Last Friday morning, Mom arrived! I had told her where the apartment was, but not how to reach me in the building. Apparently she started pressing the buzzer buttons in order until someone answered. Oops. Hopefully my neighbors don't hate me. She also told me that the train she took to Potts Point was very crowded, so she had to stand near the doors with her suitcase. There was waist-high metal pole that you could grab onto except a young man was sitting on it. My mom, who has never known to be shy, turned to him and said, "Excuse me, but could you stand up? Otherwise I'm going to have to grab your butt to stay upright." Hee hee.

My mom is a great traveler--more spontaneous than me. Since the weather was so nice, she thought we should take a ferry somewhere. We decided to take the Watson Bay ferry since neither of us had been on it. We weren't sure where we'd get off, but we took some lunch with us and headed out. Our ferry turned out to be a limited stop one, so our own only options were Garden Island, a little park at the tip of Potts Point only accessible by ferry, or Watson Bay. It's a fun ferry to take because you pass by the Botanic Gardens and Potts Point. We saw lots of boats and naval ships--last Sunday was the Navy Open Day. I took a picture of dredging accidentally--not very pretty and Mom was like, "Why are you taking a picture of that?!?"

 Watson Bay was smaller than I imagined. Basically a small, sandy beach, a little park, and some boats. But it was a lovely little place to stop and eat lunch. I had a ham and cheese sandwich on my Old Time bakery organic gluten free flat bread with a thin layer of hummus to soften the bread a little. It's so good. I predict it will be my lunch most days. I tried it with peanut butter and jelly as well but didn't like it nearly as much. Two more product recommendations: I love the Orgran rice and corn pasta and Orgran buckwheat pancake mix. The pasta isn't gritty at all and tastes very "normal" to me. Even my mom liked it. The pancake mix only requires water and the pancakes are thick but light and fluffy and taste good, too. It helps that the mix is nearly 50% buckwheat flour. These are the first puffy pancakes I've had since going gluten free. I think I'll be bringing a couple boxes home with me.

Mom saw the buses leaving at the top of the park was, "Oh, let's take a bus somewhere since the weather is nice. It looks like they go back to the city!". She had no idea where exactly they went but was completely game to get on one. Only my mom. I saw that one of the buses was the same one I had taken to get to Bondi Beach and it said it stopped at Bondi Junction, so I agreed to hop on a bus.

We soon passed an intriguing coastal walk, so we hopped off the bus at the Signal Hill Reserve and went for a 1km walk. (Don't worry. We're not really crazy. I only go places where I'm fairly sure I know where I am, and we now have a good map of city and my cell phone has gps service in it if needed.) It was completely lovely. Except for the flies. The flies were about as bad as in the Outback. I have no idea why there were so many flies. Fortunately there was often a breeze which helped shoo them away a fair amount.




We saw a prickly pear cactus. That clearly doesn't belong there. There are no native cacti in Australia. We stopped to look out at the sandstone cliffs and the nearby lighthouse and had kookaburras come visit us! It even did its laughing call. While I was taking a break at one point, Jon called me and looked up our location on Google Earth. That was sort of neat.



And in case you've forgotten what I look like:

Apologies for the lack of posts for past few days. I knew that rainy weather was coming, so I wanted to use every last moment of sun, and my mom arrived three days ago.

Last Thursday before she arrived I finally managed to go swimming. I tried out the Andrew Charlton Pool which is next to the Royal Botanic Garden and right on the water! I loved my swim excepting two things: the water was a little cold and it was *so* salty--seriously it was like drinking a salt lick when I would accidentally swallow a little. It was salty enough that I'm going to try out the indoor Cook+Philip pool next instead. It's still lovely, though, getting out of the pool and looking out over the water.

Since I was already there, I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the afternoon. I walked up to "Mrs. Macquerie's Chair" which has some amazing views of the Opera House. I want to go back early some sunny morning for better photos.

It wouldn't be a walk without seeing birds. I saw cockatoos (huge birds) and ibis

rainbow lorikeets eating pollen

and, well, they aren't birds, but they do hang out in trees--hang upside down, that is. Fruit bats. Really, really large furry brown and black bats that are taking over the trees in the center of the gardens. Apparently they are good because they pollenate the flowers but they are killing the trees they roost in. They were really, really noisy and constantly adjusting their wings, and some even flew about a little. It was creepy and very unexpected.

