It's Ozland

“Chit-Chats” with future teabags and a one-armed bandit

2010-06-18T17:18:00.002+10:00

I’ll catch you up…

Laura and I decided we wanted to go to NZ several months ago, and decided to book a trip there as our “last hurrah” in the land(s) down under. Sitting in the airport now, waiting for my flight to leave (tomorrow morning @ 6AM), I couldn’t have imagined my trip going more differently than it did. Everything that could go wrong did. We broke just about every traveling rule there is. And I had the time of my life riding it out. I am now going to tell you a story of two young American girl’s adventure in a wild, desolate land, way, way down under.

Let me first start this little story with some background information on NZ (pronounced EN-ZED by the locals). Firstly, the entire population of NZ is 4 million. 1.1 million of these people live on Otago (the south island). The largest city in Otago is Christchurch, which has 300,000 people. The other 2/3 of the population is spread over this giant island, mostly in small towns. Dunedin and Queenstown are also larger towns. Aside from these towns, the whole place is pretty wild. There are a few small towns every couple hours on the road, the occasional sheep farm, and lots and lots and lots of sheep.

All of this is civilization is drowned out by the ominous presence of towering snow capped mountains with their silent power saturating the cool winter air.

NZ is the youngest country on Earth. This means the ecosystems here are young as well. There are no land mammals native to NZ. Everything from reindeer to moose to giant squirrels have been introduced (some more successfully than others) Marine mammals that exist consist of different species of seals, whales, and dolphins.

90% of roads in NZ wind through mountains. On the sides of 80% of these mountains are 99% of the world’s sheep. If I were to guess, I would say the ratio of sheep to New Zealanders would be 1:230. I’ll look that up later and let you know what the actual proportion is.

It's 1:20. There are 60 million sheep in the small country.

It is nearly impossible to get lost in NZ. There is basically one main road that connects all major towns and natural wonders.

The temperature was averaged about 50 degrees for lowland areas and 30 for mountainous areas.

New Zealand has three official languages: English, Maori, and Sign Language.

Outside of the mentioned meals, every other meal that was consume consisted of some combination of peanut butter, tim tams, jelly, bread, apples, and oranges. Livin’ on the cheap as my father would say.

My boot got a puncture right before we left. It was the only pair of shoes I brought. I wore a bag over my foot the entire week like the classy girl I am. Oh, and I had a box of soymilk I’d take a couple swigs of everyday.

Oh, and I didn’t shower the entire time. Not really even sure why I packed a bag, because I pretty much just alternated the orientation of the layers I was wearing.

I think that’s enough of a basis for me to start this story.

June 9th-10^th – Airport/ Franz Josef

Laura and I depart Newcastle and arrive at the Sydney international terminal for our flight at 7:50 PM. After check in, we are informed that it is delayed until 8:50. No biggie. We get on the plane, go to our seats and strike up a conversation with a guy named Matt across the isle from us. After the plane takes off, we all pass out until we land in Christchurch around 2:00 AM (New Zealand time, there is a 2 hour time difference). We decided to just sleep in the airport because we had reserved a Wicked van to be picked up the next morning at 8:30 AM. We say our goodbyes to Matt and cuddle up on the ground in the cold airport. After relaxing our eyes for 5 hours, we wake up, get coffee, freshen up, etc before trying to book a shuttle into town. We were surprised to find Matt still at the airport, as his accommodation did not come through so he slept in the terminal as well. Colby, Matt’s friend, eventually comes back to the airport from his accommodation and they offer us a ride to get our camper once they pick up their vehicle at a local car depot.

I know, I know… don’t get in cars with strangers. That’s what you’re thinking. Just wait for the rest of the story. God works in mysterious ways is all I have to say.

Matt and Colby are Californians that basically are doing the same Australia study abroad gig Laura and I are. They are both musicians and are in a band together. All being Americans, we had instant commrodery.

After arriving at the dealership, we all get in their car the “99 Cheapy” (They even let us ride in the trunk!) and they take us to the Wicked depot, take off our blindfolds, we exchange numbers (ever after determining our phones had very poor compatibility), and say goodbye. We were all trying to end up in Franz Josef glacier that night, so we hoped to possibly meet them there. Laura and I got our camper… it was mid-90’s Estima painted with wild colours and designs. The back even had an offensive quote. The van was equipped with 2 beds, pots, pans, plates, cutlery, a sink, a portable gas burner, a table, and a pair of furry pink handcuffs (I don’t want to know why)

Franz Josef is located on the west coast of the island, NW of Christchurch. It takes us 5 hours to drive there, though it seemed much shorter. Laura drove and I navigated (a.k.a. I was pasted to the window “oohing” and “aahing” at the fantastic scenery) I have never seen so many overwhelmingly huge, beautiful mountains. The car ride was like watching a Planet Earth documentary. No wonder they filmed LOTR here…

We arrive in Franz Josef just at sunset and it’s raining. We found some free wireless internet sitting in our camper and took about 20 minutes to check our email, find a campsite, check the weather, etc. When I go to turn the key, nothing happens. Well, clicking happens.

Dead battery. What a bugger. So we walk around in the rain for about an hour looking for people to help us out (the Wicked call our fee for a dead battery is $140…no way were doing that) Being a veteran of dead batteries, I am confident we can find someone to jump us. We first go to the campground we were scoping out and ask the receptionist if she knows any way to help us out. After some crap advice about calling the town mechanic, a man walks in from the back room and takes over. We end up meeting him out by our camper and he gives us a jump. Afterwards, I remember him saying something like “if my daughter was in a different country with a flat battery at night in the rain, I would want someone like me to help them out” (I love New Zealanders situation #1)

So after that minor inconvenience, we booked a spot in the camper site and holed up in the van around 7:00 because we didn’t know what else to do in the pouring rain at night in this tiny town. Right after our arrival, I get a text from Matt and Colby telling us they are at the Château hostel. Getting a little stir crazy just sitting in a camper, we figure out where this place and go try to find them. We find them and end up hanging out in their hostel for the evening. Matt informs us it’s his birthday so we stay up celebrating his 22^nd b-day with “Chit-Chats” (low budget Tim-Tams), boiled eggs, a warm drink, and a game of Egyptian Rat Screw.

Shortly after the mid-night “happy birthday” song, we all headed to bed to get some rest for glacier hiking the next day.

June 11^th – Franz Josef/Fox Glacier

Rising early at 7:30 AM, we meet up with the boys and again, only to decide to part ways as they want to do the guided glacier hike. Before leaving we all booked a kayaking tour in Milford sound for the 12^th. They head to Franz Josef glacier and Laura and I head off to check out Fox Glacier with hopes to meet up later in the week.

First of all, we found this glacier and I almost had a heart attack just during the drive in. On one side of the narrow valley was a sheer vertical cliff towering over us (had to be at least 2,000 feet) , and on the other side were steep green mountains with waterfalls flowing between them. It looked like a scene from Avatar. I hate comparing things to movies but I’ve literally never seen anything so humbling. These two landforms eventually join to form the terminal face of the glacier.

The walk to the glacier took about 30 minutes and winded about the wide, pebbly valley carved out by thousands of years of sediment transport. From far off, the glacier looked quite small. But as we neared, we could feel the chill of the ice in the air, and the glacier was growing in size. By the time we were at the closest point possible, the air temperature had dropped at least 15 degrees. Things really came into perspective when I noticed two tiny specks atop the ice that I realized were people.

After sufficient basking in the glacier glory, we headed back to the camper, off to our next destination. Next destination: Queenstown.

We leave the glacier around 11:00 AM and drive 7 hours to Queenstown. Our first roadside stop is under a bridge. There was a glacier river running through and lots and lots of cool rocks! Yay for till!

Second stop was a waterfall we spotted from the road.

Third stop was Bruce Bay. After driving along a coastline littered with rocks and sticks, I noticed there was a level of organization involved. Upon closer inspection, we realized that all the rocks were conspicuously piled and drawn upon by travelers like us. It was nearly a quarter mile of rock piles with funny drawings, signatures, and quotes. Laura and I obviously left our little mark as well.

Arriving in Queenstown by evening, we booked a spot at a camper site operated by an amputee self-titled “the one-armed bandit”.

A little about Queenstown…

It’s located next to a large blue lake and is surrounding by towering white mountains. It’s most well known for the awesome skiing conditions. The entire city is built into the side of a mountain and centers around a lake. If you’ve ever been to Tahoe, it had very much the same feeling. Very chill, everyone’s friendly and outdoorsy.

On the plane Matt told us about a epic burger place called “Fergburger”. I love burgers, so we sought out on foot to find this fabled joint. And DO we find it! This place is a bar/burger place that seemed to be packed during all hours of operation (8:00 AM – 5:00 AM) I ordered classic Fergburger and this thing was literally the size of my head. Ingredients are fresh hourly drove in from local farms several times a day. Buns are huge, warm, and toasted. I literally couldn’t stop eating it. Literally… that good. The only thing I regretted was spoiling my taste for every burger I would ever eat again. I actually don’t know if I will eat burgers anymore.

With our bellies filled to the brim, we headed back to the camper and fell into a food-induced comatose state, hoping to have digested all the goodness before going BUNGEE JUMPING the next day. Weeeeeee!

June 12^th-- Queenstown

We wake up early to a flat tire of all things. Wtf mate? Since we have a bungee reservation at 10:45 AM, I walk to the front desk to ask if we can leave the van at the site until we are done with our “tour”. They agree, and on the way back to our camper, the one-armed bandit comes out of his camper in his bathrobe and starts asking me questions about our situation. He said he would take care of it while we were gone (I love New Zealanders situation #2)

Very few things scare me in life.

Getting chased up stairs and getting my butt smacked (thanks to my siblings)
My teeth falling out (recurrent dreams haunt me)
Faulty equipment

The third of which had my mind racing before this so called “jump”.

So Laura and I get to the bungee place, and kill 30 minutes on their free Internet waiting for the shuttle to leave. After saying our goodbyes to our loved ones, we load the bus. I had been trying to put this event out of my mind for the last couple days, but it became very real as we were traveling up the side of mountain on a rickety dirt road in a large top-heavy bus. Then, I saw it. The bungee “platform” is a small pod strong on a cable between two mountains. Of course all I saw was a tin can and some dental floss. So we suit up and the 5 people in our group take the transport (a little basket about the size of a bathtub) over to the main pod. We step in and the tunes are jamming, and I relax a little bit. We are ordered to jump by weight, so I am 2^nd to last, and Laura is last. Great…now I spend all this time nervous laughing/almost crying as I watch the others plummet into the gorge. I just keep thinking about if the cable snaps and we all smash into the rocks or the harness fails and I just never stop falling…the list goes on.

So finally it’s my turn. I make the mistake of telling the guide “I like being scared” and he does everything in his power to spook me including releasing the back of the chair so I fly back and then fake throwing me over the edge. By the time I am strapped in and ready to jump I’m quivering with fear. I waddle over to the platform (consisting of a small metal square jutting out from the main pod) and look down into the deep valley below me. Gulp…. I’m shaking… here goes nothing. I yell at the top of my lungs “PEACE, LOVE, NEW ZEALAAAAAND!!!” and launch myself into the cold air with my airs spread eagle. Then I heard screaming… lots of screaming.

Then silence.

