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