Cockatoos, Kangaroos and Kookaburras

Katie post

Sydney. 1/13. 4:25pm

By most counts, I had a pretty great childhood. Growing up in Brighton, Michigan, there wasn’t much crime to speak of, everyone smiled at you when you passed them on the street, it was a small town so most people knew each other’s names, etc. etc. Think of the movie Pleasantville and that was my town. One of the best parts of my childhood was playing with the kids in my neighborhood. We lived in a subdivision (my Mom and Kristy still live there, in the same house) where many of the kids were of similar ages—a fact that made everything more fun. Over the years, about 5 of these families became very close and went on yearly camping trips together, had elaborate Easter egg hunts, block parties where we would section off our entire street and have watermelon eating contests (one of which I handsomely won at age 11—only to throw it all up behind the trash can about 5 minutes after my win…but no one needs to know that), water balloon fights and even parades where we would decorate our bikes and ride down the street in front of our houses, honking our toy horns.

One of the families we got closest with was the Pflegers. They lived in the big yellow house near the entrance of our neighborhood and had three boys. The oldest was a year younger than me and I drove him to school when I got my license, the middle one was Erik’s age and they paled around all the time and the youngest was a few years older than Kristy. Around the time I turned 16 they moved to North Carolina. We were so bummed. My Mom kept in touch with Mrs. Pfleger and over the years I would hear updates on the boys—where they were going to college, so-and-so had a new girlfriend, etc. etc. Meanwhile, Mr. Pfleger was advancing quickly in his company. So much so that they asked him and Mrs. Pfleger (after the boys had already left for college) to move to London for a few years. A few years after they arrived in London, they were transferred to the suburbs of Sydney, Australia.

I remembered this fact so a few months ago I dropped Mrs. Pfleger an email. This turned into an exchange of emails and pretty soon we were planning on getting together. It worked out perfectly because at the same time the Myhans were visiting, the Pflegers were available for lunch. And all the boys were visiting for the holidays to boot. So about 5 days after Tyler’s parents got here, we all met up for lunch. I hadn’t seen the family in 11 years, but it felt like not a day had passed. The boys had all grown and voices had changed, but Mr. and Mrs. Pfleger were their same friendly selves.

About a week later when the Myhans were leaving, I emailed Mr. and Mrs. Pfleger to thank them for meeting us for lunch. Mr. Pfleger immediately responded, inviting us to stay with them for the time we had left in Sydney. We had 6 days before we were heading to Melbourne. He said that was fine. So the next day after bidding Don and Kaye adieu, we strapped on our bags and rode the subway deep into Sydney’s suburbs. Mr. Pfleger met us at the Padstow train station, located about 50 minutes outside of the city center. We were seriously in the ‘burbs. After loading our mountainous bags into his car trunk, we looked out the window to the perfectly manicured lawns and pretty houses. No big skyscrapers like in the city, no honking horns, just residential heaven.

Our 6 days with the Pflegers transformed us back into our 15 year old selves. They would leave everyday to go to work well before we awoke, which usually wasn’t before 10am. We would then proceed to check email, watch the NFL playoffs on their satellite TV, go for runs, and do yoga. Between 5-6 each evening they would come home and we would make dinner. Then we would usually either watch a movie or just chat until we all felt tired.

Other than running, Tyler and I never left the house. We didn’t have a car and the only commercial establishment for who-knows-how-many miles was a little “mall” on the corner of their street with a convenience store that specialized in toilet paper, toothpaste and beef jerky; and a nail salon that was never open. Hmm. By day three we were going a little batty. Neither of us had lived in the ‘burbs since high school, so we are talking 10 years here. But for what it’s worth, it was incredibly quiet and peaceful, so that was nice. For the first 1.5 days. Pretty soon I needed traffic and noise.

