As requested, I will update for my aunt Jane. Unfortunately, I can no longer upload photos, I will have to wait till I get home and have a computer that can read my photo card. Until then, enjoy the stories, and I will try to be more descriptive. I haven't been on any major crazy adventures, mostly just bogged down in school work and settling into a normal life of chilling with friends. And surfing. For those of you haven't had the opportunity to try surfing, I highly recommend it. It is an absolute blast! I am going to have a hard time moving back to a land locked state. I'm not amazing at it, yet, but I do hope to change that in due time. The weather here hasn't made surfing the easiest thing either, it's been cold/windy/rainy/choppy waves, but then sometimes clears for a bit for a beautiful day.
I've found my way into a really awesome solid group of friends, they've been really great about playing tour guide to me around the local area. In doing so, I've begun to feel like this is home now, not just a temporary spot in my life. They took us up to Nelson Bay a few days ago. It is about an hour north of Newcastle, and kind of a touristy spot. We climbed a mountain and looked all around the area. In this particular area, the Hunter River meets with the Pacific Ocean, so the area is surrounded by water. In addition, there are "mountainous" islands dotting the horizon, remnants of giant volcanoes that have collapsed. The water here is beautiful, a clear dark blue as far as the eye can see. In addition, everything is still very green, even though it is basically the middle of winter here now. We climbed back down, and the locals had us try hot chip sandwiches. Basically, a sandwich with hot chips (frys) in the middle. I'm not a big fan, but strangely, it is a staple food here.
A week from today, I will travel to New Zealand for 8 days. I'm getting really excited about it. The plan thus far is to rent a camper van and drive around the south island to see as much as we can. A total of 6 of us are going, so it should be a great time. We will fly into Christchurch, then we will head out to the west coast and continue south until we hit Queenstown. Along the way, we are considering visiting/climbing a glacier, kayaking in Milford Sound, skiing somewhere, and possibly black water rafting (rafting in caves). We haven't really sat down and created a game-plan just yet, we might, we might not. Sometimes the best times are the ones you don't plan for. Three of our group members are staying in Queenstown, apparently there is really awesome festival going on the end of June. I wish I could stay as well, but I've got to fly back to take my last final, then I've got a few days before I fly back to the states.
Until then, I've got 3 finals coming up very soon. I'm a bit nervous about one, the three not so much. I will write more when my head is not full of management theories and regulations regarding the Austrlian financial system.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
The Priests and a stolen backpack
This past monday I had the opportunity to go to Sydney to this program called "Thelogy on Tap." My friend picked me up from the uni, and we drove to this lady's house who was going to drive us to Sydney. This deal was at an irish pub on the outskirts of Sydney. It was an older bar, complete with a really cool wooden winding staircase. The place was completely packed, standing room only. Theology on Tap orginally stemed from World Youth Day, which was held in Australia a year ago. Basically, once a month, they get a guest speaker to come and talk/discuss the Catholic faith with others at a bar. Great idea, right!? This particular night, they had managed to get The Priests to come. The Priests, are three irish priests, classically trained musicians, that have a recording contract with Sony. They have a cd out, that has already gone platinum, even if it isn't the type of music you are usually into, I highly recommend them simply because they are absoluty fantastic musicians. They were putting on a concert the following night in Sydney, where tickets were around $80, and we got to see them for free at the bar. They sung a few songs and then briefly introduced themselves and how they came to be sitting in a bar in Sydney. It was a great experience.
Anyways, so we drove home, and realized that my friend's car had been broken into. Someone had gone through the whole car and had taken a few of her possessions, and my backpack. My backpack happened to contain my laptop, notebook, sketchbook, wallet (minus my id and any cash) keys, calculator, Ipod, and sunglasses. They called the police, but they said they would not come out, so to just go home, but they had filed a police report. I called my parents that night, and they were very kind in helping me cancel my bank cards. I was a bit distressed that my notebook and especially sketchbook were missing, this past week I had a very big paper due, a presentation, and a final exam for an online class I have been taking from NMSU. Fortunatly, I did end up getting an extension on the paper, and I also got a 98 on my final.
