A Kominar Chronicle: In the beginning… 

It was a morning like any other, except that it was Christmas morning, which made it quite unlikey any other morning. Things are a little topsy-turvy down here round Christmas time. In true Aussie fashion most words are shortened and bastardized to end with an “ee” sound; ‘prezzy’ ‘chrissy’. Also, please note, Santy rides a surfboard in some depictions of his likeness.

^{Santy, Zach; Not pictured: Surf Board}

Amongst other oddities is the severe lack of snow or cold weather. Christmas is hot, hot, hot! I had the pleasure of enjoying a traditional Aussie Christmas with a true seafood BBQ. It was delicious and slightly strange.

^{A veritable Christmas feast}

Traditionally, the day is rounded off with a trip to the beach. I found my way down to Bondi Beach to bake in the sun for a little while. It’s a beautiful strip of land that is very expensive to live near. Nadine was teaching Diego and I to body surf on the waves with limited success, we’ve got our work cut out for us. This was my first time swimming in a salt-laden body of water. The taste was relatively unpleasant.

Festive greetings all around! I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season as much as I have been. I’ve been met with nothing but generosity from ‘the inlaws’ (too much?)

I was able to help around the house and get things ready for the party that was thrown yesterday evening. ‘Things’ include masterminding the light display on the front of their house! (Pics to follow); sweeping the floors; cleaning up the back pool; and getting a blister on my hand.

It was especially nice because two Canadian cohorts of mine happened to be travelling in Sydney today. They didn’t have much of a plan for Christmas celebrations as it’s particularly tough when on the road across the world from family. They joined us for the party and stayed the night for Christmas breakfast in the morn. I was glad to be able to make someone else’s time a little more enjoyable.

So, in the meantime..

Merry Christmas from the future, it’s great!

– Zach

Bookin’ down the Coast
We left for Sydney on the morning of the 21st after dealing with some trifling errands. It’s a ~10hr drive down the coast modestly speeding the whole way. Despite this, the drive was actually pretty exciting for me. It was the first time I had ventured out of my ‘university bubble’, and I was about to explore Australia via auto.
There were some beautiful rolling hills and mountainous-esque formations in the scenery. Somehow, this was the best picture I managed to take. Excuse its lack of grandeur and know that the landscape was great.

Coff’s Harbour
Weary, and with aching legs and back, we decided to stop off in Coff’s Harbour. We immediately opted for a beach and were not disappointed. If I recall, this is the first time I’d been to a beach in Australia. That’s the Pacific Ocean there folks! Not much else to say about Coff’s Harbour, it was just a pit-stop for us.

Crescent Head
We stopped into Nadine’s old stomping grounds for a little nostalgia. She pointed out numerous personal landmarks such as, “there’s the place where I learned to ride horses! I think…”. Regardless of the veracity of her claim, it was nice to be somewhere that meant something to someone.

Admittedly, I was a little skeptical when we decided to take the slight detour into Crescent Head. From the length of the drive I thought we’d just be on a country road for a while. I got thinking, “If this is just like the other beach we saw why are we going?” (ever the practical realist, I get lost in my thoughts to my detriment sometimes) Then we came to Crescent Head fully.

This place was gorgeous! A relative novice-globetrotter, I haven’t seen most of what the world has to offer. Things geography related are all over the list of things to do. The headlands were a great beginning to the journey.

I took a panoramic 360 movie on my camera that turned out pretty sharp. Recommended viewing to really take in the majesty of the area. Haven’t figured out how I want to post it yet and it certainly needs to be edited from it’s 60meg size. I’ll deal with these technical problems later, you can expect the video in the new year sometime.

Sydney by night
We pulled into Sydney approximately 12 hours later which is impressive considering our two stops. Anyhow, as a result of this nighttime arrival I didn’t get to see much of the city on first glance. Everyone was tired when we arrived and after a very brief ‘meet the parents’ session, we retired to bed.

A Sydney Morning
Rested up, we headed out to Bondi Junction, a particularly large shopping complex. I only took two pictures there because it ‘was’ a mall. The cafe was at the bottom of 5 stories of shops, shoppes and more shops.

The next is from the teddy bear store. This may speak to my lack of world culture, but I was unware a store existed which allows you to fabricate your own teddy bear whilst still in that very store! At the end of the whole process they’ve got a teddy bear promise that you are supposed to recite. I made Nadine read it but when she refused I was forced to promise as her proxy. (Ed note: she did not get a bear).

St Georges Christmas Lights
With ‘crissie’ time in full swing we picked up Nadine’s newphew/niece and saw “the street with all the lights on it”. It was actually a pretty cool little street, and a pretty steep hill. At 11 at night the streetside was flooded with parents and children wandering around out to see the lights. There were also some ice cream trucks conveniently placed along the roadside. This is one of many aussie traditions that I’m still learning about. Iced cream and christmas!?

Note Pooh and crew up on the roof and the life-size Homer Claus who sings and dances for donations.

Exam Culture

December was gone in a heartbeat! My first set of law exams went pretty well from my perspective. Only three exams this time around, Torts Law, Australian Legal System, and Criminal Law. I prepared my own notes for each of them except ALS. The material was easy to get into and almost, dare I say, fun? (at times..)

^{A murder of Bond students, looking like crows, ready to peck on the flesh of the unprepared}

Each day plans consisted of a very relaxed study schedule at my own pace. Generally, each day started in the early afternoon and went on until late evening. Par for the course, procrastination poked it’s provocative head into my plans here and there. Breaks were wasted away chatting with other students about which notes they had acquired and the various benefits/drawbacks to each set.

End of Semester Bash

^{Vodka Watermelon: Pre-disaster}

As you can well expect by now, with such diligent work and study comes great honour. Specifically, the honor of losing inhibitions and ‘getting down’.

My day consisted of various states of inebriation throughout the day all culminating in one superb evening at Don’s.

We celebrated over at the Varsity Shores complex with a vodka themed party. There were mixed vodka drinks, vodka jelly, and a vodka soaked watermelon! The melon was to be cut ceremoniously with a samurai sword but for the actions of one individual. Out of respect he shall remain nameless and un-photographed. He was tasked with preparations for the ceremony, setting up chairs and mustering whatever safety precautions he could find around the house.

Suddenly, the melon fell between the two chairs holding it sturdy. “Phew”, he caught it and had it in his hand! Crisis averted. But then, the melon was casually thrown to a bystander who happened to be wielding a samurai sword in one hand and a beer in the other. The melon was subsequently, unceremoniously dropped on the outside patio.

All things considered it was a great bash and the drama surrounding the melon was quite entertaining and overshadowed what would have been an amazing show of samurai technique.

Don’s End of Semester Bash theme was “New Years Eve” which was not followed by the patrons in the slightest. I know that my clothes were in a state of dirtyness inside my laundry hamper and pickings were slim, I tried my hardest to remain fashionable with what I had left to work with.