Ashbo Down Under

Leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again

2007-07-07T20:13:00.002+10:00

I am sitting here in my hotel room for one last night in Melbourne before we fly out tomorrow morning. It will again be quite a journey. The breakdown is:

10:30 am Sunday (8:30 pm Saturday East Coast time): leave Melbourne
7:30 am Sunday (10:30 am Sunday East Coast time): arrive Los Angeles
(yes, I arrive in the US 3 hours before I left. This act of time travel amazes me too).

7:30-12:45 (LA time): go through customs, sit in the airport

12:45 (LA time): fly to Philadelphia
9:00 pm (Philly time): land in Philadelphia
9:01 pm: hyperventilate and cry with joy

So, as you can see, it takes a full 24 hours for me to get home. Add that to a day of traveling today (from Mildura to Melbourne it was 7 hours on a bus/train), and I will surely be exhausted. But then the next day (July 9th) is my 20th birthday, so it should make for a great homecoming.

I am sad to leave Australia. It’s been my home for five months, and I’ve done some truly incredible things during my time here. I made 23 amazing friends, and learned a lot about myself in the process. However, I am extremely excited to go home. While Oz is amazing, it is not my home. Though right now home does not seem real, it’s just this thing I remember from a long time ago. It seems very surreal that tomorrow night, I will be sleeping in my own bed.

I always have mixed emotions at the end of semesters, because I’m sad to leave but excited to be home again. This time it’s amplified to the extreme because who knows when I’ll be back here again. I will be back though, I know I will. Thank you Australia, for all that you’ve given me. Until next time, it’s been real. :-)

A very classy evening: Photo Class Day 12

2007-07-07T20:13:00.001+10:00

On Friday night we had the opening gala for our photo exhibition. There was a good amount of people there. Between our class, our teachers and their families, local dignitaries, and a few random passersby, there was about 50 people there for the opening. We all felt out of place at such a classy event, since there was wine served and we were in an art gallery. Kind of funny because we were the artists.

The pictures all looked great together, and we were all really proud of our pictures. Two kids even sold their prints. Our pictures are in the gallery for another two weeks, so I’m holding out hope that one of mine sells.

After the opening, we went to the Mildura Brewery, which (as it sounds) brews its own beer. I hate the taste of beer, but I thought I’d try to expand my palette a bit. So, I ordered a sampler platter, which had 6 of their beers in about shot size glasses. Two of them were actually pretty good, two of them were terrible, and two were alright. After the brewery, I called it a night.

The night was a great culmination of our photography experience. It was an amazing two weeks. It was challenging but rewarding and fun at the same time to take pictures all day for several days in a row. Dark room developing tested my patience, but it’s a skill I’m glad I have now. The class was definitely a great way to end my Australia experience.

Last Day of School: Photo Class Day 11

2007-07-07T20:11:00.000+10:00

On Thursday morning we touched up our black and white prints. Some of my prints had tiny spots on them where the picture was missing, so we had to fill them in with a special ink. Then I had time to make extra prints just for myself that I didn’t have to turn in. In the afternoon, we learned how to measure and cut our mattes for our picture. Then they were framed and we took them over to the gallery.

At the gallery, our teachers and the gallery curator decided what pictures went where according to theme and style. Then we hung them so the center was 1.5 meters off the ground, since that is the average eye level of people. After that, I had to decide on titles for my pictures and set a price for them in case anyone was crazy enough to buy them. It was another longish day, but it was very familiar to me. At the end of every semester, I spend most of my time editing video in the editing dungeons and then I am rewarded with a visit home. I’m glad that even in Australia, I have a familiar ending to my semester.

The weirdest 4th of July ever: Photo Class Day 10

2007-07-05T13:36:00.001+10:00

Wednesday was a very long and productive day. I decided on my 2 final prints after some deliberation, and printed them. Finally my black and white series was complete. They are the above four pictures, who share the common theme of "light." Then I had to experience the really difficult process of narrowing down the 700 color digital pictures I took to two final prints. I chose one of a tree silhouetted against a sunset and another is of a glowing red/orange earth (above). It was a hard choice, but I’m happy with the two I picked. Tomorrow we will mat, frame, and hang our pictures in the gallery.

After class, I really wanted to do something to celebrate the 4th of July. I was really bummed to not be in the US because it is one of my favorite holidays. Why?

1.) I love fireworks
2.) I love hamburgers/hotdogs
3.) I love picnics/barbeques
4.) I love America

So I wanted to have a barbeque at our hostel, but everyone wimped out because it was raining. I had to settle for a McDonalds hamburger (yuck). It was the most American thing I could think of. And fireworks? I had to settle for one lousy sparkler. I was seriously disappointed in my 4th of July this year.

I hate test strips!: Photo Class Day 9

2007-07-05T13:35:00.002+10:00

On Tuesday we started making our actual prints. First, we made contact sheets, which is a print of every picture in small form. Then I looked through all of them to find the best ones. From there, I had to find which ones would work with a theme. With help from one of the teachers, I decided on the theme of “light” and picked my four pictures.

The first print was a piece of cake. It came out no problem and I was done that one in under a half an hour. Then I moved onto my next print, which I had to abandon due to dust/scratches on my negative. So, I picked another picture. Of course there turned out to be a problem with that negative also. So I went with plan C. Luckily that negative was okay. I printed that one on four different settings and had to make the difficult decision of which I liked best. I made my decision and finished the end of a very long day with two of my four prints being done. It was definitely a frustrating process.

The Work Begins: Photo Class Day 8

2007-07-05T13:35:00.001+10:00

We had another early rise as we went to Lake Mungo for the sunrise. The sand dunes were even more surreal through the early morning fog. It was really strange to stand on the top of a dune, turn 360 degrees around, and see no one. The colors of the sunrise were not spectacular, but I got some good pictures nonetheless.

We then drove back to Mildura and took some much needed showers. My hair smelled like dough when I washed it due to the previous night’s flour festivities. After we regrouped I headed to school and developed my 4 rolls of film. I again had some difficulty taking the film out of the camera, but at the end of the day I had 4 rolls of prints, so life is good :-)

A Lunar Landscape: Photo Class Day 7

2007-07-04T12:20:00.001+10:00

On Sunday we left Mutawintji and drove several hours south to Mungo National Park. Mungo is part of a World Heritage Area due to its archaeological and cultural importance. Human remains were found at Mungo that were dated to about 40,000 years old, making it the earliest evidence of human occupation in Australia.

We arrived at Mungo in the afternoon and started to explore the bizarre scenery. Thousands of years ago, there was a lake in the area. Now it’s totally dried up and it left these giant sand mounds where its shores used to be. It’s really odd looking because there’s flat areas with vegetation where the lake bottom used to be and then this mountain of sand comes up out of nowhere. On the sand dunes were what appeared to be rock formations that upon closer inspection turned out to be made of sand. The sand was blown into really cool wavy patterns in some places. It was the closest thing I’ve experienced to being on the moon.

After the sunset we returned to our sleeping quarters. Peter, our cultural guide, taught us how to make Johnny cakes. Johnny cakes are just flour and water mixed into dough and then cooked over a campfire, and they are traditional food in Aboriginal camps. They tasted pretty good, but the real fun came during the inevitable flour fight. Hilarious. Then we learned some traditional Aboriginal dance which was great fun. The night ended when a local Aboriginal elder treated us to some guitar music around the campfire.

Split Rock Sunset: Photo Class Day 6

2007-07-04T12:19:00.002+10:00

On Saturday Kelly and I got up really early to see the sunrise. We walked about 15 minutes from our room to a ridge near our accommodation. The colors in the sunrise were not that spectacular, but the early morning light made for some great black and white pictures (at least I think, I need to see how they develop).

Then our group when to the Mutawintji Historic Site, the part of the park that displays the Aborigines’ cultural heritage. It was a great tour, although it was quite long because there were like 50 people on the tour. Today was the beginning of Australia’s school holidays, so there were a lot of people. First we saw a huge flat rock with hundreds of rock carvings. There were some really obvious shapes like emus and kangaroos, but other carvings were just random shapes to me. Just the sheer amount of art was really cool.

After seeing the carvings, our guide took us over to another Aboriginal rock art site. There were rock overhangs filled with hand stencils. Hand stencils were made by putting ochre (colored crushed rock) in their mouth with water and spitting it over their hand. The result is an outline of a hand. Hand stencils were made after each important ceremony in a person’s life. They were really cool looking.

In the afternoon we went to the Split Rock area. I didn’t find any split rocks, but it was an awesome area to explore. I found a dead adult kangaroo and what I think was a joey. While I know it’s part of the circle of life, it was still really sad to see them. Kelly got more than she bargained for. While she was taking pictures, she came across a fairly large snake! The jury is still out on whether or not it was a poisonous snake, but either way it definitely gave her a fright.

The best part of the day was when the sun started going down and casting a really golden light on the land. This light made the orange/red rock really vibrant and awesome. Then we saw a great sunset. It was a fabulous day.

Hiking in the Outback: Photo Class Day 5

2007-07-04T12:19:00.001+10:00

On Friday we went on an all-day photographic hike near Homestead Creek in the Mutawintji National Park. The walk started along a creek bed, where we found some fantastic red sand waves. Again we were surrounded by lots of red rocks that made really cool shapes. It was really unusual because there was a lot of green vegetation (there must have been rains usually).

We climbed up the side of the gorge and were rewarded with a fantastic view over the park. Then we sat for a nice picnic lunch. After lunch I began to feel really exhausted (I blame it on the cold I’m battling rather than my physical fitness). So I’m not sure how my post-lunch pictures will turn out because I was more focused on the hike instead of the surroundings. The last hour or so was particularly dicey as the “path” was wandering over random boulders. We all made it out alive and enjoyed our nice, hot showers.

Mutawintji Gorge: Photo Class Day 4

2007-07-04T12:18:00.002+10:00

We left Broken Hill at around noon on Thursday for the Mutawintji National Park. The drive was on mostly dirt roads with a view of nothing but red earth, green plants, and blue sky. We got to our home base, a small structure for scientific and educational use. From there we headed to the Mutawintji Gorge. While the gorge itself wasn’t that tall (compared to Ithaca), the place was spectacular. There were lots of red/orange rocks, which looked awesome in the late afternoon golden sun. We saw lots of kangaroos and a few goat skulls. Wild goats inhabit the area and are considered pests. Walking back out of the gorge we were treated to a great sunset, which created beautiful silhouettes in the trees. Seeing a place so neat reminded me how incredibly lucky I am to be here.

After a curry dinner, Peter Peterson (his actual name) led us in some songs around the campfire. We talked a lot and got to know each other better. It was a great first day in the Outback.

Sunset in a Ghost Town: Photo Class Day 3

2007-07-04T12:18:00.001+10:00

Wednesday was spent mostly on a bus with the 10 other students on the trip, 2 professors, trip supervisor, and cultural guide/bus driver. We drove into the Outback and into New South Wales. The land was quite barren: red earth dotted by sage green plant scrub and 3-4 feet high bush/trees. Every once in a while you’d see a tree, but for the most part the tallest thing in sight were telephone poles. The most exciting thing during our trip was seeing an (unfortunately dead) echidna. An echidna is an Aussie porcupine, and his spikes felt like toothpicks (yes, I touched it).

Finally, we reached our destination: Broken Hill, NSW. Broken Hill is a small, strange mining town. It goes by the South Australia time zone, which is a ½ hour difference from the east coast of Australia (it doesn’t make sense to me either).

After we checked into our hotel, we headed to Silverton (15 minutes from Broken Hill). Silverton was a mining town (silver as I’m sure you guessed) that had a population of 3000 in 1885. After the ore ran out, the town was pretty much deserted, and only 50 people live there now. Lots of movies/commercials have been shot in Silverton (such as Mad Max 2), and we headed there to take pictures of its iconic imagery. In Silverton there are a lot of old buildings that are abandoned and falling down, which make for great pictures. Unfortunately I had some camera issues and didn’t see a lot of the cool stuff until it was too dark for the black and white camera to capture images properly. Oh well. It was my first real photo shoot, and I still have a lot to learn.

Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Photo Class Day 2

2007-07-04T12:17:00.002+10:00

On Tuesday we had a very rudimentary practice for what we’ll be doing during the rest of the course. First, we were issued our analog (film) SLR cameras. Immediately, I realized that I hadn’t used a film camera at all in the last 3 years, and I hadn’t used one where I actually had to load the film in even longer. So, I felt a bit sheepish when I had to ask for help loading the film. Then we talked about film speed, aperture, shutter speed, and exposure. All of these things are more complicated than on a video camera to be sure. Then we were set loose to take pictures around the campus.

