Good evening all! Yet another incredible day here in Sydney to report on, though the beginning of the day started off slow. My internal clock still isn't quite up to speed here, so I was awake at 4am and could not for the life of me fall back asleep, so I just laid in bed until 8 staring at the ceiling which was frustrating, especially given just how exhausted I felt. When it was finally time to get up, it was off to a meeting on living in Sydney, which was really interesting and gave some great tips on the buses (something we desperately needed yesterday so I think this meeting comes way too late), as well as the many neighborhoods and, most importantly, Aussie slang. Below are some of my favorite ones (as you can see, they're really fond of shortening the words and adding an "o" or "ie"):
And, my personal favorite, tasty cheese = cheddar cheese. This cleared up some major confusion my roommates and I had had when looking for cheese to go with our lunch meat, as we walked down the aisle to package after package of "Light Tasty", "Tasty Cheese", and "Extra Tasty". No where on any of the bags did it say what kind of cheese it was. What was this cheese and what made it tastier than any other? Why was one lightly tasty, while the other extra tasty? After staring at the aisle in confusion for some time, we finally found the gouda which allowed us to safely avoid whatever the mystery cheese was. However, as informed by the meeting, the name has nothing to do with how tasty the cheese is, with tasty simply meaning cheddar, and "light" and "extra" referring to how sharp the cheddar was. Go figure. Seriously voting for this meeting to be moved to the first day from now on.
After the meeting and a quick lunch with the lunch meats and cheese we were able to understand, we had class where we went over more administrative things, and finally got a list of some of the places we'll be going to, which runs as follows (the requirement for the towns we visit are that they have to be small enough that there are no stoplights, and each town we visit if featured in one of the works we read during the course):
This isn't all the stops, but it is most of them, and I can't wait to get on our way!
- Arvo = afternoon; I'll see you tomorrow arvo.
- How ya going = How are you?
- Sunnies = sunglasses
- Vejjo = vegetarian; This restaurant has some vejjo options.
- Chrissie = Christmas
- Cossie = a bathing suit (or as they say here, a swimming costume)
- Pash = passionate kiss; Richard and Emma pashed at the dance last night.
- Bikkie = biscuit/cookie
- Avo = avocado
- Pumpkin = butternut squash
- Maccas = McDonalds
- Lemonade = Sprite (apparently it's really hard to find what we think of as lemonade over here)
- Tinny = can of beer
- Entre = appetizer
And, my personal favorite, tasty cheese = cheddar cheese. This cleared up some major confusion my roommates and I had had when looking for cheese to go with our lunch meat, as we walked down the aisle to package after package of "Light Tasty", "Tasty Cheese", and "Extra Tasty". No where on any of the bags did it say what kind of cheese it was. What was this cheese and what made it tastier than any other? Why was one lightly tasty, while the other extra tasty? After staring at the aisle in confusion for some time, we finally found the gouda which allowed us to safely avoid whatever the mystery cheese was. However, as informed by the meeting, the name has nothing to do with how tasty the cheese is, with tasty simply meaning cheddar, and "light" and "extra" referring to how sharp the cheddar was. Go figure. Seriously voting for this meeting to be moved to the first day from now on.
After the meeting and a quick lunch with the lunch meats and cheese we were able to understand, we had class where we went over more administrative things, and finally got a list of some of the places we'll be going to, which runs as follows (the requirement for the towns we visit are that they have to be small enough that there are no stoplights, and each town we visit if featured in one of the works we read during the course):
- Start from Sydney and drive south to Bald Head, a gorgeous cliff overlooking the beach and sea.
- Stop in a town called Milton for lunch.
- Head inland to Braidwood, where we get the Australian dish meat pies at a local bakery.
- Head to Milowa, a crossroads in Victoria known for its gourmet foods. Here we have a wine and cheese tasting at the famous Milowa cheese factory, and the Brown Brothers winery.
