Meet Me!

Before starting off with all my travel blogs, I thought I'd introduce myself for those of you following my posts. My name is Gertrude Palis, and as my profile states I am a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am studying International Studies and Geography and to gain a broader understanding of a different world region, I will be spending time traversing Australia and Oceania.

I first became interested in this region after taking a class on World Literature and reading various novels and poems from this region. Not a world region that typically filled my history classes, I became intrigued by the unique history and geography of this part of the globe. While almost everyone is aware of Australia and its dominance of the region, many remain unacquainted with the the numerous islands and vibrant indigenous heritage of this sprawling Pacific region.

"My Travels Down Under" is an ongoing journal of my adventures as I travel around Australia and Oceania, and I hope that through my experience you are able to learn a lot about this amazing area.

And if you're interested in reading more from authors of this region, I'd suggest the short stories of both Epeli Hau'ofa and Konai Helu Thaman, or the play/novella "The Last Virgin in Paradise" by Vilsoni Hereniko and Teresia Teaiwa.

And, with that said, enjoy the blog!

Fabulous Food

Hi readers! It’s Gertrude again, documenting all my exciting travels in Australia and Oceania! I must say the food in each city or country has been very interesting and has been an experience in itself. My favorite foods from my entire trip would have to be the foods I ate in both Australia and New Zealand. Because they were very different and unique, I was a little afraid at first. However, this picky eater realized that new and unfamiliar foods can actually be quite appetizing! I want to tell you about the foods I ate with the Aussies (and I’m not talking about the type of dog; I’m talking about the wonderful Australians I met on my adventures!). On my first night in Australia, I was invited to a barbeque (or “barbie” as they call it). Since I’m from North Carolina, I immediately thought of delicious chopped pork drowned in tasty barbeque sauce. Well, I had forgotten that the rest of the world doesn’t think barbeque is a type of food; everyone else thinks of a cookout when they hear the word barbeque! We ate both steaks and seafood outside at the coast. The seafood was extra fresh because of the location at the coast. It was great tasting steak and shrimp with new friends while looking at the beautiful ocean.

My new friends also invited me to afternoon tea the next day. It reminded me that because Australia was colonized by the British, they have many British traditions. At afternoon tea, we ate cute little sandwiches and drank lots of tea and juice. It was a great and relaxing break in a busy day. I think my friends back in North Carolina should adopt this tradition!

That evening one of my new friends Brock took me out on a dinner date. On the menu were meat pie and many other different and interesting foods. They also had normal foods on the menu such as grilled chicken (or chook) with mixed vegetables. However, I wanted to try something more adventurous because I realized it was a rare opportunity to be in Australia. I eyed three different options: kangaroo, crocodile, and buffalo. Because Brock could tell that I was ready for something unique, he took the lead and told the waiter we wanted to try all three entrees. We shared the three meals, and I’m so proud that I can come back to North Carolina and say that I tried all three---and liked them!

New Zealand is my next highlight when it comes to food. New Zealand is very well known for lamb, so, of course, I ate my share of lamb while visiting there. They also had a fair share of pork and salmon as well oysters, mussels, and clams. Whenever I had a craving for seafood, I was covered on this trip!The most interesting thing that New Zealand offered was kiwi. I have, of course, eaten kiwis in the United States and North Carolina, but they were much more easily accessible in New Zealand. Every restaurant menu had some type of dish with kiwi on it. Also, these kiwis were the best kiwis I had ever eaten! I wish I could have brought some back home!

As you can see, I ate some really cool things on my trip. I was nervous at first that I wouldn’t find foods I would like, but I ate some great meals that were familiar and some great meals that were a little more different and unique!

Works Cited

Unknown, Oceania and Food. World Food and Wine. Web. 15 Mar. 2010

Images

http://www.streetdirectory.com/stock_images/travel/simg_show/11629001850871/1/australian_beef_t_bone_steak/

http://foodphotoz.com/wp-content/plugins/yet-another-photoblog/cache/thumb.20e4d6cf2d5bbf6282d96e093f4731be.75cca78afd278ab9fe6de0cb51928dcb.jpeg

http://cobornsdelivers.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/kiwi-clean-fd-lg.jpg

Places to Go, Things to See! Tourism of Oceania!

