This is what it looked like out my window for about 15 minutes this evening....!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Whitsundays!
Hello again! I know some of you have been eagerly awaiting my next update...and here it is!!
First of all, I'll thank those wonderful people who were kind enough to send me a little something for Easter :o) It made it feel more like a holiday, and it was great to get my first packages in the mail! So, THANKS!!
Easter Sunday was also my grandfather's 80th birthday - I couldn't call him due to my travels but was wishing him a happy birthday in my thoughts! As the Aussies say, good on ya Papa!
So, Sunday was the start the exciting sailing trip that I wrote about a few entries ago. I hit the road with my friends Jody, Regan, and Regan's boyfriend Mike, who arrived in Brisbane last week. The four of us met up with Jody's friend Dave, and his friend Val. That made six in our party! We all hopped a JetStar flight up to Proserpine airport, which is the main airport for Airlie Beach. It is the smallest airport I've ever flown into!!! They use a tractor to deliver the luggage, and all around the airport there are kangaroos and wallabies peeking out from the forest. We were booked in at one of the main hostels in Airlie, Beaches, before we departed for the Whitsundays in the morning. Our room was an 8 bed dorm that we shared with a few other travelers who had already been sailing and raved about it.
Jody, Mike, and Regan
The next morning we were up at 7:30 so that we could make it to the marina by 8:30, when our boat Apollo was due to head out. It was so exciting! We got checked in, paid for our stinger suits (more about that later), and made our way down to the boat. They took our shoes before we got on, so we remained barefoot for the entire trip. Apollo was great! The boat is really big - about 80 feet, and painted green and yellow (fitting for the Hollins girl!). Our crew was made up of four people all about 26 or 27 years old. Our dive instructor was Harry, the deckhand was Evy, our cook was named Ryan, and the skipper was Heidi. It was pretty cool to have a woman in charge of the whole situation! There were 26 passengers in total, with people from Canada, Ireland, the UK, and Switzerland.
When we first boarded the boat we were allowed to go downstairs and pick out our sleeping spots - there are several single beds located at the front of the ship, with a number of doubles towards the back. Jody and I were the first ones in the back of the boat, and for some reason we chose the double bed with the LEAST amount of space! The pic is of Jody demonstrating what little room there was underneath the ledge that took up about 1/2 of our sleeping space.
We headed out towards the islands and into some beautiful weather, and Heidi didn't waste any time raising the sails! It was really fun - they had us all sit on the high side of the boat, because it leans so much when it's under sail. It really gets going, and the waves crash against it - I got totally soaked in the first five minutes! We scooted along towards Hook Island, where we ran into some momentary rain showers, which would be the only wet weather we'd run into the whole trip. Our crew told us over and over that the weather in the Whitsundays has been absolutely horrible for the last two months, and the weather we had for our trip was the nicest it's been in a long time. We must have brought it with us :o)
We made our way between Hook Island and Whitsunday Island to anchor at Turtle Bay, which, as the name suggests, is a protected area for sea turtles. Evy took us to shore in the dingy and sure enough, we motored by a huge turtle coming up for air.
sailing out towards Hook Island
Turtle Bay is directly opposite Whitehaven Beach, the amazing white sand beach that I mentioned in my previous post. Evy told us that people say the sand here, which is 98% silica, is formed from two tectonic plates that are rubbing together under the water nearby. From the little beach at Turtle Bay we had to make our way across a tiny peninsula via a steep path surrounded by dense jungle. It was so wild! There is a lookout over Whitehaven Beach that we hiked to first, where you suddenly break out of the forest into this amazing clearing. The view was incredible!
Jody heading up the jungle path
me with Tongue Point in the background
Hill Inlet
Tongue Point, Whitehaven Beach, and Hill Inlet
Tongue Point looking towards Hill Inlet and the the rest of Whitsunday Island
We made our way down to the beach and took a few silly pictures before getting down to business...
Everyone in the Whitsundays is supposed to wear a stinger suit (wet suit) when they enter the water as protection from...stingers! There are loads of jellyfish here, but the ones to be really concerned about are the Box Jellyfish. Those guys will kill you :o) Lucky for us, they are most abundant in the summer months and weren't really a concern for us. We still wore our suits.
