Diurnal Adelaide

Adelaide falls asleep at around 8 pm. Seriously, not much is open past 7. Which stinks if you ever want to go out and do something, but it's awesome if you just like to walk around and explore in peace. 

Everyone sleeps....except this guy. He was
 just chilling painting the mural for Mayo's makeover

I'm super proud of this photo, so if you don't like it....whatever

Perth Part 2: Or how my fall break became really expensive

Guys, I really like Perth. It's not super exciting like I'd imagine Sydney and Melbourne would be, but hey, it's better than Adelaide. Plus, the food is really REALLY good. My first night back I went to this Indian restaurant called Annalakshmi- it's a buffet that is (get ready) all you can pay! As an American (aka poor) student (aka poorer) this phrase is music to the ears. So when I went, I ate way too much food- it was all vegetarian and they had a selection of curries and rices and even this tamarind soup that was pretty interesting. But when I found out it was being run by a charity, I ended up giving them $20. Ugh, conscious.

I think I'm starting to turn into a city girl. I had no qualms walking about the city by myself at night and shooting different areas. Considering I used to be (and still kind of am) afraid of the dark, I would say that is pretty good! It was a Saturday night, so there were people all dressed up for the clubs and bars- it was pretty classy.

On my day 2 back I went to Fremantle with a super adorable Korean gal from my dorm. At my hostel, most of the other people were staying for at least a few weeks; apparently, Perth is a good place for backpackers to find work. Fremantle is very cool- it's a small beach town with a market, an old prison, and a nice harbor with a plethora of fish and chips places. Plus, the Little Creatures microbrew is there and it's not bad. Not bad at all.

Next stop was the beach. I have officially been to 75% of the world's oceans, people! Whoop! It's a shame I won't be able to get to the Arctic Ocean when I go to Iceland, but I'll just have to travel some more to get there :) The water was nice- pretty warm, actually- but the weather was fussy. It would rain for 30 seconds and then get really windy and then sunny BUT WAIT more rain and wind. So not super fun but a nice day overall.

I was super keen to get back into the city by 5 pm because that was when the paczki truck was going to close. But funny story, while I was eating a plum paczek my flight to Adelaide was departing. I had thought it was leaving on Monday, not Sunday (plot twist!), and only figured that out when I tried to print my boarding passes a day late. WHOOPS. But in my extra 24 hours I got a nice tour of the hipster district and King's Park from the Buckeye Shia LeBouf lookalike I met my first day here. So it wasn't a complete waste. But now I know to write down my itineraries...or tattoo them, depending on how important they are!

Northcliffe in Pictures

 Over the week, I found out my hosts were a little politically alternative, that fake meat is kind of disgusting, and that weeding for 5 hours a day by yourself can a) make you go crazy and b) kill your back. But overall it was a good experience. I recommend Help-Ex-ing for anyone who doesn't go into situations with too many preconceptions! Now for some photos:

My hut. I lived in a storage container for a week

To be fair, it wasn't that bad. But it would have
been better if:
a. I knew how to make a fire
b. I didn't have to hear rats every night

Mill community right by the town center

The granite rock on which I lost one of my
memory cards :(

Karri trees- very, very big eucalypts

My reading material for the week. The New Woman is from
1999, and the Woman's Day is from 2004. 

My hosts didn't throw anything away. Apparently, letting
cars oxidize is more environmentally friendly than recycling
the metal?

1 graph, 2 lessons

And by "novelty" I mean "exasperation." No, English is not my first language...

I've found that, as I've hung around animals for longer periods of time, I keep assuming they understand more and more English. By the end of this trip, I'll be discussing the sociology behind the authoritarian regime in 1984 with the alpacas.

Alive and well in Northcliffe

Finally got to meet my hostel mates. There was a guy from Lapland and a couple of Korean girls. Once I said I studied in Texas, the girls got really excited. Apparently, they want to travel to Texas to meet some cowboys. And yes, of course I encouraged it.

I love how every bus station in every city on the face of the planet has to be located in a sketchy area (no, parents, not that sketchy. This is Australia, not Detroit). It took a while to trek from the hostel to the bus stop, but luckily I got there. Pro tip: if you ever need to get to/from the East Perth station, just suck it up and get a cab. Not worth the confusing map directions and lack of confidence that occurs when you notice your neighborhood is a bit different. 

The bus ride was long and boring. The coach reminded me of the coaches we used to take to go to Chicago for our middle school orchestra competitions, except I got a whole row to myself, there wasn't always a movie playing, and there was a LOT less drama ;) (Not that we could help it, of course. That's just how middle school goes.) Luckily for me, it was raining the entire ride down so I slept through most of it. 

Northcliffe is cute but so so so small. I got picked up by my hostess and taken to their property. They live on 12 acres- most of it is bush, but the gardens are considerable. While I'm here, I'll be staying in a boxcar. Just like the Boxcar Children, except my life will just be turned into boring blog posts rather than a boring book series. It's really not nearly as bad as it sounds, though; in fact, I like it. It's got a wooden stove for heat and a lofted bed and stained glass and a stove for tea, and tons of reading material. The one thing I'll have to get used to is the bathroom being outside. I just don't like the dark.

When I first read about the shed on HelpX I though, “really?” But it makes sense now: my hosts live in a shed, too. They're in the process of building their own house. It's really cool: they're using a combination of reclaimed and environmentally-friendly materials to make their home. My hosts are super into sustainable practices: their farm sounds like it's straight out of The Omnivore's Dilemma. They have chickens for fertilizer and have surrounded their farm by bush. And they have these crazy fruits I've never heard of before. I tried a fruit from South America (I can't remember the name of it for the life of me) today- it tasted like a creamy, coconut-ty pear. I'm excited to see what other sorts of things I come across while I'm here. 