Hey Guys! So I wanted to do a run down on all the great attractions and sights of Australia and New Zealand. First off, Australia and New Zealand could by far be my two most favorite places in the world… there was always something to do.

New Zealand’s biggest export is its tourism, with approximately 2.5 million visitors per year. During my stay in New Zealand I took advantage of the options online at the Official New Zealand website. The number of tours is crazy. There is something for everyone including sail boating, to cultural tours, dive tours, film and themes tours, garden tours, and sporting tours. It is marketed as a “clean and green” playground because of all the outdoor activities. One specific tour that I loved was a tour through Active Earth New Zealand where I spent 10 days with a tour hiking and trekking through rainforests and active volcanoes. The group was small, consisting of 11 members, but it was an experience of a lifetime. My journey started in Auckland where I flew into the Auckland Airport, the major airport in New Zealand. This major airport caters to the some 11 million passengers per year coming to and from the island. From Auckland airport one can easily get to Rotorua, Waitomo Cave, Milford Sound and Queenstown.

Australia accounts for 1.1 million visitors to New Zealand with a 12.2% annual growth rate, while countries such as USA visitors have declined by -6.2%. Of the 2.5 million visitors, 1.2 million tour New Zealand during the Holiday seasons with an extended stay of about 20 days. I myself stayed for 30 days in New Zealand and then another 30 days in Australia. The first 10 days of my stay in New Zealand I spent on an adventure hike through Northern New Zealand.

Day 1

The first day of hiking was easy going from Auckland to Whirinaki Forest Park. Whirinaki Forest Park was incredible! It is 55,000 hectare of beautiful indigenous forest. Just think about walking into a tropical dream where you hear birds calling from the trees above and a waterfall right outside your hut. The most amazing thing about Whirinaki Forest Park, and what it is most known for are the amazing trees. My favorites were the totara, kahikatea, matai, miro and rimu.

Day 2

The second day of the tour was a little more tiring. We did about 6 hours of trekking through a beautiful gorge to remote hut. We also were on a lookout for rare New Zealand birds. I was lucky enough to catch a quick glimpse of the North Island Kaka and the blue duck!

Day 3

The next morning I was a little sore from the 6 hours of hiking. Nonetheless we continued our hike through gorgeous and lush Whirinaki rainforest where we make camp at one of Rotorua’s many beautiful lakes.

Day 4

Day four was a five hour kayaking day on an ancient crater lake. Some members stayed behind at camp. It was a little extra money but well worth it. The lake was really calming and quiet… until one of the younger guys on the tour decided he was going to show off to his girlfriend and ended up tipping his kayak over.

Day 5

The fifth day we did a short hike to Lake Taupo. The shape of the lake was really interesting… it looks like Africa! Afterwards we went to visit the thermal area and then hiked across the alpine grasslands to make camp in volcanic Tongariro National Park. It sounds like we did a lot but we really only hiked for about an hour and half.

Day 6

Day six was the first time I got to see active volcanoes! We also got to see turquoise lakes which were pretty cool.

Day 7

Day seven was grueling. We did a total of eight hours of hiking uphill to the Emerald Lakes and across a plateau that was some 1900m. Although it wasn’t on the itinerary, our tour guide Brent let us climb a volcano.

Day 8

After the great day of volcano hiking we actually got a ride to Waitomo. Needless to say from the 7 days of hardcore hiking and wildlife I was passed out during our drive. When I woke up we arrived at a secret river cave that we got to explore. We did this for about an hour and then make camp on the beach. Brent the tour guide had arranged for a hangi to be prepared for us which was incredible. A hangi is a Maori earth oven that uses hot stones or an underground oven to cook food. We had an underground oven. There were various meats and vegetable such as sweet potato and kumara wrapped in leaves. They were then placed into a hole in the ground.

Day 9

The ninth day was easy going. We got to relax on the beach and explore historic Maori pa (village). After we hiked to a hut in Mt Egmont National Park.

Day 10

I was really sad when the tenth and final day came. We climbed early in the morning to the peak of Taranaki's Fanthams for a spectacular view of the sun rise. The tour ended in Wellington.

