Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Some of My Favourite Things

It’s been a super rainy winter in Sydney – it rained almost all of last week and we had the coldest days of the year at 14 degrees. Feeling bad for me? You shouldn't that is in Celsius...which is 57 degrees Fahrenheit - people were in parka's!

I need to start jotting down things as they happen, for now, here are a few fun Australian facts off the top of my head.   
 
The money here is awesome - its plastic so you can wash is and bend it and it really never gets damaged. It is also different sizes and colors - the bigger bills are worth more money, you can kind of see that here. The smallest bill they have is $5. The coins to the right are $2, $1, 50, 20, 10, 5 cents. There are no pennies, which is awesome. 

I think there are then $50 and $100 bills, but that's it. 

Utes are awesome El Camino-esk cars that are popular in the country and amongst Bogans (Australian for WT, hope that’s not offensive). I really want to make a friend that owns own so I can catch a ride. Extra points if you have a dog in the back. 


Australians are very environmentally conscious, Chris fits in perfectly J If you leave the door to our fridge or freezer open too long, it starts annoyingly beeping at you since you are wasting energy. I can’t help but think of Eric every time making some comment to Mary Ellen about letting all the bought air out. Such an old man!  

Seriously, how tiny is it!  
The freezer is even smaller - I don't think a Jack's will fit in here!

We went on a walk with Jules a few weekends ago and I saw some nets near a beach in the water. They were shark nets. Not that I was headed for a swim at the moment, but it made me not want to swim.

I had a few lessons from Greg, Oscar’s Dad, in Australia’s deadly animals. Black snake = bad, but if you get bit you live. Brown snake = you die. But don’t run, just stand there and hope it goes away. I think that was the advice, maybe I should look this up. Also goanna’s, I’m spelling that phonetically, are these huge lizards. They ate 2 of Robbie’s Mom’s rabbits the other day just to give you a picture. They are pretty scared of people, but they think people are trees, so if you scare them, they try to get away from you BY CLIMBING UP YOU, because you are a tree. I didn’t sleep for days after this “helpful” lesson.

I am so grossed out that I am even putting this on the blog

The booze here is expensive – we saw a case of corona is $80. Corona Fridays will be no more. The coolest thing however is on every alcoholic beverage there is an alcohol content label that tells you the drink equivalent of your beverage. No matter the size or alcohol percentage you know how much you are drinking! Their beers here are heavy, no coors light here!  

8.8 on the wine and 1.2 on the cider

There are so many different types of coffee – but nothing like our American coffee. The closest is a long black, which is basically an Americano (espresso and water). I think I have narrowed my favorite to a flat white, but I am still experimenting. Its kind of like a latte but less bitter.  

They all come with fancy designs

There is no such thing as a box spring here. There are bed bases, which is basically a non-fancy, fabric covered box frame that is always visible. The salesman when we bought our bed had no idea what a box spring was. It took us a while to work that one out. He also thought I was Canadian.  

The time change is something I don’t think I will ever fully get used to. It’s strange to wake up in the morning to a whole email chain from your friends that went on during their workdays, but is now over. Which brings me to the point of everyone should get What’s App so you can text with me! 

No comments:

Post a Comment