Just adding a picture to use for the registry....

Best of/Worst of

The top 10 worst things about Australia and New Zealand:

10. School uniforms. They're so bad they make you sad to look at them.
9. It's winter, but there's no indoor heat.
8. Bizarrely proportioned change; the 2 dollar coin is the smallest and the 50 cent coin is the largest.
7. Hostel roommates who don't know how to be roommates.
6. Everything closes at weird/inconvenient hours.
5. Most people have a terrible fashion sense. These people invented Ugg boots.
4. Expensive food.
3. The creepy woman in our Hobart hostel.
2. Not knowing which animals/trees on a hike could kill you or at least really hurt.
1. No one knows how to pluralize nouns properly. They use apostrophes like it's going out of style.


The top 10 BEST things about Australia and New Zealand:

10. Glaciers right next to tropical rainforests and mountains next to beaches.
9. The shockingly clean hostel at the converted rail station.
8. New Zealand cafes.
7. Public washrooms--clean and everywhere.
6. Every animal you encounter is amazing.
5. No pennies... yet, they still have squished penny machines (they provide a silver plug... but that still doesn't explain why they cost about $3 each...)
4. Cheap, tasty sushi in huge sizes.
3. Friendly knitting people.
2. Every city has a botanical garden and some place to take a nice walk.
1. Being with my best friend!

Back home

Good morning, everyone!

I landed in Boston around 9:30 last night, but didn't go to bed until 1am. No matter how tired I am, I always seem to find little things that need to be done after a long trip. Even though I've slept until 11am, I'm still really tired and have the feeling of constant motion. Jetlag takes on a whole new meaning when you've been traveling this long.

I've noticed that, though I've been gone only three weeks, the US has up and changed part of the currency on me. Rather than getting rid of the penny (Australia and New Zealand do just fine without them... and they even still have squished penny machines!) they've changed it and made it look stupid. Oh well.

Later on today, I plan on sorting through my 560-odd photos for printing. I'm also going to post a best of and worst of list, but I need to do some thinking first.

Thanks so much for reading, everyone! It's been very fun!

Updates

Hello, all.

I just went through and added photos where I could. You might want to check back through old posts to see the new pictures.

This will most likely be my last post until I hit Worcester. I fly out tomorrow, Wednesday... and the come home Wednesday night. Sounds like a short flight! Nope. I'll be flying for more than 20 hours total. I arrive on the "same" day I leave only because of the international date line. : )

Talking Dog Fountain in Sydney

Across from the statue of Queen Victoria in Sydney is a statue of one of her pet dogs. He was placed on top of a fountain that collected coins for deaf and blind children. Apparently, he did so well that we was given "the gift of speech," recorded by a famous Australian radio talent. The best part is that this person also recorded the dog's bark.

This is the best video I could find, but sadly the tourist is talking over the dog's bark! If anyone can find a clearer video, please let me know!

Hilarious Fountain

Hobart/Sydney

Last night after I posted, Laura and I perfected the art of nursing beer and stayed in a pub, reading and drinking for about four hours. Then we had some pretty decent Italian food. The best part of last night was coming home just in time to watch the finale of Master Chef Australia. I don't know if I mentioned this, but Master Chef USA will premier on the 28th!!

This morning we flew into Sydney and checked into our hostel. It's a converted railway station and our dorm is in a converted the railway car. As if this wasn't exciting enough, everything is shiney and operating-room-clean. It's really great!

For lunch we got sushi and then walked over to the Lindt Cafe where we bought amazing hot chocolate, Lindt truffles and two French macaroons. We planned on drinking and eating in the botanical gardens, but as it started raining, we just sort of propped ourselves on a wall.

We then visited the Australian Mint museum where we learned more about converting to the decimal system as well as the conversion to polymer bills. (Australian money is plastic). All of the polymer bills used around the world are made in Australia (but printed elsewhere). We got to watch, again, my new favorite cartoon. I can't find it on YouTube, but it's catchy and hilarious.

We walked a bit in the botanical gardens, but honestly, I'm a bit gardened out. Then I went to the Australian Museum, where they charged be $8 instead of $12 because I got there with only an hour to go. They had a neat skelleton room and lots of big dinosaurs, but nothing particularly heart-stopping.

Laura and I are back at the hostel now, wondering what to do for dinner...

We leave for Brisbane tomorrow. We'll do lots of laundry and I'll upload all my photos so I can go back to my posts and add pictures. Check back soon!

Hobart

Okay, so Hobart is less grim by daylight. Laura and I have been following a walking tour written up in her Lonely Planet Guide to Australia. We had a great breakfast at a cafe (I tired Vegemite--foul!--and I got some packets for whoever wants to try it).

After the cafe, we went to the Tasmanian Museum because it was free and we assumed it was warmer than outside. This last assumption proved to be incorrect. I've never been to a museum that uses space heaters... They had a neat exhibit on Australian money as well as their switch to decimal currency. They also has an exhibit and 3D film on Antarctic exploration. The best parts of the museum were the 1$ squished penny machines--other places have them for 3$ and the luggage locker room. You have to pay a 2 dollar deposit to use a locker, but then you get the two dollars back. Only, I guess some people didn't catch on, because Laura and I found 2 dollars each by opening all the lockers.

Once we got out of the museum, we chanced upon the ship used for Australian Antarctic research.

We also saw a neat park that had once been a cemetery. The larger monuments were still present, but all the headstones had been removed and set into walls at the foot of the park.

After this, we walked some more and went to a great bakery for lunch. Our food was great and bizarrely inexpensive. I had a small scallop pie and it was quite tasty.

Our plans for the rest of the day include going to the pub to read until dinner, eating dinner and then going to bed. We're hoping the random older woman in a hostel room will be gone, but signs are pointing to otherwise.

That's about it!