Tasmania

Tasmania is so beautiful!  Mountains (high enough to have snow), lakes, rivers, lots of trees ... any nature nut would love it here.  In fact, their license plate slogan is "TASMANIA - YOUR NATURAL STATE".  I thought this slogan was quite humorous the first time I saw it!

Luke and I have decided to rent a car to go see some of the sights around Hobart these next two days.  Hopefully tomorrow we will see the Huron valley with all of of the trees and scenic lookouts, and Thursday we hope to see some Tasmania Devils and the convict prison at Port Arthur.  Both are going to be super long days, as I'm sure we'll get lot a couple of times and we'll want to see as much as we can.  Hopefully the driving on the left side thing won't confuse us that much! 

I can't believe we've been traveling for 18 days already!  It seems like only yesterday that we were leaving Calgary!  I'm definitely have to plan a trip back to Australia sometime.  We haven't even touched the North or West coasts on this trip!

Well, I'd better get to bed early as we will be picking up the car at 8:30 am tomorrow, and then heading west long the coast.  Oh, two random things before I go:  The river that terminates in Hobart is the Derwent River (same name as Dad's hometown), and we hope to see the Cadbury Chocolate Factory on Friday before we leave!

Love you all,
Andrea

Highlights from my weekend in Sydney

There have been 5 highlights from the last 3 days.  In chronological order they are:

 

1. The new batman movie "The Dark Knight" on Imax: the screen made me dizzy, and made the gross parts really gruesome, but  it was a great movie!

 

2. Missa Solemnis: This is a mass written by Beethoven, and is supposedly his favourite.  I can see why!  The brass and double bass parts were awesome, and it was so cool to have 4 bassoons and a contra bassoon!  It was so exciting to see a performance at the Sydney Opera House!  I could go on about the acoustics and aesthetics forever, so it f you want details on this later just ask!

 

3. Bondi Beach: home of the first lifeguards, as well as a very beautiful beach and trendy suburb of Sydney.  The ocean was almost glacial lake cold, so we didn't go swimming.  But, it was hilarious to see the crazy tourists who did!

 

4. Closing Mass: there were 500 000 people there!  The crowds were unbelievable!  It was cool to attend a traditional mass with the Pope.  It was so traditional it included Gregorian chants and "Our Father" in Latin. But what was really exciting was being next to a huge group of Spaniards when the Pope announced WYD 2011 will be in Madrid, Spain.  They went nuts!

 

5. Hillsong Church Service:  from traditional church service to rock/punk service all in one day...  quite the opposites!  It was really cool to attend a famous church of that size and upbeat nature.

 

It's been so much fun here in Sydney.  Now we are off to Tasmania, where it will be cold (1 or 2 degrees) and not crowded at all.  I'm looking forward to the later and not the former!

 

Love,

Andrea

 

 

WYD & The Pope

The last 3 days have been filled with World Youth Day events.  Since there are so many people trying to get to WYD events, you have to start out 3 to 4 hours ahead of time.  This has meant Luke and I have spent a lot of time waiting.  The initial mass on Tuesday was cool.  There were 150 000 people there!  They were all wearing or waving flags of some sort.  I wore my Red Deer Royals jacket, so at least we had something to represent Canada with us.

 

We ended up standing on the platform where the toilets were so we could see a screen, because we were so far away!  Speaking of toilets, it was so nice not to have 100's of port-i-potties all around!  They have put in sewer lines to have flush toilets at all venues.  Can you imagine the nasty smell if they didn't?  Eww!

 

Anyways, after that we ate supper at the site (provided) and then made the trek home.  To get to Sydney, we have to take a 20 min bus ride, then a 40 minute train ride. Luke and I have had a lot of power naps on the train rides!  The announcements are so loud there are no way we could sleep through our stop.  (Quite the relief)

 

Wednesday we went to Catechesis, which featured a sermon from a Bishop and then a mass.  While we were there, I met a friend from University!  Megan was Kelsey Gamble's roommate at the U of L in our second year (?), and I haven't really seen her in the last 4 years.  It was really neat to catch up with her.  I then found out The Nuts (From Fort Mac) also know Kelsey from her time at Concordia!  It was weird to find out that 3 different groups of people all had a common friend, while were were all in Australia!

 

After lunch we made the long walk to Hillsong Church.  It was cool to see how big it really is!  I'm glad we could get a chance to go there, because it was the one thing Luke really wanted to do while we were here.  Unfortunately we won't be able to make it to any of their services. 

 

We then made the trek to the city to go see "The Rocks" and get dinner.  "The Rocks" is where Captain Cook first set foot on Australia soil, and the discovery museum had a lot of cool touch screen computers telling us about the first settlers to Australia.  For dinner we went to Barangaroo, the temporary concert site at an old shipping yard.  To get supper at a WYD event, you have to make a group of 6, then sent a representative to go get your dinner.  Since it's just Luke and I, we found 4 Slovakians and had dinner with them.  It was really neat to hear the 2 priests, the doctor and the university student pray in their native language.  After talking to them that evening, I definitely want to head there some day!

 

Last, but certainly not least is the Papal Arrival today.  Of course we headed to the event site early, so we could watch the Holy Father's official arrival to WYD.  Man did the people go nuts when he arrived!  I ended up putting in earplugs because of all of the bullhorns people were using!  It was really neat to hear him speak about evangelization in his homily.  But, I have to admit I got a little bored half way through and started looking around at all of the country flags around us.  That's when I noticed the Albertan flag.  I've been on the lookout for my students from Glenmary all week, so I was really hoping it was them.  Sure enough.  There was Sandra, Elise's mom in the section a head of us.  Since I was not allowed in the section, I leaned on the fence and called her name.  I knew it was bad timing, but I also knew if I didn't call her over now I wouldn't get the chance after the Pope finished. (It was a mass exodus afterwards!)  It was so nice to (briefly) catch up with Sandra, her daughter Elise, as well as Bridget and Joey who I go to know through SHINE.  I also recognized Richard and a couple of other SHINE volunteers there with them too!   We awkwardly took a quick photo over the fence together, before we finished listening to the Pope's homily.

 

The evening ended with a nice harbour side dinner and a stop at the Lindt Cafe for a milkshake.  Yum!  Tomorrow we are headed to Batman: The Dark Night at the Imax in Darling Harbour, and then Misa Solemnis at the Sydney Opera House.  I think it will be cool that we will see the new Batman movie before most people in Canada, since the premier of it will only be finishing in Canada on the 17th, as we go to see at 3pm on the 18th!  Got to love the time change!

 

My fingers are cold now, and it's time for bed. (My host parents have the air conditioning on and it's 10 degrees outside!  No wonder they are complaining it's cold in the house!) Love,

 

Andrea

Arrival in Sydney

Since I left you on Friday a lot has happened, so I'll try to fill you in.

 

Friday night:  I convinced (or should I say coerced) Gareth and Luke to go to the Veggie Bar.  We had wonderful meals and even the guys reluctantly admitted they were full on "rabbit food".  The night ended with the tradition of going to Trampoline for gelato and a game of scrabble.

 

Saturday started really early as we had to catch our tour bus at 7:05am outside the hostel. Two tour operators stopped by before ours came.  Each time I would have to ask which tour it was, to see if it was ours.  Unfortunately while I was asking the 2nd bus driver, I accidentally stepped on the edge of a concealed pot hole and twisted my ankle.  Boy did it hurt!  I've been limping ever since.  It seems to be the most painful when I have to put weight on it when my foot is not completely flat on the ground.  It's slowly getting better, but in the meantime it's so annoying!  It means it takes us forever to get anywhere, and I can't walk for long periods of time with out it being extremely painful.  Being the true stubborn Canadian I am, it hasn't stopped me much.  

