Crikey, Australia Zoo

Australia Zoo
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault

One outing we did take while at Coolum was to Australia Zoo. This is Steve Irwin's Zoo. We caught the Australia Zoo bus from Coolum to the Zoo. They showed old episodes of "The Crocodile Hunter" on the ride there. What a guy.

When we arrived we headed to the Crocoseum for the morning show. The show was ok. The bird segment was surprisingly the most interesting part. The whole thing built up to the crocodile segemnt. In the end the crocodile came out but was not really in the mood for doing much.

After the show we wandered about checking out the kangaroos, koalas, wombats, tigers, elephants, aligators, crocodiles and much more. One of the best creatures was the Tasmanian Devil. No he doesn't look anything like the Warner Bros. version. He was pretty funny though. He spent his time circling his enclosure. Making it very difficult for anyone to get a good phot of him. Very amusing.

All in all it was a lovely day. The animals have nice enclosures and look healthy. The grounds are well kept and beautiful. The staff are informative. Conservation is stressed throughout the zoo. They are planning a huge expansion with a huge animal hospital, hotel, and safari. I reccomend it if you are ever in Beerwah.

What I did on my Spring Vacation

Coolum
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault

Last week Gavin and I headed to Coolum with his family. Coolum is about an hour and a half north of Brisbaine. His parents have a holiday apartment there. The week was spent doing little other than eating, relaxing, and enjoying the scenery. Exactly how a vacation should be spent.

The "new" couch

The "new" couch
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault

After months of relaxing on a not so comfortable futon ( a metal frame with very flat cushion) we have bought a "new" couch. It may not be the prettiest one (though I do like it) but boy is it comfy. It is long enough for Gavin to stretch out on and the arms are just the right height for a head rest. Best of all it was only $80.

Jumpy's

Jumpy's
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault

There are not many things I miss from Canada that I can't get here. I don't have crazy urges for Tim Hortons or Beaver Tails. One thing I do miss though is Goldfish Crackers, particularly the Blasted BBQ flavour. They are soooo good. They don't sell Goldfish, let alone BBQ flavour, in Australia. I did however find an adequate substitute in Jumpy's. Tasty kangaroo-shaped crackers.

Coffee Fairy

I now have a job. I deliver coffee to all the good people who work in the shopping centre near our home. The work is not too bad, it gets me out of the house and pays well. Coffee is a whole different thing here. There is no coffee from a big coffee urn, like you get at Tim's. Here every cup is made individually. If you want a cup of black coffee you order a long black. For an espresso you order a short black. Then there is the flat white which is a shot of coffee to which you add hot milk. I also make lattes and cappucinos and many other fancy schmancy drinks.

Surprise Date

For my birthday Gavin gave me the Bob Evans CD Suburban Songbook. He had heard one of the songs on the radio and thought I would like it. He knows me too well. I love the CD. Last night as a surprise he took me to see Bob Evans at the Metro Theatre. The opening acts were Faryll Perkiss and Machine Translations. They were quite enjoyable. Bob Evans put on a great show. He sounded great and was very entertaining. Even Gavin thought it was a good show and when it comes to music we don't usually agree. I think I got myself a pretty great guy.

Mystery Box

Aus Museum-FunnelWeb
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault

What is only 2" long and is so dangerous it has to be kept locked in a box within a box with a large red "Danger" sign? ...the funnel-web spider, of course. The one in this box makes his home at the Australia Museum. These are considered one of the most dangerous spiders in the world and they live in my backyard. I haven't had the "pleasure" of meeting one yet and I am hoping I never do.

Ami's Big Day in the City.

HydePark-Turtle2
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault

Earlier this week I headed into Sydney to have a look around. I headed first to Hyde Park to have a look around and wait for the museums to open. Hyde park is a lovely place for a walk and a great place for people watching.

At 10am I headed to the Australia Museum. It is basically a natural history museum. Admission is $10. The exhibits are old school (lots of things piled in display cases) and not particularly exciting or informative. Though I did learn that more than 80% of Australia's plants and amimals are unique to Australia. With a statistic like that this museum should be much more interesting.

After lunch I walked to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It has free admission. I had museum fatigue by the time I got there and so did not really take much in. It is free so I can go back.

By the time I left the gallery it was time to try to find my way across the harbour to Milson's point to meet Gavin. This took me through the Royal Botanic Gardens. Very beautiful (and also free). Upon exiting the gardens the easiest thing would have been to take a train across the Harbour Bridge. I thought it might be nice to walk across the bridge. It was about 4pm when I started looking for the way to walk across (I had been on my feet since 8am). After taking several wrong paths I was on my way at 4:45. It is a lovely view from the bridge and a nice walk.

All in all in was a nice day in the city. After all that walking I went home and slept like a baby.

