(This one is more for me, but I'm happy to share it if you're interested)
July 7 – August 15
• 39 days
• 2 countries & 4 Australian states
• 10 different airports & 11 flights
• 10 different hostels/accommodations
• Traveled by bus, train, shuttle, van, taxi, boat, car and foot
It’s pretty incredible to look back on a series of events that lead me to this point in my life and this trip in particular. I studied hard in high school, ranked in the top 15 of 365 in my graduating class and graduated with honors. I went to community college simultaneously and graduated high school with almost a two year college degree. From there I got into every college I applied to and chose my top choice, The University of Arizona. I was only able to study there because I had earned a generous scholarship and with the funds my mom and dad were able to provide, which I thank both of them, I was confident in my capabilities to go to school, perform well and make enough money working to pay for school and live.
I ended up loving my university and excelled in my program of choice. Working towards my Bachelors of Fine Art, I quickly fell right into the pace of college life and academics. I’ve earned multiple scholarship awards from the school of art as well as independent families that chose to support me. It’s because of the support I’ve received, both finically and mentally, that any of this has become possible.
Last fall, a month or two into classes, I got an email congratulating me on another scholarship (yes, I apply to scholarships like it’s my job). I had already paid my tuition fees and had a budget set out for the fall and was not expecting these extra funds. I had been researching study abroad options because I’ve always wanted to have that experience but it was difficult to find art programs through the UA that weren’t tens of thousands of dollars. I had found a photography program in the outback that was $3,500 and a short course, allowing me to work part of the summer and study a full semester in the fall. At that time it was only a dream, but when I got notice of this scholarship and the financial amounts almost matched perfectly I knew that was a big enough motivation and indication to go for it.
Months later, packets and packets of applications and paperwork later, I was accepted into the Edge of the Outback Photography Course for July 10-Aug 1, 2010. Of course I was ecstatic! At that point I couldn’t believe how everything fell into place, although at times it took some serious work especially dealing with the UA and financial aid, but those are dirty details I don’t want to dwell on.
Paying for my airfare wasn’t easy and I couldn’t justify paying that much money and not seeing the coast, especially the Great Barrier Reef. I talked to a few friends about coming down to travel with me. I talked to Matt, a good friend from UA because he wanted to study down there and then travel which sounded amazing but our timing didn’t match up (don’t worry he still went and had the time of his life!) So I talked to Tiffany about the idea of traveling Australia together towards the end of summer. With budgeting, time management and everything worked out, we booked our flights from LAX to Melbourne, Sydney to Auckland, Auckland to LAX. After more thought and ruling out hiring a camper van and traveling by train, we decided to buy cheap domestic flights and travel that way. As you can see, everything fell into place there.
So you might be questioning how my fall study abroad program came to be? If you didn’t know, I’m participating in a Semester in the Mediterranean program. It’s based out of Cyprus and we travel as a group to Italy, Spain and Greece.
After getting the details settled for this summer it made me want to see what else was out there. My UA credits weren’t lining up perfectly because I couldn’t get particular classes so I was looking at graduating Spring 11, instead of Fall 10. The UA has a great art program in Italy so I was seriously considering that option until I found out they don’t offer studio art classes. I kept looking and looking, was a few days away from signing up for a different Italy program and then I found the one I committed to. This program was way cheaper, offered loan options, I would get to see so much more and study in a different location from most study abroad students.
UA still can’t figure out their details for me and I’ve struggled throughout the entire process of getting this program approved. I refuse to give up and I know I’ll make it happen. With the academic scholarship I was granted from the study abroad program it actually made the cost of UA and abroad the same, the only problem was not all my financial aid could be applied. That’s were more loans came in, but I know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I’m not going to pass up, even if I’m paying off student loans until I’m 50!
Kristen, a good friend from, oh, 3rd grade just moved to Germany with her husband and I figured she would like to see an old friend! I wrote her and asked about visiting and she welcomed me instantly! I was looking at plane tickets and I was about to have a 16 hour layover in London which seemed like yet another opportunity to capitalize on. I altered my plans and invited Kristen along and now I’m visiting Kristen in Germany for about 4-5 days and then we’re spending a few days in London together before I fly to school.
Even more exciting, a girl from my program in Australia will be living in London when I visit and she invited me to stay with her. I’m so happy I can keep in touch with her and extend our relationship across the world! So I’ll be staying with Kristen in Germany and then my schoolmate in London and then off to school until December 20, 2010.
I just keep going in circles unable to completely comprehend everything I’ve done and where I’m at. I just spent roughly 6 weeks abroad when I never thought that would happen. I spent my first day completely by myself which was so empowering; it allowed time for reflection and made no distractions from everything that was in front of me. I then met the other 19 students and multiple professors, artists and faculty that I would spend the next 3 weeks with. I travelled hours and hours away from any big cities into the middle of nowhere where the kangaroos outnumber the people. I spent days and nights away from white culture and lived in an aboriginal community with a good friend, Peter Peterson showing us around, leading us in songs around the fire and teaching us lifelong lessons. I then worked with some incredible artists and photographers who recognized where I’m at with photography and where I’m at conceptually with my art which was such a compliment if nothing else. I ended my study abroad experience in the best of light and wouldn’t trade it for anything different. Tiffany met me and I got a taste of real traveling. No one picking me up at the airport, no calling friends or family, just us making our way from place to place. We took advantage of what every city had to offer; Adelaide had an amazing wildlife park, Cairns had everything incredible including diving, snorkeling and the best nightlife, Sydney had their classic Opera House and the bridge climb and just a big city attitude. New Zealand wasn’t so nice, the weather hated us and cancelled our Sky Jump and black water rafting in caves, but we were grateful for the money back in our pocket and the experience of diving down south even if it was to eat lunch and turn around.
More than anything else I hope to remember the people. You can visit a city anytime, you can pay to go out in a boat and you can buy a drink in any bar around the world but I can’t replace the people I met. They’ve inspired me to travel as much as possible. They’ve taught me to relax, there is a reason Australia produces so many “No Worries” tee-shirts and New Zealand so many “Sweet As.” products. I hope to hold onto a bit of their relaxed mentality. Meeting people like Peter, you realize there are in fact some people you’ll never forget for the rest of your life. I’ve also realized I will forget some people’s names, but there is no way I will forget the way they made me feel and the impact they’ve made on my life. I’ve met people from literally all over the world traveling these few weeks with Tiffany. I had lined out all the places I wanted to travel realistically for a while but now I know I need to travel to Ireland one day and see much more of the world in general.
I’m so grateful for everything and everyone in my life right now. I fly to the states in about 12 hours after weeks of being gone without a cell phone, little internet connection, a lot of quiet time and it’s made me realize a lot. Thanks to everyone who has supported me in any sort of way. I realize this is an end to one journey but the start of so many more.
Love always and forever,
Me, Myself and I <3
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
2:45am wake up call, Hello New Zealand!
After still going to bed early, 2:45am still came way too early. We caught a cab and headed out to the airport with Louie and everything else. It was weird actually leaving Australia, pretty sad but I don’t think it really hit me because we were jumping right over to New Zealand. I should have slept on my flight but for some reason I chose to stay up, watch a movie and eat the free breakfast they served us. I watched Chloe, which was kind of a weird movie, and then some of Exit Through the Gift Shop.
I don’t think I wrote about this movie, Exit Through the Gift Shop, A Bansky Film, was a movie we went to in Mildura and I loved it! If you didn’t know, Bansky is a street artist that hides his identity and is known for some pretty outrageous stuff such as hanging his own art in the Louvre and illegal street art all over the world. It’s a completely ridiculous movie and not what I was expecting but I loved it and recommend it to everyone.
