Week five: Even longer but it just gets better........

I have now been here for half of my stay …I feel like I have been gone about two weeks but instead it has been five. Each week goes faster and faster. I have started using some of the slang naturally and I find myself sounding funny when I use “yank” terms as they call them here; however, this last weekend I happened to pick up a ton more so for starters on this blog lets go to an Australian vocabulary lesson:

crayfish- lobster
prawns-shrimp
grill guard – bull bar
bonnet- car hood
boot- trunk
give way- yield
take over – pass (meaning a car)
fringe – bangs
knackered- tired ----- so in my last blog I said naked was tired…apparently I found out I need to ask people to spell things because I get the word WAYYY wrong because of their accent and lack of pronouncing their “r”……this whole time I thought the Tassies were saying they were “naked” all the time they were saying they were “knackered” OOPS J 
good bird – nice girl
shiela – girl
far out – unbelievable
jetty- dock
float- horse trailer
tires is spelled tyres
color is spelled colour
rogie and righto – ok (these are probably my two favorite words J )
how you going? – how are you?

Now for the fun stuff. The blog keeps getting longer and longer but I just can’t leave anything out!  J My week started off in Stoodley with Zach and his family. On Sunday evening we went and shot clay pigeons for awhile. I can’t shut my right eye and leave my left eye open to aim properly so we made a make shit eye patch but coloring in one side of a pair of random safety glasses!  I was too hard headed to wear ear plugs so by the time I finally hit a few clay pigeons I was def in one ear. All I could think about as we were driving out the pasture was how in the movies if you talk louder to someone who is foreign maybe they will better understand your language …I was going to be THAT girl at the BBQ we had planned. I would be yelling with an accent and then pretending like I understood them or have to turn my head to the good ear like a geezer to hear a thing. Well, everything turned out alright either way…I had a great time with Zac’s family and some friends. Good food, drinks, and fun with a potato gun.  It was good idea I had some extra hair spray in my bag!

Monday Zach and I toured around the northwestern part of Tassie. His mom owns her own café in town so we started off with breakfast, met his grandma and her friend, and the next afternoon had lunch there as well.  She is especially known for her rabbit pies (which were delicious) so I made a joke that their family lives on a rabbit ranch. J Next stop was a honeyfarme. There were probably 25 different flavors of honey from pistachio to strawberry to caramel and the regular flavors. You could walk around tasting or have an ice cream made with honey while learning about the process. Afterwards we drove around seeing the sites and took some small hikes to different lookout points including the alum cliffs, devils gullet, a hydro dam, and a few creeks (where I failed at skipping rocks and nearly fell in) and fishing spots etc. that only a local would know about. One of our last stops was at Mole Creek caves. There were a few lights for the path but at one point the tour guide turned off the lights and it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand waving right in front of your nose. Several types of rock filled the caves- your typical stalagmites and stalactites were there but a huge amount of “flow rock” filled it as well. That rock was my favorite. There were also sections in the roof where you could see where water flowed through the rock at one point before making sections of the rock weak causing the inside of the cave to buckle. The natural formations were pretty interesting – one looked like a palm tree and another area at the peak of the cave was called the cathedral and had several different unique features. We were asked why we thought a few of the rocks were dark colored and Zac preceded to answer that it was from glow worm poop. It gave us all a good laugh but we found it was from the soot of fires.  On our way out because our eyes had adjusted to the darkness we flipped the lights off to see the numerous glow worms.  Just as I thought the caves were going to be my favorite part of the day….the tour guide stopped to show us the cave spiders….and he kept finding more …and more ..and oh another one! Real cool except that my head was brushing the top of the cave just close enough for a spider to jump on and go for a ride. NOT COOL. J By the time we arrived back to Sheffield it was time for tea so we joined up with the rest of the family at the Sheffield Pub. We tried to win big in a game, explored a secret door, heard about the legendary platypus, and a bird nearly came through the windshield on the way home. Let’s just say getting Zac and his brother together is rather entertaining.

Tuesday AM I woke up rather startled at something furry at my feet. Gizmo, Zac’s pup, was curled up at my feet and I have to admit I punted her across the room on accident. After that I was wide awake and ready to battle another day. Because we spent a fair amount of time driving from place to place Zac introduced me to the Wolfe brother’s music on Monday- It is red dirt style music from a local band- which I loved the first, second, and third time but by the fiftieth time we listened to the CD of 5 songs I was ready for something new. Therefore, I spent some time in the morning putting some of my music on his ipod. Then we went to his mom’s café for her famous rabbit pies and headed to the local “seven sheds” brewery.  It was home brewed beer so it was fun to sit down and talk to the owner about his operation and see how he does things versus what I saw at the commercial brewery down south. We did a bit more sight-seeing and then Zac had a few things to get done at home before returning to work the next day. I managed to find a new favorite snack-raspberry crème biscuits (cookies) and gave him a few genius ideas of how to load a wood chipper.  He shut me down every time and then asked “are you sick of me? ..How bout now?” (a few seconds later)…which happened every five minutes. J It became a rather popular saying .

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty quiet days. Bec and I went for coffee and some shopping in Davenport to get ready for our big camping excursion. We got an amazing deal on a BBQ pack and we picked up a few other things. Wednesday evening we went to the neighbors down the road for some Kelly Pool (I think it was called.) J It was great fun but I of course lost both times. Thursday we got packed up and ready to go for the trip that was probably a once in a lifetime experience for me.

