Brissie to the Bay

This week was full of anticipation for our big bike ride. We weren’t sore or tired from last weekends ride so we thought it would be smooth sailing for the bid day. However, we’re so tired tonight!

We’ll start from the beginning of the week and fill you in on everything. My work is busy, busy, busy so we’ve all been putting in a lot of hours but I’m sure it will pay off in the end. On Tuesday we went to dinner with a young couple that works for Exxon. He went to OSU and is friends with one of my contacts at ConocoPhillips in Wood River. His girlfriend is Australian and they had so much to fill us in on about Brisbane and Australia. Based on their recommendation, we are planning trips for August when work may slow down a bit. They invited us to go hiking on Saturday but we had to pass knowing the bike ride the next day may take all of our energy.

Swift hosted a networking breakfast Thursday morning in order to raise money for MS and sponsorship for the bike ride. We raised over $200 that morning alone and it was great to meet some of our contractors and contacts.

Friday all of the girls from work and their ‘plus ones’ got together at Stephanie’s. The guys put together her new grill, aka, Barb-e, which we nicknamed Ken. Get it? Ken and Barbie? The Velveta I smuggled in from the states went to great use with our first batch of queso. The girls called it everything but queso, apparently Australians don’t eat amazing Tex Mexey cheesy goodness. However, they LOVED it! I wish I could have captured their faces when they had it for the first time, like a child eating chocolate for the first time. We could have made an entire meal out of it but we filled Ken with Tony Chacheres seasoned steaks and chicken and enjoyed a wonderful dinner.

Greg and I enjoyed Saturday by walking around the Queen St. Mall and checking out the shops. I thought I could do without shopping but I’m going through withdrawal. I bought a new black jacket since I brought my pea coat but it’s not that cold. The styles are somewhat different than I’m used to but it all looks cute on everyone else. I’m very tempted to buy skinny jeans and cute tops with a suit type jacket with rolled sleeves but this would definitely be a change to my current wardrobe of sweaters and flip flops.

We’re definitely wearing our cowboy boots next Sunday for our 4th of July celebration at Stephanie’s. Many expats and Australians are coming over for a true American holiday. We’re fixing more queso, burgers, potato salad, cupcakes and root beer floats. We’ll miss out on fireworks and tropical storms by the sound of it, but it will still be a good time.

Back to the subject of this post, we set out at 6:00 am for the Brissie to the Bay bike ride. Straight uphill on our street first thing in the morning was not an easy task but we arrived at South Bank as the sun was coming up.

Stephanie, Greg, OJ and Martyn set out for the 50K while the rest of the Swifties, Ali, Sian, Richie and myself waited in line for the 25K. Ali’s boyfriend, Frank even rode a mile on a unicycle. So much for this bike ride being a flat one, the hills were killer!

Almost half way through the ride Stephanie calls to find out where we were, little did we know we were 200 yards behind where she and Greg were waiting for us which was also the turn off for the 50K. The five of us finished the ride together which thankfully we had already mastered most of the hills. We were so excited to finally cross the finish line and we all went to breakfast. After coffee, eggs and toast, we rode our bides back to the city, showered and took, a long, long nap.

Our team raised over $2,500 for MS and we couldn’t have done it without the support of our friends and family, so THANK YOU!!! You’re all amazing and we miss you so much! We hope you have a great week and we’ll talk to you soon.

Winter Activities

Tuesday through Thursday was just work stuff. KPI and dinners with Stewart. Good meetings and we have lots to do! 

We stayed in Friday night, we were tired from the week's events. Saturday we Skyped with the family and then went for a bike ride. We calculated it to be about 18K's. Not too bad. However, I'm riding the 20K this weekend instead of the 50K. I'll leave that to the professionals for now. Saturday evening we walked around the city, ate dinner, had a beer at a local pub and checked out the casino.

The casino is really neat from the outside, it's the historic treasury building. Ironic. Inside was nice, didn't reek of cigarettes but was definitley not Vegas. It was probably the same size as Couchatta but separated into different rooms and hallways, it's not all open. All of the slots are still coin operated and not tickets, hence is why I found and played three dollars. Obviously didn't win or you all would be here. The machines didn't make the electronic "cha-ching-ching-ching" noise like every casino we've been in. Greg said it wasn't as annoying, but just didn't seem right to me. Either way, it was fun to see the inside of the building.

