This is a summary of my trip to Australia. My aim was to present my research at a conference in Cairns, but decided without too much persuasion that I should take in the sights of the tropical North. Please read as much or as little of this report as you like. It has (hopefully) cool photos of me as you have never seen me. Now you all know that I have done crazy things but look to see what I did to an ant� Read on mes amies�
3 days after my birthday and my head was still feeling it. My stomach was too� A bearded John (for those of you who didn't know I had one--it popped up overnight) I flew off to cairns via Christchurch, Sydney and Brisbane. Not the quickest way to get there but the cheapest. I sat beside some cool people and made a contact with a CEO of a medical web company. Anyhoo arriving in Cairns at 11pm the first thing to hit me was that heat. "We are not in Dunedin now Toto". Woosh goes the jacket. I got to my hostel that looked like a student hostel on a Saturday night� Lot's of drunken and high young people everywhere�. Oh and guys, this place is full of scantily clad young lasses� (and I mean hundreds of them).
Not much happened today. Basically I spent it sleeping and sitting in the warm sun, as well as checking out the city. The temperature was a cool (by their standards) 26 C. Not a bad contrast to the -2 C I left in Dunners.
Daintree river etc� I took a trip North up to Cape Tribulation (named by captain cook as he run his ship aground for repairs there, fixed the boat and was happy, so called it Cape Tribulation). The trip started with a swim (for me--no one else was game) in the pristine waters of a river. Now I have to admit that the waters aren't pristine now. No not what you are thinking but as I dived in the change in temperature did catch me by surprise and I lost my breath and my piece of chewing gum. Not to worry there was a platypus there to help degrade the chuddy. He is probably wondering what the chewy fish is. The trip took us up the motorway to Port Douglas . Jon Peake you were right, that drive has to be one of the best coastal drives I have ever done. Wow. Beautiful ocean meeting the rainforest� Port Douglas is a tourist town with lots to do if you are super wealthy. We then headed to the Daintree river to go crocodile hunting. We found one at 8 feet. In all we saw 7 crocs. however none of them ever moved. I have my doubts that these could be plastic or rubber models. No doubt about it this part of the trip could have been a �wait for it�. a croc. (couldn't resist). We were also supposed to see a snake (none in NZ so novel thing for me). I couldn't see it but everyone was trying to show me that it was in the tree. I couldn't find it so I took a photo of the tree and said I would look later. Well I still can't find the darn thing. For those "where's Wally or (Waldo)" fans I have included the photo. A can of Speight's to the first to find it.
At our Northern most part (cape tribulation) we went on a rainforest walk. Boring I hear you say. Heck no. read on. I learnt so much about the forest, its interactions between trees and that Tarzan was an ecoterrorist as he had to kill the vines b4 he could swing on them.Now one story some of you have heard is that I got to lick an ant's rear end shall we call it. Why? Well funnily enough it tastes of lemon. mmmm when you lick the green tree ant 's butt it gives a huge sharp lemon taste� Bring on the pancakes. However it still remains to be answered who was the first person to think of trying such a thing�.
Another neat thing that I have to show you is in the next photo. These tracks made by small crabs and were all over the beach./
A neat thing seen in the rainforest were the massive birds nests. As seen in the picture below on the right is a birds nest. it was above my waste. Two or three birds (sorry I can't think of their name) made a nest of these..
Sunbathing and beer drinking. Enough said..
Mat Upton (post doc from my lab) and I headed to the Kuranda village. We took the 7.5 km gondola ride to get there. this went over the top of the rainforests. It gave beautiful views of the forest but that was about it. There were a couple of stops to allow you to get in amongst the vegetation but any wildlife and been long scared away. One stop gave awesome views of the rock formations underlying the rainforest..
(or day one of the conference). Well not to bore you with the details of a high powered Microbiology conference, especially since this is the main focus of the next 4 days. I will show you a picture of the amazing venue we had. The Cairns Convention Centre. not a bad place especially the 1800 seat auditorium. However I gave a talk on day 3. I was pleased with how it went and got some good feedback..
At the end of the conference I decided it was time I got a tattoo. Here is the proof to those who don't believe me..
Actually it is a temporary one and it came off after one SCUBA dive..
Yep the conference has come to a close. Most people have started heading towards home to try out new ideas. John headed to the nearest boat to go SCUBA diving. Mat and I went on the trip run by Cairns Dive Centre which operates a floating hotel called the Reeftel..
Our trip was an overnight one and went to three different reefs. We managed to get 6 dives in including one night dive. We saw heaps on all the reefs but the highlights have to be the turtles, sharks and the distant whale. Also some of the fish had the most amazing colours as you should be able to see in the photos..
Some other things that should be mentioned here. We went to a photo gallery of the famous Peter Lik. I thoroughly recommend a look at this web site for a gloat at what good photography should look like. At only $50 you can buy his book and get it delivered to your house for another $50. Or you can buy his prints at A$ 1200 each to begin with or up to $A$5000 by the time there is only one print left. Hmmm I suggest going to cairns to just see them or check them out at www.peterlik.com.
On the Saturday before I left, Mat Scot Beatson and I headed to the nearest pub with a TV to watch the Aussies take on the All Blacks in the annual Bledisloe Cup. What a game with the Kiwis going out to a 24-0 lead in 10 minutes. The Aussies fought back to be one point ahead with no time left on the clock. However a last minute try by love/hate him Jonah Lomu (with an excellent pass from Otago man Taine (NB Taine for captain MARK)) allowed the AB's to win. This was one of the best games of rugby ever and was I glad to be in an Aussie pub when it happened. Now it wasn't us 3 supporting the AB's alone. No, two RNZ navy vessels, Te Kaha and a SCUBA ship (Te Scuba) were in port having been helping out at East Timor. As we walked in it reminded me of a wedding but instead of being asked "bride or groom" it was " kiwi or aussie". We said kiwi backing our nation and thinking that these were Aussies. "Come and sit over here with us and the big screen, MATE". Ah the navy boys had staked out the big screen so no aussies could sit there (they had to make do with the 14 inch TV's). With that last try by Jonah, all the kiwis were jumping up and down and hugging each other. I have to admit that this will be the first and last time I will ever hug a sailor� (I will leave that for you Georgie). Funnily enough too, my old flatmate Georgie's brother was in that pub in Cairns that night. Small world aye..
Boohoo I had to leave Cairns and it's great weather. Today I headed South to the (to be) Olympic city of Sydney. Now most people I know have been there or at least know that it is the largest city in Australia. So because of this I will only put a couple of pictures in as you will no doubt be seeing these ad nauseum during the Olympic games. However no photo album of Australia would be complete without a picture of the opera house and the bridge. Thus I will put the two in as one..
While in Sydney I happened to see a shop named Campo's. Now before I get accused of being an Aussie rugby supporter (those present at the legendary win by the All Blacks over the wallabies 2 weeks ago will know for sure how vocal I show my support for the AB's) I knew that this was the shop owned by the legendary (no other word could beat it) Aussie winger David Campese. Well I had to get photo, so as to send to him a copy one day when I get famous.
While in Sydney I had to go see the area where they filmed the latest Mission Impossible movie. Not that the movie was any good but I do have a soft spot for Nicole Kidman and my feminine friends all seem to have many soft spots for her hubby Tom Cruise.
Well from Sydney where I was staying with an old friend Robin (yes there was some time spent catching up in the good old kiwi fashion ie involving as many beers as possible) I then headed to Christchurch. On the way home you say? Ah no. I then went up to Auckland for another major highlight of my trip�. The Moby concert. For those of you who have not had the chance to listen to Moby then I can guarantee that you should like some of his music as he varies it a lot. Check out his latest album "Play'. It�s the one at number one in the chatrts. His use of different instruments (all which he plays himself, and makes for an entertaining concert as he runs around stage) was incredible. All I can really say is that "he rocked the party that rocked the party and I rocked the party that rocked the party and he rocked the party that rocked the party and I rocked the party that rocked the party�".
The remainder of my time was spent in Auckland seeing old friends including Vanessa, Georgie, Rebecca, Fiona, Jon and Amelia, Geoff and Jo. They kept me busy for the few days I had there.
And so as it goes with all good holidays they must come to end. I am now back in good old Dunedin which as usual is humming with student life. There was no easing back into the hard life as a Phd student. From day one I have been demonstrating labs, doing work and discussing my trip with people. I have busy weeks ahead as people leave (leaving parties), Birthdays (more parties) and a lab ski trip to Wanaka (Apres ski parties) 3 weeks from now.
Now that I have given you an update from my travels and my life I would love to hear from anyone about theirs.
I hope this email finds everyone in good health and happy.
Take care
love