Savvy Shopping - about that Thanksgiving Turkey

Ok, I've been contemplating this post for some time but haven't posted it because it's a bit whiny.  In fact, I've had it sitting in my editing list for a month or two but today something finally prompted me to finish it up.  The price of a frozen turkey.

My family and friends both here and in the US have gotten used to (and probably bored by) my rantings about the cost of living.  Yes, the company does provide a cost of living allowance which certainly helps, but we were notified that in July our allowance would be adjusted on the principle that after living here for 6-12 months we would become "savvy shoppers" with a keen eye for a bargain.  In other words, instead of shopping at Randalls or Publix, purchasing full price items, we'd have identified bargain stores and how to take advantage of sales.  In other words - we'd fill up at WalMart and Costco type places.  This resulted in about a 30% decrease in the allowance at a time when the AU dollar had gone from $0.65US to $0.99 US - essentially parity - so a real double whammy reducing our buying power significantly.

And here's the thing, there is no WalMart or Costco type place in Perth.  No big bargain warehouses where we can buy 18 toilet rolls at rock bottom prices. I suspect the calculation is based on eastern Australian shopping where such magical places do exist.  And, even if we could, we have no place to store said items.  Large quantities of my kitchen gear languish in the storage room in the basement as it is since there is no room in the kitchen.  The pantry consists of two pull out vertical drawers.  The fridge is about half the size of the typical US model.  We can't buy in bulk even if we wanted to.  Although I suppose I could stack the canned veg on top of our bedroom dresser that sits in the living room (because it won't fit in the master bedroom).

Regardless, ever the good corporate citizen I've been searching for bargains.  This means hitting the farmers market on Saturday mornings for fresh fruit and produce.  But even there I pay $7 for two sweet potatoes. I have come to the conclusion that there are no bargains to be had in Perth.  This was verified the other day when I cheerfully announced to Mike that I'd just had my car cleaned inside and out and was thrilled that it only cost $50.  He looked at me sideways and said, "you know that costs about $15-20 in the US right?".  I was all "no way!".  He just continued to look at me funny.

So, to prove I'm not crazy, y'all tell me how these documented prices compare, okay?

Back to my turkey - this got me today since it's just about Thanksgiving time.  Frozen Turkey - $60 for a 16-18lb, $50 for 10-15lb and $37.99 for a 7 lb. model.  When was the last time you paid more than $0.68 a pound for a Thanksgiving turkey?

We found a box of Grape Nuts on sale the other day.  It was marked down from $25 to $19.99, sitting on the shelf next to a box of Captain Crunch for $20. I  passed on the cereal but paid (happily) $10 each for jars of Goya Salsa Verde to make enchiladas.  You can sometimes get Dr. Pepper here...but you have to really want it - $2.50/can.  A bottle of water at the gas station runs from $2-$4.00 and I snap up Coke Zero (AU made) when I find it at 2 bottles for $5.

Like to drink?  A case of Corona (which oddly is EXTREMELY popular here) is $50-60.  Cheapie Australian beer runs $45/case but you can find the odd deal for $35/case if you are sharp, uh, make that savvy.

Entertainment?  I have mentioned before that movies are $17 (matinee) and $26 for a first run on the weekend.  But concerts make my eye bug out.  Three Dog Night and The Turtles concert - $145/each (this concert was canceled, no doubt because people wouldn't cough up the $$ - lets face it, their demographic has reached retirement age!), Michael Buble outdoor concert tickets are $140 General admission (no seats). $220 for a seat.  George Benson outdoors at Kings Park is $429 for 2 people, plus cost of any concessions and parking - so the evening easily runs well over $500.  I'll groove to the sweet tunes on CD thanks.

Clothing - sigh. It pains me. Purchased a pair of very cheaply made cotton shorts at Target this week for $35 - based on the construction I expect they'd be about half that in Houston. Shoes are Payless quality at Nordy's prices.  I was very happy recently to find a pair of shoes for a special occasion for only $80 - they are sitting in their box with the lid off so the plastic smell can off-gas before the event. They smell just like a barrel of west Texas' finest.  Finally broke down and purchased some upper body undergarments this week...decent middle of the line range for $70/each, but I did have a lovely woman make sure I got a good fit so that was worth it.

Mike suggested I include his dry cleaning from this morning.  One shirt, one pair of pants - $14.

And before this post gets even more ranty than it already is I offer the final, yet most damning, proof - I recently had a conversation with a notoriously cheap Scottish transplant to Perth who is giddily planning his retirement in the US because everything is so cheap there. :-)

New Norcia - here be monks.

Just not many of them any more.  I think they said they are down to eight now, but they are recruiting if you're interested.  New Norcia is a monastery located a couple of hours north east of Perth. This link  A Short History will fill you in on the details that I omit, but the short sweet story is that in 1847 a couple of monks came to Australia from Spain and founded the Benedictine order of New Norcia in the great wilderness of Western Australia.  It's always mentioned as a place one must see when visiting in the Perth area and one hears of the fabulous New Norcia fresh baked bread and hand pressed olive oil.  So, given the excuse of a visitor from the US, Joyce,  my pal Robbie and I agreed that it was time to get up there to see what's what.

All this time I imagined that going to New Norcia would be a matter of driving to a town and then finding the monastery.  I had no idea that the whole town IS the monastery...the town plus about (if I remember the tour guide correctly) 22,000 hectares of surrounding land.   For some reason it struck me as very odd to be tooling along the main road and then suddenly happening upon a cluster of old style buildings and some paddocks with sheep.  One of those "blink and you might miss it" situations considering there is certainly no traffic light in town. 

We arrived at the museum and guest tour center for the 11AM tour and joined about 20 other eager tourists ready to delve into the history of Spanish religious settlement in WA.   Our guide ushered us like a herd of ducklings across the main highway (which in rural WA is a two lane road) and we started our tour at the first of several chapels.  We saw lots of chapels that day and what impressed me most about them all was that the majority of the wood work was done by one monk - he built alters, pews, tables, benches...the man was prolific.  There is also painting in most of the chapels, sadly though in it looks as if modernization is occurring and some of the original frescoes have been wall papered over.  Still, there is plenty to look at.

Our Lady of Guadalupe pictured below.

Most interesting engraved drawing on the main chapel walls.  Where else do you see disciples pictured in astronaut garb, Native Americans, or Japanese women?

The image above is inside this chapel.

This is a door at the girls dormitory entrance.  I found myself wondering if the young ladies of the day appreciated it in the slightest?

 Chapel in the girls dormitory.  Puts my dorm at Northfield Mt Herman to shame...shame I tell you!

 Detail of chapel dome.

Sheep that help keep the establishment solvent.  The monastery has always had to be self sufficient. 

Ale on offer at the hotel - a gorgeous old creaky venue suitable for weddings or a light toasted sandwich lunch.  We ran into a couple of fun women in the ladies room here and chatted for 20 minutes.

We enjoyed our visit and were lucky with both the weather and the wild flowers.   The flowers had started to bloom and the fields of what we think is canola were stunning on our drive up and back.  We finally had to just pull over to take some photos.  This is the remains of a former local agricultural hall...and this was also the view that captured Joyce's imagination most.  She wandered around through the bush taking photos, heedless of the warning "beware the bull ants".  A few minutes later she started shrieking, dropped her camera, and yanked her pants off unceremoniously to her ankles. That's what happens when the bull ants find you.  Up the pants first, and only THEN do they start biting.  If only I'd had the camera ready...

Nasty Sharp Pointy Teeth

Mike and I took another great adventure up to Darwin in the Northern Territory. Well, I can call it a great adventure but the reality is he had a business trip there to discuss the highly romantic 'electronic taking of inventory' in the warehouse.  He called spur of the moment and asked me if I'd like to go with.  Of course I said yes, because there could indeed be spectacular adventure involved.

Somehow the notion of a Territory in a big modern country is odd...makes one think remote, wild, uninhabited...things that sure, you know are part of the whole Australia experience, but as an American you expect to be more like rural Wyoming.  You know...thinly populated but still one of the gang.  I'm not sure that's the exactly what the NT is like.   Here, find out more 

The Northern Territory has a population somewhere around 220,000 hearty souls in a land mass two and a half times the size of Texas.  Texas is pushing a population of 26 million and there is still PLENTY of room.  Wyoming - one of the most desolate places I'd ever experienced, has a population about double that of the NT.  You get the picture.   There aren't many people around.

And interestingly, wandering around Darwin, I noted that the mix of people hanging out in the CBD consisted primarily of cotton clad European backpacker types who cleverly arrive to satisfy their outback longings and checking another continent off the list in the location closest to the inexpensive beaches of Bali.  This is a very good plan indeed. From Perth it is a 4+ hour flight.  Further proof there is just nothing close to Perth.

