Tuesday Update

Sunday night Joel and I went to Robina Town Center to see The Hunger Games. The theater there is Event Cinema and is balla! There was a fancy restaurant and lounge (with Hunger Game themed rescue balloons hanging from the roof), a big candy bar staffed by girls in fifties style white and red striped uniforms, plush carpets and clean, modern bathrooms. There is also a Gold Club, for the ultimate movie experience. For $40 a ticket you can sit on fully reclining chairs in a theater with only forty other people and be served any kind of food you like- at extra cost. Needless to say we did not pick this option!

The actual theater itself had carpet WITH NO STICKY MESS!!! The chairs didn't recline but were super plush and there was alot of leg room. The seats are also assigned. We booked online so picked where we wanted, not sure how much choice you have buying a ticket at the theater.

Joel had read the books of The Hunger Games and thought the movie was good, though condensed too much. I had no interest in reading the books and thought the movie was random and bizarre. The movie made me want to read the books even less (I like my fluff). We had some annoying people in front of us who decided to spend half the movie on the phone and taking pictures. Stupid people, why pay for a movie if you're not going to watch it?

Yesterday was my day off and I spent most of it on the phone! My Mom called first, then I skyped with Jill, then Cher phoned. Jill informed me I should stop making new friends, come home, and become her neighbor on Crab Apple Landing. She's now implemented an action plan of harassing Joel home through text. Oh Jill, life would be so dull without you! While I was talking to Cher baby Nathan (my Godson) woke up to talk to me. I miss my cuddles with that little guy! It makes me sad that the next time I see him he'll be much bigger and less willing to snuggle! For Christmas I had given him a Sleep Sheep (it attaches to the crib and plays relaxing sounds) and it made me happy to hear he can't sleep without it. His favorite sound is the waves. I thought that's special because even though I'm far away we both fall asleep to the sound of the ocean!

Today my new flat iron came in. The one I had originally ordered was discontinued so I had to pick a different one. I got it on sale for $100 cost, which is a huge deal here. I was happy to find a bonus brush, comb and clips when I opened the box!


I forgot to post pics of my other new electrical's the other day. Here's my new Parlux Blowdyer. It cost $150 ON SALE!!! That is ridiculously expensive! So far I like it, but it's a little heavier then what I'm used to. It's supposed to be eco-friendly and less noisy. I also got a set of corded Forfex clippers. Normally I like cordless (cord gets in the way) but the selection of cordless here is slim. These ones were on for a really good deal and actually feel quite light for clippers.

I only worked a half day today. This week is very quiet in the salon and as I'm only a casual worker (part-time) I'm the first one to get sent home. I ran a few errands and had to go fix our address at the Queensland Motor Vehicles Department (the idiots got our suite number backwards and they wouldn't let me fix it over the phone). Brutis is being very bad and has decided we shouldn't listen to loud music. Once the volume gets to a certain level the speakers start to crack. Maybe he just doesn't like the constant Nickelback they seem to play?

I thought I would include a map of Australia and the Gold Coast so people can figure out exactly where I am.

The Gold Coast is an hours drive to Brisbane, over eight hours to Sydney, and seventeen to Cairns. It doesn't look like much but most cities are a long days drive away.

Gold Coast City map. It takes fifteen minutes for Joel to get to work, half an hour for me.

April Fools!

Wow, I can't believe today is already April First!!! Time has been flying and next week we will mark our second month in Australia.

On Wednesday we had a color technique class at work on ombre (when just the ends are lightened) and yesterday I got to try it out on a client. I was excited to try it and love how it turned out. Ombre is super popular in Australia right now. I know it's catching on slowly back home, but I think the beachy feel of it suits Oz more then Canada.

Last night we barbequed with Hamish and Michelle. Michelle's parents have just moved to the Gold Coast from New Zealand, but her Dad is originally from Winnipeg! It was nice to hear a Canadian accent. We drank on the balcony (I enjoyed my own 26 of passion pop- very nice and only $7 a bottle) and we had a Rihanna dance party (Michelle's fav). It was Earth hour from 8:30-9:30 pm, so we turned the lights out and sat outside saving the Earth. Later we came back down to our place and Joel shared the goodness of Sol beer with Hamish. Hamish normally drinks Toohey's, an Aussie beer, but Joel thinks its gross so wanted to culture Hamish in North America's finer beers.

