Posting Troubles

I can't seem to get my Sydney post to show the whole thing...I'm not sure why as I've tried splitting it into parts and that still doesn't work. I'll send it to mom or dad and if anyone wants to read the whole thing, they can then email it to you.

Sorry.

Melbourne II

June 13

Upon waking up this morning I realised that this is my last Sunday morning here in Brisbane. As I begin writing this, it is 10:00am on the dot, meaning that at this time next week I will be boarding the Qantas Boeing 747 headed back to Los Angeles. Having said that, I have now realised that today marks the beginning of the “lasts” as I like to call them: today will be my last $2 steak Sunday, Wednesday will be my last Queen St. Market, Friday will be my last rugby game, etc. I cannot believe that time has come already, and while part of me is anxiously counting down the days to next week, a larger part is not wanting to leave all of a sudden, and I think it has come about as a result of the fact that everything I have known over the past four months is coming to an end. When I arrived in Brisbane all those weeks ago, I was a legit outsider (technically we still are but bear with me): I didn’t know where the grocery store was, I didn’t know the bus routes I needed to take to get where I needed to go, I didn’t know how to get to the city, etc. However, I can now navigate my way around Brisbane like I have lived here for a good portion of my life, and definitely feel as though I could survive on my own. This is all just one weird feeling right now so I’ll try not to delve into it for too long, I just needed to make that known.

Today also marks the beginning of Brett’s first (and only) week in Brisi. As you all know from my earlier posts, we spent last week travelling to two of Australia's biggest cities: Sydney and Melbourne. As you also know, I have already been to Melbourne, and I think that fact alone just goes to show how awesome of a city it is. Visiting Melbourne really almost made me wish I had chosen to study there, but once I got back here, I realised how great Brisbane actually is as well. Other than the flight down, where we had a screaming baby in front of us for 1:45 out of a 2:00 hour flight, and the kid behind me who wouldn’t stop kicking my seat, our first day in Melbourne was pretty uneventful. I went to Hertz to see about renting a car to drive along the Great Ocean Road and everything was going great until they asked to see my license. I handed it over and my biggest fear came to light: it had expired on my 21^st birthday back in May and without a valid license, they would not rent a car to me. We then went back to the hostel and booked a Great Ocean Road tour, then went out to explore the city. We first went to Federation Square, but since it was a weekday there was not much going on in the middle of the day. So we continued on down the road and reached the Shrine of Remembrance. Brett was not impressed with this building at all. When I saw it for the first time, I was awestruck and couldn’t believe how big and beautiful it was. Brett gave it a noncommittal “eh” and asked what was next. Of course, by the time we left the Shrine, it had started raining, so we were forced to wait inside the entrance for it to subside. After the rain died down, we walked over to Melbourne’s Eureka Tower, which boasts the southern hemisphere’s tallest public viewing platform. We checked out prices and put that on our list of things to do for Saturday when we would have almost a whole day in the city. Then we walked over to the Melbourne Aquarium to see how much it was, and decided that there was no way we would pay that much to look at a couple of fish. After the aquarium, we went through the Immigration Museum and learned some cool things about Australian immigration and how things all started down here. From the immigration museum, we decided to go and check out the Melbourne Museum as it is free to anyone holding a concession card. Alas, we got there right at 5:00 when the thing was closing. Unfortunately, Brett noticed that the Imax next door was playing Prince of Persia at 6:40, and asked if we could watch it since he hasn’t seen it. I complied and we went down to get our tickets. As we now had over an hour and a half before the show started, I deemed it necessary to go and get something to eat since it had been early when we ate lunch. So we started walking and came to what I’ll call “Restaurant Row” just to make things easy. We walked down one way, and I was surprised to notice every owner/manager outside on the sidewalk having a go at anyone who walked by. There was one place I would have stopped at, but the guy’s insistence turned me off to the place and we kept walking. When we got to the end, there was one place at the beginning that I hadn’t minded, but I didn’t want to walk up that way again, so we crossed the street with the intention of going back down the other side again. This never happened, as we found a place that had $12 chicken parm and I was sold. Turns out it was a great idea because it was one of the best meals I have had in Australia. A big piece of chicken and fresh, hand-cut chips that were the right combination of a crispy outside with a really soft inside. So we ate, and then went to the movie. After the movie, we headed back to the hostel and went to bed since we had to be up by 6:30 the next morning to get ready for the Great Ocean Road tour.

The tour on Thursday was pretty much the same one that I took in April, except with the worst tour guide I have ever seen in my life. She had no idea what she was talking about, and her driving was bad enough to scare even me. She was constantly weaving all over the road, ran off the road at one point, got lost a half dozen times, killed the battery on the bus when we stopped for lunch, and missed her turn-off on the road back. I was so thankful to be done with her when she dropped us off. I apologised to Brett because the tour I took was awesome, with a knowledgeable guide and everything. Unfortunately, the same tour guide showed up the next morning for our Phillip Island tour. I was so mad, it put an immediate damper on my mood for the day. The driving was as bad as the day before, she even went right of centre a few times into oncoming traffic, and the descriptions of where we were going and what we were doing were slightly better, although that may be because I didn’t have anything to compare it to like I did the Great Ocean Road. The first stop was a wine and cheese tasting, of which the cheese got more attention from Brett and I than the wine did. It was good cheese, and, of course, made me miss Holmes County cheese as well. To make us feel even more at home, we were surrounded by cows and green rolling hills. Sure felt a lot like HC. The next stop was the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory, by far the highlight of the day other than the penguins we saw. This place was incredible. They had so many things made out of chocolate: a life-size David statue made out of milk-chocolate, a replica of The Scream, and a few other artsy-type things. They also had a chocolate village, complete with buildings, cars, roads, and trains. In the next room, we found the world’s largest chocolate waterfall (400kg every three minutes) and a robot that got you a piece of whatever chocolate you wanted when you pressed the corresponding button. The next room had windows so you could actually see the people working doing what chocolateers do. There was also a machine where you could make your own design and then eat it, and one where you could make your own chocolate bar with your choice of four flavours: cola, strawberry, wasabi, or vegemite (I stuck with strawberry). After the factory, we went to the koala conservatory where we saw a crap-load of koalas sitting in the trees. We were even luck enough so see one move around which is almost unheard of since they sleep for 20+ hours a day. After the kolas, we went to this place called the “Nobbies,” which is pretty much just another apostle just in a different location (and much bigger). That was cool and we got some good views and some good action shots of the waves crashing into the rocks. The highlight of this stop was that we saw penguins under the walkways, and what a sight they were. They are called “The Little Penguins” because they are so small (obviously) and there was a group of them just chilling under the boardwalk. Of course, this wasn’t as cool as the Penguin Parade we saw after that, where up to 2,000 penguins come in from the ocean and go back to their burrows for the night. That was so cool. Just all these little penguins forming little groups and then scurrying across the sand to the grasses where they would then make their way back to their houses. A very cool sight indeed.

The next day, our last in Melbourne, we spent back in the city, walking around and taking in the sights. Brett had seen a Mexican place the night before so we walked down there but they were closed unfortunately. So we walked all the way back up to get lunch, then dropped our bags off at the hostel so we didn’t have to carry them around, and went back towards Federation Square. We decided to go up the Eureka Tower, and I’m glad we did because the views were unbelievable. You could see forever in any direction, with a bird’s eye view of Melbourne. The best part was going up 88 storeys in 38 seconds, faster than it takes my lift to go up five storeys. We then went back to Fed Square where we watched a comedian before heading back to the hostel to get picked up for the airport. When we finally got to the terminal, the first thing I notice is a large group of people waiting in line for check-in. I checked the notice board and see that the flight to Brisbane has been delayed three hours. When we finally got to the counter, the lady said that the plane was deemed “inoperable” so they were sending a new one to take us back. Not to mention three other flights were checking in at the same time, so this little warehouse had a throng of people in it making it crowded and noisy with everyone pushing anyone to try and find a place to sit. Eventually the plane came, but by now no trains were running in Brisbane so we had to take the bus to the CBD, then we ran to catch the last City Cat leaving from Queen Street. Luckily we made it so we didn’t have to walk home, and got home around 1:00 this morning. We said hi to the guys that were still up, then quickly showered and went to bed. I almost fell asleep on the ferry out of utter exhaustion. Needless to say, I am never, ever going to fly on Tiger Airways again, and I would advise all to do the same. Their fares may be dirt cheap, but you have no idea when or if your plane will show up and after last night, I must say it just isn’t worth it.

