Underwater Adventures

Good Morning!

I had quite an exciting weekend here in Australia. I took a crash course in scuba diving and got my open water certification in just one weekend! I'll start from the beginning though. . .

Thursday night a friend on my deck (or hall as we say in the States) asked me to go to an Asian restaurant in town with her. She's from China so I was pretty excited to try some Chinese food that somebody from China recommends. So, my friend Lisa (from my deck), her friend Vicky (also from China), and my friend Justin all went to a little Chinese restaurant in Wollongong. We ordered a ton of food and had a really nice time. The food was excellent and they both said it was similar to the food they eat at home. (I would say that the food at Ming Wok was just as good though). The girls were really funny because they told us all about how they LOVE American boys. Apparently they think that American boys (especially ones from Colorado) are a lot more attractive than Australian or Asian boys. Vicky is talking about traveling to the US and I can't help but wonder if it's just to see the boys!

Friday morning Justin and I headed out early (7 am) for Sydney. We arrived at the scuba shop around 9:20, but it didn't open until 10 am so we got ourselves some breakfast and walked around the town. We were in a really little town called Ramsgate and so we made it around the town in about 15 minutes. At 10 am we tried to get in the shop, but the closed sign was still up and the door wouldn't open. We parked ourselves on a bench about thirty feet from the door and decided to give them some time. Periodically we would go back and check the door and each time we weren't able to get in. We finally decided that the shop must not open until 11. We spent some more time on the bench and then we checked the door again at 11, but it still wouldn't open and the closed sign was still up. I figured we better call the shop and ask them what's up. . .they answered right away and said they were open and had just forgotten to turn the sign around! We then realized that we had been pulling the door when we should have been pushing it, so it wasn't locked after all. We both felt pretty silly and couldn't believe that we sat on a bench for an hour waiting for the already open shop to open!

We hid our embarrassment though and the instructor, Jaimie, had us take a little test and review some of the information we had read in our study books. We learned how to calculate the amount of nitrogen in your body so that you know how long you can spend under water and we talked about the various ways to deal with an out-of-air situation. We spent about 2 hours with Jaimie and then we began our trek back to Wollongong.

For some reason we thought it would be a good idea to try to get home a different way than how we got there. . .I think you can guess how this story is going to end up. We needed to catch a bus to a train station and rather than catching one to the train station we had arrived at we decided to catch one to the next city over. We waited a good half an hour for this bus and when we finally got on it, we realized we didn't really know where to get off it. Luckily (or unluckily?) the bus terminated its route not long after we got on and we were forced to get off. We were then stuck in the middle of Hurstville with no idea how to get to the train station. We wondered around for another 30-45 minutes and Justin finally spotted some train tracks. We figured if we followed along the tracks long enough in one direction we would eventually find a train station. Fortunately this logic paid off and we ran into the Hurstville train station not too much later. Once we got to the train station we realized that the bus had dropped us off not too far away. . .we had just walked in a big circle.

We finally got on the train around 2:30 and were able to make it back to I-House around 4:15. So for our two hours of scuba instruction we had spent around 7 hours in transit. We were both exhausted from our very adventurous day and so we both conked out on the train. We met up with our friends when we got back and ate a quick dinner at I-House and then we were off to a local Rugby League game. It was our hometeam (the St. George Illawara Dragons) versus the Panthers. I loved the atmosphere at the stadium. We sat on a grass hill surrounded by young people and families and everyone in between. Everyone was dressed up with their team's paraphanalia and there was a lot of energy coming from the crowd. I was shocked to find out that there were cheerleaders at this game. . .I was under the impression that cheerleaders were only an American phenomenon. I thought the actual game was not as exciting as an AFL game because it basically consisted of 1 guy running with the ball and being tackled by 5 members of the other team while his entire team stood around and watched. Once the guy got tackled the entire process just started again. I will give the guys props for tackling and being tackled without any pads whatsoever though!

The next morning Justin and I had to catch an even earlier train (6:15!) so that we could start our scuba training promptly at 8:15. Luckily we didn't have anymore mishaps traveling to the shop and we arrived right on time. We spent the entire morning in the local pool completely outfitted in all of our scuba gear. We practiced setting up our equipment, breathing through our regulator, taking off and putting on our mask underwater, sharing air (in case someone ever ran out), and other important skills. It was a little scary at first learning to trust the regulator to let you breathe, but after a little while I started to forget that I was even breathing through a regulator. By early afternoon we had both passed all of the skills tests and we headed to the ocean for our first open water dive. We put on all of our gear (wetsuits, air tanks, bouyancy devices, and regulators) on top of a hill and then hiked down to our entrance point. Our dive was about 6 meters deep and we spent about 40 minutes underwater. The visibility wasn't great because there have a been a lot of storms recently, but we still got to see some cool looking fish that lived on the reef. Our first day of scuba diving ended around 4 pm and we both felt like we could go to bed right then, but we had to get to our hostel in Sydney first and make some dinner.
We grilled burgers and made potato wedges for dinner and then relaxed in our hostel for the rest of the night.

Our day started early again on Sunday since we had to get three open water dives in. We drove to "The Monument" which is a diving site right in Botany Bay. We did three half-hour dives (the deepest was 10 meters!) throughout the course of the morning and afternoon and were tested on the skills we learned in the pool. It was a little unnerving practicing the out-of-air situations underwater and I really had to work to keep myself calm. But in the end we passed all of the skills with flying colors and by Sunday afternoon we were both certified scuba divers.

We're hoping to get one or two more dives in before we head up to the Great Barrier Reef to do our big diving trip with Molly and Chris. But right now I am busy writing papers and lab reports because the semester is quickly drawing to a close. This is our last week of class and next week is our study break. Lots of people will be spending the week traveling and some friends and I plan to do a few day trips to areas around Wollongong. Then we have 2 weeks of finals and we're done! It's sad thinking about the end of my adventures in Australia, but I am also excited to see all of you back home!

A Weekend in Sydney

My friend Will and I at the AFL game (he was cheering for the Sydney Swans, hence the red).

My friend Lisa and I at the AFL game (we weren't really cheering for anyone!)

Being silly at the Chinese food court (I was going for a walrus).

Me, Tim, and Yin Wei eating our delicious Chinese food.

Danny and Justin enjoying their food too.

I think I have finally recovered from a very eventful weekend in Sydney. Some friends and I grabbed the train up to Sydney early Saturday afternoon and did a little shopping and a little exploring. I got a new running top for my big race the next day and then we met up with some other friends from Wollongong to get some dinner. We walked around town for quite awhile bickering about where to eat (it's hard to make decisions when you have 10 people delirious with hunger) and we finally stumbled into China Town. We had all been there before but had only been able to find expensive restaurants that were too expensive for cheap college students. But we encountered some dumb luck and decided to check out a little underground food court within China Town. . .Jackpot. It was tiny, but jampacked with about 10 little Chinese restaurants all with huge portion sizes and no meals over around $7. We were all starving and quickly made our choices and devoured our food. The food was excellent which supports my theory that they dumpier a Chinese restaurant looks, the better the food is.

After dinner, about 70 people from I-house were going to the Aussie Rule Football (AFL) game in Sydney. We met them all at the game and watched the Sydney Swans beat the West Coast Eagles in a very exciting game. I sat by my friend Lisa who lives next door to me in I-house. She's from China and is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met. She wasn't a big sports fan though and I was pretty exhausted from a busy week, so we both didn't pay much attention to the game. I was convinced that AFL games only had three periods, so at the end of the 3rd period I got up to start leaving. Everyone gave me really weird looks and finally my friends informed me that AFL games have 4 quarters. Oops.

Once the 4th quarter was finally over we jumped back on the train and everyone headed back to Wollongong. Justin and I, however, headed to our hostel because our race started at 7:30 the next morning. We were pretty wiped out by the time we got to the hostel so we just headed straight to bed. Luckily our hostel was only a minute walk from the starting line, so we rolled out of bed around 6:45, got ready quickly and jogged over to the start. I was feeling a little nervous about the race seeing as I had been sick for the past couple weeks and was still fighting a cold, I was a little sleep deprived from a busy week and I had eaten Chinese food the night before. Definitely not the best way to prepare for a half-marathon, but when I started the race I actually felt quite good. I was running at a pretty good pace and was enjoying the route through Sydney. There were about 10,000 people in the race, so it was busy but not too crowded.

Around the half-way mark I started to get a little tired and I knew the rest of the race was going to be a struggle mentally. But I decided to push on because I really wanted to finish under 2 hours. It was difficult to figure out my exact pacing because they marked the entire course in kilometers and my math skills aren't 100% when I have already run 7 miles. Anyway, the last 3rd of the race I felt pretty terrible, but I started to get stubborn and refused to stop. . .also not a good choice. For those of you who know my running history, I returned to my old ways and collapse 100 meters before the finish. (DISCLAIMER: I AM COMPLETELY FINE SO NOBODY SHOULD WORRY!!!) I just got a little dehydrated and I think the combination of everything else led to my body just giving up. They gave me an inhaler and a bag in which I threw up my breakfast and then they carted me over to the medical tent. My friend Justin said that I was pretty lucky because I actually got my money's worth from the race. . .since the entrance fee includes the medical assistance, but most people don't get to use it.

Once I got over to the tent, they took my temperature and found that I was overheating a little bit. They covered me in ice packs and gave me a saline drip to try and rehydrate me. After a couple of hours recovering in the tent, my friend Justin finally found me. . .which was perfect timing because I was finally well enough to head home. We walked (very slowly) back to the hostel and I took a very refreshing shower. We had planned to spend the rest of the day walking around the town, but we both decided that probably wasn't the best idea.

Instead, we found one of the lovely parks in downtown Sydney and just rested in the sun for most of the afternoon. Around 3:30 we finally felt well enough to walk all the way to the train station to head home. We made it back to Wollongong around 6:30, just in time for dinner. I loaded my plate full because it was my first real meal all day. I felt so much better after a little food. The rest of the night was spent recovering from my exciting day.

Monday I had to head to the doctor to get a physical for scuba diving. Justin and I both needed to get one, so we went to the Medical Center in town and waited for a doctor for almost an hour. We finally were able to meet with one and he just checked our blood pressure, gave us a breathing test, and did a few other vital tests. Apparently I'm healthy enough to scuba dive, so this weekend I'm getting certified!

I headed back to Sydney at around 3:30 on Monday with some girls from my study abroad program because our program was taking us to the Opera House to see When the Rain Stops Falling, an Australian play. We got to Sydney early so we could find a restaurant called Pancakes on the Rocks. It's a restaurant that has every type of pancake you could possibly imagine and it's located in a part of Sydney called the Rocks. We were all hungry (this seems to be a common theme in all of my stories), but our map was not very detailed and it led us on a wild goose chase around the city (this also seems to be a common theme). Finally after asking two different people for directions, we found the restaurant. The other girls got various types of pancakes (apple, strawberry, banana), but I opted for a Caesar Salad (I think I'll have to go back, so I can get the real pancake experience). The salad, however, was excellent and definitely hit the spot.

The play was very well done and was actually quite good, but it was probably the most depressing thing I have ever watched. It was a story about two different families and how their stories intertwine. There was murder, tragic deaths, lost love, rape, and divorces. Not the happiest of stories, but it at least ended with a little bit of hope.

Finals are approaching quickly and I am trying to get on top of my work, but I'm not doing quite as good of a job as I would like. It's amazing how fast my time has flown by here; in less than 2 months I'll be back in Minnesota!

James Bond and Captain Kirk

Some of the girls before the ball (L-R: me, Laine, Stef, Katie, Cassie).

My friend Beth and me with all of our winnings from the Black Jack table.

Hello Friends,

Today marks the end of a very relaxing, yet fun, weekend in Wollongong. On Friday we had the Casino Royale Ball on campus. It was dinner, dancing, and fake gambling for students who live in on campus accommodations. It was my first opportunity to really get dressed up here, so I wore the only nice dress I brought along (just a simple black dress) and I straightened my hair for the 3rd time since I've been here. A bus picked us up from International House and brought us all to Uni where the ball was held. . .the bus seemed a little out of place (I don't think Cinderella's fairy godmother would have approved).

We had assigned seating for dinner, but luckily I ended up at a table where I knew most of the people. They did some James Bond trivia during dinner (which I was awful at) and gave away prizes for best dressed. After dinner we were given fake gambling money and I went straight to the tables. I think I ended up playing Black Jack for 2 or 3 hours and I am convinced that it is my new calling in life. . .but only if I can always use fake money.

Saturday morning I decided I was finally fed up with the cold that I have been fighting off for the past 2 1/2 weeks, so I went to a clinic in town and got myself some antibiotics. I'm already feeling better and I'm hoping I will be 100% by the time I run my half-marathon next Sunday. I also got to spend a little time at the beach on Saturday and then some friends and I rented some movies from our favorite little video rental store (2 movies for only $6!) and relaxed for most of the evening.

Sunday I tried to put in a few hours of studying, but I got bored quickly. Luckily a group of I-house residents play soccer every Sunday and I decided to take a little break and join them. I was immediately reminded that I have not really played soccer in about 5 years by my lack of coordination on the field. I spent most of the game passing the ball to the other team and missing passes to me, but it was still a lot of fun. We got rained on half-way through the game which led to a lot of slipping and sliding and a few minor injuries (but everyone was just fine). I am feeling a little sore today though. . .

I must admit that I have achieved a new level of geekiness here in Australia. Some of my friends wanted to go see the new Star Trek movie (it premiered in Australia this weekend, but it has probably been out for awhile in the States) and I agreed to go with them on Sunday night. Here's the really geeky part. . .I actually enjoyed it! In fact, it was a really good movie and one of the better movies I've seen in awhile. I highly recommend it to everyone. . .even if you're not normally a sci-fi fan.

This was one of my last "normal" weekends in Wollongong, so it was nice to just relax and hang out with friends. I'll let you guys know if I have any more adventures in the near future and I would love to hear about what is happening in your lives as well so shoot me an email!

Mel-bin

Laine, Danny and I acting out London Bridge is falling down.

One of the very pretty sites we saw along the Great Ocean Road.

One of the big trees we saw while hiking through the rainforest.

Acting silly in the padded room inside the Gaol jailhouse.
(L to R: me, Danny, Justin, Christy)

Laine, Christy and I decked out in our AFL gear before the game.

Some friends and I took a holiday this past weekend to Melbourne (pronounced Mel-bin). It is about a 1 1/2 hour flight south from Sydney and is part of the region affected by the forest fires this past February. We flew out Thursday night at 5:10 pm and finally arrived at our hostel in Melbourne around 9 pm. Our train ride to the airport was a little stressful because a few of the boys were adamant about not leaving too early for the airport. So we ended up taking a train that was scheduled to get us to the airport only a half hour before our flight. One of our trains got delayed and we got a little stressed about missing our flight, but luckily we made it to the airport with exactly the right amount of time to stop at McDonald's and then hop on our flight!

We landed at an airport about 40 minutes outside of Melbourne because the tickets were cheaper, but when we got there we found out we had to pay $20 to catch the bus into the city. . .so I think we ended up paying the same amount (which goes to show that good deals aren't always what they see). We found our hostel pretty easily and decided to go grab a bite of eat because we were all pretty hungry. Our hostel was located right on the edge of China Town so it was only fitting for us to eat some sort of Asian food. It took us awhile to finally choose one because there were SO many options and they were all SO similar. We finally settled on one and I got myself Beef and Sa Dae (not as good as Ming Wok, but still quite delicious. . .). After dinner we spent a little time walking around the town and found that it is covered in modern art sculptures. We saw an iron cast of a little dog-warthog thing and as my friend Tim was examining it, I thought it would be funny to scare him a little bit. I shouted "Aah" in his face and kind of jumped at him and he completely freaked out. He screamed/yelled and then punched me in the nose out of reflex. I guess his defense mechanism when he gets scared is to punch. . .luckily he stopped himself before he followed through and really punched me. Tim's a big guy though who doesn't scare easily so I was pretty proud of myself.

Friday morning I got up early and went for a run around the town. I found the Yarra river which runs through Melbourne and ran along it for awhile. They call Melbourne the sport capital of Australia and that definitely seemed to be true as I was running. I saw tons of runners and bikers, along with a fair amount of rowing teams out on the river practicing. After my run, I started the unpleasant task of waking up my friends for the day. . .actually, they were all pretty civil and I didn't get any pillows thrown at me (quite a different experience from waking up Whitney. . .). Once everyone was up we walked a few blocks to the Queen Victoria market which is a very famous outdoor market with lots of knicky-knack items and heaps of fresh produce. We shopped for most of the morning and I found myself a little Australian flag and some apples and carrots. Being the cheap college students that we are, we all just bought an assortment of fruits and veggies for lunch and went back to our hostel to eat them.

After lunch we went to the Gaol Jailhouse which is Victoria's oldest prison and closed in 1924. It was the sight of the infamous bushranger Ned Kelly's hanging. Apparently during the 19th and 20th century there was a field of medicine called phrenology which was the study of the shape of people's heads. It was believed that you could learn about someone's personality by studying the different contours of their head. Therefore, after the execution of every convict at the jailhouse, they took a mold of their face to be studied. We were able to see the mold of Ned Kelly's head, along with a lot of other notorious convicts. As part of our visit, we got to participate in a mock arrest where we were criminals being taken into the jailhouse. I was being arrested for "violent and threatening behavior". We were searched and then thrown into jail cells. We even got to take mug pictures!

That night out hostel had a free BBQ, so we ate the usual sausage on a piece of bread for dinner. The International Comedy Festival in Melbourne had just ended (Melbourne is also the comedy capital of Australia) and so we wanted to check out a comedy club. We found a pretty reasonably priced club in North Melbourne and headed over for the 8:30 show. The main performer was actually from the comedy festival and was just staying a few extra weeks in the city. The comedians were absolutely hilarious and we all had a wonderful time.

The next morning Laine, Danny and I woke up super early to go on a tour of the Great Ocean Road. This is a road that goes between Adelaide and Melbourne and is a popular tourist destination. It includes some of the most beautiful beaches and rock formations I've ever seen. Our bus picked us up at 7:15 am and we didn't get back to our hostel until around 9 pm. We stopped at the Surfing Capital of the world (Torquey) which is home to one of the biggest surf competitions in the world. The main surfing beach is Bell's beach and we stopped to take some pictures there. The beach was completely covered in surfers. . .and I would say pretty much all of them were 100 times better than me!

After stopping in Torquey we made a few quick stops at some nice ocean views and finally stopped around noon for lunch. We had a picnic at a little park on the side of the road which was just a few hundred meters from forest that was absolutely filled with koala bears. We were able to take tons of pictures of the cute little guys and we even saw one or two that were awake and moving (which is quite exciting seeing as they sleep about 20 hours/day).

After lunch we did a really nice rainforest hike and then stopped at some of the major tourist sites. We checked out the 12 apostles which is a famous rock formation in the ocean. . .I think there used to be 12 rocks, but some of them have fallen down due to erosion. We also walked around the site of a famous ship wreck in which only 2 young people survived. Our last stop was the London Bridge. This was a rock formation that used to be connected to the land by a little bridge. . .but a few years ago the bridge collapsed (London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down) and the story of its collapse is pretty interesting. I guess a couple was taking a nice romantic stroll along the bridge when it fell down, luckily they had made it to the other side before it actually collapsed so they weren't hurt. It took a long time for rescue crews to get out there because they needed to be helicoptered back to land, so there was a media frenzy there by the time rescue crews arrived. It turned out that the guy who needed to be rescued was actually married to two women and needless to say the other one found out because their rescue was broadcasted globally! Kind of unlucky. . .but he probably deserved it.

We were pretty pooped by the time we got back to our hostel and the rest of our group was nowhere to be found. We hung out at our hostel's pub for a little while, but then we all crashed and went straight to bed.

Sunday morning my friend Justin and I got up and did another run around town. We made it back, had some breakfast and then woke up the rest of the group. Our big plan for the day was to go to the Aussie Rule Football (AFL) game in town. Melbourne is really into sports (as I said before) and their favorite sport is AFL. We headed to the Cricket grounds (where AFL is played) around noon after we had stocked up on cheap AFL apparel and gotten lunch at a meat pie shop inside the train station. The Melbourne Demons (ranked last in the league) were playing the Geelong Cats (ranked first in the league) and most of us decided to cheer on the underdog. The stadium was absolutely HUGE. . .we think it probably held around 100,0oo people. It didn't fill all the way up, but there were at least 30-40,000 people there. The Demons were absolutely crushed by the cats, but it was still a fun game. The rules in AFL are really bizarre, but I still think it might actually be easier to follow than American football.

For dinner we went to a little Mexican restaurant called Taco Bill's (the boys were all going through Taco Bell withdrawal). We got some delicious margarita's and I ordered a big plate of nachos. We were all intent on checking out the town that night because we had been so sleepy the other nights and it was our last night in Melbourne. We spent a good share of the night wondering around a little lost, but eventually we found our way and had a very nice evening.

The next morning included a run and then a little shopping around town. We visited the skydeck of the Eureka tower which is the tallest residential building and the highest viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere. It was fun looking at the city from an aerial perspective. . .but we all agreed that the tower wasn't all it was cracked up to be. . .just one big marketing ploy.

We just walked around the town for the rest of the day visiting a war memorial and the botanic gardens. We got lunch at our favorite little meat pie shop in the train station and then headed to the bus stop to catch our ride to the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave at 7:15, but it got delayed about an hour. This put us back in sydney around 9:30 or 10. Unfortunately the delay made us miss the earlier train home and we were forced to take the 11:30 pm train back to Wollongong. So we went to a grocery store inside of the train station, stocked up on snacks and then hung out on the platform for what seemed like forever.

We finally made it back to I-house around 12:30 or 1 and unfortunately I still had homework to do. I had worked really hard the week before we left, but I wasn't able to finish all of my assignments. So, my friend Justin (who also had a lot of homework) and I got ourselves some caffeinated drinks and stayed up most of the night finishing our assignments. I got everything finished. . .but found out that the assignment I had spent the most time on wasn't due until Friday! Oh well, it was my first true all-nighter in college and hopefully my last!

Birthday Week

Due to an exciting week in New Zealand, I accomplished absolutely no homework over Easter break and was therefore I forced to study on my birthday. On Tuesday I had a lab report due and a midterm quiz in Chemistry and consequentially my 21st birthday resembled my long days of studying back at Gustavus. But before you start to feel bad for me, I should tell you that I did get to celebrate my birthday.

I handed in my lab report on Tuesday and took my (kind of difficult) quiz. Some friends and I decided to go to the only Mexican restaurant in Wollongong, Amigo's, because they have cheap tacos and tequila shots on Tuesdays. Unfortunately, as soon as we left International House it started down pouring. We tried to wait it out, but it didn't look like there was an end in sight. I was the only one who was well-prepared and had thought to bring an umbrella, so I tried to share it. But anyone who has ever tried to share an umbrella knows that both people get just as wet, or maybe wetter, as they would if they didn't use an umbrella. By the time we had completed our 15 minute walk to Amigo's, we were all soaking wet. My hair was a disaster and I had foolishly gone out without a hair-tie so I made a beeline for the bathroom and actually tried to blow dry it a little bit with one of those hand dryers. I don't think it worked very well, but it made me feel a little better.

Anyway, we enjoyed some tacos and tequila shots and then wondered back to International House and relaxed a little bit.

Wednesday night was my real make-up birthday celebration. One of the things that shocked me when I got to Wollongong, was that they have a UniBar on campus. I have never seen a bar on any US campus, but here in Australia students love to have a beer or two between class. I decided that since it was my fake birthday, I would indulge in this Aussie practice and have a beer before class. I had one 4:30 lecture on Wednesday, so two friends and I headed to the UniBar before that and then headed to class. I feel like I have now had the complete Australian experience. . .just kidding.

After class and dinner, we went to a very classy-looking bar called Hotel Illawara where they have Wednesday night Happy Hour for students. The real reason to go there though is that they give you free potato wedges and nachos. . .delicious. Afterwards, we went to the dance club where all Uni students go on Wednesday nights, Glasshouse. We spent some time dancing there and then made our way home in the rain again. It was a very fun night and it's weird to think that I am 21 now! Thanks for all the birthday wishes from back home!

I think that all of my fun in New Zealand and my birthday week have taken a toll on my health though. I am feeling sick for the second time this month. . .but I plan on laying low this week and recovering so that I am healthy for my trip to Melbourne next weekend. Enjoy the incredibly warm weather back home. . .I hear it was 85 yesterday!

New Zealand: The End of the Trilogy

One of the rivers we checked out as we left Milford Sound. . .it had a sign that said "Maximum Weight = 5 people". . .eek!

A waterfall we found after a 10 minute hike.


Being silly/bored in the van. . .sorry it's upside down!

A rainbow appeared as we were kayaking once the rain stopped.

A view of the sound from my kayak.

After the bungy jump we were all on an adrenaline high, but we figured it was best to get on the road asap. The boys, of course, had to make one last stop at Fergburger and then we got on our way. Our drive to Milford Sound was going to be long. . .but I managed to convince the boys to let me drive. So for the first 2 hours of the trip I was in control of our Vanette. The boys all claim that I was absolutely terrible and was practically off the road most of the time. I still firmly believe that they are lying to me and that I actually was a very good driver (I let you decide who you think is telling the truth).

We were told that the last two hours of the drive would be pretty slow and difficult, so I opted for a passenger seat and let Nick take over the wheel. It started to get dark out and it was raining as we drove (we were in a rainforest) but we finally made it to our hostel around 8 pm. The hostel was pretty creepy because it was surrounded by woods, it was raining and storming outside, and it was separated from all other civilization. Even the boys admitted to being a little creeped out. It actually turned out to be a pretty descent hostel with nice rooms and toilets, but it also felt eerily like the setting of a horror movie.

We cooked ourselves dinner again. . .this time we made tacos and then we had a pretty quiet night. I had been trying to convince the guys to play Farkel (a dice game) with me for the entire trip. They finally caved (probably because of the lack of things to do in Milford: population 100) and we played one game. None of them would admit that they actually enjoyed it though and one or two of them insisted it was the worst game they'd ever played. . .typical boys.

The next morning we were up early again in order to make it to our kayak tour. It was pouring rain outside and so we all prepared for another wet day. Our tour guide informed us that rainy days are the best days to be out on the Sound. Once we got out on the water we found out he was absolutely right. We were in a group of 10 people and we all were placed in 2 person kayaks. Justin and I were paired up and I took the front and left him in charge of steering in the back. When we got out on the Sound we were surrounded by huge mountains jutting directly out of the ocean with absolutely no beach. There were tons and tons of waterfalls streaming down the sides of the mountains. We saw one waterfall which our guide told us was 3 times taller than Niagra Falls! We kayaked around for about 4 hours and during the trip we came across a lot of seals relaxing on the rocks. Our guide informed us that these were the young bachelors who weren't old enough to go out fishing yet. He also told us that the last scene of the LOTR was actually taped where we had been kayaking. . .so if you're wondering what it looked like, check out the movie!

The kayaking was amazing, but Justin and I were constantly behind the rest of the group. For some reason we ended up being the slowest kayak, but we got over that quickly and just enjoyed ourselves. The rain stopped early into the trip which made everything much more pleasant. Our guide said we were very lucky because most of the waterfalls stop after just one hour with no rain. It worked out perfectly for us because it rained enough for the waterfalls to be plentiful, but then it stopped so we could just enjoy the ride.

After kayaking we were once again sopping wet and we headed straight for the showers. We got in the car and decided that we wanted to head back to Queenstown again. There is a two-hour stretch of highway between Milford Sound and a slightly larger town called Te Anau which is absolutely beautiful. We stopped every 20 minutes or so to do short little hikes and take pictures of glaciers and water falls and rivers.

Eventually we made it back to Queenstown, found a hostel and cooked ourselves a delicious meal of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. We checked out the town for the rest of the night. We tried our hands at gambling and Nick actually ended up winning $50 on blackjack. I just stuck to the slots and lost a whole $4 before I decided that I'm just not lucky enough to gamble.

The next morning, after breakfast and a walk around town, we got in the car and headed toward Dunedin, a town on the east coast of NZ. It was a long drive, but we wanted to get there in time to do a penguin tour. Dunedin is well-known for it's exotic wildlife with yellow-eyed penguins, blud penguins, seals, and a lot of birds. We arrived in Dunedin at 4:45, just in time to take the last yellow-eyed penguin tour. They drove us out to a beach where a colony of around 60 penguins live. We were informed that these penguins are endangered and that we had to walk through a series of tunnels and hide-aways in order to stay hidden. We were able to see a few penguins walking up the beach returning from a day of fishing and we saw a few others just hanging out around the beach. It was fun to see penguins in their actual habitat as opposed to just at a zoo.

We had trouble finding a hostel again that night (you'd think we would have learned by now that we should book early) and were forced to put three of us in one room and two in another. Tim, Justin and I were in a four-person room with a guy named James. He was a thirty-five year old New Zealander who was perfectly nice, but a little. . .um. . .interesting. He told us almost immediately that he was trying to get on the NZ version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He therefore quizzed us all about where we were from in the US, the capitals of our states, and any other interesting facts that could be used as a question on the show. He chatted to us for quite awhile before we were finally able to sneak away.

We were all starving, so we began searching frantically for a restaurant. We ended up finding a little hole-in-the-wall Japanese restaurant and had some delicious food. We were all so exhausted from our busy week that we just went straight to bed. The next morning we got up and ate breakfast at a little cafe called. . .drum roll please. . .the Excelsior Cafe! It reminded me of home and made me smile. We then drove our Vanette to the steepest street in the world (Baldwin Street) and Ben insisted that we try to drive up it. I was a little skeptical about Vanna White's ability to make it up the street (it was really, really steep), but he was sure that she would make it. Much to my surprise she made it up just fine and we survived the drive back down it also.

It was then time to hit the road and get back to Christchurch. We had to return Vanna White by 5 pm that day, so we got back to the city, returned the van and then found ourselves some dinner. We went to a Texas-inspired restaurant with huge servings of ribs and burgers and fries. The food was wonderful (but then again anything tastes wonderful when you have been living off of pb & j for a week) and we were all pretty content after our meal.

Justin and I were flying out at 6:30 am on Sunday and decided that it would be easiest to just stay up the whole night rather than sleeping for just a few hours. So, the five of us stayed out quite late, but the other three guys decided to go to bed because they had later flights. Justin and I just hung out in the lounge of the hostel watching movies and drinking coffee. By the time we got to the airport we were both pretty tired, but we had to wait to get through customs and security before we could sleep. We were also informed that you have to pay $25 to leave the country. We were a little outraged, but didn't have much of a choice.

We finally got on the plane around 6:20 and promptly fell asleep (neither of us actually remember taking off) and slept for a good two hours. We arrived in Sydney at 8 am (there's a time difference) and we quickly collected our baggage and jumped on the bus to take us back to Wollongong. We made it home around 10:30 and promptly went to the dining hall to get some breakfast. I had every intention of staying awake for most of the afternoon to do some much overdue homework, but after about 10 minutes of studying I fell asleep and didn't wake up for about 3 hours.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing trip and I am seriously considering living in New Zealand for half a year after I graduate. But we'll have to see what happens. . .

New Zealand: Part II

The suspended room we jumped from!


Ben, me and Tim on our way out to the bungy jump.


Tim and Justin eating Fergburgers (they're huge, aren't they?)


Justin and I posing by a Kiwi after our long bike ride.


A nice view after we rode up a particularly large hill.


Alright, I left off yesterday by telling you that we drove to Queenstown on Monday afternoon. The drive was quite long (about 4 hours of driving) and I learned on the drive that Justin and Tim were playing the "let's see how much we can annoy Hayley in New Zealand" game. So it was definitely a long drive. . .

We arrived in Queenstown kind of late (around 7) and had a little trouble finding a hostel because apparently Easter Monday is a national holiday in NZ. We finally tracked one down and we bought some groceries at a local supermarket. Luckily, Tim is a restaurant cook back at home, so he made us some delicious pasta and pizza. We checked out Queenstown for awhile after dinner and found that it was a very nice city. It was pretty small (only about 10,000 people) and the main source of income is tourism. Here's how my guidebook describes it: "[It's] surrounded by the soaring indigo heights of the Remarkables, crowned by Coronet Peak, and framed by the meandering coves of Lake Wakatipu". . . it really was quite stunning.

We woke up the next morning and quickly found a hostel for the next night so we wouldn't be in the same pickle. We feasted on peanut butter and jelly for lunch and dinner. . .which was our staple meal for most of the trip (I don't know if I'll be able to look at peanut butter again for at least a month). Nick and Ben decided to do a river rafting adventure trip and Tim wanted to just wander around the town for the day. Justin and I decided to rent some mountain bikes and check out some of the sights. We picked up our bikes around noonand started off on a pretty intense trail that had us on and off our bikes frequently because we either couldn't make it up a hill or we were too afraid to go down a hill. Justin ended up falling off his bike twice! But don't worry. . .we were wearing helmets. After that adventurous trail we decided to take a more scenic bike ride around Lake Wakatipu. We ended up biking for about 3.5 hours and were pretty bushed by the end of it.

We went to a really famous burger place for dinner- Fergburger. It's so popular that at pretty much any time during the day you will see a line all the way out the door. The burgers were absolutely massive and we all struggled to finish them. The boys thought they were absolutely amazing (I think some of them ate Fergburgers at least twice more while we were there). I didn't think they lived up to the hype though. . .so I opted for Subway the next time they all went to Fergburger.

We had a pretty relaxed night because we wanted to be well-rested for our bungy jump trip the next day. As we were planning our trip to NZ, I initially refused to bungy jump, but at some point during the planning the boys convinced me to do the third largest bungy jump in the world with them. . .I don't know what I was thinking. We caught a bus to the bungy jump site at 10:30 am on Wednesday morning and I was absolutely petrified. We had to take a cable car across a river to this little room that was suspended above the river by cables. The bungy jump was 134 meters and we were told that we would free-fall for 8 seconds!

Tim was the first in our group to jump and when he jumped I think I screamed louder than he did. All of the other boys went and I ended up being the last one to go. Tim, Nick, and Ben were sent back to land because only a few people can be in the suspended room at a time. I was so terrified as I approached the jumping-off point and I almost didn't do it. . .but Justin and the nice women who hooked me up convinced me. I don't know what made me do it, but I finally jumped and it was the craziest feeling in the world! I just fell. . .for a long time. When I finally stopped falling I was so relieved that all I could think was: "get me back on solid ground". As we took the cable car back to land, I couldn't stop shaking. I'm really glad I faced my fear and did it, but I don't think I will be doing it again anytime soon. I am going to post the video of the jump on facebook. . .so you can check it out if you'd like.

After bungy jumping we packed up our things and began driving to Milford Sound. I'll tell you about my adventures there at a later date!

New Zealand: Part 1

Very cold and wet on top of Fox Glacier.


Me and the boys before our hike up the glacier (L to R: Tim, Justin, Nick, Ben)


Franz Josef Glacier. . .You can see Tim and Justin in the foreground.


One of the views on our drive from Christchurch to the glaciers.


Me and Tim posing on top of a big rock.

Hi Everyone!

I have a lot of catching up to do. . .I don't think I can get all of New Zealand in one post, so here is the first of a few installments.

My traveling buddies for this New Zealand adventure were Ben (from Colorado), Nick (Ben's brother who is spending a few weeks traveling with Ben), Tim (from New Hampshire), and Justin (from Kentucky). I'm not sure how I got myself into a situation of traveling with all boys. . .but after 8 days of nothing but smelly socks, burping, and other uncivilized outbursts, I'm ready for some girl time.

We (Ben, Justin and I) left for New Zealand from the Sydney airport at around 3:30 on Saturday, April 11th. The flight went very smoothly and the plane was really nice. It wasn't very full, so Justin and I had a row to ourselves (and Ben had a row completely to himself) and we all had our own personal televisions (I watched Marley & Me. . .definitely not as good as the book). We landed in Christchurch (the south island of New Zealand) around 11:30 pm and got to our hostel a little bit later. Our friend Tim had gotten there earlier in the day and Nick had arrived the day before. Even though it was late, we decided to check out the town a little bit. The town was absolutely insane for how late it was. There were tons of young people out and about and it felt like the city was still very much awake. We found an Irish pub (for some reason we love finding Irish pubs) and sat down to listen to a cover band. We were all pretty beat though, so we headed back to the hostel pretty soon after.

The next day we woke up early and picked up our rental van. It was a big white van with 1 3-person bench in the back. The model of the van was a Vannette, which officially made our van a girl. I wanted to name the van Vanna White (clever, huh?), but the boys completely refused. They preferred to call it Ye Old Van (weird, huh?). So I continued to call it Vanna White throughout the whole trip and they called our little Vanette Ye Old Van (much to my dismay). We then grabbed a little breakfast at McDonald's (it was the only thing open seeing as it was Easter Sunday) and we started driving. Christchurch didn't have much to offer and we wanted to make it to the west coast by night fall.

Our friend Ben fearlessly drove Vanna White through the mountains (he's had lots of practice seeing as he's from Colorado) and did pretty well considering the driver sits on the right side of the car and they drive on the left side of the road. For most of our driving Ben drove, Nick sat in the front, and Tim, Justin and I crammed in the back. Tim gets car sick easily so he always sat in the middle, but he is also a pretty big guy so Justin and I spent more of our time squished up against the windows.

We had to cross Arthur's Pass (a road that goes directly through a large mountain chain) and the scenery was absolutely stunning. We stopped multiple times to take pictures. I literally felt like I was in a Lord of the Rings movie the entire time I was in NZ. It is quite possibly the most beautiful country I have ever seen (I posted some pictures above so you can see what I mean). We stopped at this really neat rock formation along the way and we did a little rock scrambling up some of the larger rocks.

We finally made it to the west coast a little before dusk and we decided to hike out the the Franz Josef Glacier (we were staying near two glaciers that night: Franz Josef and Fox). It was a short hike out to the glacier and it was absolutely amazing to get so close to something that I've only heard about. It was sliding down a mountain and we were able to see the glacier from a huge gorge-like valley surrounded by other mountains. The valley was covered in gray gravel deposits from the glacier and there was a glacier stream carving through it. . .we had heard we could drink the water, but none of us actually tried it. We took a few pictures and then headed to our hostel for the night. We were all starving by this point and it was pretty late, so we decided to eat at one of two restaurants they had in town-- a Texas-inspired roadhouse. We all devoured our burgers and then headed to bed.

On Monday we woke up early (well, early for college students) and got some food at the local convenience store. We were scheduled to do a 9:35 Fox Glacier Hike. The company we went through equipped us with rain gear and cramp-ons (spiky things for our shoes) and they put us all on a bus and drove us to the glacier. We did about an 1 1/2 hike up to the glacier through a rain forest (it was raining a lot. . .typical). Most of it was uphill and we climbed something like 700 steps. We got to drink some fresh glacier water (which was amazing and definitely better than the bottled water companies that claim to use glacier water) and our guide told us a little bit about the glacier. Apparently this glacier has been growing for the past couple years, which really surprised me seeing as how there is a lot of talk about global warming melting the glaciers.

It got really cold as we approached the glacier and we all stopped to put on more layers. Most of our clothes were already soaking from all of the rain, so it ended up being a cold hike on the glacier. We climbed up onto the glacier using steps that two guides had carved out with a pickaxes early that morning. It was absolutely amazing up there. It was a huge sheet of ice with caverns and holes and valleys. Some of the ice was blue because it was so compressed that it acted like a prism and absorbed all of the colors besides blue. It was amazing to see the valley that we had just hiked through and realize that the glacier we were standing on had carved the whole thing out. After about 45 minutes on the glacier, we hiked back down. Along the way our tour guide saw a rock slide a little ways ahead of us. As we got closer to the location, he told us we were to walk quickly past the sight and that he and another guide would monitor the hill and tell us if and when we would need to run. . .not exactly what you want to hear when you are walking by a hill with boulders the size of small cars. Luckily he didn't see any more rock slides and we all made it through unharmed.

When we got back from our hike we were all soaking wet, so we immediately took warm showers and put on dry clothes. I, naturally, was much slower at getting ready than the boys and they never let me forget it. Once I was finally done getting ready we decided to start driving to our next destination. . .Queenstown: The Adventure Capital of the World. Stayed tuned for some good stories!

My Marvelous Monday

So, every Monday I have an 8:30 am lecture and then I am done for the rest of the day. This particular Monday I intended to hole myself up in the library after class to finish some much needed work. However, when I arrived at my 8:30 chemistry lecture, one of my classmates and friends asked me if I'd like to head up to Royal National Park today with him. Hmm. . .fun Australian adventure or the library? Any guesses which one I picked?

My friend Celli (an Aussie) had also invited 3 Dubliners and a Coloradan. Two of these guys live in International House with me so we already knew each other. We hopped into Celli's car and started driving. He took us north of Wollongong through all of the adorable little suburbs. The suburbs sit right on the ocean and the beaches in these towns are absolutely beautiful. Celli told us that as we approach winter it is fairly common to see whales along these beaches because they are migrating. We didn't see any on Monday, but I am definitely going to check these beaches out again.

After a little driving we arrived in Royal National park. It was an absolutely gorgeous park with dense trees and the ocean coming in and out of view. Celli drove us through the park pointing out interesting things and stopping for us to take pictures. I had no idea that the area around Wollongong was so beautiful (called the Illawara region). At last we made it to our final destination-- a little cliff overlooking a lagoon which is "an area of shallow water separated from the sea by low sandy dunes", according to dictionary.com (do you like my use of references?). Celli informed us that we would be
Celli and me looking out at one of the suburbs

jumping off the cliff. (Sidenote: before you freak out Mom, the cliff wasn't too high, Celli had jumped there before, and we checked the depth of the water before we jumped.) I was pretty scared at first, but I finally worked up the nerve to do it. My friend Robyn (one of the Dubliners) held my hand as we jumped because I was a little nervous. But I really had no reason to be afraid because it was absolutely amazing! I jumped one more time and then we swam around in the lagoon for awhile (the calm water was a nice break from the rough ocean waves).

Celli then brought us back to his house in Austinmmer (one of the little suburbs of Wollongong) and we had a little bbq (yes, Aussies actually do have a LOT of bbqs). In Australia a bbq consists of sausages (pretty much like breakfast sausages) and bread (not buns). Australians believe that hotdogs should only be cooked over the stove and that sausages are meant for breakfast and bbqs. Although there
The lagoon.

was a lack of hotdogs, the bbq was lovely and we were able to see a variety of colorful birds eating from his birdfeeders. Seeing a rainbow colored parrot on these feeders is as common as seeing a crow in your backyard in the states. Celli wasn't too excited about them, but the rest of us grabbed our cameras and went crazy taking pictures.

I had to back in Wollongong by 3:30 for SCARF (an African refugee volunteer program). I am tutoring primary school kids and this was my first session. We jumped on the train (nearly missing it!) and I met my friend Lydia to walk to the SCARF office. We worked with 2 brothers and a sister for an hour and it was a lot of fun. The kids are recent immigrants from Africa and are therefore far behind their classmates. They were really sweet kids and we will be working with them each week.


One of the colorful parrots.

**Sorry that the labels for the pictures are all out-of-whack. I'm not sure how to do this quite yet. The italicized words describe the pictures for those of you who are confused. . .

I'm a little bit country. . .

My "parents" for the weekend on top of Bushranger's Hill
Darren and I on top of one of the many large rocks on their property
Rolling some sushi!!

Petting Ume with Io and Darren.
Hello Folks,

I just arrived back in Wollongong from a very pleasant weekend in the country. My study abroad group sent us on a country life weekend in a little town about 4 hours west called Bathurst. We left Friday afternoon, drove for a few hours and then met up with our host families. I ended up staying with two guys from my study abroad group with the sweetest family ever. The parents were youngish (well, at least young in spirit) and they had one 18 year old son. They welcomed us that night with a delicious Thai meal (the mom was a phenomenal cook) and we all just sat around and chatted for most of the evening. David and Kerry (the parents) have traveled all over the world and had some very interesting stories to tell. They were very worldly and told us all about their adventures.

They also had the most beautiful house. They converted their old sheering shed into their living room/kitchen area. It still had a tin roof and they left a lot of the sheering equipment inside of it. It had one huge window that looked over the rolling country hills of Bathurst.

We finally hit the hay around midnight and I had one of the most restful sleeps I've had since being in Australia. The next morning we woke up and they took us for a hike around their farmland and their neighbor's. It was a beautiful hike, but the most amazing thing was that there were kangaroos everywhere! Every 20 minutes or so we would come across a small herd of them (5-10); they would sit and watch us for awhile and then they would hop away. I felt like I was in some sort of fantasy world. . .it was unbelievable. We also searched for koalas, but were unable to find any up in the eucalyptus trees. Kerry and David have a pet Emu (name Ume) and were able to pet him and take some pictures.

After our hike we headed off to Morgan's (the son) school to watch him play rugby. It was the first live rugby game I've seen and it was just as violent as I imagined. Just picture football without the pads. . .scary. His team ended up winning and I think I actually started to understand the game.

We headed home for a late lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon cooking. Kerry taught us how to make sushi and we also made some appetizers for dinner that night (bruschetta and Indian chicken). I had never made sushi before, but it was actually quite easy (Kelsey- think spring rolls only easier and tastier).

For dinner we went to their neighbor's farm who were also hosting students. We ate our delicious appetizers and they made us homemade pizza, which was delicious. We had another relaxing evening talking to the students and the children of our host families.

Sunday morning we went for another early morning hike. This one was to the top of the Bushranger's hill (so named because a gang of Bushrangers used to hide out there) and we got to see Bathurst and the surrounding areas from a new perspective. The view was absolutely stunning and it made me think that country life might not be so bad afterall. We had to catch the bus at noon, so we went home to pack up. Before dropping us off they took us to the famous car racing track in town and we also stopped by a motocross race.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. I forgot how much I missed the comforts of home. Of course this family could never replace my family, but it was still nice to have a home for a weekend.

I just have one more week of class before Easter break when I head off to New Zealand!

Cheers!

Kiama and the Lower Gong

This past week was fairly uneventful with a few days of class and then a few rainy days which kept us from the beach. I gave my presentation on Wednesday and it went off without any huge guffaws. I did have one embarrassing moment this week though. . .I had a tutorial at 10:30 am on Wednesday morning. This tutorial has about 20 other students in it and the Tutor for the course is a fairly intimadating woman from Eastern Europe. I arrived to the class at exactly 10:30 and opened the door to go in. As I walked in though, the entire class turned to look at me and gave me (what I thought were) kind of judgmental leers. It almost felt like they had just finished talking about how tardiness was unacceptable and all tardy people should be ostracized (although, I must point out that I was NOT late). Anyway, I got a little flustered and wasn't thinking clearly and I ended up just turning around and leaving. . .Now this isn't the end of the world because attendance isn't compulsory and I had already turned in my assignment for the day electronically. But it is still quite embarrassing because everyone in that room knew that I was supposed to be in that class and they all witnessed me come in and then just turn around and leave again. I'm not sure how I will show my face in that class next week. . .

That night (Wednesday) some friends and I played trivia at our local pub. It was a team effort, but lots of the questions required an intimate knowledge of Australia. . .seeing as we only had one Aussie with us, we did not fair too well. It was still a very enjoyable night though.

Thursday nights we have an event each week at International House called "Global Visions". We usually have speakers or discussions about current global issues. This week some different members of I-House talked about their home countries and the current issues. We heard about Hong Kong and Ireland and I learned lots of things that I did not know. For example, did you know that until 11 years ago Hong Kong was controlled by the British? China reacquired Hong Kong in 1997 (I think) and now it is slowly being blended back into China, but they will maintain quite a bit of sovereignty for another 40 years.

Today (Saturday) it was time for another adventure. Seven friends and I jumped on a 10:23 am train to Kiama, a small town about an hour south of Wollongong. Kiama has multiple beaches that are absolutely gorgeous. We saw a lot of surfers out there, so we will probably head back another weekend with our surfboards. In Kiama, they have a big produce market the last Saturday of every month. Once we arrived we checked out the market, which was quaint, but full of good free samples. Kiama is also well-known for its "blow-hole". The blow-hole is a hole in a large rock formation along the ocean that erupts with water when large waves hit the rock. It almost looked like a geyser. We spent some time taking pictures of the blow-hole and then did a little rock scrambling on some of the cliffs.

After walking around the town for a little longer we hopped on the train again and headed south another 15 minutes to Gerringong. Gerringong is a tiny, tiny town, but we wanted to check it out because we heard it had a very nice winery. Once we arrived in Gerringong, we asked for directions and found that the winery was at the top of a 400 meter long hill. So, we began hiking. We made it up to the top and did some free wine tasting. . .they make all of their wines right on site. We all felt very classy and cultured as we sipped on our wines and pretended to know what we were doing. It was around 3 pm by the time we were done and we decided we wanted to catch the 3:08 train back to Wollongong because the next train did not come in until 5:08. We began hustling back down the hill and right as we entered the town again, the train pulled up. At this point we were at least 100 m away from the platform and so we began sprinting-- backpacks, purses, flip-flops and all. Right as we arrived at the platform the train began to pull away. . .we were all defeated and upset, but luckily the conductor saw us and stopped the train for us. I forgot to mention that only 5 of us had sprinted to the train-- the other 3 were lolly-gagging aways behind us. So, the 5 of us just hopped on the train and it left without them! The 3 boys we left behind were convinced that we would all miss the train, so they just didn't even try. It's 5:04 right now, so they will be getting on the train in just a few minutes. . .Hopefully they enjoyed their afternoon in Gerringong.

One more thing. . .Gerringong is sometimes referred to as the "Lower Gong" making Wollongong the "Upper Gong". . .only in Australia.

Ready, AIME, Fire

This weekend we took a break from grand adventures and hung around good ol' Wollongong. We spent some time at the beach, tried to study, and celebrated a friend's birthday. On Sunday I went to an all-day training session for a mentoring program called AIME (Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience). Australia has a very ancient indigenous population which is said to be the oldest cultural group in the world. These aboriginals face a lot of the same problems that Native Americans face in the US. They are lagging far behind other Australians in regards to health, education, and income. Although they only make up around 2% of the population, they account for about 20% of incacerated people. The reasons for these short-fallings are a source of much debate and disagreement. However, what is indisputable is that indigenous students need help so that they can get the education they need to be successful. That's where AIME comes in. It's a program in which Uni students volunteer to mentor, tutor, and build relationships with indigenous middle and high school students. I thought it seemed like a valuable program and a good way to spend 1 hour a week, so I signed up. I was disappointed to learn that the program doesn't start until May 1st and therefore I won't be able to spend much time tutoring, but I am still very excited for the program.

After the 6 hour training session I was pretty burned out, but it was one of my good friend's. . .so I headed to the grocery store to buy some cake. We went to a local Thai restaurant for dinner (there are about 1 million Thai restaurants within a 2 mile radius of our dorm) called Coconut Thai. I ordered Tofu Pad Thai and it was delicious. Lots of my friends ordered their meals with kangaroo. . .I tried a little bit and it actually wasn't that bad! People described it as a "gamey" meat similar to elk. It is quite strange because the Australians celebrate their native animals, like kangaroos and emus, but they also eat them. However, my Aussie friends inform me that it's really only tourists who actually eat things like kangaroo. After a very satisfying dinner we went to one of the local pubs and listened to the live band that was performing there. All in all, it was a very nice evening.

Today the sun is shining, but I have to catch up on some of the homework that I put off all weekend. I have my first presentation this week, which I would be freaking out about back home, but presentations here are pretty laid back. I'm not too worried about it, but I still need to do some work on it!

I hope all is well and that everyone is enjoying the milder weather!

Bumps, bruises, and burials

Hello my cold-weather friends,

This morning all of the Aussies I encountered claimed that it was "cold" outside. I had trouble comprehending this because the sun was shining and it was still warm enough to be comfortable in shorts. A guy in one of my classes was actually wearing a scarf! I would like to see them try and survive Minnesota in March.

Course work is beginning to pick up and I am really enjoying the history course I am taking about the post-Cold War period. However, it is difficult to force myself to study when the sun is shining and the beach is only a 10-minute walk away.

I have been doing a little surfing everyday since we bought our board. I hate to admit it, but I am actually getting worse! Each time I get out of the water I have a new bruise or scratch to add to my already battered body. But I am still absolutely loving it! It's such a great way to get out and enjoy the ocean and every once in a while when I am able to stand for a second or two-- it's brilliant. I am going to keep chugging along because I definitely cannot get any worse at this point. . .

On Saturday, I had a brief lapse in judgment and I agreed to allow 3 of my guy friends bury me in the sand. I was completely covered head to toe and was incapable of moving (luckily I could still breathe!). After they had all had their fun and had taken numerous incriminating pictures. . .they forced me to crawl out myself (typical boys)! It took me a good five minutes to get my arms unburied and then I had to dig my body out as well. They all stood around and had a good laugh as I emerged from the sand covered head to toe in a fine layer of sand. . .needless to say I have learned my lesson!

Today we decided to check out one of the local thrift shops where it was rumored that there were $5 wet suits. We had a gay-old time trying to squeeze our bodies into impossibly small wet suits, but almost all of us managed to find one that actually fit. I walked away with a beautiful red and blue wet suit (circa 1980) for only $8. I am confident that I will be the chicest surfer at the beach. . .

This weekend some friends and I are contemplating a trip down south. We want to check out some of the towns south of Wollongong since we have only been north at this point. There is a nice little town called Batemans Bay where we might actually be able to see kangaroos and other native animals. . .I'm sure I will have many stories to tell if we actually make it down there!

Riding the Waves

I made a command decision yesterday. I decided that I wanted to get a surfboard, so my friend and I went on a little shopping adventure today. We were able to find a relatively cheap, used surfboard at a local shop. The shop is willing to buy the board back at the end of the semester for half-price. Two of my friends and I are sharing the board which makes the board a very cheap, but hopefully fun, investment.

I tried to surf a little bit today and actually had some success. The waves, however, were not very good and I spent a lot of time trying to hold onto my board and stay standing. I am pretty excited to have a new goal to accomplish while down here. Hopefully I will be a pro by the time I head home in July!

I also bought a plane ticket to New Zealand yesterday, which is where I will be spending my spring break. I will be flying into Christchurch with 2 or 3 friends and from there we will see some glaciers, bungee jump (them, not me!) and try to see as much of the country as possible. I have heard the New Zealand is absolutely beautiful, so I am really looking forward to this trip.

One last thing. . .I signed up to run a half-marathon in May. One of my friends here is a cross-country runner and asked me to run the race with him (I made sure he knew that I would be miles behind him the whole race). It will be my first half-marathon, so I am trying to get myself in shape to avoid making a complete fool out of myself!

The Blue Mountains

I just returned from a fun-filled weekend of hiking in the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are about 2 hours west of Sydney and about a 4 hour trip for us by train. Nine of us boarded the train in North Wollongong on Friday afternoon and headed to a little town called Blackheath. We arrived around 8:30 pm and spent a little time searching for our cabin. For our first night we had a 4-bedroom cabin with a large living area. The town of Blackheath is tiny and contains only a few restaurants, 2 pubs, and a grocery store with 3 aisles. After ordering some pizza and settling into our cabin, we spent the rest of the night relaxing at one of the local pubs.

The next day we set out on our first adventure. We caught a train to Katoomba, a small town about 15 minutes away. Many of the "touristy" parts of the Blue Mountains are located in Katoomba. We were able to see the Three Sisters which is a pretty neat rock formation. I was looking forward to seeing this all week because I wanted to take a family picture :) Unfortunately, the rocks were not quite as beautiful or chatty as my sisters.

We hiked down a massive stair case after seeing the 3 sisters and by the time we got to the bottom I was shaking. The stairs went right down the mountain and were a little frightening (but I'm glad we were going down and not up). Once we made it to the bottom we hiked a few miles to the world's steepest incline railway in the world. It was basically a backwards roller coaster. We loaded into cars and then were pulled backwards up the mountain. This was also a little terrifying because we were not strapped in. . .but the ride was definitely worth it.

We called it a day after that and grabbed dinner in a small cafe in Katoomba.

Sunday morning we decided to do some real hiking, since we took it pretty easy the day before. We settled on a 3-4 hour hike that would take us through the Grand Canyon (seriously, that's what it was called). It was probably the most beautiful hike I have ever been on. We hiked down into the canyon and were surrounded with a canopy of trees, ferns, and bushes. Most of the hike took us right alongside the tiny stream that carved out the canyon. We saw waterfalls and caves and heard a lot of birds. The second half of the hike consisted of climbing out of the canyon, which is no easy task. I tried to take a lot of pictures of the hike, but my photography skills did not do it justice :) We think we hiked at least 10 km on Sunday, so most of us are sore today!

I think I have caught the travel bug because I already want to start planning my next trip! Autumn break is coming up quickly and I will be heading to New Zealand with some friends. I hope you are all doing well. . .feel free to email me (hoconnel@gustavus.edu) or skype me!