But don't expect an update for the next 11 days. I know all my avid readers are crying "WHYYYYYYY???" Well, it's simple.
I am shipping off to New Zealand for 11 days! We are leaving tomorrow morning and coming back Monday night. Hanging with the Kiwis in Kiwi-a-gogo-land for a few days, I think so.
I'm going with my roommates Gina, Lauren, Laura, Chelsey, and our neighbor Jackie. It's going to be pretty insane. I will have SO much to write about when I return. Don't worry, your insatiable thirst for hearing about my adventures will be satisfied then.
But until then...
Peace, love, kiwis, and koalas.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Holy ****: One month left
Sorry for the profanity, it's the only way to express my amazement that my time here has FLOWN past. I still remember writing my first post about being alive and finding it amusing that Asian people can have Australian accents. The theme of this post is basically summarizing what I've been doing in Sydney lately and what I have coming up in the near future.
Like I said in the last post, I feel like I have been neglecting my adventures here in Sydney. After all, I am studying here so I should have more stories about being here. All throughout October has been the Crave Sydney Festival. It is a combination of food, art, culture, etc. I've gone to a bunch of events with a bunch of people. I went to the Latin festival in Darling Harbor at the end of Spring Break with my friends Matt and Ken who were stopping over in Sydney after their trip to New Zealand. Some of my roommates also came with us. There was a ton of Latin food, music, art, crafts. There was a woman at a booth who told us if we got our picture taken we would get cupcakes. So, that we did. They gave us this little gift bag with 2 cupcakes each! That pretty much made my day. We roamed around for a little while and then it started POURING so we decided to go to happy hour. Logical, right?
Actually, the day before I decided to roam around Sydney by myself and I was looking for the Latin Festival but I couldn't find it. (Turns out I was in the wrong part of the Harbor. Clearly, I don't go there enough.) I did stumble upon a craft fair in The Rocks, one of my favorite parts of Sydney. It's hard to explain The Rocks. Everything is kind of old fashion looking. There are a bunch of bars and little pubs. One of the most popular clubs, The Argyle, is down there. It's right by the water. Some of the sidewalks are cobblestone, maybe giving it the name "The Rocks." Anyway, it's really nice down there. Quaint, in a way. So I wandered through the market stopping at some of the booths and talked to a few of the vendors. Asked them their stories, suggestions they had for things to do in Sydney and around Australia, etc. I got a few presents for people (and myself...) while I was there as well.
Also in The Rocks is this restaurant Pancakes on the Rocks. It is apparently one of those "must do" things here. It is a 24-hour restaurant and I really wish we knew about that earlier because we have always been looking for late night food. NOTHING here is open late, surprisingly. We went there a few nights ago I got the most amazing chocolate pancakes. So good. They had normal food too, somewhat iHop-esque. Honestly, I'm not really sure why people rave about it so much but it was fun.
[If you haven't noticed yet, this isn't going to be in any chronological order. It's more of a stream-of-consciousness thing.]
Another part of Crave Sydney was the Night Noodle Market. I suggested going to my roommates and they thought I was joking based on the name. Yes, it does sound pretty ridiculous. Gina and I decided to head over there one night. It was in Hyde Park in central Sydney. To start, Hyde Park is beautiful. It is one of my favorite places in Sydney. Kind of reminds me of parks in Manhattan. Anyway, When we were walking up to the market, there were huge pictures posted on both sides of the pathway. They were part of the "Art and About" section of Crave Sydney. There was a booth where you could vote for your favorite and Gina and I did that, mainly just because the entry could win you a free digital camera. Anyway, after voting we continued our journey to the noodles. There was some live Asian music playing and every kind of Asian food you could think of. Himalayan, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, etc. We got some Thai food but it honestly wasn't that great. We were planning on going back, but we just never got the chance. I think it is still going on so maybe we will make it back there before it ends.
In keeping with my environmental roots, I decided to go to the Live Green House exhibit, another part of Crave Sydney. Sydney is really environmentally conscious, so seeing this whole exhibit with new tips on how to use the three R's (reduce, reuse, recycle!) was really cool. This other company was doing a presentation on vertical gardens that was pretty interesting, but I didn't get to see too much of it. It was pretty much about maximizing space and resources by growing plants on a wall, basically. It's kind of hard to explain. From there, I went to Paddington Reservior and listened to some jazz music and then I went to Paddington Market. The latter is not part of Crave Sydney. It happens every Saturday outside this school in Paddington, a suburb of Sydney were a lot of good shopping is. I roamed around, not really looking for anything in particular. A lot of the clothes are times-ly, in the words of Kerri Horgan. Aka, a lot of the clothes were pretty weird looking. There was a guy selling chocolate and I got into a conversation with him about a bunch of stuff. He gave me a ton a free samples and even offered to give me some to take home! People are so nice. I probably should have limited my chocolate intake though because I went to yoga right after...
Last Sunday was also the UVA va UMD football game! Well, it was Saturday back at home but here it was Sunday at 7am. Rough. So we got up early, I made some guac, put on my orange and blue dress and pearls and went to watch the game with my UMD friends. Just as we predicted, it was an INCREDIBLY embarassing game for both teams. However, Virginia won and I still rub it in their faces. I am very glad we won though because if we lost I would never hear the end of it from at least 5 very passionate Terps.
My roommates and I have also been planning our upcoming trip to New Zealand! We are leaving a week from today!! Crazy... Here is a little taste of what's on our agenda:
We are landing in Christchurch, renting a car, hiking through Franz Joseph Glacier, hanging out in Queenstown, going to Lake Tekapo... that's all I can remember right now... but my roommates are leaving on the 6th but I am staying until the 9th. So I believe I am heading up to Kaikoura (about 2.5 hours north of Christchurch) to do this eco-tour. Me = nerd. On the 9th, bright and early, I am flying to Melbourne. Then on the 10th I am flying to Alice Springs--no, not the chicken (bad joke). On the 11th I'm going on a 3-day tour through the Outback and then I'm flying back to Melbourne on the 14th. I'm hanging out in Melbourne for a few days then flying back to Sydney on the 16th.
Then, more adventures around Sydney and... I don't want to say it but... home on the 22nd.
Well that's all I can think of for now. I should get back to work. Yuck.
Cheers!
Like I said in the last post, I feel like I have been neglecting my adventures here in Sydney. After all, I am studying here so I should have more stories about being here. All throughout October has been the Crave Sydney Festival. It is a combination of food, art, culture, etc. I've gone to a bunch of events with a bunch of people. I went to the Latin festival in Darling Harbor at the end of Spring Break with my friends Matt and Ken who were stopping over in Sydney after their trip to New Zealand. Some of my roommates also came with us. There was a ton of Latin food, music, art, crafts. There was a woman at a booth who told us if we got our picture taken we would get cupcakes. So, that we did. They gave us this little gift bag with 2 cupcakes each! That pretty much made my day. We roamed around for a little while and then it started POURING so we decided to go to happy hour. Logical, right?
Actually, the day before I decided to roam around Sydney by myself and I was looking for the Latin Festival but I couldn't find it. (Turns out I was in the wrong part of the Harbor. Clearly, I don't go there enough.) I did stumble upon a craft fair in The Rocks, one of my favorite parts of Sydney. It's hard to explain The Rocks. Everything is kind of old fashion looking. There are a bunch of bars and little pubs. One of the most popular clubs, The Argyle, is down there. It's right by the water. Some of the sidewalks are cobblestone, maybe giving it the name "The Rocks." Anyway, it's really nice down there. Quaint, in a way. So I wandered through the market stopping at some of the booths and talked to a few of the vendors. Asked them their stories, suggestions they had for things to do in Sydney and around Australia, etc. I got a few presents for people (and myself...) while I was there as well.
Also in The Rocks is this restaurant Pancakes on the Rocks. It is apparently one of those "must do" things here. It is a 24-hour restaurant and I really wish we knew about that earlier because we have always been looking for late night food. NOTHING here is open late, surprisingly. We went there a few nights ago I got the most amazing chocolate pancakes. So good. They had normal food too, somewhat iHop-esque. Honestly, I'm not really sure why people rave about it so much but it was fun.
[If you haven't noticed yet, this isn't going to be in any chronological order. It's more of a stream-of-consciousness thing.]