But I almost forgot to mention one of the best parts about Melbourne: the Queen Victoria Market, two to three city blocks of deals and bargains you can’t find anywhere else. I did much of my souvi shopping here, and would have probably gotten more but Tiger only gives you a 7kg carry-on with a $15 charge for every kilo you’re over so I didn’t want to buy too much. I just wanted to say this place was amazing, and would encourage everyone who visits Melbourne to check it out at least for a little bit. And make sure you walk through the whole thing because many dealers have the same things but some have 2fers and are cheaper than others. All in all, it was a great week, but I’m glad to be back here where I can relax for a while and just show Brett where I’ve been living for the past four months. Now that I’m finished with this post, I checked my time again and a week from today, we will be ½ hour into our 13 hour flight back to L.A.

Sydney Part III

As I just mentioned, Monday we did a Blue Mountain tour. For some reason, traffic was horrible in Sydney that morning, and it took us over an hour just to get out of the city. As it happens, we had to drive through Sydney’s red light district to get out, and they guide told us that it started during the second World War when the American sailors stationed in Sydney would go looking for company, and it stayed even after everyone was gone. The first stop was by this river where the guy collected payment and there wasn’t much else to see. The next stop was at this place called “Flat Rock” where there was absolutely nothing between you and certain death if you slipped over the side. The view was amazing: pure, unobstructed forest and canyon and mountain just stretching for miles and miles around. That was amazing. We then stopped for lunch at a town called Leura, but it was pronounced funny and I can’t remember how it was. We ate at this Thai place that was really good, and one of the French guys on the tour had the gall to tell me I have a thick accent. Now I had to ask myself how in the world I can have a thick accent if English is my language and I don’t know any other languages. If you were to ask me, he was the one with the thick accent, and was in no position to complain about my accent. We then went to this section called Katoomba Falls, and that was really a cool sight as well. We rode a cable car across the valley that had a glass floor, so you could look down at the valley way below your feet. Then we rode this steep car down to the bottom of the valley, where there was a small section of warm temperate rainforest. This is caused by the high cliff face that keeps the sun from shining directly on the ground, so in a small corner of the mountains, one can find a rainforest. To top off the stop, we rode the world’s steepest train incline back up to the top of the mountain. We then stopped at this national park that is supposed to have a lot of kangaroos around it. It’s a little known fact, but kangaroo means “I don’t know” in Aborigine. The white man who asked what the animal was asked the Aboriginals what the animal was and he said “kangaroo.” Legend has it that is the reason the kookaburra laughs whenever we say kangaroo. The best part of the national park were the five kangaroos we saw while we were there. There was a male, two joeys, and two females hanging around. It was really cool seeing them in the wild. We saw tame ones in Cairns that you could just walk up to and pet, but these guys were just right out in the woods. Next, we drove through Olympic Park, and that was cool to see the place that were the focus of Sydney and Australia just ten years ago during the 2000 Olympics. To finish off the night, we took a harbour cruise from Olympic Park back to Circular Quay, so that was really cool to see the city, SOH, and bridge from the water at night. It really gave you a new perspective on Sydney. We then got dinner on the wharf, got coffee from Starbucks, and went back to the hostel to prepare for the early flight home the next day. Coincidentally enough, even though the flight down left on time, the flight home was delayed by half an hour. I knew something was wrong when it was the original scheduled time to board and the plane wasn’t even there yet. Finally the plane showed up, we boarded, flew back to Gold Coast, got the bus and train back to Brisi, and finally made it back to the apartment. For lunch, we used up the last of my peanut butter and jelly, and then for dinner I took Brett to this Indian place right down the street that is really good. Brett has never had Indian food so I wasn’t sure if he would like it or not, but he did so everything turned out ok. We still need to head to uni to print off our confirmations for Melbourne, and then we need to get to bed so we can get up for our flight tomorrow.

Sydney Part I

June 8 10:40pm

Today Brett and I returned to Brisi after spending the last two days in Sydney. I would be excited to be back home, but tomorrow morning we leave for Melbourne. Do not get me wrong, I am excited to get to Melbourne again, but after travelling to Sydney and back we are both quite tired and would just like to relax here for a while, but we are looking forward to Melbourne. One of the worst parts about travelling to Sydney with Tiger Airways was that they do not fly to Sydney out of Brisbane. Instead, we had to take buses and a train down to the Coolangatta Airport in order to catch the plane out. When we got to the Tiger terminal, we realised why their tickets are so cheap: it was literally a warehouse with a ticket counter and a security checkpoint thrown in. It literally felt like we were flying out of the Millersburg airport. But let me take a moment now and fill in what has all been going on over the last few days after Brett got here.

Brett was due to arrive at 6:20 our Saturday morning here. Friday night, I went to bed early because I needed to get up early to catch a train to Central Station to meet him from the airport. Surprisingly, I was too worried about him making it to Central ok that I could not sleep at all, and then around 2:00am I realised that I gave him directions to the train from the domestic terminal instead of the international terminal. By now I was really worried and realised that I should probably just suck up the $15 charge and meet him as he came out of customs. I got on the internet and found a train leaving Toowong that would get me to Central in time to catch the airport train. Alas, the train was late getting to Toowong so I did not get the train to the airport, and the next one would get me there after he would have been through customs and possibly on another train heading towards the city while I would be heading away from the city. So I decided just to wait on the platform and pray that he would have enough sense to ask an attendant where the train was. To make matters worse, about ten minutes after I got to Central Station, an announcement came over saying that all trains between Bowen Hills and the Airport were shut down due to a power failure on the power lines. Now I was genuinely concerned that he was not going to make it to Central at all, and spent the next half hour plus walking around the station trying to figure out what was going on. I was then told that busses would be bringing people from the airport to Central, so I went outside to wait again. Just as I was about to give up and go back inside, I see Brett walking up the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street and say a silent prayer of thanks that he made it ok. After I finally had him in tow, I called dad to let him know that he made it, as I had been keeping him updated on the failed status of Brisbane’s transport system. He was happy to hear that we finally met up and informed mom that he was safe and in good hands. We then went to Cole’s so that I could pick up some food to make Brett a nice brekkie after his 24+ hour trip. I got some Canadian bacon and a thing of milk and we went back to the apartment to eat. First, I made the bacon, and while frying it, I got the idea to do a honey kind of glaze with it. So I got out my kilo tub of bush honey and my basting brush and glazed some honey onto the bacon. It turned out to be a good idea and really made the bacon rather enjoyable. After the bacon was finished, I then made each of us two eggs in a basket. This has become one of my favourite brekkies and Brett rather enjoyed it so that was good. We still had a few hours before we needed to leave so we rode the City Kitty to Queen St. and walked down the mall a little bit. I showed him City Hall and unfortunately it was closed due to renovations so we could not go in. Then I remembered that it was Saturday and the Southbank Market would be going on so we walked across the bridge to the south side of the city. As it was a beautiful day out, we rode the Wheel of Brisbane, something I have been thinking about doing and since Brett was here and the weather was perfect we decided to just go ahead and do it that day. After the Ferris Wheel, we went and saw City Beach and then Brett said he was hungry so we went back to Sir Fred to get some lunch. Luckily I had made pasta the day before so we had plenty to eat. After a quick lunch, we showered and packed quick and then went to uni to print off our confirmation emails. Then we left for Gold Coast, and, lucky for us, there was an Aussie on the bus who saw me looking at my map and was able to tell me exactly how to get to our hotel. The hotel was really nice, especially for the price we paid, but we could not figure out how to turn on the lights or the AC. When we went down for dinner, I asked the lady how to do it and was told that she couldn’t understand our American accents. So I had to repeat myself and then listen as she told me there was a little box on the wall that you had to shove the room key into to get power to the room. So we finally figured out how to do that and went to bed at 9:00 since he was jet-lagged and I was tired from staying up all night.

