The house settlement went through without a problem, and the move was fast and easy thanks to our families (who are useful people with access to large vehicles). And, in stark contrast to our last move to the UK, we have our phone and internet up and running already. So I hope to be able to re-join the online world again soon! After we put together ikea wardrobes and bookcases so we can finish unpacking...

But in the meantime, all I can think to say is holy crap, enough disasters already. The whole state being flooded or being covered by a cyclone was bad enough, but these earthquakes are horrific.

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It is another beautiful sunny day here in Brisbane. Sitting in the hills all of our puddles have been dried out, the birds are singing and insects humming. Which makes the idea that bits of my city are getting washed away really hard to comprehend. Until this morning we had reports that my aunt’s house was under water – fortunately the shopowner who told her that was wrong – and as I hung out the washing in the sunshine yesterday it was hard to believe the water was creeping into her house and her neighbour’s houses. And of course it was into many homes.

As we’ve been looking for a house to buy over the last few weeks, I have been paying attention to the flood risk maps one can download from the council. They had made me more aware of the topography of Brisbane even before the floods – now looking at aerial footage it is like seeing the maps come to life. Very strange.

One of my favourite things about my new job is that I get to go over the river twice a day on the train. I love the Brisbane River. It is big, looping and appears unexpectedly around the corner in lots of suburbs. We have a whole RiverFestival every year with our biggest firework display, where people hang out with picnics on the banks for hours. So it was heartbreaking to sit around here yesterday knowing that the fantastic riverwalk, a kilometres long walk/cycle way, was being demolished, and that the citycats (our wonderful catamaran ferries) won’t be running again for months.

And if I feel like I’ve been hit when I see a familiar street (and unfamiliar – I have been enjoying seeing new things from the last three years since I’ve been back, but not on TV in a flood!) covered in water, I can only imagine what the householders and shopkeepers feel.

And of course, none of this is anything compared to the loss of life from the flash floods to the west. The only thing I knew about flash floods before this week was that one shouldn’t camp near a dry creekbed. I didn’t know torrential rain for just an hour could lead to waves of water rushing around! The footage out of the Lockyer Valley has been heartbreaking.

The good news is that the floods weren't as bad as expected. As with the rest of the QLD floods, there has been footage of lots of laid back people being philosophical about losing their possessions but being grateful for their lives. People acting wonderful to each other. People are making interesting maps. And there are even funny animal stories already.

There is a website for donations here. But as other people have noted, Queensland is a relatively wealthy place. We will be OK for looking after people. But all of your kind messages are much appreciated.

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Just popping by to let concerned people know that I'm OK here in Brisbane*. Flood waters will not be reaching my family's homes, and there is lots of time for other Brisbane residents to prepare for the worst of the floods - unlike the poor people caught in flash floods in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley yesterday.

Earlier today I told someone that the sound of tropical rain on a tin roof was one of the things I missed most while I was in the UK - I change my mind now! The rain can stop!

*And after seeing the BBC coverage, I can see why I'm getting so many emails from UK folk, the headline implies we're all evacuating and the scary video is from Toowoomba yesterday.

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...but here is a short update in the form of happy things that have happened recently. And although the lack of book posts makes it appear that I don't read books any more, the opposite is true. I now have a 45 min train trip each way to work so I am reading lots of great books, assisted by item 2 below.


1. Catching up with friends and family has continued. This has included a fantastic Thai meal, ice cream and lots and lots of talking.

2. My new library has a 20 book limit compared to 10! And much smaller fees for inter-library transfers and overdue books!

3. My librarian at work is incredibly keen and helpful and has already dug up lots of articles for me.

4. I am settling back into life in Brisbane, which has included finding a new GP (my beloved family doctor died unexpectedly a little while ago) and optometrist (my favourite one selfishly retired to spend more time with his small children), and the new people are very promising!

5. It has been raining an awful lot, even for summer. Seeing as we were still in drought when I left in mid-2007 I still delight in how much water there is everywhere.

6. My niece learnt to crawl properly in my first two weeks here. And I got to read to her the other night.

7. I have bought some presents for people that I think they will love. And one of my presents that I picked out is a cute plant in a nice black pot for my desk at work, that will be cheery all year long.

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I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed with settling into the timezone (sun still coming up too early), catching up with loved ones (great but tiring), trying to buy a car (soooo stressful), figuring out where my money is and should be (please exchange rate just shift by a few pence?), replacing all the toiletries I merrily abandoned as my bag grew in weight (why is Aussie brand frizz stuff not Australian or sold in Australia?), and starting a new job (nice people, work should be good but still a bit weirdly slow after my last settled-in, busy job. I like being needed!). Plus I feel disconnected from my usual routines which include talking to all of you. So I thought I'd say hi, and I hope to return one day soon. And I'm just ignoring that whole Christmas thing and hoping our presence is enough to please our family and friends in lieu of cards and presents :)

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Sorry for the silence! Packing up the house/getting rid of possessions was quite difficult by the end. But we got out with around 15 minutes to spare! Although I admit there was some last minute ditching of clothes to make space in our bags (charity shops in our small town did well).

We're now in Kuala Lumpur for a few days. It is lovely and warm. I am feeling jetlagged but also so pleased to not be sitting on the floor of our furniture-less yet messy house, which is what I was doing a few days ago.

I'm going to miss the UK a lot. But I'm also excited about going home too. I will try to post more while I'm here in transit!

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1. Train trip to Amsterdam that we had planned before we knew we were moving was relaxing and fun. Lots of walking around and sitting in cafes.
2. A friend’s wedding last weekend at Robin Hood’s Bay – lovely ceremony, wood fire in a cozy lounge, good company and lots of dancing
3. A lot of English trees turn yellow rather than orange or red in autumn. Although this is less spectacular at a glance, I have come to appreciate the golden glow it creates on a sunny afternoon in the woods.
4. Hearing my niece talk to herself and giggle every time I speak to my sister now. She is one happy little baby.
5. The house is littered with boxes that are half filled (or in the case of the bicycle boxes, are moved from one place to another in a fruitless search to find a place they do not block access to something useful like the washing machine or front door). Strnagely I feel fairly organised.
6. Everything booked for the journey home (via Asia) in less than three weeks!
7. We actually remembered the clocks were going back in time to have an extra hour's sleep in the morning. Bliss!
8. Cute little zombie trick or treaters at the door!


More lists up as usual at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

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I have only been on the internet intermittently in the last couple of weeks, and somehow missed the news of Eva Ibbotson dying. I will miss having new Ibbotson books to read.

In other news though, I was recently surprised to learn that Mary Stewart, writer of the romance/adventure/mystery novels I have been gobbling up while living in the UK is still alive at the age of 94. Wow! (Stewart's novels are coming home with me to Australia as so many of them are paperbacks from the 60s and 70s with lovely covers)

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Telling your local librarians (who always go get your books off the hold shelf as you walk in the door) that you're not only moving out of the county, but out of the country. Sniff.

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1 (or really multiple) Today we went to the British Museum to enjoy many of the hundred objects from the history of the world that we have been enjoying as downloads from the BBC. As well as appreciating the objects, we also became engaged to be married when we go back to Australia! (due to time difference have not informed family yet, so no facebook comments please)

2. And I got to hold a hand axe over a million years old from Olduvai Gorge.

3. narrowing down the date we're returning to Aus - likely third week in Nov! So soon! I'm sad to go but also happy to think about being in Australia again.

4. realising how lucky I have been in my work here - most Aussies I know that move oveseas (and there are lots of us!) are happy to get any job that pays for their travelling, but I’ve been able to have a job that I love, with great people.

5. realising how little time we have left for packing, we wisely decided to go to Wales last weekend, via Hay-on-Wye, the town full of second-hand bookshops.

6. Sweet chestnuts collected on my way to work to complement our dinner


I know I've been scarce recently, but work should be quieter soon, and I don't think the house packing should be TOO mad, seeing as we are only packing some stuff, and selling/giving away most stuff. I suspect I might come back here in a month and laugh hollowly, but hey, hope is a good thing.

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1. Autumn colours starting to appear on trees
2. But I also loved the lovely random 25 degree day in the middle of the week. After a meeting in London I sat in the sunshine outside St Pancras enjoying my flat white coffee (the UK has only recently acquired this drink from Australia).
3. Our friends moved back from Bristol with their giant baby (OK, he’s a normal size baby, but 11 months is huge compared to 5 months) and we caught up after work on Friday as the baby systematically tried to eat everything in the room.
4. Hula hooping class (for a hen party) yesterday was great fun. This is apparently the hot new thing in exercising, and it really was hard work, as my entire waist and lower back will testify today. I think the fun yesterday outweighs the pain today, though.
5. And a fun rest of the day/evening in London. Love being around so many people sometimes.
6. Kale and barley soup and kale pizza are on the menu tonight – can you guess the veggie I haven’t used from this week’s box? But I have had the pizza before and YUM.