Sunday afternoon we were able to enjoy the beautiful, so called, 'winter' weather again. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend. Instead of a bike ride, we went and played golf. We had so much fun with Sarah, Leon and Stephanie. Greg bought me four pink golf balls which I lost all of by the fourth hole. Laugh it up but I wasn't going in the brush to find them. They actually have signs that say, (ear muffs grandma), snake habitat. EEKKK!!! However, again, the only wildlife we saw were turkeys. Oh and ducks, which Stephanie almost took out.

After golf, we headed back to the city and stumbled upon $7 pizza and beers at Boardwalk Bistro. Can't even beat that in Houston. Stephanie took me there the last night I was here on my trip and I had a feeling it would be one of our favorites.

Well that was our exciting week and weekend. We hope all the Dads had a great Father's Day!  We enjoyed catching up with our families this weekend over Skype and look forward to the same next weekend. We miss you all and we'll talk to you soon!

Road Trip!!

Queensland celebrated the Queen’s birthday today so we had long weekend and decided to take a road trip with Stephanie. Sian and Dillon didn’t get to go b/c Sian was sick so it was just the three of us! Now I’ve always been skeptical about road trips, but Stephanie planned an amazing trip!

We set out Saturday morning in our little Corolla hatchback and drove do the Surfers’ Paradise. The beaches were amazing and the streets were crowded with people. We had a nice breakfast, took some snapshots and walked down the street lined with shops and restaurants. Surfer’s Paradise is not too far from Brisbane and we hear the hotel rates are very reasonable, we’ll definitely be going back.

From there we drove to Byron Bay and decided to take the scenic route. When I say scenic, I mean unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It was so beautiful! We ran into some traffic in Coolangota so we made Greg get out of the car and take some pictures of the beach.

There was some sort of event going on that resembled a cross between the Crawfish Festival and a swap meet. There were bikes, roadsters and moon eye tee-shirts everywhere, not to mention loud music and packed bars. We tried to stop but there was nowhere to park and we didn’t want to trek up some of the hills in this small town, however, another place we’ll definitely visit again.

We finally arrived in Byron Bay and drove through the town center, up the mountain to the lighthouse. This is the most easterly point of the Australia mainland. The views were simply amazing. We took hundreds of pictures of the lighthouse, the coastal beaches and the water clashing against the rocks hundreds of feet below.

We saw groups of dolphins and although it’s whale watching season, no such luck spotting one. ( This is definitely on my bucket list however.) After an hour or so we went back down to the town center and walked through some of the cute little shops. Of course we had to see the beach and some of the hippies this town is known for. There were tons of people enjoying the beautiful day on the beach, in the grassy park and the restaurant overlooking the two. After snacking and relaxing for a bit, we were on the road again to Coffs Harbor.

It gets dark really early here, which we are having a hard time adjusting to, so most of the stretch to Coffs Harbor was dark. We arrived, checked into our hotel and walked about 50 meters to a nice Italian restaurant. We enjoyed good food, good wine and of course great company.

Sunday morning we got up and got on the road. We had breakfast outside a small bistro cafe where we could watch all of the people walking past on the small strip of stores and restaurants. After breakfast we drove about an hour along Waterfall Way. This was an adventure as I was the one driving up the mountain with narrow, winding roads. I felt like I was playing Mario Cart but knew the road would be a little less forgiving than it is in the video games. The views were simply magnificent! Thank goodness for a rest area, one, to give my white knuckles a break and two, we were able to take in the most amazing view of mountains and valleys and a beautiful waterfall.

Finally, we arrived at Dorrigo National Park which is actually a rainforest with a sky view ledge to walk out and see the top of the trees, the valleys and more mountains. There’s also trails that lead down the mountain, through the rainforest, to an amazing waterfall. It’s about an hour down and an hour back. It took us almost the whole hour to get down because of all the photo ops and 36 minutes to get back up. Some of the trees in the forest are massive but the only wildlife we saw were turkeys. These aren’t your typical Thanksgiving turkeys, they’re smaller, but really neat to see.

Needless to say, when we finally reached the waterfall, it was truly breathtaking. Here we are, standing in the middle of a rainforest in Australia, taking pictures of a waterfall, wow, amazing. The hike back up was not so easy but it was definitely worth it to be able to see it all.

On the way back to Coffs harbor we stopped at an old butter factory which is now small shops and a cafe. Reminded me of the Gristmill from the road but was not comparable. Still neat none-the-less.

We spend another night in Coffs Harbor but it was raining when we got back so we ate dinner and came back to the apartment/hotel and watched movies and I worked a bit.

