Exchange on Exchange: A Tale of Bromance Pt. 2

Hi guys,

the last little while has been hectic as the end of term looms. With exams to study for, a World Cup to watch, bags to pack, goodbye's to be said, I found little time to recount the second half of my Tale of Bromance with James Elgin Craig. I will do my best to fill you in on the details but will keep it brief to get back to the books.

James flew in to Melbourne and I went to pick him up at the airport with my friend Liz who graciously agreed after I guilt tripped her into it. After settling in and showing him around campus, we set out on the 86 tram and met up with all the Canadians plus and minus a few. We hung out and frontloaded before heading to the Rochester Hotel (the Rochie), doing goon slaps and high-fiving all the way. James and I had the fantastic idea of pretending we were Irish for the night figuring it would be much easier to meet people if we were Irish. I was Declan O'Hoolahan and James was Sean Shawn O'Shaughnessy. We carried this on to the best of our abilities, often throwing in some Irish jigs on the d-floor to give credibility to our charade. At one point, while chatting to some girls, I must have got frustrated by the fact that James was getting more attention than me so I totally sold him out and told them it was all an act on his part and I was the only true Irishman. James recovered well by conceding that he was from Newfoundland and Labrador in a voice resembling Samwise Gamgee. It was this night that proved once and for all that one's ability to put on an accent has an inverse relationship to the amount of beer you consume. fact.

The next day we ventured into the city to show James around. Melbourne's got a really nice downtown core with loads of great architecture and green space so James was just taking it all in. Much to our chagrin, the Titanic exhibit was sold out at the Melbourne Museum but it worked out in the end because we headed instead to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Federation Square. We spent hours checking out this really cool exhibit about all things to do with the development of interface technology ( ie film, tv, video games, augmented reality and the history behind them all) that allowed us to try video games from throughout the ages on their oringial consoles as well some other really cool interactive exhibits. Later on, we found out that there was a documentary on that was made by the famous street artist Banksy. He is a really interesting character who's art often challenges social norms and is always really symbolic yet he hides his identity from the world. No one knows who he is, where he is from, what he looks like as all of his art is done on the street in the wee hours of the morning all over the world. The documentary he made was about a guy that tried to make a documentary about him. It was really cheeky and really well done.

The next day was rather uneventful as we decided to have a lie in. The Titanic exhibit was again sold out so our plans were up the air once again. We headed back into the city, enjoying our usual conversations and musings of becoming street artists. We took the free tram around the city that showed you all of the historic spots before heading to Rooftop Bar. This place was so awesome and an idea I want to take back to Canada with me. The bar is completely open-plan on the roof of a tall building so you sit by the heat lamps amongst sky scrapers in the open air. In the summer they play movies on a big projector screen which would be really cool to see. James was leaving that night so after our quiet pints we took the tram back out to Bundoora to get his stuff. We plan to spend my last week together up in Brisbane and Fraser Island but right now my focus is on my exam....at least it should be. I am finding it really hard to juggle everything at the moment to say the least and it's depressing and exciting at the same time to be living out of a suitcase once again. My rooms all packed up and I write my last exam on Wednesday. But the adventure is just beginning, so stay tuned folks.

