Australia is a beautiful continent with more World Heritage locations within driving distance than I have been to in the United States (0). The people are extremely friendly - someone picked me up last night and saved me a forty minute walk to my homestay with all my bags from Tasmania. People (except the mean ferry driver) are always willing to chat and are pretty flexible with any requests you might have.
Loved my time in Australia - the beaches are pristine, the rainforests were something I've never seen, the mountains we hiked were memorable, the Great Barrier Reef was interesting and a once in a lifetime opportunity, ...
With that said, this is my final Australian blog. I've saved a couple comments critical and fake critical. We're off to New Zealand tomorrow. Despite reading
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf, I look forward to coming home and seeing you all. New Zealand will be incredible, but I look forward to the frantic lifestyle I lead in Hamburg and Schenectady. Internet will be intermittent, probably - so I will probably check it again on December 2. At some point, not today, I will write about Tasmania. Or maybe Amanda and Liz will and I will just add some pictures.
Where I've Been:
North Stradbroke Island
Heron Island
Fraser Island
Saddler Springs (outback)
New South Wales
Lamington National Park
Hobart, Cradle Mountain, and Lanceston Tasmania
Sydney
Yamba, New South Wales
Coffee
I guess the first criticism of Australia that comes to mind first is the politics that surround coffee. Australia, popularly, is a country of Steve Irwins, bush rangers, and people who drink Foster's. Basically, the Texans of the southern hemisphere. At the same time, I cannot, believe me I have tried tirelessly for the last three months, get a normal cup of coffee. Tim Hortons or Dunkin' Donuts would be fine. Decaf or regular is okay. They only offer cappuccino, late, mocha, expresso, etc. The closest they come is a flat white or an all black, which can best be compared to a weaker version of the cappuccino. The product is amazing; frothy, delicious, a perfect hazelnut color every time, a dash of cinnamon lays above the leaf meticulously drawn in the froth... it is good, weak, coffee, but sometimes we just need a double-double. I asked my host sister about this issue and I was trying to explain to her what coffee is and where I might get it - "You mean that shitty tar scraped off the bottom of the pot that Americans drink?"
"Yes. Exactly, I love that tar."
"We don't have that here. We do have a flat white, though."
The closets they have is the long black, which unfortunately tastes like sin. I don't know what it is, but it generally has coffee bean floaties ornating the surface, rather than something like a tree etched in the top of the foam.
What worries me is not that I can't get a good cup of coffee, but the cultural implications of not being able to get a "cup of joe." What did Steve Irwin order? How about the Crocodile Hunter? "Yes, please, I'll have a cafe late expresso with an irish creme booster shot, kay, thanks?" Right. Australian's are supposed to be tough - as George Bush puts it metaphorically, the U.S. is the sheriff and Australia is the deputy. Deputy's don't drink cappuccinos.
The other problem, exacerbated by our shitty American dollar lately, is the price. The cheapest "coffee" in recent memory was $3.00. I could supersize that twice in the United States. At the very least, their beer is competitive.
Lastly, this is not a grab and go type of deal. Take a number, grab a seat, and miss your train. Your coffee will be served fresh in five to fifteen minutes.
Racism
This isn't my biggest, headlining concern, because it is such an ugly subject to lead off a blog. I think the best way to describe Australia is the United States 35 years ago (1972). Bill Bryson in
Down Under (
In a Sunburnt Country in the United States) likens Australia outside metropolitan areas to the midwest of his childhood. There are three lenses that I have seen Australian's view
the blacks through. 1. Disdain 2. Sympathetic disdain (poor helpless drunks) 3. Genuine concern for their situation, how they got there, and why. The third viewpoint is limited to the boundaries of University of Queensland faculty and Aboriginal people, so we might as well toss that one out.
The first and most common way of looking at them is a disdain for their "endless unused privileges." Aboriginal people have free education, free healthcare (all Australians have healthcare), and the ability to reclaim land lost in the European invasion. The problem is that schools and healthcare in the middle of the continent has been poor. In some cases students (black and white) have "radio schools" where they learn over the radio. Aboriginal health statistics are appalling. There rates of infant mortality, heart disease, blindness, diabetes, and their life expectancy (~55 years) seem to be a small step above a third world country. I've been told that this is a "genetic" problem, which explains away the disease and life expectancy. The truth is many of the Aboriginals that survived the cultural genocide of Australians don't always have good access to healthcare and their culture has been significantly disrupted. It's pretty common to see Aborigines parading around in the street in costume, playing the didgeridoo for tourist's coins. This was a culture that often obtained all of their resources in less than four hours per day - not the 7.5 hour workdays customary to white Australians. Australian's think that free secondary education is the answer to Aboriginal strife and they should be able to pull themselves up. I can't imagine trying to compete in college with a "radio education."
