Road to recovery

Jessie has been making an incredible recovery from her operation, the very next day she had begun eating and drinking again and more importantly purring again.  We took her cone off during the day so she could move about more easily, but put it back on at night to ensure she didn't have a go at her stitches while we weren't looking.  As the days went on she became more and more like her old self, her stitches remained in place and the wound appears to be healing nicely. 

A happy Jessie

Goofy on the other hand is getting increasingly frustrated with being kept separated from Jessie, but as much as he loves to play with her, he plays too rough and while she is in this state we have no choice but to keep him outside.  Goofy did get a little reward however, in the form of week 2 of puppy school.  The same group of puppies were there as last week, Austin although still small had grown more precocious and was barking viciously at everyone, including Daisy.  Goofy having a bit of a crush on Daisy however stood to her defence.  Mr Fitz was his usual amiable self, and even Romeo the snooty Pomeranian made a little bit more of an effort to socialise.  The main focus of this weeks class was diet, with a bit of walking on a lead and the command drop also being taught.

A better behaved Goofy?

This weekend saw the return of Melbourne's white night, which I have been looking forward to ever since its debut last year.  Barnadi was working as usual so I met up with Cameron in town, Kirsten was also meant to be coming, but due to a few seconds of rain earlier in the day she stood us up.  There were a lot of installations returned from last years event, but also a significant number of new pieces.  I don't know if it was just that the novelty had worn off, or that the crowds were just too big, but the start of the night did not fill me with the same sense of awe and magic as it had done the previous year.  Cameron and I started our night heading up to an event called purple rain at the top of the CBD, but the queues were so long it would have been pointless to even attempt to get in, the same thing happened outside the synchronised swimming.  The walk back down Swanston street was a real struggle and we took a breather down Bourke street where the bank of Melbourne had set up a small seating area for exactly that purpose.  When we finally made it down to Flinders street station we were about ready to give up, but we cut under the station, over a bridge to Southbank and double backed to the Queen Victoria Gardens were a colossal frame supporting a dozen spotlights pointing into the sky stood, it was here that Barnadi called to say he had finished work and arrived in the CBD.  We met him outside the arts centre, but by this time Cameron had had enough and went home.  Barnadi and I stayed out for another couple of hours the crowds had eased a little by this point and so it became much more enjoyable.  We spent some time in Federation square watching the giant dance class in session, sat by a giant pyramid of sand with flickering lights projected onto it and disturbing sounds playing in the background, we even entered a small room with flickering lights and mirrors which gave the illusion that the whole place was shaking.  We then went home happy with a night well spent.

White Night Melbourne

Back to School

Goofy being Goofy

Last week Goofy had his first day at Puppy School, a very interesting experience for Goofy.  The 'School' was located at the vet we use in Thomastown, and it must have made a good impression on Goofy as he headed straight over to the class room area when Barnadi took him for his vaccinations this morning.  In the class there were 4 other puppies a grumpy Pomeranian called Romeo, a Spoodle named Daisy, A terrier called Mr Fitz and a tiny golden Labrador called Austin.  As the only girl in the group Daisy was a complete flirt, all Austin wanted to do was sleep, Romeo kept himself to himself and Mr Fitz seemed a very sociable chap.  Goofy at 16.6kg towered over them all and completely dominated all the others at playtime.  As you might expect, puppy school is more for the owners sake than the animals, while Goofy was having the time of his life, we were being taught about everything from toilet training to dealing with unwanted behaviours.  The only command they taught us in the first lesson was sit, which is something Goofy can actually do quite well already, and has done so from a very early age.  The course is for 5 weeks and for only $75 was a bargain.



Poor, poor Jessie

Jessie has unfortunately not been having such a good time of it.  This morning she had a trip to the vet to get spayed.  She is now sitting on the front door mat in her cone of shame, growling at anyone who comes near.  I am not sure which is distressing her more, the pain from the surgery, the indignity of the cone, or just a general mistrust of all human kind.  I doubt she will be as keen to jump into her carry case from now on, or make the journey to the Vet.  It is very distressing to see her like this and I really hope she can learn to forgive us soon, for as much as I want to comfort her there is nothing I can do.

Smoke gets in your eyes

The whole of Melbourne is currently coated in a thick blanket of smoke.  As the CFA fire warnings slip back out of the red and into the blues and yellows, most of the fires that were burning have now been brought under control.  The hot still air however has meant the smoke from all these fires has lingered on leaving the city in a chocking haze.  I half expected this cloud of smoke to stimulate a massive influx of patients onto the respiratory ward where I work at the Alfred hospital, but fortunately this fear has so far not manifested itself.  The Summer months are always a worrying time, with the inevitable grass fires that the hot dry weather triggers.  It is especially worrying for us now we live in one of the outer suburbs, where there is so much bush and parkland around us.  As always a large number of these fires did not start spontaneously and have been deliberately started by people who obviously have serious mental health issues.  One such person, responsible for the fire in Fawkner last weekend has thankfully been apprehended, but there always seems to be a fresh load of budding 'firebugs' ready to replace those that get caught.

