Its a really strange concept - home... Its like... I dunno it almost doesn't feel real, sort of dreamlike. I hope that when I do finally get there it will feel just as comfortable as it did before I left, and I'm excited to do a lot of the things I've been missing since November.
I was going to make a list but my battery is going to die any minute, so maybe I'll get around to it later, but my track record sucks.
Things here have been for the most part, uneventful. I mean sure I do things every day but life just isn't as new and exciting as it once was... back in the day when I posted regularly. I guess I've fallen in to some sort of consistency, which is good, I think. I'm quite used to living life here, and I can definitely see it in the future.
Right now all of my friends are on vacations to Cairns or Brisbane or Sydney or other parts of Australia, but since I've seen a lot already, and will be seeing more this summer, I opted to stay in Melbourne during the travel week. Its a good thing, too, because it gives me an extra week to work on the homework and stuff I should have done last week. Basically we have 3 papers that conclude our 3 courses and I haven't done any of them. They should be done by Friday, its now Tuesday. Tomorrow is officially a work day.
I also need to get to the post office and mail some things home, but thats going to cost heaps and I'm really dreading it. Not that I don't have the money, I am just really tired of spending it. I'm watching my funds get depleted past my usual buffer, and even though I planned it this way, it still sucks. Oh well, when I get home it will be nothing but work, train, work. Or so I'd like to think.
In addition to those things, I need to do a bit more shopping, some packing, and say goodbye to my oh-so-lovely local friends. It will be a thoroughly depressing chore, to be sure, but luckily I've planned to come back to Melbourne in July and will hopefully meet up with them again in the future.
I guess thats all for now, its dinner time but I promised I'd wait in Jill's room because she's expecting a call from a friend and needed to take a shower, so I said she could go shower while I stay here in case the phone rings. If that makes sense. But yeah there's not much else going on here, just getting ready to leave on Saturday for Auckland, New Zealand; the 4th and final stage of my journey. I'm not looking too terribly forward to it just because I love it here so much, but I'm sure it will be great fun and well worth it. Hope you all have great days, and I will see you all in a month, and hopefully talk to you sooner!
Cheers-
Sarah
I don't even know where I left off.
The weather has been nice again lately. Last week it was pretty rainy and overcast but its back to being sunny like it was the first week here. Most days its just go to class, go on field trips, go to meals, and then hang out with friends before going to bed and getting up to do it all again. As uneventful as that probably sounds, I've been thoroughly enjoying myself and learning a lot.
We went on a few history field trips and a few biology field trips, including some hikes and stuff, so that was really cool, and a lot of the museums we visit are really interesting. Class itself is nothing more than class itself, rawther boring but important just the same. Tonight I have to do a movie presentation with a few others for culture class, and then I'm free for the weekend! Tomorrow is Australia Day, a public holiday, so I don't have to go to class.
The rest of the weekend will be full up with paper writing and project doing, because next week sums up the Australia portion of my journey. We basically have 2 more weeks here but the last week all of the students are going to various locations around the continent on vacations. I'm staying in Melbourne, but don't really mind as I feel like I've seen so much and will see the rest when I come back.
Which brings me to my next point. The A4DE is a definite go, both parents and I leave on June 21st for Brisbane, Australia. The race is July 5-8 and I fly back to Melbourne, my favorite city in the entire world, on July 10th. I've been researching this program called BUNAC which is a work abroad program and seems really cool. I'll probably stay in Melbourne for another 4 months at that point, just living and working here. The program is really genius. Basically you pay them a small fee to organize visas and things and they guarantee you a job somewhere and help you find housing and such. Then you just work to pay for all of your expenses. Its like a free way to travel and experience other cultures and is fully self-supportive. I really want to work through November and be home for Christmas, and it looks really possible.
Beyond that, everyone is just kind of biding their time until vacation and then New Zealand. Auckland should be interesting, although I'll be sad to leave Melbourne. I'm sure I'll get just as nice of an experience there, I guess. I need to get to work booking a flight to Auckland, since I am doing all my airfares separately from the group. It looks like its going to cost me abou $400 so its a good thing I chose not to go on a vacation because I'll need the money.
Anyway its time for me to go do our movie presentation, so I'm headed out. I love you all and miss home every now and then, but such is life.
Cheers!
Sarah
As you all know, I arrived here in Melbourne last Friday, came to Newman College, part of Melbourne Uni and got our rooms. Mine's not the greatest but I certainly am over complaining about it. I realized that I don't spend too much time here, anyway. We had dinner and did some orientation stuff and got a tour of the college and our MetPasses (transportation cards) and all that, and then a vast majority of us went out on the town and found some pubs and whatnot. We all immediately bonded and had a great time together, and are super excited about the next 10 weeks.
