Townsville!!!

Well I was back on a plane this morning. I think I have been in the air about as much as I have been on ground in the last 6 days. LOL I left the house at 4:30am this morning...YAY...not!! For some reason I couldn't sleep very good last night it may have been the storms and being in a still strange place. I have found that I am waking up earlier than normal most days, around 6 am, but last night after about 2:30am I was up.

I got to be such the grown up this morning!! I had to call a cab to pick me up and take me to the airport and then had to catch one from the airport to the hotel. I know, I know not such a big deal but it was the first time I every had/got to ride in a cab!!

This flight wasn't quite as roomy as my flight over here but I have flown Quantas twice now and after the second time that John Travolta told me he would trust a Quantas pilot over any other the nerves really have calmed down about flying now. :) It was only about a 3 hour flight and let me tell you it was sooo worth it... not that I knew that until I got here!! I got my taxi to the Aquarius on the Beach Hotel (yeah I was excited when I heard the name too)!!! My taxi driver was AMAZING!!! He was so nice and talkative... I think I got call darlin or mate like 50 times on our 10 minute drive. Then we arrived and I checked in went up to my 6th floor room and opened my door to this!!!! The hill was the back side of the hotel!! (unfortuately my camera doesn't do it completely justice but it does OK)

Once I got my stuff settled in I called home and chit chatted with the parents at the same time I was FB Chatting with Chels!! LOL Being that I left so early I hadn't taken a shower before my flight so I jumped in the shower and got myself ready for the day. Then I went for an exploration of Townsville. It was lunchtime by the time I started so I went and found me a fitting lunch, Fish and Chips!! The Fish was soo amazing...seriously...best I have ever had and it was fried! I asked them what it was and it was Spanish Mackerel but its from here in Australia.

From here I went to the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium!!! This was "walking distance" from the hotel... Apparently Aussie have a bit of a different definition of "walking distance" because when I got back I about died!!
The walk was really pretty though... I past what I thought was a natural waterfall at first but it turned out to be man made but awesome either way!! The aquarium was soo cool. They had an under the sea tunnel that make a U shape out into the sea and showed coral, all kinds of fish and aquatic life, cool info too. I took a lot of photos so check out FB for all of them. I did give you all the Nemo characters on here though!!!

The area was such a cute area! Australia has some of the prettiest buildings ever. They are so unique! There is a Catholic Girls College right on the beach here with some beautiful gates and buildings as well!! Don't think I would mind going to school this close to the beach!! The Strand (name on sign in right photo) is the street that runs parallel to the coast... Its kinda like the main street.

I rested in my room for a while until it cooled off a bit before dinner. Before I went searching for supper, I played on the beach for a while. I have never seen the sea before so it was super exciting!! I got to put my toes in the water... it was pretty chilly!! It cools off quite a bit here in the morning and night.
Its evenings like this when I wish I had someone here with me to take fun beach photos and laugh about men and their shorty shorts. I know its a cultural things but really some of these old men rock those short shorts!!!

Fun signs of the day... It makes you a little weary to even put your toes in the water when you see something like this!!! The other one talks about Northern Queensland being the Skin Cancer Capitol of the World. I can totally get this!!! It is their winter time and I am pretty sure it got up to 80 today!!!

After I picked up seashells and played in the sand I went on the search for dinner. They had a Gourmet Burger place just up the road so I decided to just grab a burger and milkshake and take it back to the beautiful view from my room!! The lamb burger was real good the milkshake on the other hand... I'm not sure it could be considered a milkshake = EPIC FAIL!!! The sun set was beautiful!! I couldn't get any cool sunset pics with the ocean because the sun sets on the wrong side of the world here (opposite from home)!! But I still got some pretty ones!!

Its another early morning for me tomorrow. Mr. Geoffry is coming to pick me up from the hotel at 5am to head out to Charters Towers! From what I understand this is starting to really get into Outback Country, which excites me greatly!!! I get to start working with cattle this week too so it will be fun to let y'all in on everything!!

IDK how much internet I am going to have in Charters Towers but I will figure something out ;)

A Day with a Kangaroo... and a few others :)

Ala saved me from a Sunday of boredom and took me to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary!!! On the way there we saw a sweet Kangaroo Crossing sign that made me laugh!!

Ala was real nice and gave me a gift by paying my way in!! Once inside its kinda like a zoo but WAY more hands on and cool!!! We walked by the eatin' place and there were "Bush Turkey's" all over finishing up the left overs LOL

We walked around a bit before we played with the Kangaroos. Koala's were literally every which way you turned. The first thing you meet are the Crocs... they are kinda puny but I guess you can't really have a serious Croc in an open place like this.

They had all the other cool reptiles too... There was one that had a funny sign on the cage! It gave me and Ala a laugh anyways!!

They had all the snakes too but they were hard to photograph. So then we were walking through and we saw the Dingos... they are soo pretty. I didn't think they looked that harmless but Ala said they can kill and eat a child soo, Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover ...clearly!!!

Then the Wombats...they are crazy looking little things! They are soo cute though!! They had about 5 Wombats throughout the park. Wombats can apparently burrow a hole like no other... I mean seriously check that out!!! This poor guy was under the weather... I think we saw them giving him medicine and he was shaking like a leave when I took this pic :(

Things to know about Australian birds...They are beautiful and LOUD!! This is a Kookaburra... I think they were soo pretty but it was quite a distinct sound they make!! Even the regular ole tree birds outside the house are loud. Usually I like waking up to bird chirps... not here. Its more like bird screams!!!

Oh the Koala's!!! Seriously one of the cutest things you could ever see in you entire life. Being that it is a Koala Sanctuary we got to see all kinds of Koala's!!! If you have ever seen a Koala stuffed animal you have seen a real one... they literally look and feel the exact same! it was so interesting though because the sleep A LOT!! The curl up into perfect little balls and chill in a tree... they really like to climb to the very tip top of a branch and just sleep there! It is too cute. I got to hold one too!!! I held Crumbles and it was AWESOME!! I got a professional pic of it too.

We all know that seeing a Kangaroo is like of the up most importance when going to Australia well not only did I get to see one... I saw 160 of them in one spot, and got to pet them, and got to feed them!!! They are soo cool to watch. When they lay down they sprawl out and just chill like they have no cares in the world!! I got to see Kangaroos, Wallaby's and a Wallaroo (no its not a cross). FYI Wallaby's are just small versions of Kangaroos and Wallaroos are just another type.
There were only a few big ones in the Kangaroo area because the do get aggressive. Ala and I played for quite a while. We also got to see a Momma and her Baby (the last pic). I didn't realize that they still nursed after they were too big for the pouch but they do!!

I had such a great time today!! It really did kick off my trip... it really has been a slow start. Well off to Townsville bright and early in the morning!! It's raining here right now but not bad just a little wet.

Day 3 and 4

Off to Gatton today!!! The University of Queensland Gatton campus is the School of Veterinary, Animal and Agricultural sciences. Its about an hour away from the house on the motorway. The drive is quite cool too. I saw the country side I have been dying to see. Saw some Brahmans and Herefords on my drive there. The geography is not exactly what I expected it to be either... oddly enough. It is quite hilly and sorta mountainous but not cold at all. I was told that just past Gatton it flattens out to farmland though.

Gatton is the definition of an Ag School!! You can't even major in anything else but agriculturally related fields!! The mural is on the side of a building I thought it was pretty cool. They have an awesome campus. I bought lunch at the equivalent of a Club Red type store. Haven't had much interesting food yet but we had a cool talk about foods to try on the drive to Gatton today. Kangaroo will be an easy one to try.... maybe even Opossum I know crazy but it is actually pretty normal here at restaurants. They have 2 types of Opossums, bushy tailed and ring tailed. Ring tailed are like ours and they eat the bushy tail type.

I haven't gotten to actually work with any animals yet because they you have to do a lot of Induction stuff and I had to take a online reading course on Australian Animal Ethics so I am still waiting on approval for all of that but I did get to tour the Centre for Advanced Animal Science (CAAS) today.

CAAS is the campus farm but it is very researched based and they do all kinds of studies on lots of different animals. They were working out the particulars for a Monkey research project while I was there. No small companion animals here they have their own spot in the small animal research facilities.

The Small Animal Facilities are AMAZING!!! These animals are seriously living in a castle!! The cats aren't kept in cages all day they are in super nice cages at night and then put in a play room with enrichment toys and a door to go outside with. The dog's set up is the same but in kennel style. They didn't have any dogs in when I visited so no good pictures. They also have the most amazing and cool surgery teaching facilities I have ever seen! Unlike here where you have to do undergrad and then go to vet school....vet school is an undergrad option in Australia!!! This is the small animal surgery teaching room and in the back those are 5th year students doing a surgery on a cat I think. There is a surgery light camera so the supervising DMV can have a class in the teaching room watching as well if he would like!!!

I got to poke my head into one of the teaching labs for Freshmen students...OMG. It was huge!!! Like 100 students in one lab. It was a science lab and there is a flat screen monitor for every 2 microscopes so the students can see what everyone is doing. They also have an octopus microscope so the professors and show many students at one time special things under a microscope!!! It is such an awesome facility absolutely amazing!!!

After I toured the facilities I just wandered around campus a bit. They have an Avanue of Palms kinda like the trees on Old Main Lawn at the U of A it was pretty cool. At the end of it is a flagpole that back when the school first was established they had an "A" week and a "B" week and the each week determined what classes you went to and on one of the weeks they flew a flag and if someone showed up late to a class and used the excuse they forgot what week it was the professor would point at the flag. My obsession on this campus is The Foundation Building, the house like builidng. How Australian is that!!! I mean seriously I am in love with this building!!! I want my house to look like this!! It is a GORGEOUS building!!! It is the founding building for the school like our Old Main. After my little walk I got a ride back home and fell asleep quick around 5ish. I hadn't had jet lag because of all the sleep I had gotten but it hit me hard but it was good to sleep and not have to get up at a certain time since the weekend is here and my first week in Australia is already over I can't believe how quick it went!! They are sending me up north to Charters Towers and Chillagoe next week and I am pumped. It is apparently true Outback country there and I get to work some cattle so I can't wait!! I can only imagine how quick that week will go!

Day 4
Lazy Saturday!! Slept in and been reading all day. Real pretty today but kinda cloudy. I think Ala (the professor I am working with) is taking be out and about tomorrow as long as she isn't busy so off to watch movies on the computer not that internet is back up!!