Monday, April 30, 2007

Back to Bathurst

There are a couple of things I forgot to mention in my last blog…When we went on our sailing trip (and I don’t know HOW I forgot about this), I got to steer! The skipper let me drive the boat for about half an hour, so now I know if journalism doesn’t work out, I have another option.

I also forgot to mention ANZAC day. Australians celebrate the day on April 25 to remember the soldiers from WWI when they landed in Gallipoli (their first major military action) up until the soldiers today. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. I saw a parade for it on TV.

The last thing I failed to write about was the Virginia Tech shooting. Being overseas, all the mourning seems kind of far away, but I’ve still heard a lot about it. Sara was the first one to tell me about it that morning and I couldn’t believe it. Then I got several e-mails to my school address about it through NinerOnline, UCF and Facebook messages. When I was waiting for the bus a couple days after, I saw a story about it on Australian TV. It’s nice to have a news station that covers other countries. I think our news stations need to have more international coverage. Nichole and I talked about it briefly because it hit so close to home. She’s from Wilmington and mentioned how easily that could’ve been her school…

Now I guess it’s time to wrap up the past week or so…After leaving Airlie Beach, Pete and I trekked to Hervey Bay (said Harvey Bay) with Astrid. We ended up being on the same bus after all. It took quite some time and I had a sore throat, so I didn’t get much sleep on the bus, but such is life. Once there, though, we pulled up to a really nice hostel and stayed the night. Astrid and Pete tried to show me how to play chess, but my distaste for the game was only confirmed and later we played monopoly. Not my favorite either, but I actually put some houses on the board that time. I usually give up before I get to that point.

We were going to go on a two-day tour of Fraser Island the next day, but there wasn’t enough space left on the trip. Astrid got to leave the next day (Wednesday), but Pete and I postponed it til Thursday. We did get to walk around the marina and down the first pier I’ve seen in Australia, though, so postponing it was fine with me. Oh, and we saw pelicans! That amused me. Later, we met Nichole for dinner. We were going to go to Pizza Hut because I was craving breadsticks and don’t you know that the Pizza Huts here don’t have breadsticks! What is that? It’s not Pizza Hut if there are no breadsticks. They only have garlic bread, so we went to Red Rooster.

Thursday morning, we took a barge to Fraser Island about 45 minutes from Hervey Bay. It’s the largest sand island in the world and used to be occupied by the Aboriginal Butchella people. It used to be called Gurry for “paradise.” To be honest, I don’t think the name quite fits, but I still had a lot of fun. Once on the island, our group took a bus type thing across the island. Only vehicles with 4-wheel drive are allowed to drive on it. It was incredibly bumpy because everything is sand. Our bus driver’s name was “Captain Kirk”…interesting character. He was really nice, but everyone gave him crap because he didn’t drive well. After driving through a bunch of trees and walking through a rainforest, we drove right along the beach. It’s called the 75-mile beach, but it’s really 69. We stopped by the crystal-clear Eli Creek and the Maheno shipwreck along the way. The Maheno got stuck there in the 1930’s when it was being towed to land, but only one-third of it is still visible. The rest is under the sand. In its day, passengers compared it to the class and comfort of the Titanic and when it was first wrecked, several people had their weddings on the boat.

On our way to the Champagne pools, we got stuck when the driver turned into the deeper sand. He killed the 4-wheel drive and there were actually a few vehicles in the area that were being pushed. We were stuck for a couple of hours, but it gave the group a chance to walk up to Indian Head. It’s a huge cliff that cuts into the beach and the view was amazing. Some people saw sharks in the water from the top and we were told to look for turtles and dolphins as well. One couple saw a dingo (the island is full of them), but I had no such luck.

Then back to the bus once the sun went down. It was still stuck when we got there, so we took a different bus to the campsite. Of course that bus got a flat tire once we got there. (Pete said to put on the comment card that they need to be more prepared for break-downs). Our driver made dinner, which was delicious…steak and potatoes and salad and garlic bread. The “tents” we stayed in were pretty nice, too. They were small but had hardwood floors and no bugs.

