First Time for Everything

G'day!  I have officially ended my first day in Australia, and I must say that it was absolutely amazing!  We headed into Freemantle, which is about fifteen miles from the university, and spent the day hanging around.  We toured the Freemantle Prison, which was the first prison built in West Australia, and was actually built by the convicts that were being housed there, because the state needed an economic boost.  The tour guide was extremely funny, and actually had many of us help demonstrate prison life.  I got to be the inmate that was being whipped!

After that, we walked through the market, which had a variety of shops and goods out to buy.  There were all kinds of fruits and vegetables, including some I'd never seen before, like the paw paw, along with more recognizable foods like avocados, plums, and pineapples.  On the far side of the market, there was a man that was grilling kabobs of different meats that you could buy for $10.  Not just any meat, mind you, but kangaroo, crocodile, and emu.  And so that is how a bunch of us ended up eating emu for the first time.

From there, we headed down to Bather's Beach, because what trip is complete without going to the beach?  Now, we are on the west coast of Australia, which puts us at the Indian Ocean, and even though it is winter here, we all took off our shoes, hiked up our jeans, and jumped in the water.  The water wasn't as cold as we were expecting, especially when you're used to the temperatures of the Pacific Ocean.  From there, we headed to a microbrewery and restaurant called Little Creatures.  From what our guide around the area told us, Little Creatures is well known across Australia for their beer, and people come all the way from Sydney to go there.

Tomorrow starts classes from eleven to four, which will be extremely interesting, because now starts the delicate balance between seeing the sights and getting A's.

Well, I'm off to bed, even though it's only nine at night here.  I feel that I'm adjusted to the time difference, but I'm still tired. J

At Bather's Beach at sunset...first time in the Indian Ocean!

The Freemantle Market, where there was everything from emu to bananas and roo ribs dog treats.

KK