Before our 5.5 hour drive back to Brisbane, we had breakfast in a small cafe on the jetty with a spectacular view of the beach and the mountains.

During our three day road trip, we saw so many cool things, from the white beaches in each coastal town to the privileged cows with personal ducks, Nat on a licence plate, rain clouds over the mountains and water crashing on the coastline, words cannot describe the trip we experienced but I’ve definitely tried. Hope the pictures help some too.

This week will definitely be a busy one as we have a ton of positions to fill and the CEO comes to town for our quarterly meeting. Next weekend we’ll have to play catch up considering we still haven’t fully unpacked, (hence why there are no pics of our apt yet) and we’ve yet to go on a bike ride. Brissie to the Bay is two weeks away and we’re still fund raising for MS. :) Thanks Grandma and Mom for donating! Our Recruitment Coordinator, Ali has planned a breakfast for us to raise money for our Swift team. If you'd like to donate, please see go to http://www.brissietothebay.com.au/. We definitely appreciate the support and look forward to the ride.

We hope that everyone has a safe and wonderful week, we miss you all back home so much! Let us know how you’re doing as well and we’ll talk to you soon!

Much love,

Nat and Greg

And we have groceries...

Apparently Wednesday is Market Day in Brisbane and it's lovely! Fresh fruits and veggies, chocolate and prezzels. You can actually see all the action from my office window! And thanks for the tip girls! I skyped Greg this morning to let him know about it and he put on his tennies and went shopping! Then went back for more! I came home to a fridge full of fresh produce and Greg cooking dinner. He found a guy at the market smoking salmon which reminded me of briskett b/c of ths rub and smokey flavor, who would have thought I would miss BBQ? So smoked salmon, fresh pasta, green beans and zucchini and bon apetite! Oh, and of course the wine! Love the vino! Perfect first home cooked meal in Brisbane. (We won't count the scrambled eggs and cereal we had last night as home cooked.)

Other than the excitement of the market, work is great for me, busy, busy, busy!!! So exciting! Also, great news, Greg has an interview next week! Fingers crossed!

This weekend can't get here soon enough but luckily, it's a long one! Queensland celebrates the Queen's birthday on Monday so no work! Stephanie, Sian, Greg and I are taking a road trip to Byron bay to see the beautiful beaches and Eastern most point of Australia. We'll also drive along Waterfall Way which is West of the coast. Should be amazing! Definitely photo ops galore! Don't worry though, I will not be driving on the wrong side of the road, I'll leave that to Steph and Greg, no offense Sian, JK!

We miss everyone back home and look forward to catching up with y'all soon!!!

Night for now!

Love,

Nat

It's official, we're in Brisbane!

We officially landed in Brisbane June 3...

So just to update everyone, here's the story. We landed Thursday morning and got somewhat settled into the new apt, found the office and a few places of interest, including the bike store and the bank. The new team took us to dinner at Jade Budah on the river and we had a great time!

Friday Greg woke up at the crack of dawn but I tried to sleep longer, unsuccessful. We moved luggage around in the apt, went to lunch then to the office for a bit. Friday night we went to dinner with Andrew and Steph, and again had a great evening.

Saturday morning I wake up at 5:30 AM and can't sleep any longer. We found out that Skype is pretty successful and enjoyed seeing familiar faces. We took a day trip, and I mean, all day, to Ikea. We had a fabulous time shopping the whole store with Sian and Stephanie. Spent too much money, but hey, we don't have a car and not sure when we'll make it back. Then lunch, so far, best pizza at Sugo Mi near Steph's apt in Bulimba, yum! Saturday night Stephanie and I met up with expats with BG and had dinner and saw SATC 2. So much fun and the girls are great! Greg found the local pub and was nicknamed "Texas" by a group of locals.

So after two days of waking up WAY too early, we brought out the melatonin, brilliant! Sunday we woke up at 10:30 and felt way better! We had lunch then walked forever to Southbank to the markets. It is truly beautiful there and we took some cool pictures (soon to come). After all the walking, we took a very long nap! Great first weekend in the city!!

Today, I went to work and Greg ran some errands for us. Groceries and Target are very close, and very expensive but we're figuring it all out. Still suffering from "sticker shock" as Greg says. However, we managed to scope out the $4 Coronas. If we would have known they weren't ten bucks a piece, we probably wouldn't have tried to drink Texaco out of them before we left.

Well we miss all of you guys in Texas and thanks for all the Facebook updates and posts. Take care and we'll talk to you soon!

Later Gators!

Nat