Australia Part Two: Country Mouse or City Mouse?

In June, I spent 11 days traveling with my husband in Australia. 6 days in Cairns, 5 in Brisbane. In preparation, I listened to Bill Bryson’s In a Sun Burned Country on tape. He was pretty dead on for the most part, includes history, is sarcastic and all around funny.

Day 1:
Arrive after 23 hours into Cairns. It is very similar to Maui. It has sunshine, humidity, beaches, green mountains, fields of sugarcane, tropical rainforests, artsy communities, and tasty restaurants. It is pleasantly free of graffiti and litter. Major difference being that one just can’t walk through the forest, or go swimming in the water, because there are things that could hurt you badly and or kill you. Spiders, snakes, poisonous plants, crocodiles, sharks, and jellyfish. Hence this community 'pool' built near the waters edge.

Day 2 & 3:
The Great Barrier Reef; where it is relatively safe to go swimming; is a number of miles off the coast. One needs a boat to cross the deep water channels and shipping lanes where the sharks hang out. We went on a 2 day, 1 night dive tour.

The weather was cloudy, windy and way-to-often-to-be-occasional- rainy. This caused for visibility to be poor at best. Despite that, we made 5 dives over the course of those 2 days. It had been a number of years since I had gone diving and while gung-ho in spirit, I didn’t realize there would be any apprehension on my part until I started to let the air out of my BC, and the distance between my head and the surface of the water began to grow. While I had done this before, there was a small part of my brain that kept saying ‘This isn’t right’. To which I kept breathing, pep talked myself down, confident that if there were any problems, there were people to help me.

I knew that once I was down there and moving around, things would be okay. And they were. The water was warm and there were lots to see. Large cucumber eels, turtles, stingrays, giant clams, lots of sea anemones and some live coral. I think because this was the ‘GREAT BARRIER REEF’, I was expecting “spectacular “. What I did not expect and found surprising, were the large amounts of dead coral. Overall, I found the GBR to be on par with Maui. Okay, maybe Maui No Ka Oi wink!

If any of you have been scuba diving, you know that there is some restriction with a wet suit, then you put on a BC [buoyancy control vest] that is strapped on tightly to hold the air tank worn on your back [like a back pack] and then that BC is filled with air. Squeezing my chest, making it hard to take a full breath. Reminiscent of wearing a full kimono, if any of you have ever. All in all I was probably carrying about 60lbs worth of equipment in and out of the water. All that, combined with the strong water currents, dark clouds, rain, choppy water and pour visibility, that by the last dive, I thought I was going to have to quit before it started. The tightness in my chest reminded me of an anxiety episode. It certainly felt like it.

We swam out from the boat to get closer to the reef, as suggested by the dive boat operators. The water was very choppy. I wanted to start descending right away as it is calmer below, but BRKVW wanted me to calm down a bit first. So we treaded water a bit. I knew that taking a deep breaths would help me calm down, but the equipment was so tight against my chest, it was hard to get into the cycle of calming down, and easy to stay in the cycle of panic. While I wasn’t able to completely calm down, the look of terror must have left my eyes enough to convince BRKVW that I was ready.

We descended and I had been dealing with a bit of panic each proceeding dive at this juncture in the procedure. I had overcome it in the past by talking to myself, telling me it was going to be ok. Usually by the time I get to the bottom, with the air released from the BC-thus less tightness around my chest, I have chilled out. Not this time. The tight feeling in my chest did not go away, so I could not get relaxed with a deep breath. Instead I sucked air. Lots of air. Rather quickly. Even though all that was going on, I still enjoyed the dive. It’s pretty down there and lots of stuff to look at. Because of the pour visibility, we could not see the boats mooring, and I was getting low on air, so we had to ascend to the surface. We were a bit further from the boat than I hoped. The surface water was still choppy and there was a strong current. I wanted nothing more to be on that boat and out of the equipment. I needed to take a deep breath. I didn’t know if I could make the swim back to the boat.

BRKVW is the most marvelous man I know. He is the best friend, lover, mate a girl should ever want. And now… he is the best dive partner anyone could ever be so fortunate to have. Always level thinking, safety conscious, strong, mellowing to a panicking wife, full of energy and did I mention strong? As he had done earlier that day, he hauled my ass in. I inflated my BC and basically floated, and whilst holding hands, he pulled me along, telling me everything was going to be all right. And it was. He takes the best care of me.