On Saturday we had a city-wide scavenger hunt, and basically spent the entire day asking questions and running around town looking for the things on our list. There were 7 groups of 5, and I was grouped with a bunch of the shopping-type girls. Not the brainiest bunch but nice nonetheless. While we were walking over this bridge over the Yarra River, one girl, Meghan, lost her mom's $200 straw hat because it blew off of her head and into the river. We then spent the next hour and a half trying to rescue it. It got ran over by 3 ferries and disappeared for quite a while, but against all odds we managed to get it back. After that the girls were too tired to carry on so we gave up and headed back to turn in our results. Two teams tied for first, two teams tied for second, we tied for third with another team and then there was one team who just sucked and got last. Prizes were mostly candy and foodstuffs but it was good fun and a great way to learn the city. I went out with a few people and got to know some more individuals, which was nice.
Sunday was a free day. I did some shopping at the Queen Victoria Market, which was amazing. Like a combination of Pike's Place and a huge swap meet and it was really cool. Went out again with a big group to this bowling alley called Strikes. On Sunday nights if you buy any drink you can bowl for free. It was really fun they had big screens at the end of each lane that showed music videos and you could request songs and everythign was all black-lightey and dancey. It was fun and I won 3 free drinks for answering a trivia question. Only had one of them but thats ok because we're totally going back.
Monday we had class in the morning, our first real "class". We started off by reading a book called The Magic Possum. It was a children's book but apparently had a lot to be learned about Australia. Nothing I wasn't already familiar with. Then we had snacks of Australian food, and then sang Aussie songs. It was very childish but very fun. After that we went to the Melbourne Museum and saw the Aboriginal exhibit. It was cool but nothing too exciting. I am pretty sure we went out again but I can't remember where.
Tuesday we went to the NGV Aboriginal Exhibit, which is basically an art museum so we were supposed to be observing all the aboriginal art. It was alright, much of it looked the same, but there was this one series of portraits that was absolutely amazing and I must have spent a half an hour just staring at them. They were very impressive and inspiring. Later we had a travel agent come in to help us plan out the kinds of things we want to do for our week off. I want to go to Tasmania but if I can't line up free accomodation through either Lyndon or Bruce I'll probably head up to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef with some people from here. Its really tempting to go back to Sydney though because I miss my lovely Butler family, but I know they're really busy trying to move and stuff so its probably best that I stay out of their hair.
Yesterday we went to Healsville Animal Sanctuary, which was like a zoo for native animals. Much like Featherdale only Featherdale was heaps better since you could interact with many of the animals. I did see a platypus at Healsville though which was really cool. They're small! I thought they were a lot bigger, but they are very fascinating creatures. I decided that what I really want to do in life is live in Australia and work at a place like Featherdale or Healsville or something and be a keeper. But I kinda always knew that, I'm just discouraged for some reason. Not entirely sure why. We went out again last night, I think we have a favorite pub now cause most of the time we all just hang out at Pugg Mahones which is this friendly Irish pub. I don't really go there to drink just to be social and hang out. Its heaps fun.
Today was pretty slow, we had class and then this really extremely boring man took us on a tour of Newman College and explained the architecture for hours. It was bad. Then a few of us went to the beach and came back for dinner. Now I'm preparing to go to class again cause we're watching a movie at 7:30pm. Tomorrow we have a test so no one will be going out tonight, which is good because I'm pretty tired and should probably do at least a little bit of the reading before tomorrow.
Thats all for now, I have lots more to say but no time to say it, and to be fair I need to post this so you all know what I've been up to lately. I really should post more frequent, shorter entries, but it never really works out like that, does it? Oh well.
- Location:Newman College
The college is nice. It's part of the University of Melbourne, and the campus is beautiful. Right nextdoor to downtown Melbourne. My dorm room on the other hand is not so nice. But its mine and I'll learn to love it. Some rooms have balconies and are bigger than others but mine is really small and trashy looking. I guess they're supposed to have fridges, too but mine doesn't. And no wireless networks to be detected so I'll have to figure out where I can go to post my entries. I have a sink though, so thats pretty snazzy I guess. Whatever. When I make friends we can pick the best room to hang out in. Or something.
We get a monthly public transport pass, so basically I can go anywhere, anytime. Except when we have class and stuff. I feel really ill-prepared for this, I have no idea what the itinerary is or when classes are or anything like that, but I am used to Australia so maybe that puts me a step ahead? I have no idea. I have to go soon because we're meeting at 2pm for a tour of the campus, but I just thought I'd check in.
Not being able to post this is going to really frusterate me.
EDIT: I just looked at someone else's room, its heaps nicer than mine. I got the trashiest one, I think.
Anyway I had a very busy weekend and I'm thinking I should record what I can remember before it gets away from me. I don't even remember my last post so I don't know where to pick up, but I guess I'll start from when I left Sydney.
Leaving the Butlers' was mildly upsetting. They've been the closest thing to a family I have here, and I was feeling really comfortable with them, so packing up and saying goodbye was like saying goodbye to my real family, only heaps harder because I have no idea when I'll get to see them again. Its actually kind of paining me to write about it now, because I truly do miss them and can't express enough my appreciation for everything they did for me or how greatful I am to have had the opportunity to be a part of their amazing family, even for just a short time. I will undoubtedly be visiting them in London, because I have no idea how I could stay away.
