Happy New Year!!!

G'day!!

I know that I'm a little early for most of you, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I walked 10 minutes to Sydney Park to see the fireworks.  Although I was pretty far away, I was able to see the fireworks were spread out over a long distance.  What's really nice is that they have a family fireworks for 8 minutes starting at 9 pm.  While those don't last as long, they are still spectacular (I watched those on TV).

I hope you have a GREAT 2011!!
Cyn

I'm in Sydney again!

G'day!

I am so grateful to my hosts, Peter and Martin Wesley-Smith, for their hospitality.  They are not just excellent wwoofer hosts, they are terrific, interesting people too!  They opened their home to me for 3 weeks and made me feel very welcomed.  I enjoyed working, talking, and relaxing with them.  I had been dreading Christmas away from my family but their generosity and the warmth of their family made it so much easier.

So, I had a wonderful Christmas!  I hope you did too.  Although it was overcast or rainy the two days before,  Christmas was sunny and warm.  Well, actually, it was hot for me.  I'm just not used to mid 80's in December.  It's a tradition for my hosts to have seafood for Christmas.  We had tuna, salmon, and mackerel sashimi and raw oysters for starters.  The main course was an enormous snapper cooked on the barbie.  It was at least a meter long; the only place it would almost fit was the barbie.  Steamed with lemon and onion, the fish was good.

I'm in a new life in a new land.  I'm opening my mind (and my taste buds) up to new experiences.  I ate the sashimi and raw oysters with my new mindset.  I did not think about texture (which is what put me off in the past).  I told myself that it is a new food to try and to be open to it.  It worked.  I chewed and tasted the fish and the oyster.  Not bad at all.  I could get used to it.  I certainly won't say that I don't eat raw fish or oysters anymore, because I can.

Our next Christmas meal was baked oysters with ham and steamed oysters with a special sauce.  Both were absolutely delicious!  And garlicky prawns.  Yum!!!  And drinks with St. Germain, gin, sugar syrup, soda water, peaches, grapes and who knows what.  All I know is that they were good!

And now, I am in Sydney again.  I'm house/cat sitting in a lovely apartment a couple of train stops from Sydney's CBD (Central Business District).  I've been wwoofing for the past 8 weeks.  It's nice to make my own schedule again.  To play with Claudia, a 16 year old Russian blue cat who loves to be petted and purrs like a motor.  To just read and relax and do nothing if I don't want to.  Just for 2 weeks.  Then my twin, Sandy, comes to Sydney with her family.

Unexpected bonus:  I'm in Sydney for the New Year's Eve fireworks!  Over 1.5 million people are expected in the CBD tomorrow night.  It's gonna be a zoo!  I'm going to take my (absent) hostess' suggestion and walk up to Bald Hill in Sydney Park and enjoy the fireworks there.

Happy New Year!!
Cyn

Ps:  Cricket:  Australia lost horribly to the Brits on the fourth day of the match.  So the Brits win the Ashes Series.  This is the first time in a very long time that the Brits have won in Australia.  The last test of the series was supposed to start 3 January in Sydney. Almost 100,000 tickets were expected to be sold for that game.   I don't know what happens now.

Happy Christmas!!!

G'day and Happy Christmas!!!!

We went to a carolling party last Saturday night at a neighboring estate.  One of our hosts is in a singing group and they were performing.   One of the songs composed by our host was a delightful piece called "Shut the gate" and if you hear me say, "Ya gotta shut the gate!"  I'm quoting from the song.   (It's about being on a farm and featured well-rendered animal sounds.  What a hoot!  Well, actually, a cluck, neigh, or bray!)  The other chorus was 16 of the 80 women who made it to Seattle this year and placed 10th in the international a capella chorus competition.  I/we had a lot of fun!!

The weather was on the cool side for Australian summertime and singing Christmas songs really made it feel that Christmas is almost here.  Driving through Nowra, the largest town in the area, you don't see huge displays of Christmas, no street deco.  Some of the stores in the shopping mall we visited had temporary second locations on the concourse, but other than  lots of small signs indicating extra discounts, the shops don't go overboard with decoration.   Some of you may call me a Scrooge (again), but I've always thought that America's commercialism is way!! over the top.

Here's the treat I promised you.  Aussie Jingle Bells changes the words of the traditional song to more accurately reflect conditions in the Southern Hemisphere.  I got the impression that the lyrics are not widely known; if not, they should be!


Aussie Jingle Bells

Pinus radiata Christmas tree

Dashing through the bush
In a rusty Holden ute
Kicking up the dust
Esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side
Singing Christmas songs
It's summer time and I am in
My singlet, shorts and thongs!

CHORUS:

Oh, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia
On a scorching Summer's day
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Christmas time is beaut
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a rusty Holden ute!

Engine's getting hot
Dodge the kangaroos
Swaggy climbs aboard
He is welcome too
All the family is there
Sitting by the pool
Christmas day, the Aussie way
By the barbeque!

Chorus

Come the afternoon
Grandpa has a doze
The kids and Uncle Bruce
Are swimming in their clothes
The time comes round to go
We take a family snap
Then pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up!

Chorus

Cheers!!!!
Cyn
ps:  esky=eskimo cooler/ice chest
pps:  I'm in a tank top and skort.  It's gonna be hot today!

Veggie Patch

G'day!

We've been working/weeding in the (neglected) veggie patch the last few days.  I'm using my knowledge of plant growth patterns and life cycle and common sense to clean the place up and prepare it for lower maintenance veggie growing.  I'm glad to say that I could recognize the blueberry, raspberry, passion vine, artichoke, corn, tomato, bean, pea, chard,  lettuce, squash, celery, chive, onion, mint, basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, cilantro, nasturtium plants easily.  Once reminded, I easily recognized the sorrel, eggplant, potato, beet root, radish (the greens are over 2' high - way overgrown for little red round radishes).  I had forgotten what comfrey and borage looked like.  Thank goodness I worked with veggies/herbs at Sloat!!

I've been tieing up tomato and bean vines with the materials at hand.  No tomato cages or stretchy tape; I've been using  1"X1"x 4' (?) stakes and thin strips of jersey (old stretchy T-shirt) fabric.  Hey, it'll work.  The plants are able to grow, the fruits will be off the ground and anyway, they're annual plants.   I will be using cardboard to mulch the paths, newspaper in the beds.

More about critters.  We have a red-bellied black snake that lives in the middle section of the compost heap.   We'd been taking loads of weeds in a wheelbarrow or large tub into the heap.  I've walked right into the heap and into the first heap to pile weeds higher into the back of the middle heap.  If it was hiding and I disturbed it, I could have been bitten.  But each time we've seen it, it's been curled up on top near the back of the heap.  I have to admit that it is beautiful, from afar.  It comes and goes but it's been there for at least a week.   Red bellies are venomous.  If untreated with antivenin, a person can die from a bite.

At one time, if a snake was seen on one's property, a person was supposed to catch the snake or call the police to catch the snake in order to determine whether the snake was venomous.   There were problems with this policy.  Attempts to catch the snakes would often result in snake bites.  Then the snake really did need to be caught to determine which antivenin, if any, must be administered.    Nowadays, no need any more to catch the snake.  A blood test can determine which antivenin, if any, should be used.  Some antivenins treat bites from multiple types of snakes.  For example, the same serum is used to treat bites from tiger snakes and brown snakes, both highly venomous.


 I sleep in a caravan, what Americans call a trailer.  It has a double bed on one end and 2 sets of single bunks on the other end.  There is a wardrobe next to the door on one side with counters, cabinets, and a small fridge opposite.  Curtained windows all around, two overhead light fixtures and a porch light.  It's pretty comfortable.  I also have a fan and a radio; my hosts really try to make me comfortable.  (I spend most of my free time and use the bathrooms in the house.  The other wwoofers were staying in a similar caravan a little further from the house.)


However,  I've been living with a skink.  A skink, not a skunk, thank goodness.  A skink is a small lizard; mine is about 5" long.  I see it almost every day, especially on hot days.  When I open the door, I usually look in to see if anything is visiting.  I wait for the skink to run into the cabinet.  One time I saw it in my shoe.  I have made it a habit to always check my boots or shoes before putting them on.  So far, so good.




On my third or fourth night here, two weeks ago, I encountered a huge!! 4"- 5" diameter spider!  It was grey with a very large body.  I, of course, screamed!  and ran to get my host who had heard my scream and was rushing toward me already.  I babbled about the huge! spider.  Well, eventually the spider was disposed of.  I was so glad; there was no way I could sleep in the caravan knowing that a monster spider was in there with me.  My hosts determined that it was a Huntsman spider whose bite would probably sicken but not kill its victim.

Hey, I came to Australia for adventure and to see Australia fauna.  I'm definitely getting both!!  During this past week I've also seen an echidna, several kangaroos or wallabies, and lots of wombats.  This week, I ate kangaroo meat.  It was very good; lean and tender with a light flavor reminiscient of beef.  Kangaroo meat is very high in protein, zinc, and iron and enzymes that make it a healthy meat choice.

