Today was mostly about getting things organized for my upcoming outback adventure. I woke up, went for a run in the park (there were Black Swans in the pond today!!! I watched them dip their long necks into the water looking for food. Sometimes, they'll dip half their body so I'll just see their bums and feet wagging above the surface). The cute pink Galah parrots were in their tree as well as the green parrots. Parrots make such shrieking squawking noises!
While I was on my way to the park for my run, I saw police officers milling around on the busy street. There was a minor fender bender car accident. Then I hear "screeeech....boom!". I turn around and see that another fender bender had just occurred right next to the first accident! I bet the driver was distracted by the first accident and braked, thus causing the car behind to run into it. The driver slowly kept driving to turn the corner. A policewoman chased after the car screaming, "Stop! Stop! You've got to Stop!". The driver signalled to the officer that she was just getting out of the way onto a quieter street. So the second car followed and they both stopped their cars in the side street. I continued onto the park for my run and when I came back, everyone was gone.
After my run, I did laundry and then went into the city to shop. Well, shop for essentials such as shampoo, toothpaste, etc. Because things will be more expensive in the outback.
I also went to the library to check my email (it's usually free but here I only paid $5.50 for a membership to use internet for 3 months). A woman who was also on the computers started to chat with me. People just do that here....I'm still trying to get used to strangers making conversation with me. It's not something that people do in bigger cities. But anyways, she seems to be looking for a job and is frustrated with her situation. She's British and she hates Perth. She's been here 25 years and has always disliked it. She had kids here and she really wants to move but feels stuck because she is so settled with a house and it's hard to move everything (Perth is soooo far from other cities....it's extrememly isolated from the rest of the country). So I asked her why she came. Her answer? For a man. She seems to regret it and she admits she should've checked it out first before agreeing. He's British too but wanted to come because there is so much land here compared to London and it's always sunny. I don't know if they're still together...I didn't dare ask. It doesn't seem so....she seemed bitter. I think she told me all this to warn me not to make the same mistake. I told her not to worry because I haven't moved here but only visiting. I like Perth for holiday but I don't see myself living here either. I told her she'd like Melbourne better.
Showing posts with label Melbourne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melbourne. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Driest State on the Driest Continent
Mon Jan. 26 - This was Australia Day as well as Chinese New Year! I spent the day at my friend's friend's barbeque. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. This is what Aussies do....they welcome strangers and treat them like one of their own.
Tues Jan 27 - I went back to the centre of Melbourne to take the RSA course (Responsible Serving of Alcohol). Having this certificate allows you to work in establishments that serve alcohol. I paid $60 for a 3-hr course about the laws and how to deal with intoxicated customers. Then you do a test in the end and get your certificate the same day. I am now officially qualified to work in a bar in Australia!
After the course, I got some quick food and made my way to the bus station. My bus for Adelaide leaves at 8:15pm and arrives at its destination at 6am the next day. (Adelaide is 30 minutes behind Melbourne time). Although I booked with Greyhound, I went on another carrier. The bus was a Firefly bus and it was a double-decker. I was assigned a window seat on the lower level. In Australia, you have to check in at the desk so they can assign you a seat (unlike in North America where you go wherever you wish). There are also seat belts! the bus driver told us we had to because if the police come on board, they will fine you (the passenger) if you don't have the seat belt on. Secondly, it's better to have it on on case a kangaroo jumps out into the road. This happens quite frequently around dusk and dawn. At the beginning, we had the radio playing and then there was a movie. The movie was Bad Company, with Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins. It was ok. The seats had a lot of leg room too.
Wed Jan 28 - I arrived in Adelaide at 6am which was too early to check into a hostel. So I stayed in the bus station (nice and clean and safe) for a while. When I went outside around 9am, it was HOT!!! It turns out that today is a record high of 45.5 C (last time it was this it hot was the 1930's). Later, I heard from someone it was in the 50's. It's like an oven and thankfully a dry heat. South Australia (SA) is known as the driest state on the driest continent. How did I spend my day? Going to the SA Museum (which has the largest Aboriginal collection of artifacts in the world) and Migration Museum (which showed how exclusionary this country used to be). Both museums are free and air-conditioned! There are also 2 bus services (tram?) that go around the downtown for free. (Melbourne had a free tourist tram too). I also went to the mall to buy extra toiletries since I was warned that everything on Kangaroo Island (off of SA mainland) is more expensive since everything has to be imported. I'm heading off to Kangaroo Island tomorrow morning for my next wwoof at a wildlife sanctuary! I can't wait!
In the food court, I got 2 sushi rolls for under $5 and a MCd's ice cream cone for 50 cents. That was my cheap lunch.
Another way to keep cool is to go on the internet. I chatted with my German roomate from the hostel in Melbourne. She told me that the guy in the bunk above hers (the one I used to be in) came back with a girl and had loud sex. They were shaking the bed too. Ohhh, my poor roomate! That is against the rules and you get kicked out for that. But he checked out the next morning. That room has 2 sets of bunk beds (so normally 4 occupants). How rude. Ahhh, the adventures of hostel living!
Tues Jan 27 - I went back to the centre of Melbourne to take the RSA course (Responsible Serving of Alcohol). Having this certificate allows you to work in establishments that serve alcohol. I paid $60 for a 3-hr course about the laws and how to deal with intoxicated customers. Then you do a test in the end and get your certificate the same day. I am now officially qualified to work in a bar in Australia!
After the course, I got some quick food and made my way to the bus station. My bus for Adelaide leaves at 8:15pm and arrives at its destination at 6am the next day. (Adelaide is 30 minutes behind Melbourne time). Although I booked with Greyhound, I went on another carrier. The bus was a Firefly bus and it was a double-decker. I was assigned a window seat on the lower level. In Australia, you have to check in at the desk so they can assign you a seat (unlike in North America where you go wherever you wish). There are also seat belts! the bus driver told us we had to because if the police come on board, they will fine you (the passenger) if you don't have the seat belt on. Secondly, it's better to have it on on case a kangaroo jumps out into the road. This happens quite frequently around dusk and dawn. At the beginning, we had the radio playing and then there was a movie. The movie was Bad Company, with Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins. It was ok. The seats had a lot of leg room too.
Wed Jan 28 - I arrived in Adelaide at 6am which was too early to check into a hostel. So I stayed in the bus station (nice and clean and safe) for a while. When I went outside around 9am, it was HOT!!! It turns out that today is a record high of 45.5 C (last time it was this it hot was the 1930's). Later, I heard from someone it was in the 50's. It's like an oven and thankfully a dry heat. South Australia (SA) is known as the driest state on the driest continent. How did I spend my day? Going to the SA Museum (which has the largest Aboriginal collection of artifacts in the world) and Migration Museum (which showed how exclusionary this country used to be). Both museums are free and air-conditioned! There are also 2 bus services (tram?) that go around the downtown for free. (Melbourne had a free tourist tram too). I also went to the mall to buy extra toiletries since I was warned that everything on Kangaroo Island (off of SA mainland) is more expensive since everything has to be imported. I'm heading off to Kangaroo Island tomorrow morning for my next wwoof at a wildlife sanctuary! I can't wait!
In the food court, I got 2 sushi rolls for under $5 and a MCd's ice cream cone for 50 cents. That was my cheap lunch.
Another way to keep cool is to go on the internet. I chatted with my German roomate from the hostel in Melbourne. She told me that the guy in the bunk above hers (the one I used to be in) came back with a girl and had loud sex. They were shaking the bed too. Ohhh, my poor roomate! That is against the rules and you get kicked out for that. But he checked out the next morning. That room has 2 sets of bunk beds (so normally 4 occupants). How rude. Ahhh, the adventures of hostel living!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
I'm in Melbourne!!!
I just got into Melbourne and I thought I'd check my email while I kill time to check into my hostel. I have some catching up to do!
Wed-Thurs, Jan. 14 - 15 - very hot days, did some newspaper and sawdust/woodchip work around garden as well as the banners.
Fri Jan 16 - finished laying the sawdust and continued on Rys' banner. We went to the Goulburn Club for dinner and live music. The band was pretty good and we listened to them while sitting out on the balcony. The band had to compete with some teenagers in the park across the street who were practicing their bagpipes. They were good. On our way home, we saw 2 roos next to the driveway! I only saw the shadow of one staring at us then saw 2 of them hopping away into the darkness. It was cool to finally see roos in the wild!
Sat Jan 17 - Allison and I were going into town to look for fruits to make jam and preserves when we stumbled on a cricket match in the park. Allison explained to me how the game works and I won't get into it here since I still don't understand all of it. But at least now I have more of an idea of what it is and it is not like baseball at all.
For dinner, Rys made kangaroo stirfry using the garden veggies. Mmmm, it was delicious! The roo meat tasted and looked like beef. Much better than the sausages!
Sun Jan 18 - I went to the poultry auction in the morning. I didn't realize how many different varieties of chickens and ducks there are! It was in a big garage type area with cages along the walls and in aisles. There were roosters crowing, chickens clucking, birds chirping. People crowd around and the auction begins. It's so noisy that you can easily end up buying the wrong thing! Rys bought a dozen Guinea Fowl eggs (they are weird looking small turkeys with white faces that look painted on. I think they look like theatre actors or the Phantom of the Opera). Then he accidently bought a brown female Mallard duck when he wanted another type of bird. Well, since I went with him to the auction, the duck was named after me! So now we have a duck named Nellie! The eggs were put under the Silkie chickens to hatch and Nellie was put into the yard with the other white ducks. Poor Nellie is having a hard time fitting in right now. It should take time. Allison and Rys want her to have babies since coloured babies are worth more than white ones.
Allison's coworker and his family came to visit. He has 3 adorable little children! They were having fun riding the scooter and mini motorbike around! Later in the evening, Manu the new wwoofer came.
Mon Jan 19 - I showed Manu around the farm and how to feed the animals. He is from France and wanted to practice his english. Then we weeded some of the garden.
Tues. Jan 20 - I shadowed Manu to make sure he was feeding the animals the right amount of food then we helped Allison rearrange the eggs under the 2 silkie chickens. They had 2 kinds of eggs beneath them and we wanted the silkie eggs under one and Guinea Fowl eggs under the other. After that, we helped her peel nectarines for preserves.
Sasha came over and she and Allison took me to town for lunch before taking me to the train station. The train broke down so I had to wait for replacement buses to take me to Canberra. I was supposed to leave at 2:50pm but ended up leaving at 4pm. Without fail, it stormed in Canberra! It always rains when I'm there! I killed time by having dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Happy's Restaurant. I ordered a fried dim sim (aussie invention of battered and fried meatball) and a combo chow mein. It was good.
I took the midnight bus (8hrs) to Melbourne and here I am! I can't wait to start my day and explore!
Wed-Thurs, Jan. 14 - 15 - very hot days, did some newspaper and sawdust/woodchip work around garden as well as the banners.
Fri Jan 16 - finished laying the sawdust and continued on Rys' banner. We went to the Goulburn Club for dinner and live music. The band was pretty good and we listened to them while sitting out on the balcony. The band had to compete with some teenagers in the park across the street who were practicing their bagpipes. They were good. On our way home, we saw 2 roos next to the driveway! I only saw the shadow of one staring at us then saw 2 of them hopping away into the darkness. It was cool to finally see roos in the wild!
Sat Jan 17 - Allison and I were going into town to look for fruits to make jam and preserves when we stumbled on a cricket match in the park. Allison explained to me how the game works and I won't get into it here since I still don't understand all of it. But at least now I have more of an idea of what it is and it is not like baseball at all.
For dinner, Rys made kangaroo stirfry using the garden veggies. Mmmm, it was delicious! The roo meat tasted and looked like beef. Much better than the sausages!
Sun Jan 18 - I went to the poultry auction in the morning. I didn't realize how many different varieties of chickens and ducks there are! It was in a big garage type area with cages along the walls and in aisles. There were roosters crowing, chickens clucking, birds chirping. People crowd around and the auction begins. It's so noisy that you can easily end up buying the wrong thing! Rys bought a dozen Guinea Fowl eggs (they are weird looking small turkeys with white faces that look painted on. I think they look like theatre actors or the Phantom of the Opera). Then he accidently bought a brown female Mallard duck when he wanted another type of bird. Well, since I went with him to the auction, the duck was named after me! So now we have a duck named Nellie! The eggs were put under the Silkie chickens to hatch and Nellie was put into the yard with the other white ducks. Poor Nellie is having a hard time fitting in right now. It should take time. Allison and Rys want her to have babies since coloured babies are worth more than white ones.
Allison's coworker and his family came to visit. He has 3 adorable little children! They were having fun riding the scooter and mini motorbike around! Later in the evening, Manu the new wwoofer came.
Mon Jan 19 - I showed Manu around the farm and how to feed the animals. He is from France and wanted to practice his english. Then we weeded some of the garden.
Tues. Jan 20 - I shadowed Manu to make sure he was feeding the animals the right amount of food then we helped Allison rearrange the eggs under the 2 silkie chickens. They had 2 kinds of eggs beneath them and we wanted the silkie eggs under one and Guinea Fowl eggs under the other. After that, we helped her peel nectarines for preserves.
Sasha came over and she and Allison took me to town for lunch before taking me to the train station. The train broke down so I had to wait for replacement buses to take me to Canberra. I was supposed to leave at 2:50pm but ended up leaving at 4pm. Without fail, it stormed in Canberra! It always rains when I'm there! I killed time by having dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Happy's Restaurant. I ordered a fried dim sim (aussie invention of battered and fried meatball) and a combo chow mein. It was good.
I took the midnight bus (8hrs) to Melbourne and here I am! I can't wait to start my day and explore!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Preparing For My Next Move
Tues Jan 6 - I got some progress on the acorn flag today. It was so hot that Sydney was in the 40's! It wasn't as hot in Goulburn - I was told that Melbourne is actually hotter even though it is more south (remember it's the opposite in the southern hemisphere) because it's at a lower altitude than Goulburn. This is why Goulburn is never as hot as the other cities (it's also the windiest place in Oz). Afterwards, we all went to the dam for a swim with the fishies. It's very muddy at the edges but it's clean in the middle. Allison lent me her shoes to go in the muddy part and I stayed around that shallow end since I still cannot swim properly. They also gave me a foam boogie board to help me float.
Wed. Jan 7 - today is a cooler than yesterday and there's a breeze too which is nice. When I was feeding the animals this morning, I noticed that one of the female Silkie chickens was dead. I do not know how long she had expired - I didn't notice yesterday so it must be 1-2 days. It doesn't seem that long because the flies are only starting to get to her now....ahhh, the forensic scientist in me - hahahaha. She is lying under a low bench which has a piece of plastic obscuring part of the view. I only noticed her because the other chickens were staying on the opposite end of the shed. She was always the unhealthiest looking one too - her feathers were falling off and she was badly going bald. Perhaps the heat from the day before was too much for her to handle.
I wonder if roosters have an internal clock that wakes them up as opposed to going by the break of daylight? The male rooster, Roofio, crows at 5 am each morning without fail! (He's the only chicken that has been named and he will live a long life). He crowed today at 5:02 am -- he was off by 2 min but still close enough! Truly amazing.
I would have been at the farm for 1 month in 2 days from today. So I've been thinking about my next move because there's so much to see yet! I love my hosts and they have been so magnificent but I must go on soon. I haven't chosen a date of departure yet since I am still trying to figure out the logistics. But I do know that I want to be in Melbourne at least a week before Australia Day (Mon Jan 26). This is a big national holiday and there will be celebrations galore. My plan is to be in Melbourne for 1-2 weeks then go to Tasmania for another WWOOF (hopefully, I'll find one available).
