Grass (of the lawn variety)

I know this may seem a little boring to write about grass but it seems you have to make the most of it while its around. I've arrived when everything is so beautiful and green and you can't help feeling such a sense of joy and peace when you're soaking it all in however it is not always like this and for the majority of the year grass is either covered in snow or of a browner tinge (so I hear).. or most of the time it is just to darn cold to go outside and enjoy it.

So in the summer everyone is keen to be outside on the grass! However what I've found to be hilarious is that grass is a little to foreign for the little ones. Toddlers will do anything to avoid it. I've witnessed toddlers being placed on grass, they then look at their feet, try and step off the prickly stuff and when they realise they can't escape they wail like crazy! I laugh every time. I have seen a baby sit on his butt and lift his feet so that only minimal body parts touch the green stuff! I've also heard that parents will place their children on blankets on the grass and be 100% assured that their child won't move off the quilt.

Chicks and CostCo

In three hours two others and I unloaded about 30,000 baby chicks at a local chicken farm. The chicks were one day old, the shed was like a sauna, and you finished up smelling like chicken poop but it was surprisingly so fun! Our job involved transferring the chicks from the crates into the cages and counting out the right amount of chicks for each cage. At first you start off being nice and delicate with the chicks transferring them into the cage gently, but by the end you are pretty much picking up hand fulls of chicks and chucking them in. They are so cute and fluffy (and very robust) and you can grab about three or four in your hand at once. They keep your reflexes in check as every now and then one would escape from my hands and fly (or fall) through the air.  Loved it!

Yesterday I went to a Superstore, a Mall and a CostCo. I think I may have shopped more in one day than I have in a whole year (maybe that's a slight exaggeration). CostCo is definitely an experience, complete with a hot dog shop and ice cream stand. The great thing about CostCo though is that they have so many taste testers along the aisles that you won't even need to buy lunch, do a few round trips and you'll be set. I managed to score lobster ravioli, guacamole and crackers, anti-pesto nibbles and juice. Probably isn't wise to have that combination of foods on a regular basis! Everything in CostoCo is super-sized and packaged in bulk. It's where you go for cheap books if you need 5litres of Listerine mouthwash or 2kgs of Peanut Butter. There is definitely massive savings to be had however I wonder how much of it goes to waste when people figure out that they won't actually use 200 tins of canned tuna.

I also found it kinda funny that companies will put the term "Aussie" on their products. I've seen it now on quite a few different items. Marketing research must have shown that "Aussie" sells. Anything Australian must definitely be awesome!!

General Knowledge of Australia, Couch-Surfing and Pig Buses

You realise how little you know about your own country when people continue to ask you detailed questions about it. I've been asked about Australian Wildlife, the economy, the deferences between the ALP and the Labor party, our road laws, the Socceroos, beer, etc. I can usually cover the basics but it sure makes me wish I had paid better attention at school and read The Age everyday before I left. Thank goodness for Google! I never thought I would say this but in the last week I have actually appreciated facebook updating me on the fact that we now have a new Prime Minister and other events like the Socceroos being eliminated from the world cup.

On another note my friend was telling me about this site that I thought I'd share with you. The site is http://www.couchsurfing.org/ and has the slogan "Participate is creating a better world, one couch at a time." So it must be good eh? You can register your couch for any travelers looking for a place to crash and at the same time you can look for couches where you can stay as you travel all over the world. Members are rated and comments are left as to how hospitable the hosts were and how comfy the couches were. What an awesome way to meet people from all over the world!! I would encourage you to list your couch today! Don't worry mom, I haven't signed up to this... yet!

Last night I went to a local farm auction. It was pretty much the same as any farm option.. except for the amazing home made ice-cream they served... mmm mmm. Food always draws a crowd and maybe they thought that providing such a yummy dessert would encourage more spending or maybe it was just good old fashioned country hospitality! The one item for sale which did catch my eye was a big yellow school bus. I thought that was a little strage however I was told that often farmer will use a school bus with all the seats removed to transport livestock when a big truck is not needed. I had images of driving on the highway passing a yellow school bus full of pigs. Hilarious!

