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.

Planning Melbourne, Good News, Getting Through, and FUN FACTS!

April 16 11:57pm

Today was the end of week six of the semester down here in Australia. Surprisingly, the semester is going faster than I thought it would. Coming from a quarter school, I am used to the quarters just flying by, as they are only ten weeks compared to the fifteen of a semester school. Since I have never experienced a 15 week schedule before, I was expecting the semester to drag on and seem like it wasn’t going anywhere. However, this has not been the case. Between my class schedule (I have Monday’s and Wednesday’s off during the week) and everything else that has been going on, time is flying. There is still so much that I want to see and do too, and at this point, with much of my schoolwork coming due in the next month and a half or so, I do not know when I will find the time to do everything. A week from today I will by flying down south to Melbourne, which is located in the state of Victoria. This is a trip I have been looking forward to, as it will give me a chance to do some exploring and sight-seeing completely on my own. I went online tonight and made a sort of sample itinerary so that I’ll have some idea of what I’m doing, of course, I still need to book everything so we’ll see once how everything works out when it comes down to it. The plan would entail me staying overnight in Melbourne on the first day, then driving across to the city of Mt. Gambier. There are supposed to be a lot of cool things to see around there so it seemed like a good stopping point on the western front. The next day, I would drive along the Great Ocean Road, covering such sights as the Twelve Apostles and the Great Arch. I would then stay in another city about an hour outside of Melbourne, and then spend the last two days in the city and seeing all that Melbourne has to offer compared to Brisi. Then on the twenty-eighth, I would fly back home (well, my home here anyway) where I would have about one day to put together a paper that is due on Thursday.

I had some good and welcome news the other day: my brother may be coming down to visit for my last three weeks here and then we could each possibly catch the same flight home. I think this would be a rather cool experience for both of us, as neither of us have really spent time together outside of the US of A. He has been to Europe and I Puerto Rico and here (even though PR is still technically the US, I’ll consider it not so we’re even on travelling out of the country), but we have never been to the same place together. This would also work out great because I would have next to nothing to do for those three weeks anyway. Since the school gives us three weeks after classes end and before finals are over (one week for revision and two weeks for actual finals), this would give me a good chance to show him around the best sights that Queensland and possibly even more of Australia has to offer. Since I lucked out and only have one final, I can reasonably assume that I will have a good amount of free time where I won’t need to be studying for it (cross our fingers on that one, mate). But we’ll have to see how everything goes and hope things work out for both parties.

As you can tell from my last post, I just got back from Easter break in New Zealand. Again, as you can tell from the previous post, it was a great adventure and full of fun. Unfortunately, the return to Australia was somewhat lacking. New Zealand had some of the best weather I have experienced since leaving home, offering temps in the sixties (short and sweatshirt weather) which is by far my favourite weather. Not only that, but it was a good reprieve from the day to day life that tends to feel rather mundane after a while. You know that feeling you get though, after living out of a suitcase for about 3-5 days you start to get sick of it and just wish you could be back home with your closet and real bed? Well, even amidst all the fun, that feeling swept over me around that time. Needless to say, I was somewhat happy to get on the plane and head back to Brisi (even though NZ was a great country and I would live there in a heartbeat), because it meant I would finally be able to shower with good, hot, untimed water and be able to sleep in my bed and not have to worry about sleeping arrangements in an RV. However, there was something about returning to Brisi that was somewhat of a disappointment. You know how it’s always somewhat of a good feeling to get home again after a long trip? Well I think that was some sort of double-downer for myself because I wasn’t actually returning home-home. I think something in my mind told itself that vacation was over and we were going home, but when it wasn’t Ohio-home, it was disappointed and a slight feeling of misery came over the whole situation. I have been feeling better the last day or so about the whole situation, but for the first couple days back it was really hard to get back into the rhythm I had gotten myself into before we left. For those first few days back here, I think it was about the most homesick I’ve been since leaving the US, and they were not fun days at all. Couple that experience with all the schoolwork I now have facing me, and you get pending disaster. All I can do is hope that the library agrees to become my friend while I’m here and that I have enough internet to do all the research for my different papers. If it weren’t for the school part of it now, I think things would be 100x better. As I’ve said before, Aussie school is hard and they seem to hold you to a standard that is similar to that of a Masters or Ph.D. program. No wonder a 50% is considered passing down here.

