Southern Cities Expedition

We just got back from our "Southern Cities Expedition" which covered the large cities to the south of the country. We were gone for a week, and now it is time to rest up and recover as well as get ready for finals, which for me begin on Tuesday. Here is a recap of the trip.

Day 1: Perth to Adelaide
We left at 2am heading out from Perth to Adelaide on Tiger Airways. Luckily we got a ride to the airport, though so that we didnt have to shuttle in at that hour. Adelaide is an hour and a half time change ahead of Perth (I found that the 90 minute change was weird). Phones work there, but the clocks do not automatically reset so we had to make sure that we had the time right. We arrived at the airport at around 6:30am local time and headed to our hostel. We could not check in until 12, so we left our bags and wandered around town to see the sights. We saw the markets, and churches and almost all of the big sites over the course of the next six hours. Finally around 1 we checked into our hostel and went to bed. We were so tired from getting very little sleep on the red eye and wandering around for six hours that we slept the rest of the day. Adelaide is the capital of South Australia and is known as the City of Churches. It also has a decent China Town area which we ate dinner at. We met up with one of Nicole's friends at some bars in a nice part of town, and finally called it a night.

Day 2: Adelaide
We saw most of the highlights of Adelaide during our 6 hour trek the first day, so we slept in a little bit later. We walked through the mall and shop area of the city before heading to Government House. It is the home of the governor of South Australia and is only open a few times of the year. We took a tour through the house and actually met the governor. We also saw the University of South Australia and University of Adelaide, before heading to the Botanical Gardens. We ended the day by visiting the National Wine Centre of Australia. South Australia produces some of the finest wine in the country, and the center was pretty cool. We grabbed some dinner and played some games and called it a night.

Day 3: Adelaide to Canberra
The next day we checked out of the hostel and visted a few sites before heading to the airport. We tried to visit an underground opal mine (South Australia is the leader in the world in opals), but it turned out to be really a tourist trap. We wandered through some shops and the big Victoria Square, before heading to the airport.

Analysis: I liked Adelaide. It is not a really big or bustling city, but it is laid back and has lots of nice open parks and gardens to enjoy. The city of churches does have a lot, and some are very nice inside and out. The bar area we went to was small, but enjoyable. I think it would be a nice place to live, although if you are going looking for a wild good time it is not the city for that. I am glad that I saw it though, and I actually really enjoyed the feel of the city despite its lack of wild atmosphere or tons of things to do.

Once we got to the airport we found out that our flight was delayed- and evenutally it led to a four hour delay and an over five hour stay in the airport. This was bad news because we had only booked ourselves about 24 hours in Canberra and were counting on looking around that day. We finally got to Canberra at night and went to the hostel. We decided to wander around the mall containing the war memorial to see it at night. It was about a 15-20 minute walk to the memorial, which is a mile long street with memorials to each of the wars and branches on each side of the road with a museum on a hill at one end and an open view to the capital building across the lake to the other. It was nice at night and empty as we saw all the monuments lit up. We decided to come back and see it at night and started to head back. At the museum are great open grassy areas leading up to the building. We were surprised to see a huge heard of wild kangaroos wandering around it; some of the biggest kangaroos I have ever seen. We walked back and explored the city part of Canberra with the government buildings for the territory and city, as well as the shopping district. We made pasta in the hostel and called it a night.

Day 4: Canberra
We got up early to begin, due to our lost time the day before. We started at the War Memorial, where we saw all of the monuments to different branches and wars. By far the oddest monument was the monument to the Turkish leaders and soldiers who defeated the Australian troops badly at Galipoli during World War II. I found it odd that a monument would be built to the side that defeated and killed so many Australians. As we walked down the hill and the strip visiting each monument, I was a little desturbed by one major fact -- the spaces along the road that they had built into areas, but put no monument. They were spaces in the master plan to eventually build monuments to future wars that have not yet been fought (that in itself is a sad commentary on humanity when something like that has to be done in a master plan because of inevitability). There were also some spaces for monuments that had not yet been completed.

After the memorial we headed over toward their version of the CIA building and their Defence Department's version of the Pentagon. They are not really secured from the exterior and you can walk right up to them. Rather than a pentagon they have four defence buildings that are arranged in a square. In the middle of that square is an enormously tall American Monument. It is one of the tallest structures in the city, and looks like the Washington Monument with a giant eagle on top. I find it humorous (and perhaps very fitting) that in the middle of their defence department square is a giant monument to the United States. Can you imagine a giant Great Britain Monument rising out of the Pentagon? It was built in 1953 to thank and honor America for coming to its rescue after getting bombed by the Japanese to start WWII.

We then walked towards capital hill, by heading down towards the lake that lies in front of the hill. There was the island with the national carollin, and other monuments on the way. Across the lake, I went into the Supreme High Court of Australia. The court was not in session, but I got to go on the floor and right up to the bench of the highest court of the land which was very cool. Following that I saw the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. Walking up the mall towards the Old Parliament Building is the Tent Embassy. It is a bunch of tents in a community camp occupied by Aboriginees protesting their lack of rights and desire for their "country" to be represented in the capitol. The Old Parliament Building has been turned into a museum and we got to see the former senate and house of representative chambers as well as the former prime minister's office and working space. There also were many exhibits set up about the history of the Australian Governemnt. Heading up the hill farther, was the extremely modern looking new Capital Building for Parliament. The House of Representatvies was in session and we got to listen for awhile from the viewing gallery, although most members of the House were not present. We also could look around and take pictures of the Senate chambers. The chambers are large and modern, very functional, but lack a historic type of charm. We visited the roof of the building and got a great view of the city, especially looking towards the War Memorial strip. It was tough to get to, but we ran across the highway to get a look at The Lodge. It is the home of the Prime Minister, and is not open to the public. It did not seem to be guarded very visably other than the high fence and cameras, but we were sure they were there somewhere. It is not very big, and looks alright, but is certainly no White House. Heading back, we saw the American Embassy which has the best location on a hill just off of the capitol building. It is early American Colonial architecture, and is very large. We got back to Parliament, and got a cab to the airport.

Analysis: I was the only one of the four who liked Canberra. As the capital city of the nation, you expect a lot- and Canberra is no Washington DC. It is very small, and other than the government buildings and historical monuments, there isnt a lot there. It felt to me almost like a very spread out university campus. We rushed around and covered a lot of ground by foot (which only I liked), but I enjoyed the sites. Although the country is not very old, and the capital city even younger (Melbourne and Sydney battled it out for the capitol before Canberra was decided as a comprimise half way between the two), it still has a historical feel. As one of the top twenty most powerful nations on Earth, you still have to feel the presence of power that occupies the city. Governement stuff interests me, as well as war history so the city was enjoyable. It is certainly not prefferable to DC, nor could it really be considered a city (although it is the 8th largest city in the country), but I liked it.

We headed to the airport and flew into Melbourne. We checked into our hostel and headed out to the Italian district. They have a very large and well known Italian section with great food. We grabbed dinner and desert there, meeting up with four other friends. We headed around Federation Square and then walked along the river before going into an Irish Pub. We had some fun catching up and sharing our traveling stories up to that point before heading back to bed.

Day 5: Melbourne
We started the day by heading to the athletic complex of the city. We saw Rod Laver Arena and the grounds for the Australian Open (Tennis Grand Slam event), as well as the 1956 Olympic Park. Close by is the Melbourne Cricket Grounds where Aussie Rules Football is played and Cricket. It seats over 110,000 people and is a massive stadium. We took a tour of the structure, which ran a little long but was very in depth. We headed back to the CBD and walked around exploring before heading up the Rialto Building to the 360 Degree Skydeck. It has indoor and outdoor portions and a great view of the city. We walked back and saw the orignial old gaol (jail in Australian) and headed back to Federation Square. It started to rain, so we checked out some art museums featuring mostly Australian artists, and peeked in the Australian racing museum as well. After wandering around the city some more, we headed to a Mexican restaurant and enjoyed some fun with large sombreros and drinks. We headed to the suburbs where a bar had trivia night (although it was mostly Australian setup and we didnt do to well), before heading back for the night.

