1, 2 and 3 in August

Weddings are wonderful things.

Happy three years for Sally and Andrew on the 3rd, happy two years for Bron and Ben on the 21st and happy one year for Chris and Nigel on the 27th.

Congratulations from us both. :-)

Go the mighty bulls!

We had a great weekend down at Casino, catching up with Geoff's family and watching Craig play footy in the reserve grade for Casino against Wollongbar-Alstonville.


Although his team won, to make it into the finals they needed another team in the competition to win and they didn't. It was great game to watch - I am slowing learning about Rugby Union... it's such a a hard game to follow. All I know is there is lots of line-outs, and occasions where they all jump on each other to get the ball, and then another guy charges in to get the ball. I'm sure Geoff could explain it better! Anyway, it was all very exciting to cheer Craig on, and he even scored the first try. :-) The cool thing is Craig will get to play some more footy before the season is out because he is going to play a few first grade games.

Being the huge drinker that I am (not) I was democratically elected (hmm) to be the designated driver for the trip back from the footy. Imagine carting four slightly enebriated and very boistrous boys back from Wollongbar to Casino. We only had to make one pit stop. The boys thought they heard a funny sound coming from the esky so we had to pull over and investigate. Once home, we went out to a local pub for dinner and then Geoff decided it was time he'd had enough of the festivites. The rest of them carried on to the wee hours of the morning; Tony ended up singing karaoke at a another pub and waking up a little bleary eyed.

Sunday morning I drove back to Brisbane. This is something I rarely do and I can now understand why Geoff is normally so tired after the two and half hour drive. Luckily we had some excellent audio tracks to sing along to (who would have thought The Doors would keep me on the ball)?

As of last Thursday, it has been one year since we arrived back in Brisbane and scared the daylights out of my parents who weren't expecting us back until September. :-) It's amazing how fast the time goes. At times it doesn't even feel like we were away at all.

Here is a photo of where we were about a year ago, on the island of Lefkada off the coast of Greece.



Geoff had his first clinic on Friday. He was a little nervous about it, not knowing what to expect I suppose but he tells me it was really interesting. He did the suction for and got to watch a debridement (fancy word for clean and scale) assisting another student. There was a lot of blood but it didn't faze him. He has a few more clinics this year assisting but over the next couple of years he will get to be in the driver's seat more.

This and that

Hey dear readers, I know it's been a while so here goes my attempt at entertaining you for at least 30 seconds.. :-)

Last weekend we caught with some former work mates - Julissa, Yvonne and Angela. We all had a yummy lunch at the Bull and Cactus and found out that Yvonne is pregnant, she and hubby Charles are expecting in February next year! She is looking really good and even has a bump to show for it. :-)

Now onto something completely different. Work has been absolutely crappy lately. I can't really go into any detail because you all know where I work and that would be bad. I sometimes wish I had an anonymous blog and then I could rant and rave all I want. :-) The good thing is that I am taking this Friday off and we are heading down to Casino to visit Geoff's folks for a long weekend. Geoff's brother Craig is playing an all important "finals make or break" game of rugby on Saturday so we will be there to cheer him on. It's also so nice just to get away from the big smoke for a bit. Brisbane is just too crowded sometimes!!

To finish up, I want to share a work email that the building engineer sent to everyone a few weeks ago now. Sorry to whoever has already seen this (hi Tash and Kath!) but it was so funny. Take care everyone. :-)

It would appear that someone has taken a liking to our shower curtains in CBCRC to the extent that 3 have now been removed.

I was not aware that these were a sought after collectors item as they are readily available from all leading hardware stores!!!!

I have now ordered new ones and these will be installed upon receipt, so no more emails please. Please direct all your energies to catching THE CURTAIN BANDIT as he or she is the one causing you the inconvenience.

If THE CURTAIN BANDIT wishes to contact me I can direct them to the appropriate supplier and they can try paying for one!!!!!!!

Our book list

Christine and Nigel (www.blog.co.uk/main/index.php/viapaschale) have tagged us about 10 books.

I would just like to mention that Geoff's replies are shown after mine and I take no responsibility for them!!

1. One book that changed your life:

Lonely Planet Guide for Canada
Bear Attacks, their Causes and Avoidance by Stephen Herrero

2. One book that you’ve read more than once:

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
The complete guide to home brewing in Australia by Laurie Strachan

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:

Collins Pocket Guide to Stars and Planets
A Lonely Planet Guide to Desert Islands

4. One book that made you laugh:

Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man, by Tim Allen
Far Out Brussel Sprout by Paul Jennings

5. One book that made you cry:

April Fools Day by Bryce Courtenay
So thats what its like when doves cry by Amanda Huginkis

6. One book that you wish had been written:

How to travel around the world on minimum money
Get rich quick by Richard Rich

7. One book that you wish had never been written:

Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus by John Gray
Chemistry by Zumdahl

8. One book you’re currently reading:

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
A Brief History of the World by Geoffrey Blainey

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:

The Harry Potter series
Kokoda by Paul Ham

10. Tag others.

Umm, whoever considers themselves lucky enough... go for it!!

Jerusalem Creek

We recently took a trip down south to visit my parents and do a spot of fishing. After loading the subaru full of borrowed camping gear(Thanks Dad) we headed down to Bundjalung National Park to camp for a few nights. It is one of my regular spots that I like but this was El's first visit.The facilities are minimal with pit toilets and no showers or running water but we managed. It is quite invigorating having cold camp showers hiding behind the tent. We had all our warm gear from Canada so we weren't too cold but El managed to steal most of my stuff to wear over the top of her multiple layers. Nights were not too cold until the last night when the dew made its way onto the outside of the sleeping bags and everywhere else. Not quite as cold as when we camped in Nova Scotia though.
I did lots of fishing but had more luck in catching beers from the esky than fish from the sea or creek.
Jerusalem Creek runs out to the ocean eventually, we nearly died(not really-just got really tired) walking the 9 kms return trip (complete with fishing rods,esky and heavy camera). Even though the esky was getting lighter as I removed various shiny metal objects it seemed to get heavier as we went along. We walked along the creek as far as the mouth of the creek and decided to walk along the beach back to the campground to make the trip easier. The only problem with that idea was the south easterly swell making tides bigger than they should have been. We walked about 800 meters back toward the campground and then saw our path blocked around a headland by rather large incoming waves. We took the wussy way out and clambered up onto a rock shelf to escape the seas. Once we got to the top of the shelf we could see that the beach was a no go zone. The problem with this was that we were seperated from the path leading along the creek by various prickly plants, pandanus palms and assorted scratchy looking sticks. Reliving my childhood I managed to bush bash our way back to the track, trying not to pay too much attention to the look of terror on El's face.

This time of year the campground is virtually deserted, mainly due to the cold. Only die hard fishermen and silly people like us go camping at this time of year. It got down to close to zero degrees one night. I got up to look at the sun come up while El was too busy sleeping and steam was coming off the waves.
I also nearly managed to get the car bogged in some soft sand. It only went up to the door on the passenger side but with a little encouragement, some low range and a lot of revving I got out and moving again, much to El's delight. For some reason she did not want the car to get swept out to sea.

Above is a more gentle type of sand-the hard stuff. Its like driving on a highway so you don't have too many problems. At high tide when the sand is soft you have to be more careful as if you lose momentum you can easily get stuck.
I have caught heaps of fish at this place in the past but a combination of bad weather and apathy stopped the fish from biting.

After camping we went back to my parent's place and gave the car a good wash. Probably half the sand on the beach seemed to come out of the car and sand was in spots that you didn't think a car had. We got it fairly clean though, just clean enough to notice the fresh dirt put on it driving back to Brisbane.
El is back at work now, doing her science thing. I'm still doing a bit of work as well and enjoying the last days until I go back to uni. I'm starting dentistry subjects next semester so I'm really looking forward to not doing all the science stuff again. I've got credit for a couple of subjects next semester so the workload should be easier. Luckily Organic Chemistry was one of the subjects I got off-I hate that stuff.
Today I am working my way through El's list of jobs while she is at work -doing the house husband thingy.
I'm back to Uni on Monday and have to get dressed up for the dental school so my days of ultra casual are numbered.

Gotta love the serenity!

Hello! Thought we'd do a post with some pictures for once! We had a great weekend away at my aunties farm. It was really peaceful to get away from it all and I could have easily stayed a lot longer. Sorry Bron and Chris (and any other misplaced Aussies) - hope these photos don't make you too homesick!

