Polling Day

Today is Polling Day for state elections in New South Wales. I thought I'd just share a few thoughts as an American observing the voting process here.

First of all, voting is compulsory here in Australia. Australia is the only English-speaking country to have made voting compulsory in both federal and state elections. My understanding is that you can be fined if you don't vote. This means that voter turnout is around 95%! To an American who is bombarded with reports and complaints about the apathetic American electorate at voting time, that is just mind-boggling. I think America has something to learn here.

A little side note on compulsory voting: aborigines are not required to vote, but if they register, they must vote. Intriquing. I'd be interested to read some legislative history on that.

Secondly, voting is on Saturday. Is that brilliant or what? No half days for schools because their cafeterias are being used. For 9-5 workers, no trying to figure out how to make it to the polling place. What I saw last time we were here and this morning when I was out for an early run was older people, families with small children, young people, all walking to the different polling places (schools, community centers, etc.) to vote. And there were reasonable lines of people waiting.

In addition, community groups and schools take advantage of the polling to have bake sales (cake stalls), barbecues/sausage sizzles, book sales, plant sales, etc. That promotes a much more festive/community atmosphere, it seems.

Of course, we don't get to vote. But I was enlisted to bake something for the cake stall through the school. My lesson learned in that regard? Cadbury brownie mix produces fewer brownies, uses a smaller "slice pan", and the girls weren't too keen on the taste. Poor souls who buy my brownies. Back to baking from scratch!

Anne

Our Family Weekend

This weekend was Rick's first "family weekend"- one of 5 weekends off a year. This is in addition to the vacation time that Rick receives. This is a typical benefit for a Uniting Church minister, and one that we are going to treasure- we are impressed with the acknowledgement of the need for weekend family time. Rick and I swore to each other back in the States when we were in the midst of our moving upheaval that we wouldn't go traveling for a good long time after we were settled here. Fortunately, there is so much for us to explore nearby!

On Saturday we went to Sydney's Taronga Zoo, and despite some rain in the afternoon, had one of the best zoo visits we've had in a long time. The animals were active and visible and the kids really enjoyed them. The chimps were their all time favorites and left Claire with the hiccups off and on through the evening with all of her laughing. You can see a few pictures of the zoo below. In particular, check out the view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge behind the giraffes. Absolutely breathtaking!

On Sunday, we ended up going to our church, as the kids absolutely did not want to miss the Sunday childrens' morning program. But Rick did get to enjoy sitting with his family, and managed not to get caught up in work. After church, while much of Sydney was downtown celebrating the Sydney Harbour Bridge's 75th birthday (they actually closed the bridge from 4:30am to 11pm!), we chose to go to a local "show", which is what we would call a country fair in New England. The kids had great fun on the rides, and got to get up close and personal with lots of farm animals. They had the typical fair fare- hotdogs, corndogs, fairy floss (cotton candy), but we were intriqued to also find Turkish and Thai- not a usual find at a New England country fair. It was strange to see squash and pumpkins on display in the judging as we are nearing Easter, a time when we are usually contemplating spring things like crocuses, new white sandals and the impending warm spring weather to melt the snow.

Below are a few pics from the zoo. Click on the link below to see more pics of the weekend in a Picasa Web Album.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/annedacey/MarchFamilyWeekend02/photo#5043187205899189650
Love, Anne

Whale Beach

On Saturday, we finally took our first family excursion to one of Sydney's Northern Beaches, Whale Beach. In the almost 7 weeks that we have been here, the family has not ventured more than a couple miles radius from the house, as we have been so intent on trying to just settle ourselves (and the pool has been great for cooling off). But the childrens' call of adventure could wait no longer, so we took an afternoon to enjoy ourselves and ended with a nice picnic dinner on the beach before we had to get home so Dad could do his Saturday night's preparation for work the next day. It's been a scorcher of a weekend, so the beach Saturday, and the pool today on Sunday was most welcome!

Anne

We finally have a 2d car!

Which reminds me that we haven't told you about the first. For those who are interested, that is.

Having sold our Hondas to new loving homes (we enjoy envisioning my dear friend Tonya's family of 5 taking family outings in the Odyssey minivan), we have now entered the world of Toyota devotees. As part of Rick's compensation package, the church leased us a white Toyota Avensis (similar vehicle pictured above), aka, a peoplemover. Isn't that a great name? It seems to be Australia's answer to the minivan. It is not as roomy as our Odyssey, but then, Australian roads were not built for the honkin' monster cars of the US. The lanes and parking spots are definitely narrower. And quite honestly, it suits us just fine, although luggage room will be tight for trips. It seats 7, which we were looking for in anticipation of visitors (hint, hint). And, true to form, I have already given it a nice scrape along the front fender when I took too sharp a turn out of the garage.

We tried to arrive with no preconceived notions of what we would need in a 2d car, although we presumed it would be something that would get Rick to and from work (the church is about 10 minutes away). After over a month with one car (thank you, dear friends, for loaners and rides), we eventually arrived at the conclusion that we should buy a used car.

Kudos go to Rick. Determined to get the best value he could, despite the fact that he really had no spare time, he attended a car auction with his fellow minister Kent, spent hours pouring through online car sales sites, and used several nights to go look at cars. Mind you, this is a guy who hasn't bought a used car since high school and basically can open the hood and tell you if there is a motor in there. But he finally found a white 1997 Toyota Corolla SECA (similar to the one pictured below). It has no frills (when is the last time you had to roll up your windows yourself?), but has low mileage (kilometerage?) and it seems that Corollas can last forever (right Gwen and Karen?)

Are you sensing a theme with color (or lack thereof?) It seems that there are many more white cars on the road here than in the US. We presume that is because the sun is so hot, and white deflects the sun best.


Our apologies for taking so long to post. Settling in has taken so much time, and then the computer was unable to retrieve our pictures, and then there was marital miscommunication about who is responsible for the next blog (phew, got that one worked out). Anyhow, we hope to, within a few more days, give you some thoughts on shopping in Australia, as well as introduce you to some of the wildlife in our yard (yes Lynn, there will be spiders).


Anne