I don’t know why but Kia Ora seems like a better greeting than G’Day. So Kia Ora!

I’m writing this blog on my laptop on the train from Sydney to Brisbane. It’s around 6:30, so about 90 minutes before my usual dinner time. I’m still kinda hungry though.

Today was a fun day. I was awoken this morning at 4:30 by the Asians (or little people as the other guy in the room called them) who were in the room. I got up switched my chargers from my camera to my iPhone and went back to sleep. Getting back to sleep was harder than I thought, but it worked pretty well till the other roommate got up at 7:30. He was nice though, a little simple, but funny. We are both on the train now, I haven’t seen him, but then again he is in a different car. I went back to sleep but woke up about an hour later. I got dressed, packed my backpack and bags for what feels like the millionth time, made breakfast (toast and jam sandwich, the best) and then headed for reception.

I checked out but booked my last night in Sydney at the hostel. It has a great location to the rail system and my stored bag so I know it will be very easy to leave on the 14^th.

I then took all of my baggage and luggage to the train station to check it with the railway. It was easy enough and luckily the guy behind the counter only charged me for one bag. To clarify, most of the places that cater to tourists charge for a variety of things that are simple extras. Especially in big tourists cities. In this particular instance it was $4.40 per bag for storage. I was storing my backpack and my bag of food. Luckily the guy behind the counter had the sense to realize that that extra $5 for my fairly small food bag wouldn’t be worth my negative feelings. He counted them as one so that was nice.

I then decided where to go for the day. The main bullet point on my list was the Taranga zoo so I decided I would walk along the harbor to get there. So I went towards darling harbor and through the edge of Chinatown and discovered this amazing market of tourists items, fruits and veggies, factory outlets, designer clothing, and of course souvenirs. I spent a good time walking through the stalls and such. As a management major I love everything about these markets, the merchandising, the comrodary between sellers, the local approach and knowledge. There are just a lot of neat parts.

Afterwards I continued walking towards darling harbor where Fifa fan fest was being held and where the Sydney convention center was. There is lots of activity in the area due to the fact that the lions club is holding their international convention here in Sydney. As I explored Darling Harbor I discovered that there was in fact a ferry leaving from there for Toronga Zoo (It is on the other side of the harbor) so I went and bought my ticket (including admission) for $39 with my student concession. I love the student discouts.

I waited for the ferry and wandered down the waterfront with it’s multitude of expensive restaurants and pubs everywhere. It is a very flash place. I then boarded the ferry at 11 and we went through the Harbor to Circular Quay, which is the main ferry terminal in between the Rocks and the Opera House. The views of the harbor were spectacular and I would say it is the prettiest harbor I have seen. Better than Wellington’s as well.

I made it to the zoo and then took the gondola up and over the zoo to the top. It was really neat gondola ride as you got to see some of the key animals including the elephants and gorillas. I got my map and headed out.

One of the first things I noticed in this zoo was the high amount of brand placement throughout the zoo and exhibitions. You’ll have to see the photos to understand fully but there was a high degree of sponsorship. It was good to see as NPO’s are increasingly forced to look for places of incremental revenue. The zoo was full of tourists and children. Don’t get me wrong I love kids but when I’m travelling alone I normally try and avoid those type of situations. Nontheless I still has lots of fun.

One of the weird things was happen was I had two different children on two different occasions grab the back of my jean legs. I don’t know if it is just my interpretation after working with kids over the years, but parents are normally more wary of their kids around guys than gals. Anyways it was kinda weird but they quickly moved on.

They had some really cool exhibits focusing on Australia, Africa, the Rainforest, and the Artic. It was well done with an appropriate mix of live shows(I didn’t fully watch any of them but they seemed really good), information, and interactive exhibits. The food wasn’t outrageous either. Not the 100-300% market I am used to seeing.

After reflecting on it and reading about a lot of the work that this zoo and the Wellington zoo did, I have a new found respect for zoos. In the 21^st century they don’t simply provide entertainment, they provide key educations and even more importantly conservation efforts. I now firmly believe that the view that the animals are behind bars is an ignorant view of zoos and modern conservancy.

I finished most of the exhibits, but I could have easily spent a 2-3 more hours there going to the live shows and really going to all of the exhibitions. But such is life and I had a train to catch.