The next morning, everyone got up early to leave for the second day of touring by 8:00 only to find that the flat tire was still in the process of being fixed. Apparently the first set of tools didn’t fit. Once we got on the…well I guess I can call it a road…we went by the Pinnacle where the colored sands are. They’re like big triangles of hard sand-art by the beach. Then we walked through another rainforest before lunch. The forests have the largest trees I’ve ever seen. One type of tree was used for all the flooring in the Sydney Opera House. The driver pointed out one of the trees and said it has about $80,000 worth of lumber.

Since we had a two-hour delay in the morning, we didn’t go on the four kilometer hike across the sand to the lake, but that was fine by me. Instead, we went to Beerabeen Lake…I think. There are two that start with a B, and I think that was it. I saw an aerial view of Fraser Island while we were there and the lakes in the middle of the sand island are impressive. It started to rain after awhile and we got back on the bus and drove to the barge to get back to Hervey Bay.

All in all, I had a good time on the island, although I’m not sure I would do it again. Everyone talks about Fraser Island, though, so I’m sure I would have wondered what it was like if I hadn’t gone.

Saturday, all four of us took different routes to Coolangatta to catch our plane to Sydney. All these long trips are chipping away at my self-esteem. There are only so many buses, planes, trains and shuttles I can be on before looking in the mirror and thinking, “Oh dear, is that what I look like?” I’m sure no one cares.

So now my break is over and I have to go back to assessments and hiking to the library. I almost cried when we got back last night because I wasn't ready to be back. I’d like to go to the Twelve Apostles in Victoria before I leave in July, but I definitely put a dent in my account over the past few weeks, so we’ll see how that goes. I don’t regret any of it, though. I’ve had more fun the past three weeks than I can measure and almost every dollar was well-spent…There was a frozen pizza Pete and I invested in while in Hervey Bay only to find out the hostel didn’t have an oven, so we’ll say all but $6 was worthwhile. But on the flip-side, I did get a much anticipated swing in the hammock before I left. Can’t argue with that.


By the way, I've added pictures to the past couple of blogs now!

Monday, April 23, 2007

WEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Last Monday, right after updating my blog, Pete and I headed to Rotorua, south of Auckland. We spent a couple of days there. On Tuesday, we went to the Skyline rides where we took a gondola up the mountain overlooking Lake Rotorua and then went down it on the luge tracks. It was only $45 for the gondola and 5 turns on the luge, which took us a few hours, so not bad at all. The luge is a tiny go-cart type seat, but only has 3 wheels and no pedals. You sit on it, putting your feet inside and pull forward on the handles to go. There were three tracks: the scenic route, intermediate and advanced. I saw a little six-year-old go on the advanced track, so I figured I could do it too and ended up running into the side at one point. It was SO steep and curvy, but no one saw. There wasn’t anything to keep you from going off the side of the mountain either. There were people from six to sixty-five on the tracks and it was funny to watch everyone’s reactions when they started going. One older lady had the biggest grin going down the hill. I think Dad would have liked it a lot.

They also had an enormous sky swing set up, but as much as I love swinging, I couldn’t bring myself to pay for it. We took the bus back part of the way to the hostel and then basically got kicked off. “This is a city bus. We don’t go there.” *Open doors*

The next day, we went to Zorb. It’s set on a big hill and you can either go down by yourself, strapped inside the ball or go down with water in the ball (hydro Zorb) not strapped to anything. The day we went there, they said we could only do the hydro Zorb because it was too windy to do the other one (which made no sense to me), so we got some Zorb clothes and jumped in a giant ball filled with warm water to roll down the hill. It was definitely an experience. I laughed the whole way down.

Across the street was the Agrodome where they have sheep shearing shows, a barn filled with pictures of shearing equipment, a café and a gift shop. Everyone had said there are more sheep in New Zealand than people and now I believe it. They were EVERYWHERE around that country.

