The Great Ocean Road Daytrip!

On the Wednesday after I arrived in Melbourne, I decided to go on the Great Ocean Road day trip. I woke up  super early to catch a taxi into the city. The taxi driver ended up taking a left turn onto the tram lines and getting pulled over by the police and asked to do a breathalyser test. It was an interesting trip, however I did manage to make it to the tour office on time. The entire trip took a little over 13 hours. The Great Ocean Road follows the coast (for the most part) between Torquay and Warrnambool. On the trip, we only travelled approximately 188 of the total 243 kilometres. Here's a quick summary and lots of pictures (since the scenery was so beautiful and it almost tells the story better than I do):

Before we got to the coast, we stopped for biscuits and coffee.

Our first stop: A beach right at the start of the Great Ocean Road.

Some of the great surfing waves crashing.

A look back at the coast.

Some of the great scenery from the road.

Our second stop was a small cafe on the side of the road. There, we saw some local wildlife:

A red parrot.

Lots of koalas!

A green parrot.

Third stop: the most significant lighthouse in Australia: The Cape Otway Lightstation. It has been operating since 1848 and sits atop the cliffs where the Bass Strait and Southern Ocean join. The reason it is so important is because after about three months at sea, it would (hopefully) be the first sight of land for immigrants to Australia after starting the journey from Europe.

Looking towards the lighthouse.

A view from the top of the lighthouse.

Our fourth stop was Gibson's steps. There is a total of 86 steps down to the beach. The cliffs are 70 meters high.

Looking down at the ocean.

From the steps.

My first look at one of the apostles.

Stop number five: The Twelve Apostles. As you can see from the pictures, there aren't exactly twelve. There has never been twelve. If anyone is wondering how these giant rocks ended up standing up in the ocean to create some amazing scenery, it's actually a result of the erosion of the coastline. The cliffs are made up of soft sandstone and disappear at a rate of about 1 cm per year.

The Twelve Apostles.

Proof that I was actually there.

A look at some of the erosion.

Great to know I survived certain death.

Back towards the beach near the steps.

A closer look.

Our final stop was Shipwreck Cove. The story is that a ship crashed into the rocks and a young sailor saved a girl from drowning by swimming through the cove and to the beach where he (somehow) climbed the cliffs and found help.

Looking down at the cove.

On the beach.

Very large waves crashing near the entrance to the cove.

Looking back at the beach.

What a great way to end a day!

Has the scenery made you jealous yet? It's way better live than through pictures. I'd definitely suggest renting a car and driving the Great Ocean Road if you ever find yourself in Australia! 

Cheers! Next stop: a week in Cairns.

Four days in Melbourne!

March 30th marked the beginning of my 2-week mid-semester break. Kaitlyn and I planned a trip with the Student Travel Agency at our universities to spend a week in Cairns. But before that began, I boarded a flight for Melbourne, Victoria to meet up with my best friend and travel buddy, Kaitlyn, first so she could show me the city she had been living in for the past three months.

The plane ended up being half and hour late and poor Kaitlyn was waiting at the Southern Cross Station for me for fourty-five minutes. We had a good laugh over the circumstances (since it seems that none of my flights this year have gone smoothly) and went out for lunch at a small cafe on one of the main streets in downtown Melbourne. We had some great fish and chips, as well as some amazing coffee and caught up on the time we'd been away. Afterwards, we spent some time walking around through the centre of Melbourne. Since Kaitlyn's university was an hour from the centre of the city, I decided not to waste a day of sightseeing and my luggage ended up coming for a tour.

Luckily, I was smart and bought a rolling suitcase before the trip.

We walked past the Art Gallery, Flinder's Station, Federation Square - which is a large open plaza used as a gathering place and has a stage for performances and plenty of little cafes - and along the river where I got a great look at the some of the skyscrapers.

The Art Gallery.

Flinder's Street Station.

Federation Square.

A closer look at the awesome architecture found in Federation Square.

A view across the river.

We decided Melbourne was boring and we should go to Paris. 

That didn't take long at all!

