I’m coming up on the end of my first week here in Brissy and I could not feel better about this place. I am absolutely exhausted because the week has been pack full of experiences that I don’t have the time or energy to go into depth about, so I’ll give you the brief.

This doesn’t really feel like real life – the kids have been off on a school holiday all week, so I’ve had heaps of time to myself. My days have been spent with Tea while Christian is at the dance academy. The weather has finally cleared up, with temperatures in the 20’s! Celsius, that is, meaning I can wear a t-shirt and shorts and it feels warm enough to go sun baking (as you can tell, I’ve been trying to pick up on the Aussie lingo).  We’ll play around the house and run around the backyard with the dogs. Tea also likes to play this game where she copies whatever I say, imitating my American accent. It would probably be annoying on a normal American kid, but it’s actually hilarious when she does it. She’s one of those kids who’s 5 going on 25 and a blast to hang out with.

Tea reppin' the red, white, and blue

My days and nights “off” have been spent exploring the city. I met up with a friend from the States, Morgan, who showed me around Southbank in the rain shortly after I arrived and I got my first glimpses of the city, the Queen Street mall, the Brisbane Eye, and ventured into a grocery store where my addiction to Tim Tam’s (an Aussie biscuit/cookie) began. We met up again yesterday to celebrate the 4^th of July with some of Morgan’s British au pair friends (of course we had to show a little bit of patriotism even if we are in Aus) and bar hopped around the mall area in our red, white, and blue.

I’ve also gotten to see the city lit up at night a couple times. Last night I went to the Queensland ballet with my family to see Giselle, and we walked over and had an amazing view of the Brisbane Eye. The night before I had my own personal hunky Aussie “tour guide” Ben take me out and we walked along the cliffs at Kangaroo Point where heaps of people were rock climbing, down to the Southbank beach, which is pretty much just manmade pools turned into a mini beach that overlooks the CBD.

 

Brisbane Eye

I’m becoming an excellent Aussie driver. I had a couple driving lessons in the beginning of the week, and except for the occasional brain farts – like getting into the passenger’s seat or trying to put the keys into the wrong side of the steering wheel – it hasn’t been too hard to rewire. I’ve already learned my way around town without my Aussie GPS woman yapping in my ear, and today I drove with a new friend, Kelsey, to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where we got to play with kangaroos, tazzy devils, wallabies, and cuddled some sweet-looking koalas.

Joey in her pouch

Sneaking a boob grab

It’s hard to believe that I still have an entire year in Australia ahead of me. I feel as if I’ve been trying to pack so many things in right in the beginning, and I think I need to calm down and take my time, learn to explore slowly to make the most of this. I’m so excited at what I will find.

Tomorrow I am off to Asia (lucky girl, I know!) with my host family. We will be spending the week in Bali and I cannot wait to lounge on the beach and (hopefully) ride some elephants! Aus, I’ll be back next week!