Tyler Kieft

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, and Northern Territory. Australia’s national capital is Canberra which is located in ACT. Each state and territory also has its own capital, and these are present on the map below, which was shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia. Sydney is Australia’s most populous city, but Melbourne comes in a close second.

Sydney is a very spread-out city, covering a huge area along the New South Wales Coastline. My school, the University of New South Wales, is located in the suburb of Kensington, near the bottom of the map. Nearby attractions include the very large Royal Randwick racecourse, located in Randwick, of course. Coogee is where I stayed during orientation, and Bondi Beach, which is 1km long, is the most popular tourist beach in Sydney. Centennial Park is a great park to run, bike, play footy, or just hang out and have a picnic. There is a loop road around the outside which is about 4km. The main part of the city is located south of the Harbor Bridge, around the area that says “Sydney” (shocking, I know). The opera house, everyone’s favorite landmark, is located on the first of the points to the right of the southern end of the Harbor Bridge, near the “D” in “Bradfield Hwy.”

The University of New South Wales is a large school of over 40,000 students, and the campus is sized accordingly. However, very few students actually live on campus. There are only a few residential colleges, and they house mostly students that come from rural New South Wales. The rest of the students either live in apartments in the city or live at home. It is very different from the typical American college. During the day, the campus is packed with people, but at night there is almost no one around, and everything closes up by 10pm except when there is something going on at the UniBar.

I live in Basser College, one of the three Kensington Colleges. Basser is located near the top of campus (so many stairs!) The rooms are laid out around two enclosed quads which are only accessible by card access, and each room opens up directly to the outside. THis is a nice change from the typical U of R dormitory. Some of the senior rooms have private balconies on the back which look out to a gorgeous view of downtown Sydney. Basser has a game room, a projector room for watching tv and playing PS2, and lots of random couches scattered around.

Follow the link for an aerial view of campus. Can you spot Basser College? (Hint: look for a building enclosing two quads with a bright red roof). The tall building with UNSW around the top is the campus library. Here’s a campus map (large pdf) if you get stuck.

The second and third days of our orientation were even busier than the first day. In the mornings, we were lectured on Australian Culture, Conduct, Health & Safety, Succeeding at University, and Local Travel, so that we had the rest of each day to see what Sydney had to offer.

I mentioned that on the first day we took a ferry cruise on the harbor. On the second day, we experienced the harbor in a much different fashion – while strapped into a Jetboat. This is an intense thirty minute ride around the harbor, going fast and riding the swells and the wakes of other boats. The best parts are the 270º spins that the boat does, causing everyone to grip the seat in front of them and get drenched by the spray. By the time we got back to shore, everyone was smiling and soaking wet.

After lunch, we rode the monorail (more of a tourist attraction than a serious mode of transport) to the center of the city to experience the Sydney Tower. This is the tallest building in Sydney, and there is a 360º enclosed viewing area near the top, complete with telescopes scattered around the perimeter. Our program director pointed out sights such as the Olympic park and the university and we were finally able to see where the opera house and harbor bridge are in terms of the whole of the harbor. After the tower, we returned to Coogee to enjoy the swells on that splendid, warm and sunny beach.

Monday was our day to get out of Sydney and experience the natural beauty of the surrounding area. Our first stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park, where we could get up close to Australia’s unique wildlife – petting kangaroos and wallabies and cuddling up to koala bears. The animals were very friendly, letting us pet them, take pictures with them, and feed them out of the provided orange ice cream cones. Some of the more interesting things that we saw were emus running around and bathing themselves, kangaroos getting frisky and territorial, and a pair of dingoes trying to dig their way into the neighboring cage. We also found a (huge!) crocodile whose cage was surrounded only by a 4-5ft. fence. I’m pretty sure he could have gotten out of there had he been really provoked. Unfortunately, the Tasmanian Devil was hiding while we were there. Australia has the most amazing combination of native wildlife – I hope that I get to see the animals in their natural habitats before I leave.

Our last stop was the Blue Mountains, affectionately described as “Sydney’s Playground.” The hike we did was about two hours from the city, and afforded incredible views of the canyon that is slowly being carved out by eroding sandstone. At the end, you could stand on a plateau in the canyon, yell really loudly, and hear the echo travel around the rock walls as it bounced back from further and further points. It was a beautiful experience. As always, check Flickr for more pictures!