Tourist to Resident...

As much as I've thoroughly enjoyed playing tourist in this wonderful city, I'm pleased that I can say I now have a place to call home.

Tuesday was super touristy: Free City Hall concert with a kinda big time musical theatre star (Rhonda Burchmore), city hall clock tower tour, city hall historical tour (given by an English guy! Ha!)... Then I went, once again, to the Spanish intercambio night at a bar on the southbank - very nice. Made plans to salsa on Sunday (oh gosh...) except I made it very clear to every South American there that I cannot dance salsa!

Wednesday: Bought nice, new, fluffy, turquoise towels. Went to the international/multilingual night again except this time knew more people - always nice! Salsa plans, still confirmed for Sunday! AAH! Luckily there's a lesson first for people like me.

Thursday: Bought another towel in place of a bath mat - half the price! haha. Also bought some bedding to make sure my new bed was nice and cosy. Then I had to pack... I hate packing. Eventually packed (think I already need to buy a second bag/case) then headed down the road and got a lift to my new place. Didn't bother unpacking Thurs night but did enjoy a cooked dinner and a glass of wine with my new housemate who kindly cooked and my friend's sister who is steadily getting more and more awesome. OMG and discovered there's a website called Magpie Alert because it's swooping season. People are reporting where magpies are swooping and attacking people. Too funny (but I guess not if they attack you), except now I'm suspicious of every tree I walk past! Yesterday there was a magpie just casually strutting down my road and I got scared! haha. So ridiculous! Then I find out my friend's husband got swooped twice by a magpie, ducked into some guy's front garden and the guy gave him a hat and umbrella to protect himself with! Ah and also, cyclists ride around with cable ties tied to their helmets pointing up to deter (I guess?) the magpies. Mental!

Friday: Explored my local area, did a food shop (walked 30 mins to the supermarket though!), got a bus to Westfield, oh yeah, Westfield, hit the shops for a bit (check out pic below for one of the things Target had to offer) then had a very chilled evening watching Aussie TV. Turns out their shows can be timetabled to the next level, e.g. Survivor (I think we only had 1 series back home) was on from 22:44 to 00:04.

Saturday: Unpacked properly this morning and re-read beautiful cards from loved ones back home. Spent the afternoon hanging out with a friend from the Spanish events then had another chilled evening at home: dinner, wine, TV (Saturday night apparently means British TV night: QI, Would I Lie To You?, Live at the Apollo & The IT Crowd).

Brisbane City Hall Auditorium (Free concerts 12-1 every Tuesday)

Brisbane City Hall Auditorium Ceiling/Dome

Inside the City Hall clock tower

Entrance to an exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane

Brisbane once again looking remarkably like London

Pretty! Brisbane Festival this month

Now, ladies & gentlemen, is this not what your underwear in the UK has been missing this whole time? Haha!

View from the riverside by the City Botanical Gardens (where a bird flapped its wing on my head as it flew past! Nearly though I was going to have to report it on www.magpiealert.com but it wasn't a magpie and it didn't really attack, thank goodness!)

Southbank and the CBD

Ten.

Ten is the number of full days I've been living in Brisbane for. 240 hours. Plus a few more! But you get the idea. Feels like I've been here much longer and I've not even started working yet. Time is going to fly by once I start working. So far, so good though. Not regretting my decision to flee the country and head to the other side of the world quite yet, although I obviously do miss everyone back home dearly!

Highlights since I last wrote...

Wed
* City Tour, done! Found out lots about Brisbane's history and some of the people who deserve some credit for what it is today.
* Wednesday Market - stumbled upon this market in one of the squares and it was a good job I'd eaten lunch already, otherwise I'd have bought and eaten everything! I shall be visiting again next week for lunch. I did however get myself a little juice, that turned out to be not so little - it was a beast! (see photo!)
* Multi-lingual/International Event = casual hang out at a beautiful rooftop bar with a bunch of randoms. You get to clip your country's flag on yourself and chat to people from all over the world, then a little later you pull a number from a 'hat' and sit at that table and get to know more people, then later pull a new number out etc. A bit like speed dating but with multiple people at each table, so if there's someone you'd rather not speak to.. no problem! Good thing about this event is that a girl I'd met previously was also there so I had someone to actually catch up with during the random chatting time!

