Anyhow, so on Thursday, the whole CCSA program got up at 5:30am, collected our boxed lunches and dragged our asses onto a bus. Three hours later, we were in Canberra, Australia's capital city (no, Sydney is not Australia's capital). Our tour guide was sure to tell us that it is pronounced "Canbra" not "Canbra." That's right, "Canbra" .... not "Canbra." (yeah, we were all kind of confused.) We stopped a couple of miles outside the city to get some scenic views overlooking the tiny little city (about 380k people live there). Then it was onto the main attraction. Oh wait, there was no main attraction.
Here are some CCSA peeps at the lookout point.When I told my ex-roommate Gabi that I was going to visit Canberra while in Australia, he said, and I quote, "Canberra is butt." Turns out he was right. There is pretty much nothing there. We visited the High Court of Australia (the Aussie equivalent of the Surpreme Court) and Parliament.
John was kind of confused as to how we had walked through a "mall" and not seen any stores... we kindly explained to him that the "mall" was that big green strip we walked through on the way to parliament. Like I said... real exciting. 
In fact, the most exciting part was the crazy magpies that were mounting an attack on Jackie and John and I while we sat and had some coffee. We can't say we weren't warned. 
Okay... So onto Friday! E & J and I took the bus/train over to Bondi Beach and did the 8km coastal walk along the shore and cliffs from Bondi beach through Bronte and Tamarama, all the way to Coogee (pronounced "coo-jee"). It was BEAUTIFUL. 
We couldn't have picked a nicer day. There was barely a cloud in the sky, it was warm enough to wear t-shirts, and there was a slight breeze that delivered the refreshing scent of the sea and salt to our lips and noses. So great.
The walk probably took us a little longer than most, since we stopped every three feet to take another picture. but with rock formations and coastline like this, how could we not? 
There were many moments to be had, like this one where I just sat out on a big rock and stared out into the breaking waves. Talk about zen.
Unfortunately, I lost my favorite Nalgene on this little stroll... It had a great bumper sticker on it that said "Ultimate Frisbee: Because everyone can use a good huck." ...and another great sticker that looked like the blue and red NBA logo, except with a guy going up for a disc. Boo.
The afternoon was polished off with some fish and chips from a place appropriately called "Chish and Fips." Nothing like some beer battered fish and french fries to make a 8km walk worth it ;)
That evening, the three of us went out to see an Aussie band called Model School over in Surrey Hills. Not bad at all... but the opening bands weren't that great. Still, it was an enjoyable evening. The next day, we headed over to the Paddington outdoor market. First stop, though, was Centenial Park, where we tossed a frisbee around for a few minutes. I showed J & E some pointers on how to throw forehand, which they picked up very quickly. Here are a few shots of us:
(I'm sure I caught this throw... I'm sure it wasn't 5 feet above me and I wasn't just trying to look cool in the picture...)
Here are Jackie and I acting like a couple of kids in the park... Well, actually, there were these two kids in the park running around, and at one point, one of them just walked up to the other one and screamed in his face. Thus, the concept for this picture was born.
Next we moved onto the Max Brenner Chocolate Shop. Basically, think of all the chocolate delights you've ever had, then put them in one store. Then eat them. Yeah. It's that good. I had this thing called a... um... okay, I can't remember what it was called, but it was similar to a cinnamon bun, without so much cinnamon, and dipped in melted chocolate. With chocolate chips inside of it. Aughuhuahugaugahuag.....After wandering around Paddington market for a while (there wasn't much for us guys... mostly women's clothing and jewelry), we headed back to the hotel for a quick snooze before meeting our professor's friend (and now our friend) Guy Morrow, a local music business professor and artist manager extraordinaire. He took us to see his friend play at this great venue called The Basement, best known for it's jazz shows. This show, however, was all pop/rock and singer-songwriter types, much to my delight. The main act, Peregrine, was fantastic... A little Ben Folds, a little Toad the Wet Sprocket, and a little blues/rock... An excellent way to top off an excellent day.
Today has a few other things in store... Probably going to play some soccer in the park later this afternoon and possibly catch a free digeridoo concert over in Darling Harbour afterwards. Thanks to everyone who's been commenting... keep them coming! It's nice to know people are sharing in my Aussie experiences :)
later,
-e
4 comments:
Did you have an address on your Nalgene bottle? It would have been cool if it somehow made it back to you. Like if it hitched a ride on the East Australian current, down to the South Pacific, then to the South Atlantic, then maybe if it picked up enough speed, to the Gulf Stream and back up to the Northeast.
ugh, every day i read this, i grow a little greener...
my day yesterday was the most exciting of the summer - movies and drunkeness. but you - you get to pet koalas and lose nalgene bottles!
boo.
miss ya.
an address on your nalgene bottle would have been sweet. it would be cool if you could eat a good food with a bad food and the good food could cover for the bad food. like you could lose a nalgene with a postal package, and when they got to your stomach, the package would say, "it's cool - he's with me!"
I really enjoyed looking at your site, I found it very helpful indeed, keep up the good work.
»
Post a Comment