Well I can only apologise for the lack of writing on this blog recently. I guess coming home from Australia and how busy it's been is a reason, it's always hard to keep up with writing it. I shall endeavour to update this page more frequently from now on, insteadof always writing about things I've done several weeks (or months) after doign them.
Keep looking for new updates on the last month in Australia and the last 2 months spent back home and elsewhere.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The End of Semester 2
Sadly time as always flew by and it wasn't long before my last semester in Australia drew to an end. As always plenty of stuff was going on during this time.
Study this semester was a little different, owing to the fact that Adelaide Uni altered the structure of modules so we had almost twiced as much work to do! I ended up having an exam, an essay, museum project and a hell of a lot of reading to do all in one week! And the odules weren't structured very well either. I think the university got plenty of complaints about the changes, including some from me!
Lots of fun things were going on to. My house was as crazy as ever, with people always being round and us having a laugh. I'd certainly found a great house with some great friends to add to my list of friends from last semester.
Sadly the last Jeffcott Party I went to was stopped really early by the police. I only remembered small parts of the night as I was completely drunk! Some of our friends hosted a Masterchef themed party, and everyone went dressed as their favourite judge, so naturally most of us went with overhanging guts and cravats on!
As the weather got colder, and people started leaving for travels, it soon became clear that the year was drawing to end, so I attended several 'last' meals, parties and stuff, and kept saying goodbye to people over and over again.
Once all the exams and essays were over, I went on my last bit of travelling for a couple of weeks before heading home.
Study this semester was a little different, owing to the fact that Adelaide Uni altered the structure of modules so we had almost twiced as much work to do! I ended up having an exam, an essay, museum project and a hell of a lot of reading to do all in one week! And the odules weren't structured very well either. I think the university got plenty of complaints about the changes, including some from me!
Lots of fun things were going on to. My house was as crazy as ever, with people always being round and us having a laugh. I'd certainly found a great house with some great friends to add to my list of friends from last semester.
Sadly the last Jeffcott Party I went to was stopped really early by the police. I only remembered small parts of the night as I was completely drunk! Some of our friends hosted a Masterchef themed party, and everyone went dressed as their favourite judge, so naturally most of us went with overhanging guts and cravats on!
As the weather got colder, and people started leaving for travels, it soon became clear that the year was drawing to end, so I attended several 'last' meals, parties and stuff, and kept saying goodbye to people over and over again.
Once all the exams and essays were over, I went on my last bit of travelling for a couple of weeks before heading home.
Barossa Valley 28th May
So I finally ended up going to one of Australia's premier wine regions. I went on a tour with Anders, Maja, Sofia, Kevin and Hanna through this beautiful area of SA, only a hour or so drive from Adelaide.
We visited four wineries, including Wolf Blass, one of the biggest wineries in Australia, where we tried wine worth about $250 a bottle! Vine Crest was probably the best winery, as it was small and understated, with some fantastic wines on offer.
We also visited the LARGEST ROCKING HORSE IN THE WORLD! Which really was huge, thew size of a large house! And also a rather famous tree, where one of SA's pioneering German immigrants and his family lived before they could afford an actual house. After a slap up lunch, we finished the day at thew Whispering Wall; a dam with interesting acoust properties. You could talk to people a good couple of hundred metres away as if they were right next to you.
Another great outing had by all.
We visited four wineries, including Wolf Blass, one of the biggest wineries in Australia, where we tried wine worth about $250 a bottle! Vine Crest was probably the best winery, as it was small and understated, with some fantastic wines on offer.
We also visited the LARGEST ROCKING HORSE IN THE WORLD! Which really was huge, thew size of a large house! And also a rather famous tree, where one of SA's pioneering German immigrants and his family lived before they could afford an actual house. After a slap up lunch, we finished the day at thew Whispering Wall; a dam with interesting acoust properties. You could talk to people a good couple of hundred metres away as if they were right next to you.