This morning we met up with them again for a hangover breakfast at a little Italian restaurant down the street. Poor Hamish couldn't keep it down and Michelle thought that was a waste of $15 lol! After breakfast we chilled at the pool and enjoyed the sunshine. For anyone curious, fall here is still pretty warm, probably the equivalent of summer in Edmonton. It is a little cooler in the mornings and evening once the sun is down. The sun rises before six am and sets around six pm.

Tonight we're off to Robina Town Center for our first movie experience in Oz, The Hunger Games. I take back anytime I've complained about movie prices at home. One ticket is almost $20.

I thought I'd post a few pics and notes on some basic, day to day things we've been doing to paint a picture of of life here.

The hot tub (or spa in Australian) and pool. I've been hanging out here with a book on my days off, enjoying how quiet it is during a weekday afternoon. Joel and I can usually be found here most nights as well. For days that it's raining we just go inside to the indoor pool and spa. Our bed is super uncomfortable and we both wake up with sore necks and backs, so the hot tubs really are a Godsend.

Ice cream. Always a good idea. Our favorite places have been Cold Rock (kind of like Marble Slab), New Zealand Natural, and Sanctuary Cove Chocolates. I'm predictable and almost always get lemon sorbet, while Joel tests out more flavors. The average price for the two of us is usually $11 (single scoop for me, double for Joel).

Groceries. I changed my mind about prices being the same. They rape you. Our average shop is $150-170. This cart was a "small shop" for us and still cost almost $130. We usually shop at Cole's. There is no Walmart or Costco equivalent to buy in bulk. (Although Australia's first Costco is opening in the capital, Canberra). There is no marble cheese or sugary-good North American cereals. I've been missing cereals especially and am now dreaming about them.

There is construction going on all along the Gold Coast Highway, which we use daily. Progress is slow it seems. They are prepping for a new rapid transit system to be built, the first in Queensland. Lots of locals are not happy about this, but I think it'd be useful. In the meantime most sidewalks along the highway are closed and they have mazes of safe walkways set up for pedestrians.

Australian money. There are no pennies. When you pay for something in cash you round up or down. (When paying with debit or credit it is exact.) The coin denominations are five cents (which is the size of the Canadian dime), ten cents, twenty cents, fifty cents, which all get bigger in size as the value goes up, then a dollar coin which is smaller then the fifty cent piece and two dollars coin which is about the size of a ten cent coin but thicker.

The bills are like the new Canadian hundreds, plasticy feeling with a see through window. The size of the bill gets longer with value. They can also go through the laundry without getting destroyed.

And a big congrats going out to one of Joel's BFF's Andrew- he proposed to his girlfriend Janice yesterday and she said yes! He called at 6:45 this morning to tell us. We are so happy and excited for them! I also found out today that one of my clients from back home, Justine, got engaged recently too, so congrats to Justine and her sweetie as well!

Chefing it Up

Not much new to report today. We had all sorts of weather today- sun, hot heat, dark clouds, rain, rain and sun together. Did some clean-up around the house, sat in the hot tub and enjoyed my day off. I did some scrapbooking today and had a malfunction with my Selphy. A page got stuck somehow and tore apart the cartridge. Not quiet sure if I can salvage it. I don't think it was that long ago that I put it in either.

Joel went out for another round of night golf at his favorite driving range, so I'm on my own tonight. I'm proud to say I cooked myself dinner! (I can't cook anything. My special dish is Mac n Cheese according to Joel). Not just an instant meal or cereal, a real dinner. I was oddly inspired and decided to try it out- and it worked! Not that I made something difficult, but I feel pretty proud!

Last Week of March

Monday was a beautiful day so I decided to go for a walk and explore the suburb of Broadbeach, which is directly south of Surfers. We live right on the border of the two suburbs, so I tell people we live in Broady as it is much nicer then Surfers. Like Surfers, it also has many tall towers, but it has a more chill vibe (with way less weirdos). There are tons of lounges and restaurants that I want to try out, plus better quality boutiques.

Oracle Avenue. Hot spot in the evenings or lunch time.


Not sure what this building is, but I'm amazed at the curves in the architecture.

The famed Jupiter's Casino

Just out front of the Oasis Shopping Center. This area is also quiet busy. To the right is the Starbucks of Broadbeach. (One of three on the Gold Coast- they aren't as popular in Oz for some reason)

There's a monorail that connects Jupiter's to the shopping center. (Don't think this is useful for anyone except guests at Jupiter's going shopping. Public transit is not amazing here)

Later I chilled at the beach. It was the perfect beach day- warm with a nice breeze. The water was so clear today. I love having this at my doorstep!

The Australian Surf-Life Saving Championships are going on this week, so I stopped to check it out. There were tons of stands set up along the beach so people could watch the competition.

Monday evening Joel went night golfing at Emerald Lakes (his new fav) and I went to my very first Zumba class. What a workout! I kinda felt like a retard at the beginning, but by the end of the class I was totally into it. The instructor was impressed with how well I picked up for my first time. All those years of dancing paid off! I'm for sure going back next week. It's not too far from home either, so I can walk there.

Yesterday I was able to get my color done at the end of the day. My regular bleach and tone takes twice the time here as it does at home. Because of the humidity, bleach lifts, so you have to go through and apply it twice. And it processes for fifty-five minutes versus thirty-five. We tried out the new organic bleach in my hair and it was beautiful! Little to no scalp irritation (there are special organic oils that get added into the lightener to help soothe the scalp) and when we rinsed the color there was no yellow- this never happens! All my new 220 volt electrical tools arrived today too which is exciting. I'll post pics later.

Last night Joel and I met up with Ashley and her school mate Buffalo Jeff (he's from Buffalo) at CBD's for drinks. (Jeff calls Joel "Trapper Joel" because he's Canadian so he decided Jeff needed a wild west nickname too, hence "Buffalo Jeff"). Usually it gets pretty busy there, but for some reason last night was dead. There was literally us and maybe four other people there. At ten o'clock the staff decided the night was a right off, so they closed early. We were all craving Macca's so hit up the drivethru for late night goodness. I really wish they had Oreo McFlurry's here! The hot fudge is ok but it really can't compare.

Today was a supposed to be a relaxing day (day off, sleep in, massage) but ended up being quite frustrating. My massage did not compare to back home, there is nosy work being done to our building, and I had all sorts of little things to deal with. Last month somebody hit and ran out rental car and I found out today that the insurance company had not received any of the paperwork I sent them, so I had to resend it all. We're waiting for our registration labels for the car, which I also applied for last month, but they have our wrong address on file and now I have to go back to the rego office and get things cleared up. I also think something's up with our dryer. Things normally take a long time to dry here, but it was taking a ridiculous length of time today. I eventually gave up and hung everything outside. Then I went to the beach to read and relax, but twenty minutes after arrival it started to rain. Luckily it didn't last long, so I took my book down to the hot tub and I eventually felt better.

On the news tonight it was announced that Australians are lacking vitamin D. How is this possible in a country they can go outside in the sun all year???

Sanctuary Cove & Danger Point

The sun stayed out all day Saturday, so after work Joel and I headed to check out nearby Sanctuary Cove. This is a suburb north of work and all my clients have been telling me to check it out. It's apparently the Beverly Hills of the Gold Coast. We drove past the Sanctuary Cove Golf Club and of course had to check it out for Joel. This is where pro-golfer Adam Scott plays and he lives in a gated neighborhood nearby. Green fees here are pretty pricey, and a yearly membership is ridiculous- $45000 plus maintenance fees. Guess Joel won't be golfing with Adam Scott anytime soon!

There is also a big marina at Sanctuary Cove filled with fancy yachts. We stopped to watch the boats and enjoyed the best ice cream ever from a little chocolate shop.
Now that we both have regular paychecks coming in, we can finally try out some of the local restaurants. There are so many around us, so I'm hoping we can test out something new each week like we did at home. Last night we went to Hokazuno for Japanese food. We sat right at the grill. The chef asked where everyone was from, and after the neighboring two couples found out we were Canadian, we had some instant new friends. They all live in Brisbane and gave us all sorts of things to see and do on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane. At ten thirty the staff subtly asked us to leave. I still think it's weird that the restaurants close down so early here.

After a few phone calls home to the bros from Joel, we drove half an hour south to Point Danger in Coolangatta. This is basically the divider between the states of Queensland and New South Wales. You can see the entire Gold from the north and down to Byron Bay from the south. (It was cloudy and super windy when we got here, so I'm sure it wasn't as amazing as it would be on a sunny day.) Point Danger was named by Captain James Cook in 1770. There is now a lighthouse memorial in his honor which was the first lighthouse to experiment with laser beams. Point Danger connects the Pacific Ocean to the Tweed River. Due to the rough swells, a dangerous sand bar builds up at the river's mouth. A pipe system was built to pump the sand out before building a bar. Now the sand is pumped away nightly to feed the Gold Coast's beaches.