Anyways, should have slept and I didn’t… whoops! We got into the city via the bus right before a parade started. We got checked in and our place which is pretty nice (for a hostel of course). Hot shower and warm room, not too much to complain about minus the fact the light doesn’t work in the shower… thanks for that flash light grandparents! Haha
We dropped off our stuff and hit the streets on foot by 11:30am or so. We walked all over the city and into some shops. Auckland is much smaller than the other cities have been and it didn’t take long for me to wish I had more time here and more time to travel to the south island. New Zealand has so much to offer outside of its cities, so much adventure and outdoors stuff. By oh, 3pm we were wondering if it was acceptable to go to bed yet. Instead we walked a little more, did our grocery shopping (meals are way too expensive out) and took our showers… I’ve officially made it to 8pm! However now that I’ve written my last three blogs it’s time for me to sleep! Goodnight everyone, see you soon enough ; )
No longer our Aussie traveler (sniffle sniffle),
XOXO
Kayla
I don’t think I wrote about this movie, Exit Through the Gift Shop, A Bansky Film, was a movie we went to in Mildura and I loved it! If you didn’t know, Bansky is a street artist that hides his identity and is known for some pretty outrageous stuff such as hanging his own art in the Louvre and illegal street art all over the world. It’s a completely ridiculous movie and not what I was expecting but I loved it and recommend it to everyone.
Anyways, should have slept and I didn’t… whoops! We got into the city via the bus right before a parade started. We got checked in and our place which is pretty nice (for a hostel of course). Hot shower and warm room, not too much to complain about minus the fact the light doesn’t work in the shower… thanks for that flash light grandparents! Haha
We dropped off our stuff and hit the streets on foot by 11:30am or so. We walked all over the city and into some shops. Auckland is much smaller than the other cities have been and it didn’t take long for me to wish I had more time here and more time to travel to the south island. New Zealand has so much to offer outside of its cities, so much adventure and outdoors stuff. By oh, 3pm we were wondering if it was acceptable to go to bed yet. Instead we walked a little more, did our grocery shopping (meals are way too expensive out) and took our showers… I’ve officially made it to 8pm! However now that I’ve written my last three blogs it’s time for me to sleep! Goodnight everyone, see you soon enough ; )
No longer our Aussie traveler (sniffle sniffle),
XOXO
Kayla
Art! Art! Art! Art! And nick?
So Tuesday morning started off horribly. I wanted to stomp all the way back to Arizona to yell at the University of Arizona for being absolutely horrible at everything they do. Well not everything, just their office of financial aid and registration. Long story short, they keep giving me false information about this fall, important dates and many other things that it making my life very difficult while I’m trying to figure out my study abroad details for this Fall while I’m abroad. It didn’t help the people in this ‘Free WiFi McDonalds’ were not of best health, again to say the least. It was a long quiet walk back to our place to drop off my netbook but our next stop was the Art Gallery of NSW (New South Wales).
Within 5 minutes of being in the art gallery I was so happy to be there I let everything else go and just focused on everything around me which was stories and room after room of art! They had 4 levels with all kinds of art such as: contemporary, aboriginal, 15-19th c European, 19-20 c Australian along with many more, but mostly importantly the Alfred Stieglitz and the Abstraction exhibitions! Tiffany was a sport and wandered through all the free areas with me and then I headed into the Abstraction, Paths to Abstraction 1867-1917exhibition alone.
I saw some of the first purely abstracted works that were exhibited in Paris at the Salon d’ Automne exhibition in 1912; James Abbot, McNeil Whistler, Walter Greares. I saw many pieces from the Nocturne series including Black and Gold – the Fire Wheel, 1875. All these painting were extremely abstract and singular toned. These artists were drawing attention to aspects that were typically overlooked such as color (or colour as they spell it), tone, shape and composition. Picasso’s work was also on display in this area. It was his early works such as Seascape 1896. Others that accompanied this work were Piet Mondrian, Georges Seurat and Alvin Langdon. I even got to see an Edward Steichen photogravure from Camera Work (a popular journal back then) Arp/July 1911; I was excited even though I still had his show to see upstairs!
The next part was work from the impressionists. They were the first to reject the absolute value of painting and no longer saw the relationship of objects but simplified it to the relationship of tones. Claude Monet, Sailboats on the Seiner, 1874, was the first painting I saw in the room. There was a lot of Monet and Cezanne works, as well as works by Denis and Vullard. They all had beautiful tones and a lot of color. Some were oil paintings and others were color lithographs.
Nabis, started around 1888 Paris, was next on display. These works had a frank use of non-naturalistic color, emphasis on design and the picture plane. This was where everyday scenes were becoming harder to extract but you could still makes sense of what the artist of portraying, such as “The Convalescent Women”, Henri Matisse, 1899. Kandinsky, Picasso, Mondrian and others spent time working in such a style, although it was ever changing.
They had an interesting section of woodcuts as well. Paul Gauguin did some primitive woodcuts that he showed saying they were rough, rudimentary but interesting and sure enough many other artists took interest and began expanding.
The fauvism section was interesting. “Fauves loves of color”; all the paintings were so bright and full of color. I got to see a lot of Matisse’s and Derain’s work. Others working during this time, early 1900’s, were also on display.
One of my favorite works was in the cubist section; Woman with a Mandolin, 1910, Picasso. It was so beautiful in real life. At times the cubist works are so abstracted that some people disregard or view it as controversial art, as if this entire movement as a whole wasn’t, but seeing it in real life made me appreciate the work so much more than I ever had. There were other artists, more contemporary, working in the same style and it doesn’t compare.
This exhibition ended with “1912-1917 Limits of Abstraction”. It listed information about the 1917 publication of De Stijl in a Dutch Magazine and in March the first Dada exhibition, both important events for abstract art. Hey, I even got to see a Duchamp ready made! It wasn’t The Fountain (which I plan to see in London in less than a month) but it was his “Bicycle Wheel” 1913.
This exhibit was such a good one for me to see in person. I got a chance to see a lot of the art I study and the information presented was at par with a college art history class, imagine that (HA!). I met poor Tiffany at the café on that floor as she was watching a movie and waiting for a hot sandwich, quite the trooper. Since she was waiting for food I went to the other paid entry exhibition….
Alfred Stieglitz! For those who don’t know he is one of the first American photographers and worked since the 1890’s to further the cause of photography as an art form. There were 4 huge rooms dedicated to photograph after photograph of his work. One of the highlights was definitely The Steerage, 1907, photogravure on Japanese vellum.
I saw some of his earliest works up into some of his lasts when he just decided to stop photographing. I saw photogravures, platinum prints, gelatin silver prints, palladium prints, toned prints and even actual Camera Work journals. I was such an excited person, it was kind of ridiculous. I found it really funny though, most (if not all) of the works were from all of our, meaning the US, main photography institutions such at MoMA, the George Eastman House, the Getty, the National Gallery of Art and so on. It’s pretty amazing an Australia museum was able to show these works and even more ridiculous I was actually here!
Something I didn’t realize and I wonder if my peers back in AZ do, Stieglitz and Georgia O’ Keeffe were great friends. They met in 1916, shared a studio starting in 1918 and it was in 1917 he started photographing her. The portraits were absolutely stunning and ranged everywhere from a standard close up to more abstracted close up of her hands to nude photography.
The 4 main grouping of his work was his earliest works, portraits of mainly O ’Keeffee, Clouds and Lake George. He was a pretty amazing person it seems and he no doubt did a lot for photography. Oh! And there was even a blurb about his using his 4x5, yey for 4x5 photography! : )
After keeping Tiffany waiting long enough, I left the exhibit to find her movie almost over and we were ready to go, after oh 4-5 hours there! We went a found a chicken parm in a very safe pub by the bridge climb, which was delicious, and then met Nick (same friend from Cairns). We adventured all over Sydney by foot in the pouring rain. Nick bought a cheap umbrella and explained how he was having a tough day and then the crappy umbrella he bought kept flipping inside out as he tried to walk and right as he was explaining it did it and I was laughing so find I couldn’t even stand up. I think we all know what those moments are like and it was hilarious…. For us!
