I got back to Brisbane mid December. Whilst it's cooler and less humid down here than in Cairns, it's still far too warm to be festive. There were some decorations up along the main streets but otherwise you could be forgiven for not realising that it was Christmas at all. In the end, it felt more like a midsummer festival than anything else, but it was fun none-the-less.
I did a few Christmas-y things. I joined in 'sAnTANarchy', which is basically a bunch of people who gather together dressed as santa and then wander around the city. It was a fun, silly afternoon but did highlight the daftness of dressing as a Christmas icon conceived for winter in northern hemisphere when you are in the summer of the southern hemisphere. Also, there was some free Christmas-y events put on along the South Bank, including some carol singing, fireworks, a bit of a fair, and so on. There was also a santa in a ship-sleigh being pulled by kangaroos. Marvellous. I went to the (fake) beach on Christmas eve and had a BBQ on Christmas day. Nothing like going along with stereotypes, huh? I was staying at Jemma's house rather than a hostel over Christmas and New Year, so I suppose I had a more authentic Aussie festive period than I might otherwise have done.
After Christmas, I got shown a bit of the area surrounding Brisbane. We went to Toowoomba to visit Jemma's dad and see the Hell Mouth (yes, there is one). We also went to Shorncliffe beach with a bunch of the local metal types to have another BBQ and wander along the pier.
For NYE itself, we went to a house party. It was much like every other New Year's party I've ever been to, except it was warm enough for most people to hang out in the back garden rather than the house. On new year's day, I went ot the cinema to see Aliens vs Predator Requiem after having watched Alien vs Predator on DVD. Both of which are kinda fun and kinda stupid. My main problem is that I've spent far too much time reading the webcomic Alien Loves Predator to be able to take any of the beasties seriously.
The rest of the time has tootled along pleasantly enough, apart from the trouser incident mentioned in my previous post and even that was considerably less hassle than I expected. The really big news is that I finally have a replacement charger for the one that died back in Poland somewhere, so I can now recharge my mp3 player and listen to music again. This makes me very happy. In other news, I've seen Beowulf at the cinema and I went to the Amon Amarth gig last night (with the ticket I got for Christmas. Woo!). The former was fun, the latter was awesome. I;ve discovered that the library here has a gift shop, which rather amused me. It sells books, as you might expect, and action figures. These action figures include Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Van Gogh (with two interchangable heads) and a librarian (with realistic "sshhh!"ing action). Immense.
Oh yes, and I now have a job in the hostel. I start tomorrow and will be housekeeping. Sounds like it will be much the same as I was doing in Byron Bay except it will take a bit longer, so I'll get paid actual money as well as getting free accommodation. Woo!
