denmark – not that heinlein

travel soccer

the danes pose before their match with china

chasing “women in red” across the continent

they say the world cup competition is for losers. thirty-two teams compete, 31 lose. one–spain in this case– takes the cup and goes home for four years. the 2023 pageant was held “down undah”, in australia and new zealand. it’s the first time the competition has been co-hosted by two countries. too bad only one could win.

the previous two women’s world cups had been won by the u.s., as the rest of the world’s women caught up. but the catching up is done, and the americans’ moment is over. the “red, white and blue” barely survived the group stage this time, and made an unceremonious exit in the first knockout round, denying megan rapinoe and company a fond farewell from the competition they dominated for the past decade or so. now it’s the spanish womens’ turn to rule. this year the spaniards won the world’s under 18 competition, the under 21 tournament, and now the big one — the women’s world cup.

“travel soccer” is a term many moms and dads learn when their kids try out for the neighborhood team. the coach of the team then enrolls them in a league where they go to the home fields of other teams to play their matches. so parents usually wind up spending their weekends carting their beloved offspring to farflung neighborhoods to watch them chase around a soccer ball. in a country the size of australia, traveling to see your team’s world cup matches can mean splurging the family fortune on transcontinental air fares and winding up with a bad case of jet lag.

and so it was.

the danish women didn’t really have a chance to win the title in this women’s cup 2023 competition. but who cares? the object is to have some fun, root for your team and country, travel a bit (in this case, a lot!) and pay qantas (the airline) a few more bucks you didn’t have in the first place.

fortunately, (i suppose) denmark’s matches were all in australia, but oz is a big place, and we were following the women in red to the match sites. first perth, on australia’s southwest coast, where the danes played their opening match against china. it was a slow contest, though not nearly as time consuming as the 4 ½ hour flight from canberra to perth.

denmark finally scored a goal in the 90th (last) minute of regulation time to defeat the chinese women and secure the three points that went with it. so much for excitement.

a goal in the 90th minute separated denmark and china

among the highlights for us was a meeting with two danish fans who were reunited for an 81st birthday celebration, several decades after one of them relocated from denmark to australia. sadly, we don’t have “before and after” pictures showing how little they’ve changed over the years (or not).

the “after” shot of 2 danish “ladies in their 80s” reunited in oz after decades on opposite sides of the globe.

the second “group stage” match was on the other (eastern) edge of the continent, against england, requiring another transcontinental (read five hour) flight to sydney. england was one of the ranked teams in the competition, boasting several players from the english women’s premier league. the lionesses, as the english women are known, were a class above the danes, scoring a goal early (from chelsea striker lauren james), then holding on to that for a margin that held up all night. three points for the limeys.

then the team flew back to perth again, this time to face haiti, their third group foe. it was too much for us. we watched on TV. another single goal against the haitians was enough to garner three more points, getting the danes to six (three points per victory, one for a draw). that result, coupled with a monster english victory over china, was enough to see denmark through to the round of 16, the knockout stage. three matches, two goals.

next opponent, however, was australia, in the first knockout round. facing the matildas, (from ‘waltzing matilda”, the national song), the tournament’s home team, was a daunting task under any circumstances. for the danes, playing in front of a sea of yellow shirted crazies at sydney’s 80-thousand seat olympic stadium proved an insurmountable challenge.

pernille’s red and white clashes with australia’s green and gold opera house

sydney was all decked out for the denmark match, with the (danish designed) sydney opera house dressed in australia’s green and gold for the event.

in the end, the danes total of two goals in four games was just not good enough. aussie striker caitlin foord, who plays club football for arsenal (my team) in the english premier league, scored an easy first half goal in a one-on-one matchup against denmark’s goalkeeper, and the danes were never a real threat to score. the matildas cruised, 2-0 (two-nil).

a double aussie flag celebrates one (or both) of the matildas’ goals against denmark

so much for travel soccer. the knockout stages are “win or go home” affairs, so it’s back to copenhagen for the red shirts, and an “end to the spend” on air fares. in the end the big fish (england & eventual winner spain) were left to battle it out for the cup. it was (extravagant) fun for us minnows in the world cup pond while it lasted, but there’s an end to every cinderella dream, and the clock has struck midnight. we’re pumpkins again.

p.s. on a sad note, it emerges that spain’s winning goal-scorer in the final, olga carmona, learned after the match that her father had passed away earlier in the day. the news had been withheld from her so as not to distract her during match preparations.