We helped feed the one year old cows some grain and this fella was particularly curious about the camera.

We also went for a walk down to the river bed. It is unbelievable how dry it is. It was only at Christmas time that a few of my family members were swimming at this exact spot.

This is the view from up near the house. My auntie has alpacas and chooks in the pen to the left of the picture.We saw this fella on a walk we took around the back of her property. It was as close as we could get with Geoff's super duper mega zoom lens. We think the koala had a cub as well.Here's me getting in touch with nature. I wasn't drinking, I swear!Mum and Geoff feeding the hungry herd. Mum and I looking particularly spiffty in our floppy hats.
Another cow photo sorry. I think they're cute. :-)

It's a boy!

Congratulations to our friends, Eric and Sally, on the arrival of their second boy, Carlos Jorge, born last Wednesday morning. We are looking forward to catching up with the 4 of them soon!

Things I have learnt

We had a work trivia night on Friday... what a hoot. It was great fun getting to know some of my lab members (and significant others) a bit better. Although our team "The Tragically Hip" (no, I don't really get it either - someone else named us) didn't win, or come even second (but we weren't last either!) I learnt a lot of useless information.

1) John Howard's middle name is Winston (is that a bit presumptious to name your child after a former politician? Apparently George Dubuya's middle name is Washington as well).

2) The Rabbitohs have won the most Rugby League Premierships.

3) Archer was the name of the horse that won the first two Melbourne cups.

4) Kangaroo is the first Australian aboriginal word to be incorporated into the English language.

So there you go.

Our Saturday

Geoff had his first exam yesterday -Chem (yuck yuck yuck). It was in the early afternoon so I decided to drive him over and then go to the Indro shops until he was finished. I probably should have thought about this a bit more because it was a) Indro b) a Saturday c) lunchtime and d) raining! The carpark was a nightmare! I drove around for what felt like an eternity, cursing and swearing at incompetent drivers, people that park in the turning space, people that beat me to stalking a person walking back to their car and just people in general! I had admitted defeat and was on the way out when I decided to do a last minute check in this little parking area off the main craziness. Unbelievably I found a spot! I did a check for disabled signs, etc but thankfully there was none. Yay for me!

What I really wanted to buy was a denim jacket and a pair of jeans. I must have went into at least 20 different clothes stores and made an interesting observation. Everything is made in China now! It didn't matter whether it was Target, Myer, Jacqui E, Country Road or whatever, they all had the same tag. I think that is really sad. What's even more sad is that the clothes are probably all made in the same sweat shop but the price variations are huge! I did notice however, that a $40 pair of jeans from Target did not fit and feel as nice as a $160 pair from, say Country Road. They are both made in China though. How does that make sense?

Anyway, eventually I had success and bought a nice pair of jeans and a 30% off jacket. I haven't been clothes shopping by myself in a long time and found it was quite good, you don't have to worry about anyone else getting bored and cranky!

So I got a message from Geoff saying his exam was over so I picked him up and headed home. Geoff isn't sure how it went but is glad one is over. Now he is into the physics which is next Thursday. Fun fun. :-)

Ma

Totally forgot to mention in our last post. Happy belated Birthday for my Mum for last Tuesday! We played a bad version of "Happy Birthday to You" in our concert band rehearsal on Monday night. It's become a bit of a tradition where everyone just plays random notes because no one has ever worked out how to play it and what key to play it in!

Not much else to say since Sunday. I did however, finish a 6 week yoga stint this evening. Every Wednesday after work at work. It has been the best thing - it has been helping me with my flexbility and toning up. One cool thing I have learnt is to do "alternative nostril breathing". It sounds weird but is awfully relaxing. :-)

Bush Weekend

I just got back from a weekend away with my Mum. First up yesterday morning we went to the Eumundi markets. I couldn't believe how busy they were. We had to park a mile away and had to walk up several steep hills to get back to the car afterwards. Mum's knee is now not thanking her very much! There were some pretty funky items at the markets, including a silver spoon and fork wind chimes and lots of nice woodwork. I ended up just buying some yummy strawberries and a pineapple.

Afterwards we went out to my Uncle Richard's bush block near Imbil. He is living in a shed but has a few mod cons that run off solar panels and wind turbines. He doesn't have running water as such, just a tank and a dam. It was primitive but so peaceful out there. He has lots of chooks, geese, pheasants and various other birds. His partner Alison (who I have never met before) was also out there for the weekend.

