Hello, dear readers! I hope you are all well and are getting ready for the holidays. I apologize for the blog silence over the last few weeks, but I’ve been traveling in Australia and actually having a holiday. But now I’m back and want to share a bit of my trip with you.

The official reasons for going to Australia were to present at a conference and attend my graduation. Both of which were lovely experiences, but also wonderful excuses for taking a couple of weeks of much needed vacation as well. And, after flying 16 hours to Melbourne, I thought that taking a few weeks was the only way I’d ever want to get back on a plane! So first to the conference.

I have to give thanks and a shout out to the wonderful coordinators of the Buildings, Books, and Blackboards: Intersecting Narratives Conference in Melbourne. It was a great conference filled with interesting talks and friendly people. Part of Melbourne’s Knowledge Week, it was hosted by RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) in its newest building. My talk on part of my PhD research was well-received and I’m excited for the possibilities of extending my research into some of the areas talked about in the conference. (And wouldn’t it be great to have an excuse to do research in Australia?) It was a great experience and so nice to step out of being at a conference solely focused on archives and/or libraries into a conference about interdisciplinary work and with a focus on histories. And I have to say that everyone was super-friendly and nice, which is always wonderful at a conference far away from home (and completely jetlagged to boot!).

After the conference, I spent some time checking out the sights in Melbourne and touring the Great Ocean Road, before heading up north where I spent the majority of my time in Brisbane (home of my alma mater Queensland University of Technology). I happily got to meet with my supervisors from QUT while in town and even got to attend my graduation ceremony, which was quite fun. QUT was awesome and live streamed the ceremony so some of my family and friends back home got to watch me graduate, too. Technology is awesome sometimes. Don’t you just love the bonnet that is part of the regalia?

Brisbane is home to the very awesome State Library of Queensland, which has great indoor/outdoor facilities (and free wifi) and absolutely wonderful gardens (although the paths are filled with water dragons).

And, of course, if you go halfway ’round the world to Australia, it would be a shame not to cuddle a koala. So, obviously, my partner and I had to go out to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and cuddle koalas while we were in Australia.

Now I’m back and catching up with work before the holiday break and hopefully will be back to regular postings about libraries, archives, teaching, and technology soon. I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday break full of relaxation and joy. Allons-y!