Things to do in Lorne when there are no waves to ride...

I spent another great weekend in Lorne with Matt and Jas. When I arrived on the Friday afternoon, there was absolutely no swell on the Surf Coast. What to do! Jas and I took Zephyr for a bush walk. We saw the Erskine Falls and then hiked back into town. Saturday was a cruisey day, and we had good surf the rest of the long weekend.

Australia has the best warning signs ever!
Beware of holes, slippery surfaces, trees that can fall on your head and crush you, and Brown Snakes!

The Otways are beautiful and green.

Once again…the grainy Sascquatch-style pictures of grey Kangaroos. These guys were huge, and a whole mob crossed the road in front of us as we were on our way back into town. You should see them hop! It is the coolest thing ever. It NEVER gets old!

ANZAC Day

In Melbourne, thousands gather at the Shrine of Remembrance at dawn to recognize those who served in at Gallipoli, in WWII, Vietnam and more recent 20th and 21st century conflicts.
Anzac Day is commemorated by Australia and New Zealand on 25th of April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. A View of the Shrine of Remembrance.
The ANZAC force landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold strike to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers died.

Highlights of Sydney Weekend

*Beautiful prayers and songs throughout the meal(s).
*Amazing food!
*Some good laughs!
*Samara and I ran the Bondi to Coogee walk, and we took a quick dip at North Bondi.
*I saw the lifeguards made famous by the reality TV show, BONDI RESCUE.
*We stopped in to visit her designer friends, BEC AND BRIDGE as they were getting ready for Sydney Fashion Week….and we made a few purchases!The view back towards Bondi along the cliff walk to Coogee Beach.
We flew in on Saturday afternoon, and out again on Monday morning, so we really only had one full day in Sydney. We made the most of it!

Passover in Sydney

My friend Samara invited me to join her family in Sydney last weekend for Passover celebrations. I was excited to accept the invitation because it was an excuse for a fun weekend away, and in celebrating Passover, I would feel closer to my sister, who is living in Isreal.

Samara’s parents, Shirley and Joe Hersch are wonderful hosts. There were 28 guests for the Seder on Saturday night, and 17 on Sunday night! This is the view of Sydney Harbour from the Hersch's house.

VCA JARGON THAT CRACKS ME

Aussie Slang Term: to crack it: Verb. To lose your temper; to lose patience with. "To crack the shits" is to have an extremely violent outburst at someone or something. When something "cracks" one, it means a person, object, or activity is actively annoying and frustrating.

Every industry has it's own language. Jargon is sometimes fun to use to demonstrate your mental prowess, and it is sometimes a pain in the butt. I can now acknowledge that the shiny newness of some of these VCA words has worn off for me.

**Aesthetics: Every theatre maker needs these. Your Aesthetic defines you. It can be a topic of common VCA Theatre party small-talk. One must be prepared with an aesthetic statement at all times. If you don’t have it sorted out, well… you’d better go crawl under a rock. Otherwise, begin to bullshit.

**Filmic: Common usage: “Your piece had this wonderful filmic quality to it.” I really think it makes more sense to use the term cinematic…

**Sensoral : Having to do with the senses. Common usage: “It had a real…sensoral effect on me.” I think people feel more artistic and intellectual transforming “sensory” into an adjective. I don’t get it.

Australia has Clear Cuts too.

The beginning of our Nature Walk to the Falls took us through an active logging area. Yobos on dirt bikes tore past us to rip up the logging roads and find sweet single tracks. (It's a truth: no matter where you are...things are pretty much the same.)

The difference? The animal tracks! This part of the forest is still home to a rather good-sized kangaroo.

Funny thing... even though we ate very healthfully all weekend in consideration for those with dietary restrictions, the Meat Eaters in the group did enjoy one departure from the rather precious menu we had devised: "Kanga Bangas" (Translation: Kangaroo Suasages) with eggs, toast and baked beans for brekkie.

Yes, there is a drought...