I was soaring. 8 full seconds of pure soaring. 134 metres of flying (or as Buzz Lightyear would say “falling with style”) . I finally feel the recoil of the cord and I’m still upside down hearing only the sound of the wind in my ears complemented by some heavy breathing. It takes a minute or two to reel me in. As I near the top I wake up from the shock and start hootin’ and hollerin’ and I can still feel my adrenalin pumping. Now THAT was great. Laura’s turn. She executes a graceful jump and screams only shortly. Upon return she looked just as thrilled as I felt.

What a freakin’ rush!

With a heavily packed schedule we head back to the camper park to check out our flat tire situation. While we were gone, the one-armed bandit called up his mechanic friend to come out and fix up our car for just $50. (My initial plan was to Google “how to change a tire” and resolve it that way. Hey, I’ve always wanted to learn! But… Laura wasn’t comfortable with that) Thanks to him, we were on our way! Off to Milford Sound!

Laura is driving and along the way (well, after passing dozens of cars thanks to lead-foot) we come upon the ’99 Cheapy. Guess who? This country’s a lot smaller than we thought!

So we end up caravanning our way along the highway. Close to the end of the drive, the road winds up into the mountains and we see SNOW! Being from California, the boys were exciting and we pulled off on the side of the road to play in the snow. Its just getting dark and all of the sudden, someone throws a snowball. And IT’S ON!!! After a heated snowball fight in the road (don’t worry, we didn’t see one car for the last 2 hours), we found out way to Milford Lodge and book a campsite. First thing we did was a glow worm walk along a dark path next to the lodge. We could see lots of tiny little lights in the woods glittering through the fresh layer of rain.

The rest of the night was spent playing piano and a three-stringed guitar, going over photos, and hanging out in the lounge. Laura and I head to our camper and fall right to sleep.

Sunday, June 13^th– Milford Sound

We wake up in the morning and are getting ready for our kayaking tour at 9:50 only to find ANOTHER FRIGGING FLAT TIRE! What is it with this van! OMG! I am convinced at this point that the van or tires are faulty and this could in no way be our fault. I am still confident of this.

So you have to understand that Milford sound is located in www.TheMiddleOfNoWhere.com Seriously. It’s like getting a flat tire in Cleveland and the tire shop is in Cincinnati. Except Milford has no gas station, mechanic, or even an organized town. The only reason anything exists up there is because of the Sound.

So here we are. Two flat tires, no spare, no help. So I start dialing up the company, the roadside assistance group, and spend about an hour on the phone with an assortment of people that are of no help. I am told that no repairs can be made on Sundays and we’ll have to wait until Monday to get it towed and repaired in Te Anou. Yeah, right. Like I’m going to waste an entire day getting a stupid van fixed. Eventually, our tour guide shows up and I push the debacle aside and set my mind on enjoying the day.

The forecast for the day had been 32 degrees with snow. So Laura, Matt, Colby, and I follow the guide to the docks and by the time we are there it has turned into the most beautiful bluebird sky with puffy white clouds type of day. We put on like 15 more layers of clothing supplied by the company and the “kayak skirt” (felt a lot more like a diaper or loin cloth) and loaded into our kayaks.

We paddle out on to the calm glassy water and we are all in awe of the massive beauty of this place. Know as a “soft” wonder of the world, the guide told us “even the gods couldn’t leave”. Framing the brackish fjord are abruptly rising snow capped mountains. Densely packed with deciduous trees, the climate there is considered to be sub-tropical grading up into alpine. We took a picture with the Columbus Dispatch so look for us in the travel section! J

Note about Milford Sound

This “sound” is actually a fjord.

A fjord forms when ocean water fills a glacially carved valley.

A sound forms when ocean water fills a valley carved by water runoff (streams and rivers)

All the sounds were named before this distinction was made, so the entire park was declared “Fjordland National Park”

After the most amazing tour of my life, we headed back to the real world of flat tires and crappy vans.

Exhausting all of my resources in trying to get this van fixed, it is determined that we will miss our skydiving tour the following day if we stick with the van overnight. Also, the boys offered transport for the remainder of the trip (things happen for a reason), and we were all miraculously heading back to Christchurch the same day to fly out.

So, yes, we ditched the van.

Did my heart drop every time I thought about the charges that would ensue the rest of the trip? Yes.

Was I having a baller time regardless? Yes.

Can breaking travel rules in freakish situations be beneficial? Yes.

Do I regret it? No.

I know, it’s irresponsible, but hey, I’m in New Zealand for 6 days and I’m not about to waste one on some tin can van with 2 bum tires. I arrange to get it towed to Te Anau and we take off in the ’99 Cheapy, headed back to Queenstown for the night.

We get to Queenstown late, but not without stopping at Fergburger (in Ferg we trust), and we all pounded a burger and an NZ beer (much deserved). We book up in a hostel that night and fall asleep after an amazing yet stressful day. I can’t tell you how good a real bed in a warm room felt!

June 14^th

^{Milford Sound/ Wanaka/Tekapo}

The plan for today was to drive to Wanaka to skydive. On the drive, we all came to the conclusion that we all had strong urges to chase the sheep. So, after finding a good lookin’ herd, we hopped the electrical fence and RAN!!! The sheep were really skiddish but we got pretty close. It was a dream come true! Like smart sheep do, they headed for the top of a small hill and packed themselves in. Good job, sheep. Baaaad idea.

We arrive in Wanaka just in time for skydiving, only to find out that the conditions are too windy and they want to postpone until the following day. If we were to postpone, we would have to take a bus back to Christchurch, which I wasn’t too enthused about. (I like having freedom on the road…freedom to chase sheep and stuff like that) We were also informed a storm was going to come through and the road between Wanaka and Christchurch might close. After weighing our options we finally decide it’s not worth the risk (everything else had gone wrong, why not this too?) So we depart and head to the town centre to do some exploring.

We hit the beach of the lake first. The lake is crystal clear with giant trees every dozen metres or so. Obviously, we begin climbing the trees. After some tree fun, and a dare ending painfully from Matt to jump off the tree into the sand, we hit the road North towards Lake Tekapo.

About an hour into the trip Laura goes to get something out of her purse, and lets out a “no……..” and puts her head down. “Laura?.... Laura??? What happened??” Then I realize… she left her wallet (containing her camera, passport, money, credit cards, and license) on the beach in Wanaka. So we whip the ’99 Cheapy around, and head back to Wanaka with hopes of recovering her lost property.

We arrive at the beach, and search…no sign of the wallet. After questioning some people in the area, they tell us our best bet is to try the police station. Laura is a step ahead of the game at this point, and we find the police station and Laura at the same time. Then she gives us the good news that someone just turned it in! Yay! The good Samaritan was supposedly an Indian man named Woods Smith who just moved into the area. He reported that he waited in the area for 15 minutes to see if anyone would show. Since no one did, he went home to ask his room mate where the police station was, which is where he ended up turning it in. Thanks to Woods Smith (if that is really his name...sounds fishy to me, but I love New Zealanders situation #3), Laura can leave the country!

We stop at the pub across the street for a celebratory beer from the Cardrona region. After hanging out in Wanaka for a bit longer, we headed to Lake Tekapo for the night. By the time we got there, it was dark and snowy. This tiny mountain town of 500 people had pretty much shut down by 8 PM, save one bar.

We checked into our hostel, Tailor Made Hostel, and lucked out with a room with 6 beds! After jumping around for a bit we hit the town. By “town” I mean the one facility still open. When we got there it was closing. So we ended up driving around trying to think of things to do at night in the middle of nowhere besides wasting gas. Our best idea was off-roading, but this was halted by the fear of the off-roading turning into off-laking. We headed back to the hostel and just hung out before heading to bed.

June 15th - Lake Tekapo/Christchurch

We woke the next morning at 7:45 AM to get the boys to their flight at 3:00 that afternoon. (Not without first stopping at Church of The Good Shepherd by the lake!)

They kindly dropped us off at the Wicked depot to sort out the camper van dilemma, and we said our goodbyes and the “thanks for saving our lives”. I’m not gonna lie, I was very, very nervous to talk to these Wicked people. We walk in and its obvious they know who were. Known as “the girl who abandoned the camper” (not sure why this wasn’t plural? I’m pretty sure it was a joint effort, but whatever, I’ll get over it), there was certain fees we had to pay that ended up being the single largest purchase I’ve ever made. But, thankfully, all of the employees were very nice and understanding. (Except for the guy that had to fly down to Te Anou to pick up our dud van) They made us coffee, let us use their internet, AND let us store our bags there so we could enjoy the rest of the day in Christchurch (I love New Zealanders situation #4)

We spent the remainder of the day walking around Christchurch. I got some goodies for you people… be excited! Oh, AND I got this awesomely rad sandwich. If anyone wants to make money, make and sell THIS sandwich: On a flaky butter crescent roll, pile smoked salmon, a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. It might have been my 3^nd favorite meal I had here. (Aside from the burgers OF COURSE!)

Anyways… Now I am at the airport, about to go to ~~bed~~ floor for the night. If the rest of the trip goes smoothly, this is the last you will hear from me.

Cheers!

THE FINAL TALE OF THE BLOODY KNUCKLE TRAVELLERS

2010-06-18T15:37:00.000+10:00

You thought all of the travelers just vanished didn’t you? Or maybe you thought the teller of the tales did not survive the last adventure? Or maybe their Internet went down for days because of a giant buffalo stampede?

I am here now to tell you that none of these things happened.

The small convoy proceeded to execute their schedule just as predicted.

It was a cool May morning when the rested travelers awoke. Their isolated hostel in Port Fairy had proven to be a brilliant decision on the Wandering Walford’s part. Crawling out of their warm beds at 8:00 AM, they dressed appropriately for the drizzly day (not including always-over-dressed-for-the-weather-Woda, of course) and loaded into their trusty steeds for another action-packed day on the south coast of the land down under.

Their first epic stop on the ironically spontaneous itinerary, was MACCAS! (the Australian Macdonald’s) After filling their bellies with food they would later regret, they set off for WINDY LAND. Upon arrival, always-over-dressed-for-the-weather-Woda and Parrotmaster Patrick jolted ahead of the group with utmost excitement, immediately hurdling over the metal cable fence surrounding a rocky peak and jogged out onto the peninsula. With a large portion of their focus being spent on not being blown off into the angry waters below, they managed to snag a few priceless pictures of the views little seen by the public.

The next destination to be conquered was THE GROTTO…DUN DUN DUN! This is a place of both good and bad memories, a place of life and death, but mostly life. Upon arrival, they anxiously spread out among the area, some daring to explore down below, others poking around the upper stretches. The Wandering Walford chose the top center of the arch, of all places. All of the sudden, hit by a surge of curiousity, the Wandering Walford began frantically throwing stones into the pool below. In the middle of this throwing frenzy, the camera that was securely looped around her wrist, became not securely looped around her wrist. It was like slow motion what happened next. “NOOOOO” echoed in the head the Wandering Walford as she watched her camera bounce off the rocks several times before making the seemingly eternal fall into the blue pool of death below.

“DEVIN NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” was all over-dressed-for-the-weather- Woda could think. After the Wandering Walford asked “can I cry?” (which the answer to was YES) Parrotmaster Patrick went down into the icy water and retrieved the thirsty camera.

After recovering the camera, it was determined that the memory card was still viable. THANK JESUS! But the camera was determined to be unrevivable at this point.

After the deserving cry, quickly followed by laugher, the travelers had their sympathies but decided to move on, not focusing on the tragedies of the past. (Regardless of the level of tragedy)

Next stop: Bay of Islands. Exactly what it sounds like: a cluster of small rock islands in the middle of a large blue bay. These rocks have to bashed with water day in and day out for the last few hundred years, creating the formations seen today. There was once a large arch connecting the smaller arch to the land, but collapsed when some adventurers were exploring the other side. Trapped on the large rock island, they had to call for helicopter rescue and were saved several hours later.

