Compliments of film genius Cameron Roberts, I give you "A Tea Party".
Original blog post about the Tea Party can be found here.
*Confession: I love this video to bits. I've watched it so many times and every time I break out in this ridiculous smile. This was such an awesome day. I should just pack all these guys up and bring them back to Canada to film my life.
Showing posts with label The Shack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Shack. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Dinner and a Movie
Here's to another ridiculously long weekend.
To start off, the Clipsal races ran from Thursday to Sunday. Basically it's this whole slew of car races where several city streets are shut down. All the bogans (Aussie hicks) come out of the woodworks, and there is this incessant buzzing that can be heard throughout the CBD. At first it was intriguing, and the sound of the cars driving around the track was exciting, but after the first day, I was already getting sick of it.
Before I get in to all the events of this past weekend, let me just say that I have now been out 4 nights in a row. Once again I am exhausted. And naps have been my best friend lately.
Thursday I was invited out to see a show at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. I hadn't been there yet, so I was quite excited. We went to The Garden of Unearthly Delights, about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. The garden is free to get into, but show tickets and food/drinks are extra. It is basically set up like a really quirky midway/circus. There are circus tents and salons as show venues, as well as a ferris wheel, and a double decker cocktail bus, where we spent a lot of time talking to the friendly bartender. We bought tickets to Sammy J & Randy which was hilarious, and really well done. I noticed there was an act called 3 Canadians, so I'll have to check that out sometime while I'm here as well.
After the show we met up with Ali and Heather who had happened to find themselves with a Clipsal sponsorship team. So after a few drinks we headed home for the night.
Friday was the date of our much anticipated Canadian dinner. We wanted to thank all the shack people for making us feel so welcome, so we invited them all over for some Canadian eats. Clearly poutine was a must. We couldn't find any cheese curds in the grocery, so regular cheese had to suffice. We weren't very surprised when nobody knew what poutine was, but we couldn't believe that no one had heard of perogies before. They may not be Canadian, but they are definitely readily available there. Perogies were then added to the dinner menu, but you can't get them here, so Ali had to use her grandmother's recipe and make them all by hand. We realized that most foods you associate with Canada are basically all consisting of starch, so we also threw in some baked veggies to round it out.
We did the tacky thing and dressing in red and white, threw some of our photos from back home into a slide show (Tim Horton's was featured excessively), and made up a playlist of Canadian artists. Everyone loved the food, and then we introduced them to a few Canadian drinking games (Beer pong, Flip cup, Zumi zumi). Aisha ushered us all into some going out clothes and off we went to find some good music to dance off the rest of the night.
In the morning we made a typical Canadian breakfast for those who stayed over consisting of pancakes, sausages, scrambled eggs, and buttery cinnamon sugar apples all completely drowned in syrup.
Saturday the there was an outdoor cinema set up at the shack. They hired a projector and set up a whole screening area to show friends and family some of the short videos they've put together. What those guys have managed to do is pretty incredible. Afterwards we all hung out at the shack and us Canadians thought it was about time we taught the Australians Slap Jack. I believe it was well received.
Sunday was supposed to be a relaxing day so I re-dyed my hair (it's gone bleach blond in about a month), and had a nap. I was then invited out to the Adelaide Festival at Barrio. I was still pretty awake from my nap, so I headed out. Barrio was pretty cool. They took over an open area with a big sculpture and lots of concrete pillars that are the perfect height for tables or chairs. The entrance was the word BARRIO entirely lit up. You had to walk through one of the R's to get in. The event was free but you had to give an offering to Barrio to gain entrance. I wasn't aware of that, so they gave me a little disco ball to offer up. Inside they had divided the whole area up into sections so that it was almost maze-like. There were several bars all with different themes (desert, ski lodge, candy bar, etc.), a band set-up, a free tropical fruit stand, a dj, some guy setting up a rube-golberg machine, and some free arcade games. The whole thing was pretty cool but unfortunately there wasn't enough light for me to get any good pictures.
