Friday, September 19, 2008
Last Australian Moments
After Cairns I had a day and a half with Celeste back in Sydney before heading back to Edmonton. We had a pretty relaxing day on Sunday, just doing a bit more exploring in the city. Celeste took me and showed me the bay where she rows. It looks like it could be a bit dodgy with all the boat traffic, but cool views of the ANZAC bridge! You can see the Harbour bridge in the background of this picture as well. 
Monday morning I had one last coffee and breakfast outing with Celeste and Ella before heading to the airport. Ella was trying to convince me to miss my flight home, which was tempting, but I knew I had to get back to real life (for now at least).
Here is my final parting shot of my airplane with Sydney in the background =(
Monday morning I had one last coffee and breakfast outing with Celeste and Ella before heading to the airport. Ella was trying to convince me to miss my flight home, which was tempting, but I knew I had to get back to real life (for now at least).Here is my final parting shot of my airplane with Sydney in the background =(
Cairns, continued
Warning: This post may contain fabulous pictures that will make you want to run away to Australia!
After my day out on the reef, I still had 2 more days to enjoy Cairns. I was pretty happy just hanging out at Redbird and Cameron's house, but there was lots to see and do. This is a picture out of their kitchen window. Basically if I wanted a banana on my cereal in the morning all I had to do was pluck it off the bunch. They also had starfruit and papaya trees in their yard!
Friday morning Cameron gave me what he called his "$5 tour" of a lot of the beaches stretching north from Cairns. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was!
This is how happy I was to be in such a great place:
After the tour Cameron dropped me off at the Cairns Tropical Zoo. I mainly wanted to see kangaroos and koalas, and was able to get up close and personal with both!
That kangaroo is asleep, not dead, I promise! And as cuddly as koalas look, they have really sharp claws! That little one had quite the grip on my shoulder.
Friday evening I went out on the town with Redbird and Cameron. Redbird belly dances, and was performing at a Greek restaurant Saturday, but since I was leaving Saturday evening and would miss it we went for dinner at the restaurant Friday and saw one of her troupe members perform. Cameron is a drummer in a band, which had a concert that evening, so after dinner we went and caught the second half of the concert. Fun!
Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful and after the driving tour of the beaches the day before I knew I needed to actually go sit on the beach for a few hours. I met up with Karen, who I had met on my diving trip and we spent the morning at the Palm Cove beach.
This is a crocodile warning sign on the beach. Apparently there are crocodiles everywhere around Cairns, although the only ones I saw were at the zoo!
This is me about to go test out the water...it was great! Nice and warm. The only downside to this whole morning was that I missed a few random spots with my sunscreen (like my belly button) and kept finding small burnt spots that afternoon. Luckily Cameron and Redbird had aloe plants in their yard!
A view of the beach from my beach towel =) In Australia you have to swim between the flags if you want the lifeguards to rescue you!
There really are wild kangaroos everywhere. After I left the zoo the day before I spotted a whole herd of them out in a horse pasture.
If I had had to go straight to the airport from the beach Saturday I might have purposefully missed my flight. However I had the afternoon still, and Redbird and I went and took the Skyrail Rainforest gondola, which goes up and over the rainforest canopy for 7.5 km to the town of Kuranda. There are two stops along the way, where you can go for a little walk in the rainforest. It was a great relaxing way to spend the afternooon.
Cameron picked us up in Kuranda and we had to rush back to the house so I could head to the airport. They sent me off with some take-away fish and chips, a bucket of their homegrown bananas, and lots of great memories! If I go back to Australia again I think I would go for a lot longer and use Cairns as my home base!
After my day out on the reef, I still had 2 more days to enjoy Cairns. I was pretty happy just hanging out at Redbird and Cameron's house, but there was lots to see and do. This is a picture out of their kitchen window. Basically if I wanted a banana on my cereal in the morning all I had to do was pluck it off the bunch. They also had starfruit and papaya trees in their yard!