When we came back we developed our film (which sounds so easy, but this is no 1 hour photo operation). My first mistake was that I rewound the film too far (a manual process), which made it harder. I had to pop off the ends of the film canister with a bottle opener, cut the ends of the film, and feed it onto a developing spool—all in 100% darkness. And I mean no light. There was no difference in having my eyes open or shut. I was hopeless with this sensory deprivation so I needed a lot of help. Once my film was wound onto the spool, we put it into a light proof container. Then we could turn the lights back on. The next step was to actually develop the film, which involved pouring developer into the container (in for 20 minutes), stop bath (1 minute), and fixer (5 minutes). Then our film was put into the dryer while we ate lunch.

After lunch we got to work making our print. First we made contact sheets, or one sheet of photo paper that has a copy of all our negatives on it. We made these by the same developing process as the photograms, except that we put negatives on the photo paper instead of random objects. Then, by looking at the contact sheet, we picked which negative to print. To make a print, you put the negative into a projector-like image by moving the projector up and down, and then you expose the photo paper with the projection shining on it. Finally, you develop the print (developer, stop bath, fixer, rinse), and you have a picture!

I learned that the photographic process is very long and tedious. But I know that, just like everything else, practice will make it come so much easier.

Photo Class Day One

2007-07-04T12:17:00.001+10:00

On Monday we had our first introduction to basic photography through photograms. Photograms are created by placing un-exposed photo paper on a flat surface, putting various objects on top of the paper, and then exposing the paper to light for a few seconds. Then you take the paper and develop it just like you would a normal print. That process is:
1.) put in developing solution for 1 minute
2.) put in stop bath (stops the development reaction) for 30 seconds
3.) put in the fixer solution for 2 minutes
4.) wash off chemicals
Then you end up with something that looks kind of like an x-ray. Basically the opaque objects let no light through, so they show up white, and the translucent objects show up various shades of grey. It’s the most basic form of photography.

Then after class we started working on our visual journal assignment. We’re allowed to write in the journal, but we’re also supposed to keep our photography elements in it and draw/paint/whatever inspires us. I’m really enjoying it, it’s definitely letting me get in touch with my artistic side.

For dinner, we were treated to a meal by a “famous” Aussie chef, Stefano DePieri. He made us mushroom risotto with tiramisu for dessert. It was quite yummy. At the dinner we also met some more photography staff and saw examples of students’ work from previous years. It was a wonderful start to the course.

A Step Back in Time: Traveling to Mildura

2007-07-04T12:16:00.000+10:00

The tone truly was set for the day when upon entering Southern Cross station in Melbourne I saw a family dressed in full Victorian England attire. Like seriously head-to-toe, the mom was in a corset and hoop skirt and the dad and sons were in knickers and stockings. The time warp continued as I got on a long distance train, and I imagined that I was getting into an old steam train heading into the Midwest. This image was continued when I looked out the window and saw nothing as far as the eye can see. Just grass, dirt, trees, and sheep broken by a few random houses. While I’m not exactly a city girl, it was definitely culture shock.

It was a long day of travel. We left at 7:30 am from our hotel. Then we were on the train from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm. Then the train line ended, so we had to get on a bus. The bus started breaking down, so it took extra long. We finally got into Mildura at 6 pm. Mildura is a small town that exists because of its prime conditions for agriculture. It’s on the border of Victoria and New South Wales and is close to South Australia, making it on the edge of the outback.

We were welcomed to Mildura by a pizza dinner with two of our professors, and settled into our home for the photography unit. We’re in a hostel designed to house agricultural workers, so the 11 of us live in a one-story house. It’s pretty fun.

Goodbye to Melbourne

2007-07-04T12:15:00.000+10:00

***Disclaimer: I have been writing these blog entries in my journal during the last couple of weeks and just now am getting to post them. I don't have enough time to put the corresponding pictures, so I'm just posting text for now. I plan to update them fully when I get home.***

On Sunday we left Melbourne, which was pretty sad. Not that I really had any regrets about leaving the city. Melbourne is a great city, and bills itself as the “world’s most livable city.” Unfortunately though, living 45 minutes outside of the downtown didn’t allow me to engage in the city very much. I feel like Melbourne could have been cool, but I really don’t have any emotional connection to the place as I did in Perth and Hobart.

But what was really sad was saying goodbye to the 15 of our group who didn’t continue on to the photography class. Since we were all busy checking out of the hotel, it wasn’t too melodramatic, but I did shed a tear or two. I’ve talked a lot about the places I’ve been and the Walkabout group was made up of people from all walks of life. From football players to Harry Potter nerds, from Manhattan-ites to upstate New York farm boys, from television majors to bio-chem majors: we had it all in our group. I met and befriended people that I never would have met otherwise, and I am so much better for it. I really will miss everyone. I love you guys!

The Great Ocean Road

2007-06-19T18:03:00.000+10:00

On Saturday, I completed my things to do in Melbourne list by taking a trip to the Great Ocean Road with 5 friends. It was a great day.

Our first stop was Bells Beach in Torquay, the capital of Australian surfing. Every year for the last 35 years, Rip Curl has sponsored a surfing tournament at Bells, so there is a lot of history there. Driving through town, I almost had a heart attack. There was one strip mall that instead of having normal stores, had all surfing brand stores. Roxy, Billabong, Rip Curl, Quiksilver, even one called Ashley Surfing Company. If you know me, you know how much I love these brands. I was very sad as the tour bus drove past this mecca of surf shopping. Anyway, we got to Bells Beach where despite the 60 degree ocean temps, there were a few diehards catching the waves (above). The surf wasn’t that impressive when we were there, but usually it’s really dangerous because the waves are huge and there’s rocks and corals on the bottom (above).

Then we actually started driving on the Great Ocean Road (us at the beginning of the road). The road was built as a response to the Pacific Coast Highway in California, and exists solely for tourists. We drove between the two yellow stars on the map (above). It was really bendy, and at some parts there was just a guardrail to prevent you from careening down the cliff to the water below. Eek! Since so many tourists drive the road and it is so dangerous, there were these signs everywhere that said “Drive on the left in Australia” (above). But since the road hugged the coast so tightly, the views were spectacular (above, pictures courtesy of Brittany).

After lots of driving, we pulled onto this small road into a koala neighborhood, if you will. Basically there were a lot of eucalyptus trees, so there were a lot of wild koalas in this one area. Naturally we went koala-spotting. Most of them were so high up, all you could see was a little round ball silhouetted against the sky (above). I did find some that were closer (above, koala in circle) so I was able to capture them on film better (above).

Near the koala neighborhood, the tour guide gave us some bird food to bribe the native birds, the rainbow lorikeet (the green ones), and the scarlet rosella (the red ones). While Matt was able to remain calm when the birds landed on him (above), the rest of us were very excitable when they landed on us (above). It was great fun. Then we drove to the Maits Rest rainforest, which had the biggest trees I’ve ever seen (above). To give you an idea of the scale, here’s Kaitlyn standing next to the roots of one (above).

In the afternoon, we got to the most famous part of the Great Ocean Road, the Twelve Apostles. They are giant sandstone monoliths that rise out of the ocean right next to a spectacular coastline (above). There are only eight apostles left due to the ocean’s erosion, and eventually they will all fall into the sea. My pictures don’t really do it justice because the sun’s poor position (silly sun) washed out most of the color. They were beautiful.

A 5 minute drive from the 12 apostles was the Loch Ard Gorge (above). The gorge was named for a ship sailing from Ireland (named Loch Ard) that crashed off the shore in 1878. Only two people survived. To steal from Ithaca’s slogan, the Loch Ard Gorge was Gorges. The yellow sandstone contrasting against the turquoise water was stunning (above). Here we had beach access, so we did what you usually do on a beach: act silly. We posed on some big rocks (above), and Matt and I had a jumping contest (above, you be the judge).

The final stop on the tour was London Bridge, a sandstone bridge (above). It used to be connected to the land, until a section collapsed in 1990. When it collapsed, two people were stranded on the bridge. It turns out that those two were a couple having an affair with each other, and they were outed by the media. Funny stuff. We took the opportunity to play the children’s game London Bridge, which Mary didn’t appreciate it (above).

We loaded back into the bus, where we were given PSPs to watch movies on. I watched Priscilla Queen of the Desert, an Australian movie about 3 drag queens that take a road trip through the Australian outback. It was hilarious, especially since one of the drag queens was Agent Smith in the Matrix.

It was a fabulous ending to a fabulous day.

Grampians Day 3: A last hoorah of sorts

2007-06-18T19:15:00.000+10:00

On Wednesday morning we did research for our paper about the trip. The assignment was to compare the way tourist brochures (European Australians) portrayed the Grampians compared to how Aboriginal Australians presented the Grampians.

Then we went for a short walk to the Venus Baths, which was an area where a stream led to little shallow pools. It also had a massive sloped hill of rock where the pools were (above). Walking on the trail we ran into a few kangaroo (above), and saw some more pretty rocks (above).

We were treated to lunch by the Budja Budja (Halls Gap) Aboriginal Co-op. They cooked us an authentic Aussie barbie. (They really don’t eat “shrimp on the barbie,” and besides shrimp are called prawns here). Instead, it was pork sausages and kangaroo kebabs. Quite yummy. After lunch we drove back to Melbourne.

The trip was awesome, although it was pretty bittersweet. It was the last time that all of the Walkabout kids would be together in that sort of context, all having the same awesome experience at the same time. While I’m here for 3 more weeks, about half of the group is not taking the photography class, so they leave this weekend. It was a great way to come to the end of our time together.

Grampians Day 2: The view from the top

2007-06-18T17:51:00.001+10:00

Tuesday was a fantastic day. We began by visiting the Ngamadjidj Rock Shelter (above), home to rock art painted between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago by Aborigines. While it is amazing that the art was that old, it’s even more amazing to think that Aborigines have been living in Australia for at least 40,000 years (the oldest culture that still exists today). This site, which has great spiritual importance for the Aborgines of the Grampians, has paintings done in white ochre. There are some people, who look to me to be dancing (above), and one dude who appears to be brandishing a spear (above).

Then we went to the Bunjil rock art site (above), which depicts Bunjil, the chief who Aborigines believe created the Grampians (above). The area where Bunjil was located was amazing in its own right. It was filled with huge boulders (above), which we of course had to climb (above). The view from the top of the boulder was awesome, across miles of sheep herding fields (above).

After lunch we went hiking in the Grampians. It was truly spectacular. We had to climb pretty much vertically to get to the top (Mary, above).

Just kidding. That shot was achieved through some movie magic. We hiked normally on a path was mostly just made up of the rock that naturally existed there (above). We hiked up the mountain for about an hour and a half, seeing some fantastic sandstone rock formations (above). Some of the areas the path went through were pretty narrow (above).

The view at the pinnacle was so worth the climb. You could see for forever (above). We all stopped to admire the surroundings (above). “The Pinnacle” was a rock outcropping that jutted out over the cliff’s edge. It was not for the faint-hearted, but even Eric (who’s afraid of heights) stepped out to the edge of the pinnacle (above).

It was an absolutely amazing day.

Grampians Day 1: I throw my boomerang in your general direction

2007-06-18T17:14:00.000+10:00

Last Monday, we embarked on a 3 day field trip to the Grampians Mountain Range west of Melbourne (circle= Grampians, map above). We went with our Aboriginal History class to learn more about the area, which is very culturally significant to Aborigines.

We boarded onto our bus (Walkabout group, above), and drove for a few hours, arriving in the town of Halls Gap at lunchtime. Our first stop was the Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre (above). There, we watched two videos about the Grampians (called Gariwerd in the traditional language). The first one told the story of how the local Aborigines believe the Grampians were created. I don’t remember all of the details, but basically there was a head chief Bunjil who put all of the events into action, and there was a giant emu involved. The second video was a scientific version of how the mountains were formed (heat and pressure, etc.). Then we had some time to walk around and look at the displays in the center.

The highlight of the day was when we learned how to throw boomerangs. Robbie, an Aborigine who works at the center, showed us the proper technique (above). You throw it like a baseball (overhand), rather than like a Frisbee (sideways). Some of the boys were pretty good at it (above), but I couldn’t get mine to even remotely come back to me. No one really got it to come back directly to them, it was pretty windy and we were all just beginners.

Then someone noticed that on the other side of our boomerang throwing field was a mob of kangaroos. Naturally, we decided we needed a closer look. I found a mama kangaroo with a joey in her pouch! It was the cutest little thing, just its little head and arms stuck out of the pouch. It was awesome, and was also my first time seeing wild roos. It was definitely one of those moments where I paused to think about how lucky I was: standing in between two beautiful mountains, throwing a boomerang, and interacting with wild kangaroos all for class credit.

We arrived at our hotel (above), and ate a tasty dinner prepared just for us. The end of day one.

Compassion and Warmheartedness

2007-06-09T21:19:00.000+10:00

Today a bunch of us went to Princes Park in Melbourne to see the Dalai Lama give a free talk on “Global Responsibility.” He was awesome! He was funny and very ‘real,' and seemed like the happiest, jolliest man. He began his speech by saying that he is human and “the same as you.” I’ll share a few of his main points that I wrote down.

