Welcome to Geelong!

Next stop...

...GREAT OCEAN ROAD!!!

Shutt Family Coffee Cake

It was a little tricky to make the traditional Shutt family cranberry coffee cake without cranberries... but we improvised and made a mean raspberry one! Yum.

Guess who found the Christmas pickle?!!

New bikes under the tree!

You'd think we were 5 years old!!!

Have camera, will travel!

Car shopping

Believe it or not, the 1994 Ford Falcon isn't the most reliable car. I know, I know... it's heart breaking. It turns out that our boat of a car is also quite a gas guzzler and it already had one breakdown. Thanks to our [incredible] salary packaging options we've been checking out getting a new car. This car in the picture is the one the salesman was DYING to get us into. It's a Nissan Micra and is the tiniest thing ever. How we'd ever fit comfortably in this car, or be able to take boogie boards or bikes anywhere, is a complete mystery. Oh, and we wouldn't be able to pick up friends\family AND their luggage at the airport!!!

Rain, rain, go away!

For the second weekend in a row the rain has kept us from boogie boarding. Woe is us.

Almost Christmas!

Just 4 sleeps 'til Christmas and it's looks like we're going to go ahead as planned and bbq on the beach (despite being told repeatedly that "no one does that"). We have the cranberry sauce and we're ready to go! Let's just hope the weather holds out. We're looking at a weekend of more wicked weather... pouring rain, brutal wind, etc (doesn't the weather realize that Saturday is supposed to be boogie boarding day?!). The forecast for Christmas day is "sunny with a top of 22." Translation? Sunny with a high of 72 degrees! :)

Another Red Cross update

It's official. Let me take that back. It's as "official" as possible before I'm actually able to sign a contract. After almost 4 weeks of back-and-forth action... it seems I'll finally be able to start work soon. Things have finally checked out with the Department of Immigration and the Red Cross is legally prepared to take me on as a member of their staff! WOOHOO! Unfortunately with the holidays rolling in so quickly, they decided it was best if I didn't start until January 2nd. With that logic, maybe it's "best" if we don't eat the rest of this month too! HAHA. Just kidding, we'll survive. We planned for worst case scenario, and came close enough. But I have the greatest respect for my soon-to-be-boss. He seems like a really great guy.

2nd Place Trophy

Well done Megan. Well done.

Beginner's luck?

They proved that American + American = 2nd place trophy!!!

Coworkers

They're a fierce bunch, eh?!

Lawn Bowling

Yup that's right! Megan got her first exposure to Australian Lawn Bowling! As you can see... proper form is essential.

What I wouldn't give...

Seriously... we may never go in the water again.

(www.theage.com.au)

December 18, 2007 - 2:50PM

A surfer has been bitten by a shark at a beach north of Newcastle and treated in hospital for a serious wound to the buttock, ambulance officers say.

The 31-year-old man presented himself at the Tea Gardens ambulance station just before 11am today, seeking treatment for a bite wound on the buttock.

He told ambulance officers he was surfing near Jimmys Beach when bitten, but did not see the shark that attacked him.

A fisherman drove the injured man to the ambulance station.

The 31-year-old was treated by paramedics and airlifted to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital in a stable condition.

Cricket

Ok sports fans... try to make sense of this cricket article (kindly borrowed from Peter Roebuck of www.theage.com.au)-

"Certainly the Australians bowlers have improved under Cooley's stewardship. The bowlers have a wider range of skills at their disposal and are adapting better to conditions.

Reverse swing has been used but it has not become an obsession. Changes of pace and angle have also been part of the plan. Yesterday Brett Lee took a wicket with a slower ball signalled with a hitch of the trousers that brought his slips and keeper edging closer to the stumps. Brendan McCullum obliged by drilling the undetected variation to mid-off.

Nathan Bracken has also increased his repertoire and can send down swingers when the ball is moving, cutters in arid conditions and a mixture when nothing much is happening.

Doubtless, the extra responsibility has helped these long-standing leatherflingers. No longer could the ball be thrown to the old warhorses whenever the batsmen were on top. No longer was Lee regarded as a wild card. Instead he was the leader of the attack, a burden he has worn lightly. Nowadays, he is a handful even when things are going awry."

People are so bloody nice!