Much Love,
D

Exchange on Exchange: A Tale of Bromance Pt. 1

Hey folks,

so classes finished up and I decided to pack my bags and head to Sydney for the weekend to stay with Jimmy Craig at Macquarie University. I felt a need to get away from college and the flights were reasonably priced so I scrambled to get my assignment done so that I could fly out on Thursday night. James met me at the airport and we took the train to his college, heading over the bridge with a view of the harbour and the glowing Sydney Opera House. The first night was a quiet one with a few beers at his campus bar and meeting all of his new Australian friends. I was focused on using this time to relax, see Sydney, and trying not to think about the last few weeks. The next day James had an essay due so in typical fashion he put in two hours of sleep before getting up at a ridiculous hour and poring over his notes and pumping out a few thousand words. This gave me a chance to have a great sleep in and wait for him to be finished. In the afternoon after some lunch we trekked into the city centre to see the sights and meet up with a few of my Canadian friends from La Trobe who were also there for the weekend. James and I wandered through the streets of King's Cross, taking in the sights of umpteen massage parlours that definitely offered happy endings and turning down flyers for all of the strip bars in the area. Although Porky's did seem intriguing... Not the kind of area to raise a family but we are students and it's the only way to do it! At their hostel we met a small Indian man named Rohan who claimed to be from New Zealand and sported a strange hybrid accent. Little did we know, he was going to play a big part of our weekend as a source of conversation and hilarity. The first thing he did when we walked into the room was offer us all a bottle of cognac to take shots out of the lid. We humbly refused for more reasons than one. After the girls took their sweet time to get ready, we decided to head to the waterfront to see the Opera House at night and go for a beer in an area called the Rocks. Sydney was hosting a light and sound show all over the city so all of the monuments and heritage buildings were lit up with projectors beaming kaleidoscopic colours and famous quotations. Even the Sydney Opera House was a part of the show. We wandered around, taking it all in, and solving the mystery of whether P. Shermann, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney from Finding Nemo actually existed as each one of us had Googled it at some point to find out.

With Jimmy as our guide, he took us to one of the 4 bars in the area that claimed to be Syndey's oldest. It was very typically Australian with an older crowd but provided the starting line for our crawl of the city. After an Irish pub and dancing to a cover band, we decided to head to a pancake house that was supposedly open late. En route. we couldn't resist the salsa music booming out of one place's windows. We furtively crept in, not knowing what to expect but within 30 seconds we were on the dance floor surrounded by people that actually knew how to salsa dance, pulling all of the moves. We were there, giving it our best shot, making fools of ourselves, and a mockery of the art form. I rocked the air maracas a lot. Legend.

After our late night pancake supper we decided to head back to the hostel. James and I had noticed that there were two spare beds in the girls' rooms and we were keen on seeing if we could scam some free lodging for the night instead of making the trip all the way back home. We crept in and passed out in the bunks and slept blissfully until Rohan's alarm clock started going off at around 6 am. This wouldn't have bothered me, if only he had gotten up when it started ringing and didn't let it go on and on before shutting itself off only to start again 15 minutes later. This happened a fair few times as well. The worst thing was the ringtone for the alarm was a Good Charlotte song.... Why? Of all the bands in the world to wake up to... why Good Charlotte, Rohan?

The next day James and I wandered around the city, checked out Darling Harbour, ate kangaroo burgers and went to the Maritime Museum. We saw Captain James Cook's Endeavour and got to go on a ship called the James Craig. Australia has a rich history especially to do with the early settlers/explorers and their relationship with the Aboriginals. Some of the stories are really interesting, but often full of bloodshed as well. After that, another quiet night listening to music and playing video games with James' friends. It's amazing what you can learn about a person by the way they play Halo 3.

The next day after another sleep in(Looking back, I might have seen a lot more of Sydney if I hadn't slept so much, but I obviously needed it), James and I went to a Rugby League game at the Olympic Stadium which was really cool to see. It was then that I decided that before I die I want to go to the Olympics. Just being in that stadium gave me that feeling of excitement in my stomach that can only be achieved from watching an exciting competition. We saw the South Sydney Rabbitohs beat the Penrith Panthers in front of a home crowd. Rugby is a really fun sport to watch and I am slowly adjusting to the rules of Rugby League as opposed to Union that I am used to. Fun fact of the day: The Rabbitoh's are owned by Russell Crowe and they got their name because back in the day the players used to earn a few extra bucks by selling rabbits outside the game, calling out Rabbit-oh! in the streets. They would skin the rabbits on the spot, getting blood and fur on their jerseys that they later wore in the games. The opposition wouldn't appreciate this and would mock them by echoing the Rabbit-oh! call on the field. I think the South Sydney Fluffy Bunnies would sound better.

After the game we went back into the city to explore some more and grab some dinner. We mutually agreed that we would not be satisfied until we had eaten a rack of ribs each so we set off in search of a place that served them. Harder than you might think in Australia. But we found a place right on the Darling Harbour and chowed down. After meeting up with the Canadian girls, grabbing a spontaneous pint at another one of the oldest bars in Sydney, we went back to James' place. We went to see a movie called Harry Brown with a few of Jimmy's friends. The movie stars Michael Caine and was nothing short of amazing. It was like Gran Torino meets Taken but set on the commissioned housing estates in England. Gritty, and really well shot, I highly recommend it. After that we just hung out and talked about movies and listened to music. James and I also like to do this thing where we put on a song and then describe what we think would be a cool music video for the song. It may sound lame but we get really into it and have come up with some really cool ideas, or so we think.

