Open Day

Sunday April 30th – First, Happy Australia Birthday to my husband, Grant! Tomorrow will be his US birthday.


Today was Guide Dogs Open Day. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate very well and it was a drizzly cold day. About 8,000 people braved the elements and enjoyed all the demos, venders, and booths anyway. The demonstrations were really good. There was a GD puppy demo, Training dogs demo and demos from the customs dogs and a local obedience club.




In addition to the demos there were informational booths about GDV, vendors selling dog toys, foods, and face paining for the kids (both the little ones and the big ones!)




Afterwards there was food and drinks for the staff (after all the clean up of course)!

Queen Victoria Market and Footy

Saturday April 29th – We began our day by going to the Queen Victoria Market with Jhaneen. Queen Victoria Market is Victoria's premier open-air market. It's hosts millions of visitors each year and has been a favorite Market to Melburnians for more than 125 years. It is an enormous market something like a swap meet. There are vendors for all kinds of items and a large food sections selling fresh foods and specialty items. We wandered for about an hour and only managed to see about 1/3 of the market.

Then it was of to our first “Footy” game. “Footy” or “Aussie Rules” is what the Aussies call their favorite game, Australian Rules football. Now for a lesson about footy, hopefully I’ll get it right. Footy began in 1857 as a way for cricket players to stay in shape in their off season. Footy grew rapidly but was primarily a Victoria sport until 1987 when other states began to have teams. There are currently 16 teams throughout Australia with the bulk of them still located in Victoria.

Footy is played between two teams of 18 players, on Cricket ovals or similar-sized grassed arenas that vary in size and may be up to 200 yards. The game is different in a lot of ways from our American or “Grid Iron” Football. It is a fast moving and exciting game with fluid and free movement of the ball (partly due to the absence of an offside rule). Play is constant and changes sides frequently. The ball is shaped like our footballs but a bit larger. Players can run with the ball if they bounce it off the ground every 15 meters. They can pass to another player by ‘handballing’ which is an underhanded punch of the ball somewhat like hitting a volleyball. They can also kick the ball to a teammate, if a player catches the kicked ball on the fly (called a ‘mark’) they cannot be tackled and are awarded a free kick. Spectacular high marks, or “speccies”, tackles and fast, fluid play are the game's main attributes as a spectator sport. Points are scored by kicking the ball through poles at each end of the field. There are four poles, if a kick goes through the two center poles 6 points are awarded. If the ball is kicked through the outside poles only one point is awarded.
The guys that play this game are in fantastic shape and are tough blokes. There are no pads or protective gear worn in this sport even though they tackle each other are crash into one another in spectaluar ways when trying to get the ‘marks’! We had a great time and I’m sold as a Footy fan. Apparently we have Footy in the US (it started there in 1997). Hope I can see it played at home. We are planning to go to more games as the season has just begun.

Open Day Prep and a Dinner Date

Friday April 28th – We worked on our blindfold routes this morning and it went surprisingly well for me. I had been a little nervous about using my cane in the busy area but it was actually easier to maintain my orientation with all the pedestrians and busier traffic. I even managed to cross the several streets without veering too badly. That is until I started heading uphill. The slope really threw me off and it was weird how my feet would just follow the slopes of the driveways then I would veer back uphill into the building. I was like a ping pong ball! I only learned the first section but I was relieved that it went pretty well overall.

In the afternoon we were requited to assist with the set up for Open Day which will be on Sunday. We will be helping the ABI department with the “sensory hallway”. They have darkened the hallway in the training centre and set up all kinds of different tactile surfaces for people to experience.

This evening Peter, one of the GD instructors invited us to have dinner. Pete lives in an on campus house with his wife Leslie who is an American, and their 7 month old son, Bobby. Pete had spent a year at the Seeing Eye in New Jersey back in 2001 on an exchange program. While Pete was in the US one of the instructors from the Seeing Eye came to Guide Dogs Victoria. Pete and Leslie met there as Leslie working in the kennel department and the rest is history. It was a really fun evening, we all talked non stop about all kinds of stuff and it was interesting to get Leslie’s take as an American living in Australia. I had brought our big bag of American candy which was a hit and we reminisced about the candy we enjoyed as kids.

Of course we did talk some "shop" which I am always ready to do. I am learning so much about different perspectives, styles of training dogs and how successfully other schools run. Obviously there are pros and cons to being a large organization like my school but smaller schools have their own set of different pros and cons too. I really enjoyed sharing our different perspectives and Pete’s experience is fascinating because he has worked in both environments. It was totally fun and we are planning to get together again next week.

Gone to the dogs!

Thursday April 27th – We got to observe guide dog training today! Yipee! Sue and I were assigned to follow GD trainer, Lauren today, much to our delight. Lauren has the 7 dogs who are ready for the next class which begins in 2 weeks. In the morning we went to the local mall and observed her working dogs through the mall and practicing targeting lifts (elevators). The afternoon was spent in downtown Kew. Her dogs were all very nicely trained and it was fun for us to see the soft manageable type of dogs that GDV has working. We really enjoyed talking with Lauren about training in general and the three of us talked non stop about our different experiences and techniques. At GDV a person can be an instructor or a guide dog trainer. Instructors go through a 3 year ‘cadet’ program and learn to train dogs as well as work with clients, much like the apprentice program at GDB. Guide dog trainers go through a 1 year program and only learn the dog side, they do not teach classes or work with clients. Lauren has been a GD trainer for about 2 years and is hoping to become an instructor as well. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with her, she was approachable, engaging, and really enjoys her work.

We spent this evening with Grant as he had a late commitment at work and stayed overnight in the dorm. Sue was asked to substitute on the basketball team again so Grant and I went and watched the game. Grant and I both had played basketball many years ago and we enjoyed watching and doing some ‘sideline coaching’. Thanks goodness it was a better day for me, and no birds pooped on my head today!

An Unlucky Day

Wednesday April 26th – Today was just not my day overall. We finished up our residential portion of our cane routes toady and we have all traveled that section solo. Right before lunch Sue and I made American chocolate chip cookies. We had bought a bag of Toll House chocolate chips when we went to the USA food store. We used the kitchen in the dorm and with Grant giving us suggestions and critiquing each step we made the cookies. I’m not sure why, but they didn’t turn out a well as we had hoped. We did have to substitute baking power for baking soda and the sugar we had to use was raw sugar. Could this have something to do with it, any chefs out there?

In the afternoon we began reviewing and planning how to teach the next section of our routes. This will take place in a busy business/shopping district on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy (for those of you who have been here).

After class Sue and I went into the city centre to do some shopping. It was a less than productive trip as we didn’t get much shopping in before all the stores closed. Also a bird pooped on my head as we walked around AND our meter ran out before we got back and we got a $50 ticket! Really not my day. Once we got home I showered, scrubbed my hair, and planted it on the couch, I’m not risking going out there again tonight!

Aussie of the day – “Rocked Up” which means to arrive or show up somewhere. “What time should I rock up to the party tonight?”

Gold Class Cinema - The luxury experience!

Tuesday April 25th – Today is ANZAC day so not much was open for us to see or do. Sue needed a poker fix and there happened to be a tournament during the day. I decided to go downtown with her as the casino has a movie theater and I could kill some time there while she played poker. I decided to see March of the Penguins in the ‘Gold Class Theatre’.

