Edit to the last entry: see three of you on Friday! So excited!

Fair Dinkum

We now come to the point in the "study abroad experience" blog in which I break down and admit to you that I was very, very busy experiencing studying abroad, and completely failed at blogging it.  This is going to be my last entry written in this fantastic country, and hopefully (crosses more than one set of fingers) December will be good to me in playing catch-up, posting pictures and sharing anecdotes.  For now, there is simply too much to tell you!  As the Aussies would say: I have heaps of stories! Heaps and heaps!  I'm so lucky to be seeing my few but faithful readers soon!!  Two of you at the airport Friday (YAY!!), one of you sunday, lots of you over thanksgiving, and my Idahoan readers: NOT SOON ENOUGH!!  (And the one Tasmaniac that weasled my blog address out of me: I'll see you someday in the Netherlands!)  Trust me, I'll post pictures and go into the amount of detail usually reserved for medical reports and car manuals.  But for now, I'm enjoying the luxury of wireless internet at my friend Katie's house in Tumbi Umbi, New South Wales.  In the past month, I've seen 1000s of kilometers of Aussie highway, a whale (humpback, I think), a kangaroo family, an Echidna, a wombat, a couple spiders (don't be scared mom, I'm with very responsible Aussies that have taught me how to recognize and stay the heck away from them), a giant roadside banana, a couple sunrises over the ocean, and the worst sunburn ever (unfortunately located on my body).  But the adventure isn't over yet, and as much as I'm itching to go over everything chronologically for you, I need to be getting some rest for a big day in Sydney tomorrow!  Much love, and (I can't believe I'm saying this) see some of you soon!

Freycinet National Park

So it seems like this past weekend was the ideal weekend for the Graff sisters to go camping, even though one was doing it in her fall, and the other in her spring!  

This last thursday I woke up to a text that said "We're going camping, you me jack eddy for three days."  I rolled out of bed, and immediately began to wonder who's sleeping bag I could borrow for the long trip.  Thankfully my friend Patrick offered to help me out, not only with a really warm sleeping bag, but a camping backpack and head lamp!  I had no idea how handy all three would be!

We hit the road on Friday morning, since none of us had school.  We took the bus about four hours north from hobart to Freycinet National Park, home of the infamous Wine Glass Bay.  

This was taken when during a stop just outside of a town called Swansea.  These sheep refused to stop staring at us and I had the feeling we were the most interesting thing they had to watch for a long time.  The east coast of Tassie is sheep country, and I could ride through the countryside and do nothing but watch sheep for hours.  Especially with it being spring, there were lambs everywhere!

Tasmanian road sign: 80 km per hour = 50 mph

Looking down the road.

We were so lucky to have sunshine this weekend, because this has been the wettest winter/spring that Tassie has seen in over 30 years.  People kept telling us that it was really rare to see everything be so green, and that normally the hillsides would have dried up by now.  Of course this isn't necessarily a good thing, because now farmers in Tasmania are having a hard time harvesting their crops, since their equipment gets bogged down in mud more easily. 

When we got to the national park it was already 4, so we had to hurry to our first campsite.  I didn't take many pictures on the way because my camera was packed in my backpack and I didn't want to hold up the other three.  But the walk was about two hours long on a winding, beautiful trail that gave us a spectacular view.  Freycinet is on a peninsula that connects at the north and runs south.  We were doing a three day circuit, going counter clockwise, so this first hike lead us along the mainland side.  We had a really good view of the country we had just driven through, and after the walk on the trail we finally hit Hazards Beach right as the sun set.  

This is Georgia, stopping for some dinner before we continued our hike along the beach.

This is Jack, using his backpack as a makeshift tripod.  After the sunset, we walked another hour along the beach to the first campsite.  It was really beautiful because it was nearly a full moon, and we took off our shoes so that they wouldn't get wet.  It was tiring to hike through sand for so long, but it was easier with shoes off, and we walked right near the tide like where the sand was firmer, and the water coming in could sooth our already sore feet.  We found the campsite and set up our tents immediately, having a short snack before we went to bed.  While we were eating, a huge possum, about as big as our old dog Pepper, came up to our campsite.  I heard Jack go "Look at this guy!" and I turned around and there the possum was, checking out our campsite.  At first I was really surprised and pleased, and moved slowly around him to not scare him.  After about 3 minutes we realized nothing could scare him, and he was definitely going to be hanging out for awhile, hoping to snag some food.  We secured everything edible inside our tents though, and he didn't bug us for the rest of the night. 

