Christmas 2008

Christmas has now come and gone for another year. This year was another quiet one as Mum had to work in the afternoon. Even so, in the morning we had a breakfast/brunch after opening the presents under the tree and then watched a few videos in the afternoon. It was a good day.

Sea Otters gambolling in the wild, wild surf

I must say that I’ve read some weird books in my time but I’ve just finished reading one that must take the cake. I started reading the novel two days ago and have just finished reading the 260 or so pages of the oddest storey I’ve read (including those with characters such as Orks or Wizards)! This story by John Bennett involved a 16 year old kid who’s just sat his ‘A’ levels. He finds an odd plastic statue in a 99p shop. The statue, a balding man shagging a pink, glittery otter, intrigues him so much that he flies around the world trying to find out why it was made. It was written the way a 16 year old would speak so it took a little getting used to, even more than the implausible and ridiculous journey he goes on. The book was total crap, but the odd thing was that I couldn’t stop reading it. Sea Otters gambolling in the wild, wild surf certainly makes me think though. It would be great to just get up one morning and head away from everything on some pointless quest. Maybe I just need a holiday!

Roadworks or just traffic jams

I’ve just driven back down from the coast and you would not believe the amount of road works that are going on between 100 kms or so of road between Logan and the Sunshine Coast. At points it seems that the whole of the motorway is a road work zone. One thing that did annoy me tonight though was the change of speed limit signs for road works. Now I am all in favour of them lowering the speed limit when the road workers may be in danger but when the signs are put out and the traffic forced to slow down to 40km/h when there is nothing there is just pointless. It is so frustrating to sit there in traffic at 10 o’clock at night when you just want to get home. Words can’t describe how infuriating and exasperating it is. I guess the fact that there are so many road works about at this time because of the current state governments inability to conduct forward planning and put off costly infrastructure projects until the road system is so bad that there are traffic jams from before the sun rises, to well after it sets!

Gliding over Victoria

On Saturday I was given the chance to go up in a glider above Bracss Marsh. It was AWESOME!!!

Second Semester Results

Today my marks for semester two of this year came out. Although overall I am pleased if not a little amazed. My marks are below.

Subject	Class Title	Grade
COR 111	Environment, Technology & Sustainability	Distinction
SCI 102	Biodiversity and Environment	Distinction
LFS 112	Human Physiology	Credit
PUB 102	Environment and Health	Distinction

I was thinking that I wouldn't do as well for Human Physiology but I did thing I would scrape in with a pass. Therefore a credit is more than I thought I would get. I am curious to know why I didn't do better for Environment, Sustainability and Technology. For the assessment pieces I scored highly and although the test contained very dopey questions asking for the answer you thought the teacher thought was right as opposed to the correct one, I thought I'd get a HD. I didn't an I am quite amazed. Unfortunately I won't be able to find out why I didn't get one because you don't get a run down of what you did wrong. You just have to accept it. Never mind. I should be happy.

Mum's 60th Birthday

I'm writing this from Melbourne where I came down to surprise Mum for her birthday. Mum went down to Melbourne to visit Laura and to help her get some of her wedding preparations done. I flew down the day before her birthday and surprised her. We took Mum to the Melbourne Aquarium. The aquarium itself is not that big but pretty interesting. There is a shark viewing area where you look at them swim around in a big tank that surounds you. It is quite breath taking to sit there and watch them. We also watched them get fed which was interesting and looked quite unsafe. Not that the sharks would intentionally bite them. Just that they would put the food right up against their mouth then pull it away as they tried to bite it. Then they would throw it towards their open mouth pulling their fingers away at the last minute. I'm guessing with they probably have quite a few work place accidents. That night we went out to an Italian restuarant off Lygon Street called Michelino's. I had a pizza which was very nice.

End of Semester 2 and the oncoming holidays

All of the exams are now finished and I'm now at a bit of a loose end of what to do. I am on the coast for another week and then I move out of where I am staying. After that, I don't know what I'm going to do. I need to get a job now but I don't know what I should look for or where I should look. I'm going to head out to Alice Springs in January so any work that I get would only be temporary (four weeks worth). At the moment I don't really know what to look for or where I should be looking. I think that I will apply for some temp work, hopefully I'll be able to find some that will give me enough money to return to uni next year. It's amazing how quickly my saving have deteriorated over the year. I don't know where it goes and don't really have anything to show for it. Either way, I need money.

Consistency. Is it too much to ask?

I've got a big question regarding the marking of assignments.  I've just received back an assignment with the comment that I used too many newspaper articles.  The assignment was to pick two topics from a newspaper and write about them.  The only newspaper articles I used were to reference the original article the rest were peer reviewed scientific papers and one website of an environmental organisation where I mentioned the 'environmentalists view'.  Did the tutor even look at my assignment?  I probably lost a point because of that!

That's one thing that I've noticed with the marking of pretty much all my assignments this semester.  It is just so confusing.  I've had teachers write over my graphs with things like 'use 1/3 of a page, bold here, more information, and so on'.  Then for the next assignment I go and fix those things and I get it back with something totally different.  Why can't they just take their time and look at it properly while also being consistent in their marking.  One of the teachers said to be when I questioned the way a question was phrased "you have to look at the question and think about what it mean".  Call me lazy but if I'm in a test I don't want to have to sit and think about what is wanted when the teacher didn't phrase it properly in the first place!  

So far it doesn't look like I'll be doing as well as I did last semester.  It's so frustrating and I'm not the only one who has this happen to.  My classmates tell the same story but only to deaf ears.  I don't know... tut tut tut.

Getting to know the neighbourhood

I’ve just come back from a walk.  I don’t usually go for them but I decided that if I’m going to loose a bit of weight for Laura’s wedding then I will have to start sooner rather than later.  I left at about 9:30 at night after I’d had dinner.  I thought a half an hour walk or so would do me good and help me to burn off a bit of what I’d eaten today.  That was the plan anyway.  An hour and a half later I finally found my way back to my unit.  So much for my plans of a quick walk.  The streets around here are like a rabbit warren.  You follow one trail thinking that you will end up some where and end up totally going in the opposite direction.  I actually though that I was heading north but actually started heading south right to the edge of the housing estate.  I’d say that part of the estate would be at least a kilometer away as the crow flies so I probably walked around 5 km through the streets and for the most part didn’t have a clue where I was going.  I’m pretty sure that I passed one part of the lake twice and only managed to find my way back when I noticed some high voltage power lines that run towards the university.  I picked a direction and finally made my way back.  My legs certainly are tired now.  I think next time I’ll go walking when it is light and I can see where I’m going, either that or there will be more people around to ask!

Gone bush

Last week was the final week of the holidays and Stewart and I decided to pack up the truck and go camping.  We were actually panned to help out with a fauna survey that was being conducted in Barakula State Forest which is about 400 kms from Brisbane near the town of Chinchilla.  We set off at about 5 o'clock Monday morning.  That was the plan anyway but by the time the ute was all loaded the time was nearly 6 and the sun was well up.  Still we had plenty of time and stopped for breakfast in Gatton.  We arrived in Chinchilla and followed the directions to the forestry office to meet up with the survey coordinator, Rod.  The dirt roads out there were suprisingly good and although going sideways a couple of times on the more sandy bits there were really no problems.  The camp site was just a part of the forest that was more thinly wooded than the rest and after finding a shady spot we pitched our tents.

The next morning the hard work started.  We had to set up 10 lines of traps.  He had the help of a Dingo with a drill.  When I say Dingo I actually mean a small digger with a hole boring attachment and not the canine variety.  It made things so much easier, especially in the Brigalow.  In the Heath it was just sandy soil while in the Brigalow area there was about half a foot of soil and then the drill would stop.  The traps, which consisted of large buckets about one and a half feet deep would then have to be dug into the hard, dry clay that was at the base. Putting 6 lines in the heath area took about two hours while putting in 4 in the Brigalow took nearly 6.  That's how hard it was.  And this was with a team of about 12 people.  Still once they were in with the lines set up it was time to relax.  

Each morning and afternoon we checked the traps and we found quite a bit.  We found a goanna, legless lizards, skinks, geckos, house mice (and one of the little buggers bit me!) and a couple of hairy looking centipedes.  I took my camera out there and took a few photos of what was out there.

Me holding a Golden-Tailed gecko when spotlighting at night.

A Yellow Faced Whip Snake (Demansia psammophis) that Stewart found under a log while spotlighting.

A Stone Gecko (Diplodactylus vittatus) that I found on a stick.  They usually sit on sticks that are close to the ground and when you come close they hear you and can slip off into the darkness.

This Golden-Tailed Gecko (Strophurus taenicauda) was found on the first night.  After spotlighting we came back and Stewart found this one on his tent.  Here he is being released onto a nearby tree.

