Day 39

Friday, instead of going to work, I went with Haipu and Miroslava to Sunshine Coast. Haipu had to attend a celebratory event about working in cleaning up the Moreton Bay oil spill which occurred a little over a year ago. She helped in setting up passive water samplers and showed up in the slide show and a poster. We got there a bit earlier so we went for a stroll on the deserted beach.

We went shell hunting and I found some cool ones with holes in them, want to use them for jewelry. First was morning tea, a habit Australians have kept from the British. Yummy biscuits with clotted cream and jam! Afterwards we sat in a tent where some dances were performed by a local tribe adorned with painted white stripes.

Several people talked and gave thanks to all the different organizations that helped with the clean up. The minister for environment, Peter Garrett, was also there, a pretty famous guy. Lunch was excellent as well! I had this pastry with kangaroo goulash, and must say: kangaroo is delicious! It tastes like beef and I liked it. I also had a crocodile sausage roll, crocodile tastes a bit more like seafood.

We went back down to the beach even though it was cooler now. The wind had picked up leaving ripples on the sand and the clouds hid the sun. I changed into my swimsuit and headed into the blue-green water. It was chilly out and definitely warmer in the water. You can see how cold I am!

. I splashed around some in the waves and then changed back into my clothes, loving the warmth of my fleece jacket. We decided to drive a little further up to Noosa Heads from the Kawana Surf Club we were currently at.

Noosa Heads was a lovely smaller beach town! There’s a river running through the city where all the waterfront properties have their own little beaches and boats docked. We went to the state park. Apparently you can see koalas in the wild sometimes here if you go far enough. We walked along the ocean on this path. It was so beautiful!

I took a ton of photos of the turquoise waters. There were some surfers too. At Dolphin Point, I climbed a bit further on the rocky ledge to look directly over into the thundering waves below. The water would spray up into a fine mist. Then we headed back, I saw two kookaburras then. They’re my favorite birds, with their laughing bird call.

Day 38

My b-day! Thursday was lovely! After I came downstairs, there was a chocolate birthday cake on my placemat with these cool candles.

I had two pieces for breakfast, it was delicious! Beate got me a weekend trip to Moreton Island including sand surfing, snorkeling, learn to surf, and the opportunity to see wildlife like turtles and dolphins! Then we headed off to work where during a break we cut up the other two cakes to share with everyone.

I had another piece then and two more for dessert later that evening. I also got to Skype with my family and got lots of b-day wishes from everyone that I’m still sorting through and replying to.

Day 27

Today we drove out to Gold Coast, about an hour drive, to see the Pacific Ocean and all its beaches! We went to Surfer’s Paradise first, and it was aptly named. We drove along the ocean searching for a parking space. I immediately snapped a couple photos of the fine white sand and gorgeous aqua waves. Some were rather huge, and I spotted a couple surfers. It was partly cloudy, but warm enough. I headed to the ocean and acclimated quickly to the temperature change. It was so much warmer than Maine’s Atlantic Ocean in the summer! And actually warmer than some of the pools I’ve swam in. The yellow warning flags were up and I didn’t head in too far. The undertow was crazy and kept pulling you down the shore.

After swimming, I lay in the sun a bit and then we played Bocce ball on the beach. We then got in the car and drove further down the coast to Burleigh beach. It was totally full with surfers! There were about 40 all in the same area trying to catch the waves. This was my first time seeing surfing and it was interesting to see how only 1 out of 5 successfully caught a wave.

Surfing’s hard! We ate at a surf club, on the deck with a great view of the ocean and surfers. The food was amazing! I got a Barra Fillet burger with chips (fries). Barramundi is now my new favorite fish. Sorry Haddock!

We then walked along the paved path by the beach into this national park that had some trails through a woodsy area and a lookout point.

We ran across some other people that had just seen a huge snake on the pavement! It was one of the three (a bit of an exaggeration) non poisonous species in Aussie, but it disappeared before we got there.

Day 20

On Sunday, Anita and I spent the day together. Anita’s staying with me while Beate’s on vacation. She came from Switzerland to work at Entox and is looking for a place to live. We needed to grocery shopping so we walked through West End to Coles. I tried again to get money since I still had no cash and my atm card from the US would not work. I checked my Australian account and I got paid! So now I finally have money and can at last buy things like a new phone card, hair dye, and Shout. Anita can cook very well, luckily for me. I’m saved from eating nothing but grilled cheese and ramen noodles. We walked back carrying the groceries, one heavy bag, but it’s not too far to Beate’s house.

After eating a bit of lunch, we wanted to take the CityCat, the city ferry boats, down the river to the Queensland University campus at St. Lucia. Here for transportation, instead of buying a ticket, you can use a Go card. You put money on it and swipe on and off at these electronic pads on buses, trains, and ferries. I love boats! I’ve only ridden on boats a couple times, but it was so exhilarating to stand at the prow, feeling the speed, with the wind whipping by.

My hair became a mess though. In the open stretches where we drove quickly, I was glad to have my sunglasses on, though on the way back at dusk, my contacts protected my eyes so no tears from the wind.

We strolled around the campus, first by the two ponds, then through all the buildings. At the pond’s edge, I was looking into the water, where some ducks and ibises had just been fed, and saw the water writhing. I thought at first there were large fishes moving, but no, it was a bunch of eels!

Apparently it’s normal to find eels in ponds here. They have a separate building for every major it seemed! There were at least five engineering buildings. The chemistry building looked pretty nice and there was an amazing courtyard area with great structural design.

I loved how everywhere you have these outdoor cafes. What was really cool to see, were outlets outside on these little tables. You could plug in your laptop! Even an engineering building was open to the outside.

I guess with no super cold weather, it works.

We walked back through the city a bit and as it was getting late, everything was lit up.

At this point my camera ran out of batteries though so I’m definitely planning on going back at nighttime! I’ve discovered that I actually like living next to a big city.

I’m really enjoying myself in Brisbane, and I’m already dreading the time when I have to go home. I’ve met such nice, awesome people here who I don’t want to lose contact with. And most of all, I don’t want to go back to boring school with lectures and homework, and no labs. I like the practical side of science. I’m already plotting how to make it back, either with study abroad, doing my master’s or PhD here, or maybe working here someday.

Days 13-19

Pondering: Thoughts During Passage of Time

So I’m riding the bus now to work a bit until Beate comes back from vacation. I did ride with a coworker, Miroslava, but she’s taking a couple days off. Bus riding isn’t that bad. The 120 buses, I ride, come pretty often, every ten minutes, and they have this cool thing called a busway here. It’s like an interstate, where you drive fast, but it’s only for buses, no cars allowed.

The other day in a bus, I saw a sign that said no spitting allowed. Offenders will be prosecuted and that bus operators are equipped with DNA testing kits. I just found this hilarious, to be able to spend so much time and money on testing for finding someone who spat in the bus.

Doing stuff in the lab is as fun as ever even though I feel like I make quite a few mistakes. Oh well, I’m learning and it’s all part of the process. It’s cool though to realize that you are understanding more and learning the steps to certain bioassays.

I’m beginning to feel at home here, with the left handed streets, it’s going to be bad trying to adjust back in the US especially since I’m supposed to drive back to school two days after I get home! That’s like asking for an accident.

The money here is part plastic. It feels smoother and is nearly impossible tear. It’s a great idea to lower the wear and tear that bills go through by doing this. The money is really colorful too! Gorgeous, I’ll try and post some pics of it sometime. The coins are confusing to me!

Day 12

When Beate called up to Isabel telling her breakfast was ready, I awoke as well. I spent some time on the computer and cleaning before heading off on my excursion into the city. I had planned to visit the City Botanical Gardens across the river. I walked through South Bank Park (which you’ve seen lots of photos of) by the river. There were considerably more people about since it was the weekend. I headed along the Arbor (curly, spiral metal structure with flowers) towards the pedestrian bridge. I crossed completely to the other side, to begin walking through the Gardens.

The first section I happened upon was the mangrove, filled with white and grey mangrove trees, birds, waves from the water, and a slight smell in the air that reminded me of the ocean despite the lack of salt.

There was a boardwalk over the water and it was comfortable to sit there on a bench with my eyes closed just listening. The tide was going out, so you could see all the wet sand with the baby mangrove shoots popping through. I could see sailboats on the river, kayakers, and the huge stone cliffs on the opposite side. Instead of sticking to the path directly along the river, I headed up the stairs, picking a wooded path. It was on a dirt trail, with all sorts of tropical trees around me.

I ended exiting on a huge lawn next to two small ponds with ducks and a statue. Crossing the lawn I proceeded to walk through a bamboo alley, and then to the other end of the park admiring the huge, green trees, flowers, and palms.

Near the entrance that leads straight into the heart of the city, there were larger ponds with huge fountains shooting directly up into the air, about 14 ft tall. I got sprayed with some mist.

There were lots of birds around, plenty of ibises (the white and black bird from an earlier post). I saw my first wild kookaburra, the first I saw at Lone Pine.

I exited the park and walked past the QUT campus, Queensland University of Technology, the Parliament:

and the Old Government House.

There are a lot of universities here; I walked past Southbank Technology on my way home.

I cannot put into words the great joy I felt at seeing all this natural beauty. I love nature with all my existence, simply put, it makes me incredibly happy. On the way back through the park I walked by the river and headed into the mangrove again, to sit there eating an apple.

I headed back across the river to South Bank and lay down on the beach. It was warmer in the sun, I still had a short sleeved sweater on and rolled up long pants, but some people were swimming. I stuck my toes in the chilly water. I spent nearly an hour there, just daydreaming, before heading back.