Australian Observations

Observations of Tasmania

I think living in Tasmania is like living in Oregon.  It rains and rains and rains.  We are told that it will get hot ---really? I’m looking forward to it.  Then I’ll believe it.  We took only a few pictures this week, so I’m writing about my observations of differences in living.

Women:  Women, middle age and older, don’t wear makeup and don’t wear hair styles other than ponytails or straight hair.  I have yet to see anyone with a hair style that I could ask where they get their hair cut.  Now we have seen some very interesting hair COLORS!  Pink, bright red, florescent green!!!!!!!  And most wear dark colored clothing, usually all black.

Girls:  No matter how cold it may be, the girls will wear shorts or short skirts and puffy black parkas.  I guess they don’t mind having their legs cold as long as their bodies are warm.

The bus:  We are now riding the bus to work each day.  It is pretty cheap:  $1.52 each way for seniors.  There is a car park next to the archive where we park when we do drive in to the city.  If you park there all day, it is $22.00 a day.  If you get there before 9:00 am and there are still early bird parking spaces left, you pay $11.00 a day.  Or you could do what we do – the car shuffle.  The first 1 ½ hours is free. So we set the alarm at 1hour 20 minutes and drive the car around the block and then back into the car park.  It’s a pain, but cheap – FREE!  

Roses:  While riding the bus we are able to see the beautiful roses around town.  They grow very well here and are gorgeous.

Swans:  We have driven to Bridgewater, about 15 minutes north of our home, to help with the Family History lessons taught by one of the men in our ward.  As we pass over the river, there are huge numbers of black swans that must live there.  We were invited to Family Home Evening at this man’s home and his home looks over another river which flows into the Derwent River.  Again, there were numbers of black swans.  He told us you only see black swans in the southern hemispheres and white swans in the northern hemispheres.  I didn’t know that.  He had never seen a white swan until he traveled to America.

Travel:   You cannot believe how many people here have traveled to America.  Almost every person we have talked to has been there.  But there seems to be a reason.  The minimum wage here in Australia is $15.00 an hour!  And their vacations are for 1-3 months long after working 1 year.  But looking at homes, you would never think anyone had any money.

Teeth:  There must be a poor dental program here as we see so many men and women who have missing teeth or very crooked teeth.  Colored hair but no teeth!!!

Welcoming:  We have been very impressed with how polite and welcoming everyone seems to be.  Even when we run into a homeless (or so he seemed) as we are walking in town, he stops and says “Have a good day.”  The children who ride the bus to school always allow the older riders to get on the bus first.  I have tried to allow them to go first, but they refuse.  Their parents must have taught them respect.

Food:  Well, this could be a blog by itself.  Marv was so firm that we bring peanut butter with us because Australia doesn’t have peanut butter—but Tasmania does.  So, with the extra money we spent on over weight baggage, we figure we had $30 peanut butter.  They don’t have shortening, canned pie filling, or pancake mix.  Hot dogs are actually sausages with a tough skin and there are no green peppers for Mexican food.   We have found some cereals which we like and Marv is grateful for that.  Australian oranges are really good and juicy.  There seems to be an abundance of fresh vegetables. So I think I am going to have to learn to cook like my mother did back in the 50s.  Most of the recipes I brought call for packaged goods of some kind, so I guess I’ll learn to cook from scratch.  Fun! Not!  For those who have been to Europe and eaten eggs, this won’t be unusual, but, like England, the yolks are orange, not yellow.  (Actually, this picture makes them look fairly normal - they really are orange.)

Word of the Week:  Ta =thanks.  

This is our abode (flat)