5 Minutes or Less: Kiwi vs Aussie Accents

So Lydia and I are still struggling with pinpointing Australian accents; our Australian accent impressions either sound English, or like Crocodile Dundee, neither of which are even remotely accurate.  One accent that we know is different, but can't quite pinpoint how, is the Kiwi accent.  When I noted this to my coworkers, they immediately pulled up a few case in point YouTube videos to demonstrate the differences:

Official New Zealand Drink Driving Ad 2007

Beached Az Cartoon

Needless to say, the difference is not subtle and in the vowels... Thanks to my Aussie friends, we've been entertained for hours watching these YouTube clips.  "I'm Beached Az Bro!"

Australian Open

The Australian Open started here in Melbourne two weeks ago, and Lydia didn't hesitate in getting tickets to the first day of the Open.  I, not being much of a tennis fan (sorry Trish!), was at first not too enthused for the experience, but admittedly I really enjoyed our time there.  Lydia had purchased the daily grounds pass, which admitted us onto the grounds from 5pm until 9pm.  The tickets permitted us to roam the grounds to see various smaller matches and the practice courts, but not the bigger matches in the Rod Laver or Hisense Arenas. We were quite content with our grounds pass, as when you buy the more expensive HiSense or Rod Laver tickets, you don't know who you're going to actually see in the match, whereas with the grounds passes, you have the opportunity to track down specific players you'd like to see.

The highlight of the experience for me was that we got to see fellow UGA alumn John Isner face off against Aussie Ben Mitchell.  I offered up a few "Go Dawgs!" in between sets (to the embarrassment of Lydia), which I like to think John may have heard, but either way, we had a good time.  Unfortunately John, along with all of the other Americans, has since been knocked out of the tournament, but at least we got to see him and give him a little encouragement and Georgia spirit.

Back in the Land Down Under

So despite the dating of this post, we have in fact been back in Melbourne for nearly a month now.  Lydia and I both had a great time back in the States seeing family and friends, and enjoying the holidays.  Most of my break was spent at home with family, seeing old friends, drinking my favorite American beers (Terrapin, Dogfish Head, Allagash), and poking around Roswell, Atlanta, and Athens.  To the friends that I didn't have an opportunity to see (you know who you are...), I'm sorry we weren't able to get together this time around, but I promise next time we'll make it happen!

Despite our initial struggle with scheduling, we (or rather, Lydia) managed to work it out so she could fly down to Atlanta for a few days so we could see each other over our break and spend New Year's Eve together.  How ironic it would have been that we live together in Melbourne 50 weeks out of the year, but don't get to see each other while in the States.

As quickly as the break came upon us, it was just as soon over- I flew back to Melbourne on New Year's Day (so I arrived on the 3rd) and Lydia had a few additional days back in Virginia with her family.  The trek back was not an easy one- aside from the emotional difficulty of leaving friends and family not knowing the next time I'll return, logistically it was challenging as I had my bike, my bass, and a suitcase to get from Atlanta to Melbourne, with only two hands.  Long story short, I learned a few important travel lessons:

1. TSA agents do not care that your luggage is fragile.  In fact, the mere appearance of "fragile" stickers encourage them to treat your valuable possessions even more carelessly and with an air of utter indifference than if the stickers were not visible
2. Watching the NFL playoffs from a plane seat without a beer in hand is much less fun than watching the game in the comfort of your own home
3. The Delta Lounge at LAX has self-serve alcohol, which would be a nice perk, had you not just sworn off all alcohol until the end of the month
4. As tempting as it is, you can't pet the Australian customs dogs
5. Delta Lounge passes apply to Virgin Airlines lounges, even without a proper Delta ticket
6. Cost of shipping a bike, bass guitar, and a full-size suitcase half-way across the world from Atlanta to Sydney: $150
7. Cost of shipping a bike, bass guitar, and a full-size suitcase from Sydney to Melbourne: $460

All told, the 32-hour journey back to Melbourne went well with no major hiccups.  I arrived home, dropped my luggage, and headed straight out to the park with the soccer ball to kick it around with my buddy Nick, to enjoy the nice summer weather and appreciate being liberated from the confines of airplane seats and airports.