Monday, March 26, 2007
Fiji
I left Oz on the 24th and got into Auckland at 12am and slept overnight in the airport until my flight to Fiji at 11am. I saw my life flash before my eyes on the boat ride getting to my island. all the fijian people are laughing thinking it's a great time and i'm like freakin hell, i hope I dont die. Internet is expensive as hell here, so i cant say much other than it's been raining for two days and it finally cleared today. internet time has run out.... type a little in a few days. I am alive... that's all that matters!
Friday, March 23, 2007
My return home...
As my return home is imminent, I find myself thinking about the following things.......
I will not have to check out at 10am at the retirement community (aka mom n dads) hand in my pillowcase, my sheets, and room key in order to get my $20 deposit back.
I won't wake to the rustling of people packing backpacks at 6am because they were idiots and didn't pack the night before.
I will no longer have to wear flipflops in the shower.
When I go for a shower I dont have to take every item of clothing I´m going to wear with me.
The shower will be the next door down the hallway, not downstairs, along a corridor, or outside.
Real fluffy towels and washcloths, none of this packtowel shammy crap that doesnt even cover half my ass.
I can actually sit on my toilet seat... although I do have an ass of steel from doing the hover for the past 3 months.
I will have to actually tip waitresses and waiters.
I no longer have to creep into my room at stupid-o-clock in the morning and worry about waking anyone.
No more tuna sandwiches, tomato or pumpkin soup, ham-n-cheese, grilled cheese, or pasta with cheese. I will never lay eyes on any of these foods ever again... ever.
Because they don't give out plastic bags, a green canvas Pak-N-Save bag is not necessary to go grocery shopping with anymore.
I no longer need to label my name and check out date on the green canvas Pak-N-Save bag when putting it in the community refrigerator.
Laundry will not cost me $4 to wash and $4 to dry and $1 for crap detergent that I have to get at reception.
Doing laundry will not depend on how many clean pairs of underwear I have left (and that includes bathing suit bottoms)
No longer will I do the sniff test for cleanliness. From now on my clothes will be neatly hanging in my closet ready to wear.
I HAVE to take better care of myself. No more looking like I just got hit by a truck... Oh and how do I apply make-up? I've quite simply forgotten......
Pre-gaming before going out was in college, I am no longer in college, this nonsense has to stop.
No more drinking boxed wine (GOON!) just because it's so freakin cheap.
I can stop doing the constant obbsessive compulsive do I have everything check?
Wallet-CHECK! Cell phone-CHECK! Passport-CHECK! Ipod-CHECK! Camera-CHECK!
When I awake it will just be me, no more random smelly snorers in the bed opposite with their arse hanging out.
I will not pack some guy's underwear in my bag because I picked them up mistaking them for my mesh shorts at 6am... I wonder if that guy has my mesh shorts?
I must actually have to match when I go to work in the morning. Boardshorts are a no no when heading to the office and that red t-shirt that I got for free after skydiving does not match those khaki green shorts. The past three months I have been one huge fashion faux pas!
When I meet someone for the first time it is not obligatory for me to ask them
where they are from, where they have been, and where they are going.
DO NOT, just walk up to a stranger at home and introduce myself. I will no doubt be arrested for being a freak.
When I arrive home do not expect mom to hand me a plate, cup, knife, fork, spoon and towel all for a $5 deposit.
When I go to a bar at home it will not be 80% full of so-and-so@yahoo.com.uk. Will half my address book always end in .uk?
I will finally know where I am sleeping every night.
I no longer have to sleep with everything valuable that I own in my pillowcase.
I can't believe I am actually coming home to reality. I will be a sad little thing on April 1st when Team America's flight arrives into Philadelphia at 6am. *tears*
I will not have to check out at 10am at the retirement community (aka mom n dads) hand in my pillowcase, my sheets, and room key in order to get my $20 deposit back.
I won't wake to the rustling of people packing backpacks at 6am because they were idiots and didn't pack the night before.
I will no longer have to wear flipflops in the shower.
When I go for a shower I dont have to take every item of clothing I´m going to wear with me.
The shower will be the next door down the hallway, not downstairs, along a corridor, or outside.
Real fluffy towels and washcloths, none of this packtowel shammy crap that doesnt even cover half my ass.
I can actually sit on my toilet seat... although I do have an ass of steel from doing the hover for the past 3 months.
I will have to actually tip waitresses and waiters.
I no longer have to creep into my room at stupid-o-clock in the morning and worry about waking anyone.
No more tuna sandwiches, tomato or pumpkin soup, ham-n-cheese, grilled cheese, or pasta with cheese. I will never lay eyes on any of these foods ever again... ever.
Because they don't give out plastic bags, a green canvas Pak-N-Save bag is not necessary to go grocery shopping with anymore.
I no longer need to label my name and check out date on the green canvas Pak-N-Save bag when putting it in the community refrigerator.
Laundry will not cost me $4 to wash and $4 to dry and $1 for crap detergent that I have to get at reception.
Doing laundry will not depend on how many clean pairs of underwear I have left (and that includes bathing suit bottoms)
No longer will I do the sniff test for cleanliness. From now on my clothes will be neatly hanging in my closet ready to wear.
I HAVE to take better care of myself. No more looking like I just got hit by a truck... Oh and how do I apply make-up? I've quite simply forgotten......
Pre-gaming before going out was in college, I am no longer in college, this nonsense has to stop.
No more drinking boxed wine (GOON!) just because it's so freakin cheap.
I can stop doing the constant obbsessive compulsive do I have everything check?
Wallet-CHECK! Cell phone-CHECK! Passport-CHECK! Ipod-CHECK! Camera-CHECK!
When I awake it will just be me, no more random smelly snorers in the bed opposite with their arse hanging out.
I will not pack some guy's underwear in my bag because I picked them up mistaking them for my mesh shorts at 6am... I wonder if that guy has my mesh shorts?
I must actually have to match when I go to work in the morning. Boardshorts are a no no when heading to the office and that red t-shirt that I got for free after skydiving does not match those khaki green shorts. The past three months I have been one huge fashion faux pas!
When I meet someone for the first time it is not obligatory for me to ask them
where they are from, where they have been, and where they are going.
DO NOT, just walk up to a stranger at home and introduce myself. I will no doubt be arrested for being a freak.
When I arrive home do not expect mom to hand me a plate, cup, knife, fork, spoon and towel all for a $5 deposit.
When I go to a bar at home it will not be 80% full of so-and-so@yahoo.com.uk. Will half my address book always end in .uk?
I will finally know where I am sleeping every night.
I no longer have to sleep with everything valuable that I own in my pillowcase.
I can't believe I am actually coming home to reality. I will be a sad little thing on April 1st when Team America's flight arrives into Philadelphia at 6am. *tears*
Byron Bay--Surfers Paradise
I've been on the Gold Coast with Phil since the day mom left for home... if it wasn't hotter than hell I would move here in a heartbeat. The day I left mom at the train station Phil picked me up at the train station and we headed for Byron Bay (two hours south of Brisbane) Byron is this rad little hippie town with wall to wall V-Dubs, burnout surfers, art galleries, head shops and people just lookin to chill out. Our hostel was literally 50m from the beach... it was a little umm rank but whatever, I was in heaven. Byron is the best place to surf in Oz, and I didn't. I still felt like absolute hell and I opted to feel better for the rest of my trip. The beach is gorgeous there though and I thoroughly enjoyed laying on it and reading the rest of Seabiscuit... Who knew jockeys went through that much crap to ride a horse?!
We met up with Sophie and Ann again and hung out with them on the beach. I was definitely bummed for Byron to be the last place that I meet up with Sophie. I have been traveling with her since the first day of the Kiwi Bus in Auckland and she has become this little sister to me. I do hope that we stay in touch. She keeps saying that she wants to come visit me or she'd like to do a semester abroad in the States. I hope that she does... somehow I don't think that this will be the last time I ever see her.