The other view of Aborigines is that they are alcoholics, which seems to be the case in some places. Alcoholism is a problem, but obviously was not a problem pre-settlement. This viewpoint usually finds Aborigines helpless and useless and puts it on them to solve their problems. "They need to take care of their alcoholism and take advantage of their
intrinsic advantages." Looking at the way the average white Australian lives, they don't seem to be very put off by the poorly executed Aboriginal education and healthcare programs.
It isn't just Aboriginal people, though. The "Chinese are everywhere." At a restaurant the other day, we reserved a table and it was taken by a group of Asian students. We asked for another table and the waiter replied, "
They do this all the time. They probably threw the reserved signs on the floor." He then proceeded to make them all move, despite our protests. It turned out that they had reserved a table, too.
Racism is more prevalent here than modern day Texas. I wouldn't be surprised to find terms like towel head, dirty Aboriginal, alcoholics, or blacks used in casual conversation about foreigners. This is a country that had an official "white Australia" immigration policy until 1970 or so. It still lasts. A couple weeks ago, the immigration minister cancelled the visas of a group of Africans who were from a country that was "not fitting in."
The one exception to this air of racism is in advertising Australia. Aborigines were featured in the Sydney Olympics and their practices often pointed out in National Parks. Australia loves to celebrate their 60,000 year heritage to tourists, but I think that is about it.
Debunking Environmentalism and Sports
Australian's pride themselves on their environmental prowess, but I'm not sure why. It seems like recycling is disregarded, even when convenient, and water use doesn't meet the state imposed restrictions. Maybe these people don't realize that they don't have an abundance of water. Or that global warming could have a large impact on their almost exclusive coastal inhabitants. Environmentalism is more glamourous than anything else - they'll buy the toilet paper with the tree frogs (made from recycled paper, I'm told) or buy a reuseable bag, but they don't use the bag, don't recycle, many have SUVs, despite living a suburban life, avoid convenient public transportation, have large water intensive gardens or lawns, and still leave the lights on! It's like a United States, but lacking water - they do have a lot of energy reserves, as well.
Sports is the other thing Australian's pride themselves on. Admittedly, they don't play sports (second highest obesity only to United States), they only watch and gamble. Australians could take the Melbourne Cup (horse race) day off without punishment. The race was like five minutes long. Some Australians are really into various rugby leagues, horse racing, but I haven't noticed the obsession that South America and Europe has with soccer, or US college and professional sports. I don't see hooligans or shirtless, painted fat men. Women's most popular sport is netball. I don't know what this is. As much as Australian's pride themselves as a sporting nation, this seems like a bit of a stretch. Australians have low participation rates and watching sports doesn't seem like a striking priority.
Food
Unfortunately for Australia they are a commonwealth of England and have decided to import English food. Meat pies are a fan favorite. They don't have catch up and salt and pepper go on everything. Lettuce and tomato (salad) on sandwiches is not automatic.
Chocolate is an obsession. I have never seen so many candy store (lolly shops) in my entire life. Australians are number fourteen for chocolate consumption according to the Cadbury Factory tour guide, eating about 5 kg per hear. The US is far behind this (we eat other garbage food). Snacks such as crackers, chips, fruit, seem to be replaced by chocolate in my homestay. My homestay brother eats chocolate for breakfast. Eek.
Australians also are constantly in a period of time called tea time, which has been rewarding. Every 20 minutes or so, class ends so that we can enjoy tea, coffee, and a light snack (toast, fruit, etc). Well, not really, but there is definitely morning and afternoon tea, which is common in just about every profession from what I am told. Our classrooms are stocked with all the tea time essentials: coffee, tea, and a mint for later. God bless Australia.
Time Warp
I left on the United States August 21 at 10:30 PM and arrived in Brisbane at 11:00AM in Brisbane on August 23. I will leave New Zealand on December 1 at 1:30 PM and arrive in Los Angeles at 10:25 AM on the same day. Finally, that lost Wednesday will be returned to me. I will be back in Buffalo at 10:57 on Saturday December 1.
While we're gone for the next couple weeks here is a riddle for everyone:
I have 12 coins. One weighs more or less than all the others (it is counterfeit). You have a balance scale. You can use the scale three times to find which coin is counterfeit and whether it weighs more or less than the other coins. How do you do it? Post in the comments section.
This is a woobigone in the sydney harbor aquarium. it has sharp teeth and a strong jaw that once it bites down on you, it doesnt let go until you saw its jaw apart. we swam with these guys at heron island. this is also what steve looked like at the end of the trip when he got tired of us and didnt get his coffee!!
Amanda taught us how to make banana boats in the fire while we camped at the bottom of cradle mountain. mcardle and i froze that night!! meet jacqube (jacob), he's czech and he followed us around on cradle mountain.
Look mom, Im in Sydney.
