Friday 23 November 2007
Surprise!
I came home early for Thanksgiving with the family! I hope everyone had an enjoyable & yummy day! Hope to see you soon :)
Thursday 8 November 2007
Last Day of Class, Already?!?
It seems like just yesterday I was unpacking my suitcases into my new room. I was so nervous about going to huge lectures and excited about meeting new people. Now, I can't believe the semester has just flown by. This week was my last week of classes, and the next two weeks I have to take 4 final exams. I made a lot of great friends from all over the States, who are already talking about eventually getting together for a reunion. There are a lot of people and experiences I've had here that I will miss! But one thing for sure is that I will not miss the flies! It has gotten very humid here for the past two weeks, and the flies have gotten very pesky. I have been reading this book called "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Byrson, that is about the authors travels in Australia. Well, he pinpoints our exact experience of walking around outside swatting at the flies -while wondering if everyone else is aggravated and doing the same, or just watching and laughing at you.
(He is going on a walk through a park...)
I had gone no more than a dozen feet when I was joined by a fly - smaller and blacker than a housefly. It buzzed around in front of my face and tried to settle on my upper lip. I swatted it away, but it returned at once, always to the same spot. A moment later it was joined by another that wished to go up my nose. It also would not go away. Within a minute or so I had perhaps twenty of these active spots all around my head and I was swiftly sinking into the stat of abject wretchedness that comes with a prolonged encounter with the Australian fly.
Flies are of course always irksome, but the Australian variety distinguishes itself with its very particular persistence. If an Australian fly wants to be up your nose or in your ear, there is no discouraging him. Flick at him as you will and each time he will jump out of range and come straight back. It is simply not possible to deter him. Somewhere on an exposed portion of your body is a spot, about the size of a shirt button, that the fly wants to lick and tickle and turn delirious circles upon. It isn't simply their persistence, but the things they go for. An Australian fly will try to suck the moisture off your eyeball. He will, if not constantly turned back, go into parts of your ears that a Q-tip can only dream about. He will happily die for the glory of taking a tiny dump on your tongue. Get thirty or forty of them dancing around you in the same way and madness will shortly follow.
And so I proceeded into the park, lost in my own little buzzing cloud of woe, waving at my head in an increasingly hopeless and desultory manner - it is called the bush salute - blowing constantly out of my mouth and nose, shaking my head in a kind of furious dementia, occasionally slapping myself with startling violence on the cheek or forehead. Eventually as the flies knew all along, I gave up and they fell upon me....
That's all I have to say for now :)
(He is going on a walk through a park...)
I had gone no more than a dozen feet when I was joined by a fly - smaller and blacker than a housefly. It buzzed around in front of my face and tried to settle on my upper lip. I swatted it away, but it returned at once, always to the same spot. A moment later it was joined by another that wished to go up my nose. It also would not go away. Within a minute or so I had perhaps twenty of these active spots all around my head and I was swiftly sinking into the stat of abject wretchedness that comes with a prolonged encounter with the Australian fly.
Flies are of course always irksome, but the Australian variety distinguishes itself with its very particular persistence. If an Australian fly wants to be up your nose or in your ear, there is no discouraging him. Flick at him as you will and each time he will jump out of range and come straight back. It is simply not possible to deter him. Somewhere on an exposed portion of your body is a spot, about the size of a shirt button, that the fly wants to lick and tickle and turn delirious circles upon. It isn't simply their persistence, but the things they go for. An Australian fly will try to suck the moisture off your eyeball. He will, if not constantly turned back, go into parts of your ears that a Q-tip can only dream about. He will happily die for the glory of taking a tiny dump on your tongue. Get thirty or forty of them dancing around you in the same way and madness will shortly follow.
And so I proceeded into the park, lost in my own little buzzing cloud of woe, waving at my head in an increasingly hopeless and desultory manner - it is called the bush salute - blowing constantly out of my mouth and nose, shaking my head in a kind of furious dementia, occasionally slapping myself with startling violence on the cheek or forehead. Eventually as the flies knew all along, I gave up and they fell upon me....
That's all I have to say for now :)
Tuesday 6 November 2007
Part III: the End of our Midsemester Trip
The end of our 17 day trip consisted of 3 days and 2 nights exploring and camping on Fraser Island and 2 days in Brisbane. Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world, was probably my favorite place of the trip. It was BEAUTIFUL - as if the other parts of the coast hadnt been already, this was again, breathtaking. Who knows if I'll ever get to the see the sunset and sunrise on the beach of another island again!
To start off our 3 days traveling in a 4-wheel-drive, we had to be transported by a huge barge from the main land to the island. As soon as we transfered over we began our trek through the sand. We had a caravan going of 5 vehicles, and a mapped out route of the most popular sites to visit. My favorite places on the island were the Maheno Shipwreck
, Lake Wabby, and Lake McKenzie. (I have more pictures in the album, "Don't feed the Dingoes", just click on the title of this post to get to the site.) I loved Lake Wabby, because in order to get to it we had to walk through what felt like never ending sand dunes (if you have seen Star Wars Episode 1, I felt like we were part of Anakan's pod-racing desert-like scene). Finally, when we came to the top of the last hill, we were so hot that we ran down 
and jumped into the cool freshwater lake! Then seeing Lake McKenzie, you wouldn't believe it was a lake it was so clear! It is one of top cleanest lakes in the world. We spent our whole last day there!
I almost forgot to mention we had a few wild dingoes come to our camp site the first night looking for garbage, and we saw a large Goanna lizard when washing our dishes the next morning!
That night we returned our 4WD's and got picked up by a Greyhound to make the last leg of our trip to Brisbane. We arrived at 6AM, showered at the hostel and didnt lose any time. We had a free day, so a group of us went to the Australian Zoo -Home of the Crocodile Hunter! It was unusual not to see the typical American zoo animals like monkeys, zebras, giraffes... but instead we saw heaps of crocs (and a croc show) & koalas, walked around with wallabies & 'roos, fed an elephant, saw lots of lizards just chillin' in the other animals' exhibits, saw emus, and several other unusual creatures. If only I couldve seen Steve's daughter, Bindi; our bus driver said that her & her mom just returned from a trip to the States and were at the zoo - but we never found them.
Our last day, we had sunny skies for kayaking
on the Brisbane River and abseiling down a rock wall/cliff at the river's edge. (Check out those pictures in the album "Beautiful Brisbane.) I had some issues being a bit scared of heights my first time down the wall, but after a few times I got the hang of repelling and it became more fun. Kayaking was hard work going up the river, but going back we just got to float and enjoy the scenic city! Overall, this holiday was definitely one I will never forget!
To start off our 3 days traveling in a 4-wheel-drive, we had to be transported by a huge barge from the main land to the island. As soon as we transfered over we began our trek through the sand. We had a caravan going of 5 vehicles, and a mapped out route of the most popular sites to visit. My favorite places on the island were the Maheno Shipwreck
, Lake Wabby, and Lake McKenzie. (I have more pictures in the album, "Don't feed the Dingoes", just click on the title of this post to get to the site.) I loved Lake Wabby, because in order to get to it we had to walk through what felt like never ending sand dunes (if you have seen Star Wars Episode 1, I felt like we were part of Anakan's pod-racing desert-like scene). Finally, when we came to the top of the last hill, we were so hot that we ran down 
and jumped into the cool freshwater lake! Then seeing Lake McKenzie, you wouldn't believe it was a lake it was so clear! It is one of top cleanest lakes in the world. We spent our whole last day there!
I almost forgot to mention we had a few wild dingoes come to our camp site the first night looking for garbage, and we saw a large Goanna lizard when washing our dishes the next morning!That night we returned our 4WD's and got picked up by a Greyhound to make the last leg of our trip to Brisbane. We arrived at 6AM, showered at the hostel and didnt lose any time. We had a free day, so a group of us went to the Australian Zoo -Home of the Crocodile Hunter! It was unusual not to see the typical American zoo animals like monkeys, zebras, giraffes... but instead we saw heaps of crocs (and a croc show) & koalas, walked around with wallabies & 'roos, fed an elephant, saw lots of lizards just chillin' in the other animals' exhibits, saw emus, and several other unusual creatures. If only I couldve seen Steve's daughter, Bindi; our bus driver said that her & her mom just returned from a trip to the States and were at the zoo - but we never found them.
