Talent in Australia

Check out this youtube link:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=RR72wOt3oBU

Australian Idol is my new thing to watch while living in the land down under and I think you all should take a look at this clip! Just amazing and so fun!

They had a Micheal Jackson night and this Wes (pronounced Wez) kid is just amazing. I think he is going to win and rightfully so he has an amazing voice and can perform like no other! He did What a Wonderful World last week and it brought me to tears.

I must make a correction about a blog or so ago. The Rugby Anthem "Hero" is not from Bette Midler but Mariah Carey. Sorry fro the confusion. Regardless it doesn't fit and was poorly sung. Oh well can't be any worse than Rosanne Barr singing the National Anthem at the World Series.

Lord of the Flies

In addition to the Spiders we now have to deal with these horrible little black flies now that it's warming up. They drive me insane! They play cards on your nose, try to search for gold in your nostrils, try to get a drink from your eyeballs, go on searching expeditions on your forehead, cheeks or neck and duck for cover from the wind in your ear! It's repulsive! The more you chase them with your hands the more vigilant they get. Apparently you have to blow at them with your mouth because they hate wind and if that doesn't work you supposedly just get used to them and they don't bother you much. WHATEVER! I can't stand them. They camp out on your back in a huge colony and they take turn with their enemy attack! It's so yuck! I absolutley hate it when one gets trapped in between my sunglasses and my eyeball and they freak out buzzing back and forth between my eye and lens! Can you imagine! Well I don't have to it happens at least every hour! Yeesh! But I guess that's just one of the set backs. Everything else is good. It feels like Cali here to be honest. The Golden wheat fields and the bright green grape leaves not to mention all the snails and lady bugs and pincher bugs. I haven't seen so many since I moved from Cali. It's because of the Golden Fields and Green leaves that you see everywhere that Australias colors are Green and Gold it's kind of cool ~ they are the colors of the greatest Football team EVER! So I guess it's just as well! Go Pack Go!

I feel really comfortable here in Robinvale as one the town has my sisters name in it and the street names are from all of my favorite people... Ronald, Robin, George, Morris, and David! So needless to say I feel very safe and welcome here not that street signs are my only rule of thumb but it helps. :)

So we have a new president... we didn't get to vote but apparently it wouldn't have mattered anyway. And can you believe it our ballots came in the day after the election! Seriously! We are keeping them because they have historical significance so that's kind of cool. Would have really liked to vote though. I'm not a very political person but I guess we will see what happens with all of this now. It's interesting being here during all of this though. The election was a really big deal to the rest of the world. People here had rallies and everything it was very interesting and they can't even vote but it was important to them to see the outcome because as they all say here "America sneezes and the rest of the world catches Pnemonia." I hope that Obama lives up to the expectations that the rest of the world has placed on him because they are looking to all be saved by his acceptance into the White House. I would have prefered Palin but she wasn't running for President so I guess we will have to see what happens in 2012... Here's hoping!

Grapes of Wrath!!!

Wine grapes and spiders aren't a great combination! The wine grapes aren't the problem it's the spiders that creep me out!!!! If you don't know this already I am absolutely petrified of spiders. There is nothing cute or endering or fun about the creatures I can't STAND THEM!!! You can get a play by play of the whole thing if you go to Danielle's Blog www.livingthedreamintheoutback.blogspot.com ~ at any rate besides the spiders we are in a pretty cool set up. Living at a really cool house during the week of work, good food, good company and great experiences. Everywhere we go people want to show us amazing things and really educate us on what they do and all that goes into it. It's great! We even got shear a bit of a sheep it was so fun. One day we will have to upload some pics because we have some great shots. It's beautiful out here and there is just so much to see. Much different landscape than the outback and when I'm not sneezing from hay fever or peering through teared up eyes it really is just amazing and gorgeous! :) Australians are very trusting that or we look like trustworthy yanks because it seems everywhere we go we stay for one night and then the next night everyone has to leave for one reason or another. So we are either house sitting and come and go as we please or we have the place to ourselves for the night and just relax and veg like we are sitting at home. It's really nice because after a while chit chat to fill the silence gets a bit old. It's sweet but I hate it when people feel they need to entertain us all the time. I feel bad for them and sometimes I just like the peace and quiet. So house sitting is fine by me!!! :)

We are officially 17 hours into the future due to your fall back and our spring forward! Crazy stuff!

