[ Zoom Map ]

Port Lincoln, Australia
34° 44' S 135° 52' E
Jan 28, 2006 11:51
Distance 0km

Choose another map, showing:

• Australia
• Oceania
• Eurasia, Africa & Pacific
• The World

Other entries in Port Lincoln

Oz Update- more pics

Text written in: English

INTRO:

Someone I trained with in the Peace Corps once told us that when writing a press release you should write to dispense information on a scale of importance resembling a pyramid. That means you write the most important points first, then the supporting information, and lastly the stuff that you want to mention for the people who have actually bothered to read past the first sentence. I will try that method, at least for the first paragraph. For dedicated readers you can read on for the rest of my dribble. Enjoy. D.C.T.

DREW THURMAN'S PRESS RELEASE:

I'm coming home in March. I'm probably going to live in Knoxville although I will be going to WV first for a few weeks. I don't have a job yet but I'm looking. I'll be broke as a joke per my arrival in the states. My sister and nephew are great. Yes, Australia is awesome and I am enjoying it. Yes it's summer and warm and I'm wearing shorts and t-shirts and going to the beach regularly. I miss all of my friends and hope to see you all soon. I can't remember much of what I said in my last update but it was a long time ago and I was still getting settled so I will begin with just after I arrived at my sisters. The complete travel journal can be read on my Ball of Dirt travel log complete with some new pictures. Follow this link to Ball of Dirt with pictures: 

OPENING QUOTE:

"I am both homesick and dread going home, I have no home but must establish one when I get back; I do not know where."-Ulysses S. Grant (upon returning home from post presidency travels)

 A LIMERICK FROM DREW'S REGULARS:

There once was a cat named Drew,

Who e-mailed what he'd been up to.

I spent hours and hours reading.

My freaking eyes are now bleeding.

Even worse, I'm still not close to being through...

 JOURNAL FOR JANUARY 2006:

It takes a little while to adjust to changes but when you change where you live that adjustment is a little more noticeable. It wasn't a problem but I found myself having difficulty living outside of Romania- a place that I called home three years. There was uneasiness in everything even the things that are supposed to be simple. Everything that you knew is different now. Sometimes it's the small things like your local pub and local market. I was really missing my life in Romania and a bit scared of what was to come. There was a slight malaise encroaching into my attitude because of no plan or anything specific to look forward to. I wasn't unhappy. It was just the period of adjustment that accompanies a major life change.

Despite the totally positive experiences during the summer (living on a beach and traveling in Europe and Australia) they were temporary distractions until I had time to think. I still hadn't taken out time to think about what I had been doing for three years, where I currently was, and where I was heading personally and professionally for my future. I also had the thirtieth birthday rapidly approaching and it seemed like a good time for introspection and self-examination. I may be thirty but I still had a three-year-old giggle just now when I read my bit about "self"-examination.

 I feel like I'm getting lost in a bunch of psychobabble about emotions. What I wanted to say is I have adjusted to living in Australia. Or. I have adjusted to being away from living as a Peace Corps volunteer in Romania. The two aren't one, in the same. But I know I have both of them dealt with and behind me. To be fair, though, Australia isn't that hard to adjust to.  Especially with the people in this part of rural Australia that I have been living in. They're really cool country folk. My first month here at my sisters consisted of her and I catching up on literally everything that has ever happened to each other. We never grew up in the same house and have been separated by thousands of miles or years without face-to-face interaction for the better part of our lives. My primary reason for my coming here was to finally have that family time together as brother and sister that we had always lacked. Now that she has a son, I have further transubstantiated into "Uncle Drew". It's great. 

We got to see that we weren't dissimilar. We found a lot of similar attitudes, beliefs, and even personal pet peeves that reinforce that some traits MUST be hereditary. We both have ideas rooted in rugged individualism. Of course I also learned that we favor placing a new roll of toilet paper in an opposing rotating directions and that I like my toast darker than her. Also I now know that she likes her tea with a bit of sugar and fresh lemon (lemon only to be put in after the tea is brewed). These are things that you should know about your family members. I have to learn these things about my mom now...

 After the first month or so, however, my spending money was dwindling and I felt like I hadn't really contributed much. If I wanted to have my own life and plans I needed to have some extra money. The price of a 6-pack of average normal beers here is around 15 Australian dollars. That is the price from the bottle shops not the pub. But if I was to actually go out and enjoy myself in town or something then I wanted to have my own money and not just mooch of my sis. 

I think when I last updated I wrote that I was landscaping for some friends in exchange for a little cash. I ended up doing some odd jobs for another person who then passed my name on to this guy who had a huge amount of work that needed to be done on his property. Before I knew it I was getting up at 7am. Driving the 60km into town. Working until 5pm. getting back at 6pm tired as shit. Eating dinner then falling to sleep in the neighborhood of 9-11pm. This was repeated daily until the weekend came and I would just chill. I worked up until the week before Christmas. I did a lot of hard physical work the likes of which I haven't seen since I was in High School.

