"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.

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.

Nature Walk

First, I want to apologize (again) for the long awaited new post. I've been wrapped up in travelling and uni work has finally kicked in; I guess I should probably at least turn my assignments in, even though the grades won't count toward my transcript. (And any one who actually knows me knows this is a vast understatement of how I feel about anything that is graded, so suffice to say that everything has been in on time and at least decently written.) I have done heaps of things since my last post, so expect a few rapid fire starting with this post.

With apologies out of the way, onto the Royal Botanical Gardens. I've been wanting to go to the Gardens for awhile, but just never seemed to make it there. One Saturday a few weeks ago, I finally got myself into the city to wander around for a few hours. Located in the city, much like central park, the Botanical Gardens are a nice, peaceful reprieve from the hustle and bustle of Sydney. As evidenced from the picture below, they are no more than a 5 minute walk from the Opera House. As it was a Saturday, I lucked out and the Governor's House (i.e. the official residence of the Governor of New South Wales, not to be confused with the Governor General) was open for touring. The Governor no longer permanently resides in the house and only uses it for special functions; the house was gorgeous but, unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

Outside of Governor's House; Governor's gardens; view from the Botanical Gardens into the City



While the Gardens, as expected, had plenty of interesting flora and fauna (more on that later), there are some especially unique animals to be found around the garden. As I noticed in Canberra, there are wild cockatoos in Australia. The ones I saw in the Gardens were much more pretty than the grey ones I found in the capital; they were white with yellow plumage on the top of their heads (I'm sure this has a name, but I definitely don't know it). There was a whole flock of them wandering around, which was amazing to me because I'd only been that close to a handful of cockatoos before that in my life - we weren't big on pets in my house when I was growing up with the exception of the occasional guppies and my "free" hermit crab named Herbert who promptly died about a week after I brought him home. Besides, my sister was enough of a pet anyway...just kidding. Anyway, they were really beautiful to see flying around. The other really interesting animal was the, get ready for it, bats that were all over the place in one section of the Gardens. Apparently, these bats moved-in when their natural habitat was destructed; as I, unsurprisingly, went to the Gardens when they were open - aka during the day - there were literally hundreds of them sleeping in the trees above the path. Honestly, though I know that's what they do, I couldn't help but be nervous one was going to fall on my head as I walked down the path underneath them. Luckily, I am not afraid of bats as this is not the first time I've seen them either. We have quite a few in our neighbourhood, and there have been a handful of times that I've been coming home for the night and saw what I initially think is a bird until I realize it's a bat coasting through the air.

Wild cockatoo; many, many bats in a tree


Finally, there were some plants to look at. I kept my eye out for a waratah, the state flower of New South Wales, but couldn't be bothered to actually search for it. I did, however, see the Wollemi Pine (pronounced "wall-em-eye"), which is a tree that was was thought to be extinct (and has an ancient lineage) until they found one somewhere in the middle of nowhere. They have one planted in the park, and you can even buy a baby one in the gift shop so you can have an almost extinct pine of your very own (which I didn't because I didn't want to get arrested by US customs when I come back to the States). There were also some gigantic trees; one in particular, a fig tree, was massive. Most of them were guarded by fences meant to keep visitors away from their root structures and/or hollow trunks.

Wollemi pine; huge fig tree


All in all, it was a well spent sunny afternoon. Look soon for a recap of my long weekend in Melbourne, followed by a post on my Hunter Valley wine tour. I can't believe I've only got a little more than a month left here, but I've got plenty of travelling left to do in that time (New Zealand here I come).

Are you sure I'm not in DC?

This past weekend (April 19-20), I took a short trip about 3 1/2 hours south of Sydney to the Australian capital, Canberra (pronounced "can-bur-uh"). To answer your question before you can ask it - no, Sydney is not the capital. Much like in the States, there was a battle over which city would be the capital between Melbourne and Sydney; they compromised on an undeveloped piece of land located approximately equidistant from both cities. Like DC, it was unwanted land that, when appropriated, became a territory - the Australian Capital Territory (i.e. like DC, the ACT is not a full state but, unlike DC, does have representation in Parliament).

The city layout is very reminiscint of DC; the city's walkable, there are heaps of roundabouts (bigger than the ones they have in Sydney instead of stop signs), and the main sites are centered around a strip that runs from Parliament House to the War Memorial (sound like the Mall to anyone?).

Captain Cook Memorial Jet (you heard me right); view of the War Memorial from the roof of Parliament House


The street leading up to the Australian War Memorial is lined with various memorials. I took a couple of pictures, but none of the ones on the side I walked up were very interesting. I wish I had had the chance to go back and walk down the other side of the street, but by the time I was done inside the Memorial I was exhausted as I had been walking since I got off the train that afternoon (at noon) and it was near 2 o'clock. On this trip, I did my best to walk almost everywhere...it's a much more interesting way to see a city (and you plain see more of it). Thus, I took advantage of Canberra's layout. Inside the Memorial there was a pond with an eternal flame, lists of soldiers that served in various conflicts - reminiscent of the American Vietnam Memorial - and the tomb of an unknown soldier. Inside the room which held the tomb were some gorgeous stained glass windows. Also, the whole room was tiled in mosaics (see my flickr for all the pictures).

View inside the Memorial facing the Tomb; view out of the Memorial across the city


After walking from the train station (because I hadn't realized quite how far outside of the city it was and hadn't looked up bus routes...yay for exercise), doing half the walking tour described in my (borrowed) Lonely Planet, and seeing the War Memorial, I walked even further to my hostel and checked in around half past 2. Literally everything in Canberra (and Australia for that matter) closes at 5*, so I knew I limited time to do much more that afternoon. I ate a quick lunch and caught the bus to Parliament House. I managed to make it just early enough for the last tour of the day at 4. I lucked out - my tour consisted of the guide, a fellow study abroad student traveller, and myself. It was great having a very personalised tour. Unfortunately, there were a few places we couldn't got because of the 2020 Summit; the quick explaination is that Australia just got a new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who thinks the people should be involved in government. The 2020 Summit was a gathering of lay people who met in commitee like groups to discuss issues relevant to themselves and Australia. They were using some of the rooms the tours usually go into, but it was cool nonetheless. Our tour guide was a traffic reporter as his day job, so that was interesting. Highlights of the tour included the view over the roof (which is basically a big hill), the story of the PM with the shortest tenure (8 days...and no, not because of death), and seeing another copy of the 1297 Magna Carta. I have now seen 1/2 of the 1297 Magna Carta's as one of the other four copies is held by the National Archives in DC.

Huge Australian flag that flies above Parliament House; Parliament House


I woke up bright and early on Sunday because I knew I had lots I wanted to do and not a ton of time in which to do it. I was out of bed by 7:30 (though I had set my alarm for 8, that's what happens when you stay in a 10 person shared hostel room) and checked out and on the bus by 8:30 to get to the National Museum of Australia by the time it opened at 9. And yes, Dad, those times are all in AM. The National Museum was really interesting; it wasn't huge so I gave myself an adequate amount of time (2ish hours), but I do wish I had had just a little longer. I then caught the bus back to the area around my hostel for an emergeny nail file (I had ripped a nail in the Museum and it was killing me, and I called my Mom to look up a chemist in the area as I had no available computer - go ahead and laugh) and lunch. After that, I went on a tour of Old Parliament House, which is just a few blocks away from the current Parliament House. The National Gallery of Art wasn't far away, so after my tour I walked there; they had a special exhibit on landscape called "From Turner to Monet," and if you know my taste in art you know I can't resist Monet, so I paid $15 to see it. As another similarity to DC, it was the only part of any museum I paid for on the trip. The rest of the Gallery was free, so (unsurprisingly), I wandered through the Modern Art section and got to see Diane Arbus' picture "Identical Twins," which I was really happy about.

Huge painting done as claim to Native Title by the Ngurrara people; view of Old Parliament House


After the Gallery, I considered going into the High Court and Questacon (aka the National Science Center), but I was tired and my feet were really hurting, so instead I went and sat on a bench for 40 minutes while waiting for the bus. The picture below was the street the bus stop was on; they weren't kidding when they said the trees are beautiful in Canberra in autumn (sidenote - I absolutely love that picture).

See, Australia does have seasons


So, that was my trip to Canberra. This weekend was ANZAC day, which is kind of like Memorial Day except much much bigger. I walked around the Botanical Gardens yesterday, and will try to post pictures soon, perhaps in conjunction with a recap of my trip to Melbourne (pronounced "mel-bin") next weekend.

On the uni front, this past week was the worst week I've had yet as far as work and probably the worst one I will have all semester...which is good because May is a busy month for travel for me. I'm just waiting on my finals schedule so I can plan my New Zealand trip in June.

* Which is when the pub opens and drinking begins, duh. Welcome to the Australian drinking culture/binge drinking problem.
Key: heaps = lots, many, very; chemist = pharmacy - Mom thought I was saying "Kenneth" over the phone

Adrenaline Junkie

Apparently, I am not updating often enough, so here is a long awaited new entry. I have been so delayed because I was gone on the greatest break trip ever for the past 9 days (March 21-30). The trip was called One Fish Two Fish; basically, I did anything anyone would want to do up the east coast of Australia in Queensland, the state above New South Wales. I could write pages and pages about how amazing it was, but instead I'll just provide a brief recap of all the activities: Australia Zoo - Steve Irwin's zoo, 4x4ing on Fraser Island - largest sand island in the world, ocean rafting to Whitehaven beach, hanging out & partying on an island in the Whitsundays, yachting the Whitsundays, white water rafting the Tully River, skydiving, bungy jumping, scuba diving and snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef, and cliff jumping in World Heritage rainforest. It was intense and draining (I caught a major cold), but the best trip I've ever taken.

Best day of my life (skydiving at sunset followed by bungy jumping less than 5 hours later):


Some Highlights:




In other news, classes are pretty much the same as at home. It's really hard to judge them at this stage because we've only had 3 weeks of classes out of 12. My Aboriginal Australia class will probably be my favorite, and I'm also enjoying Psycholinguistics (which, with every class, is making me more and more sure that I want to do research in language acquistion as a profession). I only have one real final in my Learning class, so I'm hoping it ends up being scheduled at the beginning or at the end of the exam period so I can travel to New Zealand, as time and money allow.

After some searching around, I think I've found a rental for the time I'll be in DC this summer. It's not super close to campus and it's not super cheap, but it could be worse and it's the only place that has a start lease date in July.

Please Ignore the Fact that I have My Camera Out at Every Opportunity

Sorry a new post has been so delayed. I have been busy adjusting to this classes thing again as well as trying to get as much in as possible before school responsibilities started. In my first two weeks in Sydney, I managed to do a bunch of the major tourist attractions in the city (never say downtown).

1) Aquarium
The aquarium was really cool because they have tanks that you can basically walk through via tunnels. Apparently, Australia has the smallest penguins in the world, nurse sharks are almost extinct even though they only eat fish, and platypuses look like drift wood (aka it didn't come out and I have yet to see one).


Video of jellyfish (please ignore the fact that I forgot videos can only be taken horizontally):


2) Opera House
Although I plan to go to a show or two at the Opera House, I took a tour just to see as much as possible. Pavaretti wasn't a fan of the purple carpet, the largest organ in the world (with something like 10,000 pipes) is in the Concert Hall, and Jorn Utson (the architect) has never seen the finished building.


This is in the Utzon room; though it looks like a painting, the close-up should show you that it's actually a tapestry:




3) General City Sites
I walked across the harbour bridge and took a bunch of pictures.


All my pictures can be found on my flickr account: www.flickr.com/people/pass_away13