Nathan making a fool of himself on the other side of the world.

All Things Must Pass

2009-01-09T06:58:00.002+11:00

Well, if you've been following this at all, you're well aware that I am now back and more or less completely adjusted. I'd like to keep this blog intact and dedicated solely to my amazing semester abroad.

I have a new blog, I write for my school.

If you'd like to continue following on my daily adventures, the web address is:

http://www.uwplatt.edu/admission/nathan/

Thank you all for your support!

-Nathan

Cultural Re-integration.

2008-12-17T18:26:00.000+11:00

So, I'm not sure exactly what it's called, but I've had it explained to me a few times through the study abroad program, or my cultural class, or whatever. It's a chart what happens to almost everyone when they go to a different country. They teach you about it because if you know it's coming, you know why you're feeling that way, and it's much less frustrating.

It's a big capital W. (Yes, I did just spend about 5 minutes trying to make one out of dashes and slashes. You're going to have to use your imagination, I'm sure you're literate.)

The chart goes like this. You just arrive in a foreign country. That's the first peak. You're excited to be there, everything is new and awesome. You're so busy running around you don't have time to be bored or miss things from home. That's called the "honeymoon period". Most of the people that go on vacation just start to leave this period by the time they go home..it could take anywhere from a week to six...or longer, I suppose.

Then, things start to go wrong. You miss home. The coke tastes different. The grocery store is different. You can't make the food you're used to. Things are expensive.

You hit the bottom. Everything you're looking forward to is back home. You're sick of your surroundings. The girl you've been hanging out with says she doesn't want to date you anymore because you're leaving in two or three months. You're not there long enough for anything good, just long enough to really miss home.

Things start looking up. You appreciate minor details you missed before. Stuff like how awesome the money system is, or you find some food that you don't have back home and you can't get enough of it. You find some new hobby, like surfing, and some new friends, and you're busy again. The weather gets better :)

Then you hit the middle peak. Everything is great. You don't want to leave. Ever. Of course, you're scheduled to fly out sometime in the next three weeks. You take care of whatever needs taking care of and hop on a jet and say goodbye to everything.

Then, you go through the same thing all over again when you return home. People say it's much harder to come home than it is to go away, and I am beginning to see what they mean. My first week home was a whirlwind of awesome. I slept strange hours, I was busy whenever I was awake, I was unpacking, visiting friends, taking care of things that needed to be done, always busy.

Now, I'm definitely on the slope downward.

I really, really miss some of my Australian friends. I called Bronwyn, who told me how wonderfully warm it was and how the surf was. My board is gone, the beach is gone, the warm is gone, my friends are gone. My spicy chicken place is gone. Now that I don't have anything to do, I've pretty much just been sitting inside doing whatever because it's far too cold to go outside. It sucks.

Just about the only redeeming point at this point is knowing that I'll be out of it soon and back into the swing of things...I hope.

Three Days to Go!!

2008-12-03T15:18:00.002+11:00

This week has really been awesome, I've had fun with my friends and really just relaxed, really exactly what I had in mind when I decided to stay an extra week! It's been rough saying goodbye, but that was expected!

Today, I met with a Promotions and Marketing dude from the study abroad department. He phoned me yesterday and asked if I was interested in helping them out with some future promotion stuff. Of course, I said I'd do whatever I could! I'm really thankful for the program they've set up and all the hard work they put in, so if I can give an hour or two of my time to make this experience for future students, I'm happy to!

He e-mailed me a questionnaire to fill out about my time in Newcastle and then we went to the beach and he took some pictures to use in future publications. I told him I'm usually on the other side of the camera...haha.

Here's a few of the shots you can expect to see in the Study Abroad 2009 catalog!

Beach Party and a Down Under Birthday!

2008-11-30T16:33:00.001+11:00

Yesterday was Beach Party at the University, which is supposedly the biggest university party of the year.

They cart in 400 tonnes of sand and fill a parking lot and then there are three stages set up, and bands play all afternoon and evening. It was really a great time!

The pre mixed drink cans seemed a little expensive...there was a $1 deposit on each can in order to encourage you to recycle the can after you consumed the contained beverage. Return the can, get $1. Well, for whatever reason, there were cans...everywhere. After the last band was done playing, I wandered around for 40 minutes and grabbed some cans and made almost $100. I'm pretty sure there were people that did that the entire day and came out with well over $1000!

Today's my birthday. Well, technically it is the 30th of November, but if you think about it, I will not have been alive for 23 years until the 30th of November back home. I have decided to celebrate twice! Today I've done nothing but lay on the beach and go for a swim. Shame the surf was so choppy, hopefully it will improve by tomorrow before I have to sell my board! :(

We've all moved out of the apartment now. Of my six roommates, three of them are in America, or on their way. The remaining three have shacked up with different friends for the week (me), 8 days (Nate), or three weeks until their parents show up (Krysti).

Deep Sea Fishing!

2008-11-14T15:06:00.003+11:00

We chartered a boat to go deep sea fishing. There were five guys and it was an afternoon trip. We departed a dock near our house at 1:00PM.

We headed out the mouth of the Hunter River aways to a location on the GPS and dropped anchor. We were using frozen shrimp as bait, two hooks and a sinker to a line. Drop the line to the bottom and wait. As soon as the first line hit the bottom, there was a fish impaled on it, and it began. I caught a fish the first time I dropped my line.

It was not big enough to eat.

I dropped my line again and caught what would end up to be the biggest fish of the day, who informed me he was disappointed with being caught by bleeding all over my boardies. Thanks fish.

A few minutes later, I hooked another monster. It was either a shark or a very large snapper. It took the line out, stronger than the clutch on my reel would hold...there was really nothing I could do. The fish took the line around the reef and cut it on the reef. The line was frayed off when we got it back up. Crafty lil bugger. The skipper informed me that a fish that size would have gone for around $70 had I been able to land it. Oh well.

Speaking of hooking monsters, I grabbed this ugly thing at one point. Rather than unhook him, the skipper just cut the line above him. "I don't mess with eels", he said. We caught three or four of this bright red fish with giant spikes down it's back...apparently extremely poisonous. We let the skipper unhook those for us as well :)

Checking out downtown Newcastle on the way back in.

We ended up keeping 19 fish. I got the big one in the back, one of the ones in the middle, and one of the green/purple leatherjackets up front. They feel like they're made of leather and they have a unicorn spike up top. Lots of interesting colors on these interesting fish way out in the salt water!

We cleaned em and grilled em with some garlic and onions and they were delicious :)

Winery tastings, Dolphin Boat, Warnervale Farms

2008-11-08T17:54:00.006+11:00

We took our final two field trips with Catherine in the last two days.

On Thursday, we went on a local wine tour to some of the local wineries that had free tastings. We visited four wineries and probably sampled 10 wines at each. There were some really good ones! I used words like "spicy", "full bodied", "big", and "grapesque" in order to make it seem like I knew what I was talking about. I also tripled my previous wine knowledge! (read: none).

We paid $5 to get an actual tour of the wine-making process,which wasn't happening because it's out of season, but was still pretty interesting. I also grabbed some shots of the gorgeous rolling countryside.

On Friday, we headed up to Nelson Bay.

The area from a local lookout.

After a quick lunch of fish and chips, we hopped aboard a dolphin boat to head out and sight some dolphins.

The telephoto lens was fantastic for this! I was taking three pictures a second whenever there were dolphins around. I ended up with 678 pictures, and all of them have dolphin parts in them! My roommates all attempted to take pictures with their point and shoot cameras, and mostly ended up with pictures of splashing, thanks to shutter delay.

The deckhand told us that the dolphins know her because she goes out every day. Dolphins are very smart, inquisitional animals with great hearing. Clapping and whistling on the deck got them to come right up to the boat, but with us on the front of the boat and her on the back, they went right for her every time.

There's a net on the back of the boat that sits about a foot deep in the water. They allow passengers to chill in the net while the dolphins around. I didn't go out at first because I was taking pictures, but the dolphins came within a few feet of the nets. Cool.

They left the net out behind the boat while we cruised in. I hopped out there then...it was pretty cool, the water is pulling you into the net so hard, it's very hard to move!

After this, we headed to Warnervale farms, which is a petting zoo, more or less. The dangerous or large animals were in enclosures, but everything else, all the baby animals, were more or less free to wander. They were very, very friendly, and it was a lot of fun! I'm pretty sure the entire park was tailored to 10 year olds, but we all had a blast!

The girls wandered off and Nate and I played with some baby goats for awhile. We kept walking and eventually gathered a giant entourage. It was comical to see all the different animals chasing us....at one point, we probably had between 25 and thirty animals following us! This included four baby goats, some ducks, some geese, a cow, an emu and a sheep!

Stanley!

Furry Chicken!

Om nom nom, it are food time!

So lazy. nap time.

We finally lost this goat when it figured out how to eat with the big cows!

Texas Longhorn and one of the birds that always hangs out with these.

We headed to the spot where all the kangaroos were chilling. They, like most animals native to Australia, are ridiculously lazy and wouldn't really move. The cow would NOT bugger off and was constantly nuzzling Nate, trying to get at his food. He kept this up for two hours. I kept tripping on ducks and the goats were nibbling on my shorts.

This is part one in a two part series. Notice the duck eyeing up my food.

Part two. Notice the shocked look on my face, the chunk missing from my finger, and the smug look on the duck's face. Stupid duck!

DUCK STACK!

Wookie?!

The water buffalo know how to fit in!

Nate and some of our entourage.

Dingoes!

Dave update/last day of trivia

2008-11-05T15:06:00.004+11:00

Well, it turns out when that lady took our picture for the newspaper, she wasn't kidding. We dominated the story on the tournament!

Here's the lead picture from the back page of last week's Byron Bay Echo.

And the article.
http://www.echo.net.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1131&Itemid=541

I just went to my final lab for the semester, where an essay/webpage was due. I tried to save my essay to my thumb drive before I left, but either I saved it to my external HDD by mistake, or my thumbdrive is hosed. It wasn't on the drive when I got to school. (I'll blame the stupid mac lab anyways). Basically, I had two hours to either complete my assignment from scratch, or run home and back (probably 90 minutes, at least), and then finish my assignment. I started from scratch, wrote a MUCH better essay than my first attempt, and got a really nice looking webpage done in about an hour and fifteen minutes. Having turned that in, I'm officially done, except for two finals I have coming up in the next two weeks.

It's the evening of Tuesday, November 4th back home, and the election results are just getting over here. I've gotten so used to the time difference now that I just kinda expected to see the results around noon on Wednesday, rather than any time on Tuesday.

Yesterday was Melbourne Cup day over here. It's one horserace that everyone in the country seems to bet on. The country stands still at 3PM for two and a half minutes, it's pretty much the superbowl of horse racing. A friend of mine put $10 on "some horse", and ended up winning $416. I didn't bet because I don't understand all the numbers that flash around and I'd just be throwing money away. Hah. I was at the bar from 12:30PM until they closed at 6PM. I had some free beer vouchers to use up, and then during trivia and bingo, I won some more, and my friends were winning them and giving to me (because they were driving and it was the last day, they weren't going to use them later). I was winning them faster than I could drink them! I had 5 on the table in front of me at one point.

Today was the final day of trivia. Our table did extremely well, once again, finishing 1, 2, and 2. Had I remembered that an elver is a baby EEL, I would have tied for first as well! It was a good way to finish the year...and I won a pizza for my name, which I put as:

There once was a vegetarian named Hugh
Who on the wrong sandwich did chew.
He lept from his seat
and he spat out that meat,
exclaiming "OMG, WTF, BBQ!"

Let's see...the rest of the week...I'm going on a tour of the Hunter Valley Vineyards tomorrow, I'm going on a dolphin boat tour and to a petting zoo on Friday, there's one last rugby get-together on Saturday...and then I'm going to my coordinator's house on Sunday to go for a swim and take some pictures of her house. Should be a busy weekend!

Thinking about coming home...

2008-10-30T18:49:00.002+11:00

Yeah. It's coming up.

The day when I sell my surfboard. The day when I have to fit all this stuff back into the three tiny bags it came over in. The day I hop on a train and go to Sydney and then get on a plane and bid farewell to this wonderful country, likely forever.

In my "cross-cultural understanding" class, a class I am required to take through the program, we've spent the semester discussing adjusting to Australian culture. Now, the discussion has shifted to the re-adjustment period, which is often longer and more difficult. I've made a completely new set of friends, changed my lifestyle almost completely, learned a new city, all of which is going to be completely thrown out as my life just jumps back 6 months.

I'm excited to go home. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss wrenching on a car. I can't wait to move into my house in Platteville. I miss lots of American food, mostly mexican and buffalo wings! I miss cheap beer!

but...it's going to be cold. I'm going to have to get a job and do lots of school work. I won't have a budget of money for whatever I need. I'm going to miss going to the beach and mucking about in the ocean whenever I feel like it.

It's going to be interesting.

Also, on the way to the grocery store today, I walked through a bookstore who has their clearance books outside, and found a book by one of my favorite authors marked down from $25AUD to $10AUD, which is about $6USD. Score!

Byron Bay: Round Two: Return of the Daves

2008-10-27T21:30:00.000+11:00

I spent this last weekend in Byron Bay to play in an invitation Rugby 7's tournament. The bus departed from Newcastle at 8:00AM. Upon boarding our leased chariot, I was promptly handed a beer and a rugby jersey, name on back "DAVE". This was a pretty good symbol of things to come.

Rules were established. Rugby jersey or no shirt must be worn at all times. When asked your name, you are to answer "Dave". When asked who Dave is, you are to answer "I'm Dave!". Chicks are sweet. Youngest player on tour, hereby called "Baby Dave" is not to allow "Softhands Dave/Incredible Dave/Inflatable Dave" (inflatable dude from the Incredibles wearing a Dave jersey) out of arms length at any time for the entire duration of tour. What happens on Rugby tour, stays on rugby tour. 10 hours and three pub stops later, we arrived in Byron.

If I tried to describe all of the hilarious things that happened in these wonderful three days, a few things would happen. I would wear myself out typing and probably have the longest post ever. I would become very frustrated with myself for getting way too much of what happened. I would also probably offend a lot of people, mostly Canadians, New Zealanders, and ugly chicks. Thusly, here are a few highlights.

Every night, Dave court was held and charges were levied against Daves. Most of these charges stemmed from "Conduct unbecoming of a Dave" or "Aggravated fraternization with University Rugby Girls". Having been placed on the Dave jury one night and presented with the case of a Dave being a terrible wingman, I suggest that he be bound hand and foot to another Dave until morning. That was probably the funniest night of the tour.

We played four games. There were some teams very serious about this tournament, but there are many teams that just go to have as much fun as possible. We are in the second category. There is over $20,000 in prize money available, and thus, some very serious teams show up and it is not worth getting bent out of shape over a loss.

The first game began and sure enough, we are matched up against a team of giant Fijians in very serious jerseys. They ran drills, stretched, huddled and warmed up before the game. We each had a beer. The game began. We did not do any chasing once it appeared they were going to score. They did things like punch us in the heads and other things that were completely not necessary when you're up 50-5. Thus, at halftime, a crucial strategic decision was made. Today was now "pants off Friday". Any Dave entering the game must first remove his rugby shorts.

This seemed to enrage the Fijians and every tackle now included an attempt to de-undie the Dave. Many things were seen by the crowd that should not have been seen. Married Dave got his torn clean off and was forced to do the walk of shame out of the game, half naked.

