TWO FOR THE SHOW

NO sleeping in your vehicle means NO sleeping in your vehicle

NO sleeping in your vehicle consolation

Lookers

ONE FOR THE MONEY

Blessing:

Getting oh you silly sausage-d by a darn cute old Scottish lady at a shoe store for being shoe shopping and not being at the Geelong street festival

Bummer:

Waking up on the sociopath/identity crisis side of the bed in Australia

New technique/tips for coping if wake up on the sociopath/identity crisis side of the bed in Australia:

Tint wash hair silver-y purple

Chant USA loudly and woof-like in public places in ironic protest of international American stereotype

Descriptively force husband to imagine what it would be like to be (married) with other women

New observation:

If a comparative study were done on the efficacy of road construction signs between Victoria and Minnesota, Victoria would win.  The road construction signs around here really make you want to slow down and keep your eyes peeled for the hard-working puppy-dog-eyed construction workers worrying if they’ll make it home alive to see their families for dinner.  Whereas the threat of doubled ticket fines in construction zones is compelling, it’s not that compelling.  And if you were thinking of googling examples of ways Australia is more authoritative parent-like than the US because you needed more material to make your blogpost worthwhile, don’t bother because the effort will be rendered mainly fruitless.  Though there are other ways that Australia is more authoritative parent-like than the US because I know I’ve had this feeling before about Australian authority in a different context than road construction signs, right now I can’t think of any.  That’s the news here.

Cliffhanger:

WILL we find a satisfactorily-paying harvest job and if we do WHAT kind of fruits/vegetables will we be harvesting?

Sky Cobs

Pretty self explanatory

GNOCCHI

snitch of gnocchi amazeballs*!

turning gnocchi amazeballs into gnocchi amazerolls

and finally gnocchi amazebites

Lucky for Adam, Dannii took it upon herself to increase my morethantwopartassembly meal-making skills by 100%.  Not only that, but she taught us how to say the word correctly so our gnocchi pronunciation fears will never again come in conflict with our gnocchi-eating passion when ordering at a restaurant.   It was a great day.

*a very catchy Dannii word.  I like to give credit where credit is due.

Camper Cruising in Victoria Part 2B

Camper Cruising in Victoria Part 2A

man car bonding time

woman worst day of my life time

baby koala nap

mom koala nap

senior nature love

this time don't smile

jamming up a storm

Black Knight

Camper Cruising in Victoria Part Two

Just like Oprah says, the things you want badly enough will come to you.  Sometimes that happens to me and whenever it does I usually thank Oprah/the universe.  In this case, I wanted more new observations and new techniques and I got them.  Actually, what I’m suspecting happened is you (mom) wanted to read about more new observations and new techniques so bad that Oprah/the universe graced us with the educational presence of pillars of science/the community Jim McNabb and Peter Southcott, respectively.  It all started when Adam almost fatally misread (almost referring to fatally, the misread part is a cold hard fact) the campsite map and we ended up at the supremely lovely Kurth Kiln campsite near Gembrook, just east of Melbourne.  During our stay there, the former and campsite caretaker and general wealth of information led us on a three-hour private impromptu guided nature walk of the immediate area surrounding our campsite.  This man knows everything there is to know about the flora and fauna of Australia and will gladly tell you everything there is to know about the flora and fauna of Australia as long as there’s time before bed.  I’ll give you the highlights of the information we absorbed that I can remember that are useful, and leave out the highlights of the information that have something to do with details on each of the 38 species of gumtrees and so on and so forth.  So, here’s one: you can crumple up a handful of eucalyptus leaves in your hand and rub the residue on your exposed skin and the bugs won’t bother you and you won’t get cancer (from the eucalyptus leaves).  That was a big one and I think it qualifies for both new obs. and new tech. categories.  Also, we learned that you can eat this certain type of grass that I don’t remember the name of but I’d know it if I saw it at the base before the color changes and it does not taste good (Mr. McNabb pulled a Crocodile Dundee on me here) but it will sustain you if you run out of food in the wilderness as well as keep you regular.  And much much more.  So moving on, as Oprah would have it, the latter, a fire tower watchman, chimney sweep, animal rights activist, vegetarian, and charming free spirit, hosted us in the fire tower one afternoon.  Aside from witnessing forest fire fighting in action and a good look at the best view of Victoria in Victoria, we got to hang out with Pete when he stopped by our campsite later that evening.  This was as exceptionally memorable a night as possible considering the circumstances, but to keep things on track here we’ll stick to the categories.  Flies have a right to life too and who are we to kill them (honest to Pete the one time I was quick enough to slap one dead/new technique=not killing flies in certain company) besides they teach us persistence (new observation).  So thank you Pete, and Oprah and Jim, for a magical and educational conclusion to the second leg of camper cruising around Victoria.

Camper Cruising in Victoria Part 1B

three roos

a reservoir or something

waterfall number one billion

fort

snack ramen

another reservoir or something

fashion sense for breakfast

it was only fun once

look Garret, page 88

Camper Cruising in Victoria Part One

Yesterday I accidentally announced to Adam for the second time in the course of our relationship that I played first chair flute in high school.  There is no reason to announce even once to anyone (don’t worry I realize I’m announcing it to you too) that you played first chair flute in high school, unless for a practical purpose, or it is a life or death situation.  Material runs out quickly when you’re camper cruising and we’ve been camper cruising for two and a half weeks now.  Don’t feel bad for us though because camper cruiser living is mainly full of perks.  Perks like time for daily stretches, time for reading, time for making crepes, and time for lots of other things.  Too many perks to mention!  No joke.  We are even considering making camper cruising a permanent lifestyle, but when I think long and hard about that it is obvious I might have felt differently before our recent fortnightly shower.  Life isn’t so rosy at the end of a whole fortnight of no real showers, but that’s beside the point.  The point is our first leg of camper cruising in Victoria is coming to an end and you can add Adam and me to the list of everyone, which is basically everyone, who highly recommends traveling the Great Ocean Road and the Grampian National Park, if you are ever in the area.  Though if you had to choose only one, choose the Great Ocean Road.  But if you don’t, then definitely see both.

NEW OBSERVATION AND FUTURE NEW TECHNIQUE: Kangaroos are surprisingly bouncy (new obs.).  They are beautiful, bouncy animals and Adam wants to roadkill one with the camper cruiser and eat it (new tech.).  We’ll keep you posted.