KangaHUGE!

I'm unemployed.....woooooooooooo, and you know what that means.....HOLIDAY!

A couple of weeks ago on a Friday night (well it may have been Saturday morning at that point), Rosie asked if I wanted a trip down to Canberra and Sydney as she was going down there....how could I say 'no'!

I finished work the Wednesday before last, and we headed down to Canberra (which I'm sure most of you don't know (including myself prior to arriving in Australia) is the capital of Australia.....that's right, a small country town is the capital of this huge huge huge country). we left Brisbane at about 5:30 in the morning, flew all the way down to Canberra, circled around Canberra airport a few times, went to land, got about 20 metres above the runway then starting taking off again, only to be told by our pilot that we were heading to Sydney. So after a crappy brekkie in Sydney airport, a few hour wait for the fog to clear in Canberra and a new flight, we eventually ended up in Canberra!

Sunrise

Canberra (in he background) from the summit of Mount Tayler

The first ever (living) kangaroos I've seen, on route down of Mount Tayler

One of many many kangaroos up Mount Ainslie, there was loads up there, and they were huge, except the joeys up there, they were a little bit smaller

And the sun set over Canberra from Mount Ainslie summit

Parliament building

This is what a night out in Canberra will do to you

Two nights in Canberra and that was pretty much Canberra (Thanks to Amy for hosting us...we weren't always the quietest of people). We left Canberra on Saturday afternoon and coached up to Sydney. I don't really have too many photos but it was cool staying in Surrey Hills, which is right in the centre....well as good as it gets. Seeing a different side to Sydney compared to when I went down there for New Years.

Naughty...

...naughty

St Mary's

Crazy weird art at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Our last night in Sydney, eating Asia food and drinking on Elliott's rooftop

Well, that was that. It did suck arriving back in "Bris Vegas" last Tuesday afternoon, but it was defiantly warm and sunny. And I've definitely climitised to Queensland, wearing a hoody at night down in Sydney when all the locals are just in shirts....England's gonna feel cold, really dunno how I survived -40°c in Canada now.

Apart from that, it was Rosie's birthday two weeks ago so we ended up seeing Des Bishop on a whim as the Brisbane Comedy Festival was on (this time it wasn't free comedy, but it was at the Powerhouse again). And a messy night that followed.

And I got my splint removed on Wednesday.....hand exercises for me! Although I did get bit by something between Saturday night and Sunday morning by a white tail spider (maybe), and my middle flipping finger stiffened up last night, so I have to wait a little longer.

This weekend included a random party in a filed in East Brisbane, with my old room mates Audrey and Matt. And watching the red moon rise out of the South Pacific Ocean from Currumbin Beach.

Job huntings really really slowing down, still looking over my options, kinda feeling a trip to STA is in order soon.

"We'll just say what we always say, "His plan at the moment iiiiiiis....""

So my other camera broke this week....yep....before I could get my photos off of my memory card, I currently have nothing that reads this memory card, so once again I am a couple of photos shy......having said that, as promised from my last post, here is me on Australia Day, the most boganist day (Australian Chav) of the year....

The shorts got shorter........

So since that, Tom and I managed to get someone into our place in Kangaroo Point, and we moved out the weekend after my last post. Tom's moved down on the cost somewhere near the Queensland / New South Wales border, and I moved into Rosie's spare room for a week. In that week though, we did head down to an "abandoned" car park, 9 stories high in the middle of the city where I learnt to skateboard with Rosie and Terry (who actually can't not do anything).

Comfy

The following weekend I moved into my new digs, a Queenslander in East Brisbane which is one suburb over from Kangaroo Point. And my room the morning (hence the mess......which hasn't changed, but I have a great excuse for this......maybe not a "great" excuse, but at least a "valid" excuse).

The view from our front porch

I only arrived in the country with my big back pack and my small Quicksilver back pack....look how much I've managed to accumulate in under a year. The move wasn't completely easy either, when walking round one of my boxes split whilst I was on the own, fortunately Aussies are helpful, and some random very nice stranger went and got his car and gave me a lift to my house with my stuff....awwwww!

Through that week I did some more barefoot rock climbing on Kangaroo Point Cliffs with Coops. Then some more late nigh car park skateboarding....now children, this is what happens when you try and do skidding on a skateboard when it's raining......

MJ reactions all the way in Amsterdam....

Bye bye feeling in nerves!

So we sent here a picture of smiles.....sorry we made you feel sick MJ, but I wasn't the one with the camera

Light duties at work for me then....yeeeaaaah desk jobs really aren't fun. And not that I'm gonna go into it too much but the Australian public health care makes the NHS look awesome and so caring. But thank you Rosie (yet again) for taking me to the hospital when I was never gonna go, and sticking with me till 4ish in the morning...."you were skateboarding at 2 in the morning!?" was the first nurse I saw initial response....she enjoyed her job! Yes, I was skateboarding at 2 on a Thursday morning, what's strange about that!?


Now it was gonna take more than a broken left hand and tropical rains to make me miss Soundwave.....ah yeah to METAL, been looking forward to this one for a long long long time!

Little bit dryer under foot than Reading 2010

BOOM.....Slipknot

Bert loves himself

Nuff said!

Not too much really happened over the following week, just several trips to several hospitals around Brisbane (I still don't know if I have to have surgery on my hand yet...how good is that!) and a trip to the strip club with the new room mates (and a strange experience with my very disappointedly tagged cast!) which was followed by a weekend near Noosa for Australian Tom's 21st. I got to drive a golf buggie around with one hand! And one handed putting.....which just turned into kicking! Tom's parents held a party for him at their place, and at the golf coarse (which backed right on to their back garden).

Sadly last week staarted with me being made redendant at work....well that's what happens when people don't buy your radars that don't do what they say they do! Maybe a little bitter, maybe! Poor management cost my a visa I was offered (not looking for)....for the record, management in my team was fantastic (not being sarcastic there), I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Richard and Keith and hope that I have learnt so much. This does mean that I have 3 weeks left at work, meaning I have about 7 weeks to find a job in my field (easier said than done) otherwise it's bye bye Australia. Plan A is to stay in Brisbane, Plan B is to....is to.....well....erm.....yeah, just watch this space I suppose.

That did mean that I spent a lot of last week looking up jobs. But we did get time to squeeze in Matt's (my room mate's boyfriend) birthday. and I finally got to see Terry "kidnyte" sratching over the weekend. Powerhouse again yesterday for more free comedy...and maybe another late night. Then a Canadian reunion as my two pet Canadian's Becca and Matt are in Brissy before they fly back to Oooooooh Canada, so us and Tom all chilled tonight

I write no more............one handed typing is time consuming.

Thanks for getting me back on the tracks

Yoyoyo,

I started writing this entry last night, and the original title was "Everything's broken" and it was in relation to the fact that I had no photos to show for two reasons, the first being that I broke my camera the other week, and the second being that few photos I did take over the last couple of weeks are on my other computer, which is...you've guessed it...broken. But after today, I actually have some photos to show (admittedly the zoom still doesn't work) and a completely different outlook on my situation...it's amazing what one day can do, and two amazing friends! Bought a new computer yesterday, and I finally gotta a new phone last weekend.

So I suppose I'll just start from where I left off, the first couple of weekends of the year have involved me kayaking, the first weekend (since my last post) with Rosie, Dandy and Steffie around Coochiemudlo Island (off of Victoria Point cost), and the following Saturday around Garden Island (departing from Redland Bay) with Rosie, Dandy, Caro, Audie and Lan (I love Lan).

Coochiemudlo Island

Garden Island - Seriously, it was long!!!!

The following Thursday was AUSTRALIA DAY, the most boganiest day of the year. A day that I've been looking forward to for a long long time. As soon as I get my Hard Drive out of my old netbook I will add the photos of me to this blog. Great day, only managed to reach two house parties (opposed to the five that were originally on offer! (and one was more a gathering on pre-party than an actual party)) but when your at a party with a massive Slip 'n Slide why would you wanna move on!?!

Not too much to report back about in regards to the weekend that followed (aka last weekend) although Tom did finally admit that he has had enough of Brisbane (like I didn't see that coming), so between us we've decided it's time to move on from this place, he wants to do more surfing and live much nearer the sea, and I'm just done with this gaff....really, it's been getting me down! So we've both spent the last week getting it up to scratch and getting people viewing the place, and as of today we have someone who is very very keen so hopefully we will be moving out very very soon (i.e. this week) and I think it's put as both in high spirits. It'll be sad to see him go, but it's really what we both need. Fair play Tom for all your work this week....reason number two my mood is better.

Reason number one my mood's better, Thank you so much Rosie for my amazing surprise Christmas/Birthday present today. I didn't find out what we were doing until about two minutes before we got there, I saw the word "ski" on a road sign and clicked........"Huh, we're going wake-boarding!" Amazing, amazing, amazing day, great day, and greatly appreciated. I can't find the exact camp but Liquid Force!

This is still me, long story short - I changed life-vests...not a joke, all these photos are me.

So anyways after over a week of crap weather, and doing a week that's felt kinda pointless, the mood has finally changed back to normal, which I'm pretty glad about! I did hit up STA yesterday aswell to get an idea of prices for future holidays and travels (I'm sure more details to follow later). It's amazing and weird what travelling and being away from home for a long while can do to your mood. But a change of scenery and today is kinda what I think I need. Get that adrenaline pumping!!!!

I did start writing this post with what could've been a bit of a concussion (that one's just in there to scare Mum), cos I did take a wake-board to the head today....boom! But I think it's clearing. And I did have to stop half way to kill the new season of ants that seem to wanna eat the chicken from our bin...great timing for ants to move in, just as we wanna move out.

Hopefully my next post will be coming from a new location....hopefully a new house lined up for me in East Brisbane.