Cheers!
Cyn

Fun and games!

G'day!  How ya goin', mate.  All right!  (Said as one word with minimal lip movement.)  Aussies, do you ever really say that to each other?

Callala Beach

Busy, busy, busy!  On Thursday, our host took us to Callala Beach in Jervis Bay, about 45 minutes away from Road Ends (the property's name) in Kangaroo Valley.  We were able to walk onto the beach before the thunder started.  Callala is a beautiful beach with nice white sand.  Sometimes, supposedly, you can see dolphins from the beach.  Not that day though, the tide was out and the wind was blowing hard.  I thought the blustery wind was refreshing; the others thought it was cold.  I guess I'm used to the colder windy NorCal beaches.  Then it started raining.  We drove 45 minutes to spend 20 minutes at the beach.  Ah well.

Neung, Leonie, Sara where River meets Ocean

Then we went to Greenwell Point where the Shoalhaven River meets the Pacific Ocean.  Nice small town with a small jetty, fishing boats and a huge pelican.

Huge pelican

Next stop: Jindyandy Mill, a cluster of little shops in a reclaimed wood mill with 22" thick walls.  (Did you know that Australia once used the same Imperial measurement systems that America still uses?  I vaguely remember a worldwide effort to go metric in the 1970's.  Obviously, it didn't take in America but in Australia, it did.  I try to convert measurements into metric as I speak but it's not easy, especially liquids.  It's such a relief when I speak with older (60+) Aussies because they know what I'm talking about without translation.)  

There was a couple of high end gifty shops, a cafe, a fruit stand, a large scrapbooking store, a lolly shop with antiques, toys, garden art, jewelry....  A  semi-shady garden with sculptures, benches and a gazebo provided a rest area for those who needed it while a small playground could keep tykes occupied.   On this rainy Thursday a week before Christmas, it was fairly deserted.  I guess Christmas shoppers go to the shopping districts in the larger towns.  Us 3 wwoofers bought nothing; our carrying capacity is very limited.  Our host and cousin Sara who was visiting for a few days from Maryland USA bought some things.  It was so nice to hear another American accent!!  I sometimes feel that my accent sounds exaggerated because it sounds so different from Australian speech.  Sara felt the same way.


After one last stop for groceries in Nowra, we went home to watch the first day of the third test match of the Ashes Cricket Series.  That is, the first of five days of one game of Cricket in the third of five matches for the Ashes trophy.   Australia batted first because England won the toss and elected to bowl.  We (Australia) started off poorly but ended nicely with more than 200 runs and using up almost the entire first day.  England didn't do very well during their innings on the second day.  We increased our lead during our second innings to more than 300 runs on the third day.  But England gets their last innings.   All they had to do was get one run more than we had.  The game up till now was pretty quick.  Each team's innings had lasted less than one day. That means that the batsmen were dismissed fairly  quickly.   I think only 1 or 2 batsmen got more than 50 runs.  Many had fewer than 25 runs.   Australia persevered and dismissed England's 10 batsmen in their second innings very quickly and won the match less than half way through the fourth day of play!!   Yippee!

Gorgeous Fitzroy Falls

So now the series is tied with each country having one win and a draw.  It had not looked good for Aussies after the second match because England had played so well.  Now with this decisive win, Australia again has a real chance to win the Series.  The fourth test begins on Boxing Day, 26 December in Melbourne.  The  fifth and deciding match begins on New Years Day in Sydney.   I will be following them.




On Friday, Sara made pancakes for brekkies.  Aussies aren't familiar with pancakes. They might recognize crepes which might be called pancakes.  Anyone know if there are any differences between pancakes, flapjacks, or hotcakes?  Size?  I think they're synonymous.  What are johnny cakes and hush puppies?  Sara gamely wwoofed with us as she helped to "shovel the cow shit into the ute and bring it up to the veggie patch".   Utes are pickup trucks.  Only large trucks are called trucks.  (I have to admit my back hurt that evening.  Manure is MUCH heavier than Eucalyptus mulch.)

The balancing cube/boulder

Then we went to Fitzroy Falls. Gorgeous falls with a long drop from perpendicular walls and we are at the top of it.  I don't know what kind of rock, but the cleavage is blocky/in cubes.  You can see this massive cube balancing high above the valley floor.   I would love to visit again and hike at least one of the rim trails.  I might bring my twin sister, Sandy, and her family here when they come to Australia in January.  It is THAT spectacular.

