Fish and chips

Last day in the office today - tomorrow is earmarked for packing, tidying and frantically reweighing suitcases and wondering how many jumpers I can wear on the plane to save being over the 30 kg I was already just over when I came here and before I bought anything...

So I went to the university Italian place and had fish and chips and the obligatory Asian slaw - I am yet to find a meal here that does not have some sort of Asian flavour added in some way. Actually it was Barramundi and chips, which is a new fish for me, and very tasty. Lovely light batter and just the right amount of fish. Saw a baramundi in the fish shop on my way home from work and it turns out to be a very attractive blue fish in real life.

National Museum again

Return visit to the National Museum of Australia today to see the galleries I didn't manage when I went last month. It is a very modern looking building with a large map of the whole of Australia that  you can walk around/over.

This is supposed to be snake that runs through the museum, part of a Dreamtime story.

There was a small exhibition on the  home front in Australia during the First World War, which I found interesting because of my own research on Scotland. As well as all the Mothering online research that I have been doing whilst here, I have also found time to submit a proposal for a paper for a conference on women on the home front - looking specifically at the suffrage movement at that time. So it was nice to see a familiar face amongst the exhibits.

Not my favourite Pankhurst (Sylvia) but definitely preferable to Christobel in my admittedly biased opinion.

There was also an exhibition of feminism in the 70s in Australia, with Germaine Greer's coat, which she had made herself. Very nice.

Possible route home

I "treated" myself and got off at Dickson shops on the way home tonight to go to the Woolworths supermarket - and I am well aware that I am buying into consumerist and postfeminist values when seeing a shopping trip to a more expensive supermarket as a treat, but when you have been restricted to the lesser supermarkets for most of your time here, a trip to Woolworths is a bonus.

Anyway, after spending some time perusing the products of that nice Mr Oliver, who has his own range at Woolworths, I walked back through the shops to get my bus. Dickson shops is a nice shopping precinct with some interesting clothes and food shops and there was even a man with a banjo singing "And the band played Waltzing Matilda" so it was a suitably Aussie experience.

And then I caught sight of this sign in a shop.

No. I have no idea what it means either. but there seems to be the possibility of an easier trip home than the 32 hour marathon I have to undertake next weekend. 

Unfortunately I had no time to go "downstairs" or "to Manchester" as it will now be known, as my bus was due, but I will be back!

Freezing fog

Parrots freezing in freezing fog this morning

So this morning we had freezing fog. It was/is very very cold here. Bitterly cold. Please do not mention the European heat wave to me right now. The only positive thing I can think of in relation to that is the fact that it is statistically unlikely to have occurred in Aberdeenshire.

Sorry - a pause while I stare at the television in amazement. There was an advert on for sensodyne toothpaste where a woman with a strong Aussie accent just said "It's nice that I can just put that straight in my gob" in relation to icecream.

Things I should have brought with me - more jumpers. Gloves. Hat. Scarf. I did bring some scarves, but they were of the floaty, cottony, skimpy variety. I have had to go out and buy wool and knitting needles and knit scarves. So I should have brought knitting needles. I have knitted two scarves and a jumper so far.

I have also been writing and researching a lot! Not just knitting.

I have been considering the rather ironic fact that I have spent two months reading about, researching and writing about good and bad mothers. I know about all the different mothering ideologies extant in western culture - traditional, neoliberal, feminist, postfeminist, intensive, economic nurturant, etc, etc. I can even throw around a reference to Foucault and how he argues that hegemonic ideologies - in the case of motherhood in contemporary society, intensive motherhood or 'the new momism' - support the dominant culture, ie patriarchy (bastards). However, I have been unable to find an ideology of motherhood that includes going off to Australia for two months... Will continue to look - and I am back in ten days!!!! 

Nice and nasty

Nice things

Brunch in Canberra - Spanish omelette and sourdough toast. Just what you need on a foggy and cold Saturday morning.

Nasty things found in the shopping centre - vegemite flavoured Dairy Milk.

Another victim for Mr Fluffy

How can you not be drawn to a newspaper headline like that?

Waiting for my sandwich order at the University cafe, I sat down to peruse the local newspaper - and this was the front page headline. The story was illustrated with a sad looking older man outside a nice looking house with the typical Australian tin roof.

