Journey Home...Pit Stop: New Zealand

Leaving Australia is so much harder than I expected it to be. I never imagined that I could feel as though I belong in more than one place, and yet I do. I love California; I have talked about it constantly since I left. But now I love Australia too. I am sitting in the Auckland Airport at the moment and as excited as I am to see my family, eat Mexican food till I burst, play with my dog, and catch up with all my friends…I can’t help thinking that it won’t be all that long until I go back. Hard as I tried I couldn’t do absolutely everything that I wanted to, and I think that secretly made me glad because it gives me a great excuse to go back.

            I tend to get very attached not only to certain places but also to people. And this experience has been no exception. Saying goodbye this morning to my two best Aussie friends was miserable. It didn’t help that we had to get up at the butt crack of dawn and that I had to do some last minute semi-stressful luggage juggling. But it would have been hard anyway. The cool thing is that I know that I have made some life-long friends; the only downside is that some of them live half way around the world. Yet another good reason that I have to go back right?!

            I have decided that traveling involves a stupid amount of sitting. To get to the airport you sit in a car, or a train or sometimes a bus. Once you’ve checked in and dodged security, you sit and wait to board. Then you board the plane and obviously sit until you land. Time for a layover…surprise! You most likely sit some more. Because unless you have a travel companion (or 11), it is too much of a hassle to walk around with all your carry-on baggage, unless maybe you plan better than I do and don’t have much carry-on baggage. And on it goes. Sitting, sitting, sitting. Have I mentioned how much I dislike sitting? I think that Ben was on to something when he used the flat escalator-ish walkways as a treadmill. In fact, I think that all airports should have treadmills. I bet everyone would be a lot less cranky about traveling if they didn’t have to sit so much. Just saying…

As silly as I feel for being so sad to leave, I would much rather feel silly and sad than not. It tells me that I truly enjoyed my experience. As my friend Courtney constantly reminds me, “it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.” Turns out this applies to places and friends, not just to a significant other. But the truth is I haven’t really lost anything and I have gained more than I can explain. So yep, I’ll take a little sadness, It just reminds me how good everything really was and gives me something to look forward to for the next time I see my friends and return to Oz.  In the meantime, Merry Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever it is you celebrate! See you soon, I’m off to defy the traveling odds and walk around in spite of my excessive carry-on baggage.

Last Few Adventures

In my head, I planned my last couple of weeks in Wollongong being nothing but beach days. In reality, it rained most days and was cloudy the days that it didn’t. I got to spend only one afternoon at the beach when the sun peaked through for a few hours. But I still enjoyed the end of my trip there. I went down to Crookwell with Courtney and Sonya for a few days, then back to the Gong. I also spent a couple days down the coast with Jack, and then again back to the Gong. It was relaxing traveling though, most days were very mellow and it was really nice to see Courtney’s and Jack’s families again before I left. The days I spent in Wollongong were fairly full with last minute errands, running on the beach, packing and re-packing, guitar hero, and saying goodbye to the friends that were still around.

Crookwell

The few days we spent in Crookwell were very mellow. Sonya and I were pretty tired from all of our traveling and we spent a lot of time hanging out on the couch working on our blogs and watching movies. One afternoon I snuck into Courtney’s brother’s soccer game and taught him a thing or two. It was a really fun 5- a – side outdoor game and I was super excited to get to play. I ended up playing against Jordy (Courtney’s bro), but it was fun to run around a bit. I felt really badly at one point though because I took a shot on goal, missed, and it hit a little girl in the face. Of course that little girl was the daughter of a close friend of Courtney’s mom. I apologized profusely and in the next play proceeded to trip over the ball and fall on my face. Instant Karma. Luckily, there were no lasting injuries on either part and other than a few jokes about it later, the whole thing was forgiven and forgotten.

Kiama, Culburra and Jervis

Luxurious sleeping quarters

One night while Jack was working in Kiama I tagged along and went exploring. I saw the Kiama blowhole, read my book in a park by the light house, saw a few friends from Campus East, chased some seagulls and sat on a swing for a bit. It was fun to see a new place, even if I did not do anything wild. Once it got dark I went and ate dinner with Jack where he works and then slept in his car until he got off.