Are you ready for Christmas?  I've got a Christmas treat for you soon.  Keep reading!
Cyn

Beauty treatments - not mine

G'day!

I got leeched again today.  This time, though, the leech was still on me.  So I took a picture.  Aren't you lucky.  You only have to look at the leech.  You don't have to pluck it off your skin and see it strrreetcchh trying to stay on.  Or deal with the blood afterward.

Our wwoofer work schedule is that we start work at 9 am and work until 1 pm ish.  We get a water break sometime in between.  Then we have a hot lunch.  After dishes, we are free.  We usually have dinner sometime between 7 - 8 pm.  Most of the cooking is done by the brothers.  And, huge bonus!!  They are great cooks.  And they really like ethnic food.  We've had several very different curries because they have a cookbook with 600 curry recipes.  I am eating so well here!!!   Each wwoofer can cook dinner once during the week if it fits the schedule.  (The village market has limited supplies.  Woolworths, Coles, and Aldi are the grocery chains in Nowra, about 15 - 20 minutes away.)  We wwoofers usually clean up the kitchen.  So it's pretty decent around here.

Most of the work has been weeding.  Lots of wandering jew, chickweed, and some bindweed.  Then we lay newspaper down and then mulch.  Our host tells me what he wants done and I supervise the girls.  My nickname here is "Mama wwoofer".  I've also gone with my host to the Kangaroo Village Nursery and helped pick out a few plants, advised on various things including prolonging veggie leaf production (don't allow to flower) and using landscape fabric on hillsides.  Rocks don't work cuz they roll down the slope.  I found scrap heavy duty galvanized wire and made garden staples to reattach the fabric.  It will stay in place for a long time.  I also (properly) pruned a few Grevillea shrubs.

However, this place is very remote.  Can't walk to civilization.  Can walk to the creek or go pet the animals.  But last week, we got to watch Wally, the donkey, get a mani/pedicure and bang trim.  The farrier, a horse shoer, came and trimmed Wally's hooves.  You can see how long they are in the before pix.  The farrier was unable to trim them more because Wally walks funny and so his hooves grow weird.  He might have cut too close; Wally hasn't come up to the house since.  He stays in a lower paddock; I think his feet hurt.  One of the brothers thought Wally should have his bangs trimmed so that he could see better.  I don't know.  I thought maybe they helped keep flies off his face.  The farrier only worked on Wally the donkey.  The horses don't need new shoes.

Beauty and the Beast: The Beast, "I look stupid."

Today, the vet came to give the horses a checkup (Jarrah has a heart murmur), deworm them, and file down their teeth.  Apparently horses' back teeth grow a ridge which makes it hard for them to chew.

Since their teeth don't meet, a lot of the food sprays around and they don't get much of it down their throat.  Each horse got a sedative.   Then the vet pulls their tongue to one side and starts filing/brushing their teeth.  "Toothpaste" is a iodine solution.  The file actually takes the enamel off the teeth.  The vet puts their hand in to feel if the teeth are smooth enough.  Then more iodine wash and to the other side.  It was interesting.

That's Macka's tongue in the vet's hand

I'm working hard.  I've done very physical labor for 3 - 6 hours a day almost every day for the past month.   I've used more muscle than in any other month of my life.   My muscles do complain sometimes.  But not very much and not prolonged.  I am glad that I've been training for this during the time I worked at Sloat Garden Center.

I'm tired. Gotta take a nap!

Cyn

I've been blooded!

G'day!

Actually, I don't know if it's a g'day.  I got leeched today.  Twice.  So far, I've picked leeches off my gloves, pants, arms, legs, and shirt.  But none of them had their hooks into me yet.  My host is a leech attractant with several daily.  We got 2 new wwoofers on Saturday.  One German girl and one Korean girl who met up a month ago and are now traveling together.  They'd already worked at one place with leeches and each had at least 2 leechings apiece.  And they each got leeched at least once on Saturday.  I've been here for over a week, 10 days, and was being teased that I'm not a true wwoofer until I got at least one leech.

Well, those darn leeches really got me today.  You don't feel them.  They bore through your clothes or inch their way onto your skin.  Then they crawl to a place that is under cover; they don't latch onto exposed skin. When they latch on, they inject an anesthetic so you don't feel them and a blood thinner so they get your blood flowing.  When they are full, they fall off and crawl away.  Often, your first indicator that you've been leeched is that you notice that you are bleeding.  That's because you don't stop bleeding for a while after the leech has left.  It can get bloody messy.

