C is for ... Crocodile; Coffee; College

Once again, I couldn't decide which of the C words should go into this Aussie alphabet so I put all 3 in.

Crocodiles

Fab facts for all ages about crocs: http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/crocs_oz.htm

Coffee

This post pretty much explains the history of coffee in Oz and why it is a national obsession. http://coffeegeek.com/opinions/georgesabados/06-12-2007

and this gives a sense of the intensity of the love affair --
http://www.coffeesnobs.com.au/




College

"College" here has a few meanings. In general though, what it doesn't mean is an institution that offers bachelor's degrees and some graduate degrees. For that you have to go to university -- of course, it's called "uni" because this is Australia and no energy is wasted on unnecessary syllables. So "college" can be:

1. a branch of TAFE (Technical and Further Education), which is roughly equivalent to a US community college, where you can study things like watchmaking, beauty, meat retailing, ASL (Australian Sign Language), and practical nursing. However, these are usually called "TAFEs" and not "colleges."

2. a secondary school, generally private, corresponding to US grades 7-12. This makes it very confusing until you get used to "college" meaning something very like "high school." Many are at least nominally affiliated with a church, some have boarding options, Latin mottos, and so far they all seem to have uniforms. Most of the time when I have heard people talking about "college" they've been talking about this kind of place.

A few post-secondary colleges are specialized, for example art colleges, and can grant bachelor's degrees, but most give certificates. Sometimes the credits earned can be applied to advanced standing in a university. TAFEs and their ilk are supposed to be a way of getting into university for those who didn't do so well in high school, a similarity to US community college.

What happens when you put oil, then molasses, then an egg in a bowl

Title just says it all.

The POOL is open!

Yep, about a month ago we had the official handover from the pool company to us. Note: It's less work than a boat, but still work. The good thing is that you can do the pool chores and then get right in and cool off. The weather has got much warmer since the handover, and the cold water feels awfully good on hot days. After initially declining a solar pool heater, we're now considering it to extend swimming season.

A visitor

This very attractive chook wandered over from an adjoining property this morning.

Moreton Island

A big ol' sand island about an hour-and-a-half ferry ride from Bris, where we went to celebrate my birthday. You have to have a 4WD vehicle to get anywhere you can't walk to, because the roads are just big sand tracks. We stayed overnight at the resort near the ferry landing (no dock, the ferry just drives right up onto the beach!). Don't really need to do that again; expensive, bad food, screaming kids everywhere. The island has this GIANT sand pit in the middle of it. People use sand toboggans to slide down the sides of the pit. They go pretty fast, it's pretty steep, but then they have to walk all the way back up again because at this sand pit there's no chairlift! Next time we'll do a day trip, bring food in the cooler and our snorkel gear, and snorkel around a wreck right by the ferry landing. This is me at the sand pit. Just above my head, you can see a tiny little dark spot. That is a person. Gives you an idea of the size of the pit.

The Aussie alphabet: B is for ... beer? Bundy? -- baseball????

Ah, how to choose among these candidates to represent B? Beer was the obvious one, and by the way, America, NOBODY drinks Foster's here. Then there is Bundy, properly known as Bundaberg, rum produced right here in the midst of the canefields in Queensland. With, oddly enough, a polar bear as its logo. Finally, I happened to be in a sporting goods store this morning and was surprised by this display of gear that I recognized immediately as pertaining to the Great American Pastime. Very strange.

Trent & Judy visit the Treehouse

We went on Show Day (a public holiday in Brisbane, 12 Aug) to the Ekka, a huge fair with rides, games, food, animals, and a lot of people. A few days later Trent walked with us to the summit of Mt Coot-tha, while Judy stayed back and nursed her sore feet.

The Aussie alphabet: A is for "ABC"

Right, the ABC. Like in the US, it's a television and radio network. Unlike in the US, it's public. Kind of like PBS and NPR rolled into one, but with no pledging, because it's actually government funded! Like, the government thinks that public broadcasting is a good idea! There is, unfortunately, no all-news FM station in Brisbane. So we listen to the news on AM, Radio National, which really is national. The traffic and weather updates start in Brisbane, and go clockwise right around the major cities. Very handy if we want to know where the traffic is stuffed up in Melbourne, or how cold it is in Hobart. The AM frequencies here are odd: instead of a 3 or 4 digit number ending in "0", they can be any even number. That Radio National frequency is 936, and the local Brisbane station is at 612. FM stations have the same frequencies as in the US. On TV, there are ABC1, ABC-HD and ABC2. Oh, right, there are ABC shops too, where you can buy books, games, DVDs, that sort of thing. Right now, on ABC2, I'm watching Ioan Gruffudd as Horatio Hornblower.

Z

What happens when a 4-year-old eats cherries.

Karen & Suzanne (& Willie) & me

On the way back to Cville from greater Corning (actually miles and miles out of the way but sometimes you just want to do these things) I stopped overnight in NJ at the home of my midwifery school classmate Karen. My friend & former colleague Suzanne drove out from Brooklyn that afternoon so we could have dinner and a sleepover together. The next morning after breakfast we all went to meet Karen's grandsons at her daughter's house. Willie wanted to be in the photo.

Dad & Anne

I did a long weekend road trip from Cville to Greater Corning where several family members live, including my father who will be 91 in 10 days ("If I make it that long"). Mom died early in 2004 and after a tough year, Dad met Anne and they really hit it off.

escape from (Oz) winter trip

Been in the US since 17 June. Of course, the time has flown by, and I leave for home in 3 days. Most of the time I've been in Cville with Jo, Wes and Zara, who turned 4 on 27 June.

Colours

I wish I had a photo of dusk this evening. I went up to the reservoir to run (did about 5K at my usual snail's pace) and rewarded myself with a breather at the viewing platform before walking back down to the Treehouse. The sky was simply amazing with colours in layers. The bottom layer was a band of robin's egg blue; just above that a deep lavender, that gradually faded to a light pink in a sort of ombre stripe arrangement. The natural beauty of this place can't be overstated. Phil and I spent the long weekend just past at a little resort north of here called Agnes Water. Pretty off the beaten path. We chose to drive and see some countryside; long drive but rewarding. I lost count of the number of times one of us said "it's pretty here, isn't it?" Reminds us both of parts of California, if a bit greener overall.

I don't know if I'll really live here for the rest of my life, but if I don't, it will surely be hard to leave.

Poinsettias on the hoof

On the vine? the branch? stalking the wild poinsettia? So, it's June and it's winter here, or so said the news reader on the radio Monday, even though some people might say it's not winter until 21 June. Anyway here are the quintessential winter flowers, blooming away in someone's front garden a few streets over from the Treehouse.

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.