Select Page

As you’ve been gathering with each time I put “Aussie for…” after I use a new word, there is a lot of new vocabulary to learn here! Obviously most words are the same but some are different and some have multiple variations. Thankfully, the Aussies all seem to know the North American words so they can rescue me when I have no clue. I have a feeling that many Aussie words are UK words but I’m guessing some are uniquely Aussie. And to make matters worse, vocabulary changes region to region as well – aacckk, I don’t stand a chance! Check this article out re regional variations. I learned in the past week that what North Americans call scalloped potatoes is called “potato bake” here – totally not fair because I’m not a big fan of scalloped potatoes and totally love baked potatoes, so I could easily have fallen victim to this one!

One of the first terms that threw me for a loop was “pot plants.” Back when we were buying our house, the real estate agent texted me because the owners wanted to know if we’d like their pot plants. I thought, wow, pot is still illegal here, so that’s a pretty bold question to ask people you don’t know! Then I thought, aw (wish I could type this how I’m pronouncing it in my head – I’m doing well pronouncing this like an Aussie!), the real estate agent was probably typing quickly and it was a typo.

Nope, not a typo, just one of those dialectal differences! North Americans say “plant pots” and Aussies say “pot plants.” I’ll have to ask what they call pot plants then…

Well yesterday we went into Rocky (short form for Rockhampton) to go to some nurseries for our pot plants. There’s a great nursery in Yeppoon but we wanted to check out the competition too. So here are some photos of our side patio with all our pot plants:

(April – you’ll see that the pineapple made it across the ocean safe and sound :))

The 3 plants behind the dining table are an unusual Hibiscus called Rose Flake – pink foliage with red flowers! Check out the name of the website I linked for that – pot plant heaven :). The 2 close to the brick in the sitting area each have a Doodia Aspera fern (we had ferns in these pots back in Stoney Creek) and a Queensland native plant, the Australian Fan Palm – the merging of our 2 homes! The 3 around the little table include 2 Ixora Sunshine Dwarfs and 1 Tibouchina Jazzie – Hugh’s favourite colour is yellow and mine is purple, so this collection will keep us both happy :). Coincidentally, the purple one is called Jazzie and I’ve been told that once my Aussie friends start shortening my name, it will probably be something like Jazzie (lots of “z” and “ie” when they shorten names here, e.g., Sharyn becomes Shaz or Shazzie). Actually, “shorten” isn’t the right word because obviously both examples are 2 syllables. Will have to find out what the correct word is for this phenomenon. Anyway, back to the topic at hand – will be sure to post photos as all our pot plants grow!

And in the category of “thou shalt not grow”, this is Hugh killing the weeds that grow up in the stones (you can get RoundUp here – no weed aka cannabis, here, just killer chemicals :)):

Oh, speaking of unusual plants, I forgot to tell you about this curious thing that we saw when we were in Brisbane:

You can buy these things and strap them to the trunk of a palm and they will attach themselves and get their nutrients from the palm! The photo was taken from the grounds of the lodge we stayed at while we were in Brisbane a few weeks ago and then when we were at one of the nurseries in Rocky yesterday, we saw them for sale there. Will have to keep an eye out for how they look once established.

While we were in Rocky yesterday, we had lunch at the famous Criterion Hotel, called The Cri (of course – at least this one is actually shorter :)). You can read the history of the Cri in the link I’ve provided. It is Rocky’s first hotel:

It is a steakhouse but we were there for lunch so I had the Beef Rissoles and Hugh had the Aussie Pie Floater. Wow, SUPER delicious beef – we will definitely go back to try their steak!! And in the category of “I want this in my kitchen”, they had wine on tap:

I remember seeing wine on tap many years ago somewhere in the States when Aaron was renovating our kitchen in Dundas and I sent him a text with a photo saying, hey, can you add this into the reno. He thought I was joking so we came home to no wine on tap (it’s OK, Aaron, I forgive you :)). And funny enough, we’re renovating our kitchen here right now. Hmmmm.

It was a warm day and we were sitting outside overlooking the Fitzroy River so I had the Pinot Grigio:

Such a beautiful glass! My friend Allison wasn’t with me to egg me on, so the glass remains in the possession of The Cri :).

The Fitzroy River is apparently the 2nd largest in Australia and the largest to discharge into the Great Barrier Reef. Hugh and I tried to drive to where it enters the ocean back when we first arrived here, thinking it would be a neat tourist site – nope, you can’t even get there! We were on horrible roads that our Outback was definitely not designed for, only to discover there are no roads to get to the end of the Fitzroy. Too bad. The Fitzroy can of course flood and at The Cri they had photos of the flood of 1918 – the water level was 30 feet above usual! Where we were standing in The Cri would have been submerged. So hard to imagine the devastation.

Getting back to the beginning of spring here, we haven’t had any more of the warmer more humid days that appeared the first week of September. But it looks like we might get a couple this week:

Check out the difference in the forecasts between Yeppoon, where we live, and Rocky, where I work (30 minutes inland from Yeppoon, surrounded by mountains). Rocky cools down more overnight and heats up more during the day – usually by 5 degrees Celsius. Living on the ocean keeps temps a lot more moderate!

Oh, I should point out that we managed to drive right on by Galactic Donuts while we were in Rocky yesterday! Really, it was only because we had just eaten at the Cri and were too full, otherwise I know our will power would have failed and we would have come home with a box of donuts :).

Well, I think that’s about it for now. We have an exciting week coming up – the excavator guy arrives to dig up the back yard and parts of the front yard for Hugh to build our ponds! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy all the pot plants you have in your yards:).

Share This