Chapter 7 - Oz Burger Syndrome

In which our hero makes a most unsettling discovery...

Today I had my very first ever actually Australian hamburger. That one at The Works doesn't count, because although it had the correct toppings, it wasn't actually in Australia. It was in Toronto, and it was a bit weird, but there was an odd combination of sweet and salty that was not half bad.

This one today I got from the Koala Cafe at school. It was already made up, and I couldn't see what was on it. It said it cost $4.90, but since they were about to close, the fella only charged me $4. Then I went and ate it. It had salad (lettuce), beetroot (pickled beet), grilled onions, t'mahto, and t'mahto sauce (ketchup). It was actually good. Those of you who know me will know it's next to sacrilege for me to admit liking anything oniony, besides sour cream & onion chips. But there it is. My name is Christine, and I like a burger with onions.

I realize now that I should have taken a picture of it. Instead, though, I took a picture of a bird wandering around amongst the chairs of the caf.

Chapter 6 - Eeeep! Spi-dah!

In which our hero encounters a spider and goes "Eeep! Spi-dah!" ...

See?

Eeep! Spi-dah!

He's there, in the middle.  You have to look closely.

I saw this fellow, I think I'll call him Mr. Stripey, on account of the orange and black striped socks he had on, on my way down to Helensvale Station this morning.  I was going to catch a bus, so I didn't have time to stop and chat.  I was, however, thoroughly surprised.  I said to myself, "Self," I said, "if that chap is still there later, you should take a picture to show your friends."  And he was, so I did.  Really, though, what else does one do when confronted with their first proper Australian spider, (Mr. Scuttles doesn't completely count, because only there for the cakes, and was as much surprised as we were), which is most likely poisonous, but stick one's hand not four inches from it to get a picture?

Not to panic, though, my friends.  He had a web attached to a post way down by the motorway.  He was nowhere near my shoes or my sleeping situation. 

Chapter 5 – I believe high-fives are in order ....

In which our hero finds herself in possession of a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment....

I've been here for five days. Really, it should be counted as four, because the first day was the day I'd arrived in the morning, having had probably nine hours of sleep in the previous 36 hours. I was so tired that I forgot what groceries I bought, and then discovered them the next day and was surprised and delighted.

In that time I have gotten myself set up with a phone, the internet, some foodstuffs, bought sunscreen and aloe vera goo, sent a postcard to Emily of the Arctic, got my student card, found out how to sign on to the student portal, figured out how to use the access my school email, got a Go Card for the transit system, bought all three Back to the Future movies for $16, got a battery in my watch, found a wastebasket to for only $1.50, got a laundry hamper, swagged another Qantas blanket, found my own way to campus, met with my program convenor to figure out what I have credit for, and which classes I'm going to take, figured out the online enrollment system, enrolled in classes, swagged some free postcards, wandered around campus to get familiar with it, bought my first uni t-shirt, and found A Dance With Dragons in paperback, which I probably shouldn't have bought, but I did. As I said, I believe high-fives are in order.

Now my feet hurt.

Please, enjoy this picture of a tree.

Chapter 4 - The Tim Tam Gallery

In which our hero makes a most excellent discovery, and decides to share it with her friends ...

Original.

Honeycomb.

Chocolate Orange.

Double Chocolate Vanilla.

White.

Turkish Delight!

Dark Chocolate Mint!

Dark Chocolate Rum & Raisin.

There is also just regular dark, which wasn't in this particular display.  They come in these "Treat Packs" now, which are like half the size of regular packs.  Some people may or may not get some for Christmas.  It depends on how much they cost to ship ...

Chapter 3 - Oooooh! Buuuuuuuuuuuuuurn!

 In which our hero signs on with two major networks and goes walkabout without sunscreen ...

So. Tuesday, my first full day in the land of Oz. I was still quite tired, and more than slightly overwhelmed. I started by activating my SIM card, purchased the previous day, on the Vodafone site. Then I made another unsuccessful attempt at accessing my Yahoo mail, which I couldn't do because I couldn't remember the answer to my security question. It was so strange that I can't even fathom why I set it as my security question. Blarg.