The story was the same the second game. Serious business, blah blah blah, we are not wearing pants and playing a man down, as Inflatable Dave entered the game. By this point, the Daves have drawn quite the crowd. There are big teams from international countries on surrounding fields being ignored while everyone laughs at the pantsless local guys. The tiniest Fijian got the ball as I was sprinting at him with full force. I tried to really, really smack him, but ended up knocking the wind out of myself harder than ever before. DAVE DOWN! I couldn't breathe or speak, and Doctor Dave was sent onto the field. As soon as he made it across the field (after explaining "I'm not the 8th man, I've still got my pants on!") I finally managed to regain my breath and I just got up and rejoined the game, prompting more laughter from the crowd.

Between the second and third games we headed to the ocean. We went for a quick swim in our rugby shorts, which are made of some amazing material which is apparently used by NASA for water retention purposes. I still think mine are wet from this incident.

The next day, we finally got into a fun game. The first half was semi-serious, but the the rules changed often in the second half. For a few minutes, speedwalking Rugby was played, where one foot must remain on the ground at both times and tackles were decided by rock-paper-scissors. There was also a period of no-hands rugby which resembled playing soccer with an egg. I also have to mention that I scored on a 60 metre try near the end of the first half. I picked the ball up off the ground, ran through one tackle, sidestepped another, and then ran a long distance, only to be confronted by a frowning, giant Fijian at the other end of the field. I was able to slide the ball over the try line whilst getting tossed. One of my team mates apparently called for a pass at some point during this run but then remembered that my brain is still programmed for American Football and I can't pass underhand anyways, and he yelled "Actually, just take it". Scoring this try was a key moment which I will explain later.

I had started the trip as "Seppo Dave/American Dave". I was then re-named "Cougar Dave". After this game, we headed to the ocean again. For a period of 15 minutes, I was called "Shameless Dave" as I went for a swim in my tighty-whities.

The first three times I fell asleep I woke up hogtied with giant zipties. The first two times I woke up in the process of. The first time it happened, I apparently had an indescribable look of profound terror on my face. The two Daves responsible looked at each other, wide eyed, not sure to continue or run, afraid that I was going to kill them or something. Haha. The last time, I managed to sleep through it entirely and woke up in the morning with my two legs now functioning as one leg.

The last night, I got revenge.

I rounded up Married Dave, Sarge Dave, and Duff Dave and took revenge on all of the other Daves that had participated. Two of the Daves were jumped and tied in their beds (one of which switched beds and was the wrong Dave, but we didn't know this until morning). Two of the upstairs rooms had their doorknobs tied together so that neither room had an exit. As soon as this was finished, I heard a toilet flush and married Dave, who we thought was in one of the rooms, walked out of the bathroom. I informed him that we would cut the tie and allow him back in, but we would be re-attaching it as soon as he was inside. He sighed, grabbed a Gatorade bottle, and walked into his room.

I was awakened the next morning by "BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! SNAP!" followed by the sound of a person urinating for about a minute and a half. He didn't use the Gatorade bottle after all!

On the ride back home, the bus was stopped about an hour and a half outside of Newcastle for the nudie run. All Daves that did not score a try and/or prevented repeated offenses were made to strip down and run across a half K bridge while traffic raced by in both directions. Yeah, I was happy to have scored that try.

All in all, it's good to be back in Newcastle and get some sleep! I'm pretty sore from the whole weekend (attributed mostly to beach sumo wrestling, that was a poor idea).

The Daves have continued their legendary reign of terror. I have been invited back for the 10th year anniversary of the Daves. I bought a Rugby ball and the team signed it. I was also presented with an honorary shirt reading "I'm not drunk, I'm Australian", having been the first American to ever make the tour.

Day 14 - Cape Tribulation Day Tour

2008-10-27T17:56:00.003+11:00

Today's task was a day tour of the Daintree Rainforest at Cape Tribulation.

We were collected at 6:55AM again (hurray!) and fitted onto a bus for the lengthy ride North. The scenery along the way kind of reminded me of home. For a while, the roads were tiny two lane country roads with farms lining the roads. Different, however, were the miniature scale railways between the fields and the roads. These were sugarcane farms, and the sugarcane would be put into carts on this railway, where it would be pulled by tractors into town to the refinery.

There were also several osprey nests pointed out to us on the way. The nests, and birds, are both GIANT.

Here's the view from Flagstaff Hill, which was one of our stops during the northward journey.

We arrived and took a guided tour through the rainforest. Some nifty views of the ocean included!

We were set loose on a beach to eat the lunch we had packed.

I had a bag of chips and an 8 pack of miniature pancakes I had found. They were delicious, but the lunch was missing something...

Coconuts!

I was a little disappointed that more of this was not documented. It looks so easy here in these three pictures. Climb tree, bash with log, drink milk!

It actually went more like, climb log, curse, fall down, throw things at coconuts, collect coconuts, bash with log, curse, take to beach, beat on pointy rocks, find crack, muscle apart, endure "gorilla man" taunts, success!

After this, we walked back out and took a croc spotting tour in a boat. Kinda dissappointing, but we were reminded that the animals were not there to entertain us. We were there late in the day so the crocs had finished sunning themselves and had retreated into the mangroves for the most part. We did see two, though!

That big dude is apparently named "Scarface".

I'm not sure what this was, but it looked cool.

Just a lil guy!

The funniest part of the afternoon was when we were passing another croc tour boat going in the opposite direction. The operator was on his own PA, telling his own boat "Now that we've seen a croc drag a buffalo into the water and a python strangle a kangaroo, let's check out some birds!". Well played, I laughed.

We returned home without incident. I was pretty tired and headed to bed early. Somewhere in here, I earned the nickname "Hans". *shrugs*

Day 15 - White Water Rafting

I am awakened at 4:30AM by the sound of smashing glass followed by Irish cursing. This is going to be a great day.

One of the giant glass sliding doors leading to our balcony was giving us troubles, not quite opening properly all week. Apparently, it had been off the track, and when one of the Irish dudes had gone out for a cigarette, it completely fell out and shattered a few minutes later. (Irish) lucky for him, he was not sitting in the obvious chair near the door, which had been flattened by the door, but a further, less flattened chair. He informed us that he was going to reception to tell them what happened. I, and the 6 others in the room grunted something in reply and tried to go back to bed.

Five minutes later, I am awakened by the largest, angriest, most Pacific Islander man I have ever seen. His head was the size of my torso. "Pack your stuff and get the hell out. All of you." What? I was asleep! Everyone argues about what happens. Each argument takes a few seconds to process. His brow furrows. He grunts, and generally repeats the last thing he told us. Someone mentions that throwing us out at 4:30 in the morning is ridiculous. He says that we should have thought of that before we kicked the door out. I am about to laugh, but then realize that it might mean a very sleepless morning. I mention that the door was screwed up all week. After the others tell him some other things, he grunts and leaves the room.

At this point, I figure I'm off the hook or he's either coming back with 5 of his friends. I decide to go back to sleep. I am vaguely aware of two people entering the room and then I hear sweeping glass. I fall asleep. Apparently, I am the only one out of the 8.

I wake up again at 6:30, this time to my alarm. I stop by reception on my way out the door to ask what was going to happen. I am informed that nothing will happen until I get back from my day trip.

In order to get pumped up for white water rafting, I would think there should be a better way than a muscular guy with blonde hair and a hoarse voice yelling things at you from the front of a bus. This man will say extreme things and lie to you about the length of the bus ride. I will become agitated when I am on a bus for 2.5 hours instead of "about an hour and a half". Agitated means I get stabby when handed a paddle, not padd-ly.

He asks us to form groups. I am sitting with one person I know and we form a group. We are supposed to form a group of 7. Muscular dude comes over and asks if I have a group. I inform him that I do. He calls us "Nigel no-friends" and says he will come back to us. We wonder who will join Hans and Nigel on their rafting adventure.

Groups are formed, we are handed a helmet, a paddle, and a vest. We walk down from the bus and get into the raft without being told a single thing. Finally our raft instructor (one of the two river medics on duty) gives us a quick briefing. This includes things like, how to sit, how to lock your legs in to hang on, and commands like "over left", "over right", "get down", and "hold on", and most importantly, how to keep everyone's teeth in while executing said commands. He did not, however, teach us how to paddle. With three girls in the boat, this was a problem. My brain was telling me that how fast the boat moves is proportionate to how much water we move, and how much water we move is an equation of the amount of the paddle in the water times the length of the stroke, but I just told the girls to put more of the paddle into the water and move it as far as they could. Problem solved.

The first hour is pretty boring. Everyone goes through the rapids one at a time. Our boat goes through first, and then we "park" and the medic gets out with a line, just in case. Everyone is dumped into the water and taught how to float down the rapids and made to swim against the current, just in case. It was pretty fun.

We stop for lunch, the signature Aussie BBQ. (What's that? Sausages? Of course!)

The next three hours were probably the most fun I've had since I've been in Australia.

The morning training session aside, the rapids were faster and we went down them faster, only really stopping to make sure no boats were left behind. Some of the rapids, we were told to go at full force and paddle all the way through. It was an absolute blast. Between rapids, we were allowed to go for group swims.

There was a natural waterslide a few meters tall and very thin. We put everyone in the nose of the boat and went down it. The boat flipped straight up, intentionally dumping everyone except for the instructor. We folded the boat in half between rocks...lengthwise (on purpose) and sideways (on accident)...which was really interesting looking. The person in the front and the back of the boat hit heads.

All the boats stopped at a 4 meter tall rock in the middle of the river. We got out and jumped into the water. Receiving a dare from my instructor, I did a front flip, then swam upstream and got out again and did a backflip. "You're wearing a vest and a helmet and the water is deep, you should feel pretty invincible". Haha.

More rapids. Fun stuff. I am talking to my friend sitting next to me when a rock happens to slide right under him and just pops him out of the boat mid sentence. The instructor informs us that he buys the next round. (I am disappointed later when this does not happen).

We head back to their bar/home base and people who want them buy pictures. The prices were pretty ridiculous and I look silly in a helmet anyways, so no pictures! Had a few beers with the instructors and then got back on the bus and returned home.

My stuff is gone. I was told nothing would happen, but my bag is still stashed in my room, and my other bag and everything on my bed is gone. Shoes, iPod, charger, everything. I go back to reception and it takes them half an hour to find it, but everything seems to be intact. Everyone else in my room has been moved, but the door has been replaced, so I decide to stay there. (Later, when the maids come in, they inform me that the room is out of order, and I am only there by some flaw in the system.) I enjoy having the room to myself.

Day 16 - Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane...
It's raining. It's kinda rained the last three mornings and then cleared up by afternoon...thus is life in a rainforest. I call the skydiving place and they tell me my pickup has been bumped back 30 minutes. Finally, it stops raining, I am picked up on time and driven to the jump office, where I am shown a short video and made to sign forms. I meet my instructor, who is a man half my size. I ask if there are any problems being front heavy, and he just says we're going to fall faster. Haha.

I've been skydiving before. I took a class and did a line jump, by myself at 3500 feet. This is 14,000 feet with a minute of free fall, and with an instructor, all new things to me. We are strapped up and driven to the airport where we are hurried onto a small plane. Last time, it was about 4 or 5 hours from the time arrived to the time I jumped. This time, I was at the airport and back again within 20 minutes. Not much time to think about it! We climb on the plane and strap in. The instructor straps himself to my back. I am first out of the plane. The video instructs us to cross our arms when we get to the door, and the instructor will rock back and forth three times. Looking out, I hesitate just for a second. We're really, really high. The instructor rocks once and then we are falling. They tell you to cross your arms so that you can't grab the plane.

There's literally nothing I can type here to describe the feeling of free fall. It was absolutely nuts. My physics told me that I would reach terminal velocity and then cease to accelerate. Later, I learned this was about 130mph. The wind noise at this level is deafening. The instructor was apparently yelling things in my ears the whole time. I was oblivious. All I got out of it was that by pushing my hands towards the earth, I can steer the both of us. That was really, really cool.

I see something that looks like a target on top of the clouds beneath us. At first, I wondered if it was a spotlight or something from earth, a target...but then my brain processes it. It's a rainbow! Here's an image I found on flickr that was apparently taken from a plane that might help.

The clouds rush towards us. It is suddenly very cold and very humid, just what you would think falling through a cloud would be like. We fall right through the center of the rainbow, an image I will never forget. It's hot and dry again. I feel us slow down, but not stop...something's wrong. The chute is tangled. He pulls at the strings and I kick my feet and the chute pops open completely. Just as I remember...absolute silence, just hanging in the air. I get control of the chute and have some fun, but we don't have that much altitude to play with. Coming in for landing, as he is about a foot shorter than me, I am told to put my legs straight out in front of me and I slide in on my butt. It's hard to believe it was over that fast. My friend lands, and the only phrase he repeats for the next half hour is "That...was....awesome!!!". I was getting annoyed, but not because he wasn't right!

One of my roommates is afraid of heights. She was terrified in the plane and told the instructor she would have to be pushed out. He did, and she loved it, which reinforces what I've been telling people this whole time. Of all the extreme things I've done, skydiving is probably has the best fun:scary ratio. Abseiling/rapelling was fun, but that was definitely very high on the scary:fun ratio. That scared the crap out of me.

Day 17 - Finally going home...

The day was spent in the sun until we grabbed a taxi at 4PM for our 6PM flight. There were four of us on this flight, we split a cab and grabbed some Hungry Jack's in the airport. Security was pretty lax compared to a US airport, the security screening was unobtrusive and I was never even asked for ID! I bought a magazine for the flight and it went by pretty fast. We had an hour before our train...I predicted we would be cutting it close...and we ended up missing it by thirty seconds. Boo. I went to a bar for the 2.5 hours until the next train, the others tried to sleep on the platform.

On the train home, as we were arriving into Newcastle, I had just woken up. I was the first out of the four. Just then, I knew I had no way of getting into my apartment. It's funny how stuff just pops into your head like that. My keys were on my bedside table. I left them there so I wouldn't lose them, assuming one of my roommates would let me in. All of my roommates were coming back the next day. I spent the night at my friend's and the cleaners let me in the next morning.

I could not have had a better two weeks with a better bunch of people. I knew probably about half of the people on the trip at the beginning, but by the end, it seemed like everyone got along great.

Also, I am so pleased to have finally gotten this online! Sorry for the delay! Things have been busy here as well...

Day 12 - Finally in Cairns!

2008-10-27T16:28:00.002+11:00

The final bus ride ended at 6:05am. Again, I slept for most of it. I've gotten the hang of this!

We walked to the hostel only to find out that we weren't allowed to check in until 2:00PM. Lovely. Some people were vocally expressing their discontent with STA, who booked our trip...I think alot of people just like to find things to complain about. These are the same people who were going to ask for refunds because we didn't get to see the beach or because the bus was late on the first night...neither of which really mattered in the long run or was STA's fault, if you ask me. I don't know, either I check into my room and go sit by the pool, or I sit by the pool and then go check in, I really just don't see the point in getting worked up over something like that.

Rant over, moving on. We dropped our luggage off and went for a walk. Managing to find a cafe open at 7AM, I ordered a giant burger. THAT's the way to start a day!

We walked over to the lagoon, which was a fresh water pool near the ocean and spent most of the day here.

Mmm, low tide.

Note the UV index. The purple is supposedly what your skin would look like without sunscreen.

We spent all of the morning here, sleeping in what felt like an oven. The Australian sun really is brutal! We walked back to the hostel and I randomly ran into three of my friends from Newcastle University who had planned their own trip to Cairns and had no idea we were staying in the same hostel. (Me: "So, what do you guys have planned?" Them: "I'm not really sure. We just got on an airplane and now we're here.")

We happened to walk past the hostel bar and OMG OMG NFL FOOTBALL LIVE!!!! Monday Night Football, Vikings vs. Saints. The whole group detoured into the bar and we ordered a couple of pitchers and cheered against the Vikings. I guess I always thought of our spring break group as being a pretty homogeneous group, as we were all American, but sitting down to watch the NFL game, I realized that this same group back home would have been as diverse as they come. We had two Packer fans, a Viking fan, a Seahawks fan, a Bears fan, a Chargers fan, a Cardinals fan, and a Redskins fan, all of them from those areas. It was good fun watching Reggie Bush run back two punts, but it wasn't enough and the Vikings came out on top.

At the hotel bar that night, the special was two for one drinks. Someone took this opportunity to catch me sipping on two lemon/lime vodkas. Haha.

Day 13 - Reefquest, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.

Today's itinerary included two scuba dives and all-day snorkeling. We hopped aboard a very fancy looking boat that it appears I have neglected to take a picture of. We departed Cairns and began the 1.5 hour trek to the Great Barrier Reef. "The Captain presses a button, and Windows 95 will navigate us to the reef"

The divers were broken into several groups, the intro divers, divers doing a class onboard, divers doing a certification test, and finally the fully certified divers. There were about 12 of us total, and we paired off with our dive buddies for the dive briefing, which describes conditions, currents, temperatures, hazards, and the surrounding ocean floor. Here's a map of one of the dives. The boat was anchored near the middle bottom. My partner and I went west and then north, up the "ski slope", and then back around.

Really amazing scenery! Your first dive of the day is always your deepest, and I made sure to go down as far as I was certified, a full 18 metres. I've never been down nearly that deep before, it was cool. Once again, I burned through air faster than he did, reaching the minimum 50 bar when he was around 90. We headed back to the boat and did some snorkeling before lunch.

Our second dive was scheduled for 1-2PM, up to an hour, or when one partner runs out of air. I made sure to ask why I was running through air so quickly. I'm an experienced diver and I know how to slow my breathing, it shouldn't be happening. One of the instructors overfilled my tank to 240bar. I still managed to tear through this before Adam took in his 200, he had 70 left when I was out. I really think I have sports induced asthma or something, making me gasp for air and tear through it faster than Al Roker through an "All you can eat" sign.

The highlight of this dive was seeing two white tipped reef sharks. The first one was just kinda posted up in the reef, watching everything happen. The second, I chased around whilst making chomping motions with my hands. OM NOM NOM!

We saw plenty of clownfish and "little nemos" Some of the fish are really ridiculous colors. There was an outcropping of reef and a GIANT really ugly fish underneath it. I barely even saw it, it was wonderfully camouflaged. Coming upon a school, I noticed that if you swim calmly, the fish ignore you, and you can swim right with them. Very cool!

I went for another quick snorkle, this time going off by myself and lying very still in the very deep, cold water off the back of the boat. While everyone else was studying the same anemones I had seen while underwater, I saw another shark, a family of giant manta rays, and the largest school of fish I've ever seen. I wish I had pictures!

At this time, I went back into the cabin to change back into my boardies. I heard gunshots and saw the captain, who was in his 50's or 60's, playing Farcry, a shooting game, on his laptop. We made small talk until it was time to go. He mentioned that the game allowed you to pilot boats and planes, and I asked him what piloting the boats was like. Haha.

One last shot of the reef. It was really cool to see waves breaking in the middle of the ocean. Haha.

Day 9 - Airlie Beach/Whitsundays

2008-10-27T14:45:00.002+11:00

Up once again very early! The hostel was about 90* F and everyone sorta woke up at 7AM. We went for a walk and I bought a smoothie and a chicken/avacado wrap. I assumed this would be a good start to a great day, until a bird crapped on my hand. Luckily, it was the hand not holding the wrap, but I still was led to pause for a second and go "Did that really just happen? C'mon!"

We headed out to the Marina at 12:30PM to check in for our sail. The boat was returning a little late and needed some prep time. I took this time to remember that I had forgotten my toothbrush. Luckily, the marina cafe had one for the awesome price of $5. "I bet that's the last time you forget your toothbrush!" said the clerk.

Waiting for the boat

Matador is 85ft in length and is the largest IOR Maxi ever built. Matador was designed, developed and constructed at a cost of over US$20 million in 1991. The yacht is constructed from carbon fibre, titanium and aluminium. Matador competed in 52 races, 8 regattas and 2 maxi world champions and was undefeated!

http://www.sailing-whitsundays.com/WhitsundaySailing.php?id=1015
Final systems check: Go. We start motoring out of the harbour.

Airlie Beach as we departed.

The sail down

The sail going up

And the massive effort needed to raise the sail after the reduction gearing broke.

While sailing, the boat sits at quite a fantastic angle. Here's the Defender, another boat that left the Harbour with us.

Here's what the deck looks like while sailing. Stay on the high side!

Here's about where we dropped anchor for the night after an afternoon of sailing.

The scenery was stupid beautiful. The ocean shifted between dark blue and gorgeous green, there were island in any direction, it seemed, if you looked hard enough. It's hard to believe some people sail for a living and live on the ocean.

The inside of the boat...the galley and some of the bunks.

I saw this, kinda did a double take, then sauntered over and took a picture. I didn't laugh really hard until I saw the picture a week later.

Some nifty shots of the sunset that night.

Before it got dark, after we were anchored, the crew took down some of the railing and some of jumped off the boat and swam for a bit. There was a bit of a competition, as there always is when boys are jumping into water. I was doing alright until someone sprinted past the line and did a flip over the railing into the water. Unexpected!

I don't know if I've ever seen a larger pot of spaghetti, and everyone was incredibly hungry, it hit the spot in fantastic fashion.

The boat was over-booked. I think there was originally supposed to be two boats for us, but we all ended up on one. There was not enough room for everyone to sleep, so 10 people hopped on the dinghy with camping equipment and headed to shore. I chose to stay on board and I'm glad I did. The gentle rocking of the ocean put me to sleep in no time.

Day 10 - Swimming with the Fishes

We were up at DAWN. The boat started and everyone got up and started having a brekky feed. I did not agree with this and stayed in my cot as long as possible.

We motored to a different location and set anchor for scuba diving. Adam and I were the only two certified divers on board, but we needed a group of four, so two other divers who had gone before were chosen.

I was a little concerned, as I haven't been in a BCD since my certification dive in Summer of 2005, so I sat through the training course, but it all came back to me, just like riding a bicycle.

This actually was the smoothest dive I've ever had, I think.
There's a lot of stuff on the ocean floor! The five of us jumped in and I floated on my back as taught in training, to listen for bubbles. I heard a leak and alerted my instructor, who told me it was just a pin leak from the regulator and would be fine for the dive. We went down and explored for a bit.

You know when you see a bunch of seagulls on the beach and some idiot sprints towards them and scatters the crowd? I'm that idiot. This state of mind also seems to apply under the ocean, as I caught myself swimming quickly to scatter schools of fish on numerous occasions. I ran out of air first and gave the signal that I was low and heading to the surface. The dinghy came and picked me up. I was at 50bar when everyone else was around 75-100bar. I assumed this was just a result of the leak, as I used to be very good with air.

While we were diving, everyone else was snorkeling. Upon return to the boat, I traded in my gear, keeping the flippers and mask. I was really amazed how buoyant you actually are in a full wetsuit without the weight belt that scuba divers wear. There was no effort required to float. I spent quite a bit of time relaxing face down and watching the ocean floor beneath me.

There were three other groups of four divers each. The first group was all intro divers, and they were all girls. Two of them panicked when they got under water. When you panic, you breathe fast and shallow, and when you breathe fast and shallow, the air doesn't have time to get through your regulator and into your lungs. I suppose this is an advantage of learning in a swimming pool, like I did, as opposed to being tossed into the ocean.

On the itinerary for the day was docking at Whitehaven beach, the purest beach in the world. Apparently, the beach is pure silica and it's like walking in flour. Tourists are not allowed to take the sand, as NASA uses it in the construction of super pure space glass or some such technobabble. We were apparently running behind and the grumpy old skipper informed us that we couldn't go. The girls did quite a bit of complaining and he eventually said we could go. This meant that the last group of scuba divers missed their dive. Also, he failed to mention that we wouldn't actually go to the beach, just go past it. Thanks for that.

Here's as close as I got to Whitehaven beach. It looks cool, I guess!

We often encountered fields of this floaty brown stuff. When asked, a member of the crew convinced a group of girls that it was whale crap. Hahaha. It's actually a perfectly natural reef byproduct, and that's all I know about that.

We sailed back to the beach we camped at the first night. The skipper went below deck and one of the crew members I had spent quite a bit of time talking to about navigation and sailing was left in charge of the wheel. After explaining to me where the sandbar was that we had to go around, he gave me the wheel and left to do other things on the boat. Very cool!

We set anchor and enjoyed a roast beef and potato dinner. It reminded me of home! Everyone had a few drinks and then they climbed into the dinghy for transport to the camping site. One problem: The dinghy wouldn't start! After a half hour of trying, it was declared dead and now we had 12 extra people to sleep on this already cramped boat! The two crew members slept on the floor of the captain's cabin. The remaining 10 people doubled and tripled up beds or slept on the deck. As I got up to use the toilet, I noticed one of my friends sleeping on top of a chest freezer, with everything below his knees hanging off the end. Hahaha.

Apparently one of the crew members came up to the deck and pulled out the sail cover and everyone on the deck slept under it to stay dry. The boat was really hot, the skipper was snoring very loud, and it was raining a decent amount. The boat was doing more than gentle rocking and I wondered if I was ever going to get to sleep. However, just like every other night I've wondered that, I was somehow asleep shortly after.

Day 11 - Whitsundays/Airlie Beach

Up at dawn again, despite the rough night. Everyone was tired, it seemed. After some more diving and jumping off the side of the boat, anchor was raised and we motored back to Airlie Beach.

It was at this point that I happened to glance down and notice I was actually pretty tan. I was pretty confused.

We got back in without issue. The cool members of the crew begged us to skip our bus ride that night and go out on the town with them that night. We met them at 5PM at a local restaurant for a few drinks, but then it was time for one last bus ride at 7:30PM.

Day 8 - Airlie Beach, Queensland

2008-10-22T15:53:00.003+11:00

Bus arrived at 9:05am. I ended up sleeping almost the whole trip, probably the easiest one, despite being the longest.

All we that was scheduled for the day was to check into Magnum's Hostel. On the way there, I happened to cross the street at the wrong spot and somehow ran into a college buddy of mine who I haven't seen in three years. Weird. We exchanged numbers and then our group got checked in and dropped the luggage off.

After this, there was nothing to do except buy some booze for the sailing trip and relax on the beach and drink beers all day, which we all did while complaining about how stressful our lives were.

Mount Gay? I giggled and purchased it.

A friend of mine caught a bird. Funniest thing I've ever seen. He held a french fry in front of it and sneaked up behind it with his tongue hanging out and then grabbed it and tried to feed it the fry. Bwahaha.

Oh, here's a picture I took of the beach at night that I think I forgot to post before.

Day 7 - Fraser Island

2008-10-21T01:07:00.005+11:00

This was our last day on the island. After a very funny incident involving a sandcastle, a group of (formerly waving and smiling) shocked college students, and a 4x4, we arrived at Lake McKenzie, one of the more popular attractions on the island. It's inland a ways but was pretty crowded.

All of the guys hopped into the crystal clear water and a game of 500 quickly turned into a game of rugby, with some of the locals giving us tips on rules. Anarchy turned into a decent game of pounding the crap out of each other.

The majority of the beach was watching this, it was quite the spectacle to see all these guys splashing around and making a ton of noise.

It was time to get back to the ferry, so we piled back into the car, one more time. For the hell of it, I took the trail pretty fast. On the way down, we probably averaged 15-20km/hr. Here, we were probably averaging just over the speed limit of 35km/hr, only slowing for the really big ruts. Also, apparently, the car behind us got a nice picture of me hopping this thing into the air. (still trying to chase that down). This little sprint was a blast for everyone in the car, sans head bruises.

I was the only driver not to get the car stuck or bogged on the island. The girls got stuck everywhere they went. That's all I will say about that.

After the ferry, the theme of the guys leaving last and arriving first continues, as we beat everyone to the camp shed. We were supposed to head straight back to the hostel but we ended up taking a serious detour in search of Hungry Jack's. After everyone had two double whoppers, we found ourselves a bit lost but managed to get back without serious issue. We called it a "victory lap". Success. We collected our things and climbed onto a bus again at 8:30PM.

Day 5 - Fraser Island, Queensland

2008-10-20T22:58:00.005+11:00

Surprise, surprise, up early again! This time at 5:00, courtesy of a lot of birds, right out side my window. I got up and started packing, heading downstairs for a quick coffee before our 7:00AM briefing.

This briefing consisted of two videos, one for everyone giving information on the island and how to protect the island, and one about driving on the island. I was over 21, able to drive manual, and very interested in driving, and thus, I was appointed driver in the guy's car. The two other cars consisted of 10 girls in one, and 11 mixed in the other. We caravanned through town to the camping sheds to get the cars outfitted and ready to rock.

My first driving experience was pretty uneventful. The two most difficult things, I think, were the vehicle itself, with a very high center of gravity and soft suspension, and trying to stay centered in the lane when you're on the other side of the car. I've been here long enough that my brain has reset into driving on the left hand side of the street and this was not an issue.

They have a very precise way of packing the cars, like a jigsaw puzzle. Everything has to come out, then tents, grill, table, all go up top in a certain order, followed by the coolers and the utility box. Sleeping bags and mats are wedged under benches and into any free air spaces. There are two benches running the length of the car. Four guys sat on each one with their bags on their laps. It was a very "cosy" ride.

We then set off to the grocery store to buy food and supplies for the next three days. We had not really eaten today, and setting 10 hungry guys loose in a grocery store is a recipe for disaster. I was absolutely amazed at the amount of food we purchased. Two carts full, tipping the scales at $280. 60 sausages, 3 kilos of lunch meat, 4 kilos of hamburger, 48 rolls, something like 8 loaves of bread, it was pretty amazing. Even more amazing is the fact that we finished nearly all of this.

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It is roughly 120 km long and 20km wide. The beach on the east coast of the island is a national highway, only passable at low tide when the sand is hard. The speed limit on the sand is about 55MPH. For a lot of really interesting info on the island, check out the wikipedia page! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Island

There are attractions all over the island that are connected by 4x4 tracks. These are all single laned tracks with very soft sand and some very, very huge ruts. After we got off the ferry, I aired the tires down to 25PSI and we set off. The main track leads from the ferry deposit area, on the west coast of the island to the main highway on the east coast.

We arrived on the east coast and drove north. 40 minutes of driving later, we arrived at our first attraction, an old shipwreck on the shore. There are over 3.5 stories buried beneath the sand and it was used for bombing practice during WWII.

We set up camp for the night. No fires are allowed on the island, but luckily, nobody told the Aussies who camped next to us, and we were able to enjoy a campfire. It's just not camping if all your clothes don't smell like smoke when you get home!

