Time to update on my first week in Brisbane.

First off I would just like to announce that as of 3am on Sept 3rd, I am now an aunt :)

Lisa gave birth to a gigantic beast of a baby girl, weighing in at 9lbs. Not having a clue about babies whatsoever, I am told that is quite heavy for a newborn, which leads me to believe the kid will grow up to resemble my nanny. Any of you who met her (and if Neil is reading this, I'm sure he will be wetting himself as he thinks of all the 'Beast' stories we made up at school) will know that my nan was really tall and well built. This is a good sign, as I did fear that Neve might grow up to be stupidly small, like me and Lisa. I haven't actually spoken to Lisa yet, but I am fairly sure that they are still settled on the name of Neve.

And onto the subject of my first week back in Western society....

Brisbane is a big change from Darwin. I have some trouble believing they are both in the same country. Darwin was all small buildings, dusty roads amd insane locals, and Brisbane is all skyscrapers, shopping malls and business-like people. You can tell which place I prefer.
The place I am staying at is really nice, it is in an area just outside the CBD called New Farm, but it is so close you can actually walk into the city centre in about 25 minutes. Which is handy for me as lately I have been feeling like I have not been getting any exercise whatsoever. There is a swimming pool in New Farm which I initially got excited about, but I have now found out it is:

A) Outside
B) Stupidly expensive, especially compared to the pool I last used for lap swimming in Sydney
C) A pool used by olympic and extremely athletic swimmers

so that option may be ruled out as a means of exercise. Which is annoying as I really do miss my swimming. There IS a pool at the hostel but the neighbours complained about people dive bombing off balconies into it, so now it is no longer filled.

The people here are also pretty cool, I am starting to make some good friends, as this is one of those hostels where people stay long term while they work. It is fairly small, so you get to know everyone quite quickly. There are a lot of Irish people here, which presents problems for me from time to time, as I have trouble understanding what they say after they have been drinking (anytime after 2pm). But all in all they are a nice bunch. They have dragged me down with them as of late, as the weather has been constantly rainy, which means I have been stuck in the hostel with nothing to do apart from drink wine (or 'goon' as it is known here) for the past few days.

Things are looking up however, I have gotten myself a job here cleaning the bathrooms, which sounds like a shite job but because they are cleaned everyday, they are always fairly clean, which means not a lot of hard work for me. I get to live here for free, which is a bonus, and also go on local tours for free.
On the downside, I only get $100 a week, as it is only a 3 hour a day job, so I am having to look for an evening job to make more money. I have had some success in that area, as I have a trial in a restaurant tomorrow, but my cup is only half full, as I doubt I'll get the job once they realise the fact that I am rather clumsy and forgetful.

But keep your fingers crossed just in case :)

I am not sure how long I am going to stay here, I am hoping save enough money to get a flight to Melbourne and stay there for a week. Ness and I are both dying to go on the Neighbours tour, as we heard somewhere that you can get drunk with key members of the cast, and I think it would be hilarious to get trashed with Harold :)

That is me pretty much up to date, and being as I get free internet, I will try to post on here more often.