Thunder Down Under!

Recent Events

2007-10-28T02:57:00.000-05:00

For the past 2 months or so I have been updating my blog rather sporadically. There are two main reasons for this. First, I continue to encounter technical difficulties with my internet, wireless router, and most recently my camera and printer. These issues are more or less resolved now, but the router does require a good kick every few days. Second, there simply hasn't been much to show and tell. My life since the start of this semester revolves around school, work and going to the gym. It's quite routine actually. I don't go out and explore nearly as often. However, I decided not to finish my year abroad like this. Let me say a few things about my plans and then I will talk about the latest news which, as I mentioned above, is quite sparse (its been a slow month).

I have booked a flight to Melbourne which I will visit with my friends in November. It should have been simple task but I was met with unreasonable obstruction. First, my newly issued credit card, which I activated weeks ago and has served me fine since, was declined at the final purchase screen on the Jetstar Airways website. I decided then to book by phone, but after going through the booking process with the agent on the line, she also told me my card had been declined. Very well then. I'll pay using another method. For this I must go back onto the website. Once again I'm at the final purchase screen, but this time I use the direct payment method. The system books my flight and tells me my payment status is "Awaiting Payment". I am instructed to go into my internet banking system and pay using a direct transfer method. When I pay bills, I usually use BPAY (literally bill pay), but this apparently doesn't work for Jetstar. There is another option with Wespac's online banking which reads "pay anyone". I click on this option only to be told that I must apply for a pay limit (mine currently being at zero) before using this method, and that I must be approved through a process that takes 5 business days. Jetstar wants payment by 5pm today. There goes that option.

Next, I call the Visa Desjardins hotline to find out why my card isn't working. They are closed, of course. I then think of AccesD, Desjardin's online banking system. I can access my account, find out why my credit card isn't working, maybe even fix it, and if not I can make a direct payment from there. Wouldn't you know it, though, AccesD is "temporarily unavailable due to technical issues", a phrase I have heard and seen so often here that it has almost become my life slogan.
So as it stands, I have an unpaid booking which is probably canceled now. I guess I'll just rebook tomorrow. And that's my flight booking story.

In other other news, my good friend Gina had her birthday on Monday! Judith, Gina and I celebrated by going to this Mexican restaurant I found in Kensington. It was really good, probably the best Mexican you could get in Sydney. We have some pictures which I will post once I get them from Gina.

Montri will be leaving us. He has been accepted to speak at a linguistics conference in Sweden and will depart on Thursday. First he will go to Bangkok and spend time with his family. Then he will fly to Sweden for the conference, and afterward explore Europe for a few weeks. Congrats to him for this opportunity and I hope he has alot of fun! We had a sort of potluck yesterday with Thai foods and some Filipino cuisine as well. I made a big Greek salad that complemented the rich and spicy Thai dishes will. That was sort of Montri's going away dinner. I won't see him again after he leaves because I will be back home by the time he returns. He's been a good flatmate and I'm glad I got to know him. All the best to him in the future!

Other than that there hasn't been much activity. I find time going by fast lately, I can feel the days and weeks slipping away. Judith, Gina and I were struck by that realization when we had dinner together at Judith's on Friday. We've all decided to make the most of the precious little time we have left together here in Sydney. That's why we planned the trip and why we're now making all sorts of little plans to go to the beach, explore some new suburbs, check out new pubs, clubs and restaurants. With Judith leaving first, me second and Gina last in February, our already shrunken circle of friends is going to get smaller quickly. Gina has made friends with her coworkers so she won't feel alone after we're gone. I'm proud of her for staying the full year, in a way she's doing what we all wish we could do. But it takes guts to be that last one to leave. Good on her for making that decision.

I'm sure I have a few more stories to tell and some pictures to post. They're kind of a mess right now so I need a bit of time to sort through them. I'll be posting some of my wine and beer reviews in the next update. By my count I've tried about a dozen beers and at least that many wines, so I think that's a nice collection to publish. Look for those soon uncle. Until then, goodbye everyone!

Signs of Life...

2007-10-11T05:01:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. I owe a mega update. And that's what I'm gonna do! I'll start where I left off last time. On Sunday, September 30th I went with Mert, Steffen, his cousin Tomas and Tomas' girlfriend Susan to the NRL Grand Final. NRL is the National Rugby Leage, Australia's top competition for rugby league football, and is the most popular sport in New South Wales. The match was between the Melbourne Storm and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. The Storm came out as the premieres for the 2007 season after beating the Sea Eagles 34 to 8, one of the largest spreads in league history. The game was held at the Telstra Stadium in Homebush Bay, Sydney. Steffen, Mert and I were seated in Row 37 in Section D, which was high up but on the sideline. We had a perfect view of the pitch. Tomas and Susan were seated in section A, behind the Melbourne end zone. Unfortunately the pictures from the game didn't turn out so great. Here are some of the better ones.

Mert eating Adana kebab. We stopped at a Turkish restaurant before the game.

Me in front of Telstra Stadium

Fixed on the game

Manly and Melbourne End zones

On another note, I'd like to thank Mert Karaçim for my new title picture. He took it with his digital SLR camera and enhanced it with software. It's a panoramic shot of Sydney, the North Shore is on the right.

Back to the Hills

2007-09-25T09:55:00.000-05:00

Spring is here, and along with it the warmer weather and the new cycle of life. Flowers are blooming and the scenery is getting greener. The air is starting to carry the scent of eucalyptus, however faint it might be at the moment. The perfect time to go back to the Blue Mountains. The first time I went was in July, which is the middle of winter here. This time it was much warmer and greener. I was accompanied by my friends Steffen and Mert. Mert has a digital SLR camera, a Canon, that takes high quality photos. So some of the shots we got this time are just stunning. We took a different path through the cliffs and the forest than the one me and Andy took on our trip, so there were new sights for me as well. Here are some photos of us and the scenery taken with Mert's camera. Some of the shots are in black and white for artistic flare.

Mert Karaçim

Steffen Müller and me

More Internet Drama...

