The Backwards Life
  • Home
  • TravelBlog
  • Where in the world am I?
  • Message Me

What Have I Been up to Lately?

7/20/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
All the Americans at our Independence Day extravaganza! Photo credit: Theresa Winters
Celebrating the 4th of July Aussie style. I didn't realize what American food was until we had a USA themed potluck. I always considered it to be diverse and a mix of everything from all cultures, but there are a few distinctive classics that are strictly American: 
  • Mac 'n Cheese
  • Nachos
  • Hot dogs
  • Burgers
  • Krispy Kreme
  • Cornbread
  • Brownies



For the foreigners, the potluck was American FAQ time. With a room full of yanks, when better to ask your burning questions about America?

Common FAQs about the US:
  • Is it true meatloaf is a combination of like 15 meats smashed up and cooked together?
  • Why would you ever consider grilling a hotdog? I thought they were only meant to be boiled...
  • Aren't rootbeer floats alcoholic?

Picture
Tasting Wine with Italians. That's right, I went on a little day trip to a vineyard in er, the middle of nowhere! It ended up being me, my newly found British friend, Adrian and a slew of Italians! 

Luckily, we got the VIP treatment, sipped wines galore and finished off the evening with a delicious homemade pasta carbonara from the locals!

Picture
Making lots of cupcakes...and Dylan eats them. Dylan is my latest Melbourne vegan BFF. We do random things like play guitar, make dinosaur shaped cupcakes and have frequent potlucks at his house! Thanks to Dylan, I'm getting quite good at cooking vegan food.

These are my banana almond vegan cupcakes with fudge frosting. Amazing!

0 Comments

Road Trip to the Middle of…Nowhere

7/5/2012

0 Comments

 
Sometimes I forget that I live in the middle of Australia. Well, not the middle perse, but I do reside on the edge of a massive desert continent floating in an ocean somewhere in the furthermost corner of the earth. I perform periodic reality checks where I jolt out of bed and rip the curtains open just to make sure the cars are actually driving on the left side. Strange, I know, but Melbourne seems so much like any city in the U.S. that I often forget. That is, until (on the rare occasion) I happen to venture outside of the city, and I’m unmistakably in the middle of nowhere, Australia.

It wasn’t long ago that I went Melbourne crazy and set off on a weekend road trip. Not only was I in for a massive wrong side of the road driving adventure, but I also got a big mouthful of Aussie culture. People often ask what the biggest difference is between living in Australia and America, and I whimsically respond, “it’s all the same, just change the accent and drive on the opposite side of the road.” In retrospect, I would like to add in—just take away all signs of civilization and you’ve got Australia.

With a landmass nearly the size of the continental US and only 1/7th  of our population, you can expect sparse dribbles of human settlement here and there. I though parts of the Midwest were rural, but Australia takes the cake. There’s a distinct dividing line where it goes from big city suburbs to rolling hills nothingness for hundreds of miles.  Country? Yes. Creepy? Little bit. Bogan? Oh yeah! [Refer to A Lesson in Boganism for cultural refrences]

My Kiwi bud, Chris and I set off for Mt. Beauty, a town three hours northeast of Melbourne. Along the way we popped into a few towns just to get a feel for rural Australia. I was expecting quaint Sunday brunch then stroll down the main street for shopping type of country town. You know, the kind of place you would take a day trip to in upstate New York? It was more of like a THERE IS ABSOULETLY NOTHING HERE except a grocery store and gas station and oh wait…where are all the people and houses?! type of town. Country? Yes. Creepy? Little bit. Bogan? Oh yeah!

Bottom line? Apart from kangaroo watching and gumtree gazing (and yes, there are plenty) the Australian countryside does not have much to offer in the way of entertainment. The perks of having no civilization in sight? It was the perfect place to practice my left side driving skills and not have to worry about hitting anyone! And, I did get to see snow in Australia, so I’d say the weekend was a success!

Picture
Road through the middle of nowhere, Australia
Picture
Chris & Me in Mt. Beauty
Picture
Playing in the leaves!
0 Comments

    “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”
    –Cesare Pavese

    Archives

    April 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    Airport
    Algarve
    Algeciras
    America
    Amsterdam
    Angkor Wat
    Arrabida
    Asia
    Australia
    Australian Culture
    Bangkok
    Barcelona
    Bari
    Belvedere
    Bethlehem
    Bikes
    Bogan
    Borozo
    Bosphorous
    Budapest
    Bus
    Cafe
    Cambodia
    Camel
    Cascades D'Ouzoud
    Cascais
    Cave
    Chiang Mai
    Christmas
    Coffee
    Communism
    Cooking
    Couchsurfing
    Croatia
    Cycling
    Czech Republic
    Departure
    Design
    Diving
    Dubrovnik
    Ely
    Ember Mitchell
    Employment In Australia
    Ephasus
    Essaouira
    Favorite Places
    Ferry
    Fez
    Fish
    Food
    Freak Out!
    Genocide
    Gibraltar
    Granada
    Greece
    Halong Bay
    Hanoi
    Helsinki
    Hitchhiking
    Hmong
    House Of Terror
    Hungary
    Hutyee Boat
    Ilmer
    Imagination
    Israel
    Istanbul
    Italy
    Itinerary
    Job Searching
    Jordan
    Koh Lanta
    Koh Tao
    Kos
    Kuang Si Falls
    Ladyboys
    Laos
    Lisbon
    Lonely Planet
    Luang Prabang
    Malaga
    Marrakech
    Meditation
    Mekong River
    Melbourne
    Merzouga
    Middle East
    Misspellings
    Mom
    Monk
    Monkey
    Morocco
    Mosque
    Netherlands
    Oia
    One Month
    Online Dating
    Pai
    Palestine
    Petrodvortes
    Phnom Penh
    Pizza
    Portugal
    Prague
    Rip Off
    Rosa Parks
    Rude
    Russia
    Ruud
    Saint Petersburg
    Sam
    Santorini
    Sapa
    Scam
    Seattle
    Selcuk
    Seven Months
    Sevilla
    Shopping
    Siem Reap
    Similan Islands
    Slow Boat
    Spain
    Split
    Stockholm
    Sunset
    Sweden
    Sydney
    Tangier
    Tapas
    Tel Aviv
    Thailand
    Thanksgiving
    Todra Gorge
    Trekking
    Tubing
    Turkey
    Two Months
    Vang Vieng
    Vicks Vaporub
    Vietnam
    Warrnambool
    West Bank
    Western Culture

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.