My goal today is to finish the first of four acorn flags...
Wed. Jan 7 - today is a cooler than yesterday and there's a breeze too which is nice. When I was feeding the animals this morning, I noticed that one of the female Silkie chickens was dead. I do not know how long she had expired - I didn't notice yesterday so it must be 1-2 days. It doesn't seem that long because the flies are only starting to get to her now....ahhh, the forensic scientist in me - hahahaha. She is lying under a low bench which has a piece of plastic obscuring part of the view. I only noticed her because the other chickens were staying on the opposite end of the shed. She was always the unhealthiest looking one too - her feathers were falling off and she was badly going bald. Perhaps the heat from the day before was too much for her to handle.
I wonder if roosters have an internal clock that wakes them up as opposed to going by the break of daylight? The male rooster, Roofio, crows at 5 am each morning without fail! (He's the only chicken that has been named and he will live a long life). He crowed today at 5:02 am -- he was off by 2 min but still close enough! Truly amazing.
I would have been at the farm for 1 month in 2 days from today. So I've been thinking about my next move because there's so much to see yet! I love my hosts and they have been so magnificent but I must go on soon. I haven't chosen a date of departure yet since I am still trying to figure out the logistics. But I do know that I want to be in Melbourne at least a week before Australia Day (Mon Jan 26). This is a big national holiday and there will be celebrations galore. My plan is to be in Melbourne for 1-2 weeks then go to Tasmania for another WWOOF (hopefully, I'll find one available).
My goal today is to finish the first of four acorn flags...
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Socializing and Bank Stuff
Last night I went on an outing with the IEP group. We went to the Glenmore Hotel for some drinks and food. I had 2 beers and fries...hmmm, very healthy. I met more Germans (a couple) and finally some other North Americans. I met 2 girls from Florida, 1 from Texas, and 1 from Toronto. The Americans I've met are here on the 4-month visa because they can use as many of those as they want whereas, the 1 year visa can only be used once. One girl from FL is working at a high end Italian restaurant at Hyde Park. The pay isn't the best but she gets to eat yummy food and watch people play the huge chess game in the park. She told us that we can get ice cream cones from McD's for only 30 cents! All the McD's here look like high end restaurants with nice decor and beautiful displays of pastries. Apparently, McD's in Europe are similar. On our way back to the hostel, we dropped into the McD's for an ice cream on a windy cold night.
This morning, I woke up to find none of the bathrooms had toilet paper. Ugh. But alas, I went into the guy's bathroom and stole their only roll. Hahaha. Sorry guys. I can't wait to go to my WWOOF thing next week and do medieval crafts! Yay!
I'm going to visit Hyde Park today to see the huge chess game and the Botanic Gardens to see the large bats in the trees. Tomorrow, I will be going to the famous Bondi Beach with 2 of my roomates (a Korean, and a Swiss). I turns out that girl who didn't really talk is Swiss. I got to talk to her last night and she's very friendly. I think a lot of people want to talk but are too shy because english isn't their first language.
I picked up my bank card today! Yay! Now I can leave Sydney! This city is too chaotic like NYC...I need peace. I heard that Melbourne is really cool. Apparently, Sydney is like Toronto (busy city), Melbourne is like Montreal (cobblestones, beautiful, cool, amazing.....biased, am I?), and Canberra is like Ottawa (BORING). I will see and let you know if this is true!
By the way, if you guys need to wire transfer money it can be a pain if you don't know what to do (because the bank people don't know either). I called the general number and I was told to either do it automatically on the phone with my phone code OR call my branch during their hours. Since I don't have my code on me, I decided to call my branch between 12:30am-9am Sydney time (9:30am-5pm EST). I got up early to call and my branch tells me I cannot do it through them. I had to fax a request. Arrrgh. So I faxed it and now hopefully everything works out.
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