Only One More Week of Class

May 30 9:45am

Sunday morning here in Brisi, and with it comes church. I awoke slightly (1 hour) before my alarm was set to go off this morning so, rather than just lay in bed, I got up, made a spot of tea, and had breakfast. I then checked the news for a while and I decided that I would update my blog before we leave at 9:50.

Last night was interesting. I was in the library when I get a call from my roommate Justin and he said there was someone who just rang our buzzer who said he was a friend of my family. I had no idea what he was talking about, as far as I knew, there was no one living in Brisi that my family knew, but he said there was someone here who said they came looking for me and that I should come back straightaway. So I practically ran all the way back from campus, thinking to myself who on earth this could be. For a fleeting instant, I had a vision that it was someone from the courts here to subpoena me for some unknown reason. When I got back, there was someone sitting in our dining room, and I still had no idea who it was. Once we got to talking, I found out that he and his wife had met Jerry and Sharon Ryan and their family when they were living in New Zealand a year or two ago. Now that I actually had some background information, things got better and I finally understood how this guy knew who I was and where I lived. We talked at our place for a few minutes, and then he said his wife was cooking dinner and I was welcome to come back with them if I wanted to. By now I was rather interested, so I went back to their house where I met his wife. It was a nice evening; we talked about New Zealand for a while and all the glorious wonder of that beautiful country, and then they showed me some pictures of Jerry and Sharon and other people that they knew while they were there. Dinner consisted of BBQ chicken, pumpkin, potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and a veggie mixture. Dessert was apple pie (I think but I’m not sure) and ice cream. For a minute, I imagined I was at Granny’s during the summer months, and had to take a few minutes to think about all the people back home (and all the pie I would have access to upon my return). We talked for a while longer after dinner, where we had tea and chocolate and just spent a little more time getting to know each other. It really is amazing how small the world is. When I went to college, one of my now best friends used to grow up watching Buckeye’s games at my cousin’s, cousin’s house, and now, in Australia, I meet someone who met a family from tiny Holmes County in New Zealand. It really is remarkable the people you can meet by venturing outside what you have always known. So, continuing on, after tea they drove me back home, with a parting gift of a raspberry tart I think you would call them, and well wishes for the coming weeks as I finalise my time here in Australia. And so also, I went from thinking I was going to court, to having a fantastic evening with Laurie and Jeanette Parkinson.

This week also marks the final week of classes for me down here in Australia, and the final week before Brett gets here. I will only have two tutorials to go to this week, one where I will get a paper back and the other where I have a quiz. My Thursday classes are both done and over with so I’m not showing up to those. Saturday we will then head down to Gold Coast, and Sunday, Brett’s Australian adventure will begin with a flight to Sydney. I am still not entirely sure what we will be doing in Sydney; with such a short time, I imagine we will spend most of our time just taking in the city and visiting the Sydney Opera House. I know that is the one thing we will do, because what else do you think of when you think of Sydney but an opera house? Next Tuesday, we will fly back to Brisi and then Wednesday morning we fly to Melbourne. I have a little bit better idea of what I want to do down there, as I have already been there once and look forward to going again. The only problem is, it was rather chilly down there when I went five weeks ago, so it can only be colder now. I have a feeling it will be worth it; however, and Brett and I will have a car and drive Great Ocean Road for approximately a day and a half to two days, ending in Mt. Gambier before taking the inland highway back to Melbourne, where, luckily, I know all the cool stuff to see and there are also some things I did not get to do last time that I look forward to doing this time. In 21 days time, Brett and I will be making our way to the airport one final time, only that time, we will not be heading back to Brisbane. There is so much to say on the matter, but I do not believe there is any way to put it into words. It is mostly a lot of feeling and emotion, but I am determined to make the next three weeks be as enjoyable as possible, not worry about the small stuff, enjoying the little things, taking part in the big things, all the while looking forward to seeing my friends and family again.

26 Days and Counting...

May 25 1:45pm

Ok so it’s been a little while since my last post, but things have been kind of busy and I just now finally got some time to sit down and reflect on what has been going on. The past week I have had three papers to write, so things have been a lot calmer school-wise over the past few days. I had the apartment mostly to myself over the weekend, and everything was very quiet. It was weird not having all my friends here, but at the same time it was nice just to have a quiet relaxing weekend. Friday or Saturday, I can’t really remember at this point, there was an awesome thunderstorm during the evening. One of those thunderstorms that make you just want to sit out on the porch and watch the lightening and the rain and listening to the sound of the rolling thunder. Seeing the lightening flashing off the downtown skyscrapers was really cool, and then watching the clouds rolling out as the rain died down. Saturday morning, one of the guys from church got married and I was invited so I went. It was right on campus just off the Great Court so it was an awesome location. It was a little different type of wedding, he is from India and she is from Columbia so that was funny in itself. One thing that was different were these long, flowery, garland type things that they put around each other’s necks. That was an Indian tradition that was incorporated into the wedding, and then they presented both parents with flower baskets and then touched their feet. I’m not sure what it was supposed to represent, but it was one of those cool things that you’d only see at an Indian wedding. Sunday, I got up and went to church, then came back, made lunch, watched a movie, and took a nap. Everyone got back around midnight then.

Sunday marked the beginning of my last four weeks down here in Australia. I really can’t believe I’m inside a month now, time has gone so fast. I’ve been here for over 3.5 months, and have less than 30 days left down here. Coincidentally, today is also day 104 in Australia, out of a total of 130 days. I just cannot grasp the fact that my time here is quickly running out. It’s weird though because 2-3 weeks ago I couldn’t wait to get home. However, things have been getting steadily better, and now I’ve found myself in a bittersweet situation. On one hand, I’m really starting to enjoy my time here again, but on the other hand, time is winding down so I know I’m almost home and that idea is also very rewarding. All I can do is make the best out of these last four weeks. Just two more weeks of class, including this one, then Sydney and Melbourne in one week with Brett and then back here so I can study for my psych final, then leaving for home two days after my final exam. That really puts things in perspective. I’m sure though that the morning of 20 June will be a good one for me. We’ll head to the airport at around 7:30 to get there by 8:00 before taking off in the classic Boeing 747 back to the US of A. Huh, well that’s about it. Things have been relatively quiet, and I’m sure will stay that way until 5 June when Brett arrives. Then that next week will be very busy, running around Australia's three biggest cities.

Essay Writing

May 18 8:08pm

Well it is a late Tuesday night and I finally finished my psychology essay. This means that I now have all my essays written that are due tomorrow: 2,500 word anthropology and 1,500 word psychology. The past few days have been extremely exhausting, with long, long hours in the library. I am really looking forward to Thursday afternoon when I’ll be done with all my assessments for the week. Then I’ll only have two more assessments until my final on June 17^th. So after this week, things will hopefully be calmed down school-wise for a little bit, at which point I will return to the books for a few days and review everything from my psych lectures over the semester. Other than that there’s not a whole lot to say I reckon.

Cheers.