This Delma plebeia was found in one of the pit traps that were out on the heath that we checked in the morning.

Katie and Aaron's Wedding

I've just come back from Sydney where I attended the wedding of Katie and Aaron. They got married.  It was a nice wedding held on Katie's parents property in Western Sydney.  It was a really nice wedding and the meal served was totally vegan and very nice.

Aaron and Katie posing for photos after the wedding

Spring has sprung

All of a sudden, winter has gone and spring is here.  When I got off the plane yesterday it was 19 degrees, today it is around 25 and beautiful and sunny.

Mid Semester Tests

I’ve just had an exam today and I don’t feel good about it. It was for a subject called Environment and Health. The course is basically about public health, Ecological biodiversity, climate change and sustainable food production. The test included everything we’ve learnt, or at least gone over in the past 5 weeks of uni. It is a strange subject where you don’t have to learn information, only really concepts and models. These are then applied throughout the different genres. I’m finding it hard to get my head around the complex reasoning required but hopefully I’ll be able to do it within the next 5 weeks. Until then, back to the readings.

A Cold for Winter

I’m just getting over a cold at the moment and I hope that I’m soon feeling back to normal.  I got it last Saturday and started to sneeze and snort.  In fact I had so much to blow out I was beginning to think that someone had shoved a wet cabbage up my nose while I was sleeping.  Even though a week has now gone by and I’m feeling pretty much back to normal I’m still sounding like Donald Duck with his head in a bath.  It’s odd that you get like that when you have a cold.  Everything around you seems to be dulled down, the volume turned down oh so slightly, like you are walking around with ear plugs in your ears.  With out the background noise it seems to remove you from life.  Everything goes on around you but you are not a part of it.  The little background noises, traffic, feet stamping on wooden steps, birds chirping in the trees, background conversations.  Even when someone is speaking to you it still is hard to hear them when they don’t speak up.  I know what it’s like for people who are loosing their hearing how, though, hopefully it will be back soon.

There's no where else like Fridays!

I went out to a going away party last night.  Kathrin (One of my ex-housemates) is heading back over to Germany (where she calls home).  We had a few drinks over at her new place and then went out to one of the clubs in Mooloolaba.  There it was a quiet night with only 3 fights breaking out.  Usually it's a lot rougher.  Last time I went I was on the dance floor when a fight broke out right next to me.  It's kind of freaky watching a fight in strobe lighting.  In general though, I've noticed that it is really funny watching drunk people in action.  When drunk, people start making inane, pointless conversation to absolute dickheads (others met at the club that is, not the guys I went with).  During these conversations emotions seem to go from undying love to outright hatred and back again in the blink of an eye.   Maybe I'm getting over the going out and partying stage in my life now, of course, maybe I'm just getting too disillusioned by the caliber people out there today. Who knows?

Trying to Bee a photographer

Today I've spent taking photos.  This is a photo of a bee that I took this afternoon in the plant that is outside the front.  Not bad for my first day taking pictures.  I am certainly glad that I bought the camera when I get shots like this.  Now I've just got to try and make them clearer.

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Happy Snapping

I am now the  proud owner of a Nikon D80.  I finally made my decision with the help of Stewart and several camera shops in Brisbane.  I actually bought it through the internet and picked it up from their Brisbane office the next day.  It's all very exciting, now I've just got to figure out how to use it.

Buying a Digital SLR Camera

At the moment I am looking at buying my first digital SLR camera.  I've been looking at a few and there are two major contenders.  The first is the Nikon D80 while the second is the Canon 40D.  They are both excellent cameras with many excellent features.  At the moment I'm still trying to choose between them.  I want a digital SLR so that I can take more varied photographs including macro.  I went and had a look at both cameras today.  The Nikon is easier to use but the Canon has a better lens choice.  Now I've seen them I will cogitate and hopefully come to a decision.

Passing First Semester

Today I received my results back from my first semester of university.  I wasn't confident on how I went but thought I would at least pass.  I wasn't really in a rush to check them and forgot about them until mid morning. Hoping for a pass mark I logged on to SOLAR.   I shouldn't have been so worried.

Course

Title

Program

Official Grade

COR109	Communication and Thought	BSc(Env H)	Credit
SCI103	Cell Biology	BSc(Env H)	High Distinction
SCI105	Chemistry	BSc(Env H)	Distinction

Not bad.  I am now looking forward to looking over my exam to see which questions I got wrong, but, I don't they let you do that.  Never mind.  I'm happy with the results.

