Australian Thunderstorm

 My morning of this:

turned into an afternoon of this:

We saw this storm coming while we were laying on the beach and got home just in time for the downpour, complete with thunder and lots of lightning. I usually love storms, but I don't like abrupt endings to otherwise perfect beach days...

Disadvantage: being forced home means having to deal with the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life that is on our bathroom ceiling.  When I found it this morning I was alone and freaked out so I just shut the door and went to the beach. (Mom: no one was hurt, except the spider. We got it into the toilet and flushed three times just in case!)

Advantage: being forced off the beach means I am more likely to go to class this evening!

Slang Of The Day

The girls at church are trying to teach me a new slang word, but can never come up with a succinct definition for it so I'm still not quite sure, but this is the best I got from them:

'Bogan' is a word used to describe a style/attitude of people, similar to the American term 'red-neck' but 'bogan' is more versatile since it is not restricted to a region; eg. it is not necessary to live in the country or on a farm to be 'bogan'. Also in their words "bogan is like red-neck but with less guns." (What?)  Towns can be considered 'bogan', but only if the majority of the people in it are, in fact, 'bogan' (labeled this way by some inherent knowledge of the meaning of the word, without any direct criteria...)

Trying to describe someone who would be "heaps bogan" they came up with the following list (for a man):

a singlet (tank top)
stubbos (think 70s basketball shorts?)
thongs (important note: remember that this means flip-flops!!!)

I almost thought I had it figured out, but then they decided that Laura, in her sweatpants, jumper (that means sweater/sweatshirt) and slippers (a hint of how casual this church really is..) wasn't far off from being 'bogan'.

Then some of the guys chipped in to the conversation which resulted in everyone consenting that country music was most definitely 'bogan'...

Incredibly confused, I left for home but only after they promised to go with me into the city and point out definite examples of the elusive 'bogan' people.

Update: Apparently also the VOICE of their prime minister is "distinctly bogan"...

Red Hands Cave

The Shark Tank with the morning sunlight in the harbour

This morning was the first of a few excursions with my Marine Environment class.  We met at the Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbour at 9am and had 2 hours to walk around and answer questions. Originally, I thought that I would really enjoy it and take a lot of pictures of all the cool animals there, but with the question sheets taking up most of my time, it was hard to really appreciate how awesome everything was. I'll need to go back again for sure, with no time frame or agenda.  I saw signs for clownfish all over, and even had to answer a question about the anemones where they live, but did not actually see one in the tanks...I guess Nemo is still MIA. (Although they had nice plush versions of him in the gift shop!)  The best part of the whole aquarium is the Shark Tank, which is actually floating IN the harbour so it's lit by sunlight.  The exhibit makes a circle around and through the tank so the sharks, fish and giant manta rays swim directly above and around you.  We also got to see them feed the sharks in the biggest tank that they have, the Great Barrier Reef Oceanarium.  I'm still not quite sure how they know to only eat the frozen fish that are dropped in and not one of the thousands that are swimming around them all the time...

Campfire Creek Trail

After we left, Mona and I had made plans to do some hiking so we got on a train in Sydney and headed towards the Blue Mountains to a town called Glenbrook.  On the way, we ate our PB&J, did crosswords and watched the scenery change between big cities, small towns and finally the mountains.  As we stepped off onto the train station, the rain clouds that we had been worried about drifted apart and we were left with blue, sunny skies the rest of the day.  Once we found the trailhead, we started off on our 3K hike along Campfire Creek Trail and found that the beginning of it that crosses the creek, actually just IS the creek...so we had to do a little wading and jumping from rock to rock before we finally got on our way.  We quickly found out that this was not your average walking trail, as it involved a lot of climbing over rocks, ducking under fallen trees and dodging all the exotic tropical plants.  The trail was relatively quiet except for the occasional groups of backpackers and it was a perfect time to chat, listen to the creek as it ran next to us and marvel at the rainforest we were walking through.

Finally, we made it to the end of the trail at Red Hands Cave, a small cave that had Aboriginal paintings on the walls.  Done with ochre paint (the reason for the red color), they had made handprints and stencils of their hands all over the wall.  We learned that ochre is found in rocks or clay and was one of the Aborigines' most prized possessions.  The paint is made by mixing powdered ochre with water and animal fat which helps it adhere to the rock walls.  The signs near the caves estimated that the first hand print had been made over 1600 years ago.  The cave was blocked off by a fence and viewing glass, but after some searching we found a few that were outside of the fence and took some pictures with them.  For awhile I just sat and stared at the cave, my mind travelling to the past imagining what it was like when the first hands were being painted there.  Since we were both in such a contemplative mood, we climbed up above the caves and laid on the rocks to watch the clouds and listen to the birds and the breeze.