Another great outing had by all.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Kangaroo Island 24 - 26th April
During mid-semester break I went on a three day topur with Groovy Grape (same company as with the Outback trip) to Kangaroo Island. This island is about a 90 min drive south from Adelaide, and then a 45 min ferry ride. Kangaroo island has its place in South Australian history for many reasons. Here's some interesting facts about the island:
1. It was the site of the first settlement in South Australia. Kingscote, the largest town on the island, is older than Adelaide by a few months. That's a pretty good superlative to have!
2. Humans are the minority on the island. Only 4500 people live there (and over half of them in Kingscote) whereas there's about 30,000 koalas and kangaroos and around 1 MILLION wallabies. These large numbers are due to the minimal human presence on the island (at least 1/3 is national park or reserve) and because there's no introduced pests like rabbits or foxes on the island.
3. It's named Kangaroo Island by Flinders, who discovered the island in 1802, and due to the abundance of kangaroos, he named the island after them.
4. There were no recorded Aborigines living on the island when Flinders discovered it. Local Aborigines on the mainland refer to KI as the land of the dead, as they believe it's where spirits go to rest.
5. While exploring the coast, Finders's crew encountered a French expedition led by Baudin (at a place now called Encounter Bay). Both teams were unknowingly exploring the island at the same time. This is why the North coast has English names (like Stokes Bay) and the South coast has French names (like Cape du Coedic).
So it's certainly a worthwhile place to visit. On the first day after arriving on the island, one of the first places we visited was Clifford's Honey Farm. Kangaroo Island is the ONLY (another superlative!) in the world where pure Ligurian Honey Bees live. They were brought over bybeekeepers from Liguria in Italy, and since then the native bees have interbred with others, and a disease wiped many of them out. So as a result of this, KI is the only place where you can get them, and the penalties for bringing foreign bees and bee products over to the island are severe (penalties can reach $10000, just under 5000!) The hoeny was fantastic.
We also visited the Eucalytus Distillery, where oils, creams, etc are made using traditional methods.
The weather wasn't great for most of the trip, it was very windy and rained on and off during the day, but that didn't stop us seeing a lot of great stuff. On the first day we also visited the beautfiul Stokes Bay and Vivonne Bay, before heading West to our stop for the night. We stayed at a small, rustic farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Surrounding the house on all sides was native bushland and farmland. We all got to know everyone on the bus and were pestered constantly by the very tame possum, which our guide, Ben, called Pete.
We started Day 2 with sandboarding. KI has plenty of inland sandunes, and Little Sahara is one of the biggest. It's the same as snowboarding, with one obvious difference...I wasn't that good at it, but it was still fun! That day we also went to Seal Bay; a protected beach area for seals and sea lions. We saw plenty of sealions roaming the beaches and swimming in the sea, and it was a great experience, despite the cold winds and rain! We also went on a tour of the Kelly Caves, and went on a windy, windy walk down the Rocky River Gorge to a stunning bit of unspoiled coastline. That evening we stayed at a holiday campsite just outside the Flinders Chase National Park.
We started day 3 at the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, where we saw a few koalas, wallabees and kangaroos. KI actually has its own species of kangaroo (fantastically called the Kangaroo Island Kangaroo...). We then headed into the Flinders Chase National Park, and visited the Remarkable Rocks. These are a group of volcanic rocks on a headland. Over the centuries, the wind and see have carved out some remarkable (:P) shapes on the rocks, which made for an interesting sight. Further South at Cape du Coedic, we saw Admiral's Arch; another amazing rock formation. The best thing about this area were the New Zealand Fur Seals which were sleeping all around us. It was another great encounter with some local wildlife.
We then headed to the eastern side of the island in time to get the ferry back to the mainland. KI was definitely worth the visit. A big thank you goes to Ben our tour guide, and the other people on the tour for making it a great weekend!
1. It was the site of the first settlement in South Australia. Kingscote, the largest town on the island, is older than Adelaide by a few months. That's a pretty good superlative to have!
2. Humans are the minority on the island. Only 4500 people live there (and over half of them in Kingscote) whereas there's about 30,000 koalas and kangaroos and around 1 MILLION wallabies. These large numbers are due to the minimal human presence on the island (at least 1/3 is national park or reserve) and because there's no introduced pests like rabbits or foxes on the island.
3. It's named Kangaroo Island by Flinders, who discovered the island in 1802, and due to the abundance of kangaroos, he named the island after them.
4. There were no recorded Aborigines living on the island when Flinders discovered it. Local Aborigines on the mainland refer to KI as the land of the dead, as they believe it's where spirits go to rest.
5. While exploring the coast, Finders's crew encountered a French expedition led by Baudin (at a place now called Encounter Bay). Both teams were unknowingly exploring the island at the same time. This is why the North coast has English names (like Stokes Bay) and the South coast has French names (like Cape du Coedic).
So it's certainly a worthwhile place to visit. On the first day after arriving on the island, one of the first places we visited was Clifford's Honey Farm. Kangaroo Island is the ONLY (another superlative!) in the world where pure Ligurian Honey Bees live. They were brought over bybeekeepers from Liguria in Italy, and since then the native bees have interbred with others, and a disease wiped many of them out. So as a result of this, KI is the only place where you can get them, and the penalties for bringing foreign bees and bee products over to the island are severe (penalties can reach $10000, just under 5000!) The hoeny was fantastic.
We also visited the Eucalytus Distillery, where oils, creams, etc are made using traditional methods.
The weather wasn't great for most of the trip, it was very windy and rained on and off during the day, but that didn't stop us seeing a lot of great stuff. On the first day we also visited the beautfiul Stokes Bay and Vivonne Bay, before heading West to our stop for the night. We stayed at a small, rustic farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Surrounding the house on all sides was native bushland and farmland. We all got to know everyone on the bus and were pestered constantly by the very tame possum, which our guide, Ben, called Pete.
We started Day 2 with sandboarding. KI has plenty of inland sandunes, and Little Sahara is one of the biggest. It's the same as snowboarding, with one obvious difference...I wasn't that good at it, but it was still fun! That day we also went to Seal Bay; a protected beach area for seals and sea lions. We saw plenty of sealions roaming the beaches and swimming in the sea, and it was a great experience, despite the cold winds and rain! We also went on a tour of the Kelly Caves, and went on a windy, windy walk down the Rocky River Gorge to a stunning bit of unspoiled coastline. That evening we stayed at a holiday campsite just outside the Flinders Chase National Park.
We started day 3 at the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, where we saw a few koalas, wallabees and kangaroos. KI actually has its own species of kangaroo (fantastically called the Kangaroo Island Kangaroo...). We then headed into the Flinders Chase National Park, and visited the Remarkable Rocks. These are a group of volcanic rocks on a headland. Over the centuries, the wind and see have carved out some remarkable (:P) shapes on the rocks, which made for an interesting sight. Further South at Cape du Coedic, we saw Admiral's Arch; another amazing rock formation. The best thing about this area were the New Zealand Fur Seals which were sleeping all around us. It was another great encounter with some local wildlife.
We then headed to the eastern side of the island in time to get the ferry back to the mainland. KI was definitely worth the visit. A big thank you goes to Ben our tour guide, and the other people on the tour for making it a great weekend!
Tons and tons of Easter food!
We celebrated Easter big style here in Adelaide. On Easter Saturday, myself and several friends spent the afternoon cooking food from our different countries. A few hours later we had a smorgasbord of food to eat. Hanna's entire kitchen work surface was covered in Swedish, Chinese and British dishes.
Claire and I (the Brits) rustled up a shepherd's pie (relatively easy) and then made a teacle sponge for dessert. I was surprised how good the dessert turned out considering we got the recipe slightly wrong, which meant it took a good hour longer to cook than it should have!
We really stuffed ourselves with all the delicious food. We managed to turn out around 7 main courses and 3 desserts! Who says students are bad cooks? Top points went to Anders for presentation (his eggs topped with prawns etc looked great) and Sandra's berry crumble was devine!
It was a great evening having fun with good friends.
Claire and I (the Brits) rustled up a shepherd's pie (relatively easy) and then made a teacle sponge for dessert. I was surprised how good the dessert turned out considering we got the recipe slightly wrong, which meant it took a good hour longer to cook than it should have!
We really stuffed ourselves with all the delicious food. We managed to turn out around 7 main courses and 3 desserts! Who says students are bad cooks? Top points went to Anders for presentation (his eggs topped with prawns etc looked great) and Sandra's berry crumble was devine!
