It's freaking freezing here. And it gets dark suuuper early. What the heck. It's December, it's supposed to be sunny and warm!
Arrived in Seattle yesterday afternoon after a surprisingly easy flight from Sydney via San Francisco (exit rows on both flights, I even sweet-talked my way into one on the way from SFO free of the usual $40 charge). After only a short delay I collected my big suitcase from Morgan (big props for carrying that home for me) and headed home to a house I had not seen in five months. After so long away from home, it feels extremely odd to be back. Almost everything is entirely familiar, yet it seems weirdly out of context - I am constantly finding myself asking, "Wait, what am I doing here? I'm not supposed to be here...what's my next destination?" Ah, but it's the holidays, and nothing beats being home for the holidays. I had a lovely time today wrapping all the gifts I brought back from my travels, decorating the Christmas tree, and going downtown for a night out on the town - all those little things you don't really think too much about but which are wonderful, warm reminders that you have a loving home and awesome parents that supported you through a truly amazing trip.
My last few days in Sydney were incredible. I don't have too much time to talk about them just now, but there were some great highlights - the amazing botanic gardens, the opera house (possibly the most iconic building in the world?), Taronga Zoo (incredible exhibits, amazing animals), and, on my last night there, climbing the Harbour Bridge, which was a truly phenomenal experience and provided some of the best views I've ever seen.
Over the next few days I will do my best to try and post some highlight pictures of my trip since Brisbane, but no promises on the timetable. For now, it's good to be back home, thanks for all those who managed to stick through reading this thing with what I'm sure was some really convoluted and grammatically horrible writing over the past few months, and I really had the most spectacular trip ever. Merry Christmas, and it's sure good to be back in the world's greatest city!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
A Journey Into Middle Earth...Then a Visit to Seattle
That's right, have a sword. Be jealous.
And not just any sword - actually, a sword wielded by Aragorn (aka Viggo Mortensen)in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Our Lord of the Rings tour on Sunday was fantastic on so many different levels. Amazing scenery, good group of people (all young people, and no extreme know-it-all nerds), and a very knowledgable guide (the guy had worked on the movies as the lead on-location sound guy, had won two Oscars and been nominated four times, and he doesn't even mention this until he was driving us back). If the location looks familiar at all, it was the site of Edoras, the capital of Rohan that first shows up in the second movie. Absolutely stunning spot, and I'm sure I'll never be able to watch the movies again without getting super excited whenever Edoras comes onto the screen.
The tour was an awesome way to end our time in New Zealand, but we are on to one last final adventure in Sydney. The flight fortunately went quite smoothly and we re-entered Australia with no problems at all.
I'm able to post and load pictures because I finally have reliable, free, non-time restricted internet couresy of an awesome arrangement we have courtesy of Morgan. We are staying two nights (this is the second) with family friends of hers that have a house in Wollongong, a lovely city about an hour and a half south of Sydney. They were kind enough to pick us up at the airport and treat us to some lovely sightseeing on the way down to Wollongong yesterday. Today we spent happily warm and relaxed on the beach that's only bout a 15 minute walk from their house:
That's right. Check out where I was today. Now look out your window. Mom, dad, I might just decide I'm going to accidentally miss the flight home.
The couple we're staying with - Shady and Scott - also have a lovely 13-month-old aptly named Seattle whose antics we've been thoroughly enjoying (apart from his almost-incessant crying on the ride from the airport; the kid does not like being confined). So yes, after a sense, I have been able to visit Seattle a week early.
This may be my last blog post from Australia itself, I will be back in Seattle, no puns attached, in less than a week. Here's to making the most of the next few days!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Queenstown
Hello from Queenstown!
We arrived here a couple days ago after a bus trip through some of the most gorgeous mountain scenery you will see anywhere on the planet. Rugged peaks, astonishingly blue lakes, amazing mountain wildflowers, it’s really stunning.
Queenstown is awesome, it’s situated on the edge of a mountain lake with mountains all around. It’s a major tourist town but also full of young people; there’s a couple big hostels here and there is a very active nightlife. Morgan and I got a really good room, with a guy from Montana and another from Scotland, and we all went out last night.
This is also the adventure sports capital of New Zealand, and we’ve been getting a good full dose of that as well. Wednesday we had a combo tour that was a mix of jetboating through river canyons (amazing, and exhilarating), a helicopter flight (awesome), luge rides (which they have a track for and sounds kind of stupid but is amazing fun, it’s basically Mario Kart), and a ride down the mountain gondola. Yesterday it was the Shotover Canyon Swing, which was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done but also a ton of fun – it’s a 70m freefall that’s followed by getting swung across a canyon. You have to jump off a platform, which is terrifying enough in itself without the guys who strap you in doing everything in their power to freak you out, bump you, etc. In keeping with a scene, the natural setting is amazingly beautiful.
Tomorrow we head back to Christchurch and have a Lord of the Rings Tour (we’ve been re-watching the movies as preparation) before heading to Sydney and the last leg of the trip before heading home. Back in Seattle in under two weeks!
We arrived here a couple days ago after a bus trip through some of the most gorgeous mountain scenery you will see anywhere on the planet. Rugged peaks, astonishingly blue lakes, amazing mountain wildflowers, it’s really stunning.
Queenstown is awesome, it’s situated on the edge of a mountain lake with mountains all around. It’s a major tourist town but also full of young people; there’s a couple big hostels here and there is a very active nightlife. Morgan and I got a really good room, with a guy from Montana and another from Scotland, and we all went out last night.
This is also the adventure sports capital of New Zealand, and we’ve been getting a good full dose of that as well. Wednesday we had a combo tour that was a mix of jetboating through river canyons (amazing, and exhilarating), a helicopter flight (awesome), luge rides (which they have a track for and sounds kind of stupid but is amazing fun, it’s basically Mario Kart), and a ride down the mountain gondola. Yesterday it was the Shotover Canyon Swing, which was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done but also a ton of fun – it’s a 70m freefall that’s followed by getting swung across a canyon. You have to jump off a platform, which is terrifying enough in itself without the guys who strap you in doing everything in their power to freak you out, bump you, etc. In keeping with a scene, the natural setting is amazingly beautiful.
Tomorrow we head back to Christchurch and have a Lord of the Rings Tour (we’ve been re-watching the movies as preparation) before heading to Sydney and the last leg of the trip before heading home. Back in Seattle in under two weeks!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
New Zealand!
