Boxing Day to New Years

G'day, Canadians!I am writing to you from the abode of my good pals David, Carolyne and Luca Hall who reside in Ferny Hills of the greater Brisbane area, Queensland. Today is day 8 of my Australian journey. Apologies for not getting this blog goin' earlier, I've been real busy muckin' about in the South Eastern Queensland area. So far I've gone on a few excursions into the main downtown area (Brisbane CBD), drives into the surrounding countryside of Samford, and good day of surf up at Dicky's Beach, Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

So far it's been pretty humid, and we've had a lot of rain (apparently QLD had its rainiest December this year in 150 yrs!) We have had some sunny days too, though. Average temperature has been btw 27 and 31 Celsius. The heat's been nice, wowever it has had its draw backs: the UV radiation is INTENSE. On the day trip up the Sunshine Coast I was at the beach from 11am to 3pm w/ hat, UV shirt, shades, zinc the whole gag and I still got wrecked from radiation: my ears were singed, neck toasted, and I felt like I went through the microwave. Bleh. Anyways, had to delay my journeys north by two days from heat exhaustion, but today's the day! I am going to get a bus up to Noosa and beyond (see below for itinerary)

    Useful Aussie Jargon
G'day: Typical greeting
Boot: the trunk of a car
Tomato Sauce: Ketchup
How ye goin?: Typical question to ask how someone "is doing".
Sultana: A sultana is what Australians use to call a raisin. What they call a raisin would be a very very small raisin.
Fairdinkum: "for sure"... ie. You goin for a surf today, Bruce? Fairdinkum, I am!
mate: | māt |
2 [in combination ] a fellow member or joint occupant of a specified thing : his tablemates.
• Brit., informal: used as a friendly form of address between men or boys : “See you then, mate.”
• Brit., informal: a friend or companion : I was with a mate | my best mate, Steve.


Travel Itinerary for January:
Jan 2-4 Noosa Heads, QLD
Jan 4-6 Rainbow Beach, QLD
Jan 6-9 Fraser Island, back to Rainbow, back to Brisbane, QLD
Jan 10-16 Melbourne, VIC
Jan 17-Feb 6 Bus Tour Starting in Brisbane, QLD and ending up in Wollongong, NSW

Thanks for reading my post! Will update more about my journeys on Jan 9th or 10th!
-Simon