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.

Federal Election

The past 3 years have gone very fast. The last time a federal election came around I was living in London and went to vote at the Australian Embassy. This time I am in Alice Springs. A far cry away from the hustle and bustle of the London or any city in fact. My new house backs on to the school where the voting was taking place. That means it was only a 5 minute walk to the poling booth. I went in the back way to avoid all of the candidate supporters who were handing out the how to vote cards. I walked up, gave my name and they gave me my voting cards and I wandered over to the booth to fill it in. In the senate I voted for the Greens first and CLP second. In the House of Representatives I voted for the Greens followed by the independents and down the line with the CLP and Labour last. Even though I voted for the Greens as my first preference I did want Kevin Rudd and Labour to get in. I believe that John Howard has lost touch with the common man and after 11 years we really needed a change of government.
I've just found out that Kevin Rudd is now going to be the new PM. I wonder how he'll do and whether a lot will change.

To A Room Of My Own

I have now left Bhram's place and have moved in to my own. I now live about in Gason Street which is about a 10 minute ride from work. It is a nice place and the people there are quite friendly. I am sharing with two girls, one is a lawyer and the other a yoga instructor. Also living there is a dog and a cat. We also get peridoic visits from the neighbours kitten. Both of my new housemates seem pretty friendly so hopefull it should work out well. It seemed to be harder this time to find a place. I am too truthful as I always tell people that I might only be there for 3 months as I have applied to go to university. That's probably why it took me around 4 weeks of looking to find somewhere. I am all settled in now and it was good to finally have my own place again.

Climbing the Rock

On Friday night we drove down to Ayers Rock (otherwise known as Uluru). I went down with some guys from work (Aaron, Katie and Mark). The drive down was long but I took my turn at the driving. While it was day light I got up to nearly 150km/h but when it started to get dark, Aaron took over the driving and the speed went down to 120km/h.

We stayed at the campground in the cabins that they have there which cost about $35 each (there were 4 of us). It was basic but as we were getting up at 5:30 the next morning, it was all we needed. When we got up the next day and went to the sunrise viewing area, drove around the rock, walked to a waterhole and then climbed the rock. I seemed to go very well climbing the rock and didn't really need to rest that much. It is a steep climb, about a 45 degree angle or steeper in some places. I guess it took about an hour to get to the top. We were back in the car by about 9:30. A morning well spent. After that we drove to the Olgas (Kata Juta) and had a piccie taken there. After lunch in the visitors centre we were on the road heading back to Alice.

Moving In

I moved out on Sunday. Not to Grant Road but instead to Bhram's (a work collegue) place. I decided that the one on Grant Road was just too far away. So now I am staying at Bhram's place. I moved in Sunday afternoon taking a few boxes with me. The rest of my stuff I put over either Aaron's or in the storage cupboards at work.

Living at Bhram's is okay. He gave me his room which kind of makes me feel like I am imposing even though he says that he usually sleeps in the other bed. I don't really feel that I can make the room my own or really settle in there. I have no space in the kitchen for my food, no room in the fridge and he still has lots of boxes in the room I have been give including a wardrobe full of clothes.

I am still looking for a place in a share house. I know that I will have to shell out more money than if I stayed at Bhrams but I think it would be a lot better for me to find my own place.

Moving House

I'm moving house. The lease is up and Matt is heading back to Darwin to start a new job up there. That of course means that I have to look for another place to live. I started looking 3 weeks ago but as yet I've been turned down at one place and the rest were just too expensive or didn't contact me back.

I went and had a look at a place yesterday with Aaron, we went straight from the gym. The house was about 5km from the middle of town, which, in Alice Springs terms is a long way out. The Larapinta area seems be a mix of public housing and private homes, a lot looking run down but a few looking very presentable. The house was basic with little furniture but the people were friendly enough. There is also a mad camp dog that also lives there and for the entirity of our visit it was jumping up and down at our feet. I told Penlope that I would give her a call tomorrow and let her know whether I wanted to move in or not. I then said I would move in only when Aaron pushed me to make a decision. When I said I'd give the lady a ring he chirped "why? It's not like you have anywhere else!" I tell you, friends these days...

So I said I'd move in on Sunday, although I will still be looking for another place before this weekend as I think I would like to live closer town. I'll have to see if I can find anything closer before the weekend. If I do I will just tell Penlope that I won't be moving in.

On the Radio

This morning I was on the radio. I haven't heard the broadcast but Viper said that she heard me on the radio so I can only assume it was when I was stopped in Yepeyerenye Shopping Centre by a lady from the ABC called Celia. She asked me a couple of questions on my views on climate change and how I believe the government should deal with it and wether I think what they are doing is sufficent. I had my say and I think that a bit of it would have been played. I would have liked to hear the broadcast but I guess that I'll just have to see if I can get it on podcast.

Always Wash Your Hands!

Today was the day of the official launch of the Hand Washing Project. The hand washing project is something that EH has been running for the past year or so. In Central Australia they made a hip hop song and some adverts to reinforce the hand washing message. It was a busy day with the Director of Environmental Health coming down to launch the project. It was a very busy day but all seemed to go ahead pretty much to plan and with no major hicups. I was in charge of the audio visual stuff and so it was pretty nerve-racking to get up there in front of all the people and make sure that everything works with out a problem. There was an error message that started coming up about 5 minutes before with a loud beep. This went off every 30 seconds or so. Nothing I did could stop it going off but when the presentation started it seemed to stop. I don't know why but I was certainly very glad. Now the next big thing to organise is the Christmas lunch. Hopefully that will be a lot less stressful.

Rain

A dust storm blew in yesterday. It just dropped over the town. If you looked towards the horizon you could see the dust just settling on the town with blue sky above. In the afternoon though you could feel a change coming through. First a cooler wind started to blow and then the clouds came with it moving in from the south west. At about 6 o'clock the first few drops started to fall. It rained on and off all night. Not much falling, but enough to clear the air. When I woke this morning the sky was still cloudy and there was a cool breeze blowing. It had stopped raining and the ground was dry. Most of all, the air was clear and smelt fresh. It doesn't happen often so when it does rain, out here in the desert, it is really appreciated.

Fallen out the tree...

Yesterday I found a bird that had fallen out of a tree. I was out with Aaron returning a telly. He was returning his 68cm telly for an 80cm telly. As we were leaving the carpark I spotted the bird which was sitting under a tree at the bottom end of the carpark. I asked Aaron to get out of the car to have a look and one of the parents who was still hanging around swooped down on him. It was a magpie lark who looked as if he was almost ready to leave the nest. He had all his flight feathers but his tail feathers just hadn't grown yet. They take about 8 weeks to fully fledge and I think given another week or two he would be all set to fly away. Anyway, we left the little bird there and took the telly back.

Later in the afternoon when the shops had shut, I drove by and once again saw the bird sitting in the carpark. I climbed out of the car and walked over to him. This time the parents must have gone as I didn't have any trouble. The bird didn't resist as I picked him up and placed him in my hat. I took him home and put him in a box. I would have liked to keep him and rear him myself but as I'm going to be moving in 3 weeks I don't think I would have been able to give him the full attention that was needed. It was better all round I think.