Brisbane Festival

was really coooool!

For some reason all I can think about is Santos GLNG.

Brisbane Festival was sponsored by Santos GLNG.  

Santos GLNG is cool not evil....

Sarcasm aside, I think it's pretty rad to live in a city that celebrates itself for 3 full weeks.  The South Bank was just action packed full of fun stuff with performances ranging from solo artists (Julia Stone, Ingrid Michaelson), bands (Nada Surf), Jazz on Sundays, Argentina in the evenings, DJ's that were actually pretty cool, live shows like a French Butler Named Smith at the Wunderbar, Santos GLNG light show and my most favourite of all, La Soiree.  It was nice meeting the festival workers and seeing them everyday and becoming part of a fun community for the three weeks.  It made working so much better knowing that we were going to get free pizzas, get to talk to Florence from St. Jean de Luz, see my favourite churro guy (also from St. Jean de Luz), provide the espressos served in the espresso martinis at the bar in the Spiegel Tent, and seeing my favourite acts from La Soiree and serving them coffee!!!

The TallShort van was such a trooper, getting used and abused day in and day out... but I truly believe it became somewhat of an icon in the festival and it was great to be a part of that.... 

The 3 week festival ended with the finale.... RIVERFIRE... it sounds more intense than it really is... it is pretty much the light show, extended in length with added fireworks from the river.  It was nice and pretty cool actually.  the fun part was the massive amounts of teenagers 13 to 16 dressed really slutty... that was probably the best part of the day.  

but for realzies, despite the massive amount of teenagers (an age group which I am not truly fond of in any country...except for my sisters) I had a great time during Riverfire and pretty much through out the whole festival.  My body is officially exhausted but it was probably one of the more fun times I have ever experienced as a worker... not just of in a cafe, but overall from managing, to finance, to government, to teaching English...it was truly such a fun time.  

for some reason when I think back, what I remember most vividly is the awesome-ness of Santos GLNG? 

Not sure why. 

 Light & laser show

                                      

The TallShort van in the prime spot

Laterns to support diversity and Asians.

La Soiree stage

Inside the Spiegel Tent

Behold.... RIVERFIRE!

more fireworks

don't mind if I do...

looks like Dizz and I will be chillaxin to the max in Australia mate! 

approved to stay here for up to 4 years... assuming Danny does not get terminated for misconduct or voluntarily quit his job. 

A lot can happen in four years, especially to 2 people who plan on always being on the go but still this is huge...

weeee!!!!!!

grrrr

Never in my life have I wanted world peace more than anything!

So much planning & I have worked soooo many hours for this trip to see great things, but it's not happening.

Give peace a chance
Why can't we all get along
Live and let live

I want to see every part of the world... including the Middle East.  Learn about every culture, religions, see ancient sights, meet and learn languages from local people.  I want to see art, hear music and listen to stories.
I want to learn the history of each country that  I visit, take a glimpse of their past and see how they got to where they are now.

I just want to go, for the rest of my life I want to be going... for now we will be going, somewhere different but still going.  I am heartbroken over this.

Engrish lessons.

I cannot pull off the following phrases:

'cheers' (cheeahs)
'cheers mate' (cheeahs might)
'hello darling' (dahling)
'pardon?' (pahdon)
'good day' (good eye)

I tried today -not in an Aussie accent- but used simple phrases to our customers and it made me feel very weird, out of place and down right creepy.

Oy vey.

factoids

Today was a public holiday in Brisbane, in celebration of the Royal Queensland Show, the annual agricultural show of Queensland, also known as EKKA.  It's pretty much a fair type thing, with rides, free petting zoos, overpriced food / drinks and heaps of kids, meh.  Not my cup of tea but it was nice to see all sorts of people going this morning while we were working on site.  It's nice that the seventh show day is a public holiday, no work for most people like Danny.   I love that there are 2 holidays I never thought I would be celebrating the first being the Queen's birthday and second one being the Royal Queensland Show.

here is a photo of my work at EKKA:

i and love and you

kinda love them... one more than the other

Melbourne

Melbourne was great. Our train was 40 minutes late so we took a taxi to the airport.  Of course during those times when you are in most need to rush, we get a taxi driver who was not a negligent speedster but rather one that followed the speed limit and the laws of the road. We made it just as the plane was boarding thanks to Australia's less strict airport security (no one had even checked my ID).

We finally arrived and the feeling of staying in a hostel was like a feeling of being home! ridiculous, yes but seriously... I love hostels. After a stomach wrenching all carb & simple sugar breakfast, we walked through the South Yarra neighbourhood where our hostel was located.  We walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens where we saw the governors' palace, the Anzac memorial, some cool trees and rainforest wildlife from Queensland! We hopped on a free city bus that takes a loop around the most popular spots in Melbourne:

National Victoria Gallery - had an exhibit about Napoleon but we decided against indoor activities since the weather was really nice.

Federation Square - amazing area bustling with people, checked out St. Paul's Cathedral, Flinder's Street Station, walked by / through some of the theatres and galleries surrounding the square. Then we saw the Joker painted on a side garage door in a tiny alley.  Naturally we headed that way to check it out and lo & behold our first street art encounter... the whole alley way just covered in street art.  After taking a gander we had tapas and cortado at Movida.

Queen Victoria Market - largest outdoor market... meh...it was cool until we saw vendors selling full body kangaroo skins.

South Bank - nice stroll by the river at South Bank... we took some photos of the city skyline, saw a weird large goose, crossed the bridge back to Flinder's street station were we caught the tram back to our hostel for a nap!

Lygon Street - considered the 'little Italy' of Melbourne.  We met up with Daniella & a few other friends for a lovely dinner. Chapel Street - this street is happening!  lots of bars, restaurants, cafes, people... it was busy even really late at night...A few other attractions we saw:
More street art on Little Bourke Street
Possums at the Royal Exhibition
State Library of Victoria
Parliament
Another Cathedral
Galletes on Brunswick Street
China Town
Collins Street

Possums and Opossums are different:  Australian Possums are cute whilst North American Possums are disgusting and creepy. 

After 2 days of checking out Melbourne, Danny and I ended our weekend trip with a delicious cafe cortado at the Young & Jackson's bar in the presence of the famous nude portrait painting of Chloe.