We went shopping today for Thanksgiving fixings and trimmings. I get a kick out of some of the things I see in the grocery stores here. Kraft Mac and Cheese that uses white cheddar cheese. Soft dogfood sold in wrappers that look like the Jimmy Dean sausage in the meat section. Vegemite (yuck!). There's a wonderful seafood selection, but then they have easy access, don't they?
Today's field trip was to Koala Park, which is an animal reserve just for Australian animals. They even let you pet some of them. Kangaroos, wallaroos (I'll let you know when I find out what the difference is), exotic-looking birds, koalas, of course, an odd-looking goose that has a beak that I swear is fluorescent green (and it doesn't quack or squawk - it burps, truly), emus, peacocks, dingos (red and white). The pics are of the koalas and kangas, since I was able to get up close to them. The food they give you to give to the kangas looks like honey nut Cheerios, and the kangas can get greedy for it.
Koala fur and kanga fur are incredibly soft. One of the tour guides said that several million koalas were killed for their fur before they were put on the protected species list. They may be cute, but they don't particularly care for people, unless said people happen to have food for them. They are very like pandas in their keep-to-themselves behavior.
The driving thing is very disconcerting here. It's a strange feeling to sit on the left side in front and not be driving and to see traffic coming in the other direction on the right. By the way, you're supposed to walk on the left side here too. Anyway, they also drive quite fast. Steve has a nifty device on his dashboard - it's a light, very like the oil light or engine light - that beeps when he goes over the speed limit. The turn signal bar is also on the right side of the steering wheel, and the wiper bar is on the left. There are also lots of roundabouts, and alarmingly narrow lanes, so you're driving very close to the people in the next lane. Driving on the F3 reminds me of driving through the mountains in Pennsylvania - the jagged rock walls and the trees that are somehow growing out of the top of them. Drunk driving is called drink driving here.
I'm off now to help Mom make pies for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. There will be about 15 here for dinner - only two of them are American - my mom and me. The rest are Aussie, but they love to be invited to a Thanksgiving feast. Who knows, it may catch on here. McDonald's and KFC and Burger King are here, after all.