We got in the water and played around for awhile. The sand at this beach stretches out for hundreds of feet, so it's shallow for a really far distance. This makes the surf very calm, which makes it easy to just float around in a couple feet of water and enjoy the view. The water is so warm, and the sand is the softest sand I've ever experienced! After rolling around in the waves some Jody and I explored these rocks and took a few more pictures...
We spent about 2 1/2 hours at the beach, and then headed back to Turtle Bay where Evy picked us up and brought us back to Apollo. We set sail, and headed back the way we came. After about 40 minutes of sailing we began to pass a really tiny island called Dumbell Island. What happened next was by far the highlight of my trip!
This little island is really rocky and steep, and covered in really tall pine trees. It was very quiet and peaceful as we sailed by, until Evy went to the back of the boat and started whistling really long, loud whistles. We all immediately heard something call back to him, like there was a man standing at the top of the island mimicking his sounds! He kept at it, and when we were almost past the island two huge birds suddenly appeared and slowly circled downwards toward the boat. They were a pair of white-bellied sea eagles, and it was absolutely jaw dropping to watch them fly down to us. Adult sea eagles can grow to be 1 meter in height and have a wingspan of over 2 meters. These were the biggest flying things I've ever seen. Evy looked at us and said "they are the souls of old sailors."
He kept calling to them and they circled closer and closer, obviously checking out the boat. Harry ran down below and grabbed two hot dogs, which they took turns throwing high up into the air. Each bird had its chance to swoop down and try to catch the dog mid-air, which brought them extremely close to the boat. Neither one could make the catch, and they eventually picked them out of the water and flew back to the top of their island. It was spectacular! I'm sure my mouth was hanging completely open by the end.
By this time we had met up with another boat called Siska, which is staffed by friends of our crew. We sailed side-by-side back over towards Hook Island where we watched the sun set and anchored for the night in one of the coves.
The next morning we set sail and headed around Hook Island and up to Hayman Island, where we anchored at Blue Pearl Bay. This area is surrounded by lots of reef, so we took all of our snorkel gear and spent a few hours exploring the water. The fish here were so friendly! There were tons of them, and they immediately got in your face when you swam into the water. There were several really beautiful teal colored fish, along with lots of varieties of parrot fish and sergeant majors. After a couple of hours of snorkeling it was my turn to go on my introductory scuba dive with Jody and our dive instructor Harry. It was so cool! We had been swimming for about five minutes when Harry stopped and suddenly out of nowhere this HUGE humphead wrasse appeared! She swam by us and allowed us to stroke her sides - so cool! I brought a disposable camera on the trip with me and hopefully I'll have the underwater pictures to post soon.
Blue Pearl Bay
getting ready for my first scuba!
We eventually got back on Apollo and motored over to Langford Island, where there was more coral and fish to see. I had to put on my floppy hat and shirt because I burned my chest a little at Whitehaven and was trying to be extra careful with it. Luckily that's the only burn I got, and it wasn't bad at all. I applied 30+ sunscreen at least 3 times a day on this trip!
me with Blue Pearl Bay in the background
mainland Australia from Langford Island
The tide started to go out extremely fast so we had to scurry back onto the boat before the reef blocked Evy's way in the dingy. I snapped this picture right before I ventured out into the water to head back to the boat - you can see the very tip of Black Island on the far right, which is where we headed the next morning.