The next day James had class and I was leaving in the evening so we said our goodbyes and parted ways. It wasn't as heartbreaking as it sounds since we both knew James would be in Melbourne the next weekend to continue our adventures. I spent the day wandering around the city by myself which is actually one of my favourite things to do. I went to the Lululemon outlet that recently opened to see my friend Desiree from Carleton. A fellow marketing student on exchange, it was good to see her (as brief as it was) and catch up. While doing a crossword on the waterfront in plain view of the Opera House, a boat pulled up that offered free rides to Cockatoo Island for an art show. With hours to kill before my flight, I hopped on, more interested in the free boat ride in the famous Sydney Harbour than the art show. Just as I got on it started to rain but I wasn't deterred and stayed on the deck, taking it all in as we sailed under the bridge past Luna Park. The art show was more freaky than interesting as it was set up in abandoned factories and industrial buildings on this deserted island. Wandering into one room alone, I found an exhibit of life-size wax figures of all the socialist leaders of the world in glass coffins except Fidel Castro was asleep on a bed, with his chest moving up and down and the sound of breathing coming out of his mouth. I didn't stick around for long.

After that, I went to a restaurant and had a rather depressing dinner for one although I did convince my waitress I was a small-business owner visiting Sydney because I was interested in expanding my t-shirt company and opening a store there. My motive? no idea. But I love how you can be anybody you want to be when you are in a new city.

I flew back to Melbourne with my final week of classes on the mind and wondering what Jimmy and I would get up to next weekend. That's all for now folks. I hope everyone is well back home. I do have some other great news that my sister Mairead got engaged the other day. Her and her fiancee Andrew will be getting married on New Year's Eve this year which is really exciting. Party on!

Love,
D

Learning Curve

Hey folks,

a long time has passed since my last post and it has been a tumultuous few weeks to say the least. I hate to start off on a sad note, but before I get into it, I want to let everyone know that the Fegan family suffered a great loss last week when our family dog, Shay, passed away. She had been suffering from liver cancer and her health deteriorated rather quickly in her last few weeks. Anyone that met Shay instantly fell in love as she was unlike any other dog. She was a huge part of our family and a giant hole has been left in our lives. We will always remember her for being loyal, loving, and sometimes a bit daft. It was really hard being so far away from home on this one...so if anyone wants to comment below or a memory they have of Shay it would mean a lot.

To lighten the mood, let me tell you the story of Groovin' the Moo, a music festival at the start of May. A few of the Canadian girls and I rented a car and drove to Bendigo for the weekend, intent upon attending the festival featuring such stalwarts as Vampire Weekend, Tegan and Sara, Spoon, Empire of the Sun, Bagraiders and countless other cool DJs and bands. The only problem was, only two of us had tickets. Krista and I were keen to try our luck and get in without paying (tickets were over $100). So, we arrived at the showgrounds to find the longest line-up we had ever seen (Dom 0 - 1 The Man). It appeared that everyone had arrived at the same time, all dressed up in festival attire (panda costumes, body paint, and the entire cast of the flintstones...etc.) It was going to be a challenge to get in there. We scouted around the perimeter under the watchful eyes of luminous security guards and decided that the main gate was our only option of scamming our way in. Joining the throngs at the front of the line and making no friends in the process, we got past the first gate to the area where they were taking tickets (Dom 1 - 1 The Man). At this point we split up, and pretended to be on our phones so we didn't look suspicious. All the while, we were surveying the system for any cracks through which we could slip. Brooke and Dale were already inside awaiting our arrival. I, still in the midst of an "important phonecall", ambled over to the right side of the ticket-takers, next to the VIP line. At this point, a group of people around my age joined the VIP line and just walked past the security guard. I swiftly side-stepped the barrier and tagged on the end of their group. When they stopped to get wrist bands, I just kept walking, on the phone, head down, heart racing. It happened in a flash but all of a sudden I was inside the show, having not paid a penny (Dom 2 -1 The Man). Krista followed soon after, pulling the same move that worked for me. I went back later on with a sob story that my wrist band had been ripped off in the crowd under the DJ tent and got myself a wristband for the beer garden. Game, set, match. (Dom 3 - 1 The Man).