I would like to come back to the GBR, see a different part of the reef, when it is calmer, and sunny. It is 1,200 miles long. Next time with a dive company that promises tasty food. I want to see lionfish, and sunfish. That requires diving to 25 meters, so we may need to get our next level of dive certification before hand.

Sea legs: bodily adjustment to the motion of a ship indicated especially by ability to walk steadily and by freedom from seasickness. Yeah… that took a while. It took me till 2 days after I returned from Australia to be completely over it. Every day after the boat it got milder and milder. There was no nausea, just wooziness. Kind of like a little too much wine.

Day 4:
Tjapukai… an aboriginal cultural center. We watched a show recreating their creation myth, some of their dance, heard about their bush foods and didgeridoo, spear throwing and boomerang. Having grown up in Hawaii and absorbed much information about that culture, I was very surprised at how primitive this culture was in comparison.

Right next-door was the SkyRail to take us over the tops of rainforests. It was fun. Better than Disneyland. And everywhere you looked… gorgeous. I even saw a huge blue butterfly, fluttering around. I looked for a Cassowary, but only found a mock up of it. This one’s for Riparia.

At the end of rail ride is an artsy village, catering to tourists. It shuts down and becomes a ghost town at 4pm. While there we went into Koala Gardens. Where we got to pet kangaroos and wallabies. They are darn cute and soft.

That night we went to Red Ochre Grill for dinner, where we had:
Wattle Seed Damper Loaf – peanut oil and native dukka
Australian Antipasto Plate
Smoked wild spice crusted kangaroo and horseradish cream
Crocodile Wontons - capsicum jam
Emu pate – bush tomato chilli sauce
Cold Smoked Yellow-fin Tuna and Pickled Ginger
Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Bruschetta
Kangaroo Sirloin – Quandong Chilli Glaze, Sweet Potato Fritter and Bok Choy
And the best dessert I have had in a long time…Wattle Seed Pavlov – Davidson Plum Sorbet – macadamia toast with dragon fruit. Wattle seed is reminiscent of coffee.

As we were looking over the menu, I couldn’t help but think of those cute kangaroos we had petted-just less than 5 hours ago! And now I was contemplating eating one! For a brief second I wondered if I would let this stop me. I mentioned this dilemma to BRKVW who said he had the opposite thought. While petting them earlier, he kept thinking that in a few hours he would be eating one.
The sorbet had an underlying flavor or cinnamon. We asked the waitress about it as we were wondering if the plums naturally have a hint of cinnamon. She said they added the cinnamon. When I got home, the last of Santa Rose Plum trees were in season and I made a batch of Plum Cinnamon Sorbet. Tasty combo.

Day 5 & 6:
We went on the this tour.
Saw a bunch of waterfalls, rode bikes, tried to see a wallaby, went canoeing and saw a crocodile.

Watching for wallabies. I kind of liked this shot, blurry though it is.

Now, I know we are not ‘tour group’ kind of people. Buses, other people, chatty tour guides, smokers, inability to be on your own schedule, other people… it’s just not for us. But… we did not want to rent a car, as we did not want to drive, because for the most part, we consider driving stressful- ick!
This tour seemed cooler [and with a younger demographic] than the others and would offer some exercise. If you don’t rent a car, and drive yourself around, and are not highly allergic to other people, I would recommend it.

Here is BRKVW bike riding in the rainforest. Tall trees everywhere and just up ahead, a lake.

Day 7:
We leave Cairns for Brisbane.
Walk around the city center in the evening, grabbed a bite to eat and saw Shrek 2. I found Brisbane similar to San Francisco, except that everyone didn’t wear black. That was refreshing.

Day 8:
Walked some more around the city, going to museums, the South Bank, craft stalls, more state museums and art galleries. Windy, cold. I stopped into LUSH
and got some middle earth soap for DJ and a cinnamon solid shampoo soap for me. Yes, there is a Lush store in Santa Monica, but in a sense, this was closer.

Day 9:
We took a train to Steve Irwin’s zoo, the Australian Zoo which was founded by his father in the 70’s. The hit of the day is the noon time feeding a big ass croc named Graham. This takes place in a 5,000 seat stadium with a huge screen, with live video feed. While it seems hokey, and you know what is about to happen… some guy in a beige shirt with matching shorts will taunt a crocodile with some kind of tasty raw meat, dangling it way above it’s head, until the croc can’t stand it anymore and thrusts its body into the air to snatch it’s morsel. Seeing it live had me jump in my seats. Sigh…. I’m easily entertained by the obvious.

