Writing and Editing Services
  Rosebud Communications
  • Home
  • About
  • Projects
    • Clients
  • Rose's Red Pen Blog
  • A Rose in Oz Blog
  • Photos Down Under
  • Contact

Getting a Coffee

5/30/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
As the weather chills here in Canberra, my thoughts turn to hot coffee on frosty mornings. And I’m fortunate—spoiled even—because Australia has wonderful coffee and great cafés. The experience, though, is somewhat different than in the United States.

Many cafés in Canberra offer outdoor seating. 
Picture
Summertime by the lake
Sitting outside is not as popular this time of year, although a few hardy souls persist.
Picture
Sitting outside at Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets
Customers order at the counter, and a server will bring your food and drinks out to the table.

At my local café, the young man behind the counter always greets me with “Hello, lovely” and a big smile. While that greeting is unique to him, nearly every server I’ve met in Australia has been polite, friendly, and talkative.  

“How ya going?” is his next question. This universal Australian greeting threw me at first. I felt as if I should answer: “I’m going here, and then I’m going to the store.” The question means: “How are you doing?”

Then he’ll ask: “What are you after?” which also puzzled me as a newcomer. I wanted to point to the person in front of me in line and respond: “I’m after her.” What it means is: “Give me your order.”

My local café has a wide range of coffee drinks available, the same as in the States. One oddity here is that decaf costs more. Which is illogical to me, because thinking about it, decaf is actually LESS coffee. Some cafés also carry more exotic drinks like turmeric lattes and beetroot lattes.

The next coffee decision is whether I’m drinking it at the café or leaving with it. It took me the longest time to remember to ask for “takeaway,” not “to go.” The only response “to go” gets is a blank expression.

“You’ll have it in a tick,” the young man promises next, which means quickly, or in a short time.

After I say, “thank you,” the response is “that’s all right,” as if I had apologized for something. The phrase is Aussie for “you’re welcome.”

After I pay, he’ll say “Ta,” which means “thank you.”

No tipping is expected, although I am starting to spot tip jars sprouting up on counters.

When I finish, I just leave, as if from a restaurant. Café customers do not bus their cups and plates. The only place here where I have ever bused my own plates is Ikea’s in-store café.

​Overall, going to a local café in Australia is a lovely, soul-affirming experience—and I get coffee too.
2 Comments

The Alien Echidna

5/24/2019

4 Comments

 
Picture
Although this strange animal looks like an alien hybrid of a porcupine and an anteater, it’s neither a rodent like the porcupine nor a typical mammal like the anteater. This is a short-beaked echidna, found in Australia and New Guinea. Echidnas, also called spiny anteaters, are monotremes, a mammal that lays eggs. The only other egg-laying mammal in the world is the platypus.

The mother lays an egg, and it’s incubated in a temporary pouch. Once the egg hatches, the baby echidna—called a puggle—stays in the pouch and laps up milk from special glands called milk patches. Unlike other mammals, echidnas do not have nipples. The puggle stays in the pouch for about two months, when it begins to grow spines. The mother then moves it from her pouch to a burrow and cares for it the next seven months. Echidnas nest in burrows that other animals have left behind or they can sleep in hollow logs, rock crevices, under bushes, or in piles of leaves.

Echidnas use their narrow snout, which functions as both a nose and mouth, to search out ants, termites, spiders, worms, and other larvae. They capture their food with a long, sticky tongue. They can forage up to 18 hours a day and are most active from dusk until dawn.

Their spines are a specialized kind of hair and are used for defense. When attacked, they will curl up like a hedgehog. They can also use their powerful claws to bury themselves in the ground to get away from an attacker.
Picture
Here are five more fascinating facts about echidnas:
  1. Echidnas are named after a creature in Greek mythology, who was half woman, half snake, probably because they have both mammalian and reptilian characteristics.
  2. Their sticky tongues can be almost seven inches long.
  3. They are the most widespread of Australia’s native mammals and can live anywhere from snowy mountains to deserts.
  4. In colder areas, they will hibernate, waking every 2 to 3 weeks.
  5. While their lifespan in the wild is about 15 years, echidnas can live up to 50 years in captivity.
Picture
So while I very seldom see one of these alien-looking animals, I know they’re in the neighborhood not too far away, munching on ants and other insects every night. 
4 Comments

Red on Red Hill

5/17/2019

6 Comments

 
Picture
On a hill about 2,400 feet high, Red Hill Nature Reserve sprawls over 736 acres. Only five and a half miles south from the center of Canberra, the top of Red Hill offers spectacular views of the city and surrounding suburbs. In late autumn, I went looking for the “red” in Red Hill and found it in some of the most surprising places.

