Monday, June 11, 2007

Same Same But Different

We heard the phrase so often in Southeast Asia that we started using it ourselves. And cringing.

Australia and Canada: same same but different. Tomato sauce: ketchup. Quickies: Tums. Big W: Wal-Mart. The place is crawling with 7-11s and coffee shops. It's difficult to find regular coffee here but espresso drinks abound.

What I missed while in Asia: drinking tap water and eating whole wheat bread. I'm now fully sated. Mmmm... chlorine water. Best water there is!

What I first noticed when I arrived in Australia: all the extra space! The country and the streets seemed empty after China and Southeast Asia. I've become used to it now.

Some things are expensive in Australia. A 500 ml bottle of coke is $2.50 and up. Accommodations is a lot more than what we paid in Asia.

Aaron, Adam (Aaron's bro), Yindee (Aaron's bro's partner) and I drove from Sydney to Brisbane over the last several days. We saw a lot of coast, wineries, some really cool sand dunes, kangaroos (!) and koalas (!!). Adam and Yindee have now headed back to Sydney and Aaron and I are flying to Cairns tomorrow.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to hear from you from down under :) Is the weather warmer now? Aaron, do you remember the train ride in the mountains? Should do again if you can. Also a sky ride thing too. Any diving? Enjoy, love Mom / Linda

venitabenita said...

How about the Rice Krispies? Saw some here in Bali and they are from Australia and called Rice Bubbles. Wonder what connotation the word "krispies" has down there?

Venita/Vern

MC said...

Reply to Mom/Linda:

Just took the train ride in the mountains. Very pretty.

Reply to Venita/Vern:

Haven't heard krispies used in any strange way yet. Ketchup isn't ketchup though, it's tomato sauce. Condiments are sauces.

mc