Things I've Noticed....

Today, the kids and I took the bus and went to the Eureka Centre (http://www.eurekaballarat.com/) to meet up with the Ballarat home school group. Although we decided to leave the exhibition for another time when Brian can come with us, there was a fantastic play area which the kids loved and the weather was just fantastic. There were about 6 families in all that came to the playground so the kids were able to meet and mix which they love and Isaac was able to make up some sort of Star Wars game with some of the boys around his age. It amazes me (though it shouldn't) that kids just say 'hi' and then get on with a game as if that's all the introduction it takes to make friends! I love it that within minutes of being there my two were deep into one game or another and had made connections with almost everyone both young and old..... how fantastic is that?!

One of the other homeschool mums asked me what I had found that was different between Australia and Bristol and I had been thinking that exact same thing while we were on the bus getting there.... what have I noticed that is different here in Ballarat to being in Bristol? Well, the postmen deliver the mail on motorbikes for one thing! You have a letter box at the end of the drive by the pavement and the postman scoots round dropping the mail in to everyones boxes! Saves having to walk up to the front door of everyones house to drop them through! It was amusing for us to watch, and would probably have been hilarious for anyone watching us, as I peered out my front room window shouting for Isaac to come and look while the postman made his way round the Grove to deliver the mail.

Another thing that amazed me was that the bin collections are a one man affair! You have to put your bin by the roadside the evening before your collection day and then the guy driving the truck pulls up beside your bin and an automated 'grabber' comes out from the side of the truck, grabs your bin, empties it and puts it back down. AMAZING! I realise, obviously, that it just couldn't work in Bristol but it has a lot of novelty value for us here.

So what else? Well the whole public bar-b-que thing intrigued me (for those of you who don't know, and I certainly didn't before we arrived, there are quite a number of public bar-b-ques dotted around the parks and gardens here in Ballarat, but I believe this is a usual sight all over Australia). What did you do? How did it work? Well yesterday, at the home ed meet up, there were public barbies (not the doll type you understand, but the kind you roast food on, or Barbies if you have a strong feeling against them) so I took the bull by the horns and asked people to give me the low down on this phenomenon. Apparently you just put your money in if it is a fee paying one (the ones at Eureka were free), push the button and then sling something on there. They can take a while to heat up, be a little slow on the cooking front and stuff can stick to them (so don't forget your oil!) but that really is all there is to it. After your done you give it a bit of a clean down and bob's your uncle, your done. One of the mums had brought sausages (snags), lamb chops, beef burgers, onions and mushroom and had a fantastic looking lunch, especially compared to mine, I had packed jam sandwiches for all of us (which was met with great consternation from Isaac who was desperate for a sausage!) Apparently an Esky (a cool box to me!) is an essential piece of kit for the summer and especially for those outdoor barbies to keep all your meat in before cooking and drinks in for during the feast!! I'm going to have to give it a go sometime, it looks like a great way to spend an afternoon in the warm spring sunshine at the Lake!

OK, that enough for now ramblings for now.....