So Wen and I are about to head home from Australia, but before we leave, here are a few thing I've noticed/been ruminating over for the past few days.
1
Australians love the sea. In fact, Sydney isn't so much a city as it is a collection of neighbourhoods located around the water. However, the greatest indicator of how much Aussies love the sea is their money. It's waterproof:
However, this love of water also causes our Australian friends to do some silly things off the water. For instance, this basketball course is grassed in:
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2
I have no idea why, but almost all the houses here seem to have names (This place is very British). Here are a sampling from around Manly:
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3
For some reason, there is also stained glass everywhere. It's in all the houses and most of the older buildings. I've no idea why; perhaps it's that British thing again:
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4
The taxis here all look like police cars:
And the police cars, well - they look like toy cars:
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5
The Aussies are incredibly serious about taking care of their ecology. Some examples:
- When you go through the airport you pass through "quarantine" where your bags are checked to make sure there's no meat, cheese, veggies, etc.
- We drove up to Mudgee and there were signs warning you not to bring grape vine cuttings as they do not want to contaminate the viticulture up there
- Lake Burragorang is a man-made lake in the Blue Mountains that provides 80% of Sydney's water - and no one is allowed within the catchment area of the lake. If you're caught trespassing, you'll be prosecuted
6
There are two challenges to driving on the left hand side of the road in Australia. The first is that you drift left as you drive, as in North America that's the center; alas here it's the curb.
The second is unique to Australia. Here, the gauge of the lanes changes all the time. You'll be on a road and the lane will be 12 feet wide. Then you'll turn a corner and suddenly the lane's only 8 feet wide! It's a blast, particularly when you're surrounded by trucks (and drifting left...).
7
Australia's got a drinking problem. A huge one. The national sport here seems to be getting pissed (and behaving badly). I've noticed lots of people drinking before 11am - on the Manly Corso, at the airport; the list goest on.
In order to understand this, you've got to realize that drinking is totally institutionalized:
- At some bars, if you buy six pints (called schooners down here) you get a free t-shirt. Yay!
- At some liquour stores, if you buy enough, you save on gas. I can't imagine a more perverse incentive to drink...
The government is trying to crack down. For one, you get this lovely sign in all the bars:
Also, in every car, the back of the registration sticker (the part facing the driver) says "Drink Driving is a Crime".
If you're down on Manly beach on a weekend, you can see literally the entire beach getting drunk. Later that night it's off to the Steyne hotel on the Corso where you can watch 18 year old girls stumble around with bottles of wine in their hands before entering the bar (it's technically legal to drink in public here).
And as I'm writing this, an ad just appeared on the tv letting me know that every single police car has a breathalyzer so that "if you're worried about getting tested for drink driving - you should be."
8
This whole city is a zoo. Everywhere you go, it's exotic animals. Around Wendy's parent's house, you're likely to see cockatoos, rosellas and eastern water dragons:
This leads to the following road signs:
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9
This is the only place in the world that has not abandoned the cruck. In fact, it's worshipped here and called the Holden Ute. You can buy 'em new; if you've noticed that there aren't too many on the road in North America, it's because the El Camino was discontinued in 1987:
