Day in Canberra

Am in Canberra for the day for a series of policy meetings with government representatives, regarding the longitudinal study I am an investigator on, the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health.

Persian Dinner

Tonight we went out for dinner with our friends Mel and Jason, to our favorite Persian restaurant in Brisbane, Zafron. Our friends tried the Khoresht Shirazi: lamb pieces simmered in spices, yoghurt and crushed pistachios and cashews. I had the Fesenjoon, a Persian casserole of chicken pieces slow-cooked with crushed walnuts and pomegranate molasses.

Storms in Brisbane

Both while we were away in Hawaii and this first week we've been back, there have been a lot of storms and rain. This has been excellent both for Brisbane, which has been in drought conditions for the past few years, as well as our own garden.

Excellent Grant News!

Today I found out I got awarded a grant for $575,000 to study competency assessments in dementia patients! Our teams were very successful this year - of four grants submitted, three were funded. A summary of my grant follows:

Deciding what if any aspects of their financial affairs a person with dementia or suspected dementia can responsibly manage is a difficult process for health and legal professionals as well as for guardianship boards and tribunals. This process is often stressful for the older person, and having family members manage the older person’s assets may result in family conflict. In partnership with the Office of the Adult Guardian in Queensland, we will develop a comprehensive and clinically validated method to determine both capacity and social vulnerability in Queensland, with an aspiration to further trial the methods across multiple jurisdictions (e.g. other states) and contexts (e.g. various cultural contexts).

You can read about the rest of the grants in our Faculty's newsletter.

Last Meal in Waikiki

For my last meal in the States I opted for my new favorite restaurant Giovanni Pastrami (same restaurant where I had dinner last night). I got there right at 7am when they opened and ordered the lovely eggs benedict with pastrami.... heaven!

Hiking Diamond Head

Tim's flight left around 1pm today; my flight leaves tomorrow. So we had a great last totally decadent US-style breakfast together before taking a last walk around Waikiki. In walking around Waikiki we also saw a bulbul fly into a shoe store and cause havok! Captured him on film just before he flow in...



After Tim's flight left I decided to take a bus out to Diamond Head park and hike up to the top.

The hike up Diamond Head took over 90 minutes (only 40 minutes on the way back) but the views were spectacular and totally worth it. The pink hotel in the distance is the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, where the original Mai Tai, created by Victor J. Bergeron, was first made popular in the '50's.



Saw some good introduced birds on the hike up Diamond Head, including more red-vented bulbuls and little nutmeg mannekins.

After such a strenuous hike, I treated myself to a terrific dinner of pastrami on rye and New York cheesecake for dessert - probably the best pastrami I've ever had...

Waikiki

Today we flew from the Big Island back to Honolulu. We spent the day walking around Waikiki Beach and shopping at the Ala Moana shopping centre. Even got in a little birding (Java Sparrows shown).

Volcanoes National Park

Today we spent the day in beautiful Volcanoes National Park. The lava is really spectacular - there are two types, one more flowing and one more angular. We also managed to see some cool birds at the park.











Afterwards we went back to the condo with the cool light fixture and watched the sun set....

Lazy Saturday on the Big Island

Today we took it easy, simply meandering down the coast, visiting the southern-most bakery in the USA, taking in the scenery and making some new furry and feathered friends...

Poster and Owls

Today I presented my poster on my Geriatric Anxiety Inventory at the poolside poster session.


Afterwards we walked one last time around the Hilton's artificial reef, where we saw a green turtle, and the dolphin pool. But then we left to go in search of wildlife in the wild...



We drove north along the shore and spotted humpbacked whales just off-shore. We then drove to the Saddle Road, which goes across the big island and has some great habitat. There we spotted the Hawaiian subspecies of Short-eared Owl - a great bird.

Conference at the Hilton, Hawaii

Today was the first day of my conference, the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) Meeting, held at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the big island of Hawaii. The Hilton was a sprawing complex of four large buildings connected by both a monorail and by a canal. I liked riding the boat around (sort of a mini-pelagic trip). We saw some definitely introduced specias (like the African Grey-Crowned Crane, but also native birds like the little wandering tattler.

Today I spoke at Monique's symposium - here you see our large and riveted audience....