The next morning we got up at 5:30, an eight hour hike ahead of us.  We got up to see the sunrise, but it was too cloudy to see anything!  So after a quick breakfast we packed up and started on the trail, just as rain started to fall.  Luckily when I borrowed gear from Patrick, he through in a bag cover, so I through on this huge orange tarp over my bag, zipped up my rain jacket and started going.  The first leg of the trail led us to Cooks beach, and was a pretty easy walk.  The most exciting thing we saw was Wombat poop, which is squarish so that it won't roll off of rocks.  I was really hoping to see a Wombat, but no such luck on this trip.

At Cooks Beach, we stopped for a little break before beginning the hardest part of the trek: a 900 meter ascent up two mountains!  Georgia got a little playful in the rocks while I dug around my pack for my cell phone, which was going off from the previous day's alarm.  

This is looking down Cooks Beach, which we assume was named for Captain Cook, a famous explorer and navigator.

Looking back the other way, at granite rocks covered in orange lichen.

Georgia, taking in the sea breeze.

A Eucalyptus tree.  I wish I could be better at identifying which of the 29 different species it could be, but I'll have to figure it out later.

  

One of my favorite past times is shouting "Candid!" and taking pictures of people when they least expect it.  You get some pretty interesting shots.

And now we started the huge, long, uphill hike.  I had no idea how hard it would be!  The other three were pretty expert hikers, and had gone on very strenuous hikes before.  Georgia once spent 2 solid months on the Appalachian trail, and all three of them are planning on hiking for 7 days after school finishes on a the Overland Trek, up in North-West Tasmania.  But then invited me along because they knew I could do it, and I'm so glad they did.  Even Eddy said this was the highest he'd climbed in one day.  We left the Cooks beach at around 8, and made it up one huge ascent to the Freycinet saddle, a flattish part of the track that circled around the tallest peak, Mount Freycinet.  We were able to leave our packs at the bottom of the trail before hiking it up this part of the mountain.  It didn't take us long to realize that it would have been impossible to take our packs, because after a half hour the trail was pure boulders, and we had to use our hand's, legs, and each other to inch up the mountain.  It was worth it though, because at the top, this is what we saw:

Unfortunately, it still wasn't sunny outside for pictures, but we were all sweating up a storm anyways, so we were thankful that it wasn't!  And it wasn't raining, otherwise the boulders would have been much slipperier and scarier.  We sat at the top for awhile, wandering around all the boulders and taking pictures, taking in the spectacular view! 

 

This is Eddy, who's from the Netherlands.  He came to Tasmania for the fantastic hiking, and boy did he get it!  The highest elevation in the Netherlands is 200 meters, and here he is at 620.

That tiny figure is Jack, checking out the view of both Hazards bay and Wine Glass Bay, and the peninsula behind them!

Georgia, looking down on Hazards beach, where we walked the previous night.  It looks pretty far down huh?

Not everybody hikes all the way up Mount Freycinet, since it's out of the way of the normal track to get to the next campsite.  But it was so worth it to be able to see both beautiful beaches in one view.  Hazards beach is on the left, and then there's a fresh water lake, and Wine Glass Bay is on the right.  

Jack. 

Me, framing Wine Glass Bay.  A picture of this bay was on the front cover to the study abroad booklet for the University of Tasmania, so I gotta say, it was a big pull for me to come to the school.

Eddy, holding the bay like a Wine Glass.  Clever.

We scrambled back down the mountain, excited for lunch one we got back to our bags.  Downhill wasn't nearly as bad as going up hill, so we made good time.  However it was still a pretty rough descent for our knees and ankles, and by the time we got to our packs I was ready for a good break.

After our break we braced ourselves for the steepest climb of the day up Mount Grahm.  It was very intimidating to look up it, because it was nearly the height of Mount Freycinet, except this time we would be doing it with our packs.  We all went at our own pace though, and while Eddy hauled his way up in the Mountain in record time, Georgia got into a steady, fast pace, making her way up pretty quickly too.  Jack could've been faster than all three of us probably, but he took plenty of time on the ascent to take pictures of the view, both with a film and digital camera.  I was the caboose, working my way up slowly but steadily.  I didn't take any pictures on the way up, because I didn't want the other three to have to wait for me longer than they already were.  I kept my camera in my bag, and it was quite a process to get it out, so I kept it nice and safe until I got to the top.