Friday morning Cameron gave me what he called his "$5 tour" of a lot of the beaches stretching north from Cairns. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was!
This is how happy I was to be in such a great place:
After the tour Cameron dropped me off at the Cairns Tropical Zoo. I mainly wanted to see kangaroos and koalas, and was able to get up close and personal with both!
That kangaroo is asleep, not dead, I promise! And as cuddly as koalas look, they have really sharp claws! That little one had quite the grip on my shoulder.
Friday evening I went out on the town with Redbird and Cameron. Redbird belly dances, and was performing at a Greek restaurant Saturday, but since I was leaving Saturday evening and would miss it we went for dinner at the restaurant Friday and saw one of her troupe members perform. Cameron is a drummer in a band, which had a concert that evening, so after dinner we went and caught the second half of the concert. Fun!
Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful and after the driving tour of the beaches the day before I knew I needed to actually go sit on the beach for a few hours. I met up with Karen, who I had met on my diving trip and we spent the morning at the Palm Cove beach.
This is a crocodile warning sign on the beach. Apparently there are crocodiles everywhere around Cairns, although the only ones I saw were at the zoo!
This is me about to go test out the water...it was great! Nice and warm. The only downside to this whole morning was that I missed a few random spots with my sunscreen (like my belly button) and kept finding small burnt spots that afternoon. Luckily Cameron and Redbird had aloe plants in their yard!
A view of the beach from my beach towel =) In Australia you have to swim between the flags if you want the lifeguards to rescue you!
There really are wild kangaroos everywhere. After I left the zoo the day before I spotted a whole herd of them out in a horse pasture.
If I had had to go straight to the airport from the beach Saturday I might have purposefully missed my flight. However I had the afternoon still, and Redbird and I went and took the Skyrail Rainforest gondola, which goes up and over the rainforest canopy for 7.5 km to the town of Kuranda. There are two stops along the way, where you can go for a little walk in the rainforest. It was a great relaxing way to spend the afternooon.
Cameron picked us up in Kuranda and we had to rush back to the house so I could head to the airport. They sent me off with some take-away fish and chips, a bucket of their homegrown bananas, and lots of great memories! If I go back to Australia again I think I would go for a lot longer and use Cairns as my home base!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Cairns (the Great Barrier Reef)
I arrived in Cairns Wednesday around noon, but didn't really do much that day except hang out with Redbird and Cameron, who I was staying with. How I came to stay with them is kind of a random story, I have a friend Liz who lives in San Francisco, but we met when we were 15 and our families were on vacation in Boston. We've kept in touch over the years, and when I told her that I was going to Australia she put me in touch with Redbird who is her husband's sister. They were gracious enough to invite me to stay at their house and I attribute my amazing experience in Cairns mostly to the fact that I got to stay with them!
The only thing that I actually had planned for my four days in Cairns was a boat trip out to the great barrier reef. I booked the tour at the same time as I got my plane ticket, and when I got to Cairns was happy to have Cameron tell me that I had booked with the best company to go out with.
We stopped at two different spots for the day. The first place was Michalmas Cay, where there was an actual island coming up out of the reef. The second spot was just a random mooring in the middle of the reef, but actually had far better diving because the reef went down much deeper there.
Initially when I booked the tour I said that I only wanted to snorkel. The idea of scuba diving has always kind of freaked me out and I wasn't really interested in trying it. However when I got on the boat they told us that if we wanted we could try diving for 10 minutes, and then if we were ok with it we could do an introductory dive. As they were giving the intro talk on the way out to the reef I knew I had to at least try it. How could I be at the number one destination for diving and not try it? I will admit that I was a little anxious for both of the dives (we did two 30 min dives) but looking back I think it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had!
Note the little clown fish hiding in the anemone above
And below: a close up of clown fish
This is on my first dive, with my trusty dive instructor Mel. She held my hand when I was freaking out, which somehow made everything ok =)
The fish were amazing...tons of them everywhere and so colorful!
