Photo fun...

Ok, so I obvioulsy haven't figured out the cool way to post photos yet. Am trying to figure it out. Until then - enjoy!

This is just one part of a veryvery long walkway along the river at Southbank. All part of my morning commute!

This is a Nepalese "Peace" pagoda, in the Southbank Parklands (near where I work). They built it for the World Expo in '88. It's reallyreally cool. Even smells exotic. There's a little note in there from Sir Edmund Hillary about how much he likes it and the memories it brings back.

Ahhhhhh, the pub! And Darryl, the manager. Typical busy Sunday afternoon.

Jan, a gal I work with who lives on a big chunk of land with horses and chickens (chooks - as the locals call them), she thought Kona needed to get in touch with his wild side, so she brought over some logs and hay. He's not too sure, but he goes along with it.

This is where I stayed when I first arrived. Not a bad little place actually.

Hi!

So another Sunday afternoon here. Day of laundry, vacuuming, and not much.

I've got Monday and Tuesday off - the last of my paid vacation. Oooh it's a long story..... I had to formally apply for my job if I wanted to keep the bank happy, so I did. According to the powers that be, I had the best written application out of anyone who applied - excellent. But for the interview, I apparently didn't score enough "points" so technically, I didn't get my own damn job. The job I've been doing to rave reviews since March. It's a Government thing and makes no sense to anyone. So instead of kicking me to the curb, they decided to keep me on but as a "casual" (temp), with no contract, so I could stay forever or I could stay a week, whatever strikes their fancy. So they like me enough to keep me and train me to interview properly (??) for the next permanent gig that comes up. Nice enough of them, I suppose. But until then I no longer accrue sick time or vacation time like normal people. Ughhhhhh, hard to explain. I basically go back to if I want a day off, it's without pay. Apparently because I'm not accruing vacation time, they pay me more an hour. We'll see when it happens. So yeah, I thought I'd take 2 days paid before the new rules kick in. I haven't had paid time off in......... Can't remember. Yeeeeeeeaaaarrrrssss.

So what plans do I have? Well, so glad you asked! Getting a hair cut (hasn't been cut since Feb, just before I moved to Oz. And don't worry David, our deal still holds, it'll just be to clean up the scraggly mess it's become, it's still growing)! Am also going to run around and take some photos with Liz, the girlfriend of the owner, Patrick, of the pub next door (officially known as the Alliance Tavern). She's from Brazil and is heading home for a visit and has just realized she doesn't have any touristy pictures to show off for the folks back home, so we'll spend the day riding the ferry, wandering around parks taking flattering photos of the city (and maybe of ourselves!). Tuesday I'll check out the job ads and get the resume out there. Nothing too exciting, to be honest. I pay a small fortune to live in the lap of luxury, as I do, therefore I can't afford to do many exciting things like go whale watching, 4x4 tours of the Outback, etc - yet. In time. Must find better paying job and cheaper apartment. Yeahyeahyeah, you all know the story!

So yeah, things are fine. The apartment is fine, breezy. The temperature here has been gradually warming up. The first official day of spring is Sept. 1st, though it's been perfect, well, since it quit being unbearably hot and humid back in March. The weather here is reallyreally lovely and perfect. Not a heck of a lot of rain, which is bad as they're in the middle of a very nasty drought, but nice as I'm still sick of the rain from NZ. I gotta say, I still get such a kick hearing the evening weather report every night where the temps here are in the 80's (mid-20's for those following the metric system) and bright blue sunny skies and little ol' NZ is in the mid-teens and RAINING, COLD & DAMP. Ahhhhhhhhhh I never get sick of hearing it! To be fair, it's what keeps the little country so green and beautiful. Yeah. Ok. So yes, the weathers been perfect.

I went dancing with Mave the other night. She goes to a class every now and then for Jive dancing and has been begging me for months to go along. Jive is a funny mix of swing, modern and rock n' roll. Lots and lots of spinning in circles. Apparently, in the intermediate class, if you're not used to the spinning, you get dizzy and fall down. I had to laugh. Good thing I'm a beginner. Tho I must say, I watched the intermediate class closely and I didn't see a single person fall down. I'll keep a look out. All in all it was a fun way to spend a Friday night. Met some interesting people (and a couple of creepy ones), including a young gal who wants to be an astronaut - pretty cool. Made me wish I'd done a more useful degree.......... (an option I am reconsidering.... more on that story later). It was fun, but not sure how soon I'd do it again.

So that's the gist of it it all for now. I could go on and on but I have to fight with the computer program to add pictures in a more organized way. So again, bear with me. I tell ya, I've seen some other blogs out there, and they look pretty damn cool. So either I don't have the right software downloaded or they have waaaaaay too much time on their hands. Mine will be cool soon tho, just you see!

J

Testing 1... 2... !

Hi!

I'd like to take this opportunity to explain... I've come to the conclusion that this is an excellent way for me to share with everyone, scattered all over hither and yon, stuff I'm doing here in Brisbane, especially now that I'm the proud owner of a spankin' new digital camera - you can actually see what I'm up to and where! So for this first little post, it'll be just that - little, while I tinker with all the levers and pulleys to add photos and any other cool things I can figure out.

Now, bear with me as I try to set this whole thing up. It may be a bit skeletal at first, but it'll get there, or as they say here Down Under - 'she'll be right!'.

J