38. SYDNEY. BITTEN BY A NATIVE 'UNKNOWN' & ADJUSTING TO AUSSIE DIFFERENCES...

Just when I thought we'd recovered from the cockroach across the face drama, L went and got bitten by an unknown native creature. He didn't feel the assassin attack but two rapidly swelling bites would suggest that it had and to top it off, in a really bizarre way. This native assassin had been quite particular and perhaps verged on having OCD. I concluded this due to both bites being in exactly the same place either side of L's ankle bone on his right foot. So strange! 

Over the next few days L's ankle swelled to that of an old ladie's. I'd used my medical pen, which was actually just a Bic, and graffitied on L's foot circling the ever spreading 'redness of doom'. We'd only just registered for Australia's Medicare (a kind of NHS equivalent) 2 days previous and I hadn't expected we might be making use of it quite so soon into our 1 year trip. Thankfully on day 4 L's 'cankle' had returned to something vaguely normal and medical intervention as it turned out, wasn't needed. Phew!

But a few days in and Australia living was already requiring countless adjustments, the bug paranoia for one, but also learning how to use basic everyday objects that 'down under' are just... well weirdly different. Take for example the (unfamiliar) Aussie style of mini ketchup pot. Both L and I were completely perplexed when it came to opening these little accompaniments that came with our lunch. In the UK you'd simply peel back the foil lid, but not here, the lid was un peel-able and in the end it was myself that unwittingly discovered that you bend the thing back on itself. This in turn squeezes the ketchup out of a peak in the centre of the top. I would be too easy to figure this out whilst pointing the ketchup pot toward my plate, instead and rather embarrassingly, the cafe window was now peppered with ketchup...

Language differences were another thing that L and I were still to get used to. A strong Aussie accent was still an amusement to the both of us, and L found himself completely over using the word 'crikey' which actually as it turns out, isn't used all that much by Aussie's themselves. Needless to say a few choice Yorkshire phrases drew blanc looks and when in the search for the perfect vehicle we ended up going to view a 'Ute'. 'Slide on's' are popular over here, a sort of camping unit that can slide onto the back of a flatbed pickup truck (Ute). The first we viewed was owned by an old chap, perhaps once a hippy but very much still a surfer. 'Old chap' was 70 years of age and had the strongest of Aussie accents. He wasn't short of a sentence and although we decided against his ute and slide on  combo, we took up his suggestion of the coastal walk from the bay below his house and followed it for most of the day to various beaches further up.

Quite surprisingly L and I soon found ourselves thrust back and reliving our S.E Asia memories due to the abundance of cafe's selling that incredibly potent, previously blogged about, Vietnamese coffee. Not something either of us had expected would be on almost every street corner in the part of Sydney we were now staying. 'Cousin E' and 'Aussie J' were putting us up for a few nights in their flat and tonight happened to be Mardi Gras. Sydney was celebrating and L too was getting into the swing of things after a quick route around in 'Aussie J's' extensive collection of dressing up attire. All of which was stuffed into a suitcase 3x the size of the one I'd brought with me to Australia to house a year's worth of my stuff.

The search for a home on wheels continues...