How I'll be spending Easter this year

Hi, all--
I hope you've enjoyed the blog so far. I'm leaving tomorrow for a trip along the East Coast with some friends--we're visiting Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef (which I'll be snorkeling on on Easter!), Brisbane (we're going to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo, which sadly won't exist for too much longer in its present form), Surfers Paradise and we'll be sailing the Whitsundays for a couple days in there too. So unfortunately, that's the reason why I won't be keeping up my blog for awhile. However, check it out around April 1--I should have some interesting tales when I return!

Love and miss,
Kelly

More Blue Mountains photos

Into the blue

Last weekend Jenny and I went on a weekend trip to the Blue Mountains with a few fun-loving Canadians. It was a great time--even though we had to walk down literally a thousand steps in the process.

Probably the most notable part of the Blue Mountains is a rock formation known as the Three Sisters. Apparently, there's legend that three sisters were accidentally turned to stone by their witch doctor father who was trying to protect them from a monster. However, the father lost the magic bone that changed them to stone in the first place, so he couldn't reverse the curse. I'm glad my dad was never into that stuff...or at least isn't anymore.

We spent the day walking all through the mountains. We began by decending under the Three Sisters, which was extremely painful because we unknowingly had to walk down a thousand very uneven, steep and rocky steps to get there. Once we got past the steps, the hike was quite pleasant. In all, we walked for a little over three hours. Of course, there was no way in hell we were walking up a thousand steps back, so we hopped on a cable car to take us back up the mountain.

The next day, we drove about an hour out of our way into the middle of nowhere to check out the Jenolan Caves. The caves, which are made of limestone, are said to be some of the oldest in the world. I, having toured some caves in southern Missouri during a high school trip, can honestly say they were about as cool as caves could be. The tour even featured a pretty impressive light and music show. According to the tour guide, the caves had light bulbs in them long before most of the homes in the area did. Oh so Australian.

Kangaroo crossing

I have yet to see my first real life kangaroo, but evidently they're not too far away. I thought this sign was hilarious--I snapped a shot of it on my trip home from the Blue Mountains last weekend.

Contrary to popular belief...

I am actually here for school, and it has taken up a whole lot of my time lately. So I thought I'd give you a glimpse into some of the stories I'm working on while I'm not working on this blog!

For my feature writing class, my final project will be on Lebanese migrants in Australia. It's a pretty sad story actually because almost everyone I've interviewed would really just rather be back in Lebanon. Of course, it's simply too dangerous right now, but it's their home. It just makes you realize how lucky you are to live somewhere where you don't have to be afraid every single day for your and your family's safety.

For my online and research journalism class, I'm building a Web site featuring three stories about campus violence in the U.S. and Australia. (When I say campus violence, I'm referring to school shootings.) I'll be comparing campus violence in the U.S. (which, though still relatively rare, happens far to often) to Australian reports of campus violence (of which there are about two accounts total). Basically, my stories will focus on these topics:
1. What makes a student kill? An American and Australian psychological perspective.
2. The role of gun control in campus violence.
3. Campus security: A comparison between U.S. and Australian methods of prevention and procedure.

Finally, my project for my ethics, law and standards class will focus on the Drew and Stacy Peterson situation back in the States. This story, already rich in the human element, demands a legal and ethical analysis of the case with an inevitable focus on privacy and defamation. For context, I'll compare this to Australian standards of privacy and defamation (the laws are quite different than in the States).

So that's basically it. Believe it or not, I'm pretty excited to see how everything turns out at the end of the semester. Hopefully they'll be (somewhat) interesting stories!

Who doesn't love rappers from New Zealand?

So Flight of the Conchords graced the cover of the Sydney Morning Herald's Spectrum this week, which of course made me squeal like...well, like I had suddenly come across a lizard on my doorstep.

Anyway, I think Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement (the duo that make up Flight of the Conchords) are the two funniest men on the planet right now (again not getting paid for this*). Their big break came when HBO gave the native New Zealanders their own show fusing scripted material with their quirky musical numbers.