Phil and I stayed two nights in Byron then weheaded back north to Surfers to hang there for the remainder of my trip. Phil's dad lives 15 minutes from Surfers in this really cool house with a huge backyard covered with flower gardens. All the houses here are one floor with a reddish/orange brick exterior orange roofs... like a teracotta roof I guess? (to me they look very Spanish) All the houses have these canals that run in the backyards and everyone has boats that they drive around all through the canals. Phil said there are as many canals as there are streets. Imagine just jumping on your boat and going down the canal to the supermarket!
So Thursday afternoon we came back to Surfers and hung out on the beach. It was really overcast so we were just laying there and talking when this little boy all of 4 starts running around chasing his sister. So we are watching this kid and his sister chase each other and we're laughing having a grand old time when the little brat comes up and kicks sand all over me! I must have looked at Phil with the face of death and he was like, Ok, its cool he won't do it again. Well the little bugger comes back over to do it again and I yelled at him... he ran away to his mom. HAHAHAHAA. Kids + Lauren = No way.
Today Phil took me to Dreamworld, this theme park about 20 minutes away. So we spent the morning shopping (like I need ANOTHER pair of boardshorts?) then we headed up there. We took an unplanned pitstop at Phil's friend Dave's because something happened to his beater car that he's been driving around the past 6 months (this thing reminds me of Jon Sell's red Beretta from like 1988) So he had to fix something then we were off again 20 minutes later to ride rollercoasters and all that stuff. Tonight we're going back to Dave's to watch Boondock Saints in the cinema that he has built into his house. He has this huge projection screen and movie theater chairs and a popcorn machine! You should see this house OH-MY-GOD, It's awesome. My mouth dropped when we walked inside! Anyway, I so I gotta go run and do that:)
I'm not sure if I'll be able to post in Fiji. I am thinking it's a no-go. So this may just be my last post! I will post another blog after this titled, my return home... i've been working on it for a bit... i think it's quite funny. Enjoy.
We met up with Sophie and Ann again and hung out with them on the beach. I was definitely bummed for Byron to be the last place that I meet up with Sophie. I have been traveling with her since the first day of the Kiwi Bus in Auckland and she has become this little sister to me. I do hope that we stay in touch. She keeps saying that she wants to come visit me or she'd like to do a semester abroad in the States. I hope that she does... somehow I don't think that this will be the last time I ever see her.
Phil and I stayed two nights in Byron then weheaded back north to Surfers to hang there for the remainder of my trip. Phil's dad lives 15 minutes from Surfers in this really cool house with a huge backyard covered with flower gardens. All the houses here are one floor with a reddish/orange brick exterior orange roofs... like a teracotta roof I guess? (to me they look very Spanish) All the houses have these canals that run in the backyards and everyone has boats that they drive around all through the canals. Phil said there are as many canals as there are streets. Imagine just jumping on your boat and going down the canal to the supermarket!
So Thursday afternoon we came back to Surfers and hung out on the beach. It was really overcast so we were just laying there and talking when this little boy all of 4 starts running around chasing his sister. So we are watching this kid and his sister chase each other and we're laughing having a grand old time when the little brat comes up and kicks sand all over me! I must have looked at Phil with the face of death and he was like, Ok, its cool he won't do it again. Well the little bugger comes back over to do it again and I yelled at him... he ran away to his mom. HAHAHAHAA. Kids + Lauren = No way.
Today Phil took me to Dreamworld, this theme park about 20 minutes away. So we spent the morning shopping (like I need ANOTHER pair of boardshorts?) then we headed up there. We took an unplanned pitstop at Phil's friend Dave's because something happened to his beater car that he's been driving around the past 6 months (this thing reminds me of Jon Sell's red Beretta from like 1988) So he had to fix something then we were off again 20 minutes later to ride rollercoasters and all that stuff. Tonight we're going back to Dave's to watch Boondock Saints in the cinema that he has built into his house. He has this huge projection screen and movie theater chairs and a popcorn machine! You should see this house OH-MY-GOD, It's awesome. My mouth dropped when we walked inside! Anyway, I so I gotta go run and do that:)
I'm not sure if I'll be able to post in Fiji. I am thinking it's a no-go. So this may just be my last post! I will post another blog after this titled, my return home... i've been working on it for a bit... i think it's quite funny. Enjoy.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Last night in Brisbane
On Monday we took an hour bus trip down to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast. What a place! The beach was awesome, the water was warm, and we had fabulous weather. I can't believe my friend Phil actually lives there. The place is pretty unreal. It's totally touristy, but that's the fun part of it.
On our way home last night I didn't feel too well, so I took some benadryl and hit the sack. I woke up at 4am with a sore throat, an aching body, and covered in sweat. Awesome. I was so happy that my mom was here, she made everything so much better. We found a doctor this morning and I got an antibiotic. Could you believe that the doctor visit cost me $55 and my prescription cost $16? It cost me $71 altogether and that is having no insurance. Could you imagine that happening at home? Highly unlikely. It really puts our healthcare system into perspective.
We took it easy today and just did laundry and packed and I drank lots of green tea (it cleanses the system). Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be feeling alot better for the rest of the trip. There was no way in hell that I was going to go to Fiji in a week being sick.
Having my mom here for the past two weeks has been absolutely awesome. I am so happy that I convinced her to come. We've had such a great time together and it's something that we probably won't ever get the chance to do ever again. She's really made this leg of my trip worthwhile and I had so much fun sightseeing and exploring the cities with her. We're definitely close, but I think this trip brought us alot closer because we've experienced something that was totally different from anything else we've ever done. I'm really happy that she decided to make the trip... I feel like the past 12 days have just flown right by. Thanks Mom.
On our way home last night I didn't feel too well, so I took some benadryl and hit the sack. I woke up at 4am with a sore throat, an aching body, and covered in sweat. Awesome. I was so happy that my mom was here, she made everything so much better. We found a doctor this morning and I got an antibiotic. Could you believe that the doctor visit cost me $55 and my prescription cost $16? It cost me $71 altogether and that is having no insurance. Could you imagine that happening at home? Highly unlikely. It really puts our healthcare system into perspective.
We took it easy today and just did laundry and packed and I drank lots of green tea (it cleanses the system). Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be feeling alot better for the rest of the trip. There was no way in hell that I was going to go to Fiji in a week being sick.
Having my mom here for the past two weeks has been absolutely awesome. I am so happy that I convinced her to come. We've had such a great time together and it's something that we probably won't ever get the chance to do ever again. She's really made this leg of my trip worthwhile and I had so much fun sightseeing and exploring the cities with her. We're definitely close, but I think this trip brought us alot closer because we've experienced something that was totally different from anything else we've ever done. I'm really happy that she decided to make the trip... I feel like the past 12 days have just flown right by. Thanks Mom.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Some Random Pics...
