The Great Down Under Journal

August 29th, Australia Day 189

2005-08-29T03:58:00.000-07:00

Well, the end has come at last with only few hours left to my departure. Although I may leave the soil, I don't think I'll ever really leave Australia. My time here has been more than memorable, and what's more, very pleasant and I will endeavour to return here as soon as the Fates decree that I can. Today, I decided to visit the famous Bondi (BON-daye) Beach as the last thing I saw before I leave these shores. I will leave it to your imagination to picture a long sandy beach with powerful surf, surrounded by cliffs on one side and restaurants on the other. To see it, you'll just have to come down here yourselves.

It may be a little difficult to get all of the events of the last month into this post but bear with as I attempt to anyway. The same day as I returned from Darwin I had my last baseball game of the season. I had a pretty good record that game getting walked twice and hitting a double. The first time at bat, the pitcher nearly hit me with a bouncing ball that would have hit my ankles had I not dodged out of the way. I eventually made my way to 3rd base and on ground ball I decided to run to home thinking I could make it but, unfortunately, the ball was quicker than I and I was tagged out. My 2nd time up, the pitcher nearly hit me again, this time with a pitch close to my kneecaps. I took it in stride and eventually found myself on 3rd base again. This time, on a safer hit I ran and slid into home and this time I was safe. By my 3rd at bat, the opposing team had changed pitchers and this new one pitched quite slowly. The first pitch I got I slammed into mid left for an easy double. I think I was left stranded there but I may have made it home again, I just can't recall. Actually, a lot of our stronger hitters had trouble with this pitcher because they were used to a faster pitch they swung early and the ball popped up from the top of the bat and they were caught. Whatever our woes, though, I went out on a high note as we managed to keep a 1 run lead to win, the first one I had been present at; it felt good. The next game was our top A-grade team and because it was the last game of the season, they asked if I wanted to play for an inning and I accepted. I struck out at bat against a very fast pitcher and in left field I saw no action and thus concluded my baseball season. The team had a barbecue afterwards and then I said my goodbyes as I left the ground for good.

In cricket news, I should mention that there is a very important series now being played between Australia and England, known as the Ashes Series. The 2 countries compete every so often for an urn-shaped trophy, called the Ashes Cup and they do so by playing a series of 5 5-day tests. The team that wins the most tests win the series but there can be draws in which case if both teams have an equal number of wins, then the team that won it the last time, in this case Australia, would retain the Ashes. Their record now stands at 1-1-1-0 being wins-losses-draws-ties for both teams going into the 4th tests though Australia was in dire straits at last look. Australia won the 1st test handily but lost the 2nd by a mere 2 runs and the 3rd test was drawn. In cricket a draw and a tie are not the same thing. A draw occurs when no decision for the winner has occurred by the end of the 5th day. In this case, although Australia was down in runs they still had 1 wicket (1 out) left by the time the 5th day was over. In cricket because a batsman can score an unlimited number of runs and there is no way to predict how many they'll score, the match was called a draw since England was unable to take the last wicket. We'll have to see how the 4th test goes for Australia. On an aside, Australians refer to the English as "poms" or "pommies", a term which comes from the acronym "P.O.H.M." which stands for "Prisoners Of Her Majesty". This was the term applied to the convicts who were sent to Australia but now the Aussies have turned it around saying that the Brits are prisoners of the Royals on their island while Australians, half a world away, are a free people.

In my personal cricket, I also went out on high note beating my friend Patrick by 55 runs, 63-8 in my last game. We played a little differently than the last time because we were using a thin stick as opposed to a small bat. So to prevent large negative scores, we agreed that once you were out, you were out, but you had up to 2 innings to score runs. It's difficult with a stick of 2 centimeter diameter. Actually, at first we played with another friend of ours, Alex, who won the first two games; with me finishing dead last both times. However, I almost managed a hat trick which is 3 outs in 3 consecutive balls. The term hat trick originates with cricket and it comes from the time when a bowler who 3 wickets in 3 balls was given a top hat by his teammates, hence the name. I was bowling and I managed to bowl Alex out and then on the next bowl, I bowled out Patrick. I pointed out that I was on a hat trick and I convinced Alex to bat again. Unfortunately, I didn't get the hat trick but I was very close. In the game Patrick and I played, we both finished our 1st innings at 4 runs a-piece. Patrick managed to get 4 more runs before I bowled him out. I then stepped up and had a stroke of luck winning nearly instantly with a 6-run shot. Patrick asked me to continue, just for a conclusion and I managed to get a further 53 runs that innings; I was very happy with myself. As I parted with Patrick, I allowed him to keep the tennis ball we used as a memento.

In footy, I had my last practice with the AFL umpires, thanking them all and promising that if I ever found myself in Australia again for a long period of time, I would do this again. In AFL news, I watched the Sydney Swans beat the Kangaroos in their final home game of the season. They have since finished 3rd on the overall ladder and are serious contenders to win the Premiership; it would be their 1st since 1933.

In trivia, I had my last trivia game on Wednesday and came out finishing dead last. For the most part, my downfall was questions dealing with Australiana since I haven't been here long enough to know certain things or certain people. I thanked Gary, the Triviamaster at the Wynyard Hotel Pub and I left, at least for the time being. On Thursday, I had 1 last round of trivia at the SAM Bar at Macquarie University and I decided to go on my own. Although I was in 2nd place at the end of Round 1, again Australiana was my downfall and I finished 2nd last. Oh well, my time spent in both places was not wasted and I am now a more knowledgeable person because of it.

When one looks back on anything at the end, no matter how long it took, it always seems like such a short time. I have spent 189 days in Australia, 201 in the southern hemisphere and by then end of my trip about 210 days away from home. I look back on my time in Australia and it feels as though all that time has just slipped away like sand in an hour glass. I do not regret coming here at all but I do regret that time did not allow me to accomplish and see everything that I wanted. It means that I must one day return to this land and complete that which was left unfinished. I once heard an expression that when one is at home, one dreams of adventure and when one is on adventure, one dreams of home. While that was not always the case for me, I think that when I return to Ottawa, every so often when I close my eyes, I think I'll hear the cockatoos cackling or the roar of a crowd when the home team kicks a goal. I have seen some amazing things from the arid plains of the Red Center, to the tropical climes of the Top End to the towering majestic mountains of New Zealand. Who knows how the winds of change blow and it may be that I find myself back here again and I hope I do.

August 14th, Australia Day 174

2005-08-29T03:07:00.000-07:00

This was my last day in Melbourne and I decided to spend it in the beachside suburb of St. Kilda south of the city. It is the home of a small amusement park known as Luna Park, which has branches all over Australia as well as the AFL St. Kilda Saints. I don't remember what it was the drove me to see St. Kilda, but off I went.

My first stop was Luna Park just to see what it was like and it turned out to be just a what I thought it would be, a small amusement park. There were few thrill rides, as well as some bumper cars but nothing truly flash. I exited the park, which has no entrance fee by the way and is open 24/7 as I recall, and then I walked along the nearby St. Kilda Beach. Melbourne, unlike Sydney, does not have many beaches so it never really developed the same beach culture. Also, the waters are a little colder off Melbourne so water activities are a little less comfortable than they are in Sydney. I continued to walk around St. Kilda, taking photos of various things and it would have been very uneventful if not for the incredible wind out by St. Kilda Pier, a long spit of land artificially created for ships. Although not a record, it was certainly stronger than any wind in Canada. I decided to make my way back into the city as my time was beginning to grow short.

Again, I wandered mostly aimlessly and when the time came to return to Glenroy, I chose to catch a train at Central Station. Inside the current structure, the old structure remains, a very tall brick building I must say. There is also a giant pocket watch across from the old Central Station which works as any regular watch. I boarded the train back for Glenroy and arrived in time to pack up.

After being driven to the airport, I thanked my hosts as much as I could for being so hospitable. My time in Melbourne was quite memorable and it is a city I would want to visit again, and I'm sure I will. I returned to Sydney where some schoolwork still awaited me but I was more than ready to take it on after that short break.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday174.blogspot.com/

August 13th, Australia Day 173

2005-08-29T02:52:00.000-07:00

This day was to be filled mostly with more footy. I made my way to Optus Oval in Carlton, just north of downtown Melbourne, to watch Canada play South Africa for 7th spot in the overall standings of the International Cup. I arrived just in time to catch half of the Canadian national anthem and then I remained standing for the South African one. Sure enough, as promised, I had my flag returned to me autographed by all of the players of the Canada Northwind, for which I thanked the woman profusely. I settled behind one the goal posts to which Canada was kicking and hung my flag on the fence to show my support and I anticipated an exciting game.

International Cup games are played a little differently with 15 minute quarters where the clock doesn't stop, so effectively, it's about half the length of a regular AFL quarter. Also, in place of the 50 meter penalty, there is a 25 meter penalty but all of the rules remain the same. I chose to switch the end in which I was sitting so that I would be sitting in the end to which Canada was kicking with my flag proudly waving on the fence. It was a close affair for most of the game but Canada managed to pull off a victory thus earning 7th spot, and South Africa 8th. The final score was Canada 4-5=29 for South Africa 2-6=18. Canada thus improved by 2 spots over its finish in the 2002 International Cup and I look forward to seeing Canada one day take the Cup. In other results that day, Japan beat Spain 11-7=73 to 2-1=13 for 9th spot, Samoa over the U.K. 3-9=27 for 2-3=15 for 5th spot and the U.S.A scored 10-5=65 to Ireland's 4-6=30 for 3rd place. After their game, Canada and South Africa came together in a huddle and celebrated sportsmanship by partaking in a traditional South African Zulu song and dance. I went onto the field just after the final siren to congratulate Canada and to thank them for signing my flag. I ended up watching the 1st half of the Japan-Spain game but then I decided to move on.

I quickly made my way to the nearest Ticketmaster office I could find to get tickets to the International Cup Grand Final. While all other games had been free of charge, for this one tickets were required as it was being held in the M.C.G. Not only that, the tickets that needed to be bought were for the Carlton-Collingwood game which was to follow the Grand Final. I got the required tickets and then proceeded to kill some time by wandering the city. I made my way to the legal district where I took photos of no fewer that 4 separate court buildings and the old mint, located close by. I then made my way to Flagstaff Hill which is where the new state of Victoria was proclaimed in 1850, I believe. After some time there, including a short nap, I made my way back to the M.C.G.

My hosts had been kind enough to give me a thermos of hot water and some Earl Grey tea. I had finished the tea by the time I reached the M.C.G. at just before 16:00, but the point is that the water was still warm after 8 hours of chilly weather. I sat down behind some goal posts and watched the Grand Final unfold. Before the game began, the New Zealand Falcons performed the haka to which the Papua New Guinea Mosquitoes responded with a war dance of their own, of which, I must confess, I am ignorant of the name. New Zealand quickly established control and seemed to have the Cup in the bag but PNG refused to be done in so easily. With most of the stadium barracking (cheering) for them, PNG managed to pull within 5 points of NZ after a brilliant running goal from 5 meters out by a PNG player. A similar type of goal attempt had been stuffed up by a Kiwi player when he released the ball too late, having already crossed the goal line, thus making it a behind. The crowd roared with approval every time PNG did well although perhaps not because of numbers or even a like of PNG, but just to irritate the Kiwis. I cheered whenever I saw either team do well. In the end, NZ proved the better team and at the final siren had secured the Cup with a 7-8=50 win over PNG's 5-2=32. It really was an excellent game.

Thinking to myself that it would be the only time I would get to see an AFL game at the M.C.G. for a while, I decided to stick around for the 1st quarter of the Carlton-Collingwood game. It was also the Heritage Round which meant that teams played in old uniforms and umpires wore traditional dress, with the goal umpires wearing white hats and "lab coats". The Carlton Blues really stuck it to the Collingwood Magpies in the 1st, scoring 7 goals as I recall. They went on to win the game I read the next morning in the paper. I returned to Glenroy after the conclusion of the 1st quarter very satisfied with how my day had transpired and I got as much sleep as I could knowing I had only 1 day left in the city.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday173.blogspot.com/

August 12th, Australia Day 172

2005-08-29T02:13:00.000-07:00

I took the opportunity this day to do some more wandering about the city, in particular, a ride up Melbourne's 2nd tallest building, the Rialto Tower. Until recently, it was the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere until it was overtaken by the still uncompleted Eureka Tower close by. It still holds the record, though as the tallest office building in the Southern Hemisphere and just over 250 meters I think. Near to the top there is an observation deck which offers you an unobstructed 360 degree view of the city and beyond.

The first stop was the RialtoVision Theater which offered a quick 15 minute presentation on the sights of Melbourne year round. In November, the Melbourne Cup, a horse race, is run and the city comes to a standstill. It is the only place in the world that gives a public holiday for a horse race. Horse racing is a big thing in Australia with large portions of the sports section devoted to it. There is also greyhound racing and the motto is "Just Think of Them as Little Horses"; actually that 2nd part isn't true but they do race greyhounds. After watching the informative video, I took an elevator ride up to the observation deck where I had a stunning view. After snapping many photos, I returned down to the street and wandered the city some more, eventually making my way to the M.C.G., but seeing that it was completely closed, I just wandered around it a little bit and then returned by train to Glenroy.

That evening, I went out with my host's goddaughter and some of her friends. We first went to a pub with live music but then moved onto a more classic pub known as O'Sullivan's. It was in the Ukrainian part of the city, in the suburb of Essendon, home of the AFL team the Essendon Bombers (known as the Dons), although the pub itself was not a Ukrainian one, as the name would suggest. There was live music there too but at times it was hard to breath since smoking is still allowed inside pubs in Victoria. I had to get a breath of fresh air every so often but otherwise, it was a great experience. I thanked my associates and then was driven back to my hosts' residence where I took a well earned sleep.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday172.blogspot.com/

August 11th, Australia Day 171

2005-08-29T01:50:00.000-07:00

Part of the reason I was in Melbourne at the time I was, was that the International Australian Rules Football Cup was being played there at the time. Footy is actually a very international sport with leagues in many countries and even Canada has 15 teams, though all amateur and most are in southwestern Ontario. This tournament, the 2nd to be held, brought teams in from Canada, the U.S.A., Japan, Spain, the U.K., New Zealand, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and South Africa. Nauru and Denmark were also to have sent teams but both pulled out before the tournament began.

That morning I took a train and a tram to the J.M. Woodruff Oval in Port Melbourne expecting to see Canada play Spain. I had even brought my Canadian flag with me in order to cheer my side on but, much to my dismay, Canada did not play because Spain had suffered so many injuries that it was unable to field a team. The only upside was that Canada won by default, which prevented them from losing all of their games. Luckily, though, some of the Canadian team showed up and a women said that if I gave her my flag, she would get it signed by the members of the team and return it to me in 2 days time when Canada played for 7th spot. I readily handed over my flag and thanked her. I decided to stick around and watch the rest of the footy games being played on the grounds as I didn't have anywhere else I needed to be. I watched New Zealand defeat the U.S.A. to earn a spot in the Grand Final on the 13th, the U.K. beat Japan, Samoa beat South Africa and Papua New Guinea defeat the defending champions, Ireland, to earn the other spot in the Grand Final. After the conclusion of that last game, I went back to where I was staying and finished off the day indoors.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday171.blogspot.com/

August 10th, Australia Day 170

2005-08-29T01:35:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I had planned to take a short trip down to Melbourne, the 2nd city of Australia, though its citizens would claim it to be the 1st. Airfares between Australia's major cities are for the most part relatively cheap and I had once had the idea of taking weekend trips to each of them. That dream quickly faded as I realized just how little time I would have to travel, owing to my scholastic work load. Nevertheless, I resolved to at least make it to Melbourne as I had distant family there.

Melbourne is the 2nd largest city in Australia with a population of about 3.5 million, and the home of my beloved footy. It was founded after Sydney when a group of colonists arrived in Port Philip Bay and began a settlement. One of the founders had the unlikely name of Batman and the city was originally named Batmania. While there were once convict settlements near Melbourne, those were abandoned and the governors of the area never allowed them to land again. This history of no real convict settlement has given much to the Victorian psyche and character. Once all of Australia was under the Governor of New South Wales but as portions were broken off, eventually a delegation from Melbourne managed to convince the British government to grant them their own state. A small portion of southern New South Wales was set aside and renamed Victoria in honour of the current monarch. Gold was discovered in the Victorian mountains near the villages of Bendigo (BEHN-dy-goh) and Ballarat (bah-lah-RAT) and the money that flowed form their found its way into Melbourne's coffers so that it was at one point the richest city on Earth. For a while it was the country's largest city and capital until it was overtaken at the turn of the 20th Century by Sydney and, to settle the rivalry for capital status between Melbourne and Sydney after Federation in 1901, the capital was moved to Canberra (KAHN-bur-rah) in a compromise. Melbourne had to settle on being the state capital of Victoria and "smaller brother" of Sydney.

One of the most interesting aspects of Melbourne is the cultural importance of aussie football in the city. In one of my previous posts I mentioned how many teams are form the city's suburbs but it is important to note that its popularity crosses social barriers as well. Within 50 years of it being invented in 1858, the Melbourne Club, the sons of high society was playing a club from Collingwood, the city's worst slum. Many in Melbourne would swear that Collingwood has never outgrown either that status or mentality. It is also popular among immigrants as well so that the person who took what was known as the Mark of the Century in 1970, Alex Jesaulenko (popularly known as Jezza), was the son of a Ukrainian immigrant born in Austria. The home of footy is the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the M.C.G., also just The 'G, which is currently being remodeled, is known as the "People's Ground".

I arrived on the morning of the 10th and I had already arranged to stay at the house of my distant family who live in the suburb of Glenroy. I was picked up by a friend of theirs who was kind enough to drive me to their residence. I stayed with a mother and daughter pair who were very hospitable to me as well as being generally very good people. They were kind enough to let me use a spare room of theirs as well as provide me with breakfast and the occasional spot of tea. I found I like hot Earl Grey with nothing added to it, no milk, sugar, cream, etc. The two women are related to me by marriage in that the daughter's father was the brother of my paternal grandmother, I think.

Since I had no specific itinerary to speak of, except to see a few footy games, my adventures consisted of me wandering the city center. I traveled by train to the Flinders Street Station and then proceeded to explore this new, yet somewhat chilly, city. The weather was only good for a few short periods of time with most of the days being overcast and cool. I immediately noticed upon exiting the train station that Melbourne was a more "European" city than Sydney. There were far more old buildings than in Sydney and the street cars, called "trams", unique in Australia to Melbourne, also gave the city a European flavour. As I wandered through the CBD, sort of aimlessly, I noticed another unique Melburnian (that's how it is spelled, without the "o") tradition which is the right hand turn form the left hand lane. Actually, this makes sense in a weird way as it allows the trams which run in the center of the street to run unimpeded. What happens is that cars wanting to turn left line up across the intersection on the left hand side. When the light to their right turns green, they quickly make a right turn so that cars that will soon be going forward will have only a few seconds wait. If you go there, it will all be made clear.

I proceeded to the Victorian Parliament and then to a nearby park which had a fountain and a few statues. There were statues to a famous poet, a cattle rustler and a soldier. There is also a plan to put up another statue either to Monash or La Trobe, both important people in Melbourne's history for the 2006 Commonwealth Games to be held in the city. There have only ever been 2 Olympic Games held in the southern hemisphere, the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. From the small park I then decided to cross the Yarra River to the south bank, making sure to take a picture of a sign that said "Batman Avenue".

I proceeded along the south bank, taking pictures of various memorials, until I reached the Shrine of Remembrance, an edifice constructed to commemorate Victoria's war dead. I think, but I cannot be sure, that it was built on a design similar to that of the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos (Halicarnassus), one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Inside there are books with the names of all those who have perished in various conflicts as well as a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Beneath the main structure, there are further memorials as well as a visitor's center. Although there were school tour groups there at the time, when I walked into the main chamber of remembrance, I was the only one there and the silence was deafening. My footsteps echoed all over. I climbed some stairs onto a balcony and took some great photos of the Melbourne skyline. I exited the Shrine and made my way to Government House but seeing that there was no way to get a clear photo, I marched around the nearby gardens.

I walked quickly through the gardens, which included a small grotto, and made my way along the banks of the Yarra River to the north bank. It is quite reminiscent of the Rideau Canal at some points, though a bit more natural being an actual river than canal. I took some photos of the various bridges that span the waterway and then made my way across one of them back into the city. After a quick stop at the library, I returned to Glenroy where I had some dinner and tea and then went to sleep hoping to see Canada play footy the next day.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday170.blogspot.com/

August 5th, Australia Day 165

2005-08-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

As I recall, I woke up around 09:00 this day which felt like a luxury having woken up the previous couple of days before sunrise. I had so looked forward to this day because now I would get a chance to explore the city of Darwin for myself. The city is very laid back and is typically tropical, very reminiscent of Honolulu or Miami. It has a young population and I would not mind living here, basking in the warm tropical sun and breezes. As I mentioned before, it is my favourite Australian city though it is often overlooked by the citizens of that country.