 I dug ditches, cut down trees, cleared brush, went on runs to the landfill, broke up concrete, built a retaining wall, hauled lumber, pruned trees, hammered drywall, carried tile, mowed lawns, you name it. The important thing to be understood is that I worked my ass off. I got paid 100 bucks a day. But because Australian dollars aren't created equal to American dollars that translates into 75 US dollars a day. That wasn't so bad either except that to get to town and back everyday I had to spend 120 dollars a week in gasoline. But on the positive side, all of the money was cash in hand and tax-free. 

Working for that month was really helpful for several reasons. It gave me something to do other than just sit around and do nothing. Also, it was all physical work and that helped keep me in shape. But the most positive aspects about working were the time to think and the ability to see the completed end result. I had time to think about all the important decisions looming over me that I wrote about earlier (job, money, unemployment, future). I had time to think about what I want, what I want to do, and where I want to be, among life's other little questions. Lastly, after working

for three years in a position where you don't get to see the results of your work it's a stark change to see your work's results in plain daylight. After I built a wall I could look at the wall and say, "Look at that wall I built". "Pretty wall"

The last day I worked it was about 5 days until Christmas and 43 degrees (around 100 Fahrenheit). Thank god that that was the day the wall was finished. I didn't hesitate to tender my long expected resignation effective immediately. After the work I ended up with all my Christmas shopping done, several lots of groceries bought, a small cash of beer for the holidays, one big night out pub-crawl with my sister, and a little over 1,000 dollars cash. It was a good run. The guy I worked for might have some work in the next few weeks but that remains to be seen. Anyway I'm going to be putting my car up for sale to recoup some cash and I can't work without a car.

Leading up to Christmas we did the same thing that most people do during the Christmas holidays. We got a Christmas tree, decorated it, and then put wrapped presents under it. Watched the cheesy Christmas movies and Children's programming on TV. Went to work-sponsored Christmas parties. Took family photos in front of the Christmas tree. But on Christmas day there was one major difference. It was warm. Instead of huddling around a heater and looking out at the snow on the ground we were huddling around the Barbie or looking around on the ground for our bocce balls (a game that I will import to my other friends). We ate on the picnic table on the veranda. I really cannot remember a Christmas where I was not in a part of the world where it was cold or better yet snowy. If I was ever in warm weather for Christmas I just can't recall.

 As it stands, I think that Christmas in warm climates seems weird. I never really felt like I had the proverbial Christmas spirit. You know that sense of coming together that a cold climate encourages. The need to drink hot drinks in order to take away the chill. The abundance of bulky clothing that helps cover your enlarging gut because of you eat when your inside and there's not much else to do. When it's the time of coming together for the holidays the weather is encouraging you to get together, stay inside, warm up, cuddle, catch a contact high of the Christmas cheer. That was absent here because it was just too warm. And eating too much in the heat just isn't that easy. But I was able to do it... 

I really enjoyed the Christmas and had a great time with my sister, some friends, my nephew and his father Shayne. All totaled we were 7 people. Just having a relaxed and chilled Christmas day. We had an eggs and bacon breakfast at 8am and then proceeded to watch my 4-year-old nephew rip into his pile of presents. It was fun to see it though his eyes. His lust for opening the presents and ripping off their wrapping paper brought back my memories of Christmas mornings. He had more fun opening the presents than playing with the toys he got. I could remember when I really believed that a fat jolly man had visited our house to supply me with that new got-to-have-it toy. I like watching my nephew and it's good to know him.

The Christmas day plan went off without a hitch. We ate, opened presents, ate some more, relaxed and played outside games (darts on the veranda and bocce), ate some more, had many a festive drink and toast. Among ham and all the other normal Christmas things we ate copious amounts of oysters, crabs, shrimp, and squid. Copious amounts! Living on the coast is good for seafood feasts. Eventually we ended up staying up till the wee hours on the picnic table playing some funny word games. Then eventually drifting to bed. It was a perfectly relaxing and enjoyable time spent with family and close friends. Even though I did miss feeling cold and seeing snow. 

The first Monday after Christmas is Boxing Day which depending on whom you ask you will hear several explanations about what Boxing Day really is. This is a commonwealth thing that presumably most of the former British colonies observe except the United States. No worry though cause it isn't a sacred holiday. It's as sacred as any holiday that can't be explained by the people who celebrate it. I'm told "it's the day that you box up all the decorations from Christmas". I'm also told "it's the day that you put away all the boxes you got that your presents were in". And lastly I was told that it was "the day that business people gave a box of presents to their associates' families and that is was always the first working day following Christmas". Either way there is always a box involved and it's an excuse to do nothing on a Monday.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas and new years it became evident among my sisters friends that no one had any idea of what they were going to do for New Years Eve. Without something super cool already planned we decided that a new years rave at my sister's would be in order. There was an agreement that if this was to take place it should be much more than a party. It was The EXPERIENCE that we were after. Our gathering was to be more than just people getting together to get drunk while ringing in the New Year. We needed sights, sounds, feels, moods- AMBIENCE. We left each other before Christmas with the charge of thinking about how to achieve the experience that we all envisioned. We had some ideas like Laser lights, a DJ, projections of visuals to accompany the music, something tactile, something to keep the children busy while the adults were at play, and other conceptions that would eventually turn into our New Years Rave.

