Updates From Down Under

EZBGZ

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:09:00 +1200

Hello Friends,

So I finally took the time to sort out this whole primary/secondary blog business with tumblr. Apparently updatesfromdownunder is my primary blog which, until I return to Oz in the distant future, I plan to keep retired. Unfortunately I can’t convert my primary blog to my new blog, ezbgz.tumblr.com (that’s easy beejeezy).

So if you follow me on UPDATES, start following me on EZ instead! And stop by www.bjklophaus.com too!

Photo

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:49:00 +1200

Sunset over the Indian Ocean

Perth Skyline

Rottnest Island

Pinnacles Desert

Sunset on the Dunes

Sunrise entering Sydney

4/27/11

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:39:25 +1200

Last day in Australia…and I have a final!

So here’s a quick rundown of my Perth experience.

What I didn’t count on was how much would be closed during Easter Weekend. Good Friday is a public holiday, Sunday is Easter, and Monday is Anzac Day (Memorial Day type deal). So when I showed up on Friday afternoon it literally felt like a ghost city. Everything was closed, there were no cars or people, and it was eerily quiet in the capital city of Western Australia. But most of my weekend’s activities took place outside of the city, so I didn’t mind it so much.

Friday afternoon I went to Cottesloe Beach. The water is clear and gorgeous, and long enough for me to find a spot all to myself. So I got the novelty of swimming in the Indian Ocean, which means I’ve hit up 3 out of 4 of the world’s oceans…and I don’t see myself swimming in the Arctic so I’m content with where I stand.

Friday evening I walked up to King’s Park which is a memorial park to those who served in the armed forces. It overlooks the city, so I got one of my essential nighttime skyline photos.

Saturday I decided to do some homework. I took a tour of the Swan Valley wine region, which I consider ‘studying’ for my Wine Industry exam. We went to 5 wineries and a brewery. All great fun, although by the end I wasn’t tasting wine so much as I was drinking it. I met some friendly people on the tour (everyone was friendlier as the day progressed) including a German couple who lived in Melbourne, an electrician and his two Scottish friends, and a couple who were visiting for Anzac Day but lived in Kansas for years and took a road trip around the States.

Sunday I spent the day at Rottnest Island, located just off the coast of Perth and accessible by ferry. There are no cars on the island except for tour buses, so the main form of transportation is by bike. I almost wasn’t going to hire one but I’m glad I did, because it made transportation throughout the whole island much more enjoyable than walking or riding the tour shuttle. I saw Quokkas, a native rodent-like animal that hops around like a wallaby. I was going to poke one that I saw sitting on the side of the road, but I have a personal policy against poking wild animals. Although these guys are rather people-friendly because they get fed by the tourists. The day was relaxing and I had good weather for most of it, although it did cloud up at the end. But I enjoyed taking a dip in a few of the empty beaches that I came across.

When I got back I ate dinner at a place called Fast Eddy’s which the electrician and his friends raved about. It’s a 24-hour diner, but not so similar to Jersey diners. It had a nice atmosphere though, with old posters and pictures and antique signs and objects hanging from the ceiling. And the food was amazing, although a bit pricey.

My last day was a tour of the Pinnacles Desert. The itinerary included a stop at a wildlife reserve, a rock lobstering town on the coast (where we didn’t eat lobster for lunch) the Pinnacles Desert, and sand boarding. It was a large 48-person coach tour, with our guide giving us a half hour lecture about green energy and reverse osmosis while we passed a wind farm and an hour long lecture about nuclear physics on the drive home. Literally it was a nonstop spew of information which was impressive, but I would have preferred to just listen to music. But the tour itself was pretty cool. The Pinnacles Desert is a desert which is actually within site of the ocean, with limestone rock formations jutting out of the ground. It was pretty neat, although not as impressive as I expected it to be. But hey, I still enjoyed it.

But the sand-boarding was a bigger highlight for me. It’s basically sledding down a sand dune. I got a ton of sand in my eyes and my jeans, but fortunately my camera remained safe…I hope. I think I enjoyed it so much because the landscape was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. And we had great lighting for photography, just as the sun was setting. We actually ended up seeing the sunset from the dunes because the 4WD bus that was supposed to pick us up got a flat tire so they had to send another one.

So in the end, a lot of what I did in Perth I could’ve done for a lot cheaper on the east coast of Australia: swimming, drinking, biking, and touring. But it wouldn’t have been the same. I wouldn’t have been able to say I swam in the Indian Ocean or say I’ve been to Western Australia. It completed my coverage of the continent, as I’ve been up and down the east, to Uluru in the center, and now Perth on the west.

So I’m pretty much done packing now, and just have a little more studying to do for my exam (actually studying, not more wine tasting). I can’t believe my time in Australia is almost up, but I’m just about ready to come home. I leave the continent pretty satisfied that I’ve made the most of my experience and did everything I could to make lasting memories. More reflections to come after I get home and have more time to look back at it all.

So maybe we’re not so different after all

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:33:00 +1200

So maybe we’re not so different after all

Photo

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:17:00 +1200

My new travel companion

4/21/11

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:03:00 +1200

Well folks, the semester is winding down. A week from today I will be in New Zealand. It’s so hard to believe really. On my train ride to work over Sydney Harbor today, I saw the Opera House for the last time, and it started to hit me that I’m leaving, that I’ll be back in New Jersey in 3 weeks. It’s pretty exciting, but I’m also sad to leave. But I reckon as with all good things, eventually they must come to an end.

So this evening I went to Sydney Tower. My friends and I had pre-purchased tickets at the beginning of the semester in a tourist package, but never got around to using them. But I’m glad we didn’t go until tonight. As I looked down over Sydney, I saw all the places I had been this semester and had flashbacks to my experiences there. It occurred to me that people who were in the Tower at those times probably stared down at me, just as I was doing now, and to them I was just an insignificant speck. All of the people below me seemed lifeless, just little dots bustling about, but when I thought about it, I realized that each of those dots is a person with a story, experiencing the world. And when looking from above, you see the big picture: that all of the daily troubles and triumphs of our lives are meaningless to the greater whole and for most of us, our daily decisions don’t make more than a ripple in the world.

So if I had to compare the Sydney Tower to the Eureka Skydeck in Melbourne, I think I would say I prefer Sydney more, just for the nostalgia I got from looking out over what has been my home for the past 4 months.

So tomorrow morning I leave for Perth. I’m so excited for it, but at the same time kind of nervous, as I haven’t planned a trip alone for this long before. But be on the lookout for pics when I get back— it might be my last post until I get back to the States, as I won’t be carrying my laptop in New Zealand.

4/18/11

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 03:13:22 +1200

Well, no pun intended, but the rain kind of put a ‘damper’ on my weekend. I stayed in Friday and Saturday and pretty much just worked on final papers and projects. Boring.

Today I was supposed to go to Palm Beach with some friends, but one of my friends’ toe injury put those plans on hold. So that left me with nothing to do for yet another day. And that is simply unacceptable.

So I planned a day hike in Royal National Park, walking the Coastal Walk from Otford. When I got there I spent an hour trying to find where the walk began. I asked a shop owner how to get to the walking trail to Governor Game Lookout and he replied,

“Oh you have to drive there. It’s 20k’s that way.”

Thanks for the information Mr., but don’t tell me it’s unwalkable, because I do as I please.

So I committed myself to do everything within reason to make it to Governor Game Lookout. The first issue was actually finding where the trail started, which ended up taking an hour. Then throw in a torrential downpour that lasted about 10 minutes and I was about ready to give up. But I’m way too stubborn to quit that easily and I eventually found the trail and the sky cleared up.

It turned out to be quite a pleasant hike, but the trail was muddy and easy to lose. And then I saw a sign that said the track was closed to let the environment rehabilitate (‘penalties apply’). So I decided to veer off course and walk along an unnamed beach where the waves were huge and dumped sapphire blue waves along the shore. On the side, there was a rocky cliff where the massive waves crashed, creating a splash of water that rose as a wall into the air and came splattering down to earth in a puddle of foam. It was mesmerizing, and I spent an hour there eating my lunch and taking photos.

So it was a nice walk, except that I had to retrace the trail back home. I prefer to walk in a loop to keep things new and exciting rather than walking back from the way I came, but it was okay. I was tired and not really in the mood for stopping along the way anyway, so I was able to zip back to the train pretty quickly (which arrived perfectly on time when I got there).

So in the end, I ended up having a pretty decent hike from a day that looked like it might be a bust. I do regret that I never made it to Governor Game Lookout, but I came pretty close. I don’t reckon I’ll lose sleep over it tonight. Judging by the soreness in my legs from the hike, I should sleep just fine.

Photo

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:02:00 +1200

4 Pines Sampler: before and after

Night Photography :)

Sydney seems so distant already

Night Photography :)

4/13/11

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:21:53 +1200

So here’s an interesting fact for ya’ll.

If you go to the Lonely Planet website and look for Things to Do in Sydney, the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House are #2 and 3 respectively. Number one is the Thai restaurant Spice I Am.

Strange, huh?

So I decided I’d check it out to see if it really does deserve to be ranked higher than Sydney’s icons on the guidebook’s list. That being said, I had quite high expectations for it, and I probably didn’t get the best experience, as I grabbed takeaway Beef Pad Thai as the kitchen was closing for the evening.

But it was still delicious. Served with a lime wedge, the noodles went perfectly with a few glasses of the Sauvignon Blanc I’ve been drinking for my wine class. I didn’t have high expectations for the pairing, but I think the lime really accentuated the fruity citrus of the Sav Blanc, especially on the tip of my tongue. I guess at this point I’ll stop pretending like I know what I’m talking about and get to the point: by itself the pad thai was inferior to the legendary Nud Pob Crispy Chicken Pad Thai. But with half a bottle of Deakin Estate 2009 Sav Blanc, I think I’ll give Spice I Am the edge.

So with that little review aside, let me describe my day.

It was quite a Manly day. Yes, I went back to Manly Beach to tie up some loose ends and do some things before I leave. First on my checklist was to look for ‘Manly’ shirts for souvenirs. But I couldn’t find any that I thought were worthy so I ended up passing on the purchase.

Second on the list was to lay out on the beach. A cloud cover rolled in right as I was settling in, but I did enjoy watching the surfers and listening to Jack Johnson. Can you say ‘Bi-winning’?

Third up was a visit to 4 Pines Brewery. I tried the sample rack, which included 5 tastings which were all quite good. The Heffeweizen was good, although not my typical style. But oddly enough, I liked it more than the Pale Ale, which is the type of beer I’ve generally come to like most.

And then to wrap up my day I walked along the Manly Scenic Walkway to The Spit in Mosman. This walk, the ‘Manly Spit’ walk as I refer to it, was charted as a 10k, 4.5 hour excursion. I saw the sign at 4:40 pm, about an hour before sunset, and I chuckled. Ha! Since when has darkness ever deterred me? I figured if worst came to worst, I could always abandon my trek and catch a bus back to Sydney along the way.

I figured wrong!

While there were a few opportunities to leave the track near the beginning and the end, there was little I could do to bailout after about 3km when it started getting dark and civilization began vanishing and I found myself hiking through wilderness…alone….with a dying phone battery.

Why do I always do this to myself? My first week in Sydney I got lost in the streets alone with a dead phone at night. My first night in Melbourne I got lost in the streets alone with a dead phone at night. And now at the end of my semester it’s all come full circle, as I found myself lost in Sydney Harbor National Park alone with a dying phone at night.

The battery ended up holding up for the duration of the walk. I think my constant use of the flashlight feature is what drained the battery. One thing’s for sure though: the next time I get a cell phone upgrade I’m making sure it has a flashlight built in. It’s been surprisingly useful.

So even though I was on edge during my whole stroll to the Spit and I didn’t get to see much of the scenery on the scenic walk, I wouldn’t take back the experience at all. I actually think it was quite beautiful seeing the lights of civilization dot the horizon across the black abyss of the harbor.

I would have to say the most stunning lookout was a rocky ledge a little off the trail that looked out over the harbor to the distant Sydney skyline. I had to climb down a rock, and peered down at tree tops and endless darkness below me, but being the confidant youth I am, I proceeded slowly and surely.

The view was fabulous, and the only thing that would make that memory better would be a few beers and a few friends (in that order, jk). I’ll upload the picture I took of myself on the ledge. I really like the image, because for me it gives my whole Sydney experience some closure, just as my photos of the New York skyline gave my High School experience closure 3 years ago.

So this has been quite a long post, and if you’re still reading at this point, give yourself a pat on the back. I will be doing likewise on the other side of the planet, because that means my superior writing has kept you enthralled. :)

Keep checking in for updates. Hopefully I’ll keep you all fascinated, and you can live vicariously through me.

Photo

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 23:07:00 +1200

Front Foyer of Sydney Opera House

Pretty

4/11/11

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 22:24:32 +1200

To close out an already eventful weekend I have a few more memories to add.

Yesterday I went on a tour of the Sydney Opera House. I guess it was just a way for me to say that I was inside without actually paying to see a show. I would have liked to see something, but I just couldn’t get around to it, so this was the next best thing. The best part is, it only cost $20 and BU refunds up to $30 for tickets to Opera House related events. So the tour was basically free. Yay!

I wasn’t able to take pictures inside of the actual theaters, but I got some sweet shots of the lobby areas. The other awesome part was that we got to sit in on an orchestra rehearsing in one the concert hall and a ballet class in another hall. So it was just as if I were seeing a show. Except that I didn’t.

Today I went to Kiama, a 2 1/2 hour train ride south of Sydney. It was a quaint little town with gorgeous blue ocean to the east and rolling green hills to the west. We had perfect weather for it, with only an occasional cloud in the sky.

The town’s main tourist attraction is a blowhole, which is basically a cave carved out by the ocean where waves build up and create pressure that forces a plume of water through a hole at the top of the rock. It wasn’t incredibly spectacular, but it was entertaining for a while.

The best part was a small sea pool, a pool of water surrounded by rocks, protected from the sea but with waves that crash against the rocks on the side facing the ocean. I went for a short swim, and stood on the ocean-facing rocks, hoping to be splashed by the waves, like Ariel in the Little Mermaid (I actually don’t remember that scene, but someone made that reference earlier on the trip so I’m assuming Ariel got splashed by waves while sitting on a rock).

Mission accomplished.

But when I turned around with my back to the ocean I heard a loud rumble and a huge surge of water crashed onto me, nearly knocking me over. It was surprising, but refreshing, and also pretty scary feeling a gigantic wall of water trying to force me into a faceplant on jagged rocks. I think the coolest part was that at one point it felt like I was in a tunnel, with white water above and around me on all sides rushing forward. It’s hard to describe, but it was awesome. I highly recommend getting pounded by a gigantic wave while standing on pointy rocks (assuming you don’t actually fall over).

A little further along the coast we saw pelicans. These birds are huge. And crazy looking. There was a guy feeding them fish, so I got to see them with their droopy chins. Crazy.

So tomorrow begins my last full week of internship. And then I have an awesome weekend lined up. So keep checking back for updates because I promise there will be some craziness up in here as I scramble to do all of these last-minute Australia things.

Photo

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 05:30:00 +1200

the other sign said 8 k 4 hrs, not 9, 6

4/9/11

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 05:22:06 +1200

What an interesting and tiring day.

I took the train up to Mount Ku-ring-gai and did and 8km, 4 hour hike through the forest and along a river to Berowra. It was so nice, and the weather was beautiful. It ended up being a lot more strenuous than I anticipated, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. I saw tons of lizards scurrying around, and some crazy fish jumping out of the water. I don’t actually know if it was one fish, a school of fish, or a sea monster, but whatever it was it was splashing around a lot. I’m going to just assume it was a sea monster.

Overall, it was a tiring hike, but as I’ve mentioned, such excursions into nature, away from the city, appeal to me. I’ve realized how lucky I am to have such diverse landscapes all within an hour train ride from the city. I can go east towards the beach, west towards the mountains, or north and south to a dozen national parks. I really don’t know much about the surrounding area in Boston, but I reckon it would be worth checking out.

Upon my return, I headed over with some friends to the Absinthe Salon in Surrey Hills. It was pretty cool. I really just wanted to go for the novelty of the experience, and I wasn’t disappointed in that respect. But absinthe really doesn’t taste that great and doesn’t seem to be different from any other type of alcohol. But it was still neat to try it.

At night I went to the Lowenbrau bar which has several German-style beers on tap, my favorite of which was the Dunkel Bier.

And to cap off the night in style, we went to Pancakes on the Rocks. Great life decision.

So my second-to-last weekend in Sydney is looking as awesome as I hoped it would. It’s weird to think that my time here is almost over. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I was just starting. But that’s how life is. It really hasn’t hit me that this chapter in my life will be coming to a close rather soon. I’ve tried so hard to live with no regrets on this trip, but there’s just so much to do and so much left undone that I think everyone will examine how they spent their time here and question whether they truly lived each day to its greatest potential. I know for a fact that I didn’t, but I’m still happy and grateful for all that I’ve done and all of the last friendships and memories that I’ve made.

But before I get to wrapped up in my reflections, let me live out the last two and a half weeks.

4/8/11

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:33:52 +1200

As I walked down King St. in Newtown this evening, I stumbled upon an awesome bookstore.

“Awesome bookstore?” you may be thinking. “But BJ doesn’t read.”

