Throw Some Shrimp on the Barbie

Australia Day...

Australia Day is a national public holiday on January 26th.  Since it is a public holiday, everyone has off and most things shut down.  It happens to come at the end of summer vacation.  So its a big party to sit with your mates in your garden and have a BBQ.  This year, my parents were visiting so we went to a local nature reserve and then had a BBQ! Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is a 54.5 square kilometer protected area, on the fringe of Namadgi National Park, that is a short drive from the city of Canberra. 

Australia Day!

Watching the Roos at Tidbinbilla.

Big Gum Tree with a Kangaroo

At the nature reserve is this awesome park.  Here is Charlie on a flying fox.  It's basically a zip line and a lot of parks around Australia have them.  Behind the flying fox you can see a huge slide.  The kids love this park!

Charlie enjoying the flying fox.

Chaney enjoying the slide.

The awesome rope jungle gym.  These are also popular around Australia.  The kids' school just got one.

I've waited over two and a half years to see a kookaburra.  I finally saw one on our day to the nature reserve!

 

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• An Aussie phrase is "fair dinkum" which means true, genuine; an assertion of truth or genuineness. “It’s true, mate, fair dinkum.”
• It never ceases to amaze me how some Aussies walk around barefoot.  I was in Macca's (McDonalds) the other day and there was some dude waiting to order who was barefoot.  I've seen barefooted people in the mall, the grocery store, at the chemist (pharmacy), etc.  Yuck!  I don't need to see bare feet when ordering a happy meal!
• Speaking of McDonald's, they have a new lamb and feta wrap...  At McDonald's... 
• In Australia, it's not a closet.  It's a wardrobe.
• In Australia, you wouldn't say you are going on vacation.  You would say you are going on holiday.
• They like their meat flavored chips and biscuits.  And when I say biscuits, I mean crackers. This flavor doesn't appeal to me AT ALL!! I mean, I am a tad curious how they pull off a beef flavored potato chip.  But I definitely don't walk up to a chip aisle and say to myself, "Yummm! Beef chips!" Here are the Tasmanian Mountain Pepper & Braised Beef deli style potato chips. Umm, NO THANKS!
  
  
• The word "ripper" (pronounced "rippa") means something that is particularly good or excellent.  My husband is a "rippa" mate. Ripper.  (you just pronounced the R sound, didn't you?)
• In Australia, it's not a diaper.  It's a nappie.
• Instead of saying $4.52 like, "Four dollars and fifty two cents," Aussies say, "Four dollars fifty two."
• The Aussies use their savings account for their everyday spending.  Their checking account is where you put money for the longer term.  Ummmm...  Seems backwards to me!
•  French dressing doesn't look or taste like the French dressing in the U.S.   I wonder what the French would say about this... 
  
• If you order a milkshake, you are going to get something similar to chocolate milk.  If you want a proper American style milkshake, you need to order a "thickshake."
• Down under it isn't rush hour.  It's peak hour.
• Your choices of antiperspirant/deodorant in Australia consist of roll-on or aerosol spray.  That's it.  No solids.  No gels. I stock up on U.S. stuff to keep me from smelling.  Can't do the roll-on or aerosol.  I was told only old people use roll-ons.  I guess aerosols is where it's at. 
• Do you know that there is a type of grass down here that is called cooch.  It's true.  We couldn't stop laughing when watching a home show and the guy said, "I'm just laying down some low maintenance cooch."
• It's almost Easter time!  In Australia, they don't have those plastic eggs you stuff with candy and trinkets to hide around your house and yard.  Down here they have these foil wrapped chocolate eggs the size of a real egg.  They hide these.  In the summer.  Outside.  Every year, I'm glad the Easter bunny knows we are American and delivers our jelly beans and candy in plastic eggs instead! 
  

• The Aussies do not refer to their country as "down under."  I had to explain it to an Aussie...
• The Aussies would never say, "We are going to grill out."  They don't get it and I've had some confused looks when I say that.  They would say, "We are going to BBQ."
• They also do not say "Let's throw some shrimp on the barbie."  They never call shrimp shrimp.  They call them prawns.  They laugh and say "throw some shrimp on the barbie" is what the silly Americans say to us when they arrive. 

