Brisbane

The absolute best thing about “Brissy” was that it was never as hot as it was the first day I arrived. Fine, fine fine. If you pulled my leg, I'm sure I could maybe come up with some other high points. Brisbane is a river city made up of a large Central Business District and many smaller surrounding villages on a landscape of rolling hills and beauty. It boasts a cool bridge and an efficient public transit fleet that I rode everyday (buses, water buses, trains) in some form or another.

Story Bridge

To be honest though, my favorite activities while in town weren't technically in Brisbane.

The first big outing was to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where I successfully saw...koalas! While the park was really well laid out and had lots of interesting and cute critters, I started feeling uncomfortable about halfway through my visit. At some point in the last few years I've developed a much larger appreciation for natural life, and I think seeing all these beautiful creatures in cages on display just rubbed me up the wrong way. I just sort of of sat there thinking, “I'd rather spend a whole day hiking around looking for stuff and seeing ONE wild creature than seeing loads in a cage.”

Mommy and baby  joey koala!  

Which is exactly what I did next! The next day I headed off at a very early hour to Moreton Island with a local guide company Bushwacker Eco Tours. We “enjoyed” sandboarding. By which I mean my tour mates enjoyed watching me ride down a gigantic sand dune on a slab of waxed wood and face plant quite a few times. There was honestly so much sand in my clothes afterward that I walked straight into the shower with all my clothes when I got home at the end of the day.

Those dunes are tricking you, they were massive.  It was like a giant sand-bowl and here I'm at the top.

Before that, however, we went snorkeling at the Tangalooma Wrecks where we spotted loads of fish, a friendly Woobegong shark, and the endangered hornbill turtle. Fun Fact: fish will swarm around you and eat will eat tortilla wraps out of your hands. Also a fun fact: Birds will see this and gobble up whole fish right in front of your eyes. Teamwork.

The Tangalooma Wrecks.  Purposely shrunk whaling ships that now host corals from the Barrier Reef.

I was quite tired the next day from Moreton shenanigans, so strolling around Brisbane's Southbank was exactly my speed. A nice little Saturday market, fresh sushi, and some fro-yo on the riverside set me up quite nicely to enjoy my favorite cultural activity: going to the cinema! And I must say, while Chris Pine isn't my favorite Jack Ryan, the movie was pretty good. I mean, you can do a lot worse than Kevin Costner in dress blues. Once you love someone in Waterworld, you never go back.

My last day in Brisbane was spent with the same eco tour company, but this time we traveled south of Brisbane into the Hinterland to see some sub-tropical rainforest. I absolutely adored this tour. Our morning started off at Natural Arch with some rainforest bushwalking, little ecology lessons, a waterfall through a cave, water dragon, eel, and strangler figs.

The Strangler Fig: An epiphyte who grows on top of other trees for centuries, but eventually strangles its host to death.  Lovely. 

Natural Arch

We also made a stop to see glow worms which usually only live in caves. A local created a man-made cave where the worms could live in darkness full time (and visitors could see them during the day). No photos were allowed, but the site of them in the pitch blackness was exactly like like looking at the stars in a clear night sky...if stars trapped mosquitos for breakfast!

[Note: My camera died somewhere during the day, so while there aren't many good photos currently of the following, some tour mates took some and I'll update this post when they email them to me!]

After a lovely lunch where we discussed my other favorite aspect of culture, language differences, we went on a nice long hike through Springbrook National Park. The hike wasn't so long, but we all were in need of a little break for rest and photos when we reached Twin Falls. Now when presented with the following waterfall, I ask who among you would not immediately take off all your clothes and go for a swim? Bit cold, but completely clean, no unfriendly water creatures or mushy plants – and nothing is ever going to erase the image I had floating on my back looking up at this waterfall at the Australian sky.

Twin Falls from my crappy mobile camera...more pics to be uploaded later!

Once I decided clothes were in order again, we scaled the cliff and checked out the source of the waterfall, a spring so pure you could drink from which was delicious! Filled my water bottle twice. We had another little detour when we spotted a huge human hand-sized blue crayfish, to which I immediately turned to the guide asking, “You gonna catch that for me?”. Long story short, good thing I chose to go for a swim already, cause I fell in the creek in our pursuit, but we eventually caught the little bugger (ie – I told CJ where it was, and he risked his digits catching it). Fearsome little beast, could chop off a finger with those claws! Endless thanks go to CJ for indulging the waterbaby of the tour.

Brisbane was a great city, and an even better city to use as a base to explore the areas around it. I have a feeling I'll make it back there soon. With Brissy done I'll be in Emerald for a few days where I'll meet the family I'll be working with and doing a little two-day induction with the girls distance education school.