My host mom was kind enough to post reward posters around the neighborhood that everything was stolen for my sketchbook, and my host parents also set up an old computer they weren't using in my room for the time being. Many people that found out that this had happened kept telling me that they were very sorry that this had happened to me in their country. Well, crime happens everywhere, really, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened to me. If anything, I have been overwhelmed at the kindness that has been shown to me by everyone here. Most people have only known me for a few months, yet they have gone out of their way to help me out, and for that I am very thankful. And, my parents as well have been very kind in helping me out.
A few days later I received an email from the uni here that someone had found some of my belongings. I called the number, and apparently a lady a few houses down from where the car was parked, found some of our stuff in her backyard. She found a book and a DVD of my friends, my wallet, sunglasses, sketchbook, and notebook. Everything was soaking wet, because it had rained all monday night and tuesday morning, but nothing was damaged terribly. Overall, I am very thankful, it could have been a lot worse, but, it wasn't.
On a lighter note, I am in the process of planning a trip to New Zealand the middle of June. If anyone has any suggestions on places to check out, let me know. We will be going around the south island, and hopefully get to ski one day as well.
Anyways, so we drove home, and realized that my friend's car had been broken into. Someone had gone through the whole car and had taken a few of her possessions, and my backpack. My backpack happened to contain my laptop, notebook, sketchbook, wallet (minus my id and any cash) keys, calculator, Ipod, and sunglasses. They called the police, but they said they would not come out, so to just go home, but they had filed a police report. I called my parents that night, and they were very kind in helping me cancel my bank cards. I was a bit distressed that my notebook and especially sketchbook were missing, this past week I had a very big paper due, a presentation, and a final exam for an online class I have been taking from NMSU. Fortunatly, I did end up getting an extension on the paper, and I also got a 98 on my final.
My host mom was kind enough to post reward posters around the neighborhood that everything was stolen for my sketchbook, and my host parents also set up an old computer they weren't using in my room for the time being. Many people that found out that this had happened kept telling me that they were very sorry that this had happened to me in their country. Well, crime happens everywhere, really, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened to me. If anything, I have been overwhelmed at the kindness that has been shown to me by everyone here. Most people have only known me for a few months, yet they have gone out of their way to help me out, and for that I am very thankful. And, my parents as well have been very kind in helping me out.
A few days later I received an email from the uni here that someone had found some of my belongings. I called the number, and apparently a lady a few houses down from where the car was parked, found some of our stuff in her backyard. She found a book and a DVD of my friends, my wallet, sunglasses, sketchbook, and notebook. Everything was soaking wet, because it had rained all monday night and tuesday morning, but nothing was damaged terribly. Overall, I am very thankful, it could have been a lot worse, but, it wasn't.
On a lighter note, I am in the process of planning a trip to New Zealand the middle of June. If anyone has any suggestions on places to check out, let me know. We will be going around the south island, and hopefully get to ski one day as well.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Backpacking for Easter
Apparently I am terrible at updating this thing, epic fail on my part. For Easter break I had the opportunity to travel with two friends through the southern part of Australia. We planned the trip ourselves, without much planning ahead of time, other than booking transportation and hostels/campsites. Reflecting, I am very glad we did that, as opposed to booking a tour, we were able to see what we wanted to see, and avoid the touristy places, and see more by avoiding the tourist spots. My adventure started on a Wednesday night when my host parents and I drove to Sydney to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy play at an Irish club, The Gaelic. It was an excellent show, and a really cool place in downtown Sydney. The next day my two traveling companions, and I went to the Powerhouse museum, which also included a star wars exhibit. I got to see Yoda, and Obi-Wan's light saber, the nerd in me was rather excited, but also Angus Young's guitar. In general I'm not a big museum fan, but they have their place I suppose. We also walked around and went on a ferry through Darling Harbour up to the opera house. I have been, and continue to be impressed with Sydney. For being a big city, it is very clean, and has excellent outdoor public spaces.
Pictures of Sydney: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059625&id=49009102&l=127506f5c7
The next day, Good Friday, we caught a bus to Canberra, the capital. We arrived mid-afternoon and were a bit worried to find the town completely dead. No one was walking around, it was a weird sight. The Australian Government used to be seated in Melbourne, but when they decided to move it Canberra, they sponsored a competition for someone to design the city. Two American architects were commissioned to design the city of Canberra, and they did, I think, an excellent job. The city is basically centered around one huge round-about, with smaller ones radiating from the larger one. Everything is symmetrical, but it is apparent that they were probably inspired by Washington D.C. and Versailles. Canberra is known as the "bush-capital" because it is the only major settlement that is not situated on the coast line. We visited the Parliament House, the Anzac Memorial, and the National Australia Museum. The Anzac memorial was rather interesting, because they had exhibits/tributes to what Australians had done in previous wars, giving one a different perspective on past events, rather than just the U.S. perspective. We also caught a rugby union game, I lucked out and got a free ticket because a lady had an extra one and just walked up and gave me one. It was a great game, but rained the whole time, needless to say, we were quite soaked by the time we got back to the hostel. Easter was a beautiful day! We went to mass at the cathedral in Canberra. I found it rather interesting, Good Friday the whole town was deserted, it is a public holiday, and everything was closed. However, on Easter, most shops were open, and many people were out and about. Rather opposite of the U.S. Then again, religion is more prevalent in the U.S. than in Australia. On Monday we visited the mint, but it was closed due to remodeling and the only part open was the gift shop, epic waste of time.
Canberra pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059628&id=49009102&l=6cfc8f13fe
Monday night we caught a midnight bus to Melbourne, and arrived at 8 am Tuesday morning. Greyhound buses are very nice here, they definitely market towards backpackers, but they are still much cleaner and safer than the ones back home. We spent Tuesday night in this hostel above an old bar in the middle of Chinatown. It was really neat, a bit run-down, but had a great atmosphere, and was in the heart of Melbourne. The next day we rented a car and started off on the great ocean road. Our first stop was Bells beach, which is where popular brands such as Billabong were started. The Rip Curl Pro was going on (a big surfing contest) and we were able to watch some of the surfers. Holy cow they were amazing! We continued on, stopping when we saw something interesting and just taking a leisurely pace. The road is really quite fantastic; it hugs the southern coastline of Australia, just 2 lanes, and has great views! On one side is the coastline, the other rolling countryside complete with cows and sheep. Very beautiful. We camped at this place called Bimbi park. It is on the southern-most tip of Australia, west of Melbourne. It was much colder than I had anticipated, so I ended up sleeping in the back of car. We stayed there 2 nights, and both morning we awoke to find koalas peering down on us from the trees above us. The second day we were on the road we continued on to see the 12 apostles, the bay of martyrs, and the grotto, just to name a few various rock formations. All were equally magnificent. However, the weather was absolutely crazy. Literally, one minute the sun would be shining, the next cloudy, with a storm on the horizon, and the next pouring down rain. And I thought the weather was bi-polar in west Texas. On the third day we drove back to Melbourne, and stayed our final two nights in Melbourne at the Freeman Lodge, which was close to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.
Great Ocean Road pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059905&id=49009102&l=d91edb578e
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059906&id=49009102&l=3320514ba2
While in Melbourne, we visited the Queen Victoria Markets, which was a market place that had anything one could imagine. Food, including whole lamb heads, clothing, tourist gadgets, etc. We also caught an Aussie rules game in the Melbourne Cricket Games, which was fantastic! The game was very interesting, and the stadium was very impressive. We also went out to St. Kilda, which is a suburb of Melbourne, located on the coast, nice place. We watched penguins climb up the rocks to their nest after the sun set, that was really neat. Melbourne is known as the fashion capital of Australia, and that is evident. But, it is also very artsy. Melbourne has kept a lot of its older buildings, so it is very common sight to walk down a street and have old buildings surrounded by very contemporary ones. Again, an equally impressive city. That Sunday, we caught a train back to Sydney, and then another one back to Newcastle, which took us 15 hours. Going through Victoria, and watching the countryside, it was very obvious why they have had such devastating bush fires. The country side was extremely dry, which was rather weird, considering maybe 20 miles farther south it seemed to always be raining. All together, the trip lasted 12 days, and I had a great time. I would highly recommend to anyone considering coming to Australia, to drive the great ocean road, it was an experience that will not soon be forgotten.
Melbourne pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059630&id=49009102&l=8a4feddf78
Pictures of Sydney: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059625&id=49009102&l=127506f5c7
The next day, Good Friday, we caught a bus to Canberra, the capital. We arrived mid-afternoon and were a bit worried to find the town completely dead. No one was walking around, it was a weird sight. The Australian Government used to be seated in Melbourne, but when they decided to move it Canberra, they sponsored a competition for someone to design the city. Two American architects were commissioned to design the city of Canberra, and they did, I think, an excellent job. The city is basically centered around one huge round-about, with smaller ones radiating from the larger one. Everything is symmetrical, but it is apparent that they were probably inspired by Washington D.C. and Versailles. Canberra is known as the "bush-capital" because it is the only major settlement that is not situated on the coast line. We visited the Parliament House, the Anzac Memorial, and the National Australia Museum. The Anzac memorial was rather interesting, because they had exhibits/tributes to what Australians had done in previous wars, giving one a different perspective on past events, rather than just the U.S. perspective. We also caught a rugby union game, I lucked out and got a free ticket because a lady had an extra one and just walked up and gave me one. It was a great game, but rained the whole time, needless to say, we were quite soaked by the time we got back to the hostel. Easter was a beautiful day! We went to mass at the cathedral in Canberra. I found it rather interesting, Good Friday the whole town was deserted, it is a public holiday, and everything was closed. However, on Easter, most shops were open, and many people were out and about. Rather opposite of the U.S. Then again, religion is more prevalent in the U.S. than in Australia. On Monday we visited the mint, but it was closed due to remodeling and the only part open was the gift shop, epic waste of time.
Canberra pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059628&id=49009102&l=6cfc8f13fe
Monday night we caught a midnight bus to Melbourne, and arrived at 8 am Tuesday morning. Greyhound buses are very nice here, they definitely market towards backpackers, but they are still much cleaner and safer than the ones back home. We spent Tuesday night in this hostel above an old bar in the middle of Chinatown. It was really neat, a bit run-down, but had a great atmosphere, and was in the heart of Melbourne. The next day we rented a car and started off on the great ocean road. Our first stop was Bells beach, which is where popular brands such as Billabong were started. The Rip Curl Pro was going on (a big surfing contest) and we were able to watch some of the surfers. Holy cow they were amazing! We continued on, stopping when we saw something interesting and just taking a leisurely pace. The road is really quite fantastic; it hugs the southern coastline of Australia, just 2 lanes, and has great views! On one side is the coastline, the other rolling countryside complete with cows and sheep. Very beautiful. We camped at this place called Bimbi park. It is on the southern-most tip of Australia, west of Melbourne. It was much colder than I had anticipated, so I ended up sleeping in the back of car. We stayed there 2 nights, and both morning we awoke to find koalas peering down on us from the trees above us. The second day we were on the road we continued on to see the 12 apostles, the bay of martyrs, and the grotto, just to name a few various rock formations. All were equally magnificent. However, the weather was absolutely crazy. Literally, one minute the sun would be shining, the next cloudy, with a storm on the horizon, and the next pouring down rain. And I thought the weather was bi-polar in west Texas. On the third day we drove back to Melbourne, and stayed our final two nights in Melbourne at the Freeman Lodge, which was close to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.
Great Ocean Road pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059905&id=49009102&l=d91edb578e
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059906&id=49009102&l=3320514ba2
While in Melbourne, we visited the Queen Victoria Markets, which was a market place that had anything one could imagine. Food, including whole lamb heads, clothing, tourist gadgets, etc. We also caught an Aussie rules game in the Melbourne Cricket Games, which was fantastic! The game was very interesting, and the stadium was very impressive. We also went out to St. Kilda, which is a suburb of Melbourne, located on the coast, nice place. We watched penguins climb up the rocks to their nest after the sun set, that was really neat. Melbourne is known as the fashion capital of Australia, and that is evident. But, it is also very artsy. Melbourne has kept a lot of its older buildings, so it is very common sight to walk down a street and have old buildings surrounded by very contemporary ones. Again, an equally impressive city. That Sunday, we caught a train back to Sydney, and then another one back to Newcastle, which took us 15 hours. Going through Victoria, and watching the countryside, it was very obvious why they have had such devastating bush fires. The country side was extremely dry, which was rather weird, considering maybe 20 miles farther south it seemed to always be raining. All together, the trip lasted 12 days, and I had a great time. I would highly recommend to anyone considering coming to Australia, to drive the great ocean road, it was an experience that will not soon be forgotten.
Melbourne pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059630&id=49009102&l=8a4feddf78
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Blue Mountains and more
It's been awhile since I've updated this thing, life gets busy and you don't even realize it sometimes. A few weekends ago, I went rock climbing and abseiling (repelling) somewhere near by, not sure, but the place is called 'monkey face.' It was good fun, except for the leeches..... Could not shed them for the life of you, every 5 min another one would somehow manage to get on your legs, or arms, or neck! I didn't get a picture of the leeches, for those who have weak stomachs, but I did finally get a picture of a "goanna," it was up a tree in our campground. Here's some pictures from the weekend:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056919&id=49009102&l=e637c217ad
Later I was able to attend a local soccer match, the Newcastle Jets vs. a Korean team. We ended up getting seats 5 rows from the field, midfield, and enjoyed a great game. We won 2-0, and the crowd was insane! Australians know how to cheer for their team. Last weekend I went bush walking in the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are absolutely gorgeous, if you come to Australia, you have to go visit them. They are called "blue" from a blue haze emitted from the all the eucalyptus leaves. To get there, we traveled 5 hours by train, and then hiked 6 hours down into a valley and camped near the blue gum forest. The next day we got up and hiked into the blue gum forest, and then started the climb up and out of the valley. We made it out in a little under 4 1/2 hours, but spent the last 45 min or so pushing ourselves to catch a train. It is a little rigorous trying to catch a train after 2 days of hiking with a 15 kilo pack on your back. Needless to say, we did catch the train, perfect timing. The pictures really do not do the blue mountains justice, but they will have to do.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057378&id=49009102&l=82ea8a4618
Today my host family took me and my friend from Korea to the Kurri Kurri Nostalgic Festival. I was rather impressed by how many people were out there, Kurri Kurri is kind of in the middle of nowhere, but people came from all over to go to this weekend festival. It was nice to see some good ol' American muscle, my pictures are slightly biased in that regard, sorry. They also had 6 stages set up with bands playing all the time. The band I have pictures of were the main guys this afternoon, not to bad, the saxophonist was tearing it up, but I can't really say the same for the other guys. All in all though, not to bad. Lots of 40s, 50s, and 60s music, cars, clothes, and dancing. All around a really nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. After that, we drove up to Mt. Sugarloaf, the highest peak in the area, and took a few pictures. I guess that's all for now, currently I'm working on my Easter break vacation plans, once they get solidified, I will post them here.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057821&id=49009102&l=d38bd0d78e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056919&id=49009102&l=e637c217ad
Later I was able to attend a local soccer match, the Newcastle Jets vs. a Korean team. We ended up getting seats 5 rows from the field, midfield, and enjoyed a great game. We won 2-0, and the crowd was insane! Australians know how to cheer for their team. Last weekend I went bush walking in the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are absolutely gorgeous, if you come to Australia, you have to go visit them. They are called "blue" from a blue haze emitted from the all the eucalyptus leaves. To get there, we traveled 5 hours by train, and then hiked 6 hours down into a valley and camped near the blue gum forest. The next day we got up and hiked into the blue gum forest, and then started the climb up and out of the valley. We made it out in a little under 4 1/2 hours, but spent the last 45 min or so pushing ourselves to catch a train. It is a little rigorous trying to catch a train after 2 days of hiking with a 15 kilo pack on your back. Needless to say, we did catch the train, perfect timing. The pictures really do not do the blue mountains justice, but they will have to do.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057378&id=49009102&l=82ea8a4618
