CRIKEY!

Steve Irwin. What a legend that man was. 

Like many people my age, I feel like I grew up with the Irwins. I watched as Steve wrestled crocs, Bindi sang about nature, and even when Terri announced that she was pregnant with Robert. 

I have a fairly vivid memory of the day I found out that Steve had been killed in a stingray accident. Sure, I’d never met the man, but it was so sad and strange to know that the man I’d seen in the most dangerous of situations, the man who seemed invincible, was gone. 

Fast forward to 2016. When I began to plan my Australian adventures, I knew that one way or another, I was going to make it to the Australia Zoo. I had to go. 

And I did. 

I flew into Brisbane on Monday afternoon, explored the city (and viewed the Supermoon) that evening, and early Tuesday morning, I made my way to the one, the only Australia Zoo. 

And it was everything I’d hoped it would be…and more. 

The amazing thing about the Australia Zoo is how interactive it is. In true Irwin fashion, the keepers get you right up close and personal with their furry, scaly, slimy, and feathery friends. 

 

The keepers are so excited to share their love of the animals with you, and they try to get you as close as possible to them. You can hold a blue-tongued skink, pet an echidna, or take a picture with a macaw. 

The two animals you definitely can’t get too close to, though, are the alligators and crocodiles. But to make up for that, they have many of them around the zoo and host a crocodile show to display these marvelous creatures’ moves. 

 

I swear this guy looks like he’s laughing. 

If you want to get more personal with some of the non-crocodile animals, you can book animal encounters. And because the zoo is in Queensland instead of New South Wales, you can actually hold a koala at one of these. So, internet, meet Annie. Annie, internet. 

 

Annie was actually a wild koala before she was rescued by the Australia Zoo, and now she spends a bit of her day meeting eager visitors to the zoo, cuddling with us, and taking pictures with us.

Adorable, isn’t she?

Speaking of introductions, I joked with my family saying that I was going to meet the Irwin family and become BFFs with Bindi, since she is a mere two years younger than me. 

What I didn’t know when I planned this trip was that I had scheduled to visit on Steve Irwin Day—the annual celebration of Steve Irwin’s life and legacy. And on Steve Irwin Day, the Irwin family hosts the Crocs Live! show…

And even runs around the zoo for a bit, meaning I ACTUALLY GOT TO MEET TERRI, ROBERT, AND BINDI IRWIN!!! Talk about a dream come true! (I only managed to get a picture with Bindi, but I talked to each member of the Irwin clan for a few moments. Mark that one off the Aussie bucket list!)

The Australia Zoo is an amazing place. It truly is Steve’s legacy come to life, and there is so much joy happening there, especially from Bindi, Terri, and Robert. Their mission is simple—protect animals, protect the environment, and make “wildlife warriors” out of everyone they meet.

And a wildlife warrior I am. 

Zoos, Blues, and a Large Bruise

I have a distinct memory of seeing and photographing a koala for the first time at the San Diego Zoo when I was in fifth grade. Thinking back, this seems to have been a moment foreshadowing this journey of mine just over a decade later.

Some of my fondest memories growing up are ones that took place at zoos, so it should come as no surprise that I recently planned trips to two zoos here in Australia.

I visited the Taronga Zoo on Friday. My new friend Annie and I got up before dawn to take the first train into Sydney, and once we met up with her friend Ally, we took the ferry to the zoo.

Our first major stop was the seal and sea lion show, and I immediately noticed how kindly the keepers treat the animals. I've never seen a zoo keeper treat an animal unkindly, but the keepers at Taronga show an obvious love for the animals in their care.

The seals were very expressive and energetic, and they each displayed a very unique personality. Unlike some animal shows I've seen, the keepers at this show made a real effort to promote conservation, protection of the environment, and ecological responsibility.

Of course, they made sure to show off with a few tricks, though!



After this, we made our way around the rest of the zoo, seeing reptiles, both caged and uncaged...

a mother and baby chimpanzee duo...

lemurs (who we saw up close during an enclosure walk-through)...

and so many more gorgeous animals.

At the end of our zoo day, we took a ride on the gondola that extends high above the entire zoo. Since my battery ran low, I decided to switch from my rechargeable batteries to normal ones in order to capture a couple shots from the air. WELL, did you know that there is a small gap between the bottom of the gondola's door and floor? YEAH, me neither. So, I lost a rechargeable battery to the roof of one of the zoo's buildings...oops.

Luckily I had some backup batteries because we went straight from the zoo to the train station to meet up with our friend Jordan and head to Katoomba, home of the Blue Mountains.

We made it into town just in time for sunset, so we walked to the Three Sisters overlook to take a few pictures.

It was an early night for us since Annie and I had woken up so early. When we woke up, we got ready as fast as we could and took a short train ride toward the Charles Darwin trek trail head.

