Once upon a time, I wanted to be a dolphin

Hookfin and her calf
Some of the males from the pods.




A Galah

Newcastle has the busiest port in Australia: mostly all to do with coal.
The Bogie (bogey?) hole. Essentially a pool shape carved out of rock and filled by ocean water when the waves come.
The waves


Sorry that it's been nearly a week since I've written. I'm now in countdown until I leave for Korea (with two days remaining). Where do I start....
In summary I had an amazing weekend. As some of you know I went up to New Castle to visit a friend for the weekend. On Friday, we went to Nelson Bay to go boating and see dolphins. It was a huge surprise and a childhood dream come true to see dolphins in the wild. There were two pods of dolphins playing around and I took about 200 pictures of them (I was excited, what can I say). Newcastle is a great place which I think it fairly evident given the pictures, but I'm biased. Another accomplishment of the weekend was that I now understand- and like- Rugby league. I've never been interested in American football but rugby is quite different and in my mind, better for it.

xoxo,
F

P.S Right by Newcastle there is a Toronto and a Hamilton. I was amused by this.

Fish in Glass Boxes

Now some of you might say it's rude of me to start a post off with a turtle mooning the camera but that is the exact view I got as soon as I walked into the first set of tunnels at the Sydney Aquarium. I thought you might like to share the experience. Or not.
Here is another turtle's better side. It was feeling a little more social apparently, unlike the one pictured above who was sleeping with his head hidden between two rocks. I didn't know they could do that.

The aquarium was great and lived up to my expectations. I went today (a weekday afternoon) and felt like I had the place to myself: a very different experience from my visit to the Vancouver Aquarium on a long weekend. Not that it was bad, but I can't say I missed tripping over small children and strollers. I think Alex and Kate would agree.
I tried to take some decent pictures but there were a couple challenges:
1) A lot of the aquariums are dark or have low lighting. Using a flash was out of the question because of reason #2
2) There was at least one layer of glass between me and the subjects. Short of jumping in and joining them, there wasn't much I could do about it.
So I apologize for any poor focus, reflections in the glass, etc. I think it's a small trade-off for not being this afternoon's shark food. I hope you will all agree with my decision to keep my limbs, and if you don't, keep your opinions to yourself :).Ever wonder what they're thinking?These penguins average at 1kg! Very tiny.
Oh, I forgot to mention that when you do overcome the speed of the fish, the glass reflection, and the low lighting...this happens. You lop off it's head. After all, what sort of day would it be without a clear example of Murphy's law?

Rayleigh Scattering

The Three Sisters

The little red spider that sat down beside me.
A real waterfall!!! (Recall JC Slaughter falls)



The Blue Mountain Ridges
Perhaps you guys can think of a caption for this photo (sorry, it's pretty out of focus)
I took a trip to the Blue Mountains yesterday courtesy of Evelyn and Patrick. It was fun, interesting, and educational (for those who didn't fall asleep while on the bus). The buzz word(s) of the day was "Rayleigh scattering" as the tour guide appeared to really like this phenomenon and made some rather bad jokes about it. The reason it was brought up though was because Rayleigh scattering is the reason the mountains appear blue...hence their name.
The weather didn't look too promising (typical of most days I decide to go to a lookout; it will be foggy as all else) though it cleared up enough that we did get some good views.
The tour bus was mostly taken up by people from the UK with a Canadian, a couple Germans, and four Americans to mix it up. The Americans were from "Seattle, Washington. The REAL Washington of the United States, NOT Washington DC". Yikes. Sometimes it's painful when you witness proof of stereotypes.
All in all it was a good day and we got to see the mountains from several different vantage points. The highlight of the day was seeing a couple of Juvenile Kangaroos boxing! They were Grey Back Kangaroos in the Blue Mountains National Park, not captive and trained to box whenever tourists abound. It was quite entertaining to watch because they stretch, scratch, and grunt as a warm-up before their little match. Rather like humans!

xoxo,
F

P.Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney

Hallo!