Day 6: Great Ocean Road
Just as the ocean heads up the coast in California, Great Ocean Road is world reknowned for heading along the southern coast of Australia west of Melbourne. Four of us decided that we would rent a car and drive the loop that leads to the Twelve Apostles, a series of picturesque rocks jutting out of the ocean that are well known and oft-photographed around the world. The only car that could be rented, however, was a covertible. We started the journey with the top down driving around (remember we look foolish because it is winter) before it got too cold. We got a little lost leaving the city, but finally hit the road. We routed through Geelong, a larger city outside of Melbourne, and finally got to Great Ocean Road. The views along the entire route were amazing, and we stopped often for pictures. The road was very turning and hilly, so it took a long time to get there. We finally got to the Twelve Apostles and nearby sights just before the sun set. The view of the sun setting over the rocks was amazing. Some of the other sites were the Loch and Gorge, Razor Back, Blowhole, and Thunder Cave. We took a quicker route home, and had to hurry back. We had a reservation to meet the rest of our party at the Ice Bar in Melbourne. We were given coats, gloves, and some boots to go to the bar. Everything there was ice- including the walls, bar, furniture, and cups. It was definently a touristy thing to do, but also unique and fun. By the time we left I was pretty cold, however, and ready to warm up. We also went to a Saki Bar, where a few of our members of the group (not me) enjoyed some karaoke. We saw a different part of the city as we headed to a different hostel across town.

Analysis: Melbourne is pretty cool, and much bigger than any city we have seen here yet. It has powerlines blocking your view up for most of the city, however, as it has an extensive tram service down almost every street. It was very easy to get around because of that, but it took away from the city aesthetically. The river with the big buildings is a great view, especially at night. As the capital city of Victoria, it also had an official aire to it. It had a lot more action then any place we have been since entering the country. I would have like a little more time in the city to see individual things, but I felt like I really saw the city. Kevin described it well as a city like Chicago-- not a lot of individual things you must go see, but a lot areas you just need to wander around to experience being there.

Day 7: Hobart
While the rest of my group stayed in Melbourne for the day, I headed to the airport at 5am to catch a plane for Tasmania. The hostel we stayed in that night was in the St. Kildas suburb of the city and my ride to the airport got a pretty good look around it. I got on the plane at 7:20am and landed in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania around 9. I headed into the city via the large Tasman Bridge and headed to the docks. It was cloudy to start, so I decided to take a city tour on a double decker bus brought over from London. Following that, I walked around the CBD for a little while before heading back to the water. I took a 2.5 hour harbour and river lunch cruise with very good sea food. It gave a great view of the city and Mt Wellington towering over it through the clouds. I followed a walking tour up throught the different bouroughs and burbs of the city that was recomended in the book and it highlighted most of the notable sights in teh city including all of the government buildings, museums, gallerys, and historical buidlings of interest. Finally I strolled along the waterside outdoor market area and docks. They have great parks with memorials looking over the water and city, so I ended my day there as it got dark and began to rain. Finally I took a shuttle back to the airport.

Analysis: Hobart is not very big. But the homes and buildings are built into mountain sides of the enourmous Mt Wellington that looms over the water and the city. It is very cool if you take it for what it is- a small state's relatively small capital city in a valley. The docks are interesting and cool to hang out around, and it was neat to see the ships that head for the Antarctic based there. It is not a roudy city, and I probably didnt need much more time there. I wish it would have been clear in the morning so I could have gone up Mt Wellington to see the great views, but other than that I covered everything I wanted to see in my time there. I am glad that I went there to see Tasmania, which apparently looks a lot more like New Zealand than the rest of Australia.

As I got to the airport panic started. I was delayed heading back to Melbourne, which was bad because I had to meet up with the flight heading back to Perth. I flew Jet Star airlines out of Hobart, which landed in Melbourne at the opposite side of the airport grounds in the terminal as far away from the Tiger Terminal as possible. I dead sprinted for a long way to get to Tiger in time, and I was the only person in line in the terminal when I arrived. It turned out to be somewhat unnecessary as the flight was a half hour delayed and I made it with extra time. We headed back to Perth and were picked up at the airport and dropped off at a train stop. We then caught the train back to Perth and finally Fremantle.

The Southern Cities Trip was great. We saw so much over the week that we were gone, and the time flew. I really feel like each of the stops was different than all of the others, and it really gave a great flavor of the variety of Australia. Finals begin this week, and I must begin studying as my first one is in Moral Philosophy on Tuesday. I then have an Internationl Business final on Friday before heading to the airport on Friday night. Next weekend I will be in Brisbane and Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast for three days and two nights. With so little time left in Australia, we have to make each day count.

Last week of classes

Today marks the last day of lectures for the semester. In each of the last classes
we really have gone over what our marks are thus far, what we need on the final
examinations, and what material will be covered-- except for one class where we
have not gotten a single grade back yet (very very frusterating). People have been
celebrating the end of classes this week, and after a paper that was due tuesday, I
have been taking it easier. I felt a little bit under the weather towards the end of the
week, but feel much better now following a lot of sleep.

Today we are going to a very popular beach north of Perth- Scarborough- for the day following class, as we wait to head out tonight. We have a week off to recharge our batteries before
finals start, and we are going to travel during it. It will be a group of four, consisiting
of myself, kevin from ND, Keaton from ND, and Nicole from Sacred Heart. We leave tonight around 11pm, and our traveling is as follows:

Saturday- middle of Monday--> Adelaide, South Australia

Mid Monday through late afternoon tuesday--> Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Tuesday through early friday morning --> Melbourne, Victoria

Friday--> Hobart, Tasmania

Early saturday morning--> back in Perth

Etc.

Last week was a rough one for sleep. I had to finish my economics essay, which took me a long time. It seems like sometimes in this blog there is this impression that it is all fun and games down here, and we certainly do have a good time, but we are still in school and have work accordingly.

I have never written a paper as long as the one that took over my life last week. It was 26 pages, 6,402 words and had 72 different sources. I am not sure what the longest paper I have ever written up that point was, but I believe it was at least a third shorter. It was an analysis of how the Austrian School of Economics Business Cycle Theory was the underpinnings of the macroeconomic theory of the Skyscraper Index. It probably took me about 40 hours over the course of last week-- which was accounted for with many hours up until 4 or 5 am. I am glad to get that out of the way. I have one big essay left for this week that will be cranked out over the next two days on the evironmental sustainability policies of the Vatican City state and their whole systems outlook towards climate change. Later in the week I will finish my final asignment, which is a short paper.

Friday night we went to a bar in Perth called Mustangs. It is an American themed bar, and serves a handful of American beers (sam adams, bud, and a couple others). It brought a tear to my eye when we went in though, because they have ESPN on the tvs, and I watched Sportscenter for awhile as the band was playing. Later in the evening, a baseball game was starting and I got to watch that as well. It is the first time that I have seen ESPN or baseball action since I have been here -- the longest such stretch in my life most likely.

Saturday a friend from O'Neill Hall back at ND came to visit. He just graduated, so he was able to tell me more about the conflict revolving around NDs recent graduation preceedings. He is spending a year in Australia to play minor league Aussie Rules Football for a team down south (by Albany where we visited a month ago). It was good to hang out with him and catch up on all things ND over the last semester.

It is also Peppy's 21st b-day today, so we went out to celebrate last night, and will do something cool today for the holiday.

My morning ritual is always to wake up and lay in bed while pulling up the internet and checking on any new news from ESPN. Lately this has been nice because the Tigers are winning and it is always a good way to start my day by watching their highlights. Rick Porcello, Detroits rookie pitcher, is 20 years old and the guy who lives next to me went to high school with him and knows him from there. It is weird for him when I start talking about how pumped I am for Porcello to grab another win, and he was a year older than him and saw him in the halls at school.

It started to get colder here for the first time this week. It rained three of the days, and coming off the ocean, the rain was rather intense. Lets hope that it gets a little warmer this week and stays dry, before we head out east for our next trip.

Staying Busy

The last week was a very busy week academically for me. I had to turn in two projects and gave three presentations. In terms of school work, I still have two major essays and one paper, but that is it until finals. This week will be tough also because of those two major essays that I need to turn in.