Moth Writings

Scribbly Gum Bark3
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

I have always liked to draw. Perhaps that is why I love the Scribbly Gum so much. It has all these "scribbles" over the bark. They are not just the natural pattern of the bark but the tunnels of the Scribbly Gum moth. It really does look like someone has been scribbling on the tree.

Cockroach Hotel: The Continuing Story

We still have very big cockroaches at our house. We don't see as many as we used to, only about 4 or 5 a week now. I no longer scream for Gavin to kill them. I do that myself. All in all, I feel that for the most part I handle the situation quite well. There is only one thing that still disturbs me about them, when I wake up in the morning to find half of a cockroach (usually the tail end though not always) where there was no cockroach when I went to bed. What the heck happens to the other half?

Kyogle Part 2: Conversation with a local

After spending the morning seeing everything I could possibly see in Kyogle I decided to spend the afternoon reading. I chose a lovely shaded bench just off mainstreet. The bench, in length, was about the equivalent of about 4 or 5 park benches. I sat at one end. No one else was sitting on the bench. Imagine my surprise when a woman sat down so close to me she was in danger of sitting on me. I tried to keep reading my book but she bemoaned her sore feet and sore back, obviously looking to strike up a conversation. I stole a quick look at her. I would guess she was in her late 60s early 70s. She wore a large, brightly coloured muumuu. Here is a portion of our conversation:
Me: "Oh, that is too bad" (about her back).
LL (Local Lady): "Yeah, I will take it to the grave"
There was silence so I continued reading
LL: "Can I ask you a question?"
Me: "Sure" I was not at all prepared for what she was about to ask.
LL: "Are those false teeth?" Yes, she was refering to my teeth.
Me: "No, these are my own teeth"
LL: "Really?"
Me: "Yes" At this point I tapped on them thinking that might convince her.
LL: "Fair dinkum?"
Me: "Honestly, they are real"
This continued for about a minute and a half at which point I could tell she still didn't believe me.
LL: "Do you think these are my real teeth?"
During our time so close together on the bench I got a good look at her teeth. They were brown and chipped.
Me: "I'd say those are real" Could they be anything but?
LL: "Nope, they're false teeth" She exclaimed this quite proudly.

The conversation carried on. I was made to guess a few more things (such as her husband's age, Eighty-nine, if you are interested). She asked a few more questions such as "How old are you?" (She thought I was 16), "Where are you from?", "Where in the world is Canada?". We said our good-byes.

After the our conversation I had two thoughts:

1. How could those teeth be false teeth? I always thought false teeth equalled teeth that looked too perfect.
2. She thought I had false teeth. She thought I was 16. Who has a full set of false teeth at 16?

Kyogle Part 1: Holy bats, Batman!

Kyogle-bats3
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

A few weeks ago Gavin and I visited the little town of Kyogle. Neither of us knew how little the town was going to be. He was to spend the day in a training course and I was free to wander. Five minutes and I had seen pretty much everything on the mainstreet. I decided to wander a bit further and eventually found myself in a park. It was a lovely park. I could hear loud chirping at one end near a rail bridge and decided to check in out. I thought perhaps I might see some interesting birds. As I rounded the bridge I realized quickly it wasn't birds chirping but thousands of bats. Honestly there were thousands. Most of them were hanging upside-down but some were flying around to find a new branch to hang from. When I returned home I checked my Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife and determined they were probably Grey-headed Flying Foxes. Big bats.

Oz Observations #3: Eating out

1. When paying your bill you are not expected to tip (at most restaurants).
2. Tax is included in prices.
3. Many restaurants are BYO (bring your own...beer and wine)
3. Restaurants don't necessarily have bathrooms. The place we went to on Saturday night had one out back. To get to it I had to go through the kitchen and out the backdoor past the dumpster. Yes, that was through the kitchen where they were cooking.

But Trust me on the Sunscreen

Sunscreen
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

Autumn has arrived in Australia. It is starting to cool down. I made it through the summer. I did get one wicked sunburn and quickly learned from that mistake. Checkout the size of the sunscreen container. That is what we Canadians must buy to avoid being roast Canucks.

Never Far From PEI

While living in Ottawa I was never surprised when I met people from home or people from elsewhere in Canada who knew someone from PEI that I knew or at I at lease knew who they were. It happened a lot. I wouldn't have been totally surprised if it had happened in Sydney as it a big city and a popular tourist destination. I never expected it in Coffs Harbour but the other week I met an Aussie girl named Kate (a friend of Gavin's coworker) whose cousin was in my Grade 4 class and in one of my university classes. Small world.

Muttonbird Island

Muttonbird-Coffs
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

How have I been keeping busy since arriving in Coffs Harbour? Reading and cleaning are much of my time. The rest is spent going for walks. One great place I found to walk to is Muttonbird Island. It is a little island (attached by a causeway) a short walk from our house. The island is home to mutton birds who nest in the ground but there is a path across it for people to walk. It is a bit of a hike up but has lovely views. Apparently from May to October you can see humpback wales off of it.

