23/04/2007
Location: In Australia! At a computer!
Mood: "can't be bothered", common Australian saying, applied translation…. I'm in a good mood right now, and no matter what, I can't be bothered.
Listening to: The chitter chatter of keyboards. Bloody annoying, but I can't be bothered mate!
Hello MSUM! This entry comes a week past the mid point (week 11) of my Australian experience and I would love to take this moment on the internet to reflect. It has truly been a beautiful journey thus far, full of glorious Australian sun, water, and earth. I love this place and I plan to live here for the rest of my entire life! Well, that reflection may be a bit strong, and if I could take all the good things from back home (friends, family, baseball, free ketchup) put them in the Australian jar and shake it up, I would (perhaps that's what heaven looks like). But now, an update!
Week 12
Finishing midterms and Sunshine Coast Scuba. After studying/stressing for my functional anatomy midterm, I took the exam, and I believe my preparation worked a treat. With the completion of the functional anatomy exam, I also reached the completion of all midterm exams. I have always found that the time just after exams is the best time of your life. During this time it is so easy to be positive and find the splendor in every day. For example, Wednesday, I found out I would not have class the following Wednesday due to the Australian Veterans Day equivalent (Anzac Day) giving me a five day weekend for week 13. Thursday, went surfing with Australian Tom and learned the duck dive technique of getting through waves. I did drink a lot of sea water, and I can't quite surf yet, but it's still a really good time tumbling in the waves. Friday, went to the grocery store and got to try two new fruits: longon, and guava. These two newbies where added to the list of strange fruit I have tried which also includes dragon-fruit, paw-paw, lyche, lemonade (tastes like it sounds), passion fruit, 5 different types of mangoes, quince, nashi pear, persimmon, pili pili, yellow kiwis, lady finger bananas, gwazarbles and juju juku berries (I made up last two, but I promise the rest are real). Saturday, I found a 20 cent coin, heads up!
I must start a new paragraph for Sunday. Sunday, was the best day of the week because I went SCUBA diving with the lovely, and newly certified Courtney I wasn't expecting much because we are south of the Great Barrier Reef and was very surprised when we had two "bloody good" dives. We went out with Sun Reef dive charters and dove a sport dubbed "fairyland" where we saw sea turtles, box-fish, bat-fish, lizard-fish, nudibranch (fluorescent orange slugs), deadly rock-fish and heaps more. The highlight of the dive was a male and female clown-fish (nemo) hovering above their anemone nest protecting their eggs. The orange parents snapped at anything that got near reminding me of the opening scene of "finding nemo" where the mother protects her babies from the massive barracuda. It was the perfect finish to the week and got me really excited for my upcoming dive trip in cairns with my family.
Week 11
Easter Break - Back to the Sunshine Coast – Week 11 was full of movies/study/the beach. Movies - because for the first part of the week Courtney wasn't feeling well. Study – because I gotta! Beach - because it was beautiful weather. When most of our friends where traveling up/down the coast and out of the country (Fiji and New Zealand) we where happy to relax near home. On Friday at Mooloolaba beach I had the best day of skim boarding thus far. I spent my afternoon sprinting and sliding up and down the beach(check out the album). I also worked on my body boarding technique, to do this you swim with a wave catching it just before it breaks and if done right you can ride it all the way to the beach. During all this fun I was also learning much about the human body for my upcoming functional anatomy exam.
Week 10
Midterms, Projects, and the Cheesy Gold Coast. Week 10 was full of study (I had my midterm theory and applied exams for skeletal-muscle rehab, and turned in my photo project and journal) and ended on a strenuous trip to the Gold Coast. I live on the northern sunshine coast, and the gold coast is about 250-km south, and a much longer twisty turning train ride. Although Courtney and I have learned to use a variety of transportation (bus, train, plane, taxi, foot, log roll, crawling) when getting from point A to point B, and we miss the ability to hop in a car/drive/arrive. The pure simplicity of traveling in my Bonneville back home will be so nice when I get back to the states.