He took us over to Darling Harbor and we got some last minute souvenirs, which I might add I did a good job on not over purchasing nicknacks and things I don’t have room for but a few special things were a nice addition. We said see ya later to Nick as we’ll probably see him in Auckland again and headed back ‘home’.
Within 5 minutes of being in the art gallery I was so happy to be there I let everything else go and just focused on everything around me which was stories and room after room of art! They had 4 levels with all kinds of art such as: contemporary, aboriginal, 15-19th c European, 19-20 c Australian along with many more, but mostly importantly the Alfred Stieglitz and the Abstraction exhibitions! Tiffany was a sport and wandered through all the free areas with me and then I headed into the Abstraction, Paths to Abstraction 1867-1917exhibition alone.
I saw some of the first purely abstracted works that were exhibited in Paris at the Salon d’ Automne exhibition in 1912; James Abbot, McNeil Whistler, Walter Greares. I saw many pieces from the Nocturne series including Black and Gold – the Fire Wheel, 1875. All these painting were extremely abstract and singular toned. These artists were drawing attention to aspects that were typically overlooked such as color (or colour as they spell it), tone, shape and composition. Picasso’s work was also on display in this area. It was his early works such as Seascape 1896. Others that accompanied this work were Piet Mondrian, Georges Seurat and Alvin Langdon. I even got to see an Edward Steichen photogravure from Camera Work (a popular journal back then) Arp/July 1911; I was excited even though I still had his show to see upstairs!
The next part was work from the impressionists. They were the first to reject the absolute value of painting and no longer saw the relationship of objects but simplified it to the relationship of tones. Claude Monet, Sailboats on the Seiner, 1874, was the first painting I saw in the room. There was a lot of Monet and Cezanne works, as well as works by Denis and Vullard. They all had beautiful tones and a lot of color. Some were oil paintings and others were color lithographs.
Nabis, started around 1888 Paris, was next on display. These works had a frank use of non-naturalistic color, emphasis on design and the picture plane. This was where everyday scenes were becoming harder to extract but you could still makes sense of what the artist of portraying, such as “The Convalescent Women”, Henri Matisse, 1899. Kandinsky, Picasso, Mondrian and others spent time working in such a style, although it was ever changing.
They had an interesting section of woodcuts as well. Paul Gauguin did some primitive woodcuts that he showed saying they were rough, rudimentary but interesting and sure enough many other artists took interest and began expanding.
The fauvism section was interesting. “Fauves loves of color”; all the paintings were so bright and full of color. I got to see a lot of Matisse’s and Derain’s work. Others working during this time, early 1900’s, were also on display.
One of my favorite works was in the cubist section; Woman with a Mandolin, 1910, Picasso. It was so beautiful in real life. At times the cubist works are so abstracted that some people disregard or view it as controversial art, as if this entire movement as a whole wasn’t, but seeing it in real life made me appreciate the work so much more than I ever had. There were other artists, more contemporary, working in the same style and it doesn’t compare.
This exhibition ended with “1912-1917 Limits of Abstraction”. It listed information about the 1917 publication of De Stijl in a Dutch Magazine and in March the first Dada exhibition, both important events for abstract art. Hey, I even got to see a Duchamp ready made! It wasn’t The Fountain (which I plan to see in London in less than a month) but it was his “Bicycle Wheel” 1913.
This exhibit was such a good one for me to see in person. I got a chance to see a lot of the art I study and the information presented was at par with a college art history class, imagine that (HA!). I met poor Tiffany at the café on that floor as she was watching a movie and waiting for a hot sandwich, quite the trooper. Since she was waiting for food I went to the other paid entry exhibition….
Alfred Stieglitz! For those who don’t know he is one of the first American photographers and worked since the 1890’s to further the cause of photography as an art form. There were 4 huge rooms dedicated to photograph after photograph of his work. One of the highlights was definitely The Steerage, 1907, photogravure on Japanese vellum.
I saw some of his earliest works up into some of his lasts when he just decided to stop photographing. I saw photogravures, platinum prints, gelatin silver prints, palladium prints, toned prints and even actual Camera Work journals. I was such an excited person, it was kind of ridiculous. I found it really funny though, most (if not all) of the works were from all of our, meaning the US, main photography institutions such at MoMA, the George Eastman House, the Getty, the National Gallery of Art and so on. It’s pretty amazing an Australia museum was able to show these works and even more ridiculous I was actually here!
Something I didn’t realize and I wonder if my peers back in AZ do, Stieglitz and Georgia O’ Keeffe were great friends. They met in 1916, shared a studio starting in 1918 and it was in 1917 he started photographing her. The portraits were absolutely stunning and ranged everywhere from a standard close up to more abstracted close up of her hands to nude photography.
The 4 main grouping of his work was his earliest works, portraits of mainly O ’Keeffee, Clouds and Lake George. He was a pretty amazing person it seems and he no doubt did a lot for photography. Oh! And there was even a blurb about his using his 4x5, yey for 4x5 photography! : )
After keeping Tiffany waiting long enough, I left the exhibit to find her movie almost over and we were ready to go, after oh 4-5 hours there! We went a found a chicken parm in a very safe pub by the bridge climb, which was delicious, and then met Nick (same friend from Cairns). We adventured all over Sydney by foot in the pouring rain. Nick bought a cheap umbrella and explained how he was having a tough day and then the crappy umbrella he bought kept flipping inside out as he tried to walk and right as he was explaining it did it and I was laughing so find I couldn’t even stand up. I think we all know what those moments are like and it was hilarious…. For us!
He took us over to Darling Harbor and we got some last minute souvenirs, which I might add I did a good job on not over purchasing nicknacks and things I don’t have room for but a few special things were a nice addition. We said see ya later to Nick as we’ll probably see him in Auckland again and headed back ‘home’.
“I could be naked under this suit and you wouldn’t knoooow it!”
So Monday was our day to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge! That wasn’t until noon so we took the morning to walk around the Royal Botanic Gardens. It’s remarkable the amount of space they have put aside for these gardens, you could get lost in them. Besides all the trees and gardens, we saw the Conservatorium of Music (what we called the castle house) and the Government house. On a time crunch because we had difficulties getting out of the gardens, laughing at ourselves, we headed out and down to the Opera house.
We made sure to walk all the way around the opera house and it looked completely different from all the sides. At times it was almost hard to recognize because we are so used to viewing it in one particular way in photographs.
We traveled over to the bridge climb building. After a quick sandwich we headed up stairs, watched an instruction video and signed our life away (weird not the first time I’ve done that on this trip!). We introduced ourselves in a little circle while staff picked out our jump suits. We had a dad and mother from Melbourne and mom was 76, 3 siblings from Holland, the couple from northern Australia, the honeymooners from London, and a dad with 2 sons from somewhere in Europe. It was quite the group to say the least, but everyone was really friendly and I enjoyed my time with them.
We put on our flattering suits, and before we even got to strapping in Tiffany and I got to making friends and laughing with our guide to say the least… he had to be thinking “oh, American girls…..” haha. More stories later. We got strapped in and everything was strapped on, went through a practice course and hello ground way below me! Mom I think I understand your fear of heights more than I thought I did.
They take you out through a tunnel and you go directly onto two wooden panels that were incredibly skinny! Your harness has a strap that has a ball at the end and that’s what clicks onto a wired path the entire way but other than that you have nothing! So regardless to say my heart was going a little faster than normal. I finally gained some composure as we got closer to the main pillar where the arch started; but before we could start walking on that part they took us out onto a see through wire mesh thing that extended out from the bridge… if that doesn’t make sense just know I felt like I was going to die! You could see straight down but I didn’t choose that option and instead I looked out at the opera house, the docking stations and the harbor.
It gets better; I had to climb up the huge pillar to get to the arc. There were four latters in which you started from below traffic, came right next to them, went a little higher as the wind blew and the cars clicked along the highway and then you went even farther up to the arc. Once I was up it was completely and totally worth the sweaty palms and the skip in my heart. You could see everything.
