Où suis-je?

Australia is obsessed with the French. Everywhere I look - "Je t'aime," Eiffel towers, crepes..

I came to Australia to see koala bears, not berets. C'est la vie. At least the croissants are delicious.

Adventures of Linus, Belle, and Velma in Perth

Our quick weekend trip to Perth was fun-filled and relaxing. Perth is the home of the most beautiful beaches in Australia, and we definitely took full advantage.

A peaceful round of yoga before we were chased off the grass by cardio boxers.

We took a ferry to the very remote Rottnest Island. It was the epitome of Australia - gorgeous and fun all around the coast with an almost completely empty centre. There were almost no roads and maybe three cars on the whole island. Biking was the most efficient form of travel.

Our bikes had affectionate names - Linus, Belle, and Velma.

Rottnest Island was also home to the adorable Quokka.

Known by some (me) as a Wallarat: wallaby + rat.

Public transportation was comme çi, comme ça. Let's just say we did quite a bit of walking. I'm still not sure if he was joking, but one Australian told us to visit King's Park, "It's huge, way bigger than Central Park." Okay sure, bigger than CP, but size isn't everything. King's Park was a giant untamed bushland. I thought I was in the savannahs of Lion King. Rafiki, is that you?

We trekked through King's Park to the Botanic Gardens to see this view of the Perth Central Business District just after sunset. And then we walked into the Perth CBD.

And then we walked to the airport with all our 15 kg of luggage.

And then we walked to the airport. Note we were carrying our luggage throughout this odyssey.

For the grand finale - no trip with me is complete without loads of food, especially after all that walking. Exhibit A: The Family Size "The Works" pizza:

..with extra pineapple.

Word of the Day

Woop Woop (also, Whoop Whoop): an invented name for an unimportant town, aka the middle of nowhere

"You're going to have to drive through Woop Woop to get to Darwin."

Breadtop

I can't justify buying more clothes, but food is a necessity. Recently, "shopping" has come to mean scanning the streets for the next café, restaurant, or, my personal favorite, the bakery.

Everytime I see the glowing yellow lights of a Breadtop Bakery, I'm drawn in like a fly to the zapper.

Of all the bakeries in Melbourne, Breadtop takes the cake (haha I so funny). Every puffy bread with a delicious filling that I've tried has been heavenly, there's heaps of variety (from twin sausage rolls to pineapple coconut buns to chocolate mocca gateaux), and it's the cheap.

And this is only one half of one wall of one Breadtop!

Yesterday, I semi-unintentionally went on a self-guided tour of Breadtops in Melbourne. I literally walked into six different Breadtops in two hours. A few more weeks of this, and you're going to be calling me Muffintop. But hey, look at the bright side, maybe then I will need to buy some new clothes..

Trivia Time: Answers

Some surprising and not so surprising answers to Tuesday's Trivia:

1. Name this famous person:

One of those "oooohhh" moments. That is the face of Prince William.

My team was convinced that the B&W picture was President Obama. Can you see the resemblance?

2. What country has the highest obesity percentage?

Australia. Boo-yah, that's right, it's NOT America! I have never been so proud (just don't ask me who has the highest overall population of fat people).

3. In what city will you find the bar "Cheeky Monkey"?

Byron Bay, just outside Brisbane on the East Coast of Australia. Dankeschön to the well-traveled Austrian girls on Team Wemal.

And saving my favorite for last..

4. What actress was born on the 23rd of November, 1992 with the name Destiny Hope?

Miley Cyrus, otherwise known as Hannah Montana. I will forever be known in Adelaide as "that girl who knew Miley Cyrus's birthday." I knew my subscription to Tiger Beat magazine would pay off someday.

Word of the Day

Hey?

interjection

1. "Right?" similar to the Canadian "Eh?" usually at the end of a sentence.

"You're coming to the pub tonight, hey?"

"I'll see you there, mate."

2. "What?" as in response to an American talking too fast about nothing in particular.

American: "Oh-my-God-so-yesterday-yada-yada-akljwfe.."

Aussie: "Hey?" [What the hell is she talking about?]

Adelaide - not as boring as you think

A wise man once said, "Adelaide is the Philadelphia of Australia." So why still visit? Because I don't like to listen to people, and it was boldfaced on the map.

Team WEMAL won the trivia competition (I'd like to say my teen pop knowledge was a key factor in that success - see Trivia Question #4).

Woohoo we won a bottle of wine!

I chatted with a friendly hippie who owns a store called Purple Haze.

Yes, he has two purple braids and makes all his own clothes.

And then I bought a drawing from a homeless man at the bus stop who was telling me about the Big Man Upstairs.

He gave me a deal - only 50 cents for this picture because he liked me.

Overall, I'd call it a successful weekend.