Hey everybody -
Been a while since I posted anything. Had a great time driving from Adelaide to Melbourne - saw the Grampians (an awesome "mountain" range in rural Victoria), the Great Ocean Road, and had a great time in Melbourne. My friend Matt was an excellent tour guide and I also greatly enjoyed seeing a Costco, which was a little taste of home.
Got into New Zealand two days ago and it's been awesome so far (once Morgan got past the check-in at Melbourne Airport, which almost didn't happen). Friendly people, nice weather, cool attractions (the International Antarctic Centre is a must-see if you're ever in Christchurch), and mountains - like, real mountains - which I haven't seen in ages.
Tomorrow we're off on something called Naked Bus, which I'm only about 90% sure isn't a nudist thing, for Queenstown where we have jetboating, helicoptering, canyon swinging, and kayaking all on the docket - should be an awesome few days. After that, we're back in Christchurch for a day and take a Lord of the Rings Tour before heading back to Australia and Sydney. Only about two weeks before I head home...feels weird.
And finally, I am very happy the Huskies are in a bowl game but really, why on earth do we have to face Nebraska again?
Been a while since I posted anything. Had a great time driving from Adelaide to Melbourne - saw the Grampians (an awesome "mountain" range in rural Victoria), the Great Ocean Road, and had a great time in Melbourne. My friend Matt was an excellent tour guide and I also greatly enjoyed seeing a Costco, which was a little taste of home.
Got into New Zealand two days ago and it's been awesome so far (once Morgan got past the check-in at Melbourne Airport, which almost didn't happen). Friendly people, nice weather, cool attractions (the International Antarctic Centre is a must-see if you're ever in Christchurch), and mountains - like, real mountains - which I haven't seen in ages.
Tomorrow we're off on something called Naked Bus, which I'm only about 90% sure isn't a nudist thing, for Queenstown where we have jetboating, helicoptering, canyon swinging, and kayaking all on the docket - should be an awesome few days. After that, we're back in Christchurch for a day and take a Lord of the Rings Tour before heading back to Australia and Sydney. Only about two weeks before I head home...feels weird.
And finally, I am very happy the Huskies are in a bowl game but really, why on earth do we have to face Nebraska again?
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Real Quick Update
Hey everybody. I only have a brief time on the internet but thought I would keep you all posted - sorry again for the lack of photos.
Last day in Cairns was spectacular - I really enjoyed seeing a real rainforest and both the sky gondola to and train back from the little village of Kuranda were amazing. Kuranda itself was pretty cool as well - little shops, walking paths, a butterfly sanctuary.
THis morning Morgan and I got up very early (4 AM) for our 6:30 flight to Adelaide. Got in about 10:30, picked up our rental car, met her friend Aran (who I had met in Brisbane), dropped stuff off at our hostel, and promptly headed over to Adelaide Zoo, which was phenomenal - the only giant pandas in Australia, plus TWO species of tapir (when I had been tapir-less for more than four months), and a lot of other great anmal life on the side. Adelaide is a very nice, quaint little city that has a very rural, friendly feel to it.
Off tomorrow to Melbourne, hoping to arrive on December 1st. Stops along the way include the Grampians National Park and the Great Ocean Road. Look em up - they promise to be spectacular.
And in other news - Huskies 16, Bears 13. GO DAWGS!!!!
Last day in Cairns was spectacular - I really enjoyed seeing a real rainforest and both the sky gondola to and train back from the little village of Kuranda were amazing. Kuranda itself was pretty cool as well - little shops, walking paths, a butterfly sanctuary.
THis morning Morgan and I got up very early (4 AM) for our 6:30 flight to Adelaide. Got in about 10:30, picked up our rental car, met her friend Aran (who I had met in Brisbane), dropped stuff off at our hostel, and promptly headed over to Adelaide Zoo, which was phenomenal - the only giant pandas in Australia, plus TWO species of tapir (when I had been tapir-less for more than four months), and a lot of other great anmal life on the side. Adelaide is a very nice, quaint little city that has a very rural, friendly feel to it.
Off tomorrow to Melbourne, hoping to arrive on December 1st. Stops along the way include the Grampians National Park and the Great Ocean Road. Look em up - they promise to be spectacular.
And in other news - Huskies 16, Bears 13. GO DAWGS!!!!
Friday, November 26, 2010
I'm On a Boat!
…or at least I was for the past few days. Morgan and I got into Cairns late two days ago, then had to be up early the next morning for our two-day tour onto the Great Barrier Reef which we just returned from. Unfortunately no pictures available yet, but I can tell you that it was incredibly incredible and absolutely worth the money. We got to snorkel at multiple reef sites, saw more incredible fish than I can describe (plus sharks and sea turtles, and giant clams that I could probably have fit inside), got treated like celebrities, got to sleep on a boat (soooo relaxing), and maybe best of all got to take two scuba dive lessons that were pricey but very, very cool – I can easily see how people get hooked on diving. And perhaps best of all, last night we got to watch Finding Nemo – on the Great Barrier Reef!
Now we’re back in Cairns and are going on a trip to the skyrail and Kuranda scenic railway – seeing the rainforest – before heading off to Adelaide. Very much looking forward to that. It is hot and humid here but also pouring down rain, which hopefully will let up a bit. Fruit bats everywhere.
That’s all for now. Take care back home.
Now we’re back in Cairns and are going on a trip to the skyrail and Kuranda scenic railway – seeing the rainforest – before heading off to Adelaide. Very much looking forward to that. It is hot and humid here but also pouring down rain, which hopefully will let up a bit. Fruit bats everywhere.
That’s all for now. Take care back home.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Saying Goodbye to Brisbane
Had a fun day yesterday, Morgan and I went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary with a few of her friends. This was just a small wildlife park, but there were some very cool animals there. I especially liked the dingo puppies, wombats, black cockatoos, and the sheep herding/shearing show, but the highlight was definitely the platypus. When you get to be as big of a zoo/animal nerd as I am, there aren't a whole lot of animals you haven't seen in person, but I had never seen a platypus before and it was awesome. Everyone knows platypi are weird, but you don't really appreciate just how bizarre they are until you see them in person. We probably spent a good half hour just sitting on the couch in the platypus room watching it swim back and forth.
