Blogs from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 208

Well, I've got a few entries to put in, so I've decided to do them in the correct order, starting with my b- day in Brisbane. After leaving Sydney in April, I went up the east coast to Byron Bay. I met some awesome people there, some that I feel I can now call my best friends! I had an amazing time there! After that I headed up to Surfers Paradise, which was a bit of a dissapointment after Byron....I only stayed there for two days before making my way to Brisbane to meet my girls, Alys, Jaimie and Ali for my 24th birthday. On the bus up I bumped into Stephan, the German guy I met in Byron Bay. We exchanged emails, and talked about travelling together. For my birthday we had a girl's day ... read more

Brisbane life is great. We're well settled into our 2 bedroom appartment. It's very close to the city, 7 minutes on a train and the station is within stumbling distance of the appartment. Andy & Anto have been living with us for almost 6 weeks now, and everyone is getting on well. We're all working. My contract is due to finish on Friday the 29th but the others are about half-way into 2 month contracts. For those of you who don't know the lads, I suggest you visit their websites to find out more about them..... Andy Orr, primary school friend, member of Irish Popstars band Six: Andy's Site Anto Moyles, DCU soccer team-mate of mine, did same college course as Andy: Anto's Site They call themselves GOAT & Oyster in case you are wondering after ... read more

21st March 2005. Brisbane, Australia. Am so glad I decided to spend first night of Big Adventure in Brisbane. Everything is unfamiliar but still Australian, still understandable. Spent yesterday and most of today with Jessie G, my old school pal, who's a Brisbanite, wandering about the city. The public transport system puts Cairns to shame. I don't think you can go three minutes without spotting a bus going somewhere, and when one was actually five minutes late there was a lot of consternation amongst the locals, whereas in Cairns we pretty much plan our schedules around the guarantee that the bus' will be late. We stayed the night in a house-cum-backpacker hostel I found on the net, pretty nice with pool and all for only $20 each, but we didn't get in (after original check-in) until ... read more

I have managed to land a 4 week contract working as a Financial Modeller. I will basically be building models in Excel and reviewing existing models. Starting tomorrow (Wednesday), and there is free booze EVERY Friday after work......! We went to the St. Paddy's Day parade here last Saturday, it was good craic with all the Irish coming out of the woodwork. They even had St. Patrick himself......on the back of UTE! Only in Oz ! Bought a crappy car yesterday to get us around (1986 Silver Holden Barina - now names the Silver Bullet), and used it to collect Andy and Anto from the airport last night, so now we are 4! Weather is nice, a cosy 28 today. ... read more

Just a quick one to say that I am still homeless and jobless! We have applied for a 2 bed appartment, fully furnished as well which is hard to come by here. Hope to hear back on that today. We are going to be living with ex Popstar Andy Orr (of Six fame), and Anto - a guy I played football with in DCU. They arrive in Brisbane on the 14th. Flying down to Melbourne tomorrow for the weekend to catch the Grand Prix. The Aussies we are staying with here are coming down as well (Dave - ex Pioneer colleague), and we will meet up with Blathnaid & Ian, Andy & Anto, Dale (Aussie we met in Vietnam), and a few other Irish.....should be a hectic weekend. So watch out for us on the TV, ... read more