I caught the ferry back across to Darling Harbor and then walked back towards Central Station. I got there a few minutes early and ate at Hungry Jacks, the Australian Version of Burger King. I got a value meal with a double cheeseburger, small fry, small coke, and a storm. I was most excited to try a storm as it was what looked like a McFlurry. It was like a McFlurry! And delicious! I then made my way to baggage claim and boarded the train with a few minutes to spare after stretching outside.

Aboard the train I was glad to find that I got a window seat. It is quite warm on board even after I changed to my train gear, a hoodie and my track pants. The person sitting next to me isn’t particularly friendly, which is understandable but hopefully for the rest of the trip I’ll have the row to myself. This is unlikely however because this train is packed. I am also being led to believe that people with freckles are particularly less friendly than normal people. But Irish people are the exception.

I am a little disappointed with the current view as I thought I would be able to see more I guess before the sun went down. But it’s winter and all light disappeared just after 5 pm. Ohh well.

As a few side notes that I forgot to right about earlier:

My right calf muscle and  right foot muscle have been killing me for the last two days. It affected which trails I did in the blue mountains. I am not sure what it is. Two nights ago my right calf Charlie horsed twice, which is highly unusual and hasn’t been back to normal sense. I hope it gets better because it is really annoying.

I think I have something that is called Traveller’s Syndrome. Because I have been away for so long and experienced so many new things without readjusting I am starting to feel diminishing returns. This is kinda difficult to express as it isn’t that it isn’t awesome and I am not significantly enjoying myself, it is more like it all seems possible.

I think there is another confounding factor I am experiencing. I guess I’ll call it the non-interference effect. Basically our normal lives are greatly affected by other people and their schedules. This is not a bad thing it is just that even to hang out with a friend you both have to agree on the time. So I think that because my current condition is sooo independent it almost doesn’t feel real. Whatever I decide in my daily life happens. If I don’t do something it simply doesn’t happen. It’s not real but is what happens when you travel I suppose.

With all that being said I have really enjoyed Sydney as a city. It has a lot of the things I like about cities. I don’t know that is just my take.

In addition I honestly believed that most of Australia was outback conditions. I am know less ignorant in that fact as I have seen a variety of forests and even lakes here in Australia. I do hope to see the outback at some point. Maybe a train trip! J

Anyways that is all I am going to write on this subject. 11 more days till I’m back home. It feels good to think about.

All the best,

-Mathias

(This is kinda old and originally intended to post it on FB, but I finished the end on the train.)

So my mind keeps floating back to the last event I planned, Casino night. There was something really spectacular about that event. I think the most impressive is that it was thrown together entirely in 10 days.

I think I know why it sticks in my mind. It is a reminder of things past. Perhaps what I in some way believe to be my last great push as RHA’s DoP. A great short term creative effort by a team and friends I had put a lot of my time and myself into. You see the great thing about that event was the creative potential that we really unleashed.

I really enjoyed the decoration bit for that night. My committee through together some great ideas in a short time. Even though it was small, that tends to happen at the end of the semester, what was left was the cream of the crop. As well I had the help and support of a finally integrated executive team.

I have been talking mainly in generalizations as I often tend to do. I do have a few people to point out though. Hannah for her great ideas on costuming with the togas and their creation. Karla for her help in acting out the roles and helping me pick up some vital supplies. Charles for his willingness to participate and his fresh ideas. Jacob for his help and continuing enthusiasm (something that I normally have some of but had been seriously drained at that point). Parul for his expertise in music. Elliot for his idea for cataloging the participants. Michael for his unending willingness to help and I guess maybe even for his cynicism. David for his non-stopping continuation for being the devil’s advocate and his willingness to help when it was needed the most. Grant for his prowess in creating and distributing balling advertising.  Zain for his dedication to helping me in whatever I needed done (I really needed that a lot). Alex for his never ending questioning of my plans, even though he couldn’t join us that night.

I think the reason I am finishing these thoughts from so long ago (I started this in late December) is the fact that I see this part of my life as somehow different than what my future life will be. Not different in a bad way, in fact completely the opposite. It would be a terrible shame for me to come back and be completely the same person. I see myself coming back and being a greater person than I was before.

But I digress. The point of this note is to take the time to celebrate in retrospect what was a wonderful combination of talent and devotion to making campus life better. Anyways even though we had a small celebration afterwards at Waffle House, I just wanted to really put it out into the universe the thanks I have for all of that synergy that came about. I look forward to seeing many of you in the fall!

