Playing Catch Up

Wow. I"ve been so bad at updating this thing it's unreal. A lot has been happening the past couple weeks and it would be impossible for me to recount everything, so i'll just give a quick rundown.

1.On Tuesday, February 11th, Rosie and I moved into our new place on Elystan Road in the neighborhood of New Farm in Brisbane, Queensland. New Farm is a lovely little neighborhood full of leafy streets, nice parks, quaint restaurants, coffee shops, and specialty stores. Our apartment is an old "queenslander" style house that has been converted into four apartments. It has a great feel to it, complete with sparkling hardwood floors, modern kitchen, and huge bedroom. It's located on a quiet street that is a stones throw from New Farm Park, a minute and a half walk from the brisbane river, and about 5 minute walk from a small retail center with a grocery store, bookshop, bakery, deli, bank, bike shop, etc. All in all, it's a perfect location.

2. We said goodbye to Byron Bay (or rather, see you soon) on that same Tuesday and it was bittersweet. It was exciting to finally be moving into our own place, but it was also nice just having a 4 week vacation full of surfing, good eating, hiking, swimming, good visits with the Gordons, and just relaxing and doing nothing. It was definitely what my body and mind was craving after 5 years of heavy touring. But Rose and I will be back there soon enough.

3. Rosie has started school at the Australian College of Natural Medicine and so far she is loving it and has learned a lot in only her first three days.

4. I've managed to see a couple shows since i've been here and learned that Brisbane has a pretty thriving music scene with some good bands. Hopefully i'll be able to start up my own band soon. I've certainly got the itch, it's driving me crazy. This is the first time i've been without a band in at least 10 years and i'm about to go bonkers.

5. Rose and I will be going to Syndey this weekend for a friends wedding. It will be awesome for us to get a break from Brisbane and head to the big city. Let's just hope the weather is decent instead of pissing down rain like it has been lately.

6. Fun facts, stories, etc. about my time here so far :

-The bats here are absolutely gigantic, the first week in our new place was marked with the sound of numerous bats squealing, fighting, and flapping their giant leather wings in the tree right outside our window. I was starting to have second thoughts about our apartment - but luckily the bats ate all the fruit that was in the tree and moved on. Now our place is quiet and calm at night.

- According to my friend Garreth from Liverpool, it's been raining here in Brisbane more than it has been in England. Buh? I thought Queensland was supposed to be the sunshine state. Ah well, at least it's been cool and not scorching.

-It's impossible to find a bad coffee in this country.

-It's summer, so all the critters are out. Our apartment is a regular host to Geckos. They mind their business though and they're pretty cute, so it's not a problem.


That's it for now. I'll be posting pictures when I get to someplace with a faster internet connection than the coffee shop i'm sitting at now. I'll also be posting a list of things that make Australia great. See you then.



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