That evening, we took a bus back to Auckland and I had a real American hot dog and milkshake at a nearby restaurant. The menu even called it “American dog.” While we were eating, two guys sitting next to us were contemplating who wrote “Eye of the Tiger” when it came on the radio. For some reason, their New Zealand accents made it funnier. There’s definitely a difference between accents there and in Australia. I like Australian ones better…they sound more English and New Zealand accents sound more Scottish to me. There’s also a big rivalry between the countries. Think Duke and Carolina.

On Thursday, we picked up a rental car to drive to Pakiri Beach (pronounced Pack-ur-ee). On the way, while we were still in Auckland, we passed a building covered in red and green vines. I wanted a picture, but never got a chance to take one. It reminded me of a book my grandmother used to read to me about an old house covered in vines that an old lady with rag dolls lived in. I think the rag dolls’ names were Ivy and Violet, but don’t quote me.

It was nice to have a car, though. The drive up to Pakiri was beautiful and we stopped along the road to take pictures. Once we got there to go horseback riding on the beach, though, it got cloudy. It actually started hailing while we were on the beach, so everyone was freezing the rest of the way when the sun wasn’t out. I grabbed a big yellow raincoat out of the equipment closet before we left, so I looked like that captain on the front of the fish fillet boxes. My horse’s name was Mora and she was stubborn and hungry. I guess we were made for each other. She kept getting out of line, though. Here are all the other horses and way over here is my horse. Plus, when it started hailing, the horses would turn against it so it wouldn’t get in their ears and my horse took off galloping a couple of times. I’m sure she was really going about two and a half miles per hour, but it always feels faster when you’re high up and your saddle is coming loose.
I don’t regret doing it, though. It was still fun and when I looked at the brochure later, I had to laugh. Our trip wasn’t exactly the sunny skies and happy horses pictured on the front. I couldn’t even dismount when we got back because my legs were frozen and my feet were numb.


That evening, we drove toward the Bay of Islands, but ended up staying overnight in Waipu. The guy who owned the place let us do laundry and we stayed up to watch Double Jeopardy while the clothes were being washed. Finally, all of my criminal justice classes came in handy.

Friday, we drove the rest of the way to the Bay of Islands. All in all, the trip from Auckland to the bay didn’t take that long…probably about 4 hours. New Zealand is very narrow and not all that big. We stayed in Paihia (pronounced Pay-he-uh) because that’s where the skydiving is, but when we got there, it was raining off and on and pretty windy. Instead, we stopped at Woolworth’s to get some groceries and made fettuccini alfredo and peas while watching Oprah.


Then, we took the ferry across to Russell and walked to Long Beach. I’m not sure if we saw it all, but it wasn’t very long. Afterwards, we headed back to the wharf and found the oldest church in New Zealand. It was established in 1836. We stopped at a fancy-looking restaurant for dinner, and I thought I would be good and get the cream of vegetable soup. I’m a little rusty, but if my memory serves me right, I’m pretty sure it tasted like baby food. Thank goodness it came with bread. It was dark by that time and cold, so we went into Sally’s to get some hot chocolate before the ferry back to Paihia came. Each cup of hot chocolate came with a flat, pink marshmallow.

In the morning (Saturday), we went back to the skydiving place around 8 to see if they were letting people jump. No one was there, which made me sad, and we had to get back to Auckland to catch our plane back to Australia. I did, however, try driving a manual for the first time. What better way than in a rental car on the opposite side? I didn’t go on the road; I stayed in the grass parking area outside the skydiving building. We’ll just say it may be for the best that I have an automatic.

Saturday afternoon, we flew to Brisbane, which is near the Gold Coast. We couldn’t find a good hostel to stay in, so we took a bus to Coolangatta. I got to walk on the beach for awhile the next day and then we took another bus to Surfers Paradise. We weren’t too impressed with the hostel we stayed at there, but the huge hotels along the coast were impressive and we again got some beach time on Sunday and Monday. Sunday night, we walked around all the shopping centers and saw an Elvis impersonator on one side and a guy playing the didgeridoo on the other. Further down, I heard Fergilicious on a radio. You can’t argue with variety. Then onto KFC for a cheap dinner so I wouldn’t feel bad for getting ice cream and finally walking on the beach.

I think as far as money, all the bus tickets and the like are getting me. I didn’t think about paying for so many tickets when I came here and food isn’t exactly cheap either. Pete and I stopped by a grocery store a few times the past week to cut down on expenses, but then there are things that pop up like a departure fee from New Zealand. For some reason, everyone has to pay $25 when leaving the country. Plus, since there’s only been two of us the past week and a half, hostels can be more expensive since the cost isn’t divided among so many people.
We’re trying to be smart about money, though. Earlier today, we took a bus from Surfers Paradise to Brisbane, which of course didn’t stop at the airport, so then we had to get a train to catch our plane to Rockhampton. Once there, we realized our bus stop was a couple of miles away, so we walked there with all of our luggage just to save $12. Then we waited about six hours to take another bus from Rockhampton to Airlie Beach to meet Nichole and Astrid.


We finally made it to Airlie Beach around six in the morning and got to see the sun come up over the beach. We hung out til 12 to get into the hostel and meet up with the other two. Then off to the lagoon to catch some rays. The next day, we boarded Ragamuffin II, the sailboat we booked for a 3 day/2 night trip. I had my doubts at first because the boat was pretty small and there were 15 of us altogether, including the two-man crew. But it was SOOOO much fun. When they first put up the sails, the boat tipped to one side and it felt like we were all going to tip off. We sailed around a bunch of the Whitsunday Islands (there are 74 in total), which are along the Great Barrier Reef, got some great pictures and got to kick back and relax. We met some people from Germany, Spain, London and another girl from Holland like Astrid. The crew cooked all our meals, which were delicious and included in our package.


We also got to snorkel! I’d never done it before and it took awhile to get used to not breathing through my nose, but the reef was really cool. I touched a fish! We had to wear “stinger suits” – which reminded me of Star Treck – any time we were in the water because there are a lot of jellyfish and some are too tiny to notice. The first night, we also stopped at Whitehaven Beach and played frisbee and ate snacks. The Whitsundays are famous for the whitest sand in the world and the sand is mostly made up of silica. Apparently you can polish silver jewelry and while we were on the beach, all the girls rubbed their nails in it to make them shiny.

The beds weren’t the most comfortable, but the stars at night blew my mind. Gorgeous. We saw the Big Dipper and it was odd because it’s in a different position on this side of the world. We saw the Southern Cross constellation as well, which is what the boat company is named after.

The second day, we snorkeled again and went to Betty Beach or something like that. OH MY GOSH. The view from the lookout was absolutely stunning. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. We hung out on the beach for a couple hours, got to swim in the crystal clear water and saw a stingray. I’m pretty sure I would be OK with living there. Then we sailed to another bay where there’s a resort and paid $5 to use their pool and showers. After taking a two-minute cold shower in the tiniest space ever on the boat, it was nice to have some room to move around. By the way, it’s really hard to use the toilet when the boat is tipped all the way to one side. There were some beautiful sunsets as well, which Astrid called “the undergoing sun.”


The next morning…let’s see…Saturday now…we went back to the resort after breakfast to go on a couple different hikes and use the pool again. Then we sailed back to Airlie Beach and all met up later to have dinner together.

The total cost of the trip was $411, including two nights in a hostel, snorkeling and all our meals. It’s been my biggest expense so far but it was definitely worth it.

