Sunday, June 27, 2010

27-06-10

Today I visited the Royal National Park with two of the other EAPSI fellows. We took the train and then a ferry to get to a small town on the edge of the park. We did a nice long walk along the coastal cliffs, to a beach, sand dunes, and a lagoon, and then back. I estimate it to have been around 12 km roundtrip. The coast there was absolutely amazing. Here are some pictures including a rough outline of the route.










Friday, June 25, 2010

25-06-10

Sorry for the gap in posts, but it will probably only be about one or two posts per week now that I've started work. I'm getting settled in there, still struggling with some setup related to the code I have to modify and run, but generally getting a feel for the place. I'm moved in to my apartment now, no more hostel. This place is only 2 blocks from my lab and 2 blocks from the train, so pretty convenient. About a 20 minute walk to a big mall with a real grocery store and whatnot. Here are some pictures of the apartment. Forgot to take a picture of the bathroom, its small but nice. Also I might go hiking this weekend, I'll post some pictures of that if I do.



Sunday, June 20, 2010

20-06-10

This is what passes for a pickup truck in Australia:

The El Camino is alive and well! I kept seeing this brand of cars around, with a lion logo, and I couldn't figure out what it is. Peugeot also has a lion logo but its different. I figured out that its a brand called Holden, which is actually a branch of Ford. Weird.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

15-06-10 and 16-06-10

The EAPSI orientation was a good time, some good food and interesting tours and conversation with the other participants. Some highlights: "question time" at the parliament, which is when the opposition party gets to ask the prime minister about policy. Both sides try to advance their positions in the public eye and it gets rowdy as both sides insult and make fun of the other. Also we got to do everything sort of "VIP" at the parliament, cutting in front of big lines which was nice. The most bizarre thing at the parliament was that we got to see into this ballroom which was setting up for some journalists diner, and there was a chorus practicing a song about Obama. It seemed to be set to the tune of that 80s son that goes "I would walk 500 miles." and was mostly complimentary though poking fun at him for canceling trips to Australia twice now. The war memorial was also interesting, a lot of old planes and guns and tanks and such, and some neat dioramas. Unfortunately the WWII part was closed for renovation.

The Shine Dome (Australian Academy of Science)


Parliament


War Memorial


For RJ: a PPSH

Monday, June 14, 2010

14-06-10

Went to the zoo today, Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary. Fairly small place, but had all the classic Australian animals and you could pet a lot of them. The zoo was located way out in the suburbs so it took two trains and bus to get there. Nice time overall. Also I finally got some cheap sandals for the hostel showers. Tomorrow I'm off to Canberra for orientation until Thursday.



This little guy is called an Enchida


Wombat!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

13-06-10

Not a lot of excitement today, I looked at an apartment but otherwise just hung out or worked on my presentation to show my work to the lab here. I think I'll probably be renting the apartment I saw, its reasonably priced and super close to where I'm working, less than a 5 minute walk.

I went to a Subway today which is probably a bit funny to people who know how often I used to have Subway for lunch at Drexel. It was mostly like a US Subway except they had less bread types and the cheese was different. I've heard different parts of the US have different cheese options at Subway as well. So they had here Cheddar, English, and Swiss as opposed to Provolone, American, and Swiss. I had never heard of "English" cheese before, and amusingly its basically the same thing as American cheese.

One weird occurrence, three times now I've seen police roadblocks for doing random breathalyzers. I think this must have to do with the world cup, in part because these are always going on in the morning which makes sense if you consider the european games are live here starting at 4:30 am or so. People get drunk early in the morning and then drive I suppose.

I've been thinking of keeping a running tally of Australian things and their American counterparts, so I'll start today.

Ute = Pickup truck
Way Out = Exit
Take Away = Take out / To go
Booking = Ticket
Bottle Shop = Liquor Store
Capsicum = Roasted red peppers
Toilets = Restrooms/Bathrooms (This may not seem weird in concept but you'd never see a sign pointing to "Toilets" in the US)
Hungry Jacks = Burger King
Donut King = Dunkin Donuts
English Cheese = American Cheese

Saturday, June 12, 2010

12-06-10 - Day 3

On the third day I decided to see some of the most famous sights, namely the Sydney Opera House and other nearby attractions such as the observatory and Royal Botanical Gardens. To get there I took a bus then a train. Before I went up to the observatory I stopped at this very cool specialized bookstore that only carried books related to cars and motorcycles. They had all sorts of workshop manuals as well as history books and technical books. I got a new two stroke tuning book, which the shop owner said is the next step up from Graham Bell's tuning book.



Ok so on to the tourist attractions. First I walked up to the observatory and checked out the view from there, then saw some neat old telescopes inside. From there I took the Cahill walk which connect with the quays to get to the opera house. On the way there I got to hear some Didgeridoo music. I saw the opera house, and the harbor bridge, and considered taking a tour but ultimately decided I'd rather just walk around the botanical garden. By the opera house some military guys were setting up small artillery to fire off for the Queen's birthday. The botanical gardens are huge, I could only walk through about 1/3 of the park. I saw some of the huge bats called "flying foxes," they are about the size of a hawk. And I saw some massive trees and other unique plants. I have been doing so much walking here, I'd estimate about 8 km today, that my legs should be in good shape at the end of the trip. Alright here are the pics:


The inside of the dome reminds me of the game Myst.



The harbor bridge:



Opera House:


View of the city from the opera house:

Flying Foxes!


For the Queen!

11-06-10 - Day 2

So for day two I had 3 main goals. 1) To go into the lab and meet with my boss and fellow researchers 2) Look at an apartment 3) Fix my internet connection.

1) Went fine, I got a bus pass and rode the bus to the university instead of walking all the way there. But I still had to walk across the university to get to the lab, and the campus is huge. Maybe a kilometer wide and about 1.5 km long. When I got to the lab the meeting went fine, and I got a quick tour of the facilities. Their robots are huge, the have air, ground, and underwater vehicles there, and there is a much larger facility out in the desert. The lab has over 200 people, and they have a whole staff of engineers who build the robotic vehicles so the grad students and researchers can focus on the algorithms and theory.
2) Was a waste of time, I went to the real estate office and the guy who was supposed to show me the place had left early, and because of the weekend and holiday and my orientation next week they couldn't show me anything till next Thursday.
3) There are many cellular internet services in Australia. I tried one and it didn't work, I tried another and it works ok so thats what I'm using for now. Fine for browsing but it disconnects sometimes and is a bit unreliable for skype. Everything is pay per GB usage. So 4 GB is like $50.

My room:
It has a bunk bed for no reason.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Welcome and First Impressions

Welcome everyone to the blog about my summer (winter?) spent in Australia in 2010.

The Flight

So the flight to San Francisco I wouldn't really count as part of the trip, things get rolling when I take off across the Pacific ocean. The flight was 14 hours 30 minutes. The longest flight I'd been on prior to this was about 6 hours. Overall it went smoothly but it felt a little like a nightmare towards the end. It got hard to remember that there was ever a time when I wasn't on that plane. But it finally got in and I got through customs and took a cab to my hostel.

The First Day - 10/06/2010

Thats not October, its June, I'm going to date these posts like the Aussies and Brits, day month year. So the first day, the plane got in at 6:15 am and I got to my hostel a little before 8. I'm told check in is 2:00 technically but I can use my room after about 10:00 when the maid is done. So I leave my bags except my laptop bag and set out to walk around the area. I decided on the spur of the moment to walk to the University of Sydney. Which it turns out is about 3 km one way. I stop and have some breakfast on the way. Overall a nice walk, I got to see a lot of the surrounding area and a little of the university campus, which is huge.

On my way back I set up my bank account and get a prepaid phone. The phone rates are 80 cents a minute for local calls (with Telstra, maybe not the best choice). Then check out my room. Overall the hostel is ok, but its cold, a little run down, and the internet connection sucks. And the internet isn't free. Because of having shitty internet I have a hard time getting my phone set up, but finally do late at night when no one else is online. Also on the first day I went on a fruitless search for flip flops to wear in the dorm-style bathrooms. I didn't think to bring any unfortunately. I couldn't find any in a Target and the first chemist (pharmacy) I checked, but then a 2nd chemist had some.......for $50. Did I mention everything is expensive here? Its hard to get a meal around this area for less than $10 unless you get fast food which doesn't have much vegetarian options. I got a 10 ride bus pass which cost $26. First day was a bit rough but things got better on days 2 and 3.