Week 25: Driving Miss Ashley (& Harper)

Sad news. Ashley and Harper did not decide to stay and live with us in Australia:( We had a great time, but we couldn't convince them that Oz was the place to be. As I type, they are on the plane about 2 hours away from L.A. Hopefully, they don't have a full plane. 15 hours squished like sardines would be awful!!! So here's the whole week.....

Saturday
After talking to Amanda Peltz (maid of honor) the night before until 2:00 am, Karl and I woke up kind of early. We went to a Rotary market that's held the first Saturday of every month to get fresh fruit and yummy bread for our visitors! Then, Claire took us to the airport to pick them up. We entered at the wrong airline, so we had to go through security to get to Qantas. (You don't normally have to go through security to meet people at the gate. It's so the 1980s!) Anyways, they arrived safely, and yes, of course, I cried when I saw them. When we got back to the dorm, we showed them around. They said our room is bigger than they thought it would be! Then, we rode the tram to the grocery, and they had lots of fun picking out Aussie brands of food for the week. That night we went to Gunnie's (football VP) 50th b-day party. It was a nice informal gathering, fairly small, so we were proud to have been invited. The free drinks and catered food wasn't bad either. Too bad Harper and Ashley fell asleep! Nobody thought it was rude because they were under the impression that their guests had just arrived from the US. Little did they know that the girls had only come from Sydney.

Sunday
It was a beautiful day for football. The sun was shining; there wasn't a cloud in the sky; and a warm glow surrounded the field. Well, that's how I imagined it would be. The exact opposite was true. It was rainy and very cold. It was a good thing we won 74-12, or we girls would have been pissed! Karl played so well that he actually looked like an American playing with Aussies. I was quite proud especially when he ran 80 yards for a touchdown (he ran for several other ones, too.) By the time we got back home, we were so ready for dinner. After seasoning the steaks (on sale, 6 for $12) and mixing the casseroles, we went outside to start the grill. Too bad the RAs hadn't filled the propane tank. Karl and Claire found a gas station that could do it, and at 8:30 we finally ate. After dinner, we watched Ghostbusters and a video in which Carol participated in her town's version of Fear Factor. She actually ate fish eyeballs and drank glasses of muck duck (whale fat!). We really know how to show a girl a good time.

The following is the link to Victoria's football league-Karl's team is the Blackhawks!
http://www.gridironvictoria.com.au/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=3&tabid=34

Monday
Today was "ride as much public transport as possible" day. We took one train to the city and then another train to a little station called Lilydale. At the end of this hour and 45 minute excursion, we went on a tour of the Yarra Valley's wineries. It was great! We bought 9 bottles between me, Ashley, Harper, and Claire (she bought 5 of them herself). I liked their wine much better than the wine in Adelaide. It could have something to do with the fact that I drank a lot more, but I'm not convinced. After making the journey back to Bundoora, we arrived home to fresh Karl-made pizza and topped the meal off with Magnums, Aussie ice cream bars. It was perfect! We finished the night off by playing team "You don't know Jack" by connecting our computer to the TV. Our friend, Jeff, is amazing!

Tuesday
This was our animal day. We rode the hour long tram into the city to catch our Phillip Island tour bus. We were early, so we did a free tour of St. Paul, Melbourne's well known cathedral. After another hour bus ride, we arrived at Maru's animal park. It is a family park where you get to feed the animals. There were dingos, sheep, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, wombats, and a few birds and donkeys. It was so great! One of the kangaroos even had a joey in her pouch. It was big enough to walk on its on, but who am I to judge? Next, we had dinner at a hostel and warmed ourselves by the fire. (Again, it was freezing and rainy!) Then, came the big event: we got to watch ferry penguins, the smallest in the world, come out of the ocean to sleep. It was so cool!!!! At only a foot tall, they are the cutest things I've ever seen. After the sun sets, a group of penguins will suddenly emerge from the water. The timidly start walking up the beach, and then gather speed as they look for their burrows. I could have watched them all night long in spite of the 30 degree weather. After the long ride home, we feel asleep quickly.

Wednesday
We spent our last day in the city. Riding the tram once again, Ashley, Harper, and I decided to do inside things since it was in the lower 40s again. We went first to the free ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image). Only one of the two free floors were open, so we were limited to watching short films and playing virtual games. It was okay, but I wish the bottom level exhibit had been open, but we were a week early:( Next, we started our too long walk to the theatre. We stopped at the Arts Centre to visit another free exhibit. It was a fairly interesting one about children circuses with lots of cool pictures. Then, we finished our walking journey to see King Lear. It was a modern day adaptation, so a little weird, but overall nicely done. I had a hard time understanding the Australian version of Irish accents, but I'm not very good at listening:) Our last free event for the day was a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria (art museum). We only had about 45 minutes, but it was nice to at least see some things. We met Karl at Flinders St. Station, and then trammed it to Lygon St. for wonderful (warm) Italian food. We then treated the girls to gelato, Italian ice cream. It warmed us up for our tram ride home. Then, we packed!

The girls left this morning at 6:30, so it was a short trip. We did a decent amount of things in our brief adventure in Melbourne, and I had a great time. I think they did, too. Hopefully they did!

WORD OF THE WEEK
I thought an appropriate (and short) word for this week would be nackered. It means I'm really tired, completely exhausted even! So, without further ado, I am nackered and will talk to you all later.

Britt

P.S. There are a few pictures from this week which I will post Friday morning. Check this entry again for them!