Do You Come From a Land Down Under?

Adventures in Fiji

2007-11-22T00:41:00.000+11:00

Bula from my final few hours in Fiji! I am currently at the Nadi Airport, awaiting boarding for my flight to LAX, so I figured, what better time to document my final excursion before heading back to the northern hemisphere? None. No better time. So, on with it we go.

I arrived in Fiji to a quartet of ukulele playing, singing Fijians. A brilliant way to start off the trip, if you ask me. I met up with my Awesome Adventures welcome crew, and was soon escorted to a mini-bus where I would be traveling to the Nadi Bay Hotel for the evening’s stay. Now, don’t let the name fool you… the majority of the hostels I stayed in were much better than this place. There was no air conditioner. Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar… IT’S REALLY BLEEPING HOT IN FIJI. This, naturally, did not bode well for my sleeping habits. I tossed and turned and tried every trick in the book and by some small miracle fell asleep after like three hours of trying. Naturally, this offset my entire sleep schedule pattern thing, which lead me to miss my first ferry the next morning. Off to a great start, yet again. But luckily there was an afternoon boat going out to the island, so I was able to catch that after having some brekky and purchasing some much-needed bug spray. Another note to anyone who may go to Fiji… the mozzys are out of control. You need to coat yourself head to toe every few hours if you want to survive. And even then, you get bitten. UGH. Such is life in the tropics. But back to the fun stuff.

I boarded the completely badass yellow Awesome Adventures boat sometime around noon, which took me out to South Sea Island. Because, when you go to Fiji, you don’t stay on the mainland. Granted, the mainland is quite nice, but the outer islands take the cake. It was kindof cloudy, and ended up raining on us as we transferred from the boat to the island. After arriving on the island where I would spend the day/night, I had a bit of lunch, then, as I always do in new places, took to exploring. I was done within ten minutes. Not because of lack of things to do… but because you could walk around the perimeter of the island in, oh, seven minutes? Leaving three to explore the inner parts. It was that small… which I found to be immensely awesome, not to mention the entertainment factor of being able to stand in the middle of the island, look to the left and see water, then look to the right and see another coast. Brilliant.

I soon gave in to the idea that the skies would clear, and opted to grab some free snorkel gear and check out the local aquatic life. Snorkeling is so fun. I saw some pretty sweet stuff, and by the time I grew tired of breathing out my mouth, the skies had cleared. This resulted in some hammocking, but mostly lounging on the beach and reading. Dinner was the next main event, and after dinner, I grabbed a shower (no hot water… just rain water. I love it!) and retreated back to the beach to do a little nighttime reading. It was an early night, and although there wasn’t an air conditioner in the 3o person dorm I was sharing, it was a-ok, cause we got an awesome sea breeze. There’s something about falling asleep to the sound of the ocean that is immensely soothing. And double the bonus points for the fact that there were hardly any bugs on South Sea.

The next morning started early, as I awoke at seven to a beating drum… their way of waking everyone up for brekky. Again, brilliant. I ate my morning meal with my toes in the sand, then packed up my bags and continued my beach loungings on what had emerged as a beautiful day. Took some pictures, and come nine, it was time to depart South Sea for my cruise on the I-Know-Why-They-Call-It-The Sea Spray. We hopped a big motorized catamaran to the boat, hopped on, and were immediately greeted with a glass of champagne. Soon we were off and cruising, and as with my trip in the Whitsundays, I was loving every second of being on the pristine blue water. Our first stop was an island that housed a traditional Fijian village. We hopped the dingy onto shore and went about wandering through the village, exploring the primary school, village, and seeing lots of Fijians greeting us with ‘Bula!’ as we walked along. The village was incredible to see… all open windows, hardly any electricity… a real change to the cushy life I’m used to as an American. But with the most gorgeous views you could ever imagine as their backyard. Give and take, I suppose. After our village tour concluded and I had acquired sufficient bug bites to mark the occasion, we jetted back to the I-Know-Why-They-Call-It-The Sea Spray, where we were given lunch. This ended up being quite comedic, seeing as the captain kept us sailing, actually taking us into somewhat rough waters as we were trying to eat. Naturally, this resulted in lots of flying food and falling people. I did pretty well for myself, only losing a piece of bread along the way.

Our second stop was the island where they filmed the movie Castaway. It was definitely one of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen. Being the adventurer/pirate I am, I opted to jump off the side of the boat once we’d anchored and swim to shore, in true pretend-to-be-a-castaway form. One of the ladies on the boat was kind enough to take my picture pretending to be stranded on the island (which wasn’t altogether convincing, seeing as I had about five people milling around right near me). I only minorly regretted this later, as it prevented me from photographing the glorious scenery on the island. Either way, I seriously doubt the pictures would’ve done it justice. I went about wandering parts of the island from there, doing everything from attempting to crack my own coconut (I succeeded, but sadly, it hadn’t ripened yet. At least good to know I could survive if stranded on an island.) to swimming in the bath-like waters. But the highlight of my stay on the Castaway island had to be climbing the mountain. Now, granted, I didn’t climb the whole thing, but I did make it to just above the treetops, which is a pretty decent climb, considering I had no harness and no shoes. The view was incredible, and it made me feel like quite an adventurer. I was into it. After I ever-so-carefully descended from the mountain, we only had a bit of time left until reboarding the boat. And once we did, well, therein comes the whole ‘I know why they call it the’ part of the Sea Spray. I sat at the bow of the boat, still wet from my swim, and the captain once again took us onto quite rough seas. And by quite rough, I mean I got pummeled by sea spray about fifty times. Not a ha-ha-nice-little-splash sort of deal, either. A full-on Canyon River Rapids soaking. Which, of course, I loved, and the rest of the boat loved as well. Because it’s always fun seeing other people get slammed with a wall of water. Don’t lie, you know you’d have loved to see it. From there, the I-Know-Why-They-Call-It-The Sea Spray took us back to meet the high-speed catamaran, which took most of us on a long and chilly venture back to Denarau Marina. Another short bus ride brought me to my home for the past two days, the Aquarius Hotel. With previous arrangements in mind, I wasn’t sure what to think of my next two nights in Fiji, but they ended up being spectacular. Aquarius had the ever-elusive air conditioning, as well as SEVEN hammocks, a pool, a beach, a plasma screen tv, an affordable restaurant, free breakfast for backpackers, and free wireless internet! Didn’t do much the first night there, really just got a bite to eat and went to sleep after a long day. But the next two days were pretty damn glorious, if I do say so myself.

Yesterday I woke up around nine, redeemed my free brekky in the form of three pancakes (whoo!), and went about spending some quality time in the hammock. Ohh, do I love hammocks. I bounced between there and the pool a few times, reading The Toyminator along the way, until my one remaining roommate, Jemma, asked me if I wanted to go into town. Of course! So, we hopped one of the insanely awesome circa 196o’s buses with no windows into town and went about exploring/souvenir shopping. I picked up two more packs of Tim Tam’s, as well as a few little things at the market we came upon. Definitely a good way to spend the afternoon. We grabbed some lunch at a little café, then after attempting to board the wrong bus, found our way onto our purple bus and proceeded to go off-roading on the beach with a crew of Fijian school kids. Brilliant. After getting back to Aquarius, I got back into my rotation of swimming and hammocking until the sunset. Jemma and I grabbed dinner with our two new roomies, and that was about it for the evening’s events. That’s the thing about going to tropical places like Fiji… it’s lovely during the day, but come nighttime, there’s nothing to do. So after a hard day of relaxation, you just end up going to sleep early. Spot on.

Which brings us to today. Today I worked incredibly hard on lying in the hammock, occasionally jumping into the pool to cool off. But really, just lying in the hammock. It was grand. I know it’s going to be a biiig reality check when I get back to the States and it’s cold and rainy, but hey, at least I’ll still have my tan. And now, here I am, at Nadi airport, a few minutes away from boarding my ten-ish hour flight back to the States. Here’s to hoping the travel goes smoothly and the weather back in Philly isn’t too formidable. So until next time… it’s been an amazing five months, and I’ll see you all soon!

+K+

Epic.

2007-11-18T21:28:00.000+11:00

That’s the only word I can possibly fathom to come up with how my last few days in Australia went down. Just… epic.

Because in the time I spent in b-e-a-utiful south Queensland, I occupied myself with two main elements on my list of life goals and aspirations. Because last Wednesday, I jumped out of a plane from 14,ooo feet. And the day after, I visited the Australia Zoo for the first annual Steve Irwin Day. Seriously though? My life rules. The only downside to all this is that I am no longer in my beloved Land Down Under… alas, I’m now in Fiji. But before we move onto that chapter, let’s take a look at the ridiculously amazing/borderlining on things I always wished to do but never actually thought would manifest… stuff. Sure.

Wednesday started off on the earlier side, not that I’m complaining. I hopped the Brisbane to Byron Express Bus a little after eight, snacked on my Macca’s yogurt parfait thing, and was back in Noosa before I knew it. Arrived at Skydive Byron Bay in a little under two hours, no dramas. As I’m walking up to the place, I see two people parachuting down, and think to myself ‘Self? This is gonna be awesome.’ I was right. After filling out the obligatory I-Won’t-Sue-If-I-Become-A-Cripple paperwork, I only waited around for about five minutes before I was suited up in my sehsly hawt parachuting pants. They were aqua green… went well with my lime green shirt. Along with four other kids, I was given a debriefing on Jumping Out of a Plane 1o1. Basically, all you need to know is you cross your arms, roll out the side door, keep your head and your legs back, and when your shoulder is tapped, go into the stereotypical skydiving Jesus position. Sweet, right? Right. So, next step is I’m introduced to the guy who will be keeping me alive, Damo. We chat for a bit, and in no time I’m on the plane, going 14,ooo feet up. Yikes. I thought we were pretty high up at one point, but we weren’t even halfway there. It’s a looong way up, and the ride up seems excruciatingly long… comparable to a death row inmate’s walk to the electric chair. So, finally we reach our ideal height (appx. 3 miles in the sky), and they open the side door. This is about the time I begin my mantra of (pardon my French) “Oh shit. Oh shit.” Yeah, that was about all I could muster at the time. The first few people flew out the side door, and the picture the photographer got of me as I was told it was my turn is well worth the $119 I spent on the picture package. It’s completely awesome. So, my heart’s racing (it even is a bit now, just thinking about it), adrenaline pumping, and my legs are dangling fourteen thousand feet over Byron Bay.

And then, just like that… my heart’s in my throat and I’m freefalling.

All I could do was scream. It was one of those very few moments in life that your brain just shuts off, and its pure, raw experience. I’ve never felt anything like it before. So, there I am, falling at god knows what rate, screaming my head off, but smiling amidst it all. And honestly, the only fleeting thought I had was that scene at the end of Dr. Strangelove where Slim Pickins rides the bomb. So after seventy seconds of what is arguably one of the greatest experiences of my life, Damo opens the chute and it’s just like we’re parasailing. He lets me steer for a bit, we do a few spins and turns. The deafening rush of wind dies down, and I can enjoy the gorgeous view of Byron Bay. We float around a bit, and come up on our landing quicker than I thought we might. We land not on our feet, but sitting down, and easy as that, I’ve successfully skydived. Amazing. The rush lasts all day, too. Like, you’ll just be sitting there, and then you think to yourself, ‘Hey, a few hours ago, I jumped out of a plane. AWESOME!’ It’s amazing, an experience unlike any other, and I highly suggest you take it up if you’re ever given the opportunity.

After coming down from the initial high, I stuck around the skydive place to get my pictures. I think there are about fifty of them, and they’re hilarious and amazing and you can bet they’ll be on facebook as soon as I don’t have to play for internet anymore. The skydive dudes took me and a few of the other kids into town and dropped us off. I wandered around a bit, and ended up getting a pretty awesome quesadilla and nachos at an Australian Mexican shop. Spot on. After that, I opted to get changed and head down to the beach for a bit. Lounged in the sun, went in the water for a bit (it still floors me that it’s November and I’m in total summer mode), and generally relaxed. Spent about two and a half hours on the beach, then went back for another wander about Byron, got a popsicle and did some reading. The day flew… I was back on the Brisbane to Byron shuttle before I could even comprehend that I’d spent the day there. The ride back was a bit long, but such is life. When I got back, I grabbed a quick shower and met up with Rach and Robin for some dinner and [H]ouse action. We ate at Robin’s hostel’s place, and although there wasn’t any tea involved, it was great to watch [H] with those kids again. I know I’m gonna miss them when I sit down to watch at home. It had been a long day, and I had another ridiculous day to look forward to the next day, so I went to bed pretty much right after [H]ouse.

Thursday 15 November 2oo7 will, much like its counterpart, 25 September 2oo7, will forever remain engrained as one of the greatest days of my life. I woke up around seven (we were leaving an hour earlier to make all the festivities), and was outside waiting ever-so impatiently for the Croc Connections bus to pick me up not long after. The Pilgrimage started all over again just after eight, and aside from the fact that I was alone, was pretty similar. Although I was a bit disappointed that Chris didn’t remember me, the fact remains that I was on my way to the Australia Zoo for the second time in as many months, and I couldn’t hold back my grin.

Contrary to last time, I actually remember entering the Zoo this time around. I was first in line off the bus, natch, and happily received my free crocodile-shaped donut and commemorative Steve Irwin Day map at the gate. Thanks to Chris’s suggestions, I knew to stay put at the front of the Zoo for the unveiling of a new statue, and probable appearances by Terri and Bindi. I got front row real estate right at the edge of the green (not red) carpet leading to the covered statue. After what seemed like forever (although I did enjoy listening to the Khaki Choir), the announcer dude asked the crowd to well come NOT ONLY Terri and Bindi, but ALSO Bob, Bob Sr., and Wes!!! Yeah, you can bet I was peeing myself as they walked no more than a three feet from me, waving to the crowd and stopping to pet the animals that were on display. Pictures aplenty. They walked up to the statue, and Terri said a few words about how grateful she was that there were so many people there for the first annual Steve day. Bindi said the same thing, and they unveiled the statue (which actually doesn’t look like any of them, except for Sui and maybe Bindi… I’m wondering why it wasn’t just of Steve? But whatever.) and wished everyone a great day at the Zoo. After the ‘official’ kick-off of the first annual Steve Irwin Day wrapped up, I made a bee-line to the Crocoseum (a return to the Mecca! Ah yes.) and got primo seating for the upcoming show. Second row, biyotch! Yeah, sometimes it pays to be by yourself. Anywho, the place was chock-a-block full of people. Pretty much every seat was filled. The Khaki Choir came out and sang again, and I almost cried when they played True Blue, because they even noted (pssh… like I didn’t know already) the fact that last time it was played there was Steve’s memorial. But, I promised myself I would not cry, because it was a day to celebrate Steve’s life, and so I had to be happy… damnit. And happy I was.

So, from there, announcer guy introduces Terri, Bindi and the Crocmen on the stage above the Crocoseum and they were presented with an award for Bindi’s CD and DVD being ridiculously popular and the like. She’s the youngest ever to be nominated for an ARIA, sweet. They performed after the award business… two songs, one which was a new rap song, and the other, which broke my heart and almost made me cry AGAIN. Yeah, she sang the song. The “He Was Just Plain Dad to Me” song. Ruin me already, Bindi! From thereon out, though, the day was all smiles. They started off the regular Crocoseum show, with the snakes out first, followed by the birds. It was just as good the second time around… the tricks the birds do are amazing. After the first two animal parts, we turned to the stage again for a singing performance by Olivia Newton-John. Hilariously random. She was pretty good, but I just found it extremely entertaining that she was even there. Apparently she’s a pretty good friend of Terri’s? Sure. So that was that

But what took the cake for the day was, again, the croc feeding demonstration. Because after Sandra Dee hopped off the stage, instead of returning to the couple who was hosting the rest of the show, out come TERRI AND WES!!! YES!!!!! I was insanely excited about this, especially seeing I was in the second row. Umm, yeah, so they brought out Murry and did all sorts of feeding demos and it was just so amazing to see Steve’s protégés do the show. It’s the closest I’ll ever come to seeing the man himself feed a croc, and I am perfectly okay with that. It was, as everything else I’ve written has been… epic. They did a few other things that weren’t a part of the show last time, too, which was equally cool. Wes had Murry death rolling at one point. Made for some pretty excellent pictorials.

So yeah, Terri and Wes hosting the Croc Show… I’m glad I didn’t fulfill my prophecy of dying after my first Australia Zoo visit, because it was deeefinitley worth living for this one. And all in the name of Steve Irwin Day. Amazing. After the show was over, I stuck around for a bit because announcer guy falsely advertised an opportunity to get a picture with the whole crew. Yeah, not so much. By the by, the media attention yesterday got? Also epic. So, from there, I went about wandering and exploring the further Steve Irwin Day activities. There was heaps of stuff there. I filled out this khaki shirt about how I’m going to be a Wildlife Warrior. Yes, I am well aware that when it comes to the Australia Zoo and the Crocodile Hunter’s legacy, I am approximately eight years old. Such is life. From there, I made my way around the Zoo again, revisiting the koalas and Tazzy devils and, of course, the crocs.

But when I made it back to the Crocoseum’s vicinity, I did a bit of a double take. There, standing by the photo area, just chatting with some random, was the legend… my hero’s hero, Bob Irwin Sr. I was hesitant at first… I didn’t want to bother him. But I lingered and did what I do best (covertly stalking), and when I saw him chatting with a kid with a camera, I figured I owed it to myself and my obsessive ways to talk to Bob. I mustered up the courage to approach him just as the kid was leaving, and I shook his hand, introduced myself, and thanked him for everything he’d done for conservation. I told him his son was my hero, I was a huge fan of him and Steve, and it was an honor to be at the Zoo on such a special day. He thanked me for my support, and seemed genuinely pleased and grateful for my words. I got my picture with him, and we both went on our separate ways.

Talk. About. Epic.

Being able to talk to Steve’s dad, the guy who he regarded as his own hero and legend, the bloke who started what is now the Australia Zoo, and thank him for all the work he and his son have done was so redeeming on a level I never thought I’d be able to achieve. After Steve died, I thought that was it, the jig was up, and I’d never be able to legitimately express my feelings of gratitude to him for everything he’d done for me and the world. But talking to Bob, even though it was just for a minute or two, gave me the feeling that I had actually achieved that. That, even though he will probably never remember me, I was able to thank him for his and his son’s work. That’s something I never thought I’d be able to genuinely feel. Again, all in the name of Steve Irwin Day.

After meeting Bob, I continued about my wanderings, this time with an even more unshakable smile plastered on my face. Somewhere between the wombats and the roos, I found Robin, who ended up on the other Croc Connections bus. We walked around for a while, finding Olivia Newton-John holding a lizard (hah), and visited various other animals. We ended up back in the Crocoseum (I couldn’t tear myself away from this place) to catch the second half of the afternoon show, and get good seats for the Jimmy Barnes concert. I’m telling you, the animal shows don’t get old. They’re awesome every time you watch. Graham was the afternoon’s croc, naughty as ever. Shortly after the show wrapped up, Jimmy Barnes came up. Apparently he’s an Aussie rock legend, but to me, he sounded irish when he spoke. Robin and I stuck around for the first few songs, then I suggested we explore more of the Zoo, seeing as I hadn’t made it to the ellies or the tigers yet. During our trek, we came across yet another croc demo, this time actually in Acco’s pen. Brilliant!! Yes, for those of you keeping tally, this is croc demo number three on the day for this kid. Seeing Acco move about like that was insanely awesome… he’s huuuuge. Sixteen feet of saltie anger. Love it, love it. The show ended within a few minutes of us arriving, and so we went on our way to South East Asia, where I (again) marveled at the spectacle that is the ellie enclosure and covertly swiped one of the many Steve Irwin Day posters hanging around the Bengals. After wandering around there a bit, Robin had to get back on her bus, so she and I parted ways and I made my way back to the Crocoseum to take it all in one last time. I wrote a quick journal entry, then went about purchasing Erin her Steveo badge and sadly departed the Australia Zoo, marking the end of my Steve Irwin Day adventures.

And what a glorious day it was, too. I know I enjoyed myself, what, with meeting my hero’s hero, seeing every member of his immediate family, and just being at the Zoo on the first annual Steve Irwin Day… a day that can never be repeated. Amazing. The bus ride back was a bit long, but at that point, I didn’t care. I met up with Rach after our return, and we went out on the town for one last celebratory piece of cake. It was overpriced, but quite tasty, and there was ice cream involved, so I’m not complaining. All in all, an absolutely fabulous way to spend my last full day in Australia. Kindof ironic, in the sense that I spent it at the one place that motivated me to head Down Under to begin with. I like it.

Things have come and gone since then, and I am now in Fiji, but this entry is beyond epic in both length and content, so I’ll save Fiji adventures for a later update, probably whence I return to the States. So thanks for keeping up to date, blog readers… I appreciate it. And having culminated my experiences in Australia, I must say, it’s been one hell of a ride. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed having it all happen. So until further notice… get the turkey ready, I’ll see you when I’m back from Fiji!

+K+

Ahoy from blogland!

2007-11-13T22:14:00.000+11:00

And a hearty g’day from Brizzy, the second stop on the Farewell Tour! I must say, things have gone swimmingly (pun mildly intended) since my last update from the seventh rung of traveler’s hell. I can account this mostly to the fact that I spent three full days sailing the Whitsunday Islands, but you know how it goes. Allow me to elaborate.

Saturday morning marked the beginning of my three days of buccaneering. Woke up on the earlier side, packed my bags, and headed down to the travel place to drop off my suitcase. Made my way back to Koalas from there, picked up the rest of my gear, czeched out, and wandered down to the marina. I ended up getting there about a half hour early… after previous travels, I’ve now become overly wary about when I’m due to be somewhere… and spent my time at the bottleshop picking up a cheap bottle of coconut rum (hey, it was a pirate cruise) and eagerly awaiting boarding the ship. We were met by the captain sometime around 9:3o, and escorted to the Pegasus, our new home for the next three days. After a brief debriefing, we were put in our cabins. Now, whatever image you may have of a “cabin”… divide that by ten, and that’s what I was staying in. My bed was half the size of a normal single, and there would be no standing of more than one person at one time in the ‘room’. A closet would’ve been more spacious. I’m not complaining, though, just describing. Being below deck wasn’t really my thing. So after dropping off my stuff, I headed back up top and proceeded to contemplate what, exactly, I was going to do with myself for the remaining 72-odd hours. I quickly found the best option was to lay on the deck and put some serious work into my tan, interspersed with a bit of reading here and there. Relaxation was key, and I think I achieved it pretty well.

Our very first mission as Pegasus Pirates was the royal salute. Dale, our skipper, gave us our duties as he saw an approaching ship. Now what, pray tell, is a royal salute? Well, for the boys, it’s the bums, for the girls, it’s the boobs, and for the crew, well, it was full frontal male nudity. Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback when I turned around and saw the captain’s full-on wedding tackle. Nine kinds of hilarious, this I promise. I mean, picture it, a 23 passenger pirate ship flashing/mooning an oncoming ship of unsuspecting tourists. That’ll teach ‘em to mess with the pirates! Not that there was any real messing to begin with, but that’s beside the point. All in the piratey spirit, and certainly a grand kick off to the trip.

Our first stop was a snorkel about two-ish hours out into the Whitsundays. We were given lunch, then stinger suits, snorkels, masks, and fins, and were dropped off in a gorgeous little reef just off a sand bar in the middle of the ocean. I saw another sea turtle, as well as heaps of other fish, big and small, and all sorts of coral. The Great Barrier Reef really is spectacular; I highly recommend seeing it for yourself if you have the means. After tiring of swimming, I snorkeled my way to the sand bar, did a bit of lounging, and walked to one of the islands from the sand bar. So cool. Swam back to the boat afterwards, and became quite engrossed in lounging and reading my newest book ‘The Toyminator’… hilarious. As the sun started to set and we continued cruising about, things started to get a bit more piratey. First to go were the two English boys, Max and Mase, who emerged from the hull with hats, eye patches, swords, even a parrot, and, of course, a bag of goon to top it all off. From there, pretty much everyone started getting piratey and drunk. A substantial portion of the boat was drunk before dinner. I decided to bide my time (and my rum), and only smack the goon a few times among the sipping of my own drink. I did, however, get piratey. Surprise, surprise. I still had on my pirate bikini and black shorts, and put on my black hat, grabbed a sword, and was given a pretty intense skull and crossbones by Mike, as well as two war marks under my eyes. I’d like to think I made a pretty good pirate. After a decent amount of pirate partying had gone down on the ship, the skipper (who, in retrospect, I probably should have asked to marry me… he was Australian, 1o+ years older than me, a ship’s captain, a pirate, and a lover of Frank Sinatra) informed us that we’d be invading a local island. So, donned in our best pirate getups, all 23 Pegasus Pirates were shuttled to land, where we went on a shoeless (pirates don’t wear shoes) bushwalk to some random eco-resort in the middle of the Whitsundays. We proceeded to cause major havoc (as pirates do) and generally harass the poor people staying at the resort. Highlights of our evening on land include (but are not limited to): the skipper’s dugong impressions, which basically consisted of him assaulting me and two other girls, smash-o ++, failed thumper attempts, the goon gun, varied stories, and generally befriending the study abroad kids from UNSW. Despite being the only sober one of the crew (a decision I was later very, very happy I made), I still had a blast. When we got back onto the boat, we partied a bit more, but I was beyond exhausted, so I grabbed my hoodie and laid on deck watching the stars for a good hour and a half before retiring to my cabin and abruptly passing out. All in all, a very successful first day aboard the Pegasus.

Day two was off to an early start. We were awoken a bit after seven for brekky, and on our way for a second day of sailing shortly thereafter. I made the terrible mistake of attempting to shower pretty much as soon as we hit the rough seas area. Combined with the one minute shower restriction and the fact that I had a day’s worth of sea salt and pirate paint all over me, this made for both the best and worst shower of my life. Changing in the cabin resulted in a bit of queasiness, but it didn’t last for too long. Nowhere near as bad as some of the poor souls who had those awful goon hangovers. Not drinking, although it made me slightly less of a true pirate, was definitely a good idea.

We cruised for a while, with our second destination being the famed Whitehaven Beach. Facing scattered storms, I wasn’t sure how everything would pan out, but it ended up being an excellent trip. Shortly after lunch, we jumped on the dingy and were taken to shore. I went on a kilometer-long bushwalk to get to the top of the hill to the lookout, did a bit of climbing on things that shouldn’t be climbed, and of course, took some photos. I picked up two of the German girls amidst my walking, and we wandered down to the beach together. Even though the weather wasn’t the best, Whitehaven was still absolutely gorgeous. The sand was so white, and so, so soft. It was amazing. I split my time on the beach between taking pictures, climbing some more rocks, lounging in the sand, and wading in the crystal clear waters. Spectacular… one of those places where the pictures don’t do it justice, and all you can do is just sit on the beach and think ‘wow’. After about an hour and a half on the beach, we made our way back to the boat, where more deck relaxation and reading took place. There’s something about cruising on the ocean, the combination of the sun and the breeze, with the occasional sea splash… there’s nothing quite like it.