At 6 am we woke up …apparently a few of the others at 4:30 am, packed our utes, and met up to head to the Pieman on the west coast of Tasmania. Darcy and Tiarna were in the “fire engine”, Ned and Tash in “stumpy”, Keelan was late (haha), and Adam, Bec, and I were in the Hilux, loaded to the brim, with pretty normal tires. We were in the ute that we all hoped would make it to the site.  Off we headed down the road only to stop five min later. Darcy had something wrong with his ute. All good. Moving on. 5 min later. Keelan said we needed some red bull and some food – nevermind he had just passed us going down the road with a whole package of Tim Tams and a double Red Bull. Stop again. Sketchy bathroom stop. Few snacks. Moving on. 5 min later. Started to rain so we stopped again to put a tarp over our ute. Ok here we go…we have food…had a bathroom stop…tarp set up..full tanks of petrol. The boys immediately started bragging about how well the tarp was tied down over the radios…..spoke too soon. Stop again. We had to fix the tarp.  Keelan got bored so he decided to have a little play in the ditch and was completely perpendicular to the road when a cop decided to stroll by. Good thing he was focused on something else more important….Off we go again……..Apparently breakfast got the best of Ned or maybe what he did the night before….he needs a toilet. Here I was sitting in the back, traveling with new people, scared to have a sip of water because I didn’t have the courage to tell someone to stop if no one else had to pee and I gather I could have chugged a bottle every ten minutes and never had to be the one to speak up and say we needed to stop. I think we may have stopped a few more times further down the road but everything went rather smoothly. I saw a few rare things…three utes across a two lane road…someone playing on their phone, talking on the radio, listening to music, eating, and driving all at the same time. Good thing I didn’t get in the car with that guy. :)

The campsite was about 50k off of the main road. You had to do a bit of planning to get there because if the tide was too high we would end up waiting for low tide to go through. Bits of the drive were over rocks, through mud holes, and the best part was the time on the beach. The radios make for much easier travel so you can communicate and keep everyone together but mainly for pure entertainment. I sat in the back listening to them take a stab at the American accent and tease me for hours. There was a very old tractor bogged off the track and they asked if I wanted to stop and take a picture. The other conversations the boys came up with were interesting to say the least. Anyway, I found it interesting that on the track if a ute passed coming the other way the driver showed on their fingers how many utes/motor bikes/people followed because they had to wait…the track was rarely wide enough for two vehicles to go through at the same time. I got in with another one of the guys for the off road part and we were the first to get stuck. “This is a time when you need a Tim Tam” became one of the many quotes of the weekend. I have to admit when I first arrived here I was a bit skeptical of the “trucks”. The stud trucks here are the Toyota Hilux (Tacoma) and the Nissan Triton (Frontier) …quite small.  They have a few F trucks (F250) if they will pull horses but I have probably seen five full-sized or mid-sized trucks since I left home. Now I know exactly why the guys are so proud of their “trucks.” Full sized pickups would not have fit down the tracks here and would have been a pain to pull out after they were bogged because of being so heavy. When we got stuck we pulled out the wench and were back on the road in a few minutes.

Everyone took their turn getting bogged on the way in besides our “tour guide” Ned which is good because he had the wench. Everyone arrived safe and sound at the camp but, Keelan, who didn’t have any of his stuff covered, had doused his swag with mud and sand AND his petrol can had leaked all over.  Funny thing is he was the one that slept closest to the fire! After meeting Ned’s mom, dad, and their friends we set up camp and got the grill going for dinner. We relaxed around the fire for a bit and then a couple of us decided to go meet the neighbors. I returned back to camp shortly after and everyone was going to bed – at 815! I was wide awake so I went back to the neighbors and crashed their camp for the evening. It was nice to meet a few new people and I got to pay them a little visit the next day to get my chair and such that I had left so I didn’t have to carry it back in the dark.

Bright and early a few hours later (b/c everyone else went to bed so early) I was startled by the sound of Stumpy’s motor roaring, a loud boom, and my tent collapsing on my head. Good thing I slept in a “one” man tent that that looked like a garden gnomes house because I was able to hold my tent up with my foot (which served for jokes all weekend) until Bec saved me and put my small little tent back together so I could crawl out. I stayed awake about twenty minutes and I realized it was about 6:30 Am and went back to sleep. Saturday it rained off and on so we went on a drive for fun and ended up noticing a few people that got bogged the night before so we had some fun pulling them out and cleared a huge pipe out of the way of the track. The girls and I snuck into the shack where it was warm and played a few rounds of cards. After dinner we went “floundering”.  With spear, bucket, and light in hand, Bec, Adam, Ned, and I waded out in the water….all of a sudden a breaking wave decided to make the water quite a bit deeper and filled Adam and Bec’s boots. I ran for it and made it out of the water dry. Apparently Ned’s waders that were waist high had a hole in them because he came out soaked as well. Bec and I joined the rest of the crew hanging out on the beach and left Adam and Ned to “flounder.” He snagged one and I ate some the next morning! I am not a fan of fish and it was delicious. J

