Okay, so I know. I’ve been in California for more than a week, and during this time my blog has sat here, unattended by its keeper and only experiencing a surge in traffic because people have been suddenly able to locate this one provocative picture of indie chanteuse Neko Case on Google image search that I posted some time back. (They don’t remain on the site long.) I guess I had to take a break from posting at this blog because for the past six weeks, it serves as a travel diary and a way for me to keep in touch with people I knew back at home. However, once I set foot again in my homeland, the blog seemed temporarily irrelevant and in need of a reinvention — or at least a quick change back to its form before I left: a web log, or a log of the silly and inconsequential things I do and find on the web. But here’s the problem. In light of the subjects of recent posts — surviving the terrors of the sea and hugging kangaroos, for example — the little things that would have been post-worthy two months ago seemed too trite to mention. It’s a bit of dilemma, you see. After a few days of deliberation, I’ve decided that the best way to continue the life of the Back of the Cereal Box would be to make one more NZ/OZ-related post to cap off the whole trip and close the book on this vacation portion of my life. Thus, I give you the definitive post for all manner of tidbits related to the big NZ/OZ. My ten most-played songs, according to iTunes:
- The Features - "The Idea of Growing Old”
- A-Ha - "The Sun Always Shines on TV”
- The Clash - "Lost in the Supermarket"
- Nada Surf - “Indochine”
- Teenage Fanclub - “Cells”
- Gorillaz - “Dare”
- Scissor Sisters - “Laura”
- Stephen Malkmus - “Kindling for the Master”
- Father Bingo - “Ginger Prince Is Not Shirley Temple”
- Aimee Mann - “Pavlov’s Bell”
And, as a contrast, my ten most-played songs before I left, according to
an earlier post:
- Scissor Sisters - "Laura"
- The Bravery - "Hot Pursuit"
- Stephen Malkmus - "Kindling for the Master"
- Gorillaz - "Dirty Harry"
- Yaz - "Situation"
- Beck - "Bad Cartridge"
- Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra - "Some Velvet Morning"
- Soviet - "Candy Girl"
- Scissor Sisters - "The Skins"
- Electric Six - "Danger! High Voltage"
Songs that I, for better or worse, will now always associate with Australia and New Zealand:
- “My Humps,” by the Black Eyed Peas
- “In the Summertime,” by Mungo Jerry
- “Wonderwall,” by any one with a guitar, apparently
- “By the Devil (I Was Tempted),” by Blue Mink
- “Knock Three Times,” by Tony Orlando and Dawn
- “Hooked on a Feeling,” by Blue Swede
- “Groove Is in the Heart,” by Deee-Lite, technically, but for the purposes of this list by the Kransky Sisters
- “Pop Muzik,” by M, but in the same manner by the Kransky Sisters
- "The Grapefruit Song," by Allen and Grier
Strange, Down Under-specific animals I saw while I was gone:
- Kangaroos
- Wallabies
- PademelonsA single platypus
- Three or four echidnas
- Three kiwi birds, plus one kiwi hatchlingMany, many koalas
- A quoll, which is not to be confused with the koalas
- A single cassowary
- a Maori wrasse
- The most horrifying spider I’ve ever seen
- My first-ever confirmed cockroach
- Dingos
- A wombat named Wilhelmina
- A tree kangaroo
- A joey — or at least the arm of one, grasping for life from within his mother’s womb
Animals I did not see, though I have ample proof that they were there:
Animals people asked me to bring back as a present:
- A duck-billed platypus (for Josh)
- A sloth (for Sanam, even though I don’t think sloths live in Australia or New Zealand)
- A sloth bear (for Hasan, even though I don’t think sloth bears live Down Under, either)
[definitely not a sloth ]- And for Spencer, the long-promised and long-awaited Wooliam
Here you go, guys. Enjoy. Animal I was most impressed with:
Animal I was least impressed with:
Strange animals I ate while I was gone:
- Kangaroo
- Crocodile
- Emu (in burger form)
- Many types of strange shellfish, some not readily identifiable
Strange British-ish ice cream flavors (ice-cream flavours) I tasted:
Strange and amusing place names we drove by or through:
(North Island, New Zealand)
- Waipawa (Don’t say it out loud, you racist.)
(South Island, New Zealand)
- Geraldine Flat (who I think I may have gone to high school with)
- Middle Valley (neighbor of Beautiful Valley)
(Sydney to Blue Mountains area, Australia)
- Lapstone (Think about it.)
(Around the Whitsundays, Australia)
(On the drive from Townsville to Carins, Australia)
- Frosty Mango (not an actual town, but marked on the map as if it were)
- Mossman (Batman’s long-forgotten archenemy
An amusing place name we did not, sadly, go by:
- Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu
Places I did not see, regardless of what geography challenged travelmates may have thought:
Ten best things:
- Scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef
- Bungee jumping at the K Bridge
- Hugging the kangaroo
- Seeing cousins being more grown-up than I remember them being
- Actually seeing things at the Sydney Opera House
- Ankle-deep sand at Whitehaven Beach
- Larry’s cat, Rat Baby
- One word: “Zorb”
- The stormy night on the Pacific Star
- Mud bath at Hell’s Gate in Rotorua
[definitely not a sloth ]
Here you go, guys. Enjoy. Animal I was most impressed with: Animal I was least impressed with: 
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