The good news: I'm safe and sound, still hanging out in Sydney. Nobody has kidnapped me, I haven't had any run ins with the police, and I'm having a great time.
The bad news: I got food poisoning from this really delicious garlic tzatziki I bought yesterday, so I'm kind of bumming around today because I don't feel that well. I feel better now than I did earlier today, so that's a good sign, but food poisoning is never exactly a positive experience.
I hit up the Botanic Gardens the other day, which was amazing. They have gorgeous views of the harbour, and some really cool plants. There's some pine tree that is actually older than the dinosaurs (what?!), and was only discovered by some random brush tramper ten years ago or so. I was there at twilight, and at that time all the fruit bats come out of palm trees and soar around. These are the biggest fruit bats in the world, and it was such a sight. Auditorially (is that a word?), it was not so pleasant--they make these weird squeaking noises, and these ugly white birds kept squawking back at them. I went with my Dutch friend Lisanna, and we got delish Italian food after by the harbour. It was quite excellent. We also visited The Government House (could there be a more vague name?) which is where some important government head has fuctions. We tried to sneak in, but this nice old round guy stopped us and told us that unless we were some important American guy, we couldn't go in. I had him convinced for a bit that I was his daughter, but he still wouldn't let us in. It has gorgeous architecture, though, and was cool to look at from the outside.
Yesterday, I took a ferry from the harbour to Manly Beach, and explored over there a bit. I hiked up to Kangaroo Rock which wasn't that exciting, and then swam in the ocean for a bit and then bummed around on the sand. The beach was picturesque, as are all the beaches here, and straight out of a movie. Ooooh, I forgot to mention that Palm Beach, the beach I went to yesterday, is the setting for the soap opera "Home and Away" which basically sounds like The O.C. of the U.K. Some famous girl was there the other day, but I didn't care since she's not famous to me. Still, lots of other people freaked out. Back to Manly, it was nice. It's named after the manly physique that all the surfers have--I'm not kidding. After I got over the tacky name, I liked it a lot.
After that, I partook in what will hopefully be the most expensive excursion of my trip: the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. It was worth every penny of it for the views of the harbour and the opera house. Plus, my climb only had two other people (two Brits that are getting married this Friday--they even invited me to their wedding!), so it was really personal. I did the Discovery Climb, which means I climbed in the innter workings of the bridge, then climbed to the top, and then back down the other side. We got to go out far over the water, which is kind of freaky since you can see it through the holes in the stairs, but you're clipped to the bridge, so you can't fall off even if you wanted to. We got to yell at the top, and we made a water-plane wave around its wings and the passengers on a cruise ship waved at us. Afterwards, Matt, the bridge leader, invited us to go out with him to a pub nearby, so we chatted it up over there. A bunch of the other bridge leaders joined us, and by the end they had all invited themselves to the Brits' wedding. Apparently, they only had seven other people coming (including Debbie's godmother's brother, who they've never met but is giving them free taxi rides around Sydney), so now the Bridge Climb guys will outnumber people they actually know. It was a fun Aussie experience, and we got a discount on our beers since we were with them. Sweet.
Today I went to Coogee Beach briefly, but then felt too tired and sick to stay so I took the bus back. It was nice, though, and there was some good snorkeling out there. I have a dreadful tan line from my swimsuit which I have worn three days in a row.
It's kind of nice traveling alone, since it means I can be more spontaneous and say sure, let's grab drinks after the climb, but it's also kind of lonely at times. Also, yesterday when I was at Manly Beach, this woman was totally laying on the sand topless and there was nobody to gasp with and to discuss how weird that was. Also also, at Palm Beach, there was a very old man with a very young babe and nobody was there to make Heather Mills/Paul McCartney references with me. Still, it meant that when I felt sick today, I didn't have to cancel any plans with anybody, and I can hang for extra time in this travel agency using their free internet. Also, nobody here makes fun of me for saying "yeh" with much more frequency than I would like to admit. It just kind of comes out naturally, and makes me sound slightly European. Somebody even thought I was British once!
Tomorrow I'm off to the Blue Mountains to see the Three Sisters and tram around and go spelunking in the Jenolan Caves. Sadly, I have to leave at 7:20 AM which is dreadful. Perhaps I can sleep on the bus?
Lots of love to everybody in the States--
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Interesting Tidbits About My Australian Life
5:26 PM, Tuesday 1/29/2008
Things I Am Still Getting Used to About Australia:
1. Looking the right direction when I cross streets. I can't figure out where I'm supposed to look, so I just check all the sides, but apparently the LA habit of assuming that cars will stop because pedestrians always have the right of way doesn't fly so hard in Sydney. Sometimes, on the ground, there's text that says "look right" or "look left" which I can only assume is there for the sole purpose of tourists like me that really don't have it together yet.
2. Being awake at the right time. I'm hardcore jet-lagged, but yesterday I managed to stay up till 10:30, which actually ended up being 11:30 since my clock was off by an hour. I was impressed by my amazing ability to stay awake for what seemed like a small eternity. That off-by-an-hour almost made me miss my excursion today (I thought I was waking up at 7:30, but instead it was 8:30) but everything ended up okay.
3. Paying about 1.5 times what I'm used to for food. Plus, yesterday was apparently a national holiday (Australia Day), and all the restaurants charged a 10% surcharge for being open. LAME. Also, the employees got paid 2.5 times regular for working on a holiday! Weird. Luckily, tipping is totally optional here, so I figured the 10% extra could count as my tip. Also, you don't really have one solid waiter here--you can ask any of them for the bill, they all come over and ask if you've ordered, and a different one brings your food.
4. My roommates' snoring/sleeptalking. I'm in a room with nine other people, and two snore really loudly and one girl talks in her sleep. She laughed out loud, and had a one-sided conversation around 2 AM. It was super-irritating and I was about to shake the bed, since she was beneath me, to see if I could wake her up, when she coughed and then stopped. It was handy. Another roommate got a phone call around 6:30 AM and took it! I couldn't understand anything that he said except that he said "mate" a lot, but he talked for a good 7 minutes.
Weird Things I Have Encountered:
1. A man came up to me on the street to compliment me on my eyes (odd, who does that?) and when I asked where he was from, he said Chile. Turns out? He's from Vina del Mar, and even lived in Recreo for a bit. He almost had a heart attack when I told him I knew about Vina, and when I started naming areas like Cerro Alegre and Valpo, he majorly freaked out. I think he was pretty drunk, since he couldn't really comprehend how I knew so much about Chile without living there even though I distinctly explained it, and he also had a hard time wtih the "from Los Angeles" thing since he didn't recognize my name. Apparently only celebrities live in Los Angeles now, according to Chileans.
2. I made friends with a Dutch girl, and she had a hard time accepting the fact that the US doesn't, indeed, have 52 states. She was shocked to find out that Alaska was a state, and that Los Angeles wasn't a state. She said she knew of Houston, but thought it was in the north. She's really up on the upcoming election, though, and says the Dutch get tons of US election coverage. Everyone over there is apparently rooting for Hillary or Barack, mostly Hillary though. Bill Clinton is their hero, and her obvious connections to him make her a good choice for them.
3. The sun here is super-strong, and for the first time, I got sunburned even though I was wearing sunscreen. I got burned on my left hand, my right knee, and my chest. It's odd and it hurts to shower, but lesson learned--sunscreen will be on at all times from now on!
4. You can cut locks off really easily. I put a lock on my locker with my backpack in it, but of course, the lock set itself to a different combination than I thought it did. Since I needed my wallet and camera for the trip, I had to get it cut off. Thankfully, I only paid $2 for it, but still--ugh. It was annoying to deal with right away.
Things I Have Seen So Far:
1. The Sydney Harbour Bridge: we walked across it, and I'll climb it within the next few days. Woot!
2. The Sydney Opera House: every bit as cool in person as in pictures. It's kind of ugly up close, though--it looks slightly unfinished and moldy.
3. The Rocks: this is the oldest part of town, but it's only 200 years old. The city is kind of weird in that it lacks any sort of history--the buildings are pretty new, and there's no old churches or castles or cathedrals or any other impressive building that starts with c. We ate at a pancake place there, but I had a Greek salad and my friend had "bread crusts" with pine nuts and cheese. It was like a mini-slightly-soggy pizza. My salad was a much better choice.
4. Palm Beach: the hostel I'm staying at organized a trip there, and I got the last slot! I had to rock-paper-scissors this giant Canadian for the spot, but I won (two out of three, of course) so I got to go. I also didn't have to pay the $10, which was sweet. I swam in the water, got sand in every crevice of my body, and spat out tons of salt water and got it up my nose too. I was going to try surfing, but the waves were HUGE and after I got crashed into the sand and stayed underwater for an unpleasant amount of time, I decided to cut my time in the water short.
5. Botanical Gardens: I haven't actually done this, but I'm going right after I leave this cafe. They're right by the bridge, and supposed to be gorgeous. I'm updating from this travel agency that has 15 minutes of free internet for backpackers, but they don't seem to care if we're on here for considerably longer than 15. I'm loving it.
I'm off to explore. Love love love
Things I Am Still Getting Used to About Australia:
1. Looking the right direction when I cross streets. I can't figure out where I'm supposed to look, so I just check all the sides, but apparently the LA habit of assuming that cars will stop because pedestrians always have the right of way doesn't fly so hard in Sydney. Sometimes, on the ground, there's text that says "look right" or "look left" which I can only assume is there for the sole purpose of tourists like me that really don't have it together yet.
2. Being awake at the right time. I'm hardcore jet-lagged, but yesterday I managed to stay up till 10:30, which actually ended up being 11:30 since my clock was off by an hour. I was impressed by my amazing ability to stay awake for what seemed like a small eternity. That off-by-an-hour almost made me miss my excursion today (I thought I was waking up at 7:30, but instead it was 8:30) but everything ended up okay.
3. Paying about 1.5 times what I'm used to for food. Plus, yesterday was apparently a national holiday (Australia Day), and all the restaurants charged a 10% surcharge for being open. LAME. Also, the employees got paid 2.5 times regular for working on a holiday! Weird. Luckily, tipping is totally optional here, so I figured the 10% extra could count as my tip. Also, you don't really have one solid waiter here--you can ask any of them for the bill, they all come over and ask if you've ordered, and a different one brings your food.
4. My roommates' snoring/sleeptalking. I'm in a room with nine other people, and two snore really loudly and one girl talks in her sleep. She laughed out loud, and had a one-sided conversation around 2 AM. It was super-irritating and I was about to shake the bed, since she was beneath me, to see if I could wake her up, when she coughed and then stopped. It was handy. Another roommate got a phone call around 6:30 AM and took it! I couldn't understand anything that he said except that he said "mate" a lot, but he talked for a good 7 minutes.
Weird Things I Have Encountered:
1. A man came up to me on the street to compliment me on my eyes (odd, who does that?) and when I asked where he was from, he said Chile. Turns out? He's from Vina del Mar, and even lived in Recreo for a bit. He almost had a heart attack when I told him I knew about Vina, and when I started naming areas like Cerro Alegre and Valpo, he majorly freaked out. I think he was pretty drunk, since he couldn't really comprehend how I knew so much about Chile without living there even though I distinctly explained it, and he also had a hard time wtih the "from Los Angeles" thing since he didn't recognize my name. Apparently only celebrities live in Los Angeles now, according to Chileans.
2. I made friends with a Dutch girl, and she had a hard time accepting the fact that the US doesn't, indeed, have 52 states. She was shocked to find out that Alaska was a state, and that Los Angeles wasn't a state. She said she knew of Houston, but thought it was in the north. She's really up on the upcoming election, though, and says the Dutch get tons of US election coverage. Everyone over there is apparently rooting for Hillary or Barack, mostly Hillary though. Bill Clinton is their hero, and her obvious connections to him make her a good choice for them.
3. The sun here is super-strong, and for the first time, I got sunburned even though I was wearing sunscreen. I got burned on my left hand, my right knee, and my chest. It's odd and it hurts to shower, but lesson learned--sunscreen will be on at all times from now on!
4. You can cut locks off really easily. I put a lock on my locker with my backpack in it, but of course, the lock set itself to a different combination than I thought it did. Since I needed my wallet and camera for the trip, I had to get it cut off. Thankfully, I only paid $2 for it, but still--ugh. It was annoying to deal with right away.
Things I Have Seen So Far:
1. The Sydney Harbour Bridge: we walked across it, and I'll climb it within the next few days. Woot!
2. The Sydney Opera House: every bit as cool in person as in pictures. It's kind of ugly up close, though--it looks slightly unfinished and moldy.
3. The Rocks: this is the oldest part of town, but it's only 200 years old. The city is kind of weird in that it lacks any sort of history--the buildings are pretty new, and there's no old churches or castles or cathedrals or any other impressive building that starts with c. We ate at a pancake place there, but I had a Greek salad and my friend had "bread crusts" with pine nuts and cheese. It was like a mini-slightly-soggy pizza. My salad was a much better choice.
4. Palm Beach: the hostel I'm staying at organized a trip there, and I got the last slot! I had to rock-paper-scissors this giant Canadian for the spot, but I won (two out of three, of course) so I got to go. I also didn't have to pay the $10, which was sweet. I swam in the water, got sand in every crevice of my body, and spat out tons of salt water and got it up my nose too. I was going to try surfing, but the waves were HUGE and after I got crashed into the sand and stayed underwater for an unpleasant amount of time, I decided to cut my time in the water short.
5. Botanical Gardens: I haven't actually done this, but I'm going right after I leave this cafe. They're right by the bridge, and supposed to be gorgeous. I'm updating from this travel agency that has 15 minutes of free internet for backpackers, but they don't seem to care if we're on here for considerably longer than 15. I'm loving it.
I'm off to explore. Love love love
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Arrival in Sydney: success!
Hello, Sydney!
I left PDX at 6:30 on Saturday morning and arrived to Sydney at 11:15 AM on Monday. All that adds to way too much airtime and too little sleep. Thankfully, I slept lots on the flight, but it still feels weird missing out on a day of my life. I missed my connection to Sydney from Auckland because of flight delays in LAX, but eventually they managed to rebook me on another flight. My first flight was a double-decker with the first class up top. I had a nice window seat, a thick blanket, tons of footroom, and my own personal TV to play games, watch TV, watch movies, and even create my own playlist. I played some tetris, a little Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and watched a couple episodes of Flight of the Conchord, a NZ comedy. They got my veg meal which was delicious--tortellini, steamed veggies, a chilled glass for wine, and a pineapple/cucumber/garbanzo bean curry. I slept through breakfast, but they served brunch on the next flight, so it was fine.
I'm checked into my hostel in Sydney and am in a room with a bunch of lazy Brits, from what I can tell. When I got there around noon today, they had just gotten up and the room smelled like stale beer. I have a bunk though, and I'm sure I'll meet other people.
Today I'm just adjusting to being awake, and doing a foot tour of Sydney. I figure I'll walk around and see what I see, and then maybe make it back for a nap. Tomorrow I might hit up the beach, or go to the Blue Mountains, or do the Bridge Climb. Lots of options!
Hope everyone is doing well, lots of love to everyone!! I'll update more when I have more than 15 mins of free internet.
I left PDX at 6:30 on Saturday morning and arrived to Sydney at 11:15 AM on Monday. All that adds to way too much airtime and too little sleep. Thankfully, I slept lots on the flight, but it still feels weird missing out on a day of my life. I missed my connection to Sydney from Auckland because of flight delays in LAX, but eventually they managed to rebook me on another flight. My first flight was a double-decker with the first class up top. I had a nice window seat, a thick blanket, tons of footroom, and my own personal TV to play games, watch TV, watch movies, and even create my own playlist. I played some tetris, a little Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and watched a couple episodes of Flight of the Conchord, a NZ comedy. They got my veg meal which was delicious--tortellini, steamed veggies, a chilled glass for wine, and a pineapple/cucumber/garbanzo bean curry. I slept through breakfast, but they served brunch on the next flight, so it was fine.
I'm checked into my hostel in Sydney and am in a room with a bunch of lazy Brits, from what I can tell. When I got there around noon today, they had just gotten up and the room smelled like stale beer. I have a bunk though, and I'm sure I'll meet other people.
