Dancing light

I actually hated this picture when I first took it, but now I think it's pretty cool. This photo of Sky City looks like someone shot a bunch of streamers in front of the lens...and it kind of looks like the tops of the buildings are on fire. I guess my camera acts like its on an acid trip whenever I take photos of heavily-lit things at night.

More of New Zealand

Top: Sky City towering over the rest of downtown Auckland.

Middle: Shopping downtown.

Bottom: Victoria Park Markets, located a bit outside the city. We weren't too impressed--a bit too much souvenir crap.

Straight out of a musical

Here are some shots of Devonport. Pretty adorable, huh? Looking at this, you'd expect the townspeople to open their shudders and prance into the street, singing a great chorus to welcome us to their quaint village. But no such luck.

We did get to see a horse-drawn carriage, though! But as the picture also reveals, that's not the town's sole mode of transportation.

The second shot was taken immediately after getting off the ferry in Devonport. You see, you have to take a ferry from downtown Auckland to get to Devonport (it's only about a 5-minute ride). That only added to the place's cuteness.

The last photo is of the Esplanade hotel. I thought this building was absolutely beautiful.

We loved Devonport so much that we went out there twice. The second time around, we grabbed lunch at Devonport Stone Oven Bakery & Cafe and all ordered the tomato soup. It was so delicious that we decided to return later for afternoon tea. There wasn't any singing, but I guess you could say the place rubbed off on us.

Going trans-Tasman

I hopped over to New Zealand for a few days last week. No big deal.

It was AWESOME! Jenny, Amy (one of the Aussies who is also in our program) and I went to Auckland, which is located on the North Island and is the country's largest city.

We spent about four days there--a short visit, but we covered a lot of ground. We spent time in many of the city's most popular districts, including quaint Devonport, Parnell village, chic Newmarket, up-and-coming Ponsonby and the very eclectic Karangahape Rd. (known locally as "K Rd."). Our hotel was also located on Queen St.-- in the heart of the central business district.

While our visit was condensed, I learned quite a bit about New Zealand. First, New Zealanders pronounce their "a's" and "e's" like "i's." The people are also incredibly friendly and polite, which was refreshing to say the least. In many ways, New Zealand reminded me of Vermont. I'll never forget noticing how natural the locals looked when I visited Vermont in 2006. The women were fashionable, but they didn't pile on the makeup or look "loud." That's how New Zealand is, and it's so different from Wollongong. To put it plainly, New Zealand is to Vermont as Australia is to California.

Also, New Zealanders care a whole lot about the environment. The air is so clean and the city actually seems to be doing something about sustainability. The public transportation system is the best I've ever seen. They have a "green" system of Link buses that cost only $1.60 (no matter where you get on or off) and take you everywhere in the city. The buses are popular but not overcrowded. Being so cheap and with its huge network of stops, it's a great incentive not to drive.

I also learned that New Zealand greatly reveres its Maori heritage. The Maoris are the indigenous Polynesians of New Zealand. The Maori presence is much more apparent in everyday New Zealand life than the Aboriginal culture is in Australia. Many public signs are written both in English and Maori. Maoris have assimilated into the mainstream culture in a way that the Aboriginal culture hasn't. Maori Tiki men are sold EVERYWHERE. And for some reason, it seems a bit more genuine than the wooden boomerangs you see migrants selling at the seedy markets here in Oz.

Speaking of seedy markets, most of our time was spent shopping and exploring the sprawling city. Really is a beautiful place. If you're ever a three-hour flight away, I strongly encourage you make the trip. Really, though, it's worth the trip no matter where you're coming from.

Top pic: Amy and I at the Devonport ferry station with the Auckland skyline behind us. The tall, pointy structure in the middle of the skyline is Sky City, the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere.

Bottom: A stone pathway winding through one of the shopping nooks in Parnell village.

A night at the Opera

Jenny and I have gazed (or gawked) at the splendor of the Sydney Opera House plenty of times since we've been here, but we finally found ourselves inside the place last week.

We saw Hamlet...at the Sydney Opera House. I still can't get over how cool the whole thing is! It was a really great night--we caught a light dinner at Ship Inn in Circular Quay, then we grabbed a glass of wine at the outdoor Opera Bar before the Friday evening show. It was a beautiful evening and the crystal clear Harbour Bridge view was unbeatable. It really made me think about where I was a year ago and how your life can change in such a short amount of time.

Our showing was a preview show (which is how we snagged $35 tickets) and was actually the first time the cast had performed the show in its entirety. You wouldn't have known it, though. I thought it was fantastic, despite the fact that some of the actors couldn't part with their Aussie accents.

I did notice one thing during intermission. There were some families at the show with young or teenage children. Can you imagine being an 8-year-old and going to see Hamlet at the Sydney Opera House? I can't even begin to wrap my mind around the fact that going to the Sydney Opera House is just going to the opera for some people out there. Blows my mind.

Buy Iowa in Australia

Iowa is trendy Down Under.

If you can't see, the pictured hoodie reads, "Iowa: The Hawkeye State."

Cotton On, a popular Australian chain store, is selling a variety of hoodies highlighting America's more obscure locales. If Iowa's not your thing, there's also Wyoming, Montana and plenty more I can't think of at the moment.

Turns out, Chicago, L.A. and NYC aren't distictive enough anymore. Who knew? Funny thing is, I bet most of the Aussie kids sporting these hoodies wouldn't know Iowa from Idaho on the map. But I shouldn't judge. I've got my eye on a Waratahs rugby union t-shirt, and I couldn't name one player on the team.