End of Exams

Today was my final exam from my first semester at uni.  It was for cell biology and to tell the truth I don’t really know how I did.  I actually finished about 15 minutes early and didn’t really have a good look over to see what I’d forgotten or if I could answer any questions better.  I just packed up and left.  That was kind of how it was.  When I’d finished reading through the paper during the perusal I knew what it would be like.  I didn’t seem to know anything on the exam.  Genetics, cell communication, cell cycle or plasma membrane.  I couldn’t remember anything.  I baffled my way through and by the end I just didn’t have a good feeling.  I was speaking to a friend after the exam he was saying what he put for some of the answers and I reckon that the blood must have been draining from my face.  I have to wait until the 5th of July to find out how it went and whether I passed or not.

A testing time

Last Friday I sat my chemistry exam.  I know I wasn't ready for it and that was proven to me in the short answer section of the exam.  I didn't get the bit on finding the pH value or even how to balance an equation.  I know that now, but there's nothing I can do.  Anyway, it's all academic now (in more ways than one).  Hopefully I managed to scrape in with a pass but chemistry was pretty hard.  

Another hard exam that I have coming up on Tuesday will be my cell biology one.  This is one that I want to do really well in but I haven't been able to study really for the past couple of days as I've been not feeling my best.  Today though, I seem to be improving and am going to go outside in a minute to continue with my study whilst sitting in the sun.  I'll be revising metabolism and the cell membrane and structure today.  Wish me luck!

Love is in the Air

Laura gave me a ring yesterday morning to say that she is now engaged to her boyfriend (now fiancé), Paul Wilson.  It's pretty exciting news.  They seem to go really well together and I'm sure they'll be happy.  He proposed when they went out for dinner on their anniversary.  The wedding is being scheduled for some time in June next year.

Laura and Paul

Ponderings on a Sunday morning

The sky was dark when I awoke from my slumber.  The wind howled outside, shaking the trees and screaching through the buildings.  It was quite loud.  A continuous groan, coming with peaks and troughs, but always there.  I lay in snug in my bed this morning looking out the window at the trees thrashing about.  It was like winter had come to us overnight.  The sky at that time was a dull grey but over the past hour and a half has turned to its usual deep blue.  As I've watched it change, it's got me wondering.  More of sitting here in wonder I guess, just thinking about the world and how it is able to support life such as ours.  I was thinking about what I new and what there was still to know.  I wondered about...

1. Wind.  How gusts can flow across the land.  If wind is caused by pressure then are the gusts caused by pressure on a much smaller scale?
2. The colour of the sky.  The shorter blue wavelengths are absorbed by the atmosphere and then radiated across the sky while the longer wave lengths such as the reds, yellows and oranges are not affected by the air.  The colours of sunset however are caused by the change in refraction of the light as it bends across the atmosphere.  The light takes a longer route through the atmosphere and less of the light reaches you.  Shorter wavelengths are scattered out leaving only the longer wavelengths.  Is the grey that is seen in the mornings due to the blue wavelengths refracting around but due to the position that they are hitting the earth causing even the blue, at that stage, to be refracted out.
3. Colour vision.  What would the world be like if humans didn't have colour vision?

I'll have to find out the answers to these questions.  Of course, there's always questions, it's just getting the answers that the hard part.

Buffer Practical Write Up

A buffer solution, or so Wikipedia tells me, is a solution "that resists change in hydronium ion and the hydroxide ion concentration (and consequently pH) upon addition of small amounts of acid or base".  I read that and immediately thought "WHAT?"  Now, three weeks after being told about them and learning all I could I am slowly getting it.  At the moment I am having to write up a lab report on an experiment we did with buffer solution and testing the buffering capacity of the local lake water (sodium carbonate solution).  I have one day to do it and so the race is on.  Well, actually it isn't as I'm instead writing this addition to my blog as head through procrastination valley all the way to panicsville.  I'm sure I'll arrive there later on tonight as these reports take about 10 hours (non stop - yes I've timed it) to write up.  They are only worth 3% and with all the other things that are due at the moment are quite a low priority.  This morning for instance I handed in an assignment for Cell Biology that was worth 20%.  I'm actually sitting here nibbling on a few almonds and a few raisins (I probably shouldn't mention that they are incased in a chocolate bar) and planning the report.  I'm confident that I'll finish it by tomorrow afternoon (it's due at 2 pm) so I guess that is the reason I'm not yet worrying.  I've just got to make sure I get off before Fail City.  Now where's that map?