It was a great evening having fun with good friends.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Pizza like you've never seen it before...
A couple of weeks ago, a few of us went to Maja and Sofia's house to make pizza. Of course, we all made some really good savoury ones, with a wide variety of toppings. It was another good evening with friends.
An unusual aspect to the evening's festivities was what we ate for dessert. We decided that pizza would naturally be the best thing to have, so we made a pizza with fruits on it, which was basically just like a pie without any pastry over the top. We had some pizza dough left, I'd brought some Tim Tams (Australia's answer to Penguins), and Kevin had brought marshmallows and gummie sweets. What emerged out of the oven a few minutes later was a sugary masterpiece of pizza dough, custard, sweets and chocolate. It was so wrong, yet it was so right at the same time!
Most of us could barely manage one tiny slice, but Kevin and I couldn't resist eating another. Who would've thought that pizza could be so disgusting, yet so good at the same time. For those of you who've watched "The Biggest Loser" or any other fat people getting thin TV shows, this pizza was the ultimate temptation!
I left buzzing from all the sugar coursing through my body. One thing's for sure, I'll never think of pizza in the same way again!
An unusual aspect to the evening's festivities was what we ate for dessert. We decided that pizza would naturally be the best thing to have, so we made a pizza with fruits on it, which was basically just like a pie without any pastry over the top. We had some pizza dough left, I'd brought some Tim Tams (Australia's answer to Penguins), and Kevin had brought marshmallows and gummie sweets. What emerged out of the oven a few minutes later was a sugary masterpiece of pizza dough, custard, sweets and chocolate. It was so wrong, yet it was so right at the same time!
Most of us could barely manage one tiny slice, but Kevin and I couldn't resist eating another. Who would've thought that pizza could be so disgusting, yet so good at the same time. For those of you who've watched "The Biggest Loser" or any other fat people getting thin TV shows, this pizza was the ultimate temptation!
I left buzzing from all the sugar coursing through my body. One thing's for sure, I'll never think of pizza in the same way again!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Kings of Leon (11th March)
The band of the moment really is the Kings of Leon. They've just about reached super stardom and are becoming a household name. This great band performed in Adelaide and I got the chance to go and see them!
Tickets for their one night only performance in Adelaide went on sale at the end of November last year and were sold out in a few days, but that didn't stop my friend, Tiago. He went to the ticket office every day when he got back to Adelaide, and was able to pick up two last minute tickets. After asking a few people, I was the first to say yes, so off we went to see the Kings of Leon.
The band performed at the Adelaide Oval, which wasn't the biggest concert venue they've performed at I'm usre, but that didn't stop the place having a great atmosphere. Thousands of people were packed into the arena, waiting for the performance to begin.
Whenever I see a band live for the first time, I'm always worried that they'll be crap. So many bands these days sound good on the radio, but sound terrible live. This certainly wasn't the case with these guys. They were more than sensational, and they completely blew my mind. I was in a state of amazement for the whole concert and for a couple of days afterwards!
The band played all the songs they should have, and more, and the audience was in a state of ecstasy for the whole time. Certainly a concert I'll never forget.
Tickets for their one night only performance in Adelaide went on sale at the end of November last year and were sold out in a few days, but that didn't stop my friend, Tiago. He went to the ticket office every day when he got back to Adelaide, and was able to pick up two last minute tickets. After asking a few people, I was the first to say yes, so off we went to see the Kings of Leon.
The band performed at the Adelaide Oval, which wasn't the biggest concert venue they've performed at I'm usre, but that didn't stop the place having a great atmosphere. Thousands of people were packed into the arena, waiting for the performance to begin.
Whenever I see a band live for the first time, I'm always worried that they'll be crap. So many bands these days sound good on the radio, but sound terrible live. This certainly wasn't the case with these guys. They were more than sensational, and they completely blew my mind. I was in a state of amazement for the whole concert and for a couple of days afterwards!
The band played all the songs they should have, and more, and the audience was in a state of ecstasy for the whole time. Certainly a concert I'll never forget.
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