20.4.2010, Tuesday, East Brisbane, Queensland
We had flight bookings to Europe on Tuesday the 20th, but air traffic all around the globe had ground to a halt thanks to the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption. We ended up waiting on the Singapore Airlines standby list for more than a week - without an apartment, for which we had handed in the keys already, and without our belongings, since they were sailing towards Europe in a sea freight container. We managed to get temporary accommodation by crashing at Selene's place in a lovely old Queenslander shared flat (and a decommissioned brothel) and spent our last days in the land of milk and honey in exasperating anticipation and apocalyptic vibes.
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18.4.2010, Sunday, Highway A1, Queensland
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Soundtrack of my life Homeward Bound Simon & Garfunkel |
For Martin, Marcel and me, it was an epic journey with a bottle o'Jack (nawww, sorry...bottle o'Bundy!) For Ryan the Designated Driver, it was murder. One of the best road trips I've taken, nevertheless.
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17.4.2010, Saturday, Heron Island, Queensland
After the retreat, leisure activities ensued. Despite my Sipadan-derived disenchantment, I must admit that I would rather dive Heron Island than get a boot to the head.
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14.-16.4.2010, Heron Island, Queensland
The research group retreat took place at the Heron Island Research Centre (an outpost of the University of Queensland), located a seven hours' drive and a three hours' extremely painful boat ride from Brisbane. Exhausted or not, now it's time to brainstorm!
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What happens when you take twenty bioscientists and put them into a tropical paradise? They rush to grab a spoonful of ocean water from the lagoon and put it under a microscope to find some critters in it!
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