Katie Goes to Adelaide

Last week I went to Adelaide to attend the National NRM (natural resource management) Knowledge Conference and the following national NRM communicators forum. I had the opportunity to stay in Glenelg, where the sun shone bright and the streets were filled with all sorts of people. It was a breath of fresh air.

At the end of Jetty Rd there lies a pier where people walk day and night. Access to the pier is intersected with a seawall path that runs for a few kilometres in front of hotels and houses. I ran in the mornings in my tank top and shorts while locals walked dogs in hats and jumpers. It was 13 degrees at 6:30am.

Walking down Jetty Rd is a delight for tourists. Pictured above is the shop front of Eclectik, a homeware/gift boutique where I bought a candle, a gnome and a map. I picked up Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami and Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton from Dymocks. I bought chocolate frogs from Haighs and heaps of stationary from Kikki K.

On my walk, I stumbled a upon a massive patch of lavender.

And then came across this lovely home.

I wandered into a record/book shop where I bought Bukowski’s The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills , which I later read out-loud in the bath tub to the taps and tiles.

I didn’t ride this ferris wheel, although I wanted to.

This is the tram, which I did ride. I like experiencing how transit varies from city to city. In Adelaide, a worker will sell you a tram ticket from a cash register that hangs like a messenger bag from her/his shoulder. I caught the tram every morning during the conference to Morphettville Racecourse. I caught the tram downtown to the Art Gallery of South Australia for the conference opening reception. I walked down Rundle Mall and caught a cab back to the Stamford Grand in Glenelg, the suburb where I was staying. I took five cab rights in total during my trip.

My brief glimpse into Adelaide peaked my interest. From what I can tell, it has the most Italian restaurants per capita in all of Australia and it’s CBD is entirely surrounded by parks. The vineyards are only a drive away as is the ecologically fascinating coorong. It’s settled; before I leave this great nation, I’ll need to spend more time in the city named for Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen.

Changing Landscapes

The sun is moving away from Australia. A cool breeze finds me in the morning. Without the high temperatures and humidity, biking to work is easier. Where one door closes, a window blows open. In place of heat we now have wind. The wind makes me pedal harder. The wind rattles everything outdoors, making it sound like my house is being attacked with a gang of aggressive walking sticks. The wind brings the big chill that sends Aussies to the shops in droves, searching for boots and coats while I wear flats and cardigans. It’s starting to feel like a lovely summer day…in Vancouver.

These my songs of the season, my summer winter:

To Rest in Peace On Righteous Tides by Ohbijou
We’ll Never Sleep (God knows we’ll try) by Rilo Kiley
Changing Landscapes by Zach Hurd
Imaginary Bars by Great Lake Swimmers
Grown Ocean by Fleet Foxes
Chelsworth by Little Red
Cap Diamant by Coeur de Pirate
Wash. by Bon Iver
Those to Come by The Shins
Bronte by Gotye

Good Easter

It was a productive, quiet and much appreciated holiday. When Thursday night rolled around, I was ready to sleep the entirety of our four day weekend. After chicken skewer wraps and an hour of Warp, I hit the hay to recharge for the massive freelance project that awaited me. We enjoyed a glorious sleep-in on Friday and an afternoon beach BBQ with friends, complete with a game of bocce. Then the work began. Saturday saw me clicking and typing, reading and writing. At the end of the first day, we relaxed with a game of Bookchase.

Finally, the thousands of dollars and hours I invested into an education in English Literature paid off! Bookchase, the trivial pursuit of Penguin Classics, was entertaining although not exactly riveting. The neatest part about the game was the trivia questions, which were seemingly submitted by the community. The one that stumped me (and frustrated me) was “What was the name of the people who memorized information that the reader meets at the end of Fahrenheit 451?” You should probably answer the question in the comments section to see if your obscure side-scene recall trumps mine (likely). At any rate, I think the quiz questions would be great to stash in a road trip tote-bag.

Remember the Hortus Del Mar? Well, after weeks and weeks, the bounty is finally showing. Pictured above are baby (more like fetus) heirloom capsicums that we noticed this weekend.

This is the beginning of a strawberry. We’re going really savor it. Maybe dip it in chocolate. We’ll see.

In celebration of completing a big milestone in my freelance work, we went for a long walk in the botanical garden. Chris took my picture.

Then I took his picture.

After watching Akira, the first episode of Astroboy, Portlandia, and heaps of Community, our weekend was over. After work today, I decided even though the weekend had passed, it’s never too late for Easter cookies.

Orchid, lime green, yellow and blue.

Extra large egg, chick without legs, chick with legs, bleating goat, hopping bunny. A good Easter indeed.

Fred and Abby’s Epic Adventure

On March 20th, my parents landed in Mackay. They took four planes, an airport transfer bus, a couple taxis and a ride in our Golf in order to visit Chris and I. They arrived to the rain, tired but excited. After dropping off their luggage, I took Dad to Dan Murphy’s at his request to teach home how to buy Australian beer. In the airport, they had been swindled into paying $8 AUD for a bottle of brew. During their 16 day visit, I worked Monday to Wednesday and took four day weekends (thanks to the flexibility of Reef Catchments) to show them the region.





On the first weekend, we went to Hamilton Island. Staying in a holiday home, we hauled groceries and liquor from Airlie Beach on the ferry. We went snorkeling at coral gardens. Chris and I went for midnight joyrides in our golf cart. Dad went for daily walks, spotting wallabies and lorikeets. We celebrated my 24th birthday with lamingtons and mimosas in the morning, kayaking at Catseye beach in the afternoon and a lovely Italian meal at Romanos in the evening. We watched The Castle and swam in the salt water pool next to our holiday home. We drank beer from the swim-up pool on the resort side. Dad, Chris and I hiked to an outlook behind the hotels where the rocks were red and the wind whistled.






On the second weekend, we took in the sights and sounds of the Mackay region. We watched the sunset and saw the kangaroos at Cape Hillsborough. We went to visit Chris at Poitrel Mine outside of Moranbah. We went to Sarina to visit card maker Michelle, her friend Cheryl, and her husband cane farmer Neil, who fed us a lovely lunch.  Dad and I went to watch a rugby league match. We made a shelf out of timber and beer bottles. We watched Blazing Saddles and ate barbequed lamb.


While I was at work, Mom and Dad did a lot of walking and bus riding. They very generously bought heaps of groceries and cleaned our house. They were frequent visitors of the botanical garden. They stopped by Reef Catchments and met my colleagues. Mom made me two necklaces. In the evenings we shared meals, watched movies, and played board games. Highlights included Red Dog and Ticket to Ride.

It was such a treat to host Mom and Dad. As of 10 am this morning, they were safely back in Campbell River. I miss them already.

Sugar cane and spark plugs

In February, I traveled with Reef Catchments to Townsville for the Project Catalyst Growers Forum as the designated photographer/general helping hand.


It was an eye-opening experience. I learned that cane farmers plant selected blocks instead of their entire acreage. In between seasons, they plant a ‘fallow’ crop, often soybeans, which they till into the land to add nutrients to the soil.

Harvest time is in May or June. Some farmers burn the green leaves off their cane stalks, while other uses modern harvesters which processes all parts of the cane.

The most impressive aspect to me was the machinery involved in cane farming. Before the Project Catalyst Forum, I pictured a machete slicing through cane as ‘harvest time.’ These days, everything from planting to irrigation is a complex system of nuts and blots and computer chips.



I fell in love with the work shops.

The scale is immense. This planter tractor wheel is taller than I am. I tried to wrap my body around the ‘rim’ (?) unsuccessfully. That dirt wasn’t very soft.

Project Catalyst has over 70 farmers who aim to improve the quality of water run off which leads to an improvement of water quality on the Great Barrier Reef.