A week ago Saturday was loads of fun. One of the women in MConBio celebrated her birthday by inviting us all to a picnic at Bronte Beach. There was a ton of good food (I discovered that Brie and Raspberry preserves go very nicely together) and good company. We even got to play with other people’s dogs a little. One little terrier really enjoyed having us throw a pinecone for him to retrieve.
The big news from that Saturday, however, is that the AFL (Australian Football League) is completely and utterly awesome. It’s sort of like a combination of all of the best parts of most major American sports. It has the speed and energy of hockey and basketball, and tackling similar to the NFL. Some basic rules include that you cannot run more than 10 steps without bouncing the ball, you can pass forward, but only if you hit the ball out of your hand with the other fist, sort of like a volleyball serve. If you kick the ball between the middle two goal posts you get 6 points, if you kick it through the outer posts you get 1 point. The Sydney Swans thoroughly crushed the Brisbane Lions, which should help the Swans get a better cede in the Finals. I had a really good time and would definitely go to another game if I get the opportunity.
In other good news, a week ago Monday was the first day of spring and it actually felt like it, very sunny and clear. Since I don’t have class on Mondays, I went with some friends to Coogee Beach for a few hours. It was a little too cold to swim yet, but we did do some wading. To be honest, I was quite tempted to just go for it and dive in, but I imagine the walk home would have been chilly if I had. One of my buddies has agreed to try to teach me to surf when we are at the Fraser coast over break. I might look into lessons at Coogee beach as well, but I’m not really sure how expensive it would be, and I may need my own wetsuit, which, at this point, might actually be a worthwhile investment.
More recently, last Friday was spent at Taronga Zoo. This was fun, but would have been better if it hadn’t rained, all day long. Although we went for my course Australasian Mammals, we honestly spent just as much time looking at other things, like gorillas (these guys were neat because they had two infants, one of which was only 2 weeks old). We also went behind the scenes at the vet department and saw, among other things, a baby ring-tailed possum, a juvenile loggerhead turtle, and a Little Penguin that were being rehabbed by the wildlife clinic. One of my favorite discoveries in the Zoo, however, was in the nocturnal exhibit. There I found out that feathertail gliders (the smallest sugar-gliders in the world apparently) have toepads on their feet similar to a frog’s. This allows them to actually dash across glass! It was pretty amazing, they move just like a gecko going up the exterior of a house. They are extremely quick and only about as big as a field mouse. You can also see how they got their name as the fur on their tails spreads out to either side just like the barbs of a feather.
Obviously I also loved Taronga’s herp house. They have some really gorgeous animals (not to sound like the late Steve Irwin, but seriously, gorgeous is the word), including a very large Komodo dragon.
Sunday was also quite busy. A few of us from IH went to Cockatoo Island, located in the harbor to the west of the Harbor Bridge to view some modern art installations, as well as the island itself. We then proceeded to a, somewhat lackluster, sidewalk chalk art exhibition (it must have been better a few days earlier, before all the rain), and finally ended at the Aquarium, where I saw my first platypuses (in fact, the plural of platypus is platypuses, not platypi. You learn something new every day). I did end up getting a bit sunburned (very minor), which resulted in several people telling me that once summer actually arrives I may be in serious trouble. Good thing I brought the waterproof SPF 75.
Aquarium Saltwater Crocodile Disclaimer...you can see the croc in the upper left
We also found out that there is a brushtail possum who likes to sneak into the courtyard of IH to search for dropped food after study breaks. She’s quite bold, but adorable. She looks just like Fin Raziel from the movieWillow, when she first appears on the island. In fact, seeing her prompted us to watch Willow, since some of my friends hadn’t seen it and others of us couldn’t stop quoting Raziel’s lines as a Possum.
In more recent news, some kind companions of mine signed me up for the IH talent show which will take place in a few weeks, so if anyone can think of any talents I have that are capable of reasonable exhibition, let me know, otherwise it might get ugly. Apparently one of my friends interpreted my statement that I like to sing to mean that I am good at it, which I have never been able to judge accurately enough to want to call it a talent. I may have to fall back on lesser known skills, such as making origami golden snitches…or quoting long passages of science fiction films. Spouting little-known trivia about the production of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy? Le sigh, this could take some planning.
In our next installment: The Blue Mountains and the Jenolan Caves. Also, we may discover if Liz has lost her super science-writing powers (“Pow!” “Zap!” “Citation!”) when she finally gets the results from her first paper. Is Aussie fun academic Kryptonite? Stay tuned to find out.
Glad to hear that the sport has another American convert. There’s a whole group of us (tens of thousands in fact) who follow the sport over in the USA. Stop by sometime and visit us on the web. http://www.afana.com
P.S. A sound summary of the sport for other Americans. Close to what we use at AFANA.
can you use “pow! zap! citation!” as the title of your next post, even if it doesn’t apply. i sort of want to walk around yelling that at people. for serious.