Week 21: More travelling!

yup. i did exactly what the title says. the weekend after i got back from melbourne, i flew up the coast to marvelously sunny and rather warm Coffs Harbour!



you may vaguely remember Coffs Harbour from the time when i went on my Newcastle to Cairns roadtrip. it felt vaguely strange being back there because at every turn, i saw something that reminded me of the roadtrip. the fish & chip shop where we got our dinner. the i. the big banana. the jetty.




everything seemed tainted with melancholy and nostalgia. BAH!

anyway, i was up in Coffs Harbour for an all expenses paid 5-day research trip. yup. air fare, accomodation and even car hire. i got to drive a white X-Trail which was nice. and smooth. and goddamn sweeeeeeeeeeet. now i know, elaine. now i know.

anyway, i was working in the national marine science centre which is possibly the coolest lab i've ever worked in. it is located right beside the ocean which meant easy access to the beach to collect animals AND it has a flow-through system which pumps seawater directly into the labs! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! you don't have to carry 20L tanks of seawater up 6 levels to the lab (like how we do in the byrne lab grr)!! it is also within the compounds of the Novotel hotel in Coffs so that meant that we were staying in hotel-type apartments..FOC because the NMSC owned a couple of units there! SO AWESOME I WANT TO WORK IN COFFS FROM NOW ON! anyway, pictures to show you how awesome the lab is (or rather...just the animals and the surroundings).





the downside to all these luxuries is that my trip up was pretty intense, meaning that i started work at 9 am and left the lab at 2-3 am for every single day that i was there. we were working on a tight schedule...but who cares!? it was still a holiday.

ok abrupt end because my literary juices have run dry and i have a whole stack of clothes to fold.
bye.