Well.  One of those damn things made it all the way to my chest.  Latched on just off center below my left breast.  Can you believe that!!?!  I was at the bathroom sink and saw spots on my red T-shirt.  I immediately thought, "That's blood; a leech got me.  No, I can't get a leech on my chest!"  Unfortunately, when I pulled up my shirt, I was a bloody mess.  Gross!  After I showered, I found another leeched mark on my upper ankle.  I am a true wwoofer now.  Ewwwww!

G'nite!!
Cyn

More on Tipping

G'day!


These are comments on my post about tipping.  Any body else care to weigh in?  I've talked to a few other Aussies....

Nick and Linda said...

Well, I think service in other countries is not nearly as good as it is here, so I think you're wrong that service wouldn't be much different if wait staff were not working for tips. Also, they would probably make less money on salary then they do on tips. My friends from South America were surprised when I told them 2 waiters could afford an apartment together, because in Chile and Mexico they make sh*t. So, not tipping is bad for waiters, bad for customers. I like our system. Plus, I do know how much my meal will cost, it's the menu price plus 20%. No big mystery. Yes, tips are good!

Danny said...

I guess you usually just like what you're used to. I'm happy with the optional version. Of course my understanding is that in Australia we're paid award wages and can survive without the tips. You'll attract tips if your service is really good and that's a bonus.

If it has to be paid regardless, what's the point? It may as well be included in the bill. Does it avoid taxation? ;)

Thanks, Danny, for a real Australian view.   Restaurant workers are supposed to report their tips to the Internal Revenue Service for taxation.  I'm sure most of them report some of their tips. 

Apparently restaurant tipping is not the problem.  Many Aussies do tip if service is good, usually up to 10%.  However, it is fully optional; as Danny sez, it's a bonus!   The real problem is all the other tipping that happens in America.  The skycap and porter at the airport, cab drivers, hotel doormen, the concierge, bellhops, hotel maids, parking valet, bathroom attendants, etc.  Who are you supposed to tip and how much?  Unwary travelers are often humiliated when told they are supposed to tip.  Or a visitor might hand a $50 to a cabbie for a $30 fare and the cabbie doesn't offer change.  For some Aussies (and probably other visitors) it IS a consideration when deciding where to go on vacation.  They can go somewhere where they don't have to worry/wonder who and how much to tip.

Tourism is big business in some areas.  I have no idea if hotel personnel rely on tips to augment meager wages.  If they do, I'd hate to work in the high tourist areas where there are lots of foreign visitors.  They probably get stiffed often.   I find tipping confusing sometimes.  How much do you tip skycaps, especially now that there are luggage charges and carry-on restrictions?  When traveling overseas, I try to follow local customs according to guide books.  But I feel weird NOT tipping sometimes.


What do you think?


Cyn

The Ashes Test

G'day!
England and Australia just finished a 5 day test of cricket in Adelaide, South Australia.  That is, one game of cricket that lasts 5 days.   This is the second (Test Two) of an annual five match series, a huge rivalry, called the Ashes Test with the winner taking home an urn filled with ashes from long ago burned wickets.

Australia had their innings first.  (Innings is singular and plural. Each batsman gets their innings and each side gets their innings.)   They got about 100 - 130 runs between their 10 batsmen.  (I don't know how many; that was before I got here and started watching.) Then England had their innings.  One guy, Pietersen, got 227 runs.  He batted for hours on Days 2 and 3.  It's rare for a batsman to even get 100 runs so 200+ is quite an achievement.   After a rain delay and  the first 5 batsmen, England was ahead by 375 runs.  So they declared.  That means that they think they can win the game without batting any more.  This was on early on Day 4, Monday, I think.

This game was scheduled for 5 days.  They try to play from 11 am until 6 pm with a 40 minute break for lunch after 2 hours and a 20 minute break for tea after another 2 hours of play.  If it rains, the game is delayed with a tarp pulled over the pitch.  If one team has not won by the end of the 5th day or if the game has been declared and the opponents have not finished their innings, the game is a draw.  A tie.

So in this case,  Australia had to make at least 375 runs to tie England.  But then England still gets their last innings.  So Australia's best chance is a draw.  If it rains, Australia is unable to bat or finish their innings and the game would be a draw.    All of Australia, including me, were hoping for rain.  So Australia had their batsmen go to bat.    They batted all of Day 4 and ended with 7 outs.  We hoped for rain.  They started batting on Day 5.  We hoped for rain.  It didn't rain.  They finished batting their 10th batsman.  They came up 70 short so England did not have to bat any more.  England won.  So 5 England batsmen made more than 500 runs.  Australia batted 20 innings (10 batsmen twice each) and came up 70 short.  I have no idea what the total number of runs was and can't find where to find it.  I looked online.  I guess the number of runs doesn't matter; just which team won.