the challenge — it’s a wero

pernille gets a nose bump

no red carpet, but a red tongue, a red flag the morning after a blood moon, and the pointy end of a spear greet the new danish ambassador to new zealand

hongis all around!! it was a big day at government house in wellington. the travel ban is lifted! hallelujah! aussies and kiwis can visit each other again. and the traditional maori greeting, the “hongi”, or nose bump — discouraged for more than a year — is back.

a “hongi” or nose touching, is a sign of welcome.

and so it came to pass on may 27th, under a cloudless sky, the morning after a blood red moon and a total lunar eclipse, a trio of spear-carrying warriors danced across the lawn of government house to challenge a group of new arrivals.

it’s the beginning of a welcoming tradition known as “powhiri”, as explained at maori.com

The powhiri is the ritual ceremony of encounter.

Traditionally the process served to discover whether the visiting party were friend or foe, and so its origins lay partly in military necessity. As the ceremony progressed, and after friendly intent was established, it became a formal welcoming of guests (manuhiri) by the hosts (tangata whenua or home people).

at the appointed time, a band of maori men and women gathers in front of the flagpole (which by some coincidence is flying a red and white danish flag). they are accompanied by a band of soldiers; in fact, a military band, some armed with trombones and trumpets, one with a sword, others with actual guns.

the visiting party approaches, prompting three warriors to raise spears, advance on the newly-arrived party, and issue the ritual challenge, the “wero”.

acoss the vast expanse of lawn came three warriors, hesitantly

the warrior chieftain dances forward, making loud noises and gesticulating with his spear. he then lays a token (taki) on the lawn, while maintaining eye contact with the lead male of the visiting party.

the lead male (in this case, me) then approaches the warriors, all the time maintaining eye contact with the chief, and picks up the taki.

eyes must be focused on the maori warriors while retrieving the taki

a successful taki pickup seems to satisfy the warriors of our friendly intent, which prompts a warm greeting to the arriving ambassador (a hongi). she is escorted to a platform, (covered in red) from where the force commander invites her to inspect the troops.

pernille pretends not to notice lint on one of the soldiers’ lapels as she inspects the troops

good news! the troops pass inspection. we are all then invited inside, where pernille gives a brief (but brilliantly crafted) introductory speech, conveying personal greetings from denmark’s queen margrethe, and hailing the friendship between denmark and new zealand.

both, she points out, are nations composed of islands. each has two main islands and lots of smaller ones, though denmark also has a spit of land that is actually attached to a continent.

pernille then hands over her letter of accreditation to new zealand’s governor-general patsy reddy.

dame patsy responds with a welcome address, assuring her there was no harm intended by the warriors on the lawn, and reflecting on the similarities between new zealand and denmark. she notes the two nations are tied for #1 on the world anti-corruption index and both are in the top ten of the world’s friendliest countries.

with that, pernille is officially the danish envoy to new zealand.

there’s time for a group photo of dame patsy and ambassador pernille along with two gentlemen of sparse hirsute foliage (not much hair), and karen pullar, the danish consul in wellington.

the photo is followed by a quick round of handshakes and farewells, then we’re out the door into a waiting limousine to whisk us back to our hotel. total time elapsed: 15 minutes.

next is a short walk to a dockside restaurant for a celebratory glass of bubbly and lunch in the warm late autumn sunshine. time elapsed: two hours.

oh , and about that blood moon. just by a stroke of luck i had decided to go for a run at dusk along wellington’s waterfront the evening before the credentials ceremony, forgetting that a lunar spectacular, including a total eclipse, was on that evening.

as i reached the intersection leading to the harbor, an orange sphere hovered above the horizon. sunset? sunrise? ok, we’re in a new country, maybe they do things differently here. but surely not evening sunrise?

out along the bustling pier, pedestrian traffic almost came to a halt as people reached for their cell phones to catch the spectacle. it became an instant social media sensation. “pier reviewed”, even.

then something unexpected began to happen. as i ran along the waterfront, the moon’s relationship to the hills across the harbor kept changing, giving the illusion that the orange ball was rolling up the crest of the mountain, until it dropped below the horizon.

i stopped to take a picture as the moon rose for the second time, then continued my jog. but as the altitude of the crest went ever higher, the moon disappeared again.

