Am I a Real Aussie Yet??

It has been 11 months and with only FOUR WEEKS left until I get home, I thought I would evaluate myself on the scale of a true Aussie...

Slang
Although I haven't mastered the accent (its truly bloody hard!), I have picked up a few phrases and words that make me sound more Aussie (pronounced ozzy, by the way...only Americans say Aussie). I am comfortable throwing together real Aussie sentences like... "I reckon there's heaps of bloody good beer here." I frequently begin conversations with "How you goin'?". I also say "tea" instead of dinner, brekkie for breakfast, and arvo for afternoon. I wouldn't even blink if someone said "fair dinkum" or "huru" because I know that those mean "for real?!" and "goodbye". And while I wouldn't flinch when someone SAYS "budgie smuggler" I would cringe to see a tight little speedo on the beach (budgie is a small parakeet-like bird, hence a speedo is a budge smuggler because it looks like they've got a budgie they're trying to smuggle!). I have also caught myself saying "Good onya!" when someone does good, "bloke" for any guy, and "bloody" quite a bit. I seem to have also picked up quite the chill phrase of "no worries" and the not-so-chill phrase of "pull yer head in mate!" when someone gets a little loose.

Tucker

Love me a meat pie!

Meat pies filled with chicken, prawns, beef, gravy, or even spaghetti are a common and delicious occurrence in any balanced Aussie diet. Also, sausage rolls, a fillo pastry stuffed with minced meat and spices, and chocolate milk (also known as a tradie's lunch) are definitely not unheard of while travelling. I now refer to french fries as chips and ketchup as tomato sauce and can't resist a good meal of fish and chips with tarter (pronounced tar-tair here). I have recently been introduced to some fabulous Aussie treats, including Lamingtons, which are a dense cake coated in coconut and served double decker style with cream in the middle. I have to say I was spoiled to have Denise around because she is a fantastic cook and made amazing Christmas pudding, fruit cake, and hot custard, none of which I had tried before, but highly reccommend. She is also known for her sponge cake, which is a very light, fluffy, delicious cake kind of like angel food, but better, and her mud cake, which is a dense, chocolatey, gooey cake with chocolate ganache which literally feels like an explosion in your mouth. SOOO yum.
Just like a real Aussie, I now like my burgers with EVERYTHING on them. Including pineapple and BEETROOT. Although I'm not quite a super fan of vegemite, a bite or two every now and again is alright (I did give it a fair try while courting Andrew, I'm talking like I ate it for brekkie multiple time per week!). I've eaten kangaroo a couple times, crocodile, and a funny sea creature called a "bug" a couple times. Also, I overloaded on oysters over Christmas time and even gave shucking them a go! I have pigged out on lamb, something we don't eat a lot in our home in the States, and plenty of other top cuts of meat, perks of having a brother-in-law butcher and haven't been disappointed by anything!

Adventures
Its hard to pick my favorite highlights from the year, but there are some amazing things we did (and still many more to do!). We happened to spend a lot of time in zoos and petting zoos because, let's face it, I can't get enough of the Aussie wildlife! Kangaroos, koalas, wombats, echidnas, platypuses, etc etc etc became my new favorites as I got to hand feed, pet, and hang out with these fascinating creatures. Also the abundance of spiders, bugs, snakes, and crocs I got to see, both in the wild and in captivity gave me a sense of reality about how dangerous, yet fascinating this place is!
Some of my favorite big adventures include:

7 km walk to Bondi from Coogee

Hiking the Blue Mountains

Cheering at a Rabbitohs Game with the biggest fans

Going to see the Lion King

Attending a Chingy concert...

Participating with 100,000 people in the City 2 Surf

Jumping, wading, and sliding in the canyons of the Blue Mts

Scuba and snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef

Hiking the tropical rainforest

Touring a coal mine

Competing in my first, second and possibly third triathlons!

Sea Kayaking

Enjoying the whitest sand in the world and the crystal waters of Jervis Bay

It was a year of Aussie adventures filled with lessons of life, love, family, and hard times. But, as previously said, it has truly been the best year of my life and I couldn't be more happy with how I spent it, and more importantly WHO I spent it with. Thank you to everyone who was a part of it, regardless of how big or small, each and every person made this year memorable for me. That being said, there are still a few more adventures to come and maybe one last blog! 

Oldies trip, Chrissy, and Beachin' New Year

Karaoke Wine Tour

Hanging with the locals

It's been quite a while since my last post so I'll just give a quick update on some things that happened in December over here! As most of you probably know, my parents were out for a visit and after a bit of a bumpy trip (UNITED AIRLINES FAIL!) and a lost bag, they finally settled in and we hit the ground running! The day they arrived we had lunch at the beach in Coogee than came to Raymond Terrace for a "Thanksgiving" meal, which was one of the best ever, thanks to my future mother-in-law, Denise. We rounded out their weekend with a gaol (jail) tour, karaoke at the bowling club, and then an epic karaoke bus tour to wine country for my (late) birthday celebration. A fun time was had by all, but by the time we finished the big weekend, a few days camping with our parents was much welcome. We had a crazy encounter with a wild possum, which came down the tree looking for food and ended up jumping on Andrew's leg (even though we didn't have food!). We fished in the ocean, went prawning in the lake, had a ski, and quite a few hands of cards. We visited Oakvale petting zoo again and got some fantastic one on one time with the kangaroos, koalas, and goats again, which was only made better by the cloudy weather that kept the crowds low.

Beautiful engagement cake made by Denise, I even helped with flowers!

The second weekend was our engagement party which was a fantastic celebration filled with good food, plenty of drinks, and great company. We spent the next couple days seeing some sights around Raymond Terrace and then headed to Sydney for their last few days. We had quite a bit first night but pulled through and wandered around the city the following day, including a fantastic tour of "The Rocks", an area just outside the harbor where the convicts were originally housed when Oz was first settled. The chilling stories, cool artifacts, and friendly guide rounded out a great day in Sydney. The next day my parents flew out and the Sydney Siege occurred, where we had just been strolling past the day before! For those who don't know much about the siege, a terrorist held up people in the Lindt Cafe (a coffee shop endorsed by Lindt chocolate) which ended 18 hours later with two casualties. It was a sobering moment for all of Australia as a terrorist attack like this had never happened previously in Australia.

Chrissy Tucker

Chrissy twins

Chrissy, or Christmas, here was a fantastic day. It could have easily made me homesick but instead, I was surrounded by love, laughter, and family and could not have asked for a better day. We played Monopoly, ate a DELICIOUS meal, drank a few Coors, played cards, and tried to escape the humidity of the 90 degree day. Jemima, Miranda, and Sam (Jenny's kids) got suitcases for their trip to the USA, which was pretty exciting as well! Nothing warms the heart like kids on Christmas, regardless of where in the world you are!

Camping in the forest

Camping on the beach

For New Years weekend, Andrew and I packed up Terry's truck and went camping. We had quite the setup and spent one day in the forest, one day at a campground with Andrew's mates, and one day (New Years Eve) on the beach. We threw a line out, caught, cut, and cooked fresh fish and steaks for dinner along with a fancy bottle of champagne. We could see fireworks from a town nearby so we watched those at 9 pm and after a game of cribbage, ended up sleeping around 11. Although we didn't make it until midnight, we were up for the first sunrise of 2015 and enjoyed it watching dolphins, having brekkie burritos, and having another fish. Around 8 we encountered a weary Irish guy who was lost on the beach and had wandered kms away from where he was staying. We packed up and gave him a ride to the road and headed home ourselves for a few more days relaxing before getting back to reality.

New Years Eve 2014

Overall, a great end to the best year of my life!