Mom & Dad: Stuff at SYD

This post is for Mom and Dad because I know they will be going through Sydney Duty-Free on their way to the international terminal.  If you are feeling particularly generous or tired and unable to control your actions, I’ll really take either situation, here a few things you can pick up en route.

Swatch watch-I really wanted a watch for Christmas, but instead I got a trip to Australia.  Talk about getting the shaft.  BUT, if you still want to get me a watch, I found a really great one by Swatch in the duty-free store.  It has paisley leaves on each side of the very thin watch face and sparkly things bordering the leaves.  It’s a great looking watch.  Feel free to call me if you need more descriptive details of where the Swatch display is in Duty-Free, but I’m sure a sales associate would be more than happy to help you find it!

Billabong shirt-Just outside of the Duty-Free shop to the left is a surf shop full of surf brand clothes.  On the table are some really cute shirts that say things like “Australia”.  My favorite is the one that has a hibiscus on it and says (in a nice rainbow gradient):
Billa
bong
Australia

I’m sure you’ll know it when you see it, but if you can’t find it on the t-shirt table, the shirts that say “Australia” in neon colors are pretty cool as is just about any other shirt on that table.

Just so you know or needed something to do during your layover in the Sydney airport that I know you both are so fond of.  OK, love you both, see you soon!

Leaving Perth

If you know me, then please ask for this story in person because it’s more detailed and funnier with hand gestures and half-acting on my part.

All of us, Deb, Greg, Mom, Dad, and I, went to the airport on Friday so that I could catch my plane to Sydney and start the long journey back to West Lafayette.  The family and I walk in while Deb and Greg find a parking place.  We tried to self-check me in, but that didn’t work and we were told to go to one of the counters.

We’re at the counter and the guy behind the counter looks up my itinerary and it turns out I was 24 hours late for my flight!!  I was so embarrassed and mortified!  I was also terrified to look at my mother for fear her angry eyes would sear through my face.

We made our way to the Qantas sales desk where everything was perfectly rectified!  And it didn’t cost anything!  Qantas is my new favorite airline.  They even still serve you meals in the air and the wine and beer is free.  Favorite airline.

This was, as you may have guessed, a rather traumatic experience for me, since it was so blatantly obvious that I dropped the ball off a cliff.  Mom was kind enough to take care of the change in schedule for my shuttle from Chicago and for someone to pick me up from the Purdue Airport at the new time.  While Mom was doing this, I was sitting in the kitchen with Dad.  Here’s how our conversation went:

Me: I sure hope Mom still loves me at the end of all of this.
Dad: Yeah, me too.
Me: WHAT?!?

In the end, I think Deb and Greg got to me, subconsciously, with all of their talk of staying an extra day and calling Qantas to get my flight changed.  I just forgot to call Qantas and tell them.  Fortunately for me, I was able to cajole my way into two extra days in Australia with my parents!

Driving in Australia!

After being in Perth for about two weeks I had successfully done several things:

1. Take the bus, train, or combination to Perth and Fremantle
2. Arrive at destinations without making too much of a fool of myself
3. Cross the street without being run over or close to it

At this point I was able to work up the courage to get behind the wheel of a car!  This entire action was only made possible by existence and ownership by Greg of a TomTom navigation device.  If it were not for the calming female voice telling to “Bear left” I probably would have stayed on one road because I was so busy saying “left-hand side of the road” over and over to myself.  Eventually it got a lot easier to drive around, but I never drove without TomTom.  You can think of it as my driving security blanket.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t program TomTom to tell me to stay on the left-hand side of the road.  That would be real technology…or at least real helpful.

Little Creatures Brewery

I didn’t mention going to Little Creatures Brewery on the Fremantle Must Do page because I felt it was so much fun that it deserved it’s own page.  OK, that’s a lie.  I didn’t write it down on the original list, but I do feel it’s worth a special mention since it’s a brewery and it was uber-fun!

Deb decided we should go to Little Creatures on my last day in WA since it’s a popular brewery.  What a fun decision!  The guy who was helping us was so much fun and he told us so much about all the different beers.  We tried all six types of beers that they brewed on site.  My favorites were the bright ale and the cider.  Deb was above and beyond nice and she bought me a Little Creatures Brewery shirt!

Overall really good experience, even though I can’t remember most of what our “beer guide” said.  I obviously should have videotaped that.

