I just got back from a 3 day / 2 night liveaboard dive trip through Prodive Cairns. It was absolutely thrilling! We did 4 dives the first day, 4 dives the second day, and 3 dives the last day. That includes 2 night dives the first two days.
While we were on the way out to the Great Barrier Reef I opted to join the Advanced Open Water training class that was going on during the trip. I joined several other students (ages ranging from 20 to 50) and did 5 training dives: Night dive, Deep dive, Underwater Navigation, Naturalist, and Underwater Photography. I would much have liked to do the Peak Buoyancy Control dive, but unfortunately they didn’t have all of the right equipment on board for that.

The diving was phenomenal, with perfect 26°C water somehow I was the only one to not wear a wetsuit the entire time. The visibility was good for most of the dives, and luckily this part of the Reef is largely thriving. I didn’t see any sort of bleached or dead coral while I was there, aside from what looked like natural life cycle deterioration.

For all of my dives, I buddied up with Nikolas, one of the other Advanced Open Water students. We had a good time together, and it was a good partnership, us both holding roughly the same number of dives and having near equivalent skill levels under the water. Together we saw huge schools of fish, a handful of sea turtles, a few small rays, and some whitetip and great reef sharks, along with experiencing diving at night for the first time. There were, of course, a few hiccups along the way. On one of the later dives, we got disoriented with our position from the current and surges we were swimming with, and set course back to the boat. After a long swim, we were running low on air and decided to surface to get our bearings, and probably snorkel it back. Good thing we did! We had actually swam under the boat, missing the anchor lines, and swam a good 200m past it! We weren’t the only ones, though; a few others surfaced around the same spot that we had once we got back to the boat. I also lost my buddie, for the first time. We were swimming amongst many coral heads, and we found a small swim through. I opted to go through while he opted to go over and when I came out on the other side, he was no where to be found! I frantically went back over the ridge, around several of the other boomies, all the while looking for his bubbles. I looked at my watch, okay… 1 minute then you surface. I swam, I looked, I panicked. 90 seconds later, I do one last 360 and there he his. Waving at me, looking at me and saying “Hey, I’m over here dummy!”. We finished off the dive, it was a little shorter than planned, I burned through air a little faster while looking for him. When we got back to the boat he said he could see me the whole time, but I swam away from him when I tried to find him. Apparently in my “panic”, I didn’t do a full 360 turn when I looked for him before swimming off. Lesson Reinforced: keep calm, relaxed, and focused.
During another dive, we were swimming through some surges and we got knocked into eachother. Completely accidentally, a small movement of Nikolas’ hand yanked the regulator straight out of my mouth. Very calmly, I looked at him in the face to say, “hey! I was using that…” and patiently waited for him to return my regulator to me, since he could see it better than I could (it went being me). Luckily, he returned it to me before I ran out of breath (of course, I always had my backup about 3″ from my mouth), and we leisurely continued our time amongst the fishies.

It was a great experience, I took some decent photos along the way, and I’m glad that I did my Advanced Certification, getting some extra experience with underwater navigation.
Photos From My Dives

Unfortunately, I knew very little of our actual travel plans besides we were taking a train, a bus, and ending up at a hostel in Port Stephens. This prohibited me from going to the station on hopping on the train myself. After all, what if I was the only person that had got on the train? I’d end up in Newcastle, but have no idea what bus I was supposed to take, nor where to take it! Perhaps there was a mix up with there class and we’ll be taking the 4:30 train instead, I thought. By the time 2:15 came around, it was obvious I wouldn’t be making the train. Of course, I am the only member of the group to not have a cell phone, and therefore completely hopeless to try and get a hold of.

I started looking online for how to get from Newcastle to Port Stephens, which bus, where the hostel was located and which train to hop on. Shortly after collecting this information, I headed out for the 5:15pm train leaving from Central, giving me about a 10 minute window to get off the train and catch the last bus from Newcastle to Port Stephens. So I bought my ticket at central and found my train, snuggled into a seat with all of my luggage, ready to embark on the 3 hour journey all by my lonesome.

The ride itself was very nice. It was quiet and not too crowded. I spent most of the time working on papers for the class associated with my internship (PELA) and ended up hammering out 2500 words (five 400-600 word papers) in about an hour. I enjoyed a nice sunset taking place behind the mountains as we were traveling over a lake, and soaked in the beauty of Australia, thinking about the weekend ahead. After getting to Newcastle, I found the last bus out of town and prepared for another hour worth of travel. Luckily, the bus driver knew my hostel by name and was able to drop me at a stop about a block away. After searching for 15-20 minutes, I finally found my friends, sitting in front of the television waiting for me.