After lunch we headed out to see our good friends John and Susan at Gympie. In the afternoon we helped feed their cows and collect firewood. After a yummy roast dinner we all sat around their fireplace for hours. Today we helped put mulch around some of their gardens since it is so dry. I always love going up to their place because it is so peaceful and they are great company. We were quite reluctant to go back this afternoon. I should have counted the number of "no dam" signs on the highway... there was just so many of them.

Geoff is on Swotvac as of tomorrow and spent the weekend studying chemistry. That exam is next Saturday. All his exams are nicely spaced out which is awesome. He finishes up on the 23rd of this month and then has something ridiculous like 4 weeks holiday! I am hoping to take some time off work so we can go camping. We are thinking about going to Jerusalem Creek which isn't far from Geoff's parent's place. I will have to drag out the Canada thermals for that trip! Brr.

Work has been really busy in the last little while, which is great. A month ago I got vaccinated for smallpox which was not a whole lot of fun. I won't go into the graphic details but will just say that my arm felt like it had been punched repeatedly. :-) Good thing is that the sore is nearly healed and I will be able to shower normally very soon! (And if anyone decides to release the virus as germ warfare I will be safe?!?)

I have some photos to post but they are of the old-fashioned film type and are yet to be developed. Will do that at a later date. I had some great photos taken on mother's day and we have proceeded to lose them. They are not on the computer, or the memory card, and not even retrievable when we use the special software. Very weird.

So that's enough for now. Hope everyone is well. :-)

Bron's getting old. :-)

To our dearest Bron

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

We hope you have an awesome day...
Love always, El and Geoff

Perhaps it's time...

... to update this thing.

What has happened in our lives since our last post? Well, lots of things actually.

Firstly, our good mates Tash and Dunk had a little girl, Isla Jane, on the 24th of March. She was born seven and a half weeks early, and after doing extremely well, was allowed to go home last Wednesday. We had the pleasure of meeting Isla quite a few weeks ago in hospital, but got to have a cuddle of her on Sunday afternoon. What a cutie. She is the most placid baby and was quite happy to be passed around to all her admirers. Tash and Dunk are both looking great and don't appear too sleep-derived at this stage. :-)

While we are on the subject of babies, we can't fail to mention Sally and Andrew's wonderful news. Their little bundle of joy, or munchkin, as it seems to be called, is due on the 12th of October. I caught up with those two this morning and Sally does not seem to be showing a bump yet. :-)

Now onto something completely different. We got our new car!! It is the only baby we'll be having in a while! It is over a month old now and purring quite nicely. There's something very cool about having a car that a) takes off at lights b) doesn't require you to turn off the aircon when you go up hills and c) still has a new car smell! We tried the car out on the beach at Evan's Head over Easter. It powered through the sand quite well and it was only scary coming on and off the tracks from the road onto the beach. Geoff assures me that the bumping and bouncing around is quite normal and you have to go reasonably fast to power through the sand. I am learning. :-)

Geoff did a spot of fishing while on the beach, and didn't catch anything except for rocks and seaweed. It was a pretty crappy day for the beach - overcast, rainy, windy and cold - so Trina and I chilled out in the car instead of lounging around on the beach.

Over Easter we also went for a drive out to Mummulgum, about an hour from Geoff's parent's place. It was coming on dark and there was lots of kangaroos out and about, trying to hit our car. It was a really scenic drive, lots of mountains and farms. It was our car's first semi-offroad experience, going through creek crossings and gravely roads.

Geoff is still surviving uni. He passed two mid semester exams and has got back into studying even though he says it is hard to adjust to being a student again.