I learned a little more about the game.  The ball is bowled overhand by the bowler.  They can do it slow in a standing position or they can bowl it fast by running to get some speed and then throwing the ball.  The same ball is used throughout a team's innings.  If for some reason, the ball is unable to be used (rare), the umpires dig through a bag of used balls to come up with a ball as similar as possible to the ball that was in play.  Sometimes a ball is worn out.  I'm not quite sure what happens then.

The reason a ball can be worn out and  why the pitch or field is so important is that the ball can hit the ground before it reaches the batsman.  I didn't get that the first time 'round.  So that makes it much harder cuz you don't know how the ball will bounce.

Both brothers are into cricket.  They checked the TV regularly to see how Australia was doing. They were surprised and very impressed at how much I did know about cricket.  They've tried to explain the game to Americans before and were only partially successful. They were happy to fill in the gaps and explain strategy. Test 3 of the Ashes Test Series is in Perth and starts Thursday, 16 December.    I'll still be here so I will probably be watching it.  Try watching it and see if you can figure it out.

Cheers!
Cyn

Leeches!

G'day mates!

Hi! I'm still in Kangaroo Valley but at a very different place.  I'm staying at a place that has 2 horses, an alpaca, a donkey, a duck, six chooks, an a dog.  Those are the pets.  There is also the wildlife!

Besides the ever present spiders, cicadas and mossies (mosquitoes) there are various lizards and snakes.  I haven't seen the python, thankfully; he leaves in the roof and eats whatever is up there.  (I don't even want to think what's up there. Hopefully nothing since he's there.)  I can see his shedded skin on the Australian tree fern next to the kitchen door though.  He's around 6' long and 3-4" in diameter.   Apparently there are at least 2 different kinds of snakes here.  One is a red bellied black snake that is venomous; the other is harmless.  My hosts assure me that the snakes are more afraid of me than I am of them.  I don't think so.

crimson rosellas and doves

There are gorgeous birds here.  The crimsom rosellas are blue and red parrot like birds.  There are white headed doves and I've seen at least 2 kookaburras.  There are tiny little blue (male) and brown (female) birds.  Did I mention that it's almost always noisy here? The birds make noise at different times.  There is one set that starts as soon as there is any light (before 5 am) including the kookaburras and birds that sound like a light rail train going by real fast.  And the cicadas are LOUD!  They chirp all day.  You can hear their wings flapping when they fly by.  They are almost as big as hummingbirds.  At night, a different set of birds make noise.  And they are joined by a chorus of frogs and who knows what else.  Who said it was quiet in the countryside?

golden orb spider on chook fence

A couple of other critters.  Luckily my hosts warned me that sometimes wombats like to scratch their backs on the caravan I'm staying in.  On Sunday night, my first night, we had a storm.  During the heaviest downpour, I felt the caravan shake.  I thought it might be the wind.  But it didn't feel like the wind.  Then I remembered about the wombats.  I'm pretty sure it was the wombat hiding under there scratching his back.  Wombats are nocturnal.  My host drove me out onto the road so I could see them.  They are cute little furry pig/hamstery animals.  The ones we saw were 15"- 20" long and less than a foot high.


There are leeches here!  In the grass, in the plants, everywhere.  My hosts have taken 6 off over the last 2 days.  I had to pull 2 of them off my jeans today.  They were trying to go through my jeans!  I was lucky to notice them before they got all the way through.  They inject an anesthetic and a blood thinner so that you don't feel them and when they are full, they fall off and you continue bleeding.  Ewwww!!!!!  I'm thinking positive.  I will not have a leech on me.  I will not have a leech on me.






I'm enjoying my stay here.  My hosts are very nice, well educated, well travelled, converse with me, and work with me in the yard.  This is what wwoofing is supposed to be.

G'day!!
Cyn

Tipping

G'day!
Tips.  I had a discussion about tips the other day.  Why do American leave a 15 -20% gratuity in restaurants?  Because it's expected?  Because we want to?  Because if we don't, someone will come after us and ask us if there was something wrong with the service since a tip was not left?  Apparently most other nations don't require tipping.  It's optional.  Do you think it's optional in America? How many times have you not left a tip?  How many times have you not left a tip when the service was at least average?