Darwin, population 100 000 and capital of the Northern Territory, has an interesting history. The area was originally named Port Darwin after a ship known as the Beagle docked in what would later become its harbour. For those who might find the name familiar, the Beagle was the ship that carried Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory, to the Galapagos Islands where he made his observations; Port Darwin was named in his honour. Later on, a settlement known as Palmerston was founded but its name was soon changed to Darwin. Darwin was, at first not connected to the rest of the country at all, except by boat but eventually the Overland Telegraph Line, whose trail was scouted by Stuart, was laid so that messages from the mother country, U.K., could reach the rest of Australia from an undersea cable ending in Darwin.

The city itself has been destroyed 4 times over its history: 3 times by cyclones and once by bombing. On February 19th, 1942, the Japanese launched an attack upon the harbour of Darwin in an attempt to disrupt Australian and American naval forces stationed there. Like Pearl Harbor, a combination of bad judgement, unpreparedness and bad luck led to the near destruction of the city. Over 240 people dies in the air raids and Australia was forced to quickly react. Within months, a new highway was completed, defences strengthened and Darwin became a busy hub of military activity. There was great concern that the Japanese would try to invade Australia via Darwin but this never happened. There were a total of 64, I think, air raids onto Australian soil by the Japanese over the course of about 18 months, ending in November of 1943. By that time, the Japanese were having bigger problems elsewhere in the Pacific with the Americans advancing ever closer to the home islands and the idea of bombing Australia eventually gave way to the defence of already earned territory. Today Darwin is still a significant military, especially navy, center, but the bombings of February 1942 remain the defining moment in Darwin's history.

Of the natural disasters to have hit Darwin, the most significant one was probably Cyclone Tracy which hit the city on Christmas Day, 1974. My American politics professor, who has been living in Australia since 1972, once mentioned that there was this notion at the time that there was nothing that could be done and that everything would work out in the end. Whatever people may have thought, when the cyclone reached the city, the consequences were devastating. About 90% of the city was destroyed at a cost of between 50 and 60 lives. It was not merely a case of shoddy construction since many solid stone structures that had survived cyclones before were demolished as well. It may have been the strongest winds ever to hit Australia since records began but we will likely never know for certain since Tracy broke the recording instruments at around 218 km/h. The city was declared a disaster area but was rebuilt and now modern architecture can be seen all over the city. A new meteorological warning center, as well as a tsunami warning center, have been built to ensure that this never happens again.

Anyway, from my hostel, which was pretty much in the heart of the city, I marched to the nearby Liberty Square, which houses the Territorial Legislature, the Territorial Supreme Court and the headquarters of the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs. I walked into the Supreme Court building first and did a self-guided tour through the building, even entering Courtroom 1, which was clearly the showpiece court of the building. I then marched past an old house which contains the offices of the Territorial Administrator, which is someone like a Canadian Lieutenant-Governor, as far as I can understand; the people of the NT do elect a Territorial Leader and members of a Territorial Legislature I believe. Form here, I crossed the street to Government House which is where either the Territorial Leader or Administrator lives; unfortunately, there was no access to this building. I then backtracked from the Administrator's Building to Liberty Square and took a self-guided tour of the Legislature, which is only about 10-15 years old as I recall.

I left the government district and took a walk back into the city onto a street known as the Smith Street Mall. Much like Sparks Street, only smaller, this is a pedestrian mall. Here you can find several plaques commemorating Darwin's history and there are even 2 old buildings which survived the bombing. I then took a walk along the Esplanade, which is a road that winds along the shore. Darwin's shore is lined by parks but you can't walk right along the water's edge because there is a small cliff in your way. However, built into the cliff are tunnels from World War 2 which were originally supposed to house oil but the war concluded before they were ever needed for this purpose. You can visit the entrance of one of these tunnels, but I don't think you can actually enter any of them. Close by was the Deck Chair Theatre which is an outdoor cinema where people sit on deck chairs.

Since it was getting late, I decided to make my way back to Cullen Bay and onto the breakwater I had discovered last night to see the sunset. I was not disappointed and Darwin produced one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen. As dusk came, I strolled back through Cullen Bay and had dinner at a local restaurant. My flight was at 01:25 so I spent a bit more time wandering around the youth hostel I had stayed at because I was keeping my bags there during the day. If you're wondering about the unusual time, it's that the only direct flight from Darwin to Sydney flies out then and although I said I was willing to go through Adelaide, Brisbane or Alice Springs, the agent with whom I made the booking said that if I wanted an extra day in Darwin, why not just catch the early flight the day after.

Without question, my trip to the Northern Territory was amazing. I saw what I considered to be the real Australia, the one shown in movies and written about in books, as well as seeing some completely unexpected things. The weather held and was spectacular throughout my trip. I have no doubt that I will make my way back again to this lonely, yet completely breathtaking land at the heart of a continent and its top.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday165.blogspot.com/

August 4th, Australia Day 164

2005-08-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

This day began with a trip to a place known as Maguk (mah-GOOK)/Barramundi (BAH-rah-MOON-dee) Gorge, where there was, you guessed it, another swimming hole. For those who might not know, a barramundi is a type of fish whose meat is supposed to be very tasty. They are plentiful in the NT and are commercially fished; as an aside, you can even try some croc meat or have a kangaroo steak, which I tried in Alice Springs. The water in this swimming hole was surprisingly warm and I took a swim to the nearby falls. Again there were warnings about salties in the area, but they would not be able to clamber over the rocks to reach the pool as we did.

From Maguk/Barramundi Gorge, it was onto Ubirr (OO-beer) Rock a site made famous by the presence of many aborigine stone paintings. There are some which hold special religious significance and they can be quite old (several thousand years) but there are other which just depict daily life and they can be only a few years of age. It is essentially an open air art gallery depicting the history of the area by the people who lived there. Some of them are quite high up and quite intricate. We then climbed a nearby hill and peered out over a magnificent landscape. Below us lay fertile wetlands home to countless numbers of fish, birds and other animals. Behind us lay the rocky land of Arnhem Land, an area of the Top End under the jurisdiction of the original inhabitants. This is the country in which Crocodile Dundee was filmed and it is every bit as spectacular as the movie depicts.

It was back to Darwin from here but not without a few surprises. Along the way, we stopped at a river and saw some salties in the river and 1 lying on a rock with its mouth open. We were told that a croc's brain can overheat and so they do this every so often to cool down. Whenever you see a croc you cannot help but be amazed at the power latent within the reptile. Incidentally, if you ever find yourself in a fight with a croc, try to get it to close its mouth, without part of you in it of course. While a croc's jaws could easily bite through a thick metal pole, the muscles which open the jaws are so weak that you can hold the mouth of a 7 meter croc shut with your bare hands. Also, the cannot move very quickly on land since they cannot support their own weight with their tiny legs.

We arrived in Darwin just before sunset and I was let off at my hostel. I was sorry to see Darryl go because he was both humourous and knowledgeable. He has spent so much time in NT and with local aborigines that he knows most of their ways and respects them. I walked from the center of Darwin to Cullen Bay, a suburb of Darwin with many restaurants. If you've ever been to Key West in Florida, it sort of reminded me of that place. From Cullen Bay, after some time on the breakwater, I walked to the well known Mindil Beach Markets, where goods of all kinds are sold. There, I bought a didjeridu and the next day I sent it to Canada. Didjeridus were originally confined only to the Top End but they have since become a symbol of aborigine culture throughout Australia. If made traditionally, they are constructed out of a branch or trunk of a eucalyptus family tree that has been hollowed out by termites. Then, wax is placed on the end in which you blow and from that, with minimal effort, you create a musical instrument with a distinctive drone. Throughout the market, though, there were performers of all kinds, food vendors and, of course, merchants of everything imaginable. I returned to my hostel looking forward to the next day, which I had managed to schedule as a full day in Darwin.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday164.blogspot.com/

August 3rd, Australia Day 163

2005-08-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

Leaving our permanent campsite that morning, we began our excursion into the Kakadu National Park. This famous area is named after the local aborigine tribe, but corrupted somewhat. The local people call themselves the Gagadju (GAH-gah-joo), which became corrupted into Kakadu. I'll mention here that informal terms exist for aborigine and white people, being "blackfella" and "whitefella" respectively.

We drove onto the famous Twin Falls in Kakadu in a journey that included fording a river using a submerged path; it is fortunate that we had a good 4WD. At the end of our drive we took a boat ride through the Twin Falls Gorge. The water was incredibly clear and teeming with fish. After the boat ride we hiked over rocks and were greeted by a nice sandy beach at the foot of the stunning Twin Falls. I took a photo and imagined that the falls must be spectacular under the light of a full moon. Although there was warning about crocs, none could make it over the rocks we traversed. We stayed there for a while and then made our way to the world famous Jim Jim (jym jym) Falls.

The falls were not flowing at the time so that you could see the wall behind it. During the wet season, the roar of the falls can be heard for many kilometers. There were few pools where you could go swimming but I decided against it this time. To get out of the blazing sun, I went to the next plunge pool which was located in the shadow of the waterfall's walls. I had a pleasant snooze there before rejoining the group.

Our campsite that night was located in a very nice "resort". There was pool complete with a restaurant-bar and I took advantage of this to get some fries and a coke. Before you ask, I actually ate very healthily since we made our meals the entire tour using vegetables and good meats. Not too far away there was a hotel built in the shape of a crocodile but it is expensive I hear. I settled in at night knowing that by tomorrow night I would find myself once more in my favourite city in Australia, Darwin.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday163.blogspot.com/

August 2nd, Australia Day 162

2005-08-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Starting from Darwin, with a new guide named Darryl, I set off on the last leg of my excursion in the Northern Territory. Form here, the journey would be a round trip to the east into the famous Litchfield and Kakadu (KAH-kah-doo) National Parks. These areas have some spectacular scenery and are home to some unique wildlife, so if you one day awake in the Top End, I suggest you turn your attentions to the east.

Our first stops for the day consisted of 2 separate waterfalls, known as Buley and Robin (I'm not sure if this is the actual name) Falls. Buley Falls was a series of small waterfalls tumbling into pools where you could wade, and I did. Robin Falls, on the other hand, is a proper waterfall which descends into a small lake. Here I did not go swimming but I saw, and took some pictures of, some cute wallabies.

The next stop was to some massive termite mounds, and I do mean massive. As you travel further north, the termite mounds grow taller. There was one in particular that I was photographed beside and it was about 6 or 7 meters tall. Termites are plentiful in the Top End but they are under constant threat from their natural enemies, the ants. Termites try to defend their mounds as best they can against ant attack by making them solid as concrete with as few holes as possible for entry. Their natural defences include the ability to shoot formic acid from their foreheads but the concentration is not enough to harm a human. When wars erupt between ants and termites it's supposed to be quite a spectacle. Almost always though, the ants win, not so much by brute strength but by force of numbers. Interestingly, termites cannot by themselves digest the cellulose in wood and would under normal circumstances be unable to eat the wood. What aids them are tiny protozoa that live in their intestines and digest the wood for them.

From the termite mounds, we continued to the east and stopped in a pub that had a small wildlife preserve with some interesting animals, which included the famous crocodiles. There are 2 species of crocodile that live in tropical Australia, the freshwater and the saltwater, or estuarine, crocodiles. They are known locally as "freshies" and "salties", respectively, and the salties can actually live in both fresh and salt water. The freshies are the smaller and less aggressive of the 2 types, growing up to 4 meters; they are not dangerous to humans. The salties on the other hand can grow up to 7 meters and are quite aggressive and dangerous; these are the ones you see taking down fully grown buffaloes.

Form here we were taken on a cruise through the Mary River Wetlands where we saw several wild birds, and even a few crocs. The day was spectacular but our guide could not understand why there were so few crocs on the river. In the wet season, which runs from about November to April, the whole area is under several meters of water. In that time, the Top End receives endless days of rain and whole areas are flooded under several meters of water, in some places up to 17 meters from their dry season levels.

At our permanent campsite that night, there was a presentation local aborigine culture known as a corroborree (koh-ROH-bohr-ree). There was didjeridu playing as well as some dancing around the camp fire, not to mention a python. I tried my hand at the didjeridu and even made a respectable sound. For the next part, I was painted up a bit to represent the lightning God Namarrgan (NAH-mahr-gahn). Who knows, I may now have special protection against lightning. After I washed off the black paint made of ash and water, I went to sleep after a quick coke at the nearby pub.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday162.blogspot.com/

August 1st, Australia Day 161

2005-08-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Driving out early in morning, around sunrise, we made our way to Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge National Park, a place known for its beauty and its cultural significance. Most people had opted to do a short canoe/kayak trip up the Katherine River which had formed the gorge, actually gorges, but I was "forced" to hike. I had originally intended to take a helicopter ride over the gorges but I could only do so if someone else wanted to and nobody did. Although not expensive, it was certainly not cheap and I could easily understand that some people would be budgeting quite acutely. Anyway, I hiked to some of the gorges and I wasn't disappointed.

Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge was formed by water taking advantage of various joints and faults in the rock. The Katherine River eroded away the material to form the feature. According to local aborigine beliefs, Bula (BOO-lah), a powerful but somewhat dangerous spirit lives in the 2nd gorge, which is the deepest one, and so the local aborigines do not take fish or do anything in that gorge if it can be helped. The gorge is actually a system of 13 gorges connected together of which 9 are accessible as far as I understand. The canoe trip that most people took, brought them to about the beginning of the 2nd gorge before they had to turn around but overnight hires are available for those who wish to go to the all the way to the 9th gorge. After this, a 3 meter rock wall prevents further journeying although an information board I read seemed to imply that you could reach to the 13th gorge with some equipment. I opted the hike and made my way around the trails to the 2nd gorge. If I'd had a map, I would have probably been able to make it to the 3rd gorge but such was my luck that day.

After Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge, we drove a short distance to a lake where we went swimming. This is the location of the famous Edith Falls and although it is definitely not a hot spring, swimming was pleasant no less. I swam right under the waterfall, as did many others, and the water there was slightly warmer than that in the lake.

Form Edith Falls, it was onto Darwin where we would all spend the night in various hostels. Along the way we stopped in the town of Katherine and in a small suburb of Darwin. Katherine is a town which marks the end of the arid center and the beginning of the tropical north of the NT, which is known as the Top End. Katherine was also the site of the most inland Japanese bombing in World War 2 but I'll say more about that when I write about Darwin. The suburb of Darwin has the remains of Charlie the water buffalo who had roles in both Crocodile Dundee movies. Charlie died in 2000 and he is now mounted and stuffed in the local pub. From here it was only a short drive into the capital of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday161.blogspot.com/

July 31st, Australia Day 160

2005-08-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

This day was pretty uneventful as I recall, noting the total of 8 pictures that I took that day on the drive north from Banka Banka Cattle Station to near Nitmiluk (NYHT-myh-luhk)/Katherine Gorge. The day started off after the sun rose, which was unusual for this trip, but the distance needed to be covered that day was comparatively small. The day would bring us to within striking distance of our final destination of Darwin.

Our first stop that day was the settlement of Daly Waters, population 10. It is said that the population of the settlement varies with the number of people required to run the local pub. Daly Waters, though, holds the incredible distinction of being Australia's first international airport, and, no, the population was never much larger than 10. Before World War 2, an aerodrome was built just outside Daly Waters to accommodate the recent phenomenon of international flights. A family lived in the area and they established the pub and the inn which both still exist, though the family no longer lives there. There was even a customs house where passengers would pass through customs to enter Australia. This must not have done any favours since Australia already has a reputation of being a bit of a backwater and back then even more so, so this international airport in the middle of nowhere must have only "confirmed" the prejudices of those flying. After World War 2, the airport's importance fell since flights could make it to the major cities themselves without needing a stop in Daly Waters. The airport ceased to function in the 1970s and is now a ruin.

After Daly Waters, the next stop was the Mataranka (mah-tah-RAHN-kah) Thermal Springs. As the name suggests, this area has some very comfortable hot springs where everyone on the tour group went swimming. I took a dip and it was very warm water, probably around 30C and I recommend a swim for anyone who wants to get out of the sun but still remain relatively comfortable.

A short time later we set off for our campground close to Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge, an interesting feature which we explored the following day. I snapped a quick photo of sunset just before dinnertime and then stayed up and managed to get the notes of Waltzing Matilda one by one on the guitar. It took several attempts but I finally managed to get the melody. Again I slept in permanent tents, in fact, after the 2nd night of my tour I never again slept in a swag, much to my dismay.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday160.blogspot.com/

July 30th, Australia Day 159

2005-08-26T23:56:00.000-07:00

This was the first day of the leg of the trip that would take me north to Darwin, cutting across continent. We would be taking the Stuart Highway the entire way and this road is named after the first European man to cross the continent from north to south. He had been tasked with finding an overland route for a proposed telegraph line, and though he nearly died, he succeeded. The Stuart Highway follows his actual route, closely, as well as the telegraph line, now buried. Until recently, this road was the only way to get to Darwin over land and was once a very narrow highway. It used to be just a dirt trail but it was paved in World War 2. A rail link from Alice Springs to Darwin was only completed in 1988.

Our tour guide, Nick, informed us that this was the portion of the tour where you could catch up on your sleep. Between Alice Springs and Darwin, there is no much that is easily accessible and so most of the day consists of driving. I can never sleep while traveling so I kept my eyes open for anything unusual.

Our first stop that day was a quick photo opportunity at the Tropic of Capricorn which is located only a few kilometers north of Alice Springs. On December 21st, or thereabouts, this is the latitude at which the sun is at noon, about 23.5 degrees South. In the southern hemisphere, it marks the longest day, while in the northern hemisphere it signals the shortest day. The counterpart to the Tropic of Capricorn is the Tropic of Cancer located at about 23.5 degrees North.

Some time later we stopped at a rock formation known as the Devil's Marbles, which is really a field of balancing rocks. With erosion, these stones come to look like marbles resting on other stones. As it turns out, the aborigines believe that malevolent spirits inhabit this area and they do not often travel to this place. I got some good photos of the formation and then got back on the bus for our next stop. Close to these formations, as well as along the side of the road, there were fields upon fields of large termite mounds.

Along the Stuart Highway, the main form of bulk transportation is by a type of truck known as a "Road Train". These monsters are essentially trucks with train length carriages attached to them. The smallest ones will only have 2 cars but in the old days of unrestricted length, 13 car road trains were not unheard of. The typical road train now consists of 3 or 4 cars and can be double-deckered, although I have heard stories of triple-deckered road trains in Queensland. These road trains are used to transport any number of goods, even cattle and are preferred to the train system because it has had some problems in the past.

For lunch we stopped at a little oasis known as Mary Ann Dam. The river, while almost completely dry is dammed up and in the small reservoir behind it, there is quite a bit of wildlife. As I recall, pelicans were the dominant bird species in the dam at the time.

From Mary Ann Dam we proceeded to Banka Banka Cattle Station where we would spend the night in solid tents. In Banka Banka there was a small pen where kangaroos were kept and you could go up to them, feed them and pet them. I got some good close-ups of this Australian animal. That night, I watched a slide show which depicted life on the ranch, which is a typical one in Australia. I was told that although the local area seemed arid, only 15 kilometers east was the Barkly Tablelands which were grassy plains conducive to cattle grazing. That night, while looking at the night sky, I saw a bright object,a meteorite, burning up and breaking apart in the atmosphere. It may have been some debris from space but it was definitely not just a shooting star; astronomers will know what I'm talking about. I went to sleep a little later than usual as the next day only began at 07:45, so a little extra sleep time was available.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday159.blogspot.com/

July 29th, Australia Day 158

2005-08-26T23:30:00.000-07:00

Like all the others, this day began before dawn as we were going to see Uluru/Ayers Rock at sunrise. Before we made out way to the site, we stopped at the place where we had watched the monolith at sunset just to see its silhouette against the dawn sky. We then drove to the sunrise spot and found a good location from which to take photos.

As the sun rose, Uluru/Ayers Rock once more took on the blood red shade that it had during the waning stages of last evening's sunset. Part way through the sunrise, a dark band appeared across Uluru/Ayers Rock that eventually disappeared as sunrise progressed. I decided that I would call the feature "Kuniya's Trail" and that it represented that path Kuniya took around the monolith as she went to confront her nephew's killers. It was burned into the rock by her anger and anguish and appears when the monolith takes on the colour of blood. If you go to Uluru/Ayers Rock, you can visit the site where Kuniya battled her nephew's murderers.

From there, we proceeded to Kata Tjuta/The Olgas, a formation of domes not too far from Uluru/Ayers Rock. It was here that our tour guide gave an interesting demonstration of the geological history of the area using an apple, some pebbles and the nearby sand. We then hiked through a path in Kata Tjuta/The Olgas, arriving at the entrance to the Valley of Winds where there was a stunning view. From here it was back to Alice Springs where this portion of my tour concluded. My 9-day tour was set up in 3 3-day components, each with a different guide, although some of the people I was with on this tour accompanied me for all 9 days.

As we drove into The Alice, we were informed of the special boat race held in the city as well as the Camel Cup. The boat race is run on the dry river bed that runs through the city and each team has a no-bottomed boat which they carry along the race course. One year, it rained and the race had to be postponed marking the first time in history that a boat race was delayed due to water. The Camel Cup is a lot like a horse race, except with camels and is supposed to be quite hilarious. That night, the whole group went to a local restaurant for dinner to farewell our tour guide as well as those of us who would not be continuing on. I went to sleep early as, again, my day would start pre-dawn.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday158.blogspot.com/

July 28th, Australia Day 157

2005-08-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

I awoke with a start in my swag under the Australian night sky with a quarter moon shining, but that was not what had roused me from my slumber. Within moments of waking, I became aware of the constant baying of dingoes all around me. It was quite literally around me, 360 degrees, and it sounded as though every dingo in Australia had congregated to this spot. They never did approach my swag, as far as I know but the most unnerving part was when they stopped baying because then I could not tell where they were, even with the shining moon. Almost as suddenly as they had started, they stopped, to be heard no more that night and I settled back to sleep for the few hours I had left until breakfast.

The day began before dawn again, as today we would go see the sacred sight of Uluru (oo-loo-ROO), also known as Ayers Rock. It is a sacred sight to the local Anangu (ah-nan-GOO) aborigine people, who now "control" the site, but it is also sacred to Australians in general, being a symbol of their country, much in the same way that the Statue of Liberty is to Americans. Several years ago the government, in a land agreement, agreed to return control of Uluru/Ayers Rock to the local aborigines who, in return, have leased it back to the government for 99 years; it is run as a national park. The English name of Uluru, Ayers Rock, comes from the name of a governor of South Australia in the 19th Century, since South Australia controlled what would become the NT at the time.

As we drove to Uluru/Ayers Rock, we came upon another rock formation called Mt. Conner. It is a box shaped mesa, really, and our tour guide called it "Fooluru" since many tourists mistake it for the more famous landmark on their first trip to the area. In the area, there was also a dry lake bed which was very white, which leads me to believe that it may consist of a salt flat. Finally, the real Uluru/Ayers Rock came into view and seeing it for the first time in person was a moving experience. You must understand that Uluru/Ayers Rock is essentially a giant stone monolith that sits on an otherwise flat and almost featureless terrain. It is the world's largest monolith, meaning it is composed of a single type of stone, sandstone in this case I believe, and I am told that it is part of a larger formation, still buried, that broke off and fell to the desert floor after being pushed up by tectonic forces.

Around Uluru/Ayers Rock, there were a few options, one of which was climbing the formation. The other options all consisted of walks around the base of Uluru/Ayers Rock where there were excellent views of aborigine paintings and other sacred sights. The Anangu ask you not to climb Uluru/Ayers Rock as it is a sacred site to them and they feel it is disrespectful to their culture to do so. As well, if anyone is hurt or killed on their land, part of their tradition dictates that they cut themselves as a mark of mourning. Add to that the climb itself is very difficult and for most of the steep way up, the only thing you have to help you is a chain. I chose to climb Uluru/Ayers Rock, not out of disrespect, but because I will probably never get another chance to do it. By the time I return, the politicians will have probably wised up and prohibit climbing the monolith and so I figured that this would be my one and only chance.

The climb up was quite difficult but upon reaching the summit, a splendid view awaited me. I could see that there were flat plains nearly unbroken to the horizon. In the distance I could see Mt. Conner as well as the closer Kata Tjuta (KAH-tah JOO-tah) formation, also known as The Olgas. The path to the top of Uluru/Ayers Rock follows the path that the Mala Men, something like Wallaby Men, took to the top in the Anangu mythology. From what I can gather, Australian aborigines believe that the land was formed in a period known as the "Dreaming", the "Dream Time" or the "Creation Time", when spirits roamed the Earth and creating the formations that can now be seen. An important spirit for Uluru/Ayers Rock was a she-serpent named Kuniya (KOO-nee-yah or KOON-yah) who once made her home in the monolith. In any event, after a brief time at the top, I descended down Uluru/Ayers Rock, which was no less difficult than the ascent. I also took great care that I did not transport anything out of the area as this is also against Anangu law. In the visitor's center, there is a pile of stones and soil that have been sent back by people who had removed them from the area and were now regretful, some claiming that their actions had cursed them. I decided that I had already tempted fate by climbing Uluru/Ayers Rock and I would not do so again. Besides, what need do I have of rocks and Canada Customs would take them from me anyway upon my return.

Later that day, after all climbing and hiking had been completed, we returned to a spot to watch the sunset upon Uluru/Ayers Rock. The sun actually set behind us and its light was cast upon the monolith and it changed colour as the sun dipped ever closer to the horizon. The best was just before sunset when it became a blood red, as the pictures will show. The British man on the tour remarked that it was interesting to see so many people gathered to watch a rock change colour but it was an interesting experience nonetheless. We made our way back to our campsite, a different one from the previous night, and I fell asleep in another swag although this time I slept with the rest of the group by the fire as access outside the grounds was restricted.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday157.blogspot.com/

July 27th, Australia Day 156

2005-08-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

This was the first day of my tour and it began early, with the tour beginning before 06:00. At first I was worried that I would oversleep my departure time but I was fortunate that I didn't. The reason for the early start is that the sights to be seen in one day are numerous and, somewhat unlike New Zealand, the distances between them is considerable. In any event, I was anxious to begin my adventure in the Northern Territory.

My tour guide was a very knowledgeable and interesting young woman named Jess, which, coincidentally, was the name of my tour guide in New Zealand, but not the same person. The tour group, about 15 of us, set out into the scrubland of the NT before the break of dawn. The demographic of the group on this tour was a little more varied than my New Zealand adventure because the company is not specifically designed to cater to students or even the very young. On this leg, there was a couple, as well as a woman on her own, from the U.K. as well as several a Spanish couple, some more Spanish, some Germans, many Brits and again, I was the solitary Canadian, although there was a young woman from New York also.

We drove off into the scrubland around Alice Springs but it was difficult to discern anything given the pre-dawn darkness. Eventually, dawn broke to reveal a land replete with contrasting red and green colours. The soil is fairly sandy and quite red owing to the high levels of iron oxide in the soil; this same phenomenon makes both Mars and Prince Edward Island red. I was surprised to see so much green since I had been under the impression that the center of Australia is a desert. Our tour guide pointed out that this was a common misconception and while true sandy desert exists further west into Western Australia, it is more accurate to describe this terrain as arid savanna. The greenery consists of tough spinifex grass as well as some desert trees.

Our first stop that day was a ranch where you could ride camels for a paltry $5.00. I took up the offer and had a fun ride on the camel. Even with a saddle, it was not the most comfortable ride I've ever had. Camels were imported into Australia in the 19th Century to assist with desert crossing and have since become at home in the continent. There may now be anywhere from 500 000 to 1 000 000 wild camels in Australia at the moment, along with wild horses that were released, or escaped, from their ranches. All camels in Australia are of the dromedary (1 hump) variety because the woollier bactrian (2 humps) would never survive the hot days. A joke about camels from our tour guide became a sort of running gag for the rest of the trip. Firstly, she asked, "What do you call a camel with 3 humps?" and I yelled out, "A freak!", to which she answered, after a few moments of silence from the rest of the tour group "Humphrey" (hump-three). The next joke was, "What do you call a camel with no humps?", to which I quickly responded, "A horse!" The answer to this joke is also "Humphrey" (hump-free). We all had a good groan and continued on our way.

The next stop on this part of the tour was a place called Erldunda (ehrl-DUHN-dah or EL-duhn-dah) which consists of a gas (called petrol down here) station, a food dispensary and a motel. Its claim to fame is that it is the nearest human settlement to the geographic center of Australia, and it is quite literally the "dead center". From here we drove onto the Lasseter Highway to pick up some fire wood which embodies the sense of isolation that is palatable in the NT. As the 4WD drove on, there would be long stretches of time when no other living soul would be seen. Interestingly, along certain parts of the highway there are no speed limits, indicated by road signs consisting of a black circle with a black saltire (stripe) through it. Along the way we were told about the famous Wedgetailed Eagles, or "Wedgies", which are Australia's largest bird of prey with a wingspan of 2 meters, I think, and they stand about 1 meter high. They have been known to pick up sheep although they prefer smaller targets. Although Australia-wide, their numbers are few enough for them to be considered threatened though not endangered. There are stiff fines for killing a Wedgie because they mate for life and if one is killed, then its mate dies of loneliness.

We eventually reached the first major sight on this leg of the tour which was Kings Canyon. It is a feature created not so much by riparian (river) action, like the Grand Canyon of Arizona, but by erosion taking advantage of the natural fractures in the rock. Here I also made a joke, which I think was pretty witty. According to the local Aborigine myth, some of the dome features of Kings Canyon were formed by quoll-men, and quolls are a sort of cat-like creature. I then told our tour guide that if ever she was asked how the dome were formed according to Aborigine legend, she could just reply, "Catman do" (Kathmandu). Kings Canyon is a spectacular place with some very interesting rock formations and greenery. There were sheer walls and even a small "garden" called the Garden of Eden, but I will let the pictures speak to Kings Canyon's magnificence.

From there we made our way to our camp for the night. At the fire that night, I learned of one more of Australia's "dangerous animals". Apparently, one more of these fictional dangerous creatures is the "Camp Fire Python" that survives the cold NT nights by sleeping between the stones that surround a camp fire and they can be quite deadly if disturbed.

We had the option of either sleeping under permanent tents or we could take advantage of a "swag". A swag is a burlap sack with a mattress that rolls up like a sleeping bag. When you unroll it, you unzip the bag and then place your sleeping back on top of the mattress and then zip the bag back up again. If you should get cold, then a flap on the sack provides cover for your face. Being the adventurous person that I am, I opted for the swag. I knew that the night sky would be amazing and I wanted to see as much of it as I could but I also knew that the camp fire as well as some lights from the permanent kitchen tent would interfere with my sight, so I asked if I could wander out of the camp that night. I was told that I could as long as I made it back in time for breakfast the next morning. For dinner, one of the things we made was a special type of bread, the name escapes me, which uses beer instead of actual yeast. To that you add a few other things and though I do not drink alcohol, the bread was quite delicious. After dinner, I went walkabout to the top of a nearby hill and planted my swag down on a smooth, though slightly inclined rocky surface. I placed everything I had with me into the swag, even my shoes, because dingoes have been known to take them. My adventures in the swag will be posted in the next post but as I fell asleep, the baying of dingoes echoed in the night around me, under the brilliance of a clear, moonless and starlit Australian sky.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday156.blogspot.com/

July 26th, Australia Day 155

2005-08-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

Before I begin writing about my adventures in the Northern Territory, I'll mention the baseball game that I played the Sunday before I left. The result was the same as all my games before it with my team once more taking a loss. I started out in right field but after the center fielder pulled a muscle in his arm, I was placed there for the remainder of the game. I did alright at one point make a dead-on accurate through from mid-center field to the catcher at home plate. Unfortunately the runner just crossed the plate as my ball reached the catcher but it was a great throw. At bat, I can't remember if I was walked but I know I definitely struck out in an unusual fashion. The ball was pitched inside at about knee height (still in the strike zone) and I jumped back to avoid the ball as I thought it was going to hit my knees. For some reason, I decided to swing and it came out as a golf swing with me in mid-air. It was an unusual strike out and an example of how the left and right hemispheres of the brain are sometimes talking at cross purposes.

Anyway, on the morning of the 26th of July, I boarded a flight in Sydney, bound for the "city" of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory (NT). The NT is a vast tract of land that is administered in a way similar to that of Canada's territories, with the federal government having a greater say in the laws of the territory. The NT holds about 1% of Australia's population, about 200 000, and spreads it over an area equal to about 20% of Australia's total. Needless to say, the NT is sparsely populated but that sense of remoteness only adds to its beauty. Alice Springs, colloquially called "The Alice", is the probably the 2nd largest settlement in the Territory after Darwin, with a population of about 9 000. It began as a repeater station on the Overland Telegraph Line and serves as a staging area for tourists who wish to go north to Darwin or west to Uluru/Ayers Rock and/or Kata Tjuta/The Olgas.

I arrived in Alice Springs about midday and was picked up at the airport by a bus from the hostel where I was staying. We drove into town and were dropped off at the hostel where I quickly dropped my stuff off and then made my way to the travel desk to reconfirm my tour as instructed. I walked outside and onto the streets of The Alice intrigued by what the town had to offer. Because of its size, there really isn't that much to do in Alice Springs but there are a few sights. In the center of the city there is the Todd Street Mall which is a pedestrian way, much like Sparks Street in Ottawa, with restaurants and shops. Along the way noticed a pole pointed to several different cities in the world.

One of the feature attractions in Alice Springs is ANZAC Hill which is a war memorial located atop a hill which commands an excellent view of Alice Springs and the surrounding area. I hiked up the small hill and I snapped a few photos of the memorial as well as the surrounding countryside. There are several tall hills that surround Alice Springs and on one of them, snow even fell one day in winter. The one thing you notice in Alice Springs is how much green vegetation there is mixed in with the surrounding red soil. Some might have the impression that the interior of Australia is desert and while there are true deserts in Australia, it is more accurate to describe this part of the NT as an arid savanna.

I walked down ANZAC Hill and found some lunch at a local pub and kept walking around The Alice but there wasn't much else to see. Eventually, I made my way back to the hostel and went to sleep early that night as my tour began at about 06:00 the next morning. This is because the distances that need to be covered in any one day are quite large, given the itinerary that is presented; to see everything there is to see you need to get up early. The nights in Alice Springs are cold while the days are quite hot because the city is located in the center of the Australian continent (almost literally). The high that day was probably around 25C with the night low around 5C but I am told that it can, and does, drop below freezing during the winter nights.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday155.blogspot.com/

July 23rd, Australia Day 152

2005-07-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

This week has been filled with some interesting occurrences, not the least of which has been the weather. Approaching the end of July in Australia is supposed to be the equivalent of approaching the end of January in Canada, but it really doesn't feel like it. For example, today the temperature was close to 25C, at least it felt that way, and I don't think this is any kind of winter. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if it's not below 0C, it's not winter. To put it more harshly, I spit on this mockery the Aussies have the nerve to call winter. To be fair though, the weather people have been saying that this is unseasonably warm. It would actually be tolerable if it was warm at night, but the temperature plummets to less than 10C and it begins to feel chilly and I can't say I approve.

Now, as for the events of the last week, on Tuesday I reached a personal milestone by scoring my first century (100 runs) in cricket. As last week, we were playing with indoor cricket rules (refer to my last post if you don't remember the rules), and in the full 5 overs I managed to score 101 runs. There was a slight difference in that we were playing a 3 person game, where 1 person bowls, another person bats and the third doubles as a fielder and an umpire. We ended up playing 2 or 3 games of this type of round-robin and I remember I was off my form for the first one, missing balls, popping them into the air, etc. The second game was where I scored my ton, thus winning that round robin. Actually, our hapless third man (I was playing with my acquaintance as before), ended all of his games in the negative score which is possible in indoor cricket.

On Wednesday, at the Wynyard Hotel Pub Trivia Night, I had a happy coincidence. For the last round, much to my chagrin, the teams were supposed to name the songs and the artists who sang them being played on a CD, and they were "all" boy bands. I say "all", because some of them like The Jackson 5 and The Temptations and even The Monkees were not really boy bands. There were some classical ones though like The New Kids on the Block, The Backstreet Boys, Take That and NSync (no 98 Degrees however). Anyway, a Scottish man sat next to me, out of pity, and helped me out just enough so that I finished 2nd last, thus getting a bottle of wine. Since I don't drink alcohol, I offered it to him and he was quite appreciative. We talked for a bit and it turns out that he lives in a town between Edinburgh and Glasgow and his father is Ukrainian. His father fled from Eastern Ukraine in World War 2 and ended up in this town in Scotland where he worked as a labourer and I think a machinist. Whatever the case may be, the man's father still lives in that town and is a well-respected individual. I thought it was amusing to hear a Ukrainian talking with a thick Scottish accent. Actually, the man who helped me doesn't speak Ukrainian, although he could as a child, because his mother is Scottish and they spoke English at home.

Thursday and Friday turned out to be fairly uneventful days. On Thursday, I continued my training with the AFL Umpires down at Reg Bartley Oval in Rushcutter's Bay. To get there, I take a train to the Kings Cross station and then walk the rest of the way, another 10 minutes. Kings Cross is a famous part of Sydney and is that city's Red Light District. I've passed through as small part of it and it seems quiet enough, although there are many neon signs. There is also a constant police presence in the area and the cops are out there with drug dogs for good measure.

It should be mentioned that the New South Wales Police Force was the first law enforcement agency in the world to accept women as constables, doing so in 1915. At the beginning, women had to be content with essentially traffic duty and they had to leave the force upon marrying up until the 1960s or 1970s. Now, though, they have full equality of opportunity and pay in the Police Department and take on all of the same and often dangerous roles as their male counterparts. As an aside, in Australia, there are no such things as local police forces, with each state supplying the cops. In other words, there is no Sydney city police service, only the New South Wales Police; this would be analogous to Ottawa, Toronto or any other place in Ontario having no police force and the whole province policed by the O.P.P. There is a national police force in Australia, known as the Australian Federal Police, I think, and I believe that they have similar duties as the R.C.M.P. As well, Australia is home to the oldest mounted police unit in the world, known, I believe, as the Royal Australian Mounted Police (R.A.M.P.).

There will be no update next week as I will be traveling through Australia's Red Center and I will be unable to post updates. On Tuesday, I fly out to Alice Springs, a town in the center (almost literally) of Australia, and then on to Darwin. The whole tour will take about 9 days but I will be gone a bit longer as I have to arrive the day before and fly out the day after. I am really looking forward to this as I will see many landmarks, such as Uluru/Ayers Rock and the back country which I consider to be the "real" Australia.

July 17th, Australia Day 146

2005-07-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that one of the signs that you have been in Australia too long is that the sport of cricket becomes entertaining and begins to make some sense. At this moment Australia is playing England in England in the Ashes Cup tour and I have found myself watching the game with anticipation. Prior to arriving in Australia I knew of the sport of cricket but I couldn't really grasp the rules and it seemed to be a bizarre sport to say the least but like all things, once you immerse yourself in it, you realize that it really isn't all that complicated.

In cricket, one team bats and the other team defends at any one time. Every time a team goes to bat it's called an "innings" and depending on the type of tournament, a team can have up to 2 innings. When batting there are always 2 players from the batting team together, called a "partnership" and they are the ones who score runs. The batters, called "batsmen" stand in front of a "wicket" which consists of 3 vertical poles called "stumps" on between which rest 2 horizontal sticks called "bales" on either end of a short ground known as the "pitch". The object of the batsman is to protect the wicket otherwise he will be out. When the ball is thrown at the batsman, he endeavours to hit it with the bat, in any direction. If the ball is hit and rolls to the edge of the ground, called the "boundary", then 4 runs are given to the batting team and if the ball clears the boundary from the air, then 6 runs are given. Whenever the ball is hit, a batsman may choose to run and score runs. Both batsmen in the partnership must make it across a line, called the "crease" in front of the wickets before the ball hits the wicket in order to score a run. In any one innings, a team is allowed to field 11 batsmen.