Later in the morning Wen Ying had a job interview, so I decided to go with, and get some shopping done. We first went down to the nearby shopping centre, Helensvale Town Centre, on a mission to get a printer cartridge from K-Mart. They didn't have one. Nor did anywhere else. We also needed to find a place to print some resumes, which we didn't. I did manage to get a battery, though, for my $4 Timex watch. Part of the expedition's mission was to get me a mobile internet USB dealie. We got that. It's necessary because there's no internet at the house, because apparently there's already too many houses on the street that are hooked up. Whatever. I'm sure if they really wanted to have more customers, they could figure it out. It's from Optus. The fellow, James, was very helpful and knowledgeable, and set the whole thing up for me, so all I had to do was plug it in, which was very good because I'm sure I wouldn't have had the energy to do it later. So you can thank him for the first blog post, and whatever emails and FB stuff people got on Tuesday.

So on to the job interview, which was in an area called Labrador. I decided to go for a bit of a walk, as I could see water like two blocks away. I don't think it was technically the ocean, more like some kind of bay or something. It was still quite nice, though. I walked on the bit of beach, and up several blocks, and then back down, and was back where I started. It was quite nice. I took a few pictures, as you see.

This is also when I acquired the choco mint Drumstick, mentioned above. Or below. Whatever. By then the interview was over, and we continued with the expedition. Next stop was the local bike shop, in Helensvale Plaza, to fix a flat tire. I've neglected to mention, I think, that this is a car expedition. I'll be taking over the bike soon, I think. Anyway, tire fixing success. Also in that plaza we achieved success in the printer cartridge and resume printing departments. Then, back down the road to the Town Centre because I forgot the first time to buy some pre-paid charge on my phone. The girl at the Vodafone kiosk was not very helpful. She didn't explain things, just showed me the pamphlet that said all the pre-paid payment options. So I picked a $30 thing, and payed, and we went home.

All this time we'd been driving around with the windows down, and my left arm was frequently sitting on the window ledge. (Remember that they drive on the wrong side here, so as the passenger I was on the left.) Anyway, at some point I started realizing that it felt a bit like it was getting burned. And it looked a bit pink, and slightly tender. Then I noticed that my ears felt hot, as did the sides of my neck. Oops. What kind of fool walks around Australia at high noon without sunscreen? Like, seriously? Luckily I brought a bit of aloe vera goo for just such an eventuality.

So later on, I did some emails, and blogging, and my head was starting to hurt, and I was seriously doubting the sanity of the whole expedition, as I think I mentioned. But after writing a bit, and messing around with my phone, and figuring out how to set the date and time (which I thought they all did automatically, but I guess not) also how to use a song from my collection as a ring tone, and how to set a picture of my darling Friskey as my wallpaper, I felt considerably better. So Wen Ying and I made a cake from a mix, and it was done just as Sarah finished her music lessons. Then we ate it. It was good.

Then evening stuff, stayed up too late doing the blog, headache got worse, went to sleep.

Chapter 2 - The Truth Will Out

In which our hero reveals the real reason for this very expensive expedition ... 

Tee hee hee  .... 

Chapter 1 - A Return to Oz

In which our hero makes a perilous journey through time and space to the mysterious land down under.

So. Here I am, back in Australia. Except with a more daunting purpose, and less money to spend, and more things to have to spend it on. I don't even know what to say. I'm still very tired. I don't really know what to do with myself. I'm slightly freaking out, and doubting the sanity of the entire enterprise.