Lattes and never ending breakfast cereal!!

Well this is my first post. Having a blog is a whole new adventure in itself. We'll see how we go, but I'm excited. I've been in Canada now for a week and having a grand old time. I ddin't sleep at all on the plane. I ended up meeting some interesting people but I think I've only just caught up on the fact that I didn't sleep for 32 hours. It was nine degrees celcius when I arrived and I was thinking "oh boy, this is summer, get me a coat!" But thankfully it has warmed up and the other day I think I even may have got a tan in 23 degree weather. Yesterday however my friend thought it was so hot that she wanted to go out and get an air conditioner for her upstairs. I'm looking forward the the hotter weather.

I am loving hanging out with my beautiful friend Cheyenne, her baby Taylin and her husband Mike. Mike studied and lived in Australia for a while so he sometimes acts an an interpreter for words like bogan, daggy and capsicum. Because Mike and Chey are living in a little shoebox of a house I am staying with Chey's parents Mitch and Beth down the road who are incredibly gracious and generous but who also like to bag me out a heap (all in good fun). Lois seems to me a new nick name for me over here.

Mike & Chey and Mitch & Beth live in a small town called Linden (about 600) people. It reminds me alot of Boort. Mitch and Beth live on a farm on the prairies with a big red barn. It is beautiful. It is mostly green paddocks as far as you can see with the biggest sky you will ever see. I can not tell you how big the sky looks. Its beautiful!

One of the biggest challenged here is getting a soy latte! I love soy lattes, I love the taste of soy milk with coffee... mmm mmm! In Australian I would most likely have one a day. Not here. I think its funny that in Australian you can go to pretty much any cafe and order whatever you like; skinny milk, regular milk, soy, low fat soy, rice milk ect. Here everyone drinks just black coffee (I think they add milk or cream). I had quite a dilemma when I went into the coffee shop in Linden. It went something like this "Hi, I'll have a takeaway coffee please, do you have soy milk?" "No" "no worries, I'll have a latte then thanks". She then gave me a cup and pointed me towards the percolated back coffee (looks like tar) and at the same time started making me a latte on the machine... what would I do with two coffees. the lingo is so confusing.

The other day we had a blast on the farm. There is a swamp across the road with lots of mud. I was surprised how excited I got about being in mud. I guess thats what being in drought for so many years will do. Mitch owns this 4 wheel drive doom buggy type thing that is so much fun. We took it to the swamp and had a blast. We got very muddy and bogged heaps. Mike's friends bought their four wheel motor bikes (they call them quad-bikes) and tore around the farm in those as well. We ended the day with a wiener roast (kinda like a small camp fire) and cooked deer smokies (sausages) and ate s'mores (cooked marshmellows and melted chocolate inbetween sweet biscuits).

I am really fascinated by the food here. Its not too different but at the same time it is quite different. I could literately spend hours wandering around the supermarket looking at all the different brands and food. Plus is takes me twice as long to read any packaging because what is written in English is also in French and it seems to take my brain a few moments to figure out which one is english. What I love the most in the cereal aisle! If you know me well you will know that I LOVE cereal. The cereal aisles are heaven, so many more types of cereal. I want to try them all!!

The two big things I've noticed and the food I will miss the most is lamb and pumpkin. Canadians don't eat any lamb and you can't really buy pumpkin in the supermarket. They seem to use pumpkin for sweet dishes like pumpkin pie or pumpkin muffins. Weird! I will miss roast lamb and roast pumpkin! Maybe at Halloween I will be able to find myself some pumpkin!! I plan to make a meat pie, hedgehog slice and anzac biscuits for my Canadian friends!

Its been so lovely just hanging out with Cheyenne and her family here and doing country bumpkin stuff. I think there may be some gopher hunting and many trips to the mountains to come. Those of you that have read this whole post, I am impressed! I promise that future posts will not be as long as this one!!