One Stop Shop for a D.U.I.

Coffs-Gasandliquor
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

Since arriving in Australia I have noticed that drive-thru liquor stores are not uncommon. I was a bit surprised by this. However there is a place in Coffs Harbour that takes "convenience" one step further. It is a liquor store/gas station. Make no mistake, I do not mean a convenience store/gas station that happens to sell liquor. It is a liquor store that sells gas (or vise versa). Very interesting.

Champagne Birthday

When I was about 10 my friend Sarah had her champagne birthday, that is she turned 9 on the 9th of November (or 10 on the 1oth, I can't quite remember). Her mom bought us fake champagne to mark the event. I remember sitting at their kitchen table on Bolger drive drinking my fake champers thinking I'd have to wait until I was thirty to have mine. I couldn't even fathom being that old. It seemed like a million years away. Well...now it is ten days away. In ten days I leave my 20s behind. Yikes.

Oz Observations #2: How to talk like an Aussie

1. If a word ends with er (such as summer, surfer or beer) the er is changed to an ah sound (summah, surfah, or beah). Don't worry, the r sound isn't wasted. See observation 2.
2. If a word ends with an ah sound (such as vanilla, law or pasta) an r is added to the end of the word (vanillar, lawr, pastar).
3. Debut is pronounced dayboo. It kills me.

The Cockroach Motel

Cockroach IPod
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

I considered changing my name for our house from the "Wee Banana" to the "Cockroach Motel" after I found a few of these guys. Luckily they have all been belly up.
Funnily enough, belly up in no way means they are dead yet. They still move their legs a bit. I covered one with a glass when I saw his legs move (too chicken to stomp on something so big and crunchy looking). While shifting the glass (so I wouldn't trip over it) he flipped right side up. I checked him again in an hour and he was belly up again. What is the deal with that?
I haven't found any smaller than the one pictured. Gavin assures me they are all coming out as a result of the exterminator's visit just before we moved in. I bought a huge can of Raid just in case.

The "Wee Banana"

Coffs-Wee Banana
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

After a bit of searching Gavin and I have found a place to live. It is a little yellow house, which I have named the "Wee Banana". It is a cute little place in a prime location. We are less than five minutes walk from the grocery store, many pubs and restaurants, and the beach. What more could we ask for? Oh, the local brothel is a two minute walk.

Gone Bananas

Sapphire Beach-Clancy8
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

Gavin and I have been in Coffs Harbour for two weeks. It is a small coastal town famous for being home of the "Big Banana", a large fibre glass banana, and a few banana farms. We have been lucky to be staying with a friend of Gavin's family at Sapphire Beach while looking for our own place. The house is pretty much on the beach. While Gavin went to work each day I had the tough job of hanging out at the beach with Clancy, possibly the world's friendliest dog.

Oz Observations #1: A visit to the grocery store

1. Stores don't refrigerate eggs. At our local store eggs are to be found sitting on a shelf next to sweet and sour sauce.
2. They sell McCain products here. If I get a hankering for Superfries or frozen pizza I am all set. Sadly no Deep 'n Delicious cakes.
3. Kiwi fruit are more expensive here than in Canada.
4. They still sell decorative toilet paper here. You can get rolls with dogs, sea shells, flowers, frogs and much more. Perhaps it is still available in Canada but I haven't seen any since the light blue and pink rolls at my friends Danielle and Sarah's house in the early 80s.

Cucina Italiana

Last night Kim, Gavin's sister, and I went to a cooking class at Cucina Italiana. I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't really think it would be very involved or that I would learn anything I could do at home. Much to my surprise it was quite the opposite. It was a lot of fun too. Most of the dishes were made in front of us by the instructor. Her demonstrations were excellent and she was quick to answer any questions. She showed us how to make Tuscan Antipasti, a simple pasta sauce, scaloppine with herbs and smemifreddo al caffe.

The one thing we actually got to make ourselves was fresh pasta. We made ravioli stuffed with pumpkin. It was a lot of work but worth it in the end. Mmmmm.

The instructor, Luciana Sampogna, was what really made the evening. She was a small Italian lady with a big personality and a real passion for cooking. She gave great demonstrations, told intersting stories, and even scolded us if we didn't take proper care of our pasta dough.

Over the course of the evening we had a lovely dinner. Every thing was very tasty. We were giving copies of the recipes. I think I could manage to make most of it at home with a little practice. All in all a fabulous evening.

