If I ever went back to Australia, I'd see a platypus and the penguins again. Kuranda was fun. I'd try to go to the Outback. BYE AUSTRALIA!!!!
Pam/Mom says:
The next day we headed to the airport to return home. Although, we were happy about going home to see Jack & Colby. We were sad to leave. There was so much more to see and do. And I was relieved that Chad hadn't succumbed to some poisonous creature! We'll miss Amanda, too, but she'll follow us home in early Dec. I truly hope we get back to do some more exploring. I've always planned on Chad & Colby doing a semester aboard in college - so here's hoping! It was a great experience and I recommend it for any and all. Yes, the flight was dreadful, but oh the payoff!
If you're interested in learning more about Australia, check out Amanda's blog at http://amandasaustraliatrip@blogspot.com. She was there from July to early December as an exchange student w/Penn State and traveled very extensively.
While we were in Australia, we kept track of different words and little oddities. Here they are:
Maccas = MacDonald's
Milk Bar = Cheap Fast Food (I 1st thought it was chocolate & then I thought it was a WAWA type store - they do have 7 11's & woolworth's there.)
ta = thanks
No worries = a common response to many requests
nasties = general term for all the venomous creatures
stingers = jellyfish
lemonade = lemon soda w/actual lemon juice
mozzies = mosquitoes
cossies = swimming costume = bathing suit
biscuit = hard cookies (like an ANZAC), but there are no American biscuits even at the KFC's here
lots of pumpkin, but no pumpkin pie
lift = elevator
koala = Aborigine for "no water" They meet their water needs from the leaves
kangaroo = Aborigine for "I don't understand" after the English asked, "what's that?
they add o's to lots of words, ie aggressive = aggro
Melbourne is pronounced Mel-bun.
Philly = cream cheese
FAIRY FLOSS!!!! = cotton candy
Period (as in punctuation) = full stop
rice bubbles = Rice Crispies
tomato sauce = ketchup
tea = can mean tea or a meal
bin = trash can
coke is any soda
Aluminum is pronounced very differently and I think only children can pronounce it both ways. An adults' brain won't let you do it both ways.
All school children wear uniforms which include a hat for sun protection.
People sit in the front of a taxi with the driver!!!!! Especially when there's only 1passenger. I was absolutely floored by this. I can't imagine any New Yorkers doing that.
The water swirls down the drain clockwise & in the US its counterclockwise.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Penguin Parade
Chad & the penguins! The excitement is building!
The Nobbies
They don't exactly encourage you to swim.
Today we went to see penguins. First, we got on a bus and picked up other people. Then we transferred to a big bus. Our first stop, I got a pizza. Turns out it was pineapple and ham. We gave the bus driver my pizza. After that we drove to a winery. I sat outside with the dog. Then we drove to other stops then the PENGUINS!! We watched them come in and they were so small and cute. After that we drove home. I got a PSP. Penguins are better than PSPs!
Weather: Sunny in Melbourne, cooler as we headed south.
Mom/Pam says:
Chad & I set out in the morning to find opals for his grandmothers. They were back in the states doing all the hard work taking care of Colby & Jack, so we could have this great experience. After a few missteps, we finally found Lightning Ridge Opals. It's named after the town where they mine opals. The owner actually used to mine the opals. He gave us a short lesson on opal cutting & quality. He left me to shop, while he showed Chad his backroom of venomous spiders, scorpions & blue tongued lizard. The owner was quite complimentary of how Chad handled himself. It was nice to hear. After some successful shopping, we headed out for our longest trip yet. Chad choose to sit outside in the warm sunshine with the dog and some beautiful rosellas (birds) and not listen to the boring wine tasting. He also stopped at a little zoo. The poor keeper dropped a baby wallaby in front of our group & was quite frazzled after that. I thought we discovered a new animal here "an albeeno," but they were actually talking about the albino wallabies. Quite funny. The we headed to a town for an early dinner, a beach and then the Nobbies. Alas, we only saw 1 seal & 1 penguin there. The place was overrun by seagulls & their babies & their poop, but it was very scenic albeit smelly. On our way to the Parade, we saw our 1st wild wallabies! Finally, we were off to see the fairy penguins, now called little penguins b/c little is more correct b/c they are the littlest penguins. Their biggest threat is foxes and 2 men have the job of making sure no foxes get out to Phillips Island. They are just so darn adorable. No pictures are allowed, so it's all in our heads. You can YouTube them. They come in from the ocean every night at dusk and nest in the hills. They're barely a foot tall & noisy & just adorable as they waddle about - you can't help, but want to pet 1. We were that close. Seeing the penguins was truly a highlight of the trip. Then it was 1 long trip back to Melbourne.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Note from Aunt Amanda
Just to update everyone - I said goodbye to Pam and Chad today as they headed off to the airport so they will be home soon! A combination of late nights and early mornings caused us to get a little behind on Chad's Australia Blog. Keep a lookout for updates over the next week when they get a chance to make additions :O)
Shopping Day
Chad at the entrance of Luna Park.
Today we went to the markets. First the Maker's markets, then the Vic Markets, next the St. Kilda markets. At the St. Kilda Markets we went to Luna Park. I went on some pretty cool rides. After that we ate and went home.
Weather: It was warm and sunny.
Pam/Mom says:
Yes, it was a tortorous day for Chad. Lots of shopping to be done. The Maker's Mkts were great - lots of quality crafts and some with an Australian theme. Vic Markets not so great. Endless rows of merchandise in no apparent order w/treasures mixed in, if you had the patience. We didn't, it was hot & crowded. So after lunch we headed out to St. Kilda's Mkts., they were great, too. I'm regretting not buying more & getting there earlier to see more of the booths. St. Kilda's is a beach area & it was packed b/c it was a beautiful day. We took Chad to Luna Park which is a small amusement park. It was here I discovered my favorite Australian word, "Fairy Floss" which is cotton candy. I think it is such a more magical word to describe eating pure sugar. I vow to use it from this day forward. We then headed to dinner which was a trial in itself. Amanda wanted Mexican, but we couldn't find the restaurant she knew of. The nearby Mexican restaurant was not basic enough for Chad. So we decided to pop into a book store & look up some reviews. We chose a spot nearby & immediately left upon seeing brains on the menu. So we picked a nice Italian spot down the street. Then I bought some delicious pastries to take back for dessert & breakfast. The place used lots of rhubarb and it was all good.
A word on food in Australia, it's not very different from here. It definitely has an English & Asian influence. But oddly, no oatmeal for breakfast. Sometimes, they'd serve cold muesli in milk that had been soaking for awhile - very unappealing. They have meat pies and sausage rolls for take away that are quite good. They have plenty of coffee shops, but no 1 carries their coffee around. I think they must just down the scalding liquid right in the shop. And the apples are all very small. The chocolate is excellent and plentiful. Pavlova was created in Australia.
Politics: It was quite surreal to be away from home for such a huge election. We went to bed on Tues night & the 1st American poll hadn't even closed yet. I've traveled a bit and I was usually chagrinned at how much other people know about US politics and I often couldn't name their president, prime minister, king, etc or even the type of leader. And in the past, many had an opinion regarding Americans. But, this was unbelievable. People were as fascinated/obsessed as Americans were. At the time of the election, we were still in Sydney & we ate breakfast & dinner there in the Exec Lounge. Many of the conversations there were all about McCain & Obama. One man actually told me, he thought the Obama/Clinton primary was more interesting and a better race. I was astounded. Who follows other countries' primaries?! People would actually offer me their opinion on the election, once they realized I was American. I missed both the acceptance & concession speeches, but plan on YouTubing them.
Great Ocean Road
Today we did the Great Ocean Road. We took a bus to Bell’s Beach. It’s a famous surfer beach. After that we ate cookies. I slept till we ate lunch at Apollo Bay, but Mom and Aunt Amanda saw wild koalas. After that we stopped at a rainforest and I went bare foot. At the end I had numb and sore feet. After that we went to the twelve apostles. Me and mom took a helicopter. Mom was really freaked out and I sat in the front seat. After that we went to look at a gorge and then London Bridge. After that we went home. We saw our first wild Echidna along the road and stopped to look at it.
Mom/Pam says:
The Great Ocean Road hugs the bottom of the Australian coast in Victoria. It reminds me a bit of the coast road from LA to San Fran. It's very windy with 1 view better than the next, but it definitely can make you a bit carsick. Melbourne is a huge city - very spread out. It's in the top 5 cities per square miles. The Great Ocean Road was built after WWII, when there was no work for the returning soldiers - so the government started this project to give them work & help build a tourist future. It is not built up at all. The weather seemed to be against us - the sky would clear up when we were driving. But as soon as we got off the bus, it would begin to rain/spit. The koalas were cool to see. Our guide was a bit of a hippy and suggested we walk the rainforest in our barefeet. I passed on that. The forest was definitely different from the 1 in the north. Greener, w/more ferns and much bigger trees. It reminded me a bit of the redwood areas in SF. Yes, the helicopter flight was terrifying. I didn't really want to do it. But, Chad has been a trooper with all the travel & tours, so I in a weak moment I told him he could do it. But, then I realized if his helicopter crashed, it would be a bit difficult explaining to Jack - it seemed safe enough for Chad, but not me. So I swallowed my fears and screams and joined him. The views were spectacular, but the rain & wind just made me want to land. Luckily, it's not even a 10 minute ride. The 12 Apostles were once known as the "Sow & piglets," but the tourist industry realized that wasn't such an attractive and changed it to the 12 Apostles even though were only 8 and now there are 7. One collasped a few years ago. The London Bridge is steeped in many legends regarding the collaspe of the 1 arch. My favorite is that there was a 3rd person on it who ran off Indiana Jones style with the arch collasping under his feet. All in all lots of spectacular scenery. We soon headed back to Melbourne via inland roads. We saw lots of bird life, rabbits & 1 echidna. The driver had to turn around to see it. And it had scurried into the brush, Amanda tracked it down despite the million poisonous things here. The other people were a bit taken aback by her boldness bushes. We had fish'n chips for dinner. Amanda & I shared barramundi - a quite delicious Australian fish. They even battered and fried Chad's hot dog. Quite funny b/c we didn't recognize it.
Weather: Windy and cool, it was little rainy and a little sunny
Echidna which is the only other monotreme besides the platypus. Basically, it's a egg laying furry mammal.
London Bridge Falling down - the 2nd arch fell in the 1990's stranding 2 people.
The 12 Apostles
Our helicopter!!!
Bell's Beach made famous in the movie, "Point Break" which was filmed in CA. Alas, no big waves like you see in the annual Rip Curl surfing event.
Mom/Pam says:
The Great Ocean Road hugs the bottom of the Australian coast in Victoria. It reminds me a bit of the coast road from LA to San Fran. It's very windy with 1 view better than the next, but it definitely can make you a bit carsick. Melbourne is a huge city - very spread out. It's in the top 5 cities per square miles. The Great Ocean Road was built after WWII, when there was no work for the returning soldiers - so the government started this project to give them work & help build a tourist future. It is not built up at all. The weather seemed to be against us - the sky would clear up when we were driving. But as soon as we got off the bus, it would begin to rain/spit. The koalas were cool to see. Our guide was a bit of a hippy and suggested we walk the rainforest in our barefeet. I passed on that. The forest was definitely different from the 1 in the north. Greener, w/more ferns and much bigger trees. It reminded me a bit of the redwood areas in SF. Yes, the helicopter flight was terrifying. I didn't really want to do it. But, Chad has been a trooper with all the travel & tours, so I in a weak moment I told him he could do it. But, then I realized if his helicopter crashed, it would be a bit difficult explaining to Jack - it seemed safe enough for Chad, but not me. So I swallowed my fears and screams and joined him. The views were spectacular, but the rain & wind just made me want to land. Luckily, it's not even a 10 minute ride. The 12 Apostles were once known as the "Sow & piglets," but the tourist industry realized that wasn't such an attractive and changed it to the 12 Apostles even though were only 8 and now there are 7. One collasped a few years ago. The London Bridge is steeped in many legends regarding the collaspe of the 1 arch. My favorite is that there was a 3rd person on it who ran off Indiana Jones style with the arch collasping under his feet. All in all lots of spectacular scenery. We soon headed back to Melbourne via inland roads. We saw lots of bird life, rabbits & 1 echidna. The driver had to turn around to see it. And it had scurried into the brush, Amanda tracked it down despite the million poisonous things here. The other people were a bit taken aback by her boldness bushes. We had fish'n chips for dinner. Amanda & I shared barramundi - a quite delicious Australian fish. They even battered and fried Chad's hot dog. Quite funny b/c we didn't recognize it.