Three Weeks till Brett Comes...School Really Takes More Time Than I Was Planning On

May 14 8:23pm

So over the past few days my spirits have genuinely lifted. We did our group project on Thursday and, once again, my question was not chosen. However, I learned my lesson last time and did not do all the work that I put into the last one. Last night, instead of studying for my psychology quiz that I had today, we went to the premier of Robin Hood over at Southbank. In order to compensate for that, I got up and hit the library right after my breakfast of eggs in a basket. I spent the morning going through the possible questions with my notes from the previous lectures and wrote out answers for each of them. Now I’ve heard of people having to skip a class to write a paper for another class, and that is essentially what I had to do today. While I was studying for my psych quiz, the psych lecture was going on at the same time. However, this really is no big deal as all the PowerPoint slides are online and can easily be downloaded and printed off to study on my own. Right now, it’s a Friday night and I’m in the process of working on my Aboriginal essay that is due Wednesday because I also have a psych essay due the same day. Funny thing is, I am currently being sidetracked by an Australian cooking show so hopefully I can get focused here in a bit.

The past few days have been relatively quiet. Casey and I went to our church’s Wednesday night service this week and that was fun. They meet at one of the other churches in Brisbane so we actually worshiped in an actual building rather than the playhouse on campus we normally use on Sundays. I only wore shorts and a t-shirt because Casey told me it was just like a Bible study type deal, but as soon as we walked in I felt underdressed. It really was like a church service just on a Wednesday instead. Everyone else was wearing jeans and whatnot but it was just the idea of being the only one in shorts that stuck to me. I looked at the calendar today and realized that Brett will be here in three weeks. That’s right, three weeks. I believe it was over a month ago when it was confirmed that he was coming for sure, and now it’s down to just three weeks. Consequently, that also means that there are only three weeks of class left down here before we start the three weeks of finals. Of course, I have the opportunity of leaving one week early due to my schedule, so Brett and I will get to fly home from Brisbane-LA-Chicago-Cleveland. I’m sure mom is happy about the fact that we’ll be coming home together, but it also gives me the opportunity to start working a week earlier than I was planning on. So things have been going well, better than they were a week or so ago, and once I get through next Wednesday I’ll feel a lot better having these two term papers off my back. One thing I forgot to mention was the fact that y’all may have it warmer back home right now than we do down here. During the day it is still quite warm in the sun, but in the evening and during the night it has been getting rather chilly. Y’all probably think I’m crazy calling it chilly down here, but after experiencing 30+ degree weather for the past three months has made the current temps feel colder than they actually are. So cheers to you all, enjoy the warm weather, and have a good arvo/morning!

Getting Through and More Fun Facts

May 10 12:50pm

Last night and today have been kind of rough on me. As I went to bed last night, all I could think about were all my assignments that I have to do, including papers, group work, and an individual problem-based exercise. All this within the next week and a half to two weeks. And then I was thinking about what I was going to do with Brett while he’s here, so naturally I had to get out of bed and start looking at my calendar to start figuring some of this out. Now I have two biggish essays to pound out and do a group project this week. Also, on Friday I have a quiz in my psych class that I just now remembered so that is going on as well. It just feels so overwhelming. The papers are really weighing me down too because I do not really care about the topics that I was presented with in either of them. Well, my aboriginal paper is slightly interesting because it deals with politics and government policy, but I can’t stand the aboriginals so that puts a damper on the whole thing. I just want 5 June to come as quickly as possible, and then I’ll get two mini-vacations during revision week. Sunday, Brett and I are flying to Sydney for two days and then flying back to Brisi on Tuesday. Wednesday morning, we have to get the first train out of Toowong to get to the airport so we can fly to Melbourne for four days. Then we come back to Brisi where we’ll have a day or two before I have to start studying for my final, then there are three days after my final where I will have to get everything packed up and ready to go. Well, two days after my final but my final is around noon so two and a half days I guess. And Skyping the parents and grandparents today really made me wish I was home. However, the total days remaining for me is now down to 41, so I’m pretty sure that time will come before I know it and by then I may not want to leave since all the stresses of Australian school will be gone. But we’ll make the best of it because that’s all we can do with the situations God gives us in our lives. “No worries” really takes on a new meaning when looked at from that point of view. God is in control of what is going on in the world and in our lives, and we need to trust him and whatever he has planned for us. So at times like this when I may be worried about these assignments, I need to remember that we have an awesome God who puts challenges in front of us to get us to work with them. I now know that I need to turn my free time into study time, and that I will get through these next two weeks ok. And if it doesn’t go as planned, well, I guess it’s a good thing my grades don’t transfer back. J.

I think I’ll finish off this post with a little more Australian “Fun Facts” for y’all:

• We think the grooves in the sidewalk are to help blind people find their way, along with crosswalks dinging when it’s clear to go
• Queensland is 2x the size of Texas and 5x bigger than Japan
• Lungfish are unique to Queensland – can live on both land and in water
• Queensland was known as ‘man-jinn’ by locals...it means “shaped like a spike”
• Central streets are named after the Royal Family – female names run parallel to Queen Street and male names run perpendicular
• Brisbane’s last census showed 1.7% of Brisbanites came from indigenous origins, while 21.7% were born overseas
• There are 10 road bridges, 3 railroad bridges, and 2 pedestrian bridges crossing the Brisbane River
• Surveys show 75% of Australians believe in God but only 22% will be in church on Sunday
• Australia is the world’s largest exporter of beef and veal
• Wool is the major export and supplies about 70% of wool used in clothing industry
• About 300,000 aborigines lived in Australia in 1788 when the first 11 ships arrived, speaking over 400 languages
• Australians tried to breed out aborigines by taking babies from their mothers to be raised by white families – continued until the 1960’s
• Gave aborigines full citizenship and voting rights in 1967
• Aborigines unemployment rate is over 50% and they are 16x more likely to be in jail than the typical Australian
• Western Australia alone is the size of India
• Australia is the flattest and driest inhabited continent
• Opals are only found in Australia
• People first arrived between 50,000 and 120,000 years ago
• Bachelor parties are referred to as “Buck’s Nights”
• Motto for Anzac Day is “Lest we forget”
• A fire levelled Brisbane in 1864
• Translink (the public transport agency) has a budget is $956 million/year
• Only 200,000 people live in the NT
• Any time you get pulled over, you can be drug tested and breathalysed
• Bush tucker is a term used to ID Aboriginal food
• City Beach is Australia's only inner-city beach
• There have been 37 armed conflicts over water in the past 50 years
• There are only about 150 historians in Australia, and less than half study Australian history
• Story Bridge is named after John Douglas Story, a prominent member of the Queensland Public Service and is nearly half a mile long

Airplanes!

I had to run back to campus this afternoon, and I realized something on my way here that I wanted to put down quick. As most of you probably know, I absolutely love airplanes, and I just realized today that I see them on a regular basis in my day-t0-day life down here in Australia. I mean our location is prime placement for plane spotting, and I even got to see Qantas' Wunala Dreaming fly overhead the other day. How cool that was. I think the plane itself is rather ugly but it's the only one of its kind so it was interesting nonetheless. And on the walk to campus, you can constantly see them in the skies overhead, and during the day it is common to look skyward and see one of the many Virgin Blue or Qantas jets flying overhead. The other day when I was waiting on the City Kitty, I heard a low rumble and over the horizon came a 747 that had just taken off and was making its slow climb to cruising altitude. It looked like I could just reach out and touch it it was so close. Anyways, just an idea I wanted to get out there. I will miss seeing all the different aircraft overhead at different parts of the day.

Turning 21

May 6 3:20pm

Well I woke up this morning after turning 21 and surprisingly feel slightly older. I have not felt this way on any of my previous birthdays, but for some reason this one feels different. Obviously, when I turned 16 and was able to get into a car and drive by myself I felt slightly different/older but only because I was now allowed to legally drive a car. Now, something about me just feels older. Whatever it is, it feels different and I feel as though my life will take a turn now that I wasn’t planning on but with nonetheless bring something different to my life.

