Last Day on Straddie

Another great sunset

June 3, 2010

Location: Stradebroke Island

I can’t believe it has been a whole week…actually I can (I am slightly surprised that it has only been a week). I have done so much this past week and I am ready for the new places to explore in the next couple of days. Today is our last day on Straddie. I managed to fit in going to a couple of art galleries (of the aboriginal people… I can write more about them later when I have more time). We also went to the historical museum. It was pretty awesome as well. They had a series of cottages that you could go into and each one was a replication from the housing of the first asylum on the island. The cottages had a bunch of first’s artifacts (for instance the first mail boxes on the island, and the first phones and phone insulators). They even had the top jaw bone of a sperm whale (they are humongous) that washed up on the north shore in 2001. The people that ran the museum were also very interesting (they shared a lot of stories about the aboriginal culture and traditions). One lady also let us go through the museum for free (it originally cost like 3 dollars but half of our group didn’t bring money…we were going to walk back to get some when she insisted on us just to come in and have a look). She took a great interest in how we liked the island (compared to America) and what else we were going to see while here. Most of the Aussies I have met so far have been very kind and eager to share their world with us, so much different than Americans. After our final walk around town (I didn’t want to miss anything) we went back to the research station. This afternoon, we had our group presentations on our research we have been studiously working on for the past few days. Our project went well, even though we didn’t have any significant data. I enjoyed listening to other groups projects. We all have been bouncing ideas off of each other all week which results in getting bits and pieces of each project, it was nice for everything to come all together in the end. After the presentations we went down to a local pub and watched the sun set while some enjoyed some drinks in celebration of the first complete research project. I am slightly torn that we are leaving this wonderful station and island in the morning. I have enjoyed my time here. We have had perfect sunsets and incomparable views of the water as we sat on the patio enjoying an afternoon tea. The stars at night light up the sky like never before. We did have our fare share of rainy days but the sunsets always made up for our hatred of Mother Nature. It’s hard to leave a place like this behind but there are many exciting adventures that lie ahead. I can’t wait to tell you guys all about them. Until then, Cheers!!

Notables:
Since we are traveling, and leaving this wonderful place with free internet, I do not know when I will post my upcoming blogs. But I will still document every moment, so keep an eye out for any updates.