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It's been ages since I've done a list, as I've been very busy at work and home. But there have been lots of nice things in between the work.

1. The most exciting thing I’ve done since the last list was going to the Globe in London to see the Merry Wives of Windsor. It was fantastic sitting in the theatre watching a play that was popular hundreds of years ago (even with the odd anachronistic plance going overhead). And the play itself was great fun!
2. Brambling season! Blackberries for yummy crumble obtained and eaten.
3. While we cycled we heard in the middle of nowhere, bagpiping. A colleague later told me she’d seen a man in shorts and a t-shirt playing bagpipes in a nearby quiet layby that afternoon. And to add to the randomness, one farm’s field appeared to be filled by tents and a juggling school.
4. Wow, it has been a while since I’ve been on. On the long weekend, we visited Whipsnade zoo, which is a large openish zoo that seems to take London Zoo’s animals that need more space. We were there before the little rhino was born, but had a great time walking around the nicely laid out grounds that had free range wallabies and mara hopping around the place.
5. After struggling (as usual) to find shoes that fit, had the brain wave that sling back heels would probably fit as they are able to be tightened, ordered a paif off the internet and they fit fine.
6. Spontaneous picnic today to take advantage of the sunny weather. So relaxing to be the only people on the grounds of an old manor house, and watch the clouds skip across the sky. Also, more blackberries.
7. A noisy webcam conversation with sisters, partners and my niece (who continues to be disapproving of my giant head on the computer screen) this morning. Nice way to start the day!

More lists and great art as usual at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

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I wasn't overwhelmed by the start of E Lockhart’s The disreputable history of Frankie-Landau Banks, and kept reading with lowish expectations*. I think I was put off by the high school group cliches, of-course-every-hetero-girl-would-love-this-guy stuff. But then Frankie’s snarkiness and powers of observation starting showing, and I understood why so many people had raved about the book when it came out. I love the tributes to Wodehouse, and the musings about power, family relationships and gender. And it makes for a different type of boarding school story, one where the heroine is quite rational about the benefits and costs assocaited with attendance. If there is anyone left who hasn't read this, I recommend it!

*I seem to write this quite often. Maybe it’s a good thing as then I enjoy a good book more?

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I’m breaking into 2010 with the photos, here!

So, Greece, late 2009-early 2010.
Looking back, I didn’t talk much about this trip, possibly because I was flat out with busy work, Christmas and house guests, but also because I was a bit peeved about flying again (as many of you know, I'm trying to avoid flying where possible, but for many reasons that didn't work out this holiday). But once we were there, I had a great time! I would love to return and spend more time there, including spending more time in the Peloponnese and getting out to some of the further out islands.

Athens was fun. It was obvious they had spent a bit of money doing bits of the city up (eg nicest underground I think I’ve been on, including marble stairs and panelling), which, despite helping contribute to the whole melt down of the economy, made it pleasant to visit and walk the new pedestrian areas. Bizarrely, although we gawked at the Acropolis from all parts of the city, we didn’t get a good photo of it. (Unless it is lost in my files, which is possible. If so, I’ll return and upload it)

Like some other European cities, like Rome, there was a wonderful mix of ancient and modern buildings next to each other. This is part of the Ancient Agora area:



And the Odeon of Herod Atticus (I think) near the Acropolis, that still hosts concerts today.



As well as the famous Parthenon, there are other temples on the hill, such as this one, the Erechtheion. The Caryatids on the front are fake – most are over the road in the new Acropolis museum, one is in the British Museum – not a small souvenir to take away!*



We did a day trip out to some nearby islands in the Saronic Gulf.



I loved Hydra, which had no cars, just donkeys. An overabundance of tourist shops too, but I suspec tthat oustide the cruise times it would be quieter and nicer. This is Poros, another of the islands.



We had a ball exploring Mycenae. We’d been through the excellent National Musuem of Archaeology in Athens, so had seen a lot of the artifacts fro

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I have finally followed up on my plan to re-read Charlotte's Web, and see why it's so popular in the USA. And yes, it's a good book. It combines a nice nostalgic rural childhood with a great animal cast, and lots of lovely moments of friendship and compassion. And I love the illustrations by Garth Williams.

But my lingering question after reading this is HOW IS YOUR COUNTRY NOT FULL OF VEGETARIANS?! The idea of Wilbur getting eaten is quite traumatic when reading this book. Do children give up meat after reading it?