Anyways, I don’t want to give the wrong impression that I’m hating my time down here and just want to come home, because that would be wrong. While there are ups and downs, this has been one of the best experiences of my life thus far, and I hope it continues on that way. But while that is the case, there is that small part of my mind that still misses home and everything it has to offer: people to cook and buy food, family, friends, Charlie, and the motorcycle have to be the big ones. There’s just something about getting on the bike after a long, hard day and just having the wind blow all your problems right out of your head. And having the dog come up and sit with you while you try to relax and he knows something has upset you is very comforting as well. Even though he likes to bark, Charlie is one of those dogs who knows just what to do at certain times to bring a smile to your face and make you feel better.

I’ll end this post with some long awaited facts about Brisbane, Queensland, and Australia in general:

• A person who lives in Brisbane is called a “Brisbanite”
• Only 1% of Australia is rainforest, but it holds 80% of Australia's bio-diversity
• Last year, New Zealand moved 30cm closer to Australia. In 7.5 million years they will be connected
• There are between 500 to 3,000 Bull Sharks in the Brisbane River, depending on who you ask
• Aborigines own 53% of the land in the Northern Territory, yet still waste their time sniffing Sharpies
• Queensland is now operating a 3^rd party policing campaign, where other social programs are becoming involved with troubled young adults
• There are 15 City Cat ferries operating on the Brisbane River, with the 3^rd generation commencing on February 22, 2010
• Australian’s pronounce Mocha, ‘Maacha’, with the same enunciation on the ‘ch’
• The largest religion is Roman Catholic
• The Brisbane River is named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, and the city was named after the river
• Brisbane started out as a penal colony
• Two years ago, Brisbane was in the middle of a drought, with time limits on showers and other limits on how much water a family used...steep fines awaited those that went over the limit...
• ...This summer, Brisbane’s dams are 98% full
• A can (like soda) is called a stubbie
• A tank-top is a singlet
• A sweater is a jumper
• Australians don’t take showers (may be true or false, we’re really not sure)
• There is no such thing as unlimited internet
• Minimum wage for someone 20 years old is $15/hr
• The Australian Liberal party operates under similar philosophies to America’s Republican party, not the Democrats
• It is common to call professors by their first names
• Airport security is lax compared to the United States
• EVERYTHING has at least some protein in it
• Nearly every urinal is a “zero water” urinal (they don’t flush)
• They have the stainless steel troughs everywhere (something I haven’t seen since elementary school)
• Cars have the right of way (better learn this fact quick or you won’t be around long)
• Koala bears can be lesbian but never gay
• Brisbane is one of the top 5 most spread out cities in the world
• Perth is the world’s most isolated city
• The City Kitty ran over a rower at 5am about 3 years ago

These are obviously not all the facts I have uncovered during my time here, if so that would be slightly embarrassing, but I just did not want to spoil the fun and lay them all on you at once. So stay tuned for more in future posts!

Update to New Zealand

April 14 1:03pm

I totally forgot to add this until after I read through this and realized I didn't add it. But I forgot to mention that on the night we were driving from Franz Joseph to Q'Town or Q'Town back to Christchurch (I'm not really sure) we pulled over to the side of the road for a toilet break (see we didn't want to have to hook up at a campsite just to dump waste so we didn't use the facilities on board). After shutting down the RV and turning off the lights, we got out and realized we were right next to one one NZ's many one-lane bridges. We walked out on the bridge and looked up, and we were all held breathless: in the sky above us were millions upon millions of stars. I'm talking planetarium quality stars. So many stars that you couldn't even make out the Big Dipper or the Southern Cross. I have never in my life seen so many stars. It was incredible. And going right across the center of the sky, a faint, yet visible, section of Milky Way dust. It was one of the most awesome sights I have ever seen in my life. I really am at a loss for how to describe it in any more detail, it was just a pitch-black sky, no light pollution at all, and a crystal clear night. The moon was hiding that night too so there was no moonlight pollution either. Just millions of stars, all twinkling together to form an awesome canopy above us. It was so unreal, it felt as though we could have been in outer space travelling across the universe, except for the fact that gravity was holding us firmly to the ground and we were nowhere near outer space. I just felt I needed to add that fact in with my NZ write-up real quick. I have seen stars from the top of our hill at home, and those were quite an awesome sight themselves, but these put those to shame. It was definitely something everyone should see in their lifetime.

Easter Break in New Zealand

April 12 12:40

I'm going to warn you right now, this is going to be a really long post due to the fact that it covers my entire spring/fall break to New Zealand, but hopefully reading it is well worth your time.

