My First Day in Australia

By lunchtime, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by all that I'd been seeing. I didn't feel adventerous enough to try meat pies, sausage rolls and had no idea what a "pie floater" might be. The small sandwich shop that I'd wandered into listed a tuna sandwich on the menu. That sounded familiar and home-like, so I asked for that.

I knew I wasn't in the United States any more as the sandwich was assembled. First came the slices of whole wheat bread (Australian bread is much more solid and hearty than squishy, white American bread). The worker slathered the bread with butter (oops, I thought, where's the mayo?). He scooped out chunks of tuna dripping with oil and plunked those on the bread. D'you want beetroot? he asked. I couldn't figure out what he'd said at first and asked for a repeat. He gestured to a container of purple-red beet slices and repeated his question. No, I definitely did not want beetroot on my tuna sandwich.

The lunch emphasized to me that I was indeed in a foreign country.

Beet by String_Theory

After hours of walking on hard pavement and seeing the sights, I came to the Botanical Gardens. It was December, so with Australia's seasons being reversed from the U.S., it was a warm summer day. What a relief to stroll the paths under large trees, with vistas of flowers spreading in all directions. Many of the plants were unfamiliar to me and the birds were amazingly exotic to someone more used to robins and sparrows.

White Ibis by animalpark

One that I saw was a good-sized white bird with an incredibly long curved beak. Later on I found out that it was an ibis. There were a good number of these wandering around on the ground. I could see that I would need a good birding guide for my time in Australia.