With only 1/2 hour of Internet in the hostel, I realized this might be the only opportunity I have to write a blog post from the hustle and bustle of Australia! (Or Aus or Aussie as the Kiwis call it) I arrived in Melbourne yesterday evening, walked 5K to my hostel in the hip suberb of St. Kilda, dropped my backpack, walked out to get a burger, ate said burger, walked 5 minutes down the street just to get my bearings, and ran into Lori, Nicole, and Jess, three of only six people I know in all of Australia (all of who were enrolled as summer students in Dunedin)! That's right, in a country of some 30-odd million, in a city of 4 million, without any prior planning or communication of any kind (except that there's a party for Kate in Melbourne tonight to which we are all invited) I run into my friends in my first 3 hours on Aussie soil. I had a feeling Lady Luck was with me this week when I was assigned to seat 23D on my JetStar flight across the Tasman.
So I hung out with them last night, getting a second dinner at TGIFridays and seeing Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. I was the only person who enjoyed it. Today was a busy sightseeing day, but first I needed to get groceries. So I went to the local supermarket, where they charge for a shopping cart and plastic bags. Decided to kill two birds with one stone by purchasing plastic bags for carrying groceries both inside and outside the store (damn I'm clever). In general everything is more expensive in Aus dollar for dollar when compared to New Zealand, yet the Aussie dollar is worth more than the Kiwi dollar so prices really are just ridiculous. They also have something called water scarcity, who would have thought. But this supermarket turned out to be pretty reasonable. Then I visited St. Kilda beach, the Melbourne World War I Memorial, the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Melbourne Museum (got in free with my Otago ID!!), and Victoria Market along with a bunch of other random streets and gardens. Came back to the hostel, made some super special, incredibly elaborate, gourmet white rice with a little salt and capsicum, and now am getting ready to head into town for Kate's 21st Birthday Party at the Lustre Lounge on Flinders Lane. Tomorrow I'm off to the Great Ocean Walk, where I'm going to be improvising the logisitics a bit. Signing off from Down Under for now...
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Catlins with Mack and Jon
On Wednesday afternoon this week I got a call from the biochemistry secretary saying there were two young men waiting for me upstairs. Two friends from Williams, Mack Brickley '08 and Jon Stone '08 had arrived! They have been traveling for the past 5 months, seeing Equador, Chile, and now New Zealand. They spent several weeks volunteering at the Mt. Bruce bird sanctuary on the North Island and then took the ferry across to the South Island, where they drove down the west coast and hiked the Abel Tasman track, the Milford track, and parts of the Kepler track. We went out to dinner on Wednesday evening and I heard all their stories and shared a few of my own. Thursday they toured the Otago Peninsula in their rental car while I worked, but we cooked up a delicious pasta dinner together that evening. Friday I just went in to work for a couple hours in the morning and then we headed out to the Catlins, a region of rugged hills, forests, and beaches on the southeastern coast of the South Island, a couple hours drive from Dunedin.
The common way to see the Catlins it seems is to drive the main scenic road and stop at various attractions that include ocean views, short and medium length tracks to waterfalls and through native forest, and quirky little museums and cafes. Our first stop was Nugget Point, where we found a geocache and tried to keep warm in spite of the chilling wind. Later in the afternoon we checked out a couple waterfalls and an abandoned railroad tunnel. Of course it got dark around 5 so we found a campsite in the middle of the forest for the night. By this time it had started raining pretty steadily, so we just huddled in the car and broke out a bottle of Scotch. For entertainment (and to keep warm) Mack and I pushed the car with Jon steering around the little dirt road. At some point we decided we should set up the tent, which we accomplished in a few minutes and then immediately retreated back inside the car. A while later we boiled some water for 2-minute noodles and instant mashed potatoes, and again retreated back to the car. Finally we all crowded into Jon's two-man tent and were pretty warm although a bit soggy since it rained throughout the night.
The next morning we went for a trail run on a nearby track through dense forest full of native species and plenty of invasive pine as well. Then we continued south along the main road through Papatowai, where we stopped at the eccentric Lost Gypsy Gallery (closed for the winter), found another geocache at the Cathedral Caves (also closed for the winter), and a couple more waterfalls. I had a lot of fun hanging out with Mack and Jon, but I think Mack made a good analogy when he said that the Catlins are like the Berkshires are to the U.S.--they're nice hills but not too impressive when compared to the Rockies or NZ's Southern Alps 100 kilometers west.
Saturday night we cooked up some pork teriyaki and played pitch, the card game that was popular our first couple years at Williams. Sunday morning Mack and Jon departed Dunedin for Mt. Cook, Blenheim, and Christchurch, where they are flying home to the States on June 10.
Sunday evening I attended day 1 of the Oxidative Stress meeting, which included researchers from Dunedin and Christchurch. My work on cysteine reactivity was applicable, so I gave a 15-minute presentation today that I've uploaded here. Also today I had another session for the snack study that I am volunteering in. It was a rather extensive tasting session in which we had to taste and rate a variety of different snacks, before and after snacking ad libitum. At the end of the session I was assigned to the control group, meaning I will receive no snacks at all for the 3-month study. Just my luck.
Below are pictures from the Catlins.
The common way to see the Catlins it seems is to drive the main scenic road and stop at various attractions that include ocean views, short and medium length tracks to waterfalls and through native forest, and quirky little museums and cafes. Our first stop was Nugget Point, where we found a geocache and tried to keep warm in spite of the chilling wind. Later in the afternoon we checked out a couple waterfalls and an abandoned railroad tunnel. Of course it got dark around 5 so we found a campsite in the middle of the forest for the night. By this time it had started raining pretty steadily, so we just huddled in the car and broke out a bottle of Scotch. For entertainment (and to keep warm) Mack and I pushed the car with Jon steering around the little dirt road. At some point we decided we should set up the tent, which we accomplished in a few minutes and then immediately retreated back inside the car. A while later we boiled some water for 2-minute noodles and instant mashed potatoes, and again retreated back to the car. Finally we all crowded into Jon's two-man tent and were pretty warm although a bit soggy since it rained throughout the night.
The next morning we went for a trail run on a nearby track through dense forest full of native species and plenty of invasive pine as well. Then we continued south along the main road through Papatowai, where we stopped at the eccentric Lost Gypsy Gallery (closed for the winter), found another geocache at the Cathedral Caves (also closed for the winter), and a couple more waterfalls. I had a lot of fun hanging out with Mack and Jon, but I think Mack made a good analogy when he said that the Catlins are like the Berkshires are to the U.S.--they're nice hills but not too impressive when compared to the Rockies or NZ's Southern Alps 100 kilometers west.
Saturday night we cooked up some pork teriyaki and played pitch, the card game that was popular our first couple years at Williams. Sunday morning Mack and Jon departed Dunedin for Mt. Cook, Blenheim, and Christchurch, where they are flying home to the States on June 10.
Sunday evening I attended day 1 of the Oxidative Stress meeting, which included researchers from Dunedin and Christchurch. My work on cysteine reactivity was applicable, so I gave a 15-minute presentation today that I've uploaded here. Also today I had another session for the snack study that I am volunteering in. It was a rather extensive tasting session in which we had to taste and rate a variety of different snacks, before and after snacking ad libitum. At the end of the session I was assigned to the control group, meaning I will receive no snacks at all for the 3-month study. Just my luck.
Below are pictures from the Catlins.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Six months in Dunedin and just now I'm getting around to seeing the Otago Peninsula
Sure I had cycled all over the two main roads, Portobello and Highcliff, and done a hike up Harbour Cone, but yesterday I discovered the real Otago Peninsula for the first time. I consider it the single best day I've had in Dunedin thus far.
Yesterday was Queen's Birthday, which gave me an extra day in the weekend for this adventure. I took the bus out to Portobello with the goal of hiking around the peninsula for the day. I had no track or destination planned but I felt like I knew the general geography of the peninsula well enough, so I just started walking along a road in the direction east of Portobello. Within a couple kilometers I came to Hooper's Inlet and turned onto the dirt road hugging the water. After another couple k's the road branched off into the hills and came to Sandymount Road, which I had vaguely heard of. I took a left further uphill and eventually came to Sandymount Reserve, home of Lover's Leap and Sandfly Bay. I had heard of both of these landmarks so continued on trails to visit them as well as to the summit of Sandymount. Lover's Leap was just one of many impressive geologic formations along the beach, and Sandfly Bay was hands-down amazing. Trudging through the dunes accompanied only by the sight of the moon, I felt like I was on another planet. I met a massive sea lion sleeping on the beach...I may have startled him a bit but he went back to sleep pretty quickly. I retreated up into the dunes a bit and took shelter in a viewing hide to see if I could spot a yellow-eyed penguin; they don't like people on the beach. Within five minutes a single penguin came swimming up in the waves and hopped up on some rocks. He was pretty hilarious looking, but too far away for a picture. Below I've pasted a close-up shot of such a penguin:
As the sun set I crawled back up the steep sandy slope and walked back to Portobello in the dark in time to catch the bus back to town. It really was a perfect day.
Other highlights this weekend: first workday at 126 Ashmore Street, the Dunedin Habitat for Humanity site. On day 1 we set up a portable toilet, hauled gravel around the site to cut down on mud, and surveyed the foundation for the digger to come this week. I got to use a nail gun that shot nails through 2x4's which was pretty sweet. I was interested to see that we used the 3-4-5 method for ensuring that corners were square: measure 3 meters on one side, 4 meters on the other, and hope the diagonal is 5 meters.
I also did some cooking that I was very proud of, although it wasn't elegant or healthy: the best fried chicken I've ever had (I'll never give away the secret recipe for the coating) and sweet potato fries for Sunday dinner.
And finally, I have enrolled in a Department of Nutrition study to determine the effect of a daily snack of hazelnuts on blood lipid levels. Next week I will be assigned randomly to one of four groups: the hazelnut group (I hope), chocolate, potato crisps, or nothing. Over the past week my arm has been pierced multiple times for blood tests, I've had a full body DEXA scan, and I've had a resting metabolic rate test. Plus this week I have to wear an accelerometer everywhere and weight all the food I eat. All this for a three month's supply of hazelnuts or some other meager snack...I'm consenting only in the name of science.
Below are pictures from 1) the lab hike a couple weeks ago and 2) epic day trip to Sandymount.
Yesterday was Queen's Birthday, which gave me an extra day in the weekend for this adventure. I took the bus out to Portobello with the goal of hiking around the peninsula for the day. I had no track or destination planned but I felt like I knew the general geography of the peninsula well enough, so I just started walking along a road in the direction east of Portobello. Within a couple kilometers I came to Hooper's Inlet and turned onto the dirt road hugging the water. After another couple k's the road branched off into the hills and came to Sandymount Road, which I had vaguely heard of. I took a left further uphill and eventually came to Sandymount Reserve, home of Lover's Leap and Sandfly Bay. I had heard of both of these landmarks so continued on trails to visit them as well as to the summit of Sandymount. Lover's Leap was just one of many impressive geologic formations along the beach, and Sandfly Bay was hands-down amazing. Trudging through the dunes accompanied only by the sight of the moon, I felt like I was on another planet. I met a massive sea lion sleeping on the beach...I may have startled him a bit but he went back to sleep pretty quickly. I retreated up into the dunes a bit and took shelter in a viewing hide to see if I could spot a yellow-eyed penguin; they don't like people on the beach. Within five minutes a single penguin came swimming up in the waves and hopped up on some rocks. He was pretty hilarious looking, but too far away for a picture. Below I've pasted a close-up shot of such a penguin:
As the sun set I crawled back up the steep sandy slope and walked back to Portobello in the dark in time to catch the bus back to town. It really was a perfect day.
Other highlights this weekend: first workday at 126 Ashmore Street, the Dunedin Habitat for Humanity site. On day 1 we set up a portable toilet, hauled gravel around the site to cut down on mud, and surveyed the foundation for the digger to come this week. I got to use a nail gun that shot nails through 2x4's which was pretty sweet. I was interested to see that we used the 3-4-5 method for ensuring that corners were square: measure 3 meters on one side, 4 meters on the other, and hope the diagonal is 5 meters.
I also did some cooking that I was very proud of, although it wasn't elegant or healthy: the best fried chicken I've ever had (I'll never give away the secret recipe for the coating) and sweet potato fries for Sunday dinner.
And finally, I have enrolled in a Department of Nutrition study to determine the effect of a daily snack of hazelnuts on blood lipid levels. Next week I will be assigned randomly to one of four groups: the hazelnut group (I hope), chocolate, potato crisps, or nothing. Over the past week my arm has been pierced multiple times for blood tests, I've had a full body DEXA scan, and I've had a resting metabolic rate test. Plus this week I have to wear an accelerometer everywhere and weight all the food I eat. All this for a three month's supply of hazelnuts or some other meager snack...I'm consenting only in the name of science.
Below are pictures from 1) the lab hike a couple weeks ago and 2) epic day trip to Sandymount.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)