Down Under Rally: FUN Part 2

As you can see from the previous post, The Down Under Rally has done a wonderful job of keeping us busy and connecting with all of the yachties in the rally. John and Leanne Hembrow have really outdone themselves along with the help of Howard Keegan and the many sponsors of the event. All of their efforts were frequently applauded by the ralliers. The events continued for a few more days:

They even served Vege-Mite sandwiches. Dennis loves it.
I can't stand the smell of it. Most of the sailors hated it!
I guess you have to be an Aussie to enjoy Vege-Mite!

• Straya Mate Lunch: This was a most interesting event! Originally I did not sign us up for it because I didn’t know what it was. It turned out that “Straya” is a nickname for Australia, but with the accent, I did not put two and two together! So once I had been enlightened, we joined in and found it fun and informative.John shared a lot of Aussie humor and terms with us. It was hard to understand some of it due to the accent and speed to speech, but it was obviously funny for those you got it. I laughed hard at John laughing at some of the things he was showing and Robin was saying with emphasis on the humor. There are a few things we need to know:

Refer to your butt as bum and NOT fanny (vagina here!) So you fall on your bum, not your fanny!

A bathing suit is Bathers or a Budgy smuggler (Also: Budgie smuggler) which is a nickname for Speedo swimming trunks for men! Cozzie is another word for swimming suit.

I laughed so hard at John laughing at the Aussie humor!
But I missed a lot of it due to the accent and lack of context.

Bikie is someone who rides a Harley Davidson, but most commonly used to describe the member of a bikie gang, while a Bikkie means cookie (short for biscuit).

Chuck a sickie means to call in sick to work for a day off.

Dead horse means tomato sauce (ketchup).

Dog’s breakfast means something is a mess; Dog’s eye is meat pie.

Fairy floss is cotton candy.

To be Knackered is to be pooped; tired; exhausted.

You can buy some Lollie water (soda pop) at Maccas, the nickname for McDonald’s (pronounced mă-kahs or mackers).

Me = Depending on where you are and who you are talking to, some Aussies say “me” in place of “my”, so instead of asking “Where are my sunglasses?”, they might say “Where are me sunnies?”

Off your head means high on drugs. “Caz was totally off her head last night at the party.”

Brian's idea of Glamour???

On the piss means drinking alcohol.

A Poo man is a plumber and Poo tickets are toilet paper! And a Sparky is an electrician.

Power point = Power/electrical outlet, not a Microsoft program.

To Rug up = Bundle up to keep warm when it’s cold outside.

Snag means sausage and Snag bag is sausage roll.

Thongs = Flip-flops. So when the sign says No Thongs, it is not referring to your underwear!

Up the duff = Pregnant (usually referring to an unplanned pregnancy).

Woop Woop is a made up name for a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.

And a Yank is an American. Not intended to be offensive at all. Whew!



Glamour Girls having fun!

So these are just a few of the Aussie terms to give you an idea of how difficult it is to follow a conversation at times. Then add the Aussie accent to it and hope you don’t make a fool of yourself when you respond! I hope I can speak proper American English when I return!

Since it was such a busy Rally Week, the saga continues here.

• 
  

  

  And the winners are ...

  The Welcome Cocktail Party with a theme of Glamour was a highlight for us as we won the prize for being the Most Glamorous Couple. The prize was a night in a local hotel with a suite including a bath tub! I love a bath so I am really excited because the last one I had was in December! Of course, I do shower regularly just in case you were wondering. Anyway, it was a fun night and will be a fun night!

• 

  And then there is Happy Hour every night!

  The daily schedule included several informative presentations on Aussie culture and language, when and where to land cruise this big country and when and where to cruise their beautiful coastline. Of course, the timing is important for both types of cruising due to high heat in the Outback during summer months as well as the cyclones north of New South Wales during that time period. So we are planning our travel accordingly. We were also given a bit of information on the 10 most dangerous creatures on earth that live here. I am not too excited to meet any of them!

• 

  At least it was cool in the tasting room. We (I) bought
  some good wine to have onboard for dinner parties.

  

  This pool felt soooo good on a 107 degree day!

  There was a day of learning to surf. Dennis and I took a pass on that.
• We did enjoy the Mecure Resort Hunter Valley Winery Day Trip with a tasting at one of the larger wineries. It was on a 107⁰ day! The bus was air conditioned as was the tasting room so part of the day was very comfortable. The rest of the day was outside where the breeze was about 85 degrees. Fortunately, the resort where we had lunch allowed us to use their swimming pool so we did! It was a lovely way to spend a hot afternoon. The wine was good as was the food, but the swim was the best.

• The rally hosted Down Under Dock Pizza Party and a number of lunch sessions and Happy Hours daily at the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club (NCYC). Our final event was a Down & Dusted Party at one of the sponsors, The Albion Hotel. I gathered that Down & Dusted is a saying that means: this party is over!



Friends from Vancouver and England at the Pizza Party.

All in all, the rally was a fun and well organized event. Now we need a week of rest to recover. Some of the boats have set sail to other destinations. We will be here in Newcastle for a while and do some land travel. Then for Christmas we will head to Sydney by boat. We hope to see the start of the Sydney to Hobart race on Boxing Day then sail north to Pitt Water. We will return to Sydney by train or bus to spend several nights there over the New Year’s holiday. So we will be among the first to ring in 2016!



An international group of Ocean Cruising Club members.