Barbeque Area

Is it possible to have too many barbies? We have found an answer to that question over these past two weeks, and the answer is no, not when in Australia. We have made it our mission to find and use every bbq set in Brisbane, and I think as of yesterday we've done it. And we did it jsut in time, since today is our last day with the host families and our last day of living in civilisation. I am sad to leave the Land family as they have been nothing but welcoming to me (and even my friends), but at the same time I'm ready to get out of the city. It seems like I just got settled down and now I'm already packing my bag again. The experience has been excellent though, as it has allowed me to see the true Australia and to get to know the people who make this country great. A perfect example of life in Queensland happed yesterday, so I'll share my adventure of a day with you. This is one of the many stories which I'll never forget. (Only because I am keeping this blog. Just kidding.)

The whole thing really started on Friday night at my brother's birthday party, but I'll rewind a bit and let you know what proceeded these events. We started our causual Friday evening with a barbie, of course, in the South Bank park. From there our small group met up with the rest of our crew in King George Square and headed to a Queensland vs. South Africa rugby union game. I think the group enjoyed the action, which was way more than what we saw at the AFL game in Melbourne, but I'm still not sure if they understand the sport after my hopeless attempts to explain it. From the game, seven of us headed back to my house for the birthday party and we were happy to see that there was still beer left in the fridge. A couple of beers later Todd, Ian and I decided with one of my brothers friend's, who happened to own a boat, that we were going to get up at seven in order to be on the road for a day of fishing by eight. I woke up in the morning at eight anf found that the trip was still on. Though we shifted the plans by a few hours we were on the water by ten and actually ocean fishing. We first cruised up and down the mangrove swamps of the Brisbane River estuary which flows into Moreton Bay, but didn't have much luck. Around one we beached the boat on a sand island and pumped the beach for shrimplike crustaceans that live in the sand called yabbies. Brad, my brothers friend, assured us that the yabbies would work better than our frozen prawns and whitebait, and he was right. After a few minutes of casting from shore Brad hooked onto something big. Ian grabbed the net and waded into the water only to realize that he hadn't hooked onto a fish, but a not so happy sting ray that was a couple of feet long. We kept fishing here for the next couple of hours and caught quite a few small whitings, but nothing worth mounting. A pelican realised that he could get an easy meal out of us and stayed within a few feet of us begging for the rest of the time. We decided to call it a day around three but made a quick stop before heading back to the city at a prawn farm a few km away from the boat landing. After leaving the farm, Brad noticed that something was wrong with one of the trailer tyres and pulled over on the side of the road to check it out. We soon realised that the bearings of the wheel were busted and after jacking up the trailer we were able to pull the whole wheel right off. Good thing we noticed this before we made it to the highway. So we spent the next three hours here on the side of the road in sugar cane country Queensland eating prawns and waiting for a mate of Brad to come and replace the bearings. By the time the wheel was fixed it was nearly dark and there was a pile of prawn shells on the ground outside each door of the truck. We were able to devour 1.5kg pretty easily in all that time. I got home, told the story to my family, and then headed two train stations down the tracks to Skiba's house for yet another barbie. And that basically sums up an average day in Queensland.

We are sad to leave our families, but we have a adventure packed month ahead of us. From here we're heading to Lamington Ntl. Park, which is a preciously preserved snapshot of what the world looked like 200 million years ago. Prehistoric plants (and possibly animals) still thrive in Lamington today that are found nowhere else on earth. From there we're heading farther into the bush to Canarvan George. We're spending a week here in the mountainous forests and then heading to cattle country. After our stay on a cattle ranch in Biloela we're taking a twelve hour bus ride back to the coast, and then a few hours on a catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef, where we'll spend eight days on Heron Island at a marine research station. If you want to see what paradise looks like, just google Heron Island. Apparently there are bioluminescent dinoflagellates that colonize the waters off the island, so if we happen to take a night swim our bodies will be surrounded by a blue glow. It's a shame we'll have to be studying for finals during this time.

This is probably going to be one of my last posts as television, let along the internet, has barely made it to the places that we're heading next. I might get a chance during the few days of finals in Brisbane after Heron to chime in and make a final post, but that wont be until the 15th or 16th of May. So it's goodbye for now. I have less than a month to go! Wish me luck!

Just your average barbie. Onions, sausages and beer at South Bank's BBQ area

Us and 31,000 other fans watching the Queensland Reds lose to the South African Stormers

Brad with his stingray. We had to cut the line to avoid it's giant barb.

Our pelican friend who willingly ate all that we caught

Replacing the bearings on the boat wheel.