I think the giant clams were actually one of my favorite things to see. They had the most amazing colors inside of them!
All in all it was a fantastic day! Even though I was a bit scared about diving I think I might look into getting my certification so that if I go somewhere warm again I can do some more diving.
The only thing that I actually had planned for my four days in Cairns was a boat trip out to the great barrier reef. I booked the tour at the same time as I got my plane ticket, and when I got to Cairns was happy to have Cameron tell me that I had booked with the best company to go out with.
We stopped at two different spots for the day. The first place was Michalmas Cay, where there was an actual island coming up out of the reef. The second spot was just a random mooring in the middle of the reef, but actually had far better diving because the reef went down much deeper there.
Initially when I booked the tour I said that I only wanted to snorkel. The idea of scuba diving has always kind of freaked me out and I wasn't really interested in trying it. However when I got on the boat they told us that if we wanted we could try diving for 10 minutes, and then if we were ok with it we could do an introductory dive. As they were giving the intro talk on the way out to the reef I knew I had to at least try it. How could I be at the number one destination for diving and not try it? I will admit that I was a little anxious for both of the dives (we did two 30 min dives) but looking back I think it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had!
Note the little clown fish hiding in the anemone above
And below: a close up of clown fish
This is on my first dive, with my trusty dive instructor Mel. She held my hand when I was freaking out, which somehow made everything ok =)
The fish were amazing...tons of them everywhere and so colorful!
I think the giant clams were actually one of my favorite things to see. They had the most amazing colors inside of them!
All in all it was a fantastic day! Even though I was a bit scared about diving I think I might look into getting my certification so that if I go somewhere warm again I can do some more diving.
Australia Part 2 (Sydney)
I'm now back in Edmonton, but realized I need to finish blogging about my trip! I'll do it in a few posts here, to break things up a bit. After Celeste and I got back from Katoomba and the Blue Mountains I had a day and a half in Sydney before I headed up to Cairns for most of the rest of my trip. I spent Monday afternoon booking said trip, and then in the evening went to the Sydney Observatory for a tour and hopefully a viewing of the sky. Unfortunately the weather still wasn't very nice, so no clear sky, but we did get to look at things around the city using the telescopes. This picture is for you Mom!
Before my evening at the observatory I went to dinner with Ella, Celeste's lone female roommate (they live with 3 other boys). We had kangaroo pizza! Celeste was going to be at the university for all of the next day so Ella wrote out a plan for me that she said was her favorite way to spend a day in the city. We started off the next morning with a great breakfast at a cafe, and then Celeste gave me a quick tour of her university before I headed off on my adventure.
My first stop on Ella's plan was the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I enjoyed wandering around there for a few hours seeing everything from impressionist era paintings, to contemporary art, to aboriginal art. My favorite area were the impressionist paintings. Having not seen much of his work before I decided that I really like Pissaro. Below is my favorite wall at the museum. On the bottom, from left to right is a Van Gogh, a Monet, and a Pissaro.
The art gallery is nestled into the southern end of the Sydney botanical gardens which run from there up to the harbor and the Opera House. I enjoyed wandering through the gardens for a few hours and then got a late lunch at the garden cafe, and had a little picnic with the following view!
Continuing to walk around the park gave me some great views of the Opera House. Its an amazing structure and even though I had seen it before it was always impressive to look at!
Before my evening at the observatory I went to dinner with Ella, Celeste's lone female roommate (they live with 3 other boys). We had kangaroo pizza! Celeste was going to be at the university for all of the next day so Ella wrote out a plan for me that she said was her favorite way to spend a day in the city. We started off the next morning with a great breakfast at a cafe, and then Celeste gave me a quick tour of her university before I headed off on my adventure.
My first stop on Ella's plan was the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I enjoyed wandering around there for a few hours seeing everything from impressionist era paintings, to contemporary art, to aboriginal art. My favorite area were the impressionist paintings. Having not seen much of his work before I decided that I really like Pissaro. Below is my favorite wall at the museum. On the bottom, from left to right is a Van Gogh, a Monet, and a Pissaro.
The art gallery is nestled into the southern end of the Sydney botanical gardens which run from there up to the harbor and the Opera House. I enjoyed wandering through the gardens for a few hours and then got a late lunch at the garden cafe, and had a little picnic with the following view!
Continuing to walk around the park gave me some great views of the Opera House. Its an amazing structure and even though I had seen it before it was always impressive to look at!
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Sydney!
I made it to Sydney! 
So far its been a great visit! I arrived Thursday morning at 6am, and Celeste's challenge was to keep me awake for the day to help me get over my jet lag. We spent Thursday and Friday mostly seeing the sights around Sydney.
Friday evening we went to the Sydney Symphony at the Opera House. We were able to get very cheap tickets sitting in the first row of the choir seats. This is what the view was like, we were basically sitting in the percussion section!
Saturday morning we took the train 2 hours west of Sydney to the Blue Mountains, to the small town of Katoomba. The main attraction there is the vista of the "three sisters" and we did some bushwalking (hiking) down in the valley below the three sisters.
The picture below is almost at the end point of our hike. The world's steepest funicular railway went from this point back up to the top of the cliffs. I was too scared from the bottom to take it up, but once we had hiked up to the top decided that we needed to ride on it, so we took it back down, and then up again. I believe the angle on it was 52 degrees! 
So far its been a great visit! I arrived Thursday morning at 6am, and Celeste's challenge was to keep me awake for the day to help me get over my jet lag. We spent Thursday and Friday mostly seeing the sights around Sydney.
Friday evening we went to the Sydney Symphony at the Opera House. We were able to get very cheap tickets sitting in the first row of the choir seats. This is what the view was like, we were basically sitting in the percussion section!
Saturday morning we took the train 2 hours west of Sydney to the Blue Mountains, to the small town of Katoomba. The main attraction there is the vista of the "three sisters" and we did some bushwalking (hiking) down in the valley below the three sisters.
The picture below is almost at the end point of our hike. The world's steepest funicular railway went from this point back up to the top of the cliffs. I was too scared from the bottom to take it up, but once we had hiked up to the top decided that we needed to ride on it, so we took it back down, and then up again. I believe the angle on it was 52 degrees! The weather Friday and Saturday both in Sydney and Katoomba was pretty cold and rainy, so Celeste and I have spent a bit of time in coffee shops. The coffee here is fantastic!
We are now back in Sydney, and I am looking into going up to Cairns for a few days to see the Great Barrier Reef. More adventures to come!
We are now back in Sydney, and I am looking into going up to Cairns for a few days to see the Great Barrier Reef. More adventures to come!
Monday, September 01, 2008
Painting
When I moved into my house the two smaller bedrooms had been painted as children's room, one with dark blue paint and stenciled planes and trains, and the other was light blue with a giant tree in one corner. I painted the planes and trains room immediately, but kind of liked the tree so for a few years used that room as my office. The below picture is from when I was in the middle of writing my thesis, and consequently the room was a mess =)
When my roommate Melanie moved in last year I moved my bedroom into the "tree room" but still didn't paint the room, but now that I'm going to be moving, decided that it was time for the tree to go. So that's what I spent the past two days doing. I chose the color kind of on a whim, but now that it is done I really like it. Its a somewhat dark beige/grey, darker than the rest of the house for those of you that have been here. I think it adds a bit of depth to the room and goes well with all the blue stuff that I have in there. And the tree wasn't even that hard to cover!
When my roommate Melanie moved in last year I moved my bedroom into the "tree room" but still didn't paint the room, but now that I'm going to be moving, decided that it was time for the tree to go. So that's what I spent the past two days doing. I chose the color kind of on a whim, but now that it is done I really like it. Its a somewhat dark beige/grey, darker than the rest of the house for those of you that have been here. I think it adds a bit of depth to the room and goes well with all the blue stuff that I have in there. And the tree wasn't even that hard to cover!
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