A Day in the Life of...

In an attempt to change things up a bit, I decided that all of the beautiful photos from our field trips were getting old and it was time to include some photos documenting the daily life of a student in Brisbane (me). Hopefully this will make it clear that the life of a term abroad student is not all about beaches and parties. So here it goes.. .

A nice little photo of Dan's comfy bedroom. The day normally starts at about 6:30 or 7:00 am with the ring of the fake mobile phone alarm clock. "Sleeping In" in this country is 9:00 am tops.

After a quick tinkle, and throwin' on some clothes, its usually out to the the kitchen where some extremely bland Australian cereal awaits. Apparently they didn't get the memo that cereal is supposed to be mostly sugar with little grain added in for flavour.

Next, its a quick jaunt down the hallway and out the door...

Of course, I always say good bye to my host brother Sam! Later mate!!!!

A nice little view down the hilly Dunsmore Street in the wonderful Brisbane suburb of Kelvin Grove. Is that a tree growing in the middle of the street?




After about a 10 minute shuffle through the neighborhood, I arrive at the Windsor Street #16 bus stop. After about a 10 minute wait, I hop on either the 390 or the 345 into the City.

I wonder how he knew to pose so stoically for my picture. I wonder what he's thinking about? Does he love riding the bus as much as me?

After a nice and relaxing 15 minute bus ride pondering the issues of the day ride, I arrive downtown. I then proceed to get on either the 412 or the 109 to get to the University of Queensland, St. Lucia campus.

Upon arrival at the Uni, it usually take a mintue or two to marvel at the spledid blossoming trees and...

...the beautiful lakes with all their wildlife.

Then, there's the Women's College of the University of Queensland where we have all of our lectures and exams. Apparently males are allowed in the compound only with special clearance.

After a few minutes of last minute studying in the lobby, its usually of to the lecture theatre for an exam.

I'm usally one of the last one's out the the exam. I normally like to hang around at the end and laugh at the exam a little bit after I kicked it's butt... haha.

(Yes... it is raining in this photo. This is a very rare occurance, but it apparently does happen... please do not be alarmed.) Then, its normally across campus through the sandstone-covered buildings of the Great Court to arrive at...

...the Biological Sciences library to study for the next exam.

After spending the majority of the rest of the day studying... its back on the bus back to the city and back to 33 Dunsmore Street for dinner. After dinner, its a little washing up, a shower, some more studying or messin' around, and then to bed to start it all over the next day. Just livin' the dream...

I also wanted to include a couple shots of the noble Brisbane skyline... ain't it so pretty, mate?

I hope you enjoyed a day in the life of Dan. -Peace!

Fraser Island

Fresh off of the Lamington excursion, Steve, Amanda K., Claire, Kerry, Sarah H., and I headed up north to Fraser Island... the largest sand island in the world! After a long and arduous bus trip up the coast to Hervey Bay, my boy Bret picked us up in our rented 1996 Land Rover Defender, which later became known as The Butterfly Slayer! After renting some camping gear and loading the 4wd with a ton of gear, we caught a ferry over to the island to get the show started. These limited photos definetly don't do the outing justice.

An action photo of beach camping on the first night.

A scenic photo of Lake Wabby. Now that's one quite a beach. They say that in about 10 years the dune is going to completely overtake the beautiful lake.

The Pinnacle Pools. Suposedly, its the only safe place to swim in the Pacific at Fraser. The pools offer protection from the Great White Sharks!

Heaps of turtles swimming in one of the perched lakes.

The cool Boomerang Lakes.

And finally the famous Lake McKenzie. Water doesn't get any bluer, and sand doesn't get any whiter!

After 3 nights of hardore camping and 4-wheeling, the crew headed back to Brisbane unscaved to do some school work.



Peace! -Dan

Lamington National Park

On the moring of Saturday October 20th, we all packed on the bus and headed 80 km south of Brisbane to Lamington National Park in southeast Queensland. With the guidance of John Hall, we spent four days treking throught the rainforest checkin' out all the beautiful spectacles.

The main entrance... let the partybegin!

A cool picture of a typical rainforest scene. Some common rainforest plants... liannes, epiphytes (crows nest fern), and trees... missing Tarzan and Jane though.

An awsome waterfall off in the distance.

The same water fall... the veiw from the top!

The Wishing Tree! A huge Brush Box Eucalyptus with its dead core eaten out by termites.

Another amazing rainforest waterfall with the pools at the bottom.

ANOTHER sweet waterfall with crew chillaxin' at the bottom... catchin' some spray!

The noble Antartic Beach (Nothofagus)tree in the cool temperate rainforest, the ancestors of the ancient Gondwanan rainforest. Notice the the impressive coppicing root structure. The entire forest can be made up with as little as 12 genetically different individuals, as each tree just suckers off the massive underground root system.

Crickey! Check out that terrifying rainforest predator poking its head out of its den. Well actually... its just Sarah H. just after she scarred the begeebers out of Sarah A.

A view of the sunset from a canopy perch 30 m (98 ft.) in the air. How romantic...

A pretty impressive view down a massive valley.

A small portion of the suspended tree top walk at night. Eww... scary!

A pademelon!!! and her joey. Awww... how cute!

So long mates! -Dan