During all this house sitting and surfing the channels Danielle and I have grown to love a new sport. International Rules!!! It's a mix of Gailic Football and Australian Rules Football! They come together each year and change up the rules so that one team doesn't have the advantage and they play this amazing fast paces full on game. It's hard to explain but you can score 3 different ways with 4 goals and it combines soccer, rugby, volleyball and basketball in the most interesting way. You should look it up I know there are some youtube clips of it. If you like sports I think this will entertain you. Ireland beat Australia this year but not by a huge margine. Both tests were very close and intense. I wish I could watch more but it's sadly over. As most sproting events are coming to a close. We watch the Rugby League World Cup round against Australia and New Zealand the other night and it was very interesting as their Rugby Leauge Anthom is Hero... by Bette Midler... hahahahaha I know you are laughing now as Danielle and I just looked at eachother and busted a gut over the whole thing. It was the most interesting rendition not to mention it's RUGBY!!! Bette has no place in Rugby! I love the lady and her songs but come one give me some pump you up music and get this party started type stuff not HERO! hahahaha we had a good laugh! We did however get to see the Haka and that was brilliant. Too bad it didn't help them out a little more. They were slaughtered by Australia ~ not even a close match. You should youtube the Haka as well it's so amazing! I love the Moari people. They really are a beautiful and amazing race.

Well it's almost election day and we sadly cannot vote. We were silly (for lack of a better word) and didn't figure out all the stuff with the embasy before we left and when we were without internet in the outback we thought we had time but alas we ran out of every option and so we go uncounted in this election. We are sad and disappointed. It's most upsetting. So please feel free to email us and tell us what neglectful Americans we have become and make sure to let us know who wins.

Well I miut sign off now as I am now depressed and am going to go drown my sorrows in ice cream and a brownie.

The Chronicles of an Outback Misfit

Well it's time I give you all a real blog and I do apologize for the lack of blog I left you with last time. My world is definitely different. In the outback I got used to getting up at 5:40am each morning (with no problem I might add! It could be because I don't have to dress up and do my hair... sorry Dail that part just sucked. I now just thrown on my jeans and t-shirt and trusty hat and I'm out the door!) I put in a 12 to 14 hour day of physical labor. I might add that I'm getting quite strong I was very impressed with myself the other day when I hoisted a 12x4 sheet of tin on top of a shed we were building for a cattle yard. But enough of me bragging about myself hahaha! We then return to the pub for at least another 3 hours of serving drinks making dinners and listening to yammerings of drunk and impaired individuals. Then it's off to bed to wake up to do it all agian the next day! All this physical labor and time outside has contributed to the most amazing tan! Sadly it's just from under my sunglasses to the nape of my neck and from my elbows to my wrists as I wear gloves all the time because it gets SO hot that when you pick up tools they burn the snot out of you! But it's a tan nonetheless and it apparently brings out the native american features in me because I've been asked so many times what tribe I belong to. Oh my! Well it's either that or if I'm from Canadia... yep that's right Canadia! Yeesh these bush people are all over the place. First of all Canadian! I don't sound anything like they do - maybe if i was from North Dakota or Wisonsin "Don't ya know!" And second of all it's CANADA!!!! Well I guess it's no different than the guy who wants to learn to speak Mexican (oh how my family will appreciat that!) Then there are things like the "Worstest trip I've ever taken", Betterer, or More Betterer! Can you believe it!? And that's not just tied to one person they ALL say it! Along with Fitted and redicleeous! I'm not making this up people! Actually if you want to pronounce it in Assie Dialect all your er's should sound like A's and if you want to further your Aussie lingo take the word my out of your vocabulary entirely and replace it with me. Hahahaha it's been interesting by all means. Oh and the word thing is pronounced thinK ~ they do know that's already a word right? It all cracks me up and I might need some intervention when I get home... to think my English was already bad now it might end up getting much worse after the next 9 months of being out here. We shall see. The alphabet is a little different as well but only two letters. H and Z. When spelling out words they say Hey-t-ch for H and Zed for Z. But enough of that you want adventure stories don't you? Well I have them!

