"So, howdya' like our country, eh?"

I find myself being asked this question often, and maybe it is a mark of how I am settling in to life here in Brisbane that I often ask it of myself and/ or Barnes. I am certainly loving living in Brisbane but find it often hard to articulate why. Bris itself is like any other city, well it has the facilities of any city that I have been in. It has a climate (insofar as I refer to climate meaning the weather experienced to date) that enables its self proclaimed title of "River City" to be something that is enjoyed. Rather than just being a geographical barrier, although it is with only something like four bridges traversing it, the river becomes an enjoyable backdrop to a weekend coffee and it also serves for me as a means if transport- but I have spoken of the River cat enough in previous posts. I spose what I am really trying to say (remember I have said that I have trouble trying to articulate myself) is that Brisbane is lovely as a city to live in. It is no London in that London is vast and has so much history and a vibrant cultural scene, nor is it a Sydney which has those global icons in the Opera House and the harbour bridge, nor is it San Francisco with its bayside location and Golden Gate Bridge. For me Brisbane doesn't need those things. I think three things have happened in the last 24 hours that have, for me, brought home why I like Brisbane. The first was that I was walking through the Pedestrianised shopping bit of Brisbane, the Queen Street mall. The mall has at its top end an area where performances of various kinds regularly take place. On this occasion I think it was a High School band competition. As I was walking past, the school playing at that point was just launching into their rendition of Led Zep's Stariway to Heaven. Oft overdone (as anyone who has seen Wayne's World will no doubt recall), this particular version was unique in that it was mainly performed by a brass section which added some real depth. Yes you're never going to get Jimmy Page's guitar sounds from a group of 15-16 year olds but the warmth from the brass added a little something else. It wasn't just the performance that may me feel a sense of pride, it was the fact that so many people had stopped and were standing watching and apreciating the performance. The second "moment" I had occurred later in the evening. Em and I went to look at a potential suburb for living in called Paddington. Nothing like its London namesake (at least I didn't see any whores touting their wares, no taxi office that I could see and only one Middle Eastern restuarant), Brisbane's Paddington is a delightful area that I would be pleased to call home. In retrospect this particular "moment" came in two parts. The first was that such a lovely little suburb could be found only 3 kms from the city centre (and be affordable to a couple of immigrants!), the second was that when it came time to getting back into the city we decided to hail a cab. There was another young Australian girl who also wanted to do the same and she then asked if she could share. Not a problem for us, and also it worked out nicely for all in terms of shared cab fare. The cab journey itself was pleasant, a three way conversation between passengers and cab driver on the merits of Brisbane and also on the UK where our Australian co-habitant was headed in November of this year to do that OE that so many Australian's do. The third moment for me occurred this morning whilst Em and I were having a morning coffee at the Plaza on the Riverside (one of our fave Brisbane things to do that I must surely have mentioned previously). Just sitting there in the glow of the morning sun, I saw what I thought was a rather fashion conscious young lady with her black brazier glaring from underneath a white top - a bit of a no no I thought. As the young lady continued to walk towards me it transpired that she was pop-Princess (I think Madonna is still queen) Gwen Stefani accompanied by husband Gavin Rodssdale and small child. So you get famous folk the world over. What I am really saying is Brisbane is big enough to attract these performers, yet small enough that I can be in the same place as them, and it be safe enough for them to feel that they can just stroll around with other Brisbanites and not need an entourage to accompany them. Wes, cheers, I too love Brisbane. To go back to my title post, I am going to borrow from the late great Douglas Adams: "The only correct answer to "So, howdya' like our country, eh?" is "Best{insert your own regional swear word here} country in the world!". It certainly is great from my perspective of living here. Just need to see some more of Australia's icons starting with a trip to Sydney on Wednesday.

Evening All

Nah, I haven't been arrested....just it is the evening here. Well it has been a while, and also today marks the first anniversary, in weekly terms, of our arrival in Brisbane. It has been interesting - in a good way. Have completed my first week in the office - just. Information overload has been the oft used phrase this week. The company are certainly a good bunch - which is nice, just lots to get to grips with: new processes, new language, new way of doing things around here. No room for complacency and still much to learn. However things are possibly looking up and I may have my first client based assignment. Not counting ones chickens so more about it should it come off. Other news: Brisbane is a great city. I really cannot say much more than that. Compact enough to get around and yet big enough to really feel like a city. Folks here are friendly (couldn't imagine a Londoner offering you directions, then again I couldn't imagine a Londoner accepting them - as I did!). No hoodies - nice, just plenty of Emo/ Goth dudes (why you would cake your face in make up in temperatures of 20+ degrees I do not know (considering this is Autumn I wouldn't like to consider whether they do this in summer. Many of the restaurants here have a BYO policy so you can take a decent bottle of wine in with you and only get charged $1.50 (yes I have to think in dollars now) or so corkage. That segues nicely into the subject of my earlier blogs: the noble rot. I came here not necessarily expecting to see some of the same Aussie producers that you get in the UK - how wrong was I as were those who had informed me of this. Recent samples: Kangarilla Road Shiraz but not enough jam and fruit for Em (I quite liked its understated approach , so obviously a Shiraz yet smoother than others). Another wine, although not sampled, that I was pleasantly surprised to see was d'Arenberg's Feral Fox Pinot Noir a wine that I had the fortune to sample in the UK, but was rather difficult to get hold of - not so here: three cases just sitting unopened in a little bottle shop we went to last night. Tonight's wares: Battle of Bosworth Shiraz, lovingly being decanted in a plastic jug (all we have before I am branded a philistine!) I'll try and let you know how it is soon.