This Side- Nickel Creek

"Only the curious have something to find..."

This weekend Eli and I went camping outside of Whitfield, Victoria in the Alpine National Park. To give you an idea of where that is: close your eyes and picture the middle of nowhere. We were a little further out than that.

It took close to four hours to reach the campgrounds. The drive was along the same route it took to get to the Healesville Sanctuary, and although the countryside was slightly more familiar this time, it was no less astounding. When we got to the mountain range my ears kept popping and I had to constantly yawn to keep the pressure to a minimum. There was also a moment when both Eli and I both thought we had lost our minds because the moon was to the right of us, and suddenly it was in front of us. Then we remembered: we were going in circles around a mountain. The small moments like that were the best parts about the weekend.

We woke up shortly after the sun- around 7am. I was surprisingly awake and very excited to start our trip. I cleaned up the car and Eli made breakfast- bacon and egg sandwiches. Once we had everything put back together we headed out to the power lookouts. Eli said this was a great area for pictures, and he wasn’t kidding! Even the drive over had a view to die for. I made him pull over so I could get out and take a picture of the valley below us that had a cloud sitting right inside of it. It was unbelievable.

Set on the side of the mountain, the lookouts had a spectacular view of the valley below and the mountains in the distance. Nothing could capture or justify the beauty in this area. I tried to take pictures, but they don’t do the scenery justice. Eli scared me half to death with his daredevil antics. He decided to climb over the barrier and out onto on of the overhanging rocks to get a better view- I don’t think I took another breath until he had safely returned to the proper side of the rail.

Next we hiked down the side of the mountain to find a waterhole that a famous old bushranger had used in the 1700s or 1800s when he was running from the police (a bushranger is Australia’s name for a cowboy). The slope was rainy, muddy, and slippery and I lost my footing a few times, but made it down eventually. We found the waterhole and saw there was a cave in the mountain just above it- so we climbed some of the rocks and made our way inside. The cave was empty, but Eli assumes a feral dog sleeps there at night, so I quickly made my way back down.

Our next stop was Paradise Falls. It was about a 15 or 20 minute walk down a set of winding, stone stairs until we suddenly turned a corner and saw the two rushing waterfalls in front of us. Absolutely breathtaking- the falls lived up to their name. I was astounded and speechless. The falls were massive and so powerful. This time, I initiated the boundary breaking so we could get a better look. I stood behind and directly underneath the waterfall- close enough to feel the spray and looked up to the heavenly sight. If it was warmer, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about jumping in the water in front of me to play in the unbelievable beauty- it was the kind of beautiful you want to be a part of- you want to fold yourself into it like a blanket and feel at peace with it. I think I simply stood and stared at the picture perfect sight for 15 minutes. I wanted the beauty to be seared into my memory. Some of the walls were a yellow tint and I asked Eli about it- he told me about how the tint turns into paint when you get it wet and the aborigines used to use it for art and storytelling. He told me yellow and red are the two colors most common in Victoria, but there is also green, white, black, blue, and many other variations. We climbed and explored around the falls for a bit and finally, begrudgingly, started our hike back up to the car.

The rest of the weekend we spent trekking through the wilderness, either on foot or in Eli’s truck. There were a few scary moments where I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it up or down a certain area, but the 4-wheel drive always pulled through. At one point I saw a track off the side of the road that went almost directly up, I pointed at it and asked if we could make it up- Eli decided we should find out. We made it to the top and found ourselves on the peak of a very steep drop. We both got out of the car to see how impossible it looked- and it was an intimidating drop- probably quite a bit steeper than 45 degrees. But, fearless, we got back in the car, put our seatbelts on, and went for an adventure. We ended up driving the track and it took us, basically, over the top of a few mountains. It was a spectacular experience. On our way back to our original campsite we stopped and took pictures of a dozen or so wild kangaroos that were just across a field- I was so excited to see some in the wild!

We stopped and had a hefty lunch of Australian sausages at our original campsite and then made our way into the bush to find Eli’s favorite spot- a campsite right on the edge of a secluded lake. We gave ourselves plenty of daylight to make it in, which I am very happy about. It took us about an hour to travel about 5 kilometers because we were in such dense foliage, mud, and water. If there was a tree in the way (which we ran across a few fallen trees in the processes), it didn’t really bother Eli, he simply drove off into the woods/grass/wilderness next to the track and we forged our way around. We made it to our campsite, which had a marvelous view, started a fire and set up camp for the night.

Sunday morning we did some exploring in the secluded area around the campsite. While driving a few kangaroos jumped out right in front of the car and took off in front of us- almost in a teasing way. I startled and laughed out loud—it was certainly a sight I don’t see very often. The track we chose was terrifying and we didn’t make it too far before we decided to turn around. We ran into a part of the ground that was almost completely caved in and, thankfully, Eli decided we probably shouldn’t risk falling into a huge pit in the middle of the outback. On our way out of the bush wallabies and kangaroos dashed across the track in front of us—every time I was so excited I would burst out a little yell like a child on a rollercoaster.

We headed home after making our way out of the bush and although I was sad to leave the beauty of the jungle-like Victorian outback, I know we will be back (hopefully in warmer conditions as well!) Now I really have to focus on some school work that is due later this week—something I am not looking forward to as much as the adventures that I’m sure are to come.

Happy Birthday- Patty and Mildred Hill

My birthday celebration began around 12:30 Friday the 13th. My friend Laura woke me with a chocolate cake, streamers, 2 balloons and confetti. While she normally has a beautiful voice, she walked into my room singing “Happy Birthday” in an extremely creepy male voice… I’m not quite sure what she was trying to accomplish, but it definitely work me up in a bit of a fright. I made my wish and blew out my candles and took a look at the balloon she had toted along with her. One she had dubbed as “Sassy Steve” and she drew a face on one side, and a butt on the other. I was ordered to “smack sassy Steve’s butt” in order for my birthday wish to come true. The other balloon was much more sentimental on it, she had written the following:

21 Reasons I Like You as a Bestie
1. You’re sassy
2. You’re sweet
3. You’re funny
4. You’re gorgeous
5. You got sick dance moves
6. You’re friendly
7. You love to have fun!
8. You smile a lot
9. You make me smile
10. You make everyone smile
11. You’re loud
12. You’re crazy
13. You are wise
14. You are youthful
15. You like boys a lot
16. You’re an amazing friend
17. I love spending time with you
18. You are selfless
19. You’re adventurous
20. You’re spunky
21. I haven’t met anyone as lively, loving, sweet & saucy, pretty, entertaining, bad-a, & giving, caring, inspiring, cute & funny altogether as you!

So if that’s not a midnight ego booster, I don’t know what is. After taking some unflattering pictures and storing the cake in the fridge, Laura and her host brother went back home and my roommates and I went back to sleep, but it was no where near the end of the birthday festivities.

Friday morning I had class and had a list of errands to run, so nothing too exciting went on until afternoon tea with my roommates. One of my roommates, Millie, had made a Lamington Cake for me. This consisted of two vanilla cakes stacked on top of each other with cream and jam in between, covered in chocolate and coconut. As can be imagined, it was delicious! We devoured almost the entire thing and washed it down with a bottle of champagne. They gave me a card with adorable notes from each of them and Millie gave me a necklace that she had made me- a beautiful wooden flower charm painted blue and white. Laura came over a little later and we started to get ready for the formal welcome drinks that were planned by a group called Swinmates. We had known about this event for a few weeks now and thought it would be a great experience to have on my birthday.

Ana, Chris, Brian, and Trent (Brian and Chris’ Australian roommate) showed up around 5:30 with presents, flowers, and warm wishes. The girls bought me a super cute bag that has cities of Australian written all over it, along with a scarf. The boys brought me a beautiful bouquet of purple and yellow flowers and a Smirnoff Ice with which they “iced” me. Pretty typical.

We headed down the road to the Hawthorn Pub to meet with the rest of the international students for the formal welcome drinks. I had a 21 badge on that my roommate Daniella had gotten for me. When you hit a button on the back of it, it lit up in a festive manner- prefect for a 21st birthday celebration.

After a few hours at the Hawthorn a group of us jumped on a train and headed to downtown Melbourne (or the CBD- Central Business District). There we grabbed a late dinner and headed to a club called La Di Da. The most eventful trip was trying to get home from there. The trains stop running at midnight, but we didn’t leave the club until around 2:00am. Laura, Eli, and I had to try to find a Night Rider bus and take it back into the suburb of Hawthorn, in which we live. Wandering the streets of Melbourne at 2:00 in the morning is surprisingly safe and unintimidating. Of course, we did have Eli the Aussie with us who knew the area a little bit better. We jumped on and got home around 3:30 am. An overall successful birthday celebration if you ask me.