 

So far, my hosts seem like wonderful people, and the area is quiet and calm. I think it's the perfect place for me right now. I'm surrounded by green things, I don't have to worry about city drivers cursing at me for no reason while I'm on my bike, and I can't check Facebook constantly on my phone. I like getting away from it all every once in a while, and spending my nights reading and blogging in front of a fire while Norah Jones is playing sounds like a good time to me.

A taste o' Perth

The flight to Perth was long. Even though I've flown a lot, and I'm from the United States, it still amazes me how far away Australian cities are from each other. Adelaide to Perth took 3.5 hours- I think that is about the same amount of time it would take to fly from St. Louis or Chicago to Los Angeles. But I've definitely been on worse flights.

Mass transit in Perth is weird. (I think) there is only one bus that takes you from the airport to the CBD. This bus takes the most convoluted route any bus could take; the bus took a turn at least once every kilometer and spent most of its time on really dark, sketchy back streets. The roads didn't help, either. In typical Australian fashion, there were those useless traffic circles everywhere. I felt so seasick just getting to my hostel!

Once I got into the city, though, it seemed really nice. Like Adelaide, Perth is pretty clean and well-lit. And the weather was awesome- mid 70s with a nice breeze :) And, as far as I know, the city is friendly too! On my way to dinner, I met another guy from not just the United States, but from the Metro Detroit area, small world! Even though he studied at Ohio State (ssssssss...) we hung out for a while. It's always kind of nice to meet other Americans since there really aren't many around besides the few that have come to Adelaide together. Apparently, I was the only American he had met since the Superbowl. Dang...

The hostel was really cool on the outside: it was previously a military barrack (hence the name Old Swan Barrack Hostel). But when I checked in at 10, everyone in my room was already asleep! C'mon backpackers, what do you do if you don't explore or go crazy? Plus, some guy stole my pillow, so I had to sleep with my head on the kinda-gross duvet. What a weenie. Over it.

The meaning of procrastination

In my Latin class freshman year of high school, we had a report due every Friday about how Latin was involved in our lives. Usually, we'd just bring coins or stamps or old collegiate mottoes to class. I remember one week someone just brought the word "procrastinate"- the word literally means "for tomorrow." It's apt.

Anyway, I bring this up because I want to make this blog post as long as possible and I don't have much to write about. Exams start tomorrow- eek!- and I am not keen on starting my studying for the night. So, I have turned to Photoshop. It's really effective at helping me waste time...thank goodness.

I started looking at photos from the beach/sunset shoot this Sunday. In the usual fashion, I forgot to charge my battery and so it died about 1.5 hours before the sunset actually happened. I will definitely be buying an extra battery if I keep this up! But anyway, a friend lent me his camera for a good part of the sunset. So I have pictures, just not in a form I can use- his camera shoots in .RW2s and apparently I need to download something for that (aside- I hate technology). But the area was still really pretty! Not much of a beach, but sand gets annoying after a while.

Fall break!

I just booked most of my tickets for fall break. Whoop whoop! I'll be spending one week in Northcliffe, Western Australia. If that doesn't sound like a huge tourist trap, that's probably because it's not- only 412 people live in this town and, contrary to my first thoughts, it's not actually on the beach. It is close to some national parks, and if I am keen on going to the beach I could borrow a bike for the 25km trek. I will be staying a few nights in Perth, though, so maybe I can get my Indian Ocean-ing on more easily there! In Northcliffe, I'll be doing some HelpXing/WWOOFing (look at me, turning all euro) at an organic farm. I'm excited for whatever adventure it will turn out to be :)

Trash, technology, and topology. Also known as Easter break.

Because Adelaide is apparently a more religious city than College Station (I don't know how that works, either), we all got a 4 day weekend for Easter. I definitely won't complain, but let's be real, Texas. You are the creator of the Bible Belt. It's embarrassing that I usually have to go to class on Good Friday.

My weekend was exciting! Lots of things happened, and I got many opportunities to spend a lot of money.

On Friday, I went around with a friend and tried to find "dirty" areas of Adelaide to photograph- he's into taking pictures of graffiti, garbage bins, abandoned buildings, etc and so I said sure, why not. Now, the problem with this is that Adelaide is a really clean city. You know how cities usually have bums and trash everywhere? Yeah, not Adelaide. I don't understand why- I've been in smaller cities much dirtier (Detroit's population is 75% that of Adelaide)- but my theory is that there is a undercover janitor gang that literally sweeps the streets at night. But anyway, here are some photos. I learned a lot and it was a good time... but then again, anything that gets me dirty and climbing is a riot for me.

New rule of thumb(?) If it grosses you out, take a picture of it

To offset the dead bird. Also, it was the cutest duck by far

Then, on Saturday, I taught my phone how to swim. Well, either that or it was tired of being my music player, because it fell out of my hands and jumped into the drainage system. Dear engineers: please redesign runoff drains so that electronics can't use them to end their lives. I had to drop another $60 just on a silly phone for 3 months. But, on the bright side, the Vodafone guy and I are BFFs now. And I now know to start wearing clothing with pockets.

Sunday was dreary and raining and cold and all the drivers were in a bad mood. Monday involved a lot of topology that I had forgotten. And apparently I have two tests the day before I leave for Perth next week? Great timing, professors. I will be doing a lot of studying these next few days.