After getting a little cleaned up we were treated to a fancy dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, veggies, roasted pumpkin, and the ever popular garlic bread! It was fantastic after a long day of snorkeling in the water.
me, Val, Jody, Mike and Regan
The next morning we woke up and motored over to Black Island, which is a stone's throw from Langford. This would be our last snorkeling spot, so everyone hurried over to the beach and got right in the water. Black Island was probably the best snorkeling - the coral was plentiful and there was a huge array of fish. I spotted a sea turtle surfacing for air that morning, and a few snorkelers saw him later on in the day. Mike also got to see a sting ray swimming around. I saw lots of the regular fish, plus some really unusual looking parrot fish, and a really funny family of clown fish living in a huge anemone.
the tiny beach at Black Island - the coral starts almost immediately (where the dark water is)
Around noon we climbed back onto the boat and set out for our last sail back to Airlie. This is when I made a huge mistake. At the beginning of our trip Harry showed us his book, otherwise known as the Vegemite book, which held the sign-in sheets for all snorkelers and divers. All boats use these sheets to make sure everyone is accounted for and no one is left alone ala the film "Open Water". I had been really good about it...but this time it completely slipped my mind to sign in!! I came out of the bathroom to Harry, standing before me with a huge spoonful of Vegemite and the rest of the kids laughing at me! Embarassing!!! I couldn't believe I was the only person who forgot to sign in the entire time we were out sailing. Needless to say, I was forced to eat it. I definitely teared up and gagged, but it really wasn't THAT bad! It tastes a lot like a beef bullion paste - very savory and salty. However, I do not understand why people would choose to eat it. Eck.
It was really lovely weather and we had a nice casual trip back. I was so excited to get back to the hostel and shower!! We stayed at Beaches, the same hostel, for the next two nights. On the night that we returned the bar there had tables reserved for our boat so that we could have a little farewell party. It was really fun!
We all spent Thursday recovering from the trip and getting a little shopping done in Airlie Beach. Yesterday we flew back to Brisbane and were greeted by really dark cloudy skies - I miss the Whitsundays already!! I get to spend this weekend catching up on work for school and preparing for my next assignments that are due in a week. I did get my first grades back, however! I found out yesterday that I got a 33.5 out of 41 on my first epidemiology assignment, which put me in the top 25%! Yippie! So far, so good.
First of all, I'll thank those wonderful people who were kind enough to send me a little something for Easter :o) It made it feel more like a holiday, and it was great to get my first packages in the mail! So, THANKS!!
Easter Sunday was also my grandfather's 80th birthday - I couldn't call him due to my travels but was wishing him a happy birthday in my thoughts! As the Aussies say, good on ya Papa!
So, Sunday was the start the exciting sailing trip that I wrote about a few entries ago. I hit the road with my friends Jody, Regan, and Regan's boyfriend Mike, who arrived in Brisbane last week. The four of us met up with Jody's friend Dave, and his friend Val. That made six in our party! We all hopped a JetStar flight up to Proserpine airport, which is the main airport for Airlie Beach. It is the smallest airport I've ever flown into!!! They use a tractor to deliver the luggage, and all around the airport there are kangaroos and wallabies peeking out from the forest. We were booked in at one of the main hostels in Airlie, Beaches, before we departed for the Whitsundays in the morning. Our room was an 8 bed dorm that we shared with a few other travelers who had already been sailing and raved about it.
Jody, Mike, and ReganThe next morning we were up at 7:30 so that we could make it to the marina by 8:30, when our boat Apollo was due to head out. It was so exciting! We got checked in, paid for our stinger suits (more about that later), and made our way down to the boat. They took our shoes before we got on, so we remained barefoot for the entire trip. Apollo was great! The boat is really big - about 80 feet, and painted green and yellow (fitting for the Hollins girl!). Our crew was made up of four people all about 26 or 27 years old. Our dive instructor was Harry, the deckhand was Evy, our cook was named Ryan, and the skipper was Heidi. It was pretty cool to have a woman in charge of the whole situation! There were 26 passengers in total, with people from Canada, Ireland, the UK, and Switzerland.
When we first boarded the boat we were allowed to go downstairs and pick out our sleeping spots - there are several single beds located at the front of the ship, with a number of doubles towards the back. Jody and I were the first ones in the back of the boat, and for some reason we chose the double bed with the LEAST amount of space! The pic is of Jody demonstrating what little room there was underneath the ledge that took up about 1/2 of our sleeping space.