As we are now nearly through the first week of May, that means that there are just over 7 weeks left here until my return home (as of now). The final exam schedule comes out tomorrow and I will finally be able to determine the exact date of my flight home. There are pros and cons to having my final that first week of the exam period. The pros are that I would get my final over with, I would be able to fly home earlier, and I may get on Brett’s flight home (as of yesterday there were still 2 seats left on the flight). The con is that I would have to study while Brett is here. Obviously he would be able to go out on his own during the day as Brisi is a safe city, but it would be a slight disappointment if I had to spend time studying while he was here. Unless my final was early that week and then I’d still have a few days worry-free. However, we will be in Melbourne until Saturday of revision week so if my final would be on Monday, I would have one day to study which may not go too well but is something I’ll have to deal with when the time comes. If my final is the second week, I will not have to study when Brett is here, but will mean I stay here longer which wouldn’t hurt but I have noticed that as the time for my return to the States looms, the more I find myself wanting to just get these last few weeks over with and head back home. Skyping my family on my birthday was different too. Seeing everyone there and hearing how much has changed has made me want to be back there. Alas, there are still several school assignments standing in my way, the most cumbersome being 1,500 and 2,500 word papers for Developmental Psychology and Aboriginal Anthropology respectively. Both classes are excruciatingly boring, and the idea of writing these papers for these two classes puts a damper on the fun I’m having but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Other than that, there is not much new going on. Several people are planning on going to Fraser Island within the next week or so, but with my school work coming due I will not be able to go on that trip. That and I would like to save as much money as I can until Brett shows up to make his time here more fun and more worth it.

The Beginning of May Already?

May 3 3:05pm

Is that date right? Is it really May already? I don’t think my calendar has the ability to lie to me so I guess it really is May. Not to mention the third. That means that I turn 21 on Wednesday. Where is time going? Do I feel 21? Not in the least bit. It almost seems surreal. As my birthday approaches, along with the fast approaching end of the semester, I find myself recollecting on what I have done here, how I have changed, and what I still want to do in the short time I have left. The one thing that I want to do, and so far it has worked out, is fly back to Melbourne with Brett and actually drive the Great Ocean Road. When Brett is here, I will be 21, which means I can rent a car finally. The only problem is, in Ohio, your license expires on your 21^st birthday so I will need to figure out some way to renew it while I’m here. We already have the flight booked down so hopefully that will work out because otherwise I’m just going to be hanging out in the city again for four days.

As I said previously, time is getting short, but that also means that my essays are due by the end of the month. These shouldn’t be a problem for me, as pretty much all my assessments back home are papers of some sort, I will just need to apply myself and maybe make the long trek to the library. One is for my Developmental Psychology class and why I think violent video game should be banned in Australia. I did not pick this topic, it is a general topic given to us in our course outlines. And the other one is for my Aboriginal Anthropology class, which is a complete waste of time but necessary nonetheless. I also have two more short essays to do for my poli sci classes, and two more group projects. So all in all, these next four to five weeks will be really busy before Brett gets here so I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to travel until then. Then when Brett gets here, I will not have anything to do that first week, no classes or finals, but the second week he is here is the first week of finals. I’m still not sure when my only final is, so it could be this week or it could be the next week. This is the waiting game I do not like. If I knew when my final was, I could plan out those last few weeks and also determine if I could head home any earlier or not. Alas, I just checked online and the exam schedule comes out this Friday so I’ll know by this weekend when that will be.

Well that pretty much sums up what the plan is for the next month or so till Brett gets here. The last few days have been life as usual here in Brisi. Class Thursday and Friday, and not a whole lot going on otherwise. We were lucky down here and Iron Man 2 came out a week before it did back home, so y’all who are waiting to see it could get the inside scoop if you wanted too.

Melbourne: The Story

April 28 2330

Once again, I feel the need to inform you this is a rather long post covering all of what I can remember of my time in Melbourne...

Well, after five days I have finally arrived back in Brisi after a great, long Anzac weekend in Melbourne, Victoria. When I went to check in for my flight on Thursday night, I was faced with a message informing me my flight had been cancelled. Thinking there had been some mistake, I called the airlines help number and was indeed told that my flight to Melbourne had been cancelled. When I asked what the airline intended to do about it, I was told I could be put on a flight at 1700 instead of the 1900 flight I was supposed to be on. This would have been fine, if I didn’t have class until 1600 and wouldn’t get to the airport on time. So she told me she had a flight at 2000. I asked her to please switch me to that flight and she told me to hang on because she had to ask her supervisor if she had room on the plane for me. So now I’m thinking that I may not even get on this flight and miss the whole first night after I already had a hotel booked (much as I did when my plane got re-routed in New Zealand...coincidentally, it was the same airline too...) and I was beginning to think I would just have no luck flying Virgin Blue. Alas, she got me on the flight and I was able to go to bed knowing I had a seat and I would be leaving Brisi the next day as planned, albeit getting into the city an hour later. But all would continue to not go as planned. We still ended up being delayed in Brisi for about a half hour because, well, I don’t even know why but we were. But I eventually got on the plane and we had a pretty quiet two hour flight down south. The first thing I noticed about Melbourne upon leaving the terminal was how chilly it was. Brisi has been around the mid-twenties the past few weeks and Melbourne was around fifteen I would guess. I was already glad I had packed jeans and long-sleeved shirts for the weekend. After about a 20 click drive, the bus dropped us off at Southern Cross Station, one of only two above-ground train/bus stations in Melbourne (the other is the Flinders Street Station). From there, it was a short cab ride to the hotel (I could have walked it but at this point I didn’t have a map and it was raining so I figured better safe than sorry). I got to the hotel, checked in, went upstairs where I met my two roommates (one from Sweden and one from somewhere in Aussie-land), and hit the streets (I now had a map and it had stopped raining). By now it was midnight/0100ish and I was amazed at how crowded the streets were. I walked all the way down Swanston St., and eventually came to Federation Square. This is the happening point of Melbourne, although at this time of night there wasn’t much going on. It started drizzling again so I walked back up Swanston in search of a cheap place to eat dinner quick. I found a small Chinese place (I think I’ve eaten more Chinese here than I have the rest of my life put together) and sat down for a quick meal before heading back and going to bed. This had already been about the latest I’ve been up in all my time here in Australia so I was feeling pretty beat.

The next morning, I got up and it was time to really explore the city. I started out going down Elizabeth St. (since I had gone down Swanston the night before), and was delighted when, a couple streets down, I noticed a familiar design: it was the Harley-Davidson logo! All of a sudden I was in seventh heaven. Of course I had to walk inside and check out the selection of bikes, and, surprisingly, I found that it rivalled that of a US of A Harley store. There were bikes everywhere. Unfortunately, I must not have looked the part of a Harley buyer because no one came up to help me out so my dreams of taking a test-ride through Melbourne got shot down. I continued down Elizabeth and eventually got to the Flinders Street Station, the second of Melbourne’s two above-ground stations. It is a grand looking building (I would describe the architecture but I cannot think of what to call it right now, so out of fear of being wrong I’ll just say it looked “cool”) and definitely holds its own being right beside the heart of Melbourne, Federation Square.

Unfortunately, I’ve just given away my next stop, but of course you knew it was coming sometime so why not just get it over with right? The buildings around the square are some of the weirdest looking things I’ve ever seen in my life, but at the same time they serve to make Fed Square, Fed Square. I found some kind of media gallery, can’t exactly remember what it was called, and went inside. Turns out, they had two exhibits that were free to students so I quickly pulled out my UQ ID card and took advantage of one of the many times it would come in handy. The first exhibit was all about media and the different stages of film and television, such as when the first moving pictures were ever seen in a theatre and when sound was finally heard, etc. It was kind of entertaining but not really, although I did learn one interesting fact: Australians viewed Neil Armstrong walking on the moon five seconds before the rest of the world saw him. This was because the cameras on the moon beamed their images back to a station in Sydney, who then broadcast them back to a satellite above the earth where they were sent to NASA HQ in Houston before Houston finally sent them to the rest of the world...of course, the Sydney station just couldn’t keep the footage to themselves and broadcast it to the rest of Australia as well.