My birthday fell, as it always does, post-Christmas during the days leading up to New Years Eve. I normally keep it something uneventful and this year was no exception. For most of the day, I tidied up around the property and finally knocked of a few items on my to do list that were piling up. It may sound funny but the only thing I really wanted to do in my birthday was to cook a meal that I had envisioned since before I came here. I had bought some Kangaroo filets earlier in the week and we had plenty of shrimp. What I wanted more than anything was to fix marinated Kangaroo with a good rub of spices, fix butterfly-ed soy sauce marinated shrimp, and to fix up a nice fresh green salad to go with it all. I cooked it all on the Barbie and my birthday dinner was perfecto! After dinner I ended up drinking some beers with my sister and some of her friends and dreadfully loosing another game of scrabble. As always, I saved the bulk of my birthday energy for New Year's festivities! Because it was my big Three Ohh -30^th- birthday I was teased a bit but it felt like any other birthday.

In the two weeks since our initial strategizing for the New Year's Eve experience a lot of minor details had come together. We had arranged in planning and procuring nearly all that we wished. We had arranged for a DJ and PA sound system equipment, Laser lights and black light set up, smoke machine, huge projection screen to be erected for an LCD projector, very high quality LCD projector, 20ft teepee, shelters for inclement weather, and lots of other decorations and psychedelic party toys. My primary duty was to make sure the screen and LCD projector worked. We also had several different visual DVD discs that would go with virtually any music or vibe that we wanted to create.

Construction started three days before the party. We erected the teepee which was really cool for me cause I can now say that I know how to construct a teepee. In addition to the 60 some odd adults that would be coming their children needed a place to congregate- enter the children village. A large tent was constructed using ropes and tarps so that the children could have their own carnival style tent in which to play and shelter them from the elements. Beside to the children's village tent, was the child play area. The play area was something that we had constructed in tree a fee weeks earlier for my nephew. It's basically a system or ropes and a big old fishing net that allows the kids to climb up all over a huge weeping willow tree and swing about like a bunch of monkeys. Next to their carnival tent my friend Dob had decided he wanted to create a maze for the children. After equal bouts of difficult, hard, and leisurely work we had completed a maze out of wooden poles hammered into the ground, cord, poly pipe, and a whole lot of sheets. It was quite a creation. Both the children and the adults loved it. Its entrance started with fairy lights drooping like icicles form a bamboo roof and the trail winding along traced with sparkly and day glow colors and spongy alphabet letters. It all ended up into a 6-person dome tent with lots of confetti and a day glow rubber snake.

When not working on the children's village we were all preparing and improving upon the ADULT playground. We erected the teepee, which is not a small feat. After putting up all the poles it was time to put on the huge canvas. It felt so very cool to put up this teepee-just like some Native Americans when they were still on the trail of the buffalo. Now those who had come early to help construct had morphed into a tribe and the teepee felt like the centerpiece of the tribe's efforts. The teepee is huge. Like mega super huge. It was a gift that my sister gave her friend years ago and now it appears periodically when the large groups of friends congregate together. It's bigger inside than most people's living rooms (20 foot circumference). Just in case you wonder how to put up a teepee here is the simplest explanation: Tie three large poles together at one end, hoist them vertical tied at the top with remaining rope dangling in center, spread them in a tripod fashion, add additional poles, wrap rope around all poles to keep them together, adjust poles where you want them, take last two poles and wrap the cover around the structure, stake down with poles stretching the canvas. It sounds a lot easier than it really is.

In addition to the teepee we put up a shade house for the DJ and electronic equipment. Having a DJ instantly upgrades a party. A DJ removes the guessing game of music and awkward silences created by the changing of a CD.  DJs keep the party's blood pumping and guide the participants on and off the dance floor. With the location of the musical center of the party settled we could then proceed to set up the visuals.

We arranged for a cool LCD projector that could hook into my laptop. A friend had donated all these DVDs of pure visuals that you would normally see in a disco. There were images of colors melting and bleeding into one another, images of all kinds of fiery sunbursts, pictures of cities and cars moving really fast in traffic and time laps of days passing so that time looked sped up, and some images of people ripping it up on a dance floor. We stretched a huge white Lycra (spandex) screen across two posts and projected the images from behind. That stuff is so cool. If you stood between the projector and the screen your silhouette was projected onto the screen for all the people on the dance floor to see. There were a few women exhibitionists who took advantage of this feature later that night. The children loved it too because they could make lots of hand shadow puppets. It was a nice extra that added to the experience.

The DJ booth, one giant wall that was a projection screen, a teepee filled with cool chill out furniture and candelabra, and my sister's garden, surrounded the dance floor. In the center we had a fake fire going out of a big metal drum. The drum had a fan blowing little pieces of fire-colored cloth that looked like flames. A lamp shining upwards illuminated the cloth. So if, by chance, you were too hot from dancing then you could go and put your head over the fake fire and cool off with a nice cool breeze.

I'm sure I'm missing some details about what we did to transform the property into an adult and child's playground but I assure you we left no detail undone. There was mood lighting everywhere, candles with mirrors behind them, tactile touchy feely things, colors, toys like spinning lights, smoke machine, sparklers, bubble blowers- the works. My sister's gardens and orchard already have a magical feeling so the changes we made only enhanced an already enchanted garden.

