Whirlwind

Goodness, my gracious host has made sure that I'm seeing everything, and I've only been here five days! According to the Brisbane Visitors' Guide, there is a list of things that are "must-sees" in Brisbane. Here they are: 

• Mt. Coot-ha lookout.  
  

 Check (at a glorious 8am after I got in from my flight).

• South Bank.  
  

 Check. To be checked again upon further forays into sun-bathing.

• Cultural Centre. 
  

 Check. Went to the Gallery of Modern Art (largest Modern Art Gallery in the Southern hemisphere) and the  Sciencentre (Who says Science Centres are for kids? Danielle and I had a blast).

• Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  
  

 Plans to do this this weekend.

• A trip on the Brisbane River. 
  

 Check. Took the CityCat boats.

• Moreton Bay.
  

 Whoops, I lied. Didn't do this one. I SAW the island from the mainland though.

• City Botanic Gardens.
  

 Check. Gorgeous. Imagine being on a university campus, and then deciding, "Oh I'm just going to walk 20 steps to  some Botanic Gardens". Wonderful.

• Mt. Coot-ha Botanic Gardens
  

 Uncheck.

• Roma Street Parklands.
  

 Check. Walked through them today, lovely.

• Story Bridge.
  

 Check. Well, we drove over it.

Plus we went to a mangrove forest on the water, shopping in the Queen St. Mall (an open mall on the street), walked through the city, went to the Normanby...I'm having a wonderful time. Lessons into Australian lingo to be posted another time.

Down Under

I'm currently in Brisbane, Australia, and it is fantastic. The weather is glorious, I've been toured around the city, went to the Gold Coast and Surfer's Paradise, everyone says hello (actually, "G'day mate")...goodness. I can see why people stay.

My flight was great, no jet lag, plus I've rediscovered that I really, really love to fly.

I'm currently trying to get an idea of Australian music, it's working out well so far. I'm compiling a list. Some Canadian stuff is popular here too, notably Tegan & Sara's "Back in Your Head".

If this all sounds like a list, oh well! I am having an amazing time. I slept for 11 hours last night, and felt, (here I quote myself), "remarkably chipper" when I woke up. I tried something called "Vegemite", which is apparently popular. It's like concentrated vitamin spread. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but it was an experience. Now I have to try something called "tim tams", which is sort of like a cookie chocolate bar thing? We shall see. My cousin also taught me how to make proper risotto. Mmmm. Deliciousness.

More later!

Ups and Downs

I think I just almost coughed up a lung. Delicious.

I didn't get to bake any cookies, tasty or otherwise. I did go dancing though. Fun times.

Points for Amazon, which delivered my book within two days of ordering (with free shipping!). Minus points for the monopoly that is Ticketmaster, charging $6 on top of my ticket prices. Saw the New Pornographers last week, opener was Okkervil River; rather good. NP were a little less impressive than when I saw them at WinterCity Fest, but their songs are of a different style with this last album. I was disappointed that Dan Bejar didn't get to rock out. BUT it was still pretty awesome, and totally worth it to hear Mass Romantic live with Neko singing.

Spring!

I have decided that the weather is now officially conducive to being called "spring." Before writing this I checked when I've mentioned spring before, and it turns out that they were within a day of each other in 2006 and 2007. Spring started later this year.

I just feel so cheerful when it's gorgeous out, and even when it's raining it feels like a renewal. And there is currently a rather pretty sunset happening through my window.

I want to start projects, I want to clean, I want to play Ultimate, I want to bake cookies, and dance, and sing as if it doesn't matter whether you hit all the notes all the time, as long as it's fun. I am going to read now, and dance and bake cookies tomorrow.

Why WOULDN'T they?

How hard did this make me laugh yesterday? So hard.

Laughs

Spam emails are actually really hilarious.