Grand Finale

The final Australian Blog is to compare the United States to Australia and sum up my experiences there.

It was amazing seeing the different aspects of the beef and sheep industries in Australian ranches. The major difference is that most of the desirable tastes in meat is the grass fed beef. Cargill was the industry we observed that actually had feedlots for grain fed cattle. Obviously, another difference is the fact that they have sheep as a major industry throughout the country. Lamb is served at any restaurant, and the industry is profitable. Sheep in America is mostly hobby farms for showing. They don't use black face suffolk sheep either, because the black fibers make wool undesirable. Meat and wool are huge sheep industries there.

The food was different, but it wasn't bad. We definitely didn't starve! The portions were large and lunch and dinner both had dessert. Chicken Schnitzel was a very popular menu item and became a running joke throughout the trip. They actually do drive on the other side of the car and road, say G'day mate, bloddy hell, and the toilet doesn't spin any direction. Lol. Everything is way higher priced than America, but a bartender did tell us she is paid minimum wage at $17.00 an hour. That's a lot more than our minimum wage in Kansas!

I was told before I left to watch out because Aussie's love their beer, and that is the truth! After touring the brewery where we tasted beer, drinking beer while we met with Webb's, Spry's, and at every lunch and dinner, I'm convinced that Aussie's do love their beer. It is a good thing considering the drinking age is 18 years old, I was able to partake in this cultural aspect of Australia!

Finally, I had an incredible time on this trip! I will never forget or take it for granted. The learning experience was great along with the people I went with. Getting to know everyone else was a highlight and I think I've made some great friends through Australia! I would tell anyone, if they had the opportunity to visit Australia, to go. We were lucky enough to, and lucky to learn about the agriculture there. I loved Australia. If JBS or Cargill asked me to live and work in Australia, I just might say yes! :) It was an amazing experience that I can't say enough about.