How you go?

December 13, 2007

Okay, I realize this entry is a little late, especially considering
that we just left Shanghai last night...:-)

Day 1: Arrival to Sydney, Australia...
*Woke up to a beautiful sunrise, as we pulled into the Sydney Harbour
(It was called "Darling Harbour"--for you, Sunny:-)
*Spent the day in Sydney solo--I needed a little personal time.
*Browsed through "The Rocks" Markets--cute little markets on
cobblestone streets.
*Walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge.
*And of course, found a place to eat sushi:-)

Day 2: Here begins my adventures with Mariam and Amanda...
*Caught early morning flight to Hervey Bay (Queensland).
*Arrived at Fraser Roving Backpackers (The term "Backpackers" refers
to a hostel-like place, for low-budget travels. The ones we've
stayed at so far have been pretty good--clean, affordable,and makes
you feel part of a travelers' community.)
*Went for "breaky" at the Aqua Vue-Sat at a little picnic table
overlooking the ocean. Mariam ordered a breakfast plate that was
suppose to come with baked beans, but they were out of beans. So she
was brought spaghetti instead. We thought that was funny.
*Had lunch at Thai Smile--recommended by a local guy from one of the
shops.
*Rented bikes and did a little tour of the town. Stopped for some
shopping.
*Headed back to Fraser Roving for our meeting. What meeting? So
glad you asked...
The three of us signed up to do a self-guided jeep safari (with a
group of randoms) on Frazer Island (the largest all-sand island in
the world; and by all-sand, I literally mean ALL sand--NO "roads.").
*The meeting: Grabbed drinks (Amanda had Jack & Coke in a bottle) and
headed to the community room to meet the rest of our safari mates and
listen to a brief overview of the three days to come. Again, this
was a self-guided safari, so the group is given a jeep (a PINK jeep,
I might add), camping equipment (Yes, I'm a camper.), an itinerary,
and a map. The group was an "interesting" mix, and there were enough
people to split into two jeeps. Jeep 1: Me, Amanda, Mariam, Julie &
Michael (a couple from Germany), Anik (from Holland), Antje (also
from Germany). Jeep 2: Marcel, Tony, Chris, Jonas (from Switzerland,
21 years old guys, and clearly childhood friends), Katrine and Jenny
(again, from Germany; not yet 21, and clearly excited about their
Swiss German jeep mates), and Monika (from Czech Republic, 28 years
old, quit her job at the Marriot in London to travel the world, and
bless her heart was now with a group who were at let's just say a
different developmental stage in life:-). This was going to be a
treat.
*After the meeting, Amanda, Mariam and I headed out for dinner. It's
8:30, and the town has shut down. Literally. Except for an Irish
restaurant/pub--Some things you can just count on. In your honor,
Mo. Ate at Hollighans, then called it a night.

Day 3:
*Piled in our pink jeeps (Let me add that the jeeps had given names:
Ours was "Stinky", which conveniently rhymes with "pinky"; and the
other's was "Eurong", the name of a beach on Fraser Island.).
*Went grocery shopping with 15 people--A little hectic. Mariam took
one for the team and helped Monika do the group shopping, while
Amanda and I got some extras for the three of us, which of course
consisted of pesto, hummus, avocado, cheese, and museli--not meant to
mix together. And gum for me. Briana, I've depleted my entire
supply: three cases! Bob and Kathy, this is no surprise, right?:-)
*Took the barge, along with jeeps full of other campers to Fraser
Island.
*Got off on Fraser Island, and upon entering Eurong Beach, got stuck
in the sand (i.e., our first "bog"). Time to push.
*Had to be careful not to drive into the ocean..."or you'll lose your
bond" (i.e., deposit). This phrase was posted on everything: our
map, the inside of our car, etc. It became a running joke for the
next few days.
*Hiked to Lake Wabby. Lake was surrounded by HUGE sand dunes, which
we had fun running down and into the water. Clean green-colored
lake. With catfish!
*Everywhere you turned: Warning signs about the Dingoes--an animal
that looks like a malnourished dog, but apparently, attacks small
children, which given my tall stature, I was told to be careful.
Amanda, Mariam, and I kept quoting the line from a movie "The dingo
ate your baby!" but have not idea where it came from--Manoosh, I feel
like this is something you would know, but you're probably not
reading my blog, so I'll ask you later.
*First night of camping at One Tree Rocks (like the TV show "One Tree
Hill. Except different.). Set up the tents, cooked up a big meal,
drank wine, and sang songs (like "Country Road"--Court and Christy,
are you dying right now? The Swiss guys are the ones that started
it. Everyone else knew the lyrics--more so than I did, and I grew up
in West Virginia! Julie taught us a German song, which Amanda,
Mariam, and I originally thought was a love song, but later found out
it was a drinking song and were prompted to put a little more kick
into it. It goes like this:

"Das ist wahsinn; Warum schickst due mich in die holle. HOLLE HOLLE
HOLLE HOLLE!
Eiskalt; Lasst du meine seele erfrieren.
Das ist wahsinn; Du spielst mit meinen gefuhlen. FUHLE FUHLE FUHLE
FUHLE!
Und mein stolz, ist langst schon auf dem mull. MULL SONDERMULL!
Und das ist was ich will. Ich will dich.
GANZ ALLEIN!"

Literal translation:
"This is crazy; Why do you send me to hell. HELL HELL HELL!
Ice cold; You let my soul freeze.
This is crazy; You play with my feelings. FEELINGS FEELINGS FEELINGS!
And my pride is already rubbish. SPECIALIZED RUBBISH!
And this is what I want; I want you.
JUST ALONE!"