OK, here’s the deal with “Gold Class - the luxury cinema experience”. It’s basically the ‘exclusive’ movie experience. First of all you have your own separate and MUCH shorter line to purchase your (overpriced) ticket. For me this meant I walked past the 50 people standing in the regular line and stood behind one other person before getting to the ticket window. I then was directed to the Gold Class Lounge. This is the area for you to hangout before the movie starts, you can order appetizers such as Asian spice roasted nuts and crackers, and drinks including beer and wine. While you enjoy a beverage you review the menu which has a selection of main courses like fish, pasta, Thai food, pizza or good old burgers. The dessert menu is equally tempting, and there is the standard movie fare of popcorn and candy to choose from as well. Now here’s the really cool part. You make you selections and pay then advise the helpful staff when during the movie you would like your selections delivered. As I was feeling hungry I choose to have my main course served first with some popcorn and candy delivered about a ½ hour later. And in case you have some other whim that must be satisfied during the show there is a call button at your seat which will bring an attendant rushing to take your order.

After making my selections a nice young girl escorted me to my assigned seat (shown in the photo). It was a luxurious suede recliner that lay almost flat and was super comfortable. I laid there before the move began and before my food was delivered, wallowing in the decadence and thinking my husband Grant would LOVE this too. To my knowledge we don’t have these types of theaters in the US and it’s a good thing as I would gladly spend a fortune each time I went to the movies for this self-indulgence.

Melbourne Gaol & Aquarium

Monday April 24th – Our adventure today began with a trip to the Melbourne Gaol. Built in 1845 and beginning with just one cell block the goal was quickly overcrowded after the discovery of gold in 1851. Another cell block was added in 1858 and a third built to house women only in 1864. 135 prisoners were hanged at the goal the most famous being Ned Kelly. It was closed in 1924 but was briefly reopened during WWII to house military detainees, mostly soldiers who went AWOL. The second cell block is all that remains and was opened as a museum in 1972.

It was a creepy but interesting tour. Many of the tiny cells have displays highlighting different facts about the prison, the prisoners, daily life, and death by hanging. The museum has a large display of “death masks” which are plaster casts which were made of each prisoner after their hanging. The myth of the time was that human behavior could be predicted through the “science” of Phrenology which is a theory which claims to be able to determine character, personality traits, and criminality on the basis of the shape of the head (reading "bumps"). Therefore the death masks were made to further ‘scientific research’.


Here is one of the liitle cells the prisoners lived in. It reminded me of Alcatrz, but much older, of course.

It was kind of a depressing museum but it did give you a sense of how hard life was during those times and the struggles that people without money went through, often turning to a life of crime to survive. Interestingly there is a night tour of the Goal which is a mix of pure facts and a bit of 'theatre' talking about the ghosts who haunt the Goal. Sounds to scary for me. Yes, I'm a wimp!




After the Gaol we went to the Melbourne Aquarium which was super cool! We watched feeding time at the coral atoll which is a floor to ceiling tank displaying eels, smaller sharks, sea snakes, rock fish, lion fish, an enormous humpheaded maori wrasse, and a variety of smaller brightly colored fish. During feeding they dropped pieces of fish into the tank for the smaller fish and brought the fish on the end of a stick to the sharks and eels.



Next we saw a beautiful display of jellyfish and octopus. They even had a giant squid preserved by the worlds-first technology of 'snap- freezing' in a block of ice. The squid is almost 23 feet long and was aaccidentally caught by commercial fisherman off the south coast of New Zealand in 2004.




Then we went into “the fishbowl’ which is a huge 580,000 gallon tank which holds large sharks, fish, stingrays (the biggest ones I had ever seen), groupers, and a few sea turtles. Again we were lucky enough to arrive a feeding time. This meant that two divers entered the tank and hand fed the stingrays, turtles, and yes, even the sharks! During the feeding there was a docent narrating what was going on inside the tank, identifying the different fish and what the divers needed to be careful of. She explained that the sharks are usually the calmest of the animals in this tank but the divers need to always know where they are because if they are hungry and don’t get fed right away they will nudge and ‘mouth’ the divers and their tanks. She then explained that normally the sharks only eat about two fish each week and feeding are offered twice a day so the likelihood of seeing the sharks being fed was pretty low. We were lucky because everybody was hungry including the sharks! There was so much frenzy and activity that the docent was a bit overwhelmed and kept commenting on how exciting and more active this feeding was then usual. The stingrays were so pushy they were a bit scary! At one point the stingrays actually knocked over one of the divers and pinned him to the bottom of the tank for several minutes until the other diver helped to pull them off. You couldn’t pay me enough to do that!

St Kilda & the Yarra Valley

We're off the the Yarra Valley for wine tasting!
Saturday and Sunday April 22 & 23 – This Tuesday is ANZAC day which is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Because of this holiday and the fact that we have to work the weekend during Open Day next weekend, we ended up getting a long weekend off. We had originally thought that we would go to Tasmania but we left the planning of that trip too long and everything was already booked. We decided it would be nice to stick around Melbourne and enjoy more of the city and nearby areas instead.

Saturday we slept in and got a leisurely start to St Kilda. We ate and relaxed there, browsing through shops and enjoying the atmosphere. There were lots of funky shops and funky people. We thought we might go to the Queen Victoria market as well, but again we hadn’t factored in the tendency for places to close much earlier than we are used to and the market had closed by 4pm. It’s an open air market with food, crafts, and entertainment. Guess we’ll try to go next weekend.

On Sunday Jhaneen had offered to take us on a tour of the Yarra Valley which is very similar to the Napa valley in California. It’s a beautiful rural area with tons of wineries and tasting opportunities. Laura came with us as well and we had a lovely day. The area generally has a cool climate which is well suited for the grapes to make white wines and Pinot Noirs. At a winery called De Bortoli we also did some cheese tasting, yummy! We had a late lunch in a town called Healesville. It was a relaxing way to spend the day.

Susan at Boat O'Craigo where she got two free bottles of wine as she had met the owner of the winery while playing in a poker tournment! Good networking Sue!

Autumn in the Yarra Valley is beautiful as leaves and vines are changing color.

Lots of long cane work today!

Friday April 21st – A couple of weeks ago we were each assigned a type of blindness with associated deafness to research. Today we gave presentations to each other on our topics. My topic was Usher Syndrome which was interesting to research as we occasionally serve clients with that cause of blindness and GDB. Sue’s presentation was on Rubella, and it was interesting to learn about as I had always known about Rubella in general but never knew much of the details. Sue and I are lucky in that because we do so much public speaking during the course of our jobs, we are very comfortable and confident. Giving presentations to our classmates was a breeze!

More long cane practice followed both morning and afternoon. We are getting ready to add the next element of travel to our routes by going into some busier areas.

At the end of the day we had a lecture from the consulting physician for GDV. He is a general practitioner who spends a few hours every other week reviewing all the medical reports of the clients GDV is planning to serve. He assists the O&M instructors by explaining possible side effects of medications a client might be taking or any other complications they might have.

We interspersed plenty of candy eating and comparisons throughout the day. Sharing tootsie rolls, tootsie pops, Baby Ruth, jujyfruits, and blow pops, to name a few.

This weekend we plan to revisit St Kilda and head to the Yarra valley for some wine tasting. Should be a fairly relaxing weekend!

