End of the first semester, travels, and relaxation!

The first semester was a success! Looking back at how far I've come from when I first stepped off the train about 6 months ago, it puts a smile on my face to think about how things have progressed. I'm currently trying to sign up for classes for the next semester, I'm thinking I'll take International finance, physics, and a nutrition course. I've decided I might like to pursue some form of medicine when I finish my finance degree, I'm leaning towards physiotherapy at this point.

Dad and Terrie came to Australia to visit this last week, we had an excellent time touring around Sydney, the blue mountains, and the Hunter valley vineyards. Without a GPS, we spent a good majority of the time driving in the wrong direction. Interestingly, the Australians have great infrastructure but they don't believe in road signs, figuring out what road you're on is a challenge! I think the endless number of old pubs and access to great wine kept everyone sane and happy.

Now officially on "winter" break, I've had time to do some pleasure reading, surfing, and cruising around the house in my new ugg boots (thanks dad!). I leave for Japan to meet Cooper, Margot, and Rebecca in 11 days and I'm getting very excited! Otherwise not much else has been going on, the cold weather has reduced my time spent out and about. The beard competition continues...

Yep, I went there.

The beard competition continues, honestly I’m impressed Tristan hasn’t thrown in the towel.

The competition has only one rule: One cannot remove any hair from their face
If you do this you must shave your head and the competition ends.

Several by-laws have been created to prevent sabotage, having someone else shave your beard, or any combination of both.

This has lead to a series of mind games being waged against each other, the most notable being the silent treatment (not mentioning the beard), talking about how much I am enjoying my beard and am excited to see how it will grow, dropping subtle hints about how dodgy the other person looks, having third party individuals comment on how bad/good one of us looks with a beard, and asking every poor waitress, employee, or cashier who’s beard looks better.

I decided to take it to the next level and shave my head but leave my beard untouched, I hope you can appreciate the tactics of this.


Not much else is new on this side of the world, the weather has taken a turn for the better and it’s been blue sky’s and ~70 all week.
Other notes of interest:

I’ve got one final left but it’s not until the end of the month.

last week there was a beached whale on dixon beach.

I got my postie up to 92KPH (12 K’s over it’s supposed top speed).

Corlette house is in the process of creating a “Wall of Champions” in which the results of every competition between housemates will be displayed, so far America hasn’t lost.

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone, I'll try to keep this thing more up to date with the happenings over here.

Surfboard racks, winter swell, and fish

The last few weeks have been very productive as the semester comes to a close and everyone prepares for exams. The highlight of my productivity has been the creation of custom surfboard racks for the postie bike
.
The rack works really well and allows Tristan and I (we both made them) to check several different local beaches to find the best waves. Parking? These posties can be parked pretty much anywhere!

The winter swell has been hitting Newcastle in a BIG way. The other day I went out with Tristan into the biggest waves I've ever seen in person. I whole heartedly insist that a few of the waves that steam-rolled were double overhead, but no one believes me. Each fall put me in an underwater tumble for ~10seconds, it didn't take many to completely wear me out. I didn't catch any waves that day but being out there was amazing and terrifying at the same time.

Oddly enough I've decided fish isn't so bad. I bought about 10lbs of Basa, some type of catfish, because it was on sale and I've been really enjoying it, who would have guessed?

Birthday on the other side of the world

In a few days I'll have been in Oz for four months, it's unbelievable how much has happened and how many amazing friends I've made! I've decided it's reasonable, or maybe even necessary to celebrate my birthday twice because of the time difference between the land of Oz and America. My birthday pt. 1 was a beautiful day filled with birthday wishes, "shouts" of beer at the pub down the street, and not one, but TWO birthday cakes! After the pub, the night was finished off with burgers and "chips"(french fries), a movie, and ice cream.
It's now the morning of my birthday pt. 2 and I'm not sure I'll be able to top yesterday! We've decided to have a BBQ to celebrate the birthdays (Tristan, Kieren, Abe, and mine) next Saturday, I'll try and take some pictures.

The link on the top right of this page now has new pictures from Abq, Bangkok, Newcastle, and Queensland.

Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes and gifts!!! I would never have expected this much celebration so far from home! I'm glad I chose to stay two semesters instead of one, I couldn't imagine having to head home in a month.