Today is Sunday, April 11 and my last day in the fabulous country of New Zealand. So much has happened this week, I hope I can remember it all to write it down now. First off, let me start out by saying how awesome New Zealand is. It really is so good as to get to the point that I do not want to go back to Australia at all. We’ve heard of Australians being really nice people and always willing to help out if they are needed. New Zealanders (Kiwi’s) put them to shame. In Australia, drivers downshift and speed up to try and hit you if you are crossing the street; while in New Zealand drivers will stop and let you across while you are standing on the sidewalk. Not to mention they are just friendly and talkative and do not get disappointed when they find out we are from America. Not to mention the country itself is absolutely gorgeous. Christchurch itself is brilliant, with its many gardens and flower beds and just overall beauty. And the rest of the country keeps up with first impressions...

But enough about that for now, let’s get started with the trip and what all happened while I was here for the week. As you already know, my flight was delayed on Friday the second of April and we were diverted to Auckland for several hours until the fog in Christchurch lifted and we were able to land. Saturday, I walked around Christchurch by myself and got a morning coffee at a coffee shop on the city mall. Realistically I should have gone to bed but it was about 8:00am and my first day in New Zealand so I was not going to waste it by sleeping. I then found myself at Cathedral Square amidst the Christchurch Cathedral, which is a stunning sight. Eventually, I found my way to the Christchurch Botanical Gardens which I spent hours going through. They were absolutely stunning and beautiful with trees and flowers and shrubs and bushes and anything else you could possibly imagine, including a cactus house. I then came back and took a nap from about 5:00 till 10:00, which probably wasn’t a good idea because I was now not tired enough to fall asleep when it was actually time for bed. So I got up and had some KFC for dinner, which I must say is the first time I have eaten fast food this whole trip. I then came back to Hotel So where I watched some movies that were on TV and waited until 5:00am when Casey was supposed to get here from Brisi. Speaking of Hotel So, this place is amazing. It has six floors, with two hallways on each floor. This makes the rooms relatively small but the smallness is made up for with how nice the rooms and hotel in general are. The rooms have mood lights that you can set from a control panel by the bed, a sleep and wake-up system designed to help you sleep more naturally, and a night-light under the beds with the purpose of getting you to sleep quicker and more deeply. Combined with free internet, sauna, and gym, Hotel So is by far one of the most paramount hotel experiences I’ve ever had. Not to mention that I got upgraded from a standard single room to a premium double, which meant a bigger room with a bigger bed. And the beds themselves are the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in my whole life. Now I can’t really remember what we did the next day before everyone else showed up, I know that Casey, Kevin, and I walked around the city some more until Justin, Arty, and Steve arrived.

On Monday, Steve and I got up around 9:00 and got all packed up and ready to go. At a little after 10:00, we hailed a cab and went to pick up the RV that we would be calling our home for the next week. At the RV station, we were helped by a young Kiwi girl who found it necessary to give us a hard time about returning the RV in good condition and how we we’re probably going to wreck it over a mountain and never be heard from again. After giving us the paperwork to do a walk-around of the RV with, Steve and I go back in to say everything looks ok when she tells us that we just wasted our time because we were being upgraded to a deluxe six-person RV instead of the one we had reserved. Steve and I were now thinking that this would be a great trip because not only were our hotel rooms upgraded, but now the RV was being upgraded as well. Steve and I then drove back to the hotel to get everyone’s bags and then we went and met up with everyone else. Driving the RV around Christchurch showed us how hard it would e to find suitable parking this trip, as the RV was so big and not easy to manoeuvre around the small New Zealand roads. Once we finally got everyone together, we hit the road and began our way out of Christchurch and into the open country. Along the way, we decided to stop at a grocery store and stock up on a few things to hold us over until the end of the week. After looking at a map, we settled on Kaikoura as a good stopping point for our first day. Along the road north, we saw a sign for a beach that was only 3km away so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be a pretty good idea because there were some awesome looking sand dunes and then these guys were sand-boarding. At least I think that’s what it is called but I’m not sure. They had these big kites that would catch the wind and then pull them along on a modified skateboard. We then continued on to Kaikoura, all the while following the ocean right up the coast on the eastern side of the country. When we arrived in Kaikoura, we found a parking spot and got dinner at a Thai restaurant in town. Dinner was very good, and during the meal we asked a local where a good place to camp for the night would be. Arty had the directions so we started driving north again to the spot the guy said to look for. Unfortunately it was dark so it was harder than we anticipated. We ended up driving forever and then turned up this gravel mountain road because there was a B&B up the hill supposedly. This road was sketchy as all get-up and very scary looking. Thinking we were all about to die, we quickly turned around and headed back down the mountain after we took a toilet break. We ended up finding the road that the guy told us about and turned onto it. Immediately we were wondering if we were in the right place because the lights from the RV showed us many tombstones and grave sites. Being wary, we drove down the road a bit more until we found a spot where there were some other RV’s pulled over to the side. In the morning when we woke up, we were greeted to one of the most spectacular sights I have ever witnessed: on the right side of the RV was the ocean, and on the left were some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen in my life. So, after going from one sketchy place to another, we ended up finding a spot that was probably one of the best places we could have found at that place.