Just kidding! Turns out there is a tall structure in Melbourne that is reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Did it fool you?

Being serious, Melbourne is actually a beautiful city and was rated the number one most livable city in 2011, with Vancouver coming in third. My tour guide on the Great Ocean Road day trip made a point of telling me so. The city is filled with interesting architecture, a great amount of greenspace, and plenty of great places for people. It seems that no matter where Kaitlyn and I walked, we managed to find hidden gems. One of which was the beautiful grafitti and other artwork that we found down alleyways.

Some great artwork. Both sides of the alley had been painted.

Of course, being Landscape Architecture students, we had to visit the Botanical Gardens during my visit as well and we spent a few hours on the third day doing so. I definitely had mixed feelings about the gardens in Melbourne. There were so many great design ideas, unfortunately didn't live up to their full potential once constructed. There were some areas that were done well, but others left me feeling a little disappointed at the outcome. Here's a bit more detail (CAUTION - lots of landscape pictures ahead):

The Grotto.

The Grotto was a great little garden that as you can see from the picture looks great. There was a concrete stream bed running through the entire garden with a waterfall to the right of where I took the picture, however these were not filled with water. As well, what the picture does not show were the steel posts that were placed at many of entrances and starts of paths. Now for those of you thinking that perhaps we were not supposed to enter the grotto, there was one entrance near the bottom that was unobstructed. It seems to me that this area was meant to be shared, but it doesn't make much sense if you can't walk through the space to experience it. Finally, once we made it through the garden and came out on one of the pathways, it simple ended at the culvert at the edge of the garden onto a large lawn. There was no link back to the main pathway. Great idea, bad execution.

Entrance to the Botanical Gardens

This was the one of the entrances to the botanical gardens (the grotto is just to the right) and it looked great except for the sharp spikes sticking out around the arch. It wasn't particularly inviting, or more importantly, safe. Here's a closer look:

My hilarious grimace face.

Here's another one of the design fails: the massive pond:

The pond.

"Wait, what pond? All I see is grass," you say. No, that is not grass. I think it's supposed to be water. I don't think it was supposed to be that green. Or smell that bad either.

Movable benches.

Unfortunately this is not supposed to be a work of art. The benches around the gardens were not mounted. I think the lesson to take away from this is that movable chairs/benches work in some places but not others.

Who grafitti's a tree!?

Well onto a more positive note, here's a look at all the great aspects of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. :)

Boardwalks = always awesome.

Benches in the form of surfboards? Cool. (I think that may be as close as Kaitlyn gets to surfing in Australia). 

Footprint imprints along the pathways? Nice touch.

I thought these looked like Velociraptor footprints, but maybe that's just me.

What a great entranceway.

I absolutely loved the gardens surrounding the volcano.

At the top of the volcano (which was filled with water).

Lots of birds of paradise!

One very large tree that added great character to the landscape.

The Temple of the Winds

The Temple of the Winds was by far my favourite part of the botanical gardens. To explain, my favourite book series is The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. The fourth book, The Temple of the Winds was one of my favourite in the series. To say I was quite excited to find it in the botanical gardens is an understatement!

I still find it amazing how each city in Australia has its own unique character. It was great to see and explore Melbourne, especially with my awesome travel buddy Kaitlyn. The final day in the state of Victoria was spent at LaTrobe University suntanning on the grass and relaxing before heading off to Cairns, Queensland for a week.

Keeping Busy.

I’ve been trying to keep busy as much as I can, though it’s definitely more difficult with classes. I’ve had at least two beach visits since orientation week. Two weekends ago I went to the beach with my Guelph friends again. It was sunny and warm for a couple hours before some clouds rolled in and we called it a day. However, we were able to jump off the pier. I didn’t jump off the highest part of the pier, but I managed to get the courage to jump from a lower platform. With one big splash, I hit the cool water before swimming back to shore. We spent some time collecting shells on the beach as well.

