Back in Toowoomba after a 6 hour drive from Mitchell! The trip back was a lot better than the trip there because it was rainy on the way there, and today was one of the nicest days! The Outback looks so much more incredible in the sunlight!
It was weird driving in to Toowoomba today... a town that has seemed so small to me in the past seemed so large when entering today and coming from a town of 1,000. I walked to campus to mail a card today, and it seemed like forever since I had been here. The smell of curry that fills The Village filled my nostrils when returning from my walk... something that wasn't very missed.
I do miss Mitchell, and the people, heaps already! Everyone was so incredibly nice and accommodating towards us and I really felt like we were part of their family. I was wicked sad to leave everyone this morning. Mostly because I have a feeling I won't see most of those people ever again, but also because leaving Mitchell signified that it's time to start saying goodbye to people and places that have become so familiar and normal to me. I only have 18 days left in Australia and I already know they are going to go by too fast. I still have so many places I want to see and things to do, and I just don't have the time to do them. I've already made a list of things to do the next time I come.
However, it's time to start studying for finals as I have one Monday and another Wednesday. I'm hoping to go away for a bit next weekend, but we shall see.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Another small town
Mitchell, Queensland! Love it!
When I first found out that I would be going to Mitchell, and even more so after I saw the population on Wikipedia (1,000), I was a little apprehensive about spending two weeks in a town half the size of Bethel. That was, of course, before I met all of the wonderful people from Mitchell. Today marks the week mark of our arrival here.
The nursing quarters that we are staying in are really nice. We have a nice kitchen, nice bathrooms, heaters in our rooms, and a big TV in the living room. The best part may be that it is a 30sec walk to the hospital. The hospital is a small community hospital, but it is rarely quiet. We have four permanent residents which keep us on our toes, as well as various other outpatients that come to the hospital presenting with loads of different problems. Clearly I cannot divulge any of these problems, but I have been getting a proper nursing training. Which I was skeptical of before arriving. The nurses and other staff at the hospital have been so accommodating and incredibly nice since we have arrived. I feel like I've been here for such a long time. It's funny to get back into that small town feel and remember that everyone IS related and everyone DOES know everyone's business.
Mitchell itself is a quaint little town. Being the "Gateway to the Outback" it is very flat and looks a lot like grasslands. There is one main street with two grocery stores, a hardware store, two clothing stores, a butcher, a bakery, and a pharmacy. Most of the corners in town have hotels on them, with bars beneath. The side streets are mainly filled with homes, and a few restaurants or bottle shops. There is also one gas station. :)
Lauren and I had our one day off yesterday (Saturday) and we crammed it full of popular Mitchell activities. We woke up early-ish and went to the Spa. It's called a Spa, but it isn't a spa as we would think of in the US. It is essentially a natural hot-spring pool. The water was right around 100 degrees and it felt so good. There was another pool right next to the hot one that was kept at 70 degrees. Needless to say, I only went in there for the amount of time it took me to jump in and climb out as fast as possible. We felt a little out of place as we slipped into the massive hot tub with twenty other people from Mitchell... who probably all said to themselves: "Who are these people?" Regardless, we hung out for about an hour and a half before going back to the nursing quarters to get ready for the "Pink Bowls!" Now Bowls, or Lawn Bowling, is a popular sport here in Australia and is very similar to Bocce Ball. You stand on a rectangular court with 4 people per team, two bowls (NOT balls - even though they are spherical) per person, and a small white ball called a "Jack" which you are trying to come close to with your balls. Now, this particular game was called "Pink-Bowls" because it was raising money for Breast Cancer Research. Lauren and I were put on a team with two unfortunate, but very friendly and helpful bowls-veterans. I say unfortunate because, had they not had us on their team, the score may not have been 25-2 at the end. I would like to point out that Lauren and I each scored one of those two points that our team had. No big deal. The main difference between Bowls and Bocce is that there are 16 bowls all in all, and that they are unequally weighted: one size is heavier than the other, so the ball turns while rolling. Clearly this would be the case... make it harder than it already is. There was a raffle at the end of the day and one of my two tickets was picked to win a... Barbecue Kit. Complete with spatula, tongs, a machete-like knife, skewers and corn-on-the-cob handles. Now, what was I going to do with a BBQ Set?! I ended up giving it to one of the younger nurses who works at the hospital who said she needed one. In the end, we had a very fun day learning bowls, having a few beers, and meeting some great Mitchell people.
After the Bowls we went to an opening for the new historical society museum in town. There they had a traditional outback dinner where large holes are dug into the ground where heaps of hot coals are poured in, the food put in, then covered and cooked underground. Everything was delicious! There were two types of soups as the first course: Pumpkin and Pea and Ham. After that it was the main course which was a beef stew and also a curried sausage dish. These were sided with a traditional bread called Damper, which tasted much like shortcake. Desert was apple pie with custard and cream poured over it... SO RICH! It was a delicious meal and it was also very nice company. Afterward, Lauren and I were so tired that we walked back to the nurses quarters and called it an early night.
I have the morning off, but will be working a late shift tonight (2:30-11pm). Doing shift work has been interesting, and it's getting me excited for actually having a job at this time next year!
So Mitchell is great... and I'll be sad to leave on Friday. But I do plan to go to Byron Bay for a few days this weekend, or maybe next weekend. We'll see.
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
When I first found out that I would be going to Mitchell, and even more so after I saw the population on Wikipedia (1,000), I was a little apprehensive about spending two weeks in a town half the size of Bethel. That was, of course, before I met all of the wonderful people from Mitchell. Today marks the week mark of our arrival here.
The nursing quarters that we are staying in are really nice. We have a nice kitchen, nice bathrooms, heaters in our rooms, and a big TV in the living room. The best part may be that it is a 30sec walk to the hospital. The hospital is a small community hospital, but it is rarely quiet. We have four permanent residents which keep us on our toes, as well as various other outpatients that come to the hospital presenting with loads of different problems. Clearly I cannot divulge any of these problems, but I have been getting a proper nursing training. Which I was skeptical of before arriving. The nurses and other staff at the hospital have been so accommodating and incredibly nice since we have arrived. I feel like I've been here for such a long time. It's funny to get back into that small town feel and remember that everyone IS related and everyone DOES know everyone's business.
Mitchell itself is a quaint little town. Being the "Gateway to the Outback" it is very flat and looks a lot like grasslands. There is one main street with two grocery stores, a hardware store, two clothing stores, a butcher, a bakery, and a pharmacy. Most of the corners in town have hotels on them, with bars beneath. The side streets are mainly filled with homes, and a few restaurants or bottle shops. There is also one gas station. :)
Lauren and I had our one day off yesterday (Saturday) and we crammed it full of popular Mitchell activities. We woke up early-ish and went to the Spa. It's called a Spa, but it isn't a spa as we would think of in the US. It is essentially a natural hot-spring pool. The water was right around 100 degrees and it felt so good. There was another pool right next to the hot one that was kept at 70 degrees. Needless to say, I only went in there for the amount of time it took me to jump in and climb out as fast as possible. We felt a little out of place as we slipped into the massive hot tub with twenty other people from Mitchell... who probably all said to themselves: "Who are these people?" Regardless, we hung out for about an hour and a half before going back to the nursing quarters to get ready for the "Pink Bowls!" Now Bowls, or Lawn Bowling, is a popular sport here in Australia and is very similar to Bocce Ball. You stand on a rectangular court with 4 people per team, two bowls (NOT balls - even though they are spherical) per person, and a small white ball called a "Jack" which you are trying to come close to with your balls. Now, this particular game was called "Pink-Bowls" because it was raising money for Breast Cancer Research. Lauren and I were put on a team with two unfortunate, but very friendly and helpful bowls-veterans. I say unfortunate because, had they not had us on their team, the score may not have been 25-2 at the end. I would like to point out that Lauren and I each scored one of those two points that our team had. No big deal. The main difference between Bowls and Bocce is that there are 16 bowls all in all, and that they are unequally weighted: one size is heavier than the other, so the ball turns while rolling. Clearly this would be the case... make it harder than it already is. There was a raffle at the end of the day and one of my two tickets was picked to win a... Barbecue Kit. Complete with spatula, tongs, a machete-like knife, skewers and corn-on-the-cob handles. Now, what was I going to do with a BBQ Set?! I ended up giving it to one of the younger nurses who works at the hospital who said she needed one. In the end, we had a very fun day learning bowls, having a few beers, and meeting some great Mitchell people.
After the Bowls we went to an opening for the new historical society museum in town. There they had a traditional outback dinner where large holes are dug into the ground where heaps of hot coals are poured in, the food put in, then covered and cooked underground. Everything was delicious! There were two types of soups as the first course: Pumpkin and Pea and Ham. After that it was the main course which was a beef stew and also a curried sausage dish. These were sided with a traditional bread called Damper, which tasted much like shortcake. Desert was apple pie with custard and cream poured over it... SO RICH! It was a delicious meal and it was also very nice company. Afterward, Lauren and I were so tired that we walked back to the nurses quarters and called it an early night.
I have the morning off, but will be working a late shift tonight (2:30-11pm). Doing shift work has been interesting, and it's getting me excited for actually having a job at this time next year!
So Mitchell is great... and I'll be sad to leave on Friday. But I do plan to go to Byron Bay for a few days this weekend, or maybe next weekend. We'll see.
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef
For my Birthday dad gave me a trip up to Cairns (in northern Queensland) to go scuba diving for two days on the Great Barrier Reef! Thanks Dad! It was weird at first because this was the first time I had traveled within Australia by myself. Every other time I head off to some corner of the continent, it is with at least 1 other person. While I was apprehensive to be "alone" for the weekend, it proved to be something that I really needed.
On Friday morning, I bid adieu to the girls (who were still on their cleanse at the time... and not in the best moods:) ) and started off towards Cairns. Since I was traveling alone, I decided to spoil myself... I walked STRAIGHT past the Toowoomba Transit Terminal and RIGHT into the Greyhound. Never have I traveled in Australia in such luxury. There was leg room, cumfy seats, reading lamps, and shades you could pull over the windows. The cost isn't that much different, and I think that I have ridden my last ride on the ole' TT coaches. Part of me will miss the intense feeling of impending death as the van speeds down the range towards Brisbane. However, the other part of me likes much better to be comfortable.
Travel to Cairns was the usual: city bus, greyhound, train to the airport, flight to cairns, and shuttle to my hostel. My hostel was really nice. I was staying in a 12 bed dorm, but it didn't seem like it. There was a really nice pool in the courtyard, as well as a hot-tub. I put my stuff down, changed out of my warm Toowoomba clothes and into shorts and a t-shirt, and then walked around the town to see what was up. I walked all around the waterfront, through a few parks, and in and out of a few shops. by about 4 o'clock I was pretty hungry, so I made my way to an Italian restaurant and had my fill of pasta... as well as some vino. There was a movie theater right next door and I decided that since I didn't know anyone, and had only spoken to my waitress, that I would go to a movie. I saw a French film called Summer Hours. I didn't know it was french. Nor did I know that it was subtitled. Needless to say, I fell asleep in the middle - it was the wine. I think I may have been snoring, actually. I did wake up soon enough to catch the last half hour or so. Afterwards I headed back to my hostel, chatted with a few of my roommates (German and English - EVERYONE that's traveling in Australia is either German of English.) I called it an early night, as I was being picked up at 8am.\
The next morning the Cairns Dive Center van came swinging up to the YHA and I piled in with my gear so we could head to the dive shop. We filled out all the necessary health forms, signed our legal rights away, and were then taken to the dock. From here we got onto a smaller boat (probably 30 feet) which would take us to the Live-aboard boat which stays out on the reef for a month at a time before coming to Cairns to refill on fuel. The ocean was like GLASS... and I'm not exaggerating. I mean like a lake at 6am... it was FLAT. All the staff on the boat said that they had never seen it like that before. After two hours we made it to the Kangaroo Explorer (the live-aboard) and piled out things into our rooms before getting briefed on the boat. By this time I had chatted with a few people, and actually kind of made friends. A far improvement from the night before. After our briefing, we had lunch made by the chef onboard (delicious!) and then got ready for our first dive. Unfortunately I remembered, after I got on the boat, that I was only Scuba Diver certified and not Open Water certified. The difference is that open water can go anywhere with a buddy to a depth of 18meters and I can only go to 12meters with a certified instructor. Now, in the long run this wasn't so bad at all... I got to dive with a really cool guy named Tom who knew everything there was to see about the reef. So basically he would take me along and show me all of the coolest things. The downside to this was I had to pay $11 per dive... but such is live.
