Renata vs. Totto (Arriving to Brisbane)

I could start my next post by letting everyone know how my 34 hour flight went, how my first day was at the temporary apartment I am staying at, BUT there is a rather significant issue we need to get out in the open and out of the way here.

I decided to go for a little walk on my first day in this magical and tropical land. I searched online to find a nearest bank where I can open an account, and then I would just walk and see what's near my place. Nothing too stressful for today, and I have to be home on time because the roommates and I are going for dinner, Brigitte, Jay and Shawnda. On my way to the bank nothing exciting happened, only that I consciously have to tell myself to LOOK LEFT before stepping off the curb, then right. I'm still doing the cross check at each lane b/c I get flustered at times, but otherwise made it to the bank safe and sound.

I have started to walk with my head looking up all the time because the birds are just fascinating here. (Liz, you would not be impressed lol) There are parrots, with amazing colours, hanging out on tree tops. There are birds considered as pests which are birds I find tropical and interesting. But then again, people who live here are accustom to it, the same way squirrels don't excite Canadians anymore, but tourist eat them up 'they are so cute'! I am in the process of collecting pictures of the birds in this area and will make a separate post on it when I feel that I have captured a fair amount.



After, I got a yummy chi tea latte on ice, asked where there are cute stores to check out and a way I go. I took the same road back to get to the shopping strip, and about half way there my mouth drops and I am about to run the other direction screaming HELP! However, there are senior citizens out walking, don't want to scare them, and well, I have anticipated this day for about an entire year (since I decided to apply to UQ for my masters). So, I shut my mouth, kept walking, and said: your going to be ok! But then I stopped walking, took a deep breath, pulled out my camera, slowly turned around, looked up at what I saw and took a picture! I walked under this giant spider on my first walk, but on my second walk, with latte in hand, I was checking out the scenery above, and well this was waiting for me on my way back.

A spider, who now I have named Totto, was hanging out between 2 trees on his web. This guy is the size of my HAND if not larger since I was measuring him from the ground 5 feet and 3 inches up, and he was maybe another 3 feet from me. Here are the measurements to my hand: from pinky to thumb 19 cm (7.5 in) and from my middle finger to the base of my wrist again approx. the same 20 cm. This spider was that or more.



During the rest of my walk I was walking around the trees along the sidewalk (Thanks Karissa for the tip), and thinking to myself: Good that I saw Totto, now it's done and over with. Seen it, and over it. And then I thought, all those people who told me that spiders this large do not hang out in the city, I say: you lie ! (in a totally humorous tone lol) I had no doubt that Totto and I will meet sooner then later, but I never expected to be it my first day out and about.

I am still extremely excited to be here, but Totto will stay on my mind, and hopefully he will not confuse me for an insect or an antelope for dinner. I felt silly introducing Totto to my new roommates who are native to this tropical world, and are probably sick of me pointing out what seem to me glamorous, and to them average and boring.

I guess now I could tell you a bit about my arrival and flight of 34 hours. I flew Toronto-Vancouver for about 5 hours, slept the whole way since I got no sleep the night before, I was up packing till about 3 hours before flight. Once I arrived to Van city, there was a delay of 3 hours, and waiting, sleeping, reading, chatting at the airport for another 5 hours. There I got a voucher for 10$ due to the flight delay, and was told that if I miss my connecting flight in Hong Kong, I will also be treated to a hotel and a one night stay in the city. I said: Sweet :-)

On my 13 hour flight to Hong Kong, met my neighbor, she's from Winnipeg, and is heading to Melbourne to work and live the Ausi experience. We chatted a ton and got along real well. We made plans to check out Hong Kong together if we both miss our transfer flight. However, for some odd reason we ended up being early an hour, and we both made our planes, because they rushed us to boarding with those little cars. Bummer!

So after a 13 hour flight, I went pee, then was back on a flight of 7 hours to Carins. At this flight I met a rookie undergrad student, he was going into engineering at UQ. He was excited and asked loads of questions, even when I was watching my own movie. Now I know what it's like to hang out with me, or work with me :-) But he was very sweet, and talk just about anything pop culture has to offer.

Once arriving to Carins, we had to get off, pick up more people, and board to fly another 2 hours to Brisbane. Flying over the coast was beautiful, however I wasn't able to take pictures because my window was super messy. I slept the 2 hours because I was exhausted, and finally at 12:35 on time, arrived to humidity and sunshine to Brisbane, AUS. I got one of my check-in bag, and when I realized that everyone has left from my flight, I went to luggage services and asked: Have they seen a black suitcase? Sure enough, there was an announcement over the PA, calling my name but I was chatting probably and missed it.

My luggage was still in Hong Kong but would arrive that day at midnight. They will send it out the next day before noon. I said: Sweet! Less stuff to carry for me :-)

I went out to meet my driver. He was a super nice man, big smile on his face. I think I may have looked scary since I just flew 34 hours and felt like I haven't showered for a week.

Once I was at the new apartment, I met with Shawnda, who's room I am renting for a week and did some catching up. Then I was introduced to my new roommates as they came home from work, Jay, who's in construction, and Brigitte, who's working for the railway company, in the office, and has some interesting office stories.

That is all for now! Enjoy some of my camera work with a point-and-shoot.

The weekend is going to be hot hot hot :-)

Looking forward to Australia day on Tuesday, January 26th !!!

Love
R :-)