day 3

day 3 of my trip was cause for alarm.  the Australian and i were heading to visit his family in south australia, and i had no idea what to expect.  after a two-hour flight (which lands you in a 1.5 hour time zone because apparently Victoria is a bitch) and an initially awkward 6-hour car ride with the Australian's brother (that is, until i implemented a game that sam selfrige taught me called "hey cow/sheep/emu/kangaroo".  thanks, sam!), we had a great comfort-food dinner in mt. gambier at the brother's house and proceeded on to Australian's parents' house.

right before we arrived at his parents' house, i had awkwardly seen that Australian's ex-girlfriend had texted him.  i may or may not have lost my mind for a hot minute, but managed to pull it together to meet the parents of the man of my dreams. 

later that night, we managed to talk about what happened, and im glad we waited a couple of hours and had some wine in us, because otherwise i would have totally lost my shit.

Aussie's parents are farmers through and through.  they live on a vineyard that is 20 miles from the nearest town, and that has been in the family for at least 3 generations.  they have also intentionally left 80% of their land as natural bushland.  so frickin rad.

in the morning Australian and his dad took me on their version of a safari through the vineyards and to "have a look through the scrub."  this tour included all of us straining to find the resident koalas, bitch about the kangaroos eating the veggies from the garden, and watch all the predatory birds circling in the sky.  Aussie showed me here that one of his many talents is the uncanny ability to name almost every native bird/plant/animal he sees.  i say again: so frickin rad. 

i am clearly my mother's daughter, so when we got home i tried to make myself useful to Aussie's mom by offering to pick oranges from the trees outside the window.  she looked incredulous.  i reiterated that i would love to help in any way i could.  she then handed me a longsleeve tshirt of dubious durability, gloves ("because they have prickers"), and a hat ("in case the ants fall on you.  be careful, because they bite pretty hard.")  oh, ok thanks!  wait... what?

yes, the orange trees had ants the size of your fingernail that bite the bejeesus out of you when you try to steal their food.  i was unaware of this when i offered myself for this job.  awesome.

everything turned out ok and i didnt fall off the ladder and ants didnt fall on my head or down my shirt.  great success.

then we all packed up the cars and headed out to the family beach house in kingston, which somehow reminds me of what santa cruz would have been 20 years before the hippies arrived.  its a really charming little place.

the next few days were a blur of driving long distances to meet friends and family members of the Australian.  luckily, hes a good road trip buddy, and his family is totally sweet.


ill post about christmas tomorrow.  its so good it deserves its own entry.