Charles, best wishes on your 200th birthday!

Regular visitors to this page know how difficult it is to visit foreign countries, trying to understand a different language and comprehend local customs. In Australia, for example, they speak a language -- pronounced 'Strine -- that like American is derived from English. Unlike American, it uses an entirely different vocabulary. We lived here 14 years ago, so we can speak it passably. We said crisps, they say potato chips; we said chips, they say French fries; we said serviettes, they say napkins. A person can't make himself understood in this country anymore! Of course, they still say cricket (we say boring) and kangaroo.

With the pressures of day-to-day living being so intense, we try to get away for a pint at the end of the day. This is the Orient Bar in Fremantle, our favorite watering hole.

News & Notes

• We were up at 2:00 AM to watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama. We saw it streamed over the Internet, but after about 45 minutes, we realized it was actually on TV!

• January 26 is Australia Day. We joined an early morning celebration in nearby Mossman Park, high on a bluff overlooking the Swan River and Perth. As expected there was a flag raising, politician speeches, and community awards. New citizens were sworn in by the mayor. They took either the Oath of Citizenship or an Affirmation of Citizenship; the former includes the words 'under God,' the latter does not, the new citizen chooses. The Men's Chorus sang, and the Rotary served a BBQ breakfast.

  

• There was more action on Aussie Day! First of all, the main grocery chain carried Aussie Burgers, so we tossed a couple on the barbie. Then, as they were cooking, there was a 40% solar eclipse. We did the classic pin-hole-in-cardboard apparatus.

  

  Tasmania? It fell between the grates.

• We realize it's difficult to get an express package from Seattle to Perth in less than 4 days -- you start out a day behind, and it's a very long way. Fed Ex promised our friend Shelley 4 days; it took 12 days. Normal airmail takes 10 days. How did Fed Ex manage it? Their routing: Seattle > Memphis > Paris > Frankfurt > Paris > Subic Bay (Philippines) > Singapore > Perth, where it waited five days > Subiaco. (She got her money back.)

• It is brutal being on sabbatical. We needed a break. The obvious choice was to drive south along the coast to the Margaret River wine country. It's a beautiful area with literally hundreds of wineries.

  

  Top on our list was a tour, tasting and lunch at the famous Leeuwin Estate winery.

  

  The beaches are as fabulous as the wines. We spent plenty of time playing in the surf.

  

  The Indian Ocean

• Horrendous wild fires struck Victoria, southeastern Australia. We were confounded as we watched an offical tell residents "Clear the burnable material from around your house, fill your gutters with water, and go into the house to wait it out." It seems to us tragic advice on how to survive a fire storm.