Getting off the plane felt like hitting the Houston summer again.  Heat, humidity, and a touch of funk in the air.  It started to rain as we arrived and ended up pouring rain for several hours - giving us the opportunity to settle in to our club level room, take a misty photo of the bay, and figure out that one channel worked on the TV, the bedside lamps were both broken, the A/C needed service, and it takes 20 minutes for the hot water to make it to the 10th floor.  :-)  The rain broke eventually and we wandered out to see the town and source some dinner.  We walked up one side, down the other, then over to the casino/beach area for a fruity tropical cocktail and finally down to the yacht club harbour where we scored a nice Thai meal and enjoyed the sunset.

I'd cleverly booked us a tour for Sunday morning.  Pick up at 6:50am was prompt and we were joined by 9 other bleary eyed tourists for a day of natural wonders.  These natural wonders were indeed delivered by our rather jaded driver but at the cost of about 12 hours and over 450 km of driving.  Good way to get the flavour of the place but perhaps not the most relaxing.

Our travels took us to the fabled Jumping Crocs!!!! of the Adelaide River.  I confess, I had zero interest in the freaking saltwater crocs since I find them scary as hell, but they were part of the tour so I was trapped.  Turns out they are actually very awesome and while still scary as hell, pretty neat to see live and in person.

These are fierce bad crocodiles. 

Most of them had missing limbs and ugly gashes healing up on their crusty flanks.

Our dampish croc excitement done, we headed to Litchfield National Park to view the exciting termite mounds (anything for fun in the NT).

And then to the highlight of the day, swimming in a gorgeous rock pool fed by two waterfalls.  You can see little people heads bobbing in the pool to the bottom left of the photo.

But here again, there are freaking salties!  Our guide regaled us with tales of the last poor innocent Japanese girl taken as we approached this delightful swimming spot but assured us the authorities cleaned all the crocs out after every wet season before they opened the pool to the public.  I was not as comforted by this as I might have hoped but figured any crocs had had a choice of tasty human morsels in the hours before we arrived.  I sneakily checked out the pool by pretending to enjoy the rain forest, giant banana spiders, and flying foxes before I dipped a toe in.

We toured several different waterfalls, and swam in some other rock pools before heading back to Darwin.  I reflected on the experience and decided I am just enough of a princess to not be keen on outdoor adventures anywhere that saltwater crocs live.  Perhaps it was an early childhood reading about horrible deaths that continues to haunt me, but my immediate reaction to anything associated with crocodiles is *shudder* and "no thanks".

Safely back to civilization and cleaned up we managed to snag a table at a really lovely restaurant in town serving indian/malay themed dishes along with tasty exotic cocktails to my amusement.

Mike had to work Monday so I kept myself busy wandering around the areas of town we'd missed on Saturday and doing a bit of shopping since the prices seemed a bit more reasonable than in Perth. The aboriginal art galleries were gorgeous and had a far better selection of art than anything I'd seen in Perth. This kept me happily busy until my feet started yelling upon which I retired to the hotel room and read my book.  It was a pretty day at last which meant the sun was out with a vengence - something my lily white winter skin is not up for.  Here are some miscellaneous photos...

Church - the original stone facade remains but the rest of the building was blown away (along with most of Darwin) in cyclone Tracy Christmas 1974.   I liked the contrast of the modern and old.

Government House above, Parliment below. 

Extra attractive Coat of Arms on the Parliament building and public art in the surrounding area.

And lastly - a fantastic boat that I watched for a rather long time from the hotel balcony.

Tuesday morning Mike took care of a few more business items and we had one last wander around town before heading to the airport.  I think Darwin is a great jumping off point for anyone wanting adventure in the Kimberly or Kakadu but as a destination in and of itself, once was probably enough...mostly because they have those creatures with the horrible nasty sharp pointy teeth :-)

Weekend in Dwellingup...

...and just how different American English and Australian English really are :-)

The sailing gang made a break for it this weekend and spent some time together on dry land.  First considerations were of course the food and how many bottles of wine we each needed to bring.  Food and wine are not surprisingly a critical part of the sport of yachting both on and off the water.  We got that sorted and met up on Saturday morning at Heather and Graeme's place in the hills of Dwellingup.  Dwelli as it's affectionately called, is a small country town with a history of logging and forestry in what is now a designated National Forest.  Heather & Graeme's place is perched right on the edge of the forest and close to the Bibbulmun Track a 1000 km Appalachian Trail type hiking trail from outside Perth to Albany.  This is convenient and we managed to get a couple of good hikes in. Graeme appears to enjoy taking sluggish city dwellers and dropping them into deep uncharted bush that manages to somehow be ALL UPHILL. 

