My city view

This is a shot of the city from just up the hill from our house, taken while out walking. At the end of the walk it was dusk and the view is even cooler at dusk but I'm not equipped for low light photography. Maybe with Phil's big-ass camera I can get a dusk shot.

First BMid cohort finishes!

Today, 29 May, was the last day of school for our first graduating cohort of BMid students. Nearly all of them have jobs already. Once the school signs off on them, they only have to take their paperwork down to the Queensland Nursing Council along with the $143 fee, and voila! they'll be licensed to practice. No comps, no boards...

Biostats class

No doubt you are all wondering about what school is like for me. I'm nearly done with an intro to biostatistics course, which I must say has been a valuable review for me. Here we see the course coordinator, Gail, waiting anxiously for the PC to decide whether it will show her lecture slides. The topic was Complex Sampling.

the Blue Room Cinebar

Let's see: how to optimize the movie-going experience? Build small theatres with really cushy seats and small tables between each pair of seats. Give moviegoers assigned seats. Offer them coffee, a full bar, and snacks or light meals, and serve these items at the seats during the film. That, friends, is the Blue Room Cinebar's claim to well-deserved fame.

Who says there's no fall in Queensland?

Here are 2 photos proving that we DO have seasons here. It's just that fall means the temp goes down to the upper 50s/low 60s at night but during the day it's in the 70s and sunny.

Goat at the Royal

So how often do you walk outside a major tertiary health care facility in a major city and find a collection of farm animals in pens on the lawn? There were a cow, a pig, 2 goats, a few sheep, some chickens, geese and a pair of alpacas. This guy had just happily eaten my apple core.

Moon over campus

Taken on a Friday dusk stroll around the UQ campus.

walk to Mt Coot-tha

Friday was a beautiful, sunny, and not humid day. I decide to take a walk up to the top of Mt Coot-tha. There's a trailhead just up the road from our house. (Emphasis on UP.) So off I go at about a quarter to noon. By this time it's quite warm, even without the humidity. It's not too taxing a walk over the first half or so of the 1450 metres. I start to wish I was more of a morning person, because then I could get up early and do this walk before breakfast and, more importantly, before it gets hot. No problem! I could do this! Then I notice the trail starts to incline more severely upwards. Still no problem; have a hiking pole with me. Slog along, but now it gets even steeper...
Some considerate person has arranged the trail so that about every 10-15 metres, it flattens out a bit, so I stop, catch my breath, look back at what I've just climbed, and look ahead to --- oh geez, how the hell am I going to get up this next bit?? Climb, stop, breathe, look around, repeat.
On I climb, ever so slowly. All thoughts of daily morning ascents are now entirely gone from my head. I start to hear children's voices. This is good because it means I'm nearly at the top. I stop one last time to see where I've been and realize that NO WAY am I going to hike back down this hill, by myself, with these knees. After a brief stop at the summit to document my climb (see photo of sign with hiking pole leaning against it) and admire the view, it's the long way home for me: down the access road, past the botanic gardens, over the new pedestrian bridge, and along the bike path until I have to leave it and take surface streets. A short hike ends as a 2 1/2 hour trek, and I decide I can blow off an afternoon run around the reservoir.

the iPhone is back!

Sometimes things really do work out. Someone found my phone in the bathroom Friday afternoon. When I picked it up yesterday, it seemed unrepentant for having jumped out of my backpack. I don't know what sort of wild weekend it was expecting, but what it got was a quiet one, locked safely away in the School of Nursing & Midwifery office. I suspect I'll have to be on the lookout for more signs of incipient rebellion and keep a firmer grip on it in future...

Oh where, oh where has my iPhone gone?

Sad to relate that sometime this past Friday, my iPhone went bush. I last saw it in Susannah's office at the School of Nursing & Midwifery in Ipswich. A search of the vicinity by campus security turned up nothing. I'm hoping that some kindly person found it and turned it in to the School office, but I'm not too optimistic about that. I feel almost like I've lost a body part. Stay tuned for updates.

Ducks on the Avon

Whole extended families of ducks live on the Avon. This fellow came looking for a handout but soon left, disappointed.

Punting on the Avon

The rather shallow River Avon winds through Christchurch. You can't operate a boat with any sort of keel on it, hence the punts, apparently hired largely by middle-aged (and older) tourists. Wait, I was a middle-aged tourist! Damn!

Flowers at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens

The rose looks pink, but it is in fact white, Anne. Fabulous gardens -- I must have spent 4 hours there, and as can be seen, it was a beautiful sunny day.

NZ: altar cloth at Christchurch Cathedral

Here you go, Marylou. I had to take a picture of this. I love visiting churches, especially big old cathedrals. And this altar cloth is patchwork.

The Oz series #2: food/morning tea

Ah...morning tea. Now this is a custom we should import to the US. It seems like wherever you are, be it at a conference, in class, weekday or weekend, around 10 AM there will be a break in the action and you'll have the opportunity to go get coffee or tea and a bite to eat. If you're in some sort of gathering of any size, it's likely the food and beverages will be provided by the host. The best thing is when someone invites you to their home for morning tea because you often get homemade goodies.
Even though it's called morning TEA, this is such an insane coffee culture that almost everyone gets coffee, but at least tea is available. The bites to eat tend to be sweet: little chunks of Danish, brownies, carrot cake, this horrible stuff called lamingtons (see photo, courtesy of www.benjaminchristie.com), that sort of thing. Sometimes there is fruit. It's great as long as you avoid the lamingtons. Unless you like them, of course. That white stuff sticking to the outside is coconut.

New Zealand

Marylou just pointed out to me that I've neglected to post any photos of our trip to New Zealand last month. Let me rectify that straightaway. Phil shot this while we were hiking part of the Queen Charlotte track near Picton on the South Island. A good half-day's hiking, 14 km, with stunning views like this around nearly every bend in the trail (or 'track' as it's known locally).

My favorite restaurant

Back in November I posted a photo of me with my peeps having lunch out at the Hundred Acre Bar. It is (so far) my favorite expensive restaurant in Brisbane. It's located on a public golf course in St. Lucia, about 2 miles from our house and a mile or so from campus. The menu is creative, focuses on seasonal foods, the wine list is broad and mostly reasonable, and the surroundings couldn't be better. And except for around the holiday season, you hardly ever need to book ahead.

Classic Queenslander

This photo shows a typical, nicely preserved house built in the style known as Queenslander. Qlder houses tend to share certain characteristics: generally they are built up off the ground (to catch cooling breezes and make it harder for critters to enter); they have verandahs on 3 sides; when restored they often have multi-colored paint jobs to highlight quaint architectural detail, like the swinging doors at the top of the steps on this one.

A sunny Saturday afternoon in the fall

In many respects, just like in the USA. Boys are playing sports. In this case, cricket (top photo) and rugby.

I'm back; late summer flora

Wow, I see it's been over 2 months since my last post. What's my excuse? Well, I was traveling in the US for 3 weeks back in Jan/Feb. Then we spent a week in NZ ("En Zed", that is) so that we could get our permanent residency visas granted -- don't ask -- En Zed was lovely and I'm eager to go back.

As soon as that was done, school started for me, both as teacher and student, so I've been busy.

My other excuse is Facebook -- I've been spending my online energy there instead of here.

But here's a photo of a cool bush I saw the other day: it has both flowers and berries at the same time. The flowers are purple and the berries are yellow, a really nice color combination with the green leaves. No idea what it's called, of course.

Now that the semester is under way, and I'm a little calmer, I'll pay more attention. I promise.