Friday September 3rd: Following the Beast's hiccups of Tuesday, Liz and I decided to hire a car for a few days so that Mum and Dad could still use Bil and we would have something in case we wanted to go anywhere. We called a local car rental place and arranged to go pick up a car. They told us it would be a Corolla. Satisfied with that, Dad gave us a ride to the place, and they gave us a Hyundai. When all was said and done the Hyundai was fine - it was decent enough with gas and got us from point A to several other lettered points.
The first place we went in the car was into Newcastle, to the Wilderness Society where Liz did an internship while she was in Australia. We walked in there to find that the office renovations that had started while Liz was there were finished. Liz told the person working there who she was, and the guy started to go through all the people that would have been working there when Liz was there but had since left. In the end the last lady, the one Liz wanted to see, had resigned the day before. Disappointed that no-one was there, we got some magnets and headed down the street to Al Gator's - a food place that sells falafel. Now, we've been spoiled by having Layla's up the street from us, and they have great falafel. We double checked with the guy first to make sure there wasn't any gluten or dairy in the falafel before we bought anything. He pointed to something that didn't look at all like falafel and tried to tell us it had a small amount of flour, but that it was the tiniest amount. We snuck out while he was serving someone else. We walked down the street, but couldn't find anything that we wanted to eat. We eventually decided to jump back into the car, go to the supermarket and get some basic supplies to take to my grandmother's house and eat lunch with her.
We rolled up to the supermarket and bought some crackers, peanut butter and something else. My grandmother lives 5 minutes walk, if that, from the supermarket; we got in the car and drove to her house. Knocking on the door we heard movement in the house, but didn't see Nan. After what seemed like minutes she finally checked the back door and let us in. Nan hadn't finished her lunch yet, so we ate with her and hung out and chatted for a while. Apparently we made her day by turning up there, which was a pretty big statement. Dad had been there earlier, and he had brought her a potato pie for lunch. If someone had brought me pie I would have found that hard to top.
Nan lives not far from where I used to work, so we decided to drop by there to see if they had a spare power cable for the laptop to test with. They didn't, unfortunately, but I got to talk for a few minutes with the network guy I used to work with. He made fun of how I say "Australia". Bastard.
Next stop for us was where the camera started to get a little bit of use. We went to a park called Blackbutt Reserve. Blackbutt is a parcel of land in Newcastle which has been left as trees and bush. There are also some enclosures there for native wildlife so that people can come and see animals. They have a lot of different types of birds, but what really tends to draw people in are the wombats, wallaroos (a macropod between the size of a wallaby and a kangaroo) and, in particular, the koalas.
A wallaroo
The path at Blackbutt that goes through the enclosures is a circuit, that takes you past the wombats first, then the wallaroos, then into a flight aviary where the koalas are. We stopped for a long time with the koalas, we could only see 2 when we first went in there. As we got closer to the second one, Liz said "What's it holding?". From my angle the koala just looked fat, which, in my defence, is a fair assumption for a koala, so I said it was just fat. Liz swore it was holding something, and when the "fat stomach" moved I admitted she was right. The koala was holding a baby koala. We waited patiently for a while, but the baby didn't poke its head out, so we headed along through the birds.
When we emerged at the end of the birds, we could see the koala in the aviary moving. Figuring we might be able to see the baby now, we ran inside, and there it was, moving around, poking its head out.
Our paid time in the parking lot was about to expire, so we went back to the car and started driving home. Along the way we stopped in at a butcher in Warners Bay to take some photos of a sign that heped me come up with the AIM handle that I use at work.
The Beefprawn sign, with our rental car
Unfortunately, the place has redone the painting on the side of the building, and it just used to say "Beef Prawn" and then have the prices beneath. Adding the "&" makes sense, but takes away from the effect.
Liz drove home from the butcher, and along the way drove through a police speed trap. There were 3 cops standing on the side of the road, one of them armed with a radar gun (he was probably also armed with his regular gun, but he didn't have that out, pointed at cars). Liz was under the limit and on the right side of the road, so she was allowed to continue on.
Saturday September 4th: Saturday September 4th, 2010 will go down in history as a day of awesomeness. It was a day so awesome, that it needed photos from multiple sources to capture all the awesomeness. It started out like 90+% of days; yep, with waking up. We went to Wicked in the morning and then tackled the mall.
We called Matt to find out what he was up to, and when nothing was his response, he swung by my parents place. One of the places Liz wanted to go back to in Australia was the Bogey Hole. The Bogey Hole is a pool that was carved out in the rock at the base of some cliffs along the Newcastle beaches. It is filled by ocean water, is quite deep, but is also very dangerous. People have been killed or paralyzed at the Bogey Hole, but it looks cool. So Matt, Kel, Liz and I loaded up in the Hyundai and headed into Newcastle.
It was a good time to go to the Bogey Hole - it was very overcast out but there was a slight break in the rain. The ocean was rough and choppy because of the weather, and the water was dark. I thought it all looked angry. We walked from the car park down the stairs to the unused roadway at the top of the Bogey Hole. Heeding the signs to not go any further, we stayed at the top and watched the waves crash into the rocks and cliffs around the Bogey Hole.
Wave crash at the Bogey Hole (photo by Matt)
(Photo by Matt)
Liz photobombs a (photo by Matt)
Kel wipes something off his shoe on the railing (photo by Matt)
Slow shutter wave crash
We stayed for about half an hour before jumping back in the car and heading for the grocery store. The plan for the evening was to have a pizza night. Basically, people come over, bring ingredients for pizza, everyone makes pizza and then eats together. We got to Charlestown and Matt started talking about how he could really go for tacos. A suggestion was made, and it was born.
