#sydney trip

[vintage-tech]

Things I learned about Australia, volume 1

Hello, ladles and germs. I spent a fun ten days in Sydney and would like to tell you a few things about the place. Any Aussies reading are welcome to pitch in their knowledge, correct me, or say "you didn't look me up?" I intend to go back in the future. There will be several volumes to this series as I compose them.

ANSWERING THE STEREOTYPICAL:

Not one person said "g'day" to me, for the record. No, I did not see any kangaroos, koalas, emu, quokkas, huge spiders, or platypi. They do exist but not in the downtown or the suburbs of Sydney, and I was kinda skint so I didn't visit any nature parks. I do feel a little shortchanged by not seeing the fauna (except the huge spiders, understandably) but there's always next time.

My GF was hoping that Felix or Chris from Stray Kids would be visiting home, but no such luck. She did however show me that point at Manly Beach where some popular photos of Felix were taken, mostly because the cliffside apartment where she lived in the early 2010s is visible in the background of the photos. 🐥

And to answer a burning question: No, that viral video of the Sydney Opera House on fire is AI. I'll show you photos taken days after that was posted in an upcoming volume.

WHAT BEASTS DID YOU SEE THEN?

I did find this little guy next to the bed because I'd left the window open overnight, and was happy he didn't stow away in my luggage:

As for birds, I can't name them all. I'd walk out front of the suburban house I was at at 6am with my coffee and watch what went by. A couple lorikeets flying by got my attention, several cockatoos hung out near people, there were plenty of Indian mynahs ("an invasive species" my girlfriend kept saying), and then there were the ibis, which locally are called "bin chickens" for being fearless. There were actual pigeons and bunny rabbits to make me feel like home. And I heard the neighborhood kookaburra every morning at 4am but never once saw one.

Here are some photos I snapped of beasts:

A cockatoo at the mall, having a bagel. As one does.

Four cockatoos discussing the kindergarten where they were trying to charge parents $2200 to get their kids' artwork.

A pelican hanging out on a man-made lake.

I told you these bastards were fearless: Ibis, 4 feet from me.

This is a brushturkey. They are a protected species in the area I was in, courtesy of the Biodiversity Conservation Act.

There's a bird in this picture. On that note, I didn't see anything in the way of fish because I didn't get that close to the water. Australia has some amazing beaches and the wildlife that inhabits them. The green you see benchmarked on the shore is kelp, I suppose, and the main difference between the beaches at that end of the Pacific and the ones at this end of the Pacific (Washington) is that there was sun... and there was no seafoam spume washed up on the beach.

I don't know that this qualifies as a lifeform but:

This creature was marching around between a couple buildings and wanted attention, not snacks like the birds, and it got plenty.

[into-the-stratosphere]

It’s really here!

Leaving for Australia today to go sing at the Sydney Opera House! It’s my first time on a plane, so please wish me luck on my travels (I’ll be in the air a total of twenty hours, a five hour flight across the country and then a fifteen hour over the Pacific into Sydney). Music is packed, carry-on is loaded with snacks and activities, and I have my plan on how to best avoid jet lag when I get to Sydney (they’re fourteen hours ahead of where I live lol).

I’ll have internet access, so I’ll still be able to talk to people, just not as freely as I can now. Pictures are sure to come soon (maybe even a face reveal in them), and I’m just so excited to see what this adventure has in store for me!

[ynnesidyad]

First ~ l u k ~ of the Sydney trip. Blood witch casual 💉

[bushmonsterr]

soooo ‘ll be going to sydney very soon and i’ll be traveling alone on a plane. And this is the first time im gonna be traveling without my family which kinda terrifies me a bit ;x;. cause i have no idea how to go to the airport alone HHHHHHH SO WISH ME LUCK I HOPE I DONT DIE MIDWAY xDD

also i’ll be opening the ask box again but i wont be accepting anymore angsty art meme requests because im a little busy for a few days (im so sorry ;A;A;) 

[theorangefairy-blog1]

Look at the baby! Omg she's so little I'm gonna cry

[vintage-tech]

Things I learned about Australia, volume 2

Continuing this Yank's blather about his visit Down Under, I turn the spotlight on the food. Once again, folks from the country are welcome to put in their five cents' worth [they no longer have pennies], make suggestions for my next visit, or correct me.

First things first, recently I saw an ad where it's pointed out that Australians do not say "throw another shrimp on the barbie"... that was invented by Paul Hogan in 'Crocodile' Dundee; Aussies call them prawns. Second, my girlfriend wants everyone to know that Outback Steakhouse was founded by four Americans from Florida who had never been to Australia, so the cuisine you find there has nearly nothing to do with what's served in the country.

