Australia: The Day, the Open, the Mystery

Last weekend was a good, long weekend for Australians everywhere. Tuesday, 26 January was Australia Day, an occasion which celebrates Australia's... errr... independence or whatnot. Actually just kidding; according to Wikipedia it commemorates the first time the British flag was hoisted over Sydney Cove in 1788. That sounds more like it.

Will and I took advantage of this holiday to take Monday off as well and make it a four-day-weekend affair. We didn't travel anywhere (similar to MLK Day in the States, it kind of sneaks up on you right after the holidays and you forget to plan things), but lucky for us there was local entertainment.

Such as... THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN!

Will and I were fortunate enough to go to the Open a couple of different times (after all, it is only ten minutes from our apartment... in fact, one day when we were watching a match on TV we heard a really loud jet fly over the court, then two seconds later it flew over our apartment). We went on the first Tuesday of the tournament and also the first Saturday. Tuesday we didn't watch any particular matches, but just walked around the grounds and saw players warming up and trying to stay in the game. It's amazing how you're surrounded by so much good tennis, and you can just walk up to the fence and watch world-ranked tennis players competing.

Random world-class tennis player

Tommy Haas in his first-round match. Yes, we did see a lot of Tommy...

...but who's complaining?

Saturday we took it a step further and bought tickets to see Tommy Haas (Germany) vs. Jo-Wilifred Tsonga (France) at Hisense Arena. You don't actually know who will be playing in each game until the day before, so luck has a lot to do with who you end up seeing. As it turned out, we watched a great match that went into four sets (and it's a good thing we chose this match to watch because the headlining match at Rod Laver Arena between Hewitt and Baghdatis finished in the middle of the second set when Baghdatis retired). They can really crush those balls! Tsonga ended up winning, and even making it as far as the semi-finals, at which point he promptly and inevitably lost to the champion, Federer.

Tsonga vs. Haas in Hisense Arena

As for Australia day itself, we did what all the Aussies do: barbequed on the beach with Will's coworkers! (It goes without saying that all Aussies do not barbeque with Will's coworkers... that is just a lapse in syntax.) Even though Australia Day wasn't really a holiday until 1994, and the Aussies still don't have much of a patriotic tie to it--as demonstrated by a disturbing lack of Aussie paraphernalia on everyone but the foreigners--it's still a great excuse to get off work!

Tragically, one of our numbers did not have such a great Australia Day. Let's just say it was an incident involving a footpath, a broken beer bottle, and a paw.

"I prefer Fourth of July!"

I am happy to report that all paws are now fine, and busy running around and around the apartment.

Thanksgiving, Christmas and other Fake Holidays

I can't believe the Holidays have already come and gone. Believe it or not, the onset of December does not automatically instill you with good cheer and visions of sugar plums. It's funny how much we rely on external stimuli -- weather, 24-hour Christmas music, family traditions -- to get you in the spirit of the season. But remove the context and the Holidays that we have celebrated our whole lives are in danger of being just another day.

To be honest, I think the Southern Hemisphere got the short end of the stick when it comes to Christmas. Thanks to European colonization, you have good ole Saint Nick in a jolly red suit and songs about snow playing even in the midst of 95 degree days. Not to mention Hollywood beaming out classics like Christmas Vacation and The Santa Clause, featuring feet upon feet of snow, to all corners of the earth, regardless of climate. I mean, I never saw Chevy Chase or Tim Allen celebrating Christmas by barbequing on the beach with SPF 30 slathered all over their faces. (Which, might I add, is actually a pretty awesome way of celebrating.) At heart, we all, even Australians, dream of white Christmases.

On top of the warm weather, this was Will's and my first Christmas season without our families, a setback that could have crippled us in our holiday celebrating. But despite the challenges we faced, we were determined to put our own spin on the holidays.

Exhibit 1: Thanksgiving

Though we missed the traditional Thursday celebration of Thanksgiving (booo work!) we still invited our friends to come partake in a traditional dinner, complete with sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, and... uh... chicken. (I was not up for cooking a turkey!) As I mentioned in a previous post, Will and I rented a car for the sole purpose of traipsing to an American food store in the Melbourne suburbs. Feast your eyes on this!

$120 worth of processed food later...

Exhibit 2: Christmas

To kick off the Christmas feel, Will's company held an awesome party (complete with 80's band!) at the top of the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. It was beautiful, and you could see all of Melbourne from the Sky Deck.

Melbourne at night... although we had some trouble taking pictures with the glass

Hello urinals 80 stories high!

Even though we weren't with our families, Will and I started our own tradition -- traveling over the Christmas holidays! We rented a house in Perth with a nice barbeque and outdoor area, so we grilled steaks and prawns and spent most of our Christmas day on the beach. I mean, when in Rome...

It's Christmas, it's Christmas, it's Christmas!

Darcy got a new dog tag -- it's all the rage these days, I hear

Exhibit 3: New Years

Hello, wine region! We were in Margaret River over New Years, and indulged in a six-course meal at a nice restaurant in town. It was one of the best ways I've ever spent New Years-- you had a place to sit all night long, it wasn't overcrowded, there was a live jazz band playing into the wee hours of the morning, and the food was AMAZING. I could really get used to New Years in the Southern Hemisphere. One of my biggest complaints about Northern Hemisphere New Years is the COLD, and here you don't have to deal with that!

Us at our table

One of the six courses -- roasted lamb with grilled tomatoes. It may look small, but I could barely finish it thanks to the previous four courses.

Happy New Year! Will didn't get to set off fireworks, so he settled for a party popper

Darcy and Lily ringing in the new year at our bed and breakfast

Overall we managed our American/Australian Christmas fusion quite well, in my opinion. Even though we missed our families, we had a great time celebrating as a family of three -- heat and all.

Goal

Alright, so I obviously haven't posted on the topics that I promised to post on-- but I have a good reason for it! You see, February 5 marks our one-year anniversary of arriving in Australia, and I have been working tirelessly to fulfill a goal that I set for myself. If you will recall, at our 6 month mark I listed a variety of Will's and my accomplishments, one being that I had read over 100 books since arriving in Australia. Admittedly I did not have a job for a large part of that time, and my library card was my best friend. Even so I have continued to read inordinate amounts of books, although my time has been slightly more limited what with that pesky little thing called work.

My goal, however, is to read 170 books in a one-year period, aka February 5. I have currently read 164, so I have two more weeks to read six books. Totally going to happen.

I would post my reading list if it wasn't so embarrassingly made up of vampire, young adult, and sometimes vampire-young-adult novels. Sigh.

Darcy Legalization Act of 2010

Today is a good day, reinforcing those precious tenets espoused by our forefathers-- freedom, liberty, and justice for all. Our little refugee has finally been accepted into Australian society. Darcy is now legally allowed to reside in the humble South Yarra abode in which she has been squatting for the past year.

You may be asking, how did this happen? Weren't you scared to death that your property management company would evict you if they even heard mention of the word "dog"? You're absolutely right . . . which is why we were sneaky about it. We informed the property management company that friends of ours were moving to Guam and couldn't take their cute little Westie with them, so they had asked us to care for her in their absence. (That's such a crazy story it has to be true!) The kindhearted property manager couldn't in good conscience turn down the poor little homeless dog, so as a result, Darcy's contraband status has been lifted and she is now a legal resident of South Yarra.

Break out the fireworks, and may January 21 forever be known as Darcy Independence Day!

Darcy before Legalization

Freedom to do anything -- even get sand on her face!

Crazy Melbourne Weather

I'm so hot right now (hello Zoolander). Possibly even tinkering on the verge of insanity. Yesterday was a scorching 110 degrees, and last night was the hottest night in Melbourne history. Stubborn heat refused to sink below 90 degrees the whole evening, a fact that I consistently registered each time I woke up in my sweat-drenched pajamas. As a result of the heat, our unairconditioned apartment is having an identity crisis and thinks it is a brick oven.

But never fear, Melbourne weather is certain to have some crazy anomaly up its sleeve. While today is calling for a high of 98, tomorrow we're back down to a glorious 70 degrees.

And that, my friends, is Melbourne weather in a nutshell.

Happy New Year!

And we're back! I know, I know, it's been too long, but Will and I are finally home from our extensive leave. Between two weeks of holiday and two weeks of living on Trinity's campus, we haven't actually been home for longer than two days in over a month, so it's a good feeling to kick back. Of course, we got back from Perth at 1.30 AM on Thursday, and Will had to be at work at 8.00 AM that morning (which was 5.00 AM Perth time), so kicking back didn't actually happen for him until this weekend. But finally -- we are well and truly ready to ring in the year of our lord 2010!

And in honor of the new year, I have several posts lined up, dating all the way back from Thanksgiving. Yes, Thanksgiving. In fact, I am so confident that these posts will actually be written and, well, posted that I will give you their topics IN ADVANCE! Be prepared to feast your eyes on recaps of the Holidays, Summer School (aka "why on earth were you babysitting a bunch of high schoolers, and seriously, did any of them really get pregnant?"), and the latest vacation.

And to get you really in the mood, here is the link to our Perth pictures. The first half of the pictures or so are from our first week spent in the city of Perth, and the second half are from the second week in Margaret River, a region about three hours outside of Perth with beautiful beaches, famous wineries, natural wildlife, and rich scenery. If you do not feel up to looking through all 400+ pictures, I will be recapping the trip in the near future. I promise.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kim.hearon/20091223WesternAustralia#

Until then, much love from the Stones as you all begin your new year.