Life's a beach

Here's one of those Leather Jacket bastards I caught on Sunday... Not looking too tasty, I'll tell ya that much. I'll find out this weekend when we bbq all the fish we caught and feed them to our unsuspecting friends.

So... I found an excuse to go to Sydney. Ben Folds is playing there at the Sydney Orchestra at the Sydney Operhouse. So I bought tickets that were luckily realeased for a Saturday show. Now all 4 shows in Sydney are sold out, and so are the shows in Melbourne and Brisbane. To recap, that's the second of my top-5 alltime favourite bands I'll see in the span of 2 months here in Brisbane. Not to mention the tickets I have to The Arctic Monkeys on Aug. 5 and Augie March on the 10th... Sounds like I'm turning into some sort of teenaged concert junkie, but I'm really not... they're just too good to pass up.

Keep on keepin' on.

Wash with vinegar

What a weekend, everything came up Kucharski. Started off with Friday night drinks with a group from work, nothing to significant to report there but it was a great time. Next was my 2nd surfing lesson on Saturday morning. The weather was 25°+ and the surf was great. Got up a few more times, I think I'm ready to head a bit further out and tackle the bigger waves... Saturday night I went to the Bledisloe Cup and watched the Wallabies let it slip away. Seeing the All Blacks' little pre-game chant was impressive though.

Today me and a couple blokes from work went deep sea fishing. I caught 3 Leather Jackets, a Yellow Kingfish, and an Amber. I stink of fish guts, my knees are sore, and it still feels like I'm on a boat. All in all, it was really fun. Now I have about an hour until I play hockey tonight...

Hope everyone is doing well!

Mr. E's Beatiful Blues

29 years in Calgary and my favourite band doesn't come closer than 3000 km's away in Toronto. 3 weeks in Brisbane and they're here, playing at the coolest venue I've ever seen a band play in. The Eels played here at The Tivoli Theatre. The music at the concert was what I expected from The Eels... they played their classics and well known songs, mixed with some spaced out solos and sidebars. Possibly the funniest thing I've seen since being here was the musclehead they brought on stage (the whole show) who dance, shadowboxed, sang a little, handed out whipcream shots from the can, lifted weights, played the keyboard, and generally nearly stole the show from E. He's not part of the band regularly, and I'm sure was added to the tour to provide visual stimulation. I still don't really know what it was, but it worked.

The Tivoli was cool too. About 4 blocks from Brunswick Street (Brisbane's 17th ave) it's nestled between a mix of new condo buildings (almost rented a place right beside unbeknowst to me at the time) and auto-repair shops it is a great venue. Built in 1917 and fully restored it's a mix of old and new, and a perfect place for a show. So great I have tickets to Augie March and thinking about Jason Mraz.

Other than that... the weekend was fully of 2 rounds of golf, gumbo dinner at a friends house, and my first hockey game as part of the Brisbane Buccaneers. I think we won 13-1 or something like that... apparently I joined the top B Div team, hope all of our games are not like that tho.

Hope the summer is going well for everyone. Had a good video chat with my cousin Travis, showed him the sites via live video from my balcony. Hope I can hook up with more of you soon.

Cheers!

It's winter here, drop the puck!

My dearest mother was kind enough to package up my hockey gear and ship it over, and it has amazingly arrived and cleared customs (because we did it) before my boxes that my company's moving company sent nearly 2 weeks ago. So DHL called me today saying they had my package and I zipped out to the airport to "walk" it through customs. Then I contacted the organiser of the hockey team I've been in contact with and eventually ended up training (Aussie for practise) with them tonight. There's a game on Sunday too! The team is about 2/3 North American and 1/3 Aussie from what I can tell so far. The arena doesn't have glass (EDIT, I meant glass, not boards) (nets only) and the ice is to be desired. But it's hockey in Brisbane, I'm not complaining!

So, many thanks to my mom for doing that for her... P.S. Shipping stuff is way more expensive ($380 for a hockey bag) and a hassle than paying the extra baggage fee ($100) and bringing stuff over on the plane with you, even if it means needing two carts in the airports to move all your bags.

Another weekend

Well, another weekend is coming to a close. This one had a lot of promise with surfing, golfing, and internationals rugby planned. But I only managed 2 out of 3 as the surf gods were not smiling. Apparently there's more to surfing than grabbing a board and swimming out into the water. You actually need waves, swells, wind (or no wind..?), etc. All of this surfer-science still escapes me, but the bottom line was the surf was crap this weekend, therefore I didn't go... It was sort of cold too, only 23� or something like that.

But there was rugby. A record breaking victory for the Wallabies, 49-0 over the Sprinboks. We sat near a section of SA fans who were pretty rowdy and upbeat up until about 10 minutes in. When it was 30-0 at halftime needless to say they were quiet. Great game though, lots of fun. Bought a Wallabies scarf, had my first Bundaberg rum and coke, and hit Caxton street before and after the game (think Red Mile, only 2 blocks long).

Here's the view from my place, looking straight down. I still get a little "Seinfeld" everytime I look over the edge...

Also, here's a better view of Surfer's Paradise, which is about an hour south of the city. The beach is awesome, but the commercialised and conominiumised sprawl behind it is something else...

I think next weekend I'll head north to the Sunshine Coast. It's less commercial and is supposedly a bit nicer. I'll check it out...

How did Stampede go? Who won the moustache contest? Anyone get injured breaking beer bottles on the their belt buckles?

1st Wave

Great day today... got up early and went down to Surfer's Paradise for my first surf lesson. It went relatively good considering it was my first time. I was standing up by the end of it, before I got too tired. 2 hours was enough for me. After a burger by a great beach cafe I hung around to watch some F1 power boat races that happened to be going on that day. Pretty cool to watch in person.

Surfer's Paradise is an interesting place... People from Brisbane sort of despise it because it's been so commercialised. For example they're building the world's tallest residential building there (to along with the other hundred sky scrapers) that will be 80 stories tall.

I was pretty tired after the few hours in the water, but on the way back I decided to stop for a round of golf. I ended up catching up to a threesome of Japenese guys, hilarious to golf with. Their swings were awesome to watch, and everytime I hit a drive they would all ooh and aah in Japenese accents, it was awesome. Not that I hitting that impressively, but they liked it for some reason.

After getting home around 6pm and looking at my empty fridge I called up a friend and went to his place for a bbq. The food was excellent, and the 2 other couples he had over were pretty funny too.

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Driving in on the left side of road has gone relatively well. The main difficulty has come in navigating Brisbane roads. Street signs are optional as far as I can tell, so I've taken a few "long-ways" to places. But that's been alright too, I've got to see some suburbs I normally wouldn't have went to...

My ride

Here's pic of the nice Holden Commodore the company leased for me:

It's a beaut eh? Better than the bus I guess...

Today I drove down to Surfer's Paradise to scope out where I'm doing my surf lessons tomorrow. Stopped in to the surf shop, met the instructor, etc. Should be fun, I'm looking forward to it.

Surfer's Paradise though is amazing. It's just massive holiday/condo developement coupled with a 20km long beach of the best sand I've ever seen. And apparently they get some good surfing waves there too, whaddya know?

My Flat

Here's where I live in Brisbane:

It's called the Aurora Tower... a throw back to my Fort McMurray days and the aurora borealis. I live on the 47th (out of 69) floor, which is 4.7/6.9 of the way up. Hah.

It's basically right on the edge of the main CBD (Central Business District), in the area everyone calls "the city" vs. the North Amerian "downtown".

I decided to live here because it's walkable to all of the areas around the CBD... The Valley, Southbank, the river walks, the Gabba (cricket & AFL), quick trip to Suncorp Stadium (Rugby), etc. etc... The downside is it's pretty expensive and my apartment isn't tiny, but it's not large by any means. I think it's around 800 square feet.

The is the view from my living room and patio:

And here's some interior pics... not of my exact unit, but it looks similar:

I'm using pics from the website because I still haven't bought a camera (the phone camera still sucks), and they're professional so they look better anyway.

And like I've said before I've rented a 2 bedroom, so there's a spare room for any visitors. The project and assignment here still being defined somewhat and as a result I don't know exactly how long I'll be here. I know I'll be in Brisbane for 6 months, could be up to a year, but will likely fall somewhere between 6 & 12 months. There's lots to do here too, and the Australian $ is lower than the Canadian so the costs are reasonable. Factor in a free place to stay and you're laugh'n.

This weekend I pick up my car, heading to a pub with friends to watch the Tri Nations, and have surfing lessons on Sunday. Going to try and fit in golf on Saturday too... P.S. 150m = 165 yards.

Hard at work

Here's my business card... for the email though you can keep using whatever one you've always use (@halliburon.com, @kbr.com, @hotmail.com), they all get to me... don't bother changing it to @eosjv.

I have the internet now at my house, but have to admit the speed is something to be desired. Maybe thats because I'm downloading things from North American sites, not too sure yet.

I'll post more later about where I live, what I've been up to, but I have to head out to watch a "State of Origin" match. Basically rugby is huge over here, but there are a couple kinds of rugby too... Letal probably knows this already. But there is what they call Rugby Union, which is most common in international matches, and then there is Rugby League which is played in Australia. Anyway, tonights match is between Queensland and New South Wales. It's the 3rd game of a best of 3, so it's kind of big. I've been instructed to cheer for Queensland, whose mascot is the Cane Toad. Most everyone is sure they'll beat NSW, whose mascot is the Cockroach. So it's the Toads vs. the Cockroaches, I think the Toads have it. I'm not making this up either...

I've also been to a Brisbane Broncos game (Rugby League) which was pretty damn cool. You gain a whole new appreciation for the game when it's live. I guess that's true of most sports though. I have tickets to the Bledisloe Cup too, which until recently being combined with the Tri Nations used to be an annual series between Australian (Wallabies) and New Zealand (All Blacks). This year the Cup and Tri Nations joined, so now it's up for grabs between the Wallabies, All Blacks, and Springboks (South Africa). See, it's all very confusing...

Anyways, next Saturday I'm going to the Australia vs. South Africa game. So Sampie, sorry to say I'm not going to be wearing the Springboks jersey you got me... Sorry mate!

I hope I got all that right, it's pretty confusing for newcomers to figure out.

Anyway, gotta run. Go Banana Benders! (slang for someone from Queensland, which is the State Brisbane is in).

Hang in there

I don't have internet in my apartment yet, so I haven't been able to post an update lately. Basically I've moved into my apartment (47th floor!) which is inbetween the CBD (downtown) and the Valley (an area similar to 17th Ave). Walkable to everywhere good basically...

This weekend I moved in, golfed (parrot-like birds on the course, very cool), and went to a Brisbane Broncos' game, which is Rugby-League (vs. Rugby-Union and/or Aussie Rules). Good times, and the beer at the game is cheap!

Internet is going to be set up this week, at which time I'll be able to post pics and elaborate a bit... until then, you can always email me.

Cheers,
RK