What can you tell us about the food?

It's amazing. They try really hard to use as much locally-produced materials as possible, though being a South Pacific island they have to import a few things. The meat and potatoes are grown there, and the seafood is fantastic... fish & chips is a life-changing experience.

As you will see, my attention was on the snackfoods and sodas.

My girlfriend constantly says that Americans don't know how to cook lamb. Sheep outnumber people in New Zealand, I'm told, and thereby they produce some of the best lamb in the world. Above is the lambchops I had at a Greek restaurant using New Zealand lamb.

Solo is the national drink (also available in zero calorie, which actually tastes better IMHO)... it's 5% natural lemon juice, and is closer IMHO to San Pelligrino than to a lemonade. You can Google "Pepsi Max", which is just America's Pepsi Zero, and it rivals the more popular Coke Zero anywhere beverages are sold.

Cherry Ripe is basically a thin Mounds bar in cherry flavor. There's nothing from a major label like it in America, so Cadbury... fix that? I'll break in here: I think Violet Crumble is okay, but it's not hard to find in the States (especially if you have a Cost Plus World Market nearby) so I didn't make it a point to eat any on this trip.

Lamb & Mint ridged potato chips, you say? Sign me up. The mint flavor is unexpected in a chip, and the savory lamb flavor reminds me of some of Herr's voyages into meat-flavored chips.

And speaking of meaty chips, chicken flavored things are everywhere. Lay's is known as Smith's in Australia, and the chicken is supposed to be legendary. I haven't eaten any yet. As a bonus, here's Doritos Mexicana, which I presume is equivalent to Taco Doritos (my favorite chip in the 1970s has made a comeback!).

Two flavors of Snickers bars that I haven't seen locally: Coffee (a light latte flavor that even non-coffee-drinkers can appreciate) and Loaded (left out the nougat layer and packed it with more peanuts and caramel). I'd have to go look for the photo of Neopolitan KitKat I took for someone, but I want you to know it's surprisingly good -- two sticks coated in vanilla white chocolate, two sticks coated in strawberry white chocolate.

McDonald's in Australia got the Big Arch sandwich before America did (the popular TikTok/Insta food commenters say it's on its way), and then there's this monstrosity known as the Double Big Mac that if it's available in America that'd be really on-brand for us. No one is paying me to say the Big Arch is pretty awesome but I need to throw in the caviat that the Australian beef is waaaaayy better than the meat used in American McBurgers. I didn't take a photo of my burger but I'm still drooling over it. Speaking of Macca's...

Thought you should know about the McPops snacks: filled with chocolate, berry, and Biscoff's cookie butter.

Nibble on Nobby's: These amazing bacon puffs make me think that there could be a human version of Beggin' Strips. Very rich is nitrate flavor, and by no means wimpy like American bacon crackers.

There's that Pepsi Max I mentioned, behind the Lime Coke Zero. Sure, you can get that from a Freestyle machine here but not bottled!

Major Melon Zero Mountain Dew was available in the States for a couple summers but it's permanently(?) gone now... meanwhile in the southern hemisphere it's the springtime so they've got it out.

Uh, no.

Dear Jah, no.

M&M/Mars: OVER HERE. NOW. PLEASE.

Party buckets of Peanut M&Ms. Smaller than a Costco bag, FYI, so that can't be much of a party in my estimation!

There are bite-sized versions various candies, and Picnic bars reminds me of something that was popular in the 1980s made by Nestle but I can't place what it was.

Let me tell you another bit of trivia about Australian tastes: I mentioned that chicken is a popular flavor? This includes on french fries (er, "chips")... strong chance that if you get pommes frites anywhere, this is the thing you'll find sprinkled on them: chicken salt. GAME CHANGER. I had to bring some home.

And no discussion of Australian food is complete without a mention of Vegemite. It's one of those things you either love or hate; there isn't any middle ground. The three photos above are from a nature park, a supermarket, and my pantry. The large jar in the third appears somewhere in the second, and I was supposed to come home with an even bigger jar from Costco but they were out(?!). The Aussies and others who have tried it feel this series viscerally.

Short version: It's made from what's left over of the yeast from the beer brewing process, and it's a popular thing for Aussies to hand this over to the unsuspecting to try without explaining you don't slather it on like peanut butter because that much flavor will kill you. (I had the sense last year for my first taste to merely lick it off the edge of a knife. I thought it tasted a bit like gjetost cheese. My MIL was surprised I liked it.) Cost Plus World Market in America sells 220g jars for $10 US, I got this at 560g jar at an Aldi in Sydney for $5.85 US plus $2000 plane fare.