This hike passed waterfalls, small caves, and beautiful rock formations. We hiked for eight hours, and I'm still not entirely sure where all we went. What I can do, though, is describe the hike in numbers.

13 miles
4 waterfalls
2 jumps into springs
1 jar of nutella
438218938201803 stairs...maybe a slight exaggeration
6 ungraceful falls...all mine.

About that last one...
I am often overly confident with my ankles. I have been a klutzy person most of my life, and I have sprained each of them several times. I had PT, though, and I don't believe in watching life happen from the sidelines. That does mean that I get hurt sometimes.

The first fall was a rolled ankle. My foot hit the step at a bit of an angle, and down I went. Annie described my second fall as her watching my life flash before her eyes. There was a slight deformity in the rock I stepped on, so my feet slipped right out from underneath me. Luckily, I caught the hand rails and held on for dear life or I might have fallen down the stairs a ways and my new friends may have been carrying me back. I'm really glad we didn't get in that situation.

Every other fall was purely a klutz moment. Eventually we started keeping score of wobbles, missteps, trips, and falls. I lost badly and have the bruises to prove it.

(Jordan took the above photo of me while I was laughing at the caution sign warning about falls. This was taken just 5-10 minutes after my first one.)

I finally got to my bed back in Newcastle at about 1:15 a.m., exhausted but overjoyed with how wonderful the weekend was.


P.S. If you were observant enough to notice I only talked about one zoo instead of two, stay tuned! I'm headed to Brisbane today, and I will be visiting the one and only Australia Zoo, home of the Crocodile Hunter, may he rest in peace.

Did I mention I'll be going on Steve Irwin Day? Because I'll be going on Steve Irwin Day. I'm just a bit excited.

Halloween in Boo-castle

Happy Halloween!

Here in Boo-castle…Spook-astle…Ghoul-castle… Oh, forget it.

Here in Newcastle, Halloween is pretty much over. It’s 10 p.m., so kids are likely getting ready to go to bed, and a lot of the Halloween parties actually happened over the weekend.

The university put on a party on Friday at one of the aforementioned bars on campus. As usual, I didn’t actually know about it until just a couple days before. Also per usual, I didn’t want to spend much money on a costume that would probably not make the journey back to the USA with me.

So, one pair of ears and an eyeliner pencil later, and I had the most generic costume imaginable. But hey, at least it wasn’t a cat-astrophe! (I know you’re probably booing that pun, but at least that gets you into the Halloween spirit! Okay…I’m done now.)

That means that tonight has been pretty low-key for me. I spent the day at the beach, which in hindsight seems pretty odd to me. No hot chocolate and sweaters for me this October—just beaches and pelicans!

I actually woke up very early this morning (4:00 a.m.), so I decided it would be a good day to finally see a Newcastle sunrise! I'm not sure how many people would associate Halloween with sunrise, but have I ever done anything conventionally? I left my house at just before 5 o’clock and took the first bus into town, arriving at the beach right as the sun was coming over the horizon.

It was so quiet and peaceful for the first few minutes before I was joined by Jack and Jerry, my two new pelican friends.

They’re quite photogenic, wouldn’t you say?

After the sun had risen, I walked the length of Nobby’s Beach, which wraps around to the Breakwall I visited a couple months ago.

It was then I saw something floating along in the water. It had an odd shape, and at first, I thought it was a bit of driftwood. When I came closer, though, I saw that it had a fin. I was worried that it was a dead creature of some kind. But upon further observation, I saw it move.

This lazy seal was floating on the water, flopping over only to look for a fish once in a while. He was very cute doing it, too!

I guess this Halloween wasn’t really about the scary or undead. Come on, do I look like the kind of person who enjoys creepy things?

Anyway, I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween! (Translation: Don’t go hunting creepy clowns. That’s just scary.)

But what about Vegemite? Iconic Aussie Food Tasting

“Have you tried Vegemite yet?”

Next to questions about the U.S. presidential election (Don't worry, I'm not talking about that right now.), I have been asked this question more than anything else. Until today, the answer was always a slightly embarrassed “no.”

Here’s the problem—Vegemite doesn’t exactly have a good reputation among travelers. I heard endless bellyaching about this savory spread. It didn’t exactly make me want to run to good ole Woolies to pick up a jar of it.

With just a few weeks left in Australia, though, I figured it was time to try all of the typical Aussie foods I could.

·         Barbecue: I got a great introduction to Australian barbecue early on this semester.  Everything from sausages to veggie patties, fish and prawns to beef and chicken—it goes on the barbecue, and it all tastes great. I must admit, I’m still partial to Kansas City barbecue—I am my father’s daughter after all!

·        Meat pies: If you are an American, the first time you eat a “pie” in Australia may confuse you. A buttery crust filled with meat and gravy, these savory pies are surprising but delicious.