One of the presentations that I had to give involved participating in the Model United Nations. I have never anything like that before, so it was a new experience. Kevin and I worked together as a nation, and we chose to represent the Vatican City. This was a good choice. As it turns out, the research for the Vatican was very easy, and it was not very hard to make sure to take their stance on issues when debating in the General Assembly. The Vatican does not get a lot of power in the UN, and therefore we didn't speak or debate very often. The topic was on sustainable engery sources, and a resolution was put forth. As the Vatican, we did put an aditional proposition to the resolution that was actually passed (almost nothing was passed) and did so with 0 No votes (although 3 abstentions). I can now say that I have participated in a Model UN.

Wednesday night, I went with a large group from our dorm through a tour of the Fremantle Prison. It was built during the 1800s and open until 1991. It was supposed to be a scary tour and is supposedly the third most haunted building in the country. I didn't think it was scary, but it was a nice tour of the prison- not a place you want to end up.

Saturday I actually had a weekend here for the first time in a long time, and I decided to go to the Perth Zoo. It is a very nice zoo and really well done, although not huge. They are very much like Disney with fake rocks and amazing landscaping really hiding the zoo part. Unlike the Potter Park Zoo, which is kinda random in its organistion, this was sepearted into different continent themed areas. The Australian Outback was cool because the kangaroos and wallabees just wander around the paths and can go anywhere and right up to you. I enjoyed the zoo. I also wandered around Perth for awhile and saw most of the things I had not seen. It was a nice day off.

There are many birthdays this weekend, so we went out to celebrate them. Some are turning 21, others 22. A lot of them are packed together, but we have had fun celebrating them.

Surf Camp

This past weekend myself and three girls from our dorm went to an overnight surf camp. We got up at 5 am and took the train into Perth to catch the shuttle to Lancelin, which is a beach community about 1.5 hours north of the city, and well known for its waves.

When we met the shuttle we were suprised to be picked up by the quintessential hippy. Hydrogen peroxide dreadlocks, hemp shoulder bag, no shoes, etc.

As soon as we got up to Lancelin, we got wetsuits on and immidiately headed to the beach. There were 13 total students. The beach waas Edward Island Point Beach. This part had relatively low waves and was a good place to start. There were two instructos, and we got onland and in the water instruction. We surfed from about 9 - 11:30 when we had a break for some snacks, and then continued again from 12- 1:30. I could get up on the first day and take waves a little bit, and was the only one of the four of us that could do that.

At 1:30 we headed back to the camp site for some lunch, and relax after a tiring session. We grabbed some food and then took a little nap. Following we sent up our tents, and we decided that all four of us could sleep in a tent designed for two people.

We went to the nearby and popular Lancelin sand dunes. They are off of the water, and they are very large. They are the begining of a desert that stretches to the east. At the dunes we watched large 4x4s trying to get over the hills, and we sandboarded down the dunes (much like snowboarding but with sand). It wasnt too bad and was a lot of fun. There was a full moon and a sunset simultaneously while we were up there and it was very picturesque.

We headed back to camp and had a good dinner and played cards with the other people in camp. Following we went to bed, and realised that four people in that tent may have been a stretch. I had a good nights sleep, but noone else seemed to.

The next daywe got up early and had a light breakfast. It was cool in the morning and took some motivation to get up and into it. We headed to a different beach with much larger waves. We worked with the instructors with much the same schedule as the day before. The waves and the rips were much stronger and you took a pounding, but you could also get a better ride with more force behind you. There were a lot of really good surfers out also farther out and we could watch them getting thrown around as well.

It was a lot of fun, and I am really glad that I did it. I might be able to rent a board and work on some beaches around here for some more surfing. It was one of the things that I really wanted to do while I was down here, and really thought it was a good time.

Cinco de Mayo

I thought St. Patrick's Day was bad. I really did - I mean the Australian's barely knew what that was, or celebrated it. I mean there was green beer at some places and some people partying, but as a whole, not many locals - most were visitors.

Well if that was bad, Cinco de Mayo is completely nonexistant. We went to the bar to say "Happy Cinco de Mayo" to people and they had never heard the phrase or the name of the holiday before.

Not that many study abroad students went out, as we have a ton of school work due this week and next, but being that I am friends with three people of Mexican herritage, and one actual Mexican citizen (remember he is the one that didn't initially make it through customs when we entered the country with his Mexican passport), I agreed to go out for one drink.

It was very low -key, hardly anyone out, and was nice. They have Corona here, which is a familiar taste, but they drink it with lemon instead of lime. I have mentioned before how they LOVE lemons here. They do not have limes hardly anywhere, and it takes an upscale bar to even have limes on the premises. My Mexican friends agreed that Corona is not as good with a lemon rather than a lime, but it still was good. I also had some of a Margarita to complete the Mexican theme. We couldn't stay long because I had to get back to work, but it was nice to celebrate the Mexican holiday with some Mexicans.

I put more photo albums up. I know that these are not in chronological order. I know that these are not really edited or screened. I also know these aren't all that I have- and not all of them have me in them because I haven't swapped to get other people's cameras. Finally, I know that these aren't the main ones people want to see (Bangkok, Broome, and Albany). They are, however, a start. And they should take awhile to look at and keep all of you off my back for a little while - just kidding.

Phuket Part 1:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020506&id=1260810014&l=9ce0d3135e

Phuket Part 2 + Kuala Lumpur Malaysia:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020509&id=1260810014&l=f0cdef73f8

Archaeological Dig:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020510&id=1260810014&l=fbc46b2e8c

AQWA, King's Park, Professional Football (Aussie Rules Footy) (AFL), and Cottesloe Beach:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020524&id=1260810014&l=11408d5320

Random Perth Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020525&id=1260810014&l=74230ba12b

Margaret's River

This past weekend we decided to take a trip to the south to one of the finest wine producing regions in Australia - Margaret's River. They produce about 45% of the premium wines for the country.

We took the bus down after class on Friday, and it took about five hours to get there. Along the way there was a terrible movie, but at least we got to lay back and stretch out our legs. By then it was night and we found our hostel and hung out before heading to bed.

Saturday we got up early and our rental car was delivered to the hostel. We had to drive to drop the guy off, and when we reached his house he asked us if we liked kangaroos. He had about 40 wild kangaroos in his yard-- he said they just came there because they would eat food around his property. The car was a 91 Mazda that was barely big enough for the four of us. All decisions were quickly made about who was going to drive when because we found out that it was a stick shift and I was the only one who could drive a stick (thanks Grandpa for teaching me that one). We could have been in real trouble.

We started our trip by heading north about an hour to Bussleton. It is the home of the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere at over 2km long. We grabbed some brekky (breakfast) and went west to Cape Naturaliste. There is a lighthouse on a bluff overlooking the ocean, and the hill had a wildfire relatively recently. The cape is pretty bare with the exception of the lighthouse, but it has great views of the ocean.

Our next stop was the nearby Ngili Cave. We decided just to see the information centre and museum and keep going because there are many caves in the area. As we continued to head south, we stopped at a couple of wineries. The two notable names were Clairault and Moss Brothers. Clairault was a giant estate and very very nice. They had a nice tasting area and some quality wines. Moss Brothers was much smaller and not as nice, but the wine was great and they were very friendly. They had nicer white wines than Clairault did.

We continued south to Mamouth Cave. We decided to go through it on a tour. It is very large and the formations and colours inside are very impressive. It was a great tour to go on. Not much farther down the road was Cave Works which was a museum about caves with interactive displays, as well as another cave -- Lake Cave. We went up and explored the mouth of the cave and the entrance, but decided not to take the tour in order to allow ourselves enough time to make it to our next destination.

At the southernmost portion of that part of the continent is Cape Leeuwin, just past Augusta. It is home to the tallest lighthouse on the mainland of Australia. We took a tour of it, and the views around the coast and the point were some of the best of my entire time here. The lighthouse is the dividing point between the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean (which apparently is now one of the oceans of the world, although I do not remember learning of this one when I was in elementary school). There were other lookouts and sites around the area.

We went to Hamelin Bay Beach to watch the sunset, and the colours were very nice and relaxing. As we headed back towards Margaret's River, we were taking a road through some of the impressive and large forests, when one of the most scary moments of my life took place. Standing in the middle of the road as I came around a corner was the biggest kangaroo I have seen yet. This is very common, much like deer back at home, but this roo was enourmous. It would have totaled our little car at best. Luckily, and with a little help from above, I was able to pick up what I was seeing in the dark quick enough to make a quick evasive move and miss it. As we went along it, it jumped toward the car in panic, but we just made it away with no contact. I feel very lucky that I was driving, as someone who has driven with the idea that deer could be in the road since I got my liscence, and that I was paying attention and picked up the depth in the dusk that quickly. It adds adventure to the story but it took me a little while to calm back down after it happened.

