Australia

I apologize for not having updated in so long, but this is the first time I have had internet in weeks. Enjoy.

On Thursday we finally left student village (myself and friends Maggie and Brice). To say it was a sad farewell is a massive understatement. Everyone that I have met and come to love in the past few months is now split- the IG (International Group, as we became known) was about to fracture. Love was shared, good wishes sent. I shook the hand of every one of my wonderful friends, then embraced them. When I leave NZ for good, I will miss the people I have met way more than any bird, mountain or island. Even though I know I will see many of them once more (especially the Kiwis) I know that we most likely will never be together like this again- my hope is that if someone ties the knot, the IG will reconvene; that would be a day to cherish.
The plane trip to Cairns was two flights- Auckland to Sydney to Cairns. It gave me alot of thinking time, and I realized just how deeply and immediately I missed these people already.
After a long day of flight, we dropped into Cairns. I got in a van to go to the hostel, took the window down, and put my head out the whole way. Where Waikato had frost every morning, Cairns had easy, breezy 70 degree weather. I think I like this country.
After sleeping for about 6 hours, we woke up before dawn to get to our dive shop. We would be taking a liveaboard boat to go dive the Great Barrier reef, every marine biologist’s (and diver’s) dream. The boat held over 30 people, 5 or so crew (including a french chef, ooh la la!). We would be doing 11 dives over 3 days- normally, a day long dive trip consists of 2 dives. Our schedule was literally: Wake up pre dawn (5:45 am), Sunrise Dive, Breakfast, Morning Dive, snack, Noon Dive,Lunch, afternoon/ sunset Dive, Dinner, night Dive, Cake. It was tiring, it was repetitive, it was smelly and wet and crowded, and It. Was. Glorious.

First, let me say something about the great barrier reef. It is the world’s largest contiguous living organsim (i suppose that could be disputed, but it is massive) stretching over more than a thousand miles. Imagine a reef system, like you see in movies. Now imagine that pretty little reef extending in one form or another from Florida to Maine. Yeah, you could say it’s big. The best parts of the reef are actually quite shallow- most divers are certified to dive starting out to 60 feet- the interesting bits of the reef are usually shallower than 40, and once you get within 20 feet of the surface the brilliance is astounding. Every color of the rainbow (and some I didn’t think were even in it) is represented here. Fish that have no business whatsoever being so beautiful are abundant. You can never tell what will be around the next bend, except more reef, more oppourtunity for exploration. What’s next? clownfish? Maybe giant clams? Perhaps you’ll get lucky and see a green turtle as large as you are, or a white tipped reef shark lurking, aware of you ages before you saw it there. The things we saw were unlike many I have ever seen before. The GBR was an absolute dream to dive.

I won’t regale you with all 11 dives, as that would get tedious and repetetive for both of us. I will recap 8 of the dives, and tell of 3 in a bit more detail. In our dives we saw sharks, giant clams of luminescent colors that boggled the mind (and that were big enough for me to fit in if I was so foolish to try), clownfish and anenome fish that stayed close to their havens, fish of every shape, color, size, and mentality, and coral varieties that were astounding. Three dives in particular stand out. In one, we were at a pinnacle known as “The Whale”. We had a pretty standard dive, with swim throughs (underwater rock tunnels that you swim through; at the end, the entire ocean opens up to you- a very cool experience) and wildlife. As we began our safety stop, we turned around to see a shadow moving behind us- a shade, if you will. As we continued to watch, this gliding form came closer- a giant spotted eagle ray. This enourmous creature, about 7 feet wide, glided right past us, sailing effortlessly, almost as if an ethereal projection of this creature was all in my mind. It was the perfect end to a dive. At the second, we dove a reef known as “Gordon’s”. We dropped in the water around 4:30 pm, and descended onto a proverbial aquarium. The bommie, or pinnacle for non-aussies, became a wall that leveled out at about 6 feet deep. We went up there, and saw... another world. Normally red light gets cut out very rapidly in water, but at 6 feet much of it is still there. I never thought I would see neon in nature, but I did. The colors almost hurt. After continuing on this dive, we descended to a maze of bommies, and got lost. The result was awesome, of course- being lost in a wonderful, unfamiliar place, exploring wherever you want, knowing that all you have to do to get your bearings is look at your compass. We got lucky and found a green turtle about half my size chowing down on some algae- like more turtles we later would see on subsequent dives, this one was not afraid at all of us. We could have touched it if we wanted to, and it was unfazed. It was after this that I witnessed one of the coolest things of the trip: an underwater sunset. The idea of the sun slipping behind these under water towers, teeming with life, and watching the evening sun dance in the water before finally dipping over the horizon is something every diver (and I am tempted to say every human being) should experience. The third dive that I found exceptional was my first night dive ever. As the sun set, we began to gear up and get ready to get wet. The lights from the boat attracted a mass of fish, including sea bass, or some fish similiar to it. The chef began to throw our food scraps form dinner overboard, which of course got the fish excited, and soon more had come. After a few minutes, the school scattered. At first I thought it peculiar, but then I saw why- shark.
