"Free" weekend

8.29.10

Well,

This week was a bit uneventful. I had my classes like normal and rehearsal. Friday night I went to the ABC Symphony Australia’s 2010 Young Performers Award. This was a free concert. The concert hall was a bit smaller than I expected, but it was still not very full. The concert consisted of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30; Ross Edwards’s Clarinet Concerto, in one movement: Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14; and Zoltàn Kodàly’s Dances of Galànta. Three were the three finalists competing for the award and the fourth was an additional piece conducted by a guest conductor while the judges made their decision. The winner was Oliver She, the pianist and that’s who I thought should have won as well. The most exciting part o this was that it was broadcast live on ABC radio and videoed for broadcast on Sunday, October 31^st.

On Saturday, I went to the museum in Southbank. This was also free, which was nice. It had 4 floors, on the first floor, they had a kid’s science centre; the second floor had some historical and pioneer-y type things and exhibit of marine animals; the third floor was the “Australia Museum Zoo,” they had tons of animals, birds, reptiles, and bugs on display; the fourth floor had an Aboriginal exhibit. It took about an hour and a half to get through everything. Then we walked around south bank for a while. I finally saw the man-made beach there, and we walked through a little open market type place. After that we headed into the city to grab lunch at the Irish pub there.

On Sunday, I locked myself out of my room for the first time since I have been here (6.5 weeks). I went to go brush my teeth and left my keys on my bed. After wandering around for an hour or so, I finally found someone that could let me in. I now have some papers due in some of my classes so that will be my task in the coming days.

Moreton Bay Research Station

8.23.10

Well,

Last week was not too exciting. I had class and started to get a little sick but only had symptoms and never really had a bug or anything. This was the first week I had my complete schedule with lectures and tutorials. I definitely like how my schedule has turned out.

Over the weekend, I had a field trip to the Moreton Bay Research Station on North Stradbroke Island. Unfortunately, it poured on the first day. We met at 7:30am to board the bus at the campus bus stop. There were 47 of us total. After about a 45 minutes ride we got to the ferry station. This was the first time I rode a ferry that carries vehicles. I was expecting to have to unload everything and transfer but we just chilled on the bus and at the little café they had. After that the bus drove a little further to the research station. After a 20 minute orientation and introduction, we found groups and moved into our rooms. I was in room 4 with 7 other people. The room was basically big enough for 4 sets of bunk beds and a little room between them to walk. Then we met for morning tea, a briefing, and broke into groups to meet our tutors. We then took a trip out to the beach to see what animals we could find and just explore the area we had so that we could do a research project on Saturday. After about 25-30 minutes I was drenched. We saw tons of crabs, oysters, an eel, and some sponges. Then it was lunch time. After lunch, another briefing and then out to do a “seine net activity.” A seine net is a large net where you go out into the water and create like a U starting at the bottom and then once getting to the shore make it into an O. I was one of 8 people picked to go out and actually pull the net. The bottom of the net has weights on it that have to be pulled along the sand so the fish don’t escape so we had to drag our feet. It took about 20 minutes to go out and pull it back in. We caught 2 sting rays and a bunch of fish. We let all of them go since the point was to observe and not keep. Then we headed back to the station for afternoon tea. Since now we have seen what we can do and where we can go for our project, we decided what we were going to do. We were broken into 12 groups. My group decided to check species richness under and on the rocks at the rocky shores or sponges (the ones we passed on Friday) and see if rock/sponge size matters, aka bigger rocks have more species on them. This took all the way until dinner. After dinner was the “Aussie Film Fest.” We had the choice of like 15 Australian movies and we picked “Muriel’s Wedding.” We realized that this was a bad choice after watching it for a bit, but still finished it. Then off to bed.

On Saturday we got up bright and early to grab some food before heading to the shores for the project. It was bright and beautiful outside, unlike Friday. First, we did some research to try and figure out where we would find the largest number of sponges. Then we had morning tea and then made the decision to only check rocks. We set out a Transect (and area marked with measuring tape) 10 meters long and 2 meters wide on the rocky shores. We started to pick up rocks and count the number of animals. We measured the size by placing the rocks in a bucket filled with water and measured the displacement of the water. We were out for over an hour and a half and checked 32 rocks of different sizes. We then collected everything and grab some lunch and headed back to the computer lab to do more research and get our PowerPoint ready for the presentation that night. We worked from after lunch until dinner, with a break for afternoon tea. After dinner we did our presentations. All 12 groups presented and we were there for about 2 and a half hours sitting and listening. Afterwards, I was exhausted and went straight to bed.