Birds at the Koala Park

Koala Park - Shake a claw
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

Ok, as I admitted before, I am becoming a bit of a crazy bird lady. I am only going to reinforce that with the next statement...the birds of the Koala Park are so cool they are getting their own post. Admittedly when we headed to the cockatoo cage I didn't think it would be very exciting. I see them flying around the house every day. While they are pretty they are the noisiest birds I have ever come across. The Koala Park ones were different. They were friendly and chatty. Here is what they could say:

• 'ello
• 'ave a crackah (Interestingly, not "want a cracker" as per Polly)
• bye bye
• There was one who must have been a construction worker in a former life. He would spread his yellow crest like a mohawk, bop his head side to side, and then whistle the perfect "hey baby" whistle (I have no idea how to write that whistle sound).

There was also a corella in the cage who, when you say "shake hands", would stick his claw out and shake your finger.
See what I mean cool birds. Perhaps you had to be there.

Koala Park

Koala Park - Ami and Chocca
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

Last week Gavin took me to the Koala Park. It is one place I have been waiting to visit since I arrived in Australia. I was not disappointed. It is a small zoo in Sydney containing mostly animals native to Australia. The main attraction, as the name implies, is the koalas. I was able to pet one at feeding time. Her name is Chocca and she is 11 years old. Some things I learned about Koalas:

• They sleep 18-20 hours per day. This is not because they are drugged by the eucalyptus leaves they eat. They are just sleepyheads.
• When they are asleep they look like they were taxidermied and stuck in a tree several decades ago.
• While their fur is a bit bristly it is stiff quite soft.
• They are kind of smelly.

The other animals we were allowed to pet were the grey kangaroos. We were able to go into their enclosure and feed them cheerios. Some observations about kangaroos:

• They are soft.
• They like cheerios.
• It hurts if they accidentally bite you while you feed them.

There were a lot of other animals including a wombat, wallabies, emus, cassowaries, a dingo, penguins, an echidna, peacocks, and sheep. Check out the website and see what good celebrity company I am in having visited the place.

Australia Day 2006

Australia Day 2006-2
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

January 26th was Australia day. It seems the thing to do here is have a BBQ or go downtown for festivities and fireworks. Sounds a bit like Canada Day, eh? In most ways it is though, at least at our bbq, I noticed a few differences. Here they are:

• For the most part people didn't wear the colours of the Australian flag or any representations the flag. We did did have one guest in a flag t-shirt and I had a temporary flag tatoo but that was it.
• There seems to be some tradition of men wearing Magnum PI shorts (shudder).
• Australian radio stations play countdowns of the top songs of the year. Our party revolved around Triple J's Hottest 100. Everyone tried to guess the top songs of the year. Sadly, I didn't guess any correctly.

I think I can say good times were had by all on the 26th. I thought the countdown was a particulary nice addition to the day. Shots for getting a song wrong were a bit harsh. I better start listening for next year.

Good Bye Sydney...

Opera House
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

...Hello Coffs Harbour. Yes, I am leaving Sydney already. Gavin just got a job in Coffs Harbour, a smallish town about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane. We are moving there in a couple of weeks. All I know about the place is that it is a popular tourist destination in the summer months and that they have nice beaches. So this will be move number eight in the space of six years. You would think I liked moving or somthing.

Stick Bug

Stick Bug 2
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

One of the coolest things I've seen since being here is a stick bug. Yes, they really look like a stick. A sort of cartoony stick but a stick nonetheless. You always see them on nature shows in some far off place but now they are in my back yard. I feel like I live in a nature show with all the new birds and creatures I keep seeing.

New Years Eve 2006

New Years 06-56
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

Gavin and I spent New Years Eve at a friend's place. Their apartment overlooks the Harbour Bridge so it was a perfect place to view the fireworks. I have to say they far surpassed any fireworks dispay I've ever seen. Check out the more of the pictures we took.

Crazy Bird Lady

King Parrot 3
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

"Crazy Bird Lady" is fast becoming Gavin's new nickname for me. The birds in Australia are so different from those in Canada that I can't help getting excited when I see a new one. I have been able to feed Rainbow Lorikeets from my hand on the front balcony. A beautiful King Parrot, whom I've named Elvis, regularly visits the bird feeder in the back garden. There are Cockatoos everywhere. I am trying to take lots of pictures of them. You can view them at Flickr.

Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

Kalkari Kanga 5
Originally uploaded by ami_arsenault.

After arriving safely in Australia the first thing Gavin took me to was the Kalkari Discovery Centre in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. We took a walk on one of the trails. Upon spotting my first kangaroo I realized I was far from home. On our walk we also saw a swamp wallaby, a water dragon, some turtles, and lots of different gum trees. A very nice first outing in Australia.

A couple of weeks after our first visit to the national park we returned for a picnic and a took a walk through the mangroves. This walk was along a boardwalk a couple of feet over a muddy area. Scurrying across the mud were hundreds of little mud crabs. Fast little guys.