Our close friends started coming the day before so that they could have a hand in the creative process of putting the place together- this is the tribe that I was talking about. Then on New Years Eve day more people rocked up to start early. By evening there was a large crowd buzzing and bouncing around the place exploring to see the final results and putting the last minute touches on things or getting into party mode by showering etc. After a few days of hard work preparing we hopped into my car, Yolanda-The Millennium Falcon and drove to the beach. A nice dip in the ocean was perfect for washing off all the dust-crusted sweat. One friend of mine rode on the roof of the car all the way back (we are way out in the country on dirt roads and the beach is just a minute away). I came back and changed into some party clothes. I will spare you from launching into a long diatribe of my idea of the perfect party attire but suffice to say I think that you should be comfortable and have lots of pockets for things like lighter, camera, beverage holder, tissues, and a flashlight (if you are going to be outside in the dark).

The party went off! It was a new moon so things were perfectly pitch black that weren't illuminated by us. There was good attendance and a fair few of the ladies were attractive and I think single. I didn't really notice because I was having too much fun.

The party was full of lots of interesting characters. The only hiccup was rain. It rarely rains here in the summer but for New Years we had a really good drenching. The good thing was that the rain held off as a mere light drizzle up until about 3 am. So it was a nice cool rain in the hot night. But at 3 it just poured down and we had to pull out the DJ equipment, computer, and projector. It didn't stop the party but people were shifted onto the veranda and the covered areas that were still large enough to hold everyone.

People stayed up all night. I eventually went to bed around 6 in the morning. A lot of people stayed for a few days- the ones that came before to help construction came stayed the longest. New years day was just a lazy day of sitting around, taking naps, and telling stories about the party and what happened. You have to have the post-party story telling to get the complete story of what was going on. In a big party like that each person only has their own observations but they get funnier when you compare stories about who did what and what time it happened. You can get the collective story clear. "Who was the funny person dancing all night?", "who was the person bouncing around the party like a wild animal?", questions like that are answered. Its good to get that all sorted out. Then eventually the sun fell and we drifted to bed at a more reasonable hour on the first day of the year.

The following day was for disassembling what we had so diligently constructed and it took a full day to do it. We picked up the pieces, trash, bottles, and remnants of a three-day party. Took down the teepee canvas, washed the dishes, and scraped the barbie clean from the abundance of meals that it cooked (and it was busy). I ate lamb chops, Kangaroo, sausages, beefsteak, pork chops, chicken, squid, oysters, crayfish, shrimp, and I'm sure something else that I'm forgetting that came hot off the Barbie. I couldn't even begin to list the array of salads and veggies or other finger foods and fruits that were on hand at the continuous buffet table. It seems like everyone was always adding a little bit more food to the table that we allocated just for food. With everyone adding a little bit every so often we were never short of delicious good foods to satisfy all our snack-attack urges.

Now that all the dust has settled from the party I've settled right into being a homebody. With the little money I saved up from working I can afford to just hang out and live here providing I don't plan on going into town to go to the pubs. I don't have any expenses here. We have lots of little things that need to be done around the property. Chickens that need fed, doors that need fixed or put back on the hinges, gardening, mowing, fruit picking. Providing that I help my sister with all this stuff she is being an awesome sibling by supporting my broke ass. She buys the groceries and I do the hard jobs around the house or anything that I can do that needs done. I end up opening a lot of jars and getting things down from hard to reach places...But both of us are kind of lazy. Lately things that don't need to be resolved immediately are being put off for another day so that we can go hang at the beach.

The Temperature has finally risen and the weather that I expected when I came here has finally arrived. For the last few days it's been 30-40 C every day and not much lower than 30 at night (80 F at 9am and 100+ F during the day). It's freaking hot and it hasn't really rained in a while. We get the occasional sprinkle but not enough to wet more than the surface. But that's what I wanted after living in cold, wet, and rainy Romania. I can walk outside at 4 in the morning in my jocks and still be hot and sweaty. I'm warm all over. Plus that penetrating heat makes the cold Antarctic current comprising the ocean's water seem refreshing rather than too cold. We had a major heat wave (one of the hottest in years) around the time that I started this paragraph. It got up to nearly 50C, which is dangerously hot. I loved it but now its back to the mid 20s and 30s- better for everyone. In temperatures much above 35 for a long time it just isn't safe.  The power starts going off because of everyone using the air conditioner. It's still warm and summery but without the dangerous temperatures.

I've been exploring some of the local beaches. Since we are on a long and mostly remote coastline there are several beaches within less than a 5-30 minute drive. Some are rocky little enclaves that you climb down into a small but white sandy beach, others are long beaches that you can drive on and launch boats from with water that is only ankle deep for a hundred meters before it gets deeper. There are beaches that you have to park the car and then hike over big sand dunes to get to. There are beaches that you have to climb down a cliff to get to but where you can guarantee that there isn't going to be anyone within earshot. There are beaches with and without people and if you are at one of the local towns then they have a pier/jetty where you can jump off to cool yourself or fish from.

