At the Costco yesterday, saw an albino Chinese for the first time ever. Was jarring. Again, no payoff, just sharing.
Last Saturday was the bi-annual (October/April) Fair at the kids school and was the 5th time that I've led the hot dog booth. With a generous donation from Costco, whose involvement started 16 years ago, we had 800 dogs to sell this time. We had the same amount last October when the weather was crappy and we ended up selling a majority at a huge discount and gave away a hundred or two to the staff. The staff were happy, but waste is one of the things a Virgo hates most. This time, we had great (for Taiwan) weather and were on fire from the opening bell. Sold out without any discount at 1:53pm, an hour plus before the end of the Fair.
In the booth next to us were these Turkish guys selling something. I don't even know what they were offering as there was this sign on their table and immediately turned and walked away in disgust.
I get that the locals are spice averse, but damn... One of the Dads came around questioning the hygiene of our booth's workers as if he were the health inspector. I told him to grab my meat thermometer. We then got into a discussion as to what is wrong with me and as he is well versed in behaviorism, he said I exhibited aggressive anti-social behavior. Whatever. As soon as he says this, a lady we are familiar with walks up. This lady and her husband wear New England Patriot and Boston Red Sox gear all the time and by all the time, I have seen them on dozens of occasions and they have strapped on the Pats/Sox wear, many times tops and bottoms, every single time. What is wrong with people? Like you have anything to do with their success. Anyway, on Fair day, she wasn't wearing any New England gear and I say "I didn't recognize you without any Patriot crap on", and the Health Inspector Dad says 'classic'.
Last we left off, our time in north Queensland was coming to a close and we had two nights left in country. We were headed to Brisbane and saw on the TV that morning that their airport bathrooms were voted the cleanest in Australia. The newscaster adds that no other contestants need "two ply". Clever. Appreciate some good potty talk and we were all delighted by the casual swearing and innuendos we encountered on our whole time trip.
In the van from the rental car place to the airport, we struck up a conversation with the driver and learned about the foreigner visa programs they have. For some countries (other commonwealth nations for sure and we think some other European ones) you can get a 1 year visitor visa and then get a second year with the caveat that you have to work at least three months in certain industries. This guy was a Brit that had just come off of 3 months doing hard work on a farm, but said that his real hope was to emigrate to America. We joked that he had an OK chance as long as he wasn't Muslim or Mexican and he laughs and says his dad is Iranian and his last name was very Persian. Sorry dude, you're outta luck. Was then sitting with a guy at the airport waiting for his flight and he is obviously a country boy. Tells me he is flying to Brisbane to get his other car as he rolled his pickup a few days before. He wasn't drunk when he crashed it, but says he was pretty hung over from the night before. Asked if the cuts and bruises he had were from the accident and he laughs and says they were from falling down at the pub. Reason I mention him was that he works in a strip mine and he was telling me about all the foreign workers he meets on the same visa program, like Brits and Germans. I ask if there are any Filipinos or Indonesians..."none of those" he says. 'How about Americans' I ask and he tells me I am the second one of those he has ever met. Apparently, Australia is having some of the same issues with immigration as we are feeling in the States
When I was in Australia in '83, lived in Melbourne and that was a city Betty kinda wanted to see, so was asked a bunch why we didn't go there and chose Brisbane instead. First, I have never been able to find any of my old friends or family and I'd just want to drive around my old haunts, which would be boring for the family. Second, Betty sent me a link to a Koala preserve that she was interested in that is in Brisbane. But the real reason we went there was Australian Rules Football.
As soon as we decided to go during Spring break, I looked at the Footy schedule. Their football season starts late March so knew I wanted to catch a game as I fell in love with it way back when and still contend it is the greatest sport to watch. Back when ESPN was just starting and they didn't have Baseball/Football/Basketball to broadcast, they showed crazy sports from around the world and Aussie Rules was on a lot, so knew a bit about it when I went. I decided to go all in when I arrived and set out to find a team that fit my personality. The family I was living with were Carlton Blues fans, and my best buddy was a Geelong Cats supporter, but I wanted to know what was the team that was mean and dirty and everyone hated. Unanimously, the Essendon Bombers was their reply and followed them throughout the season. They went to the Grand Final that year (getting pummeled in that last game) but I had a ton of fun being "that" fan.
