On Thursday after Linnea had spent the majority of the day at the uni, we were set to go to the International Farewell Party hosted by UoN at the Queens Wharf Hotel – dress code: smart casual.
The party started at 6 pm, and we arrived about half an hour after that. When we arrived after showing our tickets and getting wristbands, we got drinks and started to mingle.
At the party, they had a photobooth so that you could get a couple of pictures with your pals. Linnea ended up getting a couple of them, below are two photos of them, the first one with Svenja and Nadine. The second one has pictures mostly of Linnea’s classmates from Sweden.
Pictures of Svenja, Linnea, and Nadine from the partyPictures from the party (Photo: Maria Kaldma)
Apart from drinks, there was food at the party as well, although you could hardly call it food. It was finger food, so it was the smallest of portions and the hungry half drunk students flocked around the servers as they walked out from the kitchen with their newly filled platters.
As the party drew to a close, we got a bit of a surprise. When handing in the wristband that we got upon entering the party, we got a UoN duffle bag in return. A really nice gesture and very useful as the two of us hadn’t brought any duffle bags to Australia.
Outside the Queens Wharf Hotel before going home, the other Swedish exchange students and we had some fun with a couple of helium balloons and sang a few high pitched songs.
Gustav got the opportunity to say goodbye (for now) to his classmate Tanner. But as with most things, it feels likely that they will meet again. The world is not that big a place and either we’ll go to the U.S. in a couple of years, or maybe he’ll come to visit our neighbourhoods in the cold north.
Gustav and Tanner after the party
The party was a hit. While most people went out to got to other bars, we went to the bus stop to get home before the buses stopped going and to prepare for another day – the last day of the semester (which contained a lecture at the Uni for Linnea).
After going to class in the morning of Tuesday 1 November, we met up with Jenny and Grahame to experience the Melbourne Cup.
The Melbourne Cup is the most famous and prestigious horse race in Australia. It takes place every year on 1 November in Melbourne.
Grahame came and picked us up at 1 pm. We went to their place from where we walked to a nearby pub called Maryville Tavern.
Grahame, Jenny, and Linnea enjoying a platter before the Melbourne Cup
At the tavern, Jenny and Linnea got champagne while Grahame got a beer and Gustav got an apple cider. Jenny ordered a platter with crackers, cheese, olives, and more, for everyone.
Scratchers, champagne, and a platter before the Melbourne Cup
The race was not on yet, so Grahame bought scratchers for the sweepstakes for the race. So we got one random horse each and therefore we started to read up on the horses and jockeys. Grahame had brought the section of the newspaper containing all the race stats for the day.
We also put bets on one horse each that we thought seemed got based on the stats. The bets we made were at one dollar each.
People at the tavern gathered watching the Melbourne Cup
When the race came on everyone in the tavern moved their focus to the televisions. Even though there were a lot of people in the tavern, no one seemed too happy about the result and neither were we. No one of the four of us won, or even had a horse in the top three.
After this, we started reading up on the next race, which actually is not a part of the Melbourne Cup since that was just that one race. We selected a horse each and put a bet on the race.
This time the luck was on our side. Linnea’s horse came in first place and Gustav’s in second. Based on the odds, we both ended up winning about 8 dollars each.
After this second race and a few more drinks, we walked back to Jenny and Grahame’s place where we ordered some Thai food that we enjoyed together.
We booked the dolphin swim for the first time in September, which was one of the first swims of the season, but due to bad weather they had to cancel it twice in a row, and finally we rebooked the swim for this late October weekend.
The cell phone showing the time shortly after our alarm
The morning alarm went off at 3.30 am, since we had to be ready at 4 am when one of the crew members on the boat had offered to pick us up in Mayfield and drive us to Nelson Bay, Port Stephens where the boat awaited us. Liz was the name of the crew member, and when she picked us up there was a heavy fog outside, which we thought was quite cool and fitting since it was very close to Halloween.
