Eumundi Markets

 I decided that I was tired of hanging out near the Uni and that I needed a little adventure in my life. So my friend Etienne and I decided to take a trip the Eumundi Markets. It was SUPPOSED to take 2 hours to get there, but it took about 4! Ha the stupid train ticket man told me the wrong platform so we went 5 stations the opposite direction. Ha it was okay though because we got a really nice view of the Glass House Mountains and then we didn't pay and just hopped on the train going back the way we came.

When we arrived the markets were nearly closed, but it was soooo awesome! Just local artists selling the most beautiful paintings, clothes, sculptures, boomerangs, didgeridoos, ect. It was all really cultural and so awesome! :) I actually talked to a lady from Ocean City MD because I notice her son wearing a Ravens jersey (Booooo Ravens). And the best part was the whole town was like hippie free spirited people! :) They all wore like flowy loose clothes, didn't use computers and were all about the environment.

The most unique part about this adventure was we just happened to go the weekend of thier Annual Body Art Competition. It was so cool just nearly entirely naked people were getting painted into a beautiful living canvas. Then once they artists were done a catwalk show and judging competition was held. It was definately cultural experience. The markets were so cool i'm going back next weekend too since we didn't have enough time after the train incident.  

Once the adventure was over we had about a 3 hour wait/ride home so at the bus stop we started doing handstands and stupid stuff like that! Ahhh such a long, but awesome day!

KaNgArOoS!!!

The one thing that just never gets old in Australia is the kangaroos! I loveeeee them. Kangaroos are just so awesome because they just live it up. They just lounge and hop around all day eating grass.We have a mob (name for a group of kangaroos) of a little over 20 on campus so I see them all the time. They will hop right into the middle of campus sometimes so its nice to go have lunch and watch them hang out. On my bus ride to Underwater World i'll see up to 25. It always brings a smile to my face. :)

About 2 weeks ago I was walking to the bus station in the early morning and a mother kangaroo had a tiny joey. The joey was so so so cute because it was trying to stand on it's back legs, but it kept falling back onto all fours. Yesterday I believe I saw the same joey, but he was a little bigger and could stand. He was so cute and fuzzy too!

Patriotism in AU

It's truely amazing that I can live on the otherside of the world and get news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in time to catch the tail end of the Obama's live speech. Facebook is a wonderful thing sometimes.

I really wish I was home today so I could have gone into DC as many of my friends did. Celebrating the death of someone is wrong, but for me it's celebration of justice and closure to the families that lost loved ones.  Kevin (my brother) went and has some great pictures of him in front of the White House with hundreds of people cheering and a few videos to hear the "USA USA" chants!

It's interesting to get this type of news from another country. Questions immediately were brought up like "Is it wrong to celebrate? Flood the streets of DC or NYC? Chant at the Phillies game? Other things like will retaliations be taken on other english speaking countries." And I actually recieved an email telling me to remain in my home because I am an overseas American.

It's been literally 1/2 my life since 9/11 and I've several of my friends lost parents during the attacks. They have all have finally felt some closure. The few American's here in Australia are cheering, but a suprising amount of other international students were delighted to hear the news.

I'm proud and miss our troops. My heart goes out to all the families that lost loved one's.

"Justice has been done." -Barack Obama

A Name Like "Mooloolaba"

One of the best parts about Australia is trying to say the names of places because it's Aboriginal in orgin. It took me about 2 weeks to easily and clearly say Mooloolaba. Every name here has about 20 "o's" just to get you all tongue tied. I mean really they just love it! Anyway the local beach is in Mooloolaba, about a 5 minute drive from the Uni. It's a nice beach, but it's a touristy area so a little north tends to have the better beaches.

Now Australia has just about the best lifeguarding system I've ever seen. They have a marked area that is meant for swimmers, which is nothing unusual except they say ONLY to swim between the flags. They advertise this in the international airport, TV and even at places like the bank or grocery store. It's kind of funny, but they seem to leave out the reason why... 

 The answer is where the flags are, "shark nets" are too. The lifeguards sound an alarm (of which I've heard 2 or 3 times) if a shark has been spotted. Then they clear the water and take a intense rescue boat out and try to spot the shark(s). I understand that the shark attacks are just a mistaken identity for it's intended food, but still not exactly the way I want to leave this world. I must say needing a net to prevent you from getting attacked by a shark it sure does give you a good feeling about swimming!

The other day on the local new 3 sharks were chasing a school of fish around in Kawana, a town just 20 minutes south of me. The footage was actually pretty sweet! The sharks would burst out of the water attacking a few fish! : ) I love sharks!





Cookin' on the Barbie!

Fun fact! 70% of Australian households eat sausages at least once a week.

I for one, ate a free sausages everyday for 5 days straight at orientation's "Sausage Sizzles". I haven't touched a sausage since week one of being here. They just are not that good. It's like a hot dog, but even worse! I haven't met an Aussie that doesn't love them yet though.

One thing that I really enjoy about Australia is the that the love to have a barbecue! It's just a good reason to get people together and cook up some good food! It's something my friends and do a lot at the apartment complex and you better believe that someone is always cooking up a kangaroo.

I have tried roo and it's actually pretty good! Hate me if you must, but cows can be pretty cute too and most people eat them! Most cuts of kangaroo are about are extremely lean with less than 2% fat. They also are more environmentally friendly to eat than regular beef too! They are a soft-footed animal that creates low damage to the land, eat less than sheep and cattle, and produce little to now methane gas. And to top it off the meat is cheaper than most beef cuts !

The Secret to Catching a SHARK!

Freckles!

(Aka the spots she has)



Shark Bag



Meet Freckles! She's a year and 3 month old Grey

Nurse Shark. She's really a special shark because she is an endangered species that was born at UnderWater World. She's gotten too big for her tank so we caught her and moved her to the other tank.

You may be wondering how do you catch a 8ft shark?

Well you use a large marine life bag. Its plastic thats fills with water so that you never have to take the shark entirely out of the water. It closes with only velcro so you have it can be dangerous if she starts to get out. Unlike most sharks nurse sharks do not have to remain in motion to breathe, but you still want to move quickly to make the process less stressful for the shark. With a shark that must be swimming the process would be more difficult becasue you would have to simulate swimming by running water through the gills with a hose.



PVC pipes used a  fence



We use divers to hold the bad in place while other divers slowly corner the her. Once shes cornered the divers use PVC piles to keep keep her fenced in. (This is a very slow process becuase you do not want to cause stress or scare the shark.) It took about a hour to coax her into the bag. Once she's in we shut the bag and mover her as quick as possible out of one tank to the next by lifting her and all the water as well.

 









Freckles in the bag



Bushwalking! :P

 

I did some great bushwalking on campus. I picked a good playlist on my Ipod and got lost in snapping shots of everything. There are some nice trails around the two lakes. I basically just went crazy taking pictures of all the bugs! Australia has soooo many different types of dragonflies! They are hard to photograph unless you wait for them to land on something, otherwise they just zoom every which way. I accidentally found a baby snake...I scared him and he scared me so we avoided each other. (I'd rather not die from snakebite if ya know what I mean.)I

 also chased a few birds around to get some nice shots. At one point I was in like 3.5ft tall grass and I spooked a goose! I couldn't hear him with my headphones in, but he came flying out of nowhere scaring the  be-geezes out of me! Ha i could hardly react fast enough to

take a picture so i have a nice blurry goose picture : ) Enjoy the pics!