Magnetic Island

Classes and finals are now officially done, so my roommate and I went to a place in northern Australia called Magnetic Island. It is a small beachy paradise up in the tropics. Here we spent the week enjoying the sun. Our hostel was right on the beach, so we spent our days snorkeling, kayaking and I even got to go horseback riding in the ocean. I rode an Australian stock/Arab cross. He loved going in the water and was easily swimming with me on his back! 

This island was so cool because it consisted of only four towns. And each town had a beach, a cafe, and two of them even had a grocery store that had three aisles. The rest of the island was national park. On one of our hikes, we spotted a wild koala, and she had a brand new baby peeking out of her pouch. Marsupials in action. Woo!

At night, I would snag a hammock when it wasn't being used by the many European backpackers and read my book under the stars. It truly was paradise!

I am back in Sydney and have only a week left here. Let's see how many more adventures I can get in :-)

A Whale of a time

Last Monday I was invited to go on a private whale watching tour for my internship. This was a great opportunity, and I immediately jumped aboard! We saw some incredible sea birds, Flying Gannons, and Albatrosses.

We spotted a sleeping seal. It was floating on top of the water with it's flipper sticking straight in the air to catch the wind as it slept. The waves of the boat woke our sleepy friend, and he swam away.

Then we finally found a pod of five humpback whales. They were all males, and were fighting as they moved north. They were slapping their tails and breaching all over the place! It was insane! We were on the boat with the director of the marine science program from Macquarie Uni, and he was saying that this behavior is fairly rare, we were so grateful to witness it!

On our way back into the harbour, a large pod of common bottlenose dolphins rode the pressure waves off the bow of the boat. They would leap into the air and squeal, having so much fun!

Coming into the harbour, a storm had just passed, and the sun was shining...offering a stunning rainbow that stretched across the ocean. The moon was rising opposite the setting sun, which was illuminating Sydney. I have never seen a more beautiful city.

We stepped off the boat with huge smiles on our faces and with our wobbly litle sea legs walked to the bus stop.

Jervis Bay and Hunter Valley

Last weekend, we went on a FIELD TRIP! I was psyched...Jervis Bay!

This was my first taste of actual field work in the marine science world. We were on a boat taking sediment samples, temperature and salinity data, and dolphin spotting. We went to mangroves and observed crab interactions for a few hours. We also went to a rocky platform and surveyed benthic invertebrates. At night we camped at a beautiful campsite right on the beach, we were able to go spotlighting and see all the nocturnal animals sitting up in the eucalypts. Brush tailed possums and eastern grey kangaroos were all over the place! Out on the beach, the stars were covering the sky. It was a great time getting to know all the facuty and staff in the marine science program!

Yesteday, we traveled up to Newcastle. We have made friends with some people who live up there so we stayed the weekend, and went on a wine tour of Hunter Valley. The guy who took us on the wine tour was a big guy named Tex. He drove us around the beautiful wineries where we got to taste tons of various wines. One of our stops included Dragon's Breath, a winery that specialzes in schnapps. They made us all take shots of chilli schnapps, which how the infamous dragon's breath got it's name. Several of us shed some tears after that one. Lindemans was our last stop, and by then end I was so sick of wine that I kept dumping my glass out when the wine taster lady wasn't looking. I think the wine making process is fascinating, and it was great learning about Australian wine. Do I feel like a connoisseur? Nope. But it was a fun time! Plus we were able to do alot of cheese and fudge tasting...always good.

New Zealand

Aotearoa. It is the Maiori word for New Zealand. It means land of the long white cloud. I just got back from 10 days in New Zealand. For such a small country, it has pretty phenomonal things going on!

We started on the east coast of the Southern Island in Christchurch. Pretty uneventful city. Mainly parks and buildings.

We then took a train journey across the soutern Alps, beautiful snow capped peaks, to the western coast, which is notorious for being wet. And it was the first few days...

New Zealand is the only place in the world that has two vastly different ecosystems living side by side. The rainforest and glacier are stark contrasts, yet work together to create this incredible area. We went for a day long hike onto Fox Glacier. It feeds it's milky iredescent blue water into the Tasman Sea. While we were in the rainforest, we were sweating and in t-shirts. As soon as we stepped onto the glacier, we had three layers, gloves and a hat. This was by far the most incredible day. The glacier was beautiful, and with the sun shining on it, the ice displayed it many colors! We learned so much about glaciers from our alpine guide. It was great!

