Secret gem in Indooroopilly

It was a really nice weekend with sunny blue sky and we had planned to go to Bribie Island for camping. Unfortunately, poor Am just realized how far behind she was (and still is) with her thesis and stuffs so camping had to be called off. Hur....

Anyway, that was compensated by a nice picnic at a park in Indooroopilly on Sunday afternoon. We decided that the weather was to good to stay inside the house so we look up an interesting park nearby for lunch. I picked out a park called Sir John Chandler Park at the end of Meiers Street in Indooroopilly. It is next to Brisbane river but much quieter than the area around our house because there is no CityCat running past. There are good facilities, sheltered benches, barbeque, taps and etc. And best of all, there were not that many people at all. It was really peaceful and transquil. We had lunch and picked a shaded spot for a little afternoon snooze on the grass. I brought a big travel rug and pillows along so it was really comfortable.

So there it was, a little paradise we just discovered. We are definitely gonna go back there again. So that can be my motivation to finish all my works as quickly as possible so we can have nice weekends like that soon.

Canberra

I went to Canberra on Tuesday to make a new passport at the Thai Embassy. Poor Jo had to wake up early to send me off at the airport at 6.30 am as my flight was scheduled to leave at 8.15. The traffic was not so bad so I had some spare time to plan for my travel in the capital city of Australia.

The plan touched Canberra Airport at about 10 am. I was going to take a shuttle bus into the city and make my way to the embassy after that. But luckily the lady at the information desk helped me find the embassy address and suggest me to take a cab. It cost about 20 dollars but was worth it as I later knew that it would take at least half an hour to walk from the city to the south side of the lake. Anyway, the passport procedure didn't take too long and I got to talk to some nice people at the embassy. One person later drove me to the Office of Educational Affair that takes care of my scholarship. The people at the office is also very nice and they brought me out for lunch in the city. I had a really tasty Combo Laksa at Noodle House, an Asian restuarant in Sydney Building. Yummy..

Then I got dropped off at the Parliament House by the kind 'Pi Pi'(Thai word for older people). I met up with Sophie, my lecturer's daughter, who works at a Ministry there. She is so lovely and friendly. Sophie showed me offices of the Ministers and also the one of John Howard, the Prime Minister. We got some drinks and went to the enclosed courtyard for a rest from all the walking. After we parted I wandered around the public gallery section a bit and headed off to the Floriade.

Floriade is an annual flower festival in Canberra to celebrate the arrival of spring. It took me about 30 minutes to walk there from the Parliament House. On the way, I passed by the old Parliament House and had to cross the lake. There are huge parklands in Canberra and great bike paths especially around the lake. Flower beds in Floriade are arranged into country themes. They are really beautiful but as it is an early period of the show, many of them didn't look quite impressive. After spending over an hour with the flowers, I went to the National Capital Exhibition which is basically next door. The audio-visual display of the creation of Australian national capital is very impressive. I wish I can do that sort of thing for a place in Thailand someday.

Well, after a good amount of walking along the lake, I contacted Sea, a fellow Thai scholar who studies at ANU. We went to a talk on Job Opportunity in Thailand at ANU and meet some more Thai people as well as people from other countries who are learning Thai. Then we went to have dinner at a Thai restuarant where Sea and her housemate usually work for. I had stire-fry chicken with bamboo and Sea had masman curry. We also had some glutenous rice with egg custard for dessert. Yummy, again. =)

A night on a couch at Sea's unit went alright although I didn't actually go to sleep until 2 am. Waking up to watch the news about military coup in Thailand at 1.30 was also interesting. I left Sea's place before 9 am and walked around in the city a bit to take some more photos. Then I caught an airport bus at 9.45 am to catch my 10.35 flight. The bus arrives to the airport at 10 am and my check-in went smoothly. That's the shortest trip I've ever travelled by air. But I kinda like how it makes me feel a bit like an on-the-move career person, so quick, effective and totally opposite to my real nature. =P

Ten canoes and rainy Saturday

We were supposed to go to the Valley Festival at Chinatown on Saturday. But the weather was not so inviting to go standing outdoor watching music bands as the sky was covered with rain clouds so we decided to go to the movie instead. We went to watch Ten Canoes, a story of aboriginal people about how they used to live. It was.... different, I would say. It was very slow and there were not much in the storyline except some subtle jokes about marriage. Anyway, it was better than being locked up in the house.

So many things to do!

Yeah, it's Friday! I had a meeting with my supervisor this morning which I didn't really have much to present except the 2 page introduction I have written. Well, I got some corrections to do which took me forever to get them right even though there were not that many. And since then, I haven't really done much which is not very good for my plan of finishing the draft for the thesis by the end of this month.

Anyway, it's almost weekend and we are going for lunch at the pizza cafe at the Schonell Theatre in a short while. Lew can't really work, Jo is hungry and I am not having a productive time anyway so I think we'd better off doing something else and leave Brett to work in peaceful and quiet environment. =P

And later on, we are going to play ten pin bowling with PRESS, our favourite student club. =) Yeah, it's hard being a student, so many distraction. =P Anyway, I shall not say too much about things that are not work-realted or else people might get the wrong idea. Hehehe. Back to work now.....

My UQ picture

A few weeks ago I was contacted to be in the photo session for UQ oversea promoting program or whatever marketing activity for the university. Well, they took my picture as well as many other students and supposedly we are going to be seen in brochures attracting international people to study here. I'm not quite sure if my picture would attract viewers or drive them away. =P Anyway, I got a free photo taken, fair deal. So here it is, Am at UQ.

Full on weekend

Oh dear, I almost couldn't believe what a weekend I just had. Jo, Michelle and I left on Friday evening to camp near Mt. Warning so that we could climb up to see the sunrise on the summit. The detail is well provided in Jo's blog. It was fantastic despite the part of getting up at 3 am, 2 hour walk in the dark and freezing cold wind.

Then we went to Byron Bay in the afternoon. We got a good campsite at Clark's Beach which can look toward the sea. I'm sure Jo would put up a good text and photos in his blog about this so I won't repeat it. In summary, we had a nice walk to the headland and saw adorable dolphins under beautiful weather and had a great t-bone barbeque dinner with gourmet side dish.=)

It rained on Sunday and we had to pack up out tents in a rush but they got a bit wet anyway. We drove up to the lighthouse and wait for the rain to stop which ,luckily, it did. Although the weather was kinda crappy, we had an awesome time seeing whales from the most easterly point on the mainland Austalia. They were really wonderful. We saw cute cloud of vapour from sprouts after sprouts and the big splash of water resulting from multiple fin flapping action. We even saw the whales jumping out of the water fully which I believe called 'breaching'. It was so beautiful to see the arch of its dark back agaist the white color of its ventral part of the body even from such as far distance. I think we spent almost an hour watching and waiting for the whales to do some more cool tricks. =P

We had a nice fish&chips lunch on the beach and were accompanies by loads of seagulls. They were pretty funny. at about 2.30 pm, we were forced to head home as the rain poured down again but that's probably a good thing since that made us got back to Brisbane before dark.

Overall, it was a great weekend with too many good things to contemplate. Thanks to the excellent company of Jo and Shell, the experience was really special to me. =)

What did I do this week?

Well, not much really. I had a great plan of working hard on my research but somehow it just didn't take off. I spent a lot of time procrastinating by searching for my friends on the internet just to see what they are up to (freaky, isn't it?) Then there was a bad news of the passing of Steve Irwin aka The Crocodile Hunter which shocked us all. And here I am, writing a post on Friday after spending quite a substantial amount of time visiting my old friend's blog.

I don't think I'll get much done today as we (Jo, I and Shell, our friend) are heading to Mt. Warning this evening. We plan to climb up to the summit of Mt. Warning for sunrise and go to Byron Bay on Saturday for a night out. So we'll see if our physical strength will be up to that.

Weekend without hot water and meeting the Ruffords

When I got up at about 9.30 am on Saturday morning, I had a great plan of talking a warm shower and washing my hair. But I found out later that there is no hot water. Darn it! We first thought that it's just a temporary thing as our hot water system never works properly anyway. But it turned out to be a serious problem as when the plumber who came to 'have a go with it' found that there was not gas coming into the system. So, it seemed like there would be no hot water for at least till Monday as we have to wait for the plubmer who specialise in this thing to come.

Yeah, what a bummer! But luckily, we had planned to spend a weekend away somewhere else. Jo and I went with Tom to his parents' house up at Mooloolaba for Father's Day. We left on Saturday evening. We got a really warm welcome from the host and a great meal with BBQ beef, chicken, yummy baked potato, healthy greens and plenty of alcohol. =P

On Sunday, we started with bacon, eggs and delicious pancakes with loads of fruits. Then it's time to go to the beach. We spend a while there walking along the lively beach under the warm sun and looking at people. Jo and Tom went swimming but I'm too wussy to get into the cold water and big waves so I just sad and enjoy the weather on the beach. When we came back to the house, it's time for lunch. We got to meet the grandparents and the rest of the Ruffords which is really cool. Lunck was fabulous with copious amount of food. There were lamb, beef, chicken, ham and cheese schnitzel, pumpkin salad, another salad, Asian style noodle, spinach bake of some sort, plenty of bread and fruits. That's not the end yet. After that there were desserts which are apple pie with custurd, vanila slices (my favourite) and cake with cream. Oh my, it was the best family gatering I've ever attended in years!

Then we played a short backyard cricket game to help digest the food. And it's time for afternoon tea. We look at some video and photos and walked to the beach in the late afternoon. It was a really nice relaxing way to spend the weekend (except eating the food part =p). Finally, we left the lovely Rufford family's house and headed back to Brisbane. We arrived home at about 8 pm I think. There is still no hot water. But what the heck, we had an awesome weekend anyway. =)

Unproductive day

I have a really hard time concentrating on my work today. I started my day with a nice morning and a meeting with my supervisor which went well. I know I would have to work hard(er) in this month if I want to finish writing my thesis before the end of October. I am not going to let the 'last minute syndrome' make me stressed out because the due date falls in the period shortly after my parents' visit. So my goal now is to work super hard and get the bloodything done!

But it seems like today is not a good start. I could hardly spend more than 5 minutes on my stuffs. I procrastinated a bit by googling pictures, names, people ant etc. It didn't really cheer me up but rather make my mood worse. I was pulled back in the old destructive thoughts that I have been trying to avoid. It wasn't good, I know. But I still let myself wander into it. The 'inclement' (new word I learned from Lew) weather also didn't help making things better.

Lunch was good though. Jo was really sweet and talkative so I couldn't let myself to degrade his mood by telling what kind of annoying thoughts I have been messing with. Well, it's probably not so bad after all. I'm still procrastinating and digging deeper into things that are not really useful to me. Okie, I think after I finish writing this, I'll go back to really do my work. I think I have enough of unproductive time today.

Bad day happens sometimes but if I can change it, I'd better do that, shouldn't I?