Spiders

We went shopping (again!) the other day, parked in the shaded parking outside the shopping centre. Looking up, we saw about 10 of these guys in the area above and next to the bay we were parked in.



The back end of this one was about the size of my thumb, and the legs would have easily spanned a side-plate. Not the kind of thing you want to have 3 feet above your head when you get in and out of your car. Might be completely harmless, but we didn't stick around to find out :)

And then the other morning, heading towards the bus stop, we came across these spider webs in the trees and bushes next to the footpath. You can't really tell the size from the photos, but they're about as big as your head (hint - click on the photos for the bigger pix, the small ones that blogger uses don't show them up too well). Not sure where the spiders are tho. Personally I'd rather see them in the web than see an empty web...



We're not sure if they're up there all the time, we'd not seen them before, but that particular morning there was a lot of mist about, which had actually condensed on them, making them more visible.



We've been told that spiders aren't as active in winter, which is apparently why we haven't seen to many of them yet. We've seen the odd dinky one running across the floor or hiding in a corner of the ceiling, and I'm just hoping they don't get any bigger than that where we are!

Be it ever so humble...

Ok, so I finally took a few pictures of where we live. It's not big, and it's not cheap (tho not that expensive either). It's a small double-storey "unit" that's not quite a flat and not quite a townhouse. In no particular order, we have:

The back garden, looking out towards the cul-de-sac where we live.



You can't really see them here, but there are termite traps around the perimeter of the house. Termites are a big problem here, because the houses are made out of plasterboard and wood, an irresistible treat for the little buggers, they just can't stay away.

We actually have a bigger problem with another type of ant which we haven't been able to identify. They range between 1cm and 2cm long, and possess a fearsome set of jaws. They come wandering across the floor (we still haven't figured out where they come in), with no apparent aim in life other than to scare you to death.

Note the lack of burglar bars. The only "barrier" outside the sliding door is a screen door to keep the bugs out. There are no security gates here (most houses don't have them fitted). That's the geyser in front of the wheelie bins. Holds enough hot water for about one and a half showers. Yours truly usually gets the half-portion.



View from our second-floor balcony, down the road at some of the other units.



The garages all have automatic doors, and are long enough for two medium-sized cars to fit, end to end.

The balcony, from ground level. It's about big enough for two small chairs and two friendly people. We need to get some small chairs tho, to be able to sit out there comfortably.




The front of the house, from ground level. That garage on the right is ours.



Now for some shots of the inside (we just cleaned, so I seized the opportunity for a photo op! :)).

The kitchen area we've turned into a breakfast nook. The table and chairs and the sideboard with the microwave are from Ikea, and had to be assembled from flat-packs. I couldn't believe that the table and chairs fitted into the box that they did! There's actually 4 chairs, but one is doing double duty as a coffee table in the lounge area.



The only "furniture" that came with the place was the oven and hob, and the built-in cupboards.

We've had to buy everything else, at a cost in ZAR that I don't even want to contemplate. We splurged and bought quite nice stuff, since we wanted to get new furniture right off the bat.

Luckily the price of everything you buy here is usually open for negotiation, and you can play different stores off against each other to get a better deal. M is actually really good at this, keeping track of what cost how much and where, she's saved us several hundred dollars in terms of white goods (washing machine, tumble dryer fridge, etc.)



Amazing all the things you suddenly realise you need, like iron, toaster, kettle, dustbin, drying rack, tea towels...

The next pic is a slightly squished panorama of the lounge area, sorry about the fun-house/fish-eye effect... We haven't had to use the aircon yet, tho we've been told we'll need it, come summer. It's difficult to find CRT TVs here, everything is flat-panel LCD or plasma, and all of them have about 50 different kinds of AV inputs (including PC VGA) so you can attach just about anything to them. We hooked up the eee pc to the 37" just to see what it looks like, and it's great...if you need to read your email or browse the web from 50 feet away! :)



We still need to get a couple of odds and ends, like a proper coffee table, and I need to move the ADSL modem and wifi (behind the tv, on the cardboard box) upstairs and out of the way. The TV stand is another Ikea special, had to put that one together too.

Finally, a view in the other direction, from our upstairs balcony. Straight ahead is a small park, which is regularly crawling with screaming ankle-biters. There's a guy who comes by every couple of weeks to check that all the swings swing and the seesaw seesaws and that the roundabout...er.. turns. He keeps the grass short and gets rid of broken glass and other things. Makes a change to see a neighbourhood park actually being maintained and being used by the people it was intended for, instead of acting as a rusting, overgrown haven for bergies, druggies and muggers.



On the right of the park is an area that's been marked as a reserve, so nothing more will be developed there, no buildings or parks or anything. It's very dense bush, home to a dawn chorus that consists of galahs, magpies, kookaburras and black crows. Said chorus insists on waking us up at about 04h30, and it's a racket you just cannot ignore! Big white cockatoos also fly around wild here, which takes a bit of getting used to. Every time I see one, I think someone's pet has escaped :)

We've also seen a couple of big flying foxes, but not up close and personal. They're quite eerie to watch: really big, and completely silent in flight, even when it flaps past, a few meters over your head.

More piccies of the upstairs when we've cleaned up there a bit and got rid of the last of the packing boxes... will put up some pics of the spiders too.

South Bank - 29 June 2008

So we've been here for over 6 weeks and we still haven't visited Brisbane's South Bank - a promenade-slash-park-slash-picnic-slash-market area - running along a section of the river opposite the Brisbane CBD. It's a hive of activity - especially on weekends - with joggers, cyclists, walkers, posers, and people doing the tourist thing (like us).

We took the bus in, because parking is ridiculously expensive all over the city (up to $24 a day in some parts), and because we have monthly public-transport tickets. These allow you to take any bus, train or ferry within the 5 zones we have bought them for, as many times as you like, to and from wherever you like, within those 5 zones (we live out in zone 5, CBD is zone 1). The fact that there's two major bus stops, one at the beginning of South Bank, and the other at the Cultural Centre at the other end, doesn't hurt either.

True to form, like every other park and promenade on this city, it's clean, well maintained, and a pleasure to visit. There's a paved walkway that meanders through South Bank, framed by a bougainvillea-draped fence of sorts



Walking a bit further down towards the river...


...and ignoring the tourist-looking folks who're grinning for no good reason (hi mom!), you'll see the Brisbane CBD in the background.

We are standing at one of the piers where the trans-river ferries (aka "CityCats") drop off and collect passengers. We haven't been on one of these yet, they get pretty full, and time during the week doesn't really allow for it. We have a citycat tour (where you hop from pier to pier) of the river and city planned tho.

Just a side note: Listening to some Brisbanites talk about it, Brisbane public transport is apparently notorious for bad service, rude bus drivers, always being late, you name it, they'll bitch about it. It amuses me no end, because all of these people here complaining about it have no cooking clue about what it would be like to have no public transport at all. I've tried to explain to some of the guys at work that it's all relative, that I am really impressed with how well it works here, considering we had none to speak of back in ZA. Well, none we could really use anyway, without taking your life literally in your hands. The only people who seem to understand are the other saffers and immigrants. I dunno. Maybe I'll be complaining about it myself in a few years, when I've forgotten how bad it was where I came from. I guess we'll see...

Notice how none of those bikes has a bike lock on it? Not necessary (tho it's probably not a good idea to leave them there overnight).

Another shot of the river, there's always someone in a canoe or on a jetski zipping up and down:



We walked a bit further down, towards the cultural centre, and came across the artificial lagoon, complete with artificial beach, tanning beach bunnies, and the usual attendant life-guards.



Here's a more panoramic shot: it's actually bigger than it looks when you first come across it. There's a kiddie's paddling area, on the left, a much deeper adults section, and then another kiddie paddling area on the right. The water is absolutely freezing, but there's always someone willing to risk hypothermia, there were a few brave souls in the water, but most were just tanning on the beach.



The other end of the lagoon (right hand side of panoramic shot above), another kiddie paddling area.



Stunning day, no wind, perfect for the insurance folks to get a skywriter up there (we had a bet going as to whether he'd be able to line up the slash on the bottom of the 'Q' properly). The plane was actually so high up we couldn't see or hear it.



Back on the bougainvillea path, heading towards the cultural centre (not that building in the background, not sure what that is)



Then a sharp left into the South Bank Market. A complete tourist trap, everything from leather hats to didgeridoos. And at least three psychics and palm readers. Lost M for a bit in a sweet shop that sold all sorts of the sweets we used to have when growing up... in fact this photo was taken from outside said sweet shop :)



Left the market and walked on a bit further, past a silver-painted mime on a little silver stool. Told M to put some coins in his little box, to make him move...



...he gave her the thumbs up and a bit of a wave. I guess it's all you get for 50c :).

A bit further on, we got to a Nepalese peace pagoda, that had been hand carved for the '88 expo, held on that site, before it was cleared to become the South Bank area people know today. We're not sure if they carved it on the site, or shipped it over - Ikea style - in a flatpack and assembled it here. Stunning artistry tho, and this photo really doesn't do it justice.



From there we took a short walk through a mini tropical rain-forest, back down to the promenade running next to the river, and ambled back to the lagoon to stick our feet in the water and cool off a bit (didn't take long, that water was cold!)




All the walking had made us hungry, so we hit one of the little takeaway places that are all over the place, grabbed some calamari and chips, and ate it while fending off the ibises (they're like the V&A Waterfront seagulls, but about the size of a hadeda. Those things skrik vir niks and won't take no for an answer).

Mt. Nebo in the Rain. Or not.

On the 10th June 2008 (a public holiday here) we decided to take a trip out to Mt. Nebo, on the north-eastern side of Brisbane, and to go to some of the lookout spots from the Brisbane Forest National Park and further north. The weather didn't look too hot by the time we got out that way tho, clouds had rolled in the previous evening and there was a fair amount of mist about.

We got as far as the Brisbane Forest National Park, and decided to take a short walk along one of their nature trails. M was freaking out about snakes (there was a little signboard up about watching where one walked), and was a bit reluctant to walk anywhere that wasn't paved, but I managed to convince her to carry on. We probably got about 500 metres into one of their 5km walks, through fairly dense bush





before it started to drizzle, and then to rain.

A couple of piccies of part of the Enoggera Reservoir (it looks like something out of Lake Placid, when you get close)...



...and we decided to turn back. Just as well we did, because just as we got back to the car, it started to throw it down. Bright sparks that we were, neither of us had thought to bring an umbrella. We drove a little further north towards Mt. Coot-tha, and stopped at Bellbird Grove, hoping things would clear up, but by then the rain and mist was so heavy and thick that we finally gave up and turned back.

We drove home via Ipswich, just to see what it looked like (just like any other Aussie town), and then from there carried on home and vegged out the rest of the afternoon.

I must say, even with the rain, it made a nice change from all the fetching, carrying, lifting and loading we'd been doing for the past 6 weeks. It was one of the few days - since we got here - that we didn't have to be somewhere or doing something related to moving or packing or unpacking. Just as well, since I started work the next day..

The Gold Coast: From Palm Beach to Surfer's Paradise

A couple of weeks ago M convinced me that we needed to take a spin down to the Gold Coast, which is about 70km south of us. We'd been in Australia for just over a month, and had yet to see even one of the beaches that our new home is famous for. Pretty pathetic. We needed to change that pronto!

The GC is pretty long, stretching over 60km, from just south of where we live, down to the border of NSW and Queensland. It's just miles and miles (and more miles miles) of unspoilt beaches, holiday houses, and is a haven for everyone from posing teenagers to surfing students to the idle rich. Before we got here, the Gold Coast was just some nebulous "place" on the Australian western seaboard. I kind of saw it as a place like Clifton, or Camps Bay in Cape Town. So when I told our trusty tomtom to navigate to "Gold Coast" I was a little taken aback by the number of destinations "at" the GC... turns out I should have been specifying a destination on the GC.

We live and learn...

So I selected the first option it gave me, about 70km away, a place called Palm Beach. And off we went. We drove for about an hour (the discipline of the drivers here never ceases to amaze me, everyone sticks to the speed limit, keeps following distances, uses their indicators... it's like being in a foreign country! Oh, wait...). A max speed of 110km/h on the highway takes a bit of getting used to, I think the next car will have cruise control as we both have heavy feet. In the beginning we were both pretty impatient drivers, but have got used to doing it the Aussie way. They do have substantially less carnage on the roads here, way way less than in ZA. Something tells me there's a correlation there somewhere.

We took the offramp to Palm Beach, and drove a little through what passes for the centre of town. Not much of a centre, it consists mainly of quiet, peaceful suburbs, a few highrise apartment blocks, and one of the nicest, cleanest beaches I've ever laid eyes on. Think Llandudno , pre '94, but longer than Muizenberg. Way, way longer!




That's about half the panorama, the panorama generation software refused to co-operate on the last few snaps of the beach, but picture the same thing mirrored around those people sitting there on the right.

(if you click on the image to see the larger version, you'll see a city skyline just past the hill on the left hand side there. Near as I can tell, that's Surfer's Paradise, we head that way a little later)

No broken bottles, plastic bags, no cigarette butts, no litter other than smashed seashells and the odd confused-looking crab....




Precious few people. I think the fact that it's the middle of winter and the wind was a bit chilly had something to do with that. Tho the water itself was pretty warm. Not that I was planning to expose my lily-white limbs to it. That being said, there were still lifeguards on duty.

We walked for about a kilometre, in the other direction from SP, stopped for a brief photo op...




Does someone wanna give that twerp...wotzisname...Sutcliffe...the guy in charge of losing Durban's blue-flag beach status a call, and show him what a blue-flag beach should look like? I am not even sure this one has b-f status, but I know where I'd rather catch a tan!

...and then decided to head back to the car and grab some lunch. We drove for a bit, looking for something familiar that wasn't a McDonalds, through some more suburbs, The Spit, Main Beach, Broadbeach, Miami, Mermaid Beach, Nobby Beach, beach after beach after beach. And all the same beach, tho I am sure the locals would disagree with me.

We eventually stopped at a KFC (for want of anything better and relatively inexpensive) and had the worst, most oily, fattiest, most nasty and disgusting chicken I've ever had the misfortune of eating. It's exactly like it was back in ZA, and how that franchise ever expanded as far as it did is beyond me! They have Nandos here, but I haven't tried it yet.

After that unfortunate experience, and swearing never to touch KFC ever again, we headed a little further north, eventually ending up in Surfer's Paradise. Now this place has got to be seen to be believed! Skyrise apartments (with a whole lot more going up), beautiful green parks and verges, another beach, and a play-park for the kiddies. All sparkling clean, no dodgy characters lounging on street corners demanding handouts or taking an unnatural amount of interest in what you are carrying (you know the types I mean!). I could definitely live there!

We pulled off next to a park-promenade that runs parallel to the beach, but away from the main roads, and took a bit of a walk. Picture flood coming up...




this place is booming! there is construction work going on everywhere!



Public braai area. Perfectly safe. Perfectly clean. Imagine that...







Lifeguard tower. Middle of winter, and it's being manned.



A few brave souls in the water :)



And a nearer version of that skyline I pointed out near the panoramic pic up at the top of this post.




I love this place! The simple ability to take your your family out to the park, fire up the "barbie" and just chill out on the grass and watch the world go by, without being hassled by hawkers and beggars and ne'er-do-wells is definitely going to take some getting used to!

We hiked down the path through the park for a bit, and then decided to call it quits, and headed back to the car and home, through some more nauseatingly beautiful suburbs,



where the wealthier have their own jetties...



and yachts...



and riverfront properties...



These places along the GC are just too much to take in on one day, something tells us we'll be back here, and more than once!

First post!

Well, I can't say it hasn't been a long time coming. We've finally caved under all the questions and demands for piccies, so here goes...my first ever blog! :)

Over the days and weeks to come I'll do my best to put up the piccies of where we've been and detail what we've been up to. I can't promise they'll be regular posts, as time is against us most days, but it'll sure be easier than trying to keep friends and relatives all updated, and trying to remember who we've told about what...