Boomerang Dave's Boomerang Journal

December 23rd has us bidding farewell to Morris and heading toward Sydney. It's an interesting and tough drive to get out of the Yarra Valley and down near the coast to M1, the road which will take us to Sydney. We had planned to take two days to get to Sydney, since we wanted to see some of the sights along the way. The road over the mountains it small and windy and we can't travel real fast. Before we reached M1, Barb needed a "pit stop" and we stopped at a very nice park. I found this huge eucalyptus tree and I took Barb's photo by it. Back on the road and off to the M1. We expected more of a US style expressway but we found out quickly this was not to be the case. Although parts of it are limited access and four lane highway, many parts are four lanes through towns, with traffic lights and all. Also, the farther we drove, the less road there was. It finally changed to a two lane highway, with passing lanes (or overtaking lanes as they are called in Australia) we find ourselves in a nice little town, ready for some lunch. Barb has taken over the driving by now, her first time driving in Australia, and I spot a fish and chips place on the right. She battles her way over and manages to get on the "frontage" road so we can stop and eat. We find it interesting that this place seems to be built onto a church and in fact, shares use of the church restrooms! We dub it the "Church of the Holy Fish & Chips". The fish was taken directly from the seafood case and battered on the spot so we knew it was fresh. It was very tasty; one could almost say "heavenly".

We get back on the road and soon take a detour down a scenic drive, along the Snowy River, to where it enters the ocean. We have learned very quickly that the hills start right at the ocean and access to the beaches are not always easy. This did provide many views of the beaches and ocean from above. We decide to continue along this route to try and see more of the ocean and maybe get a place to stop for a swim. We find out that the water temps were colder than we would have likes and a wet suit was recommended.

Back to the main road and a drive through areas that appeared to have seen some fire damage. We certainly had plenty of mountain driving to do. Also, we were intrigued by the speed cameras in use along the highway, in some very remote areas. Another thing was the abundance of signs, warning about driving fatigue. There were numerous places to pull off the road for a quick nap. Finally, after 570km we arrive in Eden, our stopover for the evening. The hotel is nice and we head into town to check out the restaurants, and to get some supplies to make breakfast the next day. We eventually decide to eat at the hotel's restaurant and are not disappointed. Who would have thought that such good food would be served at such an unassuming place? We actually offered to take the chef home with us, although he was holding out for a Ford Mustang before agreeing to come with us. As a bonus, we also discovered two awesome Australian Shiraz wines.
Photo: Southeast Australian Coastline

If you know me, you know I like chile peppers and foods made with them. One specialty we make at our house is hot pepper jelly and a few jams with hot peppers. A couple weeks ago we got some plums at a great price and made a red plum jam. We also got some nice yellow Shiro plums. The wheels were set in motion. We got out our standard plum jam recipe and said, why not make a hot version? Checking the freezer yielded some Cumari chiles picked at Meadow View Farms during Pepper Daze. These are a tiny but dangerous hot chile pepper. Barb took some and finely chopped them, adding them to the yellow plum base. It was great. We think it may be mild to those true chileheads, but plenty hot for us, and maybe over the top for those of the milder persuasion. We decided to call this on Sheer Madness. I am sure it will be fabulous on pork and chicken, especially as a glaze.

Saturday we were at a flea market and one veddor was selling some fresh peachs 10/$1. We bought 20 and headed home for another jam session. This time we went with a favorite of ours, peaches with Fatali chiles. Again it was the freezer to the rescue as we also picked Fatalis at Meadow View. We only used 1-1/2 chiles in this batch and we could really tell the heat going on. I think I know where the name "Fatali" come from. Again, this one will be a winner with pork and chicken. I guess it will be a real wake up call on your toast or bagel too!

Enough chile talk for today. Photo is my wild red Brazilian chiles, growing in their container.