I've never lived on the coast. I've always been a mountain kind of man-A LANDLUBBER. Where I have always gone to the forest, mountains, river, and lakes for excursions, here they go to the sea, fishing on and offshore at the sea, swimming on beaches, and surfing. Australia's populated areas are mostly on the coastlines so most of the people here are coastal people. One person I spoke to seemed surprised when I told him that I was a lifeguard as a teenager. "Where did you swim if you didn't live on the coast?" he said.  Since there aren't any big rivers or lakes around it was difficult for him to picture someone swimming in deep water that wasn't an ocean or a bay.

I mentioned that I was picking fruit. My sister is a coordinator for a local market every two weeks. The people there sell a variety of items. There are people who sell fresh harvested honey from local bees, almonds, homemade olives, jams, cakes, food of all sorts, hand crafts, artsy things, clothes, fresh fruits and veggies. My sister sells sauces, jams, fruits, veggies, garlic, and plants from her garden, and other assorted things. She has lots of things that she needs to do to prepare. I help her where I can and help her set up and take down her stall. Right now there is a huge mulberry tree that needs to be picked every few days. The fresh picked mulberries can be sold for a high price to people at the market. The juice is used for making mulberry wine and the pulpy stuff is used for making jam. Mulberries are so bloody red that it looks like you literally have blood on you hands. They are so juicy that some burst as soon as you try to pull them off the tree. Oh, and they're tasty (for those of you who haven't tasted mulberries they are like blackberries without the seeds).

We have nectarines and peaches on the way. We just harvested an apricot tree and make heaps of apricot chicken sauce for sale at the market. There is a fig tree that is bigger than a house. We've cut a path into it and you can climb in it like a tree house. Its figs are nearly ripe and will be used for making fig jam. There are also some almond trees, lemon, orange, papayas, apple, and other assorted fruit trees that are in varying stages of ripeness. There are some fruits and veggies that I've tasted that I haven't ever had before like the banana passion fruit, tamarillo, and gooseberries. Every now and then when we are lucky a fresh strawberry appears in the strawberry patch. We have zucchini coming out of our ears. Soon the tomatoes will be ready to come off and hopefully some cucumbers will come now that we have a larger water supply.

In my last update I tried to explain that my sister saves and uses rainwater as her only source of water. For years rainwater has been all she has used for water on her property. The rain is pollution free here so it's actually better than most other water you can get. Her well went dry when the water table dropped and she just recently got a new one dug. All the gutters and roofs are linked up to collect and deposit rainwater into several huge rainwater tanks she has on the property. This year they were all filled up during the rainy season but now we have only one tank left that is mostly full. We were getting close to running out of water. But thankfully she just got her well fixed up and a pump put in so that she has a new supply of well water. 

All her gardening, washing clothes, drinking water, flushing the toilet, etc. was done with rainwater. Everything, so she had to be very careful not to exhaust her supply. We had to take short showers, use less soap when doing dishes so that you don't have to rinse them, not take baths, and other water conservations. It isn't difficult but you have to be deliberate of how you use water and be careful not to waste it like leaving the tap on when you brush your teeth or shave. It would be useful for city dwellers to monitor their water usage even though we think water is infinite, potable water is actually a rare thing on our earth. I have a better understanding about how much water I use.

Now however, her well can pump out some serious amounts of water. I think if you do the math of the capacity she could fill up her rainwater tanks in a day with well water. Not that she is planning on doing it (rainwater is preferable to well water) but it's a relief. Cause now we can turn the hose on for the cucumber plants and tomato plants or fruit trees for a little while everyday so that they produce more and bigger fruits and veggies. Plus when we get back from the beach I can hose off for a longer period of time with the hose. Flushing the toilet, watering the garden, and other things where water quality doesn't matter can now be done with well water.

I want to clarify that her well supplies beautiful water. It tastes great and is clear. You could totally drink the water and be happy if all you had was the well. Rainwater is just considered better quality. Rainwater is very soft and very pure. Probably though, the well water has more minerals in it and it's arguably better for you to drink if you have mineral deficiencies.

Now, to completely switch directions...

 A headache that I had dealt with since I arrived was my tourist visa status. I was originally only supposed to stay 3 months but I applied for a longer stay. It took forever to get any word from the office that makes the decisions about how long I can stay and what I need to give them in order to be granted permission to stay longer. They finally asked for all kinds of things like money in the bank, chest x-ray, specific dates that I wanted to leave, proof that my sister was helping me out with a place to stay. All their requirements eventually forced me make preparations to move on. 

They wanted me to buy a plane ticket. My sister and friends are going over to the state capital Adelaide in March for a three-day concert festival and since Adelaide has a big airport it would be best to fly from there. After the concert I'll be flying out of Australia to California to visit my former college roommate. He and his wife live in San Diego. I will stay there a few days to catch up on our lives and then:  "Take me home, country roads, to the place I belong, West Virginia, mountain mama...Take me home country road"

Actually, if I'm gonna settle down then the place that I want to call home will most likely be in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. But nothing is for certain. When I speak of taking me home I mean the place where my mom and family live. I haven't seen them in almost two years and I'm missing them all. I wish I had a cool international job with decent income and that I could just pay for them to fly and visit me. But, I'm still riding the George Costanza train- Unemployed and living with my family.