Kiama Blow Hole

            We left from Kiama to drive down to Jack’s house in Culburra for a couple of days. His family is renting out their home for the holidays so they are all living in a flat for a few weeks, but we got to stay in their mostly empty house. It was so tempting to run through all the rooms singing at the top of my lungs and jumping on all the beds. I managed to refrain from jumping on the beds, but we definitely did some questionably terrible singing. One night while we were there we went out to dinner with Jack’s family. After we ate, Jack and his Dad and I played a couple of games of pool. I was nice and let them win, because as I told them, I don’t trust anyone that I can beat in pool. (Had nothing to do with my pool playing abilities, of course…) I did manage to beat Jack in a game of Monopoly though. He might not exactly know that I won, because we quite in the middle of it, but I’m pretty confident that I did.

Singing in the rain

            Before returning to the Gong, Jack and I spent half a day down in Jervis Bay. Unfortunately, it was raining again so although we were looking at some of the most beautiful beaches ever, we didn’t hang out for very long. We went to 3 different beaches, looked at them, took a few pictures and jumped back in the car. Hyams Beach (the third one we went to) has some of the whitest sand around, supposedly. It looked pretty white to me! After our beach investigations we had an awesome lunch at the Pilgrim’s Market overlooking the harbor. The food was delicious and the place was funky. It was a shop and café combo with eating tables intermixed with shop tables. We drove back just after lunch so that Jack could make it to his footy training in time.

Lunch

            In spite of the disappointing weather, it ended up being a great few days. I really enjoyed spending time with Jack’s family (and Courtney's); they were very welcoming and fun to hang out with. And I managed to squeeze in another new place just before I left the country!

Nan Tien Temple

Peaceful. Groomed. Put-together. Green. Buddha. Statues galore. Fun. World’s tiniest teapot. Gratitude Bell. Intricate decorations. Elaborate prayer rooms. Grand entrance. Meditation. Love. Happiness. Walking paths. Long staircases. Lanterns. Incense. Bamboo. Prayers. Museum. Gift shop. Japanese Cherry Blossoms. Ponds. Benches. Koi Fish. No Smoking.

“When life is hard, face it.

When life is pain, learn from it.

When life is easy, plan for it.

When life is pleasing, enjoy it.”

Being as mature as we are, all of this peace and serenity ultimately led to Jack and me watching Mulan. Maybe someday we will grow up…but I wouldn’t count on it! 

Darwin and The Outback

Leaving Gold Coast, Sonya and I decided that we would put an end to our boring funk. So we did! We took a train back up to Brisbane and from there flew to Darwin. We arrived around 1 am and caught a shuttle straight to our hostel. Things were surprisingly lively for that time of night, but we were pooped so we went straight to bed.

            Our first day in Darwin we took off from the hostel to go on a self-guided walking tour and we were all excited about being in a new place. It only took us about 30 seconds to start sweating and within an hour we were completely hot and exhausted. The weather in Darwin was hot (it was around 35 degrees Celsius, which is about 95 degrees Fahrenheit) and VERY humid. We still saw a good portion of the area; the most notable was a huge park and the waterfront near the harbor. On the walk back we ended up going through an outdoor mall and we stopped in nearly every store just to take advantage of their air conditioning. We thought we were being subtle until in one place a man asked if we needed any help and only as we politely said ‘no thanks, we’re just looking’ did we look around and notice that it was all old man clothes. Busted! Luckily, he didn’t seem to care too much if we walked in and just stood under the air conditioning vent for a few minutes.

Big fella!

