Things I will miss about Australia
Kookaburra's laugh
the thin ozone layer
the sun always shining
wallabies
wombats!
cool road sign
aussie slang
people knowing what I mean when I say things like "oi" and "stuff you"
rangas
at the end of a word A=er and ER=a
balcony
flynn's
easygoing people
sepoland
crazy aborignals in the downtown mall
the sunday market
constant warmth
easy job
being a tourist
colorful money
Toohey's and XXXX
the kitchen lady that says "hello there doll/love, how ya going?"
making friends at hostels from all around the world
scuba diving
aussie mates
and I suppose I could keep going but that might be more than you want to read above. I'll miss it, but nothing is going to keep me from going back someday. I'll be down under again someday.
This is probably going to be my written post, I may update occasionally with pictures though. Hope everyone enjoyed reading about my crazy times south of the equator.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Bondi beach/Coogee Beach (not sure which one) at night
underneath (one of the side posts?) the Sydney Harbour Bridge
the Australian city that rarely sleeps
A lite-brite tree in the main harbour across from the Opera House
My camera can do amazing things. I think this is Sydney at dusk. Either way isn't it purty
big arse anchor from the Maritime museum in the port city of Sydney
Fruit bats dangling from trees in Sydney Botanical Gardens
Hero of Waterloo: the oldest bar in Oz, supposedly.
Light show on the Sydney Opera House (I have 51+ pictures of this structure and half of them are in lights). So pretty
what would a port city be without a seagull?
Saturday, June 13, 2009
last days under the southern cross
I'm about a week away from coming back to America. As excited as I am to return, I know leaving is going to be a surreal experience and I'll probably weep for days on end when I return. Still, I'm making the most of what I can given my final exam schedule and financial situation. As my last update states, I was indeed in Sydney and it was an incredible place aka I plan on making my way back to it ASAP. I returned to JCU for a few days and did some studying. Then I made a visit to my mate, Trent, who lives in Cairns.
I met Trent through a couple of friends who have come to James Cook University under the same circumstance as me. I haven't hung out with him a lot this semester, mainly because he lives off campus, but being at his house and experiencing his town was a nice change from Townsville. He told me that Cairns is backpackers central. Obviously, there has been a lot built around the fact that its a big tourist location, but Cairns is surrounded by mountains, rain forests, and beaches galore. Plus its a great access point to the great barrier reef.
I avoided the rain forest hikes and the beach outings mainly because I've been doing a lot of beaching and hiking lately. The best thing I did there was take the hour long boat ride out to the GBR, which certainly deserves a better word than great for its title, but I digress. I remember seeing a lot of similar things at when I went snorkeling and sailing around Whitsundays. Fortunately, unlike that experience, it was bright and sunny all day long, which was perfect for seeing pretty deep underwater for when I took my first underwater journey of one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
It was an incredible experience. I saw the craziest, most colorful fish I've ever laid my eyes on. I spotted two sharks, I got to touch the inside of a giant clam, and I got bitten by a turtle attempting to feed it. Ah! I wanna go back and play with nemo and crush again. It wouldn't be hard to persuade me to live in Cairns, just so I could go diving all the time. Incredible, amazing, great are all just words that don't even come close to describing my diving experience there, but I've got pictures.
The rest of my time in Cairns I spent walking around the Boardwalk/Esplanade area, enjoying the sun and hanging out. My return was rather rough. I went straight to work and after I finished I came directly to uni to finish studying for a final I had today. Only two more finals to go and then I'll be done with another semester. Despite my bittersweet feelings about leaving, its always nice to be finished with another semester of college. I know all is well in America, what could go wrong with the Pens winning a Stanley cup?
I met Trent through a couple of friends who have come to James Cook University under the same circumstance as me. I haven't hung out with him a lot this semester, mainly because he lives off campus, but being at his house and experiencing his town was a nice change from Townsville. He told me that Cairns is backpackers central. Obviously, there has been a lot built around the fact that its a big tourist location, but Cairns is surrounded by mountains, rain forests, and beaches galore. Plus its a great access point to the great barrier reef.
I avoided the rain forest hikes and the beach outings mainly because I've been doing a lot of beaching and hiking lately. The best thing I did there was take the hour long boat ride out to the GBR, which certainly deserves a better word than great for its title, but I digress. I remember seeing a lot of similar things at when I went snorkeling and sailing around Whitsundays. Fortunately, unlike that experience, it was bright and sunny all day long, which was perfect for seeing pretty deep underwater for when I took my first underwater journey of one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
It was an incredible experience. I saw the craziest, most colorful fish I've ever laid my eyes on. I spotted two sharks, I got to touch the inside of a giant clam, and I got bitten by a turtle attempting to feed it. Ah! I wanna go back and play with nemo and crush again. It wouldn't be hard to persuade me to live in Cairns, just so I could go diving all the time. Incredible, amazing, great are all just words that don't even come close to describing my diving experience there, but I've got pictures.
The rest of my time in Cairns I spent walking around the Boardwalk/Esplanade area, enjoying the sun and hanging out. My return was rather rough. I went straight to work and after I finished I came directly to uni to finish studying for a final I had today. Only two more finals to go and then I'll be done with another semester. Despite my bittersweet feelings about leaving, its always nice to be finished with another semester of college. I know all is well in America, what could go wrong with the Pens winning a Stanley cup?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Sydney!
It turns out I unintentionally lied about my travel plans for the 2 weeks I previously spoke of. I did go to Sydney for a few days and it was an incredible trip. However, my intention was to go straight to Uluru from Sydney, which as it turns out, would have cost me an arm and a leg. Which basically means that I have to come back to Australia to do everything that I did not get to do this time around.
So Sydney. It very much reminded me of a city from America, New York or Chicago, one of the large ones with millions of people. I did however enjoy how most of the time we spent there was on the shore. Basically I left Townsville thinking I wouldn't spend anytime on the beach in Sydney because it is getting to be rather cold there. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Me and my two mates spent at least 1 full day on the harbour taking heaps of photos of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
Why so many pictures of the Opera house? Well turns out there was a light show on the Opera house. Yes I did say ON. just across the harbour was a projector on top of a building that was shining abstract art onto the domes of the Opera House. Between my friends and me, we have a collection of at least 120 pictures just of that structure. Other than that we walked around Sydney and enjoyed the views and the city itself. One highlight of the trip was Kangaroo, Crocodile and Emu pizzas for dinner on our second night there. I also tried my first Thai food the first night there for supper. All of us visiting sort of wish that we would have studied abroad in Sydney. There was just so much to do in such a concentrated area. But I suppose Townsville has its perks.
We also made it over to Manly Beach, where there were some brave souls catching some cold surf. I wanted to try surfing while I was there, but there was gloomy weather while we were there and it was cold, so I didn't go through with it. Had I made previous arrangements to do so, I definitely would have come back an Aussie surfer! Our last day/night in Sydney we spent walking from Coogee to Bondi beach. Dinner with some of my mates' friends and then staying with them in their awesome 8 person house near Coogee beach. It was a waterfilled weekend to say the least and worth every penny I spent (slash didn't spend) there.
I don't know if they'll ever read this blog, but a special thanks to Laurent and Jenny for allowing your unplanned guest stay with you. And to Doug Farquhar for breaking the ice and getting the in for me.
I suppose my last trip in Australia involves going to the Great Barrier Reef. I intend to go diving this weekend on Maggie Island this weekend and then up to Cairns to visit a friend and dive the reefs up in that area. We will see though. I don't want to lead anyone on (including myself) and then have plans fall through.
So Sydney. It very much reminded me of a city from America, New York or Chicago, one of the large ones with millions of people. I did however enjoy how most of the time we spent there was on the shore. Basically I left Townsville thinking I wouldn't spend anytime on the beach in Sydney because it is getting to be rather cold there. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Me and my two mates spent at least 1 full day on the harbour taking heaps of photos of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
Why so many pictures of the Opera house? Well turns out there was a light show on the Opera house. Yes I did say ON. just across the harbour was a projector on top of a building that was shining abstract art onto the domes of the Opera House. Between my friends and me, we have a collection of at least 120 pictures just of that structure. Other than that we walked around Sydney and enjoyed the views and the city itself. One highlight of the trip was Kangaroo, Crocodile and Emu pizzas for dinner on our second night there. I also tried my first Thai food the first night there for supper. All of us visiting sort of wish that we would have studied abroad in Sydney. There was just so much to do in such a concentrated area. But I suppose Townsville has its perks.
We also made it over to Manly Beach, where there were some brave souls catching some cold surf. I wanted to try surfing while I was there, but there was gloomy weather while we were there and it was cold, so I didn't go through with it. Had I made previous arrangements to do so, I definitely would have come back an Aussie surfer! Our last day/night in Sydney we spent walking from Coogee to Bondi beach. Dinner with some of my mates' friends and then staying with them in their awesome 8 person house near Coogee beach. It was a waterfilled weekend to say the least and worth every penny I spent (slash didn't spend) there.
I don't know if they'll ever read this blog, but a special thanks to Laurent and Jenny for allowing your unplanned guest stay with you. And to Doug Farquhar for breaking the ice and getting the in for me.
I suppose my last trip in Australia involves going to the Great Barrier Reef. I intend to go diving this weekend on Maggie Island this weekend and then up to Cairns to visit a friend and dive the reefs up in that area. We will see though. I don't want to lead anyone on (including myself) and then have plans fall through.
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