Brissy culture

The last week and a bit has been a whirlwind of events with saying goodbye to my mom, moving into my place and Orientation Week at the university. Moving couldn’t have gone smoother with Jenny driving everything over for me. After three years of university I have finally realized my dream of living within walking distance to school. I have to admit that I felt a bit homesick on that first night on my own. Luckily O Week was just around the corner and I could finally meet some friends. I have to say I was really glad for the week long orientation period here because it allowed me to have enough time to absorb all the information given before jumping right into classes. On Monday we had an exchange/study abroad welcome and I couldn’t believe how many of us there were. There is even a club (QUEST) just dedicated to us. That night we had our introduction to Australian nightlife with a party organized by QUEST. It really is so much easier to talk to people here. Meeting people all over the world and talking and laughing over our cultural similarities and differences is definitely one of the best parts of traveling. A friend once told me that Canadians are polite while Australians are friendly, and I think I finally sort of understand what that means. People have offered to walk me to my destination the many times that I've asked for directions, and once when it was pouring rain and I forgot my umbrella, two girls came up to me and asked if I wanted to take one of theirs.

Wednesday of O Week was Market Day which is very much like Club’s Day back home, the difference being everything was outside. It was quite the sight with stalls lining up around the entire Great Court and beyond, and very difficult to resist the temptation to sign up for everything.

 

In terms of the amount of free swag given, Market Day definitely trumps UBC. So far, I’ve joined QUEST (a must-do for any exchange student to UQ!), a volunteering organization called The Bridge, and the UQ Triads (Triathlon and Adventure Racing Club), which I dived right into at 5:30am the next morning.  I don’t know how I managed to get up at 4:45 but it was definitely worth the beautiful ride that we did. You won’t believe how many other crazy people get up to ride bikes at the crack of dawn. I think Australians though are generally early birds because most people are out and about by 7. This also means that many shops close fairly early around 5pm. On the same note, I’m still waking up around 6 everyday despite sleeping at 1 or 2am the last few days. The strangest thing is that I don’t really feel tired at any point of the day, which is awesome because I think sleep is kind of like a waste of time anyhow.

The rest of last week was filled with another trip to the Gold Coast (although the weather wasn’t too great this time and the beach was even closed for swimming due to the high tides), visit to the West End markets (farm markets are my favourites!), a pub crawl and more exploration of the Brisbane area. I also tried sushi train for the first time! On Sunday I went with a friend from Sweden on our own little Tour de Brisbane. We went to Eagle Street pier, the Botanic Gardens and Queensland Police museum before finishing the day with some clothes shopping at Queen St. Mall. We have decided that the Citycat, which is a catamaran ferry that goes back and forth along the Brisbane River, is our favourite mode of transportation, so much so that we went past our stop just so we can get more time on the boat (it may or may not have been an accident). It honestly feels more like a cruise than a transportation tool.   

On the Victoria Bridge with Southbank lit up in the background

On the Citycat overlooking New Farm and the Story Bridge, which people climb on

Scrap metal kangaroos

This Monday was the first day of classes and I cut open a read dead human body in my first class! Okay, we only reflected the skin that day, but it wasn't nearly as spooky as I'd imagined it and  I am looking forward to opening up the body in the upcoming weeks!
Classes here are pretty similar to UBC with almost everything conducted electronically. One difference that I've noticed though is that they are usually taught by multiple lecturers throughout the semester, which allows students to truly learn from experts in their respective areas of study. Another wonderful thing is that all the lectures are recorded. Excited for an awesome semester!

To Melbourne and back

Given that it is raining (side note: when it rains here it pours buckets and puts Vancouver's rain to shame) and way too stuffy to venture comfortably outside, I will take the time to catch up on the blogosphere.

Returned earlier this week from a too short four day trip to Melbourne to visit an old friend of my mom. As it was Chinese New Year's eve when we arrived, we had a big dinner with many friends of the people that we were staying with. This I think was the first time that I'd celebrated CNY with so many other people since leaving China. Who would have known that it would be in Australia?

The next day we went on a group tour to Phillip Island, where the priceless highlight was watching little penguins waddle up from the ocean to their homes in the sand dunes. At only about 33cm tall, these penguins are the smallest of the species. They return every night around sunset so we had to wait until about 9:15pm (with DST in Victoria, it stays light very long). Unfortunately cameras are forbidden because the flash hurts their eyes but this is what they look like :

Little Penguins

 The most interesting thing is that they always walk in groups of at least 2; if one falls behind, the entire group will stop or turn around so nobody gets left alone. And they take the exact same path up to the sand dunes every day.
Also on Phillip Island, we stopped at a chocolate factory where I made my own strawberry and vegemite (which by the way, is the weirdest thing I've ever tasted) flavoured chocolate, and at Cowes, a beautiful little beach town with miles and miles perfect sand awesome for beachcombing.

Dubbed the "cultural capital of Australia," Melbourne itself bears a lot of resemblance to European cities. It is home to a number of heritage buildings from the 19th century (such as the Royal Exhibition Building), art galleries and museums, and operates the largest tram network in the world.

 

Riding in the tram in the heart of the City

  After returning to Brisbane, my mom had two more days in Australia and we spent one of them taking the ferry across Moreton Bay to spend the day at Tangalooma Resort on Moreton Island, the third largest sand island in the world. Unfortunately the desert safari and sandboarding activity that we had initially wanted to do was cancelled due to rain, so I went swimming/snorkeling to explore the Tangalooma shipwrecks, a collection of vessels that were deliberately sunk to provide a breakwall and dive/snorkle site, instead. Turned out to be a great decision because I got some awesome views fish around the wrecks, which has turned into an artificial reef. I also swam alongside a stingray and a humongous turtle. In addition, multiple times I've popped my head up and seen a large black fin emerge out of the water (which could have been a shark for all that I know), and another instance I almost made contact with a blue jellyfish, which made me realize that I was most definitely trespassing in these animals' territory.
Moreton Island is famous for its wild dolphin feeding program, where 5-10 bottlenose dolphins come to the island everyday after sunset (sort of similar to the Penguin Parade at Phillip Island) and visitors are able to handfeed them for a fee. That night, we had almost given up on waiting and was about to board the return ferry, when the dolphins came, almost like out of nowhere, more than 1.5 hours after the predicted time. It was quite a spectacle watching them porpoise towards the shore and two of them even brought their calves!

Tangalooma Wrecks off in the distance

Gold Coast and the real Sunshine Coast

Yesterday Jenny took us to Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast for our first beach day in Australia. It is very important to swim between the flags on the beaches here in Australia because there are often dangerous strong rips that can drag you quite far away from the shore in a matter of seconds. I went for a swim and tried bodysurfing. We finished the day by going on a little hike in Noosa National Park and got some wonderful views of the coastline upon this viewpoint known as Hell's Gate.

Hell's Gate

Today we visited this tropical fruit plantation which had the world's largest variety of tropical fruits just across the New South Wales border. On the tractor tour through the plantation we saw trees bearing fruits which we'd never heard of, such as custard apple, black sapote, babuco and sapodilla. The best part was being able to taste a large selection of these fruits picked straight off the tree. It was also very interesting to see where more common things like avocados, mangoes, macadamia nuts come from.


Miracle fruit, so called because they change the sensation of your taste buds.

 On the way back, we took the scenic route along the beach and stopped in Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast. As soon as I saw the waves, I understood why they named it that. It was a lot of fun just to be tossed around by the waves and I could have stayed in the waters the entire day if there was more time. I also caught sight of some hardcore Ironwomen training for their race tomorrow, which is not a triathlon but a life surfing competition consisting of ski, board, swim and run legs.


Gold Coast

Off to Melbourne tomorrow!

Sunburnt and embracing the life of a tourist

I apologize for not updating sooner as these few days have been a bit crazy with a lot of running around to get some essential errands done with sightseeing in between. Bought a used road bike yesterday and finally secured a place to live today! From all the walking around, I've come to learn that Brisbane is extremely hilly and none of the streets are straight which makes it very easy to get lost.

Currently we're staying in this place called North Lakes which is a neat and quiet residential suburb on the outskirts of Brisbane city with hosts Jenny and Dave who have been wonderful in getting us everything we need.

Here are just a few things that I love about Brisbane so far:

• The long days. It's light from about 5 each morning which makes waking up a million times easier. I swear there is something about the sun that makes you need less sleep as I've been able to get up without effort at 5:30 every morning despite going to bed at the same times that I normally do.
• The different little suburbs and how each has its own style. For example, the city (what we would call downtown) area has the metropolitan buzz with all the shopping arcades and glittering windows, but  right next to it is an area called Paddington which is filled with these quaint little antique shops that occupy what were once cottages that people lived in.
• The diverse wildlife in urban areas, such as brush turkeys, magpies, geckos, cormorants, snakes... I haven't seen any wild kangaroos or koalas despite the numerous signs but I'm watching carefully and you will be the first to know once I do.
• Did I mention the sun yet?

 
Today we went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where they have many of the animals that are native to Australia like wombats, koalas, Tasmanian devils and of course kangaroos. Did you know that kangaroo youngs are called joeys? I paid $16 to hug a koala for like 20 seconds but it was so fuzzy and cute and worth it! We also went to an area called South Bank, site of the World Expo in 1988, across from the city where there is a beautiful riverfront promenade. Situated along it are, amongst many other things, a mini rain forest, a manmade beach, and the Wheel of Brisbane.



Sleepy koala



Streets Beach

I went to the university campus two days ago to get some school stuff sorted out. Walking around in circles with a map in hand definitely made me feel like a first year again. The campus itself is beautiful though. My favourite part is the Great Court which has these distinctive sandstone columns that surround a grassfield.

Uni

My first run in Australia turned out to be a race (sort of)! As I was running around Lake Eden (in the middle of North Lakes) early last Saturday morning, I noticed a group of runners gathered around a tent. Turned out that it was the North Lakes Park Run, which is a free weekly 5km timed run open to every and anyone. Park Runs are a great idea because they bring the simplicity back into running, without all the expensive frills of shirts, medals, etc. I am surprised there are none in Canada yet. Anyways, despite the 5k being extremely painful and the slowest I'd ever done (having come from running in 4 degree weather to 34 degrees) I still somehow came in third amongst all the women.

Some Australian lingo that I've picked up:
chemist = pharmacy
trading hours = opening hours
capsicum = bell pepper

It is very strange being on the other side of the road. Too many instances have occurred where I almost walk into people because I stand in their way or try to pass on the wrong side. Today when I went for a bike ride there was one moment where I forgot to stay left and almost ran into an incoming car.

Oh and in case you were wondering about the floods, nothing has happened since I arrived and nowhere that I went did I see any evidence of flood damage.