"These are a few of my favorite things"

If you haven't seen the Sound of Music, please stop reading this blog and go watch it. It is well worth your time. You might want to warn your friends and family. The music is so good, you will be singing the songs for weeks.

One of my favorite songs in the Sound of Music is "My Favorite Things". I love it because it talks about the little things that make life beautiful. This post is about some of my favorite things that have made my stay here in Australia so good.

people.

Australians are some of the kindest, friendliest people you will ever meet. I have not met one person who hasn't been welcoming and friendly. Whether it is at church, work, the mall, or just random people on the beaches and such... anyone will stop and talk to you (or help you out if you are lost..ehem). Several of the girls my age at church have gone out of their way to invite me to Bible studies and drive me to and from church. Free rides definitely beat biking to church in cycling gear and then changing into a dress.

As a whole, Australians tend to be well-traveled and have a pretty good idea of what is going on in the world around them. This makes it easy to talk and relate to people of all ages and walks of life. There are also a lot of people who have immigrated here from all over the world- most are from South Africa. Some of the stories that I've heard are amazing. So far I've met people from nearly every continent in the world here.

land.

So far, the variety of landscape in Sydney alone, amazes me. There are tons of Palm trees throughout the city, Eucalyptus trees in "the bush", and Cyprus trees that line the beaches. One moment you can feel like you are in a jungle and the next, you can feel like you are in a semi-desert area with red rocks, sand, and bushes.

The unpredictable weather and variety of landscape makes the land here impossible to tame. Man will never be able to subdue the land without first subduing the weather. I love that.

Today I went out for a run in bushland of a national park that is adjacent to my neighborhood. As I ran and climbed up and down the rough terrain, I was struck by just how awesome the land was. I probably should've been paying better attention to where I was going instead of where I was because I got completely lost. No joke, I literally thought I was gonna be camping out with the kangaroos. After about an hour and half of wandering on mountain biking trails, I eventually found civilization and made my way back home.

FYI The mountain biking out here is siiiiiick. Probably better than road biking actually.


animals.

My favorite animals in Sydney are Penguins, Pelicans, Parrots, Kangaroos, and Wallabies. Two days ago I spotted a Wallaby in my neighborhood for the first time. I was nearly beside myself with excitement. Its cute little tail and innocent eyes made my heart melt. Right then and there, I decided that I have to have one. So naturally, the next day I wasted a solid hour on the internet trying to figure out how and where I can get one. As it turns out, it is legal to have a Wallaby in South Carolina and there is a guy who sells them in Illinois. Who would've thought? The smallest type of Wallaby is called a Dama Wallaby. They are grow to about a max of 20 lbs, can be house trained, like to swim, and love to chill out. How perfect is that? The males cost $1200.. which is really not so bad! Check out the website . Right now I am waiting for the owner to return my email.

I just got back from a week-long excursion to Australia’s country music capital, Tamworth to work on Dow AgroSciences research farm. Don’t be fooled by the “country music capital” nickname, this place is sparsely populated. The cozy town is nestled between tree-covered hills and is surrounded by a combination of hills and flat farmland with rich soil. The journey out to the farm took about an hour of driving on dirt roads into what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Eucalyptus trees hung over the river, wheat fields swayed in the wind, and the sun beat down overhead and the hills provided a stunning backdrop. The land was unique in that it has characteristics of dry and wetland. About this time of the year (October), there are such deep cracks in the land that if you stepped in them, the dirt would come up to your knees. Next month, however, it will flood shortly after harvest and everything will look different. Dead things will come to life and animals will appear out of nowhere. Deadly snakes, parrots, feral pigs, foxes, bandicoots, giant lizards, kangaroos, and koalas to name a few.

I saw my first kangaroo on my first day out there and was awed by how awkward and cute they are. The next morning, I got a call on my phone, “Molly, I found you a koala”. I’ll be honest; I didn’t know that koalas even lived out there. I took off running as fast as I could through wheat fields, scurried under an electric fence, and arrived at the foot of a giant Eucalyptus tree with a koala nestled snuggly in a nook of the tree. I ripped off my boots, rolled up my pants, and shimmied my way up that tree as fast as I could. The higher I climbed, the higher the koala climbed until I started to worry that he would fall out of the tree. Fortunately I had time to whip out my Iphone and take a few snapshots.

The sighting of the deadly snake came a few moments after seeing the koala. I exercised a little more restraint with this one. I couldn't afford to take any chances because if it bit me, I wouldn’t have had time to get to the hospital.

Don’t worry though, I still got a picture.