The show was amazing with highlights being when we were under the DJ tent listening to Bag Raiders and Shooting Star came on, or playing Yolanda B Cool's We No Speak Americano. But the best part of the night was by far seeing Vampire Weekend. Probably one of my favourite bands right now, they blew me away. They were so crisp and their set was so entertaining.

It wasn't until we decided to leave the showgrounds late at night and head to our campsite that it all came crashing down and the Man made a late comeback to bite us in the ass. First off, Silverchair, supposedly some great Australian band, played a set that was nothing compared to Vampire Weekend's which was disappointing. But, we left in high spirits, almost skipping back to the car....only to find our rear right window smashed and our bags stolen. It was a crappy end to the night mostly due to the fact that I lost my backpack, my favourite posession in the world. (Dom 3 - 3 The Man) Tie Game. We decided upon driving back to Bundoora for the night, not keen on partying or sleeping in tents after this reality check.

I think this backpack of mine deserves a tangent all of its own. I bought the backpack, a black, plain-looking, Dakine model back in Grade 10, coming up on 6 years. I used to go through a backpack a year but not any more. This one stuck with me through thick and thin. Every high school party we would trek to, I always had my backpack with me usually filled with beer and the beer of a few others. Every day of classes, every camping trip, every frosh week, every road trip, every pub crawl, every vacation, every day of work, I always had my backpack with me. It came to be very near and dear to me so it will be sorely missed, and tough to replace.

But I am getting by. Last week I was able to get tickets to see the Australia Socceroos play New Zealand in Melbourne. Both teams are in the World Cup so it was cool to see. There were 55,000 fans at the game and we jumped at the chance to get decked out in Australian colours and sing the national anthem. While the atmosphere wasn't what I had hoped for, the game provided a rare treat in seeing Australia claw their way back from being 1-0 to win 2-1 socring in the 93rd minute. The team flew out to South Africa the next day, ready for the big tournament.

I am, unfortunately, almost at the end of my semester here in Melbourne. I am currently in my last week of classes before the exam period starts. My exam schedule isn't that great. One on the 17th, one on the 18th and one on the 30th (the last possible day). Brutal! I am yet undecided on how I am going to spend those interim days but hopefully I will get to see some more of this beautiful country. I also received my Beijing Lonely Planet book so I have started planning for my week in Asia in July. It's going to be action packed and I can't wait to go. China has such a rich history, full of tradition and culture that I can't wait to learn more about.

My next post will cover my trip up to Sydney to visit James but for now I will leave it at that. I hope everyone is well and that you are enjoying the Canadian Summer. I am gearing up for a lot of late nights in the next few weeks, mostly due to the World Cup being shown at 9pm, midnight, and 2am here in Australia. Come on Aussie!

Love,
D

Tasmaniacs

Hey guys,

so before all of the subtleties of my Easter venture to Tasmania fade into oblivion, I'll get them out on here because honestly it was one of the best trips I have ever been on. I flew there for the relatively cheap price of $98 return under the condition that I could only bring one carry
-on bag weighing 7kg plus a laptop. Since I was staying for a week, this didn't leave me with a lot of options as far as packing goes. So, sticking to my mantra that all rules are made to be not necessarily broken but bent in such a way that it becomes unnoticeable, I threw on three t-shirts, two sweaters, wore my jeans over a pair of shorts and packed a laptop bag full of anything with considerable weight like my book, toothpaste, and shoes. It was with this cunning maneuver that I was able to board my flight safely albeit resembling a young Michelin Man before he got his big break in the tire industry.

I was off on another journey without the foggiest idea of where I would be sleeping that night or what I would be up to the next day. All I knew was that my two friends Romain and Martin (from France and Germany) were at the tail end of their Tasmanian adventure and would provide a starting-off point for my trip. I called them upon arrival in Hobart and as I walked out of the terminal a shuttle bus pulled up right infront of me. I discovered they were staying at the Transit Backpackers downtown and I met them there. The Transit was a great place full of life at all times with people from all over the world. The communal kitchen and common area were always chock-a-block with people cooking and cleaning, coming and going, chitting and chatting. It was a lot of fun! Staying in a dorm room with 20 beds was eye-opening mostly due to the fact you can witness the sleeping habits of different cultures. One Asian girl slept the entire night on the top bunk with her legs propped up vertically against the wall. There has to be some method to her madness.