When I crested the next to last big ascent, all three of them were smiling and waiting for me, and we rested for a couple minutes before finishing the hike, just as many hours and meters, but all the way downhill, over a plateau, and down some more.  

 

Eddy.

Jack.  Georgia was several meters off, taking pictures.

I had panted my way up the hill, reminding myself that 'what goes up must go down' and that it would all get easier from there.  It was partly true, but the trip down was still very rough, being on a very wild and untamed track.  Thankfully I had borrowed good hiking shoes from Georgia, because I needed all the traction I could get on the granite boulders that made up much of the track down.  We were able to stay closer together for the descent, but I still didn't take many pictures, wanting so badly to get to wine glass bay.  After another couple hours, we were there.  

It was more beautiful than I ever could have imagined.  On Outside Magazine's list of the top beaches in the world, this one breaks the top ten.  And we had it all to ourselves!  Again, I was a little behind the other three, but when I caught up with them at the beach, I found them just sitting, not being able to really express anything about how beautiful it was.  Eddy had taught us what 'Beautiful' was in Dutch, but having forgot it and having it still be an understatement, we just stared out across the bay for a good couple hours until the sun set.  The sand was white and "squeaky clean" (literally, no pollution or contaminants) and we wriggled our aching toes in it.  Georgia calculated that we had hiked 9.3 miles that day, and a total of 900 meters up and down, from bay to bay.  

Georgia and Jack

The water was a beautiful turquoise blue, and very, very still.  Had it been warmer, we would have all been soothing our aching limbs in the water, enjoying the mild waves, but all we could do was laugh about it.

Our only sign of civilization was this boat.  We hoped the owners would take their little fishing boat over to the shore so that we could ask to bum a ride back to Hobart.  But they never did, so instead we spent the time fantasizing about what type of people were on it, and how cool it would be to retire on a sail boat, park it in this beautiful bay, and laugh at the weary hikers who show up at the end of the day to flop down on the sands and remain motionless for hours.  

I guess I shouldn't say that all of us were motionless, because Eddy was bopping around taking pictures.  You'll notice that all of mine are from about a meter up: the height that I was sitting.

Georgia, again taken from the ground.

Once the sun had finally set over the peninsula, we could hurried to set up our camp and fall into bed, or rather, into our sleeping bags.  It was probably a bad decision to sit for so long after such a long hike, because we were so stiff that setting up our tents was a rather hilarious affair that took us about twice as long as it should have.  We had a delicious dinner of hiking food (Nam bread, banana chips, and a pear for me) and crawled into our sleeping bags.  We shared a couple of our scariest stories before falling asleep and I slept really soundly.  I don't need to go into detail about how much the tent smelled after a night of three sweaty hikers in their sweaty sleeping bags, but when we woke up to the fresh air we had some visitors:

Wallabies! The cousin of the Kangaroo!  One of them even had a little joey in her pouch!  At first we crept outside and spoke softly, but then when we realized that they were just as used to humans as the possum was, we were tromping around them and talking in normal voices, just as if they were household pets.  

All four of us only had the goal of getting back out to the beach, so 30 seconds later we were eating breakfast right here.  I got pretty much the exact same pictures as the day previously, but with different lighting.  All of our calves, feet, back, shoulders, and thighs we so sore, we were happy to take another couple hours to sit on the beach and be bums.  

It was still a bit chilly but sunny, so I was reserving energy on the beach for the last hike of our trip up to the car park.  The other three though...

Went swimming!  Eddy came down to the beach, with his towel and swimming clothes on, and the other two stripped down to join him before you could say "Cold."  I had just enough time to grab my camera and get a couple shots of their shocked faces before they dashed back out again.  Eddy later gave me grief for staying on the beach, but I told him I wouldn't have even had the time to unzip my rain jacket before they were out again.  As much fun as it would have been to say I'd been swimming in the Tasman sea in October, I decided it wouldn't be fun to have to be carried up the last mountain after an exhausting run into the sea.  Plus I have some awesome blackmail pictures of them screaming in the cold water if any of them decides to run for public office.

