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| Sun! It's study time at the dog park! |
So, I guess by now you’ve realized that we are not daily bloggers…ok we’re not even really weekly bloggers, but we are trying. Between work, school (very time consuming for all) and figuring out/enjoying life down under we are keeping pretty busy! Keep checking back – I am sure sometimes we’ll do better than others!
Pictures tell such a great story and since you all know how much I LOVE taking pictures I thought this blog post would try to give you a photographic window into our adventures.
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| Surfer's Paradise |
When we were living in downtown Surfer’s Paradise we did an urban hike around the area and I had the chance to take a ton of photos of the area. Surfer’s has some unique high-rise buildings, amazing beaches and a lot of canals and islands. It’s pretty awesome to wander around here. We hear that exploring some of the less urban beach towns will be pretty amazing, but we’ll have to wait for a break to spread our wings.
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| Lorikeet (AKA Lories) |
Speaking of wings, one of the more noticeable things here are the birds – from the minute you walk outside you hear them – it’s pretty cool. In some areas, especially at dawn or dusk, it can almost be deafening. When you get the chance to see them it’s pretty incredible, especially since they are exotic and much more colorful than the birds we would see at home. To be honest, I have never been all that into birds in the past, but here I’ve started trying to catch photos of them and will continue to add to my "Bird Album" (hopefully not creepy) as I catch more. Mom – this one’s for you! Birds are a tough subject, so the photos are not my best, but you get the idea.
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| Painted Power Box |
Another thing I have been “collecting” photos of are the painted power boxes. Yet another feature of Gold Coast – who knows maybe in all of Australia, but we haven’t been had the chance to explore too far yet, is the fact that they paint these cool murals on all the street side power boxes. Again this is another album I’ll be adding to as I “collect” more.
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| Hippster Library |
People were asking about photos of Griffith Uni so I have taken a few to give you the idea. Campus is very lush – almost tropical with lots of trees and foliage. We also have what DS & EP have come to affectionately call our “hippster library”. As part of an MBA international student team building activity, we went to the Outback Spectacular which turned out to be a little less than spectacular, so don't worry, we won't subject you to it when you visit. The trained horses and getting to know our fellow MBA friends was by far the best part of this event. They didn't allow photos inside so I can't help you there, but they did give us all these lovely hats to wear throughout the show.
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| Outback Spectacular |
A few big developments here – we have internet in our home (capped, but here) and DK and I recently got ourselves some wheels – this has been HUGE for exploring and shopping! However, with the price of fuel, we still plan to rock the bikes as much as possible. I have a great route worked out from home to work to school and DK, my awesome hubby, meets me at school with food and any heavy class related items so I don’t have to haul it around everywhere. Awesome! |
| Ladies Night with Erica |
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| BBQ with our new friends! |
Making friends has likely been the most fun new development for all of us. We have met a crew of fellow MBA & IMBA students, DS joined Griffith baseball and we joined the Gold Coast Outdoor Meetup group – which introduced all of us to another contingent of awesome peeps, and we’ve come to hang out quite a bit with our new friends, Fernando and Luzma, a couple from Ecuador (Fernando is in our program). They treated us to a FANTASTIC BBQ at their place after David threw down an amazing lasagna for their visit to our place. Looks like the best food in this country is made at home!
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| Broadbeach |
In an effort to further enjoy our surroundings, we hit the Broadbeach Jazz Festival and saw the Zappa/Bjork Big Band which turned out to be incredible. David and I followed it up with some pretty darn good Indian (although, not quite Maharaja). If I can get some video of this up, I will! Another major event for us was taking surf lessons. Without a waterproof camera the best we have are the silly, (yes we were those people) on land practice photos. Needless to say we are hooked! Picking up boards and underwater camera soon - more to come!
We also just recently hit up the Brisbane Festival – RiverFire event. It was Brizzie day and they have one of the more amazing firework shows we’ve ever seen. Not only are the fireworks 20 minutes long, but they include laser light, and the fireworks are over the river and lit off the tops of the surrounding buildings. Fernando and Luzma joined DK and I for the short rode trip to the big city. Can’t wait to go back and explore Brizzie!
We also just recently hit up the Brisbane Festival – RiverFire event. It was Brizzie day and they have one of the more amazing firework shows we’ve ever seen. Not only are the fireworks 20 minutes long, but they include laser light, and the fireworks are over the river and lit off the tops of the surrounding buildings. Fernando and Luzma joined DK and I for the short rode trip to the big city. Can’t wait to go back and explore Brizzie!
That's all for now! For those technically challenged, all the photos are part of "linked" albums (above) so feel free to click on the links and check out the full albums if you're interested.
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| RiverFire in Brizzie |
