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
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
El Nino
Hello everyone! Not too much more to report. The weather finally broke a couple days ago and we have had oerfect summer days this weekend. About 80 F during the day and 60 at night. We also had our first rainfall since we got here. The drought is the worst Australia has ever seen and apparently, the last year of the drought has been due to El Nino. They have recently seen signs that the El Nino is breaking up and this winter, we should have substantial rain. The experts say it will take a few years of well above average rainfall to get out of the drought. It's amazing how many people have grey water tanks and rain water tanks. That is the only way you are allowed to water your lawn. Any time you see sprinklers going, they usually have a big sign in their yard saying they are using tank water so that their neighbors don't turn them in. Even with the El Nino breaking up, it also sounds like we will be heading to Stage 4 water restrictions. I don't know what they are except for only being allowed to shower every other day. For the sake of everyone coming into contact with me, I hope we get a lot of rain very soon and don't need to go to stage 4!
Amanda and I are off to Apollo Bay (http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/otways/apollobay/index.asp) to spend the night. It will be nice to get away. The connection for my camera is still on its way with the rest of our stuff, so even though I will take lot's of pictures, I won't be able to download for a little while longer.
Bye for now.
Matt
Amanda and I are off to Apollo Bay (http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/otways/apollobay/index.asp) to spend the night. It will be nice to get away. The connection for my camera is still on its way with the rest of our stuff, so even though I will take lot's of pictures, I won't be able to download for a little while longer.
Bye for now.
Matt
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Learning to Drive
Saturday, February 17th
I can’t believe we have been here for 2 weeks so far! Everyday we are getting more settled. I applied for a Tax File number which is similar to our Social Security Number and once I have it I will be able to do a lot more to settle in like file for public health care, get a drivers license, and open a bank account.
I’ve been driving a few times and am starting to get the hang of it. I was so nervous (and so was Amanda) on my first drive. Our car is a standard, so it made it even more stressful. It feels awkward sitting in the right of the car and using my left hand to shift gears. The blinker and windshield wipers are also opposite so there have been a few intersections I notified the cars around me that I am turning by flipping on the windshield wipers. A true sign of a yank learning to drive in Australia!
I went to Macro Whole Foods the other day and it was quite an experience. Macro is the closest equivalent to Whole Foods and Wild Oats. They have had a store in Sydney for years, but have expanded over the last two years to 8 stores in Sydney and Melbourne. They are about a third of the size of an average WF/WO, but have a lot of the same features: prepared foods, classes, naturopaths on hand. Of course I went directly to the Personal Care section. For Toothpaste, there are a only a few brands. There were some familiar brands such as Jason, Aubrey Organics, Alba, Dr Bronners, Giovanni, and most surprisingly, Badger! Jason is the only US brand with a presence in the TP subcategory. They have 2 SKU’s of TP. The rest of the TP were Australian and European brands. The biggest surprise was the planogram for the entire personal care section. They had a lot of space devoted to it, but they POGed by brand and not category (except Oral Care). I had to look in three different aisles to compare shampoos. Jason with the 2 TP SKU’s had an entire shelf, but was completely butt-ended. Must have been 10 facings of each SKU butt ended. Maybe Macro has a merchandising manager position open?
I’ve noticed that the cost of living is more expensive here. In some cases, you can get things cheaper here. Lamb for one!! But there are so many things that cost more here. It’s just a matter of getting used to, and I’m sure I’ll feel differently once I have a job and some income. We got our phone set up the other day and it is much different here than in the US. The monthly cost is minimal, but you get charged for every call you make. Cell phones are even more. Again, it is just a matter of getting used to it.
Amanda and I went to our nephew’s basketball game last weekend. He is almost 12 and plays for a representative club. Youth sports are big here, but instead of playing for your school, you play for a club. Each major suburb has a club that has teams for all age groups. Some of these clubs also have professional teams, so it is conceivable for a basketball player to start with a club at the age of 6 and play with them all the way to the pro’s! There is a baseball club in our area and I am thinking of volunteering as a youth coach. Baseball is just starting to take off. The Australian women’s baseball team won the Gold at the last Commonwealth games.