1. Why don't we have signs like this in the US?
2. Me--Paddy--Sophie--Wellington, NZ
3. Ann--Michael--Me--Sophie--Sydney
4. Bondi Beach, Australia
5. Sydney Harbor Bridge
6. Sarah--Me--Sophie--Wellington, NZ
7. My Liverpoolians--Stu--Chris--Ben--Wellington, NZ
8. Ben--Michael--Yohan--Sophie--WEllington, NZ
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042877965723483954" />
2. Me--Paddy--Sophie--Wellington, NZ
3. Ann--Michael--Me--Sophie--Sydney
4. Bondi Beach, Australia
5. Sydney Harbor Bridge
6. Sarah--Me--Sophie--Wellington, NZ
7. My Liverpoolians--Stu--Chris--Ben--Wellington, NZ
8. Ben--Michael--Yohan--Sophie--WEllington, NZ
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042877965723483954" />
Brisbane... Shmisbin
We arrived in Brisbane yesterday... I forgot what backpacking was like. In New Zealand I had some crazy bus driver dropping me off and picking me up everywhere. Reality slapped me in the face and I had a flashback to Europe when we stepped out of the train station yesterday. Ok so let's go this way up Roma Street. Wait, now we're on George Street. How the hell did we get on George Street? These bags are goddamn heavy and it's hot as hell. Is this the hostel? Oh no that's some other hostel... WHERE THE HELL IS THE HOSTEL?! After 45 minutes and being mistaken for a girl named Carla by a taxi driver, we found the hostel. Thank god it has a pool and air conditioning. Brisbane is hotter then Hades.
We walked around the city yesterday just to see what was in store for the next few days. Well it turns out that there's not really a whole lot in store for us for the next few days. I really dislike it here. In fact, I'd rather be in the New Zealand caving community of Wiatomo with a population of 100 people and one bar then be here. Mike, you were right... Brisbane is a city with a big dirty river. I actually think I like Auckland better. Who would have thought I would yearn to be back in Gotham City?
So Mom took me to get a pedicure yesterday. My feet were so gross and foul that I think I made the woman pass out. They were starting to resemble hobbit feet, all except for the hairy part. I guess that's what I get for walking all over God's creation with bare feet. While watching tv last night we saw an advertisement for a St. Paddy's Day parade. We woke up this morning and went into the city to watch that for a good part of the day. Then we followed the parade throughout the city to the botanical gardens and walked around there for a bit. We stopped at a cafe for some drinks and mom got pooped on by a bird. That was the highlight of my day. She kept saying, "He's going to poop on me, he's going to poop on me." Then he did and she was all pissed off. I love my mom.
We went out to dinner then went to see the movie Notes on Scandal at this awesome movie theater. The building was incredible, I took a few pictures. The movie was good too. We came home tonight and are trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. We have a few options, most of them consist of getting out of Brisbane! To think that I actually looked here to go to college for a semester abroad. I would have jumped off the bridge into the dirty river if I had to do a semester here. Thank goodness I wasn't going to graduate on time and the rents said you either graduate on time or go abroad then pay the rest of tuition yourself (good choice by me). I was also thinking today... for all you QVCers reading, you know when you do the QVC difference class and you get the blue chip and you have to write down your goals on that little card in the little plastic holder? My long term goal was, I will go to Australia. Kind of funny that I'm here. I guess I need a new long term goal!
I also haven't written about the amount of people from the UK that have been like wait a minute, you work for QVC?? You do the normal routine with people when traveling; What's your name? How long are you traveling for? Where have you been? Where are you going next? What do you do? Usually I just say I'm a graphic designer. It really depends on how much time you spend with the person. Everyone who is from the UK who I have traveled with for a significant amount of time knows I work for QVC and just couldn't believe it. I had one girl that I met on the South Island of New Zealand and she was like, Oh-my-God, I need to call my mom and tell her, she'll absolutely die, she has so much stuff from you guys. It's definitely a realization, even across the world on a completely different continent, people know QVC. FYI: We should try importing wool from New Zealand.
Well, I seem to have written enough for now... Brisbane has drained my sense of being able to write a good blog.
We walked around the city yesterday just to see what was in store for the next few days. Well it turns out that there's not really a whole lot in store for us for the next few days. I really dislike it here. In fact, I'd rather be in the New Zealand caving community of Wiatomo with a population of 100 people and one bar then be here. Mike, you were right... Brisbane is a city with a big dirty river. I actually think I like Auckland better. Who would have thought I would yearn to be back in Gotham City?
So Mom took me to get a pedicure yesterday. My feet were so gross and foul that I think I made the woman pass out. They were starting to resemble hobbit feet, all except for the hairy part. I guess that's what I get for walking all over God's creation with bare feet. While watching tv last night we saw an advertisement for a St. Paddy's Day parade. We woke up this morning and went into the city to watch that for a good part of the day. Then we followed the parade throughout the city to the botanical gardens and walked around there for a bit. We stopped at a cafe for some drinks and mom got pooped on by a bird. That was the highlight of my day. She kept saying, "He's going to poop on me, he's going to poop on me." Then he did and she was all pissed off. I love my mom.
We went out to dinner then went to see the movie Notes on Scandal at this awesome movie theater. The building was incredible, I took a few pictures. The movie was good too. We came home tonight and are trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. We have a few options, most of them consist of getting out of Brisbane! To think that I actually looked here to go to college for a semester abroad. I would have jumped off the bridge into the dirty river if I had to do a semester here. Thank goodness I wasn't going to graduate on time and the rents said you either graduate on time or go abroad then pay the rest of tuition yourself (good choice by me). I was also thinking today... for all you QVCers reading, you know when you do the QVC difference class and you get the blue chip and you have to write down your goals on that little card in the little plastic holder? My long term goal was, I will go to Australia. Kind of funny that I'm here. I guess I need a new long term goal!
I also haven't written about the amount of people from the UK that have been like wait a minute, you work for QVC?? You do the normal routine with people when traveling; What's your name? How long are you traveling for? Where have you been? Where are you going next? What do you do? Usually I just say I'm a graphic designer. It really depends on how much time you spend with the person. Everyone who is from the UK who I have traveled with for a significant amount of time knows I work for QVC and just couldn't believe it. I had one girl that I met on the South Island of New Zealand and she was like, Oh-my-God, I need to call my mom and tell her, she'll absolutely die, she has so much stuff from you guys. It's definitely a realization, even across the world on a completely different continent, people know QVC. FYI: We should try importing wool from New Zealand.
Well, I seem to have written enough for now... Brisbane has drained my sense of being able to write a good blog.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Sydney has come to an end..
Tomorrow we leave Sydney and fly up the coast to Brisbane (pronounced Bris-bin). If I had to plan this trip all over again, I would have flown into Melbourne and spent a week, then come to Sydney for a week. I guess you can't plan what you don't know.
Momma Dukes is in Brisbane for about 2 days then she takes the plane-ride of death home on the 19th. The day she leaves I am traveling down to the Gold Coast to meet my friend Phil from New Zealand. I am staying at his house for a night then we area heading to Byron Bay, which is apparently this great and spectacular place. Everyone I have met who has already traveled Oz has said to hit up Byron Bay. I'm not really sure what Phil has planned but I am excited to have someone who already knows the ins and outs of where we're going.
Yesterday Mom and I went to Bondi Beach (sounds like bond-eye) for the day. It was an awesome beach, but she and I both like Manly better. What is funny with the beaches here is that they have shark nets out on the water to prevent sharks from coming into the swimming areas and eating people... actually, I'm not sure that's so funny. Anyway, they had a scare the first day here and called everyone out of the water. They blow this siren and everyone but the surfers clears the water. They actually have helicopters that patrol the waters for sharks... take that New Jersey!
Last night we went for a great dinner on the harbor. Mom had this huge plate of meat (that sounds gross) it came out and we were like oh-my-god how are you going to eat all that... ribs, lamb, sausage, fillet, and kangaroo... hahaha... yeah KANGAROO. Oh my poor little buddy that I punched the other day... yeah I ate one of his friends last night. He/she was quite good. I was sketchy about eating it, but figured, hell when am I going to get the chance to try kangaroo ever again? I didn't like it so much that you're hear about me on the news raiding the kangaroo cage at the Philadelphia Zoo, but it was very tasty. Reminded me a little of venison.
Today we visited Paddy's Market (aka Zerns) again for one last time, then we hit up Manly Beach for the day. We didn't get to go swimming because the currents and the rips were so bad. Here in Oz, when the rips are bad, they are really bad and hardly anyone is in the water. There is a lifeguard constantly on microphone telling people to be careful and stay in between the flags. So we ate dinner down by the beach and now we're going to pack for tomorrow's flight. I hate packing. If there is one thing I will not miss from this trip, it will be packing and unpacking. For me, packing is the equivalent to sitting in rush hour traffic, it sucks. And I can't ever get anything to fit in my bag the way I had it in there before... it feels like I am carrying a dead guy on my back. Thank god mom is taking alot of stuff home for me. Although, I do think her bag will be overweight when she gets to the airport.
Anyway, I've got to run... one quick thing that I forgot to write... Mom met a guy from Constellation Energy in the lift and has been chatting with him all week. Seems as the company here in Oz he is working for is paying him 200,000 a year to live and work here... Hey Grids, time to move the family!
Oh and speaking of... Grids and Mark, my mom almost peed her pants about both your blog comments. Thanks for the laughs!
Momma Dukes is in Brisbane for about 2 days then she takes the plane-ride of death home on the 19th. The day she leaves I am traveling down to the Gold Coast to meet my friend Phil from New Zealand. I am staying at his house for a night then we area heading to Byron Bay, which is apparently this great and spectacular place. Everyone I have met who has already traveled Oz has said to hit up Byron Bay. I'm not really sure what Phil has planned but I am excited to have someone who already knows the ins and outs of where we're going.
Yesterday Mom and I went to Bondi Beach (sounds like bond-eye) for the day. It was an awesome beach, but she and I both like Manly better. What is funny with the beaches here is that they have shark nets out on the water to prevent sharks from coming into the swimming areas and eating people... actually, I'm not sure that's so funny. Anyway, they had a scare the first day here and called everyone out of the water. They blow this siren and everyone but the surfers clears the water. They actually have helicopters that patrol the waters for sharks... take that New Jersey!
Last night we went for a great dinner on the harbor. Mom had this huge plate of meat (that sounds gross) it came out and we were like oh-my-god how are you going to eat all that... ribs, lamb, sausage, fillet, and kangaroo... hahaha... yeah KANGAROO. Oh my poor little buddy that I punched the other day... yeah I ate one of his friends last night. He/she was quite good. I was sketchy about eating it, but figured, hell when am I going to get the chance to try kangaroo ever again? I didn't like it so much that you're hear about me on the news raiding the kangaroo cage at the Philadelphia Zoo, but it was very tasty. Reminded me a little of venison.
Today we visited Paddy's Market (aka Zerns) again for one last time, then we hit up Manly Beach for the day. We didn't get to go swimming because the currents and the rips were so bad. Here in Oz, when the rips are bad, they are really bad and hardly anyone is in the water. There is a lifeguard constantly on microphone telling people to be careful and stay in between the flags. So we ate dinner down by the beach and now we're going to pack for tomorrow's flight. I hate packing. If there is one thing I will not miss from this trip, it will be packing and unpacking. For me, packing is the equivalent to sitting in rush hour traffic, it sucks. And I can't ever get anything to fit in my bag the way I had it in there before... it feels like I am carrying a dead guy on my back. Thank god mom is taking alot of stuff home for me. Although, I do think her bag will be overweight when she gets to the airport.
Anyway, I've got to run... one quick thing that I forgot to write... Mom met a guy from Constellation Energy in the lift and has been chatting with him all week. Seems as the company here in Oz he is working for is paying him 200,000 a year to live and work here... Hey Grids, time to move the family!
Oh and speaking of... Grids and Mark, my mom almost peed her pants about both your blog comments. Thanks for the laughs!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The Blue Mountains Bus Trip
Today (Tuesday) we went on a bus trip to the Blue Mountains. We started the day at a wildlife sanctuary, headed to the Blue Mountains, went to a winery and did a wine tasting, and then to end the day, took a river ferry to the Opera House Harbor.
The day started off great at the wildlife sanctuary. First we got our pictures taken with koalas. Koalas are so calm and gentle. For some reason, I always thought they were mean, not sure why though. Did you know that they sleep for 19 hours a day? They eat so many eucalyptis (whoa spelling) leaves that in order for their bodies to break down the toxins from the plants, they have to sleep all that time. Koalas actually don't need water to survive either... random fact of the day!
We walked all around the sanctuary and eventually found ourselves in a caged in petting zoo area with kangaroos. The small kangaroos were very gentle and docile and they were really easy to feed. One was a sneaky little bugger and hung out by the door and kept trying to break free from the cage when people walked in. Anyway, so mom and I are feeding the smaller ones icecream cones with feed inside and we're having a good time along with everyone else. So we're standing there just looking around when this rowdy kangaroo comes up and clings onto my arm and tries to take my camera! I kinda shrug him off, but have to use force because he is quite big. Then he runs over to Mom, jumps on her, tries to steal her purse but decides that humping her side would be much more fun. I was like, "Dude Mom, you just got humped by a kangaroo!!!" So we're making our way back to the end of the caged area and we're feeding a gray kangaroo who was quite nice when the cheeky little humping kangaroo comes back. He jumps on mom and I tell her to hit him so he goes away. He must have understood me... the jerk comes over and starts punching me... I mean totally not kidding, a freakin kangaroo is punching me!!! I am laughing pretty hard and these people are video taping everything. Then the kangaroo starts to lean back on his tale and stand very tall--like way taller than me at this point-- and I'm kind of scared because I'm not sure whether I should stare him down or look away. They don't give out lessons in how to fend off a kangaroo in elementry school you know? So he tries to punch me again and I push him. Then what do you know he starts trying to kick me... so I cock back my fist and I clock him. I punched a kangaroo. I punched a freakin kangaroo in the throat. I startled him and he kinda stumbled because he tripped over his tail, then he bounced away. For a minute it was Team Philadelphia vs. Joe Boxer and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to win. We all ran out of the cage and the people videotaping were hysterical... but they weren't getting picked on by a goddamn kangaroo! We watched the video... Oh-my-God... I could totally end up on America's Funniest Home Videos. So we all turn around to look back in the cage and what do you know, he is standing there staring at me... like let's go at it again! Umm how about my first and last encounter with a kangaroo!!! I now have a fear of petting zoos... I imagine this will be my first and last experience.
Then we headed to the Blue Mountains which we didn't even see because it rained for that portion of the day. We were eating lunch in this little giftshop area and we walk into this one store and what do they have? A The Who's Tommy pinball machine. I seriously almost peed my pants. I was like MOM OH MY GOD I NEED THIS!!! I took a bunch of pictures. It was awesome, I wanted to steal it right then and there. After my giftshop-pinball-machine-meltdown we took a gondola ride from one side of the mountain to the other. The clouds and fog were so thick that we couldn't see two feet ahead of us in the gondola. It was a pretty pointless trip, but whatever. From there we took the world's steepest train down the side of this mountaint then walked for a bit through a rainforest. We reached the bottom then headed back to the top of the mountain on a sky cab (similiar to a gondola but it goes up). We met a real nice older couple on the trip and talked to them for most of the day.
After all that we headed to the Tizzana Winery for a wine tasting (website it kinda hokey http://www.tizzana.com.au). What a fabulous place with SO much history! We tasted mostly merlots (yuck) but they had a very good wine that I ended up purchasing... It's an Ambrose Rose... very yummy! After the winery (don't worry, Mom didn't buy the place out) We took a relaxing water taxi cruise on the river leading into the harbor. I took a bunch of nice shots, but you don't realize how hard it is to take pictures on a boat until you try to fo it!
The water taxi lead us back to the harbor where we took the subway back to the hostel and had dinner at the dirt cheap hole in the wall bar across the street. What a fantastic dinner!
