Hot Hot Hot!

  It's been awhile since my last post. Really didn't have much to say, I've just been gardening reading and exploring. It's beginning to get hot, extremely hot for a Canadian. Summer is arriving, and I already want it to disappear. I prefer  spring here, +28 which is perfect. +34 that's ridiculous, I'm in for an intense summer. Today it's supposed to get up to +34, it's been +30 since 10am. Yesterday It got up to +33 then there was a enormous storm, thunder and lightening like I've never seen. The news claimed that 21 000 bolts of lightening were seen. The cracks from the thunder made me jump, we get storms in Canada but nothing to that degree. It didn't last for too long, maybe an hour. I hear the hail is jumbo, which I'm looking forward to cos that is the closest to snow I'll get. I'm sure I'll be out dancing in it then I'll find myself with a concussion. The heat is different than Canada, we can get +33 days in summer (Rare but it happens) but it's nothing like here. As soon as I step outside I commence to sweat. Not just a tiny amount, I sweat buckets. I'll be hanging the clothes out and I'll have to stop to wipe the sweat from my face cos it's stinging my eyes. I have to apply sunscreen every 30 minutes when it's +33. I go for distant walks often and the minute I get home I always have a cold shower to cool my body off, then I'll sit in front of the fan with ice packs.  I keep sunscreen and bug spray with me when ever I venture out. The mossies seem to love me, I get about 10 bites a day. Lucas gets none. I don't get it, but I have bites all over and that's with using spray. If I go outside to garden I spray myself from head to toe and I still get attacked, if I forget to spray, I get about 30 bites in 20 minutes. They are in love with my Canadian blood. It's pretty shitty for me though. I haven't applied make up in about 2 weeks, really no point cos I end up sweating it off. My hair is constantly in a bun. I haven't done my hair ( hair dryer/straightener) since I've gotten here. I think I've wore pants once. I've likely had a cardigan on a handful of times. I only wear socks when I go for walks. Other than that sandals only. I drink close to 5 litres of water a day. I sweat about that much. I walk through an average of 3 spider webs a day, not small ones either. I have a pet Gecko named "Ed" who comes in my house every night. Possums are always wondering around outside at night, they make a horrible sound. The first time I heard one, Lucas was in bed and I was watching a movie and I actually screamed. I call it the "Demon" outside. Look it up on Youtube. It's pretty scary!

I'm gonna go sweat all over my couch and watch some Cricket!

  Bye for now!

Australia Never Looked so Pretty

Some of my favourite Aussies


My second favourite Aussie  (Lucas being my number one)

                                                                     Hugh Jackman


Born 1968. Yaaaa he is older, but he looks damn good. You've seen him the movies Australia, the X-men series, The Prestige, Swordfish and Van Helsing. Just to name a few.



My third favourite Aussie

                                                                      Michael Clarke


Born 1981. This bloke was recently introduced to me while watching cricket on the TV. He is an Australian Cricketer and is vice captain of the Australian team.  His nickname is "Pup". 




My forth favourite Aussie 

                                                                   Ryan Kwanten


Born in 1976. I found this adorable Aussie watching the TV series "True Blood". It being one of my favourite shows, I was watching him being interviewed back stage while filming and noticed he had an Aussie accent. I've been stuck on him ever since. 




My fifth favourite Aussie 

                                                                     Mitchell Johnson


Born 1981. He is an Australian cricketer. Plays for Team Australia, he is an amazing bowler. (For my Canadians, the bowler is the guy who throws the ball in cricket. Similar to the pitcher in baseball). He may not be amazingly gorgeous, but I enjoy watching him play cricket. 
                                                               

Critters

 Monday Lucas started work, this leaves me alone to entertain myself throughout the day. I've started to venture out. I plan to explore this city and see what it has to offer me. Other than hot sticky rays of sunshine which penetrate my poor fragile canadian skin. Today I walked to the closest post office, I've found my new addiction...postcards! After I headed downtown by train, took a lovely walk along the water and went into a couple of souvenir shops. Had planned to do some Xmas shopping but with the heat, I couldn't be bothered. So instead I found some nice grass and had a read under a tree by the river.  Ended up writing as well. I came up with some more differences/ new experiences for me here so far.