I ate Kangaroo for the first time the other day! There are professional roo shooters and they help maintain the over population of the kangaroo's. Sounds cruel I know but if they don't they start choking out the land and the cattle suffer therefor the station owner suffers financially. Roo shooters are regulated and can't just go crazy killing roo's they have to only get a certain breed and then only a certain number per month or they get docked. It's a really good system if you have to go to those extreams and even though I couldn't do it I understand the need. I've been out here long enough to see the effects and need for it so please believe me when I say it's not inhumane. Anyway some process their own meat and just as my Uncle George makes elk and buffalo sausage they make roo sausage and so I had a cook out at lunch out on the line with some blokes not thinking anything of it and in the middle of me eating my very good sausage by the way they asked how I liked it and I said it was actually quite delicious. The then informed me what I was eating and to be honest I wasn't grossed out of repulsed. So well done me for trying something new and liking it and well done them for doing such a good job! Would eat it again!

So I must say that we are now in Victoria and are enjoying a week of relaxation and comfort. But we did not get here without some near misses and some crazy adventures. You may think I'm about to tell you about a travel story or something but those two days of travel were quite nice and very smooth thanks to the well run air system and train and bus systems of Australia. I'm going to tell you about Danielle and I's near miss at death! I'm not exagerating here it was VERY scary!!!! It all started on a very dark and stormy day... no lie! It was so black with clouds outside and thunder and lightening was everywhere but surprisingly not over us directly. We were in the middle of a cirlce that was untouched by the bad weather but it was all around us. Very strange. It was nice outside because of all this and wasn't hot as it started getting boiling outside so Dani and I decided to go on a walk. We saw the goats that live in the dam paddock and thought we could maybe muster them in but as they saw us approaching they ran the other way. No worries we didn't really care we just thought we would help. We think we are cool in the middle of no where and just chit chat and walk well out of no where comes the camel. Dani already doesn't like him and so I place myself in betweent he two and start petting it's face and talking to him. He likes it for a minute and then decides he doesn't like us at all and starts kicking and stomping and freaking out. We don't know what to do and know we can't run so we play it cool and try to leave he rounds on us and does his fit all over again. Yikes! We try to leave again this happens 4 times until we see Jonesy and she tries to help us out. He ignores her and starts chasing me around the tennis courts. I know I have to find cover because he is much faster than I am and with stomp me if he can get close enough. I find a light pole and run around it keeping it between me and the camel. He gets bored with this and goes to find Dani who is taking shelter under a tree. Chases her and get the pack of her shirt at one point but then drops her and leaves for me again. He does this over and over and it gets worse and worse each time he starts frothing at the mouth and I'm feaking. Jonesy picks up a stick and starts hitting him and he retreats to the woods. Dani and I make a run for it and all is safe after that. But man get your heart pumping! Too much for me friends! The next day we leave and now we can laugh at it but I don't know if it was the thunder or if he doesn't like Americans but it was VERY not funny at the time!

Well that's all I have for now folks. I will let you know more when I know more.

Until next time. :)

Cabin Fever

Ok I'm sure most of you will think this blog is lame but my friend Danielle (click on her name to the right of the screen) has blogged it all for us which is fine because I have no words in my head. We have had no internet for 5 weeks and now that I have access to my email and such I am drawing a blank. I think the lack of internet has calmed me down hahahaha I've been stunted! J/K

Well the good news is that we are moving to Robinvale, Victoria! We are finally leaving the Outback after a huge case of cabin fever and homesickness the doctor has perscribed a move back to civilization. I will update once we get there and make a worth while entry but I wanted to let everyone know that we are alive and kicking.

