eensy weensy bit of Culture Shock

Thanks for all your responses to my last email,
I absolutely love hearing from everybody-- how you're doing back home as well as the experiences you may have had that are similar to mine while traveling. I've finally been able to get some pictures up, so I thought I'd take a minute to share.

The first week being in a new country is always the most fascinating-- it's all those small things that catch your attention and constantly remind you how far you are from home.
Here are (at least 2) of my favorite "aussie-isms" :)

Believe it or not, but the first picture is actually a DRIVE-THRU LIQUOR SHOP. It seems we do most everything we can back in the States to prevent drinking and driving: the legal ages for these privileges are staggered, etc. The Australian govt. seems to be looking for trouble in this respect! Come your 18th birthday, you're dubbed old enough to both drink and drive simultaneously...and then they provide Drive-thru pubs!! Talk about easy access!! Here you can see Geoffbuying a few cases of beer for the restaurant stock- pop 'em in the back seat and away we go!



The next picture may be a bit less incredulous, but fascinating nonetheless. This is a view of the cloud-cover from the back porch.It was still about 89 degrees out, but in the late afternoon we had some beautiful clouds.




In #3 you'll see an interesting sort of drink holder.
I just thought that was kind of funny how they're hanging from the caps!!! Common sense (and the laws of gravity) scream at me to un-hang them....and maybe put them in a cooler, but the aussie's seem content to drinkwarm soda that may fall off the rack and explode at any second. Fascinating....




And the last picture is my cousin Lachlan (Loki for short, pronounced Lockey), who is an apprentice to an aeronautical engineer. I caught him right in the middle of drawing up some plans. One of things I like most about being around the restaurant is the family aspect of it. Geoff and Lisa have rented the 2-story cottage that goes with the restaurant (which was a house renovated into arestaurant). Geoff has his own business "Gallda" and designs/develops helicopter parts, so he often works out of the office in the cottage, and Loki's always around, so I get to spend a lot of time with them.