Tinkerblue

Great White Shark = 115 Suitcases

Now you know. Not sure when that piece of information will prove useful.

How I Know I'm Home...

Because I can buy as many Violet Crumbles, Cherry Ripes, Turkish Delights, Picnics, Minties, Twisties and bags of Burger Rings as I want.

I haven't bought any, but I know that I can if I want to!

Chocolates, Hot Pools, Beer and Pizza

I'm almost home. I'm spending a week in Melbourne first with Narelle and Justin and their boys, Dale, Liam, and Tait.

Today I was lucky enough to spend the day with some other friends, Nicole and Brendan.

We started the day with brunch at Blue Mini Cafe in Rosebud. It was delicious and well with the detour to get there - don't ask Brendan for directions, he took us an extra 20+ km down the highway!

After we filled our bellies we headed over to Flinders to Mornington Peninsula Chocolates. See the fish in the photos? They are all chocolate. Nicole and I indulged in the tasting session - almond praline, honey ganache, and orange ganache. Mmmm, the honey ganache literally melted in my mouth. So good. I bought three to take away as a treat for later - raspberry ganache, grapefruit ganache, and ganache noir. The ganache noir was my favourite, I could have inhaled an entire box of them. They are "Stonier vintage sparkling wine with Force Noir Chocolate ganache dipped in dark couverture." I'm not hundred percent sure what all that is, but it was so good.
http://www.mpchocolates.com.au/

We spent the better part of the day at the Peninsula Hot Springs. Here's the description from the website:
"The Bath House has over 20 bathing experiences on offer with areas suitable for visitors of all ages including a Hill Top pool with 360 deg views, reflexology walk, Turkish steam room, sauna, cave pool, family bathing area and many more".

We spent a good few hours here. The outside temperature was 32c, the hot pools were hot, bloody hot, 42c. The cool pools were 31c! It was so nice and relaxing. Rose, are you reading this? It was similar to Scandinave, but more pools and a more natural setting. You'd love it. I liked the view from the hilltop pool, but it was too hot to sit in. The plunge pool was cold, take your breath away cold, but it felt good. Nicole wasn't a fan, but I loved the reflexology walk.
http://www.peninsulahotsprings.com/

We finished the evening off with pizza and beer at the Mornington Peninsula Brewery. I had the Aussie Ale, a medium bodied beer, made only with Australian ingredients. It went down quiet well.

I paired it with the spiced lamb pizza. I miss lamb, don't eat much of it in Canada. I've had it everyday since I've been back. The pizza bases are made with the brewery's beer. They were very tasty. I'd recommend it if you happen to be on the Mornington Peninsula.
http://www.mpbrew.com.au

A great day. Thanks Nicole and Brendan. I needed today.

I Still Call Australia Home

I finally made it home. It took a while. Close to 37 hours. And I arrived in Melbourne on Australia Day.

Melissa posted this in Facebook earlier today, and it made Narelle and I laugh.

You know you're Australian if...
* You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.

*You thinks it's normal to have a leader called Julia

* You understand that the phrase "A group of women wearing black thongs" refers to footwear and maybe less alluring than it sounds

* You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'

*You believe the 'L' in the word 'Australia' is optional.

* You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas.'

* You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep.

* You call your best friend 'a total bastard' but someone you really, truly despise is just 'a bit of a bastard'.

* You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.

* You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife.

* You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin.

* You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy'.

* You believe that cooked-down axle grease makes a good breakfast spread. You've also squeezed it through Vita Wheats to make little Vegemite worms.

* You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.

* Beetroot with your Hamburger... Of course.

* You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels' song 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' And "Living next door to Alice".

* You believe that the confectionery known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.

* You believe that every important discovery in the world was made by an Australian but then sold off for a pittance.

* You believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them.

* Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language.

* You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, While 'scuse me' is always polite.

* You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.

* You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron.

* Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.

* You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call 'Anzac cookies'.

* You still think of Kylie as 'that girl off Neighbours'.

* When working on a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.

* You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in -o: arvo, combo, garbo, kero, metho, milko, muso, rego, servo, smoko, speedo, righto, goodo etc.

* You know that there is a universal place called "woop woop" located in the middle of nowhere...no matter where you actually are.

* You know that none of us actually drink Fosters beer, because it tastes like shit. But we let the world think we do. Because we can.

* You have some time in your life slept with Aeroguard on in the summer. Maybe even as perfume.

