Jewelry polishing Sand

While on Fraser island the tour guides took us to a fresh water lake to go swimming I feel that the Fraser island part of the trip was the most calming and relaxing so far. Our tour guide Darren told us about the magnificent white sand there. It is such fine sand it can polish jewelery I was so excited about this sand it made my jewelry nice and shiny new! 

Lone Pine Sanctuary

We took the bus to the Lone Pine Sanctuary this morning. On our walk to the bus station, the students excitedly talked about holding koalas, something they can pay to do at the sanctuary. Lone Pine houses 130 koalas, and most of them were curled up in their trees when we arrived.

Before we attended the lecture on koalas, we watched four dogs herd sheep. Two of the dogs could barely contain their excitement before the show started. They were responsible for the grazing area herding, pushing the sheep through a gate, up a ramp, and finally into a pen. The other two dogs took over, jumping on the fence and ON THE SHEEP to get them to leave the pen. Then a sheep was shorn.

Actually, the wombat presentation was next. Only one wombat emerged from his tunnel, and so the guide moved us over to that pen. A wombat looks like a miniature bear, but the wombat is a marsupial, more like a koala than a bear.

And then on to the koalas! The presentation was held in a roofed picnic-type area with about a dozen koalas in trees. A few of them woke up and moved around, but mostly they slept. I stood in line and patted one who was held by the guide. She claimed she could distinguish one koala from another, and throughout the day when she walked by with another koala for the picture-taking, a student would call out a name – and usually get it wrong.

The last presentation was on the platypus. He was very active throughout the lecture, swimming up and down in his tank. This is the third platypus we’ve seen, and they are as fascinating as the koala. The platypus is an egg-laying, duck-billed mammal which can be on land or in water.

Most of the students left the sanctuary at this point. Charlie and I stayed on; the process of getting the correct change so that the students could get back on the bus kept us from seeing some of the exhibits. The wombats and the koalas were more lively this late in the day, the wombats moving about in their pens and the koalas eating eucalyptus leaves. A few of the koalas howled; it was a noise you don’t expect from such a cuddly-looking creature.

I forgot to mention that we can feed the kangaroos! We held a handful of pellets out, and the kangaroos would slurp it out of our hands. Charlie has a favorite kangaroo, a one-eyed ‘roo, and he saved his last handful of feed for that one.
The sanctuary also has dingos, snakes, a cassowary, and many birds. I heard a kookaburra laugh and watched rainbow lorikeets go crazy at feeding time. I plopped a hat on my head for protection as I moved through the feeding site.

We will be at Frasier Island for two nights. It is unlikely that I will be online while there.

Brisbane

We flew out of Canberra this morning. It was a little chilly at 7:30 a.m. but no rain. Even though I knew Brisbane would be much warmer, I put on many layers of clothing this morning. It’s easier to wear them than carry them.

The flight was uneventful, the train transport from the airport pleasant. We had a 10 minute walk to the hotel, some of it uphill, and as usual I stayed back with those students who needed a breather. A wheel broke off one of the suitcases on our arrival to Canberra, and we’ve all been suggesting ways to move that piece of luggage around. Well, today, Dan was our hero and rolled that suitcase to the train on top of his suitcase and even passed his suitcase over to the owner of the damaged luggage and CARRIED her bag to the hotel.

We were at the hotel for about ten minutes when….you guessed it! We had a thunderstorm, and rained poured down. This was the type of storm you expect to blow over in a few minutes, but when it continued, Charlie and I pulled out the umbrellas and went in search of lunch. While we were out, we bought food for our next three meals (no free breakfast here!) The sky had cleared by then, and so we went for a long walk. Too long. We have wet clothes hanging from every hook in the room. Need I say more?

So, I haven’t seen too much of Brisbane yet. We can see the Brisbane River from our hotel window. I’m looking at the bridge over the river as I type, and the white neon lights on the bridge are striking. Street lights reflect in the river, a ferry cruises by, and a train rolls past. Our afternoon walk didn’t take us over this bridge; we were on two others. I had hoped to see South Bank, but the wind was whipping up as we approached, so we headed for home.

Tomorrow we will see koalas!

The Aquarium

Sunday, 1 May, 2011

Canberra

Sunny and pleasant

Finally, some truly nice weather!  This should be a very good travel day to Canberra. 

We visited the Sydney Aquarium and the Taronga Zoo on Friday.  The drippiness of the weather was not really a bother for us, as we were inside the Aquarium for the morning, and the weather was beginning to cooperate nicely by the afternoon when we were at the Zoo. 

I think that the Aquarium is the best place to see a platypus.  We just are not going to see one in the bush ever, and the display at the Taronga Zoo is much too dark.  But I did get this passable shot.

Coleen views a shark overhead.

Amanda Young's First Post

So I just spent the past half an hour of my life typing an extremely detailed blog just for it to be erased.
Twice. Hopefully third time is the charm Hello everyone! I miss you all, especially my Mom and Dad
and Suiteys <3 Don’t take it personally if I don’t respond to your messages, internet costs $1.50 for 15
minutes! Though the time difference makes keeping in contact with loved ones hard, I love being in
one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I can finally cross this one off of the bucket list! Every
morning I have to pinch myself remembering that I am waking up in Australia, most people’s dream. I
am so thankful to be able to have the opportunity to travel half way across the world.

