...Life would lose it's thrill...

Amy and I have lain to rest the magic skateboards for a while and have substituted them with work - that's right we are back to cultivating the bags under the eyes and trying to work as much as possible so we can earn as much as possible so we can save as much as possible and travel as much as possible!!

We have settled into Brisbane, Brissie, Bris-Bane, Bris Vegas fairly well - the question on most people's lips is why? Well here, they have jobs and many other people like us, who also have no money to have a life and have to resort to the goon for a good time (Defn:- GOON; Cheap wine bought by the 4litre box, tastes rank until about the 6th glass by which time all your taste buds have recoiled into submission, also made from fish and eggs or fish eggs, but is incredibly cheap if not mentioned that before - 5 British pounds for four litres). In theory there will be less temptation here to go out and spend the much needed bucks?! We'll keep you posted.

Week one - Amy, reception extraordinaire found a job in the agency she signed up with and Hays is now much better for it, the non-existent room-booking system has been whipped into shape (as have all the staff who use it!) and basically they all love her and think she is brilliant - as do we all. I started my "career" off in Brisbane as a Data Entry Slave - job to last anywhere between two weeks and three months, since data entry is my forteit I managed to finish the assignment in a week which didn't work out quite so well for me because then I was unemployed.

Week 2, Amy settles further into her job and I embrace unemployment and contemplate how long it will take before the desperation is enough to put Macd's on the list of potential employers?! Besides working, we are back to fulfilling our Recommended Daily Allowances of films/Will & Grace/SOuthpark/Family Guy/Whose Line is it Anyway? And we are very active members of the NO NOODLES CAMPAIGN!

I finally got a job in the offices of Roche Mining...am project assistant or office mathematician as am fast becoming known - something to with a maths degree?! I'm not sure where they got that from! T'is always good to see that from office to office wherever you are in the world the bitching and moaning is always a constant comfort! I am ashamed to admit there is a Scottish guy here who in the beginning I could not understand - I soon came to realise that it was less of the accent, more of the sense of humour I was having trouble picking up on, seriously, it is sometimes a good thing that people laugh at their own jokes so you know when you should be laughing along with them - ha ha ha! And just like buses - as soon as you've got one another one shows up, turns out though it is just about possible to take both buses in the same week and still survive the journey! So I now work as a waitress (in a cocktail bar...not really!) in a restaurant called the jazzy cat cafe and Amy managed to get a job in an Irish bar just in time for Paddy's Day, she worked 12 hours with half an hour break and came home with no feet...Amy Campbell Soup - I don't think I can do the horrors you endured justice myself so if you would like to explain to our fans back home nows the time.... :) (Amy says ?!&*!!?%@!?) ....This prompted me to go shopping and I managed to buy a woolly hat(?!) even though a) I have no budget for woolly hats and b) it's around 30 degrees here everyday. BUT it will come in handy when we get to New Zealand - managed to find some cheap flights at the end of June - "we're doin' it Harry, we're really doin' it!"

Everyone meet everyone...Being in one spot for three months definitely has an upside - that we meet some more quirky people! There is/was Clint and Will - Car washers for Europcar, always late for work, comedians, potential married couple and have now left to pursure other car washing ventures in Cairns. Gemma AKA Arietty from the Borrowers (TV Programme, not film), her man Johnny and they both work in the Irish Bar around the corner from the hostel (very useful). The Fabulous Nicole(...papa?) She is not french but from Birmingham, had an accident with some hair bleach and a bag full of clothes once, works as night manager/irish mob controller at the hostel, given up anything sweet for lent and is pretending to be on a fresh food diet recommended by Irish Jamie. Irish Jamie, our first roommate and a joy to be around, I can even understand him! A labourer by day and night manager of the hostel by night. Kate, daytime manager of hostel has since moved on to Noosa to avoid evil stepmother/owner of the hostel.

Then there is the day to day unexpected entertainment provided by new people in our room...The Air-Con Wars - how long into the night will it be before someone switches the air-con off and how long into the night before someone switches the fan off, then exactly how similar to a sauna will our room be like in the morning. We had two Canadian girls stay - they were excellent, Adam and Eve - chat-a-lots and hung pair of pants on a hanger for all to see?! German guy who fell off top bunk the first night! Most of the above also had trouble figuring out how to open the door to our room, which admittedly has two handles but still isnt that complicated to figure out - still, it has caused me and Amy much amusement.