Then there was the cave. This rock cave was formed as water traveled underground and creatued this chasm in this middle of the inland. It was very odd.

The Blowhole: a formation in the inland rocks where the ocean had seeped in to create cave which created a giant hole in the generally flat land. It was very strange.

Sherabrook River came next. This was basically an inland river flowing into the ocean. The surrounding area was a rocky cove with angry waves that constantly bashed against the surrounding rocks. The white wash bashed into the rocks and sprayed high into the air, occasionally taking the adventurers off guard.

Next on the famous road, the adventurers stumbled across a wildlife park, or something of the sorts. Although only some of the party actually went in, a representative photo was captured of the outside.

After a long day of sightseeing, the group finally began the long journey back to the city of Melbourne.

Upon their return, Comical Caitlin, The Wandering Walford, and always-over-dressed-for-the-weather Woda decided to explore the city, especially since always-over-dressed-for-the-weather-Woda had to leave the following day due to a final exam that could not be rescheduled) Their first stop was the Eureka Skydeck, the highest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere. This place was SO WINDY. Stepping out on the outdoor viewing deck, they trio was almost blown into oblivion (and would be if not for the caged nature of the platform)

Once the skydeck was fully conquered/explored by the gang, they departed and headed to Crown Casino, to join the rest of the convoy. Just by signing up for a card, they give you 5 dollars cash. SCORE!

After a heated game of roulette, always-over-dressed-for-the-weather-Woda lost her $5.00, and they spent the rest of the time routing for Parrotmaster Patrick and The Nedulator.

Realizing she had an early flight in the morning, always-over-dressed-for-the-weather-Woda and the rest of the gang headed back to their hostel for a very sound night’s sleep.

Conclusion

Always-over-dressed-for-the-weather-Woda was actually sweating during the entirety of the trip.

The Wander Walford's camera was never revived. Apparently, her type of camera was did not enjoy swimming. ( She did however buy a new camera, which she will obtain within the following weeks.)

Both vehicles were returned without as much a scratch, but retained a new sense of pride in transporting such an epic crew.

After always-over-dressed-for-the-weather-Woda left on her flight early the following morning, the rest of the gang spent the day poking around Melbourne and exploring their curiousities in the city. It was a grand trip. It was the only one of its kind. Maybe, just maybe, one day another trip such as this will go down in history.

The End.

Unda the sea down unda!

2010-06-09T12:28:00.006+10:00

Day 0 of scuba trip

Several weeks (maybe months, I can’t remember) ago, I realized that I would not be able to leave Australia without diving the infamous Great Barrier Reef. So, I made it my mission to find a get-up where I could get an authentic reef experience. Something more than just a day trip and where there is a bit more freedom. I found a 3-day, 2-night trip offered by Cairns Dive Centre for a decent price. I bought my flight, booked online, and here I am now, sitting on the top deck of the M.V. Kangaroo Explorer, telling you about my time so far here. I arrived to Cairns on June 3^rd and took an airport shuttle straight to my hostel, Globetrotters International. This hostel was very nice. The room was cooled by an extreme air conditioning system and averaged a temperature of about 50 degrees during the time I was there. My room was a 3-person suite with a TV and refrigerator, which I shared with a young English couple.

After dropping my stuff in the room, I proceeded to go explore the city of Cairns. I don’t feel “city” is quite the right word. Its more like a coastal town… lots of surf shops, touristy stores, art galleries, and outdoor dining. Its really quite colourful and most of the buildings do not exceed 3 stories. Everything is well spaced with intermittent palm trees and other types of greenery.

I walked around for several hours. After eating lunch by the boardwalk I found some interesting stores got some un-pass-up-able knick-nacks for you people, browsed an aboriginal art gallery, and got some last minute items for my trip. (tim-tams being my main priority!)

One thing that I felt that is very different about Australia is that everything feels very safe. Australian are very friendly, laid-back, just-wanna-have-a-good-time people, and the atmosphere greatly reflects that. I have met more women traveling here alone than I can count on one hand, something that is rare in other parts of the world.

As the Sun started to set, I made my way back to the hostel for a peaceful night of studying before my big next 3 days.

Day 1

My pick-up time was @ 8:00 AM sharp. I boarded a bus with several other divers and headed to the dive centre. My fellow divers included Stephanie, a girl from Montana, a couple boys from Switzerland, three more Americans, Stephan, Luke, and Mike, and some English girls. There were about 25 people on the boat in all, including divers, boat crew, hosties (kitchen/hospitality crew), and dive masters.

We took a 2-hour boat ride to get to the M.V. Kangaroo explorer that is permanently stationed in the reef. The sea was rough getting there. My fellow divers and I decided to hang out on top, which was much like riding a bull. There were several occasions where I would have fallen down the ladder and probably broken my neck if it wasn’t for Luke. Thanks again!

THE BOAT

The overnight boat was absolutely fantastic. The first floor consists of the dive deck and the saloon. This is where all the meals are served, and coffee, tea, and fruit are available round the clock. There is even a bar on board!

The second floor serves purpose as crew and diver accommodation and a clothesline; this is also where we change into our wetsuits.

The third floor has an open-air deck that is furnished with tables and chairs. On the bow side of the top there is a library.

THE DIVES

Our first dive I was buddied with Stephan and Mike (who I was with for the next two days) It actually worked out quite well, as Mike used air more quickly then Stefan and I, so we could go on for a bit longer after Mike surfaced. They also rented a camera for the 2 days they were here, and I give thanks to them for all the pictures I have now. We took a quick dive to the reef, to check equipment and make sure everyone felt comfortable. Even though my last dive was over 3 years ago, it was just like riding a bike…came back right away!

We got to see what our instructor called “gay nemos”, which were basically pink clownfish. When looking at the coral, it is hard to remember that these towers of were created from tiny little organisms. What used to be desolate ocean is now a bustling city with fish inhabiting every crevice and colourful coral swaying in the current. For every piece of coral there are 30 fish swarming it. We saw a large turtle cruising through the crawling towers; acclimated to the human presence, he seemed to care very little about our presence.

The second dive was “fun dive” where we were just set free from the boat with our buddies to explore wherever the current took us. I felt like everywhere I looked I saw a fish I’d never seen before. This has happened hundreds of times. It is so incredible how many types of fish inhabit this place!

Then came the NIGHT DIVE!! ScaRy! They sent us into the dark water with nothing but a torch and a few instructions: 1. Don’t shine your torch in anyone’s face, and 2. Don’t turn off your torch, because it might not turn back on. We followed around our guide and got to see all sorts of night dwelling creatures. This big, red, fish come out at night and kept scaring me as they darted right past my face.

That evening, they made an announcement about getting an “Adventure Diver Certification”, which sounded like a lot of fun, and something good to have on my dive card. As a 3-day diver, I could also pick two specialties on top of a deep dive and navigation certification. For my specialty, which I will be completing on the last day, I chose an underwater photography specialty, and a boat drop specialty.

Before heading to bed, we stayed out and watched the stars for a while, counting meteorites, and contemplating the complexities of the universe.

Then I slept like a baby. Literally being rocked to sleep by the waves.

Day 2

The deep dive, which allows us to dive to a depth of 30 metres, took place this morning at 6:00 AM. When we got to the bottom, our instructor cracked an egg, which, under such high pressure, stayed as in intact yoke, which was passed around the group before the fish that was described as a “heroin addict” for the eggs, darted in and snatched it up. They also brought down a can of Coke, which at that depth had lost all of its red pigmentation.

One of my favorite moments so far on this dive was while ascending, we came across a school of wrasse. They had to be 15 of them, at least 100 lbs each, and as we approached, I stopped swimming and drifted into the school. They moved slowly around me, curiously looking at me with their big eyes. All I could hear was the sounds of my own breathing and the movement of the water around me. It was one of the most surreal things I have ever experienced. (not my picture, by the way. just for a little perspective...) Right after that, we saw a white-tipped reef shark, the first shark I’ve ever seen…wee!

Breakfast was at 7:00 AM, and at 8:00, we got back in the water for our navigation dive. We were given a compass taught some basic navigation skills and had to complete several challenges. Right after we got to the bottom I saw a curious object in the distance. First I thought it was a log, but turns out it was a shovel-nosed ray, which are apparently somewhat of a rare sight. It looked a lot like a shark, but unlike a shark, it can cease from swimming and not suffocate. We also saw a nudibranch, a colourful slug, which comes in a variety of colours

My last dive of the day happened at 11:00 AM. This was another “fun” dive. My two buddies and I headed out on “Moore Reef” (named appropriately), and paddled around for about 30 minutes. We saw a giant 300 year old clam which had to weigh at least 500 lbs. It was HUGE! Right at the end my ears started to hurt and I got some vertigo, so we headed back. I’ve been taking it easy for the rest of the day so I can successfully complete my boat drop and photography specialties tomorrow!

I am currently procrastinating studying for my two final examinations I have the day after I get back. So…I probably should get on that.

Yeah. I will. More updates tomorrow. Cheers!

Day 3

Riding on the train, it’s 11:40 PM, and I am finally on my way home from a spectacular weekend diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef. Because I was flying today, I could not dive. So, instead I spent the day snorkeling and surface diving, which was actually very fun. It’s a bit of a challenge to see how long and how deep I can go without the need for air. For the last few weeks I have been doing exercises to stretch my lungs to increase capacity, and it worked! I think my best was about 45 seconds at 20-25 feet. I felt like a mermaid swimming through the fish and coral. It was like a dream.

I almost wasn’t even going to go snorkeling, because I was somewhat disappointed about not being able to dive. But, this girl on the boat (I can’t really remember her name) convinced me that sometimes you could see things snorkeling that you wouldn’t see diving. The reef I snorkeled today was called “Timor Reef East” and consisted of several large shallow platforms and some big drop offs. So after a 45-minute snorkel I realized how right she was! I saw a BIG puffer fish…surprisingly big actually. He was so shy and I chased him around the shallows for a minute or two before he swam out of site. I also saw a large school of black parrotfish, several giant clams, and like a million and one fish. I tried to keep track of all the different kinds of fish I was seeing, but it’s like everywhere I looked there were like 10 new fish I hadn’t seen yet. This reef was especially good for snorkeling as the platform was only submerged in about 3 feet of water so I was looking at everything nice and close. Then I would occasionally swim over to the drop off and dive down as far as I could.

I rented a camera for the day, but the pictures can do absolutely NO justice to the beauty beneath the surface. It’s something you have to see with your own eyes to understand.

After two successful snorkeling sessions I spent the remainder of the day lounging in the Sun I would soon have to say goodbye to. Newcastle, like it has been for the past 2 weeks, is rainy and cold today, and I did my darnedest to absorb every possible ray of warm Cairns Sun before leaving.

The boat left the M.V. Kangaroo Explorer around 2:15 PM, and after returning I found a travel agency that booked an airport shuttle for me. Upon arrival to the airport, I was having difficulties checking in at the self-check kiosk, so I was directed to the counter. The lady at the counter pointed out that my bag looked like it weighed over the acceptable amount of 10 kilograms. She said it was critical that every passenger have no more than 10 kg because it is “completely booked up”. She weighted it and it was 13.9 kg and she told me I had to check it for 80 dollars. Yeah, right. Let me just got pick some money off the Jetstar money tree outside. Are you kidding me? So, I said I would be right back and headed to the bathroom. I took out all of my clothing for the weekend and put it on. I also took out my toiletries and stashed them in the bathroom behind the toilet. At that point my bag looked much smaller, and I looked much bigger…and sweatier. So exiting the bathroom a soggy mess, I proceeded to pass the bag test and got my ticket. I jetted back to the bathroom, took off all my excess clothing, retrieved my stashed items, and headed to the terminal.

