Water dragon

Today I have finally sighted our Australian Water Dragon.....just when you all thought I might have been hallucinating from all the walking I've been doing!  So behold!

           Makes me shiver all over again!!

To market, to market....

No joke when I say that I have not cooked since moving to Brisbane. You'd understand if you saw the kitchen...I won't go into details except to say that it's good for warming things up but not for cooking.

Today is a market at the New Farm Powerhouse. Although we're not cooking it's always fun to go and have a look...  There were some interesting things and we were just getting a feel for what they offered. However, we are dying to buy fresh fruits, veggies and meat! So we did buy...and on the way out we stood in a long line of people to buy a banana/raspberry smoothie  They spear fresh pineapple, banana, and a strawberry on the straw. It was delicious...  We ended up buying a huge spicy bratwurst with saurkraut to have for our 9am lunch!  Pumpkin sourdough bread, one donut (in honor of the Levy's), a tub of 4 types of olives, 2 jars of the best homemade jam, bananas, strawberries and kettle corn. And some sterling hoop earrings!  Lol. Here's a picture of our haul...  We decided to have a little rest at 11am and throw a load of laundry in.  Yes, resting at 11am. When you get up inbetween 4 am and 5:30am each day you need a little rest about 11am!  There is a time warp here...every time you think you've been out for hours, you look at your watch and 45 minutes have gone by. Ok, a slight exaggeration but really time goes slowly, or else we walk fast!  

For our afternoon entertainment we walked down to South Bank to their market and shops... This is the walkway down to the shops.  Lovely flowers!!  I bought a hat and flowing dress which I'm told you HAVE to have in another month when it gets really hot and humid. Not sure the dress is that attractive on me, but I can wear it around the house.  We were parched and stopped in a beer garden for a cold one..  It started looking like rain so we hopped a CityCat and went back to the apartment. It's raining now..

No lizard sighting today...I'll try again tomorrow. 

Toodles and cheers!  Dave and Lovey. 

TWENTY SEVEN YEARS!

Yesterday Dave and I celebrated our 27th anniversary. It was Friday, but before Dave went to work he gave me a citron tart from the French bakery that was so yummy.  I ate it for breakfast or brekkie as the Aussies say.

I was invited to a girls luncheon by our very nice relocation lady, Jacky.  It was a charity event and I met some really great ladies there. There was champagne at the beginning and then the fashion show. After, we had a really great lunch and the raffle drawing.  I won a delightful dress that I am looking forward to wearing soon!  When the luncheon was over, all my "new" friends invited me to the bar area to have some drinks and chat some more...how could I say no?!  By the end of the afternoon we had exchanged phone numbers and they invited me to join their tennis group even though I explained I was a dreadful player.

Dave and I went out to dinner that night at a restaurant called Venice.  Very nice.....

Toodles and cheers!  Dave and Lovey

The beach...

On Sunday morning we decided to go to the beach. So after packing up a few things we walked down to the Central train station. Reading the departures board we realized that we could make the next train with literally 2 minutes to spare!  So we ran down the stairs to Platform 2 and jumped on the train.  We gave each other a high five and settled in for the 50 minute ride to Cleveland, which is the end of the line.  After the train ride there is a bus to take you to the ferry which is about 5-8 minutes away.  We hopped on the ferry and sat at the top in front...The ferry took 15 minutes to get over to North Stradbroke Island which the locals call "Straddie". After the ferry we hopped another bus that took us to the beach about 10 minutes away.  We ended up on Frenchman's Beach. There were about 200+ steps to get down to an almost deserted beach, but a local going down at the same time said this was her favorite beach on the island.  We set up our towels and had a picnic lunch, walked the beach to start our shell collection, and waded into the chilly water. I was even able to knit a few rows on my scarf!  Mid afternoon we decided to pack up and catch another bus that would take us to a different part of the island. So it's up the 200+ stairs...this is a view from the top        
  So after walking all that way up, we headed down the road to where there were a couple of shops. We stopped at the Gelato place and literally counted out our last few dollars for two cones, one was coconut/lime and the other was blood orange. Mmmmmmm

While waiting for the next bus which turned out to be an old mini bus driven by a seasoned local, we looked out to sea and saw some whales migrating!  It was such an amazing sight even though we were far away.  We saw a small orange boat following behind them. 

We caught our small bus that would take us to the town of Amity. One shop and one campground. Even our driver said there was nothing to see, but in the 7 minutes he was there waiting to see if anyone needed a ride, Dave and I hopped out and took one last picture..  Hopped back onto the mini bus back to another bus stop and bus that would take us back to the ferry and the return trip back to the apartment. We had a great day and there's nothing better than the beach and sand between your toes...and up your legs....and stuck to your arms!   Lol. 

Toodles and cheers !  Lovey and Dave

Food and fun

This morning we walked down to Chinatown in Fortitude Valley to find a cheap haircut. Dave loves to get his haircut every week and he was feeling shaggy. We went to Julie's on Wickham Street and believe it or not it was cheap!! For just $10 he had a great haircut! Ladies pay just $15. I did see a girl walk in with long hair, explain what she wanted and the hairdresser got out her spray bottle and scissors and went to town. I wasn't around for the finish, so I don't know how it all turned out.

