23rd Aug 2011 - 13th Sep 2011 We had read on other people's blogs it was so easy to get jobs in Brisbane. But we want to say it's not that easy! Shan had been looking for work for over 2 weeks. He had been on gumtree.com.au and seek.com.au. Shan also handed his CV into a few places to be told they dont take on people with working visas.
However we asked our landlord who runs the hostel if he knew of any work- and he actually knew of some short term work. So I phoned the guy and we both went to work at 'The Queensland T-shirt company'. It was meant to be just 4 days work whilst they had a big order but the boss asked if we want to do more shifts next week too. The warehouse is in Eagle Farm so we took the train to Doomben. The first day we took the citycat ferry but realised train was better but we got some great views as we sailed down the Brisbane river. We have been folding thousands and thousands of T-shirts which had been printed on, then packing them in bags into boxes. It probably sounds boring but it wasn't hard work although it was a bit tedious and we both were glad we had each other to chat to. It is a very relaxed environment and the staff are nice, and it pays well, and cash in hand! We could start and finish whenever we liked and took a generous lunch breaks, one day the boss said we were all having a barbie for lunch which one of the guys cooked, was great! Our first Aussie barbie! Shan also has an interview this week for a delivery driver so fingers crossed for that! I have also been doing my shifts at Gambaros so been earning lots of money. It's also been busy because there has been a lot of games held at the suncorp stadium. There was the Australia v New Zealand tri nations rugby game which brought us over 1000 customers having pre-match meals. They opened all 3 floors plus converted the underground carpark into eating area. I worked down there that night and worked a 13 hour shift until 3am my feet were swollen by end of night (and I mean really sore swollen- worse than wearing high heels on a night out). It was that bad I called in sick the next day. Also the Australian national football team the Soceroos played their world cup qualifier against Thailand one night so that was busy.
Shannon went along to the game and watched them win 2-1, he said the stadium was more packed and they crowd were louder than at the rugby. He enjoyed the game! I actually met one of the Soceroos a few nights before- Tim Cahill. He was there with Brett Emerton who plays for a Sydney team (and a friend and their physio ). I didn't know who they were but when I got home Shannon told me excitedly that they play for Everton and Blackburn! They are here for internationals week.
I have been assigned more tables recently and with that brings me lots of tips. I've been getting $40+ a night and a few times had over $80. So maybe it's not too bad after all! Also had Adam Ghilchrist the cricketer in for a VIP luncheon. Locky has also been back in for lunch and I didn't recognise him as I was too busy playing peek-a-boo with his little boy! We have been out and about again wandering the streets of Brissy. We walked around the CBD and found the oldest surviving structure in all of Queensland- a windmill. It was built by the convicts and the man powered treadmill was used from 1828, later it was turned into an observation tower by the fire brigade and now stands locked up. We found ourselves in a Korean restaurant one night after looking for food. It was interesting and lovely food. We have been back at Nando's too. As for eating in- we bought Kangaroo steaks which Shan cooked perfectly, we enjoyed it but the meat is not as good as beef steak. So we tried again with kangaroo burgers and they were nice! Still keeping up with going to the cinema once a week and we've been to see 'horrible bosses' which was quite funny and also went to see 'The Change-Up' which was as funny as the trailers made out. Also we were excited to see that the film 'Australia' was on tv one night so we got in the popcorn and watched that! We have bought seasons 1-5 of 'Entourage' and we are addicted to it, it's really good and funny!!
September and Spring have arrived and along with that comes the Brisbane Festival. Which is on throughout the first 3 weeks of September. There is fireworks, laser shows, brass bands, symphony orchestras, circus, live events, and many more. The first day is also the 'Riverfire' which is a huge fireworks display, so I pulled a sickie from work and we went along to the best spot at the Southbank. We wandered around and there was lots happening, we saw fighter jets whizz loudly pass, army helicopters race along above the river, army vehicles you could sit in- which we did! We watched a 'peep dance' in other words- a weird expressional dance booth in which dancers who looked on drugs swayed about while we all peeped through holes to see them. We got a burger at a stall and headed to the waters edge for a good view of the fireworks and wow they were the best fireworks we had both seen!
The fireworks lasted around half an hour and lit up the sky all the way down the river, from the Kurilpa bridge to the Goodwill bridge. The fireworks were coming from platoons in the water and also from roof tops of the tallest buildings. The night sky was exploding! It was estimated that half a million people would be there to watch the fireworks and I doubt anyone would've been disappointed. We followed the crowd back across the bridge to the CBD and went down Queens Street mall and had a beer before getting a nutella crepe and walking home. Was a good night!
The next weekend we went to see the 'city of lights' laser and light show, again at Southbank. There was a great spectrum of lights and lasers which radiated from rooftops, the river and bridges, all set in time to symphonic musical scores. The lasers looked great as they lit up the buildings and sky, and reflected on the river. It made the landscape very pretty. We enjoyed it that much that we stayed to watch the show again, in between times we went into a tent with LED lights which changed colours.
The place we are staying is in a great location but we have decided to move on because we found cheaper places, we have been on a few websites such as easyroomate.com.au and houseshare.com.au and found lots of potential places and some have got back to us. We went to view one after work one day and it was a big house with everything and more than we wanted, we are also going to view another apartment no flat share so are excited, will update you next time. We have now been travelling for over 3 months and celebrated our 100th day by having cocktails and watching the laser show!
