Maija and I ventured off to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary! And it was pretty cool! We saw sheep, baby chicks, goats, all kinds of birds, bats, kangaroos, koalas, dingos, emus and a whole lot more.
We were even allowed to feed the kangaroos and I held a koala!! :) There wasn't much to it. The employee had me put my hands together by my waist and she just plopped the koala's butt down on my hands. She then put his hands on my shoulders and he just clung on. It was pretty cool. In the pictures it looks like he's clawing his way into my arms, but it really didn't hurt. A little prickly, but nothing so much that it would hurt. He was so cute. He'd just kind of move his head slowly from side to side. The employee would have to turn his head towards the camera every time. There was one time where he looked right up at my face. It was pretty cool.
Not too many exciting things happening lately. My mosquito bites have stopped itching, and I've been blessed by not getting anymore - but we'll see how long that lasts. :)
Yesterday was the first official day of my Spring Break (or, Mid-semester break). And I worked. :) But after work - and a meeting for work - Maija picked me up and we drove upto Mt. Coot-tha again - this time it was night - and had a picnic. Although it was FREEZING and windy, it was extremely clear and beautiful. Our dinner consisted of rice and curry that Maija made herself, and Appletizer (an Australian sparkling cider). Dessert was yogurt and fruit. It was really good.
After eating we drove down the opposite side of the mountain and passed all of the television studios for Brisbane: Channel 9, 7 and 10. Exiting.
We then drove through downtown, Chinatown, and Fortitude Valley. At one point we were coralled into a "Random Breath Testing" line, and Maija was tested for alcohol. :) It was great!! We got a kick out of it.
We ended up at Kangaroo point where we got some coffee, sat on the river, and ate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Peanut Butter M&M's (that mom sent me, because they don't sell them here). It was Maija's first time eating both! And she loved them!! :)
Not extremely exciting, but tomorrow should be better :) We're going to Lone Pine Koala Park! :) That's all I'll say about that.
Hope you're all well. Leave me a message and let me know how you're all doing!!
I just want to say that I despise bugs with a passion.
It's getting warmer and all the bugs must be coming out. And Australia's got bugs. Thank the Lord I haven't seen the big ones yet - not that I EVER want to see them... EVER.
Last night around 6pm I walked out to the bustop to catch a bus. I stood at the stop for probably 2 minutes before I looked down and noticed that I had about 7 mosquitos hovering around me and a few had already landed on my jeans. So I swatted them away and walked to where there wasn't any bush nearby and as far from light that I could be. Well, thismorning - around 5:30am - I awoke and found myself itching my feet. Being the smart one that I am, I had worn flip-flops the night before and the mosquitos had a full course meal out of me!! I woke up with six mosquito bites!! One on my right foot. And FIVE on my left foot. There are two right on my big toe - so of course I could feel the itching all the way down to my little toe and all the way up to my ankle. And then there's another a little bit higher, another on the opposite side of my foot and then another on the underside of my foot. The one on my right foot is just like the one on my left foot that's on the underside. *sigh* They itch like crazy... And I have to make this crazy contraption of bandaids and tape so that I don't itch them throughout the day - or so that my shoes don't rub up against them as I walk. It's such a hassle!!
And then.... later in the morning - around 11 or so - I was walking back from the laundry room when I walked through a spider strand. Not a web, just the little string that they like to leave when the jump from tree to tree. So I freaked out, swatted around, and walked briskly inside. As I was putting away my laundry I noticed something in the air - that oddly moved when I would move my arm. It was the spider. It had hooked its way onto me and made a trip inside. It was attached to a 2 foot string that was attached somwhere on my right arm. It was only a tiny little spider. Didn't really get a good look at it, but I think it had a white body (no one tell me that they know what kind it is and it was poisonous... I don't need to know that). It didn't get to live inside very long, because as soon as I figured out how to get it on the floor I squashed it dead.
And THEN... (yes, it keeps going). As I was making lunch I noticed an ant running frantically on the kitchen floor. I killed it, put it in the trash. Found another one. Killed it, put it in the trash. Found two more, killed it - and as I was making my way to the trash killed 3 more. So I busted out the Insect spray and sprayed the entire border of the kitchen.
And then....(anyone who's seen 'Dude Where's My Car' is repeating the Asian lady over and over in their mind: "And then.... And then... And then....) while I was making dinner I heard this rapid buzzing that would stop and then start again. I looked around and couldn't see anything. I heard it again near the light. This time when I looked up I saw him... an insane fly. He was the fastest fly I had ever seen. BUT... was also the stupidest. Everytime he'd up and fly, about 2 seconds later he'd run into something... and reeeeally hard too. So he'd buzz really loud and fast and then - CLUNK - into the wall, or buzzzzzz-CLUNK into the fridge, buzzzzz-CLUNK into the cabinet. He stopped finally on the trashcan, so I put him out of his misery wih my trusty insect spray.
All night I've felt like I've had bugs crawling all over me. I see gnats flying around every once and awhile. I feel like I have another mosquito bite.
I really hate bugs. Good thing I decided to come to Australia.
After much delay in trying to figure out how to put 80-some pictures up on my blog, I've finally been able to figure it out, get it all sorted and tell you about Byron Bay.
Byron Bay is located approximately 160km (about 100miles) south of Nathan - where I live.
View Larger Map Maija, Maria, Sloveig (friend of Maria) and I packed into Maija's car Saturday morning around 8am and began our trek down the coast. On our way we stopped in Coolangatta for some breakfast at a place RIGHT on the water. It was absolutely beautiful!! After some eggs, bacon, toast, coffee and a bit of the ocean breeze we hopped back into the car and continued on our way.
We reached Byron around noon, searching for our place of residence: The Arts Factory. When Maija and I booked our rooms at The Arts Factory, we were under the impression that it was a neat little hippie place that would be fun. Little did we know. When we arrived we were escorted to our living quarters: a tent-like building with dirty bunk beds practically piled on top of each other due to the lack of room. The "tent" was located out in the middle of a red pond-like body of water - far from ANY sort of bathroom (we assumed previous customers might have used the pond for relief). On the ground were cigarette butts and leftover trash from the previous dwellers. When the employee ran to get a broom - or a different room key - we all couldn't help but laughing hysterically and came to the conclusion that maybe the hippie-dwelling wasn't our thing. So we walked ourselves back to reception, requested our money back, and went in search of vacancy. After much driving and calling, we found a 4-person room at the YHA (Youth Hostel Australia) and were ecstatic to find that everything was clean and the bathrooms were a mere 20 steps away!! We happily moved right in.
The rest of the day consisted of eating carrot cake and drinking coffee on the beach, looking into a few shops, stopping by a chocolate factory where we ate some delicious truffles and were fed chocolate-covered orange peels from the - assumed - shop owner (that's another funny story that I can tell you about later if requested upon), and then we were off to the Lighthouse to watch the sunset- located at the south end of Byron Bay - and known as the most easterly point of the Australian mainland. We drove up to the top of the hill, walked around a bit, took some pictures, and then Maria, Solveig and I walked down a very large hill to a lookout point (there is a picture in the below slideshow that shows the LONG walk that we made). It was amazing. On our way down from the Lighthouse is began to rain. And it didn't really stop the entire time we were there. But it didn't dampen our spirits. :)
After the Lighthouse we went in search of dinner and found a nice cafe on the main street where we enjoyed a delicious meal. Following the meal we took in the fun nightlife of Byron. We were given a flier for a bar where ladies were being offered a free glass of champagne, hand massages and free hair styles from 7pm-10pm. So we walked over, received our glasses of champagne and Solveig and I were given new hairdos from the stylist. Afterwards we found a bar and grill that was showing the Rugby championship and also had a live band. We hung out for about an hour, got tired and head back to the YHA around 11:30pm and conked out in our beds.
We awoke not-so-bright and early at 6am so that we could see the sunrise on the ocean (which I had never experienced before). We literally rolled out of our beds, threw on some clothes, pulled up our hair, and drove down to the beach. The rain had cleared for the time, but there was a HUGE, dark cloud along the horizon - in precisely the right spot where the sun was to rise. So instead of watching a sunrise, we watched the sky get lighter and the clouds change color. It was still beautiful.
After the "sunrise" we went back to the room and slept for another 3 hours - until 10am, when we were to check out of our room.
We grabbed some breakfast (around 11am) when it started to really pour. Luckily most of the shops had awnings so we were able to walk up and down the main street window-shopping. Around 1pm the rain let up, we grabbed some gelati and walked to the beach. Just as we were finishing the wind picked up and the rain came down. HARD. So we ran to the car, locked ourselves in and decided it was time to go. So we took our last looks and said goodbye to Byron Bay.
On our way back we stopped off at Yatale Pies - world famous pies - and grabbed some "dinner" (around 4pm). I got a chicken pot pie and it was reeeally good. Almost as good as mom's pie. ALMOST.
So that was my weekend at Byron Bay. I took heaps of pictures - too many to post - so I created a slideshow. It will hopefully give you an idea of what it was like there....
Tonight was AH-MAZING. The girls (Frida, Katrin, Kathrin, Marion and I) went into the city to catch Brisbane's "Riverfire". What Riverfire is is a celebration that the city throws every year on the first day of Spring - which was today, September 1st. It's ironically (and you'll see why later) a reminder to everyone to keep their river clean and to remind them that the river is basically their city. But Riverfire is an ENORMOUS fireworks show on the river. The ENTIRE city (and I'm sure people from all of the state) comes, sits on the bank of the river and watches this huge display. I wasn't sure if it was going to be that great because some people told me it's not what people make it out to be... but, oh, it was incredible.
We got off the bus in South Bank and were immediately hit by people. People people people. Then once we got to the river bank, wow. (I didn't take many pictures before the fireworks because my battery was dying and I wanted to conserve it, but there is a picture that I took afterward of us all crossing the bridge. Through the blurriness you'll see heaps of people. And that's only a sliver of what came.) We luckily found some space along a wall right on the river. It was absolutely perfect - don't think it could have been better actually.
We arrived around 5pm, found our seats around 5:30pm and the fireworks started at 7:00pm. The fireworks lasted for an unbelievable 25mins and was FANTASTIC.
Following the fireworks we walked over the bridge to the city and ate dinner at JoJo's (same restaraunt as before). It was a great night. Wish you all could have been there. If you want to plan a trip to come out here, might I suggest doing it around the 1st of September. :) Especially if you like fireworks.
I could have put heaps and heaps of pictures up, but I'm not going to do that. They don't do it justice. And although a video won't be anywhere near what it was like to actually be there, it will have to suffice. :)
So without further adieu, enjoy Brisbane Riverfire 2007:
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