The Outback... No steak house involved.

Who: Myself and the other Canadian Interns (as well as other awesome people I met)
What: Travel and adventure in the Outback.
When: May 6-9, 2010
Where: The Outback (Alice Springs and Ayers Rock/Uluru)
Why: So that I can cross if off my list of places to go.

Well last weekend was quite the trip! I traveled 3 hours by plane to Alice Springs (center of Australia) and then 5 hours on a bus into the Outback. The purpose of the trip, to see a HUGE rock (the largest rock in the world)... called Ayers Rock or Uluru. How did I accomplish this, by going on a 3 day/2 night "Rock Tour" of the Outback. Twenty-one people, including myself, traveled in a bus to the desert, slept in swags and sleeping bags under the stars... no tent and no protection from the dingoes... this is how I experienced the Outback. Seems crazy, but definitely worth doing.

Before our group went and saw Ayers Rock, we saw and hiked through other canyons first. King's Canyon was the first hike that we did as a group. Sounds beautiful I know, but the first part of the hike was UGLY! The first part of the hike was nicknamed "Heart-attack hill", the "hill" was the understatement and heart-attack was not an overstatement. It was tough indeed... but I obviously survived. Once the tough part was over it was a lovely hike through the canyon. We went to a part in the canyon called "The Garden of Eden". In the midst of the red rock was a lush wooded area with plenty of vegetation and also a swimming hole. Even though it is autumn/winter in Australia... the Canadians went for a little swim in the "freezing" water. It was very refreshing, especially after hiking in the sun for 2 hours (with still an hour to go). As you turned each corner, ever picture was nicer than the last.

Next stop: Ayers Rock... the giant rock...

Sooky La La Moment

I'm learning so many new words/sayings here! (Alex thanks for helping me get a head start on that). And now you will learn a new saying... Sooky La La.

Sooky La La is defined in the Urban dictionary as "A sooky, sad little person who feels the need to whinge about a recent event" I have also heard in the sense that someone is a scardy-cat.
*whinge means whine*

Yes, I was a sooky la la last week. But let me give you some background on the day's events.

The day was Sunday May 2nd, it was one of my only Sundays that I will spend in the city. So my Aussie-mum wanted to take me to see some sites. Site #1 was the Queen Victoria Market. This market was amazing! So many little vendors selling CHEAP souvenirs (note: This is where you must buy your souvenirs when in Melbourne).
Site #2 - Eureka SkyDeck. This building is the tallest apartment/residential building in the world (88 floors). On the top floor they have a place where tourists can go and have an amazing view of the city. There is also something called "The Edge". I was told it was a glass floor and that's it, so I boasted that I will do it, no big deal, if I can handle the CN tower glass floor I can handle this (I'm sure you can see where this is going...). I went up the elevator to the tower and when the elevator doors opened, there it was an AMAZING view of the city. It was a little cloudy but still great! I was walking around trying to find this glass floor, but none could be seen. Then I saw a sign for "The Edge", but again I went there and didn't see anything. All of a sudden I see a box coming out of this building. The box was all glass and inside it were tourists. This glass box moved out of the building and when it reached it's place you could see the people inside cringe while they looked down 88 floors. I stood there watching this glass box hang out of the building and I started to regret the boasting I had done before. I couldn't bring myself to go into this box... I was a sooky la la. Maybe next time...

The March of the Penguins

Well, I mentioned in the last posting that I went to koala conservation in Phillip Island, but the main reason that we went to the Island was to see the penguins march back to their homes from a day of fishing. I will say that I don't have pictures from the actual march because we were not allowed to take pictures because the flash would scare the penguins.

The penguin march happens at dusk/evening since it is safer for the penguins. The penguins go out to fish in the cover of darkness and come home in the cover of darkness. When they come home they come up to the shore in groups (for protection). They come out of the water and check to see if the way is clear, if they see something that scares them the whole group jumps back into the water and waits. But once the penguins decide to move across the beach, they all waddle together up the sand into their burrows. It was a very fun night, I sat on the beach watching as these little penguins would pop up out of the water and then get scared and run away. Then once I saw enough penguins come up out of the water, I was able to walk along to boardwalk and see the penguins walking to their homes. As I walked up the boardwalk, I also heard the penguins squawk at each other (male penguins talking to their wives about their day haha).

Phillip Island is DEFINITELY somewhere you need to go when you visit Melbourne.

The picture of the penguins was taken at the Toddies (another location on Phillip Island), here you were able to take photos of the penguins under the boardwalk.

Can I Keep one please!

On Saturday May 1st, I went on a day trip Phillip Island. The Island is about 2 hours away from Melbourne. I went with a tour bus, so we stopped at different spots along the way. We went to an Australian winery, a chocolate factory and a KOALA CONSERVATION! Yes, I saw live koalas in the wild, sleeping in the trees and eating eucalyptus leaves. They sleep 20 hours a day because the eucalyptus leaves don't provide much energy even though they get all the necessary nutrients from them.

I also saw some wild wallabies hopping through the forested area.

Roo Burger

Here are some interesting facts about kangaroos...

1) When the white men came to Australia, they saw these animals hopping through the fields so they asked the Aboriginals what the animals were called. The Aboriginals said, "kangaroo", so that's what we call them. In Aboriginal, kangaroo means "I don't know".

2) They supposedly hop around the outback, yet I spent 4 days in the Outback and I didn't see one, oh well have to keep trying to see them. (Still haven't seen wild ones, or ones in zoos).

3) In Australia, hitting a kangaroo on the road would be equivalent to hitting a deer. Hitting a camel would be the equivalent to hitting a moose.

4) You can eat kangaroo. Yes, the animals that we find cute are a main meat source for Australians. People hunt them just like Canadians would hunt deer.

I have tried kangaroo. It's sad I have eaten a kangaroo before I have even seen one :(. The taste was slightly wild but otherwise good similar to beef. I tried in the form of a "Roo Burger".

It's for the birds

Thanks for you patience, the internet connection has improved so I will update all of you on the past week's events.

One thing I have noticed while is Australia are the birds. It's interesting waking up to different sounds in the morning and seeing birds in the wild that in Canada we would normally keep as pets. But what has surprised me is that I see the birds everywhere, not just outside but in stores, restaurants and airports.

The first time I saw these very outgoing birds was in downtown Melbourne. After a day of walking around the city I went to a Hungry Jack's (like I said in a previous blog entry). But what I didn't tell you was that on the second floor of the Hungry Jack's there were "sparrows" jumping around. No one seemed to take any notice of them, it was totally normal. The second time was while I was at Target, birds were flying around everywhere. Okay I'm used to that, Home Depot back home has birds flying everywhere, but this Target was in a shopping mall. The last place which surprised me the most was the Melbourne airport. I was there getting ready to fly to the Outback and as I was eating my breakfast (Hungry Jack's) these little birds were hopping around. Something is in the water here to make these little guys are so outgoing!

Thursday and Friday - Internship Continues

Well, Thursday and Friday went about the same as Tuesday and Wednesday. The kids were still great, except there was some drama with the year 3/4 girls. Every play lunch (recess)something would happen and result in a girl in tears. So, the principal had to come into the class and have a talk about bullying. Also, the principal bought with her the PB (not peanut butter... but purple book). This book has all the reasons students could be suspended from school, such as racism, threats, bullying etc. Hopefully that scared the kids straight... but only Monday will tell.

Friday was wacky hair day! Kids were allowed to make their hair wacky (wigs, hats, coloured hair-spray). Each kid that made their hair wacky needed to bring in $1 to raise money for "Close the Gap". I don't know too much about the organization, but what I do know is that they help families in need by giving them food, clothes, shelter. I did make my hair wacky, but at the end of the day some girls thought that it needed to be wackier... so they changed it a bit (the picture is the final product).