* You've only ever used the words - tops, ripper, sick, mad, rad, sweet - to mean good. And then you place 'bloody' in front of it when you REALLY mean it.

* You know that the barbecue is a political arena; the person holding the tongs is always the boss and usually a man. And the women make the Salad.

* You say 'no worries' quite often, whether you realise it or not.

* You understand what no wucking furries means.

* You've drank your tea/coffee/milo through a Tim Tam.

* You own a Bond's chesty. In several different colours.

* You know that some people pronounce Australia like "Straya" and that's ok.

Still in Vancouver

We should be starting our descent into LAX about now. Instead I'm still on the floor of the departure gate at YVR.

It's grey and wet outside, but look. Our plane just arrived. So we'll be leaving soon. Better late than never. And it means I won't be hanging out at LAX for 7 and 1/2 hours.

Off To A Good Start

So Kim dropped me at the airport around 1115am. Plenty of time for my 130pm flight from Vancouver to LA. PLENTY OF TIME as my flight has been delayed by 2 hours.

So I'm hanging at at YVR, eating my free lunch (Alaska Airline gave me a lunch voucher), using the free Wifi and waiting. There'll be a lot of waiting today.

Ah but it's all fun, at least I'm going somewhere warm and sunny.

Beer is Packed

Yep, got my priorities straight. 6 bottles of Granville Island Honey Lager.

Wrapped in newspaper, in a ziplock bag, then two bottles in a shopping bag and finally wrapped in a piece of clothing.

Not so much that they don't break, but do when they do break. The shattered glass is confined to one area.

Also that half if the suitcase are 10 bags of Hershey Kisses, 4 hardback books, assorted shark crap, baby crap, and other odd useless gifts.

My suitcase is at 45lbs/20kgs with no clothes. Looks like I'll be wearing the same outfit for 3 weeks.

Which Dress to Pack

I'm only taking one. They all pack well. They are all easy care. In fact they are all pretty much the same shape and length, just different colors.

Ignore the bad hair day pony tail. It'll get felt with before I leave for the airport.

Preparing for Australia

Over Christmas I won a $25.00 gift certificate to Bloom Essentials.

Today I went to get a pedicure. Gone are the snowmen and snowflakes. Now I have blue and gold toenails. Perfect for summer.

This week I'm wearing snow boots. Next week I'll be wearing flip flops. I hope.

25 Things You May Not Know About Me

1. I went to Greek School every Saturday morning for 6 months when I was in high school. I can't understand a word of Greek.

2. I don't like talking on the phone. Yet I worked in a call centre for the better part of 4 years.

3. I cannot whistle.

4. My favourite veggies are spinach, brussels sprouts and pumpkin.

5. I am shy and introverted. Meeting new people is terrifying and stressful.

6. I have a hearing loss in one ear. Im not ignoring you, if you are standing behind me, I just can't hear you.

7. I grind my teeth at night. It's loud. The noise has actually woken me up on more than one occasion.

8. I've only been a bridesmaid once. At Narelle and Justin's wedding.

9. My favourite gift to give is books.

10. I'm long sighted. I wear glasses for computer work.

11. The moisturiser I currently use is from Australia. I stock up when I go home.

12. I hate emus. They bite.

13. I like crosswords and playing board games.

14. Some of my childhood friends are still my friends today. Jo and I have been friends since 1977. Sharyn and I were trying to work out when we first met, around '74, we think.

15. I once skulled a liter of beer. Never again.

16. I used to collect stamps. My stamp collection is still at my parents house.

17. Now I collect Christmas decorations.

18. Up until a few years ago I had every letter that anyone had ever sent me. They were kept in boxes and boxes and boxes at mum and dads house. I finally threw them all out in 2006.

19. When I worked for the bank I won (earned) a 7 day Caribbean cruise.

20. I don't like bubblegum or fruit roll-ups.

21. Having a glass of wine, a warm bath (or a hot tub) and reading a good book is my favourite way to relax.

22. The first tune I leaned to play on the flute was "Suicide is Painless", the theme song from M.A.S.H.

23. I have finally learned to like dark chocolate.

24. I'm a Taurus through and through. Stubborn, reserved, loyal, methodical, practical, slow to anger, (but ferocious temper once roused), reliable, dependable, obstinate...

25. I almost failed Math in high school. I had a tutor. For whatever reason I could not wrap my head around algebra and trigonometry. Still can't.