Eating it: The Aussies typically smear a little thinly on buttered bread and apply cheese; my MIL who doesn't like it uses a dab in pasta sauce, and following that notion I usually put a little in crockpot stews I make. And I think it's pretty excellent on bagels:

And to finish this post, the one thing my girlfriend had to get:

Maxibon ice cream sandwich, 'vanilla slice' flavor. I had the 'monster cookie' flavor. We took a bus to a minimart only for this reason.

[vintage-tech]

Things I learned about Australia, volume 5

It's been a month since my last installment in the series, and I left off halfway through my photo roll... To repeat: I spent over a week in Australia in September and there's just so much there that's unlike here in the States. As always, any Aussie can question, comment, add, subtract, or give me another can of Solo Zero.

Please continue. Tell me more things found there that are different from in the States.

Yes, the water does go down the drain counterclockwise but I had to work in order to confirm this for the following reason...

Almost every toilet I encountered in Australia, be it in a home or at a business, was made by the Australian company Caroma. (Which does have an American branch, and the first two pictures above came from their US website, I snapped the third one at a restaurant.) Every one of them was the two-button flush design, rather than lever, so there's a pair of buttons on the tank for what kind of flush you want -- left for rinsing away pee, right for flushing down poo. This saves a pretty impressive amount of water. I've seen toilets that do this here, but that style is more the rule than the exception there. Oh, and if you look at the inside of that toilet bowl and think "doesn't that dunny get smeared up easily if you're dropping a dook?"... I won't say that it doesn't happen.

You weren't expecting the first images in this episode to be of crappers? Now then: The reason why seeing the direction of the drain is because, as you see in a couple of the pictures, it's a really deep bowl with about a quart of water in it, so a flush takes a second and is gone; there's nothing to see. I had to fill a sink basin with water and pull the plug to get a couple seconds of water starting to spin.

I see defibrilator machines inside business buildings here occasionally. But outside, on the street, next to a burger joint?

Something I forgot to post in episode 2 about foods.

Usually the only places in America that you will see a people mover are airports, and they just go horizontally. Going between floors in America is often done with escalators which emulate stairs. But here I was at the mall and they had a Travelator, which goes diagonally between levels with a flat surface... and are useful for taking your cart between levels. Honest to Jah, you'd think IKEAs would have this rather than having people herd their carts into elevators!

There's a lot I could say about the traffic signs, but the one that I loved most was when there'd be a triangular patch in the road for pedestrians to walk over to with the lights, then have to wait until the lights changed to continue on to their destination: refuge islands. It just sounds like where immigrants go before entering a country, like Ellis Island in New York.

Did I mention the mortuary chain named "White Lady Funerals"? Possibly. I just think it's easily misinterpreted. :)

No visit to Australia is complete without making reference to the swimwear shop chain named "Budgy Smuggler." I think you can add up where that name comes from, and bless your squeaky-clean minds if you can't. They're pretty iconic, so much so that they have several collaborations with other merchants including, of all things, giant hot cross buns at the Aldi supermarket chain.

...that's where the fun is.

I think I forgot to mention cheesymites: 'scrolled' pastries with Vegemite mildly spread between the layers and baked with cheese shreds on top. This one from a coffee wagon at a recreational park could have used a little more Vegemite (IMHO, YMMV) and the cheese made it greasy, but it was good. Crap picture, sorry.

"Start Ya Bastard" instant engine starter. Best Name Ever.

But Mush, you said in Episode 1 you'd show pictures of the Sydney Opera House to prove it didn't burn!

Okay, yes, and here we go:

The Sydney Harbour Bridge frames the Sydney Opera House, seen from a ferry going to Circular Quay, September 19, 2025 at 4pm. Picturesque as it is at this moment, by the time we got to land it started to rain, and it was pissing down when we were trying to meet up with friends at one of the docks. I wasn't dressed for the weather.

Will there be an Episode Six? Perhaps.

[vintage-tech]

Things I learned about Australia, volume 6

Since I'm nearly out of photos to show and mostly out of ideas, this is the last installment of the series. Maybe when I go back Down Under there will be a fresh round but that's going to be a Someday thing.

As always, if you know stuff or have questions, and I'm still waiting for that Solo Zero, speak in my direction. Here's more knowledge gained about Straya in my tennish days there in September.

Quick note about the above sign seen at Wooly's: Australia has had only one mass shooting, in 1996. They immediately banned most handguns and limited the number of longarm permits to those who have a legitimate use, because citizens and the government 'got it'. Meanwhile in the States... well, you know about meanwhile in the states.