Things You Must Do: Canberra

I went to Canberra with Deb so that I could meet up with my parents.  My mom and Deb were going to a conference at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), which is also where we stayed in dormitory accommodations.  We had two days in Canberra to explore the city.  Unfortunately for my dad, Qantas had a major disconnect and left his suitcase in San Francisco.  Like the smart packer he is, he had packed extra necessities in his carry-on!  We had to wait to two days to get his suitcase which didn’t arrive until we at the airport ready to go back to Perth!

National Portrait Gallery-The National Portrait Gallery was really fun!  I loved the portraits because they portray real people so you feel like can connect with this piece of art.  The gallery had a free audio tour on an iPod Touch, which I definitely took advantage of!  It had interviews with various artists and portrait subjects and it really added a lot of depth to those selected portraits.  Unfortunately I can’t remember that many names since I was inundated with them, but my favorite portrait was of a professor.  There was an interview with him on the tour that talked about the process of the creating the portrait.  The part that I really liked was that he said he always wears a white shirt.  He held up a collage of pictures from his life and he points out that in every one, he’s wearing a white shirt!

City Center-Being an avid shopper, I find it necessary to check out the malls in any given city.  Although Greg doesn’t think City Center is very good, I could have gotten lost!  I swear, it spans for blocks and blocks, in several directions!  This was where I walked into David Lawrence and fell in love with the red dress.  When we first went in, I didn’t try it on.  It was the only thing I saw all day that I really wanted to try on, so we went back later.  (The picture was taken on my phone, so I apologize for the poor quality.)

Things You Must Do: Fremantle

Fremantle

Fremantle Market-The market is amazing!  There is so much variety in the shops, you probably should go more than one day.  There are tourist shops, antique shops, honey stalls, and homemade bath & body product stalls.  If you go to the market, be sure to check out the stall for Stunned Emu Designs.  Wendy Binks, the creative force behind Stunned Emu Designs, has functional art that is colorful and whimsical!  Also, you’ll want to go to the very back to look at the fresh produce!  Several stalls have samples of fruit, so you can decide which mangoes from where taste the best.  The smells alone are enough to make you walk away with enough fruit to feed an army!  I took bunches of pictures of the produce section since it was so darn colorful and intoxicating!  Check them out on Flickr!

High Street-High Street has a great pedestrian mall that turns into a real street.  The mall is relaxing with book stores and clothing shops and ice cream vendors.  There are tables and benches in the middle to take a break and just enjoy the weather!  After the pedestrian mall are more shops and some art galleries.  There are several framing shops which double as art galleries.  There is also a very lovely and upscale indigenous art gallery.  The works are breath-taking and the curator is really willing to talk about different piece, tell you about the artist, and what each piece represents.  You can also check out the Record Finder for some great albums.  At the end of High Street is the Round House.  I, of course, documented this in pictures that are on Flickr (surprise)!

Amano-There are at least two gelato shops in Fremantle that are very close to each other.  I, personally, like Amano the best. Rottnest-Although Rottnest isn’t in Fremantle, you can catch a ferry to Rotto in Fremantle or Perth.  GO TO ROTTO!  It’s so much fun!  There are no cars on Rotto, so you bike or walk everywhere.  Buses are allowed for tour purposes and there is a free bus that goes to different points on the island.  I took lots of photos on the Island Discovery Tour and I even flew to Rotto with Brenton!!

Things You Must Do: Perth

I’ve just returned from my month long trip to Australia.  It was wonderful!  I would say without a doubt it was the best holiday I’ve ever had.  It was in between semesters, so I didn’t have homework to worry about.  And I wasn’t working and I had no deadlines during January.  Since I had already completed all of the required Winter Terms, I was free to relax and not write learning journals or a travel journal or a response to anything!  I spent most of my time in Australia in Perth and Fremantle.  I fly to Canberra for a couple days to meet up with my parents, and then we flew back to Perth.

This is my list of things that you really should do if you’re ever in Perth or Fremantle.  If you go to one, you might as well go to the other since it’s a 45-minute train ride away and it might even be faster by bus!

*Looking at what I’ve written so far, I’m going to split up the posts by city so you aren’t bombarded with a huge post!*

Perth

Kings Park-If you are in Perth, go to Kings Park.  No ifs, ands, or buts, you just have to go!  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  The views of the city are amazing!  It’s a great place for picnics or to go and read.  There are trails all over, so you can go for a walk, run, push bike, the possibilities are endless.  There are also outdoor movies at Kings Park, so you can pack an eski and go see a movie.  I truly wish I had spent more time at Kings Park.  There’s also a great neighborhood around the park, especially if you want to see some beautiful apartments and condos.

Hay St. & Murray St.-This is targeted at the shopper.  Hay St. Mall and Murray St. Mall are great pedestrian malls.  Between these two streets you get Forrest Chase, a big outdoor mall, and places like London Court, a historic alley of shops.  You can truly satisfy every type of shopper between these two streets.  Whether you’re looking for tourist-y gifts, clothes, electronics, jewelry, Target, or rugby gear, they’ve got you covered.  Oh and body-piercing and tattoo parlors as well, just in case you’re looking for that.

Perth Mint-OK, I’ll admit it, I didn’t actually go to the Perth Mint.  I really wanted to though!  I was going to go with my dad, but we just didn’t make it there.  It was my fault since I was looking for a specific shop, which had moved without telling anyone.  I heard that it was a great experience and it’s really cool!  Based on the good reviews I’ve heard, I would definitely check this out!  Remember, do as I say, not as I do.  Seriously.

Cultural Center: Northbridge-The Cultural Center in Northbridge is really nice.  It’s a nice open area with water features, a nice plaza, and nice places to sit.  Along with these fabulous items, you can also find the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Western Australia Museum, and the State Library.  The plaza is a great place for large, outdoor art or museum exhibits.  For those of you who watch my YouTube videos, you probably remember the outdoor Earth Above.  This exhibit was really neat; it was a collection of aerial photos from ALL over the world taken over a series of years.  If you want to see some of the pictures, check out the YouTube video!

Miami Bakehouse-If you’re in Perth, check out the Miami Bakehouse.  It’s on Canning Highway in the Palmyra/Melville area.  You can catch the 106 bus from downtown and you’ll pass right by Miami Bakehouse.  It’s really close to Deb and Greg’s house, so I would stop there before going home.  Their Vanilla Slice is award-winning and with very good reason: it’s DELICIOUS!  I highly recommend trying one.  Of course, everything that I tried at Miami Bakehouse was really good!

Salsa Dancing-I dance salsa and I always like to check out the salsa scene in other cities.  So, if you dance too, then you’re in luck!  On Tuesdays you can go to The Mustang and on Thursdays you can head over to The Deen.  Both of these bars are in Northbridge and they’re only a couple blocks away from each other.  At The Deen there’s another little room with a great floor, even though it’s a little slick, if it gets too crowded on the main floor.

Al Dente-If you like Italian food, you’ll love Al Dente!  Once again, just off of Canning Highway in Palmyra, Al Dente has delectable food!  Sergio, the owner, is great and really fun!  It’s a casual restaurant that can also accommodate larger parties.  There’s a small corkage fee if you’d like to bring your own wine, which we did all three times we went!

Australian-isms I like

Brekky : breakfast

Holiday : vacation

Knackered : tired (in actuality probably European, but someone here said it…of course she’s from Ireland, oh well)

Marge : Margarine

Biscuit/Bikie : cookie

Have a go

Stubby Holder : beer cozy

Eski : cooler

Let’s make a move/ Let’s boogie : let’s get going

Avo : afternoon

Sieve-head : absent minded

Push bike : bike

Travel Day

Today I’ll be headed to Canberra.  The plane leaves at 14:00 (2 pm for whoever doesn’t know how a 24-hour clock works).  Since Deb was going to have a very busy day at work doing enrollments, she wasn’t going to have time to pick me up at home.  So, I went to work with her!  I’m in her office right now after exploring the campus just a little bit. I had brekky at an on-campus cafe very close to Deb’s building.  Above is one of the views from inside.  It’s an extremely beautiful day, so a short walk seemed very much in order.  While walking to the bookstore, I noticed a fabulous plumeria tree and proceeded to take some pictures.  The thing I love about warm places is the flowers! I made it to the bookstore, perused the selection, found a lovely book on the history of shoes, and decided Australia has much better day planners than the States.  I’ve loved every single planner I’ve looked at with the exception of two.  One because it only showed four days at a time, which is very difficult to work with and I can’t remember the reason I didn’t like the other one.
Anyway, we have a 40 minute stop at the Adelaide airport, so that should be exciting and I’ll be in Canberra, the capital city, around 21:10 (once again, for those who can’t figure out the 24-hour clock, that’s 9:10 pm).

