Brisbane in the late 19th Century It's 'hello!' again from 'Stralia! Remember my previous blog entry (Slave to the wage: A pom at work) describing a work-place idyll? Well this one's different, describing routine, boredom and Brissie. My job here finishes at the end of December and despite being offered a job at UQ I've decided not to stay on. I've hit some luck again, what with the job and the house etcetera. Instead I'm flying to Adelaide, South Australia on the 20th - which is currently going through an oppressive heat wave unusual even for Australia. Somebody took pity on my singularity and so I've been invited to spend Christmas with Hannah and her family. This should be quite a cultural experience; a classic Aussie Chrimbo involving lots of merry making a... read more

What’s Going On Brisbane seems to have a festival going on every week. And the good thing is it’s usually free. Since I’ve been here there has been the broad-ranging cultural Brisbane Festival, the 150th Brisbane City Anniversary, Brisbane Writer’s Festival and this weekend starts the Valley Fiesta. I managed to be around when the most spectacular festival of all climaxed occurred: the RiverFire spectacle, basically a massive fireworks display on the Brisbane River. I reckon a couple of hundred thousand people were camped up and having picnics along the river that night waiting for the massive show to begin. And boy what a fireworks display...probably one of the biggest I’ve ever seen with fireworks off barges in the river, off Story Bridge, even off the skyscrapers in the CBD. The river’s reflection complimenting all of ... read more

Rocky and Reaching my Destination Towards the end, I couldn't wait to get off the good ship Whitehaven. The Kiwi skipper fulfilled his job description with an awfully trite speech: "I hope you had a great time because I know we had a great time!". We all just stared at each other blankly but he kept going wihilst I wanted to jump overboard... it was excruciating... I've never wanted something so bad to end. Escaping the boat and back on shore Heather, Anne and I were more than ready for lunch. We stopped off at the Magnum B and had, (it never ceases to amaze me here) fish and chips - yes those fish ‘n’ chips and even served by an English lad. Anne soon left to catch her flight to New Zealand so Heather and ... read more

"Ladies and gentlemen: welcome to paradise I mean Cairns" - pilot of Jet Airways Flight JQ 58 from Darwin to Cairns. I know what the pilot meant as I peered out of the window; from the air this place is paradise, with an glimpses of the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest reef, bigger than the UK and the only living thing visible from the Moon! I’ll add loads of various facts of the bloody thing later because it’s one of those things that you are sort of ‘required’ to do if you are a sensible breathing living human being. Apparently. Arriving at Cairns airport (at something like 8 am) I telephoned the Bohemia Central hostel to arrange a pick-up - the driver was on his way. However, twenty minute later and I’m still waiting outside ... read more

Getting into Darwin We left Kunnunurra in the morning, joining the Victoria Highwayand shortly afterwards entering the state of the Northern Territory, commonly referred to as the "Top End". It literally is the top end of Australia and with a population of only 200,000 yet a land mass of 1,400,000 square km (around the size of Mongolia). So, very sparsely populated and very big. It was also a big old way to go until we got to Darwin, it's capital. We first stopped at Gregory National Park named after Augustus Charles Gregory, an Englishman who explored this coast in the 19th Century and who left an impressive inscription of his arrival on a huge boab tree. That night we camped nearby, ... read more