"Everything I say today seems to come out sounding sexual"

So, the second to last weekend in May, Ellen, Jess (a fellow Cornell student), and I took a holiday to the Blue Mountains. Yes, it was a long time ago...trust me, you want to see the pictures. (Also, to clarify now, the title quote comes from our guide. We manage to keep our minds and speech out of the gutter occassionally.)

Though it's fairly easy to get to the Blue Mountains via a train from Sydney, we opted to book a tour because that way we didn't have to plan everything. The less work I have to do and the more fun I have, the better. We booked through Oz Experience, so we did all the touristy sites on Friday, stayed overnight in a hostel in Katoomba (the main town) on Friday and Saturday nights, and had 2 free days. Day one, our bus driver/tour guide was Adam...who showed up at the meet-up point with overbite dentures and a mullet wig. Ellen and Jess were a little bit taken in (mostly because it was 7am), but I knew from the get-go they were fake. On our way to the mountains we stopped at a campsite and found some wild kangaroos snacking on freshly cut grass (apparently a favorite dish).

Eastern Gray Kangaroos and me; kangaroos listening to something


We did two walks on Friday; the first was along the cliff edge and involved more stairs going up than going down (not a good ratio). The other took us down the Furber stairs, past the Three Sisters, and finally back up the mountainside with a ride on the world's steepest railway. It was built to carry coal from mines, not people, up the hillside and clocks in at 52 degrees - aka you stand and hope you don't tumble forward to the bottom of the train.

Cliff lookout; Three Sisters; many stairs (Furber Stairs); attempt to show steepest railway



I had been told by my house manager- Justin, if you've forgotten - that the Jenolan Caves were not to be missed, so that's what we did with our entirely free day on Saturday. On our way back, we stopped and saw more wild kangaroos. The last group had been about 6 or 7, but there were at least 10 in this clearing.

Clouds sitting in a valley; feeding kangaroos


Jenolan has heaps of what they call "show" caves of which we toured two. The first, the Lucas cave, is known for it's huge caverns and acoustics. The second, the Orient cave, is known for its decoration; the walls were practically covered in crystal from floor to ceiling. So gorgeous! After touring two caves (each tour takes a little over an hour) Ellen and Jess were done for the day, but I could have visited all of them if we had had the time. The pictures don't even come close to doing the caves justice, but it's the best I could do...

Lucas cave; "The Bishop," formation in the Lucas cave; "Indian Headdress," formation in the Orient cave; crystals



Sunday, we planned a walk of our own. Unfortunately, our planned route was closed for repair, so we made the best of it and set off in another direction. We lucked out and stumbled across a great lookout from the cliff wall in the Leura Cascades area.

Leura Cascades


As always, this is no where near all of my photos, so look at my flickr to see the rest (including a few that look like I was photoshopped into pictures of the Three Sisters - I was there, I promise!). In general, it was a great weekend; I got some exercise, saw some beautiful things, and didn't think about homework once.

Quickie

I'm in New Zealand and it's absolutely gorgeous!

Pictures and more information to come when I'm not paying for internet.

To Thine Own Self Be True

One of the greatest quotes from a classic teen movie seems appropriate to open this post...
Heather: It's just like Hamlet said, "To thine own self be true."
Cher: Hamlet didn't say that.
Heather: I think I remember Hamlet accurately.
Cher: Well I remember Mel Gibson accurately, and he didn't say that. That Polonius guy did.
(Clueless)

Last night, I finally got to see a show at the Opera House...Hamlet. I chose it for a couple of reasons: 1. I could get $30 tickets because I'm under 27 (yay! for encouraging theater for us younger folk), 2. although I am enamored with the Bard, I have yet to see many of his plays live, 3. I read Hamlet in senior year and realized then that it would probably make much more sense on stage, and 4. it's Hamlet! Unfortunately, I couldn't convince anyone to go along with me because no one I asked shares my love of 3 1/2 hour tragedies set in Denmark.

In short, the show was fantastic. Though they spoke the lines as written by Shakespeare, the costumes and set were given a modern spin - i.e. the actors wore suits, button down shirts, and dresses - though the climactic fight scene was still fought with swords. I forgot just how many iconic Shakespearean quotes/scenes come from this play; there's the obvious "To be or not to be" speech, the scene involving a skull (which doesn't occur, contrary to popular belief, during the aforementioned speech), "to thine own self be true," and the oft misquoted "the lady protests too much" (often stated as "the lady doth protest too much"). All of the actors were superb, and it was clear they had studied the material and understood what they were saying.

Unsurprisingly, the actor that really stood out to me was Brendan Cowell - aka Hamlet. I did a little research when I got home, and found out that he is a bit of a theater Renaissance man in that he acts in all the major mediums (film, tv, and theater), writes critically acclaimed plays, and occasionally directs. He has also never had formal acting classes and has had roles on some hit Australian shows. I enjoyed this interview I stumbled across in which he talks specifically about this role: "You only get one shot at Hamlet."

There were a few groups of secondary school students in attendance and, unfortunately for all of us, one of the teachers got ill in the final act and the show had to be stopped to attend to her...wait for it...during Hamlet's death speech. Yes, you read that correctly and yes, it was a little devastating. There were a couple of good things that came out of it. First, it showed the Brendan Cowell doesn't have a monstrous ego, as it was actually he who reacted to the commotion in the audience and had the stage manager stop the show. When she had been taken care of, he preceeded to rewind and re-perform the final speech, even though he had already done so. Also, not to make light of the situation, but *spoiler* in the last act of Hamlet pretty much everyone dies. Thus, when the show was stopped, quite a few dead bodies re-animated to keep track of what was going on. Once the show recommenced one actress (Heather Mitchell playing Gertrude, Hamlet's mother) milked her return to death for all it was worth and got an appreciative laugh from the audience. In the end, though some of the mood was lost, the finale still brought tears to my eyes in the good way.

On a totally unrelated note, I closed my Commonwealth bank account on Tuesday (aka my Australian bank). This was really the first step toward my leaving and my final days - after completing three final papers in the last week and a half. It's definitely starting to set in that soon, I'll be leaving Australia for the States. I'm betting now that it will be bittersweet; I'll certainly be glad to be home and see friends and family I haven't seen in 4 or 5 months, but I'm definitely going to miss this place. Especially the not working part...

I will leave you with some night shots of Circular Quay I took before the play:


ps - I'm still behind on one post, my Blue Mountains trip with Ellen, but I'm headed off to New Zealand for 9 days tomorrow, so don't be expecting that before I get back. After I take my final, I'll try to spend a day getting caught up on everything (which will be heaps after all the adventures I plan to have in New Zealand). And with that, I'm off to pack.

Sipping Wine in the Hunter Valley

Napa Valley : California :: Hunter Valley : Sydney/New South Wales
For those far removed from the SATs, that is an analogy. As an early 21st birthday present (and a rather fitting one at that), my parents funded a day of wine, chocolate, and cheese tasting. I've been selling wine at The Tombs for over a year now, but I can't say I ever understood the wine jargon. Thus, part of my mission was to learn what the hell I was talking about. The Hunter Valley is located about one hour Northwest of Sydney. The tour visited two boutique wineries - self-contained, small, family run wineries - and up to two other more commercial ones.

Our first stop was Iron Gate Estate. It was a gorgeous day and the Hunter Valley is a really pretty area of Sydney. The first tasting was at 10am (a great time for wine I think) and Roger, the owner, was amusing and informative. The Hunter Valley is known for two particular white wines: Semeillions and Verdehlos (from Portugeuse grapes). I really liked most of the Semeillions, though I wasn't a big fan of the Verdehlos. Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed all of the sweet wines I tried. In the end, I bought a somewhat aged Oaked Semeillion from Iron State. I also really enjoyed the Sweet Shiraz (it was designed to go with chocolate) and almost bought chocolates infused with it, but decided against it.

Rodger


Iron Gate vinyards; wine barrels


The next stop was lunch, chocolates, cheese, and up to two tastings - quite a lot to cover in an hour and a half. After lunch I headed to the chocolates, but restrained myself and only bought a little fudge. Then I headed off the the cheese shop; I really had no idea where to start. After tasting everything available, I bought a marinated fromage bleu (which was fabulous and gone in three days) and an Irish cheddar that was protected by green wax. I ended up having a little extra time, so I did the closer of the two tastings; this one was a pick and taste, i.e. here's a list - pick what you want to try. I tried a couple of unrelated wines, but settled on a Riesling.

McGuigan Cellars near the cheese shop


Our final stop was another boutique winery, Ernest Hill Winery. They name many of their wines after one of two things: location in the vinyard (e.g. "Chicken Shack" Chardonnay) or after a dead relative. My favorites were the two "girly" wines; I bought the Sparkling Semeillion (Luna Spark) and only barely resisted the Sweet Semeillion (Silver Moon).

Ernest Hill Winery


I also bought an authentic, Aboriginal-made boomerang. I really wanted a didgeridoo because it seems like an exotic, typically "Australian" souvenir. I changed my mind though because boomerangs are native to New South Wales (the state in which Sydney is located), while didgeridoos are native to the Northern Territory. Were I to buy a didgeridoo outside of the Northern Territory, it would be imported culture; after having spent the semester learning about Indigenous cultures, I appreciate the authenticity and meaning of the boomerang more than I would appreciate the didgeridoo. I will have a great story and explanation, even if the boomerang is a little cliche.