The Past Month of My Life

Hi Everybody!

Well, it’s been way too long since I wrote on this blog-thingy. Since then, a lot of nothing has happened and also a lot of something has happened. I will start with a lot of nothing:

I wrote three very long research papers. I lounged around in my dorm. I ate lamingtons- a delicious Australian cake that is coated in chocolate and coconut. I took my finals. I found my long lost fleece on the laundry line and jumped up and down in celebration.

Happily, a lot of (more) exciting things also happened.

Right after classes ended, I went with the rest of the Wash U kids on a farm stay about four hours NW of Brisbane. It was on a ridiculously large cattle farm (about 7,500 acres). As it turned out, the most work we had to do was peel the bark off of one felled tree. The rest of the time was spent riding around in the back of our host, Ken’s, pick up truck checking water hole levels, and eating a lot of really good food. I was fine with this.

Since we didn’t have finals for two more weeks after classes ended, some of the American girls and I fit two more trips in before we had to go back to pretending to be students again. The first trip was a three-day stay on Fraser Island, which is an island off the coast of Queensland completely made of sand and famous for its beaches, lakes and rainforests. We signed up for a tour, since all of the driving on the island is intense, off-road driving. Unfortunately, the SE Queensland drought of five years decided to break when we got to the island and we spent the whole time hiking around in a cold rain. Of course, we weren’t going to let a little rain spoil our fun and ended up swimming in one of the lakes anyway. I think this is when I became mildly hypothermic. Luckily for us, we signed up for the “resort” tour and not the camping tour, so we had beds and a hot shower to come back to. And Mexican food. Mexican food was a big hit. Despite the rain, the island was beautiful and I think we all felt very accomplished to have conquered Fraser in the Great Storm of 2007.

Once we got back to Brisbane, we decided we needed another trip to thaw out, so two days later we hopped on a bus to Byron Bay. Best decision EVER. Byron Bay is a backpacker, surfer beach town. It has a cute downtown area with lots of shops, and a gorgeous beach. We spent our time sunning ourselves on the beach, watching people surf, and eating fish and chips. Then, (sadly) I had to leave to take a final.

Since then, I’ve been studying for finals and spending my last few days with all the Australians in my dorm. This past week, I did have one exciting escapade to the Australia Zoo with my friend Alli, an animal extraordinaire and Steve Irwin connoisseur. For those of you who are not aware, the Australia Zoo is the zoo founded by Steve Irwin, and the site of much of the filming of “The Crocodile Hunter.” So, it’s kind of a big deal. It is also the site of the “Crocoseum” where we watched the show Wildlife Warriors 101 (aka the Croc show) with about 500 kids under the age of 10. We also saw river otters, elephants, kangaroos, koalas, and my personal favorite, the echidnas. Possibly the most exciting part of the trip was finding out that tigers are lactose-intolerant, but still love milk. I feel that tigers and I share a special bond now. It was quite an exciting day.

Once I finish my last exam, I’m off to the beach for a week to learn how to surf. That is, if it stops being winter here. After that, I’m taking a field ecology class in the outback. Then, the family gets here for The Great Ratoff Australia Vacation. Hooray!

Hopefully more updates to come, provided I have an internet connection.

Cheers!


Possibly the best rest stop ever.




I think the picture says all that needs to be said.




Mandy, Caroline and Rosie the cow.




Moo.




In front of a tractor that puts the Avodah tractor to shame.




Doing farm work.




Posing with the Fourex man after the Fourex brewary tour. Fourex (XXXX) is the official beer of Queensland. For how much beer Australians drink, I think they could do a little better. The tour itself was fun, and included a Disneyland component (circa 1950) where the audience sits on a turning platform and animitronic people talk to them.




Dingo sighting on Fraser Island!





Ferocious close up. (I think it's yawning).





Lake Wabby: home of my brush with hypothermia.




We were a little sad about the weather...




but tried to stay positive.




Washed up shipwreck.




We were going for a Jack/Rose pose, but it didn't quite work because both Caroline and Alli wanted to be Rose.




Painted sand cliffs.




















Alli, our resident wildlife enthusiast, caught a skink, which is an almost legless lizard. This photo was taken right before the skink vomited something foamy and mysterious all over her hand. Her hand never ended up falling off, so in the end, picking up snake-like creatures still managed to stay in the good idea category.




Hiking in the rainforest.




Alli found an eel in the river.





All we could gather from this sign was that walking with a limp is not allowed on Fraser Island.




It was finally sunny!! (This picture taken an hour before we left). Even so, I decided swimming in Lake Birabeen was not going to be a good idea (it was freezing!).




Apparently picking up snakes was still a good idea though. Why?!




Byron Bay!













Otters at the Australia Zoo.



Tortoise that was brought to Australia in the 1800s from the Galapagos Islands! He was moving quickly for a tortoise that old!




Crocodile show at the "Crocoseum" at Croc-o-clock (11am, apparently).





Steve Irwin memorial.





More kangaroo petting.




I think this one had too much "roo-feed."








Echidna.





Creepy Emu.




Elephants on Parade.




Picture of my room one hour before it was torn apart by a packing frenzy.