Rosie's Travels

I'm in Brisbane. It's modern, it's warm, and I'm liking it a lot more than I did when I first arrived in Australia 18 months ago. Then, it was humid November with intense pelting rain bucketing down between 3:30 and 4:30 pm daily. I felt clammy, light-headed, and unable to deal with the heat - on the verge of passing out for much of the time I wasn't in an air-conditioned building. Now, though, I'm appreciating the modern library and the art galleries. I wonder if another change might be that I'm not wearing traveller sandals and trying to boldly stride out. I'm in flip flops, and my walking speed has slowed to a calm shuffle.

The State Library has an exhibition entitled "War and Sport". I stared at this for some time. Normally I love libraries. But this? The only way I could be less interested in their exhibition would be if it was "War, Sport and Motor Vehicles."

Tomorrow I fly back to Cairns looking for a job. I'm feeling hopeful. This last month of madness has been so intense, and I've covered so much ground, I need this weekend of reading books and lying in the sand at Streets Beach to let my soul catch up.

Labels: Brisbane, libraries, weather

Good things are happening!

My wonderful American friends Julia and Steve have welcomed an adorable baby daughter who rejoices in the name of Aerin Syrah. Congratulations to the happy family! I finally spoke to Jules for over an hour today and they're both head over heels in love with the little one.

I have moved to a fixed address, for the first time in 6 months! I'm sharing an apartment in peaceful Unley, just south of the city centre, with a lovely guy from book group. The sun is shining, I'm checking out my new local library as I write this, and then I'm going shopping to make a celebratory dinner tonight followed by watching Much Ado About Nothing - a new modern British version apparently set in a TV station.

Australian television is fairly dire - the shows I enjoy watching (Grey's Anatomy, Numb3rs, House, NCIS, The OC, Black Books) are all either American or British. On the plus side, this means I have more time for the important things in life, like reading books.

The photo is of another exotic tree, this time one at the bottom of my new street. I don't know the name of it, but the red cups are slowly being shed to the ground, and walking underneath them along the pavement you hear a soft dry rattling like a rain stick. It's not the leaves rustling, but the dried seed pods being stirred by the breeze.

Labels: Adelaide, exotic fauna and flora, friends, libraries, television

Hello, good evening and welcome from chilly Melbourne winter. It's 7:09 pm and I'm still at my desk having spent 2 hours failing to complete a unit of my art course. I've got a lot to think about, and one more BookCrossing book to register. Plus the library closes at 8pm ... More to follow tomorrow.

Labels: art, BookCrossing, libraries, Melbourne