The defending team consists of 11 players on the field placed in any manner that the captain desires. They are placed strategically for each batsman in order to maximize the opportunity to stop or catch the ball, thus preventing runs. The person who throws the ball is known as the "bowler" and he runs up and bowls to one batsman at a time. He must take care that when he bowls his foot does not cross the crease on his end or the umpires will rule it a "no-ball" and a run is awarded to the batting team; the same thing would happen if the bowler bowls a wild ball. The defending team tries to get batsmen out and as soon as 10 batsmen are "dismissed", then the innings is over. There are 10 ways to get a batsmen out but I will only list the more common ones, which are the ones I have seen. If the bowler bowls a ball, the batsman misses and it hits the wicket, then the batsman has been "bowled out". Given the same scenario but the ball hits the batsman's leg instead of the bat or the wicket, then he can be called out on a "leg before wicket" or "lbw". In this case the umpire would decide if the ball had not hit the batsman's leg, would it have hit the wicket and if he decides that it would have, then the batsman will be called out. The third way is for a batsman to be "caught out" which is if he hits the ball and a fielder catches it without letting it touch the ground. The last common way is for a player to be "run out" which is when the ball hits the wicket they are running to before they reach it. Whenever a batsman is dismissed you will see the defending team celebrating like crazy. This is because unlike in baseball, once a batsman is out, they can no longer bat for the remainder of that innings. Add to that, in baseball any one player is worth only 1 run but in cricket, there is no limit to how many runs any one batsman can score and getting 200 runs while rare, is not unheard of. When a batsman scores 100 runs in a single time at bat, it is called a "century" or a "ton".

Depending on the tournament, the style of play varies. The most famous tournaments are those that last 5 days and are called "tests" where each team is allowed 2 innings; in the past games went on even longer and the longest in history lasted 11 days. The innings will only end if 10 batsmen are dismissed or if the captain of the batting team calls the innings over. More popular now are the "limited overs" games which take all day to play, or maybe even only a few hours. Each over consists of 6 "balls" (legal throws from the bowler to the batsman) and recently there have been 50 overs games as well as a new 20 overs game called "20/20". The object, is to score more runs than your opponent by the time your innings is over. If you bat first, you try to get as many runs as possible but if you bat second, then the object is for you to outdo the other team by at least 1 run in order to win.

All this was a lead up to something that happened to me on Tuesday; I won my first cricket game. That day I actually played 2 games, the second was a rematch, with an acquaintance of mine who plays cricket for a local team. This was a 1-on-1 game with some unusual rules but we decided to play a 5 overs game with what I call "safe balls". The first 2 balls of any over are "safe", you can't get on them but the next 4 are "danger balls" (another one of my terms) and with them you can get dismissed. I bowled first and I thought I got him on an lbw on the fifth ball of the first over when my opponent had just 17 runs. I thought his leg was in front of the right side of the garbage can we were using as a wicket and after some arguing I allowed him to continue; he ended up scoring 72 runs by the end of the fifth over. When it was my turn to bat I made a great showing getting 38 runs by half way through the second over and I was well on my way to winning when I knocked the tennis ball we were using too high and not far enough and I was caught out.

After that game had ended, my acquaintance suggested a rematch using different rules and only 3 overs. The rules, known as "indoor" cricket rules, say that the full 3 overs must be played and anytime someone is out, then the batting team loses 5 runs and the safe ball rule was also done away with. I agreed and again bowled first. I managed to get him out 3 or 4 times, leaving him with only 10 runs by the end of the third over. I then went to bat and had 43 runs with 1 ball left in the second over; if I scored any runs, I would win the game, but if I got an out then I would have to continue. He bowled and I got a 6 run shot, thus insuring my victory, 49-10. Although I've lost a number of games to him, I look forward to playing again.

Other than that, not much has happened in Sydney other than another baseball game on Saturday. I had an average game with a ground out to third and then a walk. While my batting average is not so good, my on-base average remains high. With that ground out to third, I almost got a single but the ball beat me to first by a step or two. Actually from first base, after my walk, I eventually made it home on a hit but our team still lost 12-7 even though we led 7-6 going into the last inning. We had been down 6-4 going into our last at-bat but we pulled off a great comeback but then so did the other team; my quest for a victory continues.

July 10th, Australia Day 139

2005-07-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

The most interesting thing this week was on Wednesday when the New South Wales Blues faced off against the Queensland Maroons in the deciding match of the State of Origin series. The two teams faced off at SunCorp Stadium in Brisbane but the home team was soundly beaten. I went to the pub downtown where I usually play trivia to watch the game and it was pretty exciting. The final score was 32-10 in favour of the Blues and it marks only the second time that a team has come back from 1 game down to win the series 2 games to 1.

This Friday was an interesting day as it was the day I had to move out of my apartment. My lease was up on the 8th but luckily some friends offered me use of their spare room for as long as was necessary. I moved all of my stuff in several trips and I am now completely settled in.

This Saturday was another interesting day with footy and baseball. Although the last 2 games had been canceled due to inclement weather, this last baseball game went forward as planned. There was a 5-minute rain delay at one point but it cleared up quickly and the game was allowed to continue. A member of the opposing team hit a foul ball which broke the driver-side window of a parked car. During the rain delay I went to see the "crime scene" and it was quite amusing. The ball had made a hole through the window, causing radial fractures in all directions, there was a bit of glass on the inside, and the baseball was sitting comfortably in the passenger's seat. Our team continued its losing streak and we lost 10-5 but it was a good game nonetheless. It was an average game for me, personally, as I went 0-for-2 that game. My first at-bat, I struck out but the second time I was walked. Although my hitting average has gone down, my on base average remains elevated. Actually I didn't get very far as I got on base with 2 outs and the next batter hit a ground ball to the short-stop who promptly threw the ball to 2nd Base. I guess you can't win them all, but I'd be happy with just winning some.

Later that I day I went to see the Sydney Swans take on the Geelong Cats at the S.C.G. in a night game. The Cats were 3rd on the ladder and the Swans were about 6th after a heartbreaking 1 point loss to the Richmond Tigers the previous week. The Swans managed to pull off a great victory winning 105-51, having scored 9 goals in the 2nd Quarter. Geelong never really recovered from that blow and the Swans are now sitting in about 3rd or 4th place. So far, the Swans have not lost a single game of theirs I have been to but I don't know if I'll be able to attend any more games.

On the subject of AFL, this Thursday I had my first training day with the real umpires of the AFL. Many of those there were shocked that there was actually someone who wanted to become a goal umpire. During the Sydney-Geelong game, I found myself thinking that the umpires are the only team that is booed by both sides. In any event, I trained with the AFL umpires and it looks as though I'll be able to get some measure of work in the near future.

Also, I encourage everyone to look up AFL Canada on the web as there is a large footy league there. Although primarily centered around Toronto, there are teams out west in Calgary and Vancouver as well as a few other places. In August, I am planning on taking a trip to Melbourne to visit some family friends but also I hope to see the Canada Northwind AFL team play in the International Cup down there. There are teams from Ireland, Sweden, Spain as well as a few other far off lands. AFL is much more popular around the world than one would think and even many Aussies realize. If I ever get the chance, I will try to set up a footy team in Ottawa.

I think that perhaps I have been in Australia a bit too long as I am showing symptoms of Aussieness. A few days ago I called the man in Sydney responsible for AFL Goal Umpires and when he answered the phone, my first greeting to him was "G'Day". I think I tried to say "Good Day" but the words got slurred. Another symptom is that the game of cricket is finally beginning to make sense and is turning out to be entertaining. Canada is the only member of the Commonwealth that I can think of where cricket is essentially a non-sport; in every other country it is one of, if not the, dominant sport of the land (India, Pakistan, West Indies, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc). There was a Canadian cricket player who played with Australia some years ago and he was pretty good, so I'm told; I'll leave the explanation of the rules until the next post.

One more thing, before I go, I've noticed about Australians are not shy about voicing their displeasure at sporting events using, as Captain Kirk put it, colourful metaphors. It seems to be ingrained in the Aussie sense of humour that when the referee or the umpire makes a call that you are not satisfied with, you let them know it in the strongest possible terms. The same is true for players, plays and other aspects of the game. This also carries over into normal life and when displeased at someone or something, Australians make their feelings known using as many colourful metaphors as often and as colourfully as possible.

July 2nd, Australia Day 131

2005-07-02T22:47:00.000-07:00

This week has been pretty inactive though it was not intended to be so. I hope everyone had a pleasant Canada Day and enjoyed the long weekend. Down here, it appears as though Canada Day is not as big a celebration as it could be. Remember, that here it is winter and while not cold, the temperatures are not what they were when I arrived.

I say that this week has been inactive because I have been unable to play any sports due to the inclement weather that has arrived in New South Wales. I am reminded of an old saying warning those who wish for things that they should be careful. In eastern Australia there has been a near-drought and many wished that rain would come to replenish the land and refill the depleted reservoirs that supply Sydney. About a week ago, a system moved through the area that gave many exactly what they wanted, rain, but it gave them a lot. In northern eastern New South Wales, especially around the town of Lismore, there were flood conditions. The town was saved by a new levee but the outlying areas were declared a Natural Disaster Area by the Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr. This entitles the people in the area to compensation for losses incurred by the flood. The drought is over, but not without cost.

With respect to Canada Day, I did nothing of great significance. I hung a large Canadian flag that I brought with me in the window of my apartment and I wore a t-shirt that I have which has stylized representations of the Canadian flag on it as well as "Canada" written across it in big, black letters. I also wore a pin that I have of the Canadian and Australian flags crossed. On the night of the 1st, I went to try and find a Canadian pub that I had heard was in The Rocks area in downtown Sydney, but I didn't manage to find it. Instead, I just found a pub and had a burger and coke to celebrate my homeland's birthday. I trust that the celebrations in Ottawa went ahead as planned and without incident. This marks only the 3rd time that I have celebrated Canada Day outside of Ottawa, and the first time outside Canada. The first time was in 1997 in Drumheller, AB, and the second time was in 1998 in South Bolton, QC. Come to think of it, this is the first time I celebrated Canada Day in the southern hemisphere and, therefore, in winter (as it should be).

I still cannot believe how pleasant the weather is in Sydney, even in winter. July is supposed to be the equivalent of January in the northern hemisphere but in Sydney, there is no indication that this is wintertime. The daytime highs are consistently at or around 20C and snow is non-existent except in the mountains. I don't expect to see any snow but if I do it will be a welcome sight.

June 25th, Australia Day 124

2005-06-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

This week has had its fair share of excitement, not the least of which has come in the last few hours. In the scholastic world, I have completed my exams and today I saw a nail-biter of an AFL game. I also happened to see a friend, completely by coincidence, in a crowd of thousands while waiting to board a train.

Over last weekend, I had another game of baseball where I didn't do too badly, going 1 for 2 for the game. My first at-bat, I struck out swinging and on my next at-bat I managed a double. I got as far as 3rd base before the 3rd out was made. After some brief calculations, my on base average has fallen slightly to 0.714, coming as a result of 5 times on base from 7 at-bats. I'm not entirely sure of my actual batting average since I don't know how beans are counted (this is a very strange sentence). Depending on how they are scored, if they count as a hit, don't count as a hit, or don't count as an at-bat, my actual average could range from 0.429 to 0.500 which I think is still pretty respectable.

I had my last 2 exams on Monday and Friday this week and I think I did very well in both of them. The first exam was for Ancient Greek Religion and the second one was for Solid Earth Geophysics. The exams were straight forward and there was no mathematics required for either test. I feel confident that I have done well in all my subjects this year and my last real challenge now is to complete my Honours Thesis.

Today, to celebrate the last exam of my degree, I treated myself to the AFL game between the Sydney Swans and the Collingwood Magpies. It was held at Telstra Stadium to a crowd of over 44 000 and anyone with a weak heart should have been recommended against watching it. It went down to the final siren with the "Swannies" just barely managing to hold on to a 1 point victory over the "Pies"; the final score was Sydney 77, Collingwood 76. At times it seemed as though the Magpies might be able to pull off a victory but in the end, Sydney hung on. This places Sydney in the 5th position on the ladder, the top 8 go on to the playoffs, an leaves Collingwood lounging around the #12 spot. Collingwood started out the season at the bottom of the ladder but they have managed to slightly pry themselves out of it. Actually, they are the only team to have defeated the 1st place West Coast Eagles and they did so while they were in last place.

After the game had concluded I was going to the train station at the Olympic Park when I spotted my friend Alexandra as she was in the line ahead of me. Of all the places to meet, in the throngs of thousands, somehow we managed to pick the same line. We chatted briefly as she had to make her way onto the train but she told me that this was the first AFL game she had ever been to. I thought to myself that this happened to be quite the game for an initiation into AFL. I have no doubt that this will go down as one of the greatest matches between Sydney and Collingwood ever.

This has been my week in review, and there are still a few more to come in Australia. I'm getting ready to celebrate Canada Day down here though I'm still not sure how. I also tried my hand at writing a novel, and I even got as far as the first line, "It was the best of times, it was the blorst of times", before I decided to give up.

June 18th, Australia Day 117

2005-06-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

Another week in Australia has come and gone but this one has been filled with a little more stress than the others. Exam season has begun and I had my first exam on Friday. I think I did reasonably well and I am fairly confident with regards to my next exam. This coming week contains 2 more exams as well as a paper so I will have to work more diligently than usual to obtain good results.

In one of my previous posts I neglected to mention the great hospitality I received at the home of my mother's dentist's friends. I had meant to contact them much earlier in my time in Australia but I never got the chance to. A few weeks ago I called them up and they invited me over to their house for dinner one night. It turned out that many friends of the family were also invited and the conversations over dinner were quite stimulating. The wife of my mother's dentist's friend is Polish and she had invited some friends who had arrived from Poland as well as some of her local Polish friends and family. I had a delightful time and I hope to see them again soon.

After dinner, the conversation turned towards the contributions of Polish explorers to the Australian landscape. One famous explorer was a man named Strzelecki (shche-LETS-kee) and there is a small desert named after him. Also, Australia's highest peak is named after a Polish hero, although he was also part Belarussian. Equally interestingly, if you heard how Australians pronounce the name, you would never guess that it was named after a Pole. When I first saw the name Mount Kosciusko, elevation 2 229 meters, I thought that it was an aborigine name and I pronounced it "koss-kee-OOSS-koh". When I showed the landmark to my father he said that it should be pronounced "koss-TSYUSH-koh" and that it was named after a famous Polish hero. It turns out, that my original pronunciation is closer to the Aussie one, who pronounce it "kawh-zee-AWSS-koh". The mountain is named after Tadeusz Koszciusko (tah-DEH-oosh koss-TSYUSH-koh) who was a Polish patriot who fought in the American Revolution on the side of the Americans. He also campaigned vehemently for the independence of his homeland.

My father also told me about a river that is apparently named after a Ukrainian nobleman. About 300 kilometers north of Sydney there is a river named the Macleay River and at first glance it would appear to be like any typical Scottish name. However, the first clue that something is up is that it is pronounced "mahk-LAYE" and not "mahk-LEY". If it were to be correctly spelled, it should be spelled Maklay but my mother's dentist's friend said that in Australia, the man is generally regarded as Russian but in days past, the distinction between Ukrainian and Russian, as well as other nationalities, was not always made.

The most interesting thing that I saw this week was the National Rugby League State of Origin Game 2. It was held at Telstra Stadium, once known as Stadium Australia, that was the main venue for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, to a near sellout crowd of 82 389. The State of Origin series was begun in 1980 and is generally regarded as the Stanley Cup of Rugby League. Each year, the best players in the NRL are selected to play for either Queensland or New South Wales, depending on where they began playing Rugby League professionally; hence the name State of Origin. There are 3 games in the series, held 3 weeks apart and the state that wins 2 games is said to have won the series. This year the games were arranged Brisbane-Sydney-Brisbane, but next year it will be reversed. NSW wears sky blue jerseys while QLD dons maroon ones and each team is named after their respective colours. While I prefer maroon as a colour to sky blue, I felt it would be safer if I cheered NSW. By a total coincidence, before I left for Australia, a friend of the family had given me a quick drying blue shirt as a present and it came in handy for this occasion. The atmosphere was electric and NSW managed to secure a 32-22 victory.

I am looking forward to watching Game 3 of the State of Origin series but I am less enthusiastic about my Honours Thesis.

Photos are now available at: http://stateoforigin.blogspot.com/

June 12th, Australia Day 111

2005-06-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well, another week has come and gone in Australia, and everywhere else I suppose. Perhaps thankfully, it has been another uneventful time here with only 1 thing of great significance occurring. The coming weeks will be slightly more hectic as exams come up but I am confident in my abilities to handle both the pressure, and the exams.

Firstly, the most important thing this week happened this Thursday and I didn't even realize it until the event was upon me. That day, I had my last lectured classes of my 4-year Honours degree with a quick exam review in my Ancient Greek Religion class. I didn't even realize that this was my last class of my current degree until I was already inside the room. Following that, I had a tutorial which ran from 16:00-17:00 and thus, without much ceremony, my last classes passed. I'm still not out of the woods yet, though, as I have a few more papers, some exams and my Honours Thesis to complete before I truly earn my sheepskin but that will be over soon enough.

I suppose now would be as good a time as any to explain some more quirks about Australia. This is the only place in the world I can think of where major professional sports leagues are confined almost exclusively to 1 city. In the case of the AFL, my favourite Australian sport, it is Melbourne with 10 of the 16 league teams residing in that city of 3.5 million. When AFL was only to be found in the state of Victoria, as it was until the 1980s, it was known as the VFL and it had 12 teams. Of those, 11 were in Melbourne with the lone outsider club being the Geelong Cats of the city of Geelong, about 100 kilometers west of Melbourne. Then 1 team moved out of Melbourne and went to Sydney and thus the South Melbourne Swans became the Sydney Swans. From what I'm told, the denizens of Victoria barely acknowledge the existence of the other sport of which I wish to speak, rugby.

In Australia, there are 2 forms of rugby, League and Union. Rugby Union is the one that is globally more popular and you just have to watch the Australian National team, the Wallabies, or the New Zealand All Blacks to figure out the rules. Lisgar Collegiate, my former high school, had, and I assume still has, a rugby team and it plays Union style. The rules of League and Union are quite similar except that in League a team has a limited number of tackles before it loses the ball whereas in Union, a team can keep the ball for as long as it can hold on to it. In League play, a team has 6 tackles before it must hand over the ball to the other team but they can kick it away before that. Also, League fields are marked off in a similar style to football. The Rugby League is to be found almost exclusively in Sydney but there are teams from outside New South Wales, although the situation is similar to the AFL with respect to Melbourne. Sydney is a city of about 4.5 million and most of its suburbs have a Rugby League team. I am also told that there is a class distinction between the types of play with lower to middle class people preferring League and upper class citizens preferring Union. If you have trouble remembering this, just thing L=League and Lower Class, U=Union and Upper Class.

Finally, let me recount 2 yarns that the Aussies like to spin to tourists about their native fauna. They say that this works particularly well on those Americans who are ignorant of the continent when they arrive. Most people in North America hear that Australia is home to the deadliest snakes and spiders in the world, which is true, and so the Australians have capitalized on this momentum and added 2 new species to their wildlife. The first, is the dreaded Drop Bear which lives in trees. It is supposed to be a larger and more ferocious version of the koala and it hangs ever so silently in the trees until in pounces by dropping on the unsuspecting victims below. Recently, a commercial for Bundaberg Rum, a native brewing company whose symbol is a Polar Bear for some reason, used this as a theme for one of its commercials. The second deadly critter is the very venomous and wily Hoop Snake. The idea is that if you are being chased by a snake, you should run down an incline as snakes have trouble negotiating unlevel terrain. The Hoop Snake, however, has adapted so that it bites its own tail, creating a wheel, and then it rolls down the hill after you. Both of these stories gave me a good laugh when I heard them. Being already well versed in Australian fauna, and Canadian, I knew the stories were fiction but good nonetheless.

June 5th, Australia Day 104

2005-06-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

It is not easy to try an summarize the events of an entire month in one post but I shall have to try. Luckily, not much of truly great importance has happened this month as school work dominated the agenda, mostly. I did have some adventures though and I did get a chance to get out of the city.

At the beginning of the month I had a chance to travel north of Sydney to the suburb of Newcastle. It lies 160 km from Sydney along what I believe is called the "Central Coast". The eastern side of Australia is divided up into several "Coasts" with everything south of Sydney being the South Coast, between Sydney and the border of Queensland, the Central Coast, between that border and Brisbane, the Gold Coast (a popular tourist location) and north of Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast. The Gold Coast in Australia is much like Florida in North America, where students go for their mid-winter breaks. North of Brisbane, towards places like Rockhampton and the perennially popular Cairns, you get into tropical climates.

In any event, being a suburb of Sydney, Newcastle is serviced by the Sydney train system, called CityRail and the ticket was quite inexpensive, something like $6.80. It turns out it is actually cheaper for me to travel 160 km to Newcastle than it is for me to travel about 30 km by train to the airport. It turns out that the airport line is privately owned and thus is more expensive. The ride to Newcastle was uneventful and quiet and upon my arrival I was met by the son and daughter of one of my mother's friends. My mother met this man when she was traveling in Poland in the 1970s and managed to get in contact with him again when she found out I was traveling to Australia.

