It's tropical storm season here at the moment and this year it has been particularly bad. Tonight we've been treated to yet another fantastic lightning storm after a very hot day, but it was rather mild compared to what happened on Sunday 16th November when we had the worst storms for 30 years. … read more

Our latest set of visitors arrived safely on Friday - Frances and Rob - so we had a busy weekend playing tour guide. Friday evening we took them to the Manly Harbour Village Halloween Street Party. Loads of people dressed up (kids and adults) and joined in with the 'spooky street parade' at dusk. … read more

Yesterday when I went to get on the bus to work I realised I'd forgotten my Go card, which is basically an electronic card you can use with the Brisbane transport system - I can top the balance up online and simply touch on and off buses and trains, and it automatically gets deducted (it's basically … read more

Continuing our quest to discover Brisbane and the surrounding areas, on Sunday we spent the day at Bribie Island. Bribie Island is approx an hour's drive north of Brisbane and the only Island close to Brisbane that is connected by a bridge. We started out at Bongaree which is on the South East of … read more

Yesterday it was Father's Day here in Australia, and so for a treat we went for Lunch with George, Julie and Reyce to Icon at Raby Bay. We'll definitely be returning to Icon again. The food was fantastic, especially given it was a buffet. Usually at buffets you end up getting the cheap cuts of meat, … read more

Yesterday, Rach said she wanted to get some spring cleaning done so I took Lauren down to the Manly Harbour Festival. Here's a few pics: A little something for the adults... And a little something for the kids... This is a view of the rear of Rachelle's work. You can see two cranes - one is … read more

A few of our pictures from last weekend... On Saturday we had planned to go on board HMB Endeavour - the replica of Captain Cook's ship which visiting Brisbane for a few days, but we got there a little late as Lauren attended a friend's birthday party in the afternoon. Plus, we couldn't be arsed to … read more

A landing time of 6:50am meant it was an early start on Sunday to ensure we were there to meet my parents at Brisbane airport. It was great to see them emerge through the arrivals tunnel after not seeing them for 10 months. My mum burst into tears, bless her, and Lauren was very excited to see her … read more

All is quiet in the Haines Brisbane residence at the moment. We haven't been doing much lately as we're saving our money for when my parents come over at the end of March for 4 weeks, in which time we're planning on a week up on the Great Barrier Reef. Besides that, the weather here is still crap. … read more

On Saturday it was Australia Day which meant yesterday (Monday) was a public holiday. The net result was a fantastic 4-day weekend for me! We decided to partake in Australia Day celebrations by visiting South Bank. Before that however, we took a train into the city and had a walk up Queen St Mall. … read more

Steph and Lucy's first weekend in Oz wasn't the best. We've had glorious weather for weeks now but since they've arrived it has been miserable. We did take them to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast on Saturday and braved the beach for a short while, but the wind was that strong we were getting … read more

We're entering storm season now here in Brisbane. The weather has been pretty good during the day but most evenings we've had thunder and lightning. Last night we had a fantastic lightning storm. One really loud crack of thunder made us jump out of our seats. I ran upstairs to check Lauren was … read more

Every now and again we like to treat ourselves and try out a really nice restaurant. With Rach starting a new job on Monday and with me securing a new job, and with Cath volunteering to babysit for Lauren, we decided to try out one of Brisbane's award winning restaurants last night. We chose Il … read more

I've just been Clay Pigeon Shooting for the first time ever. There's a shooting complex only 5 minutes drive from where we live so I went along with George, my neighbour. He held a gun licence in New Zealand and grew up as a hunter so he'd done it all before but for me, the last time I'd held a gun … read more

Another great weekend. On Saturday we went to the beach again. We've been trying different beaches each time for a little variety. The beaches here go on for miles and miles and there's never any problem finding a quiet one. The only problem being though that the quiet beaches often aren't patrolled … read more

Last night we went to the Brisbane Riverfire - the opening night of the 10-day Brisbane Riverfestival. The Riverfire is a spectacular fireworks display along the river from Story Bridge to Victoria Bridge, and includes a 'dump and burn' by RAAF F-111 fighter jets. Because we new that it would be … read more

Our first set of visitors from the UK have been confirmed. Rachelle's sister is coming over with her daughter in November, and my Mum and Dad have booked their flights for next March. We're really looking forward to having the chance to show people around so they can see exactly why we've moved … read more

On Saturday we had our first experience of 'The Ekka'. The Ekka is an annual 10-day event formally known as the Royal Queensland Show. It was originally called the Brisbane Exhibition but what with the aussie habit of shortening any words over 5 letters it's now known as the Ekka. We presumed that … read more

I think we're starting to come out of Winter as it's been slowly warming up this week, rising to a high of 29 degrees today. At lunchtime I went out and sat in the gardens of a Cathedral across from where I work and basked in the sun. I only lasted for about 20 minutes though. Boy was it hot! The … read more

I had a meeting on the 32nd floor at work today. It's a bit distracting when you have a view like this... Taken with my Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot Camera phone read more