Puppy!!!
Platypus - it was really hard to get a good shot, this was my best effort.
After the wildlife park, we went and saw the University of Queensland campus where Morgan had been studying. They had a very nice pizza place where we all got pizza because we were hungry, then went to their Great Court and relaxed for a while. The campus was very nice, although not quite as big as UWA and with more of a compact, crowded feel.
Great Court
They had possums on their campus! 
Puppy!!!
Platypus - it was really hard to get a good shot, this was my best effort.
After the wildlife park, we went and saw the University of Queensland campus where Morgan had been studying. They had a very nice pizza place where we all got pizza because we were hungry, then went to their Great Court and relaxed for a while. The campus was very nice, although not quite as big as UWA and with more of a compact, crowded feel.
Great Court
They had possums on their campus!
Coming home last night, Morgan and I got to do some final trip planning as well as have a nice long Skype chat with our friends Randi and Aimee back home. Heard all about the snow in Seattle - sorry bout that folks, it's sunny and warm here. Plus, we leave for Cairns in a few hours, which will will be even better weather (at least in theory, there is potential for serious rain). Just doing some final packing and straightening up, then it'll be off to the airport in a little bit. Wish us luck. I will try to post as often as I can the rest of the trip but can't make any promises as to the reliability of my internet access.
Sunset over Brisbane
Monday, November 22, 2010
Australian Advertising
For your enjoyment, here's a bus stop ad Morgan and I passed on our way back home last night. You can't really beat it for simplicity or straightforwardness.
Brisbane!
Hey folks -
Arrived safely in Brisbane yesterday afternoon after a flight I remember almost nothing of as I crashed after having spent the whole night awake, hanging out one last time with the Currie Hall gang all together (we had to catch a cab to the airport at 3:30 so it was definitely worth it). I managed to make it to the rendezvous point with Morgan safely and all in one piece, and it was very nice to see a friendly face in a new city - and finally another Seattleite!
After a couple hours at Morgan's we took off to go see a cricket match. Being Americans naturally we knew nothing about cricket so we were very fortunate to be with her friend Aran, who is Irish-Scottish and actually could explain it to us. The game we went to was a 20/20 match, which is a condensed version that only lasts a few hours as opposed to three days like some matches do. In the spirit of trying to jazz things up, they played rock music and had giant flame shooters that burst out jets of fire whenever a big play happened - which, even in the spruced up version, wasn't too often. I was extremely tired at this point and actually dozed off a couple times during the match. But overall it was a fun experience, I started to understand most of the rules and it was a fulfilling experience.
Later last night we went out to West End, the artsy part of Brisbane, and had a couple drinks and met up with my Currie friends Billy and Alison, who had been in Brisbane for a few days. Had a pleasant hour or so with them then walked back to Morgan's house and crashed - first time I've been to bed before midnight in a while.
Today, it was a lazy morning but Morgan and I made it out to the cultural centre around noon, where we saw the natural history museum (pretty cool) and met up with her friend Rachel, an Aussie who goes to UQ but will be studying at UW starting winter quarter.
Just outside the museum - yay Brisbane!
We had lunch and went to a gourmet cupcake shop, where I had a totally delicious blackberry mud cupcake with a pretty little flower on top. Awesome.
The girls also took me to see some of the city, which I am enjoying a lot so far. It's a fair bit bigger and has more of a hustle-bustle feel to it than Perth, and being almost in the tropics it's a lot greener/lusher.
Story Bridge in the background, Brisbane river along with me, Rachel (on the left) and Morgan (on the right). 
And that's all from Brisbane at the moment. We have a trip planned to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary tomorrow, plus hopefully a peek at the University of Queensland campus, and then on Wednesday it's off to Cairns!
Arrived safely in Brisbane yesterday afternoon after a flight I remember almost nothing of as I crashed after having spent the whole night awake, hanging out one last time with the Currie Hall gang all together (we had to catch a cab to the airport at 3:30 so it was definitely worth it). I managed to make it to the rendezvous point with Morgan safely and all in one piece, and it was very nice to see a friendly face in a new city - and finally another Seattleite!
After a couple hours at Morgan's we took off to go see a cricket match. Being Americans naturally we knew nothing about cricket so we were very fortunate to be with her friend Aran, who is Irish-Scottish and actually could explain it to us. The game we went to was a 20/20 match, which is a condensed version that only lasts a few hours as opposed to three days like some matches do. In the spirit of trying to jazz things up, they played rock music and had giant flame shooters that burst out jets of fire whenever a big play happened - which, even in the spruced up version, wasn't too often. I was extremely tired at this point and actually dozed off a couple times during the match. But overall it was a fun experience, I started to understand most of the rules and it was a fulfilling experience.
Later last night we went out to West End, the artsy part of Brisbane, and had a couple drinks and met up with my Currie friends Billy and Alison, who had been in Brisbane for a few days. Had a pleasant hour or so with them then walked back to Morgan's house and crashed - first time I've been to bed before midnight in a while.
Today, it was a lazy morning but Morgan and I made it out to the cultural centre around noon, where we saw the natural history museum (pretty cool) and met up with her friend Rachel, an Aussie who goes to UQ but will be studying at UW starting winter quarter.
Just outside the museum - yay Brisbane!
We had lunch and went to a gourmet cupcake shop, where I had a totally delicious blackberry mud cupcake with a pretty little flower on top. Awesome.
The girls also took me to see some of the city, which I am enjoying a lot so far. It's a fair bit bigger and has more of a hustle-bustle feel to it than Perth, and being almost in the tropics it's a lot greener/lusher.
Story Bridge in the background, Brisbane river along with me, Rachel (on the left) and Morgan (on the right).
At 6:00 we went and saw the new Harry Potter movie, which I actually liked a lot, and then had dinner and met up with some more of Morgan's friends in the city for a bit, where we went to an arcade and had fun with air hockey, DDR, shooting zombies, etc. Also a bit of fun climbing on statues outside the courthouse.
On our way home there were two ringtail possums ambling along a telephone wire, mom with baby riding piggyback. There are a TON of possums here, and they apparently fight all the time at night and wake people up.
And that's all from Brisbane at the moment. We have a trip planned to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary tomorrow, plus hopefully a peek at the University of Queensland campus, and then on Wednesday it's off to Cairns!
