Anzac Day

What is Anzac Day you ask?  "Anzac Day, April 25th, is one of Australia’s most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.  Anzac stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as Anzacs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day (awm.gov.au)."  I would say their Anzac Day is our Memorial Day. 

3:45 AM, I woke up to go to the Dawn Service at Anzac Square.  What is Dawn Service? "Today’s dawn services include the presence of a chaplain, but generally not of dignitaries. Originally, the services were simple, and usually followed the military routine. Before dawn, those who had gathered would stand while two minutes’ silence was held. At the end of this time a lone bugler would play the Last Post and then conclude the service with Reveille, the bugler’s call to wake up.  In recent times more families and young people have taken part in dawn services across Australia. Reflecting this change, some services have become more elaborate, incorporating hymns, readings, pipers, and rifle volleys. Other services, though, have retained the simple format of the dawn stand-to familiar to so many soldiers (awm.gov.au)."

I then went home and took a short nap because at 9:30 was the parade.  It was only a few blocks from my apartment so I stopped at Starbucks along the way so I could get some energy because there were 159 different groups that were going to be walking by.  Their parades are similar to ours, except no candy was thrown out, ha.  The parade took 2 1/2 hours - that's a lot of parade if you ask me.

 

All of the different branches of the military passed by at some point.

Lots of music which was great, here are some bagpipers.

Here's a sample of the music!

Since it was a national holiday not a lot of places were open so decided to go for a drive.  Googled scenic drives close to Brisbane and decided on the Blackall Range Scenic Drive which was about an hour away.  The drive started at Landsborough and encompassed Maleny, Witta, Reeseville, Montville, Flaxton, Kondalilla, Mapleton and Cooloolabin.  It was absolutely beautiful.

A storm was coming through which made the sky that much more beautiful.

 

Hiking + Blisters = Owwww

I go to rent a car on Saturday morning and they are out of cars, WTF?!  It IS a holiday weekend, but I do recall renting a car on Easter weekend and getting one.  They said to come back in a hour and they'd have one....fine.  Rather than sit and be bored I walked down the street to the park and you are NEVER EVER EVER going to believe what I saw.  Let me remind you that is in a park (not the zoo) about 1/4 mile from my apartment.

THIS IS A PYTHON EATING A BAT....I am 100% not kidding!!!!  How in the world a slow snake caught a bat that flys is beyond me, but I will be asking at work tomorrow how this is possible.  Was this bat injured and on the ground, was he separated from his friends and family and wanted to commit suicide, I just don't know - but I do know this...I'm glad it ate the bat and not me!

Then about 5 feet away was his traveling companion on the other side of the fence.  See him at the bottom left and then he is slithering up to the right of the tree.  People have told me that there are python's in the park, and not that I think they are liars, but now I believe them.  What a great start to my day I must say.  My anger with Avis (rental car company) soon disappeared.  

Next on the agenda, another hike up in the Glass House Mountains.  Started out by climbing the Mt. Tibrogargan Summit which I had been told you could only hike to a certain point before you needed gear, so I thought cool--I'll hike to that point and turn around.  Path started out like a normal hike and then I come to this sign....

Everyone else was still climbing so I thought, why not--I'll keep going too (what a terrible thought, right)?  Lots of rocks to climb up but it wasn't to bad.  I then get to a part where you have climb up this rocky wall to the summit.  There were others that had done it but it was a bit too risky and there was a sign that said you needed gear to go any higher so unfortunately I have no pictures to show you of the view since I turned around and went back down (go ahead and call me names, I was just too chicken and I value my life).  

Decided to do the Mt. Tibrogargan circuit instead because I knew I would come out alive at the end.  This was the beginning of the path which looked nice and inviting to me.

Cool rock photo!

First rental car with a sunroof, how could I resist taking a picture standing up through it:)

Next on the hiking list was the Mt. Beerburrum lookout which was only 700 meters (which I thought, this will be easy), but needless did I know that it was a vertical concrete hike that I almost didn't make.  I had to stop every 100 feet or so because it was so steep.  For a while I had to tiptoe and lean over because it was so difficult.  I did make it to the top which was worth the effort because check out these views!

Going down was easier but I took baby steps and took my time.  There were people I saw in flip-flops doing it, there is no way in hell I would have made it.  When I got home and took a shower I saw that I had dime size blisters on the pads of my feet and boy do they hurt.  Boo on blisters:( I'll live though, no worries!

I climbed a bridge!!!

The Story Bridge in Brisbane opened in 1940 and is 243 ft high, 2,549 ft long, and 79 ft wide.  The Story Bridge is one of 3 bridge climbs that you can do in the world.  I think we climbed ~1,100 steps throughout our journey.

Watched a short video on safety, took a breathalyzer and then suited up for the climb.  We weren't allowed to take anything with us, so I couldn't take my own pictures but our tour guide had us stop 3 different times for photos and then at the end gave them to us on a flash drive.  We wore harnesses which attached to a line on the bridge so we weren't going anywhere.  I totally felt safe at all times.  

We started at 5:40 so our first photo was taken when it will still a little light out.  Ross, Claire and I were the brave ones to climb the bridge!

 This was our next photo and you can see the city in the background.

This was our last photo and you can see part of the bridge behind us.  I told the guide that they made the lights on the bridge red, white and blue for us because they love Americans, hehe:) 

I would highly recommend the bridge climb because it's easy to do and the view is breathtaking!  

Flowers and Reading

In my Easter package Tasha sent over with me was this miniature egg flower pot/a soil pod and some forget me not seeds.  Now that I am moved in I thought I would give growing my seeds a try to see if I have a green thumb.  I put the little soil pod in a cup and added a tbsp of water and BAM it expanded and the entire cup filled up with soil (I was impressed), then I took 5 of the seeds per the directions and put them down in the soil a little bit.  It said the seeds need sun so I put on my coffee table in the living room and in the am when the sun shines though the doors it will get sun and then it will get its shade once the sun passes.  So far I haven't seen any sprouts, but I'm going to be patient and hope they grow.

They said once the flowers grow I will have to replant them.  Then hopefully I can grow more in my starter pot because they gave me a bunch of seeds.  Wish me luck!

Remember my library card I went and got a few weeks back?!  Well, I went on-line and put a few books on reserve and one finally came in so I walked across town to pick it up.  I noticed on the slip inside the book it said I owed .80, I thought to myself, how in the world do I already owe money when I haven't even checked out the book yet?  I got in line and asked the librarian the deal-eo and she said when you put a book on hold and it comes from another library you have to pay (seriously?!), I said oh...not a problem, so I paid my dues so I could get it over with (I hate owing money).  I couldn't get too ticked because get this....back home when you put a book on reserve and it comes in you have ~5 days to pick it up, here you get ~14 days (you'd think if you put a book on reserve you'd be excited and not wait 2 weeks to pick it up, but whatevs).  Here's the even better part, back home if you check out a book you get to keep it for 14 days but here you get it for 30 days, is that not totally supreme?!?!  

2 of my favorite things, Starbucks and books.  This is the latest Nicholas Sparks books and no...it's not some cheesy romance novel! If you've ever seen the movie The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, or A Walk to Remember (among others), he is the author that wrote those books.  His books are fantastic!  Had the book read within a week and returned it for the next reader.  Now I'm waiting for my next book that I have on reserve to come in.  

Coffee Addiction in Australia

Boy do the Australian's love their coffee...I get asked anywhere between 1 and 3 times throughout the day if I'd like coffee, no joke.  It's very common for one person in a area to walk around and ask others who wants coffee and they go to a cafe and bring back coffee for everyone.  I find this FANTASTIC.  I don't drink plain coffee so I always say no but sometimes I'll go with a co-worker to a cafe and I'll get my skinny latte (well they don't have sugar free syrup here so I can only get skim milk, which is their skinny).  I kinda feel like certain cliques go and get coffee together and I want to be a part of these cliques.  Today I got asked by one of the program managers that sits by me if I wanted to go with him and another guy he works with (and I thought, OMG...I'm gonna be a part of their clique), so I said YES, I'll be right over (I was in another building), well somehow our communication failed because I never found them (unless this was a mean joke they were playing on me, but I don't find them to be those type of people).  I missed coffee with Ken and Keith today, but I will make sure to tell them to wait by their desks next time, I will come to them and then we can get coffee together.  People have caught on to the fact that I LOVE Starbucks, but I have decided to cut back and my co-worker said, no Starbucks today and I said, no--I gotta cut back, I'm gonna have a tea from the galley.  No Starbucks is rough--it's like my best friend, ha!  My friend Brad sent out a meeting notice to a few of us and every Wednesday we will go and find the coolest coffee shop in Brisbane.  I got to pick first and I picked Anthology (I just Googled places nearby, since I am new and in my mind nothing tops Starbucks).  My manager and one of the program managers just got back from the States and they told me they don't understand how I can drink our (meaning the States) coffee, it's terrible.  The Australian's are snobby about their coffee being so good.  Coffee is just coffee to me (to be honest, I like ours better), ha! 

 

Me, Brad, Nigel, Brian, Raj

Mexican Food Situation in Brisbane = Not Good :(

Who doesn't love to go out for some Mexican food and eat all of the chips and salsa that you can that by the time your food comes you are pretty stuffed?  Austalian's apparently did not get this memo because you DO NOT GET FREE CHIPS AND SALSA....crazy, eh?  I would like to tell you about my first experience at supposedly the best Mexican restaurant in Brisbane, Pepe's.

After sitting at the table for a few minutes it hit me that I wasn't going to get chips and salsa.  WTF?!  I placed my order and then said, may I get an order of chips and salsa, quite frankly I didn't care how much this was going to cost, who eats Mexican food without the never ending chips and salsa, seriously?  This is what comes out...I KID YOU NOT (this was after I ate a few, so there were more).  The chips were clearly from a bag and the salsa was like they took a can of tomato paste and added a tiny bit of water, no joke.  I was so disappointed at not only the fact that I had to pay for this but that it was terrible.  Not that I needed to eat more than this, but it was not free refills:(  The other red flag at this restaurant (and I'm not trying to be prejudice), but there were no Mexican workers - I mean clearly this wasn't real Mexican food.  

I wanted to give the Australian's another chance so a few weeks later I went to another Mexican restuarant in a different part of town.

Again, these were not free and there weren't free refills.  These chips were clearly fresh but the salsa was sweet and el grosso!  The guac was good, but the chips and salsa were not up to my standards. I didn't see any Mexican workers, but I didn't see the back room like I did at Pepe's, so I can't say for sure what ethnicity their workers were.

I am willing to give the Australian's another chance, but I think after 3 tries I will be able to say whether or not they have good Mexican food here.

Stay tuned for my third and final try at finding some good Mexican food here...

Koala's and Horseback Riding

As hard as is it is to believe, I turned down going to happy hour on Friday.  The guys from work were going and as much as I wanted to go, I said NO!  Partially in part because I had just completed an extremely hard workout at the gym which included so many lunges that I lost count (which I have to thank Florian for my inability to sit down the rest of the weekend without being in extreme pain).  I picked up my reserve at the library (which I will do an entire post on in the near future) and sat down and read, which I haven’t gotten to do a lot of lately since I’ve been so dang busy.  I did decide to go to the movies to see Huntsman.  It had Chris Hemsworth in it and in case you didn’t know he’s from Australia.  I’d seen the first Huntsman so I wanted to see this one as well to see the story continue.  No need to see it in the theater though, renting will suffice. 

  

Rented a car early on Saturday morning and headed to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which was about 30 min. away.  So far the only koala’s I’ve seen have been sleeping in trees, as cute as they are, I want to see one move and boy did they move at the sanctuary.  We saw them walking around, eating, and sort of fighting with one another (if one wanted the branch the other one was sitting on).  They had other animals at the sanctuary as well such as wombats/Tasmanian Devils/platypus'/etc.

Two Tasmanian Devil's fighting - I can't say I wanted to pet either one of them, they were u-g-l-y!

                  This emu and I got pretty close, but I pet it and ran cuz I didn't want it to attack me!

 

We got to feed the Lorikeet’s which was fun (as you can see) they were really hungry. 

Is he cute or what?!?!

Got to feed the kangaroos again and caught one in action!

If you’ve never seen a koala actually move, well now you can say you have:)

They had a sheep shearing presentation which was really cool to watch.  This guy used to do this for a living so he made it look easy.

 Just beginning, lots of wool still on the sheep...

The sheep just laid there, totally relaxed as he got his hair cut...

All done!

Its Sunday already….man how the weekend fly’s by!  Woke up early and starting making the trek across town (ok, maybe like 3 blocks) with my suitcases to my new home.  Now instead of walking 10 steps to work I have to walk 3 blocks.  My new address is 26 Felix St. Apt. 114, Brisbane, Australia 4000.  

Here is the view from my balcony.  I went with the river view as many of you had suggested! 

I have moved into a furnished apartment but let me tell you what they didn’t supply me with.  Hand towels for the bathroom, pot holders, pans for the oven (like a cookie sheet), or any type of measuring spoons/cups.  I find that these things are pretty important so it looks like I’ll be going to the store in the next couple of days to purchase them – ugh!  

I get all unpacked and am ready for the adventure that awaits me….horseback riding!  Headed about 30 minutes away to Cherbon Waters for an afternoon trail ride.  I was assigned Tammy as my horse.  I immediately became the best of friends with her (well in my eyes).  I talked to her and pet her before our ride began.  The only problem I had with Tammy was that she wanted to stop and snack at every patch of tall grass that we came too.  I had to pull her away and tell her, it’s not the time to stop and snack Tammy – we have to keep up with the group.  This didn’t just happen once, it happened about half a dozen time or so, oh goodness.  Towards the end of the ride we got to trot with the horses and boy was 15 seconds enough for me.  You go from walking to bouncing up and down.  I must say, they make it look so easy in the movies.  Our ride was an hour long and the time flew by.  Another fun adventure Down Under!

                                                                   Here is Tammy!

                        Claire, me, and Ross (this was his first time on a horse in his life, crazy-eh?)

 By Sunday night I am pooped and ready for bed.  Monday will be here before you know it and you know what that means, back to work!