Australia (and a few other things)

And why the long pause in blogging? Well, I've just come back from Australia, where I went to see my sister, my brother-in-law and all the family over there (and there's a lot). We spent some time in Melbourne (where my sister lives), went over to Tasmania and then some more time in Melbourne. Now, no-one likes looking at other people's holiday photos (I particularly hate it), so I'm just going to intersperse a couple of them with this blog. Because it's fun to share.
Now Australia is a great country, as anyone who has been there will probably tell you. It's got it all - sun, surf, beaches full of fun, beautiful, sporty people, platypuses (I checked with wikipedia and apparently you can say platypuses, platypi or just platypus), Dame Edna, etc. The list goes on.

But it can't be all good, can it? Is Australia really an earthly paradise? I decided to compile a list of 12 great and not-so-great things about Australia. And not the kind of things that everyone might think of. And here it is:

Great Things About Australia

1. Australian animals are pretty cool, aren't they? Wombats, platypuses, kangaroos? It's unfair that one country got all those. This is me with a wallaby. We'll call him Squishy and he will be my wallaby.
2. Only Australia would give a road a name like this: 3. Only Australia would make stamps like this: 4. Australians are so proud of their country and I find that kinda cool. And it's great how they try to preserve their history - anything older than ten years gets a special plaque on it as an historical building. 'Australia's oldest Post Office, built 1976', etc.

5. On our first day (man I was jetlagged) we went to an Aussie Rules football game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. And Aussie Rules is actually pretty cool! Contrary to popular belief, there are rules, and once you've got the hang of them, it's a good game to get into. Me and my brother decided we had to choose teams to follow and we bought football shirts. I went for Carlton, being the team my cousins follow, only finding out later than Carlton are permanent fixtures at the bottom of the league. But, I am a man of my word, and I'll keep following them. And I'm sure my support will make all the difference next season.

6. And now the greatest thing of all. Australia still has this:
Not-So-Great Things About Australia

1. Australian English. Now, I'm a big a fan of Australian English as the next guy and, although I do say so myself, my Aussie accent is amazing. And I love the way that no-one calls anyone by their proper name and that you can just make up a word and put it in a sentence and no-one will notice and will still understand it anyway. And Aussie English and Essex English aren't really that far removed. BUT there are traps - we get fooled into believing we're ok with Aussies when they speak, but no. Don't get shocked when a guy tells you how comfortable 'thongs' are and if an Australian tells you that they have a great 'park' next to their house, don't be surprised when you get there and see it's just a parking space.

2. The fact that Australia has Vanilla Diet Coke might tempt me into making the big move over, but the fact that Australia has no yoghurty Special K means that I won't be ringing removal companies just yet.

3. You probably believe Australia to be a civilised country. But it's not true. Hardly ANY Australians have locks on their toilet doors. What's that about?!

4. They may have had great success with Neighbours and Kath and Kim, but Australian TV sucks. You're sitting there watching a morning TV show and all of a sudden it turns into the Shopping Channel, telling you that you can buy five LegMaster 3000s for the price of one and if you order within the next ten minutes using a blue credit card, they'll chuck in another 5 and a LegMaster 3000 hat. There are only about five different adverts that just repeat constantly and every other one will be for a mobile phone ringtone. You get the picture.

5. And Australia gets cold. I'm a big fan of cold weather, but I wasn't expecting it there! I knew it would be a little colder in the south (it was their winter after all), but I never expected snow! (Ok, we did have to go up a mountain to see it). And I was the idiot who didn't even take a coat...And this second picture is the view we actually travelled up the mountain to see. This is an aerial view of Hobart. Enjoy. (And the stupid look on my face is due to the fact that my sister's husband, Brett, pulled down my hood just before the photo was taken and it was UNBELIEVABLY cold.
6. Ok, I'm out of negative things for now.

Ok, all in all Australia is pretty great after all. And it's a pretty beautiful place (This is the view you were supposed to see in the previous picture).
And for one last thing before I move on, meet Scott and Charlene, the platypuses:
And now for some other things:

1. It's always cool when you've been away to have a little look to see what's been going on in the blogosphere. And what has been going on? Well, at first glance, nothing, but after looking a little harder: Glyn has MORE than made up for his recent (but fairly lengthy) lack of blogging; Andy has updated us on his fireplace (?); Daniel has remembered that he has a blog (and maybe he could remind Patrick) and Anna has posted a photo of me looking a complete tool (but she looked good!). And, speaking of people from Switzerland (Anna's from Switzerland, if you hadn't seen where I was going), Philipp Hutter has now joined the blogging world. Good stuff!

2. And speaking of Philipp, as we were, thanks to him and Lizette, I now have the William Booth quote in Chinese and Igbo (there aren't many people who can say that). The list is growing! (By the way, you might not be able to see the Chinese characters, but I can see them on mine - and that's what counts).

3. Somehow, Alex and Owen (of www.worldinonecity.blogspot.com - recently interviewed by George Alagiah) have discovered my blog and seen that they won a Mitchie. That's quite funny really. They left a comment on that post - and I'll be keeping them to their word!

4. I have become a MASSIVE Scrubs fan - what a great show. How did I not notice that series before?! Would anyone else join my Elliot Appreciation Society? (And did anyone else notice she was the second Becky from Rosanne?)

5. And congratulations to my sister for getting into The Salvation Army's Melbourne Staff Band. Now my sister and her husband are the first married couple in the band's history. Well done! (On being in the band, not on being married. Lots of people are married.) :)

You'll notice that I've been quite bloggy today. Unfortunately I'm entering another period of exams, so I'll be missing from the blogosphere for a little bit again, but I think I've given you enough to be getting on with...