I have to go to the safety of home for some mother-cooked meals until I can get back on my feet. But I don't intend on letting much time pass before my feet hit the street toward the next step in my life. Whatever that step is to be... I'll be marching to the beat of the little drummer in my head on to what will be my next phase in life. I hope its something cool but whatever, whatever... You do what you have to.

As far as jobs go I'm still looking. During all of these fun little travels that I have been up to since June I haven't neglected my job search. I probably average of applying to around 10 jobs a month. I've just not met with much success. Right now I'm currently applying to work on a boat in Alaska, lead teenagers on community service trips, community development officer on a remote desert aboriginal community, teaching English in China, and a mish mash of government jobs in the states. If something interesting comes up I will send out an update as to my good fortune.

Until then, I have a month and a half left. It's summer here and I love it. I'll continue to be my sister's little helper. I'm gonna keep on enjoying my visit with my nephew and this wonderful land down under. Perhaps I will make another update if something worth writing about transpires. But when you're living in the country things don't change very much. I expect in three weeks I'll still be picking fruit or mowing grass around the house. I'm sure that my sister and I will be frequenting the beach and enjoying the summer. We've certainly enjoyed the past few months and although hits been a long visit it still feels too short and I'll be sad to go.

Even now as I start to think about plane tickets and what I will pack for the trip home I feel like my visit is being cut short by that annoying thing called reality. The REAL WORLD beckons. In 1994 there was a movie for generation X-ers called "Reality Bites". I don't agree with that statement but reality is certainly taking a bite into my stay here. 

MUSINGS:

Below are a few extra things that I want to muse about. Many of them are questions that people asked me in personal e-mails. They are for my own records and are some minor thoughts and observations on Australia. These are my opinions and some of these are my superficial observations. These musings are more applicable to Rural and small town outback Australia than to the eastern coast populated areas (which last I was there reminded me of California or Florida).

The Myth of The Great Australian Barbie:

You want to know what an Australian Barbie is? It's a griddle plate. Just like the ones in any roadside diner anywhere in America. It's a flat iron plate over coals or gas burners. But it doesn't really matter what its over cause if you used wood the flavor of the wood can not penetrate into the stuff that's cooked on the Barbie plate. It does offer some advantages. You can cook bacon and eggs. You can slice onions and veggies like potatoes and put them directly on the Barbie so that they cook along with the meat. I would even say that in some ways it's better because it does a good job of searing the meat without letting the juices drop through the grate. I prefer a flame broiled grill with charcoal or wood. The flavor that is added from flame grilling far outweighs the utility of the griddle style plate. I found that I was wishing for the flame grilled flavor each and every time I ate it. And how many times have you hear about "Shrimp on the Barbie"?  In my entire stay here I have never had an Australian make shrimp on the Barbie. I cooked some for myself but when I've eaten shrimp here they have been peel and eat, crumbed, or battered and fried. Even though I don't prefer the Australian Barbie cooker id doesn't mean that they don't cook a hell of a lot of awesome food on it! Great Food! The cooking device is marginal but the great abundance of meat that you get at a Barbie is the real jewel!

 

Meat Eaters- Eat your National animal:

Australia is definitely full of some meat and potatoes people. Saw what you want about the Barbie but their food is abundant and good. In general the most common thing to find at a cookout is sausage. I have yet to see a cookout where there weren't sausages of some sort. The closest thing I can think to their type of sausages is bratwurst. Sausages are made with chicken, lamb, beef, turkey, etc. A cooked sausage (often placed on a piece of bread folded over with some ketchup) is called a "Snag". In addition to snags you can expect to eat some lovely lamb chops. There are a lot of sheep In Australia and they love to eat lamb. Its good quality and not too expensive. The beef is good but pricey because the Australian climate isn't as agreeable to raising cows as it is for sheep. Chicken and turkey are the same as anywhere. Pork is ok but the best quality pork I believe is still found in Eastern Europe.

Australia's two national animals are the Emu and the Kangaroo, both of which are edible and sold in supermarkets. The only country where the national animals are edible. I think Kangaroo is the best meat Australia has to offer but hardly anyone eats it (because it's so cute I guess). It's a red meat, very lean, with a bite texture similar to beef. Kangaroo has virtually no marbling or fat so it is very low in cholesterol. Kangaroos are wild game and vegetarians. They are not injected with heaps of chemicals or kept in big herding pens like other industrial agricultural animals. It tastes similar to beef. It is also the cheapest meat in the store if you can find it.

