Heat waves, haunted prisons, and a wine tour

This week has been HOT. On Wednesday it reached 42 Celcius--yep, 108 F. And for those first days I was without a fan, so I headed to the library where there is air conditioning. Classes may have been slightly boring this week, but they too are air conditioned and were a welcome relief from this weather. Normally by nighttime is has cooled off considerably and sleeping isn't a problem, but this week it never really got below about 85 F during the night. My way of getting through the night? Trying to convince myself that my bed isn't actually my bed, but that I'm lying on Lake Mendota, in all its frozen glory. Thank god the weather is finally cooling down and by the end of this week is should be in the low 90's. I never thought I would get so excited for it to be 90 degrees, and to think that that is cool.

Friday night we took a tour of the Fremantle prison, which is supposedly haunted. I mean, it is haunted and we saw tons of orbs and ghosts everywhere. We did the torchlight tour, aka flashlight tour, in the evening so the only light source for the most of the tour was our flashlights.

Fremantle prison by night

I think it would have been a lot scarier if it wasn't so darn hot. A lot of the rooms we went into were so small that the group had to cram in and things got really hot really fast. I found myself thinking more about how hot I was than how I was in a prison at night with only flashlights to guide the way. It was still interesting to hear some of the facts about the prison-I think it was only shut down a few decades ago and some of the stories the woman told us were pretty interesting. She also told us a lot about the ghosts she's seen over the years and all of the paranormal activity at the prison. We walked through the children's ward I think, through suicide row, the isolation rooms, the whipping post, and the tour ended in the morgue.

But enough with the spooky stuff and on to the wine tour! Saturday we took a wine and beer tour through Margaret River. This area is pretty well known in Australia for producing some great wines, and we started off the tour at the Sandalford Winery.

vineyards at Sandalford

It was hard to judge how good of a vineyard this place was as I had nothing to compare it to, but the end of the trip a lot of us agreed that this was one of the better vineyards we went to. We sampled all sorts of white and red wines here and had a chance to just wander around the veranda area. It is definitely a gorgeous part of the country and I think we all enjoyed the views throughout the trip.

So onto Lancaster we went, which was the next winery on the tour. I think this was my favorite vineyard in terms of overall views and the overall vibe. Instead of heading into a main building area with a gift shop, restaurant, and tasting verandas this winery just had one bar outside and with plenty of room to spread, enjoy the wine, and take in more of the views. We all fell in love with the sign they had at one end of the bar...

I'm getting there....

I'm not a huge wine fan, but some of the wines we tasted today were actually pretty good (see Mom, there is hope for me yet!). But even when we got to some of the wines I didn't like as much, I couldn't complain.

vineyards at Lancaster

We were able to actually head into the vineyard at this winery and look around. But not for long as the sun was out and it is still hot! So quick trips into the vineyard, and then back to the cover of the veranda for some more wine tasting.

We had another winery to stop at, but not before a quick trip to the chocolate shop right across the street from Lancaster.

yes. yes. and yes.

All 40 of us bombarded the store and grabbed as many free samples as we could. With hands full of milk, dark, and white chocolates chips we headed back on the bus and off to Edgecombe, our last winery of the trip.

Edgecombe was pretty much like all the other vineyards-we were taken onto a veranda and given more wines to sample. And once again I wandered off into the vines...

grapes at Edgecombe

Another beautiful vineyard in a beautiful part of Australia.

After three wineries, I was ready to change things up a bit and head to the breweries. We went Elmar's first, but it was nothing great. We were just handed samples of beer and weren't even told which ones we were drinking. But we were inside, with air conditioning(!), and it was a great chance to take a break from the wines and cool down a bit.

We then headed over to Mash-more of a restaurant than a brewery, and seemed pretty popular for a late afternoon meal and drink.

remnants of a successful meal

I wish I could say that that was a photo of our table after we left, but I'm just going to pretend to anyways. We stayed here for about an hour, giving us ample time to try their beers (and know what we were tasting this time) and get some of their delicious fries!

This time next week I'll be on my first of three non-teaching weeks. I'm doing the north-west trip, a trip organized through Murdoch University and offered to international students. We'll be driving up the west coast to Ningaloo Reef, and then heading east into the Outback! And I've just finalized most of the details for my trip to New Zealand during the second non-teaching week of the semester. I've already been here three weeks (how did that happen??) and have done so much, but I have so much more to do!

Really jealous of the wine tour? See more photos here!