Today’s Aussie of the day – The expression we use to describe that something is very different form another thing is generally ‘night and day’ or apples to oranges’. Here in Australia they would say “Chalk and Cheese”. Also if you are tired you would say “I’m really stuffed” You could also use this word for when something is really screwed up like a bad traffic day “Sorry I’m late, traffic was stuffed!”

USA Food Store!

Thursday April 20th – This morning we met briefly with one of the Children’s Mobility instructors, she answered some remaining questions we had about the program. The children’s mobility department has only been in existence for about 5 years. The department has had amazing growth during this time and accounts for about 1/3 of the services that GDV provides. We spent the rest of the morning at a mandatory staff meeting to prepare for “Open Day”. Open day is like an open house for the public. It is a marketing and PR event and not unlike our “Fun Day” at GDB, but geared toward raising public awareness of the facility. All of the departments participate and set up displays and interactive activities. Apparently there will be other vendors there as well. Open day will be on April 30th, so I guess I’ll find out more then. In the afternoon the CEO, Dr. Graeme White, was kind enough to meet with us and explain how all the departments at GDV fit together.

We finished class early today which allowed us time to drive to the USA Foods store! We found out about a week ago that there was a store just outside of Melbourne which carries American foods. During class we have been comparing candy with Laura and Simone and trying to describe American candy. When we found out about the store we decided to go load up and provide an American “cultural” experience for our class mates. It was pretty small but it was definitely American. Basically we got a bunch of really expensive junk food, we even got some Kool-aid as we keep teasing Grant and Ron that the “cordial” that they serve each day at lunch tastes just like Kool-aid.
I headed back to the gym this evening (finally) by myself as Sue had been invited to play with a women’s basketball league who needed a sub for a game. We both had homework to do later in the evening then had a small window of relaxing time.

Occupational Therapy

Wednesday April 19th – Today we spent the morning with the occupational therapist, Shane. Shane started by lecturing about what occupational therapists do and the environments they work in. Later that morning he arranged for one of his clients to come in and talk to us. It was a person who had suffered brain injury due to encephalitis about 12 years ago. There was pretty significant damage to gross and fine motor skills. The person had been receiving O&M assistance as their vision had been affected as well, but also needed some additional OT for daily living skills. Shane and his client were very open about discussing the diagnoses and resulting damage. We observed Shane coaching the client through some hand therapy exercises. The last activity of the morning we participated in. We all went under blindfold, headed for the kitchen and had to make and eat our lunches under blindfold. We had to cut slices of bread off a loaf to make sandwiches. My slices were not very even, but I think I managed to get more mayonnaise on the bread than on myself. I had to slice tomato, cheese, and cucumber then try to pile them evenly on the bread. It wasn’t very pretty but it did taste good.
The afternoon was spent practicing the routes we are learning. It went much better for me today and I was actually able to cross the street straight! Thank goodness. On out way back to campus we stopped to see the Hays Paddock Adventure Playground for Children of All Abilities. This is the first community playground in Australia designed so that all children regardless of their physical or intellectual ability can play on an equal basis. The playground caters to all children including children challenged by hearing, sight, mobility, muscular control or behavior. Braille is being used along with sounds, like bells for sight-impaired children, and sign language for hearing-impaired and for those with learning difficulties or who can’t read yet there are simple line diagrams to indicate how to find things within the playground. For the wheelchair-bound there are of course ramps to allow access to the different levels of the equipment. It’s really a fantastic and well designed area. And yes, we did test drive some of the equipment!

Training Talk and Moving Day

Tuesday April 18th – Back to school and we spent the first half of the day giving a presentation to the Guide Dog department about our training techniques and the use of food and the clicker in our program. It was really fun as the staff was extremely interested and there was lots of sharing of ideas and techniques. It was heaven for a dog training geek like me! The manager of the GD department has already scheduled a second session for us to be able to continue the discussions.

The afternoon was spent with the staff from the ABI (Acquired Brain Injury) Department. They were having a ‘professional development day’ which means they get together as a group and participate in an activity to further their skills. The activity today was to travel to a very busy bohemian beach area of Melbourne and follow directions while wearing the simulator goggles. It was like the ‘treasure hunts’ that we had done in class during the first couple of weeks. The area is called St. Kilda and had tons of funky shops and funky people! Sue and I will definitely be going back there to do some shopping and people watching.

At the end of the day we moved off the GDV campus into an apartment nearby. Because GDV has clients every other month the residence where we have been living will be closed. The apartment we moved to is the same one we stayed at on our first weekend here. It’s quite cozy and the manager is very nice and helpful.

Today’s Aussie of the Day is brought to you by Laura. She was telling us a story about her Easter holiday where some of the family members got into a disagreement. She made the statement that one person “cracked the sads” to the other. This apparently means to get upset. It was so unfamiliar sounding I had to have her repeat it 3 different times!

Werribee Open Range Zoo

Monday April 17th – We invited Jhaneen to go with us to the Weribee Open Range Zoo as she had never been there. She was nice enough to pick us up and we started the day with a tasty brunch before driving about 30 minutes away to the Zoo.

Werribee Open Range Zoo has about 500 acres of open pastures where animals such as rhinos, zebras, antelope, and giraffes roam together. There are 2 short walking paths leading to several exhibits but the bulk of the zoo is seen by taking a 50 minute “Safari Bus Tour”. It was a really well done zoo and we got lots of close up photos from the bus. The day was cool enough that many of the animals were relatively active. They also had exhibits for lions and cheetahs, separate from the other animals of course. A group of highly entertaining Vervet Monkeys held our attention for quite some time as they leaped and raced around the exhibit. Here’s an interesting fact about them; Female vervets live on ancestral lands. Female infants inherit their mother’s social position as well as her territory. In contrast, males transfer between groups every few years, often with a brother of a friend. A male’s position depends on careful alliances with the females. Go Girl Power!

Another one of my favorite animals are the Meerkats. We have seen them at the zoo in Singapore, the Melbourne Zoo, and today at the Werribee Zoo and they never fail to make me smile. They are a type of Mongoose and live is social groups up to 40 animals. They wrestle and play and scurry around, stopping periodically to dig for insects. One meerkat is always on sentry duty, usually standing up on a rock or tree stump to watch for predators. If one appears the sentry calls a warning and all the playing animals hustle back to the burrow. They are very active and engaging creatures.

I have added the link for the Melbourne Zoo which includes the Werribee Open Range, the Melbourne Zoo, and Healesville Sanctuary which we will be visiting later.

After we drove back into Melbourne we took Sue to experience Iced Chocolates (remember the yummy milkshakes that we had last week?).She enjoyed this cultural experience as much as I did.

We spent the evening preparing for tomorrow. We will be spending the morning with the guide dog trainers who want to pick our brains on some of the training techniques we use in the US. I’m looking forward to the exchange of ideas and chatting with other “dog people”.

Speaking of dogs; today’s Aussie of the Day is again brought to us by Jhaneen. The phrase “two and a dog” is used to describe something being not very crowded. When I told Jhaneen that we had gone to the movies on a rainy day she asked, “was there just two and a dog, or was it packed?”

I am an Australian Triathlete!