Termite mound

In order to explore the outback we took two trips out of Darwin. The first was to Litchfield National Park. On this tour, we stopped to look at different kinds of termite mounds. The first kind was lumpy and really tall and brown in color, while the second was flat and more of a black color. In the field of all black ones they looked sort of like tombstones, it was very eerie. We also spent a couple of hours in the morning on the Adelaide River feeding Crocodiles. I think that this was one of my favorite parts of the trip because we were down low near the water and the crocs at times were no more than a foot away from us. All that kept them from nibbling on us instead of the meat dangling over the water was a small-ish metal boat. Our guide would tie a chunk of meet to a string and use a stick to hang it out over the water. He used this to get the crocs to come up close to both sides of the boat and then even got some of them to jump out of the water to chomp on their prize. It was pretty spectacular to watch! I was very happy to be in the boat though and not in the water, I definitely would not want to be a crocodile snack! 

Second swimming hole

            We stopped for lunch at a very beautiful waterfall that we couldn’t swim in. During the dry season I think it is open for swimming, but during the wet (which is while we were there) crocodiles show up so swimming is no longer a good idea. After lunch we stopped at two waterfalls that we did get to swim in. The first was two large waterfalls that fell into one big swimming hole and the second was a series of pools with small falls in between. The second one was my favorite; it had a decent sized jumping rock that was really fun.We ended the day by watching a beautiful sunset over the ocean.

First swimming hole

Sunset

The other tour that we did was a two-day deal out to Kakadu National Park. This was our big adventure that we had been looking forward to for weeks and it certainly lived up to our expectations!

Mary River/ Billabong

            The tour left at 6:00 am and I packed all that I would need for the 2 day journey into a purple flowery pillowcase, which didn’t exactly make me feel like a daring explorer, but it was easier than carrying my whole pack. We drove a lot throughout the day, but never for more than about and hour and a half at a time. Our first stop was again to see termite mounds. Although Sonya and I had seen them before, it was still interesting because the new tour guide had some different things to say about them. After the termites, we went on a river cruise on the Mary river/billabong (a billabong is not only a clothing company, but also a permanent body of water). I’m  not super in to birds, but we saw some really cool ones on the river. We also got to pick giant leaves and wear them as hats. As they dry they form to your head and provide lots of shade!

Aboriginal Rock Painting

Nadab Lookout

After lunch we went on a walk in Ubirr to see amazing Aboriginal rock paintings. Our guide, Rosie, told us aboriginal stories that accompanied the paintings along the way. I would re-tell them here, but I don’t remember all the details. I can tell you that they were very interesting though! The way that Aboriginals share stories is by telling the simplest version possible, so even though the stories sound like children’s bedtime stories, each has a message that described some aspect of the Aboriginal way of life. We had to hide out under one of the larger overhangs for a while to wait out a thunderstorm. Somehow I didn’t get any shelter and got soaked, but I didn’t mind because it meant that I wasn’t hot and sweaty for once. Once the storm passed, we walked up to the Nadab Lookout, which had an unobstructed 360 degree view  of the whole area. The view was honestly breathtaking and incredible. Sonya and I both agreed that it was one of our favorite places in all of our Australia travels. The same storm that had passed over us was still visible in the distance and we were able to see the lightning striking in the distance. It was also the perfect location for some cheesy tourist photos.

The only downside to being in the outback so far was all the flies! They were beyond obnoxious, but luckily we had been forewarned and brought along some mosquito nets. I could put up with them much better when they weren’t in my face.

            After the Nadab Lookout was the Bardedjilidji bush walk through sandstone rocks. It was a nice walk, but I can only get excited about a few rocks before they all start to look the same. It was a nice stretch for the legs, but I was still more excited about the lookout than the sandstone. That night we stayed at the tour company’s camp which was equipped with showers, cabin tents and a kitchen tent. We dined on pasta with meat sauce and after showers headed to bed early.

            The next morning we were up again at 5 am for brekky, sandwich packing, and a quick camp clean up. We got to spend the day swimming in two different waterfalls again. It never gets old!

            The first one was really fun, the waterfall was tall and the water deep. The pool was big enough to be satisfying to swim across a couple of times. We spent a good amount of time also just lounging on some rocks in the cool water and talking with the other people in our group. There were 16 of us plus our guide, Rosie, and people were from all over. There were 4 Americans (including Sonya and Me), some French, an Italian, and English girl, and several Germans. It was fun talking to people from all over. It was also one of the only times we encountered fellow Americans on our journey.

