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.