Sunday April 16th - Guess what I did today, an Australian Triathlon! Surprise! I didn’t tell anyone I planned to do it as I wasn’t sure I was really going to go through with it, but I did. When I first got here and joined the YMCA in Kew, I met a trainer, Jeff, who was about to do the Australian Ironman. He helped me set up a training plan for my goal this year of doing an Olympic distance Tri sometime after I return to the US. He mentioned that although the Tri season was pretty much over in Australia there was one race left in Geelong on April 15 and encouraged me to sign up. I pondered the idea for a couple of weeks and it sounded really good. It was a sprint distance (meaning short) and how cool would it be to do a triathlon in Australia? So I signed up and began stressing out. First I stressed about my training, was I going to be ready? Then I stressed out about swimming in the ocean. Those of you who know me will recall my freakish fear of sharks and my conviction that they are lurking everywhere waiting to manifest my worst nightmares. Then right before the event Jeff tells me the water temperatures would be low enough that I would need a wetsuit (15 C = 59 degrees F). A Wetsuit??!! Small problem, a) I don’t own one and b) I have never done an event needing a wetsuit. “No Worries” says Jeff, I know a guy that will rent you one. This was said the day before Sue and I were leaving for the weekend. Some more stress ensued but I did manage to connect with Jeff’s friend and rented a wetsuit.

So the morning comes and I get up at 5:30am, Sue drops me at the venue and heads back to the hotel for some more sleep as she is still fighting a cold. I feel like I’m going to puke. Why did I think this was a good idea? The water temp is 15 degrees Celsius which is 59 degrees Fahrenheit but at least the air temp wasn’t much different making the water not feel quite as cold. It is also a deep water start (which I have never done) meaning that you have to jump off a pontoon and tread water for about 30 seconds before they blow the starting horn. I managed to panic my way around the 400 meter swim course (note to self, spend more time training for the swim leg). Emerging from the water I staggered up the ramp, dizzy and wobbly, Oh yeah, I didn’t eat this morning as I thought I was going to puke. Into the transition area where I got my wetsuit off in the most ungraceful way possible. Still dizzy and wobbly I got my bike gear on and headed out of the transition area. It was a long way running next to the bike (or in my case staggering) until arriving at the place you’re allowed to mount and start riding. Good thing for me because I finally regained some equilibrium. The 16 km bike leg went pretty well as did transition to the run. The only problem on the run was that about halfway thru the bike leg I realized both of my feet had gone to sleep, probably from the cold. While this wasn’t a big deal on the bike, it did feel a bit awkward while running. The run was 4km and at around the 2 km mark my feet started getting the feeling back which meant I didn’t feel like I was running on stumps anymore. I actually felt pretty good on the run (thanks to my running coach, Stan, who nags me to run more all the time). I finished feeling pretty good but haven’t got my time yet as they didn’t post them at the event. I will have to wait until the results are online.

Sue picked me up and I managed to get in a shower before we had to check out of the hotel at 10am. We went back down to the Triathlon and watched until noon. We met Adele (GDB Nurse Helen’s friend) for lunch and had a wonderful time chatting with her and getting more tips on where to travel. Adele is a lovely lady who is a retired travel agent. She has had many interesting adventures and is actually leaving for Italy in 2 weeks to have some more.

After we said goodbye to Adele, Sue and I went back to the Triathlon and watched the woman’s Elite race. These are to top competitors in Australia and we had a great time watching and cheering.

We arrived back in Kew by early evening feeling satisfied by another adventurous weekend. And we still have one more day! Now that it’s over, I’m glad I did the Tri, but I can tell I will be sore tomorrow, I’m more out of shape than I thought!

Triathlon Photos

We swam about halfway along this pier, turned and came back - 400 meters
These are the Elite women during the run leg.

The Great Ocean Road

Saturday April 15th – Yipee! We have much better weather today, sorry Bay Area folks here I am complaining about one day of rain and I hear you all are about to float away! Anyway, we spent the day driving along the Great Ocean Road and stopping at almost every lookout point (and there are a lot of them!) I’ve added a link to a site for the Great Ocean Road on this blog if you’re interested.

The coast line in this area is famous for its interesting rock formations standing just off the shoreline. The mainland is sheer cliffs made of rock and sandstone and as the waves beat against the cliffs they erode in sometimes interesting ways. The more unusual formations are given names and their own lookout points. We saw The Arch, London Bridge, The 12 Apostles, which is a weird name because there are only about 7 left. The Loch Ard gorge which is where in 1878 the iron clipper, the Loch Ard, miscalculated, crashed against the rock formations and sank killing 52 people. There were only 2 survivors. It was a fascinating day.

Further along the road we turned off and went to the Otway Fly Treetop walk. “The Fly” is a 600 metre long 25 metre high elevated tree top walk which goes through a magnificent stand of cool temperate rainforest featuring Myrtle Beech, Blackwood and Mountain Ash. It’s a little scary all the way at the top but the view is well worth it. It reminded me of Muir Woods, the trees aren't as tall as the giant redwoods but they're pretty close.

From there we went on to Geelong were we found a hotel at the last minute. Geelong looks promising although we didn’t get much time to explore once we checked in, found somewhere to eat and located the internet café. Hopefully we can explore a bit tomorrow, but I’m thinking most places will be closed as it is Easter Sunday. Guess we’ll find out.

Only in Australia!

Friday April 14th – I woke up and headed next door to the “Macker’s” which is what Australians call McDonald’s. Here I was able to connect to the internet (for a price, of course). I posted a couple of blogs and talked to my mom and Grant via SKYPE until the time I paid for ran out. It was nice to make contact with home.

Sue and I hit the road and dove towards a town called Port Fairy, along the way we saw a sing for the Tower Hill game reserve, so of course we turned in. Although obscure, it was really cool. It was a volcano that blew eons ago and left a crater. We were driving around inside the crater which seemed like driving down in a small valley. As we drove in Sue pointed towards the field on our left and there, strolling across the plain was a group of Emus! How cool. Then we drove to the visitor’s center and did a double take as we saw two people at a picnic table trying to shoo away the emus who wanted their snack! (Photo posted here). We took pictures then went closer and chatted with the couple as we watched the emus. As we drove thru the park we would look up and see koalas in the trees, we saw at least 8 in various locations. Saw more emus wandering around but no ‘Roos, although they are supposed to be here as well.

Port Fairy was pretty small and many shops closed due to the Easter holiday so we didn’t stay long. We headed back past Warrnambool to the Great Ocean Road and started pulling off at the various lookout points. The weather kept getting worse so he finally gave up and went back to Warrnambool where we found a cozy dry movie theater and caught “Failure to Launch” which we found very entertaining. Hoping for better weather tomorrow as we head back to the Great Ocean Rd and go to the famous “12 Apostles”.

Happy Anniversary

Thursday April 13th – Today is my Anniversary! Notice I said “my” anniversary, that’s because the 13th won’t happen until tomorrow for my husband, Grant. So ‘his’ anniversary will be tomorrow. Whichever country we are in, we have been married for 13 years! Happy Anniversary honey, I love and miss you!

We had a really interesting lecture this morning. GDV has a Neurological Physiotherapist, Geoff Bell, who consults for them both for client who have gait and posture problems and for clients who develop basic problems during training such as shin splints. We learned all about movement; voluntary, reflexive, and rhythmic motor patterns (such as walking). Then discussed different ways in which these movements can be affected by various brain disorders, injuries, or inherited disease. Geoff gave a great presentation with video footage of various clients he has worked with and by using us as ‘guinea pigs’ for live demonstrations of balance, gait analysis, and coordination. Very cool stuff.

