Try some Roo, Pavlova, and Anzac biscuits

These are all classic Australian foods. Well, not sure kangaroo is classic - Steve says it's only be available the last 5 years. But here is the only place you can get it. So, Wednesday morning we decided not to go for my paper deadline - we just didn't have the numbers. That was both good and bad - a lot less stressful, but it would've been awesome if everything had come together and we could've made it. But I'm really proud of us - I've gotten so much done here on the project, and Steve and Daniel have been so helpful. Being here has been really good for my research. So, it's not like the project hasn't progressed heaps. And we have all these ideas for how to make it better. So it's all good. So since that decision (on 5 hours of sleep after staying up implementing a new idea), I've done very little work. But I needed to take a break, and take care of some things. It was good.

So I booked my flight back from New Zealand - through Fiji! I get 3+ days there, then fly back to Sydney where I have 24 hours and then fly home! That is Sept 5 when I fly back to Austin. And I can't tell you how excited I am already - so excited. So READY TO GO HOME! That's all I've been thinking lately. I just need some home. But yeah. But I was also looking up all these possible companies to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef with! That should be fun. I leave Wednesday the 13th and I'll have limited internet until I basically get back to Austin. Crazy. I hope I can enjoy these trips and not just feel far away from home. I'll make it, though. But Thursday was pretty relaxing - met and chatted with 2 friends - one a girl from the program visiting Canberra - she's awesome. Her name is Dawn. Then Nancy. And got a massage Thursday night - treated myself, although it was sorta one of those "painful" deep-tissue massages, not very relaxing. Not good ambience either. So have to wait until I get home to get a good massage :-). But did come home and cook myself kangaroo skewers! There were good - different meat and you have to cook it quick at high heat so it doesn't get chewy. But it's good!

Friday morning played hooky from work and went swimming with Nancy (oh yeah - did a 10K run again Thursday morning and it felt great woohoo!). Then we took a couple of buses up to Federation Square and went to a walk-in bird aviary where you feed all these beautiful hand-reared (friendly) birds. Brightly-colored parrots that are gorgeous. Fun times :-). And it was a nice sunny day, so nice to be out. Felt good to feel birds land on my head again! And they had Coby's (bird we had when I was growing up)! It was fun. Then worked for the afternoon. Sort of invited myself along to hang out with Daniel and his girlfriend Karen that night, and had a lot of fun! Even though we didn't go see a crazy band or do anything Canberran, it was fun to just hang with friends and chat. We talked about everything - school, life, religion. Fun! And Daniel cooked an awesome meal - made homemade foccacia bread which was awesome. And spaghetti with special tomato-basil-anchovie-olive sauce which was awesome. And red wine from his collection. And then he made homemade pudding (which we discovered isn't like US pudding because you bake it and it's cake-like!) with lemon sauce and sides of many gelatos :-). Awesome - felt like I was treated wonderfully! Yay for friends.

Saturday was low-key. Just went shopping in Canberra Center (mall) for last minute things - had to replace my rain jacket because it was sort of stolen when I stored it behind a wall for 10 minutes while I ran around the neighborhood and came back and it was gone. This was because I was hot at the end of my 10K... Sad, but anyway, not a big deal. Got a present for Steve to thank him for everything, and did some shopping for niece and nephews. Sorta fun. Weird to think of lasts, though... Anyway, was then picked up by Daniel and we all went over and met Steve for a short hike up a hill near his house. And you guessed it - more neat views of Canberra! We hiked at dusk and it was a chilly day, but there were roos everywhere!!! Took some pictures - they are awesome. Cute when they hop, but not something to mess with. Had nice chats with Steve's Dad Keith again too who came on the hike, as did Nancy who loves Steve's kids. Then we all went to Steve's house and had a nice sumptuous evening there! Had Turkish bread and beetroot and eggplant dips for appetizer. Plus plenty of wine. Good conversation too. Then dinner included yummy pumpkin soup, then more roo over a bed of lettuce and red marinated capsicums and roasted potatoes. Tasty. More wine, and champagne in there. Then dessert was pavlova, an Australian dessert, and traditional Filipino flan. Apparently one uses egg white and the other eggs yolks :-). So pavlova is sort of a light meringue with a hardened sugary crust. And it had kiwi FRUIT, passionfruit and strawberrys laying on top. Then the flan had a caramelized sugary top which was decadent! And then Steve later served squares of yummy dark chocolate and brought out some scotch! Crazy decadent! It was a great night - loved talking to everyone - had fun. I talked to Steve's Mom and Dad a lot about living in different parts of the world and travel. Fun :-). Great night!

Oh yeah - I had a homemade Anzac biscuit (kinda like oatmeal cookie) which is also an Australian classic at school on Friday. To tie in the name :-).

So today was Sunday - last weekend day in Canberra! Sorta sad. I took it easy. For some reason I keep waking up around 7:30am (no matter if I went to bed at 2:30am) and not being able to go back to sleep :-(. So I've been napping a lot because I'm tired. But... did go on a 40K bike ride today! That was my goal, and though it was a really cold, windy day (in the high 30s) and difficult, I made the distance! It was fun, although could've been less challenging and more enjoyable for my last ride here... but oh well. Went all the way around the lake again, and then a bit more to make it 40K (my next tri distance). I did stop off at Parliament to take some pictures that I wanted. Saw some crazy heavy black clouds come across the area. And the wind - God it was bad today. Riding into it made everything difficult. And I was tired and got a stomach ache 1/2 way through the ride. But I made it! All the way round, and back through my neighborhood home :-). Go me. I was so tired when I got home. Ate something and took hot shower to warm up then promptly fell asleep on the couch :-). So taking it easy tonight but still feeling good about my exercise. Only 2 days of exercise left! Running and swimming it is...

So I convinced Steve and Daniel to take me to the close-ish winery tomorrow afternoon, so that should be fun! My last adventure out of Canberra... And then exciting travel! Will probably post some pictures still, but otherwise this might be my last blog for awhile. G'day and cheers!