My tour of volcanoes and rainforest in northern New Zealand was amazing. It was definitely a once in a life time opportunity. Although I loved hiking and climbing every day it was nice to get back so that I could experience the other sights that New Zealand had to offer as well. Wellington was great. I had made it back just in time for the annual Spring Festival. I got to experience Wellington’s Botanic Garden and Otari-Wilton’s Bush at its best. The festival has over 40 different activities and events which include, workshops, tours, concerts, spectacular floral displays and more.

There a ton of garden festivals in New Zealand which include; Heroic Gardens Festival in Auckland, Ellerslie International Flower Show in Christchurch, Dunedin Rhododendron Festival in Dunedin, Hunter’s Garden Marlborough in Blenheim and more. There are incredibly farmer’s markets that bring the country people together were they sell their fresh produce and meets, as well as crafts. Everyone that I met was super nice and always had a smile on their face. These people are some of the nicest people around… hands down. Some famous Farmer’s Markets to visit are in Whangarei, Bay of Islands, Matakana, Oratia, Parnell, Blenheim, and Hawke’s Bay.

Now I did do a lot of other great things in New Zealand but now I want to talk about Australia… my favorite place on earth. Growing up I’ve always had a fascination with Australia. Who doesn’t though? We’ve all watched our fair share of animal planet and discovery channel, watching good ole Steve Irwin talk about this zoo and doing crazy things in the bush. Well I got to experience it all first hand. Maybe not the capturing animals part, but you get what I mean.

Australia is a unique country in that it is the only country that governs its entire continent and its surrounding islands. In size it’s about the size of the United States but somehow has the smallest population density in the world. There are only about 2 people per square kilometer. However this wonderful country has so much to offer.

As a tourist I had to visit Sydney. The city receives about 22.6 million domestic visitors with about 2.7 million international visitors. Of the countries that visit Australia, the top 10 are: New Zealand, Japan, US, UK, China, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Germany. Port Jackson is a natural harbor and is best known for the Sydney Opera House. The Opera House is one of the most famous and distinctive performing venues in the world. Along with the Sydney Harbor Bridge and surrounding area, this area is the icon of Australia. During the 2000 Olympics held in Sydney Australia, the Sydney Opera House was part of the opening ceremony by being a segment of the Olympic Torch route to the stadium.

I started my journey of the harbor out in The Rocks, which is considered the historic precinct where Sydney started. It is often times referred to an “outdoor museum”. It’s located at the food of the Sydney harbor bridge and is one of the most visited places in Sydney. The Rocks are the oldest areas of Sydney and have recently undergone a change into a more vibrant atmosphere of cafes, restaurants, shops and stalls. However this has all been done without destroying the integrity of the area due to conservation programs.

Within the Rocks I was able to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art, The Merchants House, Susannah’s Place, Discovery Museum and Cadman’s Cottage. I’m a huge museum/gallery junkie so this was a real treat for me. After touring the Rocks I hitched a ferry ridge to see the ferry. I was told that taking a ferry was the best way to see the harbor because they were easily accessible and fairly cheap. There are also private cruises that can be taken around the harbor but that just doesn’t seem right to me. The Sydney Ferries are government run and depart from most parts of the harbor. After the ferry ride I tackled walking across the Sydney Harbor Bridge and went to the top of the Pylon Tower. When I got to the top I payed a small fee and got to see a breathtaking view of the skyline, the Opera House, The Rocks, and Darling Harbor.

Another great attraction of Australia is the Great Barrier Reef. This was perhaps the highlight of my visit to Australia. It truly is a masterpiece that stretches more than 2,000 kilometers along the Queensland coast. It is considered one of the seven wonders of the natural world, and it’s no wonder why they say that. It is larger than the Great Wall of China and is said to be the only LIVING thing of earth visible from space… now that is impressive. The tourism brought in by the Great Barrier Reef and just the Marine life in general is a huge contributor to the Australian economy that generates around $4.228 billion per year. The Great Barrier Reef is the major player in the Marine tourism industry. The industry employs around 730 vessel operators that control 1,500 vessels. Tours are given during the day and at night which include, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing charters, long range roving tours, aircraft and helicopter tours, sail boating, glass bottom boat viewing, cruise ships, passenger ferries, whale and dolphin watching and more. Of the 1.6 million tourists that visit the Great Barrier Reef each year, 85% of them visit the Marine Park located offshore of Cairns and Whitsundays.

I decided to try my hand at scuba diving. Luckily the Reef offers a range of dive sites depending on your experience level. Naturally I went for the shallowest spots around the island which are clam and protected. The experience was amazing. The water was crystal clear and absolutely stunning. I have never seen anything like it before. There were so many different fish and corals, many of which I had no idea what they were. Our tour guide Gary was really knowledgeable and pointed out some 50 types of fish to us. We also saw a sea turtle!

After the tour of the Reef, I spent most of my time in Queensland checking out the shops and laying out on the beach watching the surfers. The waves were absolutely massive! My last big tourism spot was visiting the famous Australia Zoo is Beerwah Queensland. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bunch of people more passionate about what they do. I don’t say job, because to these people working at the zoo, it’s more than a job to them… it’s everything. Since the tragic death of Steve Irwin the park and his family have kept his legacy alive. Through Steve Irwins many show "The Crocodile Hunter" and efforts, many visitors have taken to environmental conservation. This year is the 40th Anniversary of the Zoo. I have been to my fair share of zoos throughout my life but nothing compares to the Australia Zoo. They have every animal imaginable. Each animal was housed in beautiful areas that were meticulously maintained. Everything was so clean. Some animals that I got to see where, Bettongs, Binurongs, Cheetahs, Dingoes, Echidnas, Kangaros, Koalas, Red Pandas, Tasmanian Devils, Tigers, and Wombats. I also saw a wide array of birds and reptiles.

Not only are there a ton of animals to look at but the Zoo also offers opportunities for guests to interact with the animals. You can play with Binturongs, which kind of look like large badgers that are native to NE India, Burma, Malaysia, Thailand, Borneo etc., or go on the many animal tours such as; the Giraffe Tours, Cheeky Cheetah Back of House Tours, Ripper Rhinos, Gorgeous Elephant Encounters, Rascally Red Pandas, Leapin’ Lemurs, Australian Wildlife Hospital Tours, Tiger Walk, Cheeky Cheetah Walk, Colossal Komodo Encounters, Dingo Encounter, and so many more. There is something for everyone to enjoy. I made sure to go on the Wombat Walk where I got to stroll through the Zoo with a cute cuddly Wombat. I was really surprised on how big wombats actually are… most are the size of an average sized dog. CRAZY! I also went on all the big cat tours they had. I love exotic cats… they are just beautiful.

Tourism dominates the economy of Oceania, by making it the largest industry in the region. It can be measured in the number of jobs it creates, and the money it brings into the economy and to the local peoples. For smaller strings of islands such as Polynesia, Fiji, Samoa, Tongo, and even the Hawaiian Islands, tourism is critical. The North Pacific destinations market primarily to the Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and China, while the smaller islands in the South Pacific Oceania market toward Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and most importantly North America. Unfortunately at least half of the revenue made in the tourism industry is stripped away and flown overseas by foreign-owned hotels and tour companies that dominate the industry. The local islanders are not making as much money as they deserve, especially in the smaller islands where almost all the money trickles to the pockets of the big hotels and tourism groups. I believe that there needs to be a greater local participation in the industry so that the money make through tourism can stay on the island and further help the islands economy. One great way would be to support locally owned hotels or tour businesses when visiting the area.

In all Australia and New Zealand have become two of my most favorite places to visit. If you haven’t visited before, I hope that you get the amazing opportunity to in the future. It’s an experience of a lifetime that I’ll surely never forget!

Works Cited

http://www.tourism.net.nz/

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/USA/

http://www.greatbarrierreef.org/tourism_diving.php

http://www.australia.com/index.aspx

http://www.australiazoo.com.au/

http://www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/Documents/Key%20Statistics/KeyTourismStatisticsMar2010.pdf

http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/the-great-barrier-reef/great-barrier-reef-info.htm

Images

http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/938/whirinaki-trampers-223.jpg

http://www.thewe.cc/thewei/&/&/bbc7/_38300957_duck_300_iucn.jpe

http://www.adventurekayaking.co.nz/PicsHotel/kayaking/Images/Tarawera.JPG

http://www.mynetbizz.com/pages/newzealand/emerald-lakes-mt-tongariro.jpg

http://www.nzsnow.com/images/TaranakiEast.jpg

http://www.travellersworldwide.com/Images2000/photos-australia/general/australia-map.jpg

http://z.about.com/d/goaustralia/1/0/L/5/rcksview.gif

http://theleadershipcampaign.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/great-barrier-reef.jpg

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/10/29/barrierreef_wideweb__470x294,0.jpg

http://oregonjon.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/04aus-30201-wombat-large.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2220/2365383901_c193a1b58c.jpg?v=0

Language and Education

G’day my fellow Tar Heels (and other people that may read this blog)!

During my travels I decided that on some days I was going to take a break from all the touristy stuff and walk around some the local spots to get a feel for what it’s like to live Down Under.

Lucky for me it wasn’t hard for me to communicate with any of the local people. Most people in Australia and Oceania speak English, along with their native language. In the region there are about 28 different languages, most countries list English and at least one of the native languages as countries official language. So communicating with everyone around me was not too hard, except they speak a different dialect of English than we do in the United States, it is weird sometimes.

I also found that many people in this region are immigrants from other countries, Australia and New Zealand seem to be full of immigrants from other countries. Most of these immigrants are bilingual; speaking English, thankfully, as well as the official language of the country they are from. Some of these immigrants are from Asian countries and others are from the smaller Pacific Islands in the region.

Once I got past the language barriers in the different countries, I was able to find a little bit more about the education, which I was curious about being a student for most of my life. Anyway, I found that schooling is different throughout the region, depending on which country you are from.

In larger and more developed countries, like Australia and New Zealand, it is expected that children attend school up until what we call high school and then go onto college. The average Australian or New Zealander attends school for about twenty years, pretty much how we do it in the States.

However, in other countries, education varies a little. From what I heard on the different small islands, children seem to attend school for about ten years. These countries seem to not put a lot on emphasis on education or those people attend school elsewhere.

Well I thought that you might enjoy to find out what local, everyday life can be like Down Under. Even though these countries seems like they’re worlds away, they’re not that much different than us in some ways. Crazy right?

-Gertrude


Works Cited

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/region/region_aus.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceania

Economy and Trade

During my journey throughout Australia and Oceania I was also able to view firsthand the diverse economies of the region through a local and global context. Every place that I visited on my trip had a unique economic environment and system of trade. Australia has one of the most successful economies in the world in terms of GDP growth and purchasing power parity, but there are still areas in Oceania are not as powerful economically and live on subsistence agriculture. My trip to Oceania was an amazing opportunity to experience the region from an economic perspective.

When I visited Queensland, Australia I was able to gain a good understanding of a thriving industry in the region, and observe global influences on the Australian economy. Queensland is the north-eastern region of Australia, and it is often called “the Sunshine State” because of its warm weather. “The Sunshine State” is the center of one of Australia’s most important economic sectors – tourism. Attractions such as the Gold Coast, the Great Barrier Reef, and Hervey Bay are all major contributors to the state’s tourism industry, which adds over 4 billion to the state’s GDP each year.

I stayed at a Japanese-owned beach front resort in Gold Coast, and one of my favorite parts of my stay was taking surfing lessons. Gold Coast has some of the highest rated surfing areas in the world. The Japanese resort that I stayed in is indicative of a general trend in Australian economics from a global perspective. Increasingly, Australia and Oceania have moved away from countries in the western world like the United States and Great Britain and have began to concentrate on marketing to countries like Japan, China, and Indonesia, oftentimes seeking investment from businesses in those nations. Much of Gold Coast’s resorts are foreign owned, especially by Japanese investors. This new foreign investment has been a major contributor to Australia’s economic progress in the last twenty years.



Gold Coast, Australia



More Gold Coast...

I also had the opportunity to visit other places in Oceania, not just Australia. I had the unique experience of visiting Papua New Guinea, in the islands of Melanesia. The economic situation in many other nations in Oceania is not as strong as it is in fully modernized and globalized Australia, and Melanesia is the least-developed and poorest area of Oceania. The economy of Papua New Guinea is much different than that of Australia. Australia has a very strong, globalized economy with large and diverse international trade and tourism sectors.

In Papua New Guinea, I got to visit a fresh market, which was an amazing experience. Papua New Guinea and the rest of the islands of Melanesia have not been effected by tourism as much as Australia. The people of Papua New Guinea have mostly live in remote areas that are largely disconnected from global markets. This facilitates the creation of local markets in which small scale farmers bring their products to be sold at the local level.

I visited a market in Papua New Guinea was exciting and lively, and the food that was being sold was extremely fresh. Many different types of fresh fruit and vegetables were being sold, and bought a great pineapple. My trip to the market in Papua New Guinea was one of the best parts of my trip, and I got a firsthand look at the economic and trade factors that are in place in the less globalized areas of Oceania. Small market-based economies and less globalized markets are still in place in the islands of Melanesia. That was a very interesting contrast to observe, and it showed that Oceania is a very diverse area, and the whole region is not just like Australia.



A fresh market in Papua New Guinea.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SurfersParadiseSkylineAndBeach.jpg

Lazy movie night

Having been exhausted from my recent adventures, I wanted to enjoy a relaxing evening in witha good movie. I’ve always been a big film buff and was familiar with Australian exports such as Moulin Rouge! and Cate Blanchett, but I wanted to experience the Australian film culture that is not known internationally. I began my search online and found tons of information about the history of Australian cinema and of recent releases. Many of the websites I visited were from the Australian government. They must take a lot of pride in their film industry to provide visitors with that much information and feature its film culture as a part of its national identity. I learned that Australian cinema has been thriving since the silent era, beginning with one the world’s first full-length film The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906. Since the 1980’s, Australian cinema has made an imprint all around the world with internationally successful films such as Crocodile Dundee, Australia, and Happy Feet.



In 1955, Australia produced its first color film Jedda which was also the first Australian film to feature Aboriginal actors. The Aborigines, indigenous people of Australia, had inhabited the continent for 70,000 years. When the first European settlers arrived, there were about 750,000 Aborigines living on the Australian continent. As a result of European settlement, violence, and discrimination, there are only 200,000 Aborigines alive today. Though laws have been passed to protect the rights and culture of Aborigines, there still exists prejudice today and most Aborigines live in poor conditions in the slums.



I rented Australia last year because I’m a big fan of High Jackman and a sucker for romances. The film was advertised as an epic romance between Jackman and Nicole Kidman, but most of the film was focused on the tension between the Aborigines and those of European descent in the dawn of World War II. It is a great film that raised awareness worldwide for the plight of the Aborigines, and I wanted to learn more about contemporary Aborigine life. I searched the Australian Film Institute website and saw a recent release Samson and Delilah, a film about the romance and adventure of Aboriginal teens. I read that it won AFI’s award for Best Film and the Camera Award at the Cannes Film Festival, so I drove into town and rented it at the video store because it seemed like a must-see.



The film introduces Samson and Delilah, two Aboriginal teens living in a poor city wrought with violence in central Australia. Samson spends his days getting high off gasoline and getting into trouble while Delilah cares for her grandmother and sells their artwork for a living. After Samson gets into a fight with his brother and Delilah’s grandma dies, the two run away in a stolen jeep into a whirlwind of misfortunes, including violence from white authorities stemming from Aboriginal prejudice. Though there is minimal dialogue throughout the film, viewers get a good glimpse into modern Aborigine customs and the heartfelt relationship of two teens on an aimless adventure to escape from the terrible conditions of their city and to find whatever is left of their lives. This film was definitely worthy of the praise it garnered and truly moving despite its minimal dialogue. It may not have international appeal since it deals with issues uniquely Australia, but it definitely has a universal language of looking for that glimmer of hope amid bleak situations with seemingly no solutions.

Sources:
http://www.ebgymhollabrunn.ac.at/projekte/abori.htm
http://www.afi.org.au/AM/ContentManagerNet/HTMLDisplay.aspx?ContentID=10177&Section=Australian_Films_Domestic_Box_Office_of_All_Time
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/film/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10011295-samson_and_delilah/

A Trip to the Doc

Hello My Tar Heels,
It’s Gertrude again reporting from the wonderful territory Down Under. My trip so far has been incredible and it isn’t even over yet! I have to report now a more unfortunate part of my adventure… I got a little stomach bug. Or at least that is what I am hoping that it was. I still am not quite sure as to how I caught the little pest, but none the less, it managed to slow me down just a little bit.
I woke up the other morning, during our stay in Australia, and my stomach felt like there was a cage fight going on inside. It was awful and really not what I wanted to happen. My initial thoughts were “this is not seriously happening and how in the world am I going to see a doctor?” I don’t even like going to the doctors in Chapel Hill because it always takes forever and they never seem to prescribe the medicine that works the best. I thought about just resting for the day and trying to take it easy, as my own cure for my illness. But my stomach did not enjoy the intense pains and fighting going on inside so I embarked on a journey to find a doctor and some medicine.
I found a hospital by just searching online for the closest one to where I was staying in the city of Canberra. I was not really aware of the health care protocol or about going to typical physician’s office, so I decided that the hospital might be easiest for guaranteed care. I chose the Canberra Hospital that is in Woden Valley. When I first arrived I was a little weary of the establishment because it didn’t look quite like the hospital at UNC. I was used to the multiple, massive buildings but what I found was one large brick hospital.

I did not know what the system was going to be for seeing a doctor. I was nervous, but I figured it has to happen to tourists and I can’t possibly be the first. It ended up being pretty similar as going to the doctor in the states I figured out. Oh and just so you don’t worry… I don’t die. It was just a forty-eight hour bug. But back to my experience at the doctor, the health care system in Australia appeared to me to be pretty effective and efficient. There were a lot of people trying to see a doctor like myself, just for typical colds and bugs. The hospital that I went to is a large teaching hospital, so when I got to see the doctor, there was actually a student with him practicing to become a physician as well.
I had to pay a small amount to see the doctor, since I was not a citizen of Australia. I figured out from being there, that for public patients to come to the hospital it is free. The Australian and State governments jointly fund public hospital funds under their Medicare program. In Australia, the health care system is a mix of public and private sectors that work to provide efficient and affordable health care for all citizens. With the recent health care reforms back in the United States, I was interested in the health care of Australia. Anyone with Australian or New Zealand citizenship or people with permanent visas are eligible for Medicare. The Medicare program is funded by taxes and levy system that is based off of income. The expenditures for health in Australia are growing rapidly due to aids, appliances, and pharmaceuticals. It is still below the amount spent in the United States .
Overall, my trip to the hospital was a pleasant one. The doctors were friendly and it was pretty similar to the processes I was used to in Chapel Hill. I actually heard that a few doctors were from the United States actually that were traveling doctors and that they decided to come to work in Australia for some time. Unfortunately, I had to sit the bug out because there was no medicine that the doctor could prescribe, but it passed quickly and I am so excited to continue on my adventure to Fiji!
I must admit that I was a little worried at first about going to Fiji because I thought that it might have some of the major tropical diseases that are found on other islands. To my surprise and to my relief I learned that Fiji is free of malaria, yellow fever, and other major tropical diseases. Before I left for Fiji though, I had to provide proof of my yellow fever vaccination. For obvious reasons they didn't want anyone infected coming to their area. I had heard stories as well about people who travel to other areas and and drink the water and are sick as dogs. After my bug in Australia I didn't want to end up at the doctors again so I was skeptical about drinking the water. Come to find out all the water in the main cities is treated and completely safe to drink! I was curious to learn about Fiji's medical system as well since I had learned all about Australia's. It's an effective medical system too, but many of the local people still swear by herbal remedies. I personally don't know about all that. I would much rather just get an antibiotic, but if they swear by it, then possibly it is the way to go.
Well that's all folks! I'll be back to blogging soon enough. :)

Gertrude


Works Cited:
http://www.luxuryhideaways.net/fiji/health_info_fiji.htm
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/services/acir/index.jsp