I Survived The Outback

Well... I'm home from the Outback in one piece. Only a few minor bruises and mozzie (mosquito) bites... not to bad, eh?

So here are some things I'd like to share thus far about my Australia experience with their version of "English."
1.) I cannot understand what people are saying most of the time. They talk fast and have weird slang, so you must ask them to repeat themselves frequently. They have to use "proper English" when talking to Americans.
2.) Rhyming slang is weird. For example, they call Americans "septics" because septic tank rhymes with yank. More examples to come....
3.) If you ask where the restroom is, they will look at you funny. You must ask for the toilet.
4.) There is no such thing as a gas station, it is called a servo.
5.) Peppers do not exist. They are called capsicums. No one has ever heard of a "bell pepper."
6.) Everything here is abbreviated. It's like talking on instant messenger all of the time. Avo = Afternoon.
7.) There is no such thing as crayfish or crawdads. They are called yabbies. If you are going fishing for yabbies, it's called yabbying.

Now, on to my experience in the Outback.
We drove 8 hours west of Sydney, halfway across the state of New South Wales. Eventually we arrived at our destination, Euabalong West. We stayed on a 35,000 acre farm. Yes, that would be 35,000 acres. There were bunk houses, but most of us opted for sleeping outside under the stars. It was absolutely beautiful! The highlights of the trip included, but were not limited to...
A.) Kangaroo chasing. We took four wheel drive yutes (that would be a truck) across the property looking for 'roos. It was amazing! I think the group I went with spotted about 30 of them, and we didn't die, which was a plus as I was a bit worried about careening through a dark field at however many kilometers an hour.
B.) Sleeping under the stars. I honestly don't know if I've ever done that before... at least somewhere besides my backyard.
C.) Holding week old puppies. They were adorable and I'd never seen puppies that little before.
D.) I saw my first up close and alive cow. I've only ever driven past them at a distance. I also learned that cows come in many different colors and not all of them give milk.
E.) Seeing a sheep get sheared.
F.) The AMAZING sunsets! Here are my two favorite pictures...





The one major down fall of the trip were the crazy amount of flies! We all wore nets around to avoid getting flies in our mouths/ears/noses/etc. Here is a picture of Jennessa and I wearing our dorky fly nets!



Basically, I had a lot of new experiences this weekend, which was good. I feel a lot closer to the people on this trip. It's also sunk in that I will be living in this country for 4 months. I feel a little more at home, but I'm also beginning to realize that I eventually will get to go home to the states and back to the people I love.

Anyways, I miss all of you! My goal this week is to send out postcards - so if I didn't ask for your address before I left, and you'd like a letter from me... leave me a comment with your info :)

Talk to you soon!
Love,
Kristin