Tastes of America

Walking to the train station last week, I noticed the local McDonalds covered in posters advertising their "Tastes of America" promotion. It's sort of strange seeing what they consider to be quintessentially American; also, isn't McDonalds American enough as it is? Anyways the offerings range from a New York burger with some kind of mustard/mayo blend (you know, like all the New Yorkers eat) to jalapeno poppers which don't even seem to contain cream cheese, to waffle cones. That one is legit I guess, since it made me come to the startling realization that I haven't encountered a waffle cone in the last year and a half. It's kind of fun seeing American culture through the filter of what a marketing team thinks Australian consumers would like.

Easter Weekend

One nice thing about living in Australia is that Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays, so I had an extra long weekend. I ended up taking Roxy (my car) on her first road trip up the central coast to Woy Woy for two nights. I was about to pull over and give up when we hit traffic north of Sydney, but once we got on the freeway it was a terrifying 110km/hour all the way. The weather has cooled off a bit but it was still sunny and in the mid 70s, plenty nice to make use of the pool at the hotel where we stayed. The balcony to the room opened up right onto the pool deck, and I jumped in pretty much as soon as we got there. After that I didn’t have much time for anything else but dinner and a $20 bet on the pokies, but it was nice to have a relaxing first day.

The next day we made a quick stop at Kmart for a cheap fishing rod, picked up a few frozen prawns, and went down to the Hawkesbury River for some fishing. I had never done it before, but it was really easy to figure out. For about seven or eight repetitions I would get a few bites, and then excitedly start reeling in what would turn out to be a clump of grass. I’m glad I didn’t give up, because I reeled in this magnificent specimen eventually:

Hayden didn’t catch any, bwa ha ha.

Sunday morning was a bit overcast, so we just went for a walk along Ettalong Beach. You can see Lion Island in the distance, which got the name from its resemblance to the Sphinx. It’s a nature reserve full of penguins, so people aren’t allowed out there unless they have special permission. I was sad to head home after a nice weekend away, but time has flown by at work this week so it’s not too bad.