Blogger has awoken! I may now post photos!


To the right is the view of Brisbane's downtown from Mt Coot-tha.










On the left is a shot of the view from Kerryn and Greg's apartment. We're in the same complex, but they're facing the opposite direction. And I like their view better.






This is the courtyard of our complex, complete with barbeque, hot tub, salt-water swimming pool and palm trees.

































Here are a couple pictures I snapped of the nightly Ekka fireworks from our balcony.



















I finally made it to the beach! This was taken at Bribie Island last Wenesday.











On the way to the beach of course, I had to break some rules. All in the name of humour! The fenced area is actually a helicopter landing zone.












And of course, I couldn't leave the beach without putting my stamp upon the sand! However temporary it may have been...

Well, I had a few more pictures to post today, but unfortunately blogger has no interest in helping me out with that, so I'm sorry to say that pictures are going to have to wait a little while longer.

Last Wednesday we went up to Mt. Coot-tha for dinner, and ate some tasty penne at the lookout, followed by tea and a lemmington (sp?). Then on Saturday Kathryn, Kerryn, Greg, Brendan and myself spent the day at the Ekka. It was a good time, but unfortunately we didn't partake of many rides due to the exhorbitant pricing. In spite of that, we enjoyed ourselves. We even purchased a little mini-games console programmed with a host of 8-bit classics, including Super Mario Bros and Galaxian.

Having the Ekka right across the street from our apartment means lots of noise all day and all night, but it also means we have second floor seats to the nightly fireworks at 8:15. The fireworks are fun to watch, the best display was on Saturday night, and we're expecting a big one tomorrow night because its a public holiday, and on Saturday again because its the final night of the event.

Tomorrow we're headed to Bribie Island with Ree, Susan and another fellow (can't remember the name). And on the weekend we're hoping to go skating at the local icerink. I picked up at the Ekka a proper Team Canada hockey jersey for the occasion too! So when I fall on my ass everyone will know they're laughing at a Canadian. Its true, I'm not the world's best skater, I consider myself to be little better than average. I'm hoping that average by Canadian standards is good enough to impress all the Aussies who rarely see ice outside of the freezer.

I'm still searching for a bike...it seems the only way to get a half decent ride is to pay an arm and a leg, something I'm not totally willing to do. Thus, the search continues...

I'll update again next week, and if we're lucky blogger will let me post some pictures as well. Until then, adios.

I went for another walk today. This time I decided to explore downtown Brisbane. It took me roughly two and a half hours to complete the circuit from the apartment, into downtown, up and down the walking trail from the Botanical Gardens to the Story Bridge, and back to the internet cafe. I snapped a few pictures along the way and thought I would post them here for everyone's viewing pleasure. The first one here on the right is what it looks like as I turn the corner from the apartment.




This is the pier area along the east waterfront, I remember partying here last time I visited Australia in 2001.














Walking through the Botanical Gardens. There's a cafe just up the path from here and on the left. I grabbed a bottle of water before setting back the way I had come.















A look back at the downtown core from near the Story Bridge. From here it took me roughly 20 minutes to find my way back to the internet cafe, but I reckon I could do it quicker now that I know the streets better.






A few facts about Brisbane:

In 2004 the estimated population was 1.77million, making it the 3rd largest city in Australia, behind Sydney and Melbourne.

From 1824-1842 the location was used as a penal settlement thanks to a reliable water source and the bend in the river making escape difficult for prisoners - as a result the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement took upon the toughest criminals from Sydney.

In 1842 the district was opened to free settlers. From 1846 to 1859 the population grew from 829 to almost 6,000, when Brisbane became the capital of the self-governing colony of Queensland.

During WWII, the AMP building in downtown Brisbane became the headquarters of American General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the South-West Pacific Campaign.

Brisbane hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the 1988 World Expo, both events effectively putting the city on the world map for good.

Here I am: Brisbane, Australia.

It's 2:51pm, and I'm at a cyber cafe about a 5 minute walk from the apartment. Its actually kinda nostalgic in here, because there's a bunch of guys playing StarCraft! Ah yes, I remember those days. I think insist StarCraft was and still is one of the best RTS games ever.

So I got in at about 6:30am yesterday, about 23 hrs since I left Toronto. After unpacking and getting myself setup in the apartment I proceeded to go exploring and grocery shopping with Kathryn. We had supper, watched a movie, went to visit Kerryn and Greg, and then crashed at about 8:30. I was pretty exhausted, and didn't finally crawl out of bed until about 10:30 this morning.

Since then, I've made myself some lunch, cleaned up while watching The Transporter, and then grabbed the iPod and went for a walk. I explored a bit of the area around the place, and then I settled on spending some time here. Not just because I wanted to do some emails, but because I can charge my iPod on the computer here lol. I forget my car charger at home - oops! So until I get that shipped here my only method of charging it is in a computer, and since Kathryn doesn't have a working machine it falls to these ones.

Not for long though, I brought with me a bunch of components, and I'm headed out to a shop this weekend with Kathryn, Ree and Sue to get some parts. Apparently Sue knows one of the best places to get parts at good prices, so we'll see how that goes this weekend. Then I'll get everything put together and hopefully some internet running in the next little while.

So that's how things are going right now. I'll work on getting some pictures uploaded sometime soon. Until then, cheers from Aus.


there ain't no blue skies over bad lands

So I'm in the Tom Bradley International Terminal in Los Angeles right now, paying 25 cents per minute of internet for no reason other than I want to get rid of my american money. Just so everyone knows, this is the worst keyboard ever - I think its designed to force people to waste as much time as possible. Super lame.

In fact, this airport is pretty lame in general. There's a whole bunch of super mini terminals with barely any gates, and they'll all old and dingy. Well, at least compared to the Terminals in Toronto (ok, excluding the equally lame terminal 2 - which is about to be demolished anyway.)

Lucky for me, my layover here only lasts another hour. I'm sure I'll figure out a way to pass the time somehow, yay for books and ipods!

The flight here was good, there was some movie with Joshua Jackson about him trying to convince a dude in Italy to start writing again. I liked it, being a wannabe writer myself, so I recommend it. Even though its classed as a romantic comedy. Some good parts, but its not as good as The Worlds Fastest Indian - the Anthony Hopkins movie I watched a few days ago. That one was excellent! And I definitely recommend it to everyone.

Anyhow, I have 1 minute left so I'd best get to killing time in other ways. Next update will be from Australia!