134 Metres Above Sydney

The beginning of the week was pretty hot, up to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit and then the rest of the week was rainy weather. During the rainy weather I received a fantastic surprise....

...I was told to wear my joggers (gym shoes) and regular clothes. As we were driving into the city I was trying to think of what I could even guess that we were going to be doing in the afternoon in the city with our joggers on.  We pull up to a building near the harbour and I'm still clueless and we walk up to the door and I read "Bridge Climb"!!!!! AHHH, YIPPEE!!! What a great surprise....climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge!!!

Once in-I'm ecstatic and very surprised. I fill out some forms, do a breathalizer, go through a metal detector and get suited up with heaps of jumpsuits, rain gear, hats, radios, and the works and then get the briefing and head on our way!!! Once we hooked our very fancy safety devices to the cable we didn't un-hook until back where we started. It was so amazing and so much fun. Even though it was rainy I could still see pretty far-including the Opera House, and much more. The climb didn't take near as long as I imagined it might take and wasn't too difficult. it was a total of 1.8 km--just over a mile. The photo below was taken at the top. I'm wearing a head set for the radio not ear muffs. :)

Some fast bridge facts that I learned:
Building started 1924 and completed 1932
6 million rivets used
World's largest steel arch bridge
I was up 134 meters=439 feet at the top

Beginning of my Independent Study Project in Royal National Park

Leading up to me starting my Independent Study Project or ISP, we all were in Byron Bay for 2 weeks. We were doing some end of the semester field trips, final papers and homework and final exam time. I got some good beach time in too in the last two weeks of Byron-between homework and studying. On one of the weekends in Byron, we all took part in a Coal Gas Seem Gas Day of Action. This was a 'non-violent direct action' protest rally. We had signs and walked through the streets of Byron protesting against fracking for the gas from the coal seems in Northern New South Wales. Also, during our time in Byron we were preparing for our ISP projects. Our our ISP's can be one of three options: a research project, and internship or a creative project. I chose to do an internship. I contacted many organizations but in the end I chose to do my internship with the Royal National Park Environmental Education Centre which is located in Royal National Park. Royal National Park is located immediately south of Sydney and is the oldest national park in Australia--and it is the second oldest national park in the world after the one and only Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming! So I have now, luckily, been in the two oldest national parks in the world!!!

After we took our exam and finished up our final two weeks in Byron, those of us leaving Byron prepared to head out for our five week long ISP projects. I flew down to Sydney with two of the other girls, stayed there for a night and then met up with one of the teachers from the centre I am working at. She is letting me live with her and her family for my ISP period. Which is so incredibly kind of them. My first week at the Royal National Park Environmental Education Centre was a great one. I did all sorts of activities-in doors and out. I went on a couple field excursions with primary (elementary) school students as well as some high school students. I also did some other tasks at the centre preparing for the next weeks video conferences. The picture just above to the left is one of the walls of the Centre and it has many of the native animals and birds. The other above to the right is the sign for the Centre.

The video conferences are on Bin Busters-recycling, composting and rubbish-and Worm Organics-worm farming. The video conferences were with 1002 students from 21 different schools in New South Wales. It was such an interesting experience to be teaching to students through video cameras. It opens up so many doors for students out in the country who can't always go out on excursions and such.During the first week I took part in my very first Melbourne Cup Sweep-"betting" on horses for the race. I had 5 different horse and....one of them took second place and won me....$2.50!!! hahaha I'm a big winner :) It was pretty fun to take part in.The picture below shows my $2.50 winnings and the slip for the horse-Red Cadeaux that won me it.

