Australia Part 2

By Janet and Karl

Note: Returning to Kurtz Stories for the first time in many years, we found the following draft post from July 1, 2015 that had never been published.

G’day Mates,
We are now back home after a great five weeks in Australia and New Zealand. Here is part two of our Australia travelogue. Part three will cover our New Zealand adventures.

Australian big cities are remarkable in their "Americanness". The streets of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide could be those of any large American city with an extensive waterfront--Chicago, Seattle, Miami. The people look and dress the same, the cars on the street are familiar (albeit driving on the left), the goods in the stores are familiar (an Apple store in Sydney looks the same and is just as mobbed as the one in Boulder), the food in the grocery store does not seem exotic, and, perhaps most welcome of all, the language is the same. A funky neighborhood in Melbourne has its own character but could be located in Denver. Even the currency is expressed in “dollars". 

It's the landscapes, the countrysides and the wildlife that set Australia apart. There is nothing in America like the Mornington Peninsula, the Whitsunday Islands, the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest, the Sydney Harbor and the Blue Mountains.

The Mornington Peninsula, which we toured with our Melbourne friends Ken and Julia Coghill, provided stunning views of two different bays on the west and the east. We had a marvelous lunch and talk about Australian life with the Coghills at a resort/spa with a view of spectacular gardens descending to Phillip Bay. At sunset we climbed down to a rocky outcrop overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It seemed wonderfully exotic to us denizens of the Northern Hemisphere to look south and say, "There's nothing but ocean between us and Antarctica." We also loved feeding and petting kangaroos and wallabies and viewing koalas, emus, cassowaries, wombats and cockatoos at a wildlife sanctuary that provided great access to the animals.

The Whitsunday Islands at the south end of the Great Barrier Reef provided a marvelous introduction to tropical Australia. We enjoyed a portion of this visit with Andrew's mate Trevor Roszkos, a roommate from Pitzer College who is also studying in Adelaide this year and whose parents, Bob and Lisa, were traveling Down Under during the university's fall break, as we were. The landscape consisted of beautifully clear, blue-green shallow waters dotted with green islands, lots of bronzed young people in board shorts, muscle shirts, bikinis, and flip-flops, and sailboats and cruise ships everywhere. We could not get enough of the stunning coral and fish on a day-long best-ever (sorry, Hawaii and the Bahamas) snorkel (for Janet and Karl) and diving (for Andrew and the Roszkos) cruise. Whitehaven Beach with its pure silicon white sand is one of the most beautiful in the world and well worth the three-hour round trip boat ride to get there. At our hotel in Airlie Beach, we had a lovely two-room suite, reminiscent of where we stay at the Ko Olina on Oahu at Christmas, overlooking the ocean and the islands and boasting three infinity swimming pools.

Cairns (pronounced Cans) is a bustling tourist city of 160,000 at the north end of the Great Barrier Reef. Its dedication to tourism was a bit over the top, but it is friendly and accessible, not ostentatious. Best of all, the tropical Daintree Rainforest is just an hour's drive to the north. A day-long tour took us on a cruise along the mangrove swamps of the muddy brown Daintree River to spot crocodiles and hear tales of their ferociousness. On a walk through the rainforest we saw hundreds of exotic tropical flowers, trees, spiders, crabs and snakes. We descended from the mountains to the ocean to see Cape Tribulation, so named by Capt. James Cook because he ran his ship aground there on the coral reef on his discovery voyage to Australia in 1772 and had to spend weeks first getting the Endeavor off the reef and then repairing it before he could sail on.

Sydney's Opera House may be the icon of its harbor, but it is the harbor that sets the scene for the city as a whole. The 16-mile long harbor organizes the city into north and south and provides unending pleasure walking along its shores or cruising its waters on a tour boat--which we did twice, once during the day and once at sunset for dinner. Australian glitterati like Nicole Kidman and Rupert Murdoch (well, not sure he "glitters") live along it. Most interesting sites are within a few blocks of it, and one gets glimpses of the Harbor Bridge from almost every part of the city.

A day-long excursion from Sydney took us to the Blue Mountains National Park. The Blue Mountains are not terribly high but they are filled with impassable gorges and dramatic cliffs giving rise to breath-taking waterfalls that we viewed from multiple different angles. Despite the "blue" name, the mountains are clothed in a soft green.