 

Anyways, Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day despite the injury.  One of our first stops was the tribute to the WWI soldiers who built the Great Ocean Road.  Luke wanted a picture of him underneath the sign, so he convinced a German guy on our bus to take his photo while he ran out into the middle of a busy highway!  (I refused to take the picture, so he had to find someone else to help him with this crazy stunt!)  Other sights we saw were Koalas in their natural habitat, a temperate rain forest, The 12 Apostles, Lock Ard Gorge, London Bridge, and the Bay of Martyrs.  I could tell you so many stories about each of these, but they'll have to wait for another time.  They were all wonderful to see!  One story I do have to say is apparently there never have been "12" apostles, there are only 10.  It was just a marketing gimmick from the early 1900's!

 

The worst part of the day was walking on sand.  Since sand gives, and causes your foot to twist sideways, I was in a lot of pain!  Thankfully, Luke was patient enough to let me lean on him for support.  Ironically, while I did this I had the song "Lean on Me" stuck in my head.  It gave me a new picture for the phrase, "Lean on me, when you're not strong."  Between Luke's tensor bandage, and advice from some nurses in our group, we were able to wrap the foot quite well which helped keep the swelling down. 

 

That night we all chipped in to make a stir-fry at the hostel, and then the rest of the group went looking for Kangaroo's while I rested in the common room.  Sunday brought some beautiful hikes in the Grampians, and some really good wine tasting!  White is definitely my favourite now.

 

Sunday night we met up with Gareth again, and went to "Bimbo Deluxe" (a pub on Brunswick street) to play pool and have some cheep pizza.  We tried zuchini, calamari, and eggplant pizzas.  They were good, but looked so gross!

 

Today we flew to Sydney, and thanks to some WYD volunteers and a really kind bus driver, we found our way to "Our Lady of Lords" in the suburbs of Sydney.  Since we were early we helped set up for the welcome BBQ.  I wore my Red Deer Royals jacket to the BBQ, since all pilgrims were encouraged to show "country pride".  (My jacket is red and white with maple leaves on it...) I has so many people say that I was the first pilgrim they spotted that evening!  That meant I had so many little old ladies coming to talk to me, and little kids wanting to welcome me to Australia!  It was so cute!  When the organizers told us our host parents to look for "The Canadians"  Patricia easily found me!  Patrica and Allen are wonderful, and they've given us access to the Internet, our own rooms, and access to the pool if we feel like swimming!  It will be so nice not to have to share a room with anyone for a whole week!

 

There are two other groups of two in our Diocese placement: two brothers called "the Nuts" from Fort Mac, and two Brits.  The Brits, are also a female/male pair, with a similar story to us!  (Friends from college who wanted to travel together) Luke had a nice talk with them about the perceptions people have of you when you travel in a mixed pair.  Everyone either thinks you and your travelling buddy are related, or dating.  It's kind of annoying after a while. 

 

Well I'd better get some rest before the big opening mass tomorrow.  I'm not sure how much of Sydney we'll see this week, but WYD does look to be interesting so far!

 

Cheers mates!

Andrea

Philip Island

Yesterday Luke and I went to see the world's smallest penguins at Philip Island.  They were under a foot tall, and were so cute waddling up the grass to their burrows!  Unfortunately flash photography makes them upset, and regurgitate all of the food they hunted for, so we weren't allowed to take any photos.  So, Luke and I found another pair of people from our bus, and took a green screen picture with the penguins.  Cheesy, but definitely one of those "memory moments".

 

Wednesday we convinced a fellow hosteler Gareth (from London, UK) to go see St. Kilda, a beach community south of Melbourne.  I'm sure it would be super popular in summer, but in winter it's pretty dead.  We then went to the Shrine of Remembrance, which is designed in such a way that on Nov. 11 at 11 am, a light passes across a stone in the center which reads "Greater Love Hath No Man".  They recreate it with a spot light every 30 min while they play taps.  It was really moving!  Later that evening we met up again with Gareth to go have seafood and kangaroo at a cafe on Brunswick Street.  Kangaroo must be eaten fairly rare, otherwise it's too tough.  I wasn't a fan of the blood dripping from my meat, but I did manage to eat a piece of kangaroo.  It was pretty good, surprisingly!  It tasted like a cross between beef and black bear.  Chewy beef essentially.  (Yes, I've eaten bear.  Thanks to my Mennonite friends, aka "The Boys": Keith, Mike, and Ryan) 

 

Tonight we'll probably end up at "Trampoline" a homemade gelato store near our hostel, and then a game of scrabble in the games room.  Who knows though.  We could end up at an Aussie Rules Football game, or at least watching it at a pub.  I can't believe we've been gone for a week already!

