Nightlife and Vegemite (Slightly NSFW)

My best friend in elementary school lunched on Vegemite sandwiches daily. He used, as I recall, some sort of oval-shaped bread — French, perhaps, or sourdough. Two thick slices of bread concealed a veneer of brown, sticky substance between them. He never tired of Vegemite. His mother hailed from Australia, and his father once beat Bobby Fischer in chess. The chess part probably had no influence on the contents of Andrew’s brown bags, but the Australian part certainly did. Continue reading

A Roo Awakening

No country owns an animal like Australia owns the kangaroo. OK, China and the panda play in the same league. But China and its one-trick panda can’t match Australia’s array of exclusives: koalas, platypuses, echidnas, wallabies, wombats, emus, Tasmanian devils, and more. Australia’s geographic isolation has created a mix of species that techies would call “proprietary” and scientists call a high level of endemic fauna. You and I just say, “OMG that’s a lot of cool animals! Continue reading

Getting Around Australia

Imagine a world where Isuzus still zoom down the highways, passed by the occasional Peugeot. Congratulations — you’re picturing Australia. Isuzu and Peugeot may have pulled out of The United States, but they stuck around The Land Down Under. They face stiff competition, though, from some States stalwarts, like Toyota, Mitsubishi, and Nissan. They say NIH-sun, though, not NEE-sahn. And their Nissan Rogues go by the name X-Trail. For a lot of cars, you know the make but not the model. Continue reading

Testing Australia's Medicare

One of the many issues fracturing the people of The United States is how to administer healthcare. Is healthcare a right? A privilege? Should we keep healthcare private, or should the government provide healthcare to all? The Australian government provides healthcare to its citizens. Time for an experiment! I decided that, on this trip, I would purposely test their healthcare system. Just kidding. None of this was on purpose. It all just happened. Continue reading

Finding Pen City

Unlike Italy, Australia isn’t known for its pens. Two well-known ink manufacturers, though, call Australia home: Robert Oster and Van Dieman’s. I’ve visited pen stores on even smaller pretenses, so I didn’t worry about convincing Sherry that Pen City was a must-see. Plus, Russ and I sneaked to the pen store while Sherry was taking a nap. She had no chance to stop us. Located in Ravenhall, a suburb of Melbourne, Pen City is a bit tricky to find. Continue reading