Okay...
We arrived on Kangaroo Island
Monday evening and spent a lovely night with Grandma and settled in. The great thing is that G'ma goes to bed really early so we haven't been at all sleep deprived while here!
Tuesday we went touring around Kingscote which is the main "town" on the island (not very big). This is apparently where the first free settlers (ie NO convicts) settled a convict-free settlement. And it is also the first place settled in South Australia! So a lot of history.
Wednesday (y'day) we had a whirlwind tour of the island with my aunt and 2 German girls who were visiting here. It was awesome! We sat on the beach surrounded by Australian Sea-Lions and watched the little butter-ball baby sea-lions swim, chase seagulls and generally have a lot of fun. Then we went to this gorgeous beach, (too cold to swim though!), we climbed sand dunes in the "little sahara" then we visited my cousin Rebecca and her house (gotta see this place to believe it...I took some photos so will share when we get home), had lunch there, checked out the most beauitful beach (officially) in Australia which was 2 min drive from her place, checked out my other cousins new house, caught up with him for a little while, then visited Remarkalbe Rocks and Admirals Arch (natural rock formations on the coast....amazing!), then we came back to Kingscote via Parndana and checked out the log cabin my grandfather built way back when that my other cousin is living in with his girlfriend. AND...on the road back to Kingscote we passed TWO Koalas in trees! I've never seen two koalas so close to the road or so CLOSE! :) It was so much fun.
Today (Thurs) we're just hanging around Kingscote, buying souveniers, spending time with Grandma and picking up some KI honey from my uncle's farm. Then later tonight we fly to Adelaide where we'll be for 8 nights. If any of you ever want a holiday and live here GO TO KANGAROO ISLAND! Don't do a day-tour from Adelaide but come and actually stay. It is an amazing place!!!
You Know You're From Australia When... |
Your next door neighbours can be from Tunisia, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Brazil, Spain, Malaysia...
The community is so concerned over the fact that muslim women can't use public swimming pools because there are men present that they have female-only periods.
The Greeks and Mexicans next door ask you over to have a barbeque.
You don't actually use the words 'sheila' or 'shrimp'.
You sleep with Aeroguard on.
You're wearing a cap emblazoned with 'Get A Dog Up Ya.'
You feel obliged to spread salty black stuff that looks like congealed motor oil on bread and actually grow to like it.
You actively dislike Americans, but watch their TV, eat their food and worship their idols.
You think Tall Poppy Syndrome is a national condition.
Democracy means the freedom to draw caricatures of John Howard.
Your idea of a lethal weapon is a slug gun.
The closest you ever got to going overseas was your packet of 5 Days In Rio grundies.
A posh meal = an all-you-can-eat buffet.
The term "musical instrument" also extends to wobbly bits of ply-wood, hand saws, gum leafs and combs.
Your most offensive curse also doubles as an exclamation of awe or amazement, like, "fark orf!"
All of your internationally famous people don't live here.
You think footballers dressing up in drag on TV is funny (but your son being gay isn't).
You relish test cricket - the longest, slowest game in sport (and that's not even counting the replays). After all, what else gives you an excuse to sit on your arse for five days, watch TV and sink piss with your mates?
You don't drink Fosters, but you let the world think you do.
The only thing better than beating the Pohms at ANY sport is giving them shit for it.
You love, adore and admire a particular team/sportstar/actor on a winning streak - until they lose. Then they're just crap and 'past it.'
You can compress several words into one - ie 'g'day', 'd'reckn?' This allows for more space for profanities.
You favour either Holden or Ford - or a souped-up WRX with new kit and a bootful of subwoofer.
Driving down the main street/beach road playing bad techno is your idea of a perfect Saturday night / Sunday arvo.
You make kooky films, sometimes about wayward road trips (across the outback preferably). Quite a few are crap.
You know all the words to Khe Sahn but not the national anthem.
Your nickname ends in 'a' or 'o'.
You have a customised stubby holder.
Your soap stars become pop singers and move to the UK.
You've ever used the words - grouse, tops, ripper, choice, sick, rad, exo, ace, wicked, ballistic - to mean good. And then you place 'bloody' in front of it when you really mean it.