Weather: Windy and cool, it was little rainy and a little sunny
Echidna which is the only other monotreme besides the platypus. Basically, it's a egg laying furry mammal.
London Bridge Falling down - the 2nd arch fell in the 1990's stranding 2 people.
The 12 Apostles
Our helicopter!!!
Bell's Beach made famous in the movie, "Point Break" which was filmed in CA. Alas, no big waves like you see in the annual Rip Curl surfing event.
To Melbourne
Today we’re going to Melbourne (Mel-bun), but first we went down to the Aquarium to buy platypus stuff. After that we walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 16 men died making the bridge. The bridge was finished in 1932. Mom would not let me go near the edge which has a huge metal rail to prevent us from falling. We hit the worse traffic getting to the hotel so we walked. We panicked that we’d miss the plane. We had 45 minutes before the plane left when we got to the airport. We did get on the plane to Melbourne. After that we went to Aunt Amanda’s college. Which is a dorm called the doughnut. It’s called that because it’s shaped like a doughnut. After that we went gift shopping. Then we went to eat, the waiter showed me three cool riddles. After that we went to Aunt Amanda’s dorm and slept there.
Pam/Mom says:
Yes, the bridge was scary. You can even pay to climb it on the top. Luckily, Chad isn't 14 so we didn't have to deal with that. Although, we did meet 2 elderly women in the lift, who said it quite invigorating. We felt like such cowards.
Despite the fact that it sounds like it rains every day in Melbourne, they're in the 12th yr of a drought and it's quite obivious. It's very brown & dry. It just seems to spit alot, but the rain amounts to nothing. I did notice quite a few prickly pear cactus. Amanda told me they were imported at 1 point & they basically took over Melbourne to the point you couldn't build in some areas. They couldn't get rid of them & resorted to dumping arsenic on them. Finally, they brought in a moth that lives off the cactus & eventually kills it. So now everything is nicely balanced. It makes sense how strict Australia is with their imports - they have had lots of problems with non-native species. Rabbit, foxes, a European cod, etc. have all overtaken various parts of Australia pushing out natives. The foxes are a particular problem and are threatening many of Australia's smaller kangaroos, wallabies, birds and possums.
A word about Whitley College - Amanda actually attends the University of Melbourne, but lives in Whitley. The College is not a college as we imagine w/classes, etc. It's basically a co-ed dorm (even the bathrooms) with lots of amenities a cafeteria, college store,library, computer room, etc. The Colleges are very active - sort of like a fraternity. We slept there 1 night. I wanted a cup of decaf tea before bed and her friends laughed at me saying, "DECAF!!! This is AUSTRALIA!" We also admired all the beer bottle caps that she has collected for the boys. They pretty much stretch around the room.
We headed off to a local mall via the tram to look for gifts. It's quite expensive & I wanted gifts that said "Australian", so not much luck. But, we did see Santa in the big dept. store in Myer - several building spanning several streets. Then we headed over to the "Little Italy" area for dinner & Melbourne's best gelati. After that we hit a grocery store to load up on Australian chocolate & cookies. I love shopping in foreign grocery stores - I think it really gives you insight into the country. In fact, Australians love Philadelphia cream cheese - they call it Philly and it comes in many forms & flavors than here. We loaded up on Tim Tams - an awesome cookie rumored to be sold in Target in the US. Here's hoping! Many an Australian story involve a Tim Tam... I was watcing the news, reading, TV...and having a Tim Tam when...
