International Mail: Australia (alternatively titled: "What has taken me so long?")

Australia was not the trip that I would planned for myself (that is amply demonstrated by the numerous times we went shopping, the lack of museum visits, and the vast numbers of photos of students that I took, photos that I will not be showing you because I think it would be weird if pictures of me popped up in my teacher's blog), but it was still a great trip, not least because I got to see some of my students outside of the school context.

And it was Australia, where I felt surprisingly at home and started playing the "where would I live in Australia?" game (answer: Melbourne).

Brief chronology:
Sydney--We arrived Tuesday morning after an overnight flight and left Saturday morning. We spent some time visiting our "sister" and "brother" secondary schools and touring the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales.

Brisbane/Gold Coast--We arrived late Saturday morning and stayed in a tourist town called Surfer's Paradise. We were here for pure theme park pleasure: DreamWorld and MovieWorld. We left early Monday morning.

Melbourne: We visited two more universities (Monash University and the University of Melbourne) on Monday and Tuesday before flying back (via Sydney) on Wednesday.

Ok, so you knew these pictures were coming, so I'll just get the Opera House out of the way right from the beginning. It's an incredible structure, and we saw it on a beautiful day, so I had way too much fun experimenting I've spared you from many of the "playing around with these cool functions on my camera," but forgive me if I still have too many favorites.

Here's what I mean when I said that it looks kind of funny from close up. Please ignore the tilt.

And my postcard perfect picture?

Thank you "vivid blue" function.

I don't know if you can tell from the photos, but Sydney Harbour (should I include the "u" in harbor or not?) is really big, much bigger than it looks in Finding Nemo.

This is the Harbour Bridge (to get into your best Australian accent, trying dropping your "arrrs" when you say "harbour). It's not on quite as many postcards as the Opera House, but it's definitely a city landmark. If I'm ever in Sydney again, I want to do the Bridge Climb to the top.

Isn't it cool? When deciding on a print to buy as a souvenir, I wanted to say "I was in Sydney" not "I WAS IN SYDNEY!" so I went for the Bridge and not the Opera House.
I would like to explore Sydney more. It has modern skyscrapers and office buildings.

But also beautiful older buildings.

And it has Bondi Beach, where I was able to spend a whole afternoon. When the kids wanted to go shopping for the umpteenth time, our tour guide let me stay at the beach for a couple of extra hours. Reading, walking on the beach, people watching, sunbathing, swimming in the ocean, and playing in the waves made for a beautiful afternoon.

Again with the tilt. I'm sorry. My head must have been on crooked.

I don't have many pictures from the theme parks on the Gold Coast because roller coasters are pretty much the same the world over, but I had encounters with Australian wildlife in DreamWorld. Here's the baby koala I held. It had some cheesy name like "Pepper," but it was very cute and soft.

I'm pretty sure that I petted a kangaroo, but I actually don't remember. They were really placid, trying to stay cool at midday, so I saw no bouncing, only this slow, strange way that kangaroos move when they're not bouncing, which kinds of looks like a swing set or the wheels of a locomotive.

I have no good pictures of the Melbourne sights. For example, this one has runner blur and bus glare, but I really did like Melbourne. It seems like an interesting town with a strong arts and culture scene. It has a good public transportation system, and it actually has coolish weather, so I got to wear a jacket. If Sydney is a cool place to visit, then Melbourne is where I would actually want to live.