Today…are you ready for it?...I SKYDOVE, I SKYDOVE, I SKYDOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEE!!! Loved it, loved it, loved it! It was absolutely IN-CRED-I-BLE and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I decided to do it yesterday because I saw a brochure for skydiving in Airlie Beach, so I called up and asked when I could jump. At first the girl asked me if I wanted to go right then, but I told her I just ate and booked it for today instead. I talked Astrid into jumping as well and let me tell you, that was some of the most worthwhile money I’ve spent so far. It was pretty pricey at $275, but I haven’t found it cheaper anywhere else and I’ve wanted to skydive for a long time now. SOOOOO glad I did. I wish I had money to get a video of it, but I took lots of pictures from the plane. We went up to 9,000 feet (even though we paid for 8,000) in a tiny plane, got strapped to professionals and jumped. I screamed at first because I didn’t know up from down and I was just falling out of the sky. Then I shut my mouth because there was too much wind getting into it. We had about 30 seconds of freefall time, then the guy opened the parachute and we went into a sitting position. When the parachute was first opened, we slowed down and there was a dropping feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I laughed and had a smile on my face the whole way down. We jumped over the Whitsunday Islands, so I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful view. There’s something about sitting on the edge of a plane with the door open and seeing nothing but ocean below you spotted with islands that gets you going. It was sooooo exciting. I kept jumping up and down.

The parachute was soooo much fun too. It was like a humongous swing. We twisted right and left, over trees and boats and islands and glided to the bottom where I let out another yelp when I thought I was going to hit the ground. I didn’t, though. I’ll never be able to fully describe how much fun it was, but I will definitely be planning another jump. Astrid had fun as well and didn’t scream. The only difference was that she didn’t feel so great after eating Subway and I was hungry when we landed. I’m sure that doesn’t surprise anyone.

Now Astrid and I are sitting in an Internet café. Nichole left this morning for Rockhampton and at six, Astrid is getting on a bus to go down to Hervey Bay. Pete and I are getting on a bus a couple hours later to go to the same place. We would’ve gone on the same bus, but Astrid booked a tour for eight tomorrow morning and it takes about 12 hours to get there. We’ll be going on different tours, but we may all meet up again on Saturday before our flight back to Sydney.

I’ve taken so many pictures it’s not funny, but I’ll have to add them later when I can use my own computer. Until then, I hope no one fell asleep reading the longest blog in the world and I’ll keep you posted!

Monday, April 9, 2007

New Zealand part 1

I'm in New Zealand!!!!!!! Weeeeeee! I almost can't believe I'm here...I've wanted to come here for so long and now I'm sitting in a Starbucks (of all places) to access the Internet and write about it.

I'll start at the beginning...(as opposed to the end I guess). Thursday was the last day of class and Friday morning, Nichole and I got a ride to Sydney with a girl from her dorm. From there, Charlie and her dad picked us up and took us to Charlie's house. That afternoon, we picked up Pete and then took the ferry from the Sydney Harbor to Manly on the other side (about 20 mins. or something). There, I bought a huge gelato and then we went back to Charlie's for awhile for a home-cooked meal and later went out with some of Charlie's friends. I was exhausted, but I got to see a pretty beach at night even though my pictures didn't turn out. When we got back to Charlie's, we all watched Sister Act 2 and went to bed.

Both of Charlie's parents are from England, so we had real English crumpets in the morning and then I took pictures of their backyard because it's this huge wall of stones with a swingset at the top. Then off to the airport around 7:30. We actually had quite an ordeal there because we had all booked our tickets online, but something happened to Nichole's ticket and she had to stay back after trying to explain her situation and get things straightened out. Pete and I were rushed through the airport by the employee that checked us in so we wouldn't miss our plane. I got frisked on the way which was a tiny bit inconvenient, but we made it. There were a bunch of Australian soldiers at the airport as well so I was wondering if they were all on the way to Iraq. Apparently when the Australian elections come up this year, if the opponent (I forgot his name but not the current president John Howard) wins the election, he wants to pull Australian troops out. Kathryn was telling me about that and said she hopes America doesn't hate them if the troops are pulled.

