Of Vistas and Kangaroos - The Grampians

April 17, 2005
Warrawee Cottage, Halls Gap, The Grampians

Oooooh! It is cold. Boy, am I glad to be holding this steaming cup of tea. It is just dawn outside and it looks like a lovely day from my window-side seat. Here I am, comfortably nestled in a cushioned armchair sipping good tea and thinking about the nice time we had yesterday and wondering what the day holds in store for us today.

There are six of us. With two Ford Falcons, both boots full of stuff and a cheer in our hearts we had set off from our apartments in St. Kilda, Melbourne last morning. That was Saturday, the sixteenth of April 2005. After taking a couple of wrong turns and finally managing to get back on track we followed the Western Freeway to Ballarat, the gold-mining town of yesteryear and on past it, through Ararat and to Halls Gap.

Halls Gap is a small township sitting on the entrance to the Grampians. The Grampians is a dense natural forest area with a lot of mountains and wildlife. Halls Gap sits in a small Gap between Mountains forming a gateway to the spectacular scenery of the Grampians. I wouldn’t call it even a township, for it is just a congregation of a few buildings. There is the Visitor’s Information Centre, a grocery cum utility shop, a bottle shop and a police station. A Petrol station and a cricket oval provide a finishing touch to the town. There is a nice park with a few swings and slides for kids and serves as an ideal spot for a picnic lunch.

At the visitor’s centre we were helped by a nice lady. We picked up enough local knowledge and decide where we wanted to go. We collected maps with driving directions. Our first and most pressing need was however to find suitable accommodation for the night for the six of us. We had not bothered to book ahead, knowing this time of the year is not tourist season yet. We came expecting a few rooms at a motel or a Bed and Breakfast establishment and I am understating our surprise and joy in saying that we were overwhelmed when the kind lady at the visitor’s centre asked us if we wished to rent a lovely cottage all for ourselves. The price was good and we jumped at the chance.

So here we came to Warrawee, an orange painted wooden cottage with a first floor a long drive and garden. A neat porch leading to the front door and a barbecue grill by the back. Inside, the cottage is an epitome of homeliness and comfort. A tastefully set up living room and fully equipped kitchen, nice bath and toilet facilities and service area, two Queen Bedrooms and a third bedroom with single cots, make up the house. A nice balcony in the first floor looking out in the elevation is a nice touch of class.

So here we set down our stuff and set out to explore some of the attractions of the Grampians.

The Boroka Lookout and the Ried Lookout are very nice spots on the edges of the cliffs overlooking spectacular scenery. The lovely blue of the distant lakes and the rising mountains with vales in-between lend a refreshing feeling of goodness and beauty. The one snapshot that would stay in my memory for a while is the soft blue of Lake Wartook lying snugly between two arms of the Grampian Ranges. I might have a picture here of it to share with you.

Lake Wartook from Boroka Lookout

Our hearts light and fluttering, having taking in these spectacular sights, we carried on towards the Mac Kenzie Falls. The Mac Kenzie Falls is reputed to be Australia’s highest waterfall, though in reality it is not too high; I would put it at something between 60 and 70 metres tall. There is a narrow and quite treacherous track leading to the bottom of the falls where the water collects in a wide pool in dark rock. The track starts of rugged and rocky and slowly the gradient increases until it becomes very steep and very narrow. To make things even more tricky, the lower you descend, the more wet and slippery the rock underfoot becomes, not to mention the thick roots of the cliff hanging flora trying to trip you every step of the way. The brave and careful who overcome these hazards are treated to a spectacle like none other. The vista opens up a gorgeous and raucous waterfall that gets smothered into a placid pool set amidst a rocky cul-de-sac. I fell in love with this idyllic setting and will cherish this visit for a long long time.

MacKenzie Falls

On our way back (after pulling ourselves up the same way we went down, becoming quite weary in the process I might add) we stopped by at the small kiosk a the head of the track. The jolly kiosk-tender supplied us with tea, coffee, ice-creams and biscuits at a reasonable cost. I even picked up a nice small (real) boomerang from his shop window. We had had a great time so far in our trip, but there was one small detail missing. It feels quite awkward to concede the point but the fact remained that I had not seen a single kangaroo in Australia yet in my two months of stay here! I lamented my tale of woe in the passing to the kiosk-tender and voila, I hit pay dirt almost immediately! The garrulous shop-keeper told me that I was standing in the middle of Kangaroo land. He showed us a spot on our way back home that he reckoned would be the best place to see a really large number of kangaroos. This spot turned out to be the Cricket Oval in Halls gap! It was getting on dusk and the air was cool, perfect for the kangaroos to come out for a graze and what better grazing ground than a lush green cricket oval!

