Hey, It's a Post About Australia on an Australian Blog

Dear Readers,


       I made it.  Australia seemed so intangible for many cold months at Colby College; stuck in my two doubles a.k.a. forced quad a.k.a the bunkhouse and the boom boom room but I finally made it to the land down under.  I believe when I signed up for Aussieland, there simply was no alternative country I wanted to go to after reading Judy Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day  every miserable day I had when I was a kid.  Summation of the story: Alex sees Australia as an escape from his problems.  Parallels can be drawn with the name, plot and motive.  Colby College, or better yet Waterville, Maine, could not suffice my adventurous ambitions so I decided to take off.  I landed in Sydney after traveling a little over 10,000 miles or, for the rest of the world, 16,000 kilometers from my home land.  We were met by our study abroad advisers and hopped on a bus to the camp ground we were staying at for our "Australian Orientation".  Pictured below are two shots where we were staying.  The first one is a photo taken from atop of a hill near by the dorm and the bottom is the view I had from my backdoor patio. 

    Over the course of three days, I managed to only know around six to eight names of the forty or so people attending the orientation.  Listen, they didn't play any name games and that's where I thrive.  Notwithstanding, I had a lot of fun over those few days.  We all received these pre-paid Noika cellphones to use during our stay here that were easily made in 2002 .  Best features: a flashlight, a converter from the American system to the metric system, and everyone's favorite game Snake.  Not to mention the battery life last for about five days.
   The first full day we were there, it was filled with exotic animals at the Zoo and touring the beautiful city of Sydney.  I don't remember the last time I went to the Zoo but it's a great place, filled with all things that can kill me if I caught them out in the wild.  The kangaroos were pretty hilarious because they all seemed doped up and the photo of the gorilla only strengthens the evolution theory.

    After, the zoo we took a ferry into the city of Sydney where I met this guy.

     Great guy.  We toured the city for a few hours but I became thirsty as did my fellow companions.  We asked a local on the street where the closest bar was to have our first beer in Australia and for many of my amigos, it was their first legal beer.  We wandered for much longer than we should have and I must add we were strictly forbidden to drink any alcohol during this orientation (probably the softest thing I've heard).  To our surprise, we found this gem:

     During the last full day, we went surfing for the majority of it and it was a blast.  I found it quite difficult and only able to stand up twice but I do plan on trying to surf more in Hull because up in Townsville, there is no surf due to the Great Barrier Reef. I guess you trade tit for tat. I was able to call my friend Trevor Jones and Tommy Kimball who were making their long expedition along the coast of Australia lasting nearly a month!  They rented a ridiculous van and started driving from North of Cairns all the way to Sydney.  Little hope existed for us to rendez-vous due to the lack of internet usage at my orientation but because I called home and asked my mom to check my e-mail, I was able see them.
    What an incredible story, three roommates end up in Australia and happen to be in the same place at the same time.  I highly doubt that my study abroad advisers would of allowed me to see my two friends from Colby so I did what any sane American would do: gave my roommate a cover story and took off at the drop of a hat.

     We went to a fancy hotel bar where we had a few beers over their colorful adventures in our new country.  Pretty jealous of what they have experienced in Australia because they had wild stories that are not permissible to be read on this viewer friendly blog.  For dinner, we went to a Thai restaurant in search of some PAD THAI.  A Colby favorite is to eat our weight in pad thai from the infamous Pad Thai 2 located in Waterville.  You wouldn't think that Maine would have the best pad thai but it does.  Believe me, it does.  Our meals were tasty but still short of Pad Thai 2 yet given the proximity of the two countries, I'm sure I can find a place up to par . Tommy and Trevor planned on staying in their ghetto van one last night before the end of their hippie traveling days  and get started on their own orientations however, they did not know that I had an extra bunk bed ready to roll for them back in my room.  I informed my roommate that I had two hippies on their way to stay with us and then proceeded to sneak them in.  They were gone as soon as the sun rose and a few hours later I hopped on a plane to Townsville. And once I walked off that plane,  I will never forget the humidity and heat that slapped me in the face.  Not as welcoming as the air in Sydney.  I guess play time's over. 

Clear eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose.

Cheers,
Alex