That's the best way to describe the internet in Australia... either it's not working or it's super-slow. Especially on Sundays it is more or less impossible to get a proper connection, at least where I live. I can't believe why it is so hard to get a proper internet connection here, even at work, there are more or less frequently black-outs.
Anyways, another week is gone, but not much happened... Work was, well work... Wednesday have been some drinks and free pizza with the agency.
Oh, there is something cool happening these days. The Open Air Cinema started in South Bank and fortunately I have some connections, so I can get in for free. That's a pretty nice venue. They put up a screen on the riverside and as evenings are quite warm, it is very nice to sit outside and watch movies. On Thursday I've seen 'Red Dog', that's an Australian movie about a dog that got famous at the west coast in the seventies, for travelling around on his own. Here is the trailer.
On Friday night I've been again to a screening, that night the movie has been 'Friends with Benefits'. Quite funny and better than the average movie of that genre. Nice movie to just hang out with an easy plot. And again, here is the trailer.
Yesterday wasn't really exciting either... just walked through town and along the river... very nice walks, as one can go through mangrove forests, a botanic garden, along cliffs, etc.
Yeah, that was about the week and weekend... not really decided what I should do today; well it's already 1pm... but as usually rain is predicted, so I didn't went to the Zoo... But it is still not raining... well if it's not starting soon, I might go out and walk around a bit... or not...
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Sunday, 23 October 2011
The Queen is coming
That's exactly what is going to happen tomorrow/today. Even better, she is going to be where I'm working, well not the company, but like 5 minutes from it. Hence, it might get a little crowded and maybe I'll have a longer lunch break to try to see the Queen. Even so I doubt that is possible, as they are expecting loads of people.
*** *** UPDATE *** *** I actually saw the Queen, one pic added, more to be seen here. *** ***
The Queen and the Duke
But that is not the only invader to Brisbane these days. Today hundreds of Zombies were taking over Brisbane. As it was charity event for the Brisbane Brain Foundation. Quite an awesome view to see them all walking through the city.
The biggest issue this weekend occurred Friday night, when we were out. I just wanted to order a beer, but instead of ordering a glass or a pint, etc. I just had the options between a 'pot' and a 'schooner', which I never heard of. After some discussing with the barkeeper, I finally figured out that a schooner contains 3/4 of a pint or 15 fl oz or 425ml. I'm talking about Imperial oz and pints here. A pot is half schooner, good to know that. That's a t least what I thought, until we kept on talking and then the guy explained to me, that these units vary from town to town in Australia... WTF?!?!
Here is a little example, comparing Brisbane and Adelaide.
What is called a schooner in Brisbane is a pint in Adelaide, and the Brisbane pot contains as much as the schooner in Adelaide. To make that even more confusing, there are 2 different schooners in Adelaide containing either 9 or 10 fl oz. Not confusing enough?
Okay, in Adelaide you can also order a 'butcher', containing either 7 fl oz (200ml) or 4 fl oz (115ml). The bigger butcher is named 'ounce' in Brisbane. To top this, there is also something called 'pony' in both cities, which has the size of 5 fl oz or 140ml.
Here I've just compared two cities, there are at least a dozen other names for the glasses above and/or with a different content. Unfortunately, nobody can explain to me so far, where this system is coming from.
*** *** UPDATE *** *** I actually saw the Queen, one pic added, more to be seen here. *** ***
The Queen and the DukeBut that is not the only invader to Brisbane these days. Today hundreds of Zombies were taking over Brisbane. As it was charity event for the Brisbane Brain Foundation. Quite an awesome view to see them all walking through the city.
The biggest issue this weekend occurred Friday night, when we were out. I just wanted to order a beer, but instead of ordering a glass or a pint, etc. I just had the options between a 'pot' and a 'schooner', which I never heard of. After some discussing with the barkeeper, I finally figured out that a schooner contains 3/4 of a pint or 15 fl oz or 425ml. I'm talking about Imperial oz and pints here. A pot is half schooner, good to know that. That's a t least what I thought, until we kept on talking and then the guy explained to me, that these units vary from town to town in Australia... WTF?!?!
