The UQ Indian Student Society’s Garba Night 2009

During my last week in Brisbane, I met up with my pals from work one last time for lunch. Sara asked me what I was doing that night, and I told her I was going to Indian dancing lessons with my friend Sarah. She noted that I was always doing something fun and exciting while I was in Oz and said it was probably because I was travelling.

You know what? She was totally right.

When was the last time you said ‘no’ to something in your city (coffee / movie / whatever) when you could’ve said ‘yes’? I know I sound a little bit like I belong on the set of ‘Yes Man’ but whatever. The point is still good and valid!

If you’re living the role of a traveller, don’t you find yourself so much more receptive to new experiences than when you’re living your regular life at home? Don’t you ever wonder if that boredom you feel on your living room couch has something to do with that ‘I’ve seen everything there is to see and done everything there is to do in this town’ or ‘I’m too tired to go out’ mentality?

Well, if you want to shed that skin of negativity you might be pleasantly surprised. Go Indian dancing!

By the way, that last part was a metaphor — don’t ask me where they have Indian dancing lessons in Vancouver because I really don’t know. Today’s picture was taken at the University of Queensland campus where the Indian Student Society had their annual Garba night. We got to dance with sticks!

Richard and Me at 3am.

Q: How do you know if your party was a hit?

A: When there are still a dozen people left at 3 in the morning playing Mafia!

It’s a little past 4am now and I just got back from a friend’s farewell-for-now dinner party. His name is Richard and in a few days he’ll be leaving for UQ in Brissie! So Brisbanites, if you see this bloke around please say ‘hi’ and make him feel at home. He’s uber-awesome and hangs out with a fab crowd (me included of course )!

Richard, I know you’re going to have an amazing time!! Have fun! <3

Jumping into the World Record Books!

That’s right folks! Today I put myself down in the books as an event participant for the largest number of people jumping on a trampoline at the same time for over five minutes. *big smile*

The event was put on by Pure Health Clubs and was held at the end of Queen Street Mall (across from the Treasury Casino) to benefit the Asthma Foundation of Queensland.

It was loads of fun to jump around, but it was a lot harder than I had expected! I thought we were just going to be silly and jump around for a while, but it was a full on workout and by the end I was sweating like a pig on fire. Sam and Cassie loved it so much that they’re going to start going to the Pure Health Club near the Wicked Campers headquarters after work. Ehon took some time off work to join in as well, and Simon took the whole day off (it’s also his birthday — HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIMON!!) to spend time jumping with his Dad. Good fun and a great way to end my stay in Brisbane. I’ll be leaving for Vancouver tomorrow morning.

PS If you’re in Brisbane, watch the news tonight (any channel — they were all there). We were jumping right in front of the cameras so you should be able to catch us in action.

UPDATE (written October 7): My sister found a video online of the trampolining! I’m in the front row to the left of Sam who’s wearing her Wicked shirt.

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Journey Jottings

With today’s technology, we’re fortunate enough to be able to call each other from half way around the world on mobile phones, tweet and surf the net just about anywhere on the globe, and send and receive messages and e-mails with a simple click of a button. Though it’s always nice to receive an e-mail of message from a friend, nothing beats getting something tangible via snail mail!

I LOVE getting snail mail and enjoy taking the trip down to the mailbox to check if anything has arrived. My sister will ask “are you waiting for something?” Most of the time, I’m not waiting for anything. But, I still like the idea that maybe, just maybe, something cool will arrive for me in the mail. Normally I only get bills.

Today I got to go down to the Post Office to pick up a package and I already knew what it would be, but I was still super excited about it. Linda from Journey Jottings sent me an envelope with Journey Jottings maps of Australia so I could take them home for my niece. Thank you Linda!!

I think Journey Jottings is a great idea. I wish I had thought of getting one and sending it to my niece when I first arrived because I’m always writing things like “I’m in ____ now. Ask Da Goo Goo to show you where that is on a map.” (side note: Da Goo Goo means big auntie and refers to my older sister). Ah well, better late than never right?

Rosella crusted scallop with strawberry and grapefruit dressing at Tukka

I wrote a list of all the blog posts I wanted to write from my Wicked Road Trip and it was a really long list (in blog post time I’m only on September 21st). So, I’m jumping forward a bit to the present to tell you about my dining experience with Sarah last night before I forget what everything tasted like.