We arrived to Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon. It was a very happening place, so much so, that all of the hostels where booked and we were forced to stay at the international high-rise hotel. The beautiful view, free breakfast, and four stars where all very nice but un-needed for a couple of travelling college students. On Easter Sunday we walked all around the city looking for a Christian Church (there were none) and then walked a good five miles to real college living, a hostel (Trekkers) in the middle of no where. Trekkers staff gave us a ride back to the downtown area where we shopped, ate and did some really cheesy tourist stuff like go to Hard Rock Café, rent a surfboard (we were at surfers paradise), and Ripley's Believe It or Not. On Monday we went to Australia's premier theme park "Dream World". The gold coast has half a dozen theme parks and this one was recommended as having the biggest and scariest rides. We had a lot of fun, but after the experience I can safely say Australian theme parks do not compare to those in America. We are much more extreme.
1/04/2007
Location: Somewhere south of the Gobi desert, on a rugged safari looking for a group of equally rugged giraffe poachers … (April Fools!) Actually I'm on campus in the computer lab because it is my only access to the internet. Over the past week, I've made this lab my home, but my sacrifice is almost over. Spring/winter/Easter break is coming soon and it will give me another chance to travel. My plans aren't solid yet but I would like to head south for one weekend to the gold coast and then up north to Noosa. Both places are known for their beaches, so it should be a great way to get some snorkelling in and practice my surfing/skim boarding.
Week 9
Exam preparation, late nights, and sushi. The story of week nine is better understood by looking to the future (week 10). Next week my 50 image lemon project/journal is due, I take mid term theory exams, as well as applied exams for tutorials. To make a long week short I studied, spent time photo-shopping, and stayed up way to late (saw the sunrise once). My week was not all work though. I made it to basketball night (wed), went to the beach (sat), and made heaps of sushi last night. Courtney's room-mate, Tom, who is a local, showed us how to make sushi the first week we where in Australia. Last night was the fourth time we have made the delicious stuff, and we are getting really good at it.
Good news! When Court and I left Mooloolaba beach on Saturday we stopped at Sun-Reef dive shop and… She signed up to get scuba certified. This is very exciting, because it means in three weeks I get to go diving with her! This adds to the excitement building up for my trip up north to one of the, if not THE diving capital of the world, Cairns. I'm meeting my family up there in May, but more about that later.
Week 8
Conquering the skyline and running into my Grandparents … in Sydney. Although it took the bus, train, plane and taxi to get there it was worth the travel and Court & I had two and half days of bliss in the city. We arrived Thursday night, stressed and struggled to find a hostel, found one that was beautifully simple, made a late check in, slept, and then woke up at 5:30… AM. Yes, that is VERY early, I know. But, the wake up was worth it because by the time we got to where we wanted to go(that in a second), we had a chance to catch the sun rising behind iconic Sydney opera house. Our cameras clicked and our smiles grew as we saw the various colors (or perhaps "colours" to make spell check happy) bounce off of the clouds. The real reason we were up at dawn was to do the most touristy thing you can do in Sydney (besides gawk at the opera house), and that is climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The experience took approximately three hours (1 hour prep, 2 hour climb) and it was a very cool experience. The view from the top of the bridge gives you an amazing angle to see the city and should not be missed.Later that day we went to the Aquarium, saw lots of cool marine life, found nemo, and then found my Grandparents. We had supper and talked for a few hours about their trip. They were on the finale of a tour to Australia that has stopped in Melbourne, Cairns, Alice Springs (the outback), and some surrounding bits. It was really good to see a set of friendly familiar faces so far away from home. On Saturday we did some more gawking at the Opera house, took a ferry ride across a sea of sail boats to Manly beach. The water was much colder than on the sunshine coast, and the beach a bit crowded so we decided to hire a set of kayaks and paddle our way around the bay. A bit more hanging with the grand parents, a very interesting morning market on Sunday, and a long struggle to the airport and we where on our way back to the sunshine coast. Sydney, I love this city.
Cheers!