We began the afternoon by working with some volunteers again and teaching more long cane skills. We then headed to town and began planning and teaching each other the first part of “our routes”. I put this in quotes because during the rest of the course we will be learning and adding onto “our routes” until at the end we will independently use our long canes under blindfold to leave a house in a residential area walk to a bus stop, take the bus to a business area, walk through that area to a designated end point.

Because it’s Easter Weekend we have both Friday and Monday off. So after class Sue and I packed up the car and drove about 4 hours away to a town called Warrnambool which is on the coast. Our plan is to follow the “Great Ocean Road” back towards a town near the bay called Geelong where we will visit with a friend of Helen’s (our nurse at GDB). We will then head back to GDV and make a day trip on Monday to the Werribee open range zoo. Should be a fun 4 day weekend!

A Rough Day

Wednesday April 12th – Today we learned about the role an O&M instructor plays in assessing environments and giving recommendations for improving the conditions for a visually impaired person. GDV’s children’s mobility instructors are often called upon to assess schools and make recommendations such as painting the yellow strips on the steps for better contract and improving lighting inside the classrooms. We then went to practice these new skills at a local mall. As we approached the mall there was an interesting children’s playground. The photo here is me demonstrating the proper climbing technique.

This afternoon I learned about having a slump or regression in learning. It was rather frustrating I must say. We went to what I thought should have been a fairly simple or straightforward lighted intersection. Our goal was to practice reading traffic. For those not in the industry this means to listen to the traffic flow to determine the safe time to cross. I put my blindfold on and with Laura instructing me we began. I couldn’t get it! I was SO frustrated. Yes, there were two advanced turn lanes, and yes the traffic is opposite to the US but I still thought it should have been easy. ARAUGH! After the frustrating intersection we went back to the residential area we went to on Monday. We were supposed to add the block next to the one we learned on Monday which would mean crossing two streets. Laura and I were working together again and we quickly agreed that it was not my day and I would not be walking the route solo. My limited cane skills had by this time gone completely out the window and I was definitely not safe! It was a good lesson in experiencing an “off” day and to know when you’re done. I went to bed at 8:30 that night as I was so stressed out and slept soundly until 7 am! It just wasn’t my day!!

Hearing Test and Iced Chocolate (and lots of Aussie slang)

Tuesday April 11th – This morning Helen, the Audiologist, joined us for further discussion on hearing loss. She gave us a tour of the hearing clinic at the GDV campus and then showed us the various tests she performs. We took turns being the ‘client’ and having our hearing tested. You’ll be happy to know that I have normal hearing! Sue had the pressure in her ears tested as she has been feeling sick and congested for the last couple of days. It was interesting that Helen was able to measure the change in pressure in her ears and to see the slight resulting loss of hearing when she tested Sue.

Remember when I showed Jhaneen, Laura, and Simone the Guide Dogs for the Blind DVD? Well, Jhaneen was so impressed that she arranged for us to present it during lunch for all interested GDV staff. We had a pretty good turnout of about 20 people. Again, it was very well received. Nice job, Joanne, Morry, and the communications and marketing department at GDB!! It’s definitely a video to be proud of. If anyone hasn’t seen it, I’m told it is available on our web site www.guidedogs.com it’s called “Soul Mates”

This afternoon we went out to practice some more road crossings. We attempted to use an intersection with audible signals but it was very windy and the signals weren’t very loud so that was kind of a bust. We did practice a few others though. The best part was my cultural experience for the day, iced chocolate (seen in this photo). Iced chocolate is like what we would call a milkshake but it also has a big scoop of ice cream floating in the shake! SO YUMMY! Unfortunately Sue missed it as she was sick enough to miss class this afternoon. Darn, I guess I’ll have to go back with her so she can partake of the cultural experience as well.

I’ll leave you with Ron’s Aussie of the Day. Today’s slang all falls into the rhyming category. The Aussies start with an expression, start using a word that rhymes with the key word then drop the original key word and just say the rhyming word. Let me give you an example; “I’ve got a kink in my neck” would turn into “I’ve got a kink in my Gregory Peck” then changes to “I’ve got a kink in my Gregory” People actually know what that means here! Here’s another one, first you have to imagine saying the word ‘sauce’ in an Australian accent which makes it rhyme with ‘horse’. Next you need to know that they don’t have Ketchup here, they have tomato sauce. The slang goes like this, “pass the tomato sauce” turns into “pass the dead horse”. Why the horse has to die I don’t know, but if you say that at the table they will know what you mean. Lastly I bring you a short political lesson. Harold Holt was the prime minister of Australia in 1967, until he was walking along a beach in Victoria and got swept out to sea by a wave and was never seen again. True story (look it up), but I digress. Anyway, if you say the word ‘salt’ with an Australian accent it rhymes with “Holt’. Hence the expression “pass the Harold Holt”. They even shorten it to “pass the Harold”. There is actually a cooking show where the chef says, “and now we will ad a little Harold in the pot”. I am NOT kidding! It’s no wonder I often don’t understand people here!

Assessments and Road Crossings

Monday April 10th – Remember my “Client” Richard Cranium (from Thursday’s Blog)? Well this morning we all went into town and met our various “clients” to practice doing an assessment and observing them walk in a familiar area. I met ‘Richard’ and a health food shop. His real name is Johan (or Joey, pronounced Yo-E). He did a good job of role playing my client who had many health and eye related problems. I did my best to gather all the information I would need to write up my assessment and recommendation for an O&M program. It took a couple of hours! I was a little nonplussed when my client asked me how he could identify “street walkers”, there was a long pause on my part where I tried to figure out if that meant the same thing in Australia as it did in the US (it does). I kept professional and politely explained that it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to work with him on this topic. Later Joey told me that he has actually had a few clients ask him this question and wanted to see what I would do! Thanks a lot, Joey!! It was definitely good practice and we now will hace to write the report, give it to our “client” then they will give us feedback from an instructor’s perspective.

In the afternoon we began road crossings under blindfold with our long canes. We began in a quiet residential area and moved to a busy intersection with audible signals. The photo posted shows Laura under blindfold with Simone instructing her in the crossing. It was actually a challenging crossing with three pedestrian islands and multiple lanes of traffic. We then moved back to the residential area and tried our hand at ‘block travel’. This meant we were assigned a house to pretend we lived in and our instructor would show us a route around the block and how to determine when we arrived back at ‘our house’. After walking the route twice we had to do it solo (meaning our instructor waited at the house for us while we went alone). I felt pretty confident during my walk until a passing car confused me somehow and I decided I was at the end of the block, made my turn ‘up the street’ and realized I had walked up someone’s driveway! I must have looked pretty silly, but I backtracked to the street, crossed my fingers and kept walking and found my actual corner a short distance further. Laura was my ‘instructor’ and I think she was more nervous than I was. We then reversed roles on a different block and I taught Laura. Boy was I relieved to see her make it back to where I was waiting!

