Meat pies, Kangaroo, Veggiemite? Oh, My!

***Before I begin this blog, please take a second to note the fact that my two previous blog titles reference two works of Shakespeare (Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet). I have to say I was impressed when I discovered this, as it was completely unintentional, and I was just naming them the first natural thing that came to mind. By the way this makes me cultured, NOT a dork... Maybe a nerd.***

Now, back to the issue at hand- my mother, who has apparently been following Salley's Zambia blog diligently, asked me today if I had even thought about what kind of food they have in Australia. It had crossed my mind, I will admit, briefly, but I figured if I found it all completely inedible, they will have American chains everywhere. This, mind you, will be an absolute last resort. I feel like some of the excitement and adventure of this trip will be the "when in Rome" aspect, and I will try to become as native as possible (at least as native as one can be carrying around all their belongings on their back.) My mother suggested that maybe they had mainly English food. I shuddered and protested- English food! No way, those freakish, medieval inspired, gray-ish, meat-ish, gravy-ish based dishes with strange consistencies, colors, and odors. I mean, I've never been to England, and admittedly, never eaten real English food, but their reputation for their food is almost as bad as their dentistry. I decided to consult the modern encyclopedia of everything- Wikipedia. Imagine my horror at the first picture on the website:

A MEAT PIE!!!! And not even a remotely appetizing-looking one. But, my trusty Wikipedia assures me that although English and Irish dishes were most prominently eaten in the past, modern Australia cuisine has resulted from globalization. Mediterranean and Asian influences have taken hold, and "Modern Australian" has become an umbrella term for a variety of food available at most restaurants. So yes, meat pie and fish and chips will still be readily available, but it will not be overwhelmingly English dining. I can say I am excited that seafood appears to be widely available and common, which is understandable with the numerous ports and fishing industry.

And tell me this doesn't look absolutely delicious. It's called a Pavlova. It's a traditional and iconic meringue-based dessert named after a dancer. It has hard meringue crust in the bottom, a whipped, creamy custard like center, topped with fruit such as kiwi and berries. It's pretty well known is both Australia and New Zealand. I will make it my mission to search this out and consume it before I return to America.

One of the meals I am most intrigued about consuming is Kangaroo. Some people have said to me "Awww, how can you eat a Kangaroo? They are so cute." But I explain to them that down there, kangaroos are like deer. Very few people here have problems with people eating deer. Why? Because deer are a nuisance. They are way overpopulated, which can become a problem not only for food sources for their survival, but can also become a dangerous obstacle on highways, especially during mating season. Kangaroo in Australia is not like chicken or beef in it's wide spread use, but it is not uncommon to see kangaroo meat on grocery store aisles. A certain quota of Kangaroos are allowed to be commercially hunted each year to keep populations down, which have been known to grown out of control and encroach on land of farmers. Kangaroo is produced only from free ranging wild animals living on land owned by people and unlike other meats, is not produced by organized farming. The meat is also high in protein and low in fat, making it a healthy alternative to other meats.

And lastly, you can't have Australia without Veggimite!


Yes, this picture is less than appetizing, but I am willing to give it a whirl. I mean, millions of Australians can't be wrong, right? This oddly colored spread is made from yeast extract, or pretty much the leftovers from brewing beer, and some vegetables and spice additives. It is a huge source of pride for Australians. In fact, when Kraft recently tried to change the name, it resulted in wide-spread panicking, riots, and mass confusion. Ok, not riots, but people were very upset, and Kraft quickly reversed their decision. There was even a rumor for a while that Vegemite had been banned from America by George W. Bush and people were being encourage to write the White House in protest. I have to admit that before this Wiki article, my knowledge of Vegemite didn't extend much further that the fact that it existed, and that was only because of my hours of listening to the Men at Work song Down Under. Oh, my 80's mix.

So yes, I will not be going hungry in Australia. I am only more encouraged by this article to try all the things that Australia has to offer, in cuisine and beyond.

*Credit given to Wikipedia's "Australian Cuisine" article for the pictures and information.*

What's in a (Blog) Name?

I've finally been questioned about the grammatical correctness and meaning of the name of my blog. I have been meaning to write this entry for a while, the beginning would have probably been a more suitable time, but this is as good as any.

The name "In a Sunburnt Country" is a nod to the Bill Bryson book that was given to me by my friend Matt Jarvis as a graduation present after college. I had been saying over the course of that year that I wanted to move to Australia, live in Australia, be in Australia whenever something wasn't going my way. He took me seriously and gave me the Bryson travel book called "In a Sunburned Country" (so yes, he can be held partially responsible for my wild ideas of traveling on the other side of the world.) I have read the Bryson book cover to cover thrice since I was gifted it in May 2008. I plan to read it once more before I arrive in Sydney. It's given me a lot of inspiration and ideas for the trip. It's also written with humour, which sets it apart from other dry travel books and gave it more of a novel-read. Though Bryson was rather apprehensive in his travels and frightened of the natural fauna (yes, they do have quite an intimidating list of poisonous and deadly creatures on their attendance role), I can't say it has deterred me. I mean, Bryson himself confessed in his book to not knowing what boogie boarding was or being successful in doing it, something I have been doing every summer in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina since I could walk, so some of his squeamishness about the country doesn't hold up much for me. I also know it's not like I am going to be exploring the outback alone, or going places where these poisonous and deadly animals will be looking to make a statistic out of me. I'm going to watch some penguins, eat kangaroo, and cuddle many koalas. You can leave the spiders, snakes, and sea creatures out of it.

