Joan Rivers is right.......

The other night I decided to check out some of the local flavor within the gay community beyond the one place I had already gone to. I decided to go into the Spring Hill area to a bar called The Sportsman. I was surprised to find that it was bigger than I first imagined and that it had a good range of clientele. There were younger guys, older guys, straight guys, straight girls, gay girls, and yes......... drag queens.....

Here is one that I had to get a picture of. She was with a straight female friend and I found out they were from 'the bush'... not knowing if they were playing around with me or not I did find out that by 'the bush' they meant about 30 minutes outside of Brisbane. They told me that they have kangaroo's jumping around as common as we have dogs! When I mentioned that she looked like Joan Rivers, and never knowing what response one will get when telling a drag queen they look like Joan Rivers, she was thrilled! I made her night. She didn't know who Joan Rivers was other than from word of mouth but I wasn't the first one to tell her this. She asked if she could have a copy of the picture and after going through the various means of how one would get a picture to her (email, mobile phone, friends email etc....) she asked if I could print it out and drop it off at the bar! Ummmm yea, I am sure my new co-workers would love to see this on the printer!

I did meet a few nice guys (mates) who mentioned to me that there was a Sports Club in Brisbane which runs all of the gay and lesbian leagues. I was happy to see that there are over 12 different clubs that have various sports. I am going to try my hand at 'touch' Australian Rules Football. Not that I am in any shape right now to be running around on a field that is about 2x the size of a football field but it will be cool to give it a shot. Check back for updates.





As I was leaving the Sportsman Bar to head home the lights went down and the next thing I know there is a full on drag show. I was wondering to myself 'where do they get the music that the drag queens lip synch too?' They were not dance songs or any type of show tunes but songs that only 3 or 4 drag queens could sing and dance too....











This week is a short week with Wednesday off for a public Holiday. Its the annual Ekka celebration within Queensland. This is a celebration of the Queensland agriculture that dates back 100's of year. Most locals stay away from the fair but being a non local it sounds like fun to me.

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:

A Week In The Life - Brisbane Style

If New York is the 'city that never sleeps' then Brisbane can be called 'the city that loves to nap'. As soon as 7:00 PM hits everything comes to a stand still except for restaurants and bars. Stores and malls close down..... and people are no where to be found. That is Monday - Thursday. Come Friday and the Aussies show why they have been labeled a country that likes to play hard. Friday means cutting out of work early, heading to the pub with your co-workers and enjoying the 'happy hour'! I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun this city is come the weekends. Overall it has been great. I start work tomorrow, Aug 6. Today I am heading off to Suncorp Stadium which is across the street from my work to see the Brisbane Bronco's take on the Sea Eagles in a Rugby match. It should be great! 50,000 fans which I heard take their rugby very serious. I can't wait to soak in the atmosphere and more importantly to learn about this sport.

My internet connection is still down so that is why there are no pictures yet.

I was told not to be a 'pika' on Friday night by a co-worker when I mentioned I may head back to the hotel.... a 'pika' is someone who takes off early or blows someone off. Needless to say I ended up staying so not to be labeled a 'pika'. Another person gave me directiosn and told me to 'take a right and follow your nose straight up the hill'.... put an Aussie accent on that and it sounded really cool.

The toilets have two flush modes for water conservation. Half flush and full flush. Pretty good way of doing things to save water.

I am no longer jumping out of the way of cars in parking lots thinking they are coming at me without a driver only to realize the driver is on the opposite side. I must have looked pretty funny jumping in my skin! If that doesn't give me away as a 'Yank' than nothing will.

I found an apartment. Its in the heart of the city in a neighborhood called Spring Hill. Within a 5 minute walk I can be at either of two very popular destinations - the Queen Street Mall area or Fortitude Valley. The 'valley' is the hotspot for nightlife. The apartment is small and expensive but I couldn't pass up on the location. Rental's are very scarce in Brisbane due to how fast this city is growing......

I will be moving in on August 18th so stay tuned.

I will put up pics etc once I can get to an internet cafe.

9,000 Miles, 23 hours and no Monday

On Sunday July 29th at 4:55 I will be boarding an American Airlines flight to begin the long journey to the other side of the world! I will be flying from Boston to Los Angeles. After a 3 hr layover I will board one of the biggest planes in the sky, a Boeing 747-400, owned by Qantas and will fly overnight, through Monday due to passing the international date line, and will land 14 hours later in Brisbane, Australia at 6:05 AM Tuesday July 31.

I will try to update this blog during the layover...... and defintetly when I get to Brisbane on Tuesday!

I will miss everyone!

A Very Warm Thank You

In the movie Its A Wonderful Life, Clarence says to George Bailey: "Remember, George: No man is a failure who has friends'. If that saying is true, which I believe it is, then I am one of the most successful men around!

Over the past several weeks I have enjoyed the great company of many of my friends and my family as they wished me a fond farewell prior to my departure to Brisbane, Australia.

I want to thank everyone who helped plan, hosted, set up, showed up, or were there in spirit for my going away get togethers! I am truly a lucky person.

On Sunday I was able to enjoy a great bottle of Cristal champagne......

To an equally amazing 'gun show' at Fritz!

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

Today is July 11.  This was the first day that I was hoping to board that Qantas 747 out of Los Angeles and start my new work and life adventures a half a world away.  But due to a back log of Business Visa applications in Sydney I am still grounded in Boston waiting for my visa to be finalized!  

The movers came on Monday and took away my belongings.  A shout out goes to Gentle Giant for doing a great job.  Not sure where they fall in competitiveness of pricing but if they are more expensive it has to be worth it.

I am still hoping to get my Visa any day now.  

I think my new departure date will not be until a week from today.  Again, this is all relative to the Visa process.  Good times!  

Look back for more updates!

(p.s. - the picture above is named 'Waiting')

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!