After much ado I've arrived in Sydney. Unfortunately, I'm too tired to tell that story so I'll tell you another one about my day yesterday which was quite possibly the most exciting one since being in Australia.
The friends I'm staying with (who are lovely and incredibly helpful) live close to the city center making it easy to walk or bus there. As such, I took a nice walk that went a little like this:

Walk down by the harbour past Anzac Bridge; past Sydney Fish Markets; past the Australian Maritime Museum;

across Pyrmont Bridge;

up Market street to Hyde Park and St. Marys Cathedral;
on to the Domain and Botanical Gardens (I've traced in red where I walked);
on to the Sydney Opera House;

(This picture gives you an idea of what the weather was like yesterday. )

and finally back through the Gardens again to the Government house and Conservatory of music before heading back through Hyde Park. All in all it took me between five and six hours so I was a bit knackered by the end of it but it was a lot of fun. The only downside was that by the time I got round to Mrs Macquaries Point it was fairly cloudy and threatening to rain (which it did) so the pictures didn't turn out too well. The ones I have posted are from today when it was clearer out. I started writing this post this morning but left for a drive to see the northern suburbs, a couple of the city beaches, and to take a ferry ride from Manlay to Circular Quay....I also had this latte along the way :)

I hope you've all had a good long weekend and looking forward to the short work week!
xoxo,
F

Little Reminders

I'm not procrastinating anymore- packing is all done! I went out to a BBQ this afternoon and on my way there saw something that made me have to write this post. It's for Alex.

These berries reminded me of...
These berries! Taken shortly before I left home in January while on a walk in the valley.

I know they're different trees altogether but that's ok.


Now this is what made me write this post. Sugar Cane Juice. Some time ago, Alex said that this is what should be done with all the sugar cane in Cuba. Unfortunately, this version does not taste as good as freshly squeezed sugar cane and I couldn't take more than a sip.
Sorry I can't bring any home, but take my word for it that the picture is better than the drink. And the picture is nothing special.

Procrastination is an Art

Hallo Everyone,

Just as the title says, I'm procrastinating. More specifically, by writing this. I should be packing for Sydney tomorrow but I've been up since 6:00, have done laundry (the machine sounds like a jet taking off when it's in spin mode), and have all my "stuff" strewn about. This means I'm nearly done. So I thought it was high time for a break and to share what I will and will not miss about the past three months.

I'll start off with what I won't miss (bad news before good news, right?)

Won't Miss:

• Massive spiders inside (outside I don't mind)
• Green Ants: their bites are really painful and the sting lasts a long time
• Baby Barf: it smells. Big surprise.
• Shoddy pick-up lines: I have heard some of the worst ones here.
• Cell phone problems:calling cards or minute cards running out. If they ran out in sync it would be better.
• Sand everywhere: I love the sand on the beach but not so much once I'm home and find it in all my bags, shoes, etc.
  
• Coffee that costs an arm and a leg.

Will Miss:

• The Botanical Gardens
• Gold Coast and the perfect beaches
• Surfing: granted I'm not great but it's a lot of fun.
  
• Wildlife and Flora: don't deny it, you'd like to walk out and see parrots and lizards in your yard frolicking among the palm trees too.
  
• Warm weather: even though this will come in Canada too, I'm not looking forward to the May snowfalls in Alberta.
  
• Aussie Accents
• Seeing the stars every night because there are so few lights to drown them out.
• Mozzarella that looks like a turtle: ok, I won't Really miss this but I'm amused by it none the less.

• Tim Tams.

It's a shame these aren't in North America. Goodness knows why not.

Just add legs and a tail.

Lessons Learned:

• I am still not immune to sunburns
  
• Zebra rhymes with Debra.
  
• "Deer in Headlights" doesn't mean much but "possum in headlights" is more appropriate.
• "You look like a chipmunk" means very little as well. Perhaps someone can come up with one that would be understood by aussies.
• We have "Robin's egg blue" and they have "duck egg yellow".
  
• I CAN adapt to cars driving on the other side. It took a while but I finally don't have to think about which way to look first.

I should get back to packing now. Happy Easter to everyone in case I don't write again for a while!
xoxo,
F

Bird Fight

Little birds (like finches) are sweet and seemingly happy-go-lucky. Medium-sized birds (such as honeyeaters and magpies) are mean and bickering. Big birds (smaller than swan-sized falcons) are nice and calm. This is my theory.