Then we walked down to James Street in Newstead for the Food & Lifestyle event. Lots of tents set up and serving up samples of their wares. We had duck pâté, biscotti in a custard, amazing bread from "French Twist", pulled pork tortillas, Arnold Palmer iced tea, cheeses, brownies, and Australian meat and dips and beer and hard cider. Everything gourmet and delicious and so fun to talk to the vendors and see what and where they are. They also had housewares and other vendors. We popped into a tent that was signing people up for French lessons and guess who is going to try this out? Lol. ME!! It's in Bulimba starting November 1st. You never know what will happen when you go to these events!

Toodles, cheers and oh yes au revoir Dave and Lovey



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Out and about

During the week while Dave was at work, I decided to walk down to the Commissariat Store which is part of the historical sites for Queensland. They had some damage from the 2011 floods and are repairing the outside, so no pictures. I took a tour of the building with Estelle as my tour guide. This building was built in 1829 by convicts and is Brisbane's first stone building. All goods went through this building and were distributed out Since I was the only one on the tour, it was my duty to ask many thoughtful and intelligent questions! Lol. She allowed me to hold the leg irons that were put on the men when they arrived...HEAVY and bulky. She also showed me a jar of fingers the convicts cut off their hands to get out of work...gruesome and it didn't work, they were bandaged up and sent back with the others to work that day. I loved the whole tour! Not a lot to see, but Estelle was very knowledgeable about the subject.

Last night we caught the 190 bus to New Farm to eat at Taj Mahal. Avi and Andria would have been in heaven! Authentic and spicy hot and the lamb curry was the best. We also had some black sesame seed naan to go with it. Mmmmmm

Every morning at "the crack of the dawn" Dave and I walk down the river walk and into the Botanical Gardens for a big loop and back. This morning Dave is trying his best to talk me into running for short amounts of the walk...not happening, but he's trying. So I tell him to run up this short incline and see how it feels. I'm watching him go and out of the corner of my eye I see very fast movement. I let out a small shriek and literally jump to the other side of the wide sidewalk and look down....on a water dragon that is as big as Charcoal but with a longer tail and scales!!! If that lizard would not have moved that quick, my foot would have landed right smack on his tail. He was sunning himself on a small piece of sidewalk and with looking at Dave, going in and out of shadows and with my sunglasses on I just didn't see it! I'll try and bring my camera tomorrow on our walk and look for one so you know how freaked out I was.

Today I caught the WaterCat to South Bank and the Exhibition Centre. They are having a quilt and crafts event there this week. Aunt Beautiful would have been in hog heaven!!! Lots of fabric from the East and weirdish fabric also. I stopped at a booth called VooDoo and it had some unique stuff alright. Notions, machines, patterns, etc would have made your day if you quilted as great as my aunt! then we get to the 1/3 of the booths that are other things like beads and edgings and scrapbooks and doll making and embroidery. All nice. But let's not forget knitting! I'll be quite honest up front and tell you I DO NOT need anymore yarn or really crafts in general, but when I saw the very few knitting booths I bought yarn. Possum yarn (Australian possum are not like American possum), and a tiny booth that could have been Habu...if you're Martha or Sarah you know what I'm talking about. RAMIE! Lol. Why is the booth always so small? I bought enough yarn for only 4 projects..then went home.

It's Friday so there will be much more later....

Toodles and cheers! Dave and Lori


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Quick update...

Sunday, Dave and I decided to see just how far it was to the grocery from each of the three apartments we are considering. The weather was great and we walked to some great places along the way. Along the riverfront in Teneriffe, New Farm park with the bagpipe players and rose gardens, and the incredible French bakery The fitbit pedometer that I wear now logged a little over 21,000 steps which is a little over 10 miles!!

Today we got the great news that our #1 choice of apartments is ours starting November 22nd. So we'll be living in Bulimba for the next 2 years and looking for people to come and visit us after December! Sign up now! Seriously....

Celebrating our good fortune and how "easy" it was to get!!!

No phone yet.....sigh. will make do with the US phone for now.

Toodles and cheers! Lori


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Saturday news..

To be completely honest, I am throughly annoyed. I wrote a great blog post and then proceeded to lose/erase it.  Sigh.  So here we go again...fingers crossed!
Our day started at 7am up in Dave's office watching the Orioles play. There was excitement in the air on the 12 th floor! Sadly they lost, However the view is great!