- There are two main challenges to humanity: overpopulation and global warming.
- We all have global responsibilities. Things in other parts of the world have repercussions where we live. “We have to think of the rest of the world as part of ourselves.”
- Fear, hatred, anger, and jealousy are obstacles to global unity.
- It is necessary to have warmheartedness, to think seriously about others’ welfare
- Everyone’s main goal in life is to find happiness, but people are their own roadblocks to happiness. “Ignorance creates wrong perceptions. Wrong perceptions create an unrealistic approach,” which is why many people don’t find happiness.
- 90% of negativity is your own mental perception
- “real compassion is unbiased”
- True compassion is placed upon enemies. It is based not on how they feel about you but on your recognition of their right to happiness.
- If you show true compassion, it brings you inner strength and self confidence
- “Without religion, you can be a happy person. Without compassion, you cannot be a happy person.”
- We’ve created the problems of this world, so it’s up to us to fix them.
- “Destruction of our neighbor is destruction of ourselves. That’s why war is out of date.”
- We can’t have a truly peaceful world until world is de-militarized. We shouldn’t use force to solve disputes, instead we should use dialogue.

Then at the end of his talk he answered a few questions that people had sent in. He was very honest. When someone asked “How would you solve the problems in the Middle East?” he said, “I don’t know.” An 11-year-old had written in “What is the meaning of life?” and he said, “you have a bright future ahead of you, and you have plenty of time to investigate for yourself.” But the best line of the day was when someone asked, “If two people that you love are fighting, what do you do?” He said, “Beat both of them.” That got a huge round of applause. Even the Dalai Lama has a sense of humor.

Beautiful Bath Houses

2007-06-09T19:00:00.000+10:00

On Wednesday we had the day off from class, so we visited Brighton, home to the famous Brighton Beach bath houses.

We walked along the shore line (as you must do whenever you visit a beach) in bare feet despite the brisk fall temperatures. Washed up along the shore were several starfish (above), which were quite beautiful. We found one with a missing limb (above). Mary found the separated appendage a few feet away, and was disgusted when she felt its suckers still sucking on her finger (above). The shore was also full of awesome shells that we collected (above). Hopefully Customs will let us bring them back in.

Finally we got to the bath houses (with Melbourne in the background, above). They are just wooden sheds that people own that sit on the beach. The houses act as changing rooms and storage units, but mostly I think they are just there for aesthetic appeal. They are decorated with very bright colors and different designs. It was pretty cool.

Bird's Eye View

2007-06-09T18:35:00.000+10:00

On Sunday we went to the Queen Victoria Markets, an open-air market that is open several days a week. I was very disappointed, it was much more commercial and a lot less unique than a lot of the other markets I've been to in Australia so far. But the day was not lost, as we went to the observation deck at the top of the Rialto Tower. There we looked at the Melbourne skyline as it changed from day to night. It was pretty sweet.

Meeting some fine feathered friends

2007-06-07T21:57:00.000+10:00

On Saturday I went to Phillip Island, an island about 2 hours southeast of Melbourne (above). We went there to see the “world-famous” penguin parade. Every night, thousands of the 20,000 total penguins that live on Phillip Island return to shore to rest and mate. And every night, hundreds of people come to watch them. The penguins are fairy penguins, the smallest penguin species in the world. (note: we weren’t allowed to take pictures because the flash hurts the penguins’ eyes, so all of these pictures are stolen from online)

The shore is set up with these concrete bleachers (above) where everyone sits and waits for the sun to go down. Before the sky is completely black, you can see small black blobs in the water. Then once it is totally dark, groups of penguins start emerging from the water. They must have some sort of stealthy penguin signal, because a group of 30 or so would rise out of the water at exactly the same time. Then they would waddle to a clump of rocks/seaweed on the beach. At this point, the ones at the front of the cluster would start nudging each other to go. I could imagine them saying to each other “you go” “no, you go…”

Then they would make a break for it, running across the beach to the safety of the sand dunes (above). Rather, they didn’t run, they just waddled really quickly. Which was hilarious. There were just packs of penguins that are only a food high, tottering back and forth. This went on for 30-40 minutes, with different waves of penguins coming up onto the beach.

When they got to the sand dunes, they would climb up a ways until they got to their nests. At the top of the hill they passed under a boardwalk so that people didn’t disrupt their path. Then, you could stand on the boardwalk and just watch the oodles of penguins interacting with each other (cheesy promotional picture, above). They made these strange noises that were a cross between a bird squawking and Chewbacca. Apparently these noises mean one of two things: 1.) they’re fighting 2.) they’re mating. In any event, it was so cool to see them up close.

Before we left, we were sure to check under our tour bus for our little friends (above). It was great fun.

Chillin in the Rainforest

2007-06-02T13:43:00.000+10:00

The last day we spent at a hostel in Cape Kimberley (above). We spent a good deal of the day hanging out on the beach. I woke up early to catch the sunrise over the water, which was awesome (above). Later that day we just laid out on the beach (above, photo courtesy of Brittany). We couldn’t go swimming, because it is jellyfish season (above). There are many species of jellies that can kill you here, so we didn’t take any chances. There were tons of sand dollars on the beach, which I had never actually seen before (above). I collected lots to take home.

We spent the rest of the day hanging around the hostel and taking in all of its jungle creatures. There were these awesome pink poof flowers all over the place (above). There were lots of umbrella palms, which actually do keep you dry (above). Everywhere you stepped, little frogs would hop away. Some were as small as a quarter (above, the one in camoflauge, circled). Others were bigger, and they were all really cool (above). Little lizards crawled in the lights to stay warm (above). Outside of our room, there was a huge spider (above, about the side of my hand). That was creepy. But the coolest animal we saw was this monitor, in the same family as a komodo dragon. He was more than 3 feet long, and was just chillin by the pool at our hostel. Pretty crazy.

Then we drove back to Cairns. We flew home to Melbourne, ending our crazy, awesome, and wet adventure.

Watch out for that tree!

2007-06-02T13:17:00.000+10:00

On Sunday morning Brittany and I made like Tarzan and swung through the trees of the rainforest. They call it “jungle surfing” and it’s a series of ziplines from platforms at the tops of trees (above). It was so much fun! We got all suited up (above), complete with helmets noting our code names for the day (above). Then they hooked us all in, and away we went! (above). At some points we were 40 meters above the forest floor (as high as my bungy jump). There were 7 metal platforms (above) attached to the trees with lots of chains (above). We’d go from platform to platform, and at each one the jungle guides would point out interesting things. The ziplines were quite fun, and on the last one we went upside down (above), which was a blast.

But of course the real reason we were there was not to zip from trees, but to learn more about the Daintree Rainforest. It is the oldest rainforest in the world. It was so amazing to think about the living history we were seeing. The guide said that a fern takes 200 years to grow 1 meter, and then it grows 1 meter every 100 years after that. We saw some ferns that were 4 meters high! (above) We also pointed out the “wait a minute” vine, because it grows so fast that if you “wait a minute” you might see it grow (above). We saw Mount Sorrow poking out from the clouds (above, more on the depressing name later). At one platform you could see out to the turquoise Coral Sea (above). And we were really close to the canopy (above). Also, while I was on a platform, the guide made me lick a green ant, whose butt tastes very citrusy (above). The ant is eaten by Aboriginals to prevent colds because it has way more vitamin C than orange juice.

That afternoon Brittany and I walked (a lot) on Cape Tribulation beach and the surrounding areas. So why is it named Cape Tribulation? Captain Cook, a European explorer, hit the reef off of it’s coast, and that started all of his ‘tribulation.’ So he named everything there with really depressing names. Anyway, we walked for probably 7-8 miles, and got really really wet (again). It was really beautiful though, with the ocean going right up to the edge of the rainforest (above). We took lots of pictures, including me jumping for joy on the beach (above). Then we saw the rain coming (above), but kept walking because we knew we would get wet eventually. We found some coconuts (above), and saw some exposed mangrove trees at the end of the beach (above). We also saw a huge strangler fig tree (above). Strangler figs start just as a vine that attaches itself onto other trees in order to get to the sunlight at the top of the canopy. As it grows, it “strangles” the original tree to death, killing the original tree and then becoming a tree of its own. That’s why the trunk is all twisty.

After our walk, we made it back to our hostel (above), where we were transferred to that night’s hostel at Cape Kimberley.

Journey into the Jungle

2007-06-02T11:46:00.000+10:00

We spent Saturday morning driving two hours north from Cairns into the Daintree Rainforest (above is a map of whereabouts we were). We saw some awesome views of the Queensland coast (above). Mostly though we drove past lots of sugarcane fields (above), which grows well there since it is a very tropical area. We stopped for a few photo ops, including one that looked out across the Daintree National Park (above). You can see the rainforest leading right into the ocean (above). In our travels, we came across a cassowary (above, not my picture). A cassowary is an ancient bird (they’ve been around for thousands of years) that can grow to be literally as big as me. Luckily the one that ran across the road in front of our tour bus was only about 2 feet tall. Also lucky that we didn’t hit it, or it would have suffered the fate this sign warns about (above).

One main stop we made was at Mossman Gorge, an area in the Daintree Park. Our bus driver led us through a walkway, pointing out several rainforest-y things. He showed us a fire dragon (above), which is actually a lizard that is a lot less menacing than its name suggests. It was cool to actually see the 3 levels of a rainforest that I learned about in elementary school. There are the plants on the ground (above), the tall trees at the canopy, and then things in the midlevel such as this plant that had attached itself onto a tree (above). We went for a swim in the stream at the gorge, which was filled with these awesome huge boulders (above). The rainforest nutrients in the water made my hair feel really silky afterwards.

The real highlight of the day was our cruise on the Daintree River (above), where we went croc hunting. Okay, it was more like croc spotting, but it sounds more adventurous if I pretend we were hunting them. Our tour bus got onto this boat, piloted by this old guy that had an eagle eye for animal life. He pointed out this HUGE python wrapped around a tree branch high above our heads (above, red line shows where he was). This thing was like twenty feet long. Eeek! He also explained how the roots of the mangrove trees that lined the river acted like snorkels (above), sticking out above the water to get the tree the oxygen it needs.

The first croc we saw was so small that I wouldn’t have seen it had the boat driver not pointed it out. It was a baby, and it totally blended in (above). Then the driver pulled us up next to a bank. I wasn’t sure why we were that close, and then he told us to stand on the seat. Once we did, we saw this female crocodile staring right at us on the top of the bank (above). A while later, we saw the big daddy of all crocodiles. It was an adult male croc just sitting on the bank of the river (above). The guide told us that with his tail stretched fully out, he would be about 4 meters long! He was quite menacing, even his tail looked like it could cause trouble (above). It was pretty crazy to see that.

Then we were dropped off at our hostel in Cape Tribulation, where we spent a very rainy night.

I found Nemo!

2007-06-01T23:49:00.001+10:00

Last Friday, after a rainout of a day in Cairns, myself and 7 other Walkabout-ers headed to the Great Barrier Reef. It was awesome!

Our boat took us 2 hours off the coast of Cairns to the reef. From above the water, all you can see is a lighter green color where the reef is. If you didn’t know to go underwater, you would have no idea what lies below the surface. We got all suited up (above) and ready to go. I learned that I was only allowed to go snorkeling because apparently asthmatics aren’t allowed to scuba without a doctor’s note. They offer introductory dives for people with no experience or certification, which all of my friends took advantage of (above). I was a little bummed, but I saw all of the same stuff they did, just farther away.

We arrived at the first reef location and slid into the water from a platform on the side of the boat (above). Almost immediately, the boat’s professional photographer found squishy reef animals for us to hold and take our picture with (above). (all underwater pictures of people are from him, all of the scenery pictures are my own). Then I actually got to the reef, which just blew my mind.

At first I was terrified (some of the deadliest things in the world live in the reef), but after a while a settled into snorkeling and fully enjoyed the scenery. The water was about 20-30 feet to the bottom, which I could see easily since the water was so clear. Then these huge coral mounds would rise from the bottom all the way up to the surface, leaving a space of about 3-4 feet from the surface to the reef.

I saw some pretty amazing stuff. There were so many fish, of all shapes and sizes and colors. Look in my pictures for what I call the zebra fish (black and white striped), the 1980s fish (garish pink and green), the turquoise fish, the Ithaca fish (blue and yellow), and the parrot fish (actual name, the big turquoise one). I saw the Moorish Idol fish, a yellow and black fish better known as Gill, Nemo’s friend in the tank in Sydney (above).

Speaking of Nemo, I did see several clown fish (above). They were hanging out towards the bottom so they were pretty far away, but my friends who dove got to see them up close (Mary, above). Another amazing thing I saw were giant clams (above). To give you an idea of the scale, here’s my friend Dan holding one (above).

