Canberra
Trip Start
Mar 19, 2007
1
8
39
Trip End
Oct 15, 2007
Canberra,
Australia
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Lucky for me, he decided to give me a break down of the poisonous spiders that inhabit Australia. Interestingly, in Canberra there really aren't any- BUT there are TONS of spiders!! And he made it a point to show me just where they lived in the house. I think he got a kick out of seeing my reaction to the huge spider in the bathroom (that he wouldnt get rid of!) Despite the fact that these things can get to be the size of your palm.. they don't kill any type of bugs, spiders, or animals for many reasons. First, it's ingrained in them since childhood. Because many of the species of creatures that live here are only found here in Australia, it could be devastating to the ecosystem if they were to go extinct. Second, the spiders in particular eat the mosquitos (Which I've heard are a big problem during summers). Anyways, on to the rest of my stay.
Canberra, is a much calmer, smaller, and more quaint city than Sydney. It's beautiful and centers around this huge lake in the middle of the city. Yesterday, I decided to walk into town (it was suppose to only take 45 min). WEll, I got a little lost thinking I could walk around the lake! I did walk around it, until I got stuck in some swamps with a bunch of cows. My path ended there and I was forced to walk all the way back home to pick up my car. All in all, my walk took about 3 1/2 hours. I eventually made it somewhere into the city and had THE best tuna sandwich I've ever tasted!! I saw Parliament (the country's government equiv to the white house), the University of Australia, and the Museum of Australian History (which was actually quite interesting). Once I came home, I got to go on my first grocery shopping trip to the supermarket with Jonathan and his mom, then came home to have dinner with them. That was definitely interesting.
So, a few things I have learned in my last week in Australia. First, Almost ALL Australians are much more ecologically concious than americans.
Australia history
Any Aussie u talk to will tell you about the effects of global warming that are being felt here more than in any other part of the world. It has such a huge impact, that, unless something changes- Australia will run out of water within the next 15-20 years. As a result, there are strict water restrictions. (And we thought we had it bad in Arizona!!) Only 1 shower per person/day. Water is VERY expensive. 1 small water bottle here costs about $3. Everyone drinks from the tap (which is the best tasting water I've had). And all toilets come complete with a 'half flush' and a 'full flush' button. lol.. I'm sure you can guess what this is for!! Anyways, you dont take long showers, you dont leave the water running when you brush your teeth or wash things.. and it even affects laundry! I did my first load here, and my hosts have this eco friendly washer that saves water. Well, for 1 load- it took 3 hours in the washer cause it uses less water!! AND, people dont really use dryers here. Not that they dont have them, but the more conciencious people just line dry everything because it uses less electricity and its more ecologically friendly! lol... Hmm.. what else is different? Well, McDonald's here has a much healthier menu. Over half of the items are actually healthy food. People eat lamb alot more here, and the meat at the market is much nicer (in some ways). For example.. your chickens aren't all prepackaged, and you can actually buy individual pieces of the chicken uncooked.. (ie- 1 leg, 1 wing)
I guess the last thing is that because it is a gun free country, there is much less crime. I guess Canberra actually has the lowest crime rate in the nation and as a result, most people dont even lock their doors. My hosts for example, leave the door open all day with just the screen door closed (even when they are gone). Murder rates for the country are about 1/week. In alot of towns, police dont carry guns. If an officer does have to use his gun, it becomes big news! lol
Anyways, today I'm just organizing my stuff and getting ready to leave for Melbourne tomorrow. It's about a 9 hour drive- so we'll see how that goes!