So I guess mind over matter is only a short term victory, eh? Over the last 6 nights or so I haven’t really gotten the right amount of significant sleep, namely 8 hours or more. I aim to change that tonight as I am going to go to bed early.

After last nights blog I went back and discovered that the guy sleeping in the room had been on a 40 hour plane journey so he was wiped. After talking to the other roommates went to bed around 11 PM. I think I went to bed quite quickly.

My alarm went off at 5 after six but I had been awake for a good 30 minutes before that had happened. I got up and got dressed in the dark. You get really good at dressing quickly and in low light after travelling, especially when a lot of your outfits are repeats.

I went downstairs and made breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I also packed apples and nuts, again typical food. I then went to reception to recheck in as I was told this was necessary because I had booked the nights at two different times. This unfortunately took 15 minutes to resolve. This made me miss the earliest train out, but the next one wasn’t much after.

I made my way to the train station, just around the corner, and purchased my combo train bus ticket. I then waited for the train and boarded it. The trains that run the western line and much of the other Sydney lines are from 1958. They are multilevel, stainless steel trains that are very pretty. They contain reversible seats so you don’t have lots of people sitting backwards. To be honest they feel dated, but then again I suppose not everything has to be flash.

The train ride was just over 2 hours long. The scenery was unremarkable to say the most. Mainly suburbia things and houses. I guess it was good to see the other parts of the city but I wasn’t really wowed by it.

We made it up to the stop (I am blanking on the name) and I got off the train and headed to get my bus ticket and information. For this Oz trip I haven’t really planned anything in advanced or really researched anything. I am kind of just taking it as it comes. It’s kinda unnerving as I’m the plan type of person but it’s good to try new things.

I switched the ticket and got a map. I had to make a quick decision on what I was going to do that day but I made it and got on with life. I caught the bus 5 minutes later and headed out towards stop #9 at the base of the skyline. The bus was an retired London double decker bus. It raddled like none other and I laughed at the fact that literally everything rattled terribly. It acted like it was just waiting to fall apart.

I got to the base of the skyline and took the advice from the woman at the desk where I had purchased the ticket. Ohhh wait.

At the ticket counter where I picked up my information I was offered a pass to take the skyline gondola, the railcar train, and the skytram around the touristy facilities that were there. Sorry this is really hard for me to write as my brain is not firing properly.  I choose yes because it was only $25 and I am normally scared of heights so I thought it would be good to do.

Back at the base I took a quick walk around to a nice waterfall and a lookout point. The waterfall was cool and the lookout was georgeous. I am sure at sunrise/sunset the blue mountains are even more amazing.

Basically the Blue Mountains are a world heritage listed sight. They have a variety of trees and other fauna that are only found in this part of the world. The area is very geologically stable which has contributed to the ability of the plants to survive for long periods of time. I believe they are called the Blue Mountains due to a blue haze that is seen in the area which is based on some release of stuff from the trees in the area. That is a god awful sentence. Ohh well.

Basically I spent most of the day walking around the forest. I took the tram over to the main touristy station. It was cool as it had an electrostatic glass floor and open air windows to allow pictures to be taken. Next after looking out at the three sisters, the most well known landmark of the blue mountains, I boarded the Railcar train down to the base of the forest.

The railcar train is the steepest incline in the world, 52 degrees. It was really cool and used to carry coal from the mines up to the processing facility. I was the only white person on board as a huge number of asian tourists came down and boarded the train. It was a short ride and we were counterbalanced so it was smooth descending.

Once on the forest floor I walked over to a lookout of the Kootomba falls to avoid the mad amount of Asians that were going through. I then doubled back to the main walkway, which was boardwalk and began checking out all the information. Even though it was really touristy the information and history was spectacularly done. I really appreciated that it gave you something to read and learn rather than a lot of the other things were it is like ohh take your pictures here and then move on.

I was standing listening to a little presentation by an animatronic figure and I noticed a little girl (prob about 9) wearing a red jacket. Now being a Tech fan red is obviously a color that I refuse to wear and it brings up a good amount of aggression when I see it. But the thing was I though this was Georgia read. She moved and I saw she was wearing a Georgia sweatshirt! I then asked the family generally if they were from Georgia. They were. There oldest son, they had 3 kids, had just graduated from UGA with a forestry degree (go figure) and this was a graduation present for him. We had a short talk for about 5 mins and then I continued on my way.