But the absolute highlight of the day was seeing sea turtles at the second reef location. They were hands down my favorite part of Finding Nemo (duuuuuuude….) and it was incredible to see them in real life. They are so beautiful, and they look like they fly through the water when they swim with their fins flapping up and down. I even got to pet him (above). :-D

While the moving things were cool, the coral itself was pretty sweet too. So many kinds and colors, it was mind boggling. I won’t even make an attempt to tell you what kinds of coral you’re looking at, so just enjoy the rest of my pictures. “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…”

Why do I always pick the losing team?

2007-05-23T14:38:00.000+10:00

On Sunday we went to another Aussie Rules Football game, this time the Collingwood Magpies against the Western Bulldogs. Both teams are from the Melbourne area, so it was billed as a great cross-town rivalry. The game was in the Telstra Dome, right in the heart of the city (exterior above, interior above). It was a sellout (above), with a total attendance of 46,990.

It was a good game, with lots of scoring and physical play (above). The fans were very into it, and they each had their craziest cheering sections behind the goals (above). I decided to root for the Magpies (black and white) because Collingwood is closer to where we live. It was looking pretty good, as they were up by 25 points halfway into the third quarter. However, because I had chosen to root for them, they ended up losing by 33 points (typical). The final score was Bulldogs 135 to Magpies 102 (above). One of my friends Dan, who had chosen to root for the Bulldogs, couldn’t stop gloating (above).

I had a good time, and I understand more of the game now. It is a fun, fast paced game, but it’s hard for me to get really into it because I have no emotional connection to the teams and haven’t grown up with the sport always on my TV set or in the papers. But I imagine that if I grew up here I would probably love it. Maybe one day it will come to America, where fans will catch on and make it more popular than the NFL.

I won’t hold my breath.

Saving the earth, one tree at a time

2007-05-23T12:47:00.000+10:00

On Saturday I volunteered with Conservation Volunteers Australia in a town called Ballarat, about an hour outside of Melbourne. Ballarat was a pretty sleepy town that has nice buildings from the gold rush that populated Australia (above). 100 years ago it sounds like it was a pretty hopping place, but now there is not much there.

I was working along a stretch of road (above) that had been cleared to construct the roads. As a result, the area had become really rocky (above), causing erosion. Also, koalas lost their habitat due to the clearing. So, our job was to plant trees. There was 7 of us from Conservation Volunteers and about 10 from a group in Ballarat.

We learned how to plant these little saplings. We were given these tools that were basically pogo sticks with a shovel at the bottom of them (above). To create the hole for the tree, I had to jump on the tool. This created a hole just large enough for the sapling to go in. Then, I had to protect the trees from weather and rabbits by hammering 3 stakes around the tree and placing a plastic sheet around them (above). Sounds easy enough, but it was a pretty rocky area so it was hard to find an area to put a tree on. I also had a mishap where I jumped on the tool, slipped, and fell forwards to have the foot platforms nail my hamstrings. It was pretty funny.

It was a fun day. I think I planted about 15 trees myself, which added to the hundreds that were already planted there (above). It was cool to see some trees that had been planted 3 years ago that were starting to mature (above). Hopefully someday my trees will be home to some koalas!

Okay, seriously, I want a koala.

2007-05-23T11:05:00.000+10:00

On Friday our class took a field trip to the Healesville Sanctuary, an animal rehabilitation zoo. While I’ve seen most of these animals before, it was still a fun day.

First, we got a special talk with one of the zookeepers. He brought out a snake (above) and let all of us touch it. He showed us this double-headed lizard, whose tail looks like a head to try to confuse its predators (above). He brought out this sugar glider (above), a little squirrel-like thing that glides through the air using its extra skin as a parachute. We didn’t see it glide, but we got to pet it, and boy was it fuzzy.

Then we saw a birds of prey flying extravaganza. We saw this buzzard who has evolved to use a stone to break open an emu egg (above). It’s one of two bird species in the world that has learned how to use a tool to eat their food. There was an owl, who flew really close to all of the audience members. It has crazy eyes (above). I love owls, but that dude looked pretty scary.

We walked around the whole zoo, and saw some cool animals. We saw flying foxes (above), which looked pretty much like bats to me. I saw some kangaroos hugging (above), and a wombat that was quite large (above) but not as big as the one who sat on my lap in Perth. I also saw these cool birds, I’m not sure what they’re called but I nicknamed them Platy-birds since they have platypus bills (above). I did see some real platypuses, but the display was too dark to take any decent pictures. I’ve added them to my list of “animals that should not exist” because they are so bizarre looking, they look like something from science fiction (above, from website).

Then we got to my favorite part, the koala exhibit. I was really lucky, because two of them were awake and crawling around on tree branches. Since koalas sleep for 20 hours a day, it was great luck to see two of them awake and being active. The zookeeper talked about how they have pads of fat on their butts so that they can sleep all day comfortably (above, look at that fuzzy butt!). They were very hungry when I saw them, but very lazy in how they got their food. They tried to keep their butt planted, so they would stretch their necks as far as possible to get to the eucalyptus leaves (above). Then, if they determined that they actually had to move, they moved about the branches like really slow monkeys (above). It was hard to tear myself away from the koalas, because they are just so cute and soft and fuzzy (above).

46 days until my birthday, so there’s still plenty of time for you to secure a koala for me. Just putting that out there.

The National Gallery of Victoria

2007-05-16T21:43:00.000+10:00

On Saturday we visited the NGV, a huge art museum (above). Inside the museum was a “great hall” that had a fantastic stained glass ceiling (above).

First we saw galleries made up of old stuff from different areas of the world. First there was old stuff from South America (above). Then we saw older stuff from Egypt (above). Any art museum visit would be remiss without viewing old stuff from Greece (above). The Grecian Urns reminded me of the singing ladies in Hercules. Finally, we saw some old stuff from Southeast Asia (above).

There was (like most art museums) a section with furniture. There were a few crazy chairs, such as this silver chair (above), and this orange toothpick-like chair (above). But the thing that blew my mind was this green stool (above). Can someone please explain to me how one is supposed to sit on this? It remains a mystery to me.

Of course there was a modern art section, my favorite (*rolling my eyes*). While there were no kindergarten paintings, there were several paintings of just colors in rectangles (above). There was actually one piece that I really enjoyed. It was a mirror (above). But next to the mirror was a series of text documents that basically said “anyone can recreate this” and then had detailed directions of how anyone could make a piece of art out of a mirror. I appreciated that it at least had a sense of humor.

My real favorite exhibit was the one about sneakers (above). It featured awesomely designed shoes, like these brightly colored ones (above) and these crazy silver ones (above).

I definitely enjoyed my culture dose of the week.

Science Works Museum

2007-05-16T21:10:00.000+10:00

Last Wednesday we visited the Science Works Museum (above), about 20 minutes outside of the city. It was so much fun! They had a giant sundial (above) outside, which automatically is a sign of coolness.

The first part of the museum was about the science of houses. There was some science, but most of the exhibit was just everyday things in huge/silly form. There was an upside down room (above), and a humongous couch (above). Joe got to be the main course of a meal (above). They had a pretty funny take on what actually lives inside our beds, with a mobile hanging above a bed made of dust mites (above).

The next major exhibit was an area all about sports (above). There were lots of interactive things here, from a virtual wheelchair race (above), to an Aussie Rules Football throwing area (above), to a 3-D penalty kick saving contest (above), to a rock climbing wall (above). There was also a netball net that you could test your aim with. Netball is an Australian version of basketball played primarily by girls that uses a net with no backboard (above). There was a canoeing section, where we re-enacted a famous painting (above). In the sports section there were a whole bunch of ways to test your fitness. They had height and weight measurements, strength tests, hand-eye coordination, flexibility tests, and a vertical jump tester (above). There was also a sprinting test (above), where you could measure your time against Aboriginal Olympian Cathy Freeman.

The coolest part was a traveling exhibit called “How to Make a Monster” (above), about the technology behind animatronic animals in movies. Sadly, due to copyright, I couldn’t take any pictures inside. They had a huge crocodile from the Peter Pan re-make that you could control (above, pic from the website), among several other animals from other movies. You could control their eyes, jaw, head, tail, arms, etc. It really gave me an appreciation for the skill of the people who control these electronic animals. The exhibit also explained how the animals were made, which is truly an incredible process. The short version of the process is that a sculptor creates the animal in clay, a mould is created from the clay, filled with the bendy plastic material to make the skin, and then fitted around the metal controls. It was so cool.

That day totally satisfied my inner child. :-D

The Melbourne Museum

2007-05-16T12:19:00.000+10:00

Two Saturdays ago a few of us went to the Melbourne Museum (above), which was my first real outing into the city.

There were some really cool exhibits there. There was one all about the human body, which had several plasticene casts of body parts like the Body Works exhibit (above). There was also a puberty section that featured life size nude pictures of a boy and a girl before and after puberty. One thing is for sure, Australians (and the rest of the world) are much more liberal about nudity than Americans. Playing in that exhibit was also a video of a birth that did not hide anything. It was really funny because as I was watching it, 4 four year-olds or so were watching it with me. They weren’t grossed out or anything, they just kept saying “wow” and when the baby was born they repeated “baby, baby!” It was entertaining.

There was a “Bugs Alive” exhibit (above), which featured some scary alive bugs (spider, above), and some scary dead bugs and things (above). Gross. Then, like any good museum, there was a dinosaur exhibit (above). In that area were displays about the Australian megafauna that used to walk this part of the earth. Way back in the day there were like 12 feet tall kangaroos, and huge armadillos (above) and other animals (above). Crazy. Finally, there was a Darwin exhibit (above) all about his work that asked if humans were genetically “too close for comfort” to monkeys (above).

All in all, it was a great, educational day.

Greetings from Melbourne

2007-05-16T11:32:00.000+10:00

I’ve been here in Melbourne for 2 and a half weeks now, and I apologize for my lack of blog updates. With the length of those New Zealand entries, I wrote about a ten page paper, so I needed a little bit of a break. I’m back in action though.

So I arrived in Melbourne on April 29 and moved into my home for about 7 weeks. Our rooms are located in a hotel which has single rooms for students. Here is my bed (above), my desk (above), the view out my window (above), and my “bathroom” (above). Note how my toilet is IN my shower. That took some getting used to. This living situation isn’t exactly ideal for two reasons. First, I’m about a 40 minute train ride from the city of Melbourne. It’s kind of like going to study abroad in Philadelphia and living in Lansdale. Second, our room key only gives us access to our floor, so if I want to visit my friends on the other floors, I have to call them and they have to come let me in. Yuck.

I’ve only been into the city a handful of times since it is a pain to get there. I’ll post some general overview pictures of Melbourne in this entry and tell you more specifically about my exploits in the next ones. (sorry for the picture formatting, I'm not sure what's going on).

So here are some pictures of the downtown. The Yarra River runs through the city (above), so there are skyscrapers on both sides of the river. When the sun sets, there is a nice glowy effect on the buildings (above). There’s some pretty cool old architecture, like this cathedral (above), the Flinders Street train station (above), and the Royal Exhibition Hall (above), where the World’s Fair was held several times. Unfortunately, there is an extensive tram network whose power lines give everything downtown a rather ugly appearance (above).

In the downtown there’s an area called “Federation Square” which my guidebook called the “architectural eyesore of the city,” but I think is really cool. The buildings are made up of these reflective panels (above), and there’s one building that scrolls messages that people send in (above). My friends think that it looks like the agrocrag (Guts, anyone?), so they decided to do a re-enactment (above). Besides looking like a part of a Nickelodeon game show, Federation Square is home to several museums, restaurants, and shopping areas.

Last weekend we visited a suburb that gave us a great view of the whole city. Here’s a shot of Melbourne through the St. Kilda harbor (above), and here’s a panorama that I made in Photoshop (above).

So far, Melbourne is my least favorite place. To me it’s just like studying in any city, there’s nothing here that is really “Australian” like there was in Perth and Hobart. It’s kind of frustrating hearing about my friends being home when I’m not doing anything spectacular here at the moment. In a week I go to the Great Barrier Reef, so hopefully that will break the monotony.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

2007-05-05T00:45:00.000+10:00

I just wanted to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to my wonderful boyfriend, Dan. As of today, we’ve been together for 3 and a half years (woot woot!). He’s had to put up with me being so far away, and has been very supportive about me coming to Australia.

So here’s to you, Daniel! Only 2 months before I’m home! <3

New Zealand Days 7 and 8: Driving and Christchurch again

2007-05-01T23:59:00.000+10:00

We spent the last day on our tour bus driving back to Christchurch. We stopped at Franz Josef, the town with the other famous New Zealand glacier to refuel (above). We tried to go to Lake Matheson, another lake with a famous reflection, but of course it was raining. So we didn’t even get out of the bus. My goal to get a reflecty picture was thwarted once again. We stopped in Hokitika for lunch before driving through Otira gorge (above).

Since there are so many rockslides in the Otira gorge, they had to build a raised road to allow cars to get through (above). Our tour guide said that in the winter months it’s usually impassable due to avalanches. We stopped to look at the gorge and saw a kea, or an alpine parrot (above).

We made our afternoon stop at a hotel whose owner once claimed to see the extinct moa bird in an attempt to bring people to his hotel. The moa was a giant ostrich-like bird that stood 3 meters tall and was hunted to extinction by the Maori people (statue above). The owner’s ploy worked, and for a while lots of people came to his middle-of-nowhere hotel. Also while we stopped there, I saw this mushroom (above). I felt like I was in a Mario Brothers video game. Also, I took a picture of our tour bus while we were stopped (above).

On the way to Christchurch, we made a stop to see a place where movies were filmed. Our bus driver pointed out that this outcropping of rocks (above) was where the lion died in the Chronicles of Narnia movie. This grassy field (above) was used in Lord of the Rings, though our guide didn’t know what scene or what movie. Right next to the field was this rocky field (above), which Mary and I think was used in the Two Towers but the guide didn’t mention anything about that area specifically.

We made it to Christchurch at around 6 pm on Friday night and said goodbye to our tour group. Some of them were continuing on for another week and were getting to see the North Island, of which we were extremely jealous.

We had a day to kill in Christchurch on Saturday, which we began by enjoying scrumptious bagels in Cathedral Square. Apparently bagels haven’t caught on in Australia, so every time we find a bagel place we get really excited. Anyway, Cathedral Square (above) is home to the Christchurch Cathedral after which the town is named (above). The cathedral is named after a college in Oxford. We went into the Anglican cathedral and took some pictures (above). Also this bouquet-like thing is in Cathedral Square (above). While we were in the square, there was a Buddhist festival going on (above), so there were lots of performers. We went back to the market from the first day, and I bought a traditional Maori jade pendant like these (above), which is the quintessential New Zealand gift. Then we took refuge from the rain in the Christchurch Art Gallery, which had lots of normal paintings but was also home to a weird modern art exhibit. I mean come on, this inflatable bunny is just scary, it’s not art (above).

We went to bed early since we were getting picked up at 3:30 am for our 6:10 am flight back to Melbourne. After the flight, we were reunited with several other Walkabout-ers who had traveled New Zealand, and were transported to our new home in Melbourne.

My trip to New Zealand was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime trip. I saw the most beautiful scenery in my life, and did some incredible things. I mean kayaking, bungy jumping, river boarding, glacier climbing… it was not an ordinary week to be sure.

I’m already planning my return trip, when I’ll visit the North Island… hopefully I’ll get back there someday. :-)

New Zealand Day 6: The coolest day ever (pun intended)

2007-05-01T17:37:00.000+10:00

After a very good night’s sleep due to the activities of the day before, our bus set off towards Fox Glacier. We made a stop at Lake Wanaka, where I got an okay reflecty picture (above). We drove lots, so of course I saw more sheep pastures (above). We made a short stop at Thunder Creek Falls (above), where we all re-filled our water bottles with crystal clear glacial water. There were lots of really cool rocks there (above).

We made it to Fox Glacier in the afternoon. Fox Glacier is one of the biggest glaciers in New Zealand (there are thousands), and is one of three glaciers in the world that are found right next to temperate rainforests. We hiked through the rainforest (above) on our way to the glacier under the supervision of our guide Jeremy (above). We got to what Jeremy referred to as “Kodak point” because of its great vantage point to take pictures of the glacier. So as you can see, the glacier is massive (above). It starts way up at the top of the mountain, where it’s cold enough to make snow. Then the ice moves down the valley at a rate of about one meter a day. However, since it’s too warm at the bottom to sustain a glacier, the bottom melts at about one meter a day, forming a glacial river (above). This makes for a net movement of nothing during most days. The ice is dirty because it is so warm at the bottom, so it picks up mud as it moves along. It was actually pretty cool that it was dirty because it made it easier to see the awesome shapes in the ice (above).

Finally we made it to the glacier itself. There you could really see how crazy it was to have such lush greenery go right up to the edge of this mass of ice (above). Before we were allowed to walk on the glacier, we were issued crampons to help us grip the ice (above). We walked onto the glacier via steps cut into the ice by Jeremy and the other guides. It was awesome to be surrounded by ice (me, above). You could really appreciate how huge the glacier was when you looked at it in relation to people on it (above). We saw a natural ice cave that had developed (me next to it, above). It was a great example to see how incredibly blue the ice is in some parts (above). We snapped a picture with some of our friends from the tour group (above) before we left the ice and hiked back through the rainforest. It was a pretty incredible thing to see.

New Zealand Day 5: The scariest, most intense, and most rewarding day of my life

2007-05-01T15:04:00.000+10:00

Since Queenstown is the “adventure capital of the world,” I decided that I would try to shun my scardy cat ways and take advantage of all that it had to offer.

My first adventure was to bungy jump at the world’s first commercially bungied site, the Kawarau River Bridge. Now, I would describe myself as being moderately afraid of heights. I mean I do rollercoasters, but I wasn’t exactly looking forward to voluntarily throwing myself off of a bridge. I decided, however, that I had to do it to challenge myself.

So I went to the site with my heart beating wildly, but I was able to stay relatively calm. We walked into the building (above), and I had to chuckle at the sign on the womens’ bathroom (above). They weighed us, so they could figure out how much bungy they needed to attach to us. Upon seeing the bridge (above), Mary and I were a little nervous (above).

We walked across the bridge to take inventory of the 43 meter (134 feet) drop (above). Mary went first (above, in the red circle), and her enthusiastic reaction gave me some confidence. Finally, it was my turn. I put on a harness around my waist. When I told them that I wanted to touch the river, they put an additional harness around my ankles so I would hang upside down. I decided that I was going to jump, no matter how scared I was.

Since my ankles were bound, I had to shuffle to the end of the platform. When I got close to the edge, I started to have second thoughts. It was a loooooooong way down. They made me pose for a picture (above). I’m pretty sure that my face says it all. Then the bungy guy told me to just stay focused on the other bridge out in the distance (above), and he counted down from 5. I dove straight out when he counted down, because someone told me that it was easier if you went right away instead of hesitating (above). The falling feeling was unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Before I realized what was going on, I plunged up to my waist into the river (above). I bounced a few times, laughing the whole way. There were guys in a raft on the river that caught me and unhooked my harness. (If you click on these pictures, they will open big in a new window, so I look like more than a dot).

It was amazing, pretty much the coolest thing ever. It wasn’t even that scary. It’s just as safe as a rollercoaster when it comes down to it. No worries!

We refueled at Fergburger, where I ate one of the top 5 hamburgers of my life, and headed off to Mad Dog River Boarding (above). River boarding is basically boogie boarding down river rapids. Brittany and I got in the van, and as we’re driving they pass around their guest book. One guy wrote “I just got back from Iraq, and I think that Baghdad is safer than this.” I started to wonder what I was getting myself into.

We got to a point farther down the Kawarau River and got suited up. Since it is fall here, they took extra care to make sure we didn’t get cold. I was wearing a long-sleeved and long-pants wetsuit, wetsuit booties, 2 wetsuit jackets, a life vest, a helmet, and flippers. It was quite the get up (above). We did a little bit of practice kicking before we left, and I was feeling good, not scared at all. But I should have been.

So basically we were river boarding (see website picture above) down grade 3 rapids. There were 3 guides to 16 of us. Before we’d get to a stretch of rapids, the lead guide would hold his hand up in a fist to signal “get behind me and follow my line through the rapids.” I made it through the first few stretches of rapids fine. Then, one of the river boarders started heading in the wrong direction, so the guide went after him. I started to follow the guide, and the current took me into an eddy on the side of the river. The eddy water flows the opposite direction of the river, so to get out of it I was supposed to kick upstream until I was in the middle of the river. It was really hard, and I started to wheeze (thank you asthma), so I got thrown back into the eddy. One of the guides had to pull me out and I had to take my inhaler.

Then we went through a few more rapids, which were absolutely terrifying. I was wishing that I hadn’t signed up for it. Especially when we were going through one area, and the guide yells “stay right behind me because if you go over there, you will be sucked into a whirlpool and you won’t be able to get out.” Yikes! Somehow, I made it through the rapids, and the rest of the ride was relaxing down the smooth Kawarau River (above). A fast jet boat picked us up and brought us back to where we started. We were rewarded for our efforts by being able to go down a slide on our boards and jumping off of a rope swing into the river (above). A jet ski caught us after we ended up in the river.

River boarding was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done in my life. Though it is pretty cool to say that I’ve done it. I also realized that under normal circumstances, I would have been afraid to rope swing into a river, but given all that I had done that day, I didn’t hesitate at all. I think that my day in Queenstown was a good step towards worrying less.

New Zealand Day 4: On a scale of one to wet…

2007-05-01T00:01:00.000+10:00

We woke up to find that it was still raining in Milford Sound. This was a disappointment, because the sound is known for reflecting Mitre Peak in its waters (above, I stole that picture online). The rain meant no reflections for us, so here’s my version of that picture (above).

However, the rain made hundreds of temporary waterfalls spring up everywhere I looked (above). They dry up when the rain goes away, so we were lucky to see them. The captain, whose quarters we visited (above), took us out of the sound into the Tasman Sea. This was really fun, as the waves made the boat bob up and down when they crashed over the bow (above). We started jumping up at the crest of the wave so that we’d get extra hang time as the boat disappeared below us. Mary and Brittany pretended to hold on for dear life (above), as we all got quite wet from the rain (above).

Then we came back in from the ocean to take a closer look at the sound. We saw evidence of a tree avalanche (above). This happens because the only way trees can survive on a mountain face is to network their branches together, so when one dies, it takes out all of the trees below it as it falls down. The boat went really close to a waterfall (above), and we were having a grand old time (above). Then, the captain thought he would be funny. We approached another permanent waterfall (above), expecting that we would get close to the fall like we had with the other one. No. Instead, we went into the waterfall, as in the fall was crashing on the bow of the boat. We tried to stick it out (above, right before we got demolished), but there was just too much water. We bailed, but only after we had gotten 100% soaked. The only pair of pants I had with me that was dry was my pajamas, so I spent the rest of the cruise sporting my purple cookie monster pajama pants. Yeah.

We left the boat and drove out of Fiordland, not before making a few photo stops. First we stopped right before we drove through a long tunnel, where I was able to get some non-rainy pictures of Fiordland (above). Then we went to “The Chasm,” a deep gorge that was formed when the rock separated and split into two (above). It was in a very wet rainforesty area (above). After that we visited Mirror Lakes, a very small pond that was reflective (above). Not quite the reflection that I was hoping for.

We arrived into Queenstown in late afternoon. The town itself is very small, but it is known as the “Adventure Capital of the World” due to all of the activities it offers that can possibly kill you. But more on that later.

At night we went to Minus 5, an ice bar. Basically it was a small room that was made entirely out of ice, from the walls, to the furniture, to the bar (above). They give you parkas to keep you warm (above), and they served your drinks in glasses made of ice (above). Of course, there were various ice sculptures, such as this dragon that changed colors (above). I went to bed trying to mentally prepare myself for the day ahead.

New Zealand Day 3: The most beautiful sound I’ve ever seen

2007-04-30T22:53:00.000+10:00

We left Lake Ohau and drove through the Lindis Pass (above). Just looking at the mountain ranges you can imagine the sheer force needed to make mountains. New Zealand sits on two tectonic plates, one on the west coast and one on the east coast. Because of this, its mountains are still growing, at a rate of 1-2 cm a year. Pretty crazy.

We made our morning pitstop in Cromwell, known for its fruit growing. We stopped at a famous fruit stand, where we saw how the leaves are changing for fall (above). In the fruit store, there were various kiwi-related products, like kiwi chocolate (above, yum!) and kiwi fruit. This is because the New Zealand national bird is the kiwi and New Zealanders themselves are called “kiwis.” In the back of the fruit stand was a rose garden, again pointing to NZ’s British heritage (above).

Then we drove near Queenstown and saw the Remarkables mountain range (above). They are remarkable because their peaks line up exactly north to south, and they are one of two mountain ranges in the world that are this way. Also, any Lord of the Rings geeks may recognize them, they make up the Walls of Mordor and are seen in other parts of the movie too.

We drove through Fiordland National Park, a World Heritage Area, to our final destination: Milford Sound. It turns out that Milford Sound is actually a fiord, as fiords are glacially formed and sounds are formed by rivers. Basically the entire west coast of the South Island is separated from the east by the Southern Alps mountain range, and the mountains go into the ocean through the fiords. There are tons of them (see map).

When we got to Milford Sound, we boarded the trusty vessel that would be our home for the night, The Wanderer (above). We threw our stuff into our bunks in the bottom of the boat, and checked out the view from our porthole (above). We began cruising around, and of course it was raining, so my pictures are very misty (above).

In the afternoon we had a chance to kayak on the sound. While the weather was terrible and the water was freezing, it was a chance we couldn’t pass up. They lowered the kayaks off of the back of the boat (above) with a rope, and we got in one by one. I have no pictures from this, I didn’t want to risk it with the rain. Kayaking was really awesome. We all thought that Milford Sound in the rain looked like something from Jurassic Park, with the really green forests poking through the mist. Mary and Brittany went swimming for about a minute (I didn’t because I got separated from them). They thought it was pretty much the coldest water they’d ever been in.

