little news

This is a post with some little news for people who don't have Facebook to follow me :-)


Seaworld


I went to Seaworld with my housemates Gaby, Pierre and Mary! We saw the sea lions, the dolphins, the sharks and lots of other fishes and animals :-) And of course we also did the two roller coasters at Seaworld. 

 

In the roller coaster

 After Seaworld we went to the Fisherman's Wharf for a drink. Fisherman's Wharf Tavern is a very nice bar with amazing view over the harbour and the boats! Especially at sunset time!

After this bar we went to Melbas for a 5 dollar steak with fries and salad. Jammie!

Mountain Tambourine

Last weekend on Saturday I went with Philippe on a motorbike trip to Mountain Tambourine. We have already been there a few times, but now we went to North Tambourine to do some bushwalking at the Witches Falls. After a very nice ride in the mountains we arrived and started with a picnic (= Subway)

After lunch we went for a very nice walk, but the waterfalls themselves were a bit disappointing. On the walking track we passed a huge tree! At this tree it was not clear were the path was going to... Phil thought he found it and we walked and walked between the trees... not really on a clear path in my opinion... I tried to look back often to keep an eye on the big tree. We went further and further away from the tree... trying to find back the track. I was so scared to get lost! We were NOT walking on the path... that was sure. And suddenly I could not see the big tree anymore. When Phil made me stop to remove a spider from my shoulder I had enough of it: I wanted to go back to this tree... NOW!

I think we are lost... It looked like this everywhere we looked

The tree with the big roots

We found it back, and apparently we had to climb over the roots of the tree to stay on the path... What an adventure! I was so scared in this rainforest! The rest of the path was very nice and we saw 2 wallabies but they were to fast for a picture... After our walk we went to a german bavarian bar. 

Sprinbrook with Tuur


On Saturday night Tuur arrived. Tuur is a friend with whom I studied at the VUB. He is travelling around Australia. So on Sunday Phil, Tuur and me went to the hinterland for a bike ride:

Phil teaching Tuur how to ride my bike

Tuur on my bike

Riding in the curves

The good hot chocolates and mon amour :-)

Purlingbrook falls

PhD...


And then... I have been working very hard for my PhD and an article that I am writing with my supervisor. For my PhD I am doing interviews over Skype now with tennis experts from successful tennis countries. Now I realise that international research from Australia is not easy... Because of the time difference most interviews are early in the morning (5 or 6am) or late in the evening (11pm or later)... Sometimes I have interviews at 11pm and the day after at 5am and again 11pm... So I sleep during the day :-) But I am getting data! Finally! Looking forward to start analyse the results of these interviews! But I first need a qualitative software program and I am also looking to find a company to transcribe my interviews because it is taking me ages to do this! 


So... this were the little updates...


I have less than 2 weeks left in Australia. It is a weird feeling! I am going to miss Australia... and Philippe... On the other hand I am looking forward to see my family and friends again... and to start with the second phase of my research. 


Keep you posted!


Cheers
Jessie

Relax weekend in Brisbane

In August last year, I participated at a competition at Bond University for PhD students. We had to present our PhD research in 3 minutes using 1 slide. I won the first prize for people's choice! This was a voucher for one of the Stamford Luxury hotels for 250 dollars! To thank Philippe for his patience  and listening when I was practicing my 3 minute speech, I took him with me :-)

Finally, after a very busy period at Bond for both of us, we found some time to relax! We decided to go to Brisbane during the Easter Weekend. The weather was beautiful, so we took the motorbike to go to Brisbane!

The weekend was amazing! Delicious food, nice weather, tandem bike trip, deluxe room, Japanese dinner with show cooking, chilling at the pools in South Bank,... The highlight of the weekend was the tandem ride. We had so much fun on the bike! I wanted to be in the front, so that I could choose where we were going, but it was too difficult :-) So, Philippe took over... And I had to trust on his riding capacities as I had no brakes or could not turn the bike.

Another highlight was the Japanese restaurant. All the guests had to come at 8.15 and the tables were in half circles around the cooking BBQ. One of the cooks was cooking in front of us, and giving us a show with his knives, fire,... He also threw eggs at us, and we had to catch them in a bowl! Very funny! We also talked to the other people who were sitting next to us. Very nice Australians.

Here are some pictures:

Tandem ride

Japanese restaurant

Philippe just caught the egg

Find the flying egg!

Brisbane by night

South Bank

Breakfast

Buffet Breakfast

I have made a compilation of our weekend (including the hotel, botanical gardens, tandem ride, japanese restaurant,...) ! Just see it below!

Now it is working time again! Lots of work... Collecting surveys, sending emails, transcribe interviews, revise and article for a peer reviewed journal, write progress report,...

Last days of Kristina

Last Friday Kristina, the friend from Belgium who stayed here for one and a half month, flew back to Belgium. I think she had an amazing time; she stayed with me at the Gold Coast for a few weeks and went with Lynn, Jonas and Jill up north till the WhiteSundays. Unfortunately they could not go further north because of the rain. But instead going North, they visited Sydney, where I joined them for 3 days. She also went to Melbourne, Tasmania and then to Cairns as the weather was better. I am so jealous!!!!

As I had too much work for my PhD... and Phil was in holidays, Kristina and Phil went to the Twin Falls at Springbrook on the motorbike.

Cosy little Cafe

Phil @ Twin Falls

On Kristina's last day I went with her to Surfers Paradise... to surf... or at least try to :-) The weather was perfect for the beach and after the beach we did some shopping.

Surfers Paradise

Practising on the sand

Practising

Chilling

For dinner we went to the restaurant where Philippe works and we had our desert at Max Brenner, the chocolate place.

Delicious brochetta @ Cucina restaurant

@ Max Brenner

Chocolate Fondue!

Enjoy!

I will miss you Kristina! :-) It was nice to have you here!

By the way... for the people who don't know it yet... I will come back home (Belgian home) the 23rd of May till the end of September for the data collection of my PhD! I will miss Australia!

Bond Uni

I forgot to write some things in my previous posts!

When Jill, Kristina, Jonas and Lynn were here, I showed them around at Bond University. Now they understand why I love this university so much :-) I showed them my building, the faculty of health sciences and medicine, my office (shared with 3 other PhD students) and desk, the multimedia learning centre, the arch,... Here you can see some pictures that Jonas took with his good camera:

First a picture from the balcony at home around sunset

Me in front of the faculty of health sciences and medicine

My Faculty by night

Bond Fountain and bridge

Under the arch

Jill - Jessie - Kristina - Lynn

Me @ Bond :-)

View from the Bridge: Fountain & the Arch

Things you haven't seen: the 50m outdoor swimming pool, 5 tennis courts, rugby fields, Bond cafes and restaurants, library, the gym,....

So... this is Bond

Cheers,

Jessie

Themeparks

I still have to update on the last weekend which were also the last days of my Belgian friends Lynn and Jonas. Lynn, Jonas and Kristina went  to Dreamworld during the week. Unfortunately, I could not join them... too much work and tennis classes to coach. But in the weekend, I could have fun too!

I spent an amazing day at Wet 'n Wild with Jonas, Lynn, Kristina and Jill! We could go with the huge car of Jill which she bought last week from a Swedish girls, Liv who is leaving Australia. It is a Ford Falcon. Very convenient to have someone with a car... It is a bit hard to transport all the people on my bike. :-) We went from one slide to the other, but the Kamikaze (2 persons), the Tornado (4 persons) and the Mammoth Falls were our favourites. This weekend I made a little video of all the waterfun we had when Jonas, Lynn and Kristina were here. The first part is filmed at the swimming pool at our house and the second part at Wet 'n Wild. Enjoy the video below!



On Sunday we went to Sea World. We saw the dolphins show,  the seals show and a pirate show and of course lots of other animals: bears, sharks, stingrays,.... We also did the two roller coasters and some water attractions. Here some pictures:

Sesamstraat (hoe lang is dat geleden!)

lunching Polar Bear 

The aquarium:

Splash!

Kristina, Lynn and Jonas

Seals show

Seals show

 The dolphin show:

Penguins

After Sea World we went to the fish and ships restaurant, Peter's Fish Market. In the evening it was time for Lynn and Jonas to start packing! On Monday morning I dropped them off at the airport! I had a great time with them on the Gold Coast! Kristina stayed a few more days and now she is in Melbourne and then she will go to Tasmania.

Yesterday, Saturday, I chilled with Jill in the garden!

Yesterday night we also had a party in our house! Lot's of people and drinks and some music. We had good fun, but I miss the parties at the VUB!

Today it is raining... so it will be a cleaning day (all the mess of the party...) and working day.

Cheers!
Jessie