Red Hands Cave; Aboriginal art made with ochre paint

The walk back, which was mostly downhill, went much faster than we anticipated so when we got back to the trailhead we decided to check out another place called Jellybean Pool, a part of the river that widens and serves as a local swimming hole.  By then it was too cold for a swim (sorry Michiganders, "too cold" here means about 60 degrees...) so we just took in the view and more of the fresh air and then headed back towards the train station.  Before we could get back to the main road, I saw something dash across the road in front of us; a wild wallaby! (Here I wonder, do they use the phrase "like a kangaroo in headlights" instead of saying deer? Just a thought..) The wallaby was so cute even though it seemed scared of us, but it let us get close enough to take a few pictures before hopping out of sight.  After napping on the train, catching a bus back to Coogee and grabbing a quick dinner, we arrived home just in time to miss the evening's pouring rain.

Tomorrow my plans include sleeping in, making a big breakfast, taking my studying/paper-writing down to the beach and then heading to church in Maroubra :)

Crazy Beautiful Life

Me and two of my roommates (Mona and Lorena) at the BBQ

Last night we went to a restaurant on the beach near our house that has started offering free BBQ dinners on Tuesday nights to students and backpackers.  The part that was reserved for us was the top level which has an open-air deck wrapping around it where we sat eating, talking and listening to the surprisingly good live music. BBQs here are not done the way a typical American might think; there are no hotdogs or hamburgers, just smaller-than-bratwurst sausages that taste perfect on a thick, powdery bun with carmelized onions and either tomato sauce (obviously, what we would call ketchup) or a type of creamy peanut satay sauce.

Looking back at Coogee Beach on our way to Maroubra Beach

Today, after a morning of studying on the beach and some lunch, we walked from Coogee Beach to Maroubra Beach which is about 5K to the south. It was another gorgeous walk, for both the scenery and the houses that we passed...let's just say, some people have some real money here..  The path was mostly a paved walking path along the coast, but for awhile it just became rocks at the bottom of the cliffs, which were made more difficult to cross by the fact that it was high tide.  Dodging waves, slippery algae and last night's rainwater dripping off the cliffs onto us, we finally made it back to the real path and then to Maroubra beach.  It was another beautiful beach day while we were walking, but the clouds rolled in about the time we finally made it there.  The beach ended up being closed anyways because the water currents were too dangerous for swimmers, so the sun wasn't really missed.  After a couple of hours spent watching surfers and some monks taking a beach day trip, studying, and napping, we took the bus back home to make dinner.  We cooked up more kangaroo with wild rice (from home! thanks mom!!) and corn on the cob, made some iced tea and enjoyed the cool breeze as evening set in.

Walking under the cliffs

Now I'm here trying to write a paper for my fossils class about plate tectonics, due next week. Here I should mention that taking classes pass/fail is actually harder than I thought...I'm not used to not trying and it's kind of uncomfortable for me to accept that I am not supposed to do my best work. Hopefully I will catch on soon!  Although, I am figuring out that procrastination is a lot easier with a beach nearby.

In the theme of class updates, I am IN LOVE with my anatomy class.  It's easily the best class I've ever had in my life, everything about it is fascinating and challenging and leaves me awe-struck at how the design of the human body is so detailed and wonderfully perfect. Anyways, sorry for the nerd moment there...my other classes are still just...going. Nothing special. We're going to the Sydney Aquarium with the marine environment class this weekend, but that's it for excitement. Except for the paper that is currently a blank page with only my name and that daunting, flashing text cursor.  My current distractions include but are not limited to: planning our semester break trip to New Zealand, facebook, perfecting this blog entry and planning my schedule for the fall at UM.

I can't believe a month has already flown by since I first got here and I'm a little wary that the rest of the time will slip by just as fast.  Just in case, I've been filling my days with adventures and laughter so that I never look back and say "I wish I would have..." Thanks to everyone who have been sending letters my way, I love reading them...even if the stories are almost 2 weeks old by the time I get them. (Extra special shout-out to Nana & Bill; the biggest contributors to my growing stack of letters and photos from home!)

In an effort to improve the environment, many homes here (including ours) do not have dryers for laundry, so tonight I'll be going to sleep on fresh sheets that still have the scent of this afternoon's breeze.

Miss and love you all!