The shark was probably a reef shark, though I am not sure. It was larger than I was, but not by alot. It began to circle the school, dipping in every few seconds to try and grab one for dinner. What did we do now that there were sharks at our dive site, where it was too dark to see without a flashlight, and where anything could be lurking in the dark?
Well, we jumped in, of course.
Sharks tend not to like divers. They look funny, taste bad, and are loud, big and noisy in the water. Pretty soon what had come for a snack had left, and we continued the dive. It was eerie, to say the least. Imagine those movies in which a heroic space team embarks on an alien world, where shadow abounds. Strange pillars play with the light, and tones of grey and blue mess with your head. Now imagine instead of walking on this terrain, you are slowly gliding over it. This was my experience. I saw one very large fish, which was about 30 feet above my head- as soon as I illuminated it, it sank away. Except for the fact it was a night dive, this dive was nothing special. However, the aspect of darkness gave a whole new dimension to the water that I can safely say I am now addicted to.
Another thing that made this trip very enjoyable was the people that i met and dove with. Out of the 30 or so divers, i would say at least 25 were 30 or under, with the rest being under 40. The crew was similiarly aged. Most of the people were under 25- right in my age group. Though we were similiar in age, in nationality could not have been more varied. The people on the boat were Canadian, American, Australian, English, French, Irish, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Estonian, and Egyptian. We couldn’t ask for a better trip- the people were fantastic, the ocean was literally as clear as glass, the weather was warm and the sky was clear. I actually spent a night out sleeping on the deck of the ship, with not a light in sight except the vast expanse of the outer spiral arm of the milky way above me. It will be something I will never forget.
After our last day of dives, we went back to port, where we were greeted by a small American navy fleet (an aircraft carrier and about 4 or 5 other ships of various sizes and duties). They flooded Carins. I heard American accents as much as Australian. We checked into a backpacker called the northern greenhouse, at the suggestion of some of the people that dove with us. It was a very cool place to stay- it felt sufficiently bohemian and tropical, almost Jamacian, but it was very nice inside. There was a courtyard with a pool, a free barbeque, free breakfast, linens, a full bathroom and half kitchen in each room, and a very cozy feel, all for a good price. I was very pleased.
That night all of the dive group –and I mean all of them, including the tiny french chef of our boat- gathered together for some dinner and drinks at a place called the rattle and hum. Our night of conversing, laughing, eating and drinking quickly became a night of dancing we decided to go to a local venue. It was one of the best clubbing nights I have ever had. The running joke with the IG is that New Zealand has about 11 songs, and within an hour, you have heard them all. Because the Navy was in town, however, the music was fantastic- every song was a hit, a classic, or at least popular enough to dance to and sing along to. The only two songs I could think of that I didn’t hear were thriller and the eye of the tiger. One thing that I have always, always wanted to hear at a club was Bohemian Rhapsody- and boy, did I get my wish. Imagine 200 people all rocking out, singing to each other as they danced like crazy and shredded on air guitar to their heart’s content: they were totally oblivious to each other, with no shame and nothing held back, because, let’s be honest, everyone else was doing it too. All in all, I guess you could say I quite enjoyed Cairns.
The next day we flew to Sydney to spend a few days. Our flight got in at evening, and as soon as we checked into our backpacker we started exploring. Only a few blocks from our hostel, which incidentally was also right in downtown Sydney, we saw a crowd of people on a street, with police everywhere and cameras even more numerous. We decided to take a detour- boy were we suprised. The crowd was there to see none other than Brüno, live and in the flesh (and in a few other things) at a movie premier for his film of the same name. For those of you not familiar, Brüno is a character played by comedian Sasha Baron Conen, who became internationally famout for his film Borat, where he played a backwards Khazakstani reporter in America. Brüno, on the other hand, is a gay Austrain fashion critic, and this character is used much the same way as Borat, to humiliate the people he interviews for the great entertainment of the world. He is pretty famous, you could say.
So imagine my suprise when I saw Brüno come out of an alleyway with a white hourse, while coated in ridiculously shiny roman style armor, complete with equally shiny silver helmet. I’ll give Cohnen something- when he is in character, he really is. Cohnen was Brüno and nothing else. It was a real treat, especially since our chances of seeing it were completely random and astronomically low.