December 22 we manage to get some wash done at Morris's place before heading off to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. We soon run into problems as the sanctuary is smack dab in the middle of the Yarra Valley wine district. For some inexplicable reason, my rental car had trouble staying on the highway and we often found ourselves heading down a lane to a winery. The wines we sampled were spectacular and we squirreled some away for bringing home. We were quite pleased to get two bottles of Chandon sparkling Shiraz. Chandon is a winery that will knock your socks off. It is set in some spectacular scenery and sitting there tasting wines is a real thrill. More on Chandon here: http://www.greenpointwines.com.au/

We eventually make it to the sanctuary and take our time visiting. See: http://www.zoo.org.au/visiting.cfm?zoo_id=2 We saw many birds and animals which were unfamiliar to us including echidna, platypus and wombat. I got to photograph some koalas from about four feet away. We also saw an incredible "raptor" show with hawks, eagles and falcons. For me, a special treat was seeing a Brolga, whish is a large bird featured in an aboriginal dreamtime story. The plant growth was also interesting here and was loaded with fern trees. The only ferns I have seen to this point were ones in our forests at home, and these were never more than 2 feet tall. I was quite surprised to find fern trees that towered over me. We really saw a lot at Healesville and decided to make our way back to Morris's place. Again we got sidetracked at a winery but made it back into town in time to buy some food to make the evening meal. Morris doesn't do a lot of cooking, so he seemed to appreciate the effort Barb made when cooking. In fact, he had pretty much decided that I was to leave her at his house when I departed for Sydney. Barb had other ideas though.

We finished supper as the sun was starting to set, and Morris wanted to try out the boomerangs I brought him, so we headed to the field. Morris is doing well with my boomerangs and I am tossing a few that I brought for fun. I had out a Peter Ruhf Vee and a couple Jeri Leu fiberglass booms, along with my Gary Broadbent Knuckle boom. There was barely any wind but we were getting great tosses. It seemed fitting to be in Australia, tossing boomerangs at sunset, while listening to the Kookaburras laugh in the background. Well, it was fine, until the "mozzies" came out and started biting. Fortunately Barb brought the bug repellant along.
Photo: Barb at Domain Chandon

 December 21: Today it is time to pack up and leave the Croll's to visit with Morris Maxwell. After saying our goodbyes, we head off up into the Dandenongs again, past the shops from Sunday's trip and off to ride the Puffing Billy steam train. We were greeted with the sight of wild cockatiels in the trees around the parking lot so had to take photos. The trains were adorable! Barb and I got invited up in the cab of the locomotive. It was a very small engine, not what I was used to from the steam trains I have seen in the states. The train ride was on an old narrow gauge track through the mountains and was quite scenic. On the way up we had to stop on a passing siding to wait for a train to pass going back down. This provided me with an extra time to get photos. There was a stop at a place where we could get food and have a picnic lunch. On the way back down the mountain, Barb sights what she thinks is a Kookaburra on a fence line. I miss it but shortly afterwards we both see another. Learn more about the Puffing Billy trains at: http://www.puffingbilly.com.au/

We then hope in the car and head up over Mt Dandenong, with a stop at the overlook. Wow what a view looking back at Melbourne and the valley below us. We do a short hike looking for wildlife and not only see, but also photograph a Kookaburra. Then he begins his laugh laughing call and I am thrilled to hear it. It won't be the last one I hear this trip. Learn more about Mt Dandenong at: http://www.skyhighmtdandenong.com.au/

We drive on through the mountains heading towards Morris's place and got sidetracked doing some winery searching. We stop at one winery and have some wine, then off into a nearby town for supper. We found a delightful pub with excellent food. From there it is up the road to Coldstream and Morris's house. After settling in, we talk with Morris and also look at his boomerang collection. Morris is a funny chap, and we had a load of fun at his place. The first thing he shows us is a box of boomerangs from fellow American boomsmith, Kendall Davis. Here I am sitting in Australia, looking at boomerangs from back home. Morris then brings out a bunch of Aussie boomerangs and then the crown jewels, a display of Janetski boomerangs which are worth more than I can afford. I took photos as I will probably never see boomerangs like that again. I gave Morris some boomerangs I had made and he gave me a wonderful but large natural elbow boomerang.


Photo: Pulling Billy takes us across a trestle.

December 20: Today we decide to go into Melbourne and see the museum. Our trip in was fun. We parked the car at Rob's mother's place and took a train into the city. The ride in was very nice and the trains in Australia are wonderful. The train goes right by The Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park, where the Australian Open is played. 

The Melbourne Museum has quite an impressive Aboriginal exhibit and we spent our time looking at it. The exhibit was both very informative and very disturbing. It reminded me of the way we in the USA have treated the Native Americans and the African American in the past. We learned that the Aussies have varied views about the Aborigines and that it was best to keep clear of the subject in order to not stir up things. A visit to the museum store yielded us a very nice aboriginal painting. We saw many boomerangs there. They were pretty to look at, but I suspected many would not return. Here is a link to the museum and the aboriginal exhibit: http://melbourne.museum.vic.gov.au/exhibitions/gallery_bunjilaka.asp

After the museum we wandered around Melbourne. We took photos and rode the trolleys. We had a lovely lunch at a small restaurant we found. We walked around downtown and did some shopping. I got some nice t-shirts with aboriginal designs on them. Since it was just days before Christmas (often referred to as "Chrissy" downunder) we tried to view the displays in the downtown department store windows. The movie Polar Express was just released and the Myer store took up that theme. Photos of it are at: http://www.myer.com.au/christmas/archive/2004/

The train trip back to the suburbs was nice again. We were supposed to call Rob to pick us up at the station. We left a message, but Rob was busy in the shop so never heard it. Barb and I were sitting at the station, in shorts and t-shirts, listening to Christmas carols broadcast through the speakers. When they played White Christmas, we almost lost it. Since Rob didn't show up, we walked back to his mom's house and met him there. He finished up and we headed back to Rob's

It is Rob's birthday and everyone celebrates with a barbie at the Croll's house. Lots of friends and relatives were over and all too eager to talk to the visiting yanks. We managed a photo with the Crolls before quitting for the night.

Photo: Here comes our ride! A trolley in downtown Melbourne

December 19th found us up early for a trip to the flea markets in search of aboriginal artifacts. The really big market was closed and we tried another. No luck on finding what we wanted but Rob scored a few items. We headed back to Rob's and find his children waiting for the arrival of Santa Claus. Seems that each year just before Christmas, the local Fire Department brings Santa around the development. Santa passes out lollies to the kids and the parents are encouraged to make donations to the department. The fire truck has speakers mounted on it, blaring out Christmas music, and you can hear the truck coming for what seems like hours. While waiting, Rob opens up his van so I can check out the stuff he has for sale, including some really nice didgeridoo bags. I pick out a few items to buy, then Rob grabs some Darnell Air Dancers and we all start tossing boomerangs in the cul du sac. It's rather amusing to think that there we were, in Australia, the home of the boomerang, and staying with the two time world champion, and we end up tossing foam boomerangs outside the house? Well, no one ever said this vacation would be normal.

For some reason (lunch) the Santa express did not arrive as we expected, so we grabbed a quick lunch and headed off to the Dandenong mountains to cruise the antique shops for boomerangs. Again we did not do well shopping and to top things off, I probably took a few years off Rob's life when I made a right turn across traffic, with traffic coming from the right. Fortunately the town was small and traffic was moving slowly, so no crash occurred. About a mile after this happened I turned to Rob and said: "I bet that driver is cursing out the crazy American driver". Well, we all started laughing and the color started to return to Rob's face.

We eventually headed cross country to the park where Rob had his display of aboriginal artifacts. The display is quite extensive and very impressive. While there, Rob did some fix up work on a couple displays and I got to talk to the locals about boomerangs and competitions. They thought it was quite amusing that they had to learn about boomerang competitions from an American. We also went to a section of the park that the kangaroos hang out at. Barb and Rob were pretty close when I took photos. Anyway, by the end of the day I had acquired two very nice kylies, a couple boomerangs for friends, and two aboriginal paintings. Not a bad day after all. From there it was a good drive back and we all went out to supper together.

Photo: Barb, a roo and Rob

In December 2004, Barb and I went to Australia for four weeks. I took notes along the way and the following is written from those notes. I'll keep posting in bits an pieces until I get to the end.

Left Allentown for Australia at noon on December 16th, 2004. After driving to Philly, flying to LA and flying to Melbourne, we were beat. From the time we left home, until we arrived at Rob Croll's house, about 30 hours had passed and it was shortly after noon on December 18th in Melbourne.

 

We had brought long some boomerangs and jelly and wondered how we would fare going through customs. Since we declared that we had food and items made from wood, we were sent in another line. Those with nothing to declare had to get their bags scanned and if there were any banned items in the bags, they were subject to fine. We had to wait a bit, but had smooth sailing once we explained what we were bringing into the country. There was a delay in getting our rental car and a bit of confusion over the reservation; but then the real fun began. I had never driven of the left side of the road, and on top of that, the steering wheel was on the right side of the car.

 

I was fortunate that the beginning of the drive had me getting on a freeway, where the chance of driving on the wrong side was less of a problem. It was once I exited that the real fun began.