The ride to Port Stephens went well, we were only a bit concerned when we saw thunderclouds and lightning on the side of the freeway when we were approaching our destination. But the sky was clear and the water calm when we arrived at the marina, so we took a sigh of relief that we didn’t have to rebook our swim once again.
We met the rest of the crew and they quickly prepared the boat and made sure everyone filled in the liability waiver, took a sea sickness pill and got fitted with a wetsuit. After that we got geared up with a snorkel and a pair of goggles, as well as a safety harness. We had a quick run-through how to use it, and how the procedure went when our assigned group got called to get in the net at the front of the boat and get in the water. We went into the water five people at a time, and I (Linnea) got assigned to group one while Gustav was in group four.
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) we were only 16 passengers on the boat out of 20 that day, which meant that Gustav was alone in his group. Liz quickly assured us though that it meant that the people from group one could go in the water a second time with him, which was music to my ears since I didn’t mind spending more time in the water with the dolphins.
The fore of the ship
We headed out of the marina at 5.20 am, and the CEO of Dolphin Swim Australia introduced himself and the rest of the crew as we went out into the Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park. He told us about the history of the company and, as we had read previously on the website, that this is the only tour where you swim with actual wild dolphins in their natural habitat. Since the dolphins constantly move around, there are different groups every day that approach the boat, and the crew almost never see the same individual dolphin. The company has a special permit to operate on, which they have gotten by promising that they won’t disturb the dolphins and that they approach the boat by their own will. It almost sounds too good when you first hear it as a tourist, but the dolphins actually want to swim in the waves next to the boat and they are very playful.
It didn’t take long until the CEO spotted the first gang of dolphins when we got out on the water. The extremely early start also ensured that we were the only boat as far as the eye could see and according to Liz dolphins are the most active in the morning.
Getting ready for the first swim
I grabbed on to the railing at the front of the boat, and at our dive masters signal, group one climbed into the net, hooked our safety line to the rope attached under the boat, and sat in the net ready to jump in the water as soon as we heard the signal. We had at least seven dolphins swimming close to the boat, and except the unavoidable gulp of salt water that came into my mouth when I launched myself into the water, the feeling was amazing.
In the water with a dolphin just ahead (it’s Linnea reaching for it)
After figuring out exactly how I should angle my head to not get more water in my snorkel, I could breathe and focus on the amazing creatures swimming right next to me. The boat was holding the same speed as the dolphins swam in, so all you had to do was hold on to the rope and relax. About ten minutes had passed before the drive master gave a signal and the boat stopped. Everyone either pulled themselves up or got heaved into the net again. After we had got up the next group prepared themselves to go in.
Happy after the swim
So far the journey had been amazing, but after getting up out of the water my stomach started protesting. I hadn’t eaten anything all morning, and since I was in the first group I hadn’t had time to try the breakfast onboard. In hindsight, I think the biggest cause for my sea sickness was the fact that I swallowed quite a bit of salt water on an empty stomach.
Liz was quick to take care of me, she had a supporting role on the ship and it was good that she was there since I wasn’t the only one getting sea sick. Three of the five people from the first group (including me) got to sit at the rear of the boat where the bounce of the waves was considerably less. I sat there for a long time trying to get better so that I could eat something, but I guess I have to admit that I don’t have “sea legs”.
Suddenly there was a huge fin submerging from the water about 20-30 meters to the left of the boat. The captain was quick on the speakers and said: “on your left you can see a humpback whale waving towards us”. The whale raised its huge fin straight up in the air and back down about three times, and it actually looked like it was saying “Hi there!”.
A couple of dolphins just under the surface
About two and a half hours into the ride, the CEO finally spotted another group of dolphins and it was time for Gustav and me to get ready. We got into the water, but as soon as we did the dolphins swam away heading towards their breakfast most likely. Since we didn’t want to disturb their feeding, we got up on the boat again and started looking for another group. It didn’t take very long, but my stomach started protesting again and my legs literally started shaking. Liz asked if I wanted to go again, and I said that I really wanted to and that I actually felt better in the water than I did on the boat.