We laid on the beach and stared up at the milky way, dispersed between more stars than I've ever seen in my life. When you walk on the wet beach, algae in the sand glows green for a split second, leaving a sparkling trail wherever you walk. It was absolutely beautiful.

Day 6 - Frasier Island

We were up sorta early. Our car kinda sat around and ate and was lazy whilst the other two cars busily packed up camp. They departed to see a stream we saw yesterday with plans to meet at Indian Head in a few hours.

We all went and laid on the beach for a while. A friend of mine was sleeping on his back on top of a towel, then rolled onto his stomach and said "Gah, what is that smell!?" He sat up and peeled back his towel to find that he was laying face first on top of the remains of a fish. Very, very funny stuff.

We headed north for over an hour with the mixed car. We swam in the champagne pools for awhile, which are natural pools blocked from the ocean by a rock formation. The waves crash over the wall into the pool, which is where they get their name. This is the only salt water on the island you are allowed to swim in, as stingers, jellyfish, and sharks are prominent in the warm open waters. We ate lunch and headed up to Indian Head, which is a rock formation that is very high and right at the water's edge. When the ocean is calm, you can see right into the water and see all sorts of aquatic life. We saw fishes, sea turtles and whales farther out. The view wasn't too bad either.

Upon leaving Indian Head, the girls car finally arrived. We told them we had just arrived to see them gloat about "We saw so much!", only to embarrass them. They had just arrived from the creek and were about to eat lunch, and were very proud of this until we told them everything we did. After the island, a girl in said car would be quoted as saying "We got up earlier than you every single day and you still saw more than us and beat us everywhere". Guys-1, Girls-0.

We visited Lake Wabby, which is the deepest lake on the island. The sand dunes around the lake go straight down into it. We spent the afternoon running, sliding and rolling down this giant dune into the cold clear water.

We set up camp near the main 4x4 track in the south of the island and called it a night.

Spring break round two continued deluxe edition!

2008-10-13T10:36:00.004+11:00

Day 3 - Byron Bay, NSW

Nothing like waking up and hanging out at a gorgeous beach in the mornings! Uneventful to blog about, wonderful to experience. I found a small shop that had mexican food and had the first mexican since I've been down here!

The bus arrived at 1pm again to take us back to the surf grounds. Waves were a bit bigger today. Just about everyone was hopping on little waves in the shallows, but some of the more experienced surfers were paddling out a ways to catch the waves before they broke. I spent a good amount of time on my feet, which is usually good when referring to surfing.

The highlight of the day was actually my most epic failure. I was paddling in to catch a wave, and I didn't quite paddle fast enough. Result? Wave curls under me, my arms are now paddling air, I try to "drop in" the wave, but with a 9 foot longboard, the nose just digs in and I'm in a wash cycle of failure.

Lucky for you, the viewer, there was a photographer there eager to sell us pictures at outrageous prices. The fact that he caught this very moment was enough convincing for me. UPDATE: OCT 16: I got the photos, and this set was not in there! Very upset. Oh well, here are some other ones from the day.

We headed back to the hostel again for supper. It was here that I noticed a techno cover of Pink Floyd's "comfortably numb" playing over the hotel PA. They really do love their techno/house music here, and there are covers of everything, but I really thought this was a little much!!

Somehow, things escalated enough to the point where I was pouring boxed wine off of a one story balcony and people were drinking it. "I never thought I'd ever have to worry about getting boxed wine in my eyes", said my friend. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Day 4 - Queensland

We were up wonderfully early at 6:30AM for our only daytime bus ride. We were collected at 7:30 for the bus to Brisbane.

At 12:00, we transferred buses in Brisbane to go to Hervey Bay. Holy smokes, Queensland is hot. Ridiculously hot. It was 32 degrees Celsius (or 89 degrees American), humid, and just overall sticky. We stopped at a cafe for a break and everyone wanted ice cream. They had milkshakes for $4.50 and thickshakes for $5.50. I was debating between the two, assuming that the thickshake just had an extra scoop of ice cream in it, wasn't sure if that was worth the extra $1. However, when I ordered it and everyone else in my group ordered milkshakes, I was proved to be smarter than expected! A "milkshake" here doesn't have ice cream in it at all! Just milk and syrup flavoring. mmm?

The bus was very hot and very boring. When on a bus, to relay messages to the driver, a game of "telephone" is played. "Ask the driver if he could put in a movie, pass it up!" Everyone eagerly watches as the message creeps towards the front of the bus. The driver responds and the person in the front row turns around and yells "He says he'll put in a movie after Hervey Bay. (When we get off). "Ask him if he's planning on turning the AC on after Hervey Bay, too!" I yell. We got our movie.

We arrived at Palace Backpackers just in time for a massive Aussie BBQ. Sausages and steak burgers for all. Huzzah!

Day 2 - Byron Bay, NSW

2008-10-11T10:35:00.003+11:00

After finally arriving in gorgeous Byron Bay, we checked into the hostel. Australia loves their deposits, deposits for keys, deposits for pillows, deposits for blankets, they want that stuff back!

We were all ridiculously hungry after that horrendous bus ride and thus, a search party was dispatched in search of sustenance. A Subway was located nearby and we feasted. Then, we headed back to the hostel to catch the Mojo Surf bus.

The bus came an hour earlier than the itinerary suggested, so half of the party missed the bus. (They had PLENTY to do in this little beach paradise, I don't feel sorry for them in the least!) We headed out to a beach about 20 minutes away and were each handed a 9 foot foam surfboard. These things are very buoyant, it's very difficult to NOT surf on them. The problem is that the waves are so gentle that they die soon after they break and it's very hard to surf a wave that's not moving.

There was a lake a little bit inland of the beach. The lake is bordered by tea trees. The tea leaves fall into the lake and basically turn it into a giant cup of tea, the water quite literally looks like flat coca cola. I thought that was pretty nifty.

We headed back to the hostel. I was pretty tired and squeezed in a power nap. Then, we headed downstairs to the hostel bar for a few drinks. A large dread locked man from Mojo Surf named Jerone met us there and informed us that his job was trick us into having a good time, mostly by yelling phrases like "WHO WANTS TO PARTY?!" and "WHO'S HAVING A GOOD TIME?!", and by materializing pitchers of beer on our table. I think it was mostly that last one.

Jerone led the way to Cheeky Monkeys, a local bar/restaurant. The bar opened at 7:00 and there was a line half a block long to get in. We were whisked by everyone in line through the VIP entrance and handed vouchers for $5 mains and free drinks. I finally got a giant American cheeseburger and heaps of fries! woot!

Jerone brought two or three more rounds of pitchers from the bar while we were eating. Then, he mysteriously vanished as quickly as he had arrived. *shrug* All I know is I didn't buy a beer until 10:30.

Also, I'm quite confident that was my "day camp" into what being famous must be like.

Spring Break 2008: TAKE TWO!

2008-10-06T12:12:00.003+11:00

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I have a pretty awesome spring break trip planned. I'm currently killing some time in an internet cafe in Airlie Beach, Queensland, so I thought I'd at least start this monster post.

First of all, I need to mention that I am having the time of my life. Also, I just got hired by UW-Platteville as a blogger. That's right, for some unfathomable reason, I am now paid to do this. Thus, the frequency of my posting will probably increase.

DAY 1 - Newcastle, New South Wales

Plans for the first day were simple, meet at the Brewery bar around 7:30PM, get checked in, have a few beers, and then hop on the 9PM Greyhound bus for an overnight 9 hour sprint up to Byron Bay.

The first part of this worked wonderfully. I drank some beers. 9PM rolls around, as does the greyhound. We have 31 people on this trip. The greyhound has 6 free seats. This is a problem. After about 30 minutes of not knowing what was going to happen, STA booked us a replacement bus. Great! (except for the part where the bus arrived at 2AM). A good lot of us headed to a friend's house that was nearby where a good amount of ethanol was consumed, followed by a walk back to the bus station. I slept most of the trip as a result and we finally arrived at 1PM, a little bit later than the original 7AM estimate!

To be continued....

Shaolin out!

2008-09-26T10:54:00.002+10:00

As detailed here: http://theshaolindownunder.blogspot.com/2008/08/trips-trips-and-more-trips.html I am leaving for spring break today!

We depart tonight at 9PM. I'm flying back on Sunday, October 5th, and will likely be out of internet connection until then.

I'm hoping I can at least sit down here and there and upload pictures, or my 4gb card is going to fill up awfully fast!

See you guys in 17 days!

Weekend in the Blue Mountains

2008-09-21T16:28:00.005+10:00

First, for any interested parties out there, an update on the wallet situation. I am okay! I've been borrowing money from my roommate, who has been gracious enough to float me some bucks until my debit card arrives this week. I've replaced my student ID card (fo free!), my train pass (for $25), my wallet (with a cheap leather wallet for $15, score!) I'm going to be getting a NSW proof of age card (for $42) so I don't have to take my passport with me.

Anyways, on to important business. I spent Thursday-Saturday this week in the Blue Mountains (which, by the way, are blue because of the sunlight reflecting off the oil released by the eucalyptus trees, or something). I took over 400 pictures and was very happy with so many of them, however, going through and picking out the good ones, I am never happy with the selection I pick out. I need an editor! Haha.

We departed on Thursday, expecting a 5 hour train ride. However, due to some track work, we were forced to depart the train and take a bus for a stretch of track, stretching our trip to nearly 6 hours. Katoomba is only 239km from Newcastle, meaning we averaged about 25 MPH the whole trip. Kinda depressing once I put it that way.

Upon arrival, we checked into a youth hostel and went for a walk. Katoomba is a tiny, sleepy town tucked into the mountains, and even on a Thursday evening, there was really nothing happening. It actually reminded me a lot of Platteville, especially main street, which had the same look and feel. We got some supper and then called it an early night.

We met Catherine at 9 the next morning. There is a trolley that runs between all the tourist attractions. $20 of your Australian dollars will not only offer you unlimited travel on said trolley, but also a day's worth of travel on the expansive Katoomba city bus system! First scheduled stop was a local wildlife preserve. We were given a tour of the grounds by an Aboriginal guide and showed plants, tools and rocks and how the Aboriginal people used them. After the tour, we were allowed to take pictures and wander around the trails. The scenery was absolutely stunning. Nate and I picked the most challenging trail, going straight down the side of the mountain.

We began the descent down the trail, stopping to take pictures when appropriate. You'll have to excuse the dark photos, those definitely came from his camera!

After this, we hopped on the city trolley and rode the circuit until we got to Echo Point and the Three Sisters, probably the most iconic point of the blue mountains. We watched a rather disappointing sunset and started walking back.

The Aboriginal story of the three sisters is basically that three sisters were being chased by a fearsome mythical creature. The witch doctor turned them to stone to save them, and then turned himself into a bird to save himself. He was unable to find his magic bone afterwards and can't turn the sisters back to girls. The end.

Again, some absolutely stunning scenery.

Telephoto of the valley floor. I liked this alot.

There was a very, very expensive looking hotel set back from the road a ways in town. Catherine had mentioned that there was a bar inside that was probably open to the public. In the interests of being thrown out due to dress code, we wandered inside, to the cocktail lounge. Upon arrival, my first words to the bartender were "Are you wearing a pocketwatch?" He pulled it out by the chain and said "Yes?" "My goodness, we are underdressed".

The girls all ordered $14 fruity, icecreamy dessert alcohol things...I just stuck with a $6 bottle of beer. The girls chatted with the bartenders for a bit. It turns out they had "met" the night before, due to the four of them letting out an unrelenting roaring wall of noise wherever they go. One of the barkeeps was standing outside and heard childish yelling and giggling from blocks away.

I finished my beer and was about to order another one when a funny thought crossed my mind. I realized that this is A) Probably the only bar I've ever been in that would serve Martinis, and B) Quite possibly the only time in my life I will ever have the opportunity to drink a Martini wearing a dirty t-shirt and jeans. I strolled up to the bar, casually leaned on it, and said "Two vodka martinis" in the snobbiest way possible. "Why, certainly, sir!" said the bartender. Everybody laughed.

Final day. We met at 8:30 for an abseiling (rappelling) trip. The normal abseiling site that past groups went to was under maintenance, so we went to an alternate site. The drops were larger, the views were better, and more importantly, the "exposure" was greater. The best way to explain exposure is that rapelling down a 15 meter wall is not daunting in the least, but when you're walking up to the edge of a 15 meter cliff and you can't see the bottom, except for the valley floor, several HUNDRED meters below, you nearly crap your pants. Great times.

Nate and I and two of the girls did four drops, a 7 meter training one, a 15 meter challenging one that was a lot of fun, and then a 45 meter one twice.(yooowwwzzaa) One of the girls did all three drops, the last one is deathly afraid of heights and only did the first two, crying and cursing the whole way down, going down with an instructor. (which we all had a laugh about afterwards, and were actually very impressed she came back for more after the little one). It was an absolute rush and a really great time! I got more comfortable after the first two and learned how to hop down difficult spots in the rock face rather than walking. On my last trip down the 45 meter drop, I tried to go as fast as I could, resulting in a LOT of friction and a neat burn on my side (through the harness and my t-shirt!)

All of these are either the 15 or 45 meter drops.

The view from the top.

For the rest of the day, we wandered over to Scenic world, which was near the three sisters again, but was a delicious tourist trap. I wouldn't have paid the $19 to get in and ride down to the bottom of the valley and back up again, but since it was paid for in the program fees, I'm glad we went. We went down on the world's steepest railway. You practically lay down in this train, and then it goes forward, down at a 52* angle, and suddenly you are sitting up again! The ride to the bottom takes about 30 seconds, you are let to wander around on some trails, and free to choose your own transportation back to the top, foot, railway, or skyway. We took the cable car back to the top.

Finally, they had a bird feeder nearby and I grabbed some nifty shots of the local population.

Now that I've done an absolutely phenomenal job of procrastinating one of my three large assignments due this week, I think I should probably get started on that!

The weather gods smile upon me. The gods of surfing and wallet possession do not.

2008-09-13T23:42:00.003+10:00

It's really getting nice outside! Today was in the 80's! I think it's fair to say we have finally surpassed Wisconsin in terms of heat!

Now that the weather has been so wonderful, I've been to the beach every day possible. I'd like to say that I'm building up a nifty tan, but you can't tan through a wetsuit! My hair, however, gets noticeably blonder every day I spend outside.

The water is still pretty cold. I picked up a board locally and I'm really happy with it. I think I'd be making a lot more progress if the weather would cooperate, but the surf's been choppy, really bad to learn on...it's been stormy, doesn't make for good surfing!

Surf injuries so far: Stepped on dried seaweed, ribs are very sore from rubbing on surfboard, rash on left knee from dragging on sea bed, floor burn? from wax on right knee, and a shark wound on left forearm. (or a gash from a surf fin, whichever story you prefer)

Yesterday, I went to the beach and removed my shorts with my wallet inside. I put the whole lot into my backpack. I put on my wetsuit, spent two hours playing "let's see who can hit each other hardest" with the ocean (guess who won that one?) and then walked home. I prepared to head over to a friend's house and noticed that I didn't have my wallet. I tore apart my room twice, my bag, and all my surf stuff. No bueno. I walked back to the beach, called the police and checked with the lifeguards...I have absolutely no idea where it went.

