Bristol Pete
Distinguished Member
Hi to all,
Managed to find a wind up computer to say hello
Long, tiring journey from the UK. Seriously, how mad is it? You just keep on flying! I was ok up until the tenth hour and then suddenly, it was as if someone had injected me with tiredness as I simply could not stay awake. Had a brief 2 hour rest in a very wet Singapore and then flew the 7.45 hours to Brisbane, landing at 7.00pm OZ time. Overall, nearly 22 hours in the air. First impression from the plane? Australia is simply vast, taking near on 5 hours to fly from West to East coast.....Looks cool, but very dark at night. Even at 7pm, way darker than Europe and quite odd. One minute light then bam, get those head lights on.
Was met at the airport by a couple of friends and then drove back to Lozs place to surprise Kaz, after I had passed through immigration and passport control. Very, very tough here. Loads of questions about birds, eggs and farm animal contact as it seems Australia is very concerned about bird flu, which realistically, is just across the water. Other than that - no worries.
Anyway, gave Kaz a massive surprise when I turned up at the house in Brisbane, which is super cool. Two floor town house with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, an electric car port and all mod cons including lovely new kitchen for just under $800 Aus. dollars a month which is sssssssoooooo cheap. Kaz was totally shocked to see me and said the classic line what are you doing here?....it was almost as if she did not realize I had just walked in the door! Had told her was due to arrive later than planned!!!
Chilled out Sunday night, was sat in the back garden with a stubby and was amazed when a Possum climbed over the fence and into our garden. Honestly, it was mad. Managed to get a picture of him. We have named him Pete and its seems he is a regular visitor to the garden....
Had a quick look around Brisbane center Monday. It is a big city, really varied, lots of different cultures here and some mad parallels to Bristol. Both Cities are divided by a huge river and suspension bridges and even saw some Bristol-esque byzantium brick work at an old museum. Loads more to see however. I would describe Brisbane as Spain meets America meets England. Seriously, very hot Monday and a good first insight into OZ with old style colonial town houses juxtaposed against new modern buildings. All very nice though I could not believe it when I saw a guy selling the big issue outside Borders book shop. For a moment I thought I was on Bristols very own Whiteladies road. Aaaaaaaaaarrrgggggggggggghhhhh..... It seems Homelessness appears to be a global epidemic. Poor souls
Arrived in Toowoomba late yesterday as had a petrol leak on the way up here so lost about 3 odd hours travel time. Ho hum, the Australian RAC were great and got us going again. Really nice place, in fact I like it a lot. Reminds me of the town that Marty McFly lived in, in the film Back to the future, with a really nice centre and a great big clock. Kept expecting to see the doc shouting 'Marty, weve got to go back in time!'.............
In perspective, Toowoomba has a population of 90,000 and a shopping mall bigger than Bristols Cribbs Causeway. So, so far so good. Got a base now and can start travel plans etc.
Finally, learnt that the word Kangaroo is aboriginee, meaning 'dont know'. It seems that back in 1770, Captain Cook asked a native what the animal was called and was advised that no one knew. As such, due to Mr. Cook it has been called that ever since as no one ever told him his error!!!! Explorer my arse!!!
That is the latest. All the best for now.
Pete.
Managed to find a wind up computer to say hello
Long, tiring journey from the UK. Seriously, how mad is it? You just keep on flying! I was ok up until the tenth hour and then suddenly, it was as if someone had injected me with tiredness as I simply could not stay awake. Had a brief 2 hour rest in a very wet Singapore and then flew the 7.45 hours to Brisbane, landing at 7.00pm OZ time. Overall, nearly 22 hours in the air. First impression from the plane? Australia is simply vast, taking near on 5 hours to fly from West to East coast.....Looks cool, but very dark at night. Even at 7pm, way darker than Europe and quite odd. One minute light then bam, get those head lights on.
Was met at the airport by a couple of friends and then drove back to Lozs place to surprise Kaz, after I had passed through immigration and passport control. Very, very tough here. Loads of questions about birds, eggs and farm animal contact as it seems Australia is very concerned about bird flu, which realistically, is just across the water. Other than that - no worries.
Anyway, gave Kaz a massive surprise when I turned up at the house in Brisbane, which is super cool. Two floor town house with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, an electric car port and all mod cons including lovely new kitchen for just under $800 Aus. dollars a month which is sssssssoooooo cheap. Kaz was totally shocked to see me and said the classic line what are you doing here?....it was almost as if she did not realize I had just walked in the door! Had told her was due to arrive later than planned!!!
Chilled out Sunday night, was sat in the back garden with a stubby and was amazed when a Possum climbed over the fence and into our garden. Honestly, it was mad. Managed to get a picture of him. We have named him Pete and its seems he is a regular visitor to the garden....
Had a quick look around Brisbane center Monday. It is a big city, really varied, lots of different cultures here and some mad parallels to Bristol. Both Cities are divided by a huge river and suspension bridges and even saw some Bristol-esque byzantium brick work at an old museum. Loads more to see however. I would describe Brisbane as Spain meets America meets England. Seriously, very hot Monday and a good first insight into OZ with old style colonial town houses juxtaposed against new modern buildings. All very nice though I could not believe it when I saw a guy selling the big issue outside Borders book shop. For a moment I thought I was on Bristols very own Whiteladies road. Aaaaaaaaaarrrgggggggggggghhhhh..... It seems Homelessness appears to be a global epidemic. Poor souls
Arrived in Toowoomba late yesterday as had a petrol leak on the way up here so lost about 3 odd hours travel time. Ho hum, the Australian RAC were great and got us going again. Really nice place, in fact I like it a lot. Reminds me of the town that Marty McFly lived in, in the film Back to the future, with a really nice centre and a great big clock. Kept expecting to see the doc shouting 'Marty, weve got to go back in time!'.............
In perspective, Toowoomba has a population of 90,000 and a shopping mall bigger than Bristols Cribbs Causeway. So, so far so good. Got a base now and can start travel plans etc.
Finally, learnt that the word Kangaroo is aboriginee, meaning 'dont know'. It seems that back in 1770, Captain Cook asked a native what the animal was called and was advised that no one knew. As such, due to Mr. Cook it has been called that ever since as no one ever told him his error!!!! Explorer my arse!!!
That is the latest. All the best for now.
Pete.