We arrived in Melbourne around 14:00, after a four hour bus ride from Davenport back to Hobart and an hour flight into Melbourne. The afternoon was spent aquainting ourselves with the City of Melbourne, which has a population of over 4 million people. During the evening we enjoyed an excellent pasta dinner at one of the many italian restuarants in downtown Melbourne and spent a couple hours wandering the large city. Melbourne is an interesting city of old and new and appears to have much to offer.
04.08.01 -- Day 29, Melbourne, Australia
Today has been a good day so far. I was able to sleep in, finally, and really enjoyed the much needed rest. Around 10:00 in the afternoon a bunch of us headed down to the market, a 3 acre indoor and outdoor area filled with shops and novelty items. I was able to pick up a few souvenirs at really cheap prices. It is now raining outside and I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon catching up on e-mail and homework. Tonight a group of us may head to one of the many comedy shows which are playing during Melbourne's Comedy Week Festival. So far I really like Australia and what Melbourne has to offer.
Today was basically a waste of a day. We woke up very early only to ride the bus for six hours from Melbourne to a small interpretive center in the Snowy Mountains region. At the interpretive center we watched a half hour video on hydro-electric power, but most of us ended up falling asleep rather than seeing the video. We then drove about an hour back towards Melbourne and arrived at our destination, Beechworth at around 17:00. Beechworth is a small x-goldmining town with little more than a bakery and a couple of tourist stores. The evening was spent watching TV and working on feild journals, thus making today the least exciting day of feild school so far.
Today was better than yesterday, but not by much. We woke up early, again, and wandered around the small town of Beechworth. At 11:00 we gathered in a park and celebrated two people's birthdays to the amusing guitar songs of a local singer named Lazy Harry. With a four hour bus ride ahead of us we didn't arrive in Canberra until about 17:00. I enjoyed a nice long run along one of the many paved pathways that line the city. The evening was then spent grocery shopping, making dinner, doing dishes and enjoying some nice Australian wine. I'm hoping tommorow will prove to be a bit more exciting.
Today was an action-packed day! We started the day off with an early morning lecture and then went to the Telstra Tower to see the entirely planned city from above. Not much, but green could be seen, as the city center is layed out on huge plots of land. Next we were off to see Parliament. Being the National Capital of Australia, Canberra has an elaborate parliament. In fact, there are not one, but two parliament buildings! The new one was built in 1988 and cost over $1.1 billion! The old one is now used for little more than achived books. What a good use of tax payer dollars. . . After seeing the parliament buildings, we went to the Canadian embassey and were given free cookies and juice -- probably the highlight of my day. After about an hour spent on Canadian soil we went to the war museum and saw the elaborate exhibits. The evening was much more relaxing than the day and was spent napping and attending another lecture. Tommorow morning we're off to Sydney which will be a nice change from the lifeless city of Canberra.
Today has been a good day. We arrived in Sydney at about 14:00 and went downtown to see the bridge and Opera house. I took several photos. After checking into our hostel a group of us walked around downtown and did some shopping. There are thousands of stores and shops in the downtown area, but to my disapointment none of them sell anything unique to Sydney or Australia. Sydney seems to be a very busy, hectic and crowded city that could pass for any large North American city such as Montreal or New York. We will be spending three days in Sydney and I'm hoping to visit the zoo and see more of the city. It should be great!
Good Friday, and Friday the 13th, was spent at the Sydney Zoo. Although the Sydney Zoo is world renowned I didn't think it was anything that special. A 12 minute ferry ride to the zoo and 8 minute gondola ride up to the enterance makes the zoo seem very exciting, but once you are actually there and walking the grounds the zoo becomes nothing more than a noisy places full of little kids and stinky animals. Most of the animals can't even be seen because they are nocturnal and sleep all day. The evening was enjoyed by relaxing in our hostel and chatting it up with my roomies. Tommorow we leave Sydney and go on a 14 hour overnight train ride into Brisbane. Although we arrive in Brisbane on Easter Sunday I'm looking forward to seeing the city.
