London Girl Travelling: 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