READ THIS TOO by laurie

Hello All!!!! we're in the big city of Sydney. i dont know what to write...because Heather is currently writing an essay beside me on the other laptop...and since i havent written anything for a while i thought i better do something....so we've been in Sydney 3 days. and its rained, and rained and rained some more. the nice thing is that it doesnt rain consistently which allows us to walk quickly to the next sheltered bit (hopefully) before it starts pouring again. but since we dont have the greatest time management...we've gotten wet, soaked multiple times. we've resorted to wearing sandals to keep the runners from getting too wet too many times...they take a good day and a half to dry.

we left Bourke on Wednesday, after having turkey dinner (aussie style on tuesday night). it came about as a joke... the idea came up at work to have a dinner before we left, the idea of a roost came up...i jokingly asked if we could have turkey! heheh... Wendy (our manager) ran with that idea. so after a night shift where we had to phone her in (she's also a midwife) we went to the bakery for coffee and meat pies and then off to search the grocery stores (theres 3) for turkey. now about turkey. its scarce in Australia, they dont eat it like we do back home. in fact the ovens here arent even big enough to hold a turkey...there is no way you can bake a 30 lb bird. the first store we went to didnt have turkey, so we went to the next one, which had turkey!!! well frozen turkey breast rolls and thigh rolls! so we bought one of each. i found out afterwards that we could have had a full turkey if we had thought of the idea a week earlier and had let Ronnie (the local grocery store owner and ambulance attendant) know. and he would have had it baked at the grocery store! (where the ovens are big enough!!!)

so we had turkey, veggie bake (think scalloped potatoes with veggies), cranberry sauce! (yeah found that!) bread rolls and gravy! it was a great night. we met the 3 Irish nurses that were starting in Bourke for a month, and watched 2 of them try Dragons Breathe. if you're ever offered it, refuse...its nasty. its butterscotch shnapps with chilli and rosemary. it burns...lots...and then you wash it down with a shot of gastrogel (mylanta) or something else chalky. its funny watching people drink it though!!!

anyways...Heathers finished her long letter!!! i let her tell the stories! cheers!

ps. i have to mention...we both got our haircut!!! hehehe...i know she's talked about it, but im excited...i got mine cut REAL short...she'll post pictures...enjoy. i am. and Heather's hair is straight right now. it took 2 stylists the same amount of time to blow dry and straighten her hair as it did the hairdresser to cut mine! crazy!!! she looks great!! the curls will be back as soon as her hair gets wet! hehe...