I was telling Sarah about how I wanted to try kangaroo again because I suspected that the chef was the reason it wasn’t good last time. She did her usual “Oh!” thing when she gets a bright idea and said we should go to Tukka for dinner. Tukka is one of those trendy restaurants in the West End. Yes, that’s right Vancouverites, not only does Brisbane have the same “Translink” system, skytrains that they call either “citytrains” or the “airtrain”, but they also have a trendy bohemian West End very similar to our own West End. It’s no wonder Brisbane feels like a second home to me.

The Native Platter for Two (minimum order is for 2)

You know you’re at a fancy restaurant when the portions are literally bite size. LOL Tukka takes bush tucker (traditional Australian bush food) and makes it gourmet by serving it in slivers with unusual bush-inspired sauces.

Sarah and I both ordered the native platter entree (note: in Australia, an “entree” is an appetizer and a “main” is an entree) because it comes with an assortment of native berries, home-made damper (a heavy herb bread — I think it was thyme), native dips, kangaroo, emu and crocodile. We also asked to have a bit of Tasmanian possum thrown in as well.

Before our entrees came out, everyone received complimentary appetizers: rosella crusted scallops served on top of strawberry and with a grapefruit dressing. Each plate was really well presented and the scallop was yummy but I wasn’t a big fan of the grapefruit dressing. I know this is a terrible thing to say about food at a fancy restaurant, but you know that sort of sour gaggy taste you get when you’re just about to throw up from too much tequila? That’s what the grapefruit dressing reminded me of. Terrible eh? I’m obviously not cut out to review fancy restaurants…

Sarah hesitant to try the roo

Our entrees came out on one big wooden platter — sushi boat style. Again, the food was very well presented. We started off by trying each of the berries. A couple were on the blander side, one was sour and had the worst bitter aftertaste, the big purple one started off ok like a bland grape and then quickly turned to tasting like a bad grape, and by the end we decided we didn’t like any of them.

Time for kangaroo. Sarah was hesitant about trying this because she’s not a fan of rare meats and the roo was still pink in the middle. Because the meat was so rare, its texture reminded me of sashimi but it tasted like beef jerky and was tender, flavourful and mild. This was much better than the roo I tried at Undara.

Next up: emu. I definitely preferred the roo to the emu. The emu was tougher and I think there was a little bit of tendon to it because it was difficult to cut and chew. The meat had a smokey flavour to it but neither of us could quite put our finger on how to describe the taste of the actual meat. Nothing special, but just slightly different than your usual meats.

The roo and emu also came with little roo and emu sausages. The roo sausage was so good! It was full of spices and had just the right consistency. I was a big fan. The emu sausage was good (you can’t really go wrong with sausages), but it felt more packed than the roo sausage and I didn’t like it as much.

Trying to cut the emu sliver

Crocodile time! *sigh* No croc will ever beat the croc burger I had at Daintree Village! The croc here was a little fishy again and also a little bit on the drier side. It certainly wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t nearly as good. I wish Sarah could’ve tried the burger at Daintree too.

Finally it was time for Tasmanian possum. I haven’t seen possum on any other menu in Australia, and I think I know why: it’s not good. Possum tastes like day old chicken McNuggets. It’s a bit chewy, reminds you of whatever is the opposite of fresh, and you actually feel like you’re eating road kill. Sarah said it reminded her of that scene in Shrek where he’s roasting rats. I guess neither of us are cut out to be food critics. LOL

We finished off with some lemon myrtle tea which was a lot calmer and soothing than I expected. When I think ‘lemon’ tea, I think of a tea with a little kick. This was more like a tea you’d have in front of a fireplace with some heavy cookies just before heading off to bed. A nice ending to an unusual dinner.

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Anyways, I didn’t want to leave you blogless for a day so here’s a blog that I’ve been meaning to write for weeks but never got around to until now.

Mudcrabbing in the Redlands

Catching the First Mud Crab!

A few weeks ago when I was still in Brisbane, Matt from the office invited me to take a trip out in the Redlands on his boat with his six year old daughter India (who by the way, is cute as a button and sharp as a whip). The plan was supposed to be to motor around the mangroves around the Redlands area (about an hour south of Brisbane) and have lunch on one of the islands. Since it was August (technically still “winter” in Australia), we didn’t think we’d catch any mud crabs. But, for the sake of my entertainment since I’d never put out a crab pot before, we put out four pots anyways. By the way, why are they called “pots”? They’re not pot-like at all; they look like netted cages.

