Christmas 2011

This year for Christmas James and I decided to join in with eight of his classmates (5 Canadians, 2 Americans and 1 Aussie) that were headed to the coast for Christmas - We stayed in Noosaville for two nights and three days.  The weather was calling for rain, but it only rained on our first night, and the rest of the time was warm and sunny!  It was great to join in celebrating Christmas with others who were in the same situation - away from family and wishing for traditions of home!!

It was cool to see how everyone wanted to "recreate" what they were missing at home.  Because of this, everyone was able to partake in homemade cookies, eggnog from scratch (which is sooo good!), watching "The Grinch" on christmas eve, of course exchanging gifts on Christmas day, and Christmas dinner.  We also went to the beach on Christmas day, which is a big tradition here in Australia.  Of course we missed our family terribly, but it was helpful to celebrate with others and finally get to see the Coral Sea!

So here are some pictures from our trip to the coast!  I apologize if its a bit repetitive - I could not stop taking pictures, it was so gorgeous on the beach!!

Happy New Years to everyone!  All the best for 2012!!!

This is the view from our room in Noosaville

Our Room - we got the queen size bed and private room!!

The Noosa River which feeds into the Coral sea

Christmas Day - all along the river people had tables and awnings set up with Christmas lunch + barbecue and presents ready to be unwrapped.  Another tradition in Australia!

The beach!!!  The waves were huge!!

So happy to finally be at the beach!!

On the rocky pier that jutted out into the water

Can you spot the surfers

Christmas Dinner!!  We had chicken, Steak, ham, veggies, green beans, and gravy, and we also had Christmas crackers imported from Canada!!

The crew!

Boxing day along the river - more people having dinner and celebrating!

On Boxing day we walked along a path went around the point of the main beach - all of those people are surfers!

About to jump in (no we did not go surfing, but we hope to soon!)

Along the path - I thought these trees were interesting.

My new Job!

So here are some pictures of the shop that I've just started working at as of about two weeks ago!  All of the inside shots are of the shop called "Pure" which sells candles, perfume, clothing, accessories, silk & fresh flowers.  the shops outside are of a shop called "Foliage" which sells all outdoor things like garden accessories, plants, umbrellas and outdoor decor!


I also wanted to say Merry Christmas to you all, and I hope to have pictures up  shortly of how we spent our First Christmas in the land down under!!

Roo Burgers and City Skylines

Here's my latest post!  I've been trying very diligently to keep these posts themed, but I was at a loss as to what to post this time to try to keep in a theme!  So here you have it, some random and hopefully what you might find interesting shots of some things that James and I have seen and done.  

Just to keep everyone updated on the latest news on what's been going on with us.  I got a job last week!!!  I'm working in a retail/florist shop called Pure (there is also another shop affiliated with it called Foliage)  Pure sells upscale gifts, home decor, baby things, silk floral and fresh flowers. Foliage is a permanent booth that sells plants & garden accessories.  It's in an outdoor mall called "The Barracks".  I had an interview last Monday and as of today, I've worked two days and I'm really enjoying it so far!

The other BIG news is that we finally got the internet in our apartment, so hopefully the blog uploads will become a little more regular! :)

I hope everyone is looking forward to Christmas, and everyone in Canada is appreciating any snow!  I have to admit I've become one of those cliched Canadians that miss snow.  I can't help but feel that Christmas just isn't the same without that crisp cold feeling in the air!

View of one of the pedestrian bridges over the Brisbane River at night

I just had to take a picture of this margarine, it was just funny to me.  There are some interesting brands here!

A coworker at Burts Greenhouse gave me a tip that the mascara here would be more expensive!  Good thing I stocked up before I came here!

So we actually did have this for dinner a couple weeks ago.  My review of Kangaroo burgers?  I would have to say that eating them made me jumpy.  No, seriously, I would have to say they were extremely low in fat, in fact we needed to put oil on the nonstick pan we used to cook them, but the flavour was pretty good maybe similar to lamb burger?  Although I couldn't get it out of my head that I was eating a kangaroo, and feeling a little guilty.

View of the city skyline at night

This guy was drawing the city skyline in pencil over a few days in the State Library while people watched - pretty cool!

The CityCat - one of the modes of public transportation in Brisbane, it travels along the river, stopping on both sides.  A pretty cool way to get around the city and see it from a different vantage point

Some of the palm trees are so huge!  Just wanted to give a perspective.  And directly behind me is a whole stand of bamboo!

One of the booths in front of the state library, we have spent many hours there skyping our family until we had internet at home.  I'm not gonna lie, I'm glad we don't have to do that any more - not a very private or comfortable place to have conversations!

This was our second option of where we skyped (also in front of the state library)  We sat on the cement and skyped with our laptops here as well.  even less comfortable!

This is at the King George Square in Brisbane, notice the palm trees in the background.  It's hard to get perspective on the size of the tree, but it's pretty big, although it still seems odd when the weather here is so warm, and we are getting tropical rains instead of snow!

This orchid was growing in someone's front yard.  Craziness!

James wanted me to take a picture of these dogs, the sign seemed a bit ironic. :)

This was a room on display at the Brisbane Museum of Modern Art which we checked out last week.  We were quite excited to discover that the admission was free!  The artist that created this room is Yayoi Kusama.  Pretty funky stuff!!

My Mom asked me to take a picture of some of the fashions to post on here.  The fashions here seem to be much more varied and funky with lots of bright colours.  Here's an example of a section of one of the stores I was in a few days ago.

Another  view of the same store.

James and I found a Starbucks, and we were pretty excited to discover it!  This was on display outside of the store.  Pretty creative!

We had to get a picture of me holding a shopping bag in the David Jones Department store for our friend David Jones!

This little guy comes out most nights by our front light to eat all the bugs, they move fast though!

This guy was sitting on the boardwalk that runs along the river, and James yelled at me for getting too close!  I think it was more scared of me than I of him.  But James was insistent that it could attack!!