G’day!
A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks! I’ve been settling into life at “Uni”- I actually had to read some stuff this week, and I’ve already spent an evening in the library (gasp!). But don’t worry, nothing too straining…
Two weekends ago, I went with some American friends to the Gold Coast. This is the big, built up coast south of Brisbane. I’d say it reminded me of Miami, but I’ve never been to Miami. So I guess the Gold Coast reminded me of what I imagine
Miami would look like. Anyway… the first night we stayed in Surfer’s Paradise. This was a “must do” for all tourists in the Brisbane area, according to the Aussies I talked to. It was very campy and touristy, but had a really nice beach and was easy to get to. We stayed in a hostel called the “Sleeping Inn.” Additional perks to getting to stay at a place with such a clever name as the “Sleeping Inn” included a $5 dinner off the “barbie,” and free entrance into a chic and trendy club called “The Bedroom.” For those of you Sex in the City watchers out there, yes, it was like that one episode- there really were beds that people were sitting on. Except it was in Australia. The night was especially fun we spent it with Anne Gavin and her friends, who we had randomly bumped into earlier in the day. Anne is a friend who I went to elementary school with. We randomly bumped into each other in the LA airport bathroom before we both boarded the same plane to Brisbane. Turns out we’re both at UQ together! (queue: “It’s a Small World”)
Beach at Surfer's Paradise. Anybody been to Miami who could back me up?
Caroline and Anne, my long lost buddy at The Bedroom.
Me and Fabulous Fabian, who we met at the hostel. He was from Germany. Take notice of the bed posts. Also, take notice of the cute new dress I'm wearing ($15!). Well, the strap of the cute new dress.
The next day we went to the beach, which was excellent, though a little crowded between the flags. Then we got on the bus and headed towards our next stop, Coolangatta. Coolangatta is more of a family area, though it’s famous for its good surfing. We were heading there because we had already booked beds at a hostel, planning to watch some big surfing competition that was being held there. There seems to be some dispute over the details but one of two things happened: either 1) we had gotten the weekend wrong, or 2) the competition, which had ended earlier in the week, had ended “early.” (Do surfing competitions do that?). Well, it didn’t really matter because we had an excellent fishy dinner, and the next day the hostel let me take a boogie board out all day- for free! I pretty much got destroyed, (waves good for surfing usually mean death and destruction for all people not on a proper surf board) but all in all it was another happy day on the beach.
Site of our yummy fishy dinner.
One of the two trains and three buses we took to get back to school.
Last weekend, I went on a field trip with my Marine Biology class. They took us up to a research station on Northern Stradbroke Island (lovingly referred to here as “Straddie.”). The island is an hour by ferry off the coast, and is made entirely of sand, except for some big rocky cliffs on the northern most part. On Saturday I spent most of the day working on a project about hermit crabs. This involved running around the beach, looking underneath rocks for hermit crabs, and measuring the shells they live in. Needless to say, I had a blast. Then, on Sunday, they took us to the famous Lookout Point (the rocky cliff part). It was AMAZING. We saw a manta ray (!), two turtles (!!), and a pod of dolphins (!!!). The water was so clear that we could make them out really well, even from a cliff. Then we went worm hunting by using rotting fish as bait to lure 8-foot long worms out of the sand. I couldn’t decide how much of me was disgusted and how much of me thought it was cool. I think “cool” won out in the end.
Ferry to "Straddie."
Hermit crab territory.
Some other students doing something. Taken from a sandbar we walked to all the way to from the mainland.
Me holding a probably unhappy soldier crab (not a hermit crab). All of a sudden billions of them crawled out of the sandbar and went crazy. There were so many of them, you could hear the collective clicks on the sand of them scurrying around.
Awesome view of the beach at Stradbroke from the hike to Lookout Point.
Lookout Point.
The dolphins are behind me (just pretend you can see them)!
So, that’s the big stuff that’s been happening the last couple of weeks. This weekend, I’m looking forward to “Duch Bowls,” which is where everyone in my college dresses up in white granny outfits and goes lawn bowling. My Aussie friends are taking me “op-shopping” (thrifting) this weekend for an outfit. That’s all until next time!
Cheers!
