From kangaroo cakes to kangaroo meat

The Seattle trip ended with a night of Smigiel pizzas and kangaroo cakes-a great going away party! I helped Kate make our dad's famous pizzas and I now know how to make the dough by hand, which is going to come in handy while abroad. The cake was delicious, but the real treat was the photo on it. Kate compiled it together-a pic of a kangaroo with the Australian flag in the background.

Bon voyage!

I left for LA the next day, which eventually took me to Melbourne and then on to Perth. I arrived pretty late in Perth, but had time to run some last minute errands (my flat didn't come with toilet paper, for example).

The next day, Friday, was full of orientation meetings, setting up a bank account, getting bus passes, etc. etc. For dinner Paul, the resident director of the program, had a barbi for us. Great food all around-delicious chicken kabobs, and yes....kangaroo meat! It tasted a lot like what I think of red meats tasting like, but I don't eat too much meat. Though I can say it didn't taste like chicken.

That night was the opening ceremony of the Perth International Arts Festival and a group of us (actually a mob of us) headed into Perth to check it out. I definitely missed out on the theme of the program and couldn't quite understand what was going on. The end of the performance included multiple people floating above the stage in mock-body bags. Crazy, huh? I'd like to say that was the craziest part, but the people doing acrobatics inside a hamster wheel definitely takes the cake.

The next day we ran some errands in the morning, and then headed into Freo (Fremantle) in the afternoon. Freo is about a 20 minute bus ride away and is a port town that lies right on the Indian Ocean. It's full of coffee cafes, clothing stores, and just general tourist shops and has somewhat of a European feel to it with all the people watching. Overall, a really cute area and I will definitely be heading down there more often to explore all it has to offer!

Downtown Freo

Freo also has a market, with everything from fresh fruit to clothes. A great market, but it makes me realize just how amazing the farmer's market is in Madison. This will definitely do for the meantime, however, and I think I'll be getting most of my produce from here.

Sorry this was suck a quick post, I'm just about to leave for the marine bio field camp now, and will be back on Friday. Hope all is going well with everything at home!

PS-the weather here is sunny and in the 90's. Everyday. :)