College Day and Mannix vs. Mary's Day

Hey Everyone,

Friday was St. Mary's College Day!  College day is a celebration of everything awesome about living at St. Mary's.  Our college day was a blast.  We woke up at 7:30 for an early breakfast, followed by a phony debate between the staff and students on some trivial topic, which was quite funny.  We then ran around to several lectures on campus to obnoxiously sing our St. Mary's Chant.  After lunch we had an auction where people sold whatever they had laying around.  Some people sold themselves as "slaves" and others sold haircuts or t-shirts or whatever.  All the proceeds went to charity.

The afternoon was definitely the most fun.  We had huge inflatables with a slide, obstacle course, gladiator ring and moon bounce.  It was practical a carnival.  I still have rug burn from jumping down the slide and fighting my way through the obstacle course!

That evening we had mass for College Day.  I was asked to give a speech about why I love St. Mary's and I was happy that it went well.  I was a bit nervous beforehand, but once I got going the speech went well.

After a formal dinner we headed to the common room for a turn.  Boys wear red, girls wear blue.  I had a great getup, as you can see as I was hanging out with Aaron and Seamus.  After the turn we went out for a few drinks at Puggs, our favorite Irish pub.

Fast forward two days: Mannix vs. Mary's day on sunday.  The day is a sport competition between Monash University's Mannix College and our very own St. Mary's.  We met up with them to play Aussie rules football, basketball and netball (a variation of basketball).  I was happy to try a new sport and play footy, which was a blast.  Fortunately we won boys footy, but lost girls footy, netball and basketball.  We entertained the Mannix people in the afternoon by taking them to two of our favorite pubs, Turf and Puggs.  Everyone enjoyed meeting new people and getting a chance to mingle.  A busy weekend for sure!

I have four more days of classes left and then exam period.  I have 3 weeks until my first exam, so I will hopefully be doing some traveling in that time.  We'll see what the future holds!

Cheers,
Paul

Another Weekend, Another Dive

Hey all!

First of all, today's my birthday!  I'm the big 20 now (even though it's not quite May 17 back home), and I'm going to enjoy being alive in my third decade in Australia!  I haven't properly celebrated my birthday on my birthday for a couple years now (the last two times were spent in a car), so it'll be good to have a proper birthday celebration.

Anyway, on to the festivities of the weekend.  Classes have been winding down, and I've been focusing on completing all my final assignments.  However, my friend Susan turned 21 on Friday, so we went out and celebrated at an Irish pub.  It was heaps of fun, everyone enjoyed sitting around having a beer or two.  That night I had my favorite beer in Australia to date:  Little Creatures.  It's brewed a couple kilometers away in Fitzroy, another suburb of Melbourne.  I know in the future that I'll be having another Little Creatures.

They looked exactly like this

On Sunday I made my way down to Mornington on the east side of Port Phillip to do some diving with the Melbourne Uni diving club.  The water was cold, 14 degrees C (right around 56 F) and by the time the dive ended I could barely use my hands from being so numb.  However, it was one of the coolest dives I've done so far.  We swam under a pier between all the columns.  It looked like a massive cathedral from 20 feet underwater.  There were schools of small fish everywhere, starfish littered the sea floor, and big pufferfish darted around the bottom of the large wooden posts.  Despite being so cold, it was a wonderful dive. 

I have one half week and one full week left.  It's going by so fast!  However, I have some plans in the making for a trip to Tasmania.  It should be really cool.  I'll keep you posted when the time gets near!

Cheers from this new 20 year old!
Paul

The Event

Hey Everyone,

Things have quieted down a bit since my vacation, and not much has happened in the past week.  However, on Saturday, St. Mary's hosted and event aptly named "The Event".  It was a formal cocktail dinner hosted in the Melbourne Aquarium, in the fishbowl (a gigantic fish tank with tunnels and a big atrium area).

Pretty cool place to sip Champagne and eat h'orderves

Afterward we went over the Yarra river the the Crown Casino for some clubbing and gambling.  I went to the club but didn't much feel the urge to gamble.  All in all it was a great night!  Friends, Fun, and Fish.  A special thanks to Pat Randell, our vice president who put it all together!

I'll keep you updated when more exciting things happen!

Cheers,
Paul

Fraser Island: There's sand everywhere!

Hey everyone!

Time has come to let you in on my last leg of my super trip.  We made our way to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world!

Day 8

We left Cairns in the mid-afternoon to arrive in Brisbane.  A quiet city, Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia after Sydney and Melbourne.  We had a taxi ride to our hostel, which was very nice.  Once there, we decided to explore the city a bit.  We found a pub that had $5 burritos and enjoyed even more texmex in Australia!

Day 9

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to catch a Greyhound bus to Fraser island.  One bonus to waking up that early is that I got a wonderful view of the Brisbane skyline in the morning:

Because it was raining, we were able to see a glorious rainbow as well:

Maybe I should go back to Brisbane...

The trip took some time (7 hours) but it was nice to see the beautiful Queensland countryside.  Though the ride was beautiful, we had some confusion when we arrived in Hervey Bay, the nearest city to Fraser Island.  We caught a cab to catch a ferry to the island where we were staying.  When we arrived on the island, we found out that, due to our traveling, we would only be able to participate on one day of our three day tour.  We were obviously very disappointed because we had spent a lot of money on this tour and were a bit angry and out booking agent, who we felt didn't inform us completely that we would be missing so much.  Everyone was tired, there was sand everywhere, and worst of all the hostel rooms we stayed in were not very nice.  Needless to say, all three of us were on edge.  However, we found some really nice staff members in the kitchen who helped us out and gave us some other options to make our time worthwhile on the island.

Day 10

The next morning, still a bit on edge, we headed out on our tour at 8 am.  We had no idea what was in store for us.  We started by four wheeling through the rainforest to the east side of the island, which is basically a 90 km (50 mi) straight beach.  There we passed the Maheno Shipwreck, a part of the island since the 30's when it crashed into the island after being towed through a storm and lost at sea.  No one was hurt, and now it's just a cool part of the island.

Next we made our way up the coast to the northern part of the island where there were some large sand dunes.  Large enough to jump off and get some serious air.  Here's one of Dani, Susan and I all taking a jump.

My favorite part of this picture is Susan's look of terror.

I think my favorite shot of me on this trip

After we got tired of flying, we made our way over to the Champagne Pools which is a group of rocks immediately at the edge of the ocean so the waves smash about it and make some cool turbulence in the pools.  Dani had some fun standing in front of the waves as they crashed about us.

We then made it up to the Indian Head, which is a rocky outcrop sticking out into the ocean.  It's one of the few rock formations above sea level on the island.  Driving down the coast, we passed by the Cathedrals, a collection of red/orange colored sand that has collected there over the eons.  Then we made it down to Eli Creek where we relaxedly floated down to the ocean.  It turned out to be a fantastic day with wonderful weather.  We were feeling much better about our decision to come to Fraser Island when we got back to the hotel.

Dani and Lilani

That night, the three of us met up with Lilani, who was Dani's maid when they lived in Singapore many years ago.  Dani had not seen her since she was 8, so it was a wonderful reunion.  Lilani lives outside of Brisbane and traveled to Fraser Island with her husband Arunot to visit Dani.  It was an absolutely wonderful night!  Both Lilani and Arunot are delightful and were gracious enough to treat us to a three course meal.  It was insane.  I've never eaten so well before.  I had kangaroo meat and I have to let you know, it was pretty good.  They left on the last ferry of the night, and we couldn't ask for a more friendly pair of people to spend our time with.

Day 11

Our last day had arrived.  Because we couldn't go on the tour, we instead hiked out to Lake McKenzie, a huge freshwater lake on the middle of the island.  It has a high pH of 3.4, about the same as orange juice, so nothing really lives in the lake and it is extremely clear.  I had some fun with my underwater camera and enjoyed swimming in such a clear lake.

We had a quiet lunch there and made ready for our two hour hike back to the hotel.  Though it was long, it was incredibly beautiful and I couldn't help but look around all the time and enjoy immersing myself in God's beauty.

Finally, the trip back.  We took a ferry to the mainland, a bus to the airport, a small turbojet plane to Brisbane, and a proper jet back to Melbourne.  All in all it took 8 hours, but by the time we got back we were just glad to be home.

In reflection of my trip, it was a wonderful experience.  I got to travel up and down the coast of Australia, dive on the great barrier reef, sleep on a beach near the rainforest, jump off dunes 60 feet high, and see one of the most beautiful countries on earth, all with the companionship of two good friends.  I would say that I'm pretty lucky.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures.  Who knows where I'll go next?  Once I find out when I have finals, I would like to go to Tasmania, the Outback, and the Great Ocean Road.  All await.  And I can't wait.

Sunset over Hervey Bay

Cheers!
Paul

Cairns: Four Days in Paradise

Hey all!  I suppose I should let you know how the rest of my trip went.  The second part took place in Cairns, Queensland.

Sunrise over the Pacific

Day 4

We flew up on Easter Sunday to Cairns, one of the most northerly cities in Australia.  Cairns is well known for its location close to the center of the Great Barrier Reef.  It's also located at the edge of the rainforest, so it's quite a place to visit.

The first night we stayed at a hostel in town.  It was quiet and a bit removed from the city center, but it was well needed after the hustle and bustle of Sydney.  We got food in town and walked around downtown a bit.  The weather was great: a couple showers here and there, but in the mid to high 20's C (low 80's F).

Day 5

Camping:  Rainforest and Beach style

The next day we met up with our friend Dani who lives at St. Mary's with us.  She was gracious enough to let us stay with her as she lives in Kuranda, a small town a half hour from Cairns.  The first day Dani and a couple of her friends took us to Ellis Beach for some camping on the beach.  I've never camped on a beach before, it was so cool!  We went swimming, cooked spaghetti and had a campfire that night.  The stars at night were incredible.  You can see the whole milky way and the southern cross.

Day 6

I woke up early in the morning to watch the sunrise, too.  Northern Queensland is just full of natural beauty.  We had a lazy morning, made some pancakes and had another swim.  Then we went back into town to do a bit of shopping and walking around Cairns in the day time.

After shopping, we drove up to Kuranda, which is in the mountains surrounding Cairns.  The road to Kuranda is an 8 mile long, twisting, curving, steep, treacherous pathway cut out through the forest.  It felt like riding on a roller coaster.  Once we arrived safely at the top, we enjoyed the hospitality of  Dani's parents who made us dinner and entertained us for the night.  We had a quiet night in, just relaxing and enjoying being in a home and not a hostel.

Winding road to Kuranda

Day 7

Dive day!!!  We hopped onto a catamaran owned by Passions of Paradise and took a two hour trip to the outer reef.  While the day started nice, we had some inclement weather and a rocky ride to our dive site.  When we reached there, however, the rain let up and we had a pleasant day for a dive.  We each had two dives, Dani and me being certified divers and American Dani and Susan doing intro dives.  There was so much to see!  Here's just a little taste of what we saw at the bottom.

We also did some skin diving (snorkeling) and saw some beautiful coral and sea creatures as well.  But  nothing quite beats the experience of diving.  Hopefully I'll make my way back up to Cairns to do some more diving!

Dani and Susan before their dive!

Relaxing on the catamaran

Another trip back, this time we sailed because the wind was to our backs.  Once safely on land again, we went to Dani's friend Sam's place to make tacos.  I've been missing tacos; they don't have much mexican food here, so I'll take whatever I can get.  Afterward, another quiet night.

Day 8

 Our second travel day, we had enough time in the morning to travel on the SkyRail from Kuranda to Cairns.  It's a gondola service which gives pristine views of the rainforest and mountains.   We even went up into the clouds for a bit.  It was beautiful.

