Technical Difficulties

Blogging isn't that hard, but finding an Australian hotel with free WiFi is a whole different story. Apparently you have a 50/50 shot at free wifi, and so far we have struck out. But past that this trip has been a once in a lifetime chance. 

 We started out yesterday at the Department of Primary Industries for Victoria ( Victoria is the equivalent to one of our states). We got a lecture from the states head honcho's about their livestock identification system. They require that all cattle be tagged with EID tags and every sale barn and abattoir (packing facility) has the capability to read these tags. All cattle movements are recorded and their traceability is immense. They record something like 100,000 movements per week!

 After that we took a bus tour around Melbourne, stopping at some cool landmarks like St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Shrine of Rememberance, and a botanical garden.  But the stop that was one everyone's mind all day was Carlton United Brewery, the largest brewery in Australia. They handle an immense amount of malted barley, bringing in at least 20 semi loads a day during the summer and using all of that immediately. They brew about 12 different beers and we got the chance to taste all of them. Definitely different than our beer, as their "light" beer is low alcohol content not light taste. Carlton Extra Dry was my personal favorite. It tasted the closest to American beer. 




We are driving now, and without Internet and all the other difficulties I'm not sure if I'll get pictures put up. Definitely gonna try. Looking out the windshield of our bus right now and driving on the left side of the road weirds me out. Feel like we are going straight into oncoming traffic! Good thing we're not!



Fun fact: Once the brewery finishes a beer and sends it out to the store, it only takes a max of 3 days before it is drank! Translation : Aussies like to get sauced!

Stay classy