Brisbane

G’day from Australia!
      I’ve been in Brisbane for more than a week, adjusting to the time difference and participating in the Stanford program’s Orientation week. About fifty of us are here for a quarter-long ecology program at the University of Queensland. On Sunday (September 30) we’ll travel to the Moreton Bay Research Station on North Stradbroke Island for the week, and then spend some time in Lamington National Park. After that we’re off to the Heron Island Research Station for two weeks before driving up the Great Barrier Reef to the Daintree Rainforest— followed by a week in Sydney. We won’t return to Brisbane until the end of November!
      Although Brisbane certainly doesn’t seem very exotic (it reminds me of both Florida and southern California), some aspects of life are very different. I’ve been most impressed by four changes— the incredible wildlife, the unusual plant species, the funny Australian twang, and the fact that everyone not only drives but also walks on the left hand side of the street!
      I never imagined that hours after landing (door-to-door a thirty one and a half hour journey) I would be strolling through a gorgeous riverside park (South Bank) with enormous and colorful Australian birds literally pecking at my feet. I followed my map across the bridge to the Botanical Gardens and then over a wooden walkway through mangrove trees past large weathered houseboats bobbing in the river. Near the end of the park was a quaint little lily pond with many ducks of different eye markings. But something clinging to the edge caught my eye and I did a double take— an iguana! I knew then that I had arrived in Australia… halfway across the world.
      I also walked through Brisbane’s CBD (Central Business District) that first afternoon, admiring its mix of contemporary and historical architecture. I observed the colonnaded Customs House set against skyscrapers with blue glass windows, and then St. Stephen’s chapel and cathedral, built in 1850 and 1874, respectively. But my favorite part of the CBD was the Shrine of Remembrance, a flame that burns constantly to commemorate those Australians who died in both world wars. Because I read Edward Facey’s epic A Fortunate Life before I came— a book written by an eighty nine year old Australian man who survived a gruesome childhood as well as the horrific campaign of Gallipoli— I understood the significance of this memorial. A huge proportion of Australian men perished in World War I.
      Another highlight of my life here has been public transport on the City Cat— a catamaran that continuously chugs up and down the muddy brown river that snakes through the city. Days are hot and muggy but a ride at the bow of a City Cat is instantly refreshing, beautiful, and a gorgeous way to see Brisbane. On my second day I rode the ferry all the way from my motel to the last stop, past charming “Queenslander” style homes that very much remind me of the French Quarter in New Orleans.
      Next I tackled the Queensland Museum, part of the Queensland Cultural Centre on South Bank. The museum is a fascinating three levels representing all aspects of Queensland culture and history. I enjoyed fabulous exhibits on Queensland icons (such as Bundaberg rum), various modes of transportation (including the smallest boat ever to circumnavigate the globe, the twelve foot Acrohc Australis, its stern stamped BRISBANE), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, “Queensland’s Vanishing Wildlife” (such as the extinct Paradise parrot, perched on an gravestone bearing the letters R.I.P.), and my favorite, the Animal Parade, with lengthy rows of more than 700 stuffed animals lined up from small species to big. Visiting this museum was an excellent introduction to Queensland, the “Sunshine State” where I will be living for the next three months. Afterwards I continued to the Queensland Art Gallery, a museum containing many different pieces of work from all time periods. Upon entrance I descended an escalator across a cement bridge through a pond of little floating silver balls (like Christmas tree ornaments) bobbing up and down in the water that each reflected an image of my body. But I was surprised when I left to be showered by pouring rain outside!
      The next day I met up with the rest of the Stanford group at the Riverside Hotel, directly across the street from the library and Cultural Centre. We spent the day settling into our rooms, greeting a steady influx of friends, and exploring the city. I was thankful for those two days on my own to catch up on my sleep (the first night I collapsed at 7:30!) and grab some last minute supplies at the nearby Toowong Shopping Center, a huge mall and food court with “travelators”— inclined flat moving walkways like those in airport terminals— instead of escalators. A group of us walked through South Bank again, poking into the Nepalese pagoda and the bustling shops and restaurants of Stanley Street Plaza. There is also Streets Beach, a manmade lagoon that should be reconstructed by the time we’re back at the end of November.
      I went to the Queensland Museum again with some others, and was happy to revisit some of its incredible displays. One room features enormous floor to ceiling cases filled with stuffed animals from every phylum. A nearby library houses an impressive collection of historical and scientific books as well as some interesting stick critters that live on leaves inside plexi-glass cages. Some of them were smooth, long, and green while others were brown and prickly. Next I visited the Gallery of Modern Art, located in a lovely location right along the riverbank. Despite the beauty of its full glass panels highlighting the river, I didn’t like a lot of the pieces. But I loved the rooms on indigenous art. After visiting so many European museums in the past month I had been contemplating switching my major to Art History— and standing in front of those swirling, colorful, meticulously dotted aboriginal paintings definitely sealed the decision for me.
      On our first day of orientation we rode the City Cat all the way to the University of Queensland (about half an hour from the CBD, plus a fifteen walk on each end) and one of the program coordinators helped us navigate to the lecture hall. We were introduced to Ron Johnstone, Associate Professor and second-in-command (we have yet to meet the professor in charge, apparently Australia’s leading expert on climate change and coral reefs). Ron’s enthusiasm instantly made us feel welcome— especially when he ordered us all coffee! We ended the day with a delicious catered meal of “fish and chips” (fried shrimps, salmon cakes, and more) in the “Secret Garden” of the Biology building. Afterwards, some of us attempted to activate our UQ library and e-mail accounts (a huge challenge) and then met up with one of our course tutors— a Stanford alum researching at UQ on a Fulbright Scholarship— for some Australian beer. Later that night some people were eager to check out the club scene in the city, but given that it was a Monday we didn’t have too much luck and just settled into a small bar off Queen Street.
