Surfer's Paradise

So I decided yesterday that I needed to go see the Pacific Ocean. I've never actually seen the Pacific, let alone taken a swim, but I accomplished both yesterday. If someone had told me a year ago that the first time I saw the Pacific would be from Australia, I'd have laughed...loudly.

I took the train - proper trains with timetables and platforms where you actually have to pay attention to the train you board - down south to Gold Coast. If not for the track work they were doing, I expect it would've taken around an hour. As it was, they had us leave the train, take a bus further down, and pick the train back up, which added (they said) about 30 additional minutes to the trip. I wound up in a place called Surfer's Paradise:



The beach was beautiful and without the foot-punishing layer of shattered shells that we get on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Perhaps I should have guessed by the name of the place, But the surf here is tremendous, and it's a bit difficult to swim. Also, the water is FRIGID! I did get out into the water for a while, though. Here are a couple more photos (I didn't take many from the beach due to the fear of getting sand in my brand-new, $700 camera):





Also, there are quite a number of VERY tall apartment buildings right on the beachfront. I guess they must not deal with cyclones terribly often there (cyclones are what they call hurricanes in the Southern Hemisphere):



If you look closely in that last photo, you can see in the far lower-left corner, mountains that run straight to the sea quite a way off in the distance. I'm going to have to investigate those more closely once I have transportation that's not busses and trains.

Also, I ran across this on the main avenue in Surfer's Paradise:



I know where my mother will want to go...

Also, I caught this picture on the way back home, during the aforementioned getting off of and back onto the train, while waiting on the platform at Kingston station. Seems they were having a bit of a brush fire or something, and there was actually ash floating about in the air. Whatever was burning (some sort of eucalyptus I'd suspect) spelled especially pungent. Notice the mountain ridge in the background. They are the same ones that continue straight to the water.

Eastern Riverbank

I walked to the eastern riverbank today. I mostly went to get a photo of the Story Bridge, but also found that the city skyline from this view is a bit more impressive. Here's the Story Bridge:



The walk from the riverside up to the bridge is a tough one. The view from the bridge was worth it, however:



About the last thing I expected to see, though, was a Mississippi riverboat:

POSSUM!!

So, the possums here are red and WAY cuter than those in the States:



Also, the money here really DOES resemble Monopoly money:



All the bills are different sizes and different colors. They're kind of plastic, as opposed to cloth like I'm used to. They also have strange see-through bits. They also don't have pennies. The coins come in 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents and 1 and 2 dollars. The bills are the same denominations as at home. Here they are from 5 cents to 2 dollars:



Walking everywhere, I've noticed that the terrain here is quite hilly. From the apartment down toward the river (this includes the office), it's all downhill. And no gentle slope, either. I'd say it's a 20-25% grade all the way. Sadly, the supermarket is downhill from the apartment as well. The odd thing is that the supermarket here is Woolworth's.

Another funny thing is the cars. They sell models here that failed years ago in the States. For instance, the Ford Focus I had at home is sold as a Festiva here, and the Focus is an entirely different car. Ford also still sells Falcons and Fairlanes. In fact, it seems the Falcon is one of their bread-and-butter model lines. They even make a ute version (this is a popular car style here, and is like the old Ranchero/El Camino style that went away in the US 20 years or more ago).

Oddly familiar...

So, I'm walking through the mall, looking for a likely place for lunch, and I see this:



This is the 3-story Burger King. And that's not the oddest part. The oddest part, is that it's all done up like a 50's American Diner, and every available surface of wall is covered with Americana. You know, the Route 66 signs, the Casablanca movie posters, the photos of Marilyn Monroe.

And yeah, the Whoppers taste exactly the same. Though, the fries are better than at home. They're exactly like McDonald's fries, which will eliminate my need to ever go into a McDonald's.

SUNLIGHT IN THE SOC!!!

The coolest thing to me here is that the SOC has windows. Windows that actually allow in sunlight. Windows which can even be opened to let in the magnificent breeze. There are also 2 balconies right off the SOC. this is incredible in comparison to the dungeon that is the Atlanta SOC. Here are pictures:









I was playing with my new, incredibly complicated camera last night and took this from the balcony of the apartment. This was with the ISO speed turned all the way to 1600. (Note: This is a full-resolution, 8-megapixel photo. It's 3.5 Megabytes, and will take some time to load if you click on it)

Holy cow. I'm in another country!

Ok, I'm FINALLY actually in Brisbane.

My journey started in Atlanta at 2:30PM Eastern time aboard this aricraft:



After the 48-passenger commuter plane, I caught an MD-80 from St. Louis, and then the 747-400 from Los Angeles (photos noticeably absent due to boarding both of those at night).

The apartment I'm staying in for the next 30 days is quite nice. From the outside:



The view from the balcony is even better:





(Is this what the Counting Crows were referring to as a "Perfect Blue Building?")



This being the spring, everything is blooming. These purple trees are all over:



This is a small map of Brisbane with my apartment and the office marked.



Literally, I live 3 blocks from work, and the Central Business District officially begins south of Turbot Street. The Queen Street mall is the area marked with a series of green boxes, where Queen Street would be if it contined southwest past Edward Street to the Brisbane River. This is the very heart of the city. It's an open-air mall with loads of shops, restaurants, etc. It's only about 6 blocks past the office. A couple of pictures which don't show much because it's crowded, and difficult to see:





I took a walk down through the mall, to the river today, and it's is a beautiful, broad river. There are nice walking paths all along the river. This shot is facing northwest, upriver.



The city is fairly small, even compared to Atlanta. There aren't any tremendously tall buildings, but the height of the buildings does seem to be in proportion to the land area covered. The skyline does look quite nice:





Strangely, there is a Nepalese pagoda along the path by the river. This was, evidently, built for the World Expo, which occurred in 1988.







Also, I spotted some wildlife. Note, these lizards are large - nearly a half-meter long (heh...the metric system):









It is interesting to know, that even the crows have an accent. They sound a bit like what you'd get if a crow in Atlanta tried to imitate a cat!

Also, I live in a town where a major form of transport is FERRIES!! FERRIES!!

Tickets in hand

My flight is going to be pretty complicated...and long. I fly from Atlanta at 4:30pm on Friday, October 20th, stop in St. Louis, then in L.A. and then on to Brisbane. I arrive in Brisbane at 6:30am local time on SUNDAY, so, 4:30PM Saturday Atlanta time. I hope I can sleep some of that time. I also hope that I won't suffer earaches for the 12-hour hop across the Pacific. That would be extremely annoying.

Oh my...three weeks isn't a lot of time

Ok, so, it looks like I'll be beginning my journey on October twentieth. The boss is buying the plane tickets. So, I've got just shy of 3 weeks til I'll be on an airplane.

Um. I've got some work to do.