To the Bank and Farmers' Market in Perth, and some Birds

On Friday we went and set up our bank accounts at Unicredit, a credit union on the campus of the university.  Interestingly, it seems the people of Australia rarely use checkbooks anymore, but Rebecca requested access to a "cheque book" just the same.  I think the bank teller thought us quite strange for that.

The setup of the account was weird, too.  We have one joint account, but inside this joint account we have individual sub-accounts that to my knowledge work as individual accounts.  /boggle.

Vinny was a bit in a crazy mood the past evening and morning.  As I had said the heat in the apartment was not working and the landlady had brought us some space heaters.  They work really well, and are of those "fake log fake fire" hot air blower types.

I apologize for the quality of the picture, but this is about the only way you can see the "flames."  But i won't make too much fun of it as the two we have have made our apartment life much warmer.


And it puts an end to this:

Vinny loved telling us about the front loader washer, despite his outfit.

Which honestly wasn't that bad.

But now it's warmer and we can dress in less striking outfits.

On Saturday morning Rebecca's (and Bronson's) friend (who has been a godsend i might add, with all her help in getting us set up and knowledgeable of how things go) took us to one of the many farmers' markets in Perth.  The one she took us too, whether it was the biggest in Perth or not, was absolutely huge.  It was located on the Clontarf Aboriginal College campus off Manning Road.  The campus is very beautiful. 

The college was built in 1901 and was an orphanage, then later used by the RAF in World War 2.  Then it became an orphanage again and then a general boarding school.  In the 1960s it lost enrollment numbers needed to maintain itself and closed as a school.  Afterward it became a sanitarium of sorts for children with behavioral problems.

I thought the school resembled an old Spanish mission or something out of a good Alfred Hitchcock tale.

I thought that this was just going to be yet another farmers' market.  I'd seen them before.  We had a good one in Urbana, Illinois - one of the biggest I'd seen - that took up a good portion off a parking lot. Our farmers' market in Oak Ridge was downright pathetic.  I wasn't looking forward to much.  I thought we'd get a few vegetables, see a few trinket sales, and at least somewhat support local agriculture.

This place was huge!  There were long continuous rows of vendors selling all sorts of fruits, vegetables, breads, meats - real butchers! - and even a milkman with fresh bottled milk ffrom his own dairy!

Rows and rows of food sellers and flower sellers

 and honey sellers and milk sellers and home made food sellers and sustainability sellers. 

 There were ethnic food sellers,

 breakfast food sellers, 

bratwurst with attitude sellers, 

cheese sellers,

and even a man selling ginormous mushrooms!

Yeah!  they were GINORMOUS!

See?

There was even one place selling sweet potatoes as big as your head!

Those are big sweet potatoes :)



We came away with potatoes, fruits, bread, two two liter bottles of fresh milk, a whole chicken and some beef brisket (cheapest I've ever seen beef since Dakota).

 Vinny wanted a breakfast crepe and he ordered one.  I like him to try to do things on his own, within reason, and his montessori background has given him the confidence to do so (sometimes with prodding).



He was given a ticket, which I held, and had to return to the crepe maker when his number was up on the kiosk sign.  When the number came, he was up and hurrying over to his crepe.

It was quite tasty.  He enjoyed it.

They had this large area in the middle where everyone could sit and enjoy conversation and good food if they wanted. We sat there with our newfound Australian friend and let Vinny enjoy his crepe and some of his freshly squeezed (from a cow I guess) strawberry milk.

The next day we just took it easy and hung around.  Later in the evening Rebecca took Vinny to the park across the street.  I went out to take a few pictures of some birds for my mom.  There have been two birds we have seen predominantly.  One looks like a big black crow but it's call sounds more like a dying cat in heat than the gargling caw of our midwestern crows.  I think what they call a crow is actually a raven, only bigger.  I don't have a picture of it yet. 

The other is a small black and white bird that has a very distinctive call.  It almost drives me insane, actually.  I'll have to find a way to get a .wav of it up or something.  Some people have told me that bird is a Magpie.  

The woman in the downstairs apartment throws balls of raw meat out them and they eat it right up.

Here is another one with a different black/white pattern.

There are some interesting trees in the park across the street.  They have wonderful red/ink blooms and the birds seem to love them.  

The trunk and branches are covered in sharp thorns.  Any idea what these are called?

Rebecca noticed some beautiful green parrot-like birds who loved to eat fruit from these blossoms.  Just like with any of the other birds,

 I don't know what these birds are called, and our camera isn't the best when zooming, but I've tried to include what good shots of these birds we could get.

There was also a smaller, white-breasted bird with a black head and black beak in the tree with these green birds.  I don't know what it is either, but I wonder if it is a baby magpie?

Vinny had a great day at the park playing with his mama.  Rebecca posted an excellent picture of him in a tree.  When I caught up with them they were both quite tired.

I can't believe the size of this aloe plant.  I just had to take a picture of it again.  Rebecca also found a rosemary "tree."  Wow.

  We then went home and had wonderful homemade soup made with the chicken from last night's great chicken dinner (both cooked by my lovely wife) and hit the sack.