Arrived in Sydney-Well Sort of.....

So I am now in Sydney (sort of) for day 2 of the Australian Breastfeeding Association Conference. From the conference in Brisbane today-to the airport and to Sydney. I am actually staying though not in the city but in Olympic Park-all of which was built for the 2000 Olympics.
The good news is - there is broadband in the room and the conference is right here tomorrow!

ABA in Brisbane

So I am at the Australian Breastfeeding Association in Brisbane today. I gave the opening session to a conference of about 150 nurses, midwives, lactation consultants, general practitioners and counselors. It was well received and I give the last talk of today as well.
Thanks to my friend Heather for posting the comment about the challenges of pubic breastfeeding in the U.S. Sadly, Australia for as progressing as they are- has just as many problems as the U.S. does!

Frustration~!

So I am in the Brisbane area once again. This is the first stop of the National Australian Breastfeeding Association tour. Four conferences in four cities in four days! To boot the hotel I am at just got wireless internet about 1 week ago and it does not seem to work. So I am posting this quick email from an internet kiosk.
Send me good karma for my talks all this week. The first and last talk every day.
I am sure to keep everyone awake with my "wierd" accent.

The Perth Skyline

Wednesday the 21st was Gretchen and Brian's last day here. It was too quick of a visit. Wednesday morning before I had to go to work, Gretchen and I walked all through Kings Park which is only about 5 minutes from the apartment. This is the view of the Perth skyline from the park.

Lorikeets at Sunset

Every evening in Cottesloe, Lorikeets fly in from all over for the sunset. The birds are in the thousand and the song is unbelievable. Nothing can really compare to this experience!

The famous Cottesloe Hotel

After work on Tuesday, we got to go to the beach at Cottesloe. The Cottesloe is world famous for it's Sunday session. (We have not been.) But it is a cool place that overlooks the Indian Ocean and sunset!

Gretchen and the koala

While I worked on Tuesday 20th February, John, Gretchen, Brian went to a wildlife sanctuary. This is Gretchen with her koala.

Sunset near Fremantle

Fremantle is a huge port. Lots of container ships in and out. This is an interesting sunset we saw near Fremantle after our day on Rottnest Island.

Working A LOT!

Sorry not to post in a few days. I have been really busy at work and saying goodbye to Brian and Gretchen. I already have 4 moms completed for my project here. Monday I leave to go on the National tour for the Australian Breastfeeding Association. I will post more updates and pictures over this weekend. Send me messages!

View of Perth from Rottnest Island

There were some pretty cool views of the Perth skyline from the island. These are two of the best shots.

Rottnest Island

On Sunday th 18th of February, Gretchen and Brian and John and I took the ferry over to Rottnest Island- about 19 kilometers off the coast of Perth. We got to bike the entire island and go for a snorkle. The water is crystal blue and the island is very beautiful.

The beach at Margaret River

After visiting a few vineyards, we headed to the coast and drove up the coast toward home. This is the beach at surfer's point. Huge waves-probably over 10 feet-although you can't tell from the photo.

Kangaroos in the WILD!

Gretchen was hoping all day we would see kangaroos in the wild. Luckily after our day at the wineries we were driving toward the coast and we did spot kangaroos in the field by the road. Check out these three!

Gretchen and Diane at Leeuwin Vineyard

This was our last vineyard to visit. I love Gretchen for coming to visit me!

The Voyager Vineyard

This winery is know for the gardens. Absolutely breathtaking! Rose gardens galore and beautiful grounds.

Island Brook Winery

This by far was the best winery we went to. The owners are Betty and Paul Zorzi. It is a small botique winery and they have a bed and breakfast here. It was a beautiful setting and they were so helpful, telling us about where to by good Italian food in Perth and what the best vineyards were to see in Margaret River. These pictures are of their winery and their 1943 International truck

The Geographe Wine Region

On Saturday the 17th of February, John drove Gretchen, Brian and I to the Margaret River region, which is about 3 hours south of Perth. The first place we went to is the Capel Vale winery.

Peter Hartmann and Diane

Dinner was quite a bit of fun. This is Peter and I.

Michael Larsson and Diane

Friday the 16th of February was the last day that Michael was in from Switzerland. We were treated to a great dinner at the Witches Cauldron. This is Michael and Diane

John really is here!

This post is for my good friend Donna's daughter, Averie, who really does not believe John is here with me because there are so few pictures of him on the blog. Averie- and everyone- yes he is here- and he has been golfing almost everyday - and he loves Little Creatures!

Happy to see my friend!

Eventhough all has been great and I am loving my work. It is still a bit lonely being all the way around the world! So it is fabulous to have my good friend Gretchen here to visit.

Gretchen and Brian have arrived to visit us!

Gretchen and Brian arrived in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday. We took no time at all introducing them to our favorite place here-Little Creatures Brewery. Amazing food and beer!

Valentine's Day in the Warm Weather!

I think this was our first ever Valentine's in warm weather. After I worked, we drove up the coast North of Perth and went to Scarborough Beach for Sunset. We had a great sunset!

Diane and Cathy

Cathy is a nurse, midwife and lactation consultant. She is realitively new to the Hartmann team and works with them on about a half time basis. This is Cathy and I at the party on Maltilda Bay.

