Quiz answers and didgeridoos

Hi again!

Sorry for the long delay in getting answers up. I'll try and make this an extra long posting to make up for it!

Thanks to everyone who answered. We didn't have QUITE the turnout we'd hoped for, but we did have some new reponders, which was great. An especial thanks to our most devoted fan, Louisa, for her promptness in answering! Here are the results:

Laura: 13.5 (my family does me proud again...it's nice to know that you all listen when I call :))
Eric 10.5 (let's hear it for the siblings!)
Connie 10
Louisa and Jon 7.5
Emily 7
Grandma Friesen 5
Kacky 3.5
Bob 3
The Creative Answer Award was a tough one this time, but we're going to give it to Grandma Friesen for her answer to number 15--Eve tempting Adam in the Garden of Eden. Fabulous work!!!!

So, I suppose you want the real answers??

1.) Actually, this isn't fair, as it's a trick question. One could argue three, if they ever get around to it, but the answer is actually A--none. Lightbulbs aren't designed to twist in down under--you match up the grooves and pop them in with a click!
2.) Most poisonous spider is the Sydney Funnel Web. We haven't seen any of these guys in our apartment yet, but I'm sure they're just waiting for their chance. We have had a few friendly Wolf Spiders, though...not The Most Poisonous, just Painfully Poisonous.
3.) Whinging=whining. I think it's a fabulous term!
4.) I do have to agree that taking a train when you're supposed to be taking a bus is a bad idea, but you should also never take the 443 to Broadway. The 443 will take you to the Casino in Darling Harbour and dump you there, forcing you to walk back the 4 miles to your hotel in 95 degree heat carrying your instruments because you don't have an apartment or a locker at the Con yet........(See an earlier blog!)
5.) The Socceroos. Isn't that adorable? I'm sure it strikes fear in the hearts of all their competitors. No wonder they never scored any goals in the World Cup before this year!
6.) Knackered=exhausted. Apparently this is how I look with jetlag!
7.) Come on, people, didn't you read our blog from Tasmania?! As my dad so eloquently put it, wombat droppings are Square Shit!
8.) The Con student body has not protested mandatory breathalizer tests, only because the faculty hasn't thought of it yet! They've protested everything else, INCLUDING the elimination of the minor performance major. Yes, you read that right. At the Con, you can major in performance minor--piano minor, flute minor, you take your pick. As a performance minor major, you do even less performing than a performance major major (and we don't get much ourselves). This degree is supposed to prepare you for the real world in some mysterious way, but it's very Australian. The Dean is trying to eliminate this program and was slammed with a Wall of Protest all over her office door. This degree is designed to give you a diploma without any real work..which is how I think they like it.....
9.) Verbruggen Hall was originally the Governor's Stables. http://www.music.usyd.edu.au/talent_facilities/hire_venues.shtml
Pretty fancy for some stables, huh? When they were excavating and redesigning, apparently the stench of manure was so strong they had to let it air for some weeks. (As an amusing side note to those of you from IU, the concert stage was designed by the same guy that did Auer Hall--they look remarkably similar, don't you think? http://www.music.usyd.edu.au/talent_facilities/verbrugghen.shtml )
10.) Yes, in the tour books left in our hotels, the most advertised feature was the escort services. Prostitution is legal in Sydney, and it's not uncommon to walk down a perfectly innocent street and see an adult bookstore with a brothel upstairs. That was a bit of a shock. (BASE jumping is an extreme sport of jumping from a fixed object with a parachute. Building, Antenna, Span, Earth. I'm actually surprised there isn't more of this from the Harbour bridge!)
11.) Rockmelon, capsicum and pumpkin=cantaloupe, peppers and squash. Arrugala is also known as rocket. It's a difficult thing ordering a sandwich around here!
12.) I'm personally convinced that this is the entrance to hell. Actually, that's Luna Park, an amusement park over in Milson's Point, just on the other side of the Harbour Bridge from Kirribilli. It's not very large and doesn't have many rides, but would remind you of 1900s Coney Island. I'm sure it would be wild to enter, but I haven't worked up the courage yet. I'm not thrilled with the idea of walking through that guy's mouth!
13.) Kangaroo is a pleasant mixture of venison and beef. It's very lean, so can be overcooked and dried out very easily. We found that wallaby is a bit less gamey and a bit moister.
14.) 35 rolls of TP. I think we're set for a while. I know TP never goes out of fashion, but since we have no closet space to speak of, this is a bit extreme.......
15.) This lovely thing is a mangosteen! (And a goof with a piece of fruit on her head!) You can't find them in the US because they will have spoiled by the time they get through quarantine. Inside they're divided into pulpy sections, not unlike a custard apple. They have a pleasant, mild flavor, somewhere between a pear and a plum, although rather slimey!

Thanks for playing! We'll see if we can't create another quiz for you before we come home!

So, last week was pretty busy. It was Special Projects Week II, advertised as SPW, which reminded me of SPEW from Harry Potter. I digress. Special Projects Week is designed to be a chamber music festival, and instead means that everyone abandons the Con for the pub. Since Mike and I were the only ones around, we were roped into playing two concerts. One was an ordinary evening concert at the New South Wales art gallery, which was actually kind of fun. For the other, our wind quintet was teamed up with a famous didgeridoo player. Yeah. That was interesting. Don't get me wrong, he could really didge that ridoo, but organization wasn't his strong point. He wrote the piece we were supposed to play on Saturday on Tuesday, and then didn't show up to our rehearsal on Wednesday. The piece was a bit odd, too--wind quintet and didgeridoo doesn't go together like you might think. But still, it's something we can brag that we've done--have YOU ever played a piece for didgeridoo?????

It's been cold and rainy here in Sydney again. It rains and it rains and it rains, and my laundry mounts up. I miss clothes dryers! There's a rumor that it may finally stop by the end of this week. Me and my clothes really hope so!!!

Mike is off being a bigwig this week. He's been asked to play second bassoon with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australia's top ensemble, for a 10 day tour. He just got back from Brisbane this morning and will head to Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide later this week. Sunday's performance in the Opera House was recorded and will be going up on the web around Sept. 25th. We'll let you know the link when it's posted and you can see our hotshot bassoonist!!!!!!

Um...other than that....On Tuesday and Wednesday some family friends of the Jones' will be in town, and then on Thursday, my friend Emily K arrives for about a 2 week vacation. That coincides with out spring break, so we're planning a trip up to the Great Barrier Reef. The GBR is one place we have to see before we leave Oz.

There's some boysenberry ice cream in the freezer calling my name. I have to answer :)
~Ruth Ann