The Reality of it all

The whole uni thing has struck me in the face. I forgot how much fun it was to have constant assessment, saturday exams and having to actually pay attention for hours on end is. Besides all those normal fellings of apprehension, things are going ok at the moment. I have a biology exam in about 3 weeks at 1pm on a saturday so that will be fun. I also have another exam on a thursday for physics which I am not looking forward to. Its all questions like" What is the maximum velocity a dolphin will obtain if it jumps out of the water at 35 degrees and into a pot of custard bla bla bla". It is supposed to physics for the real world but I don't know what world these people live in.
Well thats all the whining over for now. The wholes uni concept is not so foreign anymore-the buses, the libraries, the boredom. The hardest thing is coming home and trying to study.
There has already been a dropout from the course. I'm hoping to do alright but tonight I've been good and bad. The good-studying physics and biology for 3 hours. The bad-having a beer or two and messing around on the internet. I have an 8am lecture tomorrow and am working tomorrow night so not too much shenanigans tonight I'm afraid.
We have thrown caution to the wind and have bought a new car. It is a new forester and is getting done up for us this week. It is El's car to replace the pulsar which is going to her brother. We thought if we aren't going to have much money, we may as well be silly about it and get a nice shiny new car(its blue).
As El promised I have the giant drop photo here. It is slightly out of focus but you can get the general idea. Our group is the six people from the left.
Will post more as everythjing develops.

Being sick. :-(

Hello, I'm bored. Geoff is at uni and I am having the day off from work because I'm sick. I haven't had a good cold for ages, I put this down to not having a Summer/Autumn transition since 2004. I always seem to get sick in March. Geoff was crook all last week, and I started to feel yuck on Friday at work. Typical form, getting sick on a Friday! I spent the weekend with a pounding head and no ability to taste food. I slept most of it, but there is only so much sleeping you can do before you get bored with it!

I would like to thank everyone who sent me birthday wishes on the blog! I had a good birthday - had cake at work which was a real bonus, and got to talk to Bron in Canada in the evening (which was midnight for her)! My Mum got me the coolest gift - 2 funky looking platters laden with all different types of fruit - she knows me well. :-) Geoff got me a HUGE box of choccies and a bottle of sambucca... ah, sambucca... I have only recently discovered how good it is. :-)

However, turning 26 had it's downfalls. I am now that much closer to 30!! It's funny, but ever since I turned 25, I have no longer felt like I'm at a good age. 24 just has a certain good feel about it, whereas 25 (and 26) just seem old. I shouldn't complain though. I know when I'm 40, or 50, I'll look back and wish I was 26 again!

Geoff and I have been looking at buying a new car. We have spent the last 5 or so Sundays at local car yards, without the annoying presence of salespersons. I am going to sell my baby to my brother Mark. My car has been making some strange noises lately, and I have to get the clutch and something to do with the diff replaced. In short, I'm going to be car-less for over a week and it's going to cost a packet. Damn cars. I have it booked in for Thursday. I just hope the mechanic doesn't find anything else wrong with it.

Last weekend we went to Dreamworld with Craig, Melissa, Karina and Buzz. I hadn't been since 2003 with Julia and Rachel, and figured that was a long enough gap to forget how bad some of the rides really are on your nerves and stomach! It was also Craig's first visit so he was suitably apprehensive! We managed to do the Giant Drop, the Tower of Terror and the Cyclone rollercoaster. I drew the line at the Claw! I discovered that I still cannot stand the giant drop, and we have the photo proof. Going to have to get Geoff to scan it in. I look like I have seen a ghost, my face is ashen and all droopy. Not one of my best looks. I still cannot get over how long the drop feels like, when it's only a few seconds! I also discovered, that when going on a rollercoaster and doing the loops, to keep your eyes open. It makes the experience far less scary.

Anyway, by the end of the day, all your glucose stores are all used up from all the adrenaline rushes. We hit the lolly store and the ice cream shop, and all was good. And we also stopped at the Yatala pie place for dinner. Yummm...

So that's about it for now.

Back to uni

I am in my second week of uni now. I am doing first year subjects and although everyone tells me I should be able to get credit, I don't particularly want to. Even though I will be paying more hecs, I need to get my brain working again. It has been a decade since I did these subjects and to have to go straight into second year dentistry without having time to adjust to studying seems a little daunting.
My entire first week left me drained. I actually paid attention in lectures which in itself seemed to deplete most of my glucose reserves. I am trying not to sleep in lectures like I used to in my first degree, but when you have statistics at 8am it can be a little dificult.
Adjusting to life at uni again is only proving to be difficult when it comes to study. I got in trouble after my first day of lectures because I had a beer instead of hitting the books. I explained to El that drinking beer and being a student go hand in hand so she let it slide. I just don't know how many times I will get away with it.
At the moment the subjects are fairly mundane, 1st year biology, statistics, chemistry and physics. I am getting used to being one of the older students, possibly the oldest. They are a few other mature aged students in dentistry, but I still think I am at least a couple of years older. One guy is actually doing dentistry after med to do maxillo-facillary stuff. He must be super keen.
It is El's B'day today and she said she feels old. I just tell her how old I am and that seems to cheer her up.
I haven't broken my ties with research just yet, I'm working casually to get a bit of pocket money but I will see how that goes as the year progresses.

