Australia Day

Yesterday was Australia Day - one of the 5 main national holidays that Australians get off work. I spent it with my boss and his friends who are all from New Zealand, but apparently the way Australia day works is you sit around drinking beer and BBQing while listening to Triple J (the popular indie rock/Australian bands radio station) do their "Hottest 100" countdown of the year, which runs all day. Overall, it was pretty fun and definitely nice to get a day off work in the middle of the week. Even though it totally sounds like a made up holiday to me.

Fact

Recently, in recognition of Wikipedia's 10th anniversary, cnn.com published a list of the top 10 Wiki articles, including a list of common misconceptions. Among other fun, interesting facts (vomitoria were merely entrances, not places people went to vomit, sugar does not make children more hyper, etc.), I learned that water does not swirl in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere (something I was really looking forward to learning more about during my time in Australia) due to the power suction mechanism in toilets.

The other day, as I was emptying a tank, the water swirled down counter-clockwise (or as they say down under, "anti-clockwise") - back home it is always clockwise! Very exciting.

I Reckon

For some reason, Australians and Kiwis love using the word "reckon" - a word I strictly associate with rednecks in the confederate South. Every time someone uses it here, I have to stifle a laugh as I imagine a hick in overalls pointing at roadkill saying things like "I reckon that squirrel is eatable." They use "reckon" here about as frequently as California teenage girls (and myself) use "like." It's been rough.

Where I Live

Now that it's the weekend, I have time to go into town and visit Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander (a really cool local winery/brewery/pizzaria that rejected me for employment about four months ago when I was applying to all the wineries out here) and mooch their free wifi. So, here are some pictures of Noodle (Kate's dog), the sunset out of our bathroom window, and my room:





And here's a video tour of the house, featuring Olive:

Healesville

Yesterday, Andrew, the winemaker at Rochford where I'm working, came and picked me up from the hostel and brought me out to the Yarra Valley to give me a tour of the winery. The cellar part of the winery is much smaller than J or possibly any winery I have ever been in before, but the tasting room/restaurant/music venue part is massive - it hosts a ton of bachelorette parties (or Hen's Days as they call them here) and concerts and is where a lot of the revenue for the winery comes from. Then Syd, the part-timer who works with us two days a week when he isn't working on his own label (Thick as Theives) had me follow his car with a winery truck to my new home.

Driving on the wrong side of the road is SCARY, especially when you are driving stick in an old truck that is meant for hauling god-knows-what and has a giant metal bed attached to it. It also doesn't help if you leave the parking brake on while you're driving (as I did) because you can't figure out where it is (under the steering wheel).

I am renting a room from Kate, a woman in her early 30s who has a gorgeous old house with a massive garden and a dog named Noodle. She also has a 13 month old daughter named Olive (coincidentally, one of my favorite names). She seems really nice and Olive is adorable - minus her screeching phase that will hopefully end soon. Unfortunately, I'm so off the beaten track at Kate's that we don't have internet, so I'm using a work computer right now and will be pretty unreachable.

Penguin Documentary

More Melbourne

Unfortunately, I started my day by sleeping in until 11am and then going outside only to vomit in a trashcan. Again. I really thought I was getting better. This time, fewer people witnessed it but Maura took a photo. Contact her for further details. I am NOT posting that. Hopefully she won't either. We wandered around all day again which was great and I finally got my bank account and cell phone situation under control. If anyone wants to prank call me/contact me from the US, it's completely free for me and you might be able to get cheaper calling rates via Skype. My number is: 0470 047 003 Knock yourself out. Here are some pictures I took today of some neat things I saw!


Record Shop with lots of cool funk/blues music

Mannequins Galore! (a store that actually exists here and is in competition with several other mannequin distributors - believe it or not)

Cafe




Me at Parliament

Our hostel is getting more multicultural by the minute and I just met a really nice Catalan girl who is on vacation by herself in Australia before going to Brazil for carnival with friends. Maura and I are headed out back to the local hipster neighborhood to see some indie bands for cheap. Hope you all are still enjoying the USA. More to come soon.

Melbourne!

I have arrived safely in Melbourne! After my six hour layover in LAX, Maura showed up to sit next to me on the flight and witness me vomiting in a trashcan while we were waiting in line to board. (Apparently I caught a virus the day before I left for my trip and have been feeling feverish/nauseous/achey which made my flight extra miserable.)

Maura and I are at our hostel and have been wandering around exploring Melbourne all day and found this cool hipster neighborhood - I'm very anti-hipster typically but since these hipsters are foreign they don't bother me. The weather has been perfect - around 75 degrees and clear with a little bit of a breeze. Since it's summer here, it's 8pm and still completely sunny out. I am very content. Here's a blurry (I was trying to be discreet) picture of the inside of a bar we went to for tea (I'm laying off drinking until I feel better):


We went to the grocery store which was much better equipped than the ones I'm used to from Spain, which really puts to rest my concerns of not being able to get enough fruit/food I enjoy/things that aren't comprised mainly of ham. Our hostelmates seem really nice, and there is a free wine and cheese party downstairs in a little bit but since Maura and I are both feeling jetlagged and sick, I think we're going to stay in. Apparently, the Aussies are super into biodynamics and organic products - we saw tons of advertisements for biodynamic flour for sale and this sign in a small Vietnamese-run corner store:


Here are some random pictures I took walking around today:











Hope you all are enjoying winter