Thurs
* City Botanical Gardens Tour - interesting, but a bit slow-paced. But so amazing that Brisbane has so many volunteers willing to run all these tours in the city! I later relaxed in a deck chair in the sun.
* My first Brisbane bus experience... I thought I was being clever by getting a different bus to the one I'd planned because it was leaving sooner and went to the same place, but turns out it stopped off in more places and took a tad bit longer. Live and learn, hey?
* House Viewing! Exciting part of the day.. Now in case you don't know, one of my lovely friends back in London is from Brisbane and his sister is here and her best friend has decided to rent out a room in her (bloody beautiful) house, soooo they organised a meet up and I met the owner of this house and we got on and I'm moving in on the 14th! Woop! More exciting, I get my own bathroom - happy days!

Fri
CHILLED. City beach, South Bank, beer garden, night market. Ooh and had fun talking to my English bank asking them to please let me have access to my money again!

Sat
Visited a friend (who used to work at my first school and who I met up with when she was visiting Madrid and I lived there). Got the train up to the Sunshine Coast and chilled on the beach a little, until it got too cold, then went for a stroll then I had the honour of attending my first Aussie BBQ - yum! Interesting fact: Dicky Beach and Bulcock Beach are real names of beaches up there.

Sun
* Train back to Brisbane.
* Explored a different part of the city: went for a walk North East through Roma Street Parklands - pretty - and then explored a bit of Paddington.
* Dinner at a pub, where my table eventually ended up completely taken over by what turned out to be a fairly famous guy and his friends who'd come to watch him in a charity comedy gig. (He later told me it was only meant to be him and the first friend he was with perched on the end of my table and apologised.)
* Comedy Gig in support of World Suicide Prevention - free but donations went to an organisation supporting mental health based in a University here. Really pleased I got told about this event though, as it was funny - phew! A nice way to spend a few hours. Mike Van Acker was funny and the fairly famous guy I mentioned earlier was Christopher Wayne from the Naked magicians (no, he wasn't naked) who mixed stand up with magic.

Today
* Lie in..
* Lunch at Melt Brothers - mmm, cheese!
* Later went to the post office to find out a standard stamp for England is $2.95 - not bad. Then discovered Big W (Think Wilko's meets Matalan) where I bought some new towels and a couple of shorts - not that exciting you might say. Why is she writing about towels and shorts? Well, my friend, I couldn't bring my nice towels with me in the move because they were culled in the tragic overweight suitcase incident of August 2017 so new fluffy towels are exciting and then, then, to have found shorts that are not comparable to hot pants is some kind of huge achievement in this day and age! So happy me!
* Popped to Woolies! (Not the Woolworths we know and miss I'm afraid.) Did my poor excuse of a food shop where my strategy is to buy food for meals that get me in and out of the cooking part of the hostel kitchen as quickly as possible! AKA fruit for breakfast and salads for lunch/dinner, haha.
* Caught the last of the afternoon sun while reading in King George Square
* Life Admin: Replied to emails, called Student Loans people, completed forms.

Had to eat the fruit before I could get to the juice!

Fancy fruit!

Mix of architecture

Location of the International Event thing

I just really like this sign :-) Read the green and yellow text.

Pretty

Look like London much?

City pool

City beach

South Bank Night Market

King's Beach (honestly!)

Bulcock Beach :-P

Happy Monday!

A few days in...

So far I can happily say I am loving Brisbane! It seems like a really great city with a good feeling. Admittedly, I'm enjoying playing tourist so far, so we'll see what it's like once I move into a house and start working, but for now I'm really enjoying being here. People seem nice and helpful, it's always sunny and I'm liking the fact I can walk from place to place pretty easily. Of course, once I am renting properly I won't be able to live in the city centre, shame, but it will mean I'll hopefully have space to park my hopeful car so I can hopefully get to all the schools calling me in for supply. We'll see!

Right, what have I done the last few days?