I also learned first hand how powerful the Australian sun is! Amanda and I went to Philip Island on Thursday. (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?ie=UTF8&z=5&ll=-25.335448,135.745076&spn=31.154942,45.834961&om=1)
http://www.visitphillipisland.com/
The island is best known for the “Penguin March”. Each night at sunset all the penguins come out of the water and waddle up the beach to rest for the night. Unfortunately, we did not have time to wait until sunset. I had SPF 30 on all day and I still got sunburned. When I got home I had a 101 temp and felt awful. Took me a day to get over it and now I am fine, but still a bit red. I think I will keep a t-shirt on at the beach for now on.
I met with Colgate on Monday for a “getting to know each other” meeting. It went well, but nothing concrete came out of it. I’ll definitely keep you all posted.
I hope you all survived the Valentine’s day blizzard! I’m sure Whole Foods in Portland was not happy about the weather! I think they were meant to have their grand opening on Valentines Day. Bummed we left just before they opened!
That’s all for now!
Matt
I can’t believe we have been here for 2 weeks so far! Everyday we are getting more settled. I applied for a Tax File number which is similar to our Social Security Number and once I have it I will be able to do a lot more to settle in like file for public health care, get a drivers license, and open a bank account.
I’ve been driving a few times and am starting to get the hang of it. I was so nervous (and so was Amanda) on my first drive. Our car is a standard, so it made it even more stressful. It feels awkward sitting in the right of the car and using my left hand to shift gears. The blinker and windshield wipers are also opposite so there have been a few intersections I notified the cars around me that I am turning by flipping on the windshield wipers. A true sign of a yank learning to drive in Australia!
I went to Macro Whole Foods the other day and it was quite an experience. Macro is the closest equivalent to Whole Foods and Wild Oats. They have had a store in Sydney for years, but have expanded over the last two years to 8 stores in Sydney and Melbourne. They are about a third of the size of an average WF/WO, but have a lot of the same features: prepared foods, classes, naturopaths on hand. Of course I went directly to the Personal Care section. For Toothpaste, there are a only a few brands. There were some familiar brands such as Jason, Aubrey Organics, Alba, Dr Bronners, Giovanni, and most surprisingly, Badger! Jason is the only US brand with a presence in the TP subcategory. They have 2 SKU’s of TP. The rest of the TP were Australian and European brands. The biggest surprise was the planogram for the entire personal care section. They had a lot of space devoted to it, but they POGed by brand and not category (except Oral Care). I had to look in three different aisles to compare shampoos. Jason with the 2 TP SKU’s had an entire shelf, but was completely butt-ended. Must have been 10 facings of each SKU butt ended. Maybe Macro has a merchandising manager position open?
I’ve noticed that the cost of living is more expensive here. In some cases, you can get things cheaper here. Lamb for one!! But there are so many things that cost more here. It’s just a matter of getting used to, and I’m sure I’ll feel differently once I have a job and some income. We got our phone set up the other day and it is much different here than in the US. The monthly cost is minimal, but you get charged for every call you make. Cell phones are even more. Again, it is just a matter of getting used to it.
Amanda and I went to our nephew’s basketball game last weekend. He is almost 12 and plays for a representative club. Youth sports are big here, but instead of playing for your school, you play for a club. Each major suburb has a club that has teams for all age groups. Some of these clubs also have professional teams, so it is conceivable for a basketball player to start with a club at the age of 6 and play with them all the way to the pro’s! There is a baseball club in our area and I am thinking of volunteering as a youth coach. Baseball is just starting to take off. The Australian women’s baseball team won the Gold at the last Commonwealth games.