The auditorium is new and you can see where the old ‘Croc Feeding’ shows were held. Wood bleachers around some of the other croc pens. Besides, crocs, there were other interesting animals; camels, Tasmanian devils, wombats and a white kangaroo. I think it is albino. There were signs around saying that they…Steve and his family did not support the consumption of our crocodile and kangaroo friends. And they encouraged us not to buy products made from them. While cute, I wanted to know what exactly they meant, and where they stood on the croc farm issue. But they weren’t around to ask. Next time.

Very noticeable difference, between this zoo and an US zoo, is that you could stand pretty darn close to something that could kill you. Look how legally misleading this sign would be interpreted.

Look at how close he is. In the states, because of the ‘liability’ danger, the fence would be much higher, and there would be more distance between you and him. The one on the left.
It felt relaxed. Like common sense still existed. It was nice.

The zoo also had a Cassowary Bird. This endangered species has many interesting things about it. Besides it's striking features, it has a 'toe' or claw which it will use if threatened. Not unlike how a velociraptor might have. It is the second largest flightless bird, growing to about 2 m tall. They lay bright blue eggs. Their 'turf' is about 7 square km.

"These huge birds are the only animals capable of distributing the seeds of more than 70 species of trees whose fruit is too large for any other forest dwelling animal to eat and relocate. If these trees did not have an animal to disperse their seeds, they would only occur in concentrated pockets around the parent tree or in places where the seeds rolled such as gullies or the bottom of slopes. As a result over a long period of time the structure of large tracts of forest might change. In tropical rainforests in other parts of the world there are a wide range of animals which fulfill this role. In the Wet Tropics the cassowary plays the role which is accomplished by entire guilds of animals elsewhere.

There are at least another 80 species of plants which are also assisted by the cassowary's eating habits. These species have smaller seeds but many are toxic and only the cassowary can safely consume them. Such dangerous eating habits are possible because the cassowary has a short/rapid digestive system which appears to be supported by an overactive liver and an unusual combination of stomach enzymes. Other animals such as White-tailed Rats may help distribute these smaller seeds but more often than not, they damage the seed rather than dispersing it intact. So the cassowary is vital for the widespread continuance of over 150 species of plants."

Day 10:
We met with a friend of BRKVW’s for Yum Cha [Dim Sum] in Chinatown and lots of talk. He had some long red scratches on his arm. When I inquired about them, he told of a carpet python that …What? I said. I let him finish the story. He said the carpet python was on his deck of his recently purchased house and he was holding his cat back from going out onto the porch. The cat did not like being held back, hence the scratches.
I asked if he called anyone to come get the snake, and he shrugged and said, “Nah… it went away on its own in a few days.”

Day 11:
We get on a plane and go to Auckland. BRKVW stays with SimonFunk and CBird and I head back home. I would have liked to stay as well, but it had to do with what our tickets would allow. On a recent hike I told TroyWorks, Candid and visiting Mathemajician that I was in New Zealand 20 years ago. And I paused. That was the first time those words..”20 years ago” ever left my lips with reference to myself. Sigh. I can’t be old enough to say…20 years ago!

Glad to get back to soft toilet tissue and good lighting. And cookies. And fresh fruit. That’s not to say Australia does not have these things, it was more a circumstance of being on the go and the places we stayed that made these simple things, upon return, so right.

Overall, I enjoyed Cairns more than Brisbane. A county mouse by heart. I would enjoy going back to AU for 4-6 months. Rent a campervan and just drive ALL around it, at our own pace. Bring DJ. It would also be fun to travel with or meet up with friends during those months.

Some other impressions:

Cairns had lots of backpackers [students on the cheap]. Mostly from Europe.

It also had a drive through liquor store.

Movie trailers are short and do not try the hard sell, like in the states. They really are for the general audience. Unlike the ones in the states that I think are often too violent for a general audience rating.

One movie theatre had a special price for unemployed. Cute. My guess is you have to show you are on the dole.

Saw children on the school play grounds wearing hats… each one of them, without remiss.

Majority of credit card receipts printed the whole number, plus expiration date. So, if you are a credit card number thief… AU is the place to be.

