New Zealand Part I: Christchurch

G’day everyone!

I just got back from over 2 weeks worth of adventure both in New Zealand, and on a field trip to Lady Elliot Island, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef. I’m pretty exhausted, but I couldn’t be happier!

I started off my trip to New Zealand by flying into Christchurch, which is the biggest city on the south island. I got in late because my flight was delayed, but the next morning I was ready to go and explore the city. The day began with my first bagel since arriving in the southern pacific. It only rated a “fair” on the international bagel ranking system, but because of the scarcity of bagels on this side of the world, its rating was inflated to a “very good.” After eating my bagel in what the guidebook called the “bustling” Cathedral Square, but I would describe more as “deserted,” I realized with a sinking feeling that I was in a city called Chirstchurch on Good Friday. I started to walk around the city, but pretty much everything was closed. I ended up talking to a very nice guy at one of the few open coffee shops who pointed out that the very touristy things were probably still open. As luck would have it, I was a tourist, so he told me to take a bus out to a gondola that would take me up to a mountain from which I could view the city. An hour later, I found myself at the top of a mountain looking at Christchurch. The views were very nice, and it was harder to tell everything was closed. After hiking around for a while, I ended up talking to the gondola guy, who recommended a boat tour in the neighboring town of Lyttleton where I could see the endangered Hector dolphins. I was a little skeptical, since I could see Lyttleton from the top of the mountain and it looked like a busy industrial port, but since there wasn’t much else to do, I hopped on another bus to Lyttleton in search of the elusive Hector dolphins. I saw so many dolphins it was RIDICULOUS! They came right up to the boat and were jumping around and everything. Even I, the worst picture taker in the world, got a semi-good picture of one. I don’t thing I have ever been more happy/seasick. On the boat, I ended up making some friends with two guys from Ireland. We had a good time together even though I couldn’t really understand their accents. The rest of the day I spent at the huge botanical gardens back in Christchurch. Christchurch is considered the most “English” of all the cities in New Zealand, and is also known as the “garden city,” so needless to say, the gardens were fantastic.



The Cathedral of Cathedral Square. Alternate caption: The Church of Christchurch.



A "punt" on the Avon River.



They had a tram that went around the city, which made everything seem even more old fashioned.



View of Lyttelton from the top of the Gondola. Christchurch was on the other side, but it wasn't as pretty from afar.



I can't believed I hiked for an hour just to see this stupid women's memorial. All the sign says is "They Passed This Way."



Lyttleton from the dolphin boat. Back in the day, a ball would drop down the pole on top of the castle-like building everyday at a certain time to help sailors set their clocks.



View of the harbor from out at sea.



Hector dolphins! I'm very proud of this photo. I think I have a future working for the National Geographic photography department.



My Irish friends who weren't too excited about being in a picture.



Fountain at the Botanic Gardens.



More punting.



Why is there a UFO in the middle of the gardens??????


The next day I had plans with two girls (American and Scottish) I had met at the hostel the night before. Because it was raining, we decided to go the Canterbury Museum, a natural history museum, which was very nice. Afterwards, we decided to warm ourselves up with coffee from a famous coffee shop creatively called “The Coffee House.” My cappuccino was very pretty, but more importantly it was very yummy. After saying goodbye to them, I went off on a search for Rutherford’s den. For those of you who aren’t aware, Rutherford was the scientist that discovered that the atom had a small, dense, positively charged nucleus. When I read a two-sentence blurb about his den being located in Christchurch, I knew that my afternoon’s mission was to find it. His den (and lecture theatre!) was located in the old University of Canterbury, which has now been turned into the city’s Art Centre. There was a great crafts fair out in front, and all of the different buildings had been turned into artists’ workshops that you could go and observe. After spending some time poking around the center, I finally found the entrance to the little wing of the center dedicated to Rutherford, where I spent a happy hour reading the displays and playing with the self-timer on my camera in order to get a shot of me in the lecture theatre, since (obviously) no one else was there. Cathy, I think Frye would be proud. It was a climatic ending to a great two days in Christchurch.


The Canterbury Museum.



The coffees were so pretty it was kind of sad to drink them. Not too sad though- yum!



My two friends Katherine and Claire outside The Coffee House.



The Art Centre/ Old University of Cantebury.



They jazzed things up a bit.



In Rutherford's lecture hall. (One out of 8 self timer attempts)



When I walked back through Cathedral Square, a huge chess set had appeared.

I have so much to write, the trip is going to have to be written about in sections. More later!

Sport and Bush

G’day!