All in all we did 6 dives while I was on the boat, one of which was a dive at night with flashlights. Some of the highlights of what I saw are: white tipped sharks, clown fish, heaps of sea turtles on the night dive and I was able to swim with one on my last day dive for about 5 minutes, starfish, parrot fish, and some beautiful coral. I had forgotten how cool of a sensation is is to scuba... being weighless under water is so fun. Every once in a while I would just start doing flips or barrel rolls underwater. I'm incredibly glad that I did the night dive. If you asked me that morning if I would do it I probably would have said "HELL NO!" However, by the end of the day I told myself... I didn't come to the GBR to sit on a boat... I'm doing it. We did see a few sharks on that dive, but I just pointed my flashlight (or my 'torch' as it would be called here) somewhere else so I didn't have to see them. :)
That night we were so exhausted that we were all in bed by 11. Which is good, because the staff came around at 5:30am to wake us up for our 6am dive. The sun wasn't even up yet when they were knocking on our doors. It proved to make it's way just over the horizon right as I was diving into the water. It's hard to not want to get up with you are watching the sunrise over the Pacific while floating over the Great Barrier Reef. I rented an underwater camera and managed to get a few good photos. I'll upload those sometime soon. After our last dive we had a few hours before the little boat, the Sun-Kist, brought us back to Cairns. We all sat and sun bathed on the top deck of the Kangaroo Explorer and chatted. There were people from England and Germany (obviously), a few guys from America (also studying in Aus), a guy from Korea, a few Canadians, and a few people from Japan. It was fun to just enjoy the sun, look at the reef, and talk with people from all over the world.
As all good things do... it came to and end. We were back on the sunkist, with slightly more turbulent waters, and heading back towards Cairns. We docked just around 5pm and headed towards our hostels. That night, the two American guys, two of my English roommates, and myself went to a cheap restaurant with great food for dinner. Two people from the boat met us there and joined in on our fun and conversation. After a while they were turning the restaurant to "bar-mode" and the table we were at was being taken away. We spotted a huge table with 2 guys sitting at it, and threw ourselves into it. Whether they liked it or not. The group of people we had was so eclectic and random, but it was so fun at the same time. We talked, drank, and danced the night away, and I had a blast!
The next day I had a few hours before my plane left so I sat by the pool at my hostel and tried to get a tan. Heading back to Toowoomba, was not high on my list of things I wanted to do that day... but I had no choice. After meeting people, Cairns seemed to be a lot more exciting, and I didn't want to leave.
This week went well, school wise. I had a nursing lab test-out and also a presentation for my mental health class. Both of which went incredibly well. I'm now done with class and only have two days before Lauren and I take the Greyhound to Mitchell. We spoke with the two people that have been there for the last two weeks and they really like it. They said the accomodation at the hospital is really nice (free wireless! look for photos!) and that the nurses are too. They also said that the hot-springs there are amazing! So Lauren and I are actually kind of excited.
Sorry for such a long post... but Cairns was just that exciting! I'll probably post again once we're in Mitchell.
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
On Friday morning, I bid adieu to the girls (who were still on their cleanse at the time... and not in the best moods:) ) and started off towards Cairns. Since I was traveling alone, I decided to spoil myself... I walked STRAIGHT past the Toowoomba Transit Terminal and RIGHT into the Greyhound. Never have I traveled in Australia in such luxury. There was leg room, cumfy seats, reading lamps, and shades you could pull over the windows. The cost isn't that much different, and I think that I have ridden my last ride on the ole' TT coaches. Part of me will miss the intense feeling of impending death as the van speeds down the range towards Brisbane. However, the other part of me likes much better to be comfortable.
Travel to Cairns was the usual: city bus, greyhound, train to the airport, flight to cairns, and shuttle to my hostel. My hostel was really nice. I was staying in a 12 bed dorm, but it didn't seem like it. There was a really nice pool in the courtyard, as well as a hot-tub. I put my stuff down, changed out of my warm Toowoomba clothes and into shorts and a t-shirt, and then walked around the town to see what was up. I walked all around the waterfront, through a few parks, and in and out of a few shops. by about 4 o'clock I was pretty hungry, so I made my way to an Italian restaurant and had my fill of pasta... as well as some vino. There was a movie theater right next door and I decided that since I didn't know anyone, and had only spoken to my waitress, that I would go to a movie. I saw a French film called Summer Hours. I didn't know it was french. Nor did I know that it was subtitled. Needless to say, I fell asleep in the middle - it was the wine. I think I may have been snoring, actually. I did wake up soon enough to catch the last half hour or so. Afterwards I headed back to my hostel, chatted with a few of my roommates (German and English - EVERYONE that's traveling in Australia is either German of English.) I called it an early night, as I was being picked up at 8am.\
The next morning the Cairns Dive Center van came swinging up to the YHA and I piled in with my gear so we could head to the dive shop. We filled out all the necessary health forms, signed our legal rights away, and were then taken to the dock. From here we got onto a smaller boat (probably 30 feet) which would take us to the Live-aboard boat which stays out on the reef for a month at a time before coming to Cairns to refill on fuel. The ocean was like GLASS... and I'm not exaggerating. I mean like a lake at 6am... it was FLAT. All the staff on the boat said that they had never seen it like that before. After two hours we made it to the Kangaroo Explorer (the live-aboard) and piled out things into our rooms before getting briefed on the boat. By this time I had chatted with a few people, and actually kind of made friends. A far improvement from the night before. After our briefing, we had lunch made by the chef onboard (delicious!) and then got ready for our first dive. Unfortunately I remembered, after I got on the boat, that I was only Scuba Diver certified and not Open Water certified. The difference is that open water can go anywhere with a buddy to a depth of 18meters and I can only go to 12meters with a certified instructor. Now, in the long run this wasn't so bad at all... I got to dive with a really cool guy named Tom who knew everything there was to see about the reef. So basically he would take me along and show me all of the coolest things. The downside to this was I had to pay $11 per dive... but such is live.
