Tea

The concept of "tea" is something that I think I've gotten the hang of. I'm not talking about the warm beverage, but rather the social and gastronomic experience of taking a moment to refrain from one's normal course of activities to relax and fraternize with one's peers. Often this seems to involve a fairly impressive, and unexpected, spread of food and some accompanying coffee and, yes, tea. Something tells me this is a trait Australians inherited from their ancestors, so any of you who are well versed in British lifestyle probably know exactly what I'm talking about.

My first experience was 2 weeks ago when my boss, whom I had yet to meet at the time, invited Tara and I to Brisbane for tea on Thursday evening after work so introductions could be made and we could get to known each other prior to my first day of work the following Monday. On this occasion "tea" meant a 3 course supper. In the office environment, morning tea usually means I scrounge together a sausage roll and/or meat pie, while at afternoon tea I'll manage to scarf down a cookie or other pastry. And there is almost always a cup of tea that accompanies these savory delights.

Just to emphasize how much tea these Aussies consume, my office building orientation went something like this when we got around to the kitchen: "These 3 fridges are for employees to use for their lunches...well, actually, these 2 fridges are for lunches. This fridge is the milk fridge." No matter what time of day or day of the week, this fridge seems to always contain about a dozen 2 L jugs of milk (of various varieties) for employees to use as required to lighten up their warm beverages.

Don't even get me started about coffee...

First Week Down (Under)

One week (of work and uni) down!  But we've officially been here for 2 weeks now.  Tara seems to be thoroughly enjoying her program so far and she's starting to get loaded up with work.  I can't say I did a lot of work in my first week on the job but I should start getting some actual tasks this week.  Work seems like it will be good.  Everyone seems really nice and layed back.  On Thursday morning before work I played nine holes with a few people from work.  Besides the obvious downside of getting out of bed at 4:15 am in order to make it to Brisbane for a 6:00 am tee time, driving to and from work from Gold Coast is no picnic either.  I was expecting pretty light traffic on the M1 between 5 and 6 am but even at that hour it was a pretty steady volume of traffic.  The drive home after work took just as long as the train ride due to the even heavier traffic.  After that I can definitely say I will not be driving to work on a regular basis.  Nor do I think I'll be golfing too many mornings before work.  I did, however, find out that in the summertime, the sun rises around 4:30 so I could easily fit a quick surf into my morning schedule before getting on the train at 6:40.  We'll see how that goes.

Because of my commitment to riding the train to work, I decided to buy an iPad.  So anyone with FaceTime can find me at adam.a.reilly@gmail.com.  Tara's already taken the liberty of installing her favorite Apps on it and she's encouraging me to get a Tap Zoo of my own but I am resisting.

The highlight of our week was today's trip to Byron Bay.  Tara has been studying pretty hard all week and the other day she suggested that we go to Byron Bay on Sunday.  I was all over the idea.  I've been wanting to get back to Byron Bay ever since I left, 13 years ago, but I was a bit concerned about rumors that it has changed and commercialized.  I was told the hippies have been exchanged with yuppies and the mom-and-pop shops traded in for franchise restaurants.  Upon pulling the car into Byron Bay today, I was pleasantly surprised to find the exact same Byron Bay that I once knew, only with way too many people in it.  Probably just because it was the weekend, but I never remember this many people in Byron Bay.  But everything was pretty much just how I left it:  Bay Action surf shop on the corner, the 23 hour bakery just down the street, and Cocomanga's bar somewhere in the middle.

I was hoping for some swell, since everywhere in Gold Coast has been flat for days, but Byron Bay had zero surf.  So Tara and I just hung out in our newly purchased beach tent (see the photos) and went for a few swims.  This beach tent will prove to be the best $60 we've ever spent!  On the way home, we stopped in Coolangatta to check out the famous Snapper Rocks point break and there were a few guys out catching some small, but decent, waves.  I guess we should have just stayed in Gold Coast today.  From the lookout at Pat Fagan Park we spotted some whales off in the distance as they were migrating south for the summer.  They were jumping and blowing and waving their fins at us and they must have been huge, because they were quite a long way out.

