Summer or Winter?

Hey there, first off sorry for the delay, been a little bit busy over here.  I figured coming here for the summer would be a little bit different then coming here for the winter which I did last time, but, its not.  This past weekend it rained so much, I think it ended up being about 4 or 5 inches of rain in three days.  That would make Minnesota flood but the lack of water here just made the streams and rivers fill up a little bit.  But enough of boring weather, onto what I have done the last time I was here...

First I got a job up until christmas working at the post office with Sarah's mom, its a night shifter and thats why I have not been able to keep up with this due to the lack of sleep, but I only have a week left.  Good news is that I make about $30 an hour so about $20 US dollars and should pull in a few thousand in a couple weeks.  Main point of this was to get money for presents!  I wish for myself but no, I am going with the gift of giving this year, lame.  Good news though, after Christmas I will be driving myself a bulldozer!!  Hopefully it will work out that I will be close to Sarah so keep your fingers crossed.

I was suppose to spend the weekend dirt biking and camping, and if you know me at all you know how stoked I was about that, then came the rain.  One of Sarah's family friends loaned me his bike which I didn't know what it was until I went and picked it up, one word, hotrod.  It was a 1986 (Erik born in '85) Yamaha tt250, lets just say I was not TOO upset it was pouring rain.

Instead Sarah and I had a nice little date day yesterday and drove down to Torquay which is a little beach down right at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road.  It is full of surf shops and outlet surf shops, plus some of the greatest surf in Australia in Bells Beach.  Not exactly the perfect day for it, rainy and cold, but it was fun none the less!  The town is just a place that I would not mind hanging out in.  It is really small off the main drag, huge park, beach and cliffs all along the ocean.  You walk everywhere, nice little shops including a Mexican joint were we get burritos.  The no worries feel to Australia shines there being that the restaurants are open for lunch, then close until dinner, pretty sure they all go surfing.

What else has been happening...

I guess really not too much, these couple of weeks are not too exciting working nights, sleeping till 2, sarah going to work at 2 and getting home at 1030 pm then me going to work at 12 there is not a lot of time for exciting things to happen.  But for christmas we are going up to Sarah's families farms, yes farms, the aunts and uncles all have farms right next to each other and have some of the biggest farms around.  Plans for christmas week - swimming in the pool, water skiing, fishing, and walking around in flip flops. (bonus Australian term: flip flop = thong)

That little tale sparked another thing that we have done recently, went and cut down a christmas tree, in shorts, I have photos.

Well that is about all that I have for right now, so sorry for the delay and hope everyone is having fun in the snow!  Talk to you all soon and take care!

Erik

Australian terms:

Eskie = Cooler

Do the toilets flush the other direction?

After lots of research and experimentation I can say with 98% confidence that I do not have enough proof to determine if the toilets do in fact flush the opposite direction since we are on the other side of the earth.  My findings show that in fact all household toilets are equipped with two buttons to flush: one is a half flush used for number ones while the other is a full flush used to take care of the number two situations.  Another cause of the drought I am assuming as water levels are on the decline.  Now onto more important things.

The last couple days have had some nasty torrential down pours, its kinda like florida in the fact that the come and go just like someone is flipping a light switch saying that its time to rain.  The rest of the week now looks like it will be about 75 degrees and decently sunny.  Had some sushi today, it was still good as the last time I was here.

Sarah is done with her finals now so I can actually hang out with her, its pretty sweet.  We went to the movies and mall and all that cute stuff.  Her and her mum are helping plan out a thanksgiving dinner for me down here because they obviously do not have pilgrims and indians.  (If you did not realize that please hit yourself in the forehead and say "duh")  Her mum's birthday is on wed. so sarah and I (emphasis on I, just kidding sarah) are going to make her dinner or tea as they call it so that should be fun.  After this week though I am pretty sure I am going to retire from eating.

What else...  OH, so while I am down here I may be going to BOTH a Jeff Beck concert AND, wait for it, wait for it, eric clapton.  Don't worry matt, I will bring shirts back for you.  Also one of Sarah's friends bf's (boy friend for the non text speaking folks) rides so he invited sarah and I to go and spend a weekend with him riding dirt bikes which also leaves me stoked and a fireplace in minnesota on a january night.

I think that is it, have to leave something for the next time I write I guess.  I told myself that I wouldn't get all Kami Ward and write novels on this thing, so time to go and make some tea (dinner/supper, keep up)  Hope everyone is relaxing and living life, talk to you soon!

Erik

Aussie translations: (new edition to blog)

Mosquitos = Mozzies (yes they have them here as well)

Hey there!  Following in the wise move of my BFF Kami I decided that this would be a good way for me to keep people updated on what is going on with me while I am in Australia.  First of all the flight was great, if you ever make it down here I suggest going Qantas, I got to watch premier movies when ever I felt like it, TV shows, the food was decent and they even give you a little tooth brush to get rid of that nasty flight breath.  I flew from MPLS to LA then straight to Melbourne (Mel-ben) where I am sitting writing you this.

The weather is great, it was about 80 degrees the first couple of days and led me to an awesome sock tan line.  Today as I sit and 7am Wed. there time, 2pm Tues. your time it has already rained which is good because the Aussie land is in severe drought status right now which means you soak in the shower, turn water off, lather up, then give yourself a final rinse and spin cycle.

So far I have not done much while I have been here, still getting over the jet lag a little bit, thus me being up at 6 am everyday so far and in bed by 930.  I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it safe and will keep you up to date on what fun and crazy adventures I get myself into which hopefully will end up with me swimming with great white sharks!

If you don't know my email is exston04@smumn.edu and that is the best way to get ahold of me.  Still working out the cell phone situation so I'll get back to you on that one.

Talk to you later,

Erik

P.S.  Australia is home to something like 8 of the worlds top 10 most poisonous animals, Sarah's dad had an encounter with one and won the battle, I hate snakes and spiders.