Needing to do laundry and being too cheap to pay exorbitant Marriott Hotel prices (we were staying there "free" using reward points earned through our numerous Christmas stays on Oahu at the Marriott Ko Olina), we set out one rainy morning to walk to a launderette that was supposedly less than a mile away. In increasing rain, we took several turns around Robin Hood's barn, and our feet were sore when we finally found it. We must have been a strange sight--two limping, aging and bedraggled American tourists--as we dropped our laundry off with the Vietnamese family that ran the launderette.

To dry out and pass the time while our laundry was being done, we set off for the nearby Australian (natural history) Museum for a couple of hours. Following Bill Bryson's advice in "In a Sunburned Country" we spent most of our time in a fascinating room that contained an exhibit of all of the things that can kill you in Australia: snakes like the five-foot long taipan with venom 50 times more lethal than a cobra or the tiny eight inch desert death adder; the box jellyfish ("the most poisonous creature on earth”); the fennel web spider ("the most poisonous insect in the world”); the great white shark; and, of course, the crocodile. "It truly is a lethal country," says Bryson.

We loved visiting botanical gardens in the Blue Mountains, Cairns and Sydney, not because we are dedicated botanists or gardeners but because we enjoyed the quiet and the peace of these urban reserves and poking around among the exotic plants and trees.

And of course Karl had to indulge his inner legislative junkie and visit the state parliaments of Victoria in Melbourne and New South Wales in Sydney--the 94th and 95th legislative assembly buildings that he has visited around the world. The buildings were great--especially the ornate neo-classical Victorian Parliament built during the last decades of the 19th century and decorated with the fruits of the gold rush of the period--but the chance to soak up Australian politics was even better. Ken Coghill, the former speaker in Victoria, and Ronda Miller, the clerk in NSW, provided expert guidance to both the physical and the political. The remarkable thing is that Karl did not find the time to make it to the South Australia Parliament, which he could see from the balcony of Jana Mathews' apartment in Adelaide.

The friends we already knew or met along the way also made Australia special. Jana Mathews, the ex-pat from Boulder who runs an entrepreneurial development program at the University of South Australia, opened her beautiful penthouse apartment to us in Adelaide and offered us her warm hospitality. Ken and Julia Coghill went out of their way to show us around Victoria, giving up two full days to host us in grand style. Getting to know and share time with Trevor, Bob and Lisa Roszkos as we explored the Whitsunday Islands added to the fun. Everywhere we went, Australians went out of their way to welcome and help us along the way.

Andrew left us in Sydney to return to University of Adelaide for the second half of his fall semester, while we continued on to New Zealand--which will be the topic of part three of this travelogue.

Australia Part 1

By Karl and Janet

We are now in Melbourne after three interesting days in Adelaide, which we liked a lot. Andrew has a great group of friends at his residential college where students from various universities in Adelaide room and board. We took 5 of them out for a pub dinner one evening, and one of his best friends, Cody from Canada, went with us on a wine tour of the Barossa Valley. Andrew is loving his time here and is serious about trying to stay one more semester. He has initiated a process of determining if it is possible. He is playing footy (Australian rules football) and netball (an Aussie version of basketball) for his college. The apartment where we stayed in Adelaide, courtesy of an American ex-pat friend of our friends the Obermeiers in Boulder who runs a business development center at the University of South Australia, was stunning: a strikingly modern two-story, 3-bedroom penthouse on the main drag with a big balcony and a great view out over the city. We looked directly down on two museums and the university campuses of Adelaide and South Australia, and the South Australia Parliament was just down the street. Andrew's college was about a 15 minute walk away, but his classrooms at "Uni" Adelaide were right across the street from where we stayed.

Last night just after dark we were taken by our friends, Ken and Julia Coghill, to St. Kilda's pier in Melbourne's bay to watch fascinating little penguins that nest in the rocks of the pier at night after a day of fishing in the ocean.