Behind the Line...

Serving a very strange and extremely drunk woman who graced us with these fun pics.

The lady took pictures all night long and as you can tell it's day light in this picture... they started at 2pm and didn't leave until after 11pm when she finished her Rump Steak almost laying on the floor trying to finish it. As you can imagine it was a very interesting night for us. These are the clear shots... the rest as you can guess were quite blurry and distorted.

Rain Rain Go Away!

Well life at the Pub is an interesting way to pass the time when things are dry and busy with people! Add some 10 hours of rain and flooding and the boredom sets in and crankiness begins...
It’s really not that bad it’s just very interesting how things change when the big water comes. They call this the channel country out here because when it rains there is oh so much water that is channelled in all different directions causing flooded roads and trapped in station workers and NO MAIL!!! Sucks when you are waiting for a package and you are taunted by the pitter patter of rain drops on the tin roof. It’s very interesting to experience life way out here in the outback. It’s a different pace of life and makes you appreciate things a bit more and helps you to understand different people and cultures.
I really enjoy the behind the scenes work but the serving of beer and dealing with drunken people gets REALLY OLD! When the walls come down and they make fools of themselves it’s quite entertaining but when they become jerks and pervs it loses its entertaining quality and just becomes intolerable. Daxy is our saving grace and deals with the belligerent fools when we have had enough. We get to knock off any time after dinner is served and we retreat to our room for movies or book reading.
Last weekend we had a blast. (We were rained in and no one was coming or going for a good 48 hours) For a change of pace we had just a handful of caravan-ers and it was raining so we didn’t get our usual Sunday night crowed (as Sunday nights is a big roast and we are packed to the max) we decided to make a big meal anyway for the 6 tourists and they came over early so we entertained with a game of Phase 10. We had an absolute uproar of a good time! Giggles and jokes and revenge for Skips were all over the place for about 4 hours. It was so fun and after it all we made some great friends and contacts for places to stay in Victoria as the couples fell in love with us and us them.
Besides the Pub life of serving customers steak burgers and beer we have many animals that we look after as has been mentioned in Danielle’s Blog. There has been a little black lamb that has been added to the family as well as a puppy named Tex. Tex is mine and Danielle’s responsibility to look after and is just as cute as a button. She is a great sheep dog and has all the right instincts. With some good training she will be a great musterer! She hunts the dogs and chases the lambs and thinks she is big and bad. It’s very funny. The baby lamb is adorable and a full black lamb with a white triangle on the top of her head. We named her Snow White. J She was near starved and just hanging on so we give her bottles and try and make her eat as much as possible. She is getting stronger and loves Mary the other lamb that lives here. They are sisters now and can’t be separated. I have taken a liking to the both and love feeding them and looking after them. For those that know me I’m a freak about keeping my clothes clean and not getting full on dirty. Well I constantly have dirt on my jeans and spots on my shirts and muck on my hands. These animals have taught me to stop beings uptight about things that can be washed off. Not sure how long that’s going to last but I’m sure enjoying it and love playing with them and getting dirty with the lot. The Camel is oh so precious and likes to lick and eat my hand. Not sure what the appeal is but its cute and not an experience you can get everywhere. Hahahaha!
Toompine is a crazy place! We have our ups and downs but ultimately it’s enjoyable and has brought us many stories. It’s crazy how you can go to another country and do jobs you would have NEVER done in your own country. Every once in a while I think to myself “I HAVE A DEGREE WHAT AM I DOING?!” But then I remember I couldn’t come over here without my degree and you can’t get this sort of learning and experience in a classroom. I think life is funny and this chapter will bring lots of laughter and quality growth for the chapters yet to come. Thank you all for supporting me and pushing me along. I thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. You know who you are and it’s your strength and belief in me that keeps me honest and brave enough to take the next step.You are all angels