We had decided before we came out that we would do the whole aussie experience thing rather than just being the “whinging pom” types who stuck to ex-pats clubs and basically complained that everything wasn’t like “back home”.
We watched an AFL game yesterday. Aussie Rules Football, or just “footy” to the locals. The game can basically be summed up in a couple of small facts – there’s 18 players on each side, and full physical contact is allowed between the shoulder and the knee.
The entire game (quarters of 20 minutes each) looked uncannily like a pitch invasion. there seems to be too many people on the park, they wear slightly different variations on the strip, there are about 8 umpires, and large parts of the game are spent basically fighting.
It’s more ordered than it looks, naturally, with the key element of the play being “Marks” – basically catching the ball after it has been in the air for 15 metres, which entitles you to a free kick (ie, you can pause for a second and nobody is allowed to kick you in the chest, or bite your arm until you kick the ball again).
I might just get into this – it’s kinda like rugby, basketball and ultimate cage fighting rolled into one.
Not weird enough for you? how about this then… it’s late autumn here, and the trees are dying back – like this one:
That tree is perfectly healthy – rather than drop their leaves for the winter, Aussie trees keep their leaves, and drop their bark.
it’s the little things that remind you that you are NOT in Kansas any more!!