Australia, Ahoy!

Home!

2005-08-09T02:44:00.000+10:00

Well, after around 33 hours of travel, I'm finally home. Got back yesterday at 4 pm and I'm still very jet-lagged.

At the end of a journal such as this, I think the best thing to do would be to sum up with expansive platitudes on my journey, possibly add in some poetic phrases, and maybe tie it up with a one-sentence line that would drive it home so that you'd sigh afterwards.

I don't think that's really possible. I'm not sure I'll ever understand how much this trip has changed me, how wonderful I've felt every day of this trip, how many amazing memories that I have that no one can even comprehend. I can't even imagine how I'll even make a scrapbook to encapsulate it. I already miss Australia and all my "classmates" (the term is used very loosely) so much that I can't even express it. I think it'll be a long time before I ever am able to wrap my mind around the experiences that I've been so blessed to have.

Anyway, I'm home. I've loaded the few pictures I have (100, all from Melbourne before my camera died) and I've unpacked. My digeridoo is leaning against the wall and I've rapidly realized that I'd rather keep all the gifts I've got for people rather than give them away. Seattle seems so inferior to Melbourne that I want to cry. American money seems foreign; driving on the right side of the road is cliche; northwestern birds aren't nearly loud enough.

Photos have been updated to my Webshots account: http://community.webshots.com/user/crispythepenguin

Well, I guess that's it. G'day.

Cairns in a Nutshell

2005-08-08T12:44:00.000+10:00

After Sydney I travelled up to Port Douglas, a small resort town outside of Cairns, with my family. I was excited until I saw all the rain. It was still around 70-80 degrees though.

Our hotel was actually outside of Port Douglas, so it was really isolated. I was kind of disappointed because there was only one bus into town that runs every hour. It was really frustrating because I wanted to explore Cairns and I wasn't able to.

On the first day we explored Port Douglas a little bit (it's a nice little town with shops, restaurants, and a bunch of pubs) and then Ryan (brother) and I went to the Rainforest Sanctuary. It was really expensive but it was worth it. There was a huge multi-level aviary with jabirus, brolgas, lorikeets, cockatoos, frogmouths, and even flying foxes. The other major exhibit was a huge walk-through kangaroo enclosure where we fed red and grey kangaroos, and parma and swamp wallabies. It was really cool because I ended up sitting with a mother kangaroo and feeding her while her joey looked at me from the pouch.

The second day was a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. It was really the only day that was sunny while we were in Cairns, so we were really lucky. We took a tour by Quicksilver which took us to an area where they have a large pontoon structure that allows for easy snorkeling and scuba. Ryan and I snorkeled for around two hours and also took a semi-submersible around the reef to see more. It was a cool experience though it was very crowded and I wasn't able to see a whole lot. Still, Cairns was worth it just to see the Reef.

The third day was spent in Port Douglas shopping. I finally got a digeridoo (yay!) and then relaxed for the rest of the day in the pool (though it was very cold).

Anyway, Cairns was pretty nice, though I wished I could've managed to have stayed closer to town so that I could have had more chances to see things.

Being in Manly

2005-08-02T17:13:00.000+10:00

Yesterday after Edith left Ryan, Derek, Jamie, and I went over to the Sydney Fish Market, a location that I'd heard a lot about from our professor. It turned out to be quite small and disappointing compared to Vic Market in Melbourne. We had lunch there and I got a Seafood Medley with barramundi, calamari, prawns, and baby octopus for $9.50. It was a good deal and delicious!

Then we went over to catch the ferry to Manly Beach. It's a funny name, I know, I took a picture of about every sign there that said "Manly." I also got a shirt that says "Manly Beach." The beach actually wasn't that fun and it was very cold, so we ended up just wandering around and looking at the shops before going back to the city center.

This morning, I got up really early to catch another ferry to Taronga Zoo with Ryan, Jamie, and Derek. I was very impressed by the layout and it's a very nice zoo (a step up from the Melbourne Zoo). Most of the zoo is laid out on a hill overlooking the bay so many exhibits have the ocean for a backdrop, which is really beautiful. We unfortunately are only about six days early for the opening of their new Elephant exhibit which will also have binturongs, langurs, gibbons, axis deer, and an aviary. We were kind of sad about that. But yeah, Taronga Zoo was very fun.

Derek is leaving tonight so we're very sad. Tonight is Jamie and Ryan's last night and my last night in Sydney. It's sad, but I'm pretty excited to see Cairns.

Attack of the Cockatoos

2005-08-01T10:45:00.000+10:00

So yesterday I got up late and missed eating breakfast with friends...it turned out that I was at the wrong cafe and needed to walk just one block and I would've found them. Oh well.

I later met Derek, Ryan, and Jamie at the Sydney Aquarium down on Darling Harbor (I refuse to spell it "harbour"). It was a really wonderful aquarium with a great platypus exhibit (both were active and I got a good picture) and a bunch of really cool reef exhibits. I was very impressed with the whole place except for the saltwater crocodile exhibit, which was really small and I swear the crocodile was fake (but you can never tell with reptiles). Anyway, it was a fun day and we spent awhile there.

Afterwards we had lunch and then explored The Rocks, an area where my hotel is located. It's a nice area and we went to their weekend market but didn't end up gettng anything (Vic Market is still the coolest in my book). We then went down to the Sydney Botanical Gardens which is located adjacent to the Opera House. I generally hate botanical gardens now (see my entry entitled "I Hate Caterpillar Man") but we had a good time anyway just walking around without a dumb tour guide. On our way back, we saw a huge flock of sulfur-crested cockatoos that were basically attacking a couple that were feeding the birds Ritz Crackers. It was hilarious. There were about 20 birds on them and as we looked around, there were about 100 more sitting in trees in about a one-block radius. It was kind of creepy. However, I really like cockatoos and they're so intelligent that it's really fun to interact with them, even on a superficial level.

We then tried to walk back to The Rocks to meet my parents for dinner. However, the gardens apparently had closed by that time so we were unable to get out. Every gate was locked and we thought about climbing over the fence but it was iron-wrought with very long spikes. Eventually we asked some guy and he directed us out, but it added to the feeling that botanical gardens suck.

By then, it was dark and we took pictures of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge lit up at night.

