AUSTRALIA!

Hello!

I just got back last night from spending a little over 2 weeks in Australia! Australia was really great and I had a fantastic break over there! This post is going to be a little long but I hope you enjoy hearing about my travels around Aussieland! I will break it up by day:

Friday April 1st: I left Auckland bright and early to fly across the Tasman to Melbourne. After navigating through the public transportation (which is really great!) I made it to the UniLodge where my friend Arielle lives! Our other friend from Brandeis, Lisa is studying in Sydney and she had arrived in Melbourne the previous day. After having some lunch (tomato, basil and mozzerella salad) we set out to explore Melbourne! Melbourne is a really pretty and clean city and is part of the state of Victoria. They spend lots of time cleaning it and there is rarely any trash. We first wandered through Chinatown which was really cool with these awesome archways. Then we walked by a cool church and through a park with a scroll statue on it to commemorate women gaining suffrage. Then we headed back to the unilodge and I saw my friends Josh and Andrew from Brandeis. Then we all headed out on a walk through the city. It was a beautiful day out and I saw some of the cool sights. We walked around Federation Square (which is a really cool modern square that has lots of outdoor space for festivals and has a museum and info center) and through the outskirts of the Botanic Gardens. At the end of the garden was the Shrine of Remembrance with lots of stairs so we climbed up it and sang the "Rocky" theme song. Then we walked along the Harbourside had "Boost" which is a great smoothie place. The harbourside is really pretty with lots of art sculptures and bridges. The Harbourside is along the Yarra River, which runs through the middle of Melbourne. Then we headed back to Arielle's room, helped her pack and then headed off to the ferry dock. At the dock we boarded the Spirit of Tasmania which is an overnight ferry boat that takes you from Melbourne to Devonport, Tasmania. The boat was huge and kind of like a cruise boat. People can bring their cars on board. The boat has 2 restaurants, a few lounges, a movie room, an info center and shops. We stayed on the ocean recliners which was basically like sleeping on an airplane. Then when we woke up the next morning we were in Devonport Tasmania!

Saturday April 2nd We arrived in Devonport at 6:30 am. After figuring out how to get to over to the main section of Devonport we got some info on the surrounding area and a national park pass (since most of Tasmania is covered in National Parks), picked up our car (a beautiful Hyandei Elantra - the car that Arielle drives at home!) and off we went! Tasmania reminded me a lot of the South Island with tons of beautiful scenery, small towns and rolling hills and valleys. We first went to Sheffield the "town of murals" (every town in Tasmania has a catch phrase like this. One town is even the "town of topiaries"). It was actually "mural-fest" when we were in Sheffield and the entire town was preparing to have artists come and paint murals for the whole week. The town has murals throughout the entire town on walls of buildings and everywhere! It was really cool to see. We walked through Sheffield and went to "Marble World" which was a store filled with glass marbles which was cool. We went to a Woodburning and paint shop. Also there was a cafe called "LARA'S BAKERY" which was so exciting!!! So of course I had to go in and buy something. They didn't have anything with their name on it, but I got their business card. From there we went to TasMAZia which is a crazy awesome place in a town called the "Promised Land". TasMAZia has 8 mazes and is the largest maze attraction in the world! There is one huge maze with tons of different signs and fun things in it (including Cubbyville) and it leads you to the "Village of Lower Crackpot" which has these funny little houses. Then off of the village are a lot more mazes which were really fun. There was even a "Yellow Brick Road" Maze. TasMAZia was a ton of fun! Then we drove to Latrobe to eat lunch and then we went to the Anvers chocolate factory! They had tons of free samples which were delicious!! The chocolate hazelnut was my favorite. Then we drove back to Devonport and explored there for a bit. We went to the "Spirit of Devonport" (since Devonport is the town with spirit) which is a statue on the water, walked around a lighthouse and went to the beach - it was really pretty. Then we stayed in a "Gingerbread House" backpacker that was really cute.

Sunday April 4th We drove to Launceston which is the second largest city in Tasmania (but still not very big). We first went to the the Eskmarket which was fun to walk around. Then we went to a park that has a monkey exhibit which was really cool! They have these Japanese monkeys in the middle of a park. Then we walked along the harbourside and got lunch. After lunch we went to Cataract Gorge which was really beautiful. It was about a 15 minute hike and on the way there were really cool rock formations and wild peacocks. The gorge was beautiful. There was a swing bridge we crossed and on the other side was a public pool! It was crazy! We walked through the pool and headed back. We then drove to St Helens where we spent the night.

Monday April 5th we went to the Bay of Fires! We drove to Billalong Bay which has been rated as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and it was gorgeous! However the really awesome thing about it is the incredible rocks that are there which make up the Bay of Fires! There are these huge boulders which look like they have been spray painted orange! We climbed up them and climbed around for a couple hours and it was absolutely incredible!! We found a couple private tiny beaches and just had lots of fun! I really felt like I was the only person in the world out there on the huge boulders overlooking the beautiful water. Then we headed back and relaxed on the beach for a couple hours. Then we went to Douglas-Apsley National Park and did a short hike to the waterhole which was really pretty. Then we started driving to Ross but on the way hit a WALLABY! I'm not quite sure on the specifics since I was in the back at the time, but due to daylight savings it started getting dark in Tasmania reallly early around 6 so this was about 6:30 and we were on a road (Lake Leake highway) that did not have any lights and apparently a wallaby just jumped out really fast in front of the car! We are pretty sure the wallaby was okay but our bumper most definitely was not. Luckily a few kilometers down the road was a not-in-service gas station with a payphone (since there was absolutely no service). We called the rental car company who brought us a new car. We were stranded in the middle of nowhere for a couple hours as we waited, but it all ended up working out okay. There is a ton of roadkill in Tasmania because the roads are not well-lit and the animals are all nocturnal so they wake up at night and run across the roads while people are driving. It is a pretty big problem. After getting our new car (which was the same car we had just in a different color) we made it to Ross where we stayed for the night.

Tuesday April 6th we went to Freycinet National Park to hike Wineglass Bay. The hike was about 45 minutes each way and had 300 stairs (but they were not bad) and it was absolutely beautiful! We were able to see Coles Bay and lots of trees and boulders on the way! We then made it to Wineglass Bay which was absolutely breathtaking! They are still unsure the origin of the name Wineglass Bay (it does not really look like a wineglass) but it is really pretty. After eating our lunch up there, we headed back and did another short hike around a lighthouse. We were able to see more great views of the Tasman Sea. Then we drove to Hobart, handed in our accident report form and got a 3rd car (because our brakes were squeaky) and it again was the same car style. 3 cars in 4 days is pretty impressive! Then we made it to our backpacker in Hobart which was a little overwhelming with tons of people who were basically living there for a few months. We then were pretty exhausted and went to bed nice and early (as had become the norm on the trip).

Wednesday April 7th we hung around Hobart which is the capitol of Tasmania and by far the largest city. Consulting with my Lonely Planet book, we did a self-guided walking tour of Hobart, and it was fun to pretend to be a tourguide! We went in the Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery which was really nice. There was a great exhibit about the Australia Aborigines which I found to be very interesting. Australia is so much further behind New Zealand in their treatment of the Aboriginies and how they incorporate Aboriginal culture into their society. Apparently Tasmania in particular had really bad treatment of Aboriginies. Just awful, but now they're trying to make it better. We continued to walk through the city and made it to the harbour for some delicious fish 'n chips. Then we went to Salamanca Square which has a huge market every Saturday. So while we weren't able to be there for the market, the square and street are pretty cool. Then we walked through Battery Point and Arthur Circus which is a little park in the middle of these Georgian cottages which was really cute. Then we went to Elizabeth Mall which is outdoor where we strolled through some shops, saw a concert put on by some kids and went to a place that has gluten-free muffins for Arielle (and regular ones). I was really impressed with Tasmania in general for having lots of gluten-free food. Then we headed back to the backpacker, picked up our car and drove up Mt Wellington. However, just as we started to go there it got really rainy and cloudy and windy so by the time we made it to the top we could barely see anything! Oh well, it was quite the experience to drive through a cloud on really windy roads. Then it was really raining so we decided to go see a movie: Nanny McPhee which was really funny.

Thursday April 8th we went to Port Arthur which is a high security second offence prison. Australia used to be where the British would send their convicts and Port Arthur was where the really bad convicts would go. There was a museum that we walked through first which was really interesting, and they gave you a card so which linked you with a person who had actually been a convict there. I was a young teenage boy who was convicted for stealing a watch and was able to see what a typical day was like for him (which mainly consisted of schooling). Then we had a guided tour to learn more about the place. Most of Port Arthur is now in ruins from a fire but parts of buildings are still up (but most of the interior is no longer there). Port Arthur is set in the Tasman National Park which is absolutely beautiful so I kind of felt like it was a bit like camp because it was surrounded by such gorgeous forests and a harbour. Also included in admission was a harbour ferry tour. We went around the isle of the dead and another island and were able to see Port Arthur from the water. After we got back on shore we walked around the different buildings. It was really interesting and great to learn about this huge part of Australia's history from a place where it actually happened. Then on our way back to Port Arthur we stopped in different sites of the Tasman National Park. We saw the blowhole which was cool, Devil's Kitchen which is cool rock formations the Tasman Arch which is just an incredible sight! The cliffs and water were just really amazing out there. Then we headed back to Hobart and drove up Mt Wellington again and were actually successful this time! The view from the top was really amazing. We could see Hobart and way beyond out to the Tasman Peninsula where we had been earlier for Port Arthur. It was really great, but SO cold and windy which we were really unprepared for. Tasmania in general was pretty cold (it is located about as South as the middle of the South Island of NZ) but up at the top of Mt Wellington was especially cold. Then we drove back to town and had pizza for dinner. Then I had my first Tim Tam Slam which is the greatest thing ever! Tim Tams are these really yummy rectangular shaped cookie wafers which are delicious plain but are even better when "slammed". Basically what you do is take a cup of tea, bite off opposite edges of the cookie, put one end in the tea and basically use the cookie as a straw to sip the tea up and then throw the cookie back in your mouth and it is insanely delicious! The cookie is basically melting in your mouth. Ah so yummy! Luckily they have them in New Zealand so I can continue my Tim Tam Slam obsession!

Friday April 9th we left Hobart to drive back to Devonport. On the way we went to Bonorong Wildlife Park which was absolutely amazing!! Bonorong is a sanctuary for injured and orphaned wildlife specialising in giving up-close and personal experience with the animals. Upon entry they give you a bag of food to feed the wallabies and kangaroos. After going through a gate there were tons of kangaroos and wallabies who were really friendly! I got to feed, pet and hug SO many of them!!! It was so much fun! They are so adorable. After spending a ton of time with the massive amounts of wallabies and kangaroos vying for our attention, we dragged ourselves away to see the other animals. We saw emus (who sounded like a percussion steel band), a kookaberra bird and then had a guided tour. On the guided tour we got to pet a wombat and koala, and were able to see someone feed a Tasmanian Devil. Wombats are the cutest animals ever! There were 2 in the park: Humphrey and Mavis. Humphrey is about 2 and Mavis is just a baby. Wombats look like little polar bears they were just so adorable!! Mavis' mother had been hit by a car but Mavis was protected in her pouch and someone rescued her and brought her to Bonorong. Wombats typically spend a lot of time in their pouches as babies, so because of this they try to stimulate the pouch experience by putting Mavis in a pouch-like bag. The koalas were also really cute. I never realized how much koalas sleep though! Apparently they sleep more than 20 hours a day and the rest of the time they eat eucalyptus leaves and move very slowly. However it was really exciting to pet one since I had wanted to do that since I was younger! The Tasmanian Devils were really cool too. They got their names from the Europeans who had first come to Tasmania. The Tasmanian Devils make this really loud screeching noise which the Europeans heard, and when the Tasmanian Devils are in the sun, their ears look bright red (like Satan's horns). Because of this the Europeans called them Tasmanian Devils. Currently there is some sort of disease that is spreading among the Tasmanian Devils and they are worried that they will soon become extinct. It was really interesting learning about all the different animals and getting so close to them - Bonorong was so much fun!!! After we left the center, we continued our drive to Devonport and stopped at the Ashgrove Cheese factory where they have a ton of free cheese tasting! It was really delicious and mostly made in Tasmania. I had my first "Iced Chocolate" which is basically chocolate milk with a scoop of ice cream at the bottom and it is delicious. There were tons of painted cows around the factory which were cool to look at and reminded me of the cow parade and our cow back at home! Then we made it to Devonport and again stayed at the Gingerbread house backpacker.

Saturday April 10th we drove out along the Northwest coast of Tasmania to get to Stanley. According to my Lonely Planet book some of the purest air in the world exists out here, so we took lots of deep breaths of air! We climbed up the Stanley Nut which is a volcano. It was a really steep climb, but the view from the top was really amazing. It was a pretty clear day so we could see out to the peninsula and the farm country surrounding the town of Stanley. We then drove to Smithton for lunch and went to Anvers Chocolate factory again for more delicious samples. Then we went to Latrobe to Warrawee Forest Reserve which was really pretty with forests, rivers and lakes. Then we went back to Devonport and to the NoodleBox for dinner (which was really good) and then Lisa and Arielle boarded the Spirit of Tasmania to head back to Melbourne (they only had a one week break whereas I had a two week one). I went back to the Gingerbread House Backpacker and went to sleep.

Sunday April 11th I went to Cradle Mountain-St Clair National Park which is considered the "heart and soul" of Tasmania. The National Park has a cool system set up where you park your car at the visitors center and then they take you around it in a shuttle to get to various parts of the park. I talked to someone in the info center and figured out what hike I wanted to do. I was dropped off at Ronny Creek (which is about halfway into the park). I hiked on the Overland Track (which is a famous track that runs from the north to the south of the park from Cradle Mountain to St Clair). The hike was really beautiful and not too intense. I really enjoyed hiking by myself and the scenery around me. I found my new favorite type of grass called "Button Grass" (don't worry I took lots of pictures of it!). I hiked to Crater Falls which was really pretty. The water running down the falls though was brown, which is apparently normal there. Then I continued up to Crater Lake (which is funny since my favorite place in the US is Crater Lake, Oregon so I was really psyched that there is also a Crater Lake in Tasmania). Just as I was around Crater Lake I went to look at the view over Dove Lake which was really beautiful, and it started raining. I still decided to try to hike up to Marion's Look-Out (which was another 30 minutes up) but about 5 minutes in, it started hailing and the wind was so intense that the hail was going right into my face. At this point I turned around and just started laughing that it was hailing in April (which is kind of like it hailing in our October). Anyways as I kept hiking down the hail turned to snow then to rain and then stopped. I went to Wombat Lake which was also really pretty then to Lilla Lake until I made it to Dove Lake (which is the famous lake in the National Park). I then did a couple hour hike around the lake which was really gorgeous. Then I hopped back on the shuttle and headed to my backpacker.

Monday April 12th I woke up and the weather was not so great. I headed to the info center and they told me I wouldn't be able to go up any higher than I did the day before so I decided to walk in the forest. I got dropped off at Ronny Creek again but this time headed back towards the info center on the Cradle Valley Boardwalk which runs through the forest. It was really beautiful out there and I enjoyed just listening to the forest and it did not rain too badly which was nice. Then I did a quick loop through a rainforest and saw Pine Falls which was cool. I then continued on the Enchanted Walk where I saw a Wallaby in the wild which was pretty exciting! This path led to the King Billy hike so I decided to do that which took me to a different part of the forest and ended at a huge pine tree. It was really nice. Then I hopped on the shuttle back to the info center. After getting my car, I went to a spa right there to get a short massage and hang out in the hot tub and steam room which was SO relaxing! Then it was time to head back to Devonport and get on the Spirit of Tasmania to go back to Melbourne. On the boat I had the buffet which was actually really good and watched "The Hangover" which I liked more than I thought I would and went to sleep in my ocean recliner chair. I really loved Tassie (the nickname of Tasmania) a lot! It felt a lot like the South Island but was also different and I had a lot of fun.