In looking at our schedule and comparing it to the fixture, saw that the Bombers were playing at the famous Gabba that weekend in Brisbane. It was a tight fit as we had an hour and a half between our flight arrival and first bounce, but we were efficient and made it to our seats 1 minute before game time.
We also had meat pies at the game. These weren't the gourmet ones we had eaten previously, but were the industrial Four 'nTwenty brand. For my money, still the best.
After a first half dominated by the Bombers, during the half time show at all Footy games they bring out a bunch of kids from local little league teams to have a game on the field. The kids couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years old and is just a charming tradition. Really, the whole spectacle at these games is great in that you aren't assaulted by constant music or calls to 'get loud'. The fans (felt like 60/40 Brisbane/Essendon) were loud on their own in a well versed way, crude and good natured throughout. I didn't get a picture, but there was an Essendon fan guy in a wheelchair that went around the concourse the whole game screaming obscenities at Brisbane fans and they just laughed jeered back at him. No fisticuffs or physical aggression anywhere to be seen.
Our tickets (which cost AU$20 each, or about US$15) allowed us to take public transit home for free. All the people and drivers were so helpful in getting us to the right stops/transfers and we got home in about 20 minutes. On a trip with a ton of great stuff, by far the highlight for me.
The next day was the highlight for everyone else though as we decided to go to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary . I have not been a zoo fan for a long time...not morally opposed to them per se, just feel bad for the animals and they make me sad. Was sorta angling to maybe do something different this day, like check out a beach on the Gold Coast, but the family had never seen any of the animals native to Australia as they don't have them in many zoos around the world, so it seemed like the right thing to do. Located 17 miles outside of town, we found out there was a ferry that takes you to and fro as part of the admission, and we were overjoyed to learn that it docks for the night right outside of our hotel and they have an agreement with the tour operator to get on early and before anyone else.
The boat goes leisurely up the cleverly named Brisbane River and was just perfect.
The town is fantastically clean and modern and really, I fell in love with it. The river looks dirty, but remember they just got past a cyclone and that it is a tidal river which causes a lot of turbidity (great new word).
While I was originally down on it, Lone Pine had all of the animals we wanted to see. Don't feel that the enclosures were any better or worse than any other good zoo, but seeing all of these unusual animals was a treat. At dinner that night, we played a game where we went around naming them to see who could remember the most. I came in last and the Boy ultimately won, but here is what I wrote down...
Koala, kangaroo, platypus, wombat, dingo, Tasmanian devil, cassowary, olive python, flying fox bat, crocodile, emu, princess parrot, cockatoo, water monitor, turkey, sheep dog, ducks, black headed python, turtles, barking owl, kookaburra.
Of course, the main attraction is being able to hold a Koala Bear, which isn't a bear, but sounds funny when you say it with an Australian accent. Babydoll said it the best.
Couldn't get a good shot of the wombats, but they turned out to be my new favorite as they look so damn lazy.
There was no commentary on the way back to town, but Betty and I were sitting on the front of the boat and we started listening to this group that was sitting with us. They were mainly foreigners but all living in Australia and working in the education industry. Their job was to be student visa facilitators for non-Australian students. Australian colleges cost 1/3 to 1/2 less than those in the States and we were sad that we learned this too late for the Boy, but immediately started working on Babydoll to go to Brisbane for school cause we would be more than happy to visit often. In the hotel that morning were two crews of Air Canada flights coming and going, and they said the non-stop round trip from Vancouver to Brisbane was US$620. Wow.
After the boat, we had time to take the 20 minute walk across town and take in some of the city sights, and we first ran into a plaza that was having a Spring rummage sale. It was all of these college age looking kids selling off their old clothes and things. Not as sleazy as it sounds...Babydoll bought a cute dress for a couple of bucks. She was sorta interested in this jacket, but when I said she looked like a soldier in the North Korean military, she passed.
There is a well maintained path along both sides of the river that is perfect for walking/running/biking and we walked 10 minutes from our hotel to dinner the last night.
"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?"
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