I found driving to be fun after it has been so long since I have been behind the wheel. I didnt find it hard at all to adjust to the other side of the road or the car (with the exception that the turning signal is on the wrong side and the wipers as well - they are flipped). I am glad that I can say that I drove on the left side of the road.

We got back to MR and had a nice dinner before getting a treat and heading back to the room. We had a little bit of a party and bonding time before calling it a night.

The next day we turned the car in and wandered around MR for the day. We went in all of the shops and went to a nice cafe for awhile. We spent some time in the Visitors Centre/ Vineyard Museum, and relaxed enjoying a weekend market. We chilled in the park before catching our bus back to Perth. It was a great weekend and I am glad that we did it the way we did because it was at our own pace and we got to see what we wanted to see.

See photos by clicking on the two albums below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020498&id=1260810014&l=1316723e7c

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020499&id=1260810014&l=9eb97644f1

Trip to Albany Region

This past weekend was a holiday weekend for Australia. In the same way that Labor Day unofficially ends summer for the US, ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) Day does the same for Australia. It is essentially the same as our Memorial Day. While the holiday is actually on the Saturday, Monday is a public holiday and there is no school (although it didnt help me because I already have Mondays off).

We decided to use to the long weekend to head down to the Albany region. Albany is the oldest settlement in Western Australia, beating Perth and Fremantle by three years. It was founded so that the British could claim this half of the continent, as well as become a lucritive whaling station.

Bianca, Kevin's Australian girlfriend, lives in the region and drove us the six hours down south. We arrived in Albany that night after classes on Friday, and we walked around the town at night and ate a delicious dinner. We got to see an old ship The Amity, and walk around it. We explored for a little while, including heading to the top of the mountain to see the war memorial. We stayed in this little hostel by the beach, and the five of us were in our own room.

The next day we got up early and saw a lot of the sights in Albany. We saw Emu Point, where Albany's Bay connects to the ocean, we saw the great beach Middleton Beach, and the landmark Dog Rock. After a breakfast, we headed 2 hours west to see the Tree Top Walk. It is through the tops of the Red Tingle Trees in a national park. It is very similiar to the redwood forests in California, and is one of the oldest forests in the world. We also went through a walk around the forest.

As we drove back towards Albany, we stopped in Denmark (where the forests meet the sea) and also home to the Guiness Book of World Records Largest Barometer (three stories tall).

Back in Albany, we went through the Residency Museum, and headed out to two of the most known geographic landmarks of Western Australia- The Gap, and the Natural Bridge. They are very beautiful. We also went to Whale World. We grabbed some lunch and then drove another 2.5 hours east to Jerramungup where Bianca lives.

"Jerry" has only 600 people. We spent the Saturday night at the Jerry Athletic club where we watched the footy games on TV and had a bar. It was real small town Australia.

Bianca's family is awesome and they made us a ton of great food. That next day we headed south to Bremmer Bay and saw the Main Beach and Fisheries Beach. They were really nice and had pure white sand much like Siesta Key Florida. It was a really nice side trip. When we came back we watched Aussie Rules Football on Sunday with the family and had a boys time. That night we made s'mores and watched the stars at night. It was so clear there out in the middle of nowhere and it was great.

On Monday, we went back to the club and played the sport of Lawn Bowls. It is somewhat like Bocce Ball on a large field, but the balls are curved and weighted and the field long. Its a different game, but very popular in Australia. Following that, we stopped at a park in Jerramungup, and then hit the road. In Wagin we stopped at a park and saw the Giant Ram, a sculpture 9 times the size of a real ram. We then finished the long trip home.

It was a great trip, and a very different tone than the last set of trips. The smaller group was enjoyable and made certain things easier. I am working on posting photos from all of these, so you will have to hold on.

Vacation(s)

I promise that I will post pictures in the next posts, but this is an outline of how I have spent my past almost two weeks. This is the uncensored details of each day.

Day 1-->
I arranged for us to get a cab to the airport that left our dorm at 3:30am. We got through customs and right onto the plane. I found us a great deal that included round trip airfare to Thailand and back, including a flight inbetween the two locations there, for under $400 US.

We flew the six hour flight to Kuala Lumpur, which took about 6 hours, but on a discount airline it was a little uncomfortable. The seats did not recline (in fact the bottoms slid forward instead), and there were no ammenities. We got to KL and easily made it through Malaysian customs, before grabbing a bite to eat and transfering to our next plane. The flight from KL to Bangkok was only about 2.5 hours.

Upon arrival to Bangkok we got cabs to our hotel. There were sixteen of us so we needed four cabs. We checked into our rooms, and got ready to go-- we were supposed to be picked up for a dinner cruise almost immiediately. The problem was that one of the cabs got lost and was very late. The shuttle wanted to leave, but we bribed the guy some money to wait, and the cab got there just in time.

We went on a dinner cruise down the main river that goes right through Bangkok - the River of Kings. We got to see all the sites of interest from the moonlight and lit up as we feasted on traditional Thai cooking on an old Thai boat. It was the perfect way to start the trip.

Day 2 -->
Myself and three others signed up for a guided tour for this day, so we had to get up early. We were supposed to take a cab to another hotel, and then jump the shuttle there. When we woke up at 5:30am, one of the guys going found that he had lost his camera the night before, and it delayed us so long looking that when we arrived we had missed the shuttle. A very very helpful concierge called four or five places and found out where we had to go, and a cab driver who loved to go fast got us there just in time.

The tour took us to Auyathaya, the former capital of Thailand. It still has a summer palace for the current royalty that you can tour around the grounds, as well as many ruins of temples and palaces of past. We made many stops as we made our way back towards Bangkok. When we got close, we boarded a boat and took the same river as the night before towards the city. We got to see the landmarks during the day as we enjoyed another traditional Thai meal. It was a great view of the city.

When the tour was over, rather than go back to the hotel, we decided to walk to Chinatown, one of the largest Chinatowns outside of China. There were many temples, and the outdoor stands and markets were amazing. We saw some shady things as we explored back alleys and ghetto areas, but it was a great way to really see the city. We saw some amazing, but not as well known, temples - some in the slums (best one was the Temple to Buddha built by the woman repenting for running a prostitution ring).

We went back and the entire 16 decided to head to dinner. We had reserved a VIP room at a more Western restaurant. We made a total scene but had a great time. I was, however, sick for the next three days following the meal and I have a sneaking suspicion it was due to eating there. Following dinner we went to the bar. Normally I would gloss over the club scene pretty quickly, but I will mention out of honesty that we had some problems there. Before you make any wild assertions, it was right when we got there, and noone had been drinking at the time of the problems. It was not a huge deal, but made us focus more for the rest of the trip. I dont really want to go into any more details than that.

Day 3-->
I rallied to get up the next morning and we headed out early again, before 7. We decided to hoof it around the city and see everything there was left to see with the same three person group as the day before.

When we got to the city we decided to take a Tuk Tuk (a small motorcycle cart that can seat 4) around to different sites that were farther away. It was great because he took us to a bunch of things that we would not have seen and waited for us while there. Unfortunately he also kept taking us to junk stores and making us go in that we never asked to go to. It was still awesome, though incredibly dangerous the way that traffic is there (totally worth it to see the city).

One of the places that our Tuk Tuk drove was around a barricade and police to go down the street with all of the protesters and rioters. We wanted to see the protesters, but we didn't know that meant litterally driving around a barricade and police and down a closed street overrun wiht people. There was a lot of shouting and yelling and huge crowds while we went down the street and you could tell that everyone was gearing up for a battle, but when we passed they were doing no more than loud yelling and jumping around. We later found out that the full out riots started only two hours after we left this street. Nothing like adding a little excitement to trip.

We got back and then started walking the main strip. It was at this point that a major downpour hit and we got soaked. We kept going and in 100 degree heat we were dry later in the day. We saw all of the major temples and palaces and it is the most amazing things I have ever seen. I am pretty sure that I have never seen anything like it in my life and maybe never will again. It makes the palaces in France and Austria look weak. With out going into too much detail about specific locations, we took the ferry boats back and forth across the river to make sure we saw everything, and the places were out of this world.