Anticipating the next swim
We got in the net a second time, but this time the dolphins swam too quickly, so as soon as the boat stopped to let us in the water they were ahead of us. The dive master told us to get back in the net and stay there while they caught up with the dolphins. It was very fun to be in the net while the boat was moving, and this time when we got in the water (Gustav’s third dip and my fourth) we experienced the serenity of being under the surface and feeling like the only thing that existed was the dolphins and us. It felt like we couldn’t get enough of it, but too quickly the swim was over and we got back on the boat.
Chilling in the net between the swims
The rest of the tour swept by while we returned all the gear and changed from the wetsuits to our normal clothes. They had a hot shower on the boat so that you could wash some of the salt water off you, and it was much appreciated for the warmth as well since having a wet wetsuit on for four hours had made us quite cold. We got a certificate of achievement from the CEO and thanked the whole crew as we approached the marina.
Getting our certificates of achievement
Liz asked if we wanted a ride with her back to Newcastle, but we had plans to explore Port Stephens some more after we had docked.
All in all, I loved the swim even though I got sea sick, and we were really happy to have done it especially after our several rebookings.
I’d recommend this swim to all dolphin lovers out there, even though I would say I haven’t been obsessed with them since I was a child, my 11-year-old self had a field day.
Lots of love,
Linnea
Well, I guess I’ll continue – Gus.
Climbing Mount Tomaree
From the marina, we walked towards Mount Tomaree, a small mountain and good lookout point close to the water. The summit stands at 161 metres above the water.
On our way towards the mountain, we stopped at a grocery store at Shoal Bay and bought an ice cream each. When we were sitting there eating all of a sudden we heard people talking Swedish. It was two couples with their children. This was pretty much the first time we found Swedes that weren’t students at UoN.
Gustav walking towards Mt Tomaree
We walked on, the sun had really broken out and the thunderclouds from the morning were nowhere to be seen. I had dressed in the morning expecting cold weather and rain and was therefore wearing trousers and at this point I started to regret my decision.
Walking up Mount Tomaree
We reached the foot of the mountain and started walking in through the forest covering the mountain. After much climbing (well, it was rather strained walking) we reached the summit. We were not the only ones there and a nice woman asked if we wanted her to take a picture, something we very much didn’t mind and it was really kind of her.
Standing on top of Mt TomareeThe very same ship we went on in the morningThe view from Mount Tomaree
When looking out from the summit, we saw the same ship we went on in the morning coming back in towards the marina. After we had walked a couple of laps around the summit and read the signs, we started to walk down again.
For most of the walk down nothing special happened, but then we saw a guy standing quiet on the path looking in the bushes. When he saw us, he made a shushing motion and pointed into the bushes. When we got closer, we saw a goanna walking through the bush.
Linnea standing on the shoreline at Shoal Bay
Before going back home on the bus, we had a bit of a snack and sat down at the beach. After some time, we went to the bus stop that was located on the street next to the beach with a couple of minutes to spare.
On Friday, around 11 am at Nobby’s Beach the International Office, and Newcastle Surf School had arranged a surf session for the international students at UoN, which the two of us had, of course, signed up for.
Linnea had lectures before lunch, so she went to the beach on a chartered bus, while Gustav – who much like every Friday had nothing scheduled at the uni – went straight to the beach and ended up arriving a bit before Linnea. This, in turn, resulted in that we were placed in different surfing group.
Gustav suited up first. The guys from the surf school gave a quick set of instruction on how to go about when standing up on the surfboard as well as information about staying away from the riptide. The instructors said that, as beginners, if we had gone alone to the beach to surf, they would not recommend surfing since the waves were quite rough.
The water was quite cold, but with wetsuits and rash shirts on it didn’t feel that cold. It was quite hard to stand up on the board. The first step was just to sync up with an oncoming wave and to paddle to get up to speed. The second step was then to get up on two feet.
