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Cindy's World Trip Blog

December 31, Month 7

Important information about kangaroos... in case you go blind

"How are you going?" This is the common greeting here in the land down under. As much as I try I can't respond back, "Fine. How are you going?" I guess that is how I should respond, but I can only say "I am fine. How are you?"

Eventhough this local greeting seems weird to me, everything else about Australia I have eaten up. Admitidly, I was won over quickly. So quickly that it was shortly after we arrived. I laid eyes on the Sydney opera house... just drove past it and I decided I liked the place. When we drove North and I saw kangaroo crossing signs I thought it was so cool. Then we actually saw the roos grazing in the fields along with horses. Amazing! I didn't think it could be any better... that is until we visited a nature reserve that let us hand feed the gentle kangaroos. As I fed them I thought, "Yep, I like this place a lot!"

By the way, if I ever went blind and happened upon a bunch of kangaroo I would be able to tell if I were near a grey and red kangaroo. Although they look a lot the same (grey have black tipped tails), their feel is entirely different. Red ones are soft like bunnies, but grey ones have more of a coarse, short-haired dog feel to them. Good and useful information...I know, but it was so interesting to me.

Australia is just full of icons. One icon I have shyed away from was the Koala. I have loved seeing the Koala crossing signs and seeing them up close in a sanctuary. Still, I have passed on paying to hold one. The locals say they smell terrible and they carry chlamydia. Somehow they don't seem as cute or as cuddly as they used to. I may still give in before the trip is over. My resolve isn't too strong.

Another icon in Australia is surfing. I have been joking with Richard that the kids on the coast are born with surf boards in their hands. Watching them it seems to be true. I have seen tiny kids (think around 5 years) surfing in the shallow waters... really surfing. They stay on the surfboard balancing and ride on the wave for quite some time. I have seen three-year olds with their faces under swimming in the ocean not bothered by the crashing waves and salt and boogie boarding with the assistance of their parents. (I wonder how the parents pull this off. When my kids were small, they all fussed to put their faces in the water and they didn't even have salt water stinging their eyes.)

Watching all of the little kids surfing and doing amazing things, I was fooled into thinking I could do it too. So Amber, Sophia, and I gave it a try with the assistance of a surfing school teacher. Now we are amazing surfers. Those "born with a surfboard" kids could learn a thing or two from us. Actually, I wondered right off if taking the class was a mistake. The first step - which was supposed to be the easiest part - was to get the board onto the beach. It was a wrestling match and I think I lost. There went my confidence. On the bright side, I'm sure it was entertaining for all onlookers to see me try to control it with all of the gyrations and tumbles I was doing. The next step was taught and practiced on the sand - getting from lying down position on the board to standing up and it didn't go much better. It is sooo much harder than the surfers make it look... I was cursing those little kids. I felt like a walrus doing ballet. The girls of course did really well making me feel old... an old walrus. Nice. We practiced a bunch on the beach then tried in the water. After a few tries in the water, we practiced on the beach again. The cycle continued to be repeated, the teacher helping us refine the steps each time. By the end, all of us could get up and go for a short ride on the wave with our teachers assistance. We left exhausted and proud. As proud as if we had surfed entirely on our own executing the skills of a world-class surfer. Boy were we exhausted - just as the surfing teacher said we would be. At the start he said, "the class is short, but it is heaps of time." It was heaps of time and we were exhausted, but it was so fun.

Besides having amazing things to see and fun things to do, Australian's themselves are pretty cool people. Maybe it is their accent or maybe it is the abbreviations and entertaining pet names they have for lots of things. They call Mcdonalds "Maccas" and breakfast "breakie" for example. Everyone has heard Aussies refer to their beloved "barbies." (I haven't eaten any meals cooked on the "barbie," but I did accidently try vegamite on a cracker - not my favorite).

I'm sure my biggest dissapointment about Australia will be that I won't get to see as much of it as I want. A reason to come back. Can't be too sad about that.

Time has come to say "g'day mates" - a greeting that I can both say and hear without reservations.