Cataract Gorge

I finally saw a wallaby!!! In the wild. At the Cataract Gorge yesterday. It was unbelievably cute and it wasn't afraid of people because it lives at a busy park so we got really close. Unfortunately not close enough to pet him and/or hug him. Or her. I cannot identify the sex of a wallaby from 15 feet away. It was hands-down the highlight of the trip, which is saying a lot because there were heaps of amazing things about the gorge.

Okay, now that I got that exciting bit out of the way I'll go back to the beginning. Ahem. Early yesterday afternoon Chelsea (American Exchange Student. Yes, there are two American Exchange Students named Chelsea), Noelle (Bermudan International Student studying here full time), Darcie (Actual Australian), and I went to Cataract Gorge. We took the bus into the city and then walked for over a half hour up a ridiculously steep hill to get there.

It was absolutely gorgeous. The gorge was formed ages ago by an earthquake and now there's a basin in the center of it all. We rode on a chairlift from one side to the other and then we walked around the paths a bit. The chairlift was a bit scary because we were really high up over water and rocks and the safety bars didn't latch, they just rested across you. There were peacocks everywhere, just hanging out waiting for people to feed them. They aren't native to Australia but for some reason they brought them to live in the gorge. We had drinks at a little outside cafe in the woods.

And before you assume that we were drinking in the middle of the day, I will inform you that I had a cup of tea, Chelsea had hot chocolate, and the other girls had milkshakes. Then we rode the lift back to the other side and walked across the suspension bridge. From there we walked on the path along the river back to the city. We felt really stupid because it was a much easier and much shorter walk than the way we came. Oh well, it was part of the adventure. We took the bus home and stopped at something called a milkbar for dinner. It was actually just a convenience store that sells takeaway (takeout) food like fried seafood and burgers. I have no clue why its called a milkbar. Most of the drinks they had there were sodas. After walking all afternoon the fish and chips were awesome.

Other highlights of the week include the Accommodation Services Winter Formal Dinner on Wednesday and my performance on Multicultural Day on Thursday night. The dinner was really good. It wasn't really formal, just semi formal, and it was just held int the dining hall but the was pork and chicken roasts and tons of delicious vegetables. There was chocolate mousse for dessert. It was totally worth the $5. There were 8 people at my table: 5 people from my dorm, three other Americans and me. It was a ton of fun. The Americans were all awarded little koalas because we have only been here a short time and already we have become very active in the accommodation services events. Its probably because they really don't have any clubs or student groups on campus like they do at home so there aren't a ton of events to go to on campus.


On Thursday I played keyboard and sang American songs at the international festival thing. My set list was The War Criminal Rises and Speaks by Okkervil River, Delilah by the Dresden Dolls, Silver Lining by Rilo Kiley, and Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. I made a few minor mistakes towards the end because it was held outside at night and my fingers were starting to freeze. Its very hard to play piano when your fingers aren't completely flexible. Also, you'll notice that there is a gentleman holding up my music. I didn't have it memorized and I assumed there would be a music stand attached to the piano, but there wasn't. So one of the sound/lighting guys, Andre, volunteered to hold my music. He was a doll. Chelsea took some videos of me playing which I'll upload to YouTube for your listening pleasure, but in case you absolutely cannot wait, I'll post a little teaser clip of one of the songs.

In other news, I complained enough that there were no recycling bins in the residence halls to the advisers that they finally got us some! I just kept saying that a little bit of my soul dies every time I have to throw a bottle or can in the trash. Thanks, Clark, for making me a militant recycler. I have been appointed queen of recycling of block 8. I will be spearheading the campaign to get all the residents to use the bins and not just throw away all their cans, bottles, marked plastics, and cardboard. I feel like I have actually made a difference here and its only been a few weeks.

I haven't done much of anything today. Sundays are particularly lowkey here. Mostly people recovering from the weekend. And they need it. A big group of us went out to the club last night and it was awesome but I only made it until about 1:30am and then I took a cab home with two other girls who live in my building. Some of the others stayed out until 5am. How they can stay out that late, I have no idea.

Tomorrow I have job interview at Subway so I hope that goes well. I can work up to 20 hours a week on my visa and I could definitely use the money and it would be nice to have something else to do, seeing as there are no clubs to join. I'll post whether or not I get the job. That's about all for now! Thanks for reading!