Brisbane Urban Village Tour: I - South Bank

It's been a while since my last update but life in Brisbane is treating me well. In the times I'm not working, sleeping, or traveling up and down to Burrum Heads, I'm getting well adjusted to city life.

My job is nice and the colleagues are great. I've been working 40 hours a week and so am making some money. With that money I am now able to do some nice outings on a day off, and that is what I decided to do.

The city of Brisbane consists of a lot of smaller villages and suburbs. The inner suburbs are what they call Urban Villages, and I've decided to visit them all on days off. Today I went to South Bank, what is supposed to be the seductress of Brisbane and now I have to say I agree with that.

South Bank is in the middle of the city, has a great view on the Central Business District and the skyline on the Brisbane River, but it's really green and peacefull. I took the train from Cannon Hill, where I live, (and where they are going to build a different kind of Urban Village) and got off at South Bank station. Straight away you walk into beautiful parklands, mixed with playgrounds, swimming pools, beaches, bbq-places, picnic areas and cafe's and restaurants spread out over the place. In the middle of it all are the lifestyle markets, on for 3 days a week.
Walking on you go past more eating and drinking-places, past the wheel of Brisbane, and dive straight in the art-world. Right after each other and connected by bridges and tunnels are the Queensland Performing Arts Center, The Queensland Museum, Science Centers, Art Centers, and more galleries. I decided to go to the big surrealist exhibition. With almost the entire surrealism collection of the Centre Pompidou, it was a great exhibition and well worth going to see again.

View from the bridge between museum and art gallery

After a couple of hours of wandering and taking photos, I decided to have a nice dinner at one of the dozens of restaurants. After burning my mouth on one of the best Peri-Peri chicken dishes I ever had (I went Portuguese), I decided to take the long way home.
Walking over the Goodwill Bridge from South Bank to the botanical gardens in the CBD is an absolutely amazing thing to do, it gives you a great view over the riverbanks and the bridge is a pedestrian-only bridge.
Now I'm home and tired, but I had a great day. On my next day off I'm going to visit one of the other Urban Villages around, but first things first.
Next weekend I'll be up in Burrum Heads again and the weekend after that Kat will be here, for we have been invited to the birthday party of a colleague of mine and we're going to Dracula's, Australias most famous dinner-theatre and Cabaret Restaurant. Well be entertained with B-Grade horror theater, good food and dresscode "Gothic or Casual Smart," so it will probably be amazing.

But more about that another time

Anniversary Pictures

Kat and I had a great time in the Sunshine Coast. First day we indeed went to underwater world, second day to Australia Zoo and the third day we just walked around Mooloolaba.
All trips were amazing, but I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves on this one. You can find about 50 of them here.
This is a preview on some:

Update on my life

In short: Since a week I've been living and working in Brisbane.

Region where I work, The Gabba in the centre

Life in Burrum Heads was not meant for me. With an average age of 57 and no work around, I needed to get away. 

Phil and Angela, Kat's sister and brother-in-law were so nice as to offer me a room in their home, so I could start searching for a job. Phil got me an interview with Toll People, the employment agency of the Toll Group, last week and within a day I had a job in the centre-south of the city, near The Gabba stadium.

So now I'm working shifts from 3 in the afternoon to 11 in the evening, sorting all the invoices of all the Bunnings stores in Queensland that come in, digitizing them, putting them in mailbags and sending it off to the head office of Bunnings in Melbourne. And in the spare minutes I'm also digitizing some other projects.

It's no rocket-science, but the Toll-group I'm working for is a huge (and I really mean huge) company with a lot of opportunities, so I'm glad with that. The people I work with are nice people and we're on the same floor where all the mail of the 4 leading Australian banks come in, so it's always busy and open 24 hours a day.

Kat is still living in Burrum Heads, so we'll have a sort of weekend-relationship for the coming months, untill she moves to Brisbane as well. At this moment I'm in Burrum Heads and on monday Kat and I will head off to the Sunshine Coast to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. We're staying in a nice hotel and will make daytrips to Underwater World and Australia Zoo.

Because I have been able to buy my own laptop I will also be able to update my blog more often. Stay in touch!

10 Days on Fraser Island, day 6-10

Forest Walk

After the first 5 days the real exploration of the Island began. The area around Orchid beach was filled with mixed forest and lots of animals.
There were no set-out walking tracks around, so I just had to find my way around and back to the house, which I fortunately did.
From our house it was a nice hour beachwalk to Waddy Point, where you had a great view over a large part of the island, from Sandy Cape Lighthouse to Indian Head.
Situated between Waddy Point and Indian Head are the champagne pools.

Champagne Pools

On our big daytrip across the island, we first stopped at the pools. You access the champagne pools beach via wooden paths and the name becomes perfectly clear when you get to the bottom.  
The water crashes onto and over the natural formed volcanic rocks,  lands in the little pools and it bubbles up like champagne. The water is nice and warm and there are tropical fish swimming in the little pools. The aboriginal people on this island used these pools as natural fishtraps.
After we went to these pools we took a long drive over the 75 mile beach. (which, the more I think about it, has to be the only beach in the world designated as both a highway and an airstrip)
After a long drive we arrived at central station.

Area around Central Station

Central Station was originally established as a forestry camp when there was still logging on Fraser Island, untill halfway through the 20th century. Right now it stand in the middle of rainforest. And the only place on this planet where rainforest grows on sand. This is where a lot of walking tracks on the island start and if I'm ever going back to Fraser Island, this is where I'll start, with a backpack, and walk across the island on the Great Walk.
There were massive trees, parts so thick with leaves that the sun couldn't get through and water so clear en cold you just had to drink it.

Lake McKenzie

Snake on the road

From Central Station we drove to Lake McKenzie, the most popular of the Fraser Island lakes. It has pure white beaches and nice clear water, so is a popular swimming place for tourists on Fraser. It is a 'perched' lake, which means it contains only rainwater, no groundwater, is not fed by streams and does not flow into the ocean. The sand here is white silica, which acts as a filter, making the water so pure it can support very little life. Although the green/blue water looked interesting and Kat really enjoyed it, I was wanting to go back to rainforest.
We didn't really stay long and were going on a journey across the island on roads that really did not seem to be meant for driving, seeing some great scenery and snakes on the way, when we arrived at Lake Allom.

Lake Allom

Lake Allom was absolutely amazing and really made the difficult trip there worth it. Lake Allom is known as Turtle Lake and is another perched lake, surrounded by Mellaluca trees, which gives it an unusual appearance. The water of Lake Allom was almost black and that was a result from the tannin of these trees.

Turtle looking at us.

Kat learned from an ex-ranger that you could lure the Kreffs River Turtles living in the lake to the shore side by clapping in your hands which we of course tried. And behold, 2 minutes later we were surrounded by these beautiful creatures, sticking their heads up to look at us.
The serenity, tranquillity and beauty of Lake Allom made a big impression on me and I can advise anyone going to Fraser Island to check it out.
After Lake Allom it was time to head home after a nice day of exploration.
The next couple of days I filled with a few walks around our house, to Waddy Point and back, some more fishing and birdwatching and all in all it was an amazing holiday on a great island.
Here are a few more pictures we took on Fraser Island to give you an even better inpression:

Mixed Forest

Pingo (or Lingo) the Dingo

The Maheno shipwreck

Elks in the Rainforest Trees

Kat and Tree

Lake McKenzie

Huge Snake

Lake Allom

More Lake Allom

Waddy Point

View from Waddy Point (after big climb)

Indian Head

Rainforest Creek

More Big Trees

Sunrise

Our Porch

Airstrip on the Highway on the Beach

10 Days on Fraser Island, day 1-5

We have just returned from a great 10 day trip to the world-heritage listed Fraser Island, the largest sand-island in the world. The island is quite unique with lots of sand, forest, rainforest and a very diverse flora and fauna. Most notable inhabitants of the island are the Dingo's, Australia's famous wild dogs. The dingo's on Fraser Island are supposed to be the purest in Australia, because the island is big enough to prevent inbreeding and isolated enough to prevent cross-breeding. So that was at least one important thing to see, I thought beforehand. But the island was so much more.

We travelled to the island on the barge and entered ashore. There are no paved roads on the island, so you're only allowed on with a 4 wheel drive car, or a good cross-country bike. The ways to get around the island are driving the inland roads (which can be quite bumpy, bad and full of holes) and on the beach. Although it was dangerous at times, it was fun. Normal road rules apply on the beaches, but you should not be surprised if you were driving next to a plain, for the Fraser island landing strips were also on those same beaches.
After a journey of a couple of hours, and already spotting our first dingo, we arrived at our vacation house at Orchid Beach, where they have a couple of rental houses.

The first couple of days the four of us have mostly been reading, resting and catching our own meals. Everyday just before high-tide we went down to the beach with the rods to catch our dinner. We caught dart, flathead and a lot of whiting, unfortunately not enough to feed 3 of us every day.
The rest of the time I filled with reading and walking. And I came to the frightening conclusion that I have something of a birdwatcher in me.
In my defence: there are a lot of beautiful and uncommon birds in the region. The Great Sandy Strait, the region between Burrum Heads and Fraser Island, is a declared wetland of international importance with birds from as far away as Japan and Siberia arriving in summer to rest and feed. And so I learn something new every day about this region.

In the evenings Kat and I were normally sitting outside on the porch of our house to read, feed the birds, and wait for the dingo's to pass by in our yard. In these 10 days we've seen 3 different one come by, which we originally named Pingo, Ringo and Lingo.

All in all, the first 5 days were really relaxing, the weather was great and the tides were good.
I'll write more about the last 5 days when I can, and give you an update on my latest temporary hobby: birds!

No news is no news

This is an update on my life in Australia I have been struggling with, for there is so little to write.
I'm still in Burrum Heads and still looking for a job. 


In the last months I've applied for every job available around here: computer salesman at Harvey Norman, shop manager at the aldi, data-entry-clerk, coffee-machine-operator, cemetery-park-cleaner, bartender, waiter, manager at a toy store, but nothing. Some have the decency to write me an e-mail that I will not be invited for an interview, but from most you just hear nothing.


Then again, maybe I have to be realistic about finding a job here, because the unemployment is actually worse then it looks. The unemployment level around here is around 9%, but “A lot of those jobs have gone down to one hour a week, and cannot really be classified as full-time."


And without job and money there is only so much I can do, so few places I can go to and tell about. I don't think anyone wants to hear about the latest music I listened to, the latest books I read, or the computer games I've played, but that's what it comes down to.


Luckily, in 2,5 weeks, there will be a holiday to Fraser Island that I'm really looking forward to. I'll tell about that shortly and will give some more info on the nature here, for that's the only thing that I can really talk about.


I just reread what I just wrote and wanted to say one thing: Don't worry about me, I'll be ok. I just had to get this off my chest and out in the open.

Daylight Saving Time

Since a couple of weeks all the programs on radio, my FC Twente games on TV, the moment my friends in other countries wake up and more starts at different times. Because when Europe, the U.S. (except Arizona) and 3/4 of Australia went to Daylight Savings Time, this Queensland state did not. 


After trialling daylight saving in Queensland for a total of three years, a referendum was held on 22 February 1992, with the question: “Are you in favour of daylight saving?" and was defeated with a 54.5% 'no' vote.This referendum showed that public opinion on daylight saving in Queensland is geographically divided, with the ‘no’ vote strongest in the north and west regional districts, while the ‘yes’ vote was strongest in the state’s metropolitan south-east. Overall this means that Australia, as a nation, now has 5 different time zones.
Atop of this, there is a Daylight Saving for South East Queensland Referendum Bill, thus creating a sixth timezone, but it seems a majority of the people in southeast Queensland agree with this idea. 


I find it all a bit confusing and brings me to my other point: Although it may seem otherwise, there is almost no such thing as Australia. People are from New South Wales, Queensland or Victoria and that is still divided. Australia is a Federation of States, but prior to the Federation in 1901, each of the Australian colonies was more like its own country with customs houses, railway gauges and even their own military. It was neither natural nor inevitable that Australia would be federated, in fact it wasn't even a very popular idea. (More on this here)

Preferential Voting

Much like the states in the USA, they have their own parliaments and make a lot of their own laws. Even the voting system differs from state to state, which, as ex-political science student I found very interesting. Each state has a bicameral Parliament except Queensland, which abolished its upper house in 1922. The lower house is called the Legislative Assembly, except in South Australia and Tasmania, where it is called the House of Assembly. Tasmania is the only state to use proportional representation (like in the Netherlands) for elections to its lower house; all others elect members from single member constituencies, using preferential voting. (Really Interesting!) The upper house is called the Legislative Council, and is generally elected from multi-member constituencies using proportional representation. The three self-governing territories, the ACT, the Northern Territory and Norfolk Island, have unicameral Legislative Assemblies.


This all brings in some kind of rivalry between the states. West Australians feel they are the 'forgotten state', Sydney and Melbourne have a fierce rivalry, but I have mostly seen the Queensland part of it. 
Queensland is rich in natural resources, but far away from the political centers in the south. So people from the south states who move north to Queensland are occasionally named "Mexicans" because they come from "south of the border." People from the southern states sometimes refer to Queensland as "The Deep North", in allusion to the Deep South of the United States and the socio-political stereotype associated with it.

And then there is the almost hatred for everything that is New South Wales here. Most of it is mostly joking for now, but The rivalry between the states of New South Wales and Queensland goes back over 100 years, stemming from the attitude that New South Wales was the "Mother Colony" while Queensland was viewed as a poorer cousin.
This rivalry is now mostly played out in sports though, as you can see in the Rugby League State of Origin, on which I wrote before. And the name State of Origin says it all now, doesn't it ;-)


So that's it for now on another day off. Think positive thoughts for me that I'll have a job soon.