First of all, I'd like to apologize for not posting in a long time. I've been doing a lot of travelling and sightseeing, which is really amazing, but it has left me with little time to update my blog.
Secondly, I am being evicted from my house at 18 Fifth Ave for some unknown reason! It's a really long story and you don't have to worry about me getting in trouble with the police or anything. My lessor/landlady Alice is just a bit wacky and decided that everyone had to move out for her "health". It's probably not the real reason why she's kicking us out, but that's neither here nor there. I'm currently looking for a new place to live, which isn't the most fun thing to do in the middle of the semester, and I'll post some details about that when I get the chance. But for now, know that I don't live at 18 Fifth Ave. Also, if you've mailed something to that address and I haven't acknowledged that I received it, then it hasn't arrived. Let me know if you have sent something so that I know not to burn any bridges when I leave. :)
Thirdly, once I get a chance, you'll be able to see some pictures and hear a little bit about my Scuba diving liveaboard, the volleyball trip to Byron Bay, and my most recent trip to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road!
Cheers
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
A Week In Cairns
About a month previous to the Easter Holiday (April 3 - 11), the UW people started planning for the week that we would have to really sink our teeth into what Australia has to offer. We decided, but not at the same time, to go to Cairns. Some of the people were going to be skydiving, bungee jumping, and whitewater rafting, while myself and a few others would be SCUBA diving on the Great Barrier Reef and then checking out the rainforests in the area.
For me, the plan was to arrive on Sunday morning, take it easy for two days, head out on the reef from Tuesday to Thursday, come back for a day and then do a day-long tour of the Daintree Rainforest, the Daintree River, and surrounding area. For the most part, that's exactly what happened.
It was overcast and rainy for the first few days that we were there, but it cleared up for the rest of the trip
Daintree Rainforest: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2703636&id=8645910&l=52a893c2b7
Great Barrier Reef: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2703596&id=8645910&l=8a2ca58b97
For me, the plan was to arrive on Sunday morning, take it easy for two days, head out on the reef from Tuesday to Thursday, come back for a day and then do a day-long tour of the Daintree Rainforest, the Daintree River, and surrounding area. For the most part, that's exactly what happened.
It was overcast and rainy for the first few days that we were there, but it cleared up for the rest of the trip
Daintree Rainforest: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2703636&id=8645910&l=52a893c2b7
Great Barrier Reef: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2703596&id=8645910&l=8a2ca58b97
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Status Update
It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog so I apologize if you’ve been holding your breath. It seems that I am still having trouble finding the time to sit down and write because I've been keeping busy with so many things. Even now I'm a little embarassed to see that my last updated was for the Gold Coast Hinterlands, the trip organized by QUEST, since I've been able to see many other things since then. But, I will try to keep the chronology of this blog consistent so as to keep a good record of what actually went on down here in Australia. This blog will cover a few events that happened since GCH.
In the weekend following GCH, I participated in a 4’s volleyball tournament and another QUEST Event, an NRL football game.
The volleyball tournament was being put on by the UQBVC and the basic premise was to get there early, randomly assemble four person teams and play volleyball for the rest of the day. And for the most part, we did exactly that. People brought some beer or wine which helped make it a really relaxing day. Most people had shown up by 9:30 and we began the pool play by 10am, which is still really early for a Saturday in my book. There were eight pools and four teams in each pool. Once each pool winner had been determined, we set up a bracket and played single-elimination until the end. Although this may sound like we were taking volleyball seriously, the clubs main focus was on the social aspect. Since only four teams could be playing at any one time, most people were just hanging out, talking, and making new friends. We kept ourselves busy by practicing on high jump equipment that was just behind the volleyball courts, by playing Frisbee, and by kicking around the soccer ball. University students have such short attention oh look a bird! They even had this gigantic volleyball that we thought would be really fun to play with until we realize that it was much heavier than we had anticipated and had almost broke our arms trying to hit it like a normal volleyball. Anyways, my team won all three of its pool play games and continued on through the quarterfinals to lose in the semifinals. It was really a heartbreaking loss since we were about to win, lost a point and the serve to a technicality, and then ended up losing the game. But, like I said, it was a very social event and we had forgotten about the loss by the time we were off the court. We also played a game where everyone got in a single court and we played the game with normal rules. Except in this game, if it’s your fault for losing a point, you have to leave the court. Slowly, the number of people that are on the court becomes just one, who is declared the winner. That was a surprisingly really fun game, especially when the really good people were the first people to get out. When all the games had been played and food consumed, the sun was setting and it was time to go home. My feet and back were scorched, but the day had been really well spent. It was time to get some sleep before the NRL game the next day.