Today my host family took me and my friend from Korea to the Kurri Kurri Nostalgic Festival. I was rather impressed by how many people were out there, Kurri Kurri is kind of in the middle of nowhere, but people came from all over to go to this weekend festival. It was nice to see some good ol' American muscle, my pictures are slightly biased in that regard, sorry. They also had 6 stages set up with bands playing all the time. The band I have pictures of were the main guys this afternoon, not to bad, the saxophonist was tearing it up, but I can't really say the same for the other guys. All in all though, not to bad. Lots of 40s, 50s, and 60s music, cars, clothes, and dancing. All around a really nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. After that, we drove up to Mt. Sugarloaf, the highest peak in the area, and took a few pictures. I guess that's all for now, currently I'm working on my Easter break vacation plans, once they get solidified, I will post them here.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057821&id=49009102&l=d38bd0d78e
Saturday, March 7, 2009
1st trip to Sydney
This week was my 1st week of school. Very casual for the most part, but I do already homework (bummer) Their university system for the most part is similar to the US, but it does have some key differences. Their maximum course load is equivalent to 12 hours in the US, or our minimum. For one course, you usually have a 2 hour lecture once a week, along with a 1 hour tutorial, also once a week. They expect you to do a lot more independent studying than I think they do in the US as well. I don't expect to encounter any big problems, a business degree for the most part is pretty universal, however, my finance class deals directly with their system of government and taxation, which is different from the US, so I will have to do a lot of research in that area. But, I'm looking forward to it, I think it will be interesting to see a different way of doing it.
Friday I went to Sydney for the day. It was about a 3 hour train ride from Newcastle to Central Station in Sydney. Once we got to Sydney, we walked through Hyde Park and went into St. Mary's Cathedral. I wasn't able to take pictures inside, but it was quite beautiful. Apparently it just recently underwent a huge restoration project because the sandstone was becoming discolored due to the pollution in the air. It looked very nice, wasn't as big as the cathedrals in Europe, but still massive. Then we continued up to The Royal Botanic Gardens and the New South Wales Art Museum. The botanic gardens were huge, we didn't see all of them. They had all kinds of plants, even cactus (I was home almost for a moment!) However, the park was infested with bats, or "flying foxes." The bat's natural habit is being destroyed, so they are moving more into urban areas to find food. The art museum was free, so of course we went in. They had a nice variety of all kinds of art styles, the aboriginal art was probably the most interesting.
From there we ended up at the Opera House, which was really amazing to see in real life. I wanted to take a tour, but it was rather expensive, so we didn't. But, I do plan on seeing a concert there before I leave. Then we walked around to this area called "the rocks," which is where the 1st settlers came to Australia. All of the buildings are built out of rocks, apparently by convicts. Then we walked back into the center of Sydney to Chinatown. It was very crowded, but was also the 1st place we found where you could eat something that was less than $15. (Sydney is very expensive) Finally, we found an Irish pub and had a Guinness, a great way to end a full day of walking and sight seeing. It was a very short trip, but I do plan on going back a few times before I leave. I saw a lot of really cool things I would love to sketch. I am having problems posting photos here, so I have a link below that goes straight to all of my photos from this trip. I will continue to figure out how to post more photos here, but until then, enjoy below.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056320&id=49009102&l=1aafa
Friday I went to Sydney for the day. It was about a 3 hour train ride from Newcastle to Central Station in Sydney. Once we got to Sydney, we walked through Hyde Park and went into St. Mary's Cathedral. I wasn't able to take pictures inside, but it was quite beautiful. Apparently it just recently underwent a huge restoration project because the sandstone was becoming discolored due to the pollution in the air. It looked very nice, wasn't as big as the cathedrals in Europe, but still massive. Then we continued up to The Royal Botanic Gardens and the New South Wales Art Museum. The botanic gardens were huge, we didn't see all of them. They had all kinds of plants, even cactus (I was home almost for a moment!) However, the park was infested with bats, or "flying foxes." The bat's natural habit is being destroyed, so they are moving more into urban areas to find food. The art museum was free, so of course we went in. They had a nice variety of all kinds of art styles, the aboriginal art was probably the most interesting.
