I am going Down Under!

[Sector 7]

Awww... rats.

From the title, I was kind of expecting naughty talk.

Sadly, I never made it to Australia. I did the Pacific Rim tour and deployed in Latin America and Greneda. London and UK was beautiful to visit. Otherwise, most of my travel has been across the US.

Have a great time in the Outback or wherever you travel.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I am so excited for Naira. Australians love to show people around and are very proud of their cities and fauna and beaches etc.. I'm hoping she has a great time and gets to see lots

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Awesome news. As others have said - Brisbane is a great city. It's been a while since I was there. Need to do another visit.

And on the beer - haven't seen Fosters in ages, but quite sure that the company that brews it makes many others.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Congratulations, Naira! My sister is a students excange coordinator at a German university and has been vsiting a lot of partner universities all over the world. I'll ask her if she has been to Brisbane and might be able to give you a few sightseeing tips.

 

[SmoothieX]

Good luck and have fun.

I've got the short end of the stick here. The only place I'm flying to today is North Dakota. And it's snowing here, so my flight out may have issues.

Edit - Just checked the weather channel. There's a mix of snow and sleet today where I'm going. Whee!

 

[Australis]

If you're in Brisbane and you get some time off, go to the Great Barrier Reef, in Far Nth Qld. It will be worth every second and every dollar. Try here for a start:

http://www.1770reefcruises.com/

 

[1001001]

I am so excited for Naira. Australians love to show people around and are very proud of their cities and fauna and beaches etc.. I'm hoping she has a great time and gets to see lots

This was very true in my case. Everyone at my school wanted to take me home, show me their town, give me a home cooked meal. People would just come up to my dorm room and knock on the door "I hear you're from America!".

As for vegemite....

We all arrived in Sydney, slept for a day, and then went through two days of orientation at a retreat before being sent to our respective universities. There was my first exposure to vegemite. Like most idiots from elsewhere, I treated it like peanut butter, with a nice big spread across toast. Yikes.



Definitely, thin layer with butter...delicious!

 

[Unicron]

Hope you have a great trip, Naira! You may want to watch out for possum attacks though.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

sorry my sister has no tips for Brisbane. She's responsible only for exchanges with unis in North America, Europe and Asia.
A German travelling site's survey resulted in the following top 10:

#1 CityCat Ferry
#2 South Bank Parklands
#3 Riverlife Adventure Center
#4 Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
#5 Catholic Old St Stephen's Church
#6 Suncorp Stadium
#7 Brisbane Botanic Gardens
#8 Roma Street Parkland
#9 The Brisbane River
#10 Queensland Art Gallery

I would also like to add:
Mt Coot-tha
Queensland Performing Arts Center
Science Center
St Helena Island
Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium

Btw, the afore mentioned German site recommends buying the Gold Coast Card. With it you get cheaper rates for ferries and buses. (But that refers to the needs of tourists. Maybe there are even better rates for monthly or weekly cards or special rates for students.)
You can also get useful tips at your local students exchange office. And of course from your fellow students.


This might also be useful (esp. the "getting started" mentioned in chapter "Orientation") http://www.studyabroad.wisc.edu/programs/program.asp?program_id=278

Here is a lot of info about the costs and the university itself. On page 4 there's a list of the students exchange coordinators which might be useful in case you have a problem. http://www.studyabroad.wisc.edu/study/forms/39663_2013%20UQ%20Abroad%20Information%20Sheet.pdf

 

[Jono]

Brisbane just got rated as the third most expensive city in terms of public transport (behind London and Oslo), so it would be a good idea to ask someone how to minimise the cost if you're going to depend on it.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I think she is already on the plane!!!

 

[1001001]

Another place I enjoyed in Queensland was Cooberrie Park. It's a wildlife sanctuary.

I got to feed a kangaroo from my hands, and hold a koala.

http://www.cooberriepark.com.au/

 

[rhubarbodendron]

are they as soft as they look?

 

[1001001]

are they as soft as they look?

Not as soft as you would think. Their fur is thick and wooly, and just a little rough. They are a trip.

The kangaroos...we outsiders don't always appreciate how strong and powerful they are. One kangaroo was pulling my hand toward it to eat more, and it was a little uncomfortable how strong he was pulling.



If I can find the pictures, I'll scan and post them. I think I have a couple from Brisbane and Rockhampton too.

 

[Tiberius]

Here's how to convert temperatures.

To go from F to C...

Subtract 30 and divide by two.

So 100F goes down to 70, and halved to get 35C (which is about what we've got at the moment!)

To go from C to F...

Double it and add thirty.

So, 25 C gets doubles to 50, then add 30 and you get 80F.

It isn't exact, but it's reasonably close, certainly close enough to know if it is going to be hot or cold or whatever.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

No, here's how you convert temperatures:

http://www.onlineconversion.com/temperature.htm

Anyway I'm pretty sure Naira comes from the lands of celsius (aka, not america) herself.

 

[SmoothieX]

F to C: subtract 32 then multiply by 5/9

C to F: multiply by 9/5 then add 32

I work in an industry where conversions in the same system or going from one to another is commonplace. Certain things you just remember. 7.48 gal/ft3, 1 inch/25.4 mm and so on.

How many mg/L of something to I need to add to soften 10 MGD of water. Fuck you metric.

 

[Tiberius]

Oh, stop ruining my fun.

The only reason I posted what I did is because it makes it easy to do in your head.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I bet there are phone apps now too..

 

[rhubarbodendron]

How many mg/L of something to I need to add to soften 10 MGD of water. Fuck you metric.

Commiserations and welcome to the club! I have to convert all the time when talking with Americans here. °C to °F, g & kg to oz & lbs, ml & l to liquid oz and Gallons, cm, m & km to inches, feet, yards and miles, g/ml to cups - and the other way round. Not to mention all the different timezones.

(btw, does someone happen to know how many grams a cup of butter equals? And how heavy is a stick of butter in the US?? In Germany it's half a [metric] pound)