There are a couple of clients in the building so the whole gang is back, which means it’s time for Ron’s Aussie of the Day! “Sticky” is the word used to replace look. So they will say “Have a sticky at this photo I took”. A person who is nosey would be called a “Sticky Beak”. I also learned about “Wagging” or “to Wag” this is what you call cutting class or calling in sick to work (usually when you aren’t really sick). So I might call my boss, Charles and say, “I won’t be coming in today, I’m wagging” (don’t worry Charles, I would never actually do it!)

A Cultural Weekend

Saturday and Sunday April 8th & 9th – We stayed in town this weekend and did things around Melbourne. Weather is gloomy, cold, and overcast but hasn’t been raining. Saturday we met with Susan’s friend Wendy and her boyfriend for brunch. Wendy is an Australian who Susan met through friends in the US. Her boyfriend Chris is from New Zealand and the four of us had a great time chatting and sharing slang and cultural observations. Chris has traveled extensively and it was fun to compare all kinds of different cultures. After brunch we wandered over to the Melbourne Arts Center. The Arts Center is comprised of the Melbourne Concert Hall (home of the Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), the Theaters Buildings, and the Performing Arts Museum. We first went into the Performing Arts Museum where they had beautiful costumes, sets and photographs of performances on display. Next we headed to the National Gallery Victoria International and saw an exhibition of Camille Pissarro (1830-1903). Pissarro is called the father of impressionism and was a contemporary of Monet, Cezanne, and Renoir. I am generally not a big fan of impressionism but I did enjoy this exhibit as Pissarro’s works are more earthy landscapes of France, rather than the pastel watercolor’s of Monet.

After leaving the NGV International we went to the NGV Australia another building across the street and saw an exhibition of Indigenous Art. I really like this exhibit as well. It included sculpture, paintings, totems, and artifacts of the Aboriginal people.

The following day Sue and I returned to Federation Square to check out the Thai Festival where we ate some incredibly yummy Thai food from a vendor. Across the street was the arts and crafts vendors who set up tables in front of the Art Center every Sunday. We then headed to the Melbourne Museum and the Melbourne International Flower Show. Susan headed to the flower show as she loves photographing flowers. I headed into the Melbourne Museum.

The Melbourne Museum was GREAT! I could have spent much longer than the 2 ½ hours that I spent there. I’ll try not to go into too much detail but the exhibits were really good. I have also added a link to the Museum for those who are interested.

They had a “Human, Mind, & Body gallery” which detailed the body and how it works from a cellular level up, a “Science and Life gallery” which included exhibits on sea life, bugs, animal diversity in Australia and a ‘Virtual Room’ where you can see around, above, below, and through digital objects and moving images. It was really cool, the scene currently playing is of some artic dinosaurs, it’s almost as if the dinosaurs are in the middle of the room and you can walk around and look at them from any angle. Very cool! There was also a “Forest Gallery” which was a small rainforest in the center of the museum.

Interestingly a whole corner was devoted to “Phar Lap” a famous racehorse in the late 1920s. The horse was actually taken to a taxidermist and now stands in a glass case in the museum.

The “Bunjilaka Gallery” was the Aboriginal Centre at the Melbourne Museum; it housed exhibits about the lives of the Aboriginals and their struggles with the British settlers. This struggle is not unlike the history of the Native Indians and the white settlers in America. There are ongoing debates about indigenous knowledge, law and property in Australia. The exhibit invites thought about an autonomous future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
When Britain established legal control over Australia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, hundreds of indigenous nations were subordinated to the crown. The colonizers did not recognize indigenous legal systems. They usually believed Aboriginal people’s beliefs, religion and culture to be inferior to their own belief systems. And many Aboriginals were killed in disputes over land and property. Indigenous Australians have resisted this domination over them from the beginning. People persisted with their own laws. Indigenous rights, in recent decades, have been recognized worldwide. Formal recognition of indigenous customary law is now being called for. Some sacred Aboriginal sites are being returned to the people, one example being Uluru or Ayer’s Rock. The exhibit even touched on “The Stolen Generation”. This term refers to the Aboriginal children who were taken from their families by Australian government agencies and church missions during 1900-1972. The children were placed into institutional facilities operated by religious or charitable organizations, with some being “fostered out”. The idea was to assimilate these children into the European culture. According to the government at least 35,000 were removed from their parents, (records were poorly kept so the figure could be much higher) or 10-30% of all Aboriginal children born during the 70 year period. The book (and film) Rabbit-Proof Fence is a story of some of these children. I could go on, but I can’t do the topic justice here. If you are interested just Google “Stolen Generation” and you will find tons of information.

I had such a good time and it was all so interesting, it made me realize I should do some of these types of things when I get back home. San Francisco has lots places to explore; I just take them for granted because it’s my own backyard.

Children's Mobility and Escalators

Friday April 7th – We spent most of the day learning about the Children’s Mobility department, and issues related to working with children. GDV hosts many camps, programs, and workshops to help visually impaired children, their families, and support their teachers and schools. Working with a child often becomes a long term relationship with mobility instructors assisting kids and their families periodically throughout their childhood.

GDVs children’s camps generally run during the school holidays and have different themes depending on what skills are being focused on. For example, they had a “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” camp where the focus was on learning how to use public transportation. They even got to take the kids to the airport where they were allowed to go through security and board a plane! The most recent camp was tied to the Commonwealth games so had physical activities and races.

In the afternoon we went to the mall and practiced riding escalators under blindfold with our canes. This photo shows Laura riding a 'travelator' which is a ramp with a moving walkway. We then had to create routes for each other from store to store, using the escalators. Mall work can be confusing with all the curving turns, cafes with chairs in the way and tons of people!
We ended the day at the mall and Sue and I stayed to pick up a few things and have dinner at a restaurant there. The week seemed to fly by, I can’t believe we have finished 3 weeks already!

Deafness and Vision loss

Thursday April 6th – Today we simulated having both a vision loss AND a hearing loss. Jhaneen had us wear these attractive ear muffs as well as low vision simulators while we walked around town using our canes. As always we alternated between being the student and teacher. We had to cross several intersections both lighted and uncontrolled. While our simulated hearing loss allowed us to hear our instructor speaking in a louder voice while walking next to us, hearing vehicle engines was another matter. Vehicles idling or passing by without accelerating were almost impossible to hear. If you weren’t diligent about scanning the area using your residual vision, these cars could easily take you by surprise.

Our class went with Grant to a tasty Indian food restaurant for lunch. Grant is highly entertaining and lunch with him always provides opportunities to share cultural differences. Because Ron is off this week, Ron’s Aussie of the Day is brought to us again by Jhaneen. “No flies on you” is an expression used (sometimes sarcastically) when a person makes an accurate or quick witted statement. The obvious origin of this expression is that if you are physically quick you can ovoid being covered in flies (a real problem in the outback during summer).

The afternoon was spent using our creative juices to make tactile maps out of various materials, pipe cleaner, Popsicle sticks, pieces of foam, etc. We also were given a referral sheet for a “client” played by one of the staff members. We had to review the referral and call our “clients” to schedule an appointment for their assessment. We will actually be meeting our “clients” on Monday where we will make an assessment. My client’s name is Richard Cranium (played by one of the ABI mobility instructors). He has a whole host of issues; retinal detachment, Diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, neuropathy in his hands and feet, not very well controlled diabetes, an amputated right foot, and anxiety problems! I actually ran into “Richard” on campus and he told me he based his character on an actual client he worked with some time ago. All I can say is that Monday ought to be interesting!