Ken Coghill is a former speaker of the Victoria Parliament and now a professor at Monash University whom I know from NCSL. They visited us in Boulder last year, and we went all out to host them in anticipation of them paying us back in their own country. Sure enough, they took us to dinner after the penguin expedition at an Italian restaurant on funky, happening Acland St--a place we never would have gone to without friends to guide us. Today they are taking us on a tour of the peninsula that partially encloses Pt. Phillips Bay. We're hoping to see koalas and 'roos along the way.

Photo of Dad with MLK

This photo showing Dad (center, background) at Oberlin's 1965 commencement in a procession with Martin Luther King and President Bob Carr appears in the Oberlin College 2015 Calendar. In the foreground at right is Coretta Scott King.

Long Ago in Oberlin

This 1940s video is amazing both for its vintage quality and the short Kurtz family scene that it records! It was sent to me by my high school classmate, Frank Roellinger, whose father was an English professor at Oberlin College and a close friend of my dad's. The beginning of the video shows the dedication of the Wright Laboratory of Physics at Oberlin College. The date on the cornerstone is 1941, allowing us to date at least the first segment of this 8 mm film.

The second scene is of Frank's mother wheeling his older sister down the street. His mother became Frank's and my Cub Scout den mother a dozen or so years later.

The third scene is my dad at the reservoir at the end of Cedar St. with a bunch of boys, perhaps at a birthday party. The boy in the foreground is David (freeze the video when he is looking toward the camera and check out that quizzical frown that we still see today). In the background to Dad's left, tossing things into the water, is Eric. And my theory is that the curly towhead squirming on Dad's lap is Rob. For that to be true, this third scene would have to date from about 1943 when Rob would have been three. Dave and Rob have both seen this video but aren't as convinced as I am of these identifications. Dave does not remember the occasion.

Here's what Frank had to say when I quizzed him about both the scene and the remarkable quality of this 1940s film and whether or not he had colorized it:

Not colorized.  I think my father said that in the war years, sometimes color film was available, other times only B&W.  His collection from then is mostly color but not all. 

The films that he made were mostly of our family (that's my mother pushing a baby carriage with my sister inside, I presume).  Just incidentally, as he walked around with the camera which was more or less a new toy for him, he made other shots.  The quality is amazingly good, considering everything.  Those 8mm frames are extremely small and must be greatly enlarged to be viewed.   

Actually I made this transfer from the 8mm projector to VHS tape more than 20 years ago.  Then more recently digitized some scenes from the VHS tape.  Haven't touched the projector in 20+ years but if it still works I could make a better transfer now as I have a much better video camera now. 

As for details of the scene with your dad, I don't know much more than you do.  That's the old Morgan St. reservoir, of course.  The last time my father and I watched this together was probably sometime in the 1950s and he probably never said more than, "There's John Kurtz and his boys."  Others may have been Fritz Mosher and/or others from the neighborhood.  My parents then lived on Morgan St. about halfway from the reservoir to Professor St.  They were in a duplex with the Moshers in the other unit.

Whoever those boys are, this is quite a family treasure. Doesn't Dad look handsome? As Rob commented, "Dad in a coat and tie at a kids party seems odd, but then I guess he spent most of his daytime hours in a coat and tie, so maybe not so strange."

Christmas in Sevilla

December 25, 2011

Everything is closed on Christmas day, so Janet and I are ensconced in a cafe on the square overlooking the Cathedral and the Giralda, the grand Moorish tower attached to it, enjoying a cafe leche and reflecting on our first week in Spain. The bells of the tower peel cacophonously--so loudly that conversation is impossible--at seemingly random times. We could go into the Cathedral to worship at the mass (it's not open for sightseeing), but one mass at a small church last night on Christmas Eve, standing uncomfortably leaning against the wall at the back, was enough for us. The cathedral, the largest Gothic building in the world, is spectacular, especially at night with its flying buttresses and soaring angles beautifully illuminated in a soft yellow light. Go here for this and other photos of our trip.

We love the narrow, twisty cobblestone streets of Sevilla, the stunning ochre and pink buildings with their elegant balconies, and the profusion of decorative orange trees. It's especially nice to see the city--and be guided around it--through Emmy's experienced eyes. We met and were charmed by her "madre," a pretty and vivacious 70-ish matron with a spacious apartment where Emmy and her roommate have lived in their own two- room suite for the last three months. Emmy and her madre (Carmen) are clearly very fond of each other.