From there we ended up at the Opera House, which was really amazing to see in real life. I wanted to take a tour, but it was rather expensive, so we didn't. But, I do plan on seeing a concert there before I leave. Then we walked around to this area called "the rocks," which is where the 1st settlers came to Australia. All of the buildings are built out of rocks, apparently by convicts. Then we walked back into the center of Sydney to Chinatown. It was very crowded, but was also the 1st place we found where you could eat something that was less than $15. (Sydney is very expensive) Finally, we found an Irish pub and had a Guinness, a great way to end a full day of walking and sight seeing. It was a very short trip, but I do plan on going back a few times before I leave. I saw a lot of really cool things I would love to sketch. I am having problems posting photos here, so I have a link below that goes straight to all of my photos from this trip. I will continue to figure out how to post more photos here, but until then, enjoy below.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056320&id=49009102&l=1aafa
Saturday, February 28, 2009
My last weekend of summer
This weekend I was able to have a bit of a summer vacation before school started. Friday I went to the beach and had a good time being a beach bum for the 1st time in my life. Then, Saturday I left to go camping and kayaking at Myall Lake. It was about a 2 hour drive north of Newcastle, pretty remote, but it was beautiful. We camped on this strip of land, maybe 2 miles in width with the lake on one side and the ocean on the other side. While we were at camp, I was surprised how close the "wildlife" came close to us. We saw a few dingos sniffing around, and some sort of an iguana, which was rather large, maybe 4 ft in length. I wasn't close to my camera otherwise I would have gotten a few pictures. Today we kayaked down a river back to town, which turned out to be a lot longer than we had anticipated, and a lot harder, because we were going against the current, but overall it was good fun.
The center of campus, I guess they decided to have a nature reserve right in the middle. A good idea to some degree.....you can see koalas, but it is also a mosquito heaven, or as the locals call them, "mossies"
Nobby's Beach (as seen from atop Fort Scratchly)
Tree at campsite
Sunset over the lake we kayaked in
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Exploring Newcastle
Friday Yoon Sun, a girl from Korea I met on the bus to Newcastle, and myself went exploring around Newcastle. This meant that I got to experience public transportation on my own for the first time. Woo? As it turns out, it's quite expensive if you do not have a student id card, which I will be getting as soon as possible! Newcastle was originally founded as a steel mill town, but has outgrown that considerably. There is a huge coal shipping industry here, as many as 75 coal ships can be seen on the horizon waiting to get into the loading area. My host family told me that most of the coal goes to China. The "Newcastle" area is about 350,000 people, but spread out quite nicely. It has a busy nightlife, but can be a bit dangerous in the early morning hours. We wandered around for the most part, taking in the sites and sounds of a different place, and ended up at Nobby's beach. Nobby's beach became famous recently when a large flood washed a giant coal ship on shore. I think it was about 2 years ago, but it made world news.
Saturday we went to Blackbutt reserve, which is just a few blocks from my house. I left my memory card for my camera at home, because I'm smart like that, but I think I can borrow some pictures from Yoon Sun eventually. There we saw koalas and kangaroos. Koalas are very cute when you see them in person. We then walked to a shopping center and ate sushi, which had to be the best I've tasted thus far. It was so fresh! Later that night, a local guy that my host mom knows was kind enough to take us to see the nightlife. We went to a park right by a bay where there was a band, it was very beautiful. I'm not sure if it is legal here, but at public functions everyone drinks wine and beer outside. I wish we could do that in the states.
That's about it, I haven't been doing anything to terribly exciting as of late, but I plan to change that soon once I get my school schedule sorted out. Orientation starts tomorrow, so I will be busy with that all this week. I'm looking forward to getting back into a schedule, meeting new people, and learning more about Australia's business practices and government.
On a side note, I enabled anonymous comments, so anyone may comment. Please feel free to let me know you're reading this, and if there is something I can do to improve it.
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