Long time no posty!

Sorry about the wait guys, but we have been without our crappy free wireless internet for some time now and have been unable to post. Now that I'm at work for the government, though, I'm wide open to post as much as I like! lol

Last weekend we made a trip down to the Gold Coast to hopefully catch some sun and possible some surf! We weren't disappointed in the availability of either. Surfers Paradise is kind of like the Miami of the Gold Coast. There are tons of skyscraper-style buildings, but it's not for commerce. It's all for housing! The night scene is pretty bumpin' and the hostels there are great. They pick you up at the bus stop and they'll run you back as well. Actually, for all would-be backpackers, it's a job you can actually have...driver. Such a sweet gig and it pays better than waiting tables. We ran into a Canadian Vancouverite at the local tourist booth and she's a pharmacist and her boyfriend is an electrical engineer, who is working as a server. Nice to know we're making a contribution to the local economies.

We were pretty diligent about putting on our sun screen, so we didn't get too tanned, but we had a great time at the beach. In the afternoon we'd usually pick up a six pack of stubbies and head back to the beach to sit and relax. At night we'd usually opt for wine and lay down a blanket and watch the moon rise over the ocean.

On the second last day we went for a surfing lesson, and we were really lucky because we were the only ones who signed up that day so we basically got a private lesson. Andrea started off pretty tentatively but then just started heaving that board into the water and jumping into the surf. Both of us got up on the board several times (me practically every time), but after a while Andrea got pretty tired from fighting the waves, which were good that day, and her progress was stifled. I'm not sure if I should be mentioning this, but she did describe her swim suit situation as "I feel like I have the entire ocean in my bottoms." You can imagine why she was a little...ornery.

That night we tried to chill out at one of the three Irish pubs in Surfers, but got rebuffed by the first one because I wasn't presentable enough to get in. To get in to an Irish pub. What was my gaffe? No shoes, only flip flops. These bastards had the worse 'live band' in there, which was basically a one man karaoke show, and a paltry band of customers on a slow night, and I got rebuffed. Not an Irish bloke amongst the lot of 'em, you can imagine. So we ended up at an even crappier Irish pub, but no music. Aww shucks! :P

That night the hostels in Surfers have what's called the "Big Night Out", BNO for short, with which they take you to 4 different bars on a pub crawl. It's a bit legendary, but after surfing all day we were surprisingly tired, and we're also 26 and a couple...not really pub crawl material. We are 'grown ups', after all. That night we were treated to the spectacle of two of our roommates in the dorm celebrating their newfound mutual attraction. I'm SO glad we saved that $10 by not getting a private room. We had a good laugh the next morning over breakfast, that's for sure!

This week we've settled down a bit more and got a lot of stuff done. Andrea arranged someone to deliver and install a previously owned washing machine, we bought some more kitchen stuff and living stuff, and today she's heading out to get a vacuum cleaner. Andrea's main priority in life is to make sure the world around her is clean, so today her mind should be satiated.

We've learned a few big tips on moving house and starting anew, and I will repeat some of them here:

1. Buy a good knife for cooking. You'll be replacing those crappy knives in about 2 days anyways.
2. Buy a good iron/ironing board if you are a professional. Used irons are a great deal, but that $10 you save on a used one will cost you the first time that thing overheats and burns your shirt to pieces.
3. Always leave early. You can never trust a map to determine how long it will take you to walk somewhere. Maps don't include hills!
4. Everything is transient. Just because you had nice, stable, free, wireless, broadband internet yesterday, doesn't mean that your girlfriend won't download 2GB worth of television shows and get that connection shut down until the end of the billing period.
5. Never underestimate the value of a contact, friend, neighbour, or family member. We have been blessed with great support while we've been here and all of that help would not have been available if we'd moved to Sydney or some other such place. Take people up on offers when you can if you could really use the help. Life's too short to learn everything the hard way.

Well, hopefully we can secure internet in the next couple of weeks. I could write several posts on the crappiness that is Australia broadband...but I'll save that for later.

Cheers!

Chris