04.14.01 -- Day 35, Sydney, Australia
Sydney is a crowded, hectic city. I really experienced just how many people there are in the city as I tried to walk down the streets during the afternoon. The day was spent shopping for souvenirs and I'm proud to say that I purchased an Opal ring for myself. Opal is a rare and gorgeous stone minded primarily in Australia. Today we leave Sydney at 16:00 to begin our 14 hour train ride into Bristbane. It's going to be a long journey. . .
04.15.01 -- Day 36, Brisbane, Australia
Exhausted doesn't even begin to describe the way I feel on this Easter Sunday! Our 14 hour train ride was awful. I hardly slept a wink. Today will be spent napping, catching up on homework and attending a lecture in the evening. I think going to bed early wil definately be a priority on today's agenda!
Although most of the day was spent on the bus travelling from Brisbane to Rockhampton, the evening was enjoyable. My group gave a presentation on tourism in Australia which was very well recieved. I then played squash in an Australian sized squash court, which is about 1 meter longer and wider than a Canadian Court. After squash we enjoyed a tasty, but expensive dinner back at the hotel. Tommorow we have to get up for 7:00am to travel to Blackdown Tableland National Park, a site of sandstone blufs and interesting rock formations.
Today we got up very early and spent the morning travelling to Blackdown Tableland National Park. When we finally arrived at the park we were greeted by some forest rangers. We enjoyed the sunny day by taking two seperate hikes which allowed us to see some unique rocks and vegetation found only in Australia. When we got back into Rockhampton at around 19:00 I felt exhausted and simply went to sleep. Overall it was a good day.
Surprisingly, most of the day was spent travelling on the bus! Today we had to leave Rockhampton at 7:00am, only to drive five hours to catch a ferry into Fraser Island. We finally arrived on the island at 17:00 and settled into our ant infested accomodation. The rest of the night was spent catching up on our field journals which are due in two days. I'm really disapointed with Fraser Island so far. It's the world largest entirely sand island, but you can't even go in the ocean because of all the sharks and poisonous fish in the water. Fraser Island is also one of Australia's largest tourist destinations, but to me the island seems to be little more than a rugged, heavily treed area filled with rich tourists and snotty customer service workers. Hopefully my opinion about the island will change after I see more of it. . .
Finally I was able to sleep in today! :) It felt wonderful to actually get an sdequate amount of rest and I must say I was in good spirits all day for this reason. During the afternoon a group of us had the oppurtunity to do some exploring on the 115km island. We hiked a trail in a rainforest area and then cooled off with a swim in a crystal blue, clear, fresh water lake. I decided to do some swimming and swam about 2km in the lake. It felt great to finally be active again and the water was a perfect combination of cool and refreshing. The evening wasn't too exciting. It was spent finishing up my field notebook and studying for our final exams which we take tommorow. I can't believe tommorow is our last day of field school!
The final day of field school was very enjoyable! During the morning I wrote my human and physical geography final exams and handed in my field notebooks. These are literally my FINAL exams, as I have now graduated with these courses!!! :) The afternoon was enjoyed hiking to and swimming in another fresh water lake and playing ultimate on the white sand beach. The evening was equally as enjoyable as the day. The field school coordinators treated us to dinner and drinks and we all enjoyed a tasty meal and a fun goodbye party afterwards. Sadly, tonight is the last night of field school. Tommorow all 49 field school members will venture off on their seperate ways. I will be staying in Australia until the 25th and will then fly back to Calgary only to fly out to Ottawa on May 4th for my last co-op workterm.
Overally I found the South Pacific field school trip really enjoyable. Although we spent a lot of time travelling on the bus, we covered a lot of ground and I feel that I have seen and experienced an amazing amount. I am very grateful for such a wonderful oppurtunity. For anyone who is considering travelling to the South Pacific, I would definately recommend it!