The next morning (Saturday) we woke up fairly early and headed to a footy game. Footy is Australian Rules Football which is extremely different from American Football. The ball is bounced on the ground and carried; the only way to pass the ball is to “handball” it or kick it and you must kick the ball through the specific poles to score. It’s entirely too complicated to explain on here, but it was super interesting to watch. Also, the game was largely a Victorian sport for a long time (Victoria is the state in which Melbourne resides) and 80% of the footy teams are from the state of Victoria. Australians also have a tendency to be very passionate about their footy teams. There was a section in the stadium we were not allowed into because you have to be a member of the club to get in. Their seats were nothing special, the only thing different was they had a great location, but it was explained to us that people need to put in an application to have seats in the section and often can wait up to 20 years to get approved. Not only does that process need to take place, but also they need to pay thousands of dollars a year to keep their placement. Very passionate, indeed.

We were not so invested. We paid $13 and found a nice group of seats on the 4th tier, which was surprisingly okay seating—the stadium is so huge (because the field is so large) that each tier can fit an astounding amount of people. The Richmond Tigers lost horribly to the Carlton Blues- a final score somewhere around 50-136 or something crazy like that.

The group headed back to Hawthorn for a feast of kangaroo meat made by the lovely Chris and Brian and a relaxing movie. It was a great birthday weekend, made even better by my fabulous friends. I received dozens (if not hundreds!) of “happy birthday” wishes via my facebook friends and a heartwarming card from my Grandma! My parents sent me adorable gifts and that I received a few days later. Overall, I felt very loved and a lot less lonely than I was expecting to be. It feels great to be 21!

Take My Breath Away- Berlin

And that is exactly what the picturesque Yarra Valley did for me. With rolling hills, unbelievably green foliage and vineyards for miles, the bus ride to and from the Healesville Sanctuary was absolutely breathtaking. But first, let me digress, for getting to the Sanctuary is a story in and of itself…

A company called “The Real Experience” came to the international orientation on Monday to tell us all about their exciting tours and opportunities they offer all around Victoria. The first of which was a trip to the Healesville Sanctuary, an up-close-and-personal zoo where you can interact with many of the animals. They encouraged all 150 international students to sign up and go, because no one would want to miss that experience. I was included in the many students excited to participate, but unfortunately I didn’t have money in my Australian bank account yet to pay for the excursion. The company never mentioned a cut off date for sign up, so I figured once my wire transfer went through I would have no problem signing up. I was wrong. It turns out the team had capped the number of people allowed to attend at a mere 103. So, those spots had obviously filled up very quickly and many of us were left without a spot. I found this out Wednesday night (the trip was on Friday). I was so upset that I would be missing this experience so I e-mailed the company, desperately asking for any sort of solution—I even offered to pay extra! But, to no avail. The Real Experience was not going to budge on their number.

Frustrated with our situation, my friend Laura and I sought our own solution. With a little research and elbow grease we discovered there was a way to reach the Sanctuary by public transportation (of which they have a great system here in Melbourne). A train and two buses would get us to the Yarra Valley location in a little under two hours! Granted, this was slightly longer than the one-hour bus ride our peers would be taking, but our trip would be about $30 cheaper—a fair trade if you ask me! So, with our collective group of 5—the people Laura and I knew who were in the same boat as us, headed off around 8 am Friday morning to hop on the train (and two buses) that would take us through the countryside and to the zoo.

Get ready for this: we saw… Emus, koalas, echidnas, a platypus, a goanna lizard, wallabies, bats, pelicans, wombats, Tasmanian devils, Australian birds, rodents, and reptiles, dingo puppies, adult dingoes, and… my favorite… we got to feed and pet kangaroos! It was an amazing opportunity. We fed the kangaroos corn and carrots and they would eat right out of your hand. We were told not to pet them on their head or chests, mostly because that is what they do if they want to spar with each other- and no one wants to get kicked or punched by a kangaroo thinking you want to fight!

So, on our way home, while the rest of my traveling companions slept, I watched the landscape go by, so grateful for all the experiences I have had so far. Sometimes I need to take a step back from reality and say to myself, “wow, I’m in Australia!” because it all just seems too surreal.

Other than this exciting trip to the sanctuary, most of my time has spent simply assimilating and making friends. I went shopping with my roommate Millie yesterday and classes start (for me) on Wednesday (I don’t have classes Mondays or Tuesdays). I am still extremely homesick, but I am doing my best and being an independent “big girl”… but it is a challenge.