Oz Thoughts

What I loved about Australia:

- All their strange/playful words and usages. Sheila, tinny, sorted, mozzie, mate, rubbish, chock, reckon, jumper, molle. The list is endless. They also seem to pronounce aluminum, "Al-yoo-minimum".

- Tax built into prices. Most of the world does this, it's not news to many, but it is to a few of my devoted readers.

- Seemingly all kids wear incredibly dorky school uniforms. I thought it best not to photograph some random kid, so just trust me. But I don't know how bullies know whose ass to kick, including their own.

- Airport security or lack thereof for domestic flights. The blueshirts at our airports are a farce. So it was incredibly refreshing to waltz through with my shoes and belt on, water bottle, etc. Never even showed ID to anyone!!

- Every time I use a toilet I get to decide which button to flush, a little game. Took a while to figure out it was half vs full flush, and for the record, half flush rarely seems sufficient. And yes, the water spins the wrong way.

- Lagoons! Places like Cairns and Airlie Beach have huge public pools right on the ocean front so people can have a good time without worrying about jellyfish, sharks, rock fish, saltwater crocs, riptides, etc.

- The streak of room upgrades Ashley and I briefly had going.

- Love using, "Ah, in America it's different" as a built in excuse when I don't know how to do something simple like use a coffee machine.

- Their 50 cent piece has a kangaroo and emu holding a crest on one side and the queen of England on the other. Another one has a fucking platypus!

- Last minute edit: Last night in Australia, at an Adelaide bar with my German friend from the Rock Tour, and in walk the Black freaking Keys. Sat just us three at a table with Dan for a solid 10 minutes, though their security took their job seriously, but we finally got a picture with Patrick at the end!

*No idea why I can't shrink it. It is copied from Saskia's Facebook since I'm a moron and chose this as the one night to not bring my camera!

Things not so cool:

- Australia put the wood to my intended budget. The exchange rate is basically 1 - 1, but shit is expensive. $30+ for books, $15 train to airport (Chicago's El is $2.25), $20 for sunscreen, and worst of all, $45+ for a case of shitty beer. Internet is rarely free as well. Should have gotten a job here and brought earnings back to U.S. They're paid quite well. Anyway, looking forward to Asia prices.

- Shitty beer. Just insert everything I said about Europe (other than Czech and German beer) and insert it here. And man do they love cider. Amusing to watch this tough Aussie Rules Footy team chug ciders.

- They seem to ration electrical outlets here.

- The plight of the Aborigines seems all too familiar to that of many Native American populations.

- Checkpoints, CCTV surveillance, strict bar serving rules, over cautious street crossing signals (hard to explain), helmets at all times, and just an abundance of little rules here and there. I usually hate the term "nanny state" but NZ and Australia creep into that territory.

I guess it's just funny to grow up seeing Crocodile Dundee and Bonk, Steve Irwin, even Russell Crowe and just figuring they come from a super badass land. It turns out to be kind of a mix of the two.

Those are mostly trivial, just want to cover both sides of these countries. Overall, Australia was everything I hoped it would be: amazing beaches, funny people, and life-long memories like the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru.

I saw a lot considering my time limits. A few things I missed:

- Never held a Koala or fed a Kangaroo. Tried to save it for last day, in Adelaide, but instead just blogged, sat around, and did laundry. The new GTL?

- Learning to surf or scuba (maybe Thailand).

- Paying my respects to Steve Irwin at his big zoo north of Brisbane. Loved that dude. Weirded out an ex-gf by all but crying when he died, haha. A true croc safari up near Darwin would have been cool too.

- Never took off my shirt and disappeared into the Outback like a minor hero of mine, Alan Rickman's Aboriginal slave at the end of Quigley Down Under (Shouldn't be a spoiler, anyone with TBS should have seen Quigley!)

- Never played knifey/spooney.

I'm hoping this won't be my last time here. I had a fantastic time in Australia.

Tomorrow it's off to Bangkok and Southeast Asia. A whole new world of temples, bugs, languages, crowdedness, beaches, and general adventure await me in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Singapore. Talk to you soon.

Some animals and random pics:

2 foot wingspan bats. Thousands of them!

Some sort of beached narwahl.