Weather: Nice in Sydney, Rainy in Melbourne and cold
Me and mom on the bridge
Pam/Mom says:
Yes, the bridge was scary. You can even pay to climb it on the top. Luckily, Chad isn't 14 so we didn't have to deal with that. Although, we did meet 2 elderly women in the lift, who said it quite invigorating. We felt like such cowards.
Despite the fact that it sounds like it rains every day in Melbourne, they're in the 12th yr of a drought and it's quite obivious. It's very brown & dry. It just seems to spit alot, but the rain amounts to nothing. I did notice quite a few prickly pear cactus. Amanda told me they were imported at 1 point & they basically took over Melbourne to the point you couldn't build in some areas. They couldn't get rid of them & resorted to dumping arsenic on them. Finally, they brought in a moth that lives off the cactus & eventually kills it. So now everything is nicely balanced. It makes sense how strict Australia is with their imports - they have had lots of problems with non-native species. Rabbit, foxes, a European cod, etc. have all overtaken various parts of Australia pushing out natives. The foxes are a particular problem and are threatening many of Australia's smaller kangaroos, wallabies, birds and possums.
A word about Whitley College - Amanda actually attends the University of Melbourne, but lives in Whitley. The College is not a college as we imagine w/classes, etc. It's basically a co-ed dorm (even the bathrooms) with lots of amenities a cafeteria, college store,library, computer room, etc. The Colleges are very active - sort of like a fraternity. We slept there 1 night. I wanted a cup of decaf tea before bed and her friends laughed at me saying, "DECAF!!! This is AUSTRALIA!" We also admired all the beer bottle caps that she has collected for the boys. They pretty much stretch around the room.
We headed off to a local mall via the tram to look for gifts. It's quite expensive & I wanted gifts that said "Australian", so not much luck. But, we did see Santa in the big dept. store in Myer - several building spanning several streets. Then we headed over to the "Little Italy" area for dinner & Melbourne's best gelati. After that we hit a grocery store to load up on Australian chocolate & cookies. I love shopping in foreign grocery stores - I think it really gives you insight into the country. In fact, Australians love Philadelphia cream cheese - they call it Philly and it comes in many forms & flavors than here. We loaded up on Tim Tams - an awesome cookie rumored to be sold in Target in the US. Here's hoping! Many an Australian story involve a Tim Tam... I was watcing the news, reading, TV...and having a Tim Tam when...
Weather: Nice in Sydney, Rainy in Melbourne and cold
Me and mom on the bridge
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Animal Day
Today was animal day. We saw a lot of animals. First, we went to the zoo. We took a boat to the zoo. We had trouble with the locker to put our bags in. Eventually, we got it. So then, we walked around and saw the Tasmanian Devil. His name was Tex. Tasmanian devils have one of the most powerfulest jaws. There was a zookeeper talk about Tasmanian Devils. He said that they’re dying from disease. The disease is a tumor on the their face which prevents them from chewing and eating. So they die of starvation. Then we went to look at the Koalas. They were all sleeping except for one. There was one baby koala sleeping! It was really cool. Then we went into the reptile house. We saw lots of cool snakes, turtles, geckos, and lizards. We saw Australia’s most dangerous: The Fierce Snake. When we got out we saw a crocodile and a really funky turtle from South America. Then we found a place to eat called the Taronga food markets. I had a cheeseburger. Then we saw a seal show. It was cool, but short. We saw a very pretty duck, in the Asia exhibit. We also saw a red panda. It was really cool. We also saw MEERKATS! They are AWESOME! They’re so cute. Then we went to the dingo. We think it saw something, because it ran along the wall of its cage. At the end, we looked for penguins and leopard seals, but they were off exhibit. Then I napped on the boat back to the hotel to eat and after we ate we went to the aquarium. First, we saw the platypus. It was so cute and cool. It kept doing barrel rolls and squirming on the glass. Did you know that males platypuses are poisonous? We saw another salt water croc. Then we went in a tube. There were GIANT turtles, sharks, and rays. Sadly, the Sydney Harbor exhibit was closed and sadly that part had the seals. We did lots of cool things in the great barrier reef. We saw the big blue fish that we saw snorkeling called the Humphead wrasse. There was a cool glass floor exhibit. After that we left and went home in a cab and went to bed.