Once we got on the plane, it took a few hours to get over the Tasman Sea to Auckland. (We flew Emirates and the flight attendants had pretty hats). We're 2 hours ahead of New South Wales here. I wanted to squeal when I got another stamp in my passport. After getting our bags, going through customs and exchanging money, we took a bus into town. I asked the girl in front of me if she knew where the bus stopped and her and a friend were on their way to a hostel, so we ended up getting off where they did and staying at Surf 'n' Snow hostel Saturday night and last night. It was reasonably priced and pretty nice. Saturday, we walked around some and ate at a Mexican restaurant. I ordered tea for the first time since I've been overseas and it made me miss Bojangles. It was in a tall glass with a lime in it and kind of murky because I think they squished a lemon in there. I thought they had given me a long island at first, but that's not what it was.

Our hostel was right across from the Sky Tower so I got some good pictures of it. It's a tower that's 328 meters from the ground (4 meters higher than the Eiffel Tower) and at the top there's a 360 view of Auckland. You can jump from it, too -- like bungy jumping.

Yesterday, we were planning to go to a morning Easter service, but we forgot about the time difference and missed it. We ended up walking around town for awhile and down the harbor, then waited for a long time on Nichole to get there, only to find out around 5 that she still wasn't able to leave Australia. We had just enough time to scarf down some Wendy's and head to the Baptist Tabernacle for an evening service.
It was alright, but I miss my church at home. They have a great outreach program though. In fact, one guy (named Nigel!) told me that an American guy had visited a few years back and thought the outreach was so moving that he set up a fund for getting out Bibles in different languages.

Afterwards, we planned what we'll be doing the rest of the week, booked some things online and watched Click. I almost cried. Good movie.

In about an hour, we're heading to the bus station to go to Rotorua, about 3 1/2 hours south. They have a bunch of fun stuff to do...there's a luge, a gondola, a sky swing and this thing called Zorb where you get strapped in a humongous ball and roll down a hill. :-) It's like Chucky Cheese for adults.


On Wednesday, we'll head back up to Auckland and leave the next morning for Pakiri Beach to go horseback riding! I'm excited. Then off to the Bay of Islands to go skydiving! I can't wait...I think I may even pay more to get digital pictures done of the event. It's a lot cheaper to skydive here, too. It's $185 to do a tandem jump (with a professional) and if I waited to go to the Gold Coast in Australia where we'll be next week, most jumps are $400. I found one for $200, but that's if you pay for pictures too, so it would come to $300. And that's in Australian money. With New Zealand money, it comes out cheaper.

Ok, now for random comments that don't fit into the blog:

1. About a week ago, Australia had Earth Hour where the majority of lights were turned off from 7:30-8:30, even the Harbor Bridge and opera house. It saved a bunch of energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions. I read where the Coca-Cola sign at King's Cross (a major street) was turned off for the first time since it was illuminated in 1974. On the plane, I saw an article about how Australia and I think New Zealand will be switching to energy-efficient lighting over the next three years as well. We need to hop on the bandwagon.

2. In Sydney, I saw a guy wearing a John Deere hat. If I had been walking, I would've asked him for a picture.

3. Megan went to Dubbo last week and said an Aboriginal guy started yelling at her for stealing his land. She told me she was thinking, "Uh, I'm from Canada." Ha ha ha.

4. Speaking of Aboriginals, I got my portfolio back in Aboriginal studies. Considering everyone says that no one gets "high distinction" (an A) and our professor never really explained what he was looking for, I did ok. Not as good as I'd hoped, but he left some good comments on the grading sheet. Apparently, we were supposed to relate our articles to the media, which was never said in class, but he said it seems like I'm getting a good grasp on Australian history and that it was well-written and organized. Yay me! I hope I get a higher grade on part 2. I should be getting a few other assignments back when classes start again. Last week, I got everything done for the month of April so I won't have to do work while I'm "on holiday." (By the way, here they put the quotation marks before the period and it looks funny). I had 2 essays, a critical review, an annotated bibliography and my portfolio to do, along with a bunch of reading, so I'm glad that part is over. There's SO much research required here. I'm spending much more time in the library than I ever would at home.

5. Read my updated lingo!

6. I'll add pictures to this blog once I get the pictures off my camera. But for now, must get ready to roll down a hill in a bubble wrap-looking ball!