Internet has been shaky the last few days, but once we get to the reserve properly (end of the week) things will definitely be more stable. Leave some comments would love to hear from you guys!

Welcome to Brisbane

I'VE MADE IT!  Three planes, a train, a bus and a nice wee walk have set me quite happily in Brisbane's New Farm area. You can imagine the length of stories from a nearly 30 hour our trip AND my first day in Australia, but let's focus these five little nuggets.

1. Sleep on the plane. But be smart about it. I'll let you know if I develop jet lag, but I doubt I will because I planned ahead have super powers. The boys next to me slept at the wrong time. They slept when they were tired. Instead, you must sleep when your destination time zone is tired. This may coincidentally be when you are tired, but chances are it won't be, and for that I suggest a warm meal, headphones/ear lugs, an eye cover, melatonin, and Zzzquil (or other over the counter sleep-aid). All legal and non-prescription so you can force yourself to get on the correct sleep schedule. Essentially, you want to be in whatever state you'll need to be in at the time you land. I got in around 10 AM so I had to be ready to be awake all day as soon as I got off the plane. Not really a party trick, but I'm sure someone would be impressed if you were a jet-lag master.
2. Air travel is an exercise in queuing. There will be lots of queues for what seems to be no reason. Be one with them. Learn their ways. Accept them as a part of life. Know that when there are 300 people being processed by one border control agent, you are not alone, and heavy sighing and dirty looks just make every one more frustrated because there is nothing we can do. Also know that heavy sighs and and dirty looks are completely appropriate when you're holding every one up in the security line because you are passionate about not throwing this water bottle away. Bring peace to the queue.
3. Australia is really hot. I sat next to these really cute kids on the plane, and even they warned me,“You better strip down some of those layers or else you'll be boiling.” Though everyone tells you how hot its going to be, it really is hot as shit. Brisbane is also very humid, so its the kind of heat that makes it feel like you're walking through jello. It's hotter than you think. It's hotter than you can really plan for. Maybe melting is some weird sort of assimilation process. Either way, I do not advise walking into center city in the midday sun as your first activity. To those concerned at home: Yes, I wore sunblock. To the lady at the hotel desk: Yes, I wore sunblock.
4. The people here are really nice. Thank you ticket agent who told me which combo would be the cheapest train fare. Thank you random dude who saw my slightly confused face and made sure I knew where the bus was going without me asking him. Thank you really nice bank man for shaking my hand and smiling and introducing yourself when I was a red faced sweat monster. Thank you Vodaphone lady for literally suggesting and giving me directions to other mobile stores when you found out the town I'd be living in wasn't covered very well by your network. Thank you awesome lady sitting next to me on the bus for some pleasant chatting and laughing just as hard when I pointed out my new favorite hats (to be fair she was originally from New Zealand).



Do you see their hard hats?  They have wide brims.  ITS LIKE A COWBOY CONSTRUCTION HAT.  Perfect. 

5. Traveling alone isn't so bad. There are some moments where I'd wish someone was here to experience what I'm experiencing, but so far its been pretty nice. I almost feel a bit guilty about that. Not that I don't love traveling with others! Its just...you can really do what you want. Sometimes you want to take the dirty city bus instead of a taxi. Sometimes you want to just take a swim and read by the pool instead of site-seeing. Sometimes you're just sweating buckets and need to walk around the air-conditioned super market for an hour and a half. You can do all these things. I'm sure I'll miss companionship at some point, but right now I'm enjoying the solo-travel life.

All in all a rather relaxed flight and first day. Nothing too crazy going on, but that's alright by me. I made it here in one piece and everything has run smoothly so I'm proud of that and a happy gal. Watching and listening to a big thunder/lightening storm rolling in, catch you guys later!  Update a few minutes after typing this: THIS STORM IS AWESOME.  Update a few minutes after that:  I forgot my towel was outside.  

On the Road

People deal with emotions in all sorts of ways.  These last few days, I've seen the differences between my parents, family, friends, and acquaintances.  I tend to be strongly positive.  I avoid having formal goodbyes, and opt for parting with the best wishes of seeing each other again soon.  And by strongly positive, I of course mean I'll hug you and be the strong one, and then will go cry in the bathroom when you've gone.

More than anything I try as hard as a I can to be aware of the magnitude of what's happening, without letting it overwhelm me.  Sometimes it does (pacing around my room at 3 AM last night organizing my carry-on baggage) but at the very least I try to recognize it and let the feeling pass.  Know that I'm getting nervous, know that I probably didn't pack everything I need, know that my parents will cry at the airport regardless of what I do.

I also tend to revert to my own sort of scripture.  The last few days have seen a sharp increase in my quoting of The Desiderata, Jackson Browne, films I've always loved but only recently realized are all about going on adventures.  Part of me knows that these things won't change.  I can watch my favorite scenes anywhere in the world, and the same songs will make me cry regardless of where I listen to them.

