Good vibrations, Springbrook national park and the tsunami

I had the most amazing two weeks again… continuing on my last blog. I caught this weird cough that week… so I wasn’t doing all that well. Think it’s the foreign bugs in this country that I cannot handle all that well yet. So was hanging on my couch. I Got a bit better before the weekend which I was really happy with because the planning for that weekend was amazing. Friday night one of my new favorite bands was playing at the Stepinn in the valley, a reggae/roots type band that I discovered at the Island vibes festival, Darky Roots. The manager of the bar is a friend, Hamish also the boyfriend of Adrienne, friend and roommate of Sarah and Andrew! So I met him there.  4 other friends were supposed to come, but in the end no one showed up! I was a little bit disappointed. I think the monsoon rain that was continuing to poor all night might have had something to do with it. But to be honest, it couldn’t really get me down. Besides Darky Roots, who were even more amazing then I remembered from Island vibes, a few other awesome bands played, The upsteppers and a reggae band from Byron bay, from which I cannot recall the name at present.  I met a really funny Brzazilian guy there who really reminded me of my Portuguese cousin! Hahaha… was funny. So he kept me company and joined me for a boogie on the dance floor. At one when all the bands ended I had to cycle back home to be fresh and rested for the next day. Luckily the rain had stopped by then and I was all hyped up from the good music that it was an easy ride for me uphill back to home in Red Hill.

The next day I woke up at seven to prepare for GOOD VIBRATIONS! A popular dancy type festival at the goldcoast. We arrived at 11:30 at the coast and met a few friends close to main beach where we had rented an apartment with a group of friends. We had a few drinks in preparation and headed to the festival. Finally there we found that there was a huge line of people at the entrance!  We had to wait half an hour before we reached the entrance to be led in like a herd of cows. But once in there the party really started. We saw the end of Arts vs. Science, had a little peek at naughty by Nature and then settled in front of the big stage in expectation of Salt ‘n Pepper! Oeh whatta man whatta man whatta mighty good man!!!! They were two older ladies on the stage but rockin like there was no tomorrow. I have to admit that one of them looked more like a drag queen than a woman, but they were awesome. Playing all the golden oldies, not only theirs but also earth wind and fire etc. They had to fill up an hour.. and their songs only last 15, so there was a lot of talking involved. We had a tiny break in between to get drinks. But then I heard cries from the Big stage! THE GOSSIP started!! Now if there is one thing that is vulgarly awesome it is the singer of the gossip. She was awesome and maybe the best performance for me! Next up was basement Jaxx! Awesome! And then as a finale a good one and a half hours of the Killers! With all their big songs. We were the only lucky ones of good vibrations to see the killers, The mother of the lead singer died and they cancelled their performances in Sydney, Melbourne and ehm… the other one! It was amazing! After that it was time to go back to the apartment, running out of the gates, the busses were ready to transport all the tired people back to their homes. We drove back to surfers paradise and walked the last half hour home. A little after party in the apartment. The next day we had to check out early. Too bad it was raining cats and dogs otherwise it would have been a lovely day at the beach. Instead we drove back to Brisbane and had a day lodged on the couch.

At the end of the day Clive and Sophie came home with the idea to have a drink at the powerhouse. We left the house way too late but we ended up having a beer at one of the backpackers in the valley; Birdee num nums. Which was quite fun! After a few beers everyone was quite hungry and we walked around the corner to china town to have a lovely meal at green tea. The best Vietnamese lemon chicken ever!! I was unbelievably delicious! And of course one of my new favorites fresh ricepaper rolls. When finally home I got into bed and crashed while the rest went down to the Normanby hotel for a party.

The next week at uni was mainly doing literature study, working on my introduction and learning new techniques. But the one highlight of my week was that the crystallization trials I did actually produced something! I found something that looked like crystals! I’m not sure if it is crystalline but it started growing gradually and it has some sharp edges! I was soooo excited when I saw it! There were five of them and funnily, they looked just like the Australian southern cross!! Hahaha.. of all things it could look like! So good results and good progress!