My first weekend of ISP I went down to the south coast and saw some very awesome places. I saw a HUGE blow hole in the rocks (picture to the left) on the coast and drove over the sea cliff bridge-which makes you feel like you're driving in a sports car on a commercial, because the road is curvy and so scenic. The next day I went on a bushwalk on the Marley Track. We swam at Deer Pool (1st picture below)-a natural water hole with a small waterfall and then we continued on and walked down to the beach and swam at Marley Beach (2nd picture below). The water was the coldest I've experienced here so far. We also got to see some humpback whales just off the coast. They were having a ball jumping out of the water and I was having just as much fun watching them. There were a couple babies with them too that were adorable jumping out of the water too. On the walk back we swam in Deer Pool again because it was such a hot day we needed to keep cooling down by swimming. I saw heaps of different flowers and vegetation and luckily there was a guide book at hand to identify what they all were.

My second week of ISP was when all of the video conferences took place. This past weekend (weekend #2 of ISP), Emma-who is in Sydney for her project, came down to visit and we went to the beach at Cronulla and swam, laid around and walked around town a bit. It was a very nice and relaxing day. The water felt great and the sun was shining! Then the next day I hung our at the house during the day-did some work on my paper for ISP, watched some movies and just relaxed.
So as you can see I am continuing to have a fantastic time. I am really enjoying my internship as well as the area and people around me.

Aboriginal Camping Trip

The aboriginal camping trip was such a great experience. Any Australians that I have spoken to since we got back from the trip have said that even most Australians don't get the experience to go camping with Aborigine people. We were camping for 5 days and 4 nights. The area we went camping at is called Minyumai and it belongs to the Bundjalung people. We had 3 elders that were on the trip with us. There was Ian, Russel and Doug. There was also Pete who was not an elder but he came on the trip with us.


During the 5 days we were camping we learned some much stuff. One neat thing we learned was to take the leafs from the Red Ash-or soap bush as they call it, and use it as soap. You have to put it in your hands with water and rub it together really fast, but make sure you don't drop any, and then as your rub it together it starts to foam up like soap does. Once it's foamy you can wash with it. It is also good for ant bites, mozzie (mosquito) bites and any other bug bites to relieve the itch and burn.
A couple other things we learned were:

How to throw a spear. You can throw them with just your hand or you can use a womra to throw it. A womra hooks onto the end of the spear and gives you more leverage to throw the spear further and if you're good with more precision.  I was never able to hit the target, but I came fairly close a few times. We were about 35 metres from the target.

We also learned how to throw boomerangs. And you better believe it, they come back to you. Russel taught us how to throw them just right so that they come back to you. When I say it comes back to me, personally, it comes with in about 20 feet of where I'm standing-soo...generally close. The wind, your 'umph' on the throw and the direction you throw it and how much flick you put on it all affect how close it comes back to you. I got better at it as the trip went on. You just have to be careful and watch out for trees, so it doesn't get stuck.

We also learned many aboriginal symbols in regards to painting. I didn't use too many of them when I painted my boomerangs because there were a lot of animals and I didn't trust my painting skills to achieve the way they're supposed to look. However, I did use the dot work, a lot, on my boomerangs because I really like the way it looks. You just have to be patient and have a decently steady hand when doing it.  I have posted 2 photos of the boomerangs I painted. The first photo is the front side of the boomerangs and the second is the backside.

Now to explain the backside of the boomerang that says Herinjerri. After a few days of camping Russel gave us all aborigine names. He decided that mine was dragonfly or in his language Herinjerri (pronounced as it looks). He decided this because he said I was all over the place. He said I would be throwing spears, then painting, then throwing boomerangs and then back doing something else...I was all over the place like a dragonfly. One thing that is really awesome about my aboriginal name is that my name is in it hERINjerri, and Russel didn't even know that until I noticed it after he gave the name to me. I must note that Luci, who is on my program, painted my the dot dragonfly for me that is on the back of my boomerang. Also, Russel hand made all of the boomerangs for us!!! 

Tasmania, Melbourne & Sydney

So it appears that my blog is going to consist of me doing lots of great stuff and falling behind on my blog and then doing catch up posts...which is what this one is going to be. BUT I promise it's going to be good one.