As a result of not knowing that it is gone for sure, I keep ocd-tearing up my room looking for it. None of my cards were used either, so I'm really wondering if I have it somewhere. I don't know how it would have left my backpack and still be mine, though.

Here's a list of things that are no longer in my possesion:

$40 dollars or so in Monopoly money.
Two credit cards
One debit card
Two Platteville student IDs
One University of Newcastle student ID
Two Wisconsin driver's licenses
One open water diver PADI card
One University of Newcastle discount card.
One semester train pass (valued at $450)
One magnetic key card to get into my building
One third of one receipt from the last time I saw Joel and Steve
Miscellaneous Burger King and Walmart gift cards of unknown value

At this point, I have absolutely no money and no way to get more money. I managed to scrape together $7 in funny shaped coins that I found in my room. What would you do with your last $7?

I went to KFC and bought a "favourites" bowl, leaving me with $.55. Awesome.

I'm entering the acceptance stage...I've started calling my credit card companies and trying to plan how I can function without all that crap.

You call that a burger?

THIS is a burger! (pronounced "burh-gah")
Big patty, fried onions, fried pineapple, fried bacon, fried egg, lettuce, tomato, beetroot and barbecue. om nom nom! That, a big bag of chips and a 375ml can of Mt. Dew for the low price of $8!

Here's billy on a train.

Sydney...Round Two

2008-09-01T17:33:00.003+10:00

We had a "field trip" scheduled for Sydney this weekend. I was a little concerned because I had been sick all week with a cold and sinus infection. On the plus side, I had the most fantastic colors of green coming from my nose. I bought a box of cold and flu stuff and ended up going through the whole box in the 3 days I was there...it helped a lot though, I felt fine for the most part.

We took the 8:22 train out of Newcastle, which put us in Sydney at 11:30 or so. We caught a train/bus combination to Bondi Beach. (Apparently, there is a popular Aussie TV show called "Bondi Rescue" that takes place on this beach. I've seen commercials for it, and from everything I can discern, it's a real-life Baywatch, only with much less slow motion running.) We had lunch and walked around and took in the sights...I thought it was absolutely gorgeous.

We wandered into a surf shop to discover a 30% off of everything sale. Nate bought a wetsuit top, and I bought a wetsuit and board shorts (The swimsuit I bought was a little large...not really an issue in the treacherous waters of Wisconsin, but in the ocean waves, I've found my suit around my knees more than once.)

We headed back and checked into our hostel around 6PM. The girls took a while getting ready, and then we met Catherine to buy her dinner. (Catherine is our program director...we meet with her once a week, she arranged our housing and the field trip and she takes care of lots of little issues that we run into along the way.) We wandered around Circular Quay for awhile before settling on the Opera House Bar and Grill, which is on the concourse in the shadows of Australia's two most famous landmarks. The downside to this is that my 12oz steak and 4 onion rings cost me $29. (I resisted the urge to tell the staff that they can tell "their so-called 'chef' that I have personally grilled better sirloin than this...and I am an idiot!" We were all very tired from a long day, and I was not feeling great and we ended up going back to the hostel early and falling asleep early.

We met Catherine at Pier 6 in the harbour early the next morning to tackle the next big thing.

We had a Harbour Bridgeclimb scheduled. Ordinarily, it will cost you around $200 to climb it, it was included in our program costs.

The climb itself was pretty cool. The entryway was lined with autographed celebrity photos of those who climbed before...Robert DeNiro, Matt Damon, Will Smith, lots of American actors. The whole affair took about three hours. Upon arriving, you are breathalyzed and release forms are signed. Then, you are outfitted in a one piece jumpsuit. You are not allowed to bring anything up....no hair ties, bobby-pins, watches, cameras, wallets, nothing. Anything they give you to bring up is tethered to your suit. Handkerchief attached to right wrist. Fleece sewed into a bag attached to left hip. Headset attached to back of neck leading to radio attached to back of belt. Had it been raining, there would have been a rain shell attached to the right hip. Sunglasses were clipped into holders and attached to the back of the neck as well. They had hats and gloves available if you wanted them. The headsets were interesting...rather than projecting into the ears, they sat on the bones between the temple and ears. When the climb leader spoke, it sounded like the voice was in your head. It got LOUDER if you covered your ears. Also, it's very difficult to talk to someone else with a voice in your head. (I know some people who have perfected this, my brother comes to mind)

Finally, it was time to go. We were attached to the bridge by means of short bungie harness, running from the front of the belt to a cable that started on one side of the bridge, went all the way up to the top along walkways, across the top, and back down. (All of this was only bracketed onto the bridge...one of the conditions that bridge climb be allowed to open is that they didn't modify the bridge at all. If they were to go broke, the climb cables could be removed and the HQ they drilled out re-filled with concrete and it would be like they were never there)

The climb was not very stressful, gentle slope for the most part with ladders interspersed. These were originally maintenance pathways, and as such were rickety in places, or a tight squeeze with low headroom in other places. We were under the bridge for awhile, then went over the water with nothing but mesh and several hundred feet of air between us and the ocean, and then came up between lanes of traffic and climbed the lower arch all the way to the peak, where ladders took us to the upper arch.

The view was spectacular, but, of course, we were not allowed cameras. They were happy to take my picture with their camera, however, and sell it to me later. How nice of them!

We crossed the top and went down the opposite leg, going down between train tracks this time. Several trains rumbled by while we were either between the tracks or directly underneath...pretty cool.

After we got off the bridge I snapped some pictures of downtown Sydney from the road deck.

After this, we got lunch at The Australian Hotel. They had over 100 different Australian beers. I sampled three different tasty stouts and had a Peppered Kangaroo pizza...mmmm. We then walked to the Opera House for our 4pm tour.

Here's the bridge from the Opera House...seems like a very daunting task to walk all the way around the harbour and up to the top! Little did I know that was only a fraction of the dozens of miles I'm sure I walked this weekend...

The tour itself...was worthwhile, because we got to see inside. I was dissappointed because it was mostly just watching different videos and we didn't get to see all the chambers, and the cool looking ones were photography prohibited inside. This is my favorite room, I wasn't allowed to photograph it myself :(

I did get some nifty shots of the hallways and lounges though. It was definitely worth going. (I also learned a lot :))

Even the parking garage was pretty!

After this, we walked BACK across the harbour to the rocks to go to a pub for a bit. I took a second out of my walk to take the prettiest picture I have ever taken in my life.

We went to a German pub that had all German beers on tap...and different glasses for every beer! I thought all the glasses looked cool.

It was still early in the evening. We walked back home, I had a kangaroo kebab on the way (vowing to start a kangaroo diet). We got ready and headed out to have a couple drinks. We ended up walking BACK to the rocks. On the way, we debated entering a nightclub, but decided against it because of the $15 cover. Later that night, somebody would get stabbed on the sidewalk very near where we decided to keep walking. Makes you think.

After a few drinks we walked BACK home...witnessing a taxi getting rear ended on the way. I was waiting to cross the street and some idiot slides into this cab. That was kinda cool, actually.

Sunday, the girls headed home. Three of our friends came up from Newcastle for the day. Nate and I stayed with them all day...we walked around some of the shops, had some pretty shady, authentic chinese food, and then went to the pylon lookout museum, which is part of the bridge. The top of the pylon is not as tall as the bridge, but still very tall, and you can take your cameras up here. It's 9.50 to get in, unless you have a bridge climb receipt, in which case it's free.

Here are some more nifty pictures I took from the bridge.

Here's Billy, checking out the view.

We are high up.

On my first trip to Sydney, I took a picture of the Harbour Bridge from Olympic park. This is Olympic park from the Harbour bridge!

That's...a rock...with a face on it...on a car...in the middle of a roundabout. I wouldn't have noticed it without the telephoto.

Traffic on the bridge. It is the busiest stretch of road in the world, something like 200,000 cars, buses and trains a DAY! It used to be four lanes in the middle, and they were repainted to six...very narrow. Take notice of the bus on the right side of the picture...busses are only allowed in that lane because if two busses were in adjacent lanes, their mirrors would touch! The two leftmost lanes were formerly tram lanes and then were converted to traffic lanes.

We walked to Darling Harbour and watched the sun set while eating at a pub and drinking Guinness. It was a very good weekend. I walked back to Central and hopped on a train home.

I mentioned ALL THAT walking? Every time we left the hostel, it was 1.8 miles to the harbour. That's 3.6 miles round trip, two trips per day, walking around at the harbour....I wouldn't be surprised if I walked over 35 miles the three days I was there.

Trips, trips and more trips!

2008-08-25T21:44:00.003+10:00

I apologize for the length and lack of humor in the following post. Occasionally, it is necessary to actually let people know what's going on!

Today I took the jump. (I married a kangaroo! ZING!) I had been deciding for a few weeks on whether or not to book a big spring break trip. All of my roommates had booked a 16 day, $1600 trip all the way up the east coast. (Because marriage is called taking the jump, and kangaroos jump...okay, it was clever in my head) I didn't think I could afford it, but after some careful re-budgeting and some help from mom and dad, as well as finding out that 5 of my other American friends are going, I signed up and put a deposit down today. I am absolutely amazed at the stuff they pack into this trip. One way is about 1500 miles...Google maps lists it as 1 day, 8 hours of just driving! All the bus trips are overnight, with the exception of one, so the bus travel doesn't take up any of your day.

Here's the itinerary I was handed.

26th September - Depart from The Brewery on Greyhound at 8:50PM.
27th - Arrive at Byron Bay 7:35AM. Surf lessons start at 8AM! Free beer, discount meals afterwards.
28th - Sunday morning. Free breakfast followed by more surf lessons. Free dinner.
29th - 7:35AM bus departs for Hervey Bay. Free BBQ.
30th - Up early for Fraser Island briefing and instructions, then dumped on the island with camping equipment, food, and a 4x4 for three days of self-guided wandering.
2nd October - Return to Hervey Bay on the Ferry. Overnight bus departs at 8:25PM
3rd - Arrive Airlie Beach - 9:05AM
4th - Picked up for sailing trip, sail the 74 islands for 2 nights
6th - Return to Airlie Beach, bus departs 8:05PM
7th - Arrive Cairns, 6:05AM
8th - 7:30AM - Scuba diving at outer barrier reef
9th - 6:55AM - Pick up for Cape Trib day tour, return at 6PM
10th - 6:40AM - Pick up for day trip, whitewater rafting. Return 6PM
11th - Skydiving. I've gone solo before, but don't hold a certification, so I am not able to jump alone down here. 14,000ft tandem jump.
12th - My flight from Cairns departs at 6:05PM, arriving in Sydney at 10PM, where I catch the train back to Newcastle and arrive home around 12:30AM.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited!

But that's not all!

This weekend, as part of my program (call it a field trip), I'm going up to Sydney for a weekend of whathaveyou. I will unfortunately be missing the first rugby playoff game, but it appears I am not eligible to play, as I joined the team after 30 June. We're heading up on Friday, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Saturday and then enjoying a night on the town. Sunday is open as of now, I think I might try to head over to Sydney Olympic park and play a round or two of disc golf.

I'm home for a weekend...second rugby playoff game.

Home for another weekend - bye week for rugby, no plans.

Then comes the second field trip. We're going to the Blue Mountains, which is a good 5 hour train ride away. We'll be arriving on Friday, I guess there's some aboriginal interaction and absailing (rappelling) planned for Saturday. I hear they start you off at 5 meters and work up until you chicken out...10 meters, 20, 30, 45, 60...hehe. (Unfortunately, this is the weekend of rugby finals, but I can't play anyways.)

I think the weekend after that when I depart for the spring break trip.

I return on Monday, classes start on Monday. On that Friday, I'm going BACK to Byron Bay to play in a rugby tournament. It's an invitation-only "social" tournament. From what I understand, social tournament means that the team goes to the bar between matches, between tries, halves...if you're not holding a rugby ball, you had best be holding a beer!

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks!

Busy weekend

2008-08-24T22:28:00.003+10:00

I had a pretty busy weekend that started with rugby and ended with me getting sick :( Bah. My latest batch of beer! It is dark, and definitely my favorite so far. It's pretty smooth, with a hint of bitter at the end...very happy with how it turned out.

We had a bye this weekend, so a BBQ/kegger was organized at the rugby field. $1 beers, the only restrictions being that we heckle everyone on the field, from both teams, and there is NO beer left at the end of the day.

An interesting feature of digital cameras is that they embed times in with the photos, making for easy reconstruction of the day's events.

11:40AM. I arrive at the University. This is the view from the top of the train platform...I don't think there's many Universities that look like this back home!!

1:08PM. The first finger food has been broken out. The "beer worm" is growing. (the cups were being reused, because we are cheap. I take pictures of the rugby game.

2:21PM. Moonbeam thinks he is good looking. Davis approves. The worm grows.

3:00PM. Moonbeam has been awarded the Nathan Jowles award. This award is given out weekly for the single most idiotic act happening during the week. Nathan Jowles is bald. I take pictures of vague blobs in the distance. The beer worm approves.

3:40PM. I take pictures of the railing.

4:12PM. ...

4:45PM. Hmm.

5:03PM. The games are over. Shenanigans ensue.

Laughataloser

2008-08-19T21:02:00.000+10:00

I won a Tshirt, a water bottle, and a couple of beers tonight at trivia/bingo. A large portion of this is because 90% of the questions he asked were about Wisconsin...haha. When asked what the four states that border Wisconsin are, my friend actually was able to name them all, except he confused Ohio and Iowa, because of all the vowels.

My first (documented) concussion!

2008-08-16T18:44:00.003+10:00

Today was the final away game of the season at Singleton. I got up at 7:30AM (on a Saturday, bah!) and caught the train to University, where I met up with some friends and caught a ride to the grounds, nearly an hour and a half away.

The grounds were surprisingly green, none of this mud and clover stuff we've been seeing as of late. Also, all four of our divisions were there, so the team doctor, strappers, club president, and other assistant coaches traveled with us.

I started the second half. Soon after getting into the game (I think), I somehow was flipped over something and landed squarely on my forehead, near my temple. Hard. It made sense at the time, how it happened, I got pushed or tripped over something, but now, I can't remember exactly how it happened. I do remember a big flash and then laying on the ground for a couple of seconds. Then I got up and tackled somebody.

I finished the second half. I can't give you a timeline, but the following events did happen. I ran the ball a handful of times, including a 20 or 30 meter run with two broken tackles, a spin, and finally getting tackled at the 10 by the last person possible...so close! Someone on our team was making a tackle. I came in and grabbed the ball from the ballcarrier...he didn't let go. A ruck formed around us. I had a good grip on the ball and somebody was just about trying to break my finger by twisting it backwards. Okay, I can play dirty too....I grabbed both of his wrists and twisted them behind his back. Oddly enough, you can't hold the ball without hands, and he dropped it. I drew a penalty by contesting a ball on the ground (which I think I've actually done every week). I don't remember much else about the game, but we did win 47-0. Our "kicker" went out with a hamstring injury part through the game (after going 4-4, much better than the 0-4 that cost us last week's game). We scored a try at the end, and had no kicker. Somebody volunteered. The ball was placed near the sidelines, about 35 meters out, a long kick. He really got ahold of it, and it grazed the inside of the left upright, (just to be dramatic, he would later claim).