From Fed Sq., I walked down St. Kilda Rd in search of the Shrine of Remembrance. Unfortunately, I decided to take a path off to the left towards the river and ended up walking off the map provided to me by the hotel. This didn’t bother me as I always kind of thought of myself at being rather talented with a map. As I checked it, I figured out that I was walking in the Alexandra Gardens and that the Melbourne boat sheds were right down the way. I reckoned that if I followed the river, I would find the street that ran next to the shrine and I’d be set. Well I started walking, and found a skate park that was on my map and it appeared as though the shrine was right across the way. So I crossed the street and found this kind of rotunda/pergola/memorial type thing that was dedicated to someone I can’t remember. Up the way a bit was another statue with Queen Victoria on top and, upon checking my map, I ventured to guess that these two structures made up the shrine. But I had heard so much about it in my short time there that I was sceptical. I asked an older lady if this was the shrine and she pretty much did everything but outright laugh at me. She said, and I quote, “Son, take this here path up yonder until you see it.” I asked her what it looked like and all she said was that I couldn’t miss it. So, after being semi-owned by a grandma, I started walking. After about 5-10 minutes I saw this huge building through gaps in the trees. At that moment, I understood what was so funny when I asked if I was at the shrine: the thing was enormous. Like, huge. Like, bigger than huge, whatever that is. And it was beautiful. Long stone steps led up to the gigantic stone building and it was absolutely breathtaking. Inside was an area called the Sanctuary I believe and it had one of the most beautiful floors I have ever seen. Tall, black, marble columns surrounded the area, and in the middle was a plaque that read, “Greater love hath no man.” The words come from John 15:13, and every year at 1100 on 11 November, a ray of sunlight passes overhead, lighting up the word “love.” This marks the exact day and time the armistice ending WWI was signed, and 11 November has become known as “Remembrance Day” in Victoria. It is a time when public dignitaries and other higher-ups would gather in the sanctuary while the sun passed overhead. Last year, the ceremony was made public, and 6,000 people passed through the sanctuary while the sun shown down on the Stone of Remembrance. I then climbed the steps to the top of the shrine, 67 in all, and was awarded some of the best views of Melbourne. It was amazing how stretched out the city was, extending for what appeared to be many, many miles in all directions. You could also see the tallest tower of the Governor’s House, which had the yellow flag flying meaning the governor was somewhere in Victoria.

After visiting the shrine, it was time to check out the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were right across the street so I couldn’t get lost this time. Haha. Go ahead and laugh. I know you want to. So anyways, I walked through the gardens. They were not as breathtaking or “eye-catching” as the gardens in Christchurch, but they were definitely something that should be seen by anyone in Melbourne. There were lakes and islands on the biggest one, but as far as flowers went, they were few and far between. I guess Melbourne is pretty far south but the trees and other bushes made you feel as though you were nowhere near the city when you got deep into them, as all skyscrapers were hidden from view and traffic noise became non-existent. I did see an older couple walking their Mini Schnauzer, and of course I had to go over and talk to them. I told them that I had a mini at home, his name was Charlie, and how awesome he was. They let me pet him for a few minutes and then I continued on my way, having thoughts of home for the next several hours. I then walked back up the road towards the city, and stopped by Southgate where the Eureka Sky Deck is located. This is the tallest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere with ninety-two storeys and 3,680 steps. Not to mention, the top ten floors of the building are plated with 24 carat gold. I was planning on going up until I found out that they wanted almost $20 as a student and I decided that I would not pay that much to go up by myself, but if I made it back to Melbourne with Brett I’d think about it. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, I was able to get online and found out from my mother that my brother booked his ticket and is indeed coming to visit for two weeks at the end of the semester. He still has to leave a week before I do, but depending on when my final is I may try and move my flight up to give me more time at home to work.

Ok so back to Melbourne, I then walked back across to the main side of the river, and walked back up Swanston St. There were two really good street performers playing so I gave them each a dollar, and then I decided to treat myself to a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks. I then went and people-watched (Grandpa Lehman would be proud) from a bench in front of the State Library of Victoria while a bagpiper played across the street. I ended up getting lost deep in thought didn’t even notice when the bagpiper stopped playing and it was getting later on in the night. There was an Asian kid sitting on the steps reading a book, and he had a really good Golden Retriever that laid down beside him and didn’t move no matter how many people walked by...so now I not only thought of Charlie, but also way back in the day when Snickers still roamed the hills of east Holmes County. On my way back up Swanston, I noticed a church off to the side and noted that services were at 0900, 1100, and 1800 on Sunday. I decided right then that I’d go to church in Melbourne the following morning. By now it was almost quarter of ten but I wasn’t quite ready for bed yet. I was kind of in a jazzy mood and set off to find some, somewhere. I had to search for a while, but found a quartet playing outside this little Italian cafe so I listened to them for about ten minutes (they were done, unfortunately, and I had just found them). I asked if they knew of any place else to go and the one guy pointed me up the street about twelve metres. It was a small jazz club that had a performance that night, and concession prices were half off! So I went in and listened to a jazz performance for about an hour and twenty minutes, and now I was ready for bed.

Sunday, my alarm went off earlier than I wanted it to, but I had told myself I was going to church so that’s what I did. I had shook out my nice shirt the night before so it wouldn’t be too wrinkly, got dressed, ate brekkie quick, and set off down the street. I found a seat near the back and sat down. Later on, this older guy came and sat next to me and started asking me questions about where I was from and what I was doing in Melbourne (is it that obvious just from looking at me that I’m not from Australia?). I told him I was from the States, was studying in Brisi, and was in Melbourne for the extended weekend. He asked where I was studying in Brisbane, and when I told him UQ, he informed me that he did his doctoral work there. He asked where I lived and he knew my street and so we talked about Brisi for a while after the service. I then went and got lunch, and this is where things start to go fuzzy in my memory. I wrote down what I did Saturday, but Sunday, my iPod was dying and I didn’t want to drain the battery so I left it at the hotel. I am currently looking at a map trying to figure out where I went. I know I walked down St. Kilda Rd. again, because I walked into the National Gallery on that road. And I walked into the casino just to see what it was like, and it seemed very Vegas-esq. I watched a few hands of blackjack, then went on to check out the aquarium. I was expecting another good student price, but found out it too was close to $20. I decided that I’ve seen fish before, wouldn’t die if I missed these, and could do it with Brett if we got down there since he really likes that sort of thing. I then walked over to the Immigration Museum to see how much admission was, saw that it was free with a concession card, pulled out my UQ ID, and walked in. It seemed like something that I would have found really interesting if I had ancestors in Australia, or if I had been Australian, but overall it seemed a little out there to me. There was a cool ship exhibit that you could walk through to experience the different kinds of quarters people experienced on their voyages to Australia from Europe. I then got on something that would make me an outcast in Holmes County forever: I rode the Melbourne Tourist Shuttle around the city... I am happy to say it was a pain in the butt as we spent more time waiting at stops than actually driving around, but I saw parts of Melbourne I wouldn’t have seen otherwise, aka, the docklands, Lygon Street, and Uni of Melbourne. I got off the shuttle somewhere in the city, and started walking along some of the smaller side streets, and eventually I found Chinatown. I found a small restaurant that had $7 Sweet and Sour Pork, so I went in and ended up eating the best beef and prawn dumplings I’ve ever tasted. I walked back to Swanston St., and walked by the church, realized it was 1800 and walked inside. It was a continuation of the missionary that spoke during the morning service, and it was fascinating hearing about his stories from the region of Asia consisting of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and the Yunnan province of China. Afterwards, I sat in the sanctuary and gathered my thoughts about life, what’s been going on here, what I want to do when I get home, what I want to do when I graduate, etc. Some guy ended up coming up to me and asked if I had talked with David someone that morning. I said I had sat next to a David but didn’t know his last name and he said that was the guy...go figure. He then introduced me to this mid-twenties guy who lived in Chicago for a few years, then essentially grew up near Tucson, Az. He invited me out to dinner with some of the guys from church, and, even though I had already eaten, went with them and got a small appetizer of dumplings. We ended up all chitchatting until close to 2300, when I decided I needed to get to bed because I needed to get up around 0630 to get ready for my Great Ocean Road tour.

