Vegemite, AFL and Tomato sauce

One of the guys on our Kumuka tour brought a tube of Vegemite on holidays with him so he can enjoy his favourite spread on toast every morning, but the rest of us have been missing this Aussie breakfast staple, despite a huge buffet breakfast each morning at the various hotels we stay at.

So it was exciting to find an Aussie pub in Vienna that served up Vegemite toast while we watched the AFL grand final (and I couldn't help but take a photo of my tasty toast, pictured above).

Decked out in our Collingwood colours we crawled out of bed at 5am to get a taxi to the pub and watch the game live at 6.30am.  By 7am we were eating toast and drinking beer and vodka – it was, after all, 3pm in Australia (dual clocks on the wall helped us keep track of the time difference), a perfect hour for a beverage.

There were plenty of expats at the pub and plenty of Aussie tourists and many were decked out in footy gear. Three mates who are touring Europe in a van for six months even drew up a sign for their beloved St Kilda on the back of a sangria carton and the publican happily stuck it up on the wall alongside the big screen, the kangaroo roadsigns, and other Aussie memorabilia

 

There were a few hiccups – Sky Channel was not working so we had to watch it on Eurosports 2 so the commentary was in German – and the scrolling newfeed along the bottom of the screen meant we could only see part of the score (Collingwood’s score), making me the official counter who had to keep track of any scoring by St Kilda, which is NOT an easy task so early in the morning!

On top of that the bar manager claimed that Coopers was the best Australian beer as he served up Aussie favourites like VB and Crown Lager.  When we asked ``what about Cascade?’’ he confessed he had never tried it! When he served up hot chips he asked if customers wanted ketchup (of course I quickly informed him that it is TOMATO SAUCE).

It was also obvious that staff were from Austria and not Australia when they served up Vegemite. When we ordered toast we asked if the barman could bring out the jar with the buttered toast so we could spread our own and get it just right, and he happily obliged.  But the second round of toast was prepared by one of the other staff, who presented us with toast boasting the thickest spread of Vegemite I had ever seen. It was so awful none of us could stomach more than a few bites.  No wonder people outside Australia are so disgusted by the stuff if it is served to them an inch thick on lukewarm bread.

As all of Australia knows it was a nail-biting game, and now, due to the draw, we have to go back and do it all next week, this time in an Aussie pub in Berlin. Fingers crossed the commentary will be in English this time…