Aussie Vocab Lesson

Here's some words I've picked up so far. More to follow I'm sure.

Rubbish bin = Trash can
Heaps = A lot
Power point = Outlet
Arvo = Afternoon
Root = A dirty word. You can probably guess.
Servo = Gas station
Brekky = Breakfast
Footy = Australian rules football
Bottle shop = Liquor store
Sultanas = Raisins
Whole meal = Whole wheat
Boot = Trunk

Birthday in Sydney

Today is my 27th birthday, and I'm celebrating it a full 17 hours ahead of everyone in the US. I unfortunately spent the first hour at the bank not getting much accomplished, but after that Tony and I went to the Koala park since Katrina had to work. The Koala park is basically a small zoo full of uniquely Australian wildlife, so I got to pet a Koala and hand feed some kangaroos. They really like Cheerios and pretty much hopped around following me until I gave them some. Kinda sad because they're wild animals that are conditioned to do that, but also really cute! There were also wombats, wallabees, kookaburras, etc. Fun day. Then we went to the bottle-o (AKA liquor store) and got a case of beer. A six pack of Toohey's new (the equivalent of Miller Lite) costs about $13 AUD! It's cheaper though if you get a 24 pack so we decided that was the best route to go. Happy Birthday to me!

Touristy Day

Free Saturday and we decided to take the ferry into downtown Sydney, or as they call it the CBD (central business district). We went straight under the Sydney Harbor Bridge AKA the "Coathanger" and I could see the opera house going around the corner. It was crazy to finally see something in person after having seen so many photos of it; I was kind of surprised to see that it actually exists! We were pretty hungry when we got off, so we had some Gozleme, which is like a Turkish quesadilla with spinach and mushrooms. As we were finishing those, a free walking tour of Sydney happened to be going by so we just tagged along with that. It lead us through the Rocks, which is the oldest section of Sydney and was built pretty much entirely by convicts who had been deported there from England for offenses like stealing a loaf of bread. We also saw the church where Elton John married a lady prior to coming out. After that we ended up walking the span of the Harbor Bridge back to the train station. Overall a really fun day but I'm pretty much in the mood to sit around for the rest of the night doing not much of anything.

Getting stuff done!

First full day in Oz, and since Tony and Katrina are at work I'm just trying to get a bunch of stuff done. I decided to start with a healthy breakfast of toast which is all I usually want in the morning. No toaster, but no problem, I can just use the broiler in the oven. Waited FOREVER for the oven to get to 250 Celsius (whatever that means) but got impatient and basically ate warm sliced bread for breakfast. Not a good start so far.

Anyways I walked 10 minutes to the bank, trying really hard to walk on the left side of the sidewalk so as not to crash into every single person going the other way. I did successfully open an account, but my cashiers checks take a full four weeks to deposit so I have to figure out how to do an international money transfer instead. So I DO have an Australian bank account now, but just no money in it and no debit card for a few days. But some progress.

Still no cell phone. That's a long boring story as well, but hopefully will get one by this weekend. I DID buy a hair straightener and blow dryer that won't blow up when I try to use them here so at least I'll be walking around with great looking hair. I also got asked three times today what kind of "accent" I have which was kinda cool.

On my way!

I have a three-hour layover at beautiful Nadi International Airport in Fiji, so I figured I would give an update on how everything is going so far. Stepping off the plane at Nadi is a completely different experience than disembarking at LAX. The crowds of people mingled with hotel shuttle buses, taxis, and bleach blond ladies speeding in their Mercedes convertibles is a stark contrast to the flock of birds that quickly dispersed into the humid air here at Nadi when I stepped off the plane. When I went through the one X ray scanner at the airport, I had unfortunately forgotten a few sips of water in my Nalgene. Shit. This would certainly warrant a strip search on behalf of the TSA agents back in the States, but the lady here just said, “Would you like to finish your drink and then go ahead to the terminal?” Amazing! While shuttles carry stressed out passengers from all over the world between a labrynth of terminals at LAX, there are only 8 gates here in Fiji. This has been a huge relief, and a nice way to unwind before I begin the final leg of my trip from here to Sydney, another 2000-mile flight with hopefully fewer crying babies. In the meantime, I’ll relax here and maybe get a cup of coffee from one of the two available food stands or check out the “Muzik Culture” store which is blaring pop music that sounds about 15 years out of date, which is about 30 years newer than the fixtures in the one bathroom here. Hopefully things keep going smoothly!