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I’m currently in Adelaide.  I’m sitting in the Qantas Club.  Deb lives large and she can have guests!  It turns out you can pay a membership fee for the club and it is well worth it!  Food, wireless, drinks, printers, showers, great chairs.  It’s pretty sweet.  I feel so…famous and chic!
I’m also uploading photos to Flickr, so check those out here.
I also got a stuffed animal Koala.  It needs a name.  Help me out here.

Fremantle City Walk

As I type, I am uploading a batch of photos to Flickr documenting some of my City Walk of Fremantle. I thought I’d give a short description here as well.

Snug gave me a ride into Fremantle yesterday so I was able to walk around for a bit and sweat a lot. Yesterday and today have been extremely hot with temperatures reaching 40C, that’s about 104F. The first stop I made was to get some ice cream! Gelato is very popular in Fremantle and I’m certainly not complaining!

I wandered around the Cappuccino Strip for a bit, aptly named since there are so many cafes and coffee shops. There are also restaurants and ale houses to be found there as well. Then I moved on to the High Street Mall (see left), a nice pedestrian mall with lots of cute shops.


After that I kept going down High St. and I stumbled across this record store, The Record Finder. This shop has the feel of a classic music store. LPs lined the walls! After browsing through some of the selection, it became apparent that they have a pretty good collection, consisting of (thankfully) more than just Barbara Streisand and Christmas albums. The jazz section looks really good, so that will make for some fun exploring. I also love current artists on LP, so I might push for a couple of those as well.

Then I walked along the beach, took some pictures of said beach, and headed back to the bus stop. I caught the 106, Esplande Station via Canning Highway, and headed home. On my way home I stopped at Miami Bakehouse (see below), which is delicious! I’ve truly enjoyed their Vanilla Slice which has vanilla frosting on top of a pastry layer and then custard. I love custard!

Yesterday evening I went out salsa dancing at the Deen. Around midnight the DJ starts playing a lot of reggaeton, which is not my favorite and it’s difficult to dance salsa to. So, Marcus and I went to the Moon Cafe and had dessert. It’s become a nice tradition to have dessert there after dancing and it made for a calm wind down to very busy day!

Whiteman Park

Today I went to Whiteman Park with Sniggle and her boyfriend Michael.  Whiteman Park has a great Wildlife Center that has lots of Australian animals.  This is the sign you see when you enter the park.  Yes, that is a sign warning of kangaroos, buffaloes, and bobtails.

At Whiteman Park, we started with a Farm Show.  This was tons of fun and we got to see a sheep being sheared, learning how to crack a whip and the physics (?) behind it, and we got to see LAMBS!!  I loved seeing the lambs because it’s one of those words that has a silent B and like many people know, I love words that have silent B’s.  I was just making a nice list in my head. 

Anyway, I did love seeing the lambs, but I had a huge problem with them.  I thought there were really cute, but at the same time I know they are very delicious.  It was quite a conundrum until the guide told me that the lambs are for merino wool only and they won’t be eaten.  So I could pet them and think they are adorable and get all attached and want to take one home!

After the Farm Show we headed over to the Wombat and Friends Show.  This was extremely informative and very exciting!  I guess I always forget the the male bird is always flashier than the female.  Wombats are often orphaned because their mothers die by getting run over.  Wombats can run up to 40 kilometers per hour which is very surprising since their legs are about as long as a dauschaund’s.  An emu, which has much longer legs, can run as fast as 50 kilometers per hour.  Obviously, the wombat is keeping up!  Isn’t this wombat the cutest thing you’ve ever seen??  That’s Sniggles with me, by the way. Moving on with cool things that have happened to me today, I also got to pet a wallaby. And when I say wallaby, I mean a full on “Rock’s Modern Life” wallaby.  Except the cow I got to pet wasn’t near the wallaby and I don’t think they were friends. Wallabies are very adorable and we got to pet one that was a baby!  He was an orphan and he sat in the volunteer’s lap as he would have in his mothers pouch.  Wallabies are smaller than kangaroos, but are very similar.  Once again, wallaby = very cute.  I also got to pet kangaroos!!  All the animals were really soft, it gave me warm fuzzies!

 

Did I mention I milked a cow too?

 

 

I took lots of pictures, so check them out on Flickr!

Things get ugly on Ice

I’m uploading videos to YouTube and the advertisement on the side is something about “Click to see the effects of Ice.”  There are arrows for ageing, sores, and teeth.  I’m, of course, looking at this very confused since I had no idea ice could do that to you!  I though it was for cooling drinks and reducing swelling!  Then at the end of the advertisement there was a website, amphets.com.au.  Oh, now I get it: Ice is a street name for some drug.  Whew.  And I happily continue on with my life, thankful that I have no idea what any street names for drugs are!

Lovely, no?

My what big teeth you have

The other day, I suppose it was Day Six, we went to the beach and had a bbq with Chris and her family.  Chris is on the right in this picture, she’s in a school uniform, Deb is a mad scientist!  Anyway, we’re getting out of the car at the beach and unloading things from the trunk and Chris looks at me says, “You have such white teeth!”  What a compliment!  Truly one of the best!  I guess she used to be a dentist, so that makes sense.  I was quite pleased with myself (and my teeth)!!

The bbq was really fun.  There is a public bbq so we had to wait in line to use it.  The people before us had some young women using it who had no idea what they were doing and just couldn’t press the button at the right time to keep the surface warm enough to do any grilling.  It was very frustrating for our hungry party!  Thankfully, when we were using it, we knew exactly what we were doing.  Of course when I say we, I mean Greg and Simon, Chris’s husband.  They bonded with the guys next to them by offering them some homebrew ginger beer.  It was really quite cute!

To Do, 1/3/2009

• Upload pictures and videos
• Clean my room
• Do some laundry
• Separate gifts for people
• Figure out what I still need to buy
• Get post cards and start sending them!
• Book tour of Rottnest
• Book flight to Canberra

AAHHH, My Eye!

The first evening we went to the beach, the sea breeze was in full force.  This means was being blown about.  Of course, a grain of sand got lodged in my eye and I didn’t feel a thing until I took out my contacts that night.  Then it felt like there was something in my eye, but I couldn’t see it or get it out and my eye just kept watering!  I’m not sure what happened to my eye, but it’s rather painful.  Thankfully wearing my contacts makes it slightly better.  We went to the chemist today and they gave me some eye drops and told me the eye was probably scratched.  Here’s some things I don’t understand if it was scratched:

1. Why do I get the sense I “feel” something when my eyes are closed?  Isn’t closing my eyes supposed to be soothing for a scratch?
2. I was wearing contacts when I got the scratch, so shouldn’t they have protected my eye then too?
3. Why is my eye so sensitive to light?
4. If it’s something on the eyeball that’s scratched, why is my eyelid swollen?
5. Isn’t there something I can take or topical medication for the discomfort??

Oh well.  The chemist said if it’s not seeing (haha, pun) improvement by tomorrow afternoon to see a doctor.  It’s just frustrating.

Australia Update

Hello!

I'm in Perth, Australia right now.  I’ve been having a wonderful time and the weather is beautiful!  It’s been in the 30’s all week, which has been really hot!  Without Ashley, my video skills are sorely lacking, but I’ve managed to shoot some stuff here in Perth.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve lost track of the days, but I vaguely remember the dates.  I arrived on the 27th, which was the same day as Greg’s birthday party.  That was exhausting.  The flight from LA to Sydney is 14 hours.  Total air time was about 24 hours.  My mom, genius that she is, got me a pair of noise-cancelling headphones for Christmas, which saved me during the flight; I actually got some sleep!

The next two days were spent doing some shopping.  There’s a nice shopping mall close to the house called Garden City.  There’s also some outlet shops at Harbour Town.  Deb and I only got through the first floor, so we still have to go back!

On Tuesday, Deb, Greg, and I meet up with some of their friends for some Thai food and a movie.  We went to this place call Han’s.  Greg was telling me the story behind Han’s.  It turns out it’s fast Thai food that sets up near cinemas.  The founder thought people would want some fast Thai food before going to the movies.  How right he was!  The service could have been better, but the food was pretty good.  After dinner, we went to see Slumdog Millionaire.  This movie is so intense!  It’s really good.  I’ll of course look for it on Amazon so I can buy it and we all can watch it!

After the movies, we all went to Christina’s house for a bit.  Christina just remodeled her house and it looks lovely!  Her backyard isn’t landscaped and she said it was because she ran out of money for turf (grass).  So, we planned an entire party for Christina to raise money for her backyard.  We decided “A Night at the Races” would be great.  I felt productive!  Here’s the good part, after party planning, Christina and I went out salsa dancing!  Yay!  It was great, a little different than salsa in Indy, but it was still really fun.

Past couple of days I’ve spent at the beach and barbequing.  Last night I watched some Invader Zim after the barbeque!  I might be going to a pub on Sunday, which should be fun.