 

Rob gave us great directions. It's a good thing he did, because where his lives is like trying to find your way through a maze. Turn left, turn right, keep the car on the left, watch your turns? It'ss sort of a miracle that we actually got there. We knew we were correct when we saw the boomerang at the mailbox!

Rob's wife, Tracy, had some lunch ready for us and after that it was time to shower and change clothes to something more normal for the summer.

 

That being done, Rob and I headed to his mum's place, to see some of his collection of boomerangs and aboriginal artifacts. There are boomerangs all over, more than at my place. Rob has a lot of boomerangs I have never seen before, other than in photos. He also has a fair amount of museum quality aboriginal items like boomerangs, kylies, paintings, bark paintings, bowls and more. We then headed into his boomerang shop to see where he makes them. I was pleased to find that his shop is as cluttered as mine (well, almost).

 

We then headed back home to our first official Aussie Barbie! No shrimp on the Barbie though, it wouldn't be right. In Australia what we call shrimp are called prawns. This night was definitely a meat night. Barb and I stayed awake as long as possible but after 8PM both of us started sinking fast and were both in bed before 10.

 

 

Photo: Part of Rob's collection

Tuesday evening I cranked out a few more polycarbonate and acrylic boomerangs. On Wednesday moring I decided to test them. Since temperatures have been in the 90's in the afternoons, I took the chance at heading to the field very early, before work. I arrived there about 6:15AM. No one was on the field and it was less than 70 degrees. It was humid though and there was dew....lots of heavy dew. I noticed that there was virtually now wind as I walked out on the field. One of the neighbors was walking her dog and since I knew her, she waved.
By the time I was far enough in the field to throw, I noticed my shoes were pretty wet. I started throwing and in the process of moving around, the dew was getting my shoes wetter, and it was getting on my socks and lower pants legs. Maybe this wasn't a great idea.
Since I was heading to work, I didn't warm up. This proved to be a big mistake, as on one throw, I threw particularly badly and did something to my shoulder/arm. I decided to quickly try the remaining boomerangs and head to work. After throwing the last four, another person shows up walking his dog. As I walked around picking up the boomerangs, he left the dog off the leash. I should mention this dog was pretty big, and pretty ugly. Well, I picked up one rang and headed toward the next. I hear/sense the dog heading my way. I turn, see it running straight at me and freeze. The dog gets to me and jumps up, almost knocking me off balance. I am afraid to move but the dog goes for the hand holding the boomerangs. I instinctively bring my hand up to my chest to get the boomerangs away from the dog. He jumps again, several times, including at my back. By this time the owner is there and pulls the dog away, putting it back on the leash. I walk away, briskly, as he says; "Sorry" which doesn't nearly make up for scaring the crap out of me.
I headed to the truck and off to work. For my 15 minute stop at the field, I have soaking wet shoes, socks and pants legs, I have an arm I can't lift above shoulder height, and I was attacked by a dog and have scratches on my back from it. I needed to get to work and dry out. Work was begining to look a lot better than playing.

An update on my boomerang happenings. I am trying to finish up some boomerangs for some friends. Yesterday I was trying to paint them and it was so hot and humid that I was sweating just using spray cans. I has a dozen or so to test but it was very still and humid, then a storm moved in. After that it was like working in a sauna. I'll be adding some photos to the webshots album in my last post on Monday. Check later.
Later, around supper time, a young friend who used to live in the neighborhood stopped by. He was on the way to my local field to throw boomerangs and show his children about them. Everything he own he got from me, but he didn't have any kiddie ones. I quickly gave the kids each one and they headed to the field. It was nice to know that Mike still stops by, and that he was introducing the kids to boomerangs.
Today, after church and lunch, Barb and I headed to the field for testing. There was a decent breeze but it is hot! We managed to get everything tested and need to modify a few booms. Several were very good and I almost want to keep them for myself. Boy are my friends going to be lucky! Anyway we quit fairly quickly because of the heat, headed to 7-11 for water and then off to the art museum to view the Andy Warhol exhibit. On the way, we passed a bank and it had the temp at 97F, 36C. No wonder I am hot!
We are home again but trying to air out the house. Last night someone spooked a skunk and the AC drew in the smell. It was bad last night, but less now. We have some fans running to take the smell out of the house.
Enough for today....more when there is something worth printing.