P.S. In case you all forgot... I PUNCHED A KANGAROO!!!
The day started off great at the wildlife sanctuary. First we got our pictures taken with koalas. Koalas are so calm and gentle. For some reason, I always thought they were mean, not sure why though. Did you know that they sleep for 19 hours a day? They eat so many eucalyptis (whoa spelling) leaves that in order for their bodies to break down the toxins from the plants, they have to sleep all that time. Koalas actually don't need water to survive either... random fact of the day!
We walked all around the sanctuary and eventually found ourselves in a caged in petting zoo area with kangaroos. The small kangaroos were very gentle and docile and they were really easy to feed. One was a sneaky little bugger and hung out by the door and kept trying to break free from the cage when people walked in. Anyway, so mom and I are feeding the smaller ones icecream cones with feed inside and we're having a good time along with everyone else. So we're standing there just looking around when this rowdy kangaroo comes up and clings onto my arm and tries to take my camera! I kinda shrug him off, but have to use force because he is quite big. Then he runs over to Mom, jumps on her, tries to steal her purse but decides that humping her side would be much more fun. I was like, "Dude Mom, you just got humped by a kangaroo!!!" So we're making our way back to the end of the caged area and we're feeding a gray kangaroo who was quite nice when the cheeky little humping kangaroo comes back. He jumps on mom and I tell her to hit him so he goes away. He must have understood me... the jerk comes over and starts punching me... I mean totally not kidding, a freakin kangaroo is punching me!!! I am laughing pretty hard and these people are video taping everything. Then the kangaroo starts to lean back on his tale and stand very tall--like way taller than me at this point-- and I'm kind of scared because I'm not sure whether I should stare him down or look away. They don't give out lessons in how to fend off a kangaroo in elementry school you know? So he tries to punch me again and I push him. Then what do you know he starts trying to kick me... so I cock back my fist and I clock him. I punched a kangaroo. I punched a freakin kangaroo in the throat. I startled him and he kinda stumbled because he tripped over his tail, then he bounced away. For a minute it was Team Philadelphia vs. Joe Boxer and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to win. We all ran out of the cage and the people videotaping were hysterical... but they weren't getting picked on by a goddamn kangaroo! We watched the video... Oh-my-God... I could totally end up on America's Funniest Home Videos. So we all turn around to look back in the cage and what do you know, he is standing there staring at me... like let's go at it again! Umm how about my first and last encounter with a kangaroo!!! I now have a fear of petting zoos... I imagine this will be my first and last experience.
Then we headed to the Blue Mountains which we didn't even see because it rained for that portion of the day. We were eating lunch in this little giftshop area and we walk into this one store and what do they have? A The Who's Tommy pinball machine. I seriously almost peed my pants. I was like MOM OH MY GOD I NEED THIS!!! I took a bunch of pictures. It was awesome, I wanted to steal it right then and there. After my giftshop-pinball-machine-meltdown we took a gondola ride from one side of the mountain to the other. The clouds and fog were so thick that we couldn't see two feet ahead of us in the gondola. It was a pretty pointless trip, but whatever. From there we took the world's steepest train down the side of this mountaint then walked for a bit through a rainforest. We reached the bottom then headed back to the top of the mountain on a sky cab (similiar to a gondola but it goes up). We met a real nice older couple on the trip and talked to them for most of the day.
After all that we headed to the Tizzana Winery for a wine tasting (website it kinda hokey http://www.tizzana.com.au). What a fabulous place with SO much history! We tasted mostly merlots (yuck) but they had a very good wine that I ended up purchasing... It's an Ambrose Rose... very yummy! After the winery (don't worry, Mom didn't buy the place out) We took a relaxing water taxi cruise on the river leading into the harbor. I took a bunch of nice shots, but you don't realize how hard it is to take pictures on a boat until you try to fo it!
The water taxi lead us back to the harbor where we took the subway back to the hostel and had dinner at the dirt cheap hole in the wall bar across the street. What a fantastic dinner!
P.S. In case you all forgot... I PUNCHED A KANGAROO!!!
Taronga Zoo
Yesterday we went to Syndey's Taronga Zoo. I think it's the best zoo I've ever been to. It was so easy to navigate and it had such a wide variety of animals and tons of keepers doing shows for the visitors. The facilities were extremely nice and they were quite spacious for the animals.
My favorite part was seeing the giraffes. They had a blind giraffe named Hope who when hungry just lets her tongue hang out of her mouth and drool. There were 3 other giraffes with her in the keeper was feeding them... their tongues were about as long as the guys from KISS. They also had these snow leapords that were absolutely gorgeous. All three cats were younger in age and were bouncing off the walls playing with each other. We saw the tigers right before feeding... they were actually extremely scary and running around their cage in circles (not really a cage, it was quite a big area) I've never seen an animal so intense!
I took a ton of film at the zoo... about 3 rolls or so. I hope I got some good shots. The fun thing about film is that it's like Christmas morning whenever you get the pictures developed. You never really know what you're getting, then you sort through the pics and you're like ahhh check this out!! I have taken so many pictures the past two months. It's been awesome to get back into shooting again. I rarely do it at home on my own time anymore, this trip has definitely made me get back into the routine.
My favorite part was seeing the giraffes. They had a blind giraffe named Hope who when hungry just lets her tongue hang out of her mouth and drool. There were 3 other giraffes with her in the keeper was feeding them... their tongues were about as long as the guys from KISS. They also had these snow leapords that were absolutely gorgeous. All three cats were younger in age and were bouncing off the walls playing with each other. We saw the tigers right before feeding... they were actually extremely scary and running around their cage in circles (not really a cage, it was quite a big area) I've never seen an animal so intense!
I took a ton of film at the zoo... about 3 rolls or so. I hope I got some good shots. The fun thing about film is that it's like Christmas morning whenever you get the pictures developed. You never really know what you're getting, then you sort through the pics and you're like ahhh check this out!! I have taken so many pictures the past two months. It's been awesome to get back into shooting again. I rarely do it at home on my own time anymore, this trip has definitely made me get back into the routine.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
My Mother Has Money Issues
Mom and I have found this fantastic little hole in the wall bar that has dirt cheap alcohol and hella good meals. Our second night in Sydney we eat dinner here and are having a few drinks. So mom gets up to get another round of drinks and she dumps her wallet out onto the bar and goes to the bartender, "I don't know what is what here, take what you need." Now in the States the bartender is going to take more than they should, pay for the drink then pocket the rest. The bartender takes the proper amount and is just laughing at her. So I'm like ok mom, it's time for a lesson in Aussie money... I'm all, This, is a silver octagon, it's 50 cents. This is silver and round, it's 20 cents. This is big and gold, it's a dollar coin. This is tiny and gold, this is a two dollar coin. So she counts the money back to me all wrong and comes up with some ridiculous amount. Now I'm like, LOOK MOM, this is 2 dollars, it's tiny and gold. This, shaped like an octagon, 50 cents. This is not hard.
I felt like how my dad felt trying to teach me how to tell time when I was a kid. The big hand is what Lauren? I dunno dad. The little hand is what Lauren? Umm the minute hand? NO LAUREN. FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME, THE BIG HAND IS THE MINUTE HAND. I'm like, "No Mom, the big silver one is like a quarter only it's 20 cents instead of 25 cents. Tiny and gold. It's a two dollar coin. Tiny. Two dollar. GOT IT?" My mom said it made her think back to the time when she was with Kurt in Germany and she kept calling deutschmarks douchemarks, or the time Mimi was in Italy and she asked for the Italian word for "f____ you" on her pizza instead of formaggio. OOPS!