Bryson's book title was also a nod to something: a poem written by Dorothea Mackellar. Mackellar is one of Australia's best loved poets. The poem "My Country" was written by Mackellar when she was 19 and homesick in England (in 1911.) "My Country" is a well-loved poem in Australia for it's patriotic and iconic message. I have to admit, reading it myself as an American, despite our "spacious skies," "purple mountains majesty," and "shining seas," I would really enjoy experiencing the excitement of "beauty and terror" of the "wide brown land," "sapphire-misted mountains," and "opal heart."

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die-
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold-
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land-
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand-
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

What (Down Under) Dreams May Come...

First off, I am updating this in the small amount of time I have between waking up and showing up at work. I had to write now, while it was fresh in my head. But first, let me show you some stuff that has changed since we last talked.


I got my pack and my boots! They are both great. The pack is just one inch bigger than what delta allows for carry-on (bribe time? my uncle Charlie would be so proud!), but it comes with a special feature that allows you to zip a cover around the straps so they are not caught on anything or otherwise messed up during transit in checking the bag. The most awesome feature is the mini pack that unzips from the front of the pack. It's for carrying stuff around daily, which is great, if your hostel has lockers with locks that you can leave the majority of your stuff behind with. I don't anticipate there being a problem carrying this around Australia. I feel like some of my backpacks in high school and college where about as big, and they had huge text books as opposed to clothes!


My boots (yes, they are lovely aren't they?) are the BEST feeling shoes I have ever purchased. Once I return, I might only purchase shoes like this, meaning I will have to find employment in some outdoors venture, either that or resign myself to being the "eccentric" weirdo at work who wears boots when most of the women wear heels. I don't care, these are amazing and I'm not going back. It's like the shoe, once I put it on, says to my foot, "Oh, no. What have you been wearing? This is the shape you are supposed to have." and then supports my foot in the exact places that the foot has been waiting for all it's life! ...Ok, this is starting to sound like a romance novel of something. The point is- my shoes rock. My feet love them and look forward to spending 3 months in them in a foreign country (ok, that still has a romantic tone).

Ok, now for the real reason I had to write immediately, this morning. I had a very vivid dream last night. This dream was the first leg of my trip. There were admittedly a lot of inaccuracies, which I am already aware of, not even setting step one on the trip yet. The most real and potentially accurate part of the dream was the feelings I had in the country. I am going to try my best to capture them on page, but it's hard to describe to people who, well, aren't me.
The trip started out with me and Salley (first inaccuracy, she will indeed be a world traveler at the time, but will be on the opposite side of the world, helping people in Africa while I play) and we had somehow boarded a plane without going through security (inaccuracy number two) and somehow had an instantaneous flight (big whopper of inaccurate for number three). We arrived in Australia and we were trying to check in to the hostel. I commented on how cold it was (inaccuracy number four), and said I hadn't expected it, it must be due to our elevation (there was a mountain range around us- inaccuracy number five, at least for Sydney when I will be arriving). I was preoccupied with trying to plan out my month on a ridiculously large wall calendar (more symbolic of me than inaccurate) when some guys keep trying to talk to me and ask me about Australia. They were Americans, because they had no accent, so I instantly had no interest in talking with them. They were Jory's ugly American description too, they were loud frat boys there on daddy's cash (they didn't tell me, but it's my dream, so I know, ok?) There was a third guy near them though, and he asked me when we got in, and he had an accent. I asked if he was a traveler, he said no, he worked in the hostel, and could show us our room. We went upstairs to a large, open room with two levels and only 3 beds (inaccuracy number six). Our stranger roomie had claimed the first on the lower level, so Salley and I went to the second level and got each cot under each window. I suddenly realized I had no pillow or sheets, and commented to Salley. "You didn't bring a pillow?" she kinda laughed at me. "I didn't think they would let me bring one on the plane?" I said, which doesn't make sense, number one, but also, I am not planning on bringing a pillow anyway. Who wants to carry a pillow all over Australia? I began to wonder what the Australia slang word for sheets was so I could ask someone where to buy some when Salley informed me she would be departing to see the Louvre (yes, in France- she was leaving the country.) "I thought you'd at least stay a couple of days before you went off." I said. "Nope," she said, and walked back down the stairs. Then I felt my first feeling. It was a painful feeling, deep in my stomach. I was in a country, on the other side of the world, alone, and wanted to call home and tell them I got there but I didn't know how to get in contact with them (a detail I haven't worked out yet, which I guess bleeds through to my dreams.) The feeling didn't last more than a moment, when I had another feeling of jubilation. The only feeling I can describe it being close to was freshman year when I stood in the Dean Dome and closed my eyes and listened to the cheers immediately after our championship win. It was firecrackers in my stomach. I wanted to shriek and jump and explode because I was finally in Australia! BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP- my alarm ruins my journey, but I turn it off and keep my eyes closed to hold onto the feeling and the message of my dream. The conflicts I ran into in my dream are things I still need to sort out. I still need to figure out what phone plan I need, and how I will carry some sort of sheets and towels (yes, small details, but important. This dream is like dreams when I am at school in class in a test I hadn't studied for- it's not going to happen, but it's something dumb I stress about.) I think Salley was there because maybe she will be going through some of the stuff I will at the same time. She will be in another part of the world, far from home and people that she knows. Though she will be doing important work while I am just sightseeing, we will both be alone. But the biggest thing I got from the dream is that both the vivid feelings I experienced will happen to me. I will get lonely. I might feel that stabbing, sharp, hot feeling of being utterly alone so far from home that there is nothing I can do to see people if I need to. But that feeling will be short-lived, and will be replaced by the excitement and enthusiasm I feel for taking this trip, something I have been anticipating for so long.