Beach Bum Life in the Fast Lane

Hey folks,
So unfortunately, I tried to post some pics this morning but it's not working. So it'll have to wait again. I do have some awesome pics that I'd like to post.

I think I last left everyone in Surfer's Paradise. Last Friday, I headed north to Brisbane with these two cool Israeli guys that I met at the hostel. But not without making a quick detour south first to a little hippie town called Nimbin. Nimbin is well.... in short... Disneyland for potheads. It's a small little town. We wandered through what was the local "museum" - essentially a psychedelic house and I was offered a good dozen times "cookies" and "hash." Fear not, I didn't have any. ;) But it was a rather surreal experience.

Then we drove up to Brisbane. There really isn't much to see in Brisbane. It's a nice city to live in. But not much by way of tourist destinations. I did go clubbing on Friday night. I went to this place called The Beat Megaclub. There's like a few clubs attached to one another. There was this one club called "Wrecker" that played the most hardcore industrial trance/electronica - or whatever you want to call it. I loved it! At one point though, the bass was so loud that my rib cage was vibrating and actually shaking. I had to step out briefly. It must have a small subculture following b/c the people there were wearing these crazy massive flare pants.

I spent most of Saturday just walking around Brisbane and taking it the sights. Like I said, not much to see. I wasn't too sad to leave on Sunday and head north again to Hervey Bay.

Hervey Bay is a small beach town - mainly a transit point for those going to Fraser Island. Now Fraser Island is pretty freakin' amazing.... It's an island made entirely of sand. It's a world heritage site. But the coolest thing is being able to camp on the island and drive around in 4WD down the beach.

So on Monday morning at 6:30am - the earliest I'd be up for in over a week. We were put into groups of approx 10. I volunteered to help do the shopping. (I like to take charge). I messed up real bad though when I forgot to buy lunch meat for our three day of sandwiches. Thankfully, we did pass a supermarket on the way to the barge that would take us over to the island. Essentially, we're given a big 4WD SUV, camping gear, a map, and some other guidelines - including specific instructions not to feed the dingoes.

For three days (Mon-Wed) , we drove around the island, sailing down the beach at 80 km/h. It was CRAZINESS!!! Spectacular beaches and views. We climbed up to this lookout point and saw sharks, schools of fish, turtles. We visited a number of inland lakes. And these lakes were gorgeous. White, white sand, and crystal blue waters. (well, at least when it was sunny). It rained buckets the first day and I really wanted to go home. No one like camping when it's pouring. It was a very bouncy ride to the say the least, espeically when we were driving through the forested area. I'll need to post some pictures soon so you get a feel for what I'm talking about. I had LOTS of fun w/ the people that I met. We got absolutely trashed the first night but ran out of alcohol the second night, so it was bit tame so to speak.

Anyway, I'm headed north again today to a place called Rockhampton. I'm just staying over to sleep before spending another day on the bus again tomorrow. Meh.... two days on the bus.... oh well.... I'll try to catch up on some sleep.

Rock on Oz!

Life as a Beach Bum

So I'm back on the backpacker trail. On Monday, I left a fairly cold Canberra - apparently they just got their first frost earlier this week (haha) - and headed north. I'm currently on the Gold Coast of Australia, which is just south of Brisbane. It's a built up area. Very glitzy. Brand new apartments line the beach. Lots of tacky tourist shops (Ripley's believe it or not - that sort of stuff). And miles and miles of golden sandy beaches. The actual city that I'm in is called Surfer's Paradise. And it certainly is paradise.

Every day, I get up, go for a swim. The water is not super warm, but it isn't that cold - esp. for us Canadians who are used to very cold lakes. And thus goes life - alternating between sunbathing and swimming. I know, it's a tough life... On Tuesday, I also went up to the top of Q1. http://www.q1.com.au/ (check out the website) There are absolutely stunning views from the 77th floor. It's the tallest residential building in the world (2oth tallest overall). Yesterday arvo, I also had my first surf lesson. I have a few pics that I'll need to post sometime. Over the course of the two hours, I wasn't able to stand up (I know, it's pathetic) but I had an awesome time. Not sure if I'd do it again soon b/c I manage to chafe the inside of my thighs and swallow a ridiculous amount of salt water. Today, I think I'll take it easy and just hit up the beach again (which is about 5-10 mins walk from my hostel).