Surfers Paradise view.

I picked up some Easter treats today that I've been wanting to buy for the last few weeks. I was a bit disappointed by them though, they weren't as good as I thought they'd be.

Tonight we headed down to the restaurant here at our apartment, Kesh. They had a dinner special on that we couldn't refuse! We usually end up at the same table, so the waiter Fernando had "our table" reserved. Fernando is from Brazil and is still working on his English. When he greets us, it's always "Hello Sirs". He has kind of a creepy laugh, so Joel always ends up imitating it on our way home from dinner. Then we always think of the Abba song "Fernando" and get that stuck in our heads for the rest of the night.

There was a state election yesterday. I learned from my clients that elections always fall on a Saturday and that there is a $150 fine for those who don't vote. I'm sure this makes for a lot higher voter turnout then in Canada. It was a landslide win for Liberal leader Campbell Newman (aka Campbell "Can-do") with 70% of the votes. Sounds like it's been awhile since this party's been in power.

Thanks to everyone who's been reading my blog! I was just checking out stats and in three months I've had more readers then all of last year, woo hoo!

Happy Merrisica Day!

As promised, today I celebrated my fellow gangsta Merrisa's 25th Birthday at the beach! Cheers to you Merrisa, I hope it's a special day!

I had the day off so I slept in! So nice, as usually I have to get up at six thirty (I drop Joel off at work in order to have the car to drive myself to work). It was still pretty cloudy today, then all of a sudden at three o'clock the clouds blew off and out came the sun! I feel even better knowing back home there is a ton of snow! Today was the first day I didn't even feel a little bit homesick.
Later on I had a Skype chat with the new Mrs. Genyn, fresh from her honeymoon. It was good to chat and catch up on all the latest news from Treasured Memories.

I had a chance to do some scrapbooking today! I've decided to change the tactic to my smashbook slightly. I'm doing full page layouts for bigger events, and half or quarter pages for smaller day to day events that I still want recorded. I picked up a date stamp from Office Works too. I had one in my Project Life kit for all my journaling cards and liked the look of a stamp better than my own writing. In my typical fashion, I went through and revamped a few of my previous pages, but now I'm happy with the direction things are going.

Mail Call

Last night Joel and I were looking through pictures of my 2011 Project 365 blog and remembering fun times. It made us both feel sad and really miss our friends back home. Even though things are getting more home-like here, friends are something you really can't replace or forget about. We went down to the pool and hot tub, our new nightly routine, and checked the mail on the way up (as I had forgotten to do so after work). I wasn't expecting to find any mail in the box, so when I noticed that I had not one, but TWO packages in the mail I was ecstatic! (Plus a hilarious Jesus flyer from our local Jehovah's, so I guess it was a really good mail day!). Package one was a card and a special good luck angel and coin from Coralie. Package two was a handmade friendship tag and little note from the talented Lisa. I was so happy to get these thoughtful and wonderful gifts from my friends! I added them to my growing collection of keepsakes on my bedside table, which so far consists of cards from Jill and Baby Sister, a postcard from Sandee (which is actually the first postcard on my fridge), and a $20 Canadian bill from Omi (I love that she still sends cash in the mail). Thank you so much for thinking of me everyone! I really appreciate the mail!

This morning I went into work for a class on our new product line, Zenz. I LOVE it! The whole line is sulphate and para-bin free. There is a range of 100% organic shampoos and conditioners designed for different hair and scalp issues featuring different essential oils, as well as a Luxury Line of styling products. My boss Joanne gave me a few samples to take home and try for myself. I also picked up a keratin serum. I have a lot of breakage and Jo says the keratin will help strengthen the ends and stop the breakage. I've never used a keratin based product before so I'm excited to try it out. Maybe my hair will finally start getting longer!?
I got my first paycheck today! It feels so good to have money in my account and not have to pay for everything on credit card. Tax here is lots lower then home, so I had a pretty decent check. In Australia paychecks are paid out weekly which is also a huge bonus.
It's been pretty cloudy and rainy here this week due to a monsoon that is happening north of
us on Fraser Island. It's still warm with temperatures around 27 degrees, so it's super humid. Here's a picture looking out of our balcony. Visibility is lower due to all the cloud cover.