Take care at home all! And go Huskies, praying for a win over Cal next week...
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saying Farewell to Perth
That time has come, the time to say goodbye and start on new adventures. Wrapped up Australian academics for good on Thursday when I had my last exam, the practical for zoology. It ended up being a bit harder than I thought it would (typical question: "here's the body cavoty of an animal. There are five pieces of string labeled A-E all attached at odd points that look like they could be any one of about five organs. Which organ do you think the instructor meant each string to be attached to and what is their function? You have four minutes, go"). Although, all in all, I think it did pretty well.
The past couple days have been a whirlwind of packing, farewells, and taking the last chance we have to hang out. Thursday evening my friend Cristina was kind enough to invite a group of us exchanges over to her parent's apartment for pool, barbecue, and drinks (and her parents must be loaded, because that was a nice freaking place). Last night, our friend Stevie returned the favor, hosting us for the last of several dinner parties she's been kind enough to throw (you might recall she also hosted us while in Geraldton) and surprising us at the end with beautiful, handdrawn, framed pictures of our little group. It was seriously one of the nicest presents I've ever been given and a huge shout out to Stevie for them.
(Back row L-R: Vanessa, Me, Sindre, Alyssa, Noam. Front Row L-R: Cindy, Stevie, Matt, Leslie)
Wrapping up such a long stay in such a great place makes one think quite a bit, and overall I am tremendously happy with my experience. UWA, Perth, and Western Australia were all ideal fits for me, in terms of people, experiences, and activities. The community was very inclusive and I never once felt unwanted or unwelcome. The landscapes, the wildlife, and especially the weather have all been incredible and an awesome change of pace from Seattle and the Northwest (not a knock in any way on my hometown). More than anything else though, I think the decision to stay at Currie Hall was what really made my time in Perth as good as it was. Currie was amazing at including exchanges, giving me an opportunity to meet and hang out every day with amazing people from all over the world - not to mention all the activities, events, etc that our res club organized for us. I don't think my experience at UWA would have been half as good had I not chosen to stay at Currie Hall.
One last note - thanks everyone who sent me stuff Down Under! My final count was three mega care packages plus 27 other cards, postcards, letters, etc. It was always awesome to hear from back home and I can't say enough how much I appreciate the support.
So long to Perth! See you next in Brisbane!
The past couple days have been a whirlwind of packing, farewells, and taking the last chance we have to hang out. Thursday evening my friend Cristina was kind enough to invite a group of us exchanges over to her parent's apartment for pool, barbecue, and drinks (and her parents must be loaded, because that was a nice freaking place). Last night, our friend Stevie returned the favor, hosting us for the last of several dinner parties she's been kind enough to throw (you might recall she also hosted us while in Geraldton) and surprising us at the end with beautiful, handdrawn, framed pictures of our little group. It was seriously one of the nicest presents I've ever been given and a huge shout out to Stevie for them.
(Back row L-R: Vanessa, Me, Sindre, Alyssa, Noam. Front Row L-R: Cindy, Stevie, Matt, Leslie)
Wrapping up such a long stay in such a great place makes one think quite a bit, and overall I am tremendously happy with my experience. UWA, Perth, and Western Australia were all ideal fits for me, in terms of people, experiences, and activities. The community was very inclusive and I never once felt unwanted or unwelcome. The landscapes, the wildlife, and especially the weather have all been incredible and an awesome change of pace from Seattle and the Northwest (not a knock in any way on my hometown). More than anything else though, I think the decision to stay at Currie Hall was what really made my time in Perth as good as it was. Currie was amazing at including exchanges, giving me an opportunity to meet and hang out every day with amazing people from all over the world - not to mention all the activities, events, etc that our res club organized for us. I don't think my experience at UWA would have been half as good had I not chosen to stay at Currie Hall.
One last note - thanks everyone who sent me stuff Down Under! My final count was three mega care packages plus 27 other cards, postcards, letters, etc. It was always awesome to hear from back home and I can't say enough how much I appreciate the support.
So long to Perth! See you next in Brisbane!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Fun Times
Time in Perth is winding down. This time next week I will be in Brisbane.
My Wildlife Conservation exam on Friday went well, and since then I've had a few days off with no real need to start studying for a zoology practical on Thursday (I'll start tomorrow) and some time to kill. This had led to some fun activities.
Saturday morning I went out with my friend Julia to explore King's Park a little further, starting with Jacob's Ladder. This is a steep, twisting staircase that is sort of a backdoor entrance to the park near Perth downtown. It's quite a hike to get to the top, which probably explains the presence of huge amounts of joggers out there on Saturday morning:
The rest of Saturday and Sunday were pretty uneventful - hung out, watched some movies, played some tennis, shot some pool (and snooker, which the exchanges have been learning), watched Australia lose to England in rugby. Then Sunday night we were all bored and trying to think of something to do, when Cindy (middle of the picture below) had the brilliant idea that we should all construct a fort in our common room. In the spirit of acting like responsible, mature adults, we all rushed off to our rooms, grabbed all our bedding materials, and proceeded to make a truly awesome fort. As you can see below:
(inside)
(and outside)
We then hung out and watched Toy Story 3 in our fort before ending the evening playing cards.
Monday morning (today) I went on yet another trip to the zoo - this was #8 and probably my last time unless I get ambitious and decide I want to go for double digits - with my friend Bee, a fellow exchanger from Vermont who I had Wildlife Conservation with. She's a bit of a fellow animal nerd (Animal Science major) so it was nice to be able to talk with someone about animals and have them actually know what was going on.
Lots of animals out and about today, including an incredibly cute baby lemur:
As well as the usual giraffes, zebras, etc
Right as we were leaving we also ran into the zoo's daily elephant walk, where they take one of their elephants for a loop of the zoo grounds along the public paths. It's definitely not something I'm used to, but it was very cool to have an animal of that size walking past you with basically no barriers or restraints.
My Wildlife Conservation exam on Friday went well, and since then I've had a few days off with no real need to start studying for a zoology practical on Thursday (I'll start tomorrow) and some time to kill. This had led to some fun activities.