This hostel that I'm staying at is pretty freakin' awesome too. They have stuff to do every night, so I've been going out lots w/ the ppl. It's weird, b/c while I'm in Australia, the hostel is full of Brits, and sometimes I have a hard time understanding them. I just got used to understanding Aussies, and now I have to learn another "English dialect." ;) Last night, I went on a pub crawl - my very first one ever! Aren't you all proud of me?!? I pretty much stopped drinking by the second bar b/c I got friendly w/ the hostel staff who had BIG bar tabs and didn't mind sharing the love. ;) Party on! I have to admit that typing this blog is a bit tricky, I'm still sort of rocking from side to side - I don't know if it was all the alcohol from last night, or from spending hours in the ocean. ;)

So it's awesome to be traveling again. I'll stay here until tomorrow and then head up to Brisbane for the weekend.

I do miss Canberra though although I'm glad to have gotten out before the cold set in. I've left so many friends in Canberra. So many good friends and "special" people. My last weekend in Canberra was just one farewell after the other so it was pretty emotional. I had lots of fun and even got to play Settlers of Catan one more time before leaving. sigh...

Alright, no more emotions. Time to hit up the beach and get more tanned.

Last Day of Work

So it's my last day at work today. I can't believe it. Of course it's chosen to rain today. I woke up to the sound of rain outside my bedroom window. Had thought about going to the gym to work out but said, forget it, it's raining. Gosh, it feels like I'm home in Vancouver already. ;)

I've been working hard at tying up loose ends this week. Still have to bang out one more paper/report today. Yesterday, my coworkers took me out for lunch. They got me a card and pair of Billabong shorts. How Australian! :D And... here's the best part. Janine and Sullivan, two coworkers who went to the bank on an errand yesterday morning came back with a ... BOX OF KRISPY KREME DONUTS! Wohoooo.... way to make my day. I haven't had KK donuts since I was in Hong Kong last December.

Last night I cooked dinner for the Allan's as a thank you to hosting me for the last few months.

Tonight, I have my farewell party. We're going out for dinner, drinks, and dancing. Should be a good night. I'll try not to drink tooooo much so that I remember it. ;) Sigh... so sad to be leaving all my new friends. :( Oh well, I'll cry about it later. Party on!

My BIG day in Sydney

So last week I headed up to Sydney for the Microbicide Symposium that I've been working on for the last few months. It was held on Thursday at the University of Sydney - a beautiful campus with lots of pretty heritage buildings - in total contrast to the bland block buildings of my old uni campus. We had 52 delegates in attendance with representatives from government, industry, research, community groups, and NGO's. It was a good symposium overall. I gave the scientists a bit too much time though in the morning and it got VERY technical. I was the official scribe of the day and stopped taking notes b/c I had no idea what they were talking about. In the afternoon, we had break out groups where we were able to discuss some issues more intimately and give everyone a chance to speak. I think that was the best part of the day. It was a very busy day and I was running around like crazy behind the scenes to make sure everything was in order. But it all worked out. The objective of the symposium was to bring together all the key stakeholders to discuss how we can move microbicides advocacy forward within Australia. Canada and the US, and countries in Europe, in contrast are already quite far along in terms of microbicides advocacy and R&D. Here's hoping that Australia will make some headway in the next few years as a result of this first symposium.

After the conference, a few of the delegates took me out for a beer at the pub on campus, which was fun. And the Exec Director of the Victorian AIDS Council (in Melbourne) was asking me a bit about my academic background. He said that I should consider applying for some jobs with them at the end of this year and that they've sponsored Canadians and other overseas workers. How cool would that be?!? To work and live in Melbourne. I said I would keep it in mind. I am still looking forward to moving back to Vancouver in August and seeing if I want to keep living there. I imagine that I'll probably stay... I miss Red Robin too much. ;)

I spent another few days in Sydney. Went clubbing until the wee hours of the morning again... *yawn* and even saw a play at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday arvo (read: afternoon) which was great. A sad play about someone dying of AIDS. :( But it was quite powerful.

Anyway, I'm back in Canberra now for my last week of work. I have SO much work to do this week that I'm officially overwhelmed. I have no idea how I'll get it all done so I better stop blogging now.