I felt like how my dad felt trying to teach me how to tell time when I was a kid. The big hand is what Lauren? I dunno dad. The little hand is what Lauren? Umm the minute hand? NO LAUREN. FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME, THE BIG HAND IS THE MINUTE HAND. I'm like, "No Mom, the big silver one is like a quarter only it's 20 cents instead of 25 cents. Tiny and gold. It's a two dollar coin. Tiny. Two dollar. GOT IT?" My mom said it made her think back to the time when she was with Kurt in Germany and she kept calling deutschmarks douchemarks, or the time Mimi was in Italy and she asked for the Italian word for "f____ you" on her pizza instead of formaggio. OOPS!
Sydney Part Deux
We are three days into our trip and it's been awesome. Who would have ever thought that I would be in Australia with my mom? I have wanted to come here since I was a kid and actually being here is such a great feeling. It is everything that I could have ever imagined and I get to experience it with my mom. It'll be something that I will never ever forget.
Sydney is such a fabulous city. At mom's request, we are making the walk to the the harbor a daily routine so we can get our exercise. It is actually quite a hike and takes about an hour to get down there, but it's a good walk and it gives us a chance to really get through the city. Yesterday we went to the botanical gardens that are near the opera house and walked around for quite a while. We were walking through this one rainforest part and Mom exclaims, "Oh wow listen to all the birds singing!" As we come around the path we look up into the trees and we realize that they are not birds singing but incredibly HUGE bats. Like, "I vant to suck your blood" vampire bats. Now I'm not sure if they were vampire bats but one of their wings was at least the length of my arm. These things could have picked up a small child and carried it away. Mom totally freaks out and is like OH-MY-GOD! OH-MY-GOD! Then she quickly walked away for fear that one was going to get tangled up in her hair. Afterwards we took the ferry to Manly Beach for the day. Manly is such a great beach. It's pretty packed, but nothing like the beaches at the deeerty Jers or Delaware. It's pretty cool place and reminds me a little of Santa Monica Beach.
I met up with Sophie last night and my German friend Michael who we were in NZ with. I had no idea that he was going to be here, so it's very cool to see him again. We ended up going to his hostel beforehand and playing king's cup before we went out. I've played kings cup many times on this trip but this time was definitely a new experience. All of Michael's friends are German and they all spoke German and wouldn't really speak English. So Sophie and I just sat there and giggled like school girls the entire time and I kept saying things like nein and weinerschnitzel which, for some reason, they thought was absolutely hilarious. We went out into the city with all the Germans and ended up walking around for an hour trying to find a bar that everyone wanted to go to. At one point Michael goes into McDonalds and we're like ok, so apparently Michael is hungry... not really though. He goes into McDonalds, waits in line, gets up to the register and the girl goes "What can I get you?" And he says, "No I don't want to order food, can you tell me a good bar that I can go to around here?" Only Michael! We finally go back to the stupid backpacker bar that we were going to go into to start with. We wait in line only to get up to the ID checker and have her tell me that we can't get in because we have flipflops on. Sophie and I look at each other and I'm like, dude you have got to be kidding, this is a backpacker bar, who actually owns anything other than flipflops? We turn around and tell the German girls that we all can't get in because we all have flipflops on. They look at us, look at each other, start speaking German then they dig into their purses and they all whip out high heels. Each one of them had a pair. Seriously, who backpacks with highheels? My backpack is so heavy right now, it feels like I have a dead body packed in there. Anyway, so Sophie and I leave and end up at this Irish bar down the street and we meet some locals and hung out with them for the night. They asked me to come back to their house after the bar closed, so I jumped into the cab with them and spent the night at Bondi Beach! I got in this morning and mom is all... well well well it's nice that you got home safe and sound! The best thing about coming home to the hostel in the morning is that I don't have to get out of my car still in my Saturday night oufit, run to my house from my parking space, and wave to all the neighbors who think that I just got an early start on the day...
Retirement Community Neighbor: "Good morning Lauren, you're up early today!"
Me: "Ummm yeah I decided to get a head start on the day in these clothes and I thought that I would go for that matted hair and smudged makeup look *gulp*
Sydney is such a fabulous city. At mom's request, we are making the walk to the the harbor a daily routine so we can get our exercise. It is actually quite a hike and takes about an hour to get down there, but it's a good walk and it gives us a chance to really get through the city. Yesterday we went to the botanical gardens that are near the opera house and walked around for quite a while. We were walking through this one rainforest part and Mom exclaims, "Oh wow listen to all the birds singing!" As we come around the path we look up into the trees and we realize that they are not birds singing but incredibly HUGE bats. Like, "I vant to suck your blood" vampire bats. Now I'm not sure if they were vampire bats but one of their wings was at least the length of my arm. These things could have picked up a small child and carried it away. Mom totally freaks out and is like OH-MY-GOD! OH-MY-GOD! Then she quickly walked away for fear that one was going to get tangled up in her hair. Afterwards we took the ferry to Manly Beach for the day. Manly is such a great beach. It's pretty packed, but nothing like the beaches at the deeerty Jers or Delaware. It's pretty cool place and reminds me a little of Santa Monica Beach.
I met up with Sophie last night and my German friend Michael who we were in NZ with. I had no idea that he was going to be here, so it's very cool to see him again. We ended up going to his hostel beforehand and playing king's cup before we went out. I've played kings cup many times on this trip but this time was definitely a new experience. All of Michael's friends are German and they all spoke German and wouldn't really speak English. So Sophie and I just sat there and giggled like school girls the entire time and I kept saying things like nein and weinerschnitzel which, for some reason, they thought was absolutely hilarious. We went out into the city with all the Germans and ended up walking around for an hour trying to find a bar that everyone wanted to go to. At one point Michael goes into McDonalds and we're like ok, so apparently Michael is hungry... not really though. He goes into McDonalds, waits in line, gets up to the register and the girl goes "What can I get you?" And he says, "No I don't want to order food, can you tell me a good bar that I can go to around here?" Only Michael! We finally go back to the stupid backpacker bar that we were going to go into to start with. We wait in line only to get up to the ID checker and have her tell me that we can't get in because we have flipflops on. Sophie and I look at each other and I'm like, dude you have got to be kidding, this is a backpacker bar, who actually owns anything other than flipflops? We turn around and tell the German girls that we all can't get in because we all have flipflops on. They look at us, look at each other, start speaking German then they dig into their purses and they all whip out high heels. Each one of them had a pair. Seriously, who backpacks with highheels? My backpack is so heavy right now, it feels like I have a dead body packed in there. Anyway, so Sophie and I leave and end up at this Irish bar down the street and we meet some locals and hung out with them for the night. They asked me to come back to their house after the bar closed, so I jumped into the cab with them and spent the night at Bondi Beach! I got in this morning and mom is all... well well well it's nice that you got home safe and sound! The best thing about coming home to the hostel in the morning is that I don't have to get out of my car still in my Saturday night oufit, run to my house from my parking space, and wave to all the neighbors who think that I just got an early start on the day...
Retirement Community Neighbor: "Good morning Lauren, you're up early today!"
Me: "Ummm yeah I decided to get a head start on the day in these clothes and I thought that I would go for that matted hair and smudged makeup look *gulp*
Airport Observations
I read an entry from my journal to my mom and she suggested that I blog it for all of you to read.... this was when I was in Auckland waiting for my flight to Sydney.
March 8th- I'm in AKL waiting for my flight. I board in 20 minutes and I still don't have a freakin gate. In the US I have a gate three weeks before my flight. Airport security is so lax here. In the US the people that work for the airlines are ready to cut your head off if you so much as crack a smile. Even the immigration people here are sweet. Immigration people are supposed to be mean and scary and make you feel like like a grain of salt. They are supposed to make you second guess bringing that pack of gum into the country without declaring it. Not in New Zealand.