Queenstown is known as the 'adventure capital' of the world. It is a very tourist oriented town, and has a local population of only 11,000 and a tourist/backpacker population of about 30,000. It reminded me of a ski resort area like Vail or Aspen. Unfortunately all the activities were put on hold the days we were there due to weather. Strong winds and rain cancelled everything. So instead of hurtling our bodies through the air again, we went to several of the scenes that Lord of the Rings was filmed at! Our guide was also an extra in the movies, which made it so much cooler.

I rented a car and drove 4 hours on the opposite side of the road!

In Te Anau we went cave tramping and saw glowworms. They looked like tiny stars in the sky. The hungrier they are, the brighter they glow. We also went for a cruise on Milford Sound. A beautiful fiord that offered thousands of waterfalls and fur seals.

Even though we never saw an elusive kiwi bird. The kiwi's we met along the way were some of the nicest people! The locals in the smaller towns were so hospitible, and I have many promises that they will visit Chicago soon!

She Loves the Sunrise

I just got back from my "spring break" here in Oz. It was beautifully insane, full of new friendships and surprising adventures.


Here is a quick summary.


Day 1. We flew into Brisbane and went to the Australia Zoo. Home of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. The zoo was everthing I remember from the show. Ever since I was in middle school it has been my dream to go there and meet Steve. While I couldn't meet Steve, I got to see his family - Terri, Bindi and Bob! I even got to see all his beautiful crocodiles and we got to walk among his kangaroos. Dreams do come true.


Day 2. Fraser Island is a large sand island that supports a dense rainforest. It was beautiful. We went to two freshwater lakes while there and all agreed it was the cleanest, bluest water we had ever seen.


Day 3-5. Jetboated out the the Whitsunday Islands. We snorkelled and explored the beautiful beaches. Watched the sunrise, saw a green sea turtle. Paradise.





Day 5. Took a catamaran out to Blue Pearl Bay where we got to go snorkeling. We then spent the afternoon sailing around the islands, embracing the waves, the sun, life.


Day 6. Went to Mission Beach where we went whitewater rafting on the Tully River. Our river guide was a former hand model from New Zealand. He made sure we had a good time by flipping our raft. We were left to float down the river on our backs. It was great. We stopped along the way to jump off boulders. At the end, we rafted underneath two waterfalls. I couldn't stop smiling.

Day 7. Drove up to Cairns. This was supposed to be a relaxing day. However, spontaniety was embraced which manifested into skydiving and bungee jumping all in one day. All of a sudden I found myself in a plane at 14,000ft watching people hurl themselves into the sky. It was beautiful, and the experience incredible. We dove over the great barrier reef and the rainforest covered mountains of Cairns. Side note, while we were soaring, I had Jason Mraz "The Remedy" stuck in my head. That night I went bungee jumping in the rainforest. That was scary, so scary!

Day 8. We took a catamaran out the reef and went scuba diving. The colors were vivid and wonderful. We saw tons of brilliantly colored fish and coral. Being on the reef was a really powerful and inspiring experience.



Day 9. Went to the beach. This is probably a good time to mention our Aussie group leaders. Matt and Mouse are both lifeguards at Bondi Beach in Sydney. They are stars on this reality TV show called Bondi Rescue. The most hilarious people I have ever met. They were also naked alot...

Day 10-12. We went to Byron Bay. The first day we explored and hiked around the headland where the lighthouse is. The next day we took a day trip to this little country town called Nimbin. The reason tourists are attracted to it is because it never left the 60's. I don't even know how to describe this place. We were offered weed 3 times. It is as though it is out of a fictional storybook...written by someone who was high. The last day in Byron we went to see the sunrise. It is the most easterly place in all of Australia. It was beautiful.

ps. all these are actual photos taken during the experience :-)

Tasty

Being in Australia is not too different from the US when it comes to food. However there are some differences, and I thought I would share what I have come to love and what I have come to miss.