Our relaxing day was pushed back to Monday. Class in the morning, and dinner and sunset watching at Glenelg Beach in the evening. I needed that.
To start off, the Clipsal races ran from Thursday to Sunday. Basically it's this whole slew of car races where several city streets are shut down. All the bogans (Aussie hicks) come out of the woodworks, and there is this incessant buzzing that can be heard throughout the CBD. At first it was intriguing, and the sound of the cars driving around the track was exciting, but after the first day, I was already getting sick of it.
Before I get in to all the events of this past weekend, let me just say that I have now been out 4 nights in a row. Once again I am exhausted. And naps have been my best friend lately.
Thursday I was invited out to see a show at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. I hadn't been there yet, so I was quite excited. We went to The Garden of Unearthly Delights, about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. The garden is free to get into, but show tickets and food/drinks are extra. It is basically set up like a really quirky midway/circus. There are circus tents and salons as show venues, as well as a ferris wheel, and a double decker cocktail bus, where we spent a lot of time talking to the friendly bartender. We bought tickets to Sammy J & Randy which was hilarious, and really well done. I noticed there was an act called 3 Canadians, so I'll have to check that out sometime while I'm here as well.
After the show we met up with Ali and Heather who had happened to find themselves with a Clipsal sponsorship team. So after a few drinks we headed home for the night.
Friday was the date of our much anticipated Canadian dinner. We wanted to thank all the shack people for making us feel so welcome, so we invited them all over for some Canadian eats. Clearly poutine was a must. We couldn't find any cheese curds in the grocery, so regular cheese had to suffice. We weren't very surprised when nobody knew what poutine was, but we couldn't believe that no one had heard of perogies before. They may not be Canadian, but they are definitely readily available there. Perogies were then added to the dinner menu, but you can't get them here, so Ali had to use her grandmother's recipe and make them all by hand. We realized that most foods you associate with Canada are basically all consisting of starch, so we also threw in some baked veggies to round it out.
We did the tacky thing and dressing in red and white, threw some of our photos from back home into a slide show (Tim Horton's was featured excessively), and made up a playlist of Canadian artists. Everyone loved the food, and then we introduced them to a few Canadian drinking games (Beer pong, Flip cup, Zumi zumi). Aisha ushered us all into some going out clothes and off we went to find some good music to dance off the rest of the night.
In the morning we made a typical Canadian breakfast for those who stayed over consisting of pancakes, sausages, scrambled eggs, and buttery cinnamon sugar apples all completely drowned in syrup.
Saturday the there was an outdoor cinema set up at the shack. They hired a projector and set up a whole screening area to show friends and family some of the short videos they've put together. What those guys have managed to do is pretty incredible. Afterwards we all hung out at the shack and us Canadians thought it was about time we taught the Australians Slap Jack. I believe it was well received.
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| Sweet setup |
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| Speeches to start off the night |
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| No one can resist a good game of Slap Jack |
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| Entrance at Barrio |
Monday, February 27, 2012
Fringe Opening & A Tea Party
We got home Friday night exhausted and ready for bed, but the night wasn't quite over. We came home to FINALLY having our internet installed and a new, working fridge! I missed cold food. We hooked up the internet then headed out to check out the opening night of the Fringe Festival.
The Fringe is a really big festival here in Adelaide. It includes lots of arty shows and acts, and Friday there was a big parade for the opening day. We could hear the commotion from our apartment, so decided to go check it out despite realllllly wanting to hop into bed. The idea of stopping by Hungry Jack's for some quick food was also pretty appealing since after being away for 2 days, and not having a working fridge, we didn't really have any food to speak of.
When we got down to the streets, it was sheer chaos. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but the number of people who had all gathered really surprising. It felt a bit like I was in the middle of Times Square. In the end we actually had missed the parade, but we were so tired that just walking amongst the crowd was enough excitement for the night, so off we went to bed.