And, I forgot to mention, that Tara drove all the way to Byron Bay and back home again and did a spectacular job.  I think she's getting more confident behind the wheel of a right-hand-drive car now.   We only have one more week with our rental car and then we have to give it back, then it's the bus for a while until we get a car of our own.

Commuting

I've got 2 days of work under my belt now.  Well, not really work.  Like starting any new job, I've got about a week's worth of training, waiting for applications to be installed, and killing time.  It won't be until next week when I have some real engineering work to do.  2 days of work, and 2 days of commuting along with it.

I've always lived within 5 km of my office so I either walked to work (when I lived with Scott), took the bus or got a ride from Tara (when we lived in Mount Pleasant or Inglewood).  I've never had the faintest desire to spend any significant amount of time on a train or bus.  Now I don't really have much of a choice.  Well, we have 3 choices as I can see it. 

1:  Live in Gold Coast (exactly which suburb is irrelevant) and commute 1.5 hours to work each way.
Pros: 

• Awesome weekends--we'll already be near the beach.  
• Tara's close to Uni.
• The sun goes down at 6pm (and apparently sunset will not get much later once summer roles around), so what else do I have to do in the evenings?
• There are much nicer places to rent in Gold Coast than in Brisbane.

Cons: 

• I spend 3 hours on the train each day--about 4 hours of my life each day will be dedicated to getting myself to/from work.  The 3 hours on the train could be fairly productive and possibly some much needed me-time if I get myself that iPad I've been wanting.
• I'll miss out on 6am golf with work buddies in Brisbane.  Well, even if we lived in Brisbane, Tara would most likely take the car to Uni and I'd miss out on golf anyway.

2.  Live in Brisbane and have Tara commute 1.5 hours to Uni.
Pros: 

• Her class schedule is much lighter and more lax than my work schedule, but she'll no doubt get very busy very soon and end up spending a lot of time studying at the Uni.
• I can have 4 hours of my life back.
• Tara can listen to her taped lectures during her 3 hour drive. 

Cons:

• We'll have to buy a fairly reliable (read:  more expensive) car if Tara will be driving between Brisbane and Gold Coast daily.
• We would probably see less of each other because Tara wouldn't get home until late.

3.  Live somewhere in between the two cities, like Ormeau or Beenleigh.
Pros: 

• Equal commute.

Cons: 

• We'll still have to buy Tara that reliable car.
• Have you ever heard of Ormeau or Beenleigh?  Me neither.

I don't know.  Any suggestions are welcome.

I still haven't gone into the ocean past my ankles yet.  Not for any good reason really, I just haven't picked up a surfboard yet and my kiteboard gear won't be here for another couple months.  It didn't help that a couple days after we got here a surfer was half eaten (they recovered his top half) by a great white in Western Australia, and just today I read in the news that a kiteboarder claims to have been attacked by a tiger shark in Papua New Guinea. 

Apparently our air freight shipment has arrived in Brisbane and will take about a week to clear customs.  That will be a bit like Christmas when we get it, but I think most of the stuff is just boring household items.  And my recently acquired bass which I haven't had much time to get to know in Calgary.  I look forward to getting re-acquainted next week.

Tara got behind the wheel the other day to try it out.  Unfortunately, I don't think she's very comfortable yet so it may take another try until she's confident enough to drive by herself.  But she did great on Sunday and I'm sure she'll have it in no time.

It has been a crazy busy week! I was super home sick Monday/Tuesday, but after my Law School orientation on Wednesday/Thursday it seems a bit better. I was a little worried that many of the law students would be much younger (as you can enter the LLB program right out of high school in Australia), but most students starting this term are taking their JD, which requires at least an undergrad degree. Adam was less than impressed with all the 18/19-year-old exchange students hanging around the campus and bus stations, so we've been avoid those areas when possible.

We went to Brisbane on Thursday night to meet Adam's boss, Ben and a guy named Ken from Adam's team. Ben and Ken brought their girlfriends and we ate at this very high end seafood restaurant. It was amazing, but very over priced! They also have Entres, Sides, and Mains, which was very confusing for me, but in the end I had the most delicious dinner and WAY too much wine, as Ben made me finish off the bottle. A little drunk, Adam and I walked around downtown Brisbane making our way back to our hotel. Thank you Origin for a wonderful dinner and hotel in Brisbane!

