I live in Australia...

So I know it has been a while.  I am sorry but I have been a little busy lately with school and exploring the city.  Two weekends ago, March 13th and 14th, we took another little road trip to The Grampians National Park which is North West of Melbourne.  It was about a 3 hour car ride.  I am pretty sure it was the best camping trip  of my life.  The most serious night of camping I have ever done.  The first night was fake camping because we stayed on camping grounds.  For the next night we decided that we wanted to be real campers and sleep in the bush, yes the bush, it's not called woods here.  Come to think of it neither of those names make sense you can find wood in the woods and bushes in the bush but there are lots of other things too.  I vote for renaming them.  I will come up with something later- I am not feeling all to creative right now.  Anyways Saturday morning we woke up from our first night of fake camping and set out for our first day of hiking.  This really turned out to be out first day of rock climbing- who needs a trail?!  We started off on a trail to see the Venus Baths which was a natural creek that had red water (it looked rusty).  Then from there we were going to take a trail to the Pinnacle look-out; however, we ended up on a little detour.  We started climbing up these rocks a bit and it didn't look like it was too far to the top- about an hour maybe hour and a half later maybe two hours- who knows I wasn't paying attention (we were rushing up because of the excitement and adrenaline) we ended up at the top.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The view went on for miles. There was everything within site.  The small town -Halls Gap- where we had camped the previous night, a lake, mountains upon mountains, and of course some dessert looking spots.  We ended up hanging out on top of the world for a while.  Luckily we found the trail to the pinnacle was right by us, not that far down.  we had basically just climbed over the mountain rather than taking the trail around the mountain.  It was great.

The hike from where we got on the trail to the top was not as exciting as climbing up the rocks but again, the view was phenomenal.  We sat for a while at the top to take a break but some of us were anxious to get back down and have something to drink and rest a little.  It was a long hike down- we must have hiked over 13 miles total.  But once we got to the bottom it felt great to sit in the shade.  We could not sit too long because we needed to go find a place to camp before it got dark.  We gathered all of our stuff from the car and set out back up the mountain to find a campsite.  After about 20 minutes of walking my friend Kevin and I split from the group to look in one spot for a site.  The spot Kevin had been thinking of was not flat enough so we just started sprinting up the mountain and off the trail until we found the PERFECT spot.  Once we got the whole group there we set up camp.  This ended up being one of the most epic nights.  We just sat around a flashlight (no camp fires allowed!) and talked for a while.  Then we turned the flashlight off...I do not think I have ever, no actually I know I have never seen that many stars.  It was so beautiful.  Some of our crew had gone off to bed so it was just me, my roommate, her boy Hugh, and the Frenchman David. laying under that stars listening to Supertramp, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd while drinking some wine.  It was such an incredible experience.  I was the Southern Cross!  I loved it.

The following morning we walked back down to the cars and headed back to Melbourne.  It was the end to yet another amazing weekend.

This past weekend we stayed in Melbourne.  I have been exploring the city much more and I really love it.  Did you know more people live in the suburbs of NYC than in all of Australia? 24 million people in the suburbs and 22 million people live in all of Australia.  So to say the least this is not a crowded city.  I love walking around especially down by the Yarra River.  I will post another entry soon (I promise) about my adventures in the city.  I need to get some school work done now- time is flying only 8 days until Easter Break and mid-terms are right after and some before!

Cheers

Folkie!

This past weekend I did another mini trip to Port Fairy.  Port Fairy is my rommate, Libby's, home town.  We left by train on Friday night.  All I think about when I am on trains is The Polar Express.  Next year I want to take that train! Although both of these train rides did have one thing in common...they both go to amazing places.

Port Fairy is a very cute small town.  Libby's house, which is her second home, is about a five minute walk to the beach and a 15-20 minute walk into town.  In town this weekend there was a huge festival called Folkie.  Folkie is a big annual folk festival.  The tickets to get into the main event cost over $100.  I forget the exact amount but too much for me.  There were two stages set up around the tow that had free music not to mention a whole bunch of markets set up selling all sorts of fun stuff.  I bought plenty of souvineers this weekend for myself and my friends and family.  For myself I bought this beautiful saronge which is like a tapestry but you can wrap it around like a skirt but what's cool is I can wear it to the beach an then use it as a blanket to lay on =]

By the way this big folk festival could also be seen as a big hippie festival.  My Ithaca girls would have loved it so much and I wish I could bring them all to it sometime.  The smell of hemp was everywhere as well as tons of "hippie" clothing.  Plus the music was very good and I enjoyed listening to it.  I had a great weekend with some great people and am looking forward to another great weekend coming up; I am going camping in the Grampians National Park.

So now about that whole study thing...My classes started last week.  They are not as bad as I thought they would be.  Business Finance will be rough but I have plenty of time during the week to study.  Australia Now is a very interesting class.  So far we have done a very brief introduction to Australian History.  In our second lecture we watched a video on Gallipoli.  Sport and Education in Australian Society is probably the most interesting course I am taking.  We have covered some basic things about sport that I have heard before at Ithaca.  Tomorrow we are going on a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Grounds with the class.  We have a couple other field trips planned- like going surfing and to the surf museum!  That is the best class.  The last class that i am taking is Managing and leading in Organisations.  NOT organizations.  Yes they spell things differently here.  That seems like an interesting enough course and not so difficult.  overall I am happy with my courses here.  The lectures for all of my classes are huge.  Business Finance and my management course both have around 200 people in them.  For all of my classes except the sport one we have a tutorial session that meets once a week with about 15-20 people in them.  This is where you ask your questions and what not.  The class size does not bother me at all in lecture.  I like the school here.  For a really large school it does not feel that big.  I do feel a bit weird not having a million things to do outside of class.  I have been going to the gym often and taking classes which are so much more fun than normal work-outs.