OK. So. I left on Saturday morning, wearing shorts and Keens and leaving my coat with Mom and Sisters at the Robert Q station, leaving me with just a hoodie. There was lots of snow, but the sun was shining. The plane left Toronto on time and without a hitch. Even though the lift-off is my favourite bit, I was essentially asleep before it. I slept until about 2/3 of the movie was done. (As solidly as one can on an air plane). That's shocking, I know. But in very grave circumstances, I'll make an exception and ignore a movie – like if I've slept less than four hours the night before, and it's a movie I've never heard of. The gentleman one seat over from me was a French fellow, and I overheard him telling the girl beside me that he was working on an updated 3D Felix the Cat. Later on he was sketching Felix on his computer, using a stylus that looked like one of those grease pencils that you peel the paper back from. He could pick the different types of mark the pen would make, and then just erase with his finger, like on a white board. It looked awesome. Very high-techy stuff. Very fun to watch.

We landed in L. A., and as we were taxiing in I saw the most amazing thing: a double-decker plane! It said China Southern on it, or something to that effect. I seriously don't understand how those things fly. I know it's all lift and drag and physics stuff, but seriously. It's like the Titanic with wings.

But wait, there's more. After waiting nearly an hour past the scheduled boarding time, our Qantas plane pulled in, and guess what – double decker! Holy carp! It turns out it was more like 1 1/3, but still. Amazingness. So we took off. Naturally, I started watching movies on the amazing on-demand entertainment system. I began with Robot & Frank. They fed us supper. They were both very good. One was quite tasty, and the other had robots. I'll leave it to your imagination which was which. Then I watched 7 Psychopaths. Also quite good. But I was getting a bit sleepy. Then I watched From Rome With Love. The bits with subtitles made me more sleepy, but no self-respecting cinephile would sleep through a Woody Allen movie, so I persevered. Then, I decided to bite the bullet (except I didn't have a bullet so I used a cookie) and take a nap. I put on something that I didn't especially care whether I slept through or not: The Bourne Legacy. I slept through most of it. Please don't misunderstand and think this is some kind of slight on the Bourne series. It's just that it's sort of ... more readily available, and more likely that I'll see it again. Then I put on one from the Aussie section: Paul Kelly: Stories of Me. Apparently he's quite a big deal down here. I liked the bits I saw, but unfortunately slept through most of that as well. Then lastly, I put on The Sapphires. That was very good. I highly recommend it. It's based on a true story of some Aboriginal girls who were a soul group in the late 60s. But wait, you say. It doesn't add up. You've only mentioned six titles, and it was a fourteen hour flight. Each movie was most likely two or less hours. That makes less than twelve. Yes, well. The amazing on-demand entertainment system kind of had a fit about ten minutes into The Sapphires, and so they re-booted it. While it was rebooting they served brekkie, so I decided to finish eating before trying the movie again. I just barely made it – the credits were rolling as we touched down.

So. Palm trees. Scary snakes and spiders. Vegemite. It's all for real. But there's more. Tim Tams. 'Nuff said.

Anyway. We unloaded ourselves from the plane. Went through customs. They didn't mind me bringing in some choco. Then we collected our baggage, went and handed the lady our customs cards, and left. There was a disappointing lack of very cute Sniffer Beagles. Oh well. There was a woman with a sign with my name on it, and a girl in a red t-shirt who gave me a nice swag bag. Then I signed in on their iPad, and the woman drove me to my homestay, where I was met by Wen Ying, the other homestay girl. I unpacked. Had some lunch. Showed her some pictures of the ridiculous snow two years ago. One munchkin was home sick, so I met him right away, then later Sarah came home with another. Then we went out to Wooly's (that's Woolworth's, for the non-Aussies in the audience) for a quick grocery shop. Then home. Then dinner. Then waiting until it was a reasonable time at home to call Mom and Dad to explain that I wasn't dead, there was just no internet in the house. I was, needless to say, very tired. Shower. Bed. Unsuccessful attempt to watch an episode of 30 Rock, because I fell asleep. The window was open all night, and the breeze blew in the scent of the flowery tree outside. I slept from what was, at home, about 6 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. Practically my regular schedule. Except here it's normal productive working person hours, not lazy unemployed person hours, because here it was 9 at night to 6:30 in the morning. I believe that's it, my friends. More tomorrow. Over and out.

Here's some pics of the house.

Yes. There's seriously a trampoline.