Jan 7, 2003
This is the first in a series of unedited emails that I wrote in 2003 when I was on a teacher exchange in Australia
Well, as my Killarney friends finish their first day back at school and my squash team plays their first game without me, here I sit in a backpackers' hostel in a small surf town named Warrnambool about 5 hours west of Melbourne. I arrived last Wednesday night after an insane amount of flying and a little bit of sleep in Singapore. Had fun meeting up with the ultimate crowd and have been to a few practice -seems like a great group of people (already been to a few dinners), a bit on the intense side once on the field. Had fun going around downtown Melbourne, checking out the stores and the beautiful parks. Very similar to Vancouver in many ways, but also quite different - the whole driving on the wrong side of the car and road just makes everything look a bit odd. They have some cool new buildings downtown, that my guide (my exchange partner's sister) told me weren't that popular with the masses (stands out sort of like our library). I bought some tickets for the Australian Open for the third round -which should be awesome. I also plan to go watch some cricket at the huge Melbourne Cricket Grounds (capacity 110 000) -I wouldn't say that I'm a fan, but my friend here is REALLY into it (and that seems to reflect everyone's opinion) and I've been explained all of the rules and have watched a bit on TV. Aussie Rules Football (or footy) seems much more interesting and I've been told that I can even play with a local, informal team - which I don't think I'll be doing (I guess I'm a bit of a wuss).
After a few days in Melbourne, I got driven down to the countryside by my exchangee's parents. I live about 1 hour and 45 minutes from Melbourne if someone else is driving, or about 2 hours and 45 minutes on my first, slow attempt on the left side of the road and right side of the car ("look right, stay left" I keep repeating to myself outloud as I drive). The countryside is amazing (that is after you drive past an hour's worth of dairy farms - at least the cheese is plentiful). One thing that surprised me is how different the plant life is here. Everywhere I look I see new plants, bushes and trees (even the seaweed is different) - I even saw my first palm tree in the area of Melbourne where I stay on weekends (St. Kilda), which is full of them. I hung out at my new house for less than a day, unpacked a bit, checked out the place, watched a little aussie tv in the evening and went to her parent's beautiful place in Venus Bay (sort of a summer surfing getaway place) for my first aussie bbq. Lots of fun!
Drove into Melbourne the next day (after finally getting insurance for my car -by the way, the hood is called a "bonnet" and the trunk is a "boot") - going about 15 km under the speed limit (I only passed one car - they were a learner). After a fun, and exhausting (can you fall totally out of shape after 5 days of inactivity?) ultimate practice I took off on a road trip. I drove west along the absolutely amazing Great Ocean Road which winds along the southern coast of the country. Amazing! I swam and hung out on two different white sand surf beaches (will get around to taking some lessons once I get back to my place), walked through two big national parks (one of the trails took me through an actual rainforest), and stayed in two hostels - the first was the coolest - I had dinner with a lady from Richmond, two guys from Bombay, some Kiwis, a German and a couple from Brisbane. Tomorrow, I take off for the national park called The Grampions, the next day the colonial town of Ballarat and then back to Melbourne on Friday, only to jump in a new buddy's van to take off for an ulti tournament in Canberra. School starts on the 27th.
So far, I've seen no Koalas (but I've been promised that I will see a bunch tomorrow, as well as some in my front yard during the year), only one Kangaroo (which unfortunately was no longer breathing), a few geckos (one freaked me out as it was on a trail I was walking on and it was the thickness of my wrist and about 30cm long) and a snake that was sleeping in front of yesterday's hostel (curled up, the size of a bike tire).
Anyway, my minutes are up - hope everyone is doing well! I will write again soon.
Tommy
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