fauxklore

If Australia is Down Under, the U.S. must be Up Over.

Here's a quick vacation summary:

Major purpose of trip was attending OzFest, an annual Flyer Talk event (called a DO in FT lingo) held annually in Australia. This year was in Canberra. We toured the Australian War Memorial and both Old and New Parliament Houses. We also had a couple of dinners and hung out talking about frequent flyer stuff. It was fun. I am very interested in going next year, when it will be in Perth.
I then took the train to Sydney. At one point, I was thinking that the scenery reminded me a lot of Colorado. Then I saw the field full of kangaroos.
I spent a day doing a Hunter Valley wine tasting tour from Sydney. I was reminded that I have expensive tastes.
I also did a free walking tour of Sydney sights. Free tours are generally good in that the guide has to be entertaining to get tips. This was certainly worth three hours, even though I had been to a lot of the places before. I was also reminded of how much of what I know about Sydney comes from Judy Small's lyrics.
I flew to Port Vila, Vanuatu to spend a few days on the Cote d'Obscure. Actually, it turns out that Vanuatu has a pretty well-developed tourist industry. I did a day trip to Lelepa (a small island, not far from Efate, where Port Vila is located), took the local bus to see The Secret Garden (fascinating cultural exhibits) and the Museum, meandered around town, and did a round-island tour that included visit to a custom village, the World War II Museum, and the beach where a season of Survivor was filmed. The history of Vanuatu fascinates me, as the joint British and French rule over the islands (which were called the New Hebrides before independence in 1980) resulted in a mix of good food and reasonably effective government.
Back in Sydney, I went to the closing concert of the Australian Storytelling Conference. This included professional tellers and a competition for children from New South Wales. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.
I also had time for a Volksmarch that took in much of central Sydney and, especially, the Botanical Gardens.