Sunday, June 3, 2012

Koalas and Kangaroos Galore

Hey all!

It's been a little over a week since I last posted, and I have been quite busy running around the city exploring as much as possible. Last weekend I traveled to the city and walked around the Queen Street mall, enjoying a sunny and beautiful Saturday morning. I made my way over to South Bank for a bit before meeting up with my roommate and her sister who took me to the town of Bulimba for fantastic sushi! I've never before gone somewhere that serves sushi on a model train, so this one was a first. It was delicious, plus you didn't have to wait to order a dish, you just grabbed what you wanted as you sat around the train. Amazing.
Downtown Brisbane from South Bank

Sushi Train in Bulimba!!
That Sunday I spent walking around the neighbourhood near my apartment finding all sorts of interesting cafes and shops. It really is great area!
A view from my walk home from work
I spent the next week in lab transcribing interviews from the NICU study and reading articles that explain the measures. I will be going on a home visit as a part of the study this week, which I am really excited about. They use many of the measures that I've learned about in my psych classes, so it will be great to see them in action! I've also been running about attending seminars. I've now attended a lecture on attitudes towards ageing and how that risk factor may be modified to prevent depression later in life, as well as one about CNS regeneration strategies. Both talks were fascinating, especially as both were on topics I'd written about in one class or another.
Now for this weekend: On Friday night I went rock climbing (indoors as it was raining) which will prepare me for climbing the cliffs at Kangaroo Point in a few weeks. I'm really excited about these plans (also, it's completely safe; I'm totally strapped in, so no worries!). On Saturday I got up early to travel to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where I spent several hours playing with all sorts of Australian animals. It was fantastic!!
Cuddling my new best koala friend

Walking through the kangaroo section of the reserve

I could not believe you were allowed to play with all the kangaroos!
After my animal adventures I went to dinner with my PI and her family. It was great fun getting to know much of her extended family (I have a picture from that which I can post soon). I had another low key Sunday, walking around the neighbourhood to a local winter festival. Even with the fake snow I really don't think this counts as winter!
In all I am having a fantastic time exploring the area. I will be traveling to Melbourne in two weeks, and the last weekend of June I will be traveling to the Gold Coast for a 10K race. The following weekend I am flying to Tasmania to visit family. I'm so glad to be able to travel all around this side of the country during my stay here - it's such an amazing place!

Cheers,

Kerri

P.S. Cathy - I am going to work on uploading a video of some crazy bird calls. They're all so funny here!

2 comments:

  1. great shots of you and the animals! i can't believe you can hold them! your science sounds great too!

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  2. Very cool that material from your courses is "jumping out of the pages" this summer. And awesome photos! A sushi train?! I'm just giggling at the kangaroos, for some reason they remind me of that old Gary Larson cartoon about the boneless chicken ranch :)

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