Back at camp we all dried off and warmed up by the fire. We spent some time trying to think of words that we say differently in America. The discussion got rather creative from talking about parts of cars, to parts of plants, to what drinking two cans at once is, to the road signs. A “yield” sign in Tassie says “give way” and so one of the girls as serious as a heart attack asked me what a “stop” sign says in America. I wanted to tell her that it said “please pause” but Keelan piped up and said it was probably black with pink polka dots. We teased Bec pretty bad for her question until Keelan piped up a little later and asked what state Kansas was in in America. J We were also serenaded by Keelan and his garlic and herb rissoles. He must have had a stomach ache because he was half asleep, would clear us out –wake up with a ton of energy—and quiet down again for the calm before the next storm.  After Keelan had finally fell asleep for good, mouth open, Ned decided to pay him back for bombing us all night so we squirted some meat sauce into his mouth just as he inhaled for a deep breath. J Little did we know, the fun for the night was just beginning. We all went to bed and in the middle of the night I woke up hearing something scratch around really close to my tent. Tash had just told me about the cannibals that lived in the Pieman and how they made a movie about it and here I was in this cute little tent all by myself on the west coast of Tasmania thinking there was a killer outside and surely they would see the cute little tent, think it was full of little people and go for them.  My shoulder was numb on one side and I was about to pee my pants but I was too scared to make any noise and roll over because if it was a killer and they knew I saw them or was awake they would probably kill me. On the other hand if it was an animal maybe it would scare them off if I made noise. I chose to stay still and “counted sheep” to keep my brain busy until I fell asleep again.

Sunday morning several of us woke up to a loud burst of laughter and then yelling. Of course I had to go see what it was all about – Keelan had been attacked by a Tasmanian Devil in the middle of the night. That was what I had heard. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or even more frightened that that was what was lurking around the camp. They are small but they are fierce. Funny thing is, they only eat dead things……the scenario we came up with was that the Tassie Devil bit Keelan because he smelled dead from the garlic and herb rissoles. J He also managed to take a few gum boots (which we found later in the bush), eat some eggs, and tear up some boxes.

After a bit of morning excitement I hit the beach for a walk. It was absolutely beautiful. The rest of the group joined up and we spent some time fishing off the bay and playing in the sand in the ute’s doing “circle work.” At one point a boogie board was connected to a ute with a snatch strap and we tried sand sledding. It was mildly successful but purely entertaining watching Ned chase Keelan around with a mini bike and seeing Adam and Darcy throw clean off into the breaking tide. After getting some more firewood from the tons of driftwood on the beach we grabbed lunch and went out on the jetty (dock). A few of the group were going to set crayfish pots and it was so warm that the rest of us just lounged around and waited for them to come back. I am glad we picked a different jetty to hang out on than the day before b/c I am pretty sure we nearly busted a board and ended up in the water.

Sunday evening we waited til it got dark, loading up in Stumpy and the Mud Maggot and set off on our way for an off road drive to go crayfishing. I can’t quite give you an understanding without a picture of stumpy but three of us were across the front bench seat and then in the back were two people who were sitting sideways on a bench seat. Stumpy is short and tall and the weight was not balanced so it was not unusual to have her lean a bit too much into corners and be mighty close to going on two wheels. Then we had two people in the front of the Mud Maggot and two people standing on the flat bed holding on to the cab of the ute on the back. Safe right? – J Anyway off we went. The trip to the site was not bad but Stumpy did finally get stuck...but as Ned claims no one had to pull him out so it doesn’t count. He used the wench on his own ute and put the snatch strap around a rock. Apparently someone was killed last year when snatch strap broke so we cleared the area til it was out, played some musical chairs, and loaded up once again. When we arrived the water was too rough and it wouldn’t be safe for us all to climb down and take a go crayfish trapping so we packed back up again to return to the camp site and do some floundering again. Technical difficulties on the way home made the trip a bit more interesting. A bit after we left, Stumpy’s radio started to cut out, his lights had gone dim, and his cd player quit working on the way home. Ned thought it might be his alternator going or water got into something when we were stuck. So there were in the pitch black, out in the western coast of Tassie, trying to figure out the problem with a wallaby just stopped and stared right in front of us and all you could see were these HUGE bright RED eyes. SWEET! A wallaby with rabies I thought. ..If this isn’t a perfect scene for a scary movie I don’t know what is. This where I finally got a bit scared and for those who really know me- you would have known I was scared. So that I could stop my mind from thinking I cracked jokes non-stop and tried to make other people less scared that were with me acting relaxed but really I was about to throw up and was thinking worst case scenario. All I could picture was our ute’s lights going out around one of the many blind corners on the narrow track and us slamming into an embankment and the others who were following us not seeing us coming up over a blind hill and slamming into the back end throwing all three of us through our windshield and the two of them on the back of the flat bed into the bush full of rabid wallabies, human biting tassie devils, and blood sucking leeches. I nearly made myself sick and when we finally got back I admitted I had been a bit scared, needed to sit and settle my stomach and had never been so excited to be walking instead of riding in a car. I settled down a bit after dinner and Keelan spent some time entertaining the rest of us with “how to’s”…..how to get a marshmallow without your hands, how to cook one marshmallow, how to cook two marshmallows, how to eat cooked marshmallows while saving an uncooked one in your mouth and putting it back on the stick without your hands, how to marinade marshmallows, and how to get to firewood if tea trees are in the way. Then he and Ned decided to have a stick war that turned into someone getting a branch as a stick and things could have turned dangerous quickly. J As everyone started to go to bed on our last night I refused …I stood by the fire with my flashlight in my hand and my ipod playing  so that there was constant noise and I didn’t freak myself out with the noises of nature or the scary thoughts in my head until I was so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open…….a few times we heard stuff and I made someone go check but nothing was ever seen. At one point we were sure we heard a tassie devil growl but after we heard it a third time we realized it was just Adam snoring. Keelan was the last person to go to bed so I decided if he wasn’t scared to go to bed after getting bitten I could “harden up” as they say here and go too.