We stayed in the city so late, that we barely got back to the hotel in time to leave for the airport with the group. We ate in the airport and took off at about 9:30. We had a problem because despite having a confirmation sheet, they would not let one of our girls on the plane. They forced her to buy another ticket just to make the flight, she did just to advoid getting stuck in Bangkok.

We landed in Phuket only an hour and 10 minutes later, and got to our resort by about 11:45. It was an amazing resort right on the beach and very new. It was filled almost completely with Westerners. The pool had a bar in it, and was overlooking the hotel and path to the ocean. It was closed when we arrived, but we decided to sneak in anyways, and swam in the warm water for about an hour and half before heading to bed.

Day 4 -->
Easter Sunday. And the most different Easter I have ever had. We woke up in Phuket early and went to the hotel breakfast. It is complementary each day, and is amazing with omlettes, waffles, bacon, etc. We had a nice Easter breakfast before heading to take the tour.

It was one of the most amazing things I've ever done. There were only three of us on the tour, but two full time staff with us as well as others who helped at each station.

We started by going ATV 4wheeling it off road in the jungle. We went down rock piles and throught the forests all around. There were not paved roads or anything and most were just rugged terrain. We saw rubber planations, rice farms, and just thick trees and animals. We even went through a waste deep river at one point. I got soooo dirty, but it was great!

Next we rode elephants. I don't mean that I was in a seat while a guy drove, I was all by myself on this big creature, and was around its neck with no harness or seat. I drove it by verbal commands and hitting it on a certain side of a head. We went up and down muddy hills and trekked through the jungle to a river, where we went down before looping back. It was awesome to have no seat or harness and just have to hang on with my legs and arms like a real Thai. (Did you know that elephants have really stiff bristly hair on their heads?)

The next activity was white water rafting. We met up with other groups and there were many boats going down the river. There were tons of rocks and we got thrown around a lot, but it was so much fun. We went about 45 minutes before we jumped out and swam around trying to beat the current- very tough. We had a girl get caught and swept down river, and as a strong swimmer I had to rush to go get her and pull her over to the side of the river so our boat could come get us. We went another 30-40 minutes after that--- I have never done that before but it was awesome, so much fun.

Next we left the other groups and went zip lining through the jungle and over a river crevace. I like ziplining and think that it is very fun and a great way to see amazing views, but we had to coax one of our members to do it. When she did though she really enjoyed it.

We had a nice traditional Thai lunch at the base site, before heading up a mountain. We passed many rubber plantations and even a palm oil plantation along the way. We got out and hiked up aways and got to a waterfall. We swam underneath it trying to hang on to slippery rocks. It was beautiful and a lot of fun.

When we got back from the tour, we headed to the resort pool to meet up with the rest of the group. We swam awhile before getting ready to go out. I felt too sick to go out (still bad from Bangkok) and there were fractions that night. I ended up getting room service with a couple other people who felt sick or didnt want to go out. We had a fun night talking and watching bad movies in English.

Day 5 -->
The next day I went to the beach that the resort is on. It is a great beach, and the waves are amazing. I was getting pounded by the waves, but it was a lot of fun! That day was the Thai New Years, which was cool because they have a custom where they spray people with water anywhere, and hit people with paint. It is a fun and cool tradition for the holiday.

After going for a quick final swim in the pool and grabbing my breakfast, we headed to the airport. The flight to KL lasted just over an hour and half, and we quickly got through customs one more time. While leaving Phuket I had trouble because my passport had gotten absolutely soaked and all of the stamps had melted into one another, including my departure stamp from Thailand. After a large hassel I got clearance to leave (one girl in our group got accused a fake passport because hers would not scan, but it was cleared up).

In KL the group split up and some decided to stay, while the rest of us headed for KL. It took about 50 minutes to get to the city and we did not have a ton of time there. It rained harder than any rain I have ever seen when we landed, but thankfully it stopped by the time we got to the city. The Petronas Towers used to be the tallest buildings in the world less than a decade ago, and are still the tallest twin towers. They also have the tallest freestanding observation tower (see Seattle Space Needle but much taller). We got to see those and get pictures and walked through Independence Square, and saw the Supreme Court and National Museum. We saw a few other significant buildings including a large Islamic Temple. I did not realise that Malaysia was only 52 years old as an independent nation. Islam is very large there which was very different from Buddhist Thailand, but the city was much more modern and clean than Bangkok as well.

After our trip to KL we headed back to the airport, and took our six hour flight back to Perth. We left at midnight and got to the terminal by 6:15. Customs and immigration is much harder in Australia than Malaysia or Thailand, but since none of us were bringing anything that needed to be declared to any of the three countries, we were fine at each. We took a cab to the train station, and took the train back to Fremantle.

Day 6 -->
This was our day off back in Fremantle. We tried to catch up on some sleep and repack to get ready from Broome and the Kimberley. We ate out and relaxed for most of the day.

Day 7-->
We had to be on the bus at 4am to head to the airport. It was funny because we had just been there the day before.

After we boarded we were informed that the plane had a serious problem in the left engine and that we needed to disembark. We saw guys with manuals as we left. Three hours late we took off.

When we got to Broome, we were dropped of in the city (if you can call it that) and given a lot of time to wander around and explore (ironically the area of the main city is called Chinatown although it does not have much of anything Asian in it). The Japanese attacked the city in 1942 during WWII.

There is a University of Notre Dame Australia campus in Broome, and that was our home base for the that night. We changed there and headed to the very famous Cable Beach. The water was warm and we swam for awhile on the very scenic area. At dusk we took an hour and half camel ride through the sunset that was really cool. The pictures of that are incredible. We finished and saw the last bit of the sun go down, and we all agreed that it may be the best sunset we have ever seen in our lives. It was so beautiful.

That night we ordered a bunch of pizzas and relaxed in the common room before camping outside in personal pods. Everywhere in Australia there are a lot of things that can seriously hurt you or kill you outside, so these are specially built three feet off of the ground and zip up over you -- kinda like a coffin made of tent material on legs. It was uncomfortable for me because it was too small for someone my height and it was rather clausterphobic, but it was still fun and I am glad that I did it.

Day 8 -->
We got up early and explored the campus (including a trip to the library and one last internet check of news and sports). Following that, we were picked up in jeeps and caravanned by our Aboriginal hosts.

We were first taken to a spot called Minyir Park/Beach in Broome that is a sacred spot to their people. We were talked to for awhile by Mic-Lo who talked about the culture.

Following this, we got in and had a four hour drive north towards the Beagle Bay area in the East Kimberley region. Almost the whole thing was dirt road through desert with scrub on each side. It was incredibly bouncy, and the path would be almost impossible without a 4wd with special rover traction and shocks.

We visited the Beagle Bay Church which is one of the most unique Catholic Churches you will ever see. It is decorated almost entirely by pearl shells and pearls, and is in the middle of an Aboriginal community.

Finally we made it to the camp site. It is very much in the Outback, but is actually not far from the ocean, and you could actually see it from where we were -- although you could not go towards it due to the fact that the mangroves that seperated us from the water are filled with crocodiles.

We set up all of our tents; thanks to an epic rock paper scissors win I had a huge tent meant for many that I only had to share with Kevin.

That night we sat around the campfire and had deep talks with our leaders and then had a great dinner. After dinner we had hot chocolate and cookies and listened to our hosts talk.

Day 9 -->
We were not allowed to bring watches because we were going to be living on "Broome time." We went to bed when it got dark which is around 10 - 10:30. We also then get up when it gets light which is about 6:30.

We woke up and had a talk with Collin, the head of our hosts, about the culture. He was great because throughout the whole trip, no question was off limits and because of that we were able to learn lots.

We went to the coast and toured sacred spots to the local people and met the head elder of the group "Auntie Irene". She is about 90 years old, and has many many good stories about the treatment of the native people.

Following the talk and tour, we went to a bay at One Arm Point where we were going to wade in, but were quickly told to get on the rocks on the side as 6 tiger sharks 7 -10 feet long were in the water only a few feet deep. We watched them for awhile before heading to a local hatchery. They raised sea turtles, native fish, and creatures with amazing shells.