About 15 minutes before my boarding time I hear this announcement over the loud speaker:

“WILL JETSTAR PASSENGER ELYSE WODA PLEASE COME TO THE CHECK IN DESK AT GATE 19? ELYSE WODA PLEASE COME TO CHECK IN DESK AT GATE 19”.

I’m pretty sure my heart skipped like 9 beats. Images of Jetstar-Nazi-Lady saying “keep and eye on that one” to security and them going over surveillance videos noting my noticeably large backpack as I exit the bathroom. I was expecting to walk in and see guards waiting to escort me out of the building. I had a boat load of defenses all lined up about how stupid the policy is and I can go put the clothes back on if its THAT big of a deal. After re-packing my entire bag to walk over the counter, there it is again…

“WILL PASSENGER ELYSE WODA PLEASE COME TO JETSTAR CHECK IN DESK AT GATE 19. ELYSE WODA!!!!!”

Only 6 beats this time. I cautiously make my way up to the desk and the only person there is a lady in a neon vest. “I believe you dropped this” she says, and hands me my driver’s license with a smile.

YIKES I’m way too paranoid.

My flight was smooth. Yet again, I had an empty row (as did several others) despite the “completely booked flight” that JNL was so adamant about. I am now about an hour into my train ride home, yet again procrastinating studying for my exam tomorrow.

Leaving for NZ Wednesday so who cares! Just kidding….. J

UPDATE------AFTER 40 HOURS WITH NO SLEEP I'M DONE WITH FINALS AND LEAVING FOR NEWZEE IN 2 HOURS!!!!

CHEERS!!!!!

***Some of these pictures are courtesy of Stephan, thanks again! :) ***

HEAPS ADVENTURES OF THE BLOODY KNUCKLE TRAVELERS PART II

2010-06-03T01:21:00.002+10:00

Fortunately, the 6 travelers had no barf to deposit into the bags and they successfully arrived at the AVALON TERMINAL, which was in the middle of no where. Originally the group's plan was to camp out in the airport to save money, but the airport was terribly small with no where to rest their weary heads so they bought bus tickets to stay in a youth establishment located in MELBOURNE CITY. Upon arrival, they united with the 2 missing members of THE BLOODY KNUCKLE TRAVELERS, the Parrotmaster Patrick of the Ruthless Ruths, and THE Nedulizer, who presence on the team was not yet known by Carolinese Cameron until their arrival. Surprise!

After 8 hours of travel, the group quickly fell into a peaceful coma.

3 AM........ *angry muffled voices from the room next store*

"F*#I@# you! Get out *#($*(@ I'm going to &@#@*&# You think #@%^@ you can #@#^@#@#%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!***BOOM***!!

*silence*

Travelers = scared

DAY 2

After nearly a full, yet slightly terrifying night's sleep, they eagerly departed the hostel after indulging in the free coffee and toast (which to them was like Christmas morning, as an average cup of coffee costs $3.50)

-----------

Side note: Australia does not offer regular cups of coffee. The only coffee that is sold here is cappuccino, latte, flat white (my personal favorite) and some other ones I can't remember the names of. If you want to drink a regular coffee you have to buy the crystals and make it at home. Oh, and an "iced coffee" is just coffee with ice cream in it. No ice.

-----------

For method of transport in this wholly southern road trip, two top-of-the-line vehicles were booked by always-over-dressed-for-the-weather Woda the night before at 2 AM.

Rape Dust, a white stallion with automatic windows, was quick and sassy with just a pinch of attitude. Named by the-girl-who-touched-kasey's-weeney of the Ruthless Ruths, Rape Dust fearlessly took on the fatally winding roads of the south coast highway.

Then there was Bloody Knuckles, named by the Comical Caitlin, naturally.

B.N. was quite a character. Equipped with a state-of-the-art USB iPod hook up, B.N. knew how to entertain. Considered the be the "party car", B.N. had to somehow compensate for being the slower of the two.

After getting lost in the labyrinth of roads they call a city, the travelers finally found their route. After an hour of driving, their first stop was the first lookout point they stumbled across. It was quite a beautiful sight to the travelers, the beauty was almost a relief as they had spent long hours getting lost before finding their way to the magical road.

When you put 8 people into two cars, some very interesting games come about in passing the time between each glorious stop. Some of the games the brilliant travelers conjured up included:

What are you parents and grandparents names? Actually quite interesting if you think about it, as the naming of children is constantly evolving. Replacing Virginia, Agnes, Betty, and Arthur are children now named after fruit, days of the week, or just a random combobulation of letters. Apple, Axton, Zylan, Echo just to name of few.

Another game popular among the women of Bloody Knuckles, was "guess this song" where one of them fan-dangled ipooeds was set to shuffle and the first person to guess the song won.
Won what you might ask? The respect for being awesome at life.

Then there is the classic "whose gonna barf first?" during the stretch of road with nauseating curves and hairpin turns. Comical Caitlin almost won!

Should have got more barf bags! bleh!

Next stop on the THE WORLD'S MOST AWESOME AGENDA was a the a light house. The travelers stumbled upon a curious looking man who was hovering in front of the cylindrical tower, offering tours for the steep price of $10. They travelers declined, but did get a hot tip on a koala sanctuary down the road. SCORE!

It was about an hour down the road that the the normal every day road turned into THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD made official by a giant wooden gate. Nothing could have prepared them for the magic, mysteries, trials and tribulation that lied just beyond this gate of wonder.

It had begun.

After navigating just a bit farther down the GRO, they decided to stop to refuel their tired bodies in a town known as Lorne. Quite full of strange oddities, this quirky coastal town brought them much delight, and even a nice hot shower! (only $1 for three minutes...what a steal!)

What happened next, no one could really explain. It was one of those things that just happens and must be accepted as fate. It's like when a door is closing and you slip through without touching it all James Bond-like.

Yeah, it was like that.

Thanks to the tip by hovering-overpriced-tour-of-the-light-house-man, the group veered off the road at Kenneth River, and drove their tiny 4-cylinder mighty steeds up into the bush via a wet and muddy dirt road. As they rose higher and higher up through the canopy, the forest plummeted downward to one side, shrouded by fog and anxiety. Not bad anxiety, mind you, but that excited, "I am literally going to explode because I don't know what's going to happen next...literally" type of anxiety.

After pulling of the mud slick, and scrambling to get out of the car, they saw them.

Perched in the trees, stoned and smiling, heaps of koalas peered down at their human visitors with curiosity. Some were sleeping, some eating, and some were...well, that's basically all they do.

With the notion they were the luckiest people to ever be alive and witness a gathering such as this, they left Koala Land, and headed down the real life slip-n-slide, towards the road.

But then... yet another one of the "OMG" occurrences.
On the side of the road they found a flock of chattering colourful parrots, just wating to make their acquaintance. There were dozens perched in the trees, like they had been waiting all their life for this moment.

"You liked the koalas? What till you see US!"

And yes, always-over-dressed-for-the-weather-Woda knew all the names. She is just that obsessed with birds. Female king parrot on the right, eastern rosella on the left.

No parrots were harmed in the making of this blog

If you were wondering why everything looks so dreary and grey is because it literally rained the entire time we were there. Almost.

After leaving Parrotropolis, they young travelers spent the next few hours racing to get to the infamous 12 apostles. Driving through rain sent from everything-that-is-not-awesome, they arrived at their destination just as the darkness began to fall.

Racing to catch a glimpse of these famous formations, they sprinted to the shoreline, cameras bouncing around their necks.

At the last moment, the sun who had been so shy all day, peeped out to say hello to the world's luckiest travelers. And it was glorious.

After the show, they piled back into good old Bloody Knuckles and Rape Dust and headed for their hostel in Port Fairy.

Sleepy time........

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Stay tuned for the next adventure of THE BLOODY KNUCKLE TRAVELERS!

Yes, my friends, they conquered the Great Ocean Road, leaving only the rape dust and some very, very bloody knuckles behind.

2010-05-31T19:44:00.001+10:00

It a day like no other.

It was for the first time in recorded human history that two hardy blokes and six giggling sheilas challenged the fury of what is known in perilous land of Australia as THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD.

Now shockingly well known in the southern hemisphere (firstly for the introduction of the now highly demanded “granoler”), this rare species of super-humans consisted of those now know as the Comical Caitlin, the Carolinese Cameron and her trusty sidekick, The Nedulizer, the Wandering Walford, the Labradorian Laura Lee, the unrivaled brother-sister duo, The Ruthless Ruths, and myself, the always-way-over-dressed-for-the-weather Woda.

Yes, it is a rare day that beings such as these might convene, even for a second, on the same place on this raging planet. You are probably asking yourself this question right now… “ How the in the flipping blazes did they do it?” It’s a question asked quite frequently, especially by humans like yourself, so don’t feel bad, you are not alone.

It all started a few thousand years ago when the oceans rose after the last Ice Age and began eroding the soft limestone of the southern Australia coastline. Fast-forward to the Holocene Epoch, and you will find The Wandering Walford’s interest of the current condition of this event being sparked by events that are still unclear.

After careful months of intense planning, it was on one fateful May night at 11:47 PM that 5 return trip tickets were booked on the one and only Wandering Windows, all of which was supervised by the house nun, Miss Clevel (though no amount of supervision, be it governmental or supernatural, can rival the forces of the feared JETSTAR *evil echoing laugh* By some miracle not yet fathomable by the human mind, there were no fatal damages in the process of the nerve-racking process of the booking.) By yet another valiant effort against the corrupted JETSTAR, *evil echoing laugh* the 6^th ticket booked solo by the Labradorean Laura Lee.

And so, the plan was set in motion.

Nothing

could

stop

them

now.

It was on the one hundred and forty seventh day of the year two thousand ten (commonly known as May 28^th), the six most gallant American exchange students ever to grace the grounds of Newcastle City left their mighty fortress behind, each with only a small pack of only the most vital resources on their back and a confirmation number scrawled on the hand of the Wandering Walford.

It was 5:15 PM at Civic station when their ship departed. A sturdy two-story vessel that travels up to speeds of 70km/hr, the journey to what is known as the Mecca of all speeding vessels usually takes about 178 minutes.

They did, however, encounter a problem along the way. There was an attempted attack on the voyager’s lives. Without warning, an odor so pungent that would make a grown man violently ill (good thing they were all women) began to fill the carriage. After about 15 minutes of intensely burning facial sinuses and by using altered forms of respiration, they escaped with their lives… they were going to see another day.

Finally after 4 grueling hours of travel, 2 bags of chips, 9 chocolate chip cookies, 1 nintendo DS, 2 squashed muffins, 1 terrifying ticket check, and 5 hemp bracelets later, they arrived at the TERMINAL. Upon entering they had to pass the test of the automated check-in. With a now nearly illegible combination of letters and numbers on the hand of the Wander Walford, she incredibly entered the passcode correctly, yielding six happy tickets to the six happy travelers.