One of the members of Team Bissel (our group name, apparently), Jackie Bissel, is interning at WakeUp!, a hostel in Sydney. Her boss is friends of the owners of the hostel at which we were staying. The owners were so kind and offered to drop us off at anywhere in the Port Stephens area that we wanted to go.
On Saturday, we headed up to Nelson Bay to go Kayaking. Our tour was at one, but we decided to head up to the beach a bit early and soak in some sun and take a quick dip before that. After taking a walk down the beach, one of the people that works at CAPA (Zara) met us at the beach, as she was in town for the weekend visiting her Grandma. We hung out with Zara and walked around the marina until our scheduled tour began. We had a wonderful time out on the water, paddling for about an hour and fifteen minutes into the bay. We stopped at a beach, had some biscuits (cookies) and some soda to refresh. There is where we spotted a dolphin a little ways off shore. The way back was a bit quicker and easier, with a slight current in our favor. We saw two more dolphins just behind our kayaks as we were turning into the marina. A successful kayaking trip, indeed.

We then headed to Zara’s grandmas house for an Aussie barbecue! We had chicken kebabs, prawns, and burgers, while drinking lost of wine and having an overall wonderful time.

Sunday we headed out to “the largest sand dunes in the southern hemisphere” at Marubri beach. There were caught a giant 4 wheeler bus that drove us up to the top of the dunes where we proceeded to go dune boarding for the next couple hours. It is a bit like snow boarding, only when you fall you get sand absolutely everywhere (though you don’t freeze). We caught some good wipeouts on video, and I’ll post that when I can. I’m still sore from my numerous face-plants and other falls. Sunday night we had another big feast, grilled chicken, bangers (sausages), and corn on the cob. We also all had about a bottle of wine. Then we met some Aussies who were also staying at the hostel and we started playing card games with them and drinking the night away. We found out that they were up there on holiday and are actually from around Sydney. So hopefully we’ll be able to meet up sometime in the city for drinks.

Coming up on the agenda, on Tuesday I have my midterm exam in International Business, along with some PELA assignments due. Thursday I have a 1000-word sociology paper due. However, after that I can start thinking about absolutely nothing but my Spring Break, which yes, is less than a week away! We (Team Bissel) leave on Saturday for Arlie Beach and Whitsundays, where we’ll be living aboard a world champion sail boat for 2 days and 2 nights, camping on the beaches of Whitsundays. After which we take a bus up to Cairns where I’ll be doing a 3 day / 2 night live-aboard dive trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, enjoying 11 spectacular dives ( and my first two night dives). A day of whitewater rafting, then its back to Sydney early Monday morning, where I’ll be supposedly 1/2 way done with my classes and internship. Yikes.

Last weekend began on Friday night with a Georgia House (where I’m living) sponsored Sydney Harbour Cruise. We were privileged to ride aboard an all Aboriginal boat, with an Aboriginal crew. Their other boat is the first Aboriginal boat to completely circumnavigate Australia. They treated us to a fantastic time full of music, food, beer, and spectacular sites. We cruised around the inner harbours and made our way under the Sydney Bridge, past the Sydney Opera House, and eventually to Clark Island. This is a protected island, requiring special permissions to dock there. Once there, we were given a tour and told about the history of the island and the people that lived there, while watching a stunning sunset over Sydney’s CBD.

You can look at this photo album from the cruise.

The next day I took a trip to the Power House Museum near Darling Harbour. They have a wide range of exhibits ranging from influences of modern fashion, to a 100 years of Rugby League, Robotics, and Space Travel. I definitely enjoyed my time there, so much I spent nearly 6 hours there! They are having a Star Wars exhibit come early December, so I may just find myself back there before too long. After the museum we took a trip over to Max Brenner’s for the worlds best hot chocolate.

This past weekend involved a trip to the Hunter Vally Vineyards, about two hours north of Sydney. We arrived at the Hunter Valley YHA, the first hostel I’ve stayed at in my life, around 11:30am. After quickly checking in and dumping our stuff in our rooms, we headed out to the bus for our wine tasting tour.
Our first stop was the Dayton’s family vineyard. They run a fairly large operation, though they don’t export internationally, they do their own bottling and do some bottling for smaller neighboring vineyards. While there, we tried a sample of chardonnays, rieslings, ports and chocolate liquors. My favorites here were the Unwooded Chardonnay and the Traminer Riesling. The 12 year-old port was also the best port I’ve ever had, though not as good as these two wines. After the sampling, they took us on a quick tour of their bottling facilities, and the area where their wine club members get to do their sampling.
Our next stop was at a very small vineyard called Tinklers. Featured here was an adorable black lab, along with some wines. My top picks here were the Verdelho, a light sweet white, and the Volcanic Ash, a very light fruity wine with a hint of sweet. They also had quite a selection of fresh jams like apricot pumpkin.
After lunch, we stopped at a pretty well known vineyard, Rosemount. Rosemount is one of the larger wine producers in the Hunter Valley and is known in the international markets of the US and UK. The wines here were absolutely fantastic, with my favorites being their Traminer Riesling (I just realized as writing this that I already bought a Traminer Riesling!), and their very popular “O” (which is best served Over ice). Their 2007 stock of “O” sold out in 3 months, and they are expecting similar for their next harvest, hoping to eventually start exporting it to the US.
The last place that we stopped was the Hanging Tree vineyard, which by far had the most stunning views. Vineyards surrounded by small lakes all set in front of a breathtaking mountainous background. Unfortunately, none of the wines really struck me at this place, though they were mostly dry reds and as you can probably tell by now I tend to prefer fruity and sweet whites. They did have a very nice Cabernet with a hint of cinnamon, and a peppery merlot which I enjoyed small amounts of, but couldn’t have more than a glass of.

After our wonderful wine tasting, we headed back to the hostel. After hanging out pool side (freezing!), we got to make our own pizzas and have them cooked in a wood pizza oven! My pizza turned out amazingly, and everybody had a good time throwing together their own. After dinner we walked about 300m down the road to the local micro brewery and pub, Potters. It was karaoke night and it was packed! I think all of Hunter Valley showed up Saturday night.

Sunday morning started with a trip to the “Smelly Cheese Shop” where I acquired the most amazing Feta cheese I’ve ever had. It is Cow Feta with sundried tomatoes and garlic. It is absolutely delicious and I am addicted. I had to buy a jar, which I’ll hopefully be able to make last a little while. We ended up walking home (we got a ride there) and along the way had to walk past a roadkill Kangaroo. They really are akin to deer in the Midwest, as a hazard to motorists. The walk took an hour and a half, it was extremely scenic and I quite enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to walk and be out of the city, away from the noise, the people, the cars.
We went back to Potters Brewery for a 2pm brewery tour. This is by far the smallest operation I’ve ever seen. They had one 600L brew kettle, and a cooler that the group of us (15 on the tour?) barely fit into around the machinery and kegs they were storing. They did have some very nice selections however, my favorite being the Hunter Kölsch, a German style ale. After the tour we headed back to the hostel and relaxed until the bus came to whisk us back to the city from a weekend away that felt far too short.

This past weekend entailed a trip to the glorious Blue Moutains of New South Wales (NSW). Luckily, it decided to pour all of saturday morning as we made our way through Sydney. We stopped at Sydney Olympic park, a planned stop, for a new bus because the brakes on the one we departed on were sketchy at best. Instead of walking around, enjoying the jumping water fountains, the stadium, etc, we huddled inside of a Gloria Jean’s coffee house, trying to stay warm.
After hopping on our new bus, we made our way to a National Wildlife Refuge, where we were able to pet koala, feed emu, and box kangaroo (picture coming)! I also got to see dingoes, wallabies, Inland Taipans (most poisonous snake in the world), and other Australian centric creatures.
Finally we climbed our way up to the top of the Blue Mountains, where we saw a spectacular array of fog, reminiscent of a recent trip up to Waimea Canyon, on Kauai, Hawaii. We decided to break for lunch, which was a welcome chance to warm up with some hot soup, along with fish and chips. Afterward, the weather decided to play nice and let us enjoy some of the stunning views of the Three Sisters, and another look out.

That night, we went to Sidebar, a bar/club located beneath WakeUp!, rated #1 hostel in the world, and also to Landsdowne Hotel on Broadway to soak up the local bar scene.

Monday afternoon and evening, a small group of us went on a walking tour of part of Sydney, walking from our house here in Redfern through Hyde Park, all the way up to the Harbour and the Sydney Opera House. After touching the opera house, and milling around a bit, we headed towards our original destination, the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We were on a mission to walk across the bridge today to see spectacular views of the Harbour and the Central Business District (CBD). Going across the bridge, I managed to snag a few good shots of the Opera House and Circular Quay (pronounced: key). We ended up grabbing some dinner at a Japanese place near the bottom of the northern pylons, after which we walked down to the waterfront to getting some views of the Harbour at night. There, it is where I took my favorite picture.

Be sure to follow my pictures on Flickr. (There are a lot of similar looking pictures as I just upload my whole camera. It would take too much time to sort through 100+ pictures every time I upload!)

After a thirty minute chat with Dr. Jari and the lead mechanical engineer from the cardiovascular project, I headed back to St Leonards station and then hopped a train back to North Sydney to the CAPA office where I had the first day of my Australian Cinema class. We watched an excerpt of The Sundowners, and then a complete showing of Walkabout. I’m still not quite certain whether I’ll be keeping this class or not, as having Mondays off would allow me to take 3-day weekend trips all semester (or just lounge on the beach on Mondays!).

I think I’ll head off to Bondi Beach in the morning, go back to take some pictures and maybe a quick swim if it isn’t too cold (it probably will be). All I’ve got is a Business in the Pacific Rim class at 2pm.
Walking to work today, among the hustle and bustle of the city I began to feel at home in the city. Previous to this I always felt completely foreign, a tourist, but now I begin to feel the assimilation. As I fall into the routine of work and class this will no doubt grow until I feel at home here and have trouble leaving in December.

I rather enjoyed myself at the game. It is an interesting combination of soccer, rugby, and American football. The game in played in four 30-minute quarters, with no breaks during the quarters. This makes for non stop action, unlike American football. If you’re ever in the neighborhood I encourage you to try and catch a game while you’re here.

Today (Sunday) I’ll be making my way out to my internship site, taking the train alone for the first time. The route seems pretty straight forward, I just want to get a feel of the trip and the walk the I have to take on the other side of the train ride. After that I need to do a little bit of grocery shopping to pick up some fresh veggies, rice, etc.

Have my internship interview tomorrow, and first day of class (Australian Cinema). I’ll let you know how they go.

I’ve got some pictures up now from Friday.

Yesterday after our program orientation, a group of us made our way to Bondi Beach, taking the rail by ourselves for the first time. We navigated a transfer and then hopped on a bus that took us to Bondi. This was an absolutely stunning scene of a beach and residences built into a cove. We waded in the Pacific Ocean for the first time this trip (likely the first time for some of the group) and walked down the beach to a rocky out-jutting. We climbed out onto the rocks, for a spectacular view of the cove and the one just south of Bondi. Unfortunately I forgot my camera on this trip, but I will be going back, just for pictures if need be.

Today we had our internship orientation, which was a powerpoint presentation about what is expected of us, and what we can expect. We were also given addresses, dates and times for our interview with our placement company. Mine is on Monday at 10am. After that, we walked to the Australian Hotel down in ‘The Rocks’, a historic Sydney district, where we feasted upon the tastes of Kangaroo Pizza and Emu Pizza. The kangaroo was a little gamey, but the emu was very nice and tender. After lunch, we split up and a some of us headed down to the Harbor and around Circular Quay (pronounced key) where the ferries head out. We just wandered, taking in the sites of the Sydney Harbor bridge, the Sydney Opera House and downtown in general. We stumbled upon a didgeridoo player rocking to techno music and took our picture with him, then headed back home for a barbecue hosted by the owner of Georgia House. Must go, missing the barbecue!

I’ll have pictures up soon. I’ll add a link here! Pictures!
Cheers!

And so went the first experience with cultural differences; its hard to find drip coffee in Australia (or at least this part of it). They mostly just drink espresso (as far as I can discern). I had a white mocha, which has actually much creamier and rich than any I’ve had in the states.
After our adventure with the shopping arcade we began our trek pack to Georgia House, hoping on a 343 bus heading down Elizabeth St, which dropped us off right in front our house.
Downtown Sydney was nice, but busy. There are just tons and tons of little shops lining the streets. I look forward to exploring it more over the course of the next few months.
The rest of the night was spent settling in, unpacking, and getting to know some of the other guys/gals on the trip.

Today (Thursday) we have a program orientation, where we’ll be going down to the CAPA office, and being introduced to the program and be given tips of living in Sydney, cultural differences to watch out for, etc.. Then the rest of the day is ours again.
Still nervous about the internship, but I’m sure that will be quelled after our internship orientation on Friday, and my interview on Monday.