I arrived back in Kiama on the 28th of December, I believe, and met Kaisa's cousin Pirtta who was visiting from Finland, and also Issie, Jack and Dean's older cousin who is 11. Pirtta left the next day, but Issie came with us to the property for New Years. Friday the 29th we didn't really do a whole lot as far as I can remember, but packed up and left for the property near Bateman's Bay on Saturday morning.
It was quite the drive to get to their farm/bike park but I think we arrived sometime around lunch. Jack and Dean's other cousin Martin, who's 12, was there too with Lyndon's parents, so me, Jack, Dean, Martin and Issie geared up and rode around all afternoon. I swear its like herding sheep, because I was the responsible party for a 7 year old on a KTM 65, a 9 year old on a YZ85, an 11 year old on a TTR 85 and a 12 year old also on a KTM 65, all trying to go to different places. At the property they have this really nice motocross track, a flat track, lots of nice loops for minis and a few short trail tests that leave from the staging area and loop back around, as well as a bunch of stuff that heads away from the headquarters. The property is also positioned next to the Monga National Park so basically there's heaps of riding to be had there, but we just stuck around near the house.
Sunday was New Year's Eve and we did a bunch more riding as well as swimming in the river, which has this 6 foot rock jump into a probably 9ft swimming hole, so that was fun. I kept meaning to bring my camera down there but I forgot every time, so I have a severe lack of pictures from Heffo's property. (I think I ended up with 3. *dismal effort on my part*) Around 8pm I think was when all the adults informed me that the clock has been shifted 2 hours ahead, so the "Happy New Year!" stuff happened at 10pm instead of midnight. None of the kids caught on so it was quite amusing to me, but kinda lame when everyone was asleep by 10:30. The 10pm celebration kind of had no effect on me because I knew it wasn't midnight, but there was no one to celebrate with at the actual midnight, so I just slept through it. I figured I could just think about it again at 7pm on Monday when all of my friends back home would be experiencing it.
Bruce and Brent Butler showed up on Monday morning, so Heffo took us on a big-bike only trail ride, which was a nice break from being shepherd to a bunch of minibikes and feeling like fouling plugs every other mile. (Just kidding Dean and Jack are actually pretty speedy for their ages! Another few years and they'll definitely be flogging me on the track.) This is when I really got to see what a nice bike that '07 WR 250F is! I mean, I love my '04 but the new model is heaps lighter (aluminium frame) and the throttle response is noticably better. Its possible that it was all in my head because I haven't rode a Yamaha for a few months, but there's definitely been some improvements in the last 3 years, and I reckon I noticed some of them. Its just too bad that with all my travel plans there's no chance of affording a new bike.
Brent was going to go home Monday night, and Bruce planned on staying at the farm, but they both ended up staying and Brent just left early in the morning. After the kids went to bed Kaisa learned that I don't like red whine, so gave me some white that was pretty good, and everyone just kept filling my glass until the bottle was gone. I was the only one drinking the white wine which means I drank the whole bottle myself. And at that point Kaisa (who had had a few glasses herself) just switched me to the red wine and I drank the whole glass no problem. Which explains a lot. I think by 10pm I had had 5 glasses of wine and nearly fell out of my chair laughing hysterically about something really stupid. Lyndon and Bruce and Kaisa and Brent had me convinced of some pretty silly things, and thinking back on it I must have been off my rocker. But it was legal. Or something like that.
Today Lyndon took me and Bruce and 3 of the little ones on a really easy trail ride. Later I will compare and contrast Australia riding vs Washington riding for all you motor-junkies back home. Its really quite different. I was asessing it while following Issie around today and I think it would be an interesting analysis. Anyway we got back and started loading things up, then arrived back here at about 9pm. All in all it was a pretty fantastic weekend chock-a-block full of riding and oudoorsy goodness.
I leave for Melbourne on Friday. Not sure how thats settling with me. I'll get back to you with an emotion as soon as I figure one out.
Just as a sidenote here are a few things I've obsevedly changed since arriving in Australia:
1. Vocabulary. In case you hadn't noticed, I've adopted some of the Aussie slang. Not so much the accent but a lot of the words have undoubtedly been integrated into regular use. Chances are you've all picked up on one or two things I didn't used to say. Some friends have commented on my useage of the word "heaps". I also say "reckon" which I never would have said before, and quite a few other little things that will probably come home with me.
2. Along those same lines- I don't say the word "like" as much. Greg noticed it first but he's absolutely right. The American youth kind of just uses "like" as a filler when our brains can't keep up with our tongues. I guess that fad just hasn't picked up here, and without constant reinforcement the habit has all but faded.
3. I don't take near as many pictures these days as I did in the beginning. I reckon its because the longer I stay here the less I feel like a tourist and the lower pictures become on my priorities, but its kind of disappointing when I get home from somewhere really cool and don't have anything to remember it by or show off when I get home. I'm going to have to start working on that some more because its kind of a tragedy.
4. Driving. Not that I do much of it but even as a passenger it definitely doesn't freak me out anymore. I think I could quite easily drive here without problems because I've been riding around in cars so much that I'm very comfortable on the left side of the road. I used to have little panicky heart flutters when I forgot I wasn't in Kansas anymore, but the only thing that has recently caused a momentary panic is drive-thrus. I've only been through one and I nearly passed out because going through backwards gave me quite a shock. I guess I briefly forgot that the driver is on the other side of the car, because it felt like we were driving into the exit. But thats the only thing that has worried me in a long time.
With Love,
Sarah
For Christmas Tim woke me up at about 7am (way too early for me!) and got the rest of the family up to start opening some presents. Catherine and her boyfriend Robbie were supposed to be over but we didn't know when they would show up, so the family decided to do some presents and the rest with Catherine and Robbie. I got Diane a salad spinner thing that you use to wash and dry your lettuce, because she makes a lot of salads and always uses a tea towel. She thought it was clever and she really liked it. Jack got a T-shirt from the ISDE which he also liked. For Tim I gave him a team USA ISDE shirt and a Lego car thing. I designated the 2003 and 2004 ISDE doccumentaries that my mom sent as Christmas presents for Greg, and I bought a really nice bracelet for Catherine when I was in Kiama. I was as happy with what I gave everyone as they were to recieve it.
I opened presents from Diane, Tim, and Greg. A bunch of little things. They had already given me the new Pink CD (which I love) when we went to the Butler Christmas Party thing, but I got some more things, too, which go as follows: 3 Kinder eggs, a little polar bear toy that drops jelly beans out of its butt("Poo-lar Bear"), a nice little pocket mirror, a couple of Aussie Christmas ornaments, a ring, and this little Elvis bear thing that is like 1 inch. Its cute. There might be something I missed, but I think that was about it from them. Jack gave me some American imported candy like Reece's and Red Vines which you can't really get here. A little taste of home. Catherine and Robbie gave me a belt which is nice cause I quite like belts.
After presents we ate breakfast, ham and eggs and toast, and then headed out to visit Diane's family. We had a late lunch at her sister Bev's house of turkey, ham, duck, roast vegetables, and trifle for dessert. It was yummy. They exchanged gifts, where I got another from Diane. Its this really nice travel envelope thing with pockets for all your travel doccuments and passport and everything. Quite nice considering I was carrying it all around in a ziplock bag. After that we went to her other sister's house where we would be spending the night. We just kind of hung out for a while chatting, I watched Matilda on TV, then we had grilled sandwiches for dinner and went to bed.
I woke up at 5am on Boxing Day in order to catch my family on Christmas morning. I called them around 10:15 Pacific Time at my Aunt's house so I could wish them a Merry Christmas. I wished I could have been home for the holidays because truly it isn't Christmas without Belgian waffles with my Aunt Judy, Uncle John, and the rest of my lovely family. I actually talked to my brother which I kind of expected not to do the whole time I was away, but I'm really glad that he wanted to say hello because I miss him. I briefly wondered what Christmas morning was like at my house without my brother and I there. It seems really lonely and mad me almost as sad as I was when I heard my parents didn't even bother to get a real Christmas tree. After getting off the phone I went back to sleep and got woken up at 8am for another round of bacon and eggs.
After we left there we went out to Deedree and Bob's house. (The people from the December 3rd entry.) I had been there before and they are super nice so I was happy to be able to see them again before I left. We had a big lunch, again with the turkey and salads and big meal foods followed by trifle. I'm pretty sure I've eaten enough to last me the rest of my trip, just in the last few days, but its good food that you can't say no to! After the meal we headed home and got back around 8pm.
Today I found out that Lyndon is picking me up tomorrow, so I spent most of the day getting all my washing done and trying to sort out what I would be sending home. I have so much stuff. So very much stuff. We went to Rhodes to get a box from the post office that I could fit some clothes and things in to send home, so tomorrow morning I will have to finish my packing and send away whats left. We went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse because that was the one thing I wanted to do here in Sydney. I guess it was kind of my farewell dinner because tomorrow I'm leaving here for good.
Its kind of bittersweet. Its like leaving home all over again, and I'm facing the same nervousness I faced before leaving my real home. I am excited for the next step of my adventure, which is schooling in Melbourne, but I am really sorry to be leaving because I quite like it here and will miss this family dearly. They are expecting me to visit them in the UK, so once they get settled in (with bikes and stuff) I'll go stay with them for a bit. Greg says he will take me riding in Wales if I want. I'm definitely up for that. Maybe sometime in late '07 or early '08 I'll make plans to visit London.
I'm really excited about riding at Heffo's property and spending another week and a half or so in Kiama. Also I have made all the necessary arrangements to meet my school group at the airport in Melbourne, and this quarter is going to be heaps fun. I'm not too thrilled about the school part, considering I haven't done anything on that front since I graduated in June, but I'm sure it will all come back to me.
I'm off to sleep now, and I would expect again for my updates to be few and far between until I get settled in at Newman College in Melbourne, but I will be sure to record it all and then swamp you with heaps of entries when I have internet access again. Don't know when that will be because once I leave here I may not have permanent access again. But I promise to find somewhere that will let me post once in a while if its not a possibility from my dorm room.
- Location:Cabarita, Sydney - for the last time ever
- Mood:
nervous - Music:Hands on Deck - Waking Ashland
After I got back from Kiama on Friday, I packed up stuff to leave for the farm belonging to Greg's brother, Bruce. We got there Saturday afternoon, and as soon as we got out of the car I heard bikes. So I'm looking around trying to find the source, and about 15 minutes later, two of Bruce's sons, Brent and Vaughn rode up to the farmhouse with their friend Greenie. At that point I was raring to go ride, so Greg said we could gear up and put around for a while. We unloaded Greg's bike, a KTM 200, and scraped together enough gear for me to ride in, and were ready to go. Vaughn and Greenie and Greg and I went out for a bit, me on Greg's 200 and Greg riding a spare 250EXC, not sure who's it was. It was so nice to be back on a bike. I reckon we didn't ride more than 10 miles just around the farm and stuff. Also we played around on this pretty cool hill climb. Greenie was the only one who couldn't make it up though, because it was his first time riding and he was on this clapped out old KLR so I can understand his struggles.
We rode back to the farmhouse and then got ready to go out for dinner. The farm is about 15 minutes away from this teeny little town pub so we went there. It was a nice place, and we had a big group so it was pretty fun. There was Greg, Diane and Tim, then Bruce, Brent and Vaughn, plus Greenie and another friend, Sean, and me. People kept buying me drinks, so by the time we left I had drank 4 Lemon Ruskis. "Floozie Drinks" the boys called them. Whatever, they were good. I guess something similar to Mike's Hard Lemonade only better. I don't think I was really drunk or anything just kind of giggly and chatty. Good times.
Everyone got home around 10pm, and then Vaughn wanted me to come out with his brother and the other two boys to "see some native wildlife." Translation: "Kill some native wildlife." Wombats and kangaroos were the main target, but pretty much anything with legs. I guess it wasn't that bad, and they explained to me the reason behind hunting them, but it was mildly upsetting at times. Still I went along and cheered on all the animals, cause well, someone had to do it. We had fun though and luckily the boys weren't terribly great shots. I think the final count was 3 wombats and 5 wallaroos. Which is pretty minimal considering the number of animals we actually saw but escaped unharmed.
We got back at like 12:30am or something and sat around for a while just chatting and drinking wine (that actually tasted good for once.) We were all planning on going on a big, real ride on Sunday, so we went to sleep for a few hours then got up relatively early. Had a delicious breakfast over which we argued about bacon. Because apparently the American version of bacon is "like chewing on ash." My argument was "At least we have bacon. This is just ham." Australians use a different cut of pig for bacon than we do and they don't cook it until its crunchy, so really American bacon isn't comparable to Australian bacon, but it was funny arguing about it. We geared up and were on the road about 10am.
The ride itself was pretty darn good. It was nothing near as challenging as a ride at home would be, but it was open, fast, and heaps fun. Greg tells me that the ride was about 75k but it only felt like maybe 30 miles. There was quite a bit of road and also just nothing really technical and hardly any single-track. I rode Greg's bike for the first half but then switched him and rode the 250. The 250 was heaps better... on the 200 I kept grabbing for another gear because I thought surely there was another. Haha I don't remember ever getting that feeling when I rode a 200... but now I can tell. I know I put a link to some pictures already but here they are again:
( Gotta Love The Australian Bush! )
Riding was the most fun I've had so far and I can't wait until I go to Heffo's property and ride in a few weeks. Plus that's when I'll get a taste of the 4 Day Enduro, which I'm really intently planning on going to. After riding with Bruce and blowing everyone out of the water as far as speed and skill goes, he and his sons asked me if I was going to come ride it. I told them that I have been thinking about it but haven't mentally committed yet. They offered to pit for me if I did. I said it would depend on bikes because I can't afford to ship a bike. Bruce reckoned Heffo could find me one, and if not Bruce himself would. I told them that that changes things quite a bit, because that would mean it would pretty much just cost me airfare, which is relatively cheap. So I'm strongly considering a return trip in July for maybe 2 weeks to do the 4DE. I'll talk to Heffo about it some more, and then check my schedule when I get home, and start training and working heaps and I reckon I could do really well.
I've grown quite comfortable with the idea of working for a while and then spending it all on travelling, or travelling and working odd jobs during the process. I have restaurant skills, which are pretty universal, and I've met a bunch of people who traveled heaps during and before going to Uni. They all say its the best thing they've ever done, and I quite agree. I'd love to go stay with the Butlers in London, or maybe even do a giant backpacking trip across Europe and stay in youth hostiles and stuff. I thinkjo that would be amazing. Yeah I know, dream on.
Sorry about the little travel tangent. I think before I focus on where I want to go, I should focus on how I'm going to afford to get there. AKA jobs. no, not jobs. Careers. I'm gonna need one. Still working on a decision there, though. I'll keep you all posted.
- Mood:
grateful - Music:Pink - I'm Not Dead
I'm really tired right now but I promise a better update soon. Until then, snack on these:
http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r
I really need to work on regularly updating.
I heaps miss home. Just thought you all should know!
Now its time to try and relive the last week with the Heffo's.
On Tuesday Kaisa and I went shopping, where I got gifts for Diane, Cathrine and Tim. I don't know what to do about Jack and Greg, but I still have time. I also got a few things for myself but it sort of puts me in a bigger jam with the luggage bit. Ah well, another thing I will have to work out in the next few weeks.
Tuesday was the last day of school for Jack and Dean and we went to the awards presentation Tuesday night. They go to Shellharbour Anglican College which is this fancy private school, and it was interesting to see the differences between their school system and my own.
Wednesday morning/afternoon I took the boys down to the beach and we walked around the whole harbor just messing around and having a great time. I don't know what else we did... Had smoked trout for dinner and I sauna'd with Katja and then jumped in the cold pool. That was fun... Kinda jerks your heart a bit and reminds you you're alive. Just dandy.
Yesterday we didn't really do a whole lot. Went to the beach for a tad bit and swam out in the pool and just played all morning, then Kaisa took us to Saddleback Mountain to see this gorgeous lookout point that overlooks like... everything. It was brilliant. Kinda foggy so I reckon on a clear day you could see heaps more, but I was still impressed. After that the boys had swim practice for like 45 minutes, and then we went to Black Beach in Kiama and had dinner. We bought take-away fish and chips and went down and ate it on the beach. Then we had some delicious ice cream and went home.
We left early this morning. A great week but I'm glad to be back in Sydney. Tomorrow we leave for Bruce's farm, which is Greg's brother and he has heaps of bikes and stuff (17 I heard) so I'll get to do some riding this weekend and I'm very stoked about it.
Also the Heffernans said I have to come back again before I leave, so it sounds like I'll go out to their motorcycle park for new years and do even MORE riding. Even better riding. I'll get to ride some of the special tests that they used for the 4 Day Enduro last year. Thats this big race that is the same format as the ISDE and last year all the world enduro guys came to Australia to do it. A really big race that I'd like to do some day, too. Its staged out of Heffo's farm and everything and just sounds really awesome. I guess the Sweden girls from Six Days are gonna do it this year, and Nicole Bradford had apparently expressed interest as well. I can't wait to go to their property and ride and Heffo and the boys are pretty stoked to have me come ride with them. But probably not as stoked as I am.
I still have to work out the kinks in the Melbourne plan but with some help it should be falling into place pretty soon. I need to try to be at the Melbourne airport by 10am to meet my group, but since its a domestic flight I won't be able to take much luggage, so I dunno. I could potentially use another form of transportation but everyone seems to think flying is my best bet. I need to book soon to get the cheapest airfares but its making me really nervous. I'll have Greg and Diane help me really soon. Pretty excited for that trip. I guess there's something like 35 students in my group so I'll get to meet heaps of new people and make lots of friends which is something I really miss. I don't really have any friends here so it will be good for me to have some new faces around.
I think thats about it, so...
Later days!
- Location:Bedroom
- Mood: pleased
- Music:U + Ur Hand - Pink
After that we picked up Kaisa's sister Katja from the train station, and then came home to 3 more family members. We also picked up the boys from school and there are actually quite a lot of people here at the moment. I feel a little bit out of place because its a lot of family members and the like, and I barely even know the family that I'm staying with, let alone their relatives. But its all good.
A storm blew in when we picked up Jack and Dean and it has now started POURING down rain, which is really good because The whole country of Australia is suffering. The weather has changed rapidly and drastically from this afternoon to this evening, because it was hot, hot, hot when I was down on the beach and suddenly it's raining heaps and because of that it cold. But I guess such is life.
I'm oddly homesick for the house in Sydney. I miss Tim and Diane and everyone. And Indie! But I do like it here as well. Not so much now that there are a billion people here, but last night was really fun just swimming with the boys and catching up with Kaisa and Heffo.
In other news, I've managed to sunburn JUST my knees. Its kind of funny, actually.
I'm still hurting for internet, which is a shame because I have lots of business to tend to, like emailing home, teachers, and finding a ticket to Melbourne. Plus I'd like to IM my dear friends, and little Timmy, too. Oh well. Unfortunately that's just not an option here.
Again the week wasn't too terribly exciting, I hung around most of the time. Went into the city and caught a movie one night. A Scanner Darkly. It was pretty good for an abstract film. I enjoyed it. But even more I enjoyed the city at night. Absolutely gorgeous. I would live in eternal darkness as long as I could do it on the streets of Sydney. I guess I just don't spend too many nights in any cities. Wow that paragraph was nothing but a lot of fractured sentences and simple statements. I must be tired.
I don't remember anything else from this week except today. Today was the Butler Family Christmas Celebration. Basically all of Greg's relatives getting together for the Christmas festivities. I scored Pink's new CD from "Santa" - AKA Diane... Which is exciting because I really love Pink. Basically it was a barbeque-style get-together at this nice park on the beach and there was a pool and stuff, too. So all the little ones played in the pool and we also did your basic family barbeque activities. Pinata, gunny sack races, the one where you balance something on a spoon and race to the other side; you know, the usual. Nothing too terribly exciting to report from that, but it was something to do.
After that, Greg dropped me off here. I am currently writing this from Kaisa and Linden's home. I'd tell you where it is but I really have no idea except that its right next to this gorgeous beach. Pictures later. Kaisa and Lynden are the people I met in the airport, the folks that knew Greg and Diane and invited me to come stay with them. You know the small-world story. It's those people. And they have the most amazingly spectacular, awesome home that I can't even begin to describe how fantastic it is. I'll have to take tons of pictures. Linden has like 7 bikes in his garage and none of them are over a year old. He has a 2006 WR 250 with my name on it, and I'm desperately hoping I'll get back here to ride with them. They also have the 2 raddest children I've ever met. Dean is 7 and Jack is 9 and like I said they are the coolest little kids I've ever met in my life. I've been here like 5 hours, they only came home about 4 ago, and I'm already in love with them. So. Awesome.
I don't know how long I'll be here, I'm guessing until Thursday or so, but I already have plans to come back for New Year's so that I can go out to their property and do some riding. It seems like it will work out perfectly.
Next weekend I will probably go out to Bruce's farm, which is Greg's brother's and we will do some riding out there, but I really want to ride with Heffo. (That's Linden, basically everyone calls him Heffo. Including me.) If everything goes right, though, I will be back here to ride some more, which will be heaps awesome. See Greg and Diane leave to do their look/see in London on the second, and I need to be in Melbourne on the 5th, so basically that's a few days I'm homeless plus getting to Melbourne. So I discussed it with Heffo and Kaisa and they would love to have me back for New Year's, we can do some riding, and they're willing to help me get to Melbourne. I'm planning on flying from Sydney to get there and just meeting my study group at the Melbourne airport. So they will take me to either the Sydney airport or one of the smaller one's around here, depending on flight times and prices.
The only sucky part about staying here is the lack of wireless internet, which utterly sucks, but can be dealt with none-the-less. I'd say don't expect another update until I get back to the Butlers'. I might write some, like I'm doing now, but won't be able to post until this computer can get a connection.
Sorry.
Hugs and Kisses!
So I reckon it's been about a week since my last real update... I didn't intend to keep my faithful readers waiting so long, and I appologize. So without further ado, I will try to remember what I've missed. (Which will inevitably prove difficult considering that I've lost all concept of days, dates and times... But I'll do my best.)
Alright, we went to Featherdale last ... Sunday I believe? And on Monday I doubt I did anything worth mentioning cause I really can't remember Monday. Tuesday, I believe, was the day that Diane took Tim and I to the Olympic Park and we went swimming in the olympic pools. I'm sure it would have been quite nice had there not been like 8000 other people there. There was a pretty cool water slide though and heaps of other fun stuff, but it was just way too crowded for my taste. Wednesday is when the week started picking up, and that was the day I had a true Australian experience, that was also one of the most frightening experiences of my life, as it happens.
Wednesday was "Meet Grandma" day. No, that's not the scary part. Grandma is Diane's mother. She lives on an old dairy farm and has quite a few bovine creatures. More commonly known as cattle. Or Heiffers. Or beasts. Or cows. Whichever you prefer. At any rate, we drove around the farm a bit, and then Tim and I got off to take a peek at the old dairy. Well basically it's a barn but there's a fence around it and an area outside the door of the barn with like about 2ft tall grass. We were aiming to go through the gate, but the latch was rusted shut, so we decided to climb over. Tim was basically sitting on the top of the gate when we both noticed movement in the grass. Upon further inspection, we observe that its black, scaly, and most probably reptilian. I knew instantly it was a snake, because, well, we're in Australia for goodness' sake. Tim, for some reason, thought it was a lizard or something, and asked me for a rock. At this point I'm starting to panic because snake + Australia = deadly probably 90% of the time. Tim is completely relaxed because he's for some reason under the impression that its as harmless as a garden snake. As he's squirming around and being way too excited for a deadly encounter and I'm trying to reason him away from the situation, the snake decides it's feeling threatened and stands itself up, maybe 6 inches above the 2ft tall grass, with its head all puffed up, looking very dangerous. Some expletives escape my mouth at which point Tim turns around and says, "There's no need to swear" and I nearly drag him off the fence and pull him back about 10 feet. He picks up a piece of wood and tosses it in the general direction of the snake, as I tell him that that is a huge black snake and very venomous. He seems surprised, but doesn't go back for a second look. Smart child we have on our hands, is it not? Annnyway, we make our way back to the house to tell the story, and my suspicions were confirmed. Red-bellied black snake, high on the list of world's deadliest. One of the more aggressive snakes, which would explain why it challenged us instead of just slithering off into the dairy barn; or away in any direction would have been suitable for me. It was big, too. I'd say probably 5 ft long and the diameter of my wrist. Needless to say, I was terrified. But everyone reckons I got lucky because you don't see a deadly snake everyday. I reckon they need to reconsider their definition of the word "lucky." True Aussie experience? I'll take it with a grain of sand, thanks.