2007-09-16T19:08:00.000-05:00

Some of you may be aware that my wireless router has been out for repairs for 5 days (instead of the promised maximum 3 days). I still have internet access, but I am currently sharing a single ethernet cable with everyone else, meaning access is limited. Actually, I'm writing this from work right now, a place where I, sadly, have greater freedom with the internet at the moment. Hopefully (how many times have I used this word on my blog?) my router will be returned to me soon, preferably in a functional condition. Then I will pray that this is the last act in my internet saga and the epic tale of our struggle with the evil Telstra Corporation and D-Link will come to close. I know, I'm making a bigger a deal out of this than it actually is, but how many of you have had this much trouble with their internet? Any one?

In other news, my friend Judith will soon be back from her trip to Darwin and Kakadu National Park, with thousands of pictures I'm sure. If she is kind enough to share them with me I will publish some on my blog. I'm sure she'll put them on her's too and I will put up a link to it when she does.

Still in other news, I am now on my mid-semester break, which means I have more time to... work. Yay. I have two weeks, so I'm sure I'll fit in a whacky and potentially disastrous adventure somewhere between my shifts. I'm thinking of going to Melbourne on the weekend with my friends Steffen and Mert. We'll see how that turns out. More updates comming soon.

The Chaser's War on APEC

2007-09-07T23:07:00.000-05:00

Some of you might be aware that Stephan Harper and George Bush, along with other world leaders, are currently attending the APEC Summit in Australia. APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooporation, and is an organisation comprised of major players on the Asia pacific rim. This year the summit is held in Australia, and as a result Sydney has spent 250 million Australian dollars setting up security zones in the CBD and surrounding areas. This includes hundreds of extra police officers, a 2 meter high, 5 kilometer long fence through the city and search and detain powers granted to police within the security zone. In comes The Chaser. The Chaser is a satire comedy group based in Sydney, and they have a show called The Chaser's War on Everything. In this show they pull hilarious stunts poking fun at various social and political issues, people and events to expose them in a ridiculous light. For APEC, they decided to see if they could breach the security surrounding the InterContinental Hotel where George Bush was staying. How did they pull it off? As the Channel 10 newscast below explains, they rented black vehicles with tinted windows, dressed up as Secret Service officers and Osama bin Laden, and prented to be the Canadian delegation's motorcade. They even made themselves fake passes, which explicitly read "Insecurity" instead of "Security" and the word "Joke" appeared in hologram on the card right below the text that reads "It's pretty obvious that this isn't a real pass". Did it work? They were waved through two security checkpoints by police and were only stopped and arrested in front of the InterContinental hotel. Police are not amused, but we are! The made a total farce of APEC security, and embarrased the police. They were let out on bail but could face trial and up to 6 months in prison.

Wine Series: #2

2007-09-07T22:38:00.000-05:00

For my second installement of the wine series I have a special wine to showcase. This wine comes to us not from Australia but from Austria, Judith's home country, courtesy of her parents. In fact, the wine comes from her neighbours, the Sax family. Hence the label, Sax Blauer Zweigelt, Qualitätswein. The type of grape is called Blauer Zweigelt, a variety grown mainly in Austria where it is the most popular red grape. It is usually drunk young, but can make a serious full-bodied aged wine given time. It's quite fruity and 'wet', not to strong, an has a neat purple color I haven't seen in other wines. It was very easy to drink, and as I had it with spicy Thai food it served as a fire extinguisher for my palette. It must be very hard to find here in Australia, as the grape is not very common outside Austria, and maybe Czech Republic and Hungary. However, it is somewhat popular in the Ontario Niagara Falls wine region, so it might be easy to find back home. Uncle, if you can find it give it a try.

Fur Nils

2007-09-02T09:21:00.000-05:00

This is a regretably overdue goodbye post for Nils Jacholke, my friend and flatmate of 5 months who has now returned home to Germany. Like Marco, he's left an empty space in the house, and in my daily life, that can't be filled by anyone else. In fact, his bed is still unoccupied, since the two guys who where assigned his space only lasted two weeks and 1 day, respectively. I think his evil spirit still lingers in the matress and scares potential flatmates away! (just kidding Nils :) I look back on the last semester with fondness when I think of all the memories we made in this flat, and in Sydney and general, memories I will keep with me forever. Coffee, kebabs, beers on the balcony, underwear fishing, wasting hours away in our boxers drinking instead of studying... But alas, it appears that returning home, finishing a master's degree and starting a life with his girlfriend (Doerthe, a lovely woman I was happy to meet) is more important than getting fat and drinking beer in a rundown flat with his pet Canadian. No worries mate, we'll see you in a couple years. I wish you and Doerthe the best until then, and I miss you buddy. Take care, mein Freund!

Who will kick the furry yellow friends to my room?

Wine Series

2007-08-08T04:28:00.000-05:00

This post marks the first in a series of exposes on Australian wines. As I've only had a job for a couple of months now I've only just started to explore Australia's world-renowned offering of wines. I've also made an effort to explore the different local beers, and I will be posting my thoughts on them in a separate series. Neither the wines nor the beers will appear in the order I have tried them. But once I have caught up and posted on all the wines and beers I've enjoyed, then they will begin to appear in sequence. The first wine exposed will be the Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cabernet – Barossa Valley, South Australia. As I am not a wine connoisseur, I have supplemented my own experience of the wine with information found on the label and the producer's website in order to give a fuller description for those (like oncle Michel) who have a finer palette than mine and may be able to appreciate the subtle qualifications used in the wine lingo. Included with each wine, of course, is the recommended food to serve it with. Cheers!

Jacob's Creek Shiraz Cabernet - A medium-bodied wine that really carries the best of two worlds. The shiraz variety is the most popular red grape produced in Australia, and it epitomizes the scent and flavor of Australian wines. Its rich, warm texture with peppery overtones and fruity, plum characteristics is complemented by the cabernet sauvignon’s black currant flavor. Finishes smoothly with a fresh leafy aftertaste. Apparently goes well with red meat, chicken, pasta and older cheeses. I enjoyed this wine, like most wines of tried so far. Its not very dry, like a shiraz would tend to be. Not that I mind a dry wine though. It reminded me of the Lindeman’s Bin 45 Cab, which I will be showcasing later, but it was not as pungent. Although it is touted as a very versatile wine that goes with almost any food (except fish I suppose), I think this is the kind of red I would also enjoy on its own with a friend.

Taronga Zoo

2007-08-07T09:19:00.000-05:00

One of the last things that we crossed off Andy's to-do list was a visit to Taronga Zoo. For me it was long overdue. The zoo is much larger than I thought and has everything from elephants, giraffs, and gorillas to komodo dragons, kangaroos and ostrichs on display. My favorite exhibit was the chimpanzee house. I could watch them for hours. They're absolutely fascinating because they're so human-like. I saw them communicate using hand gestures and facial expression, use sticks as tools for getting food and discipline a misbehaving youth. We share over 98% of our genetic material with these creatures, and I can definately see the family resemblance! It's actually quite uncanny how much we get the impression that they're just like us, only small, black and hairy.
All the other animals were interesting in their own way too. The Western lowland gorilla is absolutely massive and very impressive. The silverback definitely commands respect just from looking at him. The saltwater crocodile was also very large, but quite lazy as crocs generally are. It barely moved while we were checking it out, but it was right close to the glass and we got a great look at the sheer size of this monstrous reptile. I remember thinking "Steve Irwin handled these beasts and a sting ray got him?"
The indigenous Australian wildlife was also fascinating. We got some great shots of kangaroos and even walked among them in an open exhibit. In the same exhibit was an emu that Andrea mistook for a rock until we were 6 feet away and I pointed it out to her. I'll never forget her face as she gasped and realised she was staring at a giant bird! Immediately after it decided to let out a low grunt, stand up and show us how large it was. I don't think Andy liked the emu...

Parrot

Komodo Dragon

Fresh Water Crocodile

Giraffes

Zebras

Grey Kangaroo sleeping

SKIPPY!

Skippy's sizable nuts

Echidnas

Wombat

Koala

Black Swan

Red Kangaroo

Emu

Asian Elephant

Meerkat

Kodiak Bear

Lion

Chimp

Western Lowland Gorilla

Blue Mountains

2007-07-23T09:04:00.000-05:00

On July 12th I took Andrea up to the Blue Mountains. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site, a nature preserve, and it is located about 100 kilometers west of Sydney. We took a cheap hotel room in Katoomba for two nights and spent both days exploring the town and taking a tour of the ‘mountains’. The name is misleading since they are not actually mountains, more like cliffs on a plateau. But they are beautiful and definitely deserve a spot on UNESCO’s list. There is a famous sandstone formation known as the Three Sisters that was absolutely striking. We took a walk through a rainforest for well over 2 hours and actually took a wrong turn. About 50 minutes into our little escapade off the beaten path along a cliff wall we realized the path was getting narrower and rockier. Luckily we ran into a couple who told us we were going the wrong way if we wanted to get to our destination, otherwise we would’ve kept going and ended up way out. We turned back and made our way to Scenic World, a tourist stop that features the world’s steepest train at a 57 degree angle descent, a cable car over the rainforest and a sky car between two cliff faces. We took the full package and it was well worth the price. Check out the pictures below. I think they are some of the best pictures from my stay here so far. Most of the pictures you see were taken by Andrea.

View from Echo Point

The Three Sisters from Echo Point

Outcropping cliff west of Echo Point

View East into the valley

Me in a natural cave, one of many in the rainforest

Beautiful little stairway on the path

Andy as the Fourth Sister! So cute...

Taking in the vastness of the eucalyptus valley

Interesting rock formating in the cliff wall

Another stairway (I love these shots)

I think this is Andy's favorite picture

We took over a hundred of photos during our hike, but I think these select few are the nicest and best showcase the scale and beauty of the Blue Mountains region. I still feel like no photo could ever do the site justice, but I hope these convey the feeling of awe and wonder we experienced.

Update!!!

2007-07-23T09:03:00.000-05:00

It’s been a month since my last update, so this one is gonna be big! I’m not sure where to start as so much has happened in the last 30 days or so. Well, first of all, I am now down to one flat mate, Montri. Nils has left to travel around Australia with his girlfriend and will come back on the 27th, only to leave for Germany a couple days later. I’m holding his stuff until he comes back, but basically Marco and Nils’ room looks as though no one had lived in it. Sad... On a happier note, I picked up Andrea at the airport on the 29th of June and we’ve had an awesome 2 weeks so far! That’s part of the reason I haven’t updated my blog, the other part being that the A/C adapter for my laptop broke and it took a one-and-a-half week game of phone tag with Toshiba to figure out they are useless as tits on a bull and that I have better things do. So I bought a new one. Hopefully I’ll be able to claim it on the warrantee with the receipt. What else is new…
Oh yeah, I got a job. I now work at Kwik Kopy in West Ryde at 1059 Victoria Rd. It’s a print shop where we do digital printing and put projects together for clients like books, business cards, flyers, menus, etc. 13.75 an hour. Not bad. I usually work 2 or 3 days a week, 9 to 5. So at the end of the day I pocket 100 bucks. I’m happy with that.
That’s the news here in brief. On the posts above you will see an expose of my trip with Andrea to the Blue Mountains and Katoomba, my first and second visits to the Sydney aquarium, and some other stuff I felt like posting. And yes, there are lots and lots of photos. Dig in!

Auf Wiedersehen!

2007-06-19T08:19:00.000-05:00

The time has come for us to say goodby to Marco. After four months of adventure and misadventure, Marco has had to leave us. He would have stayed until early July but unfortunately a family emergency has forced him to reschedule his flight. On Friday Nils and I escorted him to the airport, where we were joined by Judith and Gena who wanted to see him one last time and say a final goodbye. It was quite an emotional moment to see him off to his gate. The girls were crying and even Nils and I were a little misty eyed. It's one thing to make friends with someone for four months, it's another thing entirely to live with them and see them everyday for that time. It's kind of hard to believe he's gone and that I won't see him for at least a couple of years. Nils finds the situation even more surreal, having shared a room with Marco. He complains that the room feels so empty without the pile of dirty clothes that would adorn the end of Marco's bed. He's decided to leave his own clothes strung on the empty bed to assuage the feeling. That way it kinda looks like Marco's just gone to Wooly's and will be back in a few minutes. That was three days ago. So this post is dedicated to Marco. Auf wiedersehen mein freund! Take good care, have a great life in Zurich and we all miss you around here...

Things are visibly changing around here. On a more positive note I finished my exams yesterday. All my final assignments went well and I look forward to getting my grades back. I'm also looking forward to Andrea coming down. I can't believe it's only 9 days away! Seems like 4 months ago it was, well, 4 months away. When I think of home, my friends, my family and Andrea it feels like its been so long, but when I think of my time in Sydney it feels as though it just flew by. It's a strange feeling. I'm glad she's coming soon 'cause I miss her terribly. Not many guys get to spend a year abroad, fewer still have their girlfriends visit for a month. I am definately a lucky guy. I'm also a guy who's exhausted from his first semester and is glad he has some down time before starting up again. This break is going to be a great opportunity to reflect on my first 4 months of adjusting to life here, and to set my goals for the next 6 months. Now that I am more or less fully aclimatised to life here, the coming months are going to be a very different tour. My first and highest goal is to make the most of them........ That's it for now. Goodnight folks!

School's Out For, umm, Winter?

2007-06-07T04:12:00.000-05:00

The mid-year break is almost here. Hard to believe it's been a semester already... I still have exams and essays to go through but after that comes a month and a half off school! My grades, in case you were wondering, average around what we would call an A, and what the Aussies call a Distinction or High Distinction (depending on the class). I'm in the thick of it right now (when am I not?) going over the last three and a half months' material, as are my flatmates. So what this means is tensions are high and the kitchen is dirty. Lately we've all been locked in our rooms studying, coming out of our holes every couple of hours for coffee or food. The only time the dishes get done is when we are absolutely out of clean dishes. If there is even a plastic fork left that hasn't been used, we will eat macaroni out of a paper towel. But when everything that should be in our cupboards is instead piled up in the sink, the three of us (Montri has his own set of dishes) triple-team the kitchen and make it spotless for another day or so until the scene repeats itself again. Sigh...
Other than that, there is not much else to say. I'm juggling exams with job hunting, which seems tougher than I originally thought. The boys will be leaving in one month, so changes are gonna be happening real soon. Andrea is coming in less than three weeks! I guess we better clean the house... I'll have more to tell you guys soon, hopefully something interesting. Until next time....

A Taste of Home...

2007-05-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

On Sunday night I cooked dinner for my flatmates and friends Halley, Judith, Gena and Anisha. It's a 6 week-old tradition that every Sunday one of us cooks a meal that represents our home region. Anisha, who is of Indian desent, cooked butter chicken last week. The week before, Nils made a dish called Konigsberger klopse (German meatballs "from Konigsberg"). Before that, Judith made beef stroganoff. I decided to make tourtiere. I figured it was the most French Canadian dish I could do, the one I know how to do best, and the one that everybody would like. And they did! What did I make for desert? Sucre a la creme, of course. So after making two trial tourtieres on Wednesday and Thursday of that week, only to have them devoured by Nils and Marco in one day each, I figured that they were gonna be a hit on Sunday. I made sucre a la creme on the stove, the old fashioned way I suppose, in part because my microwave broke (it has now been replaced) but also in part because it felt more traditional. That also turned out well, although I made too much and the girls could only eat so much sweetness. We had a great dinner, appropriately accompanied by the music of Beau Dommage, and it was a welcomed break from the constant reading, writing and running around of the last previous weeks. I think Gena has pictures of the night (she's a shutter-bug), so I'll see if I can get her to send them to me and I'll post them here. It was quite the sight to see two Germans, an Austrian and three Americans eating tourtiere and sucre a la creme while listening to Beau Dommage...

Road Trip Video!

2007-05-24T23:19:00.000-05:00

Our friend Judith, who came on the road trip with us, compiled some of the footage and photos we took to make a two part video! Check them out below. They were uploaded to youtube.com. Just search for "Berta Rockwell".

Day 4 - April 19th

2007-05-21T08:21:00.000-05:00

After a night on the town at a bar called Cheeky Monkeys (where, by the way, a Canadian girl who works as a receptionist introduced poutine to the menu!), we all slept very well and felt pretty good the next morning. We had another family breakfast, did the dishes, and cleaned out Bertha (she was long overdue). We spend the day exploring Byron Bay. It's a small town that caters mostly to tourists, surfers and hippies. We had bought a thirty pack for that day and managed to consume the whole thing by the end of the night. We checked out some shops, bought some groceries and some people bought clothes. We spent part of the day at Belongil Beach near our camp site and before the sun went down we took off toward Surfer's Paradise.

Day 3 - April 18th

2007-05-21T07:29:00.000-05:00

This morning we left Coffs Harbour. Having taken my shower the night before, I waited for the others to clean themselves off, especially Marco, Halley and Ryan who slept on the beach and were now thouroughly crusted in sand. Judith and Halley cooked breakfast, which consisted of toast, eggs, fruit and coffee. We ate at slow pace, being in no particular rush and enjoying our morning. Our next stop would be Byron Bay which was a solid 3.5 hours away. It was my day to drive, and just as we hit the road and were leaving town, the crew saw a sign in the shape of a giant banana that read, appropriately, The Big Banana. Quickly scanning her tourist map, Judith found a section on this attraction and decided we should stop and check it out. So having gone a whopping half kilometre, we were stopped again to explore a banana plantation, museum and souvenir shop. It was actually really cool. We got some cheap bananas, banana ice cream, frozen bananas dipped in chocolate, and a stuffed lemur who become the 7th member of our traveling circus. You might say we went bananas! (I know, but I had to say it.) After an hour or so, we hit the road again and made it to Byron Bay in one session. We got a camping lot for the night so we could shower (for the first time in two days) and a power outlet. We spent the day at the beach again, and at night we retired clean, fed and tanned.

One big banana! And some smaller ones beside him...

A lizard in The Big Banana parking lot who apparantly served a tour of duty

The beach at Byron Bay

Bertha resting at our camping lot

Byron Bay lighthouse

Day 2 – April 17th

2007-05-04T06:36:00.000-05:00

Today we woke up at 7am. Naturally, to the light of the sun glaring through the drawn curtains and the sound of early-bird beach-rats, fisherman and old people who apparently must wake up at this hour or risk not waking up at all. We took turns showering in cold water and brushing our teeth. As we had an early start to the day, we decided to make breakfast a 45 minute meal as a family. After doing the dishes and cleaning out the caravan, it was time to hit the road. We said our final goodbyes to our one night neighbors, wished them luck and headed out. Ryan was our driver for the day, and Coffs Harbour was our destination. The scenery was beautiful, even more so than the rock walled stretch of the Pacific Highway between Sydney and Newcastle. When we got there we found another caravan park near the beach. This time though, the showers were outdoors, right at the edge of the parking lot along the path that leads to the beach. Really they were just showers for swimmers to rinse the saltwater off their bodies, but for us they were our only means of getting clean. Spent the rest of the day at the beach. I took my shower that evening when there were no strangers around, and the crew thought I was such a hippy nudist. The next morning though, the rest of the boys had to do it in broad daylight, so the joke’s on them. The beach was great, of course. Clean, pristine sand, blue ocean water. It was a nice sunny day too. We didn’t do much in town except pick up a few provisions. After that we packed up and headed for our next stop, Byron Bay.

Images

2007-05-01T02:54:00.000-05:00

I've been aware for some time that most images I've posted since last month will not enlarge as they used to. This is not a problem with my blog only as other blogs also have the same issue. I've done some research, and the problem seems to lie in the new system blogspot transferred to a while ago. Things are done differently now, apparently. My research also indicated that there's not much I can do about it, apparantly. This is a particular nuissance to me (and all of you who want to see my purdy pictures, of course) because I have a volume limit with my current ISP. What that means is that after a certain amount of mb's downloaded or uploaded, I will be paying per mb of data transfer. In essence, uploading these images costs me about 1.7mb per image, give or take, yet all I get is a thumbnail on my blog that has maybe 300kbs worth of pixels (less than a 5th the quality, same price). This is not cool. I have half a mind to not post any pictures, but then my blog would suck. And no one would come see it, and I'd lose all my friends, and my family would disown me. So instead, I will diligently try to find a way around this. This will take some time and experimentation, and may not work at all. But if it does, you'll be able to see full-sized pictures again. In all likelyhood I will not be able to make any changes retroactive. If I can I will, of course. But I'm just going to focus on getting future images to enlarge properly. In the meantime, enjoy my entertaining stories and their pint-sized visual sidedishes.

Day 1

2007-04-30T06:26:00.000-05:00

Our first stop was Newcastle, 2 hours north of Sydney. We loaded up the caravan and headed out. Halley was our pilot for the day, and after a few minutes of adjusting to driving on the other side of the road she did an excellent job. Newcastle was more of a pit stop than a destination. Some interesting things to see, but nothing special. We only took photos from the peninsula town called Pickton, from where we could get great shots of Newcastle across the bay. In fact we decided to push forward and spend the night elsewhere. Nelson Bay was the place. We found this caravan park and just set up there. There was a beautiful beach just 40 feet ahead of us. We even had neighbors for the night: Ryan and Katie from England, who also happened to be caravanning from Sydney to Brisbane. They were to spend a couple weeks here and would take their time to get there. I’m sure we won’t run into them again, but nonetheless they were great companions for the evening. We also had some visitors drop by (Australians are so friendly). First up was the drunk bogan (Aussie for “redneck”) named Scott. After talking to us for half an hour about what life in Nelson Bay is like, he decided to head home, shower and eat. He did, however, promise that he would return with some more drink. We thought he would pass out without remembering anything, but unfortunately he kept his word, showing up an hour later even more tanked than before.
For the most part he just hung around our fire, listening to his MP3 player and singing along (loudly and obnoxiously). Two other locals also paid us a visit. They were T.J. and Tyler, 16 and 14 years old respectively. They even brought their own booze, each a bottle of Kilkenny Irish cream which they polished off by the end of the night (Australians also like to drink). Mostly they were harmless, annoying little shits whom we tolerated because they kept our fire going. We sent them home when the young one smashed his empty bottle on the pavement near our camper. They happily obliged, being the polite young boys they are (Note: that last line is sarcasm). Scott gave us more trouble, as he had to be escorted at least a quarter of the way home to make sure he wasn’t coming back. By that time he was completely loaded had already reverted to insulting us, punching our trailer and rambling meaningless sentences punctuated by “f*ck” every second word. I’m sure he slept well that night and doesn’t remember a thing. This is good because he left his cell phone on the ground. We didn’t know where he lived and we weren’t about to wait around the next day until he woke up and called for us to return it. We had a schedule, a deadline and no pity for drunken bogans. The battery was dead anyway. Time for us to hit the sack then. Day one was over and already our trip had been eventful. We said goodnight to Katie and Ryan and closed down shop, tired but excited about what awaited us tomorrow.

Going to pick up the caravan

Waiting for our caravan

Ryan, Marco, Judith, Me, Nils, Halley, and Big Bertha!

(yes, we christened our caravan "Bertha")

Newcastle as seen from Stockton

Judith playing the guee-tar

Ryan, one of our English neighbors at Nelson Bay

View from our camp spot (really, a parkng lot) at Nelson Bay

Road trip!

2007-04-30T06:15:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been 20 days since my last update. I know you've all been waiting patiently and anxiously, and you won't be disappointed. The reason the latest update has been so long in coming is that I took a week long road trip to Brisbane with some friends: Marco Rothaufe, Nils Jacholke, Judith Hermetter, Halley Dunn and Ryan Ballingal (from Ottawa!). On Monday the 16th we hired a caravan, loaded her up and hit the road. The exploits of this trip have been recorded in written and photographic format, in a project entitled, aptly, Australia Road Trip 2007. The daily entries, coupled with accompanying photos, will now be published individually and a daily (or bi-weekly, depending) basis for your reading and viewing pleasure. The other reason I waited a week after returning from the road trip to post was that the project needed to be finalized, and this would've taken time I didn't have this last week. Upon my return I hit the ground running, so to speak, to motor through several assignments which were/are due (I still have a few to go, but I'm making good time and now have some breathing space). With half of my assigments out of the way, I feel I now have time to work on and post my adventure in a multi-part mini-series. The first part, detailing the first day of our trip, I will post today immediately following this post. The next will come tomorrow or the day after. And this will continue until my entire trip is posted, so within a week to a week and a half the entire saga will be unveiled! These may be punctuated by regular posts that have nothing to do with the road trip, but the road trip posts themselves will be in order. And now our feature presentation.