Apparently, Mr Fluffy is - or rather was - the brand name of an asbestos based insulation product that was used on Canberra homes built decades ago. These homes have now been identified and will be bought by the government and demolished because of the dangers of living in them. They will also need to contact around 30,000 people who have at one point or the other lived in one of the identified homes. The house in question is apparently one of the oldest houses in the area - hence the tin roof - although that term is of course relative - I have dishes older than the oldest houses in Canberra.

Anyway, having lived in his house for forty years, having brought his first child home to the house, and now watching his grandchildren play in the garden, the homeowner is being forcibly repossessed and will have to move out.

Another victim of Mr Fluffy.

Merry Jule

It is Jule here in Australia.

I first noticed this phenomenon when I was in Sydney last week. The school winter holidays have started here and so there are a lot of activities being laid on in the city centres to keep families busy, Ice-skating rinks, fake snow globes, etc.

What is slightly surreal, however, is the fact that this time is being called Jule. The idea of Jule has been diassociated from Christmas and moved to midwinter - which I suppose makes sense. And it really is midwinter here, it is dark by the time I get home now.

The wierdest part for me about Jule celebrations are the decorations - all the shops have snowflakes, icicles and - wait for it - Christmas trees in the windows. Yes, Christmas trees with presents under them.

And that is where, to me, Jule slips into Christmas. Hence the confusion that I am already feeling about the season and the cold has been amplified by having Christmas trees in the shops.

Anyway, as all the signs say, Have a Cool Yule !!!

Taronga Zoo

I am not a zoo person, but everyone was recommending that I go to Taronga Zoo, and now I have been I really see why. 

For a start, you have to a boat to get there. Then you get in a cable car, which rises up to the top of the   zoo. You then meander down to the sea again, seeing the animals as you go. The views from the cable car are amazing because you see fantastic views of Sydney, plus the animals underneath you.

I focused on the Australian animals. There are very few cages - instead there are areas that you wander around so you are 'in' with the animals. You are just asked to keep to the paths. I didn't go into the African area, but I presume that they do not take this approach to the lions and tigers.

So here are wallabies, kangaroos and koalas!!

There was an amazing Australian pelican.

Later on I went back on the ferry and travelled around the bay a bit more, jumping from stop to stop. At one beach there was another pelican just wandering around mixing with the children building sand castles!

I wasn't going to stop at the seals because - you know - seen seals. But I passed at feeding time. The most enormous sealion was wondering where his lunch was...

Captain Cook Cruises

So you can take a hop-on and off cruise around Sydney harbour and it is the best way to get to the zoo. You travel from Darling Harbour, which is where I am staying

to Circular Quay, which is where the first convicts landed, and where the Opera House and Bridge are based

under the bridge

There are idiots climbing up the bridge (#nobloodyway).

Past the Opera House (look it does not rain there all the time)

And out to the zoo.

The boat has a fantastic female skipper who narrates the whole journey. Her safety talk at the start was wonderfully laconic: 'Just don't too anything stupid, OK'. She pointed out the 'silly buggers' in the bay - the American and Australian war ships that are undertaking war games this weekend, 'exciting to see such a great use of taxpayers' money' and warned about the zoo 'Just telling you now, there's no way out without goin' through a gift shop'. #girlcrush.

Am at the zoo now so will post pictures of this later. At present in the "View Restaurant", which really does have a great view (can even see one of the war ships). And look - the weather has improved!!

Opera House

So I took a tour of Sydney Opera House, which was amazing. The structure of the sails inside is breathtaking.

Fantastic views over the harbour and the bridge, even though it was raining - in fact we got a rainbow!

Do you see that the building is actually tiled - thousands of white Swedish tiles!

We also got to go inside the different theatres, where rehearsals were taking place for performances tonight. The opera sounded wonderful, but I am afraid I do not feel prepared for a five-hour performance (plus two 45 minute breaks) of Tristan und Isolde. Not a big Wagner fan.

Sydney!

Much to my own surprise, I woke up at midnight and realised that today was the day I had booked travel and hotel for Sydney. One hysterical packing session later and here I am.

