04.26.10

Well today Len and Jen introduced us to Vegemite. It's this weird salty, yeasty spread. It's dark like chocolate and looked like Nutella, but it's just like how baking soda looks a lot like powdered sugar....hahaha DON'T mistake Vegemite for Nutella. Len says it's a household staple, like milk, and that no Aussie grows up without it. It's definitely a required taste. I honestly can't say it was that bad, but forget me ever eating that for breakfast or a snack!
We also took a trip into the country today. Took only 15 minutes from Epping, where Len, Jen and Justine live, but we went about an hour into the rolling hills to a town called Healesville. I really wasn't expecting Australia to be so bumpy, and again, reminded me of how the mountains are in the country side of Cali. These mountains are much more round though and more spread out. It was one winery after the other and was quite breath taking. I told John that if I were Aussie, this is where I would live.
The center of town was lined with cute and quaint little shops and tons of plush gum trees (eucalyptus). We had heard all the exotic birds right outside our bedroom window, but here we actually saw them...cockatoos and magpies and these bright, red breasted parrots as well. It was really neat seeing such large and colorful birds fly around. They are all SO loud though. It amazes me that people actually choose to have these creatures in their homes!
Anyways, the leaves are only slightly changing color and you can smell just a hint of Autumn in the air (just like in Cali.). It's odd going through fall again so soon, but I like it. I also noticed that there was a hazy rainbow ring around the sun. I have never seen anything like it before, but I didn't question it for too long. It seems as though the sky is always full of rainbows here.
We ate at a little pub, had some cider and walked around a bit. Then we drove to a little hotel that was on top of one of the hills. It had a little restaurant and we stopped for coffee and dessert. It had the most amazing panoramic views ever!
Len started to tell us about the devastating bush fires that happened a year ago. It happen just a few hills over in a small town called Marysville. Took 90 some lives...so sad to think about. We were able to see the brown twiggy skeleton of trees that lined the hill in the distance. Unfortunately, Australia has been in a drought for some years, which is why they can't water their lawns. Water is rationed and John said that they are down to some 30%. My heart and prayers go out.
Well, as we headed back, we did manage to see some kangaroos in the distance. It was evening so they were in the fields in small family packs. I was SOOO excited but I don't really count it because they were still so far away.
Our last stop for the day was at John's great aunt's home, Zia Antonia. John's family is originally from Italy. His grandfather (on his mom's side) and his sister came from Italy to Australia, except John's grandfather came to Ohio. She had 10 kids, all of whom we have slowly been meeting...and their 30 some kids (John's second cousins) that they share between them all. Amazingly, Zia Antonia recently celebrated her 90th birthday! She was so happy to see John. She kept smacking him in the shoulder and leg and kept telling him how much he looked like his grandfather (all in Italian of course). It was such an awesome thing to see and I felt so privileged. We ate again in large Italian servings, snacked on roasted chestnuts and talked about generations of the Italian family for the rest of the evening. We started in Australia, but by the end of the day, we were most certainly in Italy!