The poor instructor knew I was terrified, probably because he asked how I was when I reached the top of the ladders and I just reply, “that was terrifying!” haha, see mom! He snapped our picture and we got to start climbing on the top of the arc. It wasn’t scary at all. We walked on stairs built into the main arc structure so I felt safe and you could see everything. The view just kept getting better and better. Before I knew it we were to the top! We got a group shot and I got to take it home for “free”!
The entire time we were climbing we had a headset on and about half the time our guide was talking to us. He would tell us about the course and things to watch for but mostly it was information about the bridge, the harbor and anything else we wanted to know about. It was a pretty awesome experience to say the least.
I took about 9468698 minutes to get down the 4 latters and 3 hours in total, but I made it and you better believe I bought a picture and I shirt to prove I did it! Go me : )
After the climb we stopped by the Museum of Contemporary Art but most of the galleries were closed because they were in between exhibitions. However, I did see a Cindy Sherman piece alongside a lot of Australian art which was pretty cool.
After our long day out we headed back to our side of town to find a pub for a chicken parm, a well-known dish in Australia made up of fries (hot chips),topped with breaded chicken, red sauce and cheese. We quickly found out that wasn’t going to happen there for more than one reason, so we resorted to an American pizza joint and quickly made it back ‘home’ safely. Quite the busy yet eventful day!
We made sure to walk all the way around the opera house and it looked completely different from all the sides. At times it was almost hard to recognize because we are so used to viewing it in one particular way in photographs.
We traveled over to the bridge climb building. After a quick sandwich we headed up stairs, watched an instruction video and signed our life away (weird not the first time I’ve done that on this trip!). We introduced ourselves in a little circle while staff picked out our jump suits. We had a dad and mother from Melbourne and mom was 76, 3 siblings from Holland, the couple from northern Australia, the honeymooners from London, and a dad with 2 sons from somewhere in Europe. It was quite the group to say the least, but everyone was really friendly and I enjoyed my time with them.
We put on our flattering suits, and before we even got to strapping in Tiffany and I got to making friends and laughing with our guide to say the least… he had to be thinking “oh, American girls…..” haha. More stories later. We got strapped in and everything was strapped on, went through a practice course and hello ground way below me! Mom I think I understand your fear of heights more than I thought I did.
They take you out through a tunnel and you go directly onto two wooden panels that were incredibly skinny! Your harness has a strap that has a ball at the end and that’s what clicks onto a wired path the entire way but other than that you have nothing! So regardless to say my heart was going a little faster than normal. I finally gained some composure as we got closer to the main pillar where the arch started; but before we could start walking on that part they took us out onto a see through wire mesh thing that extended out from the bridge… if that doesn’t make sense just know I felt like I was going to die! You could see straight down but I didn’t choose that option and instead I looked out at the opera house, the docking stations and the harbor.
It gets better; I had to climb up the huge pillar to get to the arc. There were four latters in which you started from below traffic, came right next to them, went a little higher as the wind blew and the cars clicked along the highway and then you went even farther up to the arc. Once I was up it was completely and totally worth the sweaty palms and the skip in my heart. You could see everything.
The poor instructor knew I was terrified, probably because he asked how I was when I reached the top of the ladders and I just reply, “that was terrifying!” haha, see mom! He snapped our picture and we got to start climbing on the top of the arc. It wasn’t scary at all. We walked on stairs built into the main arc structure so I felt safe and you could see everything. The view just kept getting better and better. Before I knew it we were to the top! We got a group shot and I got to take it home for “free”!
The entire time we were climbing we had a headset on and about half the time our guide was talking to us. He would tell us about the course and things to watch for but mostly it was information about the bridge, the harbor and anything else we wanted to know about. It was a pretty awesome experience to say the least.
I took about 9468698 minutes to get down the 4 latters and 3 hours in total, but I made it and you better believe I bought a picture and I shirt to prove I did it! Go me : )
After the climb we stopped by the Museum of Contemporary Art but most of the galleries were closed because they were in between exhibitions. However, I did see a Cindy Sherman piece alongside a lot of Australian art which was pretty cool.
After our long day out we headed back to our side of town to find a pub for a chicken parm, a well-known dish in Australia made up of fries (hot chips),topped with breaded chicken, red sauce and cheese. We quickly found out that wasn’t going to happen there for more than one reason, so we resorted to an American pizza joint and quickly made it back ‘home’ safely. Quite the busy yet eventful day!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Pictures!!! Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Bondi, Woolloomooloo, & Sydney
SYDNEY & WOOLLOOMOOLOO
Sydney Harbor Bridge, climbing it tomorrow
Woolloomooloo Warf
Town signs
Opera house!
In Hyde Park
BONDI BEACH
The cliffs at Bondi
The beach!
The marathon the next day
CAIRNS
In line for my sunset cruise! HEEEEEY ;)
Before heading out for the night, loved sunset
Cairns croc sign, no swimming!
Beautiful sunset
The lagoon just outside our place that meets the waterfront
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Our ship
Meet Wally! He's wayyy bigger than me, but he still let me pet him!
Snorkeling
Fishies! Videos are much better than the snapshots, but it will do!
I loved it!
Fishies!
Diving was amazing! 35-40min dive
Tiffany and I
All tuckered out after hours in the water
LOFTY MT
FOR A FEW SPECIAL PEOPLE...
you know who you are ;)
Sydney Harbor Bridge, climbing it tomorrow
Woolloomooloo Warf
Town signs
Opera house!
In Hyde Park
BONDI BEACH
The cliffs at Bondi
The beach!
The marathon the next day
CAIRNS
In line for my sunset cruise! HEEEEEY ;)
Before heading out for the night, loved sunset
Cairns croc sign, no swimming!
Beautiful sunset
The lagoon just outside our place that meets the waterfront
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Our ship
Meet Wally! He's wayyy bigger than me, but he still let me pet him!
Snorkeling
Fishies! Videos are much better than the snapshots, but it will do!
I loved it!
Fishies!
Diving was amazing! 35-40min dive
Tiffany and I
All tuckered out after hours in the water
LOFTY MT
FOR A FEW SPECIAL PEOPLE...
you know who you are ;)
Look where I was today!
Made it to Sydney!
This morning we woke up in Bondi (after sleeping for 12 hours - 9pm-9am, much needed sleep) and there was a city to sea marathon going on. There was an expected 80,000 people at Bondi Beach. We found out about it the day before and considered staying in Bondi an extra day but after thinking about it we decided to still go to the city. We spent about 20 minutes down by the marathon until we had to check out. Getting to the city was crazy, took about 2 hours on 3 different busses to complete a 20 min taxi ride, but we made it.
Our hostel is just outside of Sydney in a suburb called Woolloomooloo. Our hostel is pretty nice. They’re remodeling some areas so instead of a twin bedroom we’re staying in a four share, but they just made it private and gave us a discount. Works for us!
We walked down to the Woolloomooloo Warf and everything about it was adorable! The walk down there was gorgeous, cute antique condos with balcony’s everywhere. I stopped and had tempura shrimp out of a little corner cook, for a lack of a better word. After sitting on a park bench with my meal and talking to a local guy I guess this little hole in the wall place was pretty well known for its delicious food. I sure enjoyed it!
We got down to the Warf and it was lined with the most elegant boats paired with the best 5 star restaurants along the walkway; quite the little suburb during the day.
We meandered toward the city and I really enjoyed the walk. We passed by some beautiful cathedrals and churches and then walked into a stunning park lined with people resting in the grass and reading on the benches. It was quite apparent when we left and suburbs and parks and hit the city. Sydney is a fast paced and demanding city, like most.
We liked the window shopping but once we got to the water and the main ferry terminal is when I really got excited! It felt almost unreal to see the opera house after always seeing pictures and video of it, weird to finally be standing there myself looking across the water to see the architectural feat.