Jack did go back in for a couple minute's swim, and we tried to convince him to swim all the way to the boat and ask for a ride.  

While the other three finished packing and drying off, I decided to get to know the wallabies a little bit better.  It's sad that they're not scared of humans, because it means that they've been fed by them.  I tried to see how close I could get, and I got right up next to it.  I wondered "Will it really let me pet it?"  It did, and made the rounds to all the other campers, enjoying a good scratch on the ears the way a domesticated dog would.

It was beyond cute, and I fell in love with this one in particular.  It had the longest eyelashes but refused to look me in the camera, being much more interested in rooting around for natural onions.  We had some good times though, and I was sad to say goodbye when it was time to go.

The walk along the beach was beautiful, as we circled around the beautiful bay.  At the other end was the trailhead back up another mountain to the car park, and people were already starting to come down it.  A group of elderly gentlemen were in very small bathing suits, preparing to dive into the sea for a swim.  I admired their guts, because despite the sunshine there was still a pretty chilling breeze.  

The very last leg of our hike was up a pass between two mountains, Mount Amos and Mount something else.  This was still about 400 meters up, and a very steep ascent.  It being the third day, it was a very arduous trek, up steep stone stairs with my big bulky pack, only slightly lighter without all the water I had drank.  This was the day hike that most people do though, so on the hike I met many people who would either exclaim "Wow, I can't imagine doing this with a pack!" and I would pant "Yeah, day three too."  And of course the many kids that zipped past me, red faced but determined, inspired me to not take as many breaks as I would have.  The other three again beat me to the top, but waited for me while I set my bag down with them and hiked another 5 minutes to a lookout.  

And here's Wine Glass Bay again.  I suggest google image searching it again for some better shots of the entire circumference, because it really is so beautiful and perfectly round!  

Me, nearly at the end of the fantastic, 20 mile, 3 day journey!

Me and Eddy, doing our classically cheesy thumbs up tourist pose!

Hello faithful readers! I had no idea how faithful you all were until talking to some of you and realizing that I actually have readers! This makes me both A) very happy and B) extremely self conscious of my grammar. And also C) very very behind. So much has been going on here, I need to play catch-up!

To start off, I went to Melbourne for Mid-Semester break. It was my first time ever staying in Hostels, so I decided not to bring my camera just in case. It turns out I could've, but I took plenty of pictures with my two travel buddies' cameras. Melbourne is one of the coolest cities I've ever been in, and I'll show you pictures as soon as I get them!

Right now I'm just hitting the frenzied part of the school year. I have a little less than 4 weeks left, but it feels like much shorter with everything I have to do! Classes here are structured much, much differently than at Western. (Speaking of, someone should tell Mary R. she can email me any time if she has any questions about Western!) I like the difference, but it's not ideal if you are also trying to get to know a foreign country really well. I'm taking 4 classes, each one either once or twice a week, and I only have classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This means that a lot of work needs to be done on the weekend. Usually fridays and saturdays start off with trying to arrange plans to go somewhere on Tasmania within driving distance. All the international students are kind of in on this together: we've worked out who has cars, how the buses work, how to catch the cheaper deals, etc. 1/3rd of Tasmania is made up of National Forests, and everybody is scrambling to see a good sampling of it. I'll post pictures soon of everything I've made my way out to see.

In the meantime, in Hobart, I've been trying to pick up the local slang. This is going very well, thanks to my new-ish roommate Luke, who now purposefully goes out of his way to use regional jargon. We have a list going of all the words

To start off, if you abrieviate anything, you're doing something right. I've heard some common ones, like Aussie, Tassie, Launi (a northern town), Footy (Australian and Barbi (Barbecue). And then you realize that they abbriviate anything they can as long as it still makes sense in context. Sunnies - Sunglasses. Pedies - Pedestrians. Breakie - Breakfast. Uni - University. And so on.

There's the lingo that very classic, and pretty self explanitory:

Cheers: Thanks. Most people say "Cheers Mate" instead of "Thank You."

Chum: Friend

Mate: Friend

Mum: Mom. I didn't think to much of this one until I was with a group of Aussies and they asked me "What do you call your mother?" I said "Mom," and they all laughed and immitated it. "Mawwwhmm! You say it so cute!"

