Jindabyne - Deadly Creatures

Deborah was cleaning rooms today along with her young Aussie helper Scott. In one of the bathrooms Scott found and carefully dispatched with extended arm one of Australia’s many poisonous spiders. He said it was a Whitetail, a small spider whose bite will within hours start to turn the skin gray, and within days eat away at your flesh leaving a wound that can only be repaired with a skin graft. Some online research suggests that is a significant exaggeration but it nevertheless is a good idea to avoid being bitten by this particular arachnid. The really nasty spiders here are the Redback (similar to the Black Widow) and the Sydney Funnel-Web. Still, thanks to the development of anti-venom, since 1956 nobody has died from a Redback bite and since 1980 nobody has died from a Sydney Funnel-web bite.

Australia is famous for its deadly creatures. In addition to the aforementioned spiders are venomous species of scorpion, jellyfish, octopus, stingray, stonefish, and snakes. In fact, of the ten most venomous snakes in the world, Australia has somewhere between seven and all ten, depending on your source. Even the shy little Platypus has spurs on its back legs that can deliver a viciously painful toxin to the unwary. And of course there are the infamous saltwater crocodiles and Great White Sharks.

Here are some more reasons I don’t swim:

Box Jellyfish – contact with its toxic tentacles can stop cardio-respitory function in three minutes. Box Jellyfish kill more people in Australia than sharks, snakes and saltwater crocs.

Irukandji Jellyfish- only about an inch in diameter, it can nevertheless cause death to humans within days.

Blue Ringged Octopus – deadly bite, no known cure.

Stonefish – named for its rock-like camouflage, it resides in shallow waters and is easily stepped on. It has thirteen sharp and extremely toxic dorsal spines. Its venom can kill a human in two hours.

Saltwater Crocodile – the world’s largest reptile, it ambushes those foolish enough to enter its habitat and stand too close to the water’s edge. The croc will clamp its jaws around the victim and dive underwater, corkscrewing violently in an attempt to drown its victim and rip it in half. Luckily, more than half of Australia's 100 or so croc-attack victims over the last century have survived. It is actually a protected species now.

Great White Shark – has an average of 2800 teeth in its mouth. Good for dentists; not so good for the rest of us.

Deborah's little friend.

Jindabyne - Aussie Slang (Food)

A big thunderstorm blew in last evening, flickering the power on and off a couple of times and bringing much needed rain. I had just watered all the rose beds, which no doubt caused the deluge. This weather system brought welcome respite from the heat today. Deborah and I took a nice walk down by the lake. We also had a pleasant visit from Merrilyn's sister Bev who owns another inn in town.

Here now are more Aussie slang terms, this time under the category of "food," followed by a couple more pictures of the lake.

tucker (food)
avos (avocados)
bikkies (cookies, also called biscuits)
brekkie (breakfast)
sultanas (raisins)
barbie (barbeque)
esky (cooler)
coldie (beer)
stubbie (a 375ml beer bottle)
tallie (a 750ml beer bottle)
stubbie holder (polystyrene insulated drink holder)
snag (sausage)
Maccas (McDonalds)

Jindabyne - Television

I watched the Super Bowl today. It was strange to watch it at 10:30 in the morning on a Monday, but such is the time zone difference. I haven’t been following the NFL season at all and it receives scant coverage over here where rugby, cricket, soccer, tennis and Australian Rules football (whatever that is) dominate. I would have forgotten about it completely if not for a brief mention on a sports news broadcast about the first Australian to play in the Super Bowl (Arizona’s punter). Merrilyn and David gave us their cable box to use while they are at their beach house so we have many channels to choose from and I was able to find one showing the game, not that I particularly cared whether Arizona or Pittsburgh prevailed.

Much of our time here has been spent in places with only the five “free-to-air” channels available - three commercial and two public – which usually suffices. I understand there will eventually be 15 free channels as the transition to digital progresses. Subscription television via cable and satellite is widely available just as in the USA, with about the same number and types of channels, but I think it costs a bit less here. I’m not sure how many Australians opt for cable or satellite and how many just get by with the free channels.

Apparently Australia does produce some of its own programs, but it seems like the majority are familiar American shows or British shows. So yes, we get American Idol. (Just don’t tell Deborah that there is also an Australian Idol or we’ll have to watch that too.) The start times are sometimes odd and seemingly haphazard though: a sitcom may start at 7:40pm or a movie at 8:35pm. They also have movie-like ratings for non-movie programs indicating whether they are for mature audiences or general audiences or whatever – probably a good idea. I believe they also have restrictions on what time of day certain programs (or even advertising) can be shown. So I guess if you’re looking for the racy stuff you’ll have to stay up late.

The grass around the lake is getting brown. We need rain...

Jindabyne - Aussie Slang (clothing)

It's cooler here today, thankfully. Here are some clothing-related Aussie slang items:

thongs (flip flops, cheap backless sandals)
sunnies (sunglasses)
cozzie (swim suit, short for “costume”)

and our favorite...

budgie smuggler (a speedo, budgies are small parakeet-like birds)

Jindabyne - Guests and Galahs

With the long weekend over we find ourselves for the first time with an empty inn. We have a group of four men who will continue to stay here Monday to Friday (they are working in the area and their company puts them up here), but we have no tourists at the moment. So, barring any last minute calls or drop-ins, we may have the place to ourselves this weekend. Our hot weather continues; it was supposed to be 39C (102F) today. At least it’s not humid.

For entertainment we always have the Galahs, the cockatoo-like birds that are plentiful in all of Australia but especially here in Jindabyne. They gather in great numbers in the big tree outside our flat and we enjoy watching their antics as they come and go. They have a lovable clownish aspect to them. When it rains they hang upside down from the branches and flap their wings as if showering. Merrilyn says they do that from the power lines also. But in this heat even the Galahs are listless.

Galahs in the tree outside our flat.

"Is that you I smell?"

Jindabyne - Feel the Heat

It's a hot one today. We were supposed to reach 36C (97F). They say it will hit 38C (100F) tomorrow, and stay quite hot for the rest of the week. This is not usual so we don't have A/C here, just a fan to help cool us off, as well as Deborah's fine iced tea. We are supposed to be cooler here in the mountains and yet Sydney only hit 28C (81F) today. This seems terribly unfair.

Jindabyne - Australia Day Cricket

Australia Day was a holiday for everyone but Deborah, who was cleaning up after guests who had checked out. Her new position as innkeeper has firmly reinforced her opinion that some people are pigs. A glance at the recycling bin reinforces another conclusion: that Australians drink a LOT of beer. Granted, the weather has been quite hot and even I, who didn’t drink at all until about a year ago, drank a beer three days in a row. Unprecedented for me. Deborah asks if I’m becoming an alcoholic. I tell her no, I’m just becoming Australian.

I spent Australia Day painting (what else) and also watching Cricket on television. I saw a bit of it back in November but had no idea what was going on and quickly abandoned it. But Merrilyn, before she left for the beach house, sat down and explained the basics of the game to me, and now I actually enjoy watching it. The novelty may wear off eventually, but for now it is entertaining, if for no other reason than to hear the announcer use bizarre terms like bowlers, overs and wickets.

Apparently there are a number of variations of the game, some of which last about 3 hours and some of which are played over 5 days! The one I watched (off and on) yesterday was “only” a one-day game, lasting maybe 8 hours or so. I can’t imagine the numbness in the behinds of the spectators who sit in the grandstands watching the entire game. One of the amusing rituals of the long games is when they break for tea. Cricket is played by virtually all the former colonies of the British Empire. Yesterday’s match saw the Australians, who are supposed to be the world’s leading team, lose to the South Africans. Perhaps that explains the surplus of empty beer bottles.

Another view of Lake Jindabyne