Week Ten

The infamous dingo

Echidna



Cassowary

 

 

Hello again ladies and gentlemen! This week's post is fortunately going to be online early in the week, unlike last week's post. Much like last week, there isn't a whole lot going on, so this post won't be terribly long. Before getting into the meat of the post, I'll give the customary explanation of the pictures included in this entry. The legendary dingo of Australian lore is pictured in the upper left-hand corner. Once again, I apologize for the blurry quality of these photos, most of them were taken at a substantial distance as the animals were in caged expanses. To the right of the dingo is the echidna, a peculiar, furry pig-like creature that I'd never even heard of prior to my visit to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. Below both of these pictures, is the cassowary, which holds the distinction of being the world's most dangerous bird.

 

Because not much is going on this week, I suppose I should shed some light on the town in which I'm studying. Wagga Wagga is an Aboriginal term meaning "place of many crows", and believe me it is an apt description. The crows and their loud braying-like birdcall can be heard at just about any time of the day. Wagga Wagga (or simply Wagga as the locals call it) is a town more or less the same size as my hometown of Joplin, Missouri. I think the population hovers somewhere around 60,000 making it the largest inland city in all of New South Wales. In Australia, nearly all of the major population centers are located on the coast, so a town with such a population to be five hours from the nearest beach is quite rare.

 

While Wagga may not be as big as Sydney, Melbourne or the other more well-known cities in Australia, I'd have to say I am very satisfied with being able to study here rather than in any of those places. Having grown up in Joplin, I'm not much of a big city guy in the first place; and I have to admit I was a little intimidated by the sheer size of Sydney. Wagga, being much smaller in size, definitely feels much more like home; and the CSU campus is located about 10 kilometres (6 miles) north of the city centre, which gives the campus a delightful country vibe with lots of greenery and beautiful scenery. And while Wagga may seem lacking in size when compared to Sydney, it is big enough to have everything I need (there are plenty of shops and stores along the city's main street, although, getting into town can be a bit of a hassle).

 

So, I guess Wagga's perfect size makes me feel right at home. Because it's not too big, I don't feel intimidated or uncomfortable; and because it's not too small I don't feel isolated or bored. I wasn't really aware of how at home I felt in Wagga (after all it's about 10,000 miles from my true home) until I visited Sydney and the Gold Coast. After finishing my vacation, I actually felt a sense of comfort and relief upon returning to my (temporary) home.