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

First Impressions of Australia

Thought I'd share with you some of the first differences I noticed between Australia and Canada.

1. The Birds!
This really was the first difference that kind of hit me over the head when I arrived. In comparison to Canada, Australia seems to have many more birds hanging around. Each type of bird seems to make very loud, very cheery noises, and the birds here are all so different in shape, size, and colour from those in Canada. The birds that I've seen thus far (and been able to identify) include:

The Australian Magpie

Some sort of green-coloured bird that could either be these, the Rainbow Bee Eaters...

...or these, Scaley Breasted Lerikeet.

Australian Wood Duck

 Silver Gull

Australian White Ibis

Australia Pelican

And also, the house sparrow, which looks just like our sparrows in Canada.

I love waking up and hearing the birds talking to each other. It makes me feel like I'm in the middle of the rainforest.

2. Aussie Greetings:
Instead of asking "How are you?" or "How's it going?", Aussies ask "How you going?", which made me stutter and mumble a lot at first because I wasn't quite sure how to answer, but at least I've got it better than the Danish friends I've made. Apparenlty in Danish there is no phrase equivalent to "How are you?", and in the English culture we tend to ask "How's it going/How're you going?" A LOT. My poor friends finally asked me what the heck they were supposed to say in response to the random strangers who would ask them how they were.

3. Internet Use:
In Australia, when you get internet connection at your place, you're not just automatically allowed unlimited access to internet but rather you have to pay according to how many gigabytes you use. This is unendingly frustrating for me because I've never had to think about how much bandwidth I'm using, and my habit of watching movies or TV online has come to an abrupt end.

4. The Water:
The ocean waves here are unlike anything I've ever seen. Being a mountain girl, for the most part, oceans are a novelty to me, and the waves here are at least 10 times as big as the ones I ever saw in Nova Scotia or B.C.. Also, there's quite a substantial rip-tide to deal with here, which can be a little scary.

5. Other Animals that Have Been Hit with Some Kind of Augmenting Ray Gun

I'm pretty sure this is the kind of bat that I saw the other night. However, as far as I'm concerned this isn't a bat but rather a F*$%ING DOG WITH WINGS. These guys freak me out a little.

Also had the pleasure of making acquaintances with some kind of large (to me, small to Aussies) spider of which I am not going to try to find a picture because I'm just about to go to bed and would rather not feel like bugs are crawling all over me. 

Don't get me wrong, the meetings I've had with weird and ray-gun augmented animals have always been moderately pleasant, never too freaky, and my life has never been in danger, so no stress.

Also, what good is it if you're not pushed a little out of your comfort zone when you're travelling, eh?!

Finally! An Update!

Hi All,

I'm so sorry, I've totally sucked at keeping my blog up to date. My excuse is that I didn't have reliable access to internet connection while I was in Quebec, and then once back home was preoccupied with seeing family and getting ready to go to Australia. There is, however, an upside to me not having been a reliable blogger (besides the fact that you have had 2 months off from being jealous of my nomadic, sporadic life), and that's that I have lots of exciting stories and pictures to share with you!

I've been in Australia for nearly two weeks now, and just had my first day of classes today. I am attending Griffith University for a semester. Griffith is located on the Gold Coast about 1.5 hours south of Brisbane. Semesters in Australia run differently than those in Canada because our seasons are reversed, so that's why I've started my semester so early.

In my experience, the first month of exchange can be a little trying as you struggle to make good friends and find activities to participate in. I'm quite excited to have started school because a university campus is always choc-full of activities to participate in and people to make friends with. I'm doing well though, as far as making friends go. Luckily, within my first week in Oz I made friends with three girls who all came from the same uni in Denmark. The girls and I hit it off at the orientation session and have been hanging out every day or two since then. I have also been taken under the wing of an Aussie named Meri, who went to Ireland and Germany on exchange last year and is back at university on the Gold Coast this semester. She knows what it's like to be an exchange student, and has taken it upon herself to be my tour guide. So far she's given me a tour of the city, taken me on a wine-tasting tour on Mount Tambourine (not far out of the Gold Coast city), and helped me search for an apartment.

The Gold Coast is divided into a number of different large sections, which are called suburbs. I'm currently staying with a homestay family in the suburb of Benowa. Benowa is right in between the University and the beach, which sounds like it would be a perfect set-up, but it actually means that I have to take a bus no matter where I want to go. Ideally, I'd like to live in the suburb called Surfers Paradise, which is along the beach and has great bus access to the Griffith campus. My homestay placement hasn't been ideal and I'm currently searching for an apartment in Surfers Paradise to move into.

A full course-load in Australia is four courses and I'm quite excited about the courses I've selected. They are: Australian Literature and History, Contemporary Aboriginal Issues, Islam in the Modern World, and Fame and Celebrity (Sociology). All of these courses fit really well into my overall course requirements, and I will be graduating on-time from St. FX this May. My semester will finish mid-November, and after my exams I'll take about a month to backpack either around Australia, New Zealand, or perhaps Asia, before heading home for Christmas and then back to St. FX in January.

I'm off to a birthday party now, but you can expect to see some photos of Australia and many, many posts about my time in Quebec in the near future!