On Sunday I went for a stroll towards the City Botanic Gardens where they hold a weekly market. There were a few different stalls selling everything from food to juices to hand-painted scarves to massages and there was a band playing some music, so I grabbed a pain au choc and an orange juice, sat on the steps by the band stand type thing and watched the band play. Pain au choc - best I've ever had, orange juice - meh, band - frikkin mental and not in a good way! But they enjoyed themselves and I guess that's what counts? After that I explored the botanic gardens and had a bit of a stroll. I saw some couple scratching at the tree bark in one area and I got on my high horse (in my head, not in real life, obvs) and thought, how dare you? Then got closer and saw that every tall tree trunk had etchings in. So obviously I then wanted to get my name on one, but I got distracted as someone asked me for directions and then went the opposite way - oh well. After that I strolled back up towards the main shopping area, strolled around a bit and ended up at a place called King George Square where I found the beautiful City Hall and a bar with lots of outdoor seating (as all bars seem to have, being in sunny Queensland and all). Got myself a little drink, chilled in the sun in this nice square then some more live music came my way! Except this time it was good. A guy started rocking his guitar and I watched life go by. Next on my to do list was to buy a Go Card (an oyster card) - done - then I did a little food shop as I figured I couldn't eat out every meal for the next couple of weeks! That evening I had a lovely little skype session with a few loved ones back home 💕.

Yesterday I'd planned to head to the Southbank and West End (also south of the river) for a Teacher Fair, but I really couldn't be bothered. I lazed around a bit then eventually popped to the bank to find out I'd have to wait about an hour to open and account as you can't make appointments - long - then went for a stroll to South Brisbane. Wandered around, saw beautiful Brisbane from new angles and went for lunch. Next thing I knew a bottle of water had appeared on my table: Oh, uh, sorry, I didn't order any water (what a Brit!). It's free! Who knew. haha. Anyway, after that I went to the Teacher Fair and am really pleased I did. I made a few contacts and had good chats with people including the supply teacher people here and the teacher's union. Also, I got a few free stationery bits AND a free hot chocolate! Woop. Later on, I strolled by the Wheel of Brisbane (think London Eye but much quicker and you keep going round til you fully make it clear you want to get off and the views aren't actually that good, so I've been told!), along the southbank and came across the city beach and pool - I'll definitely be paying that area a visit again another time. Then I decided to head back north of the river and found a free city hopper boat - simples. On said boat I said next to a woman who I later discovered didn't speak English: "Excuse me, you have a caterpillar on your hijab," I said. "I don't speak English." Cue my amazing primary teacher acting ability and she let me go at the caterpillar on her head (with paper, obviously!).. Got it. Showed her. Threw it off into the river. Adiós Australian creepy crawly. Julie 1 - Creepy Crawlies 0. I have a feeling that'll change over the next couple of days/weeks/months... I then said bye to the nice lady in my best Arabic skills (thank you teaching in Brent!) and she was so impressed! Woop. That evening I popped to the bar downstairs, got a glass of previously mentioned Aussie sauvignon blanc and read my book. I then decided to clean my room up a little bit as it was getting embarrassingly messy - is living out of a suitcase ever anything but messy? Then I made the most of the time difference, spoke to people back home, then went to sleep.

Crap night's sleep. Woke up every couple of hours. Hey ho.

TODAY. It's been a long day! I got up early to be the first at the bank and it worked; there was no queue. Got myself an Aussie bank account. Now all I need is a job to pay me to make money magically appear in it, haha. The rest of the morning was: eat an apple for breakfast, stroll around the shops, find a very exciting stationery shop (think Paperchase but a bit less cutesy), consider buying ridiculous things, just buying a couple of greetings card I actually needed instead, more strolling around shops, headed back to hostel. Then, very exciting, I booked flights to New Zealand for Christmas! EEK! So excited! I then proceeded to spend the next couple of hours researching New Zealand - very keen to get there! (Who needs to look for flats or cars anyway, right?) Eventually kicked my ass into gear and had a bite to eat then went for another stroll across the river. Walked a fair distance - my fitbit buzzed - explored the river, a park where there's a Saturday market (with the pain au choc man!) and then headed to the main street. Ended up at a nice-looking brewery bar where I ended up third wheeling a first date!! Omg... I just asked this couple to keep an eye on my things while I popped to the loo, the guy was like "omg you're English", quick chat, I went, then I came back and more chat commenced. The three of us were chatting for a while and I started to get the feeling their relationship was either odd or new. The guy went off to get new drinks for them and I ask her how long they've known each other: first date. Course it bloody was! Awkward! As soon as I'd finished my food I politely said bye, ran downstairs and plonked myself at the bar. New experiences hey?! That was followed by a Spanish/English Language Exchange event at a nearby bar, which I'm actually really pleased I went to. I met lots of people, actually spoke to them - unlike the heys in the lift at my hostel - and got to practise my Spanish. Not a bad evening by the end!

