Some Aussie Things I Have Learned.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYLES!!! This post is for you. I am sorry I cannot be there for your birthday but this blog post is dedicated to you. I hope you enjoy buddy!


First some Aussie slang for you. This is just some of the words I have now had to add to my brain's dictionary so that life here is just a little less confusing.

USA	Strayn (Australian)
Lemonade	Squash
Flipflops	Thongs
Johnny	Johno
Cookis/crackers	Bickies/biscuits
Afternoon	Arvo
Guy	Bloke
Truck	Ute
Trash can	Rubbish bin
Bathroom	Toilet
Tradesman	Trady
Party week after HS graduation	Schoolies
Beer koozie	Stubby holder
Gas station	Servo/ petrol station
Candy	Lollies
Vons	Woolworths
Red neck	Bogan
Mcdonalds	Maccas
Mosquito	Mozzie
Thrift shop	Op shop/ salvo
Good job	Good on ya
No lies / the truth	Fair dinkum
How are you?	Howya goin?
Would you like some tea?	Wanna cuppa?
Ketchup	Tomato sauce (dead horse)
Electrician	Sparky
Cantaloupe	Rockmelon
BBQ	Barbie
Great/awesome	ripper
Lots	Heaps
Cheap wine	Goon
Make out	Pash
Food	Tucker
Thanks	Ta
Sausages	Snags
Hiking	Bushwhacking
No problem	No worries
Beer can	Tinny
Sketchy	Dodgy
Sheets and such	Manchester
Comforter	Dunna
It’ll be ok	She’ll be right
Booze	Grog
Australian rules football	Footy
Expensive	Dear
Chicken	Chook
Middle of nowhere	Woop woop/ never never
Shopping cart	Trolly
Wasted	Pissed
French fries	Chips
Potato chips	Potato crisps

Now for some cool australian animals!!!!

A koala

Some dingos. They were so cool. Much smaller than I thought they would be. I even got a kiss on the cheek from one! I felt so special.  

More of the dingos. they loved me and I loved them. 

They look like nice and friendly dogs. They are not. their only loyalty is to food and their trainers make it very clear they can be quite aggressive but will stay FAR away from humans in the wild. 

I think you can guess that this is a kangaroo ;)

an emu

this is the #2 deadliest snake in the world! An eastern brown snake.

I don't remember what the rest of these are called.  

I took these pictures all at Healesville australian animal sanctuary. These animals were incredible. Some of the birds weren't even in cages they were just happy to wander the area and follow people around (probably hoping for some food). 

How they sing happy birthday in Australia:

Happy Birthday to you

happy birthday to you

happy birthday dear Myles

happy birthday to you!

hip hip, HORAY!

hip hip, HORAY!

hip hip, HORAY!!!!!

I hope you have a ripper of a year. Can't believe you are so old already! 

LOVE and miss you so much. Now have an extra slice of cake for me ;) tell mom I said so. 

Melbourne Adventures

     Now that I have a job I am able to finally go out exploring and not worry about money so much. It is such a relief and I have been having so much fun!

The Original Staff at Pirgo: everyone makes me look so short!

     Everyone at work gets along well and most nights we have drinks and chat until late into the night. One day during one of these chats it got decided that I would be put in charge of planning a night out. BAD IDEA! I am new to the area and not exactly the first person one should talk to when planning a night out even at home. So needless to say the night didn't exactly go as planned. We started out taking two cars with everyone in them. On the way there I stashed my keys in Jarv's car (this is important to remember).  We then proceeded to go to a bar with a small dance floor. It was too loud to talk and too awkward to dance so we decided to move on to a club. On the hunt for a good and cheap club, that wasn't out of the way, we failed. So we went to Dakota were it was fun and loud with decent music. For those who went to high school with me it was like a high school dance only there were no chaperones and somehow the dancing was surprisingly cleaner. About 5 minutes in Jarv left and told us we could get a taxi back to where the night started and where my car was (remember where my keys are?). At about 3:30 we left and took a taxi back as suggested and got dropped off. There I reached for my keys after agreeing to drive my co workers to their housed so there would be no one walking in the dark home when guess what was missing...       thats right! My Keys.  Realizing my mistake I called Jarv several times but the man was tired from a long weeks work and wouldn't pick up the phone. I was stuck at 4am in the cold with a locked car sitting on a bench on the side of the road ready to wait till the morning when someone would either get to work and open up or for Jarv to wake up.   I did eventually get my keys back the next day.   

At the Bar w/ coworkers. 

"Mostly it is loss that teaches us about the worth of things" -Arthur Schopenhauer     I learned an important lesson about the worth of keys and keeping track of them. I would have been so lost had I not been able to locate my keys 

The Job Hunt

 

      I made the mistake of looking for a job RIGHT before Christmas when everyone will be too busy to hire for a couple weeks. Not smart, Sam. SO. I spent a LOT of time replying to hundreds of job adds and walking around restaurants near my place looking for employment as, hopefully, a waitress.
     Eventually places started getting back to me and I got several interviews. After these interviews I would often go and wander around the area and just soak in the new environment. Eventually I did get a job.

     I will now be working at Pigro. It's a new restaurant opening up and so far it has been interesting being there for the beginning of the project. It is set to open next wednesday but so far I like everyone I will be working with and once the job starts I should get lots of hours. fingers crossed. 

Luna Park

Theater next to Luna Park

                                                           

Me making tacos for a coworker after our meeting was canceled. 

"Tacos are like what the voices of a hundred angels singing Bob Dylan while sitting on rainbows and playing banjos would taste like if that sound were edible" - Isabel Quintero 

Because Tacos are delicious and a rare treat here where it is hard to find good Mexican food.

