Spiders and Snakes (Isn't that a song from the early 70s??)

Sorry about the color of the text here.  I can't seem to change it, maybe because I copied and pasted the article below...

I can't tell you how many people bring up the topic of poisonous snakes, spiders and all other kinds of critters to me.  It's not that it scares me, but it's a bit like telling a pregnant woman how terrible labor is.  So, with that,  I am posting the following article, which I found informative and highly entertaining!  It's a bit long, but if you can make it through, it's well worth the read and funny to boot.

Australian Outback Dangers
7 Things That Can Kill You   (Not!)

1. Poisonous Snakes

Snakes are the number one fear of most Outback travellers. Australian snakes are the most dangerous in the world. Or so they say...
Well, fact is, the "most dangerous snake in the world", the Australian Inland Taipan, never killed anyone. To date not a single person died from the bite of the Inland Taipan.
Precious few people have died of any snake bites in Australia. The people who get bitten are usually herpetologists (people whose job involves playing with snakes), people who act as if they were herpetologists (a surprisingly large number of drunk males get bitten by snakes...) or idiots trying to kill snakes. A bit of common sense wouldn't go astray here...
Yes, there are poisonous snakes in Australia. No, they are not dangerous, as long as you leave them alone.

2. Poisonous Spiders

The warnings about the deadly spiders in the Australian Outback are ridiculous.The only spider that could theoretically be called deadly is theSydney Funnel-web Spider.
It occurs in the Sydney region, and Sydney is not the Outback. Nit-picking aside, nobody has died from a spider bite in Australia since am antivenom was introduced in the early eighties.
Few people develop any symptoms following a bite from the supposedly dangerous Redback Spider. 90% of people don't develop serious symptoms following a Funnel-web Spider bite. The people who do show a reaction have several days to get medical help, and, if required, antivenom.
Nobody likes the creepy-crawlies, but our spiders are not deadly!

3. Crocodiles

We have two kinds in the Australian Outback. Freshwater crocodiles and saltwater crocodiles. Freshies are small and shy fish eaters and will not bother you if you don't bother them.
Saltwater crocodiles eat people. They are huge, mean, smart, cunning, and unpredictable.
Salties live only across the far north of Australia. If you plan to visit the northlearn about saltwater crocodiles.
Saltwater crocodiles are very dangerous!
Don't let it worry you, though, and don't believe everything you read in the newspapers. With a bit of common sense you can easily avoid getting eaten. Plenty of people live up here and manage to do so every day.

4. Mad Outback Killers

Even if Wolf Creek was based on a true story (it's not for goodness sake, it was a marketing ploy!), does that mean Australia must be full of mad killers?
It seems a lot of people draw exactly that conclusion. "Is this not a reasonable connection to make?", one of my US readers wrote.
(In a condescending email, telling me that I must be stupid for not acknowledging the reality that for years "Australians" have been targeting and killing backpackers.)
Well, lucky that drugs and derailed, sick minds have never caused problems or killed anyone in the US... Please excuse the sarcasm.
The Australian Outback has its hazards, but people are not one of them. The chances to come across a disturbed mind, the chances of someone losing it and harming people in the way, are much bigger in and near the cities and populated regions.
I've lived in the Outback for fifteen years, (I live close to Wolfe Creek, by the way,) and I've hitchhiked up and down and around this country many times. I never much liked hitchhiking anywhere near our cities or along the east coast. I actually suspect it might be dangerous.
But no matter how many sick movies are made, I would not hesitate for a second to stick out my thumb along any Outback road. The people here are different. It's the world as it should be, where people take an interest in each other, trust each other, are open, friendly and help each other.That's why I live here.
Someone who thinks that taking the actions of one mentally sick drug addict, and from that drawing conclusions about the population of a whole nation, "is a reasonable connection to make", needs a reality check. Badly.
A movie is a movie, and mentally disturbed people can live anywhere.

5. The Deadly Outback Desert

"The Australian Outback desert is more deadly than anything you can imagine."
I saw that posted on some online discussion board, by an Aussie. My guess is he never left the city and beaches of the east coast...
Well, if you get lost in any Australian desert, and all you have in the glove box is a Mars bar and a can of Coke, then you are indeed not looking good. You may even die.
(Most Aussies will take at least three cartons of beer and a mountain of ice to keep them cold, so they'll last a bit longer. Still, they'd run out eventually...)
If you step out onto a busy road from between parked cars you also have a good chance of dying. Which is to say, carelessness and stupidity can kill. What else is new?
Travelling into very remote regions in the Australian Outback does require planning and some common sense. But as long as you observe a few simple rules there is nothing dangerous about a visit to any of our deserts.

