Sydney, Australia 03/30/2010

When i woke up the the weather was terrible. It reminded me of when i lived in London, cloudy, rainy, windy. After breakfast i took the bus into town. I was supposed to watch Wicked in the Theatre however our bus driver got into an accident on the way. An old lady cut into our lane and clipped the side of the bus. We were here for 20-30 minutes. When i got off at town hall, i got lost, i couldn't find the Capitol Theatre. By the time i found it, i was 23 minutes late and missed the show. I then walked up and down Chinatown. Popped in and out of the shops. I had lunch at a thai restaurant on Campbell Street. I then walked towards Darling Harbour and Circular Quay. A part from the weather, it was an enjoyable walk around the harbour. I went into the shopping markets at the Quay - it was like a mini mall. After i visited the War Museum, i learnt how they used to fish sharks and other sea creatures. The difference in technology from present to 50-100 years ago. Around 4pm I met up with Kerri and Andrew and went to the Sydney Aquarium. Andrew has a passion for fishes so it was awesome going around with him. He named all the different types of fishes for me and explained the cool features in each one. We got to see a 10ft croc, numerous sharks, Nemo and other fishes from the movie. After seeing everything, we sat through a private 90 min video about the destruction of the fish race. The video was a fundraiser for protecting our fishes. We learnt that the blue fish tuna, salmon, cod and many other fish are becoming distinguished! Fisherman all around the world are catching 3x's more fish than they are allowed to. This is due to the high number of humans with a high-seafood diet.After the video, we went to a Malaysian Restaurant. I ordered egg and onion roti. This was their specialty.

Sydney, Australia 03/29/2010

I took a train from Cardiff to Central Station on sunday and was picked up by Kerri and Andrew. The journey wasn't as long as the one from Evans head to Newcaslte. This one was only 2 and a half hours. For dinner we went to a tasty thai restaurant. The next morning I took the city bus to Town Hall and walked through George Street to Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. I imagined the Opera House to be much larger. I was also expecting all the boats up and around the harbour with the birds flying up over the sails like i saw in Finding Nemo but there wasn't much of this. After walking around the bay and the Opera House, i spent a couple hours in the Royal Botanic Gardens. The gardens were absolutely beautiful, with a large array of roses, bamboo, palm and many other trees and plants. On one of the trees there was also a large number of bats hanging from the branches. They are nocturnal birds. They have a strong odour and make annoying noises. The garden had areas of plain grass where i sat down and watched tourists as they walked pass. Some were alone, but most were with family. Around 4 o'clock i took the bus back to Fivedock where Kerri lives and went home. In the evening, we had pasta for dinner and Andrew and I watched Thick as Thieves and an episode of House.

Gold Coast and Evans Head

I flew into Brisbane last week and took a train from the airport to Nerang, a station just inside the Gold Coast. Simon Scott picked me up and we drove to his beautiful house on the river. I hadn't slept in over a day, but this didnt stop me to stay awake and go fishing with him in the afternoon. Apparently, Simon had never caught a stingray in his time living there, and in the afternoon, i managed to catch 5. We couldn't reel it in as the stingray and dug deep into the sand. Either the stingray let go of the leur or the line broke.
Fishing was what we did pretty much everyday, a part from the occassional tour of the Gold Coast and going to the beautiful oceans. I would love to live here in the GC. The beaches are faboulous, everyone is laid back and the views are spectacular.
Monday, Simon asked me if wanted to go for a run with his Harriet Hash Group. I thought it was a run on the streets or around a track in a school. We all met around 6:30p.m and the sun was coming down. I was given a head light and we all started running in a line up this road. Minutes later we took a detour into the forest. It was pitch dark except for the faint torch above my head. The grass was slippery and muddy. The leaves and bushes came up to my knees. I was so scared. Some runners went ahead, other maintained a good pace, while many were walking behind. I didn't want to stop running, i was too scared a snake or insect would kill me. My shoes were soaked as we ran through a 1ft puddle of dirty, muddy water. I had mud all over my legs. I thought to myself, are these men crazy, why the hell would they do this every week.
Finally we reached civilization, it never felt so good to run on the road. After 2km of this, we turned around and ran back into the same woods. I thought i was going to die...We eventually came back to the starting place and we all changed our clothes and changed our shoes. Dinner was served in the parking lot. I had brought noodles with me as Simon said the food would probably consist of meat. After dinner, the entire hash group would circle up and the Grand Master would pick out different men for different things. One was Prick of the Week, another was slowest runner of the day, another was newly comers, in which i came in. Each person in the middle had to chug a glass of beer mixed with ginger ale, while the group sang their ritual song.
What an Experience!!
A couple days later, i went with Mrs. Scott to the Zoo. Here we saw the Infamous Australian Kangaroos, koalas, numerous venomous snakes, the 10 foot crocs and many cool birds. I got the opportunity to sit and take a picture next to a kangaroo, scary at first but it was awesome.
Friday morning, Sharon picked me up from GC and we drove to Alix's house in Evans Head. It was his father's 50th birthday on Saturday, so his family were hosting a massive party for him. It was great to see Alix, as we normally see each other only in California during Leadership Camp. Friday night, his family took us all out for dinner in the local restaurant. The next morning, Ryleigh drove in from Newcastle with her family. Again, it was weird seeing her as we only see each other once a year in California. The party in the evening was great, it was at their house - they had a live band outside in the patio. After singing happy birthday at mid-night, all the teens went for a walk down to the beach.
The next morning, we went down to the beach again, this time Alix and his friend went surfing. The waves were really high as a cyclone was approaching the coast of Australia soon.
On Monday and Tuesday i had the opportunity to join Alix in his school classes. I got to sit through a traditional Australian k-12 school classes. Tuesday however, because i was not allowed to sit in his english class, i had to make a speech to year 7 students about my life, where im from and my gap year. I didn't expect to make the speech however i did it. I thought i was going to speak towards the end of the class however, after roll, the teach called me up and said they are all yours. I ended up speaking from Bell to Bell. (50 minutes) I was asked a lot of interesting questions, and a lot of stupid questions. Some questions included, how much was your entire trip, what was the best country you have visited.... others included, how do you drive to all these places, do you buy a house in each country you go to...
Tomorrow morning, i am taking a train to Newcastle.