The hard part is the people.  What a species, I'll tell ya, they drive you nuts but you love 'em anyways. 

Well, I'm getting a bit sentimental now.  We're heading to the airport in about half an hour.  The internet went out at home so I'm posting this from the airport!  1 free hour of wifi, you go Frankfurt.  Despite all the rest, the hardest part of leaving for me is the drive away.  After we were out of site of our house, we were on the road - the journey has begun.  But those few moments where you're leaving and you're looking back are what always gets me.  It happened when we drove away from our house in Philly.  It happened when the cab pulled away from my flat in Edinburgh.  And it happened again in Landstuhl as I drove away from our home of 7 years.  All three images overlapping, or perhaps blurring together through the tears.  

I'll leave you with this, Jack Kerouac said it a lot better

“What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” 

The sadness of leaving and goodbye is real, but let's get this crazy venture started.   Love you Germany, love you friends, love you family!

26+ Hours of in-flight entertainment, here I come!

Warning: Learning Ahead

In the run up to departure, I'm trying to keep myself from getting over anxious by focusing on the ins and outs of the actual job I'll be doing eventually instead of mulling over whether my toiletries are properly organized. Governessing is going to be daunting and interesting and definitely going to be a rich experience regardless of what happens. Recently, however, I've started wondering about struggles that might arise – like when I went to university in the UK and all the laboratory equipment had different names.

What if teaching a kid to read and write is done differently in Australia? Do they do PEMDAS or is there some other acronym for orders of operation? Will we do world geography or just Australian geography? Colours? Or Colors? While my first reaction was to be a bit worried, I soon got over those nerves in a very simple chat with one of my best friends, Raymah.

We (okay, I) had been postulating how cool it would be if there were buried civilizations in Southern Asia similar to Atlantis, but buried in sand dunes and no one knew they were there. Without even hesitating Raymah told me all about Mohenjo-daro, an archaeological site she'd visited with her school back in the day, which was pretty much exactly what I'd been imagining.

I was immediately jealous. I'd trade all two dozen class trips to the Liberty Bell for one chance to see a nigh 5000 year old city. Not sure she'd appreciate the reciprocal, but I'm sure there are parts of the founding of the US that British kids probably never got exposed to.

All this is getting to a point, promise. This little conversation opened my eyes to a truly wonderful aspect of growing up in different cultures – one that I hope I'll be able to share with the girls I'll be teaching. Not only do I get to experience new people and ideas and views when out exploring, but I get to hear how other peoples experiences/education/culture have shaped their views which could include things I've never been exposed to.

It's a subtle difference. I've only just fully realized it, though I've probably enjoyed seeing the world through other people's experiences and education for a long time.  Catch me at the pub and my favorite game is pointing out differences between language use, cultural practices, and so on. But it's a step further. It's pointing them out, and understanding why they're different – and why different is kind of cool. It's realizing that I'm 22 and created this fantasy lost-sand-dune-buried-city because I'd never learned about a real one, and Raymah was chillin' out in the real thing when she was in primary school. 

So go find people with different perspectives. Listen to them, try to understand and appreciate that while similarity might make you compatible, dissimilarity is the really interesting bit. I guarantee you will have a lot more fun if you just approach most situations sort of accepting that yours isn't the only way things are done.

Watch out though, you might just learn something. 

One Week Out

I thought that starting my blog before leaving was going to be this really wise plan where I could provide all this insightful pre-departure information and thoughtfully depict the process of leaving home that would resonate with everyone who has gone off on a bit of a crazy adventure.

Well I'm here to tell you that like everyone ever, I've been really cool and calm about my travels. UP UNTIL THE WEEK BEFORE. I've literally procrastinated my feelings.

I currently exist in this weird state between “Sort of aware that I'm leaving sometime soon” and “I've been lying awake for 3 hours worrying about how I have no idea how to get from the airport to my hotel”. Today's highlight was that, while turning round the yoga pants I'd put on backwards for work, I realized that in two weeks I was going to be responsible for the education of three human people.

I'm getting a bit nervous. I'm also getting incredibly excited. I'm getting a bit upset that whenever I do come home, it probably won't be to Germany. A bit guilty for bailing on my family when they'll likely have a big move coming up. I'm both worried about sunburn, and really pleased that after four years of Scottish weather, I'll be somewhere where its an issue I have to deal with. Everyone else seems really paranoid about snakes and deathly creatures, where as I keep telling them “Isn't it amazing that 80% of Australian species diversity doesn't exist anywhere else in the world?”

One week out, all the bricks are hitting, just in random sizes and quantities, allowing me to get prepared without going crazy.

For now.