We've landed in Australia...and BBQ?

Happy New Year all!!!

So after our ice climbing and such we headed to the "big city" on the South Island of New Zealand for our last few days and New Years Eve. Because it was New Years in the "big city" of Christchurch, accomodations was a little more challenging to find than pitching a tent at a campsite. Hey, at least it didn't rain on us our last 2 nights of camping and we were able to dry ourselves off. So what we did find was a 2 person dorm room...ie.. bunk beds!! I got the top because I'm little and I fit in all the bars they put up to protect you. Chris gets the bottom so his feet can hang off of the end of the bed. Poor guy. The only thing about being on top is the person below can push their feet up and push the upperbunk matress around. Lucky for me, Chris didn't, not to say I wouldn't do the same to him. Teeheehee. We drove into Christchurch and then tried to figure out the best way to get rid of our car, since having a car in a city is just a burden. One of the other couples in the hostel had a boot put on their car overnight. After driving to the airport to drop off our car, turns out there was a drop off point just 3 blocks from where we were staying. Ooops. So they asked us to return it there. Easier for all involved. No major time lost. We got a driving tours of the suburbs of Christchurch.

Our hostel was convieniently located in the city and just a couple of blocks from the heart of the city. Our first stop...Cathedral square...which was just that...a square with a Cathedral in it. Kind of like Union Square but different. It even has a Starbucks, of course. So the Cathedral is open to the public and it's really beautiful. Old stained glass, the high pointed ceilings, the rose window, but I'm sure much smaller than the ones in Europe. Still beautiful. From there we headed to a couple of museums...all free, imagine that? The first one was the Christchurch art museum. A good mix of classic and modern. The kind that you scratch your head, turn it to the side and go...hmmmmm? Then we went to the art centre. An old school building that has been turned into artist studios and shops. This building was amazing just on it's own, but then to let artists use it as a shop/ studio is even cooler...but I don't know if they have to pay rent of if some of it is subsidized, or what. The next museum was sort of their natural history museum. When we walked in there were a million kids running around in neckerchiefs...it was the scout jamboree!!! It was so hot and stuffy in there and we were pretty much museumed out, so we kinda ran through that place, got out and found ourselved a coffee in the square and peopled watched.

New Years Eve we got some yummy Indian food, went back to our hostel and opened up a bottle of Lambrusco and headed out to find a pub to hang at, since the bar below our hostel was a weird place...but that's a whole other story. We wandered through the square, where there was a free concert going on but weren't really into the Irish/ country band that was playing. Instead we found an Irish pub, with true Irish music and I actually think many of the people there were Irish. It was packed and people were singing along..all smiles. Chris had a brief conversation with another guy about the rules of fighting in hockey and the guy was pretty amazed at the violence of it but found it interesting enough to tell all his friends while laughing. Just before midnight we headed out to the square for the countdown. The place was just full of a few thousand people and the cathedral lit up at night was just beautiful. At midnight the shot off fireworks from one of the nearby rooftops. It was so great. At that moment it hit me where we were and what we were doing...finally. This journey we're taking is just so amazing!!

We just hung out, read and slept on the 1st. Rough lives, I know. But we did have to get up at 3 a.m. the next day to catch our flight to Brisbane, Australia. Which is where we are now.

Chris's aunt Linda picked us up at the airport and took us to her friend Maggie's house. Maggie's daughter Alex lives there too. This is where we would spend the first night. They are both wonderfully interesting and amazing people. It was such a nice introduction to Australia. Of course politics dominated the conversation, but I survived. Chris can really enjoy good political conversation. That night we were invited to a BBQ at Maggie's brother Bruce's house...for a deck warming party. This is when I finally felt comfortable enough to ask about their definition of BBQ.

You see all through out New Zealand we were told they love their BBQ, along with Australian's, but all we found was this flat stainless steel skillets...so to speak...outdoors and heated by propane. Sometimes they would have the raised grill lines, but in our minds you were basically pan frying your food. So throughout the country we'd say, "Smells like some good pan frying going on". In fact we actually bought a steak to BBQ and were disappointed that we ended up basically pan frying it. When we asked some people about mesquite and such, they looked so confused and somewhat offended. So we've actually avoided the pan frying/ BBQ, unless it's free. So we learned yesterday what we do is "American BBQ".. of course. I asked what's the difference between their BBQ and cooking it in a pan on the stove...I got the answer, "none". Ah hah!! So there you have it. Throw a shrimp on the pan fryer.

So we helped Chris' cousin Lisa move into her new place yesterday. Yes, we flew all the way to Australia to help his cousin move, but we don't mind at all. It's right on the river and she has her own dock...or pontoon. We're slowly learning Australian speak. We were saying tie an innertube and float on the really hot day. Yeah great and all, but there are bull sharks in the river....WHAT? Yes, they will come up and bite you. Great. Sharks. This country has some crazy wildlife that will just kill you. We hung out, she invited a few friends over for a house warming sort of get together and here we are.

And you know how we said we'd dry out here. Nope, not so much. They've had a drought for 7+ years but when we got here it has decided to rain and rain and rain and rain and it's not supposed to let up for a week or so. Great for them but bad for us. Oh well, no beach time here. We'll probably stay in Brisbane for about a week and move on after that.

O.K. I'll let Chris write next time. His entries are much more interesting than mine.