Jade Down Under

As a Canadian student in Australia I don't think I will ever get used to the mass amounts of wildlife. Yes, it's great during the daytime when you can see the critters coming, but at night time or in your personal space, it is not welcomed.

For example, yesterday's shower was with the company of a spider (used to be 3, I'm not sure where the other two went), a gecko (only a baby, clung to the inside of the shower curtain), ants (many of them), and two different type of flies which I do not recognize - one green, one red.
The night before I went over to Liz's floor and on my return I saw a Wallaby (who are great, no complaints), a possum (we scared each other pretty good because this thing looks like a HUGE rat in the dark), and a cane toad, who was too close to the pathway for my comfort. These are the ones I can see!!! My goodness, I don't know what else is looking at me that I can't see!
The occurrence with the possum was quite funny because as I came outside the possum was right under the table, I screamed and ran back towards Liz's room because as I said it looks like a cat-size rat. I heard the possum slam into the outdoor table/chair, scraping it across the cement, before scurrying into the bush. Seems like we scared each other equally.

The cane toads are a pain in the butt. There is a rule that if you see them you are supposed to kill them - no chance of me doing it. They were brought over to eat the cane beetles, who were eating the cane crops. The story goes that the cane toads were brought into Australia where the toads then discovered cane beetles were yucky (even though this was their main staple in their home country) compared to the other food sources Australia has. So now Australia has a problem with cane beetles, and cane toads. These icky things are everywhere and they are poisonous. Luckily, I've been told they only have enough poison to be deadly to smaller animals, so if our new Res dog, Roti, tries to eat one it could be fatal for him. Darn toads.

The common species inside our floor are the random green tree frog, praying mantis', spiders, geckos (lots of them), flies..... many things. I usually walk to the bathroom staring at the floor to see what I might step on; I do have slippers that I wear constantly. Other than the ants, the geckos are the most common sight. They are like mice around here, a simple pest.

Anyhow, I'm dealing and nothing has tried to eat me yet so I'm all good. Hopefully with time I'll learn what all the animals are so in the dark I can walk with confidence. Until that time the random girly scream will be heard throughout Rotary.

We started a new section of classes this week, having our first day yesterday. Tuesday will be my longest day (9-3:30) with Wednesday and Thursday a mere 3 hours of classes per. Nice enough I have Monday and most Fridays off. Practicum starts in two weeks. Crazy thought that I'll be in a classroom so soon, but I'm ready. Get me out of the lecture hall and into a high school classroom. I can take them.

Unfortunately it has also come the time when I need to start looking for a job. I might be able to get by on the little money I do have (thanks to tax season a'coming) but if I want to travel I sure do need some money. This Friday will be the day. The day when I grudgingly hand out resumes to anyone who will take one. I'm actually thinking like a student and seeing where I can get free food.... Subway anyone? I am also thinking of my spending habits and will try to stay away from any major mall - that could be bad on so many levels.

With any luck I will not have trouble finding a job - we will see, we will see.

It all begun with a cat. Puss, captured below, is the residence cat. She actually belongs to the Head of Hall but wanders around the property like she owns the place. Liz and I were sitting on my balcony and I kept watching this cat. I do miss my Bear very much so I decided to befriend the cat and hopefully get some cat cuddle time. Anyhow, Puss was open to my petting but only stood for it for about 2 minutes before growing tired of me. Luckily, camera in hand, I headed to where I've been seeing these pretty birds, as I know Kristy would appreciate their colouring.


Here's one... I was told the name of but let's face it, I don't have a memory. Pale headed something or other. Anyhow, as I was standing on ground level taking a bunch of pictures, doesn't the Head of Hall appear and tell me if I'm interested in birds to follow him. OKAY.



Up to his balcony we go where he has a dish of seeds to feed the birds. He let me sit on his balcony and wait for the Rainbow... something or others to appear. As you can see they were testing me before they indulged.



But slowly more and more trusted my 'no movement' and began to feed. Although they were still apprehensive.


As I sat there, still as possible, they realized I would not hurt them and popped right up in full view.



And there they fed.



Behind me was Shaun's pet bird who would not stop skwaking. Shaun could pet him like a cat and he just sat there wanting more.



So Shaun handed him over to me and like Peaches he climbed right to my shoulder. As you can see in the picture I'm very nervous, I've seen what Peaches can do to a neck (I was bleeding quite badly during a game of Monopoly) so I wasn't sure I wanted him near my neck. Luckily everything worked out okay and after a little photo-op I left the birds to do as birds do.

Last night was the toga party on campus. We got our sheets, although some girls go out and buy fabric, and tied it as best we could. There was a pre-party on residence (organized by the residence body) so after some mingling we headed down to the Uni-Club where the event is held. Unfortunately the line up was huge! Liz, Riffy and I decided to come back to residence and hit the next one, meaning next semester. Riffy and Liz went downtown, but I was not into it and returned to res. I know, depressing.
Anyway, I did get dressed up but I don't think there is a single picture of the darn toga! And ask Liz, I put a lot of work into it. So instead here's a picture of SOME of the toga, imagine the rest yourself.

ROAD TRIP! Last weekend (Feb 13th - 15th) a group of us piled into Leighton's car and headed to the Whitsunday Islands. Here is a select group of photos from the weekend. I apologize (once again) for the late post but I was waiting on some pictures.

Have you ever been to Bowenwood? Well, technically either have I. The town is called Bowen but after some scenes from the movie Australia were filmed within this town they added the 'wood.' This town is nothing like Hollywood but they're trying.




Almost there, almost there. This picture was actually taken after the fact. The night we rolled into town there was a pretty good rain storm and Leighton had trouble seeing the lines on the road - not great pictures weather.


Our home for two nights, the Ulysses. I'm not sure how long it is, I'm not a real sailor although I was told. It was a great spot to be all weekend.





How 'bout I show you around. Here was my room. I know, my own room. Very generous of our Captain Brian - owner of the Ulysses.





This was the kitchen/Liz's room. Behind Taruna is where Liz slept. In this picture Taruna and I had just made tea and coffee. Can't go without and luckily we didn't have to!




Here is a map of the Whitsunday Islands - like the 1,000 islands near Kingston, the Whitsundays are a group of Islands. The big one there on the right is the Whitsunday Island. We took a roundabout route and visited White Haven (GORGEOUS!), Long Island, and another one I can't name at this moment.



The first night we arrived we had a couple drinks but simply chilled out on the catamaran. Liz suggested a night on the town so a bunch of the group went to a bar within Airlie. I, however, called it a night.




And man, oh man am I glad I did. Although Taruna here went to bed early like myself, she was a little tired from our early rising.





Leighton, on the other hand, was HUNG OVER. I think I heard him singing 'I have a headache, I need a Pantaloc,' for about 15 minutes straight. And yes, singing.




So as people slept, Liz also went back to bed, Mackayla and I sat on the bow and looked at the scenery. This was the time when I completely fried. Take a look at the photos, see how cloudy it was in the morning!! I learned my lesson.



I think this was Lucas' and Leightons version of the Titanic. This weekend celebration was for Lucas' 30th birthday.



This is Lucas - thankfully he knew what he was doing because I know jack when it comes to sailing.



And John. He was like Spiderman leaping from one side of the boat to the other. Although he did fall quite often and did hurt himself a couple of times. He was hilarious.



Have you ever seen a rainbow AROUND the sun??? Wack-o!




This is Eddie who was trying to sleep when we hit a little bit of rougher water. I captured this at the right time!




Always blame the Captain!


After my morning burn I chilled out inside, in the shade!



But it turned out to be a perfect day!




And even Taruna enjoyed some sunlight! Got to give the girl some credit - she was ill during the first sail in the morning (sea sickness, not self induced) but over the weekend she made it all the way out to the bow, and even jumped in the water.... with a little insistence from Leighton and myself.



I haven't even introduced our Captain yet!!




Oh, there he is! This is Brian, the owner and our Captain.



Liz and I chilling out on the stern.... listen to all my boat lingo...



This is the White Haven beach, absolutely beautiful. The water is sooooo blue and the sand is soooo white. When I put the sand against my pale (pre-burn) skin it blended in perfectly.




Although this is not a good picture of the three of us it is further proof that I was at White Haven and also was in the ocean.




More swimming. It is stinger season right now but none of our local friends seemed worried. We did see a guy walk past in a tight, yellow stinger suit... but that didn't phase us.... it was great fun!



Back on the boat the fun continued. I don't know what Leighton was doing.



This is Mackalya practicing fishing....



And the night comes. Liz and I got many beautiful sunset pictures but I only chose this one as it looks so purple.



And another type of fishing. This is Eddie with one he caught. They were giving Lucas a lot of slack as he was not catching much. Although he did catch a minnow with a net later on.



This is the fish Mackalya caught. Kissy Fishy.


Once the fishing was done we took the dingy boat into Long Island for some drinks. Here Eddie and Lucas are drinking Long Island Iced Teas. The drinks were fairly expensive at the resort we went to.



This strawberry daquri that I'm drinking cost me $14.00!! They filled it so full that I spilt a lot of it before I even got back to the table. Although you can't really tell in this picture, I was fried! The straps of my dress felt like knives. Kids, make sure you wear sunscreen!!



The next morning (Sunday) we were up just as early and the sun was once again shining - so much for rain all weekend. We enjoyed a couple of hours touring the islands where I picked up a bunch of shells. We then headed back to Airlie so we could head back to reality.



On the way home we hit some rain which is why this picture is so blurred. Another good thing about Australia is the signage. This was one I actually got a picture of. One other I saw was 'Tierd drivers die!' Guess that would keep you awake. We ended up having a conversation on what Australian signs would have to grow into as people get used to these blunt signs. Unfortuatnley our ideas are defintiely rated more restricted than this website.



We came to one really flooded road that we had to cross. Can you see where the road is? Leighton had a hard time as the water was a quarter the way up the door. This is a common occurance here in Townsville as it is the rain season.




On the way home Leighton stopped and let us see the big mango. It's definitely not as nice as our big apple but its just as big.


That brings us to the end of my trip! It was a fantastic time with a group of fantastic people. I hope to visit the Whitsundays again in the future as it's a tropical paradise close to home.