Our last day, we had sunny skies for kayaking
on the Brisbane River and abseiling down a rock wall/cliff at the river's edge. (Check out those pictures in the album "Beautiful Brisbane.) I had some issues being a bit scared of heights my first time down the wall, but after a few times I got the hang of repelling and it became more fun. Kayaking was hard work going up the river, but going back we just got to float and enjoy the scenic city! Overall, this holiday was definitely one I will never forget!Friday 19 October 2007
This Just In!
Richie & I & our friends Steve & Michelle are going to the AUSTRALIAN IDOL live performance show this Sunday!!! We are so excited :-) Idol is big to us, we get together to religiously watch it every Sunday night for performances & Monday night to see who gets kicked off. They are already down from the top 12 to only 6 contestants, so this Sunday they each get to sing 2 songs (normally its only one; this time one the judges pick & one they pick). We are going early for first come first serve seating & will probably have some kind of sign (I wasn't kidding when I said this was a BIG deal)! Here is the link to my favorite contestant, Matt Corby (he's only 16!) http://www.australianidol.com.au/matt-corby-fan-club.html
I suggest watching ALL the videos of him... however you may not have that kind of time, so I highly suggest the song Got to Get You into My Life (fyi: a "Touchdown" is considered the judge's biggest compliment). ANYhow... I have to get back to writing a paper... I'll let you know how the show goes & finish telling you about my mid-semester holiday soon!
I suggest watching ALL the videos of him... however you may not have that kind of time, so I highly suggest the song Got to Get You into My Life (fyi: a "Touchdown" is considered the judge's biggest compliment). ANYhow... I have to get back to writing a paper... I'll let you know how the show goes & finish telling you about my mid-semester holiday soon!
Part II: Voyage on the Condor
Airlie Beach is where we departed for our sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. Our group (about 30 of us) plus 3 crew members got our own yacht, the Condor. 
This was not just any boat though, it has an impressive history: the Condor has won every major ocean race in the world twice & is the only yacht to do so. It was tight quarters below, but it was so worth it. Plus we spent almost all of our time on the deck suntanning while taking in the view of the lush, velvet-looking rain forest covered island peaks. There are 74 islands total! We also got to stop at a few places. My favorite being Whitehaven Beach. 
I was so impressed by the soft, flour-like sand that I looked this beach up & found this out: The sand is minute powder-size grains of quartz & is 99.89% pure, well above the minimum requirement for glass-making & suitable for the finest glass for optical lenses! At this beach we played cricket 
(which is similar to baseball) & lounged in the clear, crisp, refreshingly cold water. We spent a total of 3 days & 2 night on the Condor. It was sooo relaxing & it felt like we were totally removed from society that it was hard to return. Yet, we were lucky to have another amazing expedition ahead of us - 4WD exploration of Fraser Island.
This was not just any boat though, it has an impressive history: the Condor has won every major ocean race in the world twice & is the only yacht to do so. It was tight quarters below, but it was so worth it. Plus we spent almost all of our time on the deck suntanning while taking in the view of the lush, velvet-looking rain forest covered island peaks. There are 74 islands total! We also got to stop at a few places. My favorite being Whitehaven Beach. 
I was so impressed by the soft, flour-like sand that I looked this beach up & found this out: The sand is minute powder-size grains of quartz & is 99.89% pure, well above the minimum requirement for glass-making & suitable for the finest glass for optical lenses! At this beach we played cricket 
(which is similar to baseball) & lounged in the clear, crisp, refreshingly cold water. We spent a total of 3 days & 2 night on the Condor. It was sooo relaxing & it felt like we were totally removed from society that it was hard to return. Yet, we were lucky to have another amazing expedition ahead of us - 4WD exploration of Fraser Island.
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