I saw a few dozen Kangaroos in the Oval. We stopped our cars and let all our travel fatigue ebb away strolling in the midst of these mild-mannered and quiet marsupials. This was probably the best finish to the day I could have hoped for. After a while (several photos and hopping matches later), we began to feel the chill of the night and headed away to Warrawee Cottage. A couple of loaves of bread, some butter, jam and hot cups of milk later, I tucked myself into the cozy bed and let my eyelids droop off leaving my mind wandering the green fields with the kangaroos of Halls Gap.

The sun is up now and I am eagerly looking forward to today’s adventures in the hypnotic Grampians.

Until my next blog, au revoir!

ANZAC Day

Helloooo!!!

Alright, Friday evening and am I glad the weekend is nigh! And it is a long weekend too. Monday, the 25th of April is a holiday in Australia and New Zealand.

The 25th of April is commemorated as ANZAC Day. ANZAC is the acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and this day has its roots buried deep in history from long ago.

Anzac Day commemorates New Zealanders and Australians killed in war and to honour returned servicemen and women at Gallipoli during the First World War. The ceremony itself has been continually adapted to the times, but has also steadily acquired extra layers of symbolism and meaning.

War memorial window, St Andrew's Church, Cambridge.

The Gallipoli campaign, in which New Zealand made its first major effort during the First World War, had its origins in the stalemate which had developed on the Western Front by the end of 1914. Following the initial free-flowing operations, the opposing sides found themselves facing each other along a line of trenches which stretched from Switzerland to the Belgian coast. The power of the defence having already made its impact felt, statesmen in both camps were at a loss as to how to proceed. In these circumstances the need for an alternative approach was patent.

On the Allied side the search for an alternative was encouraged by the opportunities presented by superior seapower. With the German High Seas Fleet contained in the North Sea, the possibility of launching amphibious attacks on the enemy was particularly evident to the British First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. Impatient to use British naval resources, he advanced a series of proposals, among them an assault on the Dardanelles-the nearly fifty-kilometre-long strait separating the Aegean Sea from the Sea of Marmara, which at its narrowest point, the Narrows, was less than two kilometres wide. The object would be to pass a force into the Sea of Marmara and threaten the capital of Germany's ally the Ottoman Empire.

At the War Council in London, Churchill urged an attack from the sea on Gallipoli at its first meeting on 25 November 1914. This was rejected as such an operation would be too risky but the issue was soon brought back to the foreground by developments in the war. With the Turks advancing northwards in the Caucasus, Russia appealed for action to relieve the pressure. The War Council approved the proposal on 15 January 1915.

The landings were originally scheduled to take place on 23 April, but weather conditions led to a delay of two days. Even if all had gone to plan on the 25th, the force would have struggled to secure its objectives, especially within the time allotted. But the plan was thrown into disarray even before the troops began landing. The Australian spearhead was mistakenly directed about two kilometres north of the envisaged landing place, nearer to Ari Burnu at what was later named Anzac Cove and on a much narrower front than envisaged in the plan. The reasons for this have been hotly debated over the last eighty years, with tides, faulty navigation by the landing fleet, belated changes of orders all being canvassed. An unauthorised alteration of direction northwards by one of the midshipmen commanding a steamboat, which pulled the whole line of tows in this direction, is the most likely explanation.

As a consequence the troops, on landing, found themselves confronted with far more formidable natural terrain immediately inland than they would have faced at the originally planned landing place. As they pushed inland through this difficult country of tangled ravines and spurs, the various units were split up and inextricably mixed. Only a few small, uncoordinated parties managed to reach the objective, Gun Ridge. These problems were compounded by delays in landing the remainder of the 1st Australian Division, the last of which reached shore four hours behind schedule. In the meantime, the first elements of the New Zealand and Australian Division had also begun landing soon after 9 a.m., and they became intermixed with units of the Australian division.

These deployments were made more serious by the defenders' vigorous response. In the landing zone itself there had only been two Turkish infantry companies and an artillery battery. Although these units used their dominating position to inflict substantial casualties on the invaders, they were too few to prevent the Australians from landing and pushing inland. However, exercising near Hill 971 was the 19th Division, based at Maidos and commanded by Mustafa Kemal Bey. Using his initiative Kemal rapidly deployed these forces to meet the threat posed by the ANZACs, units being thrown into battle as soon as they reached the position. A counter-attack in mid morning drove the Australians back from the 400 Plateau. Kemal then turned his attention to the right of the ANZAC position, where New Zealand troops had joined the Australians in the front line.

