Two months to go? Yeah, I'm not ready

I don't feel ready at all.
INGER and I leave for AUSTRALIA two months from today and I haven't spent much time reading about the place (well, besides the past 30 years or so) and I haven't really done much other preparation, either.
I am on vacation next week, and I would like to devote some of that time to preparing for my trip DOWN UNDER.
With two months to go before my LONDON trip, I was much more prepared than I am for Australia.
Time to worry?

Beware sharks bearing "frickin lasers"

I found a funny AUSTRALIA map online.
It purports to show the country's many and varied dangers, including crocs, spiders, snakes, "SHARKS WITH FRICKIN' LASERS" and of course, DANNI MINOGUE.
All kidding aside, Australia is home to some of the world's most dangerous animals.
SYDNEY itself is part of the range of the FUNNEL-WEB.
Bites can be fatal from this big, black hairy spider, but there have been no recorded fatalities since the anti-venom was developed in 1981.
I'm afraid I could find no such reassuring statistics about prolonged exposure to Danni Minogue.

Preparing myself for a "Tim Tam Slam"

The Aussies call it the "TIM TAM SLAM."
Here is how it's done.
1. Take a Tim Tam. One of AUSTRALIA'S iconic delights, a Tim Tam is a popular biscuit (cookie) consisting of a layer of chocolate cream between two chocolate biscuits (cookies) covered in -- you guessed it -- chocolate. That's a lot of chocolate... not that I'm complaining, mind you.
2. Bite off two diagonally opposite corners of the Tim Tam.
3. Slurp hot tea or coffee through the cut corners, such as you would suck liquid through a straw.
4. Pop the entire remainder of the Tim Tam into your mouth just before it disintegrates.
I plan to attempt this feat at least once when I visit SYDNEY in August.

I feel compelled to eat animals that hop

I ate rabbit in LONDON and there was hell to pay when I got home.

Why?

Well, 11-year-old ANNIKA doesn't want me eating cute animals.

So, I'm not going to tell her that I am going to try a low-fat, high-protein indigenous meat when visiting SYDNEY in August.

That's right. I plan on trying KANGAROO.

It would feel like an incomplete trip if I flew Down Under and failed to eat that particular delicacy.

Kangaroo meat has been exported from AUSTRALIA since 1959 -- mostly to Europe. Australian supermarkets stock various cuts of kangaroo, including fillets and steaks.

There's also something called a "kanga banga," which is a kangaroo sausage.

Will it taste like venison? Will it taste like beef?

I aim to find out. I just might not tell Annika about it.

Fetch Me My Vegemite, I'm heading Down Under

I needed another blog, right?
This one will chronicle my preparations for my TRIP TO AUSTRALIA, as well as experiences in SYDNEY.