Dinner at Nine Mary's
The girls dressed to impress as we ate out at Nine Mary's, which does some of the best Indian food in Perth... its almost as good as Curry Connection here in St. Lucia!
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Sprint to the finish line at the South Bank Cycling Grand Prix
We were lucky enough to stumble accross the Cycling Grand Prix in South Bank. We had a great view at the front of the barricades but our photos doesn't do those guys any justice - they were going super fast! We didn't envy them though - they were working very hard in the sultry midday Brisbane heat.
Riverside Sunday Markets
We ventured by ferry to the art and craft markets held at Riverside every Sunday. There was the usual fare including eclectic jewelry, homemade soaps and the lady thats always selling Bruce Lee tea towels. We walked around the river until we reached the city botanic gardens which had fantastic huge Morton Bay Fig trees and the biggest mosquitos that we've ever seen! There was also an excellent wooden walkway that weaved through a mangrove forest. Actually the mosquitos ended up being quite effective tour guides - encouraging us to "move along" when we'd lingered for too long!
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Yellow flowers in bloom at the University of Queensland
People had told us how amazing the jacaranda flowers were in St Lucia but a couple of weeks after the pathways and roads had been covered in purple another flowering tree was painting the University yellow. This was one particularly thick carpet we passed on our walk home.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Dinner in Southbank
Natalie and Jeanne are posing in front of the Nepalese Pagoda. We'd had a great dinner earlier that night with Andrew at a riverfront cafe and enjoyed the view. Jeanne has promised to take Natalie shopping when she is next in Melbourne... which could be very exciting or very dangerous depending upon the view Natalie's credit card chooses :)
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Garth, our new BBQ
A house is not a home without a BBQ and after 8 months we were really starting to miss the smell of sizzling onions and other BBQ goodness. We picked up "Garth" at our local Bunnings, he's only a little two burner, but in the tradition of ye olde "Patio Master" in Kalbarri, he does the trick. He is a photo of Andrew testing him out with glass of wine in hand for proper balance with the spatula, showing he's lots nothing when it comes to BBQing.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Powerhouse Markets
Andrew's craving for fresh fruit and vegetables to keep away the scurvy lead us to the Powerhouse Markets in Nu-farm. Supposedly these markets were named the best in Brisbane and the fruit selection was pretty fine...we are planning on going back when mango season gets into full swing to pick up a tray! The photo shows the old powerhouse factory which is now an art gallery and theatre.
Monday, September 05, 2005
Annual RiverFire Festival
Natalie's friend Briony was in town for one weekend and it just happend to be the same weekend as the annual Riverfire festival...Brisbane's equivalent of Perth's Australia Day Fireworks spectacular...as you can see from the photo we had prime seats, opposite one of the barges. Unfortunately the camera batteries ran out just after the show started!
Monday, August 22, 2005
August Update
Greetings all! Its been a while since we sent an update but we've been pretty busy over here in sunny Brisbane. Since we last wrote we've had no less than 8 visitors. Needless to say we have now been to most of the major tourist spots around Brisbane, several times! Our favourite is probably the Botanic Gardens at Mt. Cootha, since discovering that we've been back 4 times! Here's a photo of Andrew admiring the architecture of the Tropical Dome.
Our friend Aileen was the first person to make the trip over from Perth, which was kind of appropriate given that she was the one who introduced the two of us almost 5 years ago today. Here's a photo of Natalie & Aileen taking in the sights of Southbank. Even before Aileen had left for her conference in the Gold Coast, Andrew's Dad & Brenda had arrived, and given we don't really have room for 5 at our dining room table we all went out for dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant in New Farm. Highlight of their visit was a spectacular Flamenco concert. During the week Kip dropped in for dinner and we treated him to Natalie's latest speciality....Tomato Seafood Risotto.
The week after Seb arrived, and after sleeping for most of the first two days (ok, he was recovering from a cold) we ventured out to see an excellent Japanese Drumming concert. Nicole flew in from Singapore a couple of days later on the way home from her Adventure's in Europe and the day after that Andrew & Seb left for Sydney (Andrew got a paid trip down there to use some special lab equipment at the University of Sydney). Andrew spent the weekend with Seb in Sydney taking in the sights (they walked over 20kms in one day) and here are some photographic highlights of their trip. Meanwhile Natalie's mum had arrived from Perth and Natalie took two days off work (only 2 weeks after starting, heh heh heh!) to visit the Gold Coast with her Mum & Nicole. Of course a picnic at the Botanic Gardens was also in order and here is a photo of us all outside the Japenese Garden. And last but not least Andrew's Mum arrived a week later, just in time for her birthday!
In between all of those visitors Natalie also finished off her Master's Thesis and got a High Distinction for it! Even sweeter than that, she landed a job the week after handing in her Thesis as a Project Co-ordinator for an International Development company that does aid & development projects throughout the Asia-Pacific and Indian subcontinent regions. To make it even sweeter the company has its offices at the University of Queensland, 2 buildings away from Andrew's lab....so now we get to walk in to work together every morning¡...how sweet is that! :)
Meanwhile Andrew has been beating his head against the brick wall that is his PhD... and let's just say he has a pretty sore head at the moment. But one bright spot was the University business ideas/commercialisation competition, which he entered along with 2 guys from his lab. Together they won a runner's up prize in the student division, which was pretty good considering there were over 100 entries. Unfortunately their high tech nanotechnology idea wasn't good enough to beat a student who invented a device to tell whether a cow is ready to be artificially inseminated. Here is a photo of Andrew with Dan from his lab holding their prize envelopes.
Other than that, its been pretty quiet over here in Brisbane. Hope things are going well for you all and we'd love to hear about the goings on in your part of the world - so email us when you get the chance :) Thanks to everyone who has been to visit us, its been really great and helped a little with the homesickness!
Our friend Aileen was the first person to make the trip over from Perth, which was kind of appropriate given that she was the one who introduced the two of us almost 5 years ago today. Here's a photo of Natalie & Aileen taking in the sights of Southbank. Even before Aileen had left for her conference in the Gold Coast, Andrew's Dad & Brenda had arrived, and given we don't really have room for 5 at our dining room table we all went out for dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant in New Farm. Highlight of their visit was a spectacular Flamenco concert. During the week Kip dropped in for dinner and we treated him to Natalie's latest speciality....Tomato Seafood Risotto.
The week after Seb arrived, and after sleeping for most of the first two days (ok, he was recovering from a cold) we ventured out to see an excellent Japanese Drumming concert. Nicole flew in from Singapore a couple of days later on the way home from her Adventure's in Europe and the day after that Andrew & Seb left for Sydney (Andrew got a paid trip down there to use some special lab equipment at the University of Sydney). Andrew spent the weekend with Seb in Sydney taking in the sights (they walked over 20kms in one day) and here are some photographic highlights of their trip. Meanwhile Natalie's mum had arrived from Perth and Natalie took two days off work (only 2 weeks after starting, heh heh heh!) to visit the Gold Coast with her Mum & Nicole. Of course a picnic at the Botanic Gardens was also in order and here is a photo of us all outside the Japenese Garden. And last but not least Andrew's Mum arrived a week later, just in time for her birthday!
In between all of those visitors Natalie also finished off her Master's Thesis and got a High Distinction for it! Even sweeter than that, she landed a job the week after handing in her Thesis as a Project Co-ordinator for an International Development company that does aid & development projects throughout the Asia-Pacific and Indian subcontinent regions. To make it even sweeter the company has its offices at the University of Queensland, 2 buildings away from Andrew's lab....so now we get to walk in to work together every morning¡...how sweet is that! :)
Meanwhile Andrew has been beating his head against the brick wall that is his PhD... and let's just say he has a pretty sore head at the moment. But one bright spot was the University business ideas/commercialisation competition, which he entered along with 2 guys from his lab. Together they won a runner's up prize in the student division, which was pretty good considering there were over 100 entries. Unfortunately their high tech nanotechnology idea wasn't good enough to beat a student who invented a device to tell whether a cow is ready to be artificially inseminated. Here is a photo of Andrew with Dan from his lab holding their prize envelopes.
Other than that, its been pretty quiet over here in Brisbane. Hope things are going well for you all and we'd love to hear about the goings on in your part of the world - so email us when you get the chance :) Thanks to everyone who has been to visit us, its been really great and helped a little with the homesickness!
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
June Update
Greetings everyone!We've realised that its been a while since we last sent an update we've been busy and have lots to fill you in on! You'll find we've marked the spotswhich have pictures attached with a *. On the study side we have made lots of progress with Natalie finishing off the draft of her Master's thesis and Andrew handing in his Literature Review.We visited Andrew's Dad in Canberra in May, many thanks to Hugh and Brenda for kindly letting us stay, feeding us and showing us around town! We saw the Bell Shakespeare Company perform War of the Roses which combined at least 3 different plays and was great! Visited the War Memorial on ANZACd ay long weekend and Parliament House* where Natalie got her photo taken with Bob Hawke.* The trees are wonderful in Canberra during autumn but unfortunately there hadn't been much frost to allow for the usual amazing transformation. Its definitely an arty city, so we couldn't pass upvisits to the excellent National Museum* and Art Gallery where we saw a political cartoon exhibition. *
Its been a very cultural couple of months actually, we've visited the Brisbane State Art Gallery and Museum with a very funky exhibitioninvolving sculptures made from money, VHS tape and coke cans! And we caught a production of Puccini's Opera Tosca, which put Natalie in a singingmood, though her full rendition of Madame Butterfly when we got home atmidnight wasn't too popular with the neighbours in our complex. Speaking of which, we have made another friend here in the complex, helikes to sit on the tree outside our study, so we just wave and say hello. We have included a pic of him sunbaking downstairs*.
Singing and dancing was definetly on the cards again for the EurovisionSong Contest which we watched with some friends from Andrew's lab, for thoseof you who also caught it we thought the Moldovan grandmother who playedthe drum should have won alone :) Natalie was extremely disappointed that Portugal did not get into the Finals, despite having to admit that they weren't very good. There is a never ending supply of Festivals here in Brisbane, a couplewe've been to recently were the Caxton Street Seafood Festival, which had a distinct party atmosphere although there was definitely more alcoholthan seafood. Whilst there we were accosted by a Vodaphone marketeer whoposted our pic on their website*. The Southbank Buddha Festival was also very colourful.*
Some of you may have seen reports on the news of snow in Brisbane acouple of weeks ago. Well it wasn't quite snow but a massive hail storm instead. The hail was knee deep in places and you could still see some of itbeside the road 2 whole days later. We've had a couple of nights out on the town as well.* Kip came up from Melbourne again and we all went to a Turkish restaurant complete with authentic belly dancing, sorry guys the photos of that one came out toodark to see anything! Thanks also to Andrew's Uncle & Auntie, Raya and Stuart who came and visited us for dinner in the Queen Street Mall. Next time you visit we'll take you on a cruise of the river!Another highlight from the past couple of months have been our trips toIKEA to round out our furniture colleciton.* Natalie' reckons its the largest IKEA in the southern hemisphere (well the largest one she's been to any how) and gets very excited every time we make the long drive down (its halfway to the Gold Coast).*
We are also sad to report that we have had to hand over our WA licencesand rego plates for Qld ones, but never fear we are still West Australiansat heart. Next weekend we're seeing two of our favourite DJ's, Deep Dish playing at Brisbane's biggest nightclub, Family in the Valley so it should be an excellent and very late, late night! Thanks for all your emails, its nice to know that you're thinking of us. Hope you are all having a great week and email again soon!!!
Its been a very cultural couple of months actually, we've visited the Brisbane State Art Gallery and Museum with a very funky exhibitioninvolving sculptures made from money, VHS tape and coke cans! And we caught a production of Puccini's Opera Tosca, which put Natalie in a singingmood, though her full rendition of Madame Butterfly when we got home atmidnight wasn't too popular with the neighbours in our complex. Speaking of which, we have made another friend here in the complex, helikes to sit on the tree outside our study, so we just wave and say hello. We have included a pic of him sunbaking downstairs*.
Singing and dancing was definetly on the cards again for the EurovisionSong Contest which we watched with some friends from Andrew's lab, for thoseof you who also caught it we thought the Moldovan grandmother who playedthe drum should have won alone :) Natalie was extremely disappointed that Portugal did not get into the Finals, despite having to admit that they weren't very good. There is a never ending supply of Festivals here in Brisbane, a couplewe've been to recently were the Caxton Street Seafood Festival, which had a distinct party atmosphere although there was definitely more alcoholthan seafood. Whilst there we were accosted by a Vodaphone marketeer whoposted our pic on their website*. The Southbank Buddha Festival was also very colourful.*
Some of you may have seen reports on the news of snow in Brisbane acouple of weeks ago. Well it wasn't quite snow but a massive hail storm instead. The hail was knee deep in places and you could still see some of itbeside the road 2 whole days later. We've had a couple of nights out on the town as well.* Kip came up from Melbourne again and we all went to a Turkish restaurant complete with authentic belly dancing, sorry guys the photos of that one came out toodark to see anything! Thanks also to Andrew's Uncle & Auntie, Raya and Stuart who came and visited us for dinner in the Queen Street Mall. Next time you visit we'll take you on a cruise of the river!Another highlight from the past couple of months have been our trips toIKEA to round out our furniture colleciton.* Natalie' reckons its the largest IKEA in the southern hemisphere (well the largest one she's been to any how) and gets very excited every time we make the long drive down (its halfway to the Gold Coast).*
We are also sad to report that we have had to hand over our WA licencesand rego plates for Qld ones, but never fear we are still West Australiansat heart. Next weekend we're seeing two of our favourite DJ's, Deep Dish playing at Brisbane's biggest nightclub, Family in the Valley so it should be an excellent and very late, late night! Thanks for all your emails, its nice to know that you're thinking of us. Hope you are all having a great week and email again soon!!!
Monday, February 14, 2005
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