The Beginning

Sorry for the delay in updating our blog but we have been busy settling into this lovely country. We are now connected to the net and have found our long term rental (Sunshine Coast) so now we can get back to our blog.

We arrived from a 22hr flight with our entire luggage in tow. E brought his paragliding equipment with him which accounted for his 20kilos, one piece of hand luggage. I arrived with my 20+ kilos of luggage and once piece of carry on. We were not charged for additional weight by the airline carrier (Emirates) which we should have been at a rate of 50 Euros per kilo, I think due to the minimum amount of passengers on the flight from Venice to Dubai. We arrived extra early for the check (advice given from another blogger) and played it calm and cool when approaching the check in counter. As you can all imagine I was shiting my pants thinking "what if" we had to pay for extra weight. All went well with Emirates check in and because of it we had a very enjoyable flight from Venice to Dubai.

Our flight with Emirates was wonderful. The food was good and the seating (emerge exit) worked out nicely for my long legs. Like many long haul flights you meet many people both flight attendants and passengers. E met a fellow Italian who was also relocating to Brisbane for school, E since then has kept in contact with his new friend name Gino. We also met another fellow who lives in Brisbane and have been communicating with him since we have arrived. It really is a nice thing to meet people when you have just relocated, left your family and friends for a new experience abroad.

Two days later we arrive in lovely Brisbane to a few rain showers. It wouldn't have been a big deal if we didn't have to walk by foot with 40+ kilos of luggage to retrieve our luggage which we had shipped (3 days before departure) from Quarantine. As I heard much about Quarantine and how nasty they could be if things are not up to par, I once again became quite anxious thinking of "what ifs". We ended up waiting about 3+hrs for Quarantine to open in order to retrieve our luggage and have it checked. I swear those 3 hrs felt like 24. Poor E was so tired and we were both just wanted to sleep. Our stopover in Dubai only allowed for 5hrs if that of a good night's rest before having to leave again for Brisbane. So we arrive for our appointment with Quarantine to retrieve our things. I was met by a lovely fellow who only wanted to talk bad about America since he knew I wasn't American. He checked only the bags that had shoes inside as all other suitcases contained mainly clothes. He was satisfied about the soles of the shoes as they were VERY clean. Our tracking boots were not too clean but he had no issue with how they looked. We were not charged any additional fees besides what one pays to retrieve their items (approx 90AUD). With all of our luggage in tow (4 suitcases, 2 backpacks) we were ready to head leave for the city.

Upon our arrival to temporary stay in Brisbane (Tribeca Apartments, Spring Hill) we conversed with our lovely maxi taxi driver and took in the scenery. Being from Toronto, Brisbane streets, cars and people (multicultural) reminded me much of back home. For E, the feeling was different. He says the only thing he was feeling was sleep deprivation..lol. Our stay at Tribeca was nice, the building managers were a little spaced out at times but other than that we had an enjoyable stay. Spring Hill definitely was a nice starting point as a newbie to Brisbane. We were able to walk (did too much damn walking) to relatively everywhere in the surrounding area and noticed shortly into our arrival that Brisbane definitely is a car city. We visited Fortitude Valley (what a place after dark;), West End, South Bank (our fav), kangaroo Point and New Farm. We used the transit system one day when we had to venture a little further out of the city. We didn't find it to be too bad, it was clean, the driver was friendly and most importantly we didn't get lost. The price of the transit was relative to what I would be in Toronto but in Toronto the service is a lot bigger. We attended some cultural events while staying in the city and I really enjoyed that. E really is not into cultural things but enjoyed it the same and learned something about something...lol. We rented a car for a day and headed up to the Sunshine Coast and couldn't say much more about the Coast. It is such a lovely place, isn't anywhere with the ocean lovely?

Before we arrived in Australia I was contacted for a job interview on the Sunshine Coast. The interview was scheduled 5 days after my arrival. If that's not coincidence, I don't know what is. Anyway, I was happy to receive an interview and happier that I was able to attend the interview in person. So the day we decided to venture up to the coast was the day of my interview. Of course I was nervous and very anxious as I haven't been interviewed in such a long time. Being over in Italy for the time my interview skills had dried up...haha. I left the interview feeling confident but didn't express this confidence to E as I didn't want to be disappointed hadn't I gotten the job. We waited about 5 days (weekend incl) and finally heard back from the TL. I was successful and was offered a position. As I had arrived in Australia on a working holiday visa I was able to work straight away. At the time of the offer we were still staying in Spring Hill but were scheduled to leave a few days after. E was very happy to relocate to the Sunshine Coast as he fell in love with the place before I even got the job.

Our temporary stay on the coast was Myconos Resort which is located very close to the ocean in Maroochydore. I must stay this is one of the best places I have stayed in terms of service. The owners were every so lovely during our transition up to the coast. I highly recommend this hotel for anyone wishing to visit the Sunshine Coast. We stayed in the temporary accommodation for one week and during that time we searched high and low for something more long term. We really wanted to find an apartment that wasn't a resort/hotel style, like many on the coast. After searching high and low we finally found a place to call home. We are so happy in our apartment one wouldn't believe. We have two bedrooms and two baths for our expected visitors hint, hint. We are very close to the ocean and have a lovely view of it.

I know its along read but I had to play catch up. Stay tuned for lots of PICS.

Stay FAB!

p.s. I don't know how much E will post in Italian, sorry to our Italian readers. I am trying to get him to continue with the Italian portion of our blog.