The River, City and some food stuff

Gorgeous tree by Brisbane River - not sure what kind it is but they're all over the place

So, I am happy to announce that we are now official apartment dwellers in Brisbane Australia!! (pictures our place to come soon)  We are renting a 1-bedroom apartment in the suburb of Taringa from a couple that are originally from Uruguay!  Now that we've had some time to settle in, we have taken a bit of time to do some sightseeing before James starts school (classes begin Nov. 28)  So here are some pictures from the city of Brisbane - one mode of public transportation is called CityCat and it goes along the Brisbane river that winds through the city.  So when we went on that I was able to snap some great pics of the city from a different vantage.

I have also posted some pictures from the grocery store (the main ones here are called "Coles" and "Woolworths" :)  I'm fascinated with how the grocery store is different and has products that I've never heard of before.  I must admit that I was overwhelmed when we first went into a grocery store here.  We had to buy some basic foods on our first night here and we were experiencing some culture shock - because of the time change +15 hours, extreme exhaustion from the 30+ hour of travelling, realizing that we were finally here on the other side of the world and not just for a visit, but for two years AND the fact that cars drive on the opposite side of the road!!!  I'm STILL not used to cars coming from the other side when I'm crossing the road :)

So, our first visit to the grocery store was extremely mind numbing to say the least.  James and I were walking up and down aisles trying to figure out the brands (there are some that are the same, but a lot are different) and attempting to stay on some sort of budget all while considering the fact that we were going to have to lug the food back almost a kilometre to the hostel we were staying at!  We both literally felt dizzy trying to figure things out!


Thankfully, things have gotten much better in the grocery store department and we have started to figure out what brands we like here, but it's still a bit of an adventure when we head into a grocery store.  So I've attached a few pictures of things that were a little different here!

Crazy roots on a tree at the botanical gardens

We haven't really seen many spiders (I think the count is at 5 now), but I saw this yesterday while walking to the movies (it's not as big as it looks haha)  not sure what kind it is though...possibly a wolf spider??

View of the Central Business District (CBD) from the River

The Pedestrian bridge that runs from the CBD to the Brisbane State Library and Museum

Another view of the CBD

They have dog and cat food refrigerated next to the regular meat section - have to be careful not to buy the wrong meat!!

It's possible that we can get this in Canada, but I've never seen it before!!  I don't think I'll be trying it!! - this one's for you Robin :)

They don't keep the eggs in the fridge, just on the shelves in the main part of the grocery store!