Danielle's Australian Adventures

One of the last...

2010-08-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

Well, I'm home. I have been for almost 4 days, but to me it's seemed like 4 weeks. Upon arrival into Calgary, I hit the ground running and literally have had very full days of errands, appointments and dealing with other issues. Such is life, I guess.

So, what are my first impressions of being back? Not good. I had a rough "welcome" back to Canada (some of you know the stories much better than others) and my house is a wreck full of renovations, and an ant infestation. My dog also has a massive lump on his back, and being 9 years old that's not a good sign. To make matters worse, 2 of our 4 cars are not working and I can't drive standard (meaning Dad's BMW is a no-go) and so Cass and I fight over the last available one. I'm hoping, by next week, all the above will be attended to and I will feel slightly better.

But what are my real first impressions? Still not good. I miss Australia. I miss the culture, the weather and most of all, the people. My mates. Already, I'm finding it hard to keep in touch with missed skype dates due to time zone issues, being really busy....and school hasn't even begun! When Tuesday rolled around, I wondered what Marc, Abbey and Kirstie were getting up to in the night french class. On Wednesday, I thought about Matt and Mel finding a new anatomy prac partner. On Thursday, I thought about Dave and Derek, my housemates, and how they would be walking together to pick up our weekly pizza for pizza night. Maybe it's just hard without good mates in Calgary, but I also think that it may also just be homesickness.

How is that possible you ask? Spend 8 months in another country, and it will become your home. Back in Canada, I feel like a foreigner. I talk funny, with weird sayings that no one here understands. Phrases like, "sweet as, we just rocked up, windscreens, capsicums, how're ya going".....all of them leave fellow Calgarians with a confused look on their face, and myself having to repeat what I said in "Canadian."

It's not just the language that has me hooped. It's also the driving! I've driven about 5 times since being home, and on 4 of the occasions, I've been on the wrong side of the road at some point in my trip. It usually happens when I am turning left and there is no oncoming traffic, so I naturally turn into the left-hand lane until I see headlights and realize my error. Luckily, I've not had any accidents yet, but I can tell you that when my sis and I are together, she insists on driving. I wonder why?

Other than that, I haven't really had time to sit down and get too sad. I cried enough the first couple days to last me all semester, so I think the hardest part will be the little reminders. Like tonight, I'll be going out with my sister for drinks and when I ask for rum and coke, I won't have to specify Bacardi. Since Bundy doesn't exist over here. And even though I'm not one to enjoy Bundy rum, I'll miss it. Because Bundy rum means I'm in Australia.

I'm going to leave this post on a semi-high note with the fact that this weekend, Cass and I are making a roadie to Edmonton to visit Andrea and family. It will be an excellent weekend of retail therapy, alcohol-induced happiness (I'm NOT an alcoholic, I swear) and some football events and bars in between. We'll make it back on time to pick up my Dad and brother from the airport on Monday, and then it's all about Queen's and getting ready for next year! (insert fake smile here)

I think this will be the second to last post, with the last one reflecting on my entire time away. Look for that sometime next week, and then this link will probably no longer need to stay on your favourites' list. I'll be returning to email updates when I start school!

xoxo Danielle

Pondering in NZ

2010-07-31T16:18:00.000-07:00

I have less than 12 hours left abroad. Then, I'm home. Back on Canadian soil. Home, sweet home. Back to Tim Hortons, back to my dog, my family, my friends. Back to decent time zones where I can communicate with others without having to go online and search time zones and hour changes. Back to driving my own car on the right hand side of the road. Back to my own house, with my own shower in which I am not forced to wear thongs. Back to summer. Basically, just back home.

Why, then, do I feel so sick every time I think about my flight in 9 hours? Why am I secretly hoping my plane is delayed, even by an hour? Why is it that every time I think about all the memories and events that happened over the last couple months, I get this sick feeling in my stomach?

Don't get me wrong, I want to come home. Just not yet.

I'm scared that the friends I've made over here will slowly lose contact because of the long distances. I'm afraid to return back to Queen's after an extremely laid back academic term. I'm scared to lose this carefree attitude that has changed my outlook on so many things. I don't want to become the typical Queen's Life Science student all over again - a person who doesn't go out, studies all the time and places all life's emphasis on school. I'm scared that 8 months away from the people I love back at Queen's may change our relationships. I'm afraid that I'll miss Australia way too much.

It's funny to think about, really. I've brought this up a couple times with my Dad, and each time he always says that I have to remember the good times, not let Queen's get to me and realize that it's my outlook and attitude that will determine how well my last year goes. I know I have to have faith that things will work out, friendships will last and that one day, I will come back.

Please don't think I'm sitting here, in the hotel room alone and depressed. It's just been a long time I've spent over here, and I've really come to enjoy the relaxed lifestyle, the lack of competitiveness between students at uni and basically just everything Aussie - the slang, the food, the beaches, the sun, the kangaroos. And I'm really going to miss it.

On that note, suitably, I'm off to pack up my suitcases and watch a movie until I get kicked out of my hotel room. T-minus 9 hours. And counting.

xoxo Danielle

The last day in Auckland....

2010-07-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

And after 3 posts, we come to the last day and last tour in Auckland. After doing all the tours, I'd say we definitely saved the best for last!

Friday was another long day - we had signed up for a tour to Rotarua, another city about 3 hours South of Auckland. Again, we were up early (5:45am) but this time, Quinn didn't complain. I'll explain why later on in this post....

We were met at our hotel by Bill, a driver of a little white shuttle bus. Now, on the last tour, there was a shuttle bus that picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the Coach Station to catch the coach we took up North, so we thought this was going to be the same deal. Wrong! The shuttle bus in front of us at 6:30am was the bus we were going to be driving in all day. We all shared a look amongst ourselves that only said one thing, "yikes." Nonetheless, we hopped into the bus, picked up the other 2 in our group (a couple on their honeymoon from Ireland. At least we couldn't complain about a large tour size!!) and began our journey south. Our first stop was a coffee break in a coal-mining town called Huntley. From here, we stayed in the vehicle for another 2 hours before reaching our destination, the Maori Village with a super long name that I won't (and can't!) write. We jumped out of the vehicle and almost died - the smell was SO powerful. And it smelled of sulphur/rotten eggs. Basically, Rotarua is built in and around active geothermal vents - that leech out sulphur. This is essential to the Maori people (the indigenous people of NZ) since they use the heat from these vents to heat their houses, cook their meals and bathe. It was so interesting to see the village like it was 100 years ago - our guide said nothing has changed. It also was crazy to see steam coming up from holes in the ground nearly everywhere....the entire village seemed to be covered in thick smoke! From the photos you can see that they have quite the set-up as far as geysers for cooking, others for bathing....as well, Dad and I are covered in one photo from just standing next to a vent!

Our morning activity was a trip to the geothermal spa, Polynesian Spa. Here, we found out that this spa is rated amongst the top 10 in the world under the category of "Geothermal Spas." We had entry for about an hour to over 7 pools, warmed to 40-42 degrees and either alkaline (for aches and pains...aka Quinn) and acidic for the skin. Quinn, Dad and I bobbed around each separate pool, soaking up the sun and just fully relaxing. It was truly spectacular, and as Dad said, one could have easily spent an entire day at the spa alone.

But this could not be done. We had lunch to eat back at the village, a Maori lunch traditionally cooked in the geyser steam, then we headed into the city for some quick sight-seeing of the various Government Houses, the Lake and another park where volcanic activity was seen a mere 6 years ago! I have multiple photos from these events that will be posted on facebook, but I want to save space for photos from the next activity, which Quinn deemed the highlight of his ENTIRE trip in NZ AND Australia.

Zorbing.

For those of you who don't know, or think I just made up a random word, zorbing is an activity where an individual is placed inside a large, plastic ball and rolls down a hill. Think of a human-sized hamster ball and you get the picture. Well, the afternoon's main activity was a chance to get inside one of these balls yourself and roll down a hill. Quinn and I readily hopped inside individual balls, and took a zig-zag path down the hill. We had 2 choices up at the summit of the hill - we could do the zorb dry, meaning we were strapped in and went head over heels, OR we could choose the wet option. We both chose the wet option, meaning water was placed inside the ball with us to make us slip and slide and stay relatively upright the entire way down.

It was epic. SO amazing. I never knew 30 seconds could be so much fun - but it was. The ball was massive, and getting in and rolling down the hill, trying to stay upright but slipping the entire way, getting totally sloshed around and bouncing on the sides....SO SO cool. Dad managed to capture a couple shots in action, and we bought some other photos that were taken by the company. Again, I have too many photos to upload here, so if you want to see more, check out facebook or see me in Calgary.....

After drying off and hopping back into the van, (and Quinn swearing that it was the best minute of his LIFE) we headed back on the motorway towards Auckland, with a quick stop at the Kiwi house to see the native bird. The Kiwi bird is a nocturnal and forest-dwelling creature, so without this stop, it was highly unlikely we would come across one in the wild. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the house, but we took some outside with another kiwi....hahaha.

The it was back on the bus, driving another 2 hours straight and arriving into Auckland just before 7pm. It wasn't quite as long of a day, but certainly more packed with various sights, activities and the like. We spent the evening packing up, eating leftovers and reminiscing about a great trip.

Quinn and Dad have been in the air now to Honolulu for 2 hours, and I'm sitting inside my nice hotel room, catching up on emails and these blogs. I imagine these blogs will soon come to an end...probably another couple on my flight home, and then one or two about my initial thoughts on being back in Canada (I warn you now, those will be slightly manic depressive). It seems so crazy that only a month ago I was meeting up with the family in Sydney, and I can't believe all that I've seen and done. Amazing.

Anyways, I am going to sign off here, try to load some photos and then take a nap, order room service and see what trouble I can get up to alone in a hotel room under Dad's credit card. Beauty!

Stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled for the next post - one that will most likely be written on Canadian turf!!

xoxo

Tour Number 2

2010-07-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning was definitely a lazy morning since the previous day was an action-packed 13 hours of dolphins, driving and cruising. We basically didn't roll out of bed until closer to 11am, had some brekky and then headed into the city to grab some internet. That's when I last updated you all.

We stayed down in the CBD for a couple hours, before grabbing some more groceries and gifts to cart back home. This arvo's tour was planned for 2:45pm - a 4WD experience through the forest ranges outside of Auckland.

It was....interesting. I quickly learnt that I do not know when to properly switch gears, and also demonstrated a fantastic ability to stall my quad on hills. Brilliant. However, I also am a quick learner, and it only took Quinn passing me once to figure the whole thing out fairly quickly and get my act into gear. No pun intended.

Our guide took us on an hour long trip through trees, up hills, on roads, maneuvering around stumps etc and then ending up at a lookout over the beach. We were pretty rugged up since it was rainy, but the entire trip was a blast. I think the most fun was had motoring through massive puddles.....

We didn't snap many photos, since I was on camera duty and was too preoccupied "listening to the engine" and switching gears to take photos en route. I think the ones we took, however, do capture the moment as best as it could be captured!

Auckland Tour Numero Uno

2010-07-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Hello again folks!

This time, I am writing to you from a semi-fancy hotel in the Auckland Airport Region. I'm paying $30 for a couple hours on internet access, and probably not enough data to upload all the photos I want to, but still. I am committed to this blog people, trust me.

So, I think I last left off with me and Quinn dangling precariously over the edge of the Sky Tower. Having survived that, the family decided to test their luck (and patience??) on a 13hr day tour to the Bay of Islands the following day. Here's how it started.

5:45am: Wake-up.

Quinn: "Leave me alone."
Myself: "We have to get up and go. You need to eat! We have 30 minutes before pick-up."
Quinn: "I don't want to go. I hate you."

Excellent start, I'd reckon. Anyway, with a little push from Dad, Quinn got up and moving and we made our way to the coach bus waiting outside for us at a brisk 6:15am to start the 4 hour drive up North. It actually wasn't that bad. We stopped along the way for some coffee breaks, as well as a stop at this place that houses an 800-yr old tree and a 600-yr old tree. They were massive. Just massive. And equally as impressive. The photos really don't tell the entire tale!

As we made our way up the coast, the weather became clearer and clearer. Upon arrival into Paiha, the city that our boat cruise was departing from, we had 2 hours to kill before loading up. We spent it on the beach, snapping some shots of the scenic view as well as having a picnic lunch. Yum!

Our boat was called the Dolphin Seeker, and the main purpose of the trip was to sail the 15 nautical miles out to Perry Island, or the Hole in the Rock. We stopped along the way at other islands in the Bay, but naturally, there was no possible way for us to visit all 144 that make up the "Bay of Islands." Still, it was pretty neat to see the various islands on the tour - some as small as a suburban block and others large enough to house entire villages on them. About halfway into our cruise out, we came upon a pod of 20 dolphins and stopped for almost an hour to watch them play and surface around us. Quinn, of course (being the genius child) knows how to work our good digital camera, and snapped some epic photos of them. Seriously, if this child stays out of jail, he could have a career in photography!

After the dolphins, we pretty much set our sights on making it to the hole in the rock. It's this massive island with a huge hole down the center. Nothing lives on the island, except for a couple lizards and birds, and apparently, a piece on the roof of the hole is threatening to fall sometime soon. We took our chances anyways as the skipper masterfully steered the catamaran through the hole and out the other side....with only a couple meters clearance on the port and starboard!

After the cruise, we basically hopped back on the bus and headed home to Auckland. It was an okay drive back, except for our tour guide. Peter, the guide, decided that it was his duty as driver to continually talk the entire ride back. Random tidbits about a guy in the village who designed some saw to cut wood, or how this village housed this random sheep or whatever. Cool and interesting for the first bit, but then I wanted to fall asleep around 4pm and couldn't with his voice over the PA. Finally, he said he would leave us be for a while. That lasted all of 5 minutes before he started up again with another tale about another village. Yikes.

We arrived back home at around 7:30pm, in time for a quick pasta dinner and then bed. We were all exhausted, but even Quinn managed to enjoy the day!

Auckland Update

2010-07-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

Hello folks!

I'm writing from a very dodgey internet place in Auckland, and also in front of a poster that tells me I am unable to upload anything without prior appointment or I will be subject to a fine. I'm going to try and upload some photos anyway, but they also may have to wait until I am home in a couple days.

Home.

Wow. I never thought I would be saying that word, and it coming up so soon. Like I said before, I am really not looking forward to heading back to Canada....but I'm sure I will write an entire blog dedicated to that subject, so I'll leave that one behind for now.

Anyway, Auckland. Arrival here was interesting. Apparently, it's not good enough to just throw out your fruits, you also have to throw out the plastic bag they were carried in. I learnt this the hard way when the sniffer dog practically attacked my brand new Country Road bag, slobbered all over it, and then because of this, I had to be taken into a separate room and searched. Seriously, I had nothing on me. Even the officers were a little taken back when my bag revealed.....NOTHING. Like I said, I obey the law. Damn dog.

We spent out first day in Auckland getting our bearing, walking around a bit, getting groceries and basically just booking our tours for the rest of the week. These tours will be the basis of my next couple blogs.....

Tour 1, July 27th: Sky Tower.

Sky Tower is a huge building in the CBD of Auckland. It stands almost 300m high, and Quinn and I signed up for the Sky Walk - a walk around the tower, 192m high, with nothing but a harness and a 1.2m wide platform. No rails, nothing. I was pretty confident until we stepped off the elevator and saw how tiny everything was beneath us. It was scary. Add in the wind factor (it basically threatens to push you off the edge of the platform) and the fact the guide was telling us to lean over the edge and trust our harnesses.....it was freaky. And cold. With the wind at 50km/h, the temperature up top was -3 degrees Celsius. Thankfully, as you can see from the photos, we were pretty rugged up!!

Dad barely managed to make his own way up to the observation deck to snap some photos of us. You can see how far he stays away from the windows at all times....even in the safety of an enclosed area, he still is afraid! He would have died on the walk - nothing to hold onto and the winds....lethal.

Anyways, it was a crazy experience and really worth it. Quinn and I both did very well and enjoyed the entire walk, from dangling over the edge, to jumping on the platform, looking down and seeing "ants"....we were almost disappointed when it was all over!

Our other tours (which I will write about in a couple days) include: 4WD beach safari, Bay of Islands and Dolphin tours, Rotarua and Zorbing.....so keep posted and I will update you all as fast as I can.

See you all soon! (and I mean it this time!!)
xoxo Danielle

July 24th - Wallabies game!!

2010-07-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

To celebrate my last night in Brissy, I had bought tickets to the Wallabies game with a couple good friends of mine - Alexa and Steph. Of course, I was pumped to wear my new Wallabies jersey and really be a part of the fan crowd, but I had no idea how crazy a night it would end up as!

I started out with dinner, multiple drinks etc with Derek back at the house. I was staying overnight there since Dad and Quinn had already left that afternoon, and I was flying out the next morning. I left for the game around 7pm, where I promptly met up with my mates and we hit the beers pretty hard. The Australians were playing the South African team and the rivalry was HUGE. There was a family cheering for the SA team in front of us, and this one boy kept giving me death stares whenever I cheered for the Wallabies....maybe it was because I was cheering at really inappropriate times, but I attribute that to the alcohol and the general feeling of craziness that accompanies an intense game.

After the game was over (we won - something like 30-8 or another ridiculous whopping), we headed out as a group to Caxton Street for some more pubs, cheering and reminiscing about our time in Australia. Both Alexa and I had to leave the next morning, and both of us were really wanting to stay. I'd say highlights of the night happened when my friend got a SA jersey off of a guy at the bar, in return for nothing, and I managed to spill something lethal all the way down the front of my new jersey, which took 3 days of washing and scrubbing in Auckland to fix. It's still slightly visible, but at least there is a good story behind it all!

I caught a cab home relatively early, since I was feeling worse for wear and then went straight to bed. I knew that I needed to get up early the next morning to catch my plane to Auckland, and my housemate Muhammad volunteered to give me a ride. Derek tagged along, helped me to get my bags into the airport and also watched me narrowly miss paying for heavy luggage. One of my bags was 22.9kg. The limit? 23kg. Success!! Hahaha.

It was super sad to say goodbye to Derek and Muhammad, but I did what I had to do, and boarded a plane to NZ, leaving Australia behind.

July 20th, 21st and Cass's farewell night. Plus the 22nd, and 23rd.

2010-07-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

These next couple days were not that filled with any specific activities. We spent one day shopping, and Cass literally cleared out every store she went into (well, not really, but she did support the Australian Economy in a way that won't be forgotten....). My key purchases were a pair of new leather boots, a half price Australian Rugby jersey and some cool rugby shorts to wear when I work out. Cass copied me on those ones, although she would like to think that they were her idea.

On the 21st, we went to my uni to pick up some transcripts and get all those loose ends organized. We spent a good chuck of the morning walking around, and I was able to show my family all the places I hung out at. It was really nostalgic and I got super sad, super fast. Dad and Cass found the uni to be a gorgeous place, whereas Quinn was more into the eels swimming around in the lakes and whether or not people were able to fish in them...

That night, we met up with Marilyn and Derek for dinner out together. We spent a good couple hours talking about nearly everything over some great wine, and some pretty decent meals. I think Dad's was the best - he ordered crumbed Red Snapper and it came out WHOLE. Face, eyes, scales....everything. The look on his face was priceless!! Derek's was a close second, but only for it's uniqueness - wild boar loin. He seemed to enjoy it!

After dinner, we dropped Quinn off at home to watch a movie, and the rest of us headed out to the Treasury Casino to spend Cass's last night in Brissy out. According to her, she wanted to not sleep at all, and then be able to sleep on the plane, so Derek and I knew we were in for a long night. Dad and Derek hit up the blackjack tables for a good hour or so, both of them coming out on top and winning more than they started with. Eventually, midnight rolled around and Dad headed back to check up on Quinn. Derek, Cass and I kept things going with a couple drinks and then a few rounds on the pokies. We all lost. But, that didn't deter Cass, who, at 2am, decided she was hungry and so dragged us to the 24hr pancake place for some 2am wedges and pancakes. Needless to say, Cass and I got home around 3am, and needed to be up at 4am to drive her to the airport. Her plan worked, but as she told us after arrival into Calgary, she didn't sleep at all on the plane over. Too bad!

July 22nd and 23rd were low-key days. We stayed around the apartment, went for a couple walks to Southbank and other key places, had some more dinners with Derek and crew and just relaxed. I said goodbye to Dad and Quinn on the 24th during the day, and then went out that night, but I'll save that for another post!!

July 19th

2010-07-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today we said goodbye to the surf town of Noosa and made our way along the highway towards Brissy, with one very important stop along the way - AUSTRALIA ZOO!!

I loved my last visit here, and definitely wanted the family to have the same chance at seeing all the great things I was able to experience. So, we planned for an entire day to walk around the zoo and for Cass, Quinn and Dad to enjoy Steve Irwin's creation.

We began the day with otter and elephant feeding - we even managed to get Dad in on the action! I think Cass and Quinn enjoyed feeding the elephants by hand.....

We also caught the infamous croc show, then wandered around for a bit to snap some more photos of the large crocs that are housed at the zoo. All of them were problem crocs in the wild (meaning they were attacking human boats etc, or migrating too close to human populations) and would have been shot. Instead, Steve saved them by creating this zoo to house them all!

Next stop, we really scared Dad by wanting to take a photo with a snake. The three kids sit side-by-side on this bench, and next thing we know, there is this HUGE albino python wrapped around all of us. I have to admit, when I signed up for this photo, I assumed a slightly smaller reptile. The size of this thing just blew my mind! AND, according to the handler, she was a small one. Yikes!

Cass and Quinn also took some koala holding photos, while I snapped away photos since I already held a koala in Brissy in Feb. We also hand fed the kangaroos, which I think was the highlight of the day for everyone!!

We wandered around for a bit after taking a lunch break, seeing all the unique Australian animals and, by the end of the day, DAD TOUCHED A SNAKE. For those of you who know my Dad, this is epic. He is deathly afraid of snakes and would much rather DIE before getting near one. But, he did conquer his fear a little bit, and pat a snake that was being held by a handler. I have photo evidence!!

We left the zoo around 3pm, drove the remaining kms into Brissy and I was hit with a huge case of nostalgia. I serisouly do not want to leave this country!! In Brissy, we are staying in apartments in the CBD (central business district or downtown to us Canadians!) and because we had made it in before 5pm, Cass and I went to surprise Dave at Zumba class. Here, Cass met one of my housemates and we both were able to fit in a workout! I was also able to say goodbye to the instructors, whom I've gotten to know really well over the course of the semester. It was my first of many final "goodbyes" I'll be making in Brissy and I had to fight off the urge to cry. I've made such good mates here!!

Zumba was followed by dinner with Dave, Derek and the family, then a quick catch-up with the other 2 housemates at the house and then bed. Cass was eager to get up for tomorrow's shopping day, so we all needed all the rest we could!!

July 16th

2010-07-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

Well folks, this is a bit backwards and all over the place, but I end up having to save the longer blogs with many photos for a time where I can access decent internet. I'm still currently in Brissy, at the State Library while Dad soaks up some sun outside. I'm hoping to try and finish blogs up until this point, but that may be a little to much to ask.....we'll see how I go.

July 16th: Today we woke up quite early to check out of the apartment in Bargara and drove the 15 minutes into Bundaberg to the rum factory. We ended up catching the first guided tour at 10am and proceeded to see exactly how this famous Aussie rum is made.

What an experience. We learnt about all the main ingredients, like molasses, yeast and distilled water, how it gains its distinctive taste, etc etc. Our first stop on the tour was the molasses vat - a large, wooden warehouse that houses over 3 million litres of molasses. Molasses is the by product of sugar cane crushing, and the sugar cane mill is conveniently located next to the Bundy Factory. When we were told exactly what we were going to be looking at, I imagined a huge vat sitting inside the wooden warehouse. Boy, was I wrong. It turns out, the warehouse is the actual vat. Yup, we walked inside across a catwalk above 3 million litres of molasses just sitting in the warehouse. When we were there, it was currently 3 meters deep, but the warehouse can contain up to 6 meters deep of molasses....which would have been mind-blowing to see. It already was crazy as!!

Next stop was the fermentation and distillery portion of the process, and we were able to see how the alcohol was made from the molasses. The rum factory has a unique distillery process whereby the alcohol is concentrated to over 78% between 2 distillers. After distillation, the alcohol travels by pipeline to hand-made vats of American White Oak, imported from North America! These vats hold over 75 000 litres of alcohol and are worth about 6 million dollars each. There are no screws, bolts, glue ANYTHING holding the vats together, since that could compromise the taste of the alcohol. The rum sits here for a minimum of 2 years, and it's from this particular timber that it gets the distinctive taste and color known to all Aussies. The rum factory has over 15 warehouses containing these oak vats, and each warehouse has anywhere between 15 - 96 vats. Each vat, containing that much alcohol and worth that price....you do the math. Bundaberg is where I'm headed for my job after uni!!