It was lots of fun zooming around the mangroves in Matt’s tin boat and attempting to fish. LOL We didn’t catch any fish, but I did manage to catch India on my first cast. After that, Matt made sure that she always had her goggles on when I was attempting to fish.

When I pulled up the first crab pot, at first I only saw a little fish caught in it. Then India exclaimed that there was a crab! When I saw it I yelled out too because it was MASSIVE! This thing was bloody huge for a mud crab. It was missing it’s larger claw, but it’s smaller one was the size of my hand!

Matt turned the pot over so that the crab would land in the bucket, but he missed so it fell into the boat instead. This gave India a little scare as the crab reared it’s claw and was in full attack mode. Matt covered the crab with a sack and then tossed him in there where he sat until it was time to be cooked.

From the Beach at Peel Island

After that, we went to Peel Island for lunch. Matt cooked up some sausages while India and I went scavaging for little clams and seashells. The sand on Peel Island is very rough and probably good for pedicures so I rubbed my feet in the sand quite a bit. I suspect this is when the midgies got me! I came back with over 30 bites all over my legs!!!

We thought we were really lucky to have caught the one mud crab, but when we pulled out the next three pots, we found we caught two more! The last pot would’ve had a crab in it too, but someone had stolen it. Bastards. We knew it had been stolen because the pot was opened and there was a small crab leg attached to the netting. It’s common for a crab to lose a leg in the process of tossing them out of the pot.

After the day of crabbing was done, I caught the train from Cleveland back to Brisbane and fell asleep along the way (it’s an hour long ride). When I woke up, I thought “oi.. what’s that smell??” It was ME!!! Man alive did I ever stink. LOL

Matt cooked up the crabs at home and brought them into the office for everyone to try. They were delicious! If you bought this much mud crab in a store, it’d cost you over $100.

Thanks for a great day out on the water Matt!

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Tips for Travellers to The Redlands

1. If you go out on one of the islands, cover yourself in insect repellant! Midgies are tiny and mean little buggers that’ll bite you before you even realize they’re there. The bites itch like crazy.
2. If you get a chance to go out on a tinny boat, do it. Zooming around the mangroves and across the water is lots of fun. Most people in the Redlands own a little boat for these kinds of weekend trips.
3. The only washroom out on the water IS the water, so go before you leave.
4. Be prepared to get dirty if someone invites you out on a fishing or mudcrabbing trip. By the way, the word “salmonella” doesn’t seem to mean anything out on the water.
5. You are only allowed to put out four pots per person when mudcrabbing and can only take back male crabs that are of a certain size. You can buy cheap pots for $10, or fancy pots (like the one in the picture) for $70. There are some mudcrabbing tours you can go on in Cairns, but I don’t know of any in the Redlands. Matt was thinking of providing tours for backpackers and tourists in the area though, so if you’re interested let me know and I’ll forward your info to him.

My Wicked Campervan at Maroochydore

I survived! LOL

I had been freaking out the last couple of days about this road trip because it’s the first time I’ve ever done a road trip on my own, and the first road trip where I would be the driver. Add that to all the other factors I mentioned in my previous blog post = uber-nervous me.

Oh man, you should’ve heard me cursing during the first hour because I kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of the signals (EVERYTHING is backwards in Australia). I got the hang of it by the time I hit the highway though and once I did…

I LOVED IT!!! I felt so FREE cruising along in my Wicked Campervan.

It’s surprisingly a lot easier to drive a large van than a small hatchback because you’re sitting higher up and you get a better view of everything that’s going on around you. I think it’s probably safer to drive a large van than a small rental car if you’re going on a road trip.

Jackpot!

I drove non-stop from Brisbane as far as I could before it got dark (which ended up being Maroochydore — not very far).

I know Wicked Campers’ website says you can park just about anywhere and sleep in your van, but in Canada that’s illegal. I had a difficult time wrapping my head around the idea so I stopped at Cotton Tree Caravan Park to ask the woman at the reception desk. She said she had seen lots of Wicked Campers stopped along the sides of the roads and as far as she knew, nobody ever got a fine.

So, I drove down to a parking lot near a public washroom and got ready for bed. When I walked into the washroom and found that they had showers, I thought I really scored big time. I felt like such a hobo! Haha

I did keep expecting someone to start knocking on the window telling me I couldn’t stay there, but it didn’t happen. The mattresses that come with the van are really comfy so apart from getting a bit chilly at night (I left the side windows open for air), I had a pretty good sleep.