We warmed up with a fabulous dinner. Before we went to bed we helped our new South Korean friends translate our trip’s itinerary. One girl was an “American Studies” major, so her English was quite good, but the itinerary used some flowery language that we helped her with. It never occurred to me before that someone could major in American Studies. Crazy.

New Zealand Day 2: Sheep, Lakes, and Mountains

2007-04-30T18:19:00.000+10:00

We met our tour group (above) at 8 am on Sunday. We got rolling on the tour bus, introduced ourselves, and took inventory of the different nationalities represented (British, Canadian, Danish, Swedish, South Korean, Brazilian, French, Australian, American). We heard our tour song for the first time (an old 80s New Zealand punk song), which was played many times throughout our travels so we could have a song to associate with the trip.

First we drove through really really green land that was spotted with little white dots (above). Upon closer inspection, these white dots turned out to be sheep (above), and we learned that wool is a huge industry in NZ. I saw easily 50 sheep pastures during this week. We made our first pit stop in Geraldine, home of the world’s largest sweater (above). I think I can die now that I’ve seen that. ;-)

Our first real stop was to Lake Tekapo, a lake with really blue water (above). I know the water doesn’t look very blue in my picture, I guess the cloudiness messed with the picture. All of the water that is in my pictures after this is very blue, I promise. This is because it’s glacially-fed water. Silt from the glacier washes into the lakes and rivers, and the silt reflects blue light, making the water look really blue.

Then we visited Lake Pukaki, which had that crazy blue water (above). Lake Pukaki is part of New Zealand’s hydroelectric scheme, which supplies 85% of New Zealand’s electricity (I think that figure is right, I don’t remember exactly). The red pipes are part of the hydroelectricity plan (above). One of the reservoirs around the lake gave a great reflection of the mountains surrounding it (above). Sadly, this was the only awesome reflecty picture I was able to get (more on that later). There were “crop circles” in the hills by the lake, apparently caused by a weed that grows out in a perfectly circular pattern (above).

After that we drove to Mount Cook (above), the tallest mountain in New Zealand. Its Maori name, Aoraki, translates to “cloud piercer.” To give you an idea of the scale, there’s 1.2 km between its two peaks (above, shown by the red arc), and the thick white strip of snow is about 100 meters deep (above). Mount Cook is near the biggest glacier in New Zealand, so there is glacial runoff in the area (above). The area surrounding the mountain is a great example of how glaciers shaped NZ. There was a huge plain leading up to the mountain where the glacier had previously been. Left in the plain were big boulders that the glacier had picked up and deposited during its travels (above). It was pretty cool.

We then traveled to Lake Ohau, where we stayed for the night. On the way, the sunset turned the mountains pretty colors (above). We had a great dinner catered by the hotel and then walked down to the lake to look at the stars. It was easily the most stars I’ve ever seen in my life since we were in the middle of nowhere. It was amazing.

New Zealand Day 1: I’m sleep deprived, but I’m in New Zealand!

2007-04-30T17:07:00.000+10:00

For Spring Break, Brittany, Mary, and I went to New Zealand. The process of getting there was quite lengthy (see picture). We left Hobart about 11 am on Friday and flew to Melbourne, where we had a 6 hour layover. Then we flew to Auckland, New Zealand, and spent the hours between midnight and 6 am in the airport. I now have my first sleeping in an airport experience, which wasn’t too terrible but didn’t really result in much sleep. We got into Christchurch at about 8 am on Saturday, wanting nothing but a hot shower and a bed to sleep on.

Which of course meant that our hostel wouldn’t let us check in until 2 pm, thwarting our plans of resting. So, we decided to explore Christchurch, the South Island’s biggest city with a population of 400,000. Christchurch is very British (see phonebooth), as New Zealand is a Commonwealth of the UK just like Australia.

We wandered around and found the Christchurch Arts Centre (above), an old school that had been converted into many specialty shops. One was a weaving shop, so we all learned how to use a loom (above). Outside of the buildings was an open-air market, complete with street performers like those fake statue guys (above).

Then we visited the Canterbury Museum, a free museum that was really cool. We learned about Maori history, the history of the indigenous people of New Zealand. The Maori actually immigrated from islands near Hawaii many thousands of years ago. How they survived that ocean crossing in canoes I’m not really sure. The museum had lots of Maori woodcarvings, which I impersonated (above). It had interactive things like a huge bike that I sat on (above) and a stagecoach that Brittany and Mary pretended robbers had just jumped on top of (above). There was a special exhibit called “Around the World in 30 Lounges,” which had 6 living rooms decorated like they would be in different countries. The countries rotate on a weekly basis, and when we were there we saw Romanian, Chilean, and Kurdish living rooms (above). Like any good museum, it was home to a dino skeleton (above).

Then we went to the Botanical Gardens (Christchurch is known as the “City of Gardens” because there are so many). We saw huge trees (above), pretty flowers (above), a lily pond (above), and a UFO (above). Apparently this UFO was a prototype for futuristic housing that never caught on. Weird.

We finally checked into our hostel and went to bed (somewhere around 7-8 pm). Our real adventure began the next day.

Farewell to Hobart!

2007-04-19T14:41:00.000+10:00

Today is my last day in Hobart. It was awesome here, but I am ready to leave and explore some more.

Hobart is a small city, with less than 200,000 people. This size is both good and bad from my point of view. It was great to be able to walk the whole city and to feel safe walking anywhere. But I like the action and excitement of a city environment more, so I’d definitely prefer to live in Perth.

However, if I had to pick a place to vacation, here would definitely be it. I have seen things here in Tasmania that I have never seen in my life in terms of natural beauty. There have been so many sights here that actually take my breath away. Not to mention, the air is so clean here. In Tasmania I have done some things that I’ve never done before, including actually hiking and flying in a small plane. I am really glad that I got to come here, because I think that Tasmania is a place that a lot of people overlook when they come to Australia. If you ever get the chance to come here, you have to come to Tasmania.

Tomorrow we leave Hobart to go on Spring Break. I am going to New Zealand’s South Island with Mary and Brittany, two girls from IC. This marks the halfway point of our semester here in Australia. When I get back from the trip on Sunday the 29th, I will have 9 weeks left of my semester. I’ll spend most of that time in Melbourne, but I’ll be taking pictures in the outback for 2 weeks of that time and hopefully I’ll get a weekend at the Great Barrier Reef.

That’s all for now, expect approximately 85 billion posts about my week in New Zealand when I come back!

I’d totally want a seal if I thought it wouldn’t eat me

2007-04-19T14:36:00.000+10:00

Kaitlyn and I went on our last Tasmanian adventure, a boat trip around Bruny Island. Bruny is a big island off the coast of Hobart.

When we arrived at0 Adventure Bay, our departure point, we were given our morning tea (this country is so British) before leaving. The skies had opened up during our drive down, so the prospect of going on a boat in that weather was not exactly thrilling. While the clouds loomed ominously (above), we were protected from the elements with these extremely fashionable raincoats that were longer than our feet (Kaitlyn models, above). Luckily a roof covered the seating area on the boat, so we were protected from most of the weather.

First, the boat took us next to these spectacular sea cliffs. Most of the rock is made out of dolerite (above), and the power of the ocean eroded them into arches (above), caves, and free-standing columns (above). The boat driver added some excitement by zooming though narrow openings in the rock (above).

One highlight was seeing the 2nd highest sea cliff in Australia (above), which only missed being the highest by a few meters. Also really awesome was the “breathing rock.” It was an underwater cave that had a very very small opening above water. As the waves would roll in and out, the rock would “exhale” and shoot water several meters into the air (above). Pretty cool stuff. Even the boring parts of the rock were pretty spectacular. It was really cool to see the bright green of the trees (above) contrasted against the rock contrasted against the turquoise water (above).

There were lots of cool living things to see as well. Attached to the side of the rocks were bull kelp (above), which is giant seaweed that is ground up and used to hold chocolate in suspension in milkshakes. Yep, you are eating seaweed every time you eat a Frosty. We saw ospreys hunting on the water, and lots of cormorant birds (above) which look like penguins but are not. But the best part of the entire trip was seeing these massive sea lions.

There were tons of bitty islands off the coast of Bruny called The Friars. On these islands, there were dozens of seals (above). They looked positively cuddly (above) and some of them had a great deal of blubber on them (above). One of them even looked like he was motioning “come here Ashley, play with me” (above). However, I caught one of them bearing his teeth at me (above). Not so cuddly. Another one actually swam up to our boat and was jumping out of the water like a dolphin would. That reminded me of how powerful they really are. This was especially sobering considering that this week a girl was attacked by a sea lion while surfing at Lancelin, the beach where I took my surfing lessons. So I think I’ll stick to coveting a koala.

After we saw the seals, the boat took us further into the ocean which was a blast. The boat would hit a wave, go up really high in the air, and then crash back down. It was like a super awesome rollercoaster. In the shuttle on the way back, we saw a wild white wallaby (above), which is pretty much just a small kangaroo.

It was an awesome day!

Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue Yonder…

2007-04-16T11:55:00.000+10:00

On Sunday I took a trip into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. It is an area that covers 1/5 of Tasmania. It’s protected under the UN’s World Heritage Convention for being of universal natural and cultural importance. To borrow a line from Will Ferrell, it’s kind of a big deal.

Since the only other way to get into the heart of the area is by a seven-day hike, I took a small Cessna plane that carried only 6 people (above). Seeing that the only thing bringing us aloft was a single propeller (above), I was a little nervous about my first time in a small plane. Luckily, the trip proved to be smooth sailing… or flying I suppose. As you can see, I am a really quick learner, so I was allowed to fly the plane.

Just kidding. But I did get to sit in the co-pilot’s seat, which led to the above photo op. We started off flying right over downtown Hobart (above). After about twenty minutes, we were flying over the World Heritage Area.

I saw some things that were absolutely incredible. I saw some glacially formed lakes trapped in between tall mountains (above). I saw some seriously jagged mountaintops in the Arthur mountain range, including Federation Peak, one of the most famous summits in the WHA (above, grey and white peak). It was stunning to see mountain after mountain rising out of the mist (above). The contrast of mountains and bodies of water was also quite spectacular, especially since some of the lakes were really reflective (above).

We touched down on a very short runway (above, that white patch of ground). We then boarded a boat and cruised down the Melaleuca River. Since we were the only boat or water disturbance of any kind, the river had a really smooth and glassy surface. It made for some really great reflections (above). The river led to Bathurst Harbor, for some more incredible reflecting water. So cool! In the harbor where “celery top trees,” so named because they have bare trunks (stalks) and only a small bit of vegetation at the top (above).

Sadly, we had to leave the best-smelling air I’ve ever experienced to return to Hobart. The return flight wasn’t too shabby though either. Instead of flying over the center of Tasmania like we did on the way out, we flew over the southern coast of the state. We saw some amazing coastline with turquoise water (above). We saw a dolerite mountain, which I recognized as having the same rock type as Mt. Wellington (above, see I am learning something!). We also saw the southern-most point of Australia. I took a picture of it, but you can’t really see it, so I circled it in red for you (above). Trust me, it’s there.

It was quite an amazing day.

The Franklin Institute Down Under Style: Sydney Day 4

2007-04-11T17:10:00.000+10:00

Since we only had until 2 pm before we had to catch our shuttle to the airport, we spent our day in the Powerhouse Museum (above). It was very similar to the Franklin Institute (one of my favorite museums), with lots of hands on displays.

One exhibit chronicled design through time. So there was everything from a colonial style dress to 60’s pop-art inspired couches (above) to modern fashion designs (above). There were some pretty cool things.

Another exhibit was a giant ball maze contraption for little kids to play with (above), and there were lots of things for people of all ages to play with. In the science section, there was one area where you made colored shadows (above), and there was one of those cool electricity ball thingys (above). It was very fun to play with all of the exhibits. There was an exhibit about Australian innovations, including an ergonomic violin (above), which I thought was really cool.

There were multiple modes of transportation showcased throughout the museum, including an old train (above) and a horse-drawn fire engine (above). My favorite part of the whole place was the space exhibit, which had a model of a NASA space shuttle (above). You could walk inside and see the astronauts’ living quarters (above) including their beds (vertical since there is no gravity it doesn’t matter), vacuum operated toilets, and exercise machines (also vertical).

We grabbed a very yummy lunch in Chinatown (above), and said our last goodbye to Sydney (above). We landed back in Hobart at its very tiny airport. So small that there is one flight at a time in the airport, and you get off of the plane using stairs (above).

I was sad to leave Sydney, because there’s a lot more to do there. It was a very cool city for sure, though it’s hard to get a good impression of it since we were just tourists and not long-term residents.

Oh, and Nemo says hello.