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Flying in Australia is different than flying in the U.S.  It's more like it was pre 9-11.  When the four of us fly domestic in Australia, Erich is the only one asked to show his ID.  I'm never asked.  You don't have to have a boarding pass to go through security.  So any Joe Schmo can go through security.  This means the kids and I can go wait by the gate when we pick up Erich after a trip away.  When you go through security, you can have liquids in your bag.  As much as you want! And it doesn't have to be in a quart size bag.  (Not that they have "quart" size bags here anyway.  "What's a quart?")  You don't have to take your shoes off.  Remember when it was that easy?

When Erich was returning from three week trip to the UK, we were able to go to the gate to meet him.  Here they are watching for Erich to get off the plane.

Erich has flown enough that we can now hang out in Qantas Lounge while we wait for our flight. We also get to board the plane first.  Once we move back to the U.S. it will be back to flying like commoners.  I don't know if we will survive.  *sigh

From the Qantas Lounge we watch our luggage be put on the plane we are getting ready to board.  

In December of last year, we flew back to the U.S. to visit family for Christmas.  On the Dallas to Norfolk, VA leg of the trip, an American Airline flight attendant gave each of the kids a travel log. We've really enjoyed having these!  At the beginning of each flight Erich hands them off to a flight attendant and she takes them to the cockpit.  Near the end of the flight she will return them to us.   Frequently the flight attendent will have a special message from the pilot and say the pilot has invited you up to see the cockpit when you are leaving the plane.  We've flown so much this past year that we had to add more pages to the log book.

One of the flight logs.

Captain Charlie sitting in the pilot's seat of the A380.

Captain Chaney

The kids have boarded 29 different airplanes since December of 2014.  They are well traveled little people!  They still very intently watch the flight attendents do the safety briefing at the beginning of every flight.  During the briefing, when they ask that you check for the life jacket under your seat, Charlie and Chaney really check to be sure its there.  And when they remind you that the closest exit may be behind you, the kids turn around and check. (I do that too.  I'm safety gal.)

Diligently looking over the safety information card.  Safety first!

This is from the JetStar laminated safety card located in the seat pocket in front of you.  I got a huge kick out of these pictures.  It shows you how to locate your life vest underneath your seat, how to put it on, snap the belt and pull it tight.  The last picture shows you how to calmly chill out and relax as your plane plummets towards the ocean. 

Hanging out in Airports...

Watching Qantas planes take off while waiting to board ours.  Chaney flew with her Santa hat in December 2014. 

Yes, they are on the floor in the airport.  This was around hour 27 of our trip in December 2014.  I was done caring about them all over the dirty airport carpet.  They were both sick and had had very little sleep on the plane. Look how happy they were.  Who am I to mess with that?  What's a little dirt anyway? 

Canberra Airport has this cool window in the floor to watch your luggage go by on a belt while it's on the way to be loaded into your plane. 

Early morning at Canberra Airport.

Waiting for takeoff.

On a 15 hour flight, you need to have earphones and a TV!  Luckily our really long flights have TVs in the seat back in front of you.   

On smaller flights there is no TV built into the seat in front of you.  Charlie and Chaney have their Kindle Fires to watch movies on and play games to pass the time.  (Thank goodness!)

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

•  Since Australia doesn't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, the stores start putting out Christmas stuff in September or October. 

Christmas candy out in October.

• In Australia, it's not called a slot machine.  It's called a "pokie" which is short for poker machine. 
• I love a cold root beer float.  Yummy! Most Aussies aren't familiar with root beer. Costco carries a lot of American products and they do carry A&W root beer.  If they have tried it, most don't care for it. They do have floats but they use cola.  And they don't call it a float.  They call it a spider.  A spider.  Hmmmm.... that name doesn't sound too tasty...

  

  
  At McDonald's you can get a McSpider.

• When selling your house, you don't talk about the lot size.  They call the plot of land your house sits on the block.  "How large is the block?"  
• You must really want a Twinkie if you are willing to pay that much.  
  

Brilliant & Classy

Chaney's New Look!

Chaney got her ears pierced! She has wanted them pierced for many, many years and we always would say, "when you are older..."  Well, our big 8 (and a half) year old finally seemed old enough.  She was very brave and only got anxious at the last second.  They had two ladies to pierce the ears so her ears were both done at the same time.  Brilliant.