..but there's water in the Sub-tropical rainforest!
Everybody hiked to Stevenson Falls on Saturday. We had fine weather, and when we reached the falls, six of us changed into our cossies, (also known as togs,swimmers or bathers; in Canadian: swimsuits), and went for a VERY COLD swim. Lachlan, Blake, Nadia and I sat under the waterfall for a minute...and then the really cold water began to feel really hot , and we decided that wasn't a good thing.

Photo Shoot

Meet Samara, Nadia and Anna. Samara and Nadia are Post Grad directors like me, and Anna is an Animateur (Performance Artist).
As the photo shoot progressed and we warmed up to the task at hand, we began to become more adventurous with our technique. Well, to be honest, the second shot of Nadia and Samara was an accident. I turned the flash off, and the headlamp was left as light source.

School Camp

Cultural Note: It is traditional for Australian school kids to go away with their class on a “camping” experience at the beginning or end of the school year.

Australian Pastoral.

The Event: A Weekend Retreat with 15 other Post Grads
The Location: Birremunnga Cabins in the Otway Forest
The Goal: Relax and Recharge(Not bloody likely! We were more tired when we returned then we were when we left!)
The Menu: Lots and Lots of Red Wine
Vegetarian, Gluten-free and Lactose-free
The Activities: Reading, Chatting, Drinking and Eating, Forest Walking, Dancing and Cooking.Otway leaves changing.

Some of us went on a Night Adventure in the Woods on the first night of our stay. It didn’t last for long. We didn’t have a compass and we had no idea where we were heading! We paused…and theatre people being theatre people, we had a photo shoot. Here are Anna, Lachlan, Alex, Blake and I... being silly.

Lame Haiku

A huge project is
Due on Friday and still I
Procrastinate, eh.

Obviously, my objective was not to write a GOOD Haiku.

More Footy Fun

Jasmina, Ang, Chris and Matt's dad, Rex.
*Footy fans are FULLY decked out in their team colours. Scarves, Jerseys, Caps and Beanies are everywhere. It is a sight to see everyone on the tram and train in full team gear. You will notice that I am wearing an official Carlton beanie, and so is Matt. *Meat pies! The top consumable at the footy. Best washed down with beer!
*The Pie guys walk through the stadium yelling “Cold drinks! Hot pies!”

*Each footy team has (dare I say it!) a cheesy team song, and each footy fan sings their team song with a full voice and heart.
*Related Australian vocabulary: To Barrack: verb. To cheer for; support.

A Few Facts about Footy...

Melbourne is the home of Aussie Rules Football. The game was invented to keep cricketers fit during the off-season.
It’s a hard-core mix of rugby, football, soccer and basketball.
There are 32 players on the field during the game --- 18 per side. They are all beautifully fit men in tight shorts! The most well-known players usually have drinking, drug, gambling and/or women troubles. Umpires are the most reviled men on the field. On Saturday night they made the calls that prompted Carlton fans to stand up, yell obscenities and throw chips and partly full beer cups off the second level of the stadium.Matt lost his voice from yelling so much. Apparently this happens to him every time he goes to the footy. When his throat got sore from yelling at the umpires, he reverted to hand signals.

A Night at the Footy

A statue of a famous footy player outside the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground).I went with Jasmina and Matt, Chris, my flatmate and his girlfriend Ang to my first footy game on Saturday night. Footy is the affectionate abbreviation that Australians have for the AFL (Australian Football League or Aussie Rules Football). We watched the Carlton Blues play against the Essendon Bombers. Matt, Jas and Ang are huge Carlton supporters. Just to be contrary, Chris had made a wager of $100 against Carlton. It did make the dynamic rather interesting. (Ang is a Carlton member from way back!)
Needless to say, it was glorious when the “boys in blue” were in the lead, but tragic when they lost by 30 points! (Chris has not yet indicated what he will do with his winnings.)

Aussie Food To Avoid #1

I thought I was making a healthy snack choice when I bought this cracker. You know…a low carb, high fiber, “healthy goodness” kind of choice.

Cardboard tastes better.
(Not that I’ve done an actual taste test… but if you were to taste a Vita-Weat…even smothered with avocado or peanut butter, you would agree!) Truly.