Lastly the shaving competition continues, it's hard to say who's winning, in more ways than one it feels like we're both losing? I've given Tristan an ultimatum, I will accept his forfeit without shaving his head if he composes an eloquent letter expressing my superior masculinity and victory in the competition. This letter must be signed by 25 men, framed in dignified fashion, and hung in our living room.
We'll see what route desperation takes

Postie bike mayhem

After two days of jumping through hoops, filling out paperwork, and being taxed at every available opportunity, I have a postie bike.


This beauty costs $5 to fill up and can hit 50mph with a tail wind.

Getting the bikes was an adventure in itself, Tristan and I left for the auctions at 6:30AM and got home around 10PM. After a series of wrong turns (Google maps betrayed us) we found ourselves on the outskirts of Sydney at the Pickles Auction yard.




Upon locating the postie section of the auction, we confidently pretended to give a maintenance check to the bikes at random. Having no idea what to look for we decided to befriend the other buyers to see how they were checking each bike. The bidding was sporadic and stressful (it's hard to understand auctioneers, even more so when they have accents) but I managed to grab a bike I had deemed road worthy.


The purchase of these has led to extended conversations outside standing next to the bikes, often shifting conversation back to how great they are.



I've warned the neighbor that we are starting a motorcycle gang, she wasn't half as alarmed as I had expected, she obviously has no knowledge of high dollar motorcycles!

The Challenge

About a week ago Tristan made the mistake of proposing a "who ever shaves first loses" challenge. I upped the ante by suggesting who ever shaves first has to shave their head, he grudgingly agreed. You see he shaved his head about six months ago and it's taken that whole time for his hair to grow 2-3inches. I feel confident that I'll win this challenge due to having no reason to shave (no girlfriend, job, or need to be presentable). Also I've been thinking of shaving my head anyway, so maybe when Tristan loses I'll shave my head too.

This picture is at the end of week one, I'll be sure and post a picture when the challenge ends (in my victory!)

Breakfast burritos, studying, hypochondria, and 2nd hand everything.

On Sunday morning I cooked the boys a signature New Mexican breakfast, the breakfast burrito. The burritos were delicious and well received, but they reminded me of how much I miss Mexican food.

I've spent the week studying for mid semester tests, there is nothing exciting about this, but I thought I should mention it so everyone knows I am actually going to school out here.

I've lately been having some severe stomach/intestine pain and bloating, especially after swimming (I gulp down air when swimming hard, resulting in stomach pain). After testing several theories I figured out I'm lactose intolerant which is a bummer but lactose free milk is quite tasty, so I suppose I'll live.

After receiving a free bed from good friends Ben and Gabby (thanks again!) I noticed that everything in my room (minus most of my clothes and electronics) is second hand, and a good portion of it was found on the side of the road. Not having much stuff has made me realize how much I don't need it.

Lastly in 9 days I'm heading down to Sydney with Tristan to buy postie bikes. The excitement of this has led to 2nd hand leather jackets, fake tattoo's, and endless speeches on why postie bikes are superior to all motorcycles.

Easter break part 3

After Lennox we set our sights on the Goldcoast, home of surfers paradise.

What can I say? Everything was perfect, it's easy to see why they call it surfers paradise. We surfed for most of the morning then took a short tour of the town, it's alot like California but everyone seems to be a surfer, and no one is in a hurry. Hopefully I have another chance to spend some time up there, but then again I'd probably never leave. Back in the car we again changed directions and headed down south. Due to no plans we went a new direction everyday, I think our route looked something like a sporadic connect-the-dots.

We found ourselves in Yamba (hometown of my roommate Kieren) and found yet another perfect stretch of beach. With another several hour surf we were about out of daylight, fortunately we got last minute invites to Kierens farm. With an over sized bonfire I introduced schmores (spelling? you know the graham cracker-mallow-chocolate routine) to the Aussies with great success, they'd seen them on movies but had never had them before.

The next morning we returned to beaches of Yamba for a pre-drive surf, again we couldn't have asked for better conditions. Taking route once again the opposite direction, we were back on the road. With great tunes and in good moods the drive back to Byron was excellent!

