Tim Tams are my new favorite food.

Okay... If you haven't tried Tim Tams, you haven't lived. For real. Such chocolately goodness should be deemed a controlled substance and banned from stores. Or, maybe just stockpiled in a warehouse somewhere. A warehouse to which only I have the key...

Anyhow, lots has happened since my last entry... let's see...

The last few days were spent doing all kinds of new things... Hanging out with some new friends, visiting new friends, seeing new things, finding out all kinds of new things that can kill you (more on that later), and lots of new pictures.

On Thursday, we went to visit the APRA and AMCOS offices in Sydney... We learned a bunch of interesting stuff about the Australian copyright system and made some good contacts. Aussies are so freaking nice :) That night, Jackie and Eryn and I walked all around Darling Harbour and visited the Aquarium. It was fantastic... Especially since I hadn't been to an aquarium in such a long time. The sharks were probably the most awe inspiring... but the seals were super cute, as were the penguins. And the GIANT sting ray was pretty awesome too. A big statue of the shark from Finding Nemo out front was entertaining as well, especially when Eryn cuddled up with it (nearly knocking it over). We also found a huge poster of Ronald McDonald looking particularly gay, but still fabulous. So fabulous, in fact, that we had to take a picture with it, while trying to emulate his excitement.

Friday afternoon was spent at Paddy's Market, this huge warehouse marketplace filled with little booths selling your typical tourist merchandise. I finally picked up one of those Australia zip-up shirts that everyone on this trip has bought... but at least i got it in the color i wanted, black. I also went with a few other people to go pick up some beer... Three of these guys decided to buy 30-packs of VB (yes, for those of you who know what VB is, that's right... they bought 90 cans of VB...) and then had to walk 20 minutes back to the train, then back to the hotel, carrying these 30-packs. Ah, brings back memories of college...

Friday night started with J & E and I going to a show at the Enmore Theater to see a local band called You Am I. The show was alright and the fans were crazy into the band. But the music got real repetitive and eventually boring... then the lead singer, who was not really all that attractive, took his shirt off, which pretty much gave us our cue to leave.

Afterwards, a bunch of us went out for Jessica's birthday (one of the girls in the program). We checked out a local club/bar called Jackson's. Once again, reminded me of college... But a great time was had by all. Btw, the jury is still out on whether or not aussies can dance... but i think they're leaning towards "no." :p

After a very late night, what's the last thing one wants to do? That's right...get up really really early. But, the payoff was great! Jackie Eryn and I went on a bus tour of the Blue Mountains and the Featherdale Wildlife Park. Our tour guide wasn't the nicest guy in the world, but he was very informative. So informative, in fact, that he insisted on telling us, over the course of the 8 hour trip, how many different things in Australia that will kill you. Among them:

- the most venomous snake in the world
- tarantulas
- octopi
- bull sharks
- spiders with huge fangs
- jaywalking (apparently, he hit a drunk jaywalker one time)
- lightning
- crocodiles

He also mentioned that you will kill the kangaroos if you feed them chocolate. And you will kill the koalas if you hold them. Awesome.

ANYhow, first stop was the park... Here's a pic of me holding a baby wallabie. So cute. Inside this park were the cutest animals on the face of the planet: koala bears. that's right folks, i finally got to pet a koala bear on the back of its head!! I didn't get to feed it a leaf, unfortunately. But the experience was still worth it. And after seeing them up close and personal, I can definitely see how a koala bear infestation would indeed be the cutest infestestion ever. I didn't get to feed it a leaf, but it was munching on one at the time, so that's good enough for me. I also got to feed kangaroos and wallabies. We saw a huge assortment of great animals too... oh, and for those of you who hate zoos out there, know that the Featherdale Wildlife Park only rescues injured animals from the wild. They nurse them back to health, and if they get well enough, release them back into the wild. Woot.

After the park, we moved onto the Blue Mountains... 'Twas bootiful! Kind of reminded me of the Grand Canyon, but not quite as deep (okay, not nearly as deep), and much greener. But it was grand nonetheless... We also got to go down into the valley and see the Australian rainforest. It was so peaceful and green down there... well, save some screaming kids, at least. We also took a crazy rail car ride back up the mountain. Apparently, it's the steepest rail car ride in the world. It was freaky as all hell, though... Because you were facing the ground as this rail car pulled you up, backwards, higher and higher, and you felt yourself tipping forward more and more. Very scary.

We also got to see Jackie try out a digeridoo. She did great for her first time, actually! And our tour guide demonstrated a boomerang for us (which is not supposed to hit animals, mind you... it was just used as a tool to scare birds so they'll fly out of their trees into nets that hunters would set up around the trees... who knew?). After that, we headed for a quick stop at the Olympic Park, which was pretty cool... Then hopped on the ferry to get back home.
Here is the beautiful sunset that we were treated to while waiting for the ferry to arrive:

Saturday night was another night out on the town with some of the folks from the program to celebrate Monica's birthday (Jessica's sister, actually). We got Monica up on stage with the coverband for the start of her career as a professional tambourine player ;) After another late night, E & J and I headed over to Balmain to check out the local town, get some brunch and hang out a bit. Then E & i ran back to the hotel (literally) to get changed to go play some soccer in the park with a couple of CCSA guys (and one older italian dude). Later that evening, a few of us went out to see Over the Hedge, which turned out to be a very cute little movie, starring a bunch of great actors (and had a great soundtrack, all done by Ben Folds). After a few rounds of cards (games played: spoons, egyptian rat screw and Arab rummy), it was time to turn in for the evening.

Also, on a personal note, I'm feeling much better (thanks for the well wishes, Marcia!). Also, I'm trying to fit some Aussie slang into my vocabulary, like "mate," "cheers," and my favorite, "no worries."

OH... And I'm taking a poll for anyone reading this blog... What do you put in a Blue Moon beer: a slice of lemon or orange? please comment and tell me! (anyone can comment now, not just registered users).

Alright... now it's back to the hotel to get some homework done!

-e