sid to the nee
g'day again from oz. one of these days i guess it'll be my last post from here. weird. we successfully pushed our flight back AGAIN - now flying on brother Dan's birthday: march 5. that gives us the rest of this week to get our acts together. so we spend it in a leafy suburb of the home of the opera house and big harbour bridge.
first. catching up on brisbane. we spent one whole day and two half days there. in that span, we were taken to see lots of kangaroos in the wild, grazing on the lawn of a prison near our new servas host's house. we ate with him (adrian) and his mother (elsie) and their dog (tammy) - nice meals that always ended with a beautiful salad of fresh fruits. we saw the sparkly city (which reminded me from a distance of Sim City - relatively flat all around and then skyscrapers popping up out of nowhere) from a distance at night from the lookout at Mt Coot-tha. We spent a day wandering around brisbane city - taking a ride on the speedy CityCat ferry on the Brisbane river that runs through the middle. We strolled through the South Bank Parklands (aka park) with its artificial beach right in the middle. we walked the hot longish way over to West End and found ourselves in coffee house good restaurant used book shop cuteland. We sat in a coffee shop called three monkeys and wrote in our journals. i had south african rooibos tea. next morning we went back over there, to the same spot, in lieu of museums, just so we could sample their grilled haloumi platter for lunch. haloumi is a cheese. it's delicious. the platter was the same. deeeeelish. all in all a pleasant stay in brisbane and with our final servas house in oz. then the plane from brissie to sydney. on the way i watched the simpsons and listened to a hilarious inflight radio channel of the funniest people that ever lived (illustrious comedians such as mel brooks and woody allen were of course included. i hadn't ever heard woody allen's moose bit. damn, that's funny. and nice to hear a real new york accent again.).
In Sydney: we are staying at the tall tree-surrounded home of karin and gerry, matthew and claire, and honey the lovely cat. this is the family we met while we sat and waited for fireworks on new year's eve. they were great then, and they're great great great now. they have generously offered us their sunroom for the week, with accompanying camp beds and our own bathroom even. not to mention the pleasure of their company. so far we've watched homemade tv shows performed out of a discarded tv box up the road by claire and bananas with faces drawn on them. there was happy banana, sad banana, winky banana, surprised banana, funny banana, weird banana, scared banana, and ghost banana. oh, and random banana, who had no face. it was, needless to say, hilarious. claire's in year five. matthew's in year 8. yesterday afternoon we went to see "ray" with gerry and matthew - good stuff, if a little long. today gerry (on his day off work) took us to the barronjoey headlands and we took a nice steep rocky walk up to the lookout at the lighthouse. it's really a little island out there, tied to the mainland by a sand spit that's since grown over with vegetation. but it's cool to look down on and see the beach on one side (the ocean side) full of waves and kite surfers, and the other curving arc of beach all calm and sheltered. nice.
i've been able to take out BOTH the Life of Pi and Down Under from the local library here in Turramurra, and so i plan on finishing those up so they can stop haunting me. (beverly, i guess i won't be needing that copy - thanks though!).
today we took the train ride into sydney city and went to Post Restante to pick up our package (thanks moms). and any cards that were sent. now i know who really loves me. emerge, my parents (both of them), and my grandmother. THAT'S IT. thanks guys. really. it only cost 80 cents to send me something, but i understand if that was too much. no really, it's ok. don't worry about it. i just won't send any more stuff home for you. ever. i MAY give you other chances at other countries, but none will be as reliable as here. stay tuned...
more about asia: has anyone been to southeast asia? did you have a guidebook you really liked? we're torn between getting one for the whole area or spending the cash on individual ones, which will probably be better for each place. any thoughts on singapore would be welcome too. and you will all be glad to know that the CDC is currently NOT recommending restricted travel in afflicted countries. so we're still good to go.
ummmm... oh! in getting refamiliarized with my iRiver and all, i noticed a GLARING emptiness where martin sexton's glory bound and way i am should be. i don't have them, and i don't know why. it makes me really sad. someone figure out a way for me to get them, please.