Tuesday we travelled back into Kaikoura to see what all the small fishing town had to offer. We started walking along this road that led down to the beach, although instead of sand it was a rocky beach. It was really cool though because the water running up and over them all the time really smoothed them out and made them really round at the edges and flat on the top and bottom. We then drove up to the Kaikoura Peninsula where there is a lookout tower that you can climb. The views from up here were extraordinary. If you looked right down the middle of the peninsula, it looked just like Ohio: rolling hills with cows in pasture fields. However, look to the right and left and all you see is water and ocean...definitely not something we have in Amish country. After we had seen everything up there and taken a few group pictures, we headed to what we heard was a seal colony at the end of the peninsula. So we get there and start walking around these rocks that are at the base of these cliffs but still out of the ocean. We walked for a while until we came around this corner and there was this big hill in front of us. Being a bunch of 20 year-old guys we got the brilliant idea to climb up this very steep (almost vertical) cliff so see what is at the top of it. Being the first one up, I went straight at it, pulling myself up with grasses and whatever else I could grab onto. Upon reaching the top, we were treated to remarkable 360^o views in all directions and with no railing, we could walk right up to the edge of the cliff. A little further down was a small lighthouse and a park bench overlooking the water. We had to jump a fence to get to the bench so we weren’t sure if we were on private property or not but we went anyways...you only live once right? We ended up taking a group pic of all of us facing the ocean with the camera to our backs...it is a pretty epic picture. On the way back down, we finally were able to pick some seals out on the rocky landscape below us so we went over to investigate them. They were really cool to see out in the wild and up close – there were several times that we even walked right into them because they blended in so well with the rocks. We named them Winifred, Beatrice, Madison, and George. Winifred especially was very camera conscious, even posing on several different rocks in several different positions so we could get many different shots of him. On the way back to Christchurch we saw a cave that looked appealing so we pulled over to check it out. It was a cool cave, it actually went back kind of far and we had to crawl through it at one point on our hands and knees. When we got back to Christchurch, we all went into Hotel So once again to use the showers offered at the gym since we hadn’t showered since we left on Monday. We then got on the free computers they have in their lobby and checked up on fbook and email while we had the chance. Once Moe got here, we set out for Franz Joseph Glacier for a hike that we needed to be ready for at 9:00am the next morning. I got a chance at the wheel for a few hours starting at around 2:00am so that was kind of cool... I just wish we could have gone through this road in the daytime because it looked absolutely gorgeous but we didn’t really have a choice so it’s all good.

