at long last a “goo-day mate” form Ozland!
yes it’s true, everybody’s your mate,
they all say ‘no worries’ instead of “ok”
and within the first few days we met a Shiela and 2x Bruce!
so, we know it’s been more than 2 weeks but we haven’t forgotten you,
we had great fun -ha-ha- with our airfreight baggage
which went all the way to Singapore.
we recieved it yesterday after 16 days of fighting and freezing our asses off
(cause it’s still very chilly here, 5-15 degrees)
what’s there to say… ? WOW !!!
everything is NEW
and BIG
and organized
and obviously confusing!
the people here are very friendly
although they don’t actually talk – sounds more like singing in funny noises
sometimes I can’t believe they are supposed to be speaking english
on our first day we woke up
with new tweetie birds singing new songs
and then went right back to sleeping the jetlag away
we’re staying in Mitcham, in the Whitehorse district
(sounds like an Indian village)
the houses are mostly from wood and all have central heating,
gass stoves and no garages, cars just park off street or under a roof,
AND
no one ever locks their cars or doors!?
(except us, second nature)
we live right opposite a forest that reminds of Knysna
and here every second block has an indigenous park of some sort
people are very nature conservation contious
there’s millions of trees, big, small, weird and tall
with unusual birds flying and tjurping everywhere
the city is about 25 min. from here by car, 35 by train (safe, clean, colourful and comfortable)
we have been to Melbourne with the train about 4 times
and explored till we dropped
went all around town with the trams, which is free in the CBD
good thing cause it’s HUGE!
everytime we see a completely new part
I recon it’s about 7/8 times bigger than CT central CBD,
maybe more and we just haven’t seen it yet.
One thing that’s also big here is coffee and cake!
Millions of little coffee shops, each with their own speciality,
and you have to know the lingo, can’t just ask for coffee
they don’t know it! they keep on asking “bu wha da ya reely want?”
we went to the Dandenong Ranges – beautiful!
and had our first “barbie”
ha ha!
heel lekker,
but we’ll never give up braaiing South African style
here you barbecue with gas on a big metal plate
it’s sort of like stirfrying your food,
nice difference but I still like our way better
met die vuurtjie en kole!
and the weather:
hier trou jakkals baie met wolf se vrou!
one moment the sun is bright and shiny and the next second
big fat drops pour from the sky, lots of them
and after about 20 min. it stops, sun still out
and within 20 mins. then it all starts again!
our grocerie shopping adventures:
you have to activate the trolley by feeding it
20c which you get back once you’re done
chicken is chook – no joke
(chicken is only for when you call someone chicken,
or for a dead chook)
if the shop assistants want to help you
they ask: “a yeeuw raait?”
what?
“a yeeuw raait?”
smile and nodd
the vegetables have completely different names
some of them look a little odd too
and all sweets are “lollies”
even if it’s a toffee or a marsmallow, it’s a lolly
haven’t seen jelly tots or fruit pastels
but here’s heaps of other new sweeties, no – lollies
we bought a lekker big stainless steel wok –
R asked for discount “cause it’s our first purchase in your country”
they laughed and gave us $10 off!
stuff here is HECTICALLY expensive,
we have to multiply everything
BY 5 !!!
we’ve been looking around at cars…hmmm…
loads of different stuff on the road than what we’re used to
there are’nt as many beeltes here as in CT,
but enough to make me want one again!
we saw one that was in the same condition as ours
with the recon. engine etc. but no roofrack, towbar or bicycle rack
for: $8 000 (times that with 5 = 40 000 rand!)
so, well see…
the public transport’s efficient enough,
the last train to Melbourne’s at 23:30
and save (lots of schoolkids use it)
and night busses go back and forth up to 4:00am
we haven’t realy been out at night
just on our first sat. evening we drove around town
to see the Melbourne festival activities
but it was toooo cold without our winter clothes
now that we can be warm and snuggly
we’ll go and explore the nightlife
not that we’ll be able to afford anything
or
have a clue where to go to
there’s so much happening!
weekly there’s 4 A3 magazines that come out for free
with all the gig, band and club info!
so, lots still to do
will keep u posted!
cherio
R&W