On to Australia!

We are now in new territory!

We left New Zealand on Tuesday, Oct 2 after a final fling of farewells: a final Saturday meal out with Ashley Rothschulz, our young friend from Oregon (see previous pub quiz blog); a final Sunday worship with Friends at Mt. Eden; a final Pastoral and Spiritual Care Committee meeting on Monday, and a final Tuesday walking group excursion to Ambury Park – which just happens to be the very first place we went with the walking group 12 months ago!

Finally, having shed enough of our belongings to pack into two large backpacks, two day packs, and one carry on bag that has some cold-weather clothes to be discarded when hit warm weather, we went out with a group of 4 Quaker friends for our final Fish & Chips meal at Mangare Bridge. You just can’t beat 3 pieces of hoki fish and a huge scoop of chips, all freshly fried while you wait and served wrapped in paper, for about $10 USA!

Then, on to our flight from Auckland to Melbourne, where we were met by Marsha’s niece Bethany.

On Wednesday, we had a much needed sleep in, then took the tram from Bethany’s house in Ascot Vale down to the central business district. We enjoyed moseying along the streets, craning our necks up to see the tall buildings clad in colorful glass, listening to the many different languages being spoken on the sidewalks, and eventually getting down to the Yarrow River where we walked along and bird-spotted for quite a while. Compared to New Zealand’s slim little bird book, Australia has an enormous number of birds, many of which still seem very exotic to us. Just looking at the names is an adventure: in addition to the iconic Kookaburra (a huge kingfisher), there are the ever-present Superb Fairy Wrens with their bright blue plumage, the crazy Cockatoos with their raucous cries, the various honey eaters, the Butcher Bird, the Australasian Darter, and the Magpie-Lark, to name just a few of the urban birds we spotted.

The ubiquitous, and noisy, Cockatoo.

Wednesday evening Bethany joined us for the performance of “Tanderrum”  for the opening of the International Arts Festival in Melbourne. This performance, held around a bonfire in Federation Square, was an opportunity for representatives from the five local indigenous groups to offer their welcome and blessing to the incoming artists, to ask the guests to respect the land, the waters, and the children of the area, and to share some of their own aboriginal dances and songs. All the performers had white and ochre paint on their bodies, but each group’s design was unique. The elders, male and female, also all had traditional robes made from opossum and kangaroo skins. Each group performed a dance that shared something of their culture. Our favorite dance was one that spoke of the emus who once roamed the Melbourne area.

What was quite startling to us was the diversity of skin and hair color among the performers: there were very few performers whom we would have easily identified as indigenous. Clearly many people are actively tracing and claiming their indigenous heritage through multiple generations. This was highlighted by the number of young children who participated, some as young as three or four.

We have no photos of the event, since the indigenous people request that the ceremony not be recorded. However, we will easily remember this as a welcome to this vast continent with its history of over 40,000 years of human habitation.