I spent about 90 minutes wandering down there in the forest floor and had lunch. PBJ, it was very good. I then took the skytram up but not before running into another American family. This one made me smile. I didn’t ever actually talk to them, I just listened to their Americanness. We give away a lot of clues for one thing. For example a german girl ahead of me sneezed and the daughter (2 sons, 1 daughter, and a mom I later deduced) said God Bless You, which is not something they say in NZ or Oz. (Yah I know bc I had to stop saying it). They also used American slang and had the attitude (not a bad one, just definitely American) so it made me smile.

After finishing the skytram back up, I walked around the Prince Edward walk to the three sisters which took about another 90 minutes. It was very pretty and the sandstone cliffs were amazing. It also started to rain so I was fully jacketed up. I haven’t mentioned this before but it was very cold today. It was actually in the 40’s in the mountains. I had appropriately planned though and was thoroughly warm except for my hands.

Afterwards I got the bus back to Leoria, and then explored the shops, and finally went to wait for the train ride back. I talked to a nice guy on the platform and then settled in for a good hour nap for the 2 hour return trip. Upon return I got out of the way and just watched the people bustle about. It was really neat watching the full, like packed full, trains of people go each and every way. Everyone all bundled up in their winter gear and reading the paper or playing with their phone. I don’t know I enjoyed watching it all.

I then went to check if I had a place to store my bags for my train ride tomorrow and I do. I also checked my bag into PeterPans for storage and learned a valuable lesson. They didn’t have rates for baggage storage, it is sorta negotiated so you can use that to your advantage. I didn’t in this case but it is a lesson to keep for the future.

Anyway tomorrow I will be spending most of the day in Sydney then hopping on the train for the ride to Brisbane.

Sorry about this blog being kinda sporadic. I think I am mentally tired and I really felt that leaving the train station. I am normally a very alert person, normally attempting to observe as much as possible about the world around me. But it was like that sense was put on hold or something and I was just operating at a more base level. I don’t like that feeling.

Check out the new photos on facebook, I am going to comment on them.

All the best,

-Mathias

G’Day!

Yah that’s my Australian greeting. I figured it was a good way to start this blog off. Anyways I feel quite amazing writing this right now. I am actually up on the roof top terrace of my hostel looking out over Sydney while typing this and editing some photos from my trip for Facebook. It’s cold but blogging on a rooftop 10 stories up in a foreign country is hard to beat.

My flight over went well enough. I really see why Air NZ has such great service and continues to win quality awards. On the way over we were served a hot breakfast with a small omelets, chicken sausage, fruit, muffin, and choice of drink. The food was actually really good especially the omelet. Apparantly the American way to spell omelette is just with one t and neglecting the e. I guess my grammar has changed a little.

The guy sitting next to me looked homeless in his dress so that was interesting. Blue sweatpants with a large beanie (also different color blue) and another off blue sweatshirt. He kinda smelled but apparently was a student, ohh well. The IFE was good and I got to watch 2 movies. The one with Steve Carrell and Tina Fey, Date Night, was a little disappointing because I like both of them as comedians a lot. It felt like a really reused role for Carrell.

The other movie called Band Slam was actually really good. It has Pheobe from Friends (her real name is Michelle something) and some other unknowns. I would actually recommend it. Although it does take the assumption that High School is the absolute most important, epic time of your life. But most shoes nowadays tend to do that.

We landed and it was awesome watching the other planes fly approach patterns in. Before we had takn an east to north approach but this time we took west to north and so we could see the parade of aircraft landing. They didn’t leave too much space in between. On the ground were some amazing A380’s (I counted 4) and the Delta 773 I will be flying home! It was nice to see the delta livery! J

I (So OMG I just got interrupted by a very weird older American guy. Sigh at the people you sometimes get to deal with. I guess you live and learn and carry a gun right?) got into the long line for customs which seemed to be mainly Asians and Brazilians. It seemed like a good third of the Asians had a cough. I’m not very germaphobic but I didn’t like that.

Customs was all in order and my bags were out within 5 minutes of me clearing customs. To be fair the line was a good 45 minutes. I then went through quarantine inspection and the best question was “Do you have a crab in your bag?” I said yes and they wanted to know what it was made of. Apparently ceramic is fine.