My time in Newcastle was quite pleasant as I was able to stay overnight. It was the weekend of May 1st, so I was not bound by school to return right away. The night I stayed over, I was treated to an excellent dinner of chicken and other assorted goodies. The next morning, I was taken up a mountain to get a good view of the surrounding area and then it was off to a sort of zoo. It's actually more like a wildlife preserve but I got to see koalas, wombats, kangaroos, wallabies and several species of birds. I was then given a quick tour of Newcastle, which, like its namesake in the U.K., is an important port and serves in that capacity for Sydney. I returned home that evening by train.

I have begun volunteering as a goal umpire for Macquarie University's AFL team, known as the Kookaburras, or simply Kookas, for short. The goal umpire, is the guy behind the goal posts in an AFL game who signals if a goal or a behind has been scored. I think it is one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had and I am enjoying it immensely. Apparently, I have developed something of a reputation for professionalism as I use proper hand and flag signals while most other umpires do not; at least that's what I'm told. On the other sports front, I have begun playing baseball with Macquarie University and before anyone asks, there are no assigned positions. For example, my first 2 games, I played left field, while today I played right field. I prefer to be in the infield, shortstop being my favourite position (like the great Cal Ripken Jr.) but I've been doing O.K. in the outfield. I seem to be somewhat injury prone, as I got hurt, not seriously of course, in my first 2 games. In my second at-bat in my first game, I was beaned, the only batter that game, but the ball merely grazed my thigh and while it stung for a minute, I quickly recovered. 2 games ago, I was sliding into third when I cut my arm, so to speak. The ground is not as sandy as it could be, it is a combination of sand and gravel, and it turns out my arm was too low to the ground. I took some skin off just below the elbow, but that has quickly healed, and in case you're wondering, I was safe at third. My on base average is 0.800, as in 5 at-bats I have gotten on base 4 times; 2 singles, 1 walk, 1 bean but I struck out once.

The rest of May has been taken up with school work and an AFL game or 2 in my spare time. This is the month when many papers were due and I had to quickly organize my thoughts into coherent sentences but I think I have performed well. Trivia is going well and while I have not met with much success at the Wynyard in the city, which is not to say I have not had any success, I have been quite fortunate at the trivia at the SAM Bar on campus. I have latched on to a knowledgeable team and our performances to date have been stellar.

Beyond what has been mentioned, I cannot think of anything else of importance worth writing about. My 100th day in Australia, turned out to be Wednesday, June 1st, and I celebrated by going to the cinema to see "Kingdom of Heaven"; not a bad movie. I have come to the realization that the school year is rapidly drawing to a close as is my time down under.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday104.blogspot.com/

April 29th, New Zealand Day 14/Australia Day 57

2005-05-15T00:40:00.000-07:00

Of this day, there is little to report. I took a shuttle to the airport where I boarded the plane back to Sydney. While in the terminal, I took a photo of a plane used by a woman in the first flight from the U.K. to New Zealand, I think. I left the shores of Aotearoa feeling that I had had a great adventure, one I hope to repeat sometime in the future. If I can, I must find my way back to this land again. I look forward to once more seeing the majestic snow-capped Southern Alps as they rise from the sea and the long white clouds that gave the land its name.

In retrospect, I did not see as many of The Lord of the Rings sites as I may have wanted to, but that was because the tour I partook in was not designed for that purpose. I feel as though my time in New Zealand was just a quick overview of Middle-Earth, just an appetizer. When I return, make my way there and back again, I will be sure to see for myself all, or as many as is reasonably possible, of the sites used to make that epic of a film.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday14-australiaday57.blogspot.com

April 28th, New Zealand Day 13

2005-05-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning know full well that my time in Aotearoa had drawn to a close. I had seen and done some amazing things but now had come the time to part this land. There were those on the tour who were continuing on to the Bay of Islands further north for another 2 days but sadly, I was not among them.

We left Rotorua and were driven to the hamlet of Waitomo (wahy-TOH-moh) which only exists because of the nearby caves which attract tourists. I did not go spelunking (caving) but I did go horseback riding in the country side. In the nearby town of Matamata (MAH-tah-MAH-tah) is where Hobbiton was filmed and it is the only set from the movie still in place. The Waitomo countryside on the other hand was used for filming the scenes at the Weathertop, the ruins where the Hobbits are attacked by the Nazgul and Aragorn beats them off. The riding was very good and I took some pictures of the interesting limestone formations along the way. I imagine the countryside is very similar to that of Ireland, also underlain by a large slab of limestone.

After leaving Waitomo, we made our way to the city of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city with about 1 million inhabitants. It is known as the City of Sails because it is such an important port. It was the capital of the colony until 1865 when the seat of power was moved to Wellington. Just before we arrived in Auckland, we passed through the town of Ngaruawahia (NGAH-roo-ah-wah-hee-ah), the Maori capital. There is a large mansion there where the Queen of the Maori lives and although she has no official power, she is often consulted on national issues.

Approaching Auckland we saw the Skytower, the tallest building in New Zealand. We also had an appreciable view of 1 Tree Hill, just outside the city. For those U2 fans out there, this is the same 1 Tree Hill as in the song of the same name. A Maori friend of the band's was killed in a road accident and U2 wrote a song in his memory. Although it has no tree on it now, 1 Tree Hill did once have 1 tree on it. It was planted by a Maori chief as a symbol of peace between the Maori and the Europeans. Several years ago, an activist protesting what he claimed was the ignoring of Maori concerns by the government, cut down the tree and it has never been replaced. He later learned that the chief that planted the tree was his ancestor. Atop 1 Tree Hill there is a memorial dedicated to the Maori people by a European who had a great respect for them.

After arriving at Base Auckland, my hostel for the night, I wandered about the city and went to the Skytower, though not up it. They have a casino there as well as a chair bungee site nearby. You can even paraglide from the top of the Skytower if you want to. After celebrating with the group, I settled in for my last night in New Zealand. I also had an early start to the morning as my flight left at 09:00 and I had to be at the airport by 07:00.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday13.blogspot.com/

April 27th, New Zealand Day 12

2005-05-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

On this day, we were to receive an infusion of Maori culture. A 5 minute walk from our hotel took us the Maori enclave of Whakarewarewa (FAH-kah-reh-wah-reh-wah), a village as well as a living museum. Even though geysers and hot springs are the dominant geographic feature of the area, Whakarewarewa actually means something like "The Dust Raised by the Stamping of Many Feet", in honour of a battle that took place there over 200 years ago.

Our guide was an elderly, knowledgeable and entertaining Maori woman named Chris who took us through the village. She took us around the village and showed us the hot springs as well as the geysers. We then saw a Maori burial ground and because the ground there is so hot, people are buried in sarcophagi above ground. We were then taken to the performing stage where I was called up to demonstrate a traditional Maori greeting. The Maori say Kia Ora, sort of pronounced "kee orah", which means "good health too you". The girls then took part in a ball dance while the men took part in the haka. This war dance would have been performed by both sides at the same time before battle to intimidate the other side. 400 warriors doing this and making scary faces at the same time can be quite intimidating. Like many commanders, the Maori realized that the ideal in war was to defeat your opponent without resorting to combat. If you could force your opponent to give up without bloodshed, so much the better. After our tour concluded, we were treated to a traditional Maori lunch where certain dishes, such as the chicken, are steamed in the steam vents. After lunch I wandered the grounds of Whakarewarewa and admired the various lagoons and hot mud baths.

After that, we were guests at a Maori concert where several traditional Maori dances were performed. Among them a dance with sticks and then a proper haka. The "spear" shown was not used a s a spear at all, but primarily as a club. At the end, the warriors bulge their eyes and stick out their tongues in what is called a "pukana" (POOH-kah-nah).

Later on I was taken to see some Kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand. Because of the introduction of several animals to New Zealand, the Kiwi is endangered and some predict it could be extinct by 2015. The Kiwi is a nocturnal bird that is flightless. It is unique to New Zealand and there are 5 species of it left. It can grow to about my knees and can be quite aggressive. It uses its long beak to probe the ground for worms. It also shares much of its skeletal structure with reptiles. I could only take pictures of stuffed Kiwis as living Kiwis are very photosensitive and taking photos of them is prohibited.

The driver who took me to see the Kiwis, it was a shuttle, not the tour bus, told me that the New Zealand railroads were indeed all narrow gauge being of the size 3'6". Standard gauge railway, the type present in Canada and just about everywhere else has some bizarre distance between the rails such as just over 5', which come from the distance between Roman chariot wheels. It turns out that although New Zealand once had wide gauge railway (wider than standard), it was bought up by the government who replaced it with narrow gauge in order to make it easier to work with the hilly terrain. Unfortunately, narrow gauge does not allow trains to travel much over 80 km/h and now that they have used continuously welded ribbon rails, like on the O-Train, Kiwi trains are now restricted to something absurd like 60 km/h. Finally, for those who may have noticed "Three-Foot-Six" is also the name of one of the studios that worked on The Lord of the Rings which I though referred to the height of the Hobbits, but now I know better.

I went to sleep that night somewhat disheartened as the sunrise heralded my last day on the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday12.blogspot.com

April 26th, New Zealand Day 11

2005-05-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, the tour allowed us no more time in Wellington; I would really liked to have spent an extra day exploring the Kiwi capital, but the road was calling. Again, beginning in the morning, we set out to cover about half of the distance of the North Island to the hot spring center of Rotorua (ROH-toh-roo-ah).

I suppose it is here that I can talk of Kiwi culture, such as I observed it. From what I could see, they do not have any outlandish customs or traditions, except perhaps an unnatural attachment to their sheep. Needless to say, most jokes concerning Aotearoans involve them and their sheep. One unusual thing about New Zealand speech is that they tend to take one syllable of a word and double it. For example, our bus driver used the word "momos", or simply "mos", instead of "moments" or "brekkie-brekkie" instead of "breakfast". He also once used "kehykehys" for "kilometers". And in case anyone is wondering, New Zealanders have a distinct accent from Australians though it was hard for me to hear it on younger Kiwis. When I listen to either Sam Neill (Dr. Grant from Jurassic Park) or Lucy Lawless (Xena), both native New Zealanders, speak, I can tell straight away that they are not Australians but in younger New Zealanders, the accent has become very close to Australian. New Zealanders like Australians use the word "mate" for "friend" and "shout" to indicate that it's your turn to buy a round at the bar. Perhaps the most internationally recognizable aspect of Kiwi culture is the haka, that I mentioned before; to them, there can be no greater expression of their cultural heritage.

As we drove out of Wellington we passed an island known as Kapiti (KAH-pee-tee) Island which is the birthplace of the haka. According to the story, a Maori chief was visiting the island when some of his enemies attacked and he was forced to hide in something like a cellar. Eventually his allies fought them off and freed the hiding chief. The thankful chief then did a dance which became the haka. It also explains the origins of the first words of the dance which, translated, are, "It is Death! It is Death!/It is Life! It is Life!" as the Maori chief first thought that those freeing him were his enemies and that he would perish at their hands but then he realized that he had been saved. I think it is ironic that this intimidating war dance actually arose from an act of cowardice; but perhaps I'm being too harsh. Now, there are several types of haka, though usually with the same words, but different hand actions.

Traveling further north, we eventually found ourselves in the Tongariro National Park, home of 3 famous mountains: the eponymous Tongariro (TOHN-gah-ree-roh), Ngauruhoe (NGAW-roo-hoh-weh) and the tallest, Ruapehu (ROO-ah-peh-hoo). When I first saw it from a distance, its snowy slopes looked bizarre and I couldn't make out what it was but then I realized that it was a mountain almost completely covered in snow. Ruapehu was used as Orodruin (oh-ROH-droo-EEN), Mount Doom, in The Lord of the Rings. On this day, the clouds were low and their movements around the summit of Ruapehu really gave it a terrifying look but the other side from the one I photographed was used for the movies. Also, I felt quite at home here as there was snow right by the road. The 3 mountains I listed are all volcanoes, which are only present on the North Island. Even though the South Island is on the subduction zone between the Australian and Pacific plates, the only volcanoes are to be found on the North Island.

Continuing north we stopped at Taupo (TAW-poh), on the shores of Lake Taupo. Lake Taupo is a water-filled crater from a massive eruption many centuries ago. North of Lake Taupo, we stopped at the very impressive Aratiatia (AH-rah-tee-ah-tee-ah) Rapids.

Upon arriving in Rotorua, we where quickly escorted to a cablecar which took us to the top of a nearby mountain, which gave not only a great view of Rotorua but also we got to take 2 luge rides down a track. It is essentially go-carts, without the motors, that you control as you speed down the cement track. We concluded that activity at sunset and then proceeded to our hotel. Upon exiting the bus, it was easy to smell the sulfur in the air, caused by the hot springs in the area. After dinner, I took a few minutes on the trampoline which the hotel had at its disposal and thus ended my day.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday11.blogspot.com/

April 25th, New Zealand Day 10

2005-05-14T02:07:00.000-07:00

This day not only marked our departure from Nelson, but also our departure from the South Island. In Maori myth, the South Island was a boat of a God while the North Island represented a ray that the God had hooked. The North Island does look a little like a ray. Also, this explains why in Maori art a stylized hook is a common item. Other than flying, the only way to get from the South Island to the North Island is via a ferry which goes from Picton to Wellington and this is the path we took.

As we departed Nelson I managed to take some good pictures of the Abel Tasman with its snow-capped peaks. We then made our way to Picton on the South Island and the massive ferry that would take us across the Cook Strait which separates the islands. The ferry ride itself was very interesting as we went through 4.5 meter swells after leaving the Tory Channel. The day before, the same ferry had suffered a power failure in the Cook Strait in 9 meter swells but was guided into port successfully after regaining partial power. Here, my personal wind speed record was again broken. On the open sea there were some good views of the mountains and there was even a dolphin or two that came up along side the ferry. The entire ride took about 3 hours. Interestingly, because of the way the islands are set geographically, for the most part of the trip across the Cook Strait, the ferry is traveling south. In fact, it is entirely possible that you end up further south than where you started although the difference is quite small.

On the other side of the Cook Strait lay the city of Wellington, capital of New Zealand. As the ferry pulled in, the city reminded me of St. John's, NL or even Halifax, NS. Wellington, named after the great British general Lord Wellington who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, is the home of the studios responsible for The Lord of the Rings. As we drove through the city, Scott told us of its various aspects. There is a tunnel where 1 radio station owns the airspace and as you enter and exit it, no matter what channel you're tuned to, it changes to that station. We then summited Mt. Victoria which overlooks the city and was used for scenes of leaving the Shire as well as the scene where the Hobbits hide under a log to escape the Nazgul's detection. Also, the background to Dun Harrow, where the Rohirrim camped by the Dimholt Road, is nearby. I managed to capture the city at sunset from the top of Mount Vic, as it's called.

I was then dropped off near the Te Papa (teh PAH-pah) (Our Land) Museum in downtown Wellington. I walked around the city center and made my way to what I really wanted to see, the New Zealand Parliament. It is built in the shape of a beehive and is consequently known as The Beehive. New Zealand changed its election rules a few years ago so that now it has partly proportional representation and it is unicameral (1 chamber). It also is completely centralized in that the various districts of New Zealand do not have governments of there own, as Canadian provinces do. In the photos you'll see that it's a very interesting building. After my little romp in the city, I made my way to our motel where I retired for the night.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday10.blogspot.com

April 24th, New Zealand Day 9

2005-05-14T01:32:00.000-07:00

This day was spent entirely in Nelson and environs. The day started out somewhat chilly but warmed up considerably by lunchtime. Nelson receives more hours of sunshine than any other city in New Zealand and today was no exception. It was a good thing too because I went horseback riding this day. Most everyone else took the opportunity to visit the nearby Abel Tasman National Park, but to save money, I chose the riding option. I took some photos of the Abel Tasman and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I and another person from my tour were picked up from our hotel at about 09:00. We drove into town where we picked up another tourist and then drove out of Nelson to the stables. I think it was in Nelson that I had the best riding I have ever had. Using Australian stock saddles, English saddles with leg guards, the riding was very stable and comfortable even at higher speeds. Actually, the riding tends to smooth out when going from trot to canter, and then to gallop. While I didn't achieve a full gallop, I did end up going pretty fast. At the top of a mount, we dismounted and had a snack of biscuits and tea. I also got some great shots of the surrounding countryside and the Malborough Sounds.

After my riding, I asked to be dropped off in the city center to explore the area. Nelson's skyline is dominated by Christ Church Cathedral built on a hill overlooking the city. Originally, a fort stood there but it was demolished more than a century ago. The steeple is particularly interesting having been built in the style of the 1950s during a series of renovations for the cathedral. Nearby is "Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith" who forged all of the rings used in The Lord of the Rings. He submitted several designs in the competition and the simple design won. The ring seen spinning in the prologue was about 20 centimeters in diameter. The writing that appears when the One Ring is placed in fire was digitally added and not part of any of the rings. Unfortunately Jens Hansen died before the release of the films but his son, Thorkild, continues the business and you can even buy some replica rings in gold. If you want to look him up, Thorkild Hansen is in the Nelson phonebook.

After wandering the city center for some time, I decided to walk back to the hotel. By foot, it is about a 45 minute walk but having been in Scouts and an avid walker, this was a piece of cake. The walk is a very pleasant one along the waterfront and I had some great views of the Abel Tasman just across the bay. After dinner I ran across the road and a park to the nearby beach and I managed to get a picture of the Abel Tasman just after sunset and I think it forms a pretty picture.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday9.blogspot.com/

April 23rd, New Zealand Day 8

2005-05-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

This day was spent travelling from Christchurch to Nelson, a city on the northern side of the South Island. Most of the day, though, was spent in the coastal city of Kaikoura (kay-KOOH-rah), which means "Prawn Feeding" in Maori. To this day, the waters off Kaikoura are filled with prawns and whales because the larger mammals feed on those smaller marine animals. In this place it is also possible to swim with dolphins and go seal watching; I chose the latter option.

I, and a few other like minded people, were dropped off on the Kaikoura Peninsula, just south of the city. We were told to walk along the shoreline to get the best views of the seals but to stay 10 meters from them at all times. Seals are very friendly and playful in the water, their natural environment, but on land they can be quite aggressive. I think this is a bit unusual since a seal's natural predators, such as sharks, all live in the water. Apparently, they can be quite quick on land and I decided to carry a rock with me just in case one of the seals got belligerent.

The group I was in, about 6 of us all together, began walking along the shore, which is very similar to Canada's east coast. I took a few photographs of the mountains whose peaks had received some snowfall the night before. Anyway, myself and another guy were walking ahead of the group when all of a sudden I hear barking on my left. I turned, and there was a seal lying no more than 3 meters away from us. We slowly backed-off and then looked around and noticed that this was a seal colony. It was like walking into a minefield and there were many seals lying on the rocks in the surrounding area. We carefully negotiated the seals and made our way around the peninsula. There were several areas where seals congregated along our route but we managed to side-step them all the way and nothing ill transpired. Sometimes it was a bit more difficult because of the terrain, which has some interesting features. It would later turn out that the reason we would had to tread so close to the seals, at some points less than 2 meters, was that our tour guide had failed to take into account the tide, which had come in, and so the seals were much higher inland than normal.

We were picked up on the other side of the peninsula where we got a great view of the high Seaward Kaikoura Range. We then picked up the others from their various activities and then departed for Nelson. Along the way, we stopped and I got some pictures of another seal colony with seal pups playing in a pool of water.

We arrived in Nelson after sunset. Nelson, named in honour of the great British admiral Horatio Nelson, is also the city where New Zealand's first railway was built. Ironically, Nelson is no longer served by the main railway lines and it only has a small local railway for tourism purposes and the namesake of the city suffered from acute seasickness, though never in combat. It also has a cool Mediterranean climate which was evident by the many palm trees that grow in the area. It is also the city where Ernest Rutherford, a famous physicist and New Zealand native, spent a good deal of his life. He was actually born in the tiny town of Brightwater to the south of Nelson and educated in Havelock, another small town near Nelson. He received his highest education in the U.K., though.

Because it was so late when we got in, we were taken directly to our hotel, which sat not too far from the beach. That night, our dinners consisted of ordered pizza from a local Pizza Hut, I think. Actually, we did not stay in Nelson but in the suburb of Tahuna (tah-HOO-nah), officially called Tahunanui (tah-HOO-nah-noo-ee), to the west of the city.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday8.blogspot.com/

April 22nd, New Zealand Day 7

2005-05-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

On this day, our travels took us back through the heart of the South Island and back to Christchurch. It also signalled the end of the tour for those who had only signed up for the 6-day component. There were only a few and we would not be taking anyone else on board the tour, as sometimes happens as there is another 6-day North Island component.

