Week in Review

This was a big week for us. Jeff had his first day of work, and I began adjusting to my new life as a stay at home wife... oh behave (Aussie term for calm down), I'm only kidding, I start work on Tuesday. I did however enjoy my week off work...

I'm like a proud mom. Jeff on his first day of work...

To celebrate my week off work, Brisbane decided to have its first bought (since we've been here) of crummy weather. Needless to say, without a car, local friends, or the means to really do much, I was a little homesick for the first time (yes, feel sorry for me). So, I spent the week reading (The Help, great book), making more Anzac biscuits, shopping, and getting a Queensland license. Surprisingly, its quite easy to get a drivers license here, I simply filled out a form, paid 50 dollars, and poof! I'm legal. Everyone should feel safe with me driving on the other side of the road. Oh, I also booked a trip for Jeff's birthday weekend. We're going to Noosa, an island 2 hours north of Brisbane... sounds awesome. I'll keep you posted.

The wonderful weather we had for 3 days this week. Yes, that's rain.

My Queensland drivers license

Anchor Man?

No, this is the local news guy. He always makes me laugh, so I had to share to joy with everyone

3rd bath of Anzac biscuits. They look and taste better each time

Jeff and I have been enjoying our mornings jogging along the floating sidewalks of the Brisbane River, see exhibit below. Things like this make working out easy(ier).

On Friday evening we went to a KPMG happy hour, which we discovered happen every Friday at 4:30pm in the office. Let me repeat that, drinking in the office, every Friday at 4:30. Free alcohol at work. This will be hard to get used to...

After the work happy hour we went to our first rugby game, Brisbane Reds vs. South Africa Stormers, at SunCorp stadium. I'm not sure if I'll enjoy rugby, first off because I'm not sure I fully understand the game... but I'm giving it a fighting chance. Good news, Reds won! See pictures from the game below.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the New Farm Farmers Market. This happens the 2nd and 4th weekend of every month, and is a HUGE local farmers market, with delicious produce, fish, baked goods, and coffee. It was simply amazing. We were in an organic heaven. We sampled some of the best foods we've had so far, and purchased some great stuff. This is one of my favorite things we've done, obviously second to the koala sanctuary. See photos below.

Jeff in New Farm, walking to the Farmers Market

New Farm Park

Farmers Market!

Colleen, this one's for you... Free Range!

Jeff taking it all in...

After the farmers market we walked around the city and into Parkland Botanical Gardens. It was a gorgeous park, with some of the most beautiful landscaping. There were several weddings taking place... ladies, I'll volunteer to be your wedding planner if you marry here ;)

To conclude our Saturday afternoon we stopped by a wonderful pub and enjoyed delicious lemon sorbet treats. Yum. I recommend these to any visitors.

Sunday was Anzac Day, so to celebrate we went to the beach. Amy forgot the camera... sorry blog readers. Refer to beach pictures from the second post. I promise to be good about remembering my camera. Regardless, we had a wonderful day and enjoyed the beach. Jeff attempted to surf again, I read more of my book, and considered getting in the water until I heard a local discussing shark attacks. Unfortunate they speak English in Australia.

We had Monday off work, to continue celebrating Anzac Day of course. We had a picnic with some of our new Brisbane friends. It was a fantastic day. We had our first taste of kangaroo and learned to play lawn ball.

Park for our Anzac picnic

To conclude, we've been working on our Aussie vocabulary, and plan to fully integrate it into our conversations. Study up!

Heeps = A lot.

Thongs = Flip Flops.

Brekkie = Breakfast.

Rubbish = Trash.

Bin = Trash Can

Hen's night = Bachelorette Party (love that one)

Roosters night = Bachelor Party

Stubby = bottled beer

Hotel = Pub/bar

Lollies = candy

Sickie = fake sick day from work

Sunnies = sunglasses

Uni = college or university

Biscuit = cookie

Car Park = Parking garage

Lift = elevator

Petrol = Gasoline

Drink Drive = drunk driving (VERY big No No here)

Takeaway = to-go

Anzac Celebration

Anzac Day is Sunday, April 25th (we get Monday off work too!), and is probably the most important national holiday in Australia (or so the governmetal website that I pulled my facts from claims). Small history lesson... Anzac Day is similar to Memorial Day in the US, as it marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. So, to celebrate appropriately I made traditional Anzac biscuits and sent them with Jeff to work. I love the thought of the American showing up with Anzac biscuits for the office.

After my third attempt, I finally made some delicious Anzac biscuits (the ovens here are a little hard to master) and wanted to share the recipe, so Anzac Day could be celebrated all over the world... or at least in the USA. Seriously though, the biscuits are quite delicious! Cheers.