Another part of Crave Sydney was the Night Noodle Market. I suggested going to my roommates and they thought I was joking based on the name. Yes, it does sound pretty ridiculous. Gina and I decided to head over there one night. It was in Hyde Park in central Sydney. To start, Hyde Park is beautiful. It is one of my favorite places in Sydney. Kind of reminds me of parks in Manhattan. Anyway, When we were walking up to the market, there were huge pictures posted on both sides of the pathway. They were part of the "Art and About" section of Crave Sydney. There was a booth where you could vote for your favorite and Gina and I did that, mainly just because the entry could win you a free digital camera. Anyway, after voting we continued our journey to the noodles. There was some live Asian music playing and every kind of Asian food you could think of. Himalayan, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, etc. We got some Thai food but it honestly wasn't that great. We were planning on going back, but we just never got the chance. I think it is still going on so maybe we will make it back there before it ends.
In keeping with my environmental roots, I decided to go to the Live Green House exhibit, another part of Crave Sydney. Sydney is really environmentally conscious, so seeing this whole exhibit with new tips on how to use the three R's (reduce, reuse, recycle!) was really cool. This other company was doing a presentation on vertical gardens that was pretty interesting, but I didn't get to see too much of it. It was pretty much about maximizing space and resources by growing plants on a wall, basically. It's kind of hard to explain. From there, I went to Paddington Reservior and listened to some jazz music and then I went to Paddington Market. The latter is not part of Crave Sydney. It happens every Saturday outside this school in Paddington, a suburb of Sydney were a lot of good shopping is. I roamed around, not really looking for anything in particular. A lot of the clothes are times-ly, in the words of Kerri Horgan. Aka, a lot of the clothes were pretty weird looking. There was a guy selling chocolate and I got into a conversation with him about a bunch of stuff. He gave me a ton a free samples and even offered to give me some to take home! People are so nice. I probably should have limited my chocolate intake though because I went to yoga right after...
Last Sunday was also the UVA va UMD football game! Well, it was Saturday back at home but here it was Sunday at 7am. Rough. So we got up early, I made some guac, put on my orange and blue dress and pearls and went to watch the game with my UMD friends. Just as we predicted, it was an INCREDIBLY embarassing game for both teams. However, Virginia won and I still rub it in their faces. I am very glad we won though because if we lost I would never hear the end of it from at least 5 very passionate Terps.
My roommates and I have also been planning our upcoming trip to New Zealand! We are leaving a week from today!! Crazy... Here is a little taste of what's on our agenda:
We are landing in Christchurch, renting a car, hiking through Franz Joseph Glacier, hanging out in Queenstown, going to Lake Tekapo... that's all I can remember right now... but my roommates are leaving on the 6th but I am staying until the 9th. So I believe I am heading up to Kaikoura (about 2.5 hours north of Christchurch) to do this eco-tour. Me = nerd. On the 9th, bright and early, I am flying to Melbourne. Then on the 10th I am flying to Alice Springs--no, not the chicken (bad joke). On the 11th I'm going on a 3-day tour through the Outback and then I'm flying back to Melbourne on the 14th. I'm hanging out in Melbourne for a few days then flying back to Sydney on the 16th.
Then, more adventures around Sydney and... I don't want to say it but... home on the 22nd.
Well that's all I can think of for now. I should get back to work. Yuck.
Cheers!
Monday, October 19, 2009
The name isn't lying: Surfers Paradise
Yes, I know I am getting lazy with the blog. That's because I am out exploring the world! (sometimes...) But now that I am laying in bed almost dying and unable to focus on schoolwork because my head is pounding, I think it's time I finally complete the story of Spring Break in Australia.
We left Hervey Bay at the crack of dawn and took the train back to Brisbane. Jackie decided to go right away to Surfers Paradise but Gina and I decided to spend the day in Brisbane. We really had no idea what to do so we just "went were the wind took us." We roamed around for a little while, passed more Royal Botanic Gardens (seriously, this country LOVES gardens) and then we realized we have no idea what we are doing. So we went to a hostel and picked up a city map. There were a bunch of different suggestions for things to do in the city but since we only had a few hours we decided to just pick one--XXXX Brewery Tour! Gina and I had been talking about going on a brewery tour for a while but we didn't know if there was one in Sydney. This was perfect. At the entrance to the brewery, they had this awesome old school delivery car.
The tour was pretty interesting, honestly not much different from many other brewery tours. But, they did talk about the environmental aspects of brewing beer and how they are updating the brewery to be more "green." That made me happy. But what made me even more happy was the 4 beers they gave us at the end of the tour. It basically paid for itself! We got to try XXXX Sparkling Ale, a beer that was no longer going to be brewed after that week. I don't know why because it was really good. While we were there, a huge group of people dressed in the strangest costumes came in and they were quite...spirited. Definitely an amusing group of people. We later realized it was a pub crawl. Apparently, the bar is actually legit. Once we finished our beers we went over to the souvenir shop and picked up some gifts. By then it was about time to go so we walked back to the Greyhound station and waited for our bus. When we were there, some random guy came up to me and said "University of Virginia?" I looked down and realized I was wearing a Virginia Volleyball shirt and just said "...yea" He responds with "Class of 2006, Wahoowa." Love it. Quite random. Also random, we ran into a girl who was on our Fraser Island trip in the Greyhound station. The bus ride to Surfers was actually pretty sweet. Our driver was really cool and he just popped in a movie for the trip. There were some people who were going to be on that bus for a lot longer than we were, so I guess that made it bareable (the ride to Surfers was about an hour and a half, some people were on that bus for 12 or more hours, yikes.)
We got to Surfers and found our hostel (Backpackers in Paradise) and got settled in. We called Jackie because it was her birthday and we were going to go out to celebrate. She was staying at a house with some friends from her school in Wollongong. We walked over there and hung out for a little while and then went out to celebrate her birthday at midnight. A few of our friends who live with us in Sydney actually met up with us at the bar we went to. It was a lot of fun with everyone there. We ended up taking a cab back to our hostel because we weren't exactly sure where we were, but later that week we realized we were like 4 blocks away from it... I think we got ripped off...
We didn't really have any plans for our days in Surfers, mainly just sit on the beach and hang out. So, that's what we did. It's such an awesome beach town--a lot of shopping, restaurants, bars, and of course surfers. Uni Games was going on that week so there was a ton of students from colleges all over Australia competing in every sport imaginable. From what I hear, most people don't take it too seriously; they are just there to have a good time and happen to play whatever sport they play. I really wanted to get involved with volleyball, but I just didn't follow through with it early in the year. Anyway, the second day we just sat on the beach, ate some fish and chips, sat on the beach some more. We went to Hard Rock for dinner for Jackie's birthday. It's the only one in Australia. That surprised me a lot. We back to Jackie's hotel and then went out from there. We were going to do this bar crawl but Jackie, Gina and I decided to go back home; at that point we were too tired to function. The third day was a lot of the same, but we decided to go to the pool at Jackie's house. Before then, we had plans to go bike riding along the Gold Coast but you had to put a $100 deposit on each bike and we weren't really into doing that. So sitting by the pool and the hot tub sufficed for the day. I don't think we went out that night either, the sun pretty much whipped us out. The fourth and final day was just as productive, we once again sat on the beach, watched beach volleyball this time, and saw a girl get rescued. Ok, I didn't see it because I fell asleep on the beach but everyone else did. We went in the water a few times which was beautiful and so refreshing since it was so hot in the sun. But when the sun went down it got a little colder so we kicked around a soccer ball for a little and I reconfirmed my hatred for sports involving things hitting my feet. When it was time, we packed up and headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and jump on the bus to the airport.
Goodbye Surfers Paradise, hello Sydney.
After the horror that began our trip, the relaxation in Surfers was the perfect way to end an awesome Spring Break. I was so nice and tan when we got back, and now I look and my pale sickly self and whimper. Sadness...
But, looking back on all of my blog posts, I realized that I've almost completely neglected my adventures here in Sydney. I've been having more and more since I came to the realization that my time here is quickly coming to an end. I will definitely update you on more of those, but it will have to be next time. Now, it's paper writing time because yes, I am actually at school here though it may not seem that way...
Much love,
Lara
We left Hervey Bay at the crack of dawn and took the train back to Brisbane. Jackie decided to go right away to Surfers Paradise but Gina and I decided to spend the day in Brisbane. We really had no idea what to do so we just "went were the wind took us." We roamed around for a little while, passed more Royal Botanic Gardens (seriously, this country LOVES gardens) and then we realized we have no idea what we are doing. So we went to a hostel and picked up a city map. There were a bunch of different suggestions for things to do in the city but since we only had a few hours we decided to just pick one--XXXX Brewery Tour! Gina and I had been talking about going on a brewery tour for a while but we didn't know if there was one in Sydney. This was perfect. At the entrance to the brewery, they had this awesome old school delivery car.
The tour was pretty interesting, honestly not much different from many other brewery tours. But, they did talk about the environmental aspects of brewing beer and how they are updating the brewery to be more "green." That made me happy. But what made me even more happy was the 4 beers they gave us at the end of the tour. It basically paid for itself! We got to try XXXX Sparkling Ale, a beer that was no longer going to be brewed after that week. I don't know why because it was really good. While we were there, a huge group of people dressed in the strangest costumes came in and they were quite...spirited. Definitely an amusing group of people. We later realized it was a pub crawl. Apparently, the bar is actually legit. Once we finished our beers we went over to the souvenir shop and picked up some gifts. By then it was about time to go so we walked back to the Greyhound station and waited for our bus. When we were there, some random guy came up to me and said "University of Virginia?" I looked down and realized I was wearing a Virginia Volleyball shirt and just said "...yea" He responds with "Class of 2006, Wahoowa." Love it. Quite random. Also random, we ran into a girl who was on our Fraser Island trip in the Greyhound station. The bus ride to Surfers was actually pretty sweet. Our driver was really cool and he just popped in a movie for the trip. There were some people who were going to be on that bus for a lot longer than we were, so I guess that made it bareable (the ride to Surfers was about an hour and a half, some people were on that bus for 12 or more hours, yikes.)
We got to Surfers and found our hostel (Backpackers in Paradise) and got settled in. We called Jackie because it was her birthday and we were going to go out to celebrate. She was staying at a house with some friends from her school in Wollongong. We walked over there and hung out for a little while and then went out to celebrate her birthday at midnight. A few of our friends who live with us in Sydney actually met up with us at the bar we went to. It was a lot of fun with everyone there. We ended up taking a cab back to our hostel because we weren't exactly sure where we were, but later that week we realized we were like 4 blocks away from it... I think we got ripped off...
We didn't really have any plans for our days in Surfers, mainly just sit on the beach and hang out. So, that's what we did. It's such an awesome beach town--a lot of shopping, restaurants, bars, and of course surfers. Uni Games was going on that week so there was a ton of students from colleges all over Australia competing in every sport imaginable. From what I hear, most people don't take it too seriously; they are just there to have a good time and happen to play whatever sport they play. I really wanted to get involved with volleyball, but I just didn't follow through with it early in the year. Anyway, the second day we just sat on the beach, ate some fish and chips, sat on the beach some more. We went to Hard Rock for dinner for Jackie's birthday. It's the only one in Australia. That surprised me a lot. We back to Jackie's hotel and then went out from there. We were going to do this bar crawl but Jackie, Gina and I decided to go back home; at that point we were too tired to function. The third day was a lot of the same, but we decided to go to the pool at Jackie's house. Before then, we had plans to go bike riding along the Gold Coast but you had to put a $100 deposit on each bike and we weren't really into doing that. So sitting by the pool and the hot tub sufficed for the day. I don't think we went out that night either, the sun pretty much whipped us out. The fourth and final day was just as productive, we once again sat on the beach, watched beach volleyball this time, and saw a girl get rescued. Ok, I didn't see it because I fell asleep on the beach but everyone else did. We went in the water a few times which was beautiful and so refreshing since it was so hot in the sun. But when the sun went down it got a little colder so we kicked around a soccer ball for a little and I reconfirmed my hatred for sports involving things hitting my feet. When it was time, we packed up and headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and jump on the bus to the airport.
Goodbye Surfers Paradise, hello Sydney.
After the horror that began our trip, the relaxation in Surfers was the perfect way to end an awesome Spring Break. I was so nice and tan when we got back, and now I look and my pale sickly self and whimper. Sadness...
But, looking back on all of my blog posts, I realized that I've almost completely neglected my adventures here in Sydney. I've been having more and more since I came to the realization that my time here is quickly coming to an end. I will definitely update you on more of those, but it will have to be next time. Now, it's paper writing time because yes, I am actually at school here though it may not seem that way...
Much love,
Lara
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
A DINGO DRANK OUR GOON: Fraser Island
Ok, I know. Once again I've gotten a little lazy with this blog. I have SO much to tell everyone, but I'll start with Spring Break. Yes, it is spring here.
To start off with:
Dingo = deceivingly adorable wild dog
Goon = boxed wine
Anyway, I traveled with Gina and our friend Jackie who goes to Wollongong University here in Australia. Our adventure started off a little rocky to say the least. We had plans to fly to Brisbane on Sept 24th then take a train to Maryborough then a bus to Hervey Bay where our first hostel was. The plans were solid with plenty of time between each transfer. So we got up at about 4am on the 24th (which was pretty rough since I was still recovering from a somewhat crazy 21st birthday, but I won't go into that here...) and we took the train to the airport only to find out that our flight to Brisbane was cancelled because of the dust storm.
Let me do a little side note about that dust storm. It was easily the most insane thing I have ever seen. From my apartment, I can see the Sydney Harbor, bridge, and opera house. Well, I can normally see them. But during the dust storm, everything was red/orange. We couldn't see the city. Dust from the Outback had actually blown all the way onto the east coast. It was apparently the biggest dust storm in like 70 years. Glad I got to see it, not so happy it messed up my travel plans, to say it nicely.
So, going back... Our flight got rerouted to Gold Coast (where we were planning on spending the second half of our break, but I will talk about in another post). Then we got on a bus to Brisbane (about an hour and a half). The train station was right outside the airport and right as we got there, of course, the train pulled out and left the station. Wonderful. So after a lot of discussion, we ended up taking the next train to Maryborough West but then we found out that there was no bus to Hervey Bay. So, we were in Maryborough West, essentially the middle of nowhere, for a few more hours until the next bus came. By the time we got to our hostel it was past 9pm. We left our apartment at like 4:30am. Talk about a long day of traveling. But we finally got there, so it was ok.
We got up early the next day for a meeting at the hostel. We were leaving from Hervey Bay to go to Fraser Island and go camping. At the meeting we got split into groups of 10 and Gina, Jackie and I were in quite the eccentric group. We had an awesome English guy, Matt, who was the only one we trusted with driving, three Japanese girls whose English was VERY limited, a German couple (simply referred to as "the couple") and a random Swiss guy who happened to speak German. First we went grocery shopping for the 3 days we were going to be camping. They gave us the option of getting this meat package with steaks, sausage, mince (ground beef), something I didn't recognize and therefore didn't eat, and lunch meat. (Most of that honestly went to waste). We got the basics, like bread and peanut butter, pasta, I don't really remember what else. The couple put long-life milk into our group basket. Seriously? Who drinks long-life milk? I think I can go 3 days without milk. And they got a shit ton of it. She also got "meat spread" which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It was ham and chicken ground up and put in one of those tubes (like the ones that slice and bake cookies are in) and you just open it and spread it on bread. I'm close to vomiting while writing about it, sorry. The Japanese girls got SO many snacks, chips, candy, cookies, etc; they were eating the whole time and it was annoying because we didn't have much room in the car. But it could have been worse. Anyway, after that adventure, we went over to this garage and loaded up the 4WD car with tents, sleeping bags, food, cooking equipment, random other camping stuff, etc. And then off to the ferry to Fraser Island.
Let me tell you a little bit about Fraser Island from an environmental background. It is one of the biggest sand islands in the world. Seriously, it is just sand. It is on the World Heritage List and after being there and a few other World Heritage places I have made it my life goal to go to as many as possible. The only method of transportation on the island is 4WD because of the loose sand. There are a bunch of beautiful fresh water lakes all over the island, and it is chock full of dingoes.
We had a pretty strict itinerary for the three days because our travel depended on the tide times. Driving through salt water was not an option and you could go significantly faster on the hard sand on the coast than the inland loose trails. The first day we got there we went to Lake Makenzie, an absolutely georgous freshwater lake.
That's me lounging in the lake. The water was such a perfect temperature, especially since it was really hot. We stayed there the entire day (which wasn't that long after we actually got to the island and then found the lake). We decided to leave before it was going to get too dark so we could set up camp and cook dinner.
The first night I didn't do as much setting up the tents as I did cooking dinner. But, we kind of started too late so we were cooking when it was really dark. Very difficult. But ultimately we succeeded and got to eat. After dinner, Gina, Jackie and I sat on the dune behind our camp and drank some goon and just enjoyed the beauty of the island. The three of us got up for a little and mistakenly left our cups out and when I turned around to go back there was a dingo drinking out of one of the cups! Basically I yelped because I was pretty terrified, more out of surprise than anything else. We didn't stay up much longer because the next day was starting pretty early.
We had to get up at like 6am on Saturday because of the tide times. It wasn't that difficult because the tents got real hot real early. We packed up the tents and the cars and started the day. First we drove down to the Maheno shipwreck and walked around for a little. We didn't really stay there too long because honestly, there wasn't too much there but some rusty metal. Then we headed to Lake Wabby. It was quite the hike there, and all sand. I was pretty exhausted by the time we got to the lake. The swim was very refreshing. The lake definitely wasn't as nice as Lake Makenzie, but it was definitely really cool still. There were so many fish in the lake swimming right where we were. The shore was so steep so it was pretty interesting when I fell asleep and legitimately started snoring. Whatever, I got like no sleep the night before. We headed back to the camp earlier than the day before becuase we didn't want to be cooking in the dark again. When we got back, I did less of the cooking and more of the tent setting up. Looking back, I probably should have participated in the cooking a little more because we ate the most overcooked pasta I have ever had in my life. It was borderline nasty. But, looking back to Hab4Hum'05, beggers can't be choosers. We drank a little more goon and sat on the beach, and luckily had no more experiences with dingoes. We did see other wildlife--WHALES! It was so cool! We saw humpback whales breaching. It was pretty far out so we couldn't see it too well, but they were definitely there. Jackie and I were sitting on the dune and Gina was standing near the water collecting shells. I yelled to Gina to try to get her to turn around and see the whales but she just got really concerned when she heard me yelling to her. She wouldn't turn around. Later she told me that she thought there was like a dingo about to attack her. Oops. Once again, we went to bed pretty early because we had to wake up early, and there wasn't really anything to do.
On Sunday we packed up the tents and headed all the way down to the tip of the island to Iron Head Rock. We climbed up to the top and from there we could see a bunch of dolphins and more whales. There was a huge school of fish moving around the shallow water around the rocks. The water was absolutely beautiful. After a bunch of pictures, we decided to go on our merry way. We had a few options for the rest of the day until we had to go back to the ferry. We decided to go back to Lake Makenzie for the rest of the day. We just hung out there until it was time to go back to the ferry, pretty much the perfect way to end our trip to Fraser Island.
Throughout this entire trip, we had some interesting experiences with the couple and the Japanese girls. First, the couple asked for the own personal tent and a double sleeping bag. Seriously? The tents took up so much space in the cars, there was no way we were getting another one. The guy at the hostel actually laughed at them when they asked that. The German guy always wanted to drive and it was incredibly uncomfortable when he did. It was very bumpy and we got airborn a few times in the back. We were really only comfortable with Matt driving, mainly because he was used to the whole, driving on the left side of the road thing. It was very amusing. The whole trip was a really good time.
When we got back to the hostel at Hervey Bay we were all really hungry so we decided to get dinner at this Irish pub a few blocks away. We ordered at the bar and then they gave you a little sign to put on your table. A lot of restaurants around here do that but most just have numbers on the sign. At this Irish pub, they had county names on the signs. I was hoping to get County Kerry in honor of a certain someone but we didn't. Sadness. We got County Waterford. That's not really important at all. Once again, we got to bed pretty early because we had a 5am bus back to Maryborough West and then the train back to Brisbane.
But, that's for another day and another post. Until then...
Cheers.
To start off with:
Dingo = deceivingly adorable wild dog
Goon = boxed wine
Anyway, I traveled with Gina and our friend Jackie who goes to Wollongong University here in Australia. Our adventure started off a little rocky to say the least. We had plans to fly to Brisbane on Sept 24th then take a train to Maryborough then a bus to Hervey Bay where our first hostel was. The plans were solid with plenty of time between each transfer. So we got up at about 4am on the 24th (which was pretty rough since I was still recovering from a somewhat crazy 21st birthday, but I won't go into that here...) and we took the train to the airport only to find out that our flight to Brisbane was cancelled because of the dust storm.
Let me do a little side note about that dust storm. It was easily the most insane thing I have ever seen. From my apartment, I can see the Sydney Harbor, bridge, and opera house. Well, I can normally see them. But during the dust storm, everything was red/orange. We couldn't see the city. Dust from the Outback had actually blown all the way onto the east coast. It was apparently the biggest dust storm in like 70 years. Glad I got to see it, not so happy it messed up my travel plans, to say it nicely.
So, going back... Our flight got rerouted to Gold Coast (where we were planning on spending the second half of our break, but I will talk about in another post). Then we got on a bus to Brisbane (about an hour and a half). The train station was right outside the airport and right as we got there, of course, the train pulled out and left the station. Wonderful. So after a lot of discussion, we ended up taking the next train to Maryborough West but then we found out that there was no bus to Hervey Bay. So, we were in Maryborough West, essentially the middle of nowhere, for a few more hours until the next bus came. By the time we got to our hostel it was past 9pm. We left our apartment at like 4:30am. Talk about a long day of traveling. But we finally got there, so it was ok.
We got up early the next day for a meeting at the hostel. We were leaving from Hervey Bay to go to Fraser Island and go camping. At the meeting we got split into groups of 10 and Gina, Jackie and I were in quite the eccentric group. We had an awesome English guy, Matt, who was the only one we trusted with driving, three Japanese girls whose English was VERY limited, a German couple (simply referred to as "the couple") and a random Swiss guy who happened to speak German. First we went grocery shopping for the 3 days we were going to be camping. They gave us the option of getting this meat package with steaks, sausage, mince (ground beef), something I didn't recognize and therefore didn't eat, and lunch meat. (Most of that honestly went to waste). We got the basics, like bread and peanut butter, pasta, I don't really remember what else. The couple put long-life milk into our group basket. Seriously? Who drinks long-life milk? I think I can go 3 days without milk. And they got a shit ton of it. She also got "meat spread" which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It was ham and chicken ground up and put in one of those tubes (like the ones that slice and bake cookies are in) and you just open it and spread it on bread. I'm close to vomiting while writing about it, sorry. The Japanese girls got SO many snacks, chips, candy, cookies, etc; they were eating the whole time and it was annoying because we didn't have much room in the car. But it could have been worse. Anyway, after that adventure, we went over to this garage and loaded up the 4WD car with tents, sleeping bags, food, cooking equipment, random other camping stuff, etc. And then off to the ferry to Fraser Island.
Let me tell you a little bit about Fraser Island from an environmental background. It is one of the biggest sand islands in the world. Seriously, it is just sand. It is on the World Heritage List and after being there and a few other World Heritage places I have made it my life goal to go to as many as possible. The only method of transportation on the island is 4WD because of the loose sand. There are a bunch of beautiful fresh water lakes all over the island, and it is chock full of dingoes.
We had a pretty strict itinerary for the three days because our travel depended on the tide times. Driving through salt water was not an option and you could go significantly faster on the hard sand on the coast than the inland loose trails. The first day we got there we went to Lake Makenzie, an absolutely georgous freshwater lake.
That's me lounging in the lake. The water was such a perfect temperature, especially since it was really hot. We stayed there the entire day (which wasn't that long after we actually got to the island and then found the lake). We decided to leave before it was going to get too dark so we could set up camp and cook dinner.The first night I didn't do as much setting up the tents as I did cooking dinner. But, we kind of started too late so we were cooking when it was really dark. Very difficult. But ultimately we succeeded and got to eat. After dinner, Gina, Jackie and I sat on the dune behind our camp and drank some goon and just enjoyed the beauty of the island. The three of us got up for a little and mistakenly left our cups out and when I turned around to go back there was a dingo drinking out of one of the cups! Basically I yelped because I was pretty terrified, more out of surprise than anything else. We didn't stay up much longer because the next day was starting pretty early.
We had to get up at like 6am on Saturday because of the tide times. It wasn't that difficult because the tents got real hot real early. We packed up the tents and the cars and started the day. First we drove down to the Maheno shipwreck and walked around for a little. We didn't really stay there too long because honestly, there wasn't too much there but some rusty metal. Then we headed to Lake Wabby. It was quite the hike there, and all sand. I was pretty exhausted by the time we got to the lake. The swim was very refreshing. The lake definitely wasn't as nice as Lake Makenzie, but it was definitely really cool still. There were so many fish in the lake swimming right where we were. The shore was so steep so it was pretty interesting when I fell asleep and legitimately started snoring. Whatever, I got like no sleep the night before. We headed back to the camp earlier than the day before becuase we didn't want to be cooking in the dark again. When we got back, I did less of the cooking and more of the tent setting up. Looking back, I probably should have participated in the cooking a little more because we ate the most overcooked pasta I have ever had in my life. It was borderline nasty. But, looking back to Hab4Hum'05, beggers can't be choosers. We drank a little more goon and sat on the beach, and luckily had no more experiences with dingoes. We did see other wildlife--WHALES! It was so cool! We saw humpback whales breaching. It was pretty far out so we couldn't see it too well, but they were definitely there. Jackie and I were sitting on the dune and Gina was standing near the water collecting shells. I yelled to Gina to try to get her to turn around and see the whales but she just got really concerned when she heard me yelling to her. She wouldn't turn around. Later she told me that she thought there was like a dingo about to attack her. Oops. Once again, we went to bed pretty early because we had to wake up early, and there wasn't really anything to do.
On Sunday we packed up the tents and headed all the way down to the tip of the island to Iron Head Rock. We climbed up to the top and from there we could see a bunch of dolphins and more whales. There was a huge school of fish moving around the shallow water around the rocks. The water was absolutely beautiful. After a bunch of pictures, we decided to go on our merry way. We had a few options for the rest of the day until we had to go back to the ferry. We decided to go back to Lake Makenzie for the rest of the day. We just hung out there until it was time to go back to the ferry, pretty much the perfect way to end our trip to Fraser Island.
Throughout this entire trip, we had some interesting experiences with the couple and the Japanese girls. First, the couple asked for the own personal tent and a double sleeping bag. Seriously? The tents took up so much space in the cars, there was no way we were getting another one. The guy at the hostel actually laughed at them when they asked that. The German guy always wanted to drive and it was incredibly uncomfortable when he did. It was very bumpy and we got airborn a few times in the back. We were really only comfortable with Matt driving, mainly because he was used to the whole, driving on the left side of the road thing. It was very amusing. The whole trip was a really good time.
When we got back to the hostel at Hervey Bay we were all really hungry so we decided to get dinner at this Irish pub a few blocks away. We ordered at the bar and then they gave you a little sign to put on your table. A lot of restaurants around here do that but most just have numbers on the sign. At this Irish pub, they had county names on the signs. I was hoping to get County Kerry in honor of a certain someone but we didn't. Sadness. We got County Waterford. That's not really important at all. Once again, we got to bed pretty early because we had a 5am bus back to Maryborough West and then the train back to Brisbane.
But, that's for another day and another post. Until then...
Cheers.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Things still left to do/places to go...
...because my dad wants to know.
Sydney Food Festival
Sydney Latin Festival
Go to the planetarium
Manly Beach
Coast walk
Surfing
New Zealand
The Outback (no, not the restaurant)
Paddington Market
Paddy's Market
Blue Mountains
(ew) schoolwork
Pancakes on the Rocks
That's all I can think of right now. 7 weeks left to complete that list. Wish me luck.
More updates later about my holiday in Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, Brisbane, and Surfers Paradise.
Sydney Food Festival
Sydney Latin Festival
Go to the planetarium
Manly Beach
Coast walk
Surfing
New Zealand
The Outback (no, not the restaurant)
Paddington Market
Paddy's Market
Blue Mountains
(ew) schoolwork
Pancakes on the Rocks
That's all I can think of right now. 7 weeks left to complete that list. Wish me luck.
More updates later about my holiday in Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, Brisbane, and Surfers Paradise.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Jackie's kind of trip: Newcastle
I dedicate this post to the one and only Jackie Dolan. The past trips I have been on required airplane travel, my favorite. However, to get to Newcastle I got to spent 2 hours on the train traveling through Australia. Although the train tracks have not been Jackie's friend, she LOVES trains. So, this one's for you Jackie.
The weekend after getting back from Townsville I went to Newcastle with Ean, Jeff, and Chris (all from UMD). Saturday had somewhat of a rocky start because the guys almost left without me. Although we discussed this the night before, Ean thought I had said I wasn't coming. I guess it probably wasn't the best idea discussing it after a night at the Golden Sheaf... But I caught up with them at the train and the day went on as planned.
Surprisingly I totally relinquished the reigns on this trip--I planned nothing. Jeff did most of the "planning" which was "lets just go where the wind takes us." At least we had a place to stay. We got to the YHA hostel and it was BEAUTIFUL. I was so surprised. It looked like an old Victorian house. We checked into our room and not only were the rooms just as nice (compared to other hostels that is) but the bathrooms were really nice too. After settling in we decided to just walk around the beach and the city. We climbed up some of the cliffs at the beach and got a great view of Newcastle. We didn't really go onto the beach or into the water because the guys all wore sneakers. Not so much the sandal type I guess. So we roamed into the suburbs of Newcastle and they were incredible. The houses were so cute, with stained glass windows and beautiful flowers all over. Some had amazing wrought iron gates and balconies that just gave them this old charm. Definitely a type of place I would love to live. The suburbs were surprisingly hilly so the walk was kind of tiring but it was definitely worth it. I wanted to keep going but Newcastle isn't that big; I don't think there was that much more to see. When we were roaming through the city we passed an antique store and saw some awesome stuff. Jeff really wanted to get this Tooheys cooler, like the Gatorade coolers with the tap. It was really sweet but definitely would be pretty difficult to get home. There was a bunch of Aussie beer paraphernalia that was really cool but I decided to pass up on that. We found this little pub for dinner that I think was called Frog in a Sock but I don't remember now (a side effect of waiting so long to post) and I can't find it online anywhere. We had a few drinks and then headed back to the hostel to get ready for the night.
Greg and Pat (UMD and Cornell, they live with the rest of the guys) came to Newcastle the day before and were staying at the same hostel so they came over to our room to pregame with some goon (boxed wine) and talk about our plans for the night. There were a bunch of clubs that Jeff's brother told us about (he studied here in college) so we decided to check them out. The line for one of the bars was insane, one of them didn't exist anymore, but the last one we went to was pretty fun until the very end. Cliff notes version: Chris got yelled at for being American and because some random Aussie thought that Obama sucked. This almost ended in a big fight but luckily the guys I was with are rational enough to know that fights = being deported. So to say the least we went back to the hostel and called it a night.
The next day we got up and met up with Greg and Pat and went to the beach again. Everyone was going to leave in the late afternoon but I decided to stay an extra night by myself. There were a bunch of stores and apparently good shopping so I wanted to spend some time walking around there. But anyway, we all walked down to the beach and did some of the same trails that we did the day before. We walked over to the lighthouse and it was not as exciting as we thought it was going to be. There were a ton of dogs in the area though which was pretty cool. Also, I was a pretty big nerd a saw a bunch of beach mitigation efforts in the area that made me happy. I won't go on any further because I will bore people. We also decided to walk down to Bogie Hole, this ocean water pool. Getting down there was pretty interesting because the steps were really slippery and there wasn't much to grab on to. Ean ended up wiping out and luckily I did not go through with my first reaction to try to catch him because that would have ended in me falling as well. We went out onto the rocks and pretty much as soon as we were talking about how high the waves could get on the rocks I got hit with a lot of water. It felt pretty amazing though because it was hot. After that we walked up to Fort Scratchly. It was interesting to see how Newcastle was important during WWII. One guy at the fort offered to take us on a tour but it was about an hour long and we weren't too into that. So, we just walked around on our own for a little bit and mainly just sat at the top of the fort looking out on the beach and the harbor. We headed back down and Ean, Jeff, and Chris decided to catch the train and head back to Sydney. I stuck around with Pat, Greg, and their friend Katie from England. She had come along with us throughout the day's adventures. We spent the rest of the day laying out on the beach but I forgot both a towel and a bathing suit so it wasn't as fun as I would have liked. The water was beautiful and I would have loved to go in. But I just napped on the sand, probably my new favorite pastime. A few hours later we all headed back to the hostel and Pat and Greg picked up their bags and left for Sydney. Katie and I made plans to meet up later that night to go to the free dinner at the hostel. So I got ready and a few hours later headed down to the lobby to meet up with the big group going to dinner.
The restaurant was quite interesting. There was an open mic going on and the first guy was TERRIBLE. It was legitimately painful. Unfortunately there were only a few better than he was. But it was still a lot of fun talking to other people who were staying in the hostel. I learned that Katie had been traveling around Australia for the past year and she was going back to England a few days after we met. I met a Kiwi, Mark, who told me some stuff to do when I go to New Zealand (trip is finally booked!) I talked to a few Germans, although the language barrier was a little rough, and a few Swedish girls who were my new roommates in the hostel. Katie and I shared a few jugs (pitchers) and then went over to the beach with a few other people in the hostel who were from England. One of them was hysterical because I could not understand a word he was saying. But some of the other English guys told me they don't even understand him sometimes, so I didn't feel as bad. Conversation was amusing because there are so many different words that just can't translate, even though we speak the same language. One guy was telling a story and he called a guy something that I had never heard before and I asked him what that was and he tried to describe it using a bunch of other words that I had never heard before. Finally one of the English guys said it's like the same as calling someone a "hick" and clearly that I understand. So we just sat on the beach and drank some goon and chatted about traveling, school, and so many other things. Throughout our trip Jeff kept pointing out the barges that just sat out in the harbor. None of them were moving and we were all joking around that they were cardboard cutouts in the scenery of the water. I discovered through talking to the English guys that those were coal barges. I should have known that because Newcastle is the biggest coal exporter in Australia and apparently those bargest can queue in the harbor for months waiting for a shipment. It was pretty interesting. Later in the night some little teenagers egged us putting a total damper on the night so after the English guys confronted them we decided to just call it a night and head back to the hostel. We tried to watch a movie but most of the ones they had were on VHS. We tried to watch Hook but the VHS player ended up not really working, buzzkill number 2. But we stayed up talking for a while after that. I love talking to people from other places, other cultures, other backgrounds. It's starting to give me a greater perspective on things, definitely something I hoped would happen from traveling but I wasn't sure if I would be successful. I'm definitely getting there...
So on Monday I got up early, checked out and started to roam around Newcastle. I started by walking down Hunter St, an outdoor mall a few minutes walk from the hostel. It reminded me of the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville. I got breakky at this little cafe with an amazing cup of coffee. I was people watching for a little while and then I decided to go shopping a little. Since my birthday was coming up, I wanted to get a cute new dress or outfit or something. On Hunter St I found a few things but nothing that I loved. So I walked up to Darby St which is the main shopping area in Newcastle. I looked through a few stores and discovered that it was slightly out of my price range but it was still fun roaming around. There is such different fashion here that honestly, I wouldn't even know where to start with shopping. I figured I would wait to get back to Sydney to find something for the big 2-1. I stopped at a little cafe on Darby St and got a piece of amazing chocolate cake and another cup of coffee and continued to people watch. It was really nice and really relaxing. A little while later I decided I didn't have anything else to do and I decided to head back to the train station and then back to Sydney. But of course, my luck, right as I got to the train station the train pulled out. So, I had another hour to wait for the next one. Pretty boring but maybe I should start looking at schedules before I travel places...
Overall it was a really successful trip. I'm very happy I stayed in Newcastle an extra day. It's a beautiful city that I really enjoyed.
Two updates in one day, I'm spoiling my readers! And, check out my pictures on Snapfish. The link is posted in the sidebar. All this got updated because, well, it was not sunny in Australia today...
The weekend after getting back from Townsville I went to Newcastle with Ean, Jeff, and Chris (all from UMD). Saturday had somewhat of a rocky start because the guys almost left without me. Although we discussed this the night before, Ean thought I had said I wasn't coming. I guess it probably wasn't the best idea discussing it after a night at the Golden Sheaf... But I caught up with them at the train and the day went on as planned.
Surprisingly I totally relinquished the reigns on this trip--I planned nothing. Jeff did most of the "planning" which was "lets just go where the wind takes us." At least we had a place to stay. We got to the YHA hostel and it was BEAUTIFUL. I was so surprised. It looked like an old Victorian house. We checked into our room and not only were the rooms just as nice (compared to other hostels that is) but the bathrooms were really nice too. After settling in we decided to just walk around the beach and the city. We climbed up some of the cliffs at the beach and got a great view of Newcastle. We didn't really go onto the beach or into the water because the guys all wore sneakers. Not so much the sandal type I guess. So we roamed into the suburbs of Newcastle and they were incredible. The houses were so cute, with stained glass windows and beautiful flowers all over. Some had amazing wrought iron gates and balconies that just gave them this old charm. Definitely a type of place I would love to live. The suburbs were surprisingly hilly so the walk was kind of tiring but it was definitely worth it. I wanted to keep going but Newcastle isn't that big; I don't think there was that much more to see. When we were roaming through the city we passed an antique store and saw some awesome stuff. Jeff really wanted to get this Tooheys cooler, like the Gatorade coolers with the tap. It was really sweet but definitely would be pretty difficult to get home. There was a bunch of Aussie beer paraphernalia that was really cool but I decided to pass up on that. We found this little pub for dinner that I think was called Frog in a Sock but I don't remember now (a side effect of waiting so long to post) and I can't find it online anywhere. We had a few drinks and then headed back to the hostel to get ready for the night.
Greg and Pat (UMD and Cornell, they live with the rest of the guys) came to Newcastle the day before and were staying at the same hostel so they came over to our room to pregame with some goon (boxed wine) and talk about our plans for the night. There were a bunch of clubs that Jeff's brother told us about (he studied here in college) so we decided to check them out. The line for one of the bars was insane, one of them didn't exist anymore, but the last one we went to was pretty fun until the very end. Cliff notes version: Chris got yelled at for being American and because some random Aussie thought that Obama sucked. This almost ended in a big fight but luckily the guys I was with are rational enough to know that fights = being deported. So to say the least we went back to the hostel and called it a night.
The next day we got up and met up with Greg and Pat and went to the beach again. Everyone was going to leave in the late afternoon but I decided to stay an extra night by myself. There were a bunch of stores and apparently good shopping so I wanted to spend some time walking around there. But anyway, we all walked down to the beach and did some of the same trails that we did the day before. We walked over to the lighthouse and it was not as exciting as we thought it was going to be. There were a ton of dogs in the area though which was pretty cool. Also, I was a pretty big nerd a saw a bunch of beach mitigation efforts in the area that made me happy. I won't go on any further because I will bore people. We also decided to walk down to Bogie Hole, this ocean water pool. Getting down there was pretty interesting because the steps were really slippery and there wasn't much to grab on to. Ean ended up wiping out and luckily I did not go through with my first reaction to try to catch him because that would have ended in me falling as well. We went out onto the rocks and pretty much as soon as we were talking about how high the waves could get on the rocks I got hit with a lot of water. It felt pretty amazing though because it was hot. After that we walked up to Fort Scratchly. It was interesting to see how Newcastle was important during WWII. One guy at the fort offered to take us on a tour but it was about an hour long and we weren't too into that. So, we just walked around on our own for a little bit and mainly just sat at the top of the fort looking out on the beach and the harbor. We headed back down and Ean, Jeff, and Chris decided to catch the train and head back to Sydney. I stuck around with Pat, Greg, and their friend Katie from England. She had come along with us throughout the day's adventures. We spent the rest of the day laying out on the beach but I forgot both a towel and a bathing suit so it wasn't as fun as I would have liked. The water was beautiful and I would have loved to go in. But I just napped on the sand, probably my new favorite pastime. A few hours later we all headed back to the hostel and Pat and Greg picked up their bags and left for Sydney. Katie and I made plans to meet up later that night to go to the free dinner at the hostel. So I got ready and a few hours later headed down to the lobby to meet up with the big group going to dinner.