The day began with trip to the tiny Lake Matheson for in its reflection you can see the peaks of New Zealand's 2 highest peaks, Aoraki/Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman. Luckily the Fates decreed that the day should be sunny and when we arrived early that morning to Lake Matheson, we were greeted by fine mist which created a nice effect. The hike to the viewing point on Lake Matheson was quite easy and when we arrived, we were treated to a spectacular view. The lake was completely still except for the occasional ripple but I still managed to get the 2 mountains and their reflections in the lake.

After leaving Lake Matheson we did not stop until we reached the town of Hokitika (HOH-kee-tee-kah) on the Tasman Sea coast. It is home to some fine jade workshops, which is fairly common on the South Island. The original European inhabitants were not aware that the green mineral found was actually jade, being of a different type than the more famous Chinese variety, and so they simply called it "greenstone" and the name has stuck in New Zealand. The Maori name for jade is "pounamu" (pohw-NAH-moo) and it is so important to them that they call the South Island "Te Pounamu", "Land of the Greenstone/Jade", in their language.

I wandered Hokitika and eventually made my way to the beach where there was a fantastic surf. A nautical term of the white foam that the waves create is called "stampeding horses" for a number of reasons. Firstly, "stampeding cows" or "stampeding chickens" just doesn't have the same ring and secondly, if you use your imagination, the foam does actually look like the manes of wild horses in full gallop. If you think back to the scene where Arwen raises the Anduin at the Fords of Bruinen to wash away the Nazgul, you should remember that the flood's leading edge foam came in the form of horses. I wonder if this is a coincidence, did Tolkien know of the term "stampeding horses" or is it just an invention of Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings, or one of his associates and did they know about the nautical expression?

After Hokitika, we drove through the Arthur's Pass, again flanked on either side by towering mountains. Eventually, as the day wore on, the familiar site of the Canterbury Plain came into view and we drove into Christchurch. We stayed at the Camelot Cathedral Hotel which is adjacent to the Base Backpackers Hostel I stayed in my first night. That evening, to toast those leaving the tour at that point, we all went out to inner at a local pub/restaurant. On the television there, I watched the All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby team play Australia. The All Blacks performed the Maori haka (HAH-kah), a war dance, that they always do before any match. There will be more on the haka later on. Unfortunately, the Kiwis lost but it was a good game nonetheless. Again we all went to sleep knowing that tomorrow meant a new day of travel and I took note of the fact that this marked the half-way point of my tour, where it was half over, but there was still half to come.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday7.blogspot.com/

April 21st, New Zealand Day 6

2005-05-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

The entirety of this day would be spent traveling to our next destination, the hamlet of Fox, population 200 with 3 taverns, close to the famous Fox Glacier. It only really exists because tourists stop there on their way to see Fox Glacier and it is also the base from which several tours depart. This includes a helicopter ride to the top of the glacier and the opportunity to walk around on it.

Our first stop along the way was Wanaka (WAH-nah-kah) on the shores of Lake Wanaka. This particular background was used for part of Gandalf's ride to Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor and the city of the White Tower. The lake's waters were almost as clear as glass and you could see right to the bottom, several meters, from a dock that jutted out from the beach. Shortly thereafter, we stopped by the spectacular Lake Hawea (hah-WEH-yah) and I took some magnificent photos of its turquoise surface. After that it was onto the Haast Pass, an opening through the mountains but flanked on either side by them and home to the Haast River.

We stopped at Thunder Creek Falls, where I took a good picture of it as well as Thunder Creek. Further down the road I managed a fairly good photo of what I think is Mt. Mcfarlane with its snow covered slopes. Then on to Knights Point where there were some interesting rock formations in the sea below. It is reminiscent of the Great Ocean Road in the Australian state of Victoria or even western California between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

We finally arrived in Fox and everyone departed for their various activities. I, and a few others, opted for a hike to the leading edge of the glacier. There were others who opted for the helihikes but that option was too rich for my blood. To get to the edge of the glacier, you walk along pebbly river banks and then through rainforest before reaching the glacier. The glaciers in New Zealand run almost to the sea which is unusual for those latitudes, about 40 degrees South. The glacier is retreating slowly but it does go through periods of advancement. The bottom is generally dirty as it has picked up all of the pebbles along its retreat but there were some patches of the clear blue-white ice which is at the glacier's summit. Looking back from the glacier, the valley it carved out is impressive.

That night, after dinner, everyone went to see some glow worms which live on tree stumps in the nearby forest. They were interesting even though it was nothing new to me. That night, we were treated to a full moon and I could clearly see that it hangs upside down in the Southern Hemisphere. We retired knowing that another day of travelling awaited us in the morning.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday6.blogspot.com/

April 20th, New Zealand Day 5

2005-05-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

This was to be our last day in Queenstown, so I decided to go out with a bang. My optional activity for the day was a 4WD tour of some of The Lord of the Rings sites around Queenstown. The tour departed at 08:30, so just after breakfast, and I was not going to return until about 12:30.

Our first stop was approaching the peaks of the Remarkables. We stopped about 75% of the way up and we were treated to a stunning view of Queenstown. The Remarkables served as the backdrop of the White Mountains in the scene where the people of Rohan are fleeing to Helm's Deep. Although not covered with snow when we went up, filming was done in autumn/winter when there is snow. The area is also a popular skiing area. Also, scenes where Aragorn is running through Dimrill Dale and the river Celebrant (KEH-leh-brahnt), also known as the Silverlode, were filmed in the Remarkables.

Looking down from the Remarkables, another hill was pointed out to us and this was Deer Park Heights were 7 scenes from The Lord of the Rings were filmed. The aforementioned flight to Helm's Deep was one of them, but also a scene with Gandalf riding to Minas Tirith, the exit of the Dimholt Road, the Paths of the Dead where the ghost army lay and the scenes with the Wargs, the wolves of Isengard, attacking the hapless party. If you go there, the place where Aragorn tumbled off the cliff is actually only about 1 meter off the ground and below it is a grassy area. The cliff was filmed in the nearby Kawarau River, our next stop.

The Kawarau River was used primarily for the site of the Argonath, the large statues on the river Anduin which marked the northern border of Gondor. The safari then proceeded to the town of Arrowtown, which is where scenes from Arwen's flight from the Nazgul (Ring Wraiths) were filmed, as well as the Gladden Fields, where Isildur met his end. The site we were led to was part of the chase scene to the Ford of Bruinen, though not the place where Arwen raised the river, that was filmed in nearby Skippers Canyon on the Shotover River. At that place we had lunch and panned for gold, and I was lucky enough to find some flakes. I now have gold from both the Great North, Yukon, and the Great South.

We were then led up to an area nearby Coronet Peak, also a famous skiing area. I noticed some interesting formations there and I snapped some photos. Also, I experienced the greatest winds to that time that I had ever experienced; I had not thought it possible to break the personal record set on the Kohala Mountain Road on Hawaii. Upon returning to Queenstown, I rested up a bit, looking forward to an interesting night out.

This night we went to a bar called Minus 5 in Queenstown. The interior is entirely made of ice and it sits at -5C, hence the name. I went with the flow and wore a coat for this venue. It reminded me very much of Winterlude in Ottawa and the stories I have heard of ice hotels in the Nordic countries. After about 30 minutes in Minus 5, we all left and returned to our hotel sorry that our time in Queenstown had ended, but I think everyone was looking forward to the days ahead.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday5.blogspot.com/

April 19th, New Zealand Day 4

2005-05-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

This day began earlier than all the others, before 06:00, and for good reason because today would be spent traveling to and from the famous Milford Sound. This is a formation created by the glaciers that once ran rampant across the landscape, molding it as they went to the sea. The west coast of the South Island is replete with these "sounds" and they are contained in Fiordland National Park. The drive to Milford Sound would take 5 hours and, ironically, it is only about 100 kilometers from Queenstown. However, because of the tall mountains surrounding Queenstown, it is impossible to build a road directly to Milford Sound so a very roundabout route must be taken. Another irony is that Milford Sound, along with the other "sounds" in the area, are not sounds at all, they are fiords. A sound is a river valley that has been filled in by the sea as sea levels rise but Milford Sound was carved out by glaciers making it a fiord like those in Norge (Norway). The original name stuck though and it has been called Milford Sound so ever since.

Our first stop was a town called Te Anau (teh ah-NAHW) for breakfast. We then quickly made our way to Milford Sound by way of the Hollyford Valley. It is an impressive feature with equally impressive winds. The day was quite miserable with rain but it created a nice effect as the clouds hugged the clouds obscuring their summits from view. We also stopped at the Mirror Lakes and then we went through the Homer Tunnel on our way to Milford Sound. Along the way we saw many streams coming down the mountains as the rain causes this phenomenon. Apparently they cease almost as soon as the rain stops.

We arrived at Milford Sound and boarded our boat for a cruise through the fiord. Unfortunately, Mitre Peak, named so because it looks like a bishop's mitre (big pointy hat), was obscured by clouds and rain but the effect of the clouds was quite nice. We could see many waterfalls in the distance.

I stayed topside most of the trip, even though it was raining, but it was really the best view of the fiord. The vessel often pulled up to various waterfalls and the captain would explain various features of the fiord over an intercom. The waterfalls which occur only after rainfall, bring material from the mountains and deposit them into the fiord. For this reason, because sunlight is filtered at shallower depths, deep water phenomena, such as black coral, are seen in shallow waters. There were also dolphins that came along side but they were too quick for my camera or I.

We traveled up and down the length of the fiord seeing spectacular things all the way, but I will let the photographs speak for themselves. We made our way back to the bus and arrived back in Queenstown shortly before dinner. Most of us were tired, or "knackered" as the Brits would say, and so after dinner was served, most everyone retired to their rooms but getting their second winds, went to a local pub soon thereafter. I followed suit in due time but I retired earlier than most because I had an early day tomorrow.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday4.blogspot.com/

April 18th, New Zealand Day 3

2005-05-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

This day began fairly early as we had a great deal of ground to cover that day. At breakfast, I managed to get a shot of the sun as its first rays made their way over the surrounding mountains. The breakfast was the standard toast, cereal and tea fare but was still delicious.

I may have mentioned earlier that I considered New Zealand to be the Canada of Oceania, and I think this way for a few reasons. Firstly, New Zealand has a small population in relation to its superficial expanse, like Canada. Secondly, it is also eclipsed by a larger neighbour, in this case Australia. When thinking of Oceania, most people first think of Australia, and then New Zealand much in the same way people view North America and Canada and the U.S. Also, the climate of New Zealand is very similar to Canada's. While Australia, for the most part, is warm even in the winter months (Sydney rarely dips below 10C), New Zealand frequently finds itself in the negative zones of the thermometer, something Canadians are very familiar with. Also, New Zealand, the South Island especially, was carved by glaciers, much like Canada. A former professor of mine, Joyce Lundberg, said that if in doubt when trying to ascertain why a land formation is the way it is in Canada, say that the ice did it and you're probably right. In this fashion, New Zealand parallels Canada. For these reasons, I felt very much at home in New Zealand and, dare I say it, I would rather live there than in Australia. Not that Australia is not a land of near incomparable beauty, but to me, New Zealand is more comfortable.

In any event, the day's travels would take us to Queenstown, a town of 15 000 on the shores of Lake Wakatipu (WAH-kah-tee-pooh), and it is called the "Adrenaline Capital of the Southern Hemisphere". Here bungee jumping was born, and there are several areas where one can ski precariously, skydive or partake in any number of thrilling activities. Lake Wakatipu is the only lake in the world with a tide and it rises and falls about 12 centimeters every 5 minutes. The cause of this phenomenon is still unknown but the Maori have a legend about it. According to myth, a giant once roamed the area around what is now Queenstown and stole women from the local Maori tribe. The chief declared that anyone who managed to get rid of the ogre would be rewarded with his daughter's hand in marriage. Only 1 warrior took the chief up on his offer and he and a few of his mates set out to deal with the giant. They found him asleep and dispatched him by setting fire to the surrounding hills melting the snow on them, and even today those mounts remain devoid of trees. Thus the giant perished with the depression caused by his sleeping body being filled in by the water of the melted snow, forming Lake Wakatipu. Lake Wakatipu does, very vaguely resemble the shape of someone lying on their side. The giant did not completely die, however, and the rising and falling of the waters of Lake Wakatipu is said to be the heartbeat of his spirit. When I heard the story, I thought that killing someone, even a giant, while they slept was a little cold and not very sporting and, by the way, the warrior and the princess lived happily ever after. But this was still several hours away and there was much to see in the meantime.

Our first rest area was the town of Cromwell, named in honour of Oliver Cromwell, the man who led a revolution against Charles I of the U.K. in mid 1600s. Charles I is the only British monarch to have ended his reign shorter than when he started; the revolutionaries had him beheaded. The area around Cromwell is windy, cold, and somewhat inhospitable and that's why the monarchists who settled there named the area after Cromwell. Actually, he is one of my favourite characters from British history. In Cromwell we stopped in a small store where most people bought fruit but I bought some ice cream. It is here that my reputation as a polar bear was established. Most people were cold and wearing many layers, while I was comfortable in t-shirts and shorts, as I would be for most of the trip. Being from an even colder climate, the temperature, about 10-15C, didn't phase me. Most found it unbelievable that I could be comfortable but when I explained my provenance, things were made clear.

Just prior to our arrival in Cromwell, we had stopped briefly at Lake Dunstan, a mad-made lake cause by the construction of a hydroelectric dam. The day was clear, the water still, so I took a photo of the mirror-like lake with the reflection of the mounts on its surface; it came out quite nicely. Although I wasn't aware of it at the time, on the other side of Lake Dunstan is where the Riddermark scenes (grassy plains and rocks) for The Lord of the Rings were filmed.

On to Queenstown we sped, arriving, if I recall correctly, before lunchtime. Our first stop was the Kawarau (kah-WHAH-rahw) River Bridge, the site of the world's first bungee jumping and still an active place for the pastime. There were some interesting rock formations as well as the Remarkables, a mountain range so named because they run perfectly north-south, but we stopped only briefly and then made our way to our hotel, a very nice one. We would stay 3 nights in Queenstown, making it the longest time we would spend in any one place. I spent the remainder of the morning wandering the town center and I purchased a book which described all of the sites used in the filming of the Lord of the Rings and it would be my constant companion throughout my journey; my Samwise Gamjee, along with an excellent map of New Zealand printed on plastic so that it can't rip and is water-proof.

Later that afternoon I went horseback riding in an area north of Queenstown near the town of Glenorchy (glen-OR-kee). Some of the horses in the group that I went in were used in The Lord of the Rings, as horses for the Rohirrim, the horse lords of Rohan. In case anyone is interested, "Rohan" comes from the Elvish word "rokko" meaning "horse". Another horse, a Clydesdale, was used in a commercial seen throughout New Zealand. Although I am by no measure and expert rider, I am not unfamiliar with horses and I have never felt uneasy when riding them. In Australia and New Zealand, though, there are subtle differences which made riding more of a challenge for me. Firstly, the saddle is English, not Western as Canadians and Americans are accustomed to. There is no pommel (horn) on the front of the saddle as well as no leg guards which makes riding a little less stable, especially at faster speeds or even on a bouncing trot. Also, the reins are held with both hands and instructions to go faster involve kicking the horses stomach/ribs. In Canada, You hold the reins in 1 hand and flick the slack from side to side in order to get the horse to proceed more quickly. It's a much more stable and safe way of riding. Finally, we were required to wear dressage helmets as it is compulsory under New Zealand law, and I do not think that the same is true in Canada.

The riding, several hours, took us through the valley of the Rees River, really a stream or creek. The area to the north, around the village of Paradise, was used for scenes of Lothlorien, the forest where Galadriel makes her home, and the nearby Dart River was used for scenes of Ithilien, where Frodo and Sam see for the first time the Mumakil, or Oliphaunts, the elephantine creatures used by the Haradrim, the Men of the South, and enemies of Gondor. The Rees River, like all such bodies of water, is marked by the channels of rocks, transported to the plains by the action of the river from the glaciers above. I managed to get some good photos of the area and even one of the Mt. Earnslaw Ice Field, which is where the scene where Frodo slips in the snow and loses the Ring was filmed.

We arrived back at the ranch around 16:00 if I remember correctly, there was a group of 5 of us, including the guide, and I was then transported back to Queenstown. My first riding in the Southern Hemisphere had been a pleasurable experience, one that I would repeat 2 more times before I left. That night, nothing of great importance transpired and I went to sleep looking forward to the day ahead.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday3.blogspot.com/

April 17th, New Zealand Day 2

2005-05-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

The tour was scheduled to begin at 08:00 this morning from Base Backpackers Christchurch, so I decided to awake early to take some photos of the central square before I left. Cathedral Square, as the name suggests, is dominated by Christ Church Cathedral, an imposing structure. There are various other buildings of interest around as well as a streetcar system that goes through the downtown area. I managed to get some hot chocolate at a Starbuck's on the square and I chatted with a former O.P.P. officer from Thunder Bay I had met the previous night. He was also doing some traveling to indulge himself in his favourite past time, fly-fishing.

As the hour of departure approached, I made my way back to the front of the hostel where a bus was parked and a crowd had gathered. Some people I recognized from the plane, university and even my bus ride the previous evening. There were 2 Japanese girls who were speaking about me behind my back on that ride wondering how I could not be cold, as I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. They apparently assumed that I could not speak the language and although it is not far from the truth, 4 years of studying Japanese in high school has yielded results. Throughout the tour I spoke with them, and a few others, sporadically in Japanese. Yet the vast majority of people, almost 40 as I recall, I had never seen before, and sadly, our paths will likely never cross once more.

The bus trip began with our tour leaders introducing themselves. Jessica (Jess/Jesse) was a native of Western Australia who had found a job as a tour guide in New Zealand. Her job took her up and down the same 15-day route for several months, never staying in the same place for very long. I have been a tour guide myself, though not for that long for any one tour, and the monotony of seeing the terrain over and over again, though I don't think I could ever tire of it, is broken only by the personalities of the groups that she leads. Behind the wheel of our bus was Scott, a native Kiwi from the northern tip of the South Island. Both of them would prove to be enjoyable people, the kind you wouldn't mind touring with for ages. We were also told that every morning, to wake us up on the bus, we would be treated to Dave Dobbyn's Slice of Heaven, not a bad song actually. Dobbyn is from New Zealand and it is a very well known song in that country. Over the next few minutes, as we left the flat Canterbury Plains and made our way into the foothills of the Alps, all of the people on board introduced themselves. I was the only Canadian but we were all a mix of several nationalities: British (the largest contingent), Irish, American, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Dutch and Australian. If you will excuse the pun, over the coming days, bonds of fellowship formed, in some cases quite strongly, among all of us.

Our route that day took us first to the town of Geraldine, home of the world's largest sweater, although the locals call it a jersey. The person who knitted it also made a recreation of the Bayeux Tapestry, the famous rug which has on it the Battle of Hastings, in the form of a mosaic. I have a photo of the sweater but time did not allow me to see the Bayeux Tapestry. Along the way, I had noticed that the railroads in New Zealand seemed smaller that usual and I asked Jess and Scott if they knew if the railroads were narrow gauge or if my eyes were just deceiving me. They didn't know the answer, and I would not learn the truth until 10 days later. The answer actually made sense of another thing I knew about New Zealand, but more on that later.

The drive after Geraldine, to our first stop of Lake Ohau (OH-hahw) was filled with spectacular scenery. The clouds gave way as we approached that mountains and we were treated to some stunning views. This day, I would take over 80 photographs, more that any other single day, and in some cases, more than many days combined. Our first rest stop was by the side of the main road where there was an amazing vista of the Southern Alps in front of us. We then proceeded to the small township as it is called, really no more than a hamlet of 400, called Lake Tekapo (TEH-kah-poh). There the water was calm and very blue. The rivers that feed into the lake are fed by the glaciers in the highlands and the water is very pure. We all then hiked up the nearby mountain of Mt. John and from there, an unspoiled 360 degree view allowed us to see the region.

Our next stop was Lake Pukaki (POOH-kah-kee), also a glacier-fed lake, but also used for the production of hydroelectricity. The dam built was quite large and the feeder pipes were equally impressive. The photos will show an area dominated by sparse grasslands, which are a result of the Maori burning the forests that were once there to hunt the now extinct moa (MOH-wah); a bird, much like an ostrich or an emu. Now, the area is grassland mainly for the ever-present sheep. Across Lake Pukaki, you could see Aoraki (AH-oh-rah-kee), the "Cloud Piercer", also known Mount Cook. This is New Zealand's highest peak, rising to an elevation of 3 754 meters. This would not be my only encounter with the Cloud Piercer.