Topic, Critters. I like bugs as much as I like a kick in the head. Canada is cold, not many bugs. Here they are everywhere. Within my first hours in Brisbane I heard a Cicada. I thought it was an angry cricket that couldn't shut up. Similar to crickets but constant. They are large but have acoustic talents. My goal is to actually find one, Lucas says "Good Luck" and laughs. Shite. Cicadas are not just in Australia but I hear there are many different sorts here.

Cicada

Gecko

Another buddy that I see and hear daily, Geckos. Personally I think they are bloody cool. At this moment, there is one hanging above my head. My window is open and the light is attracting bugs, so buddy is just waiting for his tea. They make a certain call, at first I thought it was a bird but I can tell the difference now.


 I haven't seen one yet but have heard about them, Cane Toads. People do not like them and even whack them with golf clubs. You need a golf club cos they are gigantic. It's like one toad ate a dozen other toads. Toad on juice. I'm guessing people don't adore them because they eat all the cane and they have poisonous glands. It's like the episode of the Simpsons when Homer licks a gigantic toad and begins to hallucinate. I don't plan to lick one.

Cane Toad

 Brisbane has June Bugs, well that is the canadian term. Here they are known as the Christmas Beetle, they are the exact same. Pretty neat seeing them, even though they are nasty fellas.

 I've come to realize that the ants are angry bastards who love to bite me. I've been bitten twice already and it bloody hurts. I guess it's my canadian blood.

 That's all the critters for now, will likely have more whenever I run into any. Going to go watch the Gecko capture some mosquitos :)

  Soonly,

We Have A Home

Yay! We found ourselves a home. Extremely excited to start getting settled. I adore this country already but I'll love it even more after I feel at home. It's not as good as Canada of course haha. I say that cos I'm Canadian. So our home is lovely. It has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, huge living room, a great sized kitchen, nice backyard, and an under area underneath the house because it's on stilts. Most the floor is hardwood. No carpet! I hate carpet. So bathrooms are different here, there will be one room with the toilet and sometimes it has a tiny sink. Then the shower and larger sink are in a separate room. Sometimes the two rooms are next to each other, but in my house the large bathroom with the shower is between the bedrooms then you have to walk through the living room and kitchen to get to the room with the toilet. It's weird for me but completely normal here. I'm thinking what if I wake up in the middle of the night and need a pee, I need to walk through the entire house? Is this normal? I'll just get a bucket for the end of the bed haha. I'm not 80. On the positive side the toilet room is near the back steps, so if we are drinking outside it's not a far walk. Or I could always just hug a tree, but I'd be scared that a poisonous creature would bite my bum and or lady part then death by pee. Nah, I'm told that you rarely see anything poisonous. But with my luck, you never know. I was hanging out clothes the other day and something stung/bit my toe. Something got stuck in my flats and decided to take it out on my poor toe. I then left my shoes outside and ran to Lucas asking him if I was going to die. He laughed and said no. Obviously I didn't die but I don't know what it was. Most likely it was an ant, if so ants are the devil cos it bloody hurt! Was all swollen and red. Hopefully my anxiety won't get the best of me. Oh ya back to my house, so there is this "activity" room under the house. Stilts are high enough that you can walk under and it's concrete floor and loads of space. We plan to buy some cheap furniture online ( they don't have kijiji but there is gumtree which is exactly the same) and set up a hang out area for beerbqs. I'm going to spray the shit out of it with bug killer. No need for spiders in my activity room. They are not invited. Maybe I'll invest in an air hockey table... The back yard is decent, just needs some Martha Stewart loving. I'm going to look into which plants to garden and make myself a tiny veggie area. I can garden all year around, that's amazing eh! Not just 4 months of the year but the entire year. As of now we have kitchen supplies, plates, bowls, cutlery, mugs, cups, frying pan, pots and all that jazz but no fridge. Here a fridge is rarely supplied. How awkward eh? It's a hot country so you would think people wouldn't want to have to move a fridge from house to house or to be able to quickly store their food? But nope. We also have our bedding, it's awesomely awesome. Very colorful. Pillows are comfy as. Waiting for the bed to arrive Friday. Basically we have nothing in our house to be able to live. It's okay though because our home is across the road from the couple we are staying with. We are just going to remain here until we get some things. They are good people, we get along well. Happy about the area. At the end of the road (which is about a 5 minute walk) there is a tasty bakery, fish n' chips take away, Thai and Mexican take away, a chemist (which is a pharmacy in Canadian lingo, it also has make up and all that stuff), a tiny grocery store, a library (going to get a card soon), an Op Shop (they are similar to Value Village, second hand stuff), a beer store, 7 Eleven and a laundromat. The house is a 5 minute walk to the train, which is always beneficial. A funny story. Lucas and I went to the Op Shop the other day and the lady working the cash called me on my accent right away "oh I love your Canadian accent" then made small talk and said "I hear canadia is gorgeous" yes that is correct, some people call Canada canadia. I've heard it a couple of times and just laugh to myself (not out loud cos that would be creepy) but I guess because the people of Canada are known as canadians they say canadia for the country. Likely cos Australia, Australians...it's comical. People reading this likely don't find it funny but I do. Anyways, I get Internet in 5 days. Counting down the days because it's almost been 2 weeks since I've heard a Canadian accent. I miss hearing it. Also I'll be able to finally skype my family and friends. I miss my niece so much. Can't wait to see her and my sister Veronica. Plus all my other loved ones. But it's extremely difficult being away from Torah. I talk about her often, and I'm almost crying typing about her. But in 5 days I'll be able to show her my house and I'm sure she will just pretend to be a cat or show me whatever toy she loves for that week. Either way, it will be awesome and much needed. Anyways, it's starting to become a novel. Until next time, xo.

Food

Yesterday Lucas and I went grocery shopping at Coles. Groceries were reasonable, cheaper than what I expected. Considering everything else here is expensive. But peanut butter was cheap as! 2 bucks a container. But they don't do large containers of pb, I'll have to stock up on small ones. Aussies don't eat it that often. Crazy if you ask me! There was a lot of custard, who eats custard voluntarily? These people, that's who. I'm sure I'll get into it. Lots of crumpets...Mmmm crumpets. Why doesn't Canada eat crumpets? We should invest in some cos they are tasty. There are too many brands of " biscuits" for me to try. We call them cookies, I don't care what they are called they taste heavenly. Tim tams have always been my favorite but Lucas got me to try Kingston biscuits yesterday and it was love at first bite. 2 coconut biscuits with chocolate goodness in the middle. I'm gonna try a different kind every week, I'll be done trying them all in a year. They eat Milo often, it's an energy chocolate powder that resembles hot chocolate mix. It taste different but there is Milo chocolate bars, and Milo ice cream. So instead of peanut butter they use Milo. That's my argument. There was an entire area dedicated to meat pies. There was tomato sauce in little yogurt to go containers. You know the yogurt with the little foil lid you slide off. Was different. There was concentrated milk in a tube, like a tooth paste tube. Dog food in huge rolls, the meaty kind. There is a kind of chips called "atomic tomato". They have a thing against saying ketchup. There are baked crackers called "shapes" which resemble our veggie crackers but shapes have different flavors. Lucas loves the BBQ kind. Bacon is massive slices and is cheap. Cheese, milk, mixed nuts, and honey are also all cheap. Bread is different, bigger loafs with thin slices. I've fallen in love with Turkish bread. It's delightful, a party in my mouth. On a bad note, subway is expensive here and they dont have the cold cut trio sandwich or parmesan oregano bread. I almost cried. I'll get over it but it was a sad moment. There are enough cafes to make up for it. Cafes here are amazing, I love timmys but all the goodies at the cafes are home made daily and look amazing. Plus they all have pastry with meat. Something I love about here is that they don't have pennies or any sort of one cent coins. Everything is rounded off and when you see a price labeled on something the tax is already calculated in that price. Something that has a 12.50 tag on it is exactly that price. It's easy and makes more sense! That's all I can think of for now, talk soonly xo