We spent Friday afternoon, very hungover, driving around the little towns between Brisbane and Gold Coast trying to see where we would like to live. Nothing really seemed that great, but I'm not sure if that was the crappy weather, or the hangover.

Friday was also our Anniversary, so we had planned a nice dinner and a night out at Jupiter's Casino (which is across the street from our hotel in Broadbeach.) The casino has a wonderful buffet, which happens to have a seafood night on Friday, so we had another feast of seafood and drank too much wine again! I also ate my first Morten Bay Bug, which is a whole lobster that doesn't have any claws... it is really just a lobster tail, but very tasty. We hit the tables, but got cleaned out by a blackjack dealer. All-in-all it was a great Anniversary! I love my husband!

Saturday we did some running around and took the train into Brisbane to try to find Adam's office. The train ride was not as bad as I thought it would be and seemed to go by faster. It takes 1.5 hrs to get to Adam's office and I think he will need to invest in an Ipad if we live in the Gold Coast. He plans to take the train next week to see how it is during rush hour. We had dinner at a pub and then went to see The Change-Up, which was super funny and I would recommend it!

Thanks to all my friends and family for the kind emails and messages this week! It has really helped. I am still home sick, but it seems to be getting easier. I really just can't wait to start class!

xoxoxo

Driving on the other side

Tara and I picked up the rental car yesterday.  Halfway around the world and we end up with a Ford.  Driving on the left-hand side of the road is going to take some getting used to.  I turned on the wipers (instead of the turn signal) about 7 times by Tara's count and only drove on the wrong side of the road once, but that was in a parking lot.  Tara doesn't want to drive just yet, but I tried to tell her it's not so bad.  Thank goodness we got a GPS with the car so we can find our way around.  There are plenty of roundabouts here which make it easy to turn around if you need to.

I never understood "Jetlag" until moving here. The last 2 nights Adam and I have gone bed before 8 p.m. - Are we lame or just old? I can't decide. We also can't sleep in and are up at 6:30 a.m., which I guess is good practice for the weeks to come when he starts work and I start classes.

We went to visit Bond yesterday and it was amazing! I love the campus and the people were super friendly. The food was a bit lacking, but I guess that will save me money as I'll be forced to pack a lunch. I got my student card, gym membership, timetable, and then Adam got upset so we ditched the campus to tour to argue. We fought about where to live, what to drive, how to commute, who will commute, bills, budgets, and just about everything else you can think of. I think he was most upset that I wanted to live near school (which means he will need to commute 1.5 hrs each way) when my classes don't start until 10:00 a.m., and I only have class 4 days a week. I keep trying to tell him that I will be at school studying everyday, but he doesn't believe me, which I cant blame him- I've never been good at getting up in the mornings and going to school... I just hope I can prove him wrong. I also want to live in the Gold Coast because the places to rent are WAY better than in Brisbane. So after a good solid afternoon of arguing we left Bond and headed home via transit. I hate transit.

At home we didn't get an further ahead and realized that we are not on the same page with a lot of things. We agreed to leave it alone tonight and re-address in the morning, when we were both less stressed. I spent the evening unpacking and reading. Adam spent the evening on the computer. It was nice to know that we could disagree and take time away to reflect without having another pointless argument.

This morning we got up and agreed on a bank account and our plan for the day. It was nice to not argue about this and I think today will be more productive! I am a little homesick and missing my friends and life in Calgary. It's funny because I couldn't wait to leave Calgary and without me even realizing it, Calgary became our home. At Bond yesterday a lady told me it will take about a week to settle in. I hope she is right. xoxo

We have arrived

We met up with Scott and Ashley in the Vancouver airport.  Their flight was delayed so it was nice to catch up with them one last time before taking off.  Have a great time in New Zealand, Scott and Ashley!