So, after catching up with R & M, we decided to venture in their rental car to Port Arthur on the south coast, an old prison for second offenders in the colonies. It was great to get an insight into the life of prisoners in this unknown world and tour around the ruins. The location of the prison was very strategic as it was hard for prisoners to escape the bluff but it also provided a lot of beautiful lookouts, beaches, and cliffs. We took it all in before trekking back to Hobart for the night. The next day was R & M's last day on the island and so they would be returning the car early the next morning. So, we decided to get up extra early (4:30 am to be exact) and drive up to the top of Mt. Wellington which overlooks the city. We had the place to ourselves and with deafening silence we watched the sun rise and the city wake up. I will always remember standing on a rock and yelling at the top of my lungs at the city below just like they do in the movie Garden State. I had always wanted to do that. Check that off the list, folks.

The rest of the day we spent walking around Hobart, relaxing and discussing what we thought I should do for the remainder of the trip. I was mostly looking forward to the arrival of James Craig, my roommate and best friend from Canada. He arrived the next morning and we spent the day catching up, checking out prices at different rental car spots, and planning our road trip. As night fell, we threw together some pasta for dinner, every backpacker's go-to meal and then hit the town with two English blokes from the hostel. It was a great night and much needed. I was craving a familiar face and I think James felt the same way. While it is great to meet all these new people constantly, there's nothing like reminiscing about past adventures or setting your sights on future ones.

The actual road trip started the next day in our silver rocket, the Ryan "Hyundai Getz"laf. Driving on the other side of the road took surprisingly less time to adjust to that I had first assumed and in no time we were off and running. Our plan was to head north via the Great Lakes up to Tassie's second largest city, Launceston. On the road, you wouldn't believe the amount of different terrains you go through on such a small island. The size of Ireland, Tasmania gives you rolling hills, windy mountain passes, bushland, seascapes and everything in between. With the tunes blaring the whole way we came into Launceston and found our hostel for the night. We visited the Cataract Gorge and did a hike through the woods before grabbing some dinner and retiring for some much needed sleep. We had a big day ahead of us.

Next morning we set out and headed to the East Coast. We went to the Bay of Fires, a strip of white sandy beaches among the most beautiful in the world. This being said, we were rather surprised to find the spot we stopped at deserted. It isn't exactly beach-going weather these days so that might have had something to do with it but we took the opportunity to take a dip in the ocean. I have no shame in re-telling this part of our day due to the sheer freedom I felt as we both stripped down to our birthday suits and plunged into the waves. Such "bromance" has never been documented so I like to think we are pioneers. When we had had enough, we threw our towels around us and climbed the hill back to the car. If we had delayed any longer, we would have treated the group of old tourists that we passed to quite an eye-full that surely would have ruined their trip or possibly their lives. Timing is everything.

We continued down the coast to Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park. If we had arrived earlier in the day it might have been warmer but the hike down to the sand was pleasant and reminded me a lot of Canada especially our family trip to Alberta in '98. Great times had by all as we cracked a beer each on the sand. By that point, it was getting late in the day and so we headed back to Hobart. We wanted to avoid driving at night as much as possible due to the sheer amounts of roadkill we had seen in the past two days. Wallabies and wombats don't look as cute and cuddly when they are inside-out.

We stayed at a different hostel called The Pickled Frog full of interesting characters and even a few token stoner Canadians. The next day would be my last on the island and so we decided to head to Mt. Field National Park to see the Tall Trees, Lady Baron Falls, and Russel Falls. It, again, was a nice drive and worth the visit. With only a bus-load of geriatric camera-toters to compete with, Jimmy and I enjoyed the walk through the woods thinking up business plans and schemes to make money in our fourth year as we are moving back in together in September. We took the relative desolation as an opportunity to hop the fence a couple of times and taste the water in the falls and snap some photographs. A recurring theme that we swore by when faced with a trivial situation was "If we wanted to __________, we would have stayed in Canada". We filled that blank with a lot of things throughout the trip: sleep, eat healthily, swim in bathing suits, drink 5 beers instead of 6... etc. It served us pretty well and kept us on the move.