We had the time of our lives...

Okay, so the pun is bad... :-) On Friday night Mum, Melissa and I went to see Dirty Dancing at the Lyric Theatre. It was an awesome performance. I think there was about 20 women to every guy, and every time the Patrick Swayze look-alike came onto the stage, the crowd went wild. The dancing and the singing were really good. We got last minute tickets and sat in the back row of the second balcony (as in as far back as you can get). The actors looked like little figurines but it was entertaining all the same. The musicians in the performance were really good too. A lot of the scenes they had a quartet of tenor sax, trumpet, piano and drums - they just went off. :-)

Geoff is in last minute preparations for becoming a full-time student (he is having a beer)! Yesterday we drove out to UQ for a look around. I was the tour guide, and was quite surprised how much I remembered in regards to building numbers and locations. It's only been 6 years since I was at that campus. Eep. I'm old.

We also looked at textbooks. They are so expensive! Only bought one for the time being. Can't wait until the next few years where they will be getting more specialised and even more pricey!

Surprise Surprise

Friday afternoon was a weird one. After returning home with arms laden with sushi I discovered that I had a phone message. All I knew was that it was something concerning dentistry and that I had to call some dental school somewhere back.
I rang up and was offered a place to study Dentistry at UQ. I accepted and will start next week. It is a first year entry degree so there are a lot of young-uns. I think I will be the token mature age. It will be 5 years until I graduate but the only other option is to work year to year in research(of which I am well and truly sick of). I will be working a few hours a week in the lab to get a bit of pocket money while going to uni, at least while the workload permits.
Everyone has been really supportive concerning my quarter life crisis. Everyone says they hate the dentist but keep telling me they want free checkups so what can you do?
We went to Tash and Duncan's place for a barbecue on saturday.
They had these weird plastic teeth just to encourage me. They also bought me a nice plant for my study area so I can get a fresh hit of oxygen while I study.
On Monday I had orientation at the dental school. It looked very interesting but it is very overwhelming to see everything in the space of a couple of hours. It was very surreal walking into a room where 50 dentist drills were going at the same time(not for those that hate the sound of it).
I won't be spending too much time there until 2nd year when we start to do some of the more clinical aspects.
Not much else to write really, but will keep you posted on things as they unfold.
I am putting a few photos on here from saturday night and others I have taken when I'm bored. El is off at band tonight so I've been left to entertain myself.

More Beach Time

Once again I hit the coast for a beach fix, this time with Geoff, Craig and Melissa. The weather was absolutely brilliant and we went for lots of swims in the surf and at the lake. The boys tried really hard to catch some fish, but even after a 4am stint they had nothing but a few bites. We bought a little portable bbq and cooked most of the meals outside in the cool. I can't wait now until we can get some more camping gear and can actually go camping and use it again. :-)

It was a little sad to leave on Sunday since it will be the last time going to the Wurtulla house. My aunt and uncle, after 13 years, have decided to sell up. We have had some really good family get togethers there and there are lots of good memories with that place.

Happy Birthday Wayne!

Last night we went to our friend Wayne's 30th birthday. He held the party at the Campus Club at Griffith Uni. Not a bad setup there, they had this awesome deck overlooking the bush. Apparently it's a whole lot nicer than the Campus Club Geoff and Wayne used to frequent in their earlier uni days. It was good to catch up with Wayne and some other friends. They had a bar tab running which was an added bonus. :-)

Yesterday morning I went with my Mum to a garden show over at Mount Cootha gardens. It was amazing to see the amount of energetic people at 8.30 on a Saturday morning pushing and shoving to get the best plants. I wasn't going to buy anything there but ended up buying a Venus Fly Trap... it was just too cute to pass by. As we were leaving we noticed this massive plant growing in a pond outside the show. The leaves, I swear were the size of rubbish bin lids and the flowers were the size of dinner plates! Like something you'd expect to see in the depths of the Amazonian forest. Very cool. :-)