June 2010

Christmas Shopping in Australia

30 June 2010 Life in Australia

Okay, we haven’t even hit July yet, Christmas is a very long way away and yet I am going to talk about Christmas shopping in Australia? Am I nuts? Sure, it’s a good idea not to leave it until Christmas Eve but to get your Christmas shopping organised now would be crazy, wouldn’t it? No, [...]

Les Murray: An Australian Icon

28 June 2010 Entertainment Australia

On Friday I showed you a couple of clips from former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s farewell speech. The entire speech did go on a bit, way too long for anybody to have to listen to a politician. So that’s why I didn’t subject you to all of it. No, instead I chose to show [...]

Australian Politics: They Don’t Hang About Here…

25 June 2010 Life in Australia

I hope you have all read my Definitive Guide to Australian Politics post. It covers everything you need to know about how we run things here down under. But even though I am clearly an authority on the subject, I wasn’t prepared for what happened yesterday. First, let’s go back in time and switch continents [...]

Australia’s Soaring Electricity Prices

23 June 2010 Cost of Living - Australia

Cost Of Living in Australia: Electricity Revisited Every year here in Australia electricity prices rise in every state (except Victoria, I’ll come to that later) by a percentage which is agreed by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART). Here in Queensland, the agreed percentage increase for the year 2010/11 was 13.29%; it struck me [...]

Parks in Brisbane. Can YOU Walk to the Park?

21 June 2010 Entertainment Australia

I’ve mentioned before that we get quite a few free magazines through our letterbox. Well, not actually through the letterbox, they are usually rolled up, wrapped in an elastic band and hurled into the direction of our house. One such magazine is called bmag and covers all of Brisbane. In it, the Lord Mayor of [...]

Australia, Cork Hats and Flies All Around Your Face.

18 June 2010 Life in Australia

I said a while ago that if Bobby Andonov did not win Australia’s Got Talent, I’d eat my hat….. along with all the corks…… Well, last Tuesday Bobby Andonov did not win Australia’s Got Talent. Dang! But then I had a good idea he wouldn’t win when he sang that stupid Christina Aguilera song. As [...]

Here We Go! Here We Go! Here We……

16 June 2010 Life in Australia

………… go to sleep. Regular readers will know I am a complete football nut and I have explained in the past what great football coverage we have here in Australia in my post called English football on Australian TV. So it was with great excitement that I looked forward to watching my first World Cup [...]

Another Queensland Bank Holiday Monday!

14 June 2010 Life in Australia

It all started 10 weeks ago with Easter Monday. Three weeks after that, we had Anzac Day. Quick on its heels, just one week later, it was Labour Day. Now today is another bank holiday Monday, the fourth in ten weeks. This time, we’re celebrating the Queens birthday. This is how she was 56 years [...]