The “Oh, S%#t trees” are blooming!

University of Queensland is covered with Jacaranda trees, along with gums, tulip trees, sausage trees, bunya pines and more. But the Jacaranda has a special place with students. It's known as the "Oh s%#t tree", because it's blooming signifies that exams are near, and one had better be getting catching up on studying. It is actually superstition on campus that getting hit with a falling blossom is bad luck for exams!
They are apparently blooming early this year, because of early rains and warmer weather than usual. The story can be viewed at:


I think it's just for us med students, who have our two day finals on October 20 and 21. Oh, s%#t.
In other news, Brisbane got hit with a whopper of a dust storm, the worst in 70 years. It blew up from Sydney (where planes were being rerouted to Brisbane because of visibility), and covered everything in an orange haze. Brutal for anybody who has lung problems, such as asthmatics. For the whole day, I felt gritty, tasted grit and smelled grit. Inside and outside. It apparently even made international news! My flatmate Brady got some amazing pictures:

And the next day, just like that, it was gone, and we are back to regularly scheduled beautiful weather. Freaky.