I Come From A Land Down Under
Trip Start
Dec 04, 2005
1
16
45
Trip End
Jun 16, 2006
Brisbane,
Australia
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
-The color of the ground in the center of Australia - a deep rorange, as Jessie explained it previously.
-Mint Slices, like Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies, but better.
-People change into their bathing suits on the beach! They all have very discrete ways of doing it, but it is totally impressive.
Jessie Petting a Kangaroo
-The way the desert sky looks and the way the desert smells after it rains.-Chockito bars. Yum!
-The fact that the center of Australia is 1.5 hours behind Sydney, but only .5 hours behind Queensland.
-"Good on ya." This morning, I handed a guy a $10 to break and he said, "Are you giving me money? Good on ya, girl." I'm not entirely sure what it translates to, but it's great.
-Veggie patties. Really, the best veggie "burgers" ever, ok, maybe not ever, but they're really good.
-"Buggerall" as in: This was an unproductive day. I did buggerall at work.
-I'm pretty sure that everyone in Australia knows the words to "Down Under." I can't prove this, but they must teach it at school or something.
M&J: Here are some of our joint favorite things:
-A lot of the Aussie expressions. Of course the cliches, which are really part of everyday speak (g'day, mate, no worries), as in, "Aw, no worries, mate." In response to thank you. Also, Aussies shorten EVERYTHING, which is pretty funny (bathing suit=swimming costume=cosie; mosquito=mozzie; breakfast=brekkie; bathing trunks=board shorts=boardies)
Koala!
.-Cooper beer, not bad at all
-The stars from the sail boat, there are zillions of them and you can clearly see the Milky Way and it is absolutely gorgeous!
-JJJ radio. Almost KEXP, but you can listen to it all over the whole country on the radio, not just online!
-How they put Sweet Thai chili sauce on everything.
Here are some of our joint least favorite things:
-Everything can kill you - snakes, bugs, water creatures, the sun. Basically, Australia is one big, beautiful death trap. No, just kidding.
-The Woolshed Bar in Cairns. Gross.
-Airlie Beach. Hello spring break.
-Vegemite, don't listen to what anyone tells you. It's totally gross.
-Flies. They may not bite or sting, but they are as annoying as all get out!
J: Okay now my list of favorite Aussie things:
-Tim Tams - these might possibly be the best chocolate "biscuits" (cookies) ever!
-Geckos, turtles, kangaroos, and koalas
-Our friends from the tour in Alice Springs. Okay they aren't Aussie, but we met them here
Missy FINALLY Getting to Pet a Sheep
. Does that still count?-Aboriginal art - especially dot art
-Swags - for real. I mean, I think we all need one of these, just for the hell of it. Plus isn't "swag" such a great name?
-"F**kwit" - really it is a great thing to call someone.
-The phrase "taking the piss out of someone" - which means giving someone a hard time. Apparently some of our Aussie friends make a night out of this at the pub. They will just take the piss out of one of them all night long.
-Boost candy bars. Honestly, why is Cadbury so good and why don't we have more of it in the States?
-How at least half a dozen people asked Missy if she had heard of Missy Higgins (an Aussie singer) and then looked at her for a minute and said, "You would really like her, and actually, you kind of look like her."
-I am not going to echo the ones that Missy put under hers that are mine too...but just for the record, I think she stole some of my favorite things.
There were just so many enjoyable things here, but I think we are both ready to move on to Asia and new adventures, so we gleckel on.