Everyone in New Zealand is all, "Oh hi how are you today? Are you excited to travel? How long have you been away for? Did you enjoy your trip?"
Everyone in the US is all, "Has your luggage been with you the entire time? Have you left your luggage alone anywhere? Did anyone give you anything to carry? What are you smiling for? NEXT!
Then they herd you like cattle to the metal detector where they proceed to strip you down to your bra and underwear and inspect the inside of your mouth for possible terrorist germs. New Zealand they're all, "Oh no mate, you don't have to take your trainers off. Nope, no need to take off your fleece we know you're just cold and not trying to conceal a weapon. Oh don't forget your complimentry toiletry case for the plane ride and when you arrive into the next city! Cheers mate!
It's amazing how different our countries really are and how politically correct we are with our lives. This trip has definitely put that into perspective for me.
March 8th- I'm in AKL waiting for my flight. I board in 20 minutes and I still don't have a freakin gate. In the US I have a gate three weeks before my flight. Airport security is so lax here. In the US the people that work for the airlines are ready to cut your head off if you so much as crack a smile. Even the immigration people here are sweet. Immigration people are supposed to be mean and scary and make you feel like like a grain of salt. They are supposed to make you second guess bringing that pack of gum into the country without declaring it. Not in New Zealand.
Everyone in New Zealand is all, "Oh hi how are you today? Are you excited to travel? How long have you been away for? Did you enjoy your trip?"
Everyone in the US is all, "Has your luggage been with you the entire time? Have you left your luggage alone anywhere? Did anyone give you anything to carry? What are you smiling for? NEXT!
Then they herd you like cattle to the metal detector where they proceed to strip you down to your bra and underwear and inspect the inside of your mouth for possible terrorist germs. New Zealand they're all, "Oh no mate, you don't have to take your trainers off. Nope, no need to take off your fleece we know you're just cold and not trying to conceal a weapon. Oh don't forget your complimentry toiletry case for the plane ride and when you arrive into the next city! Cheers mate!
It's amazing how different our countries really are and how politically correct we are with our lives. This trip has definitely put that into perspective for me.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Sydney!
...and we have arrived...
Mama Dukes's bag got lost somewhere between Collegeville and Syndey... we'll blame it on US Airways. Other than the bag incident we both got here in one piece. My nice little 3 hour flight wasn't near as fun as the 15-hour one Mom endured but she's a trooper. And besides, a 15-hour airplane ride is payback for that horrible spinach casserole she used to make us eat when I was in 3rd grade. Dad, you remember? Mom was in night school and you used to feed it to us and tell us it was good for us... then we'd ask you why you weren't eating it and you wouldn't say anything (you thought I forgot about that didn't you?)
The hostel is really nice and superclean. We have our own room that is the size of an apartment in NYC, but hell, we're not spending time in the room other than to sleep so who cares.
Last night we ate in Chinatown... god I love all the asian food here... almost as much as $3 Japanese stores. Then we hit up some cool little betting bar that had some fantastic Belgium Blonde Beer. Today we walked all around the city, I'd say at least 5 miles. We went to the harbor and did an Opera House tour and walked through The Rocks, which is old skool part of Syndey. The buildings are old and painted cool colors, it actually reminds me alot of England. We went to this huge market today called Paddy's (aka Zerns of Australia but much cleaner and more like a mall) and got mom some back-up clothes just in case the suitcase didn't make it today. We also went to this awesome Chinese garden. It had all these beautiful buildings and waterfalls that lead into ponds with Koi fish. It was so peaceful and quiet, I'd pay $6 to get in every day! Tomorrow I think we're going to go to Manly Beach for the day. My friend Sophie that I traveled NZ with arrives tomorrow. I'm real exicted to see her because she's extremely cool and she makes the F-word sound so polite with her little English accent.
We'll write more in a few days... my US cell can text here, so text away if you'd like. The NZ pre-paid phone still has some $$ on it so you can text that as well. Oh, also instead of a 6-hour difference, it's a 9-hour difference (Sydney is 3 hours behind NZ). So if it's:
12pm in Sydney on Friday, March 9
then it's 9pm Thursday, March 8 (for all you Phillysiders)
Mama Dukes's bag got lost somewhere between Collegeville and Syndey... we'll blame it on US Airways. Other than the bag incident we both got here in one piece. My nice little 3 hour flight wasn't near as fun as the 15-hour one Mom endured but she's a trooper. And besides, a 15-hour airplane ride is payback for that horrible spinach casserole she used to make us eat when I was in 3rd grade. Dad, you remember? Mom was in night school and you used to feed it to us and tell us it was good for us... then we'd ask you why you weren't eating it and you wouldn't say anything (you thought I forgot about that didn't you?)
The hostel is really nice and superclean. We have our own room that is the size of an apartment in NYC, but hell, we're not spending time in the room other than to sleep so who cares.
Last night we ate in Chinatown... god I love all the asian food here... almost as much as $3 Japanese stores. Then we hit up some cool little betting bar that had some fantastic Belgium Blonde Beer. Today we walked all around the city, I'd say at least 5 miles. We went to the harbor and did an Opera House tour and walked through The Rocks, which is old skool part of Syndey. The buildings are old and painted cool colors, it actually reminds me alot of England. We went to this huge market today called Paddy's (aka Zerns of Australia but much cleaner and more like a mall) and got mom some back-up clothes just in case the suitcase didn't make it today. We also went to this awesome Chinese garden. It had all these beautiful buildings and waterfalls that lead into ponds with Koi fish. It was so peaceful and quiet, I'd pay $6 to get in every day! Tomorrow I think we're going to go to Manly Beach for the day. My friend Sophie that I traveled NZ with arrives tomorrow. I'm real exicted to see her because she's extremely cool and she makes the F-word sound so polite with her little English accent.
We'll write more in a few days... my US cell can text here, so text away if you'd like. The NZ pre-paid phone still has some $$ on it so you can text that as well. Oh, also instead of a 6-hour difference, it's a 9-hour difference (Sydney is 3 hours behind NZ). So if it's:
12pm in Sydney on Friday, March 9
then it's 9pm Thursday, March 8 (for all you Phillysiders)
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Paihia
I just woke up from a 3 hour nap. I had the biggest idiots in my room last night. They all decided to get wasted and go to bed at 4am then get up at 6:30am for the Cape Reinga day trip. I hope their bus breaks down.
So speaking of Cape Reinga, the northernmost part of NZ, my day trip was pretty cool. We had awesome weather and it was a great way to start off my stay in the bay of Islands. As usual, our bus driver for the trip, Auto, was absolutely mad and I questioned whether or not I should trust my life in his hands. And as usual, I just shrugged my shoulders and stayed on the bus. We stopped at the Kauri forest on the way up and saw these huge trees similiar to the redwoods in CA that, I believe, are now protected so they don't go into extinction. We drove up this crazy little dirt roads to get to a sacred Maori burial ground. This is where the Cape is located and it's where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. You can actually see where they meet, instead of the waves crashing into the shore and the bottom of the cliff, both oceans' waves crash into each other (it's kind of hard to explain without all my hand movements to show you what I mean). This part of the trip was my favorite, it was absolutely gorgeous... actually, I think the picture that I currently have on my myspace account is a picture of the Cape. After the burial ground we headed to a beach to have lunch and to swim, then we jumped back on the bus and as we were climbing a huge steep hill, it broke down. We jumped on other buses going past and still continued on with the trip. Next we went to these huge sand dunes and went sandboarding. If you've ever been to Jockey's Ridge in the Outerbanks, NC then it's pretty much the same thing. Although I think the dune that we were sandboarding down was alot steeper then the dune at Jockey's Ridge... or maybe I've just gotten old and fat and and I can't run up the dunes like I used to! I just went once down the hill on a boogie board and I got completely covered in sand. It was in parts of my body that I didn't know existed and I absolutely hate sand on me... not as much as I hate mayonnaise, but it's right up there. After a failed attempt to remove all the sand off me, I jumped back on the bus and headed to 90 Mile Beach... the liars, it's actually 64 miles. We went digging for mussels in the sand and cracked them open right there and ate them. One girl looked at me as she was cracking the mussel open and she goes, "Oh no, are these still alive?" and I tell her yes, then the mussel moved in it's shell and she freaked out, threw it into the ocean and goes, "I can't kill it!" The whole time I'm thinking to myself, well it was probably better that you did eat it because now it doesn't have a shell on it's one side and it's going to die anyway, but I just laughed at her instead. We drove down the 64 mile 90 Mile Beach then headed back to Paihia and stopping for fish n' chips on the way home.
