Christchurch City Tour

Today we did a little sight seeing tour of Christchurch. There wasn't a huge amount to see, but we kept ourselves amused for the day. The most noticeable thing was the lack of high rise buildings. It must be the only CBD I've seen that doesn't have a bunch of sky scrapers. I think it's a good thing.

We bought a hop on hop off tram ticket for the day and Kerri did the tour guide thing around the city. The trams only run a loop around the city. They were phased out way back.

The most interesting thing was the little café area (above) that is covered where the tram actually drives through the building. (Well I thought it was interesting anyway.) Notice the egg above the tram.

On the ½ hour the egg opens like a cuckoo clock & has odd little animated scenes with Moa birds, Maori hunters, rugby players and bungee jumpers. There is also a voice over with music.

A very strange tourist attraction, but worth a giggle.

They really love their rugby over here!

This is a talking point around Christchurch for all the wrong reasons (See left of the picture above). It is meant to be a chalice representing something to do with the native flora. Unfortunately the leaves all look like wacky weed & the chalice looks like a cone. No wonder everyone thinks the city of Christchurch is on drugs!

One of the places we did go was to the Museum. It was OK. There seemed to be a big emphasis on the Moa bird and the New Zealand Antarctic mission. There was also a Penny Farthing bicycle that you could hop on (above).

After dinner, Kerri's dad, Pat, drove us up into the the hills above the city. Cities always look better at night. The view was great, but the wind was howling & it was very cold. We tended to stay inside the car as much as possible.

The cold wind that had been at it all day kept us rugged up and huddled together during our sightseeing tour.

Away at last!!!

I finally feel like I'm on Holidays! After a hectic week in Perth & a week in Brisbane (and a couple of days Tannum Sands not mentioned on this blog that wasn't much more relaxing).
After we cleared Australian customs, we had a 2 hour wait for the flight. Luckily the airport in Brisbane has free wireless internet. Bonus! So I spent the time updating the blog site that I hadn't been able to get to as we were too busy. All the hotels we have booked in North America have free high speed wireless internet which will be great.

Northern New South Wales

So after a bunch of big cat diary entries, on to more of the trip.
After the day at Dreamworld, we stayed down at Kingscliffe. Nice part of the world. Great beaches & it hasn't been used & abused like the Gotham City (Surfer's Paradise). We stayed in a nice hotel (Mantra on Salt) for a discount rate. Nice place.
The next morning we had breakfast with Kerri's Auntie Susan. It was the second time I had met her, having spent time at the Art Gallery a couple of days previous. After that we took the coast road down as far as Cabarita then headed to Susan's place. One of those catch up with relative things that we seem to have done lots of recently.
After a bit of a catch up session, we headed up the valley into the Border Ranges. Really pretty part of the world. Lush & green, and interesting. (I guess you miss that kind of thing living in Perth for a while).
We were in Brisbane just in time to have dinner with friends of mine that I hadn't seen for a year & a half. Caught up with a bunch of others on Thursday night at a pizza shop in Park rd Milton (delicious & cheap!) & a few more at the Royal Exchange Hotel in Toowong.

Dreamworld

We hit Dreamworld for the day. Great fun, but not really conducive to taking photos except for the Tigers. I haven't been there since a physics excursion in grade 11, so it was like going to a new theme park. The most terrifying ride. The Giant Drop. 110m straight down. Nice view from the top, but then it all goes ridiculous. It is as close to the 134m Bungee jump I did in NZ in 2000. (That one was truly terrifying). way scarier than any of the similar rides at the royal shows around the country. Most fun ride. Probably the Wipe Out. Heaps of fun without being scared out of your skin. (The Cyclone Roller Coaster was close behind). Most disappointing. The Tower of Terror. Long line up, and not even close to being as scary as the Giant Drop. Still a good ride, but a bit over rated. Most wet. The Wild Rapids. Not that much of a thrill, but Kerri got 100% soaked & I was only marginally better off.

Dreamworld is mainly about kick arse rides, (which it has plenty of) but it also has a bunch of Bengal Tigers. They have 3 or 4 displays a day with some tricks & a bit of an info talk. See the photo above & the couple in later blog entries.

Anyone who thinks you are safe up a tree from a tiger, think again!

Dreamworld are part of a tiger breeding program & have a couple of 8 week old cubs. They are very cute & very popular. Kez wanted to take one to Canada with us. The photo tells the story.