Lack of toilet seat tissue covers.


July 17, 2004	Australia Part Two: Country Mouse or City Mouse? In June, I spent 11 days traveling with my husband in Australia. 6 days in Cairns, 5 in Brisbane. In preparation, I listened to Bill Bryson’s In a Sun Burned Country on tape. He was pretty dead on for the most part, includes history, is sarcastic and all around funny. Day 1: Arrive after 23 hours into Cairns. It is very similar to Maui. It has sunshine, humidity, beaches, green mountains, fields of sugarcane, tropical rainforests, artsy communities, and tasty restaurants. It is pleasantly free of graffiti and litter. Major difference being that one just can’t walk through the forest, or go swimming in the water, because there are things that could hurt you badly and or kill you. Spiders, snakes, poisonous plants, crocodiles, sharks, and jellyfish. Hence this community 'pool' built near the waters edge. Day 2 & 3: The Great Barrier Reef; where it is relatively safe to go swimming; is a number of miles off the coast. One needs a boat to cross the deep water channels and shipping lanes where the sharks hang out. We went on a 2 day, 1 night dive tour. The weather was cloudy, windy and way-to-often-to-be-occasional- rainy. This caused for visibility to be poor at best. Despite that, we made 5 dives over the course of those 2 days. It had been a number of years since I had gone diving and while gung-ho in spirit, I didn’t realize there would be any apprehension on my part until I started to let the air out of my BC, and the distance between my head and the surface of the water began to grow. While I had done this before, there was a small part of my brain that kept saying ‘This isn’t right’. To which I kept breathing, pep talked myself down, confident that if there were any problems, there were people to help me. I knew that once I was down there and moving around, things would be okay. And they were. The water was warm and there were lots to see. Large cucumber eels, turtles, stingrays, giant clams, lots of sea anemones and some live coral. I think because this was the ‘GREAT BARRIER REEF’, I was expecting “spectacular “. What I did not expect and found surprising, were the large amounts of dead coral. Overall, I found the GBR to be on par with Maui. Okay, maybe Maui No Ka Oi wink! If any of you have been scuba diving, you know that there is some restriction with a wet suit, then you put on a BC [buoyancy control vest] that is strapped on tightly to hold the air tank worn on your back [like a back pack] and then that BC is filled with air. Squeezing my chest, making it hard to take a full breath. Reminiscent of wearing a full kimono, if any of you have ever. All in all I was probably carrying about 60lbs worth of equipment in and out of the water. All that, combined with the strong water currents, dark clouds, rain, choppy water and pour visibility, that by the last dive, I thought I was going to have to quit before it started. The tightness in my chest reminded me of an anxiety episode. It certainly felt like it. We swam out from the boat to get closer to the reef, as suggested by the dive boat operators. The water was very choppy. I wanted to start descending right away as it is calmer below, but BRKVW wanted me to calm down a bit first. So we treaded water a bit. I knew that taking a deep breaths would help me calm down, but the equipment was so tight against my chest, it was hard to get into the cycle of calming down, and easy to stay in the cycle of panic. While I wasn’t able to completely calm down, the look of terror must have left my eyes enough to convince BRKVW that I was ready. We descended and I had been dealing with a bit of panic each proceeding dive at this juncture in the procedure. I had overcome it in the past by talking to myself, telling me it was going to be ok. Usually by the time I get to the bottom, with the air released from the BC-thus less tightness around my chest, I have chilled out. Not this time. The tight feeling in my chest did not go away, so I could not get relaxed with a deep breath. Instead I sucked air. Lots of air. Rather quickly. Even though all that was going on, I still enjoyed the dive. It’s pretty down there and lots of stuff to look at. Because of the pour visibility, we could not see the boats mooring, and I was getting low on air, so we had to ascend to the surface. We were a bit further from the boat than I hoped. The surface water was still choppy and there was a strong current. I wanted nothing more to be on that boat and out of the equipment. I needed to take a deep breath. I didn’t know if I could make the swim back to the boat. BRKVW is the most marvelous man I know. He is the best friend, lover, mate a girl should ever want. And now… he is the best dive partner anyone could ever be so fortunate to have. Always level thinking, safety conscious, strong, mellowing to a panicking wife, full of energy and did I mention strong? As he had done earlier that day, he hauled my ass in. I inflated my BC and basically floated, and