The NRL (National Rugby League) football game was a match between the Brisbane Broncos and the New Zealand Warriors. But before the game, we met at a sports bar up the road to have a few drinks, eat appetizer food, and learn a little bit about Australian sports (NRL, NRU, and AFL). After that, we all walked down to the SunCorp Stadium, took our seats, and began roasting under the midday sun. I had been told that the Broncos were the winningest team in the league, so I was expecting a blow-out. And that’s exactly what we got. The Warriors killed the Broncos, 48-16. Of course I don’t really hold allegiance to any team, but the game also wasn’t particularly interesting to watch. NRL rules are a bit different than the rugby that I’m used to watching and it wasn’t a close match. I guess you could say it was like watching an indoor American football game somewhere in southern California, except it was being played outdoors. The Kiwis made a lot of noise during the game though. They were having a great time. It was almost more interesting to watch them than it was to see the match itself.
The next weekend was the beginning of our Easter Holiday, which means that we didn’t have class on Friday or the rest of the following week. (I'm still not sure how the entire country shuts down for a religious holiday. If you ask an Aussie's about it, they're either quite proud that the reason for the holiday is Easter, or they don't care as long as they don't have to work. If Easter is the reason for the holiday, it automatically becomes sacred to them. I guess I can't blame 'em for that.) It also marked the beginning of my trip to Cairns where I had planned a 3-day/2-night scuba diving liveaboard. You’ll hear more about that in the next post.
Cheers
In the weekend following GCH, I participated in a 4’s volleyball tournament and another QUEST Event, an NRL football game.
The volleyball tournament was being put on by the UQBVC and the basic premise was to get there early, randomly assemble four person teams and play volleyball for the rest of the day. And for the most part, we did exactly that. People brought some beer or wine which helped make it a really relaxing day. Most people had shown up by 9:30 and we began the pool play by 10am, which is still really early for a Saturday in my book. There were eight pools and four teams in each pool. Once each pool winner had been determined, we set up a bracket and played single-elimination until the end. Although this may sound like we were taking volleyball seriously, the clubs main focus was on the social aspect. Since only four teams could be playing at any one time, most people were just hanging out, talking, and making new friends. We kept ourselves busy by practicing on high jump equipment that was just behind the volleyball courts, by playing Frisbee, and by kicking around the soccer ball. University students have such short attention oh look a bird! They even had this gigantic volleyball that we thought would be really fun to play with until we realize that it was much heavier than we had anticipated and had almost broke our arms trying to hit it like a normal volleyball. Anyways, my team won all three of its pool play games and continued on through the quarterfinals to lose in the semifinals. It was really a heartbreaking loss since we were about to win, lost a point and the serve to a technicality, and then ended up losing the game. But, like I said, it was a very social event and we had forgotten about the loss by the time we were off the court. We also played a game where everyone got in a single court and we played the game with normal rules. Except in this game, if it’s your fault for losing a point, you have to leave the court. Slowly, the number of people that are on the court becomes just one, who is declared the winner. That was a surprisingly really fun game, especially when the really good people were the first people to get out. When all the games had been played and food consumed, the sun was setting and it was time to go home. My feet and back were scorched, but the day had been really well spent. It was time to get some sleep before the NRL game the next day.
The NRL (National Rugby League) football game was a match between the Brisbane Broncos and the New Zealand Warriors. But before the game, we met at a sports bar up the road to have a few drinks, eat appetizer food, and learn a little bit about Australian sports (NRL, NRU, and AFL). After that, we all walked down to the SunCorp Stadium, took our seats, and began roasting under the midday sun. I had been told that the Broncos were the winningest team in the league, so I was expecting a blow-out. And that’s exactly what we got. The Warriors killed the Broncos, 48-16. Of course I don’t really hold allegiance to any team, but the game also wasn’t particularly interesting to watch. NRL rules are a bit different than the rugby that I’m used to watching and it wasn’t a close match. I guess you could say it was like watching an indoor American football game somewhere in southern California, except it was being played outdoors. The Kiwis made a lot of noise during the game though. They were having a great time. It was almost more interesting to watch them than it was to see the match itself.
The next weekend was the beginning of our Easter Holiday, which means that we didn’t have class on Friday or the rest of the following week. (I'm still not sure how the entire country shuts down for a religious holiday. If you ask an Aussie's about it, they're either quite proud that the reason for the holiday is Easter, or they don't care as long as they don't have to work. If Easter is the reason for the holiday, it automatically becomes sacred to them. I guess I can't blame 'em for that.) It also marked the beginning of my trip to Cairns where I had planned a 3-day/2-night scuba diving liveaboard. You’ll hear more about that in the next post.
Cheers
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