Saturday we were invited to a tea party for Cameron and Aisha's birthdays. We all donned some floral outfits and took the train out to meet Justin on the way to the shack. They had put together a bunch of picnic tables, made some oversized toadstools, and had pretty tea sets and cake stands everywhere. There was even a sword fighting ring to one side. It was really well done and reminded me of all the themed parties we used to have back home. The big difference is that we were constantly on film haha. I'm used to photographers being around (hi Jon, hi Jen), but Justin's friends veer more towards videography. I've seen some of their stuff, so I'm sure it'll turn out brilliant.
The tea party was really sweet, but we were all dying of heat on the 40 degree day, so we eventually abandoned the tea in favour of a dip in the river. The river was followed by pies for dinner (Australia has the best meat pastries. I never knew there were so many different types), which was followed by strobe lights and dancing, a night dip in the river, a warm up in the bath, and then a crash wherever you could find a place to sleep.
The Fringe is a really big festival here in Adelaide. It includes lots of arty shows and acts, and Friday there was a big parade for the opening day. We could hear the commotion from our apartment, so decided to go check it out despite realllllly wanting to hop into bed. The idea of stopping by Hungry Jack's for some quick food was also pretty appealing since after being away for 2 days, and not having a working fridge, we didn't really have any food to speak of.
When we got down to the streets, it was sheer chaos. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but the number of people who had all gathered really surprising. It felt a bit like I was in the middle of Times Square. In the end we actually had missed the parade, but we were so tired that just walking amongst the crowd was enough excitement for the night, so off we went to bed.
Saturday we were invited to a tea party for Cameron and Aisha's birthdays. We all donned some floral outfits and took the train out to meet Justin on the way to the shack. They had put together a bunch of picnic tables, made some oversized toadstools, and had pretty tea sets and cake stands everywhere. There was even a sword fighting ring to one side. It was really well done and reminded me of all the themed parties we used to have back home. The big difference is that we were constantly on film haha. I'm used to photographers being around (hi Jon, hi Jen), but Justin's friends veer more towards videography. I've seen some of their stuff, so I'm sure it'll turn out brilliant.
The tea party was really sweet, but we were all dying of heat on the 40 degree day, so we eventually abandoned the tea in favour of a dip in the river. The river was followed by pies for dinner (Australia has the best meat pastries. I never knew there were so many different types), which was followed by strobe lights and dancing, a night dip in the river, a warm up in the bath, and then a crash wherever you could find a place to sleep.
Everyone had told me that if I left for Australia, I might not make it back home. I expected to have a good time, but I didn't quite understand the not leaving part. I could never quite see living in another place feeling like it's home. Australia still isn't home, but I've definitely fallen in love. It's so different here, and yet so much the same. This place is pretty amazing.
Canoe the Coorong
On Thursday Ali went to tea to meet her extended family here in Adelaide. Unsure of whether or not she needed to eat before her 7pm tea date, she decided to munch a bit before. Apparently tea here is supper, or dinner, or whatever you want to call it. Completely different from the tea and cakes we were expecting. After she got back Justin chauffeured us off to the shack so we could get an early start to canoe the Coorong the next morning.
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| The Shack |
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| Stairs from the back of the shack to the river |
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| Doing the cockle dance (Photo by Heather) |
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| New zealand fur seal sunbathing |
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| Ali in the locks (Photos by Heather) |
I have never before gone sandsurfing and I was definitely a little nervous looking down the steep hill of sand that I was about to slide down headfirst on a wakeboard. First attempt was a dud. Instant wipeout haha. At least the second time I actually got down the hill! Actually it was really fun, I guess I'm just not as graceful as I'd like to be haha. Oh well, Dave's wipeout later completely overshadowed mine, so's all good. As much fun as it is to surf down the dunes into the water, the trek back up that stupid hill is hell.