After getting them pierced, we celebrated her bravery at the McDonald's in the mall food court with chicken nuggets and ice cream.   What a classy little lady!
(As a side note, a mall food court is my least favorite spot in the world. I think hell must be a mall food court.) 

Here in Australia, you go to the chemist (pharmacy) to get your ears pierced.  I learn something new here every day.

Chaney also got glasses!  She only needs them when reading or doing close up work.  (mostly at school)  She is adorable.

Let's talk about money...

Aussies think that all American money "looks alike" and they say they have a hard time telling the bills apart.  (I guess the number in the corner isn't enough.)   They think we are crazy for having dollar bills that look so much alike. (say the people that have monopoly money for their bills...)

Australian money is quite colorful and can look a little like play money until you get used to it.

I have to admit, after looking at the colorful Monopoly money that the Aussies use for the past two and a half years, the American bills all do look the same.

You've sunk my battleship!

Erich and Charlie enjoyed a hot game of Battleship.  

Winner!

Father's Day

Australia celebrates Father's Day on the first Sunday in September.  We had a great day celebrating Erich. 

The kids love their dad!  You will see the selection of gifts (wrapped by them) on the table.  They used an entire roll of wrapping paper and did a fabulous job. 

We got him this awesome dad shirt because he is an AWESOME DAD!  The kids also picked out gifts at their school's Father's Day Stall.  The school has tables of gifts they can pick from ranging in price from $2 to $8.  They picked out a Frisbee, golf tees, and Top Gear Stig Soap-on-a-Rope. 

Serious...

...and silly.

Car Parking in a Car Park

In Australia a parking lot is called a car park. (I still think of cars frolicking on a swing set when I hear it called a car park.)  Most have parking spots that are way too narrow. Pulling into the spot is a challenge and sometimes it's nearly impossible to get out of the car because you are so close to the car next to you. I think this is because most Australians drive very small cars. Some cars are starting to get a bit bigger but the parking spots are not.  One of my favorite things about a lot of the car parks here are the lights above each parking spot indicating if it is taken or if its available.  It makes it easy to tell from afar if there are any open spots.  Whoever invented this was brilliant. Brilliant!

See the red light above my car and the green lights above the empty spots?

The red lights make it super easy to see there are no open spots.

 You have to pay to park almost everywhere.  Around Canberra, it's usually around $2 an hour but can be more. Some cars even come with a slot to keep your parking ticket in so it's easy to access.  Brilliant.

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• In Australia, the person who cuts and styles your hair can not wax your eyebrows.  The nice place I get my hair done doesn't even have someone to do eyebrows. I have to make a separate appointment at a different establishment.  Who has time for that??  (Asks the girl with the bushy brow...)
• They are even making fun of Donald Trump on the Aussie comedy shows.  
• We shop at the Woolworth's grocery store.  The Aussies call it Woollies. 
• They call bell peppers capsicum.  So, you don't spray your attacker with pepper spray.  You use capsicum spray.
• Down here, its not drunk driving.  It's called "drink driving."  
• In America, a car seat for a baby is called an infant carrier.  Here it's called a capsule.
• "Cuppa" means a cup of tea (or coffee.)  "Come for a cuppa" means come for a cup of coffee or tea.    At the end of a long day, I like a cuppa wine with dinner. (That is an incorrect way to use the word.)                                                                            
• It's not a duvet or comforter or bedspread.  It's a doona.  The first time I heard the word, it was used in a way that I had no idea what it meant.  "I got a new doona."  Oh, the things that went through my brain that it could be... 
• On our Australian cable TV, we were just watching the EuroSport channel, listening to American announcers talk about a race in Beijing, China with all Caucasian runners.  What?
• We can't see the Big Dipper in the Australian night sky.  
• Kids don't get "ear tubes" down here.  They get grommets.
• For Sale signs that you put in your front yard when selling your house are about 10 times the size of the ones in the U.S.  It's more like a billboard with interior pictures.  It sure is eye catching and really brilliant if you think about it.  Why are the signs in the U.S. so small? 

• Here, when kids really, really, REALLY have to use the bathroom, they say they are "busting."   "Mom, I'm busting."   Even better is when they say, "I'm busting for the toilet."  It's so classy.