Today I was at the Post (sending Christmas presents... better late than never) and a sweet woman noticed me stumbling around and helped me get all my little customs declarations filled out properly. She told me she likes to "make sure Americans get along alright" because she is originally from Ohio. She came to Australia in 1975 on a 747 full of school teachers and she never looked back. She helped me on my way and made sure I had her phone number in case we needed anything. The postal worker was NOTHING like those I've ever encountered in the States. He chatted me up about everything American - from food (his favorites, which he buys at the American store in Melbourne, are: ketchup, cinnamon Tic Tacs, Coco Puffs, and peanut M&M's) to crazy American holidays and customs (such as having 4 days off for a holiday where you simply eat, and making snow angels for no apparent reason other than to "freeze your bum"). I love Altona.

The finished product

(Well... at least until I make a star out of foil and we gather shells with holes and hang them!!!)

Good job Jenny!

Please note that I put together this festive holiday outfit all on my own! Hey... when it's 80 degrees outside you do anything you can to make it "feel" like Christmas!

Working hard...

Megan is carefully trying thread to each ornament. Who needs a 99 cent* box of hooks when you have a travel sewing kit!!!

*By "99 cent" I, of course, mean $1.00 because there are no pennies in Australia and they "round" all their prices. Why they price things at 99 cents when you can't physically pay 99 cents is a whole other concern of mine!

Our homemade ornaments

Aren't they pretty? We're soooo talented! :)

Spring

Spring has sprung... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's been quite strange preparing for the holiday season this year. Each day it gets a little warmer and the days get longer while a quick check on the news back home reveals 8 inches of snow on the ground... and emails from friends share stories of cozy fires in the living room and fresh mugs of hot cocoa.

We decorated our Christmas tree yesterday... then walked down to Pier St, ate pizza on the patio, walked along the beach, and walked home with tasty ice cream cones. It's hard to believe that Christmas is a little over a week away! We keep hoping for a string of holiday movies such as "Love Actually," "A Christmas Story," "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," or "A Charlie Brown Christmas." If we were in the states we probably would have seen each of these 3 times since Thanksgiving... but these movies don't dominate the airwaves here. :(

Christmas "down under" is going to take a little getting used to. Maybe we'll just have to make a sand-snowman this year!!!

"Skippy" gets world wide coverage!

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2007/12/14/9698_news.html

Poor little fella.

"Jaws vs. Skippy"

We may never go in the water again...

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2007/12/13/9656_news.html

Bill Bryson excerpt of the day...

The fact is, of course, we pay shamefully scant attention to our dear cousins Down Under – not entirely without reason, of course. Australia is after all mostly empty and a long way away. Its population, just over 18 million, is small by world standards – China grows by a larger amount each year – and its place in the world economy is consequently peripheral; as an economic entity, it ranks about level with Illinois. Its sports are of little interest to us and the last television series it made that we watched with avidity was Skippy. From time to time it sends us useful things – opals, merino wool, Errol Flynn, the boomerang – but nothing we can't actually do without. Above all, Australia doesn't misbehave. It is stable and peaceful and good. It doesn't have coups, recklessly overfish, arm disagreeable despots, grow coca in provocative quantities, or throw its weight around in a brash and unseemly manner.

Old El Paso

If you want to make Mexican food in Australia... here are your options. There's a whole Old El Paso section in the grocery stores. The yellow section is blinding and comforting all at the same time. There's not a lot of variety, but this isn't a time to be picky.

A day at the beach

We're going to need to do a lot more boogie boarding before we're coordinated enough to try something like this!

Australian Christmas Tree! :)

Comments

I just realized that the comments feature was all goofed up on here. It's all fixed now, so if you have an opinion on anything... feel free to share. Thanks!

Christmas in Australia

A lot you keep asking what Christmas is like in Australia. Well... MSN asked the same question and this is what they found (pic compliments of msn):

"Australia (Merry Christmas!): Naturally, Santa Claus arrives on a surf rescue boat in Queensland, because he visits in high summer. Australians surround themselves with Christmas bush, a native plant that has little red flowers; some use gum-tree branches for decoration, rather than evergreens. In Melbourne, tens of thousands of people gather each Christmas Eve for Carols by Candlelight, a tradition since the early 20th century, which has caught on in other Australian cities."

4 Weeks!!!

We've officially been in Australia for 4 weeks. What a crazy whirlwind.

