David Graff – davidgraff.com Today with Dave, Downunder it's Friday, March 29th, 2024 @ 2:24 AM

Entries Tagged as 'Photos'

Byron Bay

We have moved down the coast to a place called Byron Bay. It’s a pretty famous beach spot, lots of backpackers and people taking it easy.

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Australia Zoo

The other day we had the chance to cruise up the coast and go see the zoo that Steve Irwin made famous. It was a good, fun day.

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Eli sneaking a pet of a little roo.

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Annalise with her popcorn trough in tow.

Day’s End

This is on the way home from the hospital, and I always love coming around the corner and seeing the sun set over these hills. The view is not to last however, there is a construction site hiding in the glare.

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It’s been a while

Well it’s been a long time since I’ve updated here, leaving people wondering where I am and what I’m up to.  And pondering my spelling.  I have been fairly busy trying to get my apartment together, getting a vehicle and even seeing my family up in FNQ.

I got back from the bush and had to study for a final and then had a few days off, and then got to jet to Townsville to see Jenn, James and Eli.  There are a few pics of us, on Magnetic Island, just off the coast of Townsville.

Eli is a funny little guy, always ready to smile, and he’s starting to be much more intentional about his interaction with people.  He used to smile like he couldn’t help holding back, and now when he smiles he really looks happy.  Another time that he looks totally happy is when he’s groovin to the music.  I took a short video of him in the car and will try upload it here in a bit.

Jenn and James took me all over, showed me the university and the hospital up there (I asked to see that, I don’t think it’s on the typical tourist timetable).

Since getting back I was swamped with getting into Surgery.  This rotation started out really intense, in that we were there for every morning meeting and were assigned to a team and followed the interns or registrars everywhere.  There was two weeks of orthopaedics at the beginning and now I have had a few weeks of general surgery, which is a bit more “go see what you’d like and not what you don’t, just make sure you study.”

In the meantime as well, I have finally bought a truck, which has proved to be a bit of a headache already.  I brought it home, so proud, only to have it fail to start on the very first time I stopped it.  It turns out there was a loose wire in the starter motor.  I did not know what was going on, but was fortunate enough to have an old housemate of mine, Steve, visiting from Langley.  He was able to be my starter motor, push style, for about a week.  Then on the weekend I picked up some wrenches and pulled the starter.  The fault was clear by that point, so I fixed it and re-installed it.  It’s starting beautifully now.  I just have a few issues with the fuel pump.  I hope I can work those out too.  Here you can see my repair:

Steve was here for three weeks and we were able to go to a footy game together, see a bit of the area and chill and hang out like old times.  Sometimes it seems as though neither of us has changed a bit.

I also bought a used bbq I found online, and was able to pick up, with my (trusty?) truck.  I’m pretty excited about it, and have basically lived off it in the last two days.  I want to get a few plants and make the apartment feel a little more like home.  Plus study.  A bunch.  I have an exam in three weeks and it’s no small thing.  Hopefully I survive, all I have to do is read and memorize a textbook…

I’ll try grab some photos of the truck, I never think to do it.  Plus I’ll try show you where I’m living when I get my act together.  Hopefully it’s soon!

While I’m in the picture mood I might as well throw in a pretty cool sunrise from a few days ago:

Sunrise over Maroochy

Used Books

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I love the experience of reading a used book. There’s something about thinking that the pages have been experienced by someone else that makes it interesting to me. I look at the words and wonder what the other person thought when their eyes passed over them. Recently I have started reading “The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis. I was given the book by someone close to me. The book is very interesting to me, and it is basically a fantasy about what what it would be like, as a citizen of Hell, to take a trip to Heaven.

Physically the book is in great condition. I noticed that there was one page that had the corner folded over. When I received the book, I assumed that this was just a random stopping point, an easy way of marking where they were. Maybe this is still true, maybe that’s how this corner was folded. But then I wondered if there was another reason. As I read through the pages, there seemed to be nothing that would warrant flagging for its own sake. Then, at the end of the page marked, I read this:

“Ye cannot in your present state understand eternity…” “… But ye can get some likeness of it if ye say that both good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all their earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only the twilight in that town, but all their life on Earth too, will then be seen by the damned to have been Hell. This is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say ‘Let me have but this and I’ll take the consequences’: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man’s past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say ‘We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven,’ and the Lost, ‘We were always in Hell.’ And both will speak truly.”

This is a great part of my Joy. I am living at the very beginning of eternity.

More Photos

These are a few more photos from Australia Day and the fireworks.

It was a fun day.

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No umbrella

How am I going to get to the hospital in any sort of respectable condition? It’s a 45 minute walk away from here, and you guessed it, my umbrella is buried deep in storage somewhere.

I doubt the photo will show the true tropical downpour that I am about to march through.

More King’s

Here are a few more photos of the place that I’m staying temporarily.

It is a good place to be temporarily, but is definitely a dorm, complete with strangers everywhere, loud music and late loud talkers.

It’s cheap tho! Depending on where I end up living, it is about half to a third of what I will pay for my own place.

The Green Bridge

This is the green bridge, the link between campus and the other side of the river.
It’s suprisingly long, and once while crossing it I saw a dolphin playing in the water below.

It’s going to be a much bigger part of my life this year no matter where I live, since half of my life is on one side, and half on the other.

My new digs

Recently I decided to rejoin the first world and took up a room in King’s College.
It’s relatively nice and almost on campus,so it’s about as convenient as you can get.
Where I have been till now must remain an internationally protected secret.


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