Saturday morning I went out with my friend Julia to explore King's Park a little further, starting with Jacob's Ladder. This is a steep, twisting staircase that is sort of a backdoor entrance to the park near Perth downtown. It's quite a hike to get to the top, which probably explains the presence of huge amounts of joggers out there on Saturday morning:
The rest of Saturday and Sunday were pretty uneventful - hung out, watched some movies, played some tennis, shot some pool (and snooker, which the exchanges have been learning), watched Australia lose to England in rugby. Then Sunday night we were all bored and trying to think of something to do, when Cindy (middle of the picture below) had the brilliant idea that we should all construct a fort in our common room. In the spirit of acting like responsible, mature adults, we all rushed off to our rooms, grabbed all our bedding materials, and proceeded to make a truly awesome fort. As you can see below:
(inside)
(and outside)
We then hung out and watched Toy Story 3 in our fort before ending the evening playing cards.
Monday morning (today) I went on yet another trip to the zoo - this was #8 and probably my last time unless I get ambitious and decide I want to go for double digits - with my friend Bee, a fellow exchanger from Vermont who I had Wildlife Conservation with. She's a bit of a fellow animal nerd (Animal Science major) so it was nice to be able to talk with someone about animals and have them actually know what was going on.
Lots of animals out and about today, including an incredibly cute baby lemur:
As well as the usual giraffes, zebras, etc
Right as we were leaving we also ran into the zoo's daily elephant walk, where they take one of their elephants for a loop of the zoo grounds along the public paths. It's definitely not something I'm used to, but it was very cool to have an animal of that size walking past you with basically no barriers or restraints.
And that about brings my life up to speed. One more exam then I'm good to go on traveling.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Trip - Map
Just to make thing easier to visualize, here are all the major stops on my upcoming trip:
(map from: www.unconditional.co.nz)
(map from: www.unconditional.co.nz)
Exams, Random Thoughts, and the Trip
Got through my first and hardest exam this morning, Vertebrate Zoology Theory. I felt like it went pretty well, but we'll have to wait and see. Now coming up I have Wildlife Conservation on Friday and my Zoology practical next Thursday. But I just had lunch and don't feel like studying just now, and it's raining out, so instead I'm blogging.
Less than two weeks to go now for my time in Perth and I'm a little sad about it. I've made a ton of friends - Currie Hall has really been great - and I would love to have more time to meet people and do things around the city and around Western Australia, particularly down in the Southwestern part which I didn't really get to except for the brief excursion down to Margaret River back in August.
But on the other hand...I do have a pretty awesome six weeks ahead of me. My plans are pretty much finalized at this point, and it's going to be pretty epic. Since I don't know how often I'll be able to upload pictures or have internet access during my voyages, I'll try to lay out where I'll be when so at least you can have a general idea.
Nov 21st - Nov 24: Brisbane.
I fly out early morning on the 21st and in Brisbane I'll be meeting up with Morgan (she has a blog too! snarkandblather.blogspot.com) and seeing the sights of the fine city of Brisbane for a few days. Hopefully will also be meeting up with my friends Billy and Alison.
(photo: blog.statravel.com)
Nov 24th-28th: Cairns.
The biggest city in tropical/northern Australia, and the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef! We get in late on the 24th, then on the 25th and 26th have a two-day cruise that includes unlimited snorkeling and intorductory diving lessons. Very pumped for that. Then the 27th we go on the SkyRail, which is a train/cableway trip through the rainforest and claims to be "Australia's Best Attraction". Read about it: http://www.skyrail.com.au/
(photo: static.howstuffworks.com)
Nov 28th - Dec 4th: Adelaide/Melbourne.
We fly into Adelaide early on the 28th and will pick up a car. Planning on seeing Adelaide Zoo (only pandas in Australia!) and then the next day heading out for Melbourne along the coast. This is supposed to be one of the best drives in the world, especially nearer to Melbourne when you go along the Great Ocean Road. We get into Melbourne on the 1st and will hopefully be shown around a fair bit by Matt, who's a native Melburnian. Theoretically also meeting up with Alyssa and Sindre.
(photo: http://www.cyf.vic.gov.au/)
Dec 4th - Dec 13th: New Zealand.
This is the part of the trip I'm most looking forward to, not least of which because I'll be able to see actual mountains again! We fly into Christchurch, on New Zealand's South Island. We have a couple days there in which we plan on checking out the International Antarctic Centre and Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. Then we head off the Queenstown, in the interior of the South Island, for a three-day spin that will include jet boating, a helicopter ride, a gondola (all one package tour), a canyon swing, and kayaking or mountain biking (or both!). We get back to Christchurch the 11th, hopefully meet my friend Sam, and have one more full day which will be devoted to a Lord ot the Rings Tour, which seems a little touristy (especially if you watch the promo video they have) but should nonetheless be awesome.
(photo: http://www.wayfaring.info/)
Dec 13th - Dec 19th: Sydney.
The last leg of our journey is Sydney, home of the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Taronga Zoo, whch we will most definitely be visiting. The rest of our visit isn't too well planned out, but may or may not include botanical gardens, the Sydney aquarium, a harbour bridge climb, Bondi Beach, and a trip to the Blue Mountains.
(photo: travel.nationalgeographic.com)
Eventually all good things must come to an end, and Morgan leaves to fly out of Brisbane on December 18th, leaving me a day to peruse and ponder the end of my Australian voyage before I fly home on the 19th. And I will be most definitely looking forward to coming home for Christmas and seeing everyone back home again. Now back to my damn exams...
(one last note: this is my 50th post. woohoo?)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Cowboys and Penguins
The sheriff saws howdy.
So Australians don't really celebrate Halloween, a tragic fact that the Americans at Currie Hall felt needed to be remedied. So Sunday night we had a Halloween party complete with all the proper amenities - candy, bobbing for apples, mummy wrapping, etc, etc and I think it went quite well - at least, everyone seemed to enjoy it. The mustache looked awesome but actually was insanely annoying - I gagged a couple of times when the hair went into my mouth and it was next to impossible to eat or drink anything. Looked good, though (and thanks to Noomayra, the girl with the purple hair, for the photo).
Monday I was able to finish up my last two papers and now I am officially done with my two history classes. Now just three exams - the first on this coming Wednesday - and I am home free as far as school goes. It does mean a fair amount of studying over the next week, though. In other, happier news, I am nearly done with most of the logistical aspects of the trip I will be taking when the semester ends, starting Nov 21. I am getting more pumped for it every day. I will have more on that in future posts.
