Victor Harbour on a Cold, Windy Day

Marie decided she wanted to go to Victor Harbour this week and invited me to tag along as co-pilot. We packed a picnic lunch of sandwiches, fruit, pretzels, and dip with veggies and began the 1.5 hour drive down to Victor Harbour. We arrived around lunch time and went into the information center to ask about the best locations for viewing whales. "Um, no whales today," the information center guy said. Then he proceeded to explain in a kind of smart-ass way that the whales had no phones to call them and tell when they would be coming, but they were not here. He suggested we check at the whale center, which was across the street. "Tell them to give us a ring if they have news of some sightings," he said. Discouraged, we crossed the street to the whale center and asked the lady at the desk about viewing whales. "They are supposed to be here, but there are none around," she said. "You can still stop at these points along the coast, but we have no idea if you will see anything." she said, offering us a brochure. I guess whale watching can't be an exact science, them not having access to phones and all.

Disappointed, we found a place semi-sheltered from the wind to eat lunch. Then we crossed the bridge to Granite Island. The bridge has a horse drawn tram on it, which is kind of cool, but of course, cost money, so we walked.

We walked out on the jetty on the island and tried to pose the gnome, I mean, the gnome asked to take a picture standing on the jetty. The wind nearly blew him into the ocean, so Marie had to hold onto his foot with her finger.

We walked the whole path around Granite Island. I got some pretty good pictures. It was freezing because of the wind, but once we got behind the rocks, the shelter made it not so bad. Here are some of the better pictures:

Marie taking pictures from the bridge.

View from Granite Island.

Bridge with horse tram crossing.

Granite Island.

Hypnosis and then Food Coma by Rotating Lamb Carcass

I went to my very first Lamb on a Spit dinner last night with Sarah and Emmanuel. I made nutella swirled blondies, which sounds decadent, but didn't turn out as rich as I thought they would.

For you southerners reading this blog, picture a pig-picking, except with lamb. The lamb was on a rotating spit above a charcoal fire.

It was cooked all day and had been marinated with lemons and wine and spices. I don't usually eat lamb very much, but it's big in Australia, and I have had it several times since I've been here. This lamb was really delicious. Along with an entire lamb, we had tons of sides, including several potato dishes, salads, breads, and desserts, the vast majority of which was made by the hostess, Linda Howell, Sarah's friend I met who has recently been to the US and was quickly interested in chatting with me upon learning that I was American. Sarah is a definite carnivore, and has taken much pleasure in telling me several times since I have been here that she hardly ever leaves a steak unfinished. She welcomed the photographic evidence of her lamb consumption last night:

I told her once she cleaned leg, she could use the bone to club her next meal.

Marie and Sam moved out yesterday also. I helped Marie and Joel, their new roommate, move all their stuff from the house while Sam was at volleyball. They are only about 5 minutes down the road by car, around a 20 minute walk, from where we are now. I plan on visiting Marie, since she will continue to have the free time she has had, and I will see them Monday and Thursday nights for volleyball, but I have already noticed the absence.

41 days until my mom comes to Australia! I am really excited! I have most stuff planned out for Sydney, Adelaide, Coober Pedy, Alice Springs, and Uluru. I need to start doing some research of what we will do in Perth. I plan to spend a day in Fremantle and maybe have lunch at the Little Creatures brewery, which was excellent last time I was here.

Celebrating the Queen's Birthday

Being an American, I've never been given the Queen's birthday off as a public holiday.
Being an American in Australia, I got to experience this yesterday.

Sarah had the day off from work (I am unemployed, so I did too, like everyday), and we decided to go to the Markets at Port Adelaide. The markets are like flea markets in the states, except it was inside a massive building, and the booths basically stay there and never need to be broken down. We grabbed a sausage from the food trucks outside for lunch before going in. I saw a lot of stuff I would have bought if I had (infinite) money, but decided on 2 Bill Bryson books that I have not read (working on having his whole collection.)

After seeing everything in the markets and getting some doughnuts and coffee at another food truck, we walked along the port. The little gnome was with me this time, so I got to document his experience at the Port.

Of Books and Sandwiches

Ok, I have had an issue lately. I am being teased for eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I also eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Australians find both of these to be vile and wrong. "What do your kids take to school for lunch?" I ask. "Vegemite sandwiches," is the response. Really?
I have this saying... that I just made up: Let he who does not consume vegemite sandwiches cast the first stone as to what is "wrong" to put between two slices of bread.

I am officially an Australian library card holder! Marie and I went to the library and joined yesterday. I did it more for the printing and photocopying privileges, but I also checked out 3 books. I got a Stephen King book. I have never read him before, but lots of people like Stephen King books, so I decided to give it a whirl. I'm still working on The Girl Who Played with Fire (I've been told since I haven't completed it in 4 days that I am a slow reader).

I have also pretty much planned out the trip my mom and I will take when she gets here. Itinerary below:

Mom’s Trip Down Under

July 26: Mom flies out from RDU
I fly to Sydney, dorm in YHA

July 27: Mom still in the air
I scuba?

July 28: Mom arrives in Sydney

July 29- August 1: Sydney (Coogee beach, Manly beach, Opera House, China town, Dinner with Bert)

August 2: Mom and I fly to Adelaide, Volleyball

August 3-5: Adelaide (Barossa Valley, Hahndorf)

August 6-11: Rock Tour:
August 6: Pickup in Adelaide, ride Greyhound overnight.
August 7: Coober Pedy at 6 am, see Coober Pedy
August 8: Back on Greyhound at 6am to go to Alice Springs (there by 2:30pm)
Explore/ Sleep overnight in Alice Springs
August 9:Drive to Uluru, camping
August 10: Uluru, camping
August 11: Return to Alice Springs, stay overnight

August 12: Fly to Perth, stay with Shreeves

August 13-14: Perth, Fremantle

August 15: Fly to Sydney/ Adelaide?

August 16: Mom flies home

Nice, huh?
Most everything is booked and mostly paid for, so now I wait.

An Evening of Salsa Dancing, a Singing Cuban Perv, and a Delicious AB

Tonight Sarah had invited me to some sort of salsa music event with her and Emmanuel. Details were sketchy, mostly because she too did not know entirely what to expect, but I said count me in. I dressed up, mostly because it's been a while since I've been dressed up, in a black dress and full makeup. We went to a venue called The Gov, which is a nice bar/club type of place with a stage and a substantial dance floor. After introductions, we ended up sitting around listening to prerecorded salsa music from the DJ and watch the people in the bar dance. And this wasn't like usual dancing in a bar. Most people were dancing, and they were all good, like some choreographed scene from a movie where everyone knows all the words to the song and moves to the dance. I am pretty sure some of the people were paid by the bar to dance, and others were probably dance groups that had decided to meet there. But it was quite a mind blowing spectacle, considering most times you see dancing in bars it is either grinding or some other non-skilled performance.
One of the more spirited and inspiring dancers of the evening was a lone man in a bad sweater who danced by himself the whole time. Instead of salsa, he performed a more free form dance, sometimes taking his sweater off as part of the dance or running his hands through his hair. It was endless entertainment for us.

Several hours into the evening, Alison, the birthday girl in our group, and some of her friends finally convinced Sarah, Emmanuel, and I to dance, which was fun. Photographic evidence below.

The band finally showed up around 10:30, two and a half hours after we arrived. The immediate reaction to the lead singer's appearance was that he was a skeeze. He looked like a bad Cuban Elvis Impersonator, except with spiked hair. He spoke Spanish the whole time and his translator only translated about 1 of every 5 sentences, leaving gaps in our understanding of what exactly was going on. He started singing, and it was immediately obvious that this song would not be enjoyable without the help of the horns and bongo drums. This guy really had no real talent as a singer. It was almost shocking.

In his second song, he asked 4 girls to come up. 2 girls from our group, one Alison, volunteered to go onstage. At first, they just danced as he sang. Then it became obvious they would become a more central part of the performance. He encouraged each girl to dance as he grinded on them. We screamed and laughed in horror for our friends caught on stage by the Cuban perv. After thoroughly subjecting each girl to his nastiness, they were permitted to leave the stage, with his CD as a gift.

Sarah, Emmanuel, and I left shortly after that. We decided the only thing that could help us recover from what we had seen was an AB! Devotees of my blog from last trip will remember an AB is a native delicacy of Adelaide. It consists of french fries, topped with sauteed bits of lamb, then drizzled with BBQ sauce, garlic sauce, and ketchup. It looks and sounds disgusting, but oh, it is not.

THE AB

Going...

Going...

GONE!

You really cannot understand an AB without tasting it. I will admit, it is not the prettiest of Aussie food, but it sure is tasty!