As promised, my post will begin with a recounting of Duch Bowls. This was a much-hyped event where all the girls in my college dress in white granny outfits and go lawn bowling. The Op-shops were closed, so we ended up having to make a run to K-mart (good thing I came all the way to Australia for that,
huh?). I ended up finding a dress that was kind-of granny like, but at the same time was trying to be trendy in a tragic sort of way. I wore it with my “joggers” (sneakers) and my glasses, and the end result was that I mostly just looked awkward. Of course, the Aussie girls went all out with costumes, as usual, and it was really funny to watch everyone stare at us as we walked through campus on the way to the St. Lucia Lawn Bowling Club. Lawn Bowling turned out to be a lot like Bocce Ball, except that the balls weren’t perfect spheres, so you had to take into account how they would curve. I’m proud to report that I’ve found yet another sport I completely suck at.
All in all it was a successful afternoon, only to be topped by the fact that the entire college went straight from bowling to a night on the city- in costume!


Duch girls in costume.



Claire and I on the walk over.



Stephanie, my bowls partner, in her fabulous outfit drinking $2 wine (classy!).



More duch girls.



The bowlers.



Action shot!



Maybe we need some more practice...


On Friday, Mandy and I decided we wanted to see a rugby game. We were going to go with some Aussie boys who we were going to force to explain the game to us. Suddenly, 8 more people wanted to come- so it turned into quite the party! Of course, the Aussie boys missed the train, but luckily we had some Duch girls with us who knew the ropes. Rugby is a lot like football (“grid iron” here), except with more downs (“tackles”), no forward passing, and no pads. The Australians are especially keen on pointing out how the Rugby players aren’t “wusses” like the Americans since they don’t use helmets, shoulder pads etc. I was especially keen to point out that maybe the Americans had a point, considering the amount of brain damage/injuries rugby players sustain, but nobody really listened to me. We saw the Brisbane Broncos, who are a "Rugby League" team, as opposed to the Queensland Reds who are a "Rubgy Union" team. Apparently, "League" isn't as popular as "Union" is in Brisbane, which explains why our tickets were so cheap. People I've talked to here are very loyal to either "Union" or "League," but when I've asked what the difference is between them, people have been very vague in their answers. I'm not sure if this is because any explanation would be lost on me because I don't understand rugby in general, or because there really isn't much of a difference. It seems suspiciously to me like the difference between the American and National Leagues in baseball (ie. none, as far as I am concerned).
The game turned out to be very exciting- double overtime! Then, we loss. Of course, I had no idea what was going on, so I ended up cheering at then end until somebody pointed out that the other team had scored the goal. Oops.


Suncorp Stadium. Strategically located (I noticed) next to the XXXX beer factory.



Caroline and I in our suprisingly good seats. Nobody is at the stadium yet, because apparently games don't actually start until an hour after the ticket says they will (we missed the memo).



Rugby players not being wusses.


Later this weekend, I went with a friend I made in my Marine Biology class, Casey, to the botanic gardens on Mt. Coot-tha, (only about a 20 min bus ride from the city). It was a really nice day (as usual), and it was nice to go walking in a new area. The gardens were very tree and bush oriented- nothing like the flowery, manicured Chicago Botanic Gardens. They had a really cool Bonsai exhibit which we spent a lot of time in. Also, we saw a lot of wild life including water dragons (lizard-ish creatures) and funny turkey-like birds that ran away every time I tried to take a picture. Mostly, there were just a lot of very strange trees. We saw a “lookout point” labeled on the map and set out for it. 45 minutes of convoluted trails later, we arrived- and wow! We could see the whole skyline of Brisbane! Very cool. Later, while we were waiting for the bus back to campus, we decided to step into the little planetarium near the gardens, where we watched a silent animation of the Mars Rover landing. Thus, the day ended up being a slightly bizarre mixture of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial.


River Dragon Island.



I'm excited because I'm as tall as a tree.



Casey demonstrating the shear monstrosity of the the leaves on the tree.



I picked the biggest tree to hug in the whole forest.



My new favorite plant.



My other new favorite plant.



Overlooking the gardens to Brisbane.


Well, that’s all for the next couple of weeks- I’m off to New Zealand for the Easter Break. Many photos to come. Chag Sameach to all my friends and family!

Love, Anna

Shalom Chaverim, Shalom Chaverim, Shalom, Shalom...

I was just talking to some girls in my dorm that went to an Australian Catholic high school called “Shalom.” I soon discovered that their school song was “Shalom Chaverim,” the song I sang at Beth Emet Preschool! We spent a while singing it together/ comparing lyrics and pronounciations (ex: “chaverim” has been Aussie-fied to “ka-ve-rim” (“rim,” not “reem”). I fear this might be the closest to meeting Australian Jews I’m going to get!



The Shalom College coat of arms (remember college doesn't = university here).
http://www.shalomcollege.com/coatofarms.htm

L’hitraot!

Gold Coast Weekend and Marine Biology Field Trip

G’day!