When we boarded our plane and found our pods, we were treated to champagne and orange juice, instructed on how to operate our seats which fully reclined to lay flat and had a built in massage function.  Tara's pod was just across the aisle from mine.  I felt like a bit of a jerk reclining and drinking my champagne while everyone sitting in coach had to walk past us to their seats.  We were then presented with our menu for the flight which included various options for supper (including filet), dessert, snacks, breakfast, and various wines and spirits.  Once we were in the air I put on a movie, had my supper and then took a bit of a nap.  Tara was asleep before dessert came and slept  most of the flight.

Once we arrived in Sydney, they made us sit in the plane at the gate while they "sprayed the aircraft."  Tara and I were expecting them to spray the outside of the aircraft, but the flight attendants came through the cabin with aerosol cans and sprayed everything and everyone in the aircraft with some sort of chemical.  Going through customs was a piece of cake.  For two people who are moving to Australia for the next few years and have lots of other unaccompanied goods coming at a later date, I was expecting more than "How was your flight" from the customs officer.  Then we went on to the quarantine inspection station where they X-rayed our bags and made sure we weren't bringing anything into the country which may impact the Australian ecosystem.  The upside was that I got my golf clubs cleaned for me.

Then we went on to Virgin Airline's domestic check-in and had to re-check our 6 bags.  Tara and I have been trying to figure out what our baggage allowances were but were prepared to pay extra for our bags on this domestic flight.  The allowance was 69 kg each and we were under by 2 kg's, another great surprise!

The flight from Sydney to Gold Coast was quick, and we were met on arrival by the transfer that was arranged for us.  We were taken to our furnished apartment in Broadbeach which is a block from the beach in a very nice hotel.  We'll be staying here for up to 6 weeks, or until we find a place of our own.  We spent the afternoon unpacking and made a quick trip to the Apple Store for new power cords and I was pleasantly surprised when they threw in a free cord for my IMac.  We made supper, ate, and were in bed by 7pm.

This week, Tara has a bunch of things to do at Bond Uni for orientation, and I've got to contact work and the relocation company to work out a few things.  But I'll most likely be riding on Tara's coat tails this week and pretending to be a uni student along with her.  I also need to pick up a surf board and try to catch a few waves, although the water seems pretty cold right now and I don't have my wetsuit with me.

My turn...

I completely agree with Adam that Executive Class is amazing and I think that we are very lucky. I am still in awe that our baggage was not too heavy. Our limit was 70 lbs per bag and our heaviest bag was 69 lbs! It was a very stressful day leading up to that point. We've been so busy I didn't have time to be excited until now. Adam just poured us our last Caesars and I am just taking everything in. I am grateful for everything right now. I am looking forward to getting on the plane and sleeping in my sweet pod! I believe Scott and Ashley's flight to NZ is delayed/cancelled, so I went looking for them, but couldn't find them.

Scott & Ash - If you are around we are leaving from Gate 51. I went to Gate 53 to look for you. Text/message us if you can. It is 10:44 Vancouver time.

Kicking it in the Maple Leaf Lounge

I don't mean to sound spoiled, but after flying executive class, I'm not sure I can go back to coach.  And one of the benefits of executive class is access to the Maple Leaf Lounge.  After years of walking past those curious glass doors and wondering what lies beyond, I've finally found out:  a small, picked-over buffet that apparently doesn't get replenished very often, and an open bar with just about everything you would ever want to imbibe.  Might as well have one last Molson Canadian in my homeland before I'm in the land of Toohey's and Carlton Cold!

Homeless and exhausted

Tara and I spent the day visiting friends, unloading the last of our possessions we've bee trying to get rid of and tying up some loose ends with the bank.  Then we packed up the bags we're bringing on the plane and cleaned our house top to bottom so it could be inspected and handed over to our landlords.  We've been staying at the Hyatt in downtown Calgary for the past couple nights--not bad for a couple homeless people!  I've been taking advantage of the internet access and sending a bunch of documentation overseas for my work visa application.  We're traveling down on Tara's student visa and then applying for a work visa once we're there.

I feel as though I've been crazy busy consistently for the last month and I can't see it ending until I plop myself into my airplane seat in Vancouver and brace myself for the 15.5 hour flight to Sydney.   Then maybe I can relax.  One more sleep (and not nearly enough of it) until we're off.