Monday morning we packed up camp and headed by about 9 so that we beat the high tide. It was beautiful on the way out which beat the rainy views of everything on the way in. Only one person was bogged on the way out. Of course it was only natural to stop ten times in the first hour of the trip on the main road, one time because we thought stumpy was going to start on fire.  We played a few games of “I-spy” over the radios and they tried to trick me by using Tassie terms but I always figured it out…they could never figure out my “yank” terms though. J Monday afternoon we arrived safe and sound with all utes fully in-tact.  I have had an amazing time with everyone in Tassie but I was nervous that if I was to get homesick it would be Easter weekend because traditionally I am making name eggs, waking up Easter morning to a basket of candy, headed to church, big Easter dinner with the family and hiding Easter eggs with the nephew …..I reckon the Easter Bunny was bogged on the way in to the camp b/c I never got an Easter basket ;)but I wouldn’t change anything and would have to say that was a once in a lifetime experience and definitely a very special Easter weekend.

"Im flat out like a turtle in a race......"

Greetings! :) I have another week of wonderful information to share with you all! I keep learning things faster and faster as I become more comfortable here ...I have a feeling I am going to have to start writing in my blog and in a journal to keep remembering it all! You will need a least three cups of coffee to get through this one …I should have written it as a Part 1 and Part 2. J

Last weekend I got a taste of what it will be like come "Ag Fest" time. For a little background info- Ag Fest is the fair-like festival (minus all of the rides) filled with venues, live music, 4-wheel driving track, equine center, testing area for new farm equipment, clothing, crafts, and you can watch sheep dogs show off their talent. The rural youth members and other volunteers live on site in dorm like buildings for a week before the Ag Fest getting ready for it and then through the weekend (5-8 of May) to actually run the festival. Anyway last weekend I stayed on site for a volunteer weekend called a "working bee" here and we did things to prepare as well. I helped build paddock fence for the horses where I had a blast using a hand saw and realized how out of shape my muscles are. :) I also go to play in an excavator -- one of the boys taught me how to drive it, put me in pile of dirt, jumped out, and said I was free to play all I want. I was great at digging holes and not so good at leveling dirt. After driving the excavator I got to drive around in a tractor- I was much more comfortable in that seat AND the driving is just like at home versus driving in a car is obviously a bit different. Sunday they took a tree down on site that had been labeled dangerous --it was HUGE! They cut a wedge out with a chain saw to ensure it fell the right direction and pushed it over with the excavator. It was so loud but super fun to watch! I tried to get it on video and my battery died. :(  Sunday I managed to get into a wall plaster fight while we were putting up siding and a few people painting joined in on the fun as well.  Good thing it was raining so that the plaster all over my face didn't dry too much. The members told me not to worry, it was an "Australian mud mask!" 

At one point throughout the weekend a man for a local newspaper came and interviewed a few of us – He asked me the difference in our organization and theirs. I would say the biggest difference I have noticed is that our program is called 4H and for 8-18 year olds and here the club is for middle-aged people.  Listening to the other members talk about Rural Youth gave me a chance to learn a lot more about their organization. It is also pretty amazing to me that a committee within the club can organize and run something as big as AgFest so effectively in a laid-back and fun manner. In three days the rural youth club keep 80000 people happy getting up at 5 am to set up for the day and sometimes staying up well into the night to get things ready for the next day all the while keeping over a hundred volunteers housed and happy for the week while they are helping as well. They have competitions as well at a club region, and state level during the year. Competitions could include a young farmer competition, shooting, best new member , etc. They offer training opportunities within the club such as getting your ATV, tractor driving, forklift, and chainsaw license etc for a better rate.  If a member chose to get an additional license not offered, the club will provide up to $200 of your training course as well. To join the club it is just $25 a year and to me you will make all of that money back and more with the benefits rural youth will bring. In addition, the social life within the club is a bonus as well. Everyone seems real laid back and accepting, whether young or old, coming from rural backgrounds or not. 

Anyway, basically another great weekend in the books. I gained the new nickname of Kansas, mastered making instant “hot drinks”, nearly had milk come out my nose from laughing so hard due to a guy singing “I’m a Little Teapot,”  learned the exercise of choice within the club is star jumps, had a joy ride in the back of a bloke’s ute, was introduced to the idea of “cracking a whip”, and I also drove for the first time around site and when someone approached me coming down the middle of the drive I panicked and immediately went to the right side of the road – OOPS…..luckily the oncoming driver knew that I was from America and went around me on the left hand side with a smile. ;) I have had another driving session since then actually on the road and passed with flying colors so no worries. Everyone drives manual vehicles here and it is quite hilly so I have learned to get it into a low gear at the bottom of the hill and not try to drop it to a lower gear in the middle of the hill….that was a bit of a challenge trying not to roll backwards all of the way back down the hill when I killed it. J