Holidays Away From Home

   
      Christmas and the holidays really snuck up on me once I moved to Melbourne. I got focused on the Job hunt and getting used to the new area and leaning how to use their public transportation. Once I saw how low my funds were getting and that it was nearly christmas I began to freak out and become quite stressed and overwhelmed. I think without the love and support my parents and family gave me it would have been an even more difficult time. 

     The family I was staying with was nice but they were going away on Christmas and I needed a job and a place to move to one the family was going on vacation. Thankfully I found some wonderful roommates (Dan and Sean) and moved in on christmas eve. I didn't want to spend Christmas alone and they both invited me to their family which was such a nice welcome. I spent Christmas morning on video chat with the whole family and it was so nice to see everyone together again. I have missed them all so much and it was so wonderful to see them open gifts from me from across the world. Later I got to spend the rest of the day with Dan's family and they were so nice and welcoming to me and it made being away from everyone back home so much easier. 

Dan and Sean on left.

Dad and the present mom helped me make him.

"There's a part of me that thinks perhaps we go on existing in a place even after we've left it" -Colum McCann
It was nice to talk to home and feel that I was still there in the hearts and minds back home even if I couldn't be there in person. And Myles (youngest Brother) made it possible for me to even give everyone a Christmas hug! <3

OOPS!

My new friend. 

So I have arrived at my new host's home. It is lovely and their 3 year old son is so energetic. I haven't done much traveling around the area yet as I got here just two days ago. And thank goodness I haven't been out and about spending money. I spent most of the day yesterday applying for jobs and today I looked at some apartments and did some more job searching. 

While looking for apartments I realized I didn't really know how much money I have in my bank account. Well, I should have been paying more attention because I found out today that I have just over $300AUD to my name. turns out i've been spending a LOT on gas money. I do love to drive but it is so expensive here!! Here is to hoping I get a job and soon. 

While its crazy to think that all I have is $300 and a car it is not as scary as one would think. I just need to speed up the process of getting a job and be careful what I do for the next few weeks. 

"She was a 'wanderess.' Thus, she didn't care about money, only experiences - whether they came from wealth or from poverty, it was all the same to her." -Roman Payne, The Wanderess    

It doesn't matter how much something costs it is the experience and adventure and if you learned something new that matters. I will have to keep this in mind for a while so I can save up for more road trips and some adventures that do cost money. 

On the Road Again pt. 2

The next night was quiet and tranquil. Well it was until some moron on a dirtbike decided that he was going to go tearing through the forest in the middle of the night although, it was a nice change from the wombats shaking the car from the night before.  In the morning there was still no one on my beach so I sat and had breakfast and read till some people showed up. I then moved on and headed towards Eden.

A little later in the day I felt a headache coming on so I found a nice park to camp at that was far from the road but just above Eden. It was a perfect place to just wait out the pain. Next morning I went to the Killer Whale Museum.

This is Old Tom

Back in the day whales were hunted for their blubber to turn into oil for everything from bicycle lubricant to light. While this sounds sad I find it incredible that the men that hunted the whales were even successful. They would go after these huge whales in the little wooden rowboats, then one of the rowers would try and harpoon the whale when they got close enough. It must have been terrifying. The unique part of Eden’s history is the killer whales. They worked with the whalers to help them catch other whales in exchange for the killer whales’ favorite parts to eat (lips and tung). The killer whales would coral a whale into Two Fold Bay then send one of their team to alert the whalers and then lead the whalers to where they had the corralled whale for them to kill. Old Tom was the leader for this team of killer whales and sometimes he would even pull on the harpoon ropes to help out the whalers.

After Eden I went and spent the weekend in Noojee (beautiful rainforest where they have so many off roading tracks!). I started on a trail and was taking it slow when as I was crossing a bridge a kangaroo jumped out behind the guardrail and I had no time to stop; the kangaroo got hit. I was in shock but the kangaroo just kept going. I figured it was a sign that maybe I shouldn’t go off much further and made camp next to the river just below Toorongo Falls. The area is so cool. It has trails marked all over the place and even has special parking for motorcycle trailers. It is an off roaders heaven.

I spent my last night just south of Alexandra along side a river and next to some cows. There were some friendly fellow travelers and we enjoyed the evening talking over coffee. It was a perfect end to my week.

"It feels good to be lost in the right direction" -somebody

I was lost a LOST this trip but I found such beautiful places and had the road almost always to myself. It was such a strange and new feeling but it was also very nice.

Noojee Historic trestle bridge

On the road again pt. 1

 Yesterday I left Sydney and am now headed for Melbourne.   I found a beautiful spot to camp on a grassy field next to a lake. It even had ducks and wombats running around!  I thought it was perfect and I couldn't do better. Little did I know that night those cute little wombats would decide to ruin my night.

Turns out my car is the perfect hight for them to scratch their backs on. And let me tell you those things are strong! I thought someone was trying to scare my car was shaking like crazy but I couldn't find a culprit.  I got up the courage to get out of my car (it was very dark) and looked all around and it was like my car was just possessed and shaking on its own. Finally I figured out what was going on when I spotted the wombat.  I got it to go away but they kept coming back and it sounded like maybe they were even fighting over this prime back scratcher.

It was a long night.

This morning I headed down further south and found this amazing campsite near a secluded beach and I love it here to. It is like paradise.  I hope tonight the wombats don't find me!


"The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark" -John Muir    The world is huge and so is Australia. This journey I am getting a good look at a lot of things and nothing beats experiencing it all in person and not through a tv screen. Besides, then I wouldn't have a wombat story.