After success with the first of many challenges, the hopeful travelers boarded the mothership, and after seating themselves, began writing letters to their loved ones of the excessive amount of barf bags found in the seat pockets. Maybe they should have saved them…stay tuned to find out in the next episode of THE BLOODY KNUCKLE TRAVELLERS, PART II

Lost Memory Card!

2010-05-13T19:25:00.000+10:00

Hey peeps. Lost my memory card but another is on the way so sorry about the lack of postings! Going to Melbourne on the 28th, Cairns on the 3rd, New Zealand on the 9th, so keep checking in... more adventures soon!

Americans are puzzling

2010-04-26T20:58:00.000+10:00

I am currently taking a river basin processes class that has a three day field trip to the upper hunter valley. I just got back from that field trip a few hours ago and would like to tell you about my experiences the past few days. If you have been reading my blog you would know that this is the second multi-day field trip I’ve been on since I’ve been to Australia, so I had somewhat of an idea what to expect.

Day 1

The bus was leaving from Uni at 8:00 am, and I decided to leave the house at 7:13. I get to the train station, and like usual, I missed the train by 15 seconds. Luckily, there is another train coming at 7:34 and I hop on that one and barely make it to the bus station on time, sweaty and the last one to board the bus. One kid actually did get left, so drove himself 3 hours to find us. It was a quick 3 hour bus drive, as I pretty much slept the entire way. Our first stop is a privately owned plot of 700 hectares, which is used primarily for soil and ground water studies. The country looked a lot like the hills of California and was characterized by dry, sparsely vegetated land. When they were explaining what we were going to be doing that day, a herd of kangaroos hopped by just down the valley. It was exciting.

Our first assignment was, in groups, to determine soil moisture in various places in an area of about 5 acres. Our group consisted of Anne, Dan, Cam, Nat, and myself. We had to use a soil moisture probe and a GPS to plot on a map the location of moisture content of the soil. Our second assignment was a little more exciting. We were to determine soil color, consistency, and content at 4 different locations on a hill slope. Large, deep holes had been dug before we got there, about 5 feet deep so we could sample different parts of the soil layers. It was actually very interesting, and I found myself very much enjoying the field work. We wrapped it up around 4, and headed for the busses to make the drive back to our accommodation, the Murrurundi House.

After arriving at the house, we were assigned rooms. Unlike everyone else on the trip, I did not bring a sleeping bag as had been instructed, so I was a bit nervous about how that was going to work out. I ended up grabbing a spot in a room with 3 other girls, and the owners of the place were very accommodating and gave me sheets and a comforter to use during my stay. Later in the evening, Anne had found a 2 person room upstairs that was unoccupied. So she kidnapped me while everyone was gone and we moved all of my stuff to the upstairs room.

After getting situated, we realized there was not very much to do around the area, and I was getting a little bored sitting around while waiting for dinner to be made. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a puzzle. Yes, a 500 piece puzzle of the Rhine River in Germany. Coming from a family of intense puzzlers, I got right to work, and convinced the one other American, Dan, to start it with me. At first people were giving us weird looks, but I knew the underground puzzlers were secretly wishing they could be working in the puzzle with us. Little by little, they gave in. Soon enough we had about 6 people working diligently on the puzzle. While puzzle observers (people that like the watch people do puzzles) lingered in the area, fascinated by how fast it was coming together. If you are a puzzler, you would know that nothing else in the world matters unless the puzzle is finished. That's why we stayed up until past midnight, until we could puzzle no longer. It was finished the following morning before breakfast.

Day 2

After waking up bright and early to finish the puzzle, we loaded the bus for our next day's activities. We were split into two groups - the river group, and the cave group. We decided to be in the river group first so we could save the best for last. Upon arrival at the river, we realized it was dry which was very sad. Even though it was dry, we still had to do our measurements pretending that water was flowing. This was very easy for me as I had a job doing very similar tasks last summer.

(If you are interested in reading about my trip, here is the link to the blog I was writing while I was there http://summerofecolove.blogspot.com)

So for this assignment, we were given levels to use to determine a cross section of the stream bed. We each took turns being the recorder, stick holder, and level reader. We then had to write a one page report on determining flow characteristics which we started while we were there. Leveling is a very important part of surveying, so I am glad we got to practice using it because I know I will most likely being using one in the future.

After lunch our group of about 20 got on the bus and headed over to the caves. The first cave we went to was a 2 minute walk up the side of a hill/mountain. The entrance was a low dark hole in the side of the cliff, and I had no idea what to expect upon entering the cave.

For some reason, I did not expect the cave to be as dark as it was. My flashlight (which I borrowed from the owner of the Murrurundi house) was dull, but got the job done. One kid was using his mp3 player as a flashlight so I was grateful to have mine. Our teacher (Russell) guided us around the cave, showing us various formations in the limestone. There were lots of speleothems (cave formations after they are drained of water) including stalactites, stalagmites, and lots of other things I can't remember the names of.

The last thing we did before leaving cave #1, was the "squeeze". I did not realized how much I would actually have to squeeze to get through this tiny hole in the cave wall. To get to the "squeeze" we had to crawl for about 20 feet through a wide but vertically challenged area. When I first saw the squeeze I thought "they must be kidding" as it was about is a big as my arms can make a circle. I was one of the first through. I had to put my right hand forward and my left hand back as I slid on my belly through a nerve-rackingly small hole. Upon emerging on the other side I was blown away by the huge formations; there were gigantic columns of rock that reached from floor to ceiling and everything was very slippery and wet. By the time we had finished exploring the cave on the other side of the "squeeze", I was covered in mud and happiness.

The second cave was quite different. This cave was located on the top of the mountain, which took a good 20 minute hike to the top.

After taking a short break to catch my breath, I peered over the ledge to take a gander at the entrance of cave #2. A bit more intimidating than cave # 1 I must say, but I plunged down the hole with excitement.

This cave was like one big chamber, instead of separate rooms like cave #1. The first thing I notice was bats, everywhere. Flying between people, past my face, and screeching as they did so.

Our assignment in this cave was to do a drawing and interpretation of a cave formation which turned out to be a cave that formed inside of an old cave. It was really cool!

The coolest thing I saw when we were in there was this giant speleothem that looked like the rock was dripping down the cave wall.

After we had finished up in the caves, we headed back to the dry riverbed to pick up the other group and head back to our accommodations. By the time we got back, most of the teachers had headed to the bar, or were enjoying themselves out back with the many bottles of wine they brought. We, on the other hand, had a lot of homework ahead of us, so we stopped by the bottle-o first to get our supplies before beginning. By the time we had finished it was around midnight, so we decided to celebrate by taking a little walk in the graveyard next to our house. This photo was actually taken in complete darkness, but by using a 30-second shutter speed, I was able to capture way more light. We ended up staying up till 3 am doing I don't know what, but I knew I had a long bus ride tomorrow to catch up on my sleep.

Day 3

I don't have many pictures from day three because it pretty much rained the entire time. I actually dont have any pictures but you can imagine. It was a pretty dull day and we ended up just writing reports under a bridge like the whole time. We arrived back in Newcastle, and thankfully Cam gave me a ride home because I was sore from the hike the day before and I was carrying all my stuff.

All in all, it was my favorite field trip so far. Arrived at my house around 6:30, and was asleep by 8:00. We still have one more field trip (its only a day trip) for my River basins class, which I am also looking forward to.

Next weekend = Sydney

Cheers!

Dead thing we found in the cave.

Any guesses to what it might have been?

Photos for all

2010-04-13T22:48:00.000+10:00

If you are interested in seeing some more pictures, here are links to two of my facebook albums I have been adding to since day 1. Cheers!

Just Ozzin' Along

Easter with my somebunnies!

Takin' shortcuts through the bush!

2010-04-07T12:17:00.003+10:00

This whole week is our Australia “spring break”, but we don’t call it that since it’s winter here, so this week is our holiday break. We decided to go to Sydney for 3 reasons. 1.) we wanted to go to Hillsong for the Easter service, 2.) Lindsey, Devin, Cameron, and Caitlin were leaving for New Zealand and we wanted to see them off, and 3.) because we’re awesome.

Instead of driving, which was an apparent nightmare last time trying to get into the city, all seven of us took the 3-hour train ride to get there.

After arriving to the city, we headed to our hostel, X-Base to drop our bags before exploring what Sydney had to offer during the Easter season. First of all, just know that Easter here is like Christmas or Thanksgiving in the states. It’s a four-day bunny-rific celebration that at the same time shuts down and hypes up the whole city. Most shops close or are open for limited hours over the weekend, but bars and clubs are open and packed at night.

Our first destination was Darling Harbor, one of my favorite places in Sydney. Devin had yet to see Darling, so we ventured off by ourselves for a while to see what there was to see. To our surprise, there was a huge street fair in the harbor area that boasted four arenas hosting street performers, a mini “big top”, and lots of people to enjoy the festivities.

The first performer we stumbled upon was Bendy M, an Australian female contortionist who could fit herself inside an 18-inch cube. It was weird.

Then we saw this crazy old French dude whose name I cannot remember. It got kind of weird towards the end as most of his clothes came off, leaving him in a red, white, and blue leotard with a can-can skirt on.

We also found some giant Amelia Earhearts (I think that’s who they were?) on stilts that we had to get a picture with. We just wanted to get a picture with one of them but by the time the picture was over, three of them somehow jumped into the picture without our knowing. I didn’t know stilt people could be so darn sneaky!

SATURDAY

Today the girls were scheduled to leave for the Airport around 3:00 so we decided to spend our last afternoon together going to the Opera House for the first time. We took the underground train to get there and rose above ground at the end to see the one and only harbour bridge! People can actually pay to climb across the top of the bridge in harnesses and windsuits…so fun!

So after getting off the train at Circular Quay, we walked around the harbour and saw the big O.H. peeking out from behind a building. After rounding the corner there she was… big, white, and beautiful. It was interesting how different the building looks from the pictures that seem to be mostly taken from the direction of the ocean. I also did not realize that the structure is made up of separate buildings and is not all connected. One more thing I did not expect was that the surface was made of tile and was quite shiny.

I can now officially say that I have not only touched, but also HUGGED the Sydney Opera House. I know that if it could, it would have hugged me back. We would have done a tour, but I pretty much would have had to sell one of my kidneys to get inside, so we stuck with the free, exterior, self-guided tour.

After a decent amount of time spent at the Opera House, we headed back to the station through a park that overlooked the harbour. We found the immense trees and climbed them for a good while before time told us we were going to be late and forced us to move on.

After seeing the girls off to the great New Zealand which I will myself be visiting in June, we crashed at the hostel for a few hours before meeting up with Robbie, our friend who goes to the Hillsong Music College. He took us to the Shark Bar, an upscale bar/buffet type of establishment that had pool tables, big TVs, and really good food. Afterwards, he took us to this Asian board game and dessert joint. It was a small door with little indication of what lied beyond, so heading up 3 flights of dodgy stairs to get there I felt we were heading into a crack den. But we finally reached the café, got a seat, and ordered a dessert and a game of Jenga for the four of us to play. It was one of the coolest restaurants I’ve ever been in and I encourage all those entrepreneurs in C-bus to strongly consider opening an establishment of a similar nature.

SUNDAY

It is just the three of us (Laura, Brandi, and I) for the next 9 days. This is the first time all three of us have been away from our families during Easter. I still don’t understand why the Easter bunny didn’t poop a trail of jelly beans to my non-existent basket this morning, but hopefully he will make up for it next year. We went to the Sunday morning service that Hillsong put on at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, and they did a good job of easing my holiday chocolate withdrawals by offering constantly replenished chocolate eggs in the “welcome area”. It was so nice of Chocolate to make us feel so welcomed. We spent about 20 minutes before, during, and after the service getting to know Chocolate.

After the service we headed over to Paddy’s market, which is basically a giant indoor flea market. I have a theory about Paddy’s. It’s basically approximately 100 or so booths, all selling the same thing. The whole place is also run by Asians. Well, all of Sydney is pretty much run by Asians so this was no surprise. So I think that they are all in collaboration because here are the basic genres of booths: Australia Shirts/Sweatshirts, Jewelry, Zooyork booths, Aussie kangaroo leathermade products and keychains, weird grammatically incorrect Asian underwear, swords and flasks, and fake hair. Then there are like 10 of each of these scattered about. This is also where most of you people’s presents are coming from. Yes, Daniel, don’t worry you are getting fake hair. Calm down.

Hillsong was putting on the film and arts festival before the evening service at the SEC so we decided to go pop the scene before heading back to da ‘Castle. It was all Christianity/spirituality/Jesus themed art and films which was very cool. We stuck around and watched a few films before it got so incredibly packed we couldn’t breathe and ducked out as the evening service rush arrived. We headed back to the train station and caught the 6:15PM train back home.

TUESDAY

After a lazy Monday filled with sporadic naps and Whose Line is it Anyways?, we decided to head out to Blackbutt reserve to check out the animals rumoured to be there. So we get off the train at Kotara, about 20 minutes away, and find no signs in sight guiding us to the park. As we are walking, this old man standing at his mailbox spots us and says “Hello!!” and waves like he’s been waiting for us his whole life. So I walk over and enquire as to how to get to Blackbutt. Over the period of about a 2-minute conversation I understood two words… down, and right.

So we head down this little path to the right between the houses and come to a dead end. So we ask another person and they tell us that we need to “take a short cut through the bush”. So we find this short cut and as we are cutting it short I see this huge lizard on the ground next to the path. Naturally, I try to pick it up and it locks its jaws on to my hand. I start screaming and flailing my hand around it’s not letting go. Just kidding. It really did look harmless though. But you never know with Australia.

We get to the reserve and see a pen filled with kangaroos and emus. The ‘roos kept their distance, but the emus strutted right over to say hello. I found a cracker on the ground and tried to feed it to them, but every time I saw the big beak moving towards my hand I chickened out and dropped the cracker.

We also saw some wallabies, koalas, all sorts of birds, and a pikachu. My favorite was the bird sanctuary (surprise surprise) where there were all sorts of tropical birds flying over our heads. This is also where the koalas were. Next to the animal exhibits there was a big pond that was teeming with ducks, turkeys, and a giant black swan. There were also peacocks walking all over the place. It was quite a scene.

Since today it is raining we decided our time would be best spent making some rainy day Ozland videos so stay tuned!

Cheers!

Flockatoos

2010-03-31T14:23:00.006+11:00

This weekend has been HEAPS fun!

On friday after class we all piled in Sir Commodore Norington and drove NW to Nelson Bay for a girl's beach day. I had also heard there was great snorkeling there and ended up buying some fins and a snorkel when we got there. Next to the dive shop was this little pet store, and per usual I wandered in to take a gander at all the animals inside. There were TONS of birds: finches, cockatiels, rosellas, canaries, you name it so this naturally got me very excited.
There were also some really cute puppies that we all had to hold and pose with. After unsuccessfully trying to hold a finch the size of a peep, I decided it was the end of my visit to the pet store and we all said goodbye to our puppies and piled back in the ComNor. We drove to this little beach next to the marina which reminded me a lot of the caribbean with its placid blue waters framed with the green landforms in the distance.

After setting up camp on the beach, I headed straight for the water with my snorkel, mask, and fins to check out what kind of obscure sea creatures this rumored snorkel hole had to offer. The first thing I noticed was the jellyfish I kept getting stung by. Not painful, just annoying. Like mosquito bites. But I did find lots of colorful fish and a Wobbegong, which is a type of bottom dwelling shark. Here's a picture, not one of mine, I wish.

While taking a break from the sea, I get word from a local that there is a marine reserve like a stone's throw away with even more fish.

So I get Brandi on board to come check out the snorkel situation at this other place, and as we are walking I see several unique points of interest one of which was one of the biggest spiders I've ever seen in the wild.
Imagine a gumball. Or a bouncy ball. That's how big it's abdomen was. Brandi was less than amused.

On the opposite side of the spectrum we spotted a... well, not really sure what to call it or what it's purpose was. For blogging's sake I'll call it a taco van. It was basically a huge white van with a little Mexican dude on the front with the words "Dirty Sanchez" and no other indication of what the function of the vehicle was. I don't think it was a food vendor van because who wants a taco from the "Dirty Sanchez?" Funny thing was we saw the guy who was driving it and he was obviously not Mexican, so we proceeded to pose with it as he watched with curiosity.

Okay, less about tacos and more about snorkeling. After we get in the water and we are immediately surrounded by shoals of fish, just circling us, which made me believe that they are regularly fed. We swam around for a while and saw lots and lots of fish. It was wonderful.

mine

Afterwords, Caitlin, Laura, Brandi, and I proceeded to go check out the marina. There were all sorts of ships there, fishing vessels, tour boats, and yachts. Caitlin and I wandered off for a bit and we found this mega pelican which kind of scared me because it kind of came out of no where.

On the way back to the beach, I see something in the distance. At first I think its seagulls. Then we walk closer.

Lo and behold... it's a bunch of bare eyed cockatoos. It was a flockatoos. Best day EVER!! I keep seeing birds like this and try tell the Australias "Do you have any idea how much people buy these for in the US??" Everyday birds like this just flying around like sparrows, crows, and seagulls. It's unbelievable.

So that ^ was Thursday. We missed Devin.

Now let's talk about Friday and Saturday.

We had been planning for the last few days on going to Stockton Dunes for a camp out. So I had packed my bag with a pair of sweat pants, a sweatshirt, and my bed rolled up and held together with my big yellow belt. Pedr picks us up from our house around 5, and all fifteen of us roll out (us and the boys in our matching white Commedores, and Pedr in his.. Tonka truck?) and head east to the dunes. After parking in a lot next to the trail, Pedr shuttles us all to the center of the dunes and we begin to set up camp. We brought 40 sausages (dinner and brekky), items to make Aussies'mores, which were different because they don't have graham crackers here.
Altogether our group consisted of: Laura, Lindsey, Cameron, Caitlin, Devin, Brandi, Daniel, Pedr, Jamie, Chris, Trenton, Brian, and myself. We spent most of the night playing around by the fire, making s'mores, getting sandy, eating sand, and enhancing social bonds. Towards the end of the night, many of us girls wandered off to bed, and three of the girls were sleeping in a tent. About a 1/2 hour after we all had lie down, we were awoken by the regular interval of Trenton yelling "HEY GIRLS IN THE TENT...SHUT UP!!!!" After this happened about 17 times I decided just to come back out to the fire because there was no chance of sleeping. 1:15am rolls around Jamie decided he wants to sleep in a hole in the sand, and proceeds to dig for 20 minutes. Then he decides that needs someone to cover him with all the sand he just dug up. So Chris and I (mainly Chris) cover him with sand just to make him go to bed. After everyone had settled down, I cuddled up to Brandi to stay warm because it got cold....fast.

Next morning we all awoke around 7AM and had... you guessed it... more sausages. In Australia instead of using buns, we just use a diagonal piece of bread around the sausage, usually with BBQ or tomato sauce (catsup) and its real good. Laura was our executive chef this weekend, and I was executive flashlight holder (at night, obviously, God is the flashlight holder during the day) But Laura also cooked up some flapjacks in the morning along with the sausage which was just a delightful breakfast before sandboarding.

SANDBOARDING!!!

After brekky, Pedr took us all out to the top of this massive dune, probably 5 stories tall and you could see everything in all directions. The perfect blue ocean to the east (supposedly chalk full of great whites) and nothing but sand to the west. Chris went first. Then it was my turn... I was very scared to jump off this sand face down this long steep stretch of sand. But after I made the initial leap all I could do what whoop and holler all the way down. The walk back up was another story. Two steps forward and one step back was the name of the game for some while, but was definitely worth it!

Camping on the dunes was such great fun and next week is HOLIDAY!!!!

Stay tuned.............

Oh, it can happen.

2010-03-25T12:57:00.001+11:00

How does someone miss two trains in a row? Not sure.

Maybe the ticket machine jammed three times 2 minute before departure? Some might say it was their fault for not being on time.

But a second train?

Maybe they wanted a drink of water while they were waiting, but realized they didn’t have any water, so naturally went to the convenient store to try to buy a water bottle. But unfortunately, they have been paying for trains like it’s their job that week so they have no cash on hand and the store doesn’t take a credit card.

So what if they wanted to go to the ATM down the street and get money? Say they get some money and proceed to walk to the Super 7 to buy a bottle of water. But, when they get there, the cash register doesn’t work, so they have to wait for lets say 3 minutes.

So they get their water and walk back to the station, and they see the next train is leaving in negative 15 seconds. So this person probably would run up to the conductor and ask if they can get on as it slowly starts to chug out of the station. The conductor looks at them with a big “not gonna happen” stamped on his forehead and shakes his head as the train leaves the station and the person that just missed two trains. That’s how it happens my friends.

Better luck to that person tomorrow.

Murdering time in at NUSA

2010-03-18T15:45:00.009+11:00

This week, the Australian Red Cross Bloodmobile came to Uni. I decided it would be a good idea to give some blood, and signed up over the phone and went to my appointment at 12:30. So I do the paperwork, go through the interview and we determine that I have not had enough fluids that day and they ask me to come back the next day.

I return the following day after pumping myself full of fluids and filling my belly with a hearty breakfast. I go through the interview, get on the table/bed, and they start pumping away. Feeling good, feeling dandy, I finish up and hang around for about 20 minutes eating, drinking, and adjusting. I decide head out over to the map library where I come across my friend Nat, and shortly after we walk inside, I start feeling if-y. My vision goes dark, I have the chills, and I start to fall over. Thankfully the library lady helps me into a corner where I start to feel better, and Nat goes to get the Red Cross people.

They arrive and begin to walk me back to the Bloodmobile, but I begin fainting again and they ask me to lay down with my legs up in the middle of a busy walkway. So there I am, laying down, with my skirt on, trying to follow directions while remaining modest....it didn't work. I feel better in about 5 minutes and we walk all the way back to the Bloodmobile where I lay in the air conditioning and eat jelly beans and drinking a juice box for about a half hour.

I am told that I am officially banned from ever giving blood in Australia again. I told them I would be compliant and they would never see my face in the Bloodmobile ever again.

I have learned 2 things today.

1. Don't wear a skirt when giving blood
2. Squeezing a juice box too much will still cause it to spray all over your shirt.

Colour conference, Sydney awesomeness, and Slater(comma)Kelly.

2010-03-14T20:56:00.003+11:00

First things first.

Why do the nude bike riders always somehow find their way into my direct line of sight? On my way to write this post I had no choice but to walk directly through a group of garment-less, excessively mature male bike riders who were chastising me for the apparently excessive amount of clothing I was wearing. It was like the guy who invented the bike in 1812 or whenever that happened was still alive and riding around Newcastle wearing nothing but a pathetic amount of body paint.

Just needed to get that out.

No pictures this time, sorry guys. I know... it's disappointing but I'll get 'em next time.

ANYWHO.........................

About 3-4 months ago my friend Lauralee informed me about a conference that was going to be going down in Sydney this last weekend. I agreed to go, and thus Laura, Cameron, Caitlin, Lindsey, and I have just returned from a 3-day extravaganza at the Sydney entertainment center hosting the Hillsong Colour Conference 2010. Summed up, it's an all women's conference that involves over 5,000 women jam packed into a huge event venue listening to the world's renowned speakers and rocking out to some of the nation's most oft-sung songs.

I actually had a class the night of the first session, so like a good little student I went to that class and left the following morning at 7AM (yeah, I know. God DOES work miracles!) to make it to the Friday morning session at 10 AM. So I get to Central Station and somehow find the place I am going in that jungle of buildings AND find my friends.

All in all, the conference was an incredible experience, life-changing if I may. Everyday there were three sessions, a 10 AM-12:15PM, a 1-2:15PM, and a 6-8PM, so on our longer breaks we would go do different things in the few hours we had to ourselves. Day 2 Laura and I were on our own for a bit and after eating some cheap, greasy food as we are walking back to the conference...hark! There is one of those portable spinning teacup rides for kids 10 and under and our brains gave us no choice but to walk up and see if we might perhaps be able to take a spin alongside the merry little 5-year-olds. Incredibly, the guy/boy operating the ride graciously offered us a place on the next rotation in the teacup of our choice. We accidentally mentioned that we wanted to be manually spun by the Teacup Ride Specialists, so after boarding said teacups, the ride began and the rest was a mere blur. Literally. After a 4-5 minute recovery in our purple teacup, we nauseously staggered back to the brewing pool of estrogen awaiting us inside.

Our lodging situation while in Sydney was actually quite fortunate. Instead of paying/staying in hostel with total random strangers, Laura had a friend, Robby, who found some accommodations for the 3 nights we were there. Laura and I shared a twin mattress on the floor which was quite comfortable I must say while the other girls rotated sleeping on the floor and the couch each night. "Living on the cheap" as my dear father would say was something I feel was accomplished through these nice people who were willing to take us hooligans in.

Day 3...While the other girls went to Marketville to look at the shops, I decided to spend my free time walking around Darling Harbour and seeing, hearing, smelling, and adding to the sights, sounds, and smells of all that embodies the essence of the Sydney sea-scape. As I wondered around the area next to the bay, I saw a Japanese fire-juggler, a wandering ibis, and a very,very old, very, very well-maintained ship.

After the conference is done and over with around 8PM on Saturday, we mosey back over to Darling Harbour and find some dinner to eat. Laura and I score some sushi (first time in Ozland I might add and it was delish) and reflect upon our last night in Sydney and watch the fireworks that went off for some reason unbeknownst to us, but hey, who doesn't like some rando unannounced fireworks? After the show, we walked back to the conference center where a bus was waiting to taxi us back to our side of town from which we RAN about 5 blocks through pouring rain to our dwelling place screaming and laughing as only girls can do.

Next morning we rise nice(debatable) and early and make it to the 8 AM Hillsong service.

Afterwards, we hear of a surfing competition going on at the famous Bondi beach so we decided to go pop the scene for a few hours before heading back to da 'Castle. It was a bit crazy trying to get in and get a parking space, but we found a one-hour spot and just came back every hour to recharge the meter. The beach was packed out and famous surfers from all over the world were there to compete. They were throwing out some prizes to a crowd of people and I scored this awesome red hat, as did Laura.

THEN... it happened.

As we were just sitting on the beach, minding our own business, HE rises out the water.

Kelly Slater.

Yes, my friends, right in front of my own eyes Cameron and Caitlin's favorite surfer who I know nothing about is standing before me.

It was pretty epic so I snapped a couple photogs.

I think this is him anyways.

Around 3'oclock we decide it is about time to head back, and load up the car to begin our 2-hour journey back north to the place we temporarily call home. On the way, reminded of my own long car rides with my family, I start what went on to be a nice long game of "I'm going on a trip and I'm bringing a/an..." And it went as follows--

Alligator stuffed animal
Baby beluga whale
ChowChow
Doo-doo bag for said chowchow
Electric eel
Funnel cake machine
Garmin
Hotcakes and lots of 'em
Igloo-maker-kit
Jelly of the month club membership
Kenjitsu outfit
Lemington
M-m-mumblebee
Nair
Oscar trophy
Panties
Quiddich(sp?) ball
Rack 'o ribs
Slater, Kelly
Taj...something
Ultrasound machine
Vendetta toward a girl at the beach who littered next to a trash can
Womb (for the ultrasound of course)
X-rated movie
Yours truely
Zither (it's an instrument don't worry about it)

Just can't keep this girl away from them....

Never underestimate the power of the foot

2010-03-08T15:12:00.060+11:00

This was the first week of classes, so everyone has been getting school supplies, ordering books, and finding their classrooms ahead of time. My first class I missed because the time got changed without my notice a few days before the start of class, so I will be filling you in on my GIS and remote sensing class next week. Then I had River Basin Processes which has two more exciting field trips coming up, both of which I will be bringing my camera on.

When I was on campus I joined the Newcastle University Student Association (NUSA) that offers countless benefits to members. One of which is a weekly $10 crate of fruits and veggies… and when they say “crate” they mean it. Devin brought my crate home because I wasn’t on campus that day and it was literally like 20lbs worth of produce. Cantaloupe, cucumber, eggplant, carrots, lettuce, apples, bananas, zucchinis, onions, and bok-choy, were all part of this fantastical little treasure find.

We spend the weekday evenings doing a variety of things. Wednesdays are big going out nights here, and all the pubs are usually packed. So this Wednesday we found out about a stop light party, which is where you wear a shirt and colored bracelet according to your relationship status. Red = in love and taken, yellow= it’s complicated, green = 100% single, and I, of course, wore red. J We also went to this place called the Brewery that is one of our favorite spots because they have student discounts and it sits right on the water.

But on non-Wednesdays we will often invite all the guys over and make them dinner. This week was the first week we got our veggie crate and decided to have “Veggie Fest 2010” which included grilled zucchini and eggplant, a big “Elaine-style” salad, and to finish it off, Devin had the great idea of making apple crisp, and we topped it off with vanilla ice-cream. It was literally the best meal I’ve had since I’ve been here, and everyone got pretty excited about it.

We also like to play games at night. We’ve played Newlyweds, where everyone is randomly paired up with someone of the opposite sex. Then the girls and the guys will come up with a list of 10 questions separately and answer them. Then when we reunite, the guys will be asked the question and try to figure out what the girl’s answer was, and vice versa. Whatever pair answers the most questions right are the winners. It was funny how different the questions were between the sexes. The guys asked questions like “Do I pee in the shower?”, while the girls questions were more, well, girly and consisted of questions like “What month did we get married in?”

We also like to play Family, where everyone writes down the name of a person or character on a piece of paper and throws it into a hat. All the names are read off twice, and we then will go around the circle and get to ask people “are you Chewbacca?” if they say yes, then they become part of your family, and families work as a team to acquire more family members.

Whoever is head of the biggest family is the winner. My characters the other night were Tom from Myspace and Mrs. Teapot. I usually ended up in Taylor’s family. Laura’s were Dale Earnhardt Junior and Jigglypuff, which were very tricky to figure out.

Brian was having some trouble getting along with the other family members.

Devin and I decided to a little exploring while the other girls were enjoying themselves at bar beach. I should probably mention that we got a car from a lady named Jean Carmen that we met a church. It's a Holden Commedore.

Yeah, I know, its pretty kickin'. We're still working on a name...and on how to fit 7 girls in it.

So we drive around for a bit and find this little nature preserve and take a little hike. We came across a kookaburra, which made me feel very australian.

We then found this beach on the other side of the preserve and it was a long, beautiful, empty beach surrounded by jungle that I am sure we will be revisiting in near future. Then it started to rain so we left.

Bebe lizard!

The other night Devin and I decided to go for a photographic walk before the sun went down. So we travelled to the top of the Hill and got some brilliant views of another Newcastle sunset, a rainbow over the cathedral, then we decided to go exploring in places we haven't yet been. Right when the sun pretty much goes down we are on our way to the top of this hill where there's this old cement building we were aiming to explore. But we had to hop a fence to get there. So I hop over it, and Devin does the same, but after she clears the fence we hear this 'clunk' down below (by below I mean inside the sewer that ran under the fence) and Devin's phone is suddenly MIA. Well by now its like completely dark and we are trying to look in the sewer, I call her phone but no answer, we can't see anything, the situation is looking grim. Then we remember that our phones (well, my phone at this point) comes equipped with with a torch light. So after some fervent searching with my head inside the sewer sifting the mucky waters, I spot her phone half submerged in the far corner. Not quite sure how it got there, but it was to far to reach with our arms, so Devin got to use her trusty feet to recover her phone, which was still ON when she recovered it. Girls - 1, Sewer - 0. Bam.

Today was pretty rockin for a Monday. Devin and I dropped the girls at school and picked up Marshall (our friend who is moving in across the street) to take him to get a mattress from this mattress warehouse. So we go around back (where the free ones are) and there is a pile of mattresses on the ground and we pick one out (the cleanest one happened to be a queen, the dirtiest had all this red/brown/green gunk all over it), load it into the back of the commedore (somehow?) and drive it back to the hill where we grabbed some Subway (they have $7.00 foot longs!) and then hit up the hub which is where I am now. I have GIS and remote sensing from 5-7 today so I will be heading that way soon. Thats all for now. Cheers ya'll (yeah, I'm giving in...its just way easier to say that "all you guys" or "you all")

I too scared!

2010-03-01T12:55:00.001+11:00

I am currently escaping the rainy day outside, and had to speed walk here through the misty rain because it keeps down pouring ever hour or so. So I'll tell you a little about my field trip this past week. First of all, I didn't bring my camera (kicked myself later for that one) so all the pictures on here are what I could find on google.

So, I just recently returned from my 4-day field trip to the south coast with my geology class which was just a fantastic time. First of all, being surrounded by aussies for 4 days straight was really fun. I didn't know what they were talking about half the time because there slang is such a big part of their language. I think I asked "What does _____ mean?" about a hundred times, and they did the same with many of the things I said. But everyone was really helpful to the token American on the trip which was very helpful.

So the first day I arrived at the bus stop where 2 large coaches picked us up. On the way to our first stop I sat with who I learned later had been nicknamed "the hulk", so I had about 2/3 use of my seat for about 5 hours. I was so excited when we finally reached our first destination, Bombo Quarry, where we saw all sorts of unconformities (when two rocks make contact but are from completely different time periods. You can see the contact in the 2nd photo) One of which had a 160 million year age gap. Woah! We also saw a dyke (when lava protrudes into rock cracks from beneath the surface) which I think was my favorite part.

Before the trip I had booked a cabin for the first two nights at Ulladulla with 3 other girls from my class and stayed there each night (opposed to a tent which most students used). They were all really nice and we ended up hanging out every night with a group of guys, playing phase 10 and doing homework every night.

On the second day, we drove farther south to Pebbly beach which was my favorite place we went the whole week. First of all, we got there and walked down this hill into our meeting area and all of the sudden like 40 or 50 colorful parrots flew out of the jungle and were walking around us, landing on my head, eating out of my hand. It was heaven.