Brave, rookie surfersGustav in the right crouching on the board or in the water
For the most part, Gustav just went in on the waves on his stomach. But after many tries, Gustav managed to get up on two feet just to fall over straight away. It was enjoyable and straining at the same time.
At one time, when falling over Gustav managed to pull a muscle in his back. This resulted in a very uncomfortable feeling, making breathing harder and painful for some time. This passed quite quickly after some massaging on the affected area.
Approving the surf
After an hour, it was time to switch place. Gustav got up from the water and changed into his regular clothes while Linnea put on the wetsuit.
When Gustav went into the water, it had been cloudy. But when Linnea got in it had started to break up and the sun was starting to peek through the veil of clouds.
Linnea going in on her stomach
While Linnea was surfing Gustav got lunch (included in the surf session) consisting of sandwiches, juice, an apple, and a small piece of carrot cake.
Sil, Linnea, Rachel, and Elinor
When Linnea has surfed and eaten, we went to The Emporium, which is a small mall consisting of a few niche stores. All stores in the Emporium feels like they’re selling hand-crafted or at least local design goods made by the people owning and running the shops.
The Emporium
At one of the stores, we met one of Linnea’s Australian classmates who happened to own one of the shops together with two other people. They were designing and selling furniture that was very vibrant and fresh.
A chair at the store at The Emporium
We continued home and relaxed in preparation for a busy weekend.
Saturday, 15 October – Shopping
On Saturday, we went on the 100 bus to Charlestown Square – a big shopping centre in the Newcastle metropolitan area. We went there to pick up merch for the Color Run that took place the day after.
Without having to wait in line for too long, we got our merch as well as one set for Svenja who was going to the Color Run as well. The merch we got consisted on a t-shirt, a headband, and a few other things.
Gustav at the Charlestown Square
We decided to stay at the shopping centre a bit longer and didn’t take the next bus back. We ended up going to an H&M that just had opened as we moved to Newcastle. As we were walking through the store they played Dancing Queen and many other Swedish songs. When Gustav was paying for the clothes he had picked out, we ended up talking a bit to the cashier who thought it was nice that we were from Sweden and we commented that we thought it was nice that they played a bit of Swedish music.
Linnea at the H&M at the Charlestown Square
After H&M, we went to Sportsgirl – the store that was the main sponsor for the Color Run. We had gotten a discount and Linnea wanted a new pair of sandals. So, she bought a nice pair of sandals made of leather and got 20 % off thanks to the Color Run.
Instead of going on a bus back home, we instead went on a bus to the city centre to a café called The Press Book House Cafe. We bought sandwiches and our first filtered brew coffee in Australia. We had to argue with the cashier to get milk with the coffee since he thought we hadn’t drunk filtered coffee before. The main reason he was hesitant with the milk was because the coffee was a medium roast that you pretty much don’t need to have with milk.
We enjoyed our coffee and our sandwiches at a table on the sidewalk. Apart from the traffic, it was quite calm.
Linnea at the Press Book House Cafe
After finishing our fika, we went to Spotlight – a textile store – to look for some textile fabric for one of Linnea’s prototypes. Linnea managed to find a fabric that seemed good, so she bought a sample for her scale model to try it out.
Sunday, 16 October – The Color Run
The day of the Color Run, we got up early in order to get to the start on time. Svenja and we took the train from Waratah shortly after 7am and arrived at Teralba at about 8 am.
Linnea and Svenja with people zumba-ing(?) in the background
We participated in some warm-up Zumba and started to get pumped for the race. Linnea got some manicure as part of the colour-theme of the run.
Linnea getting her nails done
At about a quarter to 9 am the people started to fill-up the start chutes. Linnea managed to make a path for us towards the front, so at the end, we were in the second start chute.