whilst holding hands, he pulled me along, telling me everything was going to be all right. And it was. He takes the best care of me. I would like to come back to the GBR, see a different part of the reef, when it is calmer, and sunny. It is 1,200 miles long. Next time with a dive company that promises tasty food. I want to see lionfish, and sunfish. That requires diving to 25 meters, so we may need to get our next level of dive certification before hand. Sea legs: bodily adjustment to the motion of a ship indicated especially by ability to walk steadily and by freedom from seasickness. Yeah… that took a while. It took me till 2 days after I returned from Australia to be completely over it. Every day after the boat it got milder and milder. There was no nausea, just wooziness. Kind of like a little too much wine. Day 4: Tjapukai… an aboriginal cultural center. We watched a show recreating their creation myth, some of their dance, heard about their bush foods and didgeridoo, spear throwing and boomerang. Having grown up in Hawaii and absorbed much information about that culture, I was very surprised at how primitive this culture was in comparison. Right next-door was the SkyRail to take us over the tops of rainforests. It was fun. Better than Disneyland. And everywhere you looked… gorgeous. I even saw a huge blue butterfly, fluttering around. I looked for a Cassowary, but only found a mock up of it. This one’s for Riparia. At the end of rail ride is an artsy village, catering to tourists. It shuts down and becomes a ghost town at 4pm. While there we went into Koala Gardens. Where we got to pet kangaroos and wallabies. They are darn cute and soft. That night we went to Red Ochre Grill for dinner, where we had: Wattle Seed Damper Loaf – peanut oil and native dukka Australian Antipasto Plate Smoked wild spice crusted kangaroo and horseradish cream Crocodile Wontons - capsicum jam Emu pate – bush tomato chilli sauce Cold Smoked Yellow-fin Tuna and Pickled Ginger Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Bruschetta Kangaroo Sirloin – Quandong Chilli Glaze, Sweet Potato Fritter and Bok Choy And the best dessert I have had in a long time…Wattle Seed Pavlov – Davidson Plum Sorbet – macadamia toast with dragon fruit. Wattle seed is reminiscent of coffee. As we were looking over the menu, I couldn’t help but think of those cute kangaroos we had petted-just less than 5 hours ago! And now I was contemplating eating one! For a brief second I wondered if I would let this stop me. I mentioned this dilemma to BRKVW who said he had the opposite thought. While petting them earlier, he kept thinking that in a few hours he would be eating one. The sorbet had an underlying flavor or cinnamon. We asked the waitress about it as we were wondering if the plums naturally have a hint of cinnamon. She said they added the cinnamon. When I got home, the last of Santa Rose Plum trees were in season and I made a batch of Plum Cinnamon Sorbet. Tasty combo. Day 5 & 6: We went on the this tour. Saw a bunch of waterfalls, rode bikes, tried to see a wallaby, went canoeing and saw a crocodile. Watching for wallabies. I kind of liked this shot, blurry though it is. Now, I know we are not ‘tour group’ kind of people. Buses, other people, chatty tour guides, smokers, inability to be on your own schedule, other people… it’s just not for us. But… we did not want to rent a car, as we did not want to drive, because for the most part, we consider driving stressful- ick! This tour seemed cooler [and with a younger demographic] than the others and would offer some exercise. If you don’t rent a car, and drive yourself around, and are not highly allergic to other people, I would recommend it. Here is BRKVW bike riding in the rainforest. Tall trees everywhere and just up ahead, a lake. Day 7: We leave Cairns for Brisbane. Walk around the city center in the evening, grabbed a bite to eat and saw Shrek 2. I found Brisbane similar to San Francisco, except that everyone didn’t wear black. That was refreshing. Day 8: Walked some more around the city, going to museums, the South Bank, craft stalls, more state museums and art galleries. Windy, cold. I stopped into LUSH and got some middle earth soap for DJ and a cinnamon solid shampoo soap for me. Yes, there is a Lush store in Santa Monica, but in a sense, this was closer. Day 9: We took a train to Steve Irwin’s zoo, the Australian Zoo which was founded by his father in the 70’s. The hit of the day is the noon time feeding a big ass croc named Graham. This takes place in a 5,000 seat stadium with a huge screen, with live video feed. While it seems hokey, and you know what is about to happen… some guy in a beige shirt with matching shorts will taunt a crocodile with some kind of tasty raw meat, dangling it way above it’s head, until the croc can’t stand it anymore and thrusts its body into the air to snatch it’s morsel. Seeing it live had me jump in my seats. Sigh…. I’m easily entertained by the obvious. The auditorium is new and you can see where the old ‘Croc