That afternoon we said goodbye to Dani and thanked her for her generosity for showing us around Cairns.  It was a great experience and we couldn't have asked for a better four days.  We left on an airplane for Brisbane to experience another adventure.

One more leg to go!  Up next: Fraser Island, largest sand island in the world.

Cheers!
Paul

Sydney

Hey all!

It's been awhile, but I've been adventuring.  Dani, Susan and I embarked on a 10 day journey up and down eastern Australia!  We traveled by airplane, train, bus, car, monorail, sailboat, ferry, taxi and our own feet to see this beautiful country.  For the sake of keeping these posts readable, I'll break down the trip into three chunks, beginning with Sydney.

Day 1

ANZAC Memorial

We woke up at a brisk 4 am to catch a cab at 5 for our flight at 6:30.  Needless to say we took a nap on the airplane.  We landed, took a quick train ride over to the hostel, which was near the heart of downtown Sydney.  We dropped off our stuff and began exploring the city.

With weather in the high 20's (thats low 80's for my Fahrenheit friends) we had a beautiful day at our expense.  We walked to Darling Harbour, which does justice to its name.  It was really cute, with many fountains and a shopping center on the waterfront.  My favorite part was the monorail which travels in a loop from the city center to the harbor.  It's the first time I've seen a monorail outside of Disney World.  I was quite excited to give it a ride.

Fountains of Darling Harbour

After some lunch the girls took an afternoon nap, but I decided to go for a walk to Hyde Park and see the ANZAC memorial.  It's a beautiful park, and was well worth the 45 minute walk.  After Dani and Susan woke up, we trekked up to the Sydney Tower to get some cool views of the city.  That night we met one of Susan's friends from U Texas, Matt, who is studying in the University of New South Wales.  He took us to a bar called "Marble Bar" where we enjoyed each others' company and listened to some live music.  The bar is completely made of marble... it was really cool.

Day 2

Hyde Park

Day two began with a trip to Sydney's botanical gardens next to its famous opera house.  In the gardens we got some wonderful views of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  It was truly a magnificent site.  The opera house is really a quite unique structure;  I've never seen anything quite like it before.

Dani, Susan and Me in the Gardens

We spent the morning in the gardens and headed over to the opera house for some tourist photos.  After getting our fill, we made our way down to the Circular Quay, which is the original landing place of the convict ships sent from England just over 200 years ago.  From there we took a ferry over to Manly Beach, which gave us some wonderful views of the harbor.  We got some relaxing beach time in and met with some friends from Melbourne.  They are also exchange students from Boston College.  After we headed back, we were just exhausted and spent the night at our hostel.

Day 3

Sydney Tower

Our final day in Sydney was not nearly as pleasant as the weather turned to heavy rain and chilly winds.  However, we met a German kid in our hostel named Ludwig who is taking a gap year before he goes to college.  We invited him to join us for the day.  We made our way to the Paddy Markets for some cheap shopping.

We visited Darling Harbour once again, but this time there was a circus going on around the harbor.  We saw some cool acrobats and a couple clowns.  However, we wanted to get back to the Opera house to take a tour, but by the time we got there it was too late to book one for the day.

Monorail!

Instead we made our way over to The Rocks, the original part of Sydney.  It reminded me much of Boston, with small alleys cutting up a sharp rock face right next to the Harbour Bridge.  From there we met up with some of my friends Simon and Eva, who were both at U of Illinois my freshman year.  Simon's an Australian native who studied abroad at U of I while Eva is an Illini who is studying abroad at UNSW.  It was wonderful to catch up and see some old friends!  That night we spent getting to know our roommates in the hostel (there were 10 people per room).  It was good to meet some other nationalities, namely British and Scottish citizens.

The next day I found an Anglican church to celebrate Easter.  It was a good way to end our time at Sydney.  I enjoyed the city, but I'm still partial to good old Melbourne!  Next I'll tell you about our adventures in Cairns!  Stay tuned!

No explanation needed

Cheers,
Paul