I also learned first hand how powerful the Australian sun is! Amanda and I went to Philip Island on Thursday. (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?ie=UTF8&z=5&ll=-25.335448,135.745076&spn=31.154942,45.834961&om=1)
http://www.visitphillipisland.com/
The island is best known for the “Penguin March”. Each night at sunset all the penguins come out of the water and waddle up the beach to rest for the night. Unfortunately, we did not have time to wait until sunset. I had SPF 30 on all day and I still got sunburned. When I got home I had a 101 temp and felt awful. Took me a day to get over it and now I am fine, but still a bit red. I think I will keep a t-shirt on at the beach for now on.
I met with Colgate on Monday for a “getting to know each other” meeting. It went well, but nothing concrete came out of it. I’ll definitely keep you all posted.
I hope you all survived the Valentine’s day blizzard! I’m sure Whole Foods in Portland was not happy about the weather! I think they were meant to have their grand opening on Valentines Day. Bummed we left just before they opened!
That’s all for now!
Matt
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Finally On line!!
Today is Saturday, February 10th and we just got hooked up to the internet yesterday, but I put this post together on Thursday. I'll post again in a few days. Hope you are all well!
Thursday, February 8th:
At this point I am not connected to the internet yet, but I thought I would start my first post. I am so glad to have all of the packing behind me. It was much more work than Amanda and I anticipated – and more expensive too! We finally finished all of the last minute packing and made it too NH around 8:00 on January 31st for a last dinner with my Mom. We hopped on our first flight at 11:00 AM on Thursday, February 1st and did not land until 11:00 AM on Saturday, February 3rd (7:00 PM on the 2nd Maine time). All in all, it was 32 long hours. I only slept about 2 hours on the plane. Thanks to my iPod and a good book, the trip was bearable.
Once we arrived, Amanda’s family was waiting for us and they brought us to our new home. Had some lunch, unpacked a bit, and ran some errands. We had Fish and Chips for dinner and went to bed around 8:00 PM and slept until 4:30 AM.
It is the middle of summer and the weather has been beautiful! The first two days were very hot: about 38 Celsius which I think is about mid to high 90’s. Since it has been mid 20’s C which is about mid 70’s F.
In the last few days, we have been shopping for home goods and getting ourselves set up and catching up with Amanda’s family. We live about ¼ mile from a state park and have been walking there in the mornings. On Tuesday, just 10 minutes into our walk we saw 7 kangaroos just hanging out and a bunch of odd looking rabbits. They are brown, have shorter back legs and tufts of hair on top of their ears. With the exception of pigeons, all of the birds are different. Lots of Cockatoos that can out screech any crow! They are about the size of a crow but are all white with a hook beak and tufts of feathers on their heads. Rosellas are probably the most beautiful birds I have seen so far. They are red, green and blue. The most prevalent birds I have seen so far are magpies. They are just like crows, bur have white splotches all over them. I’m still looking for a bird guide so I can figure out what all of the other birds are.
The trees are also completely different. Eucalyptus trees (more commonly called Gum trees) are everywhere and they are beautiful, especially their silhouettes at sunset. We have a large Gum tree in our yard that I admire every day. Here’s a picture. I need to learn more about these trees, but the bark continuously peels away in large strips.
The biggest news here at the moment is drought conditions. Currently the dams are running at 36% of capacity. Essentially, if it get’s down to 0%, there will be no more water. We are under stage 3 water restrictions which means you can not use sprinklers for your lawn at any time and can only use a hose with a trigger nozzle twice a week. It depends what side of the street you live on, but for us, we can use our hose to water plants from 6:00 – 8:00 AM and 8:00-10:00 PM on Sundays and Wednesdays. You are also not allowed to wash your car with the exception of windows, mirrors and lights and it must be with a bucket. It is quite common to bring a bucket into the shower with you and use that water for your plants any time you want. My mother-in-law and her husband (my step father in law?) have just put in a 900 liter tank that captures water that runs off their roof. Before we got here there was a big rainstorm and they filled the tank. They can use that water any time they want and however they want.
