Thursday, June 26, 2008

Life in BrisVegas!

Life here in Brisbane (a.k.a.BrisVegas and Brissy) is going swimmingly. I moved here in order to look for work as there was none to be found in Adelaide. I was successful! There is so much work here that you don't have to look very hard to find it. In fact, I did not even have to put one resume out before work found me! On day 2 at the hostel as I was gearing up to go into the city to look for work, a lady rocked up in a station wagon looking for a cleaner for the day. I said I would do it and I ended up scoring a great job. It is NOT a glamorous job, nor a fun job, but it is in fact a job with plenty of hours and great pay. So what is the job? I am cleaning construction sites during their final stages of completion, before they are handed over to the client. Most of these sites are office buildings. My new boss was so impressed with me, she bought me a phone and promoted me to supervisor. I am now in charge of 3 buildings, 3 floors each, being built for Virgin Blue Airlines. This site will keep me busy for the rest of my time in Brisbane!
I plan to stay here until the end of August or so. Or until I get really bored and feel I have enough money to continue on, whichever comes first. In any case, this is definitely my home for the next couple of months.
I am living at a hostel appropriately named Homestead. We have a great little crew of long term residents here. I have made a lot of friends and have a good time with them on the weekend when I am not working my 60 hour weeks! Here are a few pictures of them on a night out :)











p.s. for those wondering about my birthday... Any money gifts can be given to my father who will deposit them into my account. Or if you would like to send a gift, my mother knows what I need :) Thanks! If you want to send me a card, my mailing address here is
Anny Barlow
57 Annie St.
New Farm, Qld 4005
Australia
I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful and stress free summer!
p.p.s. one more thing... I would like to congratulate my brother Mike and his wife Jen on the new arrival of their son William Eli, born June 2, 2008!! I miss my family, especially the little ones more than anyone knows. Take care!






Monday, June 16, 2008

Byron Bay/ Nimbin Adventure with the Girls!

This weekend was WONDERFUL! Just what I needed, a weekend away with the girls. At my hostel in Brisbane I have been lucky enough to meet 2 great females by the names of Esther (English) and Carole (French). The 3 of us rented a camper van for the weekend and made an escape from the city. We rented our camper van from a company called Wicked which paints each of their vans with a crazy theme; ours was Jefferson Airplane! This company was also doing a promotion, so the rental was only $20 total, $6.66 each! Score!


We left on Saturday morning after a few hours of sleep from a big night out on Friday :) It took us just over 2 hours to drive south along the Gold Coast to a happening beach backpackers town with a hippie-ish undertone to it called Byron Bay. This town is fantastic, I had been there once before for an afternoon in 2005, but did not get to explore it as much. We headed right for the beach, and even though it was cold outside and the water was frigid, Esther and I jumped right in, then right out again... berrr! We played around on the beach, enjoying the sand between our toes and then watched the sunset over the mountains from the beach and enjoyed a night stroll checking out the local shops. Then we headed south about 20 minutes to a sleepy town called Lennoxhead.









It was here in Lennoxhead that we wanted to make camp. It was awfully cold outside, and we did not have tents so we 'made camp' in our camper van, parked right along a beautiful beach. We went to bed early, exhausted from the night before and the drive, so that we could get up with the sun! After watching sunrise, I went for a chilly swim in the lake across the street. This was no ordinary lake, it was surrounded by tea trees. Therefore when you swim through the water it seems fresher than normal, exhilarating with a bit of a mint-i-ness freshness to it! It is also said to be good for the skin, but I don't think I remained in the water long enough to experience this. It was a hell of a morning watching the sunrise over the beach then taking a chilly dip in the lake, I was definitely awake by 7am!

After our brief time at the lake, we set out for town called Nimbin which was inland about an hour. This town is said to be Australia's answer to Amsterdam. Now I have never been to Amsterdam, but I assure you this town is rather lacking. It has only one street containing a few cafes, the hemp museum and hemp bar. We went on a Sunday which is when Nimbin has its markets. The markets were great, I got a ring and a pair of pants. The overall vibe of the town on a Sunday was fabulous as the markets are open and the sun was shining and music was playing. After walking around for a few hours the girls and I made our way back to Byron for dinner, followed by Lennoxhead again for camping.


This time we managed to get 2 more camper vans from Byron to join us for a little party on the beach. It remained a mellow night and we resorted to playing cards in the camper van after a certain point because it was just to cold to be on the beach anymore. We tucked ourselves in and went to sleep around 2, then awoke again to a beautiful sunrise for the second morning in a row. We packed up early and headed back to the hustle and bustle of the city of Brisbane. It was truly an awesome weekend that was jam packed with fun, adventure, and amazing memories! Thanks again Esther and Carole for a hell of a time :)