We come from a land down under!!!

After touchdown, we eagerly waited for our first Australain to speak to us. Sadly, the first words were "Please walk along the white line and hold your bags on the right so that the dog can sniff you, ladies" - Welcome to Australia! We got our bags (we were so glad they made it all by themselves at Hong Kong) and headed to get the bags to be x-rayed. To have the second Australian say to us "Do you have a knife in your bag, madam?". I (Sarah) thought she was pointing at my handbag, so I said no all I have that could look like it was my free Cathay Pacific pen. She started to look a little stern and then she actually pointed at Aimee's big rucksack (phew - me, oh dear - Aimee). So of course, we both have a pen knife in our main rucksacks, so we then had to say 'yes' and poor Aimee had to rumage around her very well and tightly packed rucksack to find said penknife. When she showed it her, she just went 'oh, its just a penknife off you go'. So eventually we went through the gate to be greeted by Louise (Aimee's Mum's cousin) and Mary-Lou (Aimee's Grandma's Sister), which was great because usually we have no one (violins playing) to greet us.

The best hotel in the world ever

Off we went to Tarneit (which is where they live) which is just out of the city (ish). We had our first sandwich for ages, yum yum, and watched Sinead's (Louise's youngest daughter) 'Australia's got talent' video. She is part of an Irish dancing troup and they had got through to the semi final of said programme which is on TV here. Danni Minogue is one of the judges. Louise gave us a quick tour of the area and we visited Williamstown - which is a lovley seasidey place. Upon return, we threw everything that we could into Louise's washer - ahh home comforts. A few (!) glasses of wine were drunk and we chatted on the veranda and gawped at the stars (too long in cities you forget what they look like - plus these are soo much different and better than ours!) We dragged our bags across to Mary's house which is in Louises back yard. This was Mary's first night in her new abode since she moved down from Queensland. It is a great place really light and airy and a nice size, it is hard to believe that it arrived in two halves on the back of a truck.

The best hotel in the world ever

We had a lie in (yeay) and awoke to Rod Stewart plus Mary crooning to us. Stephanie (Lousies eldest daughter) and Eva (Stephanie's daughter and the best behaved child in the world) joined the four of us to go to the plaza (In english -shopping centre). As if anyone is going to employ us then we needed a hair cut as it had been 3 months for Aimee and 5 for me!! It is a great little place with a collection of shops including some bargainous ones which allowed us to stock up on all the essentials that we had run out of in asia and to begin the hunt for work shoes ;-(  We had KFC for lunch mmmm which even had mash potato and gravy marvellous listen up Mr KFC UK.

In the evening Louise and Pat took us for an Indian which was BYO (English - Bring your own), so on the way we popped to a drive through offy (Australian - Bottle/Liquor shop) - these people think of everything! Stuffed ourselves to bursting on curry.  In hindsight it was a mistake to have a starter each as they were massive, we also ordered a curry each and had a bit of each which took me out of my (Aimee - I am just filling in the gaps so this blog is a joint effort) comfort zone of chicken.

This morning Tom Jones was singing to greet us as we got up. As we were missing Asia, we popped to Little Vietnam, handily Louise's sister Gill lives near there so we met her for 'yum char' which is the Vietnemese version of dimsum mainly consisting of prawns.  We had a wander around the shops and the market there were so many fruit and veg stalls I have never seen so many in one place filled with all the normal fruits we have plus a few random ones which I had never seen in my life.  There was also a little man selling grapes at a discount price he was shouting 'yip yip' in a very high voice which we took as meaning 'cheap cheap.'   We went with Louise to take Sinead Irish dancing and had a wander on Brunswick Street which was full of little cafes and shops we had a wander up and down before it was time to stop for hot chocolate.   If you are ever near here you must head straight for the Spanish chocolate shop and have Spanish doughnuts. They are sticks of doughnut that you dip into a pot of melted chocolate - heaven!!! We rolled ourselves up the street, to catch Sinead's troupe rehearsing a routine for the TV in case they get through to the final, how they move their legs at that speed I have no idea it looks amazing.

We have a list of things to tick off in Aussie, one of the big ones was to see a Kangaroo - today was that day. Louise and Mary took us to Werribee Open Range Zoo. We went on the bus tour round the range and shreiked at the first kangaroo we saw! I think the whole bus thought tsk craazy pommie girls,but it was our first real life one in Australia and for us was a truly amazing experiance, this was australia baby.    The bus tour was cool though it rained slightly at first but we also saw zebras and Giraffes (yes Lucy I took pictures) amongst other animals wandering about a large section of aussie countryside.  After leaving Mary in the cafe, we went to have a look at some of the sections on foot. We stared at the water in the hippo enclosure waiting for him to pop up, gave up and then had to run back every time we saw a head pop up, Lousie kept shouting over here, hippo me and Sarah would run over and there would be nothing there we thought she was just making us exercise at first until we actually did see them. Next, Lions - the males and females were kept seperate (as they should) and there was a fake jeep that was half through the glass of the viewing area and half out. Once we pushed some kids out of the way, it was photo time. In the kangaroo and emu enclosure you can actually walk through the middle of it - which seems like a bad idea when a giant emu is coming towards you - I feel Parky's pain. But is was great seeing Skippy up close, not sure what they thought of us though. The effects of the drought were very easily seen at the lake, as there was no water in it. Quick stop to pick up Mary and we popped to the supermarket - as we had drunk them out of house and home! One thing that Aussie do better than us (and there is alot they do) is selling mixed drinks. Not just your alcopops, but Vodka/Jack(!)/Bacardi and coke/lemonade & cocktails. So it would be rude not to try one, Aimee went for Black Russians and I Jack & coke (in a can!). Louise also introduced us to 'Stubby holders' (not to be confused with Stubbies as they are boxer shorts, and would not keep your can cold). Basically a foam cup that you put your can in - genius! So we relaxed with our drinks and watched a bit of Spooks (we found it really hard not to go she/he's dead - as they are two seasons behind us).

After having a good old chat with Mary in the morning we dropped Sinead off at dancing, Louise took us to Queen Victoria Market. This has to be the best market in the world. Sadly, there are about 10,000 bodies buried under the car park as its an old burial site, which apprently makes building on the area very difficult - hence market. The food court is amazing, lots of stalls with all different food stuffs - greek, italian, indian etc. we went for the Chinese which was amazing. Queen Vic has a massive meat and fish market, deli area, fruit and veg, clothes, shoes and Australiana - aussie for tourist tacky souviners - we were in heaven! In the evening, Louise and Mary introduced us to another part of aussie life - gambling. We went to the 'Pokies' (Mary is an expert at the pokies) they are basically fruit machines but a bit different. They kindly gave us a pot each to start us off and Lousie gave us a quick guide to playing. Starting with only play on the 1c machines and press some buttons. It was great fun, especially watching how seriously people take it - though we did see someone win over $300. Mary won, then blew it all on another stupid machine. Aimee had a brief run of luck, and then blew it all on another stupid machine. Louise won $48 and I took home $30 - well it made it as far as Safeway cos Dairy Milk was on offer! Getting into the car at Safeway, we were introduced to another Aussie - the Huntsman Spider. Sadly it decided to pick Aimee's door to hang about on, which made her jump onto my knee. They are really pale so I (Sarah) thought she was just mad as I couldn't see it till Louise opened the door. They have to be the uglyist spider we have ever seen and apprently this was only a baby. Luckily, Pat calmed our nerves by telling us that there was not a big spider problem because the snakes eat them all!!! We're still not sure if he was joking, but we ran across to Mary's that night just incase!

On our Aussie list, near the top, is to have a BBQ. Luckily, the whole family was invited round to look at the Pomes today and have a BBQ to celebrate. I (Aimee) have never seen so many people in one place at one time, there must have been 20 or 30 of us there.  Here's a quick run through of who was there, there were mums cousins Louise with husband Pat & 5 children Patrick (with partner Ange) Stephanie (with husband Dave and gorgeous baby daughter Ava - who I practised my Auntie skills with - ready to go Sis), Celeste, James & Sinead, then there was Gill and Jordan & Paige 2 of her 3 children (her husband was in China & her other daughter Alesha was working), Terry his wife Michelle and 3 children, Kane, Daniel & Olivia plus Mick and Phil.  Also there was the matriach of the family Grandma's sister Mary Lou and Celestes friend Erin with daughter Isobel (again who I practised my Auntie duties with). Because they have so many here, they all have gas barbies - which is still cheating I think. Pat has recently purchased a Harley Davision, he was driver for the day as various family members had a go. Aimee had her go, the black helmet and shades were donned and I (Aimee) climbed on the back and grabbed a tight hold of Pat, with a roar of the engine we were off, speeding down the open road with the wind in my face, boy was it fast and powerful talk about windswept, it was amazing though.  My (Sarah) "i'm never getting back on a motorbike unless stuck in Vietnam" promise stuck, plus Pat needed a brew (lager - not tea).  A marvellous feast was cooked up on the barbie (BBQ not Kens missus) and the afternoon and evening where wiled away drinking wine, eating and getting to know the family.