After the game, I could tell something wasn't right. I was really hot and sweating way too much. I was dizzy and almost fell over a few times whilst trying to put on my shoes. My vision was really blurry, and I felt like I wanted to throw up. After I got changed, I found the "physio" (team doc) and said something like "Hey doc, something's not right. I feel like I'm drunk, I can't see straight, and I feel my vocabulary is suffering." He asked me if I took a blow to the head, and I did remember that I did at some point, did some field tests and then told me I was concussed, not to drink anything or drive anywhere, and to go to the hospital if I develop terrible headaches.

After this, the whole team sat around and watched our three other grades. We trounced them on all levels...I think some of this was due to them having three teams playing four grades, many of the players were worn out from our game. The other three divisions won 26-0, 78-3, and 26-5. Ouch. There were some absolutely ridiculous moments I wish I had video of...razzle dazzle behind the back passes into open field, kicking the ball down field, having it bounce just behind the person trying to field it and the kicker grabbing it himself for a try, lots of fun stuff.

As I mentioned, many of the players were staying up in Singleton and drinking all day. I was thinking of staying, but decided against it, after the game. You can drink a lot of beer during three rugby games, and there were many funny things that happened, but I'm afraid I've forgotten most of them. One thing I do remember is after a particularly illegal tackle, a member of their team was talking to the ref. "IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY! GIVE HIM A CARD!" rang out the jeers. The yellow card was shown, and the entire visitor's section started singing "Happy Birthday". I laughed hard. Some of the other players mentioned that I still run with the ball "like an American". I've been trained that when, in traffic, both hands cover the ball, only moving the ball to one hand when you are in open field. Rugby players don't really carry the ball with two hands, but instead turn to the side alot, and use alot of stiff-arm. Also, I apparently still run like I'm wearing pads. Haha. Also, I'm not allowed to leave, the team wants me back next year.

I messed up my elbow somehow and have bruises and scrapes all over my legs and arms. The elbow hurt a ton after the game, but subsided into a stiffness now, we'll check it tomorrow.

Also, I was invited to Rugby 7's at Byron Bay, which is about 6 hours north of here. The university takes a team up there every October to play in a social tournament. It's 7v7 rugby on a smaller field, and apparently, you drink much between games and play and drink beer all day. My only question: "Do you have to die to get in?!"

I was asked where I wanted to eat on the way home, and I told them it may be my only chance to try Hungry Jacks, as there is not one in Newcastle. Hungry Jacks=Burger King. I walk inside, and lo and behold, they still have the Spicy Chicken TenderCrisp...the very same sandwich that broke my heart when it was unceremoniously dropped from the menu a number of years ago. I was addicted to this sandwich for a long period of time, and although it was still different from what I remembered, it was definitely close enough to fill the longing.

I really had much more to type! Funny stories! Perhaps I'll remember them tomorrow.

It's getting warmer!

2008-08-15T21:28:00.002+10:00

I was going to look for a job today, but instead, I carefully reconsidered my priorities and decided that going to the beach all day was a much better idea. We played beach volleyball ALL day. I gained a good amount of satisfaction, spiking over and blocking over my 6'4" roommate, with "freaky white dude ups". We also threw frisbees and footballs, and I got my daily allotment of sodium chloride whilst trying to bodyboard. The waves were HUGE today. My roommate couldn't even get out far enough to attempt to ride a wave. I got out no problem, but then had no idea what I was doing, and generally just got my butt kicked by the ocean. This is a lot like what usually happens when I go into the ocean, except, now I was getting beat in the face with a buoyant board of pain.

After that, we came home and I bottled my third batch of beer. Instead of using Cooper's carbonation drops, I primed half the bottles with table sugar, and half the bottles with carbonation drops, carefully labeling each one. This beer is DARK, and the brew enhancer 2 seems to have given it a large, creamy head, just as claimed! I also let it ferment longer than usual, which is supposed to improve the taste. I expect this beer to be about 4.7% alcohol, based on an initial gravity of 1042 and I bottled it at 1010.

I tasted a little bit of it, and I was pretty happy with it (as far as flat, warm beer goes). It's definitely quite a bit more bitter than my other beers, should be tasty. It's still got a bit of a cidery taste to it, which both of my other batches have had.

"Cidery flavors happen when there is not enough nutrients from the malt to help the yeast eat the sugar. The general rule of thumb is you can have up to 30% sugar base without any off flavors." I'm going to try using less sugar in the next batch and more malt extract or something.

Rugby tomororow, away game at Singleton. Because it's over an hour away and it's our last away game of the year, we're staying at one of the coaches cabins. Lots of beer and meat pies for all!

Maybe...

2008-08-13T20:55:00.001+10:00

Maybe I write about Homebrewing and Rugby so much because it is what is currently dominating most of my free time? That, and wasting time on the internet.

I've begun searching for a job. I don't need to, however, there are two compelling reasons behind this. A) Minimum wage down here is $12 something, and I'd be earning $14-15-ish minimum because it's age based. With the USD being so low, I'd still be bringing home $13+ an hour for doing whatever. B) I have lots, and lots of free time. I currently spend it waiting for the internet in my apartment to load pages. This is probably not the most productive use of my time. I'm allowed to work up to 20 hours a week, and would really be happy if I could do so.

I just opened the first beer out of my second batch. Again, it's not bad, very drinkable. Definitely needs to sit for another week or so, there was still priming sugar in the bottom and it wasn't very carbonated. It tastes much like the first batch, sort of cidery...which isn't bad, but it's not the way it's supposed to taste. It's much lighter, both in color and flavor. We'll see how it improves after it sits for a bit.

Tuesdays have become mandatory conditioning at rugby training. We did laps and laps of alternating sprinting and jogging, and then 5,10,15,20,25,30 meter sprints with pushups and situps at each yard line....and then we did everything again...and then played a full contact game. Needless to say, I am sore today. We did full contact tackling drills, which I've been doing in pads for years, and which is probably most of the reason I am sore today. Afterwards, one of my teammates informed me that "everyone is very impressed with your tackling and ball running, we just wish you were around for a few more weeks so that you could learn to position yourself better and do both more often". Haha, I still don't know what's going on.

Another thing that's been programmed into my head from years of gridiron is to lower and square your shoulders, cover the ball with both hands, and keep moving when you're getting tackled. The first time I did that, somebody suggested I should turn my body sideways when I hit somebody and put the ball in my back hand, the advantage being that when I am tackled, it is easy to recover the ball. I failed to see any other disadvantages to my technique until yesterday, when two larger gentlemen came at me, and I caught a beefy shoulder right in the jaw. Oh, yeah, I'm not wearing a helmet. Good thing I was wearing a mouthguard, or I, no doubt, would have been concussed...I definitely saw stars. For what its worth, he took a few minutes off, rubbing his shoulder and wincing. Haha.

The reason I haven't really written about class is that it's really not at all different than it is back home. There are minor differences, but nothing worth writing about.

OH! One of the bars on campus has beer bingo (called laughataloser), in which the bingo caller mocks every person playing. Everyone gets a nickname. When it was learned I was from Wisconsin, all the numbers called in the next hour were Wisconsin jokes. I was nicknamed Wisconsin Pete. When calling bingo, you are given a dart, and told to stand at a random location in the room and throw at a spinning dartboard. You are usually throwing from three times the normal length of a dart throw, which is difficult until you get the hang of it. There are prizes on the board, t shirt, water bottle, hacky sack, free beer, free pizza, etc. One of my friends jokes that Beer Bingo has "fed me, clothed me, and gotten me drunk for the last 4 years". Upon winning a hacky sack, he said "Oh no! Not another one! Who wants it?", and tossed it to somebody else. The bingo caller said "I wouldn't give that away so easily, they use those as currency in Wisconsin", and then to the new owner of the hacky sack: "You just bought a house in Wisconsin, but don't think that means you're rich!"

The bar also has trivia on Wednesdays. I won bar trivia tonight! Some of my Rugby mates and I go on Tuesday, win two, three, or four vouchers for a beer, pizza, or bowl of wedges, and then go to trivia on Wednesdays and drink free beer and play trivia for more free beer.

The answer sheet has 20 blanks. There are 20 questions asked. You score your own sheet, and hand in a copy of your own sheet, and if you win, your answers are checked. You are allowed to work with your own table. This week, everyone in the bar had 15/20 correct or less. The other two guys at my table had 16/20 correct. I had 17/20 correct, because I guessed that Paris was the first city ever bombed from airplanes. (They guessed Munich and Berlin...come on, France has to be losing!) I won two tickets to tomorrow's concert at Bar on the Hill. Apparently, Magic Dirt is a decent name, tickets were $20/each otherwise. We shall see how this goes!

A conversation with the most annoying person I've met in recent history.

2008-08-09T19:19:00.002+10:00

I headed out to the bars for a few last night. I had heard of a bar that sounded more like a place I would hang out at back home. Quieter/smaller, no dancing/dj, lots of live music, no bouncers...awesome!

I met up with some friends down there and it was really a pretty nifty place. Shortly after arrival, one of the females in my group said "OH NO!" and hid behind me.

"What's wrong?" I inquired.

"It's that guy over there. The tall guy? Glasses, in his mid thirties?" I sneak a glance over my shoulder to observe the nerd leaning against a pole by himself. "Every time I come here, he seems to be here, and if he sees me, he won't leave me alone for the rest of the night. I have no idea who he is or if we were actually ever introduced."

"Well, then...perhaps I should move aside and just let him see you!"

"You can if you like, but then you're going to have to hang out with him too!"

She couldn't have been more correct, and I could not have been more furious. As the night moved on, he happened to catch sight of her and came over to talk to her. It was just the three of us and painfully awkward when he was around, but he made no attempts to move away, even after not being introduced to me. He asked her to buy him a drink (?!) and she grudgingly obliged, too polite to say no. I followed her to the bar, not willing to stand around with wet rag.

The night goes on, blah, blah, blah, there's a point where he comes over again, after we had lost him for awhile. She ducks into the bathroom, I am stunned and unable to follow. This is where the funny happens. I never make eye contact with him and answer shortly and bluntly to all of his questions, giving off the best impression that I am not interested in talking to him in any measure.

"Is it true that one-third of Americans don't know where Canada is?"

"Nope."

"So, where in the states are you from?"

"Wisconsin".

"Oh, what's the capitol of that? Wait, let me guess!"

"..."

"St.....St....Saint something....Is it St. Petersburg?"

"That's in Russia."

"Oh. I used to be really good with states. It's been years but I bet I still know most of them! Go ahead, quiz me!"

"Do you know Rhode Island?"

"Ah, yes, is the capital Pennsylvania?

"Not even close. How about Arizona?"

"Sacremento"

"At least that one's a city. North Dakota."

"I've no idea. Rhode Island...that's right near Massachusetts, right?"

"More or less."

"and going down the coast, you have Massachusetts, North Virginia, South Virginia, uhm, Florida...Atlanta"

"I'm going to stop you there. You're oh for about 12 right now. Why don't you stand over there for a bit?"

My beer!

2008-08-08T17:35:00.002+10:00

Here's a picture of a beer out of my first batch. Mmm.

Yesterday I bottled my lager. This is Cooper's Lager with Brew Enhancer 1. It's much lighter than my first Ale. We'll see how it turns out! I yielded TWENTY SEVEN 800ml bottles, which is about four more than last time, along with a 600ml bottle, meaning I got just over 22 liters of beer this time. Alcohol content of this batch is calculated to be 4.91%. Compare the color to the bottle on the right of my first beer.

I've got quite the little stockpile built up!

I started my THIRD batch today. This is Cooper's Dark Ale with Brew Enhancer 2, which is recommended for a maltier, fuller taste. The beer is nearly black colored! I'm very excited to see this one finished. I started it early so that by the time I get to drinking it, it should have matured well. Initial gravity was average, right about 1040.
GO BEER, GO!

To mix things up a bit, homebrewing and THEN rugby!

2008-08-02T15:34:00.003+10:00

Yesterday was 5 days since I bottled my beer. It is recommended you let the beer sit at least 7 days before drinking, although the longer it sits, the more smooth the flavor becomes, the bubbles become finer, and carbonation becomes greater. Two weeks is good, two months is about when it's "done". Nonetheless, I have no patience to look at beer and not drink it, so I threw a bottle into the fridge yesterday.

IT TASTES LIKE BEER!

IT TASTES LIKE GOOD BEER!

Success! I smiled the whole time while I drank it. It's this gorgeous brownish red color and it has a really full taste with a little fruity flavor at the end. It was a little flat from not sitting long enough, but definitely drinkable, I was able to put a good head on it, therefore, it's carbonated enough! I would buy this beer! Unfortunately I am unable to distribute samples via internet, so a picture will have to do. A picture I will take later.

I just started my second batch of beer. Went with a lighter lager instead of an ale this time. Also used Cooper's "Brew Enhancer 1", which instead of straight dextrose is a blend of dextrose and maltodextrin, which does not ferment out completely and is supposed to improve the beer. We shall see.

I played in my second ever Rugby game today. We played at Waratah. I pass the field every day on my way to Uni, so the trip there was decisively less hilarious than last time. Rugby jerseys are passed out before every game, and the position you are playing that day determines the number you wear. 1-15 are starters at the 15 different positions, 16-25 are substitutes. Today I wore #6 and started at flanker.

The field was in awful shape! The whole ground was very soggy and there was an area near the opponents try line where there was about two inches of standing water on the field. I was sliding around a bit because the rugby boots I purchased have short, molded blades intended for dry ground, as opposed to longer spikes. I slipped and fell forwards while in a scrum a few times, as there was really no traction to be found.

I made a few tackles and carried the ball a few times, I didn't screw up or do anything spectacular, but I felt I played pretty well. One nearly highlight came when we were driving at about the opponent's 5 meter line. I picked the ball up off a tackle, picked the smallest person opposite me and charged at him. I caught him in the ribs with my knee and two other people jumped on, and I managed to carry the whole mess into the try. However, skinny dude managed to hang onto the ball whilst I carried him and I was unable to make a clear motion of touching the ball to the ground before the tackle was completed. The try didn't count, scrum again from the 5. This was right in the middle of "Lake Waratah", 2 inches of cold standing water. Re-scrum, ball came loose and I ended up diving facefirst onto it and getting a very cold shower. Later, I was called offside on a line out because I was outside the 15 meter mark...a mark that was completely underwater.

You are only allowed to hit people with the ball. When you are tackled, you must release the ball. The person that tackled you cannot pick the ball up until they are on their feet as well. When someone on your team gets tackled, other forwards in the area "clear out" which basically means diving over the fallen player and absolutely smacking whoever is standing there so that someone behind you can pick up the ball uncontested. The largest guy on their team was standing over one of our fallen players, reaching for the ball. I ran at him and hit him pretty good and knocked him backwards, out of the play. I didn't think I was going to move him, he was twice my size! Of course, after this, he tossed me aside like a rag doll.

I came out at the end of the first half. I was starting to get very dehydrated. I was also covered in mud from head to toe. Score at the half was 10-7, us. We had scored two tries and missed both conversions (our kicking game is poor, this comes into play later), and they had scored a try and conversion.

The game continued and we were not playing very well. Many of our players were overtired, some of our forwards were really just getting the ball and falling forward. They scored a try and missed the conversion. 12-10, them, time winding down. We put together a long drive and drew a penalty. This ordinarily is a free kick, but we were close enough to attempt a penalty kick, a "field goal" if you will. Remember what I said about our poor kicking? Everyone was nervous, and not really expecting much, but the ball sailed through the uprights and we took the lead, 13-12, where it stayed until after the game.

I have cleat marks on my back! There was mud positively caked onto my legs, arms, hair, ears..etc. My socks and undies are a wonderful shade of brown. I've never enjoyed a shower more in my life, either.

"'beam?" I asked after the first half. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Depends on what it is, I suppose", he said after a second.

"Well, at the risk of sounding like a tourist, my parents are really disappointed they can't see me play. My dad was at nearly every single one of my football games from early on and they'd love it if you could take a picture of me wearing the shortest shorts anyone in America has ever seen."

"Haha, no worries mate." I find my camera. "Don't smile, look tough, it's for your mum!"

Correction

2008-07-30T01:19:00.000+10:00

In the fullest interests of complete accuracy, I have been corrected on last week's blog. What I thought was Boys II Men was in fact All4One. My confusion of bands with a number pun in the middle of their name is completely understandable.

Also, this is the second time since 1995 that All4One has been mentioned. The first was when we were arguing about what gay band it was.

Also, the coaches have promised to start me and give me "60 minutes of all I can handle" on Saturday. I'll also be throwing in line outs, as that appears to be all my "American Footy" arm is good for.

Another update...about rugby and homebrewing again, strangely enough.

2008-07-27T21:42:00.002+10:00

My first Rugby game as a player occured on Saturday. I caught the train to campus and then met up with the team at our practice grounds.

Ever seen the movie "Leatherheads"? Not an excellent movie by any means. Fun to watch, worth seeing once, perhaps, but I wouldn't purchase it. I'm sorry, I digress. The movie is about the early days of the NFL and how just very amateur everything was. My day on Saturday reminded me much of this movie (only with 100% less George Clooney)

After everyone arrived, everyone divided into cars and started heading off. No team bus this week. Nobody knew where exactly we were going. Myself and another piled into Moonbeam's car. (When he introduced himself, I remarked "Wow, that's feminine". He responded "I have a very white chest.") "If you have a car, why do you ride the bus?" I asked. He explained that it was not his car, it was his girlfriend's, but it was worth borrowing it and spending the extra $10 in petrol to guarantee a comfortable seat. "Some weeks we have 15 cars and 17 players, and some weeks we have 25 players and 4 cars...and trust me they all fit somewhere." We are reminded by the coach to bring some footy balls this time so that we can warm up before the game. Apparently this is brought up because it did not happen on more than one previous occasion. Our coach is also one of the best players on the team.

30 minutes later, I asked a very important question. "Mr Davis, where did you get these directions? Did a man on a street corner print them for you?" I figured this was the only reasonable explanation for why we had turned off of the freeway, in the opposite direction of the Hunter Valley Vineyard sign, and onto a single lane dirt road, which seemed to be going through a national park. Hope came when the dirt road turned back into pavement, but was again dashed when the road turned back into dirt. This was very funny the first 3 times it happened, but lost humor the next 7 or 8 times. We were following a car that was presumed to be driven by another Rugby player...but then that car pulled off the road and turned around and it was not whoever thought it was. The situation was made that much more terrible when Moonbeam refused to take his girlfriend's CD out of the stereo. Then there were three guys with ridiculously short rugby shorts riding in a car with pink seat covers and plush doggies listening to Boys II Men in the middle of a national park.

The directions led us into a tourist village. "Hunter Valley Vineyards" proclaimed the sign. There was a bottle shop, wine tours, a general store and a small park. There was "Aqua golf" which is a driving range on a lake (and I was assured it's as ridiculous as it sounds." This seemed like a terrible place for a rugby field. "Look for footy sticks" (goalposts). Somehow, and I really have no idea how this happened, we arrived at our destination. "Don't mention anything about a dirt road, in case there was an easier way to go".

The field was in laughable condition. The shod had recently been replaced and was coming up everywhere. There were some very soggy areas that were just short of holding standing water. There was a sandal in one of the try areas "I am definitely leaving that there". Three out of the four pylons were already tipped over. The best part of all...the entire field was on a visible slope. "We're going to play you in the half we're going downhill" someone said to Moonbeam.

Locker rooms? Pshh. Everyone stripped down on the side of the field. The water bottles were half full from the previous week, and the tap was several hundred meters away. During pregame warmups, we are sitting in a circle stretching. I notice two guys laughing and raise an eyebrow. "Hey Seppo, are you wearing boxer shorts?" My boxers were HANGING OUT THE BOTTOM of my rugby shorts. "That's a mistake you'll only have once". (I am called Seppo, or Seppy, or Whiskey. When it became known I was American, I was told there was already another American on the team and I would have to be given a different nickname. Whiskey comes from Wisconsin. Seppo comes from septic tank, which rhymes with "yank" and apparently is an old rugby term or something.)

The game began and we jumped out to an early lead. The other players not in the game are doing their best to explain every last aspect of the game to me. There's so much to remember, but I seem to be getting the hang of it.

Halftime happens when we score a fourth uncontested try. One of the assistant referees leaves and we are short a linesman. They ask us if we have anyone that can fill the role and a kid that was watching the game takes the spot.

I am asked if I am ready to go in. "Absolutely!" I am asked if I know what I am doing. "Not a clue!" I get a 30 second crash course at the position (Stay in the line, keep moving forward...but pretty much hit anyone with the ball. I tell them I cannot wait to hit somebody.) We kick off because we have just scored. I make three tackles in the first five minutes I am playing, including a very nice form tackle right in front of our bench. It was a pretty solid head-on hit. I got lower than he was, drove with my shoulder, exploded my hips through him, whatever the buzz phrase that's been hammered into my head from 5th grade on. I was told that I "absolutely ran him over". Later on the sideline, someone asked "Did everyone see Seppo's hit? I saw stars and stripes, the star spangled banner started playing, and a bald eagle swooped overhead." God bless American footy (or gridiron). We have possession of the ball near the opponent's try line, when a penalty is called. The referee just up and ends the game, something like 10 minutes early. Final score 34-5, University.

We shake hands at midfield. This is normal. I am surprised and pleased by what happens next. The other team gives us three cheers and we return the favor. Then they form a "tunnel" clapping as we leave the field. Someone from their team brings over a cooler full of the local microbrew. I had a very delicious Wattle Seed Ale. Our team votes on an MVP, and two runners up.

We take our beers over to the other team's bench and drink beers with them and talk. One of their members asks if our center is wearing a size 13 judging by the marks on his legs. He was.

We meet back at midfield for the "boat race", which is a table with 6 beers. The MVP and runners up from each team have a relay race of the best kind. We win this game as well.

We meet later that night at the bar that sponsors our team for some "team building exercises." The coach is there and I am informed that if practice goes well this week, I may be starting next week. In the interests of self-preservation, most of the players seem to shy away from contact. Having been taught for many years how to make proper contact with pads on, I am not afraid of contact. We will see how long I hold up without shoulder pads on though!

Homebrewing update.

The beer stopped producing Co2 sometime on Saturday so I figured it was just about ready to be bottled. I checked the final gravity of the beer and found it to be just right, about 1005. I set up an assembly line of sorts, where there would be one beer soaking in sterilizer, one beer being rinsed, one beer drying, then one being filled, sugared, and capped. Everything went smoothly and I am left with a yield of 25x 750ml bottles, and two 600ml bottles. The beer tasted strong from what I could tell, but smelled absolutely delicious. It's this wonderful medium brown color. These next two weeks are going to be rough as I have to look at my 26 babies in the closet, just waiting! I may start another batch in the meantime.

That might be the longest thing I've ever written. Kudos to anyone that reads all the way through that.

Quick update!

2008-07-26T00:27:00.003+10:00

The homebrewing is going well so far! I got everything sterilized and the inaugural batch mixed up without incident. Added the yeast and put the carboy in my closet...it started producing co2 about an hour later, got some happy little bubbles up through the airlock. This was Tuesday evening at about 8pm.

There's a TON of foam on top of the beer, which is good, means that it's doing alot of fermenting! The foam actually came up through the airlock for a day and kept pushing all the water out, I didn't know what to do except clean out the airlock here and there and hope that the co2 coming out is enough to keep anything else from getting in! Most of the time, from what I've been reading, people have problems with fermentation going too slowly...definitely not having that problem! Temperature is sitting perfectly at 24*.

It's still happily bubbling away, it probably will for another few days, and then it's on to bottling! (and then more waiting!)

Rugby is AWESOME. I've finally figured out the rules (for the most part) but something I didn't really plan on was learning strategy...there's so much information coming so fast...the players are really helpful, they can tell I've not played before, but "Pillow post to the fly half" doesn't help much either. My cleats (or "rugby boots") arrived today, so I won't be sliding around tomorrow at my first away game!

Homebrewing!

2008-07-22T16:51:00.000+10:00

Stopped by the homebrew store after class today...not only did he have the EXACT gasket I needed, he was also super helpful. I picked up a gasket (for water trap), a new water trap(allows co2 to escape during fermentation without letting outside stuff in), a bottle brush (for sterilizing glass bottles), and a long handled spoon to stir the wort. (beer before yeast).

I was trying to say 23 liters, but instead I said 23 meters. Haha. He suggested "that's closer to 6 imperial gallons, if that's what you're used to" Me: "You can tell?" Him "Just a guess."

On my way out the door, he said "4 things, mate. Keep everything sterile. Hygiene is very important. Temperature. Don't let it brew too hot. Quality ingredients. If you buy crap, you'll make crap. Finally, patience. Good beer gets better in the bottle!"

We'll see how this turns out, I plan on starting the fermentation process tonight.

For now, it's off to Rugby practice!

Outing to Blackbutt Nature Reserve

2008-07-20T18:32:00.003+10:00

As part of International Student Orientation, we were encouraged to sign up for a trip to the local nature reserve. So, Friday, bright and early, we caught the train over to the University and then hopped on a bus that took us back the way we came to the reserve. There were 3 coaches in all, lots of kids. They turned us loose and we were free to wander. One of my roommates managed to lead the way and lead the entire bus into the woods, the wrong direction of the animals. We ended up walking for about half an hour on the "main loop" and seeing lots of trees before finally finding the animal reserve, conveniently located right next to the entrance. Brilliant.

Yours truly with the laziest animal I've ever laid eyes on.

This one's for you, mom!

Your birds!

I really think all Australian animals are lazy. I only saw one kangaroo move!

What are you looking at?

Today, one of the ladies in the study abroad office invited all 6 of us over for an authentic Australian meal. It was like going to Grandma's house.

I could not believe the amount of food this woman prepared. There were about 10 people eating, and any one of the meats could have satisfied everyone. There was a mountain of sausages, a turkey, beef, chicken kabobs (on a stick, not the kebab!), potatoes, onions, bread rolls AND a loaf of bread, corn on the cob, chicken fried rice, salad, and probably some other stuff. I ate an inhuman amount of food and we barely made a dent in it!

After the meal I snuck outside and grabbed some nifty shots of the house, which is nearly 100 years old.

Here's my first successful image using HDR photography...not perfect, I think I was one dark exposure short, but I think it looks awesome!

Speechless.

2008-07-17T22:49:00.002+10:00

Australian host: "So this earthquake in 1989 was quite shocking. We didn't even think it was possible on the coast. Earthquakes happen all the time in the middle of Australia, but you know, it doesn't matter because nobody lives there.

Blonde, female, enraging roommate: "So, wait, you're saying there's a part in the middle of Australia where nobody lives?"

My first thought was "Did you know ANYTHING AT ALL about this place before you came here?"

That was my interesting moment of the day.

Day at the beach...

2008-07-16T18:22:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I walked into a hair salon and told them to cut all my hair off. I lost a little over 6 inches in some spots. $25 and an hour and a half later, it feels like I took a winter hat off. So much nicer in the sun!

Today we walked down to the beach and met some friends down there. There were about 12 of us total. After playing some catch with a football (that definitely got some looks) for awhile, we sprinted into the ocean and got the crap kicked out of us by some waves. Also, I had to show my British friend how to hold/throw the football, he kept wanting to throw it underhand. It was the first time he had held one. Hahaha.

I lost a golf disc in the pacific ocean :( I tried to throw it down the beach, but my backpack swung and hit my arm and made it go sideways...it landed in the surf, I saw it tumble once, and then it was gone. RIP blue teebird, you will be replaced by a more brightly colored disc.

After a few hours on the beach, we walked down to a pub and sat on a pier and drank beer for another hour or two...it was absolutely wonderful. We talked about we thought out friends were doing back home and decided that none of us really cared at the moment :) Sorry guys.

A few reflections on how things are different...

2008-07-14T18:27:00.001+10:00

I just got back from my International Student Orientation. I was on campus from about 9:30 until 5:00. Busy day, you say? Quite the contrary...I've never been so bored in my life. After sitting through nearly 8 hours of repetitive powerpoints, I am enjoying a much needed Toohey's Black Ale.

There generally is a more relaxed atmosphere. The way that this translates into public speaking is that the speakers move at a more relaxed paced, and repeat themselves...often. Long winded is an understatement. Many of it is helpful information, but so much is just common sense...I was told at least three times to lock my doors when I leave my apartment, and what "Goodday Mate" means. Really?

Another thing very different from back home is attitude towards alcohol. As you may or may not be aware, the drinking age down here is 18. This translates into a few interesting but shocking scenarios. For example, there is a bar in the middle of campus. The person running our orientation mentioned how Wednesdays were big there, how they have shuttles from the train station to the bar and back, and how we should try to limit ourselves to one or two before our 10:00 classes. It's a "wet" campus in a drinking society. Alcohol is served at school functions. You know that big party right when the semester starts? Platteville had one every year...bouncy inflatable toys, free food, tricycle races, all the same as down here. What was very different was being told to "enjoy a day of cheap inebriation". (not that I won't).

People travel to bars on different nights of the week. You can find a Friday night crowd on a Monday night, if you go to the right bar. This sort of thing just doesn't happen back home. I saw live music last night. ON A SUNDAY. Walking down Hunter street, the main street in Newcastle, you can easily see which bars sell beer by just looking for the keg piles. Bars pile (presumably empty) quarter barrels in front, or in back of their store, usually 3-10 at a time. In the US, those would be gone in a matter of minutes.

Speaking of live music, I am becoming absolutely spoiled. There are live bands at several bars within walking distance, every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Also, I have been absolutely impressed with the quality of sound at these events, and the quality of the bands at these events. Hundreds of times better than the stuff back home.

The education here is focused much more on self-study than on teaching. Many international students that travel to the US feel that college in the US is more like highschool, that the teachers "hold your hand" too much. Here, there are little more than a handful of grading opportunities per semester. The wallpaper on this computer reads "He who ceases to be a student has never been one in a first place." If you're not interested in studying, nobody will make you, and your time at Uni will be short.

Pictures - First trip in Sydney, My apartment in Newcastle

2008-07-12T14:38:00.010+10:00

Well, I apologize for this mess I'm about to throw on you. This is proving to be very difficult without good internet access...I have do all the work I can at home and then try to upload it at the local Uni hub. As a result, I'm uploading the wrong photos, everything is disorganized, and I'm going to have to resize SMALLER than 30%!

On our final day in Sydney, Sam and I caught a bus to the heart of Sydney. From there we hired a cab to take us to Olympic Park. I had my disc golf discs with me in hopes that I could toss plastic and curse at one of the five disc golf courses on the continent. After talking with the man at the visitor's center, I was disappointed to learn that it is only open on the weekends. He did give us free passes up to the observation tower though.

After that, we hopped on a train and returned to the hotel.