These tigers don't look at all stressed from their jobs. They do one or maybe two shows a day & get heaps of treats for doing not much. The only one that looked a bit stuffed was the one down the back of this shot. He is involved in the breeding program. It's a tough job!

Even the Bengal Tigers that are from the tropics think that Brisbane is hot. Not too often you see a cat voluntarily sit in water.

Here is a lesson in stuff in Canada.
Dreamworld/tiger island also have a couple of female Cougars. They are magnificent animals but you don't want to cross them. Part of the demonstration was a jump. For a small animal, they have incredible jumping skills. Can't wait until I see some wild animals in Canada.

Queensland Art Gallery

Today we went to the Queensland contemporary art gallery. (they call it GoMA but I have no idea what it is an acronym for) There was some rubbish there let me tell you, but also a couple of highlights as well. The photo below is from inside a room of mirrors, water, fluorescent lights & fluro balls. It gives the effect of being surrounded by the universe. One of the other highlights was a bunch of artificial bird's nests made out of shredded American dollar bills.

Some of the art just looked like a slightly organised building site. Check out this one! 4 rocks & 4 bits of plate steel. We made it something by having Kerri & little Ally hold a light Sabre fight in the middle of it. I also got in trouble for leaning on a big log to take a photo of a chandelier. Apparently it was a piece of art! OOPS!!

Brisbane

Today we did the Brisbane city tourist thing. Being an ex-resident, I have never really done it because I didn't see the point.

Mum dropped us off at the Riverside markets so we had a bit of a sticky beak there before wandering through the Botanic Gardens to my old University, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) (pictured). I haven't set foot in the place for many a year. It hasn't changed much, but there are a few subtle differences, the biggest being a bridge over the river connecting it to South Bank. (I seem to remember testing our aeronautical design skills by throwing our paper planes off the civil engineering building into the river about where the bridge is now.) It was all a bit nostalgic but it was cool to see my old stomping ground. I'm so glad I am not studying any more.

South Bank

After the trip down nostalgia lane, we wandered across the new bridge to South Bank and had a bit of a look at the goings on. I think there is usually stuff going on over there, but being a public holiday tomorrow, it was cranked up a notch. It is Budda's birthday today, so there was a bunch of Chinese cultural stuff on display. We found a nice little cafe to have lunch & headed off to Catch the City Cat.

City Cat

Brisbane, like some other harbour/river cities, have some really slick ferries. Brisbane's ferries are called the City Cats (above). Great smooth ride, and fast! It took us all the way up river to the University of Queensland. It beats driving along Coronation drive fighting with other cars under Lord Mayor Jim's lights.
We also saw the Kookaburra Queen. (I think there are actually 2 or 3 of them). The old Pioneer Concrete works is in the background.

Mt Cootha Lookout

To finish off the day, we took a drive up to the My Cootha Summit Lookout. With clear skies, the city was lit up like a Christmas tree.

Finally we are away on our most excellent adventure!

It has been a very stressful final week in Perth with the moving of our gear into a storage facility in Embelton. We had hoped to get a facility closer to where we live, but that wasn't to be. I reckon we wasted close to a day (8 hrs) sitting at traffic lights on Morley drive. There are 20 sets of lights between our place at Trigg & the storage facility. If you get 10 green lights, you're having a blinder!

Anyway, it's all done now. Our stuff only just fit in. Unfortunately we didn't have either the time or a camera to take a photo. Take my word for it, it was tight!

There was a mixture of excitement, trepidation and relief as we lifted off from Perth airport bound for Brisbane.

Today was my last day at Hatch!

It was the end of 10 years with Kaiser and then Hatch after the take over. There was a 12 month break at "The Big Pineapple" (Worley Gladstone) not long before moving to Perth.

I have been working with some really good people and have made some really good friends during the time, regardless of how good or bad the work was.

The last week at work!

Only a few days of work left now. Today & tomorrow, Wednesday is off for Anzac Day, then Thursday and finally Friday that will be quite unproductive I imagine. It will be about saying good byes, clearing out my desk, sending off e-mails and handing in my swipe cards.

I'll be very glad when this week is over so we can concentrate of sorting things out for the big move. I've really lost interest in work over the last couple of weeks. I won't feel any guilt about slacking off this week since I have given Hatch about 10 years service.

I am looking forward to the change of company, a change of industry, change of country and a change of scenery.

Only one week of work to go.

