Days 45, 46 and 47 - Nautical Cruise

Sorry my life is so boring! I swear September brings more interesting events. Thursday I worked a full day because we had a little catering job and I got to be the server - whoo who! Anyway after that I rushed home for a catnap and a shower. I inhaled dinner and then spent a half hour getting ready for the Whitley Annual Nautical Cruise. The boat was really big and the set up nice. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pics because it was so dark. But there was free Champagne, dancing, and a deck for us to hang out on. We went out into the bay past all the big cranes loading ocean vessels - I tried to get some pictures but they didn't turn out ( I decided against bringing my good camera on the boat plus it didn't fit in my handbag). The night was long and I was happy to finally get to my bed. Friday I took a day to sleep in and recover from the week and spent most of the day cooped up in my room reading, sleeping, or working online. I'm a failure cause I could have been exploring. Saturday I spent the morning doing some job research, I am starting to think it may be a wiser decision to get some type of temporary job for when I get back versus trying to get a full time permanent position. I'm not sure I want to commit to something if I wouldn't be able to interview face to face or tour a facility or anything (granted I was even offered one). I figure a little more experience on the resume wouldn't hurt and it would allow me to explore my options more thoroughly. Now of course I need to find a suitable temporary one... sigh real life!!! Anyway I worked Saturday afternoon because there was a special event at the Archives - it was crowded and very hectic but I figure I didn't have plans so I might as well add a couple of hours this week. I was supposed to meet my sister's friends for dinner, but something came up and we postponed. One of my friends from Whitley had a 21st birthday so handful of us went out for appetizers and gelati! Yum! Afterwards we opted to relax and talk about life in the donut instead of going out. I'm not sure if I mentioned but here the drinking age is 18, so the 21st birthday is more targeted to "becoming an adult" and often people have big catered parties with family and friends and make speeches and such. The parties sound pretty interesting but everyone I know who turned 21 didn't have one! Eh well there's still time, so that's all I've got...

Days 42, 43, & 44 More School

Things have slowed down again for the moment - I don't have a lot of time during the week anymore to explore. I try to get everything accomplished on weeknights so I can potentially travel come the weekend. My boss has also started giving me a second day so I think I can make it on just one job for the moment. I found out that I am eligible for concession, which means all my tram and train tickets are now half off, plus I get reduced rates on museums and such. I started the job search (for when I get home) and there are so many I can't decide what to do with myself. I plan to pick out 3 I'm really keen on and do those first and then just branch out from there. It just makes me realize how I have so many directions I could go - but I don't know which one to choose! Plus I have to actually get the job - which will be even more tough! Errgh and so the frustration begins. Anyway that's my life - I had my briefing for my Western Australia group on Tuesday and I am so pumped for that trip - we get a free day where we can choose from some random tours - and I think I might choose to go swimming with Manta Rays!!! How cool is that?! No worries folks they don't have barbs. Well that's all for now - hopefully the weekend will bring something more interesting...

Days 40 and 41 - Farmer Fieldtrip

I apologize in advance for the length and randomness of this entry....

Saturday I woke up, scrambled around to shower and get ready and headed to meet the bus for my Philosophy farmer fieldtrip for my Education in Natural Landscapes class. After getting a sleeping bag and a good raincoat on loan from the outdoors program the class and I loaded the mini-bus and headed for Geelong. It took about an hour and we didn't really do much in the town besides drive past the harbor and pick up our tour guide Sue. Sue is a co-owner of a sheep farm but also works with education on some level. After some brief introductions and some background info on Geelong (big wool town when the industry was big, used to be the main port etc etc) we headed out into the country. Our first stop was a sheep farm that was trying some new conservation practices to make the farm more sustainable. We learned about shelter belts and riparian zones and also looked at some saw timber planted for extra income. We got to see a baby lamb whose mother had died and then took a walk around the property after enjoying some morning tea and cookies. There were new birds everywhere but I figured it was incredibly inappropriate to leave the group and go bird watching - though I considered it. About lunch time we loaded back on the bus and headed just down the road to a small winery, Blake's Winery. It was a Mom and Pop set up and on top of the winery the couple tried to have a sustainable farm by growing their own chickens, fruit, and veggies. The wife also raised Angora goats for wool. It was pretty neat - we enjoyed a nice lunch with excellent cake and sampled the wine. We then took a tour of the property in the rain before loading back on the bus. We had bit farther to go so I crammed in a powernap before reaching the Free-range Pig Farm that was our next stop. I got to hold a piglet, and it was soooo cute. We learned all about the hardships of an outdoor piggery and why it is so much better for the pigs. This particular piggery rotates the animals with crops around a huge farm to increase the income - seems like a good idea to me! Our final stop for the night was another sheep farm, it also serves as an education site for learning about conserving the land. A local PTA made us dinner as part of a fundraiser and we all enjoyed some wine and time by the fire before bed. I could hear frogs chirping and wanted so badly to venture but not ONE person brought a flashlight - boooo. We spent the night in the old shearer's quarters on very cold bunks. I woke up early in attempts to spot a lingering marsupial and maybe a bird or too but was afraid to wander too far on a strange farm. After a group breakfast we had a discussion for class about "being" a farmer before getting a tour of the shearing shed. We then loaded the bus and proceeded to another sheep farm specializing in dyed wools and craft stuff. We got to feed the sheep, watch a partial shearing, and had excellent scones and lunch. I bought some all natural gray yarn to make a nice scarf with. After a big thank you and goodbye we headed off to our last stop, an Ostrich Farm. I was sad we didn't get to try any meat or eggs but we got to see the birds and looked at a lot of eggs and leather. It was a pretty short stop and soon we were on our way back to Melbourne. I was so tired when I got back but I found out that the Theatre Sports team had their competition so of course I had to go support them for a little bit! I finally gave up at about 9:15 and came home to do some homework, but we actually won the competition - Go Whitley!!!

The orphaned lamb learning to take a bottle

Some scenery

Sheep and a lemon gum tree - (all I think of are paintings now every time I see a landscape)

Saw timber

Andrew the farmer

Alpaca! Apparently they put a few in with the sheep when lambing cause they hate dogs and scare away foxes and such....

Blake's Winery - I know you can't tell, but it was raining in this picture...

Angora Goats...

A Mama Pig!

Me and a piglet!

more piglets

Ahh the piggery at dusk (yes that's a lake - right next to the pig farm...)

Our feast! That's my professor and Sue standing at the other end

The shearing shed

Wool products

The class getting ready to feed sheep

Feeding the sheep

the sheep dog...haha

Sheryl the sheep giving us a nice example of how calm the sheep sit when being sheared - it was amazing

Big Guy - Some stand at 12 feet! Very aggressive of their territory

Day 39 - The Merri Creek

Today after breakfast I headed off to Brunswick to mail some Thank you cards and look for a dress for the Whitley Annual Nautical Cruise (WANC) the kids call it the Booze Cruise though. It's next Thursday night, but I don't have any nice winter dresses or anything that would pass for one. So I stopped at Saver's and picked up an eight dollar plain black one and was proud of my cheap find. After Brunswick I headed out to ride along the Merri Creek Trail. I found a website describing some of the trails in the area, after reading a description of the path online and being on the trail last Sunday I felt like this would be a good one to try. It was a good ride with a lot of hills and interesting areas to investigate. The weather wasn't being awesome and I got rained on a bit and I think this also ruined my chances of seeing any amount of lizard life. There were definitely some parts of the trail that made me nervous; some areas the creek I passed were coated in Graffiti and near the end there was a point where I couldn't see a house anywhere, just warehouses and construction. I guess because of the weather and it being a Friday there just wasn't as many people on the trail. I made a note to do the trail on a Sunday if I did it again. I actually rode all the way to the trail head and ended up above Fawkner (wherever that is) I decided to take the bike trail that runs along the railroad tracks home so I wouldn't get smashed on the highway which was a good idea but unfortunately they were doing some construction so I ended up having to walk some of it. I'm not sure how far I ended up riding but I think it may have been my longest ride yet since I didn't really leave the bike as often as my other explorations. After I got back to college had a nice nap, shower, and dinner I went to the very popular Cafe night hosted by the GLO (religious group of students from the college, I'm not sure what it stands for but I think I am going to go Chapel this week and check it out). Basically the night was an open-mike night and everyone in Whitley was invited to come share their talents. Besides the excellent entertainment GLO provided milkshakes and many MANY baked goods! So after a comfy night of bean bags chairs and music I headed off to bed after quickly packing a bag for my fieldtrip.

The Merri Creek Trail, the water was a bit less muddy up this far and buffers were impressive along most of the path

One of the many path bridges along the creek

This is either a young male or a female of one of the fairy wrens, the breeding males are awesome, i've seen some but haven't gotten a good pic yet cause they are so fast. I just like this one cause the bird looks like she might beat me up if I don't get out of her bush.

A female Hardhead duck - I whistled and got a whole little flock of fowl to come over - guess they thought I had bread

This is a Red Wattlebird, they are everywhere and loud! However no matter how quietly I stalk they always know I'm there - I will get a close up eventually. Meanwhile here's one after something in this tree...

The Coburg Lake Park reach of Merri Creek

A pair of Hardheads

The dam at Coburg Lake - so ideal for herps but alas!

A symbol of Australia, at least on the postcards - the Laughing Kookaburra ( i about crashed the bike) Here's what they sound like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Op4PZzwwU&feature=related

A White-faced Heron

The upper reaches of Merri Creek (no houses anywhere!) - I think those slaps will make excellent herp scoutin area when it gets warmer

my new herp of the day - Black Rock Skink (i think) - I couldn't get to him fast enough, I hesitated because of the high grass, I need to get some chaps or something...

All the Whitley-folk watchin Cafe performances...

Some my friends singing "Sweet Caroline"

Jammin'

Day 35-38 Work and School

Sorry I am so behind! I'm gonna try and catch up in segments... I left you on Sunday with my ride along the Yarra... Monday and Tuesday I spent working on school work. Monday after my morning class I headed down to Brunswick to get some supplies and such. Tuesday morning I had a learning journal sample due in my Community Natural Resources Management class and had to catch up on a bunch of readings that I missed from not being enrolled - so reading and writing made up most of Monday night. Tuesday is my busy class day and I spent the evening finishing up the dreaded Kangaroo Art paper with final touches, figuring out the correct formatting and citations and what not so I could hand it in first thing on Wednesday morning. After the art class on Wednesday I headed off to work until the afternoon, I raced home from work to put the final touches on my Education in Natural Landscapes homework before running to class for the evening. We got the basics for the class fieldtrip and found out we had to write a reflection on being a farmer for it. Boo! Anyway I spent Wednesday night and Thursday morning cleaning my room and trying to organize my school work since I don't own any binders (now I own one with everything in it). I worked again Thursday afternoon. Thursday night Whitley College had I gigantic pub crawl, boys had to wear blue and headed into the city at 4pm or so, girls had to wear pink and we didn't leave till 7. The idea is that the groups tour different pubs and then meet up in the end - there are a series of challenges and such if you wanted to play games. It was neat to see different places but I was exhausted so I was dragging a bit - I decided to treat myself after a busy week, I brought 10 bucks, 5 for a beer and 4 for pizza!!! yum! I took the last tram out of the city at 12:15 or so right after meeting up with the boys. Ok I'll take a break here and post Friday separately since actual exciting stuff happened...

Day 34 - Yarra Trail

Today I finally got to go for my bike ride! I set off after breakfast and after consulting my maps decided to ride down into the city and get on the trail there. The Trail then winds itself along with the river and both make a 90 degree turn and heads back toward my area of town - well sort of, but anyway it made it easier to make a loop. The trail itself is very nice and well maintained. I thought it would be ridiculously crowded since it was the nicest day in a week but it was not bad at all. I made my way along the trail and only had to back track once because the trail had actually crossed over the river (some signs mislead me) but an older gentlemen with his dog put me back on track. Eventually the trail runs into an area made up of parks which made the river much more scenic and a bit cleaner. I took a break at Dights Falls for snack - I lost my water bottle so I had to rely on water fountains for the day :( Anyway after my snack I went down into the bushes to stalk a duck I had seen and guess what?!? I found my first Herp!!! Yay!!! It was just some little skink critter and he was so quick I couldn't even get a photo but I was so happy I spent 30 minutes crawling around looking for more and then I found my second species - the Blue Tongue Lizard - I spent a good 10 minutes snapping of pics of this guy and debated catching him but decided against (check out awesome will power) since I didn't know what he was at the time. So now I was super excited that maybe there might be more creatures about and was extra careful to check every rock and warm spot for a basking herptile - no more though. I rode up to the Yarra Bend Park and took a bush walk. It was a really neat trail - just a dirt path along the edge of the river and it is definitely the wildest place I have found around here yet. After I while I decided I needed to turn back and head for home but I think I finally saw a Laughing Kookaburra except I startled whatever it was so I only got a glimpse. I was too busy looking for snakes at this point - cause there was a warning sign for them on the trail head. For my ride home I took a different bike trail that led along the Merri Creek (also with snake warning signs - but still none). I really liked this trail and it continues off my map - I think I may make it my next excursion. After returning home I took a nap to rest up before returning to the Roo art paper for the remainder of the evening - I finally ended up with a draft suitable enough to turn into the tutor for corrections. I started on a few smaller assignments before calling it a night.


Some of the Yarra Trail - that's one of the highways on the left

Dights Falls

A pair of Chestnut Teal...that I was stalking


The Blue Tongue Lizard - he was pretty big - about the length of my forearm and hand combined. His head is appears awkwardly larger than his body... There are 6 species in Australia.

A close up of his head :)

The bush walkin trail

A dead bat!! One of the big ones I saw before...

So on the bush walk trail I got close enough to one of the little skinks to take a picture - I'm gonna stop by the book shop and look it up. Smaller than my pinky.

The Sulphur-crested Cockatoo - LOUD

The "Bend" in Yarra Bend Park

Days 32 and 33 - Change of Plans

Still not much to report - I have been playing usher for the Pajama Game the last two nights and playing good school student by day. I also managed to throw in some running and a little bit of extra sleep to try and battle this cold properly. Good news is the Kangaroo art report is almost complete - er kinda! I postponed my bike ride until Sunday because the weather is supposed to be better - it will be a nice way to start off a busy week. Next weekend I have my first Philosophy class field trip where I am supposed to "become" the farmer. Anyway, last night's show was fantastic and afterwards we all went out to celebrate at a Pub called Keepers which was a lot of fun and I even managed to stick to my new cheap drinking policy - free water! I tried to take a little video of my favorite song for you all but I can't upload because it is too big :( I have some folks working on figuring out how to reduce the quality... I'll let you know.

Days 28, 29, 30, and 31 School and WARTS

The last couple of days have been busy - but not very entertaining. I have my major art project due on the 20th (worth 60% of my grade!) so I have been attempting to work on that as much as possible. I even went to the library and checked out some art history books. As a quick overview I am comparing the art of the early Australian explorers and the indigenous people already inhabiting the country, however I am focusing on Kangaroo art. I tried to pick something I could somewhat relate to - since I am not a very "artsy" person. My other classes have been going well and my work load should be fairly even after this week. I worked on Thursday (yesterday, it is Friday morning here) and finally figured out all my taxes and such which allowed me to get paid! Yay! Because I currently only have one job and make under a certain amount I can remain tax free and only have to start paying them if I accumulate over 3 grand (which I doubt I'll achieve). So I may hold off on the second job (because I couldn't claim it tax free) and see how many hours I can work in - my boss scheduled me for 2 days next week. Someone also told me I could work within the college and reduce my housing bill - which might more flexible and convenient in the long run so I'm going to look into it. It rained everyday this week and has been the coldest yet so I don't have any new wildlife for you. I did manage to catch a cold though - bleck! WARTS (the theatre society for the college) had their first showing of The Pajama Game last night. I decided to be an usher and help out where needed. I got wear pajamas all night and take money - which I wasn't very good at because on top of my being a failure at math I don't think I'm quite used to the coin versus dollar thing. Anyway I took some pictures of the show. Saturday I plan to ride the bike trail along the Yarra because apparently it leads to a more "wild" park - so we'll see and pray for sun!

Some "Kangaroo Art" by George Stubbs - he never even saw the critter alive - he drew it from a stuffed skin...which explains why it is non-kangaroolike

Aboriginal Kangaroo Art

The Pajama Game!

Heintz freaking out on the factory workers...

Workers singing about a 7.5 cent raise...

The Leads, yes she (Babe) isn't wearing pants - I believe the line was "Pajamas for economical use - two can sleep as cheap as one!"