Day 3

It's Halloween down under, however it's just like any other day. Aussies don't go mad for Halloween like the canadians. That's alright cos it's too bloody hot to want to dress up in anything other than a summer dress with a hair tie. Today would be day 3 for me down under. So far so good, it's a lovely lively place. Havent Seen much of Brisbane yet, but my main amusement so far is the wild life. Possums, lizards, spiders and heaps of loud birds. I'm thinking about getting a bird book cos there are too many for me to remember. Lucas had told me the names of them numerous times but even the names are completely foreign to me. That is how I woke up this morning, a lovely melody coming from a group of birdies singing outside the window. We went on a morning walk and saw a group of parrots squawking around their nest. First time seeing one in the wild. The vegetation is completely different as well. Trees and bushes everywhere, I'm going to have to learn the names cos the are so interesting. Colourful flowers everywhere, wild roses and such. It's really gorgeous. The people are kind and polite. Reminds me a lot of the maritimes. Friendlier than Calgary, not that my friends there aren't nice but people speak to you out in public. They don't hide their faces. The couple we are staying with are extremely welcoming and accommodating. They are really adorable and hilarious. I don't feel out of place at the house, it's a little different out walking around but that's just cos the architecture is different than what I'm used to. Most houses are made of brick. Lucas told me that some are double brick. Other houses are on stilts invade of a flood. No basements here at all, Bec said she has never Been in a basement before. That's odd to me but completely normal here. The roofs are corrugated iron or terracotta tile, no shingles for these Aussies. It's overwhelming at times but only cos my mind is trying to absorb it all at once. Through baby steps I plan to educate myself about this amazing country. It will take time but it's fascinating. Lucas is taking good care of me. Daily I speak to friends and family. It's hard cos we only have our mobiles for Internet. Tomorrow the search for our home begins, I'm excited to get our own place. I'll be able to make my own space and that will maker me feel more comfortable. Also I want an address so I can start sending stuff home. Give it a couple weeks and all will be sorted.

Until next time, xo

Different Much?

  Hello Brisbane :) So we made it. It only took a billion hours but we made it! My head is going out of control noticing all the differences, big ones I was aware of but it's the small ones that are making me say "HUH" or "Thats really cool". Well one big difference is that fags (aka Cigarettes) are $17. That is ridiculous! Also the boxes they come in have packs of 50...ya 50...the packs are always similar to the American packs. Also you know the warnings on the packs where they try to scare you not to smoke? Well the warnings here are bloody terrifying! Like oozing lips and melting feet, its nasty and I felt dirty buying a bunch at the Duty Free. 




 Ohhh and the whole car wheel on the opposite side of the car, and how they drive on the opposite side of the road. I was confused right away. I'll get used to it I'm sure but it's awkward. Their car brands are different and there are lots of utes, which is a car/truck combined in one. They are really cool looking. There are more purple cars here. It's pretty cool. 

The toilets are freakish, you get splash back...if you know what I mean...its like a deep waterless hole then you flush and SURPRISE water comes out of nowhere. Tidal wave of faeces!  

The traffic lights don't hang above the road they are on a post on the side...and when you hit the button to walk across it makes a beeping sound until you can cross then the beeping turns into a dance party like sound. and everyone dances across the road together and holds hands. Just Joking! But it does make a funny dance sound. The little "you can walk guy" is green here, not white. 

Well it's only been a couple hours and that's all I got for now. There will be more. Until next time. :)