Brisbane is brilliant. I really love this place.
There are fantastic libraries in beautiful spots (the State Library of Queensland sits on this huge river, with lots of modern architecture and is really quite wonderful), and the Brisbane City library is just across from it.
This trip is rapidly evolving into a tour du bibliothèque, I regret nothing.
The public transportation is robust - the Brisbane city council operates free catamarans that run up and down the river, and there's a developed bus system. There are entire city blocks dedicated to just jungle and art, and long stretches of "nature walks" along the river.
Also, birds - lots of them, everywhere.
The first is named a "noisy miner" (my new favorite name for a bird), the second an Australian white ibis.
And, the most important bit.
The Hideout has unquestionably the best coffee + croissants I've had in Australia so far and is reasonably-priced, too - and, following a week of being here I've achieved first-name status with the baristas. Ode to familiarity.
That said, Brisbane is expensive, as far as cities go. The cheapest hostel price I've found around here is ~30 USD, or 50 AUD - compared to the ~30 or ~25 AUD elsewhere. I've been excusing it by working a ton - the last week has been more or less ritually sacrificed to the gods of productivity.
While I've been here, some new developments have come up.
First, we're officially (probably!) presenting my solar project at the AAS Solar Physics Division - and, hopefully, publishing a paper later. The conference is August 13-18, and definitely something I ought to attend, though a remote option is available.
It's news that brings both feelings of intense excitement and a quiet anxiousness. It puts a time limit to my story here in Australia - and also means I need to put in a lot of work prior to the 13th. We haven't finished the paper yet, nor is the project complete - most of my time here in Brisbane has been spent on it, and even following 40 hours of work I fear it needs at least twice that to approximate something scientifically acceptable.
I'm anxiousexcitednervousokay. By the time I return to the States, ideal world? I'm stable. Ready to rock. More thoughts on that later.
Anyway. Tomorrow I'm leaving Brisbane. I'm thinking I'll pick up a wetsuit before heading out - open sea scuba cert is too much money - but freediving isn't :)