"All good Sundays include a trip to the market..."

Sometimes Peter Mayle just gets it right. I started off my trip into Freo this morning by heading back to X-Ray Cafe, where I had been taken Friday afternoon on a sustainability tour of Fremantle by one of the directors of the study abroad program. We ended our tour there and I think I knew I was in love when they brought out my slice of chocolate cake and it had been coated in raspberry sauce and whipped cream. Absolutely amazing. So back I went this morning, and delved back into A Year in Provence, a favorite.

After some people watching, I headed down to the markets and found butternut squash of all things. I don't think I've ever purchased squash and plums at the same time, from the same vendor. But I ended up leaving that stand with some amazingly fresh basil, butternut squash, oranges, plums, tomatoes, and lettuce. Dinners this week are going to be great!

my kitchen finally looks respectable

And I finally caved and headed over to the cheese stand. After much deliberation, I decided on a cheddar with onions and chives made here in Western Australia, and some feta, which was delicious in my turkey wrap tonight!

watch out Wisconsin

Up until tonight, cooking meant making yet another PB&J, or just eating more nutella. But tonight's dinner was an upgrade: a warm turkey wrap with feta, onions, garlic, and basil. And for dessert? A fresh baguette from the market with strawberry jam. I don't even miss the ice cream! Well, kind of........

When I grow up.......

I want to be a marine biologist.

I got back yesterday from my five day Marine and Estuarine Biology field camp and have finally gotten a taste of what it's like to be a marine biologist. The camp was located in Rockingham, WA about 30 minutes south of where I'm studying. More specifically, we were on Point Peron which is a peninsula in the Indian Ocean. The camp was pretty basic, kind of like a boy scout camp back home. Spiders everywhere! And heaps of other crazy Australian little critters. But the views were not to be believed.

View from the cabins

The water was always crystal clear and a gorgeous shade of blue. The limestone outcroppings and various small, uninhabited islands just offshore only added to how gorgeous this part of the world is. Our weather was great the first few days, and again on our last day. Hot, sunny, and with a cool sea breeze by lunch time. Wednesday and Thursday started off overcast and cool, but by mid-afternoon the sun was shinning.

The whole purpose of the camp is to provide the students with an opportunity to get first hand experience doing field work. So Monday and Tuesday were all about the field work. My group (another American student in my program and two Australian students) was studying the intertidal zone of two different bays-Long Bay and Haliotus Bay.

Long Bay

Field work started every morning about 7 am and had to end by about 1 pm because of the sea breeze. We ended up sampling tons of different algae species and having no idea what they were until we got back to the lab and could work on identifying them, which was a task in itself. Lab work would continue throughout the day and after dinner. Very long days, but a great experience!

Wednesday morning we did an exercise in fish sampling and identification. We headed over to Mangles Bay and used to seine nets to collect fish from both a sea grass and a sandy environment. Once again, we headed back to the lab with our samples to identify everything, measure them, etc. This was a much quicker exercise than our main projects for the week and my group ended up being done by lunchtime.

Some of us decided to make the most of our free time that afternoon and headed over to Penguin Island (but not before a run to IGA for some Tim-Tams! I think I ate the whole box that afternoon). Penguin Island is only about 300 meters from shore, and we could see the island from one of our study sites. Unfortunately, we only saw penguins when we were in the Discovery Center during feeding time, but we found out that that is pretty common. The penguins on the island are Little Penguins, and are just that. About ten of them came out for dinner during feeding time that afternoon. We saw them swim around in the pool and grab some dinner, and then decided to go explore the island before the last ferry of the day left.

hungry little penguins

The rest of the island was gorgeous-great views, tons of different bird species (including huge pelicans), and great walking paths. We took our time walking around and just soaked in the amazing views. Pictures really can't capture how gorgeous it was here-all my photos just seem so flat. This next photo was taken right after the sun came out (that's right, about 30 minutes before this there were clouds everywhere, and now not a cloud in the sky) and is a view of the back of the island that faces the Indian Ocean.

I don't miss Lake Michigan

Everyone was pretty much done with their field work and lab work by Thursday afternoon, allowing for another lazy afternoon on the beach and time to catch the sunset before the barbi that night. That's just one of the perks of living on the west coast of Australia-you can always catch an amazing sunset on the beach. It was a great end to the trip, and a great reward for all the hard during the week.

can life get any better?

Friday morning was cleaning up the camp and a not so short lecture on statistical analyses for the huge amounts of data we gathered throughout the week. I'm glad classes don't start until Monday-I am not in lecture mode yet! But, classes do start this week and they seem pretty promising, updates to come!

More of a visual person? Check out all of my photos here

From kangaroo cakes to kangaroo meat

The Seattle trip ended with a night of Smigiel pizzas and kangaroo cakes-a great going away party! I helped Kate make our dad's famous pizzas and I now know how to make the dough by hand, which is going to come in handy while abroad. The cake was delicious, but the real treat was the photo on it. Kate compiled it together-a pic of a kangaroo with the Australian flag in the background.

Bon voyage!

I left for LA the next day, which eventually took me to Melbourne and then on to Perth. I arrived pretty late in Perth, but had time to run some last minute errands (my flat didn't come with toilet paper, for example).

The next day, Friday, was full of orientation meetings, setting up a bank account, getting bus passes, etc. etc. For dinner Paul, the resident director of the program, had a barbi for us. Great food all around-delicious chicken kabobs, and yes....kangaroo meat! It tasted a lot like what I think of red meats tasting like, but I don't eat too much meat. Though I can say it didn't taste like chicken.

That night was the opening ceremony of the Perth International Arts Festival and a group of us (actually a mob of us) headed into Perth to check it out. I definitely missed out on the theme of the program and couldn't quite understand what was going on. The end of the performance included multiple people floating above the stage in mock-body bags. Crazy, huh? I'd like to say that was the craziest part, but the people doing acrobatics inside a hamster wheel definitely takes the cake.

The next day we ran some errands in the morning, and then headed into Freo (Fremantle) in the afternoon. Freo is about a 20 minute bus ride away and is a port town that lies right on the Indian Ocean. It's full of coffee cafes, clothing stores, and just general tourist shops and has somewhat of a European feel to it with all the people watching. Overall, a really cute area and I will definitely be heading down there more often to explore all it has to offer!

Downtown Freo

Freo also has a market, with everything from fresh fruit to clothes. A great market, but it makes me realize just how amazing the farmer's market is in Madison. This will definitely do for the meantime, however, and I think I'll be getting most of my produce from here.

Sorry this was suck a quick post, I'm just about to leave for the marine bio field camp now, and will be back on Friday. Hope all is going well with everything at home!

PS-the weather here is sunny and in the 90's. Everyday. :)

First a quick stop in Seattle...

to visit my sister for the weekend, and then I'm off to LA! And after a 14 hour plane ride, a 5 hour layover in Melbourne, and another 4.5 hour flight....I'll be in Perth!

This last week at home turned out to be pretty hectic. I made a quick visit up to Madison on Monday to go to St. Vinny's one last time for a book run, but......turns out books are really heavy. At least when your suitcases can only be 70 lbs in total and you don't think it's physically possibly to live with any less clothes for the next 5 months. So Claire and Mollie, I promise I'll read your book choices this summer!

And of course, a Madison visit wouldn't be complete without an ice cream run, or dinner out. Mollie, Fara, and I headed over to Monty's Blue Plate Diner for a delicious, but very filling, dinner!

The "purge and birge" crew

And then all was going well until...I got the flu. The day before I was supposed to leave for Seattle. So, the flight got moved back by about a day and half and the flu is finally over! Packing was put off until the last minute, as in I was still trying to drop about 5 pounds right before leaving for the airport. I still have to figure out how to drop another couple pounds before my flight out of LA. I'm planning on wearing those couple pounds and putting the really heavy objects in my coat pockets-I refuse to pay the excess baggage fee. I had a quick break today in Seattle and ran down to a favorite cafe a few blocks down from where Kate lives. Voxx is the typical (in my mind, I guess) Seattle cafe/hang out spot. It's got a retro vibe to it and always seems like the perfect place to escape an overcast day. It makes some darn good coffee as well, or so my mother keeps telling me. And on the way over I found the cutest house...

I spy with my little eye...something leopard print

And now I'm just admiring the view from my favorite porch and taking in the sights of Seattle from Kate's balcony, and day dreaming about the semester to come.

Views of Lake Union

When I get into Perth I'll have a few days to unwind, unpack, and get used to the fourteen hour time difference. And then on Sunday I leave for a marine biology camp that is the laboratory component of my semester long class at Murdoch University (now do you get the title??). I'll update you if I see any blue ringed octopi or box jellyfish during the week.