SPF 30+

It's come to our attention that the highest sunscreen that they carry here is "SPF 30+." That's right, 30 "+". We asked the kind pharmacist to point us to something stronger and he immediately recognized our accents and wanted to set the record straight. He told us that Americans and Brits have an obsession with marketing sunscreen with higher and higher SPFs every year. He told us that our 40, 45, 50... 80 SPF is pointless. All you need is 30. Then he went on to say that 30 "+" has more protection, but it's not quantified. For all we know, it could be SPF 120 (his words)! By that logic, couldn't it also be SPF 31?!! I asked what a pale skinned redhead should do and he said just reapply every 2-3 hours. We did, and I got burned. So... if anyone is DYING to send a package to Australia, we'd LOVE SPF 45 or 50 (something sporty... we are quite the boogie boarders). And Oreos. That would make Megan VERY happy. :)

Cherries for Christmas?

It was discovered recently (when Megan was advised that snowflakes AREN'T used for Christmas decorations by her coworkers as they prepared for the holiday party) that cherries are quite representative of the Christmas season. However, these same Aussies are strong in their convictions that people here do NOT bbq on the beach on Christmas. Despite the stereotypes. And the commercials.

It's all very confusing.

Bill Bryson excerpt of the day...

(From "In a Sunburned Country")

Let me say right here that I love Australia—adore it immeasurably—and am smitten anew each time I see it. One of the effects of paying so little attention to Australia is that it is always such a pleasant surprise to find it there. Every cultural instinct and previous experience tells you that when you travel this far you should find, at the very least, people on camels. There should be unrecognizable lettering on the signs, and swarthy men in robes drinking coffee from thimble-sized cups and puffing on hookahs, and rattletrap buses and potholes in the road and a real possibility of disease on everything you touch—but no, it’s not like that at all. This is comfortable and clean and familiar. Apart from a tendency among men of a certain age to wear knee-high socks with shorts, these people are just like you and me. This is wonderful. This is exhilarating. This is why I love to come to Australia.

Isn't she lovely

Here she is! Isn't she pretty?! It's okay that the needles may all fall off by next week, we're in a drought... what can we expect?!

Our tree

Yup, our tree fit in the backseat of our car (modeled nicely by an exhausted post-boogie boarding Megan!)

Christmas tree "lot"

Here's where we got our Christmas tree! It's not quite what we're used to, but the guy was nice and cut us a deal when we looked at him with desperation and asked how much the smallest tree was!

Another Australian oddity

We were driving to the beach yesterday and kept coming along some of the greatest homemade signs on the side of the road:

-Chicken poo: $2.50
-Horse poo poos: $2.00
-Stable poo: $3.00

We were looking for "Christmas trees - Turn here!" or "Fresh Fruit Ahead!"... but all we found was poop.

(Don't worry, we found a Christmas tree lot eventually, pics to post soon)

Altona beach

It's impossible to be stressed after work when this is your evening routine.

shells

so many shells, so little time. too bad we won't be able to get any of them back into the U.S. when we return!

Even the eggs are happy here!

What a pleasant little surprise when we opened up our carton of eggs!

Surf Report

We've become "those people" who check the tides to find out when we're going to head to the beach on the weekend. Each day there is a rating from 1-5 that goes along with the surf report. I feel like to truly appreciate the Aussie sense of humor, I need to share this legend (compliments of Coastalwatch and the Bureau of Meteorology):

Rating legend:
1 Forget about it, stay at home and fix your dings.
2 Small but worth a grovel if you are keen.
3 Half decent waves on offer but nothing epic.
4 Great waves, go and get amongst it.
5 It's going off, what are you still doing here?

(Tomorrow is going to be a 2... but you better believe we're still going to go!)

Dead birds?

We've been trying to figure out why there are a strange number of dead birds on the sidewalk between our house and the beach. We asked the lovely cashier at the grocery store and she said she didn't know. Then she went on to tell us a story about a nearby beach, that she and her husband think is so picturesque, except that one time they were walking along and saw a horse's head. No horse, just a head. Then they went to a different beach (with their 3 year old triplets) and realized they were at an all male nude beach. Ohhh Australia.

Another good one...

This is another great sign… this time for a speed bump. Doesn’t this make it look like it would be more fun to speed up rather than slow down?!