Finally, as the day waned, we made our way to the secluded Lake Ohau, nestled in a valley beneath some high mounts. It reminded me very much of my uncle's place in Tucson, AZ, though colder and more green. We all made our way to our rooms, and then to dinner. Before I ate, I took a stroll by Lake Ohau and admired the scenery. Aoraki's peak was just visible in the distance over the surrounding mountains. Daylight gave way to night and I was treated to some of the clearest skies I have ever seen. The Southern Cross burned brightly overhead reminding me always how far I was from Canada, and yet the landscape was not all that unfamiliar. I managed to snap some sunset photos before night fell and I played ping-pong with some people before settling in for the night.

Photos are now available at: http://newzealandday2.blogspot.com/

April 16th, Australia Day 56/New Zealand Day 1

2005-05-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

This was a day for which I had been waiting for more than a month; I would begin my travels in the small south Pacific nation of New Zealand. I had been toying with the idea of traveling to the land now called Middle-Earth by some ever since I decided to study in Australia. I felt, however, that if I wanted to really experience New Zealand, I would need about 2 weeks. Luckily, Macquarie offers 2 weeks for a mid-semester break and I took full advantage of this. In the end, I chose a 12-day tour which I felt gave me a great view of New Zealand as well as getting me back in time to continue my studies.

New Zealand is a multi-island country located approximately between 34.5 and 47.5 degrees South. If put in the northern hemisphere, the country would stretch from about Atlanta, GA to Sudbury, ON, if I'm not mistaken. It is composed principally of 3 islands, the North Island, the South Island and Stewart Island, the southern most of the 3. Of all major landmasses on Earth to which humans are indigenous, New Zealand was the last to be settled. The Maori (MAH-oh-ree) completed the settlement of the islands by 1450 C.E. although myth has it the a Polynesian navigator by the name of Kupe (KOO-peh) discovered the land at about 450 C.E. However it was uncovered, it is known to the Maori as "Aotearoa" (AH-oh-teh-ah-roh-ah) which means "Land of the Long White Cloud". This refers to the clouds which the coastal mountains trap and keep for months on end. From what I was told, there are long stretches of time when the whole of New Zealand is blanketed by clouds.

Europeans arrived in the area in the 17th Century with the arrival of Dutchman Abel Tasman in 1642 on the northern part of the South Island. There is some speculation, although I do not know what the evidence is, that Europeans may have visited in 1504. In any event, Tasman named the area Neuzeeland (nuy-zey-land), after the area in Holland known as Zeeland, or "sea/lake land". Ironically, New Zealand looks nothing like Old Zeeland. For a time I thought that the land might be named after Sjaeland (shey-land), a Danish island upon which Kobenhaven/Copenhagen (KUH-ben-hah-ven) situated but the tour guide set me straight. About a century later, James Cook arrived and shortly thereafter European settlement began. In 1840, at Waitanga on the North Island, a treaty was signed between the Europeans and the Maori and it is still considered the founding document of New Zealand. New Zealand was also the first country that gave women the right to vote, doing so in 1893, 14 years before it became an independent nation. Today, New Zealand is a country of about 4 million people and about 40 million sheep, if not more.

I left Sydney in the early afternoon bound for the eastern city of Christchurch. This is the largest city on the South Island and the 2nd largest in the country. The flight across the Tasman Sea was leisurely and without incident. As the plane came across the South Island, I was treated to some spectacular views of the cloud-piercing Southern Alps. I managed to take some pretty good photos from the plane. Then, as quickly as the mountains rose, they fell away to a smooth plain. This is the famous Canterbury Plain agrarian area of New Zealand. I arrived around 17:00, New Zealand time, which is 2 hours ahead of Sydney. The sun was already beginning to set and although it was a bit nippy, I still felt comfortable in a t-shirt and shorts. I caught a bus from the airport to the City Center where my hostel was located. Cathedral Square is a pleasant place with some interesting architecture. I spent part of the night wandering the Square but I called it a fairly early night as my tour began the next morning at 08:00. Although I didn't know at the time, my trip to New Zealand would be the most memorable of my travels to date.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday56-newzealandday1.blogspot.com/

April 15th, Australia Day 55

2005-04-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

If anything, this week has been 6 days of anticipation. The start of the mid-semester break heralds my departure from Australia to a land not too far from it, yet not often thought of. New Zealand, a country of immense and immeasurable beauty I'm told. This entire week has been filled with anticipation as the date for my departure to the Maori homeland drew ever nearer, and now it is upon me.

Other than my excitement to travel to New Zealand, this week has been pretty ordinary, with a few exceptions. Other than some personal administrative work I had do complete, the week was not all that exciting until I went to trivia on Wednesday. That night at the Wynyard, I came in 2nd last which entitled me to a bottle of house wine. As I don't drink alcohol I figured I could take it home with me and have some of my apartment-mates share it between them. I then decided to ask if I could take the wine home or whether it had to be consumed on the premises. The waitress said she thought it would be alright for me to leave with it but she checked with her boss and he said, unfortunately, the wine did have to be drunk in the Wynyard. With that in mind, I gave my bottle of red wine to the team that came in 2nd and they thanked me very much. The next day, at the university bar trivia, my team conquered all in a very close match and I got $5.00 out of it.

Academically, there were some interesting moments. On Tuesday, my dramatic Ancient History professor treated the class to a 1-man, abridged version of the Ancient Greek play, Orestes; we all agree that he missed his calling by becoming a lecturer. My American History professor, on Wednesday, decided that it would be cruel and unusual to force students to come at 09:00 on the Thursday before the break and so the class and tutorial sessions were cancelled.

Now, all that's left for me to do is some final packing for New Zealand. I leave tomorrow (Saturday) and I'll be back on the 29th. After my sojourn is complete, I'll post me adventures on the blog and then resume normal weekly updates. I am very much looking forward to what lies beyond the Tasman Sea.

April 9th, Australia Day 49

2005-04-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

This last week has been somewhat interesting with a few trips outside the city. This past week, I saw a rainforest, glow worms and I even officiated some Aussie Football games. All in all, a very productive 7 days.

On Sunday, I took part in a field trip to Kangaroo Valley and the Minnamurra Rainforest National Park. The trip down took about 1.5 hours as the sites were near or in Morton National Park, near the towns of Kangaroo Valley and Moss Vale, south of Sydney. The drive down was quite scenic and we passed by Botany Bay, where the first convict settlers put down roots. It is also the name of the ship upon which Noonian Singh Khan, or simply Khan, Captain James Tiberius Kirk's arch-nemesis, and his genetically enhanced followers were placed.

To enter the rainforest pathway, you have to go through the visitor's center and the gift shop. As we went through along the pathway, we were greeted by several different species of plants. The signs told us that the rainforest here is unique because it contains many types of rainforest in a very confined space. I, along with the others, traveled along the pathway snapping photographs for some time. Although I did not see much wildlife, I did manage to get 2 pictures of the lyrebird.

After the Minnamurra Rainforest, the next stop was a pub in the village of Kangaroo Valley where we had dinner. After dinner, and already in the dark, we proceeded to a site where glow worms made their homes. These creatures live on the surface of rocks and emit a bright blue-green light at night. They are very photosensitive and apparently you can kill them, or at least harm them, by shining a bright light in their direction. Along the way, we kept an eye out for local wildlife but I didn't see anything. Some others managed to get a picture of a wombat, which is a badger-like creature with a strong skeleton. They can get run over by cars and be none the worse for wear.

The school week passed uneventfully but I did manage to fulfill at least one of my dreams while in Australia. I sent an e-mail to the Aussie Football club on campus and asked if they needed any volunteers to be goal umpires; the guys with the flags and who point fingers. To my luck, they said they did and today (Saturday), I had my first crack at it. I first officiated 2 games of children playing and then the main event where the Macquarie University Kookabarras took on the Nor'West Jets. The Kookas lost but it was fun nonetheless. Everyone said my goal umpire skills were very professional and correct. They have even sent an e-mail to the AFL to see if they need goal umpires, as I'm told they do, and, who knows, I may be doing much more of this in the future. In any event, it was a wonderful experience and one that I will no doubt repeat.

Next week, the 16th of April, I fly out to New Zealand for a tour and I'm not sure if I will be able to update my blog along the way. I will probably update it on Friday evening and then again after I return on April 29th. By May 1st there should be a summary of my adventures in Oceania's version of Canada (I'll explain this later).

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday49.blogspot.com/

April 2nd, Australia Day 42

2005-04-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

This week has been pretty uneventful, except for the fact that Monday was a holiday (Easter Monday). Also, daylight savings ended on Easter Sunday and the clocks were rolled back by 1 hour. As we are now moving into the autumn season of the southern hemisphere, the days have been getting progressively shorter, though the difference is less apparent than in Ottawa. As you move progressively closer to the poles, the difference between longest and shortest day becomes more extreme, and in an exponential manner. This means that the difference between 40 and 60 degrees latitude is much greater than the difference between 20 and 40 degrees. Sydney is located at about 34 degrees South, while Ottawa is just south of 46 degrees North.

On Wednesday I went to the Wynyard Hotel Pub for trivia and I managed to finish 4th of 10 teams, solo. The prizes at this place are quite substantial with the 1st place team receiving $60.00 worth of credit for the Wynyard, while the 2nd place team receives $40.00 worth of credit. There are also a few opportunities during the game to win $10.00 vouchers and a few chocolates. The next day, I went to the SAM Bar, the student-run bar on campus, and I decided to join a team since I would have a better chance of winning some money. Here, the 1st place receives $50.00 cash while the 2nd place team gets $20.00 cash. There are a few chances throughout the game to win a jug of beer from the bar. Here, with my team, we finished 1st and I took my cut of $10.00. If you're good, trivia can be fairly lucrative down here.

On Friday, I went to an area of Sydney known as Darling Harbour, which is just west of the Central Business District. I had decided to go to the Powerhouse Museum which I heard was a very interesting venue. I arrived hoping that I could see the Lord of the Rings exhibit but to my horror, is seemed as though I was a day late, but once more, the Fates were smiling upon me and the exhibit was still on. However, the Gods have a cruel sense of humour and although I could see the exhibit, I couldn't photograph anything but the entrance. It has to do with copyright issues that I can't understand.

The exhibit was amazing. It contained mostly the clothes that were used and drawings of the scenes. There was also an impressive collection of weaponry used for the trilogy, as well the makeup. There were the props used and in the center of the exhibit I came face-to-face with the One Ring in a dark room and I assure you that it is every bit as evil as the movie makes it. I saw a Palantir, the "Seeing Stone", as well as the Sword of Earendil as well as the Reforged Sword of Aragorn. Rest assured that there were many other pieces, especially armour, and it was a great display.

The rest of the museum was also very interesting with several sections. The photos will show what I think were the highlights. There was even a dancing, block-building and button pushing robot that I have video of which was pretty entertaining. There was also a copy of the robot from Lost in Space, the one whose hooks were always flailing wildly. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. After the museum, I went to The Rocks and bought myself a Northern Territory Style Outback Hat which makes me look very Australian. I also noticed an ANZAC Hat but I'll get that at some later date. That night I went to the Macquarie Astronomical Observatory which runs an observing program on Friday nights. Saturday I spent just hanging around the apartment doing necessary work. All-in-all, a fairly uneventful, but still interesting week.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday42.blogspot.com/

March 27th, Australia Day 36

2005-03-27T22:27:00.000-08:00

This will be, hopefully anyway, the first weekly update I give from the Land Down Under. I plan to give weekly reports on my blog as to my adventures over the previous weeks. I will update my blog every Saturday night and recap the events of the last week and post any photos accordingly. The updates will be interrupted by adventures outside Sydney that I may undertake. For example, for the last 2 weeks of April I will be in New Zealand and I will therefore be unable to give updates until after I return. Also, if something important occurs, I may update my blog early. In any event, normally, the blog will be updated by Saturday morning, Ottawa time.

From the events listed in the last update, not much has happened. I have settled into a routine with school and the work that comes with it. My professors are all interesting people. My Ancient History professor gets very emotional when reciting passages and my Politics professor is from Texas who is also something of an actor; both know their craft very well also. My Honours Thesis is also coming along nicely and my theories, so far, are holding up to scrutiny.

I suppose this is as good a place as any to tell you some of the peculiarities about Australia and Sydney. Firstly, footwear appears to be optional in this land and you can go just about anywhere without it without a fuss but I still always wear shoes. Secondly, Australians use the word "whilst" where appropriate as opposed to simply using "while". Also, people in New South Wales (Sydney's state) seemed to be fascinated with road deaths and there are constant updates as to the toll, especially over holiday weekends. Furthermore, the term for "ketchup" down here is "tomato sauce". Most shops close by 18:00 and during the Easter long weekend, almost everything, including some convenience stores, are completely shut down. Finally, the sport of choice is Rugby League in New South Wales, while in Victoria, Melbourne's state, it is Australian Football that draws the largest crowds (more on that next).

The most exciting thing that has happened to me so far, has been my visit to an AFL game on Easter Sunday. I got tickets to the home opener of the Sydney Swans, the local AFL team. They played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (S.C.G.) and I took great care to record the most important aspects of the game in photos and in video. In Australia, there is a game called Australian Football run by the Australian Football League (AFL). This game is known by many names, such as Aussie Football, Aussie Rules Football, or just plain Footy. Some years ago, The Sports Network (TSN) back in Canada ran highlights of AFL games but then just stopped. I watched the highlights and I was enthralled with the game and so I made a point to see it when I came down to Australia. In this respect, I would probably have felt more at home in Melbourne since Sydney is not as big on AFL as Victoria. I took a train and a shuttle to the S.C.G. on the morning of the match, which began at 13:10. Like most sporting events, it began with the Australian national anthem Advance Australia Fair, not Waltzing Matilda. To make a long story short, the Sydney Swans defeated the Hawthorn Hawks 118-55. I'll explain the rules of the game below.

The game is played on a cricket field which is essentially a circle or an ellipse. You try to kick a ball, similar to a football, through some uprights. If you get it between the middle 2, unmolested then you receive 6 points. If you kick the ball and it goes in through the outer 2 uprights, hits any upright, or is knocked through off someone, then it is 1 point. In pre-season play, if you kick a 6-pointer from beyond the 50 meter line, you get 9 points. One of the objects of the game is to kick it inside the 50 meter zone from outside to one of your players. This is called a "mark" and if your teammate grabs the ball out of mid-air, they get a free kick at the uprights. In many ways it is the primary focus of the game. Also, to pass the ball you either lateral it to the side, pass it forward by "punching" it in the back, or kicking it downfield. The game is divided up into 4 quarters of 20:00 and it was every bit as exciting as I thought it would be.

After the game concluded, fans are allowed onto the field for 15-30 minutes and most kick footy balls through either uprights. I left the S.C.G. having seen an exciting game and I returned home by about 18:00, with my legs killing me. This was a very good day and I hope to repeat the experience very soon.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday36.blogspot.com/

March 10th, Australia Day 19

2005-03-25T23:37:00.000-08:00

The highlight of this Wednesday was a cruise through Sydney Harbour planned by the good people at the Macquarie University Study Abroad and Exchange Office. For $10.00, we were all treated to a wonderful 3 hour cruise through the Harbour, music and all-you-could-eat pizza courtesy of Pizza Hut. The boat cast off from the Man-O'-War Steps which is a small dock located beside the Sydney Opera House.

I arrived early, camera in hand and ready to take pictures of the cruise. This would also be an experiment as it was the first time I was going to extensively use the manual setting on my digital camera. An acquaintance of mine, Alexandra, had recently returned from an exchange at McGill University in Montreal, QC and a post-exchange trip to Europe. I phoned her up and she expressed and interest in attending the cruise as she wanted to meet other international students; she is a native Australian. With great luck, I managed in getting for her the last ticket available for the cruise.

After some difficulty, we managed to find each other through the throngs of other students in the area and we boarded. The cruise was run on the theme of the 1970s, and many people went dressed as people from that era, but as I had no clothes which could pass of as being from the 1970s, I went in my beige cargo pants and a golf shirt. I decided that if someone gave me grief about my attire, I would simply explain that if I had been around in the 70s, this is what I would have worn.

The cruise went around the harbour and up th Parramatta River several times and I got a chance to use the manual feature on my camera frequently. I got some good shots and some bad ones, but I'll let you decide as to their caliber. The cruise itself went by uneventfully.

Trying to return home was more difficult matter as the buses ran about 20 minutes apart at that time of night and the first one back to Macquarie was completely full. I managed to catch the second one and made it home around 01:30. I especially dreaded the fact that I had a 09:00 class the that morning.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday19.blogspot.com/

March 5th, Australia Day 14

2005-03-25T23:18:00.000-08:00

This day, a Saturday, I used for my first major excursion into Sydney's City Center. I left the apartment that morning and caught a bus which took me right into downtown via the Sydney Harbour Bridge, known colloquially as the "Coathanger" since it bares a shape similar to that implement. The bridge is single span in nature and at the time of its completion, was the longest such bridge in the world. It goes from the North Shore to the western side of the City Center travelling over a district called The Rocks. There is an excellent view of the Sydney Opera House from the bridge and the two together form the most recognizable landmarks of the city.

I got off the bus at the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), which is not only the end of the route but an old building which now serves as a mall, and I think always has. I walked around it and took pictures, one of which is of the AMP Building, a tower which is Sydney's tallest edifice. Around the QVB there is a statue dedicated to Queen Victoria as well as a fountain that had been dedicated by the current monarch. Like Canada, Australia is a constitutional monarchy with the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the Head-of-State. To represent the monarch when they are not in Australia, there is an appointed Governor-General. Somewhat unlike Canada, however, there is a very strong republican movement in Australia. Some years ago, there was a referendum on the issue and Australians decided, narrowly, to keep the current model.

As I wandered downtown, I managed to take pictures of several interesting features of the city. Sydney has a monorail which goes in loop throughout some of the downtown core. There is a pedestrian mall as well as memorials to the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and the Royal Australian Regiment. Every April 25th, Australians, and I assume New Zealanders as well, celebrate ANZAC Day which is similar to Remembrance Day in Canada. It commemorates those members of the ANZAC who were killed in the disastrous, from the Allied point of view, Gelibolu (Gallipoli) campaign. In World War One, Allied divisions were tasked with taking the Gallipoli shore in Turkiye (Turkey). This force was composed mostly of ANZAC troops but there were elements of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment with them as well, and I'm sure others. The battle did not go well for the Allies and eventually the operation was abandoned after high casualties. Today, the place where the attack occurred is known as ANZAK (ANZAC in Turkish) Cove and even Mohammed Gemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, praised the ANZAC soldiers. For Australians, the Battle of Gallipoli is the day when their country came of age; this is a parallel view to that held by Canadians and the Battle of Vimy Ridge, except that the Canadians succeeded in their objectives and the event is not celebrated in Canada.

From the memorials, I walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens which I decided to explore more thoroughly than on my previous visit. I saw more statues but more interesting were the various ecosystems in the open air which held various species of birds and other wildlife. There were also massive spiderwebs inhabited by many large spiders. I took some photos, but I'm not sure whether the intricate design of the shared webs comes out.

I then proceeded to the Main Lawn which has an artificial lake with some interesting foliage. I also took some more pictures of birds and even a video of a cockatoo so that its noisome sound can be heard by all. The cockatoo's screeching is the most ungodly sound I have ever heard and to my misfortune, they are plentiful.

Following the advice of one of my acquaintances, I proceeded to Mrs. Macquarie's Point, which is a peninsula named after the wife of one of, if not the, first Governor of the area. There is also a rock formation called Mrs. Macquarie's Chair because she used to sit on it and look out into what is now Sydney Harbour. From that vantage point, I took some photos of the Coathanger, the Opera House and the immediate area. It is a very good place to be if you want to see the city center, the Opera House and the Coathanger all at once.

From there I returned to the city center and went on to The Rocks for some refreshment. The whole area is essentially pubs and to my surprise, there were several Irish people there. Form what I can gather, many Irish come to Australia to work and they only add to the atmosphere of the area. There is also a monument to the first settler of the area who was aided by convict labour. The Sydney area served as a semi-prison colony for much of its existence. For all of the 19th Century, a punishment imposed by the courts of the UK was "transportation", a sanitized word which really meant "deportation" and/or "exile". I don't know when the practice stopped. If you recall the Simpsons episode, the first Prime Minister of Australia was shown as a freed convict and though this probably wasn't the case, the standard line is that Australia was founded by convicts.