So, what about Sydney, ask you? Well, I consider Sydney to be my 2nd favorite city in the world, second only to St. Petersburg in Russia. What isn’t there to love? It is a city of 4 million, but it feels like a place a tenth of the size. Don’t get me wrong, Sydeny is huge, but it doesn’t feel like it on the street. It is nice and pleasant; people are nice, they don’t push or yell, taxis actually let you cross- try to think of any other city half the size of New York where cars actually stop for pedestrians when they don’t have to? In a word, Sydney is pleasant. The skyline is stunning, all glass and light. It’s skyscrapers flow, almost like waves or sails on the horizon. They most resemble Seattle of all the cities I have been to, but I would say Sydney even tops this. The Opera house and Harbour bridge are spectacular to behold- the opera house is much larger than people have told me, and literlaly took my breath away the first time i saw it. The water reflects the skyline perfectly, and makes for great photography. The alleyways are all well lit, clean, and safe looking. There are a million ways to get anywhere- up those stairs, throgh that alley, across the street, over the bridge, in between those buildings in a small avenue- the possibilities are endless, which gives the city almost a wonderous feel, as if you are doing urban exporation of sorts. This is what we did the first night.
We slept in the second day, and woke up to head down to Hyde park, located right in the middle of the city. This park is something to behold, let me tell you. In addition to the great architecture and wonderful urban aspects of downtown Sydney, it also has frequent and refreshing green spaces. Hyde park is one of these places, with Eucalyptus trees towering 60 feet overhead into a giant arch that shelters a stone path 30 feet wide, right in the middle of Sydney. It was a joy to walk through. Near the park is a cathedral called St. Mary’s, which I can comfortably say is the most beautiful Catholic Cathedral I have seen outside of Europe. As we went in, I sat down to have a quick prayer, and a bell rung. The patrons rose. We again had impecible timing, and stayed for mass. Afterwards we walked to the botanic gardens, and the art museum of New South Wales. The museum was free, and a good use of the afternoon- there were both contemporary and older works, from both Australia and around the world. The mediums were not limited to paint, either. There was video, audio, and interactive art as well. The fact that all of this was free, and that we were allowed to take photos, and that when we left a random person on the street asked us how we liked it, and told us where to find some more sculpture outside, really is a testament to now nice and friendly australians are.
After the museum we walked through the Botanical Gardens, which included multitudes of wild Cockatoos, Ibis (which are like the pidgeons of Sydney) and trees full of sleeping bats, in addition to one of the rarest plants found in the world, a conifer that was thought to be extinct for 150 million years until it was discovered in the Australian Bush. Another testament to Australia- it is a big place, with few people to explore it. We saw the sun set over the harbor bridge from the Opera house, and then and dined on the roof of a local pub overlooking the skyline. Afterwards we walked to Darling Harbour, and wandered back to the hostel for a good sauna and swim. I guess after the dive trip we were used to being wet.
Wednesday we switched hostels to the Wake up! Hostel only a block from the one we were at the past 2 nights (we couldn’t stay because it was booked). It is listed as the best hostel in oceania: let me say right now, nothing could be further from the truth. We checked in and immediately were struck by that fact that the elevator will not function without your card being swiped, which was perfect considering my card simply refused to read. This really helped contribute to the feel of the entire hostel being a mix of wannabe college fraternity house, google staff headquarters and nazi work camp. We went into our room, which was an 8 share dorm room complete with exactly 1 light and 1 outlet. This is for 8 people, mind you. The absolute worst part of the room (and the hostel in particular) are the intercoms. At random intervals throught the day, the intercoms in EVERY ROOM turn on, to accomodate a booming and annoying voice which of course begins with “wake up, wake up, wake up!”, followed by a list of inane, unfunny and infuriatingly annoying comments having actually nothing to do with my life in relation to this place. When I first heard them, I just stared at my companions and waited for the announcements to cease.
“That is going to get annoying.”
“Yup.”
“Really annoying.”
“Yup.”
Needless to say, we didn’t stay in the room for long.
We spent our day much the same as the day before. We walked to a cafe, had lunch, and continued to the Rocks, where the opera house is located. On our way, we went to the obervatory, a green grassy hill looking over sydney harbor, sitting for an hour or so, writing postcards and enjoying the balmy winter weather (which is something I rarely can say I can do). We walked to the Opera house and tried to get tickets for a show, but one was sold out and the other cancelled for lack of ticket sales. We grabbed some snacks (sushi) and walked to the harbor to catch a ferry to Darling Harbor. The ferry, at $5.20 AUD a ticket, is a nice cheap way to see the harbor. It took us about a half hour to get to Darling Harbor, and our first stop was the maritime museum, which was free admission. It had quite a few interesting artifacts in it, including original pieces from some of Captain Cook’s original voyage. Outside the museum were several ships, including a submarine, a warship of the 20th century, and a recreation (full size) of captain cook’s ship the Endeavour. The ship was quite large, and being the age of sail junkie I am, I naturally wanted to check it out, but it had closed only minutes before. The museum itself was only open until 5 pm, so we only spent about 45 minutes in it. Afterwards we walked back to our hostel. A few days later, we were back in Hamilton, ready to depart on our next adventure, which I will write about in the future.