Wednesday we pulled into the gas station right as the RV started sputtering and ran out of fuel. We had brekkie at a local joint that was delicious: I had hotcakes, sausage, bacon, and eggs. It wasn’t as good as Boyd and Wurthman but it was decent... We then went back to the RV to finish getting everything ready and figured out before we went and checked in for the hike. Once we finally got on the bus to head up to the glacier, our ten minute journey was turned into a much longer one because they were working on the one lane bridge leading up the side of the mountain. Kiwi’s, for some reason, love their one lane bridges as they are all over the country no matter where you are driving. Some are just about as wide as the RV too so one wrong jerk in any direction and you’re going to get bumped around on a bridge that is most likely over some kind of ravine you don’t want to be messing around with. Oh and I almost forgot, on the way to Franz Joseph we stopped at this one bridge that had the most scenic view I have ever seen in my life: there was a river that was wide and blue as all get out, capped off by a huge mountain that was snow capped and just majestic. And the whole thing was taking place during the sunrise so the mountain was illuminated from the sun but we were still in shadow...all in all a very cool sight. Anyways, once the road crews finally got out of the way we continued on up the mountain towards the national park on which the glacier rests. When we got out, there was this immense rocky kind of river bed that completely floods during the really rainy season. Behind that, sitting in a crevice between two mountains, was the Franz Joseph Glacier. After walking a ways across this rock bed, we finally reached the base of the glacier. We started the hike by going up this hill of stones until we reached the starting point of the actual glacier hike. After attaching our crampons (spikes that just attach to the bottom of the boots to give you grip on the ice) to our boots, we set foot on the ice and began this new journey. It was a really cool experience. We saw many crevices and holes and peaks and whatnot and it was just really cool. We got to go through this little hole kind of thing on which everyone scraped themselves up pretty good. It was actually kind of hard to get out the other side because the ice was jagged and kind of dropped off so you couldn’t just slide out. We also saw like an actual cave that we could walk into and the whole walls and roof were all just the bluest ice you’ve ever seen in your life. We also went through this thing where you kind of walked into it and then we had to climb up the ice steps our guide (Jason) carved out for us to get out the top of it. Climbing up the sides of the crevices was also an experience. There were times when we were literally going straight up the ice to get out of a crevice that was just wide enough to put one foot in front of the other to begin with. When we finally got to the top, we were treated with magnificent views that were capped off by the clouds parting around the peak of the tallest mountain there so that there was this brightly illuminated mountain top visible through this hole in the clouds. The trip down was a lot shorter than the journey up, which suited me ok because by this time my toes were numb and had no feeling at all in them. Overall, the experience was a fun one, I just think that I would have rather done a half day just because I was cold, wet, and tired by the end of it and getting slightly repetitive while still going up. We then got dinner at the same place we had brekkie before hitting the road towards Queenstown. The plan was to stop along Lake Wanaka and spend the night and then get up in the morning and finishing the drive into Queenstown. That didn’t exactly happen as planned. The first place we stopped at was some kind of reservation that I guess people pay millions of dollars to stay at or something. The guy that woke us up was pretty angry, especially after he figured out he was standing right where we were going to the bathroom, and told us the cops had our plate numbers and that we should get out of there ASAP. So Steve got up and drove us further on down the road until we were actually really close to Queenstown when we stopped again to get some sleep. We were woken up again, this time by some guy who thought we had stayed the night there. We told him that we had only been there for like two hours because we had already been kicked out of one place and he just told us to leave and find somewhere else to go. So we ended up trying to find a campsite in Queenstown that we could actually stay at, a task that doesn’t seem too difficult but considering we didn’t have a map of the city it was a task in itself. We finally found one and hooked up to electricity for the first time which meant we could charge cameras, laptops, and phones for the first time since being in NZ. They also had shower facilities so we all got a much needed shower as well. We then went to the reception area where you can book all the activities the city has to offer. Some of the group immediately decided to go jet-boating but I held off on that. It was over $100 and the guy said you’re only on the water for 25 min so it didn’t seem worth it. When all the guys came back though they said it was awesome and were actually on the water for a lot more than 25 min but oh well. I spent the time walking around exploring what all Queenstown had to offer and ended up buying some souvenirs. We then checked in on booking bungy jumping, but were told everything was booked through until Saturday. This caused us to make some amendments to our travel plans because we were planning on going to Milford Sound Saturday and only spending Thursday and Friday in Queenstown. But we booked the Saturday bungy and decided to figure things out later. I can’t remember what we did for dinner that night, but we did end up deciding to stay in Queenstown the next day too, rather than driving to Milford Sound.

