...is that a crime scene outline?

Yesterday was just as uneventful as the day before- thus it doesn’t deserve its own post. June 6, I’m sorry.

We drive back in the morning which seemed like the longest two hours… ever. Upon arrival, I spent a good chunk of time bickering with the Astor staff (they will be getting one hell of a review on TripAdvisor). I switched rooms a few times, and lugged around all my stuff up and down the elevators and down the halls… not bitter. 

Afterwards I ran some errands around the city and FINALLY got some sushi. 

Heaven.

That pretty much sums up my yesterday. I’m still overwhelmed by all the excitement that yesterday imparted on my life (sarcasm implied). 

Today: much better. I started with a usual run and then met with the faculty to plan for the final exam. A lot of going back and forth but overall it was an effective process and no one was gravely injured or yelled at. I’d be daring enough to deem it a success. 

Lunch. Yawn.

I ended up recruiting Akshat and Katherine to go to Mt. Coot-tha with me to see the summit view and the Botanic Gardens. It was a bit of a riot finding the right bus (471 at stop number 40 on Adelaide for future reference) but we eventually made it there. The view of the city was stunning- but the walk back down to the gardens was at best… different… at worst potentially fatal. It was a winding mountain road sans sidewalks and lots of speeding cars. Blech. 

The metal map at the summit

The adventurous crew in front of our "home" city!

 Rounding the corner from the quarry, we finally discovered the botanic gardens! It was just beautiful- they had all sorts of gardens from varying origins. We started out meandering through the herb and fragrant garden then through the arid desert portion and down to the lagoon. The mallards were very friendly and we also got a close look at the dusky moorhens with their bright red beaks and orange massive feet. There were some wood ducks that constantly bobbed up and down out of the water in addition to a few ibises- one young and still eating from mom’s used stomach contents. Sick.

Stop to smell the... cinnamon?

Cute little guy!

Bright flowers were everywhere- even in winter

A surfaced wood duck

 We weaved through the indoor desert garden, tropical forest, fern garden (with a creepy chair statue thing), and Japanese garden and through the children’s tag area (which is more like a disaster zone). We paused to look at the water dragon statue which was a little over a meter long when we realized that there was a real water dragon right next to it- about a third of the size. We all stared at it for a good chunk of time, believing it was a phony until it moved. Of course, mini-photo shoot ensued. 

HUGE fern (Giant fern to be technical)

More pretty flowers

I have an obsession with flower photos. It's a disease.

Returning to Brisbane, exhausted, I spent some time enjoying the internet before going out to dinner at Groovetrain with my FAVORITE group of students- the blue group is amazing! It was definitely a splurge as most eateries are around here, but it was nice to not be eating some form of a cold sandwich or something with peanut butter.