Laurie proposed we visit an old rock quarry that she'd heard of with a huge cliff jump, why not? I said. The quarry had several places one could jump from but anything other than the highest felt incomplete. After testing the depth everyone but the frenchman (too scared) hiked to the highest point, about 70-80ft. The jump was completely terrifying but we managed to get out injury free and feeling great!
Here's a link of other people jumping off it: http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=DaBYRwLQIWU&feature=related

That night we went to a byob pizza shop and stuffed our faces with excellent food and great Australian beer. After dinner we rented a surfing movie (do you see a theme here?) and went back to Laurie's house.

The next morning we went out for our last surf before journeying home, a great finish to an awesome trip.

Easter break part 2

The lack of civilization resulted in a stunning masterpiece of the heavens, the constalations, shooting stars, and milkyway demanded attention. We decided we wouldn't need to sleep in the tent due to perfect conditions, how often does one get to sleep on the beach in good weather under a clear sky? We woke up at first light and there were already people in the water. We packed up camp and tried to look as natural as possible, no sign of the fuzz.

A breakfast of powdered milk and wheat bix (Australian cereal, it's really good!), we went to pick up replacement boards for Laurie (the Canadian) and me.

The next stop was Lennox Head, the name alone brings back sour memories! Lennox is another famous beach in NSW, the waves are great but the beach... the beach is rock, all sharp, horrible, angry rock. On the way to this beach Tristan said it was "The sharkyest beach I've ever surfed!" which may or may not have gotten in my head!

One has to shuffle across the rocks into knee deep water, being ever mindful of the waves crashing into you. When you see a big wave coming at you, jump over it and paddle as fast as you can before the water recedes and leaves you stuck on the rocks, where you will be destroyed by the next wave.

The waves were pumping but they broke pretty close to the rocky beach, making the whole charade stressful! After an hour with some admittedly great waves, I was looking around and didn't see my companions, either they had been eaten by sharks or they were on shore, either way getting out of the water was my highest priority!

I watched a few people getting out to see what was working best. I made my way towards the beach but the low tide denied me access as i ran into rocks about 30-40ft from the shore, "this could be trouble" I thought. I attempted to paddle back out and try further up the beach but it was fruitless, I was in the rip being carried down the beach, the worst place to be. Luckily Tristan hadn't been eaten by a shark and was still in the water. Seeing that I was in a bad situation he tried to coach me out of it, but unfortunately he wound up in the same situation as me. I'd been paddling for about 30 minutes at this point and was fading fast. We ran out of options and had to paddle for the next beach, .5-.75 miles away across shallow water with the same horrible rocks. The beach was the same as the one we had entered the water in, the only advantage was it had spots of sand and no waves.

Bruised, cut, bleeding, tired, and glad to be on land we hiked to the car.

Easter break part 1

For Easter break I took a trip up the coast with my roommate, we had no plans, $80 worth of candy and baked beans, and a tent.

Along the way up towards the Gold Coast we saw kangaroos, that famous big red rock, and tractors.


A late start, switching cars, obtaining a Frenchman, and a "mandatory" surf stop put us in Byron Bay around 10pm. We stayed at Laurie's house (Canadian) a friend Tristan made while surfing in Hawaii. The next morning we woke up earlyish and took to "Broken head" beach, who could have guessed we'd run into any trouble there?

After about 2o minutes in the water I managed to snap my board in half (the waves helped), worst part is due to the fiberglass being torn off, it can't be fixed. Thinking the surf trip had just ended for me I was bummed, maybe I wasn't ready for this level of surfing? Luckily this wasn't true as no less than twenty minutes went by when I saw Laurie walking to the car, board snapped in two.




Laurie was able to borrow two surfboards so we would be able to surf the rest of the trip, how awesome is that?

Without a place to stay, we started driving around looking for a place we could throw a tent without having to pay. We ran out of sunlight without having found a place to sleep when we had a "good" idea, why not sleep on the beach? Legalities aside, we were feeling very smart having found a place to sleep that others pay millions of dollars to build their house in front of. We set up camp in the dark to avoid detection, in retrospect this was a pointless act as we had a large camp fire that night.

Secret spot

I’ve successfully moved into a house just down the road from my first accommodation. The house is a complete bachelors pad with three awesome roommates. Yesterday me and Tristen got up at seven, had a few pieces of toast, and took to the road to find a hidden beach with excellent surf. After about 30 minutes and a dozen wrong turns we pulled up to an inconspicuous camping ground. A fifteen minute hike through the bush spits you out on the top of this hill.