Exhibit A:
You may have noticed that I've not posted pictures of Galahs or Cockatoos and have only had one post with the kookaburra that is here almost daily. The problem is that I've seen all these birds on a regular basis but one of the following ensues: I don't have my camera on me, they are only flying by, or medium-sized birds are waging war on them.
If you recall the post on the Kookaburra there is a picture where a smaller bird's wing is visible. It was making dive bombs at the poor Kookaburra. Well, that happens a lot and more often than not the smaller birds bug it until it leaves. They do the same to Galahs and Cockatoos. Today I finally got pictures of yet another bird fight. The Cockatoo (they're really loud birds btw), was being attacked by two magpie-larks and, not surprisingly, they eventually won.

So that's my theory. Little and big birds co-exist happily whilst the medium-sized birds are playground bullies.

Toe-MAH-toe, Toe-MAY-toe

With only a short time left here in Australia, there are a lot of things that I've been pondering /noticing /writing about. Not all of these things are important, as is evident by my post on HTs. For me, this blog is a nice way to look back at my trip and remember (as I've admitted to having problems with that lately). For you guys, hopefully it is mild entertainment when there's naught to do. If it isn't sufficient entertainment then check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/ or google "Dolphin Olympics 2". Just don't blame me for the addiction to the latter. Blame my brother.

Now that I've got that out of the way....Toe-mah-to, Toe-may-to. Accents are funny things. In the UK, it gives away where you are from and your class. In the US, there are distinctive accents across the country- most notable (hard to understand) are the deep south ones. In Canada, it's mostly a matter of small town, big city, or Newfie.
Everyone picks up on accents different from their own such that it's often one of the first questions asked. If it's not asked, you know they're thinking it anyway! I don't mind people asking. What I love are the accent assumptions. They almost (NB) make me want to talk to strangers just for statistical purposes: 21.5% of people think I'm from....
Here are the best ones yet:
"Are you from California?"
- My guess is that he was stereotyping my blond hair and tan. Wrong! Stereotypes are bad.
" You're..Irish, right?"
- No... I'm Canadian...(you are sorely mistaken and need to go watch some English mystery movies; the Irish are the bag guys. I kid). This person has clearly never heard an Irish accent. I can't even imitate one.

"American?"
-Ouch. Most of the people who guess that I'm from the US are very quick to apologize with "oh I'm sorry, that was probably insulting". Yes, yes it was, but you're forgiven because you didn't know better. Now go visit Canada. Please.

Over the months there have been the occasional pronunciation challenges. Thing2 and I had a conflict over the word "can't". I say it like the bug "ant" and he says it like the relative "aunt". Everytime I said "can't" the Canadian *coughrightcough* way, he would persistently correct me until I said it the Aussie way. Here's the twist:
I adapted the Aussie "can't" to ease his 4 year old confusion but, ironically, he now says it the Canadian way. His mother wasn't too pleased. Oops.
Oddly enough they say "can" the same way we do which made me wonder why they don't just add the "t" sound at the end and call it quits rather than throw a "u" in there as well to give them "caun't".

Regardless of all the accent and pronunciation differences, we all understand each other. This is good news considering we're all speaking English.
Korea will be another story. I'm slightly nervous about going to a country where I cannot speak or read the language. I've always been able to speak the primary language in the countries I've visited (Cuba 2004 I knew how to speak Spanish). There will be no blending in in Korea for me.

And with that, I'm off to blend into the night in my bright orange running shorts and white reflective shoes.
xoxo,
F

Gambling

Gambling is very popular here: signs for "Pokies" are as frequent as Starbucks in New York, Tim Hortons in Toronto, liquor stores in Drayton Valley, and Ben &Jerry's in Washington DC. The Casino is also a main attraction in Brisbane. Pokies remind me of Alberta- the only place in Canada where you can gamble in a restaurant while you wait for your food to be served.
Here's a little conversation I had today on the matter:

Becca: Casinos are bigger in Australia

Titch: I haven't been to one in Canada or here

Becca: that's good, I don't gamble either, only with my life

Titch: Same here. Though you see, I think that's ok because I really and truly own my life. Money is transient.

So there you have it. That's why you will never find me in a casino but you might find me in the company of sharks because
a) the chances of losing money in a casino are far higher than getting bitten by a shark
b) Sharks (the water ones) are interesting
c) National geographic has taught me that sharks close their eyes to protect them right as they attack and if you poke the eyes or at least fight back in any way, they will give up. They fail on more than half of their attacks. Something tells me if you poke the eyes of the dealer at a casino you will not only lose money and get kicked out, but possibly get charged criminaly. Not that either situation would be much fun.

Happy Swimming!