There are a lot of street performers along all the walk ways and I really enjoy and appreciate their work/efforts. I found the same thing in Cairns. In general, Sydney is an amazing place for the arts. I can’t wait to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I’m also going to try to visit as many other galleries as possible which won’t be hard because they are everywhere; in fact I had my picture taken under the Art Gallery Rd sign today!
We got so lucky today is a Sunday! There was a huge market filling street after street. I picked up some pretty good souvenirs and goods, including a small colorful duffle to start checking as a second piece of luggage. I love little markets like that; all kinds of people, fresh foods, neat homemade goods, etc etc.
Yet another good day, just living the life… Tomorrow I get to see the city from quite a different vantage point; I will be standing on top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge! I just hope the weather is as beautiful as it was today. Regardless I have another fun filled day ahead of me.
Oh side note: today a guy thought I was Irish! Maybe I’ve been spending too much time at pubs called O’Malley’s or something, regardless I got a laugh. And when I was out on the reef in Cairns a guy thought I was Aussie, I said something and he replied, “is that an Aussie accent I hear?” once again I laughed and wouldn’t stop mentioning it to Tiffany. I think I’m starting to fit in here just fine… oh and if I need work here I’ll let one of the guys know working in the market, $20 an hour. See Mom, I’ll be just fine! ; )
Boyd I meant to tell you yesterday, I was window shopping at Bondi Beach and one of the markets had a ¼ of a watermelon out for sale… I picked it up, paid for it and ate almost all of it! I’m going through watermelon withdrawals! Not too long and I’ll be home so make sure to have some in the frig!
That’s the one thing I miss, having my own frig, food and kitchen! I’m getting tired of eating out. Went to the market today and bought bananas, oranges and strawberries to help the situation. It’s a small downfall to traveling but doesn’t measure up to much in the bigger picture of everything.
Talk to you all soon!
Cheers,
Kay
Ps: mom I don’t sound so horrible on the phone anymore! Ha! My cold is getting better, not all better…. But better : )
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Bondi Beach Baby!
Made it safely to Bondi Beach today!
Yesterday I got a nice little tan hanging out at the lagoon for a few hours. We saw our Irish friends and a few other familiar faces and just enjoyed being in Cairns. Beautiful weather, beautiful people, fun shops and a lot to see.
In the evening we took a sunset cruise.... let's just say I thought it would be like my Key West cruise and we got quite the laugh boarding. Any guesses? ...everyone was.... older? haha we laughed pretty hard because it's not what we expected at all, but if thats the worst thing that happens to us during this trip I think we're doing pretty darn good. Regardless we enjoyed the 90 minute ride during sunset, especially because it went the other way than our reef tour.
We stopped back at the hostel to find my friend Nick waiting for us. He is a friend from school here, originally from the LA area. All three of us went out for dinner (free!), ice cream and did some wonderful people watching ;) overall, it was a great night but made for an early morning.
4:30am it was off to the airport. Our flight from Cairns to Sydney was international which ended up being on my side cause my bag that is now 8 pounds over got a heavy tag for free, just showed her my other international flights! Nick was on the same flight so we all made our way there together.
After 9458683 minutes on the city bus we finally got to Bondi and can I just say we did a wonderful job picking hostels, step out the front door and hello Bondi beach! We're the closest we could possibly be! So, we spend the day on the beach, walking around and window shopping. Again, such a beautiful place. I wish I could be here in the summer but some people still had the heart to go surfing!
Tomorrow it's off to Sydney... my time is winding down in Australia and it's sad!
Hope all is well in the states as always :)
Love,
-Kayla
Yesterday I got a nice little tan hanging out at the lagoon for a few hours. We saw our Irish friends and a few other familiar faces and just enjoyed being in Cairns. Beautiful weather, beautiful people, fun shops and a lot to see.
In the evening we took a sunset cruise.... let's just say I thought it would be like my Key West cruise and we got quite the laugh boarding. Any guesses? ...everyone was.... older? haha we laughed pretty hard because it's not what we expected at all, but if thats the worst thing that happens to us during this trip I think we're doing pretty darn good. Regardless we enjoyed the 90 minute ride during sunset, especially because it went the other way than our reef tour.
We stopped back at the hostel to find my friend Nick waiting for us. He is a friend from school here, originally from the LA area. All three of us went out for dinner (free!), ice cream and did some wonderful people watching ;) overall, it was a great night but made for an early morning.
4:30am it was off to the airport. Our flight from Cairns to Sydney was international which ended up being on my side cause my bag that is now 8 pounds over got a heavy tag for free, just showed her my other international flights! Nick was on the same flight so we all made our way there together.
After 9458683 minutes on the city bus we finally got to Bondi and can I just say we did a wonderful job picking hostels, step out the front door and hello Bondi beach! We're the closest we could possibly be! So, we spend the day on the beach, walking around and window shopping. Again, such a beautiful place. I wish I could be here in the summer but some people still had the heart to go surfing!
Tomorrow it's off to Sydney... my time is winding down in Australia and it's sad!
Hope all is well in the states as always :)
Love,
-Kayla
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Diving the Great Barrier Reef
I had the most amazing day yesterday! Boat ride, snorkeling, diving, nightlife...
We had our big outing on the reef yesterday! We were on a huge boat that had a large seating area down stairs, more seating outside in the back, and a huge deck up front for tanning and enjoying the ride. After signing my life away, we were off! Took some questionable little ginger pills to prevent seasickness and I actually did pretty good, just stayed outside to get plenty of fresh air.
On the boat ride out we enjoyed the ride and learned about diving. I was pretty nervous about diving especially because the first time I ever went snorkeling it was pretty overwhelming. I got put into the fourth group of divers (4 ppl per group, 11 groups, plus ppl just snorkeling) so about two hours later we were at the first reef location and I went straight to snorkeling. A little nervous I dove right in and I will never forget my first image of the Great Barrier Reef… fish of all colors all around me, teal blue water, gorgeous coral, white sand… it was incredible.
I got about 30 minutes of snorkeling in before I got called back for my dive. They put a waistband of weights on me and my huge tank on with everything I might need; it was so heavy I needed help standing up! I’m sure you can all picture it… everyone stand up and head out, then little Kayla sitting there rocking her body trying to get up, wiggling her legs until a big Aussie grabs the back of my pack and my feet hit the ground. Oh Kayla Dawn…
So I got in off the back of the boat and met an instructor below water, trying so hard to breathe and not panic. We had to pass a few safety checks on the latter and then it was off! Tiffany couldn’t get used to the breathing piece so it was just my instructor, I, and two others on the dive. Every meter we went down was about the same pressure you feel landing in an airplane; I quickly learned how to pop my ears underwater. After all the scary details and freaking out was over, I was really diving in the Great Barrier Reef. It’s so much different than snorkeling. You’re completely surrounded by the ocean, fish swimming everywhere, the corral… ah again, I will never forget it.We dove for about 40 minutes, which seemed like no time when you’re in shock of the entire situation. No sea turtles, but a group did see a shark!
At the second location, after our Aussie BBQ with shrimp and meat and pasta and fruit (you get the picture, good lunch!) we hopped in the water to hang out with Wally! Wally is a blue and green fish that likes to act like a dog! He was longer than my body and just massive. The cruise line always feeds him and he loves people. We all pet him and at one point I was basically on top of him, unreal I tell you!
If you’re wondering, I took a lot of underwater pictures! I just couldn’t take it on my dive because we went too deep.
The cruise was such a highlight of this trip. We sunbathed and napped on the way back (2 hours ride back) and then hung out with a lot of the crew which was fun. (Matt if you’re reading, this place makes me think of you all the time and if not just the location I kept meeting guys named Matt! Two on the cruise alone… thinking of you!)
After a quick shower we went to go see what this free meal was about. It ended up being an awesome deal and a great place. We get meal cards for a free dinner at this local pub (Woolshed’s) and if you want to upgrade to steak or something more pricey you pay 5, 7, or 8 dollars to upgrade. I enjoyed my fish and chips and then we grabbed an ice cream to kill time, well and because it’s delicious, before we went out.