The past few days here I've just been laying on the beach and have been pretty useless. My friend Phil that I met in Queenstown got here the other day and it's been cool to have someone else to hang out with. There are also people who I traveled with in Kaikoura so we've been hanging out with them a bit as well. Today Phil and I went on a jet boating trip all through the bays and islands and to this place called "the hole in the rock".
(check it out here: http://goaustralia.about.com/cs/nznorthsights/l/blpicbay5.htm)
It was a pretty rough trip getting out there and we were flying over these huge waves and hitting all these big wakes. We went over one wake and I landed so hard on the seat that my sunglasses flew off my head and one of my flip flops went flying on the deck of the boat. I didn't even realize I lost my sunglasses. Phil looked at me and was like wait, where are your sunglasses? I was all, awww man I lost ANOTHER pair! But luckily they just flew on the deck of the boat and I got them back. I landed so hard on the seat that I whacked my lower back out of line. Awesome. It'll adjust in a day or two but I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sore right now! It was a pretty cool trip, a good way to end New Zealand... no I take that back, a good way to end New Zealand would be going to the $3 Japanese shop again!
I leave Paihia on the 7th (today is the 5th) then I'm in AKL for a night then it's over to OZ to see my mom! I am so excited to get there to see her. I am pretty bummed to be leaving NZ because it's so awesome here and I could definitely settle down into a normal lifestyle here. But, Oz will be a whole other experience in itself, so it's all pretty bittersweet. I actually can't believe I only have a month left... someone is going to be very depressed when they come home!
I may not write until I hit Sydney... so check back around the 9th or 10th to see what mom and I are up to! G'day mates!
NZ Time: Monday, March 5th, 5:25pm
Philly time: Sunday, March 4th, 11:25pm
So speaking of Cape Reinga, the northernmost part of NZ, my day trip was pretty cool. We had awesome weather and it was a great way to start off my stay in the bay of Islands. As usual, our bus driver for the trip, Auto, was absolutely mad and I questioned whether or not I should trust my life in his hands. And as usual, I just shrugged my shoulders and stayed on the bus. We stopped at the Kauri forest on the way up and saw these huge trees similiar to the redwoods in CA that, I believe, are now protected so they don't go into extinction. We drove up this crazy little dirt roads to get to a sacred Maori burial ground. This is where the Cape is located and it's where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. You can actually see where they meet, instead of the waves crashing into the shore and the bottom of the cliff, both oceans' waves crash into each other (it's kind of hard to explain without all my hand movements to show you what I mean). This part of the trip was my favorite, it was absolutely gorgeous... actually, I think the picture that I currently have on my myspace account is a picture of the Cape. After the burial ground we headed to a beach to have lunch and to swim, then we jumped back on the bus and as we were climbing a huge steep hill, it broke down. We jumped on other buses going past and still continued on with the trip. Next we went to these huge sand dunes and went sandboarding. If you've ever been to Jockey's Ridge in the Outerbanks, NC then it's pretty much the same thing. Although I think the dune that we were sandboarding down was alot steeper then the dune at Jockey's Ridge... or maybe I've just gotten old and fat and and I can't run up the dunes like I used to! I just went once down the hill on a boogie board and I got completely covered in sand. It was in parts of my body that I didn't know existed and I absolutely hate sand on me... not as much as I hate mayonnaise, but it's right up there. After a failed attempt to remove all the sand off me, I jumped back on the bus and headed to 90 Mile Beach... the liars, it's actually 64 miles. We went digging for mussels in the sand and cracked them open right there and ate them. One girl looked at me as she was cracking the mussel open and she goes, "Oh no, are these still alive?" and I tell her yes, then the mussel moved in it's shell and she freaked out, threw it into the ocean and goes, "I can't kill it!" The whole time I'm thinking to myself, well it was probably better that you did eat it because now it doesn't have a shell on it's one side and it's going to die anyway, but I just laughed at her instead. We drove down the 64 mile 90 Mile Beach then headed back to Paihia and stopping for fish n' chips on the way home.
The past few days here I've just been laying on the beach and have been pretty useless. My friend Phil that I met in Queenstown got here the other day and it's been cool to have someone else to hang out with. There are also people who I traveled with in Kaikoura so we've been hanging out with them a bit as well. Today Phil and I went on a jet boating trip all through the bays and islands and to this place called "the hole in the rock".
(check it out here: http://goaustralia.about.com/cs/nznorthsights/l/blpicbay5.htm)
It was a pretty rough trip getting out there and we were flying over these huge waves and hitting all these big wakes. We went over one wake and I landed so hard on the seat that my sunglasses flew off my head and one of my flip flops went flying on the deck of the boat. I didn't even realize I lost my sunglasses. Phil looked at me and was like wait, where are your sunglasses? I was all, awww man I lost ANOTHER pair! But luckily they just flew on the deck of the boat and I got them back. I landed so hard on the seat that I whacked my lower back out of line. Awesome. It'll adjust in a day or two but I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sore right now! It was a pretty cool trip, a good way to end New Zealand... no I take that back, a good way to end New Zealand would be going to the $3 Japanese shop again!
I leave Paihia on the 7th (today is the 5th) then I'm in AKL for a night then it's over to OZ to see my mom! I am so excited to get there to see her. I am pretty bummed to be leaving NZ because it's so awesome here and I could definitely settle down into a normal lifestyle here. But, Oz will be a whole other experience in itself, so it's all pretty bittersweet. I actually can't believe I only have a month left... someone is going to be very depressed when they come home!
I may not write until I hit Sydney... so check back around the 9th or 10th to see what mom and I are up to! G'day mates!
NZ Time: Monday, March 5th, 5:25pm
Philly time: Sunday, March 4th, 11:25pm
Friday, March 2, 2007
New bands I have discovered
I have been making a list of cool music that I have heard down here. My Kiwi friend Jimmy also gave me a few suggestions as well. So if you're a music fan like me, definitely check out the list below... obviously Split Ends and Crowded House are not new bands, but I've never really listened to them before I got here (Richard you'll have to burn me some cds!) Many of the crazy bus drivers here play alot of Kiwi music to get people interested... not sure if they'll be on iTunes or not?
Split Endz
Crowded House
The Datsuns
The D4
Shihad
Steriogram (Yeah Jenny Best!)
Katchafire
Salmonella Dub (awesome!)
The Black Seeds
Fat Freddy's Drop (These guys are everywhere here... awesome roots band)
Supergroove
Bernard Fanning
The Kooks (from the UK, kinda poppy but good stuff)
The View
Split Endz
Crowded House
The Datsuns
The D4
Shihad
Steriogram (Yeah Jenny Best!)
Katchafire
Salmonella Dub (awesome!)
The Black Seeds
Fat Freddy's Drop (These guys are everywhere here... awesome roots band)
Supergroove
Bernard Fanning
The Kooks (from the UK, kinda poppy but good stuff)
The View
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