On Sunday evening I changed families and moved to the northern part of Tassie with Matt and Lisa. They live in the town of Railton, smaller than Peabody, which had cute little shops and the small town feel which I enjoyed. We had some take away (food to go) from the local café and Lisa ordered me a chicken burger that came with the works. Coming from a beef family I wasn’t sure of a chicken burger- I knew my father wouldn’t approve but I tried it anyways. J It came loaded with beet root, egg, bacon, and the normal fixings. The bacon is more like our Canadian bacon and the beet root I took off. The beet root is a big food here but I have to admit I am not much of a fan. Lisa and Matt live on an old milking farm and immediately I fell in love with the wrap-around porch that overlooks green pastures and has a view of the mountains in the background. It was very peaceful…..except when the frogs came for a visit. ;)

It rained the first few days of the week but I went to work with Matt who drives the country school bus (which looks like our charter buses) and works for a horse exporter. The bus is privately owned and picks up public/private, elementary, middle, and college level students from several different communities and from several rural stops. Each time a student gets on the bus they pay about a $1. It is much different than our busing system in the states. After we were done with the morning route we went to the horse export center and cleaned horse stalls, fed, watered, and organized things for a new group of about 15 horses to come in from the mainland for the night.  I picked up a new way of recycling tires as feed basins as well. J

Tuesday I visited Sheffield, “the town of murals.” First I stopped at a second-hand shop, picked up a few couches for the Ag-Fest site, but decided to turn down the second-hand awesome pairs of underwear that were offered. J Within the community each year, around Easter time several people read a poem and interpret it in a mural. The murals are displayed in a park for a year to be voted on until the winner is chosen and a new contest begins. Around town, murals can be seen depicting moments or people in association with the town of Sheffield as well. There is even a man who walks around town with an Alpaca and you can take a picture with it if you give him a bit of money. J Fun bit of information – there is a store in Sheffield that is a recommended stop- the marble store. I walked in for a visit and noticed a book with Wichita, KS on the back of it. Apparently Wichita has an exceptional marble making factory and the lady that owns the store learns marble making techniques in Wichita about once a year!  I spent the afternoon with Lisa’s Dad and he took me site-seeing. I went to a Lake Barrington where national rowing competitions are held and also where one of the dam’s are that works for hydroTasmania and supplies electricity to the state. I have learned that Tasmania is a very efficient state and environmentally aware. They have a lot of natural parks preserving the natural state of being and they get hot water from solar power or electricity from hydroplants. Wind farms are becoming a thing here but apparently people complain about them because of the noise.  Like I said earlier all beef produced in Tasmania is also natural. Forestry is a big money maker and typically as soon as trees are taken down, they are replanted to be used again.  The ‘greenies’ have some power here and a lot of Tasmania is reserved for National Parks. Some towns that have become ghost towns have been bought out to be plowed and the land used to plant trees. It was very neat to drive around and see where old driveways and streets used to be.   Anyway imagine that -I got a bit off subject ---- back to the Lake – there is a section of the Lake that is calm enough for water skiing but it is so populated during the summer season that you must all ski in a clockwise circle and that is it. After visiting the Lake, Lisa’s Dad and I went to TasMAZia and the village of the lower crackpot. It is a maze of trees trimmed but of course higher than a human could see and you walk around trying to find the village of the lower crackpot and other neat buildings. It was pouring down rain but it was still very interesting and good fun. I even saw an area of the mini village that resembled yellow brick road and scene from the Wizard of Oz. J  I did at one point go through the spook house…mind you it was a “mini” house. ….So there I was practically duck waddling through this house in the pitch dark with my hands in front of me trying to find my way through. I smacked several walls but there really wasn’t a way for me to turn around. Lisa’s Dad thoughtfully yelled from the other end so I could find my way after he heard me struggling for a bit of time. J

Thursday it finally quit raining which made for a beautiful drive to the West Coast and Savage River. Lisa’s brother -in-law Craig took me to his work – He works for CAT but twice a week he goes to the mines to be sure their equipment on-site is working properly. After an initial tour of CAT we went about on an hour drive up around the mountain to get to the mine site. The roads were narrow and constantly winding but after Craig told me about his experiences on the road with fog and black ice I knew he was very experiences so I relaxed and had fun with it – except I did go for the “oh shit” handle with two hands when we rounded a curve and four semis were one after the other hogging the narrow road. It helped that we had a radio as well to hear if there was a “live vehicle” coming our way.  At the mine site I put on my hard hat, safety glasses, and vest and started my tour. The first thing I got to do when I arrived was drive a simulator that they use to train/test drivers of the equipment. They can simulate rain, snow, brakes going out, the vehicle starting on fire, etc. I did manage to start the dump truck on fire and run it over a cliff – but only because they told me I was being too cautious and I need to try to work faster J After driving the simulator I was taken out to ride in an actual dump truck. The truck hauled almost 200 tons and held over 20,000 gallons of petrol (which only lasted 24 hours). The best part was that the lady I rode with had an iphone and she connected to an American radio station. J The workers on-site work for five days – 12 hours each day- and then have five days off – and so on and so forth. If you do not have a family it is a pretty ideal set up due to great pay and the rotational work. The ride home was beautiful as it had started to sprinkle leaving a large rainbow, a beautiful sunset, and a stop in the town of “penguin” to see the town icon- A huge penguin in the town square.