All in all we did 6 dives while I was on the boat, one of which was a dive at night with flashlights. Some of the highlights of what I saw are: white tipped sharks, clown fish, heaps of sea turtles on the night dive and I was able to swim with one on my last day dive for about 5 minutes, starfish, parrot fish, and some beautiful coral. I had forgotten how cool of a sensation is is to scuba... being weighless under water is so fun. Every once in a while I would just start doing flips or barrel rolls underwater. I'm incredibly glad that I did the night dive. If you asked me that morning if I would do it I probably would have said "HELL NO!" However, by the end of the day I told myself... I didn't come to the GBR to sit on a boat... I'm doing it. We did see a few sharks on that dive, but I just pointed my flashlight (or my 'torch' as it would be called here) somewhere else so I didn't have to see them. :)
That night we were so exhausted that we were all in bed by 11. Which is good, because the staff came around at 5:30am to wake us up for our 6am dive. The sun wasn't even up yet when they were knocking on our doors. It proved to make it's way just over the horizon right as I was diving into the water. It's hard to not want to get up with you are watching the sunrise over the Pacific while floating over the Great Barrier Reef. I rented an underwater camera and managed to get a few good photos. I'll upload those sometime soon. After our last dive we had a few hours before the little boat, the Sun-Kist, brought us back to Cairns. We all sat and sun bathed on the top deck of the Kangaroo Explorer and chatted. There were people from England and Germany (obviously), a few guys from America (also studying in Aus), a guy from Korea, a few Canadians, and a few people from Japan. It was fun to just enjoy the sun, look at the reef, and talk with people from all over the world.
As all good things do... it came to and end. We were back on the sunkist, with slightly more turbulent waters, and heading back towards Cairns. We docked just around 5pm and headed towards our hostels. That night, the two American guys, two of my English roommates, and myself went to a cheap restaurant with great food for dinner. Two people from the boat met us there and joined in on our fun and conversation. After a while they were turning the restaurant to "bar-mode" and the table we were at was being taken away. We spotted a huge table with 2 guys sitting at it, and threw ourselves into it. Whether they liked it or not. The group of people we had was so eclectic and random, but it was so fun at the same time. We talked, drank, and danced the night away, and I had a blast!
The next day I had a few hours before my plane left so I sat by the pool at my hostel and tried to get a tan. Heading back to Toowoomba, was not high on my list of things I wanted to do that day... but I had no choice. After meeting people, Cairns seemed to be a lot more exciting, and I didn't want to leave.
This week went well, school wise. I had a nursing lab test-out and also a presentation for my mental health class. Both of which went incredibly well. I'm now done with class and only have two days before Lauren and I take the Greyhound to Mitchell. We spoke with the two people that have been there for the last two weeks and they really like it. They said the accomodation at the hospital is really nice (free wireless! look for photos!) and that the nurses are too. They also said that the hot-springs there are amazing! So Lauren and I are actually kind of excited.
Sorry for such a long post... but Cairns was just that exciting! I'll probably post again once we're in Mitchell.
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
One More Thing
I forgot to put this in...
Lauren, Trina, Stephanie and I decided on Tuesday to do the "Master Cleanse." Basically this consists of drinking the most awful digestion tea at night, a quart of salt water in the morning which immediately makes you have to have a BM, and then the only thing you can have during the day is a drink consisting of water, maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. Now, we weren't doing this to lose weight, just to cleanse our bodies of toxins. I drank the tea the first night, which was the most HEINOUS tasting drink I've ever tasted, and after 3 hours I realized that I can't go without eating... and I was out.
It is now day 3 and Lauren, Trina, and Steph are all still going. They all crave food, and some of them are thinking about dropping out... but they're still going. Crazy people.
Lauren, Trina, Stephanie and I decided on Tuesday to do the "Master Cleanse." Basically this consists of drinking the most awful digestion tea at night, a quart of salt water in the morning which immediately makes you have to have a BM, and then the only thing you can have during the day is a drink consisting of water, maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. Now, we weren't doing this to lose weight, just to cleanse our bodies of toxins. I drank the tea the first night, which was the most HEINOUS tasting drink I've ever tasted, and after 3 hours I realized that I can't go without eating... and I was out.
It is now day 3 and Lauren, Trina, and Steph are all still going. They all crave food, and some of them are thinking about dropping out... but they're still going. Crazy people.
The Latest
I figure an update is in order... and I'm waiting at the internet cafe for the last episode of The Office to finish downloading and I need something to do. This week was slightly more labor intensive, school wise. I have a group project coming up in my mental health class next week. I've been gathering information and putting my powerpoint together... shouldn't be too bad.