6. Uluru - Ayers Rock

Yep, it's a common way for Australia tourists to die.
They die of heart attacks when climbing it, they fall of it, and they die in car crashes in their mad rush to get to Uluru and then back to Alice Springs in the same day.
Ok, maybe common is a bit harsh, but if you compare the risk of dying at Uluru to the risk of dying from a snake bite or the hands of a mad killer, then Uluru looks very dangerous indeed.
But I have yet to come across online forum postings warning of a visit to Uluru...
If you plan to visit Uluru I suggest you familiarise with the distances (no, it's not just outside Alice Springs), and I would also encourage you to inform yourself about the issues surrounding the Uluru climb in general.
(Of course I don't think that a visit to Uluru as such is dangerous. I wrote this to point out how ridiculous the hype about the dangerous snakes and spiders is.)

7. The Sun

You can always spot the tourists in the Outback, with their bare heads, spaghetti strap tops, pink skin and bright red faces. They worry about snakes and spiders, but that too much sun could be dangerous never crossed their mind.
The sun here is fierce, so cover up! It will not only protect you from skin cancer, it will also keep you cooler, believe it or not.
Australian Outback sun has enormous energy. If it hits your skin then the skin and the underlying tissue absorb all of it. Which means you get hot!
Let it hit some loose clothing and you will stay nice and cool underneath. I spent many years working outdoors. When I step outside I roll my sleeves down, not up. Not because I think of skin cancer, but instinctively, because it is cooler.
The sun is dangerous. Wear a big hat, sunscreen, cover up and take a water bottle with you wherever you go. People have died or nearly died because they ignored that advice.

Don't worry about snakes, spiders and killers. Treat the crocodiles with adequate respect. The things that are likely to get you into trouble are not what you think. It's the sun, the distances, and the fact that the continent is so empty.
It's not the Australian Outback that is dangerous, but people who do dangerous or plain stupid things. The problem with common sense is that it's not that common. Let me add this as a bonus point:

8. Lack Of Common Sense

Lack of common sense is dangerous. It can kill you dead.

Vegemite (continued)

So, maybe there's still a chance...


From Wiki:


The most common method of eating Vegemite is on toasted bread with one layer of butter or margarine before spreading a thin layer of Vegemite. A Vegemite sandwich may consist of two slices of buttered bread, Vegemite and cheese, but other ingredients such as lettuce, avocado and tomato can be added as well.

Taste Test

We've been here for three months now, and I realized yesterday that I have not tried vegemite! How can I claim to be living the Aussie experience without trying something so...basic?   So wiith that...

Doesn't look good to me, but here I go....

Survey Says.....

Thanks, but no thanks.  It has a very sharp and bitter taste to me.  Maybe it can be mixed with other things for different flavoring, so I'm not going to give it a No-Never rating, just a No-not like this  rating.

I always thought that vegemite was some sort of veggie blend.  Here is what the label lists for ingredients:  Yeast Extract, Mineral Salt, Malt Extract from Barley, and some various colors. I wonder why they want it to be brown?  Another thing for me to Google...

Holidays!

It's holiday season here. The kids are out of school for almost a month, until term 3 starts.  I can hardly believe my  kids have completed a full term of school already!    We are planning a trip to Terrigal next week.  Terrigal is a little resort town on the Central coast, and is about an hour and a half drive from Sydney.  Jeff is going to be attending a workshop on Thursday and Friday there, so the kids and I will kick around while he is doing that, and then we'll stay for the weekend as well.

Our ocean shipment finally arrived!  I am so happy to have our furniture here.  Sleeping in my own bed was a dream!

I need to buy some new pots and pans, since mine don't work on an induction cooktop (which I LOVE, by the way - I don't think I can live without induction now...).  The rental company had supplied pots and pans, and they picked everything up when our things were delivered.

I also need to find curtains for Jackson's bedroom.  The owners have hung really nice curtains in the house (it is a requirement by law that bedrooms have curtains), but the ones in his room are a pink and white seersucker.  Super cute, but not for him.

In other news, Brynn will be starting preschool two days a week starting July 4.  It is going to be great for both of us.  She'll get to play with friends, and I'll have a couple of days to get things done.  Maybe it's just me, but I really struggle to get things done with my kids at home. The downside is that 2 days here cost the same as 5 days back home..urgh...