To start...here goes Tasmania!!!!
We flew into Hobart, the capital of the island state. Our first night there I got dinner from a floating boat restaurant and I ordered Flake....which is shark!!! I actually enjoyed it. We stayed in Hobart for another day and night and then the next day we left on the bus to go to the town of Maydena, on the way we saw black swans! In Maydena we stayed in some very nice cabin/houses, which are located by one of the best paces in all of Australia to see a platypus in the wild...but I didn't see one there :(. Maydena is also located by The Styx-Big Tree Forest Reserve; which is where the world's tallest flowering plants are...they are pretty hefty. :) We hiked through the rainforest on some great (muddy) hikes and to some beautiful overlooks. We also hiked/walked to where the rainforest protestors are. They are protesting and doing tree sits to prevent logging of the old growth forests. The day after the rainforest we hiked in Mt. Field National Park. It was so pretty and I got to see snow for the first time since I've been in Australia. On the mountain we hiked up there was 'ski field' aka ski area, which was pretty tiny to say the least...but still a ski area. That night we drove to Lake St. Clair-which is the deepest lake in Australia, measuring in at 167 metres. The next day was a foggy day, which was neat to see on the lake, but also unfortunate because there were multiple mountains we were unable to see because of the fog. We went to an old water pump house on the lake and we saw a platypus there! We went on 4 short hikes this day; we did a couple through the rainforest and one by a river to Nelson Falls and another forest hike. All were very enjoyable. I am really getting used to hiking being my class time :) But just because I'm learning this way doesn't mean that I'm not learning. I am learning so much new stuff, it is so great and a little overwhelming. We stayed in Strahan that night. Strahan is located on the east coast of Tassy--by the Macquarie Harbour and the Southern Ocean. The next day we went on a boat ride through the harbor, through 'Hell's Gates' out into the Southern Ocean, and then up the Gordon River.We toured Sarah Island which is similar to Alcatraz in the fact it was an island for convicts. The Southern Ocean is where some of the freshest, cleanest air is in the world; which is because it hasn't come in contact with a land mass since it left South America! The air/wind felt great and fresh and clean  aaanndd cold! (1st picture below) That night we went to Cradle Valley which is where Cradle Mountain-a very iconic place in Tassy is. Some of us hiked up to Marion's overlook-which looked right at Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake which is at the base of the mountain (2nd picture below).  It was such a serene place and I would love to have been there when there was little to no human influence. I also saw a wombat this day---they are so cute and great. They are like big rectangular hamsters-that poop square poop hahaha (3rd picture below). For the entire Tasmania trip our main teacher was Geoff Mosley. He was the president of the Australian Conservation Foundation for many many years, he played a significant role in stopping mining in Antarctica and he has done so many other amazing things. We were so incredibly lucky to have him as our teacher. Well that wraps up Tasmania.

Now onto Melbourne.
In Melbourne (pronounced w/out the 'r' if your from Aussie and have an accent) we stayed at a hostel that is in an old nunnery!!! It was a great place to stay because all of the rooms are fancy and nice. We've had daylight savings time (change) here now so I am now 17 hours ahead of all mountain time zone people! The first day in Melbourne a few of us strolled around the city and checked out all of the great sights. The city has a lot of interesting architecture-very funky and modern (I think). There is also a really neat street called Brunswick St. and there are lots of great shops and restaurants there. At one of the shops I got a mini (silicone-ish) yellow submarine that I can put my loose leaf tea into and it sinks into my mug and brews my tea :). One of the days in Melbourne we met for class at a local college/education centre and then we went on a walking field trip to a sustainable high rise office building. It is pretty impressive to see how such a large building can be so sustainable. It is inspiring and makes me hopeful that many more buildings will follow and do the same. The last day in Melbourne we explored the city some more and found some little side streets with lots going on and a lot of good people watching :). We left Melbourne and flew to Sydney!