It's hard (for me at least) to judge the size of waves from the land. The pictured waves were 4-6ft, more than enough to give you a decent tour of the ocean floor!

Saturday Morning

I did not take this picture! Google Yegor Korzh for more Newcastle shots.

The above picture is of the Mereweather ocean baths, a free swimming pool to the people of Newcastle! It's been around since the 1930's and sees hundreds of swimmers and splashers everyday. It's an ocean water bath (pool) that is drained bi weekly to keep the water fresh. It's only about 1.5 miles away from my house so it's easy to jog over to in the mornings.

Around eight this morning my friends Stefan (Germany) and Sebastian (Tasmania) ran with me from the boarding house over to the baths, had a swim then ran back. Hopefully the waves will be nice and we can all go surfing in this arvo (Oz slang for afternoon).

City council clean up day

Yesterday I celebrated my favorite semi annual Australian holiday, city council clean up day. On this excellent day the residents of Newcastle put their unwanted bulk junk out in front of their house to be picked up by the garbage men on an allotted day. The CCUD is poaching season for poor college students looking for furniture, I'm told it's not uncommon to see cars with trailers attached driving around hunting for goods.

After a college church service on sunday I jumped into Jacquie's (Kieren's [future roommate] girl friend) toyota and took to the streets. After "sussing" (Oz slang for acting suspiciously) around a few neighborhoods we hit the jackpot. We found a new bedside set of drawers for Jacquie, some tables for Kieren, and a surprisingly nice desk for myself. Tristen (other future roommate) and I sat out of the back windows and held the desk on the top of the car to take it home, illegal? Who knows, I'm a foreigner, things are different back home! < I use this often

After an accomplished evening I wished everyone a "happy city council clean-up day" and retired to my quarters.

I move into a house down the street from my current Accommodation at the end of the month. It's less expensive, only has 3 roomies instead of 50, larger room to myself, unlimited internet, cleaner, and everyone surfs, bonus.

Newcastle/Living Quarters

Newcastle has been treating me very well, the weather has been great and the people have been friendly. This is the beach down the road from the boarding house, I walk here almost everyday to surf.

My room is on the small side (If I stretch out I can touch both walls near my desk) but being that I didn't bring much, it works out. I've reorganized since the picture and have moved my bed under the window, this gives me room to do handstand pushups and other oddities.

Since my last update I've started surfing everyday, and completed a motorcycle training course granting me a license on the streets of NSW. I'm still looking for a postie bike (http://www.postiebikes.com/faq.htm#1.%20What%20is%20a%20Postie%20bike?), the ankle express isn't what it used to be and my bike lock is stuck in the locked position on my bike, dang.

Other points of interest:
I bought a fan off the internet, things are much cooler these days!
I've been thinking it would be really cool to try out for pararescue after I finish my degree. Here's a link to the Wikipedia Pararescue Jumper page if you're curious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Pararescue

Epic Battle

I spent what felt like the whole day at the university trying to upload pictures to shutterfly. After attempting this feat on 4 different computers, I found one that worked, at least for the most part.
I had to curse and slander the computers, network, Australian internet, and the university dozens of times to bring you this, all of the pictures I took while in SE Asia.

As an added bonus I put up the pictures from my trip to Macedonia, note the dodgy facial hair!

http://ramblingsofadventure.shutterfly.com/

Surfboard

Yesterday I bought a surfboard from a general store down the road and immediately proceeded to the beach to give it a go, unsuccessfully. Being from New Mexico and lacking beach knowledge, I spent the majority of the time in the water fighting the current and paddling around.

That night I chatted with a surfer (from Tasmania) who is living in the boarding house, after a few tips and pointers I felt more confident and took to the beach first thing this morning. After a series of nose dives and comical wipe-outs, I finally caught my first wave! Walking home bruised, sore, slightly burnt, and exhausted, I felt victorious.

After catching a wave, or more likely being dominated by a wave, it's tough to get back out to sea, seriously, its really hard! Every wave encountered pushed me back towards shore or turned me over with it, spending the majority of the time tumbling around the ocean floor.