We are nearing the end of the semester, actually. Next week is our last week of class, then we have two weeks of clinical, then two weeks of finals, and then I'm on a plane home on June 29th. It's going to rush up so fast. I'm excited for class to be done, but slightly nervous for clinical. Lauren and I will be going to a TINY town (pop. 1000) called Mitchell for our clinical placement. It is 6 hours west of Toowoomba and is called "The Gateway to the Outback." At first we thought we were going to see absolutely NOTHING that involved nursing. However, everyone we have talked to said that because it is such a small facility, we will be involved with almost every patient that comes in. Instead of being in just a certain ward, we'll see everything. I've been getting more excited. I do still have to get my uniform though... so many things to do.
This weekend I will be traveling by myself to Cairns to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef for two days, thanks to Dad! I fly out of Brisbane tomorrow and will be diving on Saturday and Sunday, then coming home Monday. I'm incredibly excited... but this will the first time I've been alone since I've been in Australia. Hopefully I'll meet some cool people though. Trina and some of our friends drove to Cairns over Easter break and they loved it. Needless to say there will be HEAPS of pictures to upload once I am back.
I don't know if it's been in the news at home or not... but there has been some TERRIBLE flooding in SE Queensland. It poured constantly on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think we have maybe seen 5 passing showers up until now this semester. It was very hard to get up for 8am classes when it was pouring with winds up to 50kmh. Being that Toowoomba is 400-500m above Brisbane, we have not had any flooding. But the rain is so incredibly necessary. Toowoomba's water reservoirs were at 9% before the storm. I'm not sure what they'll be up to now, but I imagine it raised a bit. On Tuesday the Gold Coast received 250mm of rain... basically like 8 inches. In ONE day. That is 1/3 of their annual rainfall. The reservoirs in Brisbane went from around 16% to 70-100%. It's amazing how much rain there was. I was reading online and apparently the reservoirs haven't seen anything near those levels since 2002. I also heard that Brisbane hasn't seen flooding this bad since the flood of 74. This might not have meant anything to me a week ago, but while I was in Brisbane I saw a marker of the water level and it was easily 6' high... and that was at a point that was probably 30' above the height of the river. It's so weird to think that I was just there on Monday and that the next day buildings and cars were all flooded. That's mother nature for you, I guess.
I called Greyhound [No TT-Coaches this time for me!! :)] and they said that there weren't any delays today from the flooding, and if the rain holds off tonight service should be good tomorrow. So I'm hoping it doesn't rain tonight because I only have about 2.5hrs from the time I get into Brisbane until my flight takes off.
I think that's about it for now... not much else to report on. I would like to send a big Congratulations to Ben and Liz for finally getting engaged! It's about time!
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
We are nearing the end of the semester, actually. Next week is our last week of class, then we have two weeks of clinical, then two weeks of finals, and then I'm on a plane home on June 29th. It's going to rush up so fast. I'm excited for class to be done, but slightly nervous for clinical. Lauren and I will be going to a TINY town (pop. 1000) called Mitchell for our clinical placement. It is 6 hours west of Toowoomba and is called "The Gateway to the Outback." At first we thought we were going to see absolutely NOTHING that involved nursing. However, everyone we have talked to said that because it is such a small facility, we will be involved with almost every patient that comes in. Instead of being in just a certain ward, we'll see everything. I've been getting more excited. I do still have to get my uniform though... so many things to do.
This weekend I will be traveling by myself to Cairns to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef for two days, thanks to Dad! I fly out of Brisbane tomorrow and will be diving on Saturday and Sunday, then coming home Monday. I'm incredibly excited... but this will the first time I've been alone since I've been in Australia. Hopefully I'll meet some cool people though. Trina and some of our friends drove to Cairns over Easter break and they loved it. Needless to say there will be HEAPS of pictures to upload once I am back.
I don't know if it's been in the news at home or not... but there has been some TERRIBLE flooding in SE Queensland. It poured constantly on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think we have maybe seen 5 passing showers up until now this semester. It was very hard to get up for 8am classes when it was pouring with winds up to 50kmh. Being that Toowoomba is 400-500m above Brisbane, we have not had any flooding. But the rain is so incredibly necessary. Toowoomba's water reservoirs were at 9% before the storm. I'm not sure what they'll be up to now, but I imagine it raised a bit. On Tuesday the Gold Coast received 250mm of rain... basically like 8 inches. In ONE day. That is 1/3 of their annual rainfall. The reservoirs in Brisbane went from around 16% to 70-100%. It's amazing how much rain there was. I was reading online and apparently the reservoirs haven't seen anything near those levels since 2002. I also heard that Brisbane hasn't seen flooding this bad since the flood of 74. This might not have meant anything to me a week ago, but while I was in Brisbane I saw a marker of the water level and it was easily 6' high... and that was at a point that was probably 30' above the height of the river. It's so weird to think that I was just there on Monday and that the next day buildings and cars were all flooded. That's mother nature for you, I guess.
I called Greyhound [No TT-Coaches this time for me!! :)] and they said that there weren't any delays today from the flooding, and if the rain holds off tonight service should be good tomorrow. So I'm hoping it doesn't rain tonight because I only have about 2.5hrs from the time I get into Brisbane until my flight takes off.
I think that's about it for now... not much else to report on. I would like to send a big Congratulations to Ben and Liz for finally getting engaged! It's about time!
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Brizzy
It's a rainy day in Toowoomba... so I'm sitting in front of the heater in the living room and using my down time to catch up on the blog! This last weekend, Lauren, Trina, and I took off on the Toowoomba Transit for a nice relaxing weekend outside of Toowoomba and into Brisbane. Originally, we had planned to rent a 4WD and drive around Fraser Island for the weekend, but we didn't book in time. After spending just a short afternoon in Brisbane the weekend before, we decided to go for a whole weekend.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and it was so nice to be there. Brisbane is much warmer than Toowoomba, there are TONS of people, and it is just a much more interesting place. After checking in to our hostel I went to a place, as recommended to me the weekend prior, to get my hair cut. The last time I got it cut was the week before I left the US. It was time. I was nervous to get it cut in Australia because Crystal does such a good job at home. I also refused to get it cut in Toowoomba because I knew I would end up with a rat-tail or a mullet. I am not exaggerating when I say that 70% of the males here have rat-tails or mullets. 70%. So Brisbane it was. The cut actually looks pretty good. It's short, which is a nice change.
After that we walked around Brisbane and headed across the river to the south bank where we perused a craft fair, went to a delicious Italian restaurant, had some ice cream, and then went out. We had some suggestions for a few clubs to go to. We, of course, forgot said list at home. We roamed the streets of the club district, "The Valley," trying to recall from memory some of the suggested places. When we got home we realized that we saw most of them, and actually made it to a few of them.
On Saturday we decided to go to the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary, which is the first in the world. We took the bus out of Brisbane, for a mere $2.60 return - gotta love that student rate, to the sanctuary. I think the two main highlights there were the kangaroos and the koalas. They have a massive Kangaroo park... acres and acres of kangaroo and wallaby habitat. Now, the sanctuary is around 70 years old, so all of the animals there have been bred in captivity and are incredibly friendly. I pet SOOO many kangaroos and probably could have reached out and touched a joey poking his head out of his mom's pouch. I have some great photos! They'll be uploaded soon. What I found to be the most interesting was that they use their tails for balance, and they are almost solid muscle. I felt the tail on one of the biggest males, and it was rock solid. When threatened, they can lean back and balance on their tail and kick their opponent their there wicked-muscly hind legs. These legs have one HUGE claw in the middle, that can puncture important organs of their attackers. Also, one of the biggest species of kangaroos can jump as high as 4 meters... which is around 15 feet. After we had our fill of kangaroos and joeys, we made our way to the different koala exhibits. There were old ones, young ones, just males, just females, and the coolest one was of course: moms with babies. Watching that mom sit in the eucalyptus tree and having her little baby crawl all over her and in and out of her pouch was maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. We stayed there forever watching them, and the baby was staring right back at us. After that we made our way to the "hold a koala" area. We clearly couldn't leave the sanctuary without holding a koala. Now, this obviously isn't free. In order to do so, you had to purchase one of the 10 photo packages they offered. The cheapest of which being $15. I opted for the $25 selection which came with a 6X8 photo of me holding the koala as well as 8 postcards of the same. All of the money goes towards the koalas, so it was a justified purchase. The koala was so much heavier than I would have anticipated, and his fur felt almost like a scratchy wool blanked. We all took our turns having the little guy, Goblin, lay on our chest as we smiled/posed away for pictures. All in all it was a great day! I would have hated leaving Australia and saying I hadn't seen a koala! You can see my picture here for 60 days: http://photo.koala.net/1605029504.htm
As it was nearing sunset we hopped back onto the bus and made our way back to Brisbane. We again walked to South Bank and had a terrific dinner at a Thai/Malaysian place. The food was absolutely delicious. What we've kind of realized about most restaurants here though is that because there isn't any tipping, the waitstaff kind of serve every table. At the Italian place I think we had 3 different people serving us. At the Thai place they were a little bit more enthusiastic. At last count we had 5 different people offer to take our drink order... within 5 minutes of sitting down. It was comical. Also, it may have been THE fastest meal preparation I've ever seen at a restaurant. I ordered a drink and my meal at the same time... the drink came in 6 minutes... 2 minutes after my main course. That night Lauren and I went back to the Valley, while Trina went to bed early. Lucky her.
Lauren and I came back around 2am... only to be woken up by Trina at 5:30am screaming at us, asking if that alarm noise from the hall was a fire alarm. I was still slightly foggy and was very confused... but after smelling smoke and seeing people in the other rooms across the courtyard in the middle of the hostel getting up and moving, we decided that it was indeed a fire alarm. We got dressed, I grabbed my most important/valuable possessions and we started making our way towards the hall. However, when we got there, the staff came on the PA system and told us that it was a false alarm and there was no need to leave the hostel. We were all very relieved, yet still confused as there was no doubt that we were smelling smoke. No less than 3 minutes after I had climbed BACK into bed... we were told that "yes, you do need to leave the hostel." Clearly the fire department had a bit more intellect than those running the front desk. So all 400 people staying in the hostel that night filed out onto the surrounding street corners while we watched the sunrise, griped about the confusion, and waited for the go-ahead from the FD. It was interesting to say the least.
On Sunday we had heard about a free concert series that happens every Sunday with local indie bands. We hopped onto the city cat ferry and rode it up the river to the venue, an old powerhouse... it was a wicked cool place. The band that played was called Skinny Jean. They were a funky group, but we liked their music. As we were walking back down the river towards the ferry stop we saw the ferry racing down the river towards the stop. We had to do it - we started running. Now, we weren't just running... we were running in front of this massive park where, I think, nearly half of Brisbane was pick-nicking for the afternoon. The cheers, whoops, and hollers only made me run faster, I think. We made the ferry. Obviously. We spent the rest of Sunday enjoying various shops, cafes, and we also walked all through the botanical gardens. They were nothing like those in Sydney, but it was still nice to walk through the grass and see some flowers.
Sunday night we decided to be lazy and get cozy at the movie theater for... TWO MOVIES! We started with "Fast and the Furious 4." It was alright, but it wasn't great. After that though, we saw "The Boat That Rocked." It was amazing. Such an interesting and funny movie. If it's playing at home... go see it. Trust me, it's a good one.
Monday was pretty laid back. We went to the immigration office and had our physical Visas stamped into our passports for a memento (since ours are electronic.) After that we just did more shopping and eating before we had to get back on the Toowoomba Transit to head back up the range. It was a great weekend, and I think Brisbane is one of my favorite cities of all time. It is so laid back, the people are nice, there is an intense artistic feel to it, and we haven't been disappointed with the food yet.