We met up with Edith and had dinner with my parents at a great Italian place called Caminetto's.

This morning, Edith left to go home so now it's just the four of us. Australia is slowly emptying out of UC students.

Sydney, Land of the Rude

2005-07-31T10:57:00.000+10:00

I'm in Sydney now and though I left my last entry ridiculously bare-boned, I don't really feel like updating that entry right now. So I'll tell you about Sydney.

Derek, Marie, Ryan, Jamie, Kim, and Edith were also flying to Sydney so we all made it here about 6 am yesterday morning. I met my parents at the hotel and then met the friends at the Sydney Opera House. It was absolutely amazing.

In Australia there are discounts called "Concession" for students and pensioners. We are usually able to squeeze our way into the "student" price because we happen to be college students (though that doesn't warrant a concession price). Anyway, I showed my UC Davis reg card to the lady when I bought my ticket (thus saving around $5) and she got really angry. She said that it didn't have an expiration date and that "this card may mean something at your school, but it doesn't mean anything in the big, wide world." It was so patronizing and only said because I was an American. After being berated for around five minutes, she decided to give me the concession price anyway. This was the beginning of what I've experienced as rudeness coming from most Sydneysiders. It's disappointing.

The tour itself was very nice though. We got to see the two main concert halls as well as one of the four smaller performing areas. The interior is just as spectacular as the exterior. I wanted to get a ticket to see an opera or a symphony but there aren't any that I really desperately want to see, and since the tickets are so expensive, I decided to forego such a purchase.

After the tour, Marie had to head to the airport as she was going home. It was sad.

Afterwards we went to lunch and then walked over the pedestrian walkway on the Harbor Bridge. We went over to see Luna Park which is frighteningly like Luna Park in Melbourne. Then we walked back over the bridge with an aim to see the Sydney Botanical Gardens, but instead we were so tired (a red-eye flight allowed for no sleeping) that we ended up stopping and watching a street performer. This guy was really crazy but kind of funny. I got pretty bored and was about to leave when he called Ryan up and asked him to perform. Ryan had to lay down while the street performer juggled knives on a bike around Ryan. It was funny, but then Ryan had to stay up there for the rest of the show and we all felt bad.

Last night we had dinner and then went to this brewery called Red Oak. They serve really expensive gourmet beer, so I tried a Vienna Lager and an Oatmeal Stout. They were both very delicious but we got so tired from the heavy beer and the long day without sleep that we went home to our respective hotels/hostels and slept.

This morning I was supposed to meet people to go to the Aquarium but my alarm clock was accidentally set on Darwin time so I missed them and now I don't know what to do. Not having a cell phone is really annoying me a lot.

Kakadu

2005-07-29T15:52:00.000+10:00

So I'm back here in Darwin after five amazing, exhausting days in Kakadu National Park. I'm at an Internet cafe right now so I don't really feel like writing a lot, plus it's almost impossible to really sum up how Kakadu has changed me, but let's try anyway (briefly).

After flying up from Melbourne, we had two days in Darwin by ourselves. At first, we were very excited because we never get free time, but we soon found out that Darwin is really, really boring. This "city" is about four blocks by six blocks with a couple stores, two Woolworths (Australia's Safeway), and a bunch of bars and restaurants. The Mirambeena Resort was quite nice though, and we had a good time swimming in the pool. However, Darwin turned out to be a real bummer.

On the third day, we drove up to Kakadu (a four hour bus ride that was lengthened by numerous stops). We visited several wildlife areas on the way, such as a marshland with magpie geese and other areas. I was really tired so I didn't really care a lot. We got into the Gagudju Cooinda Resort at around 5:30 exhausted and found that the resort in fact was not camping style as it was advertised, but actually offered real hotel rooms (towels, a shower, a maid service, etc) and a real restaurant. We were pretty excited.

The first full day in Kakadu was the most hellish. We got on the bus and went around nonstop to so many places that I can't remember. I was still pretty grumpy but we did end up seeing some amazing sights. We climbed a big mountain (big for Australia) and got a 360 degree uninterrupted view of outback Australia. We also saw countless Aboriginal works of rock art, which was really amazing.

The second day in Kakadu was the best. We went to this place called Gunlom which had a really nice waterfall. However, as we climbed to the top of the waterfall, we found that there were pools up in the mountain! It was the most amazing place I've ever been. We swam out to the edge and could be in the pool and still look for miles around in uninterrupted forest. It was truly amazing. We also found a huge canyon and swam the whole length of it until we were soaked by yet another waterfall. It was indescribably beautiful (and we have no pictures of it because no one could get a camera in there).

The third day in Kakadu was spent looking at a lot of different Aboriginal works of art, as well as visiting an Aboriginal school in Oen Pelli, an Aboriginal-owned property that doesn't allow tourists in. We also visited an Aboriginal craft center where I bought an authentic Aboriginal painting for $55. It was so awesome.

Yesterday we had our final and then were free for the rest of the day, so a bunch of us went swimming in the resort's pool and generally had a blast in the 90 degree weather. In the evening, we went on a sunset cruise through Yellow Waters, where we saw some huge saltwater crocodiles and a myriad of birdlife.

And now I'm here, waiting to go on my 1 am flight to Sydney with a bunch of new Australia friends. Alright, gotta go, Internet here is not cheap. :)

To the Outback!

2005-07-21T19:45:00.000+10:00

Today we had part one of our final (part two is in Kakadu). It was two essays in 90 minutes, one on "Remembering Babylon" (I highly suggest this book, it was amazing) and the other which required speculation on the existence of Australian culture. I actually spent almost the entire class time writing, which never usually happens. The essay questions were badly written though, so it took awhile to figure out what he wanted.

Then I got my third essay back and got an A+ on it. Yay, that's nice. I wish this was more of a real class though so I could be more proud of my A's.

Afterwards, we went down to say goodbye to my favorite place, Victoria Market. I had a spicy lamb borak for lunch which was delicious (and only AUD$2.50) and then we went souvenir shopping yet again (didn't find anything). I love Vic Market. Then I went to Best Buy to see if I could get a new camera battery (my camera died on me and I forgot to bring my charger, so I'm without a camera for the rest of the trip) but I couldn't find anything. Best Buy was so weird. It was tiny with about four TVs and a bunch of appliances. Ah, but I'm bummed that I don't have a camera anymore. Everyone else is sending each other pictures, and I might just go out and get a disposable camera. Oh well.

Tomorrow morning I'm flying to Darwin. I'm pretty excited to see a new place (and for the warm weather) but I will definitely miss Melbourne a lot. I probably won't have Internet access in Darwin (unless I find an Internet cafe) so I most likely will not be able to reply to emails or post to this thing for at least a week. There will probably be available Internet cafes in Sydney though, so once I get there I will hopefully have a little time to update this and such.

Wish me luck as I trek out into the outback! I hope the spiders aren't too scary.

I Feel So Cultured

2005-07-20T19:30:00.000+10:00

The play we went to last night, "Influence," was really good. I thought it was going to be weird since it was held in a fairly small theater and had a very modern set, but it actually was very realistic and really well done. I was also afraid that I wouldn't understand the dialogue (Australian accents can often be very difficult to comprehend) but luckily everything was very clearly spoken. The play was about a radio commentator who's attempts to be controversial causes his family to spiral out of control. It was really well done (and had plenty of America-bashing, something that I've increasingly noticed here in Melbourne).

After class today we had a field trip to the Victoria Gallery where we saw their Aboriginal and Australian art collection. I didn't think I'd like it (I contemplated staying home and sleeping) but I actually ended up enjoying the gallery immensely. Some of the art pieces were amazing - one was a series of sardine cans that were cut in such a way that it looked as if trees were growing out of them. Another piece was an abstract cityscape of Melbourne at night except that the artist's technique included photographing downtown and then combining the pictures in Photoshop before then gridding out a canvas and painting the pieces. It was really cool.

Afterwards I went to sleep and started reading another book that we have to have read by tomorrow for our final. Tomorrow is our last day in Melbourne and I'm really sad about it. Hopefully we'll make it a busy but fun day, I want to soak up Melbourne as much as I can before I leave.

I Hate Caterpillar Man

2005-07-19T14:50:00.000+10:00

We're all frantic. Most of us are leaving Melbourne on Thursday night or Friday morning to go to Darwin and we're all frantic to see everything and go back to our favorite spots in Melbourne. It's busy this week.

Yesterday after class, Derek, Marie, Ryan, Jamie, and I went down to St. Kilda and had lunch at the best burger joint I've ever been to. I really didn't think Australia would serve much in the way of hamburgers (all the pizza I've had here has been awful) but we found a cool place called Gourmet Burgers Co and decided to try it out. I had a BBQ burger that had some kind of sweet chutney mixed in with the sauce. It was really good, even though my milkshake wasn't. Australians really have no idea what a milkshake is, because the one I had at GBC was basically chocolate milk. Other things Australians don't know how to do? Iced coffee. Iced coffee here has ICE CREAM in it (it's delicious but wrong!) Then there's the lack of Mexican food (which I never thought I'd miss but I do), the overuse of lamb in everything, the fact that we have to pay extra for ketchup (called tomato sauce), and that if you ask for lemonade, you'll get Sprite. Oh well, if that's my biggest complaint here, I'm still doing pretty well.

Anyway, after the burgers, we went down to the pier at St. Kilda and pretended that we were standing on the edge of the Antarctic Ocean (we're still not sure if we were, but let's say that I was recently at the edge of the world just for the drama of it). It actually turned out to be a semi-sunny day, though it was much too cold for me to get in the water. We looked for cool shells on the beach and took numerous pictures on the pier. St. Kilda was amazing and we picked out places where we'd live if we moved here.

After dinner, a bunch of us went to the Old Melbourne Gaol (they spell "jail" weird) for a night tour of it. The Gaol is abandoned and very old (it once held Ned Kelly) and is supposedly haunted, so a nighttime tour seemed cool. It turned out to be more of a show (an actor told us spooky stories over candlelight while someone else made banging noises in the dark) but it was still actually really scary, mostly because I was afraid someone was going to jump out of a cell behind me. It was a pretty cool place, especially after they turned the lights back on.

Afterwards we went to a comedy club in downtown Melbourne but the comedians were horrible, so we left and went to bed.

This morning we got up bright and early for a 7:30 am bird walk in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. A 7:30 meeting time meant that we had to leave at around 6:50 and take two trams. It was ugly. I was grumpy.

And the bird walk (just like the plant tour) was exceedingly boring. I really began to hate our tour guide with a passion. His weird mannerisms and odd sayings ("I saw a powerful owl here on Thursday night, we probably won't see one, but it was nice") really made me mad at 7:30 in the morning. I like birds and I don't even mind watching the sun rise (ugh, okay that's a lie), but I hate pompous old Australian tour guides that look kind of like caterpillars. He really did.

Afterwards, my spirits were lifted as Derek, Marie, Jamie, Ryan, and I went to my favorite place ever, the Victoria Market. We went souvenir shopping again and I found a couple digeridoos for under $70, but then Ryan said I shouldn't buy them because the funds weren't going to the Aborigines, and I should wait to buy one when we get to Kakadu. I acquiesed but I still think I can find an Aboriginal-made digeridoo at Vic Market somewhere. After shopping, Marie and I went to get the amazing pesto they make at a deli, so we bought that and some bread and salami to eat later (and it was amazing).

Tonight we're going to a play called "Influence." I don't know what it's about nor do I even know the playwright, but it should be interesting.

The End of Week 2

2005-07-17T19:22:00.000+10:00

Well, today is Sunday and the end of week 2. I'm half-way done with my studies here, and when I finish this essay that's due tomorrow morning, I'll be mostly done with the work. It's very weird to think about. I feel truly at home here in Melbourne and I can't imagine having to leave it and continue on. As much as I'm thrilled to experience Kakadu and eventually Sydney and Cairns, I really will miss Melbourne a lot.

However, I've got a full four days ahead of me in Melbourne, so hopefully I'll be able to cram everything in that I want to see.

Today Jamie, Ryan, Lexie, Mimi, and I went to Dandenong National Park, which is an area just outside a bunch of Melbourne suburbs. We took a commuter train from Flinders Street and passed an enormous number of neighborhoods. It seems like such a different lifestyle here, commuting in from your suburb on a train, then transferring to a tram while you're downtown. I like the idea of not having to drive to work and still being able to live outside of the city.

The park itself wasn't as spectacular as I had in mind. We were able to see mountain ash, which is a rare kind of eucalypt, and we also saw a flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos and a bunch of other small birds, but that was about it. It was nice to get out of the city and walk around in the forest with fun people.

The rest of the day has been spent napping (still sick) and reading so I can start work on this dang essay. Australia would be so much more fun if I didn't have to study!

More Vic and More Footy

2005-07-17T00:09:00.000+10:00

Today was pretty uneventful. I had a very late night again so I didn't want to get up early this morning, and fortunately, neither did anyone else.

After lunch, a bunch of us went to Victoria Market again to look for souvenirs. Vic Market is the cheapest place (supposedly) to get souvenirs, so we were all in for that. There were a ton of good deals and I really wanted to buy a digeridoo but I couldn't find one for under $100 and I'm really not willing to spend over $60. Unless it's really cool. Because who doesn't want a digeridoo? I know I'm being outrageous with what I'm willing to spend, but I am a poor college student and I really don't NEED a digeridoo, so I'm trying to convince myself that they are too expensive. Oh, but every time I see one, my heart beats just a little quicker.

I ended up buying an Australian flag for my room for $6, which is a really good deal since the cheapest I've found up till now was $14. Vic Market has some interesting "souvenirs" though. There were definitely way too many kangaroo hides and other horrible things made out of kangaroo parts (bottle openers, back-scratchers, wallets, etc). Ah, but Vic Market is my new favorite locale in Melbourne.

Afterwards we had dinner and then Jamie, Ryan, Derek, Lexie, Petul, and I went to another footy game (Melbourne Demons vs. Sydney Swans) at Telstra Dome. I feel like I understand more of Aussie Rules which makes me quite happy. It's definitely a very fun game to watch, but we ended up leaving after the 3rd quarter. The quarters are 26 minutes long but end up being around 30 minutes long, and with quarter and halftime breaks, the game gets quite long. Plus, despite Telstra being technically a "dome," there is nothing indoors about it, at least with regard to temperature.

The funniest part of the game was when the Demons came out. Each team has a fight song (just like high school), and the Demons' theme song is "You're A Grand Old Flag," except instead of singing "red, white, and blue," they sing, "red, and the blue" (because their team colors are red and blue). The six of us Americans started cracking up loudly when we heard the tune, but quickly quieted when everyone seemed to be listening to the song and/or singing along. This reminds me of when "Sweet Home Alabama" came on at a pub and was introduced as "that song from 'Forrest Gump.'" You know you're in Australia when...

A Day of Naps

2005-07-15T19:48:00.000+10:00

I'm still sick, ugh...

We had quite a late night last night but I was very happy today because I got to sleep in this morning, the first time since I got here! Today a bunch of us went to eat lunch at the Red Cafe which is a couple blocks away from I-House. There is nothing but residential areas by I-House so Red Cafe seemed kind of strange, but we went in and it ended up being really cheap and good. I had the Big Red Breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, mushrooms, ham, sausage, and toast. Mm, I had really missed breakfast since all we get here is cereal.

After that, I took a nap for a long time, then Jamie, Ryan, Derek, Lexie, Courtney, and I went to see "War of the Worlds." It was pretty good, though the ending wasn't. I looked to see if Australian movie theaters were any different from American ones, but I didn't see much. One thing was that they offer a discount to "Unemployed persons." Australian movie ads are funnier than American ones.

Yep, that was my day. I'm still sick so I'm going to go crash for awhile.

Fat Disneyland

2005-07-14T19:18:00.000+10:00

So I've said in previous entries (and in many conversations) that my mission in Melbourne is to eat my way through it. Today, I might have partially accomplished that mission.

This morning we had a tour of the Victoria Market, one of the biggest and most famous landmarks in Melbourne. It's a big outdoor-indoor market that has been around since the early 19th century and has two blocks worth of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, and a huge section of souvenirs, clothing, and gifts. We had a 7 am tour (meaning we had to leave at 6:30 am this morning) so that we could adequately see everything before 9 am class (Victoria Market also closes at around 2 pm, I think).

I was annoyed when we got there but was immediately excited when I saw the vast open-air vegetable and fruit area. There were so many interesting fruits from different parts of Southeast Asia, and everything was dirt cheap. It made me definitely long to have a kitchen so I could cook, which is crazy because I don't even know how. At that area, we got samples of fresh-squeezed fruit juice, and I was lucky enough to obtain one of the coveted watermelon juices. Mmm.

Next, we went into the huge meat section. The whole indoor area is cooled to -5 degrees Celsius every morning so that the meat can be transported and butchered anywhere in the building. They have these huge racks on the ceiling that can transport whole pigs and cows down the market. It was kind of gross. You can buy any kind of cut of meat, or in some cases, whole pigs or goats. We walked by a place that sold cow brains, stomach-linings, and ox hearts. Ew.

Then we got to the seafood area. We were told that this is where we got to sample something, but at first I wasn't sure what it could be since nothing was ready-made to eat. Then the seafood guy pulled out a big box of raw oysters and we were told to "dig in." I don't think I've ever had oysters before (I don't remember them if I did) and I'd definitely never had a raw one, but we all sucked them down. It was disgusting! It tasted like salt water and I swear there was a little bit of sand or something on mine. The texture was really slimy and chewy and I generally wanted to spit mine out, but I managed to choke it down.

Then we went back out to another fruit market where they specialize in more exotic fruits. We tried two different kinds of fresh mandarin oranges (I've had a lot of mandarins, but these were really excellent) and then a blood orange, which I've had before but was still very good. We then went back inside to an area that was historically the dairy but has since been turned into a ready-made food area with a lot of specialty food stores, still in a market-style atmosphere. We got fresh-baked bread and two kinds of spreads: tzatziki and pesto with feta. I basically couldn't stand up after the pesto - it was the most amazing pesto I've ever had! It was wonderful.

Then we went over to a sausage stand and were able to try crocodile sausage and spicy goat sausage. The crocodile tasted like a mixture between chicken and fish (which makes sense if you think about it) and I really enjoyed it. The goat sausage, though, was really amazing.

After that we went out to a coffee shop and got pastries and hot chocolate to clean the pallette and get the nasty oyster taste out of our mouths. Mmm, oysters at 7 am.

In class we watched "Gallipoli," which I fell asleep though and apparently snored loudly at one point. Marie had bought a starfruit and a mangosteen at the market so we shared those as we watched the film. Mmm.

After a long nap, Edith, Derek, Kim, and I went to Lygon Street to eat sushi for lunch. I've never seen tempura rolls or teriyaki chicken rolls in the states, but they seem to have a lot of those here, so I had a teriyaki roll, a crab roll, and a spicy prawn roll. Mmmm.

Then we went to Brunetti and I had a chocolate mousse with flaky white chocolate topping. It was amazing. Mmm again.

Afterwards, we went down to Melbourne Central, which is a really large mall that I wanted to continue to explore. I took another nap when we got back. I never get enough sleep here because of the late nights and the fact that we have to get up so early, so I take multiple naps throughout the day. It was funny though because today when my alarm went off at 6 pm, the parrots outside my window started copying the beeping noise. That's Australia right there.

And Melbourne is delicious.

What a Day...

2005-07-13T21:01:00.000+10:00

Today was a pretty frustrating day.

This morning we watched a really boring movie called "We of the Never Never." It was excrutiatingly boring with too many refrains of the same oboe line which was really distracting. I was also very tired and feeling sick and I didn't want to watch a movie, especially such a dull one. Needless to say, class was awful this morning.

After lunch, we went down to the Melbourne Botanical Gardens to learn about plants. I was kind of dreading the trip since plants aren't that interesting to me. We met a tour guide who talked way too much and meant well but really made the two-hour tour a tortuous one. It didn't help that it was rainy and cold.

Afterwards, Jamie, Derek, and I went to the Shrine of Remembrance, which honors the ANZAC (Australia/New Zealand Army Corps) veterans and enlistees from World War I. The Shrine was amazing. We climbed to the top of it and got a great view of downtown Melbourne. The inside was also beautiful. You walk in underneath a huge dome that has a small skylight cut into the top. Surrounding the walls are beautiful marble carvings of war scenes, and on the floor is a large marble plaque that has a quote that I can't remember, and now I feel bad. I took a picture of it though. Anyway, apparently on November 11 (Veterans' Day) at 11 am, the sun is at just the right angle that it flows into a crevice in the wall and encircles the word "love" on the floor of the shrine.

After a long (45 minute) tram ride back home, we had dinner and watched a film called "Rabbit-Proof Fence." It was seriously one of the best films I've ever seen, truly an amazing movie. It's about the half-caste Stolen Generation of the Aborigines in Australia. The movie really did make my day as the rest of it hadn't been so good.

Lunch with Nicole

2005-07-12T14:43:00.000+10:00

So I just had lunch with Nicole, and as everyone else took that time to scamper away from the I-House, I'm sort of alone and bored, so I decided to update.

After class I went down to Lygon Street where I met Nicole at this restaurant called Tiamo's. It's a cool bar/Italian place and I had some really great spaghetti carbonara. But it was more fun to catch up with Nicole. We talked about where she lived when she was a kid (on Brunswick Street which is crazy) and what she's been up to and what I've been up to and she wanted desperately to know about the zoo people but I have sadly not kept in touch with very many, so that was sad. She also said that she just went off the pill and she and Michael are trying to have a baby! In the meantime, they're also looking to buy a house. Wow.

We had a great lunch and afterwards I walked her back to her office in the museum and she showed me some cool places to eat on Lygon Street. Apparently there are tons of chocolate cafes in Melbourne, so I have to try those out, as well as the gelati bars. Mmmmmm. Again, I think my mission here is to eat my way through Melbourne.

That's basically it, so to make this entry slightly more interesting (and to copy Joey and Tisha's coolness), here's the top ten things I love about Australia thus far:

1) The wildlife that we've seen in the zoos/sanctuaries and even the city birds like rainbow lorikeets
2) Melbourne's amazing (and relatively cheap) food/desserts
3) The many, many pubs here!
4) All the cool streets in Melbourne: Brunswick, Lygon, Southbank, etc etc
5) The tram: semi-cheap, semi-easy transportation
6) Aussie accents
7) The awesome UC students here that I've gotten to know and love dearly
8) The old beautiful buildings juxtaposed against the new, modern architecture
9) The surprising friendliness of Australians
10) The contagious love that Australians (and Melburnians) have for their city and for their country

Okay, until next time...bye!

Healesville and Nicole!

2005-07-11T19:55:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was a blast. We went to Healesville Sanctuary in the morning, which is a more naturalistic zoo outside of Melbourne. It's a really cool place because it specializes in Australian wildlife. I got to see my first Tasmanian devil, wedge-tailed eagle (Australia's largest bird of prey), and lyrebird. They had a great bird of prey show, as well as a really cool flying fox aviary.

Then we got on the bus and drove to the Moonlit Sanctuary. It was freezing cold when we got off the bus and I had not brought enough clothing for the trip! It was dark by the time we got there (around 6 pm, but the sun sets really early here because it's winter), so we started our tour right away. The enclosures there were huge and we were allowed to walk through them. It was so amazing because right as we stepped onto the property, a grey kangaroo named Amelia bounded up to us. We got to pet her and feed her pellets, which was really cool. We proceeded to see Cape Barren geese, powerful owls, and brush-tailed wallabies up close. Then we went inside a thicket and fed brush-tailed bettongs (coolest animals ever), tawny frogmouths, and brush-tailed possums. It was so fun and I can't even remember it all (and don't feel like going into outlandish hyperboles again) so I'm just going to leave Sunday short and sweet.

Today after class we went to the Melbourne Museum. Eric called it the Victoria Museum, which I assumed was a different facility than the Melbourne Museum, where Nicole works (Nicole was a former ZooTeen supervisor that I contacted before I came over here). I was very surprised when I got to the Melbourne Museum, and immediately began searching around for her. We toured Bunjilaka, the Aboriginal section of the museum, where we got to see Aboriginal art work and artifacts. After the tour, Derek, Ryan, Jamie, Marie, and I went around to see this huge aviary they have with tawny frogmouths and a variety of fish and huge trees. We then went to see the Natural History section with a bunch of taxidermied animals (not that impressive after you've hand-fed a bettong) and the Mind and Body section.

Afterwards, we were kind of sitting around, bored, deciding where to go next. I was dismayed that I hadn't found Nicole, and on a whim I went to ask an employee nearby. She knew Nicole and directed me toward Nicole's department. It was really exciting to see Nicole again, though I think we didn't really recognize each other at first glance...it's been awhile. Anyway, we talked awhile and decided to meet up tomorrow for lunch, so I'm really excited. I definitely think I surprised her since I didn't phone ahead or anything, I just kind of appeared out of nowhere...

After that, we went down to Lygon Street where there are a bunch of cool cafes and shops. We stopped in Brunetti, a famous Melbourne bakery. And bakery is definitely an understatement. The cakes there are amazing, beautiful concotions with lots and lots of chocolate. We ended up buying small cakes to eat ourselves; mine was called Passione and was made up of chocolate, raspberries, strawberries, and whipped cream. It was awesome.

Anyway, the very late nights have really taken it out of me and I think I'm coming down with a cold. I also have an essay to write for tomorrow, and I've only done half of the reading. G'day.

Phillip Island and the Prom

2005-07-09T16:44:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I had probably one of the best days of my life.

We left I-House at the ungodly hour of 6:30 am and got on the bus to go to Wilson's Promontory. "The Prom" is a spot on the southern coast of Australia, about three hours away from Melbourne. It's one of the oldest and most famous national parks in Victoria.

As we pulled into the area, I got really excited to see red kangaroos and emus running across the plains. Crimson rosellas were flying all over the parking lot and were a little too friendly (a couple attacked Kristen's head because she had french fries with her). We even saw a laughing kookaburra.

After getting food from the general store, we started hiking through the rainforest-like area. It was an amazing walk. We were told that brush-tailed wallabies were plentiful, but ended up seeing a variety of birds instead. It was still a great walk and the number of ecosystems was incredible, especially for such a small area. It was amazing to be in such a thick forest, to hear the calls of such foreign birds, to look at eucalyptus bark falling down onto the forest floor.

After the three-hour hike, we trekked down to the beach to eat lunch. It was the most beautiful beach I'd ever been to, rivalling anything I've seen in the British Virgin Islands. The sand was perfectly white and gigantic boulders were strewn all over the area. The ocean was remarkably clear and vibrantly blue and made an incredible juxtaposition against the green rainforest behind us. I wish I could post my pictures here - they are breathtaking.

Afterwards we took another one-hour hike through the cliffs beside the beach. It was truly an amazing walk, looking out over the Pacific, the blue sky pairing with clouds, the fine white sand billowing up in the wind. I can't believe I've been so lucky to have seen Squeaky Beach (so named because the sand makes a squeaking sound when it is walked on).

After the hike, we got back into the bus and drove another two hours toward Phillip Island, which features the famous Penguin Parade, where little penguins come ashore each night to nest in the sand. As you could probably guess, I was ecstatic to see this natural wonder. We ran down this wet boardwalk (there was a big rainstorm happening) and shivered (it was very cold) in the night to watch hundreds of little penguins waddle up the beach. It was SO AMAZING. They surf up the waves and then literally pop out onto the sand where they wait for their fellow comrades before waddling uncertainly up the beach. We were able to stand very close to them on a boardwalk and they didn't seem to notice us at all. After getting further away from the ocean, they begin to call to other penguins to find their mate and sleep in one of the hundreds of natural burrows in the cliffs and sand. Their calls sound like a mixture of quacking and snoring and the calls carry for miles. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures as the flash would actually blind the penguins, so I had to buy a couple pictures at the gift shop instead (and of course, a t-shirt and a stuffed penguin). Watching the "parade" was probably one of the best things I've ever seen.

This morning, Ryan and I managed to get Jamie, Lexie, Kim, Mimi, and Courtney to go with us to the Melbourne Zoo for the second time. We thoroughly covered the entire park even during the heavy rain. The Asian small-clawed otters were very feisty - all four of them began growling at us, trying to defend their territory. I got my first glances at rhinoceros and eyelash vipers, binturongs, and maned wolves. The platypus came out of his burrow and swam in front of us (SO COOL). We got to watch the keeper hand-feed the little penguins. It was really fun.

This weekend has definitely been nature-crazy. Tomorrow we're going to Healesville Sanctuary and the Moonlit Sanctuary, so I'm very excited. But I don't think I'll ever forget Phillip Island.

A Fellow Zoo Nerd?

2005-07-07T19:53:00.000+10:00

So the computers went down for a couple days and all of us almost died from lack of Internet access. We're finally back online so we're all very happy. I'm going to attempt to backtrack through the last couple days, which is difficult because so much is packed into one day.

On Tuesday, class was really boring and then afterwards we took naps and then went to Chinatown. According to my guidebook, Chinatown is one of Melbourne's most impressive and most famous districts, with extensive shopping, restaurants, and other diversions. However, it pretty much sucked. The streets were crowded with tiny, dirty restaurants with rotting fish in the windows, and there was absolutely no shopping or anything. We ended up eating at this restaurant called Idea, which turned out to serve really excellent food. My fried rice was the best I've ever had. Still, Chinatown was dumb.

Afterwards, we ate dinner and the guys (Derek, Ryan, Jamie, Ervin, Peter, and I) went upstairs to visit the girls on the 3rd floor. We ended up winding our way down to the lounge. There is this footy camp going on right now for 8-16 year olds and everyone is staying in one of the buildings at I-House (I-House is actually a cluster of high-rise buildings). Anyway, the girls went and brought all the footy coaches down to the lounge to hang out. The coaches are our age and I'm sure the girls had alterior motives, but it was funny because the guys just ended up hanging out with the coaches. I talked extensively with a couple guys and we compared American sayings and Australian sayings; they laughed hilariously when I said that I had the same pair of Pumas - instead of saying "Pooomah," they say "Pyooma." There were other such instances that don't sound as funny when I write them, but it was certainly an interesting night.

By the way, I'm continually impressed with how friendly most Australians have been. Perfect strangers will come up and talk to us not knowing that we're Americans (even if we're being really obnoxious, which is usually the case). We've only had a few rude people, but most people are really impressed with California and think American accents are cool. Melbourne is the friendliest city I've ever been to.

Yesterday, we had class and then went to Melbourne Zoo. It was AMAZING (partially because I miss the zoo and partially because it's really well done). We were taken on a tour of the Australian exhibit where we saw kangaroos, emus (I got like 8 inches away from one!), cassowaries, wombats, koalas, and a huge aviary of Australian birds. It was really great. Afterwards, we were taken into the Discovery Center where we were able to pet a carpet python, a bilby (SO COOL), and potoroo (AWESOME), and then got to feed a wombat. The Education Center was so well done and the animals that we got to see up close were so cool.

Afterwards, we had around 30 minutes to see the rest of the zoo, so I grabbed Edith, Derek, Marie, Kristen, and Ervin and we ran over to the penguin exhibit. Little penguins (aka blue penguins) are AMAZING! We got so close to them and they're like the cutest, awesomest, bluest penguins I've ever seen!

And then to top it all off, Ryan said, "This zoo is so well-designed, I really liked how they were able to create a more zoogeographical rather than a taxonomic set-up with their exhibits." I almost died. We spent almost two hours talking about how we're huge zoo nerds and how this zoo compares to other zoos, and how the Sacramento Zoo sucks. Wow. Anyway, Ryan and I decided that we were going back to the Melbourne Zoo on Saturday so we could spend more time looking at stuff...SO excited. Okay, zoo stuff is done.

Today after class we went down to Greek town to see if it was better than Chinatown. We ate at this amazing Greek restaurant and then stumbled into this gigantic five-floor, three-block mall (Greek town sucked anyway). The mall is really cool and most of the clothes were really cheap or on sale. I bought a sweater and two shirts for A$45, which would probably equate to US$32. Pretty sweet.

Anyway, that's the last three days. Tomorrow we're leaving at 6:30 am to go to Wilson's Promontory, which is a wildlife reserve on the coast of Australia. Hopefully we'll see some really cool stuff. Afterwards, we're going to Phillip Island which is where the little penguins come ashore every night to dig burrows in the sand. I am so excited I can barely breathe.

Happy 4th, But Not Here

2005-07-04T20:20:00.000+10:00

Happy 4th of July everybody, except it's not the 4th yet in the States since I'm a day ahead of you all, and also, it's not a holiday in Australia anyway, which has been really weird for all of us. It's really weird being in a foreign country on the 4th of July.

We had our first day of class today, and I have to say that I really enjoyed all 2.5 hours of it. The combination of literature with the natural world is like my dream class and I never thought that it could be so well integrated. Dr. Schroeder is a really nice guy and he uses a really creative integrative approach to his lectures that I really respond to. I already feel like I've learned so much about Australian history and politics, it's great.

After class, a bunch of us went down to Melbourne University campus (I-House isn't actually on the campus, we're about a quarter-mile away) to see if we could buy some uni sweatshirts or something, but the clothes store was closed. We then took the tram down to the Southbank and ate lunch at this AMAZING food court. Everything looked so good but I ended up going with Edith to Stacks, a pancake bar. I had a banana stack, which was pancakes topped with bananas, carmel, cinnamon, brown sugar, and ice cream. To top it off, I had an ice cream soda, which was a delicious raspberry/lemonade/ice cream concoction. Basically, it was the best lunch ever.

After lunch we had to meet the rest of the group at Federation Square, which is a new city center with two amazing museums that are indescribably postmodern glass-and-steel-and-sandstone hulks. They're really cool. We met up with Jane, an architecture expert, who took us on a walking tour of Melbourne, pointing out the architectural wonders that Melbourne has to offer. I thought at first that it'd be pretty boring, I expected we'd look at like an arch and admire its arch-shape, but it was actually a really cool tour. We started at one of the Federation Square convention center areas, which had this cool wooden theater that overlooked the river. Then she took us to a funky hotel that was converted from a factory and is now one of the most famous hotels in Melbourne. They have a pool that hangs over the edge of the roof, so that was cool, and we got to see one of the suites in the building as well.

After that, we toured some of the old Victorian-era buildings in Melbourne. Melbourne has a city trust where old buildings are revered and restored rather than being torn down, so almost every city block is full of Victorian facades with renovated interiors. We went to St. Paul's cathedral, which was amazing, as well as a series of banks which were incredible. We even went to a high-class shopping center that was indescribably beautiful, with huge vaulted ceilings and hand-laid tile pathways. We went by a tea room that has been in existence since 1850 and you can have tea in the same chair as someone from the 19th century! Very cool.

I should probably mention that Jane was an amazing tour guide. She's this little tiny Australian lady who was so cute and kept asking us if we wanted some coffee or if we were too tired to keep going. She was really nice and actually gave us a list of the good pubs in town that she got from a "trendy 21-year-old." She kept taking us into all these incredibly old buildings and then ask if we had any buildings like that in San Francisco, it was funny.

As I was walking around today, I kept thinking how amazing Melbourne is. I don't usually feel comfortable in large cities, but I feel totally in my element here. It's such an amazing, diverse city and I can't get enough of it. I've only been here for three days and I already want to be here for the rest of my life!

Footy and the Tram

2005-07-03T21:09:00.000+10:00

Last night, we went to an Aussie Rules game (Australian Rules football) which is also referred to as "footy." None of us knew what to expect but it turned out to be pretty interesting.

Eric (our professor) led us out of the I-House at 6 pm and we took the Melbourne Yarra Tram to Telstra Dome. It was my first time riding the tram, though it's a really easy and comfortable way to get around the city. You have to pay about A$3.10 for two hours, so it can get expensive, but weekly passes are cheaper and I'm going to try to get one at a local store when I get the time. Anyway, the tram was PACKED and when we got down to the dome, it was nuts. Melburnians really love their sports, and footy is among the most popular, even though the "home" team wasn't playing (it was the Bombers vs. the Kangaroos, though none of us could tell where they were actually from). As we got up to the ticket booths, a loudspeaker was blaring, "We have 30 seats left, only 30 seats left," so that was kind of scary as we had around 15 people in our group. We ran over to another ticket booth and found that they were starting to sell SRO tickets (Standing Room Only) at A$10.50 each (Eric paid for us, fortunately).

When we got inside, we realized that there is no "SRO" section, you just stand in the concourse and try to look through to the field. The footy field is a huge circle with four posts on either side that the ball is kicked through like American football. You get six points for getting it through the "big sticks" and one point for getting it on either side, between the two smaller poles. Besides that, none of us could tell what was going on. The game is very fast-paced so we couldn't really tell where the ball was, what prevented the ball from being stolen, and when a guy could be tackled. Lexie and I met a footy enthusiast who tried to tell us about the game but he was much more interested in American football and in our lives in California. After halftime, we left as we were confused, cold, and tired of standing. Still, it was a fun game to watch.

This morning I got up pretty late and after lunch Lexie, Lexie, Derek, Courtney, Marie, Kim, Edith, Ervin, Mimi, and I went to downtown Melbourne. We walked through Treasury Park and Fitzroy Park to look at the falling leaves (it's winter here, remember?) and to see the James Cook Cottage in Fitzroy. The cottage was built in 1775 by Cook's parents and it was really cool because James Cook himself had carved his initials into the brick work, it said "C J G 1775" (G for Grace, his wife). It's amazing to see something that old and that personal.

After seeing Fitzroy, we went down to Brunswick Street, which is a youthful, bohemian district like NW 23rd in Portland. There wasn't a ton to see because most of the businesses here were closed on Sundays. I had a great prosciutto foccacia sandwich at Endis Cafe before we walked back to the I-House.

We had our official program orientation meeting tonight and then had cake in Eric's apartment afterwards. It was really fun and I really like everyone on our program. The reading for the English class thus far has been really good - a lot of history and context on Australia, which we never hear about in the states. A waitress today, after we told her that we were studying Australian literature, said, "Oh, that'll be a change for you all, since you Americans have no sense of the outside world." We all kind of sat back in shock, and then she said, "Well, I know because I went to the states, I was in South Carolina and I hated it there."

We laughed at her after we got outside.

Finally Here!

2005-07-03T08:24:00.000+10:00

Well, folks, I'm finally here at Melbourne University after three days of travel. I left Seattle at 6 am on June 30 and arrived at my dorm at 1 am on July 2. Here's a brief run down of the nothingness that is air travel...

I got to LAX thinking that I'd probably be able to spot a couple UC Davis or UC students wandering aimlessly around the terminal, however, I couldn't really see anyone that I could pinpoint as being on the same trip as I was. I kept staring at people hoping they'd look up, see my UC Davis t-shirt, and run over hapily to meet me, but of course that never happened. I got on the 14-hour plane ride from LAX to Sydney without ever meeting anyone.

I got really sad when I saw that my ticket was for 36B, a MIDDLE seat for a 14 hour plane ride. Fortunately, a girl appeared immediately behind me and asked if I would switch with her friend so they could sit together. It turned out that her friend was sitting in 70A, which was a window seat. I was overjoyed, and then I got really excited when I got there because it turned out that the curvature of the plane made row 70 have less seats, equalling a huge amount of leg room (there was no seat on the left side of me so I could put my stuff there and stretch out). It was wonderful!

And can I just mention that I really enjoy airplane food? I don't know why, it's just fun.

Australian quirks immediately appeared on the plane. Instead of "fastening" your seat belt, you "do it up." Life jackets feature whistles and flashlights. Overhead storage bins are lockers.

My room in the International House is pretty nice and I don't have a roommate so that was a surprise. I have a large desk, a sink, two chairs, and a bed. The "toilet" is down the hall and is separate from the showers. The keys are dog-tags and are slid underneath the door knob. I was woken up this morning by at least 20 orange-and-black parrots outside my window (they sounded like lorikeets).

Today I went to downtown Melbourne with new friends Lexie, Lexie, and Derek. The area by the University is really interesting, it looks like a mixture between Mexico and Japan - a mixture between really old buildings and really new businesses. We stumbled into a mall and went to a place called "Everything's a Good Buy," and ate meat pies in the food court. There are a lot of Indian food restaurants and a pub on every street corner. The weather is overcast and around 60 degrees which is a lot warmer than I had predicted.

Anyway, tonight we're going to see an Australian Rules football game and tomorrow we officially start the program. G'day mates!

About to Leave

2005-06-30T08:50:00.000+10:00

Well, I'm about to say goodbye to Issaquah and hello to Melbourne! I'm so excited, though the 14 hour flight doesn't seem really appealling (though who am I to complain, I'm going to Australia!)

It's a weird feeling to think that I'm actually about to embark on this adventure that I've been trying to plan since February. There has been a lot of nervousness surrounding the trip with regard to logistics and costs, but I'm finally ready to shed all that and experience Australia.

I should mention that this journal is totally copying Lori, so I'm giving credit where credit is due. But also, I have to say that I'm the one that got Lori into blogging in the first place...

I should also mention that I'm not sure if I'll have the time, energy, or passion to keep this updated, though I'm going to try as I've given out this address and I'm sure you're all sitting on the edge of your chairs waiting for exciting anecdotes and weird Australian quirks. I'll try my best to get to the computer lab in my dorm for the three weeks that I'll be in Melbourne.

And with that, here is my plan for this trip:

Three weeks in Melbourne staying in Melbourne University at the International House. I'll be studying English (specifically Australian literature and identity) with Dr. Schroeder, a professor from UC Davis. July 2-21.
Two days in Darwin staying at the Mirambeena Resort. Darwin is in northern Australia. I'll be studying Australian nature and culture with Dr. Schroeder. July 22-23.
Six days in Kakadu National Park, a couple hours outside Darwin. Kakadu is one of Australia's most famous preserves and we'll continue studying nature and culture through field trips, etc. July 24-29. That will conclude the studying/school portion.
Five days in Sydney where I'll meet my family and stay in a hotel there. July 30-Aug 3.
Five days in Cairns (Port Douglas) exploring the Great Barrier Reef with my family! Aug 4-Aug 7.

Well, I have to finish packing. I can't wait to see Australia.