Life post holiday has quickly returned to normal and it is already as if the holiday never happened.  It is not surprising I suppose, that Barnadi was keen for us to book our next one as soon as possible.  So last weekend we took a trip to our old travel agent in Northcote plaza and booked return flights to the UK.  While there Barnadi decided we should pop into Telstra, our internet/phone package was about to come to the end of its contract and since we never use our land line apart from receiving cold callers, he figured it may be cheaper just to get internet alone.  He was wrong, in fact if we cancelled the phone line our bills would go up by an extra $11, so not surprisingly we kept the phone line.  I then wanted to check if maybe bundling our internet with Foxtel (a paid cable TV service) may be a cheaper alternative, it wasn't, but then it wasn't that much more expensive either.  So after some deliberation over a free coffee that Telstra provided, it seems bribery does work after all.  It didn't take long for us to decided that free to air TV in Australia is so bad it was worth giving it a go, we can afford it, and it is only a year contract, after which we could always cancel it again.  Our final stop in Northcote that day was to a shop on the high street called 'the Book Grocer', a café/book shop.  Books in Australia, like everything it seems, are disproportionately more expensive here than they are in the rest of the world.  A new paper back, for example is likely to set you back around $20.  In 'the Book Grocer' however there is not a single book over $10!  We splashed out on 3 new books, which should help me through my long daily commutes to and from work.  It is always nice to come back to Northcote, it was my first home in Melbourne, and I do miss living there.

That night Barnadi was working, but I wasn't and as the pharmacy in Epping hasn't phoned me to ask if I can do any shifts since before Christmas, I think I can officially say I no longer work there.  So free to do as I pleased I joined a group of friends from work in the CBD for a night of Karaoke to celebrate one of the pharmacists' birthday.  FM Karaoke on Bourke street takes the form of a small downstairs bar with several rooms upstairs for hire by the hour.  The majority of the songs available are Japanese or Korean, and the English songs are typically at least 20 years old.  After a slow start while we waited for the Birthday girl to break the ice by choosing her first song, the pace quickly picked up so that by the end of the two hours there were still a lot of unsung songs waiting in the playlist.  I joined in a lot of the singing, but my one 'piece de resistance' was going all out on Elton Johns 'Your Song', in the Moulin Rouge style.  It may have been a little over the top, but I decided if I was going to sing badly, I may as well go all out rather than settling for the flat monotone adopted by those who can't decided on a key that will allow them to hit the high and low notes and so end up somewhere in the middle.

For our Sunday recovery, Barnadi and I joined a couple of my friends from work, Cameron and Kirsten, down in Richmond for Brunch in a place called Top Paddock.  The place was packed and had a waiting list of people to get in, this made Barnadi a little grumpy as it was getting close to 11am and he hadn't eaten yet.  The queue moved relatively quickly however and it wasn't too long before we were seated inside.  I ordered a dish of white anchovies with egg on sour dough toast, and it was definitely worth the wait, a very tasty if not slightly unorthodox breakfast.  On our way home we couldn't resist popping into Pet barn where we purchased a couple of new squeaky toys for Goofy.  He'd managed to remove the squeakers from all his old ones.  Goofy starts puppy school this week and we are hoping this will help him to calm down.  It's a shame there isn't a kitten school for Jessie.

Danau Toba

Sam my friend from Uni and his girlfriend Athina the Greek from Scotland have left Australia, leaving behind a washing machine and some rock climbing gear to remember them by.  They moved to Australia soon after us, but they have now headed out on an epic trip back to Europe starting in Thailand following the Silk road all the way to Athens.  However they will be back, as their employer has given them both permanent contracts starting in a years time so this will not be the last we see of them and their washing machine will not have to live in our shed forever.  The three of us had a little goodbye dinner at the Moor's Head on Thornbury High street, Barnadi was working so unable to join us.  The Moor's head specialises in inauthentic Lebanese inspired pizzas using lots of hummus and pumpkin.  Sam offered to pay as a thank you for looking after their stuff while they are gone, but as he had forgotten his PIN number it turned out dinner was on Athina.