Homesick

OK, here's the deal. Although we are loving every minute of this trip (for the most part). We are a bit homesick as well. So here is our pathetic look... and our plea for emails. While you may think we are too busy to read email... we aren't. We would love to get a note from our firends and family back home. Heck we would love to hear from those of you reading this blog who we don't know. We need something familiar, something American! So please take a minute to email Jenna jbullis@guidedogs.com or Susan sarmstrong@guidedogs.com
We KNOW you have plently of time on your hands if you're reading this endless blog!

Statewide Vision Resource Centre

Wednesday April 5th – Today we went to the Statewide Vision Resource Centre to attend their professional development day. SVRC is the support center for teachers who have visually impaired children in their classrooms. They provide education, support and materials to classroom teachers, aides, and itinerant teachers. They also run additional educational experiences for the visually impaired kids. They even have a program where they fundraise enough to bring a group of kids to the US and attend the Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.

Today about 80 teachers learned about visual impairments, how to manage a VI student in the classroom, how to modify materials for different visual impairments, and how to provide sighted guide assistance. There were lectures and workshops about the various topics. Two of the children’s mobility instructors from GDV ran the workshop teaching sighted guide skills. This is where we came in, Sue, Laura, Simone, & I got to practice our teaching skills on the teachers. We had about 6 different groups of 2-3 teachers for 20 minutes periods and had to teach them how to offer sighted guide assistance. We had them wear simulators during the exercise, often simulating the actual type of vision loss their student has. It was good practice for us and was very well received by the teachers. Having a person wear the simulators makes an enormous impression and changes the way the view a person with visual impairment.

Once the workshops were over we attended the rest of the lectures which included; Strategies to Support the Student with Low Vision, presented by one of the visiting teachers, and The Vision Impaired Student in your Classroom –Individual, Social, and Family Perspectives, presented by educational psychologist, Geoff Bowen. The lectures were really interesting with lots of practical tips about reducing glare in the classroom, teaching appropriate social skills, and dealing with parents. The day ended with a student perspective from three different kids. They each explained about their visual impairment, what aids they use and their general educational experience. There was a 1st grader, a 6th grader and a recent high school graduate (who has been recently accepted at Yale University). The kids were great; the 6th grader had even put together a power point presentation entitled “Hello and welcome to the power point all about me and my vision impairment”.

We topped the day off with another good session at the gym, then replenished all the calories we burned at a tasty Italian restaurant!

The Incredible Ear and Puppy Sponsorship

Tuesday April 4th. I began the day with a short bike ride on the path near the school. It is a beautiful area to ride or walk, right next to the Yarra River and the bike path goes for a really long way. There were lots of other cyclists and walkers out as it was a beautiful, crisp morning. What a great way to start the day!

This morning the consulting audiologist, Helen Paton, gave us a lecture about hearing. We learned all about the anatomy of the ear, some different types of hearing loss, how to read an audiogram, and how hearing and vision work together. What an amazing and complex piece of equipment the ear is! We will work with Helen again next week, tour the onsite clinic and do some hearing test ourselves, which should be interesting

In the afternoon we got a chance to see one of the fundraising programs at GDV, puppy sponsorship. For as little as $12.50/month or $125/year a person can “sponsor” a litter of puppies. Sponsors receive a birth certificate, a copy of GDVs “pupdate”, a bi-annual newsletter reporting the litter’s progress, and an invitation to the twice yearly functions to meet the puppies. There are different levels of sponsorship, bronze, silver, and gold with different benefits. The program being held today was one of the meet the puppies sessions. GDV had a litter about 5 months old, and a litter about 9 months old. People could pet them and ask questions. They had a table selling GDV logo merchandise then gave a short presentation about the puppy sponsorship and the guide dog program in general. This was followed by a guide dog demonstration. For the demo, they put up a large obstacle course and showed dogs at different levels of training working through the course. One of the GD trainers narrated during the demo explaining what was happening. At the end of the demo they picked a volunteer from the audience and let her walk under blindfold with a retired guide. Of course a trainer was right there holding the leash as the lady did not know exactly what to do. It was an interesting presentation and Sue got some video tape to show once we get back home.
Later we headed back into town and did some practical work with the monocular. As always, we role played with each other first by being student then the teacher.

Back to class

Monday April 3rd - It was tough going back to class after our exciting weekend, but at least I find the class content interesting. This morning we went over the assessment process and developing lesson plans. Assessing a client for O&M training has a lot in common with doing a home interview for a guide dog applicant. We learned about the ways in which clients are referred to GDV and the varying levels of information you may or may not receive before your assessment.

Ron’s Aussie of the Day – (Brought to us today by Jhaneen) “Flat Chat” which means that you are swamped or overloaded. “I didn’t have time to do my laundry as I was flat chat all weekend”

After lunch we returned to our long cane skills. We learned how to ‘shoreline’, the 3 point touch technique, slide and drag, and how to go up and down stairs. We also crossed our first intersection which was a little scary.

After class Sue and I went to the gym, and returned to an empty dorm again. It seems that the client who was supposed to be training this week postponed until next week. Grant, Ron, and Carrie have some maintenance type things to do here but aren’t spending the night if there are no clients, so we have the dorm to ourselves all week. The only bummer is we have to fend for ourselves for dinner each night, I’m already missing Christina & Grant’s cooking, boy am I spoiled! Before bed I spent some time sending emails and doing some computer work and, of course, blogging!

Koalas Galore!

Sunday April 2nd – We left Cowes, the beachfront city on Phillip Island, after a tasty breakfast at our B&B and running a few errands. Tried to hit the internet café, but it was closed as many places are on Sundays. We drove across the island to the Koala Conservation Centre. The Centre has built boardwalks above ground so you are more level with the koalas for better viewing. You can also walk around the small park and try to locate any one of the number of koalas who are free to roam within the park confines. It was a nice walk in the park and quiet as not many people were there. All the koalas we located were sleeping, s it wasn’t as exciting as yesterday’s viewing. Koalas spend about 20 hours a day sleeping so that’s mostly what you get. We continued our leisurely drive back to Melbourne stopping at the “Maru Koala & Fauna Park” about 20 km from Phillip Island. It was very similar to the Wildlife Wonderland from yesterday with koalas, wombats, kangaroos you could feed, and dingoes (no giant worms). This park actually had two Tasmanian Devils and we happened to arrive in time to see them being fed. The two were separated as the keepers explained they had been fighting too much. They each got about half of a raw chicken and their jaws are incredibly powerful. They crunched right through the food in less than 5 minutes. The kangaroos at this place were much smaller (and less intimidating).

We did some more shopping on the drive home, tried to find an open internet café (no luck) and got back to GDV at around 4 pm. Back to class tomorrow, hope we get some sleep!

Got anymore of that 'Roo food?

I Can't Believe I'm Petting a Kangaroo!

This was a little one. The big ones were almost up to my shoulder and intimidated me a bit.

Wombats, Kanagaroos, and Penguins!

Saturday April 1st – After a really poor nights sleep with the howling wind and pouring rain for most of the night, we got up and finally began our trip down to Phillip Island.