Your cooking apron has plastic breasts on it.
The "Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi oi oi!" chant has been a religious experience in the past.
The blokes at the local gym think your weight training is an opportunity to ask you out on a date.
The big national sporting events are men-only.
Your politicians believe than sticking the prefix 'un' in front of your nationality is an effective way of making you sit down and shut up.
Our mantras are 'fair go for all', 'mateship' and 'little Aussie battler' - but we still publicly condemn those with different viewpoints to us.
The barbeque is a male-dominated arena. And the women do the salads.
'Fair go for all' excludes indigenous people.
An eight-hour trip to go camping for the weekend isn't out of the question or excessive.
You take pride in living in a tolerant multicultural society but firmly believe that all Poms and Kiwis are fair game.
You insist on asking every celebrity who steps of an aircraft what they think of Australia. If the response is not overwhelmingly positive, they should be subjected to immediate public ridicule.
The private lives of footy and cricket players become more important than local and national news stories.
Slick pick-up lines like 'Wanna shag?' and 'Carn, show us yer tits' can constitute male-to-female conversation.
You say 'no worries' quite often, whether you realise it or not.
You realise you have no Bill of Rights.
The first thing guaranteed to get eaten at parties is fairy bread.
So that's the special ingredients that make up an Aussie - whatever your taste.
You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Austrailia. |
And to hilight the ones I totally relate to:
- Your next door neighbours can be from Tunisia, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Brazil, Spain, Malaysia...
- You don't actually use the words 'sheila' or 'shrimp'.
- You feel obliged to spread salty black stuff that looks like congealed motor oil on bread and actually grow to like it. (love the stuff!)
- All of your internationally famous people don't live here.
- The "Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi oi oi!" chant has been a religious experience in the past.
- The barbeque is a male-dominated arena. And the women do the salads.
- An eight-hour trip to go camping for the weekend isn't out of the question or excessive.
- You say 'no worries' quite often, whether you realise it or not. (I didn't realise this until I read this line and then remembered saying it at least once or twice today at work.....go figure. )
For those of you who suffer from writer's block take a break and pop some bubble-wrap.
And for those of you who need therapy but can't afford it pop bubble-wrap...it's much more cost effective! ;)
Well, Matt is roaring along with his novel. According to him he is now over the 2,000 word mark...or 4% along the way. Quite impressive start...However, he says he's only just starting which makes sense considering he's going for 50K! Anyway, I'm sure he'll talk about this enough as it is.
On the driving front we are going to have to live with each other. Matt does have an uncanny knack for not giving his passengers the feeling of security that yellow light means he'll stop and so you brace yourself for the feeling of no stomach as he speeds up and goes through or the feeling of getting your stomach back as he's hit the accelerator to start going through only to decide 2 metres before the while line that no he'd better stop and so you get whiplash.... ;) Just teasing. It is such a blessing having a car to drive around in. I'm becoming quite spoiled....and like to avoid public transport!
Lol...
Book recommendation: You all have to go check out a Bill Bryson book from the library and have a read. However, if you don't have a sarcastic sense of humour don't bother you possibly won't like it. Bill Bryson writes travel books in which he basically spends the time bagging out the country/language he's writing about. So, far I've enjoyed
Notes from a Big Country,
Notes from a Small Island and am not far off starting
Down Under So that's America, UK and Australia. He's a well travelled fellow. And he keeps you in stitches in the most inappropriate places....so DON'T take one of his books to a funeral....totally inappropriate place to be stifling giggles.
Now, to finish up this post I would like to inform the viewers of this blog and commenters that should they encounter a certain lady called "Rachel Hodge" posting in the comment areas of this blog it is
NOT me....it is my Sister-In-Law who was born in the same year as me but is actually 9 months older than me, is studying law at university, is un-married (thus the name mix-up) and will post crazy things at the drop of a hat.
IN FACT the only time you know it's me in the comment section is if I've posted as "Rach" or as I will do from now on as "Rach Hodge II" which is the original Rachel Hodge's nickname given to me since June 7th 2003. So, I apologize most profusely to any and all people's confused by this name-muddle but it was rather amusing....