On Monday, Amanda and I went into the city to the casino to watch the Super Bowl. Apparently this was the only bar in town that had a big Super Bowl party. It was great! The game started at 10:30 AM for us and the place was packed. There were a lot of expatriates, but I was very surprised to find so many Aussies that were so big into American Football. I ran into a guy with a Tom Brady shirt and I assumed he was from New England, but he grew up in Melbourne and has never been to the states. I met another guy wearing UCLA garb from head to toe and he also has never been to the states.
I have so much more to share, but I need to put down the keyboard.
Thursday, February 8th:
At this point I am not connected to the internet yet, but I thought I would start my first post. I am so glad to have all of the packing behind me. It was much more work than Amanda and I anticipated – and more expensive too! We finally finished all of the last minute packing and made it too NH around 8:00 on January 31st for a last dinner with my Mom. We hopped on our first flight at 11:00 AM on Thursday, February 1st and did not land until 11:00 AM on Saturday, February 3rd (7:00 PM on the 2nd Maine time). All in all, it was 32 long hours. I only slept about 2 hours on the plane. Thanks to my iPod and a good book, the trip was bearable.
Once we arrived, Amanda’s family was waiting for us and they brought us to our new home. Had some lunch, unpacked a bit, and ran some errands. We had Fish and Chips for dinner and went to bed around 8:00 PM and slept until 4:30 AM.
It is the middle of summer and the weather has been beautiful! The first two days were very hot: about 38 Celsius which I think is about mid to high 90’s. Since it has been mid 20’s C which is about mid 70’s F.
In the last few days, we have been shopping for home goods and getting ourselves set up and catching up with Amanda’s family. We live about ¼ mile from a state park and have been walking there in the mornings. On Tuesday, just 10 minutes into our walk we saw 7 kangaroos just hanging out and a bunch of odd looking rabbits. They are brown, have shorter back legs and tufts of hair on top of their ears. With the exception of pigeons, all of the birds are different. Lots of Cockatoos that can out screech any crow! They are about the size of a crow but are all white with a hook beak and tufts of feathers on their heads. Rosellas are probably the most beautiful birds I have seen so far. They are red, green and blue. The most prevalent birds I have seen so far are magpies. They are just like crows, bur have white splotches all over them. I’m still looking for a bird guide so I can figure out what all of the other birds are.
The trees are also completely different. Eucalyptus trees (more commonly called Gum trees) are everywhere and they are beautiful, especially their silhouettes at sunset. We have a large Gum tree in our yard that I admire every day. Here’s a picture. I need to learn more about these trees, but the bark continuously peels away in large strips.
The biggest news here at the moment is drought conditions. Currently the dams are running at 36% of capacity. Essentially, if it get’s down to 0%, there will be no more water. We are under stage 3 water restrictions which means you can not use sprinklers for your lawn at any time and can only use a hose with a trigger nozzle twice a week. It depends what side of the street you live on, but for us, we can use our hose to water plants from 6:00 – 8:00 AM and 8:00-10:00 PM on Sundays and Wednesdays. You are also not allowed to wash your car with the exception of windows, mirrors and lights and it must be with a bucket. It is quite common to bring a bucket into the shower with you and use that water for your plants any time you want. My mother-in-law and her husband (my step father in law?) have just put in a 900 liter tank that captures water that runs off their roof. Before we got here there was a big rainstorm and they filled the tank. They can use that water any time they want and however they want.
On Monday, Amanda and I went into the city to the casino to watch the Super Bowl. Apparently this was the only bar in town that had a big Super Bowl party. It was great! The game started at 10:30 AM for us and the place was packed. There were a lot of expatriates, but I was very surprised to find so many Aussies that were so big into American Football. I ran into a guy with a Tom Brady shirt and I assumed he was from New England, but he grew up in Melbourne and has never been to the states. I met another guy wearing UCLA garb from head to toe and he also has never been to the states.
I have so much more to share, but I need to put down the keyboard.
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