- We then go to the largest hedge maze in the southern hemisphere, followed by Beachworth, where Ned Kelly was imprisoned.
- Then we're off to Eden, a whale watching and logging area.
- Finally we stop at Bermagui, where the seal and penguin sanctuary is where we get to go diving with them.
This isn't all the stops, but it is most of them, and I can't wait to get on our way!
After this, BU took us on an absolutely amazing harbour cruise of the Sydney Harbour, which left from Darling Harbour, went under the Sydney Bridge, past the Opera House and then circled around the area a few more times for extra viewing. The whole cruise lasted about three hours, and we were served a delicious dinner (free food, yay!). We tried the Australian desert Pavlova for the first time, a meringue based desert with fruit on top and a soft filling made out of egg whites and sugar. The texture was a little weird at first (a weird mix of squishy and air bubbles) but once you got used to it, it was actually really good!
We almost missed the boat when we ran into this little fella on the walk over to the pier at the Wildlife Center, where he has a little pen in the entrance for people to watch. He was so incredibly cute just eating his little eucalyptus leaves without a care in the world, we all had to be pulled away in order to make it to the boat in time.
On the cruise is where I got to try my first Lemon Lime Bitter, a drink that is becoming very popular here, and in New Zealand, which we'd all been told to try. It consists of lemonade, lime cordial, and Angostura bitters. It was very sugary, but a nice mix of sweet and sour, with a very low alcohol content which couldn't be tasted at all. Apparently the alcohol content is so low that many places will allow anyone to get it regardless of their age. Definitely recommend it to those who don't like the taste of alcohol very much! Speaking of alcohol, it is a little strange just how laid back the professors are over here, as this is the second time in three days they've gone out and drunk with us (in fact, they seem to enjoy it more than we do and are often drunk, or at least tipsy, even when the students aren't. They also all like to be called by their first names, rather than as professor and their last name. It takes a little bit of getting used to as this would not fly at all back in the states, but certainly gives a new dimension to the student/professor relationship.
The highlight, however, was by far the gorgeous views on the cruise. It was definitely surreal to finally be seeing the sights that make of the epitome of Sydney: when you think of Sydney, or google it, the image of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge will pop up first. I've been wanting to experience this for a very long time, and it was a simply spectacular view. The pictures simply don't do justice to the true beauty of Sydney, its harbour, and its skyline , especially the phenomenal appearance and contrast it had with the sky and clouds. I've put a whole bunch of pictures in the slideshow below, so please look through, it will make you fall in love with the city.
The view was equally spectacular at night as the Harbour Lights turned on, changing colors in cool patterns, and simply looking spectacular. Unfortunately the Opera House was not yet lit up for Vivid, so we didn't manage to snag any pictures of both lit up, but even just seeing the bridge all colorful was fantastic. We could even see the people doing the Bridge Climb with their suits lit up, slowly making their way up the top. This cruise definitely made me fall even more in love with the city than I already was, especially seeing just how proud all the Australians were of their harbour. All of our professors kept asking us how we were liking it, and gushing on and on about their love for the city, the landscape and how much it impacts them and their city. They really seemed to appreciate exactly how much we all loved the experience. If you ever get the chance, definitely do the Harbour Cruise, as it gives you vantage points and views you'll never be able to experience anywhere else, and it truly is one of the most beautiful harbours in the world.
Below is a slide show of the Harbour Cruise, and I hope you enjoy it, despite the pictures not being nearly as powerful as actually taking the cruise. There are also some pictures of Darling Harbour towards the end, as well as some pictures of a gorgeous little park on the walk down to the Harbour, with fountains and waterways.
Below is a slide show of the Harbour Cruise, and I hope you enjoy it, despite the pictures not being nearly as powerful as actually taking the cruise. There are also some pictures of Darling Harbour towards the end, as well as some pictures of a gorgeous little park on the walk down to the Harbour, with fountains and waterways.