Tourist Time!

With the arrival of Bonita and Jordan in Brisbane I made sure to take some time off to do some of the touristy things I'd been wanting to do since I arrived in Brisbane, but just never got around to.

I showed Jordan the Brisbane Botanical Gardens where we both climbed this huge tree he's in. Another day the three of us went to the even more picturesque Roma Stree Parklands to enjoy the scenery and the yummy gourmet food in the cafe.








Later we continued our sight-seeing, stopping at this war memorial before going for a ride on the Brisbane wheel.





And on to the Australia Zoo, where you can get up close and personal with the animals (at least the ones without big teeth anyway).










That wombat is one large marsupial!



And finaly, a few snapshots from our trip to Morton Island...





Sandboarding! Amazing fun, though I recommend you try and keep your mouth closed until you've come to a complete stop.


Bonita on the hunt for the last peanut M&M


...and nothing like a good milkshake at the end of the day!

Brizzy in Pictures

Brisbane, Brizzy, Bris-Vegas... whatever you call it, I've been here a while and I've promised loads of people I'd put pictures up. I wanted to attach them to my last post but had some technical difficulties with my camera. Luckily the tech shops here are full of helpful people who know how to find hidden folders on memory cards, so here they are!

Dusk on the Brisbane CBD (central business district), photo taken from the South Bank end of the pedestrian-only bridge. That's the Brisbane wheel glowing white in the South Bank Parklands to the left of the frame.


Me and Katina before my first night out on the town. I met Katina in France, before I even knew I was coming to Brisbane, so it was nice to know I had a friend in town before I even got here. When this was taken I had not been here long so most of the clothes I'm wearing in the picture are hers!


Just another day at the bike shop...


Playing footy, a.k.a Rugby and/or auzzie-rules football, in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens; the walkways in South Bank Parklands; and the Story Bridge lit up at night. I ride my bike over that bridge every morning on my way to work at USM Events and the bike shop - though I usually take a ferry across on the way home.




This next one is for you, Oma!
I couldn't resist. I know my Oma is more into baking but...


Out for lunch after Bonita's arrival, we observed these signs...

...though the ibis didn't seem to!


Bonita with South Bank in the back ground - it became a bit of a favourite haunt for Bonita, Jordan and I with it's parklands, cafes, outdoor pools, and cheap cinemas.




And a few more views of the city.



Tails, one of the two feline inhabitants of my share-house, who go a long way to making it feel like home, though will never replace my favourite fur-ball from back home.


And, of course, my place. If you don't look to hard you won't see the train tracks behind the house. The kitchen picture seems to have been cut off, but you can get a good view of the dinning room, living room, and my not-so-tidy bedroom, and a good start to my day :)






Stay tuned - pictures from tours with Bonita and Jordan coming soon! I wish I also had pictures from the Triathlon World champs to post too, but I was so busy working that there wasn't much time for picture-taking. However, I think I can come up with at least a few for a future post.

A New Year

It's hard to beleive it has already been over a year since I left home. It is now September 2009, and one year ago I wasn't entirely sure where I would be at this point, although I have to say I am not terribly surprised that I am still on the other side of the world, and still unsure as to how long I will stay here. With the month of September and my one year travel anniversary, and the old student habbit of starting a new year around this time, it felt like a good time give my blog a fresh new look, get my blogging motivation up, and get back in the habbit.

First, a few house-keeping items... The last time I posted I was just in the process of finding a job and a place to live, both of which I have now been enjoying for a couple moths.

I got successfully through my trial period at 99Bikes, and in early July started working at 99Bikes in Chermside - a little farther out of town than I was hoping, but once I got my bike here it made for a decent commute. I am happy I got a job like that as opposed to some bar or fruit-picking job, which is commom source of income amongst the backpacking set. I'm feeling less like a backpacker all the time though, especially since I now own more clothes than I'd be able to fit in my backpack!

Early July also saw me start at USM Events. This internship is the reason I decided to settle in Brisabne a while, but being an unpaid internship, I have been deviding my time beween USM and the bike shop. Things started off relatively slow at USM, but quickly picked up as we got closer to the Brisge to Bisbane Run(a 10km race with over 45000 partipants, simmilar to the Victoria Times Colonist 10K and Vancouver Sun Run) and the ITU Triathlon World Championships.

As for accommodation, I was lucky to find a very affordable yet decent sharehouse in the suburb of Cannon Hill, about 20 min from the city center by train. When I was looking for a place to live it would have been hard to find something cheaper than this, though there were many that were much less inviting. There are six people in the house, though the two levels are seperate so it's just me and two other girls on the top floor, and two guys and a girl downstairs - a realtively international mix of 4 Auzzies, 1 Canadian and 1 Italian. I get along well with all my house-mates, the only real down side to the place being it's proximity to the train tracks and station, and location smack on the flight path of planes heading in for landing at the Brisbane airport. Other than that the neighbourhood is fairly quiet and there are shops nearby, and honestly I wouldn't change the train station thing if I could because right now I can make it from my front door to the train door in less than three minutes... possible less than two now I think about it. Very handy if I'm running late.


I mentioned above that I have my bike here, and want to thank my aunt Bonita for bringing it all the way over from Canada when she came to Australia. It's been my main method of getting to and from work, saves paying for public transport every day, and so far is the only thing I've been doing to get back in shape.
Last month I had the chance to hand out with family for the first time in ages, both Bonita and my brother Jordan were in town, and after working just about non-stop since I got here, it was nice to take a break and wander the city parks, visit Australia Zoo, and go on a trip to Morton Island.

Now for what some of you back home may be wondering... when, exactly, will I be coming back to the great white north? Well, as sunny and warm as it will be here in December, right now the plan is to come home for Christmas. The thing is, my visa for Oz is valid untill 1 May next year, so I may possibly return to the land down under while I can. If I have saved enough money by then I could take up the nomadic lifestyle again, or, I would also be tempted to stay a while longer if I get offered paid work at USM Events. We just had the triathlon world championships last week, and it was rediculouly exausting, yet I am still keen to do it all again for our next big event. You'd think I'd be turned off by dawn till dusk work days, but so long as it's not all the time I don't mind the challenge.

For now I have been given a couple extra days off after the event, so I going to enjoy a lazy morning watching TV series on DVD with a few house-mates who also had a sleep in. Later I may think about going to a free trial session at a local triathlon club, but then again, maybe that can wait till next week :)