Kangaroos - More Than Just Roadkill

I decided that this post should take on a trivial pursuit theme as most of these ramblings are trivial at best. - Ben

History – I know some of you are big fans on the fashion trend of “collar-popping.” Well, I may have found its origins. I visited the Bradman Collection at the South Australian Library last week, where I learned more about Sir Donald Bradman (aka Sir Donald or The Don), who was basically the Babe Ruth of cricket. Amongst the many photos, I noticed that The Don and his teammates were often rocking the collar pop all the way back in the 1930s. There was no commentary on The Don’s collar and so I can neither confirm nor deny this as the origin of the popped collar.

People & Places – In a last minute travel opportunity, I jumped at the chance to tag along with a friend who was headed home for the weekend. Our destination was Mt. Gambier which is about 4 ½ hours southeast of Adelaide. Locals seem to pronounce the name Man-Gambia, but the signs say Mt. Gambier. Apparently the town can be affectionately referred to as “The Mount” or “The Gams,” but I discovered “Man Gams” is not an option or overly appreciated for some reason. Mt. Gambier is a lot like small towns in the US. There isn’t an overwhelming amount to do. While there I got to see the famed crater lake, a sinkhole, the ocean (about 15 miles away), attend a BBQ (where someone actually said “put another shrimp on the barbie,” but only for my benefit as Australians don’t use the term shrimp), ride a go-cart, and know that there is an attorney named John Cusack in Mt. Gambier (unfortunately, I forgot to go back and get a photo of his sign).

Science & Nature – In Mt. Gambier, I saw my first live kangaroos. They were a little lazier than I expected, but still pretty cool. I also saw two koalas, a wallaby (basically a smaller kangaroo), and some more cool birds. I have decided that the koala gives the hippo a run for its money on lowest expectations. By this I mean that all most onlookers hope for from hippos is that they will open their mouths for a photo. For koalas, the only hope is that they are low enough in the tree to see them well. Koalas apparently sleep for 19 hours a day and use the other 5 to eat and rest after the exertion of eating. The only thing that keeps them from clearly dominating the hippo in this contest is the perception that you can hold/hug/cuddle a koala. I am told this is a terrible idea. Apparently in the few hours they are awake, koalas are nasty animals with claws. There are some petting zoos where they have koalas to hold, but even there it is quite common for them to urinate on people.

Arts & Entertainment – Australia is home to some “giant” roadside attractions that have more recently become appreciated as fine works of art. Bill Bryson talks about some of these in his book “A Sunburned Country” (aka “Down Under” outside of the USA). Between Adelaide and Mt. Gambier is the small town of Kingston, which happens to be home to the Giant Lobster. I had a few minutes on the way back to Adelaide to bask in the glory of this roadside attraction. Unfortunately, my Australian travel partners were less impressed than I was so we were back on the highway after a few quick pics. I believe that the Giant Pineapple is on one of my future itineraries and I am told the giant rocking horse is somewhere near Adelaide.

Sports & Leisure – Mt. Gambier also offered me the chance to see my first ever live netball game. I must say, I was not impressed. I am sure there are several intricacies to the game that I do not understand, but it largely appeared to be basketball for the uncoordinated. For those of you unfamiliar with the game, it looks like basketball with no backboard. However, players do not dribble, but pass the ball down the court as they cannot take more than two steps with the ball. All the positions are limited to zones of the court they can travel between and eventually if the ball ends up with one of the two people allowed to shoot, the defense has to give them room and time to prepare to shoot, so even fast breaks end in a carnival like setting of trying to throw the ball through a hoop w/o a backboard.

Wildcard – In a petrol station diner en route to Mt. Gambier, I asked about something that looked like an egg roll. It was apparently called a “Chiko Roll,” and while the explanation of what exactly was in a chiko roll lacked detail, I knew that I need to have one. It turned out to be a somewhat bland large fried roll that I believe included cabbage, carrot, potato, and by its name I would think chicken, but I can’t confirm that. Luckily, almost everything that is fried here comes with “sauce” (ketchup) and so all was well.