The past couple days I've been giving myself a little bit of a reprieve before I started studying in earnest today. Tuesday was mostly devoted to relaxation although I did help out with the Currie Hall carwash, which was not well organized but still very fun as we had music and an inflatable swimming pool. Tuesday was also Melbourne Cup Day, Australia's biggest horse race and waaaay more popular here than say the Kentucky Derby is in the US. I but a couple dollars into a betting pool. My horse didn't win.
Yesterday was the most fun of all - the trip to Penguin Island. I managed to wrangle up Alyssa and Vanessa (a lot of people have finals beginning Saturday so they couldn't come) for the trip down. This little island about a 45 min train ride south of Perth, in Rockingham, is home to the northwesternmost breeding colony of little penguins in Australia. These are the smallest penguins in the world, sometimes also called fairy penguins or little blue penguins. They're also insanely cute and look like this:
Unfortunately it was a really hot day (about 90-100F) and we got there about 11 AM so we weren't able to see any wild penguins. This guy was one of ten they have at the Discovery Center on the island, all rescue birds. They do a thrice-daily feeding show that was very good. One of the volunteers at the penguin pool had moved to Australia from Seattle about ten years ago, and we had a nice conversation.
Despite not getting to see any wild penguins, there was still plenty of cool stuff on the island, including some awesome rock formations and little caves.
So Australians don't really celebrate Halloween, a tragic fact that the Americans at Currie Hall felt needed to be remedied. So Sunday night we had a Halloween party complete with all the proper amenities - candy, bobbing for apples, mummy wrapping, etc, etc and I think it went quite well - at least, everyone seemed to enjoy it. The mustache looked awesome but actually was insanely annoying - I gagged a couple of times when the hair went into my mouth and it was next to impossible to eat or drink anything. Looked good, though (and thanks to Noomayra, the girl with the purple hair, for the photo).
Monday I was able to finish up my last two papers and now I am officially done with my two history classes. Now just three exams - the first on this coming Wednesday - and I am home free as far as school goes. It does mean a fair amount of studying over the next week, though. In other, happier news, I am nearly done with most of the logistical aspects of the trip I will be taking when the semester ends, starting Nov 21. I am getting more pumped for it every day. I will have more on that in future posts.
The past couple days I've been giving myself a little bit of a reprieve before I started studying in earnest today. Tuesday was mostly devoted to relaxation although I did help out with the Currie Hall carwash, which was not well organized but still very fun as we had music and an inflatable swimming pool. Tuesday was also Melbourne Cup Day, Australia's biggest horse race and waaaay more popular here than say the Kentucky Derby is in the US. I but a couple dollars into a betting pool. My horse didn't win.
Yesterday was the most fun of all - the trip to Penguin Island. I managed to wrangle up Alyssa and Vanessa (a lot of people have finals beginning Saturday so they couldn't come) for the trip down. This little island about a 45 min train ride south of Perth, in Rockingham, is home to the northwesternmost breeding colony of little penguins in Australia. These are the smallest penguins in the world, sometimes also called fairy penguins or little blue penguins. They're also insanely cute and look like this:
Unfortunately it was a really hot day (about 90-100F) and we got there about 11 AM so we weren't able to see any wild penguins. This guy was one of ten they have at the Discovery Center on the island, all rescue birds. They do a thrice-daily feeding show that was very good. One of the volunteers at the penguin pool had moved to Australia from Seattle about ten years ago, and we had a nice conversation.
Despite not getting to see any wild penguins, there was still plenty of cool stuff on the island, including some awesome rock formations and little caves.
There were also a ton of these King's skinks, which were about a foot and a half long and not at all shy about coming right up to people and trying to steal their food.
Besides penguins, the island is also home to a whole bunch of other breeding seabirds, most of whom were much more visible, including this osprey, which was sitting on a branch just a few feet away from the path and didn't seem fazed at all being so close to people.
All in all, a good past couple days. After this I will have to start buckling down more on studying, but I will try to update when I can if anything exciting happens.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Happy Halloween!
Wow, it's been way too long since I've updated this thing. No excuse.
Luckily, I haven't been up to an incredible amount of stuff the past few weeks so there isn't a whole lot to write about (good thing too, because I've had three essays and a lab report due the past couple days and my fingers are just about dead). A few highlights, though - I was involved in the making of the Currie Hall lip sync video (which hopefully will be up on youtube eventually), made another trip to both the W.A. Museum and the Perth Zoo, was involved with UWA's Relay for Life, and have had some good times mainly just hanging out with people. We also had the Currie Hall end of year/farewell dinner last Wednesday (a little early for most people as exam period doesn't finish until the 20th but some lucky fools have no exams and leave early).
The weather has been, on the whole, excellent as we're starting to move into summer here, although we've had a few days with some clouds and rain and even more that have been windy. I heard a couple weeks back, although I don't know the validity of this, that Perth is the second-windiest city on earth behind Chicago. If that is true it certainly wouldn't surprise me, we get a lot of wind here although luckily the UWA campus is pretty sheletered and most of the time it's warm enough that the wind isn't a huge factor.
The best day I've had in the past few weeks was two Fridays ago (the 22nd). That afternoon I had a field trip with my Wildlife Conservation class to Mandurah, about an hour south of Perth. We were looking at underpasses that had been built under a highway for wildlife use. The underpasses are a cool idea but weren't terribly exciting in themselves, but we did get to see a bunch of kangaroos, including this one:
Look really close and you can see a little joey sticking out of the pouch.
That night, a big group of Currie Hallers headed out to Fremantle to do the Fremantle Prison Twilight tour. The prison was actually a really large facility that only shut down in 1991. Here's the main ward:
Our tour guide was really good and very informative, and we got to see a whole lot of the prison - cells (some of which had been recreated to represent different eras at the prison, some of which had been left the way they were when the last prisoners were there), gallows, solitary confinement, the old morgue, the whipping post, even the gallows. All in all it was very enlightening, and it confirmed two very important things for me - first, I never, ever, ever want to go to prison, and second that I really wanted to watch the Shawshank Redemption that night.
The one annoying thing about the prison, though, is they had all these really annoying rules:
I mean, come on, guys.