At 0630 Monday morning, I woke up and got ready to meet the bus that was coming to pick me up. Once I was picked up, we went and picked up some more people and then we hit the highway towards B100 (that’s the technical name for the Great Ocean Road). Our first stop was at Bells Beach in Torquay. This is a prime surf spot on the southern end of Australia, and the home of the Rip Curl surf headquarters and the Rip Curl Classic. I walked down to the beach and there was this dog that was running around with a stick. I tried to call him over to me, but he was pretty timid and dropped the stick at my feet then backed off and looked at me expectantly. I grabbed the stick and threw it, and the doggie went and fetched it then brought it back and dropped it about four metres away, making me go to it. So I played fetch with this dog for a while, and he finally came up to me towards the end and let me pet him when we were about to leave. I can’t really remember where all we stopped that day, but what we saw was beautiful. We stopped at several places to take pictures, then we had morning tea. Along the way was this koala sanctuary where all these koalas lived in the wild but people camped there and the koalas just lived among humans. We got really close to them and got some cool pictures. There were also these two brightly coloured birds that were walking around on the playground and we got some really cool pictures of them. We stopped for lunch at this small beach town, and I had a chicken sandwich and an ice cream, and then walked along the beach for a ways and found a harbour that I walked to and looked off the dock for a while. I then realized that I had to be back at the bus in ten minutes and it had taken me at least fifteen to get there. So I started running. In jeans and a jacket. With shoes that were eating up the back of my heel. Not fun. I ran through this golf course I had no idea was a golf course, got yelled at by an old grandma, and came over the hill to see everyone at the bus but no sign of Mac, our driver. I ran for nothing. My ankle was bleeding. Then we got back on the road and drove to this rainforest walk thing. It was kind of cool, really short but lots of vegetation.

During the next leg of the drive, I learned that Australia has a special breed of dairy cow: they get whiter when they need milked, and, after milking, they go back to being black. Mac thought this was a pretty funny joke. I thought he was insane. The Chinese guy beside me believed him and he and his wife went on about it in Mandarin for the next ten minutes. Little did they know I understood every word. The next stop was the reason for my going to Melbourne in the first place: the 12 Apostles. Let me just say right now that everyone needs to see these before they die or before the apostles collapse in the ocean. And you don’t know which will come first so sooner rather than later would be great. It is truly an amazing sight. At the “main” apostles, there are two on the eastern side and six on the western side. We were there late in the afternoon, so the ones on the eastern side came out better in photographs than those on the west. They are so big and just utterly breathtaking, it was easy to understand how they are Australia's third highest tourist attraction. It was hard to resist forking over the extra money to take the helicopter ride, but I figured that was another thing I could do with Brett if we went down there. I’ve never been in a helicopter and I’ve been dying to ride in one, but my common sense got the best of me and I just walked away from the beasts and viewed them from the safe distance on top of the cliffs.

The next stop was Loch and Gorge, which was the sight of a shipwreck in which there were two survivors. A young ship’s mate rescued a young doctor’s daughter and then he climbed out of the gorge and got help to get the girl out. No Hollywood ending here, the girl, who had lost all her family, went back to Ireland and the boy never saw her again. But at the sight, there were what could be called two more of the apostles and a rock formation called the “Razorback.” This got its name because as the sea spray chips away at his top-most layer, the harder rock is left behind and it looks like a razorback (hmmm, I wonder how it got its name...?). Finally, we got to London Bridge, the last stop of our tour. London Bridge used to be a double arched bridge, but, in 1990, the first archway collapsed while a man and his “girlfriend” were out on the end of the bridge. Obviously, London Bridge had indeed fallen down, so, naturally, news crews from all over Australia flooded to the scene. The couple had to wait on the island until a Coast Guard chopper could come and winch them off, all while being filmed and shown live on the news. This wouldn’t have been a problem, but, as the story goes, the man’s wife was at home watching the news that night...and he was supposed to be at work...

We then drove back to Melbourne, taking the quicker inland highway now that it was dark, and I was dropped off in the city, without a room as I had checked out that morning and hoping I could stay with one of my friends down there. Well, neither one of them was answering their phone. It was now close to 2230, so I called Casey and asked for the number of the girl that came up to visit a couple weeks ago. I finally got a hold of her, and she scanned me into the building until my friend came back. His phone had died and we had no other way of getting a hold of each other. So we played a game of pool (I won of course) and then went to bed. I got up early cause he had class, and tried to figure out something to do to occupy my time. I walked over to the Melbourne museum, and, once again, flashed my student ID and got in for free. It was rather interesting and ate up a good deal of time. I then got on the tourist shuttle once again and rode over to the Queen Victoria Market in search of some cheap lunch. As it turns out, their market isn’t like our market, and they didn’t have any food vendors. So I found a food court and had some good Italian pasta and read for a while since it was raining. I then got kicked out of the food court cause they were closing. So I walked, in the rain, found a McCafe and bought a hot chocolate and finished my book. Since I had already seen pretty much everything there was to see, I went over to the State Library of Victoria, signed up for a library card, and am now a member of the State Library of Victoria (I figured that was something not too many passerby have done before in their lives). By now it was about 1900 and the library was closing, so I walked to the IMAX theatre at the museum. Avatar was still showing in 3D and, as I had yet to see it, I bought a ticket and watched Avatar on my last night in Melbourne. It was kind of cool because it is the world’s third largest Imax at seven storeys high and I think the largest 3D screen in the world. It was cool to see and the movie wasn’t that bad either...your typical Hollywood ending but the idea was pretty cool.

I then trudged back in the drizzle and cold to my friend’s apartment building, where we watched a movie then I slept on a couch in their common room. I was getting up fairly early to head to the airport and didn’t want to bother anyone when I got up.

When I got to the airport, I breezed through security (remember no taking off of shoes or belts?) and saw a big picture window at the end of the gates. It looked right out onto the active runway at Tullamarine!!! How lucky was I? I saw three B747’s take off and a brand new Qantas a380 go right in front of me! Oh was it my lucky day or what? Not to mention about three B777’s to boot. Plus the 737’s, a320’s, etc. You know, all the little stuff you see every day. The flight back to Brisi was fairly calm, with clear skies so I could actually enjoy my window seat for once. We landed and I got the train back to the city, where I went $15 on my GoCard. I will throw this one away because a new one costs $5 so I will save $10. It may be considered cheating the system, but $15 to get to the airport is insane. Every other route is $2 with some change. I then got a bus back to the apartment where I had a birthday package from home, then went grocery shopping, then wrote this 8.5 page 4,700+ word journal entry. Hopefully I remembered most of what I did, if I did not, then look for future posts regarding what I remember as time goes on. Melbourne was a blast, really reminded me of New York in some ways, and definitely one of the most fun times I’ve had down here in Australia.

It's Almost May?

