Thursday, April 8, 2010

Who Can Pronounce "Kosciuszko"?


Today I had to start with my two favorite signs. We did see a couple of roadkill wombats, but we didn't see any live ones.

There are some really beautiful trees in the Snowy Mountains. I am going to have to find an Australian botanist to identify all the plants I have been taking photos of. Most trees here aren't deciduous, but those that are, are changing color now since it is autumn. I learned today that Australians never call autumn "fall." Maybe it's because not that many leaves fall here in the fall. In any case, we spotted poplars and oak trees with leaves changing color.



Glenda will know that I have wanted to go to Kosciuszko ever since she and I started reading Mount Everest books. Mount Kosciuszko is the highest peak in Australia. Bob and I took the chair lift at Thredbo which leads to the walk up to the summit (a 13 km. walk). The next picture shows who else was using the chair lift. There were many mounatin bikers taking up their bikes and riding down. Bob talked to one who had made 7 trips up and down by noon today.


Bob and I certainly didn't walk to the summit as the temperature including wind chill at the top of the chair lift was -1C. Everyone else was busy buying toques in the gift shop, but Bob and I figured our ears had experienced -1 before and could stand it again. We could see our breath though and we had fun trying to take photos of each other that would show our breath. None of our photos were good enough to post here.
The next photo almost shows Kosciuszko. It's under the cloud cover and to the right in this photo! There's nothing much we tourists can do to change the weather.

And now for a few personal messages:
Rob and Elizabeth, neither of you have commented or Emailed or FBed for a few days. It's your filial duty to keep in touch with your parents! Oh, and, Elizabeth, have you heard the crazy news about stupid changes to Scrabble?
Elizabeth, we were in Jindabyne and I tried to find a postcard of it to send you. No stores seemed to have one. I took photos though.
Janelle, I wish you could have been with us tonight. We attended a Rotary meeting in North Canberra and the guest speaker was a forensic expert who had worked on some very famous cases in Australia. You can google "Peter Falconio" to read about one of the cases where this woman did all the DNA work. Her speech was totally fascinating and would have meant even more to you than it did to us.
Cam and Myrna, the two gentlemen that Bob and I sat between at the Rotary meeting had both been district governors. Their club of 24 has had four district governors through the years. I tried Emailing Cuddles last night (since I found out she is such a good correspondent herself!) but for some reason it wouldn't send. I'll try again tomorrow. Cuddles had sure kept it a secret that she is a very articulate, grammatically-correct writer.
Michele, you have to join Facebook as Christa has set up a Crocus Quilters' group. She had photos from the last meeting so I felt like I had been there.




3 comments:

  1. Also just read the changes to Scrabble.
    I'm going to insist we remain purists!!

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  2. One should not be surprised that Cuddles uses good English. She is a very sophisticated dog!!! She could probably assist with Scrabble!
    Myrna

    ReplyDelete