Here is a little example, comparing Brisbane and Adelaide.
What is called a schooner in Brisbane is a pint in Adelaide, and the Brisbane pot contains as much as the schooner in Adelaide. To make that even more confusing, there are 2 different schooners in Adelaide containing either 9 or 10 fl oz. Not confusing enough?
Okay, in Adelaide you can also order a 'butcher', containing either 7 fl oz (200ml) or 4 fl oz (115ml). The bigger butcher is named 'ounce' in Brisbane. To top this, there is also something called 'pony' in both cities, which has the size of 5 fl oz or 140ml.
Here I've just compared two cities, there are at least a dozen other names for the glasses above and/or with a different content. Unfortunately, nobody can explain to me so far, where this system is coming from.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
There is no Burger King
Right, there is no Burger King Australia. You can find every well known Fast-Food-Franchise here, but not Burger King, just Hungry Jacks, as you can see from the picture. Why is that?
Well easy to explain, when Burger King wanted to open their first restaurants in Australia, they couldn't use the original name, as it was already taken by a joint in Adelaide. So they chose another trademark they own. Hungry Jacks was born. A more detailed story on that can be read here.
The one you can see in the picture is one of the best known places in town... not because of the food, obviously, no, it is best known as it is very central and a famous meeting spot.
Nothing especially worth talking about happened the last days. Well, internet was broken for a couple of days at home, as a thunderstorm killed it. After that was restored it broke at my work... so 'working' was more or less impossible.
On the weekend, there wasn't much to do, as that was when the thunderstorm happened... pictures can be seen here. Sunday I went to see the Rugby-Worldcup-Semifinal between Australia and New Zealand. As New Zealand won, the mood wasn't that good, nevertheless, still interesting for me to watch, as you would experience something like that in Germany.
That's about it from the last days, updates will follow when more exciting things are happening here.
Well easy to explain, when Burger King wanted to open their first restaurants in Australia, they couldn't use the original name, as it was already taken by a joint in Adelaide. So they chose another trademark they own. Hungry Jacks was born. A more detailed story on that can be read here.
The one you can see in the picture is one of the best known places in town... not because of the food, obviously, no, it is best known as it is very central and a famous meeting spot.
Nothing especially worth talking about happened the last days. Well, internet was broken for a couple of days at home, as a thunderstorm killed it. After that was restored it broke at my work... so 'working' was more or less impossible.
On the weekend, there wasn't much to do, as that was when the thunderstorm happened... pictures can be seen here. Sunday I went to see the Rugby-Worldcup-Semifinal between Australia and New Zealand. As New Zealand won, the mood wasn't that good, nevertheless, still interesting for me to watch, as you would experience something like that in Germany.
That's about it from the last days, updates will follow when more exciting things are happening here.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Rainprove or Rainproof?
I mentioned the weather in my last post already, here are some pictures I took today, outside of my workplace in South Bank, when I wanted to go home... well, quite impossible as one was soaked after walking 10 meters. Isn't it supposed to be warm and sunny in Australia?
Cordelia Street facing South
Cordelia Street once again
View of Brisbanes CBD from South Bank
Cordelia Street facing South
Cordelia Street once again
View of Brisbanes CBD from South BankTuesday, 11 October 2011
Short Update
2nd week is on and I'm still working on the Application, so much about work.
The weekend was quite calm, couldn't go out on Saturday as we had thunderstorms... just went shortly to the Valley Festival... a little music festival with some Indie-bands and so on. What to do when staying inside? Right, working on university assignments... hopefully the last ones in my life, which are due next month.
Today the program of the 'Brisbane International Film Festival' got published... some good ones are up for screening, so I might get some tickets. I actually found a movie on the list, wish I've seen last year at the 'Vancouver International Film Festival'. It is called Armadillo and I ranked it the 3rd best of the Festival. My ranking and critic can be found here.
Some more about Brisbane, it is surprisingly rainy here... don't know where I read that, but there are supposed to be more than 300 days of sun here... well, so far I experienced rain every other day.
Not much more to tell atm.
