This week has been pretty busy as usual! On Friday for Outdoor Pursuits class, we went canoeing at Coolwater's Caravan Park located a little ways away from Yeppoon. It was in a lagoon type area so we weren't battling the current as much as if we were to canoe right out on the open ocean water. This was very fun! I've been canoeing before but that just consisted of friends and I renting a canoe and leisurely floating across Lake Vermillion haha. Here, we were taught various different strokes and techniques for efficiently maneuvering the canoe. Yea... I'm probably not going to remember any of them but I was pretty good at them at the time! My friend Pauline (from France) and I worked really well together with our canoe! The wind was blowing hard on Friday so we had to work extra hard to get basically nowhere (or so it seemed)! Sadly, it was our last official Outdoor Pursuits class. Patrick (our instructor who's last name also happens to be Tucker) talked the finance office into letting us go on another cruise to the Keppel Islands! He seemed about 95% sure that it was going to happen in two weeks or so but we'll see! I'm very excited to go there again, it was beautiful!
Yesterday (Saturday), was the Winter Wonderland Ball on campus. It's basically the equivalent of high school prom. I wasn't too sure that I even wanted to go (the tickets were kind of expensive) but then someone told me that it included a catered dinner so.... that was pretty much the deciding factor- I was going to a ball! It was an alright time I suppose! The food was mediocre so that kind of put a damper on my evening! But it was a blast getting ready with the girls and hanging out with everyone. Also, there was a bar so that was nice. :)
**Marina (US) and I
**Jessica (US), Kim (Germany), Mika (Japan), Julie (Canada), Me, Kellie (Canada), Yibba (US), Heather (US), Jill (France), Pauline (France), Marina (US), and Ashley (Australia)
**Back L to R: Daniel (Australia), Jill (France), Ben (US), Me, Pauline (France), Max (France), Marina (US)- Middle L to R: Yibba (US), Jessica (US), Mika (Japan), Kellie (Canada)- Front L to R: Heather (US) & Dain (Australia)
**Part of the buffet
**Me, Ben, & Marina
Today was an extremely full day! Pauline asked me if I wanted to join her, her friend Marie (also from France), and Marie's flat-mate Jim for a day of sight-seeing. We first went to the Heritage Village located on the edge of Rockhampton. This place had a multiple of old, restored historic buildings! Every two weeks they also have a market where vendors sell crafts, antiques, food, and all sorts of other things. There were so many people here! Hundreds and hundreds of people touring all the old buildings and participating in the market. The historic village was absolutely wonderful. Jim took many pictures of us with different buildings and I'll try to post those as soon as I get them. I took some photos with my iPod of various buildings as well.
**The print shop with the peddle bike out front. Inside there were many print machines that men were operating. They were actually producing all the flyers, posters, and pamphlets that were advertising the Heritage Village! They were using print machines from the early 20th century that was producing just as good (if not better) printed goods as modern printers.
**St. Peter's Catholic Church- was moved from Gracemere (a suburb of sorts to Rockhampton) to the Heritage Village. Inside, a man and woman told some of the history of the church and also had us choose some hymns that they then performed! The man had a gorgeous opera-style voice and the woman played an old organ.
**The top floor of the old school
** The chalkboards/ map in front of the classroom, the date reads May, 1917.
**You could have a stagecoach ride around the village/ market for $2.50 per person!
**The Iron Lung machine used in hospitals in the 1900's.
**The courtyard around the teahouse. Inside two elderly women ran a coffee shop where you could buy homemade German desserts, tea, coffee, and ice cream.
After we spent a few hours wandering the village, Jim asked if we maybe wanted to go see the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens and Zoo. Oh! I think I forgot to properly introduce Jim. Jim is a 75 year-old man who is also a student here at CQUniversity. He currently has two masters degrees, three bachelor degrees, and one certification diploma in fields from sociology to business to administration. He's in pursuit of a bachelor degree in psychology. I asked him why he has so many degrees and why he continues to go to school and he replied that a day without purposeful learning is a day wasted. He simply loves learning! Jim is very humble with his accomplishments and is a really nice man. He has rented out rooms in his home to university students for many years. I knew from talking to Marie that he charges basically nothing to her for staying there! At first when I heard that Marie was staying with an old man who was living alone, I was a bit scared for her safety haha. Seemed like a sketchy situation to me! But once I met Jim, all my doubts went away! He was very kind to all of us! Anyways!- back to my day :)
We had decided to go to the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens and Zoo. If you remember, the ANZAC memorial dawn service was held at the botanical gardens. It was quite different in daylight! It was beautiful! There were so many different exotic trees and plants in this garden. The park/garden spanned a couple city blocks at least. Today just so happened to be Mother's Day-by the way- Happy Mother's Day momma Sue! :) - so there were many families picnicking in the park and gardens! Beautiful! It was a perfect, sunny day for all of the families. The Rockhampton Zoo has free admission so that was a bonus! I couldn't believe that they can operate almost completely on donations because the zoo was so beautiful. There were different lizards, snakes, monkeys, birds, koalas, wallabyes, and so much more animals. I even got to pet two more koalas! My day was made.
On our way home, we stopped at the Great Western Hotel. This hotel hosts a small rodeo every month or so. The arena is located inside the hotel! They have different tables set up around the arena and people eat dinner while watching the rodeo. The next one is at the end of May and we may possibly go, who knows! It would be very interesting to see the differences between what I know rodeos to be versus an Australian rodeo.
We also stopped at the Fitzroy River barrage. A barrage is a dam of sorts that separates the freshwater from the saltwater. Today, the walls were lowered quite a bit. When it floods, they raise the walls accordingly. It was very interesting to look at!
Well the clock just struck midnight so I think it's time for me to hit the sack! I do not have much planned for this upcoming week but I think I'm okay with that. :) I'll start on my study guides for my finals coming up at the beginning of June. I can't believe I have just a little over three weeks left!!! Wow!! Time sure does fly when you're having fun :) I hope everyone is doing fantastic back home! Have a great week.
Love,
Tina
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