by this time, darkness was descending over the city, and as i witnessed my third moonrise of the evening, the reflection shimmering across the water brought the harbor to life, as moon replaced sun as the dominant light source.

we faded to “pillow land” long before the lunar eclipse hours later. (eclipses don’t make great cell phone photos, anyway.) but the next day we woke to an internet full of pictures that made ours look wimpy by comparison. one in particular was the money shot below by AP photographer mark baker over sydney harbor.

but seeing three blood moonrises in one night? that’s “luna-see”.

it’s a warm welcome and sendoff as we set out for three weeks of exploring kiwiland.

going for broke

we were cruising along toward broke on the morning of feb. 12, when pernille suggested a detour.

we had been invited to attend the opening of an art gallery in a danish-owned vineyard just beyond broke (pop. 292), in the hunter valley, australia’s oldest and one of its finest wine growing regions. it’s a bit northwest of sydney.

a colleague had told pernille if we were headed that way, it might be worth a side stop at the jenolan caves.

frankly, i hadn’t heard of jenolan caves, but what the heck. we still had some change jingling in our pockets (not broke yet), so…

recalculating our GPS, we took off down the back roads of new south wales, and up, and down again, and around harrowing hairpin turns that could have given new meaning to broke if we’d missed one. then down some more. and within three hours or so i had absolutely no idea where we were. except we were in a wonderland. and closer to broke.

we got just a taste of the big sensual feast that is the jenolan caves complex in the couple hours we were there. now we know the place requires at least a weekend. we’re already plotting our return. but this bite of the apple was enough to understand why jenolan caves is new south wales’s top country attraction. (there are some city attractions, but this is breathtaking).

carlotta’s arch, a favorite for wedding photos

and we didn’t even see the caves. that requires reservations. so in the brief moment available, we explored the arches. you can see why carlotta’s arch is a popular wedding photo spot. strangely, it’s divided into two parts: new car-lotta (first marriages) and pre-owned car-lotta (subsequent hookups).

then there’s the lodge.

pictures speak louder than words, so i’ll reserve further comment on the lodge. it ain’t broke, so we won’t try to fix it until there’s time for a proper visit. suffice to say it’s on our bucket (seat) list with a bullet. but now, we’re going for broke.

there is actually a mount broke, lurking in the background.

beyond broke, to be precise, just a few kilometers past the broke village store you’ll find the winmark vineyards, identifiable by the danish and australian flags waving side by side at the entrance.

the australian southern cross and the danish cross welcome visitors to this danish-australian collaboration

the centerpiece of the winmark estate’s expansive lawn is david ball’s intriguing “biosis” sculpture, which karin purchased shortly before ball won the “sculpture by the sea” bondi major prize in 2017. now he’s big, but not so big that he couldn’t attend the gallery opening.

just inside the fence, the iconic “poole’s rock” attests to the presence of aboriginal people on the land long before europeans arrived with their grapevines.

poole’s rock sheltered aboriginal people, but gets its name from an australian convict who slept there

the same cannot be said about richard poole, the 19th century convict after whom the cave is named. local lore has it that poole used to sleep in a hollow in the cave, which was probably hewn by aboriginals. the new york times reported that poole sent his regrets.

as australia’s reputation for superb wines has spread across the globe, thousands of wineries have sprung up across the country’s temperate southern; more than 200 in hunter valley alone. but winmark distinguishes itself with its unique aboriginal heritage, its magnificent location at the foot of the yellow rock state forest, fabulous guest houses dotting the estate, its collection of sculpture and wall art, and its dedication to making a single green grape masterpiece.

the animating force behind winmark the trademark from denmark is karin enemark adcock.

karin adcock & one of the danish artworks gracing the winmark vineyard

karin bought the old poole’s rock estate in 2016, after it had fallen into disuse under ownership of an energy company with no passion for wine. the place was in need of vision, and karin found herself in the visionary position, from which greatness often comes.

five years in, karin’s dream is bearing fruit, literally. nowadays, just like jeremiah the frog in the old three dog night classic “joy to the world“, she always has some mighty fine wine. (if you’re not old enough (or too old) to remember jeremiah, click on the link. it’s fun.)

karin has assembled a team of renowned viticulturists and winemakers to get the best from the fertile hunter valley soil. winmark’s main claim to fame is rusty’s run, a fragrant, refreshing vintage that harkens back to the days before someone decided the reason to drink wine was to get hammered.