While this is partially true, let me describe this place to help you understand why I make such a claim.

As you walk into this store, you immediately get the sense that it holds relics from another era. Stacks of CDs greet you as you enter and they have these strange black discs known as vinyl records.

Now, imagine a library filled with shelves of books sorted by author and category. Now imagine even more books, so many that you have to stack them on the shelves in front of the books that are already there. Now imagine even more books, to the point where they sit in a pile from floor to waist or even shoulder height. At this point, the sorting system has long been abandoned.

But there is one shelf on the first floor underneath a window that remains clear. This is a reserved ‘cat path’ so that Shop Cat Oscar can come and go as he pleases. But don’t get him confused with ‘Intruder Cat’, a Shop-Cat-Oscar-Lookalike but smaller.

I found this place immensely amusing. And the cherry on top was the “World’s Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them” book. I would have bought it if I didn’t have to worry about bringing it home at the end of the semester.

Oh Newtown, you never cease to entertain me.

If you watch my surf coach, Robbo, you’ll realize why this...

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 02:38:44 +1200

If you watch my surf coach, Robbo, you’ll realize why this is my favorite video from the weekend

Video

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 02:18:08 +1200

Photo

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 02:13:00 +1200

4/4/11

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 02:50:39 +1200

Australia checklist: pet a koala, check; eat kangaroo, check; surf…check!

This weekend I learned how to surf with Surf Camp Australia at the beautiful and quiet Seven Mile Beach. With great reviews from my friends who already went and a sweet discount, I decided to go for it. And it turned out to be a great life decision.

I spent 2 nights there and had 3 2-hour surf sessions and 1 lesson about etiquette, equipment, safety, etc. for surfing on my own. The surf coaches were laid back and friendly. And once again, it was nice to get out of Sydney and get into nature. I’m starting to see a recurring theme over the past 2 weekends.

So how’d I do? Well I’ll post some pics and vids soon and you can decide for yourself. The staff had a photographer and HD waterproof video cameras to get some awesome footage of us tearing up the waves. I figured I’d buy the photo/vid package considering I got a discount on the weekend anyway, plus they throw in a complementary surf magazine and dvd. I’ll get some photos up when I can, but my cd drive isn’t functioning so I need to borrow a computer.

So with only 2 weekends left in Sydney, I need to budget my time wisely. I’ve done parkour, surfing, wine tasting, hip-hop dance, and scuba diving since coming to Australia. Bungee jumping is for New Zealand. I’m starting to run out of things to try!

Photo

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:50:33 +1200

What kind of animal is that?

Start the morning off right

3/28/11

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:25:22 +1200

Hunter Valley Wine Trip

I just got back from a field trip for school that was dedicated to drinking wine. For 2 days, I got the pleasure of imbibing the clean crisp air and magical juices of the Hunter Valley wine region. But amidst it all, I did learn a lot about wine, and I got to try a lot of samples that I never would have tried before and develop my wine-tasting abilities. And it was great getting away from my internship, schoolwork, and the busy city life. I went for a couple walks down the road from our hotel and just soaked in the quietness and beautiful landscape. It was just what I’ve been missing ever since session two of the semester started.

If any of you are planning a trip to the Hunter Valley, I’ll give you a brief rundown of the wineries we visited:

Tambourlaine: Organic wines. Staff: 3; Atmosphere: 3; Wines: 5; Pricing: 5; Overall Grade: B+

Draytons: Family winery specializing in ports. Staff: 4; Atmosphere: 3; Wines: 4; Pricing: 5; Overall Grade: B

Tempus Two: Sleek, sexy, edgy, modern, targeting younger markets. Staff: 3; Atmosphere: 2; Wines: 3; Pricing: 3; Overall Grade: C+

Petersons: Champagne house, kicking off our day at 10 am. Staff: 5; Atmosphere: 5; Wines: 4; Pricing: 3; Overall Grade: A

Tyrell’s: Beautiful view. Staff: 4; Atmosphere: 3; Wines: 3; Pricing: 5; Overall Grade: B

Brokenwood: Probably the best staff I met. Staff: 5; Atmosphere: 3; Wines: 5; Pricing: 3; Overall Grade: B+

Of course, all of the ratings are subjective and pretty biased, depending on what kind of experience I had. I’d definitely recommend doing a wine tour to everyone, even if you hate wine.

PS: Botrytis wine is exactly what I imagine Butterbeer from the Harry Potter series to taste like: Sweet, honey-like, and inducing a tingly sensation.