A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks! I’ve been settling into life at “Uni”- I actually had to read some stuff this week, and I’ve already spent an evening in the library (gasp!). But don’t worry, nothing too straining…

Two weekends ago, I went with some American friends to the Gold Coast. This is the big, built up coast south of Brisbane. I’d say it reminded me of Miami, but I’ve never been to Miami. So I guess the Gold Coast reminded me of what I imagine
Miami would look like. Anyway… the first night we stayed in Surfer’s Paradise. This was a “must do” for all tourists in the Brisbane area, according to the Aussies I talked to. It was very campy and touristy, but had a really nice beach and was easy to get to. We stayed in a hostel called the “Sleeping Inn.” Additional perks to getting to stay at a place with such a clever name as the “Sleeping Inn” included a $5 dinner off the “barbie,” and free entrance into a chic and trendy club called “The Bedroom.” For those of you Sex in the City watchers out there, yes, it was like that one episode- there really were beds that people were sitting on. Except it was in Australia. The night was especially fun we spent it with Anne Gavin and her friends, who we had randomly bumped into earlier in the day. Anne is a friend who I went to elementary school with. We randomly bumped into each other in the LA airport bathroom before we both boarded the same plane to Brisbane. Turns out we’re both at UQ together! (queue: “It’s a Small World”)


Beach at Surfer's Paradise. Anybody been to Miami who could back me up?


Caroline and Anne, my long lost buddy at The Bedroom.


Me and Fabulous Fabian, who we met at the hostel. He was from Germany. Take notice of the bed posts. Also, take notice of the cute new dress I'm wearing ($15!). Well, the strap of the cute new dress.

The next day we went to the beach, which was excellent, though a little crowded between the flags. Then we got on the bus and headed towards our next stop, Coolangatta. Coolangatta is more of a family area, though it’s famous for its good surfing. We were heading there because we had already booked beds at a hostel, planning to watch some big surfing competition that was being held there. There seems to be some dispute over the details but one of two things happened: either 1) we had gotten the weekend wrong, or 2) the competition, which had ended earlier in the week, had ended “early.” (Do surfing competitions do that?). Well, it didn’t really matter because we had an excellent fishy dinner, and the next day the hostel let me take a boogie board out all day- for free! I pretty much got destroyed, (waves good for surfing usually mean death and destruction for all people not on a proper surf board) but all in all it was another happy day on the beach.


Site of our yummy fishy dinner.


One of the two trains and three buses we took to get back to school.

Last weekend, I went on a field trip with my Marine Biology class. They took us up to a research station on Northern Stradbroke Island (lovingly referred to here as “Straddie.”). The island is an hour by ferry off the coast, and is made entirely of sand, except for some big rocky cliffs on the northern most part. On Saturday I spent most of the day working on a project about hermit crabs. This involved running around the beach, looking underneath rocks for hermit crabs, and measuring the shells they live in. Needless to say, I had a blast. Then, on Sunday, they took us to the famous Lookout Point (the rocky cliff part). It was AMAZING. We saw a manta ray (!), two turtles (!!), and a pod of dolphins (!!!). The water was so clear that we could make them out really well, even from a cliff. Then we went worm hunting by using rotting fish as bait to lure 8-foot long worms out of the sand. I couldn’t decide how much of me was disgusted and how much of me thought it was cool. I think “cool” won out in the end.


Ferry to "Straddie."


Hermit crab territory.


Some other students doing something. Taken from a sandbar we walked to all the way to from the mainland.


Me holding a probably unhappy soldier crab (not a hermit crab). All of a sudden billions of them crawled out of the sandbar and went crazy. There were so many of them, you could hear the collective clicks on the sand of them scurrying around.


Awesome view of the beach at Stradbroke from the hike to Lookout Point.


Lookout Point.


The dolphins are behind me (just pretend you can see them)!

So, that’s the big stuff that’s been happening the last couple of weeks. This weekend, I’m looking forward to “Duch Bowls,” which is where everyone in my college dresses up in white granny outfits and goes lawn bowling. My Aussie friends are taking me “op-shopping” (thrifting) this weekend for an outfit. That’s all until next time!

Cheers!

Harry Potter!

Every month, my dorm holds Formal Dinner, where you must wear your academic robes and write letters of apology to the principal if you are unable to attend. This Thursday we had our first one. It was just like Harry Potter! Everyone was wearing the same black robe, there was a head table for all of the administration people, and in the middle of the dinner the principal gave a speech. Unfortunately, it wasn't about mysterious happenings in the wizard world, but instead was primarily about fire safety proceedures. Close enough!


Hermione Granger


Meagan and I at the Queensland museum (we're Animagi). We were looking for a photography exhibit, but it turns out that it was at the BRISBANE museum. The QUEENSLAND museum is a dinosaur and animal museum for little kids. Silly us. I'd say it was probably more fun in the end.


The bird that lives outside my window and likes to remind me of it's presence with frequent squakings of death. Particularly at 5:30 am. Voldemort is certainly lurking about...