Guest Post: Dad's first impressions

Ed. note: Dad landed on Friday morning, and has been a true trooper (trust me, this is not the worst alliteration you will read in this post) and hasn't shown many signs of jet lag yet. Here are his first impressions, in his own words, unedited. 

Since Michelle has been remiss regarding her Blog from Australia, today you get the perspective of a guest blogger.  That’s right, dear old Dad, aka Stephen, aka Papa Brodes is in the land down under bringing you new perspectives and probably more really bad puns.

Money:  Generally, one expects that the bigger and heavier the coin, the more it is worth.  Nope, not here in Australia.  I have a gold colored coin roughly the size of a US dime.  That is a 2 dollar piece.  I have another coin the same size as a quarter.  This one of course is worth $1.  The biggest coin in my pocket is the size of a hefty half dollar and it is worth, you guessed it 50 cents.  Why in the world is the largest coin worth the least amount?  Additionally, although items are priced like in the US, i.e. $3.99, there is no Australian penny.  If there are no pennies, then how can you price things with pennies?  I wasn’t a philosophy major, so I will leave that question for higher authorities.

Bad joke of the day:  What do they call a Local Area Network in Australia?  …. Are you waiting with baited breath?  The LAN Down Under.  I can hear the groans all the way over here.

In the, “did you know department”, did you know that Australian pronunciation is very similar to that of a New Englander?  Neither one pronounces the “R”.  In Boston, you “pahk the cawah”, (park the car).  Here in Australia the city near the Great Barrier Reef is spelled Cairns but pronounced “Cahns” and the city south of Sidney is “Melbun” not Melbourne.  I was in a cab and the taxi driver, had no clue what I was talking about when I said I was going to Cairns, since I was pronouncing it like it is spelled.  Probably thought I was just another crazy American.  Come to think of it…  I better not finish that thought.

Food:  Day one I had a flat white.  A flat white is sort of coffee with milk.  Further, it seems like every coffee shop makes designs in the milk.  Not sure how they do it, but it is very artistic.  If I can figure out how to post a picture, or get Michelle to do it for me you will see.  Dinner included beer (that will become a recurring theme) and a Coat of Arms Pizza.  What is on a Coat of Arms Pizza you might ask: How about Emu and Kangaroo.   Actually they sound more exotic (almost typed erotic) than they tasted.  Honestly, if no one had told me what kind of meat was on the pizza, I would have assumed chicken and beef.

Tomorrow, which is actually yesterday since I am writing this on Monday, or today since it is still Sunday in the US, we are going on a bridge climb.  Yes we are foolish enough to climb the Sidney Harbor Bridge.  But that is tomorrow’s blog, or is it yesterday somewhere?