A fierce struggle ensued for the Baby 700 feature, but by evening the ANZACs had been forced back from it and the Nek. In this fighting about one in five of the 3000 New Zealanders who landed on the first day became casualties. The Turks had succeeded in securing the high ground. Far from rapidly gaining their initial objectives on Gun Ridge, the ANZACs found themselves in danger of being pushed back into the sea.

This is the history behind the day. I find it pretty fascinating. My interst in this history was really kindled after the barbecue we had in office this afternoon. We all stood in line to get our "rations" like the ANZACs got then. We each had been given a coupon book that granted each a portion of bread, vegetables, one biscuit and a cup of tea. We handed over the coupon to be stamped and collected our food tray and ambled off to find a shade and contemplate our next next assault. Ooops...sorry I got carried away a bit... We had the food and then got back to work actually. :-)

Talking about work, I remember now that Monday is not a day off for me after all! There is some urgent stuff I need to work on and so have to be in office on Monday. Aw shucks! Anyway, I still have two days to take it easy.

Okie folks, I shall leave you all to mull over the ANZAC campaign all those years back. To close, here is the dedication that is stated each year in a dawn service by one of the survivors from the war or a close family member, the last verse of Laurence Binyon's 'For the Fallen':

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them. "

Until the next post, adieu!

Dr. Kanagaraj passes away

Dear friends,

I am stunned beyond words and numbed beyond reaction after reading the sad news in my mail about the passing away of one of KCT's best Mathematics Professors, Dr. Kanagaraj.

For all of you from KCT who knew Dr. Kanagaraj, this must be a rude shock indeed. From what I gather, he had left KCT a year or so ago to pursue better prospects. He had travelled to Africa and had been there for most of the time since. It was in Africa (I know not where yet) that he sufferred a massive heart-attack and succumbed to it on the 18th of this month.

In his mail my friend has mentioned that he was having health problems and had planned to return to India shortly.

Please join me, my friends, in praying for the dear departed soul of Dr. Kanagaraj. I am sure we have many moments to remember and cherish from our interactions with him during our days in KCT. Under his tutelage the entire student community of KCT had been blessed with a wonderful Maths Teacher and he was a frontrunner in making KCT's Math Department one of the best in engineering colleges of repute in the State.

I shall remember him as an honourable gentleman with great intellectual capabilities.

May God provide his family and near and dear ones the strength to bear this deep loss and gently ease their profound grief.

That such a strong man should suddenly be called by God to his Kingdom prematurely is still beyond my limited scope of understanding. Times are strange indeed.

I sign off with a heavy heart.

Ram.

The Greatest Farewell

Hello everyone,

The last week has been a poignant one for not just Catholics but also for millions of people all over the world, for the passing away of Pope John Paul II from this world into the welcoming arms of The Almighty has left behind a lacuna that would be hard to fill easily. As the voting Cardinals are gathered in Conclave to elect the next Pope, let us try to understand how Pope John Paul II came to be one of the best loved Popes in modern times.

A Brief Biography of Pope John Paul II:

Born on May 18, 1920 near Krakow in Poland, Karol Wojtyla would become Pope John Paul II, the spiritual leader to approximately one billion Roman Catholics and one of the most influential persons of the 20th Century. His mother Emilia Kraczorowska died in 1929, his brother Edmund in 1932 and his father in 1941.

Karol Wojtyla first became interested in becoming a Roman Catholic priest in 1942. During WW2 he worked in a quarry and a chemical factory in Nazi-occupied Poland to avoid being deported to Germany. The Nazis forbade seminary studies, so Karol had to pursue his calling to priesthood in secret. He was ordained in Krakow on November 1, 1946. On June 26, 1967 Wojtyla became the Archbishop of Krakow.Cardinal Wojtyla was desceibed as an important contributor to the Vatican Council II, which modernised the Church and granted parish priests greater autonomy.

On October 16, 1978 Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II and greeted the crowd from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the first ever Polish Pope and the first non-Italian Pope elected since 1523!

Pope John Paul was seriously wounded when a 22 year old Turkish gunman shot him at St. Peter's Square on may 13, 1981. The pontiff was gravely wounded in the abdomen and was hospitalised for 77 days, during which time he repeatedly prayed for the soul of Mehmet Ali Agca, the gunman who sought to assasinate him. Just over a year later, he visited Agca in Rome's Rebibbia prison and forgave him for his sins.