We walked around a large stretch of coastline for about 8 hours documenting the 30 some layers of rock. The terrain was rough, and it was hot that day but I enjoyed exploring the coast line and saw all sorts of creatures along the way. Altogether I saw a red-bellied black snake (very venonmous) which was sunning itself next to our trail, an echidna which is like a giant hedgehog, a pod of dolphins, king parrots, a huntsman spider which was huge, and finally a pack of kangaroos (saw them on the bus ride and got really excited and was basically yelling "woah!! kangaroos!!!" at which people gave me some weird looks) That night we went to the Bowling Club for dinner and I decided to try something new. "Chicken schnitzel and prawns.." I pondered to myself, thinking this would be an authentic dish. So it comes out and its just breaded chicken and shrimp, but it did end up being one of the best meals I've had here since my arrival 3 weeks ago.

On the third day we visited Myrtle Beach and saw the lower permian wasp head formation which was the deepest rock formation in the Sydney basin so that was pretty cool. Next stop that day was at Melville Point which was beautiful and had some beautifully folded rocks. I don't have a picture but I did have to do a drawing of it so here it is.

The 4th day was also one of my favorite days. We were given a blank map and were told to map an entire area's rock types, dykes, and special features using a compass. There were about six dykes which is not really a common occurrence so this place held a lot of geological significance. There was also a shipwreck here from 1827 which sits above ground and has been reduced to some rusty scraps of metal.

On the drive back Friday morning, my crew scored the front 6 seats which were the best because the driver is below the passengers and the front windscreen was essentially a giant movie screen as I watched all of the breath taking scenery drift by on the 7 hour drive home. We were very fortunate in picking the bus we did because the other bus broke down 2 hours away and had 3 people chuck on the way. Definitely dodged that bullet!

All in all it was a great trip and most of the people I met were also in all my classes this semester which will be nice. I start school tomorrow which I'm pretty excited for. Wish me luck!

Sunset Yorya--

When you come to a fork in the road...take it!

2010-02-20T14:25:00.005+11:00

Laura and I decided to go on a walk while everyone else went to get subway. We found a little path that took us to some peculiar places.

One of which was this little cement cave in the side of one of the hills that was hidden by rock and brush, yet seriously decorated with graffiti on the inside.

We stumbled across the noodles log, and yet again, Laura got a little attached. Like, LITERALLY attached. Like I LITERALLY had to pry her off. Now we are both LITERALLY covered in splinters.

Next we found this rock platform next to the ocean and there were crabs everywhere! There were also many cool rock formations, none of which were small enough for me to carry home though, sorry dad.

This is a place that Laura and I have named "White Finger Cove" because the ocean is constantly thrashing the rocks. There are iron stakes in the rock for people (us) to hold on to while getting walloped by the waves.
Please stand by for more interactive photos involving WFC

On the way back we found these hooligans sitting up on the wall because Lindsey somehow dropped her phone behind the wall. And it was recovered.

Then Brandi wanted to get up...

Then I wanted to get up, but I didn't allow pictures to be taken of that little feat. Plus it was like way to dark by then.

Roomie pic!!

Just another day down unda

2010-02-15T10:15:00.029+11:00

This week has much revolved around letting my sunburn recover, which has been slowly getting better. Brandi, Devin, and I are the self proclaimed burnt musketeers as we have to limit our activities due to the sun's effects on our post-winter skin.Other than that, much of our days are spent rising early, usually around 7:30 or 8:00 to the sounds of birds chirping, going to the hub, and talking to people to find leads on what activities we might fill our days with.

So we got a tip on a farmer's market not far from where we stay and decided to head over there in the morning. We got off the bus at the Broadmeadow station and walked around for a little bit without any trace of a market. After asking a few people, a nice lady decided to give us a ride to the place which ended up being about 15 minutes away.

The market was very much like a flea market. All sorts of vendors had stations set up, some with children's toys, others had fresh fruit and vegetables, and then there were the prepared food vendors that were selling canned goods, chutneys, fish, donuts, and much more. We met some very interesting characters during our time spent here.

This man was one the first people we talked to. He was a passionate advocate for climate change and had some interesting stories for us.

Dennis was selling cordials which they use to flavor their water. It was really tasty and I ended up getting "melon, lime, and bitters." We ended asked him all sorts of questions about accents, Australia and British, what we sounded like, if Australian's had different accents within the group (which apparently there is a "deep bush" accent that is rarely heard)

One of the other more interesting people that I encountered that day was the lady in pink, as I like to call her because I didn't end up getting her name.

She was selling little painted flutes, wind chimes, decorative pins, little tin animals, and other things made out of wood. When I enquired to if I could take her picture she was hesitant and said "you caught me on an off day, I usually have more flair than this." Which I found surprising because she looked like she was just brimming with flair. But she was a good sport and was a nice person to talk to.

We also stopped by the Drayton Family Wines booth at which we got to try all sorts of locally made wines including desert liqueurs, a cabernet, and some of his personal favorites. I had a hard time getting Laura to leave ;) We planned on getting lunch there, but after trying about 20+ samples from carmelized onion chutney to basic garlic spread to the world's only fish sausage to donut puffs to white chocolate desert liqueur to the hottest thai chicken curry I've ever experienced, I left with a full belly. Altogether we ended up getting the cordial described above, a bottle of wine or two, the basil garlic spread, tomatoes, mangos, zuccinis and a few more things I can't recall right now.

So we finally found Laura a nice Australian boy that doesn't talk back.

We pass him by every once and a while and I think Laura is getting a little too attached.

I found this graffiti sprayed onto the side of this tunnel we pass through on our way to the house. I decided to make it my theme for the trip. Newcastle is filled with all sorts of cool graffiti and it's cool because I never see anyone washing it away. I think it is definitely something that is embraced when it is tasteful and though provoking.

We found these giant cantalopes rolling around in the road and decided to play with them!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Oh, and a few Aussie slang terms:

Heaps - everything in large quantities comes in this measurement, as in, "you should wear heaps of sunscrean when you go in the sun or you might end up looking like Elyse"

Mexicans - this one confused me at first, but it means anyone living south of the border and has no derrogatory undertones.

Ute- Utility vehicle. It is basically a new fandangled El Camino and was created by Holden as the car you can take your family to on Sunday and then take your livestock to the market. Awesome!

Hotel - another name for a pub

Also, we tried out Sunday morning church at the Cathedral next to our house. We were by far the youngest people there by about 30 years. It was an Anglican church which I think is similar to Catholic churches but it was interesting. I felt really lost most of the time because everyone was chanting phrases in unison at random times, but it was a good experience. We will also be going to the free pancake dinner being held there on Tuesday night. Awesome!

Feel free to leave you feedback! I love hearing back from you guys! I put a comment box under my posts so it's really easy now

people.... THE SHRIMP IS ON THE BARBIE

2010-02-09T19:02:00.003+11:00

After 5 glorious days of skiing, hiking, wining, and dining South Lake Tahoe, I said my final goodbyes to Josh and boarded the plane to Los Angeles where I was to meet up with old pal Lauralee. We made a short stop in Mammoth Lakes, CA which was a small town in a valley surrounded by giant white mountains and was dotted with small frozen lakes. I was getting a little worried because Laura had called me earlier that day and told me that she missed her flight and might not be leaving until 2 days later so I was sort of worried. But, when I arrived in LA, I went and checked the arrivals and thankfully one of them was hers! I was so cheesed.After waiting around for a few hours in the terminal with Laura, her friend Lindsey, and their friend Chris, we all loaded into the belly of our Boeing 777 and began the 13 hour and 58 minute journey to the land down under. Sitting in one place for 13 hours and 58 minutes isn't actually as hard as it sounds. I mean, they serve three meals, snacks, and drinks. Everyone has a personal touch screen computer in front of them with movies, tv shows, and games. I did in fact finish my twilight book of which I am not ashamed.

After arriving at the airport, we went through customs, found our bags, and loa

ded them on to carts in search of the Happy Cabby, our transportation to Newcastle. I have to admit, our bloke was a seriously happy cabby and acted more like a tour guide for us on our 2 hour drive to our house in Newcastle. The city of Sydney was wonderful, everything was very quaint on a large scale and was aesthetically accented with tropical trees, flowers, and other sorts of plants. We drove for miles through what looked like hilly jungles without a scrap civilization in sight.

It was beautiful. And it was hot. I feel like I've been melting all day.

I was so excited when we arrived at the house. It is a 3 story house and one of the oldest buildings in o

ur suburb. It is built completely from red brick and is accented with wrought iron doors and fixtures giving it a very rustic appearance.

I share a room with Brandi on the 3rd floor and we have a large balcony that has a fantastic view of the city, the harbor, and the ocean. I'll be posting some pictures of it when I get a chance.

After settling in for a bit, Jenny (our landlady) gave us a ride to the mall. It was a very different mall -- instead of regular stores there was a post office, a butcher shop, a bakery, and other sorts of food specific stores. I also purchased a phone while I was there.

All 5 of us (Laura, Brandi, Lindsey, Devon, and I) are now at the Newcastle student hub checkin' our emailz and trying to stay awake long enough to go to bed at a decent time.

I miss everyone a lot and I wouldn't be here without the love and support of my family and friends.

Elyse

Just a few snapshots from the lovely South Lake

2010-02-05T07:28:00.006+11:00

Root wad!

Archie is HAPPY!!!

Some frozen cattails with Archie sniffin' around in the back

Me and Josh on the beach

On the snowy beach next to the lake

Safeway!! Used to go grocery shopping here with my stream girls!!

View from the gondola. Took almost 20 minutes to reach the top!

Standing in Nevada looking over the lake

AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-28T15:07:00.012+11:00

Laura is here this week and we are listening to some Men at Work discussing all the things we want to do/see while we're there. The list includes:

- Bungee jumping

- Skydiving

- Surfing + surf fest

- Scuba

There's a club on campus called NUDES (Newcastle Underwater Dive and Exploration Society) which I want to join -- and get Laura to join and get certified!

- Backpacking in Blackbutt Reserve

- Spelunking

- Busking

- Wine Fest

- Go to the opera house

- Pet a koala

- Camp on the beach

- Not get punched by a 'roo

- Eat a vegemite sandwich

will add some more laterz

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A quick introduction to the land down under

2010-01-21T15:11:00.002+11:00

For my first entry I am going to give a brief introduction of the place I am going and why I am going there.

I am going to University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia to study geology. It is located on the Southeast coast. I'm going to be living a few miles outside of the university with 5 other girls, one of which is my good friend Laura Lee.

I am leaving February 2nd to fly to South Lake Tahoe to ski with Josh for a few days before I depart the country. On February 7th I will fly out of Los Angeles to Sydney and will not arrive until February 9th. It's going to be a long plane ride...My only request is that Laura and I make it on the same flight because it's going to be a heck of a lot longer without her.

Here are some facts about Australia in general:

In land area, Australia is the sixth largest nation after Russia, Canada, China, the United States of America and Brazil. It has, however, a relatively small population.

Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. Its interior has one of the lowest rainfalls in the world and about three-quarters of the land is arid or semi-arid.

Australia is about the size of the lower 48 states, but has a fraction of the population. The population of the US is very much larger than Australia's. Australia has 20.8 million people compared to the US population of 299.1 million.

About Newcastle:

The city is located 98 miles North of Sydney and is the second largest city in New South Wales with a population of 280,000. It is the 7th largest city in on the continent.

Newcastle's harbour, Port Hunter, is the second port of New South Wales and the seventh port of Australia in the volume of its shipping trade. Exports include coal, iron, wheat, wool, and frozen meat.

Australia's biggest earthquake struck here in 1989.