"...from the hills of Vermont, Sarah Bear-Trap!"

The rest of my Melbourne trip is actually fuzzy by now- it's seems weeks ago that I returned to Sydney. I believe I left off at fat penguins waddling around on the beach? Ah yes, I remember now...

The Penguin parade was on monday. On Tuesday, I rose early again and traveled by train with a small group to Ballarat. This small town just an hour outside of Melbourne was the site of one of the first and most successful gold rushes in Australia. We visited Sovereign Hill, which is one of those villages that pretends it's still in the 1800's. It was pretty interesting, and although it was definitely a tourist trap in many different ways ($4 for a horse drawn buggy ride?!), it was still very historical and unique. I'm glad that I decided to go on that trip.

Wednesday was a quiet day- we walked around Sydney in a tour group called "Art and Architecture in Melbourne". The most interesting experience during that day was definitely the Melbourne Laneways, which the city is famous for. These are small, tight, winding alleyways hidden between busy streets that are home to some of the most unique restaurants, cafes and bars. Although dark and seemingly dingy at first glance, the food is pricey and diverse, and the atmosphere is generally upbeat, with jazz music from a small quartet drifting over the sea of bodies searching for a decent, well-priced lunch. I found a Tandoori Chicken sandwich on a Baguette for $5 and I was pretty proud of my frugal find.

Upon our return on Wednesday night, I had a day and a half to relax and work on homework before I left on a trip with the organization that I'll be interning with! I'll be working with Parkinson's New South Wales, a not for profit counseling unit that helps people to manage the symptoms of their Parkinson's disease.

They invited me to enjoy a weekend at a retreat north of Sydney, in an area known as Palm Beach. The experience was many things, and none of them negative! They welcomed me with open arms and many questions; about my program, my career, and America. We stayed the weekend at a small camp where I had a room to myself (besides the large black spider near my door) and bathroom in one of the bunkhouses. We ate all meals together (including morning and afternoon tea, and "supper", which is like a second dinner, and is apparently a real thing for non-obese people here) in the mess hall, and had activities throughout the day. The weekend was themed "The Sound of Music": we dressed up on Saturday night and gathered in the mess hall to join in watching the sing-a-long version of the movie- which I hadn't seen in full before! They introduced me as one of the long lost descendants of the Von Trapp family, Sarah Bear-Trap from the hills of Vermont, and we danced and sang until past nearly 11pm. Along with a great time meeting both the counselors I'll be working with and a lot of the regular patients, I spent a great weekend in a rural area of Australia- I saw a lizard and the back end of a bilby (little mammel between a mouse and a rabbit) who was running away from me!- and learned a lot about Parkinson's disease!

I also got a chance to learn some original, Australian folk songs- one of which, "Waltzing Matilda", was really well known, and I actually needed to ask someone to translate the lyrics for me! A few of the words that I learned? A jumbuck, which is a term for a sheep. A tuckerbag, which is a food or supplies bag with a drawstring that was used by bushmen. And finally, a swagman, which was a term coined around the great depression, which was someone who traveled and didn't have a job.

Overall, I had a great weekend, and I'm super excited about going to Cairns near the Great Barrier Reef this weekend! We finish our final exam on Saturday around noon, and our bus to the airport leaves our building at 1pm! I can't wait! :)

XOXOXO