The last days of April

The last few days have been really excellent. I took a ferry over to Manly harbor to interview two Transition people, and through that experience (the ferry part) got many, many pictures of the Sydney opera house as we sailed around it. I will add some of these to Facebook. I also walked across the Sydney harbor bridge (this picture here) which was great, and went to the Contemporary Arts Museum and Museum of Sydney. All in all, Sydney time has been a success.

Tuesday I took a train to Katoomba, a city in the Blue Mountains about two hours west of Sydney. From the second I got off the train, it felt like the mountains-- cold, crisp, smells like campfire and winter-- it was very exciting to be out of the city. Katoomba was so beautiful-- this picture to the right is of the iconic 'Three Sisters' rock that you can see from the outskirts of the town.

My friend Meg came to Katoomba as well, and we did a few hikes in the area, in addition to spending most of Wednesday at the Jenolan Caves. We went on a tour that left Katoomba at 11am, drove an hour and a half to get there in a van with a Spanish-speaking family and two Japanese couples, and then spent about an hour and a half in the Orient cave at Jenolan.


Not only where the caves incredible- the Orient cave is ranked one of the 10 best in the world- on the trip back, our guide Mark randomly took us to see this herd (?) of kangaroos that he knew grazed in a field nearby. How did Mark know this?

All in all, an excellent day. I was also in Katoomba (the main reason, actually) to meet a few people from Transition Blue Mountains. I met Clare and Jed -both great and very helpful- and went to an event the Transition group was hosting, a film about retrofitting homes in the Blue Mtns.
The movie was a little boring but I would say close to 100 people were there! I couldn't believe it! It was very inspiring to see what Transition could look like, and how people were intrigued and inspired by the practicality and hope of this concept.

I am now back in Sydney for my last few days here- I am leaving on the Sunday morning train and heading to Lismore! I think I will be going back and staying with Margaret for a few days, before heading to Bangalow with Michelle for the last week of ISP.

I have so many great pictures from the last week, but a bunch of them are not uploading to Facebook and it is very annoying. Once it starts working, I will add the link here. Hope everyone is doing well!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076811&id=9803563&l=1190a33e12

The life rolls on

I have been in Sydney about a week now, and I am having such a good time here. I love this city, I love being able to do whatever I want while still on the program, my project is coming along fine, and I am so glad to be here. Meg and I have been all over the place. Highlights include the Art Gallery of NSW, Australia Museum, Paddy's Markets, hanging out with Jenny in St. Lenard's (a girl from the program), Glebe Markets, and just walking around the city in general. I am freeeeeeeeeeee......
As far as my project goes, I have already interviewed 5 people for it (that is half of my goal), done a good amount of background research, and have almost-set-plans to interview the other 5 by the end of the month. So I really feel pretty fine on that front, even though it is a bit overwhelming to think of actually putting everything together in a paper. But I'll get to that...

But the highlight of it all, of course, was last night, when we went to see Jerry Springer: The Opera at the Sydney Opera House. The show was the most ridiculous thing you can imagine, and we had great seats, sushi before, and cheesecake after! All in all, an excellent night.

As for the rest of the time I'm here, let's see... well tomorrow I am taking the ferry to Manly to interview two people there and walk around that area. And Tuesday I leave for Katoomba, a city in the Blue Mountains about 2 hours west of Sydney to adventure there and also meet/interview a few people from Transition Blue Mtns. I get back Thursday and have some last few days in Sydney before I head back up north to the Byron area.

So that is really it from here for now. The first picture here is just from walking down the street in Sydney, the second is from right before the opera, the third is the Opera house at night, and the last is the sun setting over Sydney harbor from outside the train window. I added more to my facebook albums, at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075861&id=9803563&l=3eacdbd2e8 and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076811&id=9803563&l=1190a33e12

Sydney

I made it to Sydney! The trip started yesterday afternoon, with a 3-hour bus ride from Brisbane to Casino. It was the most amazing ride, because we were driving through the countryside as the sun was setting, and it was the most beautiful thing you could see...just for hours. I took the overnight train from Casino to Sydney- 12 hours- leaving at 7pm and getting there at 7am. Luckily the train was pretty empty and I had a row to myself so I could attempt to go to sleep.

I got to Sydney this morning and took the train out to Waverton, where Meg picked me up (a girl from the program) and we went back to her apartment to drop off my bags. After a little while, we headed back into the city. We walked to the fish market, and through the Quay to get the Opera House and a little through the Rocks. At the opera house, we decided to be crazy and bought tickets to a show Friday night! I think it was a great idea.

Tomorrow I am going to the US Consulate to get a new passport, and in the evening a meeting of Transition Sydney at the Fair Trade Cafe. And that's really it! It is great to be in Sydney, it is great to be with Meg, it is great to be moving along this whole ISP process.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32517708&l=2fa9ce6fae&id=9803563

The plan unfolds...

So in the last few days, I have been living out the 'plan' that I spent days in Byron worrying about and figuring out. And I must say, I'm kind of good at planning! Everything is going completely fine, I feel good about where I am with the project, and the different housing situations have also worked out pretty perfectly. I am finding that being satisfied with my experience here and what I'm doing comes so much more naturally when I am planning out my life and days and figuring things out myself, instead of being a sheep in the group and following our director around.

Tuesday morning I took a bus from Byron to Brisbane, and the ride took 4 hours instead of the usual 2 because I didn't realize we'd be taking the scenic route and stopping at literally every town along the coast. I missed my train to Eudlo, and lugging around my bags, figured out I could take a train to a town called Caboolture and switch to a bus to Eudlo. So that all was fine, but the bags....ohhh the bags...

I was going to Eudlo to stay with Sonya, my adviser for this Transition project I am trying to work on. It was pretty brilliant to go to her on the first days of the project, because she gave me books to read, movies to watch, people to talk to, and I left feeling a lot better about where I'm going, and that I'm doing my best, and that it will probably be fine. This is a picture to the left of Sonya's permaculture garden in herbackyard- she grows most of her own food in it.

Thursday morning she dropped me off at the Nambour train station and I went back to Brisbane, where I am now. I am staying with Brian, a kid from the program, in a house with three Queensland Uni students. They are very
nice people, and their house is beautiful, and I am lucky things have continued to work out so nicely. Now, I am sitting at the Queensland State Library, with a big table, a quiet room, lots of Asians on computers, and fast wireless-- these days, it is not too far off from living the dream.

I will hang around Brisbane organizing life until Sunday morning, when I take the train down to Sydney for that 10 day adventure. I am pretty excited to do touristy things, see the opera house, things like that, and get a good chunk of my project done. I still don't know exaaaaaactly where I'll be staying, but I must remember that it has worked out pretty nicely until now, so that could keep happening!

It is crazy to think that the semester is wrapping up at home, and I have 5 weeks left on the whole program, 2 weeks in New Zealand, and then I'm coming home! Very exciting, but until then, I will just continue playing out my plan, and seeing where that takes me. Talk to everyone soon! And for a few more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075861&id=9803563&l=3eacdbd2e8

School is out and ISP begins

Since I last wrote, we have taken our final exam, packed up, said bye to the group, and moved out of Byron Central Apts to finally begin our 5 week independent study projects. I left the group when there were 6 weeks left in the program, and we will meet up again when there are 6 days left.

Me and my friend Michelle headed to Mullumbimby (about 20 min north) to stay with Tamar, Ami, and their kids Joy and Eden for 3 nights. This is a picture of their backyard. We played, watched movies, and basically relaxed from the very stressful last week of flood damage and finals.

One morning when I was talking on the phone outside their house, this scene even floated over my head. In conclusion, Mullumbimby was great. The highlight was when we got invited to a jam session by one of Tamar's friends-- little did we know it would be a group of professional musicians hanging out and playing beautiful Indian music together in one of their homes in the middle of the rainforest. Unbelievable. One of these pictures is of that scene.

We left Mullumbimby Sunday morning and headed back to Byron for the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival. It was amazing, long (12 hours), and muddy-- but we saw excellent acts like Ruthie Foster, Blues Traveler, Drive By Truckers, State Radio, Lucinda Williams, and John Butler Trio. It was a great time, and all of the hipsters from all of Australia were there.

Oh! I forgot to mention where we are living right now. It is very funny. We are in a brand new hostel basically right down the road from our old apartments. It is kind of fancy and ridiculous and not our style, but we are enjoying it because we are in a 6-person dorm room with our own bathroom and balcony which is -as of this moment- empty. Not so bad for Easter weekend in Byron Bay!