Thursday night = lady’s night! We quickly met some friends and joined a party at Woolsheds for free beer and pizza. We stayed with them (an Aussie, a French guy and a Canadian lady) and headed over to Gilligan’s. This place was ridiculous and I mean that in the best way. I’ve never seen a… club/pub place so huge. We kept meeting people from all over the world… guys from Ireland, a couple from Germany, and even a footie team from Sydney (and so on).
I’ve met some pretty remarkable people on my trip. The Australian hospitality is unreal. I hope to take a part of this hospitality with me to the states and a little bit of all these wonderful people as well.
Other than that, we’re just going to keep on keepin’ on. Today were hanging out by the (croc-filled) waters edge and the lagoon, hopefully getting a tan on my very white skin! Later we’re hopping on a sunset cruise around Cairns and unfortunately we have to leave tomorrow to head to Sydney. I don’t want to leave at all. If and when I get the money to travel after school and all my loans I know exactly where I’m coming.
Other than that, HAPPY BIRITHDAY TO THE MOST AMAZING AND INFLUENTAIL PERSON IN MY LIFE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM, I LOVE YOU :)
Until next time,
Cheers mate!
-Kayla
Ps: still fighting a cold! This cough won’t go away and nitequil is running low, I guess it’s off to the chemist again (aussie pharmacy!)
We had our big outing on the reef yesterday! We were on a huge boat that had a large seating area down stairs, more seating outside in the back, and a huge deck up front for tanning and enjoying the ride. After signing my life away, we were off! Took some questionable little ginger pills to prevent seasickness and I actually did pretty good, just stayed outside to get plenty of fresh air.
On the boat ride out we enjoyed the ride and learned about diving. I was pretty nervous about diving especially because the first time I ever went snorkeling it was pretty overwhelming. I got put into the fourth group of divers (4 ppl per group, 11 groups, plus ppl just snorkeling) so about two hours later we were at the first reef location and I went straight to snorkeling. A little nervous I dove right in and I will never forget my first image of the Great Barrier Reef… fish of all colors all around me, teal blue water, gorgeous coral, white sand… it was incredible.
I got about 30 minutes of snorkeling in before I got called back for my dive. They put a waistband of weights on me and my huge tank on with everything I might need; it was so heavy I needed help standing up! I’m sure you can all picture it… everyone stand up and head out, then little Kayla sitting there rocking her body trying to get up, wiggling her legs until a big Aussie grabs the back of my pack and my feet hit the ground. Oh Kayla Dawn…
So I got in off the back of the boat and met an instructor below water, trying so hard to breathe and not panic. We had to pass a few safety checks on the latter and then it was off! Tiffany couldn’t get used to the breathing piece so it was just my instructor, I, and two others on the dive. Every meter we went down was about the same pressure you feel landing in an airplane; I quickly learned how to pop my ears underwater. After all the scary details and freaking out was over, I was really diving in the Great Barrier Reef. It’s so much different than snorkeling. You’re completely surrounded by the ocean, fish swimming everywhere, the corral… ah again, I will never forget it.We dove for about 40 minutes, which seemed like no time when you’re in shock of the entire situation. No sea turtles, but a group did see a shark!
At the second location, after our Aussie BBQ with shrimp and meat and pasta and fruit (you get the picture, good lunch!) we hopped in the water to hang out with Wally! Wally is a blue and green fish that likes to act like a dog! He was longer than my body and just massive. The cruise line always feeds him and he loves people. We all pet him and at one point I was basically on top of him, unreal I tell you!
If you’re wondering, I took a lot of underwater pictures! I just couldn’t take it on my dive because we went too deep.
The cruise was such a highlight of this trip. We sunbathed and napped on the way back (2 hours ride back) and then hung out with a lot of the crew which was fun. (Matt if you’re reading, this place makes me think of you all the time and if not just the location I kept meeting guys named Matt! Two on the cruise alone… thinking of you!)
After a quick shower we went to go see what this free meal was about. It ended up being an awesome deal and a great place. We get meal cards for a free dinner at this local pub (Woolshed’s) and if you want to upgrade to steak or something more pricey you pay 5, 7, or 8 dollars to upgrade. I enjoyed my fish and chips and then we grabbed an ice cream to kill time, well and because it’s delicious, before we went out.
Thursday night = lady’s night! We quickly met some friends and joined a party at Woolsheds for free beer and pizza. We stayed with them (an Aussie, a French guy and a Canadian lady) and headed over to Gilligan’s. This place was ridiculous and I mean that in the best way. I’ve never seen a… club/pub place so huge. We kept meeting people from all over the world… guys from Ireland, a couple from Germany, and even a footie team from Sydney (and so on).
I’ve met some pretty remarkable people on my trip. The Australian hospitality is unreal. I hope to take a part of this hospitality with me to the states and a little bit of all these wonderful people as well.
Other than that, we’re just going to keep on keepin’ on. Today were hanging out by the (croc-filled) waters edge and the lagoon, hopefully getting a tan on my very white skin! Later we’re hopping on a sunset cruise around Cairns and unfortunately we have to leave tomorrow to head to Sydney. I don’t want to leave at all. If and when I get the money to travel after school and all my loans I know exactly where I’m coming.
Other than that, HAPPY BIRITHDAY TO THE MOST AMAZING AND INFLUENTAIL PERSON IN MY LIFE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM, I LOVE YOU :)
Until next time,
Cheers mate!
-Kayla
Ps: still fighting a cold! This cough won’t go away and nitequil is running low, I guess it’s off to the chemist again (aussie pharmacy!)
Sorry Mom, I’m not coming home… ever.
From now on I will reside in Cairns, Australia. Anyone want to join me?
I’m currently sitting on my own personal porch overlooking the lagoon and beachside through the palm trees while listening to live music in the park after a hot shower. I don’t think it gets any better than this.
Tiffany and I got to our hostel today around 1pm. It’s located right in the heart of everything, obviously with a view. We must have some good karma right now because out of at least 75 rooms we have the ONLY room with a balcony. It was has little chairs and it’s just perfect. The road were on is the closest to the waterfront and its lined with shops, diners, cafes, and anything else you might need.
There is a lagoon (pool) right by us as well. It doesn’t even take two minutes to walk there and we can see it from our deck. The pool is big and seems to attract people of all ages. The grassy areas and the boardwalk that runs into the pool have the same type of atmosphere. I love it.
We ate at a small café today after checking out some of the city, or rather the town. After lunch we grabbed a jacket as the sun was setting and then walked the boardwalk. I enjoyed all the puppies and little kids along the way, to no surprise (Jason!). Mackenzie there was a puppy just like yours! I HAD to pet him, made me miss yours though! We even sat and watched people learn how to flip on a trapeze. And that’s where I’m at, just winding down on a beautiful evening.
Tomorrow is an early morning starting with our snorkel and dive outing! 7:30am we check in and at hour later we set to sea! I’ll obviously write more after the adventure.
Something pretty awesome is free dinner every night! Because we’re staying at this hostel we get a voucher for a local pub! We’re guessing it’s the same every night but if not we’ve already found two pubs that have a ten dollar deal – a dinner AND a drink (beer, wine or spirits) and for all you skeptics, they even list your dinner options and they sound delicious! More details on that too I’m sure!
Whoever is sending good karma my way, you’re must be doing something right! However, please send a little more my way. I’m fighting a cold and could really use the help! I’m kind of nervous how snorkeling and diving is going to go when I cough every few minutes, but I’m convinced I will get better!
Until next time,
XOXO Miss Kayla Dawn
I’m currently sitting on my own personal porch overlooking the lagoon and beachside through the palm trees while listening to live music in the park after a hot shower. I don’t think it gets any better than this.
Tiffany and I got to our hostel today around 1pm. It’s located right in the heart of everything, obviously with a view. We must have some good karma right now because out of at least 75 rooms we have the ONLY room with a balcony. It was has little chairs and it’s just perfect. The road were on is the closest to the waterfront and its lined with shops, diners, cafes, and anything else you might need.
