Comin' In Hot!

This weekend a group of us went to Rottnest Island for some camping, biking, snorkeling, and beaching. The island is a 30 minute ferry ride and about 25 km around. What you do is rent bikes and bike the island, stopping at beaches for lunch and whatnot. But after that first day, you backside is sure sore! The bikes we got weren't the best and the trip reminded me very much of the bike journey we in Gatlinburg, but this one was longer! You can imagine.

The island is very nice though. After seeing some amazing coasts and sweet fish it makes up for the sore bum. We biked the island the first day and caught sunset by the lighthouse. We spent a good chunk of time up on the west tip where there are some cavey areas that make some very nice splashes.

The night was spent at a camp site where we relaxed a bit and ate some hot dogs. After getting a tip to go to the pub we headed out, only to find we were the only ones there and they were closing early. Staying optimistic, we ordered a round and enjoyed what time we had there, and left seeking a beach thinking this is where our newly acquainted friends might be. Well, we ended up at “Pinky’s” Beach which apparently is a huge hangout for high-schoolers. After feeling quite old around these 16 year olds, we went back to camp and enjoyed the rest of the night on the footy field next to use until the sprinklers came on.

The next day was spent on beaches close to the settlement (no one really wanted to bike much the next day, but it’s the only way to get around). We snorkeled and saw some really cool rocks and coral and one starfish. Nick and I also came up with a battleship game that involves burying rocks on the beach and then throwing a shovel to see it you hit them. It’s a lot of fun. We also spent some time digging a big hole and getting buried in it. It’s always fun to do.

Rottnest is called Rottnest because of these marsupials that live there. They were originally thought to be a rat (“Rat’s Nest”) and are super common around the island. They will hop right up to you and lap water out of your hands. I wonder what would happen to them if a predator would be introduced to the island – I can’t imagine them putting up much of a fight…I almost hit one or two just biking.

It was quite a way to end our study week. Now school starts up again and I must begin researching for my evolution paper. Oh the joys of scholarly work.

Take Care,

Kimberly Time

Happy belated Easter! Hope the bunny visited everyone. For my break, we went up north for five days and camped in the bush with an aborigine tour company. It was quite an experience, none of us had watches on so we got up when the sun rose (usually around 5:45ish) and went to bed with the moon.

Our night was spent at the University of Notre Dame in Broome because we got in late and our campsite was 5 hours away. That night we went down to a little beach known as Cable Beach which holds the title of third largest tide changes in the world (a difference of about 10 meters). We got there just after low tide – at low low tide you can walk down and see dinosaur prints in the sandstone.

The next day started early with getting everything and everybody ready to go up north. We waited for our convoy of 5 vehicles to arrive and then we were off. I was in Maria’s car which had two little dogs – score! We stopped by another beach before leaving country to meet with a tour guide that showed us the beach and told us the creation story of aborigines (that was the beach where they came from).

After the tour, we made one final stop where we could get an ice-cream before starting off North. The journey was long but pretty exciting. About three hours of it was on a dirt road, a very red, bumpy road. One the way up we stopped at Beagle Bay which was where some children from the Stolen Generations (Australia had a policy where they took half-caste children away from communities and put them in these camps where they were “Westernized”) were taken to. We saw the church they had there which was decorated in pearl shells. It was pretty cool, save for the fact it was originally used to assimilate aboriginal children.

The week was a very busy one. Our facilitators kept us very busy. First we had to set up tents and after a mishap with the tent I was in, I ended up in a single (the tent broke and they only had a double and single left – I wasn’t causing trouble, I promise).

The days included going mudcrabbing in the morning on the tidal flats, having chats with locals in the afternoon, building boomerangs and spears, and doing some recapping at night. The days were quite full and hard to keep track what we did each day.

It’s hard to really describe the trip adequately so instead I give you the spark note edition:
-Saw a gum shark. It came right up to the coast we were at (none of us were in the water)

-Had Easter Mass on the shoreline looking out into the ocean. Pretty cool.

-Learned a lot about the aboriginal culture and how it relates today. A highlight of the trip

-Saw footprints in the sandstone that were ~7,000 years old. They were the case-breaker when the aborigines were fighting with the gov’t over land rights (it was their proof that they lived there before the white settlement came).

-Learned how to make a boomerang and spear. Really hard work! And I don’t think the boomerang we made will ever experience the rush of air beneath its wings. Boomerangs up in the Kimberly’s were used in ceremonies and war. In other parts they were used in hunting kangaroos (the bush is too thick up north to hunt with them).

-When to Rumble Bay where we mudcrabbed and learned a technique of fishing using rock walls and roots. The aborigines made walls of rocks to form small pools when the tides went down so that they could collect fish. The roots were grinded in a powder and mixed in mud and put in the water which caused the big fish to jump out of the pool. Literally. We saw a fish come to the surface and jump out of the water where it was simply picked up. Ridiculous.

-We ended our trip with a trip to the store for ice-cream and went to a beach resort to see sunset. One of the best sunsets I have ever really seen. There’s something very special up here with the land. I can’t even describe the red rock, but it’s gorgeous. And the skies are the bluest I have ever seen a sky before. Amazing country.

-We also had a boomerang competition, I didn’t win...

It was quite an experience to have. There are a lot of similarities with the Native Americans and the Aborigines and there are a lot of differences. It’s nice to have a bit of a reference point but at the same time; you really don’t know what’s going on until you talk to the people. A very cool way to spend Easter.

Hope all is well in the states. I have two months left of school here and I’ll be home in three months. Pretty weird to think how long I’ve been here, it’s going by pretty quick.

Take Care,

Off to Broome

Well, I'm heading up north for five days. We're spending the time in the bush with an aborigine community. The heat is 100 degrees and the humidity is 90%. Wish me luck.

Take Care,

Mars Bar - Don't like them

What is it? A Three Musketeer? A Milky Way? Make up you mind.

Are We Human?

Or are we Dancer?? This weekend was awesome! But let’s start a bit earlier in the week:

On Wednesday the bar below us hosted a Hula party with a mechanical surfboard. Awesome! Also was karaoke night – Double Awesome!!

Thursday I got to play with a dog on the beach. This dog was a pup and the only dog that I have ever out-ran in my life before. We also headed out to a bar to hear some sweet Jazz. This bar is also the only place I have found that you can order the Vesper Martini – makes it even better!

On Friday there was an All-Star Sport Competition that Team America signed up for (actually our team name was the Jumping Juggernauts, but once they learn that we’re Americans, they changed it). We did quite well and decimated the competition in soccer and Frisbee. Where we lost ground was during the novelty event, our bean bags kept falling off the cones. We finished with a strong second though and won $40 and some passes to paintball. Wanting to celebrate, we left looking for some pizza to satisfy our appetites.

After footy practice, I played chef and teacher all at the same time. I found that you can buy lamb hearts at the grocery store so I decided to see who would be interested in dissecting them – what everyone wants to do on a Friday night, right? So as my “students” dissected the hearts (a bit disappointing, they were only the ventricles), I worked on preparing a small little roast (lamb of course). Quite a nice event and I didn’t even have to clean up! I then gave my guests a nice tour of the P & O Hotel and called it a night. Saturday was a big day – a third of the abroad students were going up to Broome for a week. I go this Friday and get back next Wednesday. They had to leave at 5:50a.m. so the night didn’t go too late.

On Saturday, I made the best purchase here – a shovel! Now I can dig some wicked holes at the beach (see Sunday’s activities). We went to the maritime museum to take a tour of the submarine they have. I found it interesting, yet a bit disappointing as my aspirations of becoming a submariner quickly sank when trying to navigate the tight passageways. It was very cool though.

Sunday was the big day of the weekend however. One, it was hole day. Oh, and as a disclaimer, this weekend there were only five residents in the P & O and only two of us were American. Everyone else was either at surf camp or down south. Anywho, James and I went to the beach to dig out monumental hole – It was quite deep. We had to stop when we reached the water table. Kids came from all over to marvel at the engineering feat we had achieved with this hole. Truly a monument to human ingenuity.

After the hole, James and I hurried to get going to the V Festival in Perth. It’s similar to Omaha’s Memorial Concert, but way bigger. It started at 2:00p.m. and went for about eight hours. It was quite something. We saw nine bands and three I recognized: Jenny Lewis, Snow Patrol, and the Killers. Very cool! They had four stages, but the two big ones were right next to each other so as one band played, they set up the other. We wanted to get close to the Killers stages so when the band before them ended; we started moving forward as everyone else moved right to the other stage to see Snow Patrol. It worked well; we could still see and enjoy Snow Patrol while being only 7ish metres away from the Killers.

I got to say, the Killers were quite a show. Dan, they could never replace you as best show ever, but they come at a close second. There was fire, fireworks, just craziness. Super Cool!!! I’m very glad we went, it was quite an experience.

Now I’m off starting a new exciting week. I begin my puppeteering training today and on Friday I leave for Broome. It should be pretty busy in between. Hope all is well in the states. Enjoy your Easters! Mine will be spent living in the bush.

Take Care,

Monastic Life

Little behind – apologies. I know everyone is on pins and needles wondering how the life of Jer is going down under. Well here’s an update.

Two weekends ago, I drove up with my advisors to see a Benedictine monastery for the day. One of their monks is currently studying at St. John’s so we thought it would be a nice place to check out. The monastery is on quite a large expanse of land and currently only houses six monks. Let’s just say they have a lot of outside help. Keeping with that self-sufficiency idea, they make their own wine, olive oil, bread (it was pretty good, I guess), and raise sheep. They also have quite a remarkable art collection that draws in a crowd (and thieves – a few years ago a bunch of the paintings were cut from their frames and stolen, most have been retrieved).

The coolest part of the monastery was their church. The Stations of the Cross were done in such a way where there were three colours of plaster (white, black, and red) and depending how deep the artist cut was what colour would show. It looked really cool!

Well, when I say coolest part, I suppose I meant the coolest thing we saw...well, building. When we were in the gift shop we ran into the Abbot and said hello. That was pretty neat.

When we got back from the monastery, I had a boat to catch. There were three ladies who turned 21 and were hosting a boat party. Me, always being the gentleman, accepted my invite and headed out on a boat to celebrate the night. All was well, no seasickness occurred.

Stay tuned!