Hey everyone,
A lot has happened since I last blogged, and I'm not really sure where to begin. Basketball has gone south of cheese. We're on a 3 game slide, and we pretty much need to win out the season to have a chance at the playoffs. We're capable of doing so, but each game from here on out will be a real dog fight. Should be exciting for anyone who wants to wake up in the middle of the night and follow us on stat tracker, but I'll understand if you don't.
Things off the court have been going much better. I've been traveling the local terrain, observing the people, and carefully harvesting nuggets of wisdom for anyone who has ever asked themselves; What is Australia really like? The truth is, its not that much different from Canada. The people are laid back, friendly, and fun loving. "Getting on the piss" is a national past-time, and they'll use just about any excuse to do it. This includes my friend Leighroy, who got very excited for Canada day, and insisted that we partake in all its hallowed rituals. Unfortunetly fireworks are illegal here, so it quickly turned into the typical Wednesday night dust up at the local sports club.
Rumors of Kangaroos littering the freeways of Australia are, unfortunatly just that, rumors. The only time I've actually seen one was in Roo Haven at Australia Zoo. Originally started as a crocodile sanctuary by the late great Steve Irwin, Australia Zoo showcases all the indigenous wildlife of Australia, and some of South East Asia, making it perfect for tourists such as myself. The keepers there try to make it as interactive as possible, and I got to feed an elephant and pet a Koala while I was there. Koalas are interesting animals. They snack all day on eucalyptus, which when ingested in large quantities gets them as high as kites. But there's so little nutrition in the leaves, that they spend most of their time sleeping. They're the teenage stoners of the animal kingdom.
Perhaps the coolest feature of the Zoo was the aformentioned Roo Haven, an open concept park where you can enjoy the company of Kangaroos up close and personal. They were very docile animals, and would let you come right up and pet them, although one of them seemed a little put off when I tried to get in its pouch.
The diet of the average Australian is pretty similar to Canadians, with a few key differences. Firstly, finding a good cup of coffee is next to impossible. It's a bit of a culture shock, especially coming from a place where you can't open a door without walking into a Starbucks. Those old Tim Horton's adds suddenly seem a lot more realistic.
Secondly, they have strange cheeses. Cheddar is an anomaly, and most cheese comes in either Tasty or Extra Tasty varieties. This isn't me being clever, that's actually what they're called. This begs the question, why would anyone buy Tasty cheese when they could get Extra Tasty?
Thirdly, and maybe this has something to do with the cheese problem, but no one remembered to teach Australians how to make Pizza. Even Dominoes pies pale in comparison to their Canadian cousins.
Sports are also quite different here. Basketball is about the 8th most popular sport, behind a list of others that are, to my knowledge, rarely played in Canada. Australians love Cricket, Horse racing, and most of all Rugby. They love rugby so much they've got 3 different kinds; Rugby League, Rugby Union, and Aussie Rules Football. I've been watching a bit of each, and I think I've finally worked out the differences. They're all great games though. I actually had the privilege of going to an NRL game, the Brisbane Broncos vs. the New Zealand Warriors. The Broncos are similar to the Maple Leafs in popularity, so you'd have to be willing to give up your first born just to get into the nosebleeds. Our coach hooked us up with the CEO of the stadium, so we got to watch the game from field level, which was a truly amazing experience.
Well, that's about all i've got to say about that. Basketball keeps me tied down in a one horse town, but once the season is over I'm looking forward to more traveling, including trips Thailand and New Zealand.
In conclusion, Australia is a great country, but my heart belongs to Canada, and I can't wait to get back.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment