’ve found a picture of the Virgin Mary, several Buddha statues, and a poster of the “Ten Indian Commandments.”

Australian Aboriginal Mythology is another matter altogether – complex, mind blowing, and beyond my ability to properly explain. It centers on the Dreaming (or Dreamtime), which is both a creation myth and a kind of parallel universe. The past is viewed as eternal, and therefore also present. Features of the landscape are reminders of the Totemic Spiritual Beings who created them. These same beings also created the moral codes and social structures. The earth is considered sacred, conscious of the people, and dependent on them. Whether or not you buy into the veracity of the mythology, the practical consequence is a deep respect for the land and a kinship with all its creatures. In this way the attitude of the Aboriginal people is more reminiscent of that of the American Indians, and not so much of the dominion-over-the-earth approach of Christendom.

Cooloola Cove - Diggin' in the Rain

Deborah has finished the last of the furniture repainting and the interior redesign of Kaz’s house is basically done, unless of course Deborah gets bored. For a $200 budget it looks pretty darn good. Photos will come after the reveal to Kaz at the end of the week.

We’ve now turned our attention to the exterior and are quickly learning the challenges of working in what is essentially a wetland. It seems as though it has rained at least some here every day for the last week and a half. We do get sun breaks and it is still warm, but the ground is just drenched and the yard is riddled with puddles nearly large enough to drown a dingo. To walk outside is to hear a rhythmic “squish, squish, squish.” Because the showers were warm we didn’t let them deter us from working outside. So we pruned, relocated plants, moved boulders, repositioned yard art, invented new yard art, and debated over what actually qualifies as yard art, all the while keeping a wary eye out for snakes (thankfully, none appeared). The result is a front yard that is much improved. It helps that Kaz had a lot of great plants; they were just overgrown or crowded in the wrong location. Now everything looks trim and tidy, but still lush and green, with more manageable pathways and well-placed yard art.

We’ve done a bit of cleaning up the side yards as well, but they and the enormous back yard will require a sizeable effort including regrading and the introduction of fill material, gravel, drain rock, flagstone, more plants, and a ½ scale reproduction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (budget allowing). I’ve drawn out a plan for the landscaping to use as a guide for future improvements, or as fuel for a fire to try and dry out one’s shoes.

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Deborah's reinvention of a coffee maker.

Cooloola Cove - Avian Alarm Clock

Our schedule is being dictated by the local wildlife. It’s too warm to sleep with the windows closed so we hear everything. As soon as the sun even thinks about rising above the horizon we are awakened by the Kookaburras’ maniacal laughter. Then the Sulfur Crested Cockatoos let out their incredibly loud screech as they fly past. There’s no sleeping through that. But then we hear the more normal peep of the magpie-larks who during the day are always begging (successfully) for bread crumbs outside our door. And finally we transition to the musical call of the Pied Butcherbird, similar to the magpies, who sound like the bridge computer on Star Trek. We are happy to stay awake for their strange and beautiful song.

When dusk approaches the Cockatoos screech again as they go to roost in the huge gum trees in the property next door. As darkness falls the insects buzz and the frogs pipe up. A few make the typical long drawn-out rrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeppppppp sound; seemingly thousands of others make a sound (with their throat sacs?) like tiny tapping on wood – it sounds like Santa’s workshop on deadline. It bothers Deborah a bit but I have no trouble falling asleep to the white noise. So we go to bed early and wake early, which is fine. You just have to remember that if you decide to stay up late one night the kookaburras won’t let you sleep in.

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Kookaburra saving up energy for the morning revelry

(photo by Deborah)

Cooloola Cove - The Neighborhood

Here are a few photos I took during a walk around the neighborhood here a couple of days ago:
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As in much of Australia that we've seen, brick walls and either metal or tile roofs are standard.

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This one has a bit of wood in the gables - unusual.

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Serious shade device here.

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Looks like a garage, acts like a house.

This is actually a functioning mailbox.

One of the very few 2-storey homes in this neighborhood.

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At least some local residents are happy that there are still overhead power lines around here.