So that is all for now- sorry for the rather dry entry but I am a bit rushed at the moment.  I miss and love all my friends and family =]

Cheers.

The most epic road trip EVER.

On Sunday night I arrived back at RMIT village at about 10pm.  I exhausted yet the excitement that was still coursing through my body would not let me sleep.  I had just gotten back from probably the best day of my life.

It all started at 9AM Saturday.  Chelsea, Emily, and I woke up ready to go on a roadtrip which our friend Kevin had planned.  We didn't see anyone outside yet so we waited.  Finally our friend Hugh, who was also going on the trip, came up to us and told us it would be another hour.  Another hour later we found out we were going to have to wait longer.  So we did for a little.  Then we found out it was going to be even longer.  I was starting to get a feeling that the lack of planning may effect the trip and I have to say I was having my doubts.  Regardless of  what the boys were saying ("they will be here in another hour, just one more hour...) Em, Chels, and I went to the grocery store.

So with 6 people in each car, a bow of whine, some gummies, and a box of snack-o's later we were ready to go!  We hit yet another bump on the way when we got pulled over for having too many people in the car.  No worries mate we waited at the McDonalds down the road while 2 people went to the train station to go back home.  It was a little frustrating but on the bright side the car was much more comfortable.  So we continued our journey to Anthony (one of the drivers) house.  We were spending the night there before heading back the following day on The Great Ocean Road.  When we got to his house his "mum" was there and she had bought food!  We were not expecting the elaborate dinner which she had made.  We had a barbie, because that's what Aussies do.  It was great to be in a house again.  We sat around the table talking for a while.  Anthony's mom made us all taste Vegemite.  Vegemite is some Australian paste-like thing that they put on toast, usually with butter.  It tastes like salt and yeast.  They love it so much but I just do NOT get it.  I will be bringing some home for anyone who is interested in tasting it.

We woke up the following morning refreshed and ready to go.  I had no idea what we were in store for.  Our car had Anthony, Hugh, Emily, Chels, and me in it.  It was an excellent car ride just because the people were so much fun to be around.  We embarked on a 13 hour road trip which involved many stops.  The first stop we made was at a beach in Warrnambool which is the town Anthony is from.  It was exciting because a triathalon was starting while we were there.  Besides the excitement of the race, the views were amazing!  There were rocks all around the ocean and we, OK mainly me, climbed all over them.  It was so much fun!  From there we headed off to the best part of the entire trip (in my mind).  We went to Cudgee which is kind of like an animal conservation farm.  We held koalas!!!!

 It was amazing.  They are so soft and cute.  They have very sharp claws though so you must be careful.  We had to hold the koala on a blanket so it didn't get us.  The baby koala was happy as long as he had his drugs ;)  He sat and ate leaves the whole time while we took turns holding him and taking millions of pictures.  Another really cute animal was following us all around while we were looking at the other animals.  A baby kangaroo!  This kangaroo was almost like a dog or a cat.  he loved to be pet and hopped behind us everywhere we went.  I loved petting him.  He liked to bite my hair!  I really wanted to take him home with me.  It was awesome.  There were also some monkeys there who seemed really nice.  One monkey spotted a bird on top of his cage and moved quicker than I knew a monkey could.  Before you knew it he had caught the bird and was eating it!  It was kind of gross but cool at the same time.  I did not know monkeys could hunt like that.

So the next stop on our journey was at London Bridge.

It used to all be connected but then the middle part fell down.  It made me think of the song "London Bride is falling down, falling down...".  It was really beautiful to see.  The water was way bluer than I thought it would be too.  It really was gorgeous even though the sun was not out while we were there it didn't even matter.  The cliffs just come to an end where the water begins.  It seems to be the end of the world which it kind of is seeing as there is not much south until you hit the south pole.  very cool experience.  From here we drove about 2 minutes down the road and stopped at another look-out point but I do not remember what the name of it was.  here is a picture of that:

The next stop was 12 Apostels.  There used to be 12 rocks standing up but I believe there were only 7 now. Again they were very cool to see.  Here are pictures of that:

After looking at the beautiful rocks for a while, they were just amazing to see I couldn't get enough of them, we attempted to get to a canopy walk in the rainforest before it closed.  I loved how we were driving down the coast and then all of the sudden we were in the rainforest!  It was awesome.  Well their rainforest is not exactly what I would picture a rainforest but it was way awesome anyways.  The canopy walk ended up being kind of expensive so we just kept driving around on a winding road through the forest.  eventually we stopped and climbed around for a while in the trees.   It was so much fun.  I took a million more pictures.  From there we drove to yet another beach to take more pictures.  I will find out the names of these beaches at some point!  We headed off to another beach and on the way I saw a million views.  We were driving right next to the ocean it was really great to see the coast.  It is nothing like the East Coast of America that's for sure.  We finally got to the last town/ beach.  Some of the group wanted to go to dinner but I was not hungry along with Kevin, David (from Paris!) and Laura, so we decided to swim in the ocean while the others ate.  It was freezing out but I had so much fun.  Once we were in the water it wasn't that bad but when we got out it was very cold yet again.  

That was our last stop which was sad =[  it had been a long exciting day though and I was tired.  We headed back to RMIT so we could get a good nights sleep before our first week of classes.  I will write again soon about classes but for now that is all.  I know I tried to put into words the most amazing day of my life.  I doubt that I explained it that well compared to how awesome it truly was.  Anyways thanks for reading and I will write again soon!