"Gwen Groop"

Morning began normally with a run by the river, this time in the opposite direction. I ran alongside the banks, admiring the mosaics on the pavement. Crossing the goodwill bridge I came within a blink of getting lost (surprise!) but rediscovered the actual trail. Of course, it began to rain but I still managed to take some time out to see the pond in the botanic garden.

A clown?

Brisbane River and the inner city

 Not wasting a second, Christine and I led the eager (haha) students to the Queensland Museum for their scavenger hunt. There was a vast array of stuffed animals… the gross kind… not the cute cuddly ones. They had a random box of stick bugs where I’m sure, looking like a complete goof, I spent a good while trying to get my camera to focus on the tiny little critters.

He posed for me

 After all the papers had been collected (hooray grading!) Bob, John, Christine, Jack and I headed to the nearby market. There were all sorts of artisan venders which ranged from t-shirts to Asian crafts to freaky little cane toad purses. Not looking like toads.. ACTUAL toads. Sick. 

The market

I treated myself to a lovely bag that exemplifies Australian culture as well as a little dress. Super cute! I then hauled it back to the hotel, and I mean booked it. I didn’t have much time to go back, eat lunch, get stuff together AND cram in all the module readings. We met at Wickham park and while dancing around the death-ants, administered a quiz for Brisbane and then afterwards I led a very short module discussion as follows:

“Do you guys have any questions?”

Blank stares. Silence.

“Nope! Okay great so everyone will get a 100.”

Really, it was an enriching conversation.

However, after tying up some loose ends we were treated to the Gecko’s wildlife show which, excuse my intricate language, was freaking COOL. There were all kinds of turtles, snakes, birds, little furry critters and hobos. But the hobos weren’t part of the show.

A burrowing frog

Pig-nosed turtle

ADORABLE

Freaky turtle

Fat-tailed gila

A salty... the more vicious ones. Note the tape.

SO CUTE

Bearded dragon

Goanna lizard

She was really pre-occupied by the trees

Not an owl! This one just happens to look like the bird of prey

A relative of the roo

The guy who gave us the show actually raised the wombat himself! He said the giant marsupial was “bloody stupid” but a great pet. He actually found its mum dead on the roadway and saved the little baby, named Billy, from her pouch. 

Oh, Billy. He was a squirmy thing.

 And I got to hold a python. Freaking awesome. 

New pet?

Tonight we watched rabbit-proof fence. Great movie. Too bad I was grading.