Sunday, February 15, 2009

Rottnest Island / Ratnest Island / Rotto

I just got back from a weekend CIEE (my study abroad program, led by an intrepid and hilarious guy named Paul) trip to Rottnest Island, which is about 30 minutes away from Fremantle on a ferry. Despite not seeing any snakes ANYWHERE, it was awesome. The island is home to a huge population of rat/kangaroo ish creatures named quokkas, but the Dutch settlers thought they were rats (hence Rottsnest / Rat's nest island). They are very very cute and approachable (think chubby mini-kangaroos). We did a lot of biking, snorkelling, swimming, sightseeing, and that sort of thing. Snorkelling was AWESOME. I dove through a reef-enclosed cave and saw some huge colorful fish (like Planet Earth fish) in the reefs. My favorite was a huge white angry looking fish that decided to hang out with us for a few minutes, probably plotting to eat our young. The coolest thing I saw, however, was a 7 foot wide stingray that came within reaching distance of me while I was playing frisbee in the water. 7. foot. stingray. HUGE and within kicking distance. Where else does that happen? Last night I got to see the sun set over the ocean, which was incredibly beautiful. I had an "omg" moment while I was standing there watching the sun gently set, while the warm breeze played with my hair like a mournful lover. Later we went up by a lighthouse where you could see the beams of light in the air for miles because it was so powerful. And we saw the southern cross constellation! Cool! Unrelated, but the other day I got to eat crocodile (kind of fishy but with a thicker texture) and kangaroo (like steak but richer and slightly gamey). Yum! Animals! (sorry Allie)

I start classes tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have everything figured out enough to make it to all my classes in the right places. I may be switching out my Aboriginal studies class for an Australian Film and Literature class that looked more interesting and fit my schedule better. That will bring me up to Advertising Production, Abnormal Psychology, and Australian Film and Literature for a total of 12 credits. Uni is pretty laid back here for international students, which is something you won't find me complaining about. I'll probably be attending an ultimate frisbee meeting tomorrow, thinking of joining the team to meet people and do something athletic. I'm also going to try to join the table tennis club, and hope that there's some competition since I'm so close to Asia, and therefore azns. Also might try to do intramural volleyball - figuring that sports are a good way to meet people. So far my core group of friends extends to the Penn State people, along with a few people from my CIEE group and a group from Wisconsin. I hope to branch out to Australians soon, since they are awesome.

That is it for now. My shoulders are burned, despite putting sunscreen on every 20 minutes this weekend. Stupid ozone layer (or lack thereof). 7 foot stingray. Think about it. Think about me riding it. Underwater. Through underwater princess land. There is a crown on my head. You are my queen. We will live forever. On this stingray of ours.

No worries,
<3Kevin

5 comments:

  1. please don't pull a steve irwin

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  2. i don't think it was the stinging kind, it might actually have been a "manta ray" but i don't know if people know that term as well.

    it would be an honorable way to die, though.

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  3. Your life is officially sweet. Please please ride the manta into the sunset while whooping. How'd the frisbee meeting go? They a sweet bunch o dudes? Let me know if you have any questions with terminology such as "the stack" "handler" "flick" "huck" etc.

    I should TOTALLY attempt to come to Australia for something with my business... hmm... This will take some planning.

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  4. dude australian film sounds awesome definitely go for it. wanna know about ecuadorian film? it doesnt exist, instead they just sell illegal copies of all US films, including stuff thats still in theatres for 2$ a pop. Seriously i bought slumdog millionare and benjamin button yesterday for 4$. You can even get all of Planet Earth for 10$. nice right? ps snorkeling sounds so cool i think i get to do that next weekend during carnaval! love the blog keep it comin son.
    -nik

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  5. australian film = heaaaaath :( :( :(

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