We traveled to Sevilla via the fast train from Madrid. Because we did not buy tickets in advance and tourist class was full, we splurged on business class seats and enjoyed a marvelously smooth and speedy ride, good food and exceptional service--better than what the best of airline service used to be.

Madrid is a huge, bustling capital city. We made the obligatory visit to the Prado, focusing on the wonders of the triumvirate of Spanish masters, El Greco, Velasquez and Goya. Emmy had learned a lot about them in a Spanish art and architecture class and provided helpful lectures about their masterpieces. There was so much more to see in this grand museum, but sore backs, jet lag and an unexpectedly early 3:30 closing hour conspired against us.

Our visit to Madrid included a day trip via bus to Toledo, the beautiful ancient hilltop city of synagogues, mosques and churches. Together with Emmy's boyfriend, Tas, who was with us for the Madrid portion of our visit before returning home to Boulder, we meandered the streets and paths of this remarkably multi-cultural city. We especially enjoyed climbing to the top of the cathedral tower at sunset for a stunning view of the city, peering around the eight enormous cast iron bells.

Emmy's Christmas gift to us was tickets to a performance of Cirque du Soleil in a vast arena in Madrid. The phantasmagorical performance included amazing acrobats performing heart-stopping stunts, amusing clowns and mimes , and singers of a soulful story that we could not follow.

Back in Sevilla for the remainder of Christmas Day: We ate a magnificent lunch (the big meal of the day in Spain) of paella with lobster and clams at a lovely restaurant overlooking the Guadalquivir River. That was followed by a long walk to the beautiful Plaza de Espana and its stunning gardens, built for an international Ibero-American exposition in 1929. Roses and begonias were in mid-winter bloom. We ended the day at an atmospheric tapas bar eating gazpacho, salad, goat cheese and Spanish ham (Jamon Iberico).

More to come as we continue on to Granada...

At Last, Sevilla

Here is Emmy's first e-mail home after her arrival in Spain for a semester studying in Sevilla. For more photos, see her Facebook page.

by Emily

After an 8 hour bus ride today, we arrived in Sevilla around 5pm. Leah [standing next to Emmy in photo, a classmate from DU who is her roommate in Sevilla] and I met our host mother, Carmen, who is very patient and kind. She took us around the main street in town, somewhat like Pearl St. Sevilla is absolutely stunning with its old and colorful buildings, the river, and the different barrios. Her flat is right next to the cathedral in the town center and is a very nice home. We are about a 5 minute walk from our classes. Leah and I have a shared bedroom, a TV room, and a bathroom all to ourselves. We have our first day of classes tomorrow after we take a Spanish placement exam.

Madrid and Toledo were tons of fun as well as super tiring. Madrid is a bustling cosmopolitan area. We went to el museo del Prado which was right across from our hotel that showcases art by El Greco, Valesquez, and Goya. It was a guided tour all in Spanish and I was quite astonished that I could understand almost everything our tour guide said. We also went to the big palace which was absolutely stunning and walked around in la plaza mayor. After two days, we bused to Toledo, an hour and a half away. Toledo is absolutely stunning. You must take a day trip there when you come. It looks just like a fairy tale: a walled city with a castle and large cathedral in the center, all surrounded by water. It was very picturesque with tiny streets, cobblestone walkways, old fashioned shops, etc. I have a feeling that it will continue to be a favorite city of mine, even after I see more of Spain.

It's difficult to adjust to the time zone, especially since the Spanish like to stay out all night, so sleep is minimal. Hopefully now that I'm in Sevilla I'll have more of a routine and my stomach will stop grumbling constantly.

Holiday Letter 2010

December 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

Janet and Karl both had momentous birthdays this year—Janet her 60^th and Karl his 65^th. We celebrated Janet’s with good friends skiing and snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park. On the day before her birthday, she was honored to receive a Pacesetter award, one of Boulder’s most prestigious leadership awards given by the Daily Camera newspaper, for her 24 years of community service at the YWCA of Boulder County. Her birthday present was a trip to Paris, accompanying Karl on a business trip to attend an international conference on legislative strengthening. Janet loved poking around her favorite city on her own for a week, even in the rain and chilly gusts of March in the City of Light.