While there, Colette, Bill and Sierra called us to see if we wanted to go appliance hunting. Woo hoo! ;I dearly hope that the salesman was working on commission today. We bought a refrigerator, washer, tv, rice cooker, iron, electric jug, hair dryer and toaster. I felt like a new bride, except for the fact that we were the ones paying for it all ourselves!  There was a sale, buy one get the second item half off. So we saved a bit of money for things we are going to have to buy in a few weeks anyway. Our friends bought even more than us with the same salesman.  I will say that his manager was looking very pleased!  We celebrated with a lunch at the Willow and Spoon which is voted the best cafe in Brisbane.
Feeling very full of ourselves and still on a shopping high we decide to go down to Queen Street mall and buy a phone for me. So clutching our new bank cards and with a spring in our step we walked down. The salesman was very nice but informed us up front that he had ONE iPhone and there was no one else he knew of that had one, but he couldn't sell it to us....seriously. We were not deterred and proceed to pick out a phone plan that will fit our needs.  We ask him again if we can buy the phone and he decides that he will email his manager to get authorization to sell it to us. Mind you this is a place that sells phones and phone plans, but nothing is as it seems here.  We eventually get the thumbs up and I start filling out the paperwork until I get to the part where it wants to add up your 100 points. What's that you ask?  Well we thought it only applied to big things like renting/buying homes and cars...apparently not. In Australia they have a point system and you want to get to 100 or above. So for example you receive 50 points if you can cough up 4 rent receipts, 40 points for a passport, 20 points if you can get a written reference from your former agent, 10 points for an electricity account, etc.  I have on my person only one thing worth 40 points....we have to walk. The good news/bad news....they close in 15 minutes so I don't think they will sell the phone, but we will have to walk down there tomorrow right when they open and hope the same guy is there and still willing to sell us the phone.  Seriously...
On the way back to our apartment we pass a sad little bakery and buy a sweet to eat later tonight. My cherry pie was a two bite pie for $3.25...things are expensive here!


Two nights ago we had THE BEST sashimi and sushi I've ever had. The chef asked us what fish we liked and then proceeded to make our meal piece by piece. No menu required and he was a master at making it all. We went home having eaten more than we ever had and with a huge grin on our faces!
Tomorrow we will go and see about the only iPhone available in Brisbane
Just to give you an idea how much we walk each day, my pedometer is registering a little over 13,000 steps a day!
Toodles and cheers!  Lovey and Dave

Apartment hunting...

This week is all about finding a place to live  We should be on international house hunters because we sure sound like the people on that show!  Initially we just started looking on the web for possible 2 bedroom/2 bathrooms with a nice patio and then setting up appointments to see them.  We would keep narrowing it down to the top two and go on.  Saturday we decided to set up a few apartments to look at, but also go to some open "inspections".   Inspections are 15 minutes long.  Period.  If you're interested you queue up and look with everyone else. So we show up to the first one too late to go in, but the agent drove us to his second showing. This was a new apartment the size of my living room and dining room....2 bedroom/2 bath mind you. So we walked back to the ferry to find the next one. We were not having a lot of luck, and believe me when I say that I'm not looking for anything big, I just want to be able to not touch all walls when standing in the middle of the room!  We decide to go to the sports bar in Bulimba to talk over our top 2 choices while watching the Orioles play. Sounded reasonable to us!  After the 7th inning we decide on the apartment we will rent which will allow us to move right in..we celebrate our decision with another beer!!  Dave is relieved... And we set up to go on Monday to sign the lease  Then we get an email today (Sunday) from the apartment complex we LOVE that had no openings, but now they will the middle of November ...oh bloody hell!  We are in the process to look at the apartment before Monday afternoon to see if it's really what we want and I have a feeling we might hit the sports bar again....lol.  I'll keep you posted....toodles!

Travel day

Family and friends,

We've made it!  We packed 6 huge bags and had the max number of carry ons.  It did look as if we were moving to another continent.   The cost of our extra luggage plus the one overweight bag was a mere $290. I think we got off cheap!  Thanks to Martha for taking us to the airport and thanks to Perry and Hannah for hanging out with us during our Dallas layover!

We thought we were smart to reserve a window and aisle seat in a three seat row....surely NO ONE would be crazy enough to book the center seat for a 15+ hour flight!  We were wrong.  Coming up to our seats, there sat a girl in the center   Sigh.  She slid over to the aisle, but we were more cramped than planned. Then there was the mom and two girls who sat behind us. In the first 10 minutes the two girls (who were elementary age) were picking on each other and we heard the mom say....for God's sake just go to sleep!  Luckily after we were served dinner they conked out.

After gathering our bags and going through immigration, our driver Ken was waiting for us.  He must have had a heads up because there was a trailer on the back for all the luggage.  So here we are at the Astra, in a third floor apartment overlooking the water.  It's  a one bedroom with a kitchenette and a nice balcony.  It's about 5:30am on October 2nd here.

First order of business was breakfast.  We zipped out the back of the apartment building and onto the river walk.  Walking on the left is a must...there are so many people out in the morning going to work, cycling and jogging, that you don't want to be in anybody's way.  We stopped at the Groove Train Cafe right by the ferry and I found French toast for only $10 to have with my mocha and Dave had a breakfast sandwich that was huge with his long black (coffee).

Next we walked down Eagle Street to find Dave's new office. It's maybe a 5 minute walk from the Astra, which is perfect.  Then on to the bank to finalize our account.  The only other thing to do is pick up some food from the Woolworths.  After walking around for a little, we stumbled across it and a bakery. We walked out with four small bags and a baguette   Then two blocks back to the apartment.  We keep thinking it is time for lunch and it's only 10 am!

This afternoon we will go look at an apartment if jet lag doesn't get us...so more later.

Toddles with love,

Dave and Lovey