There is a lagoon (pool) right by us as well. It doesn’t even take two minutes to walk there and we can see it from our deck. The pool is big and seems to attract people of all ages. The grassy areas and the boardwalk that runs into the pool have the same type of atmosphere. I love it.
We ate at a small café today after checking out some of the city, or rather the town. After lunch we grabbed a jacket as the sun was setting and then walked the boardwalk. I enjoyed all the puppies and little kids along the way, to no surprise (Jason!). Mackenzie there was a puppy just like yours! I HAD to pet him, made me miss yours though! We even sat and watched people learn how to flip on a trapeze. And that’s where I’m at, just winding down on a beautiful evening.
Tomorrow is an early morning starting with our snorkel and dive outing! 7:30am we check in and at hour later we set to sea! I’ll obviously write more after the adventure.
Something pretty awesome is free dinner every night! Because we’re staying at this hostel we get a voucher for a local pub! We’re guessing it’s the same every night but if not we’ve already found two pubs that have a ten dollar deal – a dinner AND a drink (beer, wine or spirits) and for all you skeptics, they even list your dinner options and they sound delicious! More details on that too I’m sure!
Whoever is sending good karma my way, you’re must be doing something right! However, please send a little more my way. I’m fighting a cold and could really use the help! I’m kind of nervous how snorkeling and diving is going to go when I cough every few minutes, but I’m convinced I will get better!
Until next time,
XOXO Miss Kayla Dawn
Roo Poo Shoes
Hello everyone! :)
Tiffany and I are on the move again, currently sitting in the Adelaide airport. I didn’t write much the other day so I’ll fill the gaps. In Melbourne we stayed right by the main transport hub and at 3am we headed over there and got a shuttle to the airport. Everything went well there and we sent off Louie. After the short ride, we jumped on some public transportation into the city (Adelaide). By that time we had Louie back and we walked through the main square to get to our hostel.
This hostel (Hostel 109 in Adelaide) was the best one I’ve stayed in so far. The gentleman who owns the place was so helpful. Marked all kinds of things on a map for us, showed us to our room and gave us a tour of the place. We got settled and headed out to the market around 9am. This being Australia, people don’t work very long on Sunday’s so most everything was closed. We picked up some sandwich stuff and went back to the hostel to plan.
After lunch, it was off to Mt Lofty! We hopped on a bus that took us to a park and ride just below the summit. Being stubborn, or smart (however you want to see it) we decided not to wait an hour for the connecting bus and walk up the rest of the mountain (a little under 3km). There were some beautiful views all the way up. Mt Lofty basically overlooks the city and the water in one direction and green rolling hillsides in the other direction. We finally got to the outlook and I was amazed. You could see for days; green hills, city skyscrapers, suburbs, Kangaroo Island, and the ocean. It was stunning.
Just a few k’s down was the Cleland Wildlife Park… aka: the best place on earth. This wildlife park is a host to all of Australia’s iconic animals. It’s not designed like a zoo, but rather you are able to walk into their football field sized cages. I’m pretty convinced the 3 AUD I paid for animal food at the park is the best 3 dollars I’ve ever spent. The first kangaroo I saw I crept up to in order not to scare it away, which is hilarious looking back on. These animals are so tame and know you have food for them. Towards the end the roos were hopping to us!
I fed all three types of kangaroos and swamp wallabies. I saw a Tasmanian devil, a lot of birds, emus, “rat things” (forget their actual names cause that’s the only thing I called them), dingoes and other animals as well. I also got my picture next to a koala and pet him! It was such an adventure and I have so many other little stories from that adventure.
We called it an early night after dinner in order to have a full day yesterday. We started our day by walking the city. Took the free city bus to multiple art museums and Adelaide’s botanical gardens, grandma and Boyd would have loved both these venues.
Our next adventure was to Glenelg, which is like their seaside. We took the tram south to the beach. Because it’s winter here, there weren’t very many people but that didn’t stop us from touching the freezing cold water and walking up and down the shop alleys.
Once we got back to the city we went to a hotel/bar that was recommended to us by a local. It was such a great place to go and free entertainment to say the least. We enjoyed that and did a little research back in our room, yey for free wifi!
This morning was a trek in the rain, through the city, and onto the city bus but we made it to the airport no problem. Next stop is Cairns and I couldn’t be more excited… SUNSHINE! It should be so nice up there and finally warm!
Love,
Kayla, my roo poo shoes and Louie
Tiffany and I are on the move again, currently sitting in the Adelaide airport. I didn’t write much the other day so I’ll fill the gaps. In Melbourne we stayed right by the main transport hub and at 3am we headed over there and got a shuttle to the airport. Everything went well there and we sent off Louie. After the short ride, we jumped on some public transportation into the city (Adelaide). By that time we had Louie back and we walked through the main square to get to our hostel.
This hostel (Hostel 109 in Adelaide) was the best one I’ve stayed in so far. The gentleman who owns the place was so helpful. Marked all kinds of things on a map for us, showed us to our room and gave us a tour of the place. We got settled and headed out to the market around 9am. This being Australia, people don’t work very long on Sunday’s so most everything was closed. We picked up some sandwich stuff and went back to the hostel to plan.
After lunch, it was off to Mt Lofty! We hopped on a bus that took us to a park and ride just below the summit. Being stubborn, or smart (however you want to see it) we decided not to wait an hour for the connecting bus and walk up the rest of the mountain (a little under 3km). There were some beautiful views all the way up. Mt Lofty basically overlooks the city and the water in one direction and green rolling hillsides in the other direction. We finally got to the outlook and I was amazed. You could see for days; green hills, city skyscrapers, suburbs, Kangaroo Island, and the ocean. It was stunning.
Just a few k’s down was the Cleland Wildlife Park… aka: the best place on earth. This wildlife park is a host to all of Australia’s iconic animals. It’s not designed like a zoo, but rather you are able to walk into their football field sized cages. I’m pretty convinced the 3 AUD I paid for animal food at the park is the best 3 dollars I’ve ever spent. The first kangaroo I saw I crept up to in order not to scare it away, which is hilarious looking back on. These animals are so tame and know you have food for them. Towards the end the roos were hopping to us!
I fed all three types of kangaroos and swamp wallabies. I saw a Tasmanian devil, a lot of birds, emus, “rat things” (forget their actual names cause that’s the only thing I called them), dingoes and other animals as well. I also got my picture next to a koala and pet him! It was such an adventure and I have so many other little stories from that adventure.
We called it an early night after dinner in order to have a full day yesterday. We started our day by walking the city. Took the free city bus to multiple art museums and Adelaide’s botanical gardens, grandma and Boyd would have loved both these venues.
Our next adventure was to Glenelg, which is like their seaside. We took the tram south to the beach. Because it’s winter here, there weren’t very many people but that didn’t stop us from touching the freezing cold water and walking up and down the shop alleys.
Once we got back to the city we went to a hotel/bar that was recommended to us by a local. It was such a great place to go and free entertainment to say the least. We enjoyed that and did a little research back in our room, yey for free wifi!
This morning was a trek in the rain, through the city, and onto the city bus but we made it to the airport no problem. Next stop is Cairns and I couldn’t be more excited… SUNSHINE! It should be so nice up there and finally warm!
Love,
Kayla, my roo poo shoes and Louie
Monday, August 2, 2010
Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Playing with all sorts of Australian animals
Hey everyone! Tiffany and I made it safely to Adelaide! Left Melbourne at 3am but we were ready to hit the streets by 8am in Adelaide. I love this new hostel, finally had a hot shower... like a real hot shower where I felt warm! AAHH. Louie was kind of an issue today but we managed.