Great street sign

This is one of my favorite signs in Australia. I think it's great that the pedestrians wear loafers, but don't have bodies.

Bullet ice cream?!

Does anyone have ANY idea what flavor "bullet" ice cream is? Please leave a comment with your best guess/instinct!!!

(in the tub it looked purple-ish)

I WANT TO SEE A ROO!!!

© 2001 Michel Duplaix

PS

I just found this review for the restaurant discussed below (quite entertaining)-

Very bland food - couldn't understand why it was so busy. Maybe because it's the only Mexican restaurant in Williamstown. Not very good value for money - 3 people $115! Been at other Mexican restaurants where you pay $100 for 4 people. Not very impressed. The service was good though.

(Wow, I've seen 4 people eat for $20 at Las Barcas! haha)

Viva Zapatas

We had or first mexican food experience last night. We found a little place called Viva Zapatas along a popular stretch of the Williamstown waterfront. We went in as soon as we spotted it, despite walking past the Greek place, the creperie, and a handful of places that offered their best variations of rissottos. I was immediately impressed by the overuse of Corona bottles in the decor and the neon cactus placed above the margarita bar. Megan set her expectations very low. My standard of expectations was set MUCH lower when I visited "South of the Border" in New Zealand (raising many "south of WHAT border" questions when the only thing south of us was Antarctica). On this adventure we found ourselves in a place decorated with posters of the Boston Marathon and Jazz Fest in New Orleans. The food lived up to being nothing representative of Mexico. Fortunately Viva Zapatas did much better. It was no Las Barcas. No Majares. Hell, it wasn't even Uncle Julio's. But the food was good and gave us a little taste of home. Minus the $3.30 bowl of chips that we passed on. I slooooowly sipped my precious Diet Coke, and we didn't dare ask for guacamole.

(Then we stopped for ice cream/ gelatto on the way back to the car. All is right in the world.)

Cutest thing ever

When walking home from Pier Street today (on my daily journey to the shops), I walked by the Altona Primary School and saw a schoolyard full of 6-8 year olds playing cricket (with a tennis ball, not a real cricket ball). Cutest thing EVER!

Australian Red Cross update

I have officially been hired by the Australian Red Cross as an Emergency Services Coordinator. There is a little bit of a hold up now on when I will start work because they have to work out the details on a background check from another country, and tying up loose ends with the visa. BUT... I got the job and it's just a waiting game now. WOO!

Drive Thru

We finally got used to driving on the left side of the road and then tried to go through the drive thru on the other side. I'll be honest... I'm lucky I didn't knock over the McDonald's as I tried to make the turn in Tug, but we made it.

PS- For the life of me I can't get the pictures positioned the correct way. SORRY. K, bye.

Random thought of the day

Why does a peanut butter and jelly sandwich taste so incredible on the beach?

I can't wait for the weekend...

Queen Victoria Market

This is from the famous Queen Victoria Market... home of endless stalls of fruit, veggies, candy, "bric a brac", and the dreaded meat market. We will NEVER AGAIN buy our meat here. I just can't quite handle the lack of basic food safety, i.e.- using bare hands to scoup up meat, package meat, hand off meat to customer, take money, place money in register, and finally... hand change to customer (w/ or w/o little chunks of meat stuck to the coins depending on how lucky you are). Ick, I get uncomfortable just thinking about it again. Ick.

Melbourne

It's not the best picture, but here's Melbourne as seen during our drive toward the city (and over the West Gate Bridge).

Anglesea Beach

We checked out Anglesea Beach this weekend (about 90 minutes west of Altona). We packed our boogie boards and decided to "give it a go" and had a BLAST! It was definately our best day in Australia so far. We learned how to ride the waves and found comfort in sharing the beach with families w/ small children. There were also a fair number of 60-70 year olds catching waves with us! It was perfect for us (as opposed to the super popular Torquay just down the rode where we probably would have been laughed off our $2 boards!!!).

AND... I think I'm modelling the '07 line of Madagascar beach towels quite nicely!

Tug

Let me introduce you to our lovely car "Tug" (nicknamed this because she's such a boat). Not only is she a sweet ride, but you can also see our awesome $2 boogie boards in this shot!

Perfection

wedges, diet coke, and the open road.