What do you do when you're having pizza for dinner but have a craving for tacos?
You have both. Combined. To make Taco Pizza.
Yes. Taco Pizza.
We hit the grocery store and bought the items that we would normally put on tacos. Liz got regular stuff, because she didn't want a full taco pizza. All the basics were there - ground beef (aka mince), taco seasoning, cheese (not on mine), corn chips to act as taco shell replacement (I used regular corn chips, Matt and Kel used some form of Dorito), salsa, jalapenos and refried beans. For a while Kel disappeared, but when we found him again he was carrying 2 2-litre bottles of LA Maxi Ice soda. LA Ice is a generic cola beverage that tastes absolutely fantastic, and Maxi ice is the sugar free version. Not liking the list of ingredients on the Maxi Ice I thought my chance to drink the sweet nectar of the cola gods was lost. After some time searching the store though, I found the regular LA Ice and was fine with the ingredients on it. Dinner was starting to take shape - good food, good beverage.
Once back in the kitchen Liz made a dough for the 2 of us; the others were using store bought crusts. I put the LA Ice in the freezer, knowing that the colder it got the better it was, before snacking on corn chips, dipping them in the salsa. My corn chip eating was foiled by the chips being too large for the opening in the jar... I eventually stopped due to a mixture of small opening frustration and to ensure adequate levels of salsa and chips for pizza. I prepared the meat - cooking it in a pan and sprinkling the Old El Paso seasoning over it. Leaving it to sit and soak in its delightful taco gravy juices, attention moved back to what else was going on these taco pizzas.
(Photo by Matt)
(Photo by Matt)
Chip foiled! (photo by Matt)
Jonathan and Terri arrived, bags laden with ingredients, announcing that they had extra brocollini if anyone wanted it. Pfft! There was no, and never will be, room on taco pizza for ingredients like broccolini (but thanks for offering, despite the pfft). I layered a little tomato sauce, then copious amounts of refried beans (why do I keep typing "refriend beans"??). I smeared some salsa on the beans, then dumped on meat. Lots of meat. Between the 3 pizzas made, we used a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of beef. That's almost the same amount of beef that would go into 9 quarter-pound beef patties. Or the same amount as would go into one 2.2 pound beef patty. I threw on jalapenos, which were hotter than I expected them to be, before adding some crushed corn chips. Into the oven it went with its brothers (and the inferior regular pizzas).
"Class. Dignity. Taco Pizza." -Matt Bibby
(Photo by Matt)
Time to serve. Rather than damage the beauty that was taco pizza by attempting a move to a plate, I ate my pizza straight off the oven tray. Sipping the cold LA Ice, we raised our trays and toasted the incredibleness that is Taco Pizza. People who were eating regular pizza were jealous - Liz had a couple of mouthfuls of mine - Jonathan and Terri tried some of Matt's. That much Taco Pizza leaves its mark though - my stomach felt increasingly close to exploding the more I ate. But I didn't stop. I ate it all, and the warm satisfaction of Taco Pizza, or was it jalapenos, stayed in my mouth as I started to digest.
My Taco Pizza
Matt's Taco Pizza (photo by Matt)
Now, with a full stomach, it was time to Wii.
I lost...
Terri got tired after a while and left, but I was wired - I don't know if it was taco pizza or LA Ice keeping me going. Jonathan, Matt, Liz and I kept playing the Wii and listening to music, before it got late for everyone and the curtain fell on Taco Pizza night. But there will certainly be encores - Liz and I have already made taco pizza since returning to the US.
Sunday September 5th: Today was actually Father's Day in Australia, so we celebrated by giving Dad a card and some chocolate. Our big plan for the day was to go to the Jets game. The Jets are Newcastle's team in the A-League, which is the highest level national soccer competition. I had never been to a Jets game - I had only been years ago to either Breakers or Newcastle United games, which were pre-A-league teams. There were 6 of us: Mum, Dad, Kel, Rach, Liz and I.
Photo by Liz
This was the seat that I was holding the ticket to:
Luckily everyone was able to move down a seat. We were in the third row, right near the benches where the coaching staff and reserves were sitting, so we were close to the action. Our focus was stolen occasionally by birds. There were some small falcons flying around and sitting in the construction work taking place in one of the grandstands.
At the end of 90 something minutes it was Jets 0, Brisbane Roar 0 - the kind of game that Mike would say was typical soccer. The Jets had the better chances, but they couldn't score, and Brisbane came close once, but the Jets 'keeper made a good save.
Some highlights from the game were the Jets' mascot, the little kids playing at halftime, and the crowd. I've never been to a live sporting event outside of Australia, so I don't know how biased and vocal other audiences can be, but Newcastle crowds are very vocal. I did watch a World Cup soccer game in a bar in England - they spent most of the game yelling how terrible their own players were and questioning their parents' marital status when they were born. Anyway, the crowd was yelling all sorts of stuff. One guy, a European guy, yelled out "Kick the ball.", while Liz' favorite was when a kid yelled at the ref "Why do you have to be such an idiot?!".
After the game we barbecued some burgers and sausages. The sausages were awesome - Australian sausages are different to American ones (Liz thinks they are more like breakfast sausages), so it was great to have something that I grew up with. I had them with large amounts of tomato sauce (ketchup), because that's the way to eat them. It wasn't just any old tomato sauce, though, it was the good stuff - Fountain. There were also leftover sausages - breakfast for the next couple of days!!!
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