Sleepless Nights

The clock has just ticked over 3:25 am and I am still sitting here, wide awake.  I just can't seem to get to sleep lately.  Of course, when I finally do I don't like to get up early either.  Usually I get up about 9 or even 10.  So why can't I get to sleep at night.  I'm not worrying over anything that I know of.  I don't know what it is but I do wish that I could get to sleep.  These nights aren't the best.  Lying awake in the darkness, waiting for sleep to overtake you.  I read the other day that sleep has been described as the dove that will only land when you pay no attention to it.  I like that analogy.  It's kind of true.  You can' t make yourself fall asleep, you just do.  Odd that.  

When you can't get to sleep you mind becomes more active.  In the darkness your mind becomes more alert, throwing up questions, situation and scenarios at you that you don't think about in your everyday life.  It is sort of like dreaming, only without the refreshing sleep part.  Take tonight for instance.  In the 4 or so hours that I've been trying to get to sleep my mind has covered things like:

1.  my movie collection and why I like the movies I buy
2. my uni work and which subjects I may choose next semester
3. my housemates party on the weekend and whether I should go
4. how I can get past the stage I am in playing GTA 4

5. that I really need to tidy my room and do my washing tomorrow

These are weird things.  What's more you don't just think about the subject, you go in to depth. What time I should do my washing and which coloured sheets I should put on my bed while these ones are getting washed.  Why people leave odd socks in the dryer and why is it always socks that you loose.  Then I went on to contemplate my odd sock collection and why I keep them even though their partner probably won't be found.  Then I wonder whether I should just wear them anyway.  After all, if you are wearing trousers then who really sees your socks.

These thoughts just went on and on.  Maybe that's what keeping me awake.  Worrying about my odd socks.

Underwater World

This weekend me and a couple of people from Varsity went to Underwater World.  It cost $19 to get in (using my student id for the first time), and was pretty busy.  The queue was actually out the door.  The displays that they had in there were quite impressive.  They have whole aquatic landscapes in each enclosures.  

A grey nurse shark that is in the tank.

Here is me standing in one of the tubes downstairs.  These tubes go through 3 large underwater tanks with lots of sharks, sting rays and other fish in there.  The walls are about 5 inches thick and their curve makes all the fish look approximately 20% smaller.  Even so, they looked pretty big to me.

Nearly 30!

I am now in my 29th year of life. I can't believe that I am now nearly 30. I think back at everything I've done over the past years and I have done quite a bit. I have seen quite a few things that a lot of people never get the chance to see. I've been to China, the UK, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, Canada and parts of the US. I've held venomous snakes (not too venomous). I've lived in Brisbane, Alice Springs, London and now the Sunshine Coast. I've done many different jobs from upholsterer to designing web pages and networking computers to administration and office duties. I've completed both primary and high school and now 10 years after finishing my secondary education I'm finally undertaking my tertiary undergraduate studies. As I look back and I've accomplished quite a bit. I have some great memories and have met some great people too. I come to ask myself a difficult question. What next? I guess after much roaming it is only natural that I would want to find a place to settle down. That will hopefully be my next step. Of course I will still travel and see amazing sights but I think that I would like to by myself a little slice of Australia. A house or flat, something somewhere to call it my own and make it my home. Of corse before that there will be a lot more study and I know that things might change. Come to think of it. They usually do. I'll just have to prepare for the unexpected.

29 Today...

Today was my birthday. I went down to Brissie to spend it with Mum and Dad. Laura also came up with her boyfriend, Paul. Actually was a good day. We didn't do that much. Mum made a scrumptious cooked breakfast and that was pretty much it. Later on that night we went to a German restaurant in Highgate Hill for dinner. I had a rabbit dish with a yellow sauce on a bed of carrots and it really was nice. It was a good end to my birthday.

