Settling Down in Australia

by Joyce Illguth

Our new home was on the North coast of New south wales, a small village called Cundletown just a few miles outside Taree. Approximately 2 hours from Sydney.

Christmas in Australia is very different to being back in the UK. But big headed me decided that the English Traditional Christmas dinner was the only way to go.

On the 24th the Turkey pork and beef was prepared and ready for the oven. No consideration had been given to the time of year, which was summer! Yes, only about 40celsius! Every fan in the house was on, the heat was so overpowering all I wanted to do was lie down or jump in a swimming pool, but I could do neither, everyone was relying on me to cook the dinner. It was an utterly miserable Christmas. The turkey was in the oven most of the night roasting, so you can imagine the heat in the house the next morning. The table was laid for the great occasion, but it just got hotter and hotter. Even the candles on the table melted out of shape. By the time our guests arrived I was exhausted and looked like a beetroot. To make things worse, no one was hungry. Cold drinks and lots of fresh fruit particularly water melon was the order of the day. There was no room in the fridge for cold drinks so the men pushed off for 10 minutes and returned with a wheelbarrow filled with ice, within minutes all the beer and soft drinks had been plunged between the ice and everyone relaxed. We survived on snack food for the rest of the day.

Basically I spent a lot of time and energy trying to be ENGLISH in that sense I mean doing things the way we do them at home. Here in Australia things have to be done the Australian way, two reasons for that, one it's usually cheaper and two it's usually easier. My first big lesson was to buy an esky and a larger fridge. Because half your fridge is usually taken up with cold drinks or water, The water intake is huge and encouraged at all times. Whenever you go shopping you have to take an esky with you, if you don't your butter runs all over the place and your milk is sour by the time you get home, and ice cream resembles a milk shake!

The two other important things I learnt, was always carry a canister of water with you whenever you travel in the car. Learn as quickly as possible where North, South, East and West is. The latter plagued me for ages. Whenever I asked some one where a particular place was, I was told it was East or North side, which meant nothing to me. Later it became apparent why I needed to learn my East from my West.

My first bad experience of Australian wild life came early one morning. I was driving Denise to school, it was so sunny I decided to pull the sun Visor down, as I did so something big and brown dropped into my lap…….to say I screamed would be an understatement. Within seconds Denise and I had vacated the car, leaving it with its engine running and doors wide open in the middle of a main road, as we ran screaming down the road. A passer by asked if he could help. I quickly told him my story, he kindly escorted us back to the car, by this time a couple more people had gathered to see what the problem was. On searching the car our good Samaritan said "Is this what frightened you" as he held the biggest brown spider I have ever seen in my life, it was as big as his hand! The people standing around started to chuckle and move away. "It's just a harmless Huntsman" he said as he put it down on the grass and it ran away. I couldn't have cared less, huntsman or no huntsman I was terrified. From that day onwards I checked the car diligently before I got in it.

The funniest thing I ever did was go Easter shopping, I was tickled pink to see Bilby's (looks a bit like an overgrown rat but with ears like a rabbit) on the shelves next to the Easter Bunny. Having bought enough eggs for the whole family including my sisters 3 girls, I placed them on the back seat of the car, being careful not to break them. By the time I arrived home they had all melted. Remember the Esky I bought?…well it was in the boot of the car, now all I had to do was learn to use it!

Back to Spiders…..Sydney is Notorious for it's funnel web spider, it is in fact the most deadly in Australia. Funnel web Spiders, spin a silken T-shaped funnel in their burrows and when cornered rear up with fangs opened ready to strike.

The other very prolific and poisonous spider is the red-back, which has the body size of a large pea and is a relative of the black widow spider. They are a real pest, often hiding under windowsills and the rims of flowerpots. An Australian is naturally educated as a small child to be wary of these spiders, the same goes for snakes, so that it becomes second nature. Nothing worse than sitting on the loo (Especially men) and being bitten on the genitals by one of these!! They love dark damp areas….he he .

Sydney is a very beautiful modern city today, but began it's life as a penal colony for some 1220 people - over 700 of whom were convicts. The actual landing place was called Sydney Cove in honour of Britain's home secretary. Viscount Sydney.

The Harbour is truly the focal point of Sydney, where most people come in droves to see what's happening. The harbour is much more than a stretch of water, it runs from the Heads to the Harbour bridge, Port Jackson and Parramatta river and middle harbour and covers about 54 square kilometre's. Which is dotted by Yachts and speed boats, passenger cruisers and ferries. The harbour shores are lined with beautiful mansions, parkland and private beaches.

Everyone recognises the Opera house with it's six white sails reflecting in the water with the 'Coat hanger " Sydney Harbour bridge in the back ground, rattling and rumbling with the endless traffic, and electric trains spilling commuters out of the concrete jungle of Sydney.

Sydney is very cosmopolitan and has large populations of Chinese, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Greek, and Maori immigrants. There's a huge china town right in the heart of Sydney. On the whole it's a very friendly place, with lots to see. In fact you would need more than a week take in the sites. Never ever take a car into Sydney. For one it is very costly to park.(If you can find a space) secondly it's a nightmare. There are trains every three minutes from all the outer suburbs', and most attractions are only a short walk away.

Around the Harbour are small cafeterias, buskers, artists clowns etc, and little market places. Food is expensive, so most people pack their own lunch and take it with them. There is a small population of Aborigines in Sydney, but they are not well looked after. Having said that I must point out they drink too much and expect a lot of handouts. This of course is the white mans fault, they learnt their tricks from us. Now we don't like it! Generally speaking, I have a great respect for them, and feel we could learn a lot more about life and our surroundings, if we took the time to learn more about their culture.

Don't expect to see a Kangaroo in Sydney, but it won't take you long to spot one should you go out to the fringes…they are a nuisance at times, and are the cause of many motorcar accidents early morning and at dusk. I remember quite vividly sitting as a passenger in a car driving south out of Sydney, when a Roo appeared in view from nowhere, and was right smack bang in front of me on the left of the windscreen…it was huge…..my brain told me …this is it…were dead. When suddenly it did a strange sort of twist and disappeared…….boom…gone..vanished! Then out of the corner of my right eye I saw it hopping across the paddock…I've since learnt they have this built in mechanism, a sort of axle swing.. Had it been just a fraction more to the middle of my view..we would have been out of luck.