After a visit to a wildlife sanctuary where we saw kangaroos, wallabies, owls, Tasmanian devils, emus, koalas and even a platypus, we headed back to Hobart and finally the airport. Saying goodbye to Tassie was tough to do but I had an amazing time. I left Jimmy behind to continue his adventure alone, knowing that the past few days had been memorable. We know how lucky we are to be having these experiences and aren't taking them for granted even for a second. This was a long post but I hope you stuck with it as I wanted to give the trip justice. Hope everyone is well back home. If everyone could say a prayer for my wee pup, Shay, who has been feeling under the weather the past little while. She is, as much as I try to deny it, getting up there in years but I know she can bounce back and she'll be chasing squirrels again in no time.

Love,
D

Hang Ten!

Hey folks,

It has been way too long! partly my fault.....okay all my fault but hey, you are going to have to deal with it! To pick up where I left off on my last post seems like I am delving into the annals of history to retell these stories, but alas lets give it a shot. If my memory serves me correctly, I was hurriedly packing my stuff for a weekend trip to Phillip Island with S@LT (Surfing at La Trobe) to get "wet and salty" with a whole gang of people. Piled into two busses and towing a trailer stacked full of boards, we headed for the coast partying the whole way down and belting out all the classics from Backstreet to Beyonce. It was a helluva time staying in cabins essentially on the cliffs above the beach. Waking up early, pulling on our wetties and hitting the beach. I can honestly say I LOVE SURFING. I am not the best at it yet but that feeling when you catch your first wave gives you this incredible, fist-pumping feeling. We surfed for two days while the waves were good and I am proud to say that on day two I was first in the water and last out. While riding a wave feels great, the feeling af getting crushed by one deserves some attention. Its a disturbing situation you find yourself in when getting tossed around under water, flipping head over heels, not knowing which way is up, not knowing when the crush will release you from its relentless grip until your head comes popping up out of the water gasping for air. At this point, you pull your board towards you using the leash attached to your ankle. While reeling it in you unsuspectingly get mowed over by the next wave curling over your head. But man, it's all worth it when you finally get out there, find your sea legs and catch a wave. I highly recommend it!

After that, it was back to school for another week of classes, uni bar nights, and college festivities leading up to the Easter Holidays. We had quite a while off which gave me an opportunity to get some travelling done. On the first weekend I headed to Torquay and the world famous Bells Beach for the Ripcurl Pro World Tour a surfing competition. I went with a few friends Tim, Manny, Hubert (who earned the name Spewbert after a night riding the porcelain schoolbus on the S@LT trip) and Gabriela. So, our team of Canada, USA, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Sweden set out with two tents and a change of clothes, not knowing where we were staying that night. I love that feeling. We trained and bussed and shuttled and walked until we arrived at the beach and caught a few of the heats. It was cool to see all the fans out and kids watching their favourite pro surfers including the famous Kelly Slater. Pro surfing is unique in the fact that these professional athletes walk out onto the beach and are standing feet away from you. There are no throngs of people or masses of security guards surrounding them before their heat. The fans respect that they are getting in the zone and have the eye on the prize. You don't get in their way as they run round the cove to avoid paddling against the waves and you just give them shouts of encourage as they coast by. The other thing I loved about surfing was the fact that you didn't have to pay to ride. The waves are at your disposal whenever you want. I get the same feeling surfing as I do when I snowboard but I don't have to pay $100 for a lift pass.

Eventually we had seen enough and decided to address the situation of where we would be laying our heads for the night. We went back to the spot where the shuttle bus would pick us up to carry us back into town from the competition. We were joined soon thereafter by about 30 people. Now, this wasn't the largest of shuttle buses so there was some jostling for positions as the bus pulled up. We all managed to squeeze in with no room to spare and a need to avoid all speed bumps on the way back. I sneakily managed to climb up to ride shotgun and took the opportunity to ask the driver if he could tell me of any places we could pitch a tent. He obliged and agreed to even drop us off. So we got to the campgrounds in the town of Torquay only to be greeted by the no vacancy sign. Shit. The competition brings a lot of tourists in and I guess they weren't all as spontaneous as us. Either that or not as stupid. Anyway, we went in to try our luck and play the poor traveler card and it payed off. The lady and man said they always kept a couple of spots aside for "bloody, stupid internationals". Very nice of them.

So we took the spot, pitched our tent, walked to the grocery store and bought food for a BBQ feast. It reminded me a lot of being in the campgrounds of Italy when I was younger with all 6 of the Fegans sleeping in the trailer tent. There were people that brought what seemed like their entire living room with them camping with couches and patio furniture and projector Tv's and volleyball nets all set up. Nothing like the great outdoors.

The next morning after a night on the town, we headed back to Melbourne. It was Easter Sunday so I stayed in the city by myself and went to mass at the Basilica. It was a good time to look back on my experience thus far and be thankful for all of the opportunities. After that I wandered around the city and caught a few street acts and free shows for the Melbourne Comedy Festival. It was a good end to the weekend.

The next few days I spent planning and getting ready for my trip to Tasmania....but that deserves a whole post to itself. Stay tuned for that one and check out some of my pictures on Facebook.

Hope everyone is well. To my uni friends, good luck in exams and have a safe summer. If anyone reading this feels like renting my room in Ottawa for the summer let me know! I am moving back in with Brock and James and the gang will be reunited with a few great additions in Gabe and Matt. Fourth year proves to be a good one....but that seems like a lifetime away.

Love,
D

Kangaroo? check. Surfing? check. Aussie Rules? check. Gigs? check.Tractor? check

Hey folks,
it has been a while since my last post and a lot has been accomplished. I have a list of things to do while I am here complete with a wildlife section and I have managed to check some of things off. I need to be more diligent with my posts I think because I run the risk of overlooking something.

For the purpose of covering all my bases I'm going to go with a point-form style.

- I have seen two gigs and have tickets to a third. I can't stress enough how sick the music scene is here. I saw a band called Yves Klein Blue who were opened by Cloud Control and then I saw Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeroes earlier on this week. Both were great shows. ES played the entire album pretty much start to finish and for their second encore came out, invited a bunch of people up on stage and sat everyone down in the venue on the floor because it was "story time". They played a ballad to us with just guitar and the lead singer. I managed to clamber up on stage and grab a spot right by them sitting on an amp. It was a fantastic show.

- I went home for the weekend with my friend Richie to his farm in Leongatha. I stayed at his farmhouse and got toured around all of their dairy farms. I fed the cows, drove the tractor and tested out their ATV four-wheeler. It was good to have some home cooked meals and check out the locals only beaches. We went and checked out some caves at a local spot as well as the swells were coming in. One beach we went to is known as a squeaky beach. Basically the sand is so fine that as you walk in it you can here it squeak as your feet push the grains against each other.
I managed to try out surfing but the conditions weren't great and we were using a really short board, something that you usually move up to once you have mastered using a long board. I didn't manage to catch any waves but it was sick to just be out there.

- While I was at Richie's place he took me to one of their paddocks at about 8 as the sun was just going down. We opened the gate and crept along in their truck with lights off. When Richie suddenly flicked on the high beams, about 10 kangaroos all turned and stared at the truck before all taking off in unison. Richie gunned it after them and we chased them all over the paddock, hanging out the windows. It was unreal! Something that most people wouldn't get to do while here that's for sure.

-Last night I was taken to an AFL Aussie Rules Footie game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by my friend Josh and his Dad. The stadium holds 100 thousand and was almost full. It was the opening game of the season between Richmond Tigers and Carlton Blues. It was great as we had seats right behind the posts in the members area and were right amongst the die-hard fans of both teams.

As far as classes go, things are picking up. I have an Easter break coming up next week with assignments due the next week. I am thinking about going to Tasmania for the break as flights go pretty cheap. I heard earlier on in the week that I was chosen as the recipient of a scholarship to Carleton called the Carl Gillis Memorial Scholarship for leadership and community involvement at Carleton while maintaining good academic standing. I was pretty pleased to be given the nod and it will definitely help out with the finances come fourth year in September. On the flip-side, I didn't get the position of Head Facil for frosh week as I had hoped. I am pretty disappointed in the decision and maybe a little baffled that I didn't get the position. From the sounds of things it confused a lot of people so I have been getting a lot of people from home saying they were surprised I didn't get the position. But alas, this is life. You are going to come up against people and situations that don't go your way whether you can help it or not. There is not a lot I can do about it now as an assistant head except express that I feel I was overlooked and have the credentials to be a great head facilitator because I love frosh week.

Right, well, I'm going to take off now since I have to pack for my surf trip to Phillip Island. Check out my pics on my facebook profile of all my shenanigans in the past couple of weeks. Hope everyone is safe and well and give me a buzz sometime to catch up.

Love,
D

Best of Sexy and the Little Things in Life

Hey guys,

if you haven't heard, Melbourne has been having some bizarre weather in the past week. As summer turns to Autumn, there were a few areas hit by hail storms. I did some research and found out that hail happens when a strong updraft causes the water droplets to get pushed above the clouds and the freezing level, when the drops get heavy enough, they start to fall. So, while it wasn't below zero on the ground, Melbourne was pelted with golf-ball sized hailstones. Craziness.
While I didn't get to see any of the hail, I did experience a pretty wild couple of days over the weekend with really high winds and torrential rain. I hadn't seen rain like this in a long time. Our courtyard at res flooded and people were out in their shorts swimming and throwing mud at each other which was funny to watch.

Since my last post, classes have gotten underway and I am getting into the groove of things. I attended Jarrad's funeral last Thursday which was a moving but good experience. It was a really nice service with family and friends packed into the hall. It was a real credit to Waitsy and the man he was. His friends all got up and told stories of their times together and it reminded me a lot of my highschool days back at Kings. The College bussed us down to his home town which was about 4 hours away, a place called Lakes Entrance. It was a gorgeous little town on the water and looked like a great place to grow up. I don't know what it is, but for some reason whenever I am at funerals I always think what my own funeral is going to be like, who would show up, what people would say. I know it sounds morbid and maybe a bit selfish so I hope I'm not the only one with those thoughts in my head. If anything, the service reminded me that I have to make the most of the time we are given, and to enjoy the little things in life. For example, I saw quite possibly the most immaculate mullet today on my way to the lecture hall. It was the definition of perfection. All other mullets were modeled after this one. Like I said, enjoy the little things.

Another thing that I love is reading the inscriptions on t-shirts from Asia. They have a pretty skewed impression of the English language so some of the inspirational quotes and blurbs they come up with are pretty hilarious.
Some of the gems that I have come across since I've been here:
-A sweater with "Rainbows is Destiny" stitched across the front
-a shirt with "I stole this shirt from a homeless man. Why he was wearing a shirt with this written on it I will never know " written on it. Where do they come up with this stuff?
- and a denim jacket, collar popped, with a big star on the back and the words "Best of Sexy" written in glitter.

I have started playing for the LaTrobe Soccer Club. We train twice a week and it is really intense. Luckily I have been running since I got here since the weather is so nice so I was able to keep up. We had our first game on the weekend against Monash University and we won 5-0. Don't ask me how but I managed to score two of the best goals of my career somehow while playing at left defense. I shocked myself. Trouble is, the coaches and my teammates might come to expect that kind of thing on a regular basis. I told them not to get used to it!

I also applied to be a Head Facilitator Carleton Frosh Week for September. My idea for the theme of the week was Carleton U: A healthy part of a complete breakfast with teams such as the Captain Crunches, Toucan Sams, Sugar Bears, Honey Bees, Lucky Leprechauns, Tony the Tigers, Special K's (although they would get ripped apart in cheer-offs), Vectors, Snap Krackle Pops, Count Choculas and so on! The ideas for cheers are rifling through my head. It will be interesting to see who gets chosen for the positions. I just hope whoever makes the decisions does so with as little predisposition and opinion and awards the candidates based on merit rather than social ties as can be the case with these kinds of things. Alea Jacta Est.

Well, I better wrap it up about there. Hopefully by my next post I will have a job to start earning some pocket money so that I will hopefully be able to do all of the ambitious things on my list by the time I leave this country. Donations are welcome. Wish me luck!

Love,
D