That's Our Bandicoot

Yesterday while walking to the door of our bed and breakfast in Margaret River, we heard an animal scuffling through the landscaping and a low growl.  We checked in and were shown to our room where we asked the proprietor if they had a dog, explaining what we had heard.

"Oh," she exclaimed, "that's our bandicoot."

"A bandicoot?  What's that?" we asked.

"Well, it kind of looks like that," the proprietor said, pointing to this terracotta pot that was standing in the garden.  "It has a wide body and a pointy face."

All I can say is she must have had a few too many tipples before lunch because although we never saw the bandicoot, google showed us that this is what one actually looks like...

Name That Animal

Yesterday I got to stroke koalas and feed and pet kangaroos which was absolutely amazing.  I also discovered what may be one of my new favorite Australian animals....

I'll drink a tipple of Margaret River wine in honor of anyone who guesses correctly.  Imagine seeing one of these in your backyard!

One Bad Apple and a Naughty Nut

Australia is extraordinarily focused on defending its borders against pests and diseases found elsewhere in the world and out-of-state.  Customs exist for both interstate and inter-country travel and customs dogs abound searching not just for drugs but also for contraband food.  The last time I was in the domestic airport, I picked up one of the below customs notices:

Turns out that it's just one in a series.  At least someone has a sense of humor...

One Bad Apple and a Naughty Nut

• "Next time you travel into Western Australia, plan your trip and supplies so that all your fruit and vegies go into your tummy instead of a bin!'

When Honey's Not So Sweet

• "Next time you travel into Western Australia, please don't bring honey or, if you do so accidentally, bin it or declare it.  Please consider our healthy, busy bees- you don't want to be the person responsible for turning their buzz off."

Hear It On the Grapevine

• "Please help us in protecting Western Australia by not carrying quarantine risk material- and we'll drink a toast to you."

Don't mess around with customs; you don't want to be like one of my friends who got pulled aside in customs in Australia for not declaring the shell necklace she was wearing.  She was served with an official notice and was told that she is now on some kind of customs watch list.

Just remember to declare or beware!

Aloha Australia

My Mom arrived in Perth and is busy taking in all of the Western Australian sights.  She is:

• Counting the number of visible nipples through men’s button down dress shirts
• Marvelling over the variety of choices in high visibility workwear
• Being in awe about the high frequency of occurrence of viewing high visibility workwear in all types of places including so-called nice restaurants
• Being amazed that beer o’clock is actually every o’clock
• Exclaiming over the cost of everything in WA; did someone say $12 pre-packaged sandwiches, $20+ sit-down lunches and $7 coffees?
• Learning about, watching and enjoying Junior MasterChef; not yet enjoying the viewing pleasure of RBT and Border Security
• Noticing the frequency of shark spotting in the news

She has already decided that she is:

• Not setting foot in any body of water except an enclosed pool
• Not purchasing any clothes in Australia
• Not eating kangaroo

I’ll have to see if I can talk her out of any of the above.  After all, she will be visiting the Great Barrier Reef.  Still to come is some real Australian wildlife viewing and I am not talking about the kind that involves barefoot people in public spaces including malls, restaurants and bathrooms or large men in very short high visibility shorts with high visibility knee socks.  I’m thinking more along the lines of kangaroos, koalas and quokkas.  And maybe somewhere along the way we’ll squeeze in a meat pie tasting along with enjoying the local wines.  

What's For Lunch?

Apologies to everybody at work for putting this in the fridge today:

Don't worry H, this is not what I had for lunch.  Anyway, these vaccinations can't be that harmful as I have to drink two doses of one and swallow four pills of the other.  What can I say?  I'm getting ready for vacation and it's not all guidebook reading and hotel booking.  Some destinations actually require preventative medicine measures.  Who would have guessed?  At least my welcome cocktails will taste better than my first of two doses of the oral cholera vaccine...

Just Say No to Daylight Savings???

In case you were wondering, Western Australia will not be turning its clocks back an hour tonight.  The referendum to introduce daylight savings to Western Australia was proposed and rejected four times, in 1975, 1984, 1992, and 2009.  Lengthy papers exist on the case against introducing daylights savings to Western Australia.  I'm honestly a bit taken aback by how strongly people feel about this.  Facebook groups exist for "Perth People Who HATE Daylight Savings" as well as "Perth People Who Love Daylight Savings."  Who would have thought it would be problematic to have an extra hour of sunlight in the evening?  I would much prefer it to my 5:00AM wake-up courtesy of the sun streaming in brightly through my shut blinds.  As much as I hate to say it, I miss something else about Doha: the blackout curtains.

Vivre la France, Vivre les Etats-Unis!

I'm saddened to report that on Tuesday I only spotted one fascinator at the office.  However the streets of Perth were full of people in full on fancy dress, hats and fascinators in honor of the Melbourne Cup.  Apparently the bars were overflowing at lunchtime with people dressed to the nines in honor of the race.  I however wasn't privy to this site as I was celebrating the Melbourne cup in a conference room, with the race getting projected in on the teleconferencing system, and a horde of colleagues with an even larger horde of race bets laid out in front of them.


My manager?  He had 16 bets laid out on the table in front of him, and a few other people had a stack of betting tickets that surpassed him.  But he did quite well for himself betting on Americain, an American born, French trained, Australian owned horse, a horse he chose to bet on courtesy of having an American in his group.  And Americain beat the favorite, So You Think, and provided his supporters with quite nice winnings.  I think I should have gotten a round of drinks for that bet....