Time is passing too quickly. I now have less than a month before I leave Australia. I wish these weeks could last forever. I don't want to leave. Studying somewhere for a semester really isn't long enough. It feels like as soon as you really start to feel at home and start to make lots of random friends it is time to leave. There are so many things I still want to do, but there just isn't enough time. I have a whole string of uni assessments standing in my way. That's right, world - it's getting to be exam time.
But instead of focusing on all the assignments I have to finish before leaving for the reef next Thursday (!!!), look at all the fun things that I've been up to.
Last Monday night I went to the Sydney Observatory with Becca, Sam, and Bucknellian Lindsay Alexander. The observatory sits on top of a hill (Observatory Hill) in The Rocks and is right by the harbour bridge. The tour/show was very interesting and informative. The highlight, of course, was going up into one of the domes and looking through the telescope. The observatory was built in the 1800s and the dome had a big metal roof with a slit in it that needed to be rotated every time we repositioned the telescope. We looked at Saturn, Alpha Centauri, The Jewel Box, Jupiter and the moon.
After investigating the heavens, we started heading home. Yeah, it was nearly 11, and yeah, we all had a lot of work due the next day, but the bridge was right there. We decided to go for a walk. The city is gorgeous during the night and we had a good time goofing around and walking across the bridge.
On Tuesday, a group of us went to the fish market for lunch intending to try some "freaky seafood." Boy, was it freaky. Becca, Sam, and I got a seafood platter to share. The platter consisted of some kind of fish, scallops, prawns, oysters (or mussels maybe?), calamari and the freakiest item: BBQ baby octopus. The meal was well documented and everyone had some fun trying the octopus. Naturally, the platter contained a disproportionately high number of octopuses. Go figure.
Tuesday evening I had my first scuba diving certification class. I get to the room only to find out that I'm the only person in the class. Slightly awkward, but at least I know I won't get left behind on dives!
Wednesday morning I was able to successfully (and painlessly) change my flight home and add a stopover in New Zealand. It's official: I'm leaving Australia on June 22, heading to New Zealand, hanging around there for a few weeks, and flying back to the U.S. on July 8. I'll be traveling around NZ with Becca. We're going to road trip around the South Island and visit her uncle in Dunedin. If anyone has any suggestions about places to visit or things to do, please leave a comment!
Saturday and Sunday I was in Beverly Hills (Sydney suburb) all day for my scuba diving course. Saturday was mostly spent reviewing the dangers of diving (really scary), getting fitted with equipment, reviewing various procedures and finally diving in a pool. On Sunday I went on two shore dives with my instructor and his wife. The first was near Cronulla at Oak Park. The surf was rough getting in and out of the water, but the dive was awesome. We saw several large blue groupers (more than two feet long) that kept following us around. They were so friendly that they would get in my way when I was trying to look at brightly colored sponges ... I kept having to shoo/nudge them out of the way. The small reef was teaming with life.
The second dive location was in Kurnell, on the south side of Botany Bay. This dive was even more awesome than the first. We saw several types of starfish, two cuttlefish, catfish (different than the catfish I'm familiar with), a sting ray, an eel, an octopus, and a bunch of other fun fish. The octopus was half hidden under a rock and when the instructor waved his hand in front of him, the octopus sent an arm out and suctioned on to my instructors hand. The octopus tried to pull his hand under the rock ... it was really cool to watch. The cuttlefish were especially cool and very unusual. My instructor's wife scared one at one point, and it turned white and its skin got very smooth. After a few seconds, color returned to the skin and it became more textured. When my instructor waved his hand near the cuttlefish, waves of color would pass through his skin matching the motion of the hand. It was really cool to see. Cuttlefish are amazing creatures. Google them.
This upcoming weekend I will again be out diving and completing the course. I'm glad that I decided to take the course before going to the Great Barrier Reef. Anyone reading this who knows me knows that I am a little paranoid about safety (I blame you, Dad), so feeling comfortable with the equipment and the process and knowing how everything works really makes me feel a lot better. There's a lot more to diving than I expected, particularly in regard to nitrogen issues. Again, look into it. It's interesting.
So as I mentioned before, the work has really started to pile up. I should probably be doing work now, but I had a big presentation this afternoon, so I think I deserve a relaxing evening. I'll try to write a quick update before I head off to Cairns and the Whitsundays, but if I don't, I won't be back until June 12.
This past week it has been warmer in MD than it has been here. Tragic. But I guess that's how it's going to be from now on... :-(