Lastly, we went to the warehouse that contains the bottling process. It's entirely robotized, and the factory produces about 120 of the 700mL bottles a MINUTE. That's over 60 000 bottles a day, 5 days a week. This amount barely keeps up with Australian consumption!! Amazing. The other mind-blowing fact was that Bundy rum only exports 4% to other countries - those are NZ, UK and Canada. They tried a couple years ago to increase production by 30% and export more by introducing ads in North America and the UK, but instead of exports increasing, the Aussie's just ended up drinking 30% more!!

To end the tour, we each got to taste 2 drinks each - all three of us had the classic rum and cola, Dad tried the reserve rum (and almost died it was that potent!!), Cass tried their limited coffee/chocolate sipping liqueur (very tasty as a treat....we bought some to try in hot chocolate!) and I tried their Dark and Stormy - a ginger beer mix with Bundy rum. It was quite tasty.

We also supported the Australian Economy through some Bundaberg merchandise purchases. Namely rum. Heaps and heaps of rum. Hence my question the other post about import laws.....

After the rum factory, we continued onto Noosa, with a quick pit stop along the way at Maccas for Quinn to get his coveted Mc Trigger. The entire trip he has been talking about this McTrigger, which is 2 double cheeseburgers, combined with a chicken burger. You order them separately, and create the masterpiece yourself....it's basically a heart attack in a box times 10. Here is the photo. Disgusting.

July 17 and 18th

2010-07-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

These two days were spent in Noosa. On the 17th, we woke up in the morning, had coffee with Jean, Warrick and the kids, and then spent the afternoon on the main beach. We laid in the sun for a couple hours and then got some lunch on Hastings Street, the swanky, expensive street that is found in Noosa Heads. Cass and I managed to get in some shopping, I found a cute tank top that nicely set me back 60 bucks....

The next morning Dad left early morning to golf with Warrick and left us kids at home. Cass and I went for a nice run, then showered up for lunch. Just by chance, family friends of ours, the Sevicks, were driving up the coast and stopped into Noosa to visit for a bit before continuing on to Fraser Island. We all went out for lunch together and caught up. It was crazy considering that both Canadian families were catching up over lunch in Australia!

The rest of the aft was spent cleaning the apartment, packing up and getting ready for our BBQ dinner with Jean and family. We had a fun evening playing with the kids and taking some great photos. All the kids are just adorable and I will definitely miss being able to see them as easily as I have been while in Australia.

After the family left and all the goodbyes were said, we finished packing up and hit the sack. Tomorrow was going to be an early day, and a full day, since we were headed to Australia Zoo!

Keep posted for a blog on Dad's trip to the Bundy Rum Factory. Does anyone know the import laws on alcohol into Canada???

July 8th

2010-07-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

Today was the second of two tours. We caught a safari truck at 8 am in the morning. From here, we drove twenty minutes to Mossman Gorge for the first guided walk through the rainforest. We took this chance to capture some family shots, as well as some scenic shots of the beautiful gorge.

After the gorge, we hopped back aboard the bus and get driven to the Daintree River to catch a cruise down the river. Here, we had the chance to get up nice and close to several saltwater crocodiles. The cruise reminded me of one we did way back in the day in Florida....

The cruise was followed by a BBQ lunch and scenic views of the river, then we drove up to the Alexandra Point Lookout and Cape Tribulation for some time at the beach. Up north here was such a calm and pretty place, we all wished the tour let us have more time here! Sadly though, we had a cable ferry to catch and another guided walk to make, so we had to leave before we really wanted to.

Although this day wasn't as action packed as the snorkel tour, we saw much more than we could have accomplished on our own time. Another great day and many more memories made!!

July 7th

2010-07-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the long awaited blogs about our two day tours we took while up at Port Douglas. This day was a full day trip out to the Outer Barrier Reef. We were aboard the vessel Aristocat, which was a large catamaran. Despite some rocky waves on the one hour trip out to our first snorkel site, Dad managed to keep his breakfast down and the first site was spectacular. The water was 25 degrees celsius, super warm and no need for wetsuits. We donned our snorkels, fins and jumped off the back of the boat into the warm waters over the reef. We saw so many types of colorful fish, various corals and towards the end of the hour long stop, a reef shark! Cass freaked out at this sighting, but the reef shark was more afraid of us and swam quickly away before we could capture a decent photo.

In between the first and second snorkel sites we were treated to a great buffet lunch aboard the boat, and then we hopped back into the water to swim around for another hour and a half at the second reef site. Here, we saw a huge Wrasse, an extremely large fish that was probably half my size and some massive coral structures. No new fish were seen besides the wrasse, so Cass and the rest of us took the opportunity to snap some candids underwater. We had great fun posing with the snorkels under the waves!

The third site was practically the same deal, lots of fish, coral and other unique features. We didn't see any turtles, and only that one shark, but overall it was a fantastic day. Our guides were great, the boat was a beauty and the sights were pretty amazing. The only bad thing that happened was that Quinn, Dad and I got SO burnt on our backs. The photos tell all, but we learnt pretty quickly that despite an overcast day, the Aussie sun is lethal!

July 12, 13, 14, 15

2010-07-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I'm writing from my dads iPad so this will be a short blog update, but I'm mostly writing about the days in between those where we did cool stuff. I still haven't forgotten about the two tour days in PD and I will also be updating photos on here in the next couple days with ones that accompany this blog.

July 12: Today, we sat poolside at our resort in Mackay. We joined the Staines for a lunch at a local pub, then went out to dinner after more pool time.

July 13 and 14: This morning we started the day out with a tour of Georgie's and Jack's classrooms and school. It was so different to see the outdoor halls, school uniforms etc etc. I think the two highlights of the tour was seeing the detention center - the Responsible Thinking Center, and also when Quinn tried to convince Jack's class that he rode a polar bear to school everyday since it was too cold in Canada for buses to run properly. Too funny! After this trip, we drove a couple hours to outside of Rockhampton and stayed in a place called Yeppoon. Our resort was probably the most spectacular so far, and basically the next couple days we just took advantage of this awesome resort and soaked up the sun by the pool.

July 15: Today, we checked out of our hotel room and then took advantage of a cloudless sky and despite no longer technically being guests, we swam in the pool and sat in some great lounge chairs. The afternoon was spent driving to a small hamlet outside of Bundaberg called Bargara. It was here that we grabbed some groceries, made a homemade dinner for the first time in days and also did some laundry! Finally. Nothing much else happened, we stayed pretty much packed and made sure that we were ready for an early start with the rum factory tomorrow!!

July 7th and 8th...pending. July 9th, 10th and 11th

2010-07-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

July 7th and 8th: Both days were epically spent in Port Douglas. The first day was a full day snorkel tour to 3 different sites on the reef and the 8th was a Daintree rainforest tour. I'll leave those until I get to decent internet in Brisbane, as those both have much to say about each day as well as tons of photos!

July 9th: A massive driving day. We were supposed to drive the 4 hours from PD to Townsville, but due to a car racing event in the city, we were unable to score accommodation anywhere and thus had to continue an extra 4 hours to Airlie Beach. We were planning on staying here anyway, so a full day of driving would just give us some extra time in a place we were already headed! Not much happened on the road except for Georgie introducing us to a new game - Dead Kangaroo. Basically, you count the number of dead roos you see on the side of the road. Morbid? Yes. Entertaining? Another yes. We settled into our fabulous accommodation about 7pm that night (it took us much longer than 8 hours to drive with all the stops and lunch breaks we took) and had a quick dinner of pizza before hitting the sack.

July 10th: Today was spent just bumming around Airlie Beach. We woke up early, went for a run up some massive hills and then spent the day lounging by the pool and shopping down their main street. Goergie's parents and brother also drove up this morning and we were able to catch up over some beers and meals. Unfortunately, I also came down with a massive headcold, and am still fighting a cough to this day (the 16th!!). The thing to note is the coolest invention EVER. A DRIVE-THROUGH BOTTLE SHOP. You don't even have to leave your car to buy booze....although the idea seems to support drinking and driving??

July 11th: Today we packed up our bags and said goodbye to the resort. We hung out by the lagoon in Airlie and made a quick BBQ brunch/lunch before hitting up some ice cream and then hopping back in the vehicle to drive another 2 hours to the hometown of Mackay. Georgie and family live here, and were starting school again within a couple days, so we decided to stay with them for a couple days before continuing down the coast. This was the last time I had internet, and apart from a nice home-cooked meal and some great laughs over dinner, nothing much else happened that was worth reporting.

The photos I've attached are from our resort in Airlie and the BBQ lunch that we made. I'll try to keep updating the blog over the next couple days, but we plan on being in Brissy in about 4 days and by then I will be able to finish up the rest of the entries!!

xoxo Danielle

July 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th

2010-07-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

July 3rd: Kelsey and the family split ways this arvo - Kelsey headed back to Brissy while the family continued upward to Cairns. We arrived fairly late at night so instead of renting a car and driving to Port Douglas that evening, we chose to stay overnight at another fancy resort and pick up the car the next day.

July 4th: Today we picked up the rental vehicle from the Cairns airport and Dad has his first go at driving on the opposite side of the road. He did pretty well, except for always turning on the windscreen wipers instead of the signal light when he wants to turn, and then he also likes to hug the lefthand shoulder of the road, putting us onto the rumble strips. To this day (it's the 10th here!) he continues to do both things. Oh well, no accidents to report as of yet so I guess one can't complain too much!! Upon our arrival into Port Douglas, we had a brief orientation with the whereabouts of everything and a quick tour of some of the shops in town. We picked up some groceries, had a nice dinner out on the patio by the pool and played a game of tennis before hitting the sack!!

July 5th: Another lazy day in PD. We woke up this morning and Cass, Dad and I went for a run for the first time in weeks. Cass killed us all (she's been training like crazy for her volleyball!) but it was good to just get out and move the legs. After breakfast at the resort, we went into the city and shopped for the rest of the day, followed by another round of tennis (who knew Dad was a pro??) and then a BBQ dinner that we cooked back at our place.

July 6th: This morning, we woke up fairly early to drive back into Cairns to pick up a family friend of ours who flew into Cairns from Mackay. Her name is Georgie and she's one year older than Quinn. She spent the next couple days with us, and we are currently staying at their place in Mackay (which is why I am able to access internet and upload photos/update the blog!!). On the way back from the airport in Cairns, we stopped for lunch at a shopping center, picked up some much needed chocolate and tim tams and then hit up a beach for a nice afternoon stroll. That evening was spent catching up over another BBQ steak dinner, then an early bedtime since the next couple days were filled with exciting tours!!

Keep an eye out over the next few days with regards to the last 5 days worth of adventures! I've spent over 2 hours on internet today, and I'm a little tired so will sign out!
xoxo Danielle

Photos....

2010-07-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

2010-07-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Since it's been about 2 weeks since my last entry, and I have heaps to tell, these next sections are going to happen over the next couple days when we are in Mackay at the Staines house. I think the best way of doing this will be to report what happened on a day to day basis...

June 30th: My arrival day in to Sydney at about 10am. I caught the train into the city and met up with the family at their hotel. I was blown away by the height of Quinn and his voice - it was so deep! He's grown heaps and what a difference 6 months can make! After some quick shopping, and a quick lunch, the entire family went to the base of the Harbour Bridge for the Bridge climb. Having done this on my last trip to Sydney, I knew what I was in for and completely pumped, but the rest of the fam (mainly Dad) were a little nervous. After the hour briefing, getting suited up and all our test runs done, we head out onto the bridge. At first, Dad was really nervous, but managed to overcome his fear of heights and enjoy the scenic view from the top (at a height of 134m nonetheless!) and have fun with some photos. That evening, we enjoyed a fabulous italian meal at a restaurant recommended to us by one of Dad's work partners. We had great service the entire night after some easy name dropping!!

July 1st: Happy Canada Day! This was probably the most eventful and unique Canada Day I've spent ever. Kelsey, a friend of mine, met up with us at the Sydney Airport to fly directly into Uluru. Upon arrival into this little airport, we caught the shuttle bus into our resort area. Arriving into the airport was great fun - we managed to get seats all together in the exit row and tried our best not to scream when we saw Uluru from the sky. It's easily the largest geographical figure in sight. After a quick tour around our resort - a 5 star hotel complex with multiple sites, a shuttle bus in between and amazing viewpoints, we walked across the complex to hit up the supermarket for some much needed chocolate and the bottle shop for some beer. Along the way, we stopped at one of the lookouts to get a good view of the rock, and decided to visit another lookout onto Uluru during sunset that evening.

During sunset, we took some amazing photos of the family in front of the rock, as well as posing with the Canadian flag for good times' sake and then hiked back to the resort for dinner. The only downside to the day was realizing at supper that the rock had been open for climbing that day, and since this is a rare occurrence, we totally thought we had missed out on an amazing opportunity...

July 2nd: But we didn't. The next day after a scrumptious buffet breakfast, we managed to steal a bunch of food, pack it into packs and caught the shuttle bus to the base of Uluru. Today was one of only a handful of days which the rock was open. Of course, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to climb this iconic figure, so that's what we did. Start time: 10:45am. Summit reached: 12:30pm. Descent started at 1:00pm. End time: 1:30pm. The climb up the rock was spectacular. Everything from the views, the difficulties,the great weather, just knowing mum did the exact same thing years prior....it was awesome. Probably the highlight of my entire trip to Australia!! Of course, Kelsey and I lugged our lunch up this massive rock so we enjoyed a picnic lunch at the summit, followed by some great family shots!!

That evening, we ended off a great day with a sunset camel tour. Epic!!!

Party On!!

2010-06-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

These past few days have been a blur. Not because they have gone by so quickly, but because I have had a party to attend every night, which means the following mornings can get to be quite rough. In fact, I think this is the first morning I've gotten out of bed before 10am, which is huge for me.

On Saturday night, Derek decided to be the host/cook/gentleman and cook Kelsey, Dave and I dinner. He made the famous Mexican recipe, and we all enjoyed the fresh guacamole, salsa and cheese tortillas. This, of course, was the pre-game meal, as Kelsey, Derek and I were headed out around 7pm to catch the Wallabies rugby game. For those of you who are unaware, the Wallabies are the National rugby team. On Saturday, they were playing Ireland.

Enjoying the dinner made for us....a la Derek!

Like the game I attended before, I had absolutely no clue what was happening most of the time, but the atmosphere alone was incredible. There was a huge mixture of fans for both teams, which made for a large feeling of rivalry. I just basically followed along, cheered whenever the people dressed in gold cheered and booed when the people in green were cheering. Easy enough!! It was even better that the end result was 22-15 for the Wallabies!

After the game, we went to Caxton Street, a street right outside the stadium that is literally filled with fans after each game. Here, we chose a bar to hit up some drinks and chill for a bit. I went up to the bar to get a water for one of my pals, along with two other friends who were ordering beers and we ended up snagging 3 free drinks each! How? Well, there were three glasses on the bartop that were just sitting there. It's obvious to us that someone has ordered and paid, but totally forgot about the drinks since after 3 rounds of people ordering, those drinks were still there. Discretely, I motion to Alexa to pick one, I grab the other, and Alexa's housemate Steph grabs the last. We figured if no one was picking them up in the time we were standing there (a good 10 minutes!) that they were not going to be used. So why waste a good drink? I think they were vodka, soda and lemons, but I couldn't tell for sure.

Us with our free drinks we scored at the bar!!

After some time at the bar, laughing at the Irish fans singing songs and the Aussie's poking jokes, we decided to head home and sleep. We were all pretty exhausted, even though it was only around 1am!

Sunday night was another party for me, this time out in a southern suburb called Holland Park. My friend, Mel, from anatomy class was hosting a party with her brother, a 4th year pharmacy student. It was a great night, and I ended up crashing overnight there because her brother, Ty, with his pharmacy knowledge brews his own spirits, beer and wine. Needless to say, a couple homemade rum's later, I was in no shape to catch a bus home. Luckily, Mel had plenty of room in the house for me to find a place to crash. Of course, this meant that all my plans for Monday morning were totally kiboshed and as a result, I've been up early this morning to do all the last minute things around the city. I still have more friends to see, errands to run and emails to send....

This will probably be my last post for a while until I can access internet again and update you all. I leave tomorrow morning early for Sydney, meet up with the family, spend a day with them and then we all fly to the Outback on Thursday. We spend 3 days in the Outback, then we fly to Cairns. From here we basically have no plans, a car and 2-3 weeks to make our way down the coast to Brisbane. I promise to try and write as often as I can....I can't promise many photos as I am not sure the internet connections will be strong enough to load them, but if I can, I will.

On that note, I am going to sign off so I can send those emails and get out of the library to finish up errands before enjoying some coffee with friends. It's too hard to say goodbye and I get this sick feeling in my stomach every time I have to do so.....

All my love as always!
xoxo Danielle

The last exam. Then, winter(?) break!

2010-06-24T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I have to apologize for the lack of posts since my last exam. It's been a couple days, and I honestly planned to write about it the day after, but I had an epic night out after the last exam which will be entirely explained by this post. Prepare yourselves.

Myself, Abbey and Kirstie before the exam

My last exam was the french exam, worth only 20%. After receiving my final assignment mark in that class the day before, which was 24.5/25, I realized that my mark going into the exam was 76/80. Meaning, if I didn't even show up to the exam, I would have passed with a 76%. Not bad. In fact, I was so nonchalant about this exam that I didn't even open a book to study. Not that I could have really done much anyways. The exam was easy as, basically all we had to do was write the beginning to a mystery novel using the information given to us in a passage that involved a student talking with a policeman about how his bag was stolen. The word limit was 400 words, which is basically a long paragraph. It took me about an hour to write it up, and I left without really making too many corrections. I figure, since studying French for over 6 years, I think my grammar is up to a level where I don't make really stupid mistakes. Besides, I figured that I only needed a 70% to end up with a 90% overall...

At the Red Room

This is where the fun starts. The 4 of us from my French class: Marc (the Canadian who married an Aussie and plays hockey) Abbey, Kirstie (2 Aussie's) and myself all headed to the campus pub, the Red Room. Here, we started to drink and play a couple rounds of pool. Our plan, initially, was to have a couple celebratory drinks here, then head home. Well. That plan soon was pitched out the window for another, more exciting plan that involved another bar and some dancing. But before we left the Red Room, a bunch of other mates I had met over the course of the semester, as well as ones that I knew from Queen's, all came to join us at the Red Room to celebrate good friendships, the semester and the end of exams. It was sad as well, I had to say goodbye to a couple friends as they were headed out over the next couple days.

Andrea, Myself and Alexa (the Queen's gals!)

Many drinks and a significant loss at pool later, the 4 of us decide it's time to move onto the next venue. After a quick stop at Kirstie's house for some food (they tried to get me to eat Vegemite, again, but I just can't make it work!) we managed to get a ride to the RE. A fancy establishment in the subrub of Toowong. Andrea knows just how sarcastic I am when I say "fancy." This bar is the go-to bar for all uni students, especially on a Wednesday nights when the drinks are cheap and the dance floor is packed. Here, Abbey and I met up with some more of Kirstie's mates and had a blast chatting away with random groups of people and dancing on the dance floor. I also ran into a guy wearing a Queen's hoodie, which totally threw me off guard. I asked him if he was from Queen's, and it turns out, he was on exchange there last semester with his mate! His mate was super drunk and swore that he knows me from Queen's because he remembers "seeing me on campus", but I just went along with it. We had a nice chat about Bubba's poutine, the nightlife and other Kingston things before parting ways. Fancy that a simple hoodie can connect 2 individuals eh?

Around midnight, after about 7 solid hours of drinks (and at this point, I was starting to get sick of the rye I had decided to drink all night - Dad, I understand where you are coming from when you say you can't touch the stuff again!) Abbey and I began to get hungry and wanted to leave to catch the last ferry into the city. Abbey was going to stay at my house as her place was way too far to access by transit that late at night....Anyways, we rock up to the ferry stop and see that there are a whole group of guys waiting as well. By this time, we have started to sober up and really didn't want to deal with a group of drunken boys, so I suggest that we pretend we are French and speak in French to each other.

It worked perfectly. Well, kind of.

The boys did not leave us alone. In fact, they really liked that we were from France. However, my accent was SUPER. I have no clue how or where I learned to speak English with a French accent, but it worked wonders. Abbey and I had to bite our tongues when they talked amongst themselves about how sexy they thought it was that we were foreign, as they assumed we didn't understand a word they were saying! They even were so kind as to help "direct" us in the city and order our meals at Macca's. It was epic. Probably the best fun I've had on a night out. Also makes me wonder if I have an acting career as a French woman in an English country....kidding.

The past couple days have just involved me getting ready to leave for Sydney on the 30th. I'm in the process of picking up assignments from campus, packing up the room, baking up a storm and then attending a couple more parties in between. I'm going out tomorrow night with Derek, Kelsey and the crew to the Wallabies game (the national Rugby team versus Ireland), and then Sunday night I've been invited out to party with the Anatomy friends I made. I'm excited to see the family in such a short period of time, but I also don't want to leave. I've made so many good friends and contacts here, it's going to be tough to say goodbye without shedding tears. Trust me.

Beginning to organize my life into suitcases

Anyways, I probably should go and run another couple errands before I head home for the evening and get some much needed rest!

Love to all - I'm about a month away from seeing most of you! How crazy is that??
xoxo Danielle

Exams 2, 3 and 4....

2010-06-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

Well folks.

I am one exam and 10 days away from reuniting with my family. I'm super excited to see them, but also a little sad because it means that my Australian Adventures are almost over....

This post is a long overdue update on the last of my exams, as well as this past weekend's celebratory party. As you can probably imagine, with 3 back-to-back exams, the night out Friday night was a hairy one....haha!

Exam number 2 was Tuesday night at 6pm. It was my Terrestrial Ecology course, where I learnt about koalas, kangaroos and echidnas, so I wasn't too concerned with the exam itself. Of course, considering what happened the last time around, I left the house at about 2 in the afternoon JUST to make sure I made it on time. And naturally, the bus did not pull over or break down, so I was on campus about 3 hours before I actually needed to be. Oh well, I managed to catch up with Alexa and Kelsey, and we studied a bit together before ordering a pizza dinner and going to write the exam.

The exam itself actually went amazingly well, except for one question. It was, "There is one environmental factor that dictates when baby koalas are born. What is this factor and why does it not affect all koala populations in the same way?" (2marks). I had absolutely NO idea, so instead of writing out some kind of bull**** for an answer, I drew a cartoon. It was of Australia, with a koala up north and a koala in the south. The koala up north was saying how hot it was, and the koala in the south was complaining about the cold. Next to the cartoon, I wrote "This diagram is up for interpretation." I'm hoping I get at least partial marks.....

Next exam was on Thursday morning and this was the Anatomy practical exam. For those unaware of how these exams work, we basically have 70 stations set up with either a cadaver, plastic model or a micrograph photo. Each student stands up in front of a station, we have exactly one minute to identify whatever is labeled on the table and then move to the next station when the bell rings. It can be pretty stressful, but a tutor told me a couple weeks ago that I had to treat it like a game. Have fun, don't panic if you don't know the answer, and don't let previous stations throw you off. It's exactly what I did. In fact, most of the stations I was able to ID within 20 seconds, and I actually had fun with it all. It was a pretty warped game of Guess Who, but I'm sad that anatomy is over with! The best part of the entire experience was one particular station. The question was to identify a structure on the bone that could be palpated through the skin. The bone was the femur, but I didn't remember this from my notes. So, since we aren't allowed to touch the specimens whatsoever, I put down my pencil and test and started to feel up my OWN leg in order to try and guess an answer! It was hilarious because a tutor that was monitoring that station just caught my eye and shook his head at me.....they have probably seen so many weird things during those exams!!

Last exam of the week was the theory portion to the anatomy exam. It was a 50 multiple choice question exam and we had an hour to do it. Unlike my other exams, I really didn't study for this one as much as I would have liked, so I was really nervous going into it. Out of all of them, I think this one went the worst. The first 10 questions were all about the bones in the skull, the sphenoid bone in particular, and I had to guess all of them. Oh well. It's over and done with!

Now, onto the party. Friday night was our epic celebration night out with all my housemates and uni friends. Derek had received strawberry Jello earlier on from his mum, with the strict instructions from Andrea that it was only to be used for shots. So, we prepared these puppies the night before, and broke them out early on during dinner to get the evening started. You can imagine how the night went on from there....

We partied in our house until 9:30, then headed out into the Valley to party at a club called the Met. It played some great music, and we stayed until all hours of the night. Despite a slight scare with us losing one of our friends and then realizing she was actually safe at home, the night was a blast. Yesterday, (Saturday) was a bit rough, but I was nowhere near the shape I was in after my bday night. Still, I took the entire day off, and apart from a Macca's trip for some greasy hangover food, I didn't leave my bed.

Enjoying some Jello shots in Derek's room...

Outside the club

Doing shots at the bar

Now, it's Sunday and I'm just out getting some internet, catching up on some emails and starting to organize notes for my french exam on Wednesday. It shouldn't be too tough but I do have a couple things to revise....Once my downloads are finished, I'm off to meet up with Derek in the city to grab some groceries before heading back to the house and baking another batch of cookies for him.

I'm off, but do keep in touch and keep your eyes posted for another couple updates before I leave to see the fam jam!

xoxo Danielle

Update on exam numero uno

2010-06-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

Hello folks!

This is a quick update on the crazy happenings regarding my first exam yesterday. Caution : these next events are extremely unlike me...

My first exam was yesterday at 2:30pm. I have to catch a bus into the campus, which takes about 30 minutes. In theory, I was going to catch a bus in the city at 1:30pm, arrive at campus at 2pm and have a cool 30 minutes to just prepare myself for the exam. Perfect timing.

So, I'm in the city. I catch the bus at 1:30pm. I'm on the bus, about halfway to the campus when the bus pulls over, and the driver tells us to get out and wait for the next bus. I assume that we are just switching buses, and that our next bus is right behind us. Wrong.

The next bus is not scheduled to arrive for another 40 minutes. Current time: 2:00pm. Exam time: 2:30pm.

I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE MY EXAM.

Brilliant.

For those of you who know me, I am always on time for my exams. In fact, I am always early for my exams.

When I figure this out, that I will be late/I will MISS the exam. I panic, phone Dad and realize he can't do anything on his end. He is in CANADA.

My options: a) Run to the uni. This option will take me about 20 minutes.
b) Catch a cab. I have no money though, so this option is out.
c) Find another bus.

I choose option c). The next bus that comes to the uni arrives at this specific station at 2:15pm and will get me to campus at 2:27pm. 3 minutes prior to the start of my exam. Excellent.

I'm only slightly panicked when I arrive at the room on campus where I am supposed to be writing. Surprisingly, I am not the last one to get to the exam room. I sit down, take a deep breath and start the exam.

Thankfully, the exam is not that hard and all my worries about being late subside within a couple minutes. I'm fully in exam mode and finish the exam about an hour into the allotted 2 hour time slot.

All in all, one exam down, 4 to go. Lesson learnt? Yes. Brisbane transit is not reliable on a Saturday afternoon to get to campus.

My next exam is on Tuesday evening, and it's Biology. I hope it goes as well as the last one did, minus the whole bus thing. Wish me luck!

xoxo Danielle

An exciting hump day.....

2010-06-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

Wednesday June 9th, 2010.

A day to mark in history folks.

Danielle got another tattoo.

KIDDING!!

Did I fool any of you? That is actually a photo of my friend Kelsey's tattoo that she got this morning. I was asked to accompany her, so I dutifully quit the studying for a couple hours and we headed out to West End for her to get all tatted up. This was her first one, and it's a pretty epic masterpiece if I do say so myself! I was happy to be able to distract her with my anatomy reenactments to make her laugh, and I think the tattoo artist thought we were on drugs. Literally.

After this tattoo job, Kelsey and I met up with Alexa at a cafe down the street called Three Monkeys. Here, we actually got some work done while drinking MASSIVE bowls (yes, bowls) of Chai Lattes. Yum!

On the way to the tattoo shop though, Kelsey and I saw the coolest thing. In South Bank (the area where they have the built in beach and outdoor pool) there is a wall where you can take and leave various items. This week's theme was Magazines, and the theme changes each week apparently. It's a really cool system where you are allowed to help yourself to whatever magazine you desire, as long as you leave something in return! Brisbane always has really cool and avant-garde ideas like this....sometimes, I wish Canada was more innovative!

Yesterday (sorry, this post seems really backwards!) I helped Alexa out with her practical exam by being the guinea pig in a VO2 max test. Basically, I was hooked up to a ventilator which monitored my oxygen consumption and usage during maximal aerobic exercise. I was on a stationary bike, and every 2 minutes Alexa would turn up the resistance. I had to go until I was fully exhausted/almost puking, and then from the data, Alexa had to demonstrate to the tutor that she knew how to calculate my critical values and explain them to me. Turns out, I am within the 90th percentile of women in my age category, which classifies me as an elite athlete! Funny eh? I also found out the heart rate at which my body stops using oxygen efficiently (aerobic to anaerobic consumption) and when I go out for a bike or run, if I stay below this heart rate, I can sustain exercise for much longer. Interesting values to know, but I have to admit the test was hard as. I was only biking for 15 minutes, but the last 6 were probably the toughest 6 minutes of exercise I have done in Australia to date. I wouldn't volunteer to do the test anytime soon.....

That's about it for the updates. I just wanted you all to know that instead of studying like a normal uni student, I am currently very good at finding alternative activities!!! I'm sure my marks will definitely reflect these decisions...but in the meantime, I'm loving life!

xoxo Danielle

The last weekend of a non-stressful time

2010-06-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Well. It's currently Monday morning, around 11:15am, and I have spent 2 hours in the anatomy lab (already!) studying for the practical exam and reviewing cadavers. Excellent. I decided to take a break from the fumes of formaldehyde to update you on what turned out to be an exciting weekend....

Friday night was pretty tame, I spent the majority of the night studying and getting to bed early. Saturday morning though, I went off to campus to play a couple squash games with some random students, and ended up spending over 2 hours playing! It was one of the few times I have been out this semester, and it was great fun. I'll definitely be playing lots more once back at Queens!

The rest of the day Saturday was devoted to some more studying, skyping with the family and friends as well as catching up on some schoolwork. The evening, however, was a completly different story.

I totally planned to stay in, study and get to bed early. At 7:45pm, both my housemates (Dave and Shiva) told me that I was to "get into my room, put on a dress and get ready to go out." I was really reluctant to go out, but they both were super keen on having me join so I got ready in about 10 minutes and we were out the door by 8:30pm. Our first destination was Glass Bar - a swanky bar where we ordered $20 Long Island iced teas, sat by the bar and drank them slowly. Dave had never had one before, and I warned him that they were quite lethal....but somehow he managed to power through his! By the time we finished, it was nearing 10pm, and Shiva wanted to take me to his favourite club. We booked it through the Valley (the area where all the night clubs in Brisbane are located) and made it to the Metro just in time to avoid paying a cover charge. For the next couple hours, we danced on the dance floor and I had a blast people watching. I have to admit - being in a club like the Met is quite the different experience when you are completely sober. It's amazing how individuals act on alcohol (myself included, I know!) and I was totally entertained by watching all the drunk uni students around me.

At midnight, I wanted to call it quits, but both Dave and Shiva were not ready to leave so I walked home on my own. For those reading, that may sound like a dangerous move on my part, but I assure you, the road I walked along was filled with people traveling to and from the Valley, and it was a well-lit and major road. I wouldn't have walked home (a 10 minute walk) if it was any later, or unsafe. Trust me.

The walk home is there the interesting part happened. I'm about 2 minutes around the corner from my place when I run into a family out on the sidewalk, all of them dressed in suits. I assume it's a wedding and I'm correct. I had to excuse myself to get around the father of the groom, and that's when this one guy asks me, "Have you met Josh?" He was referring to his younger brother, and before I know it I'm invited into the reception, open bar and all. I feel only slightly awkward, since I was totally crashing a wedding reception, but at the end of the night I came out with another Aussie friend (Josh and the rest of his family!) Such a random occurrence, but totally hilarious. I will probably never hear from them again.....

Onto Sunday. I slept in, which was great, and then spent the morning at Starbucks with my housemate Mohammad studying some material. At about 7:30pm, I headed out to catch a bus to meet up with my Canadian friend Marc, who I met in French class. He is here permanently, since he married an Aussie, and he plays hockey. ICE hockey. So him, his wife, his wife's cousin and I went to watch his late night game.

Sammy (his wife) knows quite a bit about hockey, but her cousin Bre, did not. It was Bre's first game, and what an experience it is to watch a well-understood sport (on my behalf) through a complete beginner's eyes. Simple rules like icing, offsides and penalties confused the crap out of her. Especially when the referee had their arm raised for icing, and she's trying madly to figure out who did what penalty!! The sad part (at least for me) is that the quality of the hockey was about the equivalent to intramurals at Queen's. Some good players, some great stars....but mostly shit players who are just out for a skate more than anything. I really wish Bre could have seen pro NHL games live, and REALLY experienced what hockey is. All in all, it was a great night out (especially when Sammy, who is preggers, was craving Maccas on the way home so we had a midnight pit stop on the way!) and really made me miss playing myself. Next year!

I should probably run, since I have to drop off my last french assignment and then hit the books again. I'm going out tonight with Dave for our weekly Zumba class - remember that dance-fitness class I talked about one post way long ago? Well, we've gone every week and I swear it's the most fun $15 I spend weekly. Apart from that, not much is planned for the afternoon, although I may quit studying early to go home and have a quick nap.....the entire weekend and 2 unexpected late nights in a row really did take a whole lot out of me!!

Keep the emails and updates from you ends coming - can you believe that I only have a couple more months till I'm home and see most of you in person?? Crazy!

All my love,
xoxo Danielle

Crunch time!!

2010-06-03T00:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Well, it's that time of the year again - classes are winding down (they finish in 2 days!), I have a week of no exams and no classes (equaling MUCH studying time) and then it's down to 5 exams in 2 weeks. Funny how no matter the location and despite being on the opposite side of the world and in a very different country, the feeling I get at this time remains the same. It's that stressed out, not sure what to expect, pressure-filled anxiousness. And then of course, just like back home, I am sure that all my exams will go swimmingly, and I will wonder why I even worried about them in the first place. Some things never change.

Not much has happened since my last entry about the Australia Zoo visit. Derek and I have quite the baking system going - he buys the ingredients, I bake the goods and he shares a few with me. In the past week, I made one big batch of Gma Arlene's chocolate chip cookies, which made about 40 or so cookies in total. It took Derek 2 days to finish the entire lot. The only thing holding him back from more cookies being made is a lack of funds that prevents him from buying the missing groceries. But that will change with his paycheck next week.....

I am currently sitting in my last french class of the semester. It's pretty boring - I just came from the last french oral presentation, where I think my group completely smashed. The professors were quite stunned after we finished, and I think (or hope?) it was because we did swimmingly well. Fingers crossed. Speaking earlier about accents, hearing Australians speaking french with their Australian accents is weird. They also all think that I am this crazy french speaker because I come from Canada and compared to them, have a very thick french accent. It's hilarious, and definitely improves my confidence with the oral french.

Now all that's left is one more anatomy class tomorrow morning, followed by some celebratory drinks on the campus pub. Then next week is a full week of studying intensely. I'm imagining many hours spent in the anatomy lab, pouring over my cadaver (whom I have affectionately named Mortimer. My exams are on the 12th (Marine Biology), the 15th (Terrestrial Environment), the 17th and 18th (2 parts of Anatomy) and the 23rd (French). I'll be really happy when the 18th rolls around, since French should not be too hard. I think the house is having a major party on the 18th to celebrate the end of exams etc etc, and that should be fantastic.

I should probably sign off now, since we were just handed a worksheet and are supposed to be working on that instead of listening (and I can't really pretend to be taking notes anymore....haha).

I'll be in touch soon - if studying doesn't kill me first!
xoxo Danielle

The last field trip...to Australia ZOO!!!

2010-05-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

This post is going to be all about my trip to the Australia Zoo. I went yesterday as the last field trip with my biology class. We spent the entire day in the Zoo, getting a backstage tour of all the animals and their enclosures. We even got to hold, feed and touch some of them which I will explain below!

The morning started off with a tour of the reptile house. Along one side were all the venomous snakes in Australia....something like 9 out of the world's 11 species. Along the other wall were the pythons - another group of snakes found in Australia, except these ones won't kill you via venom. They kill you via constriction. Dad would not have liked this at all!

We then split up into two groups - the first group heading off to see the Echindnas and the Tasmanian Devils, while the second group went off with our professor to see some of the Freshwater and Saltwater crocodiles. I was in the first group, and had the opportunity to see both an echindna and a Tasmanian Devil up close and personal, as the zookeepers picked them up and let us pet them both. After spending some time talking about these two very unique animals, we swapped groups and then headed over to learn about the crocs.

I have to admit, the crocs were not as interesting. I mean yes, seeing a 17ft predator about 3 feet from you with nothing but a fence of separation is really cool, but I am more for the cuddly, furry animals. Luckily, I was able to get my fill of what I liked shortly after the croc talk, as we had to walk through the kangaroo enclosures to get to the "Crocoseum" to watch the wildlife show. Here, we hand-fed groups of both Grey and Red Roos....they were amazingly adorable. I captured a couple great shots, and could literally spend the rest of my life hanging with the roos. I love them.

Before lunch, we watch the extremely tacky and touristy "wildlife show" designed to educate the population on Australian Wildlife, and how to live with them in harmony. We saw many species of birds flying about, some snakes, as well as a very brave Croc Man hand-feed a hungry crocodile with a skinned chicken. It was neat.

After lunch, we were given the backstage tour of the different animal groups by their handlers. One by one, they would come to us in our UQ group, usually with an animal or two and explain a bit about the animal and some of the hardships they are currently facing. We saw a koala, some more snakes, a parrot, and a baby croc. This normally doesn't happen, as tourists you are required to just visit the respective enclosures, but since we paid extra to come as a uni tour, we got the full blown deal. My fav animal? The Koala. For sure. How can you resist this face?? The dingoes were super cute also....reminded me of the dogs back home!!!

After this presentation was our own free time. Kelsey and I decided to start by taking some epic photos with the largest croc at the zoo....

And then head back to the kangaroo enclosure. Enough said.

Some heavy rainfall forced us to wait under the enclosure with the roos, which was interesting because as soon as it began to pour, they all hopped as fast as they could from out in to open to come and huddle with us under the roof! We waited here until the rain subsided, before making our way to the South East Asia part of the zoo, and a little detour through through the Koala pens on the way.

Upon entering the South East Asian portion of the zoo, we headed directly to the Tiger enclosure. Here, we were able to be literally a foot away from these amazing creatures while they played with the trainers. Yup, you read correctly, the trainers were actually playing tug of war and "tag" with these jungle cats. I captured some really excellent photos just to show you how close I was to them!

To wrap up the day, Kelsey and I visited the elephants during their feeding time, and were able to hand-feed the three girls. It's a really neat feeling feeding elephants, you basically just hold out your hand and they pick up the food with their trunk and shove it into their mouths. The cutest one was the baby, Bimbo, because she wasn't as adept at picking up food directly out of your palm, she had to curl her trunk all the way around your hand and fiddle for a bit before actually getting the piece of fruit!

All in all, it was a great day and makes me realize how amazing all the animals are. You don't really think about the worries and bad things like poaching going on until you see these majestic creatures up close and personal....and then wonder what life would be like if they were gone!

I'm at the uni today, trying to get some internet as my laptop wireless refuses to work. So this aft it will be back to the Mac store for me to try and get that sorted out. Then this evening I am going to be baking Derek Gma Arlene's chocolate chip cookies.....and then taking tomorrow off.

I'll be sure to write back next week, and let you know about the computer situation, as well as update you on any new events in my life!!

xoxo Danielle

Byron Bay and the damn weather

2010-05-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Here is a much overdue update regarding my past weekend and the events I have been up to since I last wrote. The computer is still under repair, and will be until next week. Which is slightly unfortunate.

House: As most of you know (at least the family members), my cousin has moved into the empty room in the house, and is now my new housemate. It's been an interesting couple of first days together, and should be fun from here on in. He's also fit right in with the other boys, and even have ganged up on me to try and get me to come out and party with them instead of study! Bad influences, I tell you.

The weekend: This past weekend we went to Byron Bay to celebrate my friend, Beth's 22nd birthday. We had free transport up, since her sister lives here and has cars, so we splurged on accommodation. We stayed at the Rainforest resort, which had two rooms, a kitchen and basically the greatest pool and spa ever. To celebrate, we partied at the same club Andrea, Derek and I hit up back in February - Cheeky Monkeys.

The birthday girl, Kelsey and Alexa celebrating with some champagne

Sunday was a bit of a disappointment, since Alexa, Kelsey and I had booked a skydive outside of Byron. I know, Dad, reading this, you are probably very angry (and I'm hoping it's not the reason for a lack of communication lately!) but it's something I chose to do. Risky, yes, but so is living these days. According to the company, I have a higher risk of dying in a vehicle on the way over than I do jumping out of the plane. At any rate, this sky dive did not happen, due to bad weather and high winds. So I didn't jump. Plans have not been made to reschedule, and perhaps this is a sign that I'm not supposed to do it at all! Dad - I am safe and on the ground...for now. KIDDING.

In other news, I received some photos via facebook of my sister's grade 12 graduation. One of the sad parts about being on exchange is not being able to attend major events like this, and I was mad about not being able to be there. Judging from the photos, it seemed like a fantastic night, and I can't believe how great my sis looks. She definitely seems more mature than her 18 years, and will be breaking some hearts while out in Australia, that's for sure! I've uploaded only a couple, and will leave the rest for her to share.

Cass, looking amazing.

In other news, tonight Derek and I are going into the city to watch a rugby game on TV in a pub. It's the State of Origin game, where players from all teams across New South Wales and Queensland return to their "home state" to play for their state team in an epic battle. It's similar to the All-star games that occur in the NHL, or the Olympic games. It's apparently a very intense 3-game series, and so hopefully the action in the city pubs will be as exciting as the action is supposed to be at the actual venue!

I think that's about it for now - I have to run to an anatomy practical, but will write another update this weekend about my very last field trip this Friday to Australia Zoo!

Much love to all,
xoxo Danielle

A quick update

2010-05-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

This is a quick update to let you know that for the next week, I am sans computer as it is getting fixed up at the Mac store here in Brisbane. I will try to update you about my weekend using the school computers, but until I get mine back, don't expect any epic sagas.

At the home front, Derek has moved in and we spent the day grocery shopping and me showing him around the city. It will be an interesting month left for me with family in the house....so definitely keep your eyes posted on the blog for further updates on our shenanigans! I can imagine we will be getting up to some crazy things while together.....

I love you all and miss you tons!
xoxo Danielle

Winter Musings

2010-05-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my time here at UQ is almost over. Preparing for this semester exchange, booking my flights and seeing the return date in August seemed like an eternity away....now, I have only 2 weeks left in the semester before exams, then 2 weeks of exams and a month of "vacation time" with the family before I set foot back home. It's been an amazing experience - and I'm sure I will have a couple more "experiences" to share before the end.

This post is dedicated to the little (and sometimes odd!!) thoughts that have popped into my head over the last couple months, and all of them are Australian-induced. If that makes any sense at all!!

1. Jello does not exist over here. Instead, what they consider Jello (you know, the jiggly, clear dessert) is jelly. Jello is an American brand, and you cannot find it anywhere.
2. The same goes for pudding. They have custard, which is similar but pudding has a thicker consistency. I was trying to explain this to my housemates and I have to resort to getting someone from back home to send me out a package to prepare for them. Any takers??
3. I have searched high and low for a decent dill pickle. I cannot find one anywhere. They have some random Polish brands that will do until I get back home, but all I am craving right now is a decent Bicks. SO BAD. (Note to whomever picks me up at the airport back home in August...)
4. People walk on the lefthand side of the sidewalks, which they call footpaths. I'm so used to walking on the lefthand side now, that when a tourist (most likely an American, since they refuse to move!) walks towards me on their right (which is my left, and the WRONG side) I give them a look that screams, " YOU'RE ON THE WRONG SIDE!!!" I'm definitely going to be creating some problems when I come home. Can you picture the escalator situation??
5. To an Australian, 21 degrees Celsius is COLD. I never thought I would say this, but after experiencing some of their summer, I have to agree with them. Acclimatization much?
6. One thing I can't get over, is that June/July is winter. July has always been associated with watermelon, PEI beaches and mussels, which screams summer to me. The shops here are all displaying winter jackets (yes, actual puffy jackets) and uni students are all rugged up with scarves, hats and wool sweaters. The daily average temperature? 23 degrees. Explain that.
7. Peanut Butter is a foreign item. Heaven forbid that you would make cookies out of it, like I did. My housemates enjoyed them though, and one even went as far to suggest Vegemite cookies. I politely explained that despite being able to put both Vegemite and PB on toast does not mean you can make cookies out of both items.
8. I miss Tim Hortons, cheap donuts, and drip coffee. A donut over here costs at least 3 dollars each, and drip coffee is unheard of. Instead, a black cup of coffee is a long black, and is basically a watered-down espresso.
9. Speaking of coffee, it's a whole other world over here. You have to specify the color (black, white), the length (tall, long, short), and an angle to the perpendicular (flat). Examples: long black, flat white. Lattes and cappuccinos still exist in addition to these Aussie examples. I have yet to figure out the difference between a latte and a flat white.
10. Aussie's pronounce the letter "H" weirdly. While we say eh-tch, they say hate-che. Reading that probably makes to sense whatsoever, but ask me to demonstrate when I get back home. It's hilarious. I laugh my head off in Anatomy when my partner asks me what I think the hate-ch is pointing to on the cadaver on the practice exams!!
11. No matter how much I protest to the contrary, I am the one with the accent.

Miss you! Sending you all my love,
xoxo Danielle

Gateway Bridge Opening!!

2010-05-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

Here is my weekend update - nothing much happened on Saturday, except for me playing an epic squash game against a girl from Australia who is a tennis pro. As such, she had quite the skill level on the court and had me running around to return her serves....I actually did quite well against her, but pulled my right groin in an effort to keep up. It had me immobile for most of the day, but luckily I managed to rebound back in time for Sunday!

Sunday morning Dave and I got up early to pick up Kelsey in the city and drive out to the opening for the new Gateway Bridge. This bridge is the second one of it's kind, the first one having opened up in 1986. We went for the view, the freebies and the 3km return walk across it. As of today, traffic is now using it and the bridge normally doesn't allow pedestrians across it. It was a really neat experience and I have to marvel at how the Australians always seem to have this epic opening ceremony for everything - bridges, theatres, libraries....you name it!

Afterward, Dave drove us out to the factory outlet shops, where Kelsey and I searched in vain for a pair of leather boots for the both of us. I settled on a skirt and cardigan for a total of $40 (the skirt was originally $100, on sale for $30! - I think mom would have been proud!!) but could not find boots to save my life. Oh well, something to search for back in Canada and it's probably best that I don't accumulate too much to take back!

As well, I did take my laptop into a Mac store to get it looked at as the battery has not been working well, and everything seems slow. The specialists there told me that I needed to stop using my battery immediately, and that it may explode on me. Scary. I'm taking my laptop back in on Friday for a full repair, and I'm hoping that it won't cost me anything (and that my computer is still under warranty!). The joys of technology.

I've attached a couple photos from the bridge opening, but I must wrap this up to go and grab lunch and continue to make plans for the coming weekend. Apparently, we may be making a trip up to Byron Bay to celebrate a friend's birthday party....and rumour has it that I now have a new housemate. DEREK! Yup - he's moving into the empty room. That will be interesting, I'm sure!!

Anyways, stay posted for more musings from Brissy and I look forward to hearing from you all soon!

xoxo Danielle

Update Birthday Photos

2010-05-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

This will be a really quick post - mainly to upload some of the photos taken on my birthday at the party hosted by Marilyn and Jean. I'll write a longer post after the weekend's events!

xoxo Danielle

Coolongatta and Casinos

2010-05-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I'm going to start this post off by wishing all my Aunties and Grandmas a Happy Mother's Day. It's not actually Mother's day here, but it is back in North America so I figure it counts!! I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday, you each deserve it!!

This post will update you on the last couple days, as my weekdays are not that exciting anymore. Apart from classes, tutorials and practicals, nothing worth writing happens at Uni.

At the border between the two states....

However, this weekend was a different story. Again, Dave volunteered to drive a gang of us to Coolongatta beach on Sunday, followed again by a visit to the Casino on the way home. Kelsey, my new mate from Saskatoon, came along with us as well as my other housemate Shiva. We spent the morning on the beach, lying in the sun as well as swimming the ocean, then hit up the boardwalk for some much deserved fish and chips. I think one of the best things ever is fish and chips on the beach, in the sun. Amazing. We also visited the border between Queensland and New South Wales. Everytime I cross a border, I always think of the movie A Walk to Remember and how Mandy Moore's character just wants to be in two places at once, so the boy takes her to the state line.....

Next up was the Casino, but this time instead of winning money, we lost it all. I only gambled away 10 dollars, but Dave lost a little more....the Casino this time was quite busy, probably because it was Mother's Day. I couldn't get over all the people, and can only imagine what Las Vegas is like! We had fun no matter the loss, and I think we mostly chuckled over the fact that we had to change clothes in the carpark behind the boot of the car instead of a bathroom because they wouldn't let us in while wearing our beach clothes!!

