University of Sunshine Coast (Friday January 14)

Today we were finally able to leave the mountain. O’Reilly’s is always one of my favorite places to be, but the weather definitely influenced it and I think we all had cabin fever and were glad to go. We had an early departure (6:30 am) to make it to the University of Sunshine Coast by our 10:30 time. Coming through Brisbane we had the opportunity to drive across the Brisbane River, we did not see a lot of damage because we were away from the downtown area, but it was evident that the water level had been up and luckily it was not influencing our travels.

Liani giving students a guide of campus

Upon arrival to USC, Laini and Sarah met our bus to give us a quick tour of campus. USC is probably the size of Elon and has a few more students than we have. Their current enrollment is about 7200 students, but has similar programs to Elon. Many of the buildings have followed sustainable practices and have won some regional rewards. One unique aspect of the campus was the number of kangaroos that make the campus residence. We have squirrels, they have kangaroos; I think we know who wins that one.

Kangaroos hanging out on USC campus

After our tour of the campus, we had a chance to have a lecture with Dr. Sheila Peake about ecotourism. She gave a very nice lecture about some of the common principles of ecotourism and some of the problems with the concept. I hope the students found this interesting. Following the lecture we had a nice lunch and some time to explore the campus. Our tour concluded with a tour of a campus apartment after which we made our way to Mooloolaba for our hotel. It is a very nice hotel and as I am writing this post the students are taking their first assessment. There definitely could be worse places to be taking an assessment. Tomorrow we have an early departure for the airport and then on to Cairns.

A final picture from campus