Tuesday April 13th I got into Melbourne bright and early and once again navigated my way to get to Arielle's UniLodge. I then registered for my Brandeis classes for my senior fall semester (how crazy!). Arielle had one morning class so I went with her to the University of Melbourne and just walked around the beautiful campus while she had class. The campus looks really historical and has a gothic/ivy feel to it. After Arielle's class we went to Queen Victoria Market to have lunch and then we walked around the market which is similar to a nicer version of a flea market. They have everything there from clothes to food to a pet store! I actually bumped into a girl from Brandeis who is studying in Auckland while looking at the puppies which was really funny. Then we went to a chocolate place right near Arielle and I had churros and chocolate just like in Spain! It was so delicious!! After we went shopping around and just walked through Melbourne which was nice. Then I saw my other friends from Brandeis and just hung out. Melbourne was a really nice city and it made me psyched to come back there with my family in July!

Wednesday April 14th I left Melbourne and went to Sydney! The flight to Sydney was pretty short but I got a nice snack on the plane (Qantas is a great airline!). I was so excited to go to Sydney because I have wanted to go there for such a long time!! Once I got into Sydney I dropped my bags off at the UniLodge that my BU program friends were staying at (with the BU program in Sydney). Their UniLodge basically looks like a hotel - it's crazy! Then I met Lisa who showed me around the University of Sydney which was really nice! Their campus also looks historical and has a gothic/ivy feel to it. We went in the free museum there which was pretty nice and filled with lots of Egyptian stuff and astronomy. Then there was a chalk event going on in the quad so we made bananagrams on the Sydney uni walkway which was a lot of fun. Then Lisa showed me her residential college where she is staying. Residential colleges are kind of a mix between Harry Potter houses and dorms. They have a bunch of different residential colleges and each one has a theme and their own dining rooms. Lisa is in the Jewish one and it is really nice! Then we went and wandered around King St and went in different fun shops filled with games and stationary and we found a double Bananagram which is just a HUGE bananagram filled with double the amount of letters. We then got some gelato which was delicious. Then my Auckland friends told me they were back at the UniLodge so we headed back over there and I met up with them. That night we saw crab racing which is where they put hermit crabs on a table and see them race which was pretty bizarre but funny and went to karaoke.

Thursday April 15th we went to Paddys Market which was pretty similar to Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. It was fun to walk around there and look at the differen stuff they had. Then we walked around the Central Business District and looked in different shops. We went to a chocolate place called Haigh's which was really good. Then we went to Sydney Harbour and I got to see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge which was so exciting!! See the Opera House and Harbour Bridge I felt like I was really in Sydney! The Opera House is just so impressive in person. Then the other people were tired so we went back to UniLodge but I decided to go to Darling Harbour. I got to Darling Harbour just as it got dark and it was really beautiful! The lights of the city were reflecting in the water and it just seemed like a really nice place with tons of restaurants around. For dinner some people were going to get kangaroo pizza, but there was no way I was eating that so I went with one of my friends to get really delicious thai food.

Friday April 16th we went to Coogee Beach. Sydney is well known for it's incredible beaches and they have a ton of them. Coogee was really nice and again it had some cool rocks to climb around on. The water was a bit cold but really nice. The waves were pretty big but it was lots of fun. Then it started raining a little so we decided to head back to the city. One of my friends and I went to Hyde Park which was a really pretty park with a beautiful fountain. Then we walked from there to the Royal Botanic Garden which were really beautiful. I found a really huge tree and there was nice ponds. Some trees had tons of bats sleeping on them which was a little scary but mainly cool to see. On the harbour from the gardens there is a really pretty view of the Opera House and Harbour bridge which we walked to. There was a wedding going on over there which was nice. We decided since it was so nice out, we found a bench and I read for a while which was great. Then we walked up to the Opera House so I could see it closer and touch it and saw the Harbour bridge. Then we decided to walk back through the city to get back to UniLodge. It was probably about a 45 minute walk but it was really nice. Then we had asian food for dinner and it was time to pack up since we left on Saturday morning. Sydney was a lot of fun and, once again, it made me really excited to go back there with my family in July!

My two-week break in Australia was a lot of fun! I felt like I got to see a ton of really amazing things and I enjoyed it so much. Hope you enjoyed reading about it. If you want to see pictures here's the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/LSOL817/AUSTRALIAApril2010#

If you have any questions please let me know. I would love to hear your comments and how everything is with you!

Sending lots of love from Tassie, Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland!