I am an Alien from The End of the World

Yes, apparently so. That's the snag when one visits other English-speaking countries - you can sometimes forget how far from home you really are.

(I should preface this by whole-heartedly asserting that everyone in Santa Cruz and the lab in which I'm working has been nothing but totally warm, friendly and welcoming. My social calendar is booked solid and everyone is anxious to ensure I have company and help me with anything I need. I am included in all the happenings at both NFMS and on the UCSC campus. I'm going indoor rock-climbing with a friend from the lab tomorrow night (yay!) and another lab member is throwing a shindig tomorrow night that is partially to welcome me. Everyone has an intelligent understanding of Australia and a genuine interest in learning more about where I'm from and what I do).

Caveat firmly in place, moving on:

My alien status was brought home to me during a seminar I was attending today. The convenor was introducing the speaker, an eminent South African fisheries scientist. In talking of how he first met the speaker, the convenor mentioned how he could not distinguish whether the speaker was British, New Zealander, or Australian, "because they all sound the same, and I thought maybe Australian".

Ouch!

Okay, I can appreciate that there's not too much foreign audio media in the U.S., and yes, I'll concede that, to the untrained ear, there are (vague) similarities in the accents, but wow, when you consider that

i) folks get offended when foreigners cannot discern a U.S. from a Canadian accent, and

ii) I can detect the majority of major regional U.S. accents (Southern vs Bronx, anyone?!) 

......I felt kind of alienated.

It got worse!

During the talk, the speaker referred to fisheries from Alaska and New Zealand as being at "The World's End".

At that point, I could almost feel alien antennae sprouting from my forehead!

When I asked a question at the conclusion of the seminar, I made a point of adding (nicely), "Oh, and by the way, just so there's no confusion, THIS is an Australian accent". The good natured audience laughed appreciatively, and Happy International Relations were resumed.

Anyway, on to Today's Observations of Santa Cruz as Viewed Through the Eyes of an Alien.

Given that E.T. was always banging on about "Phone hoommmme", here are some of the lovely homes one encounters on a typical drive in lovely Santa Cruz (it was a beautiful 28C day and I was driving back from UCSC):

And here's my little beach cottage, home away from home: