Coastal Tour

We went on a bus tour today of the coast South of Sydney. I really had no idea what the trip actually consisted of, except for free lunch, so my expectations were probably too high. In the end, the trip amounted to much more than 5 hours of driving with very little actual sightseeing. What we did see was pretty, but I think I’m already getting too used to the sights around here. Things certainly aren’t breathtaking anymore.

The morning started off with a stop at McDonalds for coffee. I found it kind of strange that inside the McDonald’s there was a separate pastry/coffee counter from the regular food counter. After the group ate, we stopped at a lookout right on the coast. We took a few pictures, but it was super windy and it felt like we were going to blow off the cliff, so we didn’t stay long.

Sarah and I's shadow

Next up was a Buddhist Temple. I don’t really know anything about it, but the grounds were nice. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but it looked like pretty much every other Buddhist temple that I’ve seen in my life J

The Pagoda

Interesting looking plant outside

The main temple

Then we stopped at another rocky outlook/park. This one had a hole in the rocks where the pressure from the tide would cause the water to blow up into the air. Our tour guide called in the blow hole. There was a lighthouse too, but it wasn’t very large and/or pretty, just basic white.

The blow hole -- I couldn't get a good action shot

We picked up lunch in town. I was highly disappointed because the e-mail about the trip from our campus coordinator had said lunch was included but our guide just dropped us off. I was glad that the prices out in the tiny town were much cheaper than Sydney, but it still cost me $8 for an order of fries and an ice cream. I was really annoyed though that when we got back to the bus and were taken to our “picnic” spot to eat there was a group of people cooking sausages for us. We were told to buy lunch, yet then there was free lunch anyways. I was already full from my fries so I didn’t even get to partake in the sausages, which probably would have been a much better means to satisfy my hunger. Our guide definitely miscommunicated.

After lunch, two people from the national parks office came to talk to us about aboriginal culture. We learned about a couple of plants in the area that are safe to eat and actually have health properties. I can’t remember what any of them were, but she gave us some leaves to chew on that were supposed to help with dehydration and showed how to use water and leaves to make a cream to clear up pimples. The guy showed us some of the weapons available to hunters and taught us how to throw a boomerang and play the didgeridoo.

Demonstrating on the didgeridoo -- I believe he was imitating the emu call at this point 

On the way home, we passed a random fudge and toffee self-serve station on the side of the road. The deserts were just sitting in a refrigerator with a little box for money on the bottom. It was bizarre. A bunch of the girls bought some though. We also stopped at a national park at the top of a hill with an outlook over a waterfall. It was pretty but hard to take pictures of because of the sun’s intensity.

Literally, the middle of nowhere

Morton National Park

Fitzroy Falls

Sightseeing in Sydney

Yesterday, I had to run around campus and get my room and class situations straightened out. The cold water (not that I need it right now) valve in my shower wouldn’t turn on, so I needed to report that to the residential office as well as have my photo taken for my house keycard. Then I went to the main campus building to get my campus ID printed and turn in my add/drop form for classes, which she straightened out right away. I’m in enrolled in all of the classes I wanted now and I don’t have class on Tuesday and Wednesday. After inputting my schedule into my calendar, I even found some other interesting classes that I might want to sit in on the lectures.

I’ll be taking Children’s Literature; Travel, Tourism, and Cultural Production; Identity and Difference: Introduction to Anthropology; and Societies of Europe this semester. I’m also considering sitting in on Introduction to Sociology as well as Human Evolution and Diversity. I’m still amazed by the sheer amount of classes that I find interesting in Macquarie’s course books. I really should have gone to a big school.

The library here is huge. It has 5 floors

I spent the afternoon on campus before meeting up with Sarah to head into the city. Macquarie put together a evening harbor cruise for the international student orientation, but we wanted to wander around a little bit before it started. We ended up not having to pay for our train ticket for the 40-minute journey there because the computer systems weren’t working and they told us to pay on the other end, but we snuck out instead.

The city is so pretty at night. The sun was setting on our way there, but when we got to the city there were so many lights. We looked in a couple wine and souvenir stores before wandering down one of the more expensive streets in the city. It had the Ralph Lauren and Ugg stores on it, among others. It was so pretty to walk down though. All of the men were walking around in suits, fresh from the offices. The storefronts were painted in various old school village colors. But here’s a picture, instead of me describing it.

The Sydney Bridge at sunset

Expensive shopping street downtown

The harbor cruise left from the Man O War steps, which took us forever to find. When we finally did, we realized that they had just told us to get there at 6:30 and the boat didn’t actually leave until 7, so we sat around shivering with probably 200 other international students. Everyone seemed like they were in groups or already knew people, which makes sense because orientation for them has lasted all week instead of just starting on Wednesday. I was relieved to see the boat had an enclosed dance floor on the first floor when it actually pulled up. There is no way to describe it though other than a party boat.