also, i need some pictures of people. i only have ones that were on my digital camera when i left (i was going to organized that stuff in that week before i left, but i was horribly sick, if you recall) - so mms and friend are covered, as is darling caitlin and the fam, but that's about all i have. so send me some pictures at my email address if you'd like me to have them. i'd like me to have them.
and i will close this entry with the following quiz. choose the spelling that is NOT used in Australia. the one that i made up. the rest are true.
a) tyre for tire (like the ones on a car)
b) gaol for jail (like the ones that kangaroos graze in front of)
c) skool for school (like the one you go to for learning)
d) kerb for curb (like the ones you hit when you parallel park)
Other randomness:
lara: that's ridiculous. does brook have a blog? can you send me the address? small world. smalllll world.
mms: nabia's blog.
and yes. i got the faulkner reference. i went to high school too.
emerge: THANK YOU for the card.
i think that's all i can think of for now. but there's a computer in the house, so you never know when i'll strike.
email me
first. catching up on brisbane. we spent one whole day and two half days there. in that span, we were taken to see lots of kangaroos in the wild, grazing on the lawn of a prison near our new servas host's house. we ate with him (adrian) and his mother (elsie) and their dog (tammy) - nice meals that always ended with a beautiful salad of fresh fruits. we saw the sparkly city (which reminded me from a distance of Sim City - relatively flat all around and then skyscrapers popping up out of nowhere) from a distance at night from the lookout at Mt Coot-tha. We spent a day wandering around brisbane city - taking a ride on the speedy CityCat ferry on the Brisbane river that runs through the middle. We strolled through the South Bank Parklands (aka park) with its artificial beach right in the middle. we walked the hot longish way over to West End and found ourselves in coffee house good restaurant used book shop cuteland. We sat in a coffee shop called three monkeys and wrote in our journals. i had south african rooibos tea. next morning we went back over there, to the same spot, in lieu of museums, just so we could sample their grilled haloumi platter for lunch. haloumi is a cheese. it's delicious. the platter was the same. deeeeelish. all in all a pleasant stay in brisbane and with our final servas house in oz. then the plane from brissie to sydney. on the way i watched the simpsons and listened to a hilarious inflight radio channel of the funniest people that ever lived (illustrious comedians such as mel brooks and woody allen were of course included. i hadn't ever heard woody allen's moose bit. damn, that's funny. and nice to hear a real new york accent again.).
In Sydney: we are staying at the tall tree-surrounded home of karin and gerry, matthew and claire, and honey the lovely cat. this is the family we met while we sat and waited for fireworks on new year's eve. they were great then, and they're great great great now. they have generously offered us their sunroom for the week, with accompanying camp beds and our own bathroom even. not to mention the pleasure of their company. so far we've watched homemade tv shows performed out of a discarded tv box up the road by claire and bananas with faces drawn on them. there was happy banana, sad banana, winky banana, surprised banana, funny banana, weird banana, scared banana, and ghost banana. oh, and random banana, who had no face. it was, needless to say, hilarious. claire's in year five. matthew's in year 8. yesterday afternoon we went to see "ray" with gerry and matthew - good stuff, if a little long. today gerry (on his day off work) took us to the barronjoey headlands and we took a nice steep rocky walk up to the lookout at the lighthouse. it's really a little island out there, tied to the mainland by a sand spit that's since grown over with vegetation. but it's cool to look down on and see the beach on one side (the ocean side) full of waves and kite surfers, and the other curving arc of beach all calm and sheltered. nice.
i've been able to take out BOTH the Life of Pi and Down Under from the local library here in Turramurra, and so i plan on finishing those up so they can stop haunting me. (beverly, i guess i won't be needing that copy - thanks though!).
today we took the train ride into sydney city and went to Post Restante to pick up our package (thanks moms). and any cards that were sent. now i know who really loves me. emerge, my parents (both of them), and my grandmother. THAT'S IT. thanks guys. really. it only cost 80 cents to send me something, but i understand if that was too much. no really, it's ok. don't worry about it. i just won't send any more stuff home for you. ever. i MAY give you other chances at other countries, but none will be as reliable as here. stay tuned...
