Today was just kind of blah. It's one of those days that should be one of those Great Days--it's a warm, sunny spring day, not a cloud in the sky, the ceanothus bushes are flowering ultraviolet blue (just like they do on my home street). The sheep and cattle are munching on the green green grass on the side of the highway as drive past, and I've got a touch of hayfever; definitely springtime.

We stopped in Hamilton, Victoria. There's a nice 120 year old botanic garden in the middle of the city; we see the big bunya pines and …

Adelaide is one mighty strange town, one that's hard to describe. It has broad streets lined with buildings from decades ago, shaded by hundred year old trees that appear to be imported from small squares and parks in London. There's no sense of urgency on the streets, no feeling that this is where Big Things Happen. Adelaide does not feel remotely like any other Australian city, or any North American city for that matter. More than anything, it feels like a mid-sized English city. Or, more to the point, it feels like The Museum of International Style Skyscrapers.

But Adelaide …

One thing I won't miss about Australia is the whinging the the Government isn't giving them enough. It's a true national sport... quite a bit different than the whining I'm used to in the US. Unlike Americans, who love to whine about government incompetence (or conspiracies... hush!), Australians feel Government needs to get more directly involved. The 'little Aussie battler' has mythical standing, as does the concept of 'a fair go'... and when you conflate the two, you get Aussies whining for more and more government involvement to level the playing field.

We keep on seeing obnoxious examples of this …

On the long drive across the Nullarbor, I often wondered why many Americans have only heard of one city in Australia: Sydney.

And that got me thinking: how big are Australian cities in comparison to American cities?

So, here in ranked order, is the combined list of US and Australian cities with their populations. US data is from 1998, and Australian is from 1996, but the list still gives a good indication of relative size.

Mind that the US data is defined on city limits, so some 'small' American cities that are really tiny in real estate don't show up …

To the riesling of the Clare

Around the Arid Lands Botanic Garden

To Port Augusta

Long drive on the Nullarbor to Eucla

Long driving day to Kalgoorlie WA

Perth Fair Day

I've made contact with the Hunter Valley Genealogy group (surpisingly at http://www.huntervalleygenealogy.com), looking for some old ancestors of mine in the Hunter Valley, three hours drive north of Sydney. I hope to visit there in early November.

My ancestors in the Hunter Valley are the Bassetts; in particular, Samuel and Mary Bassett. I know quite a bit about them, but not where they’re buried or where Mary came from.

Samuel and Mary Bassett were married in 1845 in West Maitland, and settled at Patrick’s Plains. After marriage, Mary had several children (apparently nine!), though I …

Perth Royal Show!!!

Mini golf! Wineries!!

Is it us, or does Western Australia smell bad? We can't tell. And it's been following us for three weeks.

It was raining the day we arrived in Geraldton, our first stop in 'temperate' Western Australia, and we had our car serviced a couple of days later. It was a big service.

And as we drove away the next morning, we smelled it. It smelled like a butane gas cartridge to me, or natural gas. Chris said it wasn't quite it, that it was more like durian. Whatever it was, it smelled bad, and it was only noticeable in the …

Just writing this because some people think that loading one particular page is a Good Test of what a browser should do. This is more or less what we did when I was the test manager for Macintosh Internet Explorer.

1. Make sure no applications are running.
2. Launch browser, make sure pages are not set to reformat as new images are loaded. Quit browser.
3. Delete all the browser's cached files.
4. Launch the browser.
5. Go to http://www.yahoo.com to bring up the network connection, and wait for page to load.
6. Wait an additional twenty …

Kings Park Wildflower Festival

Decide to come in from the bush and enjoy Perth a bit

The best ocean drive, and most remote place we've visited in Australia

In Esperance

So my thoughts lately have been turning to 'what kind of car do I want to buy when I return to California?'

I want:
- Something cheap, around $12,000.
- Something reliable.
- Something that gets good gas mileage, 24mpg or better
- Something that can go a bit down dirt roads.
- Something with cruise control
- An automatic

I don't need:
- A big butch SUV that can drive up cliff walls
- Another gas guzzler like my last car in California
- A new car
- The most powerful engine, or even the second most powerful engine in its class
- Financing
- A kick ass stereo system …

Long drive to Esperance

Hiked up Bluff Knoll in the Sterling Ranges

A wonderful day of hiking

Still more Albany exploring.

Great day exploring Albany WA