Fall with the Freshwater Croc (can sorta see him)

            When we arrived at the second waterfall we discovered a freshwater croc cruising around the pool. We all sat there and watched it for a while debating whether or not to swim. In theory, it is ok to swim with the freshwater variety because they are smaller and if they bite you it is compared to a dog bite. Still pretty intimidating though! And to add to the hesitance, someone spotted a snake in the water tangled in some tree roots. Rosie declared it to not be poisonous but we were still suspicious. Eventually the croc went under water and we one-by-one ventured into the water. I opted to quickly jump in and swim across to a rock, sat for a few minutes then quickly swam back and jumped out. I stayed only in the areas where I could see the water. Still counts though, I can say I swam with a croc!

            Unfortunately, swimming was the last tour activity, after that it was a long drive back to Darwin.

Random Darwin Thought: Sonya pointed out that it would be a terrible place for a honeymoon because it’s so hot and humid that all you do is sweat all the time. Not the most attractive state to be in.

In between our two tours we went to Crocosaurus Cove where we got to:

            Hold a baby croc!

            Watch them feed really big fish

            Watch them feed an olive python (a very large snake) and lizards

            Learn Darwin’s war history

            Hold a smaller olive python and 2 kinds of lizards

            Look at all the animal exhibits and watch them feed all the big and baby crocs (it was much more exciting in the wild)

           

Baby Croc

It was a really small, but fun place where we could come and go throughout the day in order to see all the interesting feedings and talks, but not have to eat the expensive café food ourselves. It was a day well spent. 

Gold Coast

The Gold Coast was surprisingly boring. You would think that a place called Surfer’s Paradise would be, well, Paradise. It turns out that paradise is not only kind of boring, but also verrrryyyy expensive. Who knew?? We had one action-packed day at the Currumbin Wildlife sanctuary and the rest were mellow and relaxing laid-back days.

At the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary we watched the freshwater crocs get fed, hung out with kangaroos, watched the baby koalas do a weigh-in, rode around on a funny little train, fed lorikeets, watched aboriginal dancing, and ogled at many interesting creatures. The crocs were probably the coolest, but the koalas were the cutest. It may seem cliché and over done to like them best, but they really are just so stinkin’ cute. They look like the kind of fluffy little teddy bear that every kid (and secretly everyone else) wants to cuddle. We saw one jump from on tree branch to another, which is extremely active for a koala. The rest of them were sleeping for the majority of the time that we were there. Apparently, all they really do is eat, sleep and well, procreate if ya know what I mean.

The crocodiles that were fed were the freshwater fellas, which are MUCH smaller than the saltwater dwellers. Even the little guys have some power though. Sometimes when they went for the meat that was dangled over their enclosure, they would miss and their jaws would snap together. The sound that this makes is super loud and very intimidating. It’s exciting and wild when they are on the other side of a reinforced fence, but if I heard it in the wild I would certainly not hang around.

Fun Fact: It only takes about 90 pounds of force to break a human bone. The Saltwater croc at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary can produce around 3,000 lbs. WOWIE!

The aboriginal dancing was really interesting. They did several short dances, each of which has a specific purpose or message. The only two I remember specifically are the welcome and the see ya later (my words not theirs) dances. But all of them were really interesting. There were two male and one female dancer, accompanied by a guy who alternated between playing the didgeridoo and the drums while singing. I am always fascinated by the didgeridoo, I can’t get over circle breathing and how they can play continuously for so long. Its nuts! They also make an impressive array of different sounds, always catches me off guard how much they can do with a hollow tube of wood.

The days that we didn’t spend at the wildlife sanctuary involved some beach time, a lot of reading, an attempt at a bike ride (it started storming and we struggled in the wind), many trips to the grocery store for snacks, long walks, window-shopping (someday I’ll be able to afford to travel AND shop), one funny night out on the town with a new English friend, and one trip to the local movie theater. We saw Ides of March; I’m not super in to political movies, but it was pretty good.