Brisbane time: 11pm, so I say good night ;-)
The weekend was quite calm, couldn't go out on Saturday as we had thunderstorms... just went shortly to the Valley Festival... a little music festival with some Indie-bands and so on. What to do when staying inside? Right, working on university assignments... hopefully the last ones in my life, which are due next month.
Today the program of the 'Brisbane International Film Festival' got published... some good ones are up for screening, so I might get some tickets. I actually found a movie on the list, wish I've seen last year at the 'Vancouver International Film Festival'. It is called Armadillo and I ranked it the 3rd best of the Festival. My ranking and critic can be found here.
Some more about Brisbane, it is surprisingly rainy here... don't know where I read that, but there are supposed to be more than 300 days of sun here... well, so far I experienced rain every other day.
Not much more to tell atm.
Brisbane time: 11pm, so I say good night ;-)
Friday, 7 October 2011
Reaching the Land of Koalas
I'm in Australia, Brisbane to be more accurate.
After been to Lantau on my last day in Hong Kong, which is a very beautiful island, I arrived here last Saturday.
But briefly back to Lantau, this place is really recommendable, as it is still very relaxed, completely different than Hong Kong itself. You can visit the tallest outdoor-bronze Buddha-statue in the world. Very impressive I have to say. Afterwards I had the chance to have lunch in the nearby monastery, very delicious. Afterwards I went to a small fishing village called Tai-O. Very cute and houses are built up on stilts in the water.
Thereafter I went to the airport to get on my plane. Be warned, if you ever depart from Hong Kong, Security can take a while; it took me almost an hour to get through all the checks. The flight itself was one of the best I ever had. The carrier was Virgin Atlantic, very recommendable, as food was excellent (I never thought I would say that) and Fair Trade. Furthermore, it has an excellent In-flight entertainment, good staff and uses biofuel. After clearing Immigration in Sydney, I took another flight to Brisbane.
Big question, why am I in Brisbane?
Well, I'll be doing an internship here until January. First week of work hasn't been very exciting, as they are usually, you get stuff to read and some random task to do... to find your way into the business... so, let's see what's going to happen on Monday.
About Brisbane (Australia) itself:
the city is quite nice, but much more beautiful and interesting is flora and fauna. There are animals running around everywhere, as well as nicely looking plants. And they are totally uncommon for me... so it is very nice to walk around and just look what there is to see. Another fact is that Australia is really expensive... I expect it not to be cheap over here, but these prices are really fascinating... I thought Great Britain was already quite expensive... but compared to here that's nothing... stupid, no-name Cornflakes cost about 3€ for 300g...
After been to Lantau on my last day in Hong Kong, which is a very beautiful island, I arrived here last Saturday.
But briefly back to Lantau, this place is really recommendable, as it is still very relaxed, completely different than Hong Kong itself. You can visit the tallest outdoor-bronze Buddha-statue in the world. Very impressive I have to say. Afterwards I had the chance to have lunch in the nearby monastery, very delicious. Afterwards I went to a small fishing village called Tai-O. Very cute and houses are built up on stilts in the water.
Thereafter I went to the airport to get on my plane. Be warned, if you ever depart from Hong Kong, Security can take a while; it took me almost an hour to get through all the checks. The flight itself was one of the best I ever had. The carrier was Virgin Atlantic, very recommendable, as food was excellent (I never thought I would say that) and Fair Trade. Furthermore, it has an excellent In-flight entertainment, good staff and uses biofuel. After clearing Immigration in Sydney, I took another flight to Brisbane.
Big question, why am I in Brisbane?
Well, I'll be doing an internship here until January. First week of work hasn't been very exciting, as they are usually, you get stuff to read and some random task to do... to find your way into the business... so, let's see what's going to happen on Monday.
About Brisbane (Australia) itself:
the city is quite nice, but much more beautiful and interesting is flora and fauna. There are animals running around everywhere, as well as nicely looking plants. And they are totally uncommon for me... so it is very nice to walk around and just look what there is to see. Another fact is that Australia is really expensive... I expect it not to be cheap over here, but these prices are really fascinating... I thought Great Britain was already quite expensive... but compared to here that's nothing... stupid, no-name Cornflakes cost about 3€ for 300g...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)