Gambling:

Australians are rampant gamblers. Their biggest annual sporting event is a horse race called the Melbourne Cup. Nearly every town has a horse race track. The Melbourne cup is like the Super bowl, America's Kentucky Derby, and the miss America pageant all rolled into one (There are fashion shows like Miss Melbourne cup that are equivalent of Miss America.). It's called the "Race that stops the nation". It's called that because the government officials are given the day off so that they can attend the spectacle. The build up and fervor associated with race day starts weeks before when the horses qualify to enter the race. Then the betting begins. This year the winning horse was named Makybe Diva and was a horse from our local town Port Lincoln. This year she won for the third year in a row, which is really something. Its like bowling a 300 game then hitting a few consecutive holes in one at a golf course all the while you have a million dollar bet riding on your success. She did it. I bet 5 bucks and won 20. In addition to the government officials being off work, the entire country takes the day off and goes to the pub to watch the race and place their bets

Every pub has a section where there are about a half dozen televisions tuned to various races in several countries. You can bet on nearly every race in the world that you want to. Just fill out the bubble box and pay the person your money. Gambling is a huge problem. The children actually learn about how to bet. For the Melbourne Cup the first-graders in school have a play-bet going on with fake money for the race. People don't think this is spooky cause it is so ingrained but when you look at the figures its astounding. A lot of people don't have the money to bet with so they go to loan sharks. There is a lot of crime associated with loan sharks breaking in and taking peoples possessions in lieu of money that they are owed for a gambling debt. Nuff said...

New Sport:

I've learned a lot more than I ever thought I would know about cricket and I still couldn't explain a game. But they have this thing called test match cricket. Test matches are between countries. They last 5 days. Test matches are a test of endurance for people who can stomach to watch a cricket match on TV all day long for five whole days. Literally Australia plays cricket against other commonwealth and former colonies for days at a time. They usually win and until last year they were the world champions for nearly a decade or more.  I've also discovered a game called Bocce Ball (or bollee) and I hope to buy a set so that I can play it with those of you who like horseshoes. It's similar to horseshoes in that you have to throw something close to another something and the closest wins points but its more fun.

Work:

The Australian work ethic is something similar to a hybridization of Spanish, British, and American work style. They have a labor code that guarantees certain things like vacation, holiday, and sick leave. They are fortunate because they are guaranteed to have several weeks a year off for holiday and the American is lucky to get two weeks total. They have a lot of trade unions no doubt a holdover form their colonial days. Essentially they have powerful unions that the average Australian would think are weak and inefficient but they would be an American CEO's worst nightmare. Servers in restaurants do not work for tips and they are still friendly. Most people that I talk to don't eat a lunch. They have a thing called smoko (explained next).  They take lunch breaks but don't eat large meals probably because the heat. Some jobs have to stop work during the hottest hours of the day because it's just too hot- hence the Spanish siesta style work schedule. Most everyone who is unemployed and looking for a job is entitled to receive the dole. It's like welfare and there are a whole lot of people who have made it an art to appear to be looking for work while really just sitting back to collect the monthly check.

Smoko:

I think this stands for a smoke and a coffee. But every day around ten o'clock in every office and construction site in Australia the workers simultaneously leave their post for Smoko. They have about 30 minutes for having a quick snack and a smoke if they wish until they go back to work. At lunch they have an hour but I didn't see many people eating during that lunch. Basically they have two separate times for stopping for a snack instead of one long lunch. Workers who work outside will periodically take breaks, which are also called Smoko. But for sure everyone has a smoko at around 10. Some others may jus have more smokos throughout the day.

Smoking and Drinking:

Australia has taken the route that many other nations wish to go in which they tax the living hell out of all vice and then use that tax money to pay for the rising cost of health care associated with government regulated drugs. A pack of cigarettes cost over 10 dollars and the cheapest six-pack of beers is over 11 dollars form the bottle shop. You can only buy alcohol from a bottle shop or served from a pub or restaurant. Even if you could afford it, you can't just go to the local store and buy some beers. They don't have them. The pubs are more expensive but the bottle shops are already crazy expensive. The cheapest bottle of vodka that you can buy a 1liter bottle of costs 40 dollars. A bottle of Jim beam or something like that costs over 50 dollars Australian. Taylor made cigarettes are so expensive that people buy packs of "rollies". The largest pack of rolling tobacco costs around 25 dollars. Prices don't vary much because the prices are so regulated. You CAN buy cigarettes at the corner shops. The prices are high because the taxes. You have to bear in mind that if an Australian wants or needs to go tot the doctor it is free. An ambulance for emergency care and a hospital bed is also free. Think about it when you pay your health insurance bill how nice free health care would be... The tax pays for universal health care. Since alcohol and tobacco are hazardous to your health then you should pay for the health care via a high tax on the vice. Some states are putting into effect the smoking laws like ones in California but as it stands most of the country it is still legal to smoke in pubs. But you can't smoke a cigarette if you are within 1 meter of the bar. There are no ashtrays at the bar. For ashing you must go to the tables or the walls. This is to protect the wait staff so that they aren't forced to breath in second hand smoke as a part of their job.

Restaurant ordering:

Restaurants nearly all have the same ordering style that fast food restaurants have all over the world. You go up to a counter, tell them what you want, pay the bill, they giver you a number or ask you where you are sitting and then bring you your food. There aren't servers like in the states. It has its advantages because you have paid the bill before you ever eat and you don't have to wait for the check when you leave. But if you want a coffee or something else to drink then you have to go up and order another. In Europe you have the service where people are supposed to wait on your table but because they don't work on tips then your service is marginal at best. In Australia, the servers are very friendly and helpful but it isn't their job to wait on you so you don't get waited on. In the states you have a person who works on tips who acts fake so that they can get some money out of you and they work for slave wages. Seems like there should be a hybrid. Australia wins the medal for having superior service without a tip-influenced reward. America wins the medal on service if you just want to be taken care of. Romania and most of Europe wins on having awesome natural ingredients and general atmosphere where you are happy to wait for their shitty service. The other day I spent over thirty dollars on a lunch where all we ordered was salads and a drink and I think for that kind of money they could provide a server to come to my table and ask me if I want anything else like a coffee.

