Saturday Soliloquy #25: Traveling up the Coast

I remember Karratha only by name.  I spent a night in Broome.  And another night in Darwin.  Darwin was my shortest stay of all my stops around the north of Oz.  All I remember about Darwin is thinking that it looked very American and how disappointing that was.

Probably I already mentioned it, but since it would've happened here, I'm going to mention it again.  I wanted to travel to Alice Springs and see Ayer's Rock, but I didn't have time to travel south as far as I'd need to go and get back to Sydney for my flight.  I learned from other travelers that it looked NOTHING like it was "supposed" to look the year I was there.  Instead of being rather barren red rock, it basically looked like a very large green hill (or series of hills).  Very strange, eh?

I remember Cairns. To my memory it was a very beachy sort of city... pastel colors all around.  It was very cool, but didn't seem "Australian" per se to me.  I remember this building, but not the roos (or statues of) in the square.  The scene shown in this picture is a bit familiar, too.

Townsville was a pass-through I remember, though I don't remember anything specific about the place.

I spent the night in Brisbane.  I do not really remember much of anything about it, though.  Another pastel beach city, maybe.

And then back to Sydney.

I don't remember if I did it the first time I was there, or the last, but I did take a trip out to the Blue Mountains.  It was pretty cool.  Our driver was fun.  We got to try our hand at a whip.  That was a lot more difficult than it looked!  I wasn't able to crack it at all.  Dang it!  I do think the Blue Mountains trip was during the last few days I spent in Sydney.  Other than that, and shopping for gifts to give when I returned (Omiyagei), I don't remember anything specific about Sydney (from the last time I was there).

All in all, my time in Oz was very good for me.  I'm very glad I did it.

Saturday Soliloquy #23: My Dorm

My dorm was a single story apartment with 6 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and two bathrooms.  The boys had 1 bathroom and the girls another (thankfully!).  In my apartment/dorm we had 3 guys and 3 girls.  I was, of course, one of the girls (USA, in case you're not sure) and the other two chicas were both from Malaysia.  The guys were from Oz, Taiwan, and Norway.  For the most part, we all got along fine.  There were some problems that were severe at the time, but through the glasses of time and age and far more troubling tribulation since, we got along well, all things considered.

This is a pretty accurate representation of the living area of the dorm.

The next photo is also a really accurate representation of what my individual room looked like:

 

And this shows the outside as I remember it!

 

 photos from the site for the dorms!

Saturday Soliloquy: #22: My Uni (Campus Joondaloop)

My school, Edith Cowan, was/is beautiful.  And the campus I lived very near is located in a very nice neighborhood.

One of the interesting things about that neighborhood were the fences.  I actually did a study on that in my art class for my final project in that course.  The variety was amazing and wonderful!  There are lots of fences around houses in the States, I know, but the VARIETY around the houses near my school was really amazing.

I loved the art studio on the campus.  I know that art and writing helped me amazingly while I was there, so it's a huge blessing of that time of my life that I took the courses I took while there because I didn't technically "need" most of them for my degree.  Life is awesome and it's wonderful to see how things work out when we have the clarify of 20/20 vision that is possible when we look into the past, isn't it!?

I do NOT remember my campus looking like this when I attended, but it has been MANY moons since I was there.  How cool would this be to see upon entry!!??

I DO remember the library.  Also very nice looking, don't you think!?

Beautiful, right?!!??  I did love the asthetics of it all.  Similar, yet also very different from what I'm used to.  :)

Photos from Wikipedia.

Saturday Soliloquy #21: Perth

It was a LONG ride from Adelaide to Perth.  My school, Edith Cowan University was in Perth, so I had to get there!  I honestly don't remember anything about that ride.  It's just a pop into Perth.

Perth was nice.  Very cool and UN-drivable city center.  It was specifically set up for walking to shop.  I liked that a great deal.

I remember finding it amazing and wonderful to investigate all the shops down little alleys.  I felt the old anxiety about getting lost that I felt in Japan (like when I drew a circle) and actually thought I was lost a few times.  It was such a blessing to find myself again (never was lost, after all!) and realize that the downtown area was really quite navigable and relatively difficult to REALLY get lost in.  What a gift THAT!

photo from Jakarta Post

One of the many things I loved about Perth were the awesome sidewalk art!  There were some that looked REALLY unusual and others (like these roos) that were really representative of Oz, in general.

Photo Credit: Afar

Saturday Soliloquy #20

From Melbourne I went to Adelaide.  This was my favorite part of the trip and my favorite "just stopping in" city (after Sydney).  I honestly cannot remember anything that I saw or anywhere that I went.  But it was wonderful because there were two sweet girls that welcomed me into their little group.  I remember one was named Caroline, but I cannot remember the name of the other.  I just remember having WAY more fun in Adelaide than any of the other stops on my trip to circumnavigate Oz!  I wish I could write to them and thank them for their kindness.  I'm still SO very grateful!!

Saturday Soliloquy #19

After Canberra, I went by bus to Melbourne.  No, it is not said: "Mel-born."  It is said, "Melbun."  It can have a SLIGHT R sound right before the N, depending on the person speaking.

Honestly, I don't remember anything about Melbourne.  I do remember wishing I had a friend (or my guy) with me to enjoy the place and all there was to do and see.  I'm sure I walked around a lot.

I'm sure I enjoyed the sights, but for me... things aren't as important as people.  So, although I'm glad I went, not much stands out in m place.

Looking through pictures online, I found one that is very familiar.  So, I'm sharing it here.