Illness # 3

2007-04-10T00:30:00.000-05:00

We can now add some kind of funky skin rash to my list of minor illnesses I've had since I got here. I was playing basketball with Nils and Marco today and I started to feel as if I had a sunburn on the back of my neck. I didn't think much of it until it started to sting a little more, and then the sensation spread to the soft part of my shoulders near the neck. I had Nils take a look at it and he said "That's not a sunburn. It's on your shoulders and back too." Coincidentally, there was a chemist (pharmacy) immediately beside the basketball court. I went in and consulted the pharmacist. He suggested it may be a chemical burn or an infection. I told him I had been sick last week but that the symptoms were almost completely gone. He said that when we are sick with a virus and continue to do sport or go to the gym, as I did, it may get rid of the common symptoms faster by relocalising the infection in the skin through our sweat. In other words, I chased the infection out of my system but some of it stayed in my skin. He said I should consult a doctor or dermatologist, and that's what I'll do tomorrow. I would post some pictures, but I'm sure nobody wants to see that and it doesn't really show up in photos. Until next post...

Old Sydney, New Grounds

2007-04-08T08:47:00.000-05:00

On Saturday Marco, Nils, Judith, Anisha and I went to Paddy's Market and then decided to walk to the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney. It's a quaint, European style quarter directly under the Harbour bridge in the city. I've added more pictures of Paddy's Market and Chinatown to the previous post. Here I've put some pictures of the Rocks area and Millers Point, below the bridge just West of the Rocks. For lunch we decided to have some saltwater crocodile and Emu pizzas at the Australian Hotel on Cumberland Street, washing it down with some Outback beer. It was a great afternoon overall and it felt like walking in a Parisian neighbourhood. Except all the signs were in English. And it didn't smell like sewage. Check out the photos!

Under the bridge, Dawes Point

Judith and Marco taking pictures of the North shore

North shore from Dawes Point.What do you think the rent is on those apartments?

Prosit! Marco enjoying a pint at the Australian Hotel

Susannah Place, est. 1844.

One of the oldest shops in Sydney (maybe the oldest), now a museum.

I'll post even more photos once I get the ones Judith took. She's a natural photographer so I'm sure they'll be really great! Look for my post on the Toronga Zoo later in the day. I have to get Nils' and Marco's photos since I was not there to take any (being sick sucks!)

Speaking of which, I've been sick twice since I got to Australia, once with a head cold and another time with a regular cold. What the hell?!? I don't get sick for years living in a country
where the temperature falls below -20C, but when I get to a subtropical climate where the locals complain if it hits 10C, I catch a cold. A cold? In such a hot country? Malaria or something would be understandable, but a cold? I suppose I would prefer a cold over malaria though...

Anyway, that's why I didn't go to the zoo last week and couldn't take pictures. My flatmates, however, got a few good photos and I'll post them later in the day (tomorrow for me). Soon after expect a post on the Sydney Aquarium and the long, long overdue post on Mardis Gras.

I'm on vacation for two weeks and thus have more time to devote to the blog. After these next few posts, you can expect that not all updates will feature photos. As I've been here almost two months I've settled into a rhythm and what was once strange is now becoming more and more familiar. From this perspective I can begin to sort through and digest my early experiences and adventures. Naturally, I will want to externalise my reflections, thoughts and feelings on the last few weeks, and what better place to exercise this reflection than a public website that anyone can read?

This blog will move from the vacation slide-show format you see now into a more personal journal, because that was its intended purpose since the beginning. It's also a natural progression, as I'm no longer a tourist, I'm now a student and a resident. In fact I have been for almost 6 weeks but was too busy being a student and resident (or learning how to, since I've never lived on my own and had been out of school for a year) to actually change gears and make the transition on my blog. Now that I'm on break, I have a chance to bring the blog, and myself, properly into this new phase. This is not to say I won't be having anymore adventures. To the contrary, I will simply be more knowledgeable about my world here and be able to explore more effectively. There are still plenty of things to see and to do, plenty of "new". It's just that I feel that I can now embark on these exploits like man learning about his new home instead of fish out of water. New grounds, change of pace, whole different ball game...

Expose: Market City, Chinatown

2007-03-27T20:38:00.000-05:00

I’ve been to Chinatown several times now, and each time I like to stop at Market City and get some fresh fruit. Marco and Nils are usually with me. It’s basically a large fruit, vegetable, meat and fish market located just south of Darling Harbour in Haymarket. It’s indoor but open on all sides, and it’s very large. Any fruit, veg or other item you might want can be bought here, and at low price. There are even sections selling clothes, accessories, toys, electronics, you name it, all across a 3000 square foot floor. It really is a cool place to visit and do some shopping. Take a look!

I’ll have more photos showcasing the merchants in the other sections once I go back. I'll also see about adding videos I took, but it will have to wait until April 7th when my Internet usage meter gets reset.

Entrance to Chinatown

Golden Tree of Luck

Storefront in Chinatown

Market City at the back of Chinatown

A Chinese vegetable stand, one of dozens!

Fruit stand, one of dozens again!

Kiosks in Paddy's Market

Expose: Darling Harbour

2007-03-20T22:51:00.000-05:00

Darling Harbour is one of the most famous and popular areas of Sydney. It is a major tourist attraction, offering many restaurents and entertainment venues such as the Sydney Aquarium, the Chinese Gardens, an IMAX, several clubs and pubs including the famous Watershed, Autralian National Maritime Museum, Paddy's Market and much more. It is situated just west of the CBD and offers a stunning view of the city core and the bay from almost any spot around the harbour. Nearby locations which will be "exposed" on my blog in the near future include Chinatown, Sydney Harbour, Cockle Bay, the city center, and Paddy's Market and the Sydney Aquarium will also have their own posts soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures taken all around the harbour, which is a sort of horseshoe shape as most harbours are. Enjoy!