Pam/Mom says:
The Taronga Zoo is a great zoo! You get there by ferry & then take a cable car to the top of the zoo. The views of Sydney from the zoo are spectacular. Today was the better beach day by far, but we still enjoyed the zoo. Sadly, the platypus exhibit was closed for repairs. The T. Devil is suffering from a contagious cancer. Since they fight amongst themselves so much, it's spreading rapidly. They've isolated quite a few of them to protect and hopefully, keep them alive. It was a good thing, Chad fell asleep on the ferry ride back b/c the captain decided to give us an impromptu tour of the Harbor all the way to the ocean. On the way there and back, we passed by the nudist beach. Sydney must not get a lot of high water/tides b/c all around things are built very close to the water's edge. They also talked a bit about sharks & the use of nets to protect beach goers. Evidently, good things such as turtles, get caught in them & die. So some people would prefer to swim @ their own risk, since sharks don't attack that often. And immediately after that point, the guide tells a true story of a fisherman trying to pull in a large fish and a shark jumped out & ate it - right in the harbor! I'll stick to the pools! There are lots of bizarre stories in Australia. All children learn to apply pressure bandages in grade school. It helps keep the death rate down. Seriously!
At the Aquarium, we finally saw a platypus. So adorable, small and more than a bit hyper. We were able to identify a lot of the fish we saw on the reef.
Weather: Very Hot and Sunny.
Pretty ducks
Clouded leopard having lunch.
Chad & the Taronga zoo mascot.
S. American turtle.
Tasmanian Devil - note its red ears that look like horns.
Platypus playing at the Aquarium.
Meerkat!
Another pretty duck
Pretty Bird!
An Asian bear cat animal.
Nemo!
We're glad we didn't see that on the Reef!
Pam/Mom says:
The Taronga Zoo is a great zoo! You get there by ferry & then take a cable car to the top of the zoo. The views of Sydney from the zoo are spectacular. Today was the better beach day by far, but we still enjoyed the zoo. Sadly, the platypus exhibit was closed for repairs. The T. Devil is suffering from a contagious cancer. Since they fight amongst themselves so much, it's spreading rapidly. They've isolated quite a few of them to protect and hopefully, keep them alive. It was a good thing, Chad fell asleep on the ferry ride back b/c the captain decided to give us an impromptu tour of the Harbor all the way to the ocean. On the way there and back, we passed by the nudist beach. Sydney must not get a lot of high water/tides b/c all around things are built very close to the water's edge. They also talked a bit about sharks & the use of nets to protect beach goers. Evidently, good things such as turtles, get caught in them & die. So some people would prefer to swim @ their own risk, since sharks don't attack that often. And immediately after that point, the guide tells a true story of a fisherman trying to pull in a large fish and a shark jumped out & ate it - right in the harbor! I'll stick to the pools! There are lots of bizarre stories in Australia. All children learn to apply pressure bandages in grade school. It helps keep the death rate down. Seriously!
At the Aquarium, we finally saw a platypus. So adorable, small and more than a bit hyper. We were able to identify a lot of the fish we saw on the reef.
Weather: Very Hot and Sunny.
Pretty ducks
Clouded leopard having lunch.
Chad & the Taronga zoo mascot.
S. American turtle.
Tasmanian Devil - note its red ears that look like horns.
Platypus playing at the Aquarium.
Meerkat!
Another pretty duck
Pretty Bird!
An Asian bear cat animal.
Nemo!
We're glad we didn't see that on the Reef!
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