Days 12 through 14

Day 12: CERES and More Melbourne
This morning we went to a place called the Center for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies (CERES). It was a really interesting place filled with wind turbines, solar panels, community gardens, a farmers market, and a bunch of educational buildings. The idea of the center is to education people on what they can do to help the environment and to make people more aware of their environmental impact.
The most interesting things that I saw was the environmental friendly house they built that had a bunch of information inside of it on how to reduce energy consumption and build in a smarter manner. The house was actually a house that was already built somewhere else and was going to be destroyed but they decided to purchase the house and move it on site. This saved both costs and is a 100% recycling of materials. The farmers market was also really interesting because the center prided themselves on selling local foods and therefore saving transportation costs and the detrimental effects that transporting foods create.
For lunch we had sushi, which is one of the few things that is cheaper here! They also have really interesting rolls here, for example for $2.50 you can get a single long roll (almost like a burrito) that is probably equivalent to 6 small rolls. With that said, I’m excited to save money by eating tons of sushi and fish!

Sushi for $2.50!

Day 13: Wind Farm and Melbourne-ing
Today we went to the Hepburn Wind Farm, which is a community funded set of two windmills that power around 2,200 homes. The farm itself was a little unexciting because we were all waiting to see a huge array of wind turbines and found only two, but the concept of the farm was really awesome. With around 3,000 people donating an average of $5,000 the farm was created with a few government incentives and the investors all receiving cheaper sustainable energy and a return on their investment. With that said, the new government here is taking a huge fight against renewables, which was really interesting to learn about (and supports why I have heard so many negative comments about the new PM), but also really sad to hear. I hope the government will avoid this devastating cut to renewables, but in the end this farm is really cool and a great tactic that could really help in the energy crisis around the world.
Driving to this farm was also really cool because we drove through the rural farmland, which really reminded me of England (which makes sense seeing that this was an English colony. I also had my first meat pie today, which was super tasty and almost the only food I have had that is kind of native Australian. I am trying to get more Australian food, but sort of like America, the food here is very much determined by its immigrants. Therefore, there is tons of great Asian food and European food!
Today was a great finish to Melbourne, but farewell for now for tomorrow we are off to Sydney!

Wind Farm Field Trip

Day 14: The Start of Sydney
After a short one-hour flight to Sydney, we settled in to our new dorms at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The dorms here a super nice and it is interesting hearing that college here is very different, with most students living at home and the dorms mainly being for international students. After registering to get a student ID and Internet access (finally!), we went and played soccer, and got some really great Thai food! As I mentioned before, the Asian food here is really good and really abundant. Tonight was kind of a lazy night, with all of us catching up on sleep, but tomorrow the next two weeks of adventures in Sydney begins.

Days 8 through 11

Day 8: Crocodile Jumping and Class
This morning we drove to a place called Crocodile Jumping, which was a boat ride where some trained professionals used bait to get a crocodiles to jump alongside the boat while educating us on the species. Crocodiles are extremely dangerous and are actually a hugely patrolled danger to humans. We were told by one of the tour guides about how her nephew was eating about a crocodile and how dangerous they truly are. We were also told a story about a huge crocodile that would tip over boats and that it was later discovered that the engine noises from the boat’s is what irritated the crocodile to the point of attacking the boats. We also got to hold snakes at the attraction, which was pretty cool.
After going to Crocodile Jump, we moved to our new campsite, which was on a farm that was pretty awesome. There were horses, pony’s, and around a hundred wallabies roaming around. They were super cool to watch, especially the wallabies because it is so interesting to see how they hop around unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
Our tour guide/driver this entire time has also been super cool! His name is Mark and he is one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met. He has taught us a ton about everything ranging from pulling over and picking some local flowers then showing us they were edible to talking to me about Australian politics. Again I love learning about the difference in culture and I am increasingly becoming fond of the Australian lifestyle and would love the idea of living here in the future. Maybe one day I will live here, but either way this trip has been extremely educational and fun!

Jumping Crocodiles!

Croc!

Day 9: Waterfalls, Swimming, and Lichfield National Park
This morning/afternoon we went to Lichfield National Park, which is like a smaller version of Kakadu National Park but just as beautiful. We also went to a three different waterfalls and swam in their ‘swimming holes’, which was really fun, especially at the first one where we climbed up the cliff side and dove about 20 feet down into the deep water below.
We ended the day with some class where we learned about bioenergy technology. It was really interesting even if it doesn’t directly link to my major, which is another thing I really love about this course.
Once again, I would like to add some more phrases and things I have learned in Australia:
-Before I forgot to mention the whole driving on the other side of the road thing, which is really interesting especially because of the different in left and right turns
-Yellow lights are actually called amber or orange lights, which kind of makes more sense
-Gas (like for cars) is actually called petrol
-Make sure you bring sunglasses everywhere because the sunlight is super bright here!

Swimming holes with the whole group!

Day 10: On to Melbourne
Today we flew to Melbourne, which took about 4 hours. We proceeded to check into our hostel then ate dinner at a Korean restaurant and had a really fun chilling night. One thing that I have liked on this trip is both trying to really get to know people while also not forming a click and hanging out with the same people all the time. I also love taking a night off from going out to clubs or bars and instead just talking to people and learning about all the people from all these different places. It’s been a long day because of the traveling so I will go to bed early and invest in some sleep.

Day 11: Discovering Melbourne
Today, we woke up early to go on a tour of the city. Melbourne really is a cool city with its numerous art museums, really vibrant alleys filled with restaurants and shops, and marveling architecture that is extremely abundant. After the tour, some friends and I wandered around town, including the Melbourne Convention Center, which was an extremely large and interesting building.
I have always been a huge fan of architecture and the convention center along with a bunch of other buildings around town really made me appreciate this city. Melbourne seems extremely cool, so I’m excited to see how Sydney matches up.

Street art in Melbourne!