My overall opinion of Gold Coast is that it is a beautiful place, but not one that I will soon go back to. I’m glad I saw it, but I think that I saw what I needed to there and that I can check it off my list. Having so much free time there taught me how much I dislike too much free time. In the future I think I will be happier either planning more to do or shortening the amount of time in places like that. The hard part is not really knowing what a place will truly be like until you get there. I suppose that’s where research and relying on word of mouth from other travelers fits in.

Byron Bay

 potential future home

I LOVED Byron Bay. And by loved I mean that I was house shopping within the first few hours that I was there because I think it would be an amazing place to live someday. The beach was not humongous, but not too small and has a really nice vibe. There was a lot of open space, but also some cool rocks to explore and it was great for running on (nice and flat). The town itself is pretty small and has a funky, hippy feel to it. Lots of cool people and cool shops in the main area, sprinkled with a couple of parks and a nice path for walking and running. We got free food one afternoon in one of the parks near our hostel. It was a BBQ sponsored by a church youth group. We were there during schoolies, which is when all the newly graduated high school seniors go out and party (because the drinking age is 18) and the church group had a tent set up on the beach for schoolies to come if they needed sober space and snacks. There were a couple of interesting performances and then the members of the church group walked around and mingled with all of the freeloaders that showed up for the food. We talked to a really nice girl from Delaware for a few minutes and then gracefully moved on. Sonya and I had a lot of fun looking in the shops; there was tons of funky jewelry and funny clothes.

            We stayed in Byron for 2 nights and one full day. Sonya and I spent part of that day lounging on the beach. It was perfect beach weather: warm but not too hot and the water felt nice, but Sonya wouldn’t go in because of the jellyfish. Can’t really blame her though, those suckers were everywhere. While we were getting our tan on, we saw a few other girls who had lived with us at Campus East, so we hung out with them for a while. We cruised around on our own in the afternoon, Sonya took a nap and I went for a run, and then met up with those girls again later that night. One of them had a friend from home living in Byron Bay so we all ended up at his house (after getting only slightly lost). The friend was doing a different study abroad program that was specific to Environmental Studies majors. He was living in a house of about 10 Americans who were all in the same program. Instead of being tied to one university they had been traveling with a group around the country and doing environmental things. It sounded pretty cool. They seemed pretty excited to have all of us there hanging out too, because they had been stuck with each other for several months and were very interested in talking to some different people.

            Being the grannies that we are, Sonya and had a fairly early night and got up early the next day to catch the greyhound bus to head back to the Gold Coast. Byron is definitely somewhere that I will visit again when I get the chance (and the money!).

Brisbane

If I were to be a businesswoman and want to live in a city, Brisbane would be a really nice place to live. There were lots of people in suits and nice clothes roaming about and a coffee shop on every other corner. As a tourist however, it was a difficult place to hang out. There was not a whole lot that was terribly exciting for exploration purposes. It also didn’t help that it was raining non-stop while we were there. 

            By this point Miles and Scott had both left and it was just Sonya and me. We set out on the walking tour of the city thinking that it would take most of the day. We rode the free bus all the way around its loop once just to see where it went. This only took about 15 minutes. We saw Anzac square, walked down by the river, and cruised through the botanic gardens. Unfortunately, what we had thought would be an all day city sight-seeing tour only took about an hour and a half. So we found a mall and a grocery store where we could get some lunch. Since it was Thanksgiving at home we had chicken, veggies and tater tots instead of PB&J.

After lunch we walked around a bit more and shopped a teeny bit (couldn’t shop much because we had limited back pack space and funds). To take up some time we went a saw the movie Immortals too. It was made by the same people as 300, so there were really good looking guys with lots of muscles and a lot of blood and guts. Perfect for a rainy day!  That night we dined on top ramen and hung out at the hostel. Definitely not one of the more exciting places we visited.