·     Fish and Chips: YUM. I love fish, so fish and chips is a great meal for me when I am too lazy to cook. I’ve had it fried and grilled at Costis—a little stand outside Jesmond shops—and I have had to stop myself from getting it more often. The one thing that still confuses me about fish and chips is when the cashier asks if I want no salt, salt, or chicken salt on it. Chicken salt?

·         Pavlova: I’ve heard that Australia and New Zealand argue over the origin of this dessert. Whoever came up with it is brilliant, though. Fluffy and sweet meringue is topped with fresh cream and fruit. The one I had was mango, and WOW was it delicious. The meringue is fluffy on the inside with a perfect sweet crunch on the outside, and the cream and tart mango topping come together to make for one incredible dessert.

·         Nutella: No, Australia did not invent Nutella. Yes, Nutella is available in the U.S. But the amount of Nutella consumed in this country is pretty insane. I’ve seen jars with 1 kg of Nutella in them. If you somehow haven’t tried Nutella before, go buy a jar right now. It’s hazelnut-chocolate spread and it gives you an excuse to eat chocolate all day long.

·    Tim Tams: “It’s just a chocolate biscuit. I don’t understand the hype.” Yes, it is a chocolate biscuit, but they are some of the best chocolate biscuits I’ve ever tasted. Two chocolate cookies coated in a layer of chocolate and filled with whipped chocolate goodness, Tim Tams are a must-try when in Australia. I’ve bought way too many packages of Tim Tams here.

·         ANZAC biscuits: These are sort of like a hard oatmeal cookie. Not too sweet, not too spectacular, but a good, simple biscuit with a great story. It is thought that these were sent to soldiers during war, hence the name ANZAC biscuit (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps). Nowadays, a portion of the sales is given to an organization that supports servicemen, veterans, and their families.

·         Sausage roll: This is a flaky pastry filled with sausage. Pretty simple, but so hearty and filling. This is what I would call Australian comfort food.

·         Lamingtons: I got jam-filled lamingtons, which have two layers of sponge cake with jam between them. They are then coated in chocolate and coconut—what’s not to like?

·         Vegemite: Now, for the ultimate question—what is Vegemite really like? Did you like it? Did you spit it out? Before I tell you what I thought, though, I want to explain how I tried it because that actually makes an enormous difference. For all of my non-Australians out there, the most important thing is to never EVER eat Vegemite by itself. It is a savory yeast spread, so eating it plain would be nasty. I heard the best way to try it is to put a tiny bit of it on toast with butter, so that is exactly what I did.

The first bite I took confused me. It was salty, a bit bitter, and very savory. But it wasn’t bad, so I continued to taste it. Bite after bite, I was still confused. I’m honestly not sure how I felt about it even now, but it was interesting and definitely worth trying! I think I liked it, so I might even try it again. I bought a little jar of it—maybe I’ll grow to love it!

There hasn’t been a single food I’ve tried here that I truly disliked. There were definitely some that confused me at first, but trying new things is part of the fun!

Side note: Another popular thing for tourists to try is kangaroo meat, but I just couldn't bring myself to eating one of these guys.

An American and Australians walk into a bar...

An American and a bunch of Australians walk into a bar...

Sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn't it?

I have just one week left of class. And since I've already finished my last assessments for two of my classes, I really am almost done. Which means it's time for a ton of end-of-year celebrations! Australians love a good party, so there is one...for everything.  

After a semester, I've noticed a few things about their parties:

• First, a disclaimer: Drinking age in Australia is 18.
• There are parties and pub crawls for everything from international leadership programs to the primary education department.
• Drinks are served at pretty much everything else, too. Everyone who went to orientation back at the beginning of the semester got a free drink.
• There are two bars on campus. 
• Dancing is great fun here. A couple other American girls and I taught a group of 40 or so Australian and international students how to do the Cupid Shuffle at an event recently, and in turn, an Australian student taught me how to do what is basically their equivalent...The Nut Bush. (Yes, you read that correctly. The NUT BUSH.) It's a song by Tina Turner (Nut Bush City Limits), and every Australian knows ~this dance~ that goes along with it. 
• As a twenty-year-old American, it makes me feel a bit strange to be served alcohol at these events and only be asked for ID about half of the time. 
• It also makes me feel very mature and classy to drink champagne at special events.
• Many Australians find my reactions to all of this hilarious, and they laugh at America's drinking age. At least I'm a source of entertainment! :-)

After a short last week of class, I will go to my last UON party--the International Student Farewell--and then I will be completely done at the University of Newcastle, bringing the "study" part of my study abroad experience to a close. 

I have just five weeks until I go back to the USA. It's such a weird feeling because after all this time, I feel something like a local. Australians are so welcoming that many of them have even told me that I can call myself an Australian now. 

I won't get too sentimental just yet, though. I still have much to explore!