Hey guys,
with less than 24 hours before I leave Oz, I thought I would give one last update from the road.
-I've been in Melbourne for the past 5 days or so. I've met up with several people from Rhodes here, as there are currently 3 Rhodes friends living in the city.
-I went on a tour of the Great Ocean Road yesterday, which was absolutely fantastic. I think the Loch Ard Gorge was my favorite. There is a great story of a shipwreck there, where one guy survived, got to shore, then went back out to save a girl he heard calling for help. The two of them were rare survivors of shipwrecks along the dangerous coastline there. Obviously there is more detail to the story, but that's the basic part of it. There were also great views at the 12 apostles, london bridge, the temperate rainforest there, and some great surfing areas along the road.
-I've gone to several fascenating museums here and gone to a big local market, the Queen Victoria Market. My favorite exhibition was the Tim Burton exhibition that they have. I tried to also go to the Titanic exhibit here, as it has a lot of artefacts from it, but it was sold out on the day I went.
-I have been to an AFL match here, which was quite interesting. Not as enjoyable of a sport as rugby, but I found it to be pretty cool. I got to see it at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG) which could hold 100,000 people. The attendance was around 75,000 or so.
Ok, I'm off, but I look forward to getting back in a couple days' time.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Hello all
Hey guys,
here are a few highlights from the past few days:
-Diving on the great barrier reef. I went out on a day dive (2 dives) on the outer reef from Cairns, up in the north. It was crappy weather, but still fantastic diving. Definitely worth the money. My dive buddy was a cool guy from the UK that had been diving for 35 years, mostly as a Navy and then Marines diver. His favorite dive was dry suit diving in Antarctica.
-Going up to Cape Tribulation and seeing what is believed to be the world's oldest continually existing rainforest. Had a lot of fun up there.
-Got to do a tropical fruit tasting. This consisted of 10 fruits that can't be shipped outside of the tropics, as they only last a couple of days or bruise too easily or something else. They were really, really cool and unusual. Some of them we do get in the states, but tasting nothing like what a fresh one tastes like.
-Oh, and I don't think I've written about the rugby match yet. The Wallabies thumped the Springboks 30-13! It was such and exciting match to be at, I had a lot of fun. It is much better going to a rugby match than an American football match, as this doesn't have any of the breaks between every single stupid play. I still love American football, but it's just a sport better enjoyed on TV. The Australia-New Zealand game will be in Melbourne while I'm there...I'm definitely considering going....
One week left! I'll try to put a few last updates on before I'm done.
here are a few highlights from the past few days:
-Diving on the great barrier reef. I went out on a day dive (2 dives) on the outer reef from Cairns, up in the north. It was crappy weather, but still fantastic diving. Definitely worth the money. My dive buddy was a cool guy from the UK that had been diving for 35 years, mostly as a Navy and then Marines diver. His favorite dive was dry suit diving in Antarctica.
-Going up to Cape Tribulation and seeing what is believed to be the world's oldest continually existing rainforest. Had a lot of fun up there.
-Got to do a tropical fruit tasting. This consisted of 10 fruits that can't be shipped outside of the tropics, as they only last a couple of days or bruise too easily or something else. They were really, really cool and unusual. Some of them we do get in the states, but tasting nothing like what a fresh one tastes like.
-Oh, and I don't think I've written about the rugby match yet. The Wallabies thumped the Springboks 30-13! It was such and exciting match to be at, I had a lot of fun. It is much better going to a rugby match than an American football match, as this doesn't have any of the breaks between every single stupid play. I still love American football, but it's just a sport better enjoyed on TV. The Australia-New Zealand game will be in Melbourne while I'm there...I'm definitely considering going....
One week left! I'll try to put a few last updates on before I'm done.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Brisbane and Noosa
Hello all,
Here is a cool picture from Brisbane of me and a koala named Sumo:
http://i.koala.net/2207121485.htm
Also, I have spent the past day up in Noosa, which is a great little beach town north of Brisbane that has an amazing national park. The park is rather small, but has beautiful coastline and a gorgeous forest in the interior. I was seeing all sorts of birds, including lorikeets, fairy-wrens, honeycreepers, and kookaburras. Also went to go see Inception last night, it was a great movie. Definitely worth going to.
The koala picture was from a koala sanctuary that has been open near Brisbane since the 1920s and has over 130 koalas. It also is full of other animals, such as kangaroos, wombats, birds, a platypus, and much more.
