The Green & Lean Country

Outlets

Toilet flushers

I have been quite busy here as of late but I realized while telling people about it that I never touched on how much this country is "going green". I mean, not only are they extremely healthy but they are also concerned with the environment! For example, all of the outlets have little switches on them so that you can turn off the outlet when you're not using the thing plugged into it! This makes it a little frustrating when you try to put toast in the toaster about 3 times before realizing that the outlet isn't on...But overall, a great concept! In addition to saving electricity, Aussies like to conserve water! This can be seen by the toilets. Many people have asked me which way the toilet flushes here since we're "upside down" but in all reality, the toilets don't have swirling water like America has. They have little water in the bowl and after going you can decide to flush using minimal water or more water. Simplified less for #1 and more for #2. Pretty clever little water saver there! Finally, in my time being here I have yet to see one dryer. We meticulously hang up wet washing on racks or clothesline to air dry. This is a bit more time consuming, both in the actual hanging, and in the time waiting for it to dry (can take days!) but overall, clothes don't stretch as much and it uses less energy, which is a win in my book! 

Although next week officially kicks off winter here, it has been absolutely gorgeous weather as of late. This makes the weather perfect for walking. It cools off a bit at night (from mid 70s in the day to 50s at night!) which is refreshing and lovely. Apparently it does get colder (I'm wondering what colder even means here!) so I have been taking advantage of the nice weather by doing lots of walking (and some running) around Coogee and occasionally the city. Since I have been out utilizing the walkways along the coast more often I have been noticing what a fit culture this is. Numerous walkers, runners, joggers, and bikers can be seen out at any time of day. There are fitness classes held in parks, yoga at beach-side baths, and special bike lanes with their own stop and go lights and turn signals! There is just an aura of "fit" and "healthy" around here and I can't help getting sucked in a bit, especially during the week with plenty of exercise and healthy meals. The weekends are a bit of a different story, but we all have our vices ;)

The only African Elephant in Oz, all the rest are Asian!

An Echidna, another Oz native

Black Rhinos coming for hay

Other than that, life here has been great. Time is flying by, can't believe I've been here almost 3 months already and my year is a quarter of the way finished! Last weekend we traveled 6 hours to Dubbo, a smaller Western city, where we went to the zoo and met up with Andrew's youngest brother Dave at night for a few beverages. The zoo was amazing and holds 20% of the world's population of Black Rhinos! We took a behind-the-scenes tour and saw the 2/3 of the zoo not open to the public and got to get up close to rhinos, giraffes, cheetahs, and the like. Was a great weekend there for sure! It couldn't hurt that the weather was near 80s and the zoo was an open-range zoo so we walked around the 8 miles of walking trails to see everything while enjoying the beautiful sunshine. 

Still looking for jobs here, although I did have one "interview" which was basically being thrown in a 3 hour busy lunch shift with no training. It was definitely different than interviews in the States! Still waiting to hear back from that one, but in the meantime applying for more! Some changes may be coming soon but it's too early to say anything yet! Keep reading! xx