I then walked through the mass of people and went to the first Vodafone desk I saw. I waited for a good half hour before being told there was no prepay data plans available in Australia. The guy was unhelpful and I knew he was wrong about there being *no* carrier. So I went to grab the train with my luggage. At this point I had my full packed backpack, my school backpack and my rolling duffel. Probably a easy 50k. I got on the train and found the hostel. I was fortunate enough to be able to check directly into my room from in the morning so I didn’t have to pay any luggage fees!

The room is nice and the hostel is very nice. The biggest one is Oz apparently. You pay, but it isn’t that much more than the real cheap stuff on the market (8 per night).

I then sat out looking for Peter Pans travel to store my bags. I found it and confirmed with the lady and will be delivering it for storage tmmrw or Saturday.

I then sat out to exploring the city. I did a lot today so I apologize if I am a bit brief. There are apparently only two free information stands in Sydney and I was lucky to find one of them near the town hall. The rest that were marked information were actually just street vendors. I got a guidebook with a map and planned what I wanted to see while sitting next to the town hall.

Sydney has a lot of things to do. No wonder there are so many Asian tourists! I walked through some of the city gardens and then St. Mary’s Cathedral which was massive and beautiful. I couldn’t take any pictures but it was epic. The second biggest Cathedral I have ever seen. I then checked out the Musuem of Australia or was it Autralia Museum.

There were tons of kids there and some of the exihibits looked a bit dated. The building itself was really cool as it was the oldest museum in Oz. I spent few hours in there and as I went on the exhibits got much better. They had some of the really good interactive tables and such too which were fun. I would say it was worth the $8 but the kids were still loud.

I then sat in the sun in Hyde Park for a good 30 minutes looking at my plan and thinking. I then sat out for the Anzac Memorial, only about 200m away. It was the biggest one I have seen (then again Aus is much bigger than NZ so things are scaled up). It was beautifully done and they had a really impressive little museum to go with it. I asked some questions and was shown a short film and got the statue explained to me.

I then proceeded towards the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge via the  botanical gardens. It was a nice walk and I have just really noticed that there are a lot of people here. It was very full unlike Rotorua and Tauranga and even Wellington. But then again it is a city 7x the size of Welly. So I will have to get used to it.

On the way I passed lots of typical asian tourists snapping hundreds of photos with just slightly different facial expressions and the quintessential peace sign. To each their own I guess.

I was hoping to have a spectacular sunset at the Harbor Bridge but it was partially obscured by clouds. I still got some good shots though. I helped a few others snap some photos and walked around the ferry wharfs and the quay towards the bridge. It was a nice walk but I was hungry. I spent some time there at the water thinking as I often do and then started the walk back towards the hostel. That was about 5:30 or so.

On the way back I really fell in lust with Sydney. It was bustling with people for the full 2 hours I was in the Rush hour traffic. People going every which way and tons of shops and outdoor/indoor malls. And buses and people. It was really neat. I enjoyed seeing all of the activity. I think I have greatly missed the hubbub.

I spotted a mobile phone store and went in to inquire about a sim card because $2 a mb isn’t really kosher. I had to wait for a good 40 minutes to be served as there were a surprisingly high number of people in the store and all 5 employees were busy. I got it worked out and have plenty of calls/texts/ and 150mb of data for the next 13 days for the low price of $40. I got him to waive the cost of the Sim Card as well! I was happy to say the least. BC without google maps life can be tough!

I then went into the grocery store I had scouted before, Woolworths which was only 6 or so blocks from the Hostel. I went in and at first had trouble finding where the real groceries were. I eventually found them as it was a three level store. The grocery store was uncomfortably packed and people were always going this way and that so it was hard to shop in a completely unfamiliar store. I made it though and bough a reusable bag to bring home.

I got back and was hoping to rip into my bags and such. Unfortunately one of my room mates was asleep (it was like 7:30) so I tried to stay quiet. I cooked dinner (pasta of course, 8 of my last 9 meals J). I then went back got my laptop and came up hear to type. All in all it was a good day but very tiring. I am planning to go to the Blue Mountains tomorrow which I believe is just a 2 hour of so train ride out of the city. Should be fun!

Anyways it has been a great day in Sydney. Although I didn’t get to see my friend Jonathon from Tech today, I know that we both attempted the effort so that was good. I definitely didn’t know there was so much to do in Sydney or I would have considered spending more time here. It feels like a good mix between the soul of Wellington, the largeness of Auckland, and the business of Atlanta. My opinion could always change though.

So my fingers are freezing so this is the end for me! All the best!

-Mathias