Friday Nite @ The Movies

I just had the best movie theatre experience ever....Marie & Scootsy, and you too Dad, this would've changed your movie outtings dramatically!
Stuart and I just went to see 'Inside Man' at the Hoyts cinema in Westfield Shopping Centre in Chatswood. If you haven't seen the flick, I recommend you see it, I give it a double thumbs up...
Anyway, the theatre was huge and the seats? like large arm chairs, I swear, and the foot space was unreal. I even discretely checked if the chairs reclined b/c I didn't get why there was so much space between seats. It took me about 15 mins to get over it - probably the best movie theatre I've been in, in my life
~Christine

Atherton

Overlooking the Tablelands...

Main strip in Atherton...

Lake Eacham...

Waterfall Circuit.....Stuart's Dad says, 'It's like diamonds...'

Tropical FNQ

What a place to arrive when you first enter Australia. Up in Tropical Far North Queensland - I loved it there. Palm trees everywhere, hot and sunny beaches, mountains, etc....Wasn't always tropical and sunny the time I was there, but still, it was beautiful. Here are a few photos (unfortunately some are when it wasn't the best of weather):

This first photo is one of the beaches in Port Douglas. We went to Port Douglas to go Reef Fishing one day and decided to stay in town for a night. Port Douglas is a very touristy area. This is where all the Aussies from down south will go to vacation/retire. The streets are lined with hotels and cafes/restaurants and you see tour busses driving around all the time. I felt like I was at an all inclusive resort of sorts when I was there.

This next one is Mossman Gorge. It was a little overcast and rainy that day, so this was the best photo I got. This reminded me of the Canadian landscape alot. We took a 2.5 km hike around the gorge through the rainforest and looked at the fig trees and things before heading onto Koala Resort where we were going to stay in our Jungle Hut!





And here is the Jungle Hut! My first taste of 'outbacking it'...sortof. Inside was a double mattress and a table. The canvas sides weren't attached to the floor so bugs and other creatures could get in. We were surrounded by a swamp as it had just poured down the night before. So the mossies were out in full force and I got eaten alive! They loved me for some reason. Needless to say, we didn't spend much time in the hut. Our plan was to go to the resort bar, have a few brewskies, and get a little tippy to help us sleep. We did get blasted, although it didn't really help us sleep. The noises from the animals, the rain, and the extreme heat kept us up all night. So I guess my experience in the Jungle Hut wasn't that great, but I'm glad I did it. We'll probably go back some time in the dry season.....
~Christine

Officially Sydney-siders!

I can't believe it's been over a month since we moved to Sydney! Looks like I have some catching up to do....bare with me, this may be a doozey.....

Hmmm, where should I start...well, when we first arrived in Sydney it was a little daunting. All we had was 7 bags of luggage and no where to call home. We stayed in a guest house on Cremorne Point. I was a little weary about the place when we first walked up, but it was actually a really great place to stay. Stuart and I said, 'it was our home away from home' the week that we were there. The staff was really friendly and helpful, there were nice gardens, and it was relatively inexpensive, which was exactly what we were looking for.

The first week was spent looking for a place to live. Looking for a place in Sydney was a challenge. All rentals are inspected and applied for via real estate agents and the agents are useless....they just don't seem to care. Furthermore, it's really expensive and no unfurnished units come with appliances. So you have to rent/buy your own fridge which is a pain in the arse. Anyway, after searching high and low, we finally found a place... in Crows Nest on the North Shore. It was really good to get out of the guest house and have a place of our own to live in. Below is what our apt looks like:

The first week in our new apartment was interesting. Again, all we had was 7 bags of luggage so we had to sleep on the carpet with shirts/towels as our pillows. It was a good thing my first week of work was cruisy b/c I got absolutely no zzzz's. Luckily Stuart's stuff was being delivered that weekend. When we got the mattress, I was jumping with joy! That nite's sleep was heaven. Then we also did what most new apt renters do...went to Ikea! Fair quality stuff on the cheap, just what we needed to make our place more liveable. We're still constantly getting our place in order, but each week it becomes more comfortable to live in so it's all good.

As for work, it's all going fine. It's been quite busy over the last couple of weeks. There are quite a few things that are different from ACNielsen in Canada. Surprisingly, I've had to learn quite a bit since I've started. They do things differently, have different applications, and then of course there's the Australian marketplace that I have to become familiar with. It's not as similar as one might think. How or never, I'll get up to speed soon and then it will be fine.

Right, well, sadly we haven't done too much in the way of sightseeing....just touring around the city really. We've been to Circular Quay to see the Opera house (as per the photo above), walked across the Harbour Bridge (doing the bridge climb will be at a later date), went to Botanical Gardens, St. Mary's church, and spent a Sunday at Darling Harbour with Stuart's parents for 'Fashion Exposed'. We still have plans to do so much more and this time I promise to provide updates more regularly. A few more photos before I signoff:

1) Harbour Bridge 2) The Canadian Unicef Bear at Circular Quay 3) Public Toilets in Hyde Park that you have to pay for ($.50 for 20 mins - great value!) 4) Stuart and I