After we all arrived, dined, and hiked (and chased Kevin 07, the neighbors escaped feral ram) we elected to sample the heady delights of downtown Dwelli.  This meant driving back along the dirt track into town, and down another dirt track to The Wine Tree, a cute wooden barn filled with aged farm implements and vintage motorcycles with a nice deck hanging off the back.   The draw?  The Smashing Bumpkins were playing!  Three piece string band with bass fiddle, banjo, and guitar.  Everybody in town seemed to be there toting their own plates of nibbles and buying tall glasses of clear crisp highly potent cider off the owners.  Our hosts met several neighbors and wandered while Mike and I watched a man coaching his teen daughter in the finer points of soccer on the lawn.  We all settled in on a picnic table and watched the band play a variety of American folks classics (to which I knew all the words to Heather's amusement).  Toe tapping good fun.  During Dueling Banjos I suddenly noticed the awful teeth of one of the guys and laughed out loud that he had his Bucky Teeth in...then turned to Heather in horror and said "those aren't his real teeth are they?!"  She didn't know either but we were much relieved at the end of the song when he took them out again.

We headed back to the house and spotted emu, kangaroos, and a big black feral pig in a field on the way.  It was pretty much a race to the hot tub after that and it was wonderful steaming away with a glass of wine watching the stars come out overhead.  We saw a satellite and a shooting star before dinner.  Conversation and wine took us all to midnight and then we crashed.  But I must mention the utterly magnificent pavlova Kate made.  Four eggs people!  That is the base for this fabulous delight...four fresh out of the chook eggs, a teaspoon of vinegar, sugar, and some hot water, bake, top with whipped cream and fresh home grown pomegranate seeds and look what you get!

The conversation really got my attention over the weekend.  I'd noticed before during sailing that as the lone Yank on the boat and at the yacht club most Wed afternoons I'd adjusted my speech patterns a bit to make myself understood.  This weekend all the terms for things in the country needed translation.  "Do you swim in the dam" confused me, because here the dam is the pond in front of the earthworks.  I think I've mentioned chooks = chickens.  cockies = cockatoos. marron = crawfish.  And we had elevenses.  Most every polysyllabic word is shortened in a friendly way.  The whole gang enjoyed mocking me and my endless questions as to what this or that actually means, or why Aussies do things certain ways, or how exactly this whole political post election grid lock works!  And we had yet another round of pecan pronunciation lessons...it will never be pee-can y'all.

To my horror I now say tomAHto naturally.  Please don't judge.

Sunday was my day to cook brekkie and it was fun explaining the science of American style bacon, and the proper folding technique for breakfast tacos, and even the need sometimes for orange rather than yellow cheese.  The tacos were a hit and I'm happy to report every bite of American bacon was consumed (hope Rob the butcher has more in the brine for us!).   We hiked for close to two hours then lolling, naps, and book reading kept us busy for a while.  I pulled out my last block of Velveeta cheese and last can of Rotel tomatoes and made up the classic dip for lunch.  It too was a big hit but after the breakfast and the cheese dip and tortilla chips I think everyone realized why Americans tend to the fuller figure.  I myself have now sworn off the stuff for life.  I'm still suffering a velveeta hangover a day later.

Spring!

Seriously y'all....is there anything better than Spring?  Those lovely sunny days, the smell of flowers blooming everywhere, the green tones of the grass and leaves.  Sure Autumn has it's good points too - particularly that first hint of coolness in the morning after a sweltering summer (which in Houston lasts until October anyway).  But give me spring flowers any time.  Wild flowers, cut flowers, I'm not particular.

Here are some blood oranges I used to make a fruit salad.  I had no idea they are so gorgeous inside.  It's like a sunset in an orange peel!  I swear I might frame images of the insides of blood oranges and put them on my walls they are so beautiful.

The fruit salad was tasty...sweet and sour with just a hint of coconut for a tasty surprise.

So here's the deal

My niece, Faine Greenwood, writes a vastly better blog than I do and she's got a number of lovely posts up about our adventures during her two week visit.  Please stop by and take a look.  You'll be both amused and enlightened!
click here: The Long Way to Cambodia

Well bless my heart

Since my last post in early July I've actually already been back up to Kalbarri and back along with other destinations. We've had a glorious winter with lovely cool sunny days which just encouraged outdoor activities and a sudden flurry of healthful exercise for a month or so. You know how it goes, stuff comes up, you go to KL, your niece comes to visit for two weeks, your son goes to boot camp...life etc.

Further updates coming shortly!  All is well!  More to follow.