If you're in the States and not familiar with these guys, then I think you should hightail it right now to your neighborhood Blockbuster and pick up the Season 1 DVD. It might be a bit mature for the kiddies (unless you're interested in teaching them how to flip the bird), but other than that, you'll like it a lot, I'm sure.

Now apparently the show hasn't even hit Aussie television. I guess I just assumed it would've hit airwaves here much earlier simply because Bret and Jemaine are New Zealanders (which looking at it, is a pretty silly reason). It'll be interesting to see what the folks here will think of the show when it airs later this year (there's plenty of playful digs at Aussies), though I'm sure it will be huge.

*If Bret and/or Jemaine would like to personally thank me monetarily or otherwise, you know how to find me!

If anyone's looking for an amazing camera...

...then I got the one for you!

I'm not into cameras--and I'm not getting paid to say this*--but Canon's PowerShot A720 is pretty incredible. Seriously, I took the photo of this bird on my university's campus, and the only thing I'm worse at than taking pictures is being in them.

I have to give credit to my Mom for recommending this amazing piece of technology. So thanks, Mom :)

*If Canon is interested in paying me for any further endorsements or would like to buy this amazing photo to use in promotional material, then by all means....

I'm in love...

...with Sydney, Australia.

Sure, Chicago is nice with it's pretty lakefront, but Sydney is on a whole other level of amazingness that I will never be able to do justice on this blog.

Jenny, our Canadian friend Andrea (who we met through our journalism program), and I went sightseeing in beautiful Sydney earlier this week. Besides flying into the airport three weeks ago, it was my first time in the city. However, Andrea had already toured Sydney a number of times before--and fortunately for Jenny and I--acted as our tour guide.

We took the train from North Wollongong Station into Sydney's Central Station and from there into Cirqular Quay Railway Station. As I got off the train at Cirqular Quay, the first thing I saw was the sprawling Sydney Harbour Bridge--it was such a beautiful day and the view was just stunning. The say that Sydney's Harbour is the most beautiful in the world--and I can't say I would disagree.

We did all the typical touristy things, beginning with a stroll through Cirqular Quay with its eccentric crop of diversions including a pair of brightly painted mimes on stilts and aboriginal musicians hoping to make a few bucks selling CDs.

We followed the walkway straight up to the Opera House. To my surprise, the Opera House is not one single monument, but a series of sections that look as if they make up a single, odd-shaped structure. Not surprisingly, the Opera House is pretty damn incredible. It was just really strange to be standing in front of a place that you've seen a million times before but only in pictures and on TV. It's much larger than I imagined, and since it was such a bright day, looking directly at the panels nearly blinded me. We're already planning on seeing an opera there in a few weeks. I can't even imagine what going to a show there will be like!

From there we toured the Royal Botanic Gardens, which was really cool for me not only to experience the sheer beauty of the place but also to see how the regular folks of Sydney appreciated it. We saw a couple--I'm guessing they were between 65 and 75--training for a triathalon by running the steep garden steps. And there was a mother playing with her toddler under a tree. And a young man lying in the grass reading. I can't imagine living in Sydney and being able to spend a regular Monday in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Blows my mind.

After taking a gazillion more pictures there, we hopped on a ferry to nearby Watson's Bay. Andrea recommended we check out Doyle's Fisherman's Wharf for lunch. Apparently they have the best fish and chips in the area. Now of course I haven't tried all the fish and chips in the greater Sydney area, but this stuff was so good that I could probably eat it every single day for the rest of my life and still not tire of it. Sure I'd be dead by 45 of heart disease, but I bet I'd die happy.

After taking the ferry back, we explored downtown Sydney. We visited some markets and boutiques but had to catch the 4:40 train back to Wollongong, so our day was cut short. I'm thinking an architectural tour will be on the agenda for my next trip to the city. Or maybe a visit to China Town. Whatever order it's in, I'll be experiencing everything the city has to offer while I'm here.