Lazy Sunday at the beach

I took a train and bus up to the surf beach on Bribie island, meaning that I went to the surf side of the island, not that it's a surfing beach, the surf is not big enough. The waves are big enough to play around it, though, and it was super fun. I spent the day reading Omnivore's Dilemma (I will proselytize on that one at a later time), swimming, snoozing and walking on the beach. And I never even got a sunburn! The swim shirt helps: no need to try to put sunscreen on my back by myself! The beach itself was really soft sand and looked to me like it was pretty much endless: lovely!

It was quite warm at the beach, not as hot as Cuba, though, but still very warm for the winter. We're in the middle of a heat wave, and actually went up to 35 degrees yesterday, breaking all sorts of records. Thankfully (for us, not the dry dry bush) the humidity was only 54% so it really didn't feel THAT hot. Doesn't bode well for summer, though, it's supposed to be an El Nino summer so it might be hot hot hot. Things are continuing to fall into place, including the addition of beans for lunch and muesli for breakfast as per tradition, and all I'm missing now is Joel!

Our Apartment

So it's Saturday so I have some time to spend on updating the blog. First and foremost here are pictures of our apartment. It's really nice and very bright, north facing with a full-wall patio door opening onto a balcony that makes the place feel twice as big. The furnishings are also really nice and we pretty much have all we need to live here for a while. All I need now is a husband? Anyone seen one lying around?

So I'm still working out the jet lag thing. I'm not really jet lagged anymore but I haven't worked out a sleep schedule yet. I think part of it is that I get bored in the evening and go to bed early. But then I don't sleep that well, so adapting to the time change is still an ongoing process.

In terms of food there are mostly great things and some not so great things. Passion fruit are 55 cents each so guess what I've been eating with my oatmeal every morning! Yummy! I haven't been able to find dried beans yet, which consists of a large portion of our diet, so this morning I'm heading out with Rosalind to go track some down on a health food store I heard about a few kilometers from here. And yesterday I put the thinnest layer of vegemite on my toast for lunch and still was overpowered by the saltiness. I hear it's good with avocado and other flavourful but unsalted foods. I'll give it one more try, but I can't guarantee that I will make it a regular part of my diet.

In terms of weather, it's supposed to get into the low 30's here this weekend and into early next week. Apparently that's the hottest it will ever have been in August. Yikes! It's strange, it's as warm here in winter as it is back home (Ontario) in August. You know, those great August days where it's warm but dry and sunny with a light breeze? That's what we've been having since I got here. Pretty incredible.

Did I mention I'm looking for a husband? Maybe I can mail-order one and have him shipped to me in early September? That would be perfect!

Well, that's it for me, I'm off to hunt for dried beans and to check out the craft market.

Kangaroo Point

Today I got up nice and early to go for a quick run to my new office and back to get myself oriented, then came back and did some weights in our small gym and stretches on the complex lawn, next to the pool. I then went to pick up a latte and headed back up to the apartment for some pancake breakfast.

After breakfast dishes I went for a long walk, mostly to check out Kangaroo point, the local climbing cliff. I watched a woman lead a sport climb and also watched a guy free solo the cliff twice. Definitely looks like fun and I can't wait for Joel to get here so we can check it out!

Welp, tomorrow is the big first day at work. We'll see how that goes!

Made it!

Ok, so I made it! And finally got the password from Joel so I can post my first impressions of Brisbane.

We live in an inner suburb that's about a 10 minute walk to the downtown core (CBD) and 15 minutes to the river edge in several directions (it's in an elbow of the river). The city is simply beautiful and the weather is splendid. All the same, it's a bit worrisome that I'm walking around in shorts and t-shirt in the middle of what is the equivalent of February! Wowsers!

So I've walked around the CBD a bunch and today we went to the Botanic Gardens and two other urban parks in the city, all on foot. Just gorgeous. Mom you will love the vegetation and birds, and dad you would love the weather right now. Just the right temperature, warm and dry. I'll let the pictures tell the story. There's a picture of the urban beach, not on the waterfront, but in a park right next to the river. Apparently there are sharks in the river so it's not a great place for the kids to swim! There's another of a poinsettia, seeing as it's winter here it's blooming! There's also a picture of a plant mom has on a plank at home that grows naturally here on the tree trunks! Finally, there's a picture of the view from Rick and Rosalind's balcony (they're on the 6th floor and have a great view, better than we will).

Meh. I'm going back to bed

We had a pretty productive day of packing yesterday but today all has stopped because I have a cold and Joel is coming down with the same thing. Here's hoping the symptoms go away before I fly out otherwise it's going to be a loooong trip.

Best we can do is eat lots of thai soup, drink lots of orange juice and try to pick away at it slowly.