I am going to try and sum up my past few days in a paragraph which will be a struggle. I mean come
on it’s Australia! So the plane ride was actually not too bad! Most people think that a 14 hour flight
would be horrible when in reality it was actually fun. Going into the trip I only knew two freshmen, my
roommates for the trip, Hannah and Liz, and I didn’t know not know them very well. On the plane I had
a middle seat, which I was not looking forward to. However, the two seniors I was sitting next to were
really nice and made me feel more comfortable going into the trip. When we arrived on the first day
in Sydney it felt like I had been up for 24 hours due to the old man snoring loudly behind me on the
flight. I honestly do not remember at all what we did that day but it was helpful to get adjusted at the
time change by staying awake during the daytime in Sydney. However the next day was much better.
After a great night sleep we headed to the zoo and aquarium to see the exotic Australian animals such
as kangaroos, emus, manta rays and great white sharks. This day was by far the highlight of the trip
so far. After a grueling hike up and down the Blue Mountains all day everyone was sore and tired. But
the benefit was having toned legs Yesterday we arrived in Canberra by bus and today we toured Mt.
Anslie, Parliament, the US Embassy and the ANZAC war memorial. It was a really exhausting day but it
was also really interesting. The time change has hit me hard so I am trying to stay up later tonight and
keep myself busy to keep myself on a normal schedule. In the morning it is really easy to get up but I get
REALLY tired at about 8 o’clock. I think I will be adjusted soon (at least I sure hope so!)

I love you all very much and I can’t wait to talk to you soon! Hopefully I will be able to put my 400+
pictures up on facebook from the past week. I think I will need a new memory card soon. I will do my
best to try to keep this updated at least once a week to let everyone know what is going on.

Peace. Love. Aussie.

Amanda <3

[Note: uploaded by Charlie]

Canberra

At 7:30 this morning we boarded a coach for our 9 hour tour of Canberra. Danny was our very personable driver. We finally saw two kangaroos in the wild, hopping across the road that took us to Mt. Ainslie.

From Mt. Ainslie, we could see the city of Canberra laid out below us. As Charlie would point out several times, there is a straight line of sight from the new parliament building to the ANZAC Museum. The museum houses walls on which are written the names of servicemen and women who have died in military service to their country. When Parliament votes to join a military action, members look down their line of sight to the war memorial in recognition that their choice will result in names being added to the walls.

We had a tour of the new parliament building. Neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives were in session, so we sat in empty chambers as our guide described the structure and workings of the two houses. We were able to walk about on the roof of the building (wonderful views), but the parkland on the roof was not accessible.

We next spent an hour at the U.S. Embassy. About half of that time we spent in a question-and-answer session with three Americans working at the embassy. After discussing their positions (security, public relations, political advisor), they gave advice to students planning a career in foreign service. We left the embassy at noon, which was 10:00 p.m. Sunday in New York. As Charlie was our guide at the next venue, the ANZAC Parade and Museum, there was no opportunity for anyone to tell us that Bin Laden had been killed. Charlie and I turned on the news after dinner and immediately informed our students. Several nationalities and faiths are represented here at the hotel, and we must be respectful.

The ANZAC Parade is a road lined with war memorials; the road leads to the museum. We took our time on the Parade, viewing sculptures and displays honoring soldiers of the Vietnam, Korea, and WWI desert battles. Nurses, the Air Force, and the Navy also had beautiful memorials. Australia even included a memorial honoring the Turkish soldiers who fought against the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli.

In the museum, Charlie took us through the rooms that focused on the two world wars. He highlighted the battle at Gallipoli, which demonstrated the strength and perseverance of the ANZAC troops. He also talked about the vulnerability of Australia during World War II –their troops were fighting with the British on various fronts – and how the United States sent troops to aid in the defense after Japan bombed northern Australia. The alliance between our two countries continues to be strong.

We leave Canberra tomorrow.

Sydney to Canberra

Saturday was a free day for the students. Many of them went to Circular Quay. This harbor area reminds me of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. There are shops, eateries, street performers, and ferries. The Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera House are located there, and the Botanic Gardens are near. Charlie and I were there for a few hours, touring the Opera House and eating a nice dinner. We made our way back to the hotel by way of the Botanic Gardens and were treated to the sight of about a hundred flying foxes (bats), perhaps on their way to food. Meanwhile, most of the students went to an evening rugby game, sporting face paint in support of the local team.

Sunday we rolled our luggage about a mile to the bus station, downhill for a good portion of the way, and boarded a coach to Canberra, the capitol of Australia. Three and a half hours later, we rolled our luggage to the hotel where we were delighted to find a full kitchen with four food preparation sites. We went out in small groups to do shopping – Charlie and I found an Aldi’s. Charlie prepared our spaghetti and tomato sauce next to a group of four doing the same thing. We negotiated a trade of plums for some grated Parmesan cheese. By the time we were eating, two more sets of students had started on their meals. It was so nice to see the collaboration and hear the happy chatter.

Charlie and I spent the evening grading journals and quizzes; we also caught up on e-mail. There’s a nice common area on our floor, and the students gathered there, laughing and talking.

Pricing

One of the things that is not so positive about Australia although there is no tax, is the pricing the pricing is crazy here. The first time we went grocery shopping we were in Sydney so yes, because we are in a big city I would assume that things would be more expensive but not this expensive. A box of cereal that I saw was 10 ASD which means that it was more in American money because of the exchange rate. Its crazy even the travel size shampoo and conditioners are sold as normal bottles they are really expensive 4 AUD each and a normal size bottle is 10AUD just for 1 bottle of shampoo. At home I get 2 giant size bottles of herbal essence for 5 dollars each so 10 dollars all together were getting quadruple the amount of product for half the price. Laundry, oh my goodness laundry back home if I were to do laundry in a laundry mat it would be 3 dollars to wash dry my clothes, here it is six dollars to wash and dry one load and the dryers never dry the clothes all the way they are always damp so you have to put another 3 dollars in the machine to run it again or lay your clothes out to dry. In the end it is really expensive here which I was not prepared for the pricing to be so outrageous.