There were strangely bulbous trees.

And pretty greens and views.


Gardens of begonias and roses and even a castle.

On the way home I saw both a random act of knitting

and bronze pig, a gift from Florence, Italy.


Really, another pretty day in Sydney!

(I fixed the previous post to include a picture of the frosted glass walls)

Oh, there's so much I want to share about, but I can only write so much each evening! To start with: cooking. Now that I'm staying in an apartment, I'm making dishes I can't easily eat out like:
Pasta fritata with taleggio cheese, spinach, and sun-dried tomato stuffed olives.

Breakfast polenta with almonds and cranberries and creamy yogurt.

Hummus, avocado, cucumber, carrot, and watercress wrap.

In the next couple weeks I hope to make some of the recipes from the latest Donna Hay magazine--I think she's the Martha Stewart of Australia, perhaps minus the criminal record. The photos in the magazine makes me very, very hungry.

My first few days in Sydney had really great hot, summer weather. Tuesday I went shopping for some shorts to survive the weather and ended up at Darling Harbour. I sunned myself on the docks for a while and then took the ferry back to Circular Quay, the same ferry Jon and I took the first day of our trip. If I hadn't been tired I would have stuck around to see the sunset across the Opera House.

After such a hard day, I rewarded myself with a sit on the green in the Botanic Gardens. There were lots and lots of school kids around, on field trip, I think.

Thursday it hit the 90s, so I did what Australian do--I went to the beach, Bondi Beach.

It was a truly spectacular wide, white crescent of sand and blue, blue ocean. It was as I imagined: lots of skinny, tanned girls in skimpy bikinis and ripped guys surfing. The girls did sometimes wear coverups--usually tiny dresses, inexplicable tucked a little into the waistband of their bikini bottom on one side, because, you know, the dresses were so long. Super short shorts completely unzipped with the two sides folded open were another popular option. I can only wonder: why even bother?

One group of guys ran by me with one complaining to other, "Why did you bring your girlfriend on a guys beach day??" and later I passed another couple guys, one patiently explaining to the other, "Girls don't like it when you tell them what to do." Hee.

I saw several classes of people learning to surf; now I want to try it (I won't, though, since it wouldn't be good for my foot). I eventually chucked my stuff in a locker and walked on the beach and even tried getting in the water, but it was too cold for me! I consoled myself with some cappuccino ice cream (think coffee ice cream with chocolate bits).

I stopped at the Health Emporium in Bondi. It's a small store but they had lots of gluten free foods. There were 7 or so gluten free mueslis to choose from, lots of grains, and even some gluten free flatbreads. In their fresh prepared foods counter at the front, I saw gluten free steak pies, muffins, and cupcakes. I was intrigued by the pie but resisted since I wasn't hungry and unless the muffins and cupcakes were just made, they probably look better than they taste. Still, if I go to Bondi Beach again, I'll definitely be stopping there. The 380 and 381 buses go right by it on the way to the beach.

And then it was time to head home and cook some more. Looking at the weather forecast that evening, that might have been the last hot weather for the next several weeks. Sad.

So...our last day together in Sydney, well, really evening. Because of the time change and waiting for keys it was nearly 6p by the time we got into the apartment I'm renting in Potts Point. It's so cute--modern but not unfriendly. Here's a photo tour of the interior. Sorry the photos are imperfect--the apartment doesn't get a lot of direct light because of the big tree outside it, but I don't mind.

It has a small but comfy living room that opens into the main living space--the kitchen and work desk.

The kitchen has a cool red, glass chandelier, a dishwasher, gas and electric burners, oven, and microwave. The collection of dishes and cookware is rather eclectic like most rentals I've stayed in.

Looking back into the living room with its TV and dvd player (and there's a place up the street I can rent movies for $2/night if I'm ever bored).


(OMG. I just saw a commercial for Reese Witherspoon fragrance by Avon. So wrong.)
Down the hallway towards the doorway.

The bathroom and bedroom are on the left and their walls are made out of frosted glass/steel.
The bedroom with its brick and glass walls.

And the bathroom, complete with full size washer and drier and a shower with a bright red tile wall.