Dan the Bike Man

Yours truly now owns a bicycle, the best part? Its free.

(As the picture suggests, I also got a library account)

In Newcastle there is a bike activist named Dan who loans out bicycles. Dan gets bikes donated for free, fixes them/helps you fix them, and then loans them out to anyone who wants them. I put down $50 bucks and got a bike, a lock, and helmet, when I return the bike in about a year, I get the money back, amazing!

I've been riding around town for a few days now and eventually will attempt a trip to campus. Newcastle isn't as bike friendly as Albuquerque, but I haven't been hit yet so I guess things are going smoothly.

"Car park soccer"

Tonight I met up with NCS (Newcastle christian students) a local club at the university. They had an introductory BBQ dinner (much tastier than the stuff at school) and took everyone out for a walk to the lighthouse to catch the sunset. I was able to make friends with a couple of aussie guys who invited me to play car park soccer, a game of madness!
After meetings, some of the NCS students head over to the campus parking structure for car park soccer. There are two decent size colums that serve as goals, the rest of the structure (fences, walls, ceilings, colums) are fair game. People show up and leave when they want, randomly pick a side to be on, and jump into the mix. Last night about 40 people got together to play, the game resembeled something like an 8 year old AYSO game, every player chasing after the ball and kicking wildly. This was an amazingly fun way to spend the evening

Australia is hot

Contrary to foolish belief, Australia is hot, really hot.

Today was the first day of "O-Week" (orientation week) and things went well. I was about an hour late into the international orientation due to poor planning and getting lost. Luckily I didn't miss much and was able to copy notes off of Nina, the other exchange student from my university. During o-week there is endless amounts of "Free BBQ", this is misleading. The BBQ is actually some form of sausage surprise, lamb is definitely involved. This mysterious meat leaves the eater with an awkward look on their face, on one hand it isn't good, on the other, it's free.

Other points of interest:
In getting directions to obtain a student ID, I was told to walk through "the bush" (awesome).
I signed up in a few student groups, looking forward to meeting some new people and exploring the city/territory.
Water fountains are called "bubblers"
Bus tickets for the time I'll be here will cost me a minimum of $700, I might look into a cheap car instead?

My goals over the next few days are to:
buy a fan for my room (I'm having trouble sleeping it's so hot!), look for used surfboards, and figure out my schedule.

The first few days of Oz

The next chapter in my year away has begun, I’m finally in Newcastle. The hostel I’ve been staying in offers plenty of free or low cost activities for its residents (like free food on some nights, 2 for 1 drink specials at local bars ect) which has been wonderful as everything here seems to be twice the price it would be in the states.

I met the realtor I’ve been hassling online for the last month or two, everything is in order (for those familiar with the subject, my wire finally went through!) and I’ll be moving into my own room tomorrow. The property is a boarding house with about 45 residents sharing bathrooms, a kitchen, a large dining/study room, and common room. The rooms are on the small side but I brought next to nothing so that works out just fine. It’s a 7-10 minute walk from my doorstep to Bar Beach, an excellent stretch of coast flanked by towering cliffs, and containing (from what I’ve read) the best surfing in Newcastle. I walked along the coast for about 30 minutes today, this is going to be a wonderful year.

I met a few other international students who were checking out the boarding house, they said there are loads of tours/activities that the international department is putting on for the new arrivals, I’ll hopefully find my way into some more free food tomorrow.

Day 28, Bangkok

I've spent my day reflecting on my travels around SE Asia, I feel incredibly blessed in having this opportunity. SE Asia was nothing like what I expected, the people are friendly and understanding, the scenery is unlike any place I've seen, and the food is delicious and inexpensive. I've eaten the majority of my meals from street vendors without getting sick, I've walked the streets of Thailand and Cambodia late at night, alone, and I've never felt threatened. I've eaten the fried bugs, experienced the temples, rode the elephants, watched the Muay Thai fights with the locals, and dove the Indian Ocean. I have no reservations of my time spent here, this trip has been amazing and it's something I'll remember for the rest of my life.

My flight for Oz leaves tonight, the next adventure, the next unknown, and I'm excited.

In the meantime I'm going to head off for a little alley five minutes away from the hostel, this is where I'll celebrate my last night in Bangkok by stuffing my face with an assortment of food I've never seen before.

