Two weeks off
It´s like we´ve started a whole new adventure now,actually living here, renting and working. Just to pay a bill is an adventure (no internet bank payment options, either you get paypal or make sure you have a creditcard that works or you simply pop into the postoffice and stand in line just like in the middle ages) also neighbours and neighbourhoods is quite funny. Next to a brand new house worth a hundread millions, stands an old shack were the owners don´t even mind to mow the lawn. The guy next door thinks I´m strange (and now refuse to even look at me) who doesen´t say hello and start a half an hour conversation with him everythime we happen to open the door at the same time. We have tiny little lizards running in our garden and a lemontree next to the driveway in front of the house. So very diffrent and just so wonderful in all the same time.
Have had two weeks off since we got here. Already foundthat cozy sort off daily routine. Been running around town during days, practising my driving and spend a good few hours in the library with a nose in all the books by the cookbook area, also tried to personalise our new home going crazy at K-mark and BigW. H is home by 4.30, when it´s coffe-time and updating eachother on our day. Then we cook together, light some candles. This week we´ve been laughing our way out from the couch (witch is now beautiful and white, non vomit-green) to the first season of "Modern Family". Tomorrow I start my new job. Bit nervous but excited too.
Have had two weeks off since we got here. Already foundthat cozy sort off daily routine. Been running around town during days, practising my driving and spend a good few hours in the library with a nose in all the books by the cookbook area, also tried to personalise our new home going crazy at K-mark and BigW. H is home by 4.30, when it´s coffe-time and updating eachother on our day. Then we cook together, light some candles. This week we´ve been laughing our way out from the couch (witch is now beautiful and white, non vomit-green) to the first season of "Modern Family". Tomorrow I start my new job. Bit nervous but excited too.
The Lemontree. Quite fantastic to walk out to the lemon-smell in the mornings.
New friends in the kitchen for some good inspiration, Nigella, Gordon och Jaime. So happy when I found this book where Jamie´s in Sweden.
Some lavender has also found it´s way to the shelf, Koala likes the smell.
And some to the toilet window
If you haven´t, see it.
Finally found some time to get thoose maps up! We have a world map in the bedroom too, but on this one we´ve written and drawn al the roads and trips and cities we´ve so far been to. Strange how we now think we´ve seen sooo much of Oz. In fact, we haven´t even seen a third.
Tada! The white coach!
Not Sweden
Just to let ya´ll know. I´m not trying to be rude when I don´t answer the phone, or your texts and emails.
3G isin´t something that´s working in this City. The area is apparently not covered very well, if you´re luck you might be able to recive a update on facebook in our apartment during the nights when nobody else is using the net. Just forget to even try to look into you emails after 6pm when other people are using the internet. You might sometimes be able to Our apartment is also a bit blocked by the mountan we live in the bottom of, we think. I don´t actually mind to not have internet at home, I´ll usually just pop down to the library (Love Librarys! Free wifi, DVD´s and all the books you can read!) but it is the question about not even be able to make phonecall that really bugs me. Or even send or recive a text. Bit hard to realize when youre from a country were everything works differently and good too.
Inside Force Street
Didin´t serve you with pics from inside the apartment the other day. Mainly cause it was a chaos. Not even a organized one. Bags and stuff just everywhere, cut my toe on a broken piece of a glas jar (not very surprising but still) and bleed all over the floor, laundry all over,things and rubbish all over. Spent this week organizing, everything now has it´s own spot. Few little thing we need to get. Like a stool for a bedstand in the bedroom, a kettle and also need to find som light fabric to cover up the nasty colour of the sofa. Today its like dark puke-green. Not very inviting. Plus a plant or two wouldn´t be bad either. But ofcourse i forgot to take pics from outside, the lawn and Ingas new carport... Anyhow, we love it. Just the perfect size for us. And just the thing about being able to hang all you clothes up makes me feel like in heaven...!
Kitchen, unbelivable how much stuff you can get in a real sixe fridge!
Kitchen, Vegemite and Coffe on the shelf of honour
The door
Ugly Sofa and coffe table, the kicthen and livingroom is all in one
Bedroom
Bed, big, nice and soft.
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All the Game Of Thrones books is butofcourse piled up in the best position easy to reach
Shower and bathroom, toilet just around the corner
Washing sink, has a big cupboard underneath and drawers
My new favorite, Lemon Tea Tree Moisturiser, Product of Australia. Smells so nice I wanna eat it.
Big Storage with shelfs in bathroom too
The Closet! Tada, starting to recognize Tilly now ;)?
Midsommar
Idag gör de här bilderna mig tårögd. Midsommar. Svensk Sommar. Vänner, skratt glädje. Lite saknad. En dag att minnas hur lyckligt lottad man är med så mycket kärlek. Och skratt. Och Gele hallon. Den genom tiderna bästa 5 kamps grenen. Någonsin. (Punkt!)
Jag kramar om er alla i tankarna. Hårt så det gör ont. Och älskar er, hur mycket som helst. Jag önskar att ni alla får skratta tillsammans idag, sitta uppe i en ljus natt när solen aldrig verkar gå ned. Känna lukten av blommorna och gräset. Av sommar som är svensk. <3
2/4 Force St
Not even two weeks since we left Brisbane. Feels like our life is stuck in some kind of fastforward-lucky thing.
Yesterday we got that phonecall that gave us the apartment we looked at and wanted so bad! On top, also got that call from the retail shop I meet with this friday. Start my new job in a week on friday.
Signed and picked the keys to apartment 2/4 Force Street in the afternoon. Sleept our first night this last night. Ours and ours only. The perfect little hideaway. Kitchen and living room combined, big bathroom and queen-bed, huge closet in the bedroom. A little lawn just outside to sit down and read in the afternoons.
And my new job is as a sales assistant in a retail shop on Gondoon (main street, Gladstone), part-time to begin with then going on fulltime end of July. With the plan to develop for a management position within a couple of months if everything goes.
Yesterday we got that phonecall that gave us the apartment we looked at and wanted so bad! On top, also got that call from the retail shop I meet with this friday. Start my new job in a week on friday.
Signed and picked the keys to apartment 2/4 Force Street in the afternoon. Sleept our first night this last night. Ours and ours only. The perfect little hideaway. Kitchen and living room combined, big bathroom and queen-bed, huge closet in the bedroom. A little lawn just outside to sit down and read in the afternoons.
And my new job is as a sales assistant in a retail shop on Gondoon (main street, Gladstone), part-time to begin with then going on fulltime end of July. With the plan to develop for a management position within a couple of months if everything goes.
Fraiser Island
Although I was now about two, almost three(!) weeks ago since we did the Fraiser, still close in memory and what a wonderful Island! Think the largest Sand ISland in the world, at least in Australia. A whole lot of sand, the mororway, on of the registred motorways in Australia, went along the beach. Only between the tides thoug, at six o´clock there is no beach left to ride on. We all might have wished for better weather, but the sun came out for four hours friday morning at least. Booked an overnight stay at on of the resorts with all inclusive and guided tour althrough the days. And, after three weeks living on sausages the lunch, dinner and brekkie buffé was as we never seen proper food before! Some rain, some cool rainforest, sand sand and sand, many good laughs and with the most beautiful wievs (Not to forget the Awesome creek...). Even though Tom got bitten by a leech, bleed quite a bit and fell into Lake McKenzie (Fraiser seemed to haunt him in some way), the rain and wind poured down on our walk over the sandblow to Lake Wabby and EVEN though the bus got stuck on the beach to brake down five minutes later when heading back to land, made us wait a good halfhour (in thruth a good two hours) before anybody could pick us up and have us seen to the Ferry back to Rainbow. Amazing, happy times.
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Our super-bus, who turned out not so super once broken down...
Forest walk, to Lake Wabby
Tom, pre-leech-bite
Koala joined too
And did some cuddle with his new foudn friend, Monkey
Lake Wabby
One of the freshwater lakes on the Island
Koala found himself a boat and paddled off
Bathing in Lake Wabby, quick swim thoug, freezing as it was!
ANd off to Lake McKenzie, you know the bright blue one with crisp white sand, well at least once the sun is up. We where not so lucky, but very beautiful still!
Tom, before his very well ahead planed swim....
Lake McKenzie
Jumping pics!
Gottcha!
Oooop!
Walked the rainforest, the only one in the world who is growing out of sand
Monkey were chasing Koala up the tree
Friday morning and brigth sunshine!
Moshino Shipwreck
Tilly
Monkey and Koala
The Pinnacles, multicolored sand, supposed to be more than eighty shades of sand, did not count but was many a colors
Lookout from Indian Heads. Very very windy this day, on a calm day you see heaps of Sharks, Mantas and Turles swimming down the ocean. DID spot a Manta swimming near the shore and a SHARK!! At least for like a second, how very very cool!
Indian Head
Shark-Looking, and looking
The Campange pools, natural pools who used to be used by the aborigins as fish traps when the waves blow them into the pools from the ocean
The New City
Slowly we´re getting to know this new city of ours. The small main-street with the pub, library and the small shops. The shopping centres and huge grocery stores. The river and ocean up close. Everybody either does fishing or motorcross as a hobby. Beaches around every corner, the marina 2 minutes from mainstreet, the huge Spinnakerpark out on the marina cape, Barney park and city beach, the mountains surronding. Is truly a working city though, big industrial buildings is the mark of the town.
Caravanparks all jammed. People seem to live here during weeks and back home during weekends. The guys are all off to work. I´left with the other housewifes, who happily wanna chat on, and on, and on, everytime I happened to walk buy. Have other company in the little birds who comes for a crumble of our old bread, been real housewifie cooking and cleaning, cozy to just pick with a little of everything. Altought mostly reading in the shadows of the palmtrees. Heat is barley standable during the days.
Currently about 20k from the city centre at Tannum Sands/Boyne Island. The closest spot we could find. However, if everything goes the way we want we have a unit of our own soon. Drove past an empty rental one yesterday, spoke to the real estate agent anda viewing is booked for tomorrow. Ridicculoisy expensive, Sydney-pricing cause of all the workers I bet.
To top it off, I have too two interviews before this weeks comes to an end. Eveything just happens so fast and goes so well. Hard to belive last week that we would be sitting here now. Back then we were still broke backpackers deperate for money, out on a milking farm.
Guess you stand like us, bit speeachless whitout being able to stop smiling, when you realize one of your dreams is comming thru, and you are living in it.
Monday we spent driving true Tannum Sands and laying on the Mainbeach
Tannum Sands.
Opps, musn´t forget we live in Queensland now! Bit of a chock too se this sign anyway.....Crocs!
Spinnaker Park out by the Marina, the first morning i Drove Henrik to work I went for a walk watching the ships come to life after the long weekend while the sun rose.
Very peaceful in a loud boat-noisy kind of way
The most beautiful man in the world, all dressed up in his new workwear. Feels like you´re here to pick me up from kindergarten he said when I saw him and giggled out loud....
Noosa to Rainbow
Too many happy pictures, such a slow updater... The place we´re staying at the mo has not much of connection either....
But anyhow... From Noosa we took our vans up an hour north to spend one night in Rainbow Beach. Booked one night on Fraiser from a Noosa Agency and apparently Rainbow´s a good spot to enter the Island via the car ferry. The name Rainbow supposed to come from the colored sand on the beach I was taught. Although one untrained eye would say its only sand colored sand and some black strings going trough. Tiny town but charming in its way. A beautiful windy day we spent on the beach in sunset on a painted log. With some Heinekens. Just watching the ocean. Ended up drinking Goon from our halflitres Sea World cups with dolphins on true a straw. Amazing times.
Namefriend - BIG KANGA! She turns her head and blinks every now and then too :)
Rainbow Beach
Mountains to the south
Eveningwalk along the beach, Henrik and Tom
The Log
My Prince!
Waves watching, Tom, Michelle and Henrik
All of us, East-coast 2012!
Happy happy times! (Also notice Toms most precious stick to the right, haha)
Gladstone, Wooop!
So, we have had quite a productive week! And a quite surprising one towards the end I must say....
For a while there I thought we´d have to spend the upcoming three months on a small farm in-the-middle-of-nowhere (but very beautiful) milking cows everyday. And now we´ve just landed in Gladstone, a small industrial City up along the east coast, near the Tropical Capricorn, to settle down and live here the next couple of months!
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Quite sick of just everything on wednesday (hardly any farm jobs to apply for, hardy no answers nor emails, and Tilly started to panic - "we never gonna find a job, EVER!" graceful and so very patient as she are) we decided to travel 3 hours, south west of Brisbane to visit a farm who could provide us with work and also eliglibe work to apply for our secondyear visa. Done, drove south thursday spent a free night along the road and got to Maroon Valley and said hello to about 150 milk cows friday morning. To be honest, would glady hade done the job itself, kinda lika cows. Now it just so happened another offer turned up from clear blur sky. Henrik googled some pump companies and sent off a few words to them during last week. One off them phoned friday morning, three calls later, yesterday night Henrik was offerd a job for six months earning shitloads/hour in the little town of Gladstone. So here we are!
Thing is, this is what we´ve been talking bout al along. To find a little city and settle down, easy living and diving during weekends. If we are even more lucky H´s new company or the work Tilly hopes to find gives us sponsorship for the next few years downunder. If not, we have been living the drem on the eastcoast for half a year.
Drove all the way up from Brisbane, started 7am this morning, and now have two days to explore this little city we gonna call a home before H start his job on tuseday. Exciting times!
Noosa
Still in Noosa. This beautiful confusing 3-in-one-city place. (You have Nosaville, Noosahead and Noosajunction witch all has their own little mainstreet surronded by milions of roundabouts to get you even more lost) Spent a few good days here last week too with Tom and Michelle. In Noosa Heads and Noosa Junction. Tried to sneek in a free nights sleep and parked our cars on a little cape far out in Noosa Woods. Only to wake up to hard knocks on our doors 7am and told off to sleep anymore. No signs whatsoever about forbinnen camping but apparently forbidden to camp anywhere but in campsites along the whole fraiser/sunshine coast and apparently we ought to know that...
At least watched the most beautiful sunset sitting in our campchairs overlooking sand dunes and horizon. A good hot day at the beach, a late night of goon and giggles, a bbq with another english couple we meet in Surfers. Along with that we spend some time being jelous of all these people living in the most amazing houses with their own private beach, tried to work out the best way to earn 13 milions (dollars!) so we could by one four ourselfes. Still no luck on that I´m afraid, so still here for our big job-hunting week.
This time in Noosaville though, still hanging on the campsite and down by the river, also still doing some good Game Of Thrones reading, replying and calling on ads. Waking up to sunshine everyday and must say we could have worse places to job-hunt on than by the river with pelicans and small boats going by.
Will spend another day here to wait for some mail, before we make our way down to Brisbane. Awaiting some call-back too, and plan to drive south and inlands outback to meet with one of the farm-managers friday.
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Noosa Heads, down by the entrance to the national park.
Reading, watching the surfers in the bay....
Noosa Heads
Sunset in Noosa Woods
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Henrik and Tom
Tom, Henrik and Tilly
Just look at that pink sky!
Godmorning Noosa!
Not so bad in sunlight either
Earlybird Tilly
Noosa National Park
Must confess I´ve grown quite fond of theese walks we have been doing. Not that we do it too very often, but this latest one was actually done on my request. Although I am always the one who gets tired first and Henrik has to push me on listening to my moaning..... Anywho, again just so in love with the views, the landscape, the ocean and the great waves. Just breathtaking. Took a good 11 kilometer hike trough the Noosa National Park the other week.
Through dolphin point, up on the mountain, so windy I could scarley hold my iphone still to take a picture!, down on the beach, who turned out to be a nude one. Packed with good old men and pierced dangling things...up another mountains to the turnpoint on sunshine beach and then back. Sat a good while on the edge off a cliff just watching the waves break on the rocks in the sunshine. No luck catching dolphins swimming by this time, but once back at the startpoint we had picknick lunch with a sleepy koala up in the nearest tree.
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As you can see, my thumb´s also in this pic. Only way to be able to keep my phone still....
H on the edge of the first viewpoint
As said, quite windy!
Overlooking sunshine beach
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On our way up the mountain
Pitstop on the way back. Edge, breaking waves. All salty afterwards.
Not Only naked guys on the nudebeach. Found a very handsome one with clothes on too! <3
NoosaVille
Currently cuddled up in Inga at Noosa Caravan Park. Doing not very much. Been raining nonstop the last two days, ever since we came back from Fraiser. Best to stay in. Watching Game Of Thrones, reading Game Of Thrones (Just finished the second book, about to burst from excitment to start reading the first of book three, such a cliffhanger!), cooking, brushing sand out from the floor (can seriously not understan where all this sand is comming from!) constantly checking gumthree for new ads for farmwork.
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Sad times, as we split up from Tom and Michelle saturday morning. Us to drive south back to Noosa, and they north to Whitsundays and Cairns. Have had som pretty awesome weeks though. Port Douglas to Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise to Nimbin, Noosa to Rainbow beach and did a splendid good-bye with two days on Fraiser Island. Although rainy, windy, witch leeches and beeing stuck between the beach and the boat cause the bus broke down when we where about to take off. Still awesome and such a beauty that island. And lucky us to have such sweet friends xx.
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Our plans is to remain in Noosa area to try find farmwork. Better of staying where we are so we don´t go north just to find job south and the other way around. Have some strawberry farms to call in the morning and still waiting respond from a live-on-the-farm ad, trying to spend as little money possible. No complains though, even though you can tell winter is really here it´s warm all day around. The nights could do to be a bit longer, sunsets at 5.30 ish and after that it´s pitch black, still we kinda like it in here. The water just some steps outside, warm and cosy and with two more books ahead it´s pretty very good.
And tada! to the new design of the blogheader. Thought it could do better witch some pics from this trip, Thailand, Vietnam and som favorites from Oz aswell.
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Rainbow Beach before sunset. Henrik, Tilly, Michelle and Tom.
The bay to surfers
Another forgotten bunch of pics from our weeks on the roads. Though we are currently back in Noosa again. From the drive from Byron Bay and the night we spend in Nimbin. And from The Big Week of Fun at Seaworld and Tillys happy meeting with Mr Sponge and Mrs Puffs. The clever Dolphins and the cuddly Mantas at SeaWorld.
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You´d have to look hard even in Nimbin to find two more stoned people as the two old ladies who worked at "Nimbin Hemp Embassy"....
Best Camper-Statement Ever? Might be the truest in any case...Chocolate Makes It all Ok!
Tilly in Nimbin
No Dealing. Hmmmppffh!
In Surfers. Campsite surrounded by the skyscrapers. Bit surreal really...
Like the first thing we saw enetering SeaWorld. SPONGEBOB! Came driving up in a little golfcar and walked up to his first photoshoot of the day, we (Tilly) followed jumping and clapping hands.....!
Soooooon our turn!
Happy Happy Girl ;)
Hello Manta!
Me and Michelle bought some manta food. Though Michelle did most of the feeding. Shrimps and fishes bit too nasty for wimpy Tilly to touch...
But petting was ok! Quite cuddly the mantas who kept swimming back to you so you could stroke them again gently on the back!
Hello Cutie!
Dolphinshow was amazing. So clever these animals. And they jump so high!
Got truly jelous of the trainers. Imagine having that for a work everyday. Just jumping around with some dolphins!
Had some sort of Jetski show aswell at SeaWorld. Dunno, think I prefer the cheesy SpongeBob parade they did actually...
Anyhow, just wanted to post theese pics aswell. Will try to update you guys about all we´ve been up to theese past weeks. Still like two weeks behind in my updates....so much to tell, so little time!
More Byron
Feels like its about time I am to start doing these updates ing English. From time to time, at least. But you do have to expect some Swenglish though. Would be nice to give some reading to all our new lovely friends from around the world aswell.
Back to Byron for a bit now. My updates isn't really present to time at the moment. Keep forgetting that we have two cameras in use. My iPhone and also that big one Henrik´s uses. So after downloading all images from one of them, I usually realize the day after or so that I haven´t even looked the ones from the other camera. Makes the updates in a bit of a disorder. Guess we can live with that. Just could not, not show you these ones from Byron Bay too. Before we road tripped further up to Surfers Paradise from Byron Bay we took the vans up to the lighthouse for breakfast and some walking around at the viewpoint at the top. Still as taken buy the sea, clouds and horizon as the first time. On our way down again, we where lucky enough to spot the dolphins swimming buy down the hill. Heaps of them just surfing the waves. Isn't that just amazing?! Me and Michelle didn't know how to act and just blurted out screams in high pitched voices to everybody´s amusement.
From the lighthouse
Hanging on the roof
Sharp cliffs
High cliffs
Beauty
The Marine Park
Tilly
Tilly again
As far we´ve yet been from home. Sideways
DOPLHINS!!
Most amazing thing!
Beautiful day