more about asia: has anyone been to southeast asia? did you have a guidebook you really liked? we're torn between getting one for the whole area or spending the cash on individual ones, which will probably be better for each place. any thoughts on singapore would be welcome too. and you will all be glad to know that the CDC is currently NOT recommending restricted travel in afflicted countries. so we're still good to go.
ummmm... oh! in getting refamiliarized with my iRiver and all, i noticed a GLARING emptiness where martin sexton's glory bound and way i am should be. i don't have them, and i don't know why. it makes me really sad. someone figure out a way for me to get them, please.
also, i need some pictures of people. i only have ones that were on my digital camera when i left (i was going to organized that stuff in that week before i left, but i was horribly sick, if you recall) - so mms and friend are covered, as is darling caitlin and the fam, but that's about all i have. so send me some pictures at my email address if you'd like me to have them. i'd like me to have them.
and i will close this entry with the following quiz. choose the spelling that is NOT used in Australia. the one that i made up. the rest are true.
a) tyre for tire (like the ones on a car)
b) gaol for jail (like the ones that kangaroos graze in front of)
c) skool for school (like the one you go to for learning)
d) kerb for curb (like the ones you hit when you parallel park)
Other randomness:
lara: that's ridiculous. does brook have a blog? can you send me the address? small world. smalllll world.
mms: nabia's blog.
and yes. i got the faulkner reference. i went to high school too.
emerge: THANK YOU for the card.
i think that's all i can think of for now. but there's a computer in the house, so you never know when i'll strike.
email me
posted by theonetheycallamy at 2/28/2005 03:33:00 AM
6 Comments:
So much fun reading your entries.
I would have loved to be in the audience of Claire's banana theatre....bet you never saw "actors" like that before!!!!
(did they get eaten by the audience?) (grisly thought). Soon you'll be off to other parts of the world....and we the readers are anxiously awaiting your account of the next part of your journey. Have a lot of fun in these last days in Australia, and please keep on writing....I, for one, am hooked. Elaine
The best guides I know are cousin Anne and Danika, who both visited southeast Asia in the recent past, and whom we talked with last week in California. They are very excited for you two too.
Enjoy your final days in OZ, at least for this go -round. And please keep on with the quizzes. I like that. Love and hugs, aunt Barbara
amy-
brook's blog address is:
fiftyweeks.blogspot.com
i'm still a little bit in shock about that whole thing!
have fun!
-lara
Hi hon- it's mom again. By the way, the card sent to you in Sydney was also from your dad (I think I signed it that way? or maybe not?), so the list of people who "love you" includes dad!! Needed to clarify that. But I do suspect there are more out there.
I'm glad you finally got to see roos in the wild- that had to be phenomenal-(but on the lawn of a prison???) I know you were longing to check that experience off your list.
Enjoy your stay with that wonderful family- sounds perfect.
How long is the flight to Singapore? By the way, anyone who I've spoken with says it's lovely there..but just don't do anything except breathe- they're apparently very strict with their laws. Check all that out beforehand please, so you're not thrown in jail for sneezing or something.
So glad you'll get to finish up those books. That worked out well.
Love you, mom
PS- 6inches more of snow today
yuk.
PPS- I choose (d) on your quiz. Will you post the answer?
a note: i changed the list of people who love me to include my dad, who i so horribly excluded in my first typing. i love you dad. sorry.
also, the answer is c.
Heeeeeeyyyyy....
"and yes. i got the faulkner reference. i went to high school too."
"no really, it's ok. don't worry about it. i just won't send any more stuff home for you. ever."
But -- but --!
Oh.
Feb 14. "I'll be there in a couple of weeks (moved the plane tickets back to march 2 - we'll see how well that one works) and so if your mail gets there before then, i'll be able to pick it up. cool, hunh? i think so." Aw shoot.
Please don't chalk this up to lack of love on my part, as much as lack of responsibility, which is also bad, but not nearly as. ::sniff::
You are getting a serious gift (and a valiant attempt at earning forgiveness) next time you give out a mailing address/date. I'll do what I can about Martin...
Aw crap,
MMS
P.S. I didn't frickin' read As I Lay Dying in high school. Alec (who it turns out was the one who posted the fish thing) tells me this is because I went to an inferior high school.
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