Friday Lisa was able to get the day off and we traveled to Cradle Mountain. Apparently there are only 80 days out of the year that it does not rain at Cradle Mountain and I was there on a day it didn’t rain AND it was clear. Some people have to rely on postcards for the pictures that I got to take with my own camera because it was so nice out. Lisa drove a little more cautious that Craig on the way up the mountain but we enjoyed jamming out to American country and talking. When we arrived we passed the tourist center only realizing we had to go back and get on a bus to get to our destination. We decided to take a half day walk around Dove Lake – a lake at the bottom of the mountain. Everything went smoothly for us and we had a nice treat at the end of the walk as well. J After a good lunch at the café on the mountain we rushed to Davenport to catch the national basketball tournament for 18 year olds which would be college age kids here.  We grabbed a coffee at the concession stand before going into the game and I about died when they handed it to me in a real coffee mug without a lid and allowed us to enter the gym with it. All I could think of was that Mr. Savage my old high school AD would have a fit if I spilled it. Everything about the basketball was pretty similar to ours except I found that the referees did not call near as many fouls as they would at home. It was a little more rough style of play.  Overall it was very exciting to be around a ton of people my height and to watch basketball. I felt right at home ….I couldn’t help myself but to buy some Australian basketball shorts and a hoodie. I was lucky to find an American style pair of shorts b/c they do not wear their basketball shorts we do in America. The length is quite a bit shorter.

Saturday Matt, Lisa, and I went to a cheese factory and yet another chocolate factory. I tell you what, they like their sweets down here and I understand why. The cheese factory was very interesting and we got to taste about ten different kinds of cheese. They had a few unique ones with wasabi and peppercorn in them that were pretty tasty. Of course I have nothing to complain about with the chocolate factory either – especially the hot chocolate they made me filled with fresh liquid milk chocolate. J After these two visits we made a trip to the supermarket to get groceries for the family BBQ we had planned for the evening. Matt and I were not much help in the supermarket because Matt tried to suggest that we play hockey and he also tried to drive the cart sideways. Lisa had to milk cows so after Matt and I had been obnoxious she left us to cook super for eleven people. I think she was a bit nervous we were going to mess it up. Successfully we prepared a potato bake, marinated chicken, wallaby, and steak, Caesar salad, and garlic bread. The wallaby (marinated kangaroo) was probably my favorite meat. It was very tender! It was very nice to have the large family atmosphere with the nieces, nephews, parents, etc. because as much as I love it here I do miss those family times at home. J

And as always –a bit of random information – flat out, naked, stuffed means tired. “Do a skid” means to peel out. They say me where we would say my. Good gear is a frequent saying.  “That was gold” means that was good stuff or very nice. Coolers have a whole different word I can’t spell. I get teased for saying trash cans. Napkins are not what you wipe your face with they are for sanitary purpose. J Chooks are chickens. They have a form of the bachelor called “a farmer wants a wife.”  They have a UTE BUSTER in October similar to the Country Stamped in Kansas and that is when I will plan my next visit. J

The list of questions a group of 5th and 6th graders asked me......

I spent two days in the classroom this week at a primary school in Tasmania. The kids had SOO many questions they were asked to write them down on paper and I could spend some time answering them one at at time. These were most of the questions asked:

1) What do you do on the 4th of July?
2) Do you think we have a weird accent?
3) Do our schools and your schools look the same? How many schools are in Kansas? How many kids are in each class?
4) What is the top novel in America? - They asked if we liked "Goosebumps" , "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", "Twilight", and "Harry Potter" ?
5) Do you like it better in Tasmania than America? Are you glad you got to come visit us?
6) Is Justin Bieber big in America?
7) Have you ever been to Arizona? Los Angeles? Michigan?
8) Do you have dams in America?
9) Do you live in America?
10) Are there gardens in America?
11) What is your favorite restaurant in America? What is the most popular fast food place?
12) Have you ever been sprayed by a skunk?
13) Have you ever met Justin Bieber?
14) Do you get a tan in America?
15) Do you learn another language while in school in America?
16) Have you had any tornadoes like the Wizard of Oz lately?
17) Is it true that people go buy really cheap rustbuckets and when they break down they leave them on the side of the road and go buy another rustbucket and so on? (I laughed the hardest on this one)
18) Is there a lot of violence in Kansas? I saw on TV once that there was a security guard at a school. Is that true?
19) What is the weather like in America? Is Kansas a desert? Do you have cactus in America?
20) Did you know that in America the average slices of pizza eaten in a second is 350 slices?
21) With your ranches in Kansas do all of your cows get hand milked or do you have electronic suckers?
22) Do you have gator farms in Kansas with gators in them?
23) I heard that Sloppy Joes is a shop in America...is that true? Have you been there?
24) What is your estimate of people that play soccer in America?
25) What kind of brands are popular in America?
26) Do you have the circus in America and do you have unicycles?
27) Have you heard of Justin Beiber? (AGAIN)
28) Are there any brumbys in America? (Brumbys are wild mustangs)
29) Do you and your family have a lot of fast food?
30) Is there a lot of violence in America?
31) Do you have any celebrities where you live?
32) Are there beavers in America?

