Well, I’m back from New Zealand and it was amazing. Spent a week there, half in Christchurch and the other half in Auckland. I flew first from Brisbane to Christchurch, which was an experience. They should really tell you on your itinerary that if you have a foreign passport then you need your itinerary for your return flight before you can board the plane. That caused lots of drama. Fortunately I was there with plenty of time so I still made my flight. The flight there is a little over three hours, which isn’t that bad. I landed and got to my hotel, which was a bed and a bathroom in a closet like room with no window. But it was very nice, and I knew when I made the reservation that that would be what it was. They had this thing that you could set an alarm and five minutes before it went off a light above the bed would start to glow like a "morning sunrise" so you could slowly wake up to that. I did not take advantage of this. Instead I woke up to a pitch black room and blasted my eyes with a halogen lamp.

Christchurch is beautiful. For a city it was very unpopulated and it is situated right around the mountains of the canterbury region, near the southern alps. My first full day there I went on a Lord of the Rings tour where they took us into the mountains to see where they filmed a lot of the second movie. I was there really for the scenery, which was amazing, but it was a little cool to learn all about the movie.

We drove through a lot of the mountains and then walked up the hill where they filmed it, the town of Edorus. The hill is in the center of the valley surrounded 360 degrees by snow covered mountains. And if that isn’t enough there is a little stream at the bottom, which is actually a class 5 rapid, but since we couldn’t get high enough it just looks like a dried out river bed. I got a taste of real New Zealand farm land on the drive out there. We got in two traffic jams, one caused by sheep and the other by cows. Certainly an experience.

My second day in Christchurch I went and saw the Ron Mueck exhibit at the Christchurch Art Gallery. Amazingly enough the all glass building withstood the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the city two months ago, and none of the pieces were damaged. Unfortunately though, the earthquake damaged a lot of the old buildings, many of which were still under construction when I was there. After the quake Christchurch has already had over 1800 aftershocks, one of which occurred my first night there, it was 3.1 magnitude. But apparently no one gets out of bed for less than 5. Well then. Luckily enough no one was killed and only one person hospitalized, but they have since been released.

Later that day I took a bus about a half hour outside the city to Sumner Beach. It was pretty nice, reminded me a bit of Colorado, with the small town right next to the mountains.

After Christchurch I flew into Auckland, which was not nearly as impressive, although still very cool. It was just like any other city in any other part of the world really. Lots of people, tall buildings, and the like. The first day there I met up with Meaghan and we walked around the city and went to One Tree Hill. The tree that sat up on the hill is no longer there due to protestors, but it is still a beautiful walk around the domain and is a great lookout place. There were tons of sheep roaming about, which was also a nice touch.

Our second day in auckland we went bungy jumping off the auckland bridge! It was terrifying and awesome. The feeling of free falling is completely foreign and was terrifying, but after the initial drop it is more enjoyable. They dunked me in the water, which was also a new experience. It’s the only bungy that can do that. Then we took a ferry over to Waiheke island and explored a bit. Lots of small towns and beaches.

Our last day we went to a dormant volcano, Rangitoto Island. We hiked up it, about an hour and a half and got awesome views of the city and the water. I had never been to a volcano before, so it was a new experience. It's the youngest volcano in New Zealand, having only erupted 600-800 years ago.

New Zealand is hosting the Rugby World Cup next spring (for them) so everywhere we went was an advertisement for it, or a place selling clothing. They have countdowns everywhere and it's still a little less than a year away. Crazy. They take their rugby seriously.

Now it’s back to life on the Gold Coast for five more days before I depart for America. 13 hours to LA, 5 hours in LA, and 5 1/2 hours to Boston and I'll be home. Crazy how fast this went by. It was certainly a life changing experience and I recommend that anyone who can study abroad definitely should.

This past week I was lucky enough to travel down to Sydney. We were there for a total of four days and managed to fit everything in. The first day we went to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, Botanical Gardens, and walked down George Street, famous for it's shopping, and found Gap australia-only the second to be here, the first is in Melbourne.

The second day was spent in the Blue Mountains. We went on a group tour so we learned lots of fun facts. The Blue Mountains got their name because when viewed from a distance there is a blue tinge. This is caused by light reflecting off vapours from the eucalyptus leaves. The mountains, which are actually not a mountain range, but a plateau made from mostly sandstone, border metropolitan Sydney. They begin on the west side of the Nepean River. They are part of the Great Divide and are dissected by gorges of up to 760 meters deep. It's World Heritage listed, the fourth area to be listed in New South Wales.

In the mountains is a place called Scenic World, which houses the world's steepest railway, which I had the pleasure of riding. The steepest grade is 52 degrees. You start out on a flat surface and are laying down in the seat. As it goes up you sit straighter and straighter. It was slightly terrifying, but awesome. You're caged in essentially though, but that doesn't stop everyone from feeling the need to hold on to the cage. The railway is Guinness certified, so it really is the World's steepest.

Probably the most recognized feature of the Blue Mountains is the rock formation called the Three Sisters. Legend has it that three sisters, Meehin, Wimiah, and Gunnedoo lived in Jamison Valley as part of the Katoomba tribe. The sisters fell in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, but tribe law forbade them from marrying. The brothers, unhappy with this decision, captured the sisters causing a major tribe battle. A witch-doctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the sisters into stone to protect them from harm. Unfortunately he was killed before he could turn them back. Now the sisters remain in their rock formation as a reminder of the battle. The sisters stand 922, 918, and 906 meters tall.

On our way back from the mountains we stopped at a National Park to observe some wild kangaroos. We saw a mom and a baby joey about 18 months old. Now I had no idea how cool kangaroos are. The most often seen kangaroo is the Eastern Grey. Now kangaroos have fixed hips, so they can't walk, they hop. But their hind legs have stretchy tendons that store elastic strain energy, so they use hardly any muscular effort to move. Also, there is a link between their hopping and breathing. So as their feet leave the ground air is expelled from the lungs and as they move their feet to touch the ground their lungs are refilled. Because of this increases in speed require very little extra effort. Female kangaroos are the cool ones though. They are essentially always pregnant. And inside their pouch is four different teats and they can produce two different types of milk to provide for joeys of varying age. They can also suspend the development of a joey when there is little food or water to provide the best chance of life. Kangaroos are shy by nature, though the males will often 'box' with other males for play or territorial reasons. Their tail serves as a fifth limb and often when they are fighting they will balance themselves on their tail. Aboriginals use kangaroo for their meat, hide, bone, and tendon. And a little fun fact, kangaroos and emus are featured on the australian coat of arms because they are the only animal that can't walk backwards. And australia is the only country that eats their coat of arms.

We then went to see an aboriginal carving. Now did you know that aboriginals banned graffiti? They only allow it if it tells a story. The one we saw was of a kangaroo that had been taken down by a hunting boomerang and then killed by a spear through it's heart. The way it was facing pointed to where they then went and it's legs were in a wide stance, indicating it was moving fast when it was taken down. Very interesting. Aboriginals also get a tattoo when they are a teenager of their tribe symbol. When they want to marry they go to the tribe elders and show their tattoos. If they don't match they can marry. This prevents inbreeding. Crazy business. Their traditional instrument, the didgeridoo, is traditionally only played by the eastern kimberley region, and only by the men.

And have you ever wondered why the australian sporting colors are green and gold when their flag is red white and blue? Well that's because of the wattle tree. With it's green stem and golden leaves. There are over 985 species of the wattle tree in australia. And so they use the golden wattle for their sporting colors.

Our third day in Sydney we went to Bondi Beach, a very famous beach. This art thing called Sculpture by the Sea was taking place so we walked around that which was cool. And then we headed back to the Gold Coast.

So I bought this book yesterday called "Things Bogans Like", essentially it's like the book "Stuff White People Like" only for australia. Regardless, I am super excited to start reading it. Books here are super expensive, borders was selling it for $40, but alas, with my clever shopping skills I got it for a mere $24 with free shipping. What a find. Bogans have been everywhere in the past couple of days with the Gold Coast 600, a race car event of the sorts with bands playing at night. "Race by day and Rock by night". It brought the bogans out in full swing. This was not a weekend to be spent in surfers, although there never really is a weekend to be spent in surfers. But alas, I shall now take the time to describe how australians speak.