This time next week I will be saying my good-byes to all my work mates. Next week is a short week with Anzac day on Wednesday and Friday will be a write off. Even still, I can see it dragging on. My focus on work really started fading about a month ago.

Visa Approved!

Relief! Canadian immigration has come through well ahead of their projected time. I was expecting the work permit paperwork to come through in about 4-5 weeks when we were in the U.S. This morning the confirmation was sent to me. It takes the pressure off in a big way. One more completed task for my "To-Do List".

I also received my renewed passport today. Fancy bit of gear with the new electronics sandwiched between the middle pages to keep the Yanks happy.

Not long now! 7 work days and about 2-1/2 weeks until take off!

Packing Origami

This photo may seem a bit odd and even uninteresting. In fact the origami has a purpose.
We were concerned about ensuring we have the right size for a storage shed so that we could book it ASAP. We had 3 choices of shed size. 3m x 3m, 4m x 3m & 4.5m x 3m. I figured that we would be pushing it with a 3x3 but a 4.5x3 would be overkill. The solution was to list the main items to be stored, measure them up & build scale paper models of them. Turns out the 4x3 is the right size.

It will save us some pain when it comes to moving furniture. As in my line of work, it is always better to change/re-arrange things on a drawing or model, than when it comes to doing it full scale. It will make it so much easier to plan which bits of furniture to move first so that we aren't double handling.

A very sad day.

I had to put an add on the web to sell my much loved Hilux. I have been forced to sell it because of the Canada trip. Cars just don't like being stored for long periods. The moving parts tend to either rust or seize. Aside from that it doesn't make economic sense and it'll probably be time for a different type of rig when we get back.

Its a small sacrifice to make, but its been a great car for me over the years. It was a great work horse while I was renovating my place in Queensland and has also been a really good recreational vehicle. I just hope it goes to a good home.

There has been a slight complication with Canadian Immigration. When I was offered the job in Calgary, I was told that my work permit application would take 4 to 6 weeks to approve. Based on that, we have organised all our plans around the first week in May as the leaving date from Perth.

This week I received information that is is now going to take 10-12 weeks! Minor panic. It won't change our plans, but it may result in us entering Canada as tourists but having to leave and re-enter when we have the paperwork. Its a bit of a hassle, but not a show stopper. Hopefully the approval will come when we are in Hawaii or San Francisco.

During the last week, the Canadian adventure started getting very serious.
We have now booked our flights and have put down a deposit. The flight path is :- Perth - Brisbane - Christchurch - Auckland - Honolulu - San Francisco - Vancouver - Calgary. We leave on May 5 and arrive in Calgary on June 4.
We are currently working on the accommodation. The early parts of the journey are easy thanks to mooching off both of our families in Brisbane and Christchurch.
The other cities have been more difficult. When you have never set foot in the city, you have to make guesses at where the right area is to stay. Then you try to pick a hotel in that area for the right price & quality. The internet is great, but sometimes it can overload you with information. Kerri persisted for many hours, wading through reams of information. We have Hawaii & San Fransisco sorted out now, with Vancouver still to go.

You suddenly realize it is actually happening when money starts getting wiped off your bank accounts. At least it is for a very good cause!

Getting closer to Canada

It's all getting a bit serious with the Canada move this week. We have started booking flights, accommodation & trips.

The first booking was the Rocky Mountaineer. The journey is 2 days & 1 night and runs across the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

It is supposed to be the best train journey in the world. I haven't heard anything to the contrary from people who have done the trip. We're really looking forward to it!

Relocation to Calgary - Planning

Years after originally considering an overseas posting and after months of negotiation, I finally managed to secure a job in Calgary. I have accepted a position with Jacobs for up to three years if required. They're even going to pay me handsomely for the privilege!

It took a couple of frustrating months trying to get answers out of an agent before circumventing them. My good friend Shane, who has been working for Jacobs for the last eight months, managed to convince management that they needed me. I clearly owe him quite a few beers. Thanks Shane.

The new adventure is to start early June. I'll finish up at Hatch at the end of April and take about a month to reach Calgary. We'll begin with a visit with my family in Brisbane and Kerri's family in Christchurch. The family formalities completed, we'll travel to Calgary via Hawaii, San Francisco and Vancouver. We intend catching the Rocky Mountaineer tourist train from Vancouver to Calgary. It travels for two days through the Rocky Mountains and is apparently one of the best train journeys in the world.

Canada here we come!