I'm headed back to Brisbane today and am going to catch a Tri-Nations rugby match tonight. Wallabies vs. Springbok. Aussies vs. South Africa. Should be great for a first rugby match.
Cheers,
-Andy
Here is a cool picture from Brisbane of me and a koala named Sumo:
http://i.koala.net/2207121485.htm
Also, I have spent the past day up in Noosa, which is a great little beach town north of Brisbane that has an amazing national park. The park is rather small, but has beautiful coastline and a gorgeous forest in the interior. I was seeing all sorts of birds, including lorikeets, fairy-wrens, honeycreepers, and kookaburras. Also went to go see Inception last night, it was a great movie. Definitely worth going to.
The koala picture was from a koala sanctuary that has been open near Brisbane since the 1920s and has over 130 koalas. It also is full of other animals, such as kangaroos, wombats, birds, a platypus, and much more.
I'm headed back to Brisbane today and am going to catch a Tri-Nations rugby match tonight. Wallabies vs. Springbok. Aussies vs. South Africa. Should be great for a first rugby match.
Cheers,
-Andy
Monday, July 19, 2010
In Australia, plus Thailand comments
Ok, so it's been a bit. Sorry that my Thailand comments were pretty pitiful.
So here's what's up:
-I just made it to Australia tonight. Just try to keep track with me being a day ahead of all of you suckers for about all of your waking day. I'm staying at a hostel in Sydney, and I'm thinking 3 nights to try to get in the sights so that I can just get back in to the city to fly home on the 4th. I'm currently trying to figure out where in the country I want to go. It's hard to decide, as travel is rather expensive here.
-My visit to middle-of-nowhere Thailand was awesome. Really, really awesome. Beau was the only person around who spoke english, so I was heavily reliant on him, but that worked out just fine. We were going to go to a school he was working with, but I quickly learned that no plans are reliable in Thailand. Instead, we ended up picking rice in a nearby field, which was actually quite cool. It was a lot of fun, but that's just because we did it for less than an hour. I can't imagine what kind of pain I would be in if I did that for an entire day. Thailand is not a country for tall people. Also, we ended up throwing a frisbee with a bunch of Thai kids, which was a lot of fun. I'm not sure if they had ever used a frisbee before (I don't think they had), but they picked it up quickly. Also, I got to live using bucket showers and a squat toilet for a few days, which felt more like real Thailand. I'm quite glad I got to go up and see Beau. Props to him for learning Thai, and then his dialect of Thai, and then living in the area for a couple of years.
-Toursity Thailand beaches were ok. Not too many great stories from there, but it sure was beautiful. I can give y'all more info on this later. But, it was nice to scuba dive there and to chill out on the beaches. But, you can tell that these areas have a high number of European and Australian tourists there just to party.
-I got a ride from a friendly airport police officer from the airport to the bus station. This was nice, seeing as he was one of the few people in Khon Kaen that spoke English. However, I have picked up about 2 or 3 Thai phrases that came in useful.
So here's what's up:
-I just made it to Australia tonight. Just try to keep track with me being a day ahead of all of you suckers for about all of your waking day. I'm staying at a hostel in Sydney, and I'm thinking 3 nights to try to get in the sights so that I can just get back in to the city to fly home on the 4th. I'm currently trying to figure out where in the country I want to go. It's hard to decide, as travel is rather expensive here.
-My visit to middle-of-nowhere Thailand was awesome. Really, really awesome. Beau was the only person around who spoke english, so I was heavily reliant on him, but that worked out just fine. We were going to go to a school he was working with, but I quickly learned that no plans are reliable in Thailand. Instead, we ended up picking rice in a nearby field, which was actually quite cool. It was a lot of fun, but that's just because we did it for less than an hour. I can't imagine what kind of pain I would be in if I did that for an entire day. Thailand is not a country for tall people. Also, we ended up throwing a frisbee with a bunch of Thai kids, which was a lot of fun. I'm not sure if they had ever used a frisbee before (I don't think they had), but they picked it up quickly. Also, I got to live using bucket showers and a squat toilet for a few days, which felt more like real Thailand. I'm quite glad I got to go up and see Beau. Props to him for learning Thai, and then his dialect of Thai, and then living in the area for a couple of years.
