There IS such a thing as a FREE lunch!!!

I was so busy yesterday that I didn't have the chance to update my blog -- but here I am now with a super big blog entry to catch up!

Yesterday, I spent the whole day with my 2 German roomates (the french girl left to go to a host family). We went to the Sydney Aquarium where we walked in a underground see-through tunnel. The animals were HUGE!!! There were stingrays, sharks, turtles, and fish. Trust me, these things were humongous. The giant turtle is bigger than a man and they are actually 25% larger than we see them through the protective tunnel due to the curvature of the structure. Yikes.

Then onto the Taronga Zoo via ferry! We passed by the famous Sydney Harbour bridge and the Opera House. Magnificent. The zoo was awesome because we got to get close to the kangaroos and I was able to pet a joey (baby roo)! We also saw the koalas and I learned that they have 2 thumbs (I'm told they are vicious little buggers).

We were so exhausted from our day that we stopped by the grocery store and back on home. I bought groceries for ~$18 which should last me a couple of days. Yay!

Today, I woke up early for my 10am orientation at the IEP (Int'l Exhange Prog) office. I learned about what the office can provide me with in terms of helping me with taxes, resumes, housing, etc. Then I went to the Canadian consulate to register myself - that way, they know I'm in the country in case of emergency.

I discovered another strange thing about crossing the street at large intersections - that you can cross on the diagonal! That is so weird to me...I keep thinking I will get hit. But I just follow the crowd and I know I'll be ok.

Ok, about the free lunch. I was walking around today when I stumbled upon free BBQ at Martin Place, a plaza type area where you can sit on the steps and there's a Christmas tree in the middle. The food was given out by a Christian organization...I guess to promote giving at Christmas time. Now the strange thing is, they did not ask for anything nor were they trying to preach to us!!! They were just happily giving out food and coffee without a word about their faith! The Aussies have the right idea unlike the westerners. Now what did they have? Grilled snags and coffee. Snags are sausages and here it is eaten in a white piece of sliced bread with the snag sitting diagonal on the bread. Then it's topped off with tomato sauce (ketchup). As for coffee, it wasn't any cheap regular coffee either! They had their cappucino machine there and they asked me what kind of coffee I wanted. The woman behind me got a hot chocolate. Wow, I can't believe I got a delicious lunch for free! This is great! :D

Taking it slow in Wellington

It is Wed. Jan 30 at 3:30pm. I am in Wellington, the capital of NZ. Yesterday, we went over to someone's (people that one of the girls I'm traveling with know) place and had some yummy barbeque. I learned that they call sausages "snags" in Australia. A hot dog in NZ is a corndog (comes fried on a stick) and an American hot dog would be the hot dogs we all know in North America that comes in a bun.

The sun is especially strong in NZ - I hear that there is no ozone here. I burned a little yesterday and it stings a little in water. Sunblock is mighty expensive here too...they go for about $30 a bottle! It is recommended that we use a minimum of SPF 30 here. Good thing I brought 45 SPF from home! I have some on now.

We are going to look around Wellington a bit tonight and have dinner with some people we met last night. We will be jumping onto the ferry tomorrow to head over to the South Island. It's approximately a 3 hour ferry.

I just tried uploaded some pics from the rafting but it's taking forever. Sorry, looks like you all will have to wait a bit.

Cheers!