      The next two days were spent acclimating ourselves to our courses. We are taking four— Coastal Resource Management, Australian Studies, Coral Reef Ecosystems, and Coastal Forest Ecosystems— and one research class in which we design and implement our own project. I’m still formulating mine, but will probably incorporate my wildlife photography as Ron is extremely supportive. The other classes seem wonderful and I am especially excited to read the literature and watch the cultural movies assigned for Australian Studies— not to mention learn more about Australia’s incredible biodiversity in Coastal Forest Ecosystems! Our lecturer, John Hall, explained that Australia supports such unique wildlife because of its old, dry, nutrient poor soil and its variable climate due to El Niño. One night on our way to a delicious Thai dinner my roommate Laurie, my sophomore year roommate Marisa, and I saw our first Australian marsupial— a cute little possum scurrying up a tree!
      In fact, I can’t believe how many animals I have seen at the University. For me the most beautiful moment was observing a flock of raucous white cockatoos waddling over a big grassy field. I stood so close to them that as they flew to a nearby tree I was able to spin around and film them in flight surrounding me.
      On Thursday I spent more than four hours reconfiguring my cell phone… but compared to the efforts of others four hours is next to nothing. I researched the price and coverage of various carriers, finally bought a pre-paid SIM card to insert into my phone, but then had to “unlock” the phone so it would accept the new SIM card (this involved trekking to the library to use the internet to look up Cingular’s international customer service number, going to a newsstand to purchase a special phone card, and finally scrambling to single-handedly open my wallet so that I could rapidly insert extra coins in the local payphone as the price of the call quickly exceeded the allotted amount on the phone card). Finally I registered myself online. Now I can coordinate with others in the program who have jumped through similar hoops to activate their phones. I can also receive international calls for free!
      On Friday our group took an intriguing trip to the Gold Coast, an area south of Brisbane that enjoys a notorious reputation for extreme development, theme parks, and wild nightlife. First we visited a sugar cane refinery to witness one way in which humanity has altered the coast. Next we disembarked at a lookout in a small park where many beautiful homes had been built along man-made canals, much like Florida. Finally we drove through an incredibly unattractive residential development as our Australian Studies professor, Bill Casey, informed us that more than 1,000 people move into the Gold Coast each week, putting enormous pressure on the land and water resources. We ended the day at the heavily commercialized Surfer’s Paradise, the Gold Coast’s hub— a long beach with booming shopping, restaurants, activities, and clubs. Here I took my first dip into the western Pacific Ocean! On the way back we stopped at a beloved roadside restaurant for delicious individual fruit pies.
      Later many of us ventured into the CBD for a night of clubbing and dancing at Victory and Down Under. The city was exploding with people, many of them college students. The next morning my roommate Laurie and I took a very slow bus to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary— definitely the highlight of my week in Brisbane! One of the biggest reasons I came to Australia was to see its magnificent wildlife, and this reserve certainly met my expectations. Upon entrance we walked by large aviaries filled with beautiful birds— rainbow lorikeets (considered a pest here!), black cockatoos, kookaburras, and more. My favorite aviary, however, contained not birds but bats— flying foxes, to be exact. They are enormous creatures much larger than a parrot with long hooked claws at the end of their fleshy wings that enable them to hang upside down and move around.
      But we were in for an even bigger shock as we entered the gates of the Kangaroo feeding area. Here were juvenile and adult kangaroos bouncing, feeding, munching, drinking, lounging, and sleeping everywhere around us— and they didn’t even flinch at being petted. We took hundreds of pictures and even spotted a joey stuck inside its mother’s pouch. Unfortunately, these kangaroos are the lucky ones. Many of them are struck as road kill in the wild and others are raised for meat and other industries. Kangaroo management is apparently a classic Australian problem, and certainly a topic I am interested in. The professors have also encouraged me to consider the use of wildlife parks like the Lone Pine Sanctuary to aid conservation. Kangaroos aren’t meant to be fed each day by tourists, yet interacting with them might inspire those tourists to promote conservation. We’ll encounter a similar situation at O’Reilly’s near Lamington National Park, where tourists can feed wild parrots.
      Our next marsupial sighting was the koala, and we attended an information session in which a sleepy, energy deprived, gray furry koala rested in its caretaker’s hands. About 130 koalas live throughout the park, separated into small areas by sex and age. Watching these animals was quite fascinating, as the poses they assumed while sleeping almost look like complicated (and painful) yoga moves. Finally, I went to a sheepdog demonstration in which a local farmer paraded a herd of big fat sheep through an obstacle course with the aid of two thin black dogs. The sheep congregated in a very tight pack and sometimes the dogs even jumped on top of them. Overall, it was an excellent day and definitely worth the extra allergy medication!
      Now we’re off to North Stradbroke Island, and although I’ll miss my beautiful morning runs along the river— not to mention twice daily rides on the City Cat and some of the best Asian food I’ve ever had— I’m definitely ready to leave Brisbane and experience Australia. We have a long adventure ahead of us, one that promises to bring much change and excitement.