Their favorite words include, but are not limited to, heaps, reckon, bogan, eh (not to be confused with canadians). Sunnies=sunglasses, doona=comforter, jumper=sweatshirt, singlet=tank top, they refer to pots and pans as cookery, silverware is cutlery, bathers=swimsuit, a fillet is pronounced with the t, nap=kipper, they enjoy saying they will "have a think" or "have a sleep", liqueur stores are bottle shops. Overall australian speak is way more fun than american speak.

I went for a run the other day along a path I usually run on, and it had been raining for the previous several days. I'm running along, rocking out to my music when all of a sudden a blue tongued lizard runs out in front of me. Now, blue tongued lizards are not large, maybe a foot long, but are they dangerous? Well i have no idea. So of course it scares the crap out of me and i have a little freak out, all by myself, on this path. It's a good thing i was all by myself or i may not have any friends at the moment. But as it was running across the path it turns its nasty blueish head to look at me and slithers its bright blue tongue at me and then continues on. It was most distressing. But i pressed on.

The tongue has not been colored in, it is literally bright blue.

Meaghan, Kate, and I went for a walk about a week ago, and it was chilly in the shade so we switched up our normal routine and decided to go for a walk through some of the nearby neighborhoods. 1. so we could stay in the sun and get our bronze on, and 2. to creep on some of the houses/people. On our way back we decided to follow a path through the woods that would take us back to the village. The path ended. We had to bush walk it back to the village. As we're walking Kate says that we should make a lot of noise so the snakes don't come out. Excuse me?! So in a span of a few days i had my first aussie wildlife encounter and i had myself a nice bush walk. How very aussie of me.

It's the last week of classes over here. crazy, i know. But no fears, i'm not completely done until the 18th when i have my only final exam. Lame. But meaghan and i will be venturing to sydney next monday where we shall explore the Blue Mountains among other things. And! I'm officially going to New Zealand! It's official, the 21-27 i'll be an unofficial Kiwi (New Zealander). I'm going bungy jumping off the Auckland Bridge, a 40 meter jump, and they dip you in the water! It's all so exciting. We're doing it on Thanksgiving as well. So when i'm asked what i did for thanksgiving i can say "well i went bungy jumping off the auckland bridge." Who gets to say that?

The thing about kitchens without ovens. Creative cooking, I like to call it. We like to refer to our microwave as a "moven". It supposedly has an oven setting, but whether this is a true "oven" setting is questionable. It only heats to 100 degrees, which, if you've ever cooked anything in your life you know 100 degrees won't get you very far. So what do we do? We improvise. This past weekend we had two lovely family dinners. Lasagna was cooked in the "moven", I discovered there is such a thing as brocciflower (a broccoli/cauliflower hybrid, apparently it's brocciflower season), we indulged ourselves in a roast, which could be smelled from down the sidewalk, gravy was made from a bag, and cheese sauce was served out of a tupperware container. Now, these weren't dinners to write home about (although I did) but for broke college students without a real functional oven, it was the best thing I've had since I've been here that's been cooked in a village kitchen. I don't know if it's that they don't trust us with ovens, because they are very serious about their fire safety. In the first week we were told maybe 10 times that if you set the fire alarm off you have 30 seconds to press the "oops i set off the fire alarm" switch and then you have 2 minutes to clear the apartment of smoke before they call the fire brigade and charge you $1000. And no one wants that. Especially now that the exchange rate is no longer in my favor. But that's a whole other story.

In other news, it appears that I will be New Zealand bound the last week in November! If all goes according to plan (and mommy and daddy say yes) I will be flying into Christchurch (the south island), spending a few days there, and then flying to the north island to Auckland and spending a few days there. Other than that not much has been happening around here. It's been raining essentially since we got back from the Whitsundays. I thought I left Ithaca, but apparently it's weather came with me. Finals are coming up, so everyone has finals fever. Although it is must less severe here than back home. I really could care less about them considering I only have one final. If you can even really call it that. Also, the release of Harry Potter in australia is before its release in the states. And I will be seeing it at midnight.