"I'm in love alri-i-i-ght, with my crazy beautiful life." - Ke$ha

Jenolan Caves

On the other side of Blue Mountain National Park, along kilometers and kilometers of winding roads through the hills (looked like Appalachia!!) is Kanaranga-Boyd National Park, which is home to the Jenolan Caves system.  My friend Rob has a car and a driver's license here so we took the train to meet him and then drove the rest of the way.  I wish the weather would have been better because we were really hoping to see some kangaroos or wombats, but no such luck.  We had been told that the roads were "harrowing" and with the misting rain we had all morning, it was a little scary, but overall a successful roadtrip.  Once we got there, we quickly figured out that the caves are enormous...not only the entrances, but the systems themselves.  There are about 15 different tours you can take that bring you to totally different parts of the caves.  We chose one that was 1.5 hours and that we were told was the most popular of all the tours that took us into Lucas Cave. Since the caves are in the mountains, it was a different experience than I have had before where you go down to get to the cave systems because today instead we were climbing UP stairs.  Inside was seriously insane.  I've been caving before, but when they turn all the lights off it still blows my mind how completely black it gets.  We saw lots of interesting limestone/calcite formations and some of the "River Styx" which is the subterranean river that runs through the caves and is the reason that they are shaped the way they are today.  The largest "room" on the tour was called "The Cathedral" and had spectacular formations that all took the shapes of things you would find in a church; the organ, the pulpit, the stain-glass windows, etc.  They told us that John Denver had once played a concert there and that weddings and regular church services are sometimes held there as well. I can only imagine how great it would have been to hear "Country Roads" live, while standing inside one of God's greatest wonders.  It was foggy and rainy all day so we didn't a chance to do any hiking above ground, but the trips below ground definitely made all of our time spent traveling worth it. (I left for the train station at 8am and just got back at 11pm...) Tonight I'll be falling asleep to the sounds of the cool rain outside which is sort of a welcomed break from the usual heat during the night.  From what I have been hearing, it sounds like Michigan is warming up into spring while we are steadily losing beach days here!

A Taste of Ireland

Last night all of my friends (pretty much all exchange students from various countries, but mostly the US) and I went on a cruise in Darling Harbor for St. Patrick's Day.  A small catastrophe occurred when our bus was running late and then because of a location mix-up, we realized we were still a 20-minute walk from the wharf where the boat would be leaving in 10 minutes.  Sprinting through Sydney in a dress was...interesting, but we finally found an empty cab and it sort of felt like the Amazing Race.  Of course we weren't counting on the fact that this is Australia, and nothing ever happens exactly when it's supposed to, and we would have had plenty of time to walk and/or crawl slowly.  Once we were on the ship we had so much fun!! ("I never thought I'd be on a boat...") The views of the city at night were amazing and it was a beautiful, warm evening despite the weather forecast for rain.  No one fell overboard during the cruise...although one girl fell off the dock after the ship landed..yikes. There's not too much else to say except that being Irish for a day was definitely enjoyable :)

For Mark and Kathy

The other day we were walking through a market set up by the beach in Bondi...outdoor markets are big here on weekends and feature new Australian designers that make their own unique clothes, bags, paintings, etc.  Although you can usually haggle with the vendors, the prices usually start at an unreasonable level, but it's always fun to look around.  We went into one of the stalls that had what looked like vintage t-shirts.  My friend Rob starting freaking out and called me over to see the shirt he had found, and there it was, in the middle of the rack, a really touristy looking "Mackinac Island, Michigan" shirt!!  Who would have thought that all the way in Australia we would find a shirt from the island? Mackinac Island is a place that holds a lot of meaning for many of the members of my family and thinking about it brings back so many incredible memories of my childhood; there is a lot of love associated with that place.  I guess it sounds a little cheesy, but I loved stumbling across this little reminder of the family that is supporting me from home. Heaps and heaps of love to all of you!

Sunny Sunday

I obviously did not take this picture, but essentially this is
from the competition's website and is what we watched them do all
day. I still don't understand how they end these tricks just
calmly riding the rest of the wave.

Today was yet another beautiful, cloudless, high 80s day and it turned out to be the perfect weather for our plans for the day.  We packed lunches and walked along the coast from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach for the second time and then spent the day at Bondi watching the SurfSho aerial surfing competition.  We didn't really know what was going on most of the time because we didn't understand surfing, but they were all so good!  There were TONS of people on the beach (sorry, I guess here that would be written TONNES..) which was a little annoying especially when everyone seemed to be swimming at the same time.  The jet-skis had to keep herding the swimmers away from the surfers because the current always brought us all towards the area with the best waves where the surfers were.  The winner of the competition got $25,000 but I don't know if that's a lot or not for a surf competition...Either way, after today, I'm even more excited to start my surf lessons!