On my latest beach visit, Manny and I took a really long walk down the beach and we didn’t even make it to the end - I had no idea it continued for so long! Afterwards we had a delicious lunch at a small Mexican restaurant that not only had great food, but also yummy lime Miller beer. We walked down Jetty Road and all the shops that line the street. There were several nice clothing stores, souvenir shops, and a cheap book store (where I bought a new book by my favourite author, Terry Goodkind). We finished our day off with some really good ice cream!

This past Saturday, we headed over to the Adelaide Botanic park to tour around the gardens. Unfortunately, the majority of the gardens were closed due to the cultural festival, Womadelaide. It’s similar to Folklorama in Winnipeg, except that it is held over 3 days in the park. We thought it would be fun to go to the festival, however the entry fee was a VERY steep price of $120 for the afternoon and evening. We made the most of our visit by finding the duck pond, a greenhouse, some smaller gardens, and stopping for a while to lie in the grass. 

The Duck Pond

The greenhouse

A sign in one of the gardens

Looking up at the blue sky

We also found the National Wine Center. Although I hear that the Barossa Valley Wine Tour is a must, the National Wine Center is a bit easier to get to (being right in the city next to the Botanic Gardens). The building has some beautiful architecture and the inside is just as impressive as the outside. I have to go back to taste some of their wines since there were way too many to taste in one go.

The massive amount of wine bottles.                                                     The inside architecture of the National Wine Center.

A look at the exterior of the Wine Center.

We also stumbled on a peculiar looking fruit tree and to my delight, I realized that it was none other than a pomegranate tree! Unfortunately the fruit wasn’t ripe enough to pick or there might be one less pomegranate on that tree. I think you need one of these in your garden dad! 

That just about sums up the most interesting parts of the last couple weeks. I can bore you all with the details when I get home. The only other thing I think I should mention…the sidewalks in downtown Adelaide are quite interesting. I’ve seen chalk drawings, coins embedded in the concrete, advertisements in paint, and my personal favourite: random hug spots! Seriously, here’s proof!

Miss you all!

Classes Begin!

Classes Begin!

It’s been a while since my last post, partly because I’ve been getting back into the swing of things at university. First thing to note: post-secondary education at University of Adelaide is quite different from the University of Guelph. I have a total of three classes, which add up to a full course load. They are: Design Studio, Environment II, and Foortprints on a Fragile Planet (a geography course). Here’s a bit of a low-down on each:

Design Studio is the most drastic change for me. I knew that the method of teaching would be different from what I’m used to, but I wasn’t expecting what I got. This class consists of a 2-hour formal lecture and a 4-hour design seminar. The lectures are interesting but seem to cover most of the information I feel that I already know. In my honest opinion, the design seminar is even less impressive. The focus of the course is supposed to center around Urban Design, yet there is almost no design component in the seminar. Our first couple assignments have been silly little exercises that I find are not helpful to furthur my design abilities. I also don’t like the idea that our main professor is not hosting these seminars, but that TA’s (Teaching Assistants) run them. Overall, not my favourite course and it makes me appreciate my design courses at Guelph so much more.

On a better note, I’m enjoying Environment II very much! Though this course is more orientated to architecture than landscape architecture, I find it quite interesting to learn how to build more sustainably and how to utilize passive heating and cooling. The assignments are all useful and engaging. The tutorial for this class is also much better as the TA is enthusiastic and positive about what she is teaching. I am definitely learning a lot!

Finally, I chose to take a geography course called Footprints on a Fragile Planet. Most of the broad concepts that are outlined in the lectures, I have an understanding of, however, I am learning a lot about environmental and economic issues in Australia. For example; did you know that Australia has the opportunity for substantial mineral wealth? Another interesting tidbit (relating more to landscape archiecture) is that due to Australia’s dry climate, vegetation has adapted to a low amount of topsoil and lack of organic matter/nutrients.

To sum all this up, I found the first week back at university a little frustrating, but I’m quickly getting used to it again. I’ve gotten over the initial shock and am for the most part, enjoying my classes. Although I sometimes miss the familiarity and style of education back home, spending a semester on exchange is a really good experience!

