more of my life in brisbane...

i've been keeping up with some of the news back home and i hear that canada is considering getting rid of the penny. didn't we go over this before??? i think this topic pops up once every 4 years or so. just like the olympics. speaking of coinage, aussie don't have the penny. at first i found it a little odd but now that i'm used to it, it makes sense. things are rounded to the nearest 5 cents. and it's not a big deal, in the end, it all gets balanced out. there are days when you save a penny and other days when you lose a penny.



L-->R. 5 cent coin. 10 cent coin. 20 cent coin. 50 cent coin. 1 dollar coin. 2 dollar coin. pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters don't exist. if you ask for a loonie, they look at you funny. if you ask for a toonie, they... they... (can't find a word that rhymes with toonie!)



so these are timtams. i'm told that they are the national snack of australia. they are pretty good. they are little chocolate covered wafers... with more chocolate inside. mmm...



you see these things everywhere. they are called "utes". probably 1 in 5 cars (1 in 6???) in brisbane are utes. i initially thought perhaps it was an extention of their surfing culture, but apparently not. from what i can gather it is the equivalent of a truck back home. they look like sedans with a truck bed. i'm told that you're not a man until you driven/owned one of these "bad boys". i can't help but scoff. these "bad boys"??? i'm from north america where the gas-guzzler is king and you're not a real man until you've driven a REAL truck like a 345hp, HEMI-powered Dodge Ram. grr!!!