Me and my housemate, Mona, playing the slots 

Aside from the competition, it was mostly just another lazy Sunday on the beach and the rest was definitely needed since we had travelled into Darling Harbor and then to the casino in the city the night before and got home really late. At the casino I lost all of the $5 that I played in the slots, but the guys all played blackjack and came out ahead.  We all got the free memberships to the casino because you get free soft drinks and the chance to win $4,000, so we now all have cards with our names on them and when I put mine into the slot machine it says "Welcome Carly!"  It was incredible to see people throwing down so much money and losing it all within minutes...I finally saw an Australian $100 bill because of this!

After leaving the beach and having a small dinner I went south by bus to Maroubra Junction where I attended the student/faculty contemporary church service at Maroubra Junction Uniting Church.  I've been talking to the pastor via email for the past few months and a week ago finally met up with him for coffee and then today got around to getting down to the church.  It was a really great atmosphere; most everyone was barefoot in the pews and the pastor is an incredible speaker.  In such a casual atmosphere it was pretty easy to introduce myself around and everyone was quick to make me feel comfortable.  One of the girls who leads the praise-band even offered to lend me her extra guitar while I'm here so I can keep playing.  After the service they had a supper which was oddly tea-party themed and was more just finger food, but I was introduced to an Australian childhood favorite called "Fairy Bread" which is just bread spread with butter and then covered in sprinkles. It was definitely interesting.

Fairy bread! It has no taste, but it definitely looks cool.
They told me that it's a staple at all kid's parties here.

Updates from Aussie Land

As of tonight, I have had at least one session of all of my classes so here is the update on each of them:

Learning and Physiological Psychology: In two words: really boring. I yawned just writing out the title. The teacher reads straight from the slides at a speed that I did not know was possible for a snail, let alone a human. The guy's name is Reginald...so I should have known he would be a little off, but this is going to be a seriously rough class. I have already skipped once, but luckily he posts the lecture slides AND there are recordings of the lectures (that I will be listening to on 8x speed). Unfortunately, this is the only class that counts for my major back home, so I actually have to put in a bit of effort.

Anatomy & Lab: Contrary to the last class, this is probably going to be one of the coolest things I've studied.  I was nervous for lab, but instantly kicked into science-nerd mode when our tutor uncovered the legs and torsos and bones. SOOOO COOL! The human body is such a marvelous thing and I'm really excited to learn more about how all of it works together.  In lab, the cadavers are prosected which means that we don't actually do any cutting (which is kind of a shame for a geek like me) but it saves more time for learning and exploring.  All the other students in my lab section are shy and quiet and I felt weird asking so many questions, but I was too fascinated by the material to notice, and I think everyone else was just interested in my accent.  The lecture is long, but really interesting. Our teacher is great, and also pretty young which makes him more approachable. I actually look forward to this class every week now, which is a good sign that I'm headed in the right direction career-wise :)

Life Through Time: 4 hours of the same class in one day is always going to be a little rough, but the material is really intriguing because I've never studied fossils this in-depth before.  This one is going to be pass/fail so I can relax and enjoy the new experience.  We will be going caving later in April as well as visiting other fossil sites as we learn more about Australian history through paleontology.  One of our professors for the course doesn't really like the US very much...something about us always trying to steal credit for the best dinos?  Other than that, the only thing I'm worried about is the evolution/creationism debate...it was mentioned more than a few times in today's sessions alone, in a really backhanded way, but it's nothing I haven't dealt with before. Overall, I'm excited for the class and the new material!

The Marine Environment: Let me start by saying that there are no Australians in this class...we are ALL exchange students.  This will, undoubtedly, be the easiest class of my college career.  You can probably imagine what today's lecture was like when I tell you that it is for non-science majors and that we are given 30 minutes for our exams.  It will still be interesting though, and what better place to study this kind of biology?  Plus we'll be going to the aquarium and out to some beaches/bays/tidepools for studies, so that will be cool enough.  Throw in the fact that there is no final exam and you've got a lot more free time for the beach!

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Kangaroo for dinner!

Also, tonight I had kangaroo meat for the first time! It's really gamey, sort of like venison, and has to be cooked between rare and medium rare.  I bought a pre-marinated kangaroo steak and cooked it in some olive oil in a pan.  With corn on the cob and some pear slices it was such a yummy meal! Kangaroo is a leaner meat than beef and the animals themselves have a much smaller eco footprint than cattle so there are many discussions that the world should be switching to kangaroo from cattle for their meat in order to benefit our earth and our waistlines.

