Knock, knock, who's there?

Sometimes there are periods in life when nothing seems to be going right despite your best intentions.

We’ve all had those times: your car breaks down; you drop $20 on the floor in a dark nightclub and never see it again; your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner breaks up with you when you least expect it.

It’s during those times that we are least likely to appreciate the power of coincidences or even to notice life’s pleasant twists when they happen to us. This is definitely a shame.

Work and money were a struggle during most of June and July for me. My hours at the agency in Brisbane were slashed as winter settled in and the work dried up. Then, what was supposed to be a 30-40 hour per week job on Moreton Island turned out to be a 15-20 hour per week job. The reason? The managers of the resort’s food and beverage department (in their infinite wisdom and expertise) hired far more people than needed at this time of year. It was tough at times to look on the bright side. To remember that I was living on a pristine island just steps from the beach. Sometimes you can’t focus on the good when worries about money, love, and family are gnawing at the back of your mind.

Then something happened and things started looking up for me. I was placed in the resort gift/grocery shop as extra help for three days about two weeks ago. Suddenly, I heard rumours of a permanent casual position in the shop. I figured I would apply but didn’t expect to get the job, being as new to the resort as I am. Just when I had given up on getting the job and started planning to quit the resort and move further north, the shop manager came up to me one Wednesday night and said, “Hey, did you hear the news from your department?”

No, I said.

“You’ve got the job in the shop. You start next Tuesday.”

What?!

So, here I am. Still living on Moreton Island and finally getting decent hours. The shop manager, Madonna (known simply to all as “Donsy”), is a wonderful, cheerful woman who always has a tale to tell. She makes what could be a very boring job plenty of fun.

This morning I’m in Brisbane for the day. It’s time to catch up on a few errands and rid myself of a minor bout of Island Fever. Speaking of which, I no longer am sure whether I prefer life in the city to life in the country or vice versa. Lately the city seems dirty, noisy and overcrowded. What is with all these traffic signals? We don’t even have paved roads on Moreton Island, let alone crosswalks. But that is a bit of a tangent.

I decided to pay a visit to the YMCA this morning. I haven’t done a proper workout with weights in four months and was long overdue. I was disappointed that the gym was kind of small and the equipment sort of old. But the man at the front desk was very friendly and very familiar to me, for some strange reason. I told him I was going to think about it and might come back later to use the gym.

I wandered a few blocks down the street to another gym that is supposed to be larger, newer and nicer.

Then I hit another roadblock: the gym is closed on weekends. What kind of gym in the middle of a city of 1.5 million people does not open on weekends? Apparently the one I was at. Brisbane is a strange city in this way. Just after I arrived in the city at 8 p.m. last night, a few restaurants were already getting ready to close in the city’s nightclub district. The ones that were open were either half-empty or of the fast-food variety. And this on a warm, calm night. But, I digress once more.

So I went back to the Y. It would be cheaper anyway.

I started to tell the man at the front desk about my little escapade and gripe a wee bit about Brisbane’s strange business hours. That’s when he said, “Oh, I know. I’m from Canada. It’s different over there.”

I told him I was Canadian as well. And then something dawned on me. I said, “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Quan,” he said. And then we both realized it at the same moment.

“Did you used to live in Vancouver?” I broke into a smile.

Yep. He did. Right down the hall from me in the summer of 2001. We were both taking summer classes at UBC. Coincidentally, this was the same place I met my good friend Andreas, whom I later shared an apartment with in Vancouver for more than a year.

Wild!

Quan and I spent about 20 minutes catching up on where we were at in life and how the others we lived in the dorm with are doing. He’s now in his last year of medical school here in Brisbane and is dating a local girl. It was so good to see someone from home and talk about familiar people and places. To boot, Quan gave me a free entry to the gym.

I remember a story my dad told me years ago after he went on a trip to China. There he was shopping in a department store in Beijing when he ran into a woman he knew from high school in Regina, Sask. I just never thought I would have similar experience, at least not in Australia.

* * *

All right. I’ve blabbed on for long enough now. It’s time to show you more pictures from
Moreton!



A humback whale gives us a "wave". This was during a whale watching tour I did last weekend at the resort. We were lucky enough to have a calm, sunny day, which made it easier to see the whales. Too bad they were kind of shy that day. I think we only got one breech (a jump out of the water).












My fearless housemate Sam lifts a big, nasty Diamond Python out of our way as a group of us hiked across Moreton Island last week. This snake had stretched himself right across the road and was enjoying some sunbathing when we stumbled upon him. Sam said that the snake was pretty harmless and slow-moving at this time of year when food is scarce. And this was only a python, not a venomous snake. Still, I was a bit freaked out. I assume that any and all snakes can and will kill me in this country. There are some seriously lethal ones and you just never know!

The 20-km roundtrip hike wasn't as hard as we thought it would be but we were pretty much ready for bed when we got back to the resort. The snake added a bit of excitement to the tail end of the trip.

Voila, a shot of the dolphins at long last! These two guys are eagerly waiting to be fed by a staff member (top right) and a guest (in the yellow). A photographer (not me) is waiting to snap a photo of the feeding on the left.