Don't Put Under Sunshine

Saturday, January 4th, 2014

Happy New Year!!

Our friends, an American family, live in an apartment on Lake Burley Griffin, the lake the city is centered around. On New Year's Eve, Canberra puts on a 9:00 pm "kids" fireworks show and then another show at midnight over the lake.  We went to our friends' apartment for dinner and to watch the early show.  The kids also did sparklers on their roof terrace.  We had a great time!  We left around 10:30 to get the kids home to bed.  Midnight is still a bit late for them.  On the way home we got pulled over for a RBT (Random Breath Test). The Aussies do these frequently and at all hours of the day and night.  This is Erich's second RBT in a month.  They have a section of the road where they flag down and pull over random vehicles.  They then ask you to loudly count to ten towards a machine they are holding near your mouth.  You don't have to blow into anything. The first time Erich was given the RBT was on his way home from work in the afternoon.  Of course Erich passed with flying colors both times.  I really wish I had snapped a picture! When we got home we put the kids to bed and stayed up to midnight and rang in the new year watching the Sydney fireworks on TV.

Charlie and Chaney watching the fireworks.
Chaney is in the red jacket and Charlie is on the far right.

On New Years Day we went to another American family's house for some traditional southern new years day food and to watch the Texas A&M vs Duke football bowl game. Among other things, we had black eyed peas, cabbage, pulled pork, and pecan pie.  At the end of the game when we were getting ready to leave, the tv was turned to watch the NYC ball drop live. The best way I can describe it was like an out of body experience. I know that we are like a ton of hours ahead of you guys.  I get that.  But seeing the ball drop was surreal since it felt like we had done that such a long time before. 

Erich got our new grill up and running.  We have used it twice.  We really enjoy our flat-top-griddle-free grill!

The Grill Master in action.

Yummy!

So today we left Canberra and drove 7 hours to Melbourne.  I am currently hanging out in our hotel room.  The kids are asleep so we are having to be quiet. 

Driving to Melbourne!

(the driver's eyes were not removed from the
 highway during the taking of this photo.)

My Random Thoughts & Observations...

• For Australian addresses, their postal (zip) codes have four numbers.  Ours is 2617. In the U.S. the zip codes have five numbers. But I guess you already knew that...  The Aussie state abbreviations are three letters.  Ours is ACT. (Australian Capital Territory) I don't need to tell you how many letters are in the U.S. state abbreviations... 
• Driving to Melbourne, the highway crossed over several creeks.  There was always a sign to tell us the name of the creek.  There was "Craphole Creek."  (I kid you not.)  There was also 7 mile creek, 11 mile creek, 15 mile creek, and about 3 other "________ Mile Creek."  We were curious as to why the creeks are called 11 Mile Creek instead of using the word Kilometer.  They don't use miles over here, they use kilometers.  So why?  Maybe "11 Mile Creek" is easier to say than "17.702784 Kilometer Creek."  But it does have a ring to it, doesn't it?
• The Aussies don't call it a highway they call it a motorway.  And when I hear this word, it's like cueing the music in my head, "Get your motor runnin. Head out on the highway."  (I am perfectly aware that I am a freak.  I've accepted it.  So should you.) (Did you know cueing could be spelled cuing or cueing? I looked it up and now I'm passing my knowledge on to you.  Interesting stuff you learn on this blog, right?) 
 
• The toilet in our hotel bathroom has a warning sticker on the inside of the lid.  Check it.  I really don't know what to think...

Here you can see the warning sticker on the raised toilet lid.





Ummm.....   (cricket)
Yep.  I bet you are speechless too.
Still scratching my head on this one.
But one thing is clear.
Whatever you do, never, ever
put your toilet under sunshine.
Ever.