The most Sydney-rific Day Ever: Sydney Day 3

2007-04-11T16:49:00.000+10:00

We had another early start to our day, heading to the Sydney Bridgeclimb. Now I would describe myself as being moderately afraid of heights, so the idea of climbing to the top of the Harbour Bridge made my heart pump considerably fast. We arrived at the Bridgeclimb building (above), where we saw a wall of celebrities that had completed the climb (above). One celebrity was Will Smith, which was funny because when the climb leader heard I was from Philly, he said “Isn’t that where the Fresh Prince is from?” Anyway, first they had us take a breathalyzer test (I guess the last thing they need is a drunky stumbling off the bridge). Then, they suited us up into our Bridgeclimb gear, which was basically a jumpsuit, and added on the various accessories. That included the safety belt and latch, which held us to the bridge at all times. Hanging off of the belt was a fleece, a rain jacket, and our walkie talkies. The headset deserves mention, because the earpieces actually went on your cheekbones (not your ears), and the vibration on your cheeks allowed you to hear the climb leader while still hearing the surroundings through your ears. Pretty cool. We completed our stylish look with a baseball hat and beanie that were tethered to the suit and a hankie wrapped around our wrists.

Then, we headed out on our adventure. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to bring cameras up with us (imagine that falling onto traffic below), so you’ll just have to use your imagination. The climb leader had to hold my inhaler (we couldn’t bring anything up ourselves), so I was placed first in line in case I needed to use it. That was not exactly the line placement I had been hoping for, since I was apprehensive enough as it was. But alas, it turned out fine.

First we walked on the flat part of the span that is above land, and saw painters completing a 7 year re-painting project. Then we climbed up some pretty steep ladders (actually the most dangerous part of the whole thing). Finally, we got to the arch, which makes up the longest single-arch bridge in the world. We walked on top of the arch until we got to the highest point. The pictures I have are not from my group (obviously, I took them two days before of another group), but they show what we looked like. At the top, we had pictures taken of us with the Opera House in the background. I have to digitize these, but hopefully I’ll have them up soon. Then, we walked from one arch to the other and walked down the other arch.

This experience was one of the coolest of my life. I actually was not scared at all, since we were harnessed and there was like a 3 feet cushion of bridge between the walkway and the dropoff to the water below. Even though I was about 500 feet above the water, I didn’t feel nervous at all. The views were absolutely incredible. I could see for so far in every direction. While we were on the bridge, a huge oil tanker came into the harbor, which was really neat to see pass under us. The whole climb was amazing.

We had a decidedly tamer afternoon, eating lunch at an outdoor café in the Rocks (above) and then heading to Bondi Beach (above). Bondi is one of the most famous beaches in Australia, for good reason. It was beautiful, and also the reality show based on its lifeguards probably doesn’t hurt it popularity. On one side of the beach, there were a lot of low-lying rocks (above), making for really cool tide pools filled with anemones (above) and crabs (above). The surf was absolutely incredible, with continuous 5 feet tall rolling waves. There were easily 75 surfers catching waves, which was really fun to watch as some were quite good (above). Because there were so many people there, there were probably about 40 lifeguards on duty (above) for an area that would have maybe 10 guards in NJ.

At night, we ate dinner outside on the waters of Circular Quay, and then headed to the Opera House. There, we saw the Australian Ballet perform Don Quixote (above). It was awesome! The leads were so good. I was kind of surprised that Don Quixote is a relatively minor character, and he didn’t even dance. Instead the story focused on two young lovers that he helped while performing one of his chivalrous deeds. It was a very lighthearted ballet, with several funny moments. The show was great, and it was cool to see the inside of the building. It was hard to tell, but we thought that the hall was located inside of just one of the sails. We weren’t sure what was in the other sails. It definitely made me miss dance class. The end of perfect day #3.

Ian Thorpe’s Got Nothing on Me: Sydney Day 2

2007-04-11T16:04:00.000+10:00

On Easter Sunday, we hopped a double-decker train (above) to the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics to see the Sydney Royal Easter Show. More on that later, first we had to explore the Olympic Park!

As a sports fan, I was really excited to see the Olympic Stadium (above), and torch (above). But I was super excited to visit the Aquatic Centre. We went into the centre, which had gorgeous facilities. We saw the competition pool (above), and the diving boards (above), where the Olympians competed. But the coolest thing was that I got to swim in the pool (above)! The same pool where Ian Thorpe won 3 golds and 2 silvers, and where Michael Phelps made his Olympic debut at 15. It was so sweet. I took the obligatory picture of myself on top of the podium (above), the only time in my swimming career that I have ever done so (anyone who’s ever seen me swim can confirm this). I’m pretty sure that it was not the Olympic podium (not nearly fancy enough), but I’m just going to ignore that fact.

After I finished imagining my own Olympic glory, Cailin and I headed to the Easter Show, held on the Olympic grounds. The Easter Show is a huge fair/carnival that runs for the 2 weeks surrounding Easter. The closest thing that I can compare it to is the New York State Fair in Syracuse, which I went to last year.

We entered the gates (above) to walk down the main concourse (above), full of over-priced carnival rides and booths where you can win ginormous stuffed animals. Then, we saw a pretty cool high dive show (above). Besides the obvious high diver, there was: a guy who shackled his hands and feet together, put his body in a sack, jumped into the water, and emerged 2 minutes later; synchronized swimmers; and some comedic divers. Later we saw a fashion show, where models showcased Australian designers’ new looks for the fall (it’s fall here). I chided myself for making judgments on the models and designs with some degree of authority, realizing that watching Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model do not really give me any true expertise.

We ate lunch in the “World Food” section, which proved to have quite a hilarious sight. There was a “Pennsylvania Dutch” booth (above). In Australia. However, it was selling miniature pancakes with bananas and syrup. While I am not as connected to the food from my PA Dutch heritage as I am my Italian heritage, I’m pretty sure that fruity pancakes are not included in typical Pennsylvania Dutch fare.

Then we walked around and perused several buildings. There was a small flower competition (I was expecting the Philly Flower Show, and thus was quite disappointed). There was a fashion and craft building, which had more cool expensive clothing from Sydney’s boutiques. There was a Fresh Food building (above), which had more types of food than you can possibly imagine. I sampled some salsa (or “chili sauce”) at this stand (above). I braved the sauce rated 10/10 for spiciness, which actually was not that bad. Also in that building were several displays made of fruit (a la the Philly flower show, but with fruit instead of flowers). I got a Rocky Road candy, which was marshmallowy and chocolatey goodness.

There was a final building filled with kitchy souvenirs that reminded me a lot of the Surf Mall in OCNJ. There were wigs (above), creepy dolls (above), and stalls with American sports paraphernalia (so many Yankees hats I almost puked). We also went into a small tent about Australian fire safety, and drove a fire truck (above, that picture’s for you, Dad).

It wouldn’t be a fair if there weren’t lots of farm animals around. We saw a parade of cows that won for best cow, I suppose (above). What exactly are they judged on? Beats me. One animal competition that differentiated this fair from the NY State Fair was the alpacas (above), which I think are related to llamas.

The final event of the day was a rodeo (above), which happened to pit American riders against Australian riders. They actually sang our national anthem before it started, which was really nice to hear. At one point, the announcer asked if anyone in the audience was from the states. I screamed really loudly, while there was pretty much crickets (and one boo) in my surrounding area. Pretty funny. We ended up losing (above), but it was a good time. Then rain started to fall, precluding us from seeing the fireworks, so we left. The end of perfect day #2.

That Dress Costs How Much?: Sydney Day 1

2007-04-11T15:11:00.000+10:00

Cailin and I left early (shuttle-picking-us-up-at-4:30-am early) Saturday morning for Sydney,our Easter vacation destination. We arrived at about 8 am for a day on the town.

First, we walked to Paddington Market, Sydney’s “hippest” open air market (above). Oxford Street, the street leading up to the market, has a lot of really high-end fashion boutiques. You know, the kind where you can tell how expensive the clothes are by the lack of actual clothing in the store. When we got to Paddington, the trend continued. The stalls were really fun to look at, all with brightly colored and eye-catching patterned wares (above). However, most of the stalls were too trendily priced for me. For example, the dresses hanging in the picture above were $150. Cute, but not that cute.

We checked into our hostel (reasonably clean and non-shady), and then walked to Sydney’s most famous area, Circular Quay (pronounced “key” through the wonders of the Australian accent). Upon the first sight of the Opera House (above), I could not help but be reminded of Finding Nemo, when the fish make the shape of the Opera House and sing (above). We took our obligatory pictures in front of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge (above. Note: that is how they spell “harbor,” I haven’t adopted British English yet). It started to rain really hard. That picture of the bridge that looks black and white is actually a color picture, the rain just washed it all out!

Then we headed to another market, this time in the Rocks. The Rocks (an area actually devoid of rocks as far as I could tell) is the oldest settled area in Australia, so there were lots of old-looking buildings. During the weekends, one street is transformed into a market (above). There were a lot of cool things for sale there (and more reasonably priced), and the stalls were also quite vibrant (above). There was even a designer dog-collar stall (above).

We left the Rocks and walked pretty aimlessly for a while so we could get a better feel for the city. We made it to Darling Harbour, another quay that is home to the Aquarium and a few other tourist attractions. We enjoyed a lovely outdoor dinner alongside the water, walked back to our hostel, and collapsed from exhaustion. The end of our first perfect day.

Field Trip Part 3 (the last installment)

2007-03-31T18:06:00.001+10:00

After the second night in the field center (which the ghost tour lady from the night before told us was haunted), we left to continue with the trip. Though not before we left our mark on the much-graffitied walls (below, left).

The day was mostly focused on our academics (this field trip, unlike Perth, actually relates to our class). At the end of this class, we have to submit two papers relating to ecotourism and conservation. Basically there’s a catch-22 with declaring something a protected area. As soon as a new protected area is announced, more people hear about it and want to see it, thus making it harder to protect. So, we went to a few places to see this dynamic in action.

The first place was called Robertson’s Bridge, and it was a random rainforest smack in the middle of a normal forest (above). It is a protected area, but the area around it is not protected. So, it has been heavily logged, right up to the border of the rainforest. This caused a forest fire to spread to the rainforest, which is usually too wet to burn. We made another stop at a beach where people had planted pine trees, ruining the natural ecosystem there. We did our part and pulled up as many pine trees as we could find.

Then we went to Mayfield Bay, a really popular camping area (beach, above). It was an example of a place where sustainable efforts were working and had cleaned up the beach considerably in the last 5 years. Also at Mayfield Bay was a convict-built bridge with arches that made for a cool picture (above). We finally made it to our hostel in Coles Bay, where we enjoyed a lovely sunset (above).

Yesterday we went to Wineglass Bay, which recently was named one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world (above me). We hiked up to a lookout point for fantastic views of the Bay, and couldn’t resist taking lots of pictures of ourselves (me, Eric, above). Framing the bay were these really cool rocks and cliffs (above). It was pretty awesome.

After a long drive, we returned to Hobart. It was a fantastic trip, but I was glad to be home.

Field Trip Part 2

2007-03-31T18:04:00.001+10:00

On Wednesday we went to Port Arthur, Australia’s first convict settlement. It was for repeat offenders, so some of the people’s initial crimes were minor like stealing silverware, but they continued to repeat those crimes so they got shipped here. They were sent here mostly for their labor rather than to punish them.

When we first got there, we were given a playing card that corresponded to a real convict who went through Port Arthur. Then, we could follow them through the exhibit and see what their life was like. At the entrance, there was a sign that said “All cheerful, contented, cleanly, obedient, industrious, and cheerful prisoners please move this way,” with the arrow pointing straight into the wall (above). My prisoner (above) was sent to Port Arthur for military desertion, and while there he received 782 lashes and 267 days in solitary confinement. Crazy stuff. I got to further simulate being a prisoner with these leg irons (above). They were quite heavy, and some convicts had to do hard, manual labor in them.

After the museum, we went on a walking tour and were able to explore the grounds on our own. We went to the Separate Prison, which is where they put prisoners for solitary confinement (prison hallway, above). They were really insistent on these prisoners not having any human contact. So insistent that in church they had to stand in stalls that prevented them from seeing anyone but the priest (above). It was pretty hard core.

What was really weird is that if you put aside all of the sick and twisted history of Port Arthur, it was quite a beautiful place (all brick buildings, above). The buildings were mostly made out of this orangey brick. There was a brushfire about 100 years ago (I don’t remember), so a lot of the buildings are just ruins of what they used to be. So it was my closest experience of the ruins my friends in Europe get to see on their field trips. There also were pretty gardens on the grounds, a replica of what the free people at Port Arthur enjoyed to take their minds off of the horrible things they were doing to the prisoners (flowers, above).

Then we went on a cruise of the Port Arthur harbor (us on the boat, above). We went around the Isle of the Dead (island with trees, above), where they buried all of the people who died at Port Arthur. There are more than 1,000 people buried on that island, which seems impossible to me because it looks so small.