Carpark: Parking lot

Chemist: Pharmacy

Bloke: Boy

Heaps: Lots

Whinging: Whining

Loungeroom: Living Room

Lolli: Candy

Tea: Dinner, as in "I'm going out for tea with my mate."

There's also the very typical Aussie lingo that you would expect to here everywhere you go, but rarely do:

Crikey : Haven't heard it yet, and I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will.

Fair Dinkum: I think I'm the only one that uses it, except for cheesy postcards with cartoon wallabies, but it's the equivilant of "for real?" or "no kidding!" It's supposed to have originated when Captain Cook first landed in Australia, and would toast his fellows with "Fair Dinkum" or "Fair drinking."

Banga: Sausage. My favorite is when you have sausages made out of Kangaroos: Kanga Banga.

Sheilah: Girl. I've only seen it on postcards and souvenier playing cards as "Aussie lingo."

I'm sure I'd here more of the above list if I lived on the mainland, but Tasmania seems very very different. There's a bitter but friendly rivalry between Tasmania and the mainland, and it's quite entertaining to be a part of. When we were in Melbourne, every where we went people would ask where we were from, recognizing our American accents immeadiately. We'd throw them for a loop and say: "Hobart." If the conversation progressed, it would often lead to the question: "Why did you pick Hobart to study?" Sometime's we'd be serious, and boast how Tasmania has the freshest air in the world, friendly people, etc, but other times we'd just say "Because of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory," and be on our merry way.

So that's it for this entry, I'll work on getting pictures up soon!

Things I see on my way to school

Hello family and friends, as promised here is my walking tour from my house to school.

This is my flat. There are 4 units where I live, each vastly different from the next. One day I'll put up pictures of the inside.

These are my neighbors, you can probably see the vast differences.

Looking up the hill, some quaint Hobart homes.

Looking back down the road, you can see the ocean. About a two minute's walk down you get to a beach and a dog park, as well as the local rowing club. On a sunny day this part of the bay is filled with sailboats and rowers.

Further down my street.

Also on my street. This house has one of the most friendliest, furriest cats I've ever seen. My roommate tries to convince it to come home with us every time we pass. She is yet to be successful, thank goodness.

This is the entrance to Nanny Goat lane, right at the top of my street. Nanny Goat lane is the quickest way to get to the main campus, and for most of our friends to walk to our house. I love the hand painted sign at the entrance, but the other week I stumbled across Billy Goat Lane and they used the exact same painting. I thought they could have made a bit more of a distinction between a boy goat and a girl goat.

Looking down Nanny Goat. There are 37 shallow steps up a steep hill, and trust me, I count them on days when I have to hike up it with groceries.

All houses along to the main road.

As soon as you hit the main road, you see this place, where it says "Make a Sea Change Here." One of the biggest mysteries in my life to date is what it means to "Make a Sea Change." There are no other signs of information, no phone numbers to call or hours of operation, or even any entrances that look like their meant for the public. Friends and I speculate what it Sea Changes are, and some are steadfast that it is an exclusive real estate agent that specialized in beach front property, and others insist that it's where sailors go to get their gear weatherized. I guess we'll never know.

Right across the Sea Change Building, St. Ive's Hotel.

A house I think Mom would like.

A palm tree.

The Gattonside Bed and Breakfast.

Our friendly neighborhood service station. If I had a car, this is where I would service it. The one time we had a rental car, we filled it up here.

Bob and Tom own the service station.

This is Kookaburra antiques, about a 10 minute walk from my house. It's got a great collection of antique books, that my roommate and I just like to go in and hold, because they have that great old-book feel.

This is looking down the street. I'm standing on a median, with Kookaburra Antiques to the left, and the fuel station to the right. And this street is the main road in Battery Point, my neighborhood. Even from this shot you can see a heritage museum, a milk bar (a.k.a. a lolly shop, a.k.a. a candy shop) and another antique store that mysteriously is never open.

This is a sign for people like me who still aren't used to cars whipping around from the other side. Don't worry though, I am a very cautious and assertive pedestrian.

I imagine there is some fantastic historical background to Portsea Terrace, but I haven't learned it yet.