Trivia Time

[Questions taken from Friday's Trivia Night at Backpack Oz, Adelaide.]

1. Name this famous person:

2. What country has the highest obesity percentage?

3. In what city will you find the bar "Cheeky Monkey"?

4. What actress was born on the 23rd of November, 1992 with the name Destiny Hope?

Don't cheat. Answers to come soon!

A New Coffee Convert

I ordered my first cappuccino this weekend, and it came with COCOA POWDER on top.

Almost too beautiful to drink.

The next day, I got an iced coffee, and it came with ICE CREAM. (I have yet to try an iced chocolate, but I'm pretty confident it's going to be heaven in my mouth.)

Sorry Dunkin Donuts, it's not you, it's me. I like ice cream.

Highlights from New Zealand

I spent Easter break in New Zealand, exploring the best parts of the South Island with 11 other people in 2 campervans. The country was full of sheep, trees, lakes, oceans, and huge mountains. The weather was perfectly sunny and beautiful for us, even in the parts of the country that get 300 days of rain a year. We were even luckier with our illegal and very sketchy campervan parking – apparently you aren’t allowed to camp on the sides of main roads, but we didn’t get busted once!

Our first night, we arrived late at night in Akaroa, not knowing that we had parked along the most beautiful lake in town until morning!

Here comes another top ten list: My Favourite Parts of New Zealand:

10. The baby lifestyle. As a passenger in the giant campervan, I was entitled to a continuous cycle of eating, drinking, and sleeping during our long roadtrips.

I’d say I probably spent the majority of the week lounging in this cozy bed.

9. Rugged living. When we weren’t on the road, we were hardcore campers. That means hiking up the beautiful rocky mountains, breathing in the crisp air, barely showering, and peeing in the woods.

See that reflection in the water? I'm so artsy.

8. Kayaking Milford Sound. What’s better than belting your favourite Disney songs while kayaking through an otherwise peaceful fiord? Seven other things, apparently. Keep reading.

Milford Sound is actually a fjord and not a sound, but New Zealanders spell it "fiord" just to be even more difficult.

7. Extreme spooning. Four girls in one full size bed (see image from #10 above). We made it work.

6. Climbing the Franz Josef Glacier. It was such a nice day we hiked in shorts!

Who do you think is going to get killed first?

5. Queenstown. I’d call it a cross between the ski resort towns of Colorado, the hiking in Maine, and the extreme adventureland in my head.

A view of Queenstown from one of its highest peaks. We were told the hike to the top of this mountain would take three hours, but we owned it in under sixty minutes!

4. The Fergburger. I’m drooling just thinking about it.

"This tastes so good, I'm worried I'm going to get this burger pregnant."

"If he does get that burger pregnant, I have dibs on the delicious burger babies." -How I Met Your Mother

3. The crash. We hit a pole in the parking lot within 30 minutes of renting the campervan. Nothing huge, but it was enough to jam our main cabin door for the rest of the trip. I don't know why, but it made my top 3.

2. DNMs. That's Aussie for Deep and Meaningfuls. Pillow talk, if you will, and we had plenty of time for it.

1. Bungy jumping. I dove off Kawarau Bridge (just outside of Queenstown), where bungy jumping was invented. It beats skydiving by a mile.

I just kept falling and falling and falling...

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (NZ cont'd)

I give you 7023.

The ultimate driving machine. I'm sure your grandparents are jealous.

Christchurch was looking a bit shabby after the 6.2 earthquake a few months ago. Too soon?

We survived on PB&J, bananas, instant noodles, canned soup, and the occasional splurge at McDonald's.

Wow.

I wasn't kidding about the 44 million sheep. Humans are outnumbered 1:4.

Skateramp inside a club? Sk8r boys at the bar? I've got my Etnies on and I'm ready to party!

Too cheap to pay for an extra night at a hostel, we spent 14 hours at the Christchurch airport before our 6 AM flight back to Melbourne.

New Zealand by the Numbers

I like New Zealand and I like to count things. Here's a few numbers from my Easter Break trip to the South Island of NZ.

11 days in NZ

7 towns explored

4 showers

11 girls

1 boy

2 campervans

3 stoplights

440 photos

44,000,000 sheep

+ 1,937 km of driving

_______________________

PRICELESS

Word of the Day

Sweet as:

Origins in New Zealand, most likely circa the late 20th century. Scholars believe the phrase developed as a result of kiwis (New Zealanders) being too chill to finish their sentences.

adj.

1. "I confirm that what you are proposing is good by me."

2. Sweet

3. Cool

4. Awesome

"Hey mate, let's jump off that bridge with only a stretch cord attached to my legs."

"Sweet as."

Note: Don't ask a kiwi, "Sweet as what?"