Starting at the University of the Sunshine Coast

I am sitting here in my new room on the Sunshine Coast.  Orientation week is now over.  I survived ‘O’ week but how much of the actual semester I’ll survive I don’t yet know.  I have been looking in to some of the text books and lecture notes that are in the book shop and for the ones that I am doing they seem to be a lot more maths orientated than I would have liked.  In fact, it seems that every page I opened seemed to have some sort of mathematical equation on it.  Now, I’m no good at maths.  I don’t mind saying it as I only managed to pass grade 10 maths with a sound, and received a limited achievement in grade 12.  So as you can see it’s not looking too good at the moment.  Of course this is just speculation on how I might cope as I haven’t even had a class yet.  I don’t know.  I’ve been out of school for 10 years and have pretty much forgotten everything that I was taught in school including quite a few of the basic mathematical concepts.  Ah well.  Have to see how it goes.  I have until the 29^th of March to decide whether or not I would like to keep going with the subjects I have chosen and can change them without penalty up until that point.  I will give it three weeks and then decide.

So what are my thoughts on the past week or so?  On the accommodation front everything is fine.  The room is a little smaller than I imagined and a bit more cramped but all in all it is all that I need.  I must say though that the people who run the Varsity Apartments where I am staying seem to be a bit anal.  It seems like the smallest thing upsets them.  The house rules are very strict.  Take for example this afternoon.  I came back to the flat and found a note on the workbench.  They had come in to ‘clean’ today which we are supposed to get done every fortnight in the common area.  I don’t know what they did.  The workbench still had crumbs all over it.  It did look as if they had vacuumed the settee though.  What else they did I don’t know as I can’t see it.  Anyway the note said that the microwave was not clean enough and that the bin had not been emptied.  Now, I’ve only have one meal in this place and have never used the microwave so neither of these things applied to me.  Even so it said that if they weren’t rectified by the next day then each resident would be slugged $50 to clean it.  That would be $200 to clean the microwave and take out the rubbish.  They certainly know how to make their money out of the tenants.  The fact is thought that they are supposed to be cleaning the common area.  I really don’t understand how they can claim to do the cleaning and then say it wasn’t clean enough for the cleaner.  Then they have the gall to say they will charge each resident $50 if it isn’t done.  It just doesn’t make any sense.  Come to think of it, The uni also does that.  Despite paying about $1900 per unit (4 units done each semester equalling $7600) with the government paying most leaving a student contribution of around $2600.  You still have to pay for your internet usage in the library which would be paying for researching things for uni assignments.  You also have to pay for the hire of safety equipment in the labs or buy it yourself.  While I’m having a gripe on how much everything costs, each text book is nearly $100 and they don’t just give you one to buy per subject.  Oh no, sometimes it’s 2 or 3 books  you need to get.  They certainly no how to make money out of you.  At the coop bookshop you can become a member which gives you a 10% discount on most books you buy.  Of course you have to pay to become a member.  Another thing that I didn’t realise is how far away the campus is.  When I chose this uni I thought that it was just on the other side of the city and it would be pretty easy to go home for the weekends if I wanted.  Well it is on the other side of the city just two hours away from it.  It take quite a bit of time to drive here even though it is only 100 km from Brissie because of the traffic.  There is traffic from the time you get on the South East Freeway until you get off the Bruce Highway and on to the Sunshine Motorway.  It is quite far away indeed.  I also didn’t really budget for not having to pay for the petrol to get up here.  When I get Austudy it will only be $355 per fortnight with $70 pf as rent assistance.  After paying for my accommodation it will only leave me with $145 per fortnight to live off.  As a tank of petrol can get me 400km and it costs around 80 to fill the tank the I could go home at weekends but I would not have any other money for anything else.  Of course that is if I get Austudy.  I only applied today so I am just hoping that everything will be alright and I’ll be able to get it.  I have also filled in an application for an equity scholarship.  If I got one of them it would certainly help me out a lot.  We’ll just have to see on that one.

The university campus is nice enough.  For most of the week it was overcast and drizzely but yesterday the clouds cleared and today there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  The campus itself is pretty modern the centre piece being a building that looks like a cheese grater or an upturned shopping trolley.  The rest of the buildings circulate out from the library with lawns and gathering areas in between buildings.  It is quite nice.  There is a mob of kangaroos that seem to hang around the campus which is quite nice.  On the first day they were sitting on the grass in the middle of the university watch everyone arrive.  I think that they are quite tame as they always seem to be hanging around the people there.  This week I have been attending the orientation activities such as lectures on note taking, time management, reading skills and subject specific information.  There have also been tours of the campus and today there was even a free sausage sizzle put on by the Rotary Club.  Classes start next week and hopefully everything will go well.  I’ve teed up to by an old chemistry book of one of my housemates and the rest I’ll have to get early next week.  On Monday I think I’ll head in to find out about the interest free loan that you can apparently get from student services.