Highlight
of last week was definitely a visit to Stradbroke Island on Sunday. North Stradbroke
or Straddie as the locals call it is the second largest sand island in the
world, Fraser Island being the largest and Moreton the third largest. Whereas
Moreton Island was 98% of protected national park, Straddie isn’t. It has about
2000 permanent residents, three townships, pretty decent road infrastructure,
lots of resorts and even 2 sand mines (if mining companies get a footage
somewhere you can forget the nature protecting part). Basically two thirds of
the island is leased by mining companies which has been a bit of a hot potato
considering the environmental and native heritage value of the island and the
mines are forced to shut down latest 2025 (or so I was told). Good thing with Straddie from touristy point
of view is that you get there with your own car, a normal car, which gives of
course more flexibility to come and go as you like. You get to the Island with
ferry, leaving once an hour and we took the early 8am one as guys went diving
(I need to sign up for a course soon)
So for me
it was a beach day, perfect one with clear sky and lots of beach to take in a day. I started
from Cylinder Beach as it was the first sign that came on my way, thought I will
have lots of peace and quiet at 9am but that was certainly not the case and I
was accompanied by (too) many families with (too) active and (too) loud kids
for my needs. I had my towel, sunscreen, bunch of magazines and water and found
a peaceful place that was safe from the footballs and frisbees flying around. There was also a triathlon going on and the
running route went through the beach. I felt a bit sorry for the people trying
to make their way in the soft sand under the burning sun, it was so much easier
to lie down and drift between naps, dreams and reading...I preferred my choice
of Sunday “activity”.
Somewhere
half way in the sleep I got a feeling that someone is watching me. I looked
around, saw nothing else than the kids and sporty people going by and closed my
eyes again. Got again distracted and was 110% sure someone, somewhere is
staring at me. Annoying. This went on for some 15 minutes, got a bit nervous and
finally looking a bit closer saw a little sand colour almost transparent crab that
had very big eyes compared to the size of its body staring at me. Ha! I knew
it! I took a picture, had a staring competition with it to make it go away,
lost patience (and the staring competition), moved my towel a bit further away
to be in private again and in seconds the little stalker followed me (it was
apparently interested about my bright yellow towel) and started the staring. I
once again went a bit further, the crab followed and stared. I tried to “shhh”
it away and it always came back, and stared. Around 10.30 I decided to call it
a game and head towards the main beach that’s supposed to be “amazing”. Totally
worth it, no screaming kids, no hassle, no sand coloured big eyed crabs staring you, just 38km of beautiful white sand ahead. Think
about it, 38km! Pure beach from Helsinki to Jarvenpaa? A hot surfer guy told me
the beach was almost empty because of shark alert so I sat down, added some
sunscreen, enjoyed the beach, ocean and hot surfers (oh dear) and thought it
feels unreal to be here. “Just another Sunday in Australia”. Yeah right. I also
had a big ice cream for lunch (as an adult you are allowed to do that) saw 2
whales and huge flock of dolphins and thought it is good that whales do not eat
dolphins. I also hope the sharks aren’t eating the surfers who didn’t mind about the
alerts. Passion for a sport makes you do crazy brave things?
Going back
to ferry we were in terrible hurry as the dive was longer than planned and we
had less than 20 minutes time to make it. I got nervous of the idea of missing
the ferry, thought with the empty road ahead it is perfectly fine to over speed
and cut corners “a little”, saw a police coming against, kind of realized I
could be in trouble, saw the police do a u-turn and come after me, knew I am in
deep shit and was asked to pull over. Shitshitfuckfuck. I am in trouble. I will
go to jail. We will miss the ferry. I opened the window, the officer asked if I
have any idea why they asked me to pull over, I gave an innocent smile and said
no idea (a big lie of course), the officer asked if I know what the speed limit is, I gave another
innocent smile and said ‘70 or 80 maybe . The officer said it is 70kph and they
recorded me going 86kph, after breaking. Shitshitfuckfuck. That’s like shit
load of over speed (didn’t say that out loud).
He asked
me to come to their car. Showed me the recording of 86kph and said “it’s quite
heavy over speed young lady”. Young!!!! I smiled again, told I am extremely sorry,
told I’ve never got fined before and cannot believe the first fine of my life
happens at Straddie. The officer in charge smiled, he had very kind eyes too
that made me feel at ease. Giving my driver’s licence the second officer got
very interested of why I am at Australia, and even more interested after
hearing I am not here for a holiday. So they all started to ask questions about
my reasons to come to here, how I like it, what I have done so far and I told
them the not-imported-white-wines-and-avocados-and-hot-surfer boys reasoning
and said Straddie is a perfect place for the latter one and the second officer
pointed out the white wine part and asked me to do a breath test. “Clean,
that’s good news”. I knew that. I asked if I will get a fine and the officer
with kind eyes said “I am afraid so, we cannot overlook this in any case”. Oh
dear. I asked if it will be a huge fine and he smiled and said “no”. Pheeeew *smile*.
As the 2
other officers continued asking questions about Finland and my plans in
Australia the officer with kind eyes was filling in a fine form, got very
confused with my Finnish drivers license and asked me to translate few things.
He also said I look very different in the picture and complimented my current
style to be lot better. I thanked him and blushed I guess. He asked the officer
in the car about some codes, the officer in the car verified the code and said
“you are lucky he’s in charge as he has a weak spot for blonds, you get the
lowest fine instead of 400AUD”. Ouh? *smile for the officer with kind eyes* I said “hi” to the officer in the car, and
asked if they have the good cop/bad cop roles as in old movies? He laughed and
said they are all nice guys. The officer with kind eyes said I will get 133AUD
fine and 1 point deduction for my offence and he lets me go because I am “such
a nice lady” and hopes I can still make it to the ferry. I smiled, thanked
them, wanted to give him a hug (I didn’t) and promised to behave and obey the
limits. They said “no worries” and wished me good rest of the Sunday. I thanked
them again for being so kind and went back to car, sat down and felt my heart
was almost jumping out of the chest. I go fined. I got my first fine with
someone else’s car at Stradbroke Island Australia on a Sunday afternoon. I did
a crime and got a fine on yellow paper. I lost a point. Don’t know if one point
is a lot or not but I had still lost it. I also lost a point in "never have I ever" game (most of the people have got fined before, me too now obviously).The boys asked what happened, laughed
when they heard about getting 300AUD discount and said that would never be
possible if they were on driver’s seat. You play with the cards you have, huh?
Sometimes it is extremely complicated to be a woman, at times (like this) it is
so simple it leaves you amazed. God bless macho professions and officers having
a weak spot for blonds. Just saved me 300AUD. Worth a nice dress and shoes :)
After getting
yellow papered I had basically 3 minutes time to catch the ferry, obeying the
speed limit of course, I think we are not making it. At the port the ferry
looked full and there were four 4WD in stand-by and a guy shaking his head for
our late arrival and talking over the radio to see if it fits one more. Luckily
we were the smallest car on the queue and got a go to try to fit in…made it
hardly…had audience (of men) on the upper level watching how the lady squeezes
in the BMW. Not fair. I just got fined and really don’t need audience with this
one *wants to show mental middle finger*. Figuring out from the whistles and cheers there’s apparently something
“interesting” with a blond driving a black sporty BMW? Que? We got in with zero
extra space, my heart was still racing, and I think I had a lot of luck on my
side the past 10 minutes. Luckily rest of the Sunday was less exciting. My
heart beat got steady, got home happy, tired and hungry and went to Story
Bridge hotel to have some dinner and chill out. Got dinner but no chill out as
there was on Aussie rugby game going on and the place crowded with fanatic
supporters. Australia won, I guess. What a Sunday.
This week
has been very interesting at work. I am continuing with onboarding on the
topics I am working on and realized I have learnt something as it takes less energy
to follow the conversation (I can speak mine on some level!) But on the other hand, I’ve gained the level
of knowledge to understand there’s heaps of stuff I DONT understand and there
is a lot of complexity in terms of the business, different functional areas, project
and our approach too. So my learning curve is pretty much getting vertical,
which is exactly what I wanted and days go flying by. I also get more and more
confident with the fact that I have an amazing team around me and we’ll have
quite a ride together. Good people is one of my key motivators at work, I can
deal with lot of shit if I am dealing with it in good company. So the anxiety
with work is easing up thanks to fun and smart people and the relaxed
feeling at the office. I have my own seat (and locker) too, with my name in it,
first time since 3.5 years or something. Feels very grown-up and official.
I’ve also
Skyped a lot this week, with friends and family. It is fun to hear what’s
happening back home, or to be honest to realize that not much has changed back homw while
I am having a 24/7 adventure here. I also don’t mind the cold-buu-dark-buu-wet-buu
updates I am reading every morning, while I am writing this I have my balcony door
open as it is pretty warm outside (and inside) already. So my friends start
saving and planning your escape to warmer side of the world, it’s my 5th
day without woollen socks again.
Pus pus
//Ansku
PS. After this I upload new pics, losts of them. I know I've been terribly bad with it so far...try to behave better in the future. Try.
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