Vegemite. Concentrated yeast extract. If you are Australian and you don't like vegemite, you are considered the minority. They love it. But they do admit it is intense. Australians I've talked to recommend you eat it on buttered toast with a veeerrryyy thin layer. (thats pushing it for me...)

Cadbury chocolate bars. I am obsessed. Never have I ever loved chocolate this much. I had a 12 day stretch where I had one every day. oops.

Peanut butter. I MISS IT SO MUCH! Australia has peanut butter, but nowhere near the selection, brands, or taste as the states. Our peanut butter is much sweeter than the pb you find here. Australians think it is odd we eat pb in everything. They don't even have reese's pieces. They also don't eat pb&j. I have struggled with this.

Turkish bread. This bread is much like foccacia bread, but softer and a bit flatter. It is perfect for avacado sandwiches.

Soylin bread. If I were to think of the most perfect loaf of sandwich bread, this would have been it. It is jam packed with soy, linseed, sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. So good with some honey and peanut butter :-)

Cordial. Instead of having powder drink mixes, they have cordial. It is basically a liquid juice concentrate. I have yet to drink plain water...

Heinz baked beans. Most wonderful 2 minute dinner. Unlike the baked beans we are familiar with in the states, these come in many flavors including tomato, sweet chili, ranch, cheddar and original.

Sweet chili sauce. Soooooo good. I do not understand why this is not popular at home. It is the perfect combination of sweet and tangy. They put it on everything.

Cheese. Orange cheese doesn't exist here! Their cheddar cheese is white, and it is delicious.

Tim Tams. Little chocolate cookie of yum.

Yogurt. Very different. Much more bitter. It kind of tastes like I am eating cream cheese. ick.

Kebabs. A lebanese creation of thick pita bread with lettuce, tomato, hummus, falafel and sweet chili sauce all wrapped and toasted. There are kebab stands on every corner of the city as well as on the beaches. They are incredbily popular, and when my roommate and I discovered them we had four within a period of 36 hours. oops again.

Also, I have yet to find guacamole...

Melbourne and Phillip Island

AH! What a wonderful weekend.

I spent the weekend in Melbourne and Phillip Island with some of my roommates.

Melbourne is the definition of swanky. We walked around the city on Saturday. Riding around on the trolly-trams was great. We ventured to a rooftop bar that night and were surrounded by high class Melbourne. It offered an awesome skyline of the city at night.

Sunday we took a bus to Phillip Island. Home of the little fairy penguins. This island was amazing! We decided to hike the peninsula where there are beautiful rock formations created by volcanic activity. These are called the "nobbies". There are seals rolling around on the rocks and swimming in the icy water. We got pretty excited at the thought of Antarctica being right across the ocean! During our hike we spotted a kangaroo about 20 ft away in the bush...as we walked we saw more and more kangaroos and in all we probably spotted about 20! Sun was setting, kangaroos were hopping, waves were crashing. Woah.

So we finally reached our destination which was the penguin parade! The penguin parade is what Phillip Island is famous for. At night hundreds of little fairy penguins, which are the smallest penguins in the world, come in out of the ocean after a day of feeding and make their way onto land into their burrows where they sleep. The little penguins would just pop out of the water by surfing in on their little bellies and start waddling to shore in big groups. You follow the penguins up to their burrows, and then they close their eyes, fluff up, and snooze. It was so cool to witness this natural rhythm of life. Every night these little guys have the courage to cross the ocean, the beach and the bush to find home... Too bad tourists are insane and elbow you in various bodily places to get a closer look.

Monday we came back to Melbourne and hit up the beach...we decided Melbourne beaches ain't got nothin on Sydney beaches. That was the biggest difference I noticed between the two cities. Sydney has an incredible beach culture and thrives on surf and sand, whereas Melbourne doesn't. (And it is waaayyy more expensive! Example. A cadbury chocolate bar in Sydney costs me 1.35, in Melbourne is costs 3.40! helllll no)

An amazing thing that has come out of Melbourne: The Melbourne Shuffle. Youtube it. We see so many Aussies in Sydney dancing like this, and it is amazing. Everytime they bust out in this insanity, I cannot look away. We are trying to teach ourselves, but I am afraid it is a skill far beyond our dancing capabilities...