All posts by Jon

Goings on

Random Musings, Travel

Yeesh, we’ve been slacking on the blogging lately. Since our last post, there have been a few adventures.

Fiji:

Sara’s company was celebrating it’s 20th anniversary and to do so in style, they took the whole company (including families) to Fiji for Easter weekend.  It’s was a short (3.5 hours) direct flight for us from Brisbane, woo.  All expenses were paid, so there was much eating and drinking!  Our room was a ocean view Bure (Fijian style villa) and it was wonderful.

Relaxing in Fiji

There was a bit of stress with a category one cyclone passing near us on the second night.  It was very windy and quite loud, not an experience I’d like to repeat.  The next morning, we awoke to a lot of standing water and quite a bit of debris that washed ashore.

A bit of debris on the beach

So that was a bit more excitement than we bargained for, but the rest of our time there was quite enjoyable and relaxing.

Sports:

In the summer we made it to a NBL basketball game and a T20 cricket match. Now that the seasons have changed, there were some different sports on offer – including a quadrennial competition, so it was time for more!

First, the Commonwealth Games were coming to the Gold Coast.  We decided the best option would be to pick a sport that we would otherwise never see live and then make a day out of a trip to the Gold Coast (which is about 1.5 hours away, but the event ticket includes free train travel).  After narrowing down our options to Squash, Weightlifting or Badminton – we decided on Badminton!  But first, time for beers!

Beachside beers
BEER!
Badminton

We live just down the road from Suncorp stadium, which is the rectangular stadium used for rugby and soccer.  We chose to go see the Brisbane Broncos play – they are a rugby league team.  When we were in Melbourne went to a rugby union game.  Don’t ask me what the rule differences are, because I have enough trouble following the game.  I think rugby league is meant to be the more exciting of the two.  It certainly has a much larger professional league in Australia.  Unfortunately, the Broncos lost.

Very rectangular

The Brisbane Lions are the local Aussie rules football team.  They play at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, otherwise know as the Gabba (it is in the suburb of Woolloongabba). They’ve been pretty terrible the last few years and are doing about the same this year (currently 17th out of 18 teams).  Unsurprisingly, the Lions lost.

Worst picture ever?

USA Trip:

As I’m always up for an excuse to travel across the world, I decided I’d join my mates for the annual golf trip to North Carolina again this year.  This year we were treated to glorious weather with the courses all in great condition.  Our golf skills remain as mediocre as ever.

Chris, Erik, Chad, Jon, Drew

I combined the golf trip with a stopover in California to see my mom and brother both coming and going.  Jeff and I even managed to sneak in a round of golf.

On the shores of Lake Tahoe with Mom and Jeff
Jeff rocking the CA socks

I also stopped in to see my friend Mike in SC.   Shockingly there is no photo evidence of the time I spent with Mike in South Carolina.  We played golf and ping pong,  ate tacos, grilled steaks, drank beer and sat in disbelief as the Caps actually beat the Penguins in the NHL Playoffs.  It was a good time.

Brisbane:

We are still loving the Brisbane weather.  The autumn / winter here has been pretty great.  Still shorts weather and days full of sunshine.

Winter is nice for walks on the beach

I’m still golfing with my Australian mates as well.

G’day

3rd Australiaversary

Random Musings

It is hard to believe I arrived in this strange land three years ago!  Time flies when snakes and spiders are trying to kill you.  Just kidding, I’ve only seen one snake and while I see a lot of spiders around, none seem to move at all.  Of all the things I thought I might generate a phobia of in Australia I would never have picked birds.

That’s right, birds.  I am now slightly terrified of birds.  All it took was continued swooping over 3 holes of golf by a small bird to now make me think every bird I see flying is going to come straight for me.  Sara can attest to my flinching. Birds here are also very plentiful and make so much noise.  There are magpies, angry cockatoos, squawking lorikeets and whatever the bird is that makes a “car alarm” noise.  They like to start when the sun comes up, which is 4:45am in Brisbane in the summer.  Woo.  Give me a pregnant poisonous snake under my fridge any day.

I promise I’m not trying to steal your eggs.

Even after all these years its hard to get onboard with the lingo. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to just say “G’day mate” to a stranger and just don’t think to do it.  It still surprises me when someone says it.  I do say “Cheers” a lot now.  I also got called out recently by an American visitor for saying “windscreen” instead of  “windshield”.  So some stuff is sticking.

Things I miss:

  • People – that’s a no-brainer
  • Retail competition – there’s just not enough people here to have to the Walmarts, Targets and Amazons or more than 2-3 types of any given product
  • Funny ads – not a lot of creativity in the TV commercials here
  • Central heat / AC – why Australia, why?
  • Stable housing location – after not moving for 11 years, we’ve moved 3 times now
  • Cheap beer – but the craft beer offerings are getting better
  • Good weather radar – radar is terrible here and not very useful locally
  • Normal, non-swooping birds

Things I don’t miss:

  • Prescription drug and political ads
  • Snow/ice (cold weather in general)
  • Traffic
  • Crowds
  • Signing credit card receipts
  • Tipping and tax added after the total
  • Dollar bills, bland money
So colorful

Things I’m indifferent about:

  • Which side of the road / car to drive on – I believe I’m masterful at driving wherever.
  • Long flights – after 7 transpacific flights, what’s another 14 hour flight?

So, I haven’t gone full ‘Straya yet, but I’m slowly getting there.

G’day mate!