I went to Melbourne for the weekend and figured I ought to have something to show for it ... I don't really though! It was a great weekend, but rainy and chilly and windy and just plain cold. It was 9 degrees Celsius and I was convinced that must be about 38 Fahrenheit until I looked it up and discovered that it's more like 48. I'm afraid I'm going really soft down here, so I'm just going to call it a windchill factor. A few tidbits I picked up over the weekend, though:
--Pulled pork/briscuit/broiled/braided (for meat) are all not Australian terms. I'd be hard pressed to tell you what any of them actually mean, but they generally fall into the edible category.
--The meat does not have to be a patty (one solid piece) to be considered a "burger" in Australia. Hence, I had some sort of BBQ sandwich that was certainly not a burger, but everyone else was convinced it was.
--It's the law to wear bike helmets when riding a bike (and a motorcycle) in Australia. Melbourne had an awkward blonde moment when it installed all these rent-a-bike places throughout the city in hopes commuters would use them instead of taxis, but then realized that no one was using them because they didn't happen to have a helmet with them. Thus, they had to stock all the nearby convenience stores with cheap helmets and now the under-used bike racks all have signs telling you where the nearest 7/11 is so you can buy your helmet.
--There's a free shuttle bus that takes you all around the city of Melbourne. It runs every half hour and is about an hour and a half ride. It's a pleasant sort of ride, particularly on a blustery day, as long as you've got company to inform you of all the sights you're passing and give you little tidbits for your blog.
--"Scoff down" your food is the Australian (and British, it appears from a quick search) equivalent of "scarf down" your food.
--There's an Australian cake called chocolate ripple cake. Evidently it's amazing.
No comments:
Post a Comment