 

Love you all,

Andrea

 

 

 

Melbourne 2

Luke and I have been getting to know the city well using Melbourne's excellent tourist transport system.  They have a tram that circles the city centre and a bus that connects all major sites that are both free!  We've booked a tour to see the little penguins at Philip Island for Thursday, and a tour to see London Bridge and the 12 apostles for Saturday and Sunday.  I can't wait to see the 12 Apostles!  It was one of those things I've always wanted to see...

 

Yesterday and today we've seen a lot!  We're staying in this funky/artsy district really close to all of the coolest and funkiest shops and restaurants in Melbourne, so it was really neat to walk down Brunswick street last night!  The pubs and second hand book shops were equally busy until about 10 or 11 pm!  I really want to eat at this pub called "Veggie Bar", which has cool Jazz music and a totally vegetarian menu.  Diana would feel totally at home here, because more often than not, the Aussie's we meet here in Melbourne are vegetarian.

 

Today we went to the world famous Queen Victoria Market... and yes I spent money.  Although it gets to 15 degrees here in the afternoon, the humidity makes it feel like 1 or 2, so I ended up buying a stop sign red Merino Wool & cashmere coat for $139.  The rain coat and sweaters I packed just weren't cutting it anymore, and we aren't even in Tassie yet!  (Local lingo for Tasmania)

 

I have no clue what's up for tomorrow.  Maybe see the beach at St. Kilda?  Or go to the prison museum?  We'll probably decide over breakfast once we know the forecast for tomorrow.

 

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

 

Love,

Andrea

Arrival in Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne safely with our luggage at 3pm local time (Sunday), but were supposed to be here at 8 am.  Melbourne is 17 hours ahead of Alberta... so 10 pm Saturday night.  We had a 1 hour delay in LA, which caused a 6 hour delay in Auckland!  Because we weren't sure when the new crew would arrive (the old one timed out waiting for the plane to come in from LA), we couldn't leave the airport to see the sights of New Zealand.  Luke and I considered taking the chance, but because we were both so tired, we ended up shopping and sleeping instead.

 

Flying with Quantas was wonderful.  They checked our luggage for us in Calgary, and they transferred it for us in Seattle, LA, and Auckland.  The meals were large and tasty, and for once my knees weren't in the back of the seat in front of me.  It was so weird flying on July 4th.  For a Friday, the airports in all 3 countries were fairly dead, and the planes had a lot of empty seats.  That meant Luke and I got to share the seats in a 3 person row all the way from Seattle to Auckland!  It was so nice to have extra room!

 

And, thanks to Diana and Dad for getting me the keys to a wonderful apartment 15 minutes from school my new school (www.westmountchater.com ) in Marda Loop, Calgary.  I was so worried I was going to be a victim of fraud there for a while, but luckily my initial judgement of my landlord's character was correct.  Unfortunately he just had a forgetful cleaner come in to clean the place,  so she ended up taking my keys to Stampede!

 

We have met so many pilgrims for WYD so far!  There was a group of 100 from Quebec who were sponsored by the Canadiens, so they all were wearing jerseys in the LA airport.  (Uncle Percy would have been quite impressed seeing so many jerseys in one spot!)

 

Anyways, I'd better go soon.  We still want to plan our day for tomorrow, before we collapse into our beds at "The Nunnery".  By the way... know you that saying about "Don't let the bed bugs bite"?  Well apparently it's actually true here in Australia.  There are tons of signs warning you not to use your sleeping bags unless you absolutely have to, so it prevents spreading them!  Yuck! 

 

Love you all,

Andrea

 

PS.  Luke wants to try Kangaroo tomorrow... I'll let you know how that goes.