- Other than asking a million times if I knew Justin Bieber .....I also learned this through conversation:
 1) -couldn't believe we didn't have beaches -- they didn't understand the concept of lakes.
2) -wanted to visit Chucky Cheese
 3)  -totally freaked out by the idea of skunks
4)) Most of the information the kids had on Kansas or America came from the movies -- they wanted to know if Kansas was just like the western movies?
5) -couldn't believe we had security guards and cameras at our schools?
6) -fascinated that our toilets were always half full -- their toilets just have a little water sitting at the bottom

As far as the observation went....this class had 54 or so kids in it....all 5th and 6th graders to two teachers. Sometimes they split up but usually they were co-teaching. Immediately I asked about their policy with testing ...they test 3rd and 5th for literacy and math...but the testing is not like us as I am sure that was assumed. Most schools here have uniforms and the kids could not believe that we did not have them. Their discipline system is similar to like that in America and their techniques in the classroom as well to keep structure and such. Bullying charts are commonly posted on the walls and also alerts to teach kids how to use the internet and media effectively and safely. The guidelines are given through the ACMA (Australian Communication & Media Authority).  A typical school year (because their seasons are switched) go from February to December, around Christmas, and their day lasts from 9 - 2:50. Schools do not serve hot breakfast and hot lunch typically -- the kids just bring a lunch from home and eat outside...they have an hour to eat and play outside. Some things that I picked up that I really liked was the idea of PMI-- to think of something Positive / Minus / Interesting of something that the child experiences. They also use the "I think, I know, I wonder" method.

The school I visit is also starting a program that the kids from 3rd to 6th grade cook in a high tech kitchen.  They are taught by a gourmet chef and cook mainly with the things they have grown on their own or in their garden that was also issued through the grant. It is hard to put into words how neat the program was and how incredibly excited the kids are to be a part of it.

Teachers are supposedly needed here but it is not easy to get hired on "Full-time." Teachers start off on a short contract as in America and go from there. They are paid about 70-80 grand though but the cost of living is higher here as well --- I am not going to lie when I heard that number I was in awe and then I remembered how much more expensive things are here.......... I hope that this is not the only experience I get with the kiddos while I am here. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Just before I left I even took a group of kids out to teach them basketball for fifteen minutes.....it was tough breakin it down to the very basics....a few of the kids did not know the concept of offense / defense / dribbling / etc. Def a different sports world here. :) They wanted to teach me cricket but I ran out of time...................Til next time.

(Insert catchy title here)

Good afternoon all! :) .....I never know where to start with these things. Do you get sick of reading that as the first line of every blog? It would have been the first line of all of my papers through high school and college if it wouldn't have docked my grade. I was always given the instructions that I had write a "broad and general statement" to start every paper and "I don't know where to start" seems about as broad and general as you can get.................. anyway -- a little bit of adhd kicking in there. the dogs are snoring and the birds are chirping and people are mowing their lawns and builders are hammering and the sun is shining and I don't feel like sitting inside at a computer but TOO much has happened for me to wait another day! :D

A week ago today I attended UNI with my host brothers girlfriend Tori...which is college or a university to us. In Tasmania, they have the Unversity of Tasmania but you can attend that school at several locations. College to the people here happens at age 16-18 (11th and 12th grades) ...they finish high school after tenth grade. They have the same problem of trying to find a place to park on campus as we do in America except their hills to walk to campus and back are an experience. It brought me back to memories of going to class on campus at KU. :) The grading system is a little bit different but mainly mostly their wording of it - i believe their percentages mean about the same thing. Scholarships are available to attend the school for grades and such but sports scholarships do not seem to be much of an issue. That is a huge difference of life here versus life in America. Sports are a HUGE part of life at home and here their main sport is Footie (Football) which is a mix of our sports of football and soccer I would say. Baseball is not played here at all I don't believe and I have probably seen about three basketball goals. Anyway back to school info....their lectures are same as us - about 50 min- with labs; however, their teachers change with each unit. I sat in a chemistry, bio of animals, and bio of plants class. I learned how a dragonfly flies and other species related --- by flexing their thorax (their butt musles). I sat their imagining what it would be like if I flexed my butt muscles and it made me fly.......I also learned that drinking fountains are not the same here. I went to fill up my water bottle in the middle of the most popular hang out spot on campus ...I filled by bottle from the mouth spot and kept tilting it more and more to try and get more and more water in the bottle so nearly the water was actually spilling out the top.....apparently someone saw me struggling and came up to flip on a spout on the side of the fountain that was specifically for bottles! HERES MY SIGN! :D

Wednesday was a quiet day- I watched a movie with my house mom ..Although most of the movies are the same here as at home, she had never seen She's Just Not That Into You and I also did some laundry. Most families do not have dryers here so I have been having fun hanging my laundry out on the line...I admit I was a little embarrassed about hanging my undergarmets so I put my jeans and such around the outside of the circular line and hid my other stuff on the inside. :) I will say good thing I was home Wednesday because three times I had to bring my laundry inside because of rain and then the sun would come out and you think it was over...and it would rain again. All a wonderful experience.

I went on a tour Thursday of Hobart (the state capital) and took a tour of the Cascade Brewery. One of the things I saw on the tour was a signal station  that they used to alert the next hill over and that process would keep going until the Port Arthur (the main site where convicts were kept) was alerted - It was said the process took twenty min and it is an hour or so drive from Hobart now-a-days. The Brewery was established in the early 1800's by a man that owned some prime land at the foot of a mountain by fresh spring water --- he was taken into jail for not paying a debt in England and while he was in jail he thought of the idea of running the brewery, received permission when he got out and it was up and running within a few years. The workers were able to drink all the beer they wanted while they worked and at that time a glass of beer was about 15% alcohol. After the owner realized the workers were drinking about as much as he was making, he started rationing them with an "open bar" (this is where the term came from) and a man would serve beer four times a day for ten minutes; however, the workmen were said to have about ten glasses of beer during the ten min which would amount to more than a case of beer for the workmen throughout the day everyday............ugh! Imagine what their beer bellies looked like! :)  Thursday night was salsa dancing night! I learned pretty quickly and lost the awkward feeling after about fifteen minutes. Some people had been there for four weeks and still couldn't get the basic step...I had the footwork down but couldn't quite get into the whole swinging of the hips thing. I think I'll stick to line dancing and swing dancing!

Friday I went to a wildlife park called Bonorong National Park. I got interact with Kangaroos of all sizes and Koalas, pet a wombat, talk with a few birds, and see Tasmanian Devils, Emu, and possum. I tried to get gutsy and hand feed the Emu and three of them attacked me at once and at one point I thought I was going to lose the skin off my hand. I used the tactic like when I used to hand feed grain to horses to keep my hand tight and then they can't "bite" me...It didnt work out as well. Tasmanian devils do not look anything like the cartoon and are very viscious looking. Their possums are all furry -- head to toe -- which I thought was interesting. The wombat was the most interesting animal - they are similar to our badger and can be kept in a wildlife park til they are two and then they must be released because they develp their adult instinctive habits such as going through everything in their way- even if it is cement. Definately not an animal I would want to meet on a jog down the back roads. Speaking of animals - I was telling my friends and family here that we say in Kansas, "If it flies it dies, if it crawls it falls" ..if you lived in Tassie you would have to add "If it hops it drops." Apparently they hunt and eat  kangaroo and it is also frequent road kill on the side of the road. Imagine hitting that driving down the road? The warning sings for Kangaroo crossings are pretty humorous. Oh and they also have black Swans here instead of white. I keep joking with everyone that swans of death and impurity inhabit their island and America has swans that symbolize purity and life. After Bonorong we visited the home of Cadbury's chocolate and went on a little tour and strolled through their candy store....and I thought strolling through Dillions during easter time was tempting!!!! :)

Saturday I went into the city and visited "Salamanca Market" ...a whole block is shut down for tents and venues of food, crafts, etc. but all of it has to be made in Tasmania. I found all sorts of fun things I wanted to take home with me...apparently I was so excited about one that after it was wrapped and handed to me I tried to walk off without paying for it. :) Luckily, the man at the tent didn't freak out and kindly got my attention and said "maam are you going to pay for that??" wheww I was a little bit embarrassed. Here I was walking around with my bag signaling I am clearly a tourist and now people prob thought I just try to steal things with it..........

Sunday we visited Bruny Island - we tried to make a 930 ferry and as soon as it was our time to load, the ferry had reached its limit of cars and we had to wait til 11:15. The island itself was beautiful (minus the extreme winds) and I have great pictures which I will post soon on facebook...the waters were aqua blue and the beaches were practically white. I decided to run up a ton of stairs to the top of a lighthouse viewing and Monday morning felt the wrath! I was getting a little bit of an ADHD attack from spending a lot of time in the car and saw some of what I thought was ducks on the side of the road. I preceded to quack at them and immediately I saw my host sister slump her shoulders and shake her head. "Hens don't quack in Australia Gretchen......." she told me......Another amazing moment of me having to laugh off being an idiot. :) Now everytime we see a cow she "baa's" at me. Of course just our luck at we pulled up to get on the ferry home, it was just pulling away so we sat and waited another hour for the next one........still, it was a great day.

As for random things that have happned - they do not tip here which is nice and tax is prefigured in costs of everything so what is on the price tag is what your spending. That helps BUT everything is more expensive here ...except for UGG boots. Everyone here can't believe what we pay for the boots in America. I have found that instead of stop lights, round-a-bouts are much more frequent. They do not know what biscuits and gravy are here...I might have to make it. To add to that, if any of you ever come visit rolls is a sandwich. Biscuits is cookies. Chips are fries. Crips are chips. Crackers are plain things you put cheese on,
scones are biscuits, and cookies are not really used. Did you follow all that? Ya, I don't either.....oh! like we have mini oranges, they have mini apples. :) Anyway, they don't rinse their dishes after they wash them, and they call fanny packs bum packs- This is why- the word fanny to Tassie people is another word for a girl part.....oops. :) To add to that and finish my extremely long blog once again I will share my weekly embarrassing story --- My host brother Dale, his girlfriend Tori, sister Simone, and myself were going to a Rural Youth meeting and saw a rather chunky man running down the road in jeans and bright green crocks. I (Trying to use Aussie slang) said loudly, "Ah, my future Tassie husband, I'd chase after him but I'd have to take off my thong to run fast enough........." Huge awkward silence. They obviously call flip flops thongs here....but I forgot to add the "s".....

Today I spent the day at an elementary school but I got back again Thursday so I will save those stories for my next blog. It felt great being around kids and they had a ton of questions to ask me. It was quite interesting what kind of things they asked.................til next time. If you made it to the end thanks for reading! Hugs to everyone back home.

Gretchen