Janet feted Karl’s milestone with a “Medicare birthday dinner” in the company of those same friends. Ever since Karl signed up for his retirement plan 38 years ago, his annual report showing future anticipated retirement earnings has always used 2010 as the assumed date of retirement. Now that year has come and gone, but he’s not ready to retire yet. His work at the National Conference of State Legislatures this year has included two very rewarding and enriching trips to Kosovo to train parliamentary staff in that emerging democracy.

The highlight of Andrew’s 16^th year was participation in a four-week Spanish immersion and community service project in a remote village in the mountains of Costa Rica. He was part of a team of high school students from all around the United States who lived with local families and helped them improve their community. They built sidewalks and worked on a new addition to the local police station. Andrew grew up a lot through this project, improved his Spanish substantially, had a great time, and made lots of friends, both American and Costa Rican.

Andrew continues his active sports life. He was co-captain and MVP of his sophomore basketball team during the regular season at Boulder High and played on the varsity during the spring and summer training leagues. In the fall he decided to play football for the first time ever. He quickly became a stalwart linebacker for the junior varsity, winning the MVP award in that sport, too. But he dislocated his shoulder making a tackle in a game at the end of the season. That injury has kept him chafing on the bench for the beginning of the winter basketball season. He attends all of the practices but can only watch when he is not doing his rehab work. He hopes to be back on the court in January.

Much to the surprise of her parents, Emily made a last minute decision to transfer from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon to the University of Denver for her sophomore year. Her desire was to move to a larger and more diverse campus in a more interesting city—and to be closer to home. She has found those qualities at DU, a school that has dramatically expanded over the last two decades. It’s a very different campus from the one her mother attended 40 years ago. Karl and Janet are delighted to be able to see more of her, explore the campus, and attend parents’ weekend, hockey games and concerts. With the transfer, Emmy has adjusted her sights regarding music, planning now to minor in the field while leaving her major undeclared. She still sings beautifully, as we know from attending her excellent choir concert and a student recital. She is looking forward to studying abroad (Prague? Vienna? Budapest? Spain…?) next year under DU’s outstanding international program.

Our older children (and five grandchildren) continue to flourish. Eric is a senior staffer for the Colorado Legislature, which was changed by the Republican flood in the November election in much the same way as most other state legislatures and the Congress. Jeanette is happy in her “retirement” from the Legislature and her work as a full-time mother. Sean and Sarah have sold their temporary employment business in Honolulu. Sean continues as president, but not owner, of the company. The arrangement allows him to do what he does best—sell his company’s services—without having the primary financial responsibility and liability. Sarah has returned to part-time work as an occupational therapist and seems to have a more challenging and satisfying position in that field than she has sometimes had in the past.

The newest member of our family is in the photo accompanying this letter—our beautiful and playful 9-month old golden retriever, Kona. We had forgotten what it’s like to have a puppy. He has a very different personality from our beloved Eldorado—more willful and assertive—so we all have to learn his ways and be patient as he learns who is (supposedly) in charge.

Some things never change in our lives. We made our annual trip to Redstone, where we were married 24 years ago, over the 4^th of July and enjoyed the time in the mountains and that village’s quaint, old-fashioned Independence Day celebration. Janet’s step-mother, Wilma, soldiers on in relatively good health and celebrated her 99^th birthday this year. We look forward to celebrating her 100^th next year.

When we wrote this letter last year, we were about to leave for Hawaii to enjoy a tropical Christmas with our Oahu family. We liked that experience so much that it is our Christmas present to ourselves this year as well. We’re planning to spend half of our time on Oahu and the other half on Maui, returning on New Year’s Day. When we first went to Hawaii for Christmas a number of years ago, we weren’t sure what it would be like to abandon at least the image of sleigh bells ringing in the snow and substitute the beach, shorts, sandals and aloha shirts. But with the company of Sarah and Sean’s family to keep the family holiday traditions alive, it has been easy to get used to and appreciate the differences in climate and style.

Whether on the beach, enjoying the wintry outdoors or cozied-up by a roaring fire, we hope that all of our far-flung family and friends have a peaceful and happy holiday season!

Love, Janet, Karl, Emily and Andrew