A Fond Farewell

Dear Readers,

Clear off your couches. Make up the spare bed. Mama, I'm coming home!

I can hardly believe it's time to write the last installment of N to the ZED (...to Thailand, to China, to Thailand, to NZ, to Australia, to NZ). Plop, plop. That's the sound of my teardrops hitting the keyboard. Part of me wishes this journey could continue forever, but a girl's gotta earn a living. Somewhere in between my summer jaunts to San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York City, Ashland, Rochester, South Carolina, and the Outer Banks... I need to find a job.

I return to the US with barely a penny to my name, but somehow much, much richer than when I left. I've seen beautiful places, met wonderful people, did some crazy stuff, got to know myself a little bit better, learned heaps about heaps, and had so much FUN. I couldn't ask for more. I'm enormously grateful for the opportunities I've been given.

I'm also enormously grateful for your support. Thanks so much for following N to the ZED (even all you non-commentors... I know you're out there!). The blog has been my lifeline, and I'm thrilled you came along for the ride! I hope you've enjoyed reading it half as much as I've enjoyed writing it. And to think that this wouldn't have been possible just a few short years ago... aren't the interwebs grand?? :)

Can't wait to see you all Stateside!!

Peace out, blogosphere. It's been real.

Much Love,

MoCo

Oh, my aching back.

Can't Hold Me Back

I am back in New Zealand... again. This journey was a bit more difficult than the others. The Pacific Blue agent in the Melbourne airport gave me all kinds of hassle because I was unable to show documentation of my ticket OUT of NZ. She said, "Proof of onward journey is a requirement of entry." Yes, I said, and it was also a requirement to obtain the New Zealand work permit I was showing her. (Technically, I was telling the truth, but no one has ever checked that I have any of the documentation required for the work permit.) She was about to make me march down to the Qantas terminal and get proof that I had a reservation to leave NZ at some point. I persisted, and she relented. Why should Australia care about this anyway? I wanted to say: "Look lady, it's New Zealand. They don't give 2 shakes of a lamb tail." And I was right. They didn't care. I passed through NZ immigration without anyone asking me to show proof of onward journey. They're in no hurry to get rid of me.

Alas, I'm in Auckland only long enough to pack my bags for the morrow's journey to my homeland. I've been re-united with much of the luggage I had left behind in Wellington months ago. It was like Christmas day opening those boxes; I forgot some of the clothing existed. And now I don't have to do laundry! Although my bags are about to become much heavier, I'm still leaving with half the amount of stuff I came with. I learned a hard lesson about over-packing.

MCG

I'm told that the Melbourne Cricket Ground is a world-famous sports stadium. It is known as the "spiritual home of Australian sport." The MCG tour was the culmination of my year-long quest to learn about the sport of cricket. Despite dating a young Kiwi male cricketer and watching many matches (or tests), I still don't understand the rules of this game. Too many wickets, balls and bowls to keep track of. However, I definitely understand how revered the sport is in Kiwi (and Aussie) culture. And I appreciate a man in a crisp all-white uniform.

It was interesting to hear about the history of this stadium, which has been re-built many times, but still stands on the original ground first used in 1853. It is used for cricket in the summer and Australian rules football ("footie," which I know even less about) in the winter. It also hosts big-name concerts from time to time. Aussies are sports fanatics, so I was surprised to learn that American evangelist Billy Graham holds the record for drawing MCG's largest crowd (130,000+ in 1959). Weird. That fact is a bit misleading though, because the stadium's current layout seats only 100,000.

Aren't locker rooms supposed to be filled with hard-bodied nudes?

How Much Can A Koala Bear?

Did you know?

• The koala is a marsupial, not a bear.
• A baby koala eats its mother's feces.
• The male koala has a forked penis and the female koala has two vaginas.
• Koalas sleep up to 20 hours per day.
• Chlamydia is the top public health problem for the koala population.

Great Ocean Road

I took a day tour of the Great Ocean Road which stretches along the southeast coast of Australia. The road was modeled after California's Pacific Coast Highway and gave work to a lot of soldiers returning from WWI.

It was a long day of driving and looking. Don't get me wrong - it was very pretty, but it kind of looks like every road in New Zealand. I'm afraid I've become immune to dramatic coastal scenery. Yes, I'm a spoiled brat.

The highlights:

• A beautiful rainbow
  
• The 12 Apostles - a collection of 8 limestone stacks. The other 4 have been washed away.


• London Bridge - A limestone arch that's been hollowed out due to erosion. It used to be a "bridge" to the mainland, but the middle part collapsed in 1990. Two tourists were left trapped on the rock in the right of the picture and had to be rescued by helicopter. The event received a lot of media attention, which was too bad for the tourists because they were both married to other people and had called in sick to work that day. Oops! Moral of the story: If you're having an affair, go to a motel.

• Bell's Beach - one of the most famous surfing beaches in the world. It was amazing to see what these guys can do with a board. It really, really made me want to be a surfer. I've always had a good balance, so I may give it a go this summer.

Fun fact: To reach the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne, we drove through the town of Geelong, home of Portia DeRossi (aka: Mrs. Ellen DeGeneres) and Nathan Deakes, who is... as we all know... the world's top race walker.

Melbourne Has Funny Traffic Rules

A Walk Through Time

I took a walking tour of Melbourne's Federation Square on Tuesday. The city's main public square is only about 10 years old and its very modern buildings are quite controversial. When I bought my ticket, the woman said, "It's just going to be you and 20 men. Is that okay?" Um, that's pretty much my dream tour.

We had to walk quite a ways to meet these men, and the lady kept trying to talk me out of it. "You know we have another tour at 2pm... they're a probus group... are you sure you're going to be okay?" I was starting to wonder if it was a group of ex-cons. It turns out probus is "an association for active retirees who join together in clubs, to keep their minds active, expand their interests and to enjoy friendship." These men were all age 70+. For some reason, the tour guide put me in charge of collecting their tickets. This caused much confusion because they thought I was a guide-in-training.

Once that misunderstanding was cleared up, we had a grand old time. The men were really interested in where I was from, what I thought of Australia, why I was traveling, etc. They were on a day trip from a town about 30 minutes outside of Melbourne so they had lots of stories about growing up in the area. One man told me about taking the train into the city with his dad in the 1930s to watch cricket matches. Another tried to explain the old layout of the city. Another talked about the pubs he used to visit in the good old days. I was informed about the top sites to see and the best place to play the pokies. It was great! I learned just as much from these guys as I did from the tour guide.

As we parted ways, one gentleman told me: "The Aussies and Yanks have always been great mates, so we're glad to have ya here." And I was happy to be had.

Newsflash - Thailand Health Alert

Let's forget about Australia's dangers for a moment and re-visit Thailand's dangers. It seems that I got out just in time. Two devoted readers have alerted me to the this article about the mysterious death of a 27-year-old American blogger (not me!). Her fiance put her in a luggage cart and tried to wheel her to the Phi Phi hospital, but it was too late. (Any of this sounding familiar, Kelly??)

More bad news -- you'll remember that I told you my friend Caroline fell ill while we were together in Phuket. She was not pregnant. She did not have swine flu. She had DENGUE FEVER. I just found out she was in a Thai hospital for a week after I left her. She is doing better, but has been advised to consider returning to Ireland for a full recovery. I fired up Google just as soon as I heard this news. I wanted to make sure the disease was not contagious considering that I shared a bed and water bottle (you can't even use tap water to brush your teeth) with her for 3 days. It appears that I'm safe.

Thailand... the gift that keeps on giving.

Australian Dangers

Giant sheep... and I thought this only happened in New Zealand

Giant jellyfish

Giant spiders

Giant falling trees

Surfing at Squeaky Beach

From the frosty mountains, we moved on to the sunnier locale of Wilson's Promontory National Park. The National Park lost thousands of acres of land to the Victoria bushfires in February. For miles, the road was surrounded by nothing but burned tree stumps. It was very eerie.

The Park lost a lot of forest and wildlife, but Squeaky Beach is still going strong. It was a bit too chilly to ride the waves, so we had to improvise.

Australian Alps

And I thought Australia was full of sun and surf!

It is definitely autumn here, and it is already winter in the Australian Alps. We did a 10 mile hike to the top of Mount Kosciusko, the highest point in all of Australia. It was a very cold 33 degrees Fahrenheit. I had to borrow a long-sleeved shirt from someone. Parts of the track were completely covered in snow. Sometimes you would take a step and sink down to your ankle.

When we finally reached the top, we could see... absolutely nothing. Refer to picture #2. Things started to clear up on the walk back down the mountain and we got some decent views. Refer to picture #3.

Cheers Mate!

I visited the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales and the resort town of Thredbo. When you stay in a ski lodge in the off-season, you have to find creative new ways to use skiis.

Canberra

I visited Canberra and toured Parliament house. Other than that, not much going on in Australia's capital city. They say not to go to the bathroom before you arrive... that way you'll have something to do once you get there.

Fun Fact: Do you know why the kangaroo and emu are pictured on the Australian coat of arms? They are the only 2 native animals that cannot move backwards. Symbolically, this means that Australia is always moving forward.

From the Land Down Under

I have finished my 3 day tour from Sydney to Melbourne, and now I'm hanging in Melbourne for a few days. As expected, the tour was a great way to meet people. We had a small group of 10, and 6 of us were traveling solo. Turns out there isn't all that much to see between Sydney and Melbourne, but we still had a blast.

Along the backcountry roads, we saw plenty of wallabees and kangaroos hip-hopping around!

Newsflash, Aussie Style

Even in times of conflict, the prime minister likes to look good! He forgot that it's not becoming for a grown man to throw a wobbly.

Bondi Beach

It's just about winter in Australia, but I hear that you can barely find a spot on Bondi Beach come summer. With easy access to Sydney and great surfing, it's hard to beat. This is also a big party destination for New Year's Eve.

Sydney Opera House

I still can't believe I saw the Opera House in person! It ranks up there as one of my favorite stops of the year. The location boasts incredible views across the harbor, and the views of the building are amazing in their own right. It looks different from every angle. I thought the "sails" were made of concrete, but when you're up close, it's easy to see that they are covered in over 1 million Swedish tiles (refer to the 2nd picture).

The 1-hour tour of the building's interior and theatres was very informative and interesting. I have to say... the history of this building is kind of fascinating. For example, did you know an American judge rescued this design from the discard pile during a 1955 architectural competition? The project went way over time and over budget, forcing Danish lead architect Jorn Utzon to resign in the middle of construction. He fled the country. A team of Australians finished the job. Sometime in the 1990s, the Opera House reached out to Utzon and his architect son to help with plans to refurbish the interior. Utzon made amends with the Opera House, but he died in 2008 without ever having returned to Australia.

Sydney City

Postcard From My Momma

I tried to call home before I left Bangkok, but I got the answering machine. Mom later sent an email to explain her absence. I got such a kick out of this email that I submitted it to the website Postcards from Yo Momma. It is a collection of funny and unintentionally funny correspondence from mothers to their children in the electronic age.

Check it out for yourself: http://www.postcardsfromyomomma.com/2009/05/05/moms-gone-wild/

Please click the "add 1" button to make this one of the site's most highly rated submissions!

This isn't the first time mom has gone wild. She enjoys the moonshine every now and again.

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

Oy! Oy! Oy!

I'm very excited to spend the next week in Australia! I fly into Sydney tomorrow morning and have 8 days to fill before I fly out of Melbourne on May 15. For 3 of those days, I have decided to try one of those backpacker tour buses. I've never done this before, but it should be a good way to meet people. I might not like the rigid schedule, but I can do whatever I want on my 5 free days, so it all evens out.

If you look at Melbourne and Sydney on a map, you'll see that I'm covering just a tiny bit of the country. I wish I could do more, but this is better than nothing. I guess I'll have to plan a return trip next year. Who's in??