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This is my favourite Aussie election coverage so far courtesy of Taiwan (I think) - even stars an animated Abbott in his budgie smugglers. Hilarious (and short).

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Although I enjoyed Sarah Zarr’s first two books, I loved Once was lost. I didn’t expect this as the plot sounded a bit more melodramatic – drama in a small town, including an alcoholic mother. But I thought it was truthful and compelling. The characters were all very real. In particular, as lady_schrapnell has commented before, Zarr has the gift of creating believable parents. Recommended!

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1. Camping in the Peak District last weekend
2. Voting at Australia House in London for our Federal election – apparently I’m one of 20,000 expat Aussies who will vote there!
3. Then we checked out the Museum of London, very interesting
4. Cycled to an outdoor performance of Much ado about nothing - fantastic fun!
5. Wonderful supportive friends in the UK and Australia who understand about us moving home, and try to make the process easier



Voting was harder this time around than in 2007. I think Labor haven't made the most of their time in office, and am appalled at their continual delaying of climate change action. However, Tony Abbott is so very very horrible. I feel sorry for my conservative friends who have a choice between the most socially conservative mainstream politican I can remember, whose foot is always in his mouth and struggles with talking about actual policies, or one of the wacky groups. When I was at university we had a vote your most disliked politician off the island event, and Tony was voted out then, and I think I secretly thought that meant he was actually voted off in real life. And the Greens and other parties aren't real runners in the lower house in most seats (including mine) so it was a matter of choosing the least worst. Fingers crossed for Saturday.

And on a lighter note, for those of you interested in Australian politics, you might like summary of our leaders in the form of a Harry Potter primer. Great fun.

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Although (unlike the other reviews I’m come across) I found Marilynn Robinson’s recent novel Home too depressing for my tastes, I liked her writing style. So when I saw Gilead at the library I picked it up. And I wasn’t disappointed – this was the book that other reviews seemed to be talking about when they wrote reviews of Home. It is told from the point of view of an old vicar who knows he is dying, and is reflecting on his life. This process is interupted by the unexpected return of his prodigal godson to the small town. Gilead is a quiet, contained story about ageing, reconciliation and hope. I loved it.

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I forgot to post this Sunday!


1. a catch up with my manager who is on maternity leave – lovely cuddles with her baby, and a delicious chocolate guinness cake with birthday candles for me

2. lamingtons (an Aussie treat, though apparently also in Papua New Guinea) made for me by the New Guinean wife of a friend

3. and gooseberry tart and strawberry jam muffins – such nice colleagues and friends!

4. A work bbq where we again were forced to shelter under large trees due to rain – still a great night, and it’s wonderful knowing so many people now compared to this bbq two years ago

5. I bought a new dress yesterday for some upcoming weddings – a quick decision but I think one that will work

6. Listening to my niece chuckle on the phone

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Continuing the catching up with photos, here are some from Ireland last October. We went there mostly because Mum was visiting, and had always wanted to go there. Despite feeling like I’d seen plenty of grassland, peat and ancient monuments in the UK, I wasn’t averse to the idea. And I’m glad we went – it was a bit of a whistlestop tour, but full of fun.

I thought Dublin was a great city, and can see why people like living there. However, this did not mean I took lots of photos. An exception was some of the statues that inhabit the city, and are given great names by the locals. Eg this one (which I quite like) is called the hags with the bags.

Two of the sights I loved the most had no photo policies, which is why they’re missing – these were the Book of Kells http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells and Trinity College's old library.

I also got to catch up with lady_schrapnell, who very nicely walked across the whole city with us and then shared coffee and conversation with me while the others enjoyed the wonders of the Jameson’s distillery.

I went to Newgrange mostly out of a feeling that our guests would like the megalithic site – I felt Orkney had fulfilled my tomb gazing needs for the year. But actually, it was fantastic and I’m glad we went. The outside was repaired in the 60s, a contentious decision seeing as there isn’t much evidence the site looked like this back in the day.



The entrance has these wonderful carved stones. There are other similar patterns on other stones around the outside of the tomb. On the inside, there were more carvings and little niches with stone bowls. The guide played a simulation of the solstice light creeping in - very well done.



Because we ran late we missed Newgrange on the day we meant to go, and so the afternoon before wandered around Monasterboice round tower and high cross (this is another cross, I think the actual high cross was a different one). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterboice



I wasn’t fussed about going to the tourist hive of the ring of Kerry, but actually it was nice, and not at all busy.


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