The restaurant was quite interesting. There was an open mic going on and the first guy was TERRIBLE. It was legitimately painful. Unfortunately there were only a few better than he was. But it was still a lot of fun talking to other people who were staying in the hostel. I learned that Katie had been traveling around Australia for the past year and she was going back to England a few days after we met. I met a Kiwi, Mark, who told me some stuff to do when I go to New Zealand (trip is finally booked!) I talked to a few Germans, although the language barrier was a little rough, and a few Swedish girls who were my new roommates in the hostel. Katie and I shared a few jugs (pitchers) and then went over to the beach with a few other people in the hostel who were from England. One of them was hysterical because I could not understand a word he was saying. But some of the other English guys told me they don't even understand him sometimes, so I didn't feel as bad. Conversation was amusing because there are so many different words that just can't translate, even though we speak the same language. One guy was telling a story and he called a guy something that I had never heard before and I asked him what that was and he tried to describe it using a bunch of other words that I had never heard before. Finally one of the English guys said it's like the same as calling someone a "hick" and clearly that I understand. So we just sat on the beach and drank some goon and chatted about traveling, school, and so many other things. Throughout our trip Jeff kept pointing out the barges that just sat out in the harbor. None of them were moving and we were all joking around that they were cardboard cutouts in the scenery of the water. I discovered through talking to the English guys that those were coal barges. I should have known that because Newcastle is the biggest coal exporter in Australia and apparently those bargest can queue in the harbor for months waiting for a shipment. It was pretty interesting. Later in the night some little teenagers egged us putting a total damper on the night so after the English guys confronted them we decided to just call it a night and head back to the hostel. We tried to watch a movie but most of the ones they had were on VHS. We tried to watch Hook but the VHS player ended up not really working, buzzkill number 2. But we stayed up talking for a while after that. I love talking to people from other places, other cultures, other backgrounds. It's starting to give me a greater perspective on things, definitely something I hoped would happen from traveling but I wasn't sure if I would be successful. I'm definitely getting there...
So on Monday I got up early, checked out and started to roam around Newcastle. I started by walking down Hunter St, an outdoor mall a few minutes walk from the hostel. It reminded me of the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville. I got breakky at this little cafe with an amazing cup of coffee. I was people watching for a little while and then I decided to go shopping a little. Since my birthday was coming up, I wanted to get a cute new dress or outfit or something. On Hunter St I found a few things but nothing that I loved. So I walked up to Darby St which is the main shopping area in Newcastle. I looked through a few stores and discovered that it was slightly out of my price range but it was still fun roaming around. There is such different fashion here that honestly, I wouldn't even know where to start with shopping. I figured I would wait to get back to Sydney to find something for the big 2-1. I stopped at a little cafe on Darby St and got a piece of amazing chocolate cake and another cup of coffee and continued to people watch. It was really nice and really relaxing. A little while later I decided I didn't have anything else to do and I decided to head back to the train station and then back to Sydney. But of course, my luck, right as I got to the train station the train pulled out. So, I had another hour to wait for the next one. Pretty boring but maybe I should start looking at schedules before I travel places...
Overall it was a really successful trip. I'm very happy I stayed in Newcastle an extra day. It's a beautiful city that I really enjoyed.
Two updates in one day, I'm spoiling my readers! And, check out my pictures on Snapfish. The link is posted in the sidebar. All this got updated because, well, it was not sunny in Australia today...
Environmentalists should be outdoorsy: Townsville and Maggie Island
Ok, I know, I'm slacking off with this blog. I have a long list of things to write about so I better get started...
I got back from Melbourne on August 31st and I was back on a plane to Townsville on the September 3rd to visit my friend Ken from Wantagh (it's ok, he didn't go to Wantagh High School, he went to Chaminade.) He is also in the Study Australia program but goes to James Cook Uni. My flight was at 6am and my roommates were very surprised that I made it. Those who have lived with me know I hate mornings, especially when the night before ended not long before I had to wake up (sorry Mom). But the flight was about 3 hours so I got to sleep a little. Ken's friends had to pick up a rental car at the airport at the same time my flight was getting in so it was really convenient for me. However, as soon as I got to the airport I dropped my phone in the toilet leaving it incapacitated. This was extremely inconvenient because I had no idea where I was supposed to meet up with Ken and his friends. After roaming around for a little I found them and we were on our merry way back to campus. It was very interesting being in a car with someone who was driving on the left side of the road for the first time, and it was even more interesting hearing a GPS with an Aussie accent. I want one, even though I don't drive.
Anyway, we got back to campus in time for lunch (can I admit to almost missing the dining hall?) and then we played Wii until Ken had to go to class. Not surprisingly, I still suck at Wii. Ken went to class and instead of spending my time perfecting my Wii table tennis moves I decided to take a nap because I was still sleep deprived. One of Ken's roommates had quite the booming voice so when he came back to the apartment I was quickly awoken, which probably wasn't a bad thing. So I decided to be social and hang out with Ken's roommates and friends before he got back from class. While talking to them I realized one thing that I am definitely missing living in Bondi Junction with a bunch of Americans--I feel like I have a very limited Australian connection. I simply don't know many Aussies. It's unfortunate but I don't really know how to remedy that. So moving on, we watched some footie and then got some dinner and just hung out some more before going to Uni Club for the night's festivities. They had $2 rails so I ordered cranberry vodka, pretty foolproof I think, and they didn't have any cranberry juice. Seriously? Ok, not that big of a deal but I was still surprised. I got to see my friend Megan at the Uni Club too which was pretty cool. She is in the Study Australia program also and all three of us did the pre-semester trip to Hamilton Island and Cairns.
On Friday we got up pretty early, had brekky, and then got on the ferry to Magnetic Island (Maggie Island). I had my first outdoorsy experience; I actually went camping for the first time. I set up my own tent and everything (ok, with a little help). We were both pretty hungry so we decided to venture out and find someplace to get lunch. We stumbled upon the Fat Possum Cafe which was just a homey little short-order restaurant. After lunch we walked back to the hostel but instead of walking on the main street we decided to walk down the Esplanade. I saw a sign that completely summed up the feeling in the area:
The sand was so white and the water was so clear. When we got back to the hostel we just hung out on the beach before the Full Moon Party--basically the reason why we went to Maggie Island. I'm sure completely sure of the history behind the Full Moon Party but apparently it started in Thailand and a bunch of places have adopted it. Maggie Island is one of those places. It was a lot of fun, but it was just like any other club/bar. And then this random came up to us with neon green paint and brushed paint on my legs and arms. I was too confused to actually do anything about it. Ultimately the paint got on my Rainbows and it is still there even almost a month later. I guess it's not too big of a deal, my Rainbows are completely shot. So I ended up being pretty lame and falling asleep not long after midnight and had one of the worst sleeps in my life. Hard ground, no padding, no blanket... not so fun. It was so cold at night and then I woke up before 6am because it got so hot. I definitely didn't want to sleep late though so I wasn't upset about that.
On Saturday we started our day once again with the Fat Possum Cafe. I got awesome pancakes that were smothered in maple syrup and it made me miss pancake nights at the Hank residence (can we bring that back?) We were planning on doing the Forts walk--basically a nature hike through an old fort but we missed the bus and we would have had to wait another 45-ish minutes for the next one so we just decided to hang out on the beach. No too shabby of a concession. There was this random dog on the beach that grew very fond of Ken. He would follow Ken into the water and whine when no one would play. The dog, who we named Buddy for lack of anything else, developed the most interesting game. He would get a piece of wood and put it right between himself and Ken. Then it was like quickdraw to grab the stick. Buddy would lift his front paw in like a strike pose. But, he did not do fetch well. Quite an interesting dog. There were a bunch of dead-looking people on the beach probably from the craziness that was the night before and we were slightly concerned for a while but they did eventually wake up. After spending a significant amount of time in the sun we decided to go hang out at the pool at the hostel and stake out two of the hammocks. I got one but Ken wasn't quick enough. He saw some people that he knew from JCU (his school) so he was talking to them while I fell asleep. I woke up about 2 hours later (oops...) and we decided to just eat dinner at the hostel bar instead of walking over to the Fat Possum again. We had a few drinks and hung out on the beach for the rest of the night.