Holly

Holly is another PhD student at UWA. She is so cool. She bikes an unbelievable number of kilometers every day. Before working in this field, she worked with plants! How one can move from studying plant biology studying sore nipples on breastfeeding moms is amazing!

Danielle is fabulous!

Danielle is a PhD student at UWA. I am working very closely with her on my project. She has been extremely tolerant of my very hyper personality and the 5,000 questions I ask every single day!

Donna and I have a lot of fun!

Donna has been my primary contact to settle everything with my travels. With the folks in from Medela this week - we had a party at Matilda Bay. After work, we had pizza, salad, and drinks.

Diane and Sophia

Leon Mitoulas from Medela in Switzerland is here this week. This is Diane with his daughter Sophia who is trying to convince me it is time to go back to the water's edge and play some more!

This is how the Aussies work!

The secrets that they don't tell you! This is the famous Peter Hartmann hard at work. What do you think?

The Waves at Sunset

There is nothing like staying on the beach until sunset!

Cottesloe

Sunday the 11th of February, we did some shopping at the local Subiaco market for some really great produce all grown in Western Australia in the morning. But we spent the majority of the day on the beach in Cottesloe-only about a 10 minute drive from our apartment. We stayed through the sunset. It was a beautiful sunny day, warm and no humidity.

The Beach

Saturday the 10th of February we drove North of Perth and went to the beach in Yanchep. It was a quite windy day so we could not snorkle eventhough there is a reef just off the coast. We will just have to go back another day and try again. We drove home via the West Coast Highway and this is a picture of the endless coast.

Work, Work, Work!

I got to see about 5 moms in the lab already this week. So much exciting stuff going on. Folks from Medela come in next week- so it will be even busier! This picture is a shot of some of the equipment we are using in the lab.

Matilda Bay Yacht Club

The UWA sits on Matilda Bay and the yacht club is right on the edge of campus. There is a running/biking path all along the bay.

This is about 7 am in the morning.

Scarborough Beach at Sunset

Wednesday night, we drove up to Scarborough beach, about 20 minutes or so from us. We had dinner at an Italian cafe that overlooked the Indian Ocean. Sunset here is at about 8:15 pm.

Matilda Bay and Perth

Friday morning I got to go running for an hour. This is the view of Matilda Bay and the Perth skyline around 7 am. This bay is only about a 10 minute walk from our home.

Our Home

So our apartment is right on the edge of campus. It is a second floor walk up. Nothing fancy but will be fine for our stay. The great thing is that UWA sits right on the Matilda Bay and there is a running/bike path all along the river/bay area.

University of Western Australia

Well I got off the plane at about noon local time on Monday February 5th and by 1 pm I was at work in the University! I met almost every one in the Hartmann lab and learned that I would start in the lab with patients the next day. It was a bit overwhelming! But I am excited to be here!

Moving to Perth

We fly to Perth tomorrow-Monday February 5th, 2007
Our address and phone number are as follows: (In case you want to send us presents or call us because you miss us so much!)
Diane Spatz and John Zimitski
4/37 Fairway
Crawley
Western Australia
6009
Phone 61 8 6389 1444

Mooloolaba

Sunday, the 4th of February, our last day on the east coast. We are hanging in Mooloolaba today. Updated the blog from a Starbucks on the beach. My view is of the ocean and blue sky.

This is the beach in Mooloolaba. I walked the entire beach-it is beautiful here

Noosa Heads

Saturday we drove up the Sunshine Coast - very beautiful and not overly built up. We spent most of the day in Noosa. Great little beach town, with forest and mountain all around.
This is the view from Noosa National Park.

The Sunshine Coast

Friday night we drove North to stay on the Sunshine Coast. We got a place in Mooloolaba, that has a Starbucks on the beach! Beautiful view-great small town (population of only about 10,000).

This is the approximate view from the beachside cafes.

Tamborine Mountain

On Friday the 2nd of February, we left Surfers Paradise and we went to Tamborine Mountain for the day. The highlight of John's day was finding Polish cafe where we had lunch. John thought is was great that he could get perogies (for $21!) in Australia. I thought is was great that lorikeets came right to our table and ate sugar out of my hand!

Fingal Head Beach

After Currumbin, we drove South to the state below Queensland, which is called New South Wales. We went to a great beach, Fingal Head, which was peaceful-only seeing maybe 20 people the entire day!

From Currumbin Surf Club

This is the view from Currimbin Surf Club- you can see Surfers Paradise skyline in the background

The Dominant Male-King of the Pack

This guy is the alpha-no one messes with him!

Diane and Two Moms

The kangaroos were so gentle that you could pet them. Here are 2 of the mommies.

Kangaroos and babies

We saw so many kangaroos and so many babies. The babies are called joeys and stay in the moms' pouches for about 12 months on average to breastfeed. Some of them are so big - it is a AMAZING that they fit in the mom's pouch. I will post a few pictures

Diane and Elroy the Koala

There were lots of koalas! So cute, that I just had to do the touristy thing and have my picture taken with one. Elroy is their biggest koala and quite cute and gentle.

The Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

On Thursday, February 1st, 2007 we headed South about 20 minutes to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary to be there for opening at 8 am because this is when all the Lorikeets come to fed. One of the lorikeets landed on my head, but John missed that photo opportunity. So you will have to settle for this picture of me feeding them!