O Sydney---what a truly iconic place for all of Australia. Our first afternoon there we went down to the harbour and checked out the amazing and famous Sydney Opera House! It is such incredible building, the design is so unique and symbolic. The next day in Sydney we had class and we went to the Powerhouse Museum and checked out the 'Sustainability' exhibit. Within this exhibit is a model of a sustainable home in Sydney; which we in fact went and toured after the museum. The house belongs to a man Michael Mobbs but his daughter gave us the tour because he was on vacation. It was nice to see a house that is retrofit to become sustainable, meaning it was not built from ground up to be a sustainable home. They have a 20,000 gallon rain water tank that they use for all of their water. It's fantastic that they get so much rain to fill that and make it an affective way of collecting and using water. The day after our field trip two of my friends and  I went through the Botanical Gardens to this one point where you can see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge perfectly together. (4th picture below) We then went to the Opera House again :) and then to a place called The Rocks-near the harbour and we ate a famous restaurant called 'pancake on the rocks'. It was so incredibly delicious! Then we got ferry boat tickets and took the ferry to a town called Manly and we hung out there, by the beautiful beach for a while and then hopped back on the ferry and went to Darling Habour-next harbour over from main harbour and then to Luna Park. Luna Park is a small old fashioned-ish amusement park located across the harbour from Sydney. We ate dinner there and got to see the Opera House lite up! The next day after doing homework during the day-due to rain. For dinner a few of us took a train to Newtown and ate dinner there are a Turkish restaurant where we sat on pillows on the floor and there was a belly dancer :) We then walked around the main street for a while and then headed back to the hostel---which so happens to literally be the best hostel in the world!!!! My friend and I were talking to the night shift desk workers and he found out that neither of us had done Tim Tam Slams before. So he then decided it was necessary that we do one immediately. What you do is bite the ends of the Tim Tam (slender chocolate coated cookie) off and then get a cup of Milo (hot chocolate) and then while holding the Tim Tam put it in the Milo and start drinking it up through the Tim Tam. Sound easy---well while your drinking the tasty Milo the Tim Tam is melting on you so you have to slurp up the Tim Tam at the same time. It is very fun and I think everyone should try it. It is a little messy but the taste is worth it. The last day in Sydney we flew 'home' to Byron Bay.

We are in Byron Bay for two nights and then we leave to go camping with the aborigine people in Bundjalang country. We will be doing many great activities including painting, spear throwing, boomerang painting, beading and so much more. I am really looking forward to it. We are not allowed to take any electronics with us, even our watches, so it is going to be a relaxing time when we can continue to connect with the land and learn about sustainably living with the land.
I plan on posting much more frequently (after camping) since we will be in Byron for two weeks and be fairly stationary. And then after Byron I'm off to my Independent Study Project (ISP)!! wooooo hooo Sorry that post was so long winded, but there is so much I have done and seen that I want to describe.

 

Updates...Almost

Hello!!!
Sorry I'm apparently not doing so well at blogging. I have been in Tasmania for the past week...and I have been doing so much and have so much to talk about. However, with that said I am going to have a new post up with all of the great things I have done...which should be posted in the next day or two. Here is a quick little summary.
I saw the world's tallest flowering plants, saw a platypus-and many other creatures like pademelon's and wombats (both marsupials), saw the deepest lake in Australia, went on some amazing and beautiful hikes, went to the rainforest and saw protestors tree sits, went to the Southern Ocean (officially an ocean in 2000) through "hell's gates", explored one of the most classified world heritage sites in the world and had such a FANTASTIC time!!!!
More detailed information..and pictures...coming soon :)

Catch up Time

Since I have waited until 3 weeks into my semester to start a blog, I am going to do some quick catching up and describe what I have done so far! So bear with me while I sum up 3 weeks into one blog post.

