life down under

I recently traveled to Brisbane to interview at the University of Queensland. It was a strange and amazing place, and I had a fabulous time. Below is the story in text and photos...

I've just arrived in Brisbane, QLD, AU: the land down under. I am here doing an interview with the University of Queensland. That happens in a few days. In the meantime, I get to explore, go to grocery stores, hear taxi drivers offer unsolicitied rants about the Chinese and Indians and how they're taking over Oz, and just generally see what life is like.

On the plus side, The studio room in my hotel comes with a miniature hibachi. Apparently it's obligatory to grill meat here. I will duly acquire some and cook it before I leave. Also, this place is firmly in the tropics. I saw two huge and scary spiders on my short walk to the grocery store. The grocery store had a couple young gals outside bbqing meat as part of a promotion of some sort. They really love their grilled meat here. Apparently, also, their beer. When I asked to cabbie about possible things to do, he listed two different malls ('shopping centers') and two pubs that I should be sure to check out. So much for local knowledge.

Other first impressions: this place is not all that pedestrian friendly. I'm about to embark on a run, so we'll see how that goes.
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Ok, back from my run. There is actually a pretty good bike/walk trail that follows the river (on both sides) and goes right downtown. It seems to be fairly heavily used, and is complete with painted bike/pedestrian zones, directional arrows, warning signs ('slow ahead', 'caution peds', etc.) and shelters with waterfountains in case of rain or for a pause. All very well-maintained. It reminded me of Austin, TX which has a similiar river-through-town thing going on, but Brisbane is more built up and the trail was paved instead of dirt. Anyway, it was a nice way to see the city.

What's more, I discovered the 'beach'. If, like me, your geography of Australia is not that great, you may have mistakenly believed that Brisbane is a coastal town. It isn't really. The city is basically on the mouth of the Brisbane river which drains into a large bay, so the beach is a good 30 min - 1 hour drive away. However, there is a 'beach' in the city. Along this paved walkway which I described, hugging the river on the south side of town, there is a long pool with surfboards, palmtrees, lifeguards, and fake beachery. It appears to be free, and it looks super fun. I may check that out if I can get myself organized.


Went to the University today. It's a very nice facility. Lots of students walking around: seems to be about a 50-50 split between Australians and various other Asians (Indian, Chinese) who are international students. Apparently, an undergraduate degree here is 3 years, and an optional 4th year is similar to a masters (they call it 'honors'). The craziest thing is the wildlife, I saw eels and turtles begging for handouts in a little lagoon on campus, as well as aggressive ibises that try to steal your lunch. When walking home for dinner, I passed under a tree that was loaded with screeching lorikeets. They were L-O-U-D!

And now, some photos...

The view of the track and neighborhood around the Uni. 

The view upstream of the Brisbane river. I commuted by 'city cat' high speed catamaran to/from the Uni.

And then I went to a wildlife 'sanctuary', where I saw many wonderful animals....
The picture is blurry, but there are koalas hanging out in the tree behind me, just waiting....

 For a photo op! It only costs $30 for your chance to hold one of these creatures and for the moment to be memorialized. This young lady clearly was excited. Notice the lifelike jungle backdrop. I didn't get photos of all these photo traps..er..opportunities, but baby crocs, kangaroos (yes, "joeys"), and a huge raptor of some sort were all available for your photographic pleasure.

 There was also a slightly deranged and shaggy-looking Emu. The helpful volunteer assured us that it was 'in heat' so we might not want to get too close.

 I thought kangaroos were supposed to jump!

One of the many Eastern Water Dragon lizards found in Brisbane. They love hanging out on sidewalks and sunny surfaces.

 And then, we went to the beach (that's Sergey the Russian behind me). As you can see, the beaches are very nice. The water is warm too.

Monster Trucks!!!

It may be hard to view from this photo, but I can assure you, it's real. Your eyes do not deceive you. That is 'GraveDigger' in the background. Yes, Monster Jam (the current incarnation of Monster Trucks) came to DC, and I scored tickets for Ngans. You might call it our date night.

It was a heaping plateful of Americana, delivered right to our seats courtesy of the obnoxiously talkative MC and the incessant advertisements that they played on the stadium jumbotron. In fact, most of the show seems to consist of commercial breaks. Only, we were there in person, so the fact that they were playing commercials was a bit puzzling. Nevertheless, it is good to be reminded of the fact that Monster Jam nationals will be in Las Vegas, and that I should order my tickets as soon as possible. The MC was also very patient in reminding us that we should 'like' Monster Jam on facebook, even going so far as to demonstrate how one might do this, but walking the entire stadium through the process of taking our their 'smartphone' and using the facebook app to increase his yearly bonus.

Anywho, the Monster Jam was predictably awesome. The synthesizer sequence with vintage 1980s 'robot cars' was worth the price of admission alone. Don't wait, go now!