Tips is an acronym for To Insure Proper Service.  I believe it originated when someone slipped a tip to the host to be seated at a good table.   I don't know how tipping evolved to what it is today.  Tips used to be bribes; now they are (expected) rewards.

Why are tips used to augment the wages of servers?  Some visitors to America think that restaurants should pay their employees enough and not have servers "pressure" their patrons for tips. "Pressure" could be in the form of the server introducing themselves or providing water or bread without being asked.  (Would laying out your napkin onto your lap be considered "coercion"?)

Perhaps raising menu prices by 15% across the board would be better.  Then patrons know how much their meal will cost when they order it.  (How about tax?  I think most countries charge tax in sit down restaurants.) And if patrons wanted to, they could leave a tip.  Or not.  In the long run, would it make a difference in our total restaurant expenditure?

What would service be like if tips were not incentive?  I can't imagine that it would be too different.  Some places are patronized solely because of the quality of food; service could be surly and there'd still be a wait.  Other places have a very high level of service with prices to match.  If the food wasn't good, the restaurant would have little repeat business and eventually fail.  I don't know how well these restaurant would do if they had to raise their already high prices to cover increased wages.  I'm sad to say that I either didn't notice or can't remember the level of restaurant service in other countries and I haven't sat in a restaurant in Australia yet.

Could restaurants attract good servers?  A lot of people wait tables because they make a lot of money.  Often, they make more money in tips than they do in wages; but sometimes, on a slow evening, they might not make much.  Hourly wages would be higher and employees would know the mininum they would make for the night.   And people might still tip.  I would imagine that restaurant owners/managers could make private incentive arrangements with their employees.

I don't know.  I waited tables for 2 weeks while I was in college.  It was hard work.  I can't imagine having to explain to foreigners about tipping if I were a restaurant manager.  And I would hate for the server to lose  because tipping is not standard in many other countries.

What do you think?
Cyn

New Job!

Hey! Where's my post about tipping?!  I posted it Thursday.  I'll find it after I get to my new job and post it tomorrow.  I have had to load my files onto a USB drive and then upload it for emails or my blog.  It takes forever to load pix for the blog.  I don't know why. Anyway...

Aniela likes her angels to stay only 1 - 2 weeks.  So my 2 weeks are up!  I'm going to another place in Kangaroo Valley.  Two brothers, one is a composer and the other is a writer.  And Aniela tells me that they are twins!!  Isn't that great!?  We already have something to talk about.  I hope they have wifi!!!

See ya!
Cyn

Water emergency!

Gday!

We had an emergency Thursday night.  My hostess found out that her water tank had a leak in it and since 3 of her 4 huge tanks are connected, she lost all the rainwater out of the 3 tanks.  Since rainwater is the primary water supply, that is a disaster!  One tank might be enough if you are conservative.  But she wanted 3 so she would never run out of water.  She was very upset!!

Her handyman was nice enough to come out here (before he left for a week's holiday) and fixed it (in the dark) so that the fourth tank gives us water in the house.  It was the rainwater overflow for the first three and went to 2 garden taps. It rained a lot this year and so all 4 tanks had rainwater in them.   If there's no overflow, water from the "dam" goes into it.

Aniela has said that rain water is very pure, soft, and good to drink and that there is a filter before it comes into the house.  I don't know about this tank though.  I'm boiling all my water before I drink it, just in case.

So out here in the boondocks, people have to be very self-sufficient.  Rainwater is the primary water source.  Many people have dams on their property.  I'm not quite sure about this but from what I see and understand, a large hole is dug into the ground and allowed to fill with rainwater.  So it's a reservoir.  (Hey Julie!  Is that the same as a swale in eco-speak?)  I'm not sure if it is lined, I don't think it is.  (Sorry, I don't have internet access except for a few minutes almost every day and I'm not wasting it on research.  And I don't dare ask my hostess.)  There was a dam in Cambewarra, adjacent to the cricket field. I've seen at least one in each paddock/pasture.  Some properties might have a well to tap into groundwater.  That might depend on whether there is groundwater or not and whether the groundwater is useable (mineral content).

After water, energy is the next biggie.  Water pumps need to be powered.  If the electricity goes out, you don't have water for the duration.   Unless you have an alternate power source.  I've seen solar panels on a lot of roofs. I've seen windmills on several properties.  I haven't seen them spinning, but they're there.  And I've read about water mills on some properties in my WWOOFer book.

