Some Great Australian Places

Have you been to Australia? Although there are many cool things here, like Koalas, Kangaroos and The Most Deadly Snake in the World, The Black Mamba (spoken in a Steve Austin accent, as he shoves the snake in his face). BUT. They have a lot of other cool things. So. Let me talk to you about what we have done and liked...so far.

First up, and everyone should do this, is the Great Ocean Road. You drive along the coast and it IS beautiful. There are weird stone formations, blue blue water and the drive itself is (windy but) divine.

The Twelve Apostles

Next up, was some Lebanese food. I know, you thought, LEBANESE? In Australia? YES. And it's great.

Falafel, Kibby, Tzatziki, Hummus and more!

Then we went to Melbourne to meet up with some friends I had met in Argentina. And we walked around town. And we ate. And ate. AND ATE. Yum. I had heard there was great food in Melbourne but I had never experienced it. Well.... it was great!

Melbourne Grafitti

Swanston St

Yarra River

Dinner with Friends!

We also went to the Healdsville Animal Sanctuary, where we saw all the usual cuprits that I spoke about the other day: koalas, kangaroos, echidnas and emus. It was so fun! One more example:

Echidna -- bad photo

You can see a better example of an Echidna below. By the way, it is another egg laying mammal. Weird.

source

Next up: Sydney!

Then we go home...I can't believe it has come so soon. It seems like it's been so long...and I can't believe it's over so soon.

S is for Some. You can find more A-Z blogfest posts here. 

Have you ever been to Australia? What were your favorite places?  

PS. I have been here before (it was pre-blogging) and will post some other great things in a future post. Some things I won't get to this time, but I know are worth seeing!  

Really?

Did you know?

In Australia, they don't have the Easter bunny, they have the BILBY:

In Chocolate (source)

Normal View (source)

They also call a walk around the block a BLOCKIE.

A TRAVELER is when you take a beer to go on the walk to the next place.

Your SUNNIES are your sun glasses.

BREKKIE is breakfast.

An ESKIE is a cooler/ice chest.

SUSS means something that is suspect.

A STUBBIE is a small or short beer. 

To say "hello" they say "HOW YA GOIN'?"

They really do say G'DAY and MATE.

If you SHOUT a round of drinks, you are buying a round.

Of course there are still the "normal" sayings like "Do you reckon?" and "I have to go to the loo".

We got into a long discussion with my (Ozzie) friend about "BISCUITS". In the US, they are served with gravy; in Australia, this is the equivalent of a cookie. Their equivalent of our biscuit is a SCONE. (our scone is another matter entirely! Not the same as their scone!) You can find Australian biscuit recipes here.  

So, I guess that after having BREKKIE, you can get a TRAVELER out of the ESKIE, put on your SUNNIES and do a BLOCKIE. 

But I reckon that is a little ambitious. 

R is for "Really". You can see more A-Z blogfest here.  

Quicky Koala

Koalas aren't quick, so I am not sure why that one koala was named Quicky. However, it is lucky that they aren't because this gave me the chance to see a few. Here are photos to prove it. 

And of course a few more animals we found while searching for the koala. 

The Dingo That Ate Your Baby

Cockatoo

Hugest Dragon Lizard I've Ever Seen

And of Course, the Kangaroo! Boing!

If you haven't guessed, we are in Australia! More on that later! 

Q is for Quicky! See more A-Z challenge here!