I can't write much tonight because I spent all my time uploading pictures and not writing. Basically long story short, we spent our day at Mount Lofty. It was the most beautiful place I've been in awhile. We looked over all of Adelaide, including the green hillsides, the city and the water. I could have stayed there all day but we had animals to makes friends with! See pictures below... oh and thank you Cleland Wildlife Park! YEY!
So bucket list #24, make friends with a kangaroo. I think I got it covered. We danced, rubbed our armpits, made funny faces... you know, all those normal friend things ;)
Giving the joey a little push into Mum's pouch!
The baby kept trying and trying but I think he was a bit too big!
Tiffany with her Swamp Wallaby!
I was feeding my Swamp Wallaby and Tif was like he's about to kiss you! I look down at him and we were literally nose to nose, startled both of us! I couldn't stop laughing as tears ran down my face
Ok the one below this was supposed to post first but it didn't. Basically I went over to this group of roos and that one standing up wasn't sure about the situation. So I put up my boxing hands and got a little closer and all of a sudden he growled/yelled at me! (Mom and Boyd, sound like anything else I've ever done?) I got scared and ran the other way laughing!
This was the first Kangaroo I fed, as you can see by my huge grin!
Koala Sign!
Kangaroo sign with my class t-shirt on!
Sorry there isn't more info but I need some sleep! Another fun filled day tomorrow! Today was probably my favorite day so far. I've missed my Tiffany and I haven't laughed this much in awhile... let alone hugged, cuddled and played with Kangaroos, Wallabies or Koala's before! This wildlife park let you walk around with all the animals and feed most of them (G will need to do this one day!). It was amazing!
Goodnight until next time,
Kayla and Louie
My art opening, Goodbyes & Tiffany's arrival
Guess who’s in town?! Miss Tiffany!!! I’ll take you back a few days not to forget anything though!
So Friday was the big day! I woke up early, turned in my journal and went to The Art Vault to help hang our show. The space itself was beautiful. The floors still had their original wooden panels and they were very modern couches in the middle of the room. We organized the layout and hung all twenty pieces. The film crew got some good footage during that part and it was nice to see them again. Midday we finally got to leave and I went with the film crew back to school for some extra footage of me doing some editing and camera work. After that though it was back to the hostel to do some final packing and get back to The Art Vault!
We arrived around 6pm and the place looked even better than when I left it midday! Everyone was excited and dressed to impress. There were multiple people serving wine and refreshments. After looking at the art work for a while and mingling, our professors started with some speeches followed by the aboriginal performances. We all were called out one at a time and presented with a gift, which was a letter, a certificate and an awesome t-shirt!
This is a small group of the girls opening night:
Darren and I in front of my work:
The venue from outside:
(*sorry I couldn't post more pictures, it keeps failing!)
After a few hours there and a lot of pictures, a group of us went with the professors and educators to the pizza café. Mom and Grandma: I had the best pizza! There were whole slices of prosciutto all over my pizza; you couldn’t even see the cheese. I was in heaven and it was a good time out to celebrate.
Some people went to bed at this point but I decided to head out to a place called The Settlers with a few good friends and to meet up with a few locals. It was a really fun time but made for an early “morning” after only sleeping 45mins.
At 3am we left the hostel, 4am got on the bus, 7am switched to a train, 11:30am struggled through Melbourne on foot and trolley. Let’s just say I was pretty exhausted when I finally got to the hostel, but not too tired to go to a heated game of footie (Australian football), then to a pub for dinner and a long walk around the city at night; definitely a great way to finish off my study abroad program in the oz. Goodbyes were tough that night and the next morning but there are some people I will definitely keep in touch with!
The next morning (Sunday) I got up, packed up and waited for Tiffany to show up! Sure enough 2 minutes before 11am she came walking up to the hostel as I had arranged an 11am ride. Darren, one of our professors and now a good friend, was kind enough to come out of his way and pick us up from one hostel and take us to the next so we didn’t have to struggle across the city with all of our stuff. We got checked into our 4 share, walked into the room and saw a girl still sleeping in her bunk and I couldn’t fit my stuff into a locker so long story short, we upgraded to a private 4 share so we should have no worries. Darren then took us to the Center for Creative Photography in Melbourne. Of course I loved this place! There was a lot of work on display and it was such a nice gesture for Darren to take us there.
We parted ways from here, getting to walk a different part of the city because the CCP is north of the downtown grid. Tif and I stopped at a cute Italian restaurant for lunch and then headed back downtown on foot. I took her down to Fed Square and by the river. We did a lot of walking and now I’m sitting in my bunk winding down for another long day ahead of me tomorrow. 6:30am we’re on a plane going to Adelaide for a few days and I couldn’t be more excited! It’s just me and my best friend traveling through a new city!
I hope all is well back in the states and everyone is enjoying their summer…. Hopefully their WARM summer that is; that’s the one thing about down here, it’s so cold! But in three days I’ll be in 80 degree weather and enjoying every bit of it!
Until next time!
XOXO Kayla
So Friday was the big day! I woke up early, turned in my journal and went to The Art Vault to help hang our show. The space itself was beautiful. The floors still had their original wooden panels and they were very modern couches in the middle of the room. We organized the layout and hung all twenty pieces. The film crew got some good footage during that part and it was nice to see them again. Midday we finally got to leave and I went with the film crew back to school for some extra footage of me doing some editing and camera work. After that though it was back to the hostel to do some final packing and get back to The Art Vault!
We arrived around 6pm and the place looked even better than when I left it midday! Everyone was excited and dressed to impress. There were multiple people serving wine and refreshments. After looking at the art work for a while and mingling, our professors started with some speeches followed by the aboriginal performances. We all were called out one at a time and presented with a gift, which was a letter, a certificate and an awesome t-shirt!
This is a small group of the girls opening night:
Darren and I in front of my work:
The venue from outside:
(*sorry I couldn't post more pictures, it keeps failing!)
After a few hours there and a lot of pictures, a group of us went with the professors and educators to the pizza café. Mom and Grandma: I had the best pizza! There were whole slices of prosciutto all over my pizza; you couldn’t even see the cheese. I was in heaven and it was a good time out to celebrate.
Some people went to bed at this point but I decided to head out to a place called The Settlers with a few good friends and to meet up with a few locals. It was a really fun time but made for an early “morning” after only sleeping 45mins.
At 3am we left the hostel, 4am got on the bus, 7am switched to a train, 11:30am struggled through Melbourne on foot and trolley. Let’s just say I was pretty exhausted when I finally got to the hostel, but not too tired to go to a heated game of footie (Australian football), then to a pub for dinner and a long walk around the city at night; definitely a great way to finish off my study abroad program in the oz. Goodbyes were tough that night and the next morning but there are some people I will definitely keep in touch with!
The next morning (Sunday) I got up, packed up and waited for Tiffany to show up! Sure enough 2 minutes before 11am she came walking up to the hostel as I had arranged an 11am ride. Darren, one of our professors and now a good friend, was kind enough to come out of his way and pick us up from one hostel and take us to the next so we didn’t have to struggle across the city with all of our stuff. We got checked into our 4 share, walked into the room and saw a girl still sleeping in her bunk and I couldn’t fit my stuff into a locker so long story short, we upgraded to a private 4 share so we should have no worries. Darren then took us to the Center for Creative Photography in Melbourne. Of course I loved this place! There was a lot of work on display and it was such a nice gesture for Darren to take us there.
We parted ways from here, getting to walk a different part of the city because the CCP is north of the downtown grid. Tif and I stopped at a cute Italian restaurant for lunch and then headed back downtown on foot. I took her down to Fed Square and by the river. We did a lot of walking and now I’m sitting in my bunk winding down for another long day ahead of me tomorrow. 6:30am we’re on a plane going to Adelaide for a few days and I couldn’t be more excited! It’s just me and my best friend traveling through a new city!
I hope all is well back in the states and everyone is enjoying their summer…. Hopefully their WARM summer that is; that’s the one thing about down here, it’s so cold! But in three days I’ll be in 80 degree weather and enjoying every bit of it!
Until next time!
XOXO Kayla
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