Well, I'm back from my trip to the Whitsunday Islands. It was fabulous, tiring, and a little scary. We arrived on wednesday night and took a bus from Prosperpine airport to Airlie beach where our hostel was. Now, I've only ever stayed in two hostels, one in Byron Bay and one in Melbourne. The Byron one was fair, but since we were with a group it was better. Melbourne the hostel was fabulous. Quiet, clean rooms, the bathroom was down the hall, but that was no big deal, a little cold, but over all very enjoyable. Airlie Beach hostel was bad. Very, very bad. We get to the room, luckily it is air conditioned, it has a small little kitchen and a bathroom in the room. Those are its only redeeming qualities. Our bunk is right next to the door, we are the only girls with 4 other guys, 3 of which are 20 and from England, studying at Brisbane. We're tired so we just want to go to bed. The 3 guys go out for the night and return at around 3 o'clock in the morning. They then decide it would be a fantastic idea to make heaps of noise. They are taking pictures, and I'm not sure if they actually took a picture of us sleeping, because i saw the flash and then heard them like run and laugh. So, I go on defensive mode. I face the wall but am wide awake to ensure I can kick them in the balls if they try and do anything funny. One of them brought back a girl and proceeded to do dirty things in the bathroom. They continued on like this for a good 45 minutes. I was pretty sure we were going to be raped, but we were not. The second night the room is then joined by 2 other girls from england, but they just got off a boat and were very tired as well. The boys went out again that night, and returned around 1 and again made a boat load of noise. This night, though, no one brought home a girl. They did this again on the third night. Good thing we were only in that room for 3 nights. I feared for my safety a bit. I don't know what it is with these europeans, but they like to sleep in the hot. All the rooms had air conditioning, which i was very content to leave on all night. But they would turn it off! Who does that! So we wake up in the morning and it's beastly hot. Not okay.

After getting over the horrible hostel experience, we did have a good first 3 days. We went jetskiing, which is very fun. The water was a little choppy

which made it very hard to drive it. We got caught in

a boat's wake and i'm pretty sure we got some major air going over those waves. They make it look very easy to drive in the movies, but let me tell you, for a first time jetskiier, it was very not easy to drive. We also got to hold baby sharks and feed barramundi fish. Now when these fish eat it's crazy. You dangle their food right in front of their nose and they just wait. Then when they decide it's the right time to eat, they will pounce and suck in the food and like 2 liters of water in a fraction of a second. It's ridiculous. So of c

ourse we all got a big kick out of it. We also got to feed giant sting rays. Because their mouth is on their stomachs essentially, you have to push the food under them so they are on your arm and they just like suck it up. Strangest feeling ever.

On saturday we went on our boat trip. We were on a maxi yacht called Broomstick. That was awesome. It was all a bunch of other young travelers backpacking through australia. We met up with two other americans and were dubbed team america by a crew member we du

bbed team england. That stuck for the duration of the trip. We sailed around the Whitsundays, slept on the boat, went scuba diving, snorkling, went to Whitehaven beach and had a marvelous time. I went for an optional dive, which was amazing. We went about 7 meters down and saw 2 sting rays and this big fish that is in the process of changing for a female to a male. How

interesting. That morning it was raining when we woke up. But we decided to go to Whitehaven beach anyway. This is like the most beautiful beach in the Whisundays/most of australia. It's actually I think something like a national park, so you can only visit it was a tour group, and you can only stay on it for I believe 4 hours. The sand is so white and soft it's outrageous. I wanted to bottle it up and take it home with me. As soon as we got to the beach the weather cleared up. But of course because it was so gross out when we left none of use were wearing sun screen so we had to stay in our lovely stinger suits (a lighter wet suit to protect you from jelly fish). We frolicked in the water for a few hours before heading back to the boat.

After the boat trip we were back in Airlie for 2 more days. We just hung around mostly. On our last day we were parasailing. Such great fun. Plus the boat driving was a babe. Such a great ending to a great trip. Now it's back to reality for a few more weeks. Only 4 more weeks in the semester here, crazy. We're planning a trip with a bunch of people back to Byron in early october, a trip to sydney in early november, and then hopefully we'll get over to New Zealand before we head back to the states.

Melbourne was AMAZING. I’ve decided that Melbourne is my city. Everything about it was wonderful. It was clean, interesting, artsy, friendly, and fabulous. There is so much to do and see. It was very European. It really didn’t feel like I was in australia, but I don’t think I would be able to place where I was on a map. The city itself is really nice. Much like any other city it has tall buildings and shopping. But it has all these trams that run through it, which is the main form of public transport. Outside the city are all these little towns and such. There is St. Kilda, which has a bunch of shopping and is on the water. Then there is Fitzroy, which has Brunswick St. which is really artsy and alternative. Then there is South Yarra, which is more upscale shopping and such. It was really just a great city, very user friendly.

We flew in on Wednesday with this cheap ass airline Tiger Airways. So we get to the airport and go to find our gate, which is in like the airport’s basement. We have to walk on the runway for like 5 minutes before we get to the actual plane, which is like half empty. BUT first, when we get to the airport we go to get our boarding passes. So we walk up and they are like, you didn’t “web check-in” so that will be $20, plus a $5 service fee, and oh, you’re using a card, we charge another $6.25 for that. WHAT THE HELL I HATE YOU TIGER AIRWAYS. The security in australia is seriously lacking. When we went through the metal detectors we didn’t have to take off our shoes, or jackets/sweatshirts or anything. On the way home we didn’t even have to show ID. Crazy business. But anyway, when we land in Melbourne we don’t even go in the actual airport. We land and walk on the runway, then through this like tin tunnel and into like the freight area. We were treated like cargo. Ok so the flight was really cheap, but seriously, I am a human being. I deserve to go through the airport. But we survived.

We get to the hostel, which is in like the perfect location, right across from Federation Square and Flinders St. Station. Our room is an 8 person room, but luckily the only open beds were in the corner so no one walked by us. But the light above my bed was broken, and the main switch light was on this 1 hour timer, so at night, when the light went off, it was bed time for me. The showers on the floor we were on didn’t get good hot water so we had to go up 2 floors to shower, which was a pain. But it was fine. It was clean and everything, so no worries there.

Thursday was our first full day in the city. We started the morning off by wandering around the streets and stores near the hostel, just to get our bearings and such. Then we walked over to Federation Square, got lunch, and went and saw the Tim Burton exhibit at the Australian Center for the Moving Image. That was really cool, I had no idea he did so much, and that Johnny Depp was in like all his movies. But there were props and such from his various movies and a bunch of his sketches and such. Then we walked around a little more and then went and got dinner. The food in Melbourne is so good. There are a bunch of like lanes and alleys that have little cafes and stuff. We went to this one cafe and I had the best chai latte I have ever had in my life. Literally it was great. So good.

Friday, it was overcast and a little rainy in the morning. But we avoided that well and went to the aquarium. That was pretty cool, got to see some authentic australian fishes. We watched them feed these giant sting rays and sharks and sea turtles. Man, I’ll tell you, those sea turtles are a pain in the ass. They bite the people that feed them and won’t let go. And the sting rays are very greedy. They just like flopped over the divers and kept coming back for more. It was enjoyable. In the afternoon we met up with my cousin, whom I was meeting for the very first time in australia, how weird. But we met him in St. Kilda and walked along the beach to see wild penguins. We saw two of them because most of them were out and about. But they were really small, it was neat. Then he took us for a drive to Arthur’s Seat, which has really good views. We got to see more outside the city, which was nice. We had scones, with jam and cream and tea, which is called something, but it has escaped me at this moment. But it was delicious. Then Ahron and his wife took us out for dinner at this chinese restaurant. It was just a great day.

