Melbourne Cup

Well one of the main reason that Halloween is not very popular in Australia is because of the Melbourne Cup which is always on November 1st.  The Melbourne Cup is a horse race that takes place in Melbourne which basically everyone is involved in someway, either making bets, sweeps, or just watching it.  They call it "the race that stops the nation" and lots of people dress up for it especially girls in their pretty dresses and huge hats with flowers on it.   Anyways theres a bar/gambling place a 2min walk from college so a few of us walked over and made some bets on the horses.  At first I made two bets, I put $5 on Dunaden for the win and $5 on Niwot for the win.  You could either bet for the horse to win or for the horse to place (top 3) but the payout was much lower so i just stuck with betting on the win.  I enjoyed betting on the first two and the anticipation and nervousness of hundreds of people placing bets that I decided I really wanted to win and that in order to win i needed to bet on more horses so in the end I ended up betting $5 on eight different horses all betting for them to win.  Now I just had to keep myself away from the betting table before i spent all my money.  Finally it was 3pm and the race was off. (3200m race or 2 miles)  One lap around the track.  At first the horse Illo which was one of my 8 was way out in front so i was cheering him on but he died 3/4 into the race and then the final 400m was neck and neck between a few horses and as it came down to the wire Dunaden and Red Cadeaux were a photo finish.  Nobody knew who won and it took what seemed like forever for them to decide.  Even in the photo finish still pictures that slow it down to like the millisecond it was hard to tell which horse won.  It seemed like forever because Dunaden was one of the horses I bet on but Red Cadeaux wasnt.  Eventually they awarded the win to Dunaden which meant I had won $45.50.  $5 times his odds which was 1 : 9.1   So in the end I bet $40 and won $45.50 so I made $5.50 and had a lot of fun watching the race.  I cant wait until next year.  Oh and theres 24 horses in the race so I had bets on 1/3 of them, I couldnt loose with those odds.

Weerona Formal

This past Friday, October 28th, was the last day of classes for the semester.  Oh how it went by so fast, I dont even feel like I was going to school....maybe because I skipped a lot of classes.  But the last day of classes means Formal which is when everyone in college (204 people) or dorm we would call it in America  , dresses up in shirts and ties and some suits for the guys and fancy dresses for the girls.  It was kind of like a prom, but you didnt bring a date.  Once we got there everyone was taking pictures and then just like at a prom you sat down at your table and ate dinner.  Once done with dinner, everyone went to the dance floor and used up their 5 free drink coupons!  The event lasted from 6:30pm until 11:00pm and was a lot of fun and a great way to end the year before everyone starts studying for finals and heading home.

Here are some pictures...more will probably be uploaded later.

Don Giovanni at the Opera House

So today a bunch of us decided that we couldn't leave Australia without seeing a show at the Opera House even if we weren't sure an opera show would be our thing, especially when the show is going to be in italian... but they have this thing called student rush which is when students can show up at the Opera House box office an house before the show starts and buy tickets for $50, thats if there are any left.

Me, Andy, Joe, Amy, Tim

So at 2:30pm we took the risk and left from North Wollongong hoping that they would have tickets available for tonights show and we wouldn't have to just turn around and come home.  Eventually after taking the train and walking through the light rain we made it to the Opera House and there were tickets available.  We were very lucky and got 6 tickets together in the upper balcony....there was actually quite a few open seats, probably because it was a Tuesday night and it was a rainy day.  But anyways the show started and this being the first Opera or actually play I have been too outside of like high school plays I didn't really know what to expect.  We were right that the entire show was in Italian but they flashed up english translation above the stage.  The entire show was basically a play with them singing every line and it was actually a pretty cool experience.  The play Don Giovanni by Mozart (1787) was about a man named Don Giovanni who sneaks into a woman's house and begins to abuse her but then kills the girls father and runs away.  As Giovanni continues to seek woman like this, the woman seeks revenge and wants to kill Giovanni.  Eventually the woman finds Giovanni and recognizes his voice.  Later the woman's fathers ghost appears and asked for repent.  Giovanni refuses and is sent to hell.

Melbourne

Melbourne/Great Ocean Road

GREAT OCEAN ROAD

After a long day walking around Melbourne city yesterday it was time to wake up early and drive down the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles!... We were supposed to pick up the car at 8am but we didnt actually get there until about 10am after a quick breakfast and stop in the huge Queen Victoria Markets which we didnt have time for yesterday.  This was the first time renting a car, there were four of us that decided to go on the road trip.  It was Jess, Sherwood, Chao, and I.  Jess and Sherwood are both under 21 and there is no way we trust Chao behind the wheel of a car so I had to be the main driver and I was nervous.  First of all after doing all the paperwork, checked the car for dents and scratches together and finally got in the car and were ready to go.  The only problem was that the car we just got in was a manual, there was no way we were getting back to the hostel if I tried to drive this nevermind 250km to the 12 apostles and back.  So we got out and asked if I actually was stupid enough to accidentally reserve a manual which i was but luckily they had a automatic we could switch it with for a small $20 upgrade fee.  Then after signing in the wrong spot on the paperwork and then accidentally revving the engine while sitting in the garage im surprised the lady still let me drive away.  I know she was thinking I was going to crash before I even got out of Melbourne.

Driving through the city of Melbourne was CRAZY!  It was busy, I was driving on the left, and their were TRAMS EVERYWHERE!!  I went through every intersection really slow because getting in a crash with a tram was the last thing i wanted to do.  The wierdest part was that since the trams ran down the middle of the street you were in thier way when you were waiting to turn across a lane of traffic. (right turn in Australia) So to avoid being in the way of a tram when turning right you are supposed to make "hook turns" which are right turns from the left lane of the two lane street. (driving on the left) This was the weirdest driving turn ever.  I had to wait until not only the lane I was crossing was clear but had to make sure nobody was passing me on my right going the same direction as I was.  Most of the time I just follow the cars in front of me but when I was in front it was a bit scary.

Finally we were off and out of Melbourne and heading towards the start of the Great Ocean Road in our Hyundai Elantra.  Leaving Melbourne there was a lot of random artsy things on the side of the road like sculptures and designs in the telephone wires.  Outside Melbourne towards Geelong was mostly all fields filled with bright yellow flowers which was actually really pretty.  There were also lots of farms filled with cows, horses, sheep, and sometimes llamas.
Eventually the fields ended and we arrived at the outskirts of Torquay and world famous Bells Beach at the start of the Great Ocean Road.  It was a one lane each way road that twisted around big steep cliffs overlooking beautiful sights of the ocean and beaches.  It was an incredible drive and we pulled over several times at scenic lookout pulloffs and took pictures and walked down to the beaches.

After about an hour of driving we arrived at Airleys inlet, a really cool lighthouse up on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Eventually a little further down the down we passed a small town called Lorne and finally a big sign across the road saying Great Ocean Road so we stopped to take pictures.  Also there were signs all along the Great Ocean Road like the one on the left here that said "Drive on the Left in Australia" probably because this road is a popular attraction but it was pretty funny sign especially for the Australian.   I guess if we had signs that said drive on the right in America I would think its a pretty stupid sign too.  Just after stopping for a lunch break at a little cafe along the beach we arrived at Kennett River, a place that was listed that had a drive that guaranteed wild koala sightings.  Since none of us besides Jess had seen a wild koala before we had to drive down the road.  Once we got there we found out it was a steep dirt road like below through a eucalyptus forest.  We thought for a second about skipping it because the rental car company did strictly say no unpaved roads....but we went anyways.  We drove up the road for about 15min (really slowly) until we finally saw a koala up in a tree.  I think it just took a second to realize what we were looking for because once we found one we kept seeing more and more including a few more on the drive back down.

Koala^^^-----hard to see kinda round bump on the lower branch 

Closer koala below

Eventually the road took a turn inward away from the ocean and straight through the Otway's Rainforest.  Here was our next stop at Mait's Walk through the Great Otway Rainforest National Park.  This was a half mile loop through some dense rainforest.  The trees were huge as you can see in the pictures and you could feel a huge temperature drop as you entered the rainforest.  It was really cool though, lots of big ferns and weird looking plants everywhere.

After a total of 6 hours later! (Left at 11am, arrived 5pm) We got to our destination, the Twelve Apostles, one of the main things ive wanted to see since I have been here!

The Twelve Apostles we sooo cool.  Some of the biggest steepest cliffs I have seen with supposedly 10 "apostles" or pieces of cliff that have eroded away from the mainland and are just sticking up in the middle of the ocean now.  The cliffs were all an orangy tinge too.  Standing on the edges of these cliffs was so amazing.  The only bad part was that it started to rain not long after getting there.

They had a bunch of these signs all around the cliffs edges and we all thought it was pretty funny that they actually said you will die.

Next stop, 2km down the road was Loch Ard Gorge where supposedly a crew of 50+ sailors crashed and there were only 2 survivors.
Here we were able to take a long set of stairs down to the actual beach and get a different view of the gorge.  The water was really cold and there was really steep currents, if anybody jumped in that water im sure they would drown in the current sucking them out of the gorge.

Finally the last cool scenic part of the Twelve Apostle area was thunder cave to the left!  This was a long cave below the land which filled up a lot more with each wave that came in.

Finally it was time to head back to Melbourne before it got too late.  We left the Apostles at just passed 6pm and arrived back in Melbourne just before 9pm.  Much faster on the way back due to no windy roads, all highway, more direct route, and no stops.  Next thing we had to do was find a car park to put the rental car over night, which was a lot easier then we thought it would be.  There are car parks everywhere in Melbourne.  We paid the $9 overnight fee and returned the car bright and early the next morning.  Total cost for the car was about $240 for two days rental, all the under 25 yrs fees, and for going over 400km fee.  It turned out not too bad split 4 ways though.  Much cheaper then paying a tour company which were anywhere from $100-150 per person and we had a lot of fun driving ourselves!