After Port Arthur, we went to Remarkable Cave (that is the real name, I am not lying). It is so remarkable because while it just looks like a normal cave (closest picture to text, above), the opening on the other side of the cave is in the shape of Tasmania. The picture above the orange flower shows the opening, and above there is a map of Tasmania so you can compare.

We continued to hike to Maingon Blowhole, a really deep hole formed by erosion (looking down to the bottom, above). There was some beautiful coastline with pretty orange rocks and turquoise waters (above). We posed for a photo op in front of the water (above).

At night we went back to Port Arthur for a ghost tour. Sadly, it was not as scary as the one in Fremantle because nothing jumped out at us and our group was too big. It was interesting to hear the stories, but to me it seemed like nothing more than stories. I guess I shouldn’t be so skeptical the next time I go on a ghost tour.

Field Trip Part 1

2007-03-31T16:47:00.000+10:00

Since I have so many pictures from our field trip, this will be a 3-part entry.
On Tuesday the Walkabout-ers (plus two friends visiting from home), our teacher Lorne, and our bus driver John departed for our 4 day adventure.

Our first stop was Pirates Bay (arrrrrgh!). It was low tide, so we could see lots of cool animals in tide pools on the rocks (mussels, left). The rocks themselves were pretty cool. Due to differences in height and salt erosion, some sections were flat with raised cracks (above, called pans) and some were raised with lowered cracks (above, called loaves). Then we went to Tasmans Arch, a natural rock arch formed by erosion (above).

After that, we went to Lorne’s friend’s property, called Windgrove. So this guy was from Detroit and went to Harvard, and decided to move to Tasmania to become a sculptor. He bought all of these acres of land years ago for $30,000, and it is now worth millions. For good reason.

His property includes Roaring Beach (above), a beach that made all of us salivate with surfing envy. Well he doesn’t actually own the beach itself, because in Australia all beaches belong to the government. But that is the view from his house. Also on his property was absolutely spectacular coastline, with amazing views everywhere you looked (above). Decorating the landscape were his sculptures (left), most of which symbolized peace and hope. Equally as cool as his land was his house (wooden room, above). He built it all himself, and it is 100% sustainable. He makes his own power from solar panels (above), collects rainwater from the roof, and has a composting toilet (picture a 3 sided outhouse with the fourth side being made up of a bush). He certainly leads an amazing lifestyle, but not one I could ever see myself living.

Finally, we drove to the Koonya Field Center, our accommodations for the first two nights. It used to be a hospital, and probably gets the award for creepiest place I’ve ever been (rotting wood building, above). Lorne said that one of the bedrooms used to be the morgue, though we’re not sure if he was pulling our leg or not. We thought that our room (bunks, above) was a likely candidate for the morgue because there was a hallway behind our room that looked suspiciously capable to hold dead bodies. Adding to the creepiness was the bathroom, whose water was definitely not safe to drink.

We ended our night around a bonfire, completing an awesome day.

Ahoy, matey!

2007-03-26T12:03:00.000+10:00

After another trip to the awesome Salamanca Market, a few of us Ithaca pirates took a cruise on a sailboat all around Hobart’s harbor.

Our trusty vessel was an old-fashioned sailboat called the Lord Nelson (above), but its stylings led all of us to call it a pirate ship. We assumed our sea faring responsibilities immediately, keeping a close watch on the seas and participating in other piratey activities (above).

During our voyage, we saw some other sailboats (left), some nice views of the Hobart coastline (above), and Mount Wellington off in the distance (above). We sailed under the Tasman bridge also (way above).

We also got to see how a sailboat works. There were tons of ropes everywhere you looked (left). Mary got to ring the boat’s official bell (above), and several of us got to steer the boat. At left you can see me at the helm, where I safely avoided the nonexistent obstacles for about 2 minutes. It was awesome. We got to go down below (which amplified the seasickness feeling times 10), and saw how crew live aboard the boat (above, with Matt pretending to be a sailor).

I think all of the above pirates would agree that it was an awesome outing.

note: I can finally upload pictures (hence the last two posts), but I can't control where they go or the order they're in. Unless someone wants to teach me html.

"Today was the best first day of school ever!"

2007-03-26T11:56:00.000+10:00

On Monday we started our Environmental Science class with a bang, hiking down Mount Wellington.

We met Lorne, our professor, outside of our apartments at 9 am, and he told us that instead of sitting through lectures, we were going on a hike. He gave us an hour and a half to get ready, and then we were off. (Side note: Lorne is originally from Canada and came here to do his Ph. D in Environmental Science about 20 years ago, and hasn’t left since. He has been to Antarctica 17 times for research, and is the coolest guy ever.)

We took a bus up to the summit of Mount Wellington, the mountain that overlooks Hobart. This bus ride up to the top was very scenic, but very nerve racking. Every time we went around a corner, I gripped on to armrest because about 2 feet from the edge of the road, the mountain dropped straight down. I chided myself later, because clearly holding onto the armrest with all my might would not have saved me, but I digress.

So we got to the top, which is 1270 meters (or metREs as the sign says, above) above sea level. This is about 8/10 of a mile, which was needless to say verrrrry high. We were above the clouds (above)! Our group climbed the pinnacle for some nice photo ops (above).

Then, we began the long hike down. Those of you who know me know that I do not have a lot of experience hiking, or doing any sort of outdoorsy activities. You also know that I have a tendency to roll my ankle if I do so much as step on a pebble the wrong way. So, I walked down quite slowly to avoid any mishaps.

The walk was well worth it. On the mountain, we saw lots of cool things. We began our descent down the “Zig zag track” (above), and we were still above the clouds. It was really eerie how these cool columns made out of dolorite rock (for those geology nerds out there) came up out of the clouds (above). We saw some cool plants (above), but more importantly we saw some amazing views of Hobart (above).

After about an hour and a half of walking down, we left the alpine climate and entered one that was much more tropical. We went through forests that had huge trees (above) and an incredible amount of ferns (above).

We got out of the woods and walked a further hour and a half to our apartments. We guestimated that we walked about 6 miles, but the steep downhill part made it feel more like 20 (okay, I exaggerate a little bit). It was an incredible feeling though to look back up at the top, where we had been this morning. If you look at the picture with the tree branches in the way, that little pinprick on the top of the mountain is the white column behind us in the picture at the pinnacle. Pretty crazy.

Definitely the best first day ever.

2007-03-24T23:19:00.000+11:00

Dear readers of Ashbo Down Under (all 5 of you):

I must admit that the lack of reliable internet is really frustrating. I have two blog entries ready to go, but I can't post any pictures with my connection at my apartment, and the connection at school makes me format my blog like the post below.

My entires are about our trip to Mt. Wellington and our cruise aboard a pirate ship, both of which depend on pictures to tell the story.

So, I have not been eaten by a Tasmanian devil, I just haven't posted due to internet difficulties. I'll try to fix that ASAP.

<3,
Ashley

Hobart is Gorges

2007-03-20T14:22:00.000+11:00

I finally got my pictures to load, but for some reason I can't format them. I apologize for this ugly and out of order layout!

We arrived in Hobart on Friday night, and it immediately reminded me of Ithaca. We flew into a tiny airport(just like Ithaca's), and we walked down stairs to get off of the airplane (I felt like the President). It was dark when we got here, and so driving into town we saw all of these lights with a huge gap in the light where the water was (totally reminded me of seeing Cayuga Lake at night). We were delighted to find that our apartments are much nicer than they were in Perth.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to crisp, fall, Ithaca weather. It’s amazing how the seasons changed instantly just by taking a plane. We walked down to Salamanca Market, a market (obviously) that is set up every Saturday in downtown Hobart. For you IC kids, imagine Apple Fest times 10. It was awesome. There were so many crafts, jewelry, and awesome things to eat, it was overwhelming. I restrained myself to only buying a $4 bracelet, but I have to go back again when I’m in a less thrifty mood.

On Sunday we decided to explore Hobart a little more. Everything is on a hill (Ithaca-esque), and there is a huge mountain that overlooks the city, Mount Wellington (above). Hobart is absolutely beautiful. It has all of these Victorian houses with colorful roofs perched on top of many hills (above). Most of the houses have cute little rose gardens too (above). It makes me think of Europe, though I’ve never been to Europe, so I guess it reminds me of a stereotype of Europe.

We went down to the bay and saw lots of sailboats. We also went into the casino, where I won a net total of $16 on penny slot machines! (see my victorious photo above) Yeah! Not bad considering it was my first time gambling in a casino. Kaitlyn and Cailin were not as appreciative of my win (above), as they did not win anything themselves. They were just jealous.

Farewell to Perth

2007-03-20T13:13:00.000+11:00

As I promised, I am now going to recap my last two days in Perth.

On Wednesday, we had our last class. We screened the movies and TV shows that we had created last week. Our kung fu movie was a big hit, and all of them were quite hilarious. Then we went out for milkshakes for Kaitlyn’s birthday, which was yummy. At night, we headed to the Fremantle Prison for a Torchlight Tour.

The prison (above) was built by convicts and held British convicts at first. Eventually it was transformed into a regular prison. In 1991 it was closed for health conditions (there were no toilets in the cells, you can imagine what these health reasons were). It was cleaned up, and now it is a tourist attraction. We arrived for our 10 pm tour absolutely terrified (above). We were given our “torches” (I was disappointed to learn that “torch” means “flashlight”), which we of course had to play with (above). So there were moments that were genuinely creepy, mostly because it was pitch black except for our flashlights and there were strange creaking noises. But there were also times when they added things for effect. Like, in the juvenile wing, the guide explained how one inmate decided to commit suicide by jumping from the 5th floor, so they installed suicide nets (above). While we’re all looking up, they drop a dummy onto the nets. That definitely made most of us jump. There were a few other instances where they had people jump out to scare us. But some things were creepy in their own right, like solitary confinement and the gallows. The last stop on the tour was the chapel, which supposedly has a very high occurrence of ghosts. I do not believe in ghosts (I think it’s a load of crap personally). However, supposedly when you take a picture and white orbs appear, it means that a spirit is in the room. When I was in the chapel, I took the above picture, which may or may not signify that there were ghosts in the room (you decide). The “orbs” are on the brown plaque on the right, above the right window, and there are lots on the red curtain if you blow up the picture. I might add that my lens was quite dirty when I took this picture, so I remain skeptical.

On Thursday I decided to give a proper farewell to Perth by walking to Kings Park via the downtown area. I went to the Hay Street Mall (above), a street closed off to car traffic like the Commons in Ithaca that has great shopping. Then walked towards the park and took these pictures of the skyscrapers. Then I walked over a bridge and up a huge hill to Kings Park, where I was delighted to be rewarded with an awesome view of Perth (the picture with the flowers).

Finally, I made it to the park, and I was really glad to finally see it in the daytime. The first thing you see when you enter the park is this street lined with huge trees (above during the day, and above during night). The tree street is right next to a huge cliff that overlooks Perth and the Swan River (above). After I walked through the column of trees, I came to a war memorial. The flame in the foreground is for the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the statue is for WWI. Near the memorial was an awesome view of Perth underneath palm trees (above). I walked along the path and saw some cool cactus-like things (above, I guess the correct term is succulents? Someone help me out here). Finally I got to this really cool glass bridge walkway thing (above). Walking through the park and seeing the skyline was an awesome send off.

I decided that I would move to Perth in a heartbeat if it weren’t for two (fairly large) factors.
1.) It is sooooooo far away from family and friends. And the rest of the world, also. It is closer to Bali than Sydney and is the most isolated state capital city in the world.
2.) The TV industry sucks here. There are not enough people that live in Australia to sustain many good shows being made, and the ones that are made are not based out of Perth.

So those things aside, Perth is the perfect city. Big enough that there’s always stuff to do, but small enough that I can walk alone during the day and feel perfectly safe. The people here have a really laid back attitude. And it is beautiful. The city itself is very clean, and it is within 30 minutes of several beaches and a short ferry ride to Rottnest Island, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. It is very much a beach culture, where it is not uncommon for people to go to the beach for a few hours after school or work. Anywhere I can be near water, I am happy. The weather is top notch, also. There are days when you can literally not see a cloud in the sky.

All in all, I was very sad to say goodbye to Perth. I hope that it is just a “so long for now” instead of a “goodbye.” I most definitely intend to return.

Goodbye, Perth, Hello Hobart

2007-03-16T04:01:00.000+11:00

I would be remiss if I left my last two days in Perth off of the blog, but it's 2 am and I need to finish packing, so I'll save that for another time.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Hobart, Tasmania. We leave at 12:45 pm and get to Melbourne at 6:15 pm Melbourne time (2 hours ahead of Perth). Then we fly from Melbourne at 9:15 pm and arrive in Hobart at 10:15 pm.

Right now I'm in Perth (the pink star), and I am going to Hobart (the orange star). It's a much smaller city, and it's significantly colder there, but other than that I don't know too much about it.

Another leg of the adventure begins tomorrow!