Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi all. First proper blog entry here and I intend on making it a short one. Let me start with one thing....AUSTRALIA IS EXPENSIVE. It works out at around 2 Great British Pounds for a can of coke, so suffice to say I make do with filling the Water up from the same old rusty bottle, as there are plenty of water fountains here. You get used to it though, and there are still some cheap-ish places if you look around, but for anyone just turning upto Australia, don't go thinking it is cheap and you can buy all your clothes/sun glasses, sun cream here etc...GET IT FROM ENGLAND.
Right, Brisbane, I've been here 2 weeks now, and it's a nice pretty city. It's a got a man made beach in the middle of the city, but it's all fairly spread out. I am based in the West End of Brisbane around 20 minutes walk from the centre. From my hostel, Brisbane backpackers, I have to walk over the bridge to get to the CBD, and the beach, all day, every day. I must have walked more in the past 2 weeks than I did in the past year at home. As I write this, I am in Queensland State library, and it is as dull as the British weather. All it has done so far today is rain, and when it rains, it pours. I've been warned that the more North I go the worse it will get and the monsoons will come, fun fun fun. Just to randomly add, Australians are really laid back and you end up having a five minute chat to them in the bank. Time will tell if that is just Queenslanders though, or if it is the whole of Australia that is like that.
I went to the cricket at the Gabba during my stay in Brisbane, and it was one of those places that when I saw on TV many years ago, I said I would like to visit. The Aussie press called it a "charmless Coliseum", they weren't wrong. It was a good experience, but I'm not overly bothered about Cricket, but it was strangely addictive, and the people I went with all commented on how many English fans were in attendance. The chants of "God save YOUR gracious queen" and "your next queen will be Camilla Parker Bowls" raised a chuckle, as did "you all live in a convict Colony"
The Hostel was nice, and it was easy to make friends, even if some were abit too enthusiastic about their beer. Our dormitory was 'Yorkshire'. Everyone except a lad from Windsor and a lad from Japan were from the great empire of West Yorkshire. They were made to know before they left though that the world would not be the same without West Yorkshire and they left Brisbane being honourable Yorkshire men. One person in the dorm even lived next door to my local pub in the UK. Every time Caroline (the girl in our dorm) was seen, the song "sweet Carolineee" would burst into life. One guest commented "I wouldn't care if I never heard that song ever again".
Also, the bar downstairs advertised 3 dollar for cheese burgers and chips, (don't worry I'm getting my fruit and veg Mum), but the lad behind the bar said that was only valid until I bought a big jug of Beer. I told him I didn't drink and that I just wanted lime Cordial, but he said he would only give me the food if I bought 2 pints of coke. I soon told him I would go next door to get food and never pay for food in here again. My strict stance seemed to work, and I got my food for 3 dollar in an instant, RESULT. I don't think he's ever come across a tight Yorkshire man before.
As you can tell from this blog, the lack of activity in the past fortnight has being evident. It has been a more of a settling in period, as I've had to buy an aussie phone and sim, sort a tax file number out (because without one of those, If I do get a job the amount I would get taxed would be one hell of a stupid amount). I've also sorted a bank account out, but they charge you for a monthly fee. Also, if you want to withdraw money out here, it has to be from the ATM machine of where you bank is from. For example I'm with ANZ bank, so I have to withdraw money from there ATM Machines, as if I used Westpacs ATM machine, it would charge me a 2 dollar fee each time. We take all this for granted in the UK, I'm not saying for one minute the banks in the UK are fantastic though.
We're off on the greyhound bus to Noosa up on the Sunshine coast soon, and I'll no doubt give you all an update later on, as the plan seems to be not to have a plan of sorts, but I think we're heading in the general direction of Cairns, and then...who knows?
I knew it would end up not being a very short blog.
Cya all soon
Rich
- comments