Promoting Queensland tourism as a tourist!

So as you all know I'm NOT Australian, I'm in fact a South African who just happens to look Taiwanese ;) For most of you that might raise a brow a tad bit... Well life is full of surprises and that said, I hope to be surprised one day seeing myself on TV :P
I had the great opportunity to be invited to a photo/film shoot for Tourism Queensland the other day and with great opportunity, comes great responsibility... I had to wake up at like 4:30am!
My day started at 4:30am... getting ready and hopping on the train, I was surprised to see so many people on the train at this hour (They must have great opportunities too). Time didn't exactly fly by it dragged by instead because every second that went by I wish I was spending it in bed and not freezing my buttocks off in the cold winter's air.
Roma Station is my station, so I got off the train and headed towards Tourism Queensland's office... There I was greeted by Steve, who was very up and awake compared to me. We waited a bit and more people came, when we got a full car, the first bunch headed off towards Lone Pine :)
This is where the day started and where the pessimistic me stopped...

Destination arrived! We got out the car and was greeted by great smell of the 'outback', the smell reminds me of when I was back in South Africa. It was so peaceful, only the voice of soprano birds could create such harmony at 7am in the morning.
After walking around, to get a sense of the place, I started hearing my stomach starting to make some funny noises, at first I thought it was trying to harmonise with the birds... Turns out, that is the result of not having breakfast and smelling toasted sandwiches in the distance. Without fear, we trusted our senses and followed the smell... It lead us to a cafe, warm, cosy and it served hot coffee and tea.
The toasted sandwiches then came out... and I was eating away like a child getting its first taste of candy. Whilst in the trance of eating everything like it was being sucked into a black hole, I was oblivious to the rest of the people that arrived. The camera crew, the other talents here for the shoot and some high school students who decided to skip school and come for a photo shoot (For those about to "skip school and come for a photo shoot", I salute you....~).
As everyone has arrived, we were all getting ready to head off to our shoot!
So for the rest of the day, we took turns in being the hero/villain or being minions (extras in the background).
The shoot took a whole day ending at 4:30pm at South Bank at the museum.
I will keep this blog short as I'm sure you don't want to hear me brag about how I fitted into the Asian stereotype (Being all tourist like and holding cameras, not just any camera but a SLR camera) in the photo shoot.


Y^_^ 

Here are some of the photos, so if you see a Tourism Queensland advert with me in it... Here are the photos to the "Behind the scenes"!

This is Steve! :) 

Thank you Stella for organising this all, this has been an awesome opportunity and experience :)

Green Heart Fair

The day is 27th of May 2012... Weather report shows a perfect day!

The day has arrived for me as this day where I signed up as a volunteer to the Brisbane City Council's annual "Green Heart Fair", this fair is to promote sustainable living in a free, fun, family-friendly environment!

The location is right next to the Chermside shopping centre (and if you love your shopping then you will know exactly what I'm talking about :P) in the 7th Brigade Park.

The day started of pretty slow for me, at first I thought it was the fact that it was just because it was in the morning but then I was soon proved wrong by the crowd of children gathered around the stage... I swear it seemed like the children had their own mosh pit going on whilst watching Dorothy the Dinosaur take the stage. 

Turned out that the day was in fact already packed! 

At the event there were many stalls around, each of them had their own unique stories to tell, whether that be through blended emotions on the taste buds or demonstrating how some creatures can hang upside down.

The event has 3 main areas, the main stage, kids area and a cooking demonstration area.

All these areas were fantastic as they attracted all kinds of people, mine was the main stage for sure... not because Dorothy the Dinosaur was there but because there had an amazing Cuban band. The songs they played somehow empowered your body to dance along, it took me a while before I realized my shoulders was grooving with the beat.

Besides the main stage, there were food stalls everywhere which out of the ones I went to, had amazing food! 

Though all in all, as a volunteering I spent most my time handing out plants because Brisbane City Council is just that cool, handing out free plants like a boss... 

This fair was a great day for me, I really enjoyed helping out as a volunteer not because it gave me the warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach (It does still) but also because it was just freaking awesome to see kids running around in the great weather having a tattoo that says "I <3 BNE".

Well, here are some photos I would love to share! :D 

I got a tattoo on the side of my face saying "I <3 BNE" and I love it... Somehow, after being here in Brisbane for only 2 years or so... I'm quite proud of it and I feel like it is my home! 

Enjoy the photos~