Big Weekend

We are starting to actually feel a bit more like locals and like we have a bit of a routine going.  We went to Bible Study again on Wednesday and there was a new person, so we got to feel like the old timers.  We also found out about a camping trip in October that some people from the Bible Study are going on, so we might join them for that.  Church seems like old hat now that we've been three times.  I'm even starting to remember some of the liturgy.

On Friday we finally fired up the barbie.  The ignition switch was broken, so we had to remember to buy a lighter in town before we could get it going.  For it's inaugural run, we cooked kangaroo--which I felt was very appropriate.  Here's me grilling while drinking the Lemon Lime and Bitters we got at Bundaberg soda.  I wasn't sure how we could get any more Aussie than that.  For those of you who haven't eaten roo, it tastes just like steak to me.  Daniel says it tastes leaner, which it is.

Saturday we actually got ourselves out of bed at a reasonable hour and went the the Rotary Big Weekend.  It's a two day festival with entertainment, classic cars, local vendors, arts and crafts, food stalls, even the BMX club doing demonstrations.  I was surprised to see that the BMX club was about 85% girls.  We even saw part of a netball game.  Daniel did some research on the sport, and might post his findings later.

My favorite part was probably the petting zoo.  It was supposed to be for kids, but I so no reason I shouldn't go in and join the fun.  The owner picked out particularly soft friendly animals, and they were almost all babies.  There were alpacas, lambs, a couple different kinds of goats, chickens, ducks, a calf, and even a piglet that had a red bow around it's neck.  I tried to convince a couple kids to pet his snout, but they were a little too nervous.  Daniel tried to make friends with the alpacas:

They had the most ridiculous chickens I've ever seen called Silkies.  They were so soft, though:

I had to post this pic of the adorable 2 week old goat, too.  It made me want goats again.

We enjoyed looking at all the campers and Daniel spent some time doing cost analysis of solar panels.  The classic cars were mostly all old American cars.  I had to laugh at the I-ROC though.  That didn't really seem like a classic to me.  Finally, Daniel spied what was probably his favorite part of the festival:  the stall selling German Sausages.  They had real brats with German mustard and kraut on crusty rolls.  He was in heaven, although didn't think the guy put enough kraut on.  When asked how much he wanted, Daniel said, "As much as humanly possible."

I really enjoyed the inside, too.  There were a bunch of quilts, and I had a long conversation with a woman who did lampwork beads.  I'm actually going to go visit her and her husband, who does metal working.  We might do a swap of knowledge.  I've wanted to learn lampwork for awhile, and she was curious about enameling.  I also found a craft store while Daniel was watching the netball game.  They do scrapbooking and card making sessions that are pretty popular, so I might try one of those in the near future, too.  We even took in a fashion show put on by the local boutique Banana Benders (a nickname for people from Queensland).  I would like to point out that Daniel was the one that made note of the fashion show time and made sure we went.  

Afterwards I walked a bit and went into a store here called BCF, Boating, Camping, Fishing.  I thought our friend Brett would probably have a stroke in there he'd be so overcome with excitement.  I nearly had a stroke when we got home and then I had my first stick shift lesson driving on the other side of the road.  Actually, it wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be.  I didn't have any trouble remembering to be on the left side.  Downshifting was more trouble.  I actually think the stick shift on the Kia is a bit easier than on Daniel's Saturn.  Daniel headed out to catch the sunset while I cooked dinner.  The ocean view back behind the house is such that the sun sets in this fiery ball right into the water each night.  Living on the East Coast, we are not used to being able to see the sun set over the ocean.  He got a good pic:

This morning we got up an unbelievable two mornings in a row to go to the local market.  It's sort of a farmer's market and flea market combined, so it was pretty big.  I had to rush around and get all my veg before people closed up.  I was pleased to find the first real bargins I've found in Australia.  Usually every thing is more expensive, but I actually think I got more for less money than I would have in the States today. For $23 I got all of this:

That's a pumpkin (a sort of squash), a pound of green beans, 3 English cucumbers, a turnip, 5 courgettes (zucchini), 4 red capsicums (bell peppers), a bag of avocados, a tub of Aussie honey fresh from the hive, and a flat of strawberries.  I particularly liked the mutant strawberries you can see in this pic:

We took a good Sunday afternoon nap, went to church, and then even discovered a new place to eat we like called Noodle Box.  I got Singapore noodles, my favorite dish at the now defunct Pao Lim in Durham.  Whew, we're pooped.