Peering into an unfamiliar sky,
Looking for a light to bring me home
And finding darkness, all alone.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Met my mom at LAX close to midnight and boarded Qantas for Brisbane.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Arrived in Brisbane (14 hour flight plus time change) and got a shuttle from the airport to our hotel. Arrived at our hotel, settled in. Walked along Queen Street Mall in search of coffee (it's sad when you search for a Starbucks in a foreign country). We settled in to our familiar flavors and it felt a little like home... until we saw a roach the size of my index finger crawling down the mall! UGH! We waited for Borders and local banks to open so we could get a city map and open a bank account. At 12:30pm, we went back to our hotel to meet a potential new landlord, Michael. He gave us the grand tour in his car of the University of Queensland Campus, neighborhoods, and his house. Then he dropped us off at a local bar and headed off to a wedding. He was very nice and hopefully it will all work out. We got a bite to eat, then took the ferry back into downtown. Here are some photos of the University Campus, which reminds my mom across between Stanford and UC Berkeley:
Then we went back to the hotel and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon/evening because we were jet-lagged.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
When we booked the flight, we did not know it was a holiday weekend. Apparently April 25th marks the day that the Australia/New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) started in the World War. They commemorate this day by holding a solemn ceremony at dawn (4:28am, when troops arrived in Gallipoli) to honor those than died and veterans of the war. I have as much right to this ceremony as anyone else because my grandfather, who was born in Sydney, served as a digger (what Aussie's call soldiers). Anyway, the ceremony was quiet and dark, but nice to attend and hear everyone sing the Australian National Anthem around me.
Then, we checked out bus routes and decided to make our way into Paddington for 'brekkie'. Paddington is a hip little bohemian neighborhood, and we ate at a place called Sassafras Cafe. It reminded me a lot of a Venice or Berkeley, so of course I loved it. From there, we walked through the neighborhood and got to the stop that I would take from my potential house. We took the bus along the route to school to see how it would be. Then walked around campus again. We took the ferry back to downtown, but thought better of it, and decided to avoid the ANZAC day march. We found our way to a cafe for lunch in Toowong, and then somehow figured out how to take the bus to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. After waiting around for them to open (late schedule for the holiday), I got my token photo with the Koala! I thought Koalas would be very soft, like a chinchilla, but instead he was very heavy, and felt like an itchy wool sweater! I was highly disappointed. Also, the Koala freaked out before he was put into my arms, so I was a little bit afraid that he would claw me. They got him calm enough to take a photo, but you can see how he dug his claws into my arm:
Then we went to the Kangaroos and much to our surprise, you could walk right up to them. They are used to being fed by visitors so they are all overly friendly. They happened to be a bit softer than the Koala:
We didn't stay long and headed back into town, but our bus passed by the South Bank Museums, and we decided last minute to stop by the Museum of Modern Art. We liked the building a lot more than the art inside. Then we went to the Gallery of Art, which was also very beautiful inside and saw an awesome exhibit on hats (my favorite)!!!
Then we ate dinner with a friend of a friend and walked around the park on the South Bank.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Most people thought we were nuts for going across the world for just a couple days, but we felt like we had already gotten to see and experience a lot of Brisbane! We didn't know what else we wanted to do, so we took a leisurely train ride down to the Gold Coast. We went up the tall Q1 building to get a view of the surrounding Surfers Paradise (that's the actual name of the town, not my creativity), walked on the beach, ate lunch, and then took the train back to our hotel.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Woke up to take a shuttle back to the airport. Left Brisbane at 11am, arrived LAX at 7am. Here's one last photo of me on a brass kangaroo in King George Square (I now have a thing for taking photos on brass animals):