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
We arrived on Friday afternoon and it was so nice to be there. Brisbane is much warmer than Toowoomba, there are TONS of people, and it is just a much more interesting place. After checking in to our hostel I went to a place, as recommended to me the weekend prior, to get my hair cut. The last time I got it cut was the week before I left the US. It was time. I was nervous to get it cut in Australia because Crystal does such a good job at home. I also refused to get it cut in Toowoomba because I knew I would end up with a rat-tail or a mullet. I am not exaggerating when I say that 70% of the males here have rat-tails or mullets. 70%. So Brisbane it was. The cut actually looks pretty good. It's short, which is a nice change.
After that we walked around Brisbane and headed across the river to the south bank where we perused a craft fair, went to a delicious Italian restaurant, had some ice cream, and then went out. We had some suggestions for a few clubs to go to. We, of course, forgot said list at home. We roamed the streets of the club district, "The Valley," trying to recall from memory some of the suggested places. When we got home we realized that we saw most of them, and actually made it to a few of them.
On Saturday we decided to go to the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary, which is the first in the world. We took the bus out of Brisbane, for a mere $2.60 return - gotta love that student rate, to the sanctuary. I think the two main highlights there were the kangaroos and the koalas. They have a massive Kangaroo park... acres and acres of kangaroo and wallaby habitat. Now, the sanctuary is around 70 years old, so all of the animals there have been bred in captivity and are incredibly friendly. I pet SOOO many kangaroos and probably could have reached out and touched a joey poking his head out of his mom's pouch. I have some great photos! They'll be uploaded soon. What I found to be the most interesting was that they use their tails for balance, and they are almost solid muscle. I felt the tail on one of the biggest males, and it was rock solid. When threatened, they can lean back and balance on their tail and kick their opponent their there wicked-muscly hind legs. These legs have one HUGE claw in the middle, that can puncture important organs of their attackers. Also, one of the biggest species of kangaroos can jump as high as 4 meters... which is around 15 feet. After we had our fill of kangaroos and joeys, we made our way to the different koala exhibits. There were old ones, young ones, just males, just females, and the coolest one was of course: moms with babies. Watching that mom sit in the eucalyptus tree and having her little baby crawl all over her and in and out of her pouch was maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. We stayed there forever watching them, and the baby was staring right back at us. After that we made our way to the "hold a koala" area. We clearly couldn't leave the sanctuary without holding a koala. Now, this obviously isn't free. In order to do so, you had to purchase one of the 10 photo packages they offered. The cheapest of which being $15. I opted for the $25 selection which came with a 6X8 photo of me holding the koala as well as 8 postcards of the same. All of the money goes towards the koalas, so it was a justified purchase. The koala was so much heavier than I would have anticipated, and his fur felt almost like a scratchy wool blanked. We all took our turns having the little guy, Goblin, lay on our chest as we smiled/posed away for pictures. All in all it was a great day! I would have hated leaving Australia and saying I hadn't seen a koala! You can see my picture here for 60 days: http://photo.koala.net/1605029504.htm
As it was nearing sunset we hopped back onto the bus and made our way back to Brisbane. We again walked to South Bank and had a terrific dinner at a Thai/Malaysian place. The food was absolutely delicious. What we've kind of realized about most restaurants here though is that because there isn't any tipping, the waitstaff kind of serve every table. At the Italian place I think we had 3 different people serving us. At the Thai place they were a little bit more enthusiastic. At last count we had 5 different people offer to take our drink order... within 5 minutes of sitting down. It was comical. Also, it may have been THE fastest meal preparation I've ever seen at a restaurant. I ordered a drink and my meal at the same time... the drink came in 6 minutes... 2 minutes after my main course. That night Lauren and I went back to the Valley, while Trina went to bed early. Lucky her.
Lauren and I came back around 2am... only to be woken up by Trina at 5:30am screaming at us, asking if that alarm noise from the hall was a fire alarm. I was still slightly foggy and was very confused... but after smelling smoke and seeing people in the other rooms across the courtyard in the middle of the hostel getting up and moving, we decided that it was indeed a fire alarm. We got dressed, I grabbed my most important/valuable possessions and we started making our way towards the hall. However, when we got there, the staff came on the PA system and told us that it was a false alarm and there was no need to leave the hostel. We were all very relieved, yet still confused as there was no doubt that we were smelling smoke. No less than 3 minutes after I had climbed BACK into bed... we were told that "yes, you do need to leave the hostel." Clearly the fire department had a bit more intellect than those running the front desk. So all 400 people staying in the hostel that night filed out onto the surrounding street corners while we watched the sunrise, griped about the confusion, and waited for the go-ahead from the FD. It was interesting to say the least.
On Sunday we had heard about a free concert series that happens every Sunday with local indie bands. We hopped onto the city cat ferry and rode it up the river to the venue, an old powerhouse... it was a wicked cool place. The band that played was called Skinny Jean. They were a funky group, but we liked their music. As we were walking back down the river towards the ferry stop we saw the ferry racing down the river towards the stop. We had to do it - we started running. Now, we weren't just running... we were running in front of this massive park where, I think, nearly half of Brisbane was pick-nicking for the afternoon. The cheers, whoops, and hollers only made me run faster, I think. We made the ferry. Obviously. We spent the rest of Sunday enjoying various shops, cafes, and we also walked all through the botanical gardens. They were nothing like those in Sydney, but it was still nice to walk through the grass and see some flowers.
Sunday night we decided to be lazy and get cozy at the movie theater for... TWO MOVIES! We started with "Fast and the Furious 4." It was alright, but it wasn't great. After that though, we saw "The Boat That Rocked." It was amazing. Such an interesting and funny movie. If it's playing at home... go see it. Trust me, it's a good one.
Monday was pretty laid back. We went to the immigration office and had our physical Visas stamped into our passports for a memento (since ours are electronic.) After that we just did more shopping and eating before we had to get back on the Toowoomba Transit to head back up the range. It was a great weekend, and I think Brisbane is one of my favorite cities of all time. It is so laid back, the people are nice, there is an intense artistic feel to it, and we haven't been disappointed with the food yet.
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Bunya Mountains and a Broncos Game
Last weekend we all rented an 8-seater van, and decided to have a few days of touring around Toowoomba. On Saturday morning we packed our lunches, put on our sneakers, grabbed our books, and made the 1.5hour drive to the Bunya Mountains. The Bunyas are located north-west of Toowoomba, and rise to an elevation of around 1300meters (Toowoomba is at 700.) Basically they are these steep mountains that raise up from the brown fields of the Darling Downs area. Essentially, they were like green islands growing out of the desolate land. The lush green grass and tall trees of all sorts were nothing like we had seen before around Toowoomba. We have grass here... but it's like grass at home that hasn't seen rain in a long time... kind of burned.
The plan was to do some hiking through the mountains. There are heaps of trails around the Bunyas, named for the tall Bunya Pine trees that make up the bulk of the trees there. These pines have pine-cones the size of soccer balls. There actually are warnings not to stand under the trees between December and April when they are falling.
As we were driving into the park we saw our first evidence of Australian wildlife... WALLABIES! Basically, wallabies and kangaroos are the same thing. The only difference is their height, kangaroos being taller. As a few of us chased a few around the grounds with our cameras, the others planned the hike we would be doing. After the wallabies retreated back into the woods, I laid down in the THICKEST most LUSH bit of grass I'd seen in a long time. It was quite hard getting up. Especially go go hiking.
The first hike we did meandered throughout the forest providing a few views towards the west as well as loads of informational signs on the trees, the wildlife, and the mountains. I think all in all we did 4km on this hike. We came back to the park and ate our lunch before driving further up the mountains to do another hike, which would bring us to the highest point in the mountains. We planned it perfectly, and we were able to watch the entire sunset from the summit. It was so beautiful. The sky went from a beautiful light blue, to yellow, to orange, and finally to the a deep red. It was gorgeous! We made it back down to the car just as it was getting really dark.
The drive home proved to be very tricky as the wallabies had all decided to come out to graze near the roadside. Now wallabies and much like deer, in the sense that they are (and Kep would agree with me on this one).... STUPID. Every wallaby, and I mean EVERY wallaby, would jump into the middle of the road when they saw our car coming... without fail. So a 1.5hour drive turned into 2 hours and 15 minutes... which was fine. I'd rather go 40kmh then hit one of those guys. The road to the mountains was also very interesting. Parts were only half-paved. This means that they paved directly down the middle of the road, and the other half (a 1/4 on each side of the paved bit) was left as dirt. The locals in their big off-roading-SUVs didn't seem to mind nearly throwing their vehicles into the ditch at 80kmh, but our Toyota van wouldn't have held up so well. We made it home safely though. :)
On Sunday we all piled in the van again, and drove to Brisbane for a Rugby game (not Aussie rules.) We were cheering for the Brisbane Broncos, and because this was like the rugby we have in the US, we actually kind of knew what was happening. Sadly, the Broncos lost the game... but it was incredibly close near the end. Regardless, it was nice to spend the day everyone in the afternoon sun, eating greasy food, enjoying a beer, and watching the game. We did a little walking around Brisbane... bopped into a few shops, and then called it a night and drove home. It was a great day, and it made me remember how much I liked Brisbane the first time we went. I think it may be my favorite city in Australia. Brisbane or Sydney... it's a close tie for 1st.
The plan was to do some hiking through the mountains. There are heaps of trails around the Bunyas, named for the tall Bunya Pine trees that make up the bulk of the trees there. These pines have pine-cones the size of soccer balls. There actually are warnings not to stand under the trees between December and April when they are falling.
As we were driving into the park we saw our first evidence of Australian wildlife... WALLABIES! Basically, wallabies and kangaroos are the same thing. The only difference is their height, kangaroos being taller. As a few of us chased a few around the grounds with our cameras, the others planned the hike we would be doing. After the wallabies retreated back into the woods, I laid down in the THICKEST most LUSH bit of grass I'd seen in a long time. It was quite hard getting up. Especially go go hiking.
The first hike we did meandered throughout the forest providing a few views towards the west as well as loads of informational signs on the trees, the wildlife, and the mountains. I think all in all we did 4km on this hike. We came back to the park and ate our lunch before driving further up the mountains to do another hike, which would bring us to the highest point in the mountains. We planned it perfectly, and we were able to watch the entire sunset from the summit. It was so beautiful. The sky went from a beautiful light blue, to yellow, to orange, and finally to the a deep red. It was gorgeous! We made it back down to the car just as it was getting really dark.
The drive home proved to be very tricky as the wallabies had all decided to come out to graze near the roadside. Now wallabies and much like deer, in the sense that they are (and Kep would agree with me on this one).... STUPID. Every wallaby, and I mean EVERY wallaby, would jump into the middle of the road when they saw our car coming... without fail. So a 1.5hour drive turned into 2 hours and 15 minutes... which was fine. I'd rather go 40kmh then hit one of those guys. The road to the mountains was also very interesting. Parts were only half-paved. This means that they paved directly down the middle of the road, and the other half (a 1/4 on each side of the paved bit) was left as dirt. The locals in their big off-roading-SUVs didn't seem to mind nearly throwing their vehicles into the ditch at 80kmh, but our Toyota van wouldn't have held up so well. We made it home safely though. :)
On Sunday we all piled in the van again, and drove to Brisbane for a Rugby game (not Aussie rules.) We were cheering for the Brisbane Broncos, and because this was like the rugby we have in the US, we actually kind of knew what was happening. Sadly, the Broncos lost the game... but it was incredibly close near the end. Regardless, it was nice to spend the day everyone in the afternoon sun, eating greasy food, enjoying a beer, and watching the game. We did a little walking around Brisbane... bopped into a few shops, and then called it a night and drove home. It was a great day, and it made me remember how much I liked Brisbane the first time we went. I think it may be my favorite city in Australia. Brisbane or Sydney... it's a close tie for 1st.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)