Finally.... Internet connecton

With a little help from Microsoft and their new Vista operating system I was able to get an internet connection in my hotel room! So let the blogging begin!

This is my second Saturday here in Brisbane. Still no rain and barely a cloud in the sky.

The picture to the left is the view of the CBD (Central Business District) I have from my hotel room. The hotel (Central Cosmo in Milton) is about 2 km (I have to learn metrics so you will have to also :-) ) from the CBD. I decided to take a walk along the river on one of my first days here in Brisbane. The River is the heart of this city. They have great walk/cycling/rollerblading paths on each side. In the morning and evening the river is full of people on bikes either out for exercise or more likely commuting to work.

Here is a pic of the path way that runs to and from the city.

Also along the way I wandered through a mangrove section of the river. This is literally in the center of the city!

Now for some of the fun things..... getting a lime for you drink down here is very difficult. For some strange reason they can grow lemons but not limes! When you order a Corona they give you a lemon slice. If you do get a drink that normally would have a lime or two in it they use fake lime juice. Talking about Corona, the Aussies love it! As much as they are beer snobs and put their nose up at any ale brewed in America they love Corona! I was in the bottle store (their name for a liquor or package store) last week to check out the prices on beer and wine. I was laughing to myself when I saw the following signs:

Yes your eyes are not playing games on you! $48 for a case of Budweiser and $54 for a case of Corona!

I move into my apartment next Saturday! I will have more posts this week. Work is going good so far. There is a public holiday on Aug 15. Ekka. Its a celebration of Queensland's agriculture industry. Sort of reminds me of one big Topsfield Fair!

I will be putting pictures up on the web via Picassa which is a Google on-line picture hosting site. Check your emails!

I am going to be doing more of the tourist things in the upcoming weeks so come back and look for updates!

This is the view from the other side of my hotel room. The XXXX beer is the Queensland local beer. As I was told no one drinks Fosters down here. I haven't even seen it. The main beers are: Towhey, Victoria, Hahn, and XXXX.

For the 'Tip A Canoe' group.... check out this place:

Tentative Schedule!!!!

Well after a long wait which seemed to be forever I finally met with HR and got the offer package for my relocation. I will officially become an ExPatriot sometime in July! I will be living in Brisbane and working in the CBD (Central Business District).

Here is my schedule (it could get pushed back by a week or two depending upon the visa approval):

07/06/2007: Last day of work at CitiStreet US
07/11/2007: Fly to Brisbane from Boston
07/13/2007: Arrive in Brisbane (not a typo- its a two day journey)
07/18/2007: Start work at CitiStreet AU

I will be flying into the dead of the Brisbane Winter! Luckily the average temperature is going to be somewhere in the 50's - 60's!

Remember to use the 'comments' feature at the bottom of these posts to leave me your comments on things I have written etc... Remember they are open for all to read!

First Things First

Update 05/30/07:

My Visa application has been submitted and I go for a chest x-ray on June 1. My new departure date looks to be sometime in mid to late July. The good news is that I will get to enjoy some of Boston's great Summer season then head down to the late Winter and Early Spring of Brisbane!

Here is the original post (from sometime in February):

I am still waiting to hear back from HR to find out all of the details on the pending relocation to Australia. I am waiting to hear back 100% that it's a go. You never know when corporate red tape can put the 'kabosh' on something like this. Also, I want to get all of the details of what is paid for and what is expected.

With that being said, I am 99% confident that by late July I will be living in either Brisbane or Sydney. Most likely I will be asked to work in the Brisbane office. Either location will be a new and amazing experience and I am looking forward to living in either city.

I am going to use this blog for the next 1 to 2 years if I do end up going down to Australia to keep everyone in Boston and Damascus (for my sister and her family) to keep up to date on my life down under.

Please use the comment feature at the bottom of the post to send me your thoughts back.

Hopefully the next post will be listing out the exact details of my relocation!





What a strange looking dog. Must be Australian.