Our Adventures in Australia...: December 10th (Friday) and 11th (Saturday)

All we can say is LOST. We got up early (5:30 – can’t sleep in cause of jet lag) and decided to tour downtown Melbourne. It was extremely busy and packed on the streets so we decided to take the tram. Once we got on we had no idea how to pay for our ride. A local told us we needed a ticket or change to put into this foreign looking machine – needless to say we had neither. We quickly hopped off at the next stop before anyone could notice we never payed. The shopping is like no other – there are millions of stores and everyone is dressed up, we looked out of place wearing jeans. The store Meyers was huge, there were six levels and anything you could imagine. It is like our Bay and Sears combined. Right now they have a Christmas display in their windows and it is tradition, there were hundreds of people lined up to walk past and look. We bought a tram ticket so we could go to the Aquarium, but it seemed the tram we needed was always going the other way, so we walked. It turned out that we did that for the rest of the day, way easier then figuring out the tram system. We went out partying with Georgie’s brother Tim. Met some of his friends and had a great time at World’s Bar. We are slowly picking up on some local lingo:

Truck = Ute

Combine = Header

Header = Front

Cookie = Biscuit

Caesar Drink = Caesar Salad

Bus = Coach

Yesterday (11^th) we took a train to Ballart – it was fast and interesting how many people use it daily to get from town to town. Then from Ballart we had to hop on a coach and ride for three hours to Mt. Gambier where Georgie picked us up. That was the longest coach ride, you had to stop at every town and it seems here there is a town ever 15 km. On our way to Naracoorte we did some crop checking with Georgie, it is fascinating how her company grows seed for people around the world. When we got closer to Naracoorte it is miles upon miles of vineyards. I am amazed and excited because it is such a different world here. I learned pretty fast to not use the word “wine kit”, they have not heard and cannot fathom the idea of making wine from a kit. We had a nice supper and visit and now I am off to the local market to sell Pasties (12^th).

P.S. Josh has searched high and low to find a replacement for Fresca for me. He normally doesn’t worry about my pop cravings but I think he can’t deal with my withdrawal anymore. We found a replacement, Lift.

Downtown: