November Comes to an End

Well, tonight will be my last night in International House. People have been leaving for most of the month and the last waves will leave tomorrow when we all have to be out. Some will be staying here for awhile longer because they are living in Newcastle to work over the Summer holiday, but it will be pretty empty once we all leave. I've been packing up my room today, taking down decorations and figuring out what to throw away. I don't think it will be too hard to fit everything in my bags because I came over here with them pretty light. When I move out tomorrow I'll be heading up to a town called Ballina where two of my roommates live. I'm looking forward to just hanging out in a new area and exploring. Hopefully the weather clears up because it has been raining the past few days. An unfortunate way to end the experience here.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Last Sunday we had a big Thanksgiving feast in the dining hall. One of the Americans organized it and we ended up with about 40 people (not just Americans) and tons of delicious food. Turkeys are hard to come by around here, but we had plenty of other great dishes and desserts.

Well, time to get back to packing and cleaning. Talk to you soon!

Massive Catchup

First of all: no, I am not dead. I realise that I have gone more than a month and a half without an update, and I deeply regret that. The truth is I have just been pretty lazy, and the longer I waited, the harder it got. So I figured the best way was to just skip most of what I missed and move on to more recent occurrences.

I will briefly go over my spring break trip because it definitely deserves mention. My spring break trip was, in a word, amazing. I spent a week on the south island of New Zealand with a tour group of around 30 college students, mostly from America. We traveled all around the island on a big bus called Roxanne (we listened to the Police song every morning to get going). We went to a sheep station in the mountains, hiked on a glacier, spent the night on a boat in Milford Sound (the rainiest place on Earth at sea level), and spent two nights in Queenstown where we went horseback riding, jetboating on a river and bungy jumped! New Zealand has, without a doubt, some of the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen. After New Zealand my two American mates Cory and Mike headed with me to Queensland, the northeast state of Australia. We actually had a bit of a hiccup in our transition because we didn't leave enough time between the flight from New Zealand into Sydney and Sydney going up to Queensland. We missed the flight and had to spend an extra night in Sydney, which ended up being quite relaxing. We met up with our other friend Patrick in Airlie Beach where we went on a two day sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef. The water was the clearest blue and we went snorkeling with some beautiful fish and coral. After the Whitsundays we took an overnight 12-hour busride down to Hervey Bay where we went to Fraser Island, which is the largest sand island in the world. The only way to get around the island is in 4-wheel-drive vehicles so we went through a company that rents them out. The four of us (Cory, Mike, Patrick and myself) were paired with four English girls just about our age. We all got along really well and had fun driving around and camping on the island. I've uploaded a bunch of pictures from the trip to make up for the lack of detail. They can be found here.

Upon returning from spring break, we had to jump right back into school, which was rather difficult after a 17 day holiday. My first week back was relaxed as I didn't have any schoolwork due. October was relatively calm. We had our formal farewell dinner on October 31 (unfortunately Halloween isn't really celebrated here), which was quite fun.

My roommates and me all dressed up for our formal dinner. This was probably the hottest day so far at about 95 degrees and we were all very hot.

The next weekend, a group of friends and I traveled down to the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. We left pretty early because the whole trip takes about five hours by train. This area is generally known for its amazing views of valleys, its many bushwalks and the Jenolan Caves nearby. The town we stayed in, called Katoomba, was rife with antique shops and old bookstores, which we perused for a few hours. We then visited Echo Point from which the famous Three Sisters can be seen, pictured below.


We went on a bit of a hike to see some waterfalls before heading back to our hostel. That night we went out to eat at a small cafe with some live music. The helpings were heaping and the music was melodic, so it was a pleasant evening. The next day we decided to visit Jenolan Caves, which is one of the largest limestone cave systems in the world. We had to take a bus that was about an hour and a half to get there. Our guided tour didn't start until afternoon, but they gave us a little headset to do a self-guided tour of a different part of the cave system. After that we had a bit of lunch before meeting up with the tour group. On the guided tour we actually got to go pretty deep into the cave system, which is quite developed inside. There are concrete pathways with handrails and lights all throughout. The sights are spectacular and there is truly nothing else like it. Taking pictures inside the cave was hard because of the low light, and using a flash washed out the shadows so the features didn't look as impressive. I did manage to get a few good shots that weren't blurry.


The tour wasn't too long, but it was definitely interesting. We emerged from the cave to be greeted by the glaring sun. We got back on the bus and headed back to Katoomba. The next day we walked around Katoomba a bit more before boarding the train for the long journey home.

I had finished most of my major assessments right before the Blue Mountains trip, so I have basically been done for most of November and have been trying to use some of my free time. I just got back from another trip to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast. My roommate Nat invited me to come and stay with her and her friend in her aunt's holiday house. Her aunt actually won the house in some kind of lottery. I was looking forward to staying in an actual house and not having to pay for a hostel. When I arrived, I was shocked to discover that the "holiday house" was more of a multimillion dollar villa blocks from downtown. It was a two story house with three bedrooms and two luxury bathrooms with a pool out back, and I even had my own queen size bed, which was fantastic.


After I was done exploring and ogling the house, we had some dinner and lounged for a bit. We decided to go out on the town so we headed out to Jupiter's Casino which was quite busy. After losing a few dollars at the slots we decided we'd had enough and headed out to find a bar. It happened to be Schoolies Week, which is when all the high school graduates go on their celebratory holiday to the Gold Coast, so there were 18-year-olds running around everywhere. Most of the bars were loud and packed but we managed to find a nice quiet bar and relax there for a few drinks before going home. The next day Nat's other aunt and uncle came to visit with their kids. We mainly lounged around all day and talked to them about all sorts of things. That evening the thunderstorms started rolling in. The Gold Coast got hit by one of the worst storms in a long time. Near Brisbane some houses were completely destroyed and one man died after getting caught in a storm drain. However, since the region has been in drought for so long, the rain is actually a good thing. Although personally, I was a little disappointed because it didn't stop raining the entire time I was there. The next day the three of us went to a water park called Wet 'n Wild. It was raining and pretty cold, but the lines were short so it was worth it. The next day we rented a little car and drove up into the mountains. We visited a manmade cave which was a sanctuary for glow worms. They had about 15,000 in the small cave and we got to learn all about their life cycle and how they glow. We had wanted to do a hike, but most of the trails were closed because of the storms causing trees to fall over. We did manage to find one short hike to a waterfall and got completely drenched in the process. The next day, right as I got to the bus stop to head back to the airport, the sun came out. Awesome. Overall though, it was a great trip.

I now have 10 days left before I have to move out of the residential college. I'm going up to a city called Ballina to stay with my roommate Telly for a little over a week. Then I'll be flying down to Canberra to stay with a family friend. After a few days there I'll stop by Sydney for one last time before heading back to Newcastle for a couple nights. On December 15 I'll head over to Auckland and then back to Seattle on the 20th.

It's crazy that this long adventure is starting to come to an end. I have exactly one month left until I get back to Seattle, and I plan to make the most of it. People are slowly starting to leave. One of my best mates Mike just left yesterday to go back to Chicago. I've gotten to know a lot of people from the midwest and a few from the east coast, and I hope to visit them in the hopefully not-too-distant future.

Spring Break Is Here!

Well folks, this will be my last post before I go incommunicado for two weeks. As some of you may know, we are now on mid-semester break. I just finished up a hard week with two big essays, one for history on the Great Depression and one for pop culture examining the “representation of the relationship between place and cultural identity in teen literature and film”. Boy am I glad to be done with those! Up until last night, I hadn’t really had the chance to be excited for the amazing adventures ahead; I was too busy worrying about my essays. Last night around 5pm I was in the student services building finalising my paper and turning it in right on the deadline (always a procrastinator). On the walk back to my room, a feeling somewhere between relief, relaxation and excitement came over me. I just felt like sitting around, and that’s pretty much what I did. After dinner I just went out to our pool and kicked a ball around with my buddy Cory. Then I just sat around with the roommates and watched a movie. Eventually I started laying out all my stuff (I had made a big packing list a couple days before so packing didn’t take long) and getting my documents in order.

I’ll outline our trip so you get an idea of the itinerary. I don’t want to go into too much depth because I’ll do one massive update when I get back with all the details you could ever want. Anyway, the first week I’m going to the south island of New Zealand with my friends Cory and Mike, both Americans. This was the trip we booked right after we got here, back in July. We basically go all around the south island on a bus to different hot spots like Fox Glacier, Queenstown, spend a night on a boat in Milford Sound, and even stay at a sheep station in the Fjordlands! After that week is up, we fly back to Sydney and then up to Airlie Beach, which is pretty far up the east cost of Australia, where we are meeting up with our other friend Patrick. From Airlie Beach we leave on a two night sailing adventure around the Great Barrier Reef. After that, we all head down the coast to Hervey Bay. From there we jump on a ferry over to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. There we will go on a 4x4 safari tour where we get to drive these jeeps all around the island. Apparently you can’t swim in the ocean because it’s a breeding ground for tiger sharks, but there are over 50 freshwater lakes on the island. After that, we must return home to the drudgery of school. I’ll actually have to go to one of my classes about an hour or two after I get back from the airport!

I’m sure there will be internet access along the way, and I may be willing to do a small update or two, but most likely I won’t write again for a few weeks. Hope everyone has a great two weeks and check back in around October 15 for an update!

Sydney: The Sequel

Another huge update today with lots of pretty pictures! Before I go into my second trip to Sydney, I’ll just talk about another quick trip I had a few weeks ago.

Six of my friends had decided to go to Port Stephens one weekend and invited me along. Port Stephens is basically just a string of coastal towns along the coast, about an hour busride north of Newcastle. They left early on Friday but I have a class then so I decided to just come up early Saturday with my friend Addison. We caught the bus right in town and got dropped off right outside our hostel! Addison and I had to stay at a different hostel than the rest of the group because theirs was booked up. I really liked both of the hostels and the people who ran them were extremely helpful. I actually left my sweatshirt on the bus so I was a little distraught by that. I talked to the woman at the desk, who called the bus company, found out which bus it was on and went out to get it the next time the bus came around while we were gone! One thing my friends and I have talked about is how accommodating people are here. People are willing to go out of their way to help you out. After we got settled in, Addison and I walked along the road to the other hostel. Along the way, we stopped at One Mile Beach, which was just amazing. The sand comes back from the water a good ways and there are miles and miles of sand dunes farther south. It reminded me a lot of Manzanita down in Oregon. The rest of the group had actually gone sandboarding on the dunes the day before. We had missed that so I was a little bummed, but hopefully I can go in the future with some other people.

One Mile Beach.

We got to the other hostel and met up with our friends to decide what to do. Mike, Sean and I wanted to try to go surfing at one mile beach, and the girls wanted to just walk around. The owners of the hostel gave us a ride into town in this old propane-powered army truck. It was the kind where the back has seats on either side facing each other and a canvas top that could be rolled up. They drove us to a surf shop to hire some stuff. The guy there gave us an awesome deal: for $30 we each got a surfboard and a wetsuit to use until about noon the next day! We got back in the army truck and headed back to the hostel.

Kangaroo that lived at the hostel and just sat around all day.

We walked down to the beach from there and surfed for a few hours. We were using smaller boards this time so it was a lot harder, but still fun. After that, we hopped on some bikes that the hostel lets you borrow for free and rode down to the sand dunes to meet up with the girls. We went on a camel ride along the beach for a bit.


It was a pretty short ride but it was cool just to say we had ridden a camel. Fun fact: there are over 1 million wild camels in Australia! Around this time, my camera stopped working. I turned it off and it never turned back on. I never dropped it or anything so I just can’t figure out what went wrong and it’s still broken.

That night we caught a big eight-person taxi into Nelson Bay (kind of like the capital city of Port Stephens) for dinner at a pizza place. The pizza down here is a little different and most Americans don’t seem to like it. I like all pizza, but this place was definitely the best we’d had. After that, we walked around a bit before catching another taxi home. That night and most of the next day it rained really hard, which was a bit of a drag. Mike went surfing again in the rain before we returned the boards and hopped on the bus back to Newcastle.

Now on to the second trip to Sydney, which was just last weekend. On our last trip to Sydney, there were about 15 of us total. This time there were only six of us so it was a little more relaxing. I had just finished an essay so I was looking forward to a weekend away. We left early Friday morning so we could spend most of the day in Sydney. The ticket machine at the Uni train station was broken so we didn’t have to pay for the ticket to the main train station. Then when we bought our tickets to Sydney, the guy gave us the concession price (which we technically aren’t supposed to get) so the trip was only $9! On our first trip to Sydney, we were more interesting in the major landmarks and areas. This time we wanted to see some more of the smaller areas, museums and shopping areas.

We stayed at the same $13 hostel in the 28-person room which is always fun. After checking in, we walked over to the Queen Victoria Building which is a shopping centre, and I have to say, it is the ritziest shopping centre I’ve ever seen.


There are about four levels and most of the stores are pretty high class and expensive. We saw some nice jewelery which was on sale; only $10,000 marked down from $15k! After exploring the vast expanse of wealth that we would never be able to obtain, we headed over to the FREE Museum of Contemporary Art. There were two exhibits open at the time. One was a bunch of video art pieces which were all pretty weird and slightly abstract. There was a cool room with a bunch of projectors flashing different colours on blank canvases and we got some good shadow pictures in there.


The other exhibit was called “Heads Up” and consisted of giant photo portraits of a team of football players. All of the pictures were taken after the team had lost games so it was interesting to see the subtleties of their expressions and some even had cuts, bruises and grass still on their faces from the games. It was very reminiscent of Chuck Close—though these were real photos—because of the scale of the portraits and the detail in the faces.

Entrance to the MCA.

The next morning was our zoo day. We caught a ferry from Circular Quay across the Harbour to Taronga Zoo. We had a lot in store for us because the Taronga Zoo is simply huge. After the ferry drops you off, you have to make your way to the top of the park where the entrance is, and then work your way back down to the bottom.


After about 45 minutes I looked at the map and noticed we had only really covered the reptile area; time to pick up the pace. We got to see pretty much everything we wanted, sans the spiders. I regret not making it to that exhibit, because even though they scare the hell out of me, they are fascinating. Plus I would be protected by the glass. Not only were there more animals than most of the other zoos I have been to, but they had better exhibits and looked healthier. There were so many animals and I took heaps of pictures, but here are some of my favourites:

• Komodo dragon – we have a small one at the Woodland Park Zoo, but this guy was huge. Hard to tell from the picture but he was probably about seven feet long. The world’s largest lizard (crocs and gators are not lizards).

• Chimpanzees – they had a good exhibit for the chimps and there were quite a few of them, including a few babies and juveniles. We got there right when they started a talk on them. I’ve always liked primates a lot so it was fun to see the chimps and gorillas but now that I think about it, I didn’t see many others.

• Meerkats – I don’t think I had ever seen any meerkats before and it was pretty cool to see this colony of them digging around and to see a few of them do the classic “keeping watch” pose.

• Red pandas – they don’t resemble giant pandas at all, and none of us had ever seen one before. Very sleek and wise looking, with a long bushy tail.

• Monotremes! – hard to spot these guys in the wild, so it was cool to see the echidna and platypus.

We had a great time and were finally ready to leave—at least, our aching feet were. We got back to the bottom of the zoo by taking the Sky Safari, which is a gondola that travels over the exhibits, giving an amazing view of the Sydney skyline.

The next day we checked out of our hostel and walked down to Darling Harbour to check out that area again. It was a cloudy and started drizzling a little when we stopped at some toilets. When we came out a few minutes later it was just like stepping out into a shower. We sought shelter at a McDonalds nearby to wait. It eventually let up and we headed over to the National Maritime Museum and went on a brief tour, which was also free (I like these free museums!). It started by looking at nautical histories of other countries’ interactions with Australia in the 18th century. Then there was more modern stuff about immigration and the surf movement. The tour was pretty quick so we didn’t get to examine the exhibits and plaques too closely. Then we headed back to the hostel to get our stuff and headed back to Newcastle. Definitely another successful trip to Sydney. Not sure if I’ll make it back there again. I still want to explore some other cities like Melbourne and Brisbane.

Things are starting to get heavy for school. Had a couple big essays due in the last week, and two more due next week. But after next week is our huge spring break trip. I’ll outline that next week before we take off. Here are some random pictures and videos from the Sydney trip.

Me in the reflection of my buddy Mike's sunnies.

The whole group: Mike, Ashley, Sean, Erin, Annie and me.

Trying on an awesome hat.

View from the Sky Safari.

Sean in front of St. Mary's Cathedral at night.

The group out dancing!

Mountain Goats (?) with the Coat Hanger in the background.



"The Seizure Room"

Life in Newcastle

I'm not even going to try to make an excuse this time. Straight-up laziness. Anyway, this post we're going to have a change of pace. I'm going to talk about some school stuff and everyday life in Newcastle just so people can get an idea of what I'm up to when I'm not gallivanting around on the weekends (though I do have another weekend trip report too!).

Newcastle itself is a fair-sized city. It's hard to compare it to Seattle or Bellingham because it's so spread out. Australia is the country of suburbs, basically what we call neighborhoods, and there are many of them. The University and surrounding area is located in the Callaghan suburb. The city of Newcastle has a population of about 150,000 (according to the Lonely Planet guidebook; other sources say as high as 300-500,000). Although it's a somewhat small city, it is also the largest coal exporter in the world! I didn't really take any pictures of the campus, city, or waterfront, and now my camera has mysteriously stopped working. I'll try to throw a few in but you can also google image some of the places I mention for better views. As Newcastle is a coastal city (most of Australia's cities are) there are plenty of beaches. The weather right now is something like a Northwest Spring or Fall. Temperatures mostly around 60 degrees and usually sunny or partly cloudy. It rains once a week or so.

This picture is of Nobby's Beach and the lighthouse down at the end. It's not very busy here, but I'm told that once it heats up in a month or so, it will be very crowded.

I know about four groups of people who live off-campus, most of them a short walk from "downtown". I say it with quotes because it's not the CBD (central business district) but more the cultural center, with most of the museums, restaurants, bars, beaches, etc. located nearby. The Newcastle Train station is also located in this area, so all of the buses and trains end up there eventually, so getting there is pretty easy.

The University of Newcastle actually has a few different campuses. The largest and most attended campus is Callaghan (where I am). There is also the Ourimbah campus, which is a ways South, and another in Port Macquarie. Again depending on where you look, the total enrolment is about 20-30,000 students though to me it feels about the same as Western because I often see people I know when walking around. Callaghan campus is probably about two to three times bigger than Western's campus, though there are lots of undeveloped areas and lots of natural bushland, which adds a nice secluded feel as you walk through. It's also pretty cool to hear all these "exotic" birds chirping away: magpies, lorikeets and the occasional kookaburra. There is also some bird that sounds like a child screaming or some animal being killed, but I can't figure out what it is.

There are four on-campus colleges (what we call dorms) which house about 1,000 students. The colleges are International House, where I live, Edwards Hall, Evatt House and Barahineban. There are often intercol events arranged among the colleges. Just some of the many events are Autonomoy Day (mentioned in an earlier post), a winery tour in Hunter Valley, Olympic Night (everyone dresses up as some type of Olympian), Gender Bender (dress as the opposite sex), Campus Scamper (a 5k race around the campus) and there is an upcoming trip to the horse-race track. There are also sporting matches between the colleges, including soccer, basketball, volleyball, netball and maybe some others. There is definitely a more communal feel to living on campus here than in the States (at least at Western). You get to know a lot of the people in your college through the events and most of the time the events are free or at a discounted price.

To anyone thinking about studying abroad, I would definitely recommend living on campus over living off campus, for a number of reasons. First there is the social aspect. As I said, you meet tons of great people very quickly. Living off campus, you are usually paired with other Americans and it can take you awhile to meet other people unless you are really outgoing and look for events on your own. There is also the fact that you are already on campus and don't have to commute every day; it costs $6 a day to go from town to Uni and back! Another handy thing is not having to pay for utilities or worry about not having certain amenities. In my unit we have high-speed internet in our rooms, a communal TV and a kitchen with every appliance or piece of cookware you could desire. We also have a swimming pool, ping-pong and billiards table, outdoor BBQs and laundry. I think I've made my point...

I'll talk a little about IH so you get an idea about my living situation. IH has 11 main block units which are separate buildings. Each block is two or three stories. Most blocks have 10 people per floor, though some are five person units. I live on the first floor of block five with nine Australian roommates. Although International House is about 50 per cent overseas students, I ended up with all Aussies. Each unit has a main entrance onto a communal living room with TV and couches and an adjoining kitchen. There are two hallways off each side of the common room with five rooms on each side sharing a bathroom. I spend the majority of my time with my roommates unless I'm off on some weekend trip, which are generally spent with Australearn students. We all get along really well and have lots of fun hanging out in the lounge and causing mayhem. Each college has a different meal plan as well. IH has a dinner for every weekday, five a week, so we have to get all of our other meals on our own. There is a shopping center called Jesmond about five minutes away by car which has a grocery store and a bunch of other shops. It's not very big compared to some of the other shopping centers in Newcastle, but it's close and easy to get there. The shops all close at 5pm except on Thursday when they are open to 9. The Uni provides a free bus to the shops on Thursdays which is nice for people who can't get rides or don't want to pay to ride the bus.

A view of the courtyard outside the IH blocks.

The schools system in general also works differently down here. Instead of having each class every day or a few times a week, there is usually just one lecture and one tutorial a week for each class. The lectures are the same as in the states, but a tutorial is a much smaller group that meets and is much more interactive and personal. I really like this system because it makes the subjects more interesting and you get more involved in the discussions. The thing I don't like about the Australian school system is how assessments are handled. In the states we have a lot of small assignments, essays, quizzes or exams. Here you only have a few assessments, either essays or exams, which are worth a large percentage of the grade. In my case, I have only one exam and about 10 essays. If you screw up on an assessment it can really hurt your grade, so you have to be careful. The grading system itself is also different. Instead of letter grades, you get marks. The different marks are high distinction, distinction, credit, pass and fail (anything less than 50). If you get 85 or above then you get a HD which is very good and represents exceptional thought and substantial additional research; basically, hard to get. A 75-84 is a distinction, which is equivalent to an A, and a 65-74 is credit, equivalent to a B. At Western all international grades transfer back as pass or fail, so all I technically need to get are 50s and I would still be fine (don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm still working hard).

Here's a brief rundown of the classes I'm taking.

Australia in the 20th Century - a history class starting with Federation in Australia (becoming an independent country), we are looking at Australia's role in the world and the development of Australian society, culture, politics and economy. Our main assignment is an essay examining a topic of choice. I'm doing my essay on the Great Depression in Australia and looking at how the government responded to the emergency.

Australian Popular Culture - a class that examines popular culture in various media, including movies, books and art. We have been looking a lot at traditional figures of national identity, such as the Anzac or the digger, the bushman, the drover's wife and the lifesaver (lifeguard). I did my first essay in this class on the lifesaver, comparing the traditional views of a lifesaver with a contemporary depiction in some form of media. I chose this video which was used as an advertisement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2DXxXd1Q_M

Myth Making and Mythic Experience - an anthropology class that examines the roles of myth in different societies, specifically how myths and stories contribute to group identity and shape everyday life. We use a number of different perspectives from anthropologists/sociologists like Freud (psychoanalysis), Malinowski (functionalism) and Levi-Strauss (structuralism) to analyse the myths. My final essay is an examination of a Brothers Grimm story using the various methods we have learned. An interesting class because many of these associations and symbols can be so arbitrary and connections can be made very loosely.

Indigenous Peoples of the Contemporary World - an anthropology class that examines the roles and conditions of indigenous peoples all over the world. We have been looking at traditional knowledge, spirituality, treaties and general interactions with Western societies. Often depressing because we learn about all of the horrible things aboriginal people have had to go through. Last week we were looking at "the Stolen Generation", which was when the Australian government deemed Aboriginal parents unable to raise their own children and took them away. Many were put in large boarding schools or group homes where they were often faced with physical and sexual abuse.

Well, hopefully that gives you a good idea of life in Newcastle. Another post soon; now it's time for tea (dinner)!

Find Your Mojo

Well, I've gone and done it again: missed an update. Though I must profess that this time it wasn't entirely my fault. The internet in our dorm was out for a few days, so that's part of my excuse. I hate doing these lengthy updates. There's so much to try and remember.

I'll start with the weekend after we went to Sydney (my previous post), which was our surf trip with MojoSurf to Crescent Head. You may find that I often use the world "we" instead of "I." This is mainly because I travel with a group of buddies on most adventures I undertake. Towards the end of my trip, I'll probably be doing some solo traveling, but that's later!

This trip was one that a bunch of us Australearn students scheduled back in Cairns during our first week in Australia. It seemed like it would be a good way to reconnect with others after the first few weeks of school. After class on Friday, about five of us met up and headed down to the train station and found the rest of the group already there. We took the train a short two stops up and got off to find Ian, the guy we had signed up with, waiting for us with a big ol' bus. The drive to Crescent Head was about three or four hours, so it was dark by the time we got there. We got off the bus and met some of the other staff members and surf instructors. They showed us around a bit and we got our beds set up. Then we headed up to the firepit and they got a nice blaze going for us to warm up (it was really cold there at night). We sat by the fire for a few hours chatting and relaxing while music was playing. We turned in a bit early because we got up early the next morning to make the most of our time.

Part of the camp.

The weather all weekend was beautiful. We had clear skies and it was pretty warm, though the wind did make it a bit chilly at times. Saturday morning we had a nice breakfast of cereal, fresh fruit, and toast. While we ate, one of the guys in charge gave us the rundown on the beach and what we would be doing for the next two days. The guy's name was Kimbo, and he was one of the funniest blokes I've come across. If you picture the Dude from The Big Lebowski, you can get an idea of his general demeanor. He pretty much wore a bathrobe and slippers around the entire time. Anyway, after the speech he gave, we all got kitted out with wetsuits, each one having a unique name on it. Mine was Lycra Man.

The superhero called Lycra Man.

The wetsuits were pretty worn and didn't exactly fit, but they kept us warm. The water actually wasn't too cold. The locals here think the water is freezing; I tell them to check out the Puget Sound. We headed down to the beach, and after a brief lesson of the basics, jumped into the water. Most people progressed at the same rate. It took awhile to actually stand up on the board, but a lot of people were starting to get it down. We went at it for a few hours, having fun and occasionally getting crushed under a wave. After a delicious lunch break consisting of grilled cheese sandwiches, we hit the surf again. If I had to guess, I would say we spent about five or six hours surfing that day.

Woohoo, totally gnarly dewd.

That night we had a great BBQ dinner (did I mention that all the meals there were amazing?) and another night at the firepit. One of the best parts of being down on the beach and away from the cities was the lack of light pollution. If you got away from the fire and down to the beach, the stars were absolutely awesome. And it's weird because none of the stars are familiar. You wouldn't expect to notice the difference, but it's there.

A moment of quiet contemplation by the fire.

The next morning we headed back out for a few more hours. Putting the wetsuits back on after they had been sitting out all night in the freezing cold was not too fun. Once we got back into the water though, it was no problem. The last few hours were pretty good. Consistent and good size waves. The instructors said that the conditions were perfect for learning. By the end, we were all pretty tired, cold, and a little sore. After lunch, we rounded up all our stuff and hopped back on the bus for the long haul home.


Just a short video of the beach so you can get an idea of the location. Beauty.

Weekend in Sydney

It's about that time yet again ladies and gentlemen. This week we are looking back at the first (and hopefully not the last) weekend trip to Sydney!

This tale of intrigue and wonder begins on Friday afternoon. After class, I met up with another American fellow called Patrick who also lives in IH. Packing for me consisted of throwing a few articles of clothing, some toiletries, and my guidebook in my backpack. Later that weekend, I would find out that I had forgotten a number of essential items, including any extra socks, towel, or shampoo and soap. At least now I will remember for next time. Once ready, Patrick and I headed down to the train station and bought our tickets. The price of a one-way ticket to Sydney is only $18, which isn't too bad. However, certain exchange students are allowed to get a concession sticker which grants discounts on all bus and rail transportation; for them, the cost is only $9. Unfortunately, we did not have this sticker. The trip to Sydney was about three hours. I spent most of the time reading through my guidebook trying to setup some type of tour.

When we arrived in Sydney, we got off the train and walked the four or five blocks to our hostel. As we walked in the door, a few of our friends were in the lobby also checking in. Quite a few of us had been planning on going down and most of them had left early on Friday because they didn't have class. We checked in and headed up to our room. The room we booked is called The Church, because it's a large 28-person dorm with 14 bunkbeds and three stained glass windows. You might think you would go crazy in a room like that, but it was actually pretty quiet, and for $13 a night, who can argue?!

This picture gives you an idea of the layout of the room. It was really cool when the sun came up and the only light was through the stained glass windows.

Once we were all settled, we headed down to the lobby to see what was planned for the night. The hostel we were staying at, called Westend, has a different activity for every day of the week, and they often involve freebies or discounts. Friday happened to be free wine and cheese night in the lounge. Granted, it was just a couple boxes of wine (which the Australian's invented by the way) and stock cheddar cheese cubes on cheap crackers, but remember, we only paid $13. In the lounge, we met a bloke from Texas called Max who had been working Brisbane for a few months and was on holiday in Sydney for a week before returning home. He had traveled alone so he would be joining us the next day on our adventures. After both the wine sacks were gone, the staff led us all over to a bar called Scubar, where we got all you can eat pizza for $10 and discounts on drinks. We also went to another bar called Side Bar, which had more of a dance scene. We danced the night away and ran into a ton of other students from Newcastle who also happened to be in Sydney.

The next morning, I was kind of appointed group tour guide, as I had looked into all the sights and activities. Everyone was pretty keen on my suggestions, as most of them were free. The general plan way to wind our way North through the city ending up on the Harbour to see the Opera House and Bridge. But first was the pressing issue of our rumbling tummies. We went to an Irish pub for an Irish breakfast: toast with sunny side up eggs, and lots of bacon and sausage. After filling up, we headed over to Paddy's Markets, which was your standard flea market with cheap products abounding. One of the most interesting items we came across were stuffed kangaroo arms for backscratchers and even more interesting, stuffed kangaroo testicles which were bottle openers and lighters (seen below).


Now, I for one don't really like these markets because it's all cheap stuff and I feel like you can find them anywhere. Once we got out of there, it was time to see some real sights. I directed the group first over to Hyde Park and the ANZAC Memorial. Hyde Park is a pretty large park in the middle of the city and the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) Memorial is dedicated to those who served in WWI. Next we headed over to St. Mary's Cathedral, which was quite impressive, inside and out.


(Just a note that any pictures on this blog can be enlarged by clicking on them)

After St. Mary's we steered our way up towards the Royal Botanical Gardens, which cover quite a large area. The signs there say things like "Please walk on the grass and feel free to hug the trees." It was a beautiful sunny day. One of the hottest we have experienced yet, though also quite windy at times. The lawns at the Gardens were littered with people napping, picnicking, and playing sports. One interesting thing were the thousands of huge bats hanging in the trees. It was a little odd to see bats flying around in the middle of the day. We walked to a point in the Gardens right on the Harbour where we finally got our first glimpses of the canonical Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. After strolling around and taking copious amounts of pictures, we headed in for a closer look.

Most of us were surprised to see that the Opera House is actually layered with tiles. I had always thought it was concrete, but I related to the group the knowledge from my guidebook: designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, the Opera House's 67-meter-high roof features over 27,000 tons of Swedish tiles-- over 1,056,000 of them. The Opera House hosts 2,400 events annually (about six and a half per day!) at a cost of around $40 million.

We met up with some other Newcastle people and headed inside for a look around. There was a TV screen showing a live performance in the main concert hall. A girl from our group was inquiring about seeing a show in late August when she returned. After telling us about the various shows and us wincing at the prices, the sales person told us about a comedy called "The 39 Steps," which was not yet in season so the prices were cheaper. He informed us that there a show was to start in 20 minutes, and that yes, there was a student discount! For only $26 each, we got to see a production at the Sydney Opera House! The show was an adaptation of a Hitchcock movie, which was based off an old novel. We really had no idea going into the show what the plot was or anything like that, but we just couldn't pass up the deal. It turned out to be a hilarious and fun production, much akin to a Monty Python movie, as the cast consisted of only four characters, quickly changing outfits, characters, and accents, sometimes doing two characters on stage at once! All-in-all, it was an excellent production and a terrific deal.

We got out of the play after the sun had set. We were a little disappointed because we had hoped to walk along the Bridge as it went down, but there will be other opportunities. We did end up getting some awesome night shots, as the city looks spectacular after dark.


We wandered around a bit looking for a cheap place to eat, until we found a fast-food type place with homemade pizza and kebabs. We headed back to our hostel and prepared for another night out. I don't remember if I realized it Saturday night or the night before, but I had forgotten to pack any extra socks, so I had to put the same dirty pair back on in order to go out. You can't wear thongs (flip-flops) into bars here. That night the hostel took us to a bar called The Gaff, where we got some more discounts on drinks. At about 10pm, we were informed that the downstairs was open. We didn't even realize there was a downstairs, but we headed down underground to a place of stone walls and arches. It was another fun night and we danced lots and again saw people from our Uni.

The next morning, a bunch of people went to the morning Mass at St. Mary's. I wasn't really interested and opted to sleep in, but they said it was an interesting experience. Sunday's plan was a little more relaxed and less structured. We first headed over to Darling Harbour on the West side of downtown. There were lots of people out, as it was another gorgeous day. There was a boat show going on with lots of fancy yachts, but you had to pay to get in, so we steered clear. We walked around that area for a bit before getting some fish and chips for lunch. We hopped on a ferry and took a short ride around the bend to Circular Quay (pronounced "key") where we had another great view of the Opera House and went right under the Bridge. After paying for our "child" tickets at the automated machines, we headed up to walk across the Bridge, where we were treated to more astounding views. There is an option to actually climb the top of the bridge for one of the best views in the city, but it's at least $175 and takes about three hours. We were happy with our view and the walk across. By now, my feet were starting to get tired; I had been walking around in thongs the past two days. We decided to head back to the hostel and go home.


The train back to Newcastle seemed a lot longer than the way to Sydney. Mike posited that it was because we had no anticipation of getting there. Perhaps so. Overall, it was an outstanding weekend, and I hope there are more to come. Already next weekend we have our big surf trip with all of the Australearn students. I think it will be a good way to catch up with a lot of the people that I haven't seen much in the past few weeks. Well, its almost 2:30am now and I've been writing this for at least two hours. With class tomorrow for most of the day, I think it's time to sign off. More to come.

Army Party and Auto Day

Well, it looks like it's about time for me to update again if I'm to keep up with my weekly schedule.

Last Wednesday (student night, for those of you who've forgotten) there was a party for my roommate Nat and a guy from upstairs called Timmy. It was kind of a joint birthday party even though their birthdays were awhile ago. The theme of the party was Camo or Army, so that afternoon we went to look for some army gear. We went to an army disposal shop, kind of like Army Surplus in Seattle, but everything there was too expensive. We did get some dog tags there for a few bucks. Then we went to Big W and found some cheap camo pants for $10 (score!). Nat had made her own little outfit from camo fabric and there was heaps left so we all made headbands.

Here's a picture of all my roommates except for David. From left, it goes Nat, Boom, Telly, Sally, Sam, Laura, Beth, then in the front is myself and Ryan.

Friday was a big day. It was Autonomy Day. Autonomy Day is... shall we say, INSANE. Technically, it marks the date that Newcastle became an independent university, as before it was a branch of the University of New South Wales. Autonomy Day is a pretty big deal here on campus. I had heard about what goes on this day for a week or so leading up to Auto Day. Basically, everybody gets up extremely early (about 3am) and starts drinking. Then everyone proceeds to drink for most of the day. Now, being from America where most campuses are dry, you'd think that the Uni would look down upon this. However, here at Newcastle, the Uni doesn't look down upon it. Quite the opposite! They provided lots of activities and events at the Bar on the Hill on campus, where thousands gathered throughout the day to eat, drink, meet up with friends, and play human foosball or jump in those inflatable castles. Everyone from International House bought these custom bright yellow teeshirts so we could easily identify each other in the crowd. The motto on the back reads, "Early rising is no pleasure. Early drinking's just the measure." Anyway, we had a nice big unit breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast at about 5, then headed out to the courtyard where most everyone was gathering and having a good time. It was quite odd to be a little inebriated as the sun was rising, and then 12 hours later suddenly realize the sun was gone again. Time had little meaning that day. In any event, it was a fun day and we saw lots of friends and met lots of new ones.

Saturday was basically a repeat of the previous Saturday, which was my birthday. This time it was more of a celebration for Mike's birthday. We headed downtown to the park, which was very busy, but as luck would have it, the same two grills we used the week before were open. This time, we came prepared. Last week all we had was the meat, two forks, a plate, and a bottle of BBQ sauce. This week, I brought paper plates, forks, knives, a spatula, tongs, no-stick spray-- the whole nine yards. Mike and I had bought a couple packs of kangaroo meat the night before. We had been keen to try it since we had a little sample at the Uni BBQ. Everyone loved the kangaroo meat. I still can't tell if I like it. It's different than your standard steak; more gamey and chewey I guess, but it definitely is very lean with almost no fat and is very high in protein. After the BBQ, we headed over to the beach again. We played with a frisbee, a football, and a soccer ball there for quite awhile and it was loads of fun. The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed and I mainly just stayed in the unit with the roommates and watched TV or played games.

Mike with the kangaroo.

I've had a bit of a cold almost since we got to Newcastle, and I realized that everyone is spreading it to each other. Almost everyone in our house and all my friends have gotten some degree of sickness since we've been here. I'm just getting over mine, though today it rained like it was nobody's business, so it might set me back a day or two. I hope to start looking for a job in the coming week. I've been a little slack in that, and I can see my financial reserves starting to dwindle. I don't mind it though, because most of it is going towards travel and exciting adventures. This weekend, a bunch of Australearn kids are heading down to Sydney for the weekend. We booked a real cheap $13 a night hostel right by the Central Station downtown. Some people are heading down on Thursday, others and myself are going down Friday on the train. The plan is to meet up and explore as much as possible during the weekend. I'm sure there will be more trips, as it's fairly inexpensive for transportation and accommodation. I'll have to do some reading in my guidebook and check out hot spots to visit.

I hope you have enjoyed the second installment of Evan in Oz. Until next time...

My Address

In case anyone is wondering about my address...

Evan Richards
International House
Callaghan, NSW 2308
Australia

Introduction Pictures

I'm so excited to be diving the reef!


After I threw a boomerang and caught it in my teeth, I took this picture with our guide.


Copiloting the amphibious tour boat.


My buddy.


The beer paddles.


The residential colleges out at Customs House.


Me, Mike, Angela, Erin, Lance, and Emily at Blackbutt Reserve.


Holding a koala named Banjo.


Traditional aboriginal dance.

So It Begins...

Well, it looks as though I already messed up my goal of updating this blog weekly. I've received several complaints about my incompetence, and I apologize to those people. In any event, this will be quite a long post, so sit back and be prepared to read this in shifts.

Our trip begins on July 6, a little more than two weeks ago. My lovely sister drove me to the airport on the bright and early, after a few hours of sleep due to my procrastinated packing. My flight out of Seattle was on time and everything was peachy, but once I arrived in San Francisco at 1:30, I had about 9 hours to kill before the group flight left. I called up Cory to see where he was (he had been there since 8:30 that morning!). We met up, stored our bags, and hopped on the BART to go into the city and meet up with some other Australearn students. For those who don't know, Australearn is the program that I came through to get here. I had talked with a few other students on Facebook about meeting up downtown, so I called Annie to see where they were. We met up with four girls down on Pier 39 and had lunch and got to know each other a little better. After lunch, we headed back to the airport to wait for our plane and meet some more people going through Australearn. Turns out there were quite a few of us, with the majority going to Newcastle, others to Queensland, Southern Cross, and a few other Unis. The flight to Sydney wasn't too bad. I reckon it was about 13-14 hours and I slept for a good portion of it.

Upon arrival in the Sydney airport, I discovered, along with a number of other students, that both my bags had been left back in San Francisco! I was informed that my bags would be forwarded to Cairns (pronounced CANS) and would be delivered to me at the hostel where we were staying. I was also told that I would receive $100 emergency money from Qantas to purchase necessities, which I needed because I hadn't packed any extra clothes in my carry-on. We had one more flight to go (at this point, it had been about 40 something hours since leaving Seattle) to get to Cairns and it was a pretty short flight. In Cairns, we were greeted by the Australearn staff, put on buses, and taken to Gilligan's Backpacker's Hotel and Resort. It's technically a hostel, but when you hear the word "hostel," this is the last thing that would come to mind. This place was one of the coolest places I have stayed in awhile. I'll just let you check out the pictures and stuff for yourself.

http://www.gilligansbackpackers.com.au/welcome.html

Over the next three days, Australearn gave us some general information about Australia and how things are done down here. I believe there were about 117 students from the U.S. and Canada in the group. About 43 of us were going on to Newcastle and those were the people I was mostly hanging out with. During the day, Australearn took us on some awesome excursions. First, we went out on a big catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef, where we got to scuba dive and snorkel. Amazing. Just amazing. It was too bad we were there in winter, because it was a little cloudy and very windy, which made for some cold conditions. That night, a group of us went out to dinner at a small local place and all seven of us got the kangaroo BBQ burger. Definitely a different taste than your standard beef, but a great burger nonetheless.

The next day, we were taken to a nature park called RainForeStation (very clever). The first thing we did was hold a koala and get our picture taken with it. Then we were shown some traditional aboriginal dances. After that, we were shown a spear-throwing demonstration, and we got to try our hands (and mouths) at throwing a boomerang and playing a didgeridoo. I was actually able to make the right noise on the didgeridoo, but it's impossible to play for more than a few seconds if you don't know how to circular breathe, which is also impossible. Our next adventure was on an army duck, which is one of those amphibious vehicles that the army used in WWII. If you know those Ride the Duck adventures they have in Seattle, it's basically that, but these were actually over 60 years old. We went on a little tour around the park in it, both on land and water. Next we got to go check out a bunch of Australian animals like wombats, lorikeets, a crocodile, a blue tongue lizard, a cockatoo, a snake that we got to hold, and of course, kangaroos which we were able to feed and pet.

The next day we had to be up at 3:30am to head to the airport for our 6:30 flight to Brisbane. We didn't end up getting that much sleep that night, but most everyone passed out on the flight. Even after that quick flight, we had another short flight from Brisbane to Newcastle-- only we had a 4 hour layover first. That was awesome. When we finally touched down in Newcastle, there was a nice round of applause by our Australearn group for making it to our new home. We were met at the airport by some University staff and everyone was taken to their accommodations. I was taken to my room in International House where I met my first roommate, Chantel. We had the whole weekend to just hang around and explore campus and downtown. The thing that struck everyone first was how expensive everything is here. It costs $3 for us to ride the bus or train, and that's only one way! A 6-pack of beer is about $15 or more!

The start of the next week was O-Week (orientation week) where the University and the residential colleges had all these organized activities for new students. Monday there was a big gathering of new students in one of the large lecture halls. Here we were treated to some more aboriginal performances; these were a little funnier and were meant to make us laugh. There was a break at about 1 and we were given a BBQ lunch. A bunch of people left, but those who stayed were mainly just trying to see if they were going to win the free spring break trip through STA Travel. There was a drawing at the very end and one lucky girl won a free $1600 trip for 16 days on the east coast. I don't think she made too many friends by winning. That is to say, everyone applauded then quickly stopped and stared on with jealousy.

Later that night, the colleges organised an excursion out to one of the local bars, called Customs. It was pretty crazy leaving IH (International House) because we filled up an entire bus and it was quite loud and boisterous. We were some of the first to get there, and it was pretty empty, but by about 9:30 it was packed with students. We had a great time and met a bunch of cool people. Eventually a bunch of Australearn kids and a few randoms headed over to one of the off-campus apartments and hung out there for awhile. Unfortunately the next train came at like 2:25am so we had to wait there awhile, but we managed to make it back to campus just fine. The next day was some more orientation stuff at the Uni and a campus tour. A few of us also booked a trip to New Zealand over spring break (the first two weeks of October), so we have something pretty awesome to look forward to. That night at IH there was a trivia night in the dining hall. The returners and newcomers were pitted against each other in three teams of each. My team ended up getting last place overall (we didn't have any Aussies so we missed all the questions about Australia) but it was still great fun. Then we headed over to ONE of the on-campus bars (awesome I know) called Bar on the Hill.

The next day, IH took a bus load of students on a winery tour in the famous Hunter Valley. We went to three different wineries and a brewery. I really can't stand wine so it wasn't all that great but there were a couple that weren't too bad. The brewery was probably the group favorite because we all got this long paddle with 6 shot glasses with different types of beer in them. Then when we were done with those, we got to get a full glass of the one we liked best. Then we hopped on the bus and napped on the way home. Wednesday's are student nights out on the town because drinks are much cheaper, so there were tons of people out that night as well.

On Friday, there was another big excursion through the Uni that went to the Blackbutt Nature Reserve. It was mostly unexciting and didn't see many new animals, but we went on a good hike/walk around the park which was nice. The coolest thing that we saw was a dead fruit bat under a tree on our hike. There were lots of maggots crawling all over it. We went back for lunch and they gave us another BBQ. We also got to sample a little piece of kangaroo steak, which was amazing. We ended up going out again that night. This time all the boys dressed up and put on ties. We pretended Cory was getting married and that it was his bachelor party. It was pretty fun, and even if people didn't believe it, we looked better than everyone else.

Saturday the 19th was my 21st birthday! I have to say, it was a pretty amazing birthday. A bunch of us started the day by riding the bus downtown and walking to the park. On the way, we stopped by the Queen's Wharf Tower (also called the Giant Penis by the locals) and climbed to the top for an awesome view. We stopped at a grocery store and bought some stuff for lunch, then headed down to the park. They have public grills at the park that are free to use, so we threw some chicken and hamburgers on and played with a couple frisbees and a tennis ball. While we were there, more and more people kept showing up and hanging out. After the park, we headed over to the beach. The beaches here are stunning. Beautiful fine white sand and clear water. You can also see about 30 huge barges out in the water that apparently have ridiculous waiting times (sometimes months) to get into the harbour. Later that night, we had a bunch of people over before going out to the bars yet again. Many people were keen to buy me drinks, so needless to say, I had a good night.

Sunday was pretty relaxed because classes started on Monday, but we went to see the Dark Knight, which was wicked cool (damn East Coasters). Some people are going again tonight, and I was about to go, but figured I would save another $12 and finish writing this. I was supposed to have class on Monday, but that class doesn't start until week two, so I'm in the clear on that one. I did have my first class today, which was Myth Making and Mythic Experience. Should be a cool class. We start by looking at Malinowki and some of his studies of the Trobrianders. I had always been interested in his work because he was one of the first anthropologists to do actual fieldwork and participant observation, so it will be fun to take a closer look at it.

Well that pretty much brings us up to date. I'm still ashamed that I already failed my goal, but I will try to be more diligent in the future. I'll throw a bunch of pictures in for those of you with a more visual disposition.

First!

So this is going to be my blog to keep in touch with all those who care about what I'm doing whilst down under. My goal is to update AT LEAST once a week. This probably won't happen, but I'll try my damndest. Hope to keep you entertained!