Not a standard entry, but... Things I miss: real hot sauce (not "sweet chili sauce"); ketchup; proper pizza crust; seasonings; bathtubs; dressers; speaking pedestrian crossing signs ("Walk sign is on across University..."); free internet; IPA; gay people; recliners; my cell phone (seriously!); Bloody Marys; the word "fuck"; my car; fantasy/sci-fi books; 2-ply quilted toilet paper; thick pillows; card games; Grandma's inanity; intellectual conversations about things I'm familiar with; the letter "r"; double quotation marks (as opposed to apostrophes); clean underwear; references to r [View Full Entry]

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I've had quite a few exciting things happen over the last several days. After the rather unpleasant incident at the bar in Rotorua with the homophobes, I went to bed. We woke up early the next morning and went to another park nearby called Te Puia; it's a natural geothermal reserve, and we saw geysers & bubbling mud pools, then sat on 110-degree rocks, which would serve as excellent substitutes for heating pads if they weren't so hard and lumpy. Also in the park, we saw a couple of kiwi birds - the national icon of New Zealand - though they [View Full Entry]

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I had a really unpleasant experience this evening. Tonight was the only night our entire tour group agreed to go out for drinks after our "adventures" for the day were completed, so we all went to the backpacker bar next to our hostel. Despite the bad music, the expensive drinks, and the rather dead crowd, we were managing to have a good time. Eventually, we dispersed to mingle with some people we'd met earlier; I ended up chatting for a good bit of time with a couple of Mennonite guys from Pennsylvania who are working on a nearby dairy farm for [View Full Entry]

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The last two days I've spent in Rotorua, "The Geothermal Capital of New Zealand," named such because the town lies in a sulfur-smelling volcanic crater with geysers and hot springs everywhere. It's a larger town, but is almost entirely full of backpackers, because there are so many things to do here: white-water rafting, relaxing in hot springs, swimming in the nearby Lake Rotorua, skydiving, bungee-jumping, watching sheep-shearing demonstrations (seriously), etc. Yesterday, the group I'm traveling with (from the Kiwi Experience bus tour) took the afternoon off; I did some laundry and to [View Full Entry]

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Last night I was reminded why I haven't stayed in many dorm-style hostels on this trip. Throughout the night, my seven roommates kept coming and going, stumbling in (most of them were drunk, I'm sure), clattering about, and occasionally turning lights on (in the middle of the night, mind you). On top of that, the fire alarm in our room kept going off at random intervals, despite the complete lack of fire. I don't think I slept more than 20 minutes at a time the entire night! Got up this morning, had a bit of breakfast and coffee, and somehow nearly [View Full Entry]

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The last several days in Melbourne were grand fun! The day after my last entry, Gary, Rachel, Gary's sister Kelly, and I went to an Australian Rule Football game between the Melbourne Demons (who we were rooting for) and the West Coast Eagles. It was a great time, despite the frigid temperatures. It rained on and off throughout the game, and was a tad on the brisk side, but we managed to have a great time nonetheless. It was only the third time Melbourne had won all season! Afterward, Gary, Rachel, and I went to try to see the view from [View Full Entry]

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It's been ages since I last made an entry! I suppose nothing terribly exciting has happened in that time, which may explain things. The first several days in Melbourne were good, but stressful. I had run out of money, so was having to borrow from my Aussie friends until I could arrange to get some from the States. That turned out to be no big deal, but it also meant I couldn't do anything very interesting, like eat or drink much :-P During that time, though, I got to catch up quite a bit with my good friend Pauly, with whom [View Full Entry]

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How lovely it is to be in familiar surroundings again! After my last entry, I found a tour bus around Dubai and actually got to see a few sights, which was good, since I'd seen almost nothing of the city up to that point. The pictures attached here are entirely from that bus tour. Among the sights was the soon-to-be-completed tallest building in the world, the oldest structure in Dubai - which dates from the early 18th century, the Dubai Port - the largest man-made port in the world, and various and sundry interesting buildings. The trip from Dubai to Melbourne [View Full Entry]

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Ahhh, how strange is the Middle East! Almost everyone here walks pigeon-toed. Straight men hold hands all the time. The only things you seem to be able to buy here are mobile phones, spare auto parts, and furniture (see my snapfish page for a small sampling of your options). Ketchup tastes like mashed, rotten, moldy, lemon-infused, vinegary POOP. Very few people seem to be drenched like me, despite the 50-degree Celsius heat index. Until arriving here, I thought we used Arabic numerals... but no, they're not even remotely Arabic. Coins don't have any numbers on them. Peo [View Full Entry]

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I've safely arrived in Dubai, after a fairly uneventful set of flights from Cape Town. Lourens took me to the airport yesterday morning, and hung out with me until I went through security. My flight to Johannesburg was uneventful. When I arrived in JoBurg, I was expecting to be able to claim a refund for the tax I'd paid on some of the purchases I'd made while I was in South Africa, particularly the new camera (the tax amounted to nearly US$100)... Unfortunately, the tax refund agency is unable to issue refunds to tourists who have lost their passports and had [View Full Entry]

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