Settling In

It's been a week since I've arrived in the sunshine coast and so far I've been doing a lot of uninteresting things like buying food, setting up a bank account, figuring out the joys of prepaid cell phones.

Orientation or "O" week started Monday, but most of the sessions relevant to me were on Monday and Tuesday, so the rest of this week I've been taking it easy. Right now I've been meeting a lot of international students like myself. Mostly Germans (there are a 150 Germans here!) and fellow Americans. I'm excited for classes to start and to meet more aussies.

Highlights of the Week
- Winning a Starbucks French Coffee Press at a Trivia Night
- Being a "model" for USC
- Going to Mooloolaba with fellow Americans
- The Unicentral (my apartment complex) Welcome Party

Yesterday I took a bus trip with the school to Kondalilla Falls National Park and to Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve. The Kondalilla Falls is a 100m (300+ft) waterfall! It was really cool to be in a rainforest. I was hoping to see a Koala but instead saw alot of bush turkeys. Sadly, I think I also broke my camera. At the top of the falls is a tiny waterfall that feeds into a large (and very deep) pool. I was down by the water, sticking my feet in the pool, and when i got up, my camera fell out of my hands into the pool. At first I thought I had lost it completely but luckily i was able to lie down, stick my entire arm in the freezing water and retrieve my soaked camera. Right now I have my camera in a bag of rice (It supposedly helps absorb the water). It probably won't work, but I'm going on a fool's hope. I think I need to invest in a waterproof camera.

At Mary Cairncross, there was a nice path that pointed out some of the native plants like the strangler fig which envelopes other trees till it becomes a gigantic tree itself. I spotted three wallabies and heard lots of unusual bird calls.

Its a lot warmer here than it was in New Zealand, but it still gets surprisingly chilly in the afternoons, I've been drinking a lot of tea to warm my insides!

-Suz

New Zealand (and Australia)

I have safely arrived in Australia, but before I talk about that I need to talk about New Zealand.

Me and my sister Liz left July 4th and headed to Los Angeles, where we boarded Air New Zealand and headed for Auckland New Zealand. After the twelve hour flight we landed in New Zealand around seven in the morning on Tuesday July 6. From there we took a bus into the city. We had just gotten off the bus and were trying to cross a street and it said 6 seconds to cross. I said "WE CAN MAKE IT!" Liz started running across, and well then I started to run too. But as I did the wheels of my luggage lost contact with the wet slick pavement and I found myself unable to run and carry luggage at the same time. When I attempted to regain contact between the wheels of my bag and the ground, I tripped myself. As I went down, my laptop slipped off the top of my wheeler bag. I fell on my left side, my left arm reaching out, and my laptop went under me and on the slick pavement served as a bodyboard that sent my sliding. I landed there, my arm outstretched, crying "LIZ LIZ HELP HELP!" By this time the six seconds were long gone and the cars (and people) were staring at this drama in the intersection. We couldn't help but laughing as we picked up my scattered belongings and continued down the road. We checked into our room at the Nomad's Fat Camel, and interesting backpacking hostel. We attempted to stay awake the rest of the day to get on New Zealand time, which meant we wandered around Auckland like Zombies. We managed to stay up till 7 when we got a free meal from Nomad's of bangers and mash. Then after being awake fore more than 40 hours we went to sleep.

On Wednesday July 7th we took a bus from Auckland to Wellington, where we stayed in a 8-share room in the famous (or infamous) Waterloo Hotel. We both decided that sharing a room with six other strangers (most of which we didn't see but just heard them snoring) was not really our cup of tea.

On Thursday we took a bumpy ferry ride across Cook Strait and landed in Picton where we were met by my mom's cousin Mitch and his wife Deb. We had lunch with their daughter Shannon and her two kids Giovanna and Noah. From we spent the night at Mitch and Deb's and on Friday went to Arapawa Island! There we stayed with Mary, my mom's cousin. We took a walk around the island where we saw the Arapawa goats!

The cold night at Arapawa was eased by our new found friend: The Hottie. Also known as the Hot Water Bottle, while we had heard of such a thing, we had never really used them before to keep warm at night. We both agree its something we are going to have use when winter comes around to the states.

After spending the weekend down in the Marlborough Sounds, we head to Christchurch with Pam, our second cousin! First we stopped off in Kaikoura where we saw fur seals. In christchurch we took a Gondola ride and saw some breathtaking views of the Southern Alps. We made smores at the Sign of the Bellbird. On our last night in Christchurch we went to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve where we got to see some native (and introduced) New Zealand wildlife. The highlight of course being the kiwi bird! Very strange creatures! We also learned a bit about Moari Culture.
On thursday we take a lovely train ride back to Picton, though i was so tired I slept through most of it. And there we made our way back up to Auckland the same way we came, not the most efficient route but it suited us just fine.

From Auckland I had only a three hour flight to Brisbane where I caught a ride to my apartment adjacent to The University and I am now getting settled!

So far 2 of my three roommates have moved in. The one is from Germany, the other I haven't seen much of yet, and the third is Australian and will be arriving in a couple of days.

Tomorrow Orientation starts and I'm excited to see more of this new and vast country and get to meet new people!

-Suz

HAPPY AMURIKA DAY! (and goodbye)

I leave today for New Zealand and Australia!
Right now I'm pretty chill. I was really nervous about two weeks ago, but now I'm just ready to get this adventure started.
I'm also pretty tired which I'm hoping will allow me to sleep on the long flights ahead.

I'm going to miss everyone in Lancaster and the rest of the states.

I'm going to try to update this, but there are so many forms of communication I might not get around to this one.

Take Care!

Happy 4th of July!

-Suz

Registered!

All of my paperwork for Australia is pretty much done now.
I've got my visa.
Its just working out the banking. Loans, power of attorney, opening a bank in Australia, currency exchanges... that kind of stuff.

Also! I'm registered for the four classes I wanted to take!
I'm taking...

Introduction to Indigenous Australia
Forests, Carbon, and Climate (has a two day field trip!)
Australia Wildlife (has a four day field trip!)
Rural and Regional Sustainability

And I have no classes Mondays or Thursdays! So I have three day weekend and a break in the middle of the school week (after a very busy day on Wednesday with classes from 10 to 6 with no break! Yikes!)

Australia

Australia is coming more of a reality everyday!
I now have my plane tickets, an acceptance to University of the Sunshine Coast, and an apartment in Australia!

Still a lot to do!

-Suz

Happy Earth Day!

"Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel. by virtue of this curious loophole in the rules, any clodhopper may say: Let there be a tree-and there will be one." - Aldo Leopold

Happy Earth Day!

Planting Trees!

It's Earth Day Time!

We are planting 30+ fruit trees in our fields. Plums, Applies, Cherries, Pears, and Peaches.
I pulled on my boots, gripped the shovel, and breathed life into their quivering limbs.

Saturday I'm planting Chestnut trees with the conservancy. I can barely contain my excitement.

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." - Martin Luther King Jr."

-Suz

P.S. I whistled today! I shall master it! I shall!