At 9 am, the first start chute opened and the people in front of us started running. When the first start chute was clear, we could start moving forward to the starting line. A short while later the signal for the second start chute sounded and we were off. Linnea sprinted off (in order to get a good photo of herself, see below). When we had run off the field we started to catch up with most of the people from the first start chute since the vast majority of them had stopped running and were walking instead after just 200 metres.
Linnea at the start
We ran past a lot of people and came to the first zone that had pink foam covering the street. Our legs got a bit pink, but nothing to speak of compared to how we looked after running through the colour zone where they threw coloured corn starch at us.
The run was nice and the ground was flat all the way, which was nice since there were a lot of hills in and around of Mayfield where we usually ran. The weirdest zone was the slime zone, which was a new zone for the Color Run. At the slime zone, they pumped out green slime onto the passersby and this slime also made the street slippery.
Why not stop to take a picture half-way through?
The weirdest zone was the slime zone, which was a new zone for the Color Run. At the slime zone, they pumped out green slime onto the passersby and this slime also made the street slippery. So that might not have been the brightest of ideas.
The finish line
We finished the 5Ks in just above 30 minutes, which for the two of us is quite a good time.
Two happy winners
Among the sponsors of the Color Run, there was LG promoting their washing machines. As part of the promotion they had a dunk tank – the kind where you sit on a board over a tub of water and the board is connected to a button that another person is supposed to hit with a ball. Both of us had a go in the dunk tank and in return, we got a clean t-shirt and a towel, a good trade.
Gustav at the dunk tankLinnea at the dunk tank
We didn’t stick around much longer and went back on the train at about 10:20 am. We went back home where we washed our clothes and showered. Most colours apart from the slime went out of the clothes. But our shoes remained glittery for some time.
Gustav at the Ocean Baths
We spent our afternoon at the Ocean Baths mostly sunbathing. It was nice, but it was a bit too windy.
This was a day long in the making. On 4 August, Sebastian, Hermione, and we booked tickets to a screening of the 1985 classic Back to the Future featuring live music performed by Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House.
The performance started at 2 pm, but we had to fetch the tickets at least half an hour before then. So we went on the train to Sydney at about 9:15 am.
We arrived in Sydney at 12:40 and walked to the Opera House where we fetched our tickets. Outside the Opera House, people were preparing a small market, so we bought lunch there to eat while we waited for Sebastian and Hermione. Across the bay, an enormous cruise ship was anchored. Next to it, some of the big structures in the city didn’t seem so big anymore.
The cruise ship next to Sydney Harbour BridgeLinnea next to Sydney Harbour Bridge
We ate our lunch and after Linnea went to find a coffee. While she was away, Sebastian and Hermione arrived and the time until the performance was getting shorter. On her way back to the Opera House entrance with coffee in hand, Linnea was stopped by a guy probably in his thirties who was working as a fight scene coordinator for the television show Game of Thrones. The guy, or rather his friend, had apparently been ‘stunned’ when Linnea walked past them. So he felt like he had to talk to her. They wondered if she could meet up later for a coffee. Although it was a testament to how stunning Linnea is (Gustav writing here), it was not the right time to chat. She explained the situation and hurried back to the entrance.
A few minutes before the performance started, we hurried up the stairs to the Concert Hall to take our seats on row L. Because of the screen setup the stage had been extended to fit the whole orchestra. Since parts of the screen could have been obstructed by the orchestra from the point-of-view from row L, we got a good price when buying the tickets. Fortunately, we could all see the screen and some of the orchestra. Our seats were pretty much front and center.
The stage of the Concert HallThe Concert Hall
The conductor was a man, probably in his thirties, who was charming and jokingly talked to the audience to introduce the performance. The orchestra started playing the main theme of the movie before it started. It was interesting to look at the conductor especially when the movie started. On a small screen next to the score the conductor could see the movie with cues appearing or moving across the screen to indicate when he should cue the orchestra.
Intermission in the performance
In theater tradition, the performance had an intermission in the middle when we could go out and stretch our legs. We took the opportunity to go out and get a few photos of the four of us together. As we wanted to make this, our one, visit to Sydney Opera House special, we had dressed up for the occasion. A man aided us and took our pictures.
Gustav, Linnea, Hermione, and Sebastian on the terrace of Sydney Opera House
We went back in and took our seats when the signal started sounding. The second half was also very enjoyable. The four of us thought it was really nice to see the movie. Sebastian and the both of us had seen Back to the Future before while it was the first time for Hermione. But it was quite some time since the two of us had seen it, so it was nice to refresh our memories as well.
The two of us in Sydney Opera House
After the performance, we walked to an Italian restaurant called Fratelli Fresh where Hermione had made a reservation. We ordered pizzas and a pasta dish. The pizzas at the restaurant were a bit quirky, they had one with black truffles and an egg on it, which Linnea had to try. The food tasted really good and we had a lovely time talking to each other.
Our dinner at Fratelli Fresh
When we had finished dining, we couldn’t help but try out an ice cream place Hermione recommended for dessert. We bought some exotic flavours there as well, this time Gustav got popcorn ice cream with salted caramel flavour. Later we headed to the trains at Circular Quay, and the two of us started our journey back to Newcastle.
On Friday the 7th of October, we had been invited to a “Hat or cat” themed Swedish dinner by three of Linnea’s classmates: Anna, Hanna, and Greta.
In the evening, we took an Uber over to their house in Merewether (one of the suburbs in the Newcastle metropolitan area). We arrived there around 6:30 pm and were met by the rest of the Swedish students from Linköping which came walking to the dinner at the same time.
All in all, we were 14 people at the dinner. All except Gustav are studying the same programme as Linnea at Linköping University.
The dinner consisted of three courses. The appetiser was Gözleme, the main course was tacos or rather the Swedish version of tex-mex, and finally the dessert was Eton mess (similar to the Swedish dessert marängsviss) but also containing Baileys Irish cream. All three courses tasted really good, and the dessert containing Strawberries made us think of Swedish summer.
The gang from Linköping in Newcastle (Photo: Anna Johansson)
After the dinner, we were joined by more international students many of whom the two of us know. Most of the students were either from Sweden or Germany.
We spent the rest of the evening talking to the people there. One of the talking subjects led to that Linnea got to borrow the newly released Harry Potter sequel Harry Potter and the Cursed Child from Anna, which was really kind of her.
On the Sunday after getting back from New Zealand, we decided to go into the city to take a look at the art festival This is Not Art, also known as TiNA, as well as go to the beach and meet up with a few friends.
Gustav at The Lock-Up
Our first stop was The Lock-Up, which used to be a jail but has in recent years been turned into a gallery. In many of the rooms and cells, there were art installations part of TiNA. There was also information about how the prison had been used before. It was striking to look into the isolation cell covered with thick layers of isolation on the walls and on the door with leather as the utmost material.
A single screen showing a video as part of This is Not ArtArt installation from This is Not Art
A few of the art installations were quite flashy and used bright neon colours in excess. Many of them were also made up in part or as a whole of video, like one piece that showed scenes of men shaving or being shaved from different movies.
Nutella milkshake at Three Bears Kitchen
After our visit to The Lock-Up, we went to Three Bears Kitchen where we ate lunch and Gustav also had a Nutella milkshake. We continued from there to Nobby’s Beach where we met up with our German friends Sil Ja, Nadine, and Svenja. We took a spot at the beach beyond Nobby’s Head and put our towels there. The German girls only wanted to sunbathe, but we wanted to go into the water, which we did. It was nice. The water wasn’t very warm, but since the air was so hot, it didn’t really matter.
Gustav at Nobby’s Beach
We stayed at Nobby’s for almost two hours. The five of us then went to Six Degrees, a restaurant located at the Queen Wharf and the Queen Wharf Tower. We ordered coffees and smoothies. The waiter unfortunately messed up Linnea’s and Sil Ja’s order, but at least the smoothies were good.
After finishing our beverages, we headed to the bus and went back home.
