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Buddha Birth Day Festival
The decorations inside the suncorp piazza. Hey everyone, still surviving over here although the bugs are feasting on me good and proper at the sanc. (gill, that 'stingose' has been a life saver even if it does make you look a little odd!).
Was the Buddha Birth Day Festival here in Brisbane the weekend before last and i had some good pics of it so thought i would include that.
It ran from fri afternoon til late sunday eve and was held at Southbank down by the river. It involved lots of live music and dance on the main stage. Some of the music was quite oriental as you'd expect but they also had some rocky and chilled out local bands in the evening. Live music seems to be a big thing here - lots of the bars and pubs have live music (as does our hostel every fri and sun eve in the bar) plus there are lots of people who play on the streets. (Talking of music, look out for a band called 'rogue traders' - its fronted by 'izzy' from neighbours but they're v.good and have quite a funky, rocky sound.Don't know if or when they are coming to the uk but worth
Buddha fountain
Quite tacky looking, i know but check out the cute frogs on the lily pad! a listen if they do.)
They have a little arena thing called the 'suncorp piazza' over at Southbank too and they had various things going on there including more music and buddhist and oriental inspired performances. Its v.hard to put into words what im seeing over here (its probably sounding quite crappy as your reading but hopefully the pics will help to clarify things!)
There were food stalls everywhere selling all sorts of foods that id never seen or heard of before. I tried a few different things for my dinner - noodles, and a veg and chicken dish followed by 'laver cakes' kind of like hot waffles but were round and about the diameter of a loo roll and filled with things like coconut, chocolate or honey; everything i tried was delicious.
Had a look round some of the stalls selling things and others trying to advertise things. Also got accosted by some guy trying to convince me to take up shiatsu with a local club - took a while before he understood that i wasn't going to be staying here and had better things to be doing with my time while i was here!Had a browse
Chinese Dragons
These were some of the entertainment in the suncorp piazza round the weekly art and craft market too; they had some really beautiful things there but not really for my backpacker budget and so early on into my trip. Although might pop back to one or two of the jewellery stalls the week im leaving here and have a rethink!
On sunday night they had a big fireworks display on the river. Luckily, i chose just the right spot to stand and the fireworks were going off directly in front of me. They certainly know how to put on a firework display here; the display lasted for 15minutes with fireworks constantly going off and it was fantastic with some beautiful fireworks. I love fireworks anyway and there's something magical about them that makes me behave like a big kid going "awww, ooooh, wow", i guess it takes me back to my childhood with the family trips to Cassiobury on bonfire night!
Have been at the sanctuary for nearly 2 weeks now and am really enjoying but slackers need not apply!! Have worked in most areas now.
Yesterday was particularly exciting; was allocated to the hospital and the koalas. So initially i spent the morning with the resident
vn, sarah, and she took me round with her to help with her rounds. Koalas can be quite territorial and its not uncommon for them to fight so we inspected several ear wounds, sore eyes and a sore nose. Also gave a paste made from baby formula to some of the elderly ones with crappy teeth to give them a helping hand cos they find it quite difficult to eat their eucalyptus!
Then i got to help with training some of the young koalas to get them used to being held for photographs and being handed between people etc. So for about 45 minutes i got to cuddle 'violet' and 'pepsi'. They were both very affectionate and not at all evil although they did have very sharp claws and violet was particularly interested in my glasses so had to rely on the keepers help cos i had my hands full! The rest of the day, i help to disinfect some of the koala enclosures and replace all their old eucalyptus with new stuff.
Many of the jobs we get to do as volunteers are far from exciting but i feel really lucky and privileged to be able to get
so close to all these amazing creatures and get the opportunity to learn about and observe them. And you certainly get back what you put in cos ive noticed that if you just get on with your jobs and don't constantly moan about things, you're more likely to get to help with some of the more exciting aspects or stuff that vollys (thats what we are called at the sanc!) don't normally get to do.
So what other animals have i worked with:
Red kangaroos - clean out their day and overnight enclosures. They are actually quite big up close but they are all female so could be worse. Also they are generally a bit scared of us so just hop off at the first opportunity.
Emu chicks - they may be chicks but they are 10 months old and v.tall. It was baptism for my first meeting with them. The keeper told me to go and poo-pick their enclosure and change their food and water which in itself is a little daunting cos they are very inquisitive and large birds. She then told me i'd need to take off my glasses cos otherwise they might eat them!!!So
i've got my face down towards the ground to identify the piles of poo while also trying to keep a blurry eye on what they are doing around me and whether im going to be attacked! But ive actually grown to like them lots. Had to feed them dead mice by hand and after realising that they don't hurt and are just like little children trying to investigate everything, now much more comfortable with them.
Lots of other different birds - lorikeets and parrots etc(if any of you ever get close to lorikeets at any point, watch out cos they like to take every opportunity they can to poo on peoples heads-most vollys have been caught out, including me this afternoon!), owls, kookaburras, cockatoos and galahs (all of you who have ever seen neighbours or any other australian sitcom and heard someone being called a galah, well i now know what one actually looks like!). Don't get to do too much with these cos most of them are v.timid and aren't involved in displays for the public. But generally clean them out, change their mulch and give them their food.
Pademelons - like very cute, miniature versions of
'Boris' the Wombat
Not a very good shot but all they seem to do is sleep. Will keep trying to catch 'em when they're awake though wallabies. One of them has been hand raised and is very comfortable with human contact so helped with some physio (has bad front leg, fractured 5weeks ago and now has metal pin in it) and had a bit of a cuddle.
Dingos- look just like family pets but boy, do they sound scary when they start to howl, esp.when hungry!
Also been down helping with the farm animals at 'the barn' - sheep and her 2 lambs, 2 baby goats, guinea pigs, 2 pigs, 2 shetland ponies, chickens and chicks. This is much more like being back in england and all of them are used to being handled so it is very hands on and includes bottle feeding the babies, grooming the ponies and then cleaning everything out.
Thats pretty much it i think but haven't worked with the reptiles yet. Also hoping to get a bit closer to those cute, cuddly wombats next time im working with the mammals. So as you can see, its slightly different from what im used to working with at the vets!!!But it has been excellent.
Moving in with one of the staff at the weekend. Will save me a bit
of money and be easier to get to work and also mean that ill get to experience living in more of a countryside environment for a few weeks. Also the girls there seem to do a lot of socialisng at weekends and have already been invited to some things. Am going to a country show at the weekend - im told this includes rodeo, live music, food and country boys. Should be fun!!
Well, thats it for now. Will update it again in a while cos won't be up to much new stuff over the next few weeks.
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Sarah
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I knew you'd crack...
I knew you'd crack... last week it was a 'new' old skirt (ok inherited) but this week its your pining for jewellery! Oh Jenny I thought you'd keep up this mingey scummy backpacker idea I have of you without your accessories for a long time yet!!! It's great to see some more pics. Im so glad you are so happy and have finally seen real WOMBATS! Its so good to hear you're having so much fun and work is everything you expected and much more!(koala's are v.cute, ice sculpture- v. well crafted!) Feel like i've not seen you in ages, feel free to pop home for a cuppa and a goss (Boris is welcome too) ;-) hugs, take care Sarah x x x