The name “Red Hill” likely originated with the early European settlers when they saw the reddish soil. Red Hill is made up of very hard metamorphic rock, called hornfels. As it weathers over time, iron oxide is released, accounting for the red color.

Red rocks and soil
Pathway up the hill
Red rock
The vegetation joins with the soil and rocks in adding touches of red to the environment.
Grevillea
Red stems and eucalyptus leaves
Grape leaves from house and yard bordering the reserve
Birds provide fast-moving splashes of color as well.
White-cheeked rosella, also called eastern rosella
Gang-gang cockatoo
Female king parrot
Crimson rosella
Humans, not to be left out, provide their own touches.
Water for the canine visitors
Trail marker for the Red Track
Red rock sculpture
I can’t think of a better way to spend a morning than enjoying all the reds on Red Hill.

6 Comments

Water’s Power: The Blowhole, Tasman Arch, and Devils Kitchen

5/10/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
The power of water does weird and wonderful things to the southern coast of Tasmania. Strong winds from the southwest create pounding waves that attack the rockface and erode the coastline. In addition to the Tesselated Pavement, three other sites on the Tasman Peninsula illustrate the remarkable power of water: The Blowhole, Tasman Arch, and Devils Kitchen.

Before looking at The Blowhole, here’s a primer on how water forms caves. Imagine the sea as it crashes against the base of cliffs. The waves carry sand and rock debris, which act like a big horizontal piece of sandpaper, cutting a notch into the vertical rockface until a crack or joint is reached. Compressed water and air wedge in the crack, forcing the rock apart. Continued erosion makes a cave longer and wider.

The Blowhole was a sea cave and tunnel until the roof at the back of the tunnel collapsed. The result was a broad arch with a blowhole behind it.
Picture
It may not look like much at low tide in the photo above; The Blowhole is far more impressive on a stormy day.

The second formation, Tasman Arch, was once a large sea cave like The Blowhole. Wave action over thousands of years made the cave wider and longer until most of the roof collapsed.

Picture
Eventually, the water will cause the rest of the arch to collapse as well so that it looks more like the next formation.

Devils Kitchen was likely a sea cave and then a tunnel. The waves over many thousands of years have eroded the rock, causing the roof to completely collapse. The water follows its inexorable path, cracking joints to create new caves in the rockface.
These three formations are remarkable examples of what the power of water can do.

“Water is patient, Adelaide. Water just waits. Wears down the cliff tops, the mountains. The whole of the world. Water always wins.”

  • From “The Waters of Mars,” Doctor Who
2 Comments

Tessellated Pavement

5/2/2019

6 Comments

 
Picture
On a recent trip to Tasmania, on Eaglehawk Neck, at the northern end of Pirate’s Bay Beach, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Looking down, it was as if some ambitious giant had decided to lay a walkway of rectangular tiles between the beach and the water. This phenomenon is called the Tessellated Pavement. Although this extremely rare geological formation appears to be manmade, it’s in fact created by erosion.
Picture
The erosion causes what are called “pans” and “loaves.” The pans occur on the shore, where high tides leave salt behind on the rockface. The rock at low tides dries out for longer before being immersed again. Salt crystals develop, which erode the rock surface more quickly than the joints, resulting in concave depressions.
Picture
In contrast, the rock surface closest to the water is wet much of the time. Salt crystals don’t have an opportunity to develop. Erosion results from the sand carried in the water, which tends to flow through channels in the rock. The edges of the rock erode faster than the surface. The results are formations that look like loaves of rising bread.
The depressions in the rockface create tidal pools, a haven for many kinds of sea life, and birds are attracted to the plentiful pickings.
This type of geological wonder is found in only a few places in the world, so I feel fortunate to have seen it.

6 Comments

    Author

    Rose Ciccarelli is an American writer and editor living in Canberra, Australia.

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018

    Categories

    All
    Daily Life
    Events
    History
    Holidays
    Nature
    People
    Places

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.