Canada vs. Australia Rugby

The Rugby World Cup starts on September 9th in New Zealand, and in preparation for the World Cup, Canada and Australia played a match here on the Gold Coast. Forty of us exchange students got organized and bought tickets to the game. There was a surprising number of Canadian fans at the game, and all were dressed to the nines in flags and red and white painted faces. I spent the whole afternoon the day before the game searching for face paint, and couldn't find any! So I decided I was going to try to make my own face paint out of cornstarch, face cream, and food colouring. Unfortunately, I couldn't make the facepaint red enough, and ended up painting my face with and subsequently washing off a big pink maple leaf. I didn't even have a red shirt or sweater to wear to the game, so shamefully settled on using my red lipstick to paint a small maple leaf on my cheek.

Canada actually didn't get their butts kicked, which was good, considering we Canadians don't have the rugby culture that they have here in Oz.

When the game was over, many of the players greeted fans and gave autographs on the field. There was one particularly cute Canadian player who my roommate decided I needed a picture with. His name was Connor. He was very cute indeed.

Housewarming Party

Two weeks ago, my roommates and I hosted a housewarming party for our beautiful apartment. Collectively we baked three cakes and about 4 dozen cookies and brownies to serve at the party. We also served tea and hot chocolate. My favorite baked good was a chocolate layer cake that I had invented about a week earlier. The cake has orange rind icing in the middle and is covered in whipping cream -- really yummy! I also really loved the sugar cookies that we iced in all different colours.

There is another group of 4 exchange students living on a different floor of our building, so we decided that we would jointly run the housewarming party. Thus, guests spent the first few hours at our apartment indulging in baked goods, and then we headed downstairs for pizza, chips and drinks. Someone brought a guitar to the party, so later in the evening we all took turns passing the guitar around and singing. All in all, the party was a great success, and and a perfect excuse to bake until I dropped!

Australian Damper

As I mentioned in my last post, half-way though last weekend's horseback riding trip our group stopped for tea and bread. The bread that we had was traditional Australian damper, which is a simple unleavened bread that was common fare in the bush because the ingredients could easily be carried around. The damper we had was warmed up in the fire for us, and was delicious with jam or honey on top.

This evening I was craving something to nibble on, so I thought I'd try my hand at making damper, since it's so easy and quick. Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

• 2. cups self-raising flour (I only had plain flour, so used that and added a teaspoon of baking powder)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 - 1½ cups milk
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons butter

Mix together flour, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter until fine crumbs form. Add milk slowly and mix to form a soft dough. Knead lightly on a floured surface until smooth. Shape into a round loaf, brush with milk, and cut a cross in the top.

Bake at 375° F for 30-40 minutes.

The bread is very dense and is really, really good smothered in butter and eaten warm. Apparently the drovers in the outback used to make this dough, wrap it around sticks and cook it over the coals of a fire. Damper is still frequently made by Australians for dinner parties and get-togethers.

Give the recipe a try and let me know what you think!

Horseback Riding

I went hoseback riding in the hinterland yesterday with my roomates and a few friends. The landscape that we rode through was so lush and different to what I was used to. We trekked through the forest, where all sorts of exotic plants and trees were growing in abundance, and there were tiny colourful birds flitting all over the place and calling from the treetops. Halfway through our 3 hour ride we stopped to "boil the billy" (boil water for tea over a fire) and have some bread and jam. My horse's name was Jag, and he had a beautiful polka-dotted bum, and was a good listener.




Boiling the Billy

  



Me, Weibke, Siri, Sofie, Sonja, (Anna - photographer)

 

Jag's polka-dot bum




Some of the lush vegetation

 

Whale Rescue!

Just a few weeks ago I was on my balcony greeting the day when I noticed a kerfuffle of some sort going on just down the beach from where I live. Curious, I threw my running shoes on and headed towards the big crowd. I discovered that a baby humpback whale had beached itself overnight and the crowd surrouding him was watching as a team of experts did what they could to get him back into the water. About five minutes afer I arrived, the calf, with much help, did in fact make it back into the water, and he was guided out to sea to be reunited with his mother.

Here's a link to an news article with some pictures and more info, if you're interested:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rescuers-are-working-to-save-a-baby-humpback-whale-that-has-beached-itself-at-surfers-paradise/story-e6freoof-1226110640129

My New Apartment

Just last week I moved out of my homestay accommodation and into my own apartment! My new apartment is right on the beach and in the heart of Surfers Paradise. Surfers is basically the city centre of the Gold Coast because it's where many of the restaurants, bars, and funky hangout spots are.  My apartment is a 2 bedroom, two bathroom space on the 23rd floor of a building equipped with an indoor and outdoor pool, indoor and outdoor hot tub, sauna, gym, and tennis court. I share the apartment with 3 other international students, which means that each of us shares a room with one other girl, but so far we are all getting along really well and our bedrooms are big enough that we still feel like we have our own personal space. We have a breath-taking view of the ocean from our living room, and I feel really happy and relaxed in my new space, and super lucky to be where I am. 

Here are some pictures of the apartment so you can picture where I'm at:

 The front entrance.Living Room -- note the view!

Built-in bar

 Kitchen

Dining Room

View from the balcony

 Night-time view from the kitchen window

My roommates! From left to right: Sonja (German), Anna (German), Tessa (Dutch)

This weekend was our first weekend all together, so I baked a chocolate layer cake with orange rind icing in the middle and covered in whipping cream. It was pretty yummy, if I do say so myself. There's another group of our friends who just moved onto the 12th floor of our building yesterday. Those girls haven't had their power turned on yet, so we're going to cook dinner all together at our place today, and then watch Australia's Next Top Model on T.V. while drinking sparkling wine. 

'Roo

Have yet to see a 'roo, but when I do I sure hope he's as ridiculously posed as this guy.

Doesn't he look like he's flexing for the camera?

Have a good day!

-Emily