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In even more exciting news, my mom booked her ticket for Sydney and will be landing here on June 24th, spending 5 days touring the city, the national parks, the mountains, the zoos and as much else as we can get to!  We will be flying home together on June 29th; she even got the seat right next to me on the plane :) I think the countdown until her arrival is just over 100 days and I'm so excited to get the chance to show her around this city that I'm slowly coming to call my own.

Mardi Gras in the City

In Sydney, the big day for the Mardi Gras parades is Saturday, so yesterday we went in to downtown and joined the thousands of people lining the streets for the biggest parade of them all: the LGBTQ sponsored Gay and Lesbian Pride Mardi Gras parade.

The first parade was in 1978, where even though the march had obtained permission, 53 people were arrested that evening.  The newspapers the next morning published the names of those who had been arrested which lead to many of them being outed to their friends and families and even losing their jobs, since apparently homosexuality was considered a crime in New South Wales until 1984.  Since then it has been an annual march for gay rights, and is now a tourist attraction for the city that brings in a lot of money.

Last night was definitely an interesting experience, and I'm told is one of those things you have to do if you're here...But mostly it was a vivid and flamboyant celebration of the freedom to love and questions about when Australia will begin to allow gay marriage, as so many other countries already have.  It was disappointing that the US couldn't be celebrated as one of these countries either.

Overall, there were a lot of people with not a lot of clothes on.. both in the parade and in the crowd...

It's a Beautiful Day; Don't Let It Get Away

I woke up at 7am to catch a bus into Sydney where I met friends and got on the train to a town called Cronulla.  Here we took a ferry to Bundeena, the home of Royal National Park (also called Bundeena National Park) and started our day.

Mangrove trees: The tips of the roots (under water in this picture)
stick straight up above the sand so that when the tide goes down,
they are exposed to oxygen.  The roots regulate the water
and oxygen intake so that there is never too much or not enough.      

We rented a few ocean kayaks and spent some time in "The Basin" which is a wide saltwater river edged by tall cliffs and jungle, and filled with mangroves and other exotic trees and plants.  Apparently we came at the perfect time because the area is only accessible at very high tides.  The water was perfectly clear and, unlike rivers in the US, the bottom was white sand and no more than two feet deep at any point.  We found a cliff that had a rope swing out to pretty deep water, but we couldn't figure out to get to it and it seemed like the place where you would most likely land was right on top of a rock...so we skipped that idea, but took some pictures instead.  The landscape was more like what I would have expected from New Zealand, not Australia, but I'm definitely not complaining.  On our way out of the river we spent some time kayak surfing out in the bay and then did some swimming before heading back to town for the rest of our adventure.

Our first view of the sandstone cliffs at the start of the Coast Track.
Without a cloud in the sky, we hiked from this point to the beach
which is just past the furthest visible outcropping.

After grabbing a quick lunch and a map, we walked to the trail head of the Coast Track, the "must-do" of Royal National Park.  This bushwalk is typically done in two days and is 27.3km.  Since we only had the day and had to be back to catch a 7pm ferry back to the train station, we only did the first 6km out and back.  Along the way were the most spectacular sandstone cliffs, including one section that was a pure white stone that was so smooth from the wind it looked like sand on a beach.  The Coast Track, as the name would imply, follows the coast along these cliffs and sometimes cuts inland for some much needed shade.  Every view of the unbelievable water colors and rocks was breathtaking.  We didn't know much about the hike when we started it, except it's length, so when the trail first opened up to the cliffs along the coast and all of us saw it at the same time, I can honestly say that it took our breath away.

Huge waves!!

At the end of 6km was Big Marley beach, which turned out to be our private beach for the hour we got to be there.  From the beach there is nothing to be seen but open water, cliffs, and the forest of the National Park behind you...  The waves there were the biggest waves I have ever seen in my life...some of them were easily 7 or 8 feet.  Since the surf was so rough and the current was so strong, the waves would hit the shore and then get pulled back out and make another wave breaking backwards.  Getting caught in between two waves coming from opposite directions is not fun, by the way...


The return trip, which was just a backtrack of where we had come from earlier, was just as beautiful.  I know the word is definitely overused, but this scenery was awesome, in the most powerful sense of the word.

This was one of the most exciting days I have had here so far, but two hours of kayaking and about 15km in total of hiking/walking has completely wiped me out.