Settling In - July

Hello everyone!

Greetings from the other side of the world! After a draining 36 hour journey, including a 4 hour stop in Brunei of all places, I finally made it to Brisbane on the 11th July. This month has really just been me finding my feet and settling in to my new life here.

 The jetlag wasn't too bad, my only problem was that I would wake up every morning at around 5 o'clock. 

I really spent the first week just buying everything for my flat and wandering around the city. I am so lucky to have a flat on the 38th floor 5 minutes walk away from the very centre of Brisbane, and I love high rises and big cities so I definitely lucked out! 
However sometimes I get the feeling of being back in a tiny English village, for example on Sunday the bells from the nearest church ring and I'm taken right back to my childhood.

My amazing view from my apartment, on the first cloudy day!

One of the strangest things was going from summer to winter! The weather hasn't really changed much, in fact the winter sun here is still much stronger than the English summer but the sun sets here at around 5pm which I have had to get used to, and it did get annoying when I wanted to spend my evenings looking around this new city.

Something that has really made me laugh here is the Australian's attitude to the weather. The coldest it's been during the day here is 19°C and everyone here comments on how 'freezing cold' it is and they're all wearing scarves and coats! To me of course that's not unusual for a summer day in England so I was out there with a short sleeved t-shirt!

I've already done so many amazing things and been to the most stunning places, as well as met some lovely people, although it's funny because the majority of them have been Europeans! My flatmates are cool, two are Australian which is lovely to have, one of them is Saudi Arabian and he is just so sweet. The last one is Columbian and a DJ so lets just say we get 'treated' to Latin club music at interesting times of the day. Not the kind of music that fits well with eating breakfast!

Brisbane

I have really loved just walking around Brisbane, there's only been a few days so far where I walked under 10,000 steps and many days I've done well over that! 

My favourite places in Brisbane so far have been Southbank which is a beautiful stretch along the river with museums, theatres, restaurants and a man-made beach, Story Bridge which has a lovely park on the other side of it and the Roma Street Parkland. I love how green this city is, you're never far from a beautiful park. It's funny how I have to get used to everything - the birds sound different and there are palm trees and all sorts of other plants that I would never see in England or even anywhere else I have ever been. 

I also have been to a rugby game! We watched Australias national team the Wallabies beat Argentina. It was so much fun to go to, it was really cheap and the atmosphere was amazing, plus we got to see one of the best teams in the world play rugby! 

View of the river and downtown!

Story Bridge!

The view from South Bank

Roma Street Parkland with a stunning view of the city

Gold Coast Trip

This was the first big adventure outside of Brisbane. It was a trip as part of Orientation Week at my university so it was really great because there were so many people to meet and go with. We first went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary where was saw all sorts of wildlife - crocodiles, red pandas..and of course it wouldn't be an Australian zoo without kangaroos and koalas!    

We then went to a beautiful lookout point before going round to Surfers Paradise. The water was 23C which was probably the warmest sea I have ever been in even though it's winter so we got to go for a swim and enjoy the beautiful clear blue sky and white sands. I really can't believe that I'm currently living somewhere an hour away from such beautiful places. 

Me with a kangaroo!

View from Rainbow Bay

View of the Gold Coast in the Distance!

Mount Coot'Tha

Last Sunday we took the bus up to the top of Mount Coot'tha, and oh my the view was just amazing! The centre of Brisbane looked tiny from the top of a mountain and we got to see for miles and miles, all the way to the sea!

We then hiked down the mountain to the Mount Coot'tha Botanical Gardens which were beautiful, although it was hot enough for me in winter, I can't imagine how hot it will get in summer! 

Views from the top of a mountain...

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I've also started my studies here at university, which is of course the real reason I'm here! I've only had a week of lectures of far but I think I am going to really enjoy the difference in studying here, everything seems a lot more group based. I feel so lucky to have been able to come here and study, and although it's bittersweet having to say goodbye to family and friends for a year I can tell that I am going to love it and I do already feel like I'm settling in.

Sending everyone my love,

M xxx