Thursday, July 31, 2008

Photojournalism: Take One




It's amazing how you look at things differently when you're on a photo assignment.

I'm taking photojournalism this term, and today the class was free to roam campus and take shots. I still have a fair bit of work ahead of me, but here's a peek at my go of it.

The first shot is of a tree-lined walkway near the Creative Arts building. I spend most of my time here but have never noticed the beauty it.

The second picture is of a sculpture titled "Prodigal Son." I never even knew this piece existed because it's hidden on the side of a building wall and is partially blocked by palm leaves. It's a shame, really, since the university doesn't display a great deal of art on campus. You'd think they'd provide better placement for a piece like this.

The final one is of a pair of palm tree trunks. My friends liked this one the best--they said it had great "texture." Honestly, though, I like this picture simply because it reminds me that I go to a school with palm trees on campus. Never gets old.

Monday, July 21, 2008

A garden visitor



I don't know why I was so fascinated by seeing this bird in my garden, considering I live next to a botanic garden and a rainforest. Nevertheless, it reminded me how cool it was to be living in a place where seeing such an exotic looking thing was actually normal.

Friday, July 18, 2008

If you give someone enough rope...


Jenny and I headed up to the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Ultimo studios in Sydney to attend a taping of Enough Rope with Andrew Denton. It was my first time ever being in a studio audience and was relatively painless, except for the warm-up guy who made things a bit uncomfortable because of his obsession with the fact that Jenny and I were American.

Anyway, Andrew Denton hosts a very popular weekly program here in Oz. He interviews notable figures--everyone from athletes, entertainers, authors and politicians.

They wanted the guest to be a surprise, but the producers did mention it was a "high-profile" guest who required lots of security. They moved to a more intimate studio than usual and we all had to go through metal detectors before even entering. Sounds pretty mundane for an American, but by Australian standards, this was a big deal. You could really tell that the staff weren't used to such protocol.

The guest for our taping was Jose Ramos-Horta, who is the second president of East Timor. The country only very recently gained independence from Indonesia, so Ramos-Horta has dealt with his fair share of tumultuous times during his leadership. It's actually amazing he was even able to show up for the interview, considering he was seriously injured during an assassination attempt last February.

Admittedly, I was disappointed when the guest was announced. The Pope is in town, so I was expecting him or possibly some big movie star. But by the end of the interview, I was thrilled to be at this interview. I didn't know a single thing about East Timor before the show, except that it sounded dangerous. However, I gained a wealth of information in the two-hour interview. Denton mentioned that Ramos-Horta isn't a typical politician. And he's not. He's warm, personable, approachable and has a great sense of humour. I really enjoyed myself.

Sure, it would've been great to hear Hugh Jackman talk about his upcoming film, "Australia," but this was better.

On a final note, it's a true shame Andrew Denton's work isn't shown in America. You don't have to be a journalist to appreciate his interviewing talent. I don't believe there's a single journalist in America who puts the same effort into each subject. Actually, Denton doesn't make his subjects feel like subjects. As a viewer, it's almost as if you're eavesdropping on a really great conversation between friends. Interviewing is certainly one of my professional weaknesses, so it's really exciting for me to watch a true master of the craft.

In other words, I've already signed up for another taping.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

This has nothing to do with Australia, but...

The Cake Sale

It's my blog, so I can write whatever I want!

Check out The Cake Sale, it's an awesome CD featuring a collection of primarily Irish musicians. It's been out in Ireland for about two years now and hit the US in October. All proceeds go to Oxfams Make Trade Fair campaign, which hopes to alleviate poor communities from unfair trade practices.

Irish music rocks. Irish music that helps deserving people is...well, even better, I guess. Go get it!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Who knew bones could be so beautiful?




Perhaps the most notable seascape along Great Ocean Road is the Twelve Apostles.

These rock formations are comprised primarily of animal bones and are constantly eroded by the sea.

We had to walk a bit before we came upon the Twelve Apostles. It was really weird because it was incredibly windy out--I wouldn't be surprised if the winds exceeded 60 mph--so we could hear the sea from pretty far out. It was a cool foreshadowing of what was to come.

When we finally made it to the cliff, the Twelve Apostles seemed to sprout from nowhere. The waves crashed like crazy upon them and the sun was gently peeked through the thick layer of clouds. It was heavenly. Really, if I were to picture heaven, this might be it. I don't exactly know why, because it wasn't necessarily breathtakingly gorgeous. It was just something about the light and magnitude of it all. I'd never seen anything remotely like it.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Another reflective moment by Kelly Rehan

It's often easy to lose touch with reality (to some degree) when you live in Oz.

It occured to me that I'm over halfway through with my 9-month stint in Australia. Today I thought about my initial expectations about this whole thing and compared them to what I've actually done and learned so far.

Here are my findings:

1. I never EVER thought I'd travel like I have this past 4 1/2 months. Sounds crazy, but I thought I'd explore primarily NSW and possibly make a trip out to Melbourne. Travel, however, is a fixture of the Australian lifestyle--just like work, really. Through meeting Aussies and embracing the culture, my plans naturally changed.

I never in my life imagined I'd snorkel the Great Barrier Reef or see a wild koala close up along Great Ocean Road. Lots of "greats" during my time here so far. I've even been to New Zealand--now that's one place I couldn't have told you a thing about a year ago.

At heart, I'm a home body. But at the same time, I call many places home. There's Sioux City, Iowa, of course. And Iowa City. And Chicago. And now Sydney and Wollongong Australia. While I feel an enormous sense of comfort in these places, I'm thrilled beyond words to discover that I can and love to travel.

Besides my visits to New Zealand, the East coast and Melbourne, I have trips slated for Tasmania in August and (hopefully) Perth, Western Australia in September or October. I will undoubtedly be flat broke when I return to the States in November. I'm fairly sure I will be eating nothing but ramen noodles during the entire months of October and most of November. But I will have 100% certainty that it was beyond worth it.

2. It's often downplayed, but the primary reason I'm here is to earn my Master of Journalism degree. Ultimately, I hope to pursue my doctorate and teach at the university level. This goal, thankfully, is still in tact. I had exceptionally high expectations for this academic program because my experience at the University of Iowa was so fantastic. While some areas of the program have been disappointing, I am blown away by most of my professors. One in particular has only strengthened my desire to teach. Strangely, I am among her first-ever students. I can only imagine how impressive she'll be in a few years.

3. If you've known me for about 5 minutes, you'll figure out that I'm pretty anal. I like knowing what's going on--I always have a plan and I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to my life. I've always hated this about myself. I feel a certain jealously when I meet someone who just lets life come to them instead of trying to intercept it before it actually happens. Before coming to Australia, that carefree attitude was part of the picture I had in my mind of the typical Aussie.

I can't really say if that impression is entirely true (which it probably isn't), but I hoped it would rub off on me anyway. And in a sense it has. My responsible self says I should just go back to the States and get a job to pay off the mountain of debt I've accrued the past few months. But I don't know if I necessarily want to go back. Am I still looking for jobs four months in advance? Absolutely. Am I wracking my brain over what I'm going to do with my life? Every damn day. But am I going to go back to the States just because I think I should? I'm not so sure. I guess I'll just have to wait to see where I'm pulled in a few months.

Who knows? Maybe I will extend my stay in Oz. Or maybe I've been here too long and am simply losing touch with reality.

Worth getting locked up for





My Great Ocean Road tour guide was awesome--he knew exactly where wild koalas hung out.

We stopped at Kennett River Tourist Park, which harbours lots of koalas because of the trees. You see, koalas are fussy little creatures that prefer only about 10 types of eucalyptus leaves, though there's hundreds of types in the country.

Our tour guide did mention a couple of set backs, though. First, not to get too excited because koalas sleep for about 20 hours a day, so the chances of seeing them active were slight. And second, touching a koala was illegal in the state of Victoria.

What the hell? They practically let you take one home in Queensland.

But this was hardly disappointing. Our tour guide led us down a path so we could feed a bunch of overly-friendly birds. But I wasn't there for birds. I wanted to see a koala. So I broke away from the group, and it wasn't long before I came across the cuties pictured above.

I was lucky enough to see one actually awake! He (let's just assume it's a male) loved getting his picture taken. He even started climbing down the tree toward me. For a moment I thought he was literally going to jump into my arms. I wouldn't have minded at all--heck, a huge part of me wanted it to happen. Screw the razor sharp claws, I've been dying to cuddle a koala since I got here.

He didn't seem to care for the law, so I didn't either. Because, y'know, I often take behavioural cues from koalas.

But alas, the group was leaving and he hadn't made it down the tree. So I scrambled to take a few more shots and left. Here's to hoping the koala laws in New South Wales aren't as strict as Victoria's!

Friday, July 4, 2008

This is not a joke


Signs like this were sprinkled all throughout Great Ocean Road.

It struck me as strange because I'd never seen signs like this in Australia. Our tour guide didn't elaborate on the reasoning behind them, but a chance meeting at a bus stop proved more enlightening than I originally thought.

While I was waiting for a bus in Sydney shortly before my Melbourne trip, a man struck up a conversation with me. We talked about what I thought of Australia, and I mentioned how I was going to Melbourne and taking a tour of Great Ocean Road.

He told me that a few years back an American man hired a motorcycle to ride Great Ocean Road. He didn't make it very far, though. Less than a day after arriving in the country, he was killed on Great Ocean Road for driving on the wrong side of the road.

Now I don't know if these signs are a direct result of that poor man's death, but I'm inclined to believe they are. Everyone on the tour thought the signs were pretty ridiculous, but who knows how many uninformed foreigners' lives have been saved from them?

They don't call it "Great" for nothing





Here are some more shots of Great Ocean Road.

Top: Kangaroos in the wild at Bells Beach (this NEVER gets old).

Second: Another breathtaking ocean view from one of the roadside stops.

Third: A rock formation at Loch and Gorge. The story with this place goes something like this: About 200 years ago, a boat en route to Melbourne from London sank. The sole two survivors washed up on the beach at Loch and Gorge and climbed to safety.

Bottom: The beach at Loch and Gorge.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Great Ocean Road





You might think I only care about big cities and shopping....well, it's usually my first priority, but nonetheless, I like to occasionally get in touch with nature.

I went on a day tour of Great Ocean Road whilst in Melbourne. The bucolic drive winds through the southernmost part of inland Australia.

We made heaps of stops at lesser-known locales like Bells Beach (Australia's surfing mecca) and major tourist destinations like the Twelve Apostles.

Pictures:

Top: Great Ocean Road winds through lush, green farmland, as seen from Bells Beach.

Second: Bells Beach, which still sees some surfing faithful even in the dead of winter.

Third: Great Ocean Road sign--perfect for photo ops.

Bottom: A gorgeous seaside view from one of the roadside stops.

Australia's NYC





My recent trip to Melbourne might have killed me...had I not been for end of financial year sales.

I've heard only lovely things about Melbourne since I arrived in Australia. Even many Sydneysiders can't help but like it, though the two cities foster a highly competitive relationship.

From what I've gathered, Sydney is Australia's L.A., while Melbourne is their NYC. Though Sydney is the larger of the two, it might not be that way for long. Apparently, 1,200 people move to Melbourne every week! If it continues to grow at such a rate, Melbourne will be the largest Australian city by 2020.

While Sydney boasts a glamourous edge, Melbourne prides itself on its cultural venues, restaurants and shopping.

I cannot stress enough the greatness of the shopping scene. I did exercise some control (and again, the sales helped) and only bought a few choice items. I purchased a gorgeous eggplant peacoat from Hello, Gorgeous!, a boutique downtown. I also bought a silk purse from Review Australia's outlet store. And finally, I picked up a gold-plated dog tag in the shape of Australia with "Ollie Rehan" engraved on it from the Queen Victoria Markets. My Lhasa Apso will be the fanciest pooch on the block.

Melbourne is such a fantastic city. And honestly, I thought I'd prefer it to anywhere else in Oz. But when I returned to Sydney, I was happy to be home.

Here are some pics from the trip:

Top: Royal Arcade shopping (this is where I got my peacoat).

Second: A downtown intersection (the gold-lighted building on the left is a tram station).

Third: Bourke Street Mall (Melbourne's shopping epicentre).

Bottom: Victoria Park Markets.