For the past three weeks, I have been living in Brisbane, Australia. If you don’t know where Brisbane is, it is located on Australia’s East coast about halfway between Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef. Before moving here, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I knew the weather was warm, the surf was good, and the people spoke English. Beyond that, the rest was a total mystery. But, adventure was calling, so I packed up my life into a few suitcases and flew to the bottom of the world. The following is a list of things I have learned in my short time abroad. Some you may already know. Others may surprise you, but above all, I hope you find them entertaining.
- The beaches are stunning: I knew the surf would be good, but what I did not realize was how much my surfing experience would be enhanced by crystal-clear water and white sand beaches. Byron Bay, the Gold Coast, and Noosa were all so inviting that I often forgot about the fact that there are shark nets strung along the coast to keep this deceptively-benign place accessible to humans.
- Byron Bay is my favorite: While I have been wandering about Brisbane, my girlfriend, Frances, has been attending classes at the University of Queensland. Her university has a club for foreign exchange students that puts together trips to explore and experience Australia. The club was doing a 3-day trip to Byron Bay, and both of us really wanted to go. I still don’t know the details, but somehow Frances got me a ticket to join the group, on the condition I pretend to be a university student. I quickly got very good at my improvisational skills because on the 3-hour bus ride to Byron, we did a sort of speed dating to make new friends. I repeatedly had the same small talk conversations about where I was from and “what I was studying”. Each time I carefully skirted the details of my academic course load. Once we arrived in Byron, the small talk turned into more meaningful conversations as we all enjoyed our days at the beach and nights in town. I could easily live in Byron Bay. It has all the natural beauty one could ever want, but also a truly special social scene. The town is comprised of a significant international population that has recognized the beauty in this community. Whether its the crowds that gather to support local musicians performing on the streets, or the kayaking and snorkeling tour leaders who preach environmentally responsible practices, it is clear Byron has the right values. Sure, life may move a bit slower than in the big city, but I think there is a lot to be learned from that special town.
- Being on the East Coast in the Southern Hemisphere is perpetually disorienting: At home in Los Angeles, I pride myself on always having a great sense of direction. It’s engrained in my mind that the ocean is to the west, where the sun sets, and my midday shadow always points North. Plus, there are plenty of hills and mountains to use as reference points when I really get lost. Brisbane barely has hills, the ocean is not visible from where I live, and the sun does all of the opposite things from back home. My internal navigation has been so off that I’ve started climbing on top of tall objects to find my bearings.
- The wildlife is very different than I expected: I have not seen a single kangaroo or koala. It’s not like I expected kangaroos to be hopping around in the parking lot outside the airport to greet me, but after three weeks here, I thought I’d see one bounce by. I even took a train an hour-and-a-half outside the city to hike one of the “mountains” in the area. Watching rain fall from the top, and taking in the surprisingly beautiful views made the trip worthwhile, but I was sad I couldn’t spot a koala in the trees or a kangaroo hopping through the forest. There is an astonishing variety of birds and reptiles that are quite easy to see and hear. The birds conveniently make their loudest, and most bizarre, noises between 6am and 7am. I don’t know what they feed the reptiles here (maybe kangaroos?), but I have seen a few that are 5ft long and heard stories of larger ones. The spiders are also quite well-fed. They are easily the size of my palm and definitely poisonous. They love making webs right outside my window.
- Not only can the spiders kill you, but the clouds can too: If you read our earlier post about the West Indies, you may recall Andrew mentioning the unpredictable Caribbean weather. Brisbane is worse. A few days ago, it was so hot and sunny that I was dripping in sweat from walking to catch a bus. There was barely a cloud in sight. By the time I rode the bus to the store and completed my shopping, a cloud had moved directly overhead and began shooting lighting on all sides of me in 20-30 second intervals. Yes, I have seen lightning before, but I had never been directly under such an active thunderhead. It was a very stressful half-mile walk back to the bus stop.
- Australia has its own Donald Trump: Probably most terrifying of all, there is a very wealthy man named Clive Palmer leading his political party with the slogan “Make Australia Great”. Giant yellow billboards with his face and slogan are plastered along many freeways throughout Brisbane. I don’t claim to be an expert in Australian politics, but I would like to hope Australians could learn from America’s mistakes, instead of attempting to one-up them.
-Chris Buchanan
Special thanks to Frances for her help with the photos