So yaaa... That's me so far. I did say there'd be ramblings, haha, sorry! Hope you guys back home are ok. Love and miss you xxx

Best pain au choc ever!

City Botanic Gardens

City Botanic Gardens

City Botanic Gardens meets CBD

Riverside Market

Reflection - arty? haha.

Casual bit of live music

View from the Southbank

City beach

Free boat ride from south to north side of the river

Brisbane by night

Fake London Eye, AKA Wheel of Brisbane

To Do List

* Get here safely - done!
* Australian phone number - done!
* Bank account - done!
* Tax Reference Number - applied...
* Go to the Teach Queensland Career Fair - done!
* Find a place to live - done!
* Get a car
* Find out all things associated with getting a car
* Medicare

Less boring to do list:
* Hang out at the city beach - done!
* Do a walking tour - done!

Things I've learnt...

1) The $2 coin is smaller than the $1 coin.
2) The 50 cent coin is huge!
3) If you pay in cash, shops often round the price up. Don't think 1 or 2 cent coins are in circulation.
4) Streets in the Central Business District are named after royalty. Male names run east-west and female names run north-south.
5) You can't buy alcohol in supermarkets.
6) Phone contracts include a lot of data and you don't need proof of address to get one.
7) Primark doesn't exist.
8) You can get cash back in some supermarkets without buying anything - saves you getting charged by using another bank's ATM.
9) You have to pay for the pleasure of having a bank account
10) Food packaging is a different colour, e.g. salt & vinegar crisps are pink!

To be continued...

11) They sell 'giant' Freddos here!
12) Chocolate here is not great. If I ever get a visitor from the UK, could you please sneak some Cadbury's chocolate into the country?
13) There's a shop called The Cheesecake Shop. (I went to a BBQ and three people brought along cheesecakes from there, so I'm thinking it's a big deal!)
14) BIG W is like Wilko's meets Matalan - it'll have to do with there being no Primark and all.

Oh hello Australia!

After squeezing my life into one suitcase and some hand luggage (for the second time - the time first I discovered I was 10kg over in the case and 5kg over in my hand luggage!) I landed in Brisbane!

Up at 4:45, in my friend's car at 5:45, at Heathrow T4 (not impressed by that terminal!) by 6:15, breakfast at 6:45, flight delayed from 9:35 for about an hour, spent time chatting to some friendly Aussies, ran through Abu Dhabi airport at some point, on the connecting flight in time, landed in Brisbane the next day at about 17:30 (8:30 UK), flew through passport control, baggage and security in about half an hour (no Nothing To Declare/Border Force TV crews) and was at my hostel by 18:30. Super speedy this end!

My friend's sister who lives here very kindly invited me out for some drinks. I got to meet new people, discover Stone & Wood pacific ale (really nice!) and stay awake for a few more hours to help me potentially kick jet lag's ass before it bit mine! Had a lovely first night and got to see Brisbane by night - very pretty!

For the first time in forever I got 8 hours sleep! Tried for a bit more but my body wasn't having any of it unfortunately. Chilled for a bit as the only objective for today was to get an Aussie sim card. Explored the local area, got a monthly sim card (woop) and then stumbled across a few areas playing live music, so I watched a couple of sets in the sun - great first day! After that I took my laptop onto the rooftop terrace and continued an online course I need to complete to support my teaching here in Australia. Jet lag then got the better of me and I crashed at about 4ish and gave in to a nap for an hour of so. Great nap though! Totally worth it! Who doesn't love a good nap? (I can think of one person). Anyhoo, I got up and was soooo hungry - no surprise there! I popped to the bar downstairs and got some food and a glass of Australian Sauvignon Blanc - oh man... It was good. Delicious. Even more delicious than normal because it was the house wine. THE HOUSE WINE! If only Aussie and Kiwi Sauvs had a house wine price tag in London. Enjoyed my wine and started reading magazines about what's on in Brisbane and a book called Didgeridoos & Didgeridon'ts. Lovely chilled evening.

Not a bad start to my Australian adventure.

Rooftop terrace at my hostel

Art?

City Sounds - free mini gigs