To round off the night we all went to Little Creature Brewery, which makes the best beer you can get here in Perth. Really reminds me of home as it's essentially a little microbrewing operation like we have all over in Seattle:
Not a whole lot else monumental to report on since my last post. Mostly, it's just been about schoolwork as the term officially ended on Friday. Now I just have two more papers due Monday (mostly done with both, just in the editing stage) and then exams that start (for me) on the 10th and end on the 18th. Hopefully I will be able to fit in a few day trips/beach excursions between the studying. I know for sure that I'm going out to Penguin Island on Wednesday and that should be a blast, I will be sure to update you all on that - hopefully in a timely manner.
Luckily, I haven't been up to an incredible amount of stuff the past few weeks so there isn't a whole lot to write about (good thing too, because I've had three essays and a lab report due the past couple days and my fingers are just about dead). A few highlights, though - I was involved in the making of the Currie Hall lip sync video (which hopefully will be up on youtube eventually), made another trip to both the W.A. Museum and the Perth Zoo, was involved with UWA's Relay for Life, and have had some good times mainly just hanging out with people. We also had the Currie Hall end of year/farewell dinner last Wednesday (a little early for most people as exam period doesn't finish until the 20th but some lucky fools have no exams and leave early).
The weather has been, on the whole, excellent as we're starting to move into summer here, although we've had a few days with some clouds and rain and even more that have been windy. I heard a couple weeks back, although I don't know the validity of this, that Perth is the second-windiest city on earth behind Chicago. If that is true it certainly wouldn't surprise me, we get a lot of wind here although luckily the UWA campus is pretty sheletered and most of the time it's warm enough that the wind isn't a huge factor.
The best day I've had in the past few weeks was two Fridays ago (the 22nd). That afternoon I had a field trip with my Wildlife Conservation class to Mandurah, about an hour south of Perth. We were looking at underpasses that had been built under a highway for wildlife use. The underpasses are a cool idea but weren't terribly exciting in themselves, but we did get to see a bunch of kangaroos, including this one:
Look really close and you can see a little joey sticking out of the pouch.
That night, a big group of Currie Hallers headed out to Fremantle to do the Fremantle Prison Twilight tour. The prison was actually a really large facility that only shut down in 1991. Here's the main ward:
Our tour guide was really good and very informative, and we got to see a whole lot of the prison - cells (some of which had been recreated to represent different eras at the prison, some of which had been left the way they were when the last prisoners were there), gallows, solitary confinement, the old morgue, the whipping post, even the gallows. All in all it was very enlightening, and it confirmed two very important things for me - first, I never, ever, ever want to go to prison, and second that I really wanted to watch the Shawshank Redemption that night.
The one annoying thing about the prison, though, is they had all these really annoying rules:
I mean, come on, guys.
To round off the night we all went to Little Creature Brewery, which makes the best beer you can get here in Perth. Really reminds me of home as it's essentially a little microbrewing operation like we have all over in Seattle:
Not a whole lot else monumental to report on since my last post. Mostly, it's just been about schoolwork as the term officially ended on Friday. Now I just have two more papers due Monday (mostly done with both, just in the editing stage) and then exams that start (for me) on the 10th and end on the 18th. Hopefully I will be able to fit in a few day trips/beach excursions between the studying. I know for sure that I'm going out to Penguin Island on Wednesday and that should be a blast, I will be sure to update you all on that - hopefully in a timely manner.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
This Past Week
OK, well after finally putting up everything from semester break that brings me to the past week and a half or so, and oh what a great time it has been. School's getting busy, as we push into the last few weeks of the semester, but I'm still managing to have quite a bit of fun.
Last Wednesday was my friend Andrew's 18th birthday (an even bigger deal here as it's legal drinking), and his parents were generous enough to take a big group of us out to a nice Chinese restaurant, pay for dinner, and give us all several cases of wine to boot! All right for having awesome friends (and happy birthday Andrew!).
Thursday I started assisting with a research project, which I have to do at least two days of for my Wildlife Conservation class. The project I chose is a PhD project looking at the effects of climate and climate change on the behavior and potential movement/translocation/habitat selection of western swamp turtles, one of the rarest reptiles in the world (found only around Perth in a couple wetland reserves). As western swampies are so rare, Sophie was doing preliminary studies on oblong turtles, the common variety of turtle in W.A. She had 11 captured from a local lake held in this yard:
We took measurements on all 11, then chose 3 of the biggest ones to release, as she's only allowed to be holding eight at a time and wants smaller-sized animals (this is a test run for a smaller species in the western swamp turtle). So I got to go help release 3 oblong turtles back to the wild, which was pretty cool.
Thursday night was Currie Hall Ball, which was a lot of fun and a lot of dancing. Friday I went to the beach for a bit with some guys, then that night I got to hang out, watch the Lion King with some people, and help Noam put the finishing touches on the Dance Down Under video.
Saturday I made the brilliant move of trying to jump over the Currie Hall tennis net and sprained my wrist in the process (as well as scraping up my knee). So other than getting than patched and healed (about 99.5% sure it's no big deal, been feeling better every day and x-ray results look good) and doing homework, nothing too exciting the past few days. And that brings up us to now.
I leave you with a couple new photos from international night, courtesy of Janan Loh:
Bollywood dance
...and the long awaited vision of me dressed as America, my best impression of a cowboy (thankfully you can't see I'm also wearing flip flops).
Last Bit of the Trip
Yardie Creek is the furthest you can get in Cape Range NP on a proper road, and it's a fair sized water flow, at least for the half a mile or so it goes into the mountains. We got to take a safari boat up into the canyon, which you can see in the distance here:
All those steep rock walls are inhabited by a variety of nesting birds and black-footed rock wallabies, which were a little hard to spot (made more difficult by the fact that an eagle was circling overhead when we first arrived) but very cool when you found them.
After an hour or so maneuvering the creek, it was time to head back towards Exmouth. Our guide kept jabbering on about how we would for sure see an echidna on the side of the road somewhere. We never did, which bummed me out a little, but we did get to be privy to a very entertaining osprey family (it was basically a young adult osprey throwing a fit over not getting food from his parents anymore), as well as this guy:
Our guide had to slam on the brakes as this perentie, Australia's biggest lizard (and this guy was a whopper, probably around 6 feet long) crossed the road right in front of us, pretty much oblivious to the car (he's at the top of his food chain, what does he care about cars?). Very cool to see a wild reptile that big. May have been my favorite thing all trip.