We were planning on leaving Maggie Island at 3:30ish so we decided to get up early (though it wasn't much of a decision because the insane heat woke me up) and try to do the Forts walk. We got brekky at the hostel then got on a bus and headed up to the trail. The walk was amazing. Apparently it is a wild koala habitat but we didn't see any during our walk. We took a bunch of the side trails and climbed up a bunch of boulders that gave us incredible views of the island. Each time we got climbed higher and higher on the island and I felt more accomplished. It was one of the most fun things I've done here. We stayed at the top lookout point for a while just to relax because it was so hot. The walk back was a lot quicker than the walk up but when we were almost at the street we saw the bus pull away. Buzzkill. So we had to wait about 30 minutes for the next bus. I guess it could be worse. It was so beautiful up there I really couldn't complain. So we took the bus back to the hostel, got our bags, and walked back to the ferry to go back to Townsville. After a long ferry ride and bus ride back to campus I was very happy just to finally shower and relax. We hung out with his roommates and his friends and decided to watch Dexter (my new obsession) and some weird movie that I could not even pay attention to. Conveniently, the same people who picked me up at the airport needed to drop the rental car off at the airport before my flight. Pretty sweet that I never had to pay for a taxi. I got to the airport pretty early to I got to make a few phone calls to some friends from home which was like the cherry on top of an awesome trip. However, once I sat down on the plane I was so lucky to have an infant next to me. The dad just said to me "So, have you ever flown next to a baby before?" and laughed. Jackass. The baby didn't cry too much though so I guess that's good. Seriously, why do you need to travel when you have 1 year olds?
Anyway, that was my trip to Townsville and Maggie Island. Sorry it has taken me almost a month to share it. At the moment I am working on a Snapfish account so I can share pictures with those non-facebook folk (aka my parents and everyone they want to show). I'll post the site later.
I'm starting another post right after I publish this one so get excited!
I got back from Melbourne on August 31st and I was back on a plane to Townsville on the September 3rd to visit my friend Ken from Wantagh (it's ok, he didn't go to Wantagh High School, he went to Chaminade.) He is also in the Study Australia program but goes to James Cook Uni. My flight was at 6am and my roommates were very surprised that I made it. Those who have lived with me know I hate mornings, especially when the night before ended not long before I had to wake up (sorry Mom). But the flight was about 3 hours so I got to sleep a little. Ken's friends had to pick up a rental car at the airport at the same time my flight was getting in so it was really convenient for me. However, as soon as I got to the airport I dropped my phone in the toilet leaving it incapacitated. This was extremely inconvenient because I had no idea where I was supposed to meet up with Ken and his friends. After roaming around for a little I found them and we were on our merry way back to campus. It was very interesting being in a car with someone who was driving on the left side of the road for the first time, and it was even more interesting hearing a GPS with an Aussie accent. I want one, even though I don't drive.
Anyway, we got back to campus in time for lunch (can I admit to almost missing the dining hall?) and then we played Wii until Ken had to go to class. Not surprisingly, I still suck at Wii. Ken went to class and instead of spending my time perfecting my Wii table tennis moves I decided to take a nap because I was still sleep deprived. One of Ken's roommates had quite the booming voice so when he came back to the apartment I was quickly awoken, which probably wasn't a bad thing. So I decided to be social and hang out with Ken's roommates and friends before he got back from class. While talking to them I realized one thing that I am definitely missing living in Bondi Junction with a bunch of Americans--I feel like I have a very limited Australian connection. I simply don't know many Aussies. It's unfortunate but I don't really know how to remedy that. So moving on, we watched some footie and then got some dinner and just hung out some more before going to Uni Club for the night's festivities. They had $2 rails so I ordered cranberry vodka, pretty foolproof I think, and they didn't have any cranberry juice. Seriously? Ok, not that big of a deal but I was still surprised. I got to see my friend Megan at the Uni Club too which was pretty cool. She is in the Study Australia program also and all three of us did the pre-semester trip to Hamilton Island and Cairns.
On Friday we got up pretty early, had brekky, and then got on the ferry to Magnetic Island (Maggie Island). I had my first outdoorsy experience; I actually went camping for the first time. I set up my own tent and everything (ok, with a little help). We were both pretty hungry so we decided to venture out and find someplace to get lunch. We stumbled upon the Fat Possum Cafe which was just a homey little short-order restaurant. After lunch we walked back to the hostel but instead of walking on the main street we decided to walk down the Esplanade. I saw a sign that completely summed up the feeling in the area:
The sand was so white and the water was so clear. When we got back to the hostel we just hung out on the beach before the Full Moon Party--basically the reason why we went to Maggie Island. I'm sure completely sure of the history behind the Full Moon Party but apparently it started in Thailand and a bunch of places have adopted it. Maggie Island is one of those places. It was a lot of fun, but it was just like any other club/bar. And then this random came up to us with neon green paint and brushed paint on my legs and arms. I was too confused to actually do anything about it. Ultimately the paint got on my Rainbows and it is still there even almost a month later. I guess it's not too big of a deal, my Rainbows are completely shot. So I ended up being pretty lame and falling asleep not long after midnight and had one of the worst sleeps in my life. Hard ground, no padding, no blanket... not so fun. It was so cold at night and then I woke up before 6am because it got so hot. I definitely didn't want to sleep late though so I wasn't upset about that.
On Saturday we started our day once again with the Fat Possum Cafe. I got awesome pancakes that were smothered in maple syrup and it made me miss pancake nights at the Hank residence (can we bring that back?) We were planning on doing the Forts walk--basically a nature hike through an old fort but we missed the bus and we would have had to wait another 45-ish minutes for the next one so we just decided to hang out on the beach. No too shabby of a concession. There was this random dog on the beach that grew very fond of Ken. He would follow Ken into the water and whine when no one would play. The dog, who we named Buddy for lack of anything else, developed the most interesting game. He would get a piece of wood and put it right between himself and Ken. Then it was like quickdraw to grab the stick. Buddy would lift his front paw in like a strike pose. But, he did not do fetch well. Quite an interesting dog. There were a bunch of dead-looking people on the beach probably from the craziness that was the night before and we were slightly concerned for a while but they did eventually wake up. After spending a significant amount of time in the sun we decided to go hang out at the pool at the hostel and stake out two of the hammocks. I got one but Ken wasn't quick enough. He saw some people that he knew from JCU (his school) so he was talking to them while I fell asleep. I woke up about 2 hours later (oops...) and we decided to just eat dinner at the hostel bar instead of walking over to the Fat Possum again. We had a few drinks and hung out on the beach for the rest of the night.
We were planning on leaving Maggie Island at 3:30ish so we decided to get up early (though it wasn't much of a decision because the insane heat woke me up) and try to do the Forts walk. We got brekky at the hostel then got on a bus and headed up to the trail. The walk was amazing. Apparently it is a wild koala habitat but we didn't see any during our walk. We took a bunch of the side trails and climbed up a bunch of boulders that gave us incredible views of the island. Each time we got climbed higher and higher on the island and I felt more accomplished. It was one of the most fun things I've done here. We stayed at the top lookout point for a while just to relax because it was so hot. The walk back was a lot quicker than the walk up but when we were almost at the street we saw the bus pull away. Buzzkill. So we had to wait about 30 minutes for the next bus. I guess it could be worse. It was so beautiful up there I really couldn't complain. So we took the bus back to the hostel, got our bags, and walked back to the ferry to go back to Townsville. After a long ferry ride and bus ride back to campus I was very happy just to finally shower and relax. We hung out with his roommates and his friends and decided to watch Dexter (my new obsession) and some weird movie that I could not even pay attention to. Conveniently, the same people who picked me up at the airport needed to drop the rental car off at the airport before my flight. Pretty sweet that I never had to pay for a taxi. I got to the airport pretty early to I got to make a few phone calls to some friends from home which was like the cherry on top of an awesome trip. However, once I sat down on the plane I was so lucky to have an infant next to me. The dad just said to me "So, have you ever flown next to a baby before?" and laughed. Jackass. The baby didn't cry too much though so I guess that's good. Seriously, why do you need to travel when you have 1 year olds?
Anyway, that was my trip to Townsville and Maggie Island. Sorry it has taken me almost a month to share it. At the moment I am working on a Snapfish account so I can share pictures with those non-facebook folk (aka my parents and everyone they want to show). I'll post the site later.
I'm starting another post right after I publish this one so get excited!
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