Bundaberg and beyond...

Dear family and friends,

It has been I while since the last message, so it’s time for an update. And I have a lot to tell you, so prepare for a long story….

Uni first…Two weeks ago, at the meeting of the Head and Neck Excellence Group, with all the important people who are somehow involved in head and neck cancer, one discussion point was research seminars at the School of Dentistry and Oral Health. And surprisingly, my project was selected for the first seminar! (thanks for the short notice by the way!) So the next Friday, I presented my project for a selection of the staff, first time in a lecture theatre and first time in English. But it went well and it was a perfect rehearsal for the conference at the end of the month.
And there is more publicity. Last week Mardi, the communication officer, came into the lab and she would like to have a chat about the abstract I submitted for the conference. It turned out to be a half hour interview for the Griffith News Bulletin, and next Friday a photographer will take some photos of me in the lab
My research is going surprisingly well. I’m in the lab most of the time and stain all the tumours for the second marker. It is a lot of work, but I’ll get it all done before I come home.
Ok, that was enough research talk for now…

The weekend before last, An Bibi Jes and I finally planned a pictionary night. It was An and Jes B-day present (back in May!), which hasn’t been used since then! It was soo much fun! With four non-talented drawers (although Bibi’s were quite good) and English words, the most creational things were drawn. After the game, we watched the Lama’s. Thanks, mum! Brilliant show, great humour! We laughed our heads off!
On Saturday I had my first patrol. And… it was raining, non-stop all day. So there were now people on the beach, and only a few surfers in the water. So we packed up at 2 and patrolled from under the observation tower. It was cold, it was wet, brrrr… how good was that hot shower at home! After I warmed up Andy picked me up to go to the cinema with him and Nick. We watched little miss sunshine => good movie!
Sunday I escaped from the busy Gold Coast and went to Byron Bay for the Sunday markets. I love Byron! I can live there, so relaxed and so beautiful! The markets were nice, with locals selling their products. And there was a live performance of a one-man-band, who played didgeridoo, harmonica and guitar and he sang as well. Great music!

This weekend was absolutely AMAZING!! Hattie Ann and I went on a little adventure. We hired a car a drove up to Bundaberg, which is five hours north of the Gold Coast. Both at the car rental place and the hostel they looked surprised when we told them we were going to Bundi for the weekend. “Bundi, are you sure?? Well, have fun” And yeah, Bundaberg sucks. The hostel was disgusting, we slept in a concrete room without windows and it smelled like urine. But we didn’t go to Bundaberg for Bundaberg. We went there to see the see turtles. The breeding season just started and the sea turtles come to a beach, Mon Repos, to lay there eggs. This happens at night time. After dinner we drove to the beach, which was 15 km from Bundi, and waited for two hours for high tide, cause that’s the time the turtles come to the beach. Unfortunately we had no luck, no turtles were spotted. We did go on a patrol with one of the rangers at 12 at night. Although there were no turtles, the walk on the beach at night time was quite nice!
The next day we left the hostel as early as possible and after breakfast we drove to the Bundaberg rum distillery for Bundaberg’s famous rum. The tour was fun, but the best part was the tasting at the end. With our 6 coupons we ordered 6 different blends with rum and they were all yummy! A bit further down the road there was another Bundaberg factory, with soda’s and with free tasting!
Our next destination was the town of 1770, a small town 120 km north of Bundaberg. Really nice and the hostel was GREAT. When we arrived Paul welcomed us, showed us around and made us feel at home. We had dinner at Saltwater café with sunset right in front of us, and with a delicious seafood platter as meal this couldn’t be any better!
For Sunday we booked a cruise to Lady Musgrave Island, which departed from town 1770. After a two hour trip on the boat, we arrived at a beautiful small island surrounded by clear blue water and reef! The dolphins welcomed us on arrival by jumping and playing in the waves and sea turtles stuck their head out to say hello. Hattie went for a dive and Anne and I spent the whole morning snorkelling. It was absolutely AMAZING!! I’ve seen many many fish: a big anemone with four clown fish, heaps of colourful parrotfish, a big goatfish, starfish and another huge ugly creature that was hiding in a cage. He didn’t look to friendly when he saw me. And of course we saw turtles! We had a tasty lunch with salads, prawns and fruit and after that they took us to the island for a walk. There were birds nesting everywhere and on the other side of the island reef sharks were swimming around looking for their dinner. On the way back to the boat, the guide gave us a tour in a glass bottom boat along the reef, pointing the different types and of course we spotted more turtles. A beautiful place, a beautiful day!