Ingredients
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
2 tablespoons boiling water

Directions
1. Mix oats, flour, sugar and coconut together.
2. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the syrup and butter together. Mix the soda and the boiling water and add to the melted butter and syrup.
3. Add butter mixture to the dry ingredients. Drop by teaspoons on greased cookie sheets (or baking paper).
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes. *** The original recipe says 18 to 20 minutes, but I burnt the first couple batches, so I recommend you watch them closely, and cook longer if needed.

Enjoy!

Ultimate Tourist Week

Today concludes our first week here. I'd say it's been a successful week. Thanks to many handy travel guides provided by friends, family, and the Australian locals, we hit most of the Brisbane (tourist) hot spots. Photo highlights below.

Photo of the city from the Brisbane Botanical Gardens


A tree in the botanical gardens with limbs growing into the ground


The Eye of Brisbane

Jeff in the Ferris Wheel

Me in a small panic. Not a fan of heights.

The KPMG building... where Jeff and I will both be working. Tallest building in Brisbane.

That's right folks, go big or go home.

Our first "night out" at a pub/bar.

Bars in Brisbane stay open until 5am. As Colleen would say, nothing good happens after midnight.

We spent part of Monday and Tuesday looking for a permanent residence (or at least for the next 12 months). We have a relocation specialist helping us with this--- now, don't let this title fool you, after one week here I'm fairly confident I could get hired as an Australian relocation specialist. Nonetheless, we're very grateful for her help, and found a wonderful apartment which we will move into on April 30th. I'll send an email with our new address. For a sneak preview, see photo exhibits below.

view from the balcony

actual building

balcony- my favorite thing!

location of our place relative to the city

We also spent much of Monday and Tuesday walking around Brisbane trying to get to know the city, and learn where we're going. The city is absolutely gorgeous, and very green both aesthetically and environmentally. Naturally both of these qualities make me very happy. Photo exhibits below.

First thing I see as I walk off the plane... :0) Australia, I like you already

Trashcan, along with recycle at every corner. What a concept
View from (our current) bedroom window

View from The Story Bridge

As a part of tourist week, we sampled the local food, and traveled by way of Brisbane public transport: ferry, train, and bus. The inner-city ferry which travels along the Brisbane River is just wonderful, and ever so convenient. See map of Brisbane below to better understand the ferry route.

Jeff eating some delicious sushi rolls

Jeff on the Brisbane River Ferry

Map of Brisbane

We took our first trip to the beach today, we went to Surfers Paradise just northeast of Brisbane. It was beautiful, as most beaches are. It did however, ever so slightly, remind me of South Padre Island or Panama Beach. Now I know this doesn't say much for the Australian beaches... but rest easy my potential visiting friends, this is just one of many (like over 100) beaches within a 2 hour drive from Brisbane. I've heard Surfers Paradise is the most dodgy beach of the bunch. Either way, we had a great time, and Jeff attempted to body board. Photo exhibits below.

Surfers Paradise Beach

Jeff headed out to bodyboard

As close as I'd get to the cold waves

Far and away the most exciting thing we've done is visit the Koala Sanctuary. Exciting, why? Well, cause we cuddled a koala. Need I say more? We also hung out with kangaroos, snakes, crocodiles, and more koalas. It was a fabulous adventure, a must see for all. Family Christmas card this year... I think so.

Tommy, my koala

Seriously, how cute is that?

Just chillin

Along with being the ultimate tourists, we've tried to take note of some of the major differences between Australia and the US. I'd say besides driving on the opposite side of the road, ordering coffee is a very different experience. Our first day here, we arrive to The Coffee Club (Starbucks equivalent, although there is ONE Starbucks in Brisbane), and try to order coffee. Jeff asks, "Could we get two large coffees?" Barista replies, "what kind?" Jeff replies, "just regular coffee...". Fair answer I'd say. Barista replies, ever so kindly, "Excuse me sir, but what kind of coffee would you like?" We are both sort-of in a panic wondering what to do here, as the line behind us is rapidly growing. The kind barista explains... there is no drip coffee in Australia, everything is made from expresso. So, we order a flat white, a quite delicious drink, and enjoy our first cup of Australian coffee. Some other notable differences... cars, the cost of everything, McDonald's, and public school uniforms. All items depicted below. We plan to add to this list each week.

This is not photo-shopped. Ladies, this is a serious crisis. Please send mascara

Public school uniforms. Aren't the hats a good addition?

This car is everywhere in Brisbane. If you don't believe me, see the 18 additional pics below...

That's right, McDonalds = Maccas. Even in the tv commercials. Maccas.

I'd say, so far, so good. Jeff starts work on Monday, so we'll have some new exciting auditing updates coming later this week...