My terrible first attempt, as filmed by Heather
Later on the group split up, half of us went fishing in the mouth (where the Murray River meets the ocean), and the other half went for a seaside stroll down the beach, chasing pelicans, attempting to catch fish with our bare hands, and just generally wrecking havoc on nature.
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| (Photo by Ali) |
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| (Photo by Dave) |
The night ended with a dinner of sausages, lamb chops, and fresh fish. Drinks were had around the fire, and a stupid game of There's a Moon in My Bowl was played (yes Justin, it's a stupid game).
The perfect way to wake up is a morning swim in the river. Especially when it's only a few steps away from your bed. After breakfast we all marched over to the other side of the island to try our luck at body surfing in the ocean. There was no way to really stay on shore very long since it was so hot out, so we all mucked about in the ocean for a few hours and passed around a bag of water to keep hydrated.
After the not so ideal results of our last beach excursion, we all religiously reapplied our sunscreen every hour to ward of the strong sun rays.
Packing up was a chore (as always) peppered with some more swim breaks since it was so ridiculously hot. We had a slight detour on the way back due to some misdirection, but made it to the main land intact and very happy. Then someone had the brilliant idea of going for ice cream before taking the winding route through the hills back to the city.
*Thanks Heather and Ali for your photos, since I mostly left my camera in my bag...
The perfect way to wake up is a morning swim in the river. Especially when it's only a few steps away from your bed. After breakfast we all marched over to the other side of the island to try our luck at body surfing in the ocean. There was no way to really stay on shore very long since it was so hot out, so we all mucked about in the ocean for a few hours and passed around a bag of water to keep hydrated.
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| (Photo by Heather) |
Packing up was a chore (as always) peppered with some more swim breaks since it was so ridiculously hot. We had a slight detour on the way back due to some misdirection, but made it to the main land intact and very happy. Then someone had the brilliant idea of going for ice cream before taking the winding route through the hills back to the city.
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| Heather and Justin on the car ride home |
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Orientation and an introduction to the Hills
On Sunday Justin invited us out to his friend Dave’s for a BBQ. He told us to hop the train and bring our bathers and he’d pick us up on his way. Being the gracious host that he is, he took us on a detour to Mt. Lofty (an amazing name, I know), the highest “mountain” in Adelaide. The view was amazing. We could see the city and surrounding ‘burbs, and in the distance we could see the whole shoreline to the ocean.
Views from the top of Mt. Lofty
Dave lives in the Hills around Adelaide. It’s a bit more rural than the suburbs, more like Cumberland in Ottawa. A big group of us went kayaking and swimming in the river on his property. Many fun times were had on Steve (the air mattress turned raft), and the Greatest River Race of All-Time included many winners and losers. We even spotted our first two wild koalas in the tree over the river. Unfortunately I was swimming and therefore had no camera for pictures :(
The BBQ portion of this outing contained many grilled onions, and of course, lots of seafood. Bowing to peer pressure, I tried some cockles (quite salty, not a big fan) and a type of fish that was a king something-or-other that was actually pretty good. Other bathtub and twister shenanigans ensued and a good time was had by all.
Outside on the patio
Apparently warming up in the bath after a cold dip in the river
Double mat twister
Orientation started this week. There’ve been a few helpful hints, but generally it seems the whole international week is mostly to help those from countries that have a greater cultural difference. Mostly, the information has been either common knowledge, or stuff that we’ve learned in first year, so we’ve been skipping a few sessions.
One thing the sessions have been helpful with is meeting people. We met one girl from a school in Toronto in Interior Architecture, and another girl from Holland in Communications who we’ve been keeping in touch with all week.
As 3 girls on exchange, we didn’t exactly have any grandiose plans for Valentine’s day. So when Lisa (our new found friend from Toronto) invited us over for some drinks and conversation, we weren’t exactly opposed. Valentine’s day in Australia was spent on Lisa’s patio, sipping sparkling rose, and watching the sunset. The night was finished off with a trip to McDonald’s for a McFlurry. Perfect.
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