-Toursity Thailand beaches were ok. Not too many great stories from there, but it sure was beautiful. I can give y'all more info on this later. But, it was nice to scuba dive there and to chill out on the beaches. But, you can tell that these areas have a high number of European and Australian tourists there just to party.
-I got a ride from a friendly airport police officer from the airport to the bus station. This was nice, seeing as he was one of the few people in Khon Kaen that spoke English. However, I have picked up about 2 or 3 Thai phrases that came in useful.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Quick Thailand Update
I am currently on Ko Pha-ngon and will be leaving for Ko Phi Phi tomorrow. Here are a few of the things I have been up to:
-Today I went diving out at Sail Rock. Did two dives there and had a great time. Highlights were seeing a scorpionfish and swimming up a "Chimney"
-Went to a bunch of really, really pretty temples while I was in Bangkok
-Rode an elephant (which I'm still feeling guilty about)
-Spent some time chilling on the beach. I'm preparing for even more on Ko Phi Phi.
-I think I'm going to fly up to the Northeast of the country to visit my friend, Beau on about Thursday. Looks like I can fly from down here to up there for a decent price.
-Today I went diving out at Sail Rock. Did two dives there and had a great time. Highlights were seeing a scorpionfish and swimming up a "Chimney"
-Went to a bunch of really, really pretty temples while I was in Bangkok
-Rode an elephant (which I'm still feeling guilty about)
-Spent some time chilling on the beach. I'm preparing for even more on Ko Phi Phi.
-I think I'm going to fly up to the Northeast of the country to visit my friend, Beau on about Thursday. Looks like I can fly from down here to up there for a decent price.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Ballito/Durban and driving across SA
Good morning from Cape Town,
As I write this I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard, so forgive me if this post doesn't make much sense.
When we got to our hostel (Monkey Bay Backpackers) in Ballito (North of Durban) four days ago, we were very impressed by how nice the guys there were. We got a nice little tour of Ballito, which is a small little surfing/vacation town right on the beach. Our hostel was fantastic with one major highlight: a huge outdoor shower. Possibly the best shower I have ever been in. We spent three nights there, and went to see the Dutch beat Slovakia, hung out around the beach, went to an aquarium, and enjoyed the shorts weather. The beach was fantastic, with little areas of sharp rocks breaking the nice sand beaches every now and then. We got some sweet pictures on the rocks as the waves crashed into them (I'm planning on posting some pics in the next day or two, so y'all should get a look at some of the places I've been). Also, the Durban stadium (Moses Mabhida) has to be the coolest stadium I have ever been in. If you've never seen it, look up some pictures of it...it is absolutely beautiful. Furthermore, the game was a lot of fun and all of the Dutch fans were great to hang out with. If you watched the match you saw Dirk Kuyt further show how classy of a player he is by not being greedy and sealing the win for his team. Seriously, that man is 2000% class. Unfortunately I wasn't able to pick up any cool Dutch gear, as there weren't any street vendors at this game for some reason. Maybe they were trying to make Durban look nicer than all of the other cities.
Oh, by the way: Going to the Germany vs. Argentina game this weekend. No big deal.
Yesterday we drove from Durban to Mossel Bay, which is around halfway between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. This was a 15 hour drive, besides the fact that you drive about 140 km/hr most of the way (around 87 mph). Though, a lot of it was 2 lanes, so there were plenty of trucks to pass. It was really strange driving through this area, as a lot of it just had tiny little country towns, spaced out about 1 or 2 km apart in every direction that the eye can see. Just little towns of just houses, no stores, no streets. It seemed like most of the lifestyle out there was in livestock, as nothing really grows in that thick red clay. Every once in a while you would come across a larger town with a few stores and markets, and they were PACKED with people everywhere. It was rather odd, especially as we seemed to be the only non-locals around. We very inappropriately called them little Mogadishus, as that is what they looked like and we really felt out of place. But, the countryside was very beautiful and all of the people that we met along the way were extremely nice. Jim and I wanted to stop at one of the tiny bars/stores/post offices that you saw along the way in the middle of nowhere, as we felt that would be a great cultural experience. Tyler and Scott were not so thrilled about the idea. We got into Mossel Bay around 11 or 11:30, and then left at 5:30 this morning, so we never saw it in the daylight. But, the little beach house we stayed at seemed awesome; I would definitely like to go back there sometime. We then got into Cape Town, showered up, Jim went to work, and we've been exploring around. It is time for the Cape of Good Hope this afternoon.