Fast food:

Australians have nearly the same fast food chains that we have. They have burger king but its called Hungry Jack's and they have the golden arches, subway, KFC. All the usual suspects. I still don't understand why Taco Bell hasn't expanded into the international market. They'd make a killing. Australians do have their own vernacular fast food available at nearly every shop. The meat pie, the sausage role, and fish n chips. In nearly every shop in Australia you can order a meat pie. The meat pie is like a little potpie and traditionally it is filled with a beef meat-n-sauce mixture that tastes like meat in brown gravy. They also come in veggie, chicken, chili n cheese, pizza, mushroom, etc. The most common brand name is Mrs. Macs and I reckon that you should try the varieties should you come here. They are never more than a few dollars and they are pretty hearty. The sausage role is simply a sausage wrapped around in puff pastry like a pig in a blanket. It also tastes mighty fine and is filling. Given the choice of a Big Mac or sandwich from a typical fast food chain I think I would take a meat pie from a corner shop any day over the burger fries combo. You can get fish and chips in nearly every place that serves food. That kind of goes without saying. The British populated Australia and the love of fish and chips came with them to this mostly coastal nation.

Reckon:

The word, reckon, is a common and correct word in the English language. In the British and other commonwealth nations it is not uncommon to hear someone of an educated background say "I reckon" followed by what they think. People in Appalachia have preserved the usage of that term and in America it is often laughed at as an incorrect or slang type of speech. In Australia the word is very common. I like the word reckon and I have always used it. I reckon I will continue to use it...

Other Words:

Session- Used to describe a drinking session. You have a Sunday session if you go out to a pub or to someone's house on Sunday and drink all day.

Knickers- When I hear this word I want to giggle but it is the colonial English equivalent of panties. When I say panties people have the same reaction that I have to the word knickers. I wonder why that is? One sounds strangely cheeky to the person who doesn't use the other.

Feral- Instead of using the word wild Australians love to use the word feral. Same meaning but they talk of feral children. Feral cats in the desert. Wild cat =Feral Cat

Show- Similar to party. Christmas Show = Christmas party... No idea

Triple J and radio language warnings:

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/

The radio stations here are pretty cool. Even though the government pays the bill they manage to have some pretty cool talk and musical stations. The rock radio station is called Triple J. The DJs actually play what they like and not just something that a computer generates so that sponsors still pay for advertisements. Instead of advertisements you get a lot of interviews of bands or insights into the making of the song or album. They actually discuss the music. Each DJ had their own style. You can listen on-line at the following link. I strongly suggest it cause there are a lot of good Australian bands. When they play songs or interviews that have questionable subject matter or lyrics they don't bleep them out. Instead they say something like "the following segment has strong or offensive language, if you do not wish to hear it then perhaps you should change the channel". How awesome is that? Turn the channel if you don't like it. That is so natural and sensible that I wonder why we don't do that at home...Check out the link!

 

New years year of the mojo...

My friends here have a thing where they name the years. 2005 was "The year of toughening up". But 2006 is "The Year of the Mojo". There were a few people who made t-shirts for New Year's that said "Team Mojo- Fuck Yeah". A throwback to Team America.

Bilby:

The rabbit is a foreign invasive feral pest in Australia. It is so much of a pest that they have killed thousands of them, they built a fence across the entire country to keep rabbits out of the farmland, and they have introduced several genetically created viruses in order to kill off the populations. You can't go around mass murdering bunny rabbits and the Easter bunny if the children get upset... So the Australians have done a good job at making children affectionate for the Bilby (A native marsupial mouse size kangaroo type thing). They have the Easter Bilby not the Easter Bunny. At night the Bilby comes on the television to tell the children its time to go to bed. It's funny that they have done this so that the kids won't mind the killing of so many little pesky rabbits.

Flies:

In my sight at this very moment is at least 6 flies that are lurking around the room in a manner that might bug me had I not got used to flies. I can't explain it but there are so many flies here buzzing around and landing on you that you just have to get used to it. At first I bought a fly net for my head but now I can handle it. Flies crawling in your eye, ear, mouth, nose, food. Big ones, little ones, biting ones, loud ones, etc. ANNOYING!!! But from now on I can handle the worst fly situation without going crazy. Australia has taught me to deal with flies.

UFOs and disappearances:

There are a lot of people who e-mailed me questions about strange happenings/sightings. There have been a lot of people who go out in the bush and never come back. Some think its murdering serial killers and other say its UFOs. I haven't seen anything strange. But I'll keep looking. There was a movie called Wolf Creek about some backpackers who disappeared. I hear its kind of crazy. It's plot sounds similar to this one dude who just recently got sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and killing some British backpacker and his wife in the Northern Territory. Creepy people out there.