Feeding’ shows were held. Wood bleachers around some of the other croc pens. Besides, crocs, there were other interesting animals; camels, Tasmanian devils, wombats and a white kangaroo. I think it is albino. There were signs around saying that they…Steve and his family did not support the consumption of our crocodile and kangaroo friends. And they encouraged us not to buy products made from them. While cute, I wanted to know what exactly they meant, and where they stood on the croc farm issue. But they weren’t around to ask. Next time. Very noticeable difference, between this zoo and an US zoo, is that you could stand pretty darn close to something that could kill you. Look how legally misleading this sign would be interpreted. Look at how close he is. In the states, because of the ‘liability’ danger, the fence would be much higher, and there would be more distance between you and him. The one on the left. It felt relaxed. Like common sense still existed. It was nice. The zoo also had a Cassowary Bird. This endangered species has many interesting things about it. Besides it's striking features, it has a 'toe' or claw which it will use if threatened. Not unlike how a velociraptor might have. It is the second largest flightless bird, growing to about 2 m tall. They lay bright blue eggs. Their 'turf' is about 7 square km. "These huge birds are the only animals capable of distributing the seeds of more than 70 species of trees whose fruit is too large for any other forest dwelling animal to eat and relocate. If these trees did not have an animal to disperse their seeds, they would only occur in concentrated pockets around the parent tree or in places where the seeds rolled such as gullies or the bottom of slopes. As a result over a long period of time the structure of large tracts of forest might change. In tropical rainforests in other parts of the world there are a wide range of animals which fulfill this role. In the Wet Tropics the cassowary plays the role which is accomplished by entire guilds of animals elsewhere. There are at least another 80 species of plants which are also assisted by the cassowary's eating habits. These species have smaller seeds but many are toxic and only the cassowary can safely consume them. Such dangerous eating habits are possible because the cassowary has a short/rapid digestive system which appears to be supported by an overactive liver and an unusual combination of stomach enzymes. Other animals such as White-tailed Rats may help distribute these smaller seeds but more often than not, they damage the seed rather than dispersing it intact. So the cassowary is vital for the widespread continuance of over 150 species of plants." Day 10: We met with a friend of BRKVW’s for Yum Cha [Dim Sum] in Chinatown and lots of talk. He had some long red scratches on his arm. When I inquired about them, he told of a carpet python that …What? I said. I let him finish the story. He said the carpet python was on his deck of his recently purchased house and he was holding his cat back from going out onto the porch. The cat did not like being held back, hence the scratches. I asked if he called anyone to come get the snake, and he shrugged and said, “Nah… it went away on its own in a few days.” Day 11: We get on a plane and go to Auckland. BRKVW stays with SimonFunk and CBird and I head back home. I would have liked to stay as well, but it had to do with what our tickets would allow. On a recent hike I told TroyWorks, Candid and visiting Mathemajician that I was in New Zealand 20 years ago. And I paused. That was the first time those words..”20 years ago” ever left my lips with reference to myself. Sigh. I can’t be old enough to say…20 years ago! Glad to get back to soft toilet tissue and good lighting. And cookies. And fresh fruit. That’s not to say Australia does not have these things, it was more a circumstance of being on the go and the places we stayed that made these simple things, upon return, so right. Overall, I enjoyed Cairns more than Brisbane. A county mouse by heart. I would enjoy going back to AU for 4-6 months. Rent a campervan and just drive ALL around it, at our own pace. Bring DJ. It would also be fun to travel with or meet up with friends during those months. Some other impressions: Cairns had lots of backpackers [students on the cheap]. Mostly from Europe. It also had a drive through liquor store. Movie trailers are short and do not try the hard sell, like in the states. They really are for the general audience. Unlike the ones in the states that I think are often too violent for a general audience rating. One movie theatre had a special price for unemployed. Cute. My guess is you have to show you are on the dole. Saw children on the school play grounds wearing hats… each one of them, without remiss. Majority of credit card receipts printed the whole number, plus expiration date. So, if you are a credit card number thief… AU is the place to be. Lack of toilet seat tissue covers.
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