Phillip Island is 135 km (about 90 minutes) south of Melbourne and was originally used in the 1800’s for farming and running sheep. It started picking up as a tourist attraction in the 1920’s due to the famous “Little Penguin” colony on the island. Each evening the world’s smallest penguins gather in small groups at the water’s edge then run (waddle) across the beach to their burrows in the dunes nearby. One of Australia’s largest colonies of fur seals also gathers on the rocks just offshore the island and there is a Koala conservation center as well. It promised to be an exciting trip.

As we drove south the weather varied tremendously. We would have beautiful blue skies with fluffy white clouds for a while then thunderous heavy rain for 15 minutes. We kept our fingers crossed that the rain would pass in time for the “Penguin Parade”. Just before we arrived at the island we were driving along chatting like crazy when we passed a sign “Giant Earthworms 300m on right”. We looked at each other with eyes wide and shouted in unison, “Giant Earthworms? Let’s go” (By then we had passed the exit as 300m is not a very far distance). We spun the car around and raced back to the exit to “Wildlife Wonderland – Giant Worm – Koalas – Wombat World – Emu Land”. It was a mom and pop type of joint and we eagerly paid our admission fee and bought some kangaroo food. (Yes, apparently we were going to feed the kangaroos!)

We first walked into “Wombat World”. The center houses the Bare-nosed wombat or ‘common wombat’ who range in southern Australia and Tasmania. The wombats here are all orphans from road kills or dog attacks, the center acts as a half-way house and raise the baby wombats until they can be re-released into the wild. Wombats are marsupials and live in underground burrows during the day. Babies live in their mother’s pouches for about 6 months then stay with her for another year. Although Wombats are normally nocturnal, the wombats here are active during the day as their human care-givers or “mothers” are active during the day. Once they reach sexual maturity at about 2 they revert back to a nocturnal life. They are pretty docile and the keeper held one in her arms for us to pet. He was about 14 months old, and weighed about 14 kilos (about 25-30 pounds). As adults they reach about 25 kilos!

Next we went into the Kangaroo area. We walked out into a large pasture to see a group of about 30 kangaroos sleeping in the shade on the far side. A couple of people had walked out just before us so we looked over to see about 6 big kangaroos hopping over to the people and they were hand feeding them! I couldn’t believe it. As we got a little closer it was kind of nerve wracking, some of those ‘roos were BIG. We worked up the courage to feed them and I even petted one of the smaller ones on the head. What an experience.

There were also some pens with a few dingoes lounging in the sun, we then headed in and saw the Koalas. They were pretty active as it was time for fresh feed to be brought in. We chatted with one of the keepers and learned about the koalas, what they eat, how babies are raised, etc. Then it was time for the Giant Earthworm. The earthworm display was a bit disappointing as the only earthworm was a dead preserved one. Apparently they are highly endangered and not allowed to be kept on display. The film and photos were interesting though; these worms can grow longer than 10 feet! They also had a great white shark exhibit, which kind of creeped me out. It was a preserved Great White about 5 meters long (16 ½ feet) in a tank with it’s mouth opened wide. There was various scary photos and information on the wall and a short film showing them eating varies animals and being studied by man. Some of you may know of my shark phobia, so will understand that I didn’t stay there very long. That thing kept STARING at me.

We left the Wildlife Wonderland feeling giddy and satisfied in a cheesy way. Onward to Phillip Island where we booked a B&B for the night and headed to “The Nobbies”. The Nobbies are a couple of rock outcrops on the rugged coastline. It was extremely windy and cold but the view was spectacular! We took tons of photos of the waves crashing against the rocks. Later we headed to the “Penguin Parade” site.

“Little Penguins” are the world’s smallest penguin standing 15-17 inches high and weighing about 2.2 pounds. At the “Penguin Parade” there is a building with gift shop items and educational material about the penguins. The area is carefully monitored by the rangers as historically people have really negatively impacted the penguin colony. Now there are viewing stands with benches to sit on and the beach is roped off. No photography is allowed and they are strict! We saw a guy try to shoot a photo and the ranger went over and made him put his camera in a plastic bag which she sealed and gave back to him. Apparently the flash really scares the little guys. So we sat near the beach (in the freezing wind) until dark waiting for the penguins. Suddenly they began to appear. They gather together at the waters edge in groups of 10-15 called “rafts”. The penguins are most vulnerable to predators when they cross the stretch of sand from the water to the bushed in the dunes. They stand in their groups in the water debating, sometimes spinning around and heading back into the water. Finally they commit and hurry up the beach. After watching a few groups waddle in we walked along the boardwalk back towards the building. All along the boardwalk to could see the penguins walking along to their little houses too. We had a great time. I’ve added a link to the Little Penguin website to my blog if you want more information.

By this time it was almost 10 pm and we were hungry. Finding a place to eat was not easy as almost everyplace had already closed, but we managed to find a pizza shop. There we met our first real live “Yobbo” (remember what that is?). Anyway, it was a fun day and we slept well at our cute B&B.

Long Cane Practice

Lawn Bowls

Friday March 31st – The day began with another visit from David Markham the breeding manager. This time he brought us a new stud dog named Rocky (a Davey son). He was a real sweetheart and I can’t get over how soft and calm all their dogs are including the stud dogs.

Once class began we had a test of the information for the first two weeks. It was a thorough exam as was fairly difficult. Once it was over we headed into a local community to finish up a mapping project we had started earlier in the week. We broke into pairs and one person had to follow the map to several destinations that the other person had written. I was following Laura’s map which went through a residential area stopping at a bowling alley then a club for lawn bowls. As we walked past the lawn bowls club we noticed there was some type of competition happening. Naturally I stopped to take pictures and one of the ladies with the club came over to chat. As often happens here, once she realized I was an American she was delighted to explain all about lawn bowls and invited us into the club to have a closer look. Apparently we have lawn bowls in the US (although I had never heard of it). It’s similar to Bocci and is a game where each player rolls a ball across a green trying to get closest to the target ball (called a jack). You can knock an opponent’s ball further away as well. The balls that are rolled are not totally round so depending on how you roll it you can get different curves which can be part of the strategy. It’s fairly popular with the older crowd here and an effort is being made to get the younger people into the sport.

Ron’s Aussie of the Day: Bingle = a car accident. “I had a bit of a bingle on my way to work today”. Also Cactus = dead. “I can’t wash my clothes cuz the bloody washing machine is cactus” Ron actually located a web site with all kinds of Australian slang and he reviewed with Sue, myself, Laura, and Simone. We all had a good laugh sharing our different slang.

After lunch Sue and I showed Jhaneen, Laura, Simone, and Ron the Guide Dogs for the Blind promotional DVD, “Soul mates” and the “Considering a Guide Dog” video. They were very interested and impressed with both the quality/content of the DVD and how beautiful our campus’ are. Jhaneen plans to schedule a day were we can show these to any GDV staff who are interested in their lecture hall. We then returned to the long cane, learning some new techniques and practicing teaching them to each other. We then began using our canes outside while wearing simulators which only gave us tiny amounts of vision to use. The campus is located right next to the Yarra river and there is a lovely walking/bike path along it which was an ideal place to practice.

After class we headed off to the gym, ate, and returned to the empty dorm. Although the dorm is somewhat ghostly on the weekends, we are so tired that it’s kind of a relief to have the peace and quiet. Actually quiet isn’t the word to use this evening as a storm rolled in at the end of the day and it poured rain with a howling wind! Hope it clears up over the weekend as we plan to drive down to Port Phillip for some sightseeing.