7am Sunday morning was breakfast. After breakfast we packed up and cleaned the station before we left to Point Lookout. Point Lookout is a lookout over the ocean with huge rocks and it was gorgeous. I took tons of pictures. After that we headed to get some gelato. I had lime and coffee (two different scoops, not mixed). It was really good. Once we all ate that we walked along the beach to get over to Cylinder Beach. This was the beach where it was safe to swim and I certainly did. We spent 2 hours there and then headed back to the ferry to come back to campus. Once back I had some dinner and crashed.

It was a very fun and work filled weekend. I am glad that I don’t miss morning and afternoon tea, but I do miss the little snacks (cookies, cake, biscuits) that accompanied the tea. I am not looking forward to the write-up I have to do for the project but it’s for class so I have to do it. I am very happy to be back in my room that I am not sharing with anyone.

Week 3

8.16.10

Well,

I have actually been doing a lot recently. Last week I essentially had a 5 day weekend. I had regular days on Monday and Tuesday and then Wednesday was the Ekka. The Ekka is “The Exhibition.” This agricultural showcase started in 1876. It has turned into a public holiday and was basically a state fair on steroids. There were tons of exhibition halls with different types of conventions in them. One was boats, RV’s, and campers; another was quilts; they had one for community service and joining; and one with food. It was ridiculous. That’s only the indoor part. Outside they had tons of tents with food or pamphlets. And on top of that they had livestock ranging from cows (including a show on milking), birds, llamas, reptiles. And they had horse racing, horse jumping, a monster truck show, wool shearing contests, size contests…it was ridiculous. That was only half of it. The other half consisted of an amusement park. And not just a small one with a few rides, but a regular sized amusement park with roller coasters, a log ride, carnival games, and more food. The entire park had like four Ferris wheels, too. I was absolutely shocked at how much stuff this place had. While there, I had to get food so I got a Dagwood Dog. This is basically a huge corn dog covered in tomato sauce; it was good.

Then Thursday came and that was the day I was having lunch at the head table with the Head Master of King’s. There were 7 international students, the Head Master and two other guys from the office at King’s. We were served a two course meal consisting of some kind of soup and salmon. The food was delicious. It was strange sitting at the high table while everyone else was eating at the regular tables in the dining hall. But once we started eating and talking I didn’t really notice.

Saturday, John and I headed down to the Gold Coast. Being the tourists we are, we took huge backpacks that could carry all of our stuff like sunscreen, towels, flip-flops, etc. Once we got there, after an hour and a half train and bus ride, we realized that having the backpacks were a bad idea. The gold coast is a very large city that sits on the coast. The place we went, specifically, was Surfer’s Paradise. They had areas on the beach for swimming and surfing and it was fairly packed but not as packed as it will be as the weather gets warmer. We also went to the top of the Q1 building. This is the tallest residential building and 20^th tallest building in the world. We were on the “Q-Deck” which was the 77^th floor of the building. Thankfully, it was a clear day so we could see from one end of the beach to the other and miles into Queensland; I think I took a picture of Brisbane but I am not sure. They also had a bar up there and I would love to go back at night but I would have to be dressed a little better than t-shirt and cargo shirts, along with a massive backpack. Before heading back o the beach, we walked around all the shops and mall type area that they have right at the beach. I was upset right when we arrived because I puller my sunglasses out and they broke upon being opened. Thus I was in search of new sunglasses, and what better place than the beach. After finding sun glasses, it was time for the beach. The water was still fairly chilly but swimmable. We didn’t swim but did walk so our feet got wet which was entertaining and scary when random high waves would come and freak us out. And after sitting for a bit we headed back to Brisbane.

Then, on Sunday, I headed to an AFL (Australian Football League) game. There is an international group on campus called QUEST (Queensland University Exchange Student Society). They organized a group to go to the AFL game. I sat 12 rows from the field and one section off to the side of the posts. The game was between the Brisbane Lions and the Adelaide Crows. I didn’t realize how fast paced AFL games are. I had seen rugby games on TV before, but this is nothing like that. I am not going to go into detail since I am still not completely sure about rules but I am getting there. Unfortunately, Brisbane lost 97-104. After the game, the field becomes open to the public and there is a mad dash out to it. Everyone seems to be kicked or handballing back and forth. It seemed hectic and I was afraid of getting hit in the head with a rogue ball. Luckily, I did not. While there, I did buy myself a football since I don’t know if I will be going back to a game. I hope I do, I had a lot of fun.

Whale!

8.8.10

Well,

Week two is finally done. I am getting ready to start tutorials. My first one will be in World Religions on Monday.

Over the weekend, I was fairly busy. I ventured again to the Indooroopilly mall in search of a few things. I was successful in buying another outlet converter and some waterproof disposable cameras. I was there for like 2-3 hours just finding m way around and getting used to what was there. They have inclined moving walkways called travelators. I really like them.

On Saturday I headed down to Byron Bay with Kirsten to go whale watching. The bus left the city at 8am and arrived at Byron bay at 10am. This gave us around an hour and a half to walk around and check out the area before meeting at the whale watching place. There were tons of little shops and restaurants for about a four block stretch leading out to Byron Bay. We stopped at the beach and watched the ocean for a little bit. This was the first time I saw the ocean after landing in Australia. At 11:30am we got to the whale watching place, called Byron Bay Whale Watching. After getting fitted with spray coats and lockers for valuables, we headed out to the bay. Once there, our group of about 12 people boarded a small boat and we headed to find some whales. About 10 minutes in, our guide Rob, spotted a blow and we headed towards it. Unfortunately we lost that whale but found another and followed it for a little bit. We ended up fairly far from the beach and since the East Australian Current (EAC) was fairly strong, the waters were fairly choppy and rough. Fortunately, I took some motion sickness pills before headed onto the water so I wasn’t getting very sick. Then we managed to pass a couple more whales and saw a few up close blows and tails. Then we headed back towards Julian Rock. Here we saw a lot of birds on the rock and a few turtles (YAY!) swimming around. After that we headed back to be let off so another group could board and find some whales. On the way back we saw a fairly large jelly fish. Once we finally got back to the shop we gave back the coats and were off. It was about 3pm and we had about an hour before we had to grab the bus back to Brisbane. We grabbed some subway and walked around a little more before getting on the bus. We left Byron Bay at 4pm and got back to Brisbane at 6pm and both of us slept basically the entire ride back. Once we got back to campus, we parted ways and I got dinner at a sushi restaurant in the Vil. It was tasty and will probably being going back there to get more.

Now it’s time to get ready for week 3.

Weekend adventures 1

8.2.10

Well,

This past weekend was a very exciting one. I was able to make my way out to Beerwah to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo with Kirsten (from DU). To get there, it was a 20 minutes bus ride and just over an hour train ride. Once we got to Beerwah, we had a 5 minutes complimentary ride to the zoo where we were told to meet at the bus stop at 2pm, 3pm, or 5pm. At the zoo, there was statues of the Irwin’s, birds of prey, reptiles (including turtles and giant tortoises) , wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, elephants, tigers, red pandas, alligators and of course crocodiles. This is also the location of the Animal Planet Crocoseum. This is where they have the “Wildlife Warriors” show. We went to see it and they had elephants, birds, snakes, and crocs in the show. It was a little disappointing. They also had a place to get food for feeding kangaroos and a place to hold a koala. Since we had already done that at the koala sanctuary, we skipped it. The zoo also had a free shuttle that went around the park because it’s fairly large. At this point we went to lunch and had “America Burger’s.” In Australia, a burger is basically meatloaf on a bun. They also had a wildlife hospital “sneak peek.” Inside they had an operating table and recovery areas. At the point we headed back to the bus stop at 3 so we could get picked up for our train at 3:09. This is when the ‘fun’ began. We found out that the bus driver lied to us and gave us the weekday schedule for busses and not the Saturday schedule. The Saturday schedule was 2:40 or 4:30. The next train was at 6:30 so they were dropping us off at the station 2 hours before the train. We were not about to wait around for 3 and a half hours because the stupid bus driver misinformed us. Luckily, there was a bus that ran straight from the zoo all the way back to Brisbane at 4. So we caught that, had to pay a little extra but had an in-transport movie and got dropped off at a bus station. We managed to get back to campus by 6:15.

Then Sunday came and it was time to recover from a very long day at the zoo. So I slept in and got a late breakfast where I met up with John, one of the Americans on study abroad as well. We decided that we were going to try to do something that afternoon/night. The final decision was go to Mt. Coot-tha. This is one of the places where you can see the entire city. We spent an hour taking photos, and walking around the little shops/restaurants, and on one of the hiking paths. Since it was starting to get dark, we didn’t go far on the path. Unfortunately, the public transportation doesn’t run late enough for us to have gotten night pictures of the city. I am kind of upset about that since I love seeing cities at night. Hopefully, I will get back up there with someone who has a car so I can stay after sunset and take pictures.

Now it is time to get back to work at school for week number 2.