About 15 minutes from home, right at the bottom of the street from Kookaburra Antiques is the most famous street in all of Hobart, and possibly Tasmania. This is Salamenca place. On Saturdays there's a huge market selling everything from fresh Tassie vegetables, to Aboriginal crafts, to second hand books. And on the street are great little restaurants, pubs, and art galleries. I haven't explored much of the long, historic street, but I've found a couple favorite places.

This is looking the other way. That cream building on the left is the Salamenca fruit market, it's a great place to stop and get a little something for dinner on my way home. Lately I've been frequenting the 'tater section, since Hannah and I are very skilled at making fries, boiling them, baking them, and mashing them. My next task is to make good scalloped potatoes.

Authentic Australian signage.

The Parliament Gardens. Behind them is the parliment building.

And now we've come to the harbor. This little section is the prime place to catch a boat heading just about anywhere. This little one strait above is a water taxi, and at the end of the day it fills up with people taking it to the other side of Hobart, returning from their day at work.

On the other side of the street from that little inlet is this little cafe. I like how squashed in it looks, but then one day I went inside and it was actually quite spacious.

The sandstone building in the middle, with the red trim, is the Customs House Hotel. It was one of the first pubs in Hobart, and it's first customers were weary sailors and recently freed convicts. The clientel has gone up considerably.

This is the Telegraph Hotel, which was made the same time Custom House Hotel went up, but has gone through more dramatic renovations. The Telegraph hosts "Uni night" for University students, and you can find a $5 plate of parmisan chicken.

This is where we hit the "Cruise District" where you can book cruises to about 50 different scenic and historic locations around Hobart. This line has the nicest, biggest boat, but it's winter so it only leaves the harbor on Sundays. I expect during the summer this area will be bustling with activity. See the purple door with the two purple "C's" above it? That's for the cruise to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Cadbury Chocolate originated in Hobart, and I have seen more places to buy Cadbury Chocolate than I've seen fire hydrants. Or drinking fountains. Or rain gutters.

This is the Aurora Australis. It sails to Antarctica about once every never, because I haven't seen it leave the harbor yet. You can even see in this picture that it's a little out of the water, the line of darker red is where it normally sits. It will probably be quite the sight when this ship rolls out. It typically goes on 6 week voyages for scientists and Antarctic laborers to explore the great unknown. This ship can smash through up to 1.5 meters of ice, can house up to 116 passengers and three helicopters (thank you aad.gov). It's named after the southern lights, the south pole equivilent of Aurora Borealis.

The Cartella, a cruise ship.

Fell's Historic Ferries, offering twice the amount of tours with half the cost! This ferry line specializes in offering light meals and snacks during 1-2 hour excursians. The ferry wasn't docked at this point, so I assume it was out on it's Lunch route.

This is some prestigious, tall wooden boat, who's name I've forgotten. I think it's one of the tallest, or the most wooden ship, or the tallest wooden ship, or something.

A store to pick up supplies. You might be able to see the line of Crocs hanging in the doorway, a must for Aussie boats.

Prestigious, historic building. I think it's just office space now.

Mako's seafood! I've only gone here once, but it was delicious. All down the row on this side of the wharf there are about 5 different take-away sea food restaurants, but this is the only one you can sit down in.

The Harbor.

Tricked out Police Boat.

The "Karina B" I don't know what it is about this boat that I like so much, but it's one of my favorites.

More boats and "Mures" an upscale seafood restaurant.

Sculpture of Penguins. For awhile these penguins were wearing jackets, but one day they dissapeared.

Seals.

The Quarantine center. This is where they put people with Swine Flu.

Just kidding!

Actually it's where they put all things that are banned in Tassie. Tassie has really strict bans on all foods, since it's an island that's extremely vulnerable to foreign species, like. There are also no fruit flies on this island, so they try very hard to keep it that way.

Historic buildings. See on the side, where it says I X L jams? That's because right to our left is...

The old Jam Factory! Also known as University of Tasmania's center for the arts. From the pink building all they way down is the art school. I think I'm going to try to write an entry devoted entirely to the art school, because it is so neat on the inside.

This blue building next to the Art Building is just cool. On the bottom story is a coffee shop called "Jam Packed."

So we've made it! All the way from my house to the art school. It's about a 25 minute walk, but I've made it in 20 before. I hope all of my 3 readers are doing great, and there's more to come soon!