April 22 4:05pm

It has been a little while since I have posted on here I know, so I will take the time to jot down a few thoughts while I have the time. I am currently sitting in my political science class, about to watch a 50 min long interview my professor conducted with someone from some organisation down here in OZ Land. What fun. The last few days have been relatively uneventful, mainly people have been studying for mid-terms and other things that they have going on and as I don’t have any mid-terms or whatnot, I have not been studying. I do have a psych quiz on Friday that I started studying for last night so I do have that but it’s nothing major compared to some other people’s things. I’m not sure if I mentioned this or not, but we checked out Chinatown on Sunday after playing footie with the church guys. That was definitely an experience. Chinatown is in Fortitude Valley, or the Valley, and is marked by a huge archway with two lions that were donated to the Brisbane City Council by the People’s Republic of China (at least that’s what the plaque said) so that was pretty cool. We got a cheap dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese place that was pretty decent. I got sweet and sour pork with rice and put some chilli sauce on it. It was quite hot, very hot actually, but really gave the pork a nice flavour. One of these nights, I’m not really sure which one, I made a killer pasta dish. I boiled some fusilli noodles and made a meat sauce with some hamburger I had picked up on sale at Cole's. I fried the hamburger with some salt, pepper, garlic, and onion, then added the sauce right to the skillet, adding oregano, basil, and a touch of garlic salt. Once the sauce was hot and the pasta was soft, the pasta went right on top of the sauce and I mixed it all together into a delicious meal that I did not know I had the ability to make. All that was missing was a loaf of garlic bread and a salad. Tonight, it’s going to be fish, which has become one of my favourite meals to make.

The rest of the week has been devoted to planning my Melbourne trip. I had been planning on hiring a car and driving the Great Ocean Road for about three days, but after further research I found out that, while they would let me put in my card number and all that, they don’t hire cars to people under twenty-one years of age. This was a big bummer cause it cancelled every plan I had made already and the itinerary I had roughly planned out. So I got down to researching Great Ocean Road tours departing from Melbourne and found a day long one that looks like it will be pretty decent. There is a lot on the itinerary, which is good, I just wish I could be doing it myself at my own pace in my own car, stopping where I want to stop and going where I want to go. There are still twenty minutes to go of this interview. Half the class didn’t even show up today. There is no final for this class so I’m not even sure why I’m here but I’m here. I will not be taking my computer to Melbourne with me, so I will have to catch up on this after I get back to Brisi. I think I may play solitaire or Hearts now until this blasted thing is over and I can go home and make dinner.

Getting the Country Back on Track

April 19 3:17am

As I start to write this, it is 2:15am on Monday morning. To all of you in the states (on the east coast anyways), it is 12:15pm meaning y’all probably just got home from church not too long ago. Hopefully it has been and will be a good Sunday for you, because I know that mine wasn’t disappointing. Casey, Troy, and I got up and went to church this morning. As weird as it sounds, we all get to bed at a pretty decent time here. Like before midnight decent time. I cannot think of the last time I was willingly in bed before midnight. It’s almost as if my body still isn’t adjusted to the time difference, which is not right considering I’ve been here for over two months now. And getting up is a lot easier than it is at home too. Getting up at 8:00am, well before I had my alarm set, is easier than getting up at 9:30 for church back home. Weird right?

After having just read that previous paragraph, one may wonder why I’m not in bed right now if going to bed before midnight is so easy. Well, I was in bed before midnight, but some wondering thoughts have kept me awake until now so I figured I’d make use of this tiny case of insomnia and put the time to good use. As I was saying, we went to church again today after not going for the last two weeks due to our New Zealand trip. It was good seeing everyone again, and they all seemed surprised to see us. One of the guys even said he thought we just stopped coming until we explained to him that we were out of town. After church, we finally went and played a game of “footie” with some of the guys afterwards. Footie is simply a game of rugby (using league rules) where you “touch” a person down instead of “holding” (tackling). They had been asking us since day one if we wanted to play with them but we had always had something planned for the afternoon. This morning, we decided that we were going to stay and play for once. I’m glad we finally went with them because it was fun. It was a little difficult to get the hang of (watching is ten times easier than having to play it) but I got the hang of it after a while. We were pretty beat after that (and it was 3:00 by now so we were pretty hungry) so we went back to our apartment and had a late lunch and then I took a nap for a while. When I got up, I made a marinade for some chicken I had pulled out of the freezer this morning that I plan on making for dinner Monday night. It worked out pretty well for me last time so I figured I’d give it a go again. The rest of the evening was pretty chill, I was planning on going into the city to get some night shots with my camera but I just didn’t feel up to it. Then, when I finally got to bed, I failed to fall asleep and now here I am.

I guess the reason my mind has been wondering is kind of a key part of this writing so maybe I should address it. When Casey and I were talking to this girl named Lexie after church, she asked us what we were planning on doing after we left Australia and then after we graduated. Casey pretty much has the next few years of his life mapped out for him, as he will graduate from VMI (the same school Fred went to) and then become a commissioned officer in the United States Navy. When she asked me, I honestly couldn’t think of what my plan was. I thought I had wanted to go to law school after I graduated, but over the past few weeks I’ve strayed from that mindset. And that question is still drawing a blank and it’s really rather frightening. I mean, I’m 20 years-old, soon to be 21, and I have no idea what I want to do after college. As I told Lexie, I've been interested in politics for a while and maybe want to start a career in the field, being a right-minded person who would fight for the rights of the people and tell the arm twisters and favour-pushers in Washington to take a hike. Seeing how the Obama administration pushed through health reform (with the aid of Reid and Pelosi) was deplorable and downright disgraceful. Recently, I’ve taken to reading my Public Administration textbook from last quarter for fun, and I just read an ethics article today that jumped out at me. It comes from the Volcker Commission and says,

“Ethical government means much more than laws. It is a spirit, an imbued code of conduct. It is a climate in which, from the highest to the lowest ranks of policy and decision-making officials, some conduct is instinctively sensed as correct and other conduct as beyond acceptance” (1989, p.1).

Now I don’t know about you, but when a legislator who is a pro-life Democrat stands against the bill one day, and then the next day, after being promised several $100,000+ grants for some small town airports, gives a “yes” vote when it really matters, is not acting in the most ethical manner. To take President Bush’s advice, “It’s not really very complicated. It’s a question of knowing right from wrong, avoiding conflicts of interest...” (Volcker Commission, 1989, p. 14). So could someone please explain to me the conflict of interest present in this predicament? Could it be that, instead of representing his people, Rep. Stupak sold his vote to Obama? Personally, I would say the answer is yes. While it could be said that Obama is a thug from the streets of Chicago, anyone with half a backbone should be able to stand up to the man when he comes along with a bag full of cash trying to squander votes for his prodigious healthcare overhaul that was sinking faster than the Titanic.

This doesn’t even come close to the partisan tactics Nancy Pelosi was set to employ in order to secure a “yea” vote coming out of the House. Watching as her political career was coming to an end right behind that of the healthcare bill, she was set to employ tactics that would let the House pass the Senate’s version of the bill, without actually taking a vote on it, and then voting on small parts of it at a later date. How can that even be considered democracy? The whole idea of the American system of government is to make sure that the people, or in our case the people we’ve elected, have a voice in what happens in this country. When you take votes away from the people we’ve entrusted to be our voice, what have you got left but a dictatorship? I didn’t mean for this to turn into a political rant, but whenever I look at the headlines on Drudge Report and everything is about the next corrupt/questionable act the current administration has taken, it at times makes me glad I’m not there to experience it first-hand. This country is changing and it’s not for the better. One thing people don’t seem to realize, is that back in the olden days when everything ran like a well oiled machine, family and religion were at the heart of the American way of life. Nowadays, you have people suing over the fact that their kid has to say the Pledge of Allegiance which includes the words “under God.” Maybe if we got ourselves back in that mindset where Sundays were for church, football, and summer afternoon picnics, we would find ourselves where we need to be in order to be a happy country where we can keep the door unlocked at night. I feel like these words have become the ramblings of a tired, aggravated person, but I think it’s something I needed to get out there, whether or not people agree with it. In closing, all I ask is that we as people look inside to determine what the right course of action is, which is probably outside of political circles and more church-based, and figure out how we can unify people again under a common goal, because when a country is unified, there is no stopping it and we can get back to the land of endless possibilities that was, and still is true to some extent.