rusty is actually karin’s dog, a kelpie that says, ‘mark, mark’, instead of ‘bark, bark’, except when you ask him about the covering over the cellar door in which case he answers, ‘roof roof’. (truthfully, we must admit we made that up. we’re not the new york times, you know)

the journey hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, although sunshine is essential to a great vintage, and rose bushes bookend end each row of winmark’s vineyard, serving double duty as both an artistic touch and an early warning system for fungus. you won’t find rosé here, however. winmark’s signature is exclusively chardonnay, which is not coincidentally the world’s most popular white wine.

sunshine was in short supply the day of the gallery opening. as dawn broke over broke, a gloomy mist shrouded the valley, and a drizzly downpour was forecast. nevertheless, we found karin out in the vineyard at first light, harvesting roses to brighten the mood.

at winmark, rose is a flower. chardonnay is wine.

hours later, a refreshed and radiant karin was at the cellar door to welcome the 300 guests who braved the downpour to celebrate another hunter valley milestone, a gallery featuring some of australia’s – and denmark’s – most talented artists. many were there for the party.

fittingly, gavi duncan, an elder of the awaba gameroi people, began the event with an aboriginal prayer, a song, a blast on his didgeridoo, and a brief explanation of the significance of this ground to the legend of creation held dear by the region’s indigenous people.

gavi tells the aboriginal creation story of baiame and yhi

according to the dreaming story, baiame (or bayami), the morning star/father; and yhi, the evening star/mother, gave birth to the surrounding mountains and valleys and rivers. the nearby baiame cave is considered sacred, and contains ancient wall art depicting the creator.

then it was pernille’s turn. as the representative of denmark, she officially opened the gallery, and a small plaque on the wall attests to that fact. as the president of her fan club, i probably should not characterize her speech. but i did bust the buttons on my shirt.

and when pernille was done, karin gave her the bird. (smile emoji here) and what a bird it was. a rebecca pierce original.

even i, an art moron, was blown away by this exquisite piece. rebecca pierce is not an artist to sneeze at (though i had forgotten my allergy medicine). a picture of this bird is posted below. but like all of rebecca’s works, photographs don’t do it justice. you have to see it, feel the texture, in person, to understand her talent.

this bird of color has assumed a prominent position in our home. you should come feel it yourself. better yet, head to winmark gallery next time you’re in the neighborhood and see the collection.

as luck would have it, the next day was bright and sunny, as is almost every other day in this warm-climate wine growing region. before heading back to canberra, we accepted an invitation from our new friend phil hele for lunch with his family at their hunter valley resort.

of course there was a danish connection. phil’s mom, anni comes from a long line of distinguished copenhagen hoteliers. she’s another on a growing list of ambitious danes we’ve met who have come to australia to realize their dreams…and succeeded.

i wish i’d had the presence of mind to take a picture of the slab of salmon anni’s husband julian prepared for our lunch on the back deck of their home overlooking the sprawling resort. julian’s culinary talent is legendary.

(update: a photograph of the salmon was forwarded to me after original publication, courtesy of the hele family. the other two photos were lifted from the resort website, as my brain was off duty that day.)

it was heartening to see that the hunter valley resort includes a brew pub. according to phil hele, the establishment of a beer hall/brewery created a frothy fizz among the local winemakers when it opened a few years back. “it takes a lot of beer to make great wine,” explains phil in defense.

my sympathies are with phil. i’m a beer guy.

coco laura and the tesla powered chocolate factory

wind and solar are contributing a significant share of south australia’s electric power supply

tuesday, october 20th, (10/20/2020) began with medium to low expectations. we are going to be driving three hours out of adelaide into the south australia countryside (and three hours back) to see a big battery that stores power from a nearby wind farm. (i’m trembling in anticipation.)

well ok, it’s a REALLY BIG battery. (yawn)

but six hours of driving? for a 90 minute tour of a battery? this had better be good, pernille.

there is an interesting angle to the story, however. this was the world’s first large scale battery storage facility, and until a few months ago the world’s largest. it’s the brainchild of the inventor elon musk, a massive 150 megawatt lithium-ion tesla “power pack” that’s storing energy produced largely from a nearby 315 megawatt wind farm. according to PV magazine, it’s saved the south australia government tens of millions of dollars in grid stabilization costs and generated $50 million (AUD) more in revenue.

