Criminals vs Rebels

Departing Australia

Australian friend: Well, we are a bunch of criminals over here.

Us: Is that considered better or worse than the bunch of violent rebels we come from?

One of the things that has amazed us about Australia has been its similarity to the United States. In some previous articles we talked about how the “imperfect mirror” taught us some pretty profound lessons about racism (theirs and ours) but the little things were just as fun.

We have the same TV shows
(2 and a half men is a big deal down under…who knew?)

we drive big cars
(Mad Max was an Australian movie…)

and we speak
(…’a horribly maimed version of’…)
the English language.

After all, we we’re both colonies formed by the same father country!

So as a salute to the continent that is a country and that constituted one of the largest single portions of our journey, here are some of the little things that made “down under” so interesting…

Continue reading “Criminals vs Rebels”

August 5, 2013August 10, 2013

House or Travel?

Karumba, QLD, AU

As our time wound down in Australia we found ourselves having a difficult conversation about a choice we could not had foreseen coming when we first started this adventure.

Like we said last week, we had a good time “living the dream” and we were successful at said dream; we had completed what we originally set out to do. Much more than what we originally planned actually, as this whole “sailing to Australia by way of Tahiti” kind of came together on the fly. What we had not anticipated was that the dream would actually be fairly profitable. You see, Australia had been good to us on the job front and their wages for the jobs we worked were, when compared to the United States, 2 – 3 times higher than what we would have been paid in the states. Alongside that we had watched our money very carefully and saved every chance we got. Also don’t forget there were 2 of us. What that all boils down to is that when we originally planned our trip, we had not expected to leave Australia with a surplus of cash. As it turns out, we did have quite a reasonable surplus…which led us to a question we weren’t sure how to answer:

House or Travel?

Continue reading “House or Travel?”

July 29, 2013July 29, 2013

Backpacker Jobs How-to

Karumba, QLD, AU

How the heck are we doing this?

This article comes by way of a reader. Travis asks:

“I love to travel and have recently come to the decision that I should spend my youth doing what I love. I found your blog while searching the internet for how to get it done, and it was like a diamond in the rough. My tentative plan is similar to your own. I’m going to be here probably another year. In that time I’m going to work and save to start my trip.

But my real question comes once I get where I want to go. That place is Australia and I would like to live and work there for awhile. Maybe making my way towards Europe if I can really save some good money while I’m there (in Australia). This is the point where I start wondering if that’s all just wishful thinking. I’m a little foggy on the whole “working in a foreign country and actually making more money there than I would here in the US” part. For instance, How do you find a job? Place to live? If you do why are employers and landlords so okay with the idea that you would only be there for a couple months?”

Continue reading “Backpacker Jobs How-to”

July 22, 2013July 23, 2013

Victoria Grog Files

Victoria, AU

We had two opportunities to check out the wine regions of Victoria. The first was just after we finished up our time working at a horse racing stable and the second is when we decided a mandatory piece of the great Australian road trip with Tiffany’s brother Chris was to jump-start his education on “How to find wines I like?” While both visits were brief, they both netted solid results on quality vino.

Unfortunately, it was easier to find the beers of Victoria elsewhere in the country than the wines.

Continue reading “Victoria Grog Files”

July 15, 2013July 18, 2013

Tradies

Karumba, QLD, Australia

Disembodied audience voice: So Greg & Tiffany

You’re out in the middle of nowhere,

Us: Yep

Disembodied audience voice: Far enough out that the EMT needs volunteer drivers and the nearest medical facility is an hour away by ambulance?

Us: Right

Disembodied audience voice: 28 foot crocodiles?

Us: That’s what they say

Disembodied audience voice: And you’re tending a bar at a pub. Serving drinks.

“Thongs” mean “flip-flops” in Australian. It leads to funny conversations.

Us: There’s betting too. Mostly drinks though.

Disembodied audience voice:

TO WHO!?

Who the heck is willing live there!?

Continue reading “Tradies”

July 8, 2013July 9, 2013

Sure I’ll drive the Ambulance

Karumba, QLD, Australia

Bar Manager: Greg, You’re sober right?

Greg (bartending): Uh, yeah?

Bar Manager: Right, you’re the only one so do you mind driving the ambulance to the hospital while the medic works on the patient?

Greg: uh…

Do I get to use the siren?

Continue reading “Sure I’ll drive the Ambulance”

July 1, 2013July 1, 2013

Don’t mow your lawn!

Karumba, QLD, Australia

We want to introduce you to something that Tiffany’s mom considers to be one of the nastiest, grossest, ickiest things in the world:

The Tree Frog

Continue reading “Don’t mow your lawn!”

June 24, 2013June 24, 2013

Outback pub life

Karumba, QLD, Australia

518 people

About 466 miles from “Cans“

Sometimes, oh and without warning of course, the whole town just separates from the mainland and becomes an island for a few months…so you want to watch out for that.

and the largest gator (sorry…CROC…because it matters while it’s eating you…) ever caught in the history of the planet? Yeah, right down the road.

28ft, 4in long. This is a to-scale model!

Welcome to Karumba

Continue reading “Outback pub life”

June 17, 2013June 23, 2013

Coconut rice pudding

Enroute Karumba, QLD, AU

Tiffany’s been having a craving for rice pudding lately. For some weird reason she gets this craving every few months (this and Mexican food. Nope, not supposed to make sense). In our previous lives this was easily and promptly solved by a trip to Trader Joe’s…

Unfortunately for her, they have not yet expanded to Australia. So she took her tastebuds online. Now, Tiffany prides herself as a rather “uncomplicated” cook. She can cook, and very well thank you, but generally she looks for what both Greg and her agree are the “3 hallmarks of good food” –

Easy –

if the recipe calls for more than about 3 ingredients, she’s usually just not interested.

Effective –

Fills one up without getting them fat

Good –

We would choose to eat it again

That being said, since we’ve been traveling and eating restaurant food or quick stuff, both of our desires to cook have increased (a little bit anyway). The great thing about living on a boat is that you learn lots of new recipes that fit our criteria exactly.

What is awesome is that both of us have learned to make lots of new things that only take a few ingredients and we’ve gotten to the point that if it has 5 ingredients we’re willing to put the effort in.

Especially if one of those ingredients is coconut milk.

Continue reading “Coconut rice pudding”

June 10, 2013June 10, 2013

South Australia Grog Files

South Australia, AU

We didn’t plan on spending too much time here, however the Beast had other plans. Upside, we got to see a zombie parade and ride the cross-Australia train. Downside, it’s hard to go wine tasting when your wheels decide it’s time for retirement in mid-trip. And led us to get creative in our transportation options

However even with the limited exploration range and curtailed time frame, SA did surprisingly well. (to be fair, we had the inside scoop)

Continue reading “South Australia Grog Files”

Category: Australia

Criminals vs Rebels

Departing Australia

Like this: