Homestay

What a change. The ferry back to the mainland was started the big transition. We drove on the bus and we got our first glimpse of Brisbane. The sun was setting and the lights were starting to turn on. We drove by the river where I admired the different styles of bridges. They each had a different design which was really nice. We then unloaded at the Univeristy of Queensland just as it began getting dark. We had a quick meeting in a classroom and the. We were, what it felt like,” auctioned off” to our host family. Laurel and her son Adrian met us and we walked down to her car. It was quite the experience talking to these strangers knowing I’m going to be living with them for 2 months. I felt like I had a ton of questions and lots of things to share about myself. We did some small talk on the drive home to Ashgrove. Once arriving, Phil and I flipped a coin for the bedrooms. Queen of England side go Queen bed. Phil won so I’m near the bathroom with 2 twin beds.
We then met Marc and A little later Hannah came home with Mark’s brother. We sat down for a nice homemade dinner of pasta and chicken alfredo with garlic bread and wine. After dinner, Laurel had to run an errand to the grocery store and Phil and I tagged along. Grocery stores are a great way to observe a new country. The store was organized in a similar layout with produce and meats on the sides and aisles of everything else. There was such a large, unfamiliar variety of everything. Adrian asked what kinds of candy I knew and I pointed out the familiar ones, which was about a quarter of all of them. I’m curious to try the different brands and types of food while here, it’s a great way to relate to a new place.

Tomorrow is Saturday. Considering I don’t know at all where I am, it will be important to figure out how to get around. I may go for a walk with a map to get a sense of the neighborhood and nearby suburban downtown. Then it’ll be important to figure out how to get to the bus and to the Uni. While I’m out and about there are a few little things including a Optus network phone that I would like to get.

Day 5

So last night we learned that boxed wine is he cheapest drink.  A ‘cask’ is $15 and it contains 5.5 bottles of wine.  Some people struggled with drinking a little too much of it…

Today we’re beginning a new part of our journey.

We started the day with breakfast and a marine bio lecture. We then packed up our bags and left the research station. We took the bus to North Point and walked around the shores over the Pacific Ocean.  There were nice long paths of wooden boardwalks structured over the cliff’s edge.  They weaved around the shore edge and inner canyon with overhanging trees.  In the inner forested area is where I saw the first kangaroos!  There were a group of 3 of them grazing the land and looked up at us as we came by and took photos – they reminded me of deer.  I also noticed the different types of trees.  They had stilt roots to prop up long trunks and large canopies – I’m sure we’ll learn more about these in Terrestrial Ecology.

Group Photo on Point Lookout

We’re currently waiting for our first experience with fish n chips as lunch before heading to the beach for a few hours. Then we will say goodbye to Straddy and take the ferry back to the mainland and go to the University.  There we will meet our host family and they will take us to our homestay. Exciting and nervous! More to come about that.