I love it! Potts Point is a bougie neighborhood, perfect for me. There are lots of grocery stores, delis, and restaurants just down the street. There's a park if I want to be near trees but not walk far. Potts Point is just north of Kings Cross rail station which means it's well connected with public transportation, though Kings Cross is a bit of an armpit. It's like a cleaner version of the Mission crossed with the Tenderloin. No real Mexican food, though. My first food back in the States will definitely be Mexican!

The main shopping center at Kings Cross has a small health foods store, Health Nuts, that carriest many gluten-free products. Woolies and Coles also carry some. There's a butcher on the street and Fratelli Fresh for great produce without going to a farmer's market. Potts Point even has a small farmers market every other Saturday. Needless to say my one book purchase here has been The Foodies Guide to Sydney The next five weeks for me are all about food, photography, (swimming), and hanging out.

Oh, so, yes. Jon's last evening with me in Sydney. After walking down the street and seeing all the charming delis, we decided to just stay in. We bought cheese, olives, and salami from one place, a bottle of wine and the most amazing bar of Choxi chocolate at another, and some chickpea and green bean salads at a third. I can see how if I didn't want to cook at all, I'd never have to here. The food, wine, and company were a wonderful end to our vacation together.

Monday morning came all too soon. I walked Jon to Kings Cross, reluctantly left him there, and started my five weeks in Sydney. I'll have more company soon enough--my mom is coming at the end of the week.

First, a bit of housekeeping… I have begun to post my Australia photos from our trip together. I'm going to post a few each day. The first batch is from our first day in Sydney.

So, I'm back at work now while Susan is just beginning her new adventure of living in and exploring Sydney for five weeks. I was able to see the place she's staying in on our last night together. I must confess to being quite jealous, not only of her additional adventure, but also of her apartment. It is simply fantastic. The apartment and the neighborhood fit Susan perfectly, and I know she's going to have a great time. I'll let Susan cover that more, but she did make me promise that we'd go back and stay a month there together someday.

It is hard to believe that two weeks came and went, and yet when I read back over our blog posts I can see that we did so much in that time. Highlights for me include the desert (of course), the amazing food we had in Margaret River, caving, biking and swimming at Rottnest Island, and my one night in Susan's Sydney apartment.

Upon returning to work, someone asked me what Australia was like. I said it was as if they took the good parts of California, turned it into a continent, and slapped a tropical rainforest on the top end. And I don't mean to say Australia isn't unique – it is truly a great country – but I felt that was the best way I could describe it. Australia is a young country, just as California is a young state. And there is a certain vibrancy there that you can feel. The people Susan and I met on our journey were all friendly and I suspect it has something to do with living in such a great place.

I have now been to each of Australia's states and each major city except for Darwin. I know I'll be back, and not just because I promised Susan. I've always been fascinated with the place – so far away, but so familiar, a great wide-open land with sunny days and happy people. So with that in mind, I thought I'd take some notes for future Jon to review prior to his next trip Down Under, or for anyone contemplating a similar journey.

Bring the bug net to the desert. Seriously. The flies don't bite, but they will do everything they can to drink from your eyeballs and nostrils. We passed many a miserable tourist doing a crazy dance while we calmly strolled through the desert's many sites and wonders. Visibility is slightly impeded, but less so than if your eyes were filled with buzzing bugs. You may even find it useful outside of the desert, though you might get funny looks.

Taking your time is a good way to see wildlife. Susan's foot is in recovery, and while she can't hike too far, she can walk at a gentle pace. We saw sooo many birds. And lizards, and a kangaroo, and a big fish, and humpback whales, and neat insects. Much of this I owe to our quiet strolls along the trails. Also, a good way to get the solitude necessary to appreciate the wildlife is by getting up early, particularly in the desert.

Don't forget to bring the charger for your camera battery. But if you do forget, most towns have a camera shop where you can purchase a universal charger that fits most batteries.

When hiking through the desert, make sure to bring something sweet along that doesn't melt. Susan was wise to do this and brought along these little milk chews – a tasty treat when you aren't close to food.

Speaking of desert food… lower your expectations. It's a shame that, unlike America, there are no Mexican restaurants in Australia's deserts. The ubiquitous gluten-free cuisine that is available in Australia is Thai.

If you are driving, get a good map. I think a good printed map is much better than any GPS if you have a great navigator (like Susan) with you. Renting from Hertz in Perth? Ask for a detailed book map. They lend them out and they are immensely helpful.