If I thought the rain in Canberra had been bad, Sydney looks drenche. There are lakes - not puddles or pools but lakes - of water lying everywhere.

None the less, off we go to sightsee.

The Harbour bridge and obligatory Sydney Opera House selfie. Taken from the spot where Captain Cook frst landed. Hurrah! Luckily there is the Museum of Contemporary Art nearby to give me another view of ths event.

Rain

It is raining here in Canberra. It has rained non stop for 48 hours and we have another two days to go until the weekend when it is supposed to let up.

This is professional rain. It falls steadily, straight down, no messing about. The roads and paths have turned into streams and rivers and the constant sound is the whoosh of traffice through the water.

The rain has flushed out a few natural sights, however. My bus to the university today had to screech to a halt to allow three kangaroos to cross in front of it!! I was the only person on the bus who was at all excited by this event.

Today I gave a seminar presentation on our work on Twitter. The room was full, which is always a good sign. It is an even better sign when they all stay to the end, and ask questions. People who wanted me to read out the quotes in Glaswegian on my slides were, however, disappointed.

The seminar was for the Research Centre of News Media and Journalism, but a few interested people from other departments came along as well. Some of them were from Governance and Politics, and I have just received an email from the Research Director there asking if I would like to go along and talk to them and give the seminar again. So that is a hopeful sign that those that returned spoke positively of the paper. Or maybe they just said that my Glaswegian accent is not to be missed....

Braddon

I don't know whether I have mentioned the suburb that I am staying in. It is called Braddon and is what might be described as - totally hipster.

Every man on Braddon has a beard. There are specialist barbers who specialise in beards. There are chi-chi vintage shops. There are very expensive shops selling French soap and hand-crafted everything. There are a lot of shops lit by clever candelabras made of old wine glasses. When I walk down Braddon the age demographics actually shifts upwards.

There are many restaurants and cafes and plenty of tables in the street to sit and drink coffee. There is also an area specifically for 'street' food - of course off the street. As you can see, this is lit by an old British telephone booth with a candelabra in it.

And yes, this photo was taken as it was getting dark - at only 4.45 tonight. 

Australian War Memorial

The War Memorial is an amazine shrine-cum-museum that really needs several days' worth of visits to see everything. 

I started off with a tour - which was amazingly good value (free for a 90 minute tour). We started with the eternal flame

As you can see, there is a wreath laying service every day where the history of one of the Australians who died in war is read out and a wreath laid in his or her honour. The galleries on the right and left of the photograph are where the lists of the dead are on long plaques on the walls. At night time the names of some of those from the lists are lit up on the front of the war memorial. Details can be found in advance online about whose names will be listed and at what time and apparently families make round trips at 3.30 at night, etc, to see the name of their family members appear. There are family research areas and volunteers throughout to help you find out more about a family member.

I was of course most interested in the First World War galleries, which were extensive and focused mainly on Gallipoli. Here is one of the landing boats from this campaign (you can see the bullet holes).

However, the galleries dedicated to the second world war and later wars were also very impressive, with light and sound shows in the aeroplane areas. For a completely free museum the amount of information and interactive displays was excellent. The only thing I found irritating was the guide's perpetual reference to the English - as in English forces, the English Victoria Cross, supporting the English. Speaking as someone who researches the Scottish contribution to the First World War, I had the urge to bark 'British' at him in correction. I kept reminding myself that he was a volunteer and shouldn't be snapped at.

Only a fraction of the museum's holdings were on display - there are 30,000 pieces of art in storage for example - although they do rotate what is in the galleries regularly apparently.

Fiona, much of your father-in-law's works were accessible only online - and I am sure that you will have seen that already, but I did find the following painting displayed:

It is also from the War Memorial that one gets a superb view across Canberra, and can really appreciate how planned the city is. There is a direct line from the memorial, down a road of remembrance with many smaller memorials for individual wars and armies, across the lake, to the old Parliament buildings (the white buildings) and then the new Parliament with his flagpole at the opposite end of the city.

Botanic Gardens

So I was wandering through the centre of town this morning and saw a bus to the Botanic Gardens. A lovely bus ride, which included the peak of Black Mountain with beautiful views over Canberra and the far mountains, and then an afternoon wandering through the Gardens.