I've also seen a couple of woodpiles that are huge!  They must just be there cuz trees had to be taken down on the property.  I can't imagine that they were delivered.  Each place I've stayed has less than a small pickup truck full (1/4 cord).  On my walk into town Sunday, I passed this sign for Shoalhaven (the region I'm in) Stockpile #1.  I have no idea what they're stockpiling.  Hmmm....

Convenience, aesthetics, ecology, cost;  usually it's a trade off.  So far, I’ve seen several improvements I willing to incorporate into my life after I get back to America.

I love that all the electrical outlets have an on/off switch.  So even if you have something plugged in, you can have the outlet switched off and the item wouldn’t be a power vampire.  Apparently, people still unplug computers during lightning storms in case of power surges. I think power strips/surge protectors with an on/off button do the same thing but isn't the power strip a power vampire in itself?  I don't know if the switches are something that can be installed easily but it would be handy to have one for countertop microwaves, entertainment equipment, and other stuff that's handy to have plugged in but not used constantly.  Providing the outlet is easily reachable.

I also like those electric kettles.  I didn't realize how quickly they heat the water.  I'm sure it's more energy efficient than boiling on the stove and definitely more energy efficient than the hot water dispenser at the sink.

And the flushing options on the toilets.  Uh, self explanatory, I think.

And believe it or not, I like the laundry lines.  I hadn't used one since I lived in the public housing projects in Chinatown.  (Remember, San?  They were dark, spooky, and echoey.) I like the idea of being able to peg stuff out on warm sunny days.  I'd still use my dryer but I'd use it less if I had a ....

...Nice, wide, covered veranda around most of my home.  I love the idea of indoor/outdoor living but I really don't like being in the sun.  I hate putting sunscreen on.  And I don't like my freckles (FRECKLES!!!! NOT age spots!!!!)   Did you know that Australia has the highest skin cancer rate in the world?  There are ads about skin cancer and sun screen on television regularly.  They also still have Flying Doctor services to reach people in remote places.

I already mentioned click-on rather than screw-on hose menders, sprinklers and nozzles.

Someone brought up tipping in America.  I'll discuss that next time.  In the meantime,  if you have any comments or questions, please let me know.  It's easier for me, if you comment through the blog itself but I do also check Facebook.  I've enjoyed seeing new things and then doing research (by talking to people and through the internet) to learn more.  I hope you've found it interesting too.

I miss wifi!!!!  I miss communicating with my family and friends!!  G'day!

Cyn

Kangaroo Valley nursery

Hey!

  It's weird only having limited access to the Internet.  I've gotten used to being able to go online everyday and even when I was living at the Greenbrae house with no Internet, I could go to the Safeway, Whole Foods or Starbucks parking lot and access free wifi. 

Anyway, I walked into Kangaroo Valley township today, Sunday, as it was my day off.  It was a pleasant 3 km walk (1.8 miles) each way.  The rain showers kept me cool, wet, but cool.  The town had lots of lodging options, several cafes and restaurants, a fudge/ice cream store, a lolly (candy) shop, 2 art galleries and several  novelty shops.  And a nursery!!

Of course, I went into the nursery.  The proprietor, Darrin, was really nice.  He propagates much of his stock, especially the trees in little tube pots.  Although he does use nursery cans, he likes the plastic bags when he's potting up bare root trees.  It's a pain or a two person job to actually get the trees into the bags, but afterwards, they are much more stable.  Even strong winds won't knock the trees over.  As my former colleagues at Sloat know,  trees in nursery cans DO fall over.  (Again and again, until you just leave them down.  And thank customers for pointing out that some of our trees have fallen over.)  

The nursery carries a wide range of Aussie natives, trees, shrubs and perennials. He had a succulent section, herbs, veggies, and a few flats of annuals.  The pear sculpture made of horseshoes is $824.  Nice!   They use different things for mulch out here, including sugar cane.

As soon as I say a couple of sentences, it's obvious that I'm not Australian.  Several people have asked if I'm from the Philipines.  Or when I say I'm American, they ask if I'm Hawaiian.   I tell people that I'm Chinese American and grew up in San Francisco, which has the largest Chinese population outside of China.  (Hong Kong and Taiwan, excluded.)   I guess Aussies think that America is mostly white, like Australia. 

As I've said before, after you get out of Sydney, it's mostly rural.  Well, this is rural.  The towns are small.  If you blink while you're driving through, you'll miss it.   Lots of cattle and open space.  People have to be self sufficient out here.  More about that next time.

G'day,

Cyn