More random pics of the city

House hunting is looking up!

We looked at a cottage style house today and it was ADORABLE. We put in an application for it. We'll know Monday if we get it. This is the link to it...check it out...http://ww2.rentalhotline.com.au/Tenancy/Page.aspx?page=DisplayProperty&PropertyId=90#

What's new with the Dickinsons...let's see. We looked at a house this morning...another no go. We are looking at another house tomorrow...fingers crossed, yet again. I went for a massage today, as I think sleeping on the air mattress for a week has caught up with me (our mattress got delivered yesterday). It was such a great massage! After the massage, they put warm towels all over you to remove the oil. So great and it only cost $49 for an hour! And since there is no tax or need to tip here, it really did cost $49! We also went to the immigration office this morning to get our passports stamped. We're officially allowed to live in Australia until December 11th, 2010. It still sometimes freaks me out that we're immigrants in another country. Like, for instance when we went to the bank and the lady said, "Oh yes, you're from overseas." Strange to be the one from "overseas". Anyway, other than that, Steve's liking his job so far and I'm finding stuff to fill my time, until we get a house to live in and I start looking for work. Hope all is well with everyone reading this!

My girlie review of shopping in Brisbane...

This post is directed to all my girlfriends who like to shop as much as I do. Shopping in Brisbane sucks. I miss shopping in Montreal. Why does it suck, you might ask? Well, for starters, I don't really like the styles here. It's a lot of very frumpy sundresses and they layer strange things together. For example, a t-shirt I might wear to bed, they put under a fitted sundress. Then to top the outfit off, they wear a belt around their boobs (yes...around their boobs...okay well, just under, but still it's not flattering) and they put on a pair of leggings and boots that I would wear for winter in Canada! I'm sorry but, they HAVE to have smelly feet at the end of the day!!! And why would you want to wear leggings when it's 30 degrees??? Also, I find women's clothes to be VERY expensive. I'm used to Montreal where there are ALWAYS sales and when I say sales, I mean shirts/skirts/etc... for $5! And even when there's not a sale, there was always those staple stores to fall back on that had nice stuff cheap...you know like Dynamite and Suzy. I haven't found a single one of those stores yet and the average ugly sundress here costs about 70 bucks! The cheapest pair of capris that I have seen...$70. If I loved them then maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but even at $70, it's nothin' special. I have been shopping a few times now, as I really do need some summery stuff. I seriously haven't seen ANYTHING I want. I did buy that one dress at the market, but as far as shops and malls go, nothing. This is very disappointing. I guess on a positive note, it will help me save money...Or maybe I just haven't been to the right shops...Is there still hope....?

Oh and one more thing...I knew there was a reason why I was going to bring all that nail polish with me...I went to buy a bottle of nail polish the other day and the average bottle of polish was $11 and that was at Big W (like a Walmart)!!! That's just crazy.

Sunday

Yesterday Steve and I went to the outdoor market they have every Saturday and Sunday. It's really close to where we're staying (Vic's place). I bought a new sundress. Sundresses seem to be a staple if you're living in Brisbane and you're a girl:) Then we went and did a little shopping. We have started buying things for when we get our own place. It's amazing how much stuff you need to get for an apartment. I never really realized because I collected everything gradually over the years, but it's a lot to get at once! Yesterday the weather was perfect. Not too hot, hardly any humidity and sunny. Although, Steve and I were also saying that maybe it's just that we're getting used to the heat, but still it definitely wasn't as humid! Let's hope the week will be much the same. Here's a couple of pics taken yesterday of Steve and I at the waterfront downtown. This is the Brisbane river behind us and the bridge that goes to Kangaroo Point. We are thinking that if we can't find a house to rent in the neighborhoods surrounding Steve's work, then we might look just across this bridge. It's not too far. We could walk it easily and there is always the water ferry.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Today Steve, Vic and I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (http://www.koala.net/index.htm). We hopped on a bus downtown and for $4.50 each, round trip, we made our way to the Sanctuary (it took about 30 mins). It was a nice drive and a good way to see some of the parts of the city that are further out. The Sanctuary was AWESOME. As you can see, I got to hold a koala and feed and pet kangaroos! Obviously, these kangaroos are very friendly. Remember how much I loved the penguins at the Biodome? Well, I think the Koalas may be my new favorite friend to watch! They are SO cute. I want one as a pet. There were baby koalas, mama koalas, bachelor koalas and even koalas as old as 12 years old. The oldest koala that they have ever had there was 23 years old. There were also other creatures, such as snakes, walabies, wombats, frogs, crazy HUGE bats, I think they are called red fox bats (these things fly around Brisbane at night. I have a video to post...they are HUGE!!!!! The first ones I saw, I thought were crows!), dingoes, fresh water crocs, weird birds, scrub turkeys and some other animals that we have in Canada, like sheep, ponies, emus and ducks. It was really cool. Also, I thought it was kind of neat that they showed what celebrities have had their pics taken with the koalas. From the ones I remember...Claire Daines, Janet Jackson, Claudia Schiffer, even dates back as far as Audrey Hepburn (the Sanctuary has been open since 1927). Anyway, it was really cool to hold the koala. He was so snuggly! We had a really good day, ending with a good dinner at an Irish pub in the CBD (central business district) of Brisbane.


My foot and a kangaroo's foot.

A Mama and her baby (her Joey). I have some videos of the roos to post later. I loved watching them run. They were so cool when they moved!

Steve took this one...

The finding a place to live saga continues...

Okay, so finding an apartment in Brisbane is hard. Not only are places limited because of the no dog rule but it's also VERY competitive. "Viewings" are when you go to see the place, but it's done much like an open house that's for sale. A bunch of people view the place at once, with a real estate agent and you have to have a pre-filled out, ready to go application with you, just in case you like the place, or you don't stand a chance of getting it. I called about one place today and the viewing is tomorrow but even the viewing was filled, with no room for more people to see it! We basically realized that we have to rent a house if we have a dog, which is fine with us but we still want it to be a nice house. You wouldn't believe the hole we saw yesterday! We saw another place today, which was actually kind of cute but there was a dead cockroach in the corner and it was the small one that we've been warned to avoid. Apparently, the big ones don't mean an infestation, the small ones do. There were also a lot of ants and all of the windows in the house were tinted like a bathroom window might be. It wasn't so bad if the windows are open but when they're closed it might feel a little bit like a dungeon, not being able to see out anywhere! Anyway, seeing as it's only day 3 of looking, we decided not to rush into it. If it's a month from now and we don't have a place, then yes, we might have to settle. We're going to pick up a paper tomorrow and look from there. Apartments are only in the paper on Wednesday and Saturdays here. Looking for a place to live makes the idea of looking for a job seem easy! Wish us luck!

Missin' Snugs

Melissa sent me a few pics of Jesse, after she visited him the other day at the kennel. He looks good and he looks happy. Doesn't he look good and happy? Makes me feel a lot better about him being there and us being here. Although, I do miss him a lot. Melissa said that everyone knew his name and commented on what a "gorgeous, quiet and well behaved dog" he is. I feel so proud.

Vacation comes to an end...life begins...

Well it kind of feels like the vacation has come to an end and now we are really starting to "live" in Brisbane. Steve starts work today and I'm busy busy looking for a place to live. There are lots of places available, but not many allow dogs. The few places that we know of that do take dogs have size restrictions of only 5 kg, maximum 10 kg. Jesse is about 22 kg (and that's with hoping he loses some weight at the kennel!). Looks like we might have to rent a house, as that has a better chance of allowing pets than apartments. It just sucks because we want to be within walking distance to Steve's work and most homes are a little further out. Anyway, I'm sure we'll find something, just need to have patience.
We went over to Steve's friend Morgan's house last night and had a lovely dinner with him and his wife. Steve worked with Morgan in Montreal and now Morgan is also working at Pandemic. We had lots of Australian snacks (both Morgan and Kate are from Australia), including Tim-Tams...a kind of cookie (Jolyne, I thought of you!), Shapes...a kind of cracker, a kind of cheese chip...kind of like Cheesies but made with real cheese and an Australian beer and wine, which both were really good! I can't remember the names (I have to start paying more attention!) but I'll find out and let you know.
Thanks for all the comments from everyone on the blog. We really miss you all already and it's nice to hear from you. I will email our new phone number later today. Here's a couple of pics taken yesterday, when were walking around the city looking for apartments...

More brisbane info

The Brisbane river. I find the city to be very clean, which is nice. Everything seems very well kept and maintained. We were told that Brisbane is quite safe and that there really isn't a lot of crime, just the occasional drunk. It isn't just a myth...Aussies really do like to drink!!!
The CityCat, a form of transportation on the river.
Steve and Vic.
The CityFerry. We went on this on Australia Day. Another form of transportation. Steve likes that all buses and taxis here use natural gas.
Me with a fancy bottle of water. We had dinner at a place called QA (where this pic was taken). It was my favorite place so far. Good food and cool atmosphere. It is very close to Steve's work. This is also the same area where we would like to try to get an apartment. Vic was telling me that after 8 o'clock in bars, guys have to wear pants and shoes, not flip flops, or thongs, as they are called here. I found this surprising considering the laid back nature of the place and the hot temps! Girls can wear sandles though and short skirts. Strange, eh? Oh and did I mention that I say "eh" a lot more than I realized?!?
This is what they bring you if you ask for ketchup in a restaurant. I did see Heinz ketchup in the grocery store though. The majority of restaurants here require you to go up to the counter and order your food and pay right away. Then you sit down and they give you a number for your table. They bring your food to the table and sometimes take your plate, but it's not the same as being totally waited on. I'm sure they do have fancier restaurants where you do place your order at the table, but we haven't been to any yet.