City side looking across from Harbourside

City side again viewed from Darling Harbour bridge

Dragon boat race

Spectators watching the race

The famous Ice Cube restaurant's take-away

HMAS Vampire

Admiralty Pattern anchors from training ship NSS Vernon

Harbourside looking across from City side

A unique waterfountain...

One of several marinas

Lighthouse restaurant

Another marina

Harbour view at night

Happy 75th to the Coathanger!

2007-03-17T23:04:00.000-05:00

Today is the Sydney Harbour Bridge's 75th anniversary. It was officially opened on March 19th, 1932. It's the largest steel arch bridge in the world, standing 134 metres above the harbour, as well as the widest long-span bridge in the world at 1149 metres in lenght and 49 metres wide! In one week over 1 million vehicles will cross this bridge, making it one of the busiest in the world. To cross from the North Shore to the CBD (Central Business Disctrict) costs $3.00, and to cross in the other direction there is no charge. Here are a few pics of the bridge, at night and during the day. Pics of the 75th anniversary celebration are forthcoming, as I am not attending it myself and must wait until they are released publicly.

Saints Be Praised, it's St. Paddy's Day!

2007-03-17T05:49:00.000-05:00

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone! As you read this your Paddy's Day is probably just starting. Mine is already done, and done in style it was! Surprisingly there are only a handfull of Irish pubs in Sydney (5 I believe). I spent the day exploring the Queen Victoria Building and Darling Harbour, and come 4 o'clock I headed to Scruffy Murphy's with Nils and Marco to get in a few pints. It was packed to the tits in there! No elbow room whatsoever! Which was fine, because the more the merrier. Especially on Paddy's Day! There was a U2 cover band playing, appropriately. All in all it was quite an Irish day. Just look at the pictures and see for yourself.

Nils and St. Patrick himself!

What you lookin' at? In front of St. Andrew's Cathedral

U2 cover band Elevation

Random people dancing...

Once again, Happy St. Patrick's Day, and don't drink too much green beer...

Technical Difficulties Part 2: The Post That Should Not Be...

2007-03-16T02:42:00.000-05:00

Since yesterday night, my housemates and I, as well as our neighbours who share our Internet, have experienced severe slowdowns. Basically our download speed dropped from 1500 kb/s to an insulting 64 kb/s. Why is this so, you ask? I also asked the same question, and so decided to place a call to my reliable Internet "provider". It turns out we've exceeded the volume limit on our unlimited accound. You see, what they neglected to tell me when I first signed up over the phone (a service also provided by the same company) was that "unlimited" meant 12 GB, after which my broadband account gets slowed down to dial-up speed. So not really unlimited. The fine print in a contract is not visible over the phone, and it is therefore incumbent upon the representative serving me to inform me that there is in fact a limit to my unlimited account. He failed to do this and I am understandably upset.
Nonetheless, 12GB is a substantial amount and should serve our needs well. To put it in perspective for those who are not IT savy, 12 GB is equivalent to 15 illegally downloaded feature films. To think that 6 of us, who use the Internet to browse websites for research and leisure and to call home using voice over IP (voIP) technology, could use 12 GB in 9 days... We couldn't do this if we were running a piracy ring. OK, I'm exaggerating. But seriously, voIP uses around 30mb per hour, browsing the web perhaps 30 per hour as well. 30mb is 1/33th of 1GB, which in turn is 1/12th of our "unlimited" limit. Let's say that 6 people use 100mb an hour and browse 6 hours a day. This is 3.6 GB day. According to our provider we had such a day on the 10th of March. Hard to believe, but I suppose it's possible. Assuming we did indeed use more than 12 GB, that still isn't unlimited. It looks like we'll have to upgrade to 25 GB, which will cost each of us 3.33$ extra a month, and watch our usage. I wonder what they call the 25 GB plan. Super-unlimited? Sigh....
Please excuse the rant. I just feel like I was jipped. On top of all this, the representative who neglected to tell us about the 12 GB catch also failed to recommend a wireless modem even after I explained to him in detail that this account was intended to service 4, perhaps 6 laptops wirelessly. And so we've had to purchase a wireless router for 160$. It was not until my modem arrived in the mail, late, that I realised they had in their catalogue a wireless modem for 50$ above the price of our current modem. This was not even offered to me, and I relied on the information provided over the phone as I had no Internet access to browse their catalogue. Another mark against Telstra/Bigpond. These issues, along with the fact that I have never had so much schoolwork in my life, have impeded my ability to post more regularly. I realise everyone has been patient and that this is not the post you've all been waiting for. But know that I am doing everything I can to get things sorted out so that I can devote a solid block of time to the blog. If you can all wait until Saturday, you will all be greeted to a real post, with real pictures and things that you actually want to read about (posting pictures at this speed would be ridiculously slow). So thank you all for understanding. Bye for now.

Delay at Chicago's O'Hare

2007-03-09T06:29:00.000-05:00

As I only just got the internet at home, I have some catching up to do. There are already plenty of stories to tell, but of course we must start at the beginning.
On my flight from Ottawa to Chicago I happened to be seated beside an Australian named Daryn Smart. He was booked on the same flights as me also from Chicago to L.A. and L.A. to Sydney. We talked about Australia, Canada, the similarities and differences between the two, where we were from orginally, and the usual stuff people talk about when they're stuck on a plane together for several hours. I learned a few things about Australia and Sydney in particular before I even got there. Namely that funnel-web spiders are bad and will kill you if you piss them off. Good to know.
When we got to Chicago, we were both surprised to find that our flight had been delayed by 5 hours, which meant that we would miss our connecting flight from L.A. to Sydney.
So we rebooked and ended up on different flights out of Chicago where would both make our connection in L.A. In the meantime, I suggested we go have a beer or two at a nearby bar. He had something else in mind, however. As he was flying business class, he had a membership to something called the Flagship Lounge, an upper class area restricted to first and business class passengers. He was allowed one guest though, and invited me to come. I had no idea what to expect. We we got in, I was amazed at the quality of the lounge. Big screen T.V., couches, end tables, carpet and marble floors, open bar and free food! And I'm not talking about Cheetoes or veggies and dip. I mean smoked salmon, crackers and cheese (brie, smilton, gouda, etc.), and Heineken, Australian wine, Crown Royal whiskey, and more. It was unbelievable. I even got my boarding pass exchanged at the desk. Suddenly I couldn't complain about having my flight delayed any more....

