dependency issues....

Today is Danny's first day og work.  I just dropped him off... I have been at home for 12 minutes... alone!

The fact that we are alone in a different continent labeled 'down under' because it's located in the under belly of the earth may be the factor responsible for my increased desire to be constantly in close proximity of Danny.  It has only been 14 minutes, today is going to be a long and lonely day, one can say that I miss him already.

Sure I had lists I wanted to make so that I can cross off the tasks on those lists, which usually gives me a feeling of accomplishment... but I have no motivation to do anything other than sit here, maybe nap, watch TV.  I can't even read because the book I am re-reading contains feelings of longing from a main character to her counterpart and I don't think that reading would distract me from the lonely and empty feeling I feel, in fact one can assume that it MAY heighten such emotions for me.

when it rains... it pours

torrential downpour in Brisbane... the rain is so loud its a bit scary - tropical typhoon? maybe, maybe not.  It's going to be a crazy rainy week.

Finally signed up for Qantas Frequent Flyer program... let's just say that I'm really really really excited about this.

Fun rain day activities:  making home made pizza, drinking coffee from tea bags, practicing different make up techniques, journal-ing, stalking facebook friends of friends, being surprised by awesomely bad movies: Quarantine 2 and Lockdown and last but not least, episodes from favorite shows such as CSI, CSI Miami, NCIS and Law and Order SVU.

question...

...what do you get when you put 2 boring people in a cool city?

2 boring people watching CSI in a cool city! 

Our apartment application is being processed, we are 95% sure we can move in on Wednesday.  We canceled all of our inspections for Thursday since we weren't really in love with the area anyways.  

We decided to get Danny's Australian driver's license instead...but to no avail since we forgot the mailing address for his work.  It was nice however to walk to Elizabeth Street and Queens Street to see the main down town area.... we didn't realize it was sooo close to where we will hopefully be living.  

Aussie fact:  Big W is waaaaaaay cheaper than Target...

Aussie fact:  if you are traveling here and need to plug in an appliance that is 110, make sure to bring your own step down transformer... we have been unsuccessful in finding one under $100 AUD and now we cannot use our hair clippers and george foreman grill!!

Anzac Day

Anzac Day, always on the 25th day of April,  is to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp who fought the Ottoman Empire on the Gallipoli Peninsula in modern day Turkey for the control of Constantinople - capital of the empire who was allied with Germany during World War I.

I love Turkey, both as a food and as a country.

We went to Canakkale when we were in Turkey last summer... unfortunately we didn't get to see the battlefields of the Gallipoli Campaign but we did see Troy and Canakkale it was awesome.

To celebrate Anzac Day I will post pictures from Canakkale, Troy and Constantinople/Istanbul (my favorite city).  We have also celebrated by not doing anything all day and watching the Nat Geo channel's special marathon for Anzac Day.

Istancool

Cannakale

Troy

Our do nothing day was definitely well deserved: yesterday was pretty stressful, we gathered all the information required for the apartment rental application for a place we really like in Spring Hill.  We got the necessary documents, copies, filled out the application completely and then arrived at the inspection with 30 or so OTHER people interested in the same apartment! I sneakily gave the property manager our application and I know we were the first ones so hopefully it goes well.  We drove an hour to Bribie Island in the Sunshine Coast...there was no sunshine, no waves...only rain and traffic.... lame!

Highlight of driving to the Sunshine Coast:  We kept hearing these loud lorikeets from the trees just chirping like crazy...it was almost scary how loud they were but it was really cool.

Good Flat Hunting

Friday:  was pretty lame. I think the 40 hrs of transit, jet lag, the overall adrenaline from the move finally caught up with us...or maybe the KFC might had something to do with it...

Saturday:  started off with a few apartment inspections in New Farm....cute neighborhood with an Adam's Avenue feel but with more little shops, cafes and restaurants within 3 km from downtown Brisbane.

After a dozen apartments, there was only one that we fell in love with and it won't be available until May 18th!! It was a good day to drive around and see the neighborhoods...fave areas to possible live are:

Spring Hill
New Farm
West End

When the crazy apartment hunting was done, we went to Streets Beach in South Brisbane which is a man-made beach next to the river in the city.  We walked along the river and checked out the place... it's so far my favorite place to walk around, it seems like a good place to lounge since there are grassy areas and also the man made beach and there are tons of cafes and restaurants and it is next to the Brisbane Performing Arts Center... I guess I can watch the Don Quixote Ballet after all...SCORE!

Afterwards, Danny and I visited what we thought was a farmer's market with fresh fruits and veggies in New Farm... but it was a clothing and craft market... cute clothes and crafts but no fresh fruits and veggies.

In the evening we walked around South Brisbane but we decided to cross the Victoria Bridge to downtown Brisbane and did some more walking around <3

The highlight of Saturday:  OUR FIRST NAP IN AUSTRALIA

Sunday/Monday: pretty boring day actually... we got gypsied by the rental car company, we checked more apartment listings, wrote down open inspection dates & times and planned out our inspections for the week, did more apartment inspections, got a $200 AUD parking ticket for parking in a no parking zone for honestly 3.5 minutes, filled out apartment applications and all the while,  managing to squeeze in some episodes of Law & Order, CSI, Man vs. Wild and a few other Nat Geo and Discovery Channel documentaries.

some sights from our city:

Adventures on the Pacific Motorway

It's so weird that the Pacific Ocean is on the east coast...

after a Skype sesh with my sis our 1st day in Brisbane, yesterday, was pretty amazing.

we walked around in search for breaky & coffee,  found a cafe with delicious coffee, outside seating and really tasty breakfast sandwiches... after breakfast we wandered around a shopping area near the Botanical Gardens.  We ventured over to Target before we set out to see more of the city but instead we decided to drive to the Gold Coast to see the waves that Danny will be surfing...

The most foreign feeling in a foreign country is driving on the left side of the road... it is so weird.  The car is a mirror image of itself from normal cars, even the blinkers are on the opposite side...not only is driving on the left side of the road scary, but when your windshield wipers turn on super fast when you are trying to make a lane change or signaling to turn instead of your actual blinkers, it can be scarier...

After our drive with too many almost driving on the 'wrong' side of the road incidences, we made it to the Gold Coast --- we spent some time walking on the beach to Snapper Rocks.  It was exciting to see the skyline of our new city from the beach.  

Cause for concern number 2: the sun --- the sun is super intense, good thing we packed a crap ton of sunscreen.

After the Gold Coast, we drove back to Brisbane and drove West (which is now inland) to check out some wild roos next to a prison property.  I cannot describe how excited Danny and I were when we saw them hanging out on the side of the road ...they are so cute I don't think I can eat roo meat....

40 hours in transit

from San Diego to Lima, Lima back to San Diego, San Diego to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Auckland, Auckland to our new home...Brisbane, Australia.

leaving family and friends is really hard but seeing our new city and our new home was really cool.

after 40 hrs in transit, a nice bowl of egg drop & crab soup and a plate of beef chow mein from Chinatown was just perfect.