We headed out towards the islands and into some beautiful weather, and Heidi didn't waste any time raising the sails! It was really fun - they had us all sit on the high side of the boat, because it leans so much when it's under sail. It really gets going, and the waves crash against it - I got totally soaked in the first five minutes! We scooted along towards Hook Island, where we ran into some momentary rain showers, which would be the only wet weather we'd run into the whole trip. Our crew told us over and over that the weather in the Whitsundays has been absolutely horrible for the last two months, and the weather we had for our trip was the nicest it's been in a long time. We must have brought it with us :o)
We made our way between Hook Island and Whitsunday Island to anchor at Turtle Bay, which, as the name suggests, is a protected area for sea turtles. Evy took us to shore in the dingy and sure enough, we motored by a huge turtle coming up for air.
sailing out towards Hook IslandTurtle Bay is directly opposite Whitehaven Beach, the amazing white sand beach that I mentioned in my previous post. Evy told us that people say the sand here, which is 98% silica, is formed from two tectonic plates that are rubbing together under the water nearby. From the little beach at Turtle Bay we had to make our way across a tiny peninsula via a steep path surrounded by dense jungle. It was so wild! There is a lookout over Whitehaven Beach that we hiked to first, where you suddenly break out of the forest into this amazing clearing. The view was incredible!
Jody heading up the jungle path
me with Tongue Point in the background
Hill InletTongue Point, Whitehaven Beach, and Hill Inlet
We took it all in for awhile, and then headed down to Tongue Point, which is essentially an extension of Whitehaven Beach. It was wild! The sand is totally different than anything I've felt before. I've read that it is so pure that it's suitable for making the finest glass, such as optical lenses for binoculars. It makes this really interesting sound when you walk across it! I tried to capture it in the video below - you can hear it just before the end of the clip. It sounds kind of like fabric rubbing together.
Tongue Point looking towards Hill Inlet and the the rest of Whitsunday Island
Everyone in the Whitsundays is supposed to wear a stinger suit (wet suit) when they enter the water as protection from...stingers! There are loads of jellyfish here, but the ones to be really concerned about are the Box Jellyfish. Those guys will kill you :o) Lucky for us, they are most abundant in the summer months and weren't really a concern for us. We still wore our suits.
We got in the water and played around for awhile. The sand at this beach stretches out for hundreds of feet, so it's shallow for a really far distance. This makes the surf very calm, which makes it easy to just float around in a couple feet of water and enjoy the view. The water is so warm, and the sand is the softest sand I've ever experienced! After rolling around in the waves some Jody and I explored these rocks and took a few more pictures...
We spent about 2 1/2 hours at the beach, and then headed back to Turtle Bay where Evy picked us up and brought us back to Apollo. We set sail, and headed back the way we came. After about 40 minutes of sailing we began to pass a really tiny island called Dumbell Island. What happened next was by far the highlight of my trip!
This little island is really rocky and steep, and covered in really tall pine trees. It was very quiet and peaceful as we sailed by, until Evy went to the back of the boat and started whistling really long, loud whistles. We all immediately heard something call back to him, like there was a man standing at the top of the island mimicking his sounds! He kept at it, and when we were almost past the island two huge birds suddenly appeared and slowly circled downwards toward the boat. They were a pair of white-bellied sea eagles, and it was absolutely jaw dropping to watch them fly down to us. Adult sea eagles can grow to be 1 meter in height and have a wingspan of over 2 meters. These were the biggest flying things I've ever seen. Evy looked at us and said "they are the souls of old sailors."
He kept calling to them and they circled closer and closer, obviously checking out the boat. Harry ran down below and grabbed two hot dogs, which they took turns throwing high up into the air. Each bird had its chance to swoop down and try to catch the dog mid-air, which brought them extremely close to the boat. Neither one could make the catch, and they eventually picked them out of the water and flew back to the top of their island. It was spectacular! I'm sure my mouth was hanging completely open by the end.
By this time we had met up with another boat called Siska, which is staffed by friends of our crew. We sailed side-by-side back over towards Hook Island where we watched the sun set and anchored for the night in one of the coves.
The next morning we set sail and headed around Hook Island and up to Hayman Island, where we anchored at Blue Pearl Bay. This area is surrounded by lots of reef, so we took all of our snorkel gear and spent a few hours exploring the water. The fish here were so friendly! There were tons of them, and they immediately got in your face when you swam into the water. There were several really beautiful teal colored fish, along with lots of varieties of parrot fish and sergeant majors. After a couple of hours of snorkeling it was my turn to go on my introductory scuba dive with Jody and our dive instructor Harry. It was so cool! We had been swimming for about five minutes when Harry stopped and suddenly out of nowhere this HUGE humphead wrasse appeared! She swam by us and allowed us to stroke her sides - so cool! I brought a disposable camera on the trip with me and hopefully I'll have the underwater pictures to post soon.
Blue Pearl Bay
getting ready for my first scuba!
me with Blue Pearl Bay in the backgroundWhen we got over to Langford we spent a couple more hours snorkeling around - this time the fish were almost nonexistent but the coral was really beautiful!
mainland Australia from Langford IslandThe tide started to go out extremely fast so we had to scurry back onto the boat before the reef blocked Evy's way in the dingy. I snapped this picture right before I ventured out into the water to head back to the boat - you can see the very tip of Black Island on the far right, which is where we headed the next morning.
After getting a little cleaned up we were treated to a fancy dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, veggies, roasted pumpkin, and the ever popular garlic bread! It was fantastic after a long day of snorkeling in the water.
me, Val, Jody, Mike and Regan
The next morning we woke up and motored over to Black Island, which is a stone's throw from Langford. This would be our last snorkeling spot, so everyone hurried over to the beach and got right in the water. Black Island was probably the best snorkeling - the coral was plentiful and there was a huge array of fish. I spotted a sea turtle surfacing for air that morning, and a few snorkelers saw him later on in the day. Mike also got to see a sting ray swimming around. I saw lots of the regular fish, plus some really unusual looking parrot fish, and a really funny family of clown fish living in a huge anemone.
the tiny beach at Black Island - the coral starts almost immediately (where the dark water is)
Around noon we climbed back onto the boat and set out for our last sail back to Airlie. This is when I made a huge mistake. At the beginning of our trip Harry showed us his book, otherwise known as the Vegemite book, which held the sign-in sheets for all snorkelers and divers. All boats use these sheets to make sure everyone is accounted for and no one is left alone ala the film "Open Water". I had been really good about it...but this time it completely slipped my mind to sign in!! I came out of the bathroom to Harry, standing before me with a huge spoonful of Vegemite and the rest of the kids laughing at me! Embarassing!!! I couldn't believe I was the only person who forgot to sign in the entire time we were out sailing. Needless to say, I was forced to eat it. I definitely teared up and gagged, but it really wasn't THAT bad! It tastes a lot like a beef bullion paste - very savory and salty. However, I do not understand why people would choose to eat it. Eck.
It was really lovely weather and we had a nice casual trip back. I was so excited to get back to the hostel and shower!! We stayed at Beaches, the same hostel, for the next two nights. On the night that we returned the bar there had tables reserved for our boat so that we could have a little farewell party. It was really fun!
We all spent Thursday recovering from the trip and getting a little shopping done in Airlie Beach. Yesterday we flew back to Brisbane and were greeted by really dark cloudy skies - I miss the Whitsundays already!! I get to spend this weekend catching up on work for school and preparing for my next assignments that are due in a week. I did get my first grades back, however! I found out yesterday that I got a 33.5 out of 41 on my first epidemiology assignment, which put me in the top 25%! Yippie! So far, so good.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Randy continues to visit...
I think the last time I posted Randy and I had just returned from our adventure at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We went there on Sunday, so Randy still had four full days to experience Brisbane. Monday I took him for a walk across the street and along the Kangaroo Point Cliffs. I know I've talked about these before - they are about 65 feet tall and go on for about 1/4 of a mile. The cliffs are directly across the street from my apartment, so it's easy to access the river by taking a long, steep stairway straight down from here. As we were walking we came upon this guy, a blue tongued lizard, who was hanging out at the top of one of the cliffs. He was really neat!