We wrapped things up with afternoon tea at Vlamingh Head Lighthouse, where we not only got a fantastic view of the sunset but also got a fantastic vantage point to watch dozens of whales passing by the Exmouth peninsula, very obvious from their breaching and spouting. It was quite cool and a good way to cap off the best day of our whole trip.
When we finally got back to Exmouth it was past 6 PM and nearly dark, but we had to ground to cover so we drove about 3 hours south before pulling over for the night at a roadside rest stop. With no other cars on the road, we did get a chance to see some incredible stars (it was so dark you could see the whole Milky Way splashed across the sky). Made us all wish we knew some constellations, but very, very pretty nonetheless. Tried taking a couple pictures on time-lapse exposure, but I need a much fancier camera to be able to pull that off. The next morning we got up early, started driving, and didn't really stop except for gas until we got back to Currie - in time for Saturday dinner, about 11 hours total driving. After all that, Sunday was truly a day of rest and recuperation; other than cleaning the car up a bit I don't think any of us got anything productive done.
All in all, an excellent trip and one I will always remember.
All those steep rock walls are inhabited by a variety of nesting birds and black-footed rock wallabies, which were a little hard to spot (made more difficult by the fact that an eagle was circling overhead when we first arrived) but very cool when you found them.
After an hour or so maneuvering the creek, it was time to head back towards Exmouth. Our guide kept jabbering on about how we would for sure see an echidna on the side of the road somewhere. We never did, which bummed me out a little, but we did get to be privy to a very entertaining osprey family (it was basically a young adult osprey throwing a fit over not getting food from his parents anymore), as well as this guy:
Our guide had to slam on the brakes as this perentie, Australia's biggest lizard (and this guy was a whopper, probably around 6 feet long) crossed the road right in front of us, pretty much oblivious to the car (he's at the top of his food chain, what does he care about cars?). Very cool to see a wild reptile that big. May have been my favorite thing all trip.
We wrapped things up with afternoon tea at Vlamingh Head Lighthouse, where we not only got a fantastic view of the sunset but also got a fantastic vantage point to watch dozens of whales passing by the Exmouth peninsula, very obvious from their breaching and spouting. It was quite cool and a good way to cap off the best day of our whole trip.
When we finally got back to Exmouth it was past 6 PM and nearly dark, but we had to ground to cover so we drove about 3 hours south before pulling over for the night at a roadside rest stop. With no other cars on the road, we did get a chance to see some incredible stars (it was so dark you could see the whole Milky Way splashed across the sky). Made us all wish we knew some constellations, but very, very pretty nonetheless. Tried taking a couple pictures on time-lapse exposure, but I need a much fancier camera to be able to pull that off. The next morning we got up early, started driving, and didn't really stop except for gas until we got back to Currie - in time for Saturday dinner, about 11 hours total driving. After all that, Sunday was truly a day of rest and recuperation; other than cleaning the car up a bit I don't think any of us got anything productive done.
All in all, an excellent trip and one I will always remember.
Exmouth - Touring Continued
Sorry about the delay in finishing my trip blog. Been busy. Anyways, here we go:
After picking up our delicious prawns, we headed back into town. Passed a few wildlife of note along the way, including the first of probably 20 to 30 emus we saw on the day. This group was a family - three chicks, plus dad (who apparently does most of the chick rearing while mom goes and hangs out at the bush day spa).
You can just see two of the chicks here next to dad.
A little further down the road we also encountered this giant spider, which was maybe six inches across when you count the legs. She (the males of these orb weaver spiders are tiny) was situated in the middle, largest web of a whole complex that our guide said was probably her daughters. There was also a really cool photo opportunity of an osprey sitting on a windmill eating a fish - but it was just a tad bit outside my optimal zoom range.
Our next stop was the old US Army base just north of Exmouth. The place shut down in 1995, but the US military still maintains a small presence as it operates some seriously impressive radio towers in the area (there was something like 14 of them, all taller than the Empire State Building). Being on the base meant that technically we were on US soil, which was a bit odd. But since no one really goes there anymore, the local fauna seem to have made themselves at home:
After the army base, we headed down a dirt track looking for more big red kangaroos, but it was getting close to noon and none were really out (we saw a couple, but they were laying down a good distance away). I did get a good, up-close-and-personal look at this little bug(ger) though:
He hopped on to the window next to me when we were probably doing about 25 mph, and was clinging on for his dear sweet life. He managed to climb up to the top of the car eventually, though what happened to him from there I do not know. Judging by the number of grasshoppers and other insects we had to clear out of the front grill of our car after our trip, my guesses are it wasn't pretty.
We next proceeded to Turquoise Bay (apologies for the lack of pictures) where we snorkeled and had lunch, then it was on to Yardie Creek and our boat tour!
After picking up our delicious prawns, we headed back into town. Passed a few wildlife of note along the way, including the first of probably 20 to 30 emus we saw on the day. This group was a family - three chicks, plus dad (who apparently does most of the chick rearing while mom goes and hangs out at the bush day spa).
You can just see two of the chicks here next to dad.
A little further down the road we also encountered this giant spider, which was maybe six inches across when you count the legs. She (the males of these orb weaver spiders are tiny) was situated in the middle, largest web of a whole complex that our guide said was probably her daughters. There was also a really cool photo opportunity of an osprey sitting on a windmill eating a fish - but it was just a tad bit outside my optimal zoom range.
Our next stop was the old US Army base just north of Exmouth. The place shut down in 1995, but the US military still maintains a small presence as it operates some seriously impressive radio towers in the area (there was something like 14 of them, all taller than the Empire State Building). Being on the base meant that technically we were on US soil, which was a bit odd. But since no one really goes there anymore, the local fauna seem to have made themselves at home:
After the army base, we headed down a dirt track looking for more big red kangaroos, but it was getting close to noon and none were really out (we saw a couple, but they were laying down a good distance away). I did get a good, up-close-and-personal look at this little bug(ger) though:
He hopped on to the window next to me when we were probably doing about 25 mph, and was clinging on for his dear sweet life. He managed to climb up to the top of the car eventually, though what happened to him from there I do not know. Judging by the number of grasshoppers and other insects we had to clear out of the front grill of our car after our trip, my guesses are it wasn't pretty.
We next proceeded to Turquoise Bay (apologies for the lack of pictures) where we snorkeled and had lunch, then it was on to Yardie Creek and our boat tour!
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