Friday we went golfing at the Queenstown Golf Club at Kelvin Heights. It was advertised as the most picturesque golf course in New Zealand, and the 7^th most scenic course in the world. Once we got out and hit the links it was pretty obvious why: surrounded by mountains and lakes as blue as the sky, we were given views that are normally only seen in Golf Digest or something similar to that. Our tee time was set to be at 10:00, but we kind of got lost along the way and got there a little late. This kind of got us in a pickle for the course because they were very busy that day and had lots of ‘real’ golfers out there doing what they do best. I, of course, had the worst round of my life and couldn’t hit the ball good to save my life. It was fun but it was a long day. I think it took us about eight hours total to finish the round, which is four longer than normal, and by the end some guys weren’t even playing every hole. That night we ate dinner at this Mexican place that was supposed to be really good. It took them forever to get our food out to us, but when it did come it was very good. Unfortunately it wasn’t like American Mexican restaurants: they didn’t give you free chips and salsa and sour cream, jalapeños, and guacamole were all $4 extra. I went to bed pretty early that night, like 9:00, and didn’t wake up until about 9:00 the next morning then so I was nice and refreshed. I forgot to mention that when I woke up this morning I could not find my wallet anywhere in the RV. I checked both my bags, my pants from the day before, the counter; pretty much everywhere and couldn’t find it. During the night, I had a dream that someone found it and threw it at me in my sleep, and when I did wake up I was ecstatic for about 30 seconds until I realized it was a dream and it didn’t really happen. However, when of the guys on the trip got up to get showered and dressed, he found my wallet in his bag. This is the second time he has taken my wallet on accident because mine and his do look similar but I was just happy to have found it and not have it sitting around Queenstown somewhere.

Saturday we got up and had to be checked out by 10:00am, so that was pretty much us waking up at 9:30, quickly getting unhooked, and driving down to the check-in area. We then parked there for a few hours while we cleaned up and grabbed another shower for the road. We then drove around the surrounding area some more before we had to be back in Queenstown to tackle the world’s second highest bungy jump. We drove to this one peak that ended up being a ski resort that wasn’t open and got some sweet pictures overlooking the valleys in between the mountains. We threw the Frisbee around for a little bit, and Kevin launched it off the side of the mountain to see how far he could throw it...luckily it didn’t get very far and we were able to drive down and find it. When we got back down, we still had some time left so we drove over to Arrowtown, which is really small and doesn’t have much there at all. We were there for maybe a half hour and saw everything in town. By this time, we needed to get on the road back to Queenstown so we could find a parking spot and get to the bungy place in time. Once we got there and got checked in, my adrenaline started pumping. Bungy jumping is something I have always wanted to do so I was ready for it. We then had like a half-hour bus ride out to the site. They are on private property so there was this little bitty dirt road going right up the side of the mountain and we’re just getting higher and higher and higher and its getting to be really sick. When we finally get to the top you can see the jump pod hanging out over the canyon and you know that this is for real. You have to take a cable car to get to the pod, so you get a good couple minutes to look around and see how high you actually are before you get out there. When we got out to the pod they strapped these ankle cuffs around us and then Arty was the first one to take the plunge. Watching through the glass in the floor got me all the more excited for it. When I finally got to jump off, I’m not going to lie, I may have been scared for a split second after I started falling. It felt so unnatural, my body was telling me to do something but there was nothing to do. After that split second though you get used to the fall and then you get to enjoy the rest of the 7 second freefall. I couldn’t even scream. The feeling was so weird cause it felt like my stomach was in my throat and I couldn’t get any noise out at all. When you come back up the second time, you pull this strap at your ankles that releases your feet from the bungy, so you can get towed back up sitting in the harness. That was really cool too because it took a second for the harness to catch so it feels like your falling again for about a second. That was one of the most exciting things I have ever done in my life. The adrenaline rush, combined with the scenery, combined with just the feeling of freefalling over a canyon was amazing. 134m/440ft, 7 second freefall, world’s second-highest. I really want to go to Macau know and hit up the world’s highest, which is 234m/772ft. The only thing that is going to hold me back is the price of getting there, but I will definitely do it if I ever have the chance. After bungy, we got back in the RV and headed back towards Christchurch. We were planning on stopping, but we ended up just driving to the outskirts of the city before we stopped. In the morning, we went back to Hotel So where I would be staying an extra night since I didn’t fly out until Monday morning. I took the longest shower of my life, playing with the different lighting schemes and just enjoying the fresh, hot, free water. Then I worked on uploading pictures to fbook for the next few hours, Skyped mom, dad, and Philipp for a while, and then watched some movies that were on TV. I set my alarm for 4:00 since I had a 4:30 pickup time scheduled to get me to the airport. I got up, finished packing quick, checked out, and was waiting by the curb when a shuttle pulled up. Thinking it was mine I walked towards it, only to be told it was for a group of old people. I was like, y’all have an extra spot couldn’t I jump in so I’m not late but the driver wouldn’t let me so I had to wait. By this time, I thought it was quarter to five and was starting to get worried. Some taxi driver said he’d take me for $20, then asked me where I was from. After that when I asked him again the fare was $30 so I guess not all Kiwi’s like Americans after all. Finally the shuttle got there at what I thought was ten till five. He then told me we had to make another stop and I asked him what time it was since I needed to be checked in two hours before I’m scheduled to leave. He said it was 3:55. I was mad for a split second, then realized he said 3:55, not 4:55. The alarm clock in my room was an hour fast, so I was up an hour earlier than I needed to be. After I figured that out, I was more annoyed with the hotel than anything but at least I knew I’d get to the airport in plenty of time. As I’m finishing this entry, I am sitting at the terminal getting ready to board the plane in about ten minutes. I’ll upload this when I get back to my room and I have internet again. Scheduled arrival is 9:00am Brisbane time, or 7:00pm EST.

We ended up taking off right at sunrise in Christchurch, New Zealand. It felt so good to have the plane speeding down the runway towards takeoff speed and knowing that I’d be in my own shower, using my own soap, and being clean in just a few hours. It was a fun-filled break, a good time, but part of me is really happy to be back in Brisi where life is normal again and runs along in the same rhythm. Living out of a suitcase just doesn’t seem as much fun as it used to... But now it’s time to get back into the whole school routine, which I need to start working on again because this next two months are going to be very busy with school. Until next time...good bye from the other side of the world.

Day 1: Christchurch, NZ

April 4 2:00am

Above: Cool purple flowers

Below: One of the many ponds with a lot of ducks

Today was a good day walking around Christchurch. It is such a beautiful city. It is pretty obvious to see why they call it the garden city as there are flower beds everywhere with all different types of plants and trees and everything. There is a river running through the city with different bridges everywhere that look pretty cool and are nicely designed. First I walked down the pedestrian mall, which kind of reminded me of Queen Street in Brisbane only on a much smaller scale. I got lunch at this Korean/Japanese restaurant and it was really good. I got a sweet and spicy pork dish that was more spicy than sweet but it tasted amazing. Best part? It was only $10/NZ so it was even cheaper USD.

Above: Central Rose Garden in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens

The next stop was Cathedral Square. The Christchurch Cathedral is very pretty. It is almost hard to describe but I believe a pic will do enough of that. The inside is really nice too. The ceiling is high with arches intersecting over the top. I didn’t take any pictures inside because it felt weird but it was pretty much just like any other cathedral I’ve been in. One thing caught my eye immediately on the East inside wall: a mural with swastikas around the outside of it. Naturally, when you see a swastika the first thing that comes to mind is Nazi Germany. However, the swastika was commonly used in ancient Christian art and had religious meaning before Hitler implemented it as the symbol of the Nazi party. Also, the cathedral has different nation’s flags hanging up on the inside. Curious, I asked one of the people in there what they were for. He asked if I was from America, said he picked out my accent, and then said they were friendship flags given to the church from people of the different countries. He said the American flag was there because they hold a service at the cathedral before American expeditions to Antarctica depart.

Above: Central Mall in the gardens

Below: Christchurch Cathedral

Next I walked down the street where most of the arts and cultural stuff is located. There was an open air market that was interesting to walk through and many different street performers out showcasing their talents. There was a lady playing a saxophone and further on down was a young girl singing to try and raise money for a choir trip to Canada. I must say both acts were very good and I stopped to listen for a little bit. At the end of the street, I finally got to the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. I really wanted to see these today because I’d be able to walk around at my leisure. The gardens were gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. I took so many pictures, I wish I could post them all on here but it only lets me do five per post. I definitely could live in this city when I’m old I think...it’s nice and quiet and just a nice place to sit and relax. After all that walking around, and after not getting any sleep last night, I was pretty beat. So I came back here and slept for several hours, probably several too many cause now it’s almost 1:00am and I’m not feeling very tired. My room is really nice though. It has this mood lighting so I’m bathed in blue light right now but I can change it to green, orange, purple, or red. The bed is really comfortable too, especially since I got upgraded to a bigger one. Tomorrow, the rest of my group gets here so we’ll spend the day doing who knows what and then Monday we pick up the RV. I’d really like to go to the Antarctica exhibit tomorrow but if we don’t make it I have another day after we get back here before I have to fly back to Brisbane so maybe I’ll get to do it then. There’s also a gondola that goes up the side of one of the mountains, giving you 360^o views of Christchurch and the surrounding area. Only problem is, I have no idea how to get there and I’m pretty sure you have to drive there so that could be an issue. We may just have to stop in after we get the RV and do it that way.