We also visited a local school and made a donation of sporting equipment to the local kids. The principal and teachers there were very greatful and interested to meet us.

It was sunny and 105 degrees out so we went for a swim at a safer beach. Following that we went back to camp and learned how to throw authentic spears.

We had dinner and the same routine with talk around the campfire and a talk with Collin before bed.

Day 10-->
The basic routines of the day in terms of waking up and having talks in the morning and then campfire discussions and talks with our hosts were the same almost every day.

The highlights of this day were going to mudflats by Djerrigin that have aboriginal footprints that are dated to be over 7,000 years old. It is amazing the quality of something so old.

The rest of the day was spent at the living place of one of the other elders. We cut trees and made spears ourselves, and also took logs and carved out boomerangs. All the while we heard stories from all of them. Boomerangs are mens work -- women were not allowed to touch or be around them as the males made them. (the girls did not like that at all)

That night Auntie Irene came back around the campfire to talk that night. And dinner was sea turtle. All of us relished that because it would be illegal in the US to eat it because it is an endangered species. The meat is a red meat that is much like Fillet. It was delicious.

Day 11-->
The highlight of this day was the trip to a resort run by the community that is at an amazing beach at Cape Leveque at Kodjamon. It had been 110 - 105 the whole time we were there, so they gave us a long day at the beach. It was a nice relaxing part to a trip that had been pretty busy.

After that we continued making boomerangs, and having competitions.
We also went to church in a community where the church was 104 years old and made out of nothing but bark and twigs. It was really cool, but simple. After we talked with different workers around the community. Lombindina is a typical town and was an exciting chance to experience.

That night was our final night, and the good byes and stories were very emotional.

Day 12-->
We had to go back to Broome and head back to Perth. We smelled bad and were very dirty in the dark red soil of the trip, and it was nice to get away from scorpions and snakes and bugs for awhile, but I was sad to leave. It was a great time, and very educational. It was something that most will never experience in their lives.


Overall all of my travels were amazing. Very different cultures between the Buddhist Thailand, Islamic Malaysia, Christian/ secular Australia, and Aboriginal Outback. It was very hot in each of the places, and we were gone for awhile, but we saw tons. Ask me any questions you would like by making a post and I will answer it.

Pictures will come later.

Pre Fall Break Post

Yes it is true that I have not written in awhile. There is a combination of good reasons for it- I have had school work including some midterm stuff to do, lots of travel prep, etc. but I have also been a little bit lazy in this regard as of late- so here is a quick update.

I really have blitzed the city of Perth now and feel as if I have really covered the entire city pretty well. Nicole and I went to the Perth Mint, which was pretty exciting to see gold be created. I also went up the Swan Bell Tower where I learned that rining bells is very difficult, but the lady was very impressed when I could ring two bells at the same time and told me that if I practiced I could be one of the few people in the world who could be a world class bell ringer of two bells at the same time (I promise its not as easy as you are thinking it is).

We also went to an Professional Australian Rules Football Game at the large stadium between Perth and Fremantle. There are two professional teams based in the stadium, one for Perth (the West Coast Eagles) and the other the Fremantle Dockers. We saw Freo play, to a crowd of about 45,000. It was the first game of the year and we had pretty good seats in the first row. The game is pretty exciting, but the Dockers lost 141-94.

This past weekend four of us went to participate in an archaeological dig about 20-30 minutes from Fremantle. It is one of the earliest settlements in Western Australia. While digging and brushing in plot, near the hearth of a home, I discovered a brandy snifter from the 1820s. I also found some smoking pipes and a few other things. It was pretty neat to actually see the plotting and sifting take place for a real dig and be a part of it.

The Sacred Heart girls have been gone for a couple of days now, (they are up in Broome now)and the dorm really is a lot quieter without them. It is strange, however, and gave everyone sortof a somber preview of what the end of the semester will bring.

Here is the upcoming schedule:
Thursday morning at 3:30am we leave for the airport for a 6 day trip that will include Bangkok Thailand, Phuket Thailand, and Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. I am excited about my first trip to Asia, and also to see the Buddist influenced Eastern culture. KL should also be fun because it will be a compare and contrast as it is an Islamic culture.

The day after we get back we take our trip to Broome, the outback, where we will camp in tents with aboriginals for 5 days.

The next two weeks should go by pretty quickly, and it most likely will not be until then that I post again.

North Freo Beach and Rottnest Island

On Friday, the class that all of the Americans take together was composed of a historical walking tour of the area, and got out early. This left us with some extra time, and almost our entire dorm decided to check out a new beach. It is only one train stop away from us, but it is across of the opening of the Swan River.

North Fremantle Beach was amazing. The sand was pure white and soft, and the dunes were open and spacious, along with the fact that there were very few people. It did not have the commercialisation and buildup of pubs or cafes as some of the other cool beaches, but it did have a snack shop.

We all enjoyed this beach alot, especially the much larger and more heavily crashing waves that take place at this beach. Body surfing was great, and the waves pounded you into the shore. (Some were very tall, and as we played football in the water could drag you almost all the way in if you werent looking at them and were taken by surprise)

It was so much fun that we decided to stay for about 6 or 7 hours before coming back, and with temperatures of around 92 degrees, we all got plenty of color that day.

The color was enhanced by our activities the next day. Six of us decided to get up early take the ferry to Rottnest Island, or "Rotto" as it is known to the locals. It is very similar to Mackinac Island in Michigan. You have to take a ferry to the island and is about 8-10 miles off shore. There are a couple of ferry companies and it takes about 25-30 minutes to get there. Once there you rent bikes and ride around the island.

One of the girls in the group of 6 that went never learned how to ride a bike, which meant that she had to use the transport system around the island, but other than that we all got bikes. There are no cars allowed on the island. There is a small town at the dock side, and then state park and protected wildlife the rest of the way (very similar to Mackinac).

We stopped at a few of the outlooks over the ocean along the way, before heading to an early 19th century lighthouse. We went to the top of it, which was very cool, and in the amazingly strong wind were able to get a great view of the island.

Four of the group decided just to head for a great beach on the other side, while myself and Keaton decided we wanted to bike all the way around the perimeter. We hit every lookout and path, and in total rode about 15 miles.

The similarities to Mackinac are startling -- there is one nice resort on the island and many other lower quality restaurants. The town is rather "tourist trappy". There is a golf course on the island. There is a former military fortification towards the middle of the island (although in this case it was big guns from WWI and WWII). Bikes are very popular (although we actually had to wear helmets because it is Australian federal law that all bikers must wear helmets), and almost everyone on the island is a tourist.

We finally got to the beach that we had chosen to meet and it was spectacular. Almost the entire island is amazing Indian Ocean beaches, however, this in particular was a little hidden away beach with its own cove. The sand was great, there were great big sand dunes, and the snorkelling and swimming was great.

A reef off the coast had some colorful coral (mostly blue and some red) and we saw some pretty large fish, as well as a sting ray in our group. We snorkelled to another beach and then headed over the rock formations of limestone to get back. We then got to relax in paradise for awhile at the beach. It certainly did not hurt that it was again over 90 degrees.

We all got a lot of color, and a great work out by biking over the many hills on the island.

After the ferry ride back and a quick shower, we finished the night off in Perth, trying out a very cool but different Asian themed bar. We didn't go very hard due to being tired from the long day, but it was a good end to a great day.

King's Park

Last Sunday we headed to Perth via the train, and visited King's Park on Mount Eliza overlooking the city. There are great views of Perth sitting on the Swan River from up there and there are also many monuments.

The park is huge and maticulously manicured. It is a pretty big area, that includes gardens that are themed for the fauna of different regions of the country. There are streams, fountains, and a tree top walk. It is a pretty cool place.

It took us hours to see and appreciate the entire thing, and is very cool. It is much larger than Central Park is in NYC, but it is on the bluff overlooking the city.

St. Patrick's Day

Luckily, after kayaking Sunday, and all of Monday and Tuesday, I had enough done to go out and enjoy St. Patrick's Day. I have classes from 8:30-12:30 am on Wednesday, so unlike a large group of people who have Wednesday's off, I had to keep it reasonably under control.

I never realized how much of an American holiday that St. Patricks Day had become, before coming here. It really isn't a big deal here to Australians, but the Americans sure made it feel festive. There is one big Irish Pub in Freo, and the line to get it was two hours. Rather than wait it out to feel festive, we decided to go bar hopping.

