http://tylerkieft.com Living Down Under Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:16:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Last fall, when I decided to spend my spring semester in Australia, my friend Tom decided that he was going to study abroad in Auckland, New Zealand, which is located on the north island. I'd heard from many people about the beauty of New Zealand, especially the mountainous south ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F06%2F10%2Fsouth-island-nz-a-lord-of-the-rings-adventure%2F&seed_title=South+Island%2C+NZ%3A+A+Lord+of+the+Rings+Adventure With five American friends, all of whom I've met since arriving here in Australia, I headed to Brisbane, capital city of Queensland, early on a Thursday afternoon almost two weeks ago. We flew on Jetstar, one of the many budget carriers here (roundtrip airfare was only A$100!). Although ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F05%2F21%2Fbrisbane-and-the-sunshine-coast%2F&seed_title=Brisbane+and+the+Sunshine+Coast As I mentioned in my last post, I've been gone the past two weekends in Brisbane and Melbourne, which was a huge drain on my time. Besides missing a lot of class, I've had quite a bit to catch up on, both in terms of schoolwork and college drama. ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F05%2F17%2Fto-melbourne-by-bus%2F&seed_title=To+Melbourne+by+Bus Well, I never got around to writing about the last part of my spring break in northern Queensland, having been distracted by the surf trip and the general sense of laziness that has washed over me the past few weeks. But with the next two weekends booked for Melbourne/The ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F04%2F28%2Fthe-daintree-rainforest%2F&seed_title=The+Daintree+Rainforest I spent this past weekend up at Crescent Head, located on the coast about six hours north of Sydney. Surfing is really popular in Australia, so I definitely wanted to give it a try. You can take lessons at some of the beaches in Sydney, but this was ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F04%2F16%2Fsurf-weekend%2F&seed_title=Surf+Weekend I've always wanted to fly in a hot-air balloon. I trace this back to my experiences at the Champlain Valley Balloon Festival, which was held at the local fairgrounds every year when I was a kid. Thirty to forty balloons launched over the space of two or three ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F04%2F08%2Fthree-thousand-feet-in-a-basket%2F&seed_title=Three+Thousand+Feet+in+a+Basket I'm going to back up a bit from the scuba diving. I posted it during the vacation because it was the most exciting thing that I did and the pictures were the most accessible, but it wasn't the first thing that we did. So in the interest of ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F04%2F04%2Fcairns-night-zoo%2F&seed_title=Cairns+Night+Zoo Hello from Cairns, in tropical north Queensland, Australia! I'm currently staying at Gilligan's Backpackers Hotel & Resort, a gorgeous and well-known hostel, with a large pool and a bar that is groovin' every night. The past two nights, however, I spent on a small cruise ship out in the middle ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F03%2F25%2Fscuba-diving-the-great-barrier-reef%2F&seed_title=Scuba+Diving+the+Great+Barrier+Reef Even though we've only had two full weeks of school so far, our spring (fall?) break begins today. I'm told this is because Easter falls early this year which made the scheduling weird. Regardless, on Saturday I'm headed north up the coastline to Cairns, jumping-off point for explorations ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F03%2F19%2Fheaded-to-cairns%2F&seed_title=Headed+to+Cairns Prepare to be educated about the geography of Australia... Note: Flight plan not shown accurately in above map. Australia is composed of six states and two territories. The states are named New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, and South Australia and the territories are Australian Capital Territory, or ACT, ... http://tylerkieft.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28rss%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Ftylerkieft.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F03%2F19%2Fwhere-am-i%2F&seed_title=Where+Am+I%3F