"Pičus (Also as Niemand or Fucker)" Viktor Frešo

A statuette of a small man with a disproportionate figure and arrogant angry expression on his face. "Pičus" which has become very popular among art collectors, art historians, as well as the non-professional public. It is difficult to translate the name "Pičus" but it is a man at the boundary between ridiculous, foxy and at the same time insidious son of a bitch, full of complexes but also a self-important arrogant bastard, such as annoys you often in real life.

This charming fellow was seen in a cafe facing Manly Beach. This is one of quite a few, which were created in 2015... still as timely today.

I showed you the Life Saver Fizzy Sticks in volume 5, and now you get to see Life Saver Fruit Pastilles. Do recommend... sugar coated chewy jubes in blackcurrant, raspberry, pineapple, lime and orange.

How you learn to drive in the States typically goes like this: You can get your learner's permit at 15 1/2 but require someone in the car with you; you take the test, you get your license, and you're on the road. There is no obligation to warn anyone you're a new driver but some people do with yellow stickers/magnets saying "be kind" or "beware".

How you learn to drive in Australia typically goes like this: Quoting Google's AI, "Getting an Australian driver's license involves a Graduated Licensing System starting with a Learner Permit (L-plates) after passing a theory/vision test, followed by supervised practice (logging hours), then passing a Hazard Perception Test (HPT) and a practical driving test to get a Provisional License (P-plates), before eventually earning a Full License, with specific requirements (like logged hours, age) varying slightly by state/territory." What my GF who learned to drive there told me, so pardon me if I have some detail wrong, is that you can get your permit at 16 and for the first year you have a sign/magnet with a big red L(90) to show you're brand new and are limited to 90km/hr, then once you pass tests you have a sign/magnet with either a big red P(100) or a big green P(100) depending on driver's age, showing you're still getting experience and logging klicks, for 1-3 years and are limited to 100km/hr. After that, Bob's yer uncle and you can speed like the crazies on their way to Parramatta.

This is the back of my car, and since I am driving in the States the P magnet has no legal weight or official meaning. So far no Aussies stateside have said anything about it, other than my GF who points out that I have been driving for decades so am not a newish driver. :)

"You better watch out / There might be penguins about..." -- Pink Floyd, "Sheep"

The fruiting cones of the Acorn Banksia (Banksia prionotes), a species native to Western Australia but there it was in the Southeast.

Luna Park, Sydney. Part of a large chain worldwide.

Why my mother-in-law's house is not up to code so she's not moving... I'm one flight up the stairs and that's my hip peeking over the rail.

Interesting thing seen at the airport: Kinder offers stuffed koalas with a package of 'Country' chocolates. If it had been an emu that laid Kinder Surprise eggs, maybe then we'd be talking.

Lamington: "An Australian cake made from squares of butter cake or sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in desiccated coconut. The thin mixture is absorbed into the outside of the sponge cake and left to set, giving the cake a distinctive texture." People seem to go nuts for this. It's just sponge cake in coconut, k?

It happens to all of us: An ordering computer at Macca's (McDonald's) that crashed at POST. I was laughing in geek.

The best name for a laxative, ever.

Somebody knows how to promote a band correctly!

Coincidentally my nickname in college.

Photos that were supposed to go in Episode 5: "Aged" crossing and "Give Way" yield sign.

And speaking of signs, "No Junk Mail, thank you" stickers on mailboxes. I asked my GF if this was effective and she said they are, though they carry no legal weight to actually stop it. However, the laws in some states say that advertisements such as junk mail cannot be publicly displayed (on light posts, etc.) and must be hidden inside a postbox. I would have one of these on my mailbox if I weren't renting.

I DID NOT HAVE THIS ON MY BINGO CARD.

One of my MIL's neighbors has a stackable washer/dryer hidden behind some fronds between houses. I howled laughing. My coworkers at the hardware store (which sells stackables) thought this was awesome.

A light snack.

Be like Bob.

A photo I meant to put in episode 3: Rice Krispies are called Rice Bubbles. The spokes-elves Snap, Crackle, and Pop kept their jobs. (Also seen: individual cups of Coco Pops, featuring Coco the monkey.)

Australia has Wonder Bread too, but their version is actually bread.

And how I choose to end this: Daiso offers Hello Kitty, My Melody, Karomi, and Miffy sanitary napkins. These might be available at your local Daiso, sure, but this was the first I'd seen them.

Thanks for reading the Aussie series! G'day, mates...