Well it finally happened. I got bit by one of Australia’s creepy crawlies. The thing is I dont know which one. I haven’t fallen over in agony and my flesh isn’t necrotising so that rules out the nastier ones but I do have a painful, swollen, itchy red blotch on the back of my hip (right above where my low rise yoga pants hit), and a swollen, tender lymphnode  and am generally feeling a little wimpy. Maybe I’ll post a pick of it

UPDATE: Here’s the pict! (lens  cap used for size referrence)

Mystery Bite

As many of you know I have been in Australia since November 1 and will continue here until the middle of March. While my experience as a whole has been amazing there has been one experience cropping up over and over that I am a bit tired of: Trying to explain and get people to accept my name. While this is not new by any means, even people in the states tend to double take on hearing it, the Australians seem particularly bothered and sometime completely unable to accept it. Sometimes this is amusing, most times it is a pain, and once it resulted in my figuratively being invisible because their brain couldn’t wrap around actually addressing me.

I had thought that after a life time of listening to nursery rhymes and being called little star I was impervious but this trip has been the straw. Another consideration is that I will start publishing soon and beginning my professional life and if I am going to change I should do so now. I have also been warned that “Twinkle” could be seen as unprofessional and may cause minor, but irritating, issues later. I have loved being Twinkle and am sure that for many that is what I will continue to be called (especially since it isn’t that strange in the corner of earth I am from, Oregon).

So I will be using the first of my two first names, Arwen, from now on. While I dont expect family and long time friends to bother themselves too much about adopting this it would be nice if you were to use Arwen when introducing me or when in a less formal setting. In return I will try valiantly to answer to it For those of you that are curious: I have two first names ,Arwen Twinkle, and one middle name, Elizabeth.

UPDATE: I have had many varied reactions to this but most commonly I hear, “Do I have to call you Arwen now?” No, no one is being forced to retrain themselves. If you really dont want to call me Arwen you dont have to but it would be nice if you felt up to it.
UPDATE 2:  Many people ask what Arwen means (if they didn’t recognize it from Tolkein) and an email from Michael Slater tipped me off that it might have meaning outside the world of fantasy fiction. I looked it up and sure enough Michael was correct. Arwen is welsh, it is a variation on  Arwenna (if female)  and means “muse” or a variation of Arwyn (if male) and means fair or fine. Both of these are perfectly acceptable meanings to me. I find I am quite happy with a name that means muse.

So as many (if not all) of you are aware I am terrified of spiders. My unprofessional opinion would be that I am arachnophobic. the very though of them send my hands flying checking that there are none or my head, neck or shoulders. I know that many of you have actually seen this and maybe even had a chuckle over it.

Upon the idea of going to Australia my second though (after OMG YES!) was oh fuck, they have really big poisonous spiders there. Everything there is poisonous actually, and immediately my hands flew to do my spider check.

Well, it’s true. There are freaky huge spiders here. I have had one complete hysterical meltdown when one jumped out at me. Well, really it just crawl from behind something but it felt like it jumped at me! Mostly I have been trying really hard to work on it by spending a little bit of time looking at them and trying to see that they aren’t that bad. As a measure of my improvement I was able to photograph one, with Peter’s hand as size reference, to share with all of you at home the particular terror I am fighting to overcome. Enjoy!

Huntsman Spider next to Peter's hand (p.s. This one isn't posionous)

Yet again I have fallen behind in my posts. Le sigh. I will attempt to catch to the present and then valiantly try to keep a bit more current. The thing is, I am having too much fun living life to stop and document it. It’s hard enough to get a few pictures of it. Here goes:

Upon returning from the field I began to pack for my camping extravaganza. My guide, Peter, did most of the hard packing I just had to have appropriate clothing, swimwear and a smile. The goal was to see some of Australia, do some snorkeling and be on the beach for Christmas.

Pete and I

We started out heading North (actually inland) and then cut over the Snowy Mountains to the coast. By taking this route I got to see a huge variety of climates/ ecosystems. The picture shows a reservoir (minus most of it’s water since there has been a 7 year drought) with the trunks of the trees that were there before it. Just like the bathing scene in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. This first leg took 8  hours but it was really beautiful.  the first two nights were spent at a camp site in Dalmeny right on the beach.  Peter’s tent, affectionately dubbed “The Taj”, is a ginormous two roomer with enough space to stand upright in. It was running joke the entire trip. We had to park the car as a wind break and trying to get the rain fly up almost ended up with having a flying lesson.

We then headed up the coast and stopped at Pebbly Beach for a look around, it was so beautiful we decided to stay two nights there before heading up further. This is where I met a whole cast of adorable creatures.

King Parrot

We got out back from the beach and a young family had been trying to have their lunch on a bench. It was like watching “The Birds: Acid Technicolour”. A king parrot landed on my shoulder and then a nice man gave me part of his sandwich for the lorikeets. I still haven’t gotten used to seeing these beautiful birds everywhere. Seeing one fly by is like experiencing a little bit a magic, tiny jewels through the forest. So much more colourful than at home.

Lorikeet Luncheon

Brush Tailed Possum

That evening when we got camp setup and had taken our freezing cold showers (no hot water at this site) I walked out of the tent and jumped. There was some creature in the camp! Peter laughed at me (he did that a lot btw) then told me it was a possum. The possums here are the most adorable things in the world. I was so enamored that I lured it to eat out of my hands. That was a mistake since then we had 3 or 4 of them. One even snuck into the tent and stole a carrot. After we had gone to sleep I woke to hear a rustling. “Peter, there’s something in the tent!” It was rummaging through our produce but in trying to get it out the poor little thing freaked and started climbing the walls of the tent. All in all very funny. The next night I quit feeding them because they were becoming pests. One got right up on my lap in order to get himself a treat.

Christmas Goanna

Christmas breakfast was interrupted by the partially excited, partially scared squealed from the the young boys and their mother next door. Instead of Santa or other more traditional Christmas morning visitors we got a goanna. He was quite lovely to look at but his speed when we tossed him a prawn head (from our xmas eve feast) was a little scary. As a matter of fact later in the day when I went to take the trash to the bin he charged me. I freely admit to screaming like a little girl and making Pete handle garbage duty.

Jervis Bay Fisherman

Australian Parliament

We left Pebbly beach and headed even further north (more north = warmer water) .  The water along the coast here is the most lovely colour. The part we were traveling in is called the Sapphire coast and you can see why in this picture. The best part was how warm it is. I just can’t get used to swimming with no neoprene on.   Did two days of snorkeling here before heading inland towards the capital, Canberra. There isn’t much to say about Canberra aside from Parliament building is cool and the city has no soul.

So that is most of my vacation. I have a few more pictures and such to share but my family has been screaming for an update so I will just this as is and try to be better about updating.

I love and miss you all!

Guardian Roo

Found another great photo, this was the day after xmas and this roo hung around our camp all day.