we had to wear protective glasses and cool day-glo tesla vests during our tour of the plant

denmark is part of the story, too. vestas, the danish firm that pioneered the wind turbine industry, has 40% of australia’s windmill market.

the story gets better, though. elon musk built the power pack complex on a bet in 2017 after a freak storm left much of south australia without electricity for several days. during an online debate about the country’s energy security (or lack thereof), musk bet an australian billionaire $50 million that he could have a 100MW tesla battery plant up and running within 100 days or the facility would be free. he won.

the plant’s operations manager, liam pacini, gave us the cook’s tour, even opening up the cabinets to show us the insides, though for proprietary reasons we couldn’t take pictures.

pacini foresees the day when australia can turn off all its coal-fired energy plants and produce 100% of its electricity from renewable sources.

south australia is committed to the 100% goal by 2030, and has already achieved its 2020 goal of 50% renewables. complete independence from fossil fuels is an audacious dream, but if anyone can pull it off, south australia can, with the help of elon musk and tesla’s assemblage of engineering geniuses. as of today, if another emergency were to hit like the one in 2017, the tesla power pack could provide 45,000 homes with electricity for 24 hours.

each cabinet houses thousands of AAA size lithium batteries in a temp-controlled environment

with a souvenir tesla vest in tow, we head back toward adelaide. we had driven out in the morning through picturesque wine country, so we decide to drive back along the coast road to see more of the countryside. looking at the route on our GPS we notice a little town named laura just a few kilometers down the road.

much to our delight, the town has been completely “laurified”

as many readers of this blog may know, we named our daughter laura after our dear friend laura kakko, a finnish diplomat who we came to know and love during our india days. kakko laura, as we affectionately called her, left us too soon, but not before blessing our holiday house in denmark with moomin collectibles inspired by the moomin children’s books written by the swedish-speaking finnish illustrator tove jansson.

so kakko laura was surely alongside us as we parked in front of a sign reading “coco laura”, and walked in to a wonderland of chocolates and other assorted confections created by the master chocolatier david medlow.

the maestro himself just happened to be in, and was busily creating a batch of his incomparable “peckton’s berry fruits”, (he let us sample). his secret ingredient: none other than real danish pectin. he swears it’s the best money can buy, and he had a big bag of it under his table to prove it.

the main part of the business, however, is chocolates, beautifully gift-wrapped for delivery anywhere in the world. the shelves in the shop are a bit bare, because in this time of COVID, australians are confined to their home country. as a result, they’re spending holidays exploring back roads leading to places like laura. coco laura is having trouble keeping up with customer demand. business in the time of COVID has never been better.

one thing for sure. we’re going to become regular cocolaura customers. it’s easy to order online at cocolaura.com. and cocolaura chocolates will make a perfect arrival gift when we’re invited for dinner!

by the time we leave the little town of laura, the sun is descending rapidly toward the western horizon. we “proceed to the route” along the coast road, realizing that a course correction is needed. pernille, after all, is on duty. it’s a work day. she had hoped to be back at the hotel by 6:30p.m. to use the wifi system for a scheduled zoom meeting with ministry colleagues in copenhagen. but there’s not enough time to make it.

this, however, is the age of cell phone hot spots. checking our GPS, we realize we can make it by 6:25 to the st. kilda beach bird sanctuary we had visited two days earlier.

so as the sun begins to sink over the water, at precisely 6:28 p.m., pernille sits herself down on a seaside bench, binoculars in hand, and dials into the meeting on her iPad.

only one noisy seagull threatens to give her away, demanding food. but he is quickly shooed off.

for a full hour, pernille sits listening in to her colleagues back home while the setting sun plays peek-a-boo through the clouds and a melange of birds frolic in the tidewater.

but then, at the stroke of 7:30, the session is over. (these are danes, after all). the work day is done, and pernille turns to ask, “what’s for dinner?”

as it happens, there’s a beachfront restaurant just across the road, and they’re having a “schnitzel special” on this evening’s menu. as we enter the restaurant and look around, we realize immediately that most of the patrons are clearly not first timers at schnitzel night. the beer fridge is well stocked, too. you might say they offer a melange of brews.

we pass on the schnitzel and order lighter fare washed down with zero alcohol beers. (we’re driving). the food, as it turns out, is quite tasty, if not exactly low cal.

that night, back at the hotel, tucked comfortably in our bed, we assess the days’ proceedings and tick the box “exceeds expectations”. an understatement.