(It was so fun coming back to the ship and singing this to our German
students. They were impressed, which they should have been, given
that we probably practiced this song ten million times.)

*We also learned how to say "cheers" in German ("Broste!"), and
Mariam was given major props for putting her whole soul into it.
*After dinner and dishes, we sat out on the beach under the stars. A
great first night on F.I.

Day 4:
*Woke up at the crack of dawn. Ate our museli and yogurt and sat on
the beach while everyone was getting ready (By the way, I know it
might be a little strange to detail the food items--but there are
some treats that I just get really excited about. Henri, are you
shaking your head right now?)
*Headed out in our pink-mobiles. First stop: Eli Creek--a creek in
the middle of the beach. It was a little crowded, and the water was
cold, so we didn't stay long.
*Stopped at Happy Valley to refuel our water supply. This was one of
the only (if not the only) little store on the island, so given this
monopoly, you can only imagine the prices. Actually, you don't have
to imagine; Let me tell you. A loaf of bread: $4.86. A fifth of
Malibu Rum: $56 (which we did not buy).
*Stopped at an infamous shipwreck, right on the beach--very cool.
*Almost did the dance of joy when we found "rubbish" bins, which we
had been looking for everywhere. And what was so fun was that we
stumbled upon a lot full of them--like a little rubbish heaven.
*Stopped at Indian Head--right off the beach--large rocks you can
hike up for a spectacular panoramic view of the island.
*Hit a major wash-out crossing on the beach--It's hard to tell how
deep the streams are while driving.
*Headed to Dilli Village, which was a crazy ride. Off-roading at
it's finest (Reminder: all-sand island). I've never heard the word
"BUMP!" shouted out so many times. It was a roller coaster of a
ride. Mariam has major driving skills--She was our permanent driver
for this trip. As you might have guessed, I chose not to drive on
the island:-)
*Stopped at Lake Boomajin, which was okay. Were debating about
camping there, but decided to keep going since it wasn't on our
itinerary.
*So glad we went to next lake: Lake Birabeen--a little paradise--true
white sand, warm clear water (so clear you could see yourself under
water--and seemed clean enough to drink). The place was deserted, so
we had a fun little splash around the lake before heading to our
camping site at Central Station.
*At Central Station--Set up our tents just before dark, cooked a
spaghetti and garlic bread dinner, and then played the funniest game,
initiated by our Swiss German buddies, involving an empty cardboard
beer box and a shovel.

Day 5:
*Got up early and headed to Lake Mckenzie, which was very similar to
Birabeen--white sands and refreshing crystal clear water. Were the
first ones there that morning, which was nice. Weather was perfect
(for the whole trip, really)--blue skies and sunshine. Played in the
water, swam to a little island, had heart-to-heart conversation with
Amanda and Mariam while lying on the shore, and swatted away stinging
flies that were bigger than a thimble (weird comparison, I know--but
it was the first object that popped in my head). Just before leaving
lake, the Swiss German boys revealed their red g-string (literally)
swim wear for photos. Hilarious and disturbing.
*Finally headed back to the barge and back to on Hervey Bay. Bought
dinner, chocolate, and a bottle of port (which came with glasses from
a pub, graciously donated by the sales guy at the liquor store), and
sat on the picnic tables on the beach (where we had breakfast our
first day).
*Interesting side note: During one of our little jeep rides, Julie
(from Germany) commented on how she has trouble understanding native
English speakers because of the speed of which it's often spoken.
However, she seemed appreciative of the fact that she could
understand me when I spoke to her. This was a cool moment for me
because I realized that through my experience on The Scholar Ship, I
have developed a greater sensitivity to non-native English speakers
and consciously slow down my speech and more clearly articulate my
words so that the other person can understand and feel connected.
For me, this moment symbolized one of the many many learnings I will
take away from this whole experience.

Day 6:
*Caught our flight back to Sydney, rented a car, and started heading
south (without really knowing exactly where we were going--we just
knew we wanted to go to a vineyard).
*Stopped at an info center, was told about the "Crooked River Winery"
near Kiama. Were excited to hear it was "award winning"--and later
amused by the fact that everything in Kiama claimed to be "award
winning".
*Winery visit was wonderful. The place was family owned--We met
Katherine and her husband Chef Michael, the father Brian, and
Katherine's son Luke. The weather was rainy, which made it cozy.
Had a beautiful view of the vineyard and delicious tastings,
especially the ports. Brian told us a great story about one port in
particular called "Pyjama Port". A 99-year-old woman wrote a letter
to Brian saying that she had a glass of port every night before bed
and would sleep just beautifully. The woman died at age 104, and
Brian named the port "pyjama port" because it's enjoyed best when
drank in your pajamas.
*Katherine then booked us a room at The Anchor Inn, where we checked
in after wine tasting.
*Had dinner at Sea Haven, which was an amusing experience. I asked
if I could send back my meal (which I never do and for some reason
decided to do it in Australia)--and ended up being charged for two
meals. Oops. Lesson learned.
*Back to Anchor Inn for movie and good night's sleep.

Day 7:
*Went into Kiama for the morning. By the way, I drove here--On the
opposite side of the car, and on the opposite side of the road! Dad,
we had insurance.
*Found great farmer's market in Kiama (I was in heaven.), where we
tried different olive spreads, pastries, fruits, and fudge--all of
course which were "award winning."
*Back to Sydney for a final afternoon in the city before sailing
away...to China.