We visited five different bars over the course of the evening. The best was the green beer served at Mad Monks, or the chili pepper beer at the Sail and Anchor. Each place we drank different kind of beer and had a good time.

Notre Dame people got into it a little bit with different cheers for the Irish, and that added some interesting moments to the evening. It was not the way I have ever celebrated St Patrick's Day in South Bend, but it was still a fun night out.

[Note: I posted two on the same day, so do not miss the posting about kayking below this]

Kayak Trip

Ok, so its been a week since my last post, and it is obvious that things have happened. But along with those things that happened, an 18 page paper on the post WWII immigration policies of Australia relative to labour and militaristic needs happened. Sorry I didnt blog- priorities!

Anyways, we did go sea kayaking last Sunday, and it was a great experience. We got picked up in a bus at 7:45 am and taken to a bay south of Freo by about an hour.

Our itinerary was to kayak to Seal Island, an island where people are not allowed to go, and pull up just short of the shore. Sea lions and seals naturally live there, and are right in front of your face. There were a few in the water just in front of our boat, much closer than you could get to tame ones in a zoo. Many stayed on land because the temperatures were over 100 degrees that day.

From there we kayaked to the next place- Penguin Island. It is an island that is home to a natural penguin population. We disembarked, and walked around the island. There are some great beaches there, and we also got to snorkel around some reefs off of the side of the place. There were exotic fish on a shelf, and though we didn't see a ton, the fish we saw were pretty cool. We explored on some large rock formations and caves before taking a break for lunch.

Afterwards there is a penguin building where they take care of injured and abandoned penguins. We got to see them swim around and be fed, which was pretty neat. The kayaking was a blast, a little painful by the end of it, but great. In total we went about 5 km, sometimes into ocean currents.

AQWA and unfortunately more...

Saturday morning we woke up early to take a trip to a nice area of Perth called Sorrento. It is on the nicest part of the ocean, and there are many multi-million dollar homes on the water. There is also the Aquarium of Western Australia - AQWA.

The Aquarium is one of the largest in the entire country and has exhibits based on the different areas of the coast associated with the state of Western Australia (half of the country). The coolest part is the giant shark and devil ray tank in which visitors walk through a tube that goes up, down, and around just above the bottom of the tank. The tube is all glass, so that you can see the marine life on all four sides.

It is very cool to see sharks charge at you, giant turtles, swim away from rays the size of two people. There is also a touch pool where you can pet rays, starfish, fish, and tiger sharks. Rays feel way different than you would think - not slimy at all, rather rough almost like wet sand paper. There is an exhibition area, croc area, and many others.

There is also a big shopping area completely built over the water in a little bay called Hillary's. There are some fun shops as well as places to eat and we spent some time there wandering around before we headed home.

Now for the bad news that we found out today... a member of the house was found to be infected with scabies. Now incase you do not know what that is, it is a bug, actually a mite, that gets in and burrows under your skin and then moves around under your skin. Your body has an allergic reaction to this and it becomes very painful and itchy. He went to the doctor today and was diagnosed, but you usually do not get symptoms until about 3 or 4 weeks after you contract it. Now for the worst part-- it is one of the most easily transmitted illnesses in existence and obviously it makes it very contageous. If you have any contact with a person whatsoever you are almost guarenteed to get it - and your body cannot fight it off. Only medication that you begin when symptoms show can do anything about it, and you must wash everything that you have.
One girl here said that an outbreak occured at her school, and the school had to throw out every desk and bed in the dorm because they could not stop the outbreak.

It is like a death watch here. All of us have had contact many times with this person, but we are not showing symptoms yet. We know it is almost 100% assured that we too will get the painful and itchy condition. The problem is that the RAs in the dorm are not taking the condition seriously, and think the doctor was wrong. Students are a little angry at the response to the problem (the only response is that he will not have dish duty any more).

Yay- I get to look forward to that in the next few weeks, and if it plays out right I just may be on spring break when it happens. We are all hoping against hope that the doctor was wrong and that it is not scabies. It takes about two weeks to get well if you do not get reinfected by not washing and scrubing everything, and if one person gets it again we may very well all get it again.

Lets hope it could be something else.

In the morning early is the kayaking trip that I have been planning for a group of 14, so I have to get up very early.

Friendship Cup

Today we had the first round of the "Friendship Cup" - a competition between American students and Australian students playing the different types of "football". Today we played "Gridiron" or American football. St. Johns/St. Bens and Notre Dame made the bulk of our roster and we had the horses. It was touch football, but there were unlimited blitzes so blocking was a key to the game.

We just destroyed them. The Aussies didn't totally understand the rules and were perplexed a few times why they couldn't do what they had just attempted to do. I got to play some quarterback and my stat line read 3 TDs 1 INT. To be fair. SJSB has 4 guys over the height of 6'6 and a few guys who are flat out athletic so all I had to do was advoid the rush and put a spiral on a high ball and they went up and got it. They made me look a lot better. It got so bad that the rule was implemented that the Americans had to play 4 girls at all times, and we still ran away in the second half.

In two weeks we are set to play Aussie rules football. This is where we may have a problem. We have the athletes, but no comprehension of what we are doing. We have two weeks to get our acts together and salt this thing away. If we lose that puts all of the emphasis on soccer, although there is a possibility of adding rugby to the list as the fourth game. I don't know what kind of soccer team we have, but it may come down to that.

For the first time since I arrived in this country, I broke down today and got fast food. I went to a McDonalds for lunch. I think its funny that they still call the burger the Quarter Pounder even though to people here it is just a fancy name and not the weight of the food. Aussie beef tastes really good and I liked the burger better than in the states. The fries taste different too- like they never switced to the healthier oil mandated in the US. Finally, all of the sodas here are much sweeter than the US counterparts of the same name (Patrick you should taste the Fanta here... not a ton of carbonation and way sweeter).

In other news, I have felt like a travel agent the last few days. If my future career does not work out in some way I figure I am now qualified to try my hand at travel. It started when I put together a kayaking trip for this Sunday. We are using a company that runs services, kayaking a few miles to Sea Lion Island, where we will see seals and sea lions in their natural habitat. Along the way, dolphins and sea lions rub up against your boat and jump over you.

Our next stop is Penguin Island where there are many penguins in their natural environment (after making a journey from nearby Antarctica). We will get to feed the penguins before having a nature hike around the island. We will have the opportunity to snorkel around the island before having a lunch and then paddling back. I had to work to get the trip set up, people signed up, and the money delivered.

At the same time, spring break dates were announced, and everyone in the dorm had the idea that -- Tom will figure it out. I have been working on that non -stop and are still in the progress of figuring that out.

School work is really picking up, so everything is a little hectic. I figure that is better though, because it means that I am busy and not wasting the time sitting around.

Pinnacles Desert

Saturday, six of us signed up for a day tour that covered an area north of Perth leading to the Pinnacles Desert.

We were picked up right outside our dorm at 7 am to begin. We started in Perth and traveled north east to the monastic town of New Norcia. New Norcia is the only monastic town in all of Australia, and at its peak also included a boys and girls school as well as a functioning orphanage.

In the 60s, the enitre operation fell apart and the schools and orphanage ceased operations. There are still Benedictian monks living there, and mass is still offered in the abbey. It is in such a remote and desolate area, however, that with the empty buildings and lack of life around it, it seems like a ghost town- although the exteriors are relatively well kept up.

Only the residence has any life, as well as the church- which was about to hold Mass when we arrived.

It is one of the very few instances of Spanish architecture in all of Australia, as the Spanish had very little contact or influence in the history of Australia.

We had "morning tea" in New Norcia, and then we proceeded to get back on the bus and proceed north-west towards the Pinnacles.

The next stop that we made as at the Western Wildflower Farm. It was there that we recieved a tour of the facilities, as well as lunch. The farm ships wildflowers all across the world, and is a very profitable enterprise. The only downside to it is the utter remoteness of the location- and therefore the inability to get much help. We were allowed to take pictures of some of the warehouse storage units. Unfortunately, wildflowers are not in bloom in the fields at the moment because it is the end of summer here, rather than the early spring. Lunch was a nice buffet spread, and was enjoyed while the six of us had a nice talk with our driver/guide.