Besides our minor boredom, the Pflegers were amazing hosts and did everything in their power to make our stay incredibly enjoyable. They basically treated us like their children. Taking us to the grocery store, telling us to buy anything and footing the bill; making us dinners; chatting until past their bedtimes. It was great fun for me to reminisce with people I knew when I was very young. So much had happened since I’d seen them last (my parents’ divorce, college, European vacations, Erik (my bro) going into the army and getting out of it, Kristy growing up, me moving to San Francisco, now getting engaged) that we never had a lull in a conversation.

Over the weekend Mr. Pfleger took us to a nearby national park for a 3 hour hike. It was right along the coast and was gorgeous. In the first hour we even saw a wild kangaroo! Thrilling! It was about 50 feet away from us and stared at us just long enough to pose for my camera. Then it hopped its 4-foot-tall body away into the bush. On Sunday Mr. and Mrs. Pfleger took us to the beach. It was a little chilly, so we stayed on the sand, but it was really nice to get out. We finished the day at a Thai food restaurant where the server taught us how to fold napkins into lotus flowers. I failed miserably. Tyler’s napkin came out better. He was very proud.

One of the coolest things about staying at the Pflegers was the birds. Yep, the birds. They don’t have any pet birds, but each time you go outside you literally feel like you’ve entered a rainforest. Cockatoos, which are the big white birds with bright yellow mohawks people in the States own as pets are as prevalent as pigeons here. They are literally everywhere. Or at least they were all around the Pfleger’s house. A select few had warmed to Mrs. Pfleger and she had a routine of feeding them pieces of stale bread each night around 6:30pm. I went out with her once and gingerly tried, but the birds’ beaks scared me stiff and I just ended up hiding behind Tyler.

Cockatoos weren’t the only birds we saw. We got quite the animal education. When I was small, my Mom used to sing me a song that went “The kookaburra sits on the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he. Laugh, kookaburra laugh….” and I forgot the rest. Well, a gum tree Australian for eucalyptus tree they are everywhere. And so are kookaburras, which are funny looking birds with average-sized black bodies and unproportionally large white heads. They actually do laugh not in a cutesy way. Instead think Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. Kind of a freaky sound when you are running without headphones. I felt like I was in Oz. Oh, wait? Hmm.

The ravens here sound like children. Really. They let out these sounds that are the mixture of a wine, a giggle and a little bit of jibberish. It is bizarre. And they talk to each other. I swear they meet for gossip sessions in the gum trees. A bunch of old friends bragging about the day’s events and comparing how many worms they consumed in the past 12 hours. This is what I’ve occupied my mind with for the past 6 days. Yeeeeah.

Now we are back in Sydney and as I write this I’m sitting on a bench in a pedestrian mall named Martin Place. Ahh, the city. Each time I look up from my computer I see people bustling about, all looking like they have very important places to go. A New York-style newspaper stand is in front of me selling publications and Mars bars. On the other side of the walkway is a florist selling the last of the day’s flowers to weary well-dressed office employees coming home from work. A woman in a yellow dress is sitting on the bench opposite to mine singing softly to her smiling baby boy in his stroller. I can hear the beeping of the sign signaling people to cross the street. Cars and buses are driving by. Ahh, relaxation and mental stimulation. It’s great to be back.

Tonight should be fun. We are staying with a friend of ours from San Francisco, Dave Thomas, who just happens to be traveling through Australia and New Zealand with his brother for 2 weeks. He has hotel points, so we are crashing on his other double bed at the Westin tonight. Sweet! It is the nicest Westin I’ve ever been to and I swear the room must be 600 square feet. There is even a hallway in the room leading to the shower and toilet. Amazing.

Tomorrow leave this beautiful city for Melbourne. The plan is to pick up a rental car around noon and head to the highway nearest to the coast and take 4 days to get to Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia. We only have the car, nothing else. We have no idea where we will stay or if we will just park somewhere and live in our car. Should be an adventure. I don’t even think we have a map. Probably should get one of those. When we get to Melbourne we’ve secured tickets to 2 days of the Australian Open tennis tournament, which is one of the Grand Slams. My Dad, once #1 singles in high school and forever a tennis follower (I think he had a crush on Pete Sampras back in the day), is green with envy. We’ve promised to give him a play-by-play. Something you can expect as well.