As Pope, John Paul II proved to be a conservative and was of the opinion that any form of artificial birth control was sinful. He has openly condemned cloning and experiments with human life. Pope John Paul II, during his pontificate, made 96 trips abroad meeting the Common Man in every continent. It is estimated that he has been seen by more people that anyone else in history earning him the sobriquets "the Pope of the People" and "the globetrotting Pope". He spoke eight different languages learning Spanish after becoming Pope.

The Pope worked to reuinfy Roman Catholicism with the Armenian and Eastern Orthodox Churches following a centuries-old schism. During his pontificate the Pope ordained thousands of priests and presided over 138 beatification ceremonies including Mother Teresa of Calcutta and 49 canonization ceremonies creating 472 new saints. In his homily for the service during the beatification of Mother Teresa, the pope wrote: "I am personally grateful to this courageous woman whom I have always felt beside me. Mother Teresa, an icon of the Good Samaritan, went everywhere to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor."

After a prolonged illness that began with breathing difficulties from the flu in February and Parkinson's disease Pope John Paul II departed to heaven aged 84 on 2 April 2005.

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As I sit in front of my TV watching the funeral unfold, I cannot help but thinking that this man really has had a following in life and even in death. Millions of people gathered at St. Peter's Square and billions all over the world watched on TV I am sure. The feeling of grief was unanimous. The presence of world leaders from different countries was proof of the power the pope wielded and the presence of religious leaders from various faiths proved to me that it is the man and what he does that matters and that religion is only a means of keeping you on the right path.

I am sure the world would find it hard to replace this pope with one as good, but having said that I am also sure that someone has it in him to live up to the requirements of the office.

There are many Cardinals in the reckoning for the papacy and in the next week one will be chosen ending the Conclave. So who would the next pope be? An Italian by tradition, an European or an African or a South American? We will know soon, but whoever it would be would have a challenge to live up to, a standard set by the dear departed John Paul II.

But for now, it has been one of the greatest farewells in history to one of Vatican's greatest popes.

Sources of information: The Washington Post, ABC News and the internet.

Dancing with the Stars

Hello!

I am a regular viewer of this fabulous dance show on Channel 7 here. It is called “Dancing with the Stars” and it is a competition. Couples dance to different types of music and do different classes of dances in each round to prove their proficiency in all forms of dancing be it the Waltz or the Tango or the Salsa. One thing is certain, it is a treat to one’s eyes.

I have been avidly following the fortunes of many of the good performers (and I am not exaggerating when I say all couples in the competition have shown amazing skills) and like anyone would, have grown to have a soft corner for some couples. Well, they melted that corner with their stunning dancing to make it soft!

Tonight’s show, the equivalent of what could be called a quarter-final, with four lovely couples proved an exhilarating experience. It also left me a little unhappy. I will tell you why.

Given that all four couples in tonight’s “test” have consistently pushed the bar of excellence a notch skywards in the past weeks, one does always discern a little, if only miniscule, more icing on some cakes than some others. You know what I mean.

So let it be recorded that I feel for the charming Jason and the lovely Luda having to exit the competition. Mark and Holly have always been the professional dancers who have it in them to enthral any audience. They are the best dancers I have ever seen in a competition like this one. Tom and Kym have improved on their weaknesses by working hard and have grown in stature as a couple immensely and have impressed a lot of people. Ian and Natalie have always tried very hard but Ian is not the greatest dancer around. They did perform quite well certainly, but they still did need a miracle to not get eliminated at such an advanced stage of the competition. That is exactly what they did get! Half the points that the participants score are given out by the judges (professional dancers themselves) while the other half is accounted for by the number of votes each couple polls from the viewing public. To be fair to them, Ian was totally stunned to be told to be back next week for the “semi-final”.

Two things for us to take away from this tale:

1. Never to give up even when you are down. Down is never out. Fortune smiles on you when you least expect it but you should not have lacked in trying. As the famous song goes, “Zindagi ek safar hai suhana… Yahan kal kya ho, kisne jaana?”

2. Life can be sometimes a blossom and at other times a prickly thorn. Jason and Luda showed me how to laugh and sing through the spring and to smile through the autumn.

As a closing note I would like to commend Jason and Luda for the fantastic attitude they have brought to the fore throughout this competition apart from their fabulous dancing. You may not be in the competition any more, but to me you are still deserving winners and when I look up at the sky I will see you dancing with the stars!