Living the dream

I cannot believe that I have been in Australia for almost two months!! Time just flies so quickly, and I can't imagine how I am going to leave because I've just completely fallen in love with this place! There is just so much to do and people are amazing. Let me catch up on what I have been up to these last three weeks.

The first weekend of school was the weekend that I last spent in town. Friday after classes, a few friends and I headed to South Bank for its Lifestyle Market because one of the girls wanted to buy a birthday present for her sister. We just happened to be there for the launch of this Australian Aboriginal festival called Clancestry. We watched part of the opening ceremony which featured the famous didgeridoo blowing and other traditional but modern influenced dances by high school students. Very cool! We finished off the evening by getting dinner at a cafe in West End called the Three Monkeys which is like Rainforest Cafe but better. The entire time that I was sitting there I felt like a monkey or koala was going to climb down the trees inside the restaurant.

That Saturday was the Brisbane International Student Festival in the city of which the mayor made an appearance so I went with a couple of other exchange students to check it out. Unfortunately the weather was horrendous with severe downpour pretty much the entire day. Being an outdoor enthusiast from Vancouver, I've come to accept the rain because where I'm from, you would have to pretty much hibernate for half the year (sometimes more) if you don't want to do anything outside in the rain. It was interesting to see how rain affects those who come from places where it never rains. Nevertheless, we sought shelter from the wetness that afternoon in the Gallery of Modern Art, which ended up being a great idea because they had all these interesting exhibits from Asia. I love that all the museums and galleries here are free (sponsored by the government) because it attracts people like me who usually have minimal interest in arts to come outside of their niche and learn about history and culture.

From garbage to art

That night Jenny and Dave invited me to dinner at this delicious pasta place in the city called Vapianos where you choose your ingredients and the chef cooks your dish right in front of you. Side note, I've noticed that a lot of the restaurants here only have counter service, maybe because tipping is not a custom? Anyways, I loved the little pots of herbs that were on the tables that you can just rip off to put in your pasta.     

Sunday I woke up incredibly sick (although I've been feeling it the entire week), but because I was never one to listen to my body, I went for a run in the morning to the other side of the river looking for the Boggo Street Markets in Dutton Park (which unfortunately was cancelled due to the weather). QUEST was suppose to host a BBQ at noon at a park in St. Lucia but it got changed last minute to a pub lunch at the Fox Hotel in Southbank, so that's where I went and hung out in the afternoon. We finished off the weekend by going to a comedy show (which happens every Sunday!) at the Brisbane Powerhouse in the evening. It was actually really good for something that was free and I definitely plan to go back some time when I'm in town!

Back to school for another four days (technically I have one class on Fridays as well but this is where previous knowledge and lecture recordings come in really handy) and then it's off to Byron Bay with QUEST for the second week of March! (which by the way we lined up for two hours just to get tickets for) The weather has finally decided to settle down earlier that week, sunny skies everyday which is what I came to Australia for! Byron Bay is one awesome place with its hippie vibe and carefree people. Since there are actually no close by (real) beaches in Brisbane, we (a group of other UBC friends who I'd met at the pub crawl plus others) headed straight for the beach, where we would eventually spend more than half of the weekend at, the moment we jumped off the bus. The rest of the weekend was filled with strolls through the eclectic shops in town, attempts to surf in the ginormous waves (probably should have taken a lesson), lots of lazing around in the hammock at our hostel, a walk to the most easterly point of Australia, and appreciable amounts of interaction with goon. A highlight was definitely sleeping under the stars (you won't believe how many there are, you can see the entire Milky Way) on the beach, but unfortunately I was too inebriated to fully appreciate it.

Came all the way around the world to meet friends from the same school!

Went for a long walk at 6am when I couldn't sleep and just in time to catch the sunrise over the Byron lighthouse

Last Friday was our first field trip for the Australia's Terrestrial Environment class. We went to Brisbane Forest Park in the D'aguilar Ranges, which was only about 30min from uni. Our group first went to this wildlife centre called Walkabout Creek where we looked at and learned about many of the wild animals found especially in Queensland, including lungfish, spotted quoil, platypus...  After a morning tea of damper and billy tea (can't get more Australian than this), we spent the rest of the day going on a hike through the woods looking at the differences between eucalyptus forests and rainforests. It was great to have the tutors explain all the flora and fauna to us, and the next time I go on a hike, (which hopefully will be very soon because I haven't done as much as I'd like to!) I will definitely pay more attention to what's around me.

A pedemelon,sort of like a mini kangaroo

This past weekend was the Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival and I decided sort of last minute that I was going to go and check out the action given that I am slightly obsessed with the sport and several of the people in the UQ triathlon club (called Triads) were racing. So on the gorgeous Saturday morning I caught a ride with Julie and her boyfriend, who were spending the weekend in Noosa, up the Sunshine Coast. The weather (sorry Vancouverites who are reading this and facing the rain right now!) could not have been better with not a cloud in the sky. After arriving in Mooloolaba, another beautiful beach town, I went to the festival expo (thinking there might be sales of triathlon gear because I realized that I only brought one cycling jersey, before realizing that their "sale" prices are even more than regular prices in Canada), and then went for a swim in the canal where the swim portion of the race had been relocated to due to the strong surfs in the ocean. Spent two hours in the afternoon watching my first ever live ITU World Cup men's race (unfortunately no Canadians were racing) beside an Australian triathlon geek who would proceed to explain every move that was made by the athletes and would become my personal commentator; it was great!
The next morning I got up pretty early to catch the start of the ITU Oceania Cup and then age group races. Then I went for a standup paddleboard (free courtesy of my hostel!) along the canal with another girl from Germany and our guide from the hostel (who was English-Australian and  had just spent last winter in Canada!) while watching the swimmers in the last of the race waves. Afterwards I spent the longest time bodyboarding (again, free boogie board from the hostel) at the beach. Thoroughly exhausted from cheering and being tossed around by the waves, I headed over to the Triads tent for lunch to hear about how people had done in their races (it was brutally hot in the mid 30s by like 8am, saw quite a few ambulances on the course so I guess even Australians are not that heat acclimatized. I probably would have fainted if I had raced). I found a ride back with another Triad member who, like all of the Australians that I'd met, was so nice and keen to talk and even invited me to her house (well she did need the other guy who she was driving as well to fix something on her bike but still) and gave us drinks. Looking back, I guess this weekend was the longest time that I'd been entirely alone since being in Brisbane and it could not have gone more perfectly!

Winners of the elite men's race

Elite women in T1

 Up the sleeves this weekend is a field trip for Australia's Marine Environment to Straddie (North Stradbroke Island). And then it's three more days before mid-semester break which will entail Sydney (I was mind blown to realize that it was spelled with a "y" and not "i"), Fraser Island, and Heron Island!