#3 - Living in a Sauna (2/22/11)

I have now been in Townsville for two weeks, so I have a bit of an idea of what I've gotten myself into. My first impression has definitely been a positive one; Townsville is a very pretty city. While there are certain home comforts that I miss, I'm not homesick. Australia is too similar to the US in appearance to fall into homesickness immediately. That is, except for one thing that will likely be the death of me: the heat. I’d imagine at this point you’re rolling your eyes, perhaps trying to suppress the urge to blurt “duh.” While I certainly acknowledge Australia is often correlated with hot weather, I’d argue that has mostly to do with the mythical Outback. No one (in their right mind) lives in the Outback, so I assumed the weather elsewhere was manageable. Sydney never struck me as hellishly hot and I didn’t think much beyond that. It didn’t help that during my orientation in Oregon the speakers spent most of their time talking about what can kill you – crocodiles, snakes, jellyfish, cassowaries, sharks, spiders, octopi (yes, even the octopi can kill you here), cyclones, floods, currents, Dengue fever, drunk Aussies, to name a few – and no time discussing the heat. Perhaps they assumed we’d be so grateful we weren’t getting killed in some horrendous fashion that we wouldn’t notice the oppressive heat. Let me be the first to tell you, Townsville is HOT. I mean sweltering, hotter-than-hell hot. Based purely on the thermometer, it must be said that Townsville is not hotter than much of the US in the summer. Since I’ve been here, the temperature between the hours of 7am and 7pm hasn’t been below 31°C, which equates to about 88°F, though I would guess on average at noon it’s hovering right around 91°F. Hot certainly, but in and of itself, not unmanageable, and that’s coming from a Seattleite. But Townsville has two more tricks up its sleeve that separates it from anything I’ve experienced: angle of the sun and humidity. The US, being happily north of the Tropic of Cancer, never experiences the sun directly above. Townsville, at about 19°S, is miserably placed between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn (in no way is there any bias in that sentence). Due to this, the sun is currently situated almost directly above and the rays are intense. There seems to be no shade anywhere. I haven’t tested this, but I’m fairly certain it’s possible to get receive a sunburn on one’s nose and back of the neck at the same time. I didn’t think it was possible. I’ve now been taught otherwise

            While all of the above certainly contribute to the heat, the single most aggravating factor is the humidity. Good God! Townsville is definitely one of those places where you walk outside and immediately start sweating. Yesterday, Karen and I were sitting in the shade, not moving an inch, but still sweating copiously. According to the weather report, a little after noon today it was 32°C but it felt like 39°C, or 102°F. I’m not exaggerating when I say it feels like a sauna. I’d much rather walk in a dry 105°F than a humid 95°F. Today I left for my 9am class at 8:15am, planning on walking slowly so as to avoid being drenched when I got to class. It didn’t work. I had to go to the bathroom and use a load of paper towels to dry my face and arms off. I could have wrung my shirt out if I was so inclined. And the thing is, I was the only one. When I first arrived in Townsville and I was riding around in my parents’ rental car, I noticed that no one was out walking around. I understand why now. I walked for half an hour and I didn’t pass a single person until I was on campus. No locals are stupid enough to go for a walk unless it’s dark out. The locals tell me it will cool down in late April, but in the meantime, I’ll leave the hot faucet in the shower untouched.

#2 - Pictures from Syndey to the Whitsundays (2/15/11)

 A meat pie

 Lotus in the Botanic Garden

 CBD from the Botanic Garden

 A rarely photographed building

 The famed Sydney Harbour Bridge

View from the bridge

CBD from the bridge

 

Lily in the Botanic Garden

St. Mary's Cathedral

 From the ferry

Shelley Beach - Manly

 Manly Beach

 Eli Creek - Fraser Island

The wreck of the Maheno - Fraser Island

 Lake McKenzie - Fraser Island

Whitehaven Beach - Whitsundays

#1 - Sydney to Townsville (2/13/11)

Welcome to my blog In a Sweaty Country. Just a note: the URL details the general response I received when I told people I was studying abroad in Australia. My vague goal for this page is to write down my observations and experiences, partially so I’ll have them documented for my own purposes, and partially so I can keep everyone updated without sending 8 million repetitive e-mails. As much as I’d like to talk to everyone while I’m gone, I just don’t think I’m going to have time. That being said, please please please shoot me a note at either max.ryan@my.jcu.edu.au or maxr@uoregon.edu, I’d love to hear from you. It hasn’t quite hit me that I’m thousands of miles away from home, but I’m sure it will. Notes would make that realization way more bearable. With all that out of the way, I can get to the good stuff: everything that is Australia.

            School doesn’t start here until February 21^st (it’s summer break right now), but I had to be here about two weeks early. The first week I intended to find a place to live (more on that rant in a later post), and the second week to participate in the inevitable Orientation Week. However, my parents, Karen, and I left the States about two weeks before that to travel the eastern coast of Australia, a place none of us had been and an area Karen and I weren’t sure we’d be able to see much of with school and a general lack of money hampering us. Thus we all left LAX at 11:55pm on the 26^th of January and landed in Brisbane at about 7:00am on the 28^th. For all intents and purposes the 27^th of January didn’t exist for us. Time changes! We landed in Brisbane and then caught a connecting flight to Sydney. We calculated that door to door was about 30 hours. The first thing we did after checking in to our hotel was get several meat pies. Delicious stuff, and wonderfully Australian. We were off to a good start.

            We spent the next four days in and around Sydney. I won’t bore you with every detail, but the city is certainly as advertised. I left it planning a return trip. It looked somewhat like San Francisco mixed with Vancouver, except located in a warmer, sunnier spot. The botanic (not botanical, we never figured out why) gardens are a must see for everyone. Without a doubt, it was the most gorgeous city park I’ve ever been in. It’s quite large – we spent many hours in it over the course of our four days and we didn’t see it all – but all of it is exquisite. The views of the opera house framed by the harbour bridge are fantastic. Speaking of those two iconic Sydney sights…wow. It was surreal to see them in person considering the number of pictures I’d seen of them. Also, the opera house is massive. I wasn’t expecting it to be so large. There are about 6 different venues within it. I saw a number in a guidebook stating the entire complex holds about 3,000 performances a year! Big and bold and because of that very Australian. The harbour bridge is amazing as well. I think the views looking back towards the CBD and the opera house from the bridge were the best of any we saw in the city, maybe excepting the views from the ferry.

            We took a ferry ride about 30 minutes east of the central city to the suburb of Manly and spent the day there. About the only thing I can say is Sydneysiders don’t exactly have it rough. Manly has a gorgeous esplanade and a bunch of swimmable beaches, all of them with water the color you swear is photoshopped in pictures, but actually isn’t. Aquamarine meets teal. Staggering. At this point, you might not find it surprising that I want to live in Sydney. And I haven’t even mentioned sticky date pudding, the most delicious dessert I’ve ever had the pleasure of devouring. I had sticky date pudding for the first time about three years ago at Thanksgiving at my sister’s house. She had some Aussie friends of friends staying for the holiday and they made this disgusting-sounding, otherworldly-tasting dessert. I’ve been unable to find it in the intervening three years, until now. I’ve since had it twice in three weeks, with plans to eat and make it many more times. If you ever have the chance to eat it, don’t pass it up. Aussies aren’t exactly known for their culinary prowess, but this is one thing they really need to share with the world.

            After our time in Sydney, we flew back to Brisbane and spent a day and a night there. It’s supposed to be a world-class city, but we didn’t spend enough time there to really see anything. The botanic gardens were lovely, but after massive flooding, it was looking a bit rough around the edges. And seeing Sydney’s garden first ruined all future gardens for me forever. Quick side note – it seems as though if an Australian city has more than a couple thousand people, it is required to contain at least one botanic garden. The US could learn a thing or two from the Aussies. Beyond that, Brisbane didn’t offer much more to us, other than a bunch of bug bites. It warrants another chance. But don’t stay at the Best Western.

            For all you geography buffs, it’s time to get your maps out. From Brisbane we drove (on the left side of the road no less!) to Hervey Bay, a lovely little town on the coast about 3 hours north of Brisbane. We spent two nights there with the sole purpose of visiting Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island and a world heritage sight. It’s definitely worth a visit. National Geographic did a nice special on it last year if you’re interested in more information. The coolest parts were Lake McKenzie and Eli Creek were the highlights. Eli Creek is a natural lazy river and absolutely gorgeous. Lake McKenzie is a perched lake, meaning the bottom is insoluble. There is no entry or exit to the lake. Instead it’s made entirely of crystal clear rainwater. The sand is about as white as sand can be, this side of Whitehaven Beach. It’s surrounded by eucalypts. And it’s warm. Nice place, if you like that sort of thing.

            After Hervey Bay, we spent 2 days driving to Airlie Beach. Australian highways are amusing. The country holds only about 20 million people in an area only slightly smaller than the US (for reference, the US pop is about 300 million). Thus vast areas of land are completely uninhabited (no duh, they call it the outback). Due to this, Australian highways are dotted with fewer towns than those of the US, making places to stop and rest more infrequent. Judging by the highway signs, this makes drivers much more likely to succumb to falling asleep at the wheel. The government has tried to combat this by posting signs every few kilometers stating, “stop, revive, survive” and “revive, then drive.” They even post trivia questions (Q: What’s the state flower of Queensland? A: The Cooktown Orchid) to try and keep drivers alert. It’s a bit disconcerting. But have no fear! Your intrepid travelers made it to Airlie Beach unscathed.

            We spent two nights in Airlie Beach, a lovely little resort town. The sole purpose of Airlie Beach is to service the Whitsunday Islands. I don’t have the vocabulary to express how gorgeous the Whitsundays are, so Google Image them. Typing Whitsundays or Whitehaven Beach should do the trick. We spent most of the time we were there shaking our heads, wondering how such a gorgeous place exists. Of the things I’ve seen in Australia, Sydney and the Whitsundays are the best. The snorkeling was far superior to any I’ve ever done in Hawaii. We jumped off the boat (in our flattering stinger suits) and were swimming in what seemed like an aquarium. Uncountable numbers of fish of every size and color swam within inches of us. We saw massive humphead wrasse, cuttlefish, brilliant jellies, and the most amazing coral I’ve ever seen. Check it out.

            From Airlie Beach, we drove the final three hours to Townsville, the location of the university (James Cook University) Karen and I will be attending for the next four months. I’m sure I’ve already exhausted your interest in Australia, so I’ll save our Uni experiences for other posts. But I want to end my post by encouraging everyone to go to Australia. The wildlife is gorgeous, the views are unbeatable, and the people are generally wonderful. Take a night flight and some sleeping pills and you’ll be fine. And pack a lot of sunscreen. It’s sunny here.