I can't recall Thursday, I'm guessing it consisted of sitting around? That might have been the day we explored downtown Sydney, or maybe Friday? I'm not sure, but one of the days Diane and Jack and I went to the Botanic Gardens in Sydney. From there we walked to the National Library and the Sydney Operahouse. I basically got to see all of the historical monuments in Sydney, but I think the gardens were my favorite. There is a colony of fruit bats that live within them, and there are seriously like thousands of bats. Heaps of bats, bats in every tree. Its unreal. They are big, too. Like the size of chihuahuas and like 4ft wingspans. Maybe bigger? I dunno. Its nuts. Here's some photos from the heart of Sydney!
( Click Me! )
Saturday Diane and Tim and I had lunch with Diane's niece, Lauren. We got to drive over the Harbor Bridge to get there. That was about the only notable part of the trip.
Today was really fun. Diane and Greg and Tim and I went to another farm, I don't think the people who owned it were of any relation but they were super nice and we had a lot of fun there. I'm getting tired of writing so I won't go into every intricate detail, but we drained the fuel out of a small aircraft, drove around the farm some, ate tons and tons of food, shot a pellet gun, drove around some more, and then saw some real wild 'roos on the way home! As well as a giant flock of cockatoos. Which is really strange to me because in my mind those birds only belong in a cage begging for crackers. But nope, they are wild here and I see them just about everywhere! But this flock was notable because there were heaps of them. I'd say around 100? I was intrigued. But thats about it.
Another thing I should mention is that Greg got a job in ... London I think? Somewhere in Western Europe... UK or something... I really have no idea except that the family is moving early in 2007. January or February! I don't even leave here until January 7th or so, and I have no idea what that means for the rest of this month. They have to go over and find a place to live but the timeline seems really short. The deal was just finalized late this week and they are basically out of here ASAP. We'll see how things go.
I think I'm up to date for the moment. No idea what the next few days have in store for me but I'll try to update more regularly... I hate feeling like I'm slacking off! Actually that's a lie. It doesn't really bother me. =P
For now I'm going to go watch a movie.
Ciao
The cool thing about this park is that you actually get to interract with a lot of the animals. Kangaroos have semi-free roam throughout areas of the park, and you can feed them and play with them. You could also pet koalas and echidnas and they had all kinds of crazy native birds and reptiles as well as dingos and wombats and emus and tazzies! It was so awesome. I took tons of pictures, so heres a few of my favorites.
( Featherdale )
In other news, a lot of the police drive these dorky station wagons, that have like... 0 intimidation factor. Its like, "You're under arrest, fella. As soon as I drop the kids off at school."
Yeah it just doesn't work for me.
The end.
I don't remember what else happened that day, but I do remember yesterday. For the most part I was hanging out here because everyone was at work or school. Around 1pm Diane took me with her to the next suburb over, and I walked around the few shops that were there while she got a massage. It was SO hot! 45*C I heard. Which is like... just over 100F I think.
Today we took the ferry into downtown Sydney, then walked around for a while, got lunch, and took the train and a bus home. It was cool I got to experience all the public transportation systems in Sydney, but kinda freaky at the same time. There was a guy sitting in front of us on the bus who had blood on his hands. Can you say weird?
Anyway then we had a "Thanksgiving" dinner, which consisted of chicken, yams, potatoes, green beans and bread. Then pie a la mode. It was yummy. Thats about it. Tomorrow will be more of nothing, but I think on Sunday I get to go to this park place where you can pet koalas and feed kangaroos!!!! I'm stoked.
- Location:My bed
- Music:(Past Due) - The Weakerthans
So I join Kaiser and Lynden in the quest through the airport, and they kindly guide me through customs and baggage claim and into the public lobby where we meet up with Greg and his family. Greg was totally surprised to see me coming out with Kaiser and Lynden, so we all have a laugh about it being an amazingly small world. They have invited me if I want, to come stay with them for a few days at their house, which is supposedly right on the edge of this very, very nice beach. I think I might take them up on it, if I get bored here. They were very nice people.
So... Sydney. Wow. Sydney is beautiful. My family is amazing. Life is good. I don't really know what else to say. I got home last night around 9pm and chatted with the family for a little while, then went to my room where I talked online with my friends (for FREE, finally) and then went to bed. Got up this morning, hung out in my room for a while, and then went exploring. Had lunch at this vietnamese restaurant, then went to the mall and picked up a prepaid cell phone and a milkshake. Then I came home and watched some Australian TV. Ready, Steady, Cook! anybody? Well now here I am.
Its really hot in Sydney. Like 85* or so. I need to get some sunscreen because I will burn to death if the weather stays like this. Its like putting a match up to my skin. No good.
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