Blogastination

So I just made up this word. The definition is allowing this much time to pass without posting to my blog.

Since my last blog, there has been a lot going on. First of all, Amanda and I went to Apollo Bay and the 12 Apostles. It is a truly beautiful area on the Southern Coast of Victoria. It was a 3 hour drive and a lot of it was on these winding roads that hugged the coast for miles and miles (or should I say kilometres and kilometres). I am still waiting for our stuff to arrive and when it does, I'll have the wires I need to move the pictures from my camera to the computer and then can share. Luckily, Amanda has everything she needs to upload photos, so here is a link to a photo gallery of our trip: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7dsiai7.10fwhzqf&x=0&y=h0ptlk

I've come a long way with driving. I think my mind has finally accepted driving on the left as it has become second nature. I have been borrowing my brother-in-law's car while he is out of the country and the more I drive, the better I understand where things are and how to ge there.

I think one of the best things Australia has to offer is the food! Don't ge me wrong, I miss the Maine seafood (especially clams), buying Green Mountain Coffee at the local gas station, and pizza with plenty of sauce on it. Here, it is very difficult to find a regular cup of fresh brewed coffee; it's all latte's and cappuccinos. I have seen one Starbucks since I have been here and they have fresh brewed coffee. There is no half and half here either so I have gotten used to drinking coffee with milk. As for the pizza, the toppings are fresh and tasty, but they use very little sauce. Of course, Amanda grew up with this kind of pizza and though us Americans used too much sauce. We've been walking a lot which has helped keep the pounds off as I learn more about the Aussie food - good and bad! The fish and chips are a mainstay here. There is a fish and chip shop in almost every neighborhood. You get to choose from many different kinds of fish and the batter is amazing. Truly better than any I've had in Maine. Meat Pies are another hit here. Almost as common as Fish and Chips shops are the bakeries. Every bakery also has meat pies, sausage rolls and pasties (kind of a calzone type meat pie). It's basically ground beef with gravy and some will have mushrooms or onions. You can also get chicken pies as well. They have family size pies, but the individual pie is most common. The last piece of the Heart Attack Trifecta is the Souvlaki. There is a larger population of Greeks in Australia than any where else in the world. The Souvlaki is marinated lamb that has been slow cooked for a long time and then shaved off into a thick pita bread with onion, lettuce, tomato, and garlic sauce or tahziki. We really try to limit how much of these things we eat, otherwise we would balloon up quickly! Having a barbie is an Australian mainstay. The grills are called barbies here and they are a combination of what we are used to as a grill, but the other half is a hot plate. I think we will be investing in a grill (er.. barbie) sometime over the next couple of weeks. As summer is coming to a close, the barbies are going on sale. Most barbies consist of lamb steaks or chops, sometimes burgers, and always sausages. The basic sausage (aka snags) is kind of like a hot dog, but sooooo much better. They are served on a slice of bread with ketchup (aka tomato sauce) and some times caramelized onions. Melbourne is also a city of immigrants so the restaurants are very authentic. Unfortunately, it is difficult to wash any of this down with a good microbrew beer. Microbrews are few and far between and very expensive. The cheapest microbrew is $17 for a six pack. I was truly spoiled in Maine with so many options. Because of the cost, I think I am going to start home brewing again. I used to make my own beer in Maine, but found it was not worth all the time and effort, when I could go to Hannaford and buy a 6 pack of Geary’s for $7. Now if I want a cheap microbrew, I will have to make it myself. The wine on the other hand is very good here and very cheap. Austalia is one of the largest wine exporters in the world and there are so many Australian wineries that you can a get a very good bottle of wine for $10 (about US$7.50). Oddly though, it is hard to find wine that is not from Australia.

All this talk about food is making me hungry! I’ll fill you all in on the Sports scene here in my next blog and I promise not to blogastinate.

Matt