I'm Baaaaaack

I am home from my first grand adventure of the year. I had a ton of fun, but it is good to be home. I missed my family, my friends, and my Diet Mountain Dew :) I will have lots of posts about my trip, but I want to start with a few things I learned:

1. Australia DOES NOT HAVE PEPSI PRODUCTS! Ok, so they do have regular Pepsi, but even that is hard to find and I don't drink regular soda. All you see is Coke, Coke, Coke, and Coke.

2. (This one is for Ben). The toilets in Australia do not flush backwards. In fact, they don't really flush at all like ours do. Instead they work a lot like airplane toilets.

3. There is a McDonald's on almost every corner. Think of Starbucks here and it is pretty much the same thing.

4. They call McDonald's "Mackers" and also "the American Embassy" in jest. Hee hee hee

5. You know how our McDonald's have what they call the McCafe menu? There they actually have a McCafe. Each McDonald's has a separate part where they have fancy coffees, danish, cheesecakes, cookies, donuts, oh and amazing muffins amongst other things! This part of the restaurant is separate and is decorated completely different. Imagine having a Starbucks INSIDE a McDonald's--that's pretty much what it looks like.

6. Australia is not at all like what you see on TV. Yes, they have pretty beaches, but often times you won't find people there. Why? Because the whole place is laden with crocodiles. EVERYWHERE! Signs, signs, everywhere are signs . . .  saying not to swim, wade, walk, etc because there are crocodiles. Now, this did not occur to me right away, but a friend said to me "Duh, Jaron why do you think the Crocodile Hunter was from there?" Point taken.

7. They take Good Friday, Easter, and ANZAC Day seriously. How do I know? Because everyone in pretty much the whole country goes on vacation and EVERYTHING closes down. You think I am kidding, but I am not. Grocery stores, malls, gas stations, eateries, etc all close for 4-5 days to celebrate these holidays. This makes finding something to do a bit difficult.

8. Australia should really be called Asia Minor. I hate to say it, but most of the people who you see in Australia are of Asian descent. This again, was not something I had anticipated. To visit Australia you have to have a Visa in addition to your passport. Often times we did get asked for our passports, but never for our Visas. Finally I asked someone why. Their answer: "Because you're American. We know you're going home." Guess who goes to Australia and does not go home?

9. Australians call jelly fish stingers. I will post a picture of this later to show you.

10. Crocodile is actually pretty yummy.

11. Why are Australians mostly fit? Because they pretty much all run. All day all over the place there are people jogging. It is almost like walking through a marathon. Literally.

12. Why do they run? Because they have to make up for the fact that they eat french fries (chips) with everything. This is not an exaggeration. You order anything and it comes with french fries. If I never see another french fry it will be too soon. Only one place did I ever see veggies as a side option. You order pasta, it comes with fries. You order pizza, it comes with fries. You order salad (which are difficult to find at all), you get fries. You get my point. In addition, every restaurant also offers potato wedges as an appetizer. And, they always come served with sour cream and sweet chili sauce. I will admit that the sweet chili sauce is delicious.

13. They also eat lots and lots of pizza. Now, this is not pizza of the Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa Johns variety. No. This kind of pizza is small and personalized and often comes with some sort of seafood (calamari or octopus), kangaroo, or emu as a topping. YUMMY!

14. Qantas is probably the best thing to come out of Australia. Hands down.

15. What they say about Australian men is true--if you can find one. They are few and far between.

16. Over 90% of the world's opals come from Australia. And, opals are fossilized bones, teeth, shells, etc.

17. Everything there costs way more than it should. A 20 ounce bottle of soda costs $5.00. You can buy beer for the same price. Also, a case of soda is $32.00. Makes you want to go on vacation, doesn't it?

18. Almost every single solitary store sells Ugg or Emu boots. I hated them before. I hate them even more now.

19. Rat tails are apparently coming back in style, at least there, because lots and lots of men had them. UGH! NASTY!

20. I learned lots and lots of other things on this trip, but perhaps the greatest thing I learned was that no matter how great it is to see other places, ther really is "no place like home."