I have been calling Brisbane, Queensland, Australia my home for the past 3 months and I haven't posted a blog entry about my Aussie home yet, so I thought I would give you all a tour. Or at least a look into my life here.

It's got an exciting garden in the front. It's amazing with all the kinds of wildlife that visit - well, birds... that is. There are huge ravens that cackle outside my window in the early morning. There have been moments in the wee morning where I have wanted to hit them over the head and make them die. haha... Their voices are very aggrivating.

Bush Turkeys are another one of my frequent visiters. I never did really like them, but I sort of started liking one in particular. He always walks on my fence. And he doesn't introduce himself calmly with me just glancing up to see him. He clutters by on the fence almost falling off and while catching his balance he frightens me (while I am unaware of his presence.) and makes me jump 4 feet off the ground. Uffda...

Brisbane is the 3rd largest populated city in Australia and it settled on the twisting Brisbane River. If you heard about the horrible flooding of 2011 in South-East Queensland, Australia, then you may not have realized that, that was Brisbane. It had been raining for weeks on end. I swear that it was the most rain I had ever seen. literally. I had never used an umbrella that much. The day that it started getting really bad was on January 10th, 2011 and that was actually the day that I was flying back to the States. I am glad I left when I did or I could have been stranded at the Airport or rather stuck in Australia for longer which would have caused issues with University. (Even though, I wasn't thrilled about leaving Johan and the warmer weather compared to our Minnesota Winters.) Throughout January and February I was worried about my friends and boyfriend back in Aussie. (So, yes... this was just a little backstory for you about the Brisbane River and 2011 flooding.)

One thing that many Non-Australian's tease Australians about is that their country was full of convicts, because a large number of the people who were brought to Australia in the very beginning were brought as convicts to lessen the pressure in the prisons of England. On the site below it states that 165,000 convicts were transported over the first 80 years. Then again there were also many people that came during a Gold Rush of 1851. It's so interesting to hear how people immigrate to their different countries. For some more info check out this site.

Just a few nights ago Johan (my boyfriend) and I went for a walk from Kangaroo Point and across Story Bridge. Anything near the river is beautiful at night. It is a must see if you are in the Brisbane.

An exciting thing to do if you are in the Brisbane area is checking out the Story Bridge Adventure Climb (where you can actually climb on a guided tour on the bridge).

This is the front view of my flat!

Here are a few of my boyfriend's pictures, below. :)

This blog post was a bit shorter on the writing part, but filled to the brim with pictures. I guess the old saying is true about pictures being worth a thousand words. I hope you enjoyed these pictures of Brisbane. I will post again soon with more adventures "down under" as my sister, Cassidy will be coming to visit us in about 15 days! I am so excited to see her again!

Check out my blog for more about my writing, and my adventures "down under".

And since I showed some of my boyfriend's work on here, go on over to his blog and check out his writing, photography, and art.

Cheers x