Sunday night was another fun time - Bill Elliot, an old friend of Uncle Donnie's, was here on business (something to do with the RCMP/international police) and he offered to take me and another couple Canadians out for dinner. We went to a place not far from the city called the Regatta Boatshed. A few bottles of wine and a plate of Barramundi later, we were all swapping stories about PEI, Saskatchewan and weird Australian things like Vegemite. It was a great meal out, and I was very fortunate that a distant contact thought of me while on his trip down under! It goes to show just how small the world is, and just how lovely people are.

Today is Monday, I'm basically doing nothing except for a fitness class tonight with Dave - something called Zumba and it's a form of dance-fitness. Should be interesting! I'm also meeting up with Marilyn for coffee now that our schedules have quieted down a bit! I hope you enjoy the photos I've posted....I had fun with my camera on this trip, snapping photos of places like Miami Beach and Palm Beach (Just for my Floridian family!) and some shots of us at Coolongatta.

I miss you all! Keep those emails and letters coming!!

xoxo Danielle

Beaches, midterm results and a little gambling....

2010-05-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I think it's been a sufficient amount of time since my last entry, and I apologize for the lack of posts. I've been quite busy since my birthday weekend, mainly recovering, but now that all my major assignments are out of the way I have no excuse to catch you all up!

I think my last entry was about my party weekend. The week after that, nothing much happened except for me coming down with a cold and sore throat, so I pretty much took the week off and didn't go out. It was also the week where I got my midterm results back and much to my surprise....

I DIDN'T FAIL ANATOMY!!!

Yeah, I know. Huge relief. In fact, I managed to pull of an 85% on my theory exam without really studying. Hahaha - what a gong show. Seriously. With studying for my biology exam, however, I managed to get a 92%. Even with the made-up answer about possums floating over the ocean on sea debris (I got 0.5 marks for that - sick as!!) Basically, I was super pleased on both fronts and now I'm sitting in a sick position for finals, as both these midterms were worth 25% of my final mark. Excellent. In the end, I only even need a 60% to pass and get full credit back home at Queens!!

Next up, the weekend's activities. My housemate Dave and I drove down the Gold Coast to a place called Coolongatta. It's this great beach town, and we spent all of last Sunday lying on the beach, soaking up the rays. It was perfect. The temperature was about 26 degrees, (cold according to the Aussie's, but it's winter here remember!) but what blew me away was the water temperature. About 18 degrees. Back in Canada, on PEI, I think the warmest I've ever seen the water get was 10. I could have spent the entire day in the ocean, but Dave needed to introduce me to a little thing known as a Casino....

Yup, I went to my very first Casino (and thought of you Gma Arlene and Auntie Sharon!!) and played on the slots with Dave. Between the two of us, we managed to win $70!!! Not bad, considering we only put in $20. I had to suppress a scream when I won the silver item at $50. I'm going back this weekend and am certain the platinum $9500 is mine. Hahaha. I'm not addicted, I swear.

Other than plans for another beach weekend, and working on review now for the finals coming up in a couple weeks (man, the time has FLOWN by!!) I have no big things on my plate. A couple friends are talking about going down to Byron Bay for a birthday celebration in a couple weeks time, which could be a blast....

I love you all and miss you guys like crazy! Keep the emails and letters coming - I love hearing from you!

All my love,
xoxo Danielle

Birthday Celebrations!

2010-04-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

Hello All!!

So, this is an update about the past weekend and my birthday celebrations. Basically, I had a three day celebration that lasted the entire holiday weekend. It was spectacular. I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant to be in Australia to celebrate my birthday without family or close friends around, but I needn't have worried.

Let me begin by telling you that turning 21 is a huge as deal in Australia. Even though the legal age is 18, like Canada, everyone goes all out for their 21st. I've been told by my Aussie friends that some people spend the equivalent of a small wedding on their party. This was not my plan at all, but I was warned that I was going to have a good time. And by good time, they meant that I would probably not remember the next morning. Derek did tell me that if I didn't throw up, he would not have done his job as my cousin.....

Plans first started off with Marilyn and Jean who were going to plan a dinner party for me at the house Marilyn is staying at in Brisbane. It was just a family type dinner, with cake and some good company. This was going to be on the Sunday of the weekend, which was Anzac Day. I was pretty excited for this, as Andrea and Derek were going to make it back to Brisbane in time for the party so not only was I going to get fed a fantastic meal, I was also going to be able to catch up with them after 3 months!!

However, I also knew that I needed to include my uni friends in something, and we all were itching for a good night out on the town. Since Anzac Day is a public holiday and things close at midnight on the Saturday and Sunday, I chose Friday night as the ideal night to party with the gang and hit up some clubs in the city.

Start of the shot game....

We started out at my place with some drinks and appetizers. Andrea, Derek, my housemates and about 10 of my uni mates all came over to my house and we just chilled for a bit on the balcony, sharing some laughs. Highlights of the night included a "shot game" where I was supposed to find the sprite amongst the shots of vodka on the table....surprise! There was no sprite - only vodka. It was rough. And all Derek's doing. As well, at one point, I was sprayed by champagne and had to wash my brand new dress before going out.....at least I think I remember putting it into the dryer, but I don't think I actually ran it through a wash cycle. Maybe I just rinsed it in the sink....

Me and my housemates

After we had decided that we probably should make a move, we aimed for the city as our destination. Along the way, we stopped to snap some photos with bronze statues in the park, scare some innocent walkers and probably disrupt the general public. Our first spot was a bar called Union Jacks, where I spent no time getting right up on stage and dancing, Chynoweth-style! I was wearing this big Aussie hat that said, "It's my 21st BDAY!" so I had heaps of people buying me drinks and wanting to dance. They also mostly wanted to steal my hat, and I did spend a fair amount of time trying to get it back off of random people's heads!!

Derek and I did climb onto the garage roof. It was Derek's fault.

Our next bar was a karaoke bar called the Victory. I remember doing some tequila shots while waiting to sing Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, but apparently the queue was too long so we left before we got a chance to sing. Probably for the best, since it was at this point that things got a little hazy for me....

I was told we then went to the next bar, Down Under, where I entered a dancing competition to win $200. I don't remember dancing on stage, losing, or exiting the bar shortly after. I'm told that I was practically carried down a couple blocks to Pancake Manor (a 24-hr pancake hub) where I ordered pancakes and wedges....I do remember eating some, but I was SO tired and the only proof of the manor was a doggy bag in my fridge at home the next morning.

Saturday was probably the worst hangover I have ever had - I could barely sit up until around 3pm, when my housemate forced me out to eat Maccas. Then I spent the rest of the day lying on the couch watching a movie (The Hangover, actually, fitting eh?) and then early to bed. Overall, the photos tell a great story and I will post some of the more appropriate ones here for you to see!!

Sunday evening was Marilyn and Jean's party for me. It was a nice meal, followed by cupcakes and presents! I was so surprised and overwhelemed at how they went all out for me. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

After the dinner party, Kelsey and I went to a bar called Normanby's to meet up with her mates for a while. We lasted a couple hours before peacing out and walking home (turns out that this bar is really close to my house, and it's really good so we plan on coming back!). I didn;t drink much on Sunday - partially because I was still recovering and partially because I knew I needed to be semi-functional for the next couple days and get some work done.

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and I can't imagine how my birthday celebrations spanned an entire weekend. I almost felt like it was non-stop partying, but I guess that's how the Aussie's do a 21st!! Now, I'm in the process of cleaning my house, organizing school work and preparing to get back into the swing of things over the next couple days!

Thanks to all who sent me birthday messages and cards - Auntie Cheryl and family, Uncle Morris and Auntie Elaine, Gma, Auntie Sharon, Auntie CC, Dad and all my friends on facebook. I feel so loved and despite missing you guys, I know you are all thinking of me!

All my love,
xoxo Daniellle

The last of the midterms and newfound loves

2010-04-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

I've surfaced for a bit of air in between the end of my midterm exams and the upcoming 3 major projects which are all due next week within days of each other. I've decided to write about a couple things - my last midterm in bio, as well as my night out last weekend where I had the pleasure of attending my first ever live rugby game.

I'll start with the boring bit - the midterm. It actually went quite well I think, but I probably have to attribute that to actually studying. Unlike Anatomy, I had some time to prepare, and got together with a group over the weekend to review key concepts. The only area where I had difficulty was the timing - I had 4 short answer questions left with only 15 minutes to go in the exam...not so good. Apparently, I like to write lots down! I also struggled with one question about the origin of possums in North America, since they apparently originated in China and never was China attached to NA for them to "walk" over. I made up some bull**** answer about them drifting across the sea on oceanic debris and colonizing North America....I even drew a nice little picture, so perhaps I will get pity marks??!!?

Anyways, onto the better part of the post, which was the rugby game I went to last Saturday. It was Rugby Union - one of 3 types of rugby that is played in Australia, and the teams playing were the Queensland Reds vs. the South African Blue Bulls (I think. Everyone kept calling them the bulls, and fans told me they were from SA....). It was a riot. Serious fun was had by all, especially in our section. Can you believe that $20 got me a seat, just off the center line and only 20 rows from the field? Yeah, Oz knows how to sell game tickets! Our section was also really awesome - we had some hardcore bulls fans right in front of us, and hardcore Reds fans a row in front of them, so between the banter we had no problem with a lack of entertainment!

The hardcore Reds fans with their facepaint

I've never been to a rugby game before, nor do I know/understand the rules and so I had to follow the crowds reaction and just cheer when everyone else did. I laughed pretty hard at the various penalties that were shown on the jumbo-tron, things like "tackling line out man in the air." To me, they sounded like random words strung together, but the true fans seemed to understand. At one point, I tried to get the Bulls fan in front of me to explain what had happened, but he was too engrossed in my friend's pink hair to answer.

Reenacting the kicker's position before he kicks the ball. This was after a couple drinks, obviously.

The Reds managed to win 19-12, despite falling behind in the first couple minutes 0-7.....apparently, these two teams have quite the history and rivalry, which helped to explain the heated conversations between the rows in front of us!

After the game finished, we headed back into the City to hit up a couple pubs, drink some beers and dance the night away. I was pretty tired after the first couple places, so left the crew as they ventured on to hopefully find karaoke. All in all, it was a blast and I can't wait until the next game! I may have found a new sport to love....but I think I need to learn the rules better first!

Speaking of karaoke, I'm celebrating my 21st birthday in a couple days. Tomorrow night, I'm hitting the town with a whole crew of mates, and it will probably get pretty messy. My cousins are back from their tours of Aussie and will be joining as well, which naturally means disaster. I'll be sure to document the entire evening on my camera, but I have to warn you that some photos may not be internet/family-worthy! (Sorry Dad and Gma - have to leave some things to the imagination!!)

I have to run to my french class now, but I'll be back to write about my birthday extravaganza in a few days!

xoxo Danielle

Heron Island Day 5

2010-04-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Day 5

Well, I guess I should actually mention something I forgot about Day 4 - that evening, before the presentations, we caught the sunset on the Jetty and it was beautiful. I've never experienced something so surreal as the sun disappearing in front of my eyes....I mean, I've seen sunsets before, but never over the ocean. It quite literally is there one second and gone the next - if you blink you would miss it as it all happens in an instant! I took some really trippy photos with the sun setting, as well as some classic ones that make me think of movie endings or something.

Day 5 began with another early morning snorkel - and our last one! Alexa and I decided this time to head to the harbour, as news of our success at Shark Alley had gotten around and many people were headed there. As our luck would have it, we found out later that there was no action in the Alley this morning, so we caught the best of the scenery down under the Jetty.

This morning's snorkel was another surreal moment. The water was quite murky since it was an overcast day and without the sun's rays, it was hard to see anything far away. As we swam around the turbid waters, we literally came upon a pod of over 60 rays, quite shallow in the harbour. We tried our best to go one direction, but ended up face-to-face with more rays, and so couldn't actually move for over 10 minutes! Alexa and I basically just floated above all the sleeping rays until they awoke, swam away and let us have a path through them all! I tried to take photos with my camera, but they came out under-developed. Boo. Alexa and I spent the next 30 minutes trailing these rays and watching in amazement at their gliding under the water.

We then decided to swim out to the shipwreck and take a look for anything cool near there. Nothing much was seen except one reef shark, and a couple turtles. I actually had one turtle that was trying to swim away from Alexa and ended up coming right up beneath my stomach! I was able to reach out and touch his shell before he scooted off, scared. Another really cool thing (which I have heard about but never thought I would get to experience) was a little fish that would not leave my goggles alone. He would swim in front of me, basically on my goggles and no matter how or where I turned my head, he followed. It was quite amusing for some time, then I got slightly annoyed since I couldn't see anything clearly with this little flashy guy in my face 24/7!!

After our morning snorkel - and we took some great photos of us in the water, we got out and enjoyed the last breakfast buffet on the island. The rest of the morning was spent packing, cleaning our dorms and returning the snorkeling gear to the sheds. Of course, our dorm was naturally quite quick at this, so we had finished up long before the others. Instead of spending time outside, since it was rainy and glum, all the girls in our rooms went back up and slept on the bare beds. I was so exhausted - I think all the snorkeling activities, both field trips etc had finally caught up with me and I crashed for a good couple hours before lunch and the ferry ride back to the mainland.

No one got sick on the ride home - the ferry was the smoothest it's been in years according to our professor. In fact, I felt more sick on the bus ride home than I did the ferry.....After another long ride on the bus (over 8 hours!!) we made it back into Brisbane around midnight, and I caught a taxi ride to my house, literally walked in the front door, took off my shoes and fell alseep on top of the bed with dirty clothes on and all. You can imagine the laundry I had to do the next morning - over 10 days of dirty, field trip clothes. It took me 4 loads to finish it all!

At the end of the day, I had a fantastic Easter Break - one I will probably never forget. From dingoes, to sharks, beaches to coral reefs....I had so much fun, made tons of new mates and memories to last me a lifetime. Sounds corny and cliched - I know - but it's true. I'm actually sad that I don't have more trips planned, which is why I think the group of us are toying with the idea of a Fiji excursion in the next month....

Anyways, I will leave you with some random other photos from the trip, the dives and everything in between. Thanks for being patient while I took the past week to write these up between study sessions!!!

Miss you all,

xoxo Danielle

Midterm update

2010-04-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

I interrupt my Easter Break updates with a few updates regarding midterm exams at UQ. I've had 2 so far - both parts of Anatomy, and I have one in Biology left on Tuesday morning. Then, it's just 3 assignments all due on April 30th, and I'm virtually home-free until finals in June!

My first part of anatomy was an oral presentation that went swimmingly. I didn't prepare except for the night before, relied on my PLA skills and rocked it. I was told that I was one of the only students to present the material as if I was actually teaching it, not memorizing a script beforehand like all the others. Turns out, 10 minutes of prep the night before landed me a 14/15......beauty!

The second part of the anatomy was a theory exam in class last Friday - not as easy as the presentation. I only studied for a couple hours (unlike my normal study habits!) and it will probably show in the results. Out of 30 MC questions, I knew about 18 solidly, had to guess on quite a few and the rest were just bizarre. One of the weird things out here was that if you didn't know the answer (and you had choices A to E) you could fill in the last bubble, which was a "?", for 0.2 marks. It was like they didn't want you to guess if you didn't know the answer. The exam then became this strategic game of, "do I take a chance and go for the full 1.0 mark, or cop out and take a guaranteed 0.2??" Never seen anything like that before, and it kind of threw me off. I ended up putting two of those question marks down for 2 of the muscle questions. I hate origin and insertions!

I think the biology one on Tuesday will be a little less intense, which is nice, but I have yet to get my head in gear and really study. That's what I'm off to do now, so I'll wrap this up by saying that the last blog entry will be coming soon, as well as as update on my experience with my first live rugby game ever!

Miss you all!
xoxo Danielle

Heron Island Day 4

2010-04-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

Day 4

Day 4 started off with probably the most epic beginning out of the whole trip. Again, the three Queen's ladies decided to get up for another early morning snorkel, but this time our destination was Shark Alley to catch some sharks in action. We headed down to that portion of the island, and quickly realized that although the tide was in, it was rapidly moving outwards which made it much more dangerous for us as snorkelers. Before heading into the alley from the end of it (and we decided to swim towards the mouth, since that was the direction the current was heading in), we had a quick debrief about how we were going to approach this. We decided to snorkel single file, along the wall closest to the ocean, leaving a wide berth for the sharks on our left-hand side. What we didn't anticipate was the strength of the water going out to sea, bashing us up against the rocks on our right! It didn't really matter though, as we felt safer against the rocks than being bashed up against the sharks!!

One of the sharks at the alley - again, not one of my photos.....

We entered the water and started swimming, but didn't see anything right away. I was the chosen "leader", and in first position....let me tell you, it is scary as when you see an entire pool of large fish swimming MADLY towards you - and away from something behind it! It wasn't long before this happened and sharks were close behind. I literally was about 2 feet from 8 reef sharks at one point. It was crazy as. I think I've explained how this works, but basically, the sharks circle at the mouth of the alley, then one by one swim down the center to break apart the pools of fish and disorientate them. They then swim back up one of the sides of the rocks and repeat the process. While in the alley, we were flanked by a couple sharks, but it was at the mouth that things really began to heat up. Here, there were 6 sharks in a circle, and the tides changed a bit at the mouth, which meant unless we put a lot of effort into swimming against the current, we would end up in the center of the shark circle. This isn't a bit thing necessarily, as long as you get out quickly, since the longer time you spend disrupting the process, the madder the sharks get. We swam up the alley and back, then decided to continue down the coast towards Ray Bay, since we didn't want to end up as brekkie for the reef sharks!

Ray Bay was another spectacular site - multiple schools of sting rays would rise up from the floor as we swam past, and put on this amazing display of gliding through the water. In all, we probably saw about 40 different rays in about 3 schools. After snorkeling the equivalent of half the island, we got out on the beach and walked back to the research site for breakfast.

Today's activities basically were presentation preparation, with another organized boat snorkel in between data analysis and collection. Luckily, our group had basically finished the presentation, so we were able to spend more time out snorkeling on our own than multiple other groups. The destination for the boat snorkel today was the Canyons - an area of reef off the island where the reef beds have deteriorated in certain places and the current has carved canyons into them. Here, I saw the most spectacular display of coral reef fish yet. All beautiful colors, patterns.....it was insane. I was able to capture a few photos on my camera, but it really doesn't do them justice.

Apart from a day of snorkeling, preparation, eating and relaxing on the beach (another sunny day meant my burn only got worse, despite 60SPF), we had nothing pressing to do. The evening was devoted to presentations, as well as a competition beteween the presentations. Unlike the last trip, we all knew about the competition, so the presentations were much more intricate than last time. We didn't think we did all that well on our own, but ended up coming in second place by only a fraction of a margin. Damn. It would have been cool to place first both times.....

After the presentations ended, we all decided to drink some beverages out on the jetty, under the stars. It was our final night, with nothing to do the next day except pack up, so it was a late night out laughing and sharing stories amongst new friends. After finishing some wine with a few mates, I just laid on my back and watched the stars, before heading in for a sleep. I was one of the first ones in around 1am, but I had made up my mind that I was not going to pass up a last opportunity to snorkel again once more in the early morning. Luckily, Alexa wanted to go again, so she headed back to our dorms with me.

All in all - Day 4 started with a bang, ended with a bang and was one of the best days on the island!

Heron Island Day 3

2010-04-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

Day 3

Today, Alexa and I woke up at 5am to watch the sunrise and go for our first morning snorkel. We chose the harbour as our destination, and man was it ever spectacular! The undisturbed dawn waters had huge sea turtles, multiple rays and our first encounter with the reef sharks. We saw 3 black tips - 8 foot beasts that swim up close to you to test if you are edible, but once they detect the size of you (about 7ft with our fins on) they turn away. Freaky at first, but eventually it is a really cool experience! We snorkeled for a good hour, before heading into the showers to clean up for breakfast at 7am.

After breakfast, we spent the entire day in and out of the water, snorkeling to collect data for our group project. You couldn't really call it work even - we had more fun with the snorkeling between our collection sites, and even when we were "on duty" observing, watching the fish come and go from the coral was entertainment enough. In all, we had to collect data 4 times throughout the day, so in between snorkel visits, we lounged on the beach, ate some food and did a couple bits of data analysis to make our final project layout a bit less work later on. It was this day, in combination with day 4, that I burnt my back really badly from being in and out of the water. I'll wait until the next entry to upload that beautiful picture....a week later and I'm still peeling/itching!

After dinner, our next organized activity was the night snorkel. We gathered at the harbour around 7pm, donned glowsticks on our snorkels, and wrist torches, then entered the pitch-black waters. It was seriously scary. The high intensity snorkel lasted only 30 minutes, but you couldn't see more than 5 feet in front of you at any point, making the trip seem much, much longer. Luckily, nothing super scary popped out of the shadows like sharks, but we did see some octopus, multiple sea turtles and one ground shark - the wobbygong shark. It basically rests along the sea floor, camouflaged with the environment. It was sleeping, so that made it a little less scary for us all....

We headed to bed shortly after this, since Alexa, Andrea and I all decided we wanted to get up early again to try and attempt a snorkel around shark alley. We all had caught shark fever, and desperately wanted to see them in their feeding zone. Our tutor told us dawn was the peak feeding time, so we should expect to see more than 3....possibly up to 10!! Needless to say, we were quite excited about the prospect of the next morning's adventures!

The photos I've attached to this post are a couple of us collecting data, the sites and buoys we used as well as a couple of those sea turtles....my underwater camera was an epic fail - I picked up the film today and out of 27 photos, only 10 were exposed enough to see. Damn. At least I can get a couple photos offline from others who posted theirs!!

Heron Island Day 2

2010-04-13T01:45:00.000-07:00

Day 2

Began at 7am with a nice buffet breakfast to keep us going for the morning. Today was oriented around another "relaxation" day before we started our data collection and scientific projects the next couple days. Our first big thing this morning was an organized boat snorkel to the Blue Lagoon. Basically, we took these huge yellow boats out onto the reef, about a 10 minute drive from the shore. On the way out to our destination, we were fortunate enough to see a pod of dolphins! I didn't really get a good look, since they were quite scared and swam away from the boat, but I was able to catch a glimpse of their dorsal fins sticking out of the waves.

The Blue Lagoon was amazing. Basically, we jumped off the boats, swam around this shallower area and saw heaps of coral fish, rays, and a couple sea turtles. We also swam out to one location that typically has a couple sharks hanging out, but they weren't there for us to see. I think the coolest part was this one ray that I didn't see until he was right under me.....I basically stopped kicking my fins and just floated with the current as he moved under me and continued on his way. The underwater camera that I bought before the trip definitely got some use this trip, and I have the film getting developed as I type. I should have the CD in a couple days to post some photos, and hopefully they turn out ok!

On the walk around the island...see the wreck in the background?

After our snorkel, we had some lunch, then some time to relax on the beach before a quick debrief on our projects and the next step in the data process. We were each sent out in our teams to walk around the island for an hour to try and determine key aspects to its formation, like wind direction, sand-grain size and any changes we saw along the beaches. Our group had loads of fun coming up with stories about how the island formed....mainly things involving volcanic eruptions and cyclone deposits. It was on this trip that we localized some cool lookout points for future swims and walks.

After our walk, the tutors led us out on yet another guided snorkel, but this time it was around the island. We were able to see the island from the water point of view, as well as see the different areas around. We got in at the harbour, swam north to Shark Alley - this area where a 2m by 10-ishm area is flanked by rock walls on either side. This area is prime area for catching fish in the tides, and therefore all the sharks go stir-crazy feeding here. We were told that the sharks circle the opening of the alley, then swim down the center and up the sides to split up the pools of fish, disorienting them. The sharks in question are 8-ft reef sharks and lemon sharks - harmless to humans unless you provoke them or they are REALLY hungry. When we visited, the tide was too low to see any sharks, but I vowed to return in hopes of seeing just one before the trip ended.

Next up around the island was an area called Ray Bay, where as the name implies, you see a whole ton of different species of rays. From eagle rays, to sting rays, whiptail rays, shovel nose rays and manta rays....this bay had them all. Here, we were given a chat about how to swim with the rays - not over them as they can whip us with their tails, but to either side, giving them a wide berth to move if they feel threatened.

We continued around the island to the soft coral beds, the shipwreck and then back to the harbour and jetty. It was getting late and about suppertime, so we hopped out, showered up and hit the dining hall for some much required food. You would think that being fed 5 meals a day would equal massive weight gain, but with all the snorkeling.....we really needed the energy!

After dinner was our last meeting to create smaller teams from our 10-man team - I was put into a group with that same US guy from before....Mr. Know-it-all. He was better this trip, but I was still anticipating some issues with work habits and efforts on his behalf. We were also assigned topics to research, and we ended up with coral health and climate change. Our group then went into brainstorm mode - thinking of possible studies we could desgin and perform in 2 days time. We came up with the idea of testing fish diversity around healthy versus unhealthy corals - which meant that our "data collection methods" involved us snorkeling all day for the next 2 days. Brilliant.

Me, back at the research station holding a sea cucumber....

Before an early bedtime, since Alexa, Andrea and I decided to wake up the next morning to do an early morning snorkel, we sat out on the beach under the stars. They were so pretty - so clear and pristine....and I saw so many constellations, the milky way and a couple shooting stars. Made a few wishes, pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and then hit the sack for a good sleep before our 5am alarm.

Fraser Island - Day 5, and Heron Island - Day 1

2010-04-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

Day 5

Our last day on Fraser Island was bittersweet. We had stayed up pretty late the night before, drinking and trying to finish all the assignments due in our workbook (damn that dune transect! It seriously took ages!) and the hand-in time was 9am sharp. However, since it was our last day and after 9am nothing more was due.....we had the entire morning and afternoon to relax by yet another lake on the island.

This lake was probably the most beautiful lake of the entire trip. It's called Lake Wabby, and again, it's situated amongst some of the most incredible sand dunes. We drove to the base of the dunes, hiked up them and then spent a couple hours swimming in the freshwater lake. It's at this point that I should introduce the "bogans." Basically, bogans are a slang term for hicks - out here in Australia, there are different types of bogans, all easily identified by specific characteristics. Example: the Coastal Bogan usually has a tattoo of the Southern Cross somewhere on the back, arm, chest etc. The Inland Bogan is depicted with a large, black cowboy hat and a suped-up truck. Anyways, at the lake, there were a couple bogans present who were having the time of their lives checking out the girls in our group. So, one of our tutors, Scott (the one who told us all about classification of bogans) asked them if they were "having a nice perv." They got mad, left, and unbeknownst to us, unlocked our hub caps on the cars so we couldn't engage in 4WD. This meant that on the way to the ferry to get home, 2 of our 5 cars got stuck in the wet sand! We had to push them out, which was an adventure in itself. I've got a video which I will have to show you all at some point of how life is in the back of one of these vehicles. SUPER bumpy and quite the Indiana Jones-esque trip!

The ferry ride back to the city was pretty uneventful. The only surprise was finding out on the other end that we weren't taking a bus back to Brisbane, but the 4WDs. So 6 of us piled into the back of Claire's car, and made hilarious 30-minute movies on people's cameras....mainly us singing oldies, rap music and pretending to be bogans. It was excellent.

We arrived into Brisbane about 7:30pm, giving me just under 3 hours turnaround time before I had to head back on a bus to drive up the coast to Gladstone for the Heron Island trip. I quickly caught a cab home, changed out the dirty clothes, left them in a pile on my bed, grabbed dinner and headed back to the uni to get on another coach bus for an overnight drive. Whoopee!

Heron Island Day 1

The overnight bus to Gladstone was a disaster. I couldn't sleep at all, despite popping 2 gravol, and the seats were super uncomfortable. We made it into Gladstone, the nearest city to the ferry, around 6am and stopped at MacDonald's for brekkie. We then had a 4 hour wait before the ferry departed, so luckily, we were able to crash on the grass next to the ferry terminal and sleep for a couple hours. It's sad to say the grass was more comfortable than the bus seats!

The ferry ride over to Heron Island is the worst thing I have ever endured. It's a 2 hour, bumpy ride across a rough channel....I'm pretty good at sea, but this trip - I got really sea sick and my breakfast did not make it over to the island. It only made it about halfway before ending up overboard to feed the fish. Disgusting. I wasn't the only one - about 10 in our group did the same thing.

Upon arrival though, depsite feeling sick and tired, seeing the island made me quite happy. It's this little island in the middle of nowhere. The water is incredibly blue and clear, the wildlife is amazing and there is nothing on the island except a small resort and the research station. There is no electricity, power or water supplied to the island, so they have to recycle their own sea water and use generators for all things electric. Food is delivered once a week via barge....it truly felt like a completely different world from the mainland! I was so stoaked to get marks for spending the next 5 days on this island, snorkeling around and relaxing on beaches.....

After a huge buffet lunch, which was only an indication of more amazing catered meals to come, we had a quick debreif on safety rules etc then headed down to the shed to pick up our snorkel gear for the next 5 days. We were given colorful fins, a wettie, as well as goggles and snorkel. After sorting out our gear, we donned it all and hopped into the harbour for our first snorkel of the trip.

Nothing really exciting was seen on the trip, except for a couple sea turtles in and around the shipwreck that we swam to. It was here that I had a true "my god I'm in Australia moment," thinking about how cool it was to have seas turtles swimming beneath me and a shipwreck to my left. I felt like I was in a live version of Finding Nemo!

Our snorkel was a short one since the sun was setting, so we packed it in around 6pm, had some dinner and then headed to bed for a nice long sleep. I had been camping on the ground the past couple nights, so the bunk beds looked super inviting. I think I fell asleep in record time, and slept solidly until the next morning when the bell rang for breakfast!

Fraser Island - Day 3 and 4

2010-04-11T01:46:00.000-07:00

Alrighty,

Day 3 began bright and early with a Bird watch along the shore. Alexa, Kelsey and I decided to choose this day over others since the shore bird watch involved more riding in the 4WDs....meaning less walking for us early in the morning! For not being a huge bird fan, this excursion wasn't partucularly the most interesting, but it certainly was enjoyable! We got to watch the sun rise, saw some neat birds as well as some more of those cute dingoes! I would have to say my favourite bird was the White-Bellied Sea Eagle - a majestic bird that "rules" the island according to Steve.

After birding, we had another fantastic breakfast followed by the next step in data collection. This time, we hiked 3km to the Eucalyptus forest near our campsite to assess tree height, diversity, leaf morphology, insect diversity and other things. Our group really wanted to study the insects, since we thought that plants were a little boring and tedious, but we we assigned plant diversity. That meant more transects, quadrats, measuring tree girth and height and trudging through more shrubbery. It wouldn't have been so bad but right before we started, our professor stumbled upon a brown snake in the brush, and promptly told us these creatures are lurking around so watch out. It didn't help our mentality when we were walking through the leaf litter on the forest floor!

After about 3 hours of data collection, in on and off rain, we headed back to the camp for some lunch before a 7km walk to another lake on the island. No one had told us this lake was going to be 7km away, but we stopped at a couple sites along the way which broke it up a bit. The best stop was at the dunes - huge sand dunes that have drifted into this valley. We stopped here for quite a bit, took some awesome photos of us leaping off this one portion of the dune into softer sand below (you will have to wait for photos - the professional photographer took them and has yet to upload them online for us to access). At the end was the weirdest lake I have ever seen. It's called Lake Boomanjin, and it is a tea-tree oil lake. The water color is this iodine-color and makes you look like you have jaundice when you swim in it. It did wonders for all our skin though, and after swimming in it, we all felt like we had just come from a spa!

This evening was an evening devoted solely to data analysis since we only had a couple more nights to finish up the workbooks and assignments due upon departure. We stayed up until 11:30pm, sorting through leaf litter and organizing dead leaves into their respective species....NOT fun. I've included some photos we took to show you our mood as the night progressed......

Day 4

Today was a sleep-in day since the night previous wore us out completely. Our morning activity was comprised of yet more data collection and observation - except this time we headed out to the rainforest instead of the Eucalyptus forest. Our group was stuck with more tree diversity - this time assessing canopy coverage, seedling coverage and leaf biomass. It wasn't as bad as the day before, since we knew what to expect, but this time we all were worried about leeches in addition to snakes. A couple kids on the trip ended up being sucked dry by leeches - which was the most gross thing I have ever seen. These Aussie leeches are massive and disgusting. Thank god I chose to wear pants!!!

Assessing the canopy coverage....

This afternoon, we drove to another lake to relax and enjoy the scenery. Here, we took some neat underwater shots with Kelsey's camera, and I played my first cricket match with the tutors and Steve while the other students slept on the beach. Unlike footy, I am not a natural at cricket and really sucked. The only thing I could do was wicket-watch or something....the position equivalent to the backcatcher in baseball. It was brutal. I'm not even going to go into my batting skills!

This evening was a brainstorm session to think about ideas for our projects and major write-up. All the data we collected is going to be complied and posted online for us to pick and choose what we want to use and how to incorporate it into the report. I've decided to compare plant density and diversity between the two types of forests.....I've started my initial research today, but with all the photo and blog updates, as well as some anatomy preparation, I haven't gotten very far. I'll let you know how I fare the next couple weeks before the due date in early May!

Fraser Island - Day 1 and 2

2010-04-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I'm back from my 10 day epic excursion to Fraser Island and Heron Island with two class field trips. I've decided that since each day was so packed with stuff, that I am going to break the 10 days into 10 posts (or so), upload photos with each and hopefully give you an idea of what my Easter break has been like! The downside with this method is that it will take me a while to complete everything, so bear with me - I will get it done! I also have some midterms in the next week to study for, and a couple assignments due soon, so I'm hoping that the blogs will all be finished within a week or so. In the meantime, those with access to facebook can check out my new photos and the stories will be posted here shortly!

To begin - Fraser Island was the first trip up, beginning April 1 at 6am. I packed up my bag and headed to campus to catch a coach bus to the coast where we were transferred to army-style 4WD cars. The cars are extremely necessary as the entire island is made of sand, and without 4WD you go nowhere. I say army style, because all the students were loaded up in the back, facing each other. We always joked while getting out that our driver was the General, yelling at us to, "go, go, go!"

Upon arrival to the Island (nothing really exciting happened on the trip except that we had an excellent introduction to bogans thanks to our tutor Scott - more on them later) we had a brief orientation, then were sent off for some "free time." Unfortunately (or fortunately?) the group had underbooked the bunks, so 10 people had to volunteer to sleep in tents. We knew about this beforehand, and myself and a couple friends gladly volunteered to camp it out for the week. Our free time then, was spent pitching a tent and making sure it was sturdy enough for the pending weather. I think the last time I pitched an actual tent was back when I was 10 and involved with Girl Guides. You can imagine it was a pretty funny scene, especially when a couple US individuals (the same guy from before) instisted on "helping us out." Yeah right.

After pitching tents and getting organized, we hit the beach for some touch footy. For those of you who don't know, footy is slang for rubgy (I think - I'm still not sure on the rules of the game!) but we did play some sort of version of rugby with a rugby ball.....it was intense. So much fun, and apparently (according to Scott and Steve, a tutor and the professor) I'm quite a natural. I managed 2 interceptions and scored a tri (not sure if that's what it is??) on one of them! It was really neat!

We had some dinner after footy and then made our teams for the following days and data collection. There were 4 of us from Canada, and we wanted to stay together and be the CCF's - the Canadian Cleavage Furrows - but we later had to accept 2 Americans, and thus had to change our name to the Hotcrossbunadons (an animal we learnt about in class - don't ask). Anyway, we thought that the team thing was just for data collection, but it turned out that the tutors and professor had a trivia night planned with prizes on the line! Of course, our group was keen to win and we did our best through 35 questions......

TO COME OUT WITH THE VICTORY!!! Our prizes were this epic Australian hat, which became the thing to wear over the next couple days, as well as a huge amount of Easter chocolate. Our team definitely bonded over some good eats and treats!

Day 2 - (okay, so I can probably do more than one day per post.....)

Began with rain in the morning, a huge breakfast (buffet style, SO AMAZING) then we headed out to the beach to conduct our first portion of data collection - the dune transect. In our teams, we had to run out a line of 100m, make all these observations and calculations along this line and collect data about the species and soil. Seems easy, and it was, but it took a long time. The only hard part was trying to crawl through intense shrubbery and getting all cut up in the process. It was all worth it in the end though - we were able to spot a couple dingoes on the walk back to the campsite!

We then had some time to analyze our data, begin working in our workbooks etc before lunch. Each day was set up so that we worked in the morning, had some lunch, and then went out on a excursion to Eli Creek and the shipwreck. Basically, Fraser Island is an entire island of sand, so the "highways" are just tracks on the beach. We drove down the highway for about 40 minutes before coming to the creek and shipwreck, snapping some photos, relaxing in the water and sun as well as playing another game of footy! Yay for footy - although this time our team wasn't so successful and didn't win. No interceptions on my part may have been a contributing factor?

Later on that night, after some more analysis, free time (spent napping) and dinner, the tutors and Steve (our prof) made some presentations on the work they are currently focusing on, and how they got to where they are. It was really laid-back, and a great introduction to possible post-grad opportunities. It was reassuring to know that most of the tutors took one undergrad degree and ended up somehwere completely opposite later on with no issues!

Then, it was early to bed for an early morning Bird-Watching session with Steve!

Easter Break

2010-03-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I figured that I would write you one last quick post before I head out in a couple days for a 2 week field trip extravaganza with my 2 courses down under. I leave on the 1st of April for Fraser Island for a week, then I'm off to Heron Island (in the Great Barrier Reef!!!) for the second week.

I'll be bringing my camera, as well as the charger to take SO many photos. So keep your eyes peeled once I return after the 14th for some new updates! Although, I will warn you now, I have an anatomy theory and practical exam 2 DAYS after I return. Which means, Danielle will not have time to study like she normally does and will be winging both the exams. Beauty. This is seriously a milestone in and of itself since I'm normally the academic and would pass on trips before major exams. But when in Aussie......

I'll leave you with one thought - what is going to happen next year when I return to Queen's and I have to stress out about school, marks, classes etc etc? I won't be a happy camper, and I may also have lost all my super study skills. Oh dear.

Well, Happy Easter to those who celebrate it and I will be in touch soon!

All my love,
xoxo Danielle

The Monster's Ball

2010-03-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here it is - the post about the Lady Gaga concert last night. As you can tell from how early I am up writing this.....it was either a shit night and I went to bed early OR I went out after the concert and have pulled my first-ever non-academic all-nighter. I'll leave that for you to decide.

The concert started off at 7:30pm with a band out of New York called the Semi Precious Weapons. No one around has had really heard of them, and to be honest, the best part of their performance was when they left the stage. Kidding. Seriously though, they were quite the heavy rock group and their songs were, um, eccentric. I think one memorable moment was when the bass guitarist played a solo while balancing ENTIRELY on his head ONLY. As in, upside down playing. It was sick.

Waiting in the queue for entry

At this point - I should tell you about our "seating" arrangements. I say seating in quotations because Dave and my tickets were actually standing seats, in the back section. When we first arrived at the entertainment center, which was about 6:15pm to pick up our tickets and get in line, the queue was SUPER long. Some people had shown up at 1pm to just get that much closer to the stage! Crazy madness. We joined the back of the line, sat down and waited to enter. Apart from a group of 4 drunken students with matching Gaga homemade t-shirts, and the odd 8-year olds in CFM boots (where are their parents when they dress like hookers??) it was an uneventful wait to make our way to the floor. When we actually get there, we realize that our "back" tickets are literally SO close to the stage and we can't believe our luck. When Gaga came onto the stage for her first number (Just Dance), you can imagine everyone pushed closer so we actually ended up in the front standing sections regardless! I've never been in the standing section before at a concert, especially one where you know it will be entertaining like Lady Gaga, and apart from one girl (read on below) it was the best experience at a concert yet!

Dave and I in the middle of it all!

Lady Gaga herself is short. In person, I wasn't expecting it! Her voice is also really nasally - but that could have been the performance, drugs, alcohol....I wouldn't put those things past her given the nature of her concert. The basis behind it was that last night at midnight was her 24th birthday, so her and her friends were headed off to the "Monster's Ball" - the best party in the world. We, the fans, were all her little monsters following her to set ourselves free. The series of songs linked up to one another along the way, leading up to a giant monster set on stage that we had to kill by taking its photos (song = Paparazzi) and then the final song being a huge dance-off to Bad Romance - letting go of all the "shit" that's been happening in the little monster's lives.

Lady Gaga, as I imagine you would all guess, is a brilliant performer. Weird, crazy and some of her costumes just downright bizarre, but man - can she put on a show! I was dancing from start to finish, even to songs she hasn't released yet (and her new album is going to be good!) and I was blown away by some of her antics. Such as - playing a slow ballad on the piano, then setting fire to it and continuing to play the last chorus! CRAZY. Also, at one point, she dropped to the stage and we all freak out, since it's mid-song, but really, she pauses to tell us she's like Tinkerbell and if we don't clap, she will die so, "clap bitches." Her costumes themselves were another thing entirely. From ones where she is completely covered and looks like she is dancing inside of a mop head, to ones where she is barely covering her assets in a leather body suit, she had it all. Always sporting her sunnies, the costume changes were immaculately masked by either techno-musical interludes, clips from various interviews or actually done right onstage behind screens where all you could see was shadows.

One of the many costumes on the screen....

It was hard to capture good photos since my camera is really old, and with everyone in this mosh pit, it was hard to keep my hand still long enough to get one without blurriness. I've attached a couple of the better ones for you to get an example of what it was like....

Now, the girl I mentioned. At one point during the concert, the group of girls I ended up standing beside started to push me sideways to see better. It was the passive, "I'm pretending to dance but really edging you out of the way" kind of move, and naturally, I reciprocated. However, this girl would not let up! She was kind of a midget, so I know it would have been hard for her to see anything, but seriously woman, STOP WITH THE PUSHING. I got so frustrated that Dave stepped behind me and "accidentally" smoked her in the face with his elbow while "turning to take a photo." Classic. Gotta love my gay flatmates who stick up for me! Eventually, we were able to make our way up closer to the stage and away from her, all the while hearing her mutter about this "stupid slut" blocking her view. Take a look in the mirror honey - I'm not the slut.

That's about it - the concert was spectacular, and I'm so glad I made the last minute decision to but tickets with Dave. After a quick stop to Macca's on the way home for some fries and burgers.....the rest of the night continued on. But, like I said earlier, I'll leave that for you to decipher. (Hint: it involved more dancing at a gay bar....)

Today is the day for our first big house party, so I'm going to head to bed now and hopefully get some rest before I need to bake some cookies!

All my love,

xoxo Danielle

MY EYES!!!

2010-03-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you pay $20 for a brow and lash tint with some rando Asian woman who swears she is using BROWN dye and not BLACK.

Um, I think our colors are different? Perhaps a lack of communication?? I'm hoping the Aussie sun will bleach the brows out QUICK!!

AHHHHHHHH.

xoxo Danielle

A slightly rocky update

2010-03-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Well, after my last update, I really didn't think I would have much to report until I got back from my epic Easter Break adventure field trips, but it turns out I'm more than wrong! Much has happened in the last couple days that I feel deserve to be told.

First up - the house. One of the flatmates, Carol, decided to move out and since she and the other boys did not get along, this made the boys VERY happy. So happy, in fact, that the atmosphere has completely changed at home. We all eat dinner in the kitchen together now, instead of in our separate rooms. We converted the lounge area to a better set-up, moved the extra fridge into the kitchen and now we have a communal fridge for us to share leftovers, cookies (on my behalf!) and to chill beer. It's great! We also talked about having a "family" dinner together once a week, and things have become much more social. Personally, I feel it could have been this way when Carol was around, but perhaps it was because the boys refused to get along with her that prevented events from taking place. Regardless, we have a party lined up for Sunday evening, which should be a ball!

Speaking of having a good time, another surprise this week was my last minute impulse to buy tickets to see Lady Gaga in concert tomorrow night. I'm headed out there with my gay flatmate, who loves to dance (especially to Gaga music - it's his ringtone!!) so I am sure we will have SO much fun. Our tickets are standing tickets, at at the back section, but it will be an entertaining show nonetheless and I know that no matter where we are in the stadium, it will be as good as we make it!!

Bad news - in between some unexpected news and bad anniversary dates, I had to deal with a little medical scare of my own. For the past couple weeks, I've been nursing what I thought was a canker sore in my mouth, but lately I have realized it is more of a lump below my lip as opposed to a canker sore. Now, knowing my family history, lumps always equal BAD. Naturally, I freak out, and with everything else that was going on at the time, had a massive breakdown yesterday, cried and felt really sick. Missing family, friends etc etc....not wanting to be here......it was bad. Luckily, I was able to get in to see a Dr. today, and he is about 99% sure that the lump is a result of a blocked sebaceous gland in my mouth. Apparently, this happens from time to time, without any reason why, and I can either cut into it to drain it, or let it be. I chose the latter option, and was told to keep an eye out if it grows or changes as that could indicate that it is something else. At least I can sleep easy tonight knowing that I am not dying.

To end this on a happy/funny note, here is another anecdote from one of my classes. We are learning about terrestrial plants in my Biology class, and my professor really likes to bring in samples. The other day, she brings out the most MASSIVE leaf I have EVER seen. It's as big as me. How do I know this? After lecture, I asked her if I could keep it. The answer? Yes. So for the rest of the day (because naturally, biology was my first of 4 classes that day) I'm trucking around campus with the leaf in tow, getting all these strange looks from others. The weirdest bit was riding the bus home into the city, and sitting next to immaculately dressed business men with this leaf hanging over my head like some rainforest umbrella. You'll see from the photos that all I am missing is a hot guy to fan me with it and feed me grapes.....Danny???

My leaf!!

Anyways, keep your eyes out for some pics (probably bad ones) from the concert and perhaps the Sunday party as well. I love you all, assure you I am now doing much better and will be in touch soon!

xoxo Danielle

My foot next to the leaf to give you an idea of scale.....

Brisbane Forest Park Field Trip!!

2010-03-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

Alrighty,

Update number 2 from the field trip front. Friday was an all-day excursion to Brisbane Forest Park - a national park and rainforest just outside the city. It was an academic excursion, so we definitely had work to accomplish on the trip, but we also had the opportunity (an unfortunate one?) to check out some of the native wildlife.

I say unfortunate because, yes, I did encounter a snake. One of the deadliest ones actually, the red-bellied black snake, and it was quite literally a meter from me. While all the keener students hid behind me and snapped shots of this killer snake, I am the first in the line of fire had it attacked. Seriously, I almost shit my pants. I've never been so scared in my life, and the professor was like, "oh, it's deadly. Just relax, if it bites you and you freak out, your blood will move faster and you will succumb to the venom quicker." Props prof. Thanks for that.

What happened you may ask? Nothing. It went away. I got a photo. And an exciting story to tell my grand kids.

The morning was spent at a wildlife sanctuary, where we got to see platypus, wallabies, some other cool/weird animals and some birds. The afternoon was spent exploring the rainforest, and comparing it to the side-by-side Eucalypt forest. We had a nice 10-page worksheet to fill out (I honestly felt like I was back in grade school, drawing bark of trees and describing plants) but it was fun.

One other mentionable story, then I'll leave you with photos:
Our tutor, Chris, tells us at the beginning of the walk that we should avoid broad, wide-leafed plants as they can sting you which results in a burning sensation FOR THREE MONTHS AFTERWARD. So, we are all on the lookout for this plant to avoid it, all the while at the same time touching other plants and tasting some edible berries and such. At one point, I rub up against this quite nice-feeling felt plant and ask Chris what it is. He looks at me, at it, and says, "That's a psychotic plant. People who eat the residue from the leaves go crazy. I would wash your hands." Hahahahahaha. Of all the plants in the forest, Danielle chooses to rub the crazy one. Figures.

The psychotic plant:

Well, that's about it - my next two field trips are back to back over the Easter weekend, so I'll be updating you with things happening in between.....but in the meantime, please keep emailing me! I love hearing about how things are back in Canada and abroad!

Thanks for reading,

xoxo Danielle

On the right: wombat!
Below: Wallaby!
Right and below: Me at point lookout!

MBRS Field Trip

2010-03-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

Well, here is my first post updating you on one of 5 field trips that I will be attending this semester. This past weekend, I went to North Stradbroke Island (off the coast of Brisbane, in Moreton Bay) to the Moreton Bay Research Station where I spent a 3-day weekend studying coastal envrionments, swimming in the ocean and designing my own scientific study! I'll break it down into days so you can follow what I got myself into!

DAY 1: Saturday

The poor bus couldn't make it onto the ferry!!!

Up early (6am!) to catch a ride into the Uni for a 7:30am departure. We took a big coach bus to the city of Cleveland, where we caught the 45 minute ferry across to "Straddie" as the island is affectionately called. This was no small feat - our bus driver failed to get our extra-long bus into the ferry, and I felt so bad for the guy who had multiple spectators watch him struggle to back the bus up the ferry ramp! After what seemed like ages, he managed to get the bus off the ferry, leaving us on the boat and all our bags behind!!! Luckily, there was a second ferry coming shortly after, so the bags were unloaded from the bus of hell and put onto the ferry for us to pick up later on in the day.

Upon arrival to the island, it was a quick walk to the research station where we had a quick "morning tea" before hearing some debriefs on rules, safety and other regulations. Then, with no time to waste, it was out to the beach to survey the three types of coastal environments present and to get us thinking about our individual experiments we had to design and complete the next day. We first visited a rocky intertidal shore, then mudflats, then a sandy beach area, all the while comparing species diversity, and other scientific things. One thing I should mention was the fact that our 2 hour walk started out nice and sunny, but all of a sudden (when we were on the sandy beach) the rain came. And by came, I mean torrential down poured like none other. It actually hurt to get hit, the drops were so forceful and large!! We quickly ran back to the station, only after admiring the hundreds of soldier crabs who buried themselves instantaneously once the rain arrived!

Some interesting marine life on the afternoon walk - this was a sea cucumber!

Much to our dismay, the rain was not enough to deter the staff from the afternoon activity of seine netting. For those who don't know - seine netting is when we take a huge net out into the ocean, walk around in a horseshoe pattern and catch any fish/sharks/marine wildlife within it. I was given the task of donning gloves and helping to catch and release the fish we caught. Of course, no one told me that some of the fish were venomous, but it all worked out okay. There are a couple photo I've attached of me with my gloves and some cool species we caught!

Sorting through the catch from the netting activity

Here's a little puffer fish! Super cute until he deflated.....

This evening was laid back - mainly dinner, a movie and going out to the pub for a couple drinks with the TAs. We hit the sack early, since we knew tomorrow would be a long day full of data collection and analysis!

DAY 2:

We woke up this morning and spent a good couple hours planning our experiment with the group of our choice. I ended up working with a girl and a guy from the USA, one guy from the UK, one girl from France and one from BC. All of us are doing science degrees, so we knew the ropes and what to expect. After decided what our topic would be (whether or not there is a relationship between temperature of the water and crab population abundance) we headed out to the ocean/shoreline to catch and count crabs. For those of you who know me, crabs aren't really my thing - especially when they can pinch you! Luckily, I volunteered to be in charge of the data collection, so my role in catching crabs with bare hands was limited. We spent a good couple hours in the afternoon out next to the ocean, with the sun blazing. It was spectacular....despite the work we had to do!

After data collection, we headed inside for afternoon tea and a break before sitting down to organize the presentation we had to give to the group the next morning, as well as analyze the data in Microsoft Excel. Conveniently, the guy from the USA (he's from LA - perhaps that's why!) disappeared with the girl from the States and left the rest of us to do the grunt work. We were all tired and pissed - especially when he showed up a couple hours later only to critique our powerpoint and tell us we did things wrong! He apparently thought he was the Marine Biology God since he volunteers with the professor in his lab, but at that moment I wanted to smack him. Because of the group tension towards the end of the evening, we quickly finished up our presentation, decided who would say what and then went to bed. No practicing, nothing. We thought since we weren't being marked on the presentation itself that it wouldn't matter.....

DAY 3:

The morning was spent listening to all the groups present their experiment and results on powerpoint presentations. We went almost last, hadn't practiced and basically just talked our way through the slides, making things up as we went. Little did we know, all the groups were being judged on the quality of the presentation and the ease of comprehension! AND GUESS WHAT?? Our group WON!!

3 of the winning group members - and the prized water bottles!!!

Yup - despite all the "fantastic" group dynamics, our group's presentation came first and we won free Moreton Bay Research Station water bottles. After winning, the LA guy tells us it's because of all our hard work and I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying, "oh, you mean OUR work. You were gone." Whatever. Just another thing to boost his already too-large ego.

The afternoon was spent on a fantastic Gorge Walk at Lookout Point, then to Cylinder Beach for a couple hours of relaxation. It was a great way to end the weekend of hard work, and I slept most of the ferry ride back to the mainland. Overall, it was an interesting trip - learnt lots about marine crabs, USA's arrogance, and how little preparation but good presentation skills can land you first place!

Such a pretty island!

I head out tomorrow on another one-day field trip with my other biology course - this time to Brisbane Forest Park to look at the local flora and fauna. I've been told that there are high concentrations of brown snakes and black adders - two of the most deadly snakes on the continent. Brilliant. I won't be taking photos of those, since I hope to stay a far ways away at all times! At any rate, keep your eyes peeled for another post soon after I upload photos and get my assignments underway!

At lookout point

Me with the 4 TA's on the ferry back home

Miss you all!!

xoxo Danielle

Lessons in Language

2010-03-07T23:37:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

This is another quick post with some more photos from campus that I took today....and since I don't really have any more news to report, other than it's still raining, I thought I would attach the photos along with some of the crazy lingo I've picked up here.

As a side note - I still get teased for having a Canadian accent. And saying "Canadian things" like a-boot. Really? I honestly say a-boot? I'll leave that for the Aussie's to decipher....

AUSSIE TERM ---> CANADIAN:
How're going? --> How are you doing? (I have a funny story about this to tell afterwards...)
Sunnies --> Sunglasses
Rashies --> Rashguards, you know the shirts you wear while surfing?
Bathers --> Swim suit
Motorway --> Highway
Overtaking --> Passing someone on the "motorway"
Brissy ---> Brisbane
Sweet as ---> Means something along the lines of, "SO cool!" Basically, add the word "as" onto the end of anything
She'll be right, mate ---> Things will be okay
Bogan ---> Poser
Don't be a galah ---> Don't be stupid
Water bubbler ---> Water fountain

I have this ongoing list, which of course I left at home so if there are any ones that I can't think of now but need to be mentioned, keep an eye out for them in further posts.

So - story then photos, my first day here in Australia, a cashier at the airport asked me, "How're going?" Of course, not knowing what this meant (and I would like to attribute this to possibly a lack of sleep over the past 18 hours) I said, "Noosa." He then replied, "No, how are you going?" Like as if the abbreviation, how're didn't make sense....so then I said, " Oh, by car! You know, driving to Noosa??"

Yup, official foreigner - right here. SO embarrassing. Sad moment.

But, on the upside, I now ask others (on a regular basis I might add) how they are going, and I always know what to say when asked myself!!!

Okay - photos and then I'm off for some dinner and a relaxing evening at home!!

The main arches and entrance to campus

My new home for the next semester....the anatomy lab.

On the walk to class from the Student Union Center

One of many LAKES (yes, lakes) on campus. Regularly filled with ducks, cockatoos and other local fauna.

Until next entry!!!

xoxo Danielle

My new-found friends and the start of the scholastic year.....

2010-03-05T21:38:00.000-08:00

Well. My March has been off to a fantastic start - classes, textbooks, the all-to familiar uneasy feeling of not having anything organized but still trying to maintain a positive attitude....y'all know the feeling. Not to mention making new friends (especially in lab work where you want GOOD lab partners!)....the first week has been, er, fun.

I woke up Monday morning and met my first "friend" on my floor. A nice, big cockroach. Yipee. I tried to spray it with killing spray as given to me by my roommate...but he was too quick and scurried back under my bed. Excellent. Now, I know he's under there and I'm calling him Mortimer. We will be great pals....until he becomes too slow due to lack of food and meets the bottom of my shoe. Until then Mortimer - enjoy the comforts of Spring Hill room 2.

At school, I did make real friends in all my classes. I've met people from all over the world - including France, UK, USA, Australia and some places in Asia. I'm super stoaked for all my classes, particularly my marine biology and ecology courses since I have 5 field trips to look forward to. 5! And all of them sound so freaking spectacular, it's unreal. I promise to go through all of them in more detail later on!

Tuesday brought my first full day of classes, which to those in uni right now means textbook searching, organization and figuring out who is the best partner to choose for labs. I had my first ANAT practical - no cadavers yet, but I managed to team up with a group of mature students (since it's a first year course and all the others are freshers....not that it's bad, but I'm over the whole, OMG it's a penis! Um. Hello? You are taking anatomy....of course there is a penis on this man. JESUS.) So yeah, I'm in a group with Matt from the UK, Mel from Aussie, and Sabina from France. We all worked our way through 2 amazingly tough labs and have now decided that Anatomy will be the bane of our existence for the rest of the semester. I feel blessed though, because my other course are not that tough, but they all have biology, chemistry and physiology to deal with on top of the anatomy!!!

A quick pic of me on campus...more campus shots to come!!

So - crazy cool thing here which I had to add in. I am not buying textbooks. Yeah, I know. Danielle, the uber-keen studier is NOT buying a SINGLE book. Why? Because UQ has it right - the library lets you take out class resources FOR ONE ENTIRE MONTH. Yup, you read correctly. A WHOLE MONTH. Unlike Queen's, where you get the book for a meager 3 hours, I have the means to textbooks for the entire month. But still, the only textbook I lugged home from the UQ library was the anatomy one. In my other courses, I'm learning about a) how to write a science report (all of first year bio coming back to haunt me!) and b) dinosaurs in Australia. Yuo - dinosaurs. SUPER cool. Oh, and there's french. We're working on a project where we have to apply for a "pretend" job, write a french CV and cover letter. Wanna know another cool thing? I ALREADY DID THAT IN GRADE 10. So basically, I'm done the assignment which is due at the end of April. I love Australia.

Now, onto the field trips. With my two biology classes, I have 5 field trips to attend. They all cost additional fees, but it will be SO worth it. My first field trip is in a week - I'm spending next weekend at the coastal study station on Moreton Island. It's right in Moreton Bay, an area famous for dolphin and whale sightings!! The next trip is March 19th, a day trip to Brisbane National Park for some bushwalking and observations of natural forests and trees/widllife. Then, in April, are the two big field trips - April 1st to 5th is on Fraser Island, where we get to watch dingoes, play beach volleyball and do some studying in between....then April 6th to 10th is another field trip to Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef. This trip will include snorkling, diving, sailing and more beaches....with the occasional data collection in between! Keep your eyes peeled on the blog for some photos as the trips pass! The last trip is another day trip to Australia Zoo - the zoo Steve Irwin made famous. Since we are going with our professors, we actually get to go behind the scenes and feed the animals!!!

Side note - it's been super rainy here, and after reading a friend's blog (Becks!) about her sunny week in Scotland, I'm beginning to think that these two countries have traded weather patterns! As part of my one course, I'll be learning about Aussie's weather, so in due time I can probably explain why it's so hot down here, but overcast (typically) over in Och-land....

Lastly, on my way home from a long and tiring week this past Friday (serisouly, I get up at 6am to make it to class for 8am, since it takes 30 minutes on the bus and I need to eat, make coffee...wake up etc) I met the last of my friends for the week. A nice, inviting bird called the Ibis (eye-bus). He's a lovely fellow with a beak that can kill and isn't afraid of ANYTHING. These birds are the equivalent of your killer seagulls Becks - and man, was I ever scared. Worse part is, I have to walk through a park full of these buggers to get to and from my house....EVERY SINGLE DAY. I swear - if it weren't for my umbrella as a weapon to ward them off, I would be writing to you from a hospital bed, mutliated.

The Ibis. Freaky eh?? I mean, look at that beak...

That's it for now - I'm off to an international student welcome in the heart of downtown, and then to review some anatomy like a normal (can I even us normal?) life science student. hahahahahahaha. Oh the thought of studying kills me. Thank god this semester is only pass/fail!!!!

All my love and keep those emails, blog comments, skype convos and facebook messages coming my way!

Miss you all,
xoxo Danielle

Danielle + tequila shots = the emergence of the crazy Canadian

2010-02-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

Well.

Last night was a great night out at the neighbor's party....I ended up going with one of my roommates, Carol, and we had a blast chatting with all the other invitees. It was a 30th bday party for Oskar, and his wife Christine was from the States so we had one thing in common right off the bat - we were both
"foreign!" Of course, being ousted for having a Canadian background right off the bat could only mean the evening could go downhill from there....

The evening was pretty laid back with some live music and snacks, until the tequila shots came out and of course, it was the Aussie's goal to get me shammered. A couple guys in particular, Eddie and Alex (Oskar's younger brothers from Sydney) were basically pouring extremely liberal shots of really good quality tequila (about as good as tequila can get, I guess) and it wasn't long before I was up on the dance floor, rocking out to my ipod (the live music had since finished) and some good ol' country music. One of the other people I met, Rhianna from NZ, was - get this - GOING TO CALGARY in July - which was the main reasoning behind the whole line dance and country music idea. Well, that and the tequila talking!! Of course, I was teased beyond recognition about being a ranga from Canada, but I'm told that if you are insulted by an Aussie, it's actually a term of endearment.

The rest of the night slowly switched from country to pure hip hop/club music, and both Rhianna, Christine, myself, Eddie, Carol, Alex and another guy named Ryan danced the night away. Want to know the funny part? All of them thought I was this uber crazy Canadian who could dance like none other (I was slightly tipsy so of course I thought the moves I was doing were absolutely fantastic).....I thought to myself, you should see me back home - I rarely go out and when I do, I don't normally dance up a storm!!! Funny how with a little tequila, a whole new environment and meeting new people can give them a completely different view of yourself!

At about 2am, Carol and I managed to break from the dance crew and stumble home into bed. Not without a free pedestal fan though, which I don't remember getting or carrying with me, but somehow, this morning, it was definitely in my room next to my bed. Weird.

As bad as it may sound to those reading, I actually wasn't too bad in the morning and got up at 9am to make some phone calls and skype with the fam jam back home. Now, all that's left for me to do this fine Sunday is organize my stuff for this week's classes, print off some forms for my field trips and probably head to bed early to catch up on some much needed sleep! I just wanted to update you all about the party, and give you a heads up that I probably won't post another entry until later on next week or early into the second week of classes since I'll be busy with first week activites like textbooks, lab manuals, etc etc.

I promise to post some photos of the campus and area soon - but if any of you followers are itching for something specific (news or photos or otherwise) let me know and I'll be sure to include it in the next one!

All my love,

xoxo Danielle

O-Week and other "induction" activites....

2010-02-26T17:19:00.000-08:00

Here is a brief update about the hectic, but fun, UQ O-Week!!!

It started out on Monday, Feb 22nd with a huge International student welcome in the UQ center. We heard from the president of the uni, as well as some international representatives. Then, we went through country by country and had to stand up when our country was called. Did you know that there are 191 students from Canada here this term? and over 789 from China, 534 from Vietnam/Korea/Malayisa etc. The Asian countries are very well represented. Let's put it that way.

Afterwards, we had a free BBQ and the chance to meet UQ regulars. It was great to chat with some of the current students and find out about what to do and join on campus. The afternoon was spent in a seminar about the Australian culture - where we were all introduced to critical things, like politicians, Aussie slang and the most important thing of all....THE TIM TAM SLAM!!!

For those of you who don't know (which I assume is most) the tim tam is an extremely Australian biscuit - chocolate wafers covered in chocolate and a chocolate mousse stuffing. The tim tam slam is an appropriate Aussie pastime, where you bite both ends of the cookie, and sip your coffee/hot chocolate through the cookie. Of course, the heat melts the chocolate inside and the cookie eventually breaks apart, but it is AMAZINGLY yummy and I know Customs Canada is going to have to deal with me bringing heaps of tim tams back into the country. Does anyone know if there is a legal limit to how much can be brought back???

I was finished up for the day after this session, but went to get my student ID card and had to stand in line for ages. Unlike the Queen's system, which is pretty slick, we had hours of waiting and you had to take your photo right then and there, wait some more, sign the card, activate it etc etc. It was painful, but at least I now have my ID and can use it to get some great student discounts on and off campus!

Tuesday morning brought a session all on safety down under - things like, don't swim in the ocean at dawn or dusk to prevent being eaten by sharks, stay away from spiders, snakes and don't camp within 50m of a creek to prevent being eaten by crocodiles. Some quick facts about Australian wildlife..... 7 of the 10 world's poisonous snake species live in Australia. Also, there are spiders here that carry enough venom to kill 50 people with one bite. There have been over 1800 shark sightings in the past year. Scared yet?? The only consolation was that most of the poisonous species are found mainly in the brush, and since anti-venom was created in 1981, no one has died from a spider bite. One thing I found crazy though, was being told that if bitten by a spider - CATCH IT TO SHOW TO THE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS. Who in their right mind would catch the damn thing after it bites you??? Not me, that's for sure.

Tuesday afternoon was filled with more free food, another BBQ and a chance to wander around the UQ student complex. Queen's, I'm sorry to say, you have been upstaged. Here on campus is: a movie theater, subway, sushi, ice creamery, bakeries, a HUGE candy store with bins FILLED with all sorts of candy (my new fav spot!), lakes complete with fountains and cockatoos, tennis courts, athletic tracks, 8 playing fields, an outdoor swimming pool and a huge gym facility. Not to mention 14 libraries and countless academic buildings. Needless to say, it takes a little longer than 5 minutes to cross campus from one side to the other!!

Wednesday was a CRAZY day, again rivaling Queen's. It was Market Day today, similar to the sidewalk sale but on a much larger scale. There were booths from all 200 clubs on campus, plus booths from downtown stores and places like Coke, Bundaberg Ginger Beer etc etc. I collected SO much free stuff - it was crazy!! My fridge is now stocked with 8 cans of coke, 3 bottles of vitamin water (which they call nutrient water), juice, biscuits, fruit etc. I also had 3 free BBQ's - one with the market day, one with the Science society and one with the International group. I'm loving all the freebies....it's great to be a uni student!!!

I've also signed up for a couple clubs - QUEST, the exchange student society, the squash club, possibly a field hockey team and maybe the Wine and Cheese Club. There are so many cool things to do, and I wish I had time to do them all, but I know my courses are going to be pretty intensive.....

Thursday was a free day, but I still came to campus to skype with Danny and catch up on some emails. I also took the free time to a) hit up the candy store (hahaha) and b) find the rooms where my classes are going to be held at the start of next week. Like Queen's, I have 10 minutes to travel between classes, but it will be pushing it since some of the buildings are not close at all!!!

Friday was a lazy day - I spent it at home cleaning my room and doing a massive grocery run since I had run out of food. Andrea and Derek popped by for the afternoon as they were getting a ride to Noosa with Marilyn that evening, so we had a nice walk in the Botanical Gardens before enjoying a sushi lunch. After saying goodbye that evening, I curled up with a couple books I borrowed from the public library and went to bed early!

Now, it's Saturday and I have a bunch of forms to print out for classes Monday morning. I'll be able to update you more then, but I have 6 field trips to organize and sign up for as well as lab sessions and lectures to sort out. I'm lucky in the fact that I get to use the printer upstairs and the internet in the office space above my apartment, so I have my own key and everything! Tonight, our neighbours next door invited us to a mexican themed birthday bash, free food, tequila and live music! I'm quite excited to meet the neighbours as John (my landlord and the owner of the house) says they are really nice.

That's about it for now - thanks for reading and keeping in touch as best you can!

Love to all,

xoxo Danielle

Welcome to my Queenslander home....and a few koalas and kangas too!

2010-02-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

I've decided, since being back "home" for the past week, that I should probably update you with some current happenings in the Brisbane area (namely my accommodation and such) since you all probably are itching to know exactly what my house looks like and how cool it is.

I live in the "city" which I know sounds weird because, yes, Brisbane is a city. But in fact, the term "city" refers to the downtown area of Brisbane. I'm in a suburb called Spring Hill, and it's about a 5 minute walk to the major Brisbane mall, all the bus stops and the CityCat (the coolest method of transport known to man!!). It's a great location - I'm a 10 minute walk from the Southbank area (which has it's own beach, cha-ching!!!) and all the amenities I need are so close. The one downside is that I'm about 30 minutes away from the University by either a bus, or the CityCat. It's not too bad, considering I have to be on campus for the entire day most days, but it would have been convenient to be able to walk to and from. Actually, the CityCat is quite relaxing - it's a catamaran that takes you down the river and drops me off right close to the main portion of campus. On sunny days (which is almost everyday, sorry to rub it in Becky!) it's gorgeous to sit out on the deck for the ride! Still, I'm going to have to resort to carrying all my load of crap with me, as I don't want to catch a bus back and forth multiple times a day. Not only does it take a while, but it's EXPENSIVE. Stuff here is almost DOUBLE the price back home. To give you an example, here was my grocery list from last week:

1. Apples (3)
2. Cereal
3. 6 yogurt cups
4. Cottage cheese
5. Chicken breast
6. Bread
7. Mustard

Guess how much that set me back? You would probably guess around 20 bucks, depending on the quality of the meat etc. Nope. It cost me over 36 dollars!!! How ridiculous eh? Serisouly, I'll be living off pasta and rice for the next few months or I will go broke! (Kidding Dad - I will spend decent money on good food.....the fresh fruit and seafood are just too good to pass up, even if they break the bank!!)

Anyways, my room and house itself are great. I have 4 other roommates, Carol from Aussie, Dave from NZ, Mohammad from Asia somewhere and Shiva from India. I get along great with all of them, and we've had a couple late nights together this week cooking amazing curries and asian cuisine! I told them all that in return, I would bake my famous chocolate chip cookies (Mohammad wants me to add macadamia nuts, so perhaps I will) and share some "Canadian"cuisine with them! Dave already has asked me if I have stashed away some maple syrup, but sadly, it didn't make the trip with me down under!

My room in the house - I've made it home-y with some photos of the famjam!

The view of my desk and fridge...and more photos!

I've included photos of my room, which is pretty small but all I need. We each have our own fridges in our rooms to store food, a common kitchen and bathroom and a patio upstairs for the hot nights. We also have FULL CABLE TV!!! Such a bonus for me, since back home in Kingston we don't have one. I've been regularly staying up late watching replays on the Olympic games, but it's sad because the Aussie news people really only focus on the Aussie's. I had to wait 2 FREAKIN hours to see 30 secs of the Canada vs. USA game. Balls. I've heard from friends though, that perhaps it was for the best that I didn't catch the game live. Yikes!!

The kitchen area

The large bathroom

On a completely different note, Derek, Andrea and I will be parting ways tonight. They go up to Noosa and continue up north for the rest of the 3 months while I stay here and pursue my studies. We had one last shindig together at the Lone Pine Koala Reserve here in Brisbane, which I will tell you about shortly. I've had a blast with them, and I hope to catch up with them sometime around my birthday before Andrea heads back home!!

So, the Koala Reserve. AMAZING. I can't really put into words how awesome it was visiting this place. They have a huge amount of land dedicated to all these Australian animals - dingoes, wombats, kookaburras, Tasmanian devils, koalas and of course, kangaroos. I have to say my 2 favourite parts were the koala holding and the kangaroo enclosure. In the kangaroo enclosure, roos are free to hop around and they are quite used to people. You can feed them by hand, and they will allow you to pet them! I've never seen a kangaroo up so close, and within minutes, I was petting them and feeding them! They were adorable and I want to go back SO bad when the family arrives.

My first encounter with a kangaroo!

More roos and a lone wombat - they were cute also!!

The other best part was holding the koala. It was expensive to do so, and Derek scoffed at me paying the price, but it wasn't just about the koala. Ever since mom passed away, and we all went through her photos together for the funeral, I remember stumbling across the photo of her holding a koala while on her own trip to Australia. I remember thinking, "I want to do this too!" When the koala was placed into my hands, I almost cried. I thought of mom, how she is always with me, and how proud she would be to know that I am here, taking on this big adventure and following her footsteps. The koala was so much more than a koala...it was almost a link to mom. Would it be sappy to say that I really felt her presence at that moment?? Mom - you are my hero and I love you always!!

Some koala photos

Apart from the reserve visit, my days in Brisbane have been occupied with the beginning of orientation week and getting courses organized. I think I'll save those exciting stories for another post, since I'm supposed to meet up with a friend to find our rooms for next week.

As always, thanks for reading and keep those emails coming! OH - and if you really wanted to get on my good side, I would LOVE snail mail if you got the chance to write! My address down here in Brisbane is:

Danielle Downe
R2 - 25 Twine Street
Spring Hill, Brisbane, QLD
Australia
4000

Until next entry,

xoxo Danielle

The last leg - Surfer's Paradise

2010-02-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

Here's to the last of the cities we visited - Surfer's Paradise!! Unlike its nearby counterpart, Surfer's is this booming metropolis with high-rises, huge night clubs and a big city atmosphere. I had no idea that it was this big - I envisioned a small, surf town like Bryon!!! For those that have been (I have not), I've been told it is much like Waikiki in Hawaii?? Just to give you a mental image.

Our bus got us into Surfer's around 11am (factoring in the time change), and we caught a courtesy shuttle to our hostel which was located 4km outside the city center. Upon arrival, the manager tells us he can't find our reservation, which we definitely made online. He was a bit scatter-brained, and after some rummaging, manages to find it. Unfortunately, the original room we had booked was full, and the only place he can put us is, "the swamp" - the staff quarters which is 14 beds, all bunks. We walk into this room and it's a disaster. Porn on the walls, broken mirrors, bottles everywhere, half-drunken staff stumbling about and a guy telling me to not sleep on the bed I've been given because of what the previous person "did" in it. Lovely. Andrea, Derek and I exchange looks and pack our daybags to leave.....then, a miracle happens. One of the staff members comes in, and asks the manager why we are here. She says she booked people to sleep in here for the next couple nights, so upon deliberation, the three of us are moved to our OWN, personal, 3 bed room upstairs. Goodbye swamp, hello luxury! Well, almost. Our room's roof was moldy, and the fan didn't work, so we had to sleep with the windows open which meant multiple bug bites due to a lack of screens. At least we were out of the hell hole though, so I wasn't complaining.

(This is the moldy roof in our hostel room)

For the afternoon, we put on the bikinis and headed down to the beach to catch some rays of sun, before walking through downtown, doing some shopping and then heading back to the hostel to make our own pasta dinner in the hostel kitchen. Like Byron, this first night was a quiet one, we ended up playing a couple rounds of cards in our room before heading to bed early. The sun sure does wipe you out!

The next morning was probably one of the most fun mornings I've had thus far. We booked a surf lesson with Get Wet Surfers and they came to pick us up at 10am. For 2 hours, we were taught how to surf the waves and by my second run, I was standing up on the board and surfing into shore. It was an absolute blast - especially the instructor, who took a liking to my red hair and nicknamed me both ranga and red. Each run I would do, he'd say something along the lines of, "quicker next time, eh ranga?" or "come on red, catch this one!" He was great and he also captured some intense surf photos of the three of us which I've included. I should also mention that these waves we were riding were HUGE - about 5 feet high! They weren't the real big one way out in the ocean, but much more massive than you would expect beginners to tackle!! When the family comes out to visit me in July, you can bet that I will be taking them to Surfer's and making them all take surf lessons with the Get Wet company!!

After surf lessons, we basically went back to the hostel, got some lunch and then headed back to the beach to soak up some more rays. You may all be wondering at this point how my skin is doing? Well, I had to pirchase some more sunscreen since I ran out, but no further burns to report! In fact, I actually am getting a slightly darker shade of albino, if that's even possible!

The evening brought a dinner out at the Hard Rock Cafe, since we couldn't get into a pub as Andrea left her ID back home. After wandering the "night markets" for a bit, we were adventurous (stupid??) and decided to walk the 5km back to the hostel instead of catching a taxi. It was a much longer walk than expected, so the bed at the other end looked pretty decent upon arrival! We finished the night by watching Dodgeball, then packed our bags for the trip home to Brisbane the following morning!!!

All in all, it was a fantastic 10 day trip with my cousins. Not only did I get to see some great parts of the country, but I was also able to spend some quality time with quality company. Sure, we each had our "moments," but in the end I wouldn't have changed any part of the trip!

Up next - some cool Brisbane activities that Andrea, Derek and I did as well as an update on the beginning of orientation week at the uni!

Much love,

xoxo Danielle

The Byron Bay Leg

2010-02-22T18:48:00.000-08:00

After a nice, long 14 hour OVERNIGHT bus to Byron, we got into this little surfer's town around 8am. We couldn't check into our hostel, the first of the trip, before 10am, so we stored our backpacks and headed down for a walk along the beach. It wasn't long before the weather turned shitty, so we headed back to the hostel to wait for our check-in. Our room was an economy dorm - 10 beds, all bunks. I was able to score a bottom bunk, but you should have seen the room. It was obvious that it was the party room as there were sacks of empty "goon bags" everywhere (goon is cheap wine in a plastic sac - gross stuff, really) and this was confirmed when we met our first hostel buddy, Markus, from Germany. It's the party room he tells us, and I'm preparing myself for 2 long nights!

The afternoon in Byron Bay was rainy, so instead of lying on the beach, the three of us decide to walk to the lighthouse and the most easterly point in Australia. Had we known it was a 7km hike, I'm not sure we would have been so keen, but we set out in the rain and stuck to it. Not eating a full meal that day, it was a long hike for me, but we made it and I have photo proof of my efforts! That evening was a quite one, surprisingly, the three of us eating out at a nice Balcony restaurant and then home for an early bedtime. We were lucky in the fact that the room was relatively quiet, and the partiers decided to party it up at the clubs before coming back to crash around 3pm. I was able to get a great sleep!

The second day in Byron was a beach day. We spent some time lying on the beach, going for walks, picking up some grocery snacks and just chilling out having picnics. I've included some photos of the beach - which in nice weather is really spectacular! We decided to postpone our surf lesson until we reached Surfer's Paradise....only for the chances of better weather!

This night, however, was not a quiet night. Derek, Andrea and I all started drinking about 5pm, had a hostel BBQ with Sangria at 7pm, then headed to the beach with a bunch of new-found European buddies at 9pm. We kept up with the booze until about 11pm, then headed out to the infamous Byron Bay club - Cheeky Monkeys. It was SO sleazy that instead of a dance floor, they have multiple tables to dance on. Yup, you read correctly, TABLES. What does Danielle do? Dance the night away, of course! And in doing so, I wowed the crew with my "Thriller" dance moves and the good ol' steps to Cadillac Ranch. I DID go there and totally pulled out the line-dancing. I mean, I really have to represent my country!! 2 of my friends, Niel from Ireland and Takko from Holland were especially enthralled, and wanted to dance with me until 3am, but around 2:30am I left with Andrea and Derek since it was probably the better option. Seriously though, it was a GREAT night and I had so much fun dancing. Almost fell off a couple tabletops, but nothing my family (Auntie CC if you're reading this, it's for you!) hasn't seen and/or participated in themselves.

After stumbling home and getting into bed at 3am, we awoke the next morning for an 11am bus to Surfer's Paradise. Apart from feeling a little sore from all the dancing (and possibly the drinks!), it was a relatively quiet morning.

That was pretty much the extent of our stay in Byron - beaches, sleazy clubs and classic hostel friends. A good place all-around and one town I would definitely return to if given the chance! Next stop = Surfer's Paradise!!

All my love,

xoxo Danielle

The Sydney Leg

2010-02-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

Well, I'm back on campus and using the uni internet to write the first of what I think will be 3 posts to cover the travels and stories over the past 10 days. I began my trip in the wonderfully large city of Sydney, but it started out quite rocky!

I was supposed to leave Brisbane on the 10th at 10am. When I went into my email to check in online, I found out that my plane was CANCELED and that the only flight available to me was at 6am or 1pm. Now, a normal person would have chosen the 1pm flight, but I had made plans to meet up with my cousins at the Opera House at 2pm and with no way of contacting them, it was the early flight or leave them panicking. So I wake up at 4am to catch a 2 hour flight to Sydney. I arrived in around 10am, and luckily met up with my cousins on the stairs outside the Opera House without much difficulty!

Let me tell you - getting off the subway from the airport and walking towards the Opera House was the most amazing experience ever. Just seeing this iconic structure become closer and closer was breathtaking. I couldn't believe that I was actually here, actually seeing it LIVE. Did you know it's not actually white? Or smooth? It's more of a beige color and tiled.....the photos don't really show it, but it's true. Take my word or travel there yourself!

Another cool thing was the Harbour Bridge. Right across from the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge is another iconic stucture in Sydney. You will see from the photos that it's pretty impressive - and the three of us were going to climb it in a couple days! Super cool, but more about that later.

After meeting with my cousins, Andrea got in touch with a distant family relative who came to pick us up from the downtown area and take us out for lunch near Watson's Bay. We also took a walk to the entrance into Sydney Harbour, passing a nice nude beach on the way (filled with old, naked and completely oblivious men. Gross). After touring around a bit and snapping a few shots, we hopped back in the car and drove to Bondi Beach - one of the famous, touristy Sydney beaches. It was such a warm day and you can imagine that the beach was literally PACKED with people. The lifeguards drove around on these dune buggies just to be able to monitor the entire beach! We enjoyed another nice walk along the water and had some ice cream to cool us down before getting a ride to our accommodation for the next couple days - a friend of Andrea's who studies medicine here in Sydney.

(This is in the area known as the rocks)

The next morning brought a sunny day perfect for a walking tour of downtown. With no real goal in mind, we decided to start in the center, and walk towards the inner parts of the city. We stopped at a travel agency to book bus tickets out towards Brisbane, and Derek and Andrea were able to score some sweet deals all the way up the coast. After walking for the morning, figuring out travels, we stopped into a grocery store for a picnic lunch and ate it in - get this - HYDE PARK. Yes, like the one in London and yes, the lunch we had at this park was identical to the picnic lunch the three of us had at the real Hyde Park three years ago. Creepy. I even think Derek is wearing the same shirt at both occasions!!

The third day in Sydney was another nice weather day, so Andrea's friend took us to the Blue Mountains to tour around. We purchased a pass that allowed us access to the entire park, so we took advatage of this and toured around for the whole day. We visited the major site of the Three Sisters - famous moutains in Aboriginee history. We also toured some rainforest walkways before heading into town for a great lunch of roast chicken and beer on the street. Gotta love this country! This evening, we packed up our bags to switch accommodation, this time back to the distant relative that picked us up the first day.

(on the mine walk)

From here on in, we spent most of the time in Paramatta - a suburb of Sydney. We only went into Sydney to do the bridge climb on the harbour bridge. WHAT an amazing experience. Let me tell you - they have this whole system about how to prepare the climbers for the bridge. First off, you watch an educational video about the entire process. Then, you move into room one where you sign your life away AND take a breathalizer test. Yup - they test your blood alcohol levels to make sure you aren't drunk!! Then, you move into room 2 where you get sized for a climbing suit. Then, you get moved to room 3 to change, room 4 to get all your harness and accessories (like sweat bands, headphones and rainjackets) then to room 5 to do a practice climb on a pretend piece of the brigde. Then, it's out the doors you go and you are off to climb the 1500 stairs of the Sydney Harbour Bridge!!!

The climb was one of the most memorable moments of my time in Sydney. It was fairly rainy on the way up, which was disappointing, but just as we reached the top, the sun broke through! What timing! (I personally think someone was up there looking out for me ;) ) In the end, Derek, Andrea and I had a blast climbing together and the guide caputred some great photos. I would highly recommend this to anyone - even those afraid of heights. It wasn't scary at all - the path you climb is about a meter wide and solid steel so you can't see the cars beneath you. It almost feels like you aren't 134 meters above the ground!!

Our last day in Sydney was an excellent, sunny day so we took advantage of this fact and spent the afternoon on Manly Beach (another famous beach in the Sydney area) before heading back into the central part to catch our overnight bus to Byron Bay. I've included some shots of us on the beach - our first real beach day!!!

That's about it for the highlights from Sydney - I'm sure I'm forgetting some stories, which I will have to relay to you in person or at a later time. I've also only uploaded a few photos since it's an annoying process, but if you have access to facebook, there will be more there!!

Bryon Bay and other legs of the trip are soon to come, so keep on reading!

All my love,

xoxo Danielle

A quickie....NOT THAT KIND!!!!

2010-02-20T23:44:00.000-08:00

Get your heads out of the gutters people! Geez!

The title of this post refers to the fact that this update will be a short one, since I'm sitting in MacDonald's in Brisbane, trying to make this McFlurry last long enough for me to use the free internet to check emails and contact family. In 30+ degree weather, it won't be long before I'm eating flavoured milk!!

Just wanted to let you all know that I have arrived safely back into my new hometown of Brisbane after 10 days traveling with my cousins to Sydney, Byron Bay and Surfer's Paradise. I had a fantastic trip, took over 200 photos and have loads of stories to tell - too many in fact, that I may have to even write 3-4 separate blogs about them all!

I'm hoping to use the internet on campus throughout the week to write emails and upload photos, so be patient and bear with me a little longer. I don't have wireless internet at home, and I may not ever get it (I have to chat with my landlord) so keeping in touch may be a little harder than I expected. Although, I'm sure once classes start and I'm on campus, I will just skype with you all from there!!

Expect to hear from me in the next couple days, but in the meantime, here is a quick snapshot of what I was up to today.....in case it doesn't load with this slow internet, I'll give you a hint - it involved koalas and kangas!

All my love,

xoxo Danielle

Off with no plans - daunting? yes.

2010-02-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

This will be a quick post, sans photos since I am off to Brisbane tomorrow morning for a day of exploration followed by a flight to Sydney the morning of the 10th! I won't have access to the internet on a regular enough basis to put up new posts until I return, but be rest assured that I will have loads of photos and stories to share! I'm a little hesitant about the trip though, as per usual, my cousins have no concrete plans in place and are not willing to "splurge" on hostels. So far - no accommodation, transportation or events have been booked. Typical Chynoweth fashion - flying by the seats of our pants!! I'm sure it will all work out in the end, it's just a matter of sitting down and reaching a compromise.

My last couple days in Noosa have been relaxing. Apart from a birthday party last night and a walk this morning, I've just been doing my laundry at the house, cleaning the bedroom and bathroom and organizing my luggage for the trip back to Brisbane tomorrow. The plan basically is for Marilyn and I to drive into the city, get me settled into my place and unpack, then head out to the university on public transit from my place so I know how to do that when I get back from my travels. After visitng the university, we are going to take the ferry back downtown near my place, pick up some groceries and then explore a region called South Bank (a really great beach and park near my house!!) before meeting up with her two kids for dinner that night. I'me excited to move into my room and organize everything - it will be nice not to live out of a suitcase anymore!!

That's it with the updates until later on in the month. I hope to be able to check my emails once in a while when I'm gone, so if there is anything pressing that I need to know, that will be the best way to get in touch with me!!

Until March!
xoxo Danielle

A lesson in suncare.

2010-02-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

Good morning ladies and gentlemen!! Here is the moment you have been waiting for.... Danielle finally was sunburnt to a crisp, makes lobsters look albino and is hurting like mad.

How did it happen, you ask? Well, my last post was finished by me telling you I was off to paddle with Marilyn and her crew. It was a beautiful sunny Thursday morning, and being the (semi) conscientious person I am, I knew I had to apply sunscreen in a not-so-sparingly matter. I was wearing a tanktop (since it was SO hot) and I lathered on the SPF 45. However, I apparently missed a couple spots on my back, since after 2 hours out in the Aussie sun on the ocean, I came back, looked in the mirror and saw the most awkward red burn of LIFE. Serisouly, I have never (in all my PEI years!) been this burnt. It hurts.

On the upside - paddling was a blast! We took outrigger canoes, which basically have this piece attached to them and we paddled up the river into the ocean. We didn't venture far into the ocean, since the swells were high and we could tip, but it was a fantastic trip nonetheless. Noteworthy happenings - the main "coach" Hugh, was trying to teach me how to paddle. He asked if I had ever done it before, and I told him I'd been in a canoe once or twice. He then replied, " Well that's a totally different motion/stroke." He then proceeded to demonstrate what was the kayaking stroke and says, "outrigging is much different." I don't know if down here, canoeing = kayaking, but he and I were on totally different pages!! Regardless, I took in his insturctions and after our 2 hours adventure, he said that I wasn't bad for a beginner!

After paddling finished up and I was home to realize the extent of my burn, I hopped in the shower to freshen up for a ladies lunch that Marilyn and I were invited to. I have to admit, I was skeptic about this lunch since it was 5 older women, and I am MANY years their junior. Luckily, I was totally wrong! The lunch was at this British women's house, Julie, and all her friends came over for the most fantasttic and authentic tea ever. It was so quaint and enjoyable to chat with these Brisish women. They all loved my "accent" and one of them even commented on my "porcelian skin!" I think that's a much nicer saying than I usually go with....you know, me commenting on how I am practically albino!!

After lunch, we stayed at Julie's to have a spa day - mini at home facials and some relaxation time. Goodness, these ladies were hilarious with their masks on! All of them fought over the "smoothing and firming" mask before deciding I should be the one to have it, to make it fair! I politely declined and decided to choose a cucumber cooling mask.

After the spa day, Marilyn and I went home and I did some research into mobile phone companies for me to get a cell phone here. We had a nice pasta dinner, before watching some comedy on TV and then headed to bed!

Friday morning Marilyn was off to an appointment, so I took the opportunity to be adventurous and go on a run along the beach. Most AMAZING thing I think I've done yet. I loved listening to the waves pound on the shore as I ran alongside the water, barefoot. As much as I loved running back home in the winter weather with my Dad and sister, this is truly an unforgettable experience! I'll be sad that I can't begin my day everyday with this!

One downside on Friday was my sunburn had reared its ugly head FULL force and I was in so much pain. I tried to search and buy aloe vera gel, but was only able to find a spray. It worked, slightly, but not how I had hoped. Oh well, at least I've learnt my lesson! No more missing spots for me, that's for sure!

Later on that evening, since the weather was still gorgeous, Marilyn and I were able to meet up with Jean and Warrick and the kids for these elusive fish and chips. Basically, every Friday has become this fish and chip ritual - meet at the river, swim for a bit, towel off, drink some wine, order the fish, wait, eat the fish and then sit around to watch the sun go down. A really fabulous tradition! The fish was spectacular and I'm glad that the weather cooperated long enough for me to enjoy/taste these fish and chips!!

Saturday morning brought a morning's worth of cleaning the house, followed by groceries and making a cake for the birthday party we are attending later on today. While out and about on our errands, I managed to find myself a straw fedora hat with a brim, nice enough that I would wear it without looking like a tourist, but at the same time it would protect me from further sun damage! Yay!

Today, the weather is such that we can't go climb Mt. Coolum as was origianlly planned, but Marilyn and I are going to the Peregian Market to listen to an outdoor music festival. Later, we have this birthday party to go to, and then it will be the end of the day!

I'm going to sign off now so I can go and get ready for the day's events, but I plan on writing back tomorrow before I leave for Syndey! Just a quick note, I've attached the photo of the gecko that the kids caught a ways back. I wrote about it a couple posts ago, but the photos weren't taken on my camera, and I just got them sent to me via email!

Thanks for reading and keep those emails coming my way!!

xoxo Danielle

The sun is out and that means, I burn. BAD.

2010-02-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

Hello again!

To be honest, not much has happened since my last entry. I feel as though Marilyn and I have fallen into quite the simple routine (not that I'm complaining) but it does mean that I don't have much to write. Instead, I'll fill you in on a couple new happenings, then post a huge amount of photos for you to see. I still don't know how to add captions to the photos, so bear with me (or leave me a message if you do!) until I figure that out.

I finally set up a bank account over here, but can't seem to transfer funds from my Canadian account. Something wrong on the RBC end, but hopefully it is sorted out soon or I'll be racking up some dollars on Dad's visa! I guess that's not so bad either....kidding!! Your visa is safe for now Dad.

Tuesday, the kids came over after school since they go to school down the road from Marilyn's house. I had decided to make them a snack and made the unbake cookies - the oatmeal, coconut and chocolate ones you do on the stove. Marilyn told them they were "Canadian cookies" and they loved them! I captured some photos of the kids and I and will post them. Andy is the youngest, Lizzie is the middle child and Pat is the oldest. I especially love the one photo where Lizzie's bag is almost as big as her! One thing down here, all students (regardless of private or public schooling) are required to wear school uniforms! It makes them all look SO adorable.

Yesterday, Marilyn and I started the morning by taking a long walk along the beach near her house. It was super hot, and only 7am in the morning!! I saw lots of jellys - one HUGE one in particular which was, no joke, about 2 feet in diameter. I also saw a dead cane toad on the road and was told by Marilyn that they are quite poisonous and capable of killing small dogs and children. Lovely. Just another dangerous animal I have to learn to watch out for!

After I had showered up, Jean picked me up and took me to a couple nearby towns to check out the local outdoor markets and beaches. The market was really cool, in Eumundi, and had everything you could possibly imagine. Food from all over the world (I tried some Balinese food - it was quite yummy!) and lots of arts and crafts. Afterwards, we went to Caloudra to pick up a couple papers Jean needed, as well as stop along the beach and eat some lunch. I've included the photos from the beach view - you can see for yourself how a pale Canadian like myself burns in under 10 minutes!!

That's it for now, I'm off to paddle with Marilyn this morning but I'll update you in another couple days after I've been to the lookout, finally had these elusive fish and chips and climbed a mountain!

xoxo Danielle

Danielle is apparently broken??

2010-01-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

So much has happened in the last few days, I don’t even know where to begin writing. If excitement keeps up, my blogs are just going to get longer and longer!! To make it easier, I think I will break it down day by day….

Friday 29^th: Fish and chips the night I arrived didn’t happen due to the tail end of a cyclone hitting Noosa and the torrential downpour with high winds prevented us from enjoying a dinner on the beach. Instead, old family friends Jean and her kids came by Marilyn’s house for munchies, wine (juice for the kids) and a quick visit before dinner. I haven’t seen Jean since I was 6 – almost 15 years ago! Now she has kids of her own, and it’s a bit surreal. Of course, these little ones are ABSOLUTELY adorable. They are so cute, with their Australian accents….man. They were shy at first and didn’t want to talk or draw any photos for me (they were playing with markers and paper, both Marilyn and Jean were recipients of these masterpieces but not me!) until the little girl, Lizzie, decided to give me a drawing with “sparkles.” The sparkles were just pencil shavings from the sharpener, but still. After that happened, the dam gates opened and the youngest, Andy, became brave enough to draw me some photos and give me “gifts” – old business cards in envelopes. When I opened them, he told me they were bandages and I needed to be fixed since I was broken. I asked why I was broken, and he said “cus you sound funny. You are brokened.” He was apparently referring to my Canadian accent, and proceeded to tape these old cards to my legs with masking tape. I’ve included a photo since after he was done, I looked like a walking mummy!!

After Jean and the kids left, Marilyn and I went out to pick up a pizza and a movie, but I barely made it 30 minutes into the movie before crashing on the couch. I stumbled to my bed and slept a solid 12 hours – the best, uninterrupted sleep I’ve had in years!

Saturday 30^th: Marilyn got up early this morning to go for a walk with friends in the National Park nearby and I slept in until 8am….which is a feat – trust me! Waking up here was like waking up in the middle of the tropical rainforest section of the Calgary Zoo. It smells AMAZING, there are all these exotic birds chirping and the sun is blaring through the blinds in my room. It’s so warm, humid and I absolutely love it! Anyways, I got up, made some breakfast and got caught up with some emails and skyping. I also made a call to my Dad in Canada (he was surprised to hear from me!) and my Aunt called the house so I had a nice visit with her.

When Marilyn got back home, it was about 40 degrees out and sunny, so she decided to take me to one of the famous beaches here – Hastings. I was excited at the opportunity to sport one of my new bathing suits and swim in the warm Aussie waters! Marilyn told me not to bring valuables since we would be swimming, so I left my camera behind but I’m kicking myself now. The beach was spectacular. It looked like it came straight out of a paradise resort in the Caribbean or something. And the water? Unbelievably warm and clear! Before lounging in the water, we walked up and down the main street and then headed into the National Park to try and find the KOALA that Marilyn had seen earlier on her walk. We walked for about 15 minutes before becoming drenched in sweat and decided to skip the koala and just swim.

That evening, after freshening up from the beach, we headed out to Jean and Warrick’s place for dinner. The kids were so cute again – this time not shy at all and basically clung to me the entire time. They managed to catch a lizard/gecko thing, which I had the fantastic opportunity to hold! Marilyn and I stayed fairly late into the night just talking and catching up. It was another great day!!

Sunday 30^th: This morning, I actually was up at a decent hour according to Aussie standards (6:30am, since the sun rises at 5am) and had breakfast with Marilyn. She was off again this morning to paddle down the river with her boating crew, so I opted to stay home and do some research into flights to Sydney etc. I’ve booked my flight to Sydney for Feb 10^th at 10am – which will allow me to meet up with my cousins around noon. That’s going to be an exciting part of my travels for sure! Now if I can only convince them to book a hostel….

After Marilyn got back from paddling, we went into Maroochydore – another town on the way to Noosa. She was in the market for a new computer desk, so we searched around for a bit. Not finding anything, we headed back to Noosa for an afternoon coffee at the Grind. Did you know that black coffee doesn’t exist over here? If you want just plain, black coffee you have to ask for a “long black” and it comes out as a double espresso!! Needless to say, I was a bit wired. We finished up the afternoon with a walk down the river, where I had the unfortunate encounter with the largest pelican in Australia!!

I’ll write back in the next couple days – but expect to hear about a BBQ, bank accounts and more beach excursions!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo Danielle

Auckland? Check. Brisbane? Check.

2010-01-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

I just finished 20+ hours of pure hell.

Well, not really. Although my travels did have quite the rocky start while I was still in Canada. First off, I’m in Calgary, clear through security and get directed to my gate (B20) only to find myself in this holding area which I can’t get through. There is only me, locked glass doors and a security camera in the ceiling. I swear the guards were laughing at me on the other end of that camera because I was seriously confused as to where I had to go!! None of the doors leading to the gates were open, and I spent about 5 minutes trying to open them, or get someone's attention. Turns out, that area doesn’t open until 3pm, and I was there about 2:45pm….so I had to stand awkwardly in this weird area until the commissionaire came by to let me into the gate area.

Apart from a sketchy Tim Horton’s tea (they ran out of hot water so used tap water??), nothing went wrong per say until I arrived into Vancouver. I’ve never been to the airport, and I knew that I was arriving into the domestic terminal, but had to transfer to the international terminal. Upon arriving, I immediately went to ask the nearest Air Canada agent for directions, and I got a nice, cold glare and was told to “look at the screen for info.” Thanks. It wasn’t that bad once I found a nice fellow passenger who was headed in the same direction to catch a flight to Heathrow – he was this old man who’s done this a couple times so he walked with me to the international area. Here’s where the fun begins.

It’s 5:50pm, and we are supposed to have started boarding around 5:45pm for a 6:45pm depatrue. As the clock slowly ticks by, there is no indication that we are near boarding, and people are starting to get antsy. By the time out departure slot has rolled around, no announcement has been made and we are all waiting in the gate area. Finally, one of the ground crew comes on the PA and announces that the crew is “late due to bad weather.” Of course, Vancouver is clear as glass and a guy next to me jokingly says, “ that’s air talk for the crew is sitting in a bar, drinking.” Lovely. Anyways, we had to wait an extra hour and 30 minutes before boarding, and 2 hours later before taking off. I wasn’t complaining about the wait since I knew that I had a 14 hour leg ahead of me, although I was getting hungry….

Finally, the crew arrives, and we board. I'm near the front of the plane, which is where (I find out later) they place all the babies. Reason? They have hooks to hang make-shift Air New Zealand bassinets to let the babies sleep in, and all these hooks are located on the front wall separating business class from economy. So, I'm enjoying my plasticy-chicken airplane meal when it hits me - these babies are not going to make the 14 hour flight without crying. And I'm sitting behind all of them. Brilliant!!!! NOT. True to form, when one baby would quiet down, another would wake up and cry. As much as my heart went out to them, I seriously contemplated going over and covering the bassinet with a blanket or something to muffle the sound.

I did try to sleep, although mistake number one was forgetting to take gravol, which was conveniently tucked away into my backpack, which was stored in the overhead bins. I did manage to get some on and off sleep in, but I have to say that when we pulled into NZ, I was really struggling. So much so that I tried to get a 1L bottle of water through security!!! The kiwi's are great though, instead of reprimanding me about it, the fellow at security told me that if I finished the water, I could keep the bottle! I told him no thanks, and I was sorry about trying to get it through. We definitely had a good chuckle about it!!

The flight from NZ to Brisbane was no problem - again, slept most of the way and only was awake to enjoy more airplane cuisine....(this time, pancakes, bacon and yogurt). Upon arrival into Australia though, it was INTENSE. I've never seen a customs area SO strictly guarded. There were beagle dogs everywhere sniffing luggage, everyone had to go through a second round of x-ray screening and if you didn't pass this screening, you had your luggage rooted through by security members. I was slightly freaking out since I didn't declare that I had prescription medications with me, but luckily I was not one of the ones pulled aside to do a manual search. I made it through customs, met up with our family friend Marilyn and she drove me to see my rental place.

My landlord, John, is about the coolest Aussie I've met so far. He's this 60 yr old hippie, with a long ponytail and tattoos and the craziest fellow. He took me on a quick tour of the place (we have a sweet lounge/deck as well as cable TV!) and gave me my new keys! I didn't move any of my stuff in yet, since Marilyn and I were headed back to her hometown of Noosa, but I'll be making my room my own next week sometime! I also met one of my flat mates - Carol. She seemed really excited to have another female in the place, and said she would show me around when I got back from Noosa! Yay for one friend already!!

After meeting with John, Marilyn and I left for Noosa. It's a small surf town located about 2 hours away from Brisbane by car. We took the scenic route and I was blown away by the coastline - and the heat. Even with the air conditioning, I was sweating balls. Seriously - it is SO freaking hot over here I think I may die. It could have been my hoodie and sweatpants....but now that I've arrived into Noosa, had a cold shower and changed into shorts and a tank, I'm no cooler than before. Something to get used to, I guess!

Anyways, I should run since I have to organize a bit of my suitcases before heading out to dinner tonight. We're having fish and chips with old friends that I last saw when I was 6....and I'm sure I'll have some stories (and photos - now I have my camera out!) to share with you in the next couple days. Just know that despite a long travel time, the heat and the accents, I have arrived in one piece and am loving it so far!!

xoxo Danielle

Goodbye -20, hello +40!!!!

2010-01-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

As I sit here, in my humble abode and write to you all for the last time on Canadian soil, I'm glancing out the window at the thermometer (which is secluded from the wind might I add) at it tells me that outside is a solid -20 degrees. Lovely. All I can say about that is good riddance. Am I ever glad to be headed to warmer climates!

And that is precisely what this post is about. My departure. In 4 FREAKING HOURS. You know, it still hasn't really hit me yet. All this planning and organizing, booking flights, choosing courses and accommodation....it seems like an eternity ago when this whole exchange business was just a mere idea to play with. Now, it's happening. I have to admit, I'm super excited to leave but also a little nervous. I mean, I have such a great routine at Queen's - I know I will create a new one in Aussie, but it's the idea that I am starting out all over again. This time, I'm not really a phone call away from home - I'm much further and more removed. I'm sure I'll do fine though!!!

One thing I'm concerned about - the flight. Here is my itinerary:

Calgary to Vancouver = 1 hour

Vancouver to Auckland, NZ = 14 hours

Auckland to Brisbane = 3 hours

Total travel time is 18 hours. I've never EVER been on a flight that long before. NEVER. I'm hoping I can pop a couple Gravol, curl up against the window and just crash on the 14 hour leg.....then again, I've never been good at sleeping on planes at the best of times!!

Since my last post, not really much has happened on the planning end. I've chatted with my cousins about ideas, but true to form, nothing has been booked. All I know is that somehow, I have to get myself to Sydney for Feb 10th, and then between the 10th and the 22nd, we are making our way from Sydney back to Brisbane so I can start orientation week. My hope is that we spend a couple days in Sydney (see the opera house, climb the bridge), stop over in Byron Bay and surf, then hit up the Koala reserve outside of Brisbane. If I can accomplish those things, then I'll be golden! Well, I'll more than likely be red as a lobster from the sun......

I'm getting picked up at the Brisbane airport by a family friend named Marilyn, who lives in a town called Noosa. Noosa is just outside Brisbane, and I'm going to be spending about a week there before meeting up with the cousins. I think Marilyn and I are meeting with my landlord in Brisbane before heading back to her place, where I was told I am attending a "fish and chip dinner on the beach." How amazing does that sound?? I'll be sure to take photos and start uploading them to this blog. If I can figure out how!!!

I should probably run and wrap this up as I need to finish the last minute packing. I always seem to feel like I am forgetting something major.....passport? check. Tickets? check. Luggage? check, check. (and you should see these bags - SO full it's insane!!) I am bringing my computer, but I don't know when I will have internet access again so consider this my last post for a while until I get things sorted out.

Until then,

xoxo Danielle

PS. Feel free to add me on skype! Just message me on fb for my skype name!

ONE WEEK. Dear freaking god.

2010-01-20T15:07:00.000-08:00

So, as the title of this post suggests, I am literally one week to the HOUR away from leaving Canada for 8 months. Yikes. I am SO excited, but also very nervous about the upcoming semester and the uncertainty regarding courses, accommodation, new friends, travel etc etc. 7 days is not a ton of time to get the last minute things done, but at least my to-do list is much less daunting since I came back from Christmas holidays.

Nothing much is new, although I did make a whirlwind trip back to K-town to visit a few folks last week, which is what most of this post will be about. I must admit, when I first took on this whole exchange business, I had no idea what kind of preparation would have to go into it all. From analyzing risks for the security form, to making sure I saw all my doctors at home, to packing, making sure addresses were updated....little tasks that certainly build up!!

Anyways, I left for Kingston on Wednesday and got it late evening to a nice, home cooked dinner (thanks Danny!!) and just relaxed for a bit. Thursday was an epic, all around "meeting" day with a PLA meeting to choose team leaders for next year, followed closely by coffee with a professor, then meetings with University Registrar people to a) sort out my Alberta insurance forms and b) settle up with my balance from my student award. That was a burden since I can't pick up a cheque until this week, but guess what? I'm no longer in Kingston. So that was a disappointment, but I have a friend on call to pick up the cheque and mail it to me out west before I peace out of the country. Friday and Saturday were other days filled with coffee dates, friends, etc and Sunday was a nice way to end the trip as a brunch was held for the PLAs at Elspeth's before madly packing and heading back home.

Since being home, I've basically torn apart my room, laid out all my clothes and am trying to decide what needs to come and what will stay behind. Obviously the winter articles of clothing are staying behind, but I'm having trouble cutting down on the wardrobe. I mean, I don't have an extensive one to begin with, but I may have to enlist the help of my aunt (a seasoned Australian traveler) to narrow my selection.

I've picked up my expedition pack from MEC, adaptors from Apple for my computer, all appointments have been attended...now it's just a matter of finishing up the last few things, visitng with the last few friends and family members and then goodbye Canada until August! I think my grandma and Dad are planning a goodbye dinner for me next week, but I'm not sure... :)

I don't have any real plans for once I reach Brisbane. I'm chatting with my cousin tonight, she and her brother are joining me down under to travel a bit before classes start up, so I may have more of an idea by tomorrow. All I know is that I arrive into Brisbane on the 29th, stay with a family friend for a bit until I can move into my apartment after Feb 1st. And then, I have to make my way to Sydney for Feb 10th or so to meet my cousins and travel until classes start on the 22nd. I'll be sure to update you all with a list of activities and dates once I make plans. Which may be as soon as tomorrow!

Anyways, I have to run and meet up with another family member for dinner, but I will write again soon!

xoxo Danielle

Welcome 2010!!!

2010-01-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to All!

As this is the first post of the new year, you can imagine I have quite a bit to get you all caught up on. Mainly the accommodation front - which is very exciting news indeed!!

So, without further ado - I HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE IN BRISBANE!!!! My aunt Cheryl has a friend in Noosa (a town about an hour north of Brisbane) named Marilyn. Turns out, Marilyn works with a fellow in Brisbane who owns a house that he rents out to students. AND, there was an empty room up for rent JUST when I needed it. So perfect eh??

Pros: I'm about a 5 minute walk from downtown Brisbane and the hub of everything.
Cons: I'm far from the university. I can't walk, but will have to take public transit (some sort of metro system I think?) but you can't have everything!!

All in all, I am just SO glad to have the accommodation front sorted out, since that was my primary concern. Now all that's left to do is sorting out my timetable and ensuring that my courses I've registered for don't conflict with each other, figuring out some sort of idea of what my cousins and I are going to get up to when we backpack for the first couple weeks, sending over payment for the rental room, packing (man - that will be a day's worth in and of itself!) and tying up other loose ends here at home....

But, my Australian Adventure is 20 days away from beginning. Which is amazing - I am SUPER excited. I can't even begin to explain it!

Anyways, I have to wrap this up as the intermission of the Canada vs. USA Jr Hockey game is over and I want to catch the end!

Until next update,

Danielle

P.S Here is the link to my new room if you are interested!!

http://www.innerbrisbane.com/html/available-rentals/50/851/spring-hill

Bahamas here I come!

2009-12-21T04:55:00.000-08:00

Well, it's finally over. Fall semester of third year has wrapped up after a hectic exam break (4 exams in a week....lovely) but I made it through with only slight flu symptoms (which have now caught up to me and I'm battling a full blown flu!) It's off to the Bahamas for me for a week with the fam jam, and then home to prepare myself for Oz!!

But, of course, I wanted to leave a quick update post since I wasn't going to have access to internet for a while. My Oz accommodation is still up in the air - I did apply to an off-campus residence college but I have yet to hear back from them about the status of my application. I also have taken the liberty of looking into a) off-campus rental apartments, where I would rent a place with 2 other international students for 6 months or b) the listings on the UQ website for current UQ students who need someone to rent a room for a couple months. In any case, I'm dealing with the fact that I am not going to be living on campus, and I will have to probably be in charge of my own meals, groceries, internet etc etc if the residence college fails to come through again.

However, all else has seemed to work out, from courses to visas to flights..... I can't really complain. And I know it will be the trip of a lifetime, so I absolutely can't wait!!

With that, I'm off until after I get home from swimming with the rays. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year - thanks for reading!

xoxo Danielle

Danielle = homeless.

2009-12-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

Well, last entry was all about whether or not I had screwed myself over with the whole accommodation on campus scenario. Guess what? I DID.

I heard back from International House (finally!) and quelle suprise - I was rejected. Naturally, I contact the other two choices on my list, Union College and Women's College and BOTH ARE COMPLETELY FULL.

So basically, I am not going to be living on campus, unless the other colleges that I madly contacted in a panic get back to me with availabilities. I highly doubt this, but fingers crossed.

As a backup plan, I quickly got together another couple reference letters, an application package and sent it off to Raymont Lodge - an off campus residential college. I should hear back from them in January, and if that doesn't work out, then I will have to look into renting an apartment in Brisbane, making the commute to and from campus and cooking my own meals. Not really what I was looking for, but what can one do?

On the bright side, I have my Visa, and it's all been approved so that's good to go. It was so quick and painless....I wish the accommodation aspect was the same!!!

Exams are coming up, and we got our first dump of snow here, which really makes me look forward to Christmas. I'm going to run and hit those books (since my exam schedule makes me want to cry!) but I will give another update if I hear back from anything.

Thanks for reading!
xoxo Danielle

Am I screwed??

2009-12-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

So. Quick update before bed since I am battling more than one infection right now and sleep seems to evade me. Still, I know that I should be in bed and if my nodding head is any indication, perhaps tonight will be a little less restless!

I REGISTERED FOR MY COURSES!!!! Long story short, I basically LIED and put down that my permanent residence in Australia was the International House. I figured, since I haven't heard from them, and I can always update my address once the accommodation side of things is figured out, why not bypass the system and get onto the good stuff? So that's what I did. Sneaky, sneaky, yes indeed.

And my courses are (drum roll please)......

1. Anatomy 1020: Systemic Anatomy for Exchange Students
2. French 3114: Advanced French Language
3. Biology 2-something: Terrestrial Environments
AND
4. Australian Pop Culture. I know, weird final choice but I had to choose another "cultural" course to fulfill study abroad exchange requirements for my certificate, so I thought this was the best option. Better than Australian forestry and predicting clear cutting or something along those lines....

2nd Update: I have successfully applied for my student Visa. It's all done online, and now I have to wait 15 business days before it's approved, but at least it's another check mark off my to-do list! Oh, that and I'm now $540 freaking dollars poorer. Who knew application fees for a Visa were so damn expensive?

3rd and possibly screwy update: I contacted my second choice for residency down under, just in case I don't get into IH (and just making sure I had all the additional requirements completed) and guess what I found out today? THEY ARE COMPLETELY FULL. Meaning, if I don't get into IH, it's down to my third choice, or I AM HOMELESS. Consensus: I am quite possibly screwed. I am literally crossing all appendages in hopes that IH takes me as a resident!!!

On a closing note - I can't believe it's now December, it will be a new decade in less than a month and that means that I am also less than 2 months from leaving Canada for this Australian Adventure!! I AM EXCITED!!

Until more news comes my way,

Danielle ;)

CofE, setbacks and in need of some opinions....

2009-11-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

FINALLY.

After almost a month of waiting, I received my CofE - my confirmation of enrolment - to the University of Queensland. This basically means that I now have my own student number (a whole bunch of 2's, 4's and 0's), my own username and email account. All that's left for me do to is finalize my registration online before I arrive in January! That, and apply for my student visa, now that I actually have proof of my enrolment down under!

One glitch: I can't register for my courses until I have a permanent address in Australia. Since I haven't heard back from International House about my accommodation application yet (grrrr) I can't actually move forward. So, I'm really only one step closer to being done all the to-do things, but I still have much to accomplish and it all depends on this stupid accommodation!!! AHHHH! Frustrating!

Other news: I have booked my flights. I officially leave Canada the 27th of January, and my return ticket is dated August 8th, 2010. I can't believe that I will be gone for over 8 months, but I can only imagine how excellent this trip is going to be, and what an amazing experience!!

Help from friends: I need to decide on what courses to take while abroad. I have 2 that I know for sure I want to get into, but I can't decide on the last two. My choices have to do with credits recieved back at Queen's, as well as the requirements for the International Studies Certificate.

Here are my choices so far...

1. ANAT 1020 - I need to take this for the Life Sci degree

2. BIOL 2001 - This will count towards a credit for the certificate, and it sounds really cool (it's australian terrestrial environments)

3. I have to choose between these french courses:
a) FREN 3210 or 3114: Advanced French Language
b) FREN 6350: Language Studies
c) FREN 6364: Cultural Studies

4. My last course (Yup, I only have to take 4 and it's considered a full course load!) is between the following:
a)SPAN 1010: Beginner spanish --> This one can count towards my international certificate
b)RELN 1000: World religions
c) RELN 1510: The supernatural and paranormal
d)HIST 2414: Europe Radical Right and Fascism --> This one can count towards my international certificate

It's a tough decision. I want to take neat courses, but I also want to fufill requirements for my major/minor/certificate AND I want to have a course load that's not too heavy. There is no point in me going abroad and living in a library....Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated!

I must run but will keep you all updated on the accommodation front!!

Thanks for reading,

Danielle

OCASP form sent. Rejected. Re-sent. APPROVED!!!

2009-10-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well, still no news on the accommodation front. Seriously though, it's a bit down to the wire considering that it's October 30th, and I'm supposed to hear back from IH by the end of the month....I'm keeping all possible digits crossed that I get accepted. Not only is it my first choice so I'm eager to stay there, but being accepted at IH will make my life WAY easier as I don't have to worry about going through another application process for my second choice.

However, as the title of this post suggests, I heard back from the OCASP coordinators and my off-campus safety form has been approved. This, I'm sure, seems like a fairly little feat, but for those who have had to go through the process, this is HUGE. Queen's has this safety policy where all of its outgoing exchange students are required to fill out this tedious, tricky and unmanageable online "safety and assessment of risks" form. Everything, and I mean everything, has to be documented, analyzed and taken into account. For example, I had to go through every possible risk associated with travel and study in Australia, say why it was a risk and how I would manage the risk. Here's an idea:

Issue: In Australia, they drive on the left-hand side of the road.
How is this a risk?: I could be hit by a car and killed.
How do I manage this risk?: I will ensure that I look both ways before crossing the street.

Mundane. Tedious. Boring. Long. All the above. And the best part? I got to do it more than once since my first form was kindly rejected on the basis that I had a) forgotten to include contact information at the university (which I don't have yet!), b) I had to assess risks associated with travel outside Brisbane, c) I needed to include information on health risks etc etc. The rejection criteria list was quite long, but it did provide a useful outline for me to go back and fix the necessary items before it was re-submitted and then approved! Considering the horror stories I've heard (like students submitting forms and getting rejected over 4 times!) I feel that my situation wasn't too bad. At the very least, it's another check mark off my pre-depature to-do list!!

I'm still waiting on my confirmation of enrollment from UQ, which will allow me to register for courses as well as provide proof for me to apply for a student visa. I'm going to give the university another week before I contact them to make sure all is okay (seeing as I faxed my acceptance back to them last week!)

I'm signing out to go enjoy my first weekend off after the midterm hectic-ness, but I'll be back with a new post once accommodation decisions are made and enrollment forms come through!

Thanks for reading,

Danielle

It's OFFICIAL!!!

2009-10-19T04:26:00.000-07:00

Judging from the title of this post, I imagine most of you know what it's about......

I RECEIVED MY ACCEPTANCE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND!!!!

Which means that yes, my exchange is now official on both ends! I won't be spending a semester traveling around Aussie (which was my backup plan in case I didn't get in) but instead I will be burying myself in studies down under. Alas. Not really!!!! I'm so happy that everything went through okay, and now that I've finally received this offer, it feels SUPER real.

On another note, the International House, my first choice for accommodation, received my application package entirely. Good ol' Canada Post regular air mail! I was told I will hear back about their decision later on in the month, or by early November at the latest.

This is just a short post as I have to run to class, but once I pick up my acceptance package from the International Office today, I'll write back to let you know what more hoops I'll be jumping through before my departure FOR REAL in January!!

Koalas and Kangas - HERE I COME!!!!

xoxo Danielle

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-10-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally finished up my 5 hours of classes on the Friday before Thanksgiving and I thought it would be appropriate to have a little update Thanksgiving post. I've made some headway on the exchange front, namely the accommodation side of things which I think warrants a post....

Where to start? I think I left off saying that I had yet to apply to any residences at UQ, but I was in the process of completing applications. These past few weeks have been SUPER stressful, since I found out on Sept. 29th that online applications for my first choice in residences, International House, were due ON THE 30TH. How insane is that? I literally spent the ENTIRE night on the 29th working on this online application, which was not your usual, "name, address, age" etc etc. No, it was crazy, long essay questions, asking me all about my cultural experiences, my community involvement, academics, athletics....you name it - it was on there.

Then, once this was submitted, I had to do a bunch of additional supporting documents like activity forms and more essay questions, mail AND fax them, plus send original transcripts and 4 photos of myself. I was a bit confused about the whole photos of me thing, I mean seriously, does it come down to a beauty contest? At any rate, this past week I've visited Canada Post and UPS stores more than I wanted to.

On those lines, guess how much postage is to Australia? General air mail, at least for an envelope my size was only $4.00. However, since I was on a bit of a time restraint (supporting documents HAD to be in by October 14th) I asked about express post. Price this time? $112.00. WHAT THE?!?!?! Seriously? An increase in the price by $108? And only to save me 4 days of travel time.

What did I do? What any university student would - I stuck with regular postage. Downsides?

1. It is not guaranteed that my envelope will make it on time
2. It's not even guaranteed to make it at all. Meaning, until it is recieved by the UQ end, there is no way for Canada Post to track it or locate it. Yikes. Here's to hoping that Canada Post is more organized behind the scenes!

But honestly, was I going to spend over $100 on mailing an application for an accommodation that isn't even guaranteed? Didn't think so.

That's about all the stressful updates thus far. I've just started to look into flights and timing, since I have yet to hear back from the UQ about my offer anyways. (Wouldn't that be brilliant? Me, not getting into the University, and this whole exchange thing not happening....) I'm hoping that by the time midterms are done (3 weeks from now) that I will a) have booked flights, b) know my accommodation status and c) be a little less stressed about the whole process. At least, it's proving to be quite the exciting adventure, which always makes for great stories!

Thanks for following, and until next time,

Danielle

So much to do, so little time....

2009-09-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Exciting news from the exchange front - I just received an email from the International Programs Office stating that my request for an International Letter of Permission (ILOP) has been approved. In layman's terms, this means that the Faculty of Arts and Science has granted me permission to study abroad for one semester, as well as telling me that the courses I take while down under will be the equivalent as 2.5 credits worth of courses back home. This is step number one in the whole pre-departure process, and now that I have these documents I really feel like this is going to happen.

As well, I finally got in to see my undergraduate chair. For those of you who know the Life Sciences department, it's quite the task to get an appointment with Dr. Rose. I've been trying for the last couple months, and each time I was told that "exchange is bad for a) my degree, b) the possibility of me getting into medical school and c) whether or not I want to graduate on time." In other words, I was told by uneducated sources that I would not graduate on time due to the fact that the University of Queensland had no approved courses for credit here at Queens within the Life Sci department. I kept trying to indicate that was the reason behind the meeting, I was asking for approval for the courses I'm interested in taking!! Anyways, I was able to meet with Dr. Rose and all my fears were calmed.

I was told that the two science courses I was looking at, pharmacology and anatomy, would directly transfer over to Queen's credits. My pharmacology course would even count as a 400-level credit, which is extremely rare! I was cautioned against taking this course at UQ, since I have no pre-requisite course in pharm, but I still have to wait until later on in November to actually sign up for courses. So I have time to think about what I want to take....I just wanted to make sure that I can complete my degree on time, still graduate next year etc etc and still be able to go on exchange. The simple answer is yes, and exchange in no way will hinder my degree or the requirements for graduation. Brilliant!!

I'm just in the process now of finalizing my accommodation applications, which entails me trying to describe myself in less than 75 words and other random "get-to-know-you" questions. One thing that I'm a bit worried about is the fact that I need my offer of acceptance from the university to apply to residence, but the International Office here has yet to send out my application forms. Apparently, they want to cut costs by sending both my application along with the second Queen's student's in the same envelope. Since the other student is not as on top of things, I'm forced to work at his/her pace.....which may hurt me in the end. If things start to get dicey, I may just offer to pay for the additional cost of mailing it out on my own!! I've been told that accommodation at UQ is in high demand, so if I miss the deadlines, I will probably have to search for accommodation off campus. Not good.

Until I hear back from the University of Queensland, I can't do much more. I'm going to submit some more safety forms on my end this weekend, and then I'll be crossing my fingers and waiting to hear back from UQ before madly sending out accommodation applications!

Wish me luck!

Danielle