Race Day, Classes, and More Australian Fauna...

Today, the Rotary Club of Mundingburra had "Race Day," a fund-raising event held at the Townsville Turf Club:
This is a lush racing place:
Because it's summer time still, it's kind of empty:
Rotary had allocated the room for us in this building:
Obviously the Mundigburra Club is a sponsor:

Inside, everyone was having a merry time:

Good friends Janet and Fred were enjoying the prawns:

The races were on. Note that they race around the track clockwise and on grass (Mount Stewart in the background):

It's a family event.

And that's the races. On the way to the last day of class:

Marcia always does the dirty work in the School of Public Health's Kitchen. She supplies yummy cookies, too:

Because of the cyclone the class was kind of empty:

I am the youngest one in the class and also the only one who has never had a job before! Note the classroom is a funky green colour, which is actually quite nice...

The last day presentations captured the audience's attention!!?:

Professors Rick Speare (MD, DVM, PhD) and Adrian Miller decide our grades:

My group was Fiona (Scotland), Margaret (NSW), Kristy (AUS), and others that were not here. We did a presentation on skin cancer, hence the funny dress:

Now for some more fauna. If you look up into the trees,

You might see one of these giant black cockatoos (they make that aweful screeching noise that you may have heard as a dinosaur on Jurassic Park):

And, in Rotary, late at night, the RIH oppossum climbs into his box:

First Katrina, then Rita: Here, first it's Larry then Wati?!!

Here comes Cyclone #2:

From: http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/cyclone/

Latest Headlines: Cyclone Larry: Could Townsville be another New Orleans?!!

Yes, folks, it's true, migrating to Australia does not free you of hurricanes...this'n here is a Category 4 cyclone (i.e., hurricane). What's funny is that they give them silly names like "Larry" here, too. Western news agencies don't know about them. Australia's news is not priority...I've circled the cyclone in red. Note: it is very large, with 250 mph+ winds; LA would fit into that circle (the state, not the city):

We just wouldn't want something like this happen'n again:*

*Image Bibiliography: http://www.beerlooterdude.net

Dear Staff and Students,
Due to the approach of Severe Tropical Cyclone Larry, it has been decided to close Cairns Smithfield Campus and Townsville Douglas and Vincent Campuses tomorrow, 20 March 2006. Further advice will be issued once the cyclone has passed which should be tomorrow afternoon. We would remind everyone to take appropriate precautions before the Cyclone arrives and wish you all a safe 24 hours as it passes.
Regards,
Prof Andrew Vann
Pro-Vice Chancellor Information and Corporate Services

Thursday Rotary with the Mundingburrans

Getting into a Rotary meeting happens quick in Australia. After 32 hours of aircraft and airport, I arrived in Townsville 9 February 2006 at 5:50 p.m. By 6:10 p.m. that Thursday, I was already in my first Rotary meeting in Australia (sorry pictures for this first meeting are N/A). By the next Friday, I was invited to go with 8 others to the next town over, Ingham, to hear Rotarian Tom Henderson (Cornwall, U.K.) speak about his program "SHELTER BOXES." The journey was through fields and fields of sugarcane, backdropped by waterfalls and green hill-mountain type things. When we arrived, we were edified on the disaster-relief kits known as "Shelter Boxes." These are large, green plastic containers filled with survival-related periphinalia, including tents, saws, hammers, big-screen TVs (well, not the latter for you residents of N.O.). Each one has a number, so that donors can track where their boxes have been sent. This program is funded 48% by Rotary. Tom's presentation stressed the recent work done by shelter box in post-earthquake remote regions of Pakistan [For more information on a great organisation to donate to, visit: http://www.shelterbox.org/]. Below is a photo of Tom and an Ingham sugar cane farmer, Vince, who likes ways of 'osteopathic' farming:
Here is the city hall in Ingham. Note the distinct Aussie architecture.

You are probably all wondering how I get to the Rotary meetings...well, Fred and Janet Gillham (South Africa, England, respectively) usually pick me up and drop me off. Fred will be Mundingburra's president soon. In one of the meetings, I sat at the table with district govenor Peter Kaye (Australian) and Ron Degenhart (Ameristralian). Peter's first remark to me was, "Oh, do you like being in part of the Empire," to which I replied, "We are all M.B.E.'s (Members of the British Empire)." You see, Peter thought that I was from the U.K. (England), but later was informed that I was just from Louisiana. Anyway, back to the story... Ron's daughter had just returned from Paris (France) where she performed for Moulin Rouge. We are photographed below (with Fred):

The Rotary club is a hoot. President Bob (seated) usually keeps the meeting pretty humerous:
Sometimes, Andrew de Boulay (yes, there are Boulays in Australia) provides the laughs:
Sometimes it's Bill Kenedy supplying the laughs:
Or maybe it's some dude that is in the administration of the Cowboys ALF team:
Jan Johnson, my great host counselor, is very passionate about what she has to say:
Akiko, a Japanese YEP student, is being said goodbye to:

Peter Gilby and Jan:
Rush to the tables:
Everone seated:

That's my Sponsor Rotary Club!!!

Good on 'ya: When in Australia, Do as the Aussies Do...

Almost a month into Australia, I find myself doing what Australians do, which is quite similar to what one may do, in say, Texas or Louisiana. For instance, I just returned from my first Aussie rodeo (pronounced "Roe-day-Oh") and probably my first rodeo in ten years. In addition, later you will see how Aussies catch quite large bass-like fish out of bayou-coloured water and 'grill it up.' To put things mildly, things are not short of fun here...

This first picture is out of order, but because it turned out so well, I have placed it here. It is from the rodeo and is a perfect model of Aussie-like rodeo culture (click on it to see it in all its photographic glory):
We arrived at the rodeo an hour early (bloody radio broadcast fed us the wrong information) so things were rather quiet when we arrived...

Later, cowpokes began arriving in their SUV-drawn carriages...
This little infant, next to us on the hill, kept looking over at me (what's up with that and babies?) and later rolled and tumbled down the hill, laughing all the while... Loads of spectators turned up. Trevor and Carol (Rotary Club of Mundingburra , seated next to the red ice chest and who, may I add, drive the great Toyota Land Cruiser) had brought munchies for us to chow on--some tasty chicken, ham and chutney sandwiches. I learned a few select Aussie phrases while waiting for the rodeo to start, like "That man over there, he is so tight that he uses both sides of the dunny (i.e., toilet) paper." [Note: if the bloke in the white cowboy hat in the lower right corner looks a bit amiss, it's because I am taking a photo graph in the direction of his breastfeeding sheila--oops!]

While waiting, the glories of sunset were upon us:

Let's take a closer look:

Well, back to the rodeo:

This photo, taken at discounted shutter speeds, actually blurred the subjects (no one made the 8 seconds that night, only honorable mentions):

And now let's move onto another topic of discussion: discrete parts of Townsville. Townsville provides quite a number of handy biking paths and roads, and is very catered towards the everyday bikist. Luckily, Graham Stevens (Mundingburra Rotarian) set me up with a racing bicycle that is very efficient to pedal, allowing me to reach suburbs outside of the Douglas Campus really quickly, like the suburb below:

And other times paths will take you quickly to Mundingburra:
And yet other times, it involves joint strolls alongside the Ross River:

Wait a minute, I see something familiar. Is that aqatic vegetation water hyacinths? Yes it is! I feel just as if I were at home!!! What Joy!
While gazing into the throngs of invasive waterly flora, I stumbled across this freshly dead 5-foot long baramundi. That gave me an idea. If I could dramatically and bravely rescue this favoured/flavoured delicacy from the hoards of Ross River crocodiles and carpet pythons, then it may be good to eat/edible...
And voila!!! After four hours of wrestling the Ross's reptiles, I had a baramundi ready for culinary preparation. But where would I cook it? Alas, Trevor and Carol (Munidburra Rotary) were kind enough to throw it on their "bah-bee":***
***See next note
***Note: the above statement is incorrect. Actually, the fish in the river was downright skanky. Trevor called me that same day and offered for me to go over to his house for some 'Bear' on the barbi. After scouring tons of scientific journals, I finally figured out that there are no species of bear in Australia, and he actually meant the fresh and salt water habitating fish "Bear-a-mundi". It may be of your interest to know that its life cycle is similar to that of salmon's. It is purchasable at your local fish market (Geographical Restrictions Apply). Anyway, back to the story...it was Dee-licious. Similar to catfish, but with more hardy texture and taste...

Sometimes, we have 'bah-bees' at Rotary International House, but with not nearly as delicious the food (Note the well-liked ratio of boys to girls, that well makes up for the food discrepancy):

Besides the fauna that flock to bbq in the breezeway, what other fauna lies there in the wilderness of Rotary?

There are noisy parrots:

And the same two wallabies:

To photo wallabies, one must do a 'shoot and run' because if you stop to take a picture, they get suspicious and run away...that's all for now, join us next time...