Today I'm just adjusting to being awake, and doing a foot tour of Sydney. I figure I'll walk around and see what I see, and then maybe make it back for a nap. Tomorrow I might hit up the beach, or go to the Blue Mountains, or do the Bridge Climb. Lots of options!
Hope everyone is doing well, lots of love to everyone!! I'll update more when I have more than 15 mins of free internet.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The Timeline to My Life in Australia
Monday, 1/28: Sydney
Tuesday, 1/29: Sydney
Wednesday, 1/30: Sydney
Thursday, 1/31: Sydney
Friday, 2/1: Sydney
Saturday, 2/2: Sydney/Brisbane
Sunday, 2/3: Brisbane
Monday, 2/4: Brisbane
Tuesday, 2/5: Brisbane/Cairns
Wednesday, 2/6: Cairns
Thursday, 2/7: Cairns
Friday, 2/8: Cairns
Saturday, 2/9: Cairns
Sunday, 2/10: Cairns/Uluru
Monday, 2/11: Uluru
Tuesday, 2/12: Uluru/Sydney
Wednesday, 2/13: Sydney: leave for Auckland at 3:30 PM
Thursday, 2/14: Auckland: meet up with other program participants
Tuesday, 1/29: Sydney
Wednesday, 1/30: Sydney
Thursday, 1/31: Sydney
Friday, 2/1: Sydney
Saturday, 2/2: Sydney/Brisbane
Sunday, 2/3: Brisbane
Monday, 2/4: Brisbane
Tuesday, 2/5: Brisbane/Cairns
Wednesday, 2/6: Cairns
Thursday, 2/7: Cairns
Friday, 2/8: Cairns
Saturday, 2/9: Cairns
Sunday, 2/10: Cairns/Uluru
Monday, 2/11: Uluru
Tuesday, 2/12: Uluru/Sydney
Wednesday, 2/13: Sydney: leave for Auckland at 3:30 PM
Thursday, 2/14: Auckland: meet up with other program participants
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
17 days till departure!
Greetings all!
This will be my travel blog for all things related to the other side of the world--my two and a half weeks of traveling Australia, my semester at the U of Otago, and any extra traveling that occurs during my time down under. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures and give a visual update of my adventures as well.
I leave for Australia on January 26 (with the generous financial support of Grandma and Grandpa, who allowed me to extend the amount of time I spend down there), and will travel around the east coast of Australia until February 14, when I meet up with my group in Auckland. I'll spend the semester studying in Dunedin, New Zealand at the University of Otago living in a flat with two "kiwi hosts" and two other international students. My kiwi hosts are named Janey and Jess, they are finishing up their degrees at the university. They live on the North Island and seem extremely friendly.
For those that are extra-cool and feel like sending me mail (you know you want to!), you can write to me by mailing a letter to:
Rachel Stoler
515 Great King Street, Dunedin
NEW ZEALAND
I won't be there till Feb. 17, and I don't think my lease starts until then, so its probably best to wait till after I'm settled in to start sending the hordes of mail.
As always, comments are not only welcome, but definitely encouraged!
This will be my travel blog for all things related to the other side of the world--my two and a half weeks of traveling Australia, my semester at the U of Otago, and any extra traveling that occurs during my time down under. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures and give a visual update of my adventures as well.
I leave for Australia on January 26 (with the generous financial support of Grandma and Grandpa, who allowed me to extend the amount of time I spend down there), and will travel around the east coast of Australia until February 14, when I meet up with my group in Auckland. I'll spend the semester studying in Dunedin, New Zealand at the University of Otago living in a flat with two "kiwi hosts" and two other international students. My kiwi hosts are named Janey and Jess, they are finishing up their degrees at the university. They live on the North Island and seem extremely friendly.
For those that are extra-cool and feel like sending me mail (you know you want to!), you can write to me by mailing a letter to:
Rachel Stoler
515 Great King Street, Dunedin
NEW ZEALAND
I won't be there till Feb. 17, and I don't think my lease starts until then, so its probably best to wait till after I'm settled in to start sending the hordes of mail.
As always, comments are not only welcome, but definitely encouraged!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)