Our view while waiting to get on the boat

We devoured the free pizza the moment we stepped onto the ship and then everyone raided the bar. It was way too expensive for me though. Beers started at $6 for a bottle and that was the cheapest option. Smirnoff Ice went for $10 a bottle. We spent the three-hour cruise alternating between dancing on the first floor and taking pictures from the top deck when we got too warm inside. The views were really pretty. If the point of the cruise was to meet new people, then it wasn’t really successful. We talked to a few girls that live in the village, but nothing really came of it. I figure I’ll meet more people once classes start.

Makenzie, Sarah, and Miranda on the boat

Going under the bridge

A fair we passed

At the end of the cruise, I did start talking to one of the guys who worked on the boat though. He’s apparently a full-time engineer that works in the Papau New Guinea area and works for his friends that own the boat on the side. He seemed really nice. He was telling me about his travels. I think it would have been fun to meet up with him at some point later on so he could show me around Sydney, but that would have been awkward to bring up. I mean, he was at work.

We did have to pay for the trip home on the train, once we finally found the train stop (the boat let out at a different place than it started). It was only $2.40 for the trip though, so that isn’t too bad. I wasn’t exactly excited to walk all the way across campus in the freezing cold when we got back though. I passed out the second I walked in the door.

It’s good that I got some sleep though because I was up bright and early again this morning at 8. Our Sydney city tour, scheduled especially for our group, left at 10:30 and we stopped at a couple of lookout spots around the city and took classic tourist pictures in front of the bridge and the opera house, as well as the edge of the harbor. We also went to Bondi Beach, which was nothing special. There was barely anyone in the water except for surfers because it’s so cold. I took a few pictures and wandered into the beachfront stores, but everything was really expensive. I was glad that I ate before and didn’t have to buy lunch. One of the guys in our group was impressed he was able to get a full meal for $12, but that still sounds expensive to me. I don’t think I’ll be eating out very much here. Things are so much cheaper in Ohio and Michigan, especially my Qdoba burrito for $3.15.

Bondi Beach

At the end of the tour, we stopped at the Cargo Bar on the waterfront and were given a free glass of wine or beer. I got the chardonnay. It was okay, not the best. It was nice to sit on the patio and people watch though. I also found out that they sell pretty good $10 steaks Monday-Wednesday to attract business. I was impressed by that considering their drink specials on Monday-Wednesday are $10 cocktails.

The night was spent with more grocery shopping, but this time at a large market instead of the ones in the mall and it’s a good thing we went because we found out things are a little bit cheaper there. Then Sarah and I hung out with her roommates, who all seem really nice. One of them has a job on campus and he was instructing me on how to apply. I’m trying to convince one of the two who have a car to go on a road trip to Melbourne during exam period.

Our European Adventure, Day 14

I slept in this morning because we didn’t really have anything to do today. Once I woke up, I went downstairs to use the internet and wait for everyone else to wake up.


I got bored after awhile and tried to go souvenir shopping, but I found out that it was a bank holiday today and pretty much every place around town was closed except for the places in the train station, restaurants, and hotels. I ended up just going back to the room and, since the rest of them were up by then, we went out on a mission to find a pharmacy that sold a thermometer for Matt. We weren’t successful though because apparently pharmacies close on bank holidays in Europe too.

We did manage to find a nice steak restaurant on our jaunt around town. We ended up eating at the Marriott’s restaurant. Ben and I had steak, fries, and wine, while Madeline had fish. On the way back to the hotel, we picked up orange juice and water for Matt. We spent some time in the hostel room after and I sorted through the receipts for the trip and put them in date order.

The inside of the restaurant - it was pretty swanky

The cute bowls they delivered our dipping sauces in

My huge, delicious steak

At 2 o’clock, we walked over to the main train station to go on our Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Tour. It was actually really lame though because the bus never really stopped long enough to take pictures and we weren’t exactly interested in any of the sights or the places it stopped. It was also really crowded. I wanted to get off in the shopping district, but everything was closed because of the bank holiday. We did get off on the fifth stop though and visited the Hard Rock Café of Munich. We had some appetizers and drinks that came in souvenir mugs we got to keep and since we spent over 30 Euros we were able to get Matt a free luggage tag as his souvenir.

Our fruity drinks at the Hard Rock

Stuffed after our appetizers, we went back to the hotel and napped. When we woke up, we decided to go out to dinner at a steak restaurant we found a few blocks away. Unfortunately, the steak restaurant didn't serve much else so Madeline ended up needing to compromise on her choice in food. I'm just glad that I managed to persuade them away from ethnic food on this trip. I would prefer to eat either familiar foods or native foods when travelling. It seems safer, especially when one of us is already suffering from a strange food poisoning/stomach flu mixture.

Our dinner steak, notice the size difference