After living in decadence for an hour or so it was time to catch my flight. I said goodbye to Daryn and that I'd see him in L.A. 4 and a half hours later I land at LAX and proceed to my gate to catch Quantas flight 12 to Sydney. Sure enough I run into Daryn at the check-in line. As this plane was larger and our seats were assigned, I was not sitting with Daryn and so we said our final farewells before boarding. If I'm ever in the Melbourne area however, he told me to give him a call and he'd show me around abit. I might take him up on that offer.

We are experiencing technical difficulties...

2007-03-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I just talked to Telstra/Bigpond (my phone and internet "provider") and it looks like I won't have internet access at home for another week and 3 days (not this Monday but the next)! So it will be difficult to make regular updates until then. However, I have promised pictures and even videos, and I will deliver once I am connected. They will most likely be released in a series of posts over one or two days, each post detailing a seperate day or event. Until then, I will try and make some of these dinky little posts just to let you guys and gals know I'm alive.
The real juicy stuff you all want is still forthcoming, but I can tell you that so far I've been to the Sydney Aquarium (pics and video), Darling Harbour twice (pics and video, day AND night), the Rocks (pics), Central Business District (CBD or just downtown, with cool pics of the Queen Victoria Building), Maquarie University Campus (of course, and I have pics), and will soon be heading to Manly Beach and perhaps later Bondi Beach. As you can see, plenty of stuff to tell you about. Bye for now!

G'day mate!

2007-02-27T20:33:00.000-05:00

Hello from down under everyone! This is my first post from Oz, and it is a week late because I don't yet have internet access at home. This should change today or tomorrow (hopefully, 'cause my modem is already 2 days late!) In any case, I just wanted to let everyone know I arrived safe and sound and am now (more or less) comfortably set up in my apartment. I am five minutes walk from campus, ten minutes walk from the nearest mall (the huge Macquarie Center), and ten minutes walk from the nearest bar and bottle shop (or bottlo in Australian English). My three flatmates are Nils Jacholke (ya-heul-ka) and Marco Rothaufe (rote-how-fa) from Germany, and a Thai named Montri Thangpijaikul (don't ask). They are all cool and easy to get along with, and you'll hear about them often in my posts, of that I am sure.

         Nils                   Marco                 Montri

As I am typing this from campus it would be difficult to post pictures at the moment, but rest assured I have over a hundred already, as well as some videos and stories to go along! My next update will come as soon as my internet is set up at home, and I will post a few pics on the blog itself and upload the rest to another site and provide the link here. That's it for now, but stay tuned for more!

Party Photos

2007-02-13T17:21:00.001-05:00

Express Yourself LIVE

On Saturday I was thrown a surprise farewell party planned by my mother. I can tell you it was a complete surprise! I had no idea and was completely stunned to walk into my house and find it full of friends and family. I am also impressed that everyone managed to keep it a secret from me considering how many people attended. I want to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who came. I was very touched and moved that so many people came to wish me well and see me before I left. I really felt supported and loved. This slideshow showcases some of the many people who were at the party.

On another note, my flight leaves tomorrow at noon. My total travel time is 24 hrs, so I am scheduled to arrive in Sydney at noon on Sunday, or 8am local time. I have stopovers in Chicago and L.A., and if I have time I'll make a post from California! (no promises) That's all for now. Thanks again to everyone who came to the party! I'll miss you all!

Check out my crib, homies!

2007-02-06T13:11:00.000-05:00

Here's my appartment in the neighbourhood of North Ryde in Sydney.

<---Outside front

Living room--->

Ain't it pimp?!?! If you want to take a 3D virtual tour, click here and then click on the icon under the pictures on the bottom right. Of course it will look a little different after I deck it out, but I'll post my own pictures of it once I'm there.

First Post

2007-01-31T18:00:00.000-05:00

Takeoff = T - 15 days!!! Holy shit! After months of preparation and anticipation, I'm now just a fortnight from my departure to Sydney, where I will spend the next 10 months of my life. Now that most of the prep work is done and I have more time to simply reflect on my upcoming year, I realize just how fast the last 9 months have gone by. I can't help but wonder how fast or slow the next 10 months will be... But whatever my perception of time, the two weeks I have left here feel at once eternally long and starkingly short. Everything is set, I'm jacked and ready to go, all I have to do now is wait. And panic.
For those who are curious, this is a short list of what you need to do before you leave the country to study for an extended period of time: get a passport; get health insurance; get visa; tell Foreign Affairs you're leaving; tell OHIP you're leaving; tell everyone you're leaving; buy plane ticket; buy travel insurance; select your courses; get your courses approved by the registrar's office; register for your courses; apply for accomodation; apply again for accomodation because they didn't get your first application; pay administration fees to have your application processed; get refunded when the first place they find you turns out to be unsuitable; apply again and repeat (if can follow shampoo instructions without getting frustrated, you should be alright when applying for residence); pay your first few months rent; pack your bags; freak out; etc...
The last thing to do, when everything else is taken care of, is getting ready to finally detach from the the world you've been a part of and accustomed to for most of your life. People, places, things you might not even know you're gonna miss yet, all of which you will be uprooted from and transplanted into a new environment. When such an event occurs in the plant world, the subject either grows new roots and adapts, or suffers shock and withers away. I hope I will be an example of the first.
This blog will be one of the few tenuous links that I have to home, and so I plan to make it an ongoing project to provide all my friends and familly with pictures, stories, adventures and insight regarding my sojourn in Sydney. This is the least I could do for the people that have encouraged me and supported me on this endeavor.