Oh, and I forgot to mention: I was drinking with Rob Green's sister two nights ago. The Rob Green that let in the USA's infamous goal a couple of weeks ago. She totally verified it as well, I have absolutely no doubt that it was his sister. She was traveling around now that her family had headed back to England, so we hung out with her all evening and night. Definitely a random highlight of the trip. We didn't know it was her and were just hanging out with her until somebody made a Rob Green joke (we make at least 5-10 a day). It definitely made me feel bad about all of the previous jokes, as Rob is never going to live that goal down. But, I'm still glad that the US got a point out of that match...
Ok, I'll try to post one more time before I head to Thailand. Let me know if there is anything about my trip y'all want to know about.
-Andy
As I write this I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard, so forgive me if this post doesn't make much sense.
When we got to our hostel (Monkey Bay Backpackers) in Ballito (North of Durban) four days ago, we were very impressed by how nice the guys there were. We got a nice little tour of Ballito, which is a small little surfing/vacation town right on the beach. Our hostel was fantastic with one major highlight: a huge outdoor shower. Possibly the best shower I have ever been in. We spent three nights there, and went to see the Dutch beat Slovakia, hung out around the beach, went to an aquarium, and enjoyed the shorts weather. The beach was fantastic, with little areas of sharp rocks breaking the nice sand beaches every now and then. We got some sweet pictures on the rocks as the waves crashed into them (I'm planning on posting some pics in the next day or two, so y'all should get a look at some of the places I've been). Also, the Durban stadium (Moses Mabhida) has to be the coolest stadium I have ever been in. If you've never seen it, look up some pictures of it...it is absolutely beautiful. Furthermore, the game was a lot of fun and all of the Dutch fans were great to hang out with. If you watched the match you saw Dirk Kuyt further show how classy of a player he is by not being greedy and sealing the win for his team. Seriously, that man is 2000% class. Unfortunately I wasn't able to pick up any cool Dutch gear, as there weren't any street vendors at this game for some reason. Maybe they were trying to make Durban look nicer than all of the other cities.
Oh, by the way: Going to the Germany vs. Argentina game this weekend. No big deal.
Yesterday we drove from Durban to Mossel Bay, which is around halfway between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. This was a 15 hour drive, besides the fact that you drive about 140 km/hr most of the way (around 87 mph). Though, a lot of it was 2 lanes, so there were plenty of trucks to pass. It was really strange driving through this area, as a lot of it just had tiny little country towns, spaced out about 1 or 2 km apart in every direction that the eye can see. Just little towns of just houses, no stores, no streets. It seemed like most of the lifestyle out there was in livestock, as nothing really grows in that thick red clay. Every once in a while you would come across a larger town with a few stores and markets, and they were PACKED with people everywhere. It was rather odd, especially as we seemed to be the only non-locals around. We very inappropriately called them little Mogadishus, as that is what they looked like and we really felt out of place. But, the countryside was very beautiful and all of the people that we met along the way were extremely nice. Jim and I wanted to stop at one of the tiny bars/stores/post offices that you saw along the way in the middle of nowhere, as we felt that would be a great cultural experience. Tyler and Scott were not so thrilled about the idea. We got into Mossel Bay around 11 or 11:30, and then left at 5:30 this morning, so we never saw it in the daylight. But, the little beach house we stayed at seemed awesome; I would definitely like to go back there sometime. We then got into Cape Town, showered up, Jim went to work, and we've been exploring around. It is time for the Cape of Good Hope this afternoon.
Oh, and I forgot to mention: I was drinking with Rob Green's sister two nights ago. The Rob Green that let in the USA's infamous goal a couple of weeks ago. She totally verified it as well, I have absolutely no doubt that it was his sister. She was traveling around now that her family had headed back to England, so we hung out with her all evening and night. Definitely a random highlight of the trip. We didn't know it was her and were just hanging out with her until somebody made a Rob Green joke (we make at least 5-10 a day). It definitely made me feel bad about all of the previous jokes, as Rob is never going to live that goal down. But, I'm still glad that the US got a point out of that match...
Ok, I'll try to post one more time before I head to Thailand. Let me know if there is anything about my trip y'all want to know about.
-Andy
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