well, i just attempted to have a conversation with vick, boudy, and miranda, but apparently there is some sort of delay on the phone...something to do with being 16 hours ahead or something...anyways, they're having a party tomorrow (today), so everyone should go. note to everyone: delays in phone calls cause lots of confusion; both ends speak at the same time a lot. i'll try and refine my phone skills.
since i'm so behind (as always) i will start with today's news and work backwards to the point where i finished in my last entry. the past few days have been dedicated to finding a place to live. not as easy as it was back in guelph...i went to see 9 places yesterday and they were either a piece of crap, or nicely done up, but 6 other chinese people were crammed into it and they just spoke to each other in chinese...which would be fine, if i weren't so white. most places don't have internet access (except for the asian households..), so that's also a bummer cause i'd have to go to internet cafes to use the net (we have a limit to how much we can use at the library, and i figure i may need to use that for work). so. i've visited/called all the places that i've been able to find on 9 different websites...and....now i'm wishing for a miracle. all the other international students seem to be on the same page as me though, and i can't complain cause it's much worse for them cause they're living in a hostel and just need to find a place to stay. i am currently still at my aunty's house and starting to go a little crazy cause there are always people in my room and i have no personal space. and no wardrobe space. ever live out of suitcases for 2 months? i should just choose 3 sets of clothes and just rotate them until i find my own place. then i don't have to sift through all my bags everyday. where was i? oh yeah..house hunting. also, there are a lot of places that are available, but are in scary neighbourhoods. the city is unbelievably unsafe. everyone locks their doors (my family locks both the screen door and the door door, and it's the kind with a key and it's pretty hard to turn...so for the first few weeks i kept thinking that i would definitely be in trouble if there was a fire in the house cause there's no way i could open two doors with a key under pressure...), wait, i think i've talked about this before...i'll continue on anyways...my female cousin has been robbed twice (robbed, as in someone came up to her and demanded money) at the train station, and two days ago my aunt and my uncle were in the bank when it was robbed...anyways, there's tons of little things that make this place seem so unfriendly and unsafe; they tell us to look for houses with security bars on the windows. ugggghhhhh.
enough complaining about house hunting...
let me tell you about heron island.
sit around kiddies, this is a nice story.
heron island is a wonderful island situated off the coast, near Gladstone. there is only one ferry that goes there once a day (unless you're rich and can afford the helicopter). it is approx 400x800 meters big and accommodates a resort, and a research station. i don't know much about the resort because the resort people don't like us research people much. apparently it costs many times more to stay at the resort than it does for us students to stay at the research end, so they're not so happy about it.
as we glided (glode?) through the waters on the ferry we saw manta rays all around the jetty (pier)...the water is crystal blue and the sun is shining strong. when you get onto the island the first thing you notice is the smell/sound/look of birds...skinny black birds with white heads ALL OVER the island...i hear as many as 75000. they populate the trees, the ground, everything. expect to get crapped on at least once a day. look down and see planks with the words "mutton bird nests" all over the ground, throughout the whole island. Another breed of bird, the mutton bird, lives underground here, and at night make sounds comparable to WhhhOooOoOOOoooOOOoOooOOOOO....quite creepy, and takes a while to get used to. cabins are made for 8 people each, no a/c, but a nice fan (which probably won't reach your bunk). if you're lucky you will get a cabin that has a toilet and shower attached (outdoors). at nights the island is pitch black except around some residential parts, so expect to get caught in some mutton bird holes, expect to step on some birds, expect to get very lost....and expect to hear some HUGE turtles digging nests. you may follow them up the beach (please crawl slowly behind them in the sand), and sit quietly by them as they dig and lay. expect to go to bed covered in sand every night.
in the mornings throw on your swimsuit and get on the snorkelling boat (unless too hung over from the night before, the waves make it worse) and snorkel for an hour somewhere on the Great Barrier Reef. See huge marine turtles (probably green or loggerhead), manta rays, sting rays, eagle rays, sharks (reef sharks), squid, octopus, myriads of fish, coral, starfish, sea cucumbers, whales (a rare sight at this time of year), and so much more. get out of the water, have some breakfast/lunch, sit and read inside cause outside is just too hot, or go and bake on the beach. sit in the shallow water and talk and play with sea cucumbers (watch out, they shoot their insides at you if you touch them too much), or play frisbee on the beach while shin deep in water. then, choose to go out for another snorkel or dive. continue on this way until dusk. then, go and walk on the beach and see baby turtles intermittently along the beach trying to make it to the sea. you're not supposed to help them or save them from the seagulls, but if your heart can't take it and you have to help a little (throw a rock at a seagull), then no one will tell. if you're really lucky, see a baby turtle nest erupt with turtles, sending at least a hundred babies to sea, covering the beach with little turtle prints (and you may be lucky enough to catch them on video tape...). watch the turtles go into the sea and get eaten by the reef sharks...wade in as far as you can to scare them away, but realize that sharks are probably smarter than us and end up getting the turtles anyways. be sad, but be joyful at seeing such an amazing sight. it'll probably never happen again. continue doing this day after day until they force you to leave. eat well, drink well, and play well. learn lots while you're there. try to avoid bad news while on the island, but if it does come, let the beauty of the island help you through bad times.
love heron island. i did.
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