Jackson finishes school today, so it's just us girls.  We are headed to the mall shortly for pedicures, playground, and lunch...and maybe a little shopping : )

The Dark side of the Moon

This morning, I saw the most amazing rainbow.  It was huge and I could see the entire thing from one end to the other.  I screeched in excitement and Jackson looked at me like I must be crazy.  But you know, it's the little things.

It was cloudy, raining and sunny at all the same time.  What a funny day for it, because that seems to describe my mood over the past couple of weeks.  I believe the honeymoon period is wearing off, and being out of my comfort zone is soooo ..not comfortable.

I recognize and understand that a large part of what I am feeling is because I don't have friends here yet.  So, I was thrilled to get an invitation to coffee last Friday with the moms of year 2 at Hollie's school.  There was an event at the school on Friday, so one of the moms sent an email recommending we all get together for coffee.  I had Brynn, but figured I could manage through having her with me. I bought her a few new books, and some stickers, and off we went.  We dropped Hollie off at school, found a rock star parking spot (which is virtually impossible) and headed off walking to the coffee shop.  When we arrived, no one was there.   So, I thought, it must be the other coffee shop - they are just around the corner from each other, but only the one is on Coonabara (the email said let's meet for coffee at Coonabara)..but, no one at that shop either.  So we walk around a bit and go back to the first shop..still no one.  At this point, I head with Brynn back to Hollie's school.  There is a field day of sorts going on, and after a bit, I see the other moms of Y2 girls on the other side of the field, in a group.  So Brynn and I go over, and I spoke to the Mom who set up coffee, and she said "Oh....We were at Coonabara cafe!" which apparently is not on Coonabara (???).  So, I met some of the ladies, who were friendly enough.  But it was only a few minutes before Brynn was bored and wanted to tear into everything, run in the middle of races going on, beg to go into the child care center and then pitch a fit accordingly when I said no, etc.   I spent most of the time chasing Brynn and was not able to do much talking with the other moms.  But you know, that is life with a three year old!  At the same time, I was thoroughly disapponted because there are literally about 3 events a year that parents are invited to, and I was really hoping to meet some people there.

By Saturday, I decided to get over myself, and I emailed one of the moms and asked if she'd like to get our girls together sometime.  Turns out that she has a daughter the same age as Brynn, so she responded asking if I'd like to grab coffee and take the little ones to the park.  Yes, I think this is a great idea!

I also realize that part of my problem is an adjustment to Jeff's job.  He always spent a lot of time working.  We both started working at night again as soon as our kids were in bed.  Good, bad, or indifferent - it's just the way it was.  But now,  he is working much longer hours in the office, and when he gets home, he generally eats dinner with us and then goes right back to work.  Of course, his job has given us this great opportunity, so I have to take the good with the bad.  I just miss him.  : (

And so, there is my whine.  Said, done, and moving on..

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

Yesterday we went to a brunch and auction that was hosted by a coworker of Jeff's , as part of Australia's Biggest Morning Tea.  The concept is that people will host morning tea across the country and raise money, which is then donated to cancer research and patient families.

The brunch was great - mimosas (why do I start with this..hmm), sandwiches, fruit, desserts.  The crowd was also really good - a mix of Lenovo employees and the host's friends.  I met many nice people there, and Hollie made a friend as well.

We came home with 2 purchases from the auction.  There was a bag of spa treatments, and as it was presented, Hollie literally gasped and came running and begging to Jeff .  He made her do the work, placing the bids, and she was successful.  Since the other person bidding was her new friend, Hollie shared the contents of the bag with her after winning.  Fabulous of her, even though she gave up the good hair treatment that I was thinking ahead of using ....She also wanted a handmade scarf and of course Jeff cannot say no to her...so she now has a new accessory as well.

The view from the host's apartment was nothing short of spectacular....

A good day, a good cause, and I got "treatments" last night from my girl.  The pumice on my face was just....delightful : )

Drama in the Hood...

This is our back yard.  You can see our neighbors are quite close to us.   So we've just learned that the people who own the house on the left have a restraining order against the people on the right.  You can't see it in the photo, but behind the pool house (covered by tree), there is a common area that is owned by the council.  The guy on right gets pissed if the people on left do anything in that area, and apparently got so mad over them painting a fence that he "hosed" the mother and daughter (sprayed them with hose, I think??) and apparently tried to hit them with his car.  We've heard all of this from the builders of our house, who said that the guy also called the council out on them almost daily over something.  The guys also told me that he really hates women.  Sounds like a real gem, eh?

Wonder what the summer will be like when my kids are out screaming in the pool???