After several hours in The Rocks area, I walked across the city center to my bus route. Along the way I noticed what sounded like noisy birds. As I approached some began to fly away and I noticed that they were very large birds. After a few seconds I realized that these were no birds at all, but large foxbats. These creatures which are bats with the heads of foxes, were right in downtown and were frolicking in a small triangular park near Lang St., called appropriately, Lang Park. I continued to my destination and eventually boarded the required transportation and I returned home early in the morning, about 01:00 very satisfied with myself at having covered so much ground that day.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday14.blogspot.com/

February 26th, Australia Day 7

2005-03-25T22:33:00.000-08:00

This day was pretty much planned for me from the outset. Prior to the commencement of the school year, the Study Abroad and Exchange Office had organized an event for all overseas students at the International College for Tourism and Hotel Management (ICTHM). We were slated to go to Manly Beach, one of the more famous of the Sydney beaches (the most famous is probably Bondi, pronounced with an "eye" on the end).

The day went pretty much according to schedule as far as I could see. The buses picked up all those who wanted to participate; there were 7 city buses filled to the rafters with international students. The point was to meet students from around the world. I sat beside a guy named Juha from Suomi (Finland) and we talked for most of the trip. As it turned out, the bus driver had been to Canada some time before, when he visited Niagara Falls. The trip from Macquarie University to Manly took about 1 hour, all the time going through city suburbs, most of them, for the affluent. From what I'm told, the North Shore of Sydney is the wealthy section and the South Shore is more working class.

Manly, and the beach beside it, are almost directly east of Macquarie and is on the ocean, not in some bay. The itinerary called for students from the ICTHM to escort us to Shelly Beach, another, but smaller, beach close to the main one. The walk took no more than 10 minutes as I recall. We were told that the name "Manly Beach" comes from the first Europeans who came to the area and thought that the native Aborogines, or Aboriginals, were very masculine, hence the name. I asked how the women of the local tribe felt about that monicker but I was told that the answer was unknown.

I spent some time on Shelly Beach relaxing but for the most part, I went hiking, so to speak, under the cliffs of the area and there are photos of the interesting rock formations behind the beach. As you will see, there are a few other beaches in the area and I took some distant photos of them. The day was windy and the surf was considerable, in my opinion, but I have a feeling that it was normal for the area. It doesn't seem as though any water is calm along the eastern coast.

After about an hour around Shelly Beach, all international students were invited to the top of the bluffs where sits the campus of the ICTHM. It is designed in the gothic style and it is a very striking building. On the lawn there, we were treated to a concert by some local minstrels and there was a limbo contest, in which I did not participate; not because I hate limboing, but because someone had to take photos of the event. Besides, I'm not that flexible of body. After a BBQ lunch, and some more singing, which included a comical improvised version of "Sweet Home Alabama", I returned to my abode to rest after such an eventful, and gastronomic satisfying, day.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday7.blogspot.com/

February 25th, Australia Day 6

2005-03-22T19:58:00.000-08:00

This was the last Friday before the beginning of the school year so I decided to take that opportunity to travel into the city center. I purchased a bus pass for $18.00 (all prices from now on will be in the currency of the country which I am in) which is a 50% discount from the regular price. This is because I am listed as an exchange student and am entitled to this discount. For reasons that are beyond me, those international student who are listed as "study abroad" and not exchange are not entitled to this discount. The pass, called a TravelTen Pass allows me to take 10 trips at any time within a specified range.

I decided to go to the Canadian Consulate-General to tell them that I had arrived in Sydney. The Consulate-General is located in the heart of the city and I decided that while I was in the area, I should check out the rest of downtown. From that location I then walked to Circular Quay (pronounced "key") which is the main port of central Sydney. From there, ferries to several points in the city begin and end their journeys. I then walked around the quay to the Sydney Opera House and got few pictures of that landmark. It is actually 3 buildings on the same grounds even though most photos seem to show it as one.

From the Opera House I walked into the Royal Botanical Gardens which had several interesting features as the photos will attest to. I even saw Government House which was the former residence of the Governors of the colony. I then took a few more pictures of interesting buildings in the area and then I returned home. It was the first of what I'm certain will be many expeditions into the city center.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday6.blogspot.com/

February 20th, Australia Day 1

2005-03-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

I departed Honolulu at 22:30 on the night of Friday, February 18th. I had had many memorable adventures while on the islands and I left with a little dismay, but I also eagerly awaited the adventures that still lay before me in the Land Down Under. The thing that had struck me most about Hawai'i was how slow time seemed to move on those islands. I can recall several occasions when I thought I was in early evening but when I looked at the clock, I noticed that the afternoon was still quite young. As the plane took off into the darkness of the Pacific night, the lights of Honolulu blazed beneath as a myriad of candles surrounded by a void. I resolved that I will return to that land again, the islands I call the "Crossroads of the Pacific".

Once in flight, time, like the plane, flew by. The flight from the Hawai'ian capital to Sydney was to take 10 hours, but in retrospect, it didn't seem to take that long. Luckily, the Fates smiled upon me that night and I had a whole row to myself. I sat by a window, I always take a window seat if available, and no one came and sat beside me. This gave ample room for my weary legs and I made a point of stretching out across both seats more than once. The black of the calm Pacific Ocean continued unbroken beneath the flight except once, when a group of south Pacific islands lit up by electricity passed into view. The moonlight gave the ocean a kind of dull silver luster. As the plane approached the Australian continent, the eastern sky was glowing with the start of a new sunrise and the beginning of a new day.

For those who have been paying close attention, you will have noticed a chronological discrepancy. My first day in Australia was Sunday, February 20th, yet I departed Honolulu on Friday, February 18th. Sadly, Friday, February 19th, 2005 is forever lost to my history. During this time of year, Sydney is 21 hours ahead of Hawai'i; therefore, while I departed on the 18th at 22:30, the 19th of February in Sydney was also drawing to a conclusion. In this manner, I managed to lose an entire day.

Upon arrival, the crew, in compliance with Australian law, sprayed the cabin with insecticide to kill any insects that may have found their way onboard the aircraft. Any foreign flora or fauna could pose a serious danger to the stability of the Australian ecosystem. After I disembarked, I made my way to Australian Customs through which I passed with ease. I then made my way through the Sydney terminal to the meeting point where I was greeted by some people from Macquarie University. After waiting there for some more people to arrive from other locations, I was driven to my new home on the corner of Herring and Epping Roads. I can't recall doing much else that day except possibly exploring the immediate area. I had approximately a week before I began classes and I was anxious to learn the layout of the campus before the scholastic year commenced. In any event, I had arrived at my destination and I looked forward with anticipation to what lay ahead.

February 18th, Hawai'i Day 5

2005-03-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

This is the day I had been waiting for. I was going to summit the highest mountain on the island of Hawaii, Mauna Kea. Located in the island's center, it rises 4 205.02 m (13 796' for those still in the Middle Ages) above the surrounding sea. At the top, there is an observatory complex shared by astronomers from around the world, but primarily from Canada, France and the U.S.A.

I awoke at 06:00 and was greeted by a driving rain which I thought heralded an end to my desire to drive up the mountain. I figured that if it was raining, there was no point in me going up to the top if I couldn't see where I was going or if I was greeted by fog. Luckily, the rain quickly departed and I was left with fairly good conditions. I drove out of Hilo and onto Saddle Road, a paved roadway which bisects Hawaii, and I followed it to the base of the mountain. I then turned onto Observatory Road and was on my way up to the top.

At around 2 743.20 m of elevation (9 000' for those in the dark), there was an information center which explained the various safety precautions which needed to be taken and gave other general information about the mountain. I took off up to the top and at one point I was worried my car would stall since I was pressing the gas but I kept slowing down. It was then I realized that I had multiple gears and so I downshifted into first gear and everything went swimmingly. I eventually reached the summit and I have some great shots of the observatory complex on top of the mountain.

After I descended from Mauna Kea, I returned to Hilo and then made my way north to complete the circuit of the island. By the end of my trip, I had gone down every major highway on Hawaii. I went around the northeastern portion of Hawaii which is very lush and stands in stark contrast to the other side. This is because the eastern portion of Hawaii is on the windward side of the island, while the western portion is leeward. This means that all of the rainclouds get trapped in east Hawaii and this lets the ground recover more quickly from volcanic desolation than the part of the island which is in the lee of the wind.

I returned to Kona via Waimea and from there I boarded a plane which returned me to Honolulu. It was the same procedure for sitting as before. I then returned to the Polynesian Beach Club Hostel to pick up some luggage I had left behind (on purpose) and then I returned to the airport and boarded the Air Canada flight which took me to Australia. I must say that my experience in Hawai'i was unforgettable and I must return to that place someday.

Photos of the Mauna Kea Observatory Complex are now available at: http://mkoc.blogspot.com/

Photos of Puhio Valley are now available at: http://2photospuhio.blogspot.com/

February 17th, Hawai'i Day 4

2005-03-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

This was the day I had planned to spend most of in Volcano National Park, located on the southeast portion of Hawaii. I left around 08:30 and I arrived at the park entrance about 2 hours later. There were many sights that I could have seen along the way but time constraints prevented me from doing so. Also, I have to leave something for the next time I make it to Hawaii.

The park itself is pretty large and contains the active volcanic sites in Hawaii. The most impressive feature is, in my opinion, the Kilauea Caldera. It is not active at the moment but has been very much so in the past. Over 100 years ago a man by the name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known to the world as Mark Twain, visited Hawaii and at the time, there was a large pool of lava in the Kilauea crater. Beside the crater and in it are active steam vents which show that the water underneath the ground is being heated. Also, there are active sulfur vents recognizable by the yellow rocks around them. There were also numerous other calderas down the road and rifts from the cracking of the Earth.

At the end of the road, quite literally, there is a now cooled lava flow from the 1980s and 1990s. The lava flowed over the road which existed and it now lies buried under innumberable tonnes of rock. Also inside the park, there is a lava tube which you can walk through.

At about 16:00 I left the park and continued to drive east to Hilo, the largest city on the island. I had made reservations there at the Hilo Bay Hostel, a nice place that had once been a hotel. Hilo retained the 1920s and 1930s architecture of its downtown which made walking through it quite an experience.

Photos are now available at: http://volcanonationalpark.blogspot.com/

February 16th, Hawai'i Day 3

2005-03-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

This was the morning I departed the Island of O'ahu and flew to the big island of Hawaii. The flight itself was fairly short, about 1 hour, and uneventful. Hawaiian Air does not have assigned seating for economy class passengers so you can essentially sit wherever you want. I knew that to keep my sanity I would either have to sit at the very front of economy or by an emergency exit. The emergency exits have more leg room because of the need to move passengers through the area in case of an evacuation order. I'm 183 cm tall (6 feet for those of you still in the Stone Age), which really isn't that tall but I have trouble sitting in regular economy class seating. Luckily, I managed to get a seat on the shadow side of the airplane in the emergency aisle. I sat next to this Mormon guy who was in the business of selling pharmaceuticals. I mentioned that I thought it was unusual that a man in his position, working for a large pharmaceutical company, would have to sit in economy. In any event, we talked and he told me about his business and I told him about the benefits of using obsidian (a volcanic stone) blades for surgery. Unlike steel, they do not leave a scar.

When I got of the plane in Kona, a "city" on the western part of the island, I was amazed at how desolate it was. The old lavaflows had created a flat and rocky landscape all around. I had requested a 4WD vehicle from Thrifty's because they were the only ones who would rent to someone under the age of 25. I ended up receiving a Wrangler, which did the job nicely. I had arranged to meet a friend of my mother's who now lives in Kona but because she could not meet me until 21:15 that evening, I was free to drive around the island.

I first tackled what I call the "Northern Horn". The highway stretches around the northernmost section of Hawaii and if you were to look on a map, it sort of forms a triangle with Kona, Waimea and Hawi at its vertices. I had received my vehicle by about 11:00 and the drive took nowhere near 10 hours. It was very interesting as the pictures will attest to. As I left Kona, the rock gave way to shrubbery, which eventually changed into grassland. I snapped some pretty spectacular pictures from that drive.

After I had attained Hawi in the north, I then turned south towards Waimea. I took the road along the Kohala Mountains, known imaginatively enough as the "Kohala Mountain Road" (Route 250) and there I experienced the most incredible winds. At times it was almost impossible to open the car doors. Because it is along upper parts of the mountains, the wind just comes roaring off the peaks and hits the slopes at around 70 km/h, if not more (my estimate using the Beaufort Scale). What was most amazing was that for long stretches of time, I was the only one on the road.

After reaching Waimea, I turned southwest towards Kona and made it into town around 15:00. To kill some time, I went to the local movie theater and saw Hitch starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes. I'm not a big fan of romantic comedies, but I do enjoy Will Smith and it was the only good thing on at the cineplex at the time.

I met my mother's friend in the parking lot of the local Borders Bookstore as she had agreed to let me spend 1 night in her home.

Photos now available at: http://day3hawaii.blogspot.com/

February 15th, Hawai'i Day 2

2005-03-07T17:35:00.001-08:00

I woke up that morning and decided that I was going to hike up the Diamond Head Crater, which is located just southeast of Waikiki. I walked down the avenue which leads to the crater but I managed to catch a bus and I rode the rest of the way. It wasn't a very long bus ride, taking only about 15 minutes. I got off at the appointed stop, which had a sign saying Diamond Head State Park. I then walked 15 minutes to the park entrance and from there, it's a hike all the way to the summit.

Although volcanism is only active now of the largest of the islands, Hawaii, all of the Hawai'ian islands were formed by volcanism. In fact, the entire chain, which stretches back to about Japan, now mostly underwater seamounts, were all formed from the same source. Volcanism usually only occurs at tectonic plate boundaries, but Hawai'i is right in the middle of the Pacific Plate. Under Hawaii there is a large upwelling of magma called a "hot spot" and it is feeding the volcanoes on the big island. As the Pacific Plate has moved, the hot spot has remained stationary and has formed these Pacific islands. For clarity's sake, "Hawai'i" refers to the state (the preferred spelling now) and "Hawaii" refers to the island.

In any event, I scaled the summit of Diamond Head, which is called in Hawai'ian "Le'ahi". In mythology, a Goddess named the area such because the landscape reminded her of the forehead (lae) of the ahi fish. It is now known as Diamond Head because the first European explorers mistook the calcite crystals in the rock for diamonds. The crater itself is a caldera which means that it is volcanic in origin and not meteoritic. Essentially, this used to be the top of a volcano but after the volcano became extinct, vegetation grew inside. The pictures of the site will show what I had to contend with.

The remainder of the day I spent in downtown Honolulu. I spent a great deal of time around the grounds of the State Capitol, which located next to the 'Iolani Palace, which is in another photo. Towards the evening, I returned to Waikiki where I took some videos of boogeyboarders and the sunset. Night comes quickly in Hawai'i because of the steep angle at which the sun hits the horizon. In Ottawa, you can look forward to about 1 hour of twilight after sunset, but within 30 minutes after the suns dips below the horizon in Hawai'i, it's already quite dark.

Photos of Diamond Head (Le'ahi) State Park are now available at: http://leahidiamondhead.blogspot.com/

Photos of Waikiki and Honolulu are now available at: http://waikikihonolulu.blogspot.com/

February 14th, Hawai'i Day 1

2005-03-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

Although I arrived in Honolulu on February 13th, it was already 22:00 when I left the airport (HNL) and I took a taxi straight to my hostel. It was called the Polynesian Beach Club Hostel, located in Waikiki amidst the towering hotels frequented by those more affluent than myself. Actually, it was a very delightful place with great people. In any event, I went to sleep right after arriving and so the 14th, Valentine's Day, was my first real day in Honolulu.

I awoke on the morning of the 14th with the express intention of visiting the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor (note the spelling), perhaps the most popular place in the Honolulu area. I would end up spending most of the day in Pearl City. I arrived at the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial Park around 10:00 and then I would have to wait about 2 hours for my turn to board the ferry to take me to memorial out in the middle of the water. Luckily, it was free.

For those who are not versed in history, or don't watch Ben Affleck movies, Pearl Harbor was the site of a surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Forces in the early morning hours of Sunday, December 7th, 1941. This event was the catalyst for American entry into World War Two and when addressing Congress seeking permission to go to war, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt referred to December 7th as "... a date which will live in infamy,...". The attack, comprising of carrier-borne aircraft, was headed by Admiral Nagumo, who had managed to sneak his taskforce of 6 carriers and several other warships across 7 000 km of open ocean completely undetected. A contemporary of his, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, although realizing that war with the U.S. was his country's only real option, was reluctant to celebrate the victory, feeling that the Japanese had only succeeded in awaking "a slumbering giant". With the US mobilizing its entire industrial might behind the war effort, the tide of the Pacific War changed within 6 months, when in June of 1942, American forces sank 4 Japanese carriers at the Battle of Midway. By war's end, the Americans had succeeded in sinking 4 of the 6 Japanese carriers which had participated in the assault on Pearl Harbor.

The U.S.S. Arizona was a battleship in the Pacific Fleet and it was, along with other battleships, parked in the harbor the morning of the attack. Of the over 3 000 Americans that died that day, nearly half were killed when U.S.S. Arizona exploded after a bomb hit its magazine (ammunition hold). It is its mass that now is the memorial.

Although the Japanese caused more than considerable damage to the Pacific Fleet and Army Air Corps (predecessor to the Air Force), the US quickly rebounded from the loss. Only 3 of the ships that were sunk that day were not repaired: U.S.S. Utah, U.S.S. Oklahoma and U.S.S. Arizona. After the Second World War, the U.S.S. Arizona, which is a tomb for over 1 000 sailors and marines was made into a memorial for all those who lost their lives in the attack. The U.S.S. Arizona remains where she sank and no remains have ever been brought to the surface.

To get to the memorial, you board a ferry which takes you there. You spend about 18 minutes inside the memorial before you go back. In the photos after this entry, you'll see the inside of the memorial.

After the U.S.S. Arizona, I went to the U.S.S. Bowfin, a decommissioned submarine which serves as a floating museum. It is of the same class of submarine as the U.S.S. Stingray in the movie Down Periscope. In the photos, you'll see how crowded it is inside a submarine.

I then proceeded to the U.S.S. Missouri Museum across the harbour, anchored off Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor. The U.S.S. Missouri was the world's last battleship, decommissioned in 1991 after service in the First Gulf War. In World War Two, the U.S.S. Missouri was the sight of the Japanese surrender which ended the Second World War on September 2, 1945. It is quite fitting that the ship that ended the war be situated next to the skeleton of the ship that started it.

Finally, I spent some time in Downtown Honolulu, and there are some photos of that, but more on that on Day 2.

U.S.S Arizona related photos are available at: http://arizonamemorial.blogspot.com/

U.S.S. Bowfin related photos are available at: http://ussbowfinmuseum.blogspot.com/

U.S.S. Missouri and downtown Honolulu related photos are available at: http://ussmissourimuseum.blogspot.com/

Vancouver

2005-03-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

The flight from Ottawa to Vancouver took about 5 hours, which is about the same amount of time as a flight across the Australian landmass (Sydney to Perth). I only snapped 2 photos from Vancouver mainly because there was no great view of the mountains from where I was positioned in the terminal. I took a photo from the plane though and that's why 1 of them is so blurry. I had a 6 hour layover in Vancouver which I spent watching movies on my laptop. There really isn't that much to report about Vancouver but I think the photos do justice to the towering mountains which surround the city. You'll also notice that there's no snow on the ground, even though it is mid-February, February 13th to be exact.

Vancouver related photos are available at: http://vancouverfebruary13.blogspot.com/

Prologue

2005-03-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

My desire to travel to Australia probably began when I was about 10 years old after I had watched both Crocodile Dundee movies several times through. After a Simpsons episode on the subject of Australia, I resolved to see the Land Down Under at the first available opportunity, which later presented itself in Carleton University's Study Abroad Program. I should note, though, that other influences on my decision to travel included the song Waltzing Matilda (Australia's unofficial national anthem) which I had heard on a kids songs tape I once had, the song Land Down Under, by the Aussie group Men at Work and the Snowy River series of movies which I also saw when much younger.

My mother had travelled to the Soviet Union back in the 1970s while at university and was always a firm believer in travelling while studying. If she had not held this vision, I probably would not have gone to such places as Japan, The Netherlands and Austria. She was also a firm believer in just travelling, and in that vein, I have seen, Russia, Mexico and the Yukon, as well as having been to Duluth, Minnesota 4 times. When I read about the Study Abroad Program at Carleton, I immediately took an interest and made plans to depart the Northern Hemisphere. Luckily, Carleton did have exchanges to several universities in Australia and I was finally accepted to study at Macquarie University in the northwestern wilds of Sydney. I arrived on Sunday, February 20th at 06:05 (all times will be in military format for the sake of clarity) after a glorious stay in Hawai'i and the entries which follow document my travels both in Hawai'i and in Australia.