Another snorkel session commenced after a short cruise; not as good as the first one, but still quite amazing. I chased quite a few fish, dove through a cavern-like structure once or twice, and had a fun little dip in the drink. Like before, I spent some time lounging on land after thoroughly paroozing the reef, this time climbing a decent-sized rock (which did a number on my feet) and almost falling asleep in the warm Queensland sun. After swimming back to the boat, more lounging commenced before and after my second (and arguably more successful) shower, and dinner. The food on the Pegasus was surprisingly awesome. I was definitely happy about that aspect of the trip. The evening was one of the more spectacular ones I’ve ever had, both in Australia and anywhere else. I gave myself permission to hook my iPod up to the boat’s speakers, and spent the evening talking with my new friends, jamming to my favorite tunes, attempting to catch sharks, hanging the poor legless pirate, and cruising along the Whitsunday Islands while occasionally sipping rum. The best part had to be when the skipper put on Frank, and I had a combination of four of my most favorite things in the whole world—being on a boat, the Rat Pack, pirates, and Australia. It was absolutely amazing. After another long day at sea, I fell asleep under the stars with my pillow and blanket, lounging on the deck with the American and British kids. It was fantastic, and well worth the bug bites I now have from it. Ahh, to live the permanent life of a pirate. I’d do it in a heartbeat.

Our third and final day at sea wasn’t as much of a day at sea as the previous two had been. We did some more cruising, and I did some more lounging, but we spent a good part of the day on South Molle Island, one of the 74 Whitsunday Islands. I think I made it onto four of the islands? Sure. The day was spent mostly lounging in and beside the pool, and playing Frisbee/volleyball with my new buddies. Towards the end of our stay, I opted to get a $5 virgin daiquiri and sip it beachside. This, my friends, is how you live the proverbial life. I know I enjoyed myself. We reboarded the Pegasus sometime around three (honestly, I’d lost all track of time during the three day trek) and, sadly, made our way back to the main land. The weather had started to get a bit inclement, but aside from brief showers and looming clouds ahead, we had good weather for 9o% of the trip. However, as soon as we pulled in to the marina and the skipper shut off the motor, the skies opened up. After bidding the crew and my new friends adieu, I waited out the storm undercover, then walked back into town to collect my bags. Another ten minute walk landed me at my hostel, where I showered, assessed various burns (I’m actually not all that bad, considering the fact that I was out at sea for three days), and chatted with my English roomies. I barely made it through the series finale of Californication (honestly, not all that great, considering how fond I am of the series) before falling asleep.

Writing off today as mostly travel, I got up on the earlier side, called Sam to say happy birthday, gathered my things, and hung out in the very chill Backpackers by the Bay for the morning, awaiting the bus to the airport. I just barely made the shuttle bus to the airport, where I was surprised to see Sam, one of the guys from the Pegasus, taking the same flight as me. Chatting with him definitely helped pass the time, and before I knew it, I was here in Brisbane. No lost luggage this time around, thankfully. I hopped the airtran into the city, accidentally got off a stop early and thus had to walk quite a ways, but found Tin Billy without too much difficulty. Czeched in, dropped off my stuff, had a bit of an evening stroll about Brizzy, and booked my events for the next three days. Tomorrow I’m jumping out of a plane from 14,ooo feet over Byron Bay. And, of course, Thursday is the one and only inaugural Steve Irwin Day at the Australia Zoo. Yes, as if my travels have not been insane enough already, this is what I have to look forward to. Ahh, I love my life.

As for the rest of the evening, I just had dinner, and Rach is somewhere… apparently at the cinema, maybe, so I suppose I’m on my own for the time being. Perhaps we’ll rendezvous later to swap stories and get some dessert, in true Rachel and Kirstin form. That’s all from me for now, so until next time, later days travelers!

+K+

I've been banished to travellers' hell.

2007-11-09T15:59:00.000+11:00

G'Day faithful blog readers, I report to you today from g-g-g-gorgeous Airlie Beach. But this, I promise, is a much rewarded gift from the gods of vacation. Getting here has proved to be the most difficult and angering travel experience I have ever been unfortunate enough to come upon. Allow me to elaborate.

The whole schpeal started Tuesday night, I reckon. I had a final night out at Irish Murphy's with Rach and Justin, and was back, in bed, and mildly intoxicated by 11. No dramas. The next morning was an early one, and Erin was kind enough to help me with my baggage and get to the bus station, where I was to take the Gull bus to Tullemarine, grab a cab, drop off my heavier bags to be shipped, and jump back to the airport in time to board my flight to Proserpine Airport in the Whitsundays. Easy as, right? Wrong. I got on the Gull bus a-ok, and departed Geelong without much difficulty. Things started to go downhill when I arrived at Tullemarine. Now, let me paint a little picture for you. Here's me, 21 year old, arguably smaller-sized female, juggling one 38 kilo (I know the exact weight because of shipping) hockey bag, two of those annoying rolley suitcases, one bag stuffed with a blanket and pillow spilling over the top, and my trusty Flyers reload strapped to my back. Yeah, movement wasn't exactly something that came too easily to me. I struggled to hail a cab, but ended up being shooed an extra 5o-odd meters to actually get in the damn taxi, and was finally off to Jetta Express. Well, the two-minute cab ride I was promised turned into a ten minute excursion after the cabbie had no idea where we were going. When we were finally there, I hauled all of my belongings, which had become as annoying as inanimate objects can possibly be, into the Jetty place. Their "easy as" process ended up taking far longer than they or I anticipated, and after overpaying to try and enjoy myself on a post-semester abroad holiday, I had to wait an extra five minutes for the guy to drive me back to the airport.

Timecheck: 1o:15 a.m. Flight departs at 1o:3o.

Yeah, needless to say, that flight didn't happen. So, here I am, stranded at the Melbourne airport with a suitcase and two bags worth of living, with no option but to fly to the Whitsundays the next day at eight a.m. The start to the farewell tour was looking less than stellar. After an hour-long conversation with my Dad and a turkey sandwich, I was feeling a little bit better about things, and decided to go into Melbourne to find a hostel instead of waiting out the 20-odd hours in Tullemarine domestic's arrival section. I found what I thought was a reasonable hostel, and SkyBussed into Melbourne without much difficulty. Czeched into my hostel, the "hotel discovery" (sidenote: I have no idea what they were discovering, but I did not want any part in such and expedition. This place was by far the worst hostel I've come across thus far), and decided to make a day of it and head to St. Kilda to explore. I'd intended to do this ages ago, but the timing, weather, and company never seemed to come together. So, after befriending two Canadian guys who stopped me in the lobby by saying "Flyers?" (we had a spectacular twenty minute conversation discussing the ins and outs of the 2oo7-o8 lineup), I was on my way. Remembering it was 7-11 Day (the dates are "backwards" to most of you), I stopped in the Sev across the street from my hostel and wished the clerk a happy seven eleven day, and was rewarded with a free small slurpee. I proceeded to do this another four times throughout the day, and varying 7-11's in Melbourne. Whoever said nothing's free obviously wasn't around a seven eleven on November 7th or July 11th, respectively. I was into it.

So from there, I found my way onto a tram heading towards St. Kilda. The ride there was uneventful, although there was a kid on the tram that looked like he could've been the lovechild of Conan and Wilson. Like the free slurpee action, I was into it. St. Kilda ended up being a super cute little suburb, though, and I'm glad I got a chance to check it out. I popped in and out of a few stores, wandered by the beach and on various rooftops, and ended up having a delicious pasta dinner at a spaghetti bar. All in all, not a bad day. I was back in Melbourne by 8-ish, and went about seeking a place to watch House after finding that my idiot roach hostel didn't even have a television I could watch. I wandered in and out of bars around the block of the hotel discovery, and ended up sneaking into a neighboring hostel. To my dismay, although they had a television, it didn't have channel ten, and thus, did not have my weekly dose of House. In a last-ditch attempt, I went down the street and started asking people if they knew of a place that had a place that I could watch my beloved medical drama. One guy suggested I head to an Asian cafe about a block down, because they normally had a tv on. Praise the doc himself, they had a plasma showing this week's episode, and had the volume on. So, in true Housewatching form, I ordered a cup of tea and watched House in some random Asian cafe. I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of my day, as per usual. After that little excursion, I went back, did a bit of reading, and went to sleep, well aware of the fact that I had to be up at 6:1o the next day.

Well, in the true spirit of the trainwreck that has been this trip so far, I didn't wake up until 6:2o, and was forced to throw on the first ensemble in my suitcase (I later regretted this... greatly), quickly pack my belongings, and rush downstairs to check out and grab the cab that I had to take because the damn hostel failed me yet again in contacting SkyBus for my free pick-up. The taxi driver was a certifiable imbecile himself. He tried to talk me into letting him drive me all the way to the airport (no, sir, I already bought my return SkyBus ticket), then didn't have change when we finally got to the station. So, I ended up missing the SkyBus I had originally intended to take, because I was busy buying a bottle of water from 7-11 to make change for this idiot. I swear, if he would've said "You no have change?" one more time, I would've been forced to go gangsta on him. It was extreeeemely frustrating.

I caught the next SkyBus, though, and ended up almost missing my flight again, but luckily made it. I was seated first row, middle seat, which was interesting, but did not bode well for my intentions to sleep off the flight. We arrived in Brisbane at a still early hour, and I spent the majority of my layover wondering why time was an hour behind, paying to make a collect call, and drinking tea to try and soothe my nerves. My connecting flight also ended up being a thorn in my side, offering another delay. Apparently some all-powerful deity did not want me to get to the Whitsundays. The only good thing about the flight was that we were given free inflight television, where I was ecstatic to find FoxTel broadcasting a Thrashers/Red Wings game. Sweet, sweet, NHL action, at last!! This heightened mood did not last long, though... this I promise. See, when I finally got off the plane and was thoroughly engaged in being really, really lost, I hear my name butchered over the loudspeaker. "Maybe I won a prize or something," my optimistic side offers. Of course not. The Virgin Blue rep was very sorry to inform me that they had sent my bag to the Gold Coast, instead of Proserpine, and that it would be sent to my hostel by tomorrow. All I could do was laugh. So, I took my meager belongings and boarded the bus into town in a quite foul mood. I checked into Koalas, already sweating bullets in the tropical heat, and went into town to try and find some shorts and a t-shirt to change into. Being a tourist town, everything here is insanely expensive, so I overpayed for a pair of board shorts and an Airlie Beach t-shirt. I grabbed some dinner at a little cafe (quite tasty, actually), and went back to Koalas to change. I had every intention of going back out to check out the nightlife, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. So, I laid down in my new garments and fell asleep after about an hour of reading and another emotionally exhausting day.

Today has proved to be the first real positive of the trip. I woke up early, having fallen asleep before ten the night before, did a bit more reading and checked to make sure Virgin Blue hadn't dropped of my bag (of course not). My next task was finding a pair of flip flops, because my newly acquired Ugg Boots (don't hate) weren't exactly cutting it in the heat. Plus, I looked completely ridiculous wearing them with board shorts. What else is new, really. I ended up finding a pair in Jay Jay's, as well as a tank top to wear throughout the day, and changed in the store's dressing room. From there, I headed beachside, where I found a swanky little cafe that had an appetizing-sounding brekky. One mango smoothie, some fruit, yoghurt, and raisin toast later, I was was off to explore. I did a bit more reading and some beach wandering before reluctantly purchasing another towel and some sunscreen, allowing me a glorious afternoon by the lagoon. I've already put a decent amount of work on my tan... at this rate, I'm going to be borderline Aboriginal by the time I get back to the States. And now, I'm at the travel agent, where I confirmed my pirate cruise (!!!) for tomorrow. I'm super, super pumped about it. Well, this has been beyond lengthy, but I felt it necessary to update you all on the trials and tribulations of the farewell tour thus far. Don't be surprised if, next update, I tell you the boat sank. With my luck, I wouldn't put it past it. But the weather's far too gorgeous to remain inside, and your eyes are already straining to read the print, I can tell. So until next time...

+K+

Heart's a Mess

2007-11-06T09:44:00.000+11:00

And it is, Gotye. Because today is the beginning of the end. I suppose it was a while ago, with the end of classes and whatnot, but I'm truly regarding everything from this point on as the certifiable 'end.' See, today's my last full day at Deakin. Today's the day I have to say goodbye to all my friends and promise that we'll get together again someday, somehow, on another random corner of the globe perhaps. Today's the day I have to finish packing all of my belongings, rummage through everything I've amassed in the past months and reflect on the things I've almost forgot. Today's the day I have to actually come to terms with the fact that I'm leaving Australia, and in another two weeks' time, coming back home.

I've been thinking about what this will be like for some time now. I was torn as to whether I'd be overly emotional, or roboticly not so. I think it will be more the former, but it's going to be more of an internal thing. Don't get me wrong, now entering my fifth month away from home, I'm starting to feel the pangs of removal... but as pretty much everything I've written in here proves, Australia has been wonderful to me. If I had my ways, I'd import everything I loved from the States to the greater Sydney area, and life would be grand. Unfortunately, I don't foresee every member of my family, my estranged friends across the country, my favorite hockey team, and the Wawa corporation picking up and moving 12,ooo miles anytime soon. Oh well, a girl can hope, right?

I suppose I shouldn't be too bummed... I mean, yes, I'm leaving Deakin... but for the Whitsundays! And a Pirate cruise, at that! As if the past five months haven't flown enough, I know my last two weeks in the southern hemisphere are going to go by in a snap. I was talking to Karina last night while watching Californication, and she said the international kids she'd befriended in the past told her that once they got back home, it was like they'd never even been to Australia, and that it was just one big dream. I don't want that to happen. I want to remember this moment, and every moment I've had here. The good, the strange, the less than great, and the unbelievably amazing. I suppose that's why I've tried to keep such a detailed account of everything here, and in my other two journals. So that when I'm back in dirty Philadelphia, hearing gunshots out the window and worrying about my five hundred [appx.] hours of class at La Salle, I can stop and look back on 6/7/2oo7-21/11/2007 and say "damn... wasn't life grand?". Or so's the plan, at least.

I reckon I should quit my ranting at this point and return my attention to the whole packing issue. Yuck. Well, at least my Fly Boys should be taking the ice pretty soon... let's hope they can see their way past the damn dirty Rags. I'll be cheering them on as soon as NHL.com's satellites decide they want to start working. This will likely be my last post from Deakin... I'll try to update accordingly throughout the Farewell Tour, but as per usual, I make no promises. So until Queensland [most likely]... au revoir, Victoria. It's been real.

+K+

Fin.

2007-11-02T15:04:00.000+11:00

As of twenty three hours ago, I have completed my academic experience in Australia. Bittersweet, if I may say so myself.

My history exam ended up starting a few minutes late yesterday. It was a breeze. I was mildly concerned that what I'd studied wouldn't be what showed up on the exam, but everything went fantastically. I'm pretty sure my professor is going to know it's my exam, though, because I spent the last question Reagan-bashing, which he's called me out on before. What? I can't help it if I'm still harboring feelings of resentment to America's 4oth president because of an inept eleventh and twelfth grade history teacher. Damn you and your neo-conservative bullshit, Mrs. Rock.

Janis left yesterday, too. She's the first of us to go... sad. We have no mom now! How are we supposed to feed ourselves? I guess it's cookies and cake until further notice. I know Rach will join me.

I didn't really do much of significance after the exam. I started work on the international kids e-yearbook that I'm going to put together, but nothing too extreme as of yet. I've hit something of a stumbling block on the "superlatives" section. In due time, I suppose. After caf, I watched 'So You Think You Can Dance?' with Rach and Diane, because they always yell at me for bailing on them when it's on. Well, I watched it, and it was excruciating and annoying and I will not be watching it again anytime soon. ENTIRELY too drawn out. I'll take Aussie Idol over that crap any day.

I've been drawn to another new musical venture as of late: Xavier Rudd. Heather and Robin spoke highly of him after catching his show in Tas, so I scanned the network and, as per usual, it did not disappoint. He's pretty amazing, especially if you're looking for some digeridoo action. Yeah, you know you are.

So, speaking of music, yesterday was the first day of November. It rained all last night. What, par say, does this have to do with music?

Yeah. It doesn't get old... it just doesn't. I look forward to every November, just so I can jump around like an idiot to Slash's sweet, sweet solo. It's invigorating, I suggest you try it sometime.

I suppose that's all that went down yesterday. Wednesday was another trip into town times two-- first to pick up our underwater camera pictures [http://deakinedu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030039&l=fa483&id=17500696]. I had a blast with the captions on that one... hope you enjoy the Tale as much as I do. We were only back on campus for two hours or so, so I took it upon myself to do something productive and dye my hair. It's not really all that different from what it was before, just more even. The extent to which my roots grew out was killing me. The evening brought forth our last international kids dinner at Bended. Heather and I split a pitcher of some mixed drink that looked like carbonated Dimeatap, but tasted pretty good. I had the chicken kiev, and it was pretty damn delicious. I don't know if my taste buds have acclimated to boring caf food and my less than impressive cooking skills or something, but I am certainly looking forward to returning to the Philadelphia brand of food. Pretzels, anyone?

Anyway, back to the dinner. It was nice having all the kids together again... we did shots at the end (yuck), toasting our brilliant experience, and, oh, I almost forgot to mention... most of the kids were dressed up for the Halloween party. Jens was in a full-on Santa costume, Rach, Janis and Diane were Charlie's Angels, Robin was a dominatrix, Justin was The Todd from Scrubs (brilliant!), and Kingsley was an emo. Kindof hilarious, when you think about it. Yes, you Americans know you're glad my ridiculous crew and I are the ones representing your image in the land down under. Fantastic. Rach and I split some cheesecake, and then I hopped the bus back with Austin, Jake and Heather to go study. Sadly, no Halloween party for this kid. Oh well, I suppose my amazing Halloween experience last year makes up for my lack of one this year. Balance, baby, it's all about balance.

I don't think I have much else to say at this point... we've got a few things in mind for the weekend, but nothing too extreme. I'm just hoping the weather clears up a bit so I can put November Rain on pause and head to the beach for a day. Until then, I think I'm going to go back to reading my conspiracy theory books and drinking tea. Ah yes, dear friends... life is good. So from my side of the world to yours... see you next time :)

+K+

Three down, one to go.

2007-10-30T14:50:00.000+11:00

Scary/funny/insane to think that I'm one exam away from culminating my study abroad experience. Today was my first exam-- PR. Exams in Australia = INSANE. But more on that, later. Let's take a look at the weekend's shenanigans first.

We didn't end up going on the dolphin cruise on Friday... it was all booked for the afternoon, and we weren't about to get up at six a.m. just to check out some dolphins, when there was the exact same cruise offered the next day at a much more reasonable hour. As a result, nothing very exciting came about on Friday. I spent some time at the shops, had lunch and a cupcake at the little cafe deal, and that was about it. Saturday was a whole 'nother story though.

Despite the fact that we were scheduled for the afternoon cruise, we still got up pretty early to take the bus into town. From there, Diane, Rach and I waited around for a while to grab a second bus to Queenscliff. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for such an adventure... about 3o, which is warmer than it's ever been during my time here. Blue skies for the most part, too. We ended up getting to the dock a bit before one, and were immediately sized up for wetsuits. After that, it was only a matter of minutes before we were on our way for our three and a half hour tour. Naturally the idea of a three hour boat tour got my Giligan senses tingling, but needless to say, I am not currently stranded on a deserted isle. The boat did somewhat resemble the S.S. Minnow, though. True story.

After a short cruise on the net-protrusion-thing (I don't know what else to call it, but it stuck off the side of the boat, and was like a giant hammock for you to hang out on. Of course, I spent a good deal of the trip there.), our first top was an introductory snorkel around some rocks in the middle of the bay. We donned our fins and masks, and proceeded to freeze our butts off. Baltic. We spent most of the dive in fits of laughter, trying to keep our faces and feet (the only parts not covered by the wetsuit) out of the water. It may have been gorgeous outside, but that didn't mean jack to the water temperature gods. One day of beautiful weather does not, by any means, make up for three seasons of chilliness. Aside from the cold, there wasn't anything entirely remarkable about our first dive. We saw a starfish and a few others, but it was nothing compared to my last dive in the Great Barrier Reef. Such is life. So, we got out of the water, attempted to sun ourselves and dry off a bit, and were off to our next destination: Seal Island.

Okay, so it wasn't really called Seal Island, but it very well could have been. It was more like Seal Outpost In The Middle Of The Water. Either way, it was completely awesome. There were probably between 3o and 5o male seals just hanging out there. A few babies, some guys that had to be over 3oo kilos... some lounging, some barking, some trying to push each other into the water. Seeing as seals are probably my favorite marine animal, I was pretty pumped about the whole ordeal. The cold wasn't as bad the second time around, and when you looked under water, you could see seals twisting and turning all around, chasing each other, doing flips, and generally enjoying themselves. I took a decent amount of pictures with my underwater camera, and we even posed for one in the water right near the post. The seals could be snarky little bastards, though. More than a handful of times, you'd hear someone scream through their snorkel because they'd turned their head and were faced with a seal bearing its teeth, no more than a foot away. Kindof really hilarious. I definitely enjoyed myself, and I'm super pumped about seeing the pictures. We're due to pick them up tomorrow.

Dolphin sighting was next on our boating agenda, but not before another new Aussie experience: the Duck Spa. Basically, this consisted of hanging off the back of the boat onto the duck board, and having the boat pull you as the motion from the propeller created a "spa." Only in Australia. After our spa experience, Diane, Rach and I camped out on the top deck of the boat, attempting to spot dolphins. I saw a few within a few minutes, but by the time we'd turned around, they disappeared. We cruised for a half hour or so before our guide called us down to say that they'd spotted some dolphins in the shallows, and we should get ready to jump in. Now, how exactly do you snorkel with wild dolphins, when they move much faster than you, and aren't really prone to staying in one spot? Why, you hang on to a rope and get towed by the boat! I know, it sounds ridiculous. Well, it was ridiculous, but it was also completely worth it. Everything was a bit hectic at first... the guys on the boat were shouting at us, and pointing in every different direction trying to get us to see the dolphins, while simultaneously telling us to keep our heads in the water. The first one I saw was sort of far away, and I wasn't necessarily impressed. It certainly picked up from there, though. The dolphins went from crossing underneath us to swimming directly next to us. There were a pair of them, then three, four, and five. All basically within arms reach, flipping around, looking up at you and squeaking. Believe me, it was no easy task hanging on to the rope for dear life as the boat churned along while also trying to take pictures, but I think I managed to get at least a few good ones. It was so completely amazing seeing these dolphins swim right beside us, look over at us, then dart off, only to return to the pod moments later. At one point, I looked up out of the water and saw one flip through the air, like something you'd see at SeaWorld. To have that kind of experience with animals outside captivity is remarkable. When we finally got back on the boat, I couldn't stop shivering, but I also couldn't stop smiling. Our guides told us that they never see that many dolphins in the shallows for such an extended period of time like that, and we had been extremely lucky to be a part of it. It was certainly an experience.

We bid our dolphin friends adieu as they swam just ahead of our boat (like in the movies!), and headed back to the dock. I was completely frozen... I couldn't get my teeth to stop chattering. We made it back to the marina not long after, changed, swatted many a bug, and wandered through town a bit before catching the bus back to Geelong. It was an incredibly tiring, but also awesome day. I made Diane and Rach tacos for dinner, then Janis came over and we watched what we thought was our last episode of House. I slept quite well Saturday night.

Sunday was the first real day of study I partook in. Oddly enough, it was the last day of study week. I spent the day finalizing research and writing my paper on paranoia and conspiracy in one of the books we'd read for lit class, After. I think it turned out rather well. And I finished at a reasonable hour, too! I think I got to bed sometime around 3 a.m. Considering it wasn't due until 5 p.m. yesterday, I'd say that's pretty good. Must've been the pancakes Erin made for breakfast. Aside from the completion of the essay, nothing monumental went down on Sunday-day. Sunday-night, however, I made a series of incredibly awesome discoveries that I will now share with you. First, the Halloween party I thought I was going to have to miss out on due to exams... well, I'll probably be able to go now! My exam isn't until 2, so I figure I can at least dress up and stop by for a bit. My dad's e-mails were also the source of copious good news, in the form of Guitar Hero III acquisition, Keith Primeau's ice hockey team, and the fact that I'll have the opportunity to coach hockey when I get back. And, lest we forget, I found the final two episodes of House s3 on the network! Finally, we can have closure. And we will, tonite. Ahh, that show has taken over my life, and I'm totally okay with it.

Yesterday equated to copious amounts of studying for my PR final. I was surprisingly productive! I definitely thought yesterday would be one of those days where I intend to do a great deal of work, but only really accomplish a small sliver of what I wanted. I made comprehensive guide of everything I thought I'd need to know for the exam (pretty accurate, in retrospect) and studied for pretty much the entire day. I took a time-out only to drop off my lit assignment, grab a bit of lunch, go to caf, and watch Californication. Ohh, David Duchovny and threesomes involving two dudes.... of course they did. Had a bit of trouble getting to sleep after the coffee/tea intake that went down during the day, but such is life. On a side note: I'm about to murder every single one of those damn birds that sound like you're stepping on them when they crow. They sit outside my room and yell all day and all night, and I've had about enough of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for conservation of wildlife and the like... just not during studytime. Thanks.

So, we're up to today: my first exam experience. I get up at 8:3o for my 9:15 exam, brush my teeth, wash my face, eat my breakky, and head to the gym. I didn't know why they were holding the exam in the gym... but now I do. The gym was set up into perfect columns and rows, with over 4oo kids taking all sorts of exams. It was completely insane. Having followed what it looked like everyone else was doing, I dropped off my bag, reviewed my notes one last time, and walked into the exam, armed with my two pens. Apparently I also needed a pencil and my student ID. Oops. Needless to say, I played the hopeless international kid card and had everything figured out without much effort, but it was still a bit nerve racking at first. And so, for the next three hours, I wrote about nine pages for my PR exam. Altogether, it wasn't really terribly difficult... just long. And the setting was insane. In. Sane.

My post-exam day has been spent making fried rice, watching the Golden Girls, and pondering if I should start revision for history yet. Yeah, it's not tomorrow, so that's gonna stay at "no" for the time being. Caf's in a couple hours, and then we're watching our final two episode of House afterwards. Tomorrow is Halloween! We're going into town during the day, Janis's departure dinner is that night, and the party is afterward. Hmm, maybe I should be studying, then. In due time. I think I'll keep jamming to my Fall Out Boy/Michael Jackson/Backstreet Boys playlist for now. I call it-- the depth of pop music. Right.

That's all I've got for you. Until further notice... laterdays!

+K+

Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Farenheit

2007-10-25T16:51:00.000+10:00

Seriously now... Queen. Freddy Mercury rules ++, and don't you forget it.

So yes, I report to you in the full swing of study week. Thus far, the only studying I have done has been my own personal scholarly exploration into Fortean studies, supernatural phenomenon, and the usual conspiracy business. Yesterday I went to the library and checked out a few books on said topics: Paul Davies' Are We Alone?, a philosophical look on how the human population of Earth would react if extraterrestrial contact was actually made, Loren Coleman's Mysterious America, the aforementioned Fortean text focusing mainly on cryptozoology and other assorted paranormal phenomenon, and The Supernatural and You! by R. Brasch. I haven't gotten to this one yet, but it sounds promising. And, of course, I'm still working on Conspiracy Culture for my lit paper, so that makes four. Hah, I'd make Mulder proud. Not so much Scully, though, but you never know. Definitely not season one Scully.

I spent yesterday afternoon/evening reading the first two books, one by the Ponds over lunch, and the other curled up in my bed. Fascinating works, if you're at all interested. House was last night, too. I was into it. Foreman's back! Now, to get Chase and Cameron back into things. I miss the Ducklings being together with House. Nothing else too extreme went down yesterday, just kindof relaxing, reading, and the creation of a few more delicious desktop wallpapers in the night hours.

Tuesday was a fun sort of day. I spent the bulk of the afternoon researching and booking everything for the remainder of the Farewell Tour. I'm pretty hyped for it. Pirate Cruise is confirmed, as is another two day excursion in Fiji. My life is awesome. Also, further bonus material manifested in the return of my lost key. Ten points for not having to pay $1oo to get the lock changed! Siq mosh. Diane, Rach and I went to the movies on Tuesday night, too. They saw Death at a Funeral and I saw Michael Clayton, because I'm a sucker for George Clooney. It didn't disappoint-- he was in a suit in almost every scene, sported the 5 o'clock shadow more than a handful of times, and the plot was laden with conspiracy and lawyers. Pretty much the recipe for my kind of entertainment, right? Granted, I had no idea what was going on in the first half of the movie, but it all came together very nicely. I rate it as E for Enjoyable, especially if you've got a thing for Gorgeous George.

And, we're back to Monday. Lunch at B-Bar was a good time... I bought the kids a round of cookies, haha. Janis told us she's leaving on the second, which is quite sad, but such is life. Rach and I headed to rock climbing after lunch, and only got mildly wet walking in the sporadic rain. It ended up being an awesome time, though. It's an awesome workout, hah. We were both hurting, but all the better because of it. I learned how to properly belay, and I didn't drop Rach once! She was impressed, as was I for her reciprocating belaying tactics. I think we'll definitely have to go back before I leave. We got caf when we came back, and then it was Californication later on.

Such is how my study week has gone thus far. Pretty low key, all things considered, but I've found ways of entertaining myself throughout. Today I actually did some work-- wrote most of my AusToday written supplement to my presentation last week and handed that in. Talked to the fam in the morning, too. They rule, and I can't wait for Thanksgiving in four weeks. Sweet turkey action, dude!

Tomorrow Diane, Rach and I are scheduled to go to Queenscliff and swim with dolphins, or something to that nature. Sounds like a good time to me. I'm just hoping the weather gets better-- it's pretty rainy and gross right now, but such are Victorian weather patterns.

I don't really have much else for you right now... oh, wait, if you're into Anderson Cooper and/or built dudez, czech this out:

Hellooooo Andy! Where'd those guns come from? Armed & fabulous, indeed. Yeah, props to Priya for sharing... I see your 'goo' and raise you a passionate 'EHHH!'

Okay, that being said, I think I'm going to watch an episode of X-Files before caf. So until next time... Trust No One!

+K+

Study Break Does Not Equal Studying

2007-10-22T12:45:00.001+10:00

Which is why Rachel and I are going rock climbing in about an hour. I'm pretty pumped about it, it's been a while since I've scaled some walls. Should be a good time, I'm thinking.

But before we get too involved with this week's upcoming events, I feel I should talk more about the weekend... because it was quite a fantastic time. I left off with Friday morning-ish, before our meeting. Well, they didn't end up giving us lunch at our meeting, so after a little debriefing about what life will probably be like when we get back to our respective home countries, I joined Jens, Jess and Austin for lunch at B-Bar. Good food, good company. Things took a turn for the better when Janis and Rach arrived, though. They pointed out to me the previously unknown glory that is Strongbow for $3.8o. That was all it took. I finished my salad and knocked back a few Strongbows over good conversation with the kids who've become my family for the last four months. Smuggled out one last cider, picked up my AusToday paper (HD), and went back to my room. There wasn't anything particularly interesting happening in Evatt 2, so I grabbed my last Strongbow from the fridge downstairs, and wandered to the Ponds, where I laid in the grass, listening to Saves the Day, and drinking Strongbow in the beautiful Victoria sun. Yeah, it was a good afternoon. I made my way back to my room after a solid hour of contemplating just how much I love life, and fell asleep shortly thereafter. Timecheck: 3 p.m.

Now, you may remember that our lovely Barton Ball was also scheduled for Friday night. Yeah... I woke up at 6:47 p.m. The buses left at 7. This did not bode well for me. I got lucky, though, there was another set of buses going at 7:3o, so I quickly showered, got dressed, and made it down to the bus stop looking relatively presentable before the second set of buses left. The Ball was a blast and a half. Open bar, featuring champ&orange. We were double fisting at first... why, I don't know. I got a few pretty excellent pictures with my favorite kids, had quite a few good laughs, and completely enjoyed myself, despite the fact that I was in a dress and heels. In retrospect, it has been agreed upon by the general resi consensus that everyone got ridiculously messy. All in good fun, though. There was an after party at Home House, but at that point, few people were in any sort of form for consuming any more alcohol. I ended up taking a cab home with Jake, hanging out with him for a little while, then having to call security to let me back into my room because some jerk stole $2o and my room key from my camera bag. That was the only downside to an otherwise brilliant evening.

After achieving the new milestone of being completely drunk twice (two times... one two) in one day, I didn't do much on yesterday or Saturday. I wasn't hungover (surprisingly), but otherwise didn't have the motivation to do much of anything. I watched Pirates of the Caribbean Saturday morning while making and eating some mac and cheese, then wandered to the store with Rach, swapping only mildly embarrassing stories from the previous evening's shenanigans. We reunited that evening for dinner with Janis, Diane, Heather and Robin, and watched another couple of [H]ouse episodes. Nothing too extreme, though. I came back, and wasn't ready to go to sleep, so I scanned the network for some more cinematic greatness. Sunday didn't stray too differently from Saturday. I wandered around bothering people who were trying to legitimately get work done. Janis and I made caramel popcorn while watching American Pie, and Rach and I sat around in our pajamas while watching bike racing. Sometimes days like that are just necessary. I watched The Number 13 with Kayla and her friend, then, after some unit shuffling, watched an episode and a half of [H]ouse with the usuals. We've only got one episode left! What are we supposed to do now?! We must find the final two episodes... even though we've seen them months ago. We must remain committed.

Okay, the kids just called to yell at me because I'm late to B-Bar for lunch, so I've got to rock and roll. Until next time...

+K+

Weird.

2007-10-19T11:38:00.001+10:00

I'm done classes. Done, finished, finito. All I have left is one 2ooo word essay, one write-up on a presentation I already did (and nailed, thank you very much), and two final exams, both of which I have extensive knowledge on already. I'm into it, kinda.

I don't think I'm quite ready to be done yet. I mean, I know I'm going to bask in the glory that is no scholastic commitment for a solid two months +, but classes being done mean that I'm almost done my time in Australia. A bloody tragedy if I've ever heard one. And it's just starting to get really, consistently nice out here, too.

Good news is, I've officially booked my post-semester adventures! The Farewell Tour is as follows:
November 7-13: Whitsunday Islands, QLD.
November 1o-12: Pegasus Pirate Cruise on the Great Barrier Reef
November 13-16: Brisbane, QLD.
November 15: First Annual Steve Irwin Day at the Australia Zoo
November 16-2o: Fiji

I fly out of Fiji at 1o:5o p.m. on the 2oth. And I arrive back in Killadelphia at 6:31 a.m. on the 21st. Don't question the international dateline... it knows no boundaries of time and space. So yes, I have all of my flights booked for this, and I'm in the process of securing my spot on the Pirate Cruise. I'm thinking my post-semester adventures are going to be pretty damn amazing. A Farewell Tour if there ever was one.

That's probably been the most exciting thing that's gone down so far this week. I've had a pretty extreme lack of class. Nothing Monday, nothing Tuesday, a 45 minute debriefing on Wednesday, and the usual business for Thursday. I had my Australia Today presentation on globalization yesterday afternoon. Globalization is ridiculous. Apparently I did a good job. Yesterday was a day for gratification and a general padding of my self-esteem as a competent student. Aside from the glowing praise for my presentation, I got my history paper back-- a second HD, deemed "another very impressive piece of undergrad writing." I am a foreign policy master. Got my "Rarely is an argument without external references so sophisticated in its analysis of the text as yours is" lit paper back, too. Okay, I'll stop patting myself on the back now. All's I'm saying is it's nice to hear how awesome you are every once in a while. It also makes me wonder what kind of student I'd be if I legitimately applied myself. Well, with remarks like that, would you feel obligated to work harder? Didn't think so.

Tonite is our Barton Ball. I bought a dress over the weekend, and my ticket on Wednesday. I'm pretty pumped about it. It's nice getting dressed up every once in a while.

Other assorted things that are currently bringing a smile to my face: The KGB Line (whoever came up with the name deeeefinitely achieves hero status in my eyes), the 4-o slaughter of the Devils (on paper, at least) that just went down courtesy of the boys in orange and black, the continuing assault on the network re: my black jellybean music taste, Rocky Votolato's "Suicide Medicine" album, the tribal cap House wore in the episode that aired on Wednesday, American Beauty... I just watched it last night, and it probably changed my life, aaand, generally, how awesome the 2oo7-o8 season is going for my boys... especially compared to how things were this time last year. I shudder at the thought of a repeat of our abysmal start in 2oo6.

I have to go to our Farewell Meeting/Lunch (at least I hope they're feeding us) now, so that's it for me. I'm sure I'll have a few stories from the Ball and the upcoming "study break" shenanigans. So until then...

+K+

And when you scan the radio, I hope this song will guide you home...

2007-10-16T00:31:00.001+10:00

Boy, do I have a knack for making really, ridiculously good playlists. No lies, if you can give me a genre and/or mood you're interested in (that remotely reflects my questionable taste in music), I promise you I'll make you something you physically won't be able to stop listening to. I've just recently crafted something entitled ".dniwnu" (read it backwards), and it's beautifully reflecting how I'm feeling right now. Mellow, a bit anxious with a mildly heavy heart, but mostly just relaxed.

Today marked the beginning of the last week of classes at Deakin University. Funny, because I didn't actually have any classes. Don't have any tomorrow, either. But today's lack of educational time didn't stop me from trying to go to class, no. I attempted to go to both PR and History today, but both did not happen. Apparently, I was told of this before hand. Multiple times. It's remarkable that I maintain any sort of respectable GPA in college, what, with my goldfish-esq attention span. I can only wonder what I'd be able to accomplish if I could actually listen to and retain more than 30% of anything going on around me at any point in time.

The weekend was a pretty excellent time, though. Certainly worth a mention. I believe I last left off with Friday. I spent a bit of time consulting the on-campus travel agent, STA, who managed to get my hopes higher than a kite, only to smash them into the ground only minutes later. The damn girl taunted me with flights back to the States for under a grand, then told me said flight did not exist. Right. I ran halfway to the stores to catch up with Diane and Rach, purchased two cakes while being pushed in a shopping cart by Rachel (reminded me of the good old days of Easter egg left feet and food shopping with Sam in Troy), and made it back to campus in time for a shower and some more jammers before sleepover time presented itself. Yes, we're 20-22 year old semi-college educated young women, and we decided to have a sleepover party. It ended up being a stunning success.

Our celebration began with a three course meal, and followed with copious amounts of television, movies, and alcohol for the majority of the group. Robin, Heather and Diane represented the latter category to the fullest extent, which definitely made for a hilarious time. Our set-up was quite brilliant, really. Janis, Diane and I brought our mattresses into the Evatt 2 common room, which acted as our base camp for the evening. There were even pillow fights involved! I have the photographs to prove it. We're such girls.

The evening obviously took its toll on us-- we didn't get up until about one on Saturday. Hah. I can only wonder what my housemates must've thought of the crew of internationals sleeping in the common room well into the afternoon. This did not hinder our events, though. We celebrated breakfast after the lunch hour with pancakes and eggs. Quite the delicacy. After an early episode of [H]ouse (great episode, btw), we parted ways sometime around three. I then took it upon myself to celebrate the glorious X-Files holiday of Ten Thirteen by watching back-to-back episodes of the X-Files. Times five. Some may call this a waste of time, but nay. I call it a tribute to the greatest television show to ever exist. I can't wait 'til the XF2 movie comes out. They're due to start filming in December. Mulder and Scully reunited again to combat the dark forces of government conspiracy and visitors from the Reticulan galaxy? Sign me up.

Sunday was a bit more eventful in the realm of actually physically doing... anything. After following my boys' home opener victory(!!), I went to the gym for a bit in the afternoon, showered, then went into town to have a look around for dresses for the upcoming Barton Ball. There's something incredibly redeeming in listening to headphones while observing the world around you. I discovered a few new places in Geelong, and did actually (surprisingly) find a dress that I think will work quite well for Friday's dance. I wandered down to the waterfront afterwards, and ate my PB&J linner while people watching and journaling. Walked back up to the bus stop after a short stint beside the Carousel, in hopes of catching the next bus back to campus. No such luck. I'd missed the last bus to Deakin. This left me with two options: single-handedly pay for the $20-ish cab back to campus, or walk the 8-10 odd miles back. So, with the soothing sounds of Cake to guide me, off I walked.

Now, don't get too disgusted with my choices; I eventually caught a ride back. I had contemplated hitchhiking, or asking randoms if they were heading my way (I was in a skirt, it probably wouldn't have been out of the question to get a ride from someone. Australians are generally nice like that.)... but decided against it. I walked at least three or four miles to the shopping centre in the next town over, picked up some pesto and veggies for tea, then hopped the 18 bus which took me to Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre. It was another mile and a half-ish walk back to campus from there. Not too bad... I made it back just as the sun was going down. Cooked up some tea, watched some Boston Legal, and consulted Rach on the evening's events. Janis, Diane and Jen had gone to Ballarat for the day (and had a celebrity encounter in the form of former *NSYNC-er Joey Fatone), and they were too tired for the evening's dose of [H]ouse. So, Rach and I opted for a movie to pass the remainder of the evening. We watched Se7en. Pretty intense stuff. We parted ways sometime around midnight, and I spent the rest of my night watching Idle Hands, the awesomely bad horror/comedy starring Devon Sawa (swoooon) and Seth Green.

And so we're left with today's events. As I mentioned before, I had two classes that didn't actually happen... and that's about it. I spent some more time at the travel agent in a flawed attempt at getting my act together, but only succeeded in coming to the conclusion that I'm not going anywhere for study break. I had originally intended to trek to New Zealand, but it's just too expensive and too difficult to get around for the limited amount of time I would have. I'm not too concerned; this leaves the upcoming week with plenty of time for Victoria-sploring, in the form of beach time (maybe a surf, even?), skydiving, and Melbourne. Which leaves post-semester adventures to the Whitsundays, Brisbane (& surrounding areas), and Fiji. I'm not making any promises, but as of right now, my return date and time to the States is looking like it'll be in the wee hours of November 20. I'll confirm sometime in the near future... I think tomorrow's going to consist of booking all of said travel, as well as another trek into town with the British kid.

That's about all I've got for you for now. Oh, I thought I'd provide some further evidence for my godawful taste in music for you, in the form of my weekly last.fm chart:

Yep, that's right. You've got power pop, sugary kid's music, 9o's altrock, mellow brit alternative stuff, hardcore, indiepunk, a female brit vocalist, alt-folk-rock-punk, pop punk, and (admittedly) bad rap. I truly am a disgrace to the greater music listening community. Ah well, I embrace it.

But right now, I think it's time for me to focus my attention back to the lyrical stylings of Damien Rice and the artists accompanying the .dniwnu playlist. So until next time....

+K+

Didn’t get a lot in class, but I know it don't come in a shot glass

2007-10-12T14:04:00.000+10:00

Ahh, Rehab. Great song. Three cheers for new music, new toys, and a much needed change of pace!

Yes, things are well at the Ponds. Well, except for the weather, but even that's due to change. I've successfully overcome my 36 hours of sleeplessness. The last few days have treated me pretty well, actually. On Wednesday, I received the greatly anticipated package containing my new toy. Dude... the iPod Touch is crazy awesome. After taking the greatest of precautions, I began the careful selection of songs and pictures that would occupy the 16 gigs of glory. A few hours later, I'd filled it about halfway with music, and experienced only minor difficulties in uploading the pictures. Sweeeeeet. Still haven't figured out the whole video deal, though. If any of you out there in blogland know how to operate the video feature on iTunes, especially in the realm of uploading things onto iPods, shout me a holla. I'd be much obliged. So yes, playing with Strokey (that's what I named him... cause he's an iPod touch...) has been a fun little distraction to occupy the free time that has again flooded my life.

For those of you keeping up with my musical tastes, I'm still listening to Hilary Duff entirely too much. However, Metamorphosis is now circulating with Mika's "Life in Cartoon Motion," and OKGo's "Oh No." Throw in a little Oasis and a bit more gangsta rap every once in a while, and that's what my ears are digging. I believe I've successfully analogized my musical tastes to that of a licorice jelly bean. A brilliant delicacy to a select few, but to most... just plain awful.

Yesterday was fun. Woke up with a smile on my face after a fun little dream... I've found more and more I'm remembering my dreams when I wake up, which makes me really, really happy. I see it as a great way to psychoanalyze myself. Plus, some of the stuff my subconscious comes up with is just plain entertaining. Had the usual class-load... nothing earth shattering there. One more week of classes = insanity. After class things started to pick up, though. I watched some more Daria/Boston Legal on lappy (a nice change of pace to my dvd collection, which I love dearly, but has become relatively exhausted during my stay here) after class. I was then informed about our "Barton College Dinner," which ended up being a quite hilarious time. In essence, it's caf, but a whole lot better, and with speakers and awards and booze. They had some pretty excellent cheesecake, which I definitely approved of. The food was good, but the company was better-- Erin, Kayla, Karina and Diane made it an interesting two hours. After dinner, we returned to our respective units while making MarioKart references, and I did my part to improve the cumulative musical taste of Australia by sharing my music with Erin. We chatted for a while with Kayla, and I revealed my passion for all things Steve Irwin. I'm talking everything from the representation of Australia in international relations to the Croc Car and the devastating loss of Night Rescue Steve at Hamilton. They were shocked, but not quite appalled. Despite my best efforts, sometimes I can be so American. This was one of those times.

Jake came over just as we were starting to play SingStar, which is Erin's beloved karaoke game. Being the true thug that I am, I opted for "Baby Got Back," and aced it. MC PEK lives on! Jake and I hung out for the remainder of the evening, swapping stories and going on reconnaissance missions. We had every intention of finding something exciting and adventurous to do, but no such luck. Our best attempt lasted about three minutes, when we hunted down Justin through covert facebooking. But that just resulted in sitting in his hallway and talking about everything from porn to polar bears to evading authority and Christmastime reindeer herds. I like Jake; we always have the most interesting conversations. Mostly his stories and me saying "Are you serious?," but it's still immensely entertaining. Having legitimate conversations with Jake, Weasel and Justin proved to be a refreshing change of pace from sitting in front of a computer and/or tv watching television show reruns. We were due to go to the beach today, but considering it's barely 12 degrees, the conditions just aren't in our favor. Some other time, I do hope.

I've amassed a mini-list of things I want to do in the next odd month. It ranges from skydiving to wasting the rest of my DeakinCard money on an evening of debauchery with the herd. I'm pretty excited to have it all manifest. We've got another notable event going on today: our Girls Night Sleepover! I'm pretty pumped about it all. Rach, Diane and I are going to go to the store in an hour and a half or so to get our supplies. I'm told we'll be having dinner, dessert, movies, and drinks. I'm into it. I've also got the task of legitimately planning my study break and final tour trips this weekend. This mandates a trek to the travel office to see if they can give me any insight on how to handle such a matter. Hopefully it won't be too difficult.

In non-Australia notables: GO FLYERS! 8-2 against the Canucks?! Way to go, boys! Ah, I do miss them.

I suppose that's all I've got for you for now. Hopefully I'll have some more stories after the Girls Night, and whatever manifests itself over the weekend. So until then...

+K+

2007-10-09T19:18:00.000+10:00

In the past 48 hours, I've had five cups of coffee, one energy drink, four cups of tea, written about six thousand words in the form of three essays, and gotten about six hours of sleep, none of which occurred in the last 3o hours. Don't you love the end of semesters?

Yes, I know, I have absolutely no right to complain. But I wear my procrastination like a badge... I pride myself in being able to produce quality work under pressure. I'm completely serious when I say that I do my best work hours before an assignment is due. Any earlier than the night before, I can't collect my thoughts and motivate myself to actually get anything worthwhile done. I've tried it, and my writing suffers immensely. Granted, I can hardly see straight now from lack of sleep, but such is life.

Plenty of reasons to smile in Geelong since the last update, though! First thing's first... how cute are the Flyers this year? My boys are 1-1 right now after kicking off the season in Western Canada. Right now, they're team building. Check out the pictures on the website... downright adorable. I can't wait to return to the Wachovia Center and see them in all their not-last-place glory. Bummer about the Phils getting swept, but such is life as a Philadelphia sports fan. Does anyone else find it a bit lame that our baseball team is called the Philadelphia Phillies? Like, couldn't we come up with anything better than the shortened version of our city's name? All of our pro teams have names that seep with history... except the Flyers. Way to go, boys... way to bring some originality to the town. Yeah, these are the thoughts that run through my head after being awake for 3o hours.

Back to Australia. As I promised myself before writing the three aforementioned godforsaken yawn banquets (I made time to do lots of important stuff amidst such dedication to procrastination... in this gangsta nation... yeah, pretty much everything except for productive work in and of itself), I spent most of today seeking out potential travel destinations for both study break and post-semester adventures. I figure it's about time I start looking, so I drew myself up a little map of the South Pacific, figured out what, exactly, I want to do, and had a blast. I've found a pretty sweet deal in going to New Zealand over study break, then heading to the Whitsundays, Brisbane and Fiji after I finish my finals. Ya know, keep the adventure and the relaxation segregated. Separate but equal, mind you.

Other mentionables come in the form of assorted acquisitions. I'm talking DC++, which equates to mucho new jammers and even Boston Legal season three for this kid!! Ah, I watched the "Shirley Schmidt-ho" episode before caf... soo good. Quite sorry I'm missing the start of season four at home, but you know how these things go. I've also acquired a unexplainable new-found passion for the lyrical stylings of Hilary Duff. She's currently rotating on repeat with Mika, my "blood WHAT." collection, and any sort of mash-ups I can find. I offer no explanation for my actions, but I do sincerely apologize to the global community of people with functioning eardrums.

I talked to Sam today, too. Guitar Hero III for the Wii? SIGN ME UP.

I'm sure there are other things worth discussing, but I can't bring them to mind right now. Right now my allegiance lies in staying awake for the next ten minutes, so I can join up with the regulars and get an overdue fix of [H]OUSE. He was being a jerk in the last two episodes, I hope that changes. Also, I found a few candid shots of Hugh Laurie's post-Emmy piano performance, and fell in love. Pssh, like I wasn't in love before. I turned them (and a series of other pictures) into some new desktop backgrounds, and put 'em on facebook in our "The best part of my day is having a cup of tea and watching House" group, if you're interested. All in the name of procrastination, this I promise.

The remainder of the week looks promising. New [H]OUSE tomorrow, quite possibly adventuring "out" for the first time in a long time on Thursday night, Girls Night on Friday, and beach adventures with Jake on Saturday. Gnar gnar!

Alright, awesome, time for House and then maybe, just maybe some sleep. So until I've successfully achieved REM...

+K+

This is what it's come to.

2007-10-06T16:59:00.000+10:00

This is how much I don't want to be doing work right now. Today, I've spent an hour at the gym, took my time making a delicious sandwich, watched an episode of Boston Legal, moaned and complained about work with some of the other kids in my unit, played around on photoshop (but didn't even make anything that worthwhile), and now I'm sitting here with the book in front of me, updating about nothing because nothing's happened, eating frozen raspberries and listening to theme songs.

Right now I'm up to the Beverly Hillbillies. I never even watched the Beverly Hillbillies. The raspberries are alright, though.

Yeah, this week has been immensely boring. Mostly because I've been flat broke, courtesy of the best trip EVER., and I've got a few rather large assignments hanging over my head. Erin just called me out on not doing work. She knocked on my door and asked what I was doing, and it's a bit hard to play off actually doing work when you've got a blog page window open, and the theme song to "Boy Meets World" playing rather loudly in the background. Right.

I'll try to think up something interesting for you, since you're kind enough to stop by the blogspot. Ahh, here's something. I managed to reconnect with one of the dominant figures in my Garnet Valley High School experience via e-mail-- the one and only Lieutenant Commander Trabocco. Mr. Trabocco, if you've googled yourself again and are reading this, it was a pleasure chatting with you.

[H]OUSE season four premiered on Wednesday night. It was pretty excellent. It's strange watching House with commercials. I guess we got spoiled.

I'm growing tired of this four seasons in one day business we've got going on here. I was told I'd be in shorts and a t-shirt come September, and last time I checked my calender, it's October and I've got the heater on. Oh, I know, pity party for the girl in Australia. Again, I spoiled myself with north Queensland's tropical atmosphere. It was totally worth it, though.

Seriously though, I don't have anything else to say. I've got less than a month left at Deakin, I suppose that's worth mentioning. I just want to get these essays out of the way, and then I'll be free of any demanding assignments until after study break. I can get back to doing fun things, like watching too much television without guilt, and planning more adventures. So, that being said, I'm going to get back to my reading and outlining. Wish me luck and send me love.

So, until next time, better watch out for those man-eating jackrabbits, and that killer cacti...

+K+

Woah, hey-e-yay, what can I do?

2007-10-01T23:24:00.000+10:00

Ohh, Saves the Day. It's that spring-to-summer weather we've got over here, I can't help but throw on Through Being Cool. It's pretty much mandatory, I swear.

So, I'm back at the Ponds. Best trip EVER. has concluded. And, by all accounts, it lived up to its name. I suppose I owe it to you to discuss the last two days of adventure before proceeding any further.

Saturday was a day of adventure. The Musketeers decided to split up for the day, each of us wanting to do our own thing. Janis booked a fishing trip, Rach wanted a day to relax, and I, as always, had a thirst for adventure. So, I signed myself up for a mountain biking trek, as mentioned in the previous entry. Woke up early for the seventy billionth day in a row and met the guide, Dan, downstairs at nine. It ended up being just he and I for the day, and he drove the half hour to the mountain. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had the misguided notion that because I had done quite a bit of cycling in the past year, I'd be quite good at mountain biking. Not so much, really. When it said mountain biking, it meant MOUNTAIN BIKING. No roads, pavement, any of that. I was doing my best to keep up with Dan on dirt paths where, if you veered off by a foot, you'd careen down the mountain. It also didn't help that they decided to swap the brakes on me. In all the riding I've ever done, the right brake has been for the back wheel, and the left controls the front. Not on this bike. As you may imagine, this resulted in me slamming on the right brake in an attempt to stop, and going head-first over the handlebars on more than one occasion. It was quite a workout, lots of ups and downs, riding through creeks, getting whacked by thorny bushes throughout the rainforest... but lots of fun as well. Dan was both informative and accommodating to my novice mountain bike skills. He also found it pretty funny that I kept falling off. Ah well. It was a 15 kilometer trek altogether, with a stop in the middle for a swim in the fresh water river. Unbelievably refreshing. We saw a snake, and came across what I would define as an Aussie bushman and his family. More like an Australian guy camping with his girlfriend and her son, but they were bush-enough for me. Hell, they were listening to "Waltzing Matilda."

I was exhausted, dirty, sweaty, and cut up after the mountain bike adventure... but also quite happy. It was another awesome experience I don't think I'd be able to repeat anywhere else. After Dan dropped me back off at Calypso, I took the opportunity to bask in the beautiful afternoon sun by the pool. Went for a bit of a swim, showered, and walked into town in an attempt to find Rachel and/or a bar where I could watch the Grand Final. I came across much of the latter, but not the former. After grabbing a sandwich at a little side shop, I ended up in P.J. O'Brien's (yes, I know, I always find my way to Irish pubs) to watch the second half of the footy. Geelong was already up by quite a bit. I befriended a trio of Irish boys, and for the next two hours, watched Geelong slaughter Port Adelaide over a bottle or two of Magners. It was fantastic. Port got annhiliated 163-44. It wasn't even close. Naturally, this put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. I mean, I'm from Philly... I don't know the meaning of the phrase "championship team."

After watching the celebration, I went for a walk about Cairns, popping in and out of markets and souvenir shops, picking a few things up for the loved ones at home. Watched the sun set, and walked the twelve blocks back to Calpyso with the sweet sounds of Frank and Dean to guide me. Summer nights always put me in the mood for crooners. Chatted with Rach, Janis and our new French roomate when I got back, then went upstairs and crashed relatively early. Woke up at 8:3o on Sunday and finished watching the episode of X-Files that I'd started the night before. Packed up my stuff (I magically fit everything I'd accumulated into my three bags... an impressive feat) and spent the rest of the morning by the pool, doing a bit of writing, a bit of lounging, and a bit of swimming. We bid adieu to beautiful north Queensland just before noon, heading to the airport. Two flights, a taxi, a train and ten hours later, we were back in Geelong. I've grown weary of long travel days like that... especially when it means leaving tropical weather for rainy, chilly Melbourne. But considering the past ten days' events, I don't really have much to complain about.

After arriving back in Geelong, I unpacked all of my things, did my laundry, got a shower, and called the family. Yeah, I slept well last night. Today has been devoted mostly to uploading pictures onto facebook, going to a rather depressing history class on mass murder and genocide, boxing, dining al fresco with Rach at caf, and the usual Monday night television greatness. Ahh, Californication... you are too good to me. For the thousandth time... David Duchovny, why won't you love me?

Other positive notables include the NL Championship of the Phils (ohh, do I miss those close-ups of Chase Utley. Ladies, you're with me on this one, I know it.), the season premier of House on Wednesday, and, for once, Best Buy's cooperation. Yup, because my iPod was nothing but dysfunctional, I'm getting a brand new one. And, even better, it's the new iPod touch! That'll be quite fun to play with, I think.

Ah, I suppose I should link you up to the semester trek pictures, too.

For Sydney shots, czeck this one out:
http://deakinedu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028600&l=e8539&id=17500696

Sydney Aquarium, Brisbane, and Cairns photos are here:
http://deakinedu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028638&l=fb564&id=17500696

And, the album you've all been waiting for... my Australia Zoo pictures:
http://deakinedu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028647&l=57eda&id=17500696

Any comments, questions, or general musings regarding my photographic documentations are greatly appreciated and encouraged. But for now, it's back to the real world for this kid. Which means a bit of reading, but more likely, some X-Files and bed. I'm beat. So until next time...

+K+

Semester Break Stops 2&3: Law, Lounging and Finding Nemo

2007-09-28T23:08:00.000+10:00

G’Day from Cairns, the third and final stop on our best trip EVER. tour. Things have gone well since the last update… although I seriously doubt anything could top Tuesday’s glorious events. I suppose I owe you an update on how things have gone during the rest of the Brisbane trip, as well as our journeys thus far in beautiful North Queensland.

Brisbane was, by all accounts, the highlight of my trip. I think my last update emphasized that quite a bit. Aside from all the glory surrounding the Australia Zoo, we actually didn’t end up doing much of great significance. When we arrived on Monday, Janis, Rach and I headed down to the South Bank, which was a really cute little area about 15 minutes away from our hostel. It was the equivalent of a boardwalk by the river. We spent most of the day walking and lounging, embracing the actual break of our break. Janis and I caught the JetCat ferry that ran up and down the river next to Brisbane. It was a nice way to pass the afternoon, and a good prequel to today’s boating adventure. The highlight of my day was happening upon a grassy knoll-esq area, surrounded by palm trees, laying down and doing a bit of reading and writing. We made some pasta for dinner back at the hostel, and managed our usual Monday night television, catching Idol, Californication and The Office. Good deals.

Tuesday was, of course, the day to end all days. I doubt after last entry you want to hear anything more about my pilgrimage to the Australia Zoo, but let me reiterate one more time… it was absolutely amazing. The true realization of a dream. After the day’s adventure, we toasted Steve over $1o pitchers of Strongbow and a bit of pub quiz. A great way to cap off an even better day.

Wednesday marked our departure from Brisbane. We got up on the earlier side and czeched out of Brisbane Backpackers, catching the bus into the city. We had intentions of going to Surfer’s Paradise, but when we looked up bus and train timetables, it didn’t work out. So, we stuffed our bags in rental lockers and went about exploring the city, looking for something fun to do. What did we come up with? Why, the Brisbane Law Courts, of course! I know, we’re total nerds. Whatever. It was air conditioned, and it was the Supreme Court, and there were suits involved. Need I explain myself further? Well, okay. After talking with the security guard for a bit (we stood out in our tank tops and shorts), we went in search of an ongoing murder trial. A series of locked doors and empty rooms later, we happened upon an assault trial. Things started out slowly, but certainly picked up. We got to see the whole schpeal: judge, jury, evidence, testimonials, even the barristers in their Revolutionary War-era wigs and robes. Quite an event. For anyone looking for free entertainment on a hot day—I highly recommend trial law. Criminal law, if you can get it. Because everything’s more fun when there’s violence involved.

After our stay at the Brisbane Supreme Court, we walked down the street to a backpacker eatery and grabbed lunch. A bit more city exploration followed, and soon enough it was time to head back to the Transit Centre to take our train to the airport. The flight was uneventful; I watched an episode of X-Files to pass the time. Sadly, no interesting travel companions this time around. We caught a cab to Gilligan’s, our Cairns hostel for the first two nights. Gilligan’s is the Four Seasons of hostels. They had a pool (which I opted to take a nighttime swim in) comparable to Fritzopia—a feat in and of itself for a hostel. I spent most of Wednesday night reflecting on Tuesday’s events and being awoken by hostel roommates who have no sense of privacy. In the interest of maintaining the integrity of this blog, I won’t go any further with that.

Thursday was our first full day experiencing Cairns. We got up pretty early to talk to the Gilligan’s travel agent and book ourselves some fun adventures during our four day stay in tropical North Queensland. We opted to embark on Janis’s adventure—Kuranda and the Rainforestation Park. We hopped a $4 van that took us outside the city and up one of the mountains overlooking Cairns. The drive there was actually quite nice… probably because I strategically positioned myself by an open window. When we got to the top of the mountain, it was off to Rainforestation, home to the trifecta of Army Duck Boats, Aboriginal Learning, and Cuddly Koalas. Our first stop on the tour was riding the Army Duck through the rainforest. The scenery reminded me of Fern Gully, and our guide kept everything very interesting. Also, there’s something completely awesome about driving into a large body of water. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s there. After our drive/boat ride, we headed to the theater area, where we saw a series of Aboriginal dances, complete with a live digeridoo soundtrack. The dances were pretty cool to see, and some of them were actually quite funny. Post-show, our Aboriginal experience continued with a more hands-on sort of activity. We got to try our hands at boomerang throwing and digeridoo playing (I was much better at the former than the latter), and witnessed a spear throwing demo. Educational and fun. The wildlife park was our last stop at Rainforestation; nothing compared to the past 72 hours of animal encounters and reflections, but it was still pretty neat. I did, however, befriend a kangaroo who I dubbed “The Ambassador,” and saw a baby koala sleeping with its mum. Cuteness to the third power. At the end of our tour, we had the opportunity to get our pictures holding a koala and a baby crocodile. We all opted for the double package. Holding Walter the koala was completely amazing. He was so adorable. I wanted to steal him. Steve was absolutely right about one thing—if you have the opportunity to get close to animals, it makes you love them and want to save them even more. Holding the baby croc was fun as well… I almost gave him a kiss, but the guy taking the picture was looking at me kindof funny, so I didn’t. Expect to see those pictures on facebook as soon as I can locate a scanner.

And so ended our Rainforestation adventure. We shuttled back to the main area of Kuranda and wandered the markets for a bit before catching the van back. Whence back in Cairns, Rach and I embarked on a money/ice cream and cake/beach journey. I ended up falling asleep at our stop by a makeshift beach. It was quite redeeming. We headed back to Gilligan’s just as it was getting dark, and I had another swim before getting ready for dinner. We opted for a nicer sort of meal Thursday night, dressing up and meeting with Justin to eat at a higher end Indian restaurant. Our level of class rose another degree when we opted for drinks before dinner; I had a strawberry daiquiri, while the other three split a bottle of wine. Dinner was quite good, as was the conversation and the company. It’s nice to be classy sometimes. Didn’t do much after dinner… the adventure of break was starting to creep up on us, we were all asleep before 11.

Today has been another jam-packed day, again, in the best way possible. We were up by 6:3o this morning for an early check out; we had to be at the marina by 8:3o for our Great Barrier Reef scuba/snorkel adventure! Checking in and out of the hostels proved to be a bit more difficult than we originally thought. This mostly had to do with the fact that we grossly misjudged the distance between the two, and ended up walking about seven blocks (with our giant bags, mind you) to Calypso. After a quick check in and bag drop-off, we hailed a taxi and made our way to the waterfront. We only got mildly lost trying to find the info centre, but all was well once we hopped on the ReefQuest and began our day at sea. Ohh, do I love boats.

After a few introductory sessions, we were pretty pumped to find we’d be amongst the first group to scuba. The boat was pretty big, and we were among maybe 4o passengers, 14 of whom were doing their first scuba dive with us. After cruising a while out to sea, we got suited up in our gear and were dangling our feet into the Pacific in no time. I wasn’t sure how I’d handle the whole breathing underwater thing, but I after the initial “this is really weird,” I got used to it pretty quickly. We had three quick mini-lessons about ten feet below the surface, consisting of what to do if we get water in our masks, if we spit out our regulators, or if our regulators get stuck behind us. We faced a few minor setbacks at first—Janis had to abandon us because she wasn’t equalizing with the pressure… then Rachel’s tongue ring came undone (hilarious), and my right ear wouldn’t pop on the way down… but soon enough, Rach and I were exploring the Great Barrier Reef from about 5o feet under water. The scenes we swam through were downright breathtaking. It was exactly like something out of Finding Nemo, no lies. One of the first fish we saw was a four foot long reef shark. Then, our guide pointed out a clownfish living in his anemone home. We saw hundreds of different kinds of fish swimming amongst brilliantly colored coral. Colors I didn’t think existed in nature presented themselves in the form of foot-long rainbow fish. It was absolutely brilliant. Giant clams, angelfish… everything you could imagine would be living in tropical waters. Our scuba time expired after about half an hour under water, and as soon as we resurfaced, I shed my gear and hopped back in for a snorkeling expedition. I came across even more fish that I hadn’t seen while scuba-ing, including five enormous blue fish that were almost as big as me. After an extended stay in the water, chasing random fish and diving whenever I could, I popped up for air and realized I was pretty much halfway back to Cairns, so I snorkeled my way back to the boat. Perfect timing, too; lunch was ready just as I got back on board. I dined atop the rear deck with Janis (Rach wasn’t feeling too well) and we cruised to our next dive location. At this point, my right ear felt like it was going to explode. Damn pressure changes. This didn’t hinder me from entering the water again, though. After all, how many times in ones life does one have the opportunity to explore the world’s largest living organism?

Although tired from my earlier scuba and snorkel sessions, I explored away at the second stop. It offered what I can only describe as the real-life Drop Off from Nemo. All it was missing was a manta ray singing about the zones. More brilliantly colorful fish and coral sightings followed, but the highlight of that dive had to be my encounter with a sea turtle. I spotted him while I was on my back to the boat, about 25-30 feet below me. Naturally, I turned around and opted to follow him instead of keep on track to the boat. As I swam above him, he began to ascend, until he was within arm’s reach of me, swimming maybe a foot below me, and three or four feet away. It was incredible. He began to descend after maybe 2o or 3o seconds of swimming beside me, so I bid him adieu and headed back to the boat. Just before reboarding, I spotted what must’ve been his companion, about 40 feet below, munching on some coral-like vegetation. Needless to say, for those few minutes, I completely forgot about how much my ear ached. Our boat ride back was long but enjoyable. It was incredibly soothing to bask in the ozone-depleted Queensland sun while being cooled by the occasional sea spray. After landing, we made a quick stop at Woolworth’s to pick up much needed soap, and taxied back to Calypso. Showered, compared burns (I’m not bad for once! Score!), and ate dinner downstairs. Since then, I’ve been unwinding in my bottom bunk, admiring the Pocahontas bed sheets the front desk gave me, watching X-Files, and writing this. And now that I’ve fully recapped the past five days, I think it’s time I get some sleep. I’m going mountain biking tomorrow morning in the Cairns rainforest. I’m told there will be waterfalls and a swimming cove involved… count me in! Then, the Grand Final in the afternoon. Geelong vs. Adelaide… GO CATS! If Geelong wins, the city’s going to be much more fun when we get back. I’m pumped about it. This will likely be my last entry until my return to Waurn Ponds, so let me say that thus far, best trip EVER. has definitely lived up to its name. It’s been chock-a-block full of adventure, but also incredibly soothing at times. So, unless I find the time to update between now and Sunday night… cheers from Queensland!

+K+

The Pilgrimage

2007-09-27T00:10:00.000+10:00

There aren’t words.

How can you even begin to describe what it’s like realizing a dream? You can’t. I’ve tried; believe me, in the past twenty four hours I’ve tried my damndest to comprehend a means of conveying to you, or even to myself, what yesterday was truly like. And believe me, as someone who considers herself to be relatively good with words… I’ve hit a wall on this one. But, I’ll try. I owe it to you. After all, having the opportunity to visit the Australia Zoo is the definitive reason why I’m on this continent to begin with.

The events began at 8:oo yesterday morning. Rach woke me up from my top bunk at Brisbane Backpackers, and I donned my pre-planned outfit of “He Changed Our World” Steve Irwin Memorial T-Shirt, brown skirt, green tank top, and orange flippers. We were downstairs by 8:3o, and within ten minutes, our transportation had arrived. Chris (of Croc Connections) was our guide—a gentleman who had worked for the Zoo for about two years before branching off and starting his own Zoo-related business. He knew Steve personally, so when we hopped into his bus (complete with a big picture of Steve and a snake on the side), I made sure to sit up front and drill him with questions. We drove through Brisbane to pick up some more Zoo patrons, and Chris and I went back and forth talking about Steve and the Zoo. He had some new insight for me, such as the fact that Steve didn’t drink because he was crazy enough without any outside stimulants, as well as some other bits of information I’d already known through my years of Croc Hunter devotion. Chris was impressed with my repertoire of Steve knowledge, as well as my awesome shirt and response to his question “So, are you excited for the zoo?,” which was (appropriately), “I’ve waited six years for this day.” Well, it’s true.

After we had a full busload of people, we departed north from Brisbane city towards the Glasshouse Mountains. Chris put on the “Steve’s Story” biography special for the bulk of the ride. I’d seen it already, of course, but it was a nice way to pass the drive. My excitement level jumped from “six year old in a candy store” to “inmate about to leave prison after a thirty year sentence” when we turned on to “Steve Irwin Way,” the road housing the Australia Zoo. My forehead was plastered to the glass as we drove passed signs indicating “10 km to the Australia Zoo” and billboards featuring Bindi and the Zoo’s latest attractions. As we turned into the parking lot at 1o:2o, I couldn’t hold back an ever-growing grin, knowing I was about to experience my hero’s life’s work first hand.

I was in a state of shock when the time came to exit the bus. I remember walking through the main gate, into the zoo, and just feeling numb. I’m relatively sure my mouth was gaping open, and when Janis and Rachel asked me where we should go first, I think I squeaked out some sort of answer about following Chris’s suggestion and heading towards the morning elephant feeding. I had no idea what to expect going into the Zoo. I know I’d seen it more times than I can count on television, but part of the allure was not knowing how everything would look in person. As we stood amidst the ever-growing crowd waiting for the elephants to arrive, I stared around, completely in awe that I was finally at Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. The three girls arrived while I was still in my stupor, and the crowd continued to grow in turn. We didn’t get the chance to feed the elephants first-hand because of the mob of Zoo patrons, but with the entrance of Steve’s favorite ellies came the reemergence of my ability to produce any sort of cognitive thought. I suggested to Janis and Rach that we head further into the Zoo to ensure we had good seats for the 11:oo Wildlife Warriors show. So, off we went, further into the depths of the Zoo. After walking past innumerable tempting souvenir opportunities, I turned the corner to find what was arguably Steve’s greatest project at the Zoo—the Crocoseum.

Entering the Crocoseum was like a religious experience for me. I’m completely serious… the emotions I felt walking into the 5,ooo seat arena can only be compared to how devout Catholics must feel when they visit the Vatican, or the sensation that overwhelms Muslims when they finally reach Mecca. Chills ran through my body as I wandered, open-mouthed through the Crocoseum, finally realizing Steve’s dream in person. I sat down just above where the crocs came out and silently watched the various Animal Planet clips playing on the jumbotron, doing my best to take everything in. The show started soon enough, with a silly opening act featuring a dancing gorilla. The two hosts of the show came out next; I was only minorly dismayed to not recognize either of them from television. The first portion of the three-act show featured snakes. They pulled a guy out of the crowd, asked him a few questions, wrapped a snake around him, then simulated a snake bite. They finished off by tossing him in the water, which got a laugh from everyone. Birds were the main feature of the second act. The level of training those birds had was amazing. The Crocoseum, for those who don’t know, is an open arena, structured much like Rome’s Colliseum. The Zoo Crew had the birds flying all around the Crocoseum, perfectly obeying every command. A few flew so close to my face that I felt the wind from their flapping wings. The bird show was all fine and lovely, I promise, but the part that followed was probably the highlight of my completely stunning day: the croc feeding demonstration. When they introduced the morning’s star croc, I was pretty excited to find that I knew him—it was none other than Mean Murry! Seeing the Zoo Crew mimic Steve’s trademark moves, feeding the crocs while teaching the audience messages of conservation was unbelievable. For someone who has followed the Crocodile Hunter for over six years now, it was so redeeming to finally have the opportunity to experience it live in the park he created.

After the show ended, we headed out the back exit to watch Murry return to his enclosure. His neighbors were the likes of Graham and Bindi—true Crocodile Hunter stars. The whole set up was brilliant… I made sure to thoroughly document it thoroughly, check facebook sometime in the next week to see for yourself. At this point, my inner five-year-old took over, and I lost Janis and Rachel in the crowd while trying to catch a glimpse at the behind-the-scenes Crocoseum crew. Following the swell of the post-show crowd, I left the Crocoseum to continue my adventure and exploration. I first came across the Crocodile Hunter Museum, a work in progress. It was chock-a-block full of Steve pictures, newspaper and magazine articles, and memorabilia. They even had a sturdier version of my life-sized cut out of Steve, and a replica Croc Car that visitors could hop in. My initial predictions on my reaction to the Zoo manifested themselves when I came across the memorial area. The long line of khaki shirts signed by friends and fans hanging beside poems, hand-crafted items and pictures was overwhelming. I’d seen it on television, but again, it doesn’t do it justice. I started to cry as I walked through, reading the tributes and coming to the realization that, although I had made it over ten thousand miles, I would never have the opportunity to meet the man himself and thank him for everything he’d done for me and the world. But although his memorial was a pretty prominent aspect of the Zoo, the atmosphere was not at all one of mourning or loss. It was as if he was still alive, still out catching crocs, wrangling snakes, and teaching kids across the world about the importance of conservation. I suppose, in a sense, he still is through the Zoo itself. His legacy will survive as long as the Australia Zoo is up and running. I know that’s how I felt walking through… it was like I was a part of Steve’s life in simply being there. It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before.

I managed to compose myself after touring the memorial, and embarked on a full-on walk about the Zoo. I saw koalas, cassowaries, dingoes, Tazzy devils, tortoises, wombats (I even got to pet one!), and of course, crocs. The croc enclosures themselves were another completely surreal experience. I can’t count the amount of times I’d seen Steve hop the fence of an enclosure and muck around with Agro, Acco, Charlie, or any of the other crocs. Seeing them first hand was fantastic. I managed to find Janis and Rach again while walking through the venomous snake house. Australia’s top venomous snakes were well-represented, from the incredibly dangerous Fierce to the gorgeous Red-Bellied Black Snake. We headed to the far corner of the park after that, walking through a beautiful rainforest bird enclosure, and stopping along the way to pet a few kangaroos. When we reached “East Asia,” I was reminded why the Australia Zoo is highly regarded as one of the best zoos in the world. The décor surrounding the area was unbelievably ornate, with Hindu statues and enormous fountains in and around the elephant and tiger enclosures. We walked about the wetlands after that, checking out the emus (still scary), swans, and other birds. Having finished that section, we had seen basically everything the Zoo had to offer. So, we spent some more time examining the Croc Hunter Museum in more depth, taking lots of pictures, and hanging out by the big crocs. I contemplated sacrificing myself to Agro, but decided it’s not what Steve would have wanted. That, and I wanted to be able to document this all before any impending apex predator-related death.

At this point, time was beginning to wind down, so I began my quest for the ultimate Australia Zoo souvenir… okay, souvenirS. I started off by getting my picture with Steve at Ayres Rock. Sure, it’s not exactly real par say… but it is completely amazing, and authentic! I can’t wait to go home, frame it, and hang it up next to my autographed picture of Steve from Collision Course. I wandered around a bit more by myself before purchasing anything else, spending a decent amount of time just sitting in the Crocoseum, taking it all in. I couldn’t get enough of it. Being there was truly like being a part of Steve’s dream. I got the chills every time I thought about the fact that I was actually at Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo, and my late hero had somehow touched everything I was experiencing. Time was truly dwindling at this point, so I made a bee-line back to the gift shop and started my purchasing. I ended up spending about $175 on Australia Zoo apparel, altogether. I say that without any nuance of regret, either, because I know every cent I give to the Zoo goes right back into helping conservation and improving their facilities. My keepsakes range from Crocodile Hunter postcards to a DVD to a mug to patches and a magnet and even an authentic Australia Zoo crocodile, among others. I was already a few minutes late for the bus in insisting on squeezing every last second of Australia Zoo greatness out of my day, but I waited a bit longer to sign the Visitor’s Log. After thanking the Zoo for allowing me to fulfill one of my greatest life’s dreams, I ran outside and grabbed one more quick picture in front of the giant Australia Zoo sign. I jumped back on the idling Croc Connections bus, with two bags of souvenirs, an unshakable smile plastered on my face, and a head full of irreplaceable memories. Chris gave us one last mini-tour of some more behind-the-scenes Zoo things that most people wouldn’t get, and the time came for me to bid adieu to the Australia Zoo. It was a day I’ll never, ever forget.

And now, a day after it’s happened, I’m still riding on the high of my inaugural visit to the Australia Zoo. I cannot emphasize enough how amazing it was to finally pay homage to my hero, and visit the place that he dedicated his life to. In a sense, it was like I was visiting Steve himself. Either way, 25 September 2oo7 will forever go down in the Kirstin Schoeninger Record Books as epic.

I think there’s only one thing left to say… “CROCS RULE!”

+K+

Semester Trek Stage One: Trains, Not Trains and Sydney Shenanigans

2007-09-24T11:22:00.000+10:00

G’Day from Brisbane!! I report to you in the heat of best trip EVER., in what has become our first real moment of downtime. No lies, we’ve been going full-on since our Melbourne departure on Thursday night. What a fiasco that was. Allow me to elaborate.

So, Rachel, Janis and I began our adventure Thursday night when Kiri kindly drove us to the Geelong train station. No worries there. We hopped the train to Southern Cross without difficulty; I spent most of my time making a delicious new playlist (which I’m currently listening to). Arrive: Southern Cross. We swap platforms and board the XPT to Sydney within 2o minutes. To my dismay, the train’s chock-a-block. Little did I know this would be the least of my worries.

The train leaves on time, which is more than I could say for my last train trek to Sydney. So I’m eating my sandwich, doing my thing, when about five minutes into the trip, the train stops. Nothing to worry about, trains do this from time to time. But see… it doesn’t start back up. We sit there, no announcements, no choo-chooing of the train, for a good 45 minutes. Awesome, right? Great start to our trek, hah. So then, the conductor dude comes on the PA and tells us that the engine broke, and they’re either going to attempt to fix it, or bus us to Sydney. I’m thinking neither of these options are looking too stellar, but whatever. Another hour or so passes, and suddenly we’re moving backwards. Back to Southern Cross. To catch a bus for the eleven hour drive to Sydney. Now, if you know me at all, you know that long bus rides and I do not get along, even a little bit. So things aren’t exactly looking spectacular. But, fortunately, things didn’t end up being all that horrible. Amidst the trek, we befriended a guy named Duane, stuffed ourselves in lockers, ate chocolate and saw probably the clearest sky I’ve ever seen while driving through the sticks of Victoria. Also, I can now officially say that I’ve visited an Australian truck stop. Got a cup of tea and a Dixie ice cream cup, too. And, due to a few smart choices, we ended up each getting two seats to ourselves on the coach. Bonus points for sprawling out and sleeping. We ended up in Sydney at about 1o:3o and czeched in to wake up! without difficulty. I got to see Wil right away, which was also a good deal. So after a rocky start, the Sydney adventures began.

We met up with Justin first, who had done the smart thing in flying in that morning. I demonstrated my Sydney prowess in guiding us to Circular Quay, where we grabbed some breakky at a café just off the harbour. Thumbs up for turkey sandwiches, I’ve grown quite fond. Then, it was over towards the Opera House. On the way, we passed Minus 5, the ice bar, and decided to stop in for an afternoon cocktail. It’s pretty intense, if not a super touristy, overpriced thing to do. They give you gloves, a parka, and a free drink with the price of admission. Everything in the bar is made of ice… the walls, tables, chairs, glasses… it’s a pretty awesome sight. You’re only allowed in for 3o minutes, but by the end of the half hour, you’re freezing anyway. I snapped a few covert photos, and we suckered ourselves into splitting the picture package. Good deals, expect to see them on facebook soon.

After unthawing, we walked to the Opera House, where Justin, Janis and Rach booked a tour. I opted to pass, having seen the Opera House about a month ago. Instead, I spent a little over two hours walking through the Botanical Gardens, taking pictures, writing, and marveling at the idea of such natural beauty living in such close proximity to the city. For you Philly folk, it was like having Longwood Gardens with the city skyline right behind it. Gorgeous. I opted to join some of the sunbathers and took a nap on the grass by the harbour. It was immensely soothing. After rendezvousing back with the other kids, we wandered around the Quay a bit, and headed towards the bridge. We had intentions of climbing the Pilons, but it was closed. By the time we got back off the bridge, it was just about dark, so we made our way back towards the hostel. Popped in and out of a few stores along the way, and after a flawed attempt at catching up with one of my dad’s co-workers, we opted to make pasta and pesto for dinner. I suppose all of Rachel’s food supplies were of use, hah. We showered and got dressed in an attempt to go out (and, essentially, pick up suits), but after losing Janis and remembering the footy game was on, Rach and I ended up staying at wake up! and watching Geelong play Collingwood. They won, which means they’re going to the Grand Final, which means Geelong is probably peeing itself right now. Could it be? Could a team from my town win a championship? As a native Philadelphian, I am unfamiliar with this feeling. I’ll try not to get used to it.

Saturday was our full day of adventure in Sydney. We started off going to Paddy’s Market, which is like an enormous Booth’s Corners, except with Australian stuff. It was pretty excellent. I invested in a carry on-sized suitcase for $2o, which I ended up carrying around the better part of Sydney for the next nine hours. It happens. From there, we wandered around Darling Harbour for a bit, playing on the playgrounds and in the fountains, and then it was back to Circular Quay to hop the ferry to Manly. It was a bit of a trek to get there, but the ferry ride was quite nice. Saturday’s weather wasn’t the best, but we were relatively determined to get to the beach. Plus, it was unbelievably entertaining watching the sailboats tip over in the harbour. Ah, schadenfreude is a beautiful thing, eh? Manly was fun. We spent most of our time sitting by the beach, just chatting and making fun of Rachel. It was deserved-- she tried to argue with me that clouds don’t move, we move. Sure, Rach, maybe that’s how it works in England. We got some excellent ice cream after a few hours on the beach, and caught the ferry back just in time to see the sunset over the Harbour Bridge. We hung out in Starbucks for a bit after getting back to Sydney, then walked back to wake up!. Tried and failed (again) to grab dinner with my dad’s co-worker, and ended up scrapping the whole eating thing and going down to sidebar for the Oktoberfest party. Rach and Janis had steins of Beck’s, while I stuck to Strongbow. Busted out some insanely ridiculous dance moves with Wil until about 3, and then crashed. Long day, but quite a bit of fun.

Woke up yesterday and czeched out of wake up! by 10, then began our last day’s adventure in Sydney. We made our way back to Paddy’s to grab some breakky, then we were off to Darling Harbour for the day. It was ridiculous; there were two festivals going on, and it was a completely gorgeous day… not a cloud in the sky. Heaps and heaps of people milling about, a great day for people watching. We happened upon a play area that had a bungee trampoline area, and Rach and I couldn’t dare to pass it up. I mastered the double backflip. Excellent. From there, we made our way down to the Aquarium, a Sydney staple. Wandered through there for a while… it was super cool, but I liked Melbourne’s better. But then again, Sydney did have seals, and a whole lot more Nemo paraphernalia. We stuck around Darling for a while after the aquarium trip to get some lunch and enjoy the weather and the atmosphere. I got my lunch from a place called "The Silly Sausage." Jealous much? It was surprisingly tasty, though. After an extended waterfront stay, we reckoned it was time to get back to wake up! to collect our belongings and get to the train station. Stopped at Coles to grab some supplies for tea on the train, and said our farewells to Sydney. Enter train adventure numero dos.

So, you thought the first train ride was more like a train wreck, right? Well, the second one was almost equally as ridiculous, but not necessarily in the bad way. More like the "I love the fact that completely random things always happen to me" way. When we first boarded the train, I was a bit dismayed to find that I was the only one who had someone seated next to them—Janis and Rach were on their own, while I was next to a gentleman who was pretty much Crocodile Dundee at the age of 7o. The apprehension heightened when a CountryLink official came up to Janis and Rach, and told them that they were bumped to first class. Yes, that’s first class for my two travel buddies, but not me. They were told that the people they were due to sit next to were, I believe the term was "undesirables," who they didn’t think younger girls should be sitting next to. This left me with a fourteen hour journey next to my new friend Crocodile Dundee Barney. With such a journey at hand, Barney and I struck up a conversation. He had countless stories of travel and adventure, heaps of advice and words of wisdom, and one-liners that rivaled my Pop-Pop’s. My favorite Barney-ism had to be when he pulled out his box of KFC and, after offering me some (which I declined), said "I never used to eat chicken." I replied, "Why’s that?" And he said "Because it’s fowl." Brilliant. So, the train’s chugging along, we’re chatting, Barney is eating chicken and drinking VB, and the conductor comes over to check our tickets. I present mine, he initials it. Barney hands over his, and the conductor informs him that he’s in the wrong seat. He’s supposed to be sitting a row back and to the left—where Janis was supposed to be sitting. In essence, he was one of the "undesirables." Except now he’s my train buddy, who I’ve been talking to for the last two hours. Right. So, Barney moves, and I have the two seats to myself. I begin writing a bit in my travel journal, and within half an hour, Barney is back next to me to chat some more. Hilarious. We talk a bit more, and the conductor asks him to move again, because the woman behind me sitting next to the other undesirable was supposed to be next to me. Sadly, this ended the Barney/Kirsty chronicles. The remainder of the train trek was uneventful. I slept awkwardly, ate a bit of my turkey, bread and dip, and listened to some jams.

We arrived on time in Brisbane at 6:3o, and after a bit of wandering, we were picked up by the Brisbane Backpackers. We had some breakky a bit earlier… three cheers for Cocoa Krispies! And now we’re just hanging out, finally having a second to breathe. I think we’re heading to the beach in a bit, apparently it’s only a 2o minute walk. And at seven this morning, I was fine walking around in shorts and a hoodie, so I’m thinking it’s going to be a downright gorgeous day to be by the shore. I’m digging it. We’re looking for a low-key sort of day today, I’m thinking, considering what’s in store for tomorrow. That’s right… THE AUSTRALIA ZOO!!!! AHH I cannot believe it’s this close. We booked our trip this morning. A guy who used to work for Steve is our driver, and he’ll be picking us up at 8:45, where we’ll take the scenic route to the Glasshouse Mountains. And then… six hours of pure joy at the one and only Australia Zoo. I’m going to cry so hard, and it’s going to be so bloody amazing. But for now, I think I’m going to get my relax on in beautiful southern Queensland. So until next time, until post-Zoo time, until I’ve crossed off another life goal… later days!

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eeee!!

2007-09-20T00:22:00.000+10:00

BREAK STARTS TOMORROW!!!
AND Janis found House seasons three on the network!!
AND I, Scully, will be in Sydney in less than 3o hours!!!
AND AT THE AUSTRALIA ZOO IN LESS THAN A WEEK!!!

SEEYA, SUCKAS! I'm off to EXPLORE THE EAST COAST OF AUSTRALIA (well, once I finish tomorrow's classes... but still... justified reasoning for USING ALL CAPS IN EXCITEMENT!!)!!!

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But I can't remember the sound that you found for me...

2007-09-18T01:11:00.001+10:00

Virtue the cat explains her departure. The song-sequel to Plea from a cat named Virtue. I. Bow.

But you didn't come here to hear about my awkwardly awesome taste in music. Nay. You want to hear about Australia!

Unfortunately, I don't have anything all that exciting for you regarding the Land Down Under. I do have some other notables, though, if you're interested. Like, for instance, I'M LEAVING FOR BREAK IN LESS THAN 65 HOURS!!!!!

I am so, so, so pumped about break. Returning to Sydney will be the best thing to happen to me in the month of September. That is, until we up and go to Brisbane three days later. Apparently while in Sydney, I'm going to be meeting and dining with one of my Dad's colleagues who's there for a dragon boat race. Intensely awesome. I've also got a trip to the Ice Bar and Lenin Bar, some more Manly Beach action, a walk through the Botanical Gardens, and a reunion with Wil to look forward to. Then, Sunday night, I will embark to my third-visited Australian province and TUESDAY I'M GOING TO THE ZOO!!!!! Seriously though? This is how much of a dork I am: last night, I had a dream about Steve and the zoo. I've been waiting for this for at least six years now. If I make it past the 25th, we'll be off to Cairns where we're splitting our time between Gilligan's and Calypso, scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, hanging out with koalas, and basking in the great North Australian sun. Sounds completely badass, if you ask me. So yeah, forgive me if Geelong's rainy cold isn't cutting it right now. But I can't wait to leave Victoria for sunnier climates.

Other exciting news of late comes in the form of released exam schedules. Good news: I have only two exams to take. Bad news: I have exactly one month of Deakin University education left. Good news: I also have a ten day study break spanning 19-29 of October. Bad news: I have nothing to do during said week. Good news: I might go to Tasmania and/or Antarctica (if I can figure it out) with Jake. Bad news: well, I guess there isn't any bad news. It ends with that. House, anyone, Bueller? Didn't think so. Yeah, I'm still obsessed. It's cool. But if anyone wants to buy me the third season and send it on over... well, by all means, go ahead.

But back to all this free time I'll be having once I finish all my work. Because between mid-semester break, which starts Thursday, and study week, I have four assignments due. This may not seem like a whole lot, but consider the fact that I've only had four assignments due in the two months of school I've had thus far, and you may change your mind. Oh well. Long story short (too late): like it or not, I'm almost done school. But, I've got plenty of opportunity for travel now. Wanderlust on, mon.

Other notables from the past few days include (but are not limited to): Bended Elbow birthday dinner for Jess, the start of a lit paper on conspiracy culture and paranoia (!), boxing class, Walk the Line, the last PR lecture (sad, no more Ross to start my week off the right way...), House-In-A-Tux (aka the Emmys aka I Heart Television and Suits EHHH), new jams courtesy of the British kid, and a general rediscovery of the joy of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I'm averaging one a day for either breakfast or lunch. Yum.

Tomorrow's the day off. I have constructed plans of history research (Regan's foreign policy. Fun?), Pizza Hut shenanigans with the Evatt 2 kids for Erin's birthday, a trip into Geelong, and the possible screening of the newest Bourne movie with Jake. Should be a good time, I'm thinking. But considering I've been up since eight, and it is now past two, I shall be going. Expect another update consisting mostly of expressions of jubilance before best trip EVER. gets underway. Now, though, Frank & Dean are going to sing me to sleep as I dream sweet dreams of the Australia Zoo and House's cane. Until next time...

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Hey, could you refill my Yahtzee shaker? Hit the sippy cup too. Danke.

2007-09-14T12:34:00.002+10:00

Ohh, Jim Gaffigan. It's been too long since I've listened to you.

As promised, I deliver to you, faithful readers, a post-Turtle update. I'm pleased to say that the evening was a stunning success. I knew the night wouldn't disappoint when Diane, Rach and I walked to the bottle shop, and they had six-packs of Strongbow for $14. Cheaper than Carlton, and not all that far off from the price of a sixer of Woodchuck in the city. Love it. By the time six o'clock rolled around, we were pretty much in full costume. For me, it was a long sleeve green shirt, black shorts, orange flip flops, an orange band around both knees and elbows, as well as one around my eyes. We all had matching belts, with our distinguishing letter on the "buckle" part, weapons correlating with our characters, and completely badass shells. Mine was made out of a rubbish bin lid, painted brown, and attached with strings. Oh, and we were painted green, head to toe. I thought we made a pretty excellent trio. Check us out:

I was voted "Most Turtle Like" of the crew. We took a bunch of pictures, most of which can be found on facebook. Overall, an excellent experience. I cannot stress how greatly I want American culture to adapt the Australian idea of dressing up in theme and partying. We're boring, in comparison. We just sit around and drink. Sometimes we go out and drink. Over here, we get dressed up and drink... and that element of being in character, or simply preparing a ridiculous outfit that will be culturally accepted, because hey, everyone else is dressed up too... well, that's just spectacular, in my eyes. I don't know, maybe it's because I don't want to let go of my childhood quite yet, but I find theme parties to be extremely entertaining.

Highlights of the evening included (but were not limited to): climbing the tree, the Spartans (in all their ridiculousness), Evatt 1 Dance Party, Spice Girl sing-a-longs, and the general fact that we spent the better part of five hours dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and drinking. Only in Australia.

Since the party, not much has been up, really. Class times four yesterday. I was relieved to find that 4/4 classes weren't excruciating. Not so relieved to find a mysterious, egg-shaped ailment on my arm. But after consulting some other kids and Dr. Sam, I quit worrying.

Yesterday was gorgeous weather, though. I had breakfast beside the pond between history and PR while listening to The Black Keys... it was fantastic. Went to the gym for a bit, and spent most of caf talking to Jake about New Zealand, adventures, politics and psychology. Always a good time. Two more episodes of House last night with the regulars. Halfway through the first episode, I decided to play the new and improved House Drinking Game with the two Strongbow's I had left. Love it.

And now... today. Haven't really done much of anything yet today. I suppose I should go start up my lit and history papers, or at least get some research done. You know how it goes. I'm really going to try to commit to getting at least the research aspect of my work done before next week. I've got to do something to occupy my time, because all I can think about is BREAK! Can you blame me? In one week, I'll be back in Sydney. And in eleven days, I'll be at the AUSTRALIA ZOO. Yeah, so I need something to do instead of just sitting around, being anxious. Might as well be productive, I suppose.

That being said, I'm going to put the Backstreet Boys on my iPod and dance my way to the library. Until next time... jam on 'cause Backstreet's got it!

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2007-09-11T19:07:00.001+10:00

Hello children.

All's well, if not a bit chilly, in Geelong. I had another pretty uneventful weekend, but not without its own merits. Let's rewind.

Friday, oh Friday. Friday marked a day of neglecting my Australia Today paper, finalizing some costume ideas, going food shopping with Diane and Rachel, phoning home, and devising a rather brilliant House MD drinking game. Rach, Janis, Diane and I united that evening with what has become the customary weekend group dinner. We took what we'd acquired during our food shopping trip and made some pretty delicious chicken fajitas, capped off with dessert provided by Janis, and two boxes of goon (because we're classy). Four episodes of House season two followed, but unfortunately the sub-plot of the House and Stacey love affair spoiled most of the fun of the drinking game. We still had a good time, though. Hell, it's always a good time when House and booze are involved.

Saturday merited a trip into town for a decent part of the day. Janis, Rach and I went to Market Square and the surrounding areas to find things for our respective costumes. Rach is crashing our unit function, because two Ninja Turtles isn't allowed, and although we don't have the standard four heroes in a halfshell, three will have to work. Nobody ever really liked Donatello anyway. I invested in a green shirt, some orange fabric ('cause I'm Michaelangelo), material for a belt, a set of nunchucks, and a mango/raspberry smoothie. All in all, a successful trip. Came back to campus and parted ways for a bit. Mucked around on photoshop, because I love photoshop, and an hour and a half later, I'd come up with a rather delicious new background for my computer. Czech it:

Yeah, he's the love of my life right now. You know, you know. Reunited with the Musketeers, made a delicious sandwich for dinner, and watched Now & Then, because it's a brilliant movie. Hadn't quite filled our movie fix, so Rachel picked out Friday Night Lights afterwards. I'd never seen it before. My review of the movie is as follows: the only good thing about it was the Explosions in the Sky-esq soundtrack. It also reconfirmed my dislike for the state of Texas. Sorry Liz.

By the time Sunday rolled around, it was past time for me to get my butt in gear with this paper. With the motivating factor of our lecturer saying he "didn't think anyone would get above an 80," I spent the better part of the day researching the ins and outs of the social and economic impact of footy on Australian life. Finished the whole kit and kaboodle a bit after 4 AM, with copious breaks and prologued procrastination including (but not limited to): an episode of House, cleaning of my room, the creation of a new (and ever so delicious) playlist, and several google image searches of "Dr. House," "Greg House," and "House MD." Yeah, it's cool, I'm well aware of the level of my obsessions.

After Sunday's commitment to productivity, I wasn't entirely thrilled about the fact that Monday started off completely terribly. The internet had gone down on campus, and the computers in the Arts building (that I so desperately needed to finalize my paper) had a vendetta against me. I skinned my knee after completely biting it in a failed attempt at jumping off a ledge, and it was pretty damn cold. Luckily, though, I had the luxury of getting the godforsaken paper submitted by the 9 AM deadline and going back to sleep for the better part of the day. Woke up in time for history at 2, and experienced a combination of amusement, disgust, boredom and elation throughout its ninety minute span. Made a few last-minute corrections on my PR assignment and submitted it, e-mailed Sam, and watched an episode of the X-Files. I'm up to season two. Can't wait for M&S to be reunited in the basement... with her in Quantico and him in Behavioral Sciences, it's seriously hindering the MSR shippy-ness I'm used to. Seriously though? More people need to watch this show. Boxing was in the PM with the British kid. I really do enjoy boxing class... it's a great workout, and it's really, really fun throwing punches. Caf after boxing, and then the brilliance that is Monday night television. I watched another episode of X (and revealed my penchant for shouting at the computer/television while viewing Chris Carter's finest works) while Janis, Rach and Diane watched Idol and Law and Order. Then... Californication!! That show is fantastic, really. David Duchovny still wounds me, even though Mulder and Hank Moody are drastically different characters. We watched two rather excellent episodes of House after Californication, and then most of Ghostbusters 2. Love it.

Today hasn't really been anything too special. I spent a lot of the day in the library checking out books for my upcoming children's lit and history papers. Watched The Lion King for lit tomorrow... I forgot how amazing that movie is. Quite excellent, and worth revisiting if you haven't lately. After librarytime, I wandered down the hill to Bunnings to get some last-minute features for my turtle costume. I was attacked by a bird on the way. We were warned that, around this time of year, some of the local birds get all crazy and try to swoop down on you. This happened to me three times on my walk. You'd think it wouldn't be that bad... I mean, they're just birds. But it's scary, trust me. During my walk/iPod jam session back up the hill, I found it incredibly ironic/awesome that, at the crescendo of "November Rain," it began to rain. So badass. By the time I got back, it was time for caf, and now, here I am. We've got resi sports tonite-- dodgeball! So it's time I get ready for that. More House, costume design and xgoodtimesx later on tonite. I'll report back post-Turtle Time. Should have some good pictures, too. So until then...

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2007-09-06T23:33:00.001+10:00

So, pretty much right after I wrote that last post, I popped in the Steve Irwin Memorial Tribute dvd that my cousin gave me for Christmas last year, and bawled my eyes out for an hour. Don't feel bad... I'm well aware of how pathetic I am, and it was actually somewhat redeeming. I haven't had a good cry in quite some time. That dvd gets me every time, though. Without fail. I can't even make it past the menu screen without choking up.

But, enough of the sentimentality. That happens once a harvest moon cycle for me. Or something like that. I suppose I've been up to quite a bit since my last recap. The weekend was pretty uneventful... mostly Rach, Janis, Diane and myself watching House compulsively. We have an addiction. It's not a problem, but it's an addiction. Just like House's relationship with Vicodin. More on that later, probably. Aside from our addiction to House, I can't think of a single notable from the past weekend. I walked to the store and back, but that's not particularly exciting. Things picked up a bit on Monday with the start of the school week, boxing in the evening, and the second episode of Californication. BRILLIANCE. Still, nothing overtly thrilling, though. I suppose Tuesday's events made up for the lack of anything from Thursday to Monday. Rach and I spent the day in Melbourne, it was a blast.

We started our adventures sometime around 1o:3o, which placed our arrival in Melbourne city centre right at the business lunch hour. What impeccable timing. Rach had to get her visa stamped, so I spent two hours doing what I do best-- following random suits around. I'm a total creep, and if I was anything other than a smaller, innocent-looking white girl, I'd probably be suspected of something. Lucky for me, nobody ever suspects the random American girl walking through the city with a smirk plastered on her face. Rach and I met up in front of the ACMI building right by Federation Square. We decided to check out the ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), and it ended up being some pretty fascinating stuff. They were celebrating the 25th anniversary of Pixar, and they had a whole bunch of sketches, molds, and displays on Toy Story, Cars, The Incredibles, A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo, among other smaller projects. It was pretty awesome. After spending a few hours there, we made our way downtown a bit, and decided to take a wander through the aquarium. I wasn't entirely impressed with it... until we got to the bottom level. There was an ENORMOUS tank, including a few tunnel-like areas that you could walk through, featuring some pretty incredible fish. I saw gigantic rays, really fat sharks, and schools upon schools of fish, all coexisting peacefully. Something about being surrounded by pristine, blue water, and countless animals moving majestically about was incredibly soothing. Seeing all sorts of underwater wildlife made me incredibly pumped for our spring break trip and scuba diving in Cairns. It'll be a reality in less than three weeks!

After exiting the aquarium, Rach and I decided it was past due time that we indulge in our second favorite (only to House) past time-- eating cake. We headed across the bridge to the Crown Casino, and discussed the finer points of business attire while enjoying the Crown's finest cakes and coffee. Brilliant. After cake, it was back to Geelong in time for our nightly dose of House with Janis and Diane.

Yesterday wasn't entirely exciting. Lit class proved my American prowess and capitalist mentality. Kindof funny. I was also pleased to find the network stopped hating on me, thus allowing me to search lots of new, fun music. Currently digging: "Catch My Disease" by Ben Lee, "Grace Kelly" by MIKA, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones (House and Californication reference, ehhh!), and all of the Josh Ritter I've had on my computer for years now. They all come highly recommended, and are currently circulating through a delicious new playlist I created last night. Mmm, there are few things greater than a perfectly crafted playlist to reflect your mood.

Today hasn't necessarily been anything special, either. I suppose it could be justified that everyday I spend in Australia is special, but I'm just not in that mindset right now. Four hours of class, three cups of tea, two new library books, and a partridge in a pear tree... or, an episode of House. You know how it goes. The highlight of the day was probably either finding out about our unit function next Wednesday, or, more appropriately, my creation of the new facebook group "The best part of my day is having a cup of tea and watching House." Like I said, addicted. But the details on our unit function is more fun to talk about... or at the very least, more fun for you to hear about. The theme? Superheroes! I've got to come up with something awesome. I'm leaning towards Ninja Turtles with Diane right now, but nothing's set in stone. I briefly considered Muscular Beaver (an Angry Beavers reference... personally, one of my favorite superheroes), but I don't really want to spend the evening explaining my costume to people. Either way, we'll be heading into Geelong sometime this weekend to get our costumes together. I'm pretty pumped for it.

I'm scheduled to have a paper due tomorrow for Australia Today, but our tut lecturer told us we didn't have to have it in until Monday. So, given my penchant for not getting anything done, ever... I won't be starting it tonite. I'm going to try to work on it for the bulk of tomorrow, really I am. Yeah, I'm about as good at faking sincerity as I am getting work done. We'll see, I'm not ruling anything out quite yet.

I suppose that's all I've got for you for now. Hopefully the weekend will bring some fun new adventures. Perhaps a night out, a day of shopping, something eventful. I'll keep you updated accordingly. So until next time, thanks for reading!

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RIP, Steve-o

2007-09-04T23:18:00.000+10:00

Today is the one year anniversary of my hero's untimely death. I feel this is worth mentioning for a series of reasons. First, and most obviously, he was Australian. Probably the most recognizable Aussie in the States. Before I came here, I was of the impression that most Australians thought he was something of a "wanker" (wikipedia it); a guy who pushed the Australian stereotype on other cultures and misrepresented the country. But to my relief, every time I brought the subject up, most of the kids I talked to weren't of that opinion. Although they did see him as a bit of a dork, almost everyone said they respected what he'd done for wildlife conservation and Australia. And it's true. In the area of conservation, no one has done anything remotely close to what Steve had accomplished in his 44 years, and I seriously doubt anyone ever will. In simply following his life through his television shows for five years before his death, I can honestly say that he changed my life. I started watching the Crocodile Hunter shows when I was about fifteen, and I was instantly hooked. I fell hard for the Australian accent, the love for animals, and the overall rugged, I-don't-care-if-you-whack-me-on-the-arm; I'm-still-going-to-muck-with-you mentality. Sure, it was funny watching Steve wrestle crocs and get tagged by snakes, but I found myself learning quite a bit along the way. I gained a much greater sense of respect for the less than cuddly animals that Steve loved most. I suppose I'm a product of exactly what he wanted: conservation through education.

His death last year hit me hard. Here was a man who had changed my life by instilling his energy and passion for all walks of life into me, and I would never get the opportunity to meet him, shake his hand, and thank him for everything he'd done. I bawled during the entirety of his memorial service, and at every subsequent mention of his legacy, I start to choke up. He's a big reason why I'm here right now; I wrote a rather heartwrenching essay on his impact on my life as a part of my study abroad application. I know it makes me completely cheesy, and a complete American about it all, but I loved Steve, and I genuinely regarded him as my hero. I loved his passion, his energy, his enthusiasm, his khaki shorts... everything about him. I still wear my "Wildlife Warriors" bracelet every day, and, at the age of 21, I'm not ashamed to flaunt my action figure or don my "He Changed Our World" t-shirt. I can't wait to visit his zoo and finally have the opportunity to see, first hand, everything he's created, and the world he lived in.

Before I got on the plane to come to Australia, the last thing my Dad said to me was "If anyone ever tells you dreams can't come true... tell them they're wrong." I knew what he said was true, and I'd like to think I owe a lot of that to the memory of Steve Irwin. Because with Steve, it wasn't about incorporating the word "crikey" into my vocabulary, trying to top-jaw rope my dog, bringing my life-size cardboard cut out to school, or even expanding my knowledge and appreciation for wildlife. It was about the passion. Sure, I spent a significant part of my later teenage years learning about salt water crocs, spitting cobras and sand goanas; but the lesson that has stayed with me the most has been to instill a sense of passion into whatever it is I'm doing. For that, he's impacted my life far more than many people I see on a regular basis. For that, I wish I could thank him.

One year later, I still miss you, mate.

I LOVE MY LIFE.

2007-08-31T12:11:00.001+10:00

Ahhhh hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

I'm on the frontpage of the Flyers website for being in Australia. Check it:

http://flyers.nhl.com

AMAZING.

Aside from that, I suppose I have a few other things worth reporting. Yesterday was our field trip to the Aboriginal Culture Centre, Narana. I wasn't really sure what to think of it on the way there; we hadn't really learned all that much about Aboriginal culture, aside from some stuff about terra nulus, or the theory that Australia was an empty continent when it was first settled by the British in 1788, as well as some pretty heart wrenching stuff about the Stolen Generation. This was basically the period of time spanning the better part of the 20th century when the Australian government tried to "weed out" the half-castes, or half-white, half-Aboriginal kids. They went to Aboriginal communities and took the children from their families, and brought them to "civilization" in an attempt to force them to behave like white Australians. So yeah, I suppose it's not all Vegemite and kangaroos over here-- every culture has its dark side. But in an attempt not to get all political and preachy and start thrusting my own political beliefs on you, I'll go back to talking about the cultural centre.

We started off by talking with a guy named Norm, who was an active member of the local Aboriginal community. It was relatively boring at first, but then he started talking about hunting and the initiation ceremonies for different communities. Pretty fascinating stuff. He concluded his session by playing the digeridoo for us. AWESOME. Yeah, Alicia's interpretations in high school weren't entirely off. I found it to be excellent, though. After our little presentation, he took us a bit further around the centre, where we were offered a snack consisting of smoke emu and bread made from grass-- both considered Aboriginal delicacies. In the spirit of adventure, I tried both. The smoked emu was pretty gross, not gonna lie. But the bread wasn't bad, especially with a bit of jelly on it. We finished up our snacks, then headed outside to check out some boomerang action. I gave it a shot... not entirely terrible for my first try! It came back a few meters away from where I threw it. The technique is entirely different from what I thought it would be, but it's pretty amazing when you see someone who knows what they're doing throw it successfully. After our field trip, we returned back to campus and I hopped to the gym for a bit. A sub-par caf followed, then some bothering of a hungover British kid, and the start of our HOUSE marathon! SO pumped about it. We watched the first three episodes, while consuming lots of tea and chocolate. Tonite shall bring more, once Janis is done work. It was pretty nice getting a full night's sleep for the first time in a week last night.

And then, today, I woke up to an e-mail from my dad, informing me of the Flyers website business. Love it, love it, LOVE IT! Haven't really done much since then... I finished up the X-Files episode I started last night, and now I think I'll try and catch up on some of the reading I neglected while in Sydney. It's pretty violently windy out. I think I'll be okay staying cooped up in Evatt 2, listening to Frank, Dean and Sammy, and reading away. So, that's all I've got for you for now. Until next time...

+K+

2007-08-30T12:44:00.000+10:00

I MISS SYDNEY.

Yes, it was that good. To provide further proof, here's some photos from my excursion:
http://deakinedu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027017&l=c0ee5&id=17500696

Check 'em out, comment away if you so desire. Just thought I'd give a quick update to link up the photos, nothing new has really gone down since the last massive update. I did, however, get my first Aussie grade-- HD! I was pretty proud. For those unfamiliar, HD stands for High Distinction, and HD's are few and far between Down Under. Good deals. I've got an excursion for AusToday class in about an hour, then the usual caf and Thursday night ridiculousness. I think Janis, Rach and I are starting our HOUSE marathon. Pumped about it. Until then, I think I'm going to take some music down to the Ponds and have a bit of lunch. Today's a beautiful day for some easy listening and a picnic. So until next time... enjoy the pictures!

+K+

Adventures in Sydney

2007-08-29T16:17:00.000+10:00

Well hello there! Yes, I am still alive. Contrary to popular belief, against all odds and throwing skepticism to the wind... I have successfully made it to Sydney and back, completely on my own, and in one piece. It was one of the greatest adventures I've ever had... and for any of you who know me even remotely well, this is certainly saying something. So, without further adieu, I feel it is my sworn duty to uphold the integrity of this blog, and update you on what I've been up to for the past week or so. Get comfy, faithful readers... this is going to be a long one.

I suppose the whole ordeal began early last week, when I made the conscious decision to book myself a trip to Sydney. Not knowing anything other than how I was getting there and how I was returning, I was pretty sure it was going to be a ridiculous time. What I was unsure of was if such a journey would fall under the "ridiculously good" category, or the "ridiculously bad" one. I am more than pleased to say that it was a million times the former. After a relatively uneventful week, I was pretty pumped and a bit nervous to embark on my overnight train to Sydney Central Station on Thursday night. Things were off to a bit of a rocky start at first-- I ended up missing the bus I was going to take to get to the Geelong station. Luckily, I've got lots of good people who've got my back here in Evatt 2, and Eliza kindly drove me to the station. This ended up being a blessing in disguise-- I didn't have to wait around the station for 45 minutes to catch the train, which gave me time to update Diane's iPod (which she kindly let me borrow for my adventure... again, I've got peeps who've got my back, yo!) a bit further and relax before the train. So, I made it to the Geelong station, and it was an hour's trek to Southern Cross in Melbourne. Hopped off one train, and onto the next in the span of about a half hour. Southern Cross introduced me to one of the most delicious advertisements I've come across (and would come across about another thousand times in the next handful of days) in quite some time-- the new CALIFORNICATION ad, picturing David Duchovny looking all suave and handsome in a convertible. Ehhhhh. But more on that later.

The train ride to Sydney was surprisingly uneventful. I managed to sleep a decent amount... I got lucky, there wasn't anyone sitting next to me, so I could stretch out a bit. We ended up being delayed outside the city for about an hour and a half, which put my arrival time at about 8 AM. So, I stumbled off the train, and began wandering. At this point, I was still a bit tired and more than a bit hungry, so I went in search of a cafe. Found a delicious $5 breakky right across the street from the station, which was exactly what I'd been hoping for. I've found a new love in butter and jelly toast. From there, I began my search for a place to stay. Wandered a few blocks around the greater Central Station area, and came across quite a few hostels. I ended up going with a place called wake up!, which ended up being probably the best decision I made while in Sydney. Checked in, dropped off my clothes in my new eight-share, seventh floor dorm, and headed back downstairs to embark on a free tour of the Sydney beaches that the hostel was hosting. This also ended up being a fantastic decision. On the bus ride, I befriended our tour guide, Wil. We bonded over the X-Files and music during the drive there, it was excellent. Oh, might I also take this time to make note of the brilliant idea I had during my train ride to Sydney. I decided that, throughout my adventures in Sydney, I would introduce myself as 'Scully' to everyone I met. I cannot tell you how fun this was for me. And if anyone happens to be reading this who I spoke with, please don't be angry with me. To be fair, there are a few people who do call me Scully... just not everyone. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that for the past six days, I've been Scully. Gregor, if you're reading this-- get jealous.

But back to the adventures. Our arrival spot was Coogee Beach. Pretty nice, but nothing overly exciting. I got lunch at a cafe with Wil and a few of the other kids on the tour-- Sarah from Wales, Shane from England, Sebastian from Holland, and a few others. Soon enough, we were off on our tour. It was a six kilometer walk; highlights included climbing things I shouldn't be climbing (what else is new, really), some pretty excellent rock formations, Jimmy the homeless guy who lives on the rocks at Bondi, and chatting with Wil and the rest of the kids. We ended up in Bondi Beach, which is probably the most famous Sydney beach. We just beat the rain back to Bondi, which was a definite bonus, despite the fact that we were given wake up! ponchos before we left. We had to split the group up for the bus trip back, and Wil and I continued our bonding over piercings and awesome body mods. A+ for that. Upon returning to the hostel, we were awarded with a free drink at sidebar. Canyousay free Strongbow?! YES! More bonus points were awarded to wake up! for the video juke box they had. I requested "November Rain," and it was as glorious as always. GnR = amazement.

Two pints of Strongbow later, I headed up to my room and met the kids I'd be hanging out with for the next few days. They were all from either England or Ireland, hilarious, and ridiculous as all hell. Ducked back out shortly after, and met up with Shane and Sarah for dinner. We wandered a bit down the street from the hostel, and ended up eating at a Pasta and Pizza place. Pretty tasty, and good company as well. Shane's got a pretty insane/awesome thing going on... he's been working on special/CGI effects for movies like Harry Potter, but now he's on his way to New Zealand to train to be a skydiving instructor. Insane. Didn't do much after dinner... it had been a long 48 hours. Day one in Sydney: in the books.

Saturday was probably the most adventurous day I had during my trek. Got up early and met with Shane and Sarah at 9-ish to walk down to the Opera House. It was a walk I would become quite familiar with in the next few days. Made it to Circular Quay a little before 9:30... we were scheduled for the 9:30 tour, but ended up missing it. No worries, though, this gave us time for breakfast. We ate at a little cafe just off of Circular Quay. I got pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries, which basically equates to a puddle of maple syrup with two pancakes marinating in it. Whatever, it was still pretty tasty. We were off to the Opera House soon after breakky. It really is spectacular. Took some pictures outside of the Harbour Bridge, and commenced our tour. The inside is pretty insane... definitely the coolest architecture I've seen in a long time. I didn't realize that it's actually two buildings. The coolest part was probably the symphony orchestra hall. It's amazing. I wish I had the money/time to see a concert there. After finishing up at the Opera House, we decided to walk through Circular Quay to the Harbour Bridge. After getting mildly lost on our way, we made it to the Pilon, which $9 later, we had climbed. It offered a stunning view of Sydney city, as well as the Opera House and Darling Harbour. Pretty amazing, and waaay cheaper than doing the actual bridge climb (~$179, plus souvenir photos you feel obligated to buy). Spent a good half hour up there admiring the view (I could've stayed all day if they would've let me), then climbed back down and walked across the bridge to check out Luna Park. Shane made a pretty excellent observation that the face in front of Luna Park looks like an evil Thomas the Tank Engine. It's even more creepy up close. The whole place has an eerie, haunted carnival/Coney Island feel to it. Weird. So, after wandering there a bit, we headed back up to the market that was under the bridge. I had a delicious kebob sandwich and mango smoothie, and we went made our way back across the bridge. After crossing the harbour, we advanced to the Rocks and checked out some of the shops there. Came upon a pretty amazing little bar that I've decided merits Rach, Janis and my return next month. The bathrooms there are also worth mentioning-- hose-type things suspended from the ceiling to wash your hands, as well as pods for urinals. Love it. Parted ways with Shane and Sarah shortly thereafter to do some further exploring of the Rocks (they were headed to Sydney Tower). Went in and out of a few stores, and ended up in the Museum of Contemporary Art for about a half hour. Not all that neat, but maybe I just don't understand contemporary art. After that, I walked back over to the Opera House, where I sat on the steps and watched the sunset over the Harbour Bridge. Breathtaking. Made my way back to wake up! after that, just in time to come across the businessman rush from the business district to the ferries. Yum. Stopped by an internet cafe for a bit, then came back to wake up!. Got a quick shower, and then it was time for wake up!'s Swedish-themed party. Amazing. The aforementioned crazy roomies were dressed in Swedish flags, with the head crazy all suited up as Bjon Bjorg (probably butchered that spelling, my apologies). The party was a blast-- I ended up getting third place in the limbo competition, doing a bit of dancing, and a bit more Strongbow consumption. Good company and good times, overall. Needless to say, by the time 2:3o rolled around, I was completely exhausted.

A full day's adventure on Saturday certainly didn't hinder Sunday's journeys, though. I met up with Sarah around 9:3o, where we hopped the train to Blacktown to check out the Featherdale Wildlife Park. Sydney transit systems are heaps better than Geelong and Melbourne's. It was a pretty neat train ride there, what with the double decker trains and all. The 4o minute trek there was well worth it, though. Featherdale was AWESOME! All of your stereotypical Aussie animals were represented, plus an awesome area where you could pet wallabies, kangaroos, and koalas!! Ahh, I got so many good pictures, including one insanely scary one of an emu about to bite off my hand. Ridiculous. But yes, I can officially say that I've pet a koala, hugged a kangaroo, held a blue-tongued lizard, and confronted my fear of large, flightless birds. They still scare me, though. Being at Featherdale just got me really, really excited for Brisbane and the Australia Zoo. After a thorough investigation of the park, Sarah and I made our way back to Sydney, where we met up with Shane for an evening adventure of Circular Quay. It's equally as beautiful at night. Sydney really reminds me of a mix of Philly and Chicago. Much more than Melbourne does, at least. I could definitely see myself living there. We wandered around the Harbour area for a few hours, then walked down George Street to check out some new sights. It was an earlier-ish night to bed on Sunday after the past three days' ridiculousness.

Monday was, simply put, amazing. I had decided at some point on Sunday to dedicate Monday to either cycling or surfing. The Aussie side of me opted for the latter. So, I got up at about 7:3o to try and get on one of the surf school day trips, but the travel place wasn't open until nine. So, it was off to Central Cafe for another tasty $5 breakky and some serious suit oogling. Ahh, I'm such a creep. Made my way back to wake up! just in time for the travel desk to open, and I found a pretty excellent deal for the Manley Surf School. Soon after confirming an 11:oo session, I made my way down to Circular Quay and caught the Manly ferry. What a great ride that was. Upon arriving in Manley, I headed for the beach, and walked along the boardwalk-equivalent to get to surf school. I ended up meeting a family from Philly while waiting to hit the water! Excellence. Got suited up in a wetsuit and rasher, and after a short intro-to-surfing lesson, hit the waves. Ahh, the waves in Manly are quite a bit bigger than those in Lorne! I got tossed a few times, not gonna lie. But, by the end of the lesson, I was pretty much standing up on every wave. Sweet surf, brah! The funniest thing had to be when I got completely wrecked by a massive wave, though. I was on the board, paddling towards shore trying to catch this seven or eight foot wave, and I look ahead, and the surf instructor is giving me the waving arms not-a-good-wave-to-catch-if-you-like-air-instead-of-water-in-your-lungs gesture, but it was too late. Ker-SMASH! No worries, though, made it up okay. Overall, the instructors were pretty impressed with my improvement. Score one for the mildly not awful surfer girl. It was a gorgeous day in Manly, so after shedding my wetsuit, I laid on the beach for a decent while, working on my tan. Grabbed some lunch at a local fast food place, and headed back to the ferry after popping in and out of a few stores. The ferry ride back was so enjoyable, I decided to repeat it. Ahh, I love boats! Stayed on from Manley to Sydney back to Manley and again to Sydney. Tres enjoyable. I had an equally enjoyable walk back to wake up!, courtesy of the 5-6:oo departure of Sydney businessmen. I. Love. Suits. Hung out and read for a bit after I got back and showered, and soon enough it was time for the much-awaited premiere of CALIFORNICATION!! AH this show is the new love of my life. David Duchovny, you wound me with your wit and libido. Fantastic. Can't wait for next Monday's episode. And, as I mentioned before, LOVING those bus stop ads all over the place. I slept pretty soundly after another exhausting day of surfing and adventure.

Tuesday brought forth my last full day in Sydney. Sad. I got quite attached to the place during my five and a half day stay. I'd love to live there, no doubts. Wil was hosting another tour during the day, this time of Sydney city. I opted to join in, even though I'd seen a good deal. It ended up being an excellent decision, because we ended up touring more parts of Sydney that I hadn't seen than those I had. We checked out a few markets, walked through Darling Harbour, had lunch on the steps of the Opera House, and wandered through the Botanical Gardens and Hyde Park. It was a tad warm for another day full of walking-- about the same temperature as it was on the beach at Manley (hard to believe this is winter...), but it was still an enjoyable tour. After making our way back to wake up!, we enjoyed our free round, and I opted to head back down to Hyde Park to do some reading and chilling. Was a very relaxing way to spend the later part of the afternoon. Oogled some more suits during my stay at the Park, then headed back to wake up! to participate in Pub Quiz night. I joined Team Croc (consisting of me, an English couple, a German couple, and a guy from Switzerland). We were pretty respectable participants. I ended up winning a free breakfast because I knew who the Prime Minister of Australia was, and, as a group, we took the fourth round by storm (despite a faulty Empire Records question that drove me up a wall for a good five minutes, haha). Had dinner at sidebar, and stuck around to hang out with Wil and listen to the acoustic guitar set until about 12:3o. Wandered back upstairs, only to find Pirates III playing on the tv. Naturally, I watched. Didn't make it all the way through, though, and I was back on the seventh floor for a final night's rest after a short while. Did I mention the view I had? Amazing. Especially at night. I was on the top bunk, right next to the window, overlooking Central Station. It was incredibly soothing watching cars pass and the overall serenity encompassing watching a city function from a few stories up.

Ahh, this leads us to today. Woke up earlier (check out's at ten), packed up all my stuff, and checked out. Redeemed my free (delicious) breakfast at sidebar cafe, said bye to Wil, and it was off to the train station. Uneventful and easy trek from the train station to the airport, and then the flight back to Melbourne. I was the only person on the shuttle bus back to Geelong, hah. No worries, though. Made it back here at about 2:3o, and I've been catching up with people, wandering around, unpacking, doing laundry, and writing this damn thing since then. My apologies for the length of it all-- but I felt you'd want to know about Sydney. After all, that is what this blog is all about.

Some parting shots on Sydney before I head off to caf: I loved it there. As I mentioned before, I can honestly see myself living in that city. There's so much to do, and it reminds me of home so much. I like it better than Melbourne, and as I'm sure you can tell by my detailed adventures, I had a blast and a half while I was there. Met some really cool people, and I'm immensely pumped to return to wake up! in less than a month for best trip ever with Janis and Rach. But, if I type any longer, I reckon I'll have carpel tunnel, and I'm sure you'll need glasses for staring at the computer screen for too long. That being said, Sydney rules, and mad props if you made it this far. I'm off to caf, so until next time...

+K+...er.... +Scully+

2007-08-20T16:59:00.001+10:00

G'Day G'Day G'Day!

Fun things to update you on, dear friends. Well, at least I think they're fun, and writing is going to keep me awake for the next half hour or so, so I don't fall asleep and miss boxing for the sixth time in a row, so... yeah. Let's rewind to the weekend.

Pretty low-key goings on this weekend. Stayed on campus for the entire time, save a mini-trek to Waurn Ponds to ship my busted iPod and pick up some groceries. I think I left off with Friday afternoon... hah, ohh, the fun we had on Friday night. Rachel was complaining that we never visit her in her unit, so Janis and I wandered over to watch what we thought would be Minority Report. After a series of insults and the conclusion that Minority Report was boring and hard to follow with commercials, we opted to czech out Diane's newly acquired dvd collection that she so generously let us borrow before trekking off to Tasmania (among other places). So, the task was given to me to choose our evening's entertainment. I selected a handful of movies, including a one Corporate Fantasy, which I had never seen or heard of before, but selected on title alone. Because we all know how I am when it comes to adult entertainment. And if we don't all know, we do now. So, after much debate and a failed attempt at watching S.W.A.T., Janis hands me Corporate Fantasy. I'll pause a second, and let you IMDB it if you so choose.

*Cough*

So... we ended up watching that with Kwangu, Rach's RA. Immediately after, I felt the need to continue the evening (with the support of my peers, don't look at me like that) with the inaugural screening of Pirates. That movie is so good. Edward is amazing. Janis thought it was hilarious, Rach was scarred for life, Kwangu got scared away after the second scene, and Mel, Rach's Aussie roomate, loved it. Certainly an evening for the books... all in all, five-ish hours of quality entertainment. Needless to say, my position as resident perv of the group is beyond solidified. I'm okay with that. (Sidenote: I'm working really, really hard at not using any double entendres or loaded language right now.)

Saturday wasn't nearly as, er... exciting (hey, I made it four words). I spent most of the day hanging around Evatt 2 reading my novel for lit class. Got about 200 pages into it. It's pretty intense for young adult fiction, I like it. Then, it was group dinnertime with Janis and Rach. Rachel and I have taken to arguing and insulting each other at every possible moment. Makes for a fun atmosphere when I'm the head chef and she's my assistant. We baked a cake, while Janis made a delicious dinner of pasta, homemade sauce and Naked Chef meatballs. Mmm. We hung out for a bit, indulged in our dinner and dessert, then met up with the rest of the internationals for a mini-party in one of the Gordons. I spent most of the time watching some intense beer pong action, and talking to Jake about politics, ideology and the faults of the human race. I'm pretty sure carrying on intellectual discussions at parties makes me a nerd, but I had fun. Don't hate.

Post-gathering, Rach, Janis and I returned to Evatt 2 to watch some more House. We're addicted. We only watched two episodes, though, in an attempt to stretch out season one as long as possible. Not to worry, though. In a moment of weakness, I bought seasons one and two off of Amazon late Saturday night. Oops. Oh well, it happens. After they left, I called Sam and talked to her for a little bit. Excellence, as per usual.

Sunday, yesterday, ahh what a long day. Hung out for a while doing homework. Ov called me for the first time, which made me pretty happy. We chatted, and I finished up my PR reading and went to the gym. Came back and worked really hard on not working on my history essay. The topic? A detailed analysis and comparison of Margaret Thatcher and David Reynolds' respective dissertations on neo-liberal policies in the early 1980's. You asked. It was only 1,000 words, but as we all know, I am a master of procrastination. Thorough and elaborate mucking around ensued, including watching the final two episodes of House (damn you, House... you're too adorable), playing some serious computerized pinball, and listening to 'Reunion Tour' on repeat. All in all, I wrapped up at about four thirty. I'm awful. But, in my honest opinion, it turned out quite well. Let's hope it measures up to Aussie standards. I couldn't fall asleep after I'd finished my essay, though... probably had something to do with that green tea and coffee I drank after midnight... so I watched some Clone High an X-Files to cap off the evening. For those of you keeping track, I'm still on season one, but up to disc five. Still amazing.

Today has treated me well thus far. PR was lovely as usual. Handed in my essay at the Arts building after only minor difficulties, and chatted with a few people. But the major event of the day hasn't been class or turning essays, nay. I made the executive decision amongst the committee of me, myself and I to travel to Sydney this weekend. See, I have no lit class next week, so I basically have off from Friday until Wednesday, not counting lectures on Monday, which are pretty much optional at this point, because everything is provided for you online. This, in my opinion, mandates an adventure. The fun part about all this is I'm likely to be doing my traveling alone. Pretty pumped about it. It's been a while since I've gone gung-ho introvert... this should do it for me. But Heather told me that there's a number of kids who travel on their own and hang out in hostels, so if I do feel the need for some sort of companionship, I'll be a-ok. Still, I'm rather looking forward to having six days all to my own to explore Sydney and shake this ever-growing wanderlust. Here's to hoping my levels of self-sufficiency are as adequate as I believe them to be.

Nothing else worth noting, really. We talked about Commies in history today, which made me want to watch Dr. Strangelove. What a great movie. It also resurrected my tendency to write English words in Cyrillic. And now, after a nice cup of tea and two Tim-Tam's, I'm about ready to head to the gym for boxing. Caf after that, then an evening of glorious Monday night television. So until next time....

+K+

Can someone clarify why there's no structured narriative

2007-08-17T14:02:00.000+10:00

No neat storyline to explain
Wish on everything
Pray that she remains proud and strange
And so hopelessly hopeful

Funny, cause i was just going to write a postcard, and it is raining here again. I suppose you have to be a Weakerthans fan to understand that reference, but oh well. If you're not, I've got a boatload of reasons why you should join the Church of John K. At the very top of that list is the fact that 'Reunion Tour', the much-awaited new album by said glorious band, has leaked on the internet, and this little traveler has gotten her hands on it. Listening to it the first time was like a religious experience. I cannot praise this band enough; everything from the bass lines to the lyrics... oh crikey those lyrics... hands down, my favorite band. Not gonna lie, I'm a little bummed that I'm going to miss them when they come to Philly in September, but I will be seeing Ben Lee and Spearhead around that same time, so... I guess that kindof makes up for it.

Not too much new, aside from the aforementioned musical brilliance. I have become addicted to HOUSE. Ohhh Dr. House, your angry, witty remarks, your addiction to pain killers, your limp, your ingenious solutions to one-in-a-million problems... I love it. Rach, Janis and I watched eight episodes of it last night on dvd. Oops? I can't help it, when I start to watch a show, I get really, really, ridiculously into it. Hey, it was cheaper than going out and spending mad dollas on booze. Healthier, too. I think tonite we're watching Minority Report or something like that, and tomorrow is arts and crafts and cake day. Pumped about it! We're working on not spending a whole lot of money this weekend. Ya know, save up for the big trip, which is about a month away!! Ahh, I cannot wait.

Err, what else. My family sent me a package! A pirate t-shirt from the Bahamas. Glad to know they've accepted who I am... a 21 year old girl with a borderline-unhealthy affinity for pirating. YARG.

I've got the urge sing, shower, shop for relatively unnecessary but fun things, and drink Bailey's and coffee. I think I'm going to go take care of one and two, then head off for three in order to accomplish four. Looks like the sky cleared up, too. Bonus points.

So, until next time...

+K+

2007-08-15T15:48:00.000+10:00

Standing on the corner of sixth and time for an update. Ohh, the Old 97's. Too good.

Well, we've got some good news and some mediocre news for you today, folks. Good news is I'm on the slow road to recovery. I don't sound nearly as Anne the Mannish as I did over the weekend. I'll take that as a victory. I spent most of yesterday trying to kick the remainder of said virus by walking around downtown Geelong. It being a Tuesday, which equates to no class for this kid, I took it upon myself to catch the bus into the city and do a bit of exploring. I was probably Ponce de Leon in a past life, or something like that. I really do genuinely enjoy exploring things. Anywho, into Geelong I went. Wandered around Market Square a while, invested in some lozenges, envelopes and colored pencils, then got myself a bit lost walking around. I've found that's the only real way to get acquainted with somewhere--- to just walk around until you're lost, then find your way back. Worked for me. After popping in and out of a few stores, I wandered down to the waterfront and hung out by the carousel for a stay, writing in my little black notebook and listening to sweet jams, courtesy of the Hip Hizzle. Unfortunately, this only lasted for a bit... my iPod decided to go kaputskies on me. This fares under the "mediocre news" category. Mediocre, because although I have no portable music device, it means if I send it back to the States, as per Best Buy's repair policy, I'm going to get a brand new iPod this time around. I'll take it. It's just a minor thorn in my side for now, what, with nothing to listen to when I'm out and about. We'll see what comes of it all.

Other notables from the past few days include ascertaining a "What's Your X-Files IQ?" book from the local Geelong Salvo (oh, I'm going to have fun with that one), cultivating another television addiction (I'm looking at you, Dr. Gregory House. Oh goo.), rediscovering previous online journals from high school and my freshman year at RPI (I was an insightful little twirp.), and beautiful, beautiful weather. I love this time of year, the winter-into-spring sort. Not gonna lie, though... I can't wait for it to be warm enough to swim. I'll be on the beach seven days a week.

I suppose that's all I've got for you for now. Send me mail and e-mail and comments. Give me something to occupy my time amongst my varied misdoings, adventures, and photoshop projects. History reading beckons. I must finish before spin bike/caf/coloring/HOUSE tonite with the Musketeers. So until next time... au revior, mes amis.

+K+

When life gives you lemons, you clone those lemons... and make superlemons.

2007-08-12T21:25:00.001+10:00

Ah, the infamous words of Cinnamon J. Scudworth, principal of Clone High. This was the lesson I learned over the weekend at Warrnambool. Well, sortof. More like a combination of that, and the fact that sometimes the best adventures you have are the ones you'd never expect. The weekend was nothing like what I thought, hoped, or expected it to be. But despite our many failures throughout most of the trip, I can honestly say I still had a good time.

We started out on a pretty good (if not early) note, gathering at the bus stop just before eight to catch a cab to the train station. Our cab driver felt the need to drive at a normal pace for the entire time, until we got into the parking lot of the station, where he transformed into Dale flipping Dale Junior. Fair enough. No problems getting on the train, and it was only about a two hour trek to Warrnambool. Basically as soon as we arrived, it started to rain. Hard. And not the nice little Geelong rain showers, no, this sucker lasted all day. This required some improvisation on our part, considering we'd intended on spending most of the day outside looking for whales and picnicking and all that good stuff. Janis had promised me an opportunity to get ice cream on Thursday night, so we went in search of a dry place to eat our lunch, or an ice cream shop. We found both.

In a cumulative stroke of genius, we decided to strike a bargain with the lone employee of the ice cream shop. I was nominated spokesperson. I told him we'd buy ice cream from him, if he'd let us eat our picnic lunch first. An accord was reached, and we dined in style next to a mural of a koala surfing. Afterwards, we kept to our word, and each got what was some of the most delicious ice cream I've ever had. I had a cowboy sundae, which was hokey pokey and macadamia nut ice cream, with whipped cream, hot fudge and one of those coffee sticks with the chocolate in the middle in it, topped off with a marshmallow. It was everything I'd hoped it would be, as far as ice cream experiences go.

From there, we wandered around town for a bit, trying to find something to do. We decided on go-carts, something we'd seen in the brochures we were looking at over lunch. A siren should've gone off when we saw it was located conveniently in the Warrnambool Industrial Estate. However, this bit of knowledge did not dismay us, and we hailed a cab to take us to Shed 13. After nearly wrecking a moped, the cabbie dropped us off in Shadyville, Australia, aka Warrnambool Industrial Estate. We were skeptical, but decided to check it out anyway. We were better off walking in the rain; go-carting would cost $10 for five minutes, plus a two dollar fee for getting a license. The consensus was that our money would be better spent on beer, so we made a quick exit from the Shed and began walking back toward the main road. Immediately after walking out the door, we were encountered by a very large dog with an even larger collar. Fortunately, he was friendly. Probably can't say the same for the neighbors of Shed 13, the United Rebels, who flew not one, not two, but three Confederate flags outside their wonderful establishment. We decided we were better off hitchhiking back to town than asking them for help, so... we did. However, this was also met with failure. Apparently no one was interested in picking up four foreign chicks, walking in the rain in the middle of an industrial park. This resulted in us seeking shelter under the Destiny Church (aka the Christian Cult of Warrnambool... the windows were blacked out) and resorting to calling a cab. Eventually, we made it back to the main street and made the executive decision to go to the pub, a place we knew wouldn't let us down.

A few minutes and a pint of cider later, I know I was feeling more comfortable with our surroundings, if not a bit ill. I'd managed to catch round two of the death plague, and was coughing up a lung every two seconds. Fortunately for us, though, the bartender was intrigued by the group of girls with accents, and kindly lit a fire for us in the fireplace. We then proceeded to sit in the snook (bit of Irish Pub trivia... it seems like Kildare's is always with me somehow) and have arts and crafts time by coloring the newspaper. I left and wandered a bit to try and find a pharmacy to acquire some cough medicine, but apparently everything in Warrnambool closes at four on Saturday. How utterly inconvenient. We ended up hanging out at the pub for about three or four hours, then walking up the street to grab some dinner. The group agreed on Chinese, and four orders of fried rice, one pot of weirdo tea and a very confused Aussie waiter later, dinner commenced. Not to bad. Post-dinner we headed back to the pub where we hung out in front of the fire for four more hours. Might I mention that none of us were drunk during this; as wonderful as Irish pubs are in Australia, they're damn expensive. This only added to the hilarity that we spent about eight hours in the pub yesterday. Good times. My own personal highlight was asking the bartender if they served any Irish coffees, and his saying no, but if I went across the street and bought a cup of coffee, he'd pour a shot of Bailey's into it for me. Needless to say, it was delicious.

We were joined at the pub by Katelyn and some of her Aussie buddies at about nine, and we hung out for a bit longer before heading down the street to another club. They had a pretty amazing one-man-band playing sweet, sweet blues music (digeridoo included). I was entranced. We only stayed there for a bit, though. Exhaustion had set in, so we cabbed back to Deakin and attempted to fall asleep on Katelyn's floor. This was far more uncomfortable than we'd hoped (no one had pillows, and Diane was the only one smart enough to bring a blanket), but soon enough we switched rooms, and Diane, Rachel and Janis gathered on what I can only describe as a boat made out of two couches, while I was quarantined on the third couch. A sound sleep resulted soon after.

Day two at Warrnambool brought forth a new set of make-your-own-adventures and, thankfully, clearer skies. My RA Erin (Related to Steve Irwin, no lies. It's distant, but it's there.) offered to give us a driving tour of some of the places we couldn't walk to, so we met up with her just after nine thirty. She took us to the whale watching platform, where we looked at the decidedly split skies (the left was ridiculously ominous, the right clear as, well, day) for a few minutes, but didn't see any whales. It was cold, so we opted to continue our adventures elsewhere. Erin took us to some pretty awesome lookout points, then we headed to Tower Hill, renowned home to mad Aussie wildlife. On our way, we passed the Adventure Playground, and I somewhat demanded we make a u-turn so I could play for a bit. Don't look at me like that, they had a zip line. I love zip lines.

So, after a quick stint on the playground, we hopped back in Erin's car and made our way to Tower Hill. When we got there, we were relatively certain there was some sort of Australian native animal conspiracy against us. In a place known for having emus in the middle of the road and koalas and wallabies hanging out around every bend, we saw absolutely nothing during the first ten minutes of being there. It wasn't until I spotted a koala munching on some eucalyptus that we broke the curse. For a group of international kids Down Under, it was an important landmark. We were pretty pumped. Erin had to pick up her mom, so back in the car we went after an extended observation of said marsupial. On our drive out, we saw another koala, a kangaroo, and a pack/herd/group of emus. So all in all, the wildlife conspiracy was denounced. Erin dropped us back off at Deakin, and we hung out in Katelyn's common room for an hour or so watching random tv shows about rugby and off-road car racing. Then, it was onto the bus and back into town for a bite to eat, a walk around, and an attempt to find Rachel's wallet, which had gone missing in and around zip line time. Luckily, we accomplished all three, and even managed another stop at the ice cream shop. I'm just saying... that ice cream was really, really good. We ended up just hanging out on the beach for quite some time watching the clouds pass and the waves crash before it was time to say goodbye and get back on the train. Our train ride back was pretty uneventful, all things considered. It felt good to get back to res, though, and have a tasty soup, tea and English muffin dinner and a shower.

And now, here I am, still coughing up a storm and sounding more than a little bit mannish. I don't think I've ever lost my voice this badly before. Still quite tired from the weekend's adventures, and my bed is looking pretty intriguing right now. So put on those clothes you never grew into, and smile like you mean it for once. And if you come back, bring a new name for everything :-)

+K+

2007-08-10T18:07:00.001+10:00

Hello hello, bonjour bonjour. Just sitting here, listening to some Ben Folds/Ben Harper/Ben Kweller/Ben Lee (I'm on the "Ben" part of my iTunes), and thought I'd stop by the spot o'blogs and give an update.

Not too much new thus far this week. It's been relatively low key. Classes were the norm. My history lecture was especially good this week... we had a guest lecturer from Scotland who talked about economic policy during the Regan and Thatcher years. Sounds pretty boring, but I found it rather interesting. Then again, I am a bit of a nerd. Oh well. Watched 'Fern Gully' for lit class. I never realized that movie was a) set in Australia b) starring Robin Williams and Tim Curry and c) so against the message it's trying to convey in the film's actual events. Granted, I hadn't watched it since I was about nine, but what can you do. Those were probably the highlights of class this week.

In other news, have made a discovery. A diamond in the rough if you will. Australian Idol. It's eons better than the American version. We spent most of Monday and Tuesday night watching contestants trying to advance to Sydney. The judges are brutal and the people trying to sing are hilarious; I loved it.

Didn't really do anything of significance aside from going to class, the gym, the television set, and b-bar for the occasional cup of coffee since my last update, though. Kindof caught another bout of the flu going around, thumbs down. I've committed to watching every episode of The X-Files form seasons 1-7, in chronological order. So far I'm up to disc three, season one. Season one is so amazing. <3 Mulder & Scully. True story.

This weekend should bring a bit more excitement, though. Rach and I are going bowling with fisherman and a few of his friends later on this evening, then we're up early to hop the train to Warrnambool tomorrow. I hope we see some whales. We've got a picnic planned for tomorrow after our arrival, but nothing set in stone aside from that. Should be an adventure.

Speaking of adventure, we've added another element of excellence to the spring break itinerary. There's a festival in Sydney the night we arrive, starring Spearhead and Ben Lee, who I've been listening to quite a bit lately. I convinced Janis and Rach that it would be a positive investment to attend, and after another series of executive meetings and conference calls, we concurred on the matter. I'm pretty pumped about it.... six weeks and the journey shall begin!

That's about all I've got for you now, I'll be sure to update upon my return from Warrnambool.

Peace, love and sexual healing (what? Ben Harper does a pretty excellent cover...) from Down Under.

+K+

Sweet, sweet blues.

2007-08-05T15:56:00.001+10:00

Mmm... I acquired some new Black Keys, and let me tell you, if you have any respect for the beauty of a blues riff, do yourself a favor and czech them out. They'll unwind your problems and put you in a mellow mood. BUT... lots to report on; tis been a busy past week for this traveler, so I'll skip any further pleasantries and jump right in to things.

Rewinding back to my last post, let's discuss spring break (CHYEAAH!). I can't tell you how excited I am for this. Also, how strange it is for it to be the beginning of August, and I'm talking about spring break. But more so excited than anything... mostly because on Wednesday I booked everything. Trains and flights are accounted for, and I spent quite a few hours researching and planning an itinerary for our trek, aptly titled "best trip EVER." Well, it is. I mean, we're going to Sydney, Brisbane, and Cairns for ten days. Also, bonus points are merited for the fact that I just today found out that Ben Lee and Spearhead are playing a festival in Sydney together while we're going to be there. I'll go ahead and file that one under "things I'd really like to do," right next to... oh, I'm not going to finish that sentence. It'll only get me into trouble.

Anywho (does anyone else remember Stick Stickley saying "anywho" all the time? I use it constantly when I write, although I'm relatively sure it isn't actually a word...), that's all booked and taken care of. Janis's stuff is done too (I think), and Rach is waiting to get her visa because apparently debit cards are completely unacceptable. Whatevs, as long as the Musketeers remain united for our trek. I'm so completely stoked for it. Fifty days until I'm in the Australia Zoo. I really hope I see Wes or Bindi or someone. Either way, it's pretty certain that I'm going to a) hyperventilate, b) revert to my fourteen year old self who was completely, head over heels enamored with Steve, c) cry, or d) all of the above while there. But enough about that... I've got plenty of other adventures to inform you of.

If Tuesday was trip planning day, then Wednesday was let's procrastinate day. I didn't have all that much schoolwork to do, but it took me nearly forever to get it done. I was still pretty pumped about getting everything set for the trip, so all I wanted to do was research things and even start to plan my post-semester trip. Right now, I'm thinking either New Zealand or Fiji for about a week, but I recently found out that November 15th is Steve Irwin Day at the Australia Zoo, and well, that may just take precedent over anything else. We'll see. Either way, Wednesday was pretty uneventful due to my inability to concentrate, but Thursday more than made up for it. Had the regular day full of classes, including a field trip for Australia Today. We went to check out some houses in a local neighborhood. Walking through model homes totally reminded me of Arrested Development. It was great. The houses were pretty excellent, though. All of them are one-story. No basement, no attic, no second floor, just one level, and with very little yard space. After a full assessment of middle-class Aussie living, I've decided I could officially live here for, oh, ever? Sure. I should make it my quest to bring ice hockey to Australia... then that, along with moving my closest friends and relatives, would make my life pretty much complete. Baby steps, though. Must continue my explorations here before I start displacing people.

Post-class Thursday was when the fun really started, though. After a workout and an interesting caf, we decided a night out was in order. Rach and I made a triumphant return to Irish Murphy's, this time bringing the whole herd with us. It was quite an evening. Lots of good conversation, stories, and laughs. Oh, and did I mention the cider on tap? Just like at home. We spent the better part of the evening there, and actually ended up closing the place. Cabbed back (what a ride), and finished the night with splendid (if not mildly inappropriate) conversation and some more AussieRamen. The evening's pictures can be found on facebook... quite entertaining. My vote for best picture goes to Austin's retort to the large, angry man's scowl, with Rachel's failed pole-dance attempt coming in a close second. I like these kids, they aren't afraid to be ridiculous.

Onto Friday. A day off! I slept pretty soundly after Thursday night's adventures. Did some reading and some televisioning... Erin got me into this show, Russel Coight's Celebrity Challenge. It's basically like The Office, except in the Outback. Pretty amazing and hilarious. Friday night was an entirely new sort of adventure, though. It was... a date with an Aussie! Yes, yours truly has achieved yet another milestone... dating a guy with an accent. His name is John, and he's a fisherman (that's what I call him, hah) and he's unbelievably nice and cute and well-rounded and we get along fabulously. We went to the Bended Elbow and had a few drinks, then hopped over to Lamby's after a stint out in the cold. Sidenote: Aussie weather is completely ridiculous and unpredictable. We stayed at Lamby's for a little while, where we met up with a few of his friends (also hilarious and awesome). One of them, Jarrod, was completely enamored with the fact that I was American, and kept asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions about America. He had a relatively convincing Texan accent that he'd been working on, too. We ended up hanging out at Jarrod's house until super late, just talking about America and Australia and how awesome each of our respective countries are. It was a fantastic evening, definitely something I'll be doing again in the near future.

Yesterday was a looong day. After being out super late with fisherman, I was still pretty tired by the time we got on the bus at four thirty to head to Melbourne. I don't care how much sleep you do or don't get, staying out until six in the morning leaves you walking around with one eye open the next day. But, the adventures must continue, so I joined up with Jens, Heather, Jess, Diane, Justin, Janis and Rachel to head to Melbourne to see OK Go. We had a fun train ride there, sitting with a New Zealander who was totally playing the 'I have my iPod on, but I can still hear what you're saying' card. We dined at a little sidewalk cafe down the street from the venue. Rach and I split dessert, because we love dessert, and it was pretty excellent.

We got into the venue at about 8:45 or so, only to find out the warm-up band wasn't even starting until 10. Various picture takings, drink purchases, and overall tiredness ate up the next hour, but when the music started, all was good. The first band was Australian-- The Dirty Secrets-- they weren't bad. Not my kind of music, really, but at times they had some pretty crazy synthesizer solos that were very much of a Journey/Europe nature. OK Go was a whole 'nother story though. I didn't know many of their songs, but those guys know how to put on a show. The lead singer threw his guitar during the first song because it wasn't working right. He had a bit of a rockstar complex. But, the show itself was pretty amazing. In the middle of the set, they came out into the crowd and played two acoustic songs about five feet from where I was standing. Also, the bass player and lead singer did their own rendition of Les Miserables. I think I'm going to have to acquire some of their jams in the near future... they were good stuff. The show ended at 12:40 or so, and we made our way back to the train station. I slept the whole way back, but then had to stand in the insufferable taxi queue line for about forty five minutes waiting for a damn cab. We spent our time verbally abusing people who were taking cabs by themselves. For good reason, too. We had a party of ten after we found the Austrians, so you can see how one person getting in a cab that can fit twelve people would be more than a bit frustrating. Ended up back at Waurn Ponds by 3:30, and I fell asleep immediately after walking in the door. Woke up about eleven hours later, made some breakfast, and here I am now. There's probably a long list of things I should be doing, and this entry has been more than long-winded, so I'm calling it quits here. The upcoming week looks promising-- nothing too crazy for classes, then a trip to Warrnambool (for real this time) over the weekend. I'll update accordingly. If you made it this far, thanks and kudos. Until next time...

+K+

2007-07-31T00:12:00.000+10:00

G'Day and welcome to Weekend Update & such here at kirstydownunder.blogspot.com. Pleased to report-- all's going well down under. I had a fun weekend. Allow me to elaborate.

As I mentioned before, Saturday was Rachel's and my trip into Geelong. We explored the better part of downtown during the day... such events included riding the Geelong Waterfront Carousel, walking the better part of the Geelong coastline, eating cake, mildly abusing the local weirdo wooden statues (pictures aplenty, mind you), talking about bridges, talking to randoms, befriending bus drivers who go out of their way to drop off confused internationals, and gathering a taste of home after a quest to find the local irish pub in Geelong. It was quite a day. Lots of walking, lots of fun, and the Magners at the end of the trek was just what we needed to cap off yet another adventure. Needless to say, we're going to have to visit Irish Murphy's more often. Maybe next time we'll bring our new friend Simon the bus driver.

Saturday night wasn't too intense... we amassed the conference call group again, this time plus Kingsley, and watched Finding Nemo. Hey, we're in Australia, give us a break. Quality, relaxing evening to cap off our day's events. Sunday was a whole 'nother story. I'd intended to spend the day doing homework, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I only had about an hour and a half's worth of work to do. So, I went to the gym, watched part of Gremlins 2, did my work, took a nap, and decided to make the best of the evening and join the crew going out to Lamby's. Now, in the States, Sunday night isn't necessarily renowned for its night scene. Quite the contrary down under. These kids were still going strong at two a.m. Live music, lots of dancing, and that whole Dane Cook "I'm in the woofer!" bit becoming quite a reality. It was an excellent evening for all (all including Janis, Justin, Diane and myself). They gave me the award for having the best night, though. Probably had something to do with the new Australian friend I made... I'll take it. More to come with that whole deal, hopefully. And Liz, Priya and Alicia? Number four is most definitely taken. We capped off the evening with a most delicious meal of AussieRamen at about three a.m. back in Evatt. A successful evening if there ever was one.

Today brought the beginning of my third week of classes. Everything is pretty well underway at this point. I'm really liking my classes here, too. Especially PR Writing. Today my professor mentioned two of my favorite things in lecture-- adult-themed language, and adult-themed cinema. It's like I was made for this continent. We had our Evatt 2&4 Christmas dinner this evening, too. Lasagna, tacos, cake... it was a feast. After dinner, I rejoined with Janis and Rach in an attempt to book our break trip, but my ADD kicked into overdrive, and I left at 10:20 to have a cup of tea and watch Boston Legal. Even though I'd already seen the episode, it was the season finale, and well, Alan makes me melt. I do enjoy my Monday nights here-- 10:30 Boston Legal, followed by Scrubs. Cox still wounds me. Oh, television. Even halfway across the globe, you are too good to me.

So, here I am now, basking in the glory that is the fact that I have no class tomorrow, wondering what the future awaits. I'm thinking some season two X-Files. Feeling quite content right now, hopefully this will continue. I see no reason why not.

You're pretty as a penny, rollerskate skinny.

Until next time...

+K+

!!!

2007-07-28T00:10:00.001+10:00

Nothing but good things to report to you, my friends. Very rarely does this happen to me (although I must say, it's been happening at an increasing rate since I've entered the southern hemisphere...), so please forgive me if I seem a bit over exuberant.

Week two of classes went off without a hitch. I managed to get every minuscule bit of reading done for all of my classes (a feat in and of itself), attended all on time, and remained conscious amidst the entire thing. Granted, I did fall asleep a few times while reading, but that totally doesn't count. Also, I attended my first and second successful spin bike classes. Quite a workout, but I liked it, and I'm going to do everything in my power to continue to do that. Also, I managed to allow myself to be talked in to beginning a program of sorts at the gym. I tested for it last night, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I'm very much in shape, according to Australia's standards. Apparently no one on this continent can do more than a few push-ups... the instructor was a bit floored when I was still going strong at fifty. Guns, I tell you. Don't mess... they've been known to go off with very little provocation.

Things have also been on the up and up in the realm of acquiring things. I gave in and bought a hair dryer today for $12... sweet! Money's no longer a super huge issue, seeing as both of my checks cleared and I now have pretty mad Aussie dollars in the bank. Gold star for that one. Also, I got not one, but two packages in the mail! From the BFF and the madre... a badass lamp and converter, and maaad peanut butter themed candy, respectively. Keep 'em coming! Also, in un-acquiring things, I've kicked the death illness that's still somehow circulating around res. I suppose there's something to be said about drinking lots of juice and tea, and sleeping a whole lot.

But, what takes the cake for making me the most excited this week has to be what I've been up to in the past two and a half-odd hours. I just got back from an evening of pasta, Grumpier Old Men, and (most importantly) travel planning next door in Evatt 1. Janis, Rachel and I decided to start discussing our semester break plans. Our break runs from 21-30 of September, and we set our sights on Cairns. We had a conference call (Rachel was still in her unit), complete with Lion King soundtrack, and discussed the many ways of how we could spend our break and, inevitably, end up in Cairns. We decided on a trip that basically looks like it'll be the trek of a lifetime for me. Here's our basic itinerary:

Train from Melbourne on Thursday night (20th), over to Sydney for our first stop. Spend a few days in Sydney, check out the opera house and all of the city's various offerings, then hop a train to Brisbaine. Hang out in Brisbaine, where I will visit the one and only AUSTRALIA ZOO and fulfill one of my life's dreams. Hopefully, meet Bindi Irwin, but I'm not getting my hopes up. At the very least, pay my respects to the one and only Stephen Robert Irwin and his wonderful establishment. I'm pretty much banking on this being one of the greatest days of my life... like, ranking up there with meeting Conan, and the twenty four hours that encompassed 1 July 2007... among others. So yes, from Brisbaine, we're going to fly to Cairns (trains take waaay too long, and it's only about $20 more to fly), and spend the last leg of our trip there, snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef and hanging out with koalas. Then, we'll fly back to Melbourne from Cairns, thus completing our tour of the eastern coast of Australia. Sounds pretty sweet, eh? And, according to current price estimations, it's going to cost me a little over $700 American for travel, round trip. Not too shabby, considering I'll be stopping and seeing the best of the eastern seaboard.

So yes, that makes me incredibly happy. Tomorrow we're heading into Geelong for the day, and we're going to consult a travel agent on the whole ordeal. We had intended, originally, to go to Warrnambool tomorrow, but decided to postpone the trip for another handful of weeks to see if the whales are going to arrive. Good fun. I haven't explored Geelong yet in the daytime, so it should still be a fun day. As long as I'm doing something and not sitting around being sick like I was last weekend, I'll be fine. Plus, Rach and I are on the lookout for a good irish pub to remind us of our respective homes. Hopefully I'll have some fun Geelong pictures for you in the near future, but for now, I think it's dvd time. So, until we meet again... cheers!

+K+

2007-07-24T23:39:00.001+10:00

Mid-week post... hooray!

Well, I survived the weekend. I'm slowly-but-surely getting over this illness. Actually, my recovery is going much quicker than I thought it would. One of life's small victories... I take 'em when I see 'em.

But enough about me being sick, let's talk about something more fun. Nothing entirely exciting has gone down, and I'm coming to terms with the fact that this will probably become more of a regularity than an abnormality. After all, I'm in school now, and no matter what continent you're on, that usually means doing work and not being on constant vacation. Studying abroad only shifts the balance on that constant vacation scale from "never" in the States, to "well, pretty much whenever you aren't in class or doing schoolwork" over here. (Un)fortunately for me, I have a conscience when it comes to school, and am probably spending more time than I should on completing work for my first-year level classes. This may subside; we shall see.

Schoolwork aside, I've managed to keep myself somewhat busy with sleeping, watching dvds and the occasional Australian television program, trying not to exhaust my entire internet quota in the first three weeks of being here, *gasp* reading for pleasure, and *double gasp* exercising.

Yes, I've stooped to a new low in that sense. I always said I'd never join a gym, because it's against my morals as an athlete, or something dumb like that, but seeing as there's a serious lack of organized sports here for us to participate in, I joined the gym. I've been twice already, once for a regular workout, and earlier tonite for a spin bike class. Despite my cycling prowess from a full year of biking around the greater Philadelphia area, I'm still relatively out of shape on a bike, all things considered. Oh well. But yes, Rachel and I agreed it would be in our cumulative best interest to start exercising, and out of sheer boredom, I'm two for two on days belonging to the gym and actually utilizing it. Fabulous.

Working on some weekend travel plans, considering this past weekend was a bust, due to the res-wide epidemic. Rachel, Janis, Diane and I were discussing perhaps taking the train to Warrnambool. It's only about a two hour train ride, and with our concession cards, it probably costs about $8 or so. Austin went last week and had good things to say about it, so we might try to make a weekend of it and stay at a hostel. Hopefully it'll work out. Maybe I'll bring my laptop, and we can watch 'Pirates,' thus solidifying my spot as 'that girl with the pirate fetish.' Hey, it worked for me at Kildare's.

In non-Australia, non-adult-themed film news, super pumped about Boosh returning to the Flyers/Phantoms! My only regret is not being there to welcome him back into the city. However, all the more reason to return to the Phantoms come November. I'd planned on going back to work a few games if Mike and Brian needed me, but this is just added incentive. I mean, Neil and Boosh? Yes, please.

Until then, I suppose I'll be spending my time (or this week's time, at least) on schoolwork, exercise, dvd's, and fully supporting my antibodies in their quest to defeat the final strands of this godforsaken influenza. I was contemplating adding a video podcast feature... yes, no, cheese? Let me know. Also, drop a line if you'd like to receive some snail male (I know it's m-a-i-l, but I spelled it that way first without thinking, and I think it's funny, so I'm leaving it) from Down Under. So until next time, goodnight and good luck (my film choice for the evening!).

+K+

aaah... ahhh...

2007-07-21T23:07:00.000+10:00

CHOO!

It was inevitable. I knew at some point in my first month here I'd get sick, and I woke up today with a head cold for the books. I've advanced to coughing, chills, and that icepick-to-the-cerebellum sort of headache. Great. Well, good news is it seems as if pretty much everybody's sick at this point, and I've managed to come across some meds, so I should survive. Let's hope. And while we're hoping, let's rewind.

I believe my last update was Wednesday, pre-Drag & Devo. Well, that was hands down the funniest night I've had here so far. The boys got SO into it. And the girls were a sight to be seen themselves. I opted for the sexy lawyer look... pulled back hair, black-rimmed glasses, pinstripe 3/4 button up shirt, black skirt and heels. Payed dearly for the heels the next day. Pictures can be found on facebook, same link as below. So yes, it was a sight... all of the resi's at Deakin dressed to the nines in their own special way, dancing up a storm in the union-type area. Icing on the cake was the fact that they let us use our Deakin cards to pay for drinks. I have a new favorite... UDL. The U.S. needs to get on the pre-mixed drinks in a can. It's wonderful, and tasty too. The D&D was until eleven, then everyone headed down to the Ponds Hotel for live music and more beverages. Met and danced with some dudes there, definitely a quality end to a ridiculously fun evening. But, as I said, my feet were completely destroyed form a night of dancing in heels. Aside from blisters on both my feet, the evening was an immense success. And to Liz and Alicia (Priya, I've already consulted you on this), I'm up to three. Right-o.

Thursday was a pretty full day of classes. Still, nothing compared to class in the States. My history professor was pretty pumped to find that he had an American amongst his students. Hopefully this will work to my advantage. And, Australia Today sounds like it'll be a pretty good time. Took a pretty sizeable nap after class, then Thursday night we went out for Janis's birthday. Went to this super-cute bar at first, that looked more like a coffee shop than a bar to me. It had couches, a fireplace, and live acoustic guitar. The guy played Damien Rice, and I about melted, as per usual when I hear DR. I'd most certainly like to return. We ventured to Club 99 after that, but in my infinite wisdom, I forgot to bring my ID, so Heather, Jess and I went back to campus. We watched Hotel Rwanda and hung out for a bit, opting for the more relaxing sort of evening. Pretty intense/depressing movie, but still quite good.

Friday marked my second trip into Melbourne, and my first ever footy game! Rachel and I decided to make a trek into the city, and while wandering around looking for something to do, we realized Geelong was playing at the Telstra Dome that evening. And, what better time for a footy game? NONE! So, we meandered around Melbourne for a few hours, grabbed some pizza (nothing like it is in the States), and explored Federation Square. Pixar had a pretty cool display going on for its twentieth anniversary, complete with a giant replica of the Pixar lamp hanging out outside the building. We wandered a bit more, checking out the Performing Arts Centre, the Australian Racing Museum, and some random shops along the way. It started to get chilly, so I invested in a Geelong Cats winter snowcap/toque/hat, in an attempt to not get pneumonia and support the home footy squad. Unfortunately, only the latter succeeded, but I don't hold the hat accountable. In fact, I'm wearing it right now.

So, we made our way to the Telstra Dome and found our seats. First row, third level... we could see the whole field, it was great! The pitch/field itself is pretty enormous, and I had no idea what to expect, considering I'd never seen a footy game before. To sum it up for those who aren't familiar with the wonderful game of Australian Rules Football, I'll give you a run-down. The game itself is like a weird mix of rugby and soccer, played in four 25ish minute quarters. You use your hands and feet, there's a whole lot of punting the ball (which looks like a more round rugby ball, and is incredibly bouncy), you can't throw the ball, but you can hit it like a volleyball to your teammates. Also, if you catch the ball off of a kick, you have the option of getting a free kick, or continuing with normal gameplay. In order to score, you have to kick the ball through two of four posts, gaining between one and six points per goal. And, you can run with the ball, but every ten or so steps you have to bounce it. There's a decent amount of tackling, but it's not nearly as violent as rugby. And it's very, very fast paced. My kind of game.

So last night's match was the Geelong Cats vs. the Western Bulldogs. The Cats are at the top of the race for the Premiership coming up at the end of September... and it showed. The final score was 138-63, Geelong. Very high-scoring, due to the fast paced nature of the game. It was, overall, an excellent experience. I'd love to go to another game... now that I actually know what's going on. It's relatively easy to catch on, I suggest YouTube-ing it, if you're interested. The only downside to the evening was we were pretty freezing the entire time. Although the Dome itself was enclosed, it was still a chilly 15 degrees or so during the game. None to kind whilst wearing only a zip up hoodie, pants with holes in them, and a knit hat. Lesson learned: next time, wear another layer or two.

We ended up getting back to campus around two, and I fell asleep pretty quickly. Had some minor signs of the oncoming illness, but nothing too drastic. Things changed when I woke up. At one in the afternoon. I know I'm sick when I can sleep that much, undisturbed. I awoke with that all-over body ache, where any sort of movement makes you feel like an arthritic geriatric. No good. After an assessment of the overall situation, I decided it would be in my best interest to retreat to bed and sleep some more. Didn't get out of bed until around four. Good thing I didn't have anything entirely demanding to do. I managed to choke down a pair of Advils, which lightened my symptoms a bit, and walked to the store to replenish my food sources. Got some more Tim Tam's, among other things, so that was a success. The walk there actually made me feel a bit better, too, which was nice. Came back and hung out with Erin, Cam and a few other people in the common area for a while. We watched Empire Records, then chatted a bit, and here I am now, listening to The Starting Line and contemplating the glory of NyQuil. Tomorrow will consist of reading and laundry, but for the rest of tonite, I'm crashing. Here's to hoping tomorrow's bout of the Australian Common Cold won't be nearly as painful. Until next time...

+K+

2007-07-18T19:28:00.000+10:00

G'day!

Just got back from caf (dinner), and now everyone in my res is getting ready for the "infamous" Drag & Devo Night. The guys dress in drag, and the girls dress, well, to put it tastefully, skimpy. Should be a good time. But yes, thought I'd take a few minutes to update on the last day or so.

Things have certainly calmed down since classes started. There's been "Dis-O" Week in the evening, but that still leaves quite a bit of time during the day to be filled. I finally got the internet set up in my room (which could be a very good or very bad thing, depending), so that's helped pass the time a bit. Aside from that, it's been finding new classes, buying books, watching dvds, reading, and hanging out. Oh, and eating. Been doing a pretty decent amount of that lately, which is why I'm going to sign up for the gym and take a boxing class (need to stay fit so I'm back in fighting shape when I get back to Kildare's...), as well as a spin bike class with Rachel.

Some notables in the last few days include the Traffic Light event Monday night... they bussed us into Geelong, and we were instructed to dress in traffic light colors, depending upon our relationship status. Naturally, I was green. It was a pretty fun night overall, but some of the other Americans and I agreed that the Aussie kids party waaay harder than we do. We're used to going out at ten or so, then being done by one at the latest. These kids head out at eight, and are still going hard around midnight. Bit much for us, but I'm sure we'll get acquainted. Yesterday was a day off... it was kindof rainy out, so I stayed in and read for a while. We had an international/new kid gathering in the PM, that was a good time. My team won trivia, good deals. As a prize, I got a package of crackers and vegemite. Haven't tried it yet. I'll be sure to update when I do. After our trivia night/dessert time in the Lakehouse, me and a few of the other kids watched Pulp Fiction. What a great movie. "Marvin, whaddya make of all dis?" "Man, I don't even have an opinion!" Classic.

Today I had my children's lit class. It sounds pretty amazing. We watched part of E.T. and analyzed it. We're doing non-fiction next week, then the movie Robots. Pretty excellent, in my opinion. Bought my books after class, hung around for a bit and played around on the school's P2P network, then went to caf and here I am now. We're due to meet at eight, so I suppose I should start to get ready. Until next time...

+K+

A-B-C, 1-2-3, mate!

2007-07-16T15:57:00.000+10:00

G'day from the first day of school!

Yes, I'm officially an Australian student now. Well, sortof. Not quite yet Australian, but today was our first day of Uni. I had two classes... just got out of my second lecture. I had this long, elaborate entry in the works, but then the power went out in the computer lab I was in, so here I am, typing it all down again. Oh well, such is life.

Before I get in to my classes, let's rewind to the weekend. Friday night was a fun time, me and a bunch of the other internationals had a family-style dinner. Kingsley made pasta, and then, through a combined effort, we managed to get my Wii to work. WiiSports and Rayman were the games of choice... it was most certainly a good time. Highlight of the evening had to be when two Aussie girls were WiiBoxing, and actually started hitting each other. Hilarity ensued, no doubts.

Saturday marked my first journey to Melbourne. Things were off to a slower start when we arrived at the train station only to find that the railway union was on strike for the time being, and we were forced to hang around and wait for a bus. No worries, though, we made it to Melbourne about an hour later than we'd planned, and headed to the Eureka Tower. A short walk and eighty eight floors higher, we had the most breathtaking view of Melbourne you could imagine. Eureka Tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, and they'd just opened the observation deck on the highest floor. It was quite a spectacle. From there, we ventured across the street to the Crown casino for lunch. I had Cantonese for the first time... "and monkey's brains, though popular in Cantonese cuisine, is not commonly found in Washington D.C.!" Alas, I didn't have monkey's brains, but it was pretty tasty, even if it did stray from my normal diet. After we ate, Rachel and I wandered around the casino for a bit, then went on a quest to find the most delicious and elaborate-looking dessert we could manage. She ended up with a pretty amazing looking lemon meringue, while I opted for the chocolatey Mars Bar cake. Delicious, I promise you that. From the Crown, we walked downtown and went shopping for a bit. There's a surprisingly popular skateboard and punk culture in Melbourne. I know cities normally cater to (at least) the latter, but it seemed as if everywhere I turned, there were kids on skateboards, black hair, dark eyeliner, and unknown band t-shirts. Another interesting note for Melbourne was how amazingly clean it was. I mean, I know I'm used to dirty Philly, but this place was impeccable. Definitely going to have to make another trip up to Melbourne soon to explore on my own time.

So, that was Saturday. Yesterday was the trip to Bellaraine and the Surf Coast. Wasn't as exciting as Melbourne, but still a good time. We stopped in Queenscliff, Tourquay, Bell's Beach and Angleside. Queenscliff was pretty dead, but Bell's Beach was great. We were only there for about fifteen minutes, but there were a whole bunch of surfers in the water, and it was fun watching them catch waves and wipe out. Tourquay was a neat little town; we had lunch there, then wandered through the surf shop outlets. I got a pretty sweet new jacket and hoodie, and although I was in the market for a board, didn't invest in one quite yet. Overall, it was a fun trip. Last night was the beginning of Dis-O week, but I was exhausted from the previous week's events, so I stayed in and watched Boston Legal (which I am super pumped to learn is on here!!).

Which brings me to today, the first day of school. I had two lectures-- PR Writing, and History of the World since 1945: 1970's-90's. PR Writing was pretty standard; it seems as if a lot of what I learned at La Salle last semester will be applied. Plus, the lecturer is pretty much an Australian version of George Clooney. EHH. Haha, of course. I met a few new Aussie girls in PR who were super nice, and pretty interested as to why I was there. Good times. And, I just got out of history lecture. It was pretty dry, more focused on American politics than I thought it would be. But, I suppose the main world events of the 1970's were Vietnam and the Cold War, so that makes sense. I was hoping it would be a bit more exciting, but then again, I haven't taken a straightup history class since high school. They've all been politics, which, to make a generalization, are more heated than history. We'll see how it goes.

I've got a few meetings later on tonite, then dinner and the "traffic light" themed dance/club/whatever. Considering I don't have any classes tomorrow, and I'm pretty rested up from just lounging around last night, I think it's safe to say I'm going out tonite. We'll see what comes of it. I suppose that's all I've got for now, I'll update as things advance. Until then... Cheers from Down Under!

+K+

2007-07-13T16:11:00.000+10:00

So, as I mentioned in my last post, we got our timetables today. This is probably definitely the greatest school schedule I've ever had. I've got two classes Monday, off on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, four on Thursday, and Friday's off! Most of my classes are an hour long, aside from two that are two hours. I'm taking Australia Today (basically structured for international students... the syllabus type thing says we're going to an Aussie Rules Footy game... sweet!), Contextualizing Children's Literature (it's apparently a politically charged interpretation of kids books and movies... again, pumped... I mean, we're watching Lion King!!), History of the World Since 1945: early 70's-90's (je t'adore l'histoire. Plus, modern stuff? Excellent!), and PR Writing (had to get a major-specific one in there somewhere). I'm pretty pumped for it all... ought to make for a fun semester and a good travel schedule. Speaking of travel, our trek to Melbourne is tomorrow, and I signed up for the journey to Bellaraine on Sunday. Not too much on for today, though. But I did manage to upload some pictures on facebook. Here's a link to the album:

http://lasalle.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024457&l=c9b33&id=17500696

Ahem. Sorry Mom, changed the album name. Aside from that, not too much up for today. Finally, a day of complete relaxation. But hey, who knows what's on for the evening. I'll be sure to update when we get back from Melbourne and Bellaraine... hopefully I'll have some more sweet pictures. Until then... Cheers!

+K+

I've got faith in the sky, faith in the sun, faith in the people walking underneath the sun

2007-07-12T18:36:00.000+10:00

Oh Spear Head. That cd Slacks made me is keeping it real down under, that's for sure.

In other news... I made it back from Lorne in one piece! Wanna see Lorne? You sure? It might just make you jealous. Okay, if you insist:

Told you so. Yeah, as if I wasn't in love enough with Australia to begin with, they had to go take us to Lorne. And teach us how to surf. Yeah, that's right, I learned to surf off the coast of Australia! I'm not saying I was any good at it, but I did manage to get up on a few of the waves. Good times, for sure. And it goes without saying that I am now addicted to surfing, as well as the rest of the international kids. Here's our surf crew, and one of me with the board:

Oh, and allow me to mention that it was about 10 degrees (50-ish, for you in the States) whilst surfing. Thank God for wetsuits. Either way, goooooood times in Lorne. Beach yoga after that, but it wasn't really anything special. I did meet a really cool girl named Elizabeth from California, and we made the remainder of the evening a fun time. Met a few Aussie surfers at the club/bar later on, that was funny. Tuesday was definitely a good day.

Wednesday was a lot of time spent on our bus, but it was well worth it. Aussie Lesson: when any amount of time is mentioned (i.e.: "oh, we'll be back in Geelong in about an hour."), take it with a grain of salt. The aforementioned scenario ended up taking us about four hours, BUT, we did see some pretty amazing things along the way. Our first stop was the Twelve Apostles (of which there are only nine left). It was absolutely breathtaking. One of those things that you see, and all you can do is stand there and marvel in its beauty. Here's a picture of our view, but it really doesn't do it justice:

Yeah. Really, really pretty. From there, we went to another really picturesque spot, where I climbed on a bunch of rocks and gazed in amazedness at the overall piratey nature of "Shipwreck's Cove." Good stuff. Back on the bus again, and it was quite a drive from there. We went through this National Park in the middle of nowhere, and I really felt as if something from either Cabin Fever, or the X-Files was going to happen to us. You know, mythological creatures, flat tires, uncomfortably frightening circumstances amongst a group of people I'd only known for four days or so. But, we made it through, and the bus driver took us to a golf course renowned for its massive kangaroo population. Because, let's face it, we're still tourists. When he said we'd see a few roos, I wasn't sure what he meant by "a few," but turns out a few means over a hundred. I was completely pumped when he let us off the bus to take pictures. He said to be careful, because they could get a bit feisty at times. But, come on now, we all know who I am and how well I deal with feisty things... not to mention my penchant for emulating the Croc Hunter whenever possible. So, while the rest of my international friends stayed a good 50 feet away, I tip-toed up to a lone roo, and got within about ten feet of the little bloke. Here's a shot to prove my Croc Hunter prowess:

My bus-mates were impressed. From there, we made our way back to Deakin, and the lot of us rendezvoused for dinner about half an hour after our arrival. We took a bus into Geelong and had a pretty nice dinner for a reasonable price. It took us a while to get back, though, but no worries, mate! Also, I was super excited to learn that a voltage adapter was probably not necessary to use my laptop, so I checked the converter and plugged it in, and it worked! Score one for the confused American. I watched Young Frankenstein (after setting up my Wall of Shame/Fame, i.e.: a bunch of pictures of you randoms from the States) and crashed after a very busy few days.

Today was more relaxed, but not without its own adventure. We signed up for our classes (Timetables are tomorrow, I'm hoping for Friday's off, at the least. From what I'm told, it's not out of the question.) and sat through a few power points and the like. Then, Rachel, my new friend from Liverpool, and I decided to embark on a trip to the grocery store. Hilarious. First of all, it was a Safeway, which is literally no more than two and a half miles from my house on Sharon Drive. But inside, everything was completely different. COMPLETELY. Aside from there being a produce section, a meat section, and aisles... it was like being in a parallel universe grocery store. The carts are called "trolleys," the cheese is labeled "tasty" and "extra tasty," there's NO HERSHEY CHOCOLATE (but lots of Tim Tams!), the eggs are on the damn shelves, and the ice cream comes in buckets. It's completely insane. Even the nutrition facts are different! That being said, I have no idea if what I bought is even remotely healthy... I just went for whatever seemed even marginally familiar. I got Nutella and some peanut butter and English Muffins, so I think that ought to suit me for a bit, amongst the other random things I came across. They have really neat juice flavors... I picked up some Orange Mango. Should be delicious, I hope. So yes, that was today's journey into the new, strange world of Australian culture.

Tomorrow's time tables, as I mentioned before, then who knows what. Perhaps an escapade into town. I saw Geelong's waterfront at dusk, but if we have off for most of tomorrow, I'd like to see it in the day. And, of course, Saturday is Melbourne. Let's hope I don't get hit by a car from looking the wrong way when I cross the street. I've come close, but city dangers are nothing new to me... you, me, and my formerly fractured ulna know that. I suppose that's all I've got for now, and it's past my dinner time. Until next time... Cheers!

+K+

2007-07-09T16:12:00.000+10:00

I made it!

I know you had your doubts, but I actually made it to Australia. It's amazing thus far. I'm currently located in the Community House in Lorne, which is about an hour outside of Geelong. It's a surf town, which makes it all the more appropriate that I'm going surfing tomorrow! Yes, it is a bit nippy for a dip in the drink, but what can you do. I'm not complaining. The weather here reminds me of fall in Troy... everyone keeps apologizing for the fact that it's so cold, and I keep telling them that I lived in the Capital District for two years, and this is beyond mild. But yes, allow me to highlight some of the various things that have gone down since I hopped a plane from Philly to LA to Sydney to Melbourne.

On my flight from Philly International to LAX, Seth Green was on my plane. Hahaha, so good. I told him I was a fan of Robot Chicken, and he seemed pretty surprised that anyone actually recognized him. On my first flight, I was seated between two people who were also going to Australia, something I found to be relatively entertaining. The LAX to Sydney International flight was... well, there's no other way to put it... it was a bitch. I slept a decent amount, though, and I had the window seat, so that was nice. The plane itself was huge, and very well maintained. There was an upstairs to it? Sure. Anyway, I was seated next to a gentleman who reminded me of Mr. Trabocco in a sense, but I couldn't quite put my finger on how. We arrived in Sydney just as the sun was rising, which was really pretty. I wandered around the airport for a while... they were selling boomerangs in the gift shop. That made me laugh. Then, within a short enough amount of time, I hopped back on the 747 and we were off to Melbourne. Cleared Customs and all that jazz with no difficulty, thankfully. I found the rep from Deakin easily enough, and we waited for a long time for a guy who never showed up. It was about an hour's drive from the Melbourne airport to Geelong, which wasn't even entirely painful, considering the trip I had just endured. Nothing too intense. Anyway, I got my res accommodation and moved in, met the one guy who was in the res at the time (I'm the only international, sweet!), and had a bit of a fit when I realized I had bought the wrong converter. Bad news, none of my electronics work. So yeah, that was that, and I'm still trying to find a US to Australia converter AND voltage adapter.

But, aside from that, everything has gone off wonderfully. I've already met kids from all around the world; I rode the bus to Lorne next to a girl from England, am rooming for the trip with a German girl, and met Austrian, Slovinian, and, naturally, Australian guys. It's been pretty amazing thus far. A few Aussie stereotypes I'd like to confirm and/or deny are as follows:
+ "No Worries," and "G'Day Mate" are commonly heard phrases
+ No, there aren't kangaroos, wallabies, crocs and koalas everywhere. Although it's rumored that we're going to see all of the above in the next three days during our Lorne trip.
+ Aussies don't speak English. They speak Australian. It's kindof hard to follow at times.
+ Australian food isn't completely awful. Tim Tam's are amazing, but I have yet to try Vegemite.
+ Everyone from Australia is really, really, really nice. It's a welcome change from the barrage of expletives I'm used to hearing in and around the City of Brotherly Love.
+ I'm sure there are more, but either I haven't yet encountered them, or... I'm still too jet lagged to be comprehending anything rational.

OH! And, I got my mailing address. This is the part where you get your pen and paper, and write it down, then send me a whole lot of awesome things. Like Reeses. Because they don't have Hershey's products here. BUMMER. Anyway, here it is:

Kirstin Schoeninger
Evatt 2
Barton College
Deakin University
Geelong VIC 3217
Australia

I'll try to update again as soon as possible, but with the whole converter issue, I'm not sure how soon that will be. Although I will be able to say that by the next update, I will have engaged in the Aussie tradition of SURFING! That's on the docket for tomorrow, as well as some beach Yoga and a dinner and clubbing of sorts in the evening. Can't wait. To Liz, Priya and Alicia... I'm going for number one of five in the next three weeks tomorrow. I've seen the material, and I'm ready to work my magic. To everyone else... disregard the previous two sentences; either you know who I am, or you don't need to know. Right-o, mates. Until next update... Cheers!

+K+

40 hours & counting...

2007-07-05T15:54:00.000+10:00

The party was a blast and a half. Thanks and kudos to everyone who came, you all make me feel loved, and I'm going to miss the hell out of each and every one of you.

That being said, tomorrow I will be departing for Australia. This is likely to be my last entry in the States, considering I'll be spending most of tomorrow packing and doing some last-minute hanging outage. Perhaps another trip to the city will be in order, but we shall see.

Here's to hoping I'm able to make it to Melbourne in one sane piece, and that I'll be able to keep you updated on the ruckus that I have no doubt will ensue.

Until I change hemispheres... later days!

+K+

The Final Countdown

2007-07-02T14:20:00.000+10:00

Yup, just like the Europe song, it is in fact the Final Countdown. Not in the eighties super-group, Magician's Alliance sort of way, but in the sense that in one week, I will be in Australia. Wow.

It started to hit me today, because for the first time in a long time, I'm unemployed, and will be for the next six-odd months. I finished up my internship on Thursday, and my last night working at Kildare's was last night. Bittersweet, to say the least. I'm definitely going to miss the people I work with... they've made my lack of social life due to countless Friday and Saturday night closing shifts completely worthwhile. Well, I'm sure the money had something to do with it as well, but you know how it goes. Good kids... hopefully I'll be seeing most of them come Wednesday.

Ahh, yes. Wednesday. I don't believe I've mentioned it on here yet, but I'm having a bit of a banger, as the saying goes, before I take flight on Friday. July fourth, two o'clock, Fritzopia. Be there. Should be a fantastic time, you have my word.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself for the next few days... it's been a really long time since I've had a stretch of days off. I don't have much left to prepare for the trip, really just packing and currency exchange, as well as a few minor things to purchase. I confirmed my flight earlier, I have a window seat on the LAX to Melbourne flight(!!), and I sent in my "Notification of Arrival" form, which basically says I'm not going to be abandoned once I get to Australia. Thumbs up on that one. So yeah, the next handful of days should be pretty interesting. Kimmay, Foof and myself are heading to the shore for the day tomorrow, then I'm moving out of 1821 on Tuesday, the party's Wednesday, Thursday is the recovery (hah), and I depart on Friday night at 6:49 pm.

Ohh, this is going to be interesting.

I continue to assure myself that I'm entirely out of my mind for going halfway across the world, to a place I've never been, where I know not a single soul on the continent... but at the same time, it's the best damn idea I've ever had. People keep asking me if I'm nervous... well, of course I'm nervous... but I'm more excited and anxious than anything. Let's hope I'm right.

Until next time...

+K+

Less than two weeks, & counting

2007-06-24T01:29:00.000+10:00

Yesterday marked the "two weeks until I leave this place" mark. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that. I'm completely excited to be spending five and a half months in Australia (believe you me, I start to smile whenever I think about it), but at the same token, the summer has treated me like a queen since May, and I'm starting to get that sort of nervous excitement. I mean, two weeks from today, I'm going to be on a plane, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Crikey +++!

The good news is, it seems as if everything is settled as far as my arrival at Deakin goes. I have my plane ticket, passport and visa. Housing is taken care of, so if nothing else, I have a place to live. Granted, I have no idea what my address is (I'll be sure to post it as soon as I find it), but I know I'll at least have a roof over my head. Last night I went to New York City to see my favorite band, the Weakerthans, with two friends. My friend Mel is going to Tokyo in August, so we spent a lot of time (amidst oogling John Samson) discussing international travel. All I have to say is they'd better release that new Weakerthans album worldwide... I need that in my life!

The only other Australia-related note I have for you at the time is that I'm planning my going away party for July 4th. So needless to say, if you're reading this, or you care about me in any fashion and think you just might, maybe miss me while I'm overseas.... you'd better be there. If you're having a party already? Well, bring them, too. The bigger the better; I'm going out with a bang.

That's all I've got for you for now. I'm still predicting that meltdown to creep up in the near future. I'm predicting... after I finish my internship and leave Kildare's. That's when it's really going to smack me across the face. Until then... later days!

+K+

Oh no, not this again...

2007-06-16T11:44:00.000+10:00

I swore I'd swear off blogs forever last time, yet here I am again. It's different this time, I promise. Because this time... I'm going to be halfway across the country.

Today marks the coming and going of day 21 before I leave for Australia. I finally got my passport, after what seemed like an eternity waiting in line at the Philly Custom's building. But oh well, it's all worth it in the end. And, I applied for my visa. Let's hope that gets approved sooner rather than later. So, with such events taking up the better part of my day today, I figured why not make it even more of a momentous occasion by kicking off the official KirstyDownUnder blog. I'm probably not going to write much for the next three weeks... I'm going to do my damnedest to keep this strictly Australian, because Lord knows I have enough writing material for volumes if I include my daily misdoings. So, aside from the passport, the visa, the three week mark, and my acquisition of a computer game and season two of the X-Files (I justified this as entertainment for the flight. I can convince myself of pretty much anything.... comes in handy with morals like mine. I kid.), not too much has gone down on the Australia front.

I think I'm going to go to the bookstore now, so that's it for me. Stay tuned for more updates within the next three weeks. I can promise you something close to at least one decent meltdown.

Later Days.

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