A Week of Fun!

Orientation week is officially over and I managed to do everything I planned to! I’m continuing to love Adelaide as I explore it more and more. Here’s a quick summary of what I got up to over the last few days:

On Tuesday, Manny and I walked over to the South Australian museum for 11am. The greatest part was that the museum is free! We joined a two hour tour that took us through the Aboriginal gallery, animal gallery, Egyptian room, Mineral room, and more. It was your standard museum tour with tons of interesting information that I can now impress friends and family with. I think my favourite part was the giant squid that they had added to their gallery in an unused elevator shaft. The squid spanned the entire 3 storeys! There was also a wall that held a ton of boomerangs. The tour lady said she was able to get the returning ones to land back at her feet! Cool! I may have to invest in one of those…

After lunch, we headed over to the Adelaide zoo. Some of the highlights for me were the giant pandas, giraffes, alligators, hippos, wallabies, kangaroos, and flamingos. We ordered a couple of Slurpees and found, to our surprise, that it was actually just frozen coke! Yummy!

Wednesday was your standard beach day…lots of sun, swimming, and suntan lotion. Manny, new Aussie roommate, Emily, and I enjoyed a couple hours on the beach before we went to a small restaurant nearby where we enjoyed a good lunch and a couple beers.

Thursday, we had a bit of an adventure trying to find the lecture halls where our classes would take place. The University of Adelaide campus isn’t very big but its rather confusing as many buildings are connected. Manny and I managed to get lost a couple times and find doors that led us right back around in a circle to where we started. We also ran into a problem when Manny’s schedule listed a class in Computer Suite 239. That room didn’t exist! The student advisor for our program had to check his computer to find out why such a room was listed on the schedule. Turns out that because of the recent construction, the university had changed the name of the regular CAD lab, formerly known as Computer Suite 508. We found the rest of the lecture halls easily enough and now I can say I’m officially ready to start my classes on Monday. I even bought some school supplies! Don’t worry mom and dad…I won’t forget that I did come to Australia to study (though I do plan to make my day off every Friday my weekly beach day).

On Friday, Manny and I woke up early to walk to campus for the trip the University had planned for the international students: Victor Harbour and Urimbirra Wildlife Park! Turns out that it was a perfectly sunny and hot day to go…a little bit too hot for my liking; it got to a scorching 39 degrees!

Our first stop was Urimbirra Wildlife Park which was an hour and twenty minute drive from the center of Adelaide. We got to walk around the park and get super close to emus, koalas, and tropical birds. We also saw dingos, wombats, crocodiles, chickens, and wallabies. It was a totally different experience from the Adelaide zoo as all the animals were active and curious. The best part of the park was the fact that they had food for 50 cents that you could buy. I bought a bag and got to hand feed it to the kangaroos! Yay for getting my first picture up close and personal with a kangaroo!

Around noon, we hopped back on the bus and drove to the nearby town of Victor Harbour. The bay was discovered in 1802 by Matthew Flinders. The town was originally called Port Victor, but adopted its current name of Victor Harbour in 1921. Apparently it was going to be chosen as the state capital of South Australia, but the sparce water resources were unable to support a large population and therefore Adelaide became the capital city. The town may have had a small population, but was very spread out along the surrounding hills on the coastline. It is largely a tourist town, showcasing the nearby island called Granite Island. 

Manny and I had a quick lunch before crossing the footbridge to the island. The hiking trail that runs around the perimeter of the island takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. We only explored a small part of the trail as the rocky island only heightened the already scorching outside temperature. We did manage to climb a few big rocks and take a few pictures of the the bay before heading home.

The next day I went to Glenelg beach once again…this time with all my LA friends from Guelph. Turns out, it was even hotter than Friday! The temperature at around 2pm was 43 degrees in the city (so a little cooler at the beach, but not much)! We spent a ton of time in the water, bought ourselves some ice cream, and were super excited to get back to our air-conditioned rooms in the evening.

Overall, what a great way to spend my final week of vacation! This week: the start of classes and back to reality...