"How are you going?" is a greeting like "how are you doing?" The expected response is "fine" or "good." They aren't asking about your mode of locomotion.

Bring a good hat. And proper clothing. Spring means different things in different places and Australia is big.

The airports handle security a little differently than in the US. You will have to remove your laptop, but not your shoes (sanity). You won't be bothered about liquids much. You don't have to have a boarding pass to go through security, so people will greet each other at the gate. You will have to show your boarding pass when you enter the gate ramp (like the US) and when you actually step onto the plane (not like the US).

Eat early and often. Being even slightly hungry can result in a feedback loop of grumpiness.

A scotch fillet is just a rib eye.

Don't ever get guacamole in Australia.

This was one of the very best vacations I've been on. We saw all kinds of amazing places and had a lot of fun. Susan and I make excellent travel companions and I look forward to more adventures together, which I'm sure we'll document here. And writing this blog has been fun and helpful for both of us. It's been a great way for us to remember our trip and I hope it is helpful to others. I recommend keeping a trip journal, even if you don't publish it.

The end of our trip was a bit mixed--though it all ended well.

Saturday was our last full day in Perth. We went to Fremantle, a port town about 10km from Perth. It reminds me of Monterey, CA, only smaller. Supposedly this is where a large fraction of Pert goes on the weekend. Our experience? Not so much. I can safely say we walked much of it, and it felt like a ghost town. We saw a few other people shopping and going to the Maritime museum, but that was it. In retrospect we wondered if everyone was out sailing or on the beaches. It was nearly 100F, probably one of the first really hot days of the year. We wished we had gone to a beach.

It has a waterfront with refurbished warehouses, some of which are markets--described in our guidebook as similar to Fisherman's Wharf but much less touristy. They were certainly less tourists but the markets themselves were not worth visiting. They were just full of the regular tourist crap.

All that said there were a couple reasons we still enjoyed the visit: Lots of the buildings downtown were restored from the 1900s and were quite attractive. Fremantle is still a working port, and we saw two ships full of containers and a third that was probably carrying all the cars we saw lined up along the river the day before. We got to watch the third one head out to sea and the tugboat coming back--so fun! Fascination with big ships isn't just for little boys.


Our favorite moment was the tour of the Oberon class submarine at the Maritime museum primarily because of our amazing tour guide. He had served on another Oberon class submarine for quite a few years during the cold war and had endless amounts of details and stories to share. He shared a lot about how you had to escape from the submarines if they sunk--the Oberon class spent almost all its time submerged, how changes in the design allowed them to reduce the number of crew needed versus earlier submarines which made for more comfortable living, the importance of filling the larder in use order (or it's beets every night for multiple days), and even a story of how some surveillance they did during the Cold War in Russian waters resulted in prosecution of spies involved in stealing British technologies . This is the third or fourth submarine I've toured but far the best because of our guide. Jon loved it, too.

As a bonus there was a small exhibit of various working steam engines next door--Dad! I thought of you. We even took a few pictures of them.

After that we gave up on Fremantle drove to the suitably bourgie Subiaco neighborhood in Perth. We freely admit we like some bourgeois in our life on a regular basis. Sadly we missed the lunch hour, so our options were a bit limited. We eventually found a place and had some sauteed fish over "pumpkin mash". I think 'pumpkin' is the generic term used here for winter squash, and Australia seems to be fond of pumpkins and sweet potatoes. That works for me.

And that was pretty much it for Perth. We still want to come back some day and visit the botanic garden part of Kings Park; Jon consoled me that I'll be living a short distance from the botanic gardens in Sydney for the next 5 weeks. Whee!

Sunday morning came early and then all of the sudden it was 6pm and we were waiting to pick up keys for the apartment I've rented in the Potts Point neighborhood of Sydney. More about that awesomeness and our last evening tomorrow!

Friday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn--or at least it felt like that at 7am. We needed to pack our stuff for Rottnest Island, grab some breakfast, and actually sign up for the bikes and boat ride. Rottnest Island is a few kilometers away from Perth. It's a mostly unpopulated island with no cars, only a few tour buses. The island is about 10km long, and 3km wide, and there are roads that run around the edge of it, perfect for biking if you can handle mostly gentle hills. You can spend the day there (from about 10:30a to 4:00p) or stay overnight. While the island is popular for biking, many people also go snorkeling, diving, and swimming.

We took the "Rottnest Express" boat from downtown Perth. I think the rest of the boats all leave from Fremantle. From the city it takes nearly 2 hours, hardly express, but it's a nice cruise down the Swan River and worth doing and the lazy option if you're staying in the city center. Swan River is shallow, so there's no shipping boats. Instead the river is lined with fancy, expensive housing. If you want to take photos, I recommend the return trip--the light is nicer and everyone is exhausted from the day, so they aren't crowding the small outdoor area on the rear of the boat. There's even a great view of the city center right before the final docking.

It was a clear, beautiful, sunny day. We planned to bike from one of the island and back, and stocked up on water and food in the main settlement before heading out. (By the way, don't rent bikes through the boat company. The bikes aren't great, no water bottle holders, and the ship people aren't organized in getting them out. Just plan to rent from the company on the island. Their bikes looked much better.) It turned out to be a lot hotter than we were expecting--nearly 90F, so we went for a much shorter bike ride with frequent breaks. I was the slowpoke. Seven months without running and I've turned into a bowl of mush. I made it up all the hills except the very last one. Jon faired much better, often stopping and waiting for me to catch up.

Rottnest Island was just gorgeous. Blue skies, even bluer and clearer water, cool breezes blowing in from the ocean, green, scraggly bushes and blooming flowers, and sandy white beaches. If you didn't get in the water, you could almost imagine you were on some tropical island. Since there's no easy way to get to the island, it wasn't busy. We'd pass a few bicyclists every 10 minutes or so.

I don't remember the names of each bay we visited, but we followed the road in a clockwise direction. Our first stop was near a wide, white beach, with five or so small yachts anchored. A group of four people were snorkeling, the young man broke off and snorkeled into the dark area, nearer the shore. We were up on the cliff, but we heard loud cries of, 'Get out of there! There are stingrays!" from an older, female voice. Perhaps his mom? He was just like, "Don't worry. It's fine!". Nothing bad happened, but I was entertained. According to Jon stingrays aren't generally very dangerous, so I'm not sure what the concern was.

We biked a few more kilometers and I was drenched in sweat and wanted to take a break. Fortunately we came across a pretty bay full of limestone and kelp. The water was so clear that even though we were 100 feet or so above it on a cliff, you could see straight into the water. I saw a huge fish and a school of smaller fish hanging out in some of the deeper water pools right below it. It was neat! I felt like we were visiting an aquarium. The cliff had a strong, cool breeze that felt great and kept the flies away.

We biked further and came across some surfers. We watched them for a little while, but only one of them ever caught a wave. I judged them as 'lame', but Jon suggested perhaps I was being a bit harsh. :) After that we turned inland to cross to the other side of the island so that we'd end biking most of the large part of the island but skip the west end. It was slow, hot going, though we came across two small bits of entertainment. First were the tandem bikers. We passed one couple who asked us if we'd seen another couple on a tandem bike (we hadn't). We went a bit further and saw another tandem bike, going in the opposite direction of the first one. They asked us if we had seen a similar bike. We had! So they turned around. We grabbed some shade under one of the few trees. About 10 minutes later, both tandem bikes appeared, happily reunited.

Apparently the island has lots of quokkas, a brown, furry marsupial about the size of a cat that looks like tiny rat kangaroo. In fact just as we were departing the trees, a woman came by on a bike, reporting a friendly quokka a little ways back, but I was too hot and lazy to go back. Now that I've seen pictures of how cute they are, I am sad at my laziness! We did come across a little family of ducks, though. They were the cutest things ever. There were four baby ducklings napping near their parents. Occasionally one would stagger to its feet, move a few inches forward and collapse again or stretch out a foot or neck and then fall asleep as if it all took too much effort. I wanted to take one home with me, but Jon said no. Party pooper. (Just kidding)

When we arrived at the other side of the island, we realized we miscalculated and had ended up right next to the main settlement instead of much further west. We started back out but very early on we passed by an immaculate white beach. At that point I could no longer resist pretty water on such a hot, hot day. First we took off our shoes and socks and just waded in the water. The water was cold, really cold but so refreshing. Then, well, I'll be honest. I realized there were no bathroom nearby to change into my swimsuit, but I did have a sarong, so I may have changed into my swimsuit on the beach under a piece of cloth. And so might have Jon. The water felt amazing. The swimming area was shallow, so you could walk out about 25 feet and still be standing. Jon managed to swim, but I was content to stand. I did duck all the way in at one point, but it felt like my arms were going to freeze off. Still, though, standing there was one of the more idyllic moments of the trip. We were all ready to add a week of beach vacation to our trip...and then we remembered that Jon had to go back to work. Boo. In the end we were thrilled with our miscalculation.


We took the boat back to Perth, much more tired and relaxed than when we started. A perfect day at the end of a great trip.

Thursday morning we left The Noble Grape, our B&B, and headed up to Perth. It was my last day of homemade chocolate muffins and fresh fruit and excellent coffee for breakfast, but I think I'll survive. I'm always torn about staying at bed and breakfast places--often the lodging is nicer and more interesting than an equivalent cost hotel, the hosts have lots of local information, and then there's the usually very tasty breakfast. But. The owners usually are very friendly, chatty people and I end up feeling like I am a bad guest because I'm not necessarily in the mood to chat with strangers over breakfast.

Google directions sent us on the 'back country roads' route as far as we can tell. Speaking of directions, apparently Australians like to navigate by highway names (eg. Busselton Highway) instead of the numbers, so that's what the Google directions print even though most signs display the numbers, not the names. Jon says that since I work on Maps now, I should improve directions . :)

Anyways, driving down country roads on a sunny day was lovely. Many were tree-lined with impossibly green pastures full of sheep and cows. There were fields covered in small yellow and white flowers. Occasionally tall, brown stems with orange blooms stood guard along the road, along with grape vines just starting to put out tiny, pale green leaves.

We were pleasantly stunned when we arrived in Perth--it must have been about 80F and sunny. It was our first big city in two weeks. We're staying near the city center (CBD), so the roads were a maze of one-way streets, and to be honest, Google directions failed us a bit. It put us close to our hotel but not exactly on the right street. We found our way eventually with no car accidents or arguments. We were happy.

I suspect Perth is most like San Diego. Perth is a big but not huge city. It's not humid and gets about 300 days of sunshine every year. They have a 'free transit zone' in the city center where you can ride the buses and special CAT buses (that stupidly only run until 6:20p) for free. They have a big partially outdoor mall and pedestrian zone there as well. You can visit the tourist sites but also get good coffee and avoid driving. There's a really large public park, Kings Park, at the edge of the FTZ. I approve. German iced coffee is popular here, too--the kind with ice cream and whipped cream. If you ask they'll make it American style. I've more or less given up caffeine, but I can't resist the coffee here. The flat whites and iced coffee are smooth and rich, and every coffee shop has simple syrup to sweeten cold drinks; you just need to ask for it.

We spent the afternoon at Kings Park. Unfortunately the bus that is supposed to take you to the center of the park was detoured at the edge of the park. It made for more walking than we planned, so we didn't make it to the botanic garden part, but the rest of the park was pretty enough that I didn't mind. We saw a tree trunk covered in large thorns (so unfriendly!), a vast lawn of perfectly short, green, soft grass that at first I thought it was a better version of astroturf, a long stand of white gum trees, the last remaining blooming flowers including one called 'kangaroo's paw', and lots and lots of birds and war memorials. We saw parrots--the kind with the green backs and red, blue, and yellow fronts. They were just hanging out, calling to each other. I was busy trying to find them in the palm trees when Jon told me to turn around. There were two sitting on a branch about 10 feet away from us. Wow. We saw lots of other birds, too, including this large black, crow-like ones that were repeatedly dive-bombed by little brown and white birds. The park is on the edge of the water and has an excellent view of the downtown. Sitting on a bench looking out at the water in the late afternoon is a fine, fine way to spend a late spring afternoon.

We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner, Viet Royal, that was fairly near to our hotel. It was a typical Thai food experience: tasty food, large portions, low key restaurant. We successfully asked about their peanut sauce (no wheat or soy sauce), so we had spring rolls with a sweet chili sauce and then pork and vegetables in peanut sauce with rice. Yum. I never get tired of eating Thai food.

We went to sleep early because Friday we caught a ferry to Rottnest Island--more on that later. It's Saturday morning now, and Fremantle is calling us!