There are different areas of the gardens, including a Euclypt lawn

with many different varieties of Euclypt. You are encouraged to hug the trees ( I did not) but also look at the different types of bark. Here is a red stringy bark

and here is a brittle gum

There were only a few flowers around because of course it is mid-winter, but the Banksia were in full bloom

The selfie is because I wanted to show how enormous this plant was - it's a lily!!!

The Frontier

On Friday nights I am watching a fascinating if disturbing documentary called Frontier, which is considered to be the first comprehensive account of Australia's troubled relationship between settlers and the indigenous population. It is shown on NITV, which is the National Indigenous Television Channel.

The show is from some years ago - one of the narrators is a young Hugo Weaving - but reminds me very much of Ken Burns' excellent series on the American civil war, using photographs and artworks with voiceovers quoting from contemporary sources.

I have no idea whether the series is available elsewhere but I thoroughly recommend it. Shocking and sobering but important.

I just ate a kangaroo

Working

I realise that I have not blogged for a few days - this does not mean that I am dead, it just means that I am basically going to work, working, coming home from work, watching Australian Masterchef and going to bed.
The work is going well, but we have set ourselves quite a high number of outcomes for this research period - hoping for at least three articles - and I am also getting some stuff done on my separate suffragette book in spare moments.

Here is the advert for the seminar we are all doing later this month. http://www.canberra.edu.au/events/view/10367


Australian Masterchef v. good, by the way. And much less use of the sous vide than the British version.

Getting much more used to life 'down under', although am still confused by the oddest things.

Such as money. Australian money is dollars and cents, which is fine. Two dollars (a teeny tiny coin) is about one pound. There are £50, £20, £10 and £5 notes and then coins - two dollars, one dollar, 50 cents, ten cents five cents.
As far as I know, five cents is the smallest you can get.

But here's the thing - prices are still things like $3.99. If you buy something for $3.99 you just hand over $4 and walk away. It is really $4. So if you stand there, like me, with your hand out for the change, you look a fool.

I am looking a fool a lot at the moment.

And it is not even that I want the one cent - I understand that one cent is a very small amount of money and I wouldn't be able to buy anything with it. But I still automatically assume I will get change if I hand over more than the amount requested.

I am presuming that if I was paying by card then my card would be charged $3.99 - although I don't know this for sure.

Queen's Birthday

Today is a public holiday because it is the Queen's birthday.

I realise that her actual birthday is in April, but she has two and the other one is in June. And in Australia they have the Monday off to celebrate. There has been much confusion when I explain quietly that we don't actually do that in the UK.

Also, it should be noted that it is the Queen's birthday holiday here in Canberra, but other states may have other birthdays. In Western Australia, for example, it is the Queen's birthday public holiday at the end of September. Presumably because the weather is nicer or something. Its a very moveable feast and I expect that if she came to Australia she could pick up a fresh piece of birthday cake most days.

So, anyway, the university is closed and I have been working at home. However, this afternoon I thought I would wander into town and find out what happens on the Queen's birthday.

Well, what happens is that people go shopping. It is obvious really. The weather is not that great and so you head to the mall, where every shop is holding a special Queen's Birthday sale. Because that's what she would want.

I used the opportunity to go to what is fast becoming one of my favourite places - the food hall. Here there are many different restaurants, the vast majority of them serving Asian cuisine. This is very exciting for someone from North-East Aberdeenshire. Last time I was here I went to the Indonesian 'home-style' counter and had something so hot that I mostly ate the rice. So today I opted for Japan and had a lovely chicken dish for six dollars (around £3).

On my way home, I dropped into the Bottle-O, which turned out, despite the name, to be a really interesting wine merchants. I now have a bottle of rose Riesling, which I have never heard of before. I was told that it is rare even in Australia and that only Brown Brothers produce it.

So, out of courtesy, I will raise a glass to her Majesty tonight and try a rose Riesling!

Lake Burley Griffin

Walking along the shore of the lake this afternoon with Deborah and Gareth, who has come out to join us from the University of Cardiff. There are lots of black swans on the lake - indigenous to this area of Australia.