Ayers Rock

This is my last post this year. I would like to talk about Ayers Rock which is located in the center of Australia. Do you know another name for Ayers Rock? Ayers Rock is also known as Uluru. I think many people know Ayers Rock because it is a very famous landmark in Australia. If you want to go to Ayers Rock, you need to catch a connecting flight. You can go to Ayers Rock from Sydney or Cairns by airplane. You can go to the Northern Territory by train and bus as well. However, it takes a very long time and it's expensive. In the Northern Territory, it is difficult to set to other tourist spots because Northern Territory is a desert area. There is a lot of nature and native Aboriginals live there. Tourists have to obey the rules to protect the nature and wildlife.

I went to Ayers Rock on my second holiday in Australia. My host mother suggested to me that I join a tour of Ayers Rock. Many tourists come to Ayers Rock Resort so I met many Japanese people. I just stayed at Ayers Rock Resort two nights, but I saw the wonderful scenery of Ayers Rock.

First of all, I went to the valley of the winds. This is about a seven kilometer trail. During my walking, I saw many rare plants, eucalyptus trees, and large rocks. After that, I went to see the sunset of Ayers Rock. It was an amazing view of Ayers Rock. The color of Ayers Rock changed little by little.

The next day, I woke up early in the morning because I went to see the sunrise of Ayers Rock. The Ayers Rock sunrise was different from the sunset view. The rock surface changes to the various colors in a day. Then I went to Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Center. There we can learn history of Ayers Rock and lifestyle of the Aborigine. I also went to another rock’s area. Kata Tjuta is another name for the Olgas.

I would recommend going to Ayers Rock when you go to Australia. In Australia, there are many famous places to visit. When speaking of Australia, I think the best symbol is Ayers Rock.
 

Welcome Back!!

In this post, I would like to talk about my last holiday in Japan, because I went back to Armidale during this summer holiday. I haven't been to Armidale for seven months, but Armidale hasn't changed a bit. I was very happy to meet my host family and friends. I also met Tsurumi students who are studying abroad in Australia now.

My friend had a holiday at that time, so she picked me up in Sydney. We visited various tourist spots around the city. After that, we went to Armidale by train because it's cheaper than going by plane. However, it’s about eight hours from Sydney to Armidale by train. Unfortunately, we had to change to another train at that time, so it took about nine hours.

In Armidale, I could meet many friends, teachers, and my host family. My friends hold a party for me. I was very surprised and happy because it was a nice party. My host family hold a party too. It was a Japanese food party. We made sushi, spring rolls, and dumplings.

When I finished ELC, all Japanese students went back to Japan because we just had a year study program. Other students still study at UNE, such as Chinese, Korea, Vietnamese, and so on. I thought their English was getting better because they need to speak English every day. However, I don’t have many opportunities to speak English in Japan. I belong to the English communication course, but many classes are using Japanese. We don’t need to speak English in all classes. After I went back to Australia this summer, I came to realize again how difficult it is to keep my English speaking skill.

Japanese Shops

In Australia, I found many Japanese things, so I will introduce things that I found last year.

 First of all, there are UNIQLO (ユニクロ) stores in  Sydney and Melbourne. I was very surprised at the price of items, because the prices are too expensive. However, when I went to UNIQLO, there were many people in the shop. Secondly, I saw DAISO in many places because there are over twenty shops in Australia, especially in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. In Japan, we can buy one item for 108 yen, but in Australia is 2.80 dollars.

Thirdly, there are MUJI (無印良品) stores in Sydney and Melbourne. I could not look at any items because it was closed, so I didn't know about the prices. Next, there is a very big Kinokuniya (紀伊国屋書店) in Sydney. In this book shop, we can buy both Japanese books and English books. If you buy Japanese books there, the price is double the Japanese price.

 








                                          In addition, I found shops that have many Japanese food, like Japanese convenience store. In Sydney, there are many Japanese restaurants too, such as sushi, tempura which is Japanese style deep fried battered seafood or vegetables, ramen, soba, udon, and so on. When I saw many Japanese things, I was very happy to see the Japanese writing. In Armidale, there is just one Japanese restaurant which is called Ten Koo. This restaurant is open only at lunchtime, Monday to Friday. I could not go many times because I had class Monday to Friday.

I think that in a big city like Sydney, it's easy to get Japanese things, but in Armidale, it's too difficult to get Japanese things. When I stayed in Armidale, I sometimes missed Japanese food. Although we can get Japanese things easily when we stay in a big city, there are also many Japanese people. It is not good for studying English, so Armidale is far from Sydney, which makes it a good place to study English.
             

My first holiday: Part 2

In this post,I will write more story of my first holiday. I went to my first host family’s house and Monash University. After that I went sightseeing in Melbourne city. If you want to go to Melbourne from Japan, it's about a ten hour flight.

Now, I would like to talk about a little information . Melbourne is one of the most comfortable places to live in the world. Also, another cities of Australia are comfortable city to live in. Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria, Australia. Before Canberra was fixed in capital of Australia, Melbourne was capital of Australia. Melbourne was founded on the Yarra River. Yarra River is a very famous river in Melbourne. There are many museum about the colonial period of Melbourne, so we can learn about the old days. In addition, the Flinders Street Station is a symbol that is British style building and Federation Square is a modern architecture. These two buildings are expressed nowadays of Melbourne. Do you know a tram? If you go to Melbourne, it is a useful transportation because the tram is a favorite means of transportation used by city residents. This is typical sight in Melbourne.

There are many things to do in Melbourne. For example, there are many streets where we can eat delicious food. Also we can go shopping. There are many zoos and aquariums, but we can't hold a koala in Melbourne, because state law prohibits holding a koala. Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Park are World Heritage sites. The F1 Grand Prix and grand slam of tennis are famous in Melbourne.

Flinders Street Station

City of Melbourne

Queen Victoria Market
 

My first holiday: Part 1

When I had my first holiday in Australia, I had three weeks free. During my holiday, I thought staying in Armidale would be so boring, so I went to many places in Australia. This post, I will talk about my first holiday.

 I went to Melbourne by myself because Melbourne is a special place for me. When I was 10 years old, I did a homestay in Melbourne. At that time, I did not know a lot of English words and could not speak English. Although it was a hort stay in Melbourne, I was surprised about the many differences between Australia and Japan. Then I thought I wanted to learn more about Australia. After this experience, my goal was to study abroad in Australia again. My first host family was very kind to me, so I like them. I sent a message to my host family in Melbourne because I wanted to meet them again.

When I was 10 years old

    

     Finally, I could meet my first host family again!! I was very happy to meet them. My host family took me the same places where we went to about ten years ago, but I did not remember these places. First of all, we went to a national park. Secondly, we went to the Great Ocean Road. The Great Ocean Road is a famous road, and an Australian national heritage site. The Great Ocean Road is located in Victoria, Melbourne. It starts in Geelong and goes to Portland. The total length of the road is about 250 km. It is a very long road. We saw very beautiful beaches and landscape of mountains. I just stayed at their house one night, but it was nice to catch up with them.

After that, I went to Monash University because my host sister who came to Japan to study abroad five years ago is studying at Monash University in Melbourne. Her name is Morgan. She studied Japanese in Japan and stayed at my house. She can speak Japanese very well, so we spoke Japanese and English at that time. I thought there were many modern buildings at Monash University. In UNE, we can see many animals, but in Monash, its like a shopping mall. She is still studying Japanese, so I met many friends who are studying Japanese.

Beautiful Beaches

I will introduce some places I went to with my host family. At the weekends, my host family usually stayed in the house and watched movies or read books. Also we went to the beach, did bush walking, or went to grandmother’s house.

 

First of all, I will talk about beaches. If we go to the beach from Armidale, we need to drive at least two hours. I went to Yamba with my host father and sister. Yamba is north of Coffs Harbour. In Yamba, we went on a boat and did many marine sports. For example, I rode a float that was called a biscuit with my host sister. The biscuit was very fast, so we needed to hold onto the strap. It was fun to ride the biscuit. A party was held at my host father’s company, so we could eat and drink free.

 

 

 

Secondly, I went to Port Macquarie where my host grandmother lives. Port Macquarie is south of Armidale. There are very beautiful beaches there. We stayed at her house two nights. In the early morning, we woke up and went to the beach to see the sun rise. I think it was a lovely sunrise. I could meet grandmother there. She was very friendly and kind.

 

 

 

In addition, I went to Coffs Harbour with my friends during holidays. Coffs Harbour is famous for Big Banana. We can see Big Banana and eat bananas.

 

 

Next, I went bush walking. It was first time for me to go bush walking. We walked about three hours. To walk in the bush was very tiring, but we could see beautiful views.

 

I think Armidale is so quiet, but there is a lot of nature. Many people live in the rural areas where there is unspoiled forest and trees. If I did not go to Armidale, I would have never experienced the opportunity to come into contact with nature like this.

 

 

 

 

 

Host Family

This is the second post of my blog. I am going to talk about my homestay experience. I stayed with the same family for nine months because they were treated me like their real family.

There are six members in my host family. My host mother is a teacher, so she always helped me do my homework and assignments. When I arrived at Armidale, I could not understand a lot of English. My host mother spoke English slowly for me and used easy words. My host mother and father have two sons and daughters, but the sons live in another place with their family.
 I always did something together with host sister because she can cook, sew, and so on. For example, we cooked cakes, muffins, biscuits, and meals together. We made a lot of cakes, but I was always surprised at the color. The color of the cake was not normal color. Sometimes, we made a cake for the dog’s birthday. I had a very good time cooking something with my host sister. I have learned how to cook from her while learning English.
Sometimes, I slept in the garden in a tent with my host sister. It was the first experience for me to sleep in the garden using a tent. We talked a lot, but it was so cold outside because the season was winter. Some other things we did is go to the beach and bush walking. Grand mother lives in Port Macquarie, so we went to her house and swam at the beach.

Another host sister lived with us just four months. Then she moved to Sydney to get a job. We did not spent much time together, but she was very kind and she can do everything. I have respect for my host sister because she became independent. The two host brothers are married and each has a child. I met one host brother and his wife and  baby. Their baby was so cute. My host family is a big family so I could meet many people.

This time, I told you about my homestay. Next time I will introduce places where I went with my host family.

Small Town; Armidale

      
Do you know where Armidale is? I think many people know where Sydney is so in this time, I will introduce Armidale which I stayed about nine months.

Armidale is located between Sydney and Brisbane, but if you take a train, it takes about eight hours. Many Australians choose to go by car. It takes six or seven hours to drive. If you take a plane, it takes about one and half hours. And it is located in New South Wales. There are six states in Australia: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. Also there are ten Australian territories outside the borders of the states. The two mainland territories are the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

There are just two traffic lights in Armidale. I saw many cars in Armidale, but they use Roundabouts at intersections. There is a lot of nature in Armidale, so I could see kangaroos, sheep, horses, and so on. When I had a class, I saw a koala that was crossing the road. I have never seen a wild koala. That was the first time I saw a wild koala in Australia. In addition, I could see kangaroos every day, because there are many kangaroos near the ELC. ELC is the English Language Center where I studied English. My classmates came from many countries, such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Thailand, and Japan. They were very friendly and kind. After ten weeks study, I had a party. Each student brought their own food so I could eat many kinds of food. My best friend form Vietnam is good at cooking, so she cooked lunch for me every day. It was delicious Vietnamese food.

I think the location of Armidale is a little inconvenient, but the people and nature are very good. I stayed with an Australian family for nine months. It was a very good experience for me, so next time, I will tell you about my homestay, especially the family structure and what I did with my host sister.