Light and Film Festival

Hi there!

Last Monday it was forecasted to rain, so all the trains were really busy. The guard on the train tried to lift up the atmosphere by saying: 'We are a bit late and full because of the rain, but I have a special treat for you today. Included in your ticket is an amazing view of Sydney Harbour with the Opera House on your left hand side. Since not many things come for free these days, please enjoy it!' Obviously, we pass every day next to the harbour with the same view, but I appreciated his attempt to make us all feel a bit less grumpy :)

Tuesday was a different day than usual at work, because we had interviews for new interns to take care of our elephant project. We are studying the elephants for almost 8 years, but it takes a lot of work to process all that data. So we had some lovely ladies coming over and my supervisor interviewed them. Two opposites were chosen, one very quiet and the other not at all ;) During lunch I went to journal club, where we discuss a scientific article with other zoo keepers and staff members. This time it was about the effects of visitors on koalas and we did a very similar research last year, but we were slow to process and publish it. When I was talking with my supervisor we agreed that we don't want to be late again, so we are going to try to publish two papers on my research with the cockatoos as soon as possible. I'm very exited about that, it would be great to have two publications!

Wednesday I stayed late at work and made lasagne, yummy! We have a fully equipped kitchen in our office, because some volunteers make food treats to give to the animals at zoo. Then I went straight to the cinema near the zoo, the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palaca. This art deco theatre looks great on the outside and inside, but I forgot to take my camera so there's no proof of it ;) I went to a movie that is part of the Sydney Film Festival called 'The disappearance of Elenor Rigby'. The movie is about a broken relationship between a couple and the movie is in two parts: one shows her part of the story and the other his. This Friday I'm going to the 'him' part, so then I can also take some pictures of the cinema. The movie was great; good actors, good story, I laughed and cried :)

Thursday we had a staff lunch at work, but they ran out of food before we got there. So our team went to the foodmarket afterwards and we ate together at the office :) After work we went with our host family to see the Vivid light festival. For those of you from the Eindhoven area: it's Glow but then Sydney-size ;) There's many artworks around the city and projections on buildings. We walked first for a bit and then we boarded a cruise boat that went along the harbour. Drinks, food and DJ were included and it was good fun! Beautiful views of the bridge and Opera house. The weather wasn't great, but it was dry while we were on the boat :) It got a bit late, but I only had to go to work for a few hours Friday so that was no problem. It rained a lot all day, so not many exciting things to tell.

This weekend Momoka and me went exploring Sydney. Saturday we started at Central station, where there was a heritage train expo with old steam trains. We got to see the locomotive and blow the horn ('hoohoo!'). Then we walked through the carriages. From the station we walked to Patty's Markets, which has a high level of 'made in china' souvenirs. So we quickly moved on to Darling Harbour to watch some street artists and we went to the tourist info to collect some flyers. We then walked all the way to the Botanical Gardens, the Opera House and Customs House. Our feet got a bit sore, so watched the ferries for a while and then walked back to Darling Harbour to watch the water show of Vivid. It's similar to the Aquanura show of the Efteling, where they have dancing fountains at the rhythm of the music and project lights. It was tiring, but fun day together :)

Today we decided to take it easy and we first went to Ball's Head Reserve, which is a small nature area near our house. We did a bush walk and enjoyed the nice views of the city. Then we went by train to Luna Park, an amusement park near Harbour Bridge. We bought a ticket for two rides and decided to go on the ship that tumbles upside down and the Rotor. This is a big wash machine thing, where you stand against the wall and they start spinning it. As soon as you're stuck to the wall because of the G-forces, they remove the floor below your feet and you just hang there! After a few minutes they slow it down and you slide back down. Your head takes a while to stop spinning, but it was really cool!

Tomorrow it's Queen's birthday, but I have to work anyway. This week I'm doing some more observations, really early in the morning (alarm at 5 am..). Tuesday the new intern comes that is going to continue my project on the cockatoos, so I have to teach him to identify the birds and how we collect the data. My supervisor is on the Whitsunday Islands till Thursday, so that should be interesting!

Anne