Blogs from Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

We took a break from the beach and headed into Brisbane for 4 days. Overall, it was a good experience, but nothing super exciting. 5/10 recommend. Maybe I have just seen too many different cities this past year, but this one was nothing particularly special. The free boat ferry was super nice, although we somehow managed to go the wrong way every time we got on it. I don't think our relationship would have survived another argument over whether we were going up or down river. Our airbnb was pretty much a frat house, with people partying and fighting all night, and a kitchen so dirty that rivaled my college apartment during finals week. We had our own room and bathroom, so we were able to keep to ourselves and avoid the chaos. The best day ... read more

Day 1 Left from Brisbane on Saturday 14th September. Lexus staff picked the car up as organised and have taken it to their storage place and will deliver it when we arrive back from overseas - what a fantastic service they provide - love it and it's free! Flight was uneventful - from Briz to LA was in Premium Economy and then we had an upgrade to Business for the last leg to New York - much nicer!! We didn't get much sleep on either leg of the trip. fortunately it was a quick turnaround from the trip to LA and then the one to NY. We were picked up by the hotel shuttle bus to take us to the hotel for the night in New York - near the airport as we were leaving again ... read more

11 July Another rainy day. L The sun has disappeared for 3 days! Our afternoon activity was to visit the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Garden. Due to continuous showering in the past few days, Connie and I worried that going for a walk in the rainforest might not be a good idea, as there’s no shelter in the botanic garden. In case of heavy rainfall, the students would probably all get wet. Also the ground might be slippery and walking between the woods could have some potential danger. The School then suggested another activity for us: bowling. However, after careful consideration, we decided to follow the original schedule. You can play bowling anytime and anywhere but you don’t always get a chance to see the rainforest, right? At the end we found that our decision was correct. ... read more

LET'S HAVE A PARTY! 6 July Forecasted to be cloudy with showers. But it was all the way sunny and cloudless. In the morning, Connie and I went to different classrooms to sit in a lesson for adult students. I was in a class of level 3 with two of our students in it while Connie attended a class of level 4 where the students were learning modals. According to the observation of Connie and I, the teachers were very active in trying to engage every student by using various class activities. Students also showed their enthusiasm and involvement in learning. Today, a BBQ lunch was arranged for the students. At the beginning, the students looked forward to having a big feast and an enjoyable party. To their disappointment, the BBQ lunch only included two plates ... read more

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you’re all good and had a great Christmas? We had a nice time in Brisbane; I was very very very homesick and missing home a lot! I still wanted to experience a sunny Christmas but wished everyone from home could be here. I was also a little concerned that we wouldn’t get a sunny Christmas, as the rain leading up to Christmas Day was so terrible (cloudy, windy and rainy!)… BRISBANE, Australia Thursday 22nd December 2011 I was up really late and it took a while to get going (I’m always sooooooooo dehydrated, takes a while to come around). Drew and I did some chores (juice for Mildred, Christmas presents and my new camera!) and then went back to watch some Buffy and Whale Wars whilst doing some cleaning (me) and ... read more