Our next stop was the rock lobster fishing town of Cervantes. It is certainly not a big town, and is almost only populated by fisherman during the summer months when they are doing thier fishing. It was explained how during the cooler winter months, almost everyone is completely gone.

They have a nice white-sands beach and dunes there, and the water of the Indian Ocean glitters and shines. This is due to it being filled with the organisms that make coral, but the moving water prevents the coral from actually combining and forming.

Finally, our last stop was the Pinnacles Desert. The desert is a place that is completely unique and is the only place in the entire world like it. It is currently in the process of being recognised as one of the Natural Wonders of the World.

In the great expanse of the desert, large rock pinnacles protrude from the sands in every direction the eye can see. They completely cover the landscape- much in the way that stalacmites come from the floor of a cave.

From some of the pictures it is hard to tell how tall or short the pinnacles are. Most range in height from 6-15 feel high. It is often easier to tell when a person is in the picture.

The amazing thing is how they were formed. Epochs ago, the land used to be a swamp, that was wet and filled with trees, and the roots of these trees went deep into the ground. After many years and a climate shift, these roots fossilized and became limestone. The trees were gone, but the fossilized roots were far below the ground. Over a long time, the winds blew away the sandstone above the roots and the fossilized roots as limestone appeared. Each of the pinnacles are limestone- and are the fossilized remains of treeroots. It is very neat, because if you look closely at some of them you can see the root formations.

The sandstone above is what gives the desert its reddish color around the pinnacles. This differs greatly from the great white sand dunes near Cervantes that are visable from the higher points of the desert. It is amazing to me that such a dry and hot desert can be located so close to the great expanse of the ocean. From the higher elevations of the great expanse of desert, the ocean is clearly visable.

Kevin brought up a great point when he thought aloud how the first Dutch settlers must have reacted for the first time when they brought their ships in off of the Indian Ocean after a long voyage from the Netherlands, and in a search for water, wandered into this alien expanse.

The area is very taboo for Aboriginals, and they did not and do not journey to the place. It was very very hot, just under 110 in the desert and there were lots of flies. There was very little wind, but what wind there was had a very warm feel to it.

Kevin noted, but we all agreed, that the best part of the desert is the freedom allowed to visitors. In the United States, there most likely would have been a path with guard rails and a trail to follow and walk through a small amount of the area. Here, coversely, there was a welcome center for the fact that is is part of the Nambung National Park, and they asked you not to climb on the towers. Other than that- they said good luck and don't get lost over the great expanse.

The welcome center was great relief to us after we explored for about an hour, as it had airconditioning and sold ice cold water. We were all a little dehydrated and relished the opportunity for a cold drink.

The place is very eerie, and if you took away the little bit of green plant life that can be seen, it is exactly how I imagine the surface of Mars looking. It is very much like being transported to an alien world.

After the desert, we got back on the bus and prepared for our 300km trip back to Fremantle. We arived back at the dorm a little past 8pm. After getting back I tried to rally to go out with the rest of the people we met back up with, but I just could not. I even made it to the train station, but had to turn back out of sheer exhaustion. I ended up sleeping for about 13 hours, and drinking a lot of water.

It was a great day, and the Pinnacles Desert was completely worth it.

Labor Day!

Following the Coldplay concert on Friday and Caversham on Saturday, the rest of the weekend really wasn't too exciting.

A group of us got the information from South Bend that the new undergraduate business rankings have just come out for the year. Notre Dame has climbed the list again to #2! A lot of excited emails have been going around about the news that we attend a top two business school in the country, but the more exciting part is that we actually passed the Wharton School of Business at Penn. We still trail Virginia, but we're coming for them.

Sunday we went to a another big market, this one down in an old warehouse on the water, that is only open on the weekends. This one had more shops with souveniers and trinkets, as well as an international food court. After looking around for a while, we headed to the beach for a couple of hours before mass. Other than one of the nicer sunsets, not much exciting that evening.

Monday was Labor Day in Western Australia. Many shops and businesses were closed. For all of the Notre Dame students back in South Bend who always complain that we are practically the only school in the US that has school on Labor Day in September, be comforted in knowing that UNDA is alone in having school on Labor Day here (although I do not have classes on Monday so it did not affect me). The markets are open on Mondays of public holidays, so after getting some reading for classes done in the morning, I decided to go exploring. I went to the markets, which were jammed with people off of work, and there was a very festive atmosphere with music playing and dancing going on. I wandered around the Football Oval and prison, before deciding to go for a long walk.

I ended up going past Monument Hill, and tried to find the public golf course. When I did, I figured that I had walked over three miles to get there, I might as well hit some balls for my effort. I rented a club and a bucket of balls and hit 120 balls for an hour. It felt good to hit balls in the warm sun off of grass again (I know you are all jealous in Michigan). I started off a little weak but the last 60-70 balls I really was hitting it well. I intend on playing some golf while I am here.
I walked back the three miles and went to the beach for awhile before dinner.

Gary (the chef) was here for dinner because it was a Monday, even though it was Labor Day, and we had steak and potatoes to celebrate the holiday. I am not going to lie, I went to town on the food after all of the days activity. Following dinner, we actually hit the bars as a group pretty hard for a Monday- they stay open later because of the holiday. All in all, not a bad Labor Day- and I am really glad to hit golf balls again.

The trip for our dorm to the bar did highlight one point - this house is really and truly becoming the "Real World Fremantle" house. It is scary how similar to that it is. (If you do not get that reference, dont worry about it).

Finally, a quick shout out to Erica- Nicole is being mean.

Coldplay- Viva la Vida

So this is the story that I referenced in the previous post that chronologically should have come before the previous one.

Friday night we went to the Coldplay concert in Perth. There is a geat big luxory resort there that has a golf course, tennis facility, massage, casino, hotel etc. They also have a dome there- the Burswood Dome. It kinda looks like the old RCA dome in Indianapolis, but smaller and not as nice.

We had looked for tickets online, but were a little unsure when we saw that they were $150 for the tickets that we wanted in the standing section right in front of the stage (the best and most expensive tickets). A guy in our group took a shot and looked on Ebay for some tickets and it worked out - we got 10 tickets for $75 AUD each (works out to about $50 USD).

We left early and took the train to Perth where it was a change but then three quick stops away put us right at the dome. We were there very early, so we decided to head to the hotel for some food. After we ate, we decided to kill some time at the casino before we headed over because none of us were interested in the first band to play (some Australian punk band). Matt actually ended up for the evening, Kevin was up on blackjack but down some on roulette and slots to be slightly down, Raul was down more, another guy down a lot, and I ended up even (except for the 2.50 chip that I decided to keep as a souvenier). Not that bad of a performance overall.

Wine in the casino was 3 dollars a glass (it was terrible but strong) due to the casino wanting people to get drunk, so we sat down to relax and have a glass before heading over.

We got there in time for the second band, Mercury Rev, to play. None of us thought that they were that good, but they were not terrible and allowed us to settle into where we would be standing. We had a tremendous spot. We were dead center of the stage, about 10 people thick back- close enough to see the sweat on the faces of the performers, but not too close for it to be overpoweringly loud by the speakers.

Coldplay was awesome! They played every single hit they have ever had, everything off of their new album. They did some different stuff accustically, and also "technoed" a few of their normal songs. The special effects were also tremendous and always changing. They always fit the theme of the song that was being played.

Chris Martin actively engaged the crowd and really got into it at a few points. He always kept the crowd in it, and it was never like they were just playing at the crowd, but rather for the crowd. They even did a segment from up in the stands of the upper deck.

What I liked the most about the concert is that the music sounds like Coldplay. Sometimes when you see bands live they don't sound like they do on their albums, but this is not the case. I think my favorite song they played was Yellow, also my favorite song they have, as enourmous yellow ballons filled with confetti were dropped into the crowd, and bounced all over before they were popped sending the confetti everywhere.

The video screens, lights, and special effects were the best I have ever seen, and the music was great. The crowd was involved and loud the whole time and I really cannot say enough about the show- I loved it. Coldplay played for over two hours straight, and really it was absolutely worth every penny.

After the show we enjoyed free drinks back in the casino before taking the train back to Perth to meet up in a bar with people who had not gone to the show. We then took the train back home and called it a night. What a night.