On Tuesday I made Randy wake up early so that we could catch the train down to Surfer's Paradise to check out the beach. The ride took about an hour, but was well worth it as we got some nice sunny weather:
Wednesday was Randy's 23rd birthday, so I helped him celebrate by fixing some of my special kebabs and taking them across the street to the public grills at the cliffs. Brisbane has all sorts of lovely picnic spots scattered around the city, and there are several places with free gas grills that are for public use. It's great! There are probably 8 of them lining the cliffs, a few really nice ones in Southbank, some on the river at the base of the cliffs, and a few located in and around the city. Australians love to barbecue, which is something I like to do as well! We had a really nice meal and the backdrop was the sun setting behind the city skyline.
Thursday was Randy's last day here and also the day that I had scheduled his real birthday present, a climb over the Story Bridge here in Brisbane. The bridge was finished in 1940, five years after work began on the project. It is 3500 feet in length, and about 240 feet high at its tallest point (that's equal to a 22 story building!). The Story Bridge is one of only 3 bridges in the entire world that is open for the public to climb on, with the other two located in Sydney and Auckland. We were booked in for a night climb, and arrived at about 5:30 to begin. They go through an extensive safety check with climbers which includes a breathalyzer test and a once-over with a metal detector (you aren't allowed to bring ANYTHING up there!). We got all geared up with a jumpsuit, a safety belt, a radio/headset, a little headlamp, and a handkerchief that tucked into our suit. The climb takes about 2 hours, and was fantastic! The weather was perfect and the sun was just sinking out of sight as we got started. By the time we reached the top we could see lots of stars in the sky and were surrounded by the Brisbane skyline. Unfortunately you can only get hard-copies of the pictures they take while you're up there, so this is a picture of my picture! Sorry about the quality, but you get the idea!
After our climb we were starving, so we caught the ferry across the river to the CBD, then caught the CityCat down the river to Southbank, where we had a really great meal at a Chinese place called Obsession. These are a few pics of the city as we motored by:
and, the Story Bridge itself:
I also shot a couple videos on our CityCat ride. The first is just a look at how pretty the skyline is, the second shows you the Kangaroo Point Cliffs as they're lit up at night. I try to show you where my apartment is located in the second video, but I'm totally wrong! Ignore that part!
After dinner we took a nice walk back to my apartment along the arboretum path in Southbank. This is what it looks like lit up at night:
We also passed the Southbank beach, which I don't think I've mentioned on here yet. This is a completely man-made beach that sits just above the river in Southbank. It's actually really nice and tons of people come here every day to play! I haven't gone yet, but I'm sure I will before my time is over. At night there aren't lifeguards, but the water is nice and lit up and people were still splashing around at 10PM.
Randy hopped into a taxi this morning at 4:45AM, and I'm happy to report that I just got a text message from him that said "yay biz class, see you later!" which means that he's made it onto a plane back to San Fransisco. It was great to have my first visitor, and I hope lots of you will show up on my doorstep soon!
On Tuesday I made Randy wake up early so that we could catch the train down to Surfer's Paradise to check out the beach. The ride took about an hour, but was well worth it as we got some nice sunny weather:
Wednesday was Randy's 23rd birthday, so I helped him celebrate by fixing some of my special kebabs and taking them across the street to the public grills at the cliffs. Brisbane has all sorts of lovely picnic spots scattered around the city, and there are several places with free gas grills that are for public use. It's great! There are probably 8 of them lining the cliffs, a few really nice ones in Southbank, some on the river at the base of the cliffs, and a few located in and around the city. Australians love to barbecue, which is something I like to do as well! We had a really nice meal and the backdrop was the sun setting behind the city skyline.Thursday was Randy's last day here and also the day that I had scheduled his real birthday present, a climb over the Story Bridge here in Brisbane. The bridge was finished in 1940, five years after work began on the project. It is 3500 feet in length, and about 240 feet high at its tallest point (that's equal to a 22 story building!). The Story Bridge is one of only 3 bridges in the entire world that is open for the public to climb on, with the other two located in Sydney and Auckland. We were booked in for a night climb, and arrived at about 5:30 to begin. They go through an extensive safety check with climbers which includes a breathalyzer test and a once-over with a metal detector (you aren't allowed to bring ANYTHING up there!). We got all geared up with a jumpsuit, a safety belt, a radio/headset, a little headlamp, and a handkerchief that tucked into our suit. The climb takes about 2 hours, and was fantastic! The weather was perfect and the sun was just sinking out of sight as we got started. By the time we reached the top we could see lots of stars in the sky and were surrounded by the Brisbane skyline. Unfortunately you can only get hard-copies of the pictures they take while you're up there, so this is a picture of my picture! Sorry about the quality, but you get the idea!
After our climb we were starving, so we caught the ferry across the river to the CBD, then caught the CityCat down the river to Southbank, where we had a really great meal at a Chinese place called Obsession. These are a few pics of the city as we motored by:
and, the Story Bridge itself:
I also shot a couple videos on our CityCat ride. The first is just a look at how pretty the skyline is, the second shows you the Kangaroo Point Cliffs as they're lit up at night. I try to show you where my apartment is located in the second video, but I'm totally wrong! Ignore that part!
After dinner we took a nice walk back to my apartment along the arboretum path in Southbank. This is what it looks like lit up at night:
We also passed the Southbank beach, which I don't think I've mentioned on here yet. This is a completely man-made beach that sits just above the river in Southbank. It's actually really nice and tons of people come here every day to play! I haven't gone yet, but I'm sure I will before my time is over. At night there aren't lifeguards, but the water is nice and lit up and people were still splashing around at 10PM.
Randy hopped into a taxi this morning at 4:45AM, and I'm happy to report that I just got a text message from him that said "yay biz class, see you later!" which means that he's made it onto a plane back to San Fransisco. It was great to have my first visitor, and I hope lots of you will show up on my doorstep soon!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Randy's Visit
Friday morning I got a call from my brother Randy letting me know that he'd made it to Sydney and was hopping on an earlier flight up to Brisbane and would arrive around 10AM. He was supposed to get in on Saturday afternoon, so I had to scramble and get some work done before I picked him up! I hopped on the train to the airport and managed to collect him without any troubles. He was feeling great after heading over in business class, so we stopped at my place for a shower and then headed over to Southbank. I showed him around my favorite place here, and then we hopped a CityCat over to the University of Queensland campus so that I could get a few things done there. I think he liked the campus! We took the bus back to the city and poked around Queen Street Mall before heading back to my place for an early dinner and 8PM bedtime.
Saturday morning I took Randy for a little walk down the street to the farmer's market that happens in Woolloongabba every week. We stopped at this cool little cafe, BrownDog Cafe, and had a really great breakfast. This is randy with his breakfast bruschetta:
I got all the fruit and veg i needed for the week, and we headed back to my place. After dropping everything off, I took him across the street, down the Kangaroo Point Cliffs, and over the river on the ferry. We took a walk through the City Botanic Gardens, where he got to see all the little ducklings and my favorite tree that is covered in spiders (that was a big hit).
We hopped a bus over to Fortitude Valley, which sits at the eastern side of the city and is the grungy-yet-hip area of Brisbane. The Valley (as the locals refer to it) is also the location of Chinatown, and another pedestrian mall called Brunswick Street. There is another market run here on the weekends that is really fun to go to. I dragged Randy around for a few hours doing some shopping. The Brunswick Street markets are where all of Brisbane's up-and-coming fashion designers sell their clothing, you can also find jewelry, palm readers, used books, plants, and all kinds of other stuff. I bought a great dress by a designer called Ortarky that I'll be sure to post pictures of later!Today we got up and made the trip out to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary for some more fuzzy bears. Here are a few pictures from the day:
This is one of the emus that roam around the enclosure with the kangaroos and wallabies. They are native to Australia, are similar to the ostrich, and are pretty common here except in the cities. They are really freaky looking up close! 
This bird is called a Cassawory, which is related to ostriches and emus. These birds are endangered species here, with about 1500 thought to be living in the wild. Isn't it crazy that you can be driving in northern Queensland and see one of these on the side of the road?! They are really striking, and the blue in the picture isn't half as bright as it really is. 
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