The next day Barnadi and I started our own trip although not as epic, we headed out to Indonesia with our friend Rae and Stuart.  Leaving Goofy and Jesse in the capable hands of Adam and Coralee.  Our flight got delayed and so we arrived in Jakarta later than planned. Even though we were late Agus, Barnadi's brother in law, who was meant to be picking us up was nowhere to be seen.  The lift was eventually co-ordinated when Barnadi managed to get his phone working and called his sister to find out where Agus was hiding.  We then headed straight to Barnadi's sister's house where we spent our first night.  Rae and Stuart had a nap, Barnadi went with Bariah his sister to have his fillings replaced (Bariah just happens to be a dentist), and I stayed back and played with Barnadi's naughty nephew and niece. 

We arrived in Jakarta in the middle of the rainy season which after a week of 40+ days in Melbourne made a refreshing change.  It did cause a lot of flooding in Jakarta, and not a day went past when the word 'banjir' didn't feature in the news headlines.  We managed to avoid the worst of the flooding as the very next day we had a ride to Bandung.  Bandung is the third largest city in Indonesia and is located in the mountains of West Java, it is also a good base from which to visit some of our favourite sites in the area, Kawah Putih a large sulphurous volcanic lake and Tangkuban perahu a large dormant volcano with a huge steaming crater on the top, and a smaller side crater full of bubbling pools, some cool enough to paddle in, others so hot you could boil an egg in them.  Bandung is also known as the Paris of the east, although how the connection was made is not entirely clear.  Like most cities in Indonesia it is dirty and polluted and old architecturally important buildings are left to go to ruin while new ugly and poorly constructed high rises take their place.



Tangkuban perahu

From Bandung we then headed to our house in Puncak where we spent a relaxing few days doing very little, kept in most days by the rain.  Barnadi and Rae filled the time with cooking while Stuart and I filled it with eating.  The few excursions we did manage were short walks to some of the local temples, the markets and the botanical gardens in Cibodas.  Our time in Puncak had to come to an end, and we were picked up by Toni, Barnadi's brother, who drove us back to Jakarta. 

After a couple of nights in Jakarta we managed to escape again this time to Sumatra and lake Toba.  We were not travelling alone as Bariah, Agus and their two children, Samantha and Suren came with us.  Agus is originally from Sumatra and the whole family return every year to visit his family for Chinese new year.  Agus's family own a taxi company and so when we touched down in Medan airport a couple of cars were waiting to take us directly down to Lake Toba.  The journey took a lot longer than the 2 hours Agus insisted, and the constant cutting in and out of lanes round blind bends made it a less than relaxing trip.  When we arrived at Parapat, on the banks of Lake Toba, the sun was setting and we still needed to get a ferry across to Samosir island to the resort Barnadi had booked.  The car ferry which was meant to run every hour had decided that because it was quiet it would wait until 9pm before it ran again, if it was going to run at all.  It turned out there was also a passenger ferry, and although it wasn't scheduled to go where we were heading, a little extra rupiah and they were willing to take a detour.  So we temporarily ditched the cars grabbed our cases and boarded a passenger ferry, stepping over the buffalo carcass slung across the deck, we begun to wonder if we had made the right decision.  As the boat pulled away and the disco lights started to flash and loud music started pumping it really was the strangest boat ride I had ever been on.

We docked directly at the resort Mas cottages just outside Tuk tuk, and were shown to our rooms.  The resort had two types of rooms; standard rooms, like in any hotel and traditional Batak houses.  Although we were originally planning to stay in a traditional Batak house, they were far from bug proof (mossies being the biggest worry) and they had no hot water, so disappointingly we resorted to a standard room.   When the sun rose over the horizon the following morning, the previous days long and excruciating journey melted into insignificance.  It was all worth it.  The vast expanse of the lake, the  imposing surrounding mountains and the pink fluffy clouds above made the location so picture postcard perfect, it was hard to believe it could all be real.

Lake Toba

The next few days were easily the highlight of the trip, lazy days swimming in the lake and exploring the local historical sites, such as the stone chairs and kings tomb.  Rae got down to business haggling over old textiles, but that was about as energised as the trip became.  The town of Tuk tuk itself is very much a tourist hot spot, crammed with over sized hotels, souvenir shops and restaurants advertising the availability of magic mushrooms, we were lucky that our own resort was far enough out of Tuk tuk to not have to get involved in that side of things.

Lake Toba itself is the largest volcanic lake in the world, covering an area over 1700km2, that's 1000km2 bigger than Singapore.  The Volcano underneath has been dormant for the last 40,000 or so years, it's last eruption however is thought to have been the largest volcanic eruption in human history.  Volcanic ash from the eruption has been located as far away as Malawi, and a layer 6m thick has been located in parts of India.

All good things must come to an end, and we had to face the long drive back to Medan, after 1 night there we continued a journey home with a change of planes in Jakarta and Bali before finally arriving back in Melbourne.  It is sad how quickly a holiday can feel like it never happened once back into the normal routine of work.  It was however good to get back to see Jessie and Goofy, and see how much bigger they had grown in only two weeks.