It’s been another fun week at Monash. Last Friday I got another few postcards to friends & family written while I was sitting by the fountain here on campus, between the campus centre and the library. Eight down so far, and who knows how many more to go, hehe. Then in the afternoon I played some ultimate frisbee with a few other American students I’d just met. We played on one of the footy ovals here on campus, and it was so muddy! Add to that occasional rain showers, and it was an absolutely awesome day for frisbee! Even though the footing and traction was horrible (most everyone was constantly slipping and falling in the muck), it was tons of fun. I hadn’t played frisbee in conditions that dodgy since back in May at GAC, when we played frisbee at night in a raging thunderstorm as a physics study break. 🙂
On Saturday afternoon I was invited out to go see Phillip Island (an hour and a half southeast of Melbourne) by the same people that I went fishing with last weekend. We took a tour of several of the beaches on the island, including the “Punchbowl,” Woolamai Beach, and the Nobbies. At the Nobbies we saw quite a few penguin holes in the hillside, where fairy penguins made their homes, but we didn’t see any penguins since it was daylight (more about them shortly). There were also at least two or three thousand seagulls. Most of the time they were just sitting there on the hillside or on one of the small rocky islands just off shore (the “Nobbies”), but occasionally something would startle them, and they’d all launch into the air, turning the sky into a swirling mass of white and grey, it was actually pretty cool. Pretty cool, that is, until one of them crapped on me. Yep, right on my shoulder, but at least it missed my footy scarf, as that would’ve been a bit tougher to clean than my rain coat. James told me that it was good luck to get crapped on by a bird, “because cows don’t fly.” I guess when you put it that way a seagull isn’t all that bad, hehe. But we stayed at the Nobbies awhile to see the beautiful sunset, and I got quite a few nice photos. We went back to Melbourne after sunset instead of sticking around to see the world-famous Phillip Island Penguin Parade, because that costs around $20/person (they kick everyone off the island after sunset anyway, unless they want to pay the entry fee); most of them had seen it a few times before, and I’m planning on going when my parents come down in November (that way they pay for my ticket!). The Penguin Parade is a nightly event on the island, where hundreds and even thousands of fairy penguins make their way from the ocean to their homes in the hillside to feed their young. I’m told it’s quite a sight, and like I said I’m definitely planning on going at some point.
On Sunday afternoon I played in my first-ever footy match. It was my dorm (Roberts Hall) vs Richo (Richardson Hall), and we came out on top by a slim margin of 3 points. It was on the same footy oval that I played frisbee on on Friday, and it was a whole lot muddier. As in 2-3 inches deep over most of the field, it was great getting fun getting all muddy and tackling people in the muck, hehe. Let’s just say that after both frisbee and footy, my running shoes will have a tough time ever being white again, hehe. Sunday evening I checked out Monash Bible Talks, which is another activity sponsored by Christian Union. After having supper together we had a house-church service at Rob’s house. It felt almost just like home, since my family’s involved in two house churches back home. On both Tuesday & Wednesday nights I was also at Rob’s house with a bunch of other CU people, to hang out, play games, and also listen to a guest speaker from Sydney on Wednesday night (last night). And this coming Saturday, CU is organizing a “Snow Day” up at Lake Mountain (a couple hours northeast of Melbourne), for some fun tobogganing and snowball fights. Snow in August, what a strange thought…
I’ve spent much of the afternoon and evening so far trying to find the cheapest way to travel to a few places. My friend Rich from back in Cumberland is also studying in Australia this semester, at Southern Cross University in Lismore (about three hours south of Brisbane). We’re trying to arrange to meet up in Cairns during spring break (27th Sep to 1st Oct for both of us), but I’m finding that it’s gonna be a bit more expensive just to get there than I’d originally thought. Right now I’m trying to decide between flying up there, or taking 2-3 days to go up by bus and actually see a bunch of the countryside. Seeing the Great Barrier Reef is one of my definite “must-sees” while I’m here in Australia, so I’m gonna go for it anyway. I’m going to try to persuade Rich and his other UW-Eau Claire friends to swing down to the Whitsunday Islands, because they have better beaches than Cairns, plus you can learn to sail there, in addition to snorkeling at the Reef! And it’ll probably be a bit less crowded than Cairns too. Hopefully I can get my spring break plans finalized within a week, as prices will only go up as we get closer to break. I’ve heard that the weather back in Minnesota this week has been a bit chilly and autumn-like. It’s been fun telling the Aussies that while it’s mid-winter and in the mid-50s here in Melbourne (which most of the locals still think is pretty cold), it’s mid-summer back home and the same temperature this week! I’m probably not doing much to inspire tourism to Minnesota and Wisconsin amongst the locals, hehe.
Today’s Aussie culture lesson is actually about cuisine. I’ve discovered that it’s popular down here to get hamburgers with “the lot.” It’s similar to getting “the works” back in the States, only “the lot” includes a lot more: beet, egg, carrot shavings and pineapple, in addition to the usual bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, tomato sauce and mustard. Now, the thought of beetroot, an egg and pineapple on a hamburger might sound a bit dodgy, and I’ll be the first to admit that I was a bit skeptical. But it’s amazingly delicious! Beets, carrots, and pineapple make their way into a surprising number of sandwiches down here. Seriously, I might become addicted to “the lot” while I’m down here, and then go into some serious withdrawal when I go back to the States. And on a related note, it might seem like Aussie tomato sauce is equivalent to American ketchup, but it most certainly isn’t. Tomato sauce is good, although a little sweeter than ketchup. Most Aussies that have tasted ketchup in America or other parts of the world actually can’t stand the taste of it. And they’re appalled that Americans could even think about putting maple syrup on french toast. So what do Aussies put on it? You guessed it, tomato sauce. I really don’t understand that one. But don’t understand why Americans can stand peanut butter & jam together on the same piece of bread, so I guess it’s even. There are quite a few other culinary curiosities that I could list, but I figure that that’ll give you at least a taste-test of some of the differences between American & Aussie cuisine.