February 2009

Sunday Lunch in an Australian Pub?

16 February 2009 Entertainment Australia

Australian’s aren’t “big” on pubs, which is a bit surprising. They love their beer. It’s standard practise to buy beer by the carton, 24 cans at a time. None of this woosy four pack stuff. CNBN.com, who had the most up to date information I could find, (September 23, 2008), say the Australians are the [...]

Here Comes The Weekend

13 February 2009 Life in Australia

We are now drawing to the end of what has been a shocking week here in Australia. Maybe even the worst week in Australian history. It is just past 7 pm here on Friday evening and the weekend starts just about now. Here, weekends are normally all about fun. Time to take the speedboat out [...]

The Tax Deadline Approaches In Australia.

12 February 2009 Life in Australia

After putting it off for as long as possible, (as usual) I decided that this week I was going to file my tax returns for both my personal and business accounts. Being as the deadline is the 28th of February, I didn’t see the point in trying to put it off much longer. Sorting out [...]

North And South. More Than Miles Apart.

11 February 2009 Australian Climate

As bushfires still blaze out of control in Victoria, the floodwaters are starting to recede in North Queensland. Yes, Australia is a big country. It’s astonishing that two completely contrasting disasters can occur during the very same weekend in the very same country. At one end of the country there has been no rain for, [...]

The Australian Healthcare System

10 February 2009 Australia vs UK

I have a lot to learn about the Australian healthcare system. But I’ll tell you what I do know. As soon as we arrived, we had to register for a “Medicare” card. This card has the appearance of a credit card but doesn’t work in Kmart. I’ll tell you about Kmart another time. We registered [...]

Australia’s Tragic Weekend

9 February 2009 Life in Australia

My most recent post was a light hearted comparison of the extremes of Australia’s and Britain’s weather. As I am sure everyone has heard, this weekend in Australia the extreme weather has turned to tragedy. As I write this, many fires are still raging and the death toll continues to rise. It is now the [...]

Hot & sunny in Australia. How’s the weather where you are?

6 February 2009 Australia vs UK

The holiday is over. Now I am reduced to talking about the weather. But hey! I’m English, and that’s what we do. As I write this I know that the whole of the UK is covered in a blanket of snow. As usual schools, buses, trains and, it would seem that life in general has [...]

Time to Head Back to Brisbane

5 February 2009 Australia's Places

Our holiday is all but over, with the exception of the drive home. A small matter of covering around 1680 kilometres. That’s just over a thousand miles to you and I. That’s like doing London to Edinburgh and back to London again. Except Melbourne to Brisbane is further. All clear now? The quickest way back [...]