Week 1:
My plane ride here was long but it went surprisingly well and fast. Especially since I slept for about 7 hours of it! I flew into Brisbane and met up with the other 18 (American) students and our academic director, Peter. We stayed in Brisbane for the night and the next day and then we headed south to start off our orientation. For orientation we camped at a place called Seven Mile Beach, which has an absolutely beautiful beach. During orientation, we all took a surf lessons; which were generally successful and very enjoyable.
Week 2:
Following orientation we went to Maclean (town) and stayed at Forest Haven and did our Eco-Philosophy Retreat with one of our professors, Eshana. After the retreat we moved into our apartments in Byron Bay. Byron Bay is where the 'most easterly point of the mainland of Australia' is located---see photo below. We stayed at the apartments for 1 week. During that week we attended the HUGE Byron Farmer's Market. I bought a tea tree/eucalyptus soap bar and a hula hoop :) We attended 'regular' class for a day and then went kayaking/canoeing for a day for class. We also had our Sustainability Workshop for two days of the week. I thoroughly enjoyed that workshop. I can now say that I am now much more and will continue to be more aware of where my food and products come from and what it took to get that product to where I am eating or using it. At the end of week 2 we had a field trip to an organic farm-where macadamia nuts are grown, as well as other tasty organic eats. During this field trip we also went to Djanbung Gardens which is where the Permaculture College of Australia (very small-about 10-15 students) is located. Both the farm and gardens were amazing; I learned so much and ate just as much :)
Week 3:
We moved out of the apartments in Byron Bay and into our homestays with families living in and around Lismore-a town about 45 minutes inland from the ocean. My homestay family is a couple who have children, but are 20 years or older and who moved out or live at university. So it's just me at home with them. They are very nice and feed me very well. I have eaten Vegemite and surprisingly thought it didn't taste too terrible! The first day of homestay, Jesse (another student/friend), her host Mum and host sister and I went back to Byron Bay to the lighthouse there and the humpback whales are breaching right now and so we saw a bunch of whales!--see photo below. They're so much better to see in the wild instead of at Seaworld. During homestay, we attend 'regular' class and have a couple days off here and there. We also took a field trip to the Border Ranges National Park, which is about an hour and a half north of Lismore. We "bushwalked" (hiked) through the rainforest  and saw some fantastic trees, plants, and creatures. We also went to a look out and we were able to see the ocean, Mt. Warning and so much else.---photo below. 
This now brings me up to yesterday. Jesse, her homestay family, my host Mum and I went to a friend of theirs farm and helped prep the white nectarines!
I have been learning all sorts of new terminology that I am attempting to begin using.Which is where the first two words of my blog title come in. Sunnies=sunglasses and swimmers=swimsuit. Third word=Tim Tams which are the amazingly delicious "biscuits" (cookies) that they have down here. I have eaten SO many already. Last word=pink zinc which is what it sounds like zinc that I got that is hot pink--to protect my nose and face from the brightly beaming Australian sun!

Whew, what a fast 3 weeks!!!

First Post :)

Hello, or as they say down here g'day :)

I have decided to start a blog so everybody will be able to hear, or read technically, about what I am doing down here in Australia for the semester...and hopefully be able to see-through photos-where I am and how fantastic Australia is. I am aiming to update the blog at least once a week and maybe more depending on what I do that week or how much time I have or internet availability I have. I hope you all enjoy...and be flexible with me as this is my first ever blog. How exciting!

For starters I am going to put up my tentative schedule for the rest of the semester.

Currently-Sept 24: home stay in Lismore, NSW (New South Wales).
Sept 24-Oct 2: Tasmania (Australian island state off the southern coast)
Oct 2-Oct 5: Melbourne, NSW
Oct 5-Oct 9: Sydney, NSW
Oct 9-Oct 14: Aboriginal camping trip
Oct 14-Oct 27: Byron Bay, NSW (amazing beach town! Which is also where the most easterly point of the mainland of Australia is)
Oct 28-Dec 1: Independent Study Project (ISP) (location being decided currently)
Dec 2-Dec 8: Final week of semester at Lennox Head (south of Byron Bay)
     *Dec 3 & 4: ISP presentations*