Monday report

4.22 pm – Monday, 26 March
Sitting at Adelaide airport v. early before flight eating a burger at a restaurant called Beetroot (tee hee hee). Beetroot seems quite common here and I kind of like this. Burger Classic is supposed to have beetroot on it, but this has yet to be discovered. Maybe, though, the beetroot is not in a slice but is instead the purple-ish smush on the lower bun. It is yummy! Although the mayonnaise is slightly weird. Refrained from adding onion rings or fries to dinner and shall drink my 1500ml of water and perhaps eat my apple from the Hilton in case there is Shockingly Stringent Quarantine on produce in NSW (am flying to Sydney in 2 hours time).

Have been at Adelaide University today for a fair. It was under a tent. I said a prayer of thanks (although Katie B. may not thank me for the V of tan on my chest that just looks absol. ridONKulous when compared to the general overall tint of blue on the rest of my body).

They are now carrying out a test of the airport emergency system. It is loud.

Yesterday, had lovely excursion with International coordinator at Uni South Australia – along with my new friend, Craig from Guelph Uni in Canada; and Gerhardt and Ulrich, who are from two universities outside Stuttgart. We stopped at Brighton Beach, had a coffee and then who had to go down from the jetty and get a perfect shell? Who do you think.

Then we drove a little further to the south to the Maclaren Valley, which is a wine district. ________ is the cutest little town, with quaintsy-waintsy little cafes and shops and vineyards stretching over the hills. Just lovely. And it was a perfect weather day, too! At the ends of the rows at some of the vineyards, roses are planted. This is because they act as a sort of Impending Disaster Warning System – diseases and/or insects often attack roses first, so that vintners can prepare the vines against whatever is coming. Isn’t that clever?

We ate at Hoffmann’s Vineyard at the Old Currant Shed. Sitting on the veranda was a potentially addictive way to spend a low-key afternoon. Olives and almonds are also significantly increasing crops in Australia. Australian olive oil is actually exported to ITALY! Who knew! Saw my first olive growing on a tree (I thought they grew on bushes); saw no almonds. There are the cutest little blue wrens that hopped around looking cute in lecherous hope of crumbs. There was a neighbouring Australian Shepherd with one blue and one brown eye that came and sat next to our table and looked pretty until she was shooed away by the wait staff. Many vineyards have a Vineyard Dog, and at the next vineyard shoppe, there was a book on Vineyard Dogs – am proud of myself because did not purchase. But it was sooooo cute!

Craig and I were the only ones who tasted at the next vineyard, d'Arenberg, and we tried to act like we knew what we were doing. But we fooled no one. However, it was fun. I think it would be great fun to go on a short course so as to find out how to look like you know what you are doing, even perhaps actually knowing what you are doing.

For lunch, ate KANGAROO Pie! Ooooh, it was so delicious! V. tender, not gamey, and is apparently v. low in fat. It was kind of like a steak and kidney pie sort of thing. There was a Kangaroo Meat merchant at Central Market the other day; I think I would eat it regularly if this were my habitat. Starter was a pate and had one bite of the communal Lime Tarte for dessert. All of us were fairly bloated.

Two exciting things I saw yesterday:
A hopping kangaroo road sign
A KOALA road sign (saw no koalas. nearly made self carsick looking at the trees.)

Was corrected that a koala is NOT a bear. It is a marsupial. A Gum Tree is the same thing as a Eucalyptus tree – eucalyptus is the leaf. And the UniSA lady wanted to know how in the world I knew the song, ‘Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree’ – doesn’t everyone know that song?

In true American style, I am uncomfortable with extremely long silences in situations signifying social interaction, so I asked an awful lot of questions about everything from Kookaburras and koalas and from communal property trends to the NSW elections (the number of my interrogatory statements may have made everyone think I was three, but for gosh sakes, DISCUSS! CONVERSATE!). In Australia, it is the LAW that every person over the age of 18 must vote! If you are do not vote you have to pay several hundred dollars fine. If you are out of the country, you must mail your vote. You may, if you like, go in and submit a blank paper, but you still must go.

One interesting fact: There are more Greeks in Melbourne than in any other city outside Athens!