Walking around in Sydney - Opera House, Sydney Harbor Bridge, Hyde Park

I call this one "The Essence of Sam". I became very familiar with this look. The look that says "What the heck are you doing, you're stupid".

Sydney Olympic Park - Pictures are ground level or from the observation deck.

Looking back at the Harbor Bridge and Downtown Sydney

Some pictures of our accommodation in Newcastle...which might be the greatest place on earth.

I've found a beer I enjoy! Mmmmm...only $4 a bottle :(

A few shots off the balcony - We're on the 10th floor.

The first sunset!! I apologize for the pictures, I resized and uploaded some of the wrong ones.

That's all for now, I'll try and do some more writing soon.

Day 1 – Sunday, July 06, 2008

2008-07-10T14:13:00.001+10:00

We arrived at 6:06AM local time. This is the equivalent of 3:03PM back home…yesterday. The flight from LA was a hair over 14 hours. We did over 600MPH at 35000 feet for the most of it on a very large plane, a 747-400. The outside temperatures were worse than 40 below at the worst part. (Yikes!) We had been on a plane for about 21 out of the last 24 hours. About 18 of those hours were spent in pitch black darkness as we traveled on the dark side of the planet (and somehow lost a day on the way). I managed to sleep 3 or 4 times, usually 20-30 minutes (estimating by the songs I missed on my iPod) although the last nap was quite possibly over an hour.

We left the plane and I made my first mistake in Australia. I was planning on shopping at the duty free shop in the airport (basically you can only get in if you’re on an international flight, stuff isn’t taxed and it’s pretty cheap) but I didn’t have any Australian money yet, I wasn’t sure where to go, I was very tired and all I saw when glancing that way was alcohol, and that was the least of my worries at the time, so we skipped it. The mistake was this…apparently there was a cell phone store there. Sam likes to do this thing where she walks in front of me and talks to me quietly while looking away from me and being short. As a direct result, I say “what?!” a lot, or just plain don’t hear her. Oh well, I missed the cell phone shop, we’ll find one later.

We grab our bags and make it through customs without a problem. They are going to stop Sam at quarantine to check the candy in her bag but they let me through without a hitch. They find out we are together and they let her go as well. We plan on testing this again on the way out with something more serious. (Think fuzzy, cute, and alive).

We exchange our money. I give them whatever’s in my wallet (something like $33 and a handful of change which the lady refused) and Samantha hands over a well-thought out stack of $20’s. We are paid $.999AUD for each one of our American dollars. The less you transfer, the higher percentage you pay on it, we end up paying $9 for transferring $430 over. We leave the airport.

There’s a neat little roundabout outside where taxis drive through constantly and they are hailed by a person with a vest and a radio for you. Our taxi driver was young and nice, but he must have been new. He got lost 3 times over the short 2 mile trip…and the worst part is, the first time he got lost was in this little roundabout….the person with the vest was chasing him down and waving him over to the other side where we stood waiting with our mountain of bags. Hahaha. He pulls up in a Ford Falcon wagon (pretty sharp).

After loading our bags into the back, I make an idiot out of myself for the first time. I’ve been in Australia for about an hour, I wasn’t sure I’d make it that long. Sam gets into the backseat, and I walk around to get into the front. Surprise, moron, these cars are right hand drive! The cabbie says something to the effect of “You plan on driving, mate?”.

We go north instead of south. The cabbie has never heard of our hotel. We turn around and find it. It’s closed. Nobody home. Awesome. He takes us back to a hotel by the airport. $45 cab ride for a 15 minute walk. At least he was helpful.

We check in and take the only room they have. It’s a family smoking room. There is a queen sized bed and two bunk beds. The room is tiny and lacks things that come even in the most basic hotel rooms in America, such as a phone, a hairdryer, cable TV, brochures/pamphlets, an ice bucket, etc. Needless to say there was also no fridge or microwave, and the bathroom was really more of a shower with a toilet and sink in it. (My first thoughts involved whether it was possible to make use of the toilet and the shower at the same time. I believe it is, although this is unproven…for now).

We walk next door to a Krispy Kreme. Good news everyone, the donuts taste the same! The bad news is that it’s going to take us a long time to be able to order what we want! I ordered “Two glased donuts and a coffee, please.” He responded with “What maasfdnd kind masndfhasdf madfh, haoshns, woomwowl, latte? I said “Just black coffee is fine.” Instead of coffee, I am presented with a pitch black liquid with a mysterious brown film on top that tastes absolutely brutal. Sam informs me this is probably expresso. Straight. In the size of a small coffee cup. I dump enough sugar in to kill a small animal and the coffee rejects it. The sugar forms into a pile on the top of my coffee, smirking at me. I poke it until it disappears. I paid for this and I WILL make it drinkable. It still tastes like the piss of Satan but it doesn’t make me gag at every sip anymore and that’s good enough for me. Sam orders a combo of two donuts and a ice cream coffee thing. She doesn’t get to pick the donuts (she thought she did) and gets chocolate milk instead of coffee. Oh well.

After making sure our luggage was intact, we try to sleep for a bit, as it’s 9AM now. Well, it’s 6PM last night and although we’re beat from the plane ride, we are unable to sleep. I’m sure the double quadruple used diaper I consumed had some part of this as well. I change my shirt from the “HEY, I’M AMERICAN!” tshirt with writing I have on to a much less conspicuous striped polo. Aussies love their horizontal stripes. We leave the hotel with a list of things to do.

-Find an ATM so I can get more than $23 in Australian money.

-Find a cellphone store and get pre-paid phones

-Find some lunch

-Find a pawn shop and look around for items we did not have room to pack.

-Find the police station so that Sam can trade patches.

-Walk around, get ourselves completely lost, and hail a cab back.

It takes us nearly an hour to find our way out of the airport on foot in a direction that doesn’t involve us walking in the grass, on the road, or across a 6 lane freeway. We walk for a very long time, taking a few random corners here and there, trying to find something that looks promising.

Something I simply never thought of until this moment. Everyone drives on the left over here…therefore, everyone walks on the left on the sidewalks. Back home, everyone walks on the right. After playing chicken with a woman and her dog, we adjust fairly well.

We walk past something that looks like a Home Depot and then something that looks like an Office Max. We go into the Office Max. They have cellphones, but not very many. We leave the “office max”. SOMEHOW we end up back on the street where our first hotel was. We find the police station. The officers there have never heard of trading patches (which is apparently pretty common back home) but they love the idea and agree to do it anyways. They seem to be fascinated with the United States and the one officer tells us that he’s never been off the island except for the one time he flew to the northern part of the island and the plane went over water for a bit. He plans on going to the states someday. “It’s me dream!”. Back home, if I walked into a police station and asked for a patch, or something else they’d never heard of, I’d probably be told “No, sorry, get out.” I was very surprised at how friendly everyone is so far.

Upon leaving the police station, I am nearly flattened by an very old man on a motorized wheelchair. “Sorry, excuse me!” I said. “Nearly got ya…” he muttered. This man is my hero.

We continue walking down this road, which is sort of a strip mall. There are not that many types of stores.

-Turkish Pizza and Kebab

-Chinese/Indian/Indonesian/Portuguese food

-Discount clothing stores.

-Casinos (well, not really, just really dark shops full of slot machines and video poker, but it was still pretty surprising)

-Café/Car washes. (interesting! You go inside and have a coffee or a sandwich while your car is washed. Some of these also have garages.)

Every restaurant in this strip proclaims “Take away food!” or some are “Take away or eat in!” (I suppose “take away” makes MUCH more sense than “take out.”) Also, 7 out of 8 of these stores are closed on Sunday, making lunch difficult. We stop at a convenience store. I buy a Gatorade and she buys a Sunkist. Neither taste the same, or come in a familiar size.

We end up walking back to the hotel I originally had reservations at, as they have a restaurant and a bar and I need food, beer, and to straighten that mess out.

My steak sandwich is large and delicious. My beer is apparently “schooner” sized…about a pint. I have no idea what the other sizes are. According to a lunch special sign, one special comes with a “middie” of house beer. Will do much more research on this later.

We walk around a liquor store and marvel at the prices. $40 for a cheap case. $4/bottle for beer, $24 for a six pack of ANYTHING. Booze is roughly twice what it is back home. We purchase a 1.125L of Smirnoff Rum for $40 and two 1.125L bottles of Coca Cola for about $4 total. The total is $46.50. Sam gives the guy a $50 and I lay down 50 cents. He asks if Sam has another dollar so he can give us a 5 back. She asks what a dollar coin looks like. So much for trying to fit in! The clerk laughed and showed us the difference between a one and two dollar coin. The two dollar coin is smaller, which the clerk explained, and doesn’t make any noise when you drop it. The dollar coin makes a nice ringing sound (which he demonstrated) and the two dollar coin just makes a quiet thud, which “gives you the ability to lose more”.

He also notices we are much tanner than the surrounding population!

Whatever I had in my pocket...no pennies here! From left to right, 5, 10, 20, 50 cent pieces, a 1 dollar coin and a 2 dollar coin.

We end up walking back to our hotel for two reasons. 1. Sam knows where we’re going. 2. Everytime I see a free cab, it is on another street or going in the opposite direction. We would move to the other side of the street or to the different street and then the cabs were going where we just came from. Absolutely terrible luck! It wasn’t a bad walk back, maybe 40 minutes to an hour.

If there’s one thing I’m getting good at, it’s using a greeting that I run through a vocal blender so that I fit in. Getting in the elevator, a man greeted me with “ey gang”. “ello” I mumbled. Dude didn’t know what hit him!

I slept from 6pm to 6AM here. That’s about 3AM – 3PM back home, which is not all that uncommon…haha.

I think that’s just about everything I could have told you about my first day in Sydney. It was a success. Today we are going to check out of this hotel and move to the other hotel (which is cheaper, not in the middle of the airport, and has a bar and restaurant).

I will leave you with an awesome story!

We are sitting in O’Hare airport in Chicago waiting for our flight. I remark to Samantha “That guy looks just like William Hung!”

“Haha, no way”. 15 minutes later. “Hung, party of two?” rings by over the standby speaker and they stand up. I get a picture with him, although I am not the first person in the terminal to recognize him.

Solid.

I HAVE 55 SECONDS LEFT OF INTERNET CREDIT

2008-07-06T08:24:00.001+10:00

to tell everyone that I made it safely! LONG flight.

I'll get details later, as well as a picture of me and an awesome celebrity I ran into in O'Hare

BYE!

Last post stateside!

2008-07-02T05:39:00.002+10:00

July 1st...3 days until I leave. It really hasn't quite set in yet. I'm excited to go, but I'm completely unmotivated as far as packing and cleaning right now. I've got everything taken care of, just not in one spot. I'll be taking 3 bags, checking a duffle and a suitcase and carrying on a duffle bag with my camera and laptop inside.

I'm dropping my car off at my Uncle's tomorrow where it's going to be stored while I'm gone. The other one is probably going to become some sort of shelving unit in my parent's garage.

I'm flying out on Friday, July 4th at 4:08PM from Appleton WI. 57 minutes later I'll land in Chicago. Little over 2 hours of waiting, then a 4:15 flight to LAX. Hour and a half later, I'll board the 14 hour, 15 minute flight to Sydney. I'll arrive at 6:15AM two days after I boarded the first flight.

Somebody let me know how July 5th is. I won't have one this year. I will, however have two November 29ths...explain this business to me.

I kinda wish I coulda waited a few days to fly out...I'm missing my buddy's wedding and all the 4th of July parties that everybody loves. (which reminds me of a joke..."Does Australia have a 4th of July? - Yes, it's between the 3rd and the 5th".) On the plus side, I get a few days in Sydney to sleep off the jet lag, wander around, and try to figure out which way the toilets flush down there.

Keep me bookmarked...I'm planning on updating this at least weekly with what little internet I have. Look for lots of pictures and some interesting stories in the next couple of weeks! See you all when I return!

Ready to GO already!

2008-05-14T01:53:00.003+10:00

I've picked out a credit card I want to use overseas (Discover no worky). I've called my bank and notified them to not freak out when I start ringing up charges on the other side of the world. My loan is almost on it's way, all the paperwork is done for my trip, I have my passport... I think all I really have to do yet is apply for a Visa...and then pack!

I have dreams where I dream about life in Australia all night...and then I am quite dissappointed to find myself still here in sleepy Platteville. This morning when I woke up, I had just had a dream that my flight had arrived. I woke up and thought to myself "I have nothing to do today (true), I guess I'll just sleep off the jet lag! (false)".

I'll be working 30-40 hours a week for the 5 weeks I am home to keep myself busy and generate a little extra fundage. Yay Autozone. I start on Monday.

As for Platteville, I had a final Monday, then I have three finals on Thursday... 10AM, 1PM, and 7PM...and then I'm done! My check-out time is Friday at 1:20pm.

And so it begins...

2008-04-30T11:19:00.005+10:00

I'm a 22 year old attending the University of Wisconsin - Platteville, in case you don't know me. I created this blog to document my journey to the other side of the world. I'm spending the next semester abroad in Newcastle, Australia, and figured this was a great way to not only keep everyone back home up to date, but also use it as a journal for myself. I'm planning on using this more as a journal and less of a blog where I post lyrics and make other people cry or some nonsense. I'll post as many details as I have time for...if you're extremely interested in my travels, you will get all the information you can handle. If you're less than interested, I'll have lots of pictures too.

One thing I never expected was the amount of work to set this all up. When I decided to go, I knew I'd be filling out some paperwork, but never this much! I had to fill out dozens of forms, get recommendations letters from teachers, find courses and their Platteville equivalents, and collect signatures from a couple of the higher ups before I was even accepted into the program. Now that I'm officially going, I was handed a three ring binder full of paperwork! Many of the forms seem to be redundant, and I'd hate to be the one that has to keep all this paperwork in order.

I had a three hour orientation meeting tonight, met with everyone leaving in the Spring, the directors of the program, and a bunch of students who were nice enough to come out and answer questions on the individual programs. It's all pretty overwhelming, but after going to the meeting, I feel much better, as all of my questions were answered, I know now pretty much everything I need to pack, and I seem to be farther ahead than the other applicants as far as paperwork goes.

Some notable things I've done thus far:
-Most of my paperwork
-Got passport photos taken
-Applied for a passport
-Booked a flight
-Applied for a loan
-Registered for classes
-Mailed a medical form to my doctor that I will hopefully get back sometime.

Stuff I have left to do:
-Finalize details for my sublease back here.
-Finish paperwork...only a handful of pages left, most of them needing MORE photos
-$400 program deposit
-Stop by "home base" (study abroad office) and pick up MORE paperwork and my ID card.

For whatever reason, the cheapest flight I found was $1923 after tax. That seems to be a bit higher than some of the other students, I talked to two who were in the $1600-1700 range, but I am flying from Appleton to Chicago, which is nice. I don't think I came out too bad. I leave July 4th, 2008, and returning November 29th, 2008.

I just spilled some beer on my keyboard, so if the blog ends abruptly, you know what happened.

And the loan, oh man...$20,000! Everyone says that most people run out of money, so I guessed a little high. I forgot about financial aid, so I might have guessed even higher than I thought.
Program cost - $11000
Airfare - $2000 (round trip)
Spending money, food, travel, rent while over there - $5000-$6000
The rest of it I'll put toward canceling my credit card or paying my rent next semester

Well, that's enough for now. I'll post up later with my full itinerary and more details as they develop!