Aye Currumbin

Hello my Friends!

I’m all settled into my new place and school is only a day away. I’m starting to get used to the way of things here. I’m slowly learning how to get around and familiarizing myself with local shops. Moving to a brand new place, it’s hard not to feel lonely and lost. I guess as I slowly adapt to my new life here and make friends I will feel less like an outsider and more like a local. I think school will definitely help with that. Studying will give me a sense of purpose here.

This past week we’ve had some weird weather in Queensland. When I went to visit my Canadian friend Alanna at the Gold Coast, my train was delayed because of a severe hail storm! The people on the train couldn’t believe the weather. They were taking photos, calling friends and family. Some people were actually freaking out! Honestly, it was a nice respite from the heat (which as returned in full force).

Alanna just completed her exchange at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. Her father and boyfriend are here to visit. The three of them will be traveling all over Australia until the new year. Alanna kindly invited me to partake in some of the excursions near her area.

We first took a drive to the Currumbin Rock Pools. It was an incredibly scenic drive. Large trees with vines and bushes with colourful flowers surround the winding road. It made me happy to see something new, something outside of the city. This is the Australia I’ve been waiting to explore.

The Currumbin Rock Pools are located in the Currumbin Valley just a brief drive from the Gold Coast. The pools are on parkland, with a short trail leading to the rock pools and out further to an old abandoned sawmill. There were lots of lizards and birds along the trails. Its so nice to see wildlife.

PEOPLE SLIDE DOWN THIS!

After the Rock Pools we had lunch and went to visit the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. The Currumbin wildlife zoo hosts a number of native Australian wildlife. The neat thing is that the place is almost entirely interactive. You can hug the koalas, you can hop around with the Kangaroos, feed the lorikeets and avoid the backside of the emu (they have scary projectile poop abilities). 
Prepare yourself for some really cute photos!

Getting ready to pick up Sunny

DREAM COME TRUE

Ready for my close up!

NOM NOM Eucalyptus

petting the kangaroos!

Emu

Joey

POW POW

Kangaroo Boxing

Up close and personal

Holding some sort of common Australian python. They estimate that these are in 1/3 of houses on the Gold Coast

Warm Koalas sleep like this

Cold koalas sleep like this

Timid Tasmanian devil

Echidna

I also got the chance to check out some cool stuff in Brisbane. I didn’t know but there are botanical gardens within walking distance from my house. The Mount Coo-Tha Botanic Gardens is a 52 hectare subtropic botanic garden hosts a number of “themed gardens” including fragrant, fern, bonsai, Japanese and more! The park is beautiful and you can tell that the city puts a lot of work into the park. The best part about it is that it is free! I will definitely be returning to have a picnic some day that I am off!

Taken on my iphone, hence the not so clear quality

This is a fig tree! I did not know figs grew like this!!!

This past weekend I got an opportunity to meet some of the Canadians in the physio and speech program at the OzTREKK orientation. The second year students showed us around campus and answered all out questions about classes and lab. Everyone was so friendly and it was great to meet people in the same situation as me. There are 8 Canadian speechies and every single one of them is a delight! I can’t wait to start class.

UPDATE- So I didn’t get around posting this when I should have because my internet was out after another crazy hail storm. Today was actually my first day of school and it was awesome. I will write more about it when I have a free day to complete some writing. I am trying to study while the people above me have an end of the year party (Aussie summer just started). ITS DRIVING ME NUTSSSSSSSSSSSSS, my bed is vibrating!!!!

Don’t expect an update too soon! I already have a quiz to study for next Monday!

G'day and G'night

G’day

I think its about time to bring this baby back to life! I’m sure you’ve all missed me, but rejoice my people, the hiatus is over!

Before me move forward, I want to go back. I give you: My Fourth Year... The Sparksnotes Edition.

I started dating this guy:

His name is Scott. He's pretty cool.

I graduated:

Honours Bachelor of Health Science with Distinction, Honours Specialization Rehabilitation Science

YAY ME

I went on some cool hiking trips.

Killarney

More Killarney

Lions Head

Fall Hike at Lions Head

I got into Grad School! This year I will begin my two year Master of Speech Pathology Studies degree at The University of Queensland (or UQ).

Which leads me to the my current adventure, my life Down Under.

My voyage begins just how you would expect, with many many many tears. I cried saying my goodbyes (my many and multiple goodbyes). I cried at the airport (twice, once when I was dropped at the wrong terminal, then again at the right one). And lastly at luggage check-in where I said goodbye to my baby sister. As I walked through the security checks it hit me: I’m really doing this.

Frankly, I still can’t believe it.

Nothing really exciting happened on my flight. It was far too long, and incredibly nauseating. The food was poor and I got very little sleep. I suppose the only mildly interesting thing that happened was that the elderly gentleman on my left kept getting mini bottles of alcohol throughout the whole trip free of charge. As the fumes of alcohol wafted of him, I couldn’t help but be a little peeved that this guy had consumed about 15 little bottles of spirits/wine for free, but I didn’t so much as get a bag of crisps on my 5 hour flight from Toronto to Vancouver. I really shouldn’t be complaining... it is Air Canada.

2 layovers and 26 hours later, I arrived in Brisbane (or BrisVegas as the Aussies call it). The sky was clear and boy was it hot. My university had arranged a free pick-up service for me. A nice lady met me up at luggage pick up. After we loaded my luggage into the car, I walked up to the right side of the truck (which I assumed to be the passenger side) and sat myself down in the drivers seat. After apologizing, red faced and embarrassed, I moved over to my proper place. Apparently this happens quite often.

I was the only pick up at this time so I had the driver to myself. I took this opportunity to ask questions about Aussie wildlife. As we got onto the subject of spiders she told me “I haven’t seen a big one in years! You probably won’t your entire stay!” I was so relieved!

We arrived in Toowong, my new home. This district is adjacent to St. Lucia where my Uni is (approximately a 5 minute bus ride). My complex is close to all the amenities- mall, transit, grocery store, restaurants. It’s pretty perfect. My house mate Katie is a 25 year old Aussie who works at a travel company in the IT department. It is just her and I in the house. We share a lot of interests, most notably our taste in books. I think we will get along just fine.

I hit the hay early, exhausted after my trip. I actually only managed to get semi unpacked because I was so tired. I think I slept 13 hours.

AND I AWOKE TO THIS BEAST ON MY WALL. I couldn’t believe it, my driver had assured me that there were very  few large spiders here. And behold! This large hairy thing was perched on my bedroom wall. Immediately my mind went to worst case scenario. What if I don’t kill it and it lays eggs in my room and my room is infested with baby spiders? What if it bites me and I have to go to the hospital? I mean I don’t even know where the hospital is! What if I die before school starts? I attempted to identify the breed, but I tell you, there are A LOT of spiders in Australia and google wasn’t giving me any good answers. I texted a picture to Katie, but she was at work and didn’t reply. The friends I was able to get in touch with told me I had to kill it. It was me or the spider. I slowly approached it, running shoe in hand, visions of the spider leaping at my face raced through my head. I mean, spiders here actually do that. SMACK. Spider bits flew everywhere!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. And if you are wondering, yes one of my walls of my bedroom is brick.

It wasn’t until I had flushed the bits that I received a text from Katie informing me that this breed of spider, the Huntsman, while large is harmless. In fact it eats household pests like roaches and Aussies often relocate them rather than killing them. They can get extremely large, and yes, they can leap, but they don’t actually have any venom. My bad.

The next couple of days I focused on unpacking, buying essentials for my room and picking up text books. I did get a chance to take a look around campus when I purchased my books. UQ is huge! The student population on the St. Lucia campus is 45 thousand! The campus has some very interesting architecture. There are also lots of interesting birds flying about. The two  I noticed, the brush turkey and Ibis are both considered pests. They are pretty gutsy, they will fly onto tables and steal food, sometimes right out of peoples hands! Apparently they aren’t very scared of humans. 

Chicks on Campus- Australian Brush Turkey, (top right) Ibis, (below) and my most fabulous self.

I think this building is made of sandstone?

School starts on the 25th. International student orientation is on the 23rd and faculty orientation is on the 27th. I will update you all about school life a bit later.

Tomorrow I am heading to the Gold Coast!  I’m sure I will have something interesting to tell you all. Look forward to pictures of some koalas and kangaroos!

I hope everyone in Canada is well! Miss you all!

G'night