Tips for Road Tripping Travellers

1. If you need to stop for the night and you’re travelling near a coastline, try to find a parking lot near either a look-out point, surf club, or beach entrance. They usually have free showers and washrooms that you can use.
2. Buy one of those small hand-crank flashlights (<$10) before you leave. They come in handy when you’re fumbling around the back of your van trying to get it ready for bed.

Next Stop

The plan right now is to go as far North as I can, as quickly as I can, and then make my way down Queensland at my own pace.

Many thanks to Wicked Campers for sponsoring me on my month-long road-trip with a Wicked Van!

Me and My Wicked Van

Ahoy all!

Guess where I’m going? On a WICKED ROAD TRIP!! WHooOOoHoOooOoo!

Wicked Campers is sponsoring my month-long trip around Queensland (many Thanks!) by loaning me this decked-out 4WD van. Cool eh?

This is the first time I’ve ever driven in a Wicked Campervan and I was a little worried at first for a few reasons:

1. Driving rules are backwards in Australia (drive on left).
2. There’s this gear shift thing on the floor that I’ve never seen before and it has something to do with 4WD but nobody at the office has ever used it and the car manual is in Japanese.
3. The biggest car I’ve ever driven is a Prius (not very big) so driving a big van is definitely new to me.
4. Wicked Campers has an empty tank policy where you get the van without any gas, and you return it without any gas. I was worried I wouldn’t get to the gas station in time…

The Wicked Diesel Story

Because Wicked Campers has an empty tank policy, the first thing I had to do when I got the van was get to a gas station, and quick. Mark from the Wicked Campers depot gave me a map of how to get to the nearest gas station. I followed it, but missed the gas station the first time and had to do a large circle around trying to find it. I was really worried I’d run out of gas before I got there.

When I got to the station, I felt both relieved and really stupid because I couldn’t find a diesel pump! The sign said there was diesel available, so I was walking around the gas station trying to find a pump I could use. I finally went inside and asked the woman where the diesel pump was. She pointed to the pump right in front of my van. “Oi…” I thought. “I’m so glad my name is painted on the side of the van, just so everyone knows who the dummy is around here holding up the line because she can’t find the pump that’s right in front of her.”

I walked back to the van and realized that I hadn’t seen it before because it was covered by a large sticker that said it couldn’t be used. Self-esteem recovered. I went back in and asked if they had any working diesel pumps. Nope. The woman had just asked the manager and apparently they had just installed the diesel and so the pumps weren’t working yet.

I eventually found a gas station that had diesel. It cost me over $60 just to fill the tank up 3/4 of the way, but I was glad to have finally succeeded in getting fueled up.

Next Stop

I’m leaving Brisbane a lot later than I had planned. The van wasn’t ready until 11am for pick-up and I left the depot around noon. By the time I got back to the apartment to finish packing, it was already past 1pm. Now it’s 3pm and I’m rushing out to try and avoid traffic. I’m probably going to be right in the middle of it.

Because I’m leaving so late, I’ll likely just drive to Mooloolaba for the night (possibly up to Noosa). I’ll update and respond to messages as soon as I get to another spot with a power point I can use.

Drip coffee — a novelty in Australia

I was about to start uploading pictures from my mudcrabbing excursion, when I came across this picture of McDonald’s coffee and it doesn’t really go with the mudcrabbing so I decided I’d devote a blog blurb to it.

In case you didn’t already know, I [heart] coffee. In fact, I love coffee so much that my first two university papers were written about coffee (the history of it for an English paper and the effects it has on memory for a Psychology paper).

Australia has great coffee, but there are a few differences in terminology here that I think are noteworthy for a North American coffee lover:

In North America, a “regular” or “black” coffee means a cup of drip coffee. In Australia, a “regular” is usually a “flat white” (think latte but without the 1/4 foam) and a “black” is usually a “long black.”

Around 2004, Starbucks changed all of their coffee machines in Canada from the traditional manual hand-held espresso machines to the fully automated monsters. Since then, they haven’t been able to produce a real “long black.” A long black is a black coffee made through the espresso machine where the water goes through one scoop of grinds until you tell it to stop. Because the automatic monsters will only allow you to produce one shot per scoop, if you order a “long black” at a Canadian Starbucks you’ll either get several espresso shots that fill up the cup (if the barista is really nice), or an Americano (a couple shots of espresso with hot water). If this has changed, please let me know.

In North America, a “macchiato” is like a latte except the shot of espresso is put in after the hot milk is poured rather than before. In Australia, a “macchiato” is a small but strong cup of espresso with a bit of milk on the top to give it a sort of light brown top that trickles down through the coffee. In North America, you normally don’t have to add anything to the macchiato because the fancy drink you’re ordering (ex. caramel macchiato at Starbucks) already has lots of sugar in the syrups. In Australia, you need to add your own sugar and I usually put two in mine.

In North America, a “short black” at a Starbucks is a very small cup of regular drip coffee. In Australia, it’s an espresso shot! I found this out at a McDonald’s one day when I ordered it and thought the cup they gave me was really light (they serve the espresso shot in the same cup size as a regular coffee). I opened the cup to find that it was 80% empty but the shot that was in it was strong stuff.

I’ll admit Australia has a much better appreciation for coffee than North America, but sometimes you just want a cup of the stuff you get back home. Whenever I asked for drip coffee, the barista would look at me as if I was daft. Who wants drip coffee? That’s shit. Yeah yeah whatever. I eventually stopped asking at the nicer coffee bars.

Then one day when I was in Mooloolaba I got all excited because I found regular drip coffee on the menu at McDonald’s! When I ordered it though, the server said they didn’t have any and they only served the espresso pronto drinks (ie flat white, latte etc). You have no idea how disappointed I was.

Then last weekend when I was waiting for my train at Central Station, I walked into the McDonald’s to get breakfast and lo and behold I saw a pot of DRIP COFFEE!!!! I was SO EXCITED! The server was laughing at me a bit, but I didn’t care. I’d been here for over a month and a half and this was the FIRST time I came across actual drip coffee. It cost the same as a flat white, and it was worth every penny (by the way, Australians don’t have pennies — your total price gets rounded down to the nearest five cent denomination).

Sitting on a Fallen Scribbly Gum

As of two weeks ago, I could officially say that I’ve gone proper bushwalking!

My roomie (Dan) and I decided to hike the Glass House Mountains because I heard there were decent trails there and he hadn’t gone on any of them before. We set out with two trails in mind for the day (Mount Ngungun and the Tibrogargan circuit) but only made it through one (around Mount Tibrogargan) because the journey to the Jack Ferris look-out that was supposed to take 25 minutes turned into a three hour quest up and down an unknown and unmarked mountain. Bushwalking. Proper.

Here are a few things I learned from this trip:

Random Tidbits About the Glass House Mountains

1. In the picture of Mount Beerwah and Mount Tibberoowuccum, you’ll see a distinct divide of “Christmas trees” and gumtrees. The gumtrees are what you’re supposed to find in this area, and the “Christmas trees” have been planted for harvesting.
2. The scribbles on the gumtrees in this area are made by burrowing insect larvae.
3. The Glass House Mountains were named after the large glass furnaces they had in England back in the 1700’s when explorer James Cook arrived in the area.
4. There is an aboriginal story about the Glass House Mountains that tells the tale of a father (Mount Tibrogargan), mother (Mount Beerwah) and son (Mount Coonowrin). One day, the sea was rising so Tibrogargan told Coonowrin to help his mother to safety. Coonowrin was cowardly and fled leaving his mother behind. Tibrogargan was so infuriated by Coonowrin’s cowardice, that he chased him and broke his neck. Coonowrin still hangs his head in shame.
5. Along the trails surrounding the Glass House Mountains, you’ll find areas where it looks like someone just decided to dump a bunch of sand. I’ve been told it has to do with the Glass House Mountains being extinct volcanoes.

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Bushwalking Tips

1. A compass doesn’t do much good if you don’t have a proper map.
2. Sometimes, the sign posts are robbed of their signs. Why? I don’t know. But because they’re sometimes missing, a proper map is very handy.
3. If you plan on going proper bushwalking, wear long socks that cover your shins. You’ll be scratched to bits if you don’t (I’m living proof).
4. If you want a good walking stick, find some grass trees (they look like big fountains of grass with a big stick growing out of the middle — we saw some that were 2 metres high). The sticks from the grass trees eventually break off and they make very sturdy walking sticks.
5. Tip for hiking the Glass House Mountains: Try to avoid wearing very breathable running shoes because the sand on the trails goes right through the mesh and you’ll want to stop every once in a while to dump it all out.