Day 26, Koh Phi Phi

Today was the last day on the islands and I got up and went for a hike to get a better view of the island, pretty awesome.

Day 23-25, Koh Phi Phi

Scuba certification time!
Over three days we learned the essentials of diving and went on several open water dives. To become certified we had to read, study, and take a test, all of which seemed cruel and wrong when considering our location.
The dives were incredible, the water was about 85 degrees 30 feet down, it was like diving in bathwater. The water was crystal clear and the fish and divers shared a mutual curiosity, allowing for great close up examination. Over the dives we saw black tip reef sharks, moray eels, giant sea turtles, dozens of huge puffer fish, clown fish, and of course fish of all shapes and sizes in every color of the rainbow, fashioned with a neon radiance.

Day 22, Koh Phi Phi

Today we commissioned a long boat to tour the surrounding islands of Koh Phi Phi.














The first stop was Monkey Beach, a 100m stretch of beach surrounded by dense foliage and a several dozen wild monkeys. After our stint with the Cambodian monkeys, we felt confident and ready for interaction. We were warned that these monkeys are extremely aggressive and will attack if you run from them, "no problem" I thought, "monkeys love me". Like a proper tourist, I shuffled over to their congregation, armed with my camera in one hand and pineapple in the other, I had grin that suggested questionable intellect.



I wasn't alarmed when four monkeys surrounded me, I had pineapple and the aforementioned grin. The tides turned when another tourist, who was less versed in monkey business, sprinted away from a monkey she was tormenting with an empty beer bottle. Her flee overtook the surrounding monkey's primal instinct, the closest one grabbed my leg and gave me crazy eyes. I held my ground and he decided to bite me in the knee (didn't break skin thankfully) which caused me to let out a strikingly masculine yell. Back to the boat.



We then did a bit of snorkeling













We traveled to a secluded cove














And finished our tour on Maya Beach, the famous location of "The Beach" starring Leonardo Dicaprio. Even with the hundreds of tourists that flock to experience the beauty and grandeur of this cove, the scenery hasn't lost any of its magic.










After about an hour of marveling the unnaturally soft sand, clear waters, and captivating cliffs, we jumped back on the water taxi and enjoyed the setting sun on the way back to Phi Phi.

Day 20, Koh Phi Phi

I woke up before everyone and decided to find myself a nice plot on the beach and take in the scenery. I warned my travel companions to take it slow the first few days so that we wouldn't get burned, I thought I was playing it safe by dousing myself in SPF 50 (several times) but it turns out the sun here got the best of me and everyone else. With a stunning red countenance and an endlessly sweaty brow, we sat down to eat some local food and indulge in fruit smoothies.

I'll be hiding from the sun the next few days, this could be a good opportunity to get dive certified!

Day 19, Koh Phi Phi

After traveling by a series of dodgy trains, buses, tuk-tuks, and taxi's, the plane ride to Krabi was a relief. The ferry from Krabi to Koh Phi Phi took us through smooth blue waters surrounded by dozens limestone spires, all covered with lush vegetation and untouched by man. As we pull into the cove of the Phi Phi islands, one can't help but be in awe of the clear green and turquoise waters, the towering cliffs, and the seemingly unending white beaches. We'll be staying here for 9 days, moods are high.

Day 15, Siem Reap

Today was dedicated solely to Angkor Wat, the largest and most famous Wat in the region. After wandering around the center region with what felt like half of China, we shuffled off the beaten path and found the beauty and tranquility you'd expect from such a place.

This immense structure demands awe and inspires curiousity as you're left wondering how they built any of this without power tools and the latest caterpillar line up.

Day 14, Siem Reap

Today everyone woke up (or stayed awake for) the sunrise over Angkor Wat. It was very peaceful but unless you've got a really nice camera, your photo's will look awful.





After the sunrise we took an hour and a half tuk-tuk ride(17 bucks) for more waterfalls and hiking. I struck my best swimsuit model pose then we were off for another temple.









I'm told there are over 250 temples in the Siem Reap area, admittedly they all look pretty similar.









We booked new accommodation tonight due to lack of AC and anyone our age at our previous two hostels, so far we've already run into a few traveling companions from Bangkok and we'll probably head for the street food and $.50 draft beers shortly.