Friday night we had Michael’s goodbye party at Fab’s place! Barbequing an awesome lamb stake, drinking some beer, having a salsa boogie on the dance floor singing Fuck her gently and having fun. The next day.. Michael , Fab and I headed out for springbrook national Park! Where we visited the natural bridge, a waterfall that poors straight into a cave inhabited by bats and glowworms! It was an awesome sight! After that we found a spot somewhere in the park to park our cars, we were with both magnum and mister pink! Made a little common area by parking the cars with the back towards each other opend the booths and threw a tent over them! I made a little teriyaki chiken on my gas burner. We enjoyed the sight of clouds moving between the mountains and talked sang some songs ond fell asleep watching sons of anarchie on Germie’s computer! I woke up to the sunrise at 5 am after my worst night sleep ever! The mozzies were killing me and it was way too hot, so I was really keen to leave! Michael had his mind set on driving to the coast and having a surf, but fab and I wanted to see more of the park, so we split ways, but after 500m we found Michael again, in awe of the view…

One word…

UNBELIEVABLE…

The most beautiful view ever! After making tons of pictures and watching the sunrise we headed of to drive around the park and try to reach a spot called best of all lookouts. Which was, due to my crappy map, unreachable. We found a gas station to fill up magnum and had coffee with a lovely custard tart. After that I came up with the brilliant idea to drive to mount warning and see whats happening there! We found out it was a 4.4k hike to the top! 4.4k’s that’s nothing we thought…. Wrong we were, it is a proper climb! With a wall climb for the last 100m to the top! It was quite exerting but so worth it! He forest looked like a proper jungle with strangles figs, ferns growing in trees, lianas, enormous trees, jungle birds and mushrooms everywhere. In total we spent 5 hours climbing up and down the mountain! The view on top was a tad disappointing because the top was covered in clouds, but we managed to take a picture from the 5 secs that we could see the valley that was laying in front of us!

The planning was to go to snapper rocks after that to watch the Quicksilver pro surfing contest. But due to a tsunami warning because of the earthquake in chili (8.8 richter! That is … horrendous!) the contest was halted and everyone had to leave the water and the beaches were evacuated. The eventual effect of the tsunami here was only a rise of the water of approximately 1m. No big wave fortunalty. We did go to meet Mikey at his friends Abhi’s place at the Griffith uni houses in southport, stayed there for pictures and dinner and then headed back to Brisbane. Arriving home in the pooring rain I found that the house was empty. No one was there. I made a phone call and found out that everyone was sitting at Andrews deck and fab dropped me off there. We had a few drinks, Dj’s a bit and then headed for the valley, there was this new fancy place called the Queens… something. Very fancy, but a tad too fancy for me (read:priceso of the drinks) Luckily Andrew was there to save me with a delicious glas of champagne.  By chance I met Adam there so had a little talk with him and then went for a little dance downstairs.

The next day it was Uni time again, Monday blues and sore muscles from my climbing adventure, so had a quiet morning and did my reading and work at home. Today Tuesday was the start of the Queensland Protein Symposium 2010 that I am attending! It is a three day symposium. The speakers are such accomplished intelligent people, I really felt like a little mouse between giants… It was quite intimidating. But no feaf! I will try to talk to every one of them. Who knows, maybe I can score my next internship with Ray Owens at Oxford university… The chance is very slim, but it would be soooooooo cool! So I have to try!  My supervisor had a talk too! The best of them all to be honest, since he explained the methods to come to the best expressible protein and the rest of the lectures were quite specific and did not apply to my research at all. But nonetheless they were very, very inetersting! In the mean rime I am also trying to attend the lectures of a protein course that runs this semester to obtain more knowledge!

I’m a information sponge! Trying to mix it up with fun things! So two more days to go and then another inetersting weekend ahead, giving a chocolate workshop to sarah and here sisters, doing a 5 k run for charity and having a girls night out! Looking forward to it already!

Talk to you soon!

X linda

Busy times... and lovin' it!

Phew… a free Sunday afternoon. I Just made French toast and fresh pesto. It’s a full house now here at 4 Harriet Street. I live there with three guys at the moment and its busy but a lot of fun! Micheal is back from his travels with his girl Verena and he will be staying with us for another month =]. Got my big brother back! Mikey, Fabian and me keep traditions high and have Monday cooking night every week. It is always an inspiration for my cookingblog; therecipebylindagomes.blogspot.com

I have a lot of catching up to do. Starting with last Christmas….
Christmas was a bit of a lonely time for me. No family. None of my old friends and everyone here was busy with family of went on a holiday. But around Christmas itself it was a bit of a party seoson for me. Drinks and dinners everywhere! With a group of friends we went out for dinner at an amazing Vietnamese place and did secret santa! Which basically is “lootjes trekken” like dutch sinterklaas. The present I got was the best of the whole evening. I got a dark blue hoodie with “AUSTRALIA” on it in huge white letters and a beer stubbie with naked Australian men on it. The only problem for me waqs that because of all the parties I had previous to that night I had lost my voice totally. No conversation for me. I tried to soothe my throat with two bottles of red wine.

The planning was to go to Stradbroke Island with Michael, Fabian, Thibaut and a few others. Unfortunately the partying bit me in the ass and I had caught such a bad cold I stayed home for a week!! It was quite bad… And the guys had such a good time there. I was so disappointed. But the good thing is that I got back on my feet again to celebrate new years in Sydney with a few friends. We flew down for four days of Sydney madness. We stayed at Sam’s and Rosie’s in the cutest little house there with a tine garden that just looks like a rain forest. It was fun! We arrived early in the morning, had breakfast and started the touristic tour through the botanical gardens towards the opera house and darling harbor. We drank champagne at the opera bar at the waterside. It was lovely, so decadent :P. We walked on to a part of the city called the Rocks and had a beer here and a beer there and another beer here.. It was starting to kick in… then we walked back to kings cross ( that’s where we were staying in the neighborhood of) and ate wonderful Asian food. To be honest I don’t remember from which country it was. But it was delicious. Went to have another drink, did a little boogie and went back home for another drink in the garden. I forgot to tell you that the weather was phenomenal! Sun, sun and more sun, which was quite funny because it had been raining for two weeks straight before we arrived! The da afetr that we went out to see the famous Bondi beach! It was super crowded but beautiful. We had a very chique dinner in the ehm, I tink it was the swim/surf club. Beautiful we spend half the afternoon there. Walked around a bit layed in the sun. It was not as warm as I was used to though. Sydney is a tad cooler then Brisbane. The next day was new years eve, we had English breakfast in the city did some shopping for a Mexican party. Margaritas, Chilli and quesedillas! The house was full with people, at least 30! At eleven we started walking to a spot where we could see the bridge and the opera house for the fireworks and it was truly spectacular! Fifteen minutes of a sky full of sparkles. After that we went back to the house and the party lasted way past sunrise. The next day was not much of a day, we went terrace hopping in the afternoon had amazing Japanese and went out around kings cross and met up with Fabian and Thibaut, they came down to Sydney for new years too! The next morning we woke up early, it was the day we went back to Brisbane again. Most of the people stayed in bed but Nick and I woke up to go for breakfast and to the markets. The markets were a bit different than expected. It was a secondhand clothes market that was way overpriced!! It was fun and posh and pretty, but not really for me.. I’m a cheap ass m*** some people just call it broke… :P

In between this I did some diving at tweed heads, one dive in the river and one dive in the ocean at Cook Island (which is just a litlle rock) It was beautiful, both the river and the ocean dive but the ocean dive was quite special for me because I got to see a lot of beautiful things. A huge leopard shark! Its so funny because you can tickle him and he becomes totally relaxed but we also swam to a turtle cleaning station where 6 turtles were sitting on the rocks to be cleaned by little fishes. They were actually observing us. Its so awesome to have a experience like that... I plan to do a whole lot more dives on my trip up to Cairns when I'm meeting Sophie, a friend from brisbane, there for a weekend trip =].

Back in Brizzie I was on a mission. The internship I was doing at the centre for marine studies turned out to be not for me. I really misjudged it and was not happy and at my place there. So I decided that I needed to change to keep myself happy. I was really sorry that I had to do that because the research I was doing is an interesting and a good one! I just wasn’t good at it and that frustrate me a lot. So in preparation I sent out a few emails to other research departments to find another intership. One of them was to Bostjan Kobe of the department of structural biology with the question if I could visit and if he could tell me more about the research they are doing at his department. I was invited to come by at the 5th of January. I read a few articles his group published to be a bit prepared. I met him in the morning and had a really nice talk. I told him that I was looking for an internship and the story why I left my other internship. He was so friendly and showed me around to meet al the postdocs of his group and asked if any of them wanted a student. Eugene Valkov wanted me to help him with his crystallography research. So I got an internship the same day!! My research is to create a 3D image of a interleukin, a protein that has a role in the human immune system! Very interesting background but even more interesting is the way I am trying to create that image! It’s a but theoretical and difficult so I won’t explain right now but what I try to reach is to produce a lot of my protein and crystallize it. The crystals are being scanned with x-ray beams and the diffracting pattern it produces (is a sort of shadow and reflections the x-rays create) will be calculated and turned into a 3D image by a computer. Awesome isn’t it?!?! Hahaha, probably not for most of you but I truly love it! The labwork is fun and the people are fun! What else do I need! A few days later I was well into my internship and I completely forgot it was my birthday until I got textmessages and facebook messages from so many people! Thanks guys.. =] I loved it! Two of my girlfriends were determined to throw me a little birthday party and bake me a cake. When I came home, my roommates Clive and Nick both invited so many people over for drinks that suddenly I had a huge party on the back deck! I made dinner for all of them and after that we went out to the regatta… It was Wednesday night and that is student night at the regatta! So we had a little boogie and a few drinks. It was a great night I was really the birthday girl.

The week after that it was time for my first huge festival. Big day out at the Gold coast. It was soooo hot that day! We went with eight of us and slept on a huge yacht!!! It was huge and so beautiful! The festival was awesome! I saw, temper trap, passion pit, girls talk, the mars volta, lilly allen, powderfinger, and much more, but the best thing I saw really was MUSE. That was sooooo cool! A really good concert and one of the best live performances I have ever seen! We were right at the front in the mosh! Jumping up and down with sweat gushing down my back, but it was so worth it! At the end of the night we were all exhausted and hungry, so we ate some cupnoodles and went to sleep. In the morning we went for a dip in the ocean and headed back to Brizzie again.

The next weekend I went on a weekend trip with a big group of my international friends to stradbroke Island. We were staying there with 15 people in the manta lodge! A backpackers just on the beach, it was sooo much fun. I drove down with Fabian, Thibaut and Jeroen to meet Timbi and Tallula at the ferry. Micheal and Verina were already there with some of our other friends. We played drinking games that night, flipcup and horseraces! It was hilarious. Everyone got so drunk. Then Micheal took his guitar out and we started singing! The one song that will always stay with me and is really connected to my trip here is the Jack Black Tenacious D song; "Fuck her gently". Hahahaha... we kept singing this over and over again for the last few months! =] The evening ended with some deep philosophy and stargazing at the beach and then back in bad in preparation for the next fully planned day. The next morning I woke up at 5:30 to go surfing with Michael and Verena. The waves were just beautiful! Caught two really nice ones and managed to get up my board for a second or two before crashing back into the wave. :P even though I put so much zinc on my face I still got burnt. Ow, and I saw a shark while surfing!!! SCARY! We went back to the hostel at eight to have breakfast. We drove in the two cars we brought to the beach. When we arrived at the beach we found that no one was in the water! The reason was a cool one. There were three sharks playing in the waves!! You could see them just before the wave broke. Soo cool! Might have been the same one as I saw that morning! Another crazy party night that night we went to the pub. Had a little boogie and walked back to the hostel on the beach. I was talking to Thibaut. This was is last weekend on straddie because he was leaving the week after, so he was a bit sad. while we were talking we started walking along the water and suddenly saw that it was filled with sea spark! Really
shiny blue and green ones. It was unbelievable there were so many of them! I am always mesmerized by it. the funny thing is if you touch them with your fingertip they get stuck there and you have light all over your hands!! =] after another singing session we went to sleep. The next day we went to go snorkeling in the gorge! It was a beautiful walk down there! Luckily I had brought my diving gear. I saw the biggest seaslugs ever! They were huge, a little wobbygong shark (carpetshark) and lots and lots of beautifully colored fishes. After our trip there we went to relax on the beach. Everyone was exhausted! But we had to return to Brisbane that day too. So we packed up early went to get an ice cream and headed to the lodge to make our way home...

In the mean time there were parties and drinks every weekend, but one night was quite special for me because I went to see one of my favorite bands live playing their new CD and some of my favorite older songs. PORCUPINE TREE… they were the best… Again raging, symphonic, magical!! Wish you were there dad! You would have loved it! (again)
In between all of this I’ve been busy growing my own veggie patch... Its so much fun, I have everything growing here! All the herbs I want! Parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, oregano and now I am growing spring onions, red onions, lettuce, rocket, bock choi, carrots, capsicum, eggplant and tomato’s! Ohhh! I’m so proud, but that’s not all, I’ve taken upon me the task of beautifying this garden. So I’m making cuttings from all types of plants. =]

Oh… so last weekend we helped Nick out painting his back deck. Its white and light blue now. It feels like you are at the beach suddenly! It’s so pretty, I put up some hanging baskets with plants and we made a table from old wood and loaded it with potted plants. Next weekend its time for festival number two of this year. Good Vibrations. A slightly smaller ones but as the headliner the Killers!! So it will be fun. Now I’m sitting on the coach with Michael and Fabian after a green lasagna we just made. Monday night is our cooking night and we are watching James bond! Busy day today and a productive one. I did a lot of reading on how crystals form. Its quite difficult physics, did some writing on my report went fruit and veggie shopping at this awesome store called Billy’s fruit market. Spent 15 euro’s on two huge bags full of fruit and veg! So cheap. Did some exercise with Michael when we got home. We have got a lot of weights and a bench press etc here. Fab came over and suddenly they both ran out the door… This enormous lightning storm was hanging over the city. It was like Thor was having a fit. At least ten lightnings a second! It looks like a rave party in the sky! Very weird.
Now I’m tired sweaty and full, time for more bond and less movement…
Kisses to you all and you’ll from me soon!

X Linda

Life..

Hey Guys,


So sorry it has been too long since I have written anything on my blog. Partly because my Photo camera died and mostly because I changed internship, moved to another place, did a lot of diving, had Christmas and new years parties my birthday and went to an Awesome festival! I will tell you about all of this soon, with some pictures. It was a busy time. Still busy with my new internship but more organized.

I got a funny test for you guys! try this its quite funny. A colleague of mine showed it to me.. Something to keep you busy!

If all of the eight desserts listed below were sitting in front of you,
which would you choose? (sorry, you can only pick one) Trust me, this is
very accurate. Pick your dessert, and then look to see what
psychiatrists think about you.


REMEMBER: No cheating please!

Make your choice before you check the meaning.



Here are your choices:*
*1. Angel Food Cake*
*2. Brownies*
*3. Lemon Meringue Pie*
*4. Vanilla Cake With Chocolate Icing*
*5. Strawberry Short Cake*
*6. Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Icing*
*7. Ice Cream*
*8. Carrot Cake*
*
No, you can't change your mind once you scroll down, so think carefully
about what your choice will be.*
*
OK, now that you've made your choice, this is what the* *researchers
say about you.*
*SCROLL DOWN -- no cheating.*


*

1. ANGEL FOOD CAKE -- Sweet, loving, cuddly. You love all* *warm and
fuzzy items. A little nutty at times. Some-times you need an ice cream
cone at the end of the day. Others perceive you as being childlike and
immature at times.*
*
2. BROWNIES -- You are adventurous, love new ideas and are* *a champion
of underdogs and a slayer of dragons. When* *tempers flare up you whip
out your saber. You are always the* *oddball with a unique sense of
humor and direction. You tend* *to be very loyal.*
*
3. LEMON MERINGUE -- Smooth, sexy and articulate with your hands. You
are an excellent caregiver and a good teacher.* *But don't try to walk
and chew gum at the same time.. A bit of a diva at times, you set your
own style because you do your* *own thing. You shine when it comes to
helping others and* *have many friends.*
*
4. VANILLA CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING -- Fun-loving, sassy, humorous, not
very grounded in life; very indecisive and* *lacking motivation.
Everyone enjoys being around you, but* *you are a practical joker.
Others should be cautious in* *making you mad. However, you are a
friend for life.*
*
5. STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE -- Romantic, warm, loving. You care about other
people, can be counted on in a pinch and expect the same in return.
Intuitively keen. You can be very emotional at times, but a true person
in every way. You like* *to do things for yourself and help others
learn about themselves.*
*
6. CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING -- Sexy; always ready to give and
receive. Very creative, adventurous, ambitious and passionate. You can
appear to have a cold exterior but* *are warm on the inside. Not afraid
to take chances. Will not settle for anything average in life. Love to
laugh.*
*
7. ICE CREAM -- You like sports, whether it be baseball,* *football,
basketball or soccer. If you could, you would like to participate, but
you enjoy watching sports. You don't like to give up the remote control.
You tend to be* *self-centered and high maintenance.*
*
8. CARROT CAKE -- You are a very fun loving person, who* *likes to
laugh. You are fun to be with. People like to hang* *out with you. You
are a very warm hearted person and a* *little quirky at times. You have
many loyal friends. You* *were meant to lead and teach others... A
wonderful role model.*



I chose a lemon merengue cake!! Hahahaha, smooth and sexy... yeah right.. Anyway! Hope some people are still reading my crap!

Kisses and write to you soon!
Linda