So BluesFest was great, and today we are hanging out in Byron Bay, going to the market, getting our lives organized before really heading out tomorrow. I am going on an 830am bus to Brisbane and then catching a train to Eudlo to live here for 2ish days with my adviser for my research project- Sonya. My goal is to get a much better picture than I have now of where I'm going with this project, and what I need to do, so I don't waste too much time doing it. Thursday I leave for Brisbane, where I am staying for 3 days with a kid from the program and then on the 19th I take the train down to Sydney for 10 days of project-working-on and traveling there.

So that is the plan! I hope it goes well. I kind of think it will, though, there is no real evidence for that. Either way, I am ready to get this thing started, and keep on moving. I am now also officially leaving the country June 9th -a week earlier than expected- which is exciting and gives me plenty of time in NZ and just what I need! In conclusion, I think things will work out as they should, and I hope everyone is going well (not a typo, Australian way of saying doing well), and talk to you soon!

Also, in meeting several Israelis-in-Australia over the past few days, I have learned a few new expressions for this subculture-- one is Ausraeli, and the other is CHaustralia (emphasizing the hebrew sound -ch-). All great. For a few more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075861&id=9803563&l=3eacdbd2e8

Cooloola and Katrina

What a week. I don't even know where to begin, except to say that it ended with a flash flood, an evacuation, and lots of soggy gear, passports, cell phones, etc... Anyway! This is where it all started. We drove about 4 hrs north into Queensland to get to Great Sandy National Park, to an area of it called Cooloola (the Aboriginal name for the area-- it is the sound the wind makes as it blows through the trees). We set up camp in an area called 'Harry's Hut' near the Noosa River- a really beautiful place, but with lots of mossy's (mosquitos). Our guide was a famous conservationist of the area- John Sinclair- who now runs his own tour company. (Bush, by the way, is the Australian word for nature/environment/country/outside of town)

This is where we camped...
We had a really great camping trip until the last day. It was our last trip as a group-- we just have a few days now in Byron before we leave for our ISPs until the end of the program-- and John Sinclair is the world expert in camping and set up '3 course meals with wine in the bush'. We made spring rolls, miso soup, caramel grapes...the works. On physical-activity-day of the trip, we canoed a few miles down the river, and then hiked about 6 miles to a sandblow that overlooked the Pacific.


We swam in the river, drank wine at night, it was a good life. Then Katrina hit! The mess started Thursday, when John told us it 'might rain' and so by a miracle of God I translated this into putting my laptop on the bus. Leaving everything in the world at the campsite behind, we left for s trip to this lake and beach. The road out of the campsite was awful and hilariously bumpy to begin with, and we were so far inland that it took us over an hour to get to a main road. At about lunch, it was decided that our trip would be canceled for the day because we needed to head back to camp, pack up, and leave before the road would be flooded out.

This is a picture of Peter testing how deep the water was on the road, right before he decided that we immediately had to turn back and head to the nearest town. He was absolutely correct because in minutes, the rain turned into a storm which turned into a flash flood. All of our things were back at the campsite-- we all literally just had backpacks on us with a water bottle and notebook-- so Peter, John, and they took Alex along went back to the site to try and get the stuff, and get out before it actually got dangerous. We turned around and after almost getting stuck in a different part of the road, heading to the nearest place, which was -obviously- this next picture.

We didn't hear anything about what happened to Peter, John, or Epps and all assumed all of our stuff was gone for good. The next morning we met them at a gas station and heard the story. Turns out our campsite flooded, and after a 3 hr walk to get there, Epps went through the tents salvaging everything he could, though it was all floating in water. They had spent the night up in the bathrooms which were on higher ground, and luckily were able to drive out the next morning. And we got our stuff, even though it was soaked and smelly, and a lot of people lost things like their computers and ipods...

I turned out pretty ok. My journal made it through! Which was what I was most worried about. But I did lose my cell phone, chargers, and my passport is looking pretty rough... but I really can't believe I have my computer and its fine, because it would definitely have been lost if I left it in the tent. What luck.

So now we are back in Byron. We went straight to the laundromat yesterday afternoon and washed everything we owned. And now there are all kinds of problems for people to try and fix. But Wednesday is our final exam and Thursday we leave for our projects, and we are not back until the very end of it all.

So that is the excitement from here. Completely unexpected Katrina-like turn of events. An article on the flooding here and more pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32474624&l=7353cf7139&id=9803563