Saturday in the morning we went and got crepes that were delicious. Then we headed over to the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail) where the infamous Ned Kelly was hanged. He was a notorious killer with like a political agenda. But it was cool to see. That’s where they shipped a lot of the convicts from Tasmania and such to. After that we walked over to Brunswick Street, which is really artsy and has all these shops and cafes and such. It was cool to see. For dinner we got sushi and then went to the Eureka Skydeck. It’s like 92 stories high, but the actual deck part is 88 stories up. We went on the Edge, which is like this glass box thing that moves 3 meters out from the building, it moves while you are in it. They do this like light and sound show while you’re in it as well. It was actually a little scary. I felt like I had to hold on and couldn’t look down. But I did, and it was really cool. After that we walked around Southbank or something like that, which is just on the other side of the Yarra river. It was really pretty.

Sunday we went shopping. All day. We started the day on Ackland Street in St. Kilda. That’s where all the European Jews first settled, but they have long since gone. But they did leave behind all their food. I had a smoked salmon sandwich was spinach and cream cheese. Delicious. Then I got chocolate mousse and it was delicious. The shopping was amazing. After Ackland St. we went to Chapel Street which is more upscale shopping. That was also fabulous. And we all know how much I love shopping, it was just a great day. For dinner we went to China Town and had wonderful chinese food. We were the only white people in the restaurant besides this one guy eating by himself. But I take that as a good thing, meaning the food is probably good, which it was.

All in all Melbourne was everything I wanted it to be. We got to do everything we said we wanted and then some. The city was a perfect fit for australia, a city, yet very relaxed. Everything worked out very well for a trip planned by ourselves. The timing was perfect, we avoided the rain, the weather was wonderful for Melbourne, and it was actually really nice to be in a colder climate.

Coming up we have the British India concert on Thursday and then next Wednesday we take off for the Whitsundays. I think we’re going to spend a few days on a yacht, which will be very nice. Much more relaxing than our trip to Melbourne, but should be just as enjoyable.

So this week was fun. It’s now September, which means it’s spring here. And apparently, when it hits spring it all of a sudden gets really hot. So it’s been really pretty hot here and very humid, needless to say, my hair has not been very happy. And it gets really hot at night in the rooms. You can sleep with the windows open until like 5 o’clock in the morning and then the birds start making their noises so you have to close with windows and then it heats up like no-ones business. So that’s been fun. Good thing I’m not here for the dead of summer.

On Friday we went to the beach for a few hours and then me, meaghan, kate, and simon went to a rugby game. It was the Gold Coast Titans vs. Wests Tigers. The Titans were ranked #4 and the Tigers #2. It was a very good game. The Titans won by like 4 points to secure a home game for the semi-finals. The best part of the game were the hotties sitting in front of us. They were nice to look at. At half time they had little kids come out and play rugby and this little kid, probably no older than 9 completely decked this other little kid. It was nuts. They have no fear.

Saturday was a lazy day. Got some work done. I have to do this presentation in my creative writing class on controversial writers. So I’ve been gathering information for that because I will be gone the weekend before it’s due. I’ve also been writing a short story for that class.

Sunday we went to this vintage market in Burleigh. I found this nice little bag. It was a find. It rained, which was gross. There was this one stand place that had the best 80’s jumpers (sweatshirts). One looked like it was straight out of Saved by the Bell. We came back and had ourselves a nice sleep. It was fabulous. We bought tickets to go see this band from Melbourne, British India on sept. 16th. Exciting.

We’ve got the Melbourne trip coming up. We leave on Wednesday and get in at night. We plan on going to this jail where they kept all the convicts to be executed. This big serial killer, Ned Kelly was executed there and they have his execution mask, should be pretty cool. We also plan to go to the aquarium, see some australian fishes. I’m meeting up with my cousin Friday afternoon, he said he would show us the non-touristy melbourne, should be fun. It’ll be nice to get off the Gold Coast. It’s nice here, but it’s a little tacky. Lots of high rises of various colors, many of them a pink color. Lots of boguns, australian creeps, essentially.

Sunday was fathers day here. Good on me, I texted dear old daddy. Lucky him getting two father’s days this year. Other than that, not much is going on here. Just gearing up for a hectic September.