You know when you've been warholed

For the last few months here in in sunny Brisbane, the gallery of modern art (GoMA) has been home to an exhibition of the work of Andy Warhol. This has been incredibly exciting for the place - as much as I love wee Brisbane, it does sometimes seem to have a bit of a chip on its shoulders with regards to its place in Australia against cities like Sydney and Melbourne, so I think that the fact that we're the only city which is hosting this massive exhibition has been a bit of a validation for the good folk of Brisbane.

Now I'm not much of an arty person (don't know much about art, but I know what I like etc etc), but since I think the entire population of Queensland has been to see the exhibition at least once in its run, so we decided to bob along too. Since I am mostly ignorant about art appreciation, I wasn't able to do all the strokey beard 'interesting juxtaposition of light and shade' business, so for me by far the most exciting thing there was the Warholising phone booth. Since the beginning of the exhibition it has been possible by monitoring things like facebook profile photos etc to establish exactly who has, and who hasn't been along to the exhibition, so it was very exciting to be able to get our own done.

As you can see Stu's new baldy heid lends itself to the general theme of warholness pretty well. On that note, I am pleased and proud to say that so far he has raised about $1000 for the cause - however it's not too late, so if you haven't already, please donate using the link on the right!

Also - I am happy to announce a couple more living in Australia milestones have now been reached - I have eaten both Lamingtons, and Vegemite.

Flood or famine

I have just got home from a very lovely Sunday expedition - a stroll along the river into town for some coffee and toast by the river, and then a ride on the city cat home while Stu has gone to a mate's to watch some Rugby. I am increasingly of the opinion that there are few things in life more pleasing than being on the front deck of the city cat. I am not entirely sure what it says about Brisbane that my favourite place in it is a mode of public transport, but I love it anyway. It's a nice day today for a change, and since it looks very much like I am a fair weather blogger it has inspired me to write my second entry for the year. We have been experiencing the more tropical side of life in tropical queensland lately it has to be said - there has been massive flooding in the north of the state. In one case a flood left an area the size of England underwater - sometimes I feel like I am getting the hang of the size of Australia, and then something like that just throws me completely off balance. It has been very grim, but even more worryingly despite the fact that we have apparently just had our wettest summer in 50000 years (or something) the drought is still unbroken. It's all a bit scary if you ask me.

But never fear - I am still very much in love with lovely Brisbane. In fact on Monday all the poms are getting together to share resources and information in Project Permanent Residency - yes it looks like we are applying for the next level of residency. Life on a 457 visa is not really ideal (to say the least) and the thought that if Stu lost his job we would have 30 days to leave the country is too much to bear, so we're going to try and secure our future here a bit more. Typically though it is not easy - once we have figured out what visa we actually need to apply for (this information does not seem to be readily or easily accessed - sometimes I think they don't want us poms here you know...) we then need to save up god only knows how much cash for the application. Ah well - I'll keep you posted.

The family are good, thanks for asking. The kids are growing up fast - you know how it is. Margot is thriving after her stint in the hospital when we first brought her home (she had an anorexic phase and stopped eating for a week - SUCH a little princess). She is really too cute for words, and has real 'my big brother is the coolest thing EVER' syndrome and follows Jerry round everywhere. So sweet!

So I suppose that given the fact I have effectively disappeared off the radar for the past few months and been a VERY bad friend indeed I should fill you in on what we've been up to. Well back in January we had our first of the public holidays (there are approximately a million public holidays in Queensland each year - it rocks). It was for Australia day, and what better way to celebrate we thought to ourselves than to embrace what it truly is to be Australian - so we went to the cockroach racing at the Story Bridge Hotel, and for a picnic on the beach. One of these events was very pleasant. One of them was less so. At the cockroach racing there was an extremely high proportion of very drunk patriotic Australians - now I would like to make it clear that I have absolutely no issue whatsoever with drunk patriotic Australians (indeed they considerably advanced my knowledge of the words to Advance Australia Fair which can only be a good thing) but when you are a pom.... well I took the approach of being very quiet and very still until Bex arrived and we could beat a hasty retreat to the Boardwalk.

Our other big adventure recently was a trip out on a sail boat round Moreton Bay. Photos below - not a lot to say about it really other than it was just lovely lovely lovely.

Solo yacht trip

Lots more excitingness coming up over the next few months - we're off to India soon to meet up with the lovely Kat and Toby and do some touring round and consume our own body weight in curry. Also we are going to have some visitors this year! Stu's mate Jon is coming out at the end of April, and the old folks are coming in August, so we're going to go off and do some touristy stuff. Obviously there's always room for more visitors if anyone fancies a nice holiday.......

One last thing - I am making a change to the increasingly inaccurately named campaign of the week. As most of you know, Stu's mum died 8 years ago of myeloma, a currently incurable form of leukemia. He will be taking part in the world's greatest shave in order to raise money for a leukemia charity over here, and I know he would be most grateful for donations. This is obviously a cause very dear to our hearts, so please dig deep - details are on the links on the right.

Leaving (heavily sedated) on a jet plane

So here it is. The day of reckoning. If only I felt a little more prepared, but instead I feel like all the hangovers I've had over the last month have joined forces today.

So we're off to the airport at 10. Meeting Stu's sisters there for another emotional farewell - I'm sure that everyone I say goodbye to now thinks I'm really heartless, but I'm starting to feel a little goodbyed out and blase. Then off to Singapore for a couple of nights, then off to Brisbane! We arrive on Good Friday morning at about 6 or something ridiculous like that, then off to our serviced apartments where the good folks at Stu's new company are putting us up for about 3-4 weeks. That month will be a bit of a mad scramble to find our own gaff and a job for me, but hopefully a little tiny bit of sight seeing too.

The last month has been nothing if not a little hectic. I would say don't bother going to Harrods - it's not that exciting. Also if you ever go to your husbands' leaving work do don't get so pissed that he ends up having to look after you and make sure you get home safe as he won't appreciate it. We've had some wonderful hospitality this month, so a massive thank you to everyone who's put us up/put up with us during that time. It has been wonderful to be able to spend some quality time with you all before we shoot off. Thanks also to everyone who came out on Saturday - we had a bloody great night. Also thanks for being so understanding about the bar tab situation - I hope you all felt like you got your tenners